Chapter 5 rescue mission
Ken-maru raced to get to Oto. He knew that Gaara would be on his tail soon. Every time Ken-maru was around Amaya, Gaara was glaring at him. He probably suspected Ken-maru was up to something.
Amaya's dream
"Daddy!" The little girl with long brown hair screamed as she ran towards her father. Her long hair swaying behind her. "You're home early!"
Her father smiled down at her. "Yes I am. How's my little ninja girl?"
"She's good!" Amaya smiled.
"Her? A ninja? Dad, Amaya is too small to be a ninja!" A long-haired boy was leaning in the doorway.
"Shut up, Neji! You're such a jerk to me! I'm 3! I'm supposed to be small!" The girl screamed to her older brother. "You're 4 and a boy so, of course, you're bigger! I'm a lady and 3 so, Bite me!"
Neji looked stunned by his little sister and their father couldn't speak by his daughter's action towards her brother. Normally, Amaya would just take her brother's taught by walking away with her fingers in her ears. But her father guessed she was sick of his taughting by her satisfied grin.
Neji got over his shock and hugged his little sister. "Forget what I said. I think you'll be a great ninja, Amaya-chan."
"Now, you two get along! Great, now life is better with you two getting along!" Their father laughed. Pretty soon, the two siblings began laughing.
With Gaara and the others
Gaara's concern for his best friend continued to grow as he ran.
"Gaara! Ken-maru and Amaya are up ahead. Leading the way by 5 miles. He's begun running but we are right on his tail." Neji yelled as he ran behind Gaara. Gaara could tell that Neji was worried about his kid-sister. So, to catch up with guy who stole his best friend and the girl he loved, Gaara picked up speed.
As he was running, Gaara remembered something three years ago.
Flashback.
Amaya was heaving for air as sweat dropped from her fore-head. The fact that she was pushing herself beyond her limits without sensei screaming at her amazed Gaara.
Gaara watched her from the roof. She was on a rope and was trying to balance on it while doing some handstands, cartwheels & flips. By the eighteenth time, Amaya had perfectly preformed her routine.
"Hey, Gaara, can you help me with something? It involves you putting me in danger." She asked, not turning around to face him. Gaara was stunned by her voice that he nearly fell back. With the way he was sitting, No body would be able to figure out that he was there but she could tell where he was from time-to-time.
"What do you need?" He asked.
"Put me in the sand burial. I need to do this as I'm in danger. Plus I want to use a new jutsu that I taught myself." Amaya asked, turning around finally. She had her cocky smile and her blue-contact- eyes shown confidence. Yes, Gaara has known that Amaya wasn't May and that her eyes were lavender not blue. Gaara had occasionally spied on her while she was cleaning her contacts. The real eye color gave her away instantly.
Gaara grunted and placed her in the sand burial. She did a jutsu and her arm extended out. It looked like a floppy fish. Amaya cut her way through and landed on the rope. One front flip, several back flips, a cartwheel, hand stand for a moment, then a series of flips. Then she regained her bones as it seemed like and jumped off the rope.
Amaya smiled at Gaara and waved. "Thanks!" She called up to him and went inside.
End
When Gaara finally came out of the flashback, Ken-maru came into view but what caught his eye even more was the hand that had reached out of the sack. It grabbed a kunai from Ken-maru's pouch and sliced through the sack. Out popped Amaya, doing the exact same routine she had taught herself 3 years back.
Amaya p.o.v
I heaved for air as I landed my routine. I taught it to myself years ago and I thought it was handy now. My feet continued to slide in the sand for a minute after I escaped.
"You're supposed to be out cold still!" Ken-maru yelled when I stopped sliding.
"Well, that proves how strong I am." I snarled. I still had his kunai in my hand so I rushed right to him. I was furious and I wanted to kill him.
"Stop! Amaya!" Gaara yelled as he tackled me to the ground. He held me there while my brother, my cousin, Temari and Kankuro wrestled Ken-maru to the ground. I wrestled in Gaara's arms for a bit but I stopped when I couldn't break his grasp.
"Why?!" I whispered when I stopped struggling. "Why, you bastard!?"
"My employer wants you to join him but the only way I could get you there was to get close to you." He sneered. He had four people on top of him yet Ken-maru still smirked at me confidently. "I didn't think you were so gullible, Amaya Hyuuga. I was told you were intelligent beyond normal and tactfully strong."
Before I snarl at him, Gaara said. "That's enough, you bastard! Who would want you to mislead and use a girl just so she can join him! Get him out of my sight!"
When he yelled that, several sand ninjas came down and grab him.
But Ken-maru ran away. When I tried to chase after him, Gaara clung to me. "We'll get him. Don't worry, Amaya. We will get him and we'll get Konoha ninjas to help." He assured me and I nodded. He wrapped his arms around me and just held me there. After awhile, he took me home. Before I fell asleep, I cried. I felt stupid, gullible, and heartbroken. But the next day, I woke up to find Gaara's arms wrapped around me.