Well hot damn, my wrists are better now! My doctor said it's actually carpal tunnel, and I need to wear a brace when I type, and so I am! I actually wrote something for once! Yay!

Soundtrack:

Numb by Linkin Park

Naked by Avril Lavigne

So Long Jimmy by James Blunt

Grace Kelly by Mika

Disclaimer: Who cares?

"Okay, in this exam, you will recieve a scroll: a heaven scroll or an earth scroll," droned the proctor. Gaara could see Sakura begin nodding off, and he almost smiled again.

What's wrong with you?

What? I'm not allowed to smile when I see something amusing?

You and I both know that you're smiling at her...I told you to forget about her...

Since when have I ever listened to you?

Every time I convince you to kill, cub.

I'm rethinking the whole killing thing...

GASP! What are you saying?! You aren't giving up on me, are you?! (cue anime tears)

Shukaku...shut up.

Gaara kicked the now-sobbing Shukaku out of his head and focused. He knew he was on a mission, but he was beginning to have second thoughts...

"Wow, that was easy as pie...it's only been an hour..."

Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro walked into the tower. It had been a simple matter of attacking the team, killing the three shinobi, swiping the scroll, and running to the middle of the grounds: no problem. He kind of lost it for a minute, scared the crap out of his siblings, but he managed to rein it in. Kankuro was thrilled to be out of the forest...he kept saying he saw a giant spider.

"I still can't believe how easy it was..."

"Kankuro, you can't believe anything, can you?"

"Not until I see it...and I swear I saw a giant spider out there..."

"Kankuro, you need to lose this irrational fear of spiders..."

Gaara tuned out his siblings. Sinking into a semi-meditative state, he stood leaning against the wall, and found his mindscape. Unlike Naruto's mindscape, Gaara's mindscape resembled a cave system, with long, winding catacombs. He found his chakra well and sat cross-legged, brooding over an unnerving question.

Why can't I get her out of my mind? Flashes of Sakura flicked through his vision. He mentally shook his head, and the images disappeared. He took another turn, and ran into a cage.

Shukaku?

A swirl of sand, and Shukaku appeared, in human form. He looked like Gaara, only the jaw was more angular, his eyes were a topaz-yellow, and his hair was a sandy strawberry-blonde. He had a peircing in his right ear with the Suna symbol dangling off it. He had no tattoo, but he wore a sand and blue-colored kimono, cut in a way to hide his tanuki tail. His eyes were slanted like a cat's.

Do you like the new look?

Really, you need to warn me before you do that...

Kid, you are a wet blanket, you know that?

Shut up and stop being so sarcastic. Tell me...why are you so against me and Sakura?

Nothing against you, kid, but I don't think you can afford to have a love interest at the moment...

What's that supposed to mean?!

It means that you're on a mission, remember? She won't exactly be so keen on you when she discovers you're supposed to help destroy her life as she knows it.

Fine...but what if I didn't tell her?

It's your funeral, kid...

Damn, damn, double damn!

Sakura was frantically running toward the tower in the center of the forest. Her teammates and herself had been attacked by enemy nins, and she'd had to cut her long, beautiful pink hair, and she'd spent three of their five days recovering. The teammates in question were following behind her, joined by Kabuto. We are so going to fail! If we don't get that scroll by the time we get to the tower, we're completely and utterly screwed!

I knew we should've just let Sasuke kill those ninja and stolen their scroll...

No! It's important that we kill as little as possible!

Oh, come on, Sakura!

NO! I'm ignoring you for the rest of the day, got it?!

"Well, look who's here," droned Kankuro as he watched the other shinobi. The Hokage had just finished his brief (LIAR!) speech on the purposes of the Chuunin exams, and Gaara turned to see who his brother was talking about. His lips twitched slightly as he saw Sakura and her team, Sakura berating the Uchiha.

"So, you made it."

Sakura turned to see Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara facing her. "Well, I'm stronger than I look," she replied cooly. Kankuro's grin just grew wider, and he nodded his head at his sister, who touseled Gaara's hair. The two elder shinobi left, and Sakura walked further away from her sensei and teammate as Sasuke settled into his fighting stance. Gaara was uninterested in the fight, as was Sakura.

"Hello, Sakura-chan," he said, walking beside her. She stopped and turned to face him, cold eyes and icy words.

"What do you want?"

Gaara shrugged. "I can't say hello to an ex-girlfriend," he asked with a smirk.

"Cut the crap. You purposely left me there and ignored me. Bad enough you had the nerve to try and win me over during the written exams by giving me the answer, now you want to try seducing me?!"

"Not seducing, no," he replied. He circled her, eyes exploring and probing her every scratch, her every bruise. "Just asking." His eyes suddenly saw her uneven, scraggly pink hair.

"You cut your hair?"

"I had to, didn't I? Kinda had no choice, a crazy wench with a death-grip on my hair tried to kill me."

"Kill you, now?" Gaara flicked a strand of pink hair behind her ear. She really hated him right now: his nochalant flirting was driving her nutty. She swatted away his hand, only to hit sand. The sand in question chafed her hand, and she recoiled as her fingers began to bleed. Before she could blink, he grabbed her hand and started inspecting it. It wasn't that bad; it was only one finger that was bleeding, but he stuck the injured appendage in his mouth, with much protest on her part.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Gaara didn't reply for a minute, only removed the finger from his mouth. "I'm stopping the bleeding. Look, the blood's clotting already."

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke."

Don't kill me, please. (dodges tomatoes and sharp objects, including the odd shuriken or kunai)

Yesh, Gaara can flirt. At least, he can when I write for him...but anyways, I really like this chapter, and I won't go through all the fights, because quite frankly, some were downright dry and boring. I mean, really, Kankuro's fight? Too easy! Oh, and I have something special planned for Sakura's fight and Gaara's fight. To answer some quesions, no, Sakura and Ino will end up eliminated like they were in the show, and Lee will still be almost killed, because I liked those aspects of the fight.

REVIEW! SHANNARO!