Clarice was a bit disoriented from the events that have taken place so far. First off, her and her team were having a nice time bonding. Hell, Clarice even decided to sing for her team leader, Gaara, even though he didn't really ask. Then suddenly Team JNPR's team leader, Jaune, got into trouble, and it sorta got Clarice pumped! She wanted more than anything to wreak havoc on a grimm!

However, when they got there, Jaune had already dealt the final blow, which kinda left Clarice a bit disappointed. But still, she wasn't really mad. But then her team leader ran off for some reason, but what bothered her was the look on his face when he ran off.

Gaara was gone in a mere second, moving with a speed that Clarice thought was impossible for a normal person, but his face was etched with worry, confusion, and something else that Clarice was a bit unsure of. She was unsure of it because she even thought that she saw….fear.

Clarice looked at Pierce, and asked, "What do you make of it?"

Pierce shrugged, and Hanzo said, "We better find him quick, this forest is crawling with Grimm. And I saw how his face looked. If he runs around with those emotions, he might attract more grimm than he can handle."

Weiss held up her scroll, and said, "Well, can you guys just track his scroll since you guys are his team?"

At first they nodded in agreement, but then that's when they began to look at each other in deep thought. Pierce then broke the silence, "Now that I think about it, I've never seen him with a scroll."

"Yeah," Clarice said, "Now that you say that, does he even have a scroll?"

Pyrrha said worriedly, "Oh no."

Jaune had just walked up to them, and asked, "Hey, what's going on? Is there a problem?"

Ruby then filled in Jaune, saying how Gaara just simply ran off, and the look on his face and how he could attract Grimm.

Jaune cupped his chin in his hand, before saying, "Well, he took a Nevermore out easily, so I think he can handle a bunch of Grimm. And he did it without a sweat. However, if what he is worried about has got him that much worried, it must be something bad. We've gotta find him quick."

"Easier said than done," Weiss interjected, "We can't track him because, apparently, he doesn't own a scroll."

Hanzo then simply said, "Then we go in the direction he went. Back then, my father taught me how to track animals and…..people. I believe we can find him."

"Well," Pyrrha said, "By all means, lead the way."

Hanzo then began to lead them through the red forest

/

Gaara dashed from red treetop to red treetop, heedless of anything that was stirred up in his wake. Any Grimm that immediately saw him and noticed his bad emotions immediately found themselves left in his dust if they tried to give chase.

It wasn't the Grimm tha Gaara was worried about. Rather, it was something far worse than any Grimm that this forest could offer.

Gaara dashed, slapping any branches in his way out of his course, until finally he reached a small clearing.

He landed on one side of the center of the clearing, and when he landed, he went into a crouching position.

He looked up from his crouched position, and was shocked from what he saw. He knew the presence, and couldn't deny that it was undeniably there. But still, he hoped he was wrong. Now he knew that hope was just an illusion to mask his fear.

He looked at the gray kimono with the top ripped off, and the silver locks of hair that were tied up by two red ornaments, and the purple rope wrapped around his waist and tied into a knot behind his waist.

And above all, the multitude of bones protruding from his arms and the top of his back. Gaara stood up, and looked at the enemy from the past, and crossed his arms, and said, "Well, didn't expect you to be here."

The pale man turned to Gaara, and gave an expressionless face towards Gaara, who returned the look.

The bone-protruding person then replied, "Well, isn't this a rather unexpected turn of events."

"Enough of the small talk," Gaara scowled, "What are you doing here, Kimimaro?"

Kimimaro shook his head, and said, "I simply don't know myself. I was in a battle one second, and the next I ended up here. But may I ask, how do you know who I am?"

Gaara frowned, and said, "I know you, because you died in front of me and the very one you were in a battle with. He was a taijutsu-user."

Kimimaro's expression turned into one of intrigue and confusion, and said, "And how do I know that you're telling the truth? I mean, there are certainly jutsu that are powerful, but not ones that can travel through time. And if they don't exist, then how is it that I have been turned forward to the future?"

Gaara tapped his foot, and replied, "You didn't go forward into time. Nor have you traveled back. Rather, you have been transported into another whole world, as have I."

Kimimaro's face suddenly became etched with slight anger, and said, "You believe me to believe that hogwash? Lies!"

"Look at this way," Gaara replied, "Since when have you ever seen a red forest at home, like the one we are in? Since when have you seen anything such as this!?"

Gaara swept his arm around, gesturing to the red forest around them

Kimimaro looked around, before admitting, "Alright, you have a point here. But how can I believe that you know that this isn't our world?"

"Because," Gaara growled, "I've been stuck here for a long time. I would know by now."

Gaara had an idea of what might have brought Kimimaro here. If that machine that brought him here had kicked him forward into time so that way he traveled 10 years into time into another world, then surely it could do the same thing with someone from his childhood. But if it brought Kimimaro here, then did anyone else end up being brought here?

Suddenly, sand began to snake out of his gourd, and hover menacingly behind Gaara, and Kimimaro asked, "So, I suppose that you're going to try and kill me?"

"Not try," Gaara said, "I will."

Kimimaro nodded respectfully, and replied, "Alright then. Let it commence."

Kimimaro then went into a combative stance, and the bones that were already protruding out from him now went poking out like he was a bony cactus.

Gaara and Kimimaro both stared at each other, the tension building around them until it felt as if a great pressure had fallen on their shoulders, ready to snap at any moment. Gaara and Kimimaro continued to stare into each other's eyes, staring into each other's souls, waiting for one of them to make the first move.

Suddenly, Kimimaro dashed forward towards Gaara, and jumped up into the air, and proceeded to throw a fist aimed for Gaara's head in midair, but his fist was intercepted by a stream of sand that whipped out and shielded Gaara, who stood there unflinching, even though his fist was only inches from his face.

Suddenly, a sound like the scraping of bones came from Kimimaro's arm, and Gaara's instinct screamed for him to duck, and when he did, not a half a second later, Kimimaro's arm literally became a big bone blade, and it easily tore through the thin sand shield that had blocked Kimimaro's punch.

Kimimaro then spun around, and attempted to slash Gaara with his bone blade, however, Gaara would not be caught off guard this time. Another stream of sand, this time much more thicker and stronger than the last one, shot out of his gourd, and blocked the bone blade, and Gaara held a open palm out aimed at Kimimaro's stomach, and three streams of sand came shooting out, and hit him in his stomach.

"Gagh!" Kimimaro yelped as the three streams of sand then pushed him upward in the air, putting some distance between him and Gaara, and then turning downward, and driving him into the ground, kicking up soil and red leaves.

The three streams of sand began to spread out across his stomach, until they had coated his entire midsection, and held him down to the ground.

Kimimaro clawed at the sand coat, when he looked up to see Gaara hovering up above on a sand platform, and suddenly a long javelin of sand was sent flying towards Kimimaro.

Kimimaro lifted up the arm that was a bone blade, and it then flattened and thickened, turning into a bone shield.

However, to Kimimaro's surprise, the javelin of sand punched right through his bone shield, and pierced him through his chest.

Kimimaro screamed out in pain, when Gaara interrupted him and said, "I'll finish this quickly!"

Suddenly, Gaara's entire gourd turned into sand, and the sand inside of it also went with it, and the big stream of sand when shooting towards Kimimaro.

Suddenly, the javelin of sand that had pierced through Kimimaro then dissipated, and lost form, and started wrapping around Kimimaro's shield, and wrenched his arm to his side.

Suddenly, the sand from Gaara's gourd then wrapped around Kimimaro, until finally Kimimaro took a breath of surprise when he became fully engulfed in a sand cocoon.

"Sabaku Kyū! (Sand Binding Coffin)," Gaara shouted, as he then proceeded to crush Kimimaro in the cocoon of sand. However, as soon as Gaara shouted those words, multiple spiky bones came stabbing out of the cocoon, making it look like a pincushion with oversized bone needles.

Suddenly, the bones increased in mass, thus weakening the hold that the sand coffin had on Kimimaro.

Kimimari's head emerged from the coffin of sand, however it was different now. The skin on his face had darkened, and black markings had spread over his face, and the wound that Gaara had inflicted earlier with his sand javelin had healed, leaving behind a small, faint scar.

Gaara knew what this was. Orouchimaru's Curse Mark of Earth. Gaara didn't know it when he was a boy, but when Gaara became Kazekage, he had done a little digging due to research on Curse Mark Seals.

Gaara's eyes widened a little, and said, "Impossible."

Kimimaro then suddenly tore out of the sand coffin, and landed on the red grass below, and looked up at Gaara, and replied, "You'll have to try harder than that."

Gaara gestured respectfully, "I have to admit, I didn't think that you would survive that. But then again, I forgot about your curse mark."

Kimimaro and Gaara gave each other serious expressions, and both of them gave a nod of understanding.

Gaara thrusted both of his hands into his sand platform, and the hovering, torn apart sand cocoon from the last attack then went flying back towards Gaara, alongside any other sand that had fallen unto the ground, and the sand began to snake around Gaara, hovering in midair around him.

Kimimaro went into a defensive stance, when Gaara then shot an entire, giant stream of sand up into the air, and the stream then began to rain downward towards Kimimaro. However, as the stream of sand was raining down, it then split up into smaller proportions, and then turned into thin, sharp, sand rods that went whizzing downward towards Kimimaro.

Kimimaro, having learned earlier from Gaara's javelin, began to jump and weave around, avoiding Gaara's sand rods.

Once they had stopped raining down, Kimimaro stood up, and said, "Seriously? Surely you can do better, because your aim is poor."

Gaara crossed his arms, and said, "That is a matter of perspective, but who said that I was aiming for you?"

Gaara then clapped his hands together, and Kimimaro suddenly looked around him, and he could swear that there were a few sparks coming from the sand rods.

"Take this!" Gaara shouted

Suddenly, the dozens of sand rods that surrounded Kimimaro suddenly erupted in electricity out of the end that stuck up out of the ground, and the electricity from each rod then homed in on Kimimaro.

Kimimaro was caught off guard, and didn't have any time to even try and take any defensive measures.

Kimimaro screamed as he was electrocuted, but the electrocution only lasted for 3 seconds, before it sparked out.

Kimimaro fell onto one knee, breathing unstable, but when he looked up, Gaara had already weaved a surplus of hand signs in rapid succession, and he shouted, "Sabaku Kyuu! (Giant Sand Burial)"

Kimimaro felt the ground around him rumble, and suddenly, towering waves of sand came out of the ground, and dwarfed Kimimaro, and he was helpless to do anything, as the 20 meter high waves of sand crushed him underneath.

/

Meanwhile,

Hanzo, despite how good of a tracker that he had deemed himself, Weiss, Ruby, Pyrrha, Jaune, and the three members of team GHPC found that they didn't really need a good tracker to find Gaara, just someone with good sense.

Gaara had been moving so fast, but his bad emotions still attracted Grimm, and the huntsmen and huntresses were able to find Gaara's trail by the stream of chaos that he had left.

Confused Grimm searched the spot where they had sworn that they felt the presence of negative motion, the occasional place where the ground was dug up from someone sprinting at a fast pace, and the like.

And as for the Grimm, well, they weren't really a problem.

However, the tension between the group began to build up, ready to snap at any given time, due to the nervous and confused feelings between them.

As Hanzo led the group, Pierce asked Hanzo, "Do you think that, well, whatever Gaara was worried about, do you think he'll be okay?"

Hanzo turned his head slightly towards Pierce, and said, "Whoever this enemy that has Gaara worried, surely he can hold it off long enough for us to find him."

"But then again, there is a problem, Clarice said, "If he ends up losing his gourd, well, it's bye bye semblance. And I don't really think he is very good at hand to hand combat. Doesn't really seem like the type."

"Yeah," Pyrrha said thoughtfully

Suddenly, they all heard a giant boom, like the sound of a tsunami hitting a stone cliff.

Weiss perked up, and Ruby asked, "You guys think that's him?"

"Of course it is, you dunce!" Weiss insulted Ruby.

"We'd better hurry," Hanzo said, as he then drew out his blue Sai's, and Pyrrha then held up her scroll, pressed something on it, and then looked up and said, "I sent a distress signal to the rest of my team and Team RWBY. If they found Glynda, then they should be heading this way."

Jaune pulled out his weapons when Pierce, who had his trident drawn out, put a hand on Jaune's shoulder and said, "Sorry bub, but you're still recovering from that fight from earlier. Just sit back for a minute and rest up."

"No," Jaune responded, "I want to help."

"Jaune," Ruby began to say, "I don't mean to rude or anything, but you'd only get in the w-"

However, Ruby didn't have enough time to finish her sentence when Hanzo suddenly spun around and kicked Jaune in his face. Jaune's aura had not been activated, and so was knocked out cold by the kick.

Everyone's eyes suddenly looked at Hanzo, and Clarice shouted, "What the hell was that for!?"

"He wouldn't listen no matter what we tell him," Hanzo responded, "So I took him out of the equation."

"Yeah, quite literally," Pierce said underneath his breath.

"Well, now that's done, we should get going. Like right now!" Weiss said, when suddenly another giant boom sounded out, this time a bit closer.

/

Gaara should have expected it, really. He hadn't put full force into the Sand Burial technique, due to him thinking that Kimimaro wouldn't survive it. Gaara uncrossed his arms and brought his sand platform lower so he could get a closer look. He knew that he had hit Kimimaro. But still, something told him that it was not done.

Suddenly, giant bone spikes came stabbing out of the sand that laid covering the red ground for a long way out, and Gaara's eyes widened when two of them came at him. Gaara jumped off his sand platform, one of the bones cutting his pant legs, leaving behind a long gash in the red fabric.

Gaara summoned another sand platform from the sand below him while still in midair, and landed on it in a crouching position, and he then raised himself up higher to try and get out of the range of the bone spikes.

"Phew, that was close," Gaara said to himself once he got a comfortable distance away from the spikes.

Suddenly, Kimimaro came out of the sand hill that was piled atop him, coughing up blood, and he looked up at Gaara, blood dribbling down his chin, and shouted, "Well, you certainly are powerful! May I ask you your name?"

Gaara looked down on Kimimaro and shouted back, "I am Gaara. Gaara of the Sand."

Kimimaro's face took a serious look, and said, "Alright. I'll try to remember it."

Kimimaro went into a narrow combative stance, and said, "Let's continue."

Kimimaro then used the giant bones that had protruded out from the sand as launch pads, and he jumped towards one and jumped off it to another, and used the second one as a launch pad and leaped upwards towards Gaara, his right arm turning into a giant bone spear, and he gave out a battle cry as he sailed towards Gaara.

Gaara waited until Kimimaro came within range, and when Kimimaro neared Gaara, and thrusted the bone spear at Gaara, a thick tendril of sand snaked up from his sand platform, and grabbed the spear, keeping it within a inch from Gaara's eye, who stood unflinchingly. More sand tendrils grabbed Kimimaro and held him up in the air.

Kimimaro at first looked a bit surprised, but determination took over his face, and suddenly the blade of the bone suddenly extended, slowly getting closer to Gaara's face.

When it was almost about to hit Gaara's eye, Gaara ducked underneath the bone, and jumped off the platform, while slamming his palms together. Kimimaro was still anchored to the sand platform, and suddenly, the sand platform split apart, and grabbed Kimimaro, until it fully enveloped him.

Gaara made a few hand signs, before saying, "Wind Style: Explosive Sand Sphere!"

Suddenly, the sphere of sand that had enveloped Kimimaro exploded in a small burst of sand and white light, and it sent Gaara flying backwards in midair.

Gaara flipped backward, and landed on the ground on his feet, his shoes digging into the ground as he slid backward from the impact that he had hit the ground. Gaara looked up to where he had seen the explosion, and saw Kimimaro on the ground below, looking a bit worse for wear but not really scathed.

Gaara had meant for that. He hadn't put in full power, and plus the fact that Kimimaro's bones were as hard as steel and that he could tank a hit, well, it wasn't gonna do a lot.

Gaara stood up, his sand gourd feeling a bit light on his back, as he had already emptied its contents.

Gaara crossed his arms and scoffed at Kimimaro, and taunted, "Is that all you really have?"

Kimimaro looked up at Gaara, the blood that had dribbled down his chin earlier having been a bit smeared across his cheek, said, "No. Just simply testing the waters, per se."

Kimimaro dashed towards Gaara, who then went into a defensive stance in anticipation of Kimimaro's attack. Gaara and Kimimaro were still in the area where Gaara's Giant Sand Burial had hit earlier, and were still surrounded by sand. This gave Gaara a territorial advantage.

Suddenly, to Gaara's surprise, Kimimaro stopped running, and stabbed his giant arm that was currently a bone javelin into the ground.

At first, Gaara was a bit confused, when suddenly past experiences of giant bones protruding from the ground, and Kimimaro almost killing him popped into his mind.

"I need to move, now!"

Gaara felt his body jump forward, as if to dodge an imaginary attack. However, a split second after he moved, a giant spike bone shot up out of the ground, and surely would have impaled him had he not moved.

Gaara turned back up to look in front of him, and Kimimaro's fist collided with Gaara's cheek, and sent him flying back.

Gaara bounced and skidded off the ground, until finally coming to a stop. Gaara clutched his cheek, the sand armor making it feel as if his face was made of pottery, and it was very much cracked.

"Ouch," Gaara said to himself, before he saw Kimimaro's figure above him, Kimimaro holding his giant bone blade arm above his head, ready to impale Gaara.

Gaara clapped both of his palms together, and sand suddenly quickly went over him, forming a dome around him.

At first, Gaara thought he was safe for a second, when suddenly a bone blade stabbed into the dome, and Gaara barely managed to roll to the side, the bone blade scraping off of his back, chipping his sand armor.

Gaara breathed a sigh of relief, when another bone blade pierced through the dome, and went past his face, not a inch away.

Gaara growled, and said to himself, "That's it. I'm done holding back."

/

Kimimaro pulled one of his arms out of the sand dome, and then pulled out the other bone blade.

Kimimaro could swear that he hit something, when suddenly the sand dome began to slowly sink down.

Kimimaro hopped off the dome, and watched it as it slowly fell apart. Gaara's figure appeared underneath it.

Kimimaro did not take kindly to killing. So that was why he did not feel a rush of pleasure when he saw Gaara's dead body, a hole in his stomach.

Kimimaro scoffed and turned around to leave, but when he did, he felt something grab him. When he turned around, Gaara stood in front of him. Gaara bashed his fist into Kimimaro's chin, and brought it upward, hitting Kimimaro with a harsh uppercut, and Kimimaro's feet went 5 ft into the air.

Gaara then thrusted one of his palm's into the floor, and shouted, "Wind Style! Erupting Sand Pillar!"

Suddenly, a giant geyser of sand bursted up from the ground, and hit Kimimaro high into the air, sending him flying, until he reached his climax and began to fall back to the ground.

Gaara began to form the hand signs rapidly, and poured a large amount of chakra into this one attack. He then held both of his palms above him, and swung them downward in front of him, and shouted, "Giant Sand Tsunami!"

Suddenly, a giant wave of sand rose up behind him, and began to sail forward, swallowing Kimimaro up in it, and sending him for the ride of a lifetime, as he was being crushed by the sand tsunami as it sailed almost an entire mile before it finally gave out.

Gaara gave out a heavy, shaky breath, before going onto his knees. He had put in too much chakra into that attack, more than he needed to. And so, he ended up wasting a good amount of chakra.

At least now Kimimaro would not be able to harm anyone.

Gaara suddenly heard footsteps coming, and when he turned around, Pyrrha, Ruby, Weiss, and team GRPH arrived, and it almost looked like they were in a hurry.

"Well, he-," Gaara began to say, before Clarice winded up her arm and slapped Gaara, making him see stars.

"Next time you decide to run off like that without saying anything," Clarice shouted, "I'm gonna slap you harder! We're a team, Gaara! We have to do things together."

"Jeez, alright," Gaara said, clutching his cheek. He hadn't had his sand armor on, because that was what he had used earlier to make Kimimaro think he was dead, so Gaara wasn't really protected. He also made a mental note to not get on Clarice's bad side.

Gaara actually chuckled a little, and said, "That hurt."

"Well," Clarice replied, "It was supposed to!"

Hanzo helped Gaara up from his knee, and said to his team leader, "We're just glad you're ok."

"Thank you," Gaara said, before looking at Pierce, who said, "Well, I'm glad you're okay, but couldn't you have saved some for me? I mean, fighting nothing but grimm has started to get boring."

Ruby, however, was a bit confused, and asked, "Hey, why is there sand everywhere!"

"Well," Weiss began to say, "He was in a battle. With whatever his enemy was. However, having to utilize this much sand must have meant that he was fighting someone rather strong. What were you even fighting anyway, Gaara?"

Gaara looked at the girl in eye-blistering white, and replied, "It's a person, not a thing. Also I was fighting a….old enemy."

Pyrrha then said, "Well, now we know that you're okay, but what of the enemy?"

"He's gone," Gaara replied, "He won't be bothering us anymore."

Pyrrha gave a small smile, and said, "Oh well, we should probably get heading back."

"That sounds like a good idea," Gaara replied, and the group began to head back.

Meanwhile, a mile away, near a giant pile of sand,

A lone hand bursted out of the sand pile, and clutched the ground around it, and then another came out, before a man pulled himself out, his skin back to its normal gray look, bones no longer protruding out.

/

Back at Beacon, 8 hours later,

Gaara walked around the academy, looking around. He had just come back from eating a late snack from the dining cafeteria.

Gaara walked around the academy, going back to his dorm room, when suddenly he saw Velvet round the corner, and when she saw him, it almost looked as if she perked up.

Gaara waved at her, and Velvet waved back, before the two came closer, and Gaara greeted, "Hello there, Velvet."

"Hi Gaara," Velvet said, "I heard about what happened back on your trip. Are you alright? They said you looked a bit beaten up."

"Aw, I'm alright," Gaara replied, "It's nothing that I couldn't handle."

Velvet's ears dropped a little, and Velvet gave a nervous smile, and said, "Uhh, hey, uh, me and my team were going to go out tomorrow for breakfast, and uh, if you want to come, you can come with me-I mean us! Oh, uhh, you can bring your team too!"

Gaara smiled, not even noticing what she was implying, and replied, "Sure. I'll come. I'll have to see if my team wants to as well."

Velvet's ears twitched as if she was in an excited mood, and Velvet's smile beamed a little, and she asked, "Wait, really!?"

"Yeah," Gaara confirmed, "It's been awhile since I've eaten something that was not from the dining hall."

"Oh," Velvet said, looking as if she deflated a little at his reasoning, "Ok, uh, we were going to go at about 9:00 tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure," Gaara said, "I'd better get going. I have an assignment that I've got to get done over the weekend before Monday."

"Ok," Velvet said, before walking off. Gaara watched her, and swore he could see some kind of excited hops in some of her steps. Gaara shrugged, not really noticing anything else, and went up to his dorm.

Once he had entered, he looked around, and saw that Pierce and Clarice were both asleep, however, they were both in one bed, wrapped in each other's arms.

Gaara smiled a little at the sight of intimacy, before walking over to his own bunk, and laying down, and fell asleep.

Hey you guys, let me know what you think of it so far. You probably noticed that I stopped using Japanese translations, well, that's because I couldn't find the right translations for some of his attacks, and I even had made some new attacks for him, but I didn't really feel like going to google translate for what their japanese translation would be. Which is kind of sad because for some reason, whenever I put in the Japanese translation, it sorta gives off an epic feeling. Oh well, if I can, I'll use translations, but most of the time from now on, I'll be stopping on that subject. Anyway, live, love, and laugh, everyone, and have a good day.