Lying on the couch in the living room of her hotel room, Setsuko held a book above her face. Reading each word carefully, she felt a smile creep to her face. A smile always came to her face when she read this book; it was her favorite after all. It was an epic romantic adventure story filled with strange creatures, evil villains and undying love. The story is centered on Keiichi, a young man dreaming of being a renowned warrior. After his parents die tragically in a raid of their village he seeks out a famous soldier by the name White Lightning to train him. He wants his parents to be proud of him and not have their lives mean nothing. On his journey to find White Lightning he meets a thief running away from a dark past and the two fall in love, although at first both hate to admit it.
The book was old and worn, but that didn't bother her in the least. No matter what this would always be her favorite book in the entire world. Of course there was another reason then for just the story. On the inside of the hard cover was a note written from her father to her mother saying that these words explained what he couldn't. Using this book, her father had told her mother just how he felt about her. In her opinion it was the ultimate romantic gesture. It was her first real glimpse into the love her parents shared for each other. She had never really seen them, but with this she felt she could be close to them still.
There was a knock at the door. Pulling her eyes away from the pages, Setsuko looked at the clock sitting on the side table across from her; it was late, 6:22pm. "Ah…who could be at the door at this hour?" she asked herself closing the book and sitting up. There was another knock as she stretched her body, "Alright….yeesh, I heard you the first time," she mumbled to herself under her breath. "One moment."
Setting the book on the table in front of the couch, she stood and straightened her clothes as she walked to the door. Opening the door, she was somewhat surprised to see a woman standing on front of her. Standing about the same height as herself, the woman was surprisingly pale for living in the desert. She stood up straight, reminiscent of Hui, showing that she had pride in her position. Her short black hair only went to her jaw line while her bangs were swept to one side, covering her left eye. The one pink eye she saw was big and bright but showed years of horrific jobs. This woman didn't smile and it looked as if the light scowl of a permanent look for her.
She bowed rigidly, "I'm Aoi, the other ANBU assigned to protect you Princess." she stood straight back up again and stared straight into Setsuko's eyes.
"Oh…" this look she was being given unnerved her a little, causing her to temporarily forget her words. "Uhm, well I thank you for your bravery Aoi." She smiled at her.
"It's my job you Majesty," she replied before giving another bow and walking down the hall.
Blue eyes blinked as they watched Aoi walk away and quietly closed the door. Leaning her back against the wooden door, Setsuko sighed softly to herself. The two ANBU looked like capable people and she had to be okay with entrusting her life to them. But, how could she when she didn't know them? Speaking of which, how could she truly trust this Kazekage since she didn't know him either? She hadn't seen him all day since she arrived. Deciding to stay inside on her first day, she chose to rest and get gather herself before leaving tomorrow and exploring her new surroundings. Her big blue eyes traveled to the old book on her living room table. An image of a burning house ran through her mind causing Setsuko to grab her head and drop to her knees, her eyes shut as tight as they could be.
Gaara looked up from his desk to see the sun beginning to set in the sky. The first day of his agreement to watch over the Aisugakure Princess was almost over. Not once had he gone to check on her and see how she was settling thus far. Turning back to his desk he looked down at the pen in his hand, then again it wasn't his duty to watch over her. He had put that task to his ANBU. Feeling his mind go blank as he tried to get back to work, he stared down at the paper a good long while spacing out. It wasn't until he heard something at the window that he looked up and snapped out of it.
Turning around in his chair, Gaara was surprised by the pair of blue eyes staring at him from the window. Hanging upside down was a person dressed in all black, the only thing to be seen were their blue eyes staring at him. Instantly on alert, the gourd set against the wall sprang to life! The cork popped off and sand shot out straight towards the onlooker. The sand ninja heard them grunt and quickly move out of the way, making their way up to the roof. Glaring, he grabbed the giant gourd and hopped out the window himself, making his way to the roof of the Kazekage building. The moment his feet touched the ceramic tiles that made up his roof, a curved blade was swung at them. Quickly he dodged, seeing that this black clad individual had lunged at him for the attack.
Taking the steps back needed to put distance between the two of them, Gaara stood up straight and finally got a better look at his attacker. It was obviously a woman by the figure that the tight black clothes covered; small but full and proportioned. A black masked covered her head except her eyes, showing the beautiful blues to be glaring at him. The mask was connected with her top at the neck, which was an ice blue color, having no sleeves and running down to her hips while her left side there was an intricate hole cut out; obviously on purpose. Her skin tight black pants had a similar design on each side of her thighs; all of which were outlined in a soft, bright blue. Her feet were covered in simple black ninja sandals and her arms covered in gloves that stopped in the middle of her upper arms, revealing her pale shoulders. The four, dark brown, leather belts around her waist helped keep a long, large piece of light blue fabric with an even lighter shade of blue running along the hem. On her back seemed to be the handles of two daggers in the shape of ornate dragons.
His eyes traveled to her right hand which held a scythe attached to a long chain which was wrapped around her arm. Sand poured out of the gourd on his back, floating around him and ready to attack or defend depending on the move of this female ninja. She took a step forward and the sand around him seemed to get a little more violent which seemed to cause her to hesitate. Without another thought, sand shot out at the kunoichi who did a series of back flips to dodge.
"Heh, you'll have to do better then that Kazekage Gaara," she taunted, her voice harsh but surprisingly sweet.
"If you know who I am then you obviously know this a foolish attempt on my life," he spat calmly, ceasing his onslaught for the moment.
Spinning the chained scythe around by her side she laughed at him, "Who ever said you were the one I was after?"
"Setsuko?" he breathed curiously. Her stare darkened and his eyes widened; in his shoulder was an ice shard with blood dripping off it.
She winked at him, "Bingo. But honestly, I wouldn't be worrying about her so much when you're in much more danger."
How? How was she able to get past my defense? he asked himself, utterly shocked that she had managed to succeed in such a critical strike. Looking up at her from the bloody ice, he could see the smirk on her lips from under her mask. It was obvious to him that he should stop taking this woman so lightly. Grabbing onto the ice, he winced as he pulled it free from his body. He wasn't going to die again. There was no way he would let that happen! The kunoichi raised a brow as he seemed to become serious about their fight. Was she about to finally see the true power of the former Jinchuriki? If she was, then this would be exciting. Speaking of exciting, she jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being coiled by sand.
Spikes of sand seemed to spring forth from every direction, keeping the mysterious ninja at bay, for the moment. Even though his face didn't show it, Gaara was starting to get frustrated with this skirmish. It wasn't abnormal for people to try and kill him, but something about this particular fight seemed odd to him. It could possibly be because she was one of the impossible few, Sasuke and Deidara being the only others, to have broken his defenses. It was also curious that she wasn't actually attacking him. Swiftly his hands moved in the formation of a jutsu, finally wanting this to come to an end and question her.
"Desert Hand!" he shouted as he finished. The sand around them quickly sprang to life, taking the form of hands and grasping her tiny body in them. "Who are you?!" he question firmly, walking towards her trapped form.
Suddenly there was a blue blade at his throat, wrapped around his neck from behind. His eyes traveled to over his shoulder to see her behind him, and then back to the one in front of him only to see her disappear in a puff of smoke. "Kids these days have no sense."
"Who. Are. You?" he asked again, slowly and through gritted teeth at the aggravation that she was able to get around his defenses twice.
He watched her eyes narrow a bit and lean in close to him, feeling her lips near his ear through the fabric of her mask, "Meroko Nazaki," she whispered.
Shock coated his facial features and her own seemed amused, "The Ice Dragon?'
"Oh, so you've heard of me? Well I'm truly flattered," she bemused, pressing her body against his backside as a flirty taunt. "It's a shame you're only a kid," she ran a gloved hand through his auburn hair, "You're cute."
He jerked his head away with a hiss, "How?"
"Simple, red heads are all cute," she stated with a shrug.
"No, how did you get past my defense?" he asked.
"Oh, simple really…" she pressed her lips against his skin, running her hand from the top of his head, down his neck, around his waist and up his chest. "I'm better than you." Looking over his shoulder, he shot her a glare which made most people to terrified to stand; she looked at it like it was just a normal glance. "Listen to me," he could hear the smirk curl at her lips again, "If you don't want the blood of Suna staining the sand I suggest you hand over the Princess peacefully or I promise, Kazekage Gaara, I'll fulfill my threat."
Quickly she pushed away from him as a blade came crashing down between them. A large, blue tinted, curved blade smashed through the rooftop as the assailant jumped back. Gaara turned to see another kunoichi standing beside him, holding the handle of the weapon and giving his attacker a glare of pure evil. This one also wore a face mask, their bright, icy blue eyes shimmering in the now desert night with pale blonde bangs hanging over their right eyes, slightly obstructing it from view. A bright pastel blue shirt covered their upper body with a high, baggy collar and a darker blue hem. Bandage tape covered their arms, from fingers to middle of the upper arm; exposing their shoulders. Pulling the massive blade free, the ripped and frayed blue fabric swayed with their hips, one leg exposed while the other covered in skin tight black pants. Three dark leather belts adorned her hips instead of the others' four.
Looking at this ninja standing in front of him, obviously coming to his defense, he was surprised that she was handling an obviously two handed weapon with only one. She was tiny compared to it and yet she gracefully moved it as if it were a small baton. Sizing up the two women, this newer one was smaller than the other by a few inches. In fact, it seemed the other one seemed visibly agitated by the appearance of the kunoichi. Meroko held up her dagger, pointing at Gaara.
"You were lucky this night monster," once again he heard that annoying smirk spread across her face, "Think about what I said. Are you really willing to give your life for someone you don't know?" With a hiss of smoke her body disappeared and the two ninja were left alone on the rooftop.
The kunoichi strapped her weapon to her back with a silent sigh before turning around. Quickly she put her hands up when there was a kunai pointed at her face, "Who are you?" She didn't say a word, just stared at the point of his kunai, causing it to come closer to her, "I won't ask again." His voice dripped with poison, obviously upset by the fight he just had.
Uncurling her fingers, something dropped from her hand which exploded into a huge, murky cloud of smoke. Without a word or sound she disappeared from sight leaving Gaara more frustrated then he was with fighting just one kunoichi.