Hey there! I'm back in my biweekly updating rhythm, yay!

Thanks and imaginary cookies to Miko Hayashi, Jestie Uchiha and Aiko Tachibana for your wonderful reviews! ^.^

Not much to say this time except that I started writing early today since I still have to study for that English test tomorrow... Ugh studying... -.-

Sins and Sunshine

Chapter 18: Forest of troubles

"It's called the 'Forest of Death'." Anko announced as all the Genin teams assembled in front of some huge fenced in forest.

"Why is it called Forest of Death?" I asked confusedly.

"Dunno. Maybe it's dangerous in there." Nobu suggested and started grinning like a madman by the thought of life-threatening dangers. Sometimes I really wonder what went wrong with his brain...

"But then wouldn't Forest of Dangers or Forest of Creepiness be more suited?"

"Or Forest of Giant Trees. That'd also suit it pretty well."

"Or Forest of Giant Insects." I said and grimaced as I watched this huge-ass centipede crawling up one of those gigantic trees.

We continued making up new stupid names for the forest until Ayano motioned us to shut up and listen to Anko, since she had something to say that'd be important for the test and she was the test supervisor and such.

"You all have to sign these agreement forms, since there'll be deaths in this test and I don't want to be made responsible for it!" she said with an angel like smile and bloodthirsty aura at the same time, then handed out the forms. Not that I'd care for this death thing, just have to stay with my group and nothing could possibly happen to me, right?

So after signing the forms we got handed out an earth scroll.

"I want to have the scroll!" Nobu shouted and instantly got a punch to the head by me.

"Sure you will. Then everyone of the other teams knows who of us has the scroll. Is your head just for decoration or what?" I growled sarcastically. In the meanwhile Ayano took the scroll and hid it somewhere in her clothes. Perfect! If Ayano has the scroll nothing can go wrong!

"Let's go to gate 37!" I proclaimed and advanced in the direction of my desired gate's location.

"Why 37?" Nobu asked.

"Because it's my favourite number."

"If it's like that, then I want gate 13!"

"You know that 13 is an unlucky number?"

"Really?"

"..." Ayano pointed at the gate 2 which I just passed.

"Okay. You have the scroll, you decide." I said shrugging.

Then after every teams found their gate some guard ninja opened it for us so we could proceed to the testing area.

"Woohoo! It's showtime, baby!" Nobu shouted in high spirits as we leaped onto the trees.

"Damn! I wonder where the two of them went?"

Not even 20 minutes passed since the beginning of the test and I already got separated from my teammates. Tough luck, I guess.

So as I aimlessly wandered around in this creepy forest looking for my friends, I actually met someone! Well it was some random genin from Kusagakure, so nothing to be happy about. He was leaping through the trees but stopped dead in his track as he saw me standing at the ground and starring at him.

"She looks weak." he mumbled and instantly jumped from the tree to go right at me with a kunai. I dodged him gained some distance and drew my own kunai.

"You know, I don't have the scroll." I told him with a cool expression, but either he didn't believe me or he deliberately ignored me, since he kept attacking me, thinking I was weak. Not nice, you know, judging a person by one's appearance. Okay, basically he was right, I'm not the toughest ninja out there, but still!

After 5 minutes of endlessly dodging his ignorant attacks I grew quite tired of it.

"Did you even listen to me?" I asked him for the nth time as I jumped on a tree branch. No answer. Great.

Finally I was irritated enough, that I landed on the ground with kunais in each hand, waiting for him to get close enough. He was now 5 meters away from me not even acknowledging me as a potential danger when-

POW!

He got smashed into the ground as something heavy landed on him in full speed. I blinked twice and after the whirled up dust vanished I saw that this something was actually Nobu, who turned his arm metallic with his Kekkei Genkai and punched him right in the back after leaping off a branch above us.

"Lucky, he has a heaven scroll!" the blonde stated with a broad grin and handed the scroll to Ayano, who jumped from a tree and stepped next to him to retrieve the item and putting it away.

"Hey guys, just on time." I said grinning at my friends.

"Minari-chan! Where have you been? Don't just wander off all on your on!" Nobu scolded me and all I could do was grinning sheepishly while scratching my cheek.

"Well, I guess I was in thoughts?"

"At least we got this guy thanks to you. His teammates didn't have a scroll with them and if it wasn't for you we'd still be searching for him." Nobu explained and kicked the unconscious body of that genin. Poor guy. Must be tough to be one of Nobu's victims.

"So now all we have to do is reaching that tower right?" I asked realizing that we now had the scrolls we needed.

"Yep, so let's go and get there first!"

Half an hour later...

"Damn it! Not again!" I cursed as I got separated from my team for the second time. Maybe I should stop daydreaming...

Now since I got nothing better to do I leapt from tree to tree trying to sense familiar chakra. And after some time I finally sensed something. As I approached the chakra that I sensed I found Kiba, Hinata and Shino cowering behind some bushes. I landed on a tree branch next to them and gave them a friendly smile when they noticed me. Then hiding in the shadow of the tree I took a peek at the meadow to see whatever made my friends cowering in fear like that.

There was Gaara (and siblings) standing in the midst of the small meadow facing a team from Amegakure. One of the Ame-nin threw his umbrellas in the air from which senbon were hailing down on Gaara. He however defended himself by hiding in a cocoon of sand in which all the needles got stuck making the cocoon look like a hedgehog.

Ahedgehogwithahotredheadinside...Stop! I didn't think of my childhood friend as hot just now! Evil thoughts out of my head!

Anyway, Gaara then trapped his opponent in his Desert Coffin and made it floating in the air. Then after picking up one of those umbrellas he crushed that guy with his Desert Graveyard Jutsu, blood splattering everywhere dyeing everything red, except for Gaara who had an umbrella with him. The other guys were so horrified that they gave him their scroll in hope to be spared by the redhead but he showed no mercy and killed them the same way like the umbrella guy. More blood poured down like rain and one blood splatter even brushed my cheek forming there a thin line of red.

Absentmindedly I brushed the blood of my cheek and rubbed it between my fingers. To say I was shocked would be a complete understatement. That boy down there wasn't the cute lonely boy from my childhood anymore. I wondered what possibly could have happened to chance his attitude so drastically.

But I didn't have enough time to think about it. Gaara's thirst for blood was still not satisfied and made him grave for more killing. A cold shiver ran down my spine. His voice together with the cold expression in his eyes left me with a sensation of fear. And if that wasn't enough he turned to exactly where my friends were hiding. We changed glances of utter horror. He would kill them for sure if nothing happens. I leaned against the trunk of the tree and took a deep breath. I can do it.

I forced a smile on my lips and stepped out of the shadow of the tree. The meanwhile I motioned the three to make a run for it and hoped at the same time that Gaara wouldn't go as far as killing me.

"Minari? What are you doing here?" Kankuro asked shocked as he saw me.

"I was just passing by." I said laughing stiffly and scratching the back of my head. Gaara watched me with an intensive stare which made me even more nervous.

"You saw it." he said. It wasn't a question but a statement. I nodded obediently.

"I did."

"I'm a monster."

"I always told you, of all the people out there, you're the least likely one to be called a monster. And this still hasn't changed, you know?" After saying that I felt a bit more courageous and as the killing intent of the boy slowly faded I inwardly heaved a sight of relief. Seemed like there was still something left of the boy that I used to call my most important friend.

He kept starring at me for a while before finally continuing to speak.

"...You didn't chance at all."

"But you all the more." I answered softly with a bitter voice. But the moment those words left my mouth I wanted to hit my head with something hard. He finally calmed down and what am I doing? Provoking him again! How can I actually be so stupid?

His stare intensified to a glare that pierced right through me. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see his siblings backing quickly backing away, but I didn't avert my eyes from his, or better I couldn't. The coldness in this glares made me unable to move even one muscle.

"Are you afraid of me?" Even his voice was cold and sent shivers down my spine. And to make it worse, I didn't have the slightest idea how I could get out of this mess without threatening my own life or baking the heart of my friend. Lying wasn't an option either, he'd see right through it. And if that wasn't bad enough, a bloodthirsty smirk formed on his lips and his eyes seemed to darken.

"I'm terrifying you." His now completely estranged voice made me snap out of it. I gripped with shoulders gently yet firmly and look deep into his eyes.

"Yeah, you really are frightening me if you're acting all weird like this, so stop it and turn back to normal so I can give you a hug."

Surprised he blinked at me and again the evil aura around him vanished. I grinned and pulled him into a short hug.

"That's better." I stated happily and suppressed to laugh when Temari and Kankuro slowly came nearer after sensing that the danger was over.

"Okay now that this is settled..." I started looking at the three of them. "Unfortunately I got separates from my team and I'm afraid if I'm trying to make my way to the tower all alone I'll most likely never get there."

They gave me strange look as if telling me to get to the point. So I used my most friendly smile I had up my sleeves.

"Can I accompany you? Pretty please!"

The older siblings exchanged looks while the younger one didn't even look at me as he spoke.

"I don't care as long as you don't come in my way."

My smile changed into a grin and I happily hugged him again.

"Yay! Thanks Gaara, you're the best!"

So while following those three a familiar presence appeared in my mind.

Becareful,Minari, Kumiho whispered inside my head. Her voice having an unusual sternness.

Compared with the past he is now able to easily kill you.

I know but he won't.

What makes you so sure? He isn't the boy you knew anymore.

I'm aware or that but I still believe in him and that he won't harm me.

And just with this belief of yours you risk to get yourself killed?

It's my duty as a friend to help him. Since I have the feeling that this is actually all my fault...

The sound of a sight resounded in my mind.

Do what you want, but be warned. If it gets dangerous I'll take control and you know how this'll end.

Don't worry I won't get myself into dangerous situation. I slowly begin to understand him and I definitely won't fail.

With this the voice disappeared from my mind though leaving behind a feeling of anxiousness. But I quickly put it aside and went to walk next to my old friend Gaara.

In the tower...

"Aww, how long do we still have to wait here?" I whined.

"We're standing here for already half a day doing absolutely nothing." Kankuro agreed.

We reached the tower in record time and since then were waiting for anything to happen.

After strolling through the tower for a while we were now in some sort of lounge and to put it simple, it was boring!

It became evening and three or so other teams finally arrived here, too. One of them was team 8, so I decided to go and talk to them.

"Hey guys!" I greeted as I walked up to them.

"Minari-chan, you're alive!" Kiba yelled.

"Err yeah... Seems so."

"W-When d-did you arrive?" Hinata asked me timidly.

"Some hours ago. I went here together with the team from Suna."

"What? You mean that crazy guy that wanted to kill us?" Kiba shouted completely shocked.

"His name is Gaara and back when I was still living in Suna he was a really good friend of mine, okay?" I vindicated my childhood friend. "And I actually saved your butt back there so a little bit of gratitude wouldn't be too bad, you know?"

Kiba went silent and averted his eyes, but mumbled a faint 'thanks' between his pouting.

"You lost your team?" Shino asked and I smiled sheepishly at him.

"Yeah. Couldn't find them anywhere so I had to find someone else who'd show me the way."

"There." He pointed to the entrance and when I turned around to in the direction he was pointing I saw Nobu and Ayano entering the lounge.

"Booh!" I whispered into Nobu's ear after I successfully sneaked up to him and making him jump and scream like a girl.

"Minari-chan! Don't ever do that again!" I scolded me after getting back his composure from screaming like a girl.

"And what the hell are you doing here?"

"Well after I lost you again I thought, it'd be best to meet up with you two at the tower. Seems like that was a good idea after all." I explained.

"And did you already open the scrolls?" I then asked them after remembering that when the sand siblings opened them a chunin did appear, that told them they passed.

"Yeah, we did. Then Iruka-sensei appeared and told us that we passed." Nobu stated. Seems like this is the same with all the teams...

"Then he asked where you were and that we could only pass as a team. We told him that you were already waiting at the tower. Good thing this was actually the case, otherwise we would have failed!" he scolded me. Oops...

And again it got late... fail...

Okay I reaaaally loved the scene in the manga when Gaara used the umbrella to not get dirty by the blood rain. It was just too... sexy! X3 I'm a Gaara fan, leave me alone xP

Somehow this chapter got in some parts pretty depressing and it wasn't that funny either... Well this is nothing compared to the next chapter... depression at full force... Okay who cares.

Please review! Really luv reviews, such a wonderful feeling to know that there are actually people out there that like the things that I write... Haaaaa... *drifting off to lala-land* Anyway please review and make this poor little author happy ;)