The next day, the festival had arrived. Yuri, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari and Yukina headed to the village square. The streets were crowded and filled with many concession stands with games and food.
"I don't get it. Why are we here? We haven't been to the festival in years." Kankuro murmured. "Don't you think we're a little too old for this? I mean, we're not little kids anymore."
"But that still doesn't mean we can't enjoy ourselves every now and then." Yuri smiled. "Although, some things do look a little different." She noticed that some of her favorite games weren't there. Where's the ring toss onto the bottles? It might have been rigged but it was still fun! At least the goldfish scooping was still there.
"Are you going to stand around all day?" Temari asked. Yuri blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. She grabbed Gaara's hand and quickly took off, leaving the others behind.
"Come on! Let's go over to the goldfish!" She exclaimed, excitedly.
"W-Wait!" Gaara protested, still little startled when Yuri grabbed his hand. Temari and Kankuro watched them leave, wandering what to do. Kankuro turned, looking at Yukina, seeing her stare at him, quietly.
"Want to go grab a bite to eat?" He asked her. Kankuro saw Yukina's eyes shine a little and she quickly nodded her head. Temari smiled and grabbed Yukina's hand.
"Great! Let's go!" She dragged Yukina away, walking over to the stands that had some grilled Teriyaki chicken.
"Hey, I asked her first." Kankuro grumbled, following them.
As they headed over to the goldfish catch, Gaara noticed some villagers eyeing him, warily, with fearful looks. Some quickly moved out of the way. The man that was watching over the stand smiled when he saw Yuri approach.
"Hey there little missy-" His eyes widen and his smile immediately dropped when he saw Gaara next to her.
"Get out of here!" He screamed. "You're scaring away all of my customers! Why did you have to come anyway!? Nobody wants you around!" Yuri's eyes widen in shock and her mouth dropped a bit before she narrowed her eyes.
"Hey!-" Yuri was about to go off on him until she saw Gaara walking away. She turned back to the man.
"You're a terrible old man!" Yuri shouted at him, furiously, and quickly chased after Gaara. "Gaara, wait!"
She caught up to him and Gaara stopped. "I knew that this was a bad idea." Gaara murmured, softly. "I'm sorry I ruined it for you."
"What? No! You didn't ruin anything. To tell you the truth, the festival wasn't as much fun like it used to be. I think I outgrew it." Yuri told him.
"What do you mean?" Gaara asked. Temari, Kankuro and Yukina quickly ran up to them.
"Hey! What happened? We saw you guys left all of a sudden. Did something happen?" Kankuro asked, looking at Gaara. Gaara avoided his gaze, silently looking away. "Did someone say something to you?"
"It's not important." Gaara spoke.
"I'm going to give them a piece of my mind!" Kankuro growled.
"Don't." Gaara quickly, stopped him. "I said it's not important. Forget about it."
"Gaara..." Temari murmured. "Maybe we should head back and forget about this whole thing."
"Hey, we shouldn't let one guy ruin our day. We can still have our own fun!" Yuri smiled, looking at them. Gaara, Temari and Kankuro looked at her confused.
"What do you mean?" Kankuro asked.
"Let's head outside the village. It's safer that way." She told them and walked away.
"Safer?" Gaara questioned. Yuri smiled.
"There's someone that I want you guys to meet."
Yuri led Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, while Yukina walked behind her as she took them out of the village a little further into the desert. "Okay, why did you want to meet out here in the middle of the desert?" Kankuro questioned.
"Do you want to go for a ride?" Yuri asked them. They stared at her, still wondering what she meant. Yuri turned back and summoned Sakishima. The large lizard poofed into thin air. It stared down at the group, curiously, but also looking at Yuri a little annoyed. Temari and Kankuro backed away a little, startled by the lizard's size. Gaara stood where he was, staring in shock. Yuri climbed up on Sakishima's back and helped Yukina up.
"Hop on!"
"I am not getting on that thing!" Kankuro exclaimed.
"I promise it's safe. He only bites if I tell him." Yuri smiled. Kankuro was still unconvinced.
"That's very reassuring-Gaara!" Gaara hopped up, landing next to Yuri and sat down. Then Temari hopped up, sitting behind her.
"Temari, not you, too-"
"Kankuro, shut up and get on." Temari hissed at him. Kankuro quietly climbed up, while avoiding the lizard's gaze as he eyed Kankuro with a hungry look.
"So, where to?" Yuri asked.
"The Desert of Death." Gaara spoke. Yuri raised an eyebrow, curiously, and made Sakishima head deeper into the desert.
"Any particular reason why we're going there?" She asked him.
"I've been overhearing some words from several scouts that there's a disturbance there." Gaara explained. "Each time a team went out, only a few ever return back, if they're lucky, any at all."
"I've been hearing the same report." Temari murmured.
"So, something's been hunting people down in the desert? Did anyone say what it was?" Yuri questioned.
"Are you getting scared already?" Kankuro smirked.
"And this is coming from the guy who's scared to get onto a giant lizard?" Yuri taunted him back.
"I wasn't scared-"
"What would you call it then?"
"Will you two stop!?" Temari shouted. Suddenly, Sakishima jerked away, hard, quickly turning in a different direction. Everyone moved their chakra to their feet, keeping themselves steady.
"Can you control your pet?" Kankuro asked.
"I think he senses something nearby." Yuri frowned.
"There's a cloud of sand coming up from behind us." Gaara said. Everyone looked behind them to see a cloud of dust following them, fast. It wasn't a sandstorm and it wasn't a dust devil. A low rumble was heard from the ground. Then a large blueish-grey scorpion rose out from the sand, crawling towards them, fast!
"I guess that explains the disappearances!" Yuri shouted.
"It's coming fast!" Temari frowned. Then Yuri saw a large rocky cliff side up ahead and made Sakishima dart towards it.
"Uh, there's a rock wall up ahead or do you not see it!?" Kankuro shouted.
"Yuri! Turn around!" Temari shouted.
"Guys, summon chakra to your feet and hold on!" Yuri told them. Just as they were about to smash into the wall, Sakishima began to climb up. The sudden move nearly made everyone stumble. Kankuro fell off as he barely had time to move his chakra to his feet.
"Kankuro!" Temari screamed. Yuri quickly looked back and quickly handed the reigns over to Gaara.
"Take this!" She shouted and quickly ran down Sakishima's back. She pulled her scarf off from her neck and threw out towards Kankuro and he managed to grab on to it. The scarf slowly began to rip and tear, slightly.
"Quick! Grab onto his tail!" Yuri shouted. Kankuro quickly climbed up and latched himself onto the lizard's tail, hanging on. Gaara used his sand to grab his brother, pulling Kankuro back towards them. Yuri looked down to see the scorpion had stopped at the bottom, eyeing them with its red beady eyes. Then suddenly Yuri noticed something strange glowing in the center of the creature's head.
"Hey! Do you guys see that!?" Yuri shouted.
"No!" Temari shouted.
"In case you haven't noticed we're a little busy!" Kankuro shouted.
"What do you see?" Gaara called back.
"There's a glowing spot in the center of the scorpion's head! I think it might be a weak spot! I'm going go for it!" Yuri shouted.
"You're not seriously going to-" Kankuro spoke and Yuri jumped off, diving down towards the scorpion at a fast speed.
"Yuri!" Temari cried out and Gaara's eyes widened and tried to make his sand grab her just as the scorpion raised it's claws about to grab Yuri in them. Yuri pulled out a kunai and slammed it into the scorpion's head, burying it deep. The creature let out a hallowed roar in pain before it fell to the ground, dead. Yuri stood up and turned back towards everyone, seeing them stare back down in shock and in disbelief.
"I think that's enough fun for one day!" She smiled. "We should head back before it gets dark!"
"Yeah, that's a good idea." Gaara spoke.
Sakishima climbed back down, and Yuri hopped off the scorpion, climbing back up. She quietly took the reins back from Gaara, who stared at her, silently.
"Is there something wrong?" She asked, noticing, as well everyone else who was still shocked.
"Something wrong? You just took down a large scorpion with a single kunai!" Kankuro exclaimed.
"Yeah, and? I see no problem with that. Now, it won't interfere anyone again." Yuri spoke.
"You said something about a weak point. You saw it, somehow?" Gaara asked.
"Yeah! You're telling me that neither of you guys did?" She asked them.
"No, we didn't." Temari told her, shaking her head. Yuri blinked, looking at them surprised, wondering herself until she noticed the state of her old scarf. It had been stretched and ripped, beyond repair. "Man, this was my favorite." She whined. Gaara stared at her, quietly, before he spoke.
"Come on, let's go."
Yuri's eyes widened a little. "Okay."
Yuri rode Sakishima, taking them back to the Sand Village, stopping further away from it. Everyone hopped off and Kankuro jumped down last. Sakishima gave him a little lick, making Kankuro shiver.
"Hey! What's it doing!?" He cried out. Yuri smiled, laughing a little and so did Temari.
"Aw, he likes you!" Yuri told him.
"What happens when he doesn't like someone?" Kankuro asked, pushing the lizard's head away from him.
"He'll try to eat them." Kankuro gulped.
"That's it! I'm going home!" He shouted and walked away, leaving.