Suna the Neko (Gaara)

4

I winced and a silent hiss escaped my throat as I barely doged the attack that Temari threw at me. Gaara told her not to hold back and told her about my control of sand. I was getting the beating of a life time. It didn't matter though, Nekos heal fast so I would be in good shape by the end of the night. But what did bother me is how I wasn't remotely strong enough to dodge or fight back. Sure I could block with the help of my sand, but as my bruises will show it wasn't as fast as Gaara's. I could see even Temari was getting bored beating me up, she needed a challenge, and I needed to start from square one of combat training.

"Okay, lets stop for now." she breathed, a little annoyed. She eyed the violet and blue markings that spotted my body. "You sure you'll heal?" she said, worried.

I nodded and smiled. My ears perked up as I heard someone approaching. We were outside of the village because I couldn't be seen in the village in my human form without the right paperwork, or at least that's what Baki told us. I twitched my tail nervously until I saw who it was.

"Hey Kankuro, you come to see your twin?" she laughed.

The large boy smirked. "Yes actually, Baki said it was time to switch, I train with the kitty and you go with the old guy." he walked over to stand in front of us, closer to me.

Temari shrugged. "Fine." she started walking off. "Gaara said don't go easy on her, she's not much of a fighter though." she called to him, not bothering to turn around.

"Yeah, whatever." he called back to her as she disappeared into the forest. He lookedat me and grabbed my arm softly, eyeing the bruises. I winced at his touch. "Are you okay, little kitty?"

I nodded, looking away from him.

"You'll heal?" he asked and I nodded again. "I'm not gonna hurt you like this, okay?" once again, I nodded. He grabbed my chin and turned my head to face his, he looked me in the eyes. I looked into his black voids and I could see how he was struggling to remember something he didn't know he forgot. Me.

He sighed after searching for a few moments. He pulled away. "Alright, so we're gonna start with some simple hand-to-hand stuff. Defence. Then maybe we'll work on some offensive moves and some jutsu." he looked at the ground, at the sand scattered around my bare feet. "You'll have to go to Gaara to learn how to control your sand, I have know idea how to help you with that."

I nodded, understanding. I smiled a little Kankuro was always a gentle soul. I bit my lip thinking back to the day before with him arguing with those kids. Why did he have to be so mean in public? The same with Gaara. He actually notices me when we're all alone and talks to me.

"You ready?" he asked and I smiled at him.

~~~~

I was out of breath by the end of our training sesion but I was happy. I sat in the grass watching the sun set, catching my breath and wiping my sweat away. I smiled up at Kankuro and he grinned back.

"You did good today, Kitty. You'll be giving Temari a run for her money in no time." he chuckled. My tail curled behind me and I blushed a little. I grinned and looked away. "It's true!" he came to sit next to me.

It was silent for a while. I wrapped my arms around myself and looked at him. He was already looking at me. The wrinkles of his furrowed brow showed up behind the face paint. "You.... You were with us when mom was alive?" I don't think he meant for it to be a question, I nodded anyway. He shook his head. "I thought you were an imaginary friend, a ghost, even." his hands gripped fistfuls of grass. "I remember... I remember you." he shut his eyes. "Dad- The Kazekage?" he corrected quickly. "Did he send you away?" he asked me and I nodded slowly. "Then why are you hanging out with Gaara?" He turned my face to look at him again. "He won't protect you out there. He doesn't and will never care about you. Temari is the same." He held my head with both of his hands. "Stay with me, Kitty. I'll protect you, I'll keep you safe. I promise." He was trembling, I frowned and started to shake my head.

"Get your hands off her." I grinned when Gaara showed up and went to hug him but he moved out of the way quickly. I pouted.

"S-sorry, Gaara. I was just- you know, letting her choose what kind of life she wanted." He said, gritting his teeth.

"She's mine." he said stepping in front of me, with his same emotionless tone. "I own her." he added.

"Yeah well that's some way to treat your property." he stood up, motioning to the marks on my body.

Gaara stepped closer to him, sand rising in the air around us. "The only reason I'm not killing you is because we need three entrants in the exam. Enjoy your life now, because you won't see another day after the exams."

I started to bite my lip. I tried to reach out for Gaara but thought twice about it and put my hand down.

"Woah, woah, boys. No need to fight." Temari ran over to us and stepped between them. She looked at me then to Gaara. "Suna's tired, why don't you take her home, Gaara? She can walk in the village with that form now." she handed Gaara a small booklet. "We got your papers, Suna." she smiled at me and I grinned back.

Gaara turned around after he took the booklet from her, his eyes never made contact with mine. "Lets go." he spoke as he walked past me.

I waved to the other siblings and noticed the sad look on Kankuro's face. I returned his look with a grimace as I ran to catch up to Gaara. He was silent. Nothing new. A silent sigh escaped my lips. Why did they have to fight so much? They were blood brothers. I don't remember much from my original family but if I had a brother or a sister I wouldn't treat them like that. We walked through the village, people were heading home, some stores were closing for the day. The sun was almost down past the horizon as we made it to our temporary home.

"I heard what Kankuro told you." He spoke when we were alone in our room. He scoffed. "He could never protect you, he's too weak." I shrugged. "You didn't know that, but you still chose me." he was looking out the window. "Why?" he asked, still not looking at me.

I turned him around and rolled up my sleeve showing my 'love' tattoo. I pointed at it and pointed to his, tapping the mark on his forehead with my finger. I smiled.

He looked into my eyes. "Why? Why do you love me?"

I shrugged, not knowing how to explain it without words. Then I found it hard to breath.

"Tell me!" he yelled, his sand was wrapped around me, squeezing me. He pushed me up against a wall, my arms were loose but the sand still pressed down on my chest.

I used my control to wrap him in sand, more delicately. I pulled him closer and his sand squeezed harder, but I kept pulling him until he was right in front of me. With my free arms I pulled him into a hug and kissed his cheek. His sand dropped immediately.

"Get, get off of me!" he tried to pull away but I just pulled him closer into the space his sand just left. "Let me go!" he yelled. I cacooned us in my sand. "Stop! Stop touching me!" he struggled. I kissed his forehead, right where the mark was. "Stop." he said quietly.

We stayed like this for a while. The sky outside the window was black and blue like the bruises on my skin, but the stars twinkled and shined brightly. His arms stayed at his sides, mine wrapped around him. He didn't move a muscle or a grain of sand. I dropped my control on the cacoon some time ago so it was just me holding us together.

I slowly unwraped my arms from around him and leaned back, looking at his face. It was blank and didn't give anything away. I pulled away completely and his sand was back at my neck. "You touch me again and I'll kill you." he walked away from me and towards the door, sand still assaulting me. He opened it and revealed a stunned Temari, fist raised to knock on the door, two bags in her other hand. She looked at me with sympathetic eyes. Gaara took the bags from her and shut the door in her face.

As soon as the door closed the sand dropped from my neck. He threw the bags at me, I caught them with little trouble. "Eat, rest. In the morning, you train with me."