Nothing Special

Chapter 30

They still stood at the bottom of the arena, as everyone cheered for Sasuke.

" All right, Gaara, come down here," Genma ordered. 

" Come on, Naruto and Aceso," Shikamaru said as he began to walk to the door. " They don't need us here."

" Oh, uh," Naruto breathed as Aceso followed him.

" Let's go," Aceso called for him.

" And I'm gonna take the stairs this time, if you don't mind," Shikamaru added.

" Come on, are you still upset that I gave you a little push!" Naruto exclaimed. " You oughta be grateful." As he finally started to follow.

" It was more than a little push," Aceso disagreed.

" There is no way I will allow you two in stairs alone," Naruto added. " Not going to let this lazy guy try to make a move."

" What a drag," Shikamaru groaned.

" It was an accident," Aceso pointed out. Soon Naruto was going up the stairs faster than the other two.

" Sorry about falling on you," Shikamaru apologized.

" I'm sorry for flipping you like that," Aceso apologized.

" If you didn't your brother would have squashed us both," Shikamaru pointed out. " What a drag." Aceso smiled a little. " Have your eyes always glowed green like that?"

" No," Aceso answered softly as her smile dropped. " I'm not sure why they did that."

" Oh man, a new mysterious ability," Shikamaru said. " Something to play around with."

" I don't have time for that," Aceso shook her head. " The patients." There was a moment of silence.

" At least my first kiss was by a pretty doctor," Shikamaru blurted out. 

" That was your first kiss too?" Aceso asked as she looked at him. 

" Not quite how I imagined it," Shikamaru said as he looked at her. 

" Nor I," Aceso nodded.

" Will you two hurry up?" Naruto demanded. " Come on!" They both looked forward.

" Relax, Naruto," Shikamaru groaned.

" You're gonna give yourself an ulcer," Aceso added.

" Huh?" Naruto asked as he stopped and looked at the ramp going to the waiting area.

" What is it?" Shikamaru asked as the other two join him on the same step and looked. They saw Gaara walking down the ramp with his eyes closed.

" You puny kids think this tournament is about you, but it's really about the people who bet on you, or against you in your case," the grass ninja said. " You see, our master's got a lot of money on the other guy to win."

" Got it?" the other guy asked. " That means you gotta lose." The cork on his gourd squeaked.

" Well, so what's it going to be kid?" the first guy asked.

" Maybe he's too scared to talk," the second guy said. He looked up and opened his eyes, with the same crazy death look in his eyes. One of the guys reached into his coat and pulled out a kunai knife. The cork popped off and sand flowed everywhere.

" Huh?" both of them gasped. The light bulbs above them all broke as Gaara breathed heavily. They watched the sand sweep all around the hall, he grabbed one of the guys and suffocated him, he stopped screaming. The sand buried him into nothing. The other guy ran as the sand bolted towards him. The guy made it out of the tunnel, but the sand grabbed him and sucked him back in. Once the guy stopped struggling the sand pulled him back faster.