Chapter 13 - Striving To Forget, Seeming To Remember

Gaara threw down his pen in disgust. Running a hand angrily through his hair, he decided that the Wind Country's finances could wait a few minutes.

Alright, focus your chakra...let wave upon wave of calm wash over you...

His breathing slowed, and he felt his self-control come seeping back. He tried to utilize this time to figure out what the hell was wrong with him. Something was bothering him, something he couldn't quite peg a finger on...

He was spared any further thought by the timely arrival of Akara and Kankuro in his office. Akara had a sheaf of legal forms for him to fill out for the new Genin, and in a low voice that was meant to announce that someone had entered his office, she spoke.

"Gaara-sama, Kankuro-san is here to see you."

Gaara, still frustrated, merely rubbed his eyes in irritation.

"Fine. You may go."

Akara didn't leave, instead standing there as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.

"If I may, Gaara-sama, I would like to take the rest of the day off."

Everyone in the room stared at her. Akara, taking a day off? Had hell frozen over?

"And why, pray tell, would you want that?"

"I need to train. I haven't done so in three months."

Gaara sighed. There was always a catch: she was still in shinobi-mode, and therefore would do exactly as she said and train. He knew she was devoted to her work, but this was ridiculous...

"Alright. You are dismissed."

Akara turned to leave, and Gaara couldn't help but notice the way her hips swayed when she walked, the way her arms nonchalantly hung at her sides, swinging slightly. Her hair bounced when she walked, her eyes trained and focused ahead.

Kankuro noticed his little brother staring off into space, and followed the intimidating redhead's gaze. He smiled.

"You LIKE her, don't you?"

Gaara's head snapped away from the doorway and his brother, a faint burning sensation pricking his cheeks.

"Ha! I knew it! See, you're even blushing!"

Gaara shot a glare in his brother's direction, but Kankuro only laughed.

"I do NOT like Akara-san, Kankuro."

"Sure you do! I don't blame you, she's one fine girl. I'm just glad that she's single...I definately wouldn't mind a piece of that..."

Gaara didn't know what came over him. One minute, he'd been behind his desk, the next minute, he was in front of Kankuro, absolutely livid.

"Don't you DARE talk aboout her in such a manner. She would not appreciate being thought of as some little pinup in a teenager's bedroom, and I personally never wish to hear such derogatory language about her from my own family. Understand, Kankuro?"

Kankuro considered his next words carefully. After all, these could very well be his last words, if Gaara so chose to actually have him killed. It was times like these that you would absolutely hate for the political and military leader of the country to be your highly unstable baby brother...

Gaara was clutching his fists so hard the knuckles were a ghastly shade of white. Kankuro gulped. "Understood, Gaara..."

Gaara pointed out the door. "Get out of my office. Now."

~~~~~~~~~~

Akara was in the training grounds, sweating profusely as each and every one of the thirteen windmill shuriken hit the target dummies dead-center in the head. She glared at the dummies, then walked up and yanked the shuriken from one. Sawdust and sand came hissing out of the cut in the dummy's burlap head.

She repeated the process twelve more times, then allowed the shuriken to be sealed back within the scroll she'd taken with her. The Konoha team had yet to leave, and as she sat there, she knew her friends would be leaving with it.

"I still have time for some kekkei genkei training..." she whispered to herself. This training was the one she needed the most. After all, the fact that her bloodline wasn't human probably wasn't a good thing were lack of practice was concerned.

She sighed. She'd conveniently "forgotten" to mention that fact to the others. No one in Suna knew she had demon blood, nor did they know exactly why she hardly ever used it on missions. It was quite simple, really: She didn't know how to control it still.

She concentrated hard, sending chakra from her chakra well in the Third Eye gate into her body, trying to keep the waves of mixed-blood chakra under control. She opened her eyes, and she found that she'd activated the Yashara without incident.

"Art of the Demon: Demon's Blade."

A blade of blue energy formed in her hands, enlongating the stubby blade of an average kunai she held in her hands. She focused in on the dummies, and with a wide arc she cut off their heads. Sawdust and sand flew everywhere, and she allowed the blade to disappear.

She then pushed a bit more chakra to her eyes, and forced them into the Amaterasu Yashara. She could see each tiny individual grain of sand, each tiny shaving of wood: it was a feeling like no other. She then flitted through some handsigns, and flicked her wrist behind her.

"Art of the Demon: Demon's Lash."

A long, electric-green whip extended from her fingertips and trailed behind her. She flicked it at the thirteen practice dummies, and they immediately melted from the poisonous chakra lash. The whip faded, leaving behind a huge mass of burlap, sawdust, and sand. She then took advantage of her insane speed, and used her Amaterasu Yashara to implode the fourteenth dummy she'd brought along as a spare. Panting, she deactivated the Yashara.

Four hours. She'd maintained control for four hours. She mentally gave herself a pat of the back. It was a milestone for her. Faint clapping was heard, and she turned to see the entire caravan from Konoha and her team, grinning like idiots and offering congradulations.

"Good work, Akara," said Maria, smiling broadly. Kristen and Kaori only glomped her, singing her praises.

The group from Konoha were stunned for the most part. Then, Naruto spoke up.

"That...was...AWESOME!"

Before she knew it, she had Lee, Sakura, Neji, Naruto, and the others gathered around her, asking where she learned such amazing techniques.

"Seriously, you were even faster than Lee! I didn't even think you were the one who blew up that dummy!"

"Remind me to never fight with you...it'd be very troublesome."

"I've never seen this kind of kekkei genkei before...is it exclusive only to Kiri?"

Akara paused, and turned to face Neji. "Yes. It is. I'm the last one of my kind to have this kekkei genkei."

"What happened to the others," asked Sakura. Maria, Kaori, and Kristen immediately blanched, and changed the subject.

"Say, why don't we eat at Akara's house? I'm sure Temari-hime and the others won't mind..." said Kaori rather hysterically. Everyone stared for a momnet, then agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Gaara still sat in his office. It was about five in the evening, and usually he'd be halfway home by now. But today, he felt that he needed time to think.

Did he like Akara? It was a thought that had plagued him all day. Sure, she was storng, smart, talented, and beautiful, but...

Oh Kami, did he just think she was beautiful?

He groaned in frustration and slammed his head on the desk. Not exactly the best idea, because now he had a whanging headache on top of being a complete and utter nervous wreck. Why the hell was he so worried?! You either like someone or you don't, and he obviously couldn't make up his mind. So he decided to head on home for some quiet.

Little did he know how far from quiet it would be.

~~~~~~~~~~

Akara knew Gaara wasn't happy.

Especially when he'd started to bang his head against the wall. Repeatedly.

She figured she should've told him that the others would be there for dinner.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kaori was sipping her drink when she was snatched from the table and shoved in the powder room under the staircase.

"What the...Temari-chan? Why did you shanghai me into a cramped powder room?"

"Listen, Kaori-chan, I have a question: Have you noticed if Akara-chan and Gaara were acting weird this week?"

Kaori thought about it. "I don't know about Gaara-san, but Akara-chan has been acting a bit strange lately..."

"Well, Gaara's been a little off too...so I was thinking, if you wanted to, we should try and get them together! They look cute together!"

Kaori's eyes flashed mischeviously. "I know precisely what you mean..."

They both grinned, and plotted their dasterdly plans.

"Oh, I do so LOVE matchmaking..."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Gaara-sama?"

Gaara looked up to see Akara standing in his doorway. It'd been a few weeks since Gaara's little "episode", but the wall had been repaired, and Akara was sure that his skull hadn't been seriously damaged...

"Yes?"

"The council wishes to see us. They say it is important, and that this may possibly be an S-rank mission."

"Impossible. You are a mere Chuunin."

"Say what you please, but the council wishes to see us all the same."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh...my...Kami..." said Gaara, shocked.

"Dear Lord above..." said Akara.

The two stared at the council members. There was a long, drawn-out, very awkward silence before...

"HELL NO!"

Baki winced. Those two could be incredibly loud when they want to be...

"I'm afraid no one else could handle it, Kazekage-sama," said an aging councilman.

"NO!"

"Akara-san, please..." pleaded a petite old lady.

"I refuse!"

"Alright you two," said Baki, laying it down in a way they could digest, "Here's the deal...you both go on a high-level mission disgused as husband and wife. The objective is to seduce the leader of an extremely dangerous rebel group in Tea Country, then assasinate him. Just think of it as a paid vacation, only it's not for real."

The two mulled it over, before Gaara said something.

"Akara-san is a mere Chuunin. She could never perform this mission."

"Kazekage-sama, Akara-san has been made a Jonin."

"How?!"

"The council had made the decision to override your political power and through a petition of the ANBU she has worked under, they saw her fit for Jonin status."

"I'm a Jonin?"

Baki looked at the girl for the first time that day, and was shocked to see her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Yes, you are."

She then gave a huge grin, and looked at Gaara.

"Well, I guess you can't call me 'girl' or 'kunoichi' anymore...I'm almost an ANBU, and soon I'll be the captain."

"In your dreams," he replied, rather childishly. Baki sighed.

"So do you both accept?"

Gaara and Akara realised the futility of refusing, so they did what any sensible shinobi would'vr done.

"Hai," they said, bowing to the councilmen and councilwomen before them.

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