Summary: The Exam participants are reprimanded for being outside at night. Round two commences and Team Masumi face off against formidable Suna opponents with a penchant for cloaking.
Gaara looked taller the last time she saw him. His frame was filled out more, although he stayed slender and small. His red hair was longer, too, falling over his scar and relaxing right above his seafoam eyes. His face was picture of calm and serenity as he walked towards them. An imperceptible smile moved his pink lips, and he nodded his head in greeting.
"Just what exactly happened here?" Gai asked as he ran up to them. "Going outside at night is prohibited!"
"Round two begins before dawn," Temari said. "You should all be sleeping! Return to your quarters at once!"
"Not even gonna ask if we're okay?" Kokoro asked as she gathered herself.
"You seem fine to me," Temari said. Her eyes wandered down to her legs and she winced. "You should get your legs checked out."
"I can do it," a Suna-nin announced. She came over to Kokoro and bent down. She pressed her hands to her wounds, and they closed up in no time.
"Thanks," Kokoro said.
Choji ran up to Gai before bending down in a bow. "Gai-sensei! Oh, please! We are starving!"
"What?" Gai said as he turned his head and closed his eyes. "Seriously? You're starving!"
"To be fair," Kokoro said, "our dinner was ruined."
"Just go back and clear your mind of mundane thoughts, and even that fire will go out!" Gai said. He walked up to Choji and placed his arm around his shoulder. He turned Choji to the side and held out a container of food. Choji let out a sob of gratefulness. "Missing a single meal won't kill anyone. Think of this as training," he finished with a not-so-discreet thumbs up.
"Can he be anymore obvious?" Enkai asked. They were ordered to go back to their rooms to rest for the next round of the Exams, but Kokoro didn't want to go anywhere. She wanted to catch up with Gaara in-person. Temari eyed her and opened her mouth to tell her off but was cut-off by Fuu's loud complaining.
"What?" Fuu complained. "Seriously? You're all just gonna leave?"
"You're a very good person to help your rivals from other villages," Gaara commented. Kokoro pouted as his focus was not on her anymore. "If you'd ignored them, you'd have fewer opponents."
"I don't care about that stuff! Not about rivals or allies!" she shouted genuinely. She stood up and twirled on the beast's back. "I wonder if I'll still be able to make a hundred friends!" She jumped down. "Hey, wait! Maybe all of us can be friends! Wanna play cards or backgammon?" She addressed Gai, Temari, and Gaara. "Or we could take a bath together!"
Outraged, Kokoro glared at Fuu and took a step forward. She was pulled back by Junichiro and Enkai. Luckily, Fuu's teammates pulled her back. "That's the Kazekage and the jonin supervisors! You have to be more careful about what you say to them!
"But I want a hundred friends!" Fuu yelled as she was dragged back to the building. Team Masumi, Gaara, Temari, and Gai watched her get dragged away until they were out of sight. Then, Kokoro turned her attention back to the redhead who had been plaguing her dreams. She couldn't wait to talk to him, to feel his hand in hers, and hug him, if he'd let her. Through his letters, she'd picked up that he might like her just as much as she liked him, but she didn't know if his subtle confidence translated the same way in real life.
"So, this is him?" Junichiro asked, breaking the silence. Everyone looked at him.
"Don't start," Kokoro groaned.
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An Unexpected Love (Book 2 of the Unexpected Series)
Fanfiction[Book 2 of The Unexpected series] Kokoro Hatake managed to get past Gaara's defenses and became the friend Gaara's always wanted. It was hard to regain his trust and to get past strong feelings of hate and fear, but Kokoro was able to overcome them...
