Because I Met You

Chapter 27: Konohagakure no Sato

Kankuro is holding a kid by his collar! A blonde guy keeps yelling at him to let go of the kid. Temari is sighing in exasperation.

"Kankuro! What are you doing?"

I can't just stand there and do nothing! I step in front of Kankuro and ask him to let the kid go.

"None of your business, Kiu. Now scram!"

Ugh, he's trying to play the role of the tough bully in front of these people.

"Kankuro, you're a disgrace to our village."

This time, Gaara steps forward and stands next to me. Kankuro then avoids Gaara's stare and lets the kid go.

"Geez, you don't have to put it that way..."

Both Gaara and I then turn towards the people from the other village.

"We're so sorry about this... Kankuro can be unreasonable sometimes."

I smile awkwardly and scratch the back of my head. Now that I look closely, there's the blonde boy, a girl with pink hair, and two kids other than the one Kankuro was bullying.

"Naruto, what's going on?"

A voice from behind the blonde guy's group says. It's a boy with raven black hair and sharp black eyes. They all turn towards him when they hear him.

"Sasuke!"

The pink haired girl squeals. That Sasuke guy is pretty good-looking. But Gaara's better looking.

"Nothing..."

The blonde guy, I think Naruto's his name, pouts. They don't seem like they're on good terms. Sasuke then walks up to us, coming face to face with me and Gaara. I can't help but feel a little nervous when seeing him up close like that. He really is handsome! Get a hold of yourself, Kiu!

"May I ask who you people are?"

"Oh, us? We're Sunagakure shinobi. We're here for the Chunin exams."

I answer him, trying to shake off my nervousness.

"Chunin exams?"

Naruto seems confused about what those are. He really doesn't know?

"We have to go, Kiu. Sorry for the trouble we caused."

Gaara takes my wrist and we walk away from the Konoha shinobi. They all have headbands except the three kids, so I am guessing that they're all shinobi. They're probably Genin, or at least I think they are.

We all walk to the lodging area reserved for all Chunin exam contestants. When we get there, we each go to our assigned room. It seems like it's by squad. Each team has a room. So that means I won't be spending my time with Gaara. On the bright side, I won't be with Mari either. Gaara finally lets go of my arm and gets his room key. He shows me the number on it before leaving with Temari and Kankuro. 206... I should remember that. Koji, Maru, and I get our keys and head to room that matches the room number on our keys.

"Room 221? So it's on the second floor?"

I ask Koji and Maru who are also holding their room keys.

"Probably, if they're using a normal system."

Maru says a bit mockingly. We keep walking and go up to the second floor. When we get there, we find Mari's team standing in the hallway. Why them? I'll just ignore them and keep going. I look at Maru and Koji. Koji looks just as annoyed as me to see them. Maru, on the other hand, keeps staring at Hana. Don't tell me he has a thing for her... Jun and Hana are one of the people who I used to play with when me and Mari were friends. But, just like Mari, they started being jerks to me ever since I started hanging out with Gaara. I don't regret anything, though. On the contrary, I'm glad I chose Gaara over them. He's much more important to me than they'll ever be.

When we walk past them, they don't say anything.

"Hey, loser!"

At least, I thought they wouldn't... I should just ignore Mari. I shouldn't give into her provocations. I keep walking, but then she comes and stands in front of me, blocking my way.

"What do you want?"

I look her in the eye, not flinching. She looks a bit pissed, but that's not new. When she doesn't say anything, I try to go past her, but she keeps blocking my way. Alright, I'm not taking any more of this. I push her aside with my arm and keep walking.

"Ugh! Hey! How dare you do that?! You filthy..."

She keeps cursing and calling me names. Seriously, she's all talk and no action. Koji and Maru just follow me. It's weird how she didn't even talk to Koji, though. I wonder why.

The three of us reach room 221 and go in. Maru closes the door behind him.

"Finally, peace and quiet..."

I sigh. At least now I can't hear Mari. Maru snickers.

"Wow, you're really something, Kiu. Mari was furious."

"And now I won't be hearing the end of it from her..."

Koji is strangely quiet. Should I ask him about Mari? Why not?

"Hey, Koji."

He looks at me.

"Did something happen between you and Mari?"

"I just broke up with her a few weeks ago."

He says that so casually.

"Dude! You dumped her? And I thought with you being her boyfriend, I could get a chance at Hana."

As always, Maru can't read the atmosphere... I knew he had a thing for Hana. Koji and I ignore him.

"Why did you break up with her?"

I know that he didn't actually like her. I also know that this wasn't going to last, but there had to be something that caused the breakup at that time.

"Well... I just didn't see the point of going out with a girl I never had feelings for. I only agreed to be her boyfriend at the time because I was a kid who didn't really know what that involved. I just went with the flow, but now... Now there's actually someone else... that I'd rather be with..."

At that last part, he looked away.

"That's great! At least you know what you really want now. I hope it works out for you."

He looks back at me and smiles.

"Thanks, Kiu."

Someone then knocks on our door. Maru opens it and Otokaze-sensei comes in.

"Sensei."

We all say.

"You guys settled in fine?"

We nod at him.

"Alright, I'm actually sharing a room with Baki and Isago. If you guys need me I'll be in room 210. The first exam will be happening tomorrow morning. Here are the details for that."

He passes a paper to each one of us. It says the location and the time the test will start at.

"I believe in you. Just focus on the exams for now."

For now... Otokaze-sensei then leaves us.

"We should get some rest."

Koji says before settling into a futon. Maru and I do the same. Of course, I sleep further away from the boys. I don't feel as comfortable around them as I do with Gaara.

This whole mission... I don't like it. We'll have to destroy this beautiful place and attack the people who live in this village. On top of that, the people here don't seem bad at all. Why are we attacking them? I just don't get it. I don't agree with it. The only reason I'm here is to protect Gaara. I won't let him unleash the Shukaku and put his life and the life of others in danger.