Here To Stay

Seafoam Eyes

     Two days before the first exam finally rolled around.

   We’ve increased our training and it showed.

    Naruto and Sasuke’s chakra control was much better, as was mine.

    Infact, now that Sasuke has awoken his Sharingan, not that he told me, his genjutsu has also gotten better.

     Apparently, Sasuke had activated the Sharingan when he fought Haku and was secretly practicing.

    When we found out all of us were in his face. Naruto was talking about how cool it was, and I could see Sauske preen under the praise. Sakura was going overboard as she expressed her congratulations in her effort to be noticed. 

      It seems I also expressed too much.

    When I had taken Sasuke’s face into my hands and examined every little detail of the red irises, Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi had bristled.

    Naruto was already grabbing one of my arms while Sakura grabbed the other.

    Clearly neither one wanted me touching him.

    Then Kakashi appeared behind me, grabbing my shoulders and slightly pulling me back.

     Sasuke and I blinked, the red fading into black.

    Looking at them I waited for an explanation.

    Naruto looked confused, Sakura looked jealous, and I couldn’t see Kakashi but he was the first to clear his throat and step away. 

    “Sasuke doesn’t have complete control over it yet, he could have accidentally hurt you.” Kakashi’s voice was gruff and full of guilt. 

    “Yeah! (Y/N), you have to be careful.” Naruto rubbed the back of his neck as he went along with what Kakashi said. 

     “...Right.” I had answered slowly, stepping away from Sasuke. 

    That was a few hours ago, now Sakura, Naruto, and I walked the streets around the Village.
  
      “Hey! What are you doing!” Sakura’s yell broke through my thoughts and I looked around to see what was happening.

     We were walking around town and had run into Konohamaru and his little gang.

    I love to spoil the little guy and then sick him on Naruto.

     Looking forward I saw Konohamaru held in the air by the neckline of his shirt.

    A boy around our age was holding him. He had purple face paint on and his body was fully covered in black layers except for a circle on his chest. Half of it was yellow and the other half red. His Hitai-ate showed he was from the Sand. This thing on his back was wrapped in white bandages, a tuft of brown hair sticking out of it. He made me shiver. 

      Behind him stood a blonde girl. Her hair was in four ponytails and spiked out like firecrackers. She had a giant metal bar on her back. She wore a lavender dress with a red sash around her waist, and like the boy, she was from the Sand.

     You could tell she was comfortable with the boy because she gave him an annoyed look.

    Naruto ran up to him and grabbed his collar. Acting quickly both the girl and I grabbed onto our respective people.

    We locked eyes and nodded. Neither of us wanted a fight. 

    “Who are you?” Saruka demanded, snatching a crying Konohamaru behind her.

      The girl snorted and reached into her pocket for a little passport. Flashing it at us she smirked. 

     “We’re here for the Chunin exams.”

    Sakura blinked and blushed in embarrassment for not realizing it.

    A rock came down and hit the boy's hand, making him let go of Naruto.

    We all looked up to see a brooding Sasuke, he was tossing another rock up and down in his hand.

    ‘When did he get up there?’ 

    “Why you-”

     The boy was cut off as someone else spoke.

    “Enough Kankuro.” The voice was gruff and unemotional. Looking up we saw a red haired boy coldly staring down at us. 

    “G-Gaara!” The girl stammered, clearly afraid of him.

    Dissolving into the air he reappeared in front of us.

    Now that I got a closer look, I could see a tattoo on his forehead, it read love. A large gord was on his back, he wore simple black clothing with a white cloth wrapped from his hip to shoulder and it blew in the wind. He didn’t have eyebrows but his seafoam eyes were outlined in black.

     He looked between us all, unemotional and tired. 

    “I apologize for their rudeness.” Naruto immediately went into his awestruck mode, saying anything that came to his head.

    I wrapped my hand around his mouth and pulled him close. 

    “I don’t mean to be rude.” I started, licking my lips as my throat felt scratchy.

    “But does this, Kankuro,”

    I briefly looked at the boy before turning back to Gaara.

     “Plan to pick a fight with every little kid he sees?”

    Gaara’s eyes flashed murderously before turning to look at Kankuro and the girl. I suddenly felt bad for them. 

     “Temari, make sure you control him better. Or I’ll have to.” His voice dropped into a silent threat.

    He turned back to me to see if I had anything left to say. When I said nothing he nodded and turned away.

     Temari looked between us before hurriedly following, Kankuro on her heels. Once they disappeared, Sasuke jumped down and I let go of Naruto. 

    “I can’t wait to fight them!” Naruto’s overly enthusiastic yell made me shake my head. 

    “They scared me.” Sakura’s meek voice rang out and I nodded. 

    “Naruto, you’d be smart to leave them alone.” I warned, turning to look at where they left. A chill worked its way down my spine.

    “They're...dangerous.” Naruto just wrote me off but I was serious.

    Being involved with them wouldn’t bode well.