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Love's Misconstruities	By : Idleflame Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1431 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
Love�s Misconstruities

Chapter 10

�� Heh!� I think we beat our high score, don�t you
think?� Temari asked her brothers with a smug grin as they arrived at the tower
in the middle of the Forest
of Death.

�� Must�ve.� This is just too easy,� said Kankurou.� �You think we should go back and help the
rookie Sand-nin?�

�� No,� came Gaara�s firm reply.�
�This is their battle, not ours.�

�� Ah�yeah.� You�re right.�

�� The three had once
again enrolled in the Chuunin Selection Exams.�
The last time they�d entered had been a mess.� Due to the Kazekage having been murdered and
all the chaos that ensued, none of the Suna participants had been
promoted.� This time, however, they were
sure they would all pass.� It was almost
unfair; not being able to promote them unless they went through the tedious
exam again.� But rules were rules.

�� The instructors had
been able to eliminate more than half the candidates during the written
examination this time, leaving only 10 teams to brave the forest.� Including Gaara�s cell, two from Suna had
made it, three from Konoha, one from the Hidden Village
in the Mist, one from Stone, one from Cloud, and two from Grass.� They�d first encountered the unfortunate
group from Stone and taken their scroll.�
Unlike last time, Kankurou and Temari felt much at ease as they were
confident that their little brother would not go on a killing spree.� In fact, Gaara had devised the plan against
the Stone-nin where he acted as a decoy and didn�t even enter into the battle,
allowing his teammates to show off their skills.� With Gaara�s precise plan, no one would have
been severely injured, and it turned out exactly as expected.� All three of the Stone shinobi were a bit
bruised and rattled by their encounter, but that was all.� After all, believing themselves to be much
more experienced and powerful than the others, they�d pledged that they would
not be responsible for any deaths this time around.� It would just be cruel since no group stood a
chance against them, save perhaps one.

�� Think Hinata�s team
will make it?� Kankurou prodded, turning to his brother.

�� Why wouldn�t they?�
Temari asked.� �Kiba�s dog got pretty
big, don�t you think?� Can�t say much for
him personally...he acts so undisciplined.�
And that Shino guy�don�t know much about him
either, but you fought him, right Kankurou?�
I seem to remember that he beat you.�

�� Arg, that was back
then!� He wouldn�t stand a chance against
me now,� he declared, to which Temari laughed.�
�But, seriously�didn�t Hinata look a little�I dunno�nervous?�

�� She is strong.� They will pass,� Gaara interjected, signally
the end of the conversation.

�� Eh�yeah.� Of course,� Kankurou added, wondering what
was up with his little brother.�
Normally, mention of the girl wouldn�t put him on edge like this.� What could have happened since they arrived?

�� Hinata�� Gaara
pondered.� His team had had a last-minute
mission to complete before departing for Konoha and managed to arrive just in
time to take the written exam, which didn�t give them any chance to
socialize.� Gaara was surprised to see
her team there, honestly.� He figured
they would have taken the exam earlier like he�d heard Neji�s had.� Even Sakura had joined with Shikamaru�s
teammates, Ino and Chouji, and they had all become chuunin during the exam six
months prior.� Still, he supposed,
perhaps they had been too busy like his team had been.� Konoha and Sunagakure had both been short on
shinobi since their battle almost two years ago and only now was Suna prepared
to spare Gaara�s team for the month or so it took to complete the process.�

�� Still, Kankurou was
right about her.� Hinata had looked
nervous, but only after she�d spotted Gaara�s team.� They hadn�t had much of a chance to interact,
but when they did she avoided him like the plague�or at least that�s how it
seemed.� Any time he asked her teammates or
the servants at the Hyuuga main house where she might be, he was told that they
either didn�t know or that she wasn�t available.� Somehow, he just didn�t believe that she
could be that busy.� Then again, he realized
that as future head of the Hyuuga she did have many obligations and tried to
convince himself that everyone�s excuses were the truth.

* * *

�� After the fifth and
final day in the forest, everyone who had passed had been gathered back
together.� Gaara and the others were
surprised to see so few.� Especially
disappointing was the absent second Suna team.

�� There had been
casualties in many of the three-man cells, thereby eliminating them since all
team members had to arrive together successfully in order to complete the
mission.� At least two of the scrolls had
been lost or destroyed.� Other teams just
couldn�t obtain both or make it back in time even if they did.

�� Since there are so
few of you here, we will have no need for preliminary battles,� stated one of
the Konoha jounin examiners before them.�
He walked to the front of the line holding a cup out to the genin.� �Take one piece of paper,� he instructed.� Once everyone had their scrap they were told
to unfold it, revealing a number.�
�Please read off your number, starting with you,� he ordered the Mist
shinobi at the end while positioning himself infront of a chalkboard.�

�� Seven.�

�� Nine.�

�� One��

�� After everyone was
through, the matches had been determined.�

�� Amatsubu of the Mist
will be fighting Kankurou of the Sand.�
Kiba of the Leaf will fight Temari of the Sand.� Hinata of the Leaf will fight Shino of the
Leaf.� Gaara of the Sand will fight
Hitoame of the Mist.� Tsuyu of the Mist
will fight the winner between those two,� he read off the board.� �You have one month to prepare.� I suggest you train hard during that time.�

�� The genin looked over
their opponents.� Gaara merely stared at
Hinata.�

�� She doesn�t seem too
happy about fighting her teammate,� Temari remarked, following his gaze and
noticing how anxious she appeared.�

�� Gaara had been
listening but chose not to respond, a trait of his which most found annoying
since it made them think he was ignoring them.�
Still, Temari knew better and let it slide, merely smiling to herself as her brother made his way toward the young Leaf
kunoichi.

�� Hinata,� he called as
he approached her.� Her eyes went wide at
the sight of him and he could swear she was trembling.� She began to fidget with her hands and
avoided his gaze.�

�� G-Gaara-san��

��
�Gaara�,� he insisted.

�� H-hai�� she agreed,
but did not correct herself.�

�� Now that he was
finally before her, he realized that he really wasn�t sure what exactly he
wanted to say.� It wasn�t from lack of
options, though.� On the contrary, there
was much he wanted to talk about.

�� How have you been?� You�re growing out your hair?� It looks�nice.� You�ve really changed.� You�re even a little taller than me now.� How much stronger have you gotten since we
last met?� I�ve missed you.� Have you been avoiding me?� Are you afraid of me?�� All of these things he wanted to discuss, but
noticing her discomfort, he decided to make it brief. ��Would you like to train with me during the
next month?�� As soon as it came out, he
realized it probably wasn�t the best thing to say, but he couldn�t take it back
now.

�� Eh?!� Uh��
Hinata longed to accept the offer, thinking back to how wonderful their
time together had been, yet she knew she wouldn�t be able to stand being alone
with him without breaking into tears, knowing that this young man whom she
liked so much�was taken.� She couldn�t
believe how weak she had become since she�d laid eyes on him a week ago.

�� She had been doing
better in recent months.� It had even
been her suggestion to Kiba and Shino that they enroll in the Chuunin Selection
Exams again.� She felt guilty that they
hadn�t sooner.� They�d had the chance
shortly after the �Repay the Favor� mission about seven months ago but Kiba had
said not to worry about it - that there would be other times and they shouldn�t
rush.� Still, she knew it was because he
didn�t trust they�d succeed with her in the state she was in.� Not wanting to let them down gave her the
courage to start trying to live up to her potential again, but when she saw
Gaara in the testing hall, her confidence plummeted.� She tried to hide it, but Kiba and Shino
could see what was going on.� Though they
didn�t understand everything, they knew that somehow the Suna boy was causing
their teammate distress.� They�d worked
to thwart the boy�s attempts to have any contact with their Hinata, even
requesting Neji�s assistance to put a word in with the head family�s servants
in case he stopped by the estate.� They
refused to let Gaara upset her anymore.�
Hinata was their friend and comrade�and they couldn�t afford to risk
failing the exams again.

�� Hmph!� She doesn�t need your help!� Kiba declared,
interrupting.� �Our Hinata is
strong.� You just worry about yourself.�

�� Gaara looked back to
Hinata who simply nodded, still not meeting his eye.� �Thank you, but�I�I�ll be fine.�� She certainly didn�t look it, but Gaara
couldn�t argue if those were her wishes.�
He simply turned and headed back to his group.� On the way, the three Mist shinobi stepped in
his path, blocking him.�

�� You think you�re so
powerful, don�t you?� asked one of the boys.�

�� You�re nothing.� You�re goin� down, Sandman,� taunted the
female, his first opponent in the matches, he recalled.

�� Gaara gave them no
reply and began to step around them.�
This only furthered in pissing them off.�
The third boy stepped in front of him, too close for comfort.� Gaara, already on edge, allowed his sand to
repel the shinobi, tossing him on his back a few feet away.�

�� You bastard!� the
other male yelled, pulling a kunai from his pouch.� Before he could do anything with it though, a
jounin had appeared between them with a sword to each of the genin�s
throats.� This Gaara allowed, managing to
suppress his sand.� He knew that he was
in no real danger since he wasn�t going to press the matter further. �Plus he was confident that he could take the
jounin if worse came to worst, but he knew it would not.

�� Save it for the
battlefield!� Now, go,� he ordered,
lowering his weapons a bit, but not putting them away in case either of the two
didn�t feel like listening.� Gaara obeyed
without question, turning away and rejoining Temari and Kankurou who snickered
about the Mist team�s foolish efforts as they left.� Gaara remained silent and impassive.�

�� It looks like I have more to worry about than Hinata,� he pondered,
fully aware of the searing pairs of eyes which glared at him from behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Translations/Term Definitions...in no
particular order:

- Jounin:� The rank of ninja after chuunin.� They are the elite of their village, able to
take on the highest-ranking missions.� The only shinobi higher in rank than they would be the kage of the
village and perhaps the Anbu, or secret service, of the village.

�
- 10
- 11
- 12
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Love's Misconstruities