𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚎r. (𝙶𝚊𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚡 𝚘𝚌)

Not Good Enough ( Chapter 2 )

Over the years as Ura grew up, she studied and trained hard, gaining another circle in her eyes from the Sharingan for working so hard. Though she and Kankurou became very close friends, she and Temari got along quite nicely as well, but Ura never spoke a word to Gaara. Yet, along with the years she grew up, she noticed Gaara growing even more distant from the world, she didn't know how to have any contact with him. Kankurou and Temari both knew how Ura felt for Gaara, and both knew she would never get any closer than she already was to him.

Ura had grown a little, but was as tall as Gaara, she rarely had her hair up, and wore her Genin head band around her neck like Temari. She was alone, training for hours on end, she was growing tired, until Kankurou came to her with water, "Here, drink."

"Thank you," she gulped down her water without hesitation for breath.

After she finished, Ura sat on the tall rock she had been kicking and punching for an hour, "What time is it?"

"Noon, you should really stop for a few days and allow your wounds to heal, you're pretty marred up," Kankurou commented.

"I can't..." Ura murmured, no matter how she wanted to stop, if she did, she'll never prove herself worthy to be with Gaara.

Kankurou noticed her silence after her short answer, then groaned in annoyance, getting up and leaving. Ura didn't mind him leaving, the solitude was always nice, she was able to think clearly when she was absolutely alone. For years, she didn't understand what she could do to make Gaara notice her after so long of trying to get close to him. What did she have to do to become close to him? Then, one solution came to her mind, a worthy opponent? There was no other explination, Gaara would usually kill asassins that were strong, or so that was what Kankurou and Temari told her. If she wanted his attention, she had to become the strongest! Then her decision was final, Ura leaped to the bottom of the rock and began to train twice as hard, setting her goal even higher.

"If you keep up this type of training you'll lose a limb."

Ura stopped and turned around to see Baki looking down up on her, "How long have you been here, Ura?"

"About a few hours, Baki-sensei, i've been trying to go above my own standards," Ura bowed slightly.

"Before you continue, you do understand about the team situation of course?"

"Yes, sensei, there was an even number of students that one had to be left without at team, I am waiting next near," Ura answered.

"Don't bother..."

"What?" Ura looked up at Baki with a shocked expression, "I'm...i'm not a ninja anymore?"

"No, you're joining Temari, Kankurou, and Gaara."

"Gaara??? I am?" Ura tried to contain her happiness.

"I said the name correctly didn't I? I'm your sensei in this team as well, there will be a meeting at the Kazekage's mansion, be there tomorrow at noon," Baki disappeared.

*I finally get to be with Gaara! After all my years of working up to this moment...it's finally paying off... Now I can prove myself to be a worthy adversary to Gaara, and he'll have to notice me,* she thought to herself as she began to train even harder.

After another few hours of training, she entered her home to see her parents making dinner, together. Her father turned, but he had a worried look on his face, "Sit down, Ura."

Without a word, Ura sat down at her normal table, her mother served her white rice with some of the desert veggies that they could rarely find. Ura poked at the food, she wasn't up to eating at the moment, she was just so happy, but contained her emotion. Once her parents sat down with her, her father asked, "How was your training?"

"It could have been better," Ura murmured.

Another role of silence came to the three, then her mother looked at Ura, "Baki came today, he told us what team you are on...and..."

"You're not to be a ninja if you are going to be with a monster," her father stated.

Ura quickly looked up to meet her parent's worried gaze, though she felt the urge to agree with them, the feeling of loss swept over. She HAD to be on Gaara's team, she HAD to prove to everyone she was able to be strong. The young ninga looked down at her food, getting up the courage to say how she felt, "No...I won't let you do that to me..."

"It's for your own good, we don't want you risking your life with him," her father commented, "I'll get Baki to understand."

"No."

"Excuse me?" her mother began to get a bit agitated, "We know what is right for you, an-"

"I said no," Ura stood up, "I am going to stay a ninja."

Her parents were outraged, but only because they wanted to keep her alive, not because she was unwilling to leave. Ura took a step back, "I'm a kunoichi, I studied harder than most, trained longer than most, and I deserve to be a ninja."

To see tears come to her mother's eyes made her want to cry too, but in order to show her parents what she really wanted, she had to stand up for it. Her father shook his head as he stood up, his fists balled up tightly against the table, "I thought I raised a girl who was able to do a working hand...but she'd rather play ninja than learn the real hardships... Fine, go be a ninja, but you will take everything you have out of here with you, you're no longer apart of this family if you choose to work with a madman's son!"

"No! Gonkui, you don't know what you're saying! This is our daughter!" her mother took his arm, "We can't abandon her!"

"She's abandoning us! Now get out!" her father raged at her.

Ura ran out of the house with her two weapons, two umbrellas that Ura had just bought. Though her parents had abandoned her when she needed them, she could feel freedom at last, able enough to fly on her own. Tears fell from her eyes as she ran, the thought of never seeing her family again pressed against her heart. Though Kankurou and Temari, especially Gaara, would never approve of such an emotion, but she couldn't help it, without her own blood backing her, what else was there? Blood is always thicker than water, friendship and love can only last so long, but with relatives, that last forever.

She ran all the way to the secret area of the village, opening both her umbrellas, twirling the hari that flew off of the umbrellas into the infamous desert before her. For being such a quiet, shy girl, Ura lashed out, she then understood what she had to be in order to achieve her few top goals: To become the greatest Sand Kunoichi, to become someone stronger and more powerful, and to win Gaara's affection. All three seemed totally impossible, but they are her goals, and Ura made a sacrifice in order to gain all of them.

"I...I...will go on without them," Ura panted as she closed her umbrellas.

With that, Ura watched the sun set alone, brushing away the past of her, to become someone stronger, she had to change. No more of being quiet and unspoken, Ura had to be determined to get what she wanted badly. But in order to be strong, she had to train, Ura stood up and went to her training ground, setting up targets for her haris.

Half the night she trained without a break, hitting the entire targets from her umbrellas. At midnight, Ura collapsed to her knees, but she held the sand with her fists, both were bloodied from her hari, pricking them off and placing them on her umbrellas. She looked at the village, and noticed a figure on top of the tallest building, Ura had a small smile knowing it was Gaara. He, too, was looking at the moon, one day....hopefully soon...Gaara would see how much one person cared about him.

"Soon...i'll be worth fighting with, and you'll see...oh you'll see...that i'm worth loving too," Ura murmured as she got up and trained until dawn when she collapsed.

**The Next Day**

"Where is Ura? She's going to be late if she doesn't get here," Kankurou looked around in front of his father's mansion.

"She's probably doing some last minute stuff," Temari shrugged, "Knowing Ura, she's probably training."

Gaara sat at the middle stair, just waiting for something to happen. Kankurou glanced at Gaara, he knew Ura had very strong feelings for his little brother, but the question was why? What did Gaara have that everyone was incapable of having? Insanity would be Kankurou's first choice, but to be serious, what was it? Though he was Ura's closest friend, he couldn't understand what she saw in someone as crazy and reckless as Gaara.

"Sorry i'm late..."

Kankurou and Temari turned, noticing how beaten up Ura looked, scratches and bruises all over her, plus how her umbrellas hung loosely strapped to her back. Temari sighed a relieved sigh, "It's about time, Baki is going to be here any second, and if you were late, you wouldn't be a Genin anymore."

"I know that," Ura straightened her posture to look stronger, "So it's a good thing he's not here yet."

"You are late, Ura, you shouldn't have been training all night, instead you should've rested," Baki appeared, "That was unlike you."

"You trained all night!?" Kankurou turned to Ura, "Are you insane!?"

Ura looked away, "Well..uhm..."

"No need to explain, I already know why, I payed a visit to your home. Besides that, I have a mission that may suit all of you," Baki glanced over at Gaara, then back to the main three, "A rouge ninja has escaped, he's very deadly and is a master at poisons. We need to kill him, and return with his headband."

Temari smirked, "Sounds easy enough."

"Bring it," Kankurou added.

Ura looked over at Gaara through the corner of her eyes, a light flush came to her cheeks at how close they actually were this time. She knew that Baki knew the entire time she trained, Ura was watching Gaara, as if watching out for his protection.

"We leave tomorrow at dusk, meet at the edge of the eastern part of the village, pack lightly, bring what you only need. The mission should last a week or two, nothing more," Baki stated, "Now go prepare."

After Baki left, Temari went into the mansion, Kankurou followed her, but Gaara remained on that step. Ura didn't move, she stared at Gaara softly, though he looked numb and far from where they were, she noticed how broken he looked as well. Shattered on the inside out, if only there was a way to take away that feeling from him, then she would do anything to get that from him.

"What are you staring at..." Gaara growled threateningly at her as he glared at her.

Instead of flinching like most, Ura just gave him a sad look, then answered calmly, "I apologize..."

Gaara didn't move, but Ura took a few steps back before turning and walked to the location where Baki had told them to meet at. Ura had all that she needed, her weapons and the clothes on her back was it. She sat on the sand and toyed with one of her hari, it penetrated her skin, a trickle of blood ran down the hari. This time, it didn't sting or hurt, she had trained for so long so hard, that her hands became very corse and rough. Then, she touched her headband, the only thing signifying her as a ninja, hung loosely around her neck, she smeared the plate with her blood.

"My oathe...with my blood as a promise...I will never lose," Ura murmured, "Not to anyone...not even Gaara."