KEIKO UCHIHA : the uchiha sister.

31 | A Bond Reformed

Keiko led Gaara to the forest she used to play in, where the fire flies lit the way at night. The forest was beautiful, Gaara thought. It seemed magical. The girl stopped at a small fountain, where the trees opened up and moonlight shined down on it

"It's still here!" she smiled, and he couldn't remember the last time he saw her smile like that.

He looked down at their hands interlocked together once again, and felt a strange feeling.

"Here. Sit."

She led him to the edge of the fountain and sat down, Gaara sitting next to her. The sound of the fountain was calming, and some crickets chirped in the background. The two sat in silence, Keiko looking around and Gaara staring at her. It wasn't exactly the same as when they used to hang out as kids — but she didn't mind. He seemed to relax and that was all she cared about. The Chunin Exams have really made his blood lust worse, and he hadn't got the chance to just rest. He looked down at their hands once again.

Unlike his hands, hers felt nice. It was smooth, and a bit cold. But it fit perfectly in his. He looked back up at Keiko — and at the same time she looked back at him.

"Thank you. For spending time with me, I mean." she smiled. "I haven't gotten the chance to take a break from training."

He said nothing for a second — then the sand gave her a pat on the back. She was a bit surprised for a second, but then Gaara spoke.

"A pat on the back means 'good job' or 'congratulations'. I remember you told me that."

"I'm surprised you remembered that." Keiko chuckled, and looked down at her lap. "Thanks again."

The sand returned back to his gourd, and he looked towards the moon. It wasn't a full moon, thank god, but it was still beautiful. In a way, it reminded him of her. Before he could say anything else, he felt something drop on his shoulder. He was startled for a moment — but relaxed when he saw Keiko there. She must've had a long day. She was fast asleep. Gaara wasn't sure what to do, so he just sat there, staring down at his old friend. His sand wrapped around her in a sort of blanket, and the girl hummed. If only he had stayed with her. The two were so young when all of those things happened to them, and both wished that they could've forgotten all about it.

But that was the ninja world.

  . . .

Keiko woke to the feeling of sand wrapped around her, and a soft mattress under her body. It took her a second to fully open her eyes — but once she did she realized she was no longer at the fountain, but she was back at the Inn. She rolled over, and saw Gaara sitting at the balcony. He must've brought her home after she fell asleep. She sat up, the red head shooting his head towards her at the sudden movement.

"Good morning." she replied, rubbing her eyes.

That was one of the best nights of sleep she had gotten lately. And that was saying a lot.

"Good morning.." he replied, then looked back out to the view. "Did you sleep well?"

She nodded and stretched, "I'm sorry I feel asleep last night. Thanks for bringing me back."

The sand shifted a bit, and Keiko took that as a 'You're welcome'. She looked towards the side table and saw her ninja tools waiting for her there. She picked up the senbon with the bell on the end of it, and twirled it in her hand again. Just as she was about to go back to sleep, the end of the senbon pointed towards the clock, and she suddenly remembered her training session.

"Crap."

Quickly, she slipped out from under the sand blanket, and ran to the bathroom, fixing her hair and brushing her teeth. She put on her regular outfit once and put her cloak on, rushing over to Gaara.

"Thanks again- I need to go now, I'll see you later."

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and with that rushed out of the door and into the village streets. Gaara widened his eyes a bit at the sudden contact— 

'A kiss on the forehead or cheek is something to indicate friendship or comfort someone.'

His lips made a small curve.

  . . .

Keiko flickered into the forest, sweat dripping from her forehead. "Am I- Am I late?"

Tsukiko sat on the rock from across her, happily chewing on a dango.

"Not at all. Take a seat. Madara brought some lunch for us."

She nodded, then sat down, picking up a dango and staring at it for a second. Last night was the first time she had got to spend quality time with Gaara in years. She didn't realize she was zoning out until Tsukiko tapped on her students shoulder, and Keiko looked up.

"You should stop daydreaming about your friend and eat your food before it gets bad."

- 

| Short chapter because I don't really know what to do with it, but I'm going to try and make next chapter interesting. I'm literally dying to get to the end of the chunin exams already so I'm trying my best -- Next chapter I'm going to introduce Keiko to more of the Rookie 9 bc I need to introduce more characters