Frozen Past (A Naruto FanFic/Gaara Love Story)

Endings

I grin at him. "Love you too, Kiba!"

He skids to a stop just inside the Gates and I hop down to the ground. "Don't leave yet!" I cry.

"Man, Kakashi really is rubbing off on you," Shikamaru sighs, shaking his head at me.

I roll my eyes, knowing Kakashi's real reasons for always being late but deciding it's too personal for me to share.

"I won't play you in shogi later if you keep up the attitude," I tell him cheekily. He also sweat drops.

In the next instant, I have my arms wrapped around Kankuro and Temari's necks, slowly killing them due to asphyxiation. A choking sound from Kankuro informs that I'll really kill them if I don't let go. I drop back down to the ground gracefully and smile up at them.

Damn, why is everyone taller than me?

"I'm gonna miss you guys," I say, trying to keep the anime tears from rolling down my cheeks.

"We'll visit whenever we can," Temari promises, enveloping me in a soft embrace. Hell of a lot different from mine.

"And you can come to Suna," Kankuro adds. I grin at that. I've never been to Suna. I'd probably get lost and then the Village would have to send out a search party for me. That'd be a great first impression!

"I'll definitely try," I say. "And with me being out of commission for a month, Lady Tsunade might just let me go soon."

As Temari and Kankuro exchange uneasy glances (Tsunade has that effect on people) I turn to Gaara. I wasn't able to see him much these past two days since leaving the hospital. He and his siblings were preparing to return home, and I had to go to a therapy session to "deal" with getting kidnapped "properly". In all honesty, the only thing that bothers me about the kidnapping was the fact that I ACTUALLY got kidnapped. Like, I couldn't protect myself. Other than that, I don't really care. The Sound Four, Five, whatever-- they're dead. And ANBU members are patrolling be Village from now on to make sure something like this never happens again.

The therapy session, on the other hand, was terrifying. It was led by Ibiki Morino, my proctor from the Chunin Exam's first test. Why the hell anyone would choose HIM of all people to give me therapy, I don't know. It really scarred me. Guess that just means I'll need more therapy. Pft, like I'm ever going back there.

Whoa, back to the situation at hand, Akari.

It's really nice to see Gaara, was my point.

"Guess this is goodbye," I say sheepishly, not liking that word in the least. He smiles softly. "It won't be for long," he promises. And with that, I throw caution to the wind and suddenly kiss the little Sand Genin.

There's a collective "aww!" from the other Sand Siblings, a chuckle from Shikamaru and a bark of laughter from Kiba.

They just love ruining the moment, don't they?

"What's so funny?" I demand, abruptly pulling away from a startled Gaara and tackling Kiba to the ground.

"So much fluff!" he laughs, undeterred by my lethal glare. A smile worms its way into my face as he continues to belt out laughs. Besides Shikamaru, I think Kiba is my closest friend. We're a lot alike some of the time. We get each other. And I'll admit, if Kiba had a girlfriend, I'd probably (definitely) laugh my ass off at them too.

But still. I grab Kiba's hood and pull it down over his face. He flails around, half laughing half choking, then throws me off and pounces on me, holding down my arms and straddling me.

"That was mean," he pouts.

Someone coughs.

Then they cough again.