Chapter THIRTY FIVE

Sakura and Gaara were perched on a branch, eyes closed and the atmosphere relaxed. They had to be alert at all times. They already had a few dozen scenarios planned out, and knew exactly what to do should the enemy appear.

"We shouldn't have jumped out at the Hunter-nin." Sakura murmured. "He's seen us, and will most likely recognize us should we ever see each other. That also sort of lost us the surprise advantage."

Gaara shrugged. "Well, we can't do anything about it anymore."

Sakura nodded. "Hey, so, I've been trying out this new technique and I want you to tell me what you think."

Gaara shrugged. "Sure." Sakura jumped down from her tree and spread her arms. Sometime during the mission, a second opening had appeared on Sakura's other right wrist. Both wounds started bleeding, and Sakura swiped her arms to the side. The blood seeped up her arms and vanished under her clothes. Suddenly, something tore out of the girl's back.

The blood formed eight tendrils, thicker than what Sakura usually used. They curved into claws, and Gaara faintly thought that they looked like spider legs. As he watched, the blood shifted around a big more, before growing in size and length. A single rope of blood stabbed into a branch above her, pulling her into the air.

"You look like a spider." Gaara called.

Sakura scowled. She bit her lip and shot a few drops of blood from her mouth at Gaara. Gaara's sand knocked the blood away. "You're even spitting blood like a spider would spit poison." He added with a grin.

Sakura grinned back. "Well, that was the image I was basing this on." She admitted. "Apart from the fact that I can make more than eight." As if to prove her point, two more spider legs tore out of her back. "I can't do too much, because I'm using my own blood."

Gaara nodded. "It can become your shield." Gaara suggested. "If you can control it, it should work better than your shield does right now, because it takes time for your blood to come out and then shield you."

Sakura nodded. "That was also part of the plan."

Gaara smirked. "I would suggest a spar to test it out, but we're on a mission, and we can't risk being caught off guard."

Sakura's eyes darkened. It was Team Seven's job to protect the bridge builder, and it was Team Akasuna's job to get rid of the threat.

Gaara decided to clear the sudden dark air. "So, what do you think of the Ami girl?"

Sakura huffed. "I hate her." She said.

Gaara chuckled. "We can agree on that."

"Isn't that the Hunter-nin?"

Haku and Naruto both jumped at Sakura's voice. Sakura and Gaara were hanging side by side, upside down from a branch. Haku immediately tensed, ready to fight.

"But she's not a real Hunter-nin, so that name doesn't work."

"How about we call her...her? Him?" The twins glanced at each other. "Well, not the important case here. How about something like...sidekick hunter-nin?"

Gaara scoffed. "Can you get more unoriginal?"

Sakura glared back. "You think of something better, then."

"..."

"..."

"...I thought so." Sakura then turned to Naruto. "Kakashi's looking for you." She then glanced at the Hunter-nin. "We can wait until our final conformation, Super-girly-sidekick-hunter-nin-with-very-pretty-hair-that-makes-Mata-chan-jealous."

"That was so lame." And they were gone.

Naruto glanced at Haku, who narrowed his eyes just slightly, waiting for some sort of movement...

"I wonder what they were talking about."

...and he had never though a God of Clueless existed.

"I'm going to go bathe. Sasuke-kun, would you like to join me?" Ami asked. Naruto burst out laughing. Kakashi inwardly cringed.

Sasuke shuddered and shuffled away. "Go away, Ami."

Ami pouted, but didn't press the matter.

"Panda-chan, you should go take a bath too." All four members of Team Seven turned at the sound of Sakura's voice.

"No."

"Come on. At least at a river, you don't have to worry about clogging the drain, or anything."

"Why don't you take one?"

"I prefer showers. I stain the water, remember?"

Gaara snorted. "Stain, would be an understatement." He dodged the hand Sakura had sent his way to slug his arm. "The fishes in the river will become crimson. The lake will run red." He chuckled. "The people downstream will think that it's the end of the world."

Sakura went to land another hit, and this time, managed to whack her brother upside the head. Gaara let out a hiss.

"Anyways, you-"

"I'm not going." Gaara crossed his arms.

Sakura sighed. "We'll settle this the usual way."

Gaara smirked. "I thought we decided against this."

"We did, but this has come to the point where we must take drastic measures." Sakura giggled.

"If I win, you can't bother me about a bath or a shower for the duration of this mission."

"If I win, you have to go take a bath."

And the twins, as usual, flew at each other.

"You smell, Panda-chan."

Gaara scoffed. "If you won, I would have taken a bath." He smirked. "Besides, if you hadn't drenched me in all that blood, I probably wouldn't smell as much."

Sakura scoffed. "The smell of blood is much better than what you previously smelled like."

Gaara crossed his arms. "Keep telling yourself that."

"What...is this?" Tazuna whimpered in fear.

Team Seven, minus Naruto, Team Akasuna, and Tazuna were now at the bridge. Workers were scattered around the area. The mist had spread, and Gaara could sense Zabuza and his little sidekick hunter-nin on the other side of the bridge.

"I so dibs the mummy." Sakura muttered. "Mata-chan's been feeling super bored for the past few months, and she actually wants to go full transformation and step on him." She waved away Kakashi's worried expression. "She wont though."

"Who's the mummy anyways?" Sasuke asked.

"The Zabuza guy." Sakura said. "We haven't thought up of a super cool nickname for him."

Gaara huffed. "And you call the girl's nickname cool?"

"Yeah."

By the time they were done, Zabuza and Kakashi were getting ready to fight.

"HA!" Everyone paused.

Sakura grinned in triumph. "I TOLD you! It's the super-girly-sidekick-hunter-nin-with-very-pretty-hair-that-makes-Mata-chan-jealous!" Sakura pointed at Haku.

"I don't remember saying otherwise."

"So we need a even cooler name for the Mummy."

"How is that even related?"

"Mata-chan suggested the name 'Grasshopper'."

"And why's that?"

"Because I am going to catch him in my web and kill him."

"You're still going through with the whole spider thing?"

"Mata-chan finds them fascinating."

Sasuke had no idea what was going on with the twins today.

Neither did anyone else who knew them.

And so, everyone couldn't really do much other than obey when orders were professionally sent their way. "Sasu-chan, Kakashi, take care of super-girly-sidekick-hunter-nin-with-very-pretty-hair-that-makes-Mata-chan-jealous. Ami, just...do Ami-stuff, whatever you usually do. Panda-chan? We're going to take care of...of..."

Haku took this time to try and interrupt. Keyword: Try. "I'm a bo-"

"I have something." Gaara decided to make a suggestion, cutting off whatever Haku was going to say. (Well, everyone who knew THE secret knew what he was about to say.)

"Ohhhh...Let's hear it."

"Bandage-wrapped-bad-breath."

"Why something like that?"

Gaara shrugged. "Well, if we go with our conclusion that Kakashi hides his face because he's ugly, is it not logical to conclude that Zabuza covers his mouth to hold back his bad breath?"

"That's actually pretty good." Sakura grinned. "Though it could be that he has very uneven teeth?"

"The possibilities are endless."

SO, WE NEED SOME HELP LOOKING FOR A FANFIC WE READ SOMETIME AGO!

We don't really remember everything, but:

Sakura is in Ame (Maybe she grew up there? We don't remember)

There was something about a cave...(We don't think it was very important, but just saying.)

There's an exam of sorts (Probably Chunin?) and while Konan, Yahiko and Nagato are participating, Sakura finds and recruits Zetsu into the Akatsuki.

When they (Sakura, Nagato, Yahiko and Konan) are captured by Hanzo, Konan dies instead of Yahiko. (Something about one female in the Akatsuki?)

So...yeah...not much, but if any of you know something along these lines, please PM or leave us a review!

Thank you.

So, we started this chapter earlier this week, but for some reason, we were both feeling equally humorous, and this is how it came out. Gaara was probably OOC, but he'll probably be back in character (As much as he was in the previous chapters) by the next chapter.

Darque: I'm having stalker problems.

Raven:...

Darque:...

Raven: Uh...really?

Darque: Well, not really. Just this super annoying guy that keeps pestering me. It's very annoying.

Raven: You...don't mean me, right?

Darque:...Oh! The description fits you as well! But no, it's not you...But really, I'm this close to pounding him to the ground. (Hard to say 'this close' cause I can't really show any of you.)

Raven: Introduce me to him. I'll pound him for ya!

Darque: That's actually pretty sweet :)

Raven: That's what friends are for, right?