The Forest of Death - 7

Gaara sat quietly between Haku and Naruto. They were both unconscious. It had been a long while since he had ever been so stressed. Gaara couldn't recall a time when circumstances had been so bad.

He had found shelter in a small alcove which, at the time of its discovery, had been inhabited by a truck-sized millipede. He promptly squashed it with his sand and claimed its home for himself.

After laying his teammates down he holed up the entrance of the cave with a wall of sand, not wanting any unwelcome visitors to drop by. It was then he realized the magnitude of his conundrum.

They would not be able to proceed through the forest unless fully awake, and the time until which both Haku and Naruto achieved that state could range from hours to possibly days, for all Gaara knew.

The only option that was left for Gaara, in the meantime, was to wait.

He hated waiting.

With his stolen time, he resolved to be thankful for how fortunate they had been during their haphazard battle with the lone Kusa nin. They hadn't lost any scrolls and no one had been injured. It was really quite miraculous.

Even so, Naruto had still given no indication of waking and neither had Haku. It was then, brushing his hand against the dark haired boy's pale arm, did Gaara discover something deeply alarming.

Haku was blistering with fever.

This was indeed very puzzling to him. Gaara was certain that Haku had not been in any way ill upon entering the Forest of Death. He could only assume that he had contracted it after fighting the strange Grass ninja, although how was still a mystery.

He was forced to cope even though he didn't nearly have as much experience as Haku when it came to giving someone medical attention.

Gaara rummaged around through the few supplies his team had with them. Finding that Naruto's items would be of the most use, he took all of them. At least they had some water, thanks to him, tipping some from Haku's canteen and wetting a cloth. He removed his teammate's forehead protector and replaced the damp cloth there instead, hoping it would help.

Finding nothing else to do, Gaara ventured outside, set a trap, and then returned, anxious and irritated. If this exam had any parallels to the true toils in a chunin's life, his suggestion would be to teach more medical techniques to genin while in the Academy, because a kunai would not bring a fever down, unfortunately.

Gaara sat beside them watching. Waiting.

He hated waiting.

They were so still there were times he leaned over just to make sure they were breathing. An hour passed. As did a second, and over the course of that agonizing time, Gaara had frequently made Naruto and Haku sit up and take a drink of water.

It was when he depleted their water sources Gaara discovered something even worse: Haku had stopped sweating. Though Naruto had no such problem, the red haired boy was aware that it was a sign of dehydration, a common symptom of someone running a fever

Haku. Dehydrated.

Gaara didn't think something like that was possible but apparently he had been wrong.

Therefore that made the top priority to fetch more water, and prevent anymore hardships for his team. He took all of their canteens and left, bringing his gourd with him. After exiting the hideout Gaara resealed the entrance with a wall of sand as he had before, knowing it would be more than enough protection for them.

Fortunately, the stream he and the rest of his team had stumbled upon earlier that day branched off in two directions; the eastbound brook, as he could see, ran very close by. Gaara knelt down by the trickling rivulet, filling their containers while wearing a frown that threatened the longevity of his face.

Never before had he been forced to keep such a thorough guard of Naruto and Haku. It was unsettling for him to admit just how nervous he had been after the bout with the Grass ninja, hoping that their lives had been spared. It was unclear what the goal of the enemy ninja had been because Gaara had not witnessed the fight.

He finished filling the canteens and set them aside, cupping his hand and splashed his face with the icy water. Gaara blinked, feeling a bit more alert.

That was about the time he heard a commotion nearby and he scowled. 'Other ninja,' His mind supplied, and he didn't recognize any of the rowdy shouts to be of Leaf genin. Gaara felt ninja affairs should involve communications of less volume.

Of course, the thought also crossed his mind that another squad of ninja and a healthy, loud one to boot, could pose as a major threat for his severely weakened team.

Gaara decided to investigate the raucous.

He left the canteens by the water's edge, intending to return for them in but a few short moments. Gaara was nearly as talented as Haku when it came to stealth. Naruto, he noted, also had talent, but lacked the capacity to keep his mouth shut sometimes.

As usual, he was the 'intermediary of his team', or so Jiraiya had called him. Gaara had disagreed, saying that there was much more to a balanced team than at least one possessing mid-ranged talents.

The red haired boy approached by ground, his keen eyes piercing ahead into a scrub-filled clearing, where, by the look of it, a trap had been set off and evaded.

He was slightly baffled to see that only one ninja was making all the racket: some short, mouse-haired ninja garbed in buckles and layer after layer of leather. Gaara snorted to himself, he'd seen this type before. Antagonist.

It was foolish for the ninja to provoke another team so openly, but since he was here, Gaara thought a bit of eavesdropping wouldn't hurt.

"And they said Cloud shinobi were dangerous! Pft! You're just a bunch of stuck up pricks! What are you so afraid of? Scared you'll lose your scroll to us?" The mousy antagonist was grinning a yellow-toothed smile, and Gaara frowned, not understanding his aim.

The trio of Kumo ninja stood close in formation. However it was a shock to see that they weren't wise enough to ignore the loudmouth's bait...or simply wanted to indulge him.

The tallest of the Cloud spoke, his eyes narrowed, "Our merit is well deserved. It would be best for you not to make any more foolish choices in this forest." His teammates stood close, both boys less inclined to speak, but equally annoyed.

"Cut it out Miosuke," A groan of impatience sounded from behind the short trouble-maker, "We already have both of our scrolls. Save the attitude for later fights will you?"

Miosuke gave an irritated look to his teammate who came up from behind him, carrying a bandaged puppet on his back.

"Kankuro's right," A blonde haired girl came to stand beside him, one hand rested on her hip, "No need to further dishonor Suna with your antics."

"Stuff it, Temari," The mousy ninja yanked on the strap of a huge boomerang slung on his back in agitation, "They came after us, remember?"

Gaara froze.

The Cloud ninja watched, agitated, as Miosuke tried to justify his thirst for a fight to his teammates. They were in no hurry.

Gaara's brain scrambled, trying to compute the reality of the situation.

Surely the mousy boy hadn't been speaking to his Kankuro and Temari.

His brother and sister.

Odd how possessive a moment it was for him, how Gaara couldn't understand the long-lost and yet recently reawakened yearning to be near his siblings.

He had never counted on them being in this year's Chunin Exam. Gaara, as a matter of fact, hadn't believed them to even be alive at this point in time, and had they been, he pictured them to be jounin by now.

Yet there they stood. Plain as the day was long.

'My brother and sister.' Instantly he hated Miosuke. The mousy antagonist. The loudmouth.

His replacement.

'That could've been me standing there.'

Haku and Naruto were going to have to wait.

"Let's go, this is getting ridiculous," Temari turned her nose up at the Cloud ninja. Clearly she was as impatient as her brother, "We're wasting time you dolt." Miosuke turned from her, not even considering her advice.

"Tell me something," Miosuke smirked at the tall ninja, "Does it ever bother you that the sign on your forehead protector looks like a pile of shit?"

That did it. Kankuro and Temari scowled, fed up with their teammate.

The Cloud nin were also fed up with him.

The two quiet members of the Kumo team charged, their mouths both drawn into a feral snarl. Kunai were whipped out, thrown with such speed and force that there was no way Miosuke could dodge.

Gaara was still in too much of a shock to see that the fighting had started, much to his siblings' disdain.

The squat antagonist gripped the tie of his enormous boomerang, flashing his teeth, glad he finally had gotten a rise out of them, "Futon: Jet Stream Slash!"

The huge weapon was hurled forward with surprising strength, and the red and ivory arc screamed past the unprepared Cloud shinobi, knocking both them and their kunai back to the complete other side of the clearing. The boomerang rebounded, slicing tree branches in its path, and returned obediently back to its master's waiting hand.

"You idiot!" Temari descended upon him, furious, "Was that at all necessary? We could be on our way to the tower by now and you pull this?"