Shocked

Sendo stood outside the Army Training Center and stared up at it in awe. It was a giant, grey, stone building with bars on the windows and trenches running along the outsides. Sendo could hear shouts and orders and general loud noises coming from inside. She shivered and hugged herself. "How could anyone stand to be in the fortress!" she exclaimed.

Akio ran up and stood beside Sendo, looking up at her and giving a big, heart-warming smile. "Hello!! I am playing hide and seek with Onii-chan!! What's your name??"

Sendo looked down at the child, surprised by their warm smile. It kind of reminded her of Naruto's... "I'm Sendo," she said slowly.

"Hii Sendo!! You're really pretty! My name is Akio!" He jumped up and down, still smiling and looking really excited. "Big brother should be here soon, I think he'll really like you!! He doesn't really like many people.. but he'll like you!!"

Sendo smiled and blushed slightly. "Uh, thank you Aiko," she said. She looked around. "Where's your big brother?"

"Trying to catch up with me!! Heehehe!!" He giggled, he looked around. "He doesn't like running, and I just learned that he really hates rain! It makes him slower for some reason, teehee!"

Sendo smiled slightly. "Well, that's not nice? Shouldn't you be staying with your brother? He's probably worried that you'll run off and get kidnapped or-" She stopped, not wanting to scare the kid. She laughed nervously and scratched the back of her neck. "He's probably worried..."

"No, Onii-chan is never worried. He has nerves of steel!! I don't really get what that means, but it's what Onii-chan's Onii-chan always says when Onii-chan doesn't react to anything! So, I guess it means he's magical!" He smiled, putting his arms up for some strange reason. "But Onii-chan really doesn't care about me, so it doesn't matter at all. He'll just be really mad again."

Sendo's smile faultered a little. "Your own brother doesn't like you?"

"He doesn't like anybody." He shrugged a bit, not seeing much of a big deal. "But who he hates the most is his daddy. Sometimes I hear him talking about how he's going to kill him one day.. and it's kinda spooky but he's always scary so it's just the way he is and I love him either way!"

Sendo nodded slowly. "Ok." Then her smiled pirked up a little. "So, are you guys playing hide and seek or tag or something? I'm pretty good at both of those games."

"Both!" He grinned, jumping up and down with excitement. "He found me so I had to run, and since hes all muddy he's slower than he usually is. He shouldn't take that long to get here, I think.."

Gaara walked up behind Akio, his expression showing that he was extremely pissed off. "Where.. the hell.. ha-"

He stopped, looking at who the kid was talking to, noticing that he recognized the girl. "Huh.. it's you again.."

Sendo laughed and then noticed Gaara standing behind Akio. "Hello Gaara-kun!" she sang.

He was soaked, which meant, he was vulnerable to attacks. Which really sucked, and was probably why he was so pissed off. "Hi.. I see you've met the little brat that I'm forced to watch until he becomes a ninja. So, your visiting the Rain village, I see. How do you like it so far.."

"Onii-chan!!" Akio jumped up, hugging Gaara's leg. "I knew you would catch up!! Hehehehe!!"

Sendo was about to speak when Akio jumped on Gaara. She raised an eyebrow and looked from Gaara to Akio and back to Gaara. "You're Onii-chan?" she asked. She tried to figure out how that worked.

He grumbled, staring blankly at Sendo as he let the child climb all over him. "Yes.. I do not understand why he bothers to call me that when we are not even related."

Sendo smiled kindly. "I think it's cute."

"...Cute...?" He stared at her, one of his eyes twitching. "It's.. cute..?"

"Cute in the fact that you're letting him do this. Cute in the fact that he seems to adore you," Sendo explained.

"I'm only letting him do this because I have no other choice.." He grumbled, not enjoying being called 'cute'. "And I don't know why he adores me, I don't treat him better than I treat anybody else."

Sendo smiled. "You always have a choice Gaara-kun. And maybe he adores you just because you're around. You should have heard him talk about you..."

"No, not really.." He shook his head slightly, then gave a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"He really likes you Gaara-kun," Sendo replied, crossing her arms. "He really does."