Xavyn woke up in a warm bed, a comforting kind of weight pressed against him. He groaned, and rolled over, burying his face into something soft, when it moved. "That tickles." "Oh, sorry. Gaara?" Gaara hummed, and pulled his boyfriend closer against him. His hand ran through Xavyn's hair, and he watched his eyes flutter shut. "Mm feels good." "You're gonna take it easy today, ok?" He was expecting an argument, and was prepared for it, pressing his finger to Xavyn's lips before he could say anything. "Your body needs to rest, and I won't let you train as hard as you have been." Xavyn whined, and kissed the chest beneath the black shirt. "Please, Gaara. I need to be stronger." "You are already very strong, especially according to Baki. He's told us how much you've improved in just five days, and I must admit I'm curious to see for myself, but there will always be time for that. You need to rest, Cupcake. Just for today." "Gaara...I have to pee." The elder sighed, then chuckled. "Fine, if you must." The sand receded from the doorway, and climbed back in the gourd. Xavyn pecked Gaara on the lips, and trudged to the bathroom.

Gaara pinched the bridge of his nose, and got up to go into the main room. He didn't know what he was going to do for a month, Xavyn was going to be stubborn with the no-training rule, and they all knew it. When Xavyn came out of the bathroom, everyone ate and decided what to do for the month of freedom they had. He was being agreeable with not training until about Noon, when he became hyper, and wanted to burn off his energy. "Please, please, please!" Gaara put his hand on Xavyn's face to keep him from moving further. "I said no, that's final." Xavyn whined, and flopped against the floor like a child who didn't get their way. "Why don't we explore the village?" Baki suggested. "Maybe we can find something physical for him to do." Temari added. On the way out, Kankuro scooped up the hyperactive teen, and plopped him atop his shoulders. "Did you get taller, Kitty? I feel like one of us did." Xavyn acted like a scouter, looking all around, and ahead of him in wonder. "Got taller?" "Kitty?" "Oh, uh, is that ok?" "I guess. Just don't embarass me with it."

"No problem." Xavyn rested his chin on Kankuro's head, and focused on the village they walked through. Colors lit up his eyes, some he'd never seen before, delicious new smells filled his nose, and the sound of excited, crowded streets pounded in his ears. "Oh my gosh, this place is so big! It's like a fair everyday!" As always, the siblings marveled at how easily fascinated Xavyn was. They went to different shops, played lots of games, and by the time night settled over them like a blanket, it seemed like the village became even more alive. The youngest had a nagging feeling that something was going to go wrong, but he brushed it off as his paranoia. Kankuro had let him ride on his shoulders all day long, and he was still currently there, so he was the first to spot the source of his nagging fear. A group of five people were dressed in all black, each had a hand in the pocket of their long coat, and they all seemed to be men. They had cornered two frightened looking women, and were making obscene gestures, and taunts, it made him sick, and he whined, leaning forward to cover Kankuro's eyes.

"Kitty, those men-" "I know. But it's not our buisness." Xavyn was shocked, his friend had zero interest in helping the women, but at the same time, he had a point. Nothing too bad was happening, maybe he was just worried about what could happen. What happened next changed his mind, one of the men, a brunette, kissed the blonde woman hard on the lips. She made a startled noise, and backed up, slapping him hard across the face. "Put me down. Put me down now. Kankuro put me down!" The Puppeteer sighed in frustration, and set the youngest down. Baki held him back, and he struggled to get free. "Let me fucking go, they can't do that to-" The man pinned the woman to the building by the throat, and Xavyn flat out growled like an animal. "Fucking let me go right now or I swear to Shukaku I will fucking break you." Xavyn jerked free, and the others stayed behind, watching in curiosity as their friend disappeared, only to show up behind the brunette with a kunai to the back of the skull. It was lodged firmly into the bone, to the hilt, and he dropped dead on the ground, Xavyn landing on his feet, standing in front of the women protectively. "Who do you think you are? Taunting these women, cornering them, touching them like that?"

The other men snickered, and the women trembled. "Ladies, now's the time to leave." "Th-thank you." He could hear their footsteps as they quickly walked away, and when the sound was gone, he crouched, and removed his knife from the dead man. "So. Who wants to die next?" "So you took down Anka. You think you can take on any of us?" "Well someone has to punish you, it might as well be me." A red haired man with a tattoo of a rose on his cheek spoke up. "You're a pretty thing, you might even be a better treat than those whores." Xavyn sneered, and pocketed his weapon, gathering chakra in his hands. "Say one more foul word about them, and I'll remove your tongue." The siblings watched, more than shocked, at sheer speed, and stealth of their friend. He was the definition of Ninja, fast, strong, silent, and efficient. One by one, he took the men down, barely having to use any chakra, and when only one was left standing, he used his new Jutsu; Bloody Rose.

It allowed him to direct the blood of an opponent to their heart, and fill it until the organ exploded. Baki frowned, and when Xavyn stalked back to them, trying to control his leftover anger, and wiping blood off his face, he was slapped in the face by his teacher. Too shocked to form any emotion, his mouth open, and shut a few times, and he stared in disbelief. "That was reckless! You're too exhausted, and weak to do that kind of thing." Xavyn's hands trembled as they clenched into fists. "I'll never be too weak to protect an innocent person." He looked his teacher in the eye, memories flashing behind the Iris. "As I fucking said a long time ago. I will gladly get beat, if it means I can protect them!" He fought to keep his voice lower, and he let out a frustrated groan, walking away from his family. He walked into an area behind all the hustle, and bustle, and heard a crunch as he stepped down. He looked to see a large spider beneath his shoe, and that he'd stepped on its leg. He whimpered, and backed up, feeling a tree behind him, and he scurried up.

Hugging the tree, he willed the arachnid away, keeping his eyes closed, and head up. "You stepped on a spider." Someone said matter-of-factly. He opened his eyes to see a boy above him, on a branch. "I-I didn't mean to, I n-never saw it." The boy was wearing a jacket that had the collar covering his mouth, sunglasses on over his eyes, and the Hidden Leaf forehead protector. "You didn't mean to?" Xavyn shook his head, and the boy sat on the branch so he could hang upside down, and get a better look at the stranger. "Who are you? I've never seen you before." "My name is Xavyn. My siblings, and partner are here for the Chunin exams." That got the boy's attention, and he moved to the tree trunk. "Who are your siblings?" He pursed his lips, not sure if it was ok to talk about it in front of a stranger. "How rude of me. I'm Shino, I'm also participating in the exams." "My siblings are Baki Sensei's students- Temari, and Kankuro, Gaara's my partner." Shino's eyes went wide behind his sunglasses, and he grabbed Xavyn around the middle, jumping from the tree, and gently setting him down on the forest floor.

"They're your siblings? Really?" A part of Shino didn't want to believe it, but at the same time, no sane person would lie, and say they were Gaara's sibling. The kid was a monster. "Sort of, we're not blood related but they...they act like I'm part of their family." Shino bent down, squatting, and saw something shiny peek out from under Xavyn's shirt. "What kind of partner is he to you?" Xavyn narrowed his eyes, and felt the necklace be unclasped, and pulled from his neck. He looked down, and saw a handful of bugs on him, taking the jewelry off. He grabbed his present, and held tight, going to flick the bugs off him but Shino caught his hand. "Let me go, these stupid bugs are trying to take my present." "Bugs are not stupid." "These ones are! Get them off if you don't want me to squish them." The jewelry was ripped out of Xavyn's hand, and carried to Shino, Xavyn had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from panicking too much. "Give-give it back, that's mine!" Shino held it out of the other's reach, and had bugs crawl all over him to keep him pinned.

He studied the object, and found a key hole in it, remembering that Gaara was also wearing something shiny but his was more slender-looking, whereas this was bulky. "He's your romantic partner then?" He opened the locket, and heard Xavyn whine, he saw two pictures inside. On the left side was Temari, the girl with the giant fan, and Kankuro, the Puppeteer. He hummed, and looked at the other picture, Gaara had his arm wrapped around a boy's midsection, and was genuinely smiling, and the boy, upon closer inspection he realized was Xavyn, had both of his arms around Gaara's neck, and was kissing his cheek. Xavun fought to stay still. "G-get them off, get them off!" The bugs receded back into Shino, and the insect user gently dropped the locket beside Xavyn who scrambled to hold it. "You're not joking." Xavyn shook his head, and put the jewelry back on. "What is Gaara?" "A Jinchuriki for Shukaku. But the sand he controls has nothing to do with the demon." "How did you meet? Did he try to kill you, and you survived?" "No! He would never do that to me! He, and his family treated me better than anyone else!"

Shino was unconvinced. "It's not really your buisness." Xavyn shrunk into himself, and reached up to hold the locket, giving it a tiny kiss. "I'm curious." He snorted. "I bet you are. Everyone wants to know if they're next in line to face the monster. Nobody ever asks 'how's the monster treating you?' Shukaku is destroying his mind, taking his sanity, some part of the murderous thoughts are Gaara's own but he can't be blamed for that. You have no idea what it's like to be feared by your entire village, turned away, shunned, or have an assassination attempted on you for something you didn't choose. He was only born...to be their experiment. You don't know what it's like to know that what they did was wrong, and be unable to help. You have no idea what it's like to be the only person in the world who could ever hope to understand. You have no idea how it feels to get beaten nearly to death for standing up for-" He dug his nails in his legs. "Gaara was the only one in my life who didn't treat me like absolute shit. He is my friend, the whole village is terrified of him, even his brother. They've been on bad terms since Gaara transformed the first time. The worst part is, it's all an experiment. Shukaku wasn't going on a rampage, and destroying everything of his own free will, they pulled it out of Gaara."

Shino understood Xavyn's words, and could see the pain in his eyes. "They took me in, helped me get away from something that's far worse than Gaara, showed me that it was ok to be this useless bag of flesh." "What could be worse than Gaara?" "My abusive Father who tried to kill me for befriending Gaara. Even through all that, Gaara still cared about me. Nobody, not a single soul, understands him better than I do." For a while they sat in silence, and Xavyn was forcing himself not to cry. "Can I ask what the locket is for?" "It's the birthday present Gaara gave me. Temari, and Kankuro gave me a big box of candy, and...he gave me this. He said something like...'so my family will always be with me' or 'I'll always have my family' something like that. I heard Gaara got hurt in the preliminaries." "He got attacked, yes. He didn't get injured." Xavyn sighed, and slumped against the ground. "Shino, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm lost. I don't know where the hell I am, and I'd really like to get back to my family. Can you help me out?"

"I suppose. Try not to squish anything else on the way." Shino stood, put his hands in his pockets, and started walking, leaving Xavyn to chase after him. Shino took him to the edge of the dense area, where Xavyn immediately started looking for his family. "Do they smell anything like you?" Shino asked. "Um if you're asking if they smell like sweat, and dirt, then yes. Anything else...I couldn't tell you." He saw a glimpse of red at a food stand, and moved to the other side of Shino. "Oh thank the gods, there they are." Shino looked, and saw Baki, Temari, and Kankuro eating ice cream, Gaara was holding the key that went to the locket. "Come on, I'll take you to them. You might get lost again if I don't." Shino took the boy to the stand, and they got there just as the ninja were about to leave. "Thanks, Shino!" He barely got the words out before he ran to Gaara, and hugged him tightly. Shino watched as Gaara immediately wrapped his own arms under Xavyn's, and pressed his face to his shoulder, eyes closing in contentment.

"I was starting to worry." "Oh, I'm sorry. I got lost, and...and Shino helped me back." "Shino? That freaky bug kid?" Xavyn smacked Kankuro upside the head. "Be nice, Kankuro. If it weren't for him, I'd still be hopelessly lost." Gaara stepped beside Xavyn, and held his hand, looking at Shino. "Thank you for helping him out. I look forward to seeing your match with Kankuro." Xavyn's world came crashing to a halt. "What? You two are fighting? Kankuro you're a dead man. You can't go up against an Insect user, and make it out without a scratch. Temari could, but you can't." Shino wasn't sure what to make of the words he was hearing, most people called him a freak for his bugs, suggesting that he was somehow weaker than others because of it. He silently left the bickering siblings, wondering about what Xavyn had told him of their village. He realized that Xavyn wasn't lying about any of it, and part of him hoped to see the kid again.