“And then that was the time Gai, Lee and I first met – and started that competition-“ Kiore’s reminiscing was brought to a stop as she became of the presence behind her. Now; it was a rare thing to actually catch this kunoichi off guard, for her chakra sensing abilities were indeed good, if not great. Perhaps it had something, which was more-than-likely the case, to do with her whole thinking out loud, and being that she was so wrapped up in her memories. With a suppressed sigh, she instinctively prepared herself for anything, though she showed no sign of movement; it was second nature to her, really, to be ready for anything. Her coat which contained all of her weapons, seeing as though she hadn’t gotten a chance to strap her weapons holster to her thy this morning, was draped lifelessly the railing, a few meters away from her; yet she could always use speed. Basic second instinct of Kiore Urahara; never let a surprise attack take place, always be ready for the unexpected.

Just as she was about to turn and face the person, she was greeted by his three worded sentence; who are you? Kiore mentally scoffed at it, a twinge of annoyance crossing her. Who am I? Who the hell does he think he is demanding to know who I am? She kept herself from actually saying something similar to that thought, though it was indeed tempting. Without turning to face him, Kiore decided to respond: “You know it is common courtesy to state your name first when requesting an answer as such,” So maybe her tone did hold the slightest bit of annoyance, but otherwise it was Kiore’s usual tone; polite, smooth, crossed with basic Kiore-ness; and so with that, the kunoichi stood with that swiftness that basically all ninja had.

The first thing that jumped into her over-crowded mind when she took in the appearance of the male, was; the red hair, black rimmed eyes and a big gourd.

Oh. He thinks he's him; which he is...

Of course, Kiore knew whom this fellow was. Gaara. Gaara of the Desert; the feared Gaara of the Desert. Strongest ninja of Sunagakure. Host to the one-tailed-demon Shukaku. Blood thirsty killer – though that might not be the case anymore – and now the Fifth Kazekage of his village, so of course she was going to know him; seeing how she just loved to be up-to-date on Konoha’s alliances. Now, Kiore was no fool, nor was she an arrogant fool. But she wasn’t about to start groveling and crumble in fear, just because he was Gaara. The Gaara. Heck, she still had a reputation to keep; and it was just not in her to, well, act like everyone else. She wasn’t known as Kiore Urahara, the last Urahara (everyone seemed to forget about Kajaal, lately) of the Urahara Clan, famous in Konoha for once having been the ‘supplier’ of some of the greatest ninja. And to hell, if she was going to let the big-bad-Gaara – even though he was Gaara – ruin that reputation.

She really didn’t give a damn about reputation, actually, she just wasn’t that type of person. But still, sometimes you can’t but help and think: “Aww, shit.” In moments like these.

“But seeing as though I already know who you are, then it would have to be a different case,” Kiore picked up from her last words; one of those smiles that made Kiore, Kiore, showing. “The names Kiore Urahara,” Now, in some cases when Kiore introduced herself as ‘Kiore Urahara’ they would be those looks. Namely from the civilians of Konoha whom were around during her clans time ... the time when Kajaal Urahara was still a ninja of Konoha. Other times there was really no reaction, just the usual. There was one time though, when she was on a simple solo mission, when she had been in Yukigakure, when she had introduced herself to the nin that she was already going to kill, so either way it wouldn’t have mattered; upon hearing her last name, the four nin had grown quiet, and Kiore could have sworn she saw one visible shake, but she just took it from the weather. It had highly amused her, actually, as they stuttered and fought for the words to come out. All in all it had to end, it being her mission and all.

The smile vanished from her features for a moment, replaced with a quizzical look as Kiore crossed her arms over her chest. “Gaara-sama, you’re looking well,” Was he? Really he just looked like he did every other time she had seen him; which was really never. Only a few glances from her point, which was around the time of the Chunin Exams, when Sand and Sound attacked Konoha. Or should that be Kazekage-sama? Perhaps, she should have just stuck to that one, even though he wasn’t her Kage, she was actually tempted to call him Gaara-kun just to see the reaction, based on pure Kiore-curiosity, of course. Eh, stuff it, if he doesn’t like Gaara-sama than, well, Gaara-san it is then.

Small talk? What have I come down to? What level am I on? Blinking once, twice, three times, Kiore inwardly sighed and chose the one question that seemed most important. Really, shouldn’t the Kazekage be in Suna, doing whatever it is Kazekage’s do? But then again, he could have a meeting with Tsunade-sama. Ah, well, it’s none of my business anyway. Kiore really knew nothing but the basics about Gaara. Temari didn’t talk about him, neither did she talk about Kankaro. Well, sometimes about how annoying Kankaro is, frustrating to, the normal stuff a girl would rant about siblings with a friend. Gaara, well, there was the whole ‘I’m-so-proud-of-him!’ … which, who wouldn’t be, in Temari’s position? Her little brother had changed his whole … outlook? Path? Something of the sort. In life. He had become the strongest ninja in his village, proved them all wrong, tamed his ‘inner-demon’, and become the Fifth Kazekage. He had changed. Well … Kiore thought as so, figuring he couldn’t have gotten where he was if he was still the same Gaara from when he was twelve, yes, she’d heard the stories. Though, most of them she chose to ignore, some peoples imaginations can run away with them. But, again, he is Gaara.

Shrugging the thoughts off, Kiore regained the smile that had faded a few minutes – seconds? She wasn’t really that aware – ago, uncrossing her arms to hook her thumbs in the pockets of her short-skirt, thing.

He looked so … what, blank? Yeah, something along those lines. That look that faintly of him. Really, why did such little things always remind her of him? Just those little things – like Naruto’s obnoxious smile, Neji’s up-him-self-I’m-better-then-you attitude … and now; Gaara’s damn look of pure blankness. Nothingness. And damn it if she couldn’t forget where she had seen it before. Though, maybe she just didn’t want to forget it, or maybe forgetting anything about him wasn’t an option. Ah, nii-san, where did you go? Kiore sighed inwardly, though nothing of her appearance changed or wavered; save the slight distant look in her eye.

Ever since that night, when Kajaal Urahara had committed the unthinkable, Kiore had never been able to forget that look on his face, of pure nothingness, as he clutched the sword with his clans blood trailing down it, to form a pool at his feet; she could never forget the smile and words, as he embraced her for what she thought would be the last time he ever did, and left. Left, just like that. He evaded all Hunter-nin. He disappeared. Yet, not completely. Not for his little sister. Not for Kiore; though, she didn’t exactly try to. She’d always wondered why he hadn’t taken her with him, always coming to the conclusion of ‘it would have been too troublesome’.

Maybe I should have just gone after him, she smirked, shaking off the thoughts as she wisely came back to reality, deciding that ignoring Gaara of the Desert wasn’t the wisest idea, strangely enough. What do I say to a person I no nothing about – save the petty stories from over-imaginative villagers? She pondered, blinking once, twice, three times, before she decided to just go with something Kiore-like. Heck, random at best. Or some might just call it a pathetic attempt to make a decent conversation that would and more-likely-will result in a fit of hysterics from Kiore herself.

“Funny; I had that feeling you weren’t the social type,” she snickered. Not taunting, not mockingly. Simply remarking the fact that she truly didn’t find him social; in her whole three-minutes or so of properly meeting him. Okay, maybe there was just a hint of sarcasm in there, but, hopefully not enough to well … disrespect him? Kiore nearly laughed at the thought. She’s never really thought about that whole ‘respect’ thing. Finding it overrated, and to some degree just plain annoying. Really; who would want suck-ups fawning over you, telling you how great you were? That’s the way she saw it, anyway.

There was once a time when information about her wealth and standing of one of the four noble clans – seeing as the Urahara Clan hadn’t all been wiped out, it was still considered a clan – leaked. After all, the villagers and other shinobi didn’t know about Kiore herself, until her genin days, save a few ANBU. During that time people started acting kindly to her, calling her ‘Kiore-sama’, and so on. Kiore burst out in laughter, telling them a few things about her, and what they should and should not do. But really, she truly found it annoying, aggravating, even. And to think she was only getting the attention because she was the so called ‘inheritor of the Urahara Clans fortune’. And fortune it was. But imagine the kind of attention you’d get just by being a Kage. Kiore shuddered at the thought.

But, being a kunoichi of Konohagakure, a jounin of the village, Kiore was inclined to respect all parties of the alliances. And that meant respecting the Kage of those treaties. So that just meant she was going to have to tone down the remarks and attempt the best damn conversation she could with a rock … unsociable male. Well, that’s actually just what she thought. Really, why wouldn’t she? He’s – was, until a miracle set him on a more better path – a blood thirsty demon-vessel. And from her research, one that hadn’t had human contact since he was six years old, or something or other. She researches the parties of the alliance, she doesn’t memorize every detail of them.

Simply said; he just seemed the unsociable type. But, then again, looks can be deceiving, and it’s not as if she’s labeling him as number one Mr. Rock, heck, he had to be better then Sasuke – or Sai, or Shino or heck even Neji. There’s that many cold ‘emotionless’ males in the damn village that it’s hard for her to keep up with them all. Though Kiore really believes she’s on a break through with the training of Sai, Kami how she hoped she was getting somewhere. Though, with the amount of reading material she gave him the other day for him to study, and the learning of the ‘proper way to smile’, Kiore was pretty confident.

…but then again, confident people are fools.

Suppressing an agitated sigh with the race her thoughts were having, Kiore forced them to be blocked out, and decided to go onto more matters as to why the hell the great Kazekage of Sunagakure was talking to her. Of all kunoichi in the village. “The alliances are going well, from what Tsunade-sama and Temari-chan have told me,” that’s it, a slow approach. But then, what the hell did the treaty relations have to do with anything, damn it? She really wasn’t getting anywhere. And for the first time in her life; Kiore didn’t have anything to go on. She found it rather pathetic, really. Like laugh-at-your-self-pathetic.

“I got nothin’, hunny,” she finally gave in after racking her brain for ‘appropriate’ topics and such that could be held in a conversation between the Kazekage and kunoichi of Konoha. So she gave in for the next best thing; a stubbornness challenge. Well, okay, maybe not exactly a challenge. Just to see who cracked first under the silence.

…Kiore undoubtedly knew it would be her.

Oh, how fun it was to be this kunoichi, without a bloody care in the world. Even if that meant receiving strange looks from either the villagers or other clan members. She actually found it amusing, the way they pretended to act so perfect, like they were superior. And they all knew her opinion of the matter. Especially Neji Hyuga. Yes, he definitely knew Kiore’s whole point-of-view on the whole ‘I’m-a-Hyuga-I-better-than-you’ demeanor. Heck, she’d told him straight to his face when he had given her that look. And it was really just chance that they happened to be in a match at that moment in time, for the jounin exams, and it was purely ironic that she kicked his ass to the desert and back.

…he still has that grudge, and trains with her non-stop because of it. Kiore, naturally, finds it as amusing as watching Keigo and Renji argue about who’s better out of the two - maybe even more so.