(Authors Note) First and most obvious in no way shape or form to I own Naruto. For if I did… well #1. Haku would still be alive and there would be A LOT more Gaara time. But I don't so there isn't. #2 I would like to thank Rosemary Ellen Guiley for authoring 'The Mystic Tarot' which I cite many many times in this story, various recording artist's for making music which I enjoy listening to while writing, my Grandma for explaining about magnetic therapy which also come to play in the story and finally Masashi Kishimoto for creating the story which this fan fiction is based off of. That's all. Carry on.
In The Moonlight...
Near the gateway to Mojave Can you feel it coming down While the wicked seem to prosper Innocent blood
I saw a place
Both beautiful and blistering
And cruel and cold the same
The sun was like a lion
Bearing down upon it's pray
Death valley stained in crimson
For the moon to wash away
And I envisioned rows of gallows
For the world to look upon
One step to bringing order
To a planet tempting chaos
The righteous wrath of God
Revealed from out of heaven
For the innocent blood
Crying from the ground
And glory in these days
As if their ways were hidden
As if they had escaped
We have lost our sense of justice
Smearing lines of right and wrong
Despising any standards
We blindly stumble on
Bleeding hearts may scream compassion
What of those that cannot cry
A life is worth a life
Justice...merciful and blind
Is crying from the ground
It's coming down
-Stavesacre
Nobody wants him
They just turn their heads
Nobody helps him
Now he has his revenge
-Black Sabbath
I've seen him before. Never met him… but I have seen him. Perhaps what's weirder is the fact that his cousin and his cousin's fiancé are close friends of mine. Maybe what's weirder is the fact that Maru looks like a blue-ish black haired version of him. Gaara of the Desert's identical cousin from his father's side of the family is one of the very few people who willing choose to be in my presence for more then five minutes.
I was sent over to Suna no kuni as a good will token from Kiri no kuni, mostly to establish good relations between Suna's new KazeKage and the Mizukage. What we know of him we've learned from Konoha, that he is powerful (no doubt about that.) he has a demon contained within him (surprise? No.) he has rather violently violent mood swings (who doesn't?) He's young, around my age actually (THAT surprised me.) and he's an insomniac. That's where I come in. Oniichi Edosuke last sane member of the Oniichi clan and master of the Nanatsu Seiryoku Mawaru. (Seven energy circle) plus holder of a few other more or less 'minor' and 'semi crucial' details.
But we'll get to that later on.
The Mizukage was confident in my abilities, well to think I could be of any assistance to the Kazekage I must've been though pretty highly of. Then again Seikatsu is always telling me to have more faith in myself. Seikatsu's always right… I should listen to her more.
But as I stand here in an empty common room with only some relatively militaristic chairs and a few unimaginative paintings to keep me company the first pangs of nervousness creep slowly up and down my spine. Taking in a deep breath I manage to push the nervousness away and keep my features stoic.
Which is hard.
From the spot I've been standing in (for twenty fucking minutes!) I can see, just barely, the city and the vast desert. Far different then Kiri I'll tell ya that right now but it still has it's rugged beauty. Like a small oasis my traveling party stopped at or the purple, tangerine and vibrant red sunset's. The people though… they seem just as harsh as the desert.
Especially when they see the Kiri hitai-ate tied around my waist.
We'd arrived a day behind schedule (my fault like always. Or at least that's what they said.) and had been in Suna barely… forty five minutes now. Barely enough time to make myself presentable to the Kazekage but I did get a bath (nice.) and managed to change out of my traveling clothes and into my normal clothes.
(moss colored long sleeved half coat that ends just below my practically non-existent bosom, a tight black shirt underneath that, kind of long and covers the top inch or so of my pants which are the exact same color making it look like I'm wearing a one piece under my coat. My pants hang down and drag on the floor. They're to long but I hate tucking them in or rolling them up.)
My hair I'd pulled back into a half ponytail so that my chunky, sectioned, pointed at the end bangs were down and the half of my hair not in the mossy green bow fell just between my shoulder blades. Normally I'd be fidgeting with on of the multiple braids dangling randomly with my hair (both in and out of my half ponytail) with the traditional Oniichi coming of age hair beads.
(more like 'becoming a genin' hair beads; those were anywhere from orange-red, red, a mostly green with a light red center, to a glowing gold. Then the chuunin hair beads which were a silvery blue, or a yellow-rose with half blue and purple, or a glowing and seemingly whirling purple.)
My eyes
(which also seemed to cause the people of Suna so uncomfortable ness)
were a deep shaded forest green color with tiny flecks of gold that usually one could only catch in certain light.
The less consequential members of my traveling party stood (or sat) behind me mumbling quietly. They were relieved to be getting rid of me.
I knew that.
It hurt.
But that's okay.
The two jounin who'd led the party were speaking with the Kazekage and his council
(a.k.a apologizing for being late more or less.)
Even though non of my fellow nin's had their eyes on me, I felt as if I were being watched, being judged.
(In fact I'd gotten that feeling the second I'd set foot in the desert.)
Which is why I had decided to withhold myself, to remain standing when I could've sat, to keep my eyes focused upon the door the Kazekage and his council were behind as opposed to gazing out the window, to blink as little as possible, and not to smile. My eyes did not flicker around (they'd done that the second I'd entered the room.) my focus was not in my main vision but in my peripheral vision, and what was in my peripheral vision?
To the right a crappy painting of a family and to my left the large bay window that looked out over Suna. From behind the door I once again heard voices. Two familiar two not and I mentally prepared myself. The doors opened and through them came Hoko and Dojidai (the mist jounin) and three people I recognized immediately from the profiles Mizukage had given me. Temari walked on Hoko's right (my left) and on Temari's right (my left) was Kankuro and on the very right hand side (my very left) was Gaara of the Desert a.k.a Kazekage. A.k.a the person I had been (more or less) given to as a 'welcome to the wonderful world of Kage' present.
The five of them stopped before me and I bowed very low. Behind me I could feel the other chuunin's bow and I could taste, and smell the fear that radiated off of them. As I raised from the bow I felt no surprise from the Kazekage, no surprise that nin's who don't know him or live in his village would fear him, no surprise, no anger, no joy, only acceptance.
He must've gotten used to the fear by now. Poor guy.
It was with this thought that I made it my focus to exude vibes of respect and comfort towards him. I felt his surprise at my lack of fear, even when our eye's locked, especially, when our eyes locked.
"… suke- san." The switch in my focus from the Kazekage to Dojidai as he mentioned my name was a miniscule one and I bowed again out of respect. Normally I would've introduced myself but I've found that in situations like these it's best to keep my mouth shut, only speak when spoken to, and get straight to the fucking point as soon as possible only filling in details when asked to elaborate (which rarely happened.)
"If she presents any problems do not hesitate to punish her any differently then the people of the village would be punished simply because she is an outsider." Hoko said in her very feminine voice. With small farewell bows (out of tradition rather then respect) the traveling party I'd crossed the desert with left.
Nobody said goodbye, nobody looked back and after the group had gotten a ways down the hall I heard, distinctly, some relieved laughter and words that sounded faintly like 'thank God that bitch is gone.' I knew Temari and Kankuro, short of having hearing aids could've heard what they said but I could feel the understanding and empathy coming from the Kazekage's eyes. No… it was coming from deep within himself, the eyes were only very foggy, cracked, hazy, teal colored windows into where the empathy had come from.
"Why did the Mizukage send you here?" Temari asked eyeing my petite frame. I knew what she was thinking. It was what everyone thought at first glance. 'she looks more like a dancer, like a ballerina, then a chuunin much less a shinobi.' Or something to that effect.
"I am trained in the art of physical, mental and charka healing." I answered simply. "I am the last of a very small clan with the ability; physically, mentally, emotionally, and in the sense of chakra capable of performing the aforementioned healing. Also I can make dumplings." Perhaps it was my dead serious face when I threw in the last (and somewhat random) note about dumplings. But let's face it… who doesn't like dumplings? EVERYbody loves dumplings. You can't not love dumplings. Temari and Kankuro looked sideways at the Kazekage, who shrugged indifferently. It was then that a sand nin opened the door.
"Temari-sama, Kankuro-sama your needed." Nodding the two left with the nin leaving me alone with the Kazekage. There was silence, lots of it too. But I was not uncomfortable. I could see how someone would be though, the way his eyes kind of tore a person apart, dissecting their strength and weakness, assessing character. And the dark rings around his eyes only seemed to magnify the thoughts of dissection.
"Your not human." (One of those 'minor' details I mentioned earlier.) He said at last. His voice was soft and sounded somewhat out of place (Probably because he rarely spoke) and it seemed to have just a bit of an edge that (had I not been keyed down and on guard since I'd entered the desert) I would've normally flinched at.
"No. I'm not." My reply was short and simple. He seemed pleased and motioned for me to follow him.
He showed me to the room and then left. To my mild surprise my stuff was sitting at the foot of my bed. Personally after a long few days of travel I was in the mood for dumplings
(though pretty much any and everything will set me in the mood for dumplings)
and (fortunately) the Kazekage had led me past the kitchen on the way to my room, so retracing the path I found myself in the deserted kitchen. It was here (surprisingly) I felt that I was able to fully relax, that I wasn't being watched over and I let my facial features relax and a small smile came to my face.
In no time I was humming as I made my Kiri famous 'Raimei (Thunder) Dumplings' and I found myself humming an old lullaby.
I felt the Kazekage's charka as he walked down the hall and paused at the entrance of the kitchen, but so enraptured in cooking was I, that I only continued humming as I worked on my made from scratch dumplings. After awhile he left and a few minutes later my 'Raimei Dumplings' were completed. As I walked back to my room (with a mountain of dumplings on my plate) I happened to catch a glimpse out of a window. A few moments to sunset. Smiling I sidled out of the window and leapt onto the balcony of a room then without hesitation I leapt onto the roof. (I have wicked awesome jumping skills. . b)
I looked up and my gaze was hooked to teal eyes outlined in black. I blushed slightly but my grin grew into a smile.
"Pardon me Kazekage-sama." I bowed; which was difficult with a massive plate of dumplings. "Would it be okay if I watched the sunset with you?" He blinked several times, looked taken aback, opened his mouth, closed it, then nodded and turned away from me.
Still smiling I crossed the smooth surface of the building's roof and perched next to him. Not close enough to invade the 'personal bubble' but not that far away. We sat there in silence for a few minutes. "Dumpling?" I asked holding the plate to him. He eyed them suspiciously and looked as if he would refuse, but I could feel him second guess himself then he took one of the smaller dumplings and examined it closely. It was not until I took a large bite out of one that he nibbled the corner of his, decided it was good and in two bites the dumpling was gone. "Nother one?" I asked holding the plate to him with one hand and gnawing on my dumpling held in the other. His choosing process was far less extravagant. Back and forth we ate dumplings in silence and so it went until there was one retarded looking dumpling left and we both wanted it.
"You can have it." He said in a rather somber tone as he wiped some dough off his cheek.
"Oh don't be silly Kazekage-sama it's your house and I raided your fridge to make these so it's yours." I said pushing the plate towards him. Obviously I wasn't going to just shut up and eat the damn thing and he had manners enough not to eat the last one (what's so surprising? Just because he's a deranged killer doesn't mean he can't have manners.)
"Fine. We'll split the damn thing." He said and easily broke the small lumpy shaped dough packet filled with rice and veggies between his fingers. (How many bones had he broken with the same motion?) Being chivalrous he handed me the larger half and I ate it without comment. We watched the sunset over take the blue sky the tangerine and peach faded into crimson red with pink streaks and that succumbed to purple, navy blue, and finally night time.
"Thank you for allowing me to watch the sunset with you Kazekage-sama." I said standing and bowing. In the dark I could not see his expression but I could feel it.
"Edosuke-san." He said as I stepped on the edge. I looked over my shoulder at him. "When it's just you and me… call me Gaara." My smile broadened.
"Would you like to watch the sunset and eat dumplings tomorrow, Gaara-kun?" I could feel his surprise at my question. His answer was a low and breathless 'yes.' "Then please, if this is going to be an everyday thing… call me Ed. Goodnight Gaara-kun." His response was a small nod. Silently I dropped from the roof and landed on the edge of the window to my room.