I walked along the river bank; it wasn't too chilly, the sun had just started to set. The entire scene would look perfect on a large wall hanging or scroll if I had the time. Being the artist I am the real reason to be there was to get away from all my work. I was swamped with commissions it was going to take a long time to get them all done. My eyes caught the sight of a rather large dragonfly it was a brilliant blue colour, as a child I had always love them, their colours, the way they seemed to float on the air; yes they were beautiful, if only I had brought my sketch book I mentally cursed myself for forgetting it. I allowed my eyes to follow it as it flew across the river to a sand bar that jutted up from the rivers surface I saw something, it was big, probably trash.
Trash in the river was rare, normally the village shinobi cleaned it up on missions that the Hokage gave the new recruits; I knew little about them since I lived so far away from the village. I tilted my head to get a better look at it. It looked like a gourd at the people from the desert use to carry water from place to place; but what it doing so far from the desert!
"Great, I'm going to have to fish it out."I said to myself with some annoyance.
It's not that I had a problem in going and fishing it out of the river, but that someone had let it get here so that I had to go and get the damn thing! I stepped out into the river; it wasn't that deep at its highest it came up to my waist. When I arrived at the sand bar I saw just how big it was on it there were some black marks for decoration, around the middle was a red material that was wet and discoloured from being in the river. My eyes travelled to the top of the gourd where some short reddish brown hair caught my attention. Hair? Then I saw an arm and a hand. It was person!
They weren't moving and lying on their stomach but their face was turned to the side so they had a chance of breathing. I grabbed their shoulder and turned 'em over, thanks to the waterlogged clothes I could see it was a boy. His face was smudged with the dirt from the river I tried to rub it off; I couldn't get it to come off from around his eyes. I looked closer to see it was the colour of his skin a bit puffy from lack of sleep as well.
"Odd, they don't look like tattoos; I wonder how they got there?"I asked myself
I brushed the dirt from his forehead when I felt something that felt like a scar above his left eye. This time it was a tattoo, 'ai' it read. This boy is most defiantly odd. I wonder why has he love tattooed to his forehead? I thought. Then it clicked, he was far too young to have a tattoo in the first place! I looked down at his chest I saw a hole in his t-shirt where a leather strap went over; that to had a hole in it; it looked like it had been burned through.
"Oh my god are you okay? Please speak to me!" I half yelled at him shaking his shoulder a bit in an attempt to wake him up. His eyes snapped open as if I had yelled 'Fire' at him. He stared at me well more glared at me as if I about to hurt him. This wasn't the reaction I had been hoping for; a person doesn't just lay there after someone has saved them from a river. His glare was incredibly piercing, as though he could see into my soul just by staring into my eyes. I sifted a bit on the sand bar waiting for him to say something.
"Are you alright?" I repeated.
He didn't move at all it made me wonder if he could move at all. Come on say something you're making me nervous. I thought to myself I needed to know if he was alright I didn't like to see people suffering.
"I'll help you get better if you what? Come on I'll help you to my house it's not very far. I can carry you there if you can't walk?" I asked him.
The only reaction I got was his glare becoming more piecing; he clearly didn't what to be carried. Please the longer you stay in the water the more I worry about you. Why was I thinking that? I looked at his left shoulder again it was horrible; it must hurt; it was a burn. What could have done that to him? He didn't look very old either only about 12 or 13 as far as I could tell. I stud up hoping to get him to stand up as well, I took a few steps back so to give him room to get up. He still lay there only his eyes followed me. The possibility of him not being able to move was becoming more obvious.
"Can you get up on your own or do you want me to help you?"I asked him in a soft voice so I could maybe convince him I meant no harm; I also offered my hand to him to show him I meant what I send. His glair fell on my hand then back to my face as if he was debating whether or not I meant what I had just said. Finally he shifted and sat up a bit, using his arms to bare the weight of his torso, his head tilted down a bit as if he didn't have the strength to hold it up. His eyes looked up at me in an untrusting way, slowly he lifted his hand to meet mine, I gripped his hand tight then heaved him to his feet I stumbled back a few paces into a deeper part of the river making the water splash around my ankles.
I held him strait for a few moments so he could find his feet, slowly I let go of his hand I saw him sway slightly as I let go but he quickly found his balance again. His mouth was open slightly as he panted his chest rising and falling with each breath he took. I saw that the gourd was actually strapped to his back it looked heavy even though I wasn't carrying it.
"Do you what me to carry that for you?" I softly asked I seemed to have better results when I spoke in that tone. His eyes looked into mine; he tilted his head to the side by the tiniest of a degree. I could see he was confused by what I had said.
"The gourd it looks really heavy I'll carry it for you." I said with a little smile.
He seemed to ponder what I said for a moment then tugged at the small buckle that was attached to a small strap that buckled to the larger leather strap that held the gourd to his back. Once it was undone he lifted the leather strap over his head and held it out in front of him for me to get. Further down the large strap were two smaller straps; like the one he unbuckled near the hole in the leather; underneath them was a piece of metal that was attached to a piece of fabric. It was covered in river mud so I couldn't so what it said on the metal. I shifted the gourd so I could reach the metal plate the; with my thumb I smudged away the mud underneath was a symbol that looked like an hourglass with a rectangular box above it, a bit like a fat 'I'. I pondered what it meant when I finally got it. He's a shinobi he doesn't come from Konoha though. The gourd! He must come from the desert, he must be from Suna! He's a long way from home he needs to get back as soon as he can or they could think he's dead. I almost dropped the gourd from the thought.
"Come on my house is only a short walk away; we need to get inside before we get a cold."I told him in a cheery voice, then turned back to the river bank and started to walk towards it. I could hear him follow me through the water his footsteps were in a regular pattern, just a bit slow. When I got to the river bank and started to make my way back to my house I didn't hear the boy step onto the bank. Did he stop? I thought scrunching my face up slightly in confusion. I turned around to see him standing a few steps behind me. This was the first time I could have a good look at him.
His t-shirt was black and clung to his thin frame from being wet, were the sleeve finished a fishnet sleeve started and finished a bit above his elbow; over his left shoulder was a length of white material it went across his body finishing at his left hip it appeared to have been tied around his waist then the ends left to flow in the wind it was dirty and wet from the river; his pants were baggy and also black there was a large pocket on his left thigh they finished just below his knees were they were tight so they could be pushed up to make shorts; covering the rest of his legs were bandages that properly went down to his ankles but were hidden by his black ninja sandals. All his clothing was wet and dirty from the river the hole in his shoulder needed cleaning and bandaging, all the time I was staring at him, he didn't so must as blink.
I turned back satisfied that he was following me even though I couldn't hear his footsteps. He's a shinobi, they can hide themselves perfectly from normal eyes, so it also seems they can hide themselves from normal ears as well, slightly creepy but amazing all the same. I was lost in my thoughts for the first part of the journey to my house when I thought I should introduce myself.
"I'm Shizuku by the way, I'm also an artist I'll do almost anything; as long as people pay. My only problem is that I have no time for my own work my favourite things to paint are insects and foxes I love the way that each of them is uniquely beautiful in its own way." I was rambling now I knew it hopefully he wouldn't get bored with what I was saying.
"Here we are." I smiled as we came to the front of my house.
I turned my head when if heard a swishing sound behind me. He had gone. I turned my head back to see him standing, well more hanging upside down on a tree branch close to my house he was glaring at me again. I looked directly in his eyes, like a rabbit just before it gets run over by a cart, they were beautiful. They were a faded grey/blue with the slightest hint of a minty green with a darker grey around the iris. His eyes narrowed in anger I could feel whatever was in the gourd he had been carrying shift in reaction of his emotion. I turned and walked up to the door pushed it open and entered, behind me I heard the same swishing sound that I had heard before. It's a ninja thing all of them can do things like that. I ran over the thought in my head to clam myself down. Why I did not yet know. I put the gourd on the floor by the door so it wouldn't make a mess, took off my shoes and laid them on the shoe rack.
"You can put your sandals by the door so they can dry out." I turned to face him as I spoke. He slipped his feet out of his sandals with little effort then placed them by the door as I had told him to. I turned then walked along the hall to the bathroom. In the hall where my most prized paintings hung; I would never sell them, not for the entire Fire country would I give them up. I heard him stop. Confused at why he had stopped I turned around. I was shocked to see him shaking with his beautiful eyes wide with fear; I followed his eyes to see that he was staring at one of my most prized paintings.
It was given to me by a traveller that had come from the desert he said 'I give you this painting for I can't sell it in my home village and it is my best work yet I only hope you never have to see it.' At the time what he said confused me because it was a demon and the demons were long gone.
He was still shaking, even more so this time, he made a strange whimpering sound and slumped against the wall to his right his left hand was tangled in his hair as though he was in immense pain. Slowly he slipped down the wall to sit on the floor still shaking and gripping his head, a sudden whooshing sound brought to my attention that a giant spare of sand was coming down the hall towards me. At the last moment I ducked and the sand spare crashed into the painting he had been staring at, ripping it to pieces, the sand continued to swirl and dance as it found its next victim.
"Stop! Please stop! It's alright It's only a painting!" I was screaming at him with all the force I had to get him to stop not because of my precious paintings but because of the blank, emotionless expression he had on his face and the complete and utter fear he had in his eyes.
"Stop please, I beg you!" I cried out to him with tears in my eyes, one escaped leaking down my cheek. "Please, I beg you; don't do this, I beg you." More tears were coming now I could bare to see people suffer like they did back at my village. His fearful eyes turned to meet mine and the sand hissed to a stop collecting into a pile on the door. I knelt in the sand in front of him and gently rapped my arms around him, rocking him back and forth and shushing him like a mother would. I could still feel him shake now and again when he finally stopped I held him out at arms length he had his head down as though he couldn't bring himself to look into my eyes.
"It's okay; it's only a few paintings. Come on you need to get cleaned up." I smiled at him to show that he meant more then a few paintings even if they could never be replaced.
"Shizuku... I'm... Sorry." Came his reply; it shocked me to hear his voice for the first time. His voice was deep, soft and raspy; almost demonic; by the sound of his voice I could tell he was tired.
"Don't worry, you don't need to apologize, you should be concentrating on getting better, okay." I told him as I got to my feet and held my hand to him so he could take it. When he was standing I put his right arm over my shoulder so I could get him to the bathroom easier. The sand. That's not normal; it seemed to react to his emotion. If he's a shinobi I bet that's not all he can do with it. The thought shocked me even though he was just a child he had the power to kill me in an instant.
When we reached the bathroom I sat him down on the toilet seat. He was slightly panting again he brought his right hand up to his left shoulder; he didn't touch the skin he just kept it there in a protective manor. He closed his eyes so he could calm himself down; I could see that the black marks were on his eyelids as well. The more I looked at him the more he seemed like a lost, injured animal; wanting so much to be cared for and healed and so fearful that they would be hurt even more and rejected.
"The soap and shampoo are on the ledge in the shower; I'm sorry to say that you'll have to smell of green tea, I don't have anything else, sorry." I made an apologetic smile when I said it. He nodded his slightly in response. I left the bathroom, shut the door for him then waited for the sounds of him undressing to go to the kitchen and fill up the sink with hot water so I could wash his clothes. When it was full and bubbling from the soap, I went back to the bathroom to see if he had finished undressing.
"Have you finished?" I called to him through the door.
I heard the door click open a crack I saw a tiny sliver of his face and chest, he opened the door a bit more and held out a parcel of his clothes tied together by the white material he had been wearing. I took it with a 'thank you.' He nodded his head to show I could leave and slid the door shut.
I took his clothes into the kitchen, untied them and grabbed the first item off the neatly folded pile, it was a fishnet t-shirt with longish sleeves. So it was a separate t-shirt. I thought as I dumped the rest of his clothes in the sink and got a big wooden spoon and stirred them around. I left them to soak as I went into my bedroom to find some clothes for him to wear until his dried.
Thank god my clothes weren't girly or I don't think I would have found him anything at all. I finally found a large, black t-shirt that had a wide neck on it and long sleeves, some thin, faded shorts for underwear and a pair of long, baggy combats that were a very dark almost black blue in colour, I would weir them when I went walking they were very comfortable as well. I took off my wet shorts that I was wearing and replaced them with a pair of baggy fleecy pants that I wore at night. As I left the room with the pile of clothes I grabbed the belt that was hanging on the hook on my door so the black combats wouldn't fall down when he put them on.
I stopped outside the bathroom and heard the shower was still running. Odd, he's had plenty of time to wash I wonder if something's wrong? I put the clothes on the floor and knocked on the door.
"Are you okay? I'm coming in; get a towel if you don't want me to see anything I shouldn't." I called to him through the door.
I slid the door open to be met by the heavy sent of green tea and a large cloud of steamy mist. I looked at the towel rack to see that they where all there, I grabbed one for him to use and walked up to the shower. I could that he was laying in a crumpled mess on the floor of the shower, water raining down on him. I could see on his back and the little bit of his sides I could see where covered in marks. My eyes widened shock. On his back where whip marks; they had been made so they could be easily covered by a t-shirt so they wouldn't show; around the marks where cracks in what appeared to be his skin. On his side burses that looked like they had been caused by kicks and the same odd cracks in his skin around them.
"I..I'm...I'm so sorry."I stammered I was almost crying tears of anger. Who would do such a thing! He's only a child! When I find out who did this to him I'll kill them and use their blood to paint a picture of a butterfly! I thought in outrage. Slowly he lifted his head to look up at me his eyes showed so some strange sadness that made me cry, he looked so pitiful, just lying in the pool of water. How could anyone ever deserve to have that done to them?
"Why...a-are you c-c-crying?"His voice was so weak it made me cry even more, in his eyes I must have looked so pathetic just standing there and crying my eyes out. I rubbed my eyes with the towel, walked forwards, opened the glass door to the shower and reached in and turned the water off. I knelt down on the floor just outside the shower and put the large towel over his body.
"I'm just going to get you some clothes, okay."I softly told him.
"Thank you."His reply was almost a whisper I almost thought he didn't say it at all.
When I came back holding the clothes, I found him rapped in the towel leaning against one of the walls for support. I could see that now with all the river mud off him, his skin was so pale it looked as though it was made of porcelain. He turned his head to face me; his beautiful, pale eyes were barely open. I left the clothes on the side of the bath and left without a word, closed the door and then walked to the kitchen to finish washings his clothes.
I fished out all the clothes, rung them out the best I could then placed them on the rail in front of my cooker to dry. I opened one of the cupboards and found the first aid kit; it seemed that he needed a bit more then a quick patching up. I went back to the bathroom and stood outside.
"Are you ready yet?"I called to him a weak 'yes' was my reply.
I entered to see him sitting on the edge of the bath I helped him to his feet then slung his right arm over my shoulder and helped him walk to the sofa in the living room and sat him down on. I helped him get the t-shirt off so I could get a better look at his injuries. The burn looked the oldest it already had some kind of glaze on it to stop infection so it was easily cleaned and treated. For the burses I put some healing cream on to sooth the pain and help them go down quicker, he did flinch a bit but kept an emotionless face.
"Can you lie on your stomach please?" I asked as gently as I could.
His glare returned but did as I had asked. I dipped some cotton wool in a weak alcohol solution and started to clean the cuts caused by the whip, he flinched and tried to move away but he was too weak to move much.
"Shhhh, it's alright I know it hurts but you have to let me help you or it'll only get worse." I said trying to sooth him.
He looked at me with untrusting eyes but let me continue. When I had finished I rapped him in bandages and pulled the t-shirt back over his head. I looked at the clock, I had no idea it was so late, it said it was 11 o'clock. I grabbed a blanket and draped it over him.
"Do you what something to eat or drink?" I asked him.
"Just some water and some rice." He said quietly I nodded and I could just hear him say 'thank you' as I left.
Cooking seemed to take forever, I turned his clothes over so that the over side would dry a bit. I let the rice cool a bit as I poured out two glasses of water then tested to see if the rice had cooled down enough before I put it all on a tray and carried it to him. The one thing I haven't asked yet is his name. To think I've just let him into my home without a name. I thought as I handed him the tray and took my glass of water and sat down in the chair opposite the sofa. He ate slowly not like I thought he would. When he had finally finished eating I took the bowl from him and let him drink the water he put the glass on the floor and sat looking into my eyes for the answer to a question I didn't know.
"What is your name?" I asked him softly.
"Gaara..Sabaku no Gaara."He said in a soft voice.
I nodded turning as I walked away from him back to the kitchen were I took all his clothes off the rack and hung them on one of the low roof beams. If anyone came to my house I would tell them I was looking after my sick nephew for my sister while she was away looking for herbs. A not very good alibi but it would do for now. Hopefully he would heal quickly and be on his way in a few months. Thank god I didn't live to close to Konoha or I would have had to bring him to the Hokage who I'd heard had in an invasion and some shinobi would have taken him in for questioning and by the looks of him they wouldn't get many answers.
I got changed into my nightwear and climbed into my bed dragging the covers over my head. I was so worried about him, he looked so weak but I had faith in him to get better. I'll see you in the morning then... Gaara. I'll thought as I drifted off to sleep.