A/N: Hey! Alright this is my first story on fanfiction so hopefully it will be a good one. I really hope everyone likes it, please tell me what you think! Input would be very much appreciated! Thank you!
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Shady…that was the only word he could think of to describe his new neighborhood. From the minute his brother Kankuro's rusty old pickup truck had turned onto Autumn Drive the demeanor had completely changed. Houses had become smaller and shabbier, the trees scraggly, drooping sadly towards the road, numerous vehicles with broken windows and slashed tires lined the gutters while broken beer bottles and scraps of glass littered the road and sidewalk.
Gaara stared at it all, his face a blank sheet as he took in his new surroundings. This was the place where he would be living for the two remaining years of his high school career…this garbage dump. The boy barely batted an eye as his older brother pulled up to one of the shabbiest looking houses of the lot and parked the truck in its driveway, turning off the engine and pulling the keys from the ignition.
"Home sweet home," he said, trying his best to sound cheerful.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Gaara's older sister Temari asked doubtfully, raising an eyebrow skeptically at the rundown house before them. Kankuro fished a sheet of paper from his pocket, smoothing it out and scanning his eyes over the contents.
"2914 Autumn Drive…yeah, this is it," he answered, nodding towards four address numbers attached to the side of the house, the paint so faded and peeling it was almost impossible to read them. Temari sighed before smiling at her two younger brothers, trying and failing to look reassuring.
"Well, let's start unpacking then," she told them. Gaara opened the door of the pick up and stepped out, turning to help Kankuro lift their heavy suitcases from the back of the vehicle. The siblings had few belongings with them as they had left very suddenly after the incident, not having time to pack everything they might have wanted to. All they had was three separate suitcases full of their clothing, a couple of portable electronics that would be of use around the house, and a decent amount of money that would hopefully get them by until Kankuro and Temari were able to find jobs. Gaara would be too busy focusing on his schoolwork to work full time. Even so he was determined to find a part time job somewhere so he could help his older siblings pay the bills. After all, it was his fault they were in this situation in the first place.
It had taken them awhile to get to Konoha City from the smaller town of Sunagakure, about a day and a half to be exact. Gaara's legs were cramped up from the drive and he was glad to be able to stand after sitting in the car for so long. His older brother wasn't exactly the smoothest of drivers. He would start school tomorrow, his siblings refusing to let him stay and help them get situated. Temari had insisted he start on the first day like everyone else so he would blend in more. Gaara had merely stared at her, knowing the chances of him blending in was like a giraffe's trying to blend in with a pack of mountain lions. Even though it was the start of a new year these students had most likely been going to school together since they were little and he was bound to stick out like a sore thumb. His appearance alone was hard to miss. With his alabaster skin, pale green eyes with their telltale rings of insomnia, skinny limbs, and crimson hair, he was bound to attract attention.
"Hey Gaara, want to give me a hand with this?" The sixteen year old glanced up to see his sister struggling to juggle two boxes of electronics and get the front door open all at once. Picking up his pace he grabbed the door and opened it for her, the strong sent of mildew and mothballs following this act. The house looked just as bad inside as it did out.
The carpet at one time must have been white but now was yellowing with age and lack of attention, the walls were peeling, the ceiling had obvious signs of mold and water spots, half the windows were cracked and the ones that weren't were broken. Mouse droppings could be seen scattered haphazardly around the living room while dust covered the surface of absolutely everything.
"Well, this is nice," Kankuro remarked having come in behind Temari and Gaara before pausing to look around.
"Shut up Kankuro, it's all we can afford right now," Temari snapped, setting her boxes down with an irritated thump and causing a cloud of dust to rise up and engulf them. The blonde sneezed three times in a row before the dust dispersed, leaving behind traces in their hair and clothing. Sighing she turned to head back out, not wanting her brothers to see the dispirited expression she couldn't seem to shake.
"Well for now, let's just get everything moved in…"
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The moving process took little over an hour as they really didn't have that much to move in. Temari had immediately gotten down to business, wiping off the counters, throwing out the mouse droppings, and trying to remove as much dust as she could while Kankuro set up the electronics and put duct tape over the holes in the windows. As they did this Gaara grabbed his suitcase and lugged it up a set of rickety wooden stairs to the small room at the top that must have been the attic.
It was small and stuffy; the floor was wooden as well as the walls and a single fan hung crookedly from the ceiling. Spiders inhabited every corner of the tiny room and he made a point to squish a few as he set his suitcase down. The best part about it was the window that was placed on the far side of the wall, miraculously still completely intact. It opened up onto the roof and gave a clear view of the sun descending towards the west. It was this window that had caused Gaara to pick the small attic for his own.
Kneeling down he unzipped his suitcase and let it fall open, disrupting the neatness of the clothes he had folded inside. There was a wooden wardrobe shoved up against the right wall that was bound to be a spider's paradise but would serve as a decent closet once he cleaned it out. For now though he shoved his clothes aside and dug downward until he found the item he'd been searching for. It was a picture of a woman with short sandy blonde hair and sparkling eyes, smiling warmly at whomever it was taking the picture.
"We made it…mother," Gaara murmured, carefully taking the photo out and gently setting it on the floor. "It's not as nice as fa-…as his house, but it will serve our purposes." With that he turned away from the photograph and pulled a dark red sleeping bag from the depths of his suitcase, laying it on the floor beside the picture. Once this was done he dropped his pillow on top of it and stood back to observe his work. The siblings didn't have room in Kankuro's pick up to bring beds with them so they would have to make do with sleeping bags for the time being. Beds would be purchased eventually but for now they were on the floor.
Gaara sneezed as a small bit of dust found its way to his nose, blowing up even more of the stuff in the process. Growling in frustration he stood and made his way over to the window, placing his hand on the lock and trying to shove it open. This proved to be much easier said than done as it was obvious the window hadn't been opened in a long time and was quite content to stay closed. With a grunt of effort Gaara wrenched the lock to the side and threw the window open, letting the evening breeze swoop in and chase the musty air from the attic.
He was dreading tomorrow, the sun only making things worse as it seemed to sink faster than ever towards the other end of the sky. He had had no friends in Suna; it wasn't strange to think that the same thing was bound to happen here. He would be alone again with no one to depend on except Temari and Kankuro who had already done so much for him. It was those two who had protected him from his father in his drunken rage, them who had left behind everything in order to take him somewhere safe.
Safe… Gaara couldn't help but find it ironic that this dilapidated old house could be considered safe; but anywhere was better than the hell hole he had lived in with his father and Yashamaru…Yashamaru. Gaara's heart clenched and he gripped his head, trying to erase the memory from his mind. But as always it was there, clear as a bell. He couldn't believe that man had…after everything he had done for him…he had gone and…that bastard. Gaara grit his teeth and did his best to shove those thoughts from his mind but no matter what he did, he knew they would come back later in the dead of night, when he was alone, as sleep alluded him for the millionth time. What little dreams he did have were haunted by his father and Yashamaru, by his mother's face, by the people he'd…
"AAAAUGH!" Gaara screamed and grabbed his head, dropping to the ground with a loud thud. Why did these thoughts have to keep coming back? Why couldn't they just leave him alone!?
He barely heard the running footsteps of his brother and sister as they dashed up the stairs and threw the door to his room open.
"Gaara!" Temari cried, rushing towards her fallen brother, Kankuro on her heels.
"Make them go away…make them stop," Gaara whispered, his eyes wide with fear, his face pale, limbs trembling. Temari wrapped her arms around the boy and held him close while Kankuro kneeled beside him, his hand on his younger brother's shoulder.
"Shh its okay, we're right here. No one is going to hurt you, we promise," Temari whispered, stroking the boy's hair and holding him closer than ever. Slowly Gaara's trembling stopped and he was able to calm down, his hands falling to his sides in utter defeat.
"Temari, you can let go of me," he murmured, shying away from her touch. The girl immediately did so, leaning back in order to give him his space. "I need to be alone for awhile," he continued, standing and heading towards the window. Temari and Kankuro exchanged a look before nodding.
"Alright," Kankuro responded.
"Let us know if you need anything," Temari added, before the two siblings turned and walked down the stairs. As soon as she knew Gaara was out of earshot Temari turned to Kankuro, her face full of concern.
"That hasn't happened in a long time, where Gaara completely loses control of his emotions like that," she murmured, wringing her hands nervously. Kankuro sighed, running his fingers through his spiky brown hair.
"It has to be because of that bastard and what he did to him. That's why we had to leave Temari, you know he would have killed Gaara," he responded. Temari sighed.
"I know…I just hope that, well, that coming here won't make things worse for him. He had no one in Suna except for us, he felt so betrayed after what Yashamaru did to him… I don't want him to feel like that, I want him to trust people again. I don't want him to feel like he's alone," she said. Kankuro shoved his hands in his pockets, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation.
"He's not alone, he has us," he answered. The corners of Temari's lips rose in a slight smile before she shook her head.
"I know that, and I think Gaara does too…but he needs a friend, Kankuro. We can't be there for him at school and with the hours we're planning on working we wont be here for him at home much either. He needs someone who understands him, someone who won't treat him like a freak," she told him. Kankuro sighed, his words revealing the defeat he felt.
"Do you really think people like that exist? Someone who will truly accept Gaara for everything he is, for everything he's done?" he asked. Temari sighed and turned away, kicking a box to the side as she did so. She had no answer to that question but she could only hope for Gaara's sake, that there was someone like that out there somewhere.
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Okay so how did
everyone like it?? I really hope it came out alright. The part with
Gaara losing it was kinda hard to write because I'm sorta trying to
mix in Gaara's actual Naruto past with this story…except he can't
fight back with super killer sand…Anyway I hope everyone was in
character. It's hard to make Kankuro have a deep conversation. Haha
anyway please review! Thanks so much!
Sevgi