Okay, I've finally done it. I've finally gotten up the courage to post something more than a oneshot for someone else's story! Hooray for me.
This story was inspired by the song 'Near To You' by A Fine Frenzy. I don't own Naruto or the song or any lyrics I may use.
Soooo um……yea I hope you enjoy it.
This isn't your everyday fairytale. Nor is it that 'boy meets girl, love at first sight, let's grow old together' story that so many people wish for. This isn't the story of how one strong-willed, happy-go-lucky, extraordinarily powerful and beautiful girl single handedly rescues Sabaku No Gaara from his psychological prison and shows him how to love. But it is, nonetheless, a story about love. A love so fierce and unavoidable and at the same time so irrational and unobtainable. It's a story of pain and healing, angst and elation. This is the story of how Sabaku No Gaara saved me.
I'd never been to Suna before. In fact, until very recently I had never set foot outside of the Leaf Village. The towering cliffs surrounding Suna loomed before me ominously. The thought of the watchmen who were stationed at the top sent shivers down my spine. It must be terrifying.
Of course, they were shinobi and feared nothing. I was just a simple civilian who couldn't even face her problems in Konoha so had to run from them to Suna.
Konoha.
My throat tightened as I remembered my old home. My family and friends who I had forced myself to leave.
They understood. They saw how difficult it was for me to pick up the pieces of my life and start over. No one was surprised when I finally snapped. They understood when I said I needed a change of scenery. What they couldn't understand was why I insisted on going alone.
They all demanded that I take at least one other person with me. But I knew that I needed to go alone. I was adamant on it.
Tsunade-sama helped me to persuade them once I revealed my plans to her. She understood my need to escape all too well. It was her who suggested that I make Suna my destination. She had said that it made the most sense due to the strong relationship between the two villages and the many ambassadors who traveled between them. After talking it over with my mother, I finally agreed.
Tsunade-sama began communications with the Hidden Sand Village almost immediately, arranging a place for me to stay and a job in order to provide some form of income.
I never asked why Suna and she never told. I felt she might have had some unknown motive but I trusted her advice and packed what of my belongings I could carry and started on my way.
Tsunade did insist on one thing. Because I lacked any shinobi skills, she thought it would be in my best interest for someone to escort me on my trip to Suna.
Shikamaru and I had been friends ever since he first started at the academy. Even at that age it had been clear that I would never possess the talent to become a ninja. So instead of enrolling me in the academy, my mother decided my life would be the stage.
So while other kids my age were heading to the academy to learn all about jutsus, I was busy running away from various vocal instructors my mother hired for me.
It was during one of these great escapes that I first ran into Shikamaru Nara. Well technically I suppose you could say that I ran over Shikamaru Nara, seeing as he was, as usual, lying on the ground.
Since I wasn't attending the academy or training for a normal profession, I didn't have any friends my age. I often saw them playing together on the streets but my mother insisted that my music studies were far more important and would always promptly shove me into a room piled high with sheet music and my newest instructor.
So needless to say, I jumped at the chance of making a friend. I attached myself to Shikamaru every minute I could spare. And since he couldn't be bothered to try and shake me off, I was eventually able to meet all of his other friends from the academy.
Naruto and I hit it off immediately. While all the other students found him annoying and unbearable, I found his loud determination and loyalty inspiring. It was because of him that I finally stopped running from my teachers and began enjoying practicing.
As the years went by, we all grew strong in our various professions. I watched as the 9 rookie genin from my childhood shrank in number but grew exponentially in strength. Naruto had recently returned from his training with Jiraiya, stronger than ever. Shikamaru was now a jounin. Chouji, Ino, Kiba, Hinata, Shino and Sakura were all chuunin.
I had also grown. I had become somewhat of a local celebrity in the Leaf Village. More accurately, my voice had become a celebrity. Nobody cared about the person behind the voice, just as long as she continued to create the music they craved. I was commissioned to sing at various festivals, concert events, and the occasional birthday party for important village leaders.
I found it all embarrassing but my mother loved every minute of it. If I could have had my way I would have simply stuck to the nightly performances at Jo's.
Kijo Kutsami, or Jo as his friends knew him, was the owner of Jo's Nighthawk, a popular bar in the center of downtown Konoha. He first discovered my voice when I was 11 years old and immediately offered me a job. At the start, I only came in on Friday and Saturday nights, sang for a few hours, and then went home.
Eventually people started demanding that I come earlier and stay later. So Jo hired me as a waitress in the bar and had me perform every night.
I sometimes wonder how my life would have been different if I'd never worked at Jo's.
I never would have met him. I never would have gotten into that situation. And I never would have had to leave my home and my friends and family to escape.
But I did work at Jo's and I did meet him and I did have to escape. Which is why I was now standing before the towering walls of Suna, my new home, with one of my best friends at my side.
What did I get myself into?
Alrighty! Well if anyone out there reads this and is intrigued or interested in where I may take this story then just go ahead and drop me a little review. Otherwise I won't know you exist and therefore won't possibly know that there is a reason for me to continue posting chapters.
And I would say that whole thing about no flames and such, but I'm always up for a good laugh.
Yours graciously,
Sil
