Hello, readers!
I feel the need to warn you that English isn't my native language and, furthermore, this is my first story written in it originally (as opposed to translated from Russian). So don't mind too much possible mistakes in grammar and spelling.
This plot hounded me since I've seen that episode of Shippuuden where Sasuke meets Kyuubi. I've valiantly tried to fight it off, but now admit my complete defeat… There will be subtle spoilers to some facts in the latest episodes, but nothing overly important.
In this story Sasuke is a bit cleverer, and Gaara – a bit saner than in the manga/anime, but I've put some thoughts on their behavior at the end, so feel free to read them if you think the boys are wildly OOC :)
And now, without further ado, on to the action!
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'The weather is really too nice for these kinds of things.'
For some unfathomable reason this thought stubbornly refused to leave Sasuke's mind and let him concentrate on the problem at hand. Gaara's strangely resonating voice hurling taunts and mockery further distracted him, almost forcefully pulling his mind to another nice day in the middle of this training.
Kakashi-sensei shouldn't have intervened that time, because he was wrong. Gaara described his feelings and goals perfectly. It wasn't anger he was feeling for the sudden intrusion in his mind. No, it was a moment of empathy when he knew that at least one person could really understand him and wouldn't try to force their own ideas on him as Kakashi-sensei subtly tried to do since the very beginning of their training.
But at the same time, while a part of him agreed wholeheartedly with Gaara's battle philosophy, another part was horrified. Was he really turning into this desperate creature, who needed death to confirm their own existence? Was there no other way to live for him? For them?
In the following days Sasuke frequently recalled their exchange, and the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to him that Gaara came not to taunt him, but to try to connect in some way to the only person he saw as similar to himself.
Even now, when the strange monster Gaara was transforming into roared "your hatred is weaker that mine", Sasuke just heard 'my loneliness is far greater than yours.'
But still, no matter his thoughts and feelings, Sasuke had to figure a way do defeat his opponent, and quickly. It was obvious from the beginning that the sand-nin would not be reasoned with, and a few blows they've exchanged clearly showed that nothing but chidori could damage him. So, despite Kakashi's warnings droning at the back of his head, the Uchiha activated his sharingan and concentrated his chakra, stepping from behind a tree trunk.
At the very last moment before charging he somehow caught the other's eyes – one teal-green, another yellow with a star-shaped pupil – and suddenly the world was warping around him, jumping, stretching and narrowing, almost turning inside out, and when it calmed down again, Sasuke found himself in a vastly different place.
The Uchiha narrowed his eyes, taking in his surroundings. He appeared to be in some kind of a tunnel with sandstone walls, dimly lit and stretching almost infinitely in both ways. Concentrating further he was able to discern several patches of darkness which he guessed to be side-corridors. There also seemed to be a continuous, almost inaudible hissing that he couldn't place.
Familiar as he was with the descriptions of his family's bloodline abilities Sasuke had some suspicion of where he was, and that spurred his curiosity. With a little decisive nod to himself he took off at a jog along the corridor. There was no point in choosing a direction: to navigate such places it was required only to imagine the desired destination.
The hissing sound was becoming louder and finally Sasuke noticed the swirling sand, slithering alongside him and subtly trying to slow him down. Glaring at it didn't seem to help, so the boy simply ignored it speeding up and focusing his intent on reaching the center of the maze.
Light seemed to seep into the corridors, and taking a closer look Sasuke saw that the walls were covered in murals. They were mostly done in blacks, browns and reds and showed only death. At first he instinctively recoiled from what he perceived as senseless murders. But as he looked closer he saw that the child with blood-red hair never was the instigator of the fights. Despite himself he stopped before one of the paintings to look at the child's face, and was not very surprised to see not blood-lust but sadness under the emotionless mask.
Narrow corridors gradually became wider and finally opened into a vast cave-like room with a sand-storm raging inside. The hissing turned to roaring and fierce wind was of such force that it was hard to stand. Shielding his nose and eyes, Sasuke frantically scanned the open space searching for the owner of the place. Luckily for the Uchiha he was not very far away, surrounded by a bauble of relative calm.
After what seemed like an eternity of pushing through the gale the raven-haired boy arrived at the protected area and was able to study the second inhabitant. To his surprise the figure was half-buried in sand with their hands firmly snared and head bent forward as if against strong wind. Although the second the intruder entered his space, a shock of blood-red hair moved revealing a pair of impassive teal eyes.
"Uchiha Sasuke," said the monotonous voice, "what are you doing here?"
There was no indication of it in the tone of voice or expression of face, but Sasuke knew that their owner was baffled by his appearance.
"I've activated my bloodline ability to enter your inner world," he answered somewhat arrogantly considering he was quite surprised himself at it's sudden activation.
Sabaku no Gaara studied him with impassive intentness.
"For what purpose?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Sasuke continued with the confident front, "To understand what's happened to you and how to stop it."
He didn't really expect the other to explain it himself so Gaara's next words came as a surprise.
"Look over there," the red-head nodded somewhere over his left shoulder. Squinting his eyes in an attempt to see through the raging sands Sasuke was barely able to make out a shape of something tailed and bulky, resembling an enlarged copy of a monster into which Gaara was transforming in the real world.
"That is a one-tailed demon, Shukaku," the indifferent voice continued, "it was sealed within me shortly after I was born."
Sasuke needed but a few seconds to piece together all the facts.
Having access to the vast Uchiha library meant that he knew much more about politics that an average twelve-year-old. Specifically, he knew what a jinchuuriki was and how it was a common practice several years ago to create them as an ultimate weapon in dealings with other villages. Sasuke's ancestors diligently compiled the list of all methods of sealing they could put their hands on and went into minute details concerning strength and stability of each binding. (as another consequence, Sasuke knew that Naruto was Kyuubi no jinchuuriki, but was never bothered by it. After all he had no recollection of devastation caused by a rampaging demon as opposed to a massacre of his entire clan by his own brother).
Since Sasuke couldn't see anything resembling a cage or chains, it was obvious that the sealing was the weakest one possible: only binding a demon to a host without any restrictions on its' actions. It was therefore the jinchuuriki's responsibility to control their 'freeloader' and prevent it from taking control. No wonder Gaara was so unstable: library texts informed that in cases such at this one the host had to maintain consciousness at all times which meant no sleep at all. Then they went on to say that even if the host was able to attaint something resembling human intelligence they were bound to go insane by the age of ten.
The fact that Gaara was able to at least partially control the murderous urges of his demon in itself was a miracle. Or, rather, a testament of his iron will.
"Can I help you in any way?" the words were out of Sasuke's mouth before he was able to check them. But really, any way of subduing the demon was bound to be beneficial to him now. There was no way that a simple genin could win against a jinchuuriki, bloodline limit or not.
For the first time Gaara's face – widened eyes and a slightly parted mouth – reflected his surprise at the unexpected question.
"I am your enemy," the whisper was almost swallowed by the roaring sands.
"It is the only way to protect what I hold dear," he replied. "In the state you are in nether enemy nor ally can stop you. So do you know of a way to subdue your demon?"
Sasuke left out the fact that he was horrified someone was heartless enough to condemn a newborn to a lifelong struggle with madness and thought it his responsibility to help Gaara in any way he could. Somehow he doubted the sand-nin would believe him.
The jinchuuriki tilted his head to the left slightly, searching him for something.
"What do you want in exchange for your help?" he finally asked.
Sasuke was glad Gaara wasn't outright refusing and spouting a new portion of taunts and demands for blood. He even opened his mouth to request an oath of not harming his village and its' people but something stopped him. Maybe the fact that at the very bottom of those hard teal eyes there was still a glimmer of longing and a childish hope for an unselfish person who would not turn away from him.
So he made three steps that brought him face to face with the jinchuuriki and answered:
"I do not require anything."
"Do not be ridiculous!" Gaara suddenly shouted, and the protected space seemed to shrink as if trying to expel the intruder. "What guarantees do you have that I will not turn on you the moment you finish helping?"
"I do not have any, but I choose to believe in your honor," Sasuke said firmly. "Now, do you actually know of a way to resolve the situation?"
"Yes," the sand-nin answered with a hard, challenging gleam in his eyes, "to stop this, you'll have to re-seal the Ichibi." Sasuke's first thought was that Gaara told a deliberate lie crafted to call his bluff. But he quickly discarded it, for his opponent always preferred direct methods. Still, all the scrolls he'd read agreed that there was no way to change a seal after the bijuu was 'implanted'.
'It is impossible,' he wanted to reply but felt this wording would not be well received so he said: "I do not now of a method," instead.
He was scrutinized again by penetrating eyes that now held a hint of curiosity.
"You are willing to try then, if I supply you with one?"
"Like I've stated earlier, I see no other way to protect what is important to me."
"Why go through all the trouble?" Gaara taunted though his voice was filled with confusion and almost pain. "What about simply killing me? Am I not vulnerable right now? Do you not have advantage over me here?"
"It's true," Sasuke nodded. He looked at the pile of sand holding the jinchuuriki prisoner and then into the storm concealing the from of Shukaku. Compassion was not his common trait but now he strongly felt that a lifetime of torment should not be repaid with death. So he continued: "Still, if it's all the same to you, I would prefer to spare your life."
Gaara's eyes widened almost comically and his sharply drawn breath was audible even above the roar of the wind. He appeared to be on the verge of questioning him further but stopped himself. Sasuke was internally grateful: it wouldn't have been easy to explain his decision especially when he couldn't reason it out for himself.
"Very well then," the jinchuuriki said, composed once again, "I'll dictate it to you."
"Before we start," the sharingan wielder interrupted, "is this method of yours reliable? Are you sure of it?"
"What does it matter?" came the indifferent response, "Even if it backfires the only one injured would be me."
"Tch. That's the reason I'm asking," Sasuke muttered, annoyed.
This time Gaara held back any expression of surprise at the pronouncement.
"I am reasonably sure of it," he replied to the earlier question, "I've created it myself, and theoretically it is flawless."
"What?" Sasuke ground out through his shock.
"I can explain it later, if you wish," the jinchuuriki replied with a hint of hesitation. "For now we need to act while Shukaku's attention is focused on the outside world. The sealing consists of two parts, so we can talk more between them while you rest."
The Uchiha forcefully squashed all his objections to being ordered and directed: now was not the time for petty disagreements. He relaxed his muscles and concentrated his chakra.
"Start dictating."
With a slight nod Gaara began to recite a string of hand-signs that formed some weird, erratic pattern, parts of which reminded him of common binding techniques while others were disturbingly similar to their family (supposedly secret) jutsus. After a while Sasuke grasped the cadence and signaled Gaara to go faster. Although this binding was draining his chakra he agreed that time was of essence. If Shukaku were to notice that he was under attack from within…
Close to hundred signs later the Uchiha noticed almost transparent strings of flame forming a net along the border of their little eye of the storm. Another hundred, and the sand could not come through anymore, burned away into nothing or turned to glass. Another fifty, and the pile enclosing Gaara melted away making him stumble with a sudden loss of support.
"First part is concluded," the sand-nin announced needlessly, stepping to the borders of their space and examining the fire-net. "It is as I've imagined," he whispered with a hint of excitement, bringing his fingers to almost touch the flames and then dropping his hand. "So far Shukaku hadn't noticed anything."
"So, will you talk now?" Sasuke decided to keep his dignity and lower himself to the floor instead of waiting for his legs to give out on him.
Gaara turned to the sitting shinobi with a hint of puzzled expression on his face.
"I presumed you were only worried about the effectiveness of the technique. Now that it is obvious…"
"If you don't want to talk about it I won't force you," Sasuke grumbled annoyed. Of course he was curious about the origin of the performed jutsu but since he already offered his help and assured the other that he didn't want anything in return it was not his place to insist.
He was subjected to another bout of relentless scrutiny, but then Gaara visibly resolved himself and came closer.
"Since I remember myself I couldn't sleep," he started, pinning Sasike with a teal gaze, "and despite common impression I didn't spend all my free time on murderous rampages. I used to while away my nights in the library with no one to watch me…" he paused for a second, "no one to be afraid of me, no one to…"
'kill me,' the words came unbidden to Sasuke's mind, brought forth by the empathy of being in the other's mind. The Gaara here seemed calmer, more composed and the Uchiha fleetingly mused on how much of the other's outward behavior was due to the demon he housed.
"My desire to find out as much as I could about the Ichibi and the sealing is obvious," the jinchuuriki continued. "When I was little I thought that since everyone was so afraid of what I was turned into someone would eventually come and fix me. When I grew older I decided that I could only rely on myself."
"I've read it's impossible to change the binding after the bijuu is implanted," supplied Sasuke, unwilling to let the other relive his disappointment.
"It is, in most cases," Gaara agreed. "To the outside observer my chakra is so merged with Ichibi's that separating them is akin to asking a blind man to sort white sand from red in a desert. And so, no one is able to re-seal the demon because they cannot distinguish between it and me. Much like in all the other situations," he added with unexpected bitterness.
Sasuke didn't need a lot of time to make the conclusion.
"You've figured it will be easier to do from the inside? And managed to create an appropriate jutsu?" the sand-nin nodded. "Why haven't you used it on yourself before?"
"Why a man can't pull himself from the quicksand by his hair?" Gaara rejoined with a hint of smugness.
"What's with the colourful metaphors?"
"My non-destructive hobby is reading, remember?"
Sasuke couldn't help but chuckle at the remark. It was somehow good to know that fearsome Sabaku no Gaara was still a human inside. (especially since he was fond of saying they were alike). The jinchuuriki sported a somewhat uncertain expression, as if he didn't expect this banter from himself.
"All right, back to the topic," the raven-haired boy slowly climbed back up to his feet and came closer to the spun-fire net. "To even try to change the sealing you need a person willing and able to enter your inner world. Despite virtually non-existent possibility of finding such a person you've put a lot of thought in creating a jutsu just in case?"
"It was a long shot," Gaara mumbled and for the first time during their talk he turned his head away, "but I've used to daydream about a chance to free myself… and it was my only hope, however insubstantial."
"For a person creating such a serious jutsu from theoretical suppositions you were awfully sure it would work."
"That was because of you," Gaara answered, unperturbed. Sasuke was baffled.
"Me?"
"You are an Uchiha, member of a clan renowned as the only one powerful enough to control free chakra entities such as bijuu. Weren't you suspected of setting Kyuubi itself on Konohagakure?"
Sasuke never heard of such rumors but decided to store it in the back of his mind for now.
"Still, it is quite a lot of risk you're taking."
"My situation cannot possibly grow any worse," the jinchuuriki shrugged his shoulders, "conversely, the gain is immeasurable. Are you ready for the second part?"
"What will it do?" Sasuke found himself much more interested in the proceedings.
"It should expand the net so that I'll have access to at least one way out. Ideally it will divide this cavern in half."
"That won't work," Sasuke objected confidently.
"How do you know? Theoretically…"
"It will be unstable," he elaborated, "and sooner or later will fail altogether. We should aim to make the surface area of the net the smallest possible which means forcing Shukaku in some corner or niche. That way you'll be certain of your control at all times."
"I don't think you have enough chakra for it," Gaara replied doubtfully.
"What about you? I'm sure you've used mostly demon's powers before and now that you are separated nothing's preventing you from helping." It was apparently first time the sand-nin entertained such a possibility. "It will actually be easier to secure this net over a corner than in the center," Sasuke continued.
"We'll see what we can do," Gaara answered reluctantly and adapted a casting stance. Sasuke copied him.
The next uncertain amount of time was sure to return to Sasuke in nightmares. Shukaku noticed their attack almost immediately and every step forward was a desperate struggle against the raging sandstorm pushing them back, blinding the eyes and blocking the lungs even through their defense. The more their net stretched, the less shielding it provided. There were moments the sharingan wielder truly doubted that they would be able to prevail and feared he wouldn't even have enough time to leave jinchuuriki's inner world and would be buried under raging sand. He was shielded from despair only by his pride and by fierce determination reflected on his partner's face.
And still, step by step, they gained ground, until Sasuke suddenly remembered of a jutsu he read about some time ago that was supposed to drive a person into the depths of their subconsciousness and lock them there. Mentally congratulating himself on the foresight of reading all his family scrolls with sharingan activated, he smoothly changed from repeating the sand-nin's sealing to his own version.
The results far exceeded his expectations: a jet of purple fire that he breathed out pushed Shukaku back with such force that the last several steps were laughingly easy.
In the sudden silence their ragged breathing seemed almost as loud as howling of the winds. Sasuke bent over, putting his palms on his knees, and turned his head to examine the results.
Ichibi was forced into a large crack in the stone wall, the spun-fire net stretching over it. His own jutsu manifested in the form of paper-seals along its edges. Beyond this defense there was ever-changing hissing darkness with flashes of gold from eyes of the demon concealed within.
"It's done," Gaara panted form the side, though Sasuke was more inclined to say 'I can't believe it actually worked.' Of course this beast had only one tail, but victory over it still seemed very much unreal.
"It is," he agreed aloud, "but we should still test it."
"How?"
"Is this thing usually easy to provoke?" he asked in lieu of explaining.
"Extremely," came the grave reply.
Sasuke smirked and came closer to the imprisoned demon.
"Hey, Ichibi, are you comfortable back there?" he asked mockingly, "I hope you like dark narrow spaces, because you are going to spend quite a lot of time there from now on."
Gaara came closer too, but he watched the proceedings warily.
"Have you had pets as a child?" Sasuke turned to his partner, willing him to understand the purpose of his actions. The sand-nin shook his head, bewildered. "Well, now you can have a pet raccoon," he continued brazenly. Gaara snorted despite himself, and beyond the fire-net there was an ominous sound of slithering sand. "Aren't you feeling stupid right now, demon? You've let yourself be defeated by a pair of twelve-year-old boys."
"Well, what can you expect of a creature that was previously sealed in a teapot," the jinchuuriki finally joined the taunting.
There was an enraged roar and a wave of sand crashed onto the bars of fire. The boys stepped back instinctively, but the binding net turned into a wall of solid flame, completely separating the crack from the cavern.
"All right," Sasuke said, a little shakily, "it holds well against the demon's rage. Hopefully there isn't much in the outside world that can provoke it easier than direct taunting."
He turned to Gaara for confirmation only to find him watching the flames as if mesmerized.
"I'm free," he whispered through trembling lips, "I can't believe that I'm free." He blinked, and a tear-drop ran down his cheek. Sasuke kept his silence. "What is it?" the jinchuuriki touched his wet face with a tip of a finger, "I'm crying. I haven't cried since I was six…" he murmured to himself, but behind him sand began to form into an image of the past.
"Don't think about it if you don't want me to see it!" the Uchiha warned. He already felt uncomfortably close to this virtual stranger, and he didn't want to become privy to more personal secrets.
His voice effectively distracted Gaara and stopped the reminiscence. Instead he turned to Sasuke fully, not bothering to wipe off the tear-tracks.
"You've saved me," he stated calmly, "from a fate so terrible you can not begin to imagine. Anything that's in my power I will give you."
Sasuke stared at the sand-nin, still stuck on his first words. They were said so matter-of-factly, but he could sense a wealth of emotions behind them non only in the one he saved, but in himself as well. In that moment he finally found his answer. It was the same answer that he almost found once before: saving was much more precious than defeating. And it had nothing to do with debts and obligations.
Sasuke took in the boy standing before him; the subtle tension that seemed to hum around him like high voltage seemed to have dissipated with the sand restricting him, it's grains now calmly swirling round his ankles. Even his face managed to reflect his relief while still being impassive. The Uchiha felt immense pride in the fact that he helped in these changes.
"You've already given me something very important," Sasuke finally replied. "And now I should be returning to the real world."
When Sasuke opened his eyes again he found himself staring at the canopy of green leaves with stripes of blue sky between them. Judging by the sunlight he spent ten minutes at most in Gaara's inner world and none of the pursuers managed to reach them yet. For a few seconds he marveled at the drastic change of his attitude towards the jinchuuriki and doubted the choice he made.
Then he felt something slithering along his sides and gently lifting him in a more upright position. After a dizzy spell was over Sasuke managed to focus his eyes on Gaara, who was crouching a few feet away from him and looking as if he severely needed the support of his sand that was now forming a seat for the Uchiha.
"Do you feel all right?" the sand-nin asked uncertainly, and this simple question somehow alleviated most of Sasuke's worries.
"I'm fine. It's just chakra exhaustion. You?"
"I think I'll need some time and effort to be able to access Shukaku's chakra freely," he commented in lieu of straightforward answer. "I won't be able to fight against Konohagakure in my current condition."
Sasuke managed to check his eye-roll. Of course, his earlier actions weren't entirely selfless, but still he would have liked to show the other that his concern was real.
"You should go then," he finally said, "someone will be here shortly."
"Isn't it against regulations to let the enemy go?"
"I don't have the power to stop you now," Sasuke shrugged, "I'll just pretend you've defeated me."
Gaara's surprise this time was almost comical, but he didn't seem to be able to pour it into words.
"As long as I know what really happened, I don't much care what others think."
"Even your annoying friend?"
Sasuke snorted. When did Gaara manage to get acquainted with Naruto? And how long did it take for the loud-mouth to annoy him?
Then he internally cringed imagining all the taunts he would have to endure from his team-mate.
"I'll survive it… somehow," he concluded.
He could have sworn Gaara's lips curled slightly upwards at his proclamation.
"It was… a unique experience… fighting alongside you," the jinchuuriki admitted hesitantly. "I hope some day I'll have another opportunity for it," he was silent for a while, but then added more firmly: "you've changed my world, Uchiha Sasuke. If you ever find a way for me to repay you…"
"I won't hesitate to ask," the Uchiha answered with a genuine smile, "but now you really have to go." He already sensed Naruto's chakra rapidly approaching them and wasn't looking forward to the possible confrontation.
"Thank you, Sasuke," the sand-nin bowed his head, and his sand dissipated carefully lowering him on the ground. "Farewell."
"Till we meet again," Sasuke replied to the softly rustling leaves above. He was somehow certain that would not be the last they've seen of each other.
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Hope you've read till the end :P
If you like it, please drop a line to let me know. Actually, I have several other scenes planned, and I'd be glad to continue with this story if someone is interested in it. (there will probably be romance of the yaoi persuasion, but far in the future).
Conversely, if you hated it, please spare me heartache and nervous breakdown and don't flame… please?
Notes on the behavior: First, Sasuke. I don't know what he'd done in all those lonely years after the Uchiha massacre, but I feel it the waste of knowledge to not read all that he could in their (definitely existing) secret family archives. After all, he couldn't spend all his time throwing kunai and breathing fire, could he?
As for Gaara, it's obvious that he must be very smart to be made Kazekage at a tender age of 14(15?). Immense chakra and a psychotic bijuu are definitely not enough to rule a ninja village. Also, when he is (relatively) calm, he is quite willing to discuss his past (see the episode when Naruto and Shikamaru stop him from hurting Lee). And I believe he is actually glad for a chance to talk to someone. (as for the crack about teapot, it's not my imagination. It is actual fact from the same episode :))