Forward Motion
"That fucking idiot!" Kankuro exclaimed as he and Gaara went over possible scenarios in their heads. "She's going to get herself and Hinata-chan killed. She has no brain whatsoever! It pisses me off!"
Gaara smiled under his fingers which were folded above his nose. "Maybe," said Gaara, "she wants us to see her strength as a kunoichi and not just our sister. Kankuro-kun, I need a favor of you."
"Yes, Gaara-kun?" Kankuro asked, eyes narrowing as they fell upon Gaara, as if trying to read him. "What is it?"
"Shikamaru-kun, you know him well, do you not?" Gaara asked reciprocating his brothers interrogating stare. Neither would blink anytime soon. This was a normal occurrence, but normally it was over how
Kankuro would place and make use of his Ninja troops, not who knows who the best. This was certainly different, but old habits die hard.
"Yeah, why? Do you have a plan to get Temari-chan out of trouble?" Kankuro asked, hopeful.
"Yes, I may, but we need Shikamaru-kun." Gaara said stonily. "He is leader of the Konohagakure ANBU, is he not?"
"He is." Kankuro stated before he heard the door creek. He turned on his heel with that same cold look, only to have it soften when he saw tiny Rin in the doorway.
"Gaara-ue, I am so very sorry to interrupt, however, Kankuro-kun said he would take me home when you were done, and it is almost 23:00. My mom will be very upset with me if I do not get home soon." Rin spoke softly, as if she were whispering. Her cute little emerald eyes scanned over the entire room, stopping especially long on Kankuro.
"Is this true, Kankuro-kun?" Gaara asked, his words indicated he clearly thought his brother's intentions were anything but noble. Kankuro may be the same age as Gaara, but he liked teenage girls, and Rin fit that bill, hook, line, and sinker.
"She needs someone to take her home," Kankuro shrugged in that 'I don't know what you're talking about' way.
Rin smiled when Kankuro moved toward her dropping his puppet on the floor. He lowered himself to his knees and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Kankuro then stood up and Rin blushed when she felt Kankuro's hands wrap under her bottom.
"Kankuro-kun," Gaara said waiting for his brother to look at him. "Don not do anything foolish."
Kankuro smiled knowingly soaring out the open window, jumping building to building, and Gaara watched them go. "I swear, I am the only one of us who has any sort of dignity or brains around here." Gaara muttered as he watched the pair fly off into the blackness of the night "It will be troubling if he does anything fool-hearty. Oh well, what will be done is out of my control now. Just remember, Kankuro-kun, she is still innocent."
"Rin-chan!" Kankuro called over the sound of the wind whipping at his ears. "Would you like to feel good?" He smiled when he felt her breath on the back of his neck. Holding her tighter, he jumped higher and higher, sending them rocketing to the night sky and plummeting to the roof of another building as they drove through the increasing shadows.
Looking up at the blackened sky, Kankuro could see the stars, like a dark blanket littered with glitter. It was rare to see something so perfect.
"Woah!" exclaimed Rin when Kankuro increased his Chakra output and began jumping higher, and higher. "It feels like I am flying Kankuro-kun!" Rin cheered as the wind flew around her.
"Feels nice, doesn't it?" Kankuro asked hopping even higher. "It feels like you are free of the world, like nothings weighing you down anymore."
Rin smiled. "Yes, Kankuro-kun, it does."
"Let us go higher then, Rin-chan!" Kankuro called forcing as much Chakra as he could to the bottom of his feet and hit the rooftop, taking off like a rocket into the air, and as Rin looked around she could have sworn they were parallel with the great big moon.
When Rin looked down she could see all of Sunagakure, and my, did it look so small! She saw people who looked like ants, buildings looking as though they were made from a small child's toys, carts and merchants. It was all so small from up here. Then Rin realized. They were not falling. They had stopped in mid-air, or so it had seemed.
She looked around and realized they were on top of the only tower in all of Sunagakure that was larger than the Kazekage mansion. "Kankuro-kun, why are we up here?" She asked clinging to him for dear life. It was a long way down if she were to fall.
"It is peaceful, Rin-chan, is it not? No parents yelling at you, no siblings fighting with you, no hustle or bustle of the large city, just peace and quiet." Kankuro said as he sat on the roof allowing Rin to sit beside him.
"Yeah," Said Rin as she stared into Kankuro's dark eyes and his bore into her bright ones. "It is peaceful, Kankuro-kun." Rin was through hiding how she truly felt. No matter it be a great sin, she no longer cared. The way Kankuro was staring at her, it was amazing. She threw all her cares to the wind and pressed her lips to his, kissing him fiercely.
Kankuro, shocked by how Rin was acting, pulled away from the kiss. "RIN-CHAN? What the hell…"
"I love you, Kankuro-kun." Rin nearly whimpered. She knew he could never love her, for they were only 3 years apart, but he could never love her the way she loved him. He was royalty. He was the Kazekage's older brother, Rin was just a commoner, but she did not care, and she wished he could reciprocate her feelings. "I want to be yours, and only yours. I do not want anyone other than you, please accept me and my feelings…"
Kankuro drank in her appearance. She looked so beautiful. Her fiery red hair, her emerald eyes, her small yet developed body. She was truly a sight to behold, but Kankuro had things on the brain other than just 'low and behold'. He crashed his lips to hers tightly wrapping his arms around her body. "I love you too, Rin-chan."
xXx
Gaara sat in his quarters alone, doing everything in his power to not give in to the weary ache that plagued his bones. How long had it been since he last slept? A few days? A week? He couldn't remember as the one tailed bijuu housed deep within his body stirred. He couldn't afford rest. If he were to close his eyes and fall into a slumber the Shukaku inside him would undoubtedly break from its prison and put Sunagakure at risk. Gaara would not allow that to happen. Rest was the enemy.
He slowly opened one of the drawers in his desk, pulling out a picture of a girl with powder blue hair cut in a short hime-style to go along with the sky blue eyes that always seemed to pierce Gaara in a way he could never have imagined. Her pale skin was clad in an over-sized black zip-up hoodie and a tiny black miniskirt as she lay against a tree, reading one of those books she always seemed to keep her nose buried in.
He remembered it like it was only yesterday.
"Aki-chan, why do you always waste so much time on those books?" Gaara's voice was as monotone as ever. His crimson hair was jutting out from it's usual spikes as sweat poured from his body. He'd been training hard. "Wouldn't you rather be a Ninja and fight than lie around all day reading about others doing such deeds?"
Akiza smiled up from the book she was reading. "Gaara-kun, I am not as you and your siblings are. I wish not for battle, nor adventure, nor any of that foolishness"
Gaara was taken aback. Akiza was already an outcast being as she was the only person in the entire village who had absolutely no drive to be a Ninja, but he'd never heard her refer to them as foolish before. "Ninja are great warriors. How dare you call us foolish?"
Akiza closed her book, setting it aside before returning to Gaara's gaze with another smile. "I did not call Ninja foolish, Gaara-kun." She explained, meeting his seafoam green eyes with her own blue ones. "I said the drives some people have to becoming a Ninja are foolish. It's something I have no interest in."
"Oh," Gaara stated attempting to get away from that gaze that haunted his dreams. He had no understanding of why this female had such a unique power over him. It frightened and thrilled him simultaneously. "If not fighting, then where do your interests lie?"
"I haven't quite figured that out yet. I know the adventuring and fighting lifestyle is not for me, but it seems that in this village, if you are not a Ninja, you aren't anything. People look down on you, curse you, and declare that you bring shame to your families name, although I doubt my family would care at this point..."
A tear streamed down Akiza's face as Gaara just stared at her. He understood that empty feeling all too well. When Rin was only five years old, Gaara's father had sent her parents on a mission to Kumogakure to request council with the Raikage. Unfortunately they had arrived there the day the Raikage was assassinated and Akiza's parents had been murdered in the fray. Now she was completely alone, just as Gaara had been before he'd met her. She was possibly the only person in the world he couldn't kill, and could never uncover the reason why.
"Don't you want to avenge their deaths Aki-chan?" Gaara asked, kneeling next to her, wiping away the tear. "Don't you wish to bring their killer to justice?"
Akiza shook her head. "Violence only begets more violence, Gaara-kun. If I were to attempt to avenge them by killing the man who had murdered them, I would be no better than that man, and someone would seek to avenge him by killing me. It's a never ending cycle that I do not wish to be a part of. I'd rather honor their memory by not fighting and simply living my life to the best of my ability."
Gaara couldn't understand, but he also didn't understand emotion. He'd lost people, but after his own uncle had attempted to assassinate him, Gaara's only remaining humanity had been lost. He was as empty in his heart as the beast that was imprisoned in him. "Then I'll do it for you," Gaara had no clue why he said that, but it came out as something that wasn't monotone. It was soft, empathetic.
Akiza looked at him with confusion. "Wha-what?"
"I'll do it for you, Aki-chan," Gaara repeated, back to his usual monotone voice. "If I ever cross the man that murdered your parents, I promise you, I'll kill him."
Arms flung out and wrapped around Gaara's neck and pulled him as close to Akiza as possible as she openly wept on his shoulder, but Gaara didn't know what to do. He was completely in shock 'Why didn't my sand stop her?' he thought. Anytime some one had tried to touch him, the sand would stop them in their tracks, be here he was with a girl who wasn't even a Ninja embracing him.
A strange sensation welled up inside him as he slowly wrapped his arms around Akiza. Something he'd never felt before. He thought hard, coming to the conclusion that it was the fear his sister had told him about many times. Something he'd never experienced until this moment. Not in training, not in battle, not even in war had he been so afraid in his life, yet he had no valid idea as to why.
"There you are, Gaara-kun." came Temari's voice from close by. "I have been looking around the entire village for you, shoulda known I'd find you with your girlfriend."
Akiza quickly jumped out of Gaara's warm embrace and blushed slightly. "I-i-I'm not his girlfriend!" Akiza stammered out as fast as possible.
"You should know better than that, Temari-chan," Gaara said dryly. "I have no need for such an inconvenience."
Akiza stared at Gaara, all traces of the soft, compassionate man that had just embraced her was gone. His cold, steel like exterior had replaced itself now, but through those empty seafoam green eyes she swore she could still see it. Gaara may have been seen by every body else as a merciless killing machine, but Akiza now knew differently. He wasn't merciless, he wasn't cruel. He angry and hurting inside, but would never swallow his pride and admit to anyone that he was.
"Stay put you two." Temari commanded, producing a camera from one of the many pouches around her waist. "I want a picture of my best friend and little brother together, if that's awright?"
"Whatever," Gaara huffed as Akiza leaned against the tree with a bright smile on her face.
"Smile, Gaara-kun"
"I don't smile." Gaara stated deadpan as Temari snapped the picture.
'That was almost four years ago, now' Gaara thought. Before his battle with Naruto, before he'd opened up his heart, before he'd learned how to love and care for things.
A knock at his chamber doors tore Gaara from his thoughts. He slowly rose from his chair, making his way to the door. He opened it to a particular powder blue haired servant standing there, a cup of freshly brewed tea in her hands, holding it out for him.
"For you my lord," the servant spoke with a smile as she held the tea out for him "I believed you to still be awake for the time being."
Gaara smiled warmly at her, accepting the teacup. "Thank you, Aki-chan. Come in, please." He stepped aside for Akiza to enter the room.
Akiza smiled and walked in, hands in her hoodie's pockets, and made her way over to Gaara's desk, taking a seat in his chair, spinning around in it. "Long time, no see Gaara-kun." she in a sing-song tone as she spun herself. "How have you been?"
"Well, and yourself?" Gaara asked sitting where the young Hyuuga had several hours ago.
"Ya know, cleaning up after your sister, reading, throwing guys and girls out of the mansion after Temari-chan has had her fun. Same old, same old." Akiza stopped spinning to look into Gaara's green eyes with a smirk on her face.
"My sister sure does love her 'fun'" Gaara chuckled, taking a sip of his tea that was perfectly sugared and cooled. Akiza sure did know a lot about him.
"I must say though, I'm surprised," Akiza stated tapping a finger on the desk as she bit the string of her hoodie. "Temari-sama gave me specific instructions this morning to not only not throw out the female that lay in her bed, but allow her as much time to sleep as the girl wanted. Is Temari-chan in a serious relationship all of a sudden? And with someone that isn't Shikamaru-sama?"
Gaara chuckled again, setting his tea on the desk. "That would appear to be the case, although Hinata-chan has known the family since the Chunin Exams, two years ago, and even back then Temari had told me how beautiful she'd thought Hinata-chan was, so I cannot say that I am surprised by this."
"There is something else, as well. The girl, Hinata-sam... chan, was wearing Temari's mother's Kimono this morning as well."
Gaara nearly burst out laughing when Akiza stumbled upon the honorific for Hinata. "I'm guessing she befriended you?" Gaara asked trying to hide his amusement as a blush spread across Akiza's face.
"Shaddup!" Akiza declared, obviously embarrassed by the slip up. "Look, besides you, Kanakuro-sama, and Temari-sama, I've never had friends. Especially not ones who asked me very specifically to not be formal with them. It is a reflex for me to use sama when addressing or speaking of Temari-sama's lovers. Besides that, this is the first one that has declared they want to be friends with me. It's gonna take some getting used to..."
"My siblings and I told you a very long time ago you didn't have to be formal with us, regardless of our stature, yet it seems the only person you are continuously informal with is me." Gaara stated, reaching across the table, placing his hand over Akiza's.
"It's out of respect. I may have known all of you a very long time, but Temari-sama, and Kankuro-sama are still older than me, and you all have always been royalty through your father, and now yourself, so I've continued to treat you as such." When Akiza saw Gaara's teeth clench at the mention of his father she knew she'd touched on a bad subject so quickly added "I'd rather treat you that way now, however. You have all earned your titles, and, in my opinion, you are far better suited as the Kazekage than your father ever was, Gaara-kun."
She saw Gaara loosen up a little and let out a mental sigh of relief. The previous Kazekage may have been Gaara's father, but Gaara hated that man with every bone in his body.
Akiza then spotted something on the desk and picked it up to examine it, recognizing it immediately. "You still have this thing?" she asked, flipping the picture around to show it to Gaara with an open smile on her face.
Gaara nodded in response. "Of course I do. You're a very dear friend to me, Aki-chan. Why would I have gotten rid of it?"
Akiza shrugged, placing the picture back upon the desk before getting up from her chair. "Forgot how sentimental you've gotten, but I must be going, I still have Temari-sama's laundry to finish. It was good seeing you Gaara-kun." She walked over to him, placing a kiss on his cheek before moving for the door. "I'll try to find some more time for us to hand out," And with that she vanished from his view.
Akiza made her way back to Temari's room with her heart a flutter. Gaara had held on to that picture for four years, and though it had worn with age, it was still in good enough condition to show he took great care of it.
When she arrived at Temari's quarters she used her spare key to open the door, expecting to see Temari and Hinata in bed, but they weren't. She assumed they were out on a date yet and made her way to that bathroom where the washing machine was.
She opened the door on top of it, grabbing her step stool, stepping upon it. She may be an adult, but she was still short and could barely reach the bottom of the washer even with the help of the step stool. She dropped all the clean clothes unto the floor fetching the new dirty ones from Temari's room.
Almost all of Temari's clothes were blood drenched when Akiza got them, but she knew a simple trick to get it out. She took the dirty clothes back to the bathroom, opening the medicine cabinet, and grabbed the hydrogen peroxide out, using it to scrub the blood out before placing the dirty laundry in the washing machine. She then made her way to the empty room across the hall to hang them up.
After that was all done she made her way to the kitchen, placing a pot of water on the stove to boil. She had just pulled out the tea bags when she noticed the front door was open. She began to walk towards it slowly. "Hinata-chan? Temari-chan? Is that you?" She knew it wasn't. Had it been either of them, they would have found her and relieved her of duty.
She looked around and noted that the apartment was quiet, save for some shuffling in the bedroom. She didn't take any chances, opening the hallway closet, grabbing one of Temari's kunai knives from it. She may not have had full Ninja training, but Temari had insisted on her learning the basics of wielding a kunai for her own protection.
She slowly made her way into the bedroom to find a man standing there in an ANBU Black Ops mask. "Who the hell are you?"
The man spun around to face her, noting the Kunai she was wielding. "I am Kaname Tagoma, from Konohagakure. I am looking for Temari-sama, I have strict orders to bring her in." the man said, throwing his hands in the air. "I don't want to harm you, I need only to find Temari-sama."
Akiza knew instantly. "You're lying and you have until the count of three to leave."
The man sighed shaking his head. "Very well, if it must be that way."
He took off with lightning speed, charging directly at Akiza who simply side stepped him, attempting to slash at him with the Kunai but only connected with air as he ducked into a somersault. He got to his feet quickly, darting out at her again, but when she attempted to side step, he caught her leg with his own, yanking it out from under her.
Akiza fell on her back and the man leaped onto her, grabbing her wrist that held the Kunai. He then used his superior strength to turn the knife in on herself as she used all her might to keep it at bay. In a desperate attempt to salvage her life, Akiza threw a punch that connected with the side of the mans head, knocking his mask off his face which stunned him long enough for her to pull her right leg up and kick the man off of her.
Without a moments hesitation Akiza was on her feet, running for the opened door when something sharp pierced her back, right through to her heart. She collapsed on the ground outside trying to get up an move, but her body fought her.
She heard footsteps closing in on her. She could smell the blood pooling around her. She knew she wasn't going to live if she didn't fight. She used every last bit of strength to pull herself out the door. She tried to scream but it only came out as a mangled gargle. She then felt someone pull her up by her hair and a single thought crossed her mind. 'Sorry Gaara, looks like I won't be able to hang out with you after all.' She felt steel on her neck, and in one quick motion, the blood spurted onto the ground.