DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters in this story blah blah blah. I just use them to do dirty things teeheehee
On with the show!
Tsunade rose from her desk. Her blonde hair half-falling out of its ponytail, her bangs covering up the blue diamond on her forehead. She rubbed her temples and sighed. "No I can't do it. It's too risky."
"But Grandma Tsunade, if anyone can do it, he can. He'll help 'em out a lot. And besides, this needs to be done. It HAS to be done. And honestly, he's probably the only person we don't have that can do it."
She sighed again. This job was too rough sometimes. But the blonde- haired boy with the fiery personality in front of her did have a point.
"Well...he does owe us a favor. Alright. I'll send for him Who knows. It might actually work."
She saw a flash of a big smile and an orange blur as Naruto ran from the room. She chuckled to herself. This was definitely one crazy idea, but it had some moxy. It had potential.
She definitely couldn't ignore the terrible pang in her gut.
Gaara of the Desert stood in the giant archway of the village's main gate. Sighing heavily, he closed his dark eyes and frowned. The hustling and bustling sound of people beginning to go about their morning routines mixed with the soft sounds of the wind blowing through the giant trees that hid the tiny town from the outside world. The faint scent of rainfall mixed with a hint of salty-sweet ramen filled his nostrils. He could feel the breeze through the layer of sand coating his skin, but it was far from unpleasant. His pale green eyes slowly blinked open, readjusting to the light, letting the multitude of colors and patterns sink in. Gaara was totally unused to this. His home was in the desert, and he was used to smoldering heat, harsh winds, sunburn, and nothing but sand as far as the eye could see. He had objected originally, telling his sister that SHE should have been the one to take the mission in his place. She, however, disagreed and insisted that he go out and try something new, offering herself up as temporary Kazekage, and not letting him have another word.
He would get his revenge later.
Gaara didn't even fully understand what it was that he was supposed to be doing on this mission. All he really knew was that it was incredibly dangerous, and he was going to be teaming up with a certain Konoha nin with quite the reputation. Gaara's frown deepened. He loathed being in this village. It was too...annoying. Yes, that was the word. As were most of the nins that inhabited it. He was Kazekage, the "wind shadow", the leader of his village. He shouldn't be taking personal requests from other villages. After all, he had his own village to worry about. He would rather just take the problem on alone. Whatever that problem was. Gaara sighed again, and started walking into the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
The former host of the One-Tailed Shukaku demon wasn't too eager to be recognized by anyone. Hence, the long hooded cloak he was now wearing. He kept his face aimed at the ground, so noone would see the trademark black circles around his eyes or the red seal he had created on his forehead with sand, even though they would probably notice the large lump on his back that was his sand gourd. It wasn't that he was afraid of being called out and ridiculed. He could care less what people thought. He just didn't want to set off any alarms before he reached his destination. The red-headed boy didn't exactly expect a warm welcome, although the ninja of the Land of Fire did help him in his time of need. And here he was to repay their kindness, by request of one Naruto Uzumaki.
Gaara didn't understand why he tolerated Naruto. Maybe it was all the things they had in common. Maybe it was all the things Naruto had unknowingly taught the stubborn Kazekage. No. Gaara was just plain fascinated by the boy. The fact that Naruto was so obnoxious, hot-headed, and show-offish, and yet still a respected ninja, intrigued Gaara. He had to admit, the boy was stronger than he looked. Oh, to be that naive and simple. He wished he could have been that way, so open and honest with others. But he had never had the chance. He was alone with Kankuro and Temari, the only family he had. And now, there was no time for childish things. He was Lord Kazekage. He led a whole village.
"A village of sand dunes and nothingness...MY nothingness..." Gaara thought to himself.
He briefly looked up as he closely passed a ramen shop, stove heat and savory smell combining to blast into his face. He felt his mouth water and reminded himself to stop there later. He didn't have the chance to enjoy good food at home. Mostly, he ate fried sand lizard, or he was forced to sit back and try to enjoy the bitter-sour taste of Temari's lumpy stew. Shudders ran up Gaara's spine just thinking about the loathed concoction. She made it almost every night. He and Kankuro pretended to enjoy it, waited till Temari left the room, then dumped her botched stew out the window. Fortunately, with the extreme heat in the Village Hidden in the Sand, the stew dried up almost instantly, leaving lumpy gray blobs that could easily be passed off as rocks.
Gaara coughed, sliding his hood back a little. A couple people walking by him stopped and stared at him in confusion. Gaara kept walking, ignoring the inquisitive stares he was getting. He didn't really care what they thought. In fact, he didn't really care what anyone thought. All anyone felt towards him was hate and malice and loathing. Until Naruto...
Gaara almost smiled a bit. The knuckleheaded ninja always found his motivation in the protection of others, and seeing that had definitely changed Gaara, maybe even for the better. Since their bitter fight at the time of the Chunin Exams, Gaara had found a new purpose for living, and had almost fully lost his unconditional hatred for all things. He only truly felt his hatred leave when the Shukaku demon was removed from him, although he had also almost been killed in the process. He had since learned to care for others above himself, and therefore, the people of his village believed in him and trusted him. .
His whole life had truly turned around because of one dopey, obnoxious, hot-headed, amazing spiky-haired boy.
He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw he was overshadowed by something much bigger than him. He looked up to find himself standing right in front of a large gate. He pulled a card out of one of the inner folds of his cloak, checked the small writing on it, and determined that by a stroke of luck, he had landed directly where he was supposed to be. Easy enough.
Gaara adjusted his cloak, shook his head, and pushed open the gate. He sighed.
This Hyuga had better be as good as they say he is.
Gaara was reluctant to admit that he was pretty impressed by the Hyuga compound. It was two houses in one. He wasn't accustomed to such luxury in the desert, so it took his breath away slightly. He looked up at the beautiful home, not even noticing that his hood was slowly slipping off his head. Gaara felt a twinge of what might have been jealousy towards the boy he was soon to be working with.
He remembered meeting Neji before, long ago, during Gaara's first visit to Konoha. The boy seemed arrogant and over-confident, and he remembered Neji going on and on about fate and it being unavoidable. Basically, just another pathetic waste of a ninja, soon to be wiped out. However, he had heard wonderful things about the boy with 360 degree vision. Apparently the Hyuga boy's inherited abilities were a force to be reckoned with. Gaara remembered watching him fight Naruto in the Chunin exams, and how Neji had lost to the overly energetic ninja. Therefore, Gaara was a bit skeptical about these inherited abilites. Then again...Naruto was a force to be reckoned with when he needed to be...
Gaara shook petty thoughts of the past from his head and concentrated on the difficult task at hand: finding an actual entrance into the compound. There were sliding doors all along the building, forming almost an endless belt of entrances. Gaara frowned and crossed his arms. He stared at each door, waiting for someone to come out, so he would be able to ask someone for some sort of help. He felt almost insulted when noone came out to assist him after what seemed like ten minutes. Shouldn't the Kazekage get even a small amount of respect in this village? No. Of course not. That would be too easy. He heard a rustle of sand and felt the gourd on his back shift. He tried to calm himself, not wanting things to get out of hand over something so pointless. Even without the one-tailed demon inside him, the sand had a tendency to act on his emotions without him willing it to.
"How utterly pathetic."
"Um...excuse me?"
Gaara was almost startled. He cursed himself for allowing his guard to drop even slightly and for not even thinking about anyone coming up behind him. He resolved to stop having flashbacks as he turned around to face a beautiful young woman with long black hair. Her hair almost had a blueish tint to it. She was a small girl with a petit frame, even though her light blue kimono let it show that she was surprisingly muscular. She had a faint scent of ginger about her. Her face looked almost porcelain, rather like a china doll. However, Gaara noted that her eyes were a solid lavender. No pupils. That was the signature of the Byakugan, the kekkei genkai of the Hyuga family. Gaara settled down a bit. There was nothing to worry about. This was Hinata Hyuga. .
"Oh! You must be Gaara of the Desert. We are so happy to welcome the Kazekage into our home!"
"Thank you. I appreciate the hospitality." Gaara said plainly, returning the polite bow she had given him. As Hinata continued speaking, he quietly noted that unlike the last time he remembered seeing Hinata, although her voice was still soft, she seemed to have completely lost all traces of her childhood stutter.
"I am Hinata, eldest daughter of the main branch of the Hyuga household. I understand you're here to discuss the mission with my cousin Neji?"
"I was under the impression this mission was not common knowledge."
"It isn't, but my current rank allows me access to much information.", smiled Hinata, with a glimmer of mischievousness in her pale eyes. "Shall we go inside?"
He pondered how high up she could have climbed to be able to have access to such classified things, but then decided he didn't really care. Pushing his thoughts from his head, he nodded to the girl, who bowed once more, then turned and started walking, motioning for him to follow her. He sighed with relief, and followed Hinata through the door, sliding it shut behind him.
Gaara paused a few times to admire the house's interior while following Hinata down the mahogany halls, with her giving off another interesting point of the Hyuga history with each step. He wasn't really listening. He was too busy taking it all in. The halls looked old and sturdy, with a strong waft of almost burnt wood lingering in the air. There were doors on either side every few feet, some open, showing of the beautiful simplicity of the rooms. The house was very traditional, and had very few pieces of furniture or artwork to take away from the actual structure itself. Gaara appreciated these things, seeing too much artwork or furniture as trivial and pointless.
Gaara appreciated the Hyugas, he decided. He liked their dislike for trivial things, their style, their pride, their simplicity, their elegance...he just plain liked them. This was a noble family, and they sure seemed to act like it.
Gaara let everything sink in as he and Hinata came to a door at the end of a particularly long hallway. He assumed, if he heard Hinata's timid voice correctly, that this was the entrance to the branch house's section of the compound. She opened the door, and he followed her through.
The branch house was not as large and grand as the main house, with painted walls, less ornaments, and slightly dirtier floors, but Gaara still thought it was more elegant than anything he'd ever seen. He followed Hinata around a corner and past a few more doors, finally stopping in front of a pair of sliding doors. Puzzled, Gaara wondered how Hinata knew where to go. None of the doors had any markings on them. In fact, every door in the compound looked exactly the same. If he had been left alone, which was usually the case, he would have been lost for days on end. He shifted slightly as Hinata knocked on the door. The door slowly slid open to reveal a tall boy in traditional robes, with long, flowing black hair, a cocky smirk, and pale, lavender, pupilless eyes. Those eyes...
"Can I help you?" he asked in a deeper voice than Gaara remembered.
"Neji-san, this is the Kazekage, Gaara. I thought I would br..."
"Yes, yes, I know. Thank you, Hinata." He bowed, his face remaining passive and unreadable. "Now if you would, I would like to speak to the man in private."
"Y-yes of course, Neji-san. As you wish." Hinata flashed a quick smile to Gaara before bowing low, and quickly heading back to the main house. As she walked back down the halls, Gaara couldn't help but notice that she was slightly hunched over again, hands clasped in front of her, face to the ground. She had reverted back to her old ways at merely a sentence from her cousin. It was almost sad.
"Thank you for coming Kazekage. Shall we get to business?" Gaara turned back to face Neji, to who had already begun walking back into his room. He decided to go back on his previous declaration of admiration for the Hyuga clan. He huffed in disapproval of the Hyuga boy's attitude. Neji turned around and motioned for him to come in, and he silently obeyed.
Neji sat down at a table in the center of the room and from the look on his face, indicated that Gaara should be sitting next to him. He's still arrogant, Gaara thought. He frowned. If Neji acted like this on whatever mission they were going on, Gaara would probably resort to fairly extreme measures.
Gaara sat down as Neji immediately pushed brightly colored papers in front of him. Drawings and diagrams dotted the pages, and Gaara took note that it was written in red ink.
"This is all the details about our mission." And Neji began his long-winded explanation of their itinerary over the next few days. After Neji had droned on for what seemed like hours (probably just to hear himself talk, thought Gaara), Gaara interrupted him with a huff.
"We're going on a journey and visiting the four other great nations in order to speak with their leaders. We're bringing Leaf Village artifacts to give as peace offerings. You needed me because you want to keep the artifacts safe until they reach their destinations, and because having a kage with you bolsters you own credibility. Is that all?"
Neji shot a glare at the green eyes staring wearily back at him. "That was rather blunt, but yes. That's all. But you haven't even touched upon our possibly dangerous trek through the smaller countries such as... "
"Let's get started." Gaara cut him off. "I would rather you have not bothered me with your pointless attempts at peace, as I have my own village to think of. But as I owe Konoha a favor, I decided to aid you. I only need to know the basics so as to get this mission completed as soon as possible."
Neji glared at him again, but Gaara had already stood from his small wooden chair and started walking for the sliding door.
"Wait a minute. It's not that easy. Are you really that naive, to think that we would have called you to take on some meaningless chore? How pitiful."
Gaara stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned around and stared at the Hyuga boy. Had he really just dared to insult him? Neji's smug expression told Gaara that he had indeed. Gaara didn't know whether to be furious or impressed that Neji had the guts to stand up to him. He slowly walked back over to the table and stared at Neji, waiting for him to continue.
Neji, satisfied that he had the Kazekage's attention, continued.
"These artifacts we will be carrying are no ordinary pieces of parchment. They contain jutsu that has no human eyes have witnessed since the time they were written. It's instructions for the earliest jutsu, passed down from kage to kage. These scrolls are the basis and the beginning of our ninja way of life. Sending these to other nations will prove that they can trust us, and hopefully we can trust them. It might eliminate the wars between the smaller countries, and we could potentially form an alliance treaty between nations, stopping any fighting altogether. It's a far-fetched idea, yes, but a very well-intentioned one. And it also concerns you."
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And you still have yet to pique my interest." Gaara said, and although his face was stoic, his mind was on other things. He still didn't approve of Neji's attitude, but he had to admit, the gleam in his eye when the Hyuga talked about peace reminded Gaara of a certain ninja with fox whiskers on his face.
"Shutup and listen." Neji snapped, inwardly pleased of the almost surprised reaction he received from the redhead standing next to him. "The jutsu in the scrolls we'll be carrying are powerful. There's a reason noone has read them in so many years. And the people who want to get their hands on them will not necessarily be the nicest." This drew a strange snorting noise from Gaara. "There are going to be quite a lot of people trying to get these things. Including the smaller countries seeking power. It's very likely that Orochimaru is going to be looking for us." Gaara saw fire in Neji's lavender eyes. "So we have to be extra careful. If anyone gets their hands on these scrolls and reads them, we could be in serious trouble."
The worried look on Neji's face puzzled Gaara. He didn't understand why the boy seemed almost scared. They were both noted as being elite. They were more than strong enough to handle almost anything thrown their way. This mission would be long and tiresome, but simple. But that worried look still bothered him.
After a brief period of silence and thinking, Gaara finally spoke up.
"I don't like you, Neji Hyuga."
Neji gasped and sat back, a look of disbelief settling on his pale face. That wasn't really the reaction he was expecting from his explanation. "I'm not particularly fond of you either. I don't think you have any choice in this matter though, Gaara, as you owe the Leaf for..."
"However," the sand nin interrupted, "I am slightly eager to start this experience with you. I'm fascinated by you, Neji Hyuga and I would like to find out if the rumors of your expertise and excellence are true."
Neji's face went blank. Was that some odd, Gaara way of giving a compliment? He let a small smirk ease its way across his lips. Maybe this trip, although still unpleasant, wouldn't be as unbearable as he had thought. "Alright then. In that case let's get started."
"Good." Standing up, Gaara turned to leave. "I'll be waiting at the village gate."
"You don't want to meet your other teammate, Kazekage?"
Gaara frowned. He wasn't aware there was going to be another bothersome ninja on this mission. He was under the impression that it would be just the two of them. "Who." He demanded to know, more an order than a question.
The smug look on Neji's face made him feel slightly uneasy. "We needed a strategist in case something happened." Neji explained. We needed a genius to think of alternate plans in case the first course of action cannot be taken. He knows what to do when things go wrong. He can think of a plan when all seems hopeless. He knows the layout of the land like the back of his hand, although I believe he wouldn't like to bother with the land OR his hand. He would much rather just do nothing at all."
Gaara closed his eyes and sighed, motioning for Neji to lead the way. And the two headed out of the compound towards the house of Shikamaru Nara.
So, whaddya think? Not bad for my first story eh? I kid, I really want to know what you think! Good? Bad? Things you think should happen? Things that need to be changed? Please, by all means, lemme know! Thanks so much for reading!!