He didn't need the old geezers telling him what to do. He was the leader of this village, if you wanted to call it that. Perhaps the term fort would be best situated for the place he and the 'villagers' made their home. In truth it could almost be called tribe with how people acted now. It was to be marveled at how a total social break down had returned people to a different state.
The place he called home was little more than a fortress of sorts, built around a collection of oasis over a natural spring in the desert. They had managed to tap into it and set up a home in the land, fortifying it in case anyone tried to pillage it, and they had tried more then once. Every time proving that the fortress was here to stay, marking the landscape it sat upon.
When the bombs first dropped it had to be 4 years ago today. Nuclear fallout had poisoned and killed half the human population within days. If the fall out didn't kill you then the new plagues and mutated animals might've. But in retrospect not all fell so quickly otherwise him and the other survivors would be dead too. Indeed for some the radiation became a boon instead of a biological curse, although for many they were still a biological time bomb.
He had been 14 when the bombs dropped, just hitting the ideal yet most dangerous time for the radiation to reach him. He would admit it was good timing though, puberty changed the body, changed the mind as it went through its final big change from childhood to adulthood. Most kids his age were dead now, the radiation preying on the old and the young easiest. Even now birth rates were dangerously low and slightly one sided with the female population being lower than the male, one of the elders, a previous doctor, theorized it was due to the flux in radiation, it made no sense to him but he never really cared to listen.
He overlooked the desert with a hawk's eye sight, the land itself serving as his weapon. He had mutated himself, although it appeared he was more stable seeing as he hadn't died yet from his own genetic twist. He controlled sand, and his element surrounded everything here.
At first he had been more than hesitant to allow the once pack of wandering survivors anywhere near him. They had found him, challenged him, and he had proven himself dangerous, but in spite of this one of the old bags of expired flesh brought about the idea of making him their leader. He had thought it completely foolish to even suppose they could trust him, but it wasn't above his head that they could do the heavy work for him, and all he'd need to do was keep the dangers away. Quickly he found it equally as fun to direct them to set things up as he wanted them, and now he had this 'tribe', he had thought that a better word now, of survivors at his beck and whim. It usually brought his mood up when he thought about the power he had right now. Being from the slum before the wars, this power made him feel like a god.
Yet with this power came annoyances he put serious thought into eliminating. He was 'chief' as you could call it, leader, god and master of the desert sands. Yet the old sacks of soon to be dead meat pryed their noses into his business, telling him things he should do. Like could care less about old world types of politics. It was a time of survive or die no middle ground to be had, kill or be killed. Yet he knew they had a point, not a good one mind you and one that in honesty was rather insulting. One that stung his pride and made him put additional thought into getting rid of them now.
It hadn't been much he came from his shelter at the highest point in the fortress, built into its very walls, and had gone to the center shelter, he hated the damn elders but the sooner he listened to them the sooner he could shut them up and remind them why he was leader. Priding him-self even more as people back away and bowed to him. The pride could snuff out the dread he had ignored and reclused to the far corners of his mind. After 4 years of beatings not many modern clothes were intact, however people had found fabrics along their travels and now wore them like robes around their filthy bodies, water being too precious a resource to waste bathing constantly so the dust and dirty clung to their sweaty bodies, their robes normally dirty and torn in places, worn down while his stayed in fine condition. Blood red silk sash and slightly darker colored cotton pants, he wore no shoes, no need to really. His red hair brushed the back of his neck as he walked and pushed the flap of the tent open.
He had been greeted by a similar sight and glared at the old geezer's making his displeasure at being summoned well know "What do you want?" he asked in his normal deep yet slightly raspy voice, mutation didn't come without some draw backs.
"Please take a seat Lord Gaara." An old woman said, putting emphasis on the title as a weak way to try and appease him, the old sacks took him for a fool. Mistake two of the day aside from summoning him. She growled but moved over to where he sat, purposefully set up on most of the tribe's best luxuries.
"I won't ask again." He stated looking around and took note of the nervousness that befell them. While some was normal this amount of discomfort at coming clean about the subject was interesting, he enjoyed watching them squirm.
The older woman which had addressed him earlier, Chio was her name last he bothered to care, cleared her throat "Lord Gaara. We've requested you join us to discuss a matter of which had kept the village in binds recently." He didn't respond so she took this as her cue to continue "As everyone has noticed the ratio of our population has been tipped for some time. The radiation whipped out most of.."
This is where he tuned out, he knew about this issue but why would he care? It was their problem not his, part of him said it was his problem since he did pride himself as a leader and it was sort of his duty to help but there was nothing he could do about it. He listened to the hag drag on about how they had contacted other 'villages', this irked him but he remained stoic, and about how they too were facing similar issues blah blah blah. He didn't care about the so called issue, however he was interested when she explained that all the ones they had contacted were lead similarly, a mutant survivor, typically a stable one, leading the regular humans. One was a man named Naruto who commanded the 'village of leaves' which had wind manipulation, another was an entire family changed over, which set up a village of only their own, letting few other live there calling themselves 'The Uchiha Compound', another similar one was called 'The Hyuga Holding', all with unique powers.
But what got to him most was when they had the gusto to openly talk about him taking a wife. Of all things to openly discuss without any word from him. More so referencing it to how the Naruto fellow was wedding a Hyuga girl. He growled openly, they were talking about something else now but still along the same lines.
"Do you have a death wish?" he asked straight out. They looked at him, many paling.
"N-no sir! It's just with the population so low.." one woman began but Chio cut her off.
"The numbers of the village are steadily declining. You agreed to be the leader lord Gaara," he was sure she had a death wish now with how she said it so mockingly "And as such a leader needs to take to responsibility of displaying power in more than one way. You could kill me where I stand and you probably want to right now! But it makes no difference in the problem were facing right now. I'm old, but those who are young and strong can still prosper. And while theirs still life in these old bones I'll do my dandiest to see it happen that way. You are a mutant, but you're strong, built to survive, that's what the human race needs right now."
Gaara wasn't sure if he was more insulted, pissed, flabbergasted, or the dreaded feeling of ashamed at her outburst towards him. He was never a man of words but even he was struck wordless. This old, defenceless crone had just scolded him and put him down in front of a group of on lookers. He was caught between wanting to sever her old limbs to tearing this shelter apart. But deep down inside he knew she was right, that and her pointing out he power and not dismissing how easily he could kill her right now gave her a shred of his respect.
Enough at least to keep her alive, for now.
"You are a brave old hag." He growled and everyone jumped as he got up suddenly and left, Chio thanking the gods she was still standing.
"Chio you must be mad!"
"I don't doubt that in the slightest right now, but he'll have to get over it. Sakura is already making her journey here."