Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any shape or form, if I did, you would not be reading this right now, now would you?
The Ripple Effect
By Shi-shiNata
My Aunt Alice went missing ten years before I was borne, and yet now, twenty-seven years later, they still talk about her as much as they did when she first disappeared, or so I've been told. It is because of that fact, my family has always been very protective of me. I have been so overprotected by my family, I have never even left our town before. And I was sick of it. I will be turning eighteen in a few weeks, and I was sick and tired of never being allowed to leave home. So, my best friend, Hope Anne Smith, had decided to take me on a secret road trip. I would leave a letter on my pillow, explaining what was going on, where I was going, who I was with, and that I would take my cellphone with me. I was looking forward to the time away from my prison.
We had agreed to leave on Saturday, two in the morning, while everyone was asleep. If I had known what would happen not even an hour later after I had left my house, I sometimes debate whether I would of still gone, or stayed and continued to be the little Angel I was called. The night before the little "road trip" I went to bed extra early, slept in late, and made sure I took a little nap during the day, all so I would be ready, when night came...
xxxXXXxxx
It was time. No matter how much I loved the little house in Bowie, Maryland, that we lived in. I just couldn't bare to spend anymore time here. I had to get away, if only for a day or two; else, I feared, I would go insane. I strapped my backpack on, opened up my window, and took one last, long look around the room. I sighed, and climbed out the window.
There was a grand pine tree outside my room, it was easily the biggest one in the neighborhood. I wanted to stop, if only for a moment, and recall all the happy times Hope and I had had with this tree, climbing the tree and playing on its the swing my father had installed for us for hours on end; I didn't. Time was precious at the moment at any moment at all, my parents or my siblings could wake up, so I continued to carefully climb down the tree, jumping down when I reached the bottom branch. Hope had parked only a few blocks away, and, wanting to get out of this place sooner rather then later, I foolishly took the alley shortcut a few houses down. When I first entered the alley, I didn't see the tall, dark shadow hiding behind the huge recycling bin. But I did notice him, however, when he jumped out from behind the bin, grabbed me, and pointed a gun at my temple.
He then preceded to tell me that, if I didn't scream, he wouldn't have to use the gun . I decided it would be in my best interest not to scream. I became horrified, however, and almost screamed my heart out when his free hand started to slowly reach into my breast pocket. I don't know if what I did next was the smartest thing I had ever done, or the dumbest, but I had no time to think about my actions as I suddenly kicked him. I ran as fast as I could, desperately hoping I would reach my friend's car before the man recovered. At that moment, I had to be the most unlucky person in all of Maryland, for a gun shot rang through the silence of the night, and my scream joined it only seconds later. The world went dark around me as I fell, and the eyes of Angel Alice Bresslin never again reopened in the world we live in...
xxxXXXxxx
When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital room I didn't recognize. The room was a dull, sandy color, but its plainness, and the little needle poking into my arm, was what hinted me that I was in some sort of hospital. I immediately thought that someone had heard the gunshot and my scream, came to investigate, found me, and took me to the hospital; I soon figured that my story was wa~y off, when I looked out the window next to my bed, and saw the familiar Kazekage Tower in the distance. A tower, I had only seen in the manga, and anime, Naruto.
I began to panic, but then my rational side took over, and I decided I would wait for a doctor to come and check on me before I made any assumptions. As far as I knew, some little brat had decided to play a prank on the poor, unsuspecting people of the hospital, and had decided to make it appear as though I was really in Suna. I decided that that was the most likely thing going on, and began to relax into my hospital bed.
Not even fifteen minutes later, the sliding door opened, and a doctor came in, seeing me awake and sitting up in the bed, the man stared at me in shock, dropped his clip board, pointed at me, and stuttered out a few words. You would think he would be more professional about this, but no~ he just had to panic.
"Y-y-y-y-y-y-our a-a-a-a-w-w-ake-ake!" he stuttered out annoyingly.
"Obviously." I said, surprised how stupid this man was, was he really a doctor? I checked the ID card he was waring on his chest, Doctor Hanabusa Yuu it said. Yep, he's a doctor.
This was going to be a long day. I thought to myself. I didn't know how right I was.
xxxXXXxxx
It was hectic the first few days after I woke up. I found out I was reduced to a child, and that I had been found by Suna shinobi, right outside of the wall. I was immediately told I was in the Suna Hospital in the Land of Wind, and, deciding to play dumb, pretended I had amnesia, and that only things I could remember was my birthday, my age, and my name. I had decided that the name Angel Bresslin was too odd for the world I had found myself in, and had introduced myself as a four year old named Ryushiro Tenshi. Why Ryushiro you ask? Because it was well known that my Aunt Alice often mistakenly sighed things as Namekaze Ryushiro Ichigo.
I was released out of the hospital about two weeks after I had entered, and was put strait into the orphanage. That was when I finally found out the date, it was January 12th, one week before my (physically 5th) 18th birthday.
I may not of liked the orphanage very much, all the brats were crazy, wild, and the orphanage attender didn't seem to like me very much for some reason, always muttering about how the stupid niece was going to ruin his plans, but it was a roof over my head, food on my plate( no matter how little there were sometimes) and a place to lie my head down at night. The third day at the orphanage, I decided to follow the children of my physical age group to the park. There, I found out just exactly when I was in the Naruto universe. There was a little red headed, lonely looking boy, swinging on the swing set all by himself. He had blood red hair, emerald green eyes with dark circles around them, a teddy bear in his arms, and no tattoo on his forehead.
I stopped dead in my traps when I saw Sabaku no Gaara swinging on the swing set all by himself, but forced myself to calm down when I realized he wasn't to deadly until after his Uncle had betrayed him and Gaara had given himself that tattoo. I watched him that day, and my heart yearned to comfort him, seeing him there by himself, with no one but himself to rely upon but himself.
I watched him the next day, and the next, and the next, until the day of my birthday, when I finally gained up the courage to approach him. All the other children in the orphanage tried to persuade me from approaching him, fearing for my life, and I had to admit, I was fearing for my life as well, but I kept walking towards him, silently repeating to myself that everybody needed a friend and that there was no way that the innocent little boy in front of me was a monster. When I finally reached the swing set, I calmed myself down, and asked him a single question, one I already knew the answer to.
"Why are you alone?" I asked, in the child voice I now possessed. He looked at me with his wide, green, shocked eyes, and then looked down at his feet. As if they were suddenly the most important thing in the world at the moment.
"Because nobody else wants to play with me." he answered.
"I'll play with you." I said. Later, I was glad that I had chosen my birthday to approach him, that day, I found out it was his birthday too.
xxxXXXxxx
Gaara and I have been friends for eight months now, and today his Uncle Yashamaru invited me over to spend the night. I didn't even have to think twice about his offer, the children at the orphanage and the orphanage attendants have started to treat me like I had some sort of disease. A few of the children had even started picking on me. I knew why they did it though, it was because they knew the "freak" was my best friend.
I didn't trust Yashamaru-san. I remembered reading about how he died trying to assassinate Gaara. But then I remembered that Yashamaru-san didn't try doing it until Gaara was six years old. Later that night I remembered that in this form, Gaara was a year older than me.
I arrived at Gaara's uncle's residence an hour or two before dinner, and we went into Gaara's room to play. (Yashamaru considered us young enough that we could sleep in the same room) Before we started playing, I, of course, put the bag with the few possessions I own right next to Gaara's unused bed. We did all sorts of things together, and, after dinner, it was finally time for bed.
xxxXXXxxx
That night I woke up to a huge boom from the rooftops, I threw the covers aside, stepped onto the cold floor, and started running to the stair case that led to the roof. It was on the roof, that I found two masked figures, and Gaara.
"Why... why...is it always ME?" Gaara exclaimed, as the sand around him rose up to protect him from the kunai flying at him. The sand then dropped, and attacked the masked shinobi in what I recognized as what Gaara would later call "Sand Coffin", except for the fact you could actually see the mans face. Gaara then seemed to notice something, and he went over to the masked assassin and tore off the man's mask. I gasped in surprise when I realized that the man was, in fact, Gaara's uncle, Yashamaru. It was then I realized that Gaara was, in fact, a year older than the form I had in this world; that he was six right now, and that now is the right time of year for Yashamaru's assassin attempt.
"Yashamaru? But... why?" asked Gaara, I could see him breaking down before my very eyes, and I could also, even at my distance, see the silent tears trailing down his face. He looked so broken and lost at that moment, and I tried to walk over to him, to comfort him. But I stopped when a very sharp kunai pressed against my neck, the kunai was so sharp, that I could feel blood travailing down my skin.
"Not yet." said the voice. I instantly realized that it must have been the other masked assassin that was with Yashamaru. But, although I couldn't place it, I knew I recognized that voice.
"Because, Gaara... I was ordered to" answered Yashamaru, a cold, hard look, in his eyes, but I could also see something else there, and then I realized he had crazy with the desire to kill Gaara.
"By who?" asked Gaara, his voice cracking.
"Your father.." Yashamaru said, in a clam, emotionless voice.
"Oh.." said Gaara, lightening up a bit, hope shining in his voice. " So that means that.. you had no choice, right?"
"No, Gaara, you're wrong, I did have a choice."
"I said that I loved you.. but, deep down inside, I loathed you, Gaara. I could never forgive you for taking my sister away from me. Your name, do you know what it means? Gaara -a demon that loves only itself. That is the name she gave you. Your mother... she hated you..as do I. Now, please, think about someone else, for once, you monster, and, please die." Yashamaru continued. He then somehow found a way to open up his shinobi vest to activate the multiple paper bombs he had hidden on himself during the battle, and a great explosion tore through the night. Yashamaru's goal was to probably kill Gaara and himself in the explosion, but Gaara's sand flew up to protect himself.
Gaara was now on his knees, and I could see how heart broken the boy was/is. The man that was holding me then released his grip, normally I would of turned around to at least see who the man was, but I was so focused on comforting Gaara, that I completely forgot about him, and did not realize that the man had fled the seen, into the darkness of the night. As I reached out for Gaara, in order to take him into my child arms, he let out an earsplitting scream that was probably heard all throughout the village. Grains of sand then flew up to the place above Gaara's left eye, and I could feel sand entering my shirt and forming on my left hip, directly under my heart. I screamed as I felt the sand carve into me, and as I saw the sand carve itself into Gaara. The kanji 愛 (love) was then forever carved into the two of us. Years later, I found out that the twin tattoo's would forever bind us, and that even if I wanted to, there was no way I would ever be able to leave Gaara, just as he would now never be able to leave me, we were now stuck together. That night I finally realized why Gaara was considered a monster, as that night I was forced to see him kill fifteen innocent people, in his heartbroken rage.
Sorry but it might be a while before i put up anymore chapters. I DID NOT want to put this up yet, since I'm not done writing the story. BUT a friend of mine would not stop bugging me about this. =( BTW I need a beta, anyone willing to volunteer? I'll mostly just need someone good at spelling that can give me advice now and then, I would ask Shi-Shi, but she's in the grade above me and she's very busy.
Ja Na,
Nata