Path of the Exiled One: The Lost Demon
The dust hung in the air, blowing into his eyes, sandy blades grinding against his flesh. Everything around him was just dark brown, he could see no one...but he could sense their hatred...
of him.
"Get it! Kill the demon!"
He looked down, and felt a warm trickle slip down his arm...that place felt numb, it hurt when he touched it. He felt a kunai there and pulled it out. He hurt in many places, scratches on his face, cuts on his arms, and needles on his leg. It hurt...it hurt...it hurt so much. It hurt so much...in that place in his chest. That place that told him that he was unloved, that place the reminded him there was no time to smile, that place that told him that he was a monster.
But he would conquer it, he would. Looking back at the people, he closed his eyes and let himself go. He let his ache out...it was all their fault...he would hurt them back...he would get be happy again when they paid for what they had done. He laughed as he could feel the crimson stain the sand and showered over him, he bathed in it like it was luxury. He loved it...he wanted to hurt them...hurt them to make up the burn in that chest he had all this time.
He would never have that gentle warmth in his life...he didn't care anymore...he didn't need it...he loved him...
He didn't need love...
He would never hurt again...
Because that place in his chest was empty...
He had no heart...
Long ago, there lived nine demons...so horrible that everyone feared them...so horrible that everyone hated them.
There were people given the burden of those demons...carrying that hate around them...those people were despised...monsters...demons...
And with that, every demon was killed...either with war...or hate...
But only one was left, the Ichibi.
The Sand village searched everywhere, and chased the monster out of their village...but when they thought they had it...
It vanished.
Five hundred years later, my brother and I found the Ichibi, in the form of a little boy no older than five...
But even five hundred years later, he was still an exile...
But I grew to love him...
Even if he had no heart...
This is my story about the path he took...
The path of the exiled one.
"Ne...Temawi?" A dark haired boy called out. His short legs were clumsy as he tripped over rocks, his eyes wandered over a cliff where a pebble plummeted down until he could no longer see it. He gulped.
"Yeah?" The little girl with emerald eyes and her blonde hair tied into four cute, spiky ponytails skipped flawlessly over rocks, trying to balance herself by holding her arms out while her brother stumbled behind. She wobbled a bit.
"Why are we out here?" He asked, and got back up again, he wiped the sand off his little hands.
"Because I want to." She replied, and walked across a boulder like you would on a tightrope.
"But you're going to miss de pwesents!" He sniffed, and stumbled behind her sister, trying to catch up, "And de cake! I wanna have cake!"
"But it's my birthday, and I'm the birthday girl. I'll have cake when I want to"
"Puh-lease?" He whined.
The little girl sighed, "Fine, but first we have to find it."
"Find what?"
"The treasure."
The boy's big black eyes shone in the glinting sun, "Treathure? What kind of treathure?"
"I don't know. But it's a treasure."
"But if you don't know, den how do you know dere'th a treasure?"
"Because I..." The girl looked up into the cloudless sky and thought for a moment, "just know." She decided that was the best answer.
Her little brother kept quiet and began to focus on keeping up. As they climbed higher up the mountain, the boy grew more scared. He looked behind him and his mouth wiggled slightly of fright, "Uh...Temawi! I dink Mama told uth not to go tho far!"
"Hey! Look at this!" The girl's voice called from higher up the path.
"Ah!" The little boy began to fret over not being able to see his sister, large tears welled up as he ran up the hill slipping and stumbling, "Temawi! Where are you?"
He noticed a small crack in the mountain, seeing his sister's shoes he squeezed through and saw his sister looking up at a large slab of rock; he sniffed and wiped off the snot dripping from his nose, "What are you doing?"
"Look at this!" She breathed out, her green eyes looking up at the symbols.
Carved from the large stone was a large raccoon growling with deadly eyes. Its tail was large and swayed on its left. Along the carving with symbols and characters that ran along the stone, rounded and faded from years of erosion.
His face glowed and his smile seemed so large that if it could, it would curve onward out of his face. The eyes grew large, almost as large as his head, "What does it thay Temawi? What does it thay?" He stood up and tugged on her dusty shirt.
She brushed her fingers across the stone, checking to see if it was real, "I don't know. I think it's in an ancient language that they used a long time ago" She looked sad for a moment, and then brightened up, looking at her brother, "I bet Daddy has a book about it! He is the Kazekage after all!"
The boy frowned and became really sad, "We hafta come here again?"
"Yeah." She pushed her little brother through the hole and then looked into the sky. Holding her brother by the shoulders she looked seriously down into his eyes, "But don't tell anyone about this."
The little boy's eyes grew big again, this time in wonder, "Not even Mommy?"
"Not even Mommy."
He thought about asking why, but decided not to. After all, Temawi is my big sister! She is super smart! "Okay Temawi!"
"Where were you two this time, Temari-chan, Kankuro-kun?" A woman with shoulder length, blonde hair smiled as she saw her two children walk in covered in dust and rubble.
She laughed, hand gracefully covering her smiling mouth, "Oh my, what a mess you two are!" She wiped the flour off her hands on the white apron she had on. Grabbing a soft towel, she ran over and dabbed Kankuro's face. Her lips twisted downward as if something was wrong and she put her hands on her hips while kneeling down at eye-level to the boy. "Hm...something looks wrong..." She smiled, "Ah ha!" She licked at finger and smoothed back a strand of hair from his face. "There!"
Temari looked downward and the wooden floor and pouted, ready to be shouted at.
"And you little princess," She turned toward her oldest kid, "Look at you!" She wiped her face off, "Whatever could have made you this messy?" Her voice was light like the soft clouds in the sky, and rung with a gentle beauty like a flower blossom floating in the air.
Kankuro fidgeted and seemed guilty as he looked at his sister, she gave a warning glare.
Their mother saw this but ignored it, "Well then, does the birthday princess want to open her presents?" She stood up with her knees bent slightly so she could smile in her daughter's eyes.
"Okay..." Temari looked bored already.
"Yay!" Kankuro grew excited, and pushed his sister nearly twice his size into a chair. He ran to the table and plopped some sort of object with shiny green wrapping paper covering over it (not wrapped).
"Wow!" Temari smiled when she threw off the sheet of wasted paper, "it's so pretty!" She looked down at the Popsicle stick with a smile drawn on. It had a checkered clothe cut out into a triangle as a dress, and it wore a cotton ball dyed yellow as hair.
"I made it myself!" Kankuro beamed, his smile showed his missing front teeth.
"Well, well, I'm sure Temari loves it. Right?" She smiled.
Temari looked at her mom and her face broke into a grin, "Yup. I love it."
Kankuro seemed so delighted that he seemed he would blow into pieces. He ran around the room, dancing and yelling, "Temawi wiketh it! Temawi wiketh it! Ra! Ra! Yay!" Tugging on his mother's dress he looked up and grinned, "Did you hear dat Mommy? Temawi wiketh my pwesent!"
"Oh yes, I did." Their mother seemed so happy and had such a wonderful laugh.
"Ne, ne, Temari-chan," She ushered Temari into another room, "Mommy wants Temari-chan to see her prensent."
Kankuro tagged along, swaggering at his sister's praise. But his eyes grew large and heartbroken; shining from the tears magnified the sunlight coming into his deep brown eyes when he saw his mother starting to close the door without him. "But...but...I want to thee de present!!! I want to thee!"
"Kankuro-kun can see Temari-chan when she's done!" His mom reassured.
Kankuro sniffed, "Reawy?"
She nodded, "Really."
When she closed the door, Temari was pouting and looking out the window, uninterested. Her mother didn't seem hurt though; she went over to the box on the bed and lifted the lid. She lifted a cropped kimono, lavender with a red sash around the waist. On top of the lavender was a gray tank top. Cropped fishnet leggings came along with the outfit, Temari frowned.
"I'm sure Temari-chan will certainly look like a beautiful kunoichi with this." Her mother helped her get into it, pulling the tank top over her head, then pulling the leggings up, "Just like Temari-chan has always dreamed of." She looked adoringly at her as she tied the scarlet sash into a bow.
Temari walked over to the mirror, looking at herself in full-length. She saw a girl, with four spiked, blonde ponytails and deep green eyes, wearing something that made her look beautiful. Temari didn't like it, she seemed too...
She just didn't like it.
Her mother looked slightly disapprovingly behind her, musing, "Hmm...I think it's missing something, don't you, Temari-chan?"
"Ah-hah. I know just the thing." She went over to the long box and opened it, taking out a large black board and tied it to her back with the sash. "There!"
Temari snatched it, opening it up to see that it was a large fan with three purple spots. She frowned, "Mommy, why do you always give me fans for presents?"
Her mother's eyes seemed to waver a bit as she looked down. Looking at the fan she had in her hands with sad green eyes, she replied in the same feathery tone, "Because fans are tranquil and serene. They tell stories that tell of one's past, they keep dreams alive. They can bring back the presence of a lost one," Temari could have sworn that she saw the tiniest tear trickle from her eyes, "as if they're almost alive again."
Temari didn't know what to say. She had never heard her mother talk like that before. All she could do was watch her in silence.
"Ith Temawi done yet?" Kankuro exploded into the room, breaking through the silence.
Both looked up and snapped out of their trance. Temari's mother went back into her usual cheeriness, as if nothing had happened, "Yes she is, and she looks quite pretty too."
"Hmph." Temari looked down at the floor.
All three heard the front door creak open. Their mother smiled, "That must be Daddy."
"Daddy! Daddy!" Kankuro sprinted toward the door as fast as his chubby legs could. Jumping up and down, he excitedly ranted, "Temawi wiked my pwesent!"
Despite his child's excitement, he walked right past him and headed toward the stairs, "I'll be in my office." He called over his shoulder.
He was about to take his first step when he felt something pull on his jacket. He turned around to see that it was his daughter. Her eyes looked intensely into his.
"Didn't your mother give you a present?"
"No, I don't want a present." She gave a cold stare back at him, "I need to know if you have a book about the ancient sand languages."
Her reply took him off guard, for a second he stood in surprise. He turned around and continued walking up, leaving Temari looking at the floor. When he reached the very last step, he paused.
"I happen to have one."
Temari looked up.
But he was gone.
She was about to walk away when she heard a deep voice calling her.
"And don't look rudely in an elder's eyes. It is impolite."
The next morning, the two siblings were greeted warmly by their mother as they entered the kitchen. Scents of fresh fruit wafted in the air, mixing in with the welcoming smell of miso soup. Their father was already at the table, looking over his paper work. Both grabbed a bowl a soup from the counter and slid into a chair. In front of Temari was an old green, leather bound book.
Temari saw this and immediately started to finish her soup as fast as she could. Kankuro thought this was funny so he tried too, slurping even louder.
Their mother looked up from her cooking, "Oh dear! Be careful not to choke on the noodles!"
Temari placed her bowl back on the counter and grabbed Kankuro, dragging him toward the front door.
"Whatever could you two be planning to do this morning?" Their mother called out.
"Going to de..."
Temari covered his mouth and yelled back, "Going to the marketplace!"
When the two were out the door soon to be out of the village, Temari scolded her brother, "I told you not to tell anyone!"
Kankuro's lip quivered, "I'm thowy, I couldn't help it."
She sighed, "We have to find it before lunchtime, so lets hurry." She began to quicken her pace.
Kankuro was still focused on being guilty and didn't notice this. He looked up and saw his sister what he found was far away. "Hey! Temawi! Wait!"
The sun was high in sky, marking the day as noon. Kankuro danced around under the musty heat of the mountains with an expression of anxiousness while Temari sat on a rock attempting to translate the engravings.
"Temawi, we've been in here a long time!" He whined, jumping up and down.
Temari flipped a page in her book and looked up at the slab again, then she quickly scribbled a word on a sheet of paper. Looking up, she sighed. Kankuro was doing his 'got to go' dance. "I have two more symbols to do, just wait."
Twenty more minutes of decoding and she was done. Holding her paper of messy blotches in the air, she scanned over untidy handwriting and frowned. Seeing that his sister was done, Kankuro walked over to see what she wrote.
"Temawi, I can't wead it!" He looked genuinely worried.
"It's a riddle." She seemed irritated; she didn't have time for riddles.
Kankuro forgot about not being able to read and clapped his small hands, "Yay! A widdle!" He stood with his back up straight and a serious look on his face as he reassured Temari, "Don't wowwy, Temawi. I am vewy good at widdles."
"Beneath this mountain lies a tower, hiding the gold dust's darkest hour. Lying in there is a monster that was feared, sleeping for many hundred years. With no feelings, with no soul, no one mourns for its absence at all. Daring to search for a lair so deep, are those who wish to kill the beast. Waiting for the red sun to shine through, pushing the blood stained rock into the hue. Following the light's guiding hand, having only till night's first diamond appear in sand."
"There'th a tower in here!?" Kankuro's eyes shone in excitement.
"I guess so." Temari replied, still dazed from the reading.
"Um...Temawi?"
"Yeah?"
"What'th a gold dust?"
Temari looked out the small crack, "I guess it's thand, thince it lookth gold, and it's dust."
"But...then...what'th a wed thun? I thought suns were white!"
Temari didn't seem to be listening, but after a while her green eyes widened, "We only have from sunset till the first star!" She grabbed Kankuro's hand and pulled him away from source of light.
"Red rock, blood rock. Just like the riddle." She whispered while looking at the rock covered in scarlet moss. And ran to it, pushing as hard as she could. "Kankuro! Help me!"
"Okay!" Kankuro didn't seem so bothered, actually, he seemed that he could explode of the excitement welling in him.
The boulder turned even redder, as the sunset's light shone upon its mossy surface. Temari squinted her eyes, "Light's guiding hand...an arrow."
"Here! Here!" Kankuro pointed at the rock, "The arrow pointh that way!" he looked down.
"Down?"
The two didn't get a chance to ponder more. The ground shook and rumbled beneath them as the rocky surface caved in. Their screams echoed above the rocks as they tumbled downward into the darkness.
The tiniest ring of a water droplet falling into a puddle woke Temari. She found the miniature lake rippling by her head, the small circles breaking its surface. She got up from the cold ground, about to brush herself off when she found that she had no dirt on her. Her green eyes took in the unbelievable view.
Temari's face appeared on the shining white floor and gold trimmings bordered each snowy tile. Above her was a dark hole that seemed to have gone for eternity; it was the place where they fell. Her frown that formed on her mouth turned into shock when she saw the hourglass a couple meters away from her that was over four times her size. The sand inside the glass swirled like the hourglass contained it own desert storm and in the narrow part was something that nearly scared Temari.
The thing had dark eyes that could stab anyone. To anyone, that thing would've seemed like a demon. To anyone, it would have seemed blood thirsty, with no feelings, no heart, no soul, just a sense to kill. To anyone, it would've scared them badly, so badly that they would hate it, despise it to its dying day, and want to turn the thing's life into living hell.
Temari wasn't scared though. She saw something in its eyes that nobody in five hundred years had. She wasn't sure what it was, but it was something...
Sad.
"Kankuro, Kankuro! Wake up!" She shook her brother.
"Huh...?" His eyes slowly opened. When his vision cleared up, his eyes grew large.
"Look!" She pointed at the hourglass in front of them.
"Wow!" He was not a bit scared of the monster inside as he pressed his hands against the glass. Looking at his sister with pleading eyes he begged, "Can we open it?"
Temari looked at the glass window that was level with outside's desert ground. The scenery was all sand, with the smallest line of dark purple on the ground. She looked at the hourglass and saw that the picture on the window was appearing in the scene of swirling sand on the hourglass. "Having only till night's first diamond appears in the sand..."
"That's it!" She exclaimed as she saw the faintest shine beginning to appear in the sky. "The star is supposed to reflect on the hourglass!" Placing a hand on the cold glass and searching it, Temari eventually found a small light in the midst of the stormy sand scene.
"I thee it! I thee it!" Kankuro jumped up and down, placing a small, chubby finger on the glass where the light was.
Suddenly, the glass shattered. The little pieces cut the pearl floor as the sand bursted out. Light filled the room so that the two siblings could not see a thing. Screeches of glass against rock rung in the air as wind howled and cried in circles. The two little ones' screams couldn't be heard, as they shielded their eyes from the white and hugged each other.
When they could feel nothing but a cold draft once more, Temari opened one eye and gasped. She squeezed Kankuro's arm slightly, and pulled him over to the remains of the hourglass. Kankuro's eyes grew even wider when he saw what replaced the monster.
Sitting in the center of all the sand and glass was a boy no older than five.
Temari heard his whimpering grow louder and louder as they approached him.
His hair was a musty red, like dull fire while his eyes were sharp green bordered in black. His frail body was covered in colorless rags as he shivered in fear. He seemed nothing like a monster that had once killed a village. He seemed like a small boy that had been unloved, lost, scared.
"Who are you?" Temari knelt down and gently touched the boy's cheeks, trying to act as much as her mother as she could.
"I-I...do-don't...know..." His eyes filled with tears.
Temari gently smiled, "Do you have a family?"
"N-no..."
"What's your name?"
"Gaara."
"Oh my!" A dish fell from her hands as Temari and Kankuro's mother gasped at the sight of her children covered in sand with a small boy. Her hand flew up to her mouth as she stood at the sink staring at the frail boy.
Gaara saw the woman and her shocked expression. He felt a wave rise up his fragile chest that made him shake in devastation. He knew that face, he just couldn't remember where. He could only remember that never-ending sting that pushed against him.
Kankuro felt the boy shake and held his small hand. He looked the boy in the eyes and lifted his head high, smiling, "Don't worry, my mommy will make you fell better! You'll see!"
Their mother saw the pain in the boy's eyes. She saw everything through his eyes, his past, his hurt, his painful world. Her heart went out for him as she rushed over and hugged him, letting his painful feelings sweep into her body.
"It's okay. It's okay. Everything is fine." She whispered into his ear as a tear slid down her cheek.
Temari's serious expression remained stony. After her mother's reaction, she knew that her suspicions were correct. Standing behind the boy, she looked her mom in the eye, as if about to tell her something.
Her mother saw this and snapped back from her sorrow when she looked over her shoulder to see her son worried.
"Now, are you going to tell me your name?" She regained her composure and smiled.
"Gaara." He whispered weakly, but his eyes had a new shine.
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I think Gaara-kun needs more handsome clothes!"
"Wow!" Gaara's green eyes shone like emeralds as he looked in the mirror.
With only a new set of clothes, the boy seemed like a new person. His hair had a glow of lively fire, warm and friendly. The pair of eyes on his pale face seemed like the happy warmth of summery green, excited and young. All this changed in him with only a clean, tan shirt with a high collar with a stylish bandage arm warmers underneath his short sleeves. His pants were only black, like all standard pants, with net leggings at the bottom.
"I think Gaara-kun looks very handsome in that."
"Really?" He tugged on her shirt with a beaming smile.
"Yes. You look vewy nice." Kankuro nodded in the utmost seriousness.
"Now, how about helping me with tonight's cake?" Their mother gave a Gaara smile and gently held his hand, leading him down the stairs.
Kankuro danced behind them, cheering. "Yeah! Yeah! Cake!"
Temari followed them and got started on chopping the vegetables to go along with the fish frying on the pan. She looked out the window while her mother kindly listed the ingredients they needed to find to the two younger boys. When Kankuro dragged Gaara off to show off his scavenger skills, her mother joined Temari to help her get the sauce fixed.
"You know what he is, so why aren't you planning to kill him?"
Her mother sprinkled the sauce on to the fish, about to say something when the front door opened. Temari saw her mother's eyes grew a bit worried, but they recovered when her mother ran over to greet her father.
"How was your day?" She kindly asked as she hung his coat on the hook, clutching the coat slightly tightly.
"What's that chakra?" He ignored her kind question and pushed past her efforts of reassuring him that everything was fine.
She stood in front of the kitchen way, laughing in a nervous way, "We want to surprise you for dinner!"
He knocked her over and saw the red haired boy. Their mother ran over to the boy, having a protecting glint in her eyes.
"You!" His voice was stained in hatred, as he glared at his wife, "He's a monster!"
"He is a boy." Her gentle voice turned into steel.
"You traitor! He is the demon that nearly killed our village! He must die!" He shouted. Taking out his kunai he headed toward the boy, who was now shivering again. The little boy's eyes were shaking, as if he was seeing his past all over again.
"He's just a child!" The mother pushed in front of him.
"You traitor!" He slashed the kunai across her chest. Blood splattered around as she screamed.
Kankuro whimpered and started to cry, Temari stood shocked, clutching her brother tightly.
Gaara saw the blood; he could feel that ache moving up his chest. The man's hate struck him like a dagger. As the man moved closer and closer to him, he could see his past flash before him all over again.
No love...not human...no heart.
He screamed. Sand appeared out of nowhere, shattering the windows and cutting Temari and Kankuro. The sand formed a single tail on his back, swinging and slamming into the man. The dust reached out and grabbed their father, squeezing and squeezing, ignoring his cries of pain until it was too much...
Temari saw the sand seep out of their destroyed house with a thirst for kill. She knew that if she sat and waited, the whole village would die. She knew that the feeling she saw in his eyes before was pain, the pain of being hated and alone. Heading toward the boy with her arm shielding her from the light, she pushed her way toward the source of the sand and light. She let the heavy chakra ache her body, and along with her brother, they reached Gaara.
She saw that his eyes were completely white; his hair was flying like fire. She saw the monster in the hourglass, she saw the monster that had almost killed the whole nation, she saw the monster that had loved to see pain...
She reached out and hugged him.
The light and sand died down until there was nothing but the gentle night wind blowing on their backs.
"It's okay...everything is going to be okay..." Temari whispered into Gaara's ear as both she and Kankuro embraced the boy's frail body with ruins of their house and red stained sand around them.
Although this is my fanfiction and purely original, I cannot give credit to myself only. This fanfiction was inspired by Kishimoto Masashi's 'Naruto' and also inspired by Nicklodeon's show, 'Avatar: the Last Airbender'. I thank anyone of you who have read this and would appreciate it if you give me feedback.