A/N: First story ever, I hope to add chapters. Please give me feedback. Still not sure how everything works.

Beyond the Ninja Knowledge

Early on in the morning in the Hidden Sand, the Kazekage sat up in his office doing paperwork that wasn't exactly urgent. After having Shukaku extracted a month and a half before; sleep was possible without the risk of the boisterous, blood-thirsty sand demon transforming him and eroding his very being. Now he could rest his mind but after years of sleepless struggle he was to used to being wakeful in the dead of night. He would sleep but less than the average person. He had slept tonight but as usual he awoke before the moon began to descend and now he busied himself with routine paperwork.

The desert was still cool and the temperature seeped in through building walls and made his office drafty but the cool was comfortable compared to the stroke inducing heat that came when the sun was highest. Gaara liked being alone even though he had found friends and love for his siblings. Being guarded by ANBU and criticized by the elders everyday made this time precious.

In the middle of a pencil stroke; there was a sudden urge to stop and like the now deceased impulse to kill senselessly, he obeyed. He put the pencil down, slid away from the desk and got up to stretch his legs. Gaara paced the room with his pale hands clasped behind his back. There was many things to think about while he took this little hiatus from paperwork. This one thing kept nagging at him. A recently acquired object hung on the wall of the office. A medium sized mirror with wooden frame bent into the shape of a heart. The problem with this mirror was the fact that no one remembered hanging it there. It was just hanging there one morning and Gaara didn't mind it...at first. Now it just bugged the heck out of him.

He never got the urge to look at it closely but now that seemed like a top-notch idea. He meandered to the mirror and looked at his reflection looking back. The reflective glass had no dust, no smudges, not a speck of filth. His reflection was crystal clear and an odd feeling washed over him as he peered at it. He felt that it was more than a reflection but he wasn't sure what it was. The colors of his reflection were more vivid like the green of his eyes and his auburn hair. Mirrors do not do that.

His gaze shifted to the frame of the mirror. It was made of wood that was black and quite shiny. There were many fine-lined markings carved into the wood. They could be letters but he didn't recognize any of them. He gingerly ran his finger over some of the fragile looking letters. A chill and tingle were left on his fingertips after breaching contact with the lettering.

"You're finally taking an interest in that thing?" inquired a soft male voice that Gaara didn't recognize but he nevertheless dreaded because it came from inside his head.

"Who are you?" he asked calmly.

"Shukaku" it replied with a friendly inflection.

"Shukaku was extracted," he stated.

"I remember that," he chirped gratefully "I was trapped in a single mass with multiple souls and then there was this great light that had a magnetic attraction. It pulled the damned souls away into an ancient looking thing with many eyes. I am not the same as the dark mass so it could not detach me from you. Your soul looked so at peace, I did not wish to bother you." he explained thoughtfully.

"Now that your free; what are you going to do with me?" he asked forcefully.

"I can teach you to do even more with the sand," Shukaku offered "but that is all up to you seeing as you are the dominant of this body and I am merely a guest that was forced upon you. Pretty soon, another being or perhaps two will be joining us momentarily." he was excited by the notion.

Gaara was alarmed by that last part. What was he talking about and how on Earth would he know if something else was going to enter him? This version of Shukaku was soft-spoken and sounded kind of childish. Was he really part of the original and if so, would the nightmares start anew?

The mirror which Gaara had forgotten about for the moment interrupted his questioning. It made a sound that startled him. He looked upon the mirror and found that there was a crack spider-webbed in the glass that started dead center and flared out. Against his strong instinct of danger, he reached out and touched the center. The reflective surface cracked to the wooden frame in a split second. Gaara pulled his hand away in shock.

"Here they come." Shukaku's voice wavered with euphoria.

The many shards of the mirror began to disintegrate, falling away from the mirror in silence as a fine reflective powder. Gaara backed away from the mirror, wondering if this was another nightmare. The powder did not fall to the floor but instead moved into a thin tendril, no thinner than needles end. It hovered in the air for a moment, swaying gently like the wind was blowing it. Gaara poised his thoughts for that still moment. This substance reminded him of his sand only in a much smaller quantity.

The moment was killed when the ribbon decided to straighten out and project itself into Gaara's abdomen. The young Kazekage fell to his knees as the hardened thing pierced his pale skin. It burned as it shot in, causing him much more pain than it should have. It quickly subsided to his relief. There was a cold tingle and then no feeling at all.

He refused to be shaken by what had just happened. Standing up; he proceeded to pull his robes up. In what light there was in the office; Gaara saw nothing on his bare skin. No red mark or puncture was to be seen. He ran his finger, curiously, over the spot. There was nothing lodged under the skin either. What and the hell was that thing.

Shukaku saw what his master was doing from within, "See master, it wasn't that bad." he comforted.

"What did you just do to me Shukaku?" Gaara snapped, he had lost his patience which didn't happen often these days. He rubbed at the penetrated spot harder. Why is there nothing here?" he asked more to himself then Shukaku.

"I swear this was not my doing." he defended, "On the other hand, I have no idea who did this either." he had a curious inflection, "It's nothing you would know about and I don't know either. When that mirror appeared, it began calling you, faintly." Shukaku became lost in the flashback which meant he was now useless.

Gaara let his robe fall back to its hanging pose at his feet. He wandered to the window, arms crossed with frustration he had not felt since his struggle with Shukaku. He looked up at the full moon halfway sunk into the dessert horizon. The layer of sand that grimed the windows made its soft light come in dim and sickly. The moon had always been a sort of comfort for him and sometimes the sand which was supposed to protect him ruined that with its tendancy to kill the mood.

He was lost in thought, standing beside the window for about an hour and watching the moon sink while the sun peeked out from behind the dunes, turning the sky brilliant shades that only fire could hold. A sharp wrapping of knuckles against the door pulled him out of it. He turned to the door and saw the shadow of feet beneath.

"Come in, Temari" he beckoned his sister calmly.

The door came open and there was the blond kunoichi. She was already dressed with her iron fan strapped to her back. She had that kind smile on her face. She knew when Gaara needed her, but never got the reason until she could coax it out of him. Big sisters intuition was telling her at this moment that he needed her.

She had that odd feeling. Her green eyes wandered to the glassless mirror which prompted her to shoot a concerned, inquiring look at her little brother. When the two pairs of green met, it was easy to see the lack of understanding. Gaara wouldn't be able to explain it. He didn't like trying to explain things he couldn't understand; not out loud anyway. Temari did not say a word. She actually had more paperwork for him. She would leave him with that for now. He needed time to let whatever had happened take full effect before she could truly worry about her little brother's well-being.