Disclaimer: This time I'm not Masashi Kishimoto. I'm sorry but you have to deal with me, MisoGirl, Canadian.
Author's Note: This is my first Naruto Fanfiction, slightly AU here and there. I know most of you out there are gona be all 'Hey! That didn't happen!' or 'Hey! This guy's dead.' and so on. But remember folks, I'm only at the point when we meat Sai, (his people skills are worse than mine).
MisoGirl: Kay, no Uchihas in this chapter for those who visit my DevantArt page.
Naruto: CHA!! Finely started writing mine eh?
MG: Yes . . . pats Naruto on the head But this won't be posted at least for another two months.
N: What did you just say?!
Gaara: steps out of closet Two months? . . .
MG: Well I have to finish TT first . . .
G: Were, am I?
MG: Canada . . .
G: How?
MG: Portal.
Coming Generation
Chapter One
Beyond the Sand
She heard nothing around her as the tension in the air was heighten. The rushing silence ringing in her ears, distant sounds of destruction and whispered screams carried on the winds above her. She wanted to stay and find the others but . . . Ku:nle convinced her to leave her beloved home land, promising that they'll regroup later.
That's what, the man that was more like an Uncle than a neighbor had said, but . . . Whippet was flying so fast. Eidel thought to herself. The petit girl didn't like being out of her homeland. The ground felt so funny beneath her now bare toes as she headed for home. She wiped the sweat off her brow, the girl felt like Tina said she felt like when she went under the trial of fire. Whippet felt heavy on her collarbone. Poor little guy.
An ominous wind blew in from behind her, causing her to drop her ribboned thigh high tabi and little rubber zori. The ground was picked up and the wind swirled it around her like a feral child having a temper-tantrum. The girl squeaked and clutched her companion to her chest as she crouched down. The loose earth blew over her as the wind hissed around her. Soon the lost young woman fell into unconsciousness and dreams of familiar sounds, voices, and smells along with tranquil atmosphere flooded her mind.
The next Morning:
Awareness crept into the fog of sleep as Eidel heard herself groan. The air around her felt heavy of nursing, and she guessed that she was in a hospital. This wasn't the hospital she usually visited now n' then, the sprit flow was too much like where she was before she pasted out. She swung her feet over the edge of the bed and quickly found out that her frills and lacy garments were replaced with a simple smock. The scrubs felt a little ruff on her skin, and a little light too. She blushed as the air easily found the skin up and down her back. Grabbing and pulling the cloth together where she didn't want shown, she carefully took a step on the cool tail floor.
Bam!
She tripped over a chair. She whimpered to herself, but found a strip of cloth to tie around her waist. "Whippet! Wake-up. I need your help me navigate in here." She waited a few seconds as she finished hiding her bare bottom from the world. When she didn't hear her companion's clicks and clanks, the girl hopped to her feet. "Whippet?" Again no swirling whistle or winded chime chirps answered her.
Panic set in and she began to franticly searching for the door. Finding the funny protruding handle and swung it open, which made her have a heart attack when it didn't slide. Stumbling into the hallway she hung her hands out in front of her calling out her zanpakuto over and over again. Finding the wall, she ran her hand along its cool surface while keeping the other in front of her to feel any tables that maybe there.
This went on for about another minute or two with no signs of life near enough to hear her calls. Then, like a ray of hope from the twelve lords themselves, she felt his pressure.
"Whippet!!" She squealed out in joy and rushed forwards forgetting her own safety measures. Her short lean legs carried her swiftly and around the corner after bumping into a wall. Urging her muscles to work harder she sped head on strait into an ajar door.
Falling on her rump and rubbing her now swollen cheek, hearing two gasps from girls that sounded younger than her. While they murmured under their breaths about her, to much like her treatment at home. But she ignored it and focused on her zanpakuto was, the petit girl quickly pinpointed where her he was.
Hanging around the neck of the young lady who was closest to her!!
"Give me back my Whippet!!" The girl said using a harsher tone than she's use to, and lepted at the zanpakuto-naper.
Crash! Clang! Crash!
The young lost girl crashed right into the hospital food trolley and the meals spilled all over her and the floor.
"What's the commotion out here?" A strong female voice demanded, who later was accompanied by two more sets of foot steps.
"K–kazekage . . ." The naper sighed as her and her companion blood presser risen.
"Give me back my Whippet!!" Eidel demanded as she jumped to her feet.
"Uh? Wha?" The naper said slowly. "I don't have your dog . . ."
"Who said anything about a dog?!" Her throat began to strain by this out of character speaking pattern of her's. "Give me back my zanpakuto!" She nearly stomped her foot in frustration. When the heart beat and breathing patter started to show tad-it-tail signs of confusion, Eidel decided to show where he trusted other-self was. "He's right there!" She pointed to where she heard the naper's heart beat was coming from. "Hanging right around your neck! You kidnaped him and I want him back!"
"Wha?" The young sand kunoichi chunin breathed. Isn't it called theft when you steal an neckless? She wondered. Felling hands on her nap she turned her head enough to see the red hair of the Kazekage. "G–Gaara!"
He unhooked the chain and slipped it into his hands. "This is her's. I remember seeing her wearing this before the medical oops took her in for treatment." Honestly, how couldn't he see the huge golden bird pendant? It was reflecting off the desert sun and right into his eyes a the time!
"Here." He handed it to the almond colored eyed girl.
The pendant rested in the girl's hands for a short while. Then the chain was suck into the bird as it swelled up. The semi flat pendant became a small mechanical golden bird. It flexed its wings and feathers, and shook it's yellow gold legs.
Everyone in the hall went dead silent at the sight of the living golden bird, which continued to puff its feathers making it look more like a deadly puffball than a bird. "Whippet." The tinny girl said with a winning smile as her pet fixed a feather that refused to smooth itself out with the rest. The tinny bird beaten its wings and hopped off the girl's hands and hovered like a hummingbird.
Whippet stayed there in the air for a few seconds, his wings a golden blur that occasionally glimmered in the light. A click of light, and a high-pitched whistle slice through the air as Whippet took flight. He made a beam-line for the kunoichi that nabbed him earlier and attacked her headband like a woodpecker. As soon as he attacked, he whipped past the group of shinobi and down the hall.
"W–Whippet!" The lost brunette gasped. "That wasn't– !" Her little golden friend whipped past her and collided with the opened door. "Whippet! Calm d–!!"
Slip . . .
Her bear foot slipped on spilt drinks and soup from the toppled trolley. Gaara grabbed her just in time and pulled her back onto her feet. "Thank y–"
"Hun!" Gaara winced.
Whippet pecked at his hand which held his lady's and scratching at it with his miniature talons, drawing small droplets of blood.
"Whippet! That was very rude. Now apologize to him." Eidel demanded.
The bird just stuck his beck up at them and made a short squeaking sound and shot off down the hall again.
The girl's face blushed red with fury and embarrassment. "Whippet! Your being a very naughty zanpakuto!" She called out after him, and ran into the wall that Whippet managed to avoid.
"What's with her." The young kunoichi whined. "It's like–"
"She's blind." The Kazekage cut her off in his deep even toned voice.
"Grate." Temari sight heavily. "Even if the rumors of the Akatsuki attacking a 'detached-village' were true, our only witness is blind. Somehow I doubt the Akatsuki kindly introduced themselves and let her go on her marry way strait to sand." The blond huffed out resting her fists on her hips.
"Was that sarcasm?" Kankuro asked after blinking a few times.
"AHHH!"
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. Bam!
"Ow . . ."
The sand shinobi glanced at one another for a second or two and sprinted towards the stairs. Their guest as expected fallen down said stairs, her cheekbone length hair sticking up in the front. "Well . . . I found the stairs . . ." She giggled lightly scratching the back of her head.
"They were never lost." The fan-girls muttered in unison.
"I'm not trying to act cute. . ." Their inky haired guest whispered under her breath mater–a–factly.
"Pardon?" Gaara asked politely as he leaned over to help the petite girl up.
She giggled again felling her ears start to burn and felt around for his offered hand. Finding it with a little help from the auburn Kazekage. She felt the warm wells of blood oozing from his open wounds. Gingerly she cupped it in her tinny fragile hands, her expression down cast into sorrow and regret. "I'm sorry. Whippet is usually a good boy, he's just really scared right now . . ." Shadows covered her foggy brown eyes. "Forgive him, please."
Gaara felt his cheeks warm up and he didn't understand why. He was going to answer her but was interrupted by her little golden guardian. It smashed through a window and shot toward him, too fast for him to react . . .
Snatch.
The little bird flapped and beaten around it's metallic wings making a sound of a door of cutlery fell open. "You're being very bad, Whippet." The blind girl tighten her grip on her tinny bird.
What speed . . . Gaara closed one eye beneath his tattoo. To catch something soo small and fast with just one hand . . . Not to mention that she's blind.
The little zanpakuto continued to make his microwave pings and whirling vacuum motor sounds. "If they were going to hurt me, wouldn't they of done it already?" The short girl sighed. The mechanical beast gave off a high pitch siren followed by drunken disco music beats. "Whippet . . . I'm blind. They would of skipped that step . . ." The young guest sighed.
"Are you sure she's blind?" The second fan-girl crossed her arms over her flat chest. Her eyes narrowed at the girl currently negotiating with the living pendant. "How else could she see . . ."
"She can't." Kankuro shifted his weight to the ball of his feet and stuck his thumbs into his pockets. "She heard . . . whatever that thing is . . ." He nodded his head at the strange bird.
"That's rather rude. He is not a thing. He's my spiritchal other." The girl pouted in the general direction the voice came from. "My spirit beast?" She clarified.
On a sigh the young woman turned to the golden aves now perched on her shoulder. "Now Whippet, go pick up the glass you broke." The little bird answered with a mechanical squeaking of turning wheels. "Don't give me that. Your memory's better than mine." She rested her fists on her hips in a cute attempt of attitude.
The bird bowed it's head and shook it in a comical fashion. Then it hopped three times down her arm before it glided off to land, already started to pick up the broken shards of glass and piling them neatly.
"Come." Gaara placed his hand on her shoulder, ignoring the little guardian protests. "I'll take you back to your room."
"But . . ." She turned to him with her big almond eyes with empty gray pupils. "I still have to clean up the mess I made earlier."
"I won't impose on a blind person for mear cleaning duties." The Kazekage said calmly, gently pushing her up the stair.
A giggle hade the three sand siblings turning their attention to the dark haired guest. "Well I can honestly say I'm not use to this kind of treatment." She twisted her back to face the trio more with her melting the ice caps smile of her's. "But I grantee that once you get to know me you wont remember that I'm blind."
The three sweat dropped as the tinny girl walked into a window ledge. "Temari . . . go be her eyes." Gaara sighed the order.
In the Council Room:
The Sunagakure council members all sat at the round table while their Kazekage seated himself at the head. They all stared at the short blind girl and her strange sense of fashion of colored lace with a three layered ruffle skirt. All the while the odd golden bird hopped across the table dragging a glass of water, spilling it along the way. She took the now two thirds full glass of water and thanked her little companion as it fluttered up onto her shoulder. Whippet began to preen his feathers as one of the council member spoke up. "You are trying to tell us that you heard nothing of the existence of the Akatsuki or Orochimaru?"
"Your problem, not ours. That the basic attitude of the Council of the Elders." The young oddly dressed girl said as she set her glass down. "I was forced to leave before I heard any description of the attackers. I was going back when I was buried underneath that weird dirt . . ." She pouted.
"You mean sand right?"
The detached village native blinked fore a good forty seconds, then she turned to Gaara. "What's sand?" She asked in a soft squeaky voice.
Every eye in the room widen farther than it ever have or will. No one said a word too shocked that the small girl hade no idea what sand was. "It's thousands of small rocks and stones."
She took a minute to process the information, then tilted her head. "Like teeny tiny gravel?"
"Hai."
"Kay!" She chirped much like her zanpakuto. "But my point is, you guys don't call us a detached-village for nothing."
There was silence after her little statement, then one of the members cleared his throat. "Very well then, you have a point, but everyone here would like to know is that would your village shinobi have faired with the invading Akatsuki?"
She would of stared blankly if could see, at the direction of the man who just spoke. "Well that a pointless question . . ." Eidel sighed softly. "I would say yes if the Council of the Elders gave permission for them to use their alliances."
"Excuse me?" Kankuro asked from his set, farthest from the girl. "You need permission to defend yourself?"
"Well . . . showing or displaying our techniques to outsiders is punishable by death and eighteen years of hard labor." Silenced and stunned heart beats met her ears . "No. It's exactly as it sounds like. They'll kill you and just to make sure you learned your lesson they'll make you work." The young girl quoted her older friend Cinnabar. "But if you kill the outsider, they won't make you do the hard labor." She said to smooth over the tension, then realize that wasn't the best thing to say.
Kankuro eyes stared at the bird on the dark haired guest's shoulder. "And . . . is Whippet considered a technique of your village?" Gaara stiffen at the threat of the little lulu's sentenced death looming over their heads.
The girl pouted and puff out her cheeks like a drunken chipmunk. "A zanpakuto isn't a technique. And for your information reviling a zanpakuto to outsiders is only punishable by four months of torture." The Sunagakure Kazekage cracked the table. "Well . . . under my surcanstances they'll probably dumb it down a bit . . . probably."
Her statement did nothing to calm the nerves of the sand shinobi around her. "Well the rumors of detached-villages having strict laws wasn't over exaggerated." One of the council members broke the still silence rubbing his temple.
"It's more like a cult than a village . . ."
"That's rather rude. We worship gods not people." She puffed her cheeks and pouted her lips. "The Council of Elders are just those closest to the gods, even theo Tina always said . . . OH MY GODS TINA!!" The petite girl started to claw at her hair. "She's so flaky she could of gotten herself killed or worst drunk! WhatamItalkingabout?! Getting plastered is better than getting killed!"
"Tina?" American?
"She's a reliable flake and her favorite phrase is 'running away rules'."
There was a long silence as the young girl felt their eyes staring at her. "Kay . . . moving on." Kankuro said wanting to get back on track. "From everything you just said, your village wouldn't know any threats form the 'outside' or why the Akatsuki attacked, right?"
"That's the jiff of it. Unless they told us . . ." The burnett chirped dreamily.
There was another awkward pause as the council again stared blankly at their guest again. "Well then, until we know of their plans we must make preparations for Mis. Eidel's protection–"
"Excuse me?" The tinny female interrupted. "I'm not from your village. Heck! You didn't know I existed until yesterday. So you don't have any obligation to me or my protection, so I'm just gona go home now–"
"I'm afraid that you don't grasp the situation." Gaara cut her off sternly. "The Akatsuki may still be–"
"Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I'm a cowardly n' defenseless. AND you are not grasping my situation, I kinda live there. Sooner or later, I would have to go back."
"You haven't heard a single word we said!" The young Kazekage shot out of his chair.
"Same goes for you!" The petite female mimicked his action.
That's how it stared. Gaara of the sand and the girl form unknown lands fought like a married couple. Whippet the girl's golden companion flew to a safer place, witch was a few inches from the Kazekage's older brother. "Enjoying the show?" Kankuro raised an eyebrow with a smirk on his lips. The little bird ruffled his feathers and tucked it's head under it's wing. "Guess not." He chuckled.
The two bickered for a few more minuets neither of then gaining any ground in their fight. The table now hade a few more cracks in it and a glass was thrown before their steam cooled down. "Look." Gaara huffed out exhausted. "Hear me out. We don't know if there's any Akatsuki trailing you or preparing to ambush any survivors. What I'm suggesting is to send resonances team of sand and our allis from the leaf, to disable any n' all traps and save any surviving villagers they come across." The short girl nibbled on her lip as she milled over the suggestion in her head.
"AND don't forget . . . we did fought the akatsuki before." Kankuro said resting his cheek in his palm and placing his elbow on the table, witch made Whippet jump.
"Oh– h . . ." the girl breathed then she giggled. "No wonder she keeps calling me an idiot." Eidel stuck out her tongue. "But still, my people don't know what's going on, on the outside. They wouldn't know who you are or if you aren't with this Twilight Barged, and most likely run first and ask question later. You could end up kill them instead of saving them, or worse the twilight people could be using someone as bait!" The girl squeaked. "But if I go they won't be so scared and . . ."
"Yes we understand that much, but how are you gona tell friend from foe?" An old woman spoke.
Eidel moved in almost like slow motion towards the speaker. "You're a elderly woman about five seven to five ten and around eighty-five to eighty-seven years old. You have arthritis in you hands, knees, and back. Your body temperature is twelve point below the room's. Also your bronchioles tubes are fifteen percent inflamed." The girl pouted and somehow glared through her blind eyes. "There's more than one way to see." She pointed to her ear, indicating she could hear everything that she just said about the old woman.
"There's no reason to be cheeky."
"Well there's no reason to assume that I'm helpless just because my eyes can't see." The petite girl flipped her hair back behind her ear. "Come a long Whippet. It's getting stuffy in here, lets go out." Even as the girl said that her little bird sprung to life. It took flight almost immediately as it fallowed her out the door, leaving a streak of glittering gold behind it.
The occupants in the room listened to the girl talk to her 'pet' as she walked down the hall, then cringed as she fell down the stairs.
Roof Top:
Gaara walked out after seeing Eidel gazing up at the bright burning sun. The nearly setting star gave the petite lulu a golden hallow above her crown. The wind flapped her ruffled yellow skirt and orange peach sleeves, making it looked like she was about to tack off. "Eidel-chan?" The sand-nin leader said softly.
The girl squeaked and turned sharply around. "You startled me Gaara-sama. I was lost in the view." She smiled sweetly.
"View?" He raised an eyebrow as he stepped up next.
The small girl turned to him and giggled. "I know what you're thinking. I'm blind so how can I view anything, right?" She laughed into her fist. "But, there is more than one way to see, remember?" Eidel spread her arms gently out and tilted her head back. "It's almost twilight, and the air is worm and a little bit dry but not too dry. The village is a bit on the small side, like me! There's a large wall surrounding the village. It has numerous repairs done on it, and speaking of repairs, it went through a big one a wile ago. . ."
"Okay. You can stop now. You're making us look bad here." The young man laughed. He stopped abruptly and placed his hand on his collar bone. Was I just laughing?
"Well . . . I can't 'see' color. It's just the shapes I can 'see'." Her dark cinnamene hair covered her large eyes. "I don't know how the sky looks here or at home. The color of the grass or sand. What color a house is painted, or the colors of a cobblestone path." She lifted her hand up to her swollen chest. "I can't see a face with my ears . . . the only way is with my han–!"
Gaara's face flush red as her small hands cupped his cheeks. Her face turned an adorable shade of pink. "S-sorry!" She squeaked like a new born mouse. "How impersonal of me!" The girl bowed and her head on his chest.
"Eidel-chan? You Okay?" The sand-nin asked and gently placed his hands on her small shoulder, as she in turn placed her's besides her head. Both of them froze and squeezed the other softly. The two stood there in silences what seemed like hours as their complexion turned scarlet.
"S–sorry!" Comical pink smoke steamed out of the girl's collar as she jumped back. Her small rubber zori slipped on the curved edge of the roof and the burnett felt the pull of the earth on her.
Acting quickly Gaara concentrated his chakra in the palms of his hands and soles of his feet. Capturing the petite woman in his arms and saving from the life threatening fall. He sighed in relief as she giggled hysterically. "What's so funny?" Kazekage growled as veins throbbed in his forehead.
"N–n–nothing!" The girl gasped in her fits of giggles. "Y-you're–you're tickling m–me!" Eidel gasped and burst into laughter.
Gaara stared at her for a good minute blinked a few times. He stopped the flow of chakra in his hands and the girl began to calm down. The young shinobi sweat dropped as she caught her breath. "You're 'chakra ticklish'?" He gaped.
"What's a chakra?"
A grin spread it's way across the auburn haired boy. "This." He placed a small amount of chakra in his palms and began to mercilessly tickle the tinny person. She squealed and struggled to free herself from his grasp. The shinobi leader just gently grabbed her from behind and pulled her closer to himself. The girl kicked her feet as he easily lifted her up.
"Stop! Stop! STOP!" Eidel begged in-between gasps. Gaara just laughed and squeezed her closer to him.
"What's goin' on here?" Kankuro asked raising an eye brow as a sly smirk pulled on his lips, with Whippet on his shoulder sounding like a steaming pot that's about to explode.
Gaara turned to his older brother, his mind blank of what to say.
"I said stop!" The girl stomped her foot.
There was no sound nor wind, but a shock way pushed against the air and dispelled the shinobi's chakra.
After the seemingly impossible phenomenon, Eidel wiggled her way out of his hold. "I said stop." The girl puffed out her cheeks, making her look like a kindergartner's drawing of a chipmunk.
The small golden bird made a high pitched hissing, clanking sound and stretched it's tinny wings like a vulture. "Whippet? What got your feathers in a bunch?" His human half asked.
In the Thousand Land Wood:
Red army ants scurried in and out of their nest. Carrying the bounty of the land on their backs and passing exception of the guardian ants. They went along their bisness unnoticed by the blacked cloaked shinobi. A small red and ran up a tree, she went up on her four back legs and wiggled her antennas around. She signaled the other workers below her, and the set to work. Picking up the pebble and rock to disassemble their fake home. As the ants carried the earthen rubble away a mousy brown haired, green hooded girl emerged.
"Thanks guys!" Tina chirped and swallowed a mouth full of sake. "Like I always say. 'Running away rules' . . . when you know where you're running away to."
FIN
Final Thought: I'm gona end it there. Cinnabar gona show up in the next chapter, and Tina's gona do more too
MisoGirl: Kay! DONE.
Naruto: WHAT?! I wasn't in this chapter! I'm the main character!
MG: I told you wouldn't be in the first chapter didn't I?
Gaara: Rn'R . . . or die!