.
.
The wind stirred, and in the dim half-light, Iruka could just barely make out the tender silhouette of a child crying softly in the dark.
Umino Iruka hated to see children cry. His female friends joked that he was more of a woman than they were, but he couldn't help it. Something about it pulled at his heartstrings. Tonight was no exception. "Hey," Iruka said, softly. He moved from his perch on the rooftop, where he was spying on the Kazekage's men, and carefully approached. The child's head snapped up. His eyes were frightened and rimmed with dark circles; the child pulled back, slightly.
"It's late out," Iruka said. "Where are your parents?"
The child clutched a bag in his lap. As Iruka approached, he saw that the paper bag was filled with medicinal creams. "Did you hurt yourself?" Iruka asked. The child shook his head. His eyes were wide and pale, almost glasslike; they were full of hurt. Children shouldn't hurt like this, Iruka thought, and he sat down beside him.
He didn't know anyone was watching. It wasn't until the kunai exploded behind him that Iruka knew.
He shoved the child out of the way, just in time, scrambling for his knife. The child shrieked; in front of him, a masked shinobi jumped out of the shadows.
"Hey!" Iruka said. He chased after him. The shinobi whirled around, a knife in his hand. Iruka blocked it effortlessly.
"Why," the child said. He squatted on the ground, clutching his head. "Why, why, why...?"
Iruka fought, metal slamming against metal, hurling and slamming into the other ninja until his kunai buried itself in the ninja's side. The child screamed again, and the shinobi fell to the ground.
Iruka breathed hard, then knelt beside him. "Who are you?" Iruka said. He grabbed the shinobi by the vest and yanked him forward. "Who do you work for?"
The mask fell away. The child's eyes widened.
The sand protected them both when the explosion fell.
xXx
.
The child sobbed as Iruka held him to his shirt vest, leaping across building to building until he was able to rendezvous with the rest of his team. A child, Iruka thought. Who the hell would want to kill a child?
Kurenai and Asuma ran toward him. "We heard you were attacked!" Kurenai said. "Was it one of Orochimaru's men?"
Iruka shook his head. "They were after this child," Iruka said. The child clung to his shirt vest. Asuma stared.
"A child?" Asuma said.
"I found him crying on the rooftop of the Kazekage's compound," Iruka said. "I don't know why anyone would want to target him. But if I hadn't gotten there first..."
Iruka shuddered. Kurenai took the child from his arms.
"Honey, what's your name?" Kurenai asked. The child shrunk back, clinging to Iruka's leg.
"He doesn't talk much," Iruka said. "No doubt he's been traumatized enough."
Asuma flicked his cigarette. "What are we supposed to do?" Asuma asked. "The mission was to track Orochimaru; we can't have a child tagging along."
"Someone tried to kill him, we can't just leave him here," Iruka said. Kurenai stood.
"I have to agree," Kurenai said. "It isn't our place to meddle in foreign affairs, but this...we were witness to an attempted murder. Surely the Hokage would understand."
Iruka glanced behind him and saw Shikaku emerging from the shadows. "Shikaku-sama. What do you think? Should we take him back to Konoha?"
Shikaku looked at him evenly. "The child isn't our concern," Shikaku said. "Iruka. The worst thing you would want is to be accused of kidnapping a Suna villager; that's the last thing Konoha would need." Shikaku paused, thoughtfully. "We need to find the child's parents," Shikaku said. Iruka's grip on the child tightened.
"Iruka-kun?" Kurenai said. "What is it?"
Iruka spoke, softly. "His uncle was the one who tried to kill him," Iruka said. He looked up at the rest of the team with darkened eyes. "The child was distraught, and his uncle said he hated him. Apparently his whole family hates him...."
The child buried himself against Iruka's chest. Iruka placed his palm firmly on the child's head. "I don't know what this is all about - maybe some inter-tribal conflict - but we can't just leave him here," Iruka said.
Shikaku made a long exhaling sound, deep in thought. "If he's already been marked by his clan, they might already think he's dead," Shikaku said. "Konoha does not abandon its children; even in war, we've taken the enemy's orphans as our own. I don't see that this is any different."
"But we're not at war with the Suna," Asuma said. "If they find out we took one of their own--"
"We are taking one who was already abandoned by his family," Shikaku said. He glanced at the child, who was clinging to Iruka, tight. "If what Iruka says is true, that the child was marked for assassination, then we have no other choice. We cannot abandon him."
Shikaku closed his eyes. "These Suna and their backwards customs," Shikaku said. "It sickens me." Kurenai and Asuma nodded, gravely.
Iruka stood. "Come, little one," Iruka said. "Let me help you with that gourd."
xXx
.
They made a campfire at the edge of the forest, right at the border between Fire Country and the Wind.
Everyone fell asleep except Iruka, who stayed awake to scan the periphery. He sat with a kunai in his hand, leaning against a tree and watching, silently. The child was still awake. Iruka glanced behind him, then knelt beside the child.
"Are you okay?" Iruka asked. The child hugged his knees and nodded. Away from his family, surrounded by strangers, and recently attacked, he couldn't blame the child for not sleeping.
"I don't like to sleep," the child said. Iruka turned quietly. The child stared at the campfire. "When I sleep, he comes."
"Who?" Iruka said. The child shook.
"A monster," the child said.
Thoughts of pederasts and evil old men came to mind, and Iruka clenched his hands. These people...what the hell did they do?
Kurenai stirred. She sat up blinking and rubbing her eyes. "Iruka-kun. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Iruka said. He ruffled the child's hair. "The little one couldn't sleep. I was keeping him company." Kurenai nodded.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Kurenai asked. The child shook his head, shyly. Kurenai smiled. "Would you like to sleep next to me?" Kurenai asked.
The child glanced up at Iruka, as if to ask for permission. Iruka nodded. "Go ahead," Iruka said. The child stood up, uncertainly.
Kurenai smiled, then wrapped the child up in her arms. "Shh, little one," Kurenai murmured. She let him bury his face against her chest, pressing her cheek against his hair. She looked up at Iruka sadly.
Iruka smiled. "He's been through a lot," Iruka said. Slowly the child's breathing deepened; he fell asleep in Kurenai's arms.
Kurenai stroked the boy's hair and gazed into the fire.
xXx
.
The child woke up screaming.
Asuma and Shikaku jumped up, but the child wrenched himself free. His eyes opened, and it was as if he were transformed. Kurenai and Iruka tried to hold him down but he was too strong, the sand slamming against them ruthlessly. It wasn't until Shikaku's shadow snaked around the child and yanked him down by the ankles that the child woke: his eyes snapped back open. Slowly his features changed back, and the child was whimpering, softly. "I'm sorry," the child said. He started to cry. "I'm sorry, please, I didn't mean to..."
Shikaku roughly grabbed the child by the arm. Iruka stood. "Shikaku-sama! What--"
Shikaku lifted the child's shirt to see the black seal spiraling out of his skin. Slowly it faded until there was nothing but firelight on his side.
"A jinchuuriki," Shikaku said. "And the seal is incomplete." The child whimpered. He curled up against himself, rocking by the fire.
Asuma knitted his brow. "I don't understand," Asuma said.
"In order for a seal to be complete, there needs to be a sacrifice," Shikaku said. "The Fourth died to seal the Kyuubi, but here...no one did."
The child cried, softly. Asuma and Shikaku stood, staring down at him. "That's probably why they wanted to kill him," Shikaku said. "His bijou wasn't contained. He was probably a threat to the city." For an awful moment, no one moved. Finally Kurenai pushed past them and pulled the child into her arms.
The child sobbed. Kurenai stroked his hair. "Shh," Kurenai said. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault."
Asuma's jaw tightened. "We have to take him back," Asuma said.
"You can't be serious!" Iruka said.
"He's dangerous, he nearly killed you two!" Asuma said. The child sobbed harder. Kurenai hugged him tight. "Kurenai, you almost got killed! If Shikaku hadn't been here--"
"We would have handled it!" Kurenai said.
"Enough," Shikaku said.
The three of them turned. The child sniffed, softly. "Nothing changes," Shikaku says. "He may be a jinchuuriki, but he's still a child. We cannot in good conscience return him to a place where we know he would be killed."
"Madness," Asuma said.
"And what would your father say?" Shikaku said. Asuma stared at him, darkly. "We take him back to Konoha," Shikaku said. "We've already gone too far to take him back, now."
xXx
.
They walked slowly, trudging in a jagged line through the forest. The child was frightened. He clung to Kurenai and Iruka, staring distrustfully at the other adults at the front.
They sat down to rest, Iruka setting down the child's gourd while Kurenai let the child lean against her lap. The child's eyes closed, but his breathing was shallow, erratic. "He's resting," Kurenai said. She stroked the child's hair. "You're still awake, aren't you?"
The child slowly opened his eyes and nodded, before closing them again.
Iruka sat heavily next to Kurenai, who was smiling, softly. "Such beautiful red hair," Kurenai said. "I've always envied the Suna their coloring. They say the sun beats harder there and makes their hair red like the sunset. But I've never seen eyes like these before," Kurenai mused. "They almost look like the Hyuuga's."
"Tch. Leave it to a woman," Asuma said. He flicked a cigarette into the grass. "Just wait until he falls asleep, you won't think he looks so cute when he tries to rip your throat out."
"Asuma." Shikaku looked at him, sharply. "Enough."
Asuma glared, then slunk back at the corner.
It was Kurenai's turn to guard the perimeter, so the child stayed with Iruka while the other men slept. Iruka tossed branches into the fire and watched the flames lick; the child watched too, glancing occasionally at Iruka's face. Neither one spoke. Iruka stirred the ashes once more, then leaned back and closed his eyes.
There was a sound, a whisper of a current in his ear, and Iruka slowly opened his eyes and saw the child sitting across from him, his gourd of sand strapped to his back. The child opened and closed his palm, and Iruka's eyes widened: a little eddy of sand swirled up into the air and into the child's palm. The child seemed content with it, watching silently as the miniature sand storm played at his feet.
Earth element and wind element. Iruka stared. Iruka was just a chuunin, he barely mastered one element, let alone two. Who was this child...?
The sand swirled, gently, and the corner of the child's mouth tugged. The rims of his eyes darkened, and Iruka saw the child begin to cry.
Iruka was awake, now. Wordlessly, he moved and sat next to the child, putting an arm around the child's shoulders. "Shh," Iruka said, and the child buried himself into Iruka's vest.
Iruka understood. He was lonely and confused, and he was probably thinking about home. "Yashamaru," the child said. He cried, softly. "Why...why?"
"It's okay," Iruka said. He had never felt so helpless. "You're with us now. It's going to be all right."
Kurenai stepped up beside him. Iruka looked up. "Everything okay?" Iruka asked. Kurenai nodded.
"The perimeter's secure. We should be fine, for now," Kurenai said. She knelt down beside the child.
"Hey, little one," Kurenai said. "Iruka-san has to patrol the perimeter, but I'm here, now." Kurenai looked at the child with dark eyes. Wordlessly she took the child in her arms and nodded toward Iruka. "Good luck," she said.
Iruka nodded. "I'll be back in a couple hours," he said, and he disappeared into the dark.
xXx
.
Kurenai had an idea. If I wake the child before the transformation takes place, it'll keep the bijou from coming out. She glanced behind her, as Shikaku and Asuma slept, and let the child snuggle against the crook of her neck. The poor child was so love-starved, it made her heart ache. She swore silently that when they returned to Konoha, she would let him stay with her, at least until the Third figured something out.
The child's breathing deepened; his eyelids fluttered. Gently Kurenai kissed him on the forehead and pressed her hand against his back, waiting. It wasn't long before the child gasped, his limbs jerking, violently. Kurenai shook him awake.
"Hey, hey, wake up." The child stiffened; his eyes opened slowly.
Kurenai's heart wrenched. It just seemed cruel that with a life of torment and abuse, he couldn't even let himself sleep. She hoped the Third could find a way to fix the seal or whatever it was wrong with him permanently.
Kurenai wondered who would do such a thing to him. The first night Iruka had found him, the child refused to tell either of them his name; doubtless he was too scared to speak. As time wore on, the rest of the team was content to refer to him as the jinchuuriki, speaking about him as if he were an animal and not a child. Kurenai didn't like that, though. "Sweetpea, what's your name?" she asked, not expecting an answer. "Just who are you?"
The child exhaled, softly. "Gaara."
Kurenai looked down. The child had his eyes closed again; his face was buried against her shirt. "Gaara?" Kurenai asked. The child opened his eyes solemnly and nodded. "Gaara of the Sand?"
The child didn't answer. Kurenai frowned, and stroked the child's hair.
And then...
"Do you like me?"
It was barely a whisper. Kurenai looked down and saw the child looking up at her, frightened. Kurenai smiled, gently. "Of course I like you," Kurenai said. Tears filled the child's eyes. He buried his face against Kurenai's chest.
"Shh, little one," Kurenai said, softly. "What's wrong?" The child cried softly, hugging her tight.
"No one's ever liked me before," the child said. "Not even..."
More tears. "He told me I was his precious person," the child sobbed. "He told me my mother loved me and that the sand was full of her love. But it was a lie." The child sobbed harder. "It was a lie and nobody loves me."
"Shh, don't cry." Kurenai held him tighter. "When we get back to my village, you'll stay with me and nobody will hurt you, I promise." Kurenai kissed him on the forehead and hugged him again. "I promise, okay? Don't cry."
Kurenai hated it. He was just a child. No one should have to hurt a child.
Iruka came back from his patrol and found the child watching Kurenai sleep. He glanced up at Asuma, who was frowning. Wordlessly Asuma stood up and took over the patrol.
A/N: Not sure exactly where I'm going with this. I mostly had the idea of, "what if Iruka found Gaara before he killed Yashamaru?" and this is the result. Even though Iraku is just an instructor and Asuma, Shikaku, and Kurenai were never really on a team in canon, I thought, what the hell, and threw them all together - Iruka because he's Iruka, Kurenai because she has those crazy genjutsu skillz (which may or may not come into play later). Also, I figured Asuma might be jealous of chibi!Gaara snuggling up to Kurenai and whatnot, so...yeah. lol. Plus chibi!Gaara needed some snuggles, so there you go. XD