How to Save a Life

Hello, welcome to my first Naruto Fan fiction! (I'm sorry, but Gaara's gonna talk a lot more then his character should) And I know, the summary is slightly shitty sounding, so I'm going to give you the whole summary here:

Ireland 1501, Gaara is the son of an incubus living with Naruto a young man in his teens; they are experts in assassination and theft. Gaara is an assassination expert who loves what he does, likes the idea that his heart is black and his soul is empty.

Now, look around Ireland and what do you see? Water, exactly. And inside that water? Mermaids. But forget all the shit you know from 'The Little Mermaid' and think of this: horrid fish-finned monsters that look very similar to maidens from the waist up, but, have you ever met a mermaid that wanted to devour you and steal your soul? Well, Gaara's about to.

Story:

The crisp morning air was something that I relished in whenever that soft land of dreams made him wake, Ireland having it's own distinct smell that no one can describe no matter how hard they try. Smelling the crisp ocean air was a blessing that none of us really knew was there and the magic that accompanied Ireland was a gift in itself that almost everyone misunderstood the true beauty of the potato-filled island.

I however, haven't slept in over seventeen years, so I haven't smelt the crispness of morning air opposed to when I close my eyes at night, never actually sleeping. I haven't seen as much of the world as I've wanted; only been to France and Ireland- originally from England.

I had an accent at one point, but now it only takes a day to morph into an accent thanks to my line of work. I've worn dresses and played the royal, kissed hands and stroked ego's, but one of the things I did, no matter where I went: I killed. England my count was at least one hundred, after that in France the count went up to one-fifty. Then Ireland, still no new numbers, but a list to take out, and a handsome pay in gold if I did it quietly and without a trace.

Back in England I had met a young boy when I was only five, running around the streets of London to steal food and pick pockets as best a five year old can. The short scruffy blonde hair and the bright blue eyes had caught my attention right away and I have been by his side ever since. I'm not really sure why he'd caught my attention so much, I'd come across so many other blonde haired blue eyed boys in England in the same boat as me: parents gone and alone on the streets. But something about his hand on the same apple to lift from the vender, it made me want to make sure he didn't get hurt.

I was a year older then him, and learned shortly after I'd grabbed two apples and the boy's hand that his name was Naruto- odd just like mine. We'd spent the night talking and shared our back stories.

My father had killed my mother the day I was born, and then he left me there, helpless. I was found maybe a day later and was taken in by one of the knights. When I turned five I woke up one morning and decided I didn't want to be on the good side of the law, so I grabbed up as much as I could in a bag and took off.

Naruto didn't know what happened to his parents when we met. He was just, surviving. We'd eventually learned that his father had been a master criminal when an old man commented on how Naruto looked exactly like him. We'd stayed together since that first day, never letting anyone in and never needing anything. Naruto was better at stealing, I was better at killing. Some things just work out for the better if you think about it, it can work out so much better if you don't fight your problems and just kill them.

The scent of the morning air caught my attention again with a slight smell of smoke, letting me know that the neighbors were getting up and starting their fires up to get their houses warming. It was just about time for me to go out for my morning walk, but I didn't know what to get on this morning walk. I still had to gather information on my target, but it just wouldn't be the same since I knew he was going into the market today like he did every second day at sunrise- not sleeping has it's advantages.

Naruto rolled over and pulled his head further under the thin woolen blanket and I let out a sigh, we hadn't been prepared for the weather being as cold as it was and I had to lift another blanket or get Naruto to steal the gold coin for it since I was broke until my list was complete.

I got up off my own cot and walked over once my shoes were in place, I lay my blanket over Naruto's body and noticed as he snuggled further into the warm side as I got up to get the stove going.

I lit a fire with my flint and stuffed it into the fairly large fire place, watching as all the dry wood caught and decided I should chop more wood. I'm not really sure why we didn't keep the fire burning all the time, I never slept so there was no worry for it spreading outside the hearth boundary, but I never stayed in the small cottage all night so it could still have been a fire hazard.

Once I was outside chopping wood I realized that it wasn't the scent of fire coming from any of the houses around ours, it was still pitch black out, but the smell was coming from the harbor.

The sudden screams of people broke out as a small explosion sound hit my ears along with a large plume of fire and smoke. My eyes went wide as I dropped the axe, knowing that something huge was wrong by the docks.

I had decided to veto the shirt I'd left in our cottage to just see what was going on. Men were yelling to get water, and receiving reply's like 'It's on the water ya bloody oaf!' and 'there's not'in we can do man!' I stopped once I crested the hill, seeing straight down over the town, people running with buckets, others running from house to house grabbing children incase another explosion happened.

The largest vessel in our harbor at the time was a pirate ship, not too odd for the small speck that was our village by the sea. But no one thought it'd be on fire. The men had come into town, taken what they wanted, gotten into fights with plenty and I'd even killed a few.

I could see no one on board, and it was pretty far off in the harbor, almost in the open water, but close enough that the pirates still on land were trying to get out to save the grand ship.

I sat myself down once I got to the cliff for the better view, the sight of carnage something I rather enjoyed a little more then most men. I could feel the heat of the fire from my vantage point. A movement on deck caught my eye and I watched, shocked as what looked like a mermaid slipped from the deck of the ship into the water.

My eyes remained locked on the black abyss that was the ocean, for the longest time I saw nothing but a ripple that could have been a fish. But as I remained looking at the water, I noticed something emerge, much slower then a fish could have and before I knew it, it just seemed like a girl was floating there in the water, a smile on her face and a lock of hair falling down between her black eyes. For a moment I thought I heard her giggle, but then much quicker then she'd appeared, she'd vanished.

Legs were heavy and my arms hurt, I couldn't move for some odd reason as I waited for the girl to resurface, to see if she was my imagination or not. But nothing happened.

Another long while passed, the ship had burned itself a hole in the hull and was sunk, the pirates were pissed off and threatening to pillage the town, but the men had revolted against them and it was close to a bloodbath down on the docks as women cheered on and some of the children who were awake followed their parents lead. A hand clapped down on my shoulder and I turned to see a man standing there, a huge smile on his face as he grabbed my hair and pulled my to my feet, I hadn't even thought my red hair was long enough to grab.

"Get your ass up! How can you sit by and watch all my mates get killed?" I kept my teeth clenched tight, I figured I knew what this guy wanted and would kill him before he got it.

I hated the fact everyone figured they could get some kind of sex out of me. I'd had women and men try and 'shame me' as they put it so bluntly, unfortunately everyone who tried to touch me ended up dead.

My lips were roughly smashed against his and I kept my jaw clenched through the biting at my lips for me to open my mouth. I made a fist and jabbed it into the mans gut, bringing my knee up into his face as he doubled over. I could feel as he grabbed my pants and dragged me to the ground with him.

I tried to roll to keep the high ground but was caught under him, a dangerous look in his eyes and all my weapons at home. I tried to punch him but he caught both my wrists and pinned them above my head. "Common, scream. You want to, don't you? Little fucking whore. What kind of guy makes a whore anyways?"

I was slowly loosing my composure as he straddled my hips so I couldn't kick him, but as long as he was like that he couldn't do anything to me either. "Scream dammit! I wanna hear you beg me to stop!"

His grip loosened substantially and I pulled both my arms down so my locked fists smashed into his head. It only took two hits to get him off of me before I changed positions. I'm not too sure how long I sat on top of him, beating him with my interlocked fists, all I knew when I stopped was that my hands were hurting too much to keep beating him.

My face had been splattered in a bit of blood at my chest was soaked in it as I got up and wiped my lips off with my pale arm. I grabbed one of his legs and tugged him closer to the cliff, once he was close enough I set my foot on his back and pushed him over, my bloodied arms crossed over my chest as I watched his body hit a few rocks on the way down before finally disappearing into the murky depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

I spit after the body, watching as it disappeared. I noticed the same face from before appear close to where the body had vanished, and before I could see anything in great detail she vanished again, into the depths like he had.

"Gaara! Is that you?" I froze as Naruto's voice came from behind me, I hated him seeing me after I killed, especially when it was a messy kill like that had been. I didn't turn around as he ran up behind me, I could feel him only a few feet away and squeezed my eyes tightly shut. "Gaara, are you alright? There was apparently a fire on that pirate ship! The crew was all killed on the docks! The entire city is in an uproar because another one might come!" the sound of his feet crushing the green grass stopped and I cringed, I didn't want to turn around, to have him see how horrible I was for having killed yet another man.

"Naruto, did you smother the fire?"

"N-no but-"

"Go smother the fire, I'll be back by morning, I promise. Try and catch some more sleep if you can." my voice was tight as I tried not to shake. I heard him stammer a bit, but when I felt the hand pat my shoulder twice I knew he was going to go back to the cottage.

I knew it wasn't going to take too long to get cleaned up and back to the cottage. My mind was swimming with what that girl was doing in the water so late at night, and who she was, but I just knew that it wasn't good, and I'd have to look through the town's archives.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

We had planned it perfectly, our singing had calmed my brothers raging storm as the five of us looked for a plank to hold onto. I spotted one and tapped one of the others shoulders, giggling as we all swam over and attached ourselves to it.

The shouts of the pirates could be heard as the fire continued thanks to the lightning my brother brought to the storm, it was so perfect… I only wish I could have made storms like that instead of just calm them. I heard a few of them yell something about water to put the fires out before they could do damage and smirked as Sakura raised her hand up, waving it as he long pink hair floated out behind her.

"Help us! Please help!" I smirked, her sea-green eyes shimmered with the light of the fire. We all raised a hand and did the same, our fish tails gently flicking under us to keep us all adrift. Each one of us thought we were the best, the prettiest, and had the best voice, but truth was: I was. My family lineage provided that I'd be the best in every which way. I was an Uchiha after all, and it was my birthright to be the best in every way without even trying. My twin brother had managed to create a storm with lightning after all, my abilities were the exact opposite of his with the same strength.

I noticed as one of the men noticed us, his jaw dropping as we all cooed at him for help, we had roughly ten minutes until the rest of the town noticed and started to watch.

The sailors were about to leave us alone, but a tall man with white hair came out of the captains hold and he took one look at us before ordering men into the water to help, joining himself once he'd taken his gun and sword off.

I watched as he swam right up to me, a perverted expression on his face as he wrapped an arm around my back and crushed our chests together, noticing right away that I was topless and not noticing that I had a scaly black fin instead of long pale legs to match the rest of my fleshy skin.

"My, my, my… looks like we have ourselves some sea goddesses… were you tossed over board of your ship?" I nodded my head and gripped my fingers into the soaked front of his jacket, feeling the tension build as I just pondered if I should drown him first or eat him alive… drowning would be quieter. "The name is Jiraiya by the way. What's yours?"

I felt a smile cross my face and I pulled him slightly closer, my lips just ghosting over his. I'm sure he could feel the slight amount of slime that was there from being out of the water, but he didn't seem to notice. "Ember." I sealed our lips together, hating the horrid feeling of his chapped, hungry lips on mine as I tightened my fingers in his shirt, feeling his tongue in my mouth was the last thing I remember before I flipped around and started dragging him down into the water.

I opened my eyes and smiled as I saw his eyes widen, he pushed me away and tried to swim for the surface, but the kiss had made him loose precious time before he had to take another breath, but I never did listen to my parents in that sense, I loved playing with my food.

I swam up to him and grabbed his shirt again, pressing another kiss to his lips as I breathed out a bit of air, he took in as much as he could before continuing the kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and started gently pulling him back down so he could start to feel the water pressure building.

Even mermaids had their limit with how deep they could go, but the only advantage I'd found in that sense of being an Uchiha, is I didn't. I could go as deep as I want, therefore I had more ways to kill people then others. I pulled my mouth away from his and started peppering kisses on his neck, waiting for him to signal me for more air, and when he did, I didn't give it.

I floated there, holding his arms so he couldn't punch me, my fin out behind me so he couldn't kick me as I watched him struggle to get out of my grasp. I felt so powerful as the light faded from his eyes, much quicker then I thought it would. As soon as he stopped struggling I loosened my grasp and pulled his head to one side, loving out our wonderful dark vision as I bit down on his neck, feeling the warm tang of his blood as I started my feast.

Once I was done with the all too willing captain I swam back up as fast as I could and propelled myself on deck for the last straggler that was there. It was uncommon for us mermaids to go onto the desk of a ship, but I could change much quicker then any other after all my time alive and my fin quickly shifted to legs and I was able to rush towards the last man and eat to my hearts content.

Two was enough for me, one would have been good, but I was given enough power for another year, one human life was equivalent to half a year of immortality for us so for three thousand years I'd eaten two human beings a year.

"Ember! Hurry up, their coming in long boats!" Ino's voice hit my ears and I turned to the side of the ship, there was nothing left but a bit of blood and his feet, but I never ate the feet- who would?

As quickly as I could I ran to the edge of the ship and launched myself off, legs turning to fin once I submerged into the water fully. The other four maids were waiting there for me, Sakura with long pink hair and a pink tail, Ino with long blonde hair and a periwinkle tail, then both Hinata and Tenten, long dark brown hair, Hinata with a blue tail and Tenten with a purple tail.

I smirked as I tapped the edges of my mouth, pretending like I was elegantly wiping my lips like all the refined nobles. "Well, that was tasty." I started swimming back towards Atlantis, my heart pounding as I got closer and closer to the underwater hell hole I'd called home since my best friend had managed to sink it because he'd gotten pissed at his parents- though that was a closely guarded secret between the two of us.

The city was in horrible condition, it was covered in coral and barnacles, seaweed, anemone, clams, sea cucumbers, crabs, and any other types of sea creatures you could think of. Of course it had it's gold rooms, even some entire buildings filled with gold, but what good was it to us? We hunted our own food and we didn't sleep on beds we were more comfortable on rocks, and I liked sleeping four hours during sunrise and four hours during sunset.

I could already tell by the thick current around our house that my brother was upset, most likely about our little fight we'd had, but I knew a few reassuring words would soothe him.

"Sasuke! I'm back from my hunt. How is everything in- whoa!" I ducked as a pot came hurtling towards my head, glaring as he swam back and forth, his pitch black hair and tail matching my own, our eyes usually both deep and black as well, but due to his anger his eyes were red as blood.

"Ember, how dare you leave when we were in the middle of a discussion!"

"Well I told you my views and I decided to leave. Now I hope you don't think, I'm going to clean this all up just because I'm a girl. I have to go talk with Shikamaru as it is."

"See? You spend every freaking waking moment of the day with him as it is! Why cant you just marry him like I want and get it over with?"

"Because Sasuke, I don't want to get married. Shikamaru knows that. Besides, he get's a new up-worlder bride every couple hundred years. So why should I bother getting in the way of-"

"Because he has feelings for you and you know it! Why the hell do you play these games? It's not just with Shikamaru, Ember. It's with everyone! You've done this for three thousand years and it needs to stop, now!" I noticed the rage in his eyes and felt the water around him start to stir, I knew if I didn't leave he was going to create a world-pool.

It was true, I loved tormenting people. There had been many other suitors Sasuke had tried to set me up with, but what could I say? Mer-folk just didn't interest me as much as humans. Shikamaru knew that more then anyone, we'd made love countless times over the years as humans- unknown by Sasuke of course. But I was born without a soul anyways, so what would it matter if I had a lot of fun?

"I'll talk to Shikamaru about it Sasuke… but I doubt we'll come up with any more of an agreement then we have the other times we've talked about non-existent feelings." I rolled my eyes and head out to find Shikamaru in his usual star-gazing spot.

I popped my head out of the water by the cliff, just minutes after the ship had sunk after noticing the splash as a human fell into the water, but two was enough for me and I left it alone, deciding to look up at the top of the cliff to see what had happened.

A bloodied boy stood there, a glare on his face as he looked down on me now, his eyes shocked for a moment. I knew I had to have him, his heart, his soul… just looking at him made me want my own soul, and if I had to become a horrid human and marry him to get it then I would. I'd hide his soul in a cage for my own so many times over that he'd never be able to find it again.

I saw his mouth opening and decided I'd stayed long enough, having to finish my swim to find my best friend to speak of the new adventure that was brewing in my mind: a soul of my very own, no matter what the cost was.

"Shikamaru!" I noticed him floating above the water, his grey fin just flicking back and forth leisurely as he looked up at the stars, his hands behind his head and a most likely calm expression on his face. I swam up underneath him and gently stroked my fingers down his back, loving the reaction he gave as he shivered and sunk back into the water with little to no effort.

"Ember? What're you doing here? Sasuke manage to sink Ireland yet?"

"Nope, he wants me to marry you again." I could see the hopeful glint in his eye, but I wasn't about to pay attention to that in the slightest when I had my next master plan to tell him.

"Oh… and what did you tell him this time?" I knew he was waiting for me, that he refused to make his many landlubber wives a mermaid to be with them for eternity because of me. I also knew that the few times we had been together had been torture for him, but I couldn't stop myself from pleasure, and he never refused when I asked for it. It was getting to the point where I figured he liked the pain of my rejection.

"I want a soul of my own! Well, I haven't told him that yet- and I'm not going to… I want you to help me acquire a soul Shika." his eyes went wide and I could tell again that he wanted to refuse, but he couldn't, he never could. He'd grumble something about it being troublesome and me just being a woman, but he'd never said no to me.

"I cant… how am I supposed to help you marry a human?"

"Well… I'm going to seduce one! I've got the perfect target too! All I have to do is get someone, to keep Sasuke busy if I'm ever on land! Please Shika?"

He raised a hand and rubbed the back of his neck- something I found endearing about him since a yes always followed -his face bored as he looked at me long and hard, his deep brown eyes looking from one of mine to the next. "Fine, I'll do it. As long as you don't tell my parents that Atlantis was my doing we'll be fine- besides, they were too advanced for this, and something would have gone wrong." I nodded with a coy smirk before pressing my lips to his and pulling our bodies together for a moment, allowing my breasts to swell against him so he could feel them.

"Thank you Shikamaru, I'll see you in a bit… I've got some things I need to do to get my soul." I let him go and swam off, knowing he was looking after me the way he always did. I loved him, true, and he loved me- of course -but I just couldn't settle for living the rest of eternity under water with him if I didn't have a soul, and once your married to a merman it's eternal, with a human it's only until they die. Like they say 'to death do us part' and when humans marry a mermaid, we steal souls within the first night nine times out of ten.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When I got back to the cottage Naruto was wrapped up in the two blankets on his bed, only his nose sticking out from under the covers, a tuff of blonde hair showing as well.

I walked into the kitchen and got a drink of water before walking back over to the bedroom and looked at my bare bed then back over at Naruto's. His bed looked much warmer then mine, so with a slight sigh I walked over and lifted the blankets. He flinched because of the cold air that hit his bare chest as I slipped into the blankets.

I knew it was wrong, my feelings for him could be seen in many different ways to a lot of different people. But as far as everyone on Ireland knew, we were siblings. I had an odd feeling for him though, but I've never had a sibling so I didn't know if it was a sibling thing, I just knew I felt more for him then anyone else.

Naruto grabbed onto me and set his face on my shoulder, I had no idea why or how the hell he was cold, but when he set his feet on my calf I just about screamed it was so cold. I lay there paralyzed for a few minutes, waiting for either his feet to warm up or my leg to get used to the coldness without my entire leg cramping.

My mind was swimming with information that night, wondering just what I'd done to get stuck in Ireland, trying to kill the impossible once again. But why was it that every time I killed the impossible, someone would come up with something bigger and harder to kill? I mean, this time it was a freaking Irish lord- how was I supposed to kill one of those without killing everyone in the freaking village?

Of course, don't get me wrong, I love killing… aside from making sure that Naruto's safe it's my major joy in life. But that doesn't mean I want to kill everyone to get what I need to get this payoff. Naruto mumbled something that sounded like some kind of name to me, but I ignored it since it wasn't mine and let out a sigh as I looked up at the bedroom roof, it hurt that he knew little to nothing about me- well, meaningful things. It made me want to just curl into a ball at some points, but my feelings for him weren't right, how could they be? I wanted to do to him what only a man should do with a woman.

There was a large thunderous noise from the town again and I let out a sigh, knowing that these Irish often got pissed at each other and tried blowing stuff up. Just the week before they'd all set the rum on fire like it was a fireplace.

Naruto flinched when the next wave of screaming and explosions hit and his arms wrapped around my one arm reflexively. It hurt so much knowing I'd brought him here to get hurt and scared, my own selfishness won out over my need to keep him safe I guess. It's been three months and I know I couldn't have lived that long worrying about him, if he'd stolen enough that month for rent or if he was back on the streets. That was the one thing I promised him would never happen again, that neither of us would be on the streets again.

I lay there in his bed that night, loosing all track of time as my eyes once again counted the boards of the ceiling that were the never used attic floor. The rays of the early morning started to seep through the window beside my bed- to keep Naruto warmest, and I let out a sigh. I knew I'd have to get going to do more reconnaissance, but Naruto was clinging so tightly that I couldn't even shift when my free arm fell asleep without him threatening to wake up.

He was so peaceful when he slept that it was hard not to just look at him at most points of the night when I had nothing better to do, I'd even tried going out for runs and training most nights since I couldn't sleep.

The moment he let me go I slid out of his bed, making sure that only a little of the warm air could escape before I decided to go out and finish the task I'd started earlier of cutting firewood.

It was still summer, so it got pretty freaking hot out, sunrise brought little warmth with it though. It always took a while for the sun to actually heat the air and Ireland, something I always hated waiting for. I knew Naruto's routine down to a nutshell by then though. He'd wake up, take a leak, then he'd mumble 'I'm going to the river, be back in a bit.' Then nine times out of ten I'd follow fairly close to make sure no one bothered him.

Yes I knew I was controlling, yes I knew I was a jealous idiot, and yes I knew it was pathetic. But is protecting my best friend really something that's bad? He'd been attacked before like I'd been attacked the night before and I'd helped him… is that so absolutely horrible?

Anyhow, I was out behind our cottage when Naruto stumbled out with his bathing stuff: a towel and small bar of soap on a rope- because he lost it otherwise. I continued chopping the logs, deciding to just get it done and over with so I could get back to trying to kill my targets.

"Gaara! Help!" I dropped the axe in my head and turned my head to the side, seeing a half dressed Naruto running out of the trees. He looked distressed as he held the hem of his pants to keep them up, I distinctly remember a shirt being on him when he left. "Gaara… stop them, please! They-they know about him and are hurting him!"

I could see a bruise forming on Naruto's chest and on the side of his face but I knew something more important then just him getting punched happened, he was stronger then that I knew.

"Know about who?" I raised one of my non-existent eyebrows (It's a long story that involves Naruto being a dumb-ass)

"Ku-Kurama! They found me seeing him and-and they took him!"

I opened my mouth to ask again but he cut me off, his face slightly red and his hands clenching my shoulders. "He's my fox kit! They said he was a freak-fox and took him! Their going to try and drown him! You have to help me Gaara, there are too many of them!" Naruto didn't bother to hear me say no, it was just a fox, was he really that attached to it? He'd had a lot of kittens and dogs before, but they always run away from him.

He knew that I couldn't let him go get hurt though, so with a sigh I kicked into a run behind him to stop him from getting hurt or killed. The sounds of water slashing and Naruto yelling and crying directs me in the right direction. Naruto is held in the water away from who I'm supposing is drowning the kit that Naruto seems so fond of. He yelled at me to get the kit and I remained motionless until I saw him throw a pretty powerful punch before I moved into the freezing water and over to the man holding the kit under the water.

"Hey… let me do it." he looked back over his shoulder and I saw the devilish smirk on his face that accompanied his red eyes and black hair.

"Gladly." he handed the fox over and I pulled it out of the water. My eyes didn't even look down at it to see if it was alright as I punched the guy in the back of the head. He sunk into the water and I moved to the next guy, glaring as he tried pushing Naruto into the water, the fox still held in one arm.

I punched the guy holding Naruto under the water in the side, hearing a few ribs crack and break as a few others came rushing at me through the water. I punched him as Naruto popped out of the river and started coughing as he tried to clear his lungs. I felt him grab the fox from my hand and I poised to fight the oncoming men.

A few kicks and a couple punches were all it took until they were all down on the banks, just that one boy- the one I hit first -not being accounted for. I just shrugged and looked over at Naruto, seeing him clutching a small wet bundle of orange clutched to his chest.

"Care to explain?" I crossed my arms over my chest as I walked out of the river. I walked over to him, grabbing his right arm and forcing him to move it so I could see if it was cut badly since I had noticed the blood when I was still in the river. He looked at the cut and noticed it was pretty deep. "Explain later." I let my hand slip down to his and started pulling him back towards the cottage.

His fingers slipped through mine and I felt that horrid feeling of pain in my chest again of not being able to like him the way I did and have it be acceptable by anyone.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

As soon as his arm was bandaged up Naruto started looking around the cottage for Kurama and I quietly excused myself. I had to find a girl, even if it was another lonely few hours of meaningless pleasure I had to find someone to allow me to wallow in the horrid pain I felt around Naruto.

My feet carried me through the burned part of town and passed the docks to the darker side of the town, where the harlots and seamen roamed the alley ways between buildings and prowled the pubs.

I walked into the usual establishment where I met the girl I usually did the deed with and my eyes looked around for her, knowing I had to keep my harsher killer side at bay. I tried my hardest not to growl when I see her with another guy, falling all over him, but her blonde hair was too hard to miss, it was too blonde for Ireland and more like a French blonde if that made sense.

I sauntered over and tapped her shoulder with a bit of a flourish to my wrist that I only seemed to have around her; tense but still light. She looked over and her lips pulled into more of a smile. "Gaara, go get a drink, I'll be there in a minute." I nodded my head a few times as I moved over and ordered the tallest cup of ale they had.

"So Gaara, what brings you here after only a month? Something wrong?" I shook my head as Alex asked for a small cup of ale. I shook my head to her question and she let out a sigh. "Same thing?" I nod my head and she gave a slight smile as she set her hand on my shoulder.

I felt her fingers slide up into my hair and she gripped my crimson hair in a tight fist before crushing our mouths together before I'd even taken a sip of ale. This wasn't how I worked with her, I would get three sheets to the wind, then she'd let me have my way with her. So what was going on with this situation. "You need to stop coming to me and confront whoever it is you have these feelings for Gaara." she let me got and grabbed her cup, dumping the liquid down her throat before asking for another.

"What makes you think I'm replacing someone with you?" Alex just giggled and I took a long swig as she continued. I waited until she stopped trying to laugh and just relaxed as the alcohol started to take effect.

"Oh Gaara… I'm not stupid! I know when a guy is pretending to be with someone else. And if it wasn't for your iron jaw I'm sure you would have screamed their name out, or at least murmured it by now." I looked over out of the corner of my eye and took another swig.

"Can I use your services, or not?" Alex nod her head and I stood up, being a light weight with alcohol was something I'd gotten used to, and the pubs tall cup of ale did it just enough for me to be able to have my time with Alex so I could stop wallowing in my own self pity for a while.

I followed her up to her room my steps becoming slightly crossed and my hand having to grip the handle tightly so I didn't fall back down the steps. She closed the door behind me and pushed me down on the uncomfortable straw mattress I'd grown accustomed to when I needed her. My mind was so hazy as she crawled overtop of me, her dress loose enough to allow my eyes to view her fairly small breasts until she fisted my hair and crashed our lips together.

Rough fabric and soft skin were all I felt in my finger tips as my numb fingers fiddled with the worn silk ribbon of the front of her dress. I could feel her rotating her hips already and knew that I was going to hell, if not for ever kill I'd made in my life and all the kills I'd make in the future, but for that one night I was going to be damned to an eternity.

"Gaara… tell me who it is you cant have." I looked up into her grey eyes and frowned, she knew I refused to talk when we were together, even if she asked all the questions I'd only give one worded answers. I flipped us over so she was under me, her wrists above her head and my lips connecting her hers again for a moment.

"No." my voice gruff from the ale as I continued relieving her of her clothing. I hated all that I did in that room, no matter when I did it, and that night was no exception.

Once I was done I paid Alex and left the tavern, no longer caring what I did as long as I got another dip in the river before heading back to the cottage or to kill my target. My mind was still foggy and I knew that going after my target wouldn't be smart, getting drunk in the morning wasn't smart. But it was something that my mind couldn't do without that morning so there was no option in my head.

I walked right passed the cottage, hearing Naruto talking quietly to the fox kit he must have found, knowing he wouldn't notice me as I vanished towards the lake just ten miles up the river.

I stumbled a few times and stopped once to get sick from the horrid knots in my stomach from what I'd done; the entire time I was with Alex I'd imagined Naruto instead, something that shouldn't have happened. I wanted to do with him what I was doing with her and it sickened me to the point where my nerves had just let loose.

Once the lake was in my sight I started to shed my clothes, not caring where they fell since I wasn't leaving the confines of the water until I was good and sober again. Since there were three times I refused to see Naruto: after copulating with a girl, after killing and when drunk, I had a bunch of time to waste until I was fine to see him back at the cottage.

I slipped into the water as soon as I got to the edge of the water, not taking too much time to look at the waterfall that stood proud at the mouth of the cove surrounded lake.

"Softly we tremble tonight,

Picture perfect fading smiles are all that's left in site,

I said I'd never leave you'll never change

I'm not satisfied with where I'm at in life."

I turned my head and my eyes went wide as I noticed the same girl from the night before in the water, just feet in front of me. Her breasts bare and her long hair flowing out behind her as she moved forward as if she was floating in the deep water.

I remained wary as I watched her approach, her singing had come to a stop and I noticed that there was some sort of fire in her eyes I'd never seen in another. "I suppose your not a sailor… care to tell me your name?" her voice was smooth and sultry as she got closer and closer, her body vanishing into the dark water I could barely see all of myself in.

"Are you not going to answer me?" I remained quiet as my arms kept a hold of the shore in the deep water as she swam up and pinned me to the spot as if tempting me to kiss her. "That's too bad… I bet your voice would be almost as sultry as mine." her black hair was heavy with the water, and her eyes were so deep and black it made me wonder why little light was reflected in the dark pools. I shrugged as best I could and tried to look passed her so I wasn't forced to look at her when she giggled.

"Really? After what you just did in the tavern your worried about a girl swimming with you in a lake? Is it inappropriate for a man and woman to share a large space of water together?" I shrugged again, the fact she knew what I'd just done hadn't even registered until she was pressing a kiss to my neck.

The feel of her breasts against my chest was something I noticed I hated right off the bat, the female body horrified me to be honest, too much in some places and not enough in others, weak and fragile instead of strong and durable. I was slightly rough, I knew that, Alex knew that. It was why I only went to see her about once a month because she didn't like rough.

I pushed her away and climbed out of the water, ignoring the shrill sound of her laughter as I walked to find my pants. As soon as I found them I pulled them on and looked back at the lake, seeing nothing of the black haired woman who'd been there just a moment before… right? She was there, wasn't she?

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I let out a sigh as soon as I slipped under the water, it'd be harder to seduce him into loving me then I thought. Shikamaru and I had our work cut out for us, and I had to interrogate Sasuke about his mishap in the river earlier that day- him and that stupid fox had been rivals for a long time and it was time it stopped.

AN:

Me: few! That was surprisingly hard! I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it hard to write from the perspective of my all-time favorite character. I know this is my 7th fic, but it's taken me this long to get a good idea for my first Naruto fic.

Shikamaru: why am I in love with your OC? And why is she such a bitch?

Me: because that's just how she is. Mermaids are cocky and evil… this fic shall prove it!

Naruto: why isn't Kurama in this chapter! You only mentioned him! Why didn't you describe him?

Kurama: stop worrying about it Naruto, I don't want to be a big part of this fiction, it's too troublesome.

Me: I promise it'll be fine and everything will happen when it needs to.

Shikamaru: you should probably mention that this Fic is labeled as M for the details you put into this fic that may not be appropriate for all ages, but there will at NO time be any LEMON AT ALL!

Me: yes, yes, no lemons. I don't do that.

Gaara: please review if you like it, and feel free to read Elizabeth's other stories if you have some time to kill.

Me: don't show-boat and push my stories on people Gaara. Let them read what they want.

Gaara: please review and have a good morning/afternoon/night.