Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
The next time he regained even partial consciousness, all he could hear was shuffling. Or were they mutters? He couldn't tell. He didn't know how, but this time, he could tell that this was the end; this would be the last time he would ever have even this much awareness. He could feel himself sliding down something rough, and then coming to a stop on something damp and cold.
Did we stop traveling? Why, though...
He couldn't hear very well, but he could feel the tremors coming up near him from almost all sides. There were also tiny particles that ticked his skin. He didn't sneeze though; the particles were similar to sand and dust.
Gaara was never frightened. There was simply nothing to frighten him. The closest he had ever felt to that, was when Deidara had nearly destroyed the village. Now, he still wasn't frightened. He was terror stricken.
Why? Why am I feeling like this now? Is it because my life is being threatened... no, if that were the case, I would have felt this way a long time ago. Perhaps... It's because I can't move. What is towering over me? What's happening?
In the end, he decided that the most plausible reason for his fear was because of the atmosphere, and the fact that he felt helpless. Also because of the chakra pressing down on all sides; it was a mix of something strange, mysterious, and overpowering. He could feel, deep inside, that Shukaku was thrashing around, growing restless.
Suddenly, he could feel a large amount of chakra coming near him. It was immensely so, and Gaara could feel the pressure increase the closer it came. Shukaku was howling now, screaming to be let out. Gaara understood how he felt. He couldn't hear it, but he could feel it. Through his closed eyelids, he could also pick out a faint green glow surrounding fierce blue ones that kept on twisting around slowly and growing brighter.
He could hear the steady drip of something now, and the whooshing of air. The longer he stayed there, listening, the more the air began to sound like hollow and hoarse screams and roars. His back was soaked and cold, and the mass of chakra grew closer. He could feel something directly above him, and chakra to his left and right.
Almost instantly afterwards, the chakra came crashing down, suffocating him and causing Shukaku to screech more fiercely. It was pressing down on him from all directions, and he felt as if he were trapped in his own sand coffin attack. He was cold all over. He could recall that the feeling was similar to a mission he went on once, where he had been thrown deep underwater. This time, the feeling was multiplied by a hundredfold. It felt like the strange chakra was seeping into every pore and mingling with his own.
His entire body ached badly, and he could feel the chakra glob about under him and lift him off of the damp floor. His ears were ringing from the sound of the chakra. He floated in place for a while before he found himself back in the desert, standing in front of a tall metal fence.
"What's going on dude?! What're those things coming? No, get it away container!" screeched the crazed tanuki, banging against the fence with all his might.
Gaara simply turned around and ignoring the one-tail, looked around behind him into the distance. As usual, he only saw the endless stretch of sand in all directions and the blindingly bright sky with no sun.
No, there's something else here... is that... what is that blue thing in the distance?
Upon closer inspection, the red haired shinobi could see a line of blue lines, writhing over and over each other. There were around nine of those chakra things, coming increasingly closer and closer at an alarming pace. they were rustling, shoving and manoeuvring their way through the flat sand, kicking up particles and leaving the horizon burred.
"Hey, are you listening? HEY! I told you to let me out! Damn you, LISTEN TO ME!"
Gaara continued watching the chakra coils get closer, not moving a step. Even if he tried to move back to his own conscious and not in here, there would be no change. It would be better to simply stay here, aware about the incoming chakra things.
There was not much to do, and Gaara would not stand for simply wasting his time away in his unconscious state. So he thought; what is the Akatsuki's purpose? They captured him, the container of the first tailed beast. Then, instead of directly killing him, they had brought him somewhere and proceeded to immerse him in some strange chakra.
The place where his eye brows should have been drew together as a look of concern spread across his face. He had an idea as to what they were trying to do, but for what purpose? Power seemed to be the most probable answer as of the moment.
They are trying to extract Shukaku from me. They will have to seal him somewhere, unless they plan on killing him. They may not stop here though... could they have already caught some other tailed beasts? It's likely; their respective village would not wish to tell others that they lost a powerful... asset.
At the very least though, I do not think that they will attack the Sunagakure anymore since they achieved their goal and captured me... But that may just be wishful thinking.
The pressure was nearing, and even in his inner mindscape, he was beginning to have difficulty breathing. Gaara wondered if they could be destroyed. Lifting a hand, the sand ahead of him began to rise. Another motion and the sand burst forwards, towards the pile of wiggling chakra. The things didn't even attempt to move away from the attack; they simply absorbed the sand and continued moving.
There will always be a limit to how much it can absorb.
It was a reasonable theory. Gaara made it so that even more sand from before rose up, poised to swallow up the invader. Unbeknownst to him though, was that the chakra was meant to seal more than just the first-tail and would successfully steal all of the jinchuuriki's and tailed beast's chakra easily. Bringing his hand down, the sand crashed onto the writhing mass of blue chakra. For a moment, nothing happened.
The dust began to settle, and still nothing happened. As this was the Kazekage's own mind though, he knew better. He could feel his and Shukaku's sand and chakra being steadily drained. When so much sand was drained that the advancing mass could be seen again, Gaara frown slightly. How much more chakra would it need before it overflowed?
He could see the slithering mass split into nine separate streaks, each one moving along an invisible circumference and closing off all escape points. Not that there were any to begin with. All the while the screeches from behind him overlapped with the increasingly louder sounds of the chakra moving closer. Soon enough, the hollow-wind sound would cover even Shukaku's cries.
Keeping his back to Shukaku, eyes trained on the trail of blue ahead of him, he said, "What is that?"
"Don't ask me! Why don't you get me out instead? I can't... I WON'T be jammed into another prison!" replied Shukaku. He had not stopped throwing himself against the sturdy fence even once.
Another prison?
That would confirm what they were doing. Of course, it was useless to understand that; the important thing was the situation at hand; how was he to escape the chakra?
Said chakra was close enough for Gaara to make out as a long and thick line of chakra with a dragon head on the top of each. The top of their mouths resembled the sharp beak of a parrot, and two small horns jutted out from both sides of the top of their heads. Their jaws were lined with fangs, a sharp as kunai. Even though it seemed as though they were simply made of smoothly flowing water, the red haired shinobi knew that it was pure chakra.
They continued to inch closer and closer. He had already realized that even if he purposely gave chakra to the chakra dragons, it wouldn't affect anything. So now he stood, arms crossed, watching as his mental desert was absorbed by the dragons every time they passed by the sand.
He could feel himself becoming more and more tired; he had begun to lose hope of ever escaping alive. Shukaku was more crazed than he had ever been, and louder still. Even so, the sand continued to disappear, and the dragons drew nearer.
What will happen when all the sand... my chakra disappears? Will I disappear as well once the chakra passes me?
He didn't know how much time had passed since he had first lost consciousness. He didn't know how Sunagakure was doing currently. He didn't know how much time he had left before he faded away as well.
Soon enough, the nearest dragon was but a few meters away from Gaara. His mental body was aching terribly as well now, and his breathing was harsh and deep. He could see the dragon nearest to him snapping its jaws open and shut, all the while swiveling slightly on its path. Almost directly beside him, the dragon's head stood two feet above Gaara.
He could always move backwards and press himself against Shukaku's fence, but that wouldn't help much as Shukaku's tackling of the metal object would just make the Kazekage fly forwards, possibly into the path of one of the dragons.
Finally, the dragon's head was directly beside him. As it passed by him, he could feel the whoosh of wind, causing his hair to dance around madly on his head and him to squint his eyes. He brought up two arms to block against the wind and placed one foot behind himself for better balance. Gaara didn't feel himself get sucked into the dragon like his sand and chakra though. Instead, it felt as if there was a magnet pulling on his body in both directions. His head swarmed, but he managed to stay standing.
Up ahead of him, he couldn't see the end of the dragon's body, as if it went on infinitely. From the bottom of his eye, he could see the sand being pulled out from under his feet, leaving a plain white surface, the same colour and shade as the sky.
Even with all his training as a ninja, he still had a bit of trouble turning around to continue watching the dragon that had just passed him hone in on the fence where Shukaku was.
If he had to be honest, Gaara wasn't sure if he wanted those dragons to touch the one-tail or not. There was an endless amount of possibilities as to what could happen once the two large masses of chakra made contact.
"Stay away! Stay away I tell ya! Oi, get the hell away from me!" hollered Shukaku. He stopped slamming at the fences as the first dragon made contact with the cage and howled in rage instead, the sand booming through the rest of the relatively silent landscape - save the ragged breathing of Gaara and the whooshing of the dragons, of course.
Gaara found that a tiny part of him was still in panic, though he felt no burst of adrenaline that should have accompanied the sensation. He took one wary step forwards towards the cage.
"GET OUT, LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE. DAMN YOU, SON OF A- NO! STOP!" screeched the Tanuki, panicking as he quickly found himself surrounded. The dragons hovered around the One-tail. Shukaku had risen up on his hind legs and was brandishing his arms dangerously towards the dragons. He would continuously turn around as if that would allow him to see all nine dragons at the same time. His tail thrashed around, kicking up whatever sand was surrounding him.
Then they struck. The nine dragons closed in on their prey, quickly wrapping up the thrashing beast. Shukaku's furious howls were drowned out by a loud sucking. His cries were muffled as one of the dragons slithered over his mouth. The One-tail glared down at it, malevolent yellow eyes hazy with blood thirst and rage. The chakra animals responded by merging together, trapping the powerful tanuki within a large blob of chakra.
The sand inside the cage and closest to Shukaku disappeared as well, the moment the dragons passed over it. Gaara watched, entranced by the sight.
It's successfully subduing Shukaku. Is that good? A forceful extraction... No, this is not good. The One-tail's power is devastating; if Akatsuki were to successfully take the One-tail...
Yet even though Gaara knew that he couldn't allow Akatsuki to have such a powerful asset on its side, Gaara couldn't do anything; he could feel Shukaku's massive chakra reserves being sucked away quickly. He himself had a lot less than the beast. Not only that, but there were no weapons or sand for him to control. On top of it all, he was lightheaded and losing strength.
What can I do...? It's chakra is being taken quickly... It will be gone and in their hands soon. What? ...
He barely registered the feeling earlier, too occupied with scouring his brain for ideas as to what he could do next. Not only that, but he was mesmerized by the fact that the large and terrifying beast's thrashing became weaker increasingly fast. Now though, he felt as if something was slowly weighing him down, along with the contradictory feeling his mental self was experiencing. Was this what his external body was feeling at the moment as well?
Shukaku's struggles were slowing down, and his mouth was no longer moving in an attempt to curse at his opponent.
In a few more moments, Shukaku stopped moving all together in an attempt to listen to his logical side and stop wasting energy. Instead, he settled for trying to scamper towards the fence. To his anger and dismay, he couldn't do so; the chakra had lifted the beast off of the ground, and every time he tried to move away from his current spot, he'd simply feel the intruding chakra push him back into the center of the glob of phantom thieves.
Eventually, Shukaku began to pick up his earlier habit of attempting to fling the whooshing and endless mass off of himself. Gaara watched as the Shukaku's swaying tail began to droop, and his limbs become sluggish in their movement. He did not like Shukaku in the least, but he also did not want him to be taken. The thing was though, Gaara did not know how to stop his night time tormentor from being extracted.
Then Gaara remembered something that he heard before.
"I'm not gonna run awa; I never go back on my word! That's my nindo: my ninja way!" yelled out a blond haired ninja, a determined look in his eyes and grin.
Shukaku charged up a tailed beast bomb in front of his gapping mouth only for it to be absorbed as quickly as it was created.
Sorry, Naruto. I cannot follow your example and persevere. Sunagakure... Kankurou, Temari, Baki... I am sorry... not just for this time, but for all the times I've hurt you in the past.
Gaara knew that there was no more hope. He couldn't even go down fighting now. His limbs seemed to be attracted to the floor, yet he felt some sort of emptiness inside of him. Hollow, even. He dropped down onto a knee and glanced at Shukaku. The large beast looked as if he were melting, parts of it floating off and around the blob of blue chakra.
The next time Gaara looked at Shukaku, he caught a glimpse of its crazed eye before that too, melded into the chakra. What was once a large beast was now a pool of limp chakra, quickly mixing with the blue chakra. Once the dirty yellow of Shukaku's chakra had completely blended into the blue, the blob of blue chakra wasted no time in separating back into nine, hazy blue dragon heads. Each head shot backwards, as if their bodies were being yanked back. The dragon that had passed him earlier passed him again, and Gaara felt - if possible - heavier than before. His eyelids dropped down, and he was aware of the blue glow becoming increasingly farther and farther.
He forced an eye open one last time for a few seconds, before it snapped back down along with his body. His energy was spent, although in those few seconds of vision, Gaara could only see a blue dot in the distance.
It is over...
Shukaku was gone; he still wasn't sure if that was good or bad, though he was heavily leaning on it being bad. His sand was gone, as was his chakra; that for sure, he knew was bad. A memory from a time a long ago, when his father was still alive, passed through his mind fleetingly. He had looked sternly at Gaara, arms crossed as he explained how once a shinobi lost their chakra, they would be dead.
Am I... dead?
Then, the weight completely disappeared from his body, freeing him of his burden. Gaara could move again, and he opened his eyes to a barren scene, filled with nothing but whiteness, not a single grain of sand in sight. Slowly though, the ground began to morph into that of a dry and cracked floor.
He felt light, as if he could fly or even be blown away by the smallest gust of wind, yet he wasn't afraid. Somehow, he knew nothing could happen to him anymore now. He couldn't even tell why he had felt so helpless before.
What had I have been afraid of? What had made me feel so helpless earlier?
Gaara was confused. He tried to recall what - he was sure something had done it - caused his earlier feelings of weakness. He then came across another predicament though; what had even happened? Gaara shrugged it off.
It no longer matters.
Why was he worrying about it anyways? The red haired shinobi felt light and content. Like nothing bad could happen. There was a small nudging at the back of his head, something that was definitely urging him to... to what? He didn't know and frankly, he didn't care anymore. He was glad and free.
It didn't matter that he didn't remember, nor the fact that all he could see for miles all around was a bright light and dry floor. He was happy. He didn't know how long he was lost within his own land of bliss. It could have been hours, years, decades, centuries, or even just a second. He didn't understand, but he found that he didn't want to understand.
There he stayed, until something finally appeared in his content dream. He tranquilly watched the thing in the distance approach. As it came closer, he could make out that it was a person. Who? Who had decided to join him? Was the person here to keep him company?
Gaara stayed still, waiting for her to get closer. He could feel something bubbling up within him. Was it childish excitement? If that was what it was, then that was what Gaara felt. He watched, waiting eagerly for the person to come closer. Could she be wanting to talk to him?
He took a step forwards, his white sash brushing past his dark shinobi pants. The girl came to an abrupt stop twenty meters away from Gaara. This was when Gaara was confused; did she expect them to shout their messages instead? He frowned slightly and crossed his arms across his chest. At this point, the girl continued to merely look at him. She didn't move forwards or back, or even open her mouth to speak.
Gaara began to feel slightly uncomfortable. Why wasn't she coming closer? Why was she just staring at him like that? He wanted to ask her what she was doing, but he couldn't. Something was telling him not to. Even so though, he did the next best thing. He took one step forward and reached one hand up in her direction.
She in return, took a step back as well. Her blank expression from earlier changed into one of fear, and she took another step back.
Why? Why does it look like she's afraid of me?
He slowly lowered his hand and continued to regard her. He stayed where he was, feeling the lightness he had felt earlier begin to disperse.
Another boy appeared, running up to the girl. The new boy placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke to her, but Gaara couldn't tell what he was saying. She responded back, and then the boy turned to face Gaara. They locked eyes, but didn't. It was as if the other boy was looking in and behind his eyes, rather than looking at his eyes. Then he too, backed away, stumbling as his eyes widened.
Is he... afraid of me as well?
He felt his mouth open slightly as he tried to ask them why they were afraid of him. He quickly closed his mouth again when another group of kids ran up to the first two. The same thing happened, and they stared at Gaara, fear in their expressions.
Why? Why are they afraid of me?
The red haired boy took a tentative step forwards, sending the group of kids to stagger back a few more steps, increasing the distance even more. What was happening? No; why was this happening? He drew in a long breath and watched the group of cowering kids his around his age. What was he supposed to do?
All the while, the rest of the surrounding was still as bright as ever, the place still silent save for his own breathing. He could see the kids up ahead rustling restlessly, but he couldn't hear them. The silence was beginning to press down on him.
Talk to me... Why aren't you talking...?!
He could have been frantic inside, but he never moved. He just stared back at them. He wanted to walk up to them though; converse with them. Maybe it was the right decision, maybe it was the wrong decision. He took a step forwards, and they fled into the crowd behind them.
No, don't go!
He took a small step forwards, eyes wide in confusion and rejection. His beige poncho flapped around his arms. The group merely watched him, looks of disgust and fear splattered on their faces. Their lips were curled up in a sneer, yet their eyes held fear and loathing. He took another hesitant step forwards. The crowd took two steps back. His lower lip trembled as he realized that for every step he walked closer, they took twice as much back.
What did I do? Why are you all looking at me like that? Don't leave me!
He took another step, and another, and yet another. He ran forwards, then stopped as he saw the crowd not only get farther, but grow larger and taller.
Wait! Don't... don't leave me alone...
Gaara stayed still and watched the crowd off people in the distance. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open a bit as he looked longingly at forlornly at the crowd. His arms hung limp at his sides. Very, very slowly, he sunk down into a crouch. From the crouch, he rolled back a bit so that he ended up sitting, his knees tucked under his arms in front of him. He felt terrible. He felt rejected. He felt alone.
He looked away from the crowd, switching his gaze to his knees instead. His sight began to waver as he continued staring despairingly at his knees. There was a pressure from deep inside his chest, threatening to burst out. All the while, Gaara was surrounded by the silent and scornful crowd.
His body trembled slightly as a warm liquid began to spill out of his eyes. Why? Why was this happening? What did he do to deserve feeling like this?
"nnngh..." He brought up his fists to his eyes and rubbed them, trying to stem the flow that his eyelids couldn't stop.
Gaara bit his lower and fought back outright wailing.
Why? I don't want to be alone... I just want to be accepted... Why does everyone run from me...
The tears continued streaming down his cheeks, matting the tips of his short red hair when his small hands tried to move the tears to the side. There he sat, knees touching his chest and hands rubbing the sides of his eyes as his body was wracked with sobs.
He wanted to be accepted, to have a friend. Why couldn't he just have that? That was all he wanted... He didn't even notice when the cloud dissipated into thin air, leaving Gaara completely alone in the barren landscape. He didn't notice when his surroundings began to gradually fade, one by one. He didn't notice when his own self awareness disappeared. He never noticed that he was gone.
"...ra... Gaara... Gaara!"
Suddenly, it was as if he had just woken up from a quick nap. It was as if he had switched bodies, like how the point of view of one changes in a dream. He looked downwards and glanced at the air in front of him, sight blurred. After a while though, he could see clearly the dry and cracked ground in front of him. His eyes were half closed, tired.
Who... is it...? ...who... are you calling?
A shape slowly appeared where he was looking; a hand. Who's hand was it? He could feel something happening, and then the hand clenched, rustling the dark sleeve just above the wrist.
Oh... It's my hand again...
Gaara slowly closed his hand till it was in a fist. From behind it, he caught a glimpse of something. What...
My hand... me...?
He stared blankly at the small figure surrounded by cracked ground in the distance. He didn't know how he was supposed to feel. He took in the figure - his younger self's - appearance: his gourd, his hunched position, his short red hair, his still beige poncho.
Slowly, he felt himself getting drawn in, as if he were leaving his current self and drifting slowly out of his body towards his younger version. The younger Gaara got closer and closer.
Me... Who... am I...? I'm...
He got to the point where he no longer knew whether he was simply spectating his younger self, or was actually the younger red haired boy. His view shifted from himself to the ground, and there he stared, tears still leaking out. Until he felt a warm hand clasp on firmly and gently on his left shoulder. His eyes widened in surprise and shock, and his mouth opened, slightly disbelievingly.
Who...
His eyes met the face of a boy not much older than him with blindingly loud blonde hair with a cheerful smile plastered onto his face. His eyes locked with the bright sapphire of the other boy's, and he slowly let his hands drop away from his face.
I'm... I am...
"...Gaara..." answered the whiskered boy, looking at him tiredly yet gently. "Gaara."
The whiskered, blonde haired boy began to grow. Gaara was still staring dumbly at the boy, barely even noticing the scene changing as well. Then he blinked and his world grew bright; a pleasant brightness. The other boy continued watching Gaara, eyes full of relief, happiness, and fatigue.
Gaara's eyes slowly began to widen as he continued watching the boy, uttering out a soft and disbelieving name instinctively. "...Naruto"
Naruto grinned back at him. Gaara slowly slid his eyes left and right, in sync with his turning head. His eyes widened even more. Was this all an illusion? Was he dreaming? The same feeling of something wanting to burst out from deep within his chest arrived again, only it felt slightly different. All around him, amidst the bright blue sky and lush grass, were people. People looking at him with relieved and happy expressions. Worrying about him. Accepting him.
"This is..." he murmured disbelievingly. He had never thought that there would be a day when this would happen, yet it was, right now, in front of his own eyes.
"Every came rushing... just to save you, Gaara," replied Naruto, smiling that tired and relieved foxy grin of his.
Gaara continued watching, open mouthed and wide eyed, absorbing the sight and the sounds. Then he finally tore his gaze away from the cheering crowds and back to Naruto's bright blue eyes, the red haired boy's eyes voicing the question he didn't say. Naruto's reply was quiet, as he squeezed Gaara's shoulder reassuringly, smile still on his face.
"Welcome back, Gaara."
A/N:
Well, I'm done. Man, this is the first story that is actually not a five page kind of thing that I finished. I hope you enjoyed reading this. I also hope that this was written to your satisfaction, ilovemyboys :)