So I heard this joke once when I was about eh 12? I used to sit next to these kids on the bus who were always excessively loud and tended to drool a lot, consequently making them even louder as they screeched in laughter then drooled some more. Anyway it went something like this…two men walked into a bar…the third one ducked.
Id never paid much attention to what they said before, but this time I didn't get annoyed by their caveman-like screech-drool cycle…I could only think "I don't get it?"
Fast forward 5 years to me sitting on my bed doing nothing in particular when this sudden, glorious realization smacks me right in the face…"two men walked into a BAR and the third one DUCKED!!"
I've never felt so smart and then so utterly and pathetically stupid in my entire life. Eh you win some you lose some :p
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
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Sakura
I let the air caress my body and trail cool fingertips through my hair. The starlight set a luminous glow to my skin as I fell through the night.
"Yes," I thought idly, "This is what I need."
I landed lightly on the street below my window and let the balls of my feet roll forward to lessen the impact. I stood and breathed in a crisp scent of dewy grass and earth. Already I could feel my anger and anxiety dissipating into the quiet calm of the night, broken only by the chirp of a cricket or the whisper of the gentle wind. I don't know how long I stood there, unmoving as a statue, not wanting to disturb the tranquil stillness. I wanted to lose myself in it and forget about every hurt I had ever suffered, every scar, every tear, every scream muffled by my pillow. Every part of me that ached when I thought about Sasuk-
No!
"I will not think about him!" I thought ferociously as I tensed my muscles.
I started down the street towards the training field, looking down the long straight stretch of road before me, illuminated only by the small sliver of the moon. I paused, considering the path ahead. All straight narrow lanes lined with flat smooth stones with no variations in elevation or scenery. I had walked this same way every single day for the past sixteen years. It would be a boring trip.
Tonight I wanted to be tested, pushed. I wanted to leave no room for unpleasant thoughts of the past.
I spared a single glance at the apartment building across from mine, enough to take in the height and width. The first was considerable, the latter not so much. The slight smile that touched my lips was feral. I wasted mo more time on thought before I rushed at the side of the building.
By carefully directing the precise amount of chakra to my feet I was easily able to reach the top, deviating from my path only to bypass a window or two as these would not hold up to the force of my pounding feet. I delighted in the rush of the air past my ears and the feeling of being unstoppable as a freight train. It felt pretty badass. I did not slow my furious rate when I reached top, instead running the length of the roof before directing more chakra to my legs.
I saw the thirty foot gap between this, and the adjacent building coming on and I was ready for it as my feet poised carefully on the edge of the roof, my thigh muscles bunching. I let out a small wild cry of delight as I sprang forward into nothingness.
I soared effortlessly over the gap and landed with a small thud on the opposite roof. I was just about to ready myself for another daredevil dash and leap when suddenly a shingle slipped from beneath my foot.
"Ahhh!" an involuntary scream escaped my lips as I lost my footing and slid down the incline. Sharp tiles scraped my calves, thighs and back as I tumbled after that damn shingle.
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Garra
I watched with my sleepless eyes as a lone cloud sailed across the desert sky, obscuring the bright glow of the stars and winking them out one by one, extinguishing their fire. Soon enough though they reappeared just as bright and cheerful as they had been before, aloof and beautiful shards of diamond resting in the velvet clutches of darkness.
They twinkled down at me, mocking.
My fingers curled into hard fists and I looked down at them. I observed the smooth skin unblemished by scar or scratch, the slim but strong fingers that curled inward. These were the hands that had taken so many lives. These were the hands that had crushed the bodies of my enemies and the innocent as well. These were the hands that had made crimson blood flow in rivers and fall like rain.
The bright glow of the lives I had snatched away would never return.
A grimace of disgust fell over my features. That was the creature I had been. I would no longer give into the beast that lurked within me. Each time it strained to rise and take over my mind, my body, my very soul, I would beat it down. I could never let down my guard, could not even sleep, for the demons influence over me was strong, its whispers of power and promises of greatness were impossibly seductive. It offered the one thing that I could never hope to obtain from any other source.
Acceptance. The demon needed me. No other soul in this world offered me this, the thing I most wanted though I hated myself for it. I knew it made me weak, this longing for human contact and affection. I knew that I did not need it, it was purely out of selfish desire, not necessity and as long as I had desire for a thing, no matter haw small, my demon would use it against me.
He was waiting inside me, even now for a crack in my resolve, a niche in my mental armor of iron determination that he could slip his claws savage claws into and tear apart.
Desire for human closeness was a sizable niche.
I let my gaze wander across the endless dunes of shifting sand, turned a gray blue color in the moonlight. The desert was freezing at night but I was quite accustomed to it by now, the cool wind that whipped past my nose would have been bitter as ice to anybody else foolish enough to prowl the desert at night. Few enough dared its treacherous sinkholes, steep dunes, and blazing heat during the daytime hours.
I absent mindedly watched a desert owl circle over head in search of food. The reason why I was here in the desert to begin with was because of the solitude of the majestic waste land. Few found the eternal stretch of sand and the harsh climate as enticing as I, and I was glad of it.
I was here to train myself to let go of my foolish longings that were all too dangerous to me, and those around me. To become comfortable in my solitude. True, I had spent most of my life distant from those around me, but then I had let Shukaku, my inner demon rule me. That had been a mistake, a great big, steaming of pile of mistake, and many had paid for it.
Now I was starting fresh, learning from scratch how to be around people, without Shukaku ruling my actions this time. It was much harder.
"Affection for anything is dangerous and a weakness that enimies can easily exploit." I silently mused to myself.
All too soon there would come a time when I would need to have as few weaknesses as possible, when I filled the position of Kazekage.
I smirked as I recalled my initial reluctance to the elders request. How could I, a cold blooded killer with a dangerous demon laying in wait inside me, be fit to make political decisions that would affect the lives of thousands? How could I protect those thousands? How could these shinobi, so experienced in the ways of the world, so wise and influential, trust me with this great responsibility? It made no sense.
It was while I was sitting awake one night, sleep being forever deprived of me, that I realized the elders did not trust me. I was a weapon to them at best. Granted, a very powerful weapon at best, but still a tool. My reign as Kazakage would be a joke. I would be a figurehead, a puppet with the elders pulling my strings.
I had felt anger at first, but quickly pushed it away as Shukaku lifted his head expectedly. Anger was a dangerous emotion. As the night had worn on, I simply sat and turned the thought of Kazekege over in my mind until it was an all consuming object of my contemplation. Should I? Or shouldn't I? The reasons not to seemed stacked high enough to breach the heavens, while I could find no such reason to comply with the elders request.
Sometime during the night he had entered my thoughts, Uzamaki Naruto. He had a demon inside him as well, just as blood thirsty, just as dangerous, just as close to taking over. People had shunned him and cast him out all his life, looked down on him and feared him... yet...
It was Narutos fondest and most treasured dream to become Hokage of his own village, Konoha: The Village Hidden In The Leaves. When we had first met he had infuriated and puzzled me. Here was a boy just like myself, feared and shunned by his own neighbors, who's most fervent wish was do his best to protect and serve those same people who had made his life hell.
Naruto had taught me much. He had taught me that bonds were important and that friendship was something to be treasured and protected. Naruto taught me that having ties to people was not always a one way path to being hurt, and that by having no ties at all, striving not to, was not strength. He had taught me to be human again.
In the end it was the thought of Naruto that had steered me to what I thought to be the right decision. I would become Kazekage, and I would try, by protecting innocent, to make up for my sins which numbered as many as the stars.
When I told my brother, Kankuro, and my headstrong sister, Temari, of my decision they were...well calling it doubtful would be a gross understatement.
It was almost comical as Kankuros voice had echoed my own thoughts and conclusions of the night before.
"I hate to say this but," he had started carefully, "You're no more than a weapon of mass destruction to them. For you to split off from us now...it will only be harder for you." Temari had nodded, her light brown, poofy pony tails bobbing.
But I was set in my decision. I could not be swayed. And so now here I was roaming the sands, trying to master the beast inside me, that I might be fit to become a Kazekage that would be respected and acknowledged throughout history. That one day I might be free to know the bonds that Naruto had spoken of.
I sighed at the impossible thought, the breath whooshing softly out of my lungs to be carried away on the dry desert winds. It took every ounce of my strength and self control to keep Shikaku dormant. Even being in the presence of others was difficult; let alone being close to them. So for now I must keep my distance and learn to become my own master, then and only then could I let myself feel the ties that Naruto had spoken of.
I looked around at my surroundings, surprised to suddenly feel the presence of a great number of people near by. As I glanced at the terrain a sudden realization hit me. Thoughts of Naruto had steered my feet in the direction of his village, Konohah.
I sniffed the air, my senses heightened by the cursed demon within me. I smelled sun baked stone and greenery, I smelled the sweat of sleeping people. By straining my sensitive ears I was even able to hear the quite breath of those slumbering. Indeed I was quite close. Too close to civilization to be safe.
I was turning back towards the solace of the many sands before me when I felt the flare of a familiar chakra. Who ever released it was distressed.
I felt a frown tug at the corners of my lips. I knew that Naruto was off training with that old pervert sage, and I was aware that Sasuke had left Konoha to join Orochimaru in his quest for revenge.
"Whose chakra did I feel just now then?" I thought to myself.
I was torn. The cool quiet of the desert beckoned at my back, I had training to complete and the way to distance myself from others was not though screwing around in a populated area. I really had no time for this...but as I turned away I realized that I could never become the Kazekage I hoped if I abandoned a person in need at my own convenience. That was something the old me would have done.
Damn.
I swung around swiftly, sand flying in my wake as I sped towards Konoha, towards dangerous temptation, towards that vaguely familiar presence.
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Uh ohhhh cliff hanger! Sorry couldn't help it. its in my nature to be cruel muahaha
Well you know the drill, read and review please!