Title Displacement
Author Uozumi
Genre AU/Drama/Romance
Rating PG-13
Disclaimer I do not own nor claim to own this. The characters, ect...contained within are not my property. This is an act of fandom and I do not make a profit from this endeavor.
Summary Hell was full and so was Heaven, there was no place to put him. By default, he would go to Hell, but due to last minute soul transformations, he could score a place in Heaven if he proved himself in the mortal world. SPOILERS. Gaara/Hinata.
Chapter Two

Displacement
Chapter Two

Thin arms caught him. The woman was young with a thin face and ethereal eyes. "Ku-sama said you were coming. I didn't think it would take so fast," she told the boy.

Gaara blinked and looked up at the young woman. She had to be near thirty and wore a long work dress and apron over the skirt of her dress. Her long hair was covered in a handkerchief. "I'm Arashi. Tai-chan will be happy to see you too," she told him. "We must get you in soon. I suspect you would like to transform out of this form."

She stood up and set Gaara down. "James-san always keeps people so long. We thought you might show up after sundown, not before," she told him as she led him towards a small hut nearby. "Welcome to Kuraudo, the Village of the Cloud." She waved a hand through the air at the small village. "We are a group of villages interconnected; our houses are hidden because we tend to go into wars easily." She opened the door and said, "Tai-chan should be home soon. He had to carry a message to the north village."

Gaara looked around the three room hut. Arashi and he were in a large room with a fireplace, table, chairs, and other living and family room objects. "Your room is on the right," she told him, extending a pale finger towards the door. "It's small but you'll survive I'm sure." She stepped over to the window and peered through her curtains before closing them tightly. "The village knows you as the child that we've adopted. Since you'll be here for a time before the position in Heaven comes up, you should be very careful during the night. No one can know your true form that knows this form and vice-versa."

Gaara nodded. He didn't know when he would need to be in his true form, but he knew that most likely he would need it sometimes.

"We will give you a new name just in case you ever come across someone who knew you or of you before your death," Arashi continued. "I never asked Ku-sama your name so that Tai-chan and I could give you what we thought was best when you came." She studied Gaara for a bit and then she smiled slightly. "I'll call you Seishin. It fits you well."

Again Gaara nodded. He wanted to keep his name, but at the same time realized he couldn't. Then there came a knock at the door.

"Stand back," Arashi instructed firmly. She reached into the pocket of her skirt and produced a kunai, her other hand ready to pull away from the doorknob if necessary and bring out whatever other weapons were in the pockets of her dress. Pushing the door open a crack, she stepped back and a man entered. He wore a wide-brimmed hat and simple brown clothes.

"I didn't mean to be so late," Tai said as he removed his hat. "I ran into a…problem." He looked past Arashi at their guest. "You must be our guest." He studied Gaara's hair and eyes. "James-san did your physical appearance didn't he?"

Gaara nodded, remaining quiet. He wasn't sure what to make of Arashi or Tai yet.

"Shy…interesting," Tai murmured before turning to his wife. "We've got a problem out to the north." He glanced at Gaara and then asked, "Could you go to your room a bit? This is between us."

Gaara held Tai's gaze and then looked at Arashi. "That one's my room, right?"

"Yes, dear. This won't take too long. I'll fix supper while you get familiar with the room." She smiled and once Gaara closed the door, she turned her eyes on her husband. "What's so wrong that you have to be so rude?"

"I'm not being rude, I'm being cautious." Tai sat down in a chair and frowned. "Yasha sensed something when we were out today."

"Like what?" Arashi glanced at him as she walked over to the dinner preparations still on the table.

"I'm not sure. He went into one of those moods where he doesn't say anything because he's afraid that if he does, it will happen." Tai leaned back in his seat. "He didn't give us a hint, but he did go off to Rokudaime-sama."

"What do you think is?" Arashi carefully stirred the contents in the pot before walking over to the fireplace.

"I don't know," Tai sighed. "I can't dwell on it. You know I'm not good at such things." He eyed her a moment and then asked, "What do you think it is?"

Silently Arashi slipped the pot onto a rod so it could sit over the fire. She stood up carefully and kept her eyes on the pot before shaking her head. "I don't know. Our guest was once a demon, it's throwing my senses off…" She hooked hair behind her ear and turned to face her husband. "Even if I knew, do you think we could do anything about it? The last time people tried to avert something, it made it worse. Remember?"

Tai looked away. "Yeah, I remember, but Nidame-sama took care of that." Tai paused and then asked in a low voice, "You don't think it's - "

"No, I don't," Arashi turned away and began to set the table. "Enma-sama knows what he's doing. He wouldn't send doom down on us all. We've done nothing wrong regardless." She set the plate down heavily in front of her husband. "Besides, Yasha is right one-percent of the time. You know that."

"Yes, but what if this is that one percent?"

Arashi said nothing and then set the last fork down. Finally she answered, "Then prepare for death."

"You don't think it's - "

Gaara stepped away from the door. He knew how that question was going to end. Walking deeper into the small room, he picked up the rolled futon in the far corner. The futon was nearly as big as he was and twice as wide. Wrestling the awkward mass, Gaara frowned and closed his eyes. Opening them, he smirked slightly. No one had explained to him how to go back and forth between forms, but his guess had been correct. He inspected his hands. They were the same shape but tan much like Kankuro and Temari's skin was. He frowned as he inspected his right hand and the decorative ring on his middle finger. The ring marked him as the Kazekage. He pulled at the ring, but it didn't budge. He should have noticed that before he left.

Deciding that there was nothing to do about it at the moment, Gaara lifted up the futon and rolled it out before pausing. He wasn't going to sleep; he had never slept normally before. Examining the half-unrolled futon, he resumed rolling it out. He didn't want to worry his hosts.

"Seishin," a knock came at his bedroom door, "supper's ready."

"Alright," Gaara replied and then nudged the corner of the futon flat with the toe of his boot. Exiting the room, he took the place set out for him next to Tai and across from Arashi.

"Hilda-san did your clothes didn't she?" Tai cast a weary eye at the redhead. He had graying hair and an almost disapproving look. "She said something about how this is 'all the rage' in some universe or something." He shrugged. "I don't think it's practical, but if you like it…what do you say? More power to you?"

Gaara didn't respond. He didn't feel any malice or ill will from the old man, but the commentary on his clothing unnerved him slightly.

"I've seen some in our universe with those clothes," Arashi stated with a smile. "Not everyone dresses like they did forty years ago, Tai-chan." Arashi then cast a sly glance at him. "When I was young, what you're wearing would have been scandalous."

"Luckily I was born a century later," Tai murmured and then he looked over at Gaara. "Sorry about that, I'm just an old man who is behind the times."

"It's okay," Gaara murmured and then helped himself to bread so he could avoid talking.

Arashi smiled to herself and then she said, "Seishin, for now it's dangerous for anyone to go outside during the night. I know that you have things to prove, but for now, you must stay indoors during this time." At his expression, she added, "Don't worry, it'll be over soon."

Tai gave her a cryptic glance but remained silent as he ate another bite of stew.

Gaara shot up into a sitting position, looking wildly around. He was small and in an unfamiliar place and he knew that he had just been sleeping. He could hear distant screaming as his body tensed. He must have caused it. He had been sleeping. When he slept, Shukaku took over and…His thoughts stopped there. He couldn't feel Shukaku. Panicking slightly, he stood up and then closed his eyes, but nothing happened.

Frowning, he shook his head inwardly. He was a Jônin - a Kage even. He couldn't panic, not even in this form.

That's when someone opened the door to the main room. Stiffening, Gaara looked around for a solution. He doubted that it was Arashi or Tai.

"What do you see?" Kiba asked the petite girl to his right.

Hinata activated the Byakugen and then stared intently ahead. She had been conserving her gift on their trip up to the Cloud. Finally, she said, "Some houses are burnt down; there are people alive and dead in the streets. We're too late."

"Can you send something ahead, Shino?" Kiba looked over Hinata's head as the Jônin nodded.

"I did a bit ago. They should return soon," he replied. As if on cue, he reached a hand out as a fly landed on it. The group slowed and some others behind them followed their movements. Shino surveyed the fly perched on his finger and then he nodded. "Hinata's right. There are some still alive, but most are dead or dying."

"Are their any signs of the Stone?" one of the men behind them asked.

Shino stared at the bug again. One of the men behind them shifted his weight. The Aburame always made him nervous.

"No, there aren't, but keep your guard up," Shino instructed the group of a few Chûnin and Jônin. "We need a body count and assessment of survivors. We also need to see if the Rokudaime is still alive."

"Should we split up?" one of the Chûnin asked.

Their leader frowned for a second and then he nodded. "But if you have trouble, give the signal. We don't need to add us to the body count."

"We were damage control from the beginning," Kiba remarked after everyone had split up. Gritting his teeth, he watched Akumaru just ahead of them. "Where do we even start?" He breathed through his mouth as they passed by several corpses.

"Probably the houses," Shino replied. "Hinata can see into them just in case there is a threat."

Hinata nodded, her Byakugen still activated. "There's someone in that house," she pointed to one on the border of the village nearest the forest. "It looks like a child."

The three approached cautiously, Kiba opening the door quietly, all three ready for anything. There was a well-known rumor of a boy killing every member of a graduating class before he had completed his ninja training. Also, Kabuto had taught Konoha lessons as well. Leading Hinata and Shino into the main room, Kiba frowned. He was good with children, but he wasn't sure how to approach this. He didn't want to scare the child, but he didn't want to walk into a trap either.

Gaara eyed the door. He didn't feel anything dangerous, but he knew that in his small body he didn't have the senses that he did in his true form. That and without Shukaku, he wasn't sure of anything.

"Hello?" a voice came from in the other room near the door. "We're from the Fire country," the voice continued. "We aren't going to hurt you."

Gaara stared at the door. Konoha was in the Fire Country. That would explain why he seemed to know the voice, but the face and name of its owner escaped him. Dogs came to mind, but Gaara pushed that away.

He heard mumbles exchanged between a voice he couldn't place and a girl he should remember. Finally, she asked, "Are you all right?"

He debated answering them. Remembering the screaming earlier, he wondered what might have happened to Kurado. "Y - Yeah," he stated as meek as he could. He had to play the part of a small and scared child.

"Good. We came to get you and the rest of your village," the young woman's voice continued. "Can we open the door?"

"I can," Gaara stated. He rose up on his toes and twisted the door handle, watching it swing open. He knew them, all three. The girl was a Hyûga, the tallest had something to do with dogs, and the other boy with bugs. He had seen more of the Hyûga than the others over the years. "I'm Seishin," he told them keeping up his six-year-old façade.

"Hello, Seishin-kun." The Hyûga smiled reassuringly. "We have to check other houses, but you'll have to come with us."

Gaara shrank away slightly. "Where's Mama and Papa?"

"We don't know," the dog user told him, "but we might find them." He left it at that, not giving details.

The three were good ninja. Obviously a Chûnin and two Jônin. Gaara debated what to do next. He wished he had his old bear with him. He felt as though he should be clutching it with one of its ears in his mouth. That was what he always did when he was younger. "Okay," he said after watching them a moment. "I'll come."

The group started off, Hinata searching the other houses. Gaara stuck closest to Shino who was the quietest and less likely to try to talk to him. As the walked, he looked around them. The village was in ruins, smoldering remains of some huts scattered about huts that were still standing like his. Bodies littered the area with the symbol of the Cloud on their headbands. Then he stopped.

The three continued on a couple steps, and then Kiba looked at their young charge. "What's wrong, Seishin-kun?"

Gaara walked over to a cluster of bodies. Standing over them, he lowered his eyes. Arashi was there, her face pale, eyes closed. It hurt, not enough to cry, but it hurt. He looked at the other bodies in the area, but Tai's wasn't anywhere he could see.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Your mother?" one of the three asked.

Gaara nodded quietly. None of them said anything for a long time. Then he said, "I want to find Papa." He was tired of staring at her glassy eyes.

The group went into two more houses retrieving an elderly man and woman. After doing rounds, the group returned to their checkpoint, a few of the other groups there with two other villagers, a child and his grandmother.

Gaara sat with the others, but a distance away. It was subconscious, but done on part of the villagers and Gaara. The Konoha group consulted each other quietly where he couldn't hear them. Finally after another group came with no survivors, there was more talk before the party leader approached the refugees.

"We are to take you back to Konoha," he explained. "Unless, of course, you wish to stay here."

The elderly man spoke. "I want to go to Hakka. I have family there." He held the leader's gaze. "It is on our way to Konoha."

The leader held his gaze and then shook his head. "We have to take all of you to Konoha and then you will be allowed to go once you've spoken to Hokage-sama."

"But you said - " someone began.

"Let's get going. We need a safe place to stay tonight." With that, everyone began to march in the direction of Konoha.

To be continued...