Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.
For GaaraXTemari fans, please read this: whatever this chapter may seem to you, the story won't be a GaaraXTemari one. You have been warned.
Chapter two: Indigo Dye
A soft breeze made the sand caress his face with rough and dry touches. Gaara stood on a sand dune, looking at the sky. It was the third day of his 'weekend' and he planned on returning to Suna the next morning.
Three days alone with himself had been enough for clearing his mind of all the problems and finally, for some hours of training. With all that sand around him it had been like on a giant training ground. The sand in his gourd was already chakra infused and he needed something a little more challenging, so he had played with the desert sand most of the time.
Gaara slided on the sand dune and changed his direction towards Suna, facing the burning sun. Temari was definetly not expecting him to come back so soon and she would be disappointed that this 'weekend' had been only three days long instead of five. Well, at least he was good as new. Or somewhat like that...
The best thing about being alone in the middle of the desert was that the enemy could only sneak up on you by using a sandstorm. Gaara waited silently for the enemy to make that move. He knew he was not alone any more and the fact that the ninja hadn't covered his approach using a sandstorm was making it all too easy.
"Sabaku no Gaara." a cold voice said mockingly.
Gaara tried to see if he could recognise the voice but it was completely new to him. Just when he was about to turn around and see who dared to face him, the enemy ninja appeared in front of him from a small whirlwind of sand.
The Kazekage then knew he had never seen him in his entire life. He was probably the same age, with deep, crimson eyes and silvery-white hair, with no visible headband and with a cloak covering his body from the neck down.
"Let me introduce myself, Kazekage-sama, because you look a bit confused." he said, narrowing his eyes. "My name is..."
"Ronfell." Gaara cut him off, gazing at the symbol on the front side of the cloak, which looked like a weird black crest.
The other ninja smirked, also looking at the symbol on his cloak for a moment, then gazed at Gaara.
"Oh, so you do recognise my clan's symbol. That's something we could begin with."
"What do you want?" Gaara asked, trying to remeber more than just his name. He knew the symbol of the Ronfell clan but nothing more. Or at least, nothing he could remember.
"Revenge."
Gaara frowned. Revenge? What for? He didn't know and he didn't want to. He didn't look dangerous, although looks could be deceiving, especially at somebody like him.
"It's payback time."
"For?"
"Your father, the Fourth Kazekage, massacrated my family a long time ago. I will do the same to his by killing you and your siblings. I know neither of you three is easy to kill, but I will do my best to avenge my clan's death."
So, he was in the dessert, alone, with a crazy stranger from the Ronfell clan (a clan about the only thing he could remember was the name), ready to kill him for something he was not responsible for.
"I know you're not responsible for my family's death but wouldn't you do the same for your family to help them rest in peace? Anyway, I won't fight with you today. I just wanted to warn you."
"A warning?"
"What fun would be in killing you on the spot? Besides, it wouldn't be fair to you if I didn't give you a chance to warn your siblings and to finish everything else you might have in mind."
"What makes you so sure I will die by your hand?"
The ninja smirked. Gaara was still analyzing his name, since it was the only thing he knew about him. There was something about it, something in its resonance, in the way it sounded. Ronfell...
Gaara watched him with perfectly hidden suspicion as he walked towards him, holding his hand out and chuckling lightly as the Kazekage's shocked expression made its way to his face, opening his blue eyes a little more.
"Don't look so surprised, Kazekage-sama. I'm not a barbarian, you know."
Gaara didn't make a move but his face became devoided of feelings again.
"Your full name?" he demanded, in a cold voice, not moving his gaze from his crimson eyes.
"Jaden de Ronfell." the ninja answered, taking his hand and shaking it forcefully. Gaara let him finish and his arm fell limp to the side of his body. Jaden took a slight bow and disappeared in the same whirwind of sand still with a devilish smirk on his face.
"De Ronfell... can it be... de L'Enfer? From Hell?" (A/N: assuming Gaara knew French...)
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"Kankuro? Did you hear that?"
"Huh? What?"
"Never mind, you deaf scarecrow." Temari snapped, jumping off the sofa to see what was going on upstairs. She had heard some weird noises and now it seemed like someone had decided to have a bath. "Not in this house they won't!" she thought with a full load of determination. "Wait, this is Gaara's room! Maybe I shouldn't enter. I mean, I should definetly not enter! But... Gaara's gonna kill me if somebody else enters here and does something to his things!"
She pushed the door and entered, with a kunai ready for anyone who might have tried to attack her by surprise. This type of attcks was nothing new to her. It was an even bigger surprise when no one attacked her. She went to the bathroom careful not to make any sounds and opened the door with a quick move, staring at Gaara whose head was the only visible part of him from the sea of foam.
"H-hey!" she said, blushing to the tip of her ears. "I didn't know you were here! I'm so sorry, Gaara!"
"Hn."
"I thought you'd stay for five days!"
"Hn."
"Why are you back? Something went wrong?"
"..."
Nope, he was not home to answer her stupid girlish questions.
"Well, are you hungry? I can make something for you to eat!"
"Ask Kankuro to do it."
"Okay." she said in a low voice, cursing herself for being such a dumb housekeeper... "Is everything allright?"
He glared at her and Temari bit her lip, knowing that she had just touched a sensitive point. No, of course everything was not allright, she could have said that from the moment she had seen his face and his lost expression of deep thought.
"I'll go ask Kankuro make lunch."
"Later."
"Hm?" she said, turning to him.
Gaara looked at her with red eyes from the sand that the wind had blew in them all weekend. Temari's scared eyes softened at the sight and she went to him, kneeling next to the tub and sinking her hands into the hot spring water.
"You've lost wheight." she whispered, moving her hands against his ribs through the water. Gaara was watching her face without moving an inch. The girl drove her slender fingers through her brother's red hair and couldn't help wonder how soft it was, even after three days spent in the sun.
"Hey, Temari is everything all-" Kankuro stopped when he saw the two and sneered.
Temari immediately stood up, although she knew it was already too late, and Gaara glared at his brother, making him wipe the sneer off his painted face.
"I didn't know you've come back!" he said. "I thought you had two more days and..."
"Shut up." the red head snapped. "And get out of here."
The two immediately obeyed and Gaara relaxed against the smooth wall of the tub, staring at the ceiling. Ronfell... kill him and siblings? How... inconvenient. This was madness. Maybe even more than simple madness, although perfectly understandable. He was even tempted to look for informations about these... Ronfells.
As struck by lightning he got out of the tub and wraped a towel around his waist, and just when he wanted to go out Gaara felt something and turned around, staring at the tub. At the water in it. He made a step forward, grinding his teeth, and with the fourth step he was next to the tub.
The water was indigo, as well as the foam all over it. There was a place in the middle of the water where there was no foam, but there was something there. Vague, but he could swear it was real. A face. Two eyes gazing at him, sparkling from under the water.
He hold his hand out and the water rippled when he touched it. The face disappeared soundlessly, leaving him in front of a tub full of indigo coloured water. What was that all about??! Coloured water and a face in the tub? Maybe he was going crazy.
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"Gaara? May I come in?" Temari's voice came from the other side of the door. "Gaara?" she asked worried, opening the door slowly and breathing freely when he saw him in his armchair, with a huge tome in his lap, his legs crossed. "What are you doing there? Is that the Tome of Clans? What do you need that for?"
The young Kazekage just continued to read, as if she were not there. Temari forgot about Gaara being grouchy late at night and stepped forward, towards him, curious about what he may have been looking for in the Tome of Clans. She stopped when she heard a growl from him and realised that she was swimming in dangerous waters.
"Uhm... who are you looking for in that?"
"Somebody." he answered rethorically. That meant he didn't want her to know. Making a few pages fly uder his fingers he let out another growl and glared at Temari. "De Ronfell." he said in a cold, demanding voice. He knew she had information about their father and that Jaden guy had said that the Fourth Hokage had killed his family.
Temari lowered her eyes in deep thought. "Uhm..."
Gaara closed the book and put it on the table next to the armchair, crossing his arms and waiting.
"I think father had a friend whose name was Ronfell... I was only four or five so I don't remember exactly. I heard the clan was massacrated years ago, so why do you ask?"
"Hn." the answer was. Gaara waited silently before opening his mouth to let out another growl of displeasure, followed by a question at which Temari winced. "Why were they massacrated?"
"Because... uhm... I'm sorry. I don't remember."
"Who did it?" Gaara insisted in an almost threatening voice.
"You're scary. What's wrong with you?"
"Who did it?" he repeated slowly, emphasizing each word with incredible coldness.
"I don't remember!" she defended herself, worried and scaried of her little brother.
"Get out. Now."
Temari staggered, but he whispered 'please' and she ran out of his room almost failing to hold back her tears.
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Gaara went to the bathroom to pour some water on his face and thought about de Ronfell's warning. He didn't know why it kept screaming in his mind -along with the Shukaku- and he couldn't stop thinking about the guy's face, voice and presence... the memories about him were so... alive. Like it all happened again every time he would close his eyes.
Before he could wet his face to wake up from the numbness he had fallen into (he hadn't been able to do anything in the last two days, after scarying the hell out of Temari) the water turned indigo and he stepped back in an instant, pulling his hands as if bit by a venomous snake.
"Fuck!" he growled, going out of the bathroom and throwing himself on the bed where he buried his head deep into the pillow, crushing it around his head. He knew that indigo water had some connection with Jaden de Ronfell and was really pissed off by the fact that the bastard wanted to play a little before the big fight (if there was ever going to be one).
Thinking about Jaden for a while, he didn't realise when his eyelashes started to meet for longer periods of time than normally. A sound of bells made him open them. It was dark in the room because the candle he had lit on the table melted. The clock ticking on the bedside table was showing one o'clock. He rubbed his eyes and turned around to see where the bells jingled, staring outside, behind the balcony door, in the deep dark desert night.