Wow, I updated twice in one week. This is almost unheard of...

This chapter mainly filler, but is full of shopping, cooking, and wonderous angst! Also, there are some things in here that you might not get if you haven't read my side story to this called "Save You."

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Take that lawyers! I win!

Paradox

The silver light of the moon bounced off of the mud brick walls, giving the windswept village an almost unearthly glow. The dry breeze kicked up the desert sand and sent it dancing through the night. The occasional lamp from a home or late night business flickered in the darkness.

And Gaara had not seen something so beautiful in almost seven years.

The Sunagakure of his time was all but covered by monstrous sand dune, the relentless desert hiding the remains of one of the greatest shinobi villages to ever grace the Elemental Nations. But here, with the wind in his face and the sand at his feet and the call of the desert, Gaara knew that this was real.

He probably would have remained looking at it until dawn broke if not for the stabbing pain in his left arm.

"Damn," he thought, glancing down at the thin blue ring around his forearm, "Need to cover that up…" The identification seal had apparently come with him.

Manifesting itself as a blue ring (though for Konoha-nin, it had been red), the seal showed that he was indeed the Godaime Kazekage, his official term had started three years in the future, never ending as long as Suna needed him. All he needed to do was focus his chakra into the seal, and it would show his name, position, and the date of his coronation. It was an idea created by the Shodai Tsuchikage during the First Great Shinobi War and was later copied throughout the rest of the Hidden Villages.

A sudden shift in youkai, a semi-violent poke from Shukaku, told him get off his ass and start moving.

"Alright," Gaara wondered aloud, rising to his feet, "I'm the Godiame Kazekage from eighteen or so years in the future. I'm in the body of my twelve year old self. I need to save my village from falling to a madman with an army of bijuu behind him and at the same time make sure that no one gets too suspicious of my sudden change in behavior that they think I'm a spy and kill me.

"Shukaku, where the hell do I start?"

"Personally brat, I'd get that seal of yours covered up. The last thing we need is people asking questions about it," the bijuu answered in his cracking, high-pitched voice, "Then I'd get some supplies, as your younger self only uses sand. After that, go raid the fridge for something to eat. I'll explain on the way."

"Uh…ok," he glanced down at his stomach and was surprised to hear a loud grumble.

"I shouldn't be this hungry," Gaara commented as he made his way inside the Kazekage compound, taking a walk down memory lane while he was at it. He hadn't been living in there since Baki had offered he and his siblings a place to stay has his home, even during his time as Suna's leader.

"Actually you should," Shukaku said, his voice taking on a surprisingly more knowledgeable tone, "Your body is going into overdrive trying to make up for the extra spiritual chakra in your reserves."

"Huh?"

The bijuu sighed, "What do you know about chakra?" Again he was greeted by silence, "Chakras are the energies that a shinobi requires in order to perform ninjutsu, right?"

"Yah," Gaara continued, "And shinobi draw on them from the cells in their bodies, mixing spiritual and physical energy together to create chakra. But what does this have to do with me being so hungry?"

"Think Gaara! What was the only thing that came back with you?"

"Well, there's the seal…which is attached to my soul- Oh! I get it now!" the red head exclaimed. "Since spiritual energy comes from my soul that came with me, but physical energy comes from the strength and training, my body now is much weaker than my body from the future and is trying to compensate.

"So what are the side affects?"

"Don't worry; you won't need to stop using chakra or anything. You'll just be hungry and a little light-headed for a week or two. You're lucky you got me here, midget, or you'd have to last a month," Shukaku said mockingly.

"Yah, make fun of the short guy. Just wait till I hit my growth spurt," he stopped in front of a wooden door. If memory served correctly, this was his brother's room.

Quietly placing an ear against the door, Gaara listened for the sound of something – anything – to prove to him that Kankuro was really behind this wooden plank and not in a grave just outside the walls of the village.

What he got was a loud snore.

"You haven't changed a bit, have you brother?" he whispered before turning to the door across the hall. It was his room, though it was barely used and looked more like a guest bedroom that anything else.

It was surprisingly clean compared to the room he had in the Hokage tower when he lived with the Namikaze's. The walls in that room had been covered with sketches of places in Konoha, the desk supported piles of half finished paperwork and coded messages, and the floor had been so covered in dirty clothing that Sakura had to be bribed on several occasions to even go in there.

What? He had not had much of a childhood. He was allowed to be a big kid occasionally.

But now was not the time to reminisce about the life he had had in Konoha. Gaara made a bee line to the closet and started to pull out maroon jumpsuit after maroon jumpsuit in an attempt to find one with long sleeves.

After what seemed like ages, the red head found the one that he had taken to wearing shortly after the Konoha invasion. Pulling it on, he found it to be a little baggy, but it was no large problem.

"Ok, next I need supplies," Gaara mumbled, moving to the loose floorboard beneath the bed and pulled out his money, kept hidden there from his father. Why he even had a bed was unknown, though he found that it was certainly comfortable when he sat on it to count out the money needed to buy what he needed.

Gaara glanced at the clock out of the corner of his eye: Twelve fifteen. He thanked whatever god had blessed him with a photographic memory, remembering that Temari always woke up at seven on the dot every morning to the point were it had gotten creepy.

Using Kage Henge, a technique developed by Naruto shortly after the Neo Sannin was reduced to two members, Gaara gave himself brown hair and eyes. Instead of placing a genjutsu over one's body to give the illusion that it had changed shapes, Kage Henge literally transformed the body into whatever one wanted it to be. It did not do clothing though; so he was stuck in his new, long sleeved maroon jumpsuit.

The technique itself was based on Naruto's newest ability at the time of it's invention. In the beginning, it was believed that what the two boys were playing off as "Jinchuuriki Puberty" (though it was in fact their newly formed partnerships with their inner bijuu) had given the blonde instant regeneration. It would have explained the fact the Naruto had not only survived a Chidori to the heart, but replaced the organ within half a minute of losing his original.

But they had been wrong. Naruto had become the world's first shape shifter and had merely shifted himself a new one. There was a funny story about how the Hokage had found out. He had woken up one morning with the face of a squirrel and had screamed like a little girl when he found out.

Not one of the blonde best moments, but was a good tale to bring up every so often to make Kushina-chan smile.

Gaara could not help but grin at the memory has he walked down the streets of Suna, taking in sights he had not seen in just under a decade. Finally finding the store he needed, the red head dropped the jutsu after checking to see if anyone was in eyesight. It would not be good if people started to wonder why Sabaku no Gaara was breaking into a retired shinobi's shop in the middle of the night. He approached the window and held out his hand.

While Naruto had gotten the ability to shape shift from his partnership with Kyuubi, Gaara had received the power to control glass as he did sand. He had discovered it a couple months after his escape from Akatsuki, when a civilian man had barged into his office and demanded to know why he was not financing his project. Gaara when from annoyed to pissed to down right furious within the five minute span that the man had ranted about how "this project will change Suna forever and you're going to make the biggest mistake of your political carrier." Just when he was about to tell the guy to shut the hell up and get out of his office, every window in the tower exploded.

People outside screamed as he raised his hand to protect them with his sand, only to have the glass stop midair. He had no idea that it would happen, and apparently, neither did Shukaku.

The good news was that the annoying civilian was gone.

The bad news was that he had had to pay for the replacement of all the windows in time for the next sandstorm. Out of his own pocket.

Not cool.

But back to the task at hand. Removing the entire pane of glass would be to obvious, so Gaara simply took a small sliver from the bottom. Valla, instant lock pick.

The man who owned the shop was a paranoid retired shinobi that had lost his leg early on in the Third Great Shinobi War. Crushed that he could no longer fight for Suna, he settled down and opened the place Gaara was breaking into now, selling everything from clothing to rations to some of the best crafted weapons in the entire village.

The lock clicking was music to Gaara's ears and he stepped inside. Picking up a basket from the metal rack beside him, the red head began to scan the shelves for what he needed.

A first aid kit, a cooking set, dehydrated herbs for soup, bottle of soldier pills, rolls of bandages and wire, and a blanket were all squished into the basket. After that Gaara found ink and scrolls for sealing, as well as a mini sewing kit to make pouches inside his sashes to carry them, before turning to the clothing section.

Shortly after becoming the newest Spymaster of Konoha, the red head created the persona of Kaze no Kanako for the parts of his job were he needed to do field work without showing his face. Kanako was flirty to the point of being promiscuous, carried a pair of sharp Shukusen, and had the "morning after" hairdo going on all the time.

The outfit in front of him was perfect.

It consisted of a brown leather corset and a pair of extremely short pair of shorts. The beige belt could holster the war fans while the knee-high boots would finish off the whole "I just walked out of a strip club" look.

There was a reason, after all, why no one had guessed that Sabaku no Gaara and Kaze no Kanako were one and the same. The mental image was just too frightening.

"Remember to pick up those daggers that the weapons-chick taught you how to use," Shukaku voice rang out. Sighing, Gaara glanced over the old man's selection of pointy objects. Catching sight of what he needed, the red head picked out a small tanto from the rack.

During one of his training sessions with Lee, Gaara had pulled out a kunai in an attempt to defend himself from the green clad jounin. His teammate, Tenten, had seen his horrible form and had literally dragged him off by the ear to teach him how to use a knife properly, muttering the entire time about "how the hell did you become Kazekage, holding a kunai like that." The kunoichi had become one of his most trusted friends and his best agent during his time in Konoha, passing on her love of weaponry to him.

They had had a relationship at one point, though it had never gotten incredibly intimate. The two of them broke it off only a couple months after getting together, telling their friends that it was not professional to see each other like that, him technically being her boss and all. But the real reason was that Tenten still was in love with Neji, who had been forced into an arranged marriage with Hinata, and he was head over heals for Sakura. They had understood and called it off when they realized that it was not working.

The tanto in his hand was more of a hochogata than anything else, being only about seven inches long from the beginning of the handle to the tip of the blade. The saya was simple and black, and had a pair of straps that he could use to attach the blade to his arm.

Moving to the check out counter, something caught his eye. A pair of shukusen, each having a painted red dragon on the silk between the steel ribs. They would take a giant chunk out of his budget, but he could manage.

"Let's see," Gaara thought, "all of this should add up to…um…Shukaku? Help?"

Mumbling about his containers lack of mathamatical skills, the bijuu gave him a large number, mentioning that he should probably leave the old guy a tip so he did not have a heart attack the next day when he discovered that his shop had been broken into.

Grinning ear to ear, Gaara left the store, heading back to the compound.

Seven o'clock. It was seven o'clock in the morning and Gaara could hear the thumping of his sisters feet as she ran into the washroom. He was in the kitchen leaning over a steaming cup of coffee, but his throut was too tight for him to drink it.

He was scared, no terrified. He had an act to keep up, one that had not been used in eighteen years. The jinchuuriki did not know if he could still play the part of the monster that he once was, having been a well respected politian and uncle to one of the sweetest kids in the world (regardless of what Ino said about her Kenji-kun). Gaara just could not hate everything that breathed anymore, or even lie to himself so that he believed he did.

The aura of Shukaku's youkai, hot and dry like the desert, surrounded him in an attempt to calm his nerves. It helped a bit, allowing the red head throat to unclench so he could swallow some coffee.

He needed to be composed or people would begin to suspect that the Gaara of this time had been replaced by an enemy ninja. Though that theory was partically true, unwanted questions were really not needed now. Sighing, he ran a hand through his red locks, only to come up short at the bottom.

Gaara began to grow his hair out a few years previous when he had been so buried in paperwork that he had no time to get it cut. So he had simply tied it back Itachi-style, leaving the top to spike out as it normally did.

But before he could mourn the loss of his hair, Temari and Kankuro walked into the room like they had not been dead for eleven years.

They did not even notice him sitting there as they argued about who was going to cook breakfast. As usual, Temari smacked the puppet-master (though now Kankuro was only a user) in the back of the head, homing in on the stove to make gohan, while his brother headed to the fridge.

It was so normal that Gaara just sat there in complete shock.

It was normal to see Temari attempting to cook breakfast in nothing more than an oversized t-shirt. It was normal to see Kankuro, clad only in a pair of shorts, raiding the fridge for something to eat. This was how it was supposed to be, just the three of them, here, every morning. And Gaara would do anything to make sure that it stayed this way – this time around.

And then the moment was ruined when the Yondiame Kazekage walked into the room.

"What are you doing here?" the man – not his father, never his father – questioned, catching sight of his red hair instantly. Temari and Kankuro turned around, eyes reflecting their surprise, confusion, and, dare he say it, fear.

It was times like these were Gaara really realized just how much he had changed since his fight with Naruto all those years ago.

"You're never in the kitchen this early," Shukaku pointed out, "You only started to eat with them after you fought the bone wielding boy."

The red head swallowed and then forced himself to answer, "What's it to you?"

Maybe it was a little too sarcastic, but Gaara did not care. He had never considered that man to be family anyways. Baki had raised him. Baki had shown him the ropes.

Baki was his father.

The only thing that the jinchuuriki had yet to forgive his sensei for was the time that he had given him "The Talk." Gaara had been unable to look a female in the eye for a month afterwards without turned several shades of scarlet.

The Yondiame sat down, barking at Temari to hurry up with the food while Kankuro ran from the room to go "check on something." Gaara looked at his reflection in his coffee, trying to force down the urge to punch the man in the face.

A cough to his right brought him back to the real world. Kankuro was back, placing a large bowl of miso soup on the table. Temari, the one who had coughed, was holding a red bowl of rice.

"Um," she stuttered, not knowing how the deal with him, "Here."

She thrust the bowl along with a pair of chopsticks towards him. Gaara nodded, his wide eyes never leaving her face, and reached out with shaking hands to take them. Their hands brushed and, dear kami, she was real.

Temari sat in front of him, Kankuro to her left, and just…started to eat breakfast. Just like nothing had happened.

Like they had not died.

Like Suna had not fallen to the Nanabi no Kabutomushi.

Like the continent's population had not been reduced to four people in just under a year.

"Because," Gaara realized, "it hadn't. It's the ultimate paradox: everything's happened, and yet it has yet to occur."

He glanced at the rice bowl in front of him, before picking up his chopsticks and began to devour his sister's cooking like a starving man, ignoring the looks he got for his actions.

Heh. It still tasted like crap.

He almost cried.

Man that was long. But I had a lot to get out so I hope you enjoyed this chapter. But before I go, I would like to address a few things that showed up in this chapter.

Youkai: I believe that a bijuu's chakra is different from a human's, so I'm calling Shukaku's, Kyuubi's, and whatever other bijuu that might show up's chakra youkai.

Spiritial Chakra vs Physical Chakra: It was Gaara's soul that came back, along with anything that was attached to it (the identification seal, Shukaku). Nothing physical. In the last chapter when Older!Gaara touched Younger!Gaara on the head, their souls merged and Older!Gaara's spiritual chakra was added on the reserves in Younger!Gaara's body.

Kage Henge: In this story, Henge is simply a genjutsu placed over one's body to fool the senses of touch and sight. If I were to henge into Iruka, for example, and you were to poke me, your mind would tell you that you are touching me, but in reality you aren't. Kage Henge actually transforms the body, but can't change a persons clothing as it is not attached to the body itself.

Naruto's Shapeshifting Ability: It comes from the legend saying that kitsune are shapeshifters. Say that Naruto were to lose an arm. He could tell his body to regrow his arm, but at the same time, turn it into a monkey's arm or something like that. He can change his appearance and regrow lost body parts. As for how he survived a point blank Chidori to the heart, well I'm taking this from good old Haku here. He lived long enough to grab on to Kakashi, so I'm guessing that he had about fifteen seconds before he bled out. Naruto on the other hand, has the Kyuubi, so I'd give him a little longer. It was just enough time to form a partnership with Kyuubi and get his regeneration powers. Naruto has not told anyone about this, except for Gaara, and the two are playing it off as "Jinchuuriki Puberty."

Gaara's daggers: According to Wikipedia, a tanto is a common Japanese single or, occasionally, double edged knife or dagger with a blade length between 15 and 30 cm (6-12 inches). The tantō was designed primarily as a stabbing weapon, but the edge can be used for slashing as well. A hochogata is a tantō form that is commonly described as a short, wide, hira. The hochogata was one of the tantō forms that Masamune (an ancient sword smith whose name has become legend) favored. A saya is a scabbard.

Pairing: Look on my profile for these.

Breakfast: I'm going with Wikipedia again on this, so correct me if I'm wrong. A standard Japanese meal generally consists of several different okazu accompanying a bowl of cooked white Japanese rice(gohan, 御飯), a bowl of soup and some tsukemono (pickles). The most standard meal comprises three okazu and is termed ichijū-sansai (一汁三菜; "one soup, three sides"). Different cooking techniques are applied to each of the three okazu; they may be raw (sashimi), grilled, simmered (sometimes called boiled), steamed, deep-fried, vinegared, or dressed. This Japanese view of a meal is reflected in the organization of Japanese cookbooks, organized into chapters according to cooking techniques as opposed to particular ingredients (e.g. meat, seafood). There may also be chapters devoted to soups, sushi, rice, noodles, and sweets.

Questions are welcomed.

Later,

Whitefox

EDIT: This is the updated version with cannon bijuu