Chapter 2
It was partly my fault that he changed. His first friend abandoned him with no explanation. It would anger me too. When I gained more rights, I would try to approach him but, he would look at me in disgust and warn me to stay away. When I ignored his warnings he actually almost killed me. Though, I continued to try and talk to him, not having very many time to do so, because Hinnika still kept me away.
He was so cruel. The cute and big eyes vanished as we grew. Everyday he seemed to become more terrifying. He could easily kill me. I only survived by luck the few times before. It reminded me of how much of a wimp I was. I hated it.
The Kazakage soon gave me the right to become a ninja. Though, I was much older than the others in the academy. At least, for the beginners. Even the smaller kids made fun of me. I didn't care. I was used to it. I was only determined to do one thing. And that was get strong enough to protect myself and any one else form Gaara so I could be by his side whether he liked it or not.
But I had one problem. I was ,not only, the eldest in my class but the worst. My grades were the worst and I couldn't do the easiest of ninjustu. Let alone Genjustu. I didn't like it anyways. I was scary. To not be able to see where you truly are, or see your worst fears and think it's real, was just horrible.
I was eleven when I couldn't take being a wimp anymore. Hinnika, the only one left I had, was killed. I hated that I couldn't protect her. I was weak, and I wanted to change that.
The Kazakage had noticed my relationship with Gaara. He didn't care that Gaara didn't care for me, he still forbade me from Gaara. I refused and confronted him on it. He said that I would be killed if a continued to try and see him. I girted my teeth and spat at the Kazakage.
"You need to improve your manners towards your elders." he said.
"I'm not the one who put a demon in their own son." I growled.
"If you won't take action in leaving Gaara alone," he said, ignoring my remark," then, I will."
After that, he dismissed me. I left for home. When I got there, the ninja that watches me was there. It wasn't the same as the first one I had. The Kazakage usually changed him every three months. The ninja had to do other missions other than babysitting.
"Hey, welcome back. How was the talk with Lord Kazakage?"
"Full of crap, as usual." I muttered, so she didn't hear me.
"Where's Hinnika?"
"The Kazakage had called her in just about ten minute before, you walked in. I heard it was a very important mission she had to do." She smiled at me. "Though, I don't know how long It will be, so your sadly stuck with me."
I smiled slightly, she always teased me.
"I'm off to bed."
"The sun isn't even down yet. You want something to eat before you go?"
"No, I'm fine. Thanks."
"Okay, if you're hungry in the night, wake me up, I'll make you something."
"Okay."
I left the living room for my bedroom. I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling. Something felt out of place. I didn't know what, though. I just shrugged it off and closed my eyes to sleep.
Wait a minute. It takes me about ten minutes to get to my house from the Kazakages building. Which means, he called Hinnika right after I left. Why?
"If you won't take action in leaving Gaara alone, then I will."
"I heard it was a very important mission she had to do."
I shot up in my bed. I looked over to my window. It was dark outside. I got out of bed to pull some clothes on, when I realized I had slept in them. I ran out of the apartment, not caring if the ninja heard me or not. I knew something was off. I didn't understand what it was.
The Kazakage wouldn't do such a thing, would he? Please be wrong! I thought to myself. I began my search at the play ground. And from there I just continued to run. Searching in nowhere particular. After a while of running through the village, I started to believe I was wrong and being paranoid, when I saw a shadow fly above my head. I looked up to see a ninja jump from one building to another, a mound of sand chasing after them.
I gasped. Oh god, I thought, This is NOT happening. Please be someone else. My heart felt as if brick walls were squashing it. I sprinted after them. The wind pushed against my body as I ran making it hard to breath. They had stopped and were now in the middle of the road in front of me.
"Hana!" the ninja screamed at me.
NO. The voice was all too familiar. She stood in defensive position. Gaara stood in front of her a few yards away.
"Stop, Hinnika! He'll kill you!"
She didn't reply for Gaara's sand shot out towards her, she quickly jumped out of the way, only to be caught by the sand in mid air. The sand threw her across the road, she landed with a thump. She pulled herself to her feet with difficultly from the pain. She threw shuriken at Gaara but, they were easily blocked by his defensive shield of sand.
Sand was soon around Hinnika. He was going to do it. His sand will crush her body.
"Gaara! Please! Don't!" I ran forward to him, but his sand pushed me away to the ground.
"She attacked me first." he growled.
"I know! But, she was just doing her duty! Please, she is all I have left!" I was sobbing in tears at this point. My fingers dug into the ground underneath me.
"Don't. I don't wanna lose her or hate you!"
"I could care less."
He lifted his hand towards the mound of sand that had Hinnika consumed inside.
"Sand Coffin" he said softly with no emotion.
"NO!" I screamed so loud that it hurt my ears and throat.
There seemed to be a flash of pretty pinkish light from within the sand. The light seemed to pull out or explode. The sand was thrown back and Hinnika fell to the ground coughing. I shot up from the ground and ran towards Hinnika. I fell to my knees hugging her.
I had no idea then, what had happened and neither did Gaara. His emotionless face was replaced by shock. How did his sand suddenly be thrown from his victim? It just made him more angry than before. He clench his teeth and raised his hand again.
Sand moved toward me and Hinnika. Hinnika grabbed me and threw me aside away from the sand.
"No!" I screamed once more.
The sand engulfed Hinnika again. I prayed the pink light to come back to save her but, this time it would not. As the sand squashed her body I sat and watched horrified. The blood from her body splattered the ground, Gaara's face, and mine. The night, was now silent. Not even bugs were heard. Impossible.
Suddenly, what had happened dawned on me. My intake of breath broke the silence. When I let my breath go it was a scream. There wasn't a pacific thing said in the scream, it was just a scream.
People were at their doors from hearing the commotion. They all stayed in their houses scared Gaara would attack them. I took no notice of him. I ran to the ,now descending, sand mound. Once all the sand was pulled from Hinnika, I saw her crushed body. Blood stained me and the ground as I pulled at her lifeless form. I was crying so hard that snot covered my face. I soon realized that I was still screaming as well.
My heart felt as if it got sucked out into a vacuum. It was hard to breath and the crying made the breathing even worse. Why did this have to happen?
I felt a pair of hands try to pull me away from her. I pushed them away and continued to try and grab at her body. When the hands finally pulled me away from her body, I grabbed Hinnika's bloodied headband. I realized the person who pulled me away was Meo. She was also crying. She held me as she glared at Gaara. She was the only one who had the guts to come out. Gaara stood there looking back at her and me with a crease on his forehead as if confused. He turned and walked away. When he was out of sight people started to poor out of their houses. Anbu Black Ops were at the scene in seconds.
I had stopped crying and sat in Meo's lap with a depressed and blank look. I didn't say anything when people asked me if I was alright. I just sat there.
"She's in shock. I'm taking her to the hospital." Meo said to the citizens.
"No,' I said, "I wanna go home.'
Meo hesitated, but replied with an 'okay'.
For a week a laid in bed doing nothing. Always clenching her headband. Meo had washed the blood from it.
Meo told the babysitter that she would take care of me until further notice. She slept in Hinnika's room.
The Kazakage dared to visit me.
"I'm sorry about Hinnika." he said
I glared up at the bastard.
"Sorry my ass."
"Hana!" Meo said to me.
"It is quite all right, Meo. She is still in morn."
"Still," Meo muttered.
"May we speak alone, Meo?" the Kazakage asked.
"Of Course." She left the living room.
"Why are you even here?" I asked
"What are you planning on doing, now, Hana?" he asked me, ignoring my question.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you hate me?"
"Yes. I do. At least right now I do."
I soon understood what he was getting at.
"I'm not going to betray the village because of your actions."
"Would you kill me?"
"No, because that would cause problems to the village too."
"You are only eleven, but you act way more mature. Especially when it comes to others."
"Is that a bad thing in your book?"
"It would depend." He looked down at my wrist that held the sealing symbol. I grabbed my wrist with the other hand protectively.
"If your mature enough with this, why can't you be mature enough to plan an atta-"
"I would not betray the village. I could care less whether you believed me or not."
"Tell me, why would you protect this village? The only people you care for are gone now. You still have Meo and Hizeku but, that's only two people. And they have a life ahead of them. They can not look after you all your life."
"I very well know that. But you guys sheltered me, I owe your village-"
"So, your saying you would protect the village just because you owed us?"
"No. Let me finish."
After he said nothing I continued.
"Yes, I owe you. But also because of your son."
He looked up shocked at what I said.
"What? You think I blame him? Did you think I would hate him after what happened?" Truth be told, I really thought I would hate Gaara because of this but, when it happened, hate didn't come. I soon realized that it was not him I hated, it was the monster inside of him.
"I hate the monster that made him the way he is. I am going to protect the village because, I care for him as much as I cared for Hinnika. My home is were he is. Therefore, this village is my home. And I also would like to protect the village from him."
"How are you going to do that when you couldn't protect Hinnika?"
When I didn't say anything, he smiled slightly.
"Just leave the protecting to us."
"Yeah, because killing innocent people is protecting."
"That, was a test to see if we can trust you or not. Therefore, protecting the village."
"Well, did I pass?" I said in a cold voice.
He said nothing, instead he got up and left. Meo entered the living room.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, fine. I'm going to bed."
"Want any food?"
"No. Not hungry."
I laid in bed a day or two more before I realized I wasn't getting any stronger here. My grades sucked, I wasn't any good at fighting, and the Kazakage didn't even trust me. I bald my fists into my sheets. I had no talent. Like the Kazakage said, how can I protect the village? If I continue to stay here I will make no progress.
I should travel. Learn other countries way of training and skills. Then, when I thought I was good enough, return to the village. To protect it.
I jumped out of bed. I grabbed one of my bags and stuffed clothes and supplies in it. Yeah, that's what I am going to do. It was a little after dark and Meo had already gone to bed. I sneaked through the house for food and the biggest water bottle I had. I returned to my room and pulled my pack over my shoulders along with a hooded cape. I tied Hinnika's headband around my thigh and pulled my window open.
I stepped out of my room onto the seal outside of the window. I dropped from the window seal to the ground. I didn't need help this time.
I arrived at the back entrance of the sand village some twenty minutes later. I waited in the shadows of the buildings, watching the guards. When I was sure they weren't looking, I quickly slipped from my hiding place and slipped through the entrance. I stayed in the shadows every time a ninja looked in my direction. When I made at though the long hallway of an entrance I immediately pushed myself against the rock wall of the outside, to the left of the entrance. I stood in the shadows and waited for the wall to cast a longer shadow as the moon moved across the sky.
After half the night, the shadow of the wall stretched as far as possible. I waited for the men to look the other way before I dared to continue into the desert night. I slid behind mounds of sand as much as possible. Each stop, I pulled my hooded cape around me and stayed still hoping to blend in with the sand. When I believed I saw the ninja look away again, I continued.
I was getting away by pure luck but, my luck soon ran out. I jumped as I heard commotion. They had noticed someone in the desert. I ran from that point. They probably didn't think I was a threat. Actually, they probably just wondered who was out here. But, sense I began to run I'm sure I alerted them and made them think I was more than just some wanderer.
I ran for a few minutes before I came across a man sitting on the ground before me. I started to go around him but he tripped me and stood up beside me.
"Well, it looks like Moto was right."
"What?" I growled, as I pulled myself up and put my fists up, ready to fight.
"Tsk,Tsk. You really don't even look like a ninja in that stance."
"Who the heck are you?"
I looked over my shoulder and saw three specks of ninja chasing after me. Crap, I gatta keep it moving, I thought to myself.
"My name is Akiyoshi. Moto believed you would flee the Sand tonight and sent me to help you."
"Moto? My dog?"
"Yes. Please, you will not be able to outrun them. Come with me."
I hesitated at first, but soon recovered. I had to try, because it was true, I could not out run them.
I nodded my head in approval. The man turned and rose his hands up in a sign. As he preformed his justu I looked back to see how far off the men were. Not far.
"Ninja Art, Wind of a tornado."
I looked back to him as a tornado of wind formed right in front of me. I fell to the ground and covered my head as the small tornado pushed the sand away from the spot it stood on.
When the tornado disappeared, a metal trap door sat where the sand had been before.
"Come."
Akiyoshi grabbed a handle on the door and pulled it open with a loud grunt. It creaked as it opened up a dark whole.
"In you go." he said with a small smile on his face. I held my breath as I stood and jumped down the whole, I did not enjoy jumping down dark wholes with who knows what, on the other end.
He jumped in behind me. I had landed on a hard surface of rock about five yards under and was now standing, watching the man preform his Wind Style Justu again. The sand picked up on the surface as the wind blowed. The metal door was blown closed. Darkness enclosed around us.
On the surface, the wind had close the door and blown feet deep sand over the metal, concealing that it was ever there. The ninja had no clue were the winds had come from or that the person they were in search for was just under their feet.