Author's note: Sorry it took so long to update! Work has been insane, and going to my parents over Halloween didn't help either. To answer a reviewer, about the name of Lee's mom, Tanaka is her maiden name. In Taiwan, the women keep their maiden names after they are married, and I did it this way as a little nod to the culture that I also belong to, not just the American one I grew up in. Here is my next chapter, please read, enjoy and review if you like it! Just don't flame me!
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Naruto, just this plotline!
"Hey, Nameless ones, what are you doing here?" A boy jeered at the six children. He then turned away from them, only to find himself face to face with three furious children.
"What did you call our friends?" A fuming eleven-year-old Temari demanded.
"Nameless ones, because they don't have names. No family names and no given names either."
"Even if we do not have proper names, we do go by something other than Nameless," A brown haired, pale eyed boy of the group told the child. "We have a family, each other and Chiyo-baachan. Keep your mouth shut, you appear to be more intelligent that way. Just so you know, I am called Rai."
"I am his sister, Kiri," the blue-black haired, pale eyed girl said. She was holding the hand of the blonde haired, blue eyed boy.
"Though I call her Hime," The blonde added with a grin. "Chiyo-baachan calls me Kaze, because I am unpredictable and uncontrollable, like the wind."
"I am called Kaiko, because I like fire," the brown haired, brown eyed girl told the assembling crowd of students.
"I am Kage, because I am good with stealth," The younger of the two black haired boys introduced himself. Kage never revealed that he could manipulate his shadow to a small degree. He was by far the most intelligent of the Nameless Six.
"Chiyo-baachan calls me Iwa, because I am very determined and am stubborn like a rock. I also go by Bushy Brow, thanks to Kaze," The black haired boy with the big eyebrows introduced himself.
"Hey, it fits," Kaze replied with a grin.
Kankuro stared at the students, "Man, do you guys have to attract a crowd every time you go somewhere?"
"Not our fault," Kaiko pointed out, "You try being a novelty."
"And it doesn't help that we look so distinctive," Rai added, "Like mine and Kiri's eyes, or Kaze's hair. We stand out for miles. It is obvious that we weren't born in Sunagakure."
"Even though you weren't born here, Suna is a much your home as it is ours," red-haired Gaara said, standing next to his two best friends, Kaze and Kiri. "You are also my family, like cousins."
"Exactly. We feel the same, Gaara," Kiri replied, giving him a smile. The other new students had backed away when they recognized the Shukaku's Jinchuriki. Their parents had warned him that he was dangerous.
A teacher came into the yard. "So, this is where all of the students are. Come inside, class should have started five minutes ago. I am Ayame-sensei, and I will be teaching the new class." The students filed off to their various classrooms, while the new students followed Ayame-sensei. Temari, Kage, and Kankuro sat at the same desk. Gaara, Kaze, and Kiri also sat together, as did Rai, Kaiko, and Iwa. The other students tried to stay away from the group of nine, but mainly Gaara.
Kaze and Kiri could tell from their friends face that the other children's fear hurt Gaara. "It's okay, Gaara, it's not you they are scared of. It's Shukaku," Kiri whispered. "They don't know you."
Kaze followed Kiri's example in trying to cheer their friend up. "Yeah, they're just a bunch of 'fraidy cats and spineless wimps for letting others tell them who they should and shouldn't be friends with. Don't worry about them, we know different. Do does Temari, Kankuro, Kage, Rai, Kaiko, Iwa, Baki-sensei, Chiyo-baachan, your otousan, and your Yashamaru-jisan. We don't care about Shukaku-baka, because we know Gaara."
Gaara gave a slight smile to Kaze and Kiri, grateful for their words. Gaara was actually a very shy and quiet child, much like Kiri, but Kaze had managed to pull both of them out of their shells. The three were rarely apart, and when they were, Gaara stayed by his siblings while Kiri stayed with Rai. When Temari had asked him about why he was so close to Kaze and Kiri, Gaara had replied, "They make me feel happy, and that I'm not the monster that the other children think I am."
The first day of class went well though the Nameless Six (as they were called) were bored out of their minds. Chiyo-baachan had begun teaching them basic ninja skills within a year of taking them in. She told them that it was obvious that Rai, Kiri, Kaze, and Kage had received shinobi training before, mostly in taijutsu. Not a single child was interested in Chiyo's specialty, puppets, but Kaiko was showing promise with marksmanship. Iwa was an interesting case. He had a rare condition involving his chakra coils that made it impossible for him to mold chakra. Iwa was still determined to determined to become a shinobi like his friends, so he focused hid studies exclusively on taijutsu and kenjutsu.
At the end of the day, Baki met the nine children outside of the Academy. He was assigned to tutor Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara, and the Six had been invited by the Sabaku siblings. Baki didn't mind. Since he had rescued the children, he felt it appropriate to check up on their progress. He was a stern and demanding teacher, but Kaze could get him to crack a smile with his antics. He would never say this out loud, but the Suna Jonin was impressed by the talent possessed by the group. As the afternoon passed, he assisted all of them as needed.
Kage began playing with his shadow, managing to stop Kankuro long enough for Temari to send him flying with one of her wind jutsus. Kaiko was flinging kunai and shuriken at Gaara, trying to penetrate his sand shield. Rai and Iwa were double teaming against Kaze and Kiri in a taijutsu spar, and Baki had honestly no idea who would win.
While Kankuro was chewing out Kage and Temari, Yashamaru approached Baki. "The Kazekage is in a meeting which is running late with the village elders. Chiyo-baasama is there as well. I was asked to retrieve the children and let them spend the night at my home. They don't know when they will be out. I have dinner cooking right now." Yashamaru's eyes traveled over the training area. "They are all turning out to be remarkable shinobi."
Baki nodded in agreement. "These nine children are the future of Suna. It think that is a good thing. It was a great day when we found the Nameless Six five years ago and brought them back here. They should be finished in a hour's time. You are welcome to watch and observe."
"Thank you," Yashamaru replied and sat down on the sidelines to observe the children's training. He was a medic by training, but still an accomplished ninja, having served for a time in the Suna ANBU.
Once Baki had dismissed the nine, Yashamaru stood up and called out to the children, "The Kazekage and Chiyo-baasama are in a meeting that is running late, so they asked that I feed you dinner and let you sleep over at my home."
"Thanks, Yashamaru-san!" Kaiko called out from as she picked up the final kunai and shuriken she had been using.
Kiri asked, "Yashamaru-san, after dinner, could you show me some more medical ninjutsu?"
He gave the little pale eyed girl a smile, "Sure, Kiri-chan. You want to be a medic?"
"I would, just so I could help my friends and family," Kiri replied, blushing a bit. "Chiyo-baachan says that I have excellent chakra control, which any good medic needs. She's been teaching me about herbs so I can make healing creams and poisons."
"She is very good at that," Yashamaru replied, "Learn all you can from her, Kiri. Is she teaching all of you?"
"Yes, but Kiri is by far the best at them," Rai replied, giving his little sister a smile. Actually, they were half-siblings. When she took them in, Chiyo had run a genetics test to determine how Rai and Kiri were related. She had discovered that Rai and Kiri had the same father, but different mothers. They didn't care, and always called each other brother and sister.
"Yashamaru-jisan, what are we having for dinner?" Gaara asked.
"Curry, don't worry, Rai, I didn't make it too spicy."
"Any dessert?" Temari asked.
"Chocolate chip cookies," he replied, to the cheers of the nine kids. The group followed him through the streets of Suna, ignoring and trying to hide Gaara from the villagers. Kiri held his hand and Kaze's, while Temari walked on Gaara's other side, sending glares at everyone who looked at her little brother the wrong way.
Kage murmured, "This is so stupid. Can't those people see that Gaara isn't a huge sand tanuki? Gaara and Shukaku are two different souls sharing the same body."
"They are scared of him, but I am, too. He keeps saying that he wants blood," Gaara whispered. "He is angry that I won't give it to him."
"It will be fine, Gaara-kun," Kaiko replied, ruffling his hair. "Just tell Shukaku that you need to become a ninja first."
"He says it takes too long for me to grow up. He wants blood now."
"Well, he can't get it now," Kaze replied, "So tell him to shut up and ignore him." Gaara nodded and didn't say anymore.
After they had eaten dinner, the nine children began to play and do their homework while Yashamaru baked the cookies and demonstrated the Mystic Palm jutsu to Kiri.
"So, you can use chakra to help close wounds and revive people? Can you also use it to set a broken bone, like when Kaiko broke her wrist last year?" Kiri asked, intrigued by the uses of the jutsu.
Yashamaru gave her a small smile, "Yes, but it depends on where the bone is. Sometimes, it is easier and less painful if you do it other ways."
The little girl nodded, "Okay. I can help everyone if I am a medic. I just won't need to heals Gaara because his sand protects him, or Kaze because he heals so quickly."
"But I can still get hurt, unlike Gaara," Kaze replied, "So you might need to heal me a little bit, Hime." He gave her a smile, which she returned with a slight blush. "Are you okay, Hime? Your face is red. Did you forget to put on sunscreen?"
"No, I'm okay, Kaze. Let's go play a game."
Yashamaru sighed at Kaze's cluelessness. Kiri appears to have a crush on her best friend. When is the Kazekage going to reveal that Kaze is also a monster? Did he steal his mother's life when he was born like Gaara stole my sister's life? What is wrong with these children? They are not scared of Gaara, and have no problem being close to him. Does the Shukaku have them bewitched? Or maybe it is the other unknown demon that Kaze holds? Suna must be rid of these monsters. He then left to check on the cookies and take them out of the oven.
Once the children began to drop off and fall asleep, Yashamaru moved them on to futons set up in two different rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. Finally, only Kaze and Gaara were still awake. The two boys were outside, picking out what constellations they could with the light of the full moon shining brightly over them.
The two boys were startled when Gaara's sand abruptly reacted, covering the two of them protectively. Kaze peered around the edge of the sand shield and saw a man with his head covered by a turban flinging kunai and shuriken at him. "Die, demon scum!"
"Gaara isn't a demon!" Kaze yelled.
The man began to run at him and Gaara's sand violently reacted, encasing and crushing him. Gaara was staring at the cocoon of sand with wide, frightened eyes. "Let him go!" Gaara yelled, and the sand obeyed.
What the boys saw shocked them. Their attacker was Yashamaru! "Why, jisan?" Gaara gasped.
"To destroy the two monsters of Suna. You, who killed my sister as she gave you life. Kaze, you are one as well. We took you and the other abandoned ones in after we killed those slavers. Would your friends still stand by you if they knew that you are a demon like Gaara? Would little innocent Kiri still love you if she knew? Or, would you kill her, like how Gaara killed my sister who loved him as well?"
"What do you mean?" Kaze demanded.
"The whisker marks on your cheeks and your fast healing ability are all signs that you are a demon!"
"We aren't demons! Gaara didn't kill his mother, she died! And I won't hurt my friends or family, especially Kiri!" Kaze began to run at Yashamaru in his rage. Gaara chased after his friend, to try to keep him from doing something stupid.
Yashamaru began to laugh as he opened his vest to reveal explosive notes pasted to his body. "Farewell, demons. May you never bother Suna or take another life again!"
The explosion was heard throughout Suna. It also woke the seven sleeping children. Kiri was the first on the scene and screamed when she saw Gaara protected by his sand shield, and Kaze flung back against the balcony rail, bleeding. "Kaze! Gaara! Someone, help!"
A/n, take two: EVIL CLIFFHANGER NO JUTSU! Just so you can keep track with the names:
Kaze = Naruto
Kiri = Hinata
Kage = Shikamaru
Rai = Neji
Kaiko = Tenten
Iwa = Lee
Shikamaru can move his shadow a bit, because he was trained a little before he was kidnapped, and he subconsciously remembers how to do it, but he won't rely on it the was he does in canon. Thank you again!