The ten beasts each had a number that corresponded with the amount of tails they had.
The first, the Raven, had one brilliant tail. The Raven was a fantastic flier, Aand would swoop through the air on a rainy day, for those were his favorite. Like each of the Beasts, his favorite Power and the one he had mastered was that of Air.
His sister, the Eagle, boasted two. The Eagle enjoyed sculpting, a fine artist, and a great war strategist, too, but she was not the least bit gloating. She was also given the title, "Queen Mayhem", for the explosions she caused created massive destruction, and most were her unique clay bombs.
The third, the Wolf, was a fantastic hunter with three brilliant tails
and a nose for animals and blood alike. He preferred the hot sand as
his power, and used it as his main weapon as he hunted for animals. He did not associate much with eight of the nine other animals.
The fourth, the beautiful Jaguar, had a total of four brilliant spotted tails, and she was the fastest of them all, though her heart was cold. She was quite close to the Eagle, and the two often played war games together, though unlike the Eagle, her big thing was torture - which gave her the name "Nightmare", though as she had a heart of ice, she could not understand psychological torture, focusing mainly on physical pain. Her weapon was ice.
The fifth, the Lioness, held herself like a queen and had the mind of a leader, though leader she was not. She read much on the study of medicine and the dead, her aim in life being to find immortality for her king - for how was she to know she would live for ever? Her main power was that of nature, her having to study it in the field of medicine.
Her best friend and the sixth, the Coyote, had fantastic agility, and his eyes were as pale as pearls and very large. He loved water but he could not swim, something he was greatly ashamed of and would hide it from everyone. He was, though, a telekinetic, but hid it from all because he thought himself bad at it, though his talent was extraordinary. A shy animal, he stayed in his cave near the creek and practiced his telekinesis.
Though his eyes were big, they were not as big as those of the seventh, the wise Owl, the smartest of them all and another beautiful huntress. She controlled the night, in all its spiraling black mass, and was a quiet woman with elegant brown feathers.
The Panther, as black as night, was the most beautiful of the ten, and all held her in high regard, for she was able to bend the mind into seeing what was not there. She was the illusionist, the controller, and could twist peoples minds in to doing deeds they would never do without. Her golden eyes watched from the shadows.
The ninth, the Fox, was the trickster, the one with the poisoned knife in his belt, had nine brilliant red tails. He was the least loyal to their master, but the most willing, for he would do much for the eight other beasts, his family of sorts, though little affection was given to them directly. He had the temper of fire, burning brightly, and it was his skill, as well.
But the tenth, the Snake, was different. He led the other nine beasts like a god, though a self appointed one. His sharp, black scales formed a crown upon his head, and he seemed to cherish each of his nine subjects as if they were his children. When one was injured he would be there for them. He seemed to love them all, but it could've easily been a mirage, for he was not one to care for anyone. He was the boaster of ten scaled tails and a smart one indeed. He ruled the enormous, empty lands of his kingdom with an iron fist that rarely had to show its anger - for only nine others lived on his kingdom, and each worshiped him land loved him.
The ten Beasts lived on the great mountain, named 'Biju'. The mountain was beautiful, though the only inhabitants were the Ten - not even ants dared cross into the border of their lands, one of the reasons the mountain was named Biju - it was a warning about the Nine beasts and their leader, the name meaning Ten Tails. The mountains were a beautiful place.
One day, Manda - for that was the name of the Snake - decided he wanted the rest of the world to be his own, too. So he approached Ao - for that was the name of the Eagle - and proposed the idea of war. She was wary of the idea, but agreed, and so Manda set off to inform Shukaku - for that was the name of the Wolf - as Shukaku was his best treated and favorite of the other Nine. Manda, you see, treasured Shukaku, the youngest of the Ten, and he wrapped his Tails around the hunter and cooed to him about his plans.
"And me and you shall rule together, my dear," He cooed to the blood thirsty Shukaku, and the Wolf let out a mew of happiness, curling closer to the Snake.
But no-one saw the two's affection towards each other, for they were in the basement of the castle,far away from the roost of Ao as she told the others of her orders.
And Juken - for that was the name of the poor, shy Coyote - had hid in the corner, fearing the predicament.
"And I think he was my brother."
The words were met with silence. For no-one knew what to say.
"Your brother?" Whispered Nana, for she now knew very well how this fit together. The only piece of the puzzle missing, though, came from the center, the very middle.
Temari took a deep breath. "Yes. My brother. You see ... Well, when we were little, our ... our dad-"
"Temari-" said Kankurou warningly, but Temari ignored him, and let out a shuddering breath.
"Kankurou, it's ... it's time.
"I never particularly loved my youngest brother. Well, what do you expect? I was raised to hate - no, fear him. Well, I guess it would be more appropriate to start at the beginning ... One day fifteen years ago, when I was five and Kankurou four -"
"Temari," Repeated Kankurou again, more menacingly this time around.
"Kankurou, shut up! It has to be said ..." Whispered Temari, and it was now the people around her noticed her shaking legs. Itachi motioned for her to sit, but she did nothing but continue speaking.
"Well, mother had a baby. We were all for it - all of us but her twin, Uncle Yashamaru. He said child birth would be too taxing for her - She was sick, you see. But she said it didn't matter to her. Whether she died or lived it didn't matter, she said."
"When the baby was born, he was a beautiful baby, with brilliant red hair and pale skin, and enormous sea green eyes that seemed to pull you in. But he had an odd birth mark on his forehead. It was strange, no, beyond strange - the same color as his hair, it - it was the kanji for love."
"Uncle Yashamaru said it was a sign the boy was evil, and he and mother had a fight about it. He stormed out and when we went back in to see if she was ok, she was just sitting there, our new baby brother held to her chest as she sobbed. We went to enter the room, but Uncle Yashamaru came back to us, and took us outside to the garden, and away from our crying mother -"
"Temari, I swear, if you go any further -" The threatening tone wasn't even have hidden from Kankurous voice, and Temari spun around, eyes narrowed.
"You'll what, Kankurou?! What?!" Her younger brother was silent and she sighed.
"Look, Temari, what if it wasn't him you saw last night-"
"And what if it was?" Temaris voice was cold as she eyes him. "Look Kankurou, you can go around and pretend that he doesn't exist and that it never happened, but I can't. You're going to have to face it sooner or later - and for your own sake, your own sanity and own life, make it sooner."
He stared at her silently then nodded, and Temari went back to her story telling.
But suddenly she was unsure of herself. Was this the right thing to do? Oh, kami, she thought, please let me be right. "But when we came back, our father was just sitting at the kitchen table silently. The moment Uncle Yashamaru saw him, he rushed over to him and they went in to mothers room. We tried to follow them, to see what was wrong, but the door was locked and they ignored our banging.
"When father and Uncle Yashamaru finally came out of mothers room hours later, Uncle was holding our brother carefully to his chest. Our brother wasn't asleep - we could see his eyelids opening and closing every now and then as he blinked. Neither father nor Yashamaru stopped us when we went and pushed open the door to mothers room - though to this day, I'm unsure if that was a good thing or a bad one.
"The entire room was painted red. Not just any red, mind - blood red. The color of our brothers hair. And in the middle of it all ... in the middle of it all was mother.
"I can still remember what she looked like to every bite mark - every blossom of red. Hell, she was completely red - not even her hair was brown anymore. It was stained red.
"All I could think was that a wolf had attacked her. It was - it was terrible. I can't believe it happened - to this day I still look for some way to escape the truth. Of course, at that age I didn't know what had happened. I didn't have all the information. Hey, I still don't. To this day, fifteen years later and I still don't know what exactly happened to my mother that day.
"But the years went on. Father seemed reluctant to let our little brother out of the house. He wasn't even allowed in the garden. When people were over, he was always conveniently in the basement - his jail. He wasn't allowed out of the basement.
"Another odd thing. Whenever people asked father how his family, or life in general were for him, he never made any reference to our brother. He would just say, 'Oh, good, good. Kankurou is getting better at carving and Temari is the most beautiful little angel'. No-one ever asked about him, either. He didn't go to school like us - Uncle Yashamaru claimed that he gave him private lessons at home. We knew it was a lie.
"Once, when I was six, I went up to father and asked him if I could play with my baby brother, because Kitty - chan - the name I used to give Kankurou when I was that age and he didn't get angry and embarrassed at me for it - was at a friends house and I was lonely, and also because I didn't see him and I wanted to be his favorite sibling. And do you know what father did? He slapped me in the face and sent me to bed. The next morning when I woke up, he apologized for hitting me but then commanded that I never do it again.
"And once when I was seven, Kankurou came home from school with his friend. And his friend asked father if he was allowed to hold Gaara because his motherwas pregnant and he wanted to see if he could hold a baby properly so that he could prove to his mother that hecould and so that when the baby was born, he could hold it.
"Father ordered the boy to go home and sent Kankurou to bed with orders not to come out for a week.
"After another year, when I was eight, we basically forgot about him, forgot our little brother in the basement. Well, we never talked about him or saw him, so it was hard to remember. Then one day, the day after Kankurous birthday if I remember correctly, Kankurou and I were home alone. And Kankurou came up with the idea of exploring the basement. And though we didn't remember much about our baby brother, we both knew we weren't allowed to go in the basement for some reason or another. And that was one of the reasons it was such a good idea.
"After a while, we finally built up enough courage to actually go in to the basement, and when we opened the door ...
"... Well, let's just say all respect and love for my father and my uncle alike disappeared as I saw what was behind that low door.
Ok ... I suddenly had to write a chapter that was over 2220 words long. It was necessary. And about Shukaku suddenly becoming a wolf? That is not to be commented on in reviews. Seriously, just don't. It was a great idea, yes. Admit it, Shukaku is better as a Wolf. Hey! I just realized that this could be seen to make up for my lack of updates! Yay! Also, no mentioning the Ten Beasts being, well ... ten. Versus nine. But you'll see why.
Love, Kawa-chan +Hearts!+
