There were only a few differences between this day and the day before, but the changes that had occurred, had made a large impact. For starters, they had set out to go to the arena much earlier, leaving in the dark stages of the morning before the sun had gotten too hot, and they decided to end sooner as well. Baki had decided, under the order of the Kazekage whom she hadn't seen very often recently, that she would start to receive some basic and very minimal training with them, keeping it light until her body returned to its peak condition. Molly wondered where the Kazekage was. Did he not check in on his children at all? Had that first dinner as a family been a hoax to give Molly a false sense of comfort? The final, and most drastic change was the addition of another body to be trained.
Gaara trailed slightly behind. Without having her in her direct eye sight, his presence had her extremely on edge. Although he had not been hostile on their last encounter, the redheaded boy still made her stiffen with fear even with just the mention of his name; he was just someone you could never be sure of. One day he could want to kill you, the next maybe he just wanted to stare and touch your forehead a little. The line in her mind between mind numbing sympathy and bone chilling fear was blurred beyond belief. She was unable to decide if she wanted to nurture and look after him, or just run far away in the other direction.
Molly noticed that she was still receiving the same looks from the village people, glares and wide eyed gazes to be exact, but this time the attention put on her was halved as the other half was directed at Gaara. Inclining her head slightly so that she could subtly view and gauge the reaction of the redhead without attracting his attention, Molly was met with wide, surprised, gorgeous, sea foam eyes. Blushing slightly at her thought, she snapped her head back to the front and returned her gaze to the pair of siblings, bantering over who would beat the other this time. She took a moment to realise that Gaara's initial shock may have been and was probably due to the glares and whispers that she was receiving, he had yet to see how people reacted to her in public.
"She's probably just like him, a monster." Molly overheard a middle aged lady, working at a cashier of a grocery market, rudely remark to her older woman customer. She sent a disapproving frown at the lady who was seemingly incapable of whispering. She knew Gaara had heard it to; there was no way he couldn't have if she was able to hear it so clearly. Her heart clenched at the word.
Monster.
She's probably just like him.
Are you here to replace me? His voice spoke softly in her head, the scene replaying over and over. Sparing another quick glance behind her, she was disappointed to see the usual blank face mixed with a glare had returned to his features.
It didn't make sense why she wanted him to be angered by that comment. After all, he had been receiving them all his life, he had probably grown to be oblivious to them, as saddening as that thought was. And as for the part about her, why would he be mad that the girl he hated that appeared to be stealing his identity was being talked about? There was still a small part of her for him to show himself as the man he will be, and defend her bravely, knowing himself how hurtful comments like that can be. At the very least, she hoped he could see that she wasn't to be Gaara 2.0, the likeable one. He could see that people didn't like her, just as much as him. They thought lowly of her too, even if she hadn't done anything to earn their distrust, he could see that she wasn't doing anything to deter this collaborative idea of her.
As they arrived to the arena, Baki instructed Temari and Kankuro to stay with Molly and instruct her of some basic taijutsu stances whilst he took Gaara for some private training. Molly was interested how Gaara would be trained, but knew watching him would probably be more terrifying rather then entertaining.
Although she was nervous about her own training, she found her new training outfit made her feel rather giddy. Temari had picked out a short sleeved jumpsuit, the low v neck top allowing slight slight of the fishnet under shirt she wore. She pulled slightly at the bottom of her jumpsuit which ended almost uncomfortably high on her thighs. Temari had also picked out a jonin style vest, without its rank meaning, of course. Molly had been given the option of colours, deciding on grey for the jumpsuit and maroon for the vest, the hidden idea of matching Gaara's future outfit was kept to herself. She wore short black ninja sandals, thankfully more comfortable than her cosplay pair, which matched the black finger-less gloves she wore and material tied around upper left arm and right thigh that was to be used to hold a weapon of her choice when she was further trained and trusted not to inflict self-harm accidentally.
She felt, dare she say it, older and, for a lack of better words, badass. She felt herself internally grin at the thought. She was glad she had let Temari pick.
The group of three moved to the far corner of the arena. The pair of siblings had decided amongst themselves that Temari would be the one to demonstrate and once Molly attempted to mirror, Kankuro would help adjust her. Without sparing a moment, they had dropped their equipment on the ground and out of the way and gotten into position.
The first stance was rather easy; Temari had simply separated her legs shoulder wide and extended her hands defensively crossing over her chest. Molly copied the stance, finding her hands felt a bit awkward though but with no further adjustments from Kankuro, felt more confident with her position.
The next stance lead directly from the first; she watched as Temari stepped her left foot forward and extending her right hand in what she explained to be an offensive stance. As Molly attempted to copy that, she had felt satisfied with her result, although Kankuro clicked his tongue in his mouth, raising her arm higher whilst allowing it to bend a little more.
Temari instructed her to swap between the stances a few times so she could familiarise herself with the transition. She nodded her head softly before returning herself to the defensive position, finding it slightly more comfortable. After repeating the process a few times, Molly couldn't help but feel bored by the action. She turned slightly to glance hesitantly at the scene to her right. She was right in the sense that it was terrifying, but she was unable to glance away from the redhead and he stood unmoving, controlling his sand which was flicking wildly around him. How could a boy so small be so scary? He looked like he didn't even notice the shuriken and kunai that were being thrown at him. He could just shrug them off with his sand, not even breaking a light sweat. She couldn't imagine holding such a power. Would it be a blessing or a curse? To be equipped with such amazing abilities, at such a young age? All previous thoughts of feeling 'badass', vanished completely as she watched Gaara skilfully take on a man that he could barely measure to the chest of.
"Okay that should do it; I think you've got the hang of it." Kankuro spoke after she had repeated the swap a few times, recapturing her attention from the sparring. Temari nodded before lifting her right leg and placing her foot against her left knee, her arms crossed like the defensive position but extended slightly. Copying the action, Molly felt her mouth slip into a small frown as she struggled to keep balanced. She never was able to keep balanced very well but for some reason, she hoped that along with everything else that changed when she came to this world, her weaknesses would disappear. Apparantly not, she pouted as she stumbled forward, almost coming into contact with Temari and her perfect posture.
She felt Kankuro's hands support her waist, his large hands almost touching each other as they wrapped around her small frame. With the added support Molly was able to lift the leg into place and raise her hands correctly. She felt Kankuro's grasp slowly loosen, after a minute of keeping her upright, until they were gone completely but she was surprisingly still able to hold the stance.
A wide smile of achievement was painted on her lips as she glanced at the smiling siblings giving her words of praise and encouragement.
"Good work, Mo-Lee!" Kankuro's deeply chuckled, following his compliment and false pronunciation of her name.
"Just try to hold that for as long as you can. You're doing great." Temari followed, the proud smile staying on her face. Nodding at her words, Molly focused on a single spot on the ground in an attempt to keep herself balance. Although she was sure that standing on one leg wasn't really that big of an achievement, the praise she was receiving was much appreciated.
Suddenly Molly felt what seemed to be a hand, grab the ankle of the leg that was holding her weight and tug back, forcing her to fall face first forward. Bracing herself for harm, Molly raised her hands to shield her face, but the blow never came, instead she felt the hands that had been around her waist earlier, catch her and return her to a standing position. She turned back, wide eyed, just in time to see a small hand made of sand, retract back into the gourd of its glaring owner who was still able to battle off the older shinobi while looking directly at her.
Turning back to face the front, she met the concerned eyes of her current trainers.
"I'm fine." She smiled softly, wiping the sand off her legs. She frowned at the angry grunt Kankuro had made in the direction of his brother. "Don't hold this to him." She spoke softly, placing her hand on the face painted shinobi's shoulder. His eyes widened as he glanced down at the small redheaded girl's hand before glancing at her. She began to blush profusely, once she realized how awkward she was beginning to make him and herself feel, and retracted her hand.
Kankuro glanced at his sister with wide eyes, receiving a roll of her own to him. Molly wondered what message they were conveying to each other but let it go.
"Back to training?"
After about an hour of learning stances, Baki had decided that Molly should relax for the remainder of their time here. Being the compliant thirteen year old girl that she was, Molly placed herself on the same seat as yesterday despite not yet feeling tired, this time a cup of water was placed beside her as a precautionary measure.
Baki had also taken Temari and Kankuro from her to spar against each other like the day before, much to her dismay. As interesting as it was to watch, Molly couldn't help but feel lonely sitting by herself, watching them. As she surveyed the two in battle, she couldn't help but be distracted by Gaara's absence. Where had he gone? She felt herself involuntarily scoping the area, pausing to breathe a sigh of relief when she spotted him standing with a scowl on his face, watching the match. As quickly as the relief had surfaced, it disappeared as his eyes moved and narrowed in on her. Molly held her breath as they seemed to enter a staring competition with each other. What was he thinking? Had her words yesterday affected him at all? From the glare clearly placed on his face, Molly doubted that he believed anything she had said to him.
Mother, what do I do? Molly jumped at his rough voice but maintained the eye contact. Did he just speak? How did she hear him from all the way over here? Did his lips even move? She didn't think she saw his lips move.. Had she imagined it all?
Mother? His voice asked with clarity that was unmistakable. What was happening? She felt herself stand up, her small body trembling. She watched as his head tilted to the side curiously. Ignoring the questioning shouts of Temari, Kankuro and their sensei, Molly ran.
Why did all these buildings have to look so alike? Weren't there more than one colour of sand? Couldn't they think of more architectural designs other than domes? As cool as it looked on television, it wasn't the most convenient of ideas.
She was trying to look like she knew where she was going so that she wouldn't stick out; unfortunately, it wasn't the fact that she looked like a lost puppy that had her sticking out of the crowd of Sunagakure residents. She watched in fascination as they all seemed to part like the red sea, at the sight of her red hair. This time, she wasn't able to hear any whispers, in fact, everyone was dead silent. She glanced at the only amount of movement that was made by the crowd, saddened that it was a mother pulling her curious son, back and behind her, out of Molly's view.
Was this what Gaara was face with every day? Molly felt her heart clench at the thought. Of course it was, she already knew that. So why did it pain her so much to be faced with it? She couldn't imagine the energy and effort he must have put in to gain these people's trust. She felt her pace quicken as she tried to find somewhere quiet to rest herself, away from the people.
Finding something which appeared to be Suna's sandy, bare attempt at a park, Molly plonked herself down on a small bench, under the shade of a large palm tree. She rested her elbow on the table, allowing her to drop her head on her palm. Unconsciously, shutting her eyes, she found the image of spiky red hair disrupting her rest. He looked so at peace in her mind, the way his shoulders were relaxed rather than rigid and tense, the way his eyes were filled with nothing but contentment. In her mind, he was surrounded with his friends and family. Kankuro stood protectively behind him with crossed arms, Temari on his left, her hand gingerly touching his elbow, and on his right stood none other than Naruto, his arm slung around the redhead's shoulders. Around that stood every main character Molly could think of. Shikamaru, Chouji, Baki, Ino, Sakura, Kakashi, Kiba, Hinata, Lee, Shino, Neji, Tenten, Matsuri, Molly couldn't even count how many people were around him, huddled in a happy group. This was Gaara after he had changed. When he valued those around him and the relationships that he had, and gained. Gaara, post-Naruto.
Naruto Uzumaki. If only he was here to help right now. Molly frowned in thought. How had he been able to do it in the first place? Oh right, he had been able to empathize with him, he knew what it was like to be Gaara. He understood his pain and showed him that there were other ways to deal with it. As much as she wished she could empathise, she really had no idea. What she had tasted the last few days had been nothing. If anything, they made her feel slightly better about intruding on his world and putting false ideas of replacing him in there.
MOTHER? Gaara's voice cried in her head. Molly had surprisingly forgotten what had happened at the arena, too consumed in thoughts of the village people. Why was his voice crying out in her head? What was happening to her? The way his voice sounded, it was so dependent, so desperate. She wished she could help him. She wished there was some way she could ease his pain. To lead him on the right path would make her feel happier, happier than anything else. With the exception of being reunited with the friends, of course. Or was that just a lie she told herself because she didn't want to feel bad? Was she glad that they were separated? Glad that she was put here? That she didn't have to feel bad about making them wait for her anymore? That she could be herself without holding others back? Sure, she missed them but it felt nice to not feel so sheltered from everything. Even if it meant she got attacked by a maniac every once in a while.
Gaara. Molly blushed at the thought. Was it narcissistic to still find him attractive? She felt her cheeks heat up. She would help him become the better man; she would not leave until Gaara was on the right path. But maybe she would start when she wasn't so tired..
Molly felt her body droop forward; resting her cheek on the bench as she drifted off into a confusing state of sleep. Her last thoughts were the desperate words of an unstable boy.
"Little girl." A dark voice cackled, awakening Molly. Sitting up, Molly was suddenly aware of how dark it had become, how long had she been asleep? Temari must have been worried. Running a hand through her blood red hair, shock was a surfacing emotion as she found her hand felt wet. Why was her hair so wet? Was she sweating? The weather didn't seem to be that bad today.
Looking down, Molly realised the bench was no longer beneath her head. She wasn't at the park anymore, she thought in shock. This place. This was the one she had come to all those other times. Was it a recurring nightmare? Why did it feel so real? What did it mean? If she was here, did that mean the voice that had called out to her belonged to that creature in the cage?
Lifting herself out of the shallow water that surrounded her, Molly decided that this would be the time she would confront it. Obviously it was unable to escape its cage if it was still locked in here, so apart from being intimidating, the creature really couldn't do much to her. Molly paused as she convinced herself to work up the nerve to approach this thing head on. She wouldn't leave without answers this time. She just hoped that it would also lead to an explanation of why Gaara's voice was in her head too.
"Little girl." The voice repeated. Molly turned in the direction of the noise and followed the same light as last time.
"There you are." The creature breathed at her with a wide sharp toothed grin. Molly gasped at his size, just one of his teeth were bigger than her hand. As she stared back, she had a feeling that she knew exactly who she was up against as she stared into his black eyes.
"You're.." Molly paused in shock, "you're the-"
"Shukaku, the one tail," the beast grinned devilishly at her before continuing, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, I didn't think you'd approach me."
"How is that possible?" She whispered through her fear, cringing at how high pitched her voice came out. Her eyes stayed on the one tail's black ones, she watched his large tail swung from side to side, peeking out from behind his large body.
"If only I knew."
"What do you want from me?" She asked with aggressiveness that she didn't think she possessed. For a few minutes, all the beast did was chuckle at her.
"The little girl tries to act like a brave man." Molly kept her firm composure as she stared down the caged creature. Ignoring her curiosity of where her sudden burst of bravery had come from. "Well, since you asked so politely," the creature had the nerve to murmur sarcastically, "all I want is to keep you safe, so that I stay safe." Molly felt her eyes narrow suspiciously at him, earning a playful tilt of the head that would have been cute if it had come from anyone else.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because that is all I have been doing so far, isn't it?" Molly's blinked at his response.
"What do you mean?"
"Those run-ins with the other jinchūriki. You didn't really believe he halted mid attack because you struck a chord in him, did you?" Molly gasped at the realisation that the reason the sand had stopped short of killing her every time was because of this monster.
"W-why?" She stuttered dumbly.
"I already told you. I want to keep you safe, so that I stay safe. Believe me, if I wasn't stuck in you, I wouldn't even bother." He sighed, boredly looking at his large paw. They stood in silence as Molly consumed the new found knowledge until a question came to mind.
"Are you the same one that is in Gaara?"
"Think of it this way, you came to this world, you took on a similar appearance, all the abilities and apparently most of characteristics of the boy, does that mean you are him?" Molly's eyebrows knitted in confusion.
Pushing that aside for the meantime, Molly thought of a way to phrase her next question,
"Are you the reason I keep hearing Gaara's voice?" He paused before answering and suddenly glanced up.
MOLLY!
MOLLY!
MOLLY!
The booming voice echoed through the darkness, interrupting the creature before he could answer.
"I guess that will be a question for another time." The creature sighed, resting back away from the bars. Before Molly could question anything, she found the light begin to overpower the darkness around her.
"Molly?" The same voice from before whispered, shaking her shoulder lightly.
"Kankuro?" She muttered, lifting her head from her arms, observing that she was still at the park. The bright sun shone from directly above her, her sensitive eyes finding it difficult to adjust from the darkness to light.
"We've been looking everywhere for you." He sighed in relief, "Come on, we better tell Baki and Temari that you're safe."
Wobbling slightly when she tried to lift herself away from the table, Molly gasped when Kankuro's large arms wrapped around her and lifted her up into his arms. Kankuro chuckled at the shock that was written all over her face, her cheeks turning the same crimson colour as her hair. Sending her another quizzical eyebrow, Kankuro began to apply chakra to his feet and run back in the direction he had come from.
With her eyes still not adjusted, Molly found their surroundings blurring into one with the speed they were going. Molly glanced up at Kankuro, wondering whether he was even bothered by the extra added weight, he seemed like it wasn't even making a difference to him.
"You fell asleep?" Temari asked in disbelief. Nodding back, Molly was able to see the small downturn of the corners of her mouth. It was obvious that Temari had been upset by her explanation. "For three hours? Molly, do you know how worried I was? How worried we all were?" Molly smiled softly to herself. The similarity to Nicole was uncanny, it was nice to have someone like that around to rely on. Apologizing quietly and earning a begrudging statement of forgiveness.
"How about lunch then?" Kankuro grinned, slouching down to rest his arms around both Temari and Molly's shoulders. Temari rolled her eyes and shrugged him off before responding.
"Sure, about time we ate." Molly nodded when the two gazes landed on her, still standing awkwardly under Kankuro's thick arm.
"We will be joining." Molly stiffened at Baki's choice of plural, watching as Gaara made his way from behind to stand beside him, his eyes zooming in on the arm around Molly's shoulders before meeting her worried glance with his signature glare.
Awkward. No other words could explain it. They were all squished into a four seater booth. Molly, Temari and Kankuro sat on one side, huddled together, facing Gaara and Baki who sat at a comfortable distance apart. Gaara had yet to take his glare off Molly to look down at the menu in his hands. Molly tried to pretend to be oblivious to the fact but the fact that she was sweating while reading about a special reptilian dish seemed to give her act away.
"What do you want, Molly?" Turning to face Temari, she glanced back at the menu without knowledge of what any of the food would taste like.
"Can you pick for me?" She whispered back, shyly. Temari nodded and turned to the the server who Molly had not noticed, ordering the reptillian dish Molly had previously been glancing at.
"T-the usual for you?" The waiter turned to Gaara fearfully. Molly felt herself hold her breath in anticipation for his reaction.
Gaara gave a swift nod without turning to face the server, keeping his gaze on his female double, sitting directly opposite to him, avoiding his intense glare.
Silence fell among the table, each occupant, excluding the redheads who were involved in another one sided staring competition, busying themselves with something minuscule in their hands.
Shukaku. Was that real? Was she just dreaming? The explanation really wasn't so unbelievable. She just wished she had been there for a bit longer and could hear his response to her last question. What was he about to say? Was the one tail the reason she kept hearing Gaara? And what did he mean by 'Think of it this way, you came to this world, you took on a similar appearance, all the abilities and apparently most of characteristics of the boy, does that mean you are him?'? His rough inhuman voice echoed in her mind. She had so many questions to ask him.
What do I do? His voice sprung out of nowhere, it was as if he knew she was thinking about him and what that meant. Glancing up at him, she was surprised to see his was concentrating to a spot above her head, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips in a firm line.
"The reptile?" The server asked, Molly nodded and he placed the odd looking dish in front of her. He had to be the world's sneakiest waitor, she though, glancing at the others who already had their dishes in front of them, "and the salted tongue and gizzard." He continued, without waiting, placing the dish in front of Gaara and dashing away. Molly felt her nose unintentionally scrunch at the sound of his dish. She had known it was his favourite food from his Wikipedia page, but in reality, she was horrified with the idea of eating a tongue.
Glancing down at her dish, Molly hid a cringe.
"T-temari?" She whispered to the quad-pony tailed blonde beside her.
"Mmm?" Temari hummed through her food.
"What reptile is this exactly..?"
"I'm not sure." Pulling out a chopstick, Molly prodded the small dead creature on her plate, ensuring that is was in fact, not going to return to life and bite her tongue off.
"Mystery is part of the fun?" Kankuro offered playfully.
Molly was all for trying new things but looking at the thing on her plate, she wasn't sure if she could go through with it this time. Holding her breath, Molly raised a piece of the mystery meat to her mouth, aware that the whole table was observing her, waiting for her to react. Even Gaara had paused his eating and glaring to glance curiously at her.
At first, she didn't mind the slightly salty flavour, but like most terrible dishes, the aftertaste was its curse. Coughing and sputtering the spicy, sour flavour, Molly couldn't help but flail around goofily. She could hear Temari, Kankuro and Baki laughing at her and could only bitterly wonder how they could be so sadistic. Why had no one warned her that it was so spicy? For a girl of mild tastes, this was definitely not her ideal lunch. She was thinking more along the lines of chicken noodles.
Grabbing the glass of water in front of her, Molly washed away all remnants of the tastebud assaulting flavour.
A/N: Hey guys, what did you think? See that coming?
