Complex

Multi-chaptered

By Understandable Enigma

Summary: AU. "Shinobi" is a term used to describe the exceedingly rare, endangered hybrids. The hybrids have been hunted nearly to extinction, so much so that they must hide among humans. They face poachers, enemy shinobi, and more...Pairings: NaruHina NejiTen ShikaTem GaaraOC

Well now. I do believe that this is one of my quickest updates ever! So, yeah. Enjoy.

Chapter 9: Reaction

..d;;;';gfda;;';gfdaag;trwkuhjl2$#$.;'rtytr';1'.3%rqwrwqefg:"hgf:":fgsj:?eqte,3254^%%$#ku12326#/

The cruel yellow eyes surveyed his chessboard, observing the placement of all his pawns. Not an ordinary chess board, all the pieces save two were pawns, and those two were the kings. Each pawn was different, and had taken the semblance of a person. The "black" king was, of course, himself, and one of his pawns in particular was extremely close to the "white" king. He calculated the moves in his head, and it was as good as playing himself, because he knew exactly how the other king would act and react. However, three more moves and it would be over. Three moves were all he needed…he smiled a twisted smile and made each of the moves, until…

"Mate."

..d;;;';gfda;;';gfdaag;trwkuhjl2$#$.;'rtytr';1'.3%rqwrwqefg:"hgf:":fgsj:?eqte,3254^%%$#ku12326#/

Sasuke and Kira proceeded to walk the rest of the way to school silently. Kira had become withdrawn again, her face pinched with worry and her mind running at a thousand miles a minute. Sasuke had just gotten slightly concerned, but respected his new friend's privacy and didn't pry. However, he wondered what could've come up…she was still sick as well. That morning Anna had had to remind her to take her medicine, and that struck Sasuke as something that Kira wouldn't normally do. She was, in a word, topsy-turvy. Her usually pin-straight hair was falling around her face in impossibly thick waves, and Sasuke noted that it made sense to straighten it—the way her hair looked now gave her a much more natural, wild look. She looked more…Shinobi with her hair like that. She was also wearing wrinkled jeans and an oversized sweatshirt…usually Kira took way more time to make sure she was presentable. Kira liked to look good, and Sasuke knew that. So why was she so uncoordinated today? Because "something came up". But what?

They reached school and joined their friends by the willow tree. It seemed that they weren't the only ones with issues…Neji looked angry and depressed, Hinata wasn't there, Naruto looked stricken, Ino looked devastated, Shikamaru looked uncomfortable and upset, Choji looked guilty, Temari and Kankuro looked worried, and Gaara looked murderous. The rest of their group was trying to go about business as usual or were trying to cheer the rest up, but it wasn't working. Somehow, everything had just become…very difficult, all on the same day. Temari and Kankuro were huddled together, talking in quick, worried whispers, shooting concerned glances at their little brother frequently. Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet, and he kept reading and re-reading the paper in his hands, as if he couldn't understand the words written there. Neji was looking at Naruto's reaction, and then over at Tenten, who was still ignoring him. Ino was sitting on the ground and hugging her knees, and had her face pressed to them, obviously either crying or trying not to. Sakura was hugging her and rubbing comforting circles on her back, and giving Shikamaru a knowing and understanding look, as opposed to a glare, which Shikamaru had obviously expected. He was looking helplessly at the crying blonde, unsure of how to feel. Choji stood at his side, looking guilty for obviously either knowing or saying something he shouldn't have. Kira seemed not to have noticed the trials and tribulations of her newfound friends, and just sat down with her back to the willow, absorbed in her own little world. Sasuke saw all this, and then made a decision.

"I'm calling a Gathering," he said loud enough for everyone present to hear. With his words, everyone fell silent and paid attention. "Tonight, everyone be there, at the normal place and time. Something's not right."

..d;;;';gfda;;';gfdaag;trwkuhjl2$#$.;'rtytr';1'.3%rqwrwqefg:"hgf:":fgsj:?eqte,3254^%%$#ku12326#/

Kira had been filled in on the information about the Gathering that Sasuke had called. It was something that had been started when the Shinobi of their group were kids, shortly after the war ended and the first of their group had assimilated. It was where they went if things were going wrong and people needed to talk, or if there was something bigger and they needed to make a plan. No one was quite sure why Sasuke had called the Gathering, but the sincerity in his voice when he had suggested that it might be something bigger than usual. Now that she thought about it, something had seemed to be plaguing Sasuke the past couple of days. Well, that night they were going to find out.

However, Kira wasn't able to think about that just now. At the moment, she was sitting in the guidance councilor's office, who was talking about something animatedly to some people behind a door. Next to her Gaara was seated, looking just as dangerous as he had this morning. They were both waiting for the guidance councilor to decide what to say to them. Apparently, it had something to do with the artwork they had submitted in their class today. Kira had been absorbed in her own work, and so had no idea what Gaara's looked like, but she knew that her own had been grounds for sending her here. However, she had an excuse! The teacher had told them to draw what they felt, exactly what they felt. How could they blame her if how she felt was…that way? So, based on Gaara's mood, she could tell that he too had probably drawn something disturbing. She honestly didn't care what the teachers and guidance councilors here thought of her, she just didn't want them making a big deal out of it and calling Iruka and trying to find out how she ticks. That wasn't going to happen. No one was allowed to see her thought processes except her…She hated those arrogant pricks who thought that since they had a degree in psychiatry that meant they knew how she felt and thought. Fuck them.

Oh, it seemed that Kira went off on a little rant there. She chanced a look at Gaara, who was just as fuming on the inside. If the sneer on his face was anything to go by, then he was thinking along the same lines as she was. However, they had no more time to think and fume because the psychologist called them into his office. Gaara and Kira both rose from their chairs laboriously, and Gaara allowed Kira to enter the room first. They both took the seats indicated across from the armchair that the school's underpaid and under-qualified psychologist sat in. Also in the room were the school's two guidance councilors and the art teacher. In the psychologist's hands were the two drawings that Gaara and Kira had created. Kira automatically felt loathing towards the psychiatrist for touching her work…his filthy hands should be nowhere near her heart. However, she schooled her face into a mask of passive disinterest. Gaara, on the other hand, let his expressive eyes show just how livid he was, though the rest of his face bore no expression.

"I assume that both of you know why you've been called here," began the idiotic psychologist, his holier-than-thou voice bothering Kira just as much as his stupid white hair. He looked very young to be a psychologist, and his white hair was contradictory to his age. He smiled a disgusting, slimy smile as he tore his eyes from the drawings and looked at both Kira and Gaara in turn. "My name is Kabuto, and as you've probably realized, I'm the school's psychologist. You know, both of you have truly scared your art teacher—she's quite concerned for your well-being. When she told you to express exactly what you felt, she wasn't prepared for the intensity and type of feelings you have shown here. Let's start with yours, Kira dear." Kira wanted to snarl at the term of familiarity and endearment, but kept her face passive. He turned the picture around and Kira saw her heart on the paper. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the picture caught Gaara's interest.

It was drawn first in charcoal, and then certain parts were given color from oil pastels. The forest was dead, the trees bare skeletons wracked by orange flames. The wolves were huddled at the edge of the forest, most of them injured and bleeding crimson, and all of them cowering from both the heat on their backs and the monsters to their front. Each one of them seemed different, and each one stood out in its own right. A mob of men had their weapons aimed at the pitiful creatures, but they were fuzzy and indefinite, and only one man stood out. Taller and crueler than the rest, his eyes were an evil yellow, and lying at his feet was a bruised, beaten, and bloodied Kira. With almost no muscle and held down by chains, she was reaching one hand desperately towards the wolves, and was almost unrecognizable as Kira. The only color in the picture was the flames, the blood, and the cruel man's eyes. Red, orange, and yellow, the picture screamed rage, but the blacks and grays of the charcoal wailed of despair, and the chains and weakness of Kira lying at the man's feet spoke of crippling helplessness. But what stood out to Gaara was the fact that the smoke from the fire blocked out the full moon.

The man called Kabuto smiled his slimy smile, and Kira realized it was supposed to be a sweet, comforting smile. However, all his smile really did was make her want to shuck her skin and take a shower. "Now, Kira, dear, what feelings do you have when you look at this picture?" Again, Kira wanted to shiver with disgust at the name, and when she replied, it was bitten off and her rage was barely repressed.

"I am not your dear, so please don't assume that I am," she began, "and anyway, I know how it makes me feel, but how does it make you feel? It was made with my feelings, so it doesn't give me any, those feelings were already there. However, I would like to know what you get out of it, since you seem to think you know everything about me from one little picture." Kira knew that she shouldn't have lost her temper, but arrogant pricks like this psychologist never failed to bring out the worst in her. She couldn't stand people like that…they made her want to just turn wolf and rip their throats out.

What really pissed her off was that Kabuto had apparently been expecting that sort of response, because he just smiled and looked at her triumphantly. Oh, damn. He was playing her…maybe he wasn't as second-rate as she had thought in the beginning. "Yes, indeed. Well, since you bothered to ask, this picture gives me a sense of helplessness and rage. The colors indicate that your feelings are violent, and the subject matter shows that you feel helpless. However, it seems that you are portraying things backwards."

Kira raised an eyebrow. "Really now? How do you figure that?"

Kabuto smiled again. "You are showing wolves, classically violent and evil creatures, to be the victims, and humans to be the evil, deranged villains. Yet, you also portray yourself as a human. So, we can deduct that there is a degree of self-loathing to the picture. Now, because of this—"

"I'm going to go ahead and stop you right there," said Kira in a bored tone, but honestly she was close to furious. "I obviously overestimated you. Wolves are not classically violent and evil, they are classically misunderstood. Have you ever heard of Romulus and Remus? Yeah, they were raised by wolves, as was Mowgli. The Ancient Greek goddess Artemis? Her patron animal was a wolf, and she was the goddess of the moon, the hunt, but also of childbirth. Wolves have always been misunderstood and persecuted because of it, and my picture depicts exactly that, and your reaction to it proves me right. And, by the way, when you were listing the feelings in the picture, self-loathing is not one of them, but despair is. So please, don't act like you know or care where I'm coming from."

At the end of her speech, Kira saw the briefest flash of anger in Kabuto's eyes at having been told off like that, however it was gone as soon as she registered it, so she may have imagined it. He smiled his sick smile and said, "Well thank you, Kira. I think I have a much better understanding of you now." Kira resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Well, now we have Gaara. Now, the art teacher says that you have frequently turned in drawings that have been somewhat disturbing. In fact, I have several of them here." Kabuto pulled out a folder, and on the coffee table between his armchair and the chairs where Kira and Gaara sat, he spread them out. Kira leaned forward, gasping. Every one of Gaara's pictures was stunning. She'd known that he was an extremely good artist, but these…they were absolutely amazing. She saw the picture of the girl encased in ice was there, and many of them depicted loneliness, rage, or death. Another one that stood out to Kira was of a dead man half buried in sand, in the middle of a desert, with Gaara walking away in the background. The man looked a lot like Gaara or Kankuro…his father? Each one of the pictures was so vivid, so real, that Kira shook her head in amazement. She turned to Gaara and told him, "They're beautiful."

Gaara looked genuinely surprised as he blinked and raised an eyebrow. Then he smirked as he caught the looks on the faces of the psycho-cologist and the teacher and the councilors. When Kabuto spoke, Kira and Gaara both wanted to rip his tongue out. "Kira, these pictures are all clearly disturbing, and speak of definite issues going on inside Gaara. Your reaction, too, is concerning. Can you tell me why you used that word, of all the words you could have used?"

Kira laughed at him. She flat-out laughed. "What do you mean? I said they were beautiful because they are. Are you truly that dense? These pictures may not be normal, but they're real. They aren't your typical candy-coated portrayals of one's feelings, they show exactly how things are inside Gaara, and that's what makes them special and beautiful. They're real. Some of the most famous artwork in the world stems from despair, loneliness, rage, injustice, and pain, simply because those feelings are so strong. These are some of the best artworks I've ever seen." Kira picked up the picture of the girl encased in ice. She looked at it for a moment, then cocked her head to the side and asked, "Me?"

Gaara gave a half-smile. "Your eyes are the color of ice," he began, "and they hold the loneliness of one who has lost dear people because of the war... But of course, who hasn't?" Kira nodded sadly. Gaara looked over to see how she was looking at the picture. She really loved it. "Keep it." Kira looked at Gaara, and she could tell without asking that he was serious. Most of the time with Gaara, words weren't needed, and Kira found that absolutely refreshing. She smiled and thanked him. The art teacher, who had been silent throughout the meeting, whispered something in the psychologist's ear. He looked like he wanted to argue, but before he could the art teacher dismissed them with a smile. As they were walking out the door, the final bell of the day rang and they headed outside together and sat under the willow like always. As they waited for their friends, Gaara and Kira remained in companionable silence. Then, Kira broke it by laughing. When Gaara raised an eyebrow, she just shook her head.

"It's just that when you explained the picture, it's the most I've ever heard you say at once," Kira giggled. Gaara rolled his eyes, but half-smiled at the same time. As their friends approached, they were speechless at the sight. Someone was laughing in Gaara's presence? And Gaara was almost smiling? Obviously, the world had ended and someone forgot to mention it.

..d;;;';gfda;;';gfdaag;trwkuhjl2$#$.;'rtytr';1'.3%rqwrwqefg:"hgf:":fgsj:?eqte,3254^%%$#ku12326#/

That morning when he had arrived to school, Naruto had planned to confront Neji and ask him what was going on with Hinata and their home situation. However, Hinata had seemed to sense that, and before he even got any words out, Neji had silently held out a hand with a letter in it. It was the stationery that Naruto had gotten her. He ripped it open and read through it quickly. The words hit him like a Mack truck.

"Dear Naruto,
"I'm really very sorry that I'm too much of a coward to tell you all of this in person. When you started to go out with me, you helped me become stronger and braver, and you gave me courage and tried to help me when no one else cared. I thank you for that. You are a rare and special person, Naruto, and I'm sorry that I'm too weak to remember your teachings. Yes, you were right, something happened with my father, and because of that I'm weak again.
"I can't think of any other way to say this, so I guess I'll just put it bluntly; my father is making us move. We're leaving this town, this area, this region, this country. My father has decided that I'm actually worth something, and he's moving us to some country I've never even heard of, somewhere in Europe, to send me to some private, prestigious business school so that I'll be able to run his business when he retires. He also wants to check on our European offices, so he's decided that since he and I both need to be there, he's just going to up and move the whole family, including Neji. When Neji said there was no reason for him to go and that he refused to be a "puppet", Father hit him. He's become more violent, because he's discovered that his voice is no longer scary enough to intimidate Neji and I. Neji isn't affected by the screaming or even the hitting all that much, but the first time he hit me…I just went back to the way I was. I'm so sorry, Naruto. By the end of the month, I'll be gone, and I don't know if I'll ever see you again. I wanted to tell you in person, but I realized I would stutter and cry too much. I'm sorry I'm a disappointment to you as well as everyone else.
"Goodbye,
"Hinata"

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes. He'd had no idea that Hiashi was such a scumbag…He wanted to murder the man for having laid a hand on Hinata. The very last line of the letter pulled at his heartstrings so much…For Hinata to have been born as a rabbit Shinobi in a family of hawks, she was already looked down upon as being weak and disgusting. There had been, Naruto had learned, a lot of speculation over whether or not they should just give Hinata to some strong Shinobi of a type that had difficulty procreating, and just let her be a brood wife. Naruto had been disgusted with the idea, and was once more disappointed by how far Shinobi society had fallen.

Amongst Shinobi, your race ran in your family. If your mother and father were both dogs, you'd be a dog. That's the way things were. Before the war, there was quite a bit of discrimination. Oh, you were allowed to be friends with whatever kind of Shinobi you wanted, but it you wanted a mate he or she most definitely needed to be of the same race as you, unless you wanted your family to become very upset with you. A relationship like the one between Naruto and Hinata would never have been allowed…a fox and a rabbit? It was simply absurd. However, since in the war the more dangerous races had been nearly obliterated, the gentler and more prolific races, like rabbits, were being subject to basically being whores for the more powerful species. When two different races bred together, the more dominant race would win out and the offspring would be of that race. However, there were some instances when a recessive race would show up in the offspring…Hinata was a prime example of that. Her great-grandmother had been a rabbit, and she'd had the misfortune of being the chance occurrence of being a dominant recessive. However, that was exceedingly rare, and since the end of the war most of the lower species had been selling their daughters to bear children for the greater species. Because animals like rabbits and squirrels could have children every year, people were doing this in the hopes that they would be able to repopulate the different species of Shinobi so they wouldn't be lost forever. That was what happened to the dragons…every single dragon Shinobi was dead. When this was discovered, every Shinobi had mourned for an entire day. The dragons had been sort of the kings of the Shinobi, and for them to be all dead…it was a tragedy. So, many of the families that sold their daughters and even the daughters themselves thought it an honor to be able to try and prevent such a tragedy from ever occurring again. However, the practice still made Naruto sick.

Naruto had also learned that Hinata had been spared from that life for two reasons; one was that she had the Hyuuga kekkei genkai, and second was that she'd shown herself to be too intelligent and too noble (after she'd been dating Naruto) to be given to such a cause. Kekkei genkai also ran in families…the "bloodline limit" was specific to each family, and while not every family had one, every family wanted one. A bloodline limit, or kekkei genkai, made the one who possessed it infinitely more powerful. Typically, it corresponded to the race of the family. In the Hyuuga family, traditionally made of hawks, the kekkei genkai had to do with extremely acute vision and was called the Byakugan. A bird of prey always needs exceptional vision in order to see its prey on the ground below. Those in a family with a kekkei genkai who could actually use it were rare, and they typically became the head of the family if they had it. This is why Hinata, daughter of the head of the Hyuuga family, would be the next head of the family, even though she wasn't a hawk; she had the kekkei genkai and her little sister didn't. Neji, too, possessed the limit, but he wasn't Hiashi's child, so Hinata was in line before him. Sasuke's family also had a bloodline limit pertaining to the eye, and had to do with the old myth that big cat 's eyes could hypnotize you. Naruto's kekkei genkai, the limit of the Namikaze family, had to do with the control of fire. Naruto's father had been the last king of the Shinobi, a dragon, but his mother had been a somewhat lowly fox, and as such no one really accepted the fact that Naruto was Minato's son. The only thing that suggested he was the king's son was his ability to control fire, which he had only recently discovered.

Naruto clenched his fists around the letter, crumpling it and putting it in his backpack. There was a fire in his blue eyes, and when Neji looked at him to observe his reaction after the blond boy had spent so long in thought, he was surprised at the determination there. Neji shook his head—that was just like Naruto. Determined to make things right, to make things be fair. He would make a good king if the Shinobi society ever recovered. Naruto would make things right within the Hyuuga family.

He swore it.

..d;;;';gfda;;';gfdaag;trwkuhjl2$#$.;'rtytr';1'.3%rqwrwqefg:"hgf:":fgsj:?eqte,3254^%%$#ku12326#/

Yeah, there you have it. Longest chapter ever (actual content wise) and quickest update ever. Feel loved my readers!

!enigma!