Chapter 8:
I stared out at the cloudless night through my window. Honoske was sitting on my bed and I was stroking him. Suddenly Gaara appeared in my room and it took a lot for me not to cry out.
He looked at me and uttered one word, "Help."
"With what?" I asked.
"Get this demon out of me." He told me.
Honoske sat up and spoke darkly, his hackles raised, "The demon you have won't leave, not without being forced out."
"So make it." He shot back.
I was surprised that Gaara didn't seem set back that there was a speaking tiger on my bed.
"It's not that simple," Honoske started, "there's something called the 'release point'… a time when I demon can be expelled from the human."
Again I was surprised, why hadn't he told me this before?
"Tell me more." Gaara inquired.
"You can't do it." He stated.
"Why?"
"You need someone else with a demon in them to perform the jitsu."
Gaara suddenly turned to me. There was such longing and pain in his eyes that I had to look away, "Kizumi… this demon is yours, right?"
"Yes." I answered slowly.
"Kizu, I've never asked anyone to help me this much, even family… but you're the only one that I can think of."
He was begging me.
"Gaara, would you like me to learn the jitsu?"
He smiled, "Yes."
I smiled back and nodded as I pondered what this would entail.
0o0
"YOU SIMPLY THOUGHT THAT BECAUSE I KNEW OF IT THAT WE COULD PERFORM IT?" Honoske roared later that night in the meadow.
I brought me knees n and held them for warmth.
"I made a mistake, okay?" I defended, "Now I can't let him down… I couldn't… those eyes. Honoske, he needs me, he needs us. You said yourself that he's compassionate!"
"When the demon isn't in control!" he shot back.
"Gaara needs a chance! Why won't you give it to him?" I demanded.
"Because the jitsu requires things that all I- and all demons- hate and aren't able to touch."
"So you do know how to do this," I said darkly.
"What if I do?"
"Then do it for me! I've always been the lower ninja, the younger sister, help me be something else!"
"I already have!" he declared, "And ever since that Gaara," he spat his name, "showed up, you don't really care about me like you used to! I could die if I do this, and you don't realize it!"
"That's not true!" I shouted back.
"Ask Ishuzu or your mother," he spat that name too, "you can't stop worrying about him! I hear your thoughts, Kizu, and I know that I've fallen to the by-side!"
"Honoske… I'm sorry… I didn't know." I replied.
He sat and looked at me.
"Kizu," he began after taking a deep breath to relax himself, "I am not immortal, far from it. Your youthful chakra is what helps me to recover."
"I thought you were young."
"This body may be, but my spirit is reaching its end… if I do this, I could die."
"No! Don't say things that aren't true!"
"I would not lie to you about something like this, the jitsue requires much chakra, which I have, but it's my mast remaining supply."
"Huh?"
"Take Naruto for an example-"
"Naruto?"
"-He has th nine-tailed fox demon in him. Now when Naruto's chakra runs low, he calls upon the demon's for more power," he continued, "His demon is rather young, so it willingly gives out its chakra because it has so much left. Giving a human a shield or more chakra than they're used to it nothing for us. When we use our chakra to its fullest though we are left with little and like a human's it does return, only as we age it returns slower. Kizu, I am old, if I use this much chakra I might not be able to recover and I'll die."
"I'm not asking for you to use all of your chakra," I explained, "what if we combined chakra?"
"You are willing to do this?"
"Yes."
"I don't know… once the demon leaves someone has to kill it…"
0o0
Gaara sat in a tree and listened as the wind carried voices from the nearby meadow. Kizu and that tiger seemed to be arguing about him. In the moonlight the tiger's figure loomed over Kizu's. Gaara's heart thudded in his chest as his mind raced through thoughts of what he would do if- no when- Shukaku was killed.
How could he possibly thank Kizu? Already she was fighting on his behalf, and was prepared to risk her life for him. She barely knew him… she didn't know anything that he'd done; yet she was willing to put her life on the line.
'You fool,' Shukaku said, 'I'll make her so sorry she was born.'
'Leave her alone.'
'Excuse me?'
'Leave. Her. Alone.' He thought, enunciating each word carefully.
'OF ALL PEOPLE YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND WHY I LOATHE HER THE MOST!'
'And why's that?'
'Because her demon is tame and won't fight me!'
'So?'
'She just goes on her merry way and doesn't have to worry because that stupid demon wants to protect her!'
'Huh?'
'Her seal is so worn down that Honoske can leave her at will.'
'So why doesn't he?'
'I don't know.' Shukaku replied annoyed.
'You're a lot more civilized tonight.'
'Civilized would not be the right word… more like 'playing it cool.''
Gaara didn't question further, why should he? Shukaku was different; moody… this manner of somewhat kindly behavior towards him was welcome and well deserved.
'Oh, and Gaara?'
'What?' he stiffened.
'Kizu will die, whether by me or by something else- most likely me- she will die.'
Gaara gritted his teeth; he would protect her. He would defend her from anything at all.
Shukaku chuckled, 'But what about you?'
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