A True Samurai
Chapter Eleven, Because I Was Loved
"Sakura! Watch you're right!" Gaara yelled.
I blocked the White Zetsu and sliced it in half, moving onto the next one.
"There are so many of them!" I panted, ploughing threw another four.
Gaara and I stood back to back and blocked the next White Zetsu's attacks, quickly killing them after.
"Onoki! How are you holding up!?" Gaara yelled.
The small old man used his dust release tecnique that he was so famous for, on another team of White Zetsu, effectivly killing them off. Another White Zetsu attacked him from behind, almost catching him off guard. With a loud battle cry, his dust release jutsu hammered down on the on coming White Zetsu.
"Just perfect! Thanks for asking!" He grunted.
"I don't think it can get much worse than this." I muttered.
The ground beneath us trembled and more of the White Zetsu came up from the ground.
"You just had to say it, didn't you?" Gaara sighed.
I growled at him.
"Oh shut up, if we live threw this, I'm going to kick your ass for all those snide remarks you've been making. That goes for you too, you damn old geezer!" I yelled.
"Now's not the time for threatening your comrades!" Gaara hissed.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up!?"
"Yes, but I'm not, am I?"
"You damn fucking idiot, I swear I'll kill you right now!"
"Oh, how sweet, and just after I confessed my love to you."
"Would you both shut your traps DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM?!" Onoki shouted.
Almost as soon as the White Zetsu were taken care of, we were faced with another problem.
"South. Four people under the Edo Tensei are heading right twords us... They have strong chakra signatures. Up on a Kage's level." I said, using my 'Buki Eye' tecnique to survey the area.
"We can't retreat any further. We've got to make our stand here!" Onoki said.
"Agreed." Gaara said.
"You both specialise in long range attacks, right?" I said.
Both nodded, their attention on me.
"Launch some long range attacks and I'll observe how they respond. Once I've anaylised them and figured out how to imobalise them, Gaara can seal them." I said.
Gaara smirked as did Onoki.
"Mifune taught you well, I don't understand why you never became a Shinobi. You would have been quite a valuable asset to your Shinobi Country." Onoki mused.
My eyes narrowed.
"Because being a Samurai seemed much more appealing than going back to being an experimental weapon." I snapped and got into position, waiting paitenly for the enemy to come within our reach.
Onoki dropped the subject and waited for me to give Gaara the signal to start long range attacks.
I watched the enemies closely, their faces coming into my view. My eyes went wide in shock. I had seen them before, in the text books and scrolls back at the Samurai barracks. These were past Kage's. One of them being the fouth Kazekage.
"Now!" I yelled.
Gaara sent his sand upon them.
Somehow, it was deflected.
"Woohoo! That's a shit load of sand! Wonder which village is behind that tecnique!" One of them laughed.
Another sand attack by Gaara was sent, but was met by another one that matched Gaara's. The former Kazekage was using almost the same tecniques as Gaara.
Gaara sent anoter wave of sand. One of the Edo Tensei influenced Kage's lept into the air, only to be met by Onoki's Dust Release Jutsu. it was deflected by the man quickly, as if he had seen it comming a mile away.
"Father. It's been a while." Gaara said to the former Kazekage.
Father?
"Gaara, where did Shukaku go!?" Gaara's father asked.
"Gone forever. I'm no longer the Jinchuuriki you created." Gaara explained.
"Y-... You're not a Jinchuuriki..? How is that possibe?!" He yelled.
"I died when the Shukaku was taken from me by the very people who control you now. But by the efforts of Chyio-sama and my friends, I was able to come back." Gaara said.
"You of all people have friends?"
"You tried to kill me six times. And each time, I grew to hate and fear you... But now, I do not hate you. I even understand why you did what you did." Gaara sighed.
I felt my heart ache for Gaara.
"I am Kazekage now. It is the duty of a leader to protect the village, and eradicate the threat to his home." Gaara said.
Gaara's father gasped is shock.
"You'e Kazekage now?" He asked.
"That's not all, he's a Commander General of the Allied Shinobi Forces. And he's very well respected by all the current Kage and my Master." I said, comming to stand next to Gaara.
Gaara turned to me, shock evident on his face. I winked at him and smiled reasuringly. I was going to help him. No matter what it would cost, I would not leave Gaara alone to fight this. I would be there and I would protect him. Gaara's father seemed deep in thought.
"This Edo Tensei Jutsu... Perhaps there was some value to it after all." Gaara's father said.
Gaara was silent, trapped in some sort of staring contest with his father.
"I will determine your worth once more, this time, by my own hands! Can you truly surpass me?" Gaara's father said.
Both of them unleashed their sand on eachother once more without even flintching. I stared in awe as the Fourth Kazekage's sand, flecked with gold dust and Gaara's red sand collided again.
"Suna Arare!" Gaara yelled.
Gaara's sand came up and took hold of the Edo Tensei Kage's, restricing any further movement. The sand that held them captive took on the form of a woman.. But the Fourth Kazekage continued to fight back, sending sand shurriken at Gaara. A giant hand made of Gaara's sand shielded him.
Gaara's father stopped.
"You've truly grown, Gaara." He said.
Gaara gave him a questioning look.
"The only thing a father need's to do is trust in his children, and that in it's self is true value." Gaara's father said.
Gaara seemed confused. Not understanding what his father was saying. His father looked up at the woman of sand that was keeping him in place.
"That's what you meant Karura, isn't it? It appears... That I didn't have an eye for value after all." He continued.
"What are you talking about?" Gaara asked.
"The sand will always protect you. It's not Shukaku's strength that you wield, but that of your mother Karura's." His father explained.
Gaara didn't know what to say.
"You're mother... Truly loved you, Gaara." Gaara's fther said.
Gaara's breath caught in his throat.
"I was... Loved by my mother?" Gaara gasped.
Gaara's father nodded, his face solom, filled with pain and regret.
"But, back when Yashamaru was after me... He said-"
"I ordered him to lie to you. I had to see if the Bijuu inside of you still had the capasity to berzerk out of control... For the sake of the entire village..." He explained.
"But he said-!"
"The person that Yashamaru hated wasn't you. It as me." Gaara's father said. "Because I was the one who placed Shukaku inside of you when you were still in his sister's womb."
Gaara stared in shock at his father, taking in his words.
"But Yashamaru too was a Shinobi. He was my right hand man, as part of the Sand's ANBU. For the sake of the village... He followed my orders exsactly as I gave them... It was a mistake."
He looked down at the ground. Pain and confusion etched into his face.
Seeing him so sad and confused made me so... Broken. I was so used to him being in control. Being so strong. But now, I saw the other side to him. The one he hides from the public. His soft, childish side. The lonely, heartbroken child he really was inside. How deprived he was of physical touch. From love. Something he so desperatly craved. Seeing him this way made me realise something. I wanted to stay by his side. I wanted to comfort him.
Because I love him too.
"It seems everything I did was a mistake. You ended up having to carry all kinds of excessive burdens. I decided on my own wha mattered to you and what didn't. I stole your existance as a Jinchuuriki for my own. I stole your mother... And I stole away your feelings for your mother. I stole away any conections you had with anyone. And ultimatly, I would have stolen your life. And now, the only things you have to ascociate with you parent's... Are the wounds to you heart."
Gaara POV
I fought back all the tears I could. But I couldn't help but remember...
"It's not bleeding... But lately... I've felt alot of pain. Right here." I said, gesturing to my heart.
Yashamaru smiled sadly at me. He took the knife from my hand and lightly cut his finger.
"When your body get's hurt, blood rushes to the wound, making it look more painful. but after some time passes, the pain fades away on it's own. And with the help of medicine, it heals much faster. But the problem is, with wounds to your heart, there's nothing here that can fix those." Yashamaru said.
"Wounds in my heart?" I asked.
"Wounds in your body and wounds in your heart are kind of different. Unlike wounds to your body, there's no medicine that can treat them. And they can stay with you your whole life and never heal." Yashamaru said.
I looked down at the ground in saddness.
"There's only on thing that can help heal a wounded heart. but it's a difficult medicine to get a hold of. Because you can ony recive it fom another person." Yashamaru continued.
"What is it?" I asked.
Yashamaru looked at the picture of mother and smiled lightly.
"It's 'love' Gaara."
"Love? But how do I get it?" I asked.
Yashamaru chuckled.
"Don't you know Gaara? You've already been given it." Yashamaru said.
I gasped in suprise.
"I think my sister really loved you."
I rubbed at me eyes and my sand surrounded me, in the shape of my mother.
"Shukaku was originally a huanting spirit for the sake of combat. But what makes the sand move on it's own to protect you is your mother's love. I think that your mother's will is still alive in that sand."
I felt the tears dribble down my cheeks. My shoulders shook with quiet sobs.
"Because my sister... Even it it would have killed her.. she would have wanted to protect you."
"Your mother was strong, even in her death she still continues to believe in you and protect you. That's hat's helped bring you hear today." Father said.
I wiped away the tears with my sleeve.
"Now that you've become Kazekage, and you've made real friends, and you've made real conections with people. all those things fom you I stole..." He said.
I looked down at my father.
"But I, your father, never did a thing for you. No... I couldn't even call myself your father." He laughed bitterly.
"Mother truly was amazing... but this is the first time you've ever given me 'medicine', father." I said.
"Gaara..." Father said.
"I'm stronger now because of mother... And you, father. Because I was loved, I'm stronger." I said.
I made a handsign.
"Seal!" I yelled.
My sand slowly enclosed around the four figures, the sealing tag appearing on them.
"More than I could have hoped for, you've surrpassed me. I entrust the village to you now, my son." Father said.
I could have sword I saw him smile and a tear drip from his eye as the sand completely covered them and sealed them away.
"It's over! We did it!" One of the sand shinobi said.
The Shinobi and Samurai cheered for their victory.
I looked over at Sakura who was smiling. I made my way over to her and she placed a hand on my cheek.
"You're alive..." She sighed in relief.
"Don't you have to hold up your end of the bargin?" I said, smirking a little.
She rolled her eyes at me.
"I love you too, you big, dumb, sarcastic, egotistical, jer-" I didn't let her finish as I pulled her to me and kissed her passionatly, right infront of my men and Onoki.
"Kids these day's." Onoki muttered.
"Woohoo!" The Shinobi cheered while some others let out cat calls.
But I didn't care.
Finally... I have the one I want in my arms. And I'm never letting her go.