The Unsung Story of the Inconspicuous

A/N: You see?! YOU SEE WHAT THIS IS? The second chapter I give you in a single day, for the second time. Oh, you should worship my beta. Also me. But her first, and to Vanya Starwind I say: you win this round.

I present to you- Gaara! He's in this for the first time. It definitely won't be the last. Ah, my oh-so-cowardly Raiku, you poor, poor bastard.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters or affiliates.


It was without fail, hesitation or conscious thought that Raiku got herself into trouble in Sand. It was probably Yamada's fault.

"No vacancies again, team," he said apologetically, stooping to get through the doorway into a motel. "So they're all dead-set on ignoring everyone from Konoha, in other words."

Raiku sagged in disappointment. She was… so tired.

"So team, we're going to split up. Find yourself a hotel and try and get a place there," he ordered, setting his hands on his hips. "This is your new mission, get me? Once you've found a place that'll accept all four of us, send up the signal."

They all looked at Raiku.

'Why am I the signal, again?' she asked dubiously, raising an eyebrow.

'Because you explode sometimes,' Daisukenojo said, mockingly echoing her words in hospital.

'Right, right…'

"So when you find a place, book it and get speedy to send one up. Team Ten, go!"

Reluctantly, the three genin parted ways. Raiku trudged down the street made of packed sand, ignoring pointedly the vendors who waved at her and called out prices beguilingly. No hair dye, no purchase. But the colourful fabric and delicately elegant glass that was so rare in Konoha did catch her eye occasionally, at which point she forced her attention to the piece of Plot trailing after her woefully. It occasionally made sounds it probably thought were pleading, snatches of voices of the people it ensnared. She made sure to tread very hard when it did so.

She made her way to a place that looked desperate enough to be willing to accept Konoha-nin, made of clay and sand, with holes instead of glass windows. The surly and largely unwashed man at the counter had taken one look at her forehead protector and claimed no vacancies, straight-faced despite the clear row of keys behind him. She'd wheedled half-heartedly, but found herself unable to maintain her cheerful persona in the heat.

Now she sat on a swing and leant her forehead against the chains, feet absently trailing on the ground. There had been children playing when she'd arrived, but when she'd seized the opportunity to steal the swing to sit on, they'd been pulled away by their parents. The act was curiously choreographed, and she assumed it was because there were frequently causes to pull away their children in Sand. From what she'd seen, it was a harsh place with tough people that tried their best to make it seem better than it was.

She smiled to herself faintly, closing her eyes. That description sounded familiar. But because Raiku was a magnet for trouble as a sore thumb in a world of fingers, even this restfulness simply couldn't be allowed to survive.

The texture of the air changed.

She pressed herself closer to the chain reflexively, refusing to budge before the request was ever made.

'Move.'

The Plot at her feet surged upwards, shoving her backwards by throwing itself into her solar plexus. She grasped the chain tightly and managed to catch herself with her head only inches above the ground, legs splayed awkwardly to try and keep precarious balance. She tried to look at the voice and was blocked by Plot, trying to actually hide in her clothes. She pulled herself slowly upright, wobbling more than was dignified for a Konoha-nin. Her eyes slowly settled on green ones.

Green ones without pupils.

'Hey,' she said slowly, eyes creasing into a nervous smile. 'I'm Gairano Raiku. What's your name?' She winced at how patronising she sounded. A thick web of Plot shimmered and vanished in every breath the other boy took, visible even in the arms crossed across his chest. His hair was an improbable shade of red, tousled and kept short. His eyes were rimmed in black no cosmetic could emulate, a symbol for love marked out on his forehead in ink under his skin. On his back was a gourd with an almost comically large stopper in the end, his clothes the light, practical wear of a shinobi in this sort of environment.

The hostile green eyes didn't shift, the boy obviously still waiting for her to obey his order.

He smelt like blood.

The sand under her feet shifted in a way compelled by no wind, and she edged forward on the swing, holding out a gloved hand. 'Nice to meet you,' she said cheerfully, tilting her head in a way she felt was friendly. 'I'm here on a mission from Konoha. You're a shinobi too, right?'

It was clear that she was in danger- she was awkward, not stupid. Through sheer force of will she kept her eyes from checking for a teammate or some sort of- any sort of- help, praying quietly to the force of Obscurity that she would be too troublesome to kill, maim or in any way injure.

'I'm, uh, probably annoying you, right?' she ventured, sliding slowly off the swing and onto her feet, dropping her outstretched hand and raising the other to scratch the back of her head. 'So… I'll…' she trailed off, desperately searching for some sort of body language to read, some sort of physical or visual cue to take. He remained perfectly still, eyes narrowed in unconcealed hostility. 'I'll just… go…'

The silence stretched on agonisingly.

'I should probably find my teammates,' she continued on, starting to babble in nervousness. 'We're having a hard time finding a hotel that'll accept Konoha-nin, with the way things are between our villages, and I should go back and tell them I couldn't find anything…'

She edged around him, giving him a wide berth and never turning her back to him in the guise of courtesy. The Plot! It was huge.

She resolved to end this on a good note, because she'd be damned if any Plot would keep her from being polite, and smiled at him brilliantly, giving him a two-fingered salute and valiantly crushing her trepidation down. 'It was nice to meet you! I hope to see you again, mystery-nin!'

That last bit was a bit much, she decided, and promptly ran.

He remained where he stood when she'd left him, perfectly still and immovable, but for the eyes sliding back to the swing.

'Hey toaster! Signal for me!' Daisukenojo called as he caught sight of her trying to turn a corner and accelerate at the same time, very nearly colliding with two Sand-nin. The two cast her looks of disgust shortly before her hand shot into the air, electricity escaping from the gap between her sleeve and glove to explode violently in the air above the town. At that point they simply decided to save themselves some trouble and move on.

Daisukenojo snorted. 'It's not that great,' he muttered, slouching over to her. 'What were you running from, anyway? Did a dog look at you?'

'Sand-nin,' Raiku managed, waving that same hand in a direction just to his left. He, admirably, didn't flinch. 'Scary.' She pulled a face and lowered her eyebrows pensively to try and imitate the dark look, succeeding in looking disgruntled.

Daisukenojo stared at her. 'Are you on drugs or something, toaster?'

'No! But… it was…' She broke off, accepting with a sigh that she would always be the wimp of the group. It was inevitable. She was fairly sure Ryuu wasn't capable of fear, and Daisukenojo's constant desire to outdo the taller boy meant if he was ever afraid than he didn't show it. Since she only cared about getting along well enough to work efficiently as a team, she didn't bother to hide her fear in trivial situations.

"Have you been running again, speedy?" Yamada asked suspiciously materialising at her side with a silence no man of his size should have been able to accomplish. She managed not to scream. "Because I told you not to attract attention, remember?"

'I wasn't not running,' she said evasively.

'Who found the place?' Ryuu asked from two inches behind her backbone. She twitched.

'Is it "sneak up on Raiku" day?' she asked, twisting to look at him awkwardly with a sceptical expression.

'Yes.'

'I found it,' Daisukenojo announced, gloating. 'Place just over there. They want to be paid first thing in the morning and they've got two rooms available for us. Konoha-nin and all.'

'Why is it "sneak up on Raiku" day?' she persisted, ignoring the redhead.

'Because you're jumpy and it's funny.'

'I don't think it's very funny,' she criticised.

'I never said it was funny for you.'

'Oh, goodie- I'm going to kill you.'

'How about you try, toaster-head?'

"How much?" Yamada said wearily, trying his best to ignore the two fighting genin. Daisukenojo shrugged.

'I figured that was your thing to take care of.'

Yamada's attention was instantly caught when Ryuu snarled in pain, taking several defensive steps back and holding his left hand protectively. Raiku's bright eyes were narrowed vengefully, burning in challenge. 'How about you try that again, Ryuu? Wanna see if it happens again!?'

'Who the hell uses their own chakra to fend off something that weak!?' he shot back, bringing his scorched fingers to his mouth to try and lessen the sting.

'I told you not to touch me-,'

"Break it up or I will break you, you two!" Yamada bellowed, stepping between them. "We know that I am not a violent man, but if you don't get your asses over to the hotel right now I will start cracking skulls!"

Raiku shot Ryuu a vile glare, hackles raised. The yellow-eyed boy scowled at her, reluctantly turning away towards Daisukenojo, who knew a hint when he saw one and moved to lead the way to the hotel.

"And you, Speedy, I'm going to have a long talk with later, get me?" Yamada growled, grabbing her by the back of her shirt. Her hair brushed his knuckles as he lifted her, singeing his gloves and burning the hair on the back of his unprotected fingers. "You do not use that on your teammates," he hissed.

'I didn't!' she shot back, equally enraged. 'He tried to flick me in the face and it showed up on its own! Like it always does! And I couldn't stop it, like I always can't!'

"Try. Harder,' he ordered in low, dangerous tones. Raiku stiffened, a surge of resentment hitting her. Did he honestly believe that this was a matter of choice? Did he honestly believe that this was something she was just allowing to happen?

Yamada, on the other hand, instantly recognised his mistake. The poorly concealed resentment struggling free in her eyes made it clear for him. His job was to be the adult in this relationship, and to set an example, but he'd berated her for something she couldn't stop and probably hated. That sort of thing encouraged self-loathing if they took it to heart, and the more destructive concealed loathing of the institutions that the one berating them represented if they didn't.

"Gairano," he said quietly. "Gairano, look at me."

She refused, stubbornly, averting her gaze.

"Gairano, that's an order," he persisted, shaking her lightly.

'Cram it,' she said bluntly. In her peripherals it looked like Yamada was fighting to stop his jaw from dropping into a scandalised expression. Nastily, she wondered if anyone had told him to do anything since he'd had that fortieth growth spurt.

"Gairano," he said again. "I'm sorry."

'I don't care.'

She could tell he was surprised. Raiku wasn't supposed to be the stubborn one, she was the cheerful wimp!

Call it an exposed nerve.

"Gairano, I'll help you, but I got angry and I'm sorry. Get me?"

And something completely unconnected and irresistible forced her jaw open and formed the words of forgiveness that she wasn't ready to provide. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Alright. We'll think of some ways to help you out, get me?" he asked with gruff kindness, setting her on the ground. "We'll sort you out."

She nodded, trying desperately to shake her head. She didn't want to learn. She didn't want to risk it for something as inconsequential as touch, and the Plot at her feet was far too happy with this news. She didn't want to be powerful and she didn't want to be accessible. The electric barrier forced her to keep others at bay, and as long as it existed there couldn't be a Love Interest.

The Gairano family had Views on love.

"See you inside," he said, scratching the side of his nose in what she'd realised was a nervous gesture. As he walked away the reverie was broken, leaving her in full control of her functions.

She stared in fear at nothing at all.

She'd never had control taken away from her before.


They'd left Sand early.

The desert was obviously not a place to go for wet weather, but once year there was a period in which flash storms became far more common, bringing torrential flooding. They couldn't afford to be caught in the hostile hidden town for a month, and their trip had coincided with that period in in a way most unfortunate.

When they reached the barricade, the sky was so dark with clouds it was almost black, thunder rumbling with the fierce illumination of lightning shining through the thinner patches in warning. It was starting to rain very lightly, and Raiku's mask was exchanged for a full one, her feet clad in bandages in addition to every other piece of clothing she sported, blood singing at every boom of thunder.

She wanted to run.

Wind stirred layers of sand and sent them racing over the heavier dunes, and once again she was reminded of water as she stood inside the entrance through the barricade into Sand. The Sand-nin that had greeted them was standing and looking up at the sky with those curiously dark-rimmed eyes. 'If you travel in this, you'll die,' he said bluntly.

"I think we'll be alright," Yamada said firmly, face serious.

The jounin cast him a derisive look. 'Lightning strikes what's tallest. You'll be in a desert without vegetation or shelter. You'll be burnt to death within minutes once the storm begins. The air becomes humid enough to drown in, which isn't helped by the rain, and the wind can strip the flesh from your bones. The sand doesn't absorb the water effectively and you'll find yourself first wading, then swimming. If you travel in this, you'll die,' he repeated.

"We'll be alright," Yamada repeated back to him, dark brown eyes hard and unflinching.

'You're idiots,' the Sand-nin said flatly. 'Konoha-nin… you all think you're invincible.'

'I can take care of the lightning,' Raiku murmured very, very quietly.

"I know, Speedy," Yamada assured her.

'I can take care of the wind, if we move slowly enough,' Ryuu announced firmly.

Daisukenojo realised he was, in all senses of the word, the short straw and scowled darkly.

"We'll be alright," Yamada said yet again, looking down at the Sand-nin in challenge. He seemed unimpressed.

'Your team is comprised of genin. If you survive to see me again, I'll eat my own forehead protector,' he muttered, turning and stalking stiffly away.

"Speedy, do what you need to do," Yamada said, turning to them and folding his arms over his chest. "Sullen, you think you can maintain chakra use for that long?"

'Yes,' he said firmly.

Yamada eyed him warily. "Can you draw any from shorty?"

'I can give him as much chakra as he damn well needs,' Daisukenojo scowled up at him fiercely, freckled face stubborn. 'You know that.'

"Well, a Hatori technique's gotta be good for something," Yamada joked. Daisukenojo rolled his eyes, which brought them into Raiku's general vicinity. He gawked. 'What the hell are you doing!?' he demanded.

Raiku paused in the middle of peeling off her gloves and sleeves. 'What?' she asked self-consciously.

'You said you were taking care of the lightning, not stripping!' he exclaimed, trying to find a hint of facial expression under that stupid full mask.

'They're directly related!' she shot back defensively.

'How the hell are they? You expecting the lightning to get embarrassed and give you some privacy!?'

'Why don't you ask Ryuu what his plan entails, huh!?'

'Because his doesn't make him half naked!'

'I'm still wearing more clothes than you!' she said disbelievingly. It was true- she wore the sleeveless black shirt and dark grey shorts, the coverings on her shins and feet abandoned and leaving only bandages. The full mask vanished into her pack.

'…You look like a goddamned ANBU!'

'Don't change the subject!'

'You look naked!'

'I'm not!'

'But you look that way because you're always fully covered up! Put a goddamn jacket on!' Realisation struck. 'You'll freeze!' he said triumphantly.

'I'm taking care of that too,' Ryuu muttered, rolling up his sleeves and pinning them up with a senbon. His gold eyes were distant, lips moving slightly as he recited something to himself.

'I hate you,' Daisukenojo said to him bluntly. 'You want her out there like that!?'

'She's taking the mask off. Yes,' he responded instantly. Daisukenojo's head whipped around so quickly it cracked. Raiku's bare fingers- long, perfectly unmarked fingers, some part of his brain pointed out smugly- were settled on the dark latex edges of her mask.

Raiku fidgeted uncomfortably under three sources of intense scrutiny. 'You're making me feel really awkward.'

'Do it, toaster,' Ryuu ordered. 'It was part of our agreement.' Bound by narrative constraints the wind blew his hair in front of his face, contrasting with his perfectly still form to make him unearthly in his magnetism.

'You know you're ordering me to take more clothes off? Daisuke, defend me!'

He shook his head silently, and she noted with a sinking feeling the strangely charged (she took no responsibility) atmosphere. Daisukenojo even looked better in the storm, the forces of causality demanding that in the rain, everything really was better looking. His cute face seemed older than its years, clothes stirring in the wind.

Yamada's sombre, scarred face looked appropriately dramatic and stern. He seemed the only constant fixture in the impending storm.

Raiku resolved to never go outside again. She yanked down the mask and let it stay around her neck, lifting her impossibly bright eyes to stare at them defiantly. 'Forget my face,' she ordered when it became apparent they weren't intending to. 'I'm good to go, Yamada.'

He nodded. "Sullen?"

Ryuu cracked his knuckles, not moving his eyes from Raiku's face. 'I'm ready, Yamada-sensei.'

"Shorty?"

Daisukenojo tore his gloves off, settling next to Ryuu. 'I'm good.'

"If it gets too much, you'll need to carry him, walk on water and feed him chakra at the same time, get me?" Yamada cautioned, eyes darting between the two. "You need to be alright with this now."

'I can do it!' Daisukenojo growled.

"Team Ten, move out," he said in response, squaring his massive shoulders.

He waited for Raiku to pass him. She trod lightly over the sand, bare arms covered with goosebumps in reaction to the light breeze. The temperature dropped and eerie shadows darted over the sand as the sand itself shifted, the lightning as yet still contained above casting horrible and beautiful silhouettes onto the earth.

There was a curious tension, a curious weight as the air hung heavy with what was about to strike. Yamada fell into place at the back behind the two boys, already knitting together a web of chakra that would cover his feet indefinitely. He had performed the same function for Raiku, well aware of her impending distraction- sand covered in water would be disastrous.

Daisukenojo was preoccupied doing the same for he and his temporary partner, brow wrinkled with concentration. A Hatori's skill lay in their incredible proficiency at the transfer and manifestation of chakra, while Ryuu's lay entirely in his manipulation of air, a skill he knew the older boy hadn't learnt from his family.

Raiku was completely carefree, in direct contrast. At last, she could be useful! She could expose her abilities without having a dramatic storyline concerned totally with them and without self-sacrifice! Unfortunately this opened up a lot of possibilities for Ryuu's strange wind techniques and their origins, but that was alright: he'd just have to get a girlfriend. Girlfriends were the ultimate defence against Plots, unless they were powerful or excessively cheerful.

And it was common knowledge Ryuu was allergic to cheerful people.

This would, quite literally, be a walk in the park for her. Lightning adored her, coveted her so fiercely that each time there was a storm she had to be removed from the compound- Gairanos had enough expenses to cover without having to repair their own facilities, as well as numerous paternity suits to deal with when a family member had said the name of he-who-must-not-be-named.

Whenever Naruto was to be spoken of, they simply said "duty two". The Gairano family knew trouble when they had to pay for it.

But the point was that her teammates would be perfectly safe as long as she remained decently exposed to the elements.

The wind began to cut instead of caress, and Yamada gave a sharp whistle. Instantly the sand around their slow moving feet stilled, the currents of wind around them in abrupt and unwilling rest. Ryuu's left hand, still burnt, was held in front of him in a curious one-handed seal, the other gripping Daisukenojo's upper arm tightly to stop him from tripping as he walked with his eyes closed in concentration. The jutsu required very little of his chakra that she could sense, but the knowledge of wind pressures and currents required was expansive, the concentration levels necessary truly formidable.

Moisture beaded on her forehead as the rain increased ever so slightly, little more than mist in the air at its current level.

Lightning struck for the first time.

It greedily split the air, and Daisukenojo gave a hoarse cry as it slammed into Raiku's diminutive figure head on, electric fingers grasping and seizing her clothes as it sought to bury itself under her skin. The wind instantly began to pull at them as Ryuu responded to thunder and opened his eyes, losing control of the technique in concern.

Yamada attached his chakra to his feet and continued on.

The lightning lasted less than two seconds, two seconds longer than lightning usually deigned to grace the earth. When it vanished Raiku was left with a brilliant, iridescent glow of blinding white, still continuing casually on.

The boys stared at her with varying levels of horror and shock, before Ryuu harshly yanked on Daisukenojo's arm and folded his hand into that curious seal. 'Wind seal technique,' he said quietly, closing his eyes again.

The wind abated.

The rain started.

Within an hour they were walking on a violently disturbed ocean that had once been a desert, the only light that of the lightning surging to meet its earthly counterpart, the wind formerly sealed around them now whirling and deflecting as much of the torrential rain as it could. Raiku remained outside the barrier, sparking and surging with power like some humanised storm, unflinching as the wind stung her face and the water blinded her, slowing her steps and weighing her down. There was no cold of winter or snow that could compare to this. It seized her bones and constricted her heart, alleviated only by the heavenly electricity that sought so desperately to encompass and consume her. Its greed was matched only by that distant, guilty part of her that refused to be a Gairano in favour of being a shinobi, that part that had wanted to train and devour.

They made good progress.

And when night fell and the storm continued to rage and demand, the electric instrument of a god's wrath flashed violently and brightly enough to show a dark shape in the distance. Led by a glowing figure and protected by a boy as much wind as flesh, they struggled on towards the end of the desert, and the end of Wind Country.


A/N: Ooooh, second chapter? In a day? I spoil you silent readers.

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