Chapter 12, Downfall.

My arms moved in a flowing motion around my body, something I had seen on TV a few months ago. It might help Jessica to understand the flow of water. Trying to communicate with her without writing down every word is getting easier. She understands what I am trying to say. Like right now. I motion to myself, following one arm with my hand, then doing the flowing motion. She nodded, closed her eyes and breathed deeply as she moved, trying to imitate water.

I shook my head. This isn't going to work.

Jessica sat down with a sigh, crossing her arms. She is getting frustrated again. But for a ten year old, she is pretty good. Her hand to hand combat is just as good as mine. Though, with who her aunt and uncle are, one would expect that. And the running I have her doing, once when she wakes up and once before she goes to bed, is helping to build her endurance. And mine as well. We always run together, always.

Two weeks working with her and we have gotten no where. Two weeks I've been able to spend precious moments with my daughter, seeing all the sides of her. She definitely has her fathers anger, there is no doubt about that one. And she likes to throw things, like Temari. But she has a very gentle side. She is smart, very smart. I see more of her Uncle Kaleb in her everyday. And Savannah, I see her gentleness in Jessica. But I have also seen her vulnerable side. The other children pick on her because she has no ninja skills, yet she is still in the academy. She takes on Gaara's blankness whenever she gets teased, and threatens to kill them. They just laugh harder and make fun of her even more. Once I had seen her run away so they wouldn't see her cry.

That's when the light bulb went off in my head.

Her emotions! That is how I learned to use my powers, so it is how I will teach her to use hers! Now I just need to find a way to get her overly emotional. I watched her as I thought. She has never talked about me. Maybe if I ask her? It might work. I know she gets angry easily, so that wont be a problem. Sadness, on the other hand, may be hard. She already enjoys running, and I can tell she is starting to realize a few things when she runs. Earth is going to be the hardest. I don't remember connecting any emotion to it, just the feeling.

I will start with sadness. Ice.

I took out my notebook and scribbled on it. Tell me about your mother. Who was she?

Jessica stared at my words for a few seconds and shrugged. "I never met her. She died a little after Yukio and I were born. Daddy doesn't talk about her to much. I think he is still hurt."

I clenched my teeth and wrote again. You've never heard stories of her?

A small smile appeared. "No, I've heard tons of stories. Aunt Temari and Uncle Kanky used to tell us stories about her before we went to bed. They don't anymore, though."

I nodded. How can I get her sad? Maybe I could try the anger approach. Tell me about her a little. From what I heard, she wasn't a very good person.

Jessica's smile was gone and her brown furrowed slightly. "My mother was a great person, Sensei. She saved everyone's lives, you know. She stopped a disaster from happening, because she knew about a plague that no one knew about."

This is going to work, for anger, anyway. How do you know she didn't spread the plague to make herself look better?

Her hands clenched in her lap. "Because she was never like that."

How do you know? You just said you never met her.

Her eyes shut. "Because I just know. I remember a little bit of her when I was in her womb. She was very kind. She loved us. Even when we hurt her, she always loved us."

She could have pretended so you would stop hurting her.

"No!" Jessica screamed. Her hands grabbed her legs tightly and her teeth gritted together. "My mother never did that! She loved us!"

I snapped my fingers in front of her face. She looked up startled. I snapped my fingers again, and she confusedly did the same. A flame danced on her palm. She gasped and it went away, leaving behind a tiny line of smoke. Her face showed her complete shock. She looked up at me, then back down at her hand. She tried snapping again, but nothing happened.

I wrote down on the paper: anger = fire

She nodded, closed her eyes, snapped, and the flame was back. But it disappeared again when the thought she had in her head slipped. "Thank you!" I was unprepared when she jumped at me, hugging me tightly. I was about to put my arms around her, but she was gone, running towards the Hokage tower. Probably to show her father.

I laid back on the grass and looked up at the clouds. Today is a beautiful day. This snow melted in this area, that is why I picked it. It's warm out, too. Probably fifty degrees, maybe a little higher. I can still feel the warmth from Jessica. I smiled. My baby is so wonderful. I just wish I could get to know her brother a little more. Last week he stopped by to watch for a few hours, but got bored and left before I could get him involved with anything we were doing.

"Doe-sensei?"

I turned to see just the little boy I was thinking about. A striking resemblance to his father, but with eyes like my own. I smiled at him to show I was listening.

"Is Jess getting better?" he asked. "Because I don't like it when the kids make fun of her. But Daddy wont let me do anything about it. He said she needs to figure it out on her own."

I nodded.

"So the others will stop picking on her now?"

I licked my lips and took a deep breath. That would be a hard one to figure out. They might, but with how little she knows right now, they could use it to their advantage and make her feel even worse about herself. So all I could do was shrug.

He nodded, biting his cheek. It is a little odd to be seeing a small Gaara being so expressive. But it is also cute. His red hair and pale face give him that baby look. But those brown eyes are full of knowledge. "Thank you, Doe-sensei, for helping her. She is a lot better now. She hasn't put any dead animals under my blankets since you started working with her." His smile was so bright I couldn't help but smile back. "Bye, Doe-sensei!" He waved over his shoulder as he ran off.

My little boy worries about his sister. That is good, considering all the harm she has done to him. It is good they care about each other like they do. I just hope she doesn't control him like she used to do in my womb. But from what I see of her now, she is very little like what she was then. Though, the threatening sounds just like her. Sounds just like the stories I used to hear about Gaara.

As my mind was brought back to Gaara, I remembered what Kakashi had told me that night on the roof of the Hokage tower. Gaara had started killing again after my death. He was so emotionally unstable that he resorted to killing anyone who got on his wrong side. But there was another thing, something tugging at the back of my mind. The couch. The black couch in Gaara's office in Suna. Didn't Kakashi say he through it out? That he wanted nothing to do with anything involving me? The couch had been in that office. It was still there, in the exact same spot that I remember it being in.

Did Kakashi lie? Or did he just not know?

But something I do remember is him never mentioning how Gaara took the downfall of Suna.

My direction changed and I headed to the edge of the old side of the village. Kakashi and Sakura must live somewhere around that area, and, if not, it will be easy to find them. Both are overly famous. It was fairly easy to find them, for I saw Sakura entering an upstairs apartment when I came around a block. I went up the steps, and right up to the door. But it was opening before I could knock. Sakura pulled me in and shut the door behind her.

"What's up?" she asked. "I saw you before I came in, I wasn't looking out the window or anything." Sakura walked into the living room area, where I found Kakashi on the couch. She sat down next to him and their hands automatically went together. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

I stood in front of them and took a deep breath. "I want to know something, and I want the truth."

Kakashi shifted on the couch and nodded. "We will tell you anything you want to know."

"I want to know about Suna's downfall," I told them. "Using every detail."

The two of them shifted and glanced at each other. It was Sakura who would explain first. "You may want to sit..."

"I will stand." I clenched my hands behind my back and spread my feet a little, giving me a stable stance.

"Okay," she shifted again and moved forward, linking her fingers around Kakashi's over her knees. "Well, where do you want me to start?"

"At the beginning. At my death." My heart raced.

She nodded and thought for a few seconds. "The night you died, Gaara-sama went on a rampage. All of us were called to Suna to try and protect the people from him, that is how bad it got. Temari found Jessica on the floor of his office, where he had placed her before Shukaku took over. Two hundred people were killed that night, along with you. No one could get close to him for weeks. The day of your funeral was the only day he was calm and collected, helping bury you. That, after the funeral, is when Suna started to fall apart."

Kakashi continued. "Kazekage-sama was depressed. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't speak, wouldn't sleep. I spent months over in Suna trying to help Temari and Kankuro run Suna themselves. But it was hard for them. Kazekage-sama did things a different way than and other Kage had done in Suna. It took awhile to figure out the systems he used to get things done. Without his leadership, the people became afraid. They tried to overthrow the Sabaku's. That was when Hokage-sama stepped in. They fought, a long and hard battle in the desert. And that is partly the reason it looks like it does now."

"That woke Gaara-sama up enough to realize what was happening to his people," Sakura said. "It had been two years by then, and the twins were getting older. He missed two years of their lives that he could never get back. I, myself, heard him promise to Temari and the twins he would never leave again. He wouldn't go so far away from them like he had." She paused, taking a shaky breath. "And so far he has kept that promise."

I nodded, taking all of this in. "How did Suna fall?"

Kakashi rubbed Sakura's back. "Iwa and Oto attacked them, like they had before, when you fought. But Suna wasn't as prepared. Their Kage was trying to deal with his depression as well as his grief, their main defense, the desert, was turning into some wasteland that had enough moisture to make solid earth. Iwa had a huge advantage this time. And that is why they won. Kazekage-sama was barely able to get the majority of his people out of the village before the walls fell. Many, many people died."

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and looked at her feet. "They all came here. Gaara-sama didn't know where else to go, and he knew Tsunade-sama would never turn him down. That is how they came to be here in Konoha. It took awhile but we got everyone a place to live and food to eat. We even extended the academy for the children of Suna to enter in."

"He didn't fight?" I asked. "Gaara didn't fight them when they attacked Suna?"

Kakashi stood then, walking over and looking out the window. "He was smart not to, Kira. He knew he would lose. He was smart enough to get as many people out of the village as he could in the small amount of time he had. There was no way he could have saved Suna, even if you had been there beside him."

I blinked back my tears and bit down on my cheek. No, Kakashi is wrong on that one. If I hadn't left, if I hadn't died, he would never have been in the state of depression he had been in. Suna would never have fallen. Everything would have been okay.

"Don't think that," Sakura said, holding my hand. "There was nothing anyone could have done, not even you. All we can do now is try our best. We need you to be strong, Kira. We need you to fight."

I will fight.

I pulled my hand away from Sakura's and glanced at them both. "Thank you."

I will destroy them.

"But I need to go and train. I need to talk with Tsunade-sama." I turned to go, but Sakura grabbed my arm to stop me.

"I will go with you. Just wait a second, I need to use the restroom." She ran off down the hall and I heard a door slam.

I rolled my eyes. Of course, what a girl. Kakashi was chuckling over by the window. "Be careful about what you do, Kira. There are always eyes watching, and some eyes may be that of evil."

I nodded. He is absolutely right.

When Sakura came out of the bathroom we headed towards Tsunade's office. I don't know how this is going to work, but I hope she can help me. Maybe I can go up into the mountains, where there would be no one around. And even if someone did happen to see me, I could easily cover up their death by some natural disaster. A rock slide, a flood. The possibilities are endless when you have all of the elements at your fingertips.

"Come in," she yawned.

But we were already walking towards her desk. I think that was the first time I had ever seen her door open. Sakura quickly scooted the twins off the chairs and out of the room, closing the door behind them. I looked Tsunade directly in the eye as I spoke.

"I need to train. I need to use my powers. I need space to use my powers. And I need help in doing so."

She nodded. "I thought it would come to this, just not so soon." She sighed. Tsunade quickly downed the last of her sake and stood, tapping a finger to her chin as she crossed her arms over her breasts. "There is an area up on the mountain that is completely secluded from everyone else. Partly for reasons like yours. But you will need someone capable enough to train with you..." Her eyes slid towards Gaara. "And someone who has the authority to wave off anyone who might be in the area and wonder what's going on..."

"So I should take Naruto, then?" I asked quickly.

Tsunade frowned. "I was thinking more of Kazekage-sama. He will be able to contain anything you do and he will be able to create a course as well. What do you say, Kazekage-sama?" Tsunade looked over at him with raised eyebrows.

Gaara's jaw was clenched, probably with me because I said Naruto over him. "That would be a great idea, Hokage-sama. Why don't we have Youji come as well?" The sarcastic tone in Gaara's voice surprised me. Who is Youji anyway?

"Great idea!" Tsunade clapped her hands together with a smile. "I will arrange for her to be there." Her eyes turned back to me. "Later tonight I want you to come to the living room. I have something I want to show you."

I bowed slightly. "Thank you." I was about to leave the room when I heard Gaara's chair once more.

I glanced back in time to see his sand sweep him away into nothing.