And Darkness Prevails
Chapter Nineteen – Everything Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright

Gaara's eyes slowly shifted from the ground to the huge beast in the cage. The Kyuubi crouched down and let out a low growl, his typical greeting. Gaara stood up, suddenly taking on an almost… regal appearance. He didn't wipe at his face to cover up the fact that he'd been crying, but instead held himself as if his face wasn't completely fucked up.

Something weird Naruto noticed was that there was no 'love' mark on his head when he was in his head. He'd kind of noticed it beforehand, but… it wasn't something he'd really paid attention to.

"Kid, I did not want him in here."

"Then why the hell did you tell me how to…! Oh, whatever, Kyuubi. Why the hell not?" Naruto snapped.

"'cause anyone who's been putting up with the Shukaku for the past three centuries has to be crazy as fuck, and crazy is entertaining, but I'm enjoying being retired."

"You knew my… the Shukaku?" Gaara asked, stepping forward politely, but by no means timidly. The Kyuubi gave him a surprised look, staring at him, appraising him.

"Yes… I knew that crazy bastard. He was more of an acquaintance than anything else… are you really that Gaara kid?"

"I'm not a kid," Gaara growled out. "By demon standards, I might even be considered an adult."

"Ch. A demon isn't an 'adult' until they kill their father. Or their mother, if their father is already dead."

"What?" Naruto interjected.

"Yeah, dumbass, why else are there so few demons, and only one of each type?"

"Well, I didn't know…"

"Then I've been an adult for three hundred years."

Naruto's gaze slowly shifted to Gaara in horror.

"The Shukaku killin' him don't count."

"He didn't. I killed him. I didn't let the Shukaku take control for that… I wanted him dead too badly."

"Why would you kill your own father?" Naruto asked in horror. "I mean… my dad put Kyuubi in me, and I'm not exactly… happy with that or anything, but I couldn't ever kill the guy."

"By the time I'd killed him, he had already made attempts on my life ten times, six of which before I was even eight. The other eight were very… elaborate. And I wasn't… I'm not… exactly sane."

"You seem pretty damn sane to me," the Kyuubi growled out.

"… I suppose I am…." Gaara seemed stuck on that idea as soon as the Kyuubi mentioned it, thinking back on it introspectively. After a moment of thinking, during which Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet, Gaara started looking down a corridor. "Can you… leave the immediate area?"

"Yeah…" Naruto said, trailing off.

"Huh. Must be nice. In my head, I'm tethered right here, near the Shukaku's cage."

"Seals were much more primitive in your day," Kyuubi growled. "That was common. You should have seen the crap I convinced this one kid to do, back when the seals were so weak that I could pull him in whenever I wanted to… that was also when someone was messing with the temporal issues, and I could keep him here for however long I wanted without any time elapsing outside of his head. I actually made him—"

"Kyuu! I heard this story twice already, I don't want to hear it again!" Naruto interjected, pulling his hands over his ears.

"Oh, please, I was just testing his will. I wasn't going to pull him back in if he didn't do it."

"… what did he do?"

"See, he wants to know! The long and short of it was he tortured and killed his pregnant older sister and then I got him to try killing the Hokage. Their special forces took a few hits, but they eventually captured him and sealed him away for like, five years before they came up with a new set of seals and put me in a new body. For the five years that he was locked up I had him relive the experience of killing his sister over and over and over again…"

"Kyuu, stop it," Naruto growled.

"That reminds me of this other time, before even that, when I got this girl to kill her twin brother…"

"Gaara, let's go," Naruto finally said, catching him by the wrist and pulling him towards another corridor. He couldn't leave his mind, and the Kyuubi knew that – but he like Gaara pointed out, he could leave at any moment and hike down a corridor whenever he liked.

"Oi, kid, that ain't a good idea."

"Well, we're not listening to you talk about the good ol' days for hours and hours, so we're leaving." Naruto stormed ahead, assuming that Gaara would follow.

Gaara glanced one more time at the Kyuubi before slowly following him down the dark corridors.

"Kid! Seriously! Don't go opening anything!" the Kyuubi's voice reverberated down the hallways as if chasing them into the depths of Naruto's mind.

"We're going to Konoha."

"… pardon?"

Shino pulled away from the desk where he'd been pouring over the body of one of his bugs. It was one of the bugs that had died of chakra depletion, and no matter how many times Shino tried to get close to them to 'feed' them, they just… scurried for a different corner, high above and away from him.

His best friends and closest comrades were dying all around him, and he couldn't figure out what to do.

"If there's anything to do for your bugs, only someone from your clan would know. And besides. It's not like I can teach you anything, 'cause Sasori is an asshole, so we might as well let you go home and y'know, tell people what happened. Family and friends and all."

"… does this mean we can visit often, or…?"

"We'll see how it goes," Kankuro huffed. "We're staying for two nights, leaving on the third. If there's anything other than clothes y'need, get it together now. I got your clothes," Kankuro flashed him a devlish grin, but Shino didn't take the bait. He knew Kankarou wouldn't dress him embarrassingly…

"Very well…. But keep in mind the audience. I wouldn't want my father to think I'd decided to become a girl, like you had once tried to convince Deidara."

"Well, we certainly can't hear him any longer," Gaara said after what felt like ten minutes of running through corridor after corridor.

"Yeah, guess you're right…" Naruto looked up and down the halls before staring hard at a door, considering it. It was his head, wasn't it? Shouldn't he be able to go wherever he damn well pleased?

He pushed it open cautiously and stepped inside. Before he could motion for Gaara to follow him, however, he fell to his knees and started bawling. Memories swirled around him, emotions that he hadn't felt in ten years surged through him. Suddenly, he was a five-year-old outcast all over again, forced to relive the moment when a kid threw a rock at his head and the whole area laughed at him.

It only lasted for a second, but as soon as it was over, he scurried out of the room, eyes brimming over with tears.

Gaara, however, had seen nothing – he hadn't been the one to experience the room, Naruto had.

"…?" Gaara didn't know how to ask what happened in the room for the extremely short duration that Naruto had been in there, but the look Gaara was giving him was enough of a question.

"I uh… when I was five, before they loosened the seal on the Kyuubi a bit… I was kind of the town, uhm, disgrace or something," Naruto let out a small laugh. "I'd kinda forgotten about the time that the kid threw a rock at me… they stopped that after the seal loosened 'cause they were afraid that, y'know, I'd demon-out and kill everyone."

"But… when you came here… you already had friends…"

"Yeah, well, that was after years of getting strong from the Kyuubi tutoring me and doing missions and stuff. It's just the kids in my grade and a couple of others here and there that respect me, everyone else still hates me about the same. Aside from my teachers."

"… do you think… things might have been different for me if… if the Shukaku hadn't…?"

"Made you fucking crazy? Yeah, I know for sure that it would have been different. Hell, I was always bordering on insane… sometimes the Kyuubi pushed me one way or the other, but the person who kept me from going apeshit on everyone was probably my teacher, Iruka."

"… Do you mind if I… go in a door?"

"Well… it's kinda… personal… but fuck, we're gonna be here for a long ass time, and it's not like we got anything else to do. Whatever." Naruto didn't have much to hide, really.

Probably not.

Temari knocked on their door, carefully waiting for the all-clear before she opened it. She didn't know whether or not Shino and her brother were having sex at all, but she didn't want to accidentally barge in on it if they were. It had happened three times already, and even more of him barging in on her, and every time was just as disgusting as the last.

"Shino, let me have a word with my brother. I can see you from here, just go to Shikamaru's door," Temari instructed pointing down the hallway. Shino silently nodded before following her instructions, ambling down the hallway.

"You're taking him to Konoha?" Temari asked, watching her brother repack all of Shino's clothes from the doorway.

"Yeah, what of it?" Kankarou growled out. He pulled out a red shirt and looked at it, tilted his head, and held it up in Temari's direction. "Is this too girly for Shino?"

"How many buttons is it missing?"

"… two."

"Would you wear it?"

"No."

"Then it's too fucking girly. Shino likes jackets, pack him what he wants to wear. He's visiting his family, not someone you need to parade him around in front of. Just let him be comfortable for once. But anyways, what's the big deal, letting him go back home?"

"His bugs are dying, and how to fix it isn't the kind of information a ninja would send in a letter, so we're going to see his father."

"Uh-huh," Temari said sarcastically. "And… why aren't we letting the bugs die? You know he's not gonna be able to keep them or anything. They'll all die, no matter what he does. Shino is gonna become a real boy soon, and you're letting him cling to the puppet strings."

Kankarou held up the nearest puppet, a small prototype model that happened to be on the nightstand.

"You know what I mean. Put that creepy doll away," Temari huffed. The doll just happened to have four knobs on its head, each oddly spiky. It was obviously modeled after her, and she didn't like it.

"Well, I'd rather he hear it from his dad than from me, so he knows I did everything I could. And fuck, none of us have turned someone before, what's wrong with letting them see their family?"

"You know what's wrong with it," Temari sighed out, leaning against the doorway. "No matter how you present it, they're all going to think he's a monster… or a god, depending on how his village views vampires. Either way, Shino isn't going to be happy. A clean break is healthier."

"Duly noted. How about this one?"

"If it's silk, do not pack… Okay. Here are the rules. It can't be cut or unbuttoned lower than the neck, it has to cover his stomach, it has to fit – and by fit, I mean be baggy – and it can't be see-through or made of leather."

"What kind of freak do you take me for?" Kankarou scoffed before throwing out a fishnet shirt.

"Uh-huh."

"That was uhm. For me. I decided it wouldn't have been flattering."

"Ugh, why are my brothers such freaks…"

Gaara pushed open a different door, one adjacent to the door that Naruto had walked into. He slowly walked into it, suddenly realizing how intrusive this was. He was experiencing something Naruto had experienced from Naruto's point of view. He wasn't just hearing about it, he was… feeling it.

Warm arms wrapped around him, and all he could see was the close-up view of a green vest. He could smell the salt of tears, could feel an acute pain in his head. His chest was heaving from sobbing and he was choking out coughing cries… and then someone's warm hands stroked the back of his head and murmured, "It's okay, Naruto, they'll know that they were wrong someday…"

And then, just as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

Gaara walked numbly out of the room, the paint around his eyes smeared down to his cheeks from crying. His whole body was shaking, trembling.

"Gaara, what did you see…?"

"It was a… a… hug…" Gaara mumbled, wiping at his face.

All he could think about was Yashamaru. His uncle. His uncle hugged him like that, once. And then…

Gaara's body shook with a completely different force. Rage bubbled up to the surface, and he couldn't help himself. He punched the wall right next to the door as hard as he could, and started screaming. "Why was I all alone? Why couldn't anyone love me? Everyone always hated me, or hated me behind my back! What the fuck was so wrong with me...!" Gaara was punching the wall in a frenzy.

He could feel pressure from the punches but not pain, and no matter how hard he punched, he left no marks, scuffs, or indents.

Naruto grabbed his hand around the wrist and yelled, "Stop it!" as loudly as he could. "I know your life was shit," Naruto bit out. "And there was nothing wrong with you until the Shukaku fucked you up. But since then you've done a lot of bad stuff, and you need to stop focusing on the past or you're going to go fucking insane one way or another, either out of guilt or self-pity."

"Easy for you to say," Gaara grumbled and pushed him away. "You had someone telling you everything was going to be alright – the guy who did that for me tried to kill me."

"Hey," Naruto bit out. Gaara moved to storm away, but Naruto lunged forward. Naruto awkwardly had his arms wrapped around Gaara, halfway between an actual hug and pinning him there. "Everything is going to be all right, okay? And I'm not gonna kill you," Naruto loosened his death-grip a little and murmured again, "Everything's gonna be all right. Now we can keep going through the doors or we can just drop it. What do you wanna do?"

Gaara shuffled slightly, before turning into the hug, pressing his head against Naruto's chest. Naruto took the hint and stroked the back of his head, trying to let the awkwardness ebb out of the moment.

It wasn't, but Gaara seemed complacent, so Naruto did his best to shove the awkward feeling aside. "So?"

"… I'd like to see more, if you wouldn't mind," Gaara mumbled.

Shikamaru stared at the ceiling, pondering. Temari wasn't in at the moment, she was doing 'important things.' Shikamaru was fucking bored, and he was extremely envious of the other two. Shino had started being allowed to walk up and down the hallways and even go to the Library unattended, since leaving pretty much insured that he'd starve to death. Naruto was doing… something. There had been a lot of commotion earlier, but no one was telling him anything.

And for once, Shikamaru couldn't piece together what was going on. It was driving him slowly insane.

So he stared at the ceiling, trying to imagine that it was gone and instead of a beige, flat surface it was a bright blue plane of rolling white clouds.

He could barely remember clouds.

There was a knock on the door, and Shikamaru answered it with a grunt. He didn't bother looking up – it could only be one of two people. Temari didn't knock anymore, so it was either Kankarou or Shino.

"Kankarou has determined the best course of action for us is to bring me to Konoha and present me to my family in my current form," Shino said from the doorway. In his limited range of emotion, he was feeling as close to pitying as he could. Shikamaru was more emotionally invested in his friends and family (because he had the capacity to feel more than Shino did), and yet Shino was the one who got to go back 'home' first.

Shikamaru shot up into an upright into an upright position as soon as Shino had uttered the word 'Konoha.'

"Really? You get to…"

"Yes… I was stopping by to see if, well, if there was anything you wanted me to… deliver or say to anyone. I… I am fairly certain I could manage it."

"Did Kankarou say that you could deliver messages? It doesn't seem likely, since… well. We don't exactly get letters from home or stationary to write."

"… he did not disagree… nor did he agree…"

Ah. Ninja double-talk for 'I didn't ask because he would say no, and it's not even an issue if I don't get caught anyways.'

"I see. Well. I don't have much to say to them… just tell everyone that it's troublesome, but I'm doing alright. More importantly, check on Asuma, Chouji, Ino, and the Nara clan. Just… bring me news and I'll feel better."

"I will gather as much intelligence as I can about everyone. Are you sure there is nothing I can tell Asuma or perhaps your father?"

Shikamaru sank back into his reclined position and scoffed out a smile. "Yeah. Tell him I knew girls would be troublesome. He'll get a laugh out of it."

Gaara felt himself roll around, someone pushing him into the dirt. The other person was just as small and obviously a much better fighter. As the other kid moved to jump back, he pushed off by punching him in the stomach. He could feel the air leave his chest and he doubled over, unable to parry or block right. Laughter erupted around him, and Gaara could feel red rush to his cheeks. Suddenly, without being able to help it, he screamed out, "I'll be Hokage, you just watch! I'll own all your asses and be the greatest ninja ever!"

Gaara walked out of the room, a small smile on his face despite the fact that his stomach still hurt. Had Naruto actually made strange proclamations like that? Well, of course he had, if it was in his memory, but…

Naruto walked out of a door at the same time. The moments that were 'recorded' lasted the same amount of time, so they had it timed so they would go into a room and out at the same time.

"What was yours?" Naruto asked.

"Uhm… you were about six, and you were fighting a dark haired boy who wore navy…"

"Oh! Oh yeah, Sasuke! He's kinda like my best friend from back home, but he's also a bastard… I always wanted to kick his ass, just once, you know?"

"… That wouldn't be… Sasuke Uchiha, would it…?" Gaara asked slowly, carefully.

"Yeah. How'd you…? Oh, fucking great, even people in Suna have heard of the 'great Uchiha clan,' ugh I'm sick of hearing about them…"

"No… that's… not where I've heard of him before…"

Gaara didn't know how to explain it to Naruto. While under the influence of the Shukaku, he had been extremely interested in Bingo Books from around the world, from each village, everyone from people who'd stolen and ran to people who had assassinated clan leaders and gotten away.

And one of the highest bounties, due to his Sharingan, had been Sasuke Uchiha.

"Naruto… Sasuke Uchiha left Konoha… he's a fugitive."

Shino laid the cage in the middle of the room and placed a plate of some mulched up… food? in the center of it, hoping to entice them to eat it and come into the box.

"I thought they ate chakra," Kankarou huffed as he watched Shino's attempts from the doorway. All the bugs were still swarming the ceiling and windows, attempting to push themselves out in some imaginary crevice.

"Yes, but when they are extremely starved, food also smells like chakra to them. But I don't think it's working…"

"Well, I'mma try something less… desperate," Kankarou said, moving to the box. He bit his right index finger and held the blood in by pressing it in between his left index finger and thumb. He channeled a minute amount of chakra through his finger before pressing the droplet of chakra-induced blood above the plate of mulch.

He backed away when the bugs started scurrying towards it. Most of them crammed inside, and the ones that didn't Shino quickly flung inside.

"If you could have been feeding them your chakra, why haven't you been?" Shino asked, obviously slightly miffed.

"'cause the five or ten bugs that get to my chakra are gonna die. Remember the blood bug spray? Yeah, blood jutsu doesn't really affect living things so well… especially if it's something small like a bug. But fuck, it's killing five or ten to save the rest, right?"

"… I suppose." Shino paused, considering. "Thank you," he finally said.

Kankarou was honestly confused for a few seconds. "Ha, I knew there was a reason that I turned you! It's bad when you're totally no used to fucking manners and gratitude…"

Shino gave him a pointed look.

"I mean. It's not a problem. Uh. Anytime."

"What… when… when did he become a fugitive?" Naruto demanded.

"I… can't recall. It was after you'd come… I don't have a good sense of time…"

"Did… did it say why… or what he did…?"

"He was uninteresting. He didn't kill anyone before he left, he just left. He's in the Bingo Book solely because of his Sharingan, since that's a uniquely Konoha bloodline trait. I don't know what else to… say, really…"

"Damn it!" Naruto yelled.

"There… isn't really anything you can do, you know."

"Yeah, but if I'd been there, I—"

"I'm sorry for sounding selfish," Gaara interjected, "But… if you had been there, I'd be a lot worse off. Whoever would have been in your place would have been dead by now, I'd be a lot less stable, and I probably would have killed a couple of other random citizens. Also… you probably wouldn't have been able to do much for him."

"Yeah, but… I could have fucking tried…"

"… I'd say for you to give up on him, except that you haven't given up on me. He's about as hopeless as I am, so… when I'm 'right,' when I'm totally sane and in my own body, I vow to help you get your friend back in Konoha."

A/N: Couldn't leave Nar-Nar in the dark forever about Sasuke's leaving, now could we? XD Ugh, this chapter took forever. I had to change the story format of it a couple of times because I couldn't write just Gaara and Naruto for another chapter, and then it occurred to me how long it had been since I'd written any of Kankarou and Shino. All of their packing and talking to Shikamaru was actually gonna be next chapter or after that, but I got impatient.

And I was going to leave it at 'he's a fugitive,' but well, I decided to make it a tad longer. Next chapter will be more of the same. xD Thanks for the reviews, as always! ^_^