Scroll Two; Chapter Ten:

Importance

A mission to get my memories back. That's what this was. From my grandfather, Gaara had learned of a Shinobi who lived not far from Sunagakure, just outside the borders of the Wind Country. This Shinobi apparently knew how to reverse whatever had happened to me.

"It's worth a shot, don't you think?" Kasaji had muttered after explaining this to me. He'd given a nonchalant shrug, as if it wasn't a big deal at all.

Still, the thought of some unknown person working around in my brain made me nervous. It was bad enough that my own blood had somehow screwed up so badly that I couldn't even remember my name at first, but now I had to put up with someone I didn't even know backtracking that? It seemed like a horrible idea, but then again, what choice did we have?

As we approached a tiny, weather-worn shack about a day and a half after leaving the village, my anxiety tripled. The entire journey, I'd felt okay. I had occupied my mind by playing "I Spy" with my team, trying to picture Haketa's laugh, and counting how many shriveled plants we came across.

Once my eyes settled on the shattered windows of the shack, however, I couldn't think of anything to calm me. How could someone who lived in these conditions possibly be able to help me without harming me or worse?

"This is it," Kasaji announced, his knuckles rapping hard on the wooden door. From the slight force of his hand, the door creaked open, revealing darkness. I found myself using Daichi's frame as a barrier between myself and whatever inhabited the place.

"Can we just go back?" I muttered, sweat forming on my forehead. "I really don't mind not remembering anything, really. I'm sure my memories will eventually come back."

Niya turned and gave me a stern stare. "These are orders directly from Lord Kazekage, you know," she replied curtly. "I really don't want to see his reaction if we fail such an easy mission like this."

Kasaji pushed the door open and, with a kunai held tightly in his hand, proceeded into the home. The three of us waited outside, trembling with curiosity, until we finally heard a sharp whistle. Daichi turned, grabbing my arms so I couldn't escape, and began to pull me inside.

"No, no, no," I whispered, trashing against him. "Screw what Gaara says! When has he ever had a truly good idea?!"

"Come on, Kyan the Great," Daichi grumbled in annoyance. "He just wants to help you. He misses you."

His words repeated over and over in my head. He misses you. My thrashing stopped and I nodded in acceptance. "Yeah, I know."

I followed my team into the shack. A foul scent instantly entered my nose and I lifted my hands to cover my face. Glancing around, I saw that everyone else had done the same. Whatever it was that was excreting such a horrible smell, it had to have been dead.

The only source of light came from a single candle flickering on a bedside table. Books littered the floor; pages ripped out and crumpled into piles of balls. There didn't seem to be any sign of food at all. In fact, it seemed as if whoever vacated the home left years ago.

"Now what?" Niya demanded to know, nudging a broken piece of chair with her foot.

Kasaji pondered, his eyes scanning the room for anything that could be useful. "I think we need to wait," he finally suggested, sitting on the bed. It let out a pitiful screeching noise underneath his weight. "There's a reason your grandfather sent us here, so we're going to stick it out." His eyes bored into mine.

So, we waited. Niya and Daichi took turns standing guard outside while Kasaji and I remained inside. My stomach eventually began to grumble. Luckily, on our way to our destination, Niya had managed to kill a rabbit. She kept it tied to her waist by the neck and hurried to throw it over the fire I had started with my Jutsu.

"How did that fight turn out?" the girl asked bluntly as we tore through the meat of the rabbit. It didn't taste as horribly as I expected.

"What fight?" I questioned.

"The one with you and Gaara in the hallway the other day."

Kasaji's eyes met mine in an inquisitive flash. I shook my head, setting my piece of meat onto my lap. "We're fine," I lied. "He just…I don't know. Always seems upset with me."

"Can you blame him?" Daichi commented as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I think he's taking it a lot better than most people would. I couldn't imagine loving someone so much and then having every memory they had of me wiped clean. I feel bad for the guy, you know?"

I avoided their persistent stares by watching the fire crackle and spit smaller flames into the air. Of course I felt horrible about the whole thing, but without knowing of my past with Gaara, I couldn't completely understand how he felt. I knew he was hurt, but I couldn't just lie and say my memories came back just so everything could work out again.

"Wait, that's it," I mumbled. "What if you guys just tell me everything about how we were before and I'll pretend like all my memories came back because of this place? I mean, it's obvious that whoever lived here doesn't anymore, so—"

"No," Kasaji snapped. His mouth formed into a hard line as scooted to close the distance between us. He placed his hands around mine tightly. "You can't do that to someone. You do realize that Gaara would give his life for you a thousand times over, don't you? I've known Gaara for seven years and let me tell you, before you came along, he was entirely different. He was hateful, angry, and he killed people for fun. Could you imagine him being that way now?"

My head twisted from side to side as I muttered, "No."

"I'm not going to lie to you. You aren't the only reason why he's changed, but you're a big part of it. Every time you came to visit your sister after she moved to Sunagakure, he smiled a little more often and made more of an attempt to form relationships with anyone who crossed his path. You are one of the biggest parts of his life and because of that, I won't allow you to lie to him about this."

Kasaji's eyes burned with bitter determination. I was so used to seeing the playful and flirty glimmer in them that it caught me by surprise. Gaara meant a lot to him. After all, he was the Kazekage, the fearless leader who protected the village and everyone in it with his life. People looked up to him, small children strove to be like him when they grew up, and women swooned over just the mention of his name.

Gaara was important. That was a fact.

()()()

The sound of booming thunder startled me awake. I jolted from the corner of the room, a kunai readied in my hand. I had fallen asleep with it just near my fingertips, just in case. Around me, my teammates slept peacefully. Daichi curled around Niya's smaller frame, burying his face in what was left of her hair. Kasaji sprawled on his back, a soft snore coming from his throat.

Rain pelted the roof and the outside walls of the shack. Wind whipped by so fiercely that I was worried it would blow the entire place over. Water dripped in through the shattered windows even though we had hung up blankets to keep it out.

I slumped against the wall, hugging my legs to my chest. With the sound of the wind, rain, and thunder together, there was no way I could fall back to sleep. I longed for Gaara's soft bed back home.

Hours must have passed before a loud thump banged at the door. In half a second, my teammates were awake and prepared to fight. Daichi and Niya both held kunai and senbon tightly in their hands while Kasaji's hands twitched in urges to form hand signs. A dark figure emerged from the doorway, one much taller and broader than any of us.

"The hell are you doin' in my house?" a gruff voice demanded to know.

"We were sent here by the Kazekage of Sunagakure," Kasaji called out, using as much authority in his voice as he could muster. "We've brought Chikaku Kyan to you to cure her amnesia."

The door slammed behind the man and a lantern in his hand squeaked on, illuminating his face. My heart plummeted in irritation and confusion. "What the hell?!" I shrieked, pointing toward my grandfather. "Why are you here?!"

My grandfather gave a cheeky grin. "Nice to see you too, Kyan. Your hair looks nice," he responded, his voice softer now. "Sorry I had to send you all out here like this, but your mother would not leave me alone to concentrate."

My teammates lowered their weapons in relief as my grandfather tore off his coat, which was the only thing making him appear to be bigger than he was. My heart sped up once more when I spied another shadowy figure behind him.

"Move!" I shouted, tossing my kunai as hard as I could. Instead of colliding with whoever was looming behind him, the point hit a wall of sand.

"Lord Kazekage," Kasaji murmured. "What are you doing here?"

My grandfather moved out of the way as Gaara pulled the hood off his head. "My presence was requested for this," he answered darkly as the sand placed the kunai back into my palm. I gripped it tightly, my mind repeating the conversation I had with my teammates earlier in the night.

I watched as my grandfather strolled over to a desk and opened the drawer that had been locked when we tried to break into it. "I know you have a million questions," he assumed. "I will answer them one at a time. I don't like being overwhelmed. That's why I couldn't be around your mother any longer."

I searched my mind, wading through all the questions that had piled on top of me the second he revealed himself. "What is this place?" I asked.

"My home. Well, it used to be. As you can tell, I haven't been here in quite some time." He unraveled a scroll on the bed, bit the tip of his finger, and placed it on the fabric. "I travel here and there now. Any more questions?"

"Yeah, I have a lot more questions. Why did you send us all the way out here?"

"Because your mother was constantly breathing down my neck, nagging me to find a way to cure you. If I had just told you to meet me here, she would've found some way to follow us. I even had to trick Gaara here. I apologize again for that, m'lord."

Gaara, who stood against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, gave a small nod of acknowledgement. He looked tired and worn, as if he hadn't slept since we left the village. That was most likely the case. If Kasaji's words were indeed true about how much Gaara cared for me, he probably rushed my grandfather to get here.

"Why is he here?" I finally asked, my eyes locked on Gaara.

My grandfather moved in front of me, pressed his blooded finger to my forehead. I shivered in disgust. "Because," he started, avoiding my glare, "he's the only person who is strong enough to hold you down." He turned his head, motioning to the redhead.

Gaara pushed himself from the wall, his face growing with concern. He met my grandfather's gaze and muttered, "If anything worse happens to her, I won't hesitate to kill you."

Before I could realize what was happening, I was thrown to the ground by a mound of sand. I struggled against it, screaming at the top of my lungs. Gaara forced his eyes shut as my grandfather wiped his blood just above the tattoo.

It was the very last image I saw before the world grew dark and silent.