Reviews: (not so many DX)
Kirri Kitty: Yeah, BUT, if you read the story well, you would've noticed that Deidara is a distant relative, not her "COUSIN" relative. She just calls him that because it's easier for her to introduce him to people that way. Plus, you'll find out the truth about Deidara soon.
Chapter 24 is coming right up. Sorry for the delay, finished this up last night but wouldn't let me upload it for some reason
ENJOY!
'Italic' - thoughts
'Italic within normal speech' - stressing on a word/fact.
"Normal" - speech.
'Italic and bold' - inner voices
Previously:
Ino closed her eyes and gave in to his kiss as he moved his hands around her waist, pulling her closer. Ino unconsciously moved her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. She kissed him back, not realizing what she was doing,
not noticing that Gaara was just outside the door, witnessing the whole scene.
Please remember, Chapter 24:
Gaara gritted his teeth as he watched his girlfriend kiss her so-called distant relative.
Ino was still kissing Deidara when she realized what she was doing. She pushed him away, taking a couple of steps back herself. Deidara was startled and shook his head.
"What? What's wrong?" he said, tossing his head to the side, moving his hair off of his face, yet making sure his left eye wouldn't be visible to her. Ino panted and shook her head.
"We can't do this!" she said, turning around to avoid looking at him. Deidara chuckled.
"And why is that?" he said, crossing his arms. Ino turned around and threw her arms in the air. "Because we're cousins, that's why!" Ino yelled, crossing her arms as well. Deidara chuckled, raising his index finger and shaking it, correcting her statement.
"Distant relatives, not cousins. There's a big difference" he said, raising his eyebrows. Ino groaned. "That's not the point!" she said, pausing for a minute. She turned her head towards the glass front of the shop, feeling someone's gaze upon her.
Outside
Gaara managed to move out of her vision as soon as she looked at him, 'Ino, why?' he thought, closing his eyes and leaning his head back at the wall.
'Distant relative? Stupid Gaara. You believed her. That was probably a lie to hide the fact that she was cheating on you.'
The voice in his head said, making Gaara close his fists so tight that his knuckles turned white. He opened his eyes once he heard that voice again.
'She's like everybody else, a liar. No body likes you, Gaara. Only I can be your friend.' Gaara narrowed his eyes. He decided to agree with that voice and turned his head to the side, squeezing his eyes shut before walking away.
Inside
Ino narrowed her eyes when she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Deidara was saying something when she turned her head to face him.
"What?" she asked, not paying attention to what he said. Deidara sighed, "What I'm saying is that we're distant relatives and that won't affect the whole situation. It's not like we're brother and sister, not like we're from the same blood!" he said, before going on quickly with his next sentence, "We can have this if we want to haー"
"ーNo we can't!" she yelled, cutting his sentence. Deidara raised his left eyebrow. "Give me one good reason we can't have this" he said, talking about their relationship together. Ino narrowed her eyes and shook her head with a smile, almost a smirk on her face
"I have a boyfriend and I should beー"
"Who, the Suna kid?" he said, widening his eyes, "Tell me you're kidding. You're serious with him?" he said, chuckling ironically. Ino shook her head, ignoring what he's just said, and walked in front of the counter. Deidara called her back.
"Hey, where are you going?" he asked, slamming his hands on the counter. Ino turned around, shockingly looking at his hands before moving his vision towards his eyes, shuddering.
"I'm going to see Gaara, my boyfriend" She said, jerking the door open before storming out. Deidara sighed and leaned on the counter.
"This is going just like I expected" he said, chuckling, before his chuckles turned into an evil, psychotic laughter.
Shimabukuro restaurant
Lee looked up at the almost reconstructed building, wiping the sweat off of his forehead, sighing heavily.
"Carrying almost a ton of wood is certainly the best practice anyone could ever ask for" he told himself, resting his fists on his slim waist. Though he wondered what Shimabukuro-san would do with a ton of wood. Lee shook his head and chuckled. A tap on his shoulder made him turn around. He smiled when he saw none other than Ishikawa Kagome, smiling at him, holding a picnic basket in her left arm.
"Good morning!" she cheerfully said, smiling. Lee raised his eyebrows, smiling back, "Good morning to you too, Kagome-san" he said, nodding respectfully before rubbing the back of his head. He might've known this girl for a couple of days now, but Lee still felt nervous around new people, especially girls with nice personalities.
"How's everything with that?" she said, nodding towards the building. Lee turned around and waved his hand in the direction of the building.
"Oh, that." he said, sighing heavily, "It might take longer than I thought, but surely less than Shimabukuro-san calculated" he said, his tone changing into an optimistic one.
Kagome chuckled, "Well, good for you, Lee-san" she said, smiling. Lee looked at the ground, "Please, just call me Lee. Drop the formalities" he said, chuckling. She raised an eyebrow, "Not unless you call me Kagome, without the title" she said, chuckling as well. A silent minute has passed; none of them said a word.
Kagome looked at Lee and smiled, "Well, I've been hearing that you're working from the break of dawn till sunset, straight, so I brought you this." she said, handing over the basket. "I figured you'd be working for quite a long time, so I made you some sandwiches. You might get hungry and not be able to go buy something for yourself" she said, smiling sincerely at him.
"I do hope you like them!"
Lee was surprised; it was the first time a girl bothered to make some sandwiches for him. He blinked a couple of times before smiling and extending his arm, taking the basket.
"Kagome," he said, smiling, "you didn't have to bother yourself with this." he said, pointing at the basket. She shook her head, "I wasn't bothered at all. I actually had fun. I like making sandwiches" She chuckled like a child. Lee smiled yet sighed after that, making her knot her eyebrows, tilting her head to the side.
"What is it?" she asked, biting her bottom lip. 'I shouldn't have done this! he'll think I'm some kind of a stalker' she thought as she saw him lifting his vision slowly from the basket to look into her eyes.
"I am the one who's supposed to bring YOU things" he said, chuckling. Kagome didn't quite get it until he pointed at her head. "Since I'm the one who hurt you back then" Kagome chuckled at his statement. "I can't even remember that" she said, laughing. 'Of course, Baka, You were hit in the head, remember?' Kagome thought behind, what Lee thought was, a cute smile.
"How's your head?" Lee asked, pouting his bottom lip. Kagome chuckled, blushing. "Um, good, I think" She said before looking at the watch on her wrist.
"Oh, darn, will you look at that? I have to go" she said, grinning and turning around to walk off.
"Wait!" he exclaimed, succeeding in stopping her. A light breeze blew from the side as Kagome turned around slowly and put her usual smile on her face. Her long black hair was swinging along with her light green & pink dress; a scene which made Lee space out for a second at.
"What is it?" she said, breaking his string of thoughts. Lee blinked a couple of times, "Uh, well, I was thinking," he said, looking at the big picnic basket in his arms. "this is quite huge and I wouldn't be able to finish it up on my own" he said. A light pink color appeared on his cheeks, as bright as the sun. Kagome smiled, knowing where this was going.
"I was thinking, maybe, just maybe, you would like to share it with me? I mean, I know you have to go but I won't be finishing my shift until later. Maybe you and I could hang out, get to know each other and ー"
"LEE!" someone yelled, breaking Lee's sentence. He turned around to see an angry Shimabukuro; his oversized belly was bigger than ever and his mustache covered most of his mouth. His bald head shone in the sun. "Get back to work and deal with your personal life later!" he yelled, walking inside. Lee sighed and turned to face Kagome who was still waiting for him to finish.
"Uh, where was I?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Kagome laughed and put her hands behind her back, biting her bottom lip. "You were in the middle of asking me out" she said, smiling and blushing. Lee nodded and took a deep breath.
"Yeah, soーwhat?!" he said, realizing that she called his small speech an attempt of asking her out. Lee paused for a minute, causing Kagome to panic.
"Oh! I got the wrong picture, didn't I?" she said, covering her mouth. "You weren't trying to ask me out, I'm so sorry, I should've thought about my words before saying them out…"
"…Kagome…"
"…and now you'll think I'm a big stalker because I said that and because I brought you the big basket…"
"…Kagome…"
"… and you'll never speak to me again and Iー"
"ーKAGOME!" Lee yelled, frustratingly, stopping her from her panic attack. Kagome blinked a couple of times, gulping. She noticed Lee's smile, making her calm down and smile as well.
"I was trying to ask you out!" he said, chuckling, looking at the ground. Kagome paused for a minute, 'Was I just asked out? Oh Kami-sama!' she thought, blinking a couple of times. Lee saw that she didn't reply so he nodded.
"Ok, I see, then." He said, with a hint of disappointment in his voice, "You were going somewhere, weren't you? I don't want to keep you from doing what you were planning to do" he said, smiling. "Thanks for the basket!" he said, turning around and walking off, leaving Kagome with a small smile on her lips which grew wider as soon as she knew what to say.
"I'll see ya at 5, Lee-kun" she said, smiling sincerely. Lee turned around and their eyes met. His lips curved into a big smile, his eyes sparkling like a small child. Kagome nodded and walked off. He kept watching her until she became a small figure in the distance. Lee closed his eyes and clenched his fist, suddenly throwing it in the air and yelling on top of his lungs.
"LONG LIVE THE POWER OF YOUTH!" he yelled, being the same good ol' Lee.
"LEE, GET YOUR BUTT BACK TO WORK!" Shimabukuro yelled from inside, breaking Lee's inspirational moment. He sighed and walked inside, the basket in hand.
Hokage's building…
Temari walked towards her one-year-younger brother's room, tying the light blue sash around her slender waist to hold the black kimono she usual wore in place. She was going out to practice, since it's been a while since they've arrived to Konoha and ever since, she's been eating out with Shikamaru.
"I must've gained a lot of weight. That cute bastard is going to pay" she said with a smile on her face. As soon as she reached Kankurou's room, she raised her fist, banging on the door loudly.
"C'mon, you fat lazy ー" the door suddenly opened.
"ー would you be quiet?" Kankurou said, looking as bored as ever. "Damn, you're so noisy" he said, closing the door behind him. "What do you want?" he asked, crossing his arms. Temari reached her hand back and touched the tip of her fan, narrowing her eyes.
"First of all, if you don't treat me with respecty in the next couple of minutes, I won't even let you see the first star," she said, referring to the three stars on her fan. Kankurou smirked, "and secondly, we're going to practice" she said, moving her hand back in front of her, and crossed her arms. Kankurou raised an eyebrow.
"WE? You mean you and Gaara?" he said, taking a couple of steps, walking away, making his sister follow him. "Nah, by 'we' I meant you and I" she said, smiling evilly and nudging her brother. "Besides, I haven't seen Gaara since this morning, God knows where he went" she said, narrowing her eyes, thinking about where her brother could've gone to. Kankurou chuckled, making his sister glare at him.
"What?" she asked, looking at her brother who was now chuckling, "He's out with Ino, his girlfriend" he said, wiggling his eyebrows at his sister, "I can tell he's in 'L.O.V.E.' with her" he said, spelling the letters and making quotation marks with his fingers. Temari sighed heavily, shaking her head.
"Grow up, Kankurou. Besides, it's his business ifー" she said, stopping in the middle of her sentence. She also stopped walking, looking at the main entrance of the building. Kankurou narrowed his eyes at his sister, noticing the horrified expression on her face.
"Ka-Kankurou…" she said, pointing at the door. he turned his head slowly to see a scene he's never seen before, well, he's never seen in a couple of years now.
Somewhere near the building…
Ino was walking slowly, making her way towards the building when she spotted someone who seemed to be Gaara from a long distance, walking inside the Hokage building. She stopped, biting her bottom lip. 'What I did was horrible. What was I thinking?' she thought, narrowing her eyes. 'If he knew, he'll be very upset' she thought, looking up and taking a deep breath before releasing it.
"Deidara" she mumbled, grimacing at the thought of him. Ino shook her head, getting Deidara's image out of her head before making her way towards the Hokage building, where the Suna no shinobi were staying.
A couple of minutes later, Ino walked into the building to see Kankurou and Temari, not exactly how she thought she'd see them. She froze in her place, shocked of what she's seen.
Both Temari and Kankurou were on the ground, Kankurou was struggling to get up while his sister was looking at Ino while lying on the ground, shockingly.
Ino gasped and ran towards the two of them, helping Temari up on her own two feet, putting Temari's arm around her shoulder and her own arm behind her back while Kankurou managed to get up on his own.
"What in the world happened here?" she said, looking at the ground to notice something. Her feet almost slipped at the light brown gritty granular material. Her breath was caught in her throat, her eyes widened. "Sand?" she mumbled, raising her head to look at Kankurou who was looking away.
"What happened here?" she said, looking at the sand sibling who showed no emotion on their faces. Kankurou opened his mouth to speak up.
"It's Gaara," he said, looking at Ino, "he's changed."
Hyuuga residence...
Hinata took one last look at herself in the mirror, wearing a black mandarin-collar top and a knee length pink skirt and pink sandals, Letting her hair loose, two pink clips on the sides of her hair, holding up a few strands.
"Now I'm done" she said, smiling at herself before walking out of her room and down the stairs.
Once she came down the stairs, she saw her cousin sitting on the couch of their living room/Library, dressed in his usual white and grayish-green Hyuuga uniform, reading a book about, what Hinata could read on the cover, The Hyuuga History. Awkward enough, he was wearing glasses. Neji didn't pay attention at the staring Hinata.
"Neji-nii-chan, since when do you wear glasses?" she said, startling him. He quickly took off his glasses and shoved them in the book, closing it. He could almost hear the sound of the glasses being broken, making him flinch.
"Hinata, how long have you been standing there?" he asked, gulping. Hinata blinked a couple of times before chuckling, "Long enough. I'm going out" she said, waving her hand and walking off. Neji sighed, "Hinata!" he called her back, making her stop and turn around.
"Yes, I won't tell anyone about the glasses, especially Tenten. Got the lesson!" she said, winking at her cousin before walking off. As soon as she was gone, Neji chuckled, shaking his head. "I wasn't going to say that, but that would also work" he said, opening the book to find that his glasses were broken beyond fixing. Neji sighed, taking the glasses out of the book with his right hand and closing the book with his left.
"Ah, well, I guess reading time is over." He said, getting up with the book in hand. Neji walked towards one of the shelves and put the book back in its place, sighing as he looked at his broken glasses.
He chuckled, walking towards the trash bin in the same room, throwing the glasses in it. 'No need for them anyways. I can't believe Hiashi-sama convinced me to wear these' he thought, remembering his uncle's words:
'You should wear glasses from now on, to relax your eyes from time to time. Otherwise, you'll be left with bad eyesight and won't be good for activating Byakugan'
Neji chuckled, shaking his head. He took his uncle's advice for a couple of months now, but he was getting bored with it. 'Too bored, as a matter of fact' he thought, looking at the ground.
"I wonder if Tsunade-sama has some missions. It's been quiet for some time now" he said, not that it wasn't a good thing; he felt that it was a situation similar to 'the calm before the storm'. Neji shook his head, walking towards the main door of the Hyuuga residence, and out of the territory.
Hokage building
Ino froze in her place after hearing Kankurou's words, "Gaara? Changed?" she repeated, "What do you mean by changed?" she asked, knotting her eyebrows. Temari leaned off of Ino's shoulder and braced herself against the wall.
"You know about Shukaku, don't you?" she asked, receiving a nod from the blonde, "I've heard about him." she said, grimacing about the fact that a monster was sealed inside of Gaara, 'Just like Naruto's Kyuubi Kitsune' she thought. Kankurou decided to carry on.
"A couple of years ago, they successfully managed to extract him out of Gaara. But," he said, looking at the ground. "But what?" Ino asked, throwing her hand to the side. Kankurou looked up at her.
"They said that there's a very small part of Shukaku that was connected with Gaara's personality, any attempt of trying to extract it would lead to Gaara's demise, so we told Gaara the fact. And he agreed on trying to control it instead of extracting it" he said, narrowing his eyes.
Temari looked at the ground, at the sand, "Apparently, it's back. It took control over Gaara." she said, remembering the events a moment ago; how their brother changed back to what he was. Ino looked at the sand, spread across the ground. "Then, what happened here?" she asked, worriedly. Temari and Kankurou exchanged looks before they decided to tell Ino what happened.
Flashback
"Ka-Kankurou!" she said, pointing at the door. he turned his head slowly to see a scene he's never seen before, well, he's never seen in a couple of years now.
Kankurou gasped. His breath was caught in his throat as he saw his younger brother walk inside the building, looking at the ground. Both Kankurou & Temari noticed the great amount of sand flying out of the gourd, swirling all around him as he walked. Stopping in the middle of his tracks, Gaara moved his vision towards his siblings. Both of them froze as they saw the expression on his face; that dark look in his eyes. They almost froze at his cold intense gaze at them. Kankurou took a step forward.
"Gaara, what's going on?!" Kankurou spat out, making Gaara smirk evilly at them. He raised his head, keeping his eyes on the two.
"Get out of my way." He calmly said, tightening his fists. The sand was twirling faster around him. Kankurou gulped, blinking a couple of times. "No, not until you tell me what's wrong!" he yelled, trying to stop his brother from whatever was on his mind.
Gaara narrowed his eyes, his face went pale and his stare went colder. His lips curved into a disgusted expression. "I don't like to repeat myself." He said, increasing the sand's speed. Temari took a step closer, helping her brother in stopping their younger sibling.
"Gaara, please calm down, please tell us whatー"
"SILENCE!!" He said in a deep, monstrous tone; Temari almost froze in fear, their demons came back to haunt them again. She never thought she'd see the day when Gaara, the dark, psychotic killer was back. Gaara thrust his palm at them, ordering his sand to move towards his siblings.
Temari reacted fast and took her fan off of her back, "Kamaitachi no Jutsu" she yelled, waving her fan towards her brother, creating a small slicing tornado. She smirked, 'No one managed to dodge this attack' she thought, but her thoughts weren't exactly applied in this situation.
The sand split in two; half of the amount protected its owner from being hit. The other half dodged the attack, catching both her and Kankurou off guard. The sand moved at an incredible speed, swirling around the siblings.
Kankurou's eyes widened as he found himself trapped in his brother's sand coffin. Temari tried to scream, but his sand covered her fully, preventing her from moving, or breathing.
"TEMARI!" Kankurou yelled, trying to get any sign from his sister that she was still alive. He got paranoid when she wasn't moving. He turned to face his younger brother, but he didn't find him.
"Gaara!!' he screamed, noticing his brother walking past them and into his room. Once he slammed the door shut, the sand got deactivated and both of them were released on the ground, both lying down in shock.
"T-Temari" Kankurou said, looking at his sister who wasn't moving. Kankurou pushed himself up and looked at his sister, 'Please, don't be dead, Temari' he secretly prayed as he leaned over his sister's limp body.
"I'm fine, I-I'm just shocked" she said, trying to turn her head at her brother when she noticed someone at the door way.
Ino walked into the building to see Kankurou and Temari, not exactly how she thought she'd see them. She froze in her place, shocked of what she's seen.
End flashback
Ino froze in place, hearing the shocking news from the siblings. Both of them looked at the ground, fearing yet worrying about their brother. Ino shook her head, narrowing her eyes, and looked at the sand sibling.
"Why was he acting like this? It's not like Gaara" she said, remembering that a couple hours ago, she was in the park with him, spending the time of their lives. Temari sighed, resting her head on the wall, still bracing herself. Kankurou shook his head, "I don't know. We've never thought Shukaku could be back" he said, looking at his brother's door way. Ino looked around for the building was dead quiet.
"Where's everybody? From what you've said, everyone should've been here" Ino said, looking at the two. Kankurou took of his hat and ruffled his hair. "I don't know. All I know that Gaara managed to do all this without making a fuss" he said, sighing heavily, and rested his hands on his knees. Ino lifted her vision from Kankurou's leaning figure towards the closed door, walking past the siblings and towards Gaara's room. Temari noticed her but couldn't move. Her body was too exhausted to do that.
"Ino, where are you going?" she asked, making Kankurou look behind him and at Ino. She turned her head sharply at them, "If anyone is going to stop Gaara, it's better be me" she said, moving her hand towards the door knob.
"Be careful," Temari said, leaning off of the wall but struggled to stand on her own. Kankurou rushed to brace her. "he's not the Gaara that we know," she said, narrowing her eyes. "not the Gaara that you know" she continued. Ino could notice the hint of tears in her eyes.
"I will" Ino firmly said, moving her hand towards the door knob. It was trembling like crazy, causing her to close her hand and tighten her grip, breathing deeply. Ino reached for the door knob and turned it, opening the door fully.
She stepped into the bright room. The curtain of the window behind the desk was opened; the desk's chair was turned to face the window. Ino could see Gaara's hair; he was sitting on the chair. Sand was all over the place; the floor, the walls, and the desk were all covered. She looked at the desk to see the vase broken, the purple flower tossed on the ground, torn and apparently stepped on. Ino grimaced.
"Gaara." she whispered, but stopped as soon as she saw the chair turn around to reveal Gaara, no, that wasn't Gaara. What Ino saw in his eyes wasn't what she'd seen earlier.
The brightness in his eyes, his sincere smiles, his bright face, it was all gone, replaced by an angry expression, cold and dark eyes, and that smirk on his face. He stood up, raising his head, looking patronizingly at Ino.
"What are you doing here?" he quietly asked, in the tone Ino always loved to hear from him. Ino opened her mouth to speak, when suddenly, the sand shot across the room, closing the door and the curtains; closing every source of light in the room. His desk shook, the lights trembled on the stands before crashing on the ground. Ino could almost feel the ground shake beneath her as she tried to brace herself.
"Gaara, what the hell are you doing?! Why are you doing this?!" she said, falling on her knees. Gaara stood still behind his desk. Ino looked around; the new layer of sand was covering everything, the cupboard, the walls, the desk, the floor. Ino noticed that the sand was creeping closer to her. She crawled back, pushing herself against the door. She could feel the door being banged on. The muffled voices of Temari and Kankurou were heard.
"INO, GET OUT OF THERE!" Ino could hear Kankurou yell. She turned her head to the side, and then turned it back to see Gaara walking slowly towards her, with a bloodthirsty grin on his face.
"Gaara!" she pleaded, her eyes watering. Ino has never felt that fear before, the feeling of being violated, the feeling of being in danger, threatened by the one you love.
"STOP THIS!" she said, tears strolling down her cheeks. Despite her tears, despite her pleadings, Gaara didn't stop; the sand still crawled towards her, holding her ankles. Ino shrieked, shaking the sand off of her legs but of no use. Gaara chuckled.
"You won't run away from me, Ino" he said, taking a couple of steps before stopping in front of her. Ino looked at him and narrowed her eyes.
"What happened to you, Gaara?!" she yelled, but she soon was silenced once he held her by the neck, lifting her to his level. She started gagging as his grip choked her.
"You lied to me when I trusted you the most," he whispered, leaning closer to her. "when I gave you my heart, youー" he said, looking at the ground, his tears hitting the ground. Then suddenly, he looked up, his evil smirk was back.
"He gave you his heart. You stepped on it, and for that. I'll kill you" he yelled, his voice deeper than usual, echoing across the room. Ino could tell that wasn't his voice, that wasn't Gaara who was talking to her.
Gaara threw her across the room. Ino hit the wall with a loud thump, falling face down on the ground, coughing a couple of times. Ino touched her bruised neck, struggling to look up at him; He stood there with a hurt expression. Ino could notice a hint of tears in his eyes, but they quickly disappeared as he raised his hand and rubbed his eyes, and then looked at her.
Ino was in tears, shocked of his actions. She braced herself against the wall, looking at her boyfriend.
'He's not my boyfriend anymore, I don't know who that is' she thought as Gaara raised his palm in her face. The sand accumulated behind him in one big tornado-like figure, smirking at her.
"Sabaku Kyū" he whispered, sending the sands across the room, past him and onto Ino. She gasped as the sands crept up her body, surrounding her with a coffin of sand. Ino started to loose her sense of her surroundings. The banging on the door started to fade; his scary image was the last thing she thought she'd ever see. Gaara smirked. Ino knew what was coming, she knew it. He only had to say two words, the two words that would end her life.
"Sabaku Sōsō!" he yelled, closing his fist.
AH! CLIFFIE!! How I adore them! (ONLY in my story) Nyahahahaha!
I didn't think I would do that last part. But the story was too fluffy and I had to get Gaara out of the OOC status…and I decided it would add some more suspense to the story
What happened to Gaara? Will Ino die? What was Deidara's plan from the beginning? Why is Itachi in town? And where the hell is Kakashi?
Find out, eh, soon. Please review!!