No, this is not an April Fool's joke, nor will there be one. Almost forewent updating today, simply because of it being April Fool's Day.
Anyway, this chapter is kinda light on everything- including in-depth exposition, but I was having a hard time starting it up, so I'm just happy that I finally got it done, so no complaining! Also, this chapter weighs in at 4700+ words.
Lucidity stands at 73,657 hits (Whoa. At the rate it's going, it'll be over 100K hits when it finishes), 17,993 visitors, 257 reviews, 308 faves, 298 alerts, and 21 C2s.
Onwards to answering reviews!
TenchiSaWaDa :Well thanks, I guess. There's more Gaara in this chapter (it's kinda centered on him in Suna, and the next few chapters are on each of the other Hidden Villages). As for Yugito, I haven't yet begun to flesh out her character enough, which will happen in the next chapter. And each sequence were supposed to act as preludes to what's gonna be dealt with in each of the oncoming chapters in the villages. Sorry if it wasn't fleshed out enough, as my in-depth fleshing out creativity recently redirected itself into my new fanfic.
bakapervert :Well, that would be telling much too early in the game, now would it?
Altair :Umm, sorry, but this isn't an Evil!Naruto fic, so no brutal murders or Konoha razing. However, that doesn't mean he'll forgive Konoha...
Wyrtha :Well, he is still Naruto. He hates them, yes, but not enough to retaliate. And if he did, I still wouldn't have had him do it for a simple reason- it would reveal his strength, which I'm saving for a special occasion.
darkemoperson :I don't hate those two, I'm just presenting them in a way that makes them out as the bad guys. Kinda like Naruto razzing on Minato- I myself think he's uber-awesome. And it's not like I didn't have the factual points laid out clearly enough to reasonably expain the hate...
Scurryfunger :The Children are confusing (even to me, and I came up with them!), and I don't think I've ever though of Naruto's position in Canon like that. You've given me much to think about. (no worries about ranting, I rather enjoy reading your rants. It kinda makes my day!)
AzSHole :Best. Review. Ever. "Realistic" has been my intent from the start, and is my personal 'golden rule' when writing fanfiction. Thanks very much for that.
fujin of shadows :It's not been shown yet because I'm saving it for a big fight in the future (though don't be surprised if there's a few details on what he can do in chapter 29- the Konoha-centric chapter), but let me just say this: he's improved. A lot.
MuhiTatsu :One of us must remember to thank AoS. Glad you like it and think of it that way!
d :Sadly, I'm not taking any requests at the moment, but I'm sure that if you look hard enough, you can find someone who can or has written a fic like that.
Disclaimer the First: This chapter focuses on Gaara's time in Suna, and is the first in a series of chapters on each Hidden Village and the Jinchuurikis' time in them.
Disclaimer the Second: Tenten's gonna waste the entire undead army by accident in the next few chapters, if Kishimoto's writing is to be believed.
Disclaimer the Third: Check out my other story, Psyche. It's not exactly a Yaoi, yet I can't really say it isn't one, since that's where it's headed (but that's not gonna come into play for some time). It's more a human interest story involving Kyuubi- well, it wouldn't do to reveal everything about it here, now would it? Who knows, you may just find one of the few times a Yaoi involving the Narutoverse to be plausible, if not possible (and not just the fics by Small Fox).
Lucidity
Chapter 25
Siblings
The gates of Sunagakure were the most intimidating out of all the Greater Nations. During the Second Great Shinobi World War, when almost the entire ninja force of Kumogakure were upon its walls, it withstood the attacks without so much as a single crack. Not even the young Jonin that would one day hold the title of Sandaime Raikage could penetrate those walls with the most powerful of his black lightning jutsu.
It was these very gates that Gaara came to view when he laid eyes on Sunagakure for the first time in over three years. Feeling the penetrating gaze of the two dozen Chunin standing guard within the many tiers, many of whom were little older than he.
"Elder Chiyo! Lady Temari!" The lone Jonin of the guards greeted them, eying Gaara just as much as his Chunin comrades. Tearing his gaze from the silent red-head, he faced Chiyo. "Where is the Godaime?"
"I am saddened to bring news of the Godaime's death." Chiyo answered, bowing her head in respect to the felled Kage. "However, I implore you to start wartime preparations and call a council meeting."
"Of course Elder Chiyo." The man nodded, turning his one lone eye to gaze upon his subordinates, nodding to them. The Chunin began running through a long string of hand seals while the Jonin led the group through the gates. There was a slight breeze and a faint shimmer in the air when all the Chunin finished the identical string of seals, making the gates seem like nothing more than a mirage to anyone who looked. "May I ask who shall be the acting Kazekage and who we are at war with?"
"I'll answer both of those at the meeting. I want our best tacticians and transmission to the Daimyo there as well."
The council room wasn't elegant in the slightest, only being a simple rounded table in the middle of the room, overlooked upon on one end by the statues of the previous Kazekage. It was here, in the shadow of her predecessors, that Chiyo stood before the war council. The council itself wasn't very big, or illustrious, only containing a half-dozen individuals, but it was more than enough.
"I bring news from the Gokage Summit." Chiyo began, looking all of them in the eye. "I stand here the Rokudaime Kazekage, ready and willing to lead you into war, and humbly ask for your aid in ensuring that we are victorious in our efforts."
"Who are we fighting against?" A sharp-faced man with sandy brown hair asked, dressed in typical Jonin garb.
"Yeah." Yura, the man who'd headed the gates and led Chiyo and her entourage into the room seconded. "Which of the Hidden Villages are we at war with?"
"None of them." Chiyo answered. "They Five Great Hidden Villages are joining together to fight a common enemy."
"Impossible!" Doku, the sharp-faced man exclaimed. "Such an event has never happened before. What could all of them possibly be fighting against that holds such power!"
"Akatsuki." Chiyo replied, looking at them all to stave off any questions. "They attacked the Gokage Summit, resulting in the death of the leader of the Land of Iron, the Godaime Kazekage, along with several important ninja from various Hidden Villages. The attack was premeditated, and their goal was to take down the Kage, leaving the Hidden Villages without leadership, and susceptible to invasion."
"Then the Shinobi of Sunagakure shall follow under your orders." Yura promised. "Such an attack is a brazen act of war, not only towards the Kage, but to all Shinobi of the Hidden Villages. I do not think for a second that any Suna-nin won't believe the same.
"The Puppet Corps shall follow under your orders, sister." Ebizo, Chiyo's brother vowed. Next to him, Doku nodded, pledging his support of the actions, with the rest of the council following suit.
"Good. Then we can move on to the next order of business." Chiyo stood up straight, gesturing to the figure hidden deep within the shadow cast by the five statues. The man walked towards the table, and once his features were visible, almost all of the people present became ashen.
"The Yondaime..." Yura breathed, eyes wide. Murmurs began to spread throughout the room, of the great and venerable Yondaime Kazekage alive once more.
"I am not my father, no matter how similar I look like him." Gaara stated, shifting so that his gourd of black sand could easily be seen by the entire room. "Nor would I ever take the position he once held."
"How?" Yura asked, looking to Chiyo for an explanation. She simply shook her head, looking towards the teen.
"I believe you owe me an explanation, boy." She said, and he turned his unblinking gaze unto her.
"True." He conceded, taking a second to compose himself. "I suppose I should begin by saying that I will not go into specific details, as doing so would compromise the trust others hold me under."
"Of course." Chiyo nodded, and Gaara began to regale his tale.
"It started during the invasion." Here several of the council members winced in remembrance of that embarrassing event. "I met someone like me- a Jinchuuriki. However, he was not like me at the same time.
"He was... happy, to serve under his Kage, and didn't hate or resent his fellow Shinobi. He later told me what it was that made him so unlike me, despite our similar situations. He said that it was because he fought to protect his loved ones, his friends, those he considers family and even those he knows only in passing that made him so much stronger than me, so much... happier, than me.
"When I returned to Suna, I made many attempts at being nicer to Kankuro and Temari, though looking back I can see where I went wrong." He chuckled, the corners of his mouth twitching in amusement. "But that is a story for another time. It was these attempts to get closer to them, get to know them that I learned, perhaps foolishly, perhaps not, that my presence in Suna was... extraneous, at best.
"Then, one day when I was on duty to patrol the outer walls, I came across the boy from before. The one like me." There was a sharp intake of air as Gaara continued. "I took him with me into the city, listening while he told me all about how Konoha had betrayed him, banishing him over the very thing they made him into. Naturally, I was curious what he meant when he spoke of a run-in with an organization known as 'Akatsuki'. Imagine my surprise when I learned of a group of A- and S-Rank missing-nin intent on capturing the Biju. I vowed to accompany him in his travels, explaining how my presence in Suna was undesired, despite many, in hindsight, foolhardy attempts to open up the villagers to the idea that I am not the monster they thought I was. I removed my Hitai-Ate and left with him after gathering appropriate supplies."
"I think that that's enough of an explanation for the council." Chiyo interrupted, nodding for the group to leave. "Send in Temari on the way out." She called to the retreating backs. "She deserves to hear this as much as I do, if not more."
Soon, Temari was walking in, confusion prevalent on her face.
"I just thought you ought to hear this." Chiyo told her when she opened her mouth. Closing it, she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, staring at Gaara hopefully.
"There wasn't much of a direction he wanted to go in." Gaara continued his story. "I suggested we head north through the Land of Rain and into the Land of Earth, seeking greater understanding concerning our status as Jinchuuriki. The trip through the Land of Rain wasn't one I'll ever forget, nor will my friend, I believe.
"Our travels took us through the ruins of cities destroyed and abandoned during the wars. There were things moving in the shadows of the ruins, though whether they were survivors or the ghosts of those who lost their lives. Of course, it wasn't until we sought refuge for the night that we got our definitive answer." Gaara took a sharp breath, looking forward but not seeing anything. "It was the shell of a house, somehow still standing, all but one room gouged out of it from some past battle. There was nothing left, so we took our refuge in that sole room, my friend sleeping while I meditated.
"Some time later the both of us were woken by the sounds of people outside the room, and when we looked, it was as though the house hadn't been gutted at all. There was a family, even, laughing as they made dinner, and just as ethereal as the rest of the house. We got out of there by breaking down one of the walls of the room we were in, which brought the entire house down, though the sounds of the family's laughter remained."
"My god..." Temari whispered.
"The ghosts followed us to the edge of the Land of Rain, always a few yards behind us, and when we crossed the border, they just stopped and stood there, watching us, almost as though they seemed to expect us to return and join them one day." Gaara laid his gourd down on the ground, sitting in one of the empty chairs. "From the Land of Earth, we went from Tenshi-Gai to Takigakure, heading East into the Land of Water. Along the way more people joined our growing troop until we ended up staying on the edge of the Land of Water for over a year. After that, we traveled around a little, though mostly to regain lost supplies, such as clothes and weapons. In fact, it was on a whim that led to the rescue of Yugito, as my friend and his... lover," Gaara sounded unsure of the term. "wanted to see the Land of Iron. Pure luck had us running into you."
"That's missing a lot of details." Temari commented, and Gaara nodded.
"Obviously." He replied. "To give anymore information would be to break the trust bestowed upon not only myself but everyone in our group."
"By who?" Temari asked.
"One of our own." He answered cryptically.
The walk through the halls was filled with tension, neither of the two speaking. The only sound that could be heard was the faint clacking of Temari's heels on the hard stone, the sound reverberating from the walls and ceiling to appear much louder than it actually was.
"I apologize."
The statement caught Temari off guard, though she didn't miss a beat and immediately replied.
"For what?" She asked, coming to the door of her family's residence. "For leaving? For not even trying to get to know us?"
"I did not know." He answered, and Temari whipped her head around to look at the remorseful look he was giving her. "I spent the majority of my life keeping others at arms length. Uncle saw to that. For almost all of my life, I never really understood how one made friends, nor had I ever really cared about making friends. I had myself, and lived and spent my days being selfish, even to the point of ignoring when others tried to make me their friend."
"More like threatening them..." Temari muttered, casting a small glare at the red-head, who coughed uncomfortably.
" Right." He shifted, reaching past her to twist the doorknob and open the door. "It was because I had no experience outside of watching others interact that I had a fairly wrong idea of how to open up to others- something I've gone to great pains to fix in the last few years."
"So you weren't all that good socializing. Anyone could have told you that." Temari stated, stepping over the threshold and into the apartment.
"And yet no one did." Gaara said. "None of you thought to tell me that I was going about it all wrong."
"Gaara-" Temari started, affronted.
"No!" He interrupted, standing in the doorway. "Don't think that you can be so easily forgiven. I tried for weeks and none of you believed it, none of you sought to help me."
"I was always there!" She contested, raising her voice to her younger brother.
"Temari? You home?" A voice called from the other room, bringing the fight to a grinding halt. Stepping into the hall was a tall man, his scruffy brown hair haphazardly sticking out of his cat-eared hood. On his face were dark purple lines, wrapping around both eyes and his lips, and moving to curve around his head. Noticing the red-head with Temari, he stopped, confusion marring his face until he noticed the dark lines around his bright, pupil-less teal eyes. Suddenly his eyes flicked up towards Gaara's forehead, where the kanji for 'love' could be seen clear as day. Taking a step back, he gasped out a single word. "G-Gaara?"
"Kankuro." Gaara inclined his head towards the eldest male of the Yondaime Kazekage's children. "It has been a while."
"Y-Yeah, it has." Kankuro weakly replied, standing rigid in the doorway to what must have been his bedroom.
"I don't believe I ever quite thanked you for helping me and my friend before I left." Gaara asked, and Temari scoffed, bringing the attention to her.
"You knew?" She rounded on the puppeteer, who threw up his hands in defense.
"He and some blond kid approached me, said that they wanted to know about Akasuna no Sasori. I told them what I knew and he told me not to mention it to anyone!" Kankuro explained, looking at Gaara fearfully. The red-head sighed.
"I apologize if it came off as a threat. I'd intended it to be a simple favor." Temari gasped, her entire form seeming to swell in size, taking up the entire space of the hallway. However, before she could begin to berate Gaara for his actions, the man in question held up his hand. "But, I can see that no matter how considerate of you or others I am, you'll still see me as the monster I touted myself as when we were younger."
The statement had Temari appear to deflate in size, but before she could protest that proclamation, Gaara had stepped out into the hall.
"I see that if I stay here, I'll only be intruding. If you'll excuse me, I shall go find my own place to stay." As he said that, he gripped the doorknob and pulled it with him, shutting the door on his family.
In the years following the installment of a new Wind Daimyo, Sunagakure had rarely been so prosperous. Where once there were boarded up, empty shops there now were new businesses. More Shinobi walked the streets, and there weren't any more beggars lining the out-of-business stores. Yes, Sunagakure never looked quite so lively, not even in the early days of its creation.
Walking through these streets, Gaara was given a wide berth, everyone seeming to recognize him immediately- something he had figured would happen, given how distinctive his tattoo was. Those that remembered when he'd been less than sane seemed almost scared of his presence, while the rest of the population simply sneered at him, whispers of 'the demon returning' and similar things spread throughout the crowd, causing an even greater rift between him and the villagers, almost to the point where they were pushing up against the storefronts in the fight to get the furthest out of his way as possible.
"Gaara!" The voice called out to him, and he didn't stop in his search for a place to stay. "Gaara wait!"
"Is there something you wanted to say to me?" He said, halting in his tracks, but not turning around to face his pursuer. "Or can I be on my way?"
"Look, I know I wasn't the best sister, but that doesn't mean that I didn't try." Temari said, looking at his back. "Every time, every time you wanted to kill someone, to go after someone, I tried to reach out to you, to get you to stop this madness. Yet even now you don't listen to me."
"You don't give me reason to." He replied, back still turned to her.
"I'm your sister. Isn't that reason enough?" She pleaded, and Gaara didn't reply, just standing there.
"In another time, In another place, it would have." He finally said. "However, this is not that time, nor is it that place. You reached out to me and I was too blind to see it, and when I was the same you did likewise to me. If you'd been the sister you were supposed to be-"
"I DID THE BEST I COULD!" She shouted, her voice cracking towards the end. "I did the best I could." She followed up, her voice much softer. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she continued. "Family is supposed to stick together, supposed to be there for each other, no matter what. You made it difficult to stand by you, and I'd have preferred if you had stayed here in Suna, but you're still my family. Don't you ever forget that."
Gaara remained silent, and Temari silently pleaded to every deity that she knew of that he would feel the same.
"I never did." He turned to her. "I was once told that, in the absence of a family, one makes his own family out of his close friends, assigning them into the different roles of the family he missed out on."
"What's that have to do with this? With us?" Temari cried. "With me?"
During my travels, I came to be part of a group that is almost like a real family. Each of us has our assigned roles, and we sometimes fight, but we were there when one of our own needed our support. We were there to fix each others' flaws, mend each others' hearts. We are our own support, our own family, and you aren't in it." Gaara explained, turning to look at her with a repentant visage. "I'm sorry, but I don't think we can consider each other family."
"No. No, no, no..." Temari whispered, her eyes brimming with tears.
"But perhaps we can start anew, as friends." He walked up to her, offering his arm and a tiny smile. "What do you say? Friends?"
That was the breaking point, and the tears started pouring out. She rushed forward, clutching him, holding him close, almost to the point of smothering him. Gaara wrapped his arms around her, forming a hand seal and disappearing in a flash of sand, destined for her apartment in the Kazekage's Mansion.
The rest of the day went by rather nicely, in Gaara's opinion. After taking a bawling Temari back to her apartment, Kankuro had helped extricate her from him, and get her into her room, before showing the red-head into the spare room. He'd still been nervous around Gaara, but the teen figured that Kankuro had loosened up a bit after... 'talking' with Temari, and would come to accept him over time. Going to bed, he had been resting peacefully for most of the night.
"AAAHHHHH!" Cue girlish screams.
Of course... Gaara's eye twitched and he opened his eyes, before closing them again in a futile effort to fight against the bright light that was shining into his eyes.
Every single time I'm getting a good night's rest, someone has to go and ruin it.
"Is there a problem?" He says to what surely must be Temari, sitting up and twisting his torso so he was facing her- or in her direction, given that he still had his eyes tightly shut. All he got was hysterical babbling.
"You- you were- h-how?" She finally manages to get out, breathless and on the verge of hyperventilating.
"I was asleep." Gaara say, speaking slowly, like one would to a young child. Cracking open his eyes, he resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to get any more sleep that day. "It is a relatively new thing, so I would appreciate it if you were to not scream and wake me in the future."
"How?" She says again, leaning against Kankuro, who's slumped up against the wall in a dead faint. Gaara raised an eyebrow upon seeing the puppet-user.
Was he always here?
"One of my friends is skilled in Sealing. He strengthened my seal, and helped me learn to control Shukaku enough to sleep, something I find... novel, I think, is the correct term."
"Oh." Her breathing slows down, and Gaara yawns, getting out of his bed and stretching, feeling his joints pop as they worked out the stiffness from the night of inactivity. "I wasn't the only one that screamed, you know."
Gaara looked down at the prone form of the puppet-user, staring at the unconscious man before turning to Temari.
"I didn't know that Kankuro's voice could reach such a high pitch."
Temari, against her better will, laughed.
"Me neither." She said, and watched as a stream of black sand snaked out of the equally black gourd to encircle her brother, lifting the eldest son of the Yondaime Kazekage into the air and sent him out of the room and into the one directly across from Gaara's- Kankuro's own room. Seconds later, there was a muffled thump before the sand returned to the gourd.
"Kankuro's in his bed." Gaara elaborated for the curious woman. "If I could get some privacy to prepare for the day?"
"Oh!" She left the room, stopping at the doorway briefly. "Breakfast in twenty. Bring Kankuro with you."
"Of course." Gaara inclined his head, letting her know that he understood the instructions.
Walking through the halls, Gaara couldn't help but notice that Temari was unusually silent- not that she wasn't quiet before, just that she was more quiet than usual. Ever since he'd told her that he'd been able to sleep for the past year, she'd pressed for details until he mentioned that it was due to changes in Shukaku's seal, after which she'd been unnaturally somber.
Knocking on one of the doors, Temari stood there for a second until it slid open, revealing the office of the Kazekage. Though, instead of his father sitting there, it was Chiyo, the green hat signifying her as Kazekage laying next to a small stack of papers on the desk. The elderly woman looked up, surprised to see the two.
"What can I do for you young'uns?" She asked, setting down the pen she'd been using. Temari stepped forth.
"You're the resident expert on Sealing, right?" The blond began, looking at the Rokudaime expectantly.
"Yes..." Chiyo answered at length, dubious as to the reason for the conversation.
"Then you'll know that it's not possible for seals to be altered, right?" Temari asked, the worry in her voice almost completely hidden.
"They can. It's just damn hard." Chiyo replied, looking askance at Temari. "Why do you ask?"
"She's looking for outside confirmation that Shukaku's seal was strengthened, and is quite unyielding, despite my assurances on the subject."
"Shukaku's..." Chiyo trailed off, her face belying her utter shock. Suddenly she disappeared, reappearing in front of Gaara. His sand shifted, yet did nothing to stop her from lifting up his shirt and calling up the seal. "You messed with my seal?"
"I was unaware that you were the creator of this seal." Gaara said, shifting to counteract the chill in the air that was now open to his torso. "However, it was improved upon by someone I trust to have great knowledge of the Sealing arts."
"It was perfect the way it was!" Chiyo argued, letting go of his shirt, which fell to cover his torso once more. "Why you would add those limiters in that manner is beyond me!"
"They were added to decrease the melding of both my and Shukaku's chakra." Gaara contested. "With the way it was set up, my chakra would continuously meld into Shukaku's Yokai, which would replace my own, until I was nothing more than a living skin for Shukaku to inhabit until my death."
"You're wrong! I set it up that way so that you would be able to access and use Shukaku's chakra just as well as you would your own." Chiyo countered.
"By turning my chakra into its Yokai." Gaara pressed. "It was flawed, and would only result in a total failure of the seal and my death. Had it been left unfixed, the best thing that would have happened to me is Akatsuki unsealing Shukaku!"
"But you'd die!" Chiyo looked affronted. "Would you really give your life up so easily?"
"If it meant not becoming the avatar of Shukaku for the rest of my days, yes." Gaara snapped at her. "I would have given my life to them in a heartbeat."
Chiyo stood there, fuming, while Temari was just watching on in shock from the side, looking from one person to the other, unsure who to side with.
"If that's what you believe, then fine." Chiyo conceded. "But I wanna meet this friend of yours, that so-called Sealing expert."
"I'm sure Yagura-Sensei would be more than happy to discuss the finer points of Sealing with you." His clipped tones saying all. He turned and left, heading out into Suna.
Walking through the Streets of Suna, Gaara barely noticed the wide berth given to him as he stomped aimlessly through the city. How she could have been allowed knowledge of those kinds of sealing techniques was beyond him, as she was obviously inept at them. Any novice worth their salt would have pointed out the inherent flaws in the seal used on him, and would never have used it in a practical situation unless there was no other choice!
He was too preoccupied in his thoughts to notice when a ball knocked into his feet until one of the young children had run over to retrieve it. Picking it up, Gaara looked from the ball to the children playing in a familiar park, feeling a sense of deja vu. Behind him, the crowd of people had become deathly silent, watching the interaction with wide, fearful eyes.
"Hey, can we have our ball back?" The young child, a sandy black-haired boy no older than six was standing at his feet, the tiny arms reaching up for the ball in his hands. Looking at the ball and then back at the children, Gaara received a flashback of a similar situation, except the roles were reversed- he, at the same age as them, returning a ball only to be rejected, insulted for having taken possession of the ball.
Shaking his head of the old memories, Gaara leaned down and ruffled the boy's hair while handing him the ball.
"Of course." Gaara said, smiling at the child. "Just be careful where you kick it in the future."
In the crowd of people watching the display, Temari smiled. All around her, people were whispering to each other about how Gaara may not be the monster they thought he was.
He's certainly changed... She thought, deciding on how to spend the rest of the week with him. In front of her, Gaara seemed to have joined in on the children's game at the request of the boy he'd given the ball to. And it seems to be for the better.
He would have made a terrific Kazekage.