I do not own Naruto.
Ryuishi thinks that it is much easier to sneak into the Village Hidden in the Sand than it should be. Seriously, the security here has nothing on the security of a post 9/11 world. The TSA was much more grabby than the professional shinobi on gate duty. The tall, dark skinned gentleman is surly and stoic and he would be good at his job, if he had been chosen to be a hall monitor instead of a border guard. Really, he doesn't even check the pin in her hair. Theoretically, she could have hidden at least an ounce of dope inside if she had hollowed it out. Does he even know how much the good stuff could go for on the streets these days?
Well, nothing that impressive, but still! It's the spirit of the whole thing.
Also, if she's going to keep bitching, which she is, she is going to have to say that Village security as a whole could do a lot better. There's probably a damn good reason the motherfucking Akatsuki can waltz right into Konoha. There is a truly amazing amount of holes in the Elemental Nations security protocols, and she is determined to exploit them all. As a veteran dealer who often had to deal with not only local authorities, but border ones as well, these guys are a huge disappointment.
How much deeper do they need to dig in her pockets? What's she gonna hide in there? Shuriken? Kunai? Jutsu scrolls? A diary detailing her treacherous plots for world domination?
The answer is… a lot of candy. Regular candy, too. No gooey hashish packed centers or secret coke-filled insides. Just a bunch of gummies and lollipops. She never could kick the habit of carrying food everywhere on her.
She smiles what she knows to be a dazzling smile at the man. She didn't practice in front of the mirror just for fun. Again, she cannot express how simple this is compared to traveling in a world were X-ray machines were the last thing you had to worry about when smuggling.
"You can have some if you'd like," she tells him sweetly before gesturing to her pack, which is being pawed through by a disgruntled looking woman. The pile of food she is still pulling out is getting pretty big. "I have a lot."
He grunts and eyes her carefully before pocketing some of the lemon flavored suckers, his glare boring into her and promising pain if she so much as moves. She continues her grin and pops her gum inside her mouth.
"Merchant's license?" he asks, and she points to a folder underneath her bug-out bag, stamped with an official looking seal. Which is also forged. There are no watermarks on documents, just stamps from nobles and officials. Easily traceable and simple enough to make a negative, and if you know the right people, they could even put the number in a foreign library for you. This world would be hers for the taking if she ever wanted to deal drugs again.
A few more tedious and time consuming checkpoints, a small wait period, and Ryuishi is inside the giant basin of Sunagakure under a pseudonym, posing as a food merchant from Rice Country. Any background checks on the file will come up with multiple other harmless but desirable trade goods, and a booming business that needs to expand. But in reality, she's just so fucking ready to find a little redheaded brat. All reports from the city say that he's already a pariah under the care of his uncle, who is gone most of the day, and that not even the local ANBU watch over him. Security is really lax for a kid who has the so-called 'ultimate defense'.
Not that ANBU would be too much of a problem. The way the system works is a bit weird here, and it's more for internal control than eradication of external forces. When she watched the anime, it seemed like ANBU was a rank above jounin to her, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.
ANBU are selected from every rank in a shinobi force, from genin and up. The only difference is that an ANBU operative answers directly to the Kage themselves instead of a higher ranking commander. Their job is to take on missions with political undercurrents, things that could reflect badly on the country's Daimyo and other military leaders. They also work within the shinobi forces, always looking out for spies or traitors, weeding out those with weaker convictions and disloyal thoughts. In essence, they are the secret police of this world. They can't be arrested by normal peacekeeping forces, and all errant behavior is dealt with by their superiors in ANBU or the Kage themselves. They are above the law to an extent, and most definitely above the everyday ninja and civilian.
They drag up memories of her old world and shady government thugs. The Stasi of Cold War Eastern Germany or the Santebal under the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Even the infamous Gestapo. In all, she wouldn't trust one as far as she could throw them. Thinking about it more, in her case, she could probably throw them pretty far. So, she just wouldn't trust them, then.
She books her hotel and tries to change her thought process, instead picking up the trail of a certain jinchuuriki.
To her, all the sandstone dome buildings of Suna look vaguely like boobs. It makes searching the city a whole lot more entertaining than it usually would be, and almost makes the dry heat bearable. The only real bitch she has about the city is that the basin shape that holds them also funnels wind through each road and alleyway, blowing sand straight into her fucking eyes. If she wasn't so used to sandy beaches, the dust would be a real problem too. As it stands, the walled city is much cleaner than Kiri ever was, and much hotter too. The dry air would ruin her skin if she hadn't thought ahead and bought lotions and oils like crazy.
She passes a lot of kids and women on her way through, and each one begs to have some of the sweets she pretends to be peddling out of a basket. The parents look on and always, always ask about the prices.
The war hit this place like a suckerpunch to the testicles, and as a people completely dependent on imported goods, the economic crash after it ended hit them hard. The desert doesn't have a lot to trade with, and most of their goods aren't even produced near this city at all. The pomegranates are from a little farther west, the citrus from the coast and the dates and figs are from even farther south. Other than that, the only thing else they have to trade is shinobi and gold dust, the latter of which has to be carefully controlled. If the Fourth Kazekage floods the market, prices will drop and he won't be able to keep this village afloat. The military center of Wind Country stands on a delicate precipice, and to drop would mean a full out depression. In a place where you have to move water in from other countries or mine it from aquifers thousands of feet in the ground, that means nothing good.
Most times she has to keep up the merchant act, stingy and unwilling to drop the price too low, but somehow the kids end up with candy anyway. The parents are stern faced at the assumed charity, but when she tells them that her brothers had been lost in the war at a young age they smile sadly and accept it anyway. As if it were an act of kindness to her, instead of the other way around.
Joke's on them, though. Their kids are going to go nuts with the amount of sugar she gives them, and she isn't going to be the one who has to deal with it.
Eventually, she winds her way towards one park in particular, resting in the shadow of the Kazekage's tower. It is almost empty, save for a group of children playing some sort of made-up game in the morning air, and one little boy playing alone on a swing set.
Bingo.
Okay, she tells herself, play it cool. You've been planning this out for years. Don't come off too strong, don't be creepy. You got this.
She pumps herself up in the quiet of her mind, before stepping toward the little red headed boy.
She wants to fucking squeal as soon as he looks up, this little four year old jinchuuriki. His eyes are the craziest sea foam green color, and they are so wide, so big it's fucking insane. Already they are rimmed with black, and she feels a pang in her heart. This poor child, this poor poor baby.
"Hello, would you like some candy?" she asks, outstretching her basket. Not creepy, she tells herself, don't be creepy. It's only weird if you make it weird.
He makes some sort of sound, clutching the chain of the swing tighter, and he curls into himself, away from her. His colorful orbs are sizing her up, wary and unsure. The wind ruffles the tufts of his crimson hair and god damn that shit is so cute. She is going to fill an entire book of cute pictures of this kid.
Don't be creepy, don't be creepy, don't be creepy, she chants inside her head.
"Uncle Yashamaru says not to take candy from strangers," he tells her softly.
Hot damn, why couldn't Kisame or Zabuza be this adorable? She would have gotten along with them so much better if they had been cuter. Hanako was a dirty, starving, foul mouthed orphan when they first met, too. Is it puberty making her want to coddle him, or has there always been this weakness for small children lurking inside her? She is somewhat worried about the answer to that.
Her smile falters a bit at the negative answer, and she backs up, her eyes sliding to the group of children playing in the distance.
"Well…" she continues, "We could play with that red ball you have there. Everybody can see us, so I can't do anything bad, and then we won't be strangers anymore," she answers, sweeping her arm toward the object. She has to get close to him this way. She would kidnap him, but he has that stupid fucking sand and she isn't strong enough to steal a rampaging jinchuuriki. Not yet. Probably not ever. That shit sounds pretty exhausting.
He flicks his eyes towards the ball, then back to her, measuring the danger of the situation. His face is trying to be stoic, a cover for the timidness and caution she sees in his eyes, but fails, and instead he looks like he can't decide if he's anxious or has forgotten something important.
"Aren't you too old to play?" he asks, and man, this child is well spoken for a kid that just quit sucking boob a few years ago. No wonder everyone thought she was weird, because seeing a child act so adult is fundamentally strange.
"You're never too old to play a game of catch," she tells him.
He brightens a bit, and it's soft and subtle like a moonbeam, but it makes her smile in return. It's not a smile on his face, but something a bit more refreshing. She thinks they call it hope.
One mission goal accomplished, now don't fuck this up, she commands herself. She lays her basket of sweets by the corner of the swing as he slides off into the sand quietly, and she picks up the ball lying on the ground.
He stands across from her, hands open awkwardly like he has never played this game before. In fact, he looks awkward in general, still wary and watching her. It feels like he is simply waiting for her to give him an excuse. It makes her sad to think that statement is probably true. Poor little mentally unstable child soldier in training.
"Catch!" she calls out, gently tossing the red sphere toward him.
Almost faster than she can track, a wall of sand erupts from the ground and snatches the toy out of the air, swallowing it into a blob of stone particles. She realizes suddenly that reading it in the manga and watching anime has done nothing to prepare her for how fucking intimidating the very action is. The kid can use the earth itself to swallow anyone whole. He moves the ground beneath her feet and rises it into the air above with such ease, a mere whim on his part. Every bit of the terrain around him can become his weapon, his tool for murder.
"Holy shit," she whispers.
"Catch!" a voice calls and the sand opens up. Out of it emerges a flying crimson missile heading straight for her, and in her awe, she is unprepared for the assault.
It catches her straight in the chest and sends her sliding back on the shifting grains. The air leaves her lungs from the force of the rubber ball colliding into her ribs, and she has time to think about how insane it is that a playground toy could do so much damage. She hears screams as she hunches over and plants her hands on her knees, desperately trying to breathe again and not vomit. She sounds like a dying carp. This is not what she had planned on happening. Is she going to be remembered like this?
Yes Gaara, remember the lady you took out with a toy? She was the Kiri no Ningyo, a legendary fighter and missing nin. Her ego is bruised, along with her ribs.
She peeks up through her hair at the young redhead, and he is staring at her with wide eyes. He looks afraid for some reason, like she is about to return the favor and catapult the ball right back at him. Ryuishi is sorely tempted, but manages to stick to the plan.
The kids playing in the distance have taken off, and that must be what she heard earlier. They must have been scared by the village pariah taking out a foreign merchant. She hopes that they keep their mouths shut.
Gaara looks even smaller with no one around. So lost, so lonely.
"Holy shit, kid," she finally chokes out. "That is one hell of a throw."
He gasps slightly, but some of the fear leaves his eyes. Instead it is replaced by wary glances to the buildings around him, as if someone is going to pop out and punish her.
"You said a bad word," he tells her sternly, and she laughs because shit, he's got a point.
"Sorry," she croaks, trying to ignore her screeching torso. She bends down further and picks the ball back up, holding it out for him. "Go easy on me this time?" she asks.
He looks at her then, and she realizes what he was afraid of. This little boy was afraid she would run away and leave him here alone. He is wary of her because so many people have reacted negatively to him, have left him neglected and forgotten.
Well, she has news for this boy. Zabuza stabbed her in the calf and fucking scarred her for life, from back to ass to leg, and she still considers him a friend. Kisame literally tried to kill her, and she would still stand by his side. It takes a lot more than a little bruise for her to quit when she has an idea in her head.
"Well?" she says, tossing the ball towards him. He looks floored by her simple words, stunned by her willingness to play a game with him. The sand catches the ball anyway.
He smiles at her, and she wants to bottle that shit and sell it as a drug. Really, she has such a weakness for cute kids.
The ball hurtles towards her at breakneck speeds once again.
Gaara doesn't understand the girl sitting across from him, lounging in a pool of water she says she had 'happened to come across' last night.
He doesn't understand her one bit.
It just doesn't make sense, wanting to play with someone like him. At first he thought she was one of those strangers that Uncle Yashamaru warned him about, the ones that like little kids too much, and that was why she tried to give him candy. But when he said no, she offered to play where everyone could see. Bad people don't do stuff like that to make a kid feel safer.
He was happy, so happy that somebody wanted to play a game with him, so he agreed. Then he had messed up, and he knew it hurt when the ball hit her. He didn't know how, because he didn't know what pain was like, but he knew because the sound she made was the same sound Temari made when she got hurt. The one that sounded like hot soup going down the sink.
He had been so scared. The lady was going to turn angry and say mean things. She was going to go away, and he wouldn't see her. He wouldn't get to play with anyone ever again. Instead though, she had said a bad word and got back up and kept playing. Even after she got hurt more she got back up and kept on playing with him. When he had asked her why, she told him something weird.
"The first time I made a friend, he hit me with his bokken in the ribs and made me throw up. The next time I made a friend, he pulled my hair and threw me to the ground. They both have saved my life countless times since then," she had said, dodging out of the way of another ball. "Pain seems to indicate levels of friendship for me, I guess."
Gaara knows for a fact that that isn't the way people are supposed to make friends. Uncle Yashamaru told him so. Still, they played catch right until lunchtime, when he had to go home.
It was a good day, even though she was weird, and he was happy it happened, even if the thing inside his belly didn't like being around her. He stayed up that night and let the feeling of fluttery stomachs and stretched cheeks from smiles fill him up, and the thing inside him was a little quieter that night.
The next day was even better though, because she was there again! She looked a little purple and blue in some places, but she walked right up to him like she wasn't even afraid and picked him up. She carried him on her hip right to the front of a food stall.
"I never got your name, little guy," she told him as a boy with feathers in his hair served them spicy gizzards and lizard tongue.
He realized he hadn't gotten hers either and stared at his feet in shame. Oh, Uncle was going to be disappointed in him again and would say he had bad manners. He didn't mean to!
"I'm Gaara," he told her with a polite bow of his head.
"And I'm… well, you can call me Aneue."
Big sister, he thought. She was much nicer than Temari, and weirder too, but somehow it still fit.
Then they ate, and he had never seen someone eat so fast! It was like somebody was gonna steal it, so she had to protect it from thieves. Gaara learned that day that Aneue could eat a lot, and eat it fast.
(Years of living on meager Mist rations surrounded by two aggressive teenage boys will teach someone that.)
After eating, she had picked him up again, and they went back to the park where she pushed him on the swing. Sometimes, if her hands got close too fast, his sand would react, and by the end he could see burns and scrapes from it. Still, she didn't say a word and just smiled at him like he was something special to her, and he felt something funny in his chest.
He came back the next day, and the next, and the one after that. Whenever he wasn't training with father or learning with Uncle, he was there in the park with her, playing games. It was nice, he thought, to have a friend. She didn't talk when he didn't want to talk, and sometimes they just stayed in the park, playing a game she called Uno with colorful cards. Sometimes, she'd let him help her sell candy. They never sold very much from what he saw, and sometimes people looked at them weird, but she never cared. She just made a weird hand sign at them, and they turned red and walked away.
He told Uncle about her once, said he had made a friend with a girl who smelled like flowers and blood. He didn't think he got taken seriously though, because Uncle said that he'd had an imaginary friend once, too. To prove his point, Gaara showed him the hand sign she used, and he had never been scolded so hard in his life. He didn't know what a 'red light district' was, but he assured his Uncle he had never been there, and after that he didn't talk about her much anymore.
Today she came and picked him up, talking about a big pool she found in one of the training fields. He doesn't know how she was allowed to go in the training fields, because she sells candy and only ninja are supposed to go in there, but there they were. In a training field, by a pool that must be as big as four houses, which is weird because it hasn't rained in forever.
She is trying to teach him how to swim too, but the sand comes off of him and he gets scared, so she sets him up on a raft like hers and lets him sit there.
Gaara finds that he likes watching her swim a lot more than doing it himself, anyways. She looks like the fishes he sees in tanks at the market sometimes, and the smiles she is giving him make his belly wiggle. He doesn't know why it does that, just like he doesn't know why she is here. Fish shouldn't be in the desert. People don't make friends with people who hurt them, don't play games with them like she does. Nice people don't say bad words, but Aneue says them a lot.
"Aneue?" he asks, and she glides over to the side of his raft with curious dark eyes, her long black hair floating like snakes around them.
"What, Gaara?" she answers him. Usually the kid is as quiet as the grave, so him talking is a small miracle.
"Why are you here?"
"Oh, like in Suna? Or in the water? Or with you?"
He thinks for a bit, and she stares at him, waiting. "All," he says bluntly.
"All?" she queries. He nods.
She is raising an eyebrow and making a funny face at him again. She makes them a lot, just like she says bad words a lot. It's very different from the faces he knows from the market district and at home, the ones that are smooth like sandstone and hard to read. Hers is like a picture book, only sometimes the pictures don't go with the words and nothing makes sense.
"Okay then," she says, holding up her hands and ticking fingers off. "I'm in Suna to sell candy, only I've been distracted by a little boy who needs to smile more often, because he seriously bums me the fuck out sometimes. I'm in the water because it's hot as balls outside, and this is here, so why not use it? Aaaand I'm here with you because somebody has to teach you how to have fun. Also, you looked kinda lonely."
He gives her a bland look for her commentary and use of foul language. Yashamaru says that cursing is not only unbecoming of a lady but a sign of improper manners as well.
Although… he might forgive her, because Gaara was lonely and now he's not.
Now he has Aneue.
AN: SO, a huge jump and a chapter showing a the old fun and giggle Ryuishi coming back from all that angst. It might seem like a jump in other ways too, because how could she get in so clean, how could she befriend Gaara so fast? My answer is that it has been said in other chapters that Ryuishi has been probing security for literal years when she spent time with Orochimaru and running missions. She has been prepping for more big plans, most of which will be centered around more canon characters. As for Gaara... he is four. He canonically doesn't get crazy till six and until then is an outcast and village paraia, starving for attention and affection. It's also Suna, not Kiri, so kids can afford to be more trusting. If you have any other questions, please pm me, I am happy to answer them.
THANK YOU to all my Reviewers. Many blessings on my readers, favoriters, followers, and lurkers. Big kisses all around.
We offer thanks to the great Beta Enbi who had to fix all the tenses in this chapter. It was seriously bad, so she put a lot of hard work in this. Bless her.