EPILOGUE
Word Count: 2,309
It was a few days after that Gaara's father sent him to live with Yashamaru and place the child completely under the man's care. It was evening when the blond man came to take Gaara away.
Temari swallowed as she watched from the living room of the manor as the little boy trudged toward the door, their uncle guiding him with a hand on the boy's back. Kankuro had said that he didn't care about what happened, but the blonde could spot him crouched at the second floor balcony, peeking through the balusters. She knew that even he had grown to form at least some attachment to Gaara, even if it had been more because of Akari.
Akari.
The sweet, innocent girl was gone. Gaara hadn't said it, but it was apparent when he was escorted home after a day of not returning. He was lead to his room covered in blood, his eyes empty and unseeing, and his movements mechanical. Temari suspected that he would not have moved if he was not nudged forward.
Gaara'd lost her somehow. Lost one of the people that, aside from her uncle Yashamaru, was truly keeping him grounded. But Akari had been more than that to Gaara.
She had acknowledged him for who he was.
She was his friend.
His pillar of strength.
A light in his life.
The one who made him feel like an actual kid instead of a monster.
Someone who had the potential to be even so much more to Gaara.
For a child to lose that kind of person…
The thought would have probably never crossed her mind, but a part of her was deeply concerned for him. She wanted to go to him, give him some kind of condolence when she heard his cries, but every time she stood in front of Gaara's door, she could feel his despair practically oozing from the confines of the room. Then she would hesitate, her burst of courage would die, and she would let out a regretful sigh before she continued on her way.
Now though, when it seemed Gaara was being ostracized completely even by his immediate family, Temari couldn't bear to not do anything anymore. She walked forward to intercept her younger brother. Gaara stopped walking for a moment as Yashamaru paused to give her a questioning look. The girl sucked in a breath before putting a hand on Gaara's shoulder and squeezing. The boy didn't react to the touch, his gaze still fixed on the ground in front of him.
Temari wanted to do more, but something was keeping her from doing so, and she stepped back reluctantly.
The narrowed eyes of the Kazekage watched impassively from the foyer.
There was no emotion in her father's dark orbs as he watched the ichibi jinchuuriki, his son, her baby brother, cross the threshold of what was supposed to be his home.
Even before the door closed, the Kazekage turned and left for his study.
With the man's back turned, he did not see his younger son meet his daughter's gaze for a split second before the door clicked shut.
Cold.
It was cold.
Every part of her felt sore…
Except maybe her stomach. In fact, her entire abdomen was numb.
Akari could understand feeling chilled, but she thought you didn't feel pain in the afterlife?
She felt her fingers curl when she willed them to and decided to try moving her arms.
She stopped abruptly, wincing when she felt the tug of a needle in her skin.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and took in the pale blue walls of the room she was in and the scratchy white sheet that covered her body.
This was a familiar scene… but outside her window was a tree whose leaves rustled in the cool breeze that whispered through translucent white curtains.
She wasn't in Suna.
Suna.
Silent tears started streaming down her cheeks at the memories of the last things she'd said and done in the village hidden in the sand.
When she processed that she was back in her eleven year old body, for one terrible moment, she thought that everything had been a wishful dream. But then she saw the bandages on her arms and legs and felt the burning pain that shot through her stomach when her painkillers wore off.
Akari would have felt a rush of relief at the proof of her experience, but then a nurse decided to inform her of her situation the day after she woke up.
He was gone.
She had been dealing with so much despair already that she felt numb when she found out. She didn't have any more tears to cry, so her eyes stayed dry. For that, a part of her felt ashamed.
Her grandfather was dead.
One of their neighbors had called the police when he heard her grandfather shout and seen a strange light coming from the window. The cops had found the old man without a pulse, lying on the living room floor of the house. Akari had been on the floor next to him, bleeding out from her stomach. Well… that was the worst of her many injuries anyway.
The doctors had saved her, yes, but the damage had been done.
She thought her spine had been severed completely because she could remember the lack of feeling in her legs when she thought she was dying. But the doctors told her otherwise…
Whatever had pierced through her stomach had badly grazed her spine before exiting.
Which meant the feeling could return to her lower extremities… but movement was an entirely different story.
The doctors could not explain her grievous injury or the sand in and around her wounds. The grains had caused an infection which she fought for two days after her the surgery to repair her abdominal wound. After that ordeal, she had stayed unconscious for a week more.
Akari couldn't believe that her grandfather had been dead for ten days before she even found out.
The doctors and the police would have pushed her for answers, but whenever they asked her questions about what happened, she stayed silent.
They attributed it to trauma.
Takeshi was dumbstruck, looking at the ground where she had been…
Bleeding out.
Dying.
Then a warm white glow had covered her.
Now she was gone.
All that was left was her blood seeping deeper into the sandy ground.
And the small red headed boy who now had his arms around himself now that he didn't have her to hold on to.
And what else could he be but a boy? A child who had lost his friend. Takeshi hadn't believed it before and had seen the boy as a monster. A demon.
But no demon could possibly produce such a broken keen. Inhuman though it sounded, the sheer despair in the sobs and cries that left his mouth belied something otherwise.
The breaking of a heart that a monster could not possess.
The little boy shook terribly, curled into himself, and Takeshi did not know what to do.
Not him.
He couldn't give the boy what he needed. The child probably still remembered their last encounter. Takeshi had threatened him and tried to take Akari away then.
The sand around the little boy began to writhe.
Takeshi sighed heavily before flashing away.
No. Not him. But maybe…
Gaara stood at the door of his new room for the first time at his uncle's house.
"I'll be right downstairs if you need me, alright? Gaara-sama?" Yashamaru said gently.
The boy nodded his head quietly. He wanted to just shut the door, but he did not want to disrespect his caretaker.
"Yes, uncle. Uhm, thank you." Yashamaru gave him a sympathetic smile before he turned to leave.
Gaara still felt like he was drowning in despair, but that smile had given him a much needed breath of air. Just like the relief he felt when his sister had given him that assuring squeeze.
Temari-nee.
He wanted his sister.
His bond with her, and to a much lesser extent, his brother, had surprised him when he first realized it was there. Those connections were not exactly close or strong… but they were there.
Akari may have gone, and no one could replace her… she left something else… someone else in her wake.
Gaara's eyes watered, but he had a small wistful smile on his face.
It was then, he noticed a brown lump on his bed.
The red haired boy warily approached it, but when he recognized what it was, he picked it up immediately.
His bear.
The last time he had seen it was when he left it in Akari's hospital room the first time she stayed there.
An off white cloth was tied loosely around its neck. Gaara recognized it as the same type of cloth of the short cloak Akari would sometimes wear to shield her arms from the sun or pull up the cowl neck to protect her face during sandstorms.
He clutched the stuffed animal closely to him.
It took a moment before he noticed the small box also on his sheets.
A box that contained folded letters and several drawings.
Akari let out a huff as she settled back down on her wheelchair.
It had been several months since she had been put in an orphanage. The place was nice enough, the staff kind, though somewhat detached. She got along with most of the other children, so that was good. What's more, her physical therapy returned most movement to her left leg, though her right was mostly paralyzed. She alternated between using a pair of crutches and a wheelchair.
She had spent the morning hobbling around on crutches, playing with the younger ones when they decided to take a break.
The kids argued who would push her wheelchair to the common room.
She laughed at that. They usually hung at the back of her wheelchair while she was the one who pushed on the wheels from her seat.
Akari sipped at a glass of juice while she watched them sit in front of the TV and flip through different channels. They were all kids aged three to eight. Maybe she got along with them better than the other children her age because of being around six year old Gaara and his slightly older siblings.
Gaara…
She'd think of him every once in a while, and when she did, she wondered how he was, how much time had passed for him, and if she'd ever have the chance to see him face to face again.
She had been melancholy at first, but over time came to recognize just how useless it was to wallow. Besides, Gaara wouldn't have wanted her to be sad. So whenever she thought of him, she'd focus on the few happy memories she had of her time in Suna…
"Kankuro… stop that…"
That voice…
"Don't embarrass our village…"
The tone, though one she had gotten used to hearing from a child's mouth, was now lower and more mature. It was also flat and without much intonation… but not as dark as she would have expected.
"Why do you think we came all the way here to Konoha?"
She looked up from her glass and saw a familiar shade of red and seafoam green.
"Ah… G-Gaara…" Kankuro, though deeply apologetic, sounded almost sheepish instead of scared. "Listen. They pretty much lashed out first…"
What?
"Enough." Gaara's tone was scolding instead of creepy. He sighed.
She remembered seeing this scene a million times before, and it wasn't like this at all. Wasn't Gaara supposed to threaten Kankuro and wasn't the puppet nin supposed to be in a cold sweat with fear? The dialogue had changed slightly.
"Yeah... I'm sorry, I was wrong." Kankuro put up his hands in surrender.
When Gaara turned to Sasuke to apologize, something slid to peek from under his collar when he shifted in his upside down position on the tree branch. Something ruby and white.
Her pendant.
She didn't hear the rest of the dialogue then as she stared.
It had been missing since she returned. She wasn't wearing it in the hospital, and she couldn't find it in her grandfather's house.
But there it was…
Hanging around Gaara's neck from a thin chain.
Akari stared at the pendant and felt her heart skip a beat. He'd kept it. Even more than that... he wore it.
She stared at the sand siblings and how they interacted.
How Kankuro rubbed the back of his neck as Gaara gave him a look when he reappeared beside his older brother.
How Temari hit Kankuro's shoulder for being brash, and how Gaara glanced between his siblings with eyes that looked something more than neutrally blank before the trio leaped away.
Akari smiled and felt her chest swell with warmth and happiness.
Though she would probably never see him again beyond the images on screen, she knew she made an impact in his life.
Gaara had his siblings so much earlier than the original timeline.
And he would continue forge bonds with more and more people as time went on.
Akari would always be happy for him. She just wished that she was one of those people that had the chance to grow with him.
She sighed, and brushed away the moisture that formed at the corner of her eye.
She knew. She always had.
It may have happened sooner, but Gaara would have friends to be there for him.
Soon.
Then after…
Always.
A/N: So there you have it. The end. Finally. Thank you so much to all those who supported me throughout the years- my readers, reviewers, lurkers, those who added this story to their alerts/faves. Thank you~ I'd love to know what you think of the ending. If you have any other thoughts on the story, I'd like to hear them too.
Yes. This was always how it was supposed to end. I always thought of writing a sequel for this, but I just don't know if I have the time. Maybe in the future... but don't count on it too much. I may rewrite this soon and do a few revisions. Just grammar and formatting errors thought.
There are a few ideas for a one shot or two related to this story though... we'll see...
-Moonstone