Over the Hills and Far Away
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto.
Author's Note: I'm sorry about the delay, but not only did I have troubles in trying to figure out how to present this chapter, but my cousin was getting married, and I'm getting ready to move. Either way, please enjoy the following chapter.
WARNING: Time skip. We go way back in time in this chapter folks. At this point Harry has been in the Shinobi Continent for little more than a year, and is about to open the portal for the first trading caravan.
Thanks to my good friend and beta, Paladin Steelbreaker.
Chapter Twenty-FiveGinny couldn't suppress the giddy feeling in her stomach. It had been a year since Harry had taken off with Orochimaru, and now he was going to open the portal for the first trading caravan to enter the Shinobi Continent since before Grindelwald's time.
The trading caravan itself consisted of about thirty carts of various sizes, most of them pulled along by enormous horses provided by Hagrid. The traders themselves were all people that the Order of the Phoenix had picked out, all of them people that they could trust, and all of them with some form of defence training. Ergo: most of them were retired Aurors, or Aurors that simply wanted a break from the war against Voldemort which was slowly escalating. They had all agreed on the terms set out for this, and all of them had been extensively warned about the possible dangers. Everyone in the caravan had also undergone a lightning-quick course in the Japanese language. They knew enough to make themselves understood, but not enough to raise suspicions from the ninja.
The monks that ran the temple were keeping sharp eyes on the entire caravan. They clearly didn't trust any of the wizards except Hermione, and Ginny figured that there had to have been more to the skirmish Harry had reported getting into on his way through. The Order had quickly noticed that the green-eyed youth tended to heavily understate whatever role he was playing in the Shinobi Continent. Many of them wondered why, but none of them had asked.
'What is going on over there, Harry?' the redhead wondered quietly from her place beside one of the lead wagons. 'You are probably already acting on this no-mixing-between-the-two-worlds-rule you mentioned seeing as you don't tell us anything. But I suppose it's okay. I want to see the small boy with the taped, black glasses. I want to see the Harry I fell for, I want to see our Harry again.'
Ron and Hermione, who were two of the key-characters in all of it, stepped up to the wagon Ginny was in charge of, and the two older teens sighed heavily, their gazes never leaving the round portal in front of them. The two had been some of the most devoted people when it came to research and training, and generally getting ready for this day. The had both grown so much in this one year. Heck, even Fred and George had become more serious than ever before thought possible, and Ginny felt very much left behind.
"Why the serious faces?" Ginny asked her brother. "Aren't you glad that we'll see Harry again after so long?"
"Of course I am," Ron replied. "But I wonder whether it'll really be our Harry."
"You're afraid that it'll be one of the shinobi using that henge-thing that Harry told us about?"
Hermione shook her head. "Not at all, no one knows that we're coming, and our cover-story for everything is ready. What we are worried about is Harry himself. We have all noticed that he is glossing over everything that has happened to him during this past year, and the only times he goes into detail is when it's about training-techniques or other information that might be useful."
"Add to that what Bill told us of his meeting with Harry, and the way Harry acted, then it gives us ample reason to worry." Ron sighed again. "Whatever it is this Orochimaru has put Harry through must be very bad if our open-like-a-book, heart-on-his-sleeve friend has changed into this secretive, Slytherin-like person that he is now."
Ginny blinked. "Secretive and Slytherin-like? Don't you two think that you're wrong in that department? I mean, none of us has even met up with Harry in a year! He probably doesn't want to break this no-mixing-of-wizard-and-shinobi-worlds-rule."
The tall redhead stared at her for a moment, and smiled fondly. "You are still rather naïve, Ginny-chan."
"Blame that on mum." Ginny muttered.
Hermione smiled as well, but ventured to explain their reasoning to the younger girl. "No matter what happens one thing remains certain: people change. Thusly we can safely deduct that Harry has changed."
"But how can you say that he has changed into a Slytherin?"
"There are several clues. One: because otherwise he wouldn't have survived this long in a world where shinobi thrive. Two: Orochimaru wouldn't have bothered with Harry for so long. And three: the way Harry has glossed over and understated everything that had happened to him since we last saw him. He tried to keep us in the dark doing this, but he has forgotten that we are the people who know him better than he himself does, and our imaginations are a hundred times worse than whatever he could have told us." Hermione finished her speech.
Ron snorted. "I don't know whether to hug him or to hit him when I see him. Undoubtedly he'll deserve both."
A shout went up from one of the monks, and it was clear as to why. The portal was slowly starting to shimmer and ripple, it was opening. Several young monks hurried over and added their own magic to the process, and soon the portal was open completely and the caravan started moving through.
"Remember what Harry told us, people!" Ron shouted out. "We'll come out in the middle of a desert! So put on hats and turbans and whatever else you've got unless you want to fry your brains! Do not hesitate or stand and gape like idiots once we're through the portal and in the canyon that separates our world from theirs. The monks can easily take care of the portal on this side, but Harry is the one taking care of the exit on the other side, and there's only one of him. No matter how powerful, he can't keep the portal open forever. So once you're through the portal, go across the bridge and through the other portal, then move out of the way to let the others through! Lets go!"
Everything went like a well-oiled machine, and although everyone gaped in wonder at the seemingly never-ending canyon as they passed over the stone bridge no one stopped up, and soon everyone had passed through and had gotten into the Shinobi Continent. The hot, dry desert air hit them with all the delicacy of a sledgehammer, and the sun blinded them for a moment, but they were soon getting used to it, and everyone looked around in wonder.
"Well," Fred spoke up. "It's… hot."
"And dry." George added and held up a hand to block the sun.
"Thank you Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, I think we could deduce that for ourselves." Hermione muttered as she tried to spot Harry between the sand dunes.
The twins blinked at her remark. "Which one of us is Sherlock Holmes and which one is Doctor Watson?" they asked at the same time.
Ginny rolled her eyes fondly, but otherwise ignored the entire conversation. She, like the rest of the caravan, was desperately trying to figure out where the hell Harry was. He had said that he had something to give them, so all they could do was settle down and wait for the green-eyed male to show himself.
They didn't have to wait for too long. Harry appeared amongst them like lightning from the blue, giving them all a good scare and causing each and every Auror to draw his or her wand. The black-haired 18 year old stayed in his crouching position on the top of the leading wagon for a moment, observing them, before he held up a hand in greeting and gave them a small grin.
"Yo." He said. "Welcome to the Shinobi Continent."
"HARRY!" both Ron and Hermione shouted, and then there was a session of greetings and hugs and well-wishes and other things that fell in that category, though there was a reprimand or two pushed into it all as well, to make sure that Harry understood just how stupid he had been when he up and left with Orochimaru.
"Calm down, guys," Harry said to them, his face serious. "We don't have the time for this, better said, I don't have the time for this. Orochimaru expects me back two days from now, and I'll be hard pressed to keep his schedule. So please shut up and listen to me?"
People blinked in surprise – never had they seen the Boy Who Lived act in such a commanding manner – but they did as he said; and finally, when everyone had calmed, Harry opened a bag he had been carrying and brought out identical scrolls. "These are all maps of the Shinobi Continent." He explained. "Distribute these amongst yourselves; there should be one map to each cart at the least. Study these maps before you set off, alright? Ron, Hermione, Ginny, come over here please." He waved the three in question over to the side of one of the wagons.
"What is it, Harry?" Ron asked.
"I have special scrolls prepared for you." Harry told them. "As you move through the different lands one of you will need to visit the reigning Lord, and make him sign this treaty." He held up nine scrolls, all of which had differently-coloured edges.
"Is this the no-mixing-betwixt-worlds you mentioned?" Ginny asked.
"Hai. And seeing as the Lords of the countries often dwell close to the Hidden Villages, then it wouldn't be amiss if you get the different shinobi-leaders to sign as well, as a precaution of course. I will not tell you who goes to which country, you will have to see that for yourself, but the person will have to stay in that Hidden Village from then on as an ambassador of sorts."
"Which lands are we visiting?" Hermione asked and unrolled the map in her graps.
Harry pointed. "The Land of Fire, where Konohagakure is the Hidden Village. This is one of the three biggest countries, and definitely one of the most powerful. Next is the Land of Earth with Iwagakure. Watch out for those guys, they're very suspicious and often kill first then ask questions of your corpse." Then he rattled off another couple of names and Hidden Villages, always giving some sort of warning with each name mentioned.
Throughout all this Ginny simply stared at the serious young man in front of her, and after a while she smiled. 'He hasn't changed all that much. He's still our Harry.' She decided. Soon afterwards Harry disappeared into the desert and the caravan set out towards the Hidden Village of Sand. 'I will take the first post, Harry. I will make you see that I am no little girl and that I can take care of myself, and neither you nor my brothers need to protect me anymore.'
-x-x-x-x-
Ginny had easily slipped into the civilian population of Sand, and was running her own shop and caravan outpost. In the four years after arriving in the Shinobi Continent she had befriended many people, especially the Kazekage and his family. However, the Kazekage worried her. The feudal lord of the Wind Country was slowly but surely cutting down on the missions and budget of the Sand shinobi, and it got more and more difficult for the Hidden Village to stay in the competition that was created by Konoha.
Looking up when the bell above the door chimed, Ginny smiled as she saw a pregnant Karura – the Kazekage's wife – enter the shop. "Good day, Karura-san! Where are Temari-chan and Kankuro-kun?"
"They are being watched by Chiyo at the moment." The other woman replied. "Ginny-san, may we talk?"
Ginny blinked but nodded. She quickly closed the shop for lunch, then led Karura into the back. "Is something wrong?"
Karura put a hand protectively on her protruding stomach. "You have been a good friend of mine for these past four years, so I suppose that I can tell you. My husband… he…" she took a deep breath. "He wants to seal the Shukaku into our unborn child, to use him as a weapon and thusly make Suna strong."
"Seal the Shukaku in…?" Ginny was horrified. Harry would definitely need to know about this.
"Hai. He got the idea from the Yondaime Hokage who sealed the Kyuubi into a baby just six months ago. I don't want my little boy to suffer the same fate as that child, I don't want him to be driven mad by the Shukaku. And this organisation, the Akatsuki, it hunts for those who contain demons! If we go through with this then my child will be number one on their hit-list seeing as the Shukaku is the weakest of the Nine Demons."
Ginny hugged the woman, and they spent a while in silence until something Hermione had said triggered her mind, and she simply couldn't help but ask: "And the sacrifice needed for the Shukaku to be sealed…?"
Karura didn't say anything for another long while. "Me." She said finally. "He wants to use me as the sacrifice."
Ginny could only stare.
Despite many protests from Chiyo, Ginny and Karura, the Kazekage went through with his plan. The birth of the Kazekage's third child was also the death of his wife.
They named the child Gaara.
-x-x-x-x-
Ginny stared at the small redheaded child through the window of her shop. She knew who he was, everyone knew. In the three years since his birth, Gaara had become infamous. Wherever the poor boy went, disaster of some sort followed, and people had quickly learned to stay as far away from the small container of the Shukaku as possible. Seeing as children followed the examples of the grown-ups, it meant that the small boy had no one to play with and everyone stared at him in fear.
Ginny herself hadn't seen much of the child since his birth, she had tried to keep away from the Kazekage since the man sacrificed his own wife to create a weapon which he now didn't know how to control. But as she stood and stared at the small figure, she couldn't help herself and she exited her shop quickly.
The boy looked up at her when she approached, his aquamarine eyes wary both from caution and from his never-ending insomnia.
The red-haired woman smiled as kindly as she could, and kneeled down in front of the boy. "Hello, Gaara-kun."
"… 'lo…" Came the shy and slightly-hopeful reply.
"What are you doing out here this late?" Ginny asked gently, the smile never leaving her face.
"… wait'n' fo' 'ash'maru…"
"For Yashamaru-san?" she repeated to be sure she had understood, and Gaara nodded. "But he won't be back from his mission in another three days! You are either going to freeze to death or die of dehydration if you stay here. You should go home and wait for him there."
The child simply stared up at her.
Ginny made a decision then and there. If Harry could adopt a demon-container, then so could she. Besides, she owed it to her friend Karura. Since the woman wasn't amongst the living anymore, then Ginny was going to be Gaara's mother from now on. "Right, if you don't want to go home, then you can come with me."
Gaara blinked in surprise.
"Just over there, that shop. See it? That's where I live. You can come with me, and keep an eye out from the windows, Yashamaru-san has to pass my shop on his way to the Kazekage's office so you won't miss him." Ginny stood up, dusted off her clothes, then held out a hand. "Well, Gaara-kun?"
"… your name…?" Gaara asked.
"Weasley Ginevra, but call me Ginny." Ginny smiled down at the boy.
The little boy stared at her for a long moment, then he shyly put his hand in hers and they made their way towards the shop.
It was the first meeting between Gaara and Ginny.
-x-x-x-x-
It was insanely hot outside, but that was to be expected when one lived in the desert. Especially during the summer months. Ginny found it almost unbearable, and she longed for the cooling shade of her little shop, but she had to have something to eat and this had driven her out of her sanctuary.
'I should have picked Water Country instead,' she complained to herself as she walked. 'At least they would never have fear for running out of water and having to ration everything.' Her thoughts were cut off as she heard children screaming in delight as they played with a football. And on the other side of the playground, in the shadows of a building, stood a small, lonely redheaded child that she recognised at once. Her feet headed automatically that way.
"Gaara-kun?"
The boy looked up in surprise. "… 'nny-san…?"
She smiled. "I'm off to buy some vegetables. Do you want to help me?"
The already large eyes, got larger. "…me?"
"Hai." Ginny nodded. "Ne, will you?"
Gaara smiled as well. "Hai!"
-x-x-x-x-
"Yashamaru-san, Gaara-kun, welcome to my shop."
"Ginny-san," Yashamaru nodded in return. "Gaara-sama told me that he's been spending lots of time with you these last six months."
Ginny nodded with a smile. "Hai. He often helps me to put things on the shelves or to do my shopping. Here you go, Gaara-kun," she handed the boy a blood pop. The redheaded boy grinned happily and scampered onto the closest chair, then continued to happily suck on the sweet that he had quickly gotten hooked on. Ginny turned back to the sandy-haired man. "Anything I can do for you, Yashamaru-san?"
"I hope you can. I'm going on a mission in a week, and I don't know when I'll be back. If it weren't too much trouble could you check in on Gaara-sama for me whilst I'm gone?"
She nodded again. "Of course I can, but wouldn't it be better if he stayed with someone? Isn't he too young to be alone?"
"Who would let him stay with them?" Yashamaru asked quietly.
"He can stay with me then." Ginny decided. "And no, it's no trouble. I have an unused room which he can use, and he's so helpful around the shop that I really can't see why I shouldn't let him stay."
Yashamaru looked at her for a minute, and then smiled as well. "If you are sure, Ginny-san…"
" 'ank yo', 'inny-'an!" Gaara managed to say around his sweet.
Ginny laughed and gave the boy a loose hug. "Anytime, Gaara-chan."
-x-x-x-x-
They were sitting together in the room which had kind of become Gaara's since he had started staying with Ginny whenever Yashamaru was out on a mission. The room wasn't big at all, but it was cosy, and the walls were full of drawings that Gaara had drawn, and in one corner there were a couple of fairytale books that Ginny had especially ordered from the Wizarding World for him.
Gaara looked up at the young woman that was dressed for bed. "What's this?" he asked and poked the back-and-white… thingy that Ginny had handed him.
Ginny smiled. "It's a teddy bear, a panda to be precise. My mother made it for you so that you won't be alone anymore at night whilst most are asleep."
He stared. "Your… okaa-san… made it for me?"
She nodded. "Mhmm! I sent her the picture we took – the one with you, me and Yashamaru-san – and she said that the newest member of her family had to have something as a welcome-gift. Yashamaru got a pair of earmuffs."
"… family…?" Gaara said the word as if it was completely foreign. "She considers me… family…?"
"Hai, of course she does. And so does Ron and Fred and George as well. So, what are you going to call him?" she leaned closer to the child.
He blinked in surprise.
"The teddy bear, it needs a name. What are you going to call him, Gaara-chan?"
The boy thought for a moment. "I'll call him Itóshiì."
"Itóshiì? That means 'dear', doesn't it?" Ginny asked and received a nod. "Why?"
She never received an answer, but from that day on Gaara rarely went anywhere without Itóshiì by his side.
-x-x-x-x-
Ginny looked around the shop, but she couldn't find her little helper. "Gaara-chan? Gaara-chan? Where are you? Gaara?" she made sure she had locked the door, then went around the house in search of the missing five-year-old, occasionally calling out the boy's name. She was getting worried about Gaara lately. The boy had lived through five assassination attempts to date, and it sure as hell had affected the small child.
"Gaara-chan?" she called again as she got to the second storey of the house. "Gaara-chan? Where are you!" she was just starting to get seriously worried, when she heard a sound from the bathroom. Ginny hurried over and nearly threw open the door. What she saw nearly gave her a heart attack, and her legs couldn't bear her anymore causing her to fall to her knees. "… G-Gaara-ch-chan…?"
Gaara stood there in the middle of the bathroom, a pair of scissors raised over his arm, ready to strike down. The shredded sleeve of Gaara's shirt – and the other holes in his clothes – testified to the fact that he had been doing this a couple of times already, and yet, there was no blood anywhere to be seen.
He looked up when she entered. "Ginny…"
"Wh-what a-are you d-doing…?" Ginny managed to stutter out as she tried to comprehend the situation.
"… I wanted to know what it feels like." Gaara replied.
"…what…?"
"The boy at the playground fell and scraped his knee. He said it hurt." The young boy looked up at her. "I wanted to know what 'hurt' felt like…"
Ginny held out her arms, and the boy quickly scampered over. "Oh, Gaara-chan, please do not scare me like that." She said as she put away the scissors.
"But nothing happened!" Gaara protested. "I tried so many times! On my knee, on my shin, on my arms, and no matter what nothing happened! There's a shield of sand protecting me." He looked up at her. "Does this make me a monster because I cannot feel?"
"Of course not, Gaara-chan! There are two ways to feel something," she explained. "There are physical feelings."
"Physical feelings?"
"Hai, that is when one – for example – falls and hurts oneself, like that boy did. But those things go away after a while, and most are forgotten. Then there is the other kind of feeling, the one you feel with your heart." Ginny put her palm right above Gaara's heart. "These are the important feelings that last – sometimes forever. It's what's in your heart that makes the difference between 'monster' and 'human'."
"What am I?" large, aquamarine eyes stared up at her seriously.
Ginny thought for a moment, then asked: "What do you fell about Yashamaru-san? Do you want to stay in Yashamaru-san's company? Do you enjoy talking with him?"
"Hai."
"That means that you like Yashamaru-san. And Kazekage-sama, what do you feel towards him? Do you want to play with him?"
Gaara shook his head. "He's bad. He and the other villagers have those eyes."
"Then you don't like the Kazekage. And me? Am I like Yashamaru-san or like Kazekage-sama?"
"Like Yashamaru-san!" the small boy grinned. "Which means that I like you too!"
"And I like you." Ginny hugged the boy closer. "See? You are anything but a monster."
-x-x-x-x-
"Ginny-san?"
Ginny exited the backroom where she had been making sure that everything from the Wizarding World had arrived as it should have, and smiled at her guest. "Yashamaru-san! What can I help you with today? Didn't Gaara-chan follow you today?"
"No, he didn't," the young man replied. "Gaara-sama's currently at the playground. Ginny-san, I… I'm required for another mission tonight, and I was wondering if you could check up on Gaara-sama for me whilst I'm gone?"
"Of course, you know that you don't have to ask. But are you certain that you want to let him stay alone again? Isn't he still too young? I mean, he's only six years old."
Yashamaru smiled sadly. "I realise that children are treated differently in civilian families, but Kazekage-sama wanted to start Gaara-sama's training, and that means that Gaara-sama has to learn how go handle things alone."
"I know, I know, but I don't like it." Ginny sighed. "Alright, I'll check up on Gaara-chan tonight."
"Please make sure that he stays inside after ten, and thank you."
It wasn't long after Yashamaru left that some disturbance from the playground drew Ginny – and other curious people – to the streets. A group of children were looking upwards as their ball floated down on a cloud of sand from a high plateau, and landed in Gaara's hands. The children looked horrified at this development, and totally refused to accept the ball back when Gaara held it out to them.
"Run for it!" one of the boys shouted, and the entire flock turned heel and ran.
Gaara looked so sad at that moment, that Ginny couldn't help herself and started running towards the boy, intent on giving him a hug. But suddenly the sand from the ground rose up and grabbed a hold of two of the kids. It started dragging them back towards Gaara, and everyone started panicking – especially the parents. The sand around the kids' legs tightened suddenly, and another bout of sand rose up, ready to strike the girl, who screamed in fright. Ginny had by this time reached Gaara, and fell down on her knees before him, and pulled the boy into a hug. This kind of situation had happened a couple of times before, and she knew what to do by now.
"Gaara-chan, please calm down." She whispered. "Gaara-chan, please!" Slowly the boy calmed and the sand became sand again, and everyone vacated the playground faster than lightning. Ginny didn't move from her position until Gaara had relaxed completely, and then she unwound her arms from around him but didn't move away. She smiled. "Welcome back to me, Gaara-chan."
"Ginny…" the boy mumbled, his head bowed. "Thank you."
Ginny simply kissed his forehead. "Come on, I think I have some blood pops left somewhere."
After a while, and once they were safely back in the small shop, Gaara spoke up again. "It hurts. Here." He put a small hand over his heart.
"A wound of the heart." Ginny nodded.
"Wound of the heart?"
"Do you remember the talk we had about feelings? When I said that the most important feelings are those of the heart, the feelings that last forever?"
"Hai. But how do I heal it?"
She sighed. "Wounds of the heart are difficult to heal since there are no ointments, and sometimes they don't heal at all. However, there is one way to heal a heart. It's a troublesome thing, it's difficult to determine whether it's a true or false medicine, and you can only get it from another person."
"What is it?"
"It's love."
"Love? What is that? How do I get it?"
"You have already received it." Ginny smiled and hugged the boy again. "Love is the spirit of devoting yourself to someone important and close to you. It is expressed by caring for and protecting that person – like a mother for a child, like Yashamaru-san loves you, like I love you – and I believe that the sand-shield around you which automatically protects you, does so out of love."
Gaara seemed to think over this for a moment, before he looked up at her again. "Does this mean that you are my okaa-chan?"
Ginny blinked in surprise. "If you want me to be."
The boy nodded eagerly, a smile back on his face. "Hai!"
"Then I'm your new okaa-chan," she confirmed, whilst silently wondering if the Kazekage would blow his top when he heard about this. The man had never been very fond of the relationship between Ginny and Gaara, but he hadn't dared to do anything to Ginny in order to stop it, which meant that Gaara had been the one to suffer alone.
"Thank you!" there was a short silence. "Okaa-chan, I need a favour."
"Hai? What is it?"
"I need an ointment for that girl's leg. Do you have anything?"
Ginny smiled. "I think I can find something." She replied and got up to search the shelves. Once she had found what she was looking for, she packed it in a paper bag, and handed it to her unofficial, newly-proclaimed son. "There you go, Gaara-chan. once you have delivered this, please hurry back here. Yashamaru-san said that you should stay home tonight whilst he is gone, but I think we'll ignore that. We're a newly-made mother-and-son pair, and we need to celebrate." She bent down and placed a kiss on his forehead. "Be careful."
Gaara was practically glowing. "Hai!"
Ginny spent the time until Gaara's return with making a special kind of cookies her own mother had taught her, and which she knew that Gaara loved to munch on. But when Gaara entered the house again, she could see that there was something wrong. The boy was so quiet and introspective, that she blinked in surprise. "Gaara-chan?"
"… It didn't go well…" he whispered. He looked up at her. "Why? Why am I the only one who is a monster? What am I?"
"What happ-" Ginny was cut off in the middle of the sentence by Gaara screaming her name and something sharp and deadly embedding itself in various spots along her back. She gasped in surprise, her eyes wide, then she fell to the ground and just laid there, completely stunned for a moment. 'What happened?' she wondered. "G-Gaara…"
Gaara was kneeling by her, his small hands shaking her shoulder. "Okaa-chan! Okaa-chan!" then he glared hatefully up at the masked attacker. "Why am I the only one who has to go through this!" he shouted and his small fist shot out. The sand from outside reacted at once, and broke through the windows and the doors. It wrapped around the attacker faster than he could move, and as Gaara made a fist with his hand the sand crushed its captive easily, before letting the boneless figure fall to the ground.
"Gaara-chan…" Ginny shakily raised one of her hands and the boy quickly grabbed it. "G-go behind the counter, Gaara-chan, and in the lowest drawer you will find a small med-medallion with numbers all around the edge. W-we can ca-call for help with i-it. P-please bring it to me." She did her best to keep the excruciating pain she was currently feeling all along her back, out of her voice, and she thought she had managed quite good.
Gaara scampered off and found the medallion. On the way back to Ginny, he stopped by the attacker and after a moment of indecision, he lifted the veil that hid the face from sight. Gaara cried out and Ginny gasped.
The attacker was Yashamaru.
-x-x-x-x-
Ginny sighed. Ever since that night when Yashamaru had tried to kill them Gaara had never been the same. That night had really changed him for the worse, and especially when they realised that Yashamaru's attack had hit vital nerves along the spine, and Ginny would never be able to walk again as long as she lived – no medicine, be it muggle, shinobi or magical, could help her now. The years following the attack had been hard and definitely not good, especially for Gaara. He had become more distant and so much colder, the little boy had turned into a terrifying killing machine, and he only occasionally listened to her. His training had been stepped up insanely, and he really had turned into the monster he was accused of being.
The damn Shukaku really hadn't helped things either.
A couple of months ago Gaara had left to participate in the Chunnin Exams hosted by Konoha. Ginny knew that that wasn't the entire reason, but seeing as Gaara hadn't told her anything she didn't know what else was supposed to happen. However, she had warned everyone that there was something going on. She knew that Konoha would make it, and she had been proven right when Gaara and what was left of Sand's forces returned just a couple of days ago, all very low on morale and all cursing the name of a certain Snake Sannin.
Gaara had entered the shop and then the two of them had simply stared at each other for a long while, until the boy had blinked and looked away for the first time in six years. Ginny had smiled happily, having seen the difference in Gaara's aquamarine eyes, and she had rolled in her wheelchair out from behind the counter, and over to him.
"Welcome back to me, Gaara-chan." She said and leaned up to kiss his forehead.
"… 'kaa… -chan…" he hadn't called her that in ages, though he had called the Shukaku for 'okaa-san', and that had worried her. But now it seemed like her little boy was back.
Things were looking up.
-x-x-x-x-
Two days after Gaara's return from Konoha, a patrol on the graveyard shift reported a serious fight towards the south-west of Suna, and Gaara was one of those who went with the group to find out what was going on. The village was in turmoil from what had happened and the loss of the Kazekage, but they seemed to flock to Gaara like bees to honey, and Ginny had no doubt that the redheaded boy would end up as the newest Kazekage. This thought amused her thoroughly.
'The one they hated and shunned is the one they choose for their leader.' She chuckled to herself. 'Humans are strange creatures.'
It was at this point that Temari ran into the shop. She was quickly followed by Kankuro, and the two then stood there for a minute in an attempt to regain their breaths.
"Temari-san, Kankuro-kun, is something wrong?" Ginny asked and wheeled her way over to the two teens.
"Ginny-san…" Kankuro panted. "G-Gaara told us to bring you to the hospital."
Ginny blinked. "Why? My check-up was last week."
"The man we found." Temari said. "Gaara says that you know him."
"You found a man? Where?"
"In the abandoned outpost south-west of here. He was one of the three combatants we heard about two days ago." Kankuro replied as he grabbed the handles of the wheelchair, and started to gently wheel Ginny out of the shop. "He's a Konoha ANBU Squad Commander from what we could figure out, and he was apparently on his way back from the portal to the Other World when he was attacked by two Akatsuki members – we found one of those cloud-decorated cloaks, and a lot of blood to boot, but-"
Temari cut him off. "Anyway, Gaara's waiting in the room. He says he thinks he knows who the person is, but he wants to wait for you to make a positive ID."
Ginny had gotten a very bad feeling about it all during their trip to the hospital and from what the two teens had told her, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw when she was wheeled into the hospital room by Kankuro. There, on the bed, with bandages all over, and several monitors surrounding the bed, laid none other than…
"Harry!"
-x-x-x-x-
There. Please tell me what you think.
There were several other scenes that I wanted to bring into this chapter, but I figured that it would simply end up as far too long – and I would've fallen asleep before I could write them – so I'm either going to scrap those, or I'm going to end up using them as flashbacks (you've got to love flashbacks, they're so darn useful!). One flashback might even happen next chapter if all goes well.
I'm glad you all liked the fight. I was worried it was going to be really bad. From now on I take my hat off to anyone who writes fight-scenes. They are notoriously difficult. My current source of information is Wikipedia and some other Naruto-related sites, and I'm glad that they gave me the correct information!
As to why the names of characters belonging to other anime/manga keep on popping out all over my stories, the explanation is very simple: No, they aren't those particular characters brought into the story, but rather me who doesn't have the imagination to create my own names, and therefore steal someone else's. Yep, there you have it, the shameful truth.
I have a Naruto-only story out – 'Flip Flop and Fly' – and I would appreciate it if you would take a look at it and tell me what you think.
Thanks to:
TanyaPotter, XtakaX27, NamelessHeretic, Fattyaddy-99, honebar, Shonbi's Fire, kobisaki, Sumarra, BasicallyAnIdiot, Night Wanderer, Adnexus, dark672, nantukoprime, HiddenETC, Wolven Spirits, The Insane Imortal Dragon, Lord Myst, Monks N More, oldmagic, Beta the Second, FireAngel8723, firmin, Meemei, cheerful-pinkstar, Anave Lipad, Angranse, Curlz-Shadow Kitsune, Senyor Fier Mensheir, (…), 2stupid, AceZ-Shadow, Rinzei86, Ol' Ollie, Sk8er7, silvergrac3, zi ma gesto, Gogolu, Young Phoenix, Morrolan, magerm, I-Y-T-Y, hittocerebattosai, PersonaJXT, Z-AKA Andrea- Sarah R Potter, makenzi, candidus-lupus-full Moon, LazarOfTheWind, muto shizuka, majin buu 21, falseproffitt, RevanLah, kirallie, Alucard29, Storm Master Tempest, Padfoot and Moony03, Jesp-R, SPARKLING EYES, stayblue, FrznTears and Chibi of Many Names.