A.N. Hello again! Wow, this update just took like 9 months... I'm so sorry. I have some good excuses and some bad excuses, but I'm not going to list them out here. Anyway, I initially had trouble with this chapter and had to skip the first half entirely because I just couldn't get into the right mindset. Unfortunately the second part took literally the entire 9 months to write and while it was fun to write I could only get out a few sentences out at a time before the writing blahs set in or a kid ,my husband, or a migraine interrupted me. I finished the second half the week before my kids started school and was forced to move back to the beginning and lo and behold I finished it super fast! BTW, this is the first time I've had all 3 of my kids in school for some amount of time so life is bliss for me, woot. No guarantee that the chapters will be up every 2 weeks like they were before, but it won't be crazy months again. One of my friends has kindly lent me her laptop and I intend to fully use it!
Warnings- Mild language and length? Yeah... It's a long chapter so take your time. There is a lot of information in this one guys!
Beta'd by TreeStar. She just had to joke when we were reading this over last night that it took so long because it had no sex in it... I can write those scenes fast for some reason...
Note- Apologies to those of you who reviewed over the past many months and did not get a response from me! I was usually really good about that, but I had stopped even logging on at a certain point where people that had been regularly PMing me thought I was dead from lack of response. Due to FF's set up with review notifications it's hard to keep track of who I responded to. I will try to do better from now on.
For now, I hope this chapter was worth the wait! Please R & R and enjoy!
That Time I Went Down Fighting
26. A Prisoner's Confession
"He's gripping the hilt wrong, he's going to lose it."
"Oh come on, he could have totally avoided that kick!"
"See? It was way too easy to knock that sword out of his hands and now he'll be forced to improvise. Psh, moron."
"Move! No, the other way!"
"You don't block a sword attack like that, it would chop your arm off."
"Oh for goodness sake… It's a simple escape, there's no reason to be turning blue. You trained for years for this moment and now you die by choking? Lame… Oh, yeah punch him in the throat with your failing strength, that's way more believable than the simple escape you could have used before." Naruto pouted, rolling his eyes in exasperation though a trace of an amused smile played on his lips. He was enjoying himself.
Shifting slightly, Naruto snuggled himself closer to Sasuke's cozy chest. He could feel Sasuke's half hard cock pressing into his lower back, but knew that it was due to their closeness and not because the Uchiha was wanting to initiate anything more than gentle touches as they basked in each other's company. Naruto relished in the feeling of the pale fingers as they made lazy trails up and down his bare torso, a comforting touch to sooth his riled up mood.
Releasing a sigh, Naruto turned his head slightly to nuzzle his forehead against Sasuke's jaw and was immediately rewarded with a kiss to his hairline. Humming in satisfaction, Naruto returned his attention back to the animated film.
The duo had spent the entire morning and most of the day lying on Sasuke's bed picking their way through Sasuke's video collection. After seemingly endless paperwork all week and their frustrating dinner with Fugaku the night before a completely lazy day was just the thing both males craved.
Extra pillows had been pulled out of the closet and piled at the foot of the bed to make a suitable backrest just as they had done while gaming. Sasuke leaned against the pillows, dressed in a pair of comfortable sweats and a tshirt, with Naruto resting between his spread legs in nothing but a pair of loose sleep shorts and socks. Naruto insisted that even though the weather was getting colder Sasuke's close proximity would overheat him if he were dressed and Sasuke was only too happy to have a natural heater keeping him extra warm from the castle's cold draft.
Getting through the opening credits of the first movie had been difficult, Naruto kept bouncing around and Sasuke had to hold him still lest he wanted to forgo the flick all together and go back to their wild romping (the insistent rubbing Naruto was doing against Sasuke rapidly growing erection was driving the raven mad). Naruto calmed down with a pout.
As it turned out, Naruto hadn't had that much experience with movies, hence his excitement. He occasionally got to watch them in school when the teacher would roll in the old clunky box on holidays or when the class got restless from feeling too cooped up from the seemingly endless rainy days, but those days were rare since Naruto was pretty sure the school had maybe two TVs to go around the entire campus. Iruka had brought home a fifteen inch television when Naruto five that managed to get one local chanel in black and white. Naruto had discovered his favorite cartoon ever (The Senju Bro's) and had watched it everyday, practically worshipping the two main protagonists throughout most of his youth. They had used the television until it died seven years later (which was a feat since it was bought at a garage sale). Naruto remembered thinking that was the best thing ever, but this was amazing.
Alas Naruto was still Naruto and he had never been able to stop himself from talking to the TV. At first he had felt a little wary, thinking that if he started getting too annoying than Sasuke would turn off the movie, but then a huge grin spread over his face when his lover joined in too. While Naruto yelled, Sasuke's comments were more subdued but no more less biting and they made Naruto snicker in amusement. It was really amazing that either of them knew what was happening in the movies since they kept talking over the dialogue.
"I don't get it," Naruto grumbled as the epic fight ended and a long sequence of dialogue full of tears started, "Why didn't he just tell his brother the truth? Leaving him behind was one thing, but egging him on through goading him into hateful vengeance was just cruel and unusual."
"He thought that his brother wouldn't strive to become as strong as he did if he hadn't had as much to drive him," Sasuke mused as he kept his gaze on the screen. "Though I doubt he wanted him to leave the village. I guess he was too busy with his undercover espionage to worry about that. Lot of good that did him though since he didn't stopped the organization in any way."
"Hn," Naruto snorted in acknowledgment.
They sat in silence for a few minutes observing the intensity of the scene as the younger brother felt the heartache over finally getting his revenge.
Naruto's chest tightened at the sight and was thankful for the cool hands that ran smoothly along his thighs where his shorts had slid up his bent legs. He couldn't imagine having such a hatred for Gaara, but he could understand the pain of losing him.
Even though the tanuki/cat was not blood, he was still his brother in every way that truly counted. The two of them had been inseparable since they were toddlers and had shared everything with one another. Naruto had been lucky to share a brotherly bond when he had been born an only child.
Thinking of his own brother caused Naruto to contemplate Sasuke's relationship with Itachi. He knew that the two loved each other, it was clear the way Sasuke opened up and relaxed around the elder Uchiha. Itachi's own fondness towards Sasuke was obvious in the way he teased Sasuke, not to mention the way he deflected Fugaku's anger away from his younger brother.
Itachi had made multiple visits to Sasuke's room since Naruto's arrival, and though Naruto hadn't been privy to their conversations they seemed to be genuinely comfortable in each other's company. It was clear to see that the two wished to spend more time together, but their busy schedules were keeping them from doing so.
"Why haven't you told Itachi about what your father does to you?" The soft question left Naruto's lips before he could stop himself. He felt Sasuke stiffen behind him, his fingers stilling along Naruto's stomach and thigh, and knew he couldn't take back what he had asked.
He didn't regret posing his question, because Naruto needed to understand why Sasuke had denied himself the possible salvation that telling his brother the truth would have brought. Temari had said it was pride, but Naruto wasn't so sure. It made sense to Naruto that Sasuke would tell his brother, because Naruto would tell Gaara.
Sasuke was quiet for so long that Naruto thought that he wasn't going to answer. Honestly, just not answering was the best scenario running through Naruto's mind as his heart hammered in his chest. He was imagining everything from Sasuke shutting down and refusing to talking to him again for sticking his nose where it wasn't wanted, to Sasuke throwing him off his lap and yelling at him in an uncharacteristic display of emotion that would soon turn violent. Both options were not very pleasant in Naruto's opinion.
As Sasuke's lips pursed and twitched is unspoken contemplation Naruto stayed facing forward, not wanting to scare the pale man away and giving him the space he needed to talk, but keeping the close contact to let him know he was there for him if he needed him.
"Itachi was nine years old when he started attending court with my father," Sasuke finally said, his eyes staring unseeing at the moving pictures on the screen and his voice slow as if he was measuring every word. "As the eldest son it was known that he would take over the family one day and as such take on my father's rule in the royal hierarchy. As a child he of course couldn't go without his normal education, so he spent half his day at court and the other at school, weekends were left to tutoring to make up the school that was missed due to court."
Sasuke paused, his eyes squinting as he remembered a time long ago. "He somehow always seemed to make time for me though," he mumbled. Naruto squeezed the pale arm resting against his stomach and was rewarded by Sasuke's hand resuming its steady slide up and down his tight abs. He didn't know if Sasuke was aware of the movement or if it was just a repetitive gesture to subconsciously reassure Sasuke, but be enjoyed it nonetheless. "I was just a kid, obviously," Sasuke continued, "but what kind of nine year old wants to play patty cake with a three year old in their free time?"
Naruto huffed out a laugh. "Someone trying to be a good big brother," he commented.
A soft smile came to Sasuke's lips, "That's what he said."
"I'm going to be a big brother," Itachi stated proudly, "My baby brother is going to be born today."
The man's eyes widened in surprise, "Well it's a good thing I saved you then! We can't let your brother grow up without his big bro. Does he have a name?"
"Sasuke."
The words of Itachi's past played through Naruto's head and his eyes softened, a strange proud sadness filling his heart. He let his head fall back onto Sasuke's collarbone and felt the Uchiha's breath rush through his hair in the form of a large sigh.
"Thanks to all the tutoring and his genius, Itachi graduated when he was fourteen."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. Fourteen? That was nuts. He had suspected that the elder Uchiha was smart, but he didn't know he was that smart. Though having to balance school and what was pretty much a full time job at such a young age, especially with a father like Fugaku, must have been very stressful for the boy.
"By then King Obito had stopped coming out of his room altogether and my father's rule as Regent had gained such power that it was nearly on equal footing as the king's." Sasuke scoffed, "I remember my mother praising my father for being such a kind hearted man for stepping in for his cousin who was sick from heartache. She was just so…" he bit his lip, his brows furrowing as memories of his gentle mother threatened to break his composure.
Naruto's reassuring squeeze to Sasuke's hand brought him out of his reverie and he sucked in a steadying breath before continuing back on track. "My mother had never been one for court; had always insisted that those were matters always left for outside of the house and my father preferred to leave her in ignorant bliss." Sasuke paused and he took no notice of his eyes drying as he stared blankly into space. "We were happier that way, back then," he mumbled.
Blinking, Sasuke felt the burn of his dried eyes being moistened and continued, "However Itachi started attending court full time upon graduation and I think that my mother had a hard time coping with the fact that her baby was now expected to be an adult, so she insisted that he still keep up his learning and tutors so he wouldn't get rusty; as if he had a choice but to work alongside my father.
"Since I was eight at the time, Itachi insisted that I take extra lessons with him. It was an unusual request, I am the second son after all and as such require less education than the heir." Sasuke made the comment so casually Naruto almost missed it, but when the words registered he couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
'Second son,' he thought. Now that he thought about it he remembered learning about the human practice of devout favoritism of the firstborn. It was an old custom that the humans were growing away from where they would look upon their firstborn child (usually a son) to be sole heir of the family, leaving all other children to be expendable and with enough knowledge in the family duties should the eldest fall. Naruto hadn't even remembered about the practice until Sasuke's comment, seeing as his main interaction with siblings were with Gaara and the twins whose mother doted on all of them equally when they had been together all those years ago.
To think that Uchiha Fugaku still followed that ridiculous method, especially with someone obviously as smart as Sasuke. Well that made perfect sense, he was a bastard after all. Besides, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if the entire royal family still followed those practices. The crown went to the eldest, so why wouldn't the extended family follow suit?
Sasuke's low esteem when around his father and Fugaku's upturned nose towards his son made more sense now. It went well beyond the physical abuse Sasuke suffered at his father's hands, Sasuke had been trying to find his sense of self worth since he was born.
"I think the shared lessons was Itachi's way to spend at least some time together." A small smile formed on Sasuke's lips, his words snapping Naruto out of his revelation. "The tutors used to hate us; we never paid attention. We used to sit huddled in the back of that small study room just talking about our day while the instructor droned on." The smile fell and his eyebrows narrowed in memory, "I remember Itachi looking really tired one day, more tired than usual, and when I asked him what was wrong he snapped at me. I hadn't known what to think, it was like a physical blow since Itachi had always been nice to me. My feelings were hurt and I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. We didn't speak to each other for over a week. I couldn't help but notice in that time Itachi went from looking from a young fourteen year old to an old man, the stress lines on his face seemed to grow overnight.
"One day after our tutor left, while we were packing up our paper, Itachi suddenly grabbed me and hugged me. He said he was sorry and squeezed me tight. He said that father and the rest of the council had passed a law concerning Jinchūriki and he was unhappy with the decision. That law was, of course, the right to obtain and collar Jinchūriki to be used as a 'pet' within the walls of Konoha. But I hadn't really understood what he was talking about at the time, I was just glad to have my nii-san back."
'Ten years,' thought Naruto. That confirmed it. His kin have been officially being captured and imprisoned for ten whole years. There was also the possibility that they had been taken before that since the law most likely didn't just pop up out of nowhere, the practice had to have come from somewhere, whether Fugaku had brought the idea into court or someone else had and the others had just rolled with it didn't matter. The thought made him sick.
He tried to think back to when he was fourteen, just two years after he had revealed himself to the world to being the Kyuubi, when he was jumping through the trees playing tag with the local wildlife. Could he make decisions to enslave an entire race at that age? Could he even spell 'enslave' at that age? Stupid question, of course he could, he's not a complete moron. He'd had been physically strong, but mentally mature enough to handle serious situations like that? It now made a little more sense why Iruka had stayed silent back then, Naruto just wasn't ready. That didn't excuse his ignorance now however. That being said, Naruto knew that he wouldn't even contemplate imprisoning a race now, even if it was the humans that were doing that very thing to him. The guilt that must have ridden on young Itachi's shoulders at the time must have been a heavy burden to bear, especially since he couldn't go against his father's will.
"Father brought Temari home a few months later," Sasuke continued, unaware of Naruto's inner monologue. He seemed to be on a roll now, the words just flowing from his mouth like water from a chalice. "In my young age I couldn't fully understand what Temari was to us. Mother said she was to be treated as a sister, something I had never had before, while at the same time she was expected to be a handmaid. Itachi told me that she was a slave, a prisoner, stolen and kept in our home against her will. Father looked at her as if she were nothing more than dirt under his feet, mother with a sort of empathetic love, Itachi pity. I saw her as a playmate, someone to give me attention and fill the void of Itachi's absence."
"Sasuke was your age. He was a happy little boy that constantly sought the attention of his family, especially his brother. He was a bit of a brat, but he was young so it was normal, and he was so full of wonder he would constantly ask me questions whenever we were alone. Sasuke quickly took a liking to me and started following me around like a little duckling."
A small smile came to Naruto's lips as he remembered Temari's words and the care he had seen in his old friend's face for his dark haired lover. He was glad that Temari had found at least one friend early on in her captivity and it appeared that Sasuke had been in desperate need of companionship too. Temari would have been the perfect person for the job.
"Then mother died."
Sasuke's words were like a lead weight in Naruto's stomach.
The room was silent other than the low crackling of the fire behind them and the constant drone of the television, the plot completely lost to both men by now. Naruto found himself holding his breath, fearing that if he made any sudden movements Sasuke might break. He could feel Sasuke's heart against his back, it's thump-thump-thump tattoo nearly painfully fast, like the air Naruto wanted to pant into his body but was holding in. Sasuke's breathing, however, was slow and steady; hiding away the trauma within his chest.
Finally after full minutes had passed, after Naruto was nearly blue from lack of oxygen, Sasuke spoke.
"Tem had been with us a for almost a year by then," he started," and in that year I had seen a decline in Itachi. I could tell that his time at court was getting to him. Every day he came home he looked more tired, older, unhappy, unhealthy even, and distant. Yet he still made an effort to spend time with me and so I made it a point to only share the good things in my life with him because I didn't want to place more burden on him. Then when mom died...It was all bad, all burden. I blamed myself, my father blamed me, so why wouldn't Itachi?"
Naruto couldn't take it any longer, Sasuke's voice was sounding too raw and his chest was feeling too tight. He threw himself forward and began turning around. He needed to hug and hold Sasuke right now, dammit.
His attempts were thwarted when he was abruptly pulled back into the position he had been in, Sasuke's circling his torso tightly and his dark head coming to rest on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto squirmed for a moment, feeling Sasuke's arms tighten in a death hold, before relaxing with a pout on his lips. Fine then, he would just have Sasuke hug and hold him.
"I found out a while later that Itachi didn't blame me," Sasuke said quietly, his warm breath fanning over Naruto's shoulder blade. "But that didn't stop me from blaming myself, so the doubt was always there. And then when my father started to— hmm, I just couldn't. Mine and Itachi's time had become a sacred thing to me and I couldn't taint it."
Naruto hadn't missed Sasuke's slip up. Temari had mentioned that Fugaku had beat and even raped Sasuke when she was still living with them. Had he started so soon after his wife's death? It would seem so. Sasuke had said he had been getting his 'birthday presents' since then. Naruto hadn't exactly counted, but the number of whip scars looked accurate.
He could understand the mind of a child not wanting to ruin his time with his brother or being too afraid of his father's wrath, but why keep silent still? He posed that question.
"What would you have Itachi do?" Sasuke asked, his voice sounding tired. "Do you want him to try to get my father, the Regent, arrested? Did you know that beating your own child isn't even illegal? It's frowned up, but still seen as a legal form of child rearing. Besides, people would just see it was a father putting his second son in his place."
Naruto's eyes were wide in shock and disgust, "But that's not—"
"Itachi hears the things father says to me and still defends me," Sasuke cut Naruto off, sounding agitated now. "He knows how I'm treated to a certain extent and takes measures accordingly, but I don't want him spending all his free time like I'm some damsel that needs saving. I'm a grown man. I need him to be my brother, not my hero."
Naruto was quiet a moment to allow Sasuke the time to cool his raising nerves. When Sasuke's hold on him loosened, Naruto spoke. "So, if you can't have him arrested and you won't tell Itachi what your father has and is doing to you, what will you do?"
Sasuke released a sigh and ground his forehead into Naruto's shoulder before asking again, "What would you have me do? Kill my own father?"
The question remained unanswered.
Turquoise eyes scanned their surroundings, traveling across the lawn to the house across the street, while his pale nose scented to air for anyone possibly hiding from his advanced vision.
Satisfied that no one was in the vicinity, with an extra burst of chakra, Gaara bolted from the shadowed alleyway between his home and Naruto's to his front door. It wasn't the first time that he wished his house had a window facing Naruto's, but alas, beggars can't be choosers.
The bang that echoed through the street when he slammed into his locked door made him bite back a sharp curse and look around while he fished his keys out of his pocket before slamming them into the lock.
He should have known his mother wouldn't be home yet, but it had been a long day and Gaara was desperate to get to the comfort of his room. The tanuki/cat sighed in relief when he finally closed the door behind him, leaning his forehead against its cool surface as he gave himself a moment to get composed.
Gaara had always had mixed feelings about living inside the Wall. On one hand it was where he met Naruto and his family. Their close proximity meant he could spend most of his days at their house before returning home. The secret exit out to Bijūgakure was an added bonus; he was grateful that he didn't have to sneak through the main gates just to go to school.
On the other hand, he wasn't free to move outside of his own walls without fear of discovery. He and Naruto had never played on their small front lawns on a hot summer's day, nor had Gaara seen where his siblings went to school. Gaara hadn't even ventured further into the capital city until recently and it was only by his good sense of direction and the draw of chakra outside the Wall that kept him from getting lost.
When he was younger Gaara had thought that Jinchūriki within the Wall were just frowned upon, that his mother was afraid they would be thrown out if discovered; but as he grew older he began to think otherwise, especially after Temari's disappearance. Now, thanks to Naruto's disappearance, Gaara thought he was uncovering things about Konoha that he wished had kept his mother from moving them into the city altogether.
Grunting, the red-head pushed off the door and trudged into his small kitchen, kicking off his shoes on the way and pulling the dark hood off his head allowing his ears to twitch away from his sweat soaked locks.
The two large bags he had slung over his shoulder landed on the dining table with a shuddering thud. Another dull thump followed as a third, smaller bag landed on the ground at his feet. Gaara released a sigh, rolling his slightly aching shoulders, and pulled back the extra chakra he had been using to carry such a heavy load.
He looked down at the duffle bags that were larger than his torso and winced. It was a miracle he had even made it through the front door. He was sure that if anyone had been watching him through their window they would have thought he was robbing Naruto's house, or trying to hide dead bodies in his house…
Gaara snorted in amusement as he opened one of the bags revealing layers of paper wrapped parcels. Pulling one out he let his fingers brush over the waxy surface, feeling the tenderness of the still warm meat that lay beneath.
All amusement left him, being replaced with sorrow, as he grabbing a few more packages and turned to place them in the freezer.
He and Naruto had been hunting the giant hebi, known as Manda, for the past few months and today he had finally found him. There had been a break in the weather, leaving the air unusually hot and humid, and the great serpent had slunk from its den to find a place to warm his cool scales.
The mixture of the moist leaves as they lay drying throughout the morning had left a noticeable trail for Gaara to follow and he had found the monstrosity lying in a patch of warm dirt by noon. Manda had cleared all the leaves, leaving the ground bare to quickly soak up the sun rays shining through the thick canopy of the Forest of Death, before staking his claim on the dry patch.
Needless to say, the serpent had not been happy to be awakened from his nap. It had taken Gaara almost two hours to take him down. He had never been so thankful for the use of his chakra when the scaled tail threw him against a tree, cracking a few ribs.
Once the beast was dead, Gaara returned to Bijūgakure seeking out a handful of townsmen to accompany him back into the forest to disassemble the serpent.
The butcher would sell the meat for Gaara, taking whatever he and his family needed for themselves and getting a percentage of the profit for his work. Manda's harder than steel bones would be forged into weapons by the smithy and sold in his store, once again a profit going to Gaara. (Jinchūriki may be peaceful creatures, but not all of them have natural weapons like claws and stingers and they were not naive enough to leave themselves completely defenseless.) The jeweler took the smaller bones and large scales to craft them into fine jewelry to be sold in her own store. Gaara gave Manda's poison to the medic freely, it would be used to create medicines and anti-venoms of the strongest kinds for the weaker Jinchūriki and the human-born that lived outside the Wall.
It was rare that a giant hebi should be killed so close to the city and the excitement was noticeable in everyone's eyes when they discovered Gaara's prize. The last one, caught by none other than the great Kyuubi-sama himself, had fed all of Bijūgakure for the entire winter. Predators didn't fall for the subtle wooing of chakra like prey did and it was much harder to lead them into a false sense of security.
Gaara snorted at that thought. Naruto had been fourteen when they had accidentally come across that particular beast while exploring. The king serpent had been rearing back to strike and out of instinct Naruto had thrown out his chakra demanding it to stop, and it did. The blond actually rode on its head back to the town before he killed it. The cockiness and pride Naruto had shone over his kill as the townspeople people swarmed him in awe had made Gaara roll his eyes. (The fox had been a lot more outgoing back then in showing off his greatness, before it all really got to him.) Ironically, he cried like a baby later that night saying he wished he hadn't killed it because it hadn't been a fair fight.
Gaara shook his head at the memory, a small smile coming to his lips. Naruto had always been too tender hearted for his own good. That was probably why he had always been so good with kids. Gaara used to tell him it was going to get him into trouble one day, but Naruto would laugh and stick his tongue out saying that it was better than being a friendless stick in the mud like Gaara (followed up by a glomping bear hug that would leave the tanuki/cat struggling and breathless). Gaara huffed. It looked like he had been right after all.
Seeing that there was no more room in the freezer, Gaara closed the small door with a little more force than was needed and turned back to his bag. He sighed when he realized that he had only unloaded three-fourths of it. Why hadn't he left more at Naruto's house? They had an extra freezer. Shrugging, he tossed the rest in the refrigerator, deciding they'd have it for dinner.
It had been a while since he had had dinner with his mother and he was sure that she'd appreciate the company. Honestly it was hard for Gaara to remember the last time he had spent real quality time with his mother. In truth he missed her.
Unzipping the remaining bag on the table, Gaara assessed its contents. Fresh produce, some clothing for both himself and his mother, and some various knick knacks, all of which the townspeople traded him for the meat on his way from the butcher. Nothing that needed immediate attention, so Gaara turned away feeling the heat of the day finally get to him.
Grabbing his satchel from the floor Gaara turned back to the fridge in hopes to find something to fill his rumbling stomach until dinner time. His nose twitched as it caught a whiff of a bowl of tuna that he was sure his mother had made the day before. Snatching it out of the cooler, the redhead grabbed some crackers out of the cabinet before lazily making his way down the hallway, shedding his stifling hoodie with some difficulty along the way.
Three tuna covered crackers filled his mouth before the bowl and the box of crackers were placed delicately on Gaara's bed. He eyed them with longing, the crunching of his full mouth filling the otherwise silent room, as he shed his sweaty clothes from his overheated body and unceremoniously tossed them on the floor along with his satchel.
Kicking the tattered clothing into the corner of his room where he promised himself he'd wash them some time soon (though the chances of that happening was slim since there was now a small island in the corner of his room where he was sure a colony of tribespeople had been born to worship the smelly clothes god), Gaara could no longer resist the calling of the tuna and crammed a morsel that was more fish than cracker into his mouth before turning away from the tempting snack.
Padding his way across the rugged hallway, Gaara walked the short distance naked to his home's single bathroom. Closing the door behind him, Gaara moved to turn the water on in the tub, the need for a long shower overwhelming his need to fill his still grumbling tummy and rest his tired body.
As he waited for the old pipes to warm up the water he caught his reflection in the mirror. His locks of hair, once a deep blood red were now darker, matted to his head with sweat, dirt, a few stray twigs and leaves, and blood. Gaara's ears hadn't fared that much better; what once was fluffy white fur tipping each ear was now a dirty brown of scraggly looking hair bent in every direction.
Turquoise eyes peered out of a dirt and blood smeared face, streaked lines along his forehead and cheeks revealing flushed but pale skin where Gaara had tried to wipe away the grime. Surprisingly clean lips were pulled back just for kicks to reveal glistening white fangs, the crazed look made a terrifying sight.
A large smear of blood ran from the middle of his right pectoral up to his right shoulder, a reminder that his sweatshirt and t-shirt were going to need a good mending as well as washing. The wound had been Manda's last ditch effort to strike at his enemy, nearly taking Gaara's arm off and temporarily immobilizing the Jinchūriki's limb. Gaara had been forced to focus his chakra away from his attacks so he wouldn't bleed to death.
His eyes drifted lower over a tapered and toned torso to another cut that ran diagonally along his left side. The blood smeared there had run down until it had been absorbed by the hem of his shorts, making a thick line at his hipbone. He could just make out the yellow bruising around his ribcage underneath the red stain from where his body slammed into the large tree nearly shattering his bones.
His eyes lingered on the red that had seeped onto his belly, equally clashing and complementing the white of his pale skin and the black permanently staining his abs. The spiral tattoo encircling his navel had only one twin in existence and Gaara saw them as a sign of his and Naruto's brotherhood, a strong bond forged through physical and mental exertion. Even though he could easily heal his wounds, the thought of damaging the tattoo didn't bode well with him and he couldn't stop himself from wiping the offending crimson liquid with his fingertips only to find it dry and crusty. He frowned in annoyance.
The injuries had hurt like a bitch initially, but now they were nothing more than a bearable throb. It didn't help that his whole body was aching with a deep pulse of exhaustion, but Gaara was sure that the blood was covering open sores and his ribs were still slightly fractured, so he pushed more chakra into those areas feeling an instant warmth flood into his system.
Gaara's eyes studied his hands. Grime was embedded deep under his claws, but other than that he was glad he had given them a quick wash before leaving the butcher. Shoving food in his mouth with his bare hands wasn't exactly sanitary (though it wasn't like he could get sick anyway). More importantly, he was sure Iruka would have had his head if he had gotten blood and dirt stains all over his house, and even then his clothing hadn't been that much better… Gaara purses his lips, 'Maybe the amount of meat I left them will get me out of cleaning up the mess I left…' Aw, wishful thinking.
The tanuki/cat released a sigh, his shoulders sagging and his head dropping in defeat. It was a lost cause.
His dropped gaze brought his focus on his legs. There was a literal line where his shorts ended just above his knees, the clean pale flesh of his thighs meeting the brown rest of his leg and feet that were equally striped with white from his shoes. It was like he had a dirt and blood sunburn. Yeah, Iruka was going to kill him. It was inevitable.
Returning his attention back to his reflection in the mirror, Gaara noticed that it was beginning to fog. "Finally," he mumbled as he moved to the shower, "I look like one of the lost boys finally got sick of dealing with Peter Pan's crap and went on a murder spree."
Gaara wasn't usually one to linger in the shower but the water just wouldn't run clear and the steady drum of hot water against his tired body may or may not have lulled him into a standing sleep once or twice. So when the bathroom door opened over an hour later the steam billowing from the open doorway, spilling in copious amounts into the narrow hallway, was like that of a space pod's doors opening up to reveal an extraterrestrial. Instead of a little green man however, a very satisfied Gaara emerged clad only in a white threadbare towel.
The exit through the fog wasn't as awe inspiring as an alien, but the image of the tanuki/cat with his hair still slightly damp yet wildly fluffed from the towel, his normally white skin flushed a healthy pink from the heat of the water and a strong scrubbing, and healing scars cutting across sculpted muscles was a sight to behold indeed.
Letting his toes curl into the soft rug, Gaara closed his eyes, took a deep breath of fresh air and tried to ignore the goosebumps that rose on his skin as it tried to adjust to life outside of the bathroom. Honestly, he thought that he was going to burst into flames earlier and now it felt cold, his body needed to make up its mind. Gaara knew that as soon as he got dressed he'd be sweating again, so it was a lost cause.
He swayed slightly on his feet, feeling a little disoriented due to his exhaustion now that he had discarded his sight, but really, it felt to nice to have his eyes closed. All he wanted to do was lay down in his nice comfy bed and pass out for the next few days. It had been a really long day, a long few weeks if he were honest and they were starting to catch up to him. The fact that he could feel the gentle pull of his mother's soothing chakra coming from somewhere near the front of the house, most likely the kitchen, added to the urge. The feeling of having a kin nearby was soothing and would always make Gaara rest easier. However Gaara knew that he couldn't rest, at least not yet. He still had some work to do.
Taking another deep breath of air, that was only now beginning to clear of thick shower steam, Gaara reluctantly opened his eyes and turned to make the short journey to back to his bedroom.
It was when his clawed hand was braced on his doorknob that Gaara felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle causing his steps to falter only slightly. His chakra pulsed around him, brushing against his mother's, informing him that she was the only other Jinchūriki in the house.
Sharp eyes didn't miss the way the steam still lingering in the hallway suddenly wafted up past his shoulder and a quick inhale through his nose made Gaara's muscles tense before he pivoted to the left, deftly dodging a fist that collided with his bedroom door. Moving to a half crouch, Gaara spun on his heels and shoved his palm into his attacker's chest with enough bruising force to send the assailant stumbling backwards as air was forced from his lungs. Gaara didn't give the man time to recover, following him across the narrow hallway until he had him pinned to the wall with a tight fist around the man's throat.
Turquoise eyes rimmed with black narrowed as they peered into golden-brown orbs that glittered with mirth. Gaara knew those eyes well.
'Gabe,' Gaara seethed and tightened his grip a little bit more, feeling the Adam's apple bob under his palm until he saw tears begin to prickle at the corner of the man's eyes. Gaara wouldn't deny that the sight brought some satisfaction to him. He was too tired and too stressed to put up with this bullshit, and if that was making him a bit more irritable than normal then this jackass should have known better anyway!
Gaara's eyes burned dangerously as the man in his grip brought his hand up to Gaara's wrist, his own eyes widening for the first time in actual panic. Gaara could feel the warm trickle of blood against his fingertips where his claws dug shallow furrows into the thin skin but he didn't really care. This prick had it coming anyway. He had been asking for this for a while now, literally, so why shouldn't Gaara give him what he wanted?
Gaara let his chakra flow from him, where before it had been like a lazy bubble circling around his person subtly brushing against other's chakras in a simple hello, it now roared out as a threat against this man. He watched as Gabe froze in his struggling attempts because now he could really feel Gaara, could feel Gaara's strength and the fact that he wasn't just some normal tanuki/cat.
And then Gabe smiled. Gaara hid his look of horror, because that particular smile made his skin crawl. The need to throw the man away in disgust washed over him. Before he could a voice startled him away from his prey.
"Oh Gaara, honey, you're hurt!"
Gaara's eyes snapped away from the man in his grip to meet that of his mother's. His hand released the throat it was in the process of strangling, falling to his side immediately as she rushed towards him. Her fingers gently prodded against the light pink mark, that was nothing more than a thick scratch now, at his side before moving to his pec. So concerned with her son's well being, the feline Jinchūriki hadn't even noticed the altercation between the two males and so it went unmentioned.
Looking down at his mother, Gaara took in her features. Her dirty-blond hair, which had been cropped short for as long as Gaara remembered, had grown out longer over the past few months and now fell just past her shoulder blades. He noticed that the longer length made her look younger, less matronly, and fell around her downturned cat ears on either side of her head rather cutely. Her deep turquoise eyes, the exact shade as her lovely daughter's, were framed by delicate crows-feet that did nothing to deter from her natural beauty. He watched as her eyes darted across his pale skin, following her slightly clawed finger's path as they danced along with gentle but sure precision.
The familiar sight of his mother brought a small smile to Gaara's lips as warmth flooded his chest. "Hey Mama."
Gaara had to grab his towel so it wouldn't slip from his thin hips (it was a miracle he hadn't lost it already what with his little skirmish with his would-be assassin who remained leaning casually against the wall a few feet away) when he was spun around so his mother could check his back for more injuries, his greeting falling on deaf ears.
Gaara sighed.
His mother had never been quite the same after Temari had disappeared. She had thrown herself into her work, as if doing so could provide an even better life for her children and somehow convince her missing daughter to come home, working herself ragged while her once always cheerful demeanor evaporated. As her hours grew longer, the cat Jinchūriki spent her home time clinging even more desperately to her two remaining children as she slowly deteriorated over time. Once joyful and meaningful conversations became hollow and worried demands over their wellbeing.
Temari's vanishment had left a gaping hole in their family. Kankurō had met the loss of his twin with anger. It was true that the brunet had always been prone to having a short fuse, but he blamed their mother for Temari's disappearance, saying that if she hadn't insisted they live within the Wall then Temari wouldn't have been taken; and in the end the young feline stopped talking to their mother altogether. Kankurō started attending Gaara's school in Bijūgakure after that and moved out of the house when he was sixteen.
Nine year old Gaara had felt torn by his new family dynamic. While trying to mourn for his sister, he feared losing the relationship he had with this brother by not turning against their mother as well. He saw the way Temari's absence was affecting her as well and he didn't miss the pain that filled her face when Kankurō walked away everytime she tried to talk to him. Luckily Kankurō's attendance in Gaara's school helped their relationship grow stronger over the years. The fact that Kankurō could see how much Gaara felt stifled by their mother's new overwhelming affections also may have helped.
Gaara had never been so thankful for Naruto and his family as he had been those few years after Temari's disappearance. His second family provided a safe place he could escape to that had people who knew him and knew what was happening, but weren't affected to the point of breaking like the rest of his family. There were many nights where Gaara had felt overwhelmed and had climbed through Naruto's window to just sleep next to his best friend, the simple comfort of having Naruto next to him while he slept helped sooth his nerves and kept his nightmares at bay. When he would wake he would find that his mother had been conveniently informed of his location as well as a warm breakfast on the table with kind smiles all around.
Gaara had discovered early on in his youth that talking to Iruka and Kakashi about his problems was much easier than talking to his mother, perhaps because they weren't his actual guardians but they had still openly raised him as their own even though he hadn't been lacking in parents. It had been no real surprise that his mother had left all the real big "talks" up to her male neighbors, even though it wasn't their duty, but they were happy to help especially since Naruto was the same age and needed the same lessons.
That being said, Gaara still looked at his mother with the affection a young child would often look upon their mother. It was true that he had grown apart from her, her constant hovering when they happened to be together continued to be unnerving throughout the years but Gaara couldn't let her go. He understood too deeply what loss was and losing his mother mentally for the most part was bad enough, he wasn't willing to leave her physically as well, and so he stayed and helped where he could.
He scowled in annoyance when he felt the brush of a bengal tiger's chakra against his own.
And then there was that.
Gaara's cool gaze finally returned to the man who was still leaning, way too casually for Gaara's liking, against the wall with his arms crossed over his naked chest, a little amused smirk on his face as he watched the mother cat fuss over her kitten.
Gabe: pure-blood bengal tiger Jinchūriki, Gaara's mother's boyfriend of about six months, and the bane of Gaara's existence.
Ok, so maybe that was going a bit too far, but not by much.
Gaara sneered in disgust when he took a quick glance down to notice the other male was clad in only a pair of boxers, drawn tight against strong thighs glossy with downy fur that shifted from a golden bronze on his outer thigh to match the rest of his skin to an almost pure white on his inner thighs, all lined with jagged black stripes. His legs, like Kankurō's Gaara noted not for the first time, were bent at seemingly odd angles, bones and muscles made longer and shorter until they took on the shape of a felines powerful hind legs and feet, ready to jump incredible distances at a moment's notice.
'Well those legs won't help him if he's too stupid learn his lesson,' Gaara ground his teeth together when another brush of chakra moved against his own and brought his gaze back to Gabe's.
The bastard was smiling smugly again, like his had won some prize. Like a fat cat who was about to eat a canary and Gaara feared for the poor, poor Jinchūriki this tiger had his sights on. Though maybe feared wasn't quite the right word, because fear would imply being prey, a victim, and Gaara was anything but.
Six months prior when his mother had suddenly asked Gaara to have dinner with her over the weekend, Gaara had been surprised to have a guest join the small family gathering. It had been years since anyone had intruded upon their personal mother/son time, Kankurō's stubbornness knew no bounds, and needless to say the tanuki/cat was at a bit of a loss.
As it turned out, the two feline Jinchūriki met at work and had been dancing around an office romance for a few months before finally deciding to make it official. Apparently Gaara's mother had liked Gabe enough to actually bring him home, but unfortunately not before warning her son ahead of time. However, Gaara was no longer a child and he wasn't about to throw a temper tantrum just because his mother brought home a man for the first time since his father's death. A man that was of a pure-blooded feline breed like Temari and Kankurō's father.
Alright, so Gaara had felt a little pang of self doubt at the arrival of his mother's new boyfriend. Even though he had been trained alongside the Kyuubi and could hold his own against even the strongest of Jinchūriki due to his own chakra supply, Gaara still had his own insecurities about being a half-blood. Being constantly separated from his siblings via school and forced to hide within his own home did nothing to boost his confidence as a child.
Gabe, however, had other thoughts entirely. It became clear right from the beginning that he was extremely pleased with Gaara. As it turned out, Gaara's mother had shared all she could about her beloved children with her new love interest and the topic of Gaara's tanuki lineage came up. Being so rare, the tiger decided then and there that even though the blood line was tainted it was worth further inspection.
Gabe had looked upon Gaara with glee in his eyes, as if he were a child looking upon some magical creature in a zoo trapped there for his enjoyment alone. And so the trials began.
He had told Gaara early on that he wanted to see how much was true about the stories, to see if Gaara lived up to the legends of his ancestors. That even though he was a far cry from the Originals, being mixed and tainted, Gaara must have some potential to be friends with the Kyuubi, and for those reasons alone Gabe refused to stop his crazy scheme every time Gaara demanded he stop. The gleam in Gabe's eyes every time Gaara effortlessly evaded his advances or forced his chakra on him was enough to show Gaara that he wasn't letting the aggravating man down, but little did Gabe know that he was just scratching the tip of Gaara's abilities with his petty surprise attacks.
Now that Gabe's little game of 'Jump-Gaara-and see-what-happens' was over for the moment he no longer felt the need to hide and his chakra rolled off him in confident waves that made Gaara want to lash out in irritation. Gaara knew it was ridiculous, but he felt like the pure-blood cloaked his chakra every time they met just so he could feel some sense of superiority over Gaara, rubbing Gaara's insecurities right in his face.
Honestly, if Gaara were a less stable person he would have ripped Gabe's throat out by now just to make a point. Not that the thought hadn't crossed his mind on multiple occasions, but Gaara knew that killing the tiger would be wrong no matter how annoying he was not just because he would be committing murder, but because his mother would be upset as well and he wouldn't be able to live with that.
Gaara's gaze drifted back down to his mother who had moved around to his left side and was crouching to prod at his legs. His eyes once again going to her grown out hair, a thick lock was dangling in her face so he reached down and gently tucked it behind her bell shaped ear pinching the velvety strands between his fingertips for a moment before releasing them. She was growing her hair out for him. In fact, Gaara mused tilting his head to the side as he took in his mother's fair complexion, she had started wearing makeup again too. He could barely see the freckle like marks on her cheeks where her whiskers should be due to the rouge powder lining her cheekbones. For some strange reason bringing this annoying as hell man into her life had actually brought some more life into Gaara's mother. For the first time in years she was starting to really smile again.
And no matter how much how much Gaara wanted to see fault in the tiger, it was glaringly obvious that Gabe cared deeply for his mother and wasn't with her because of his strange obsession with Gaara. So grudgingly, Gaara couldn't kill Gabe.
Gaara let out a small grunt of annoyance when his mother grabbed onto his towel and he had to latch onto it for dear life because there was no way he was letting her feel around his family jewels for wounds, let alone stand around naked in front of her and her boyfriend.
"So," Gabe drawled, lazily carding his fingers through his thick hair so the short black locks were slicked back against his scalp, "I noticed a whole shit load of meat in the freezer."
Gaara's eyes shot up to meet that of the tiger's. His eyes narrowed and his body tensing slightly before he forced it to relax. "And?" He questioned, his voice steady but holding a note of warning.
Gabe shrugged nonchalantly, but glanced down at the blonde cat currently focused on prodding her son's thigh through his towel before her hands were gently swatted away when they wandered too high. His tongue darted out to wet his lips before returning his attention back to Gaara. "It smelled like snake," he stated conversationally.
At Gaara's raised eyebrow and tight lips Gabe tried again, choosing to tread lightly in case his words happened to spook the fragile feline he was so fond of. However, the need to know was too great to pass up and he could tell by the tanuki/cat's rigid posture that there was more to tell. "They are big steaks too, must have been a monster. Do you know what kind of serpent it was?"
Gaara sighed, wondering why he was still standing there, but knew he wasn't going to get away until his mother was done with her inspection. "Manda," he said, his voice sounding bored. He figured he would have been forced to tell the man sooner or later anyway so what was the point in beating around the bush?
Gabe's eyes widened and he whistled in awe, "Damn. I wonder how many it took to take down that bastard."
"Just one," Gaara's voice was low, his shining eyes focused on the tiger Jinchūriki's own, the unstated challenge clear.
Gabe swallowed thickly, his eyes impossibly wide, all traces of cockiness lost as he slowly nodded his head in understanding. Gaara, the tanuki/cat, had been holding back this whole time and Gabe's games were finished.
Gaara yelped when he was suddenly grabbed by his sensitive ear and jerked down so he was staring into his mother's suddenly bright eyes.
"Oh Gaara honey," his mother began, cupping his face with the hand that wasn't strangling his ear, "Promise me you'll never be that reckless. Those people that go out there and put their lives on the line to hunt down monsters just of some lousy meat. I-I just wouldn't be able to handle it if you did that kind of thing, if you got hurt." Her eyes became glassy with unshed tears, her breath picking up a notch as the memory of the child she had lost gripped her heart. Her fingers brushed over Gaara's cheek and through his hair. "Promise me you won't do anything like that."
Gaara's eyes darted briefly to Gabe's before returning to his mother's and he had to swallow past the lump in his throat.
If only she knew how strong he really was. If only she'd let him show her what he'd learned over the years. He'd trained for her, so she wouldn't have to worry about him getting hurt. He hunted for her, so she wouldn't have to work so hard. And yet, he had to lie to her to make her happy.
"Okay Mama," Gaara nodded quietly, holding his mother's gaze. He felt terrible when his mother released a sigh of relief and smiled for him.
"Now then," the feline began releasing Gaara from her grip and straightening out her dress, "you go get dressed while I get dinner ready. I'll cook up some of that snake and those veggies that you got from the market."
Gaara nodded silently and watched his mother head back towards the kitchen.
"You're a good son."
Gaara's turquoise glare met Gabe still casually standing there as if he owned the place. "Tsk," Gaara turned away and pushed his bedroom door open, "Put some damn clothes on." He heard a snort of amusement as he pulled his door closed behind him.
It didn't take long for the redhead to dress in comfortable shorts and a shirt, his unfortunate towel met its demise by joining its brethren at clothing island in the corner. The forest green t-shirt that Gaara wore had seen better days, its edges frayed enough to look like rodents had gotten to it. Small holes littering it here and there, but not enough to deem it fit for the garbage (at least in Gaara's opinion), not to mention it was a size too big for the tanuki/cat, but it was soft after years of wearing and a treasured memento from Gaara's childhood. Gaara couldn't remember how old he was when he had stolen the old thing from Kakashi to use as a nighty, but he damn well wasn't going to stop using it until it fell apart completely.
Sighing, Gaara sat heavily on the end of his bed and grabbed his small satchel from where he had left it on the floor. The urge to just fall back on his cool sheets was strong, but he resisted their sweet Siren songs and focused on shimmying around the side of his bed until he sat facing the brown wooden doors of his closet.
The accordion style doors were only about a foot and a half away from the side of the bed, leaving Gaara very little room for his knees and he quickly yanked the curtained door open when one knee smacked against it as he tried to get comfortable in his new location.
Once settled, and no longer in danger of bodily harm, Gaara unclasped the latch on his satchel and pulled out its contents. He frowned at the rumpled pile of papers in his hand, obviously having been knocked around in his skirmish with Manda. Sighing, Gaara began untangling the mess, unfolding each paper before smoothing out the creases the best he could on his lap and setting it aside for further inspection.
His hand strayed to his earlier snack as he worked. The dry cracker (for the tuna he had left out had fallen victim to the days unusual heat and had lost its appeal), chewed slowly to work up enough saliva, became a miserable paste as Gaara's sharp eyes trailed over the collage of faces littering his bed.
A seven year old girl with slit pupil eyes and a bob cut. A ten year old boy with cute puppy ears nestled on top of a head of shaggy pale hair. A pair of teen girls, twins, one looking in her natural form as a panther and the other as her disguised human mask. A boy, no older than five, with dark hair and a deep scar under his left eye not taking away from the grin taking up half his face.
Most of the pictures were sketched in pencil, with detailed descriptions of the missing pigments below the image, but few were actually in color; those obviously having been made and copied prior to the incident.
All the faces had names accompanying them, printed neatly just under them along with their detailed information. All of the faces had locations associated with them, places where they used to live, where they had been seen, the closest place to where Gaara had gotten their picture. All of the faces had dates assigned to them, not just their birthdays so their loved ones could remember how old they would have been, but how long it's been. All of the faces had two things in common. They were all Jinchūriki and above all of their faces, written in bold letter was the word "MISSING".
Gaara forced himself to look away from the faces and took a moment to work the goopy cracker mush down his protesting throat, a shudder wracked his body as the slimy substance finally left his mouth and he looked around his room for some water to wash out his mouth. No such luck. His lips smacked together in distaste.
Sighing in resignation, Gaara decided to move on with his task, leaning forward and shoving a thick pile of hanging clothes to the far side of the closet in order to expose the back wall and a row of mismatched boxes along the floor that were stuffed full of junk that he hadn't wanted to throw out, but couldn't quite remember what he had put in them over the years.
Gaara stared at his once barren wall, knowing that it looked like something out of a detective novel (and knowing that he had gotten the idea from one). 'Naruto would be so proud,' he snorted in shallow amusement.
There, on the back wall of Gaara's closet was large map of all of Konoha surrounded with pictures, writing, and colorful pushpins. There was even string spanning its streets for good measure.
Said wall held all of the information Gaara had collected over the past week in his search to figure out what the hell was going on and hopefully lead him to Naruto.
Grabbing a poster off his bed at random, Gaara's eyebrow raised as he took in the boy's strange name. "Broccoli?" Instead of neat block letters like all of the other posters, for some reason this boy's name was scrawled flamboyantly under his photo as if a rockstar had written his scratchy (and highly illegible) signature. Gaara squinted and tried to make out each letter separately because there was no way someone would name their son after a vegetable. An image of Naruto lying spread eagle on a giant fish cake popped up in his head and Gaara had to push it aside to focus on the task at hand because that was both disturbing and hilarious.
"Rock Lee," Gaara finally said, and blinked his eyes before they bled from over exertion. "That's...not much better…" He looked up at the picture that matched the name and was met with doe eyes under thick brows and bangs. "He looks like a toy monkey," Gaara mumbled, and looked away from the eyes before they haunted his dreams.
Gaara scanned over the boy's information to see if there was anything in common with any of the other faces on the wall. There never was, other than the fact that they were all Jinchūriki, but Gaara always wished that Naruto was there with him to help. Naruto more than likely knew some of these people, knew some personality trait that they may have in common that would send them missing. Although, if Naruto were there with him, Gaara wouldn't be looking at these faces to begin with...
Pushing that troubling thought aside, Gaara silently read the youth's stats. 'Age: Twelve, Eyes: Black, Hair: Black, Breed:' his lip twitched in amusement, 'Capuchin Monkey (Half-Blood), Height-' Gaara sighed when his eyes caught the rest of the information. According to the poster, Lee had gone missing seven years ago when he was twelve years old, barely into his puberty, so if he was still alive then his weight and his height would most likely have changed significantly.
The thought of someone changing so much while away from their family and friends created a sour feeling in the pit in Gaara's stomach and he pursed his lips against it. He knew that Naruto hadn't been gone for that long yet; years was significantly longer than months and Gaara had strong faith that his brother was alive- no, he knew Naruto was out there trying to find a way to get home - but he didn't want to think of the changes that might have come over Naruto, not just physically, but mentally, over his time away.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Gaara looked at the year that Rock Lee had vanished and then referenced it to the scrap of paper that associated dates to colors. Grabbing a corresponding highlighter from the basket sitting on top of one of the many boxes in his closet, along with a matching pushpin, Gaara ran the tip of the marker across the missing date of Lee's poster and the location he was last seen.
Now came the hard part, or at least it would have been hard if Gaara hadn't been wandering the streets with Naruto since he was a young teen (and Naruto had made sure they were very thorough when exploring the back alleys of Bijūgakure). Since Lee was a Half-Blood than he didn't venture within the Wall (at least to Gaara's knowledge, but he was pretty sure his own family was rare having a non Pure-Blood living in plain sight of the humans) and so he had gone missing on the outside, while he was in the sanctity of Bijūgakure. The poster also stated as a generous side note (written in that same flamboyantly scratchy rockstar handwriting) that Rock Lee was last seen "Doing 500 Tail Pull Ups to prove his youthful spirit!" The exact location of said activity was very helpful to Gaara's search.
Gaara's pale thumb pressed the green pushpin into the first "A" of the words "Anbu Park". A memory of Naruto balancing on top of the jungle gym with his arms swinging around wildly as he shouted into the air about the park being their secret ninja base (because it had a "freaking sweet" zipline that none of the other playgrounds had, even though the park was on the Northeastern side of Konoha's Wall while the secret entrance to Naruto's home was hidden in the Southeastern sector and therefore would take the fifteen year olds forever to walk there whenever they wanted to go their 'base', which Naruto would want to do all the time. Gaara had not been amused at the idea and therefore the park was still dubbed as their Ninja HQ...) and Gaara's eyebrows furrowed when he noticed the other colored pins littering the same park. Something was amiss in their headquarters.
His stomach tightened as he spun a narrow string around the green pin and ran its length to the edge of the map where he pinned Rock Lee's poster with a clear push pin and attached the string so it made a sharp line across the map. Gaara let his eyes trail over the faces that were pinned up next to Lee's for a moment before he moved on to the next poster on his bed.
Over the next hour the pile of faces littering Gaara's bed grew smaller while his closet wall grew to look more and more like that of a mad man's. In reality, that was how Gaara was beginning to to feel; mad. The desperate need to get his best friend, his only friend, back was starting to drive him insane and the fact that he felt like people were keeping things from him wasn't helping him at all.
It had been less than a week since Gaara had overheard Juugo's conversation with his friends and had confronted Iruka with his suspicions concerning Naruto's whereabouts, and since then the tanuki/cat had seen neither hide nor hair of either of his foster parents. It didn't take a genius to realize that both adults were avoiding him. The only question was, why?
Gaara's first stop on his quest for answers was to seek out the bear Jinchūriki Juugo. Karin and Suigetsu could always be found bickering in Ichiraku's more days than not (much to Naruto's horror) and so Gaara figured that it would be easy finding the mountainous man since he was apparently part of their insanity, but of course they were nowhere to be found. After a day's worth of searching, Gaara had to assume that the trio had ditched town, as per Juugo's request, and went with plan B.
Gaara didn't know if he was on the right track, but he had decided to visit all of the police stations throughout Bijūgakure and get all the names of all missing persons from the last fifteen years, as well as those who were found. There was just something in Juugo's eyes that told him that the bear hadn't been off searching for himself, or whatever the hell lame ass excuse he had given his friends for his absence.
As it turned out there were quite a lot of police stations outside of the Wall. Due to the Jinchūriki town being shaped as a ring running just over forty-seven miles, Bijūgakure had been divided into four sectors with Konoha's four main roads acting as a divider at each pole, and each sector had two or more police stations depending on where the town was more populated or if there happened to be a side road that lead out of the main city. Gaara had come to realize early on that the missing posters from one sector of Bijūgakure rarely transferred to the next. He wasn't sure if it was because the locals in the area were playing favorites, or because there simply wasn't enough wall space.
Gaara sighed and stretched his neck, realizing his slouched position had put a kink in it. He leaned back, bracing his hands on his bed as he surveyed his handy work. The detailed map of his home town looked a lot larger when it was laid out in front of him and he was glad that he had taken the time to steal this version from a stand outside of a mini-mart farther within the city instead of using one from outside of the Wall since those tended to be much vaguer on the inner workings on Konoha. As it was, Gaara had overlaid the inner cities map with Bijūgakure's own detailed map to complete the whole set, because as beautifully detailed as the large map of Konoha was, the Jinchūriki settlement was not on it. For the life of him, Gaara couldn't figure out why no one had just printed a completed map yet to make things easier. Afterall, some Jinchūriki willingly lived within Konoha, and a few rare humans lived in Bijūgakure. Perhaps it was because, overall, neither side had found a reason to cross the Wall and didn't really care what was on the other side.
Looking at the city with its great Wall and the Jinchūriki town circling around it now though really helped Gaara appreciate the architecture that went into the ancient city. Konoha was almost a perfect circle. In fact, the only buildings throwing off its shape were Bijūgakure's houses bordering the Forest of Death, it came up to Konoha's Wall in a beautiful inner circle and then expanded out into a blobby shape that was over a mile wide in some places.
However, in the very center of the city, that spanned fifteen miles in diameter out to the Wall, was the King's castle. Gaara had looked up the hill and seen those white stone's glistening in the sunlight far in the distance many times throughout his childhood and had often wondered if the King was looking over their sprawling city, maybe even towards their neighborhood.
"Huh," Gaara cocked his head a little to the side as he let his eyes sweep over the map. Was it a bad sign that his hometown looked like a giant target? That wasn't ominous or anything..., but there it was sitting right there on Gaara's wall. The circular city with the white castle standing proudly in the center had four large roads extending from it cutting through the city at each pole until they veered off to who knows where outside of Konoha's lands. Meanwhile, rings, two to be precise one inside the other, also split apart the houses so the city was divided into three sections with the Wall being the final barrier, leaving Bijūgajure to fend for itself (for some reason Gaara was thankful for that fact), and once again marking the castle as the bullseyes of the grand city.
The center ring spanned three miles in diameter, allowing occupants of the castle to have easy access to it from all angles. While the next biggest ring sprawled a grand eight miles, giving residents living between the two roads an easy two and a half miles to travel. Thus leaving a three and a half mile gap to the Wall for the poorer civilians to traverse.
All of the houses within the city were aligned in neat rows following the curve of the circle, the larger ones towards the center were a little more spread out to allow room for sprawling lawns and stables, with narrow roads running along them so horse drawn carriages could fit. Every so often a thin road would split off that would lead to the wider ringed road to make it more convenient for civilians to travel throughout the city instead of taking the main roads.
Sitting up, Gaara leaned forward to read the names of the streets the ran circle within the city (the polar streets he knew by heart since he had passed along them many times, besides "North Street" as well as it's sister streets were not hard names to forget). The inner circle read "Main Street", 'Very original,' Gaara thought with a small exhale through his nose. The outer road was likewise cleverly named "Market Street" just incase anyone wondering along the wide gap didn't notice the array of shops lining the road.
Gaara could only assume that all of the upscale businesses were right along both of these roads, while other competing shops had to settle for branching streets hoping to get as near to 'Main' or 'Market' as possible to make themselves known. Personally he would rather just go to the local grocer a few doors down than have to travel all the way to one of those most likely high-priced places, but that was just him.
Shaking himself of needless thoughts, Gaara took note of his colored pins. None of them were within the first two rings, however there were quite a few inside with third, within the Wall. Gaara's eyes focused on a yellow pin located on the Southeastern side of Konoha, to the left of where he knew his house to be. The bright pin covered a building, located about forty minutes away, that Gaara had never seen in person, but he had heard a lot about throughout his childhood and had always wanted to visit when he was younger. He remembered begging his mother to take him with her when she took his siblings to school on her way to work; Kankuro's smug face as he held Naruto's hand behind his mother's skirt while Kakashi gently pulled Gaara into their house so Gaara could leave for his own school. His mother never let Gaara go see where his siblings went to school, never let him go deeper into the city, but Gaara new the location of that building well.
His eyes followed the string attached to the blazing yellow pin, even though a part of him begged him not to, until they landed on the face of the missing girl associated with that location. Turquoise eyes, a few shades darker than his own peered back at him and his heart clenched.
Gaara remembered how excited his mother had been when she received that picture. Even though it was expensive, the school had been giving special discounts and the older feline Jinchūriki was making relatively good money at the time, so she opted for getting portraits done of each of her twelve year olds. The size and quality of the paint of each portrait were well worth the money, it didn't even matter that they would be forever commemorated in their human guises, they turned out beautifully. Their mother had been so excited about the artwork that she insisted on getting another done of nine year old Gaara the following week by one of the artisans in Bijūgakure.
Unfortunately the redhead never got his own face drawn. No one had known that Temari would vanish from thin air within the week, leaving behind only a group of tight lipped boys who shared a few bad bruises and the last memory of her that proved to be useless information once they finally broke.
The poster was of course just a copy. The original had been packed away once it had been made clear to their mother that her baby girl wasn't coming home and the pain of that loss was too much, now the portrait hung in the hallway in Kankurō's new house as a memoir to his dear twin.
Gaara frowned, he wondered what his sister would think for her twin's animosity towards their mother or the downward spiral that befell the older cat once her strong willed daughter disappeared. 'She'd probably tell both of them to suck it up before she'd kick their asses, even mom's,' he mused as he took in the way the artist managed to capture twelve year old Temari's smile perfectly; the left side of her lip tilted up a smidgen more than the right as she tried to conceal the proud smirk for the expensive portrait.
Proud. That's what his sister was. Proud, but kind. Gods he missed her. He had already lost his sister, he couldn't lose his brother too. Not Naruto. He had to get Naruto back. Gaara didn't think he could stand losing someone else, not to mention watching Iruka and Kakashi go through the same thing his mother want through, was still going through.
A part of Gaara worried that his two foster fathers blamed him for their son's disappearance; after all, the two boys had been on their way to Kankurō's house before Gaara let Naruto go off on his own. It was true that Naruto wasn't alone, but since forever Gaara was almost always by Naruto's side like some faithful bodyguard that the blond didn't actually need and Gaara had dropped the ball big time. Gaara knew it was ridiculous to feel guilty, Naruto could take care of himself (or at least he was supposed to be able to), but he still did. He wondered if Iruka and Kakashi had read that guilt and now their avoidance was the start of a bigger decrease of their relationship. They probably didn't want to talk or see him again because they knew that their son was lost for good just like Temari and it was all Gaara's fault.
The tanuki/cat sucked in a sharp breath when his lungs started to burn from lack of oxygen. He blinked rapidly to clear the spots from his vision. It seemed, while his thoughts were running away on a panicked freight train Gaara had forgotten to breathe and now he was light headed.
"O-k, enough of that," Gaara told himself, before sighing and looking at the clock next to his nightstand.
8:47pm.
"Hm." Come to think of it, Gaara could smell the savoriness of Manda's meat wafting all the way from the kitchen. If he listened hard enough he was sure he could hear the sound of the sweet meat sizzling in the deep oil that his mother decided to bread and fry it in. His mouth watered at the thought. It was a little late for dinner, but he wasn't complaining.
He flopped back on his bed, allowing his legs to hang over the side lazily as Gaara stared at the long shadows stretching across his ceiling from his bedside lamp. The steady pull towards sleep was back again now that he had finished pinning today's posters to the wall, but he fought it knowing that he would be disappointed if he missed dinner with his mother.
Pale lips pulled into a thin line as Gaara's eyes drifted back to his closet wall, at the giant looking target crisscrossed with lines and speckled with colored dots. "This is getting me nowhere," he mumbled.
For some reason Gaara had thought he would find some clue right off the bat, like he would look at one poster and it would lead him to Naruto but that wasn't the case. He was starting to doubt his intuition. People went missing every day all over the world, didn't they? He could just be looking for things that weren't there, ignoring all of the missing human posters within the Wall for his own conspiracy theory. He had been at this for a week and still nothing.
It didn't help that for some reason he kept finding road blocks. It seemed like Kakashi and Iruka weren't the only people avoiding him and that made him push a little harder, dig a little deeper, push his budding theory a little further. His gut was telling him something and Gaara just knew it lay with his kin.
It turned out that Juugo wasn't the only Jinchūriki to mysteriously reappear in town again after vanishing years before. However, finding these people ended up taking more of Gaara's precious time, which was why he had yet to finish what should only have been a day's worth of work. Many of the people had left town, saying that they couldn't handle living so close to the large city anymore, but there were a few that remained.
Gaara frowned as he remembered the deep brown eyes of a young badger as she tried to push her door shut in his face. The girl couldn't have been more than fourteen, her breasts barely formed as her chest heaved while her sudden panic grew. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she said that the only thing that mattered was that she was with her family and the Gaara needed to leave. Gaara's sharp ears heard her whisper as the door was clicking into place that she wished she could tell him more, but she wasn't able too.
The others had been similar. Less panicked, but just as unwilling to divulge any useful information to the redhead. They all had a sadness to their eyes as they gave Gaara a reason for their absence, the reason sounding old and rehearsed and tired. One didn't even bother giving him an excuse and just turned him away before he could press further.
Something was making them afraid, that much was obvious. Gaara just wished he knew what.
A tired sigh left his mouth and the room went black as Gaara's eyelids finally closed.
"Nice kill today! I'll make your mother a fine necklace out of these scales and this fang, ne? Come back in next week, until then make sure you're careful out there. Gods know someone out there would want you, just ask Silvertail."
The words of the old jeweler from earlier that evening rang in Gaara's head like a bell causing his eyes to snap open and his body to shoot bolt up right. His eyes quickly scanned his cluttered wall before landing on that of a smiling girl. The white spots along her tanned skin showed that she was still in her pre-teens, but since she had been missing for eight years she would have grown into a beautiful green eyed doe by now. Gaara didn't need to look at her surname to see that she was related to the jeweler, the fact the her father was a buck sprouting proud antlers atop his head was enough to go off of. The fact was, this girl had gone missing, was still missing, and her father knew something. How did Gaara know? Simple.
Silvertail.
"Open your mouth! Do it, darn it, open your mouth right this instant."
A series a growls were his only answer and his eyes narrowed in frustration, tugging harder.
"Drop it."
Nothing but a sharp pull against his tightly gripping hands.
"I said drop it!"
BANG!
Two heads quickly turned to the front door of their house that had suddenly been thrown open to find a panting red headed tanuki/cat standing only in his pajamas in plain view of their neighbors looking like he was going to burn the house down.
Gaara took in the state of his two foster fathers' in their kitchen. Kakashi was sitting in one of their high backed chairs gripping the sides of the table with white knuckles, while Iruka was standing with his legs bent in a lunging position directly in front of his husband looking disheveled with his chocolate colored hair cascading around his shoulders. Iruka's arms were outstretched in front of him holding onto a slab of raw Manda meat the size of a large dinner plate that was clamped between Kakashi's strong jaws, his sharp fangs piercing the pink meat while his tongue laved up it juices inside his mouth. Both men stared at him with wide eyes, clearly frozen in being caught in doing something utterly ridiculous.
Gaara didn't let the scene playing out in front of him affect him though, he had seen worse from them after all. Besides, he had more important things to take care of.
His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, gleaming in the fluorescent kitchen lights as they shifted from one man to the other before landing on the silver haired wolf. "How long have Jinchūriki been being abducted and since when have you been rescuing them?"
The sound of the four pound steak hitting the floor echoed through the kitchen.
A.N.- There you have it! Some things revealed finally. I kept having to stop writing the scene with Gaara looking at the map because I had to figure out where everything was. I eventually just drew a crappy to scale drawing of Konoha as a reference. I'll probably put it up on AO3 once I figure out how to post pics there, but just for a general idea of the size I based Konoha off of L.A. which is 15 sq miles (so just in a circle). That's a lot of ground to cover looking for one person.
I feel like it is my obligation to point this out as a reminder that it had been less than a week since Naruto and Sasuke have officially gotten together. It was a Monday and it is now a Saturday. I'm saying this because while I was writing Gaara's scene I was like, "Naruto, how could you leave my sweet Gaara in this much pain?! You're just livin' it up while Gaara's going crazy with worry, you monster!" Yeah... So, Naruto has been stuck in this terrible situation where he has pretty much lost himself for the past few months and as stated in the last chapter he is now in denial about wanting to let go of his sudden moment of bliss with Sasuke, but knows he will have to. He has set a deadline when Neji returns. He hasn't forgotten about his family's worry over him, but he's taking the time to be a little selfish while he can.
Next Chapter- An owl takes a walk.