Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto; only Shara!
A/N: Hn, odd…this is the first chapter that actually has a name. And it very well may be the last. XD
Thanks all of you who took the time to weigh in last chapter! I truly appreciate it!!
This chapter is dedicated to jennfire; thanks for Alerting!!
Well, I think that's it…enjoy the chapter! :) -SS
Wanderer of the Sand
Chapter XXIX-Time
……………………………………………
Time passed quicker than I would have imagined.
I was dumped off at my parent's house. The meeting between us was more than a little awkward, as I'm sure you can imagine.
"Hello, Shara," my mother greeted me stiffly.
I bowed. "Hello, Mother."
"…"
"…"
Well, this is fun.
Father was 'out.' My first thought was that after catching wind of his disgraced daughter's return, he'd turned tail and run like heck. But according to my mother, he was supervising the building of a new market. To this day I have my doubts about that explanation.
When he finally did come home, I received the biggest show of attention from him that I'd ever gotten.
He passed out.
Yes, you read that right.
After waking up, he sat in a chair and stared at me silently for the better part of an hour. And then got up abruptly and disappeared, not to be seen again until the next afternoon. Typical Father.
In the end we settled for what worked for the first near-decade of my life: They ignored me, and I didn't expect anything from them. Simple, yet drastically effective on the awkwardness.
What can I say; some just don't have a good relationship with their parents.
The funeral for the Kazekage was held the day after we returned. Everyone wore black, stood around and looked mournful for an hour and a half. He was never exactly a popular leader; there weren't many tears from the spectators.
I wandered the streets aimlessly and often, swimming through a gray sea of memories. I think I saw the boy who had called Gaara a monster all those years ago; though obviously he was a lot older now. I gave him the best death glare I could muster and watched him flinch, with a sense of grim satisfaction.
I wrote to Tenten a few times, mainly because I had nobody here in Suna. I kept up my training with Baki-sensei, but I didn't see the Sand Siblings much. I ran into Temari once (literally), apologized, and didn't get one snarky comment in response. I was slowly working my way into her good graces. Or at least, not-bad graces.
Close to a month after the failure of Operation: Destroy Konoha, the Sand Siblings were deployed on an important mission. Apparently Orochimaru had sent the Sound Four to Konoha to make Sasuke join them, and Sasuke had gone with them. Willingly. The Leaf Village had sent a small group of Genin (with one Chunin-turns out Nara Shikamaru was the only one to make Chunin) to retrieve the Uchiha. Since Suna owed Konoha a huge debt after what had happened, Temari, Gaara and Kankuro were sent to help them out.
I wanted to go on this mission. I really did. I wanted to help.
But I was shot down by the elders. Their excuse was that I was not an official Suna shinobi, and therefore couldn't be sent on Suna missions. That was probably part of it, but another thing was, they didn't trust me. (Not that I blamed them.) They wanted to keep an eye on me.
So I watched the Sand Siblings leave, furious and worried. If Orochimaru was one of the three Sannin, and the Sound Four were his most trusted ninja, wasn't it safe to say that they were nearly as powerful as the snake lord?
After a few days they returned, bearing good and bad news. The good news was that the three of them and the Konoha shinobi had made it out alive. The Sound Four were dead.
But the bad news was that Uchiha Sasuke had gone over to Orochimaru.
Naruto had fought him, tried to stop him, but failed. Now he and all of the Genin that had been on the mission were being treated for the awful wounds they had sustained. I felt somewhat numb. That smirking, overconfident kid had joined the evil snake?
………………………………….
More time went by.
I finally recovered fully from all the damage I had taken in Leaf.
I heard that Gaara had broken away from his team and joined the regular troops.
On November 4th, I observed my 14th birthday.
After a few more months, Suna established a Ninja Academy for training new Genin, based on the one in Konoha. Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were the instructors.
So was I.
It was a huge shock, being asked to teach Genin when I-well, I wasn't even a Genin myself, seeing as I had never technically graduated. It was a giant responsibility, and I took it gladly and nervously.
On the first day of class, the outside space we had dubbed The Academy was filled with 11- and 12-year-olds, ready for official training. We had laid out tables covered in a variety of weapons. Tenten would feel right at home here, I thought wryly.
Temari instructed the Genin to choose a weapon. A shy-looking girl with onyx eyes and brown hair raised her hand timidly, asking if she had to choose one.
I raised my eyebrows.
"It's just…if you use a weapon, you'll hurt the other person," she continued nervously. "You might even kill them!"
Kankuro warned the girl that if she went onto a battlefield with that kind of attitude, she'd get herself killed. The girl clammed up instantaneously. "Now," Temari continued blithely, "all of you, choose a teacher. Go on."
There was a lot of whispering going on. I happened to overhear one of the boys saying, "I heard that Gaara over there is a monster. If you make him angry, he'll kill you! I'm certainly not going to him." I scowled fiercely. "Listen, you little-"
I stopped myself. Nothing good would come of yelling at the stupid brat.
Gaara was standing silently, eyes closed, arms crossed. I had to admit, it could be a little intimidating. Waves of kids hurried to Temari and Kankuro. As the vessel of the Sand Demon, I could see how those (moronic) kids might be prejudiced. I had no students either-probably because of my bad reputation.
The shy, onyx-eyed girl was still standing there nervously. Next to her was a pale, grinning boy with short black hair and light brown eyes. He radiated confidence.
After a minute or so the girl walked up to Gaara. I beamed. Gaara has a student, I thought. Someone who'll trust him. I'm sure he'll make a great teacher…
I blinked. The black-haired boy was standing in front of me, pencil-straight. His face burst into a huge grin, and his eyes squeezed shut. …Odd…
"Hi!" he chirped brightly. I blinked a few more times. Oh. He wants to be my student..?
"Hello," I replied uncertainly. "I'm Shara. Your name is..?"
"Oh," he said with a sheepish grin. "Right. I'm Ikaru! Nice to meet you, Shara-sama."
I smiled. "-sama", huh? Polite kid… "Nice to meet you too, Ikaru-kun. So..go ahead and pick a weapon. Choose carefully; your weapon is your partner in battle."
He nodded enthusiastically and started examining the table. Gaara was demonstrating how to use a jouhyou for the onyx-eyed girl.
"Hmm, I think I'll choose this one. It's interesting, y'know?"
I turned to my new student and raised an eyebrow again. His weapon of choice was none other than a silver-black katana.
"That's your weapon?" "Yeah. It just feels right, y'know?"
I smiled. "Good choice. Now you've got to learn to use it properly. Let me show you the basics.."
………………………………………
I enjoyed my student. A lot.
Ikaru was an interesting person to have around. He was extraordinarily persistent, and when he really wanted to, he could focus impenetrably.
He was funny, and more than a little bit hyper. He often ended his sentences with "y'know?". Simply put, it was sort of like having a second Naruto running around.
The boy was also very devoted to Matsuri, Gaara's timid student. The girl was absolutely infatuated with Gaara, and I was thrilled to see that there was someone who understood him.
Ikaru learned use of the katana rapidly, mastering the basics in an almost unheard-of amount of time. But he sometimes got impatient with the more complex techniques and felt the need to goof off, and once that happened it was difficult to get the 11-year-old back on track.
Sometimes he would slip away while I was demonstrating a certain technique, and play a practical joke of some kind on anybody he could get to. This behavior was quickly losing me points with Temari and Kankuro, who didn't exactly welcome distractions. Gaara hadn't been hit by Suna's resident 'Serial Joker' yet, thank Kami; maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was Matsuri's sensei.
Gaara, a sensei…who would have thought?
…………………………………………..
Yet more passing of time.
I had resided in Suna for almost a year straight now, and was still not considered a Sand shinobi. I had managed to shrug it off; Ikaru certainly kept me busy enough to half-forget about it.
It came as a huge shock when I was informed of Gaara's ascension to the position of Kazekage.
We hadn't really spoken since the end of the Chunin Exams; I had suffered through my crush from a distance. So I had had no warning.
I was quietly ecstatic for him. He was going to become something very precious to the people of Sunagakure. He would be a good leader-almost definitely better than his father had been.
This also meant that my fate was to be decided.
I had essentially forgotten about the Day of Reckoning that had been moving closer ever since I had set foot in Sand Village again. And if Gaara was to make the right decision, I wanted him to know the truth. Even if telling it to him meant getting evicted again.
I trekked to the Kazekage's building. "I'd like to speak with Gaa-with the Kazekage-sama," I told the guards. I was allowed in. Deja'vu much?
Gaara was sitting at his desk, staring at his surroundings as if he couldn't quite believe he had done it.
I shut the door behind me and bowed, feeling awkward. "Kazekage-sama," I greeted him carefully. It felt so formal and stiff and wrong. He looked faintly startled at being addressed such, then nodded.
I sat and fidgeted nervously. My nerves were fraying at an alarming rate.
"Um…since..since you're the one who decides if I stay or not..well, there's something I need to clear up."
I took a deep breath and told him everything about my eviction from Sand Village.
…………………………………………..
"…and, well…that's what happened," I finished lamely.
"…."
"I..will not apologize," I said. "I stand by my belief that what I did was right. For me. Stupid, but right. It's all spelled out now-I attacked your father with the full intent of injuring or even killing him. I refuse to apologize for that, because…"
I met his turquoise gaze. "…Never mind. I just wanted to clear that up."
"……."
I stood, trying to maintain a defiant façade while inwardly shaking. What was that!? I screeched silently. Why did you go on the defensive?! Brilliant, Shara-baka. He will never let you stay, and all the better for Suna! You idiot!
I forced the voice out of my head, then went to sweat out the stress.
……………………………………………..
After a vigorous training routine, I returned home. Mother and Father weren't in, so I had the house to myself. Joy…
I went up to my room, fully prepared to flop on the bed and perhaps die if I was lucky.
I wasn't prepared for what I saw.
There on the bed was a piece of cloth, folded neatly around something skinny and rectangular. I stepped forward, perplexed, and unfolded the cloth.
And proceeded to scream. Loudly.
It was a Sunagakure forehead protector.
I was in hysterics. Half-screaming, half-sobbing, ecstatic and in shock. This means..
I was a shinobi. I was a Suna shinobi.
Finally, finally, finally!! I belongedsomewhere. I had allegiance to a village. I was no longer a rogue ninja, wandering without home or purpose. I was a ninja, loyal to her village.
To her home.
I tied the forehead protector around my head, both enthusiastically and gingerly. I didn't want to scuff it or damage it in any way.
I am a shinobi!
Beaming, I happened to notice a small note attached to the cloth. I picked it up. In small, neat black handwriting it said-
Thank you.
"…"
…I loved him. I really, truly did.
To Be Continued….
A/N: So Shara is no longer a wanderer. With that milestone in mind, I announce the end of Part One of WOTS. Part Two will be considerably shorter…I think…-.-;
Thank you all so very much! In two days or so, Part 2 begins!
I hope you enjoyed. :) Thanks again.
-SkywardShadow
