Author's Note:

I know this is a bit late, but it seems I over extended what I thought was possible for me to do in a week. For this I do apologize. I will be posting the next chapter tomorrow though, and I am sure I can do it because I am already over 2k into it. It was all going to be a single chapter until I realized how much I wanted to put into it. On the bright side, we are finally back to Gaara! I am pretty sure Shinki is going to be OOC, but I only have a couple of panels of him that I have seen to base him off of, so I hope he is satisfactory. Thank you for your reviews and everyone that may have checked out Inheritants!

As always, reviews serve to inspire :D

Gaara

I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. I stared uncomfortably at Shinki who was returning my uncomfortable stare while pushing the food I had made around on his plate. It was not a thing I normally did, so the boy likely thought I had either done something to make his life more difficult, or that I was about to. I shifted in my seat. I had purposefully had Kankuro go on some day long tedious mission so that I could have time with him, but I had no idea what I was doing.

I had helped raise this boy for more than ten years, why couldn't I just talk to him? I took a bite of my dinner, salted tongue and potato gumbo. It was some of my best work and my own son had barely touched it. I frowned at him. "You dislike your dinner?"

"It's fine." He broke his stare and looked down to his food. With a sigh he took a tentative bite. "More than fine actually. That's what is bugging me, Father. What have you done?"

"Nothing."

His stare resumed. I continued to eat, bringing my eyes down to my plate. I had no idea how to even word what I wanted to talk to him about and I had no idea if he would even answer me with complete honesty.

"Why did you send Uncle Kankuro away tonight?"

I froze. Of course he would notice that. He had grown up around my methods. When I wanted time alone with him I always sent Kankuro away, though I had stopped trying years ago. It never had went well, I simply was not good at children.

They confused the hell out of me.

I took a deep breath. I set my chopsticks down next to the plate of gumbo. I brought my eyes back up to him. It was odd to me. The older he became he looked more and more like Kankuro. Which was odd, because we had no idea who his parents were, just that he had to be part of our lineage somehow. I studied him a moment. Dark brown hair, slightly tilted eyes. His face was more delicate than Kankuro's though. Like mine. He wasn't wearing his face paint, allowing me to see him how he was naturally. Also, this was a rare occurrence anymore. He was gone on missions most of the time with his team, or when he was in the village he never spent much time at home, let alone long enough for me to see him without his markings.

His brow furrowed slightly. "What have you done this time?" His voice was low and accusatory.

I blinked and tilted my head at him. "Nothing."

He groaned. "There has to be a reason why you are having me eat dinner with you. Are you sending me away for a month again?"

"No."

"Break something of mine?"

"No."

He paused, "Reassign my team?"

"No." I probably should just ask him. But how to word it? I didn't want to just come out and say, 'I believe I am a terrible father, so tell me how to be better'. There had to be a better way of saying it. More elegant, less pathetic.

He seemed to pale and waved his chopstick at me. "You didn't rearrange my room again did you?"

"Of course I haven't."

He frowned at me and took a bite of food. "You make that sound unheard of. It has only been about seven months since the last time you did it. I put locks on the door for a reason." Another bite.

Courage. I could do this. There was a knot forming in my stomach. Something was off. Wrong. Very wrong. Maybe it was because I wasn't ready to ask. I needed to though. "Shinki... I..." Deep breaths.

He frowned, moved his plate aside and leaned on the table, arms crossed slightly. "Father, if there is something you need to say, you can say it, ok?"

It wasn't right, wasn't it supposed to be the father that was supposed to be gentle and encouraging with the child, not the other way around? I sighed. No matter which way I worded my inquiry in my head it never sounded quite right. Oh well. I looked off to the side, unable to look at him while I asked. "Shinki, I have not been the father that you have needed, have I?" My voice came quieter than I intended it to be, sounding more emotional than I wanted.

I became nervous when there was only silence to my question. Had it been too unexpected? Would he answer me? "Father." He paused, "Look at me."

I clenched my jaw a moment and forced myself to look at him. He was looking at me with his lips thin and jaw set.

"I know you do what you can. Why are you asking me this?"

Maybe I shouldn't have. "I..." I trailed off, feeling the urge to bury myself in my sand. Why was it so hard for me to try and connect with him? Why did he always make me so nervous? "I want to be better." I blurted it out before I could stop it. It was the truth of it, but it was crude, simplistic. He expected better of me.

He stared. Openly stared. "Father, I..." He trailed off this time, at a loss of words himself.

Somehow that comforted me, even just slightly. There. It was done. Yet...

I still had that sickening 'There is something very wrong' feeling. Were we going to get attacked? I shifted in my chair, needing to move. Off. Something was off and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. What could it be? I tapped my fingers on my leg and moved to the window, leaving my confused son at the table to look outside. Everything seemed ok. There were no fires, none of the people were screaming, no alarms were sounding. I swallowed in an attempt to shake the feeling.

I heard footsteps behind me. "I'm gonna split, Father. I..." He paused, "Maybe, just be around more? That would be a good place to start."

I stiffened at the words. Be around more? Wasn't I there? I turned to him, "I am not home often enough?"

He scoffed, "Yeah, but you aren't present, you know?" He accentuated the word 'present' and looked away from me. "We never talk. Not really. We don't do anything, like we used to."

I frowned. It had been easier when he was little. There were no expectations, no need to worry about him being hurt on a mission, no need to worry if he would become strong enough to be a good Kage, no reason to be strict yet. "We will do something then. Soon?" It couldn't hurt to have some time with him, could it?

He gave me a large, bright smile at that, making a small smile work it's way onto my own lips. "Yeah, soon." He bit at his lip and turned from me, raised an arm up lazily, "Later. I have some things I have to do." With that he rushed from the room, leaving me staring after him.

There was an odd fuzzy feeling in my chest. I had just spoken to Shinki, and he had not left mad at me. Progress. I looked out the window. The fuzzy feeling masked that odd feeling only slightly. Off.

Something was very, very off. It was as though something bad were about to happen, or had happened, but I had no idea what. I opened the window and ignored the rush of hot air that burned into my sand. I watched the city below, watched as my son ran off on whatever errands he decided was pertinent enough to leave for, though I was sure he just wanted to get away from our odd conversation.

Do something with him. I wondered what. I groaned, that feeling was like an itch I couldn't scratch, a sense of dread that had no outlet. I paced a moment as I tried to shake the feeling and decided a moment of adrenaline might do the trick. I took a step back and looked at my window. Yes, that would do nicely. I lurched forwards, moving my legs quickly for my purpose.

I jumped. My breath hitched in my throat as the air rushed past me, a twisting sensation filling my stomach as I fell. Then, it was over, the sand caught me as it slowed then stopped my descent to the ground. The sand always caught me and I was grateful for it. I stood and looked up at my open window. Now what? I sighed and forced myself forward, unsure of what I was going to do. My meal with Shinki had not gone as planned and he had escaped long before I had planned on him leaving. Then, there was the odd creeping sense of dread which grew with every passing moment.

Maybe I should go see Kimiko, there was something obviously wrong with me. I decided this was the best course of action for my lingering sense of dread so I headed towards the Suna West Hospital. It was at this hospital where my personal physician worked. She would see me, she would always see me no matter who was there. I was going to take advantage of that fact. I groaned at the heat, walking out in the streets at this time of day in October was usually unadvisable. I gathered sand beneath me, condensed it and lifted myself into the air. I was simply not in the mood to bake inside my sand armor today. I leaned my newly formed platform of sand forward and pushed it onward. Travelling by sand was always much faster than traveling by foot, and the hospital was only around three miles away from where I was.

I ignored the few people who dodged out of my way and yelled in my direction as I rushed through the streets towards my destination. I was only a few meters away from the hospital when something caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I stopped fully as I looked upwards towards the thing which flew above my head at full speed. I watched a moment before realizing that the thing was flying straight towards the Kazekage tower. I stared at the bird, frozen to place. Messenger bird. I had not seen one of them come to Suna in years. Not since...

That sick feeling was back. No.

It couldn't be.

Please be wrong.

I changed my direction and headed towards the same destination with an urgency I had not felt in years. Wrong. This was wrong. This is what I had been dreading.

That bird. It was from Konoha. I recognized those markings.

Naruto...

Be safe. Please, for all things living, be safe.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

I paced the floors more irritated than I had felt in years. Angry. I was furious, and I swear if someone soon did not give me a satisfactory answer I would kill something. Likely whoever entered the room next. How fun would that be? I could muffle their screams and clean the blood away before anyone would ever notice...

How dare they anyway? I was the damned Kazekage, their supposed leader yet they deny me any information about what the bird had been sent for. Top secret, only for the eyes of a particular member of the council mentioned by name. Nobody else could see what was in the damn scroll.

The moment I figured out the person that had the information, I would interrogate them personally. If I had to torture the information out of them, so be it. I had to know. What if Naruto was in danger? What if something happened? What if he-

No. I would not allow myself to finish the thought, yet that sickening thought remained. What if he had died. It was impossible. I would never allow such a thing to happen, not if I could do anything about it. Maybe I should have stayed in Konoha longer, maybe I should have forced him to tell me what was going on, maybe-

My thoughts were interrupted when the door slammed open, Kankuro rushing into the room. "Kankuro?"

He barely glanced my way before slamming his fist against the door of the meeting room I had been banned from. The door opened swiftly and he slid inside, the man opening the door merely muttering a soft apology as the door clicked shut and I was once again shut out. Seriously?!

I seethed quietly from outside the meeting room. Kankuro could be privy to the information sent from Konoha but I, the Kazekage, could not know? I growled. That was it. I was killing something.

But what to kill? I paced, my sand twisting around me in response to my agitation. A smile twisted on my lips as I remembered that there were prisoners in the basement. Yes, those would do.

Nobody would miss them. They were not from Suna, nor from any of our allies. They were... Expendable. A pleasurable chill fell my spine at the thought. I could kill one of them. Nobody would even notice their disappearance, they wouldn't even care. It would almost be doing everyone a favor, and not just because they were deserving of punishment, but would keep my blood lust in check so I didn't accidentally murder something more precious than they were. A dark chuckle escaped me as I snuck out of the room and headed down to the holding cells located beneath the basement of the Kazekage tower. Few people even knew these cells existed, and nobody would ever dare question the disappearance of one of the prisoners. My kill would be easy, satisfying. I needed it. I had needed it for quite some time now.

I camouflaged myself along with a small platform of sand. I floated carefully by the guards, not wanting them to sense my presence. It would be best if there were no witnesses to this. It was far too easy. Too easy to get by the guards, too easy to enter the secured cell blocks, too easy to find a particularly nasty criminal with no ties to any village.

I stared at him for a while. The anger growing inside of me. They were keeping any reports available on Naruto from me. The one person I went out of my way for in order to constantly receive feedback on. For years. Ever since I was Kazekage I had sent spies to Konoha on the simple mission to tell me of the well being of the village and keep tabs on every move that one Naruto Uzumaki would make. It was important to know. When he had meetings, television appearances, anniversaries...

Maybe Kankuro was right that I was a little obsessed with him. I didn't care. For as long as he was safe, I did not care. Lately however, I had not received anything, and I couldn't even get slight updates from Temari because of some sort of communication glitch. Was technology that hard to keep up with?

I knew letters were a better way of communicating. I sighed and set myself down on the cool damp floor of the cell. The man that sat in the corner stiffened and looked up sharply at the sound of my feet hitting the floor. "Who's there?" He moved his hand out, reaching for something he could use as a weapon. "Show yourself."

I smiled. I smiled a smile that had not fallen my lips in a long time. I bared my teeth and narrowed my eyes, this man would die tonight. How unfortunate for him. I allowed him to see me then as I dropped the camouflage and took in the man's surprise. "Lord... Kazekage?"

I gathered my sand around my body, not wanting to let the man into my head. If I knew too much, I likely would have second thoughts and I really wanted to kill something. Badly.

"Wait, please, let me explain. I-"

I shot the sand out and encased him in it, encompassing his body in a tight cocoon. I squeezed just a little, forcing a pained grunt to come from him. "I do not have the desire to listen to your excuses." Squeeze.

Another grunt.

My smile widened at the sound, the thrill of giving pain tingling at my senses. Yes, I needed this. Killing always held a thrill, a pleasure I could never compare to anything else and I had been getting too close to harming people that mattered to me. The fact that I had nearly killed Kankuro not long ago came to mind and I gave another squeeze.

"Please, I don't want to die, please..." His voice was weak as he pleaded with me, hardly exciting at all.

I stared at him a moment. He looked... Pathetic, really. Quite pathetic. I groaned. Damn it. I dropped the man to the ground and called my sand back to me. I frowned at him. "What is your name?" I twitched with the need to kill, but I hadn't the gumption to actually go through with it. I assumed I wasn't quite that desperate. Yet.

The man coughed and trembled on the floor as he regained his senses. I almost willed him to attack me, but the desire went unanswered. He fell back slightly and looked up at me with a sigh. "Does it even matter who I am?"

"I would have killed you." The statement didn't match his question, but I felt as though it needed to be said anyway.

He nodded. "You didn't, thank you."

I formed a chair and sat in it, legs crossed and arms folded tightly to my body. I narrowed my eyes. "Why are you here?"

He laughed at the question and I raised my brow at him. "Ironic, but I was hired to kill you a while back. Not like I would have been able to, but I was caught taking the money." He shrugged, "I'm a crook, that is all, but I made the wrong deal. I'm paying for it. Dearly."

I sighed. Shit. "I see." He was hardly worth my time, nor was he deserving a death penalty, especially not the kind that I would give in order to satisfy my craving to kill.

"Why did you stop?"

I stayed silent. I owed this man no explanation.

He leaned back with a guttural groan, a sigh leaving him once he was settled back against the wall. "Heh, and the men who hired me called you a monster. Hardly."

I growled at him. Monster. I hated that word. "Who said that I wasn't one?" I meant the words. To me, I was one to spite my distaste of the word. After all, I had come here to murder him in cold blood.

"I would be dead if you were."

I glared at him and tightened the grip on my arms, trying to control the rage that was still building in me from all the secrets everyone was keeping from me.

"So why then?" He was prying.

"I don't know." The words left through clenched teeth. It was the truth. I still wanted to rip out the man's throat, but I felt that he was not deserving of my wrath. It was not a pleasant thought as that meant I would have to wait longer before I could take my rage out on someone.

He gave a small hum, and the conversation was over.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Author's Note:

Woo, a chapter! Then tomorrow, the next one. I am excited for that one, he goes to see his doctor :) Of course my idea of excitement might not match everyone else's but I have been waiting a long time to bring Kimiko in to the story more. Also, I wrote a little poem when my spotify decided to leave my playlist and go to a radio based on it, starting with this little song that broke into my very soul. Anyway, if you're interested, here it is:

The Pugilist-Keaton Henson

I sit here

My mask a smile

A world in my fingertips

Happy for the solitude

Burying myself in my art

Yet

There I sit

A song that bears my mind

My secret desires

It plays in deceiving innocence

Bearing my soul

I listen

tears stain the desk below

I wipe it away

Determined to rid myself it

Those wants

They will not burden me.

I continue.

My art.

My method.

I will prove my worth.