Bonus chapter 11: The Taming of Shenlong
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters of Naruto.
The first thing he heard as he walked was the sound of snickers from the bandits that were following him from the cover of the woods, waiting for a chance to ambush him. Shenlong paid no such attention to them as he ran his hand over his short hair that was cut short, but still had some form of a curve to it. He liked it like that so he could didn't have to put up with maintaining it when it got longer and curled up into a nappy fro. As a rogue ninja still wanted by Konoha, or as far as he knew he was wanted, the rogue didn't need to have to worry about his hair getting in his face.That was the sign of a sloppy ninja. The rate of profession that he used was what separated him from the common bandit, the same kind of bandits who were making one blunder after another as they tried to ambush him. Even though he didn't have to put any attention onto them he did because it helped him forget about everything else that plagued him when he lied awake in a bed at some end or hanging from the branch of a tree.
Hoshi, he thought, for one second, and then he cursed himself for thinking about her, for thinking about how she looked in the pale moonlight the first night that he was free from that hell of a nightmare. When she was still there, beautiful as ever, and the world was rich and filled with possibilities, not this world that he traveled through now, the current world was hell on earth. He could help the pain that he was feeling at the time and so he had to start doing something so he started singing whatever song came to his mind and somehow he was singing that one song that he would always sing while playing a guitar for her.
"Hello there, the angel of my nightmares, the shadow in the background of the morgue. The unsuspecting victim, of darkness in the valley, we can live like Jack and Sally if you want. Where you can always find me and we'll have Halloween on Christmas, and in this night we'll wish it never ends. We'll wish it never ends."
Tears streamed down his cheeks as he said this, forming a puddle that seemed black like a loss of hope and as he walked on he started moving down a path that was somehow familiar, but yet he never remembered ever going that path ever in his life. For some reason that he was too busy singing that song to notice or question it all. He was stuck in his memories.
"Where are you? And I'm so sorry! I cannot sleep, I cannot dream tonight. I need somebody and always. This sick strange darkness, comes creeping in on so haunting every time. And as I stared I counted, webs from all the spiders, catching things and eating their insides, like indecision to call you. And hear your voice of treason. Will you come home and stop this pain tonight. Stop this pain tonight."
The bandits figured that they would be merciful and try and put the singing blond ninja out of his misery, but even as they stabbed their swords into him, Shenlong couldn't feel death coming on. He wasn't at peace, he was on some other existence, deprived of the one drug that he needed the most, love. No matter what they did he would just heal, it was out of his control, he would not die that day and there was nothing he could do about it. In anger he killed the bandits and just continued to walk on to the path that he was on, now singing the chorus though his voice was breaking from sorrow.
"Don't waste your time on me, you're already the voice inside my head. I miss you, miss you."
A sound rose out of the air, sounding like a voice that was all familiar to him, but he couldn't remember where he was or why this place held some sort of significance for him. The green of the trees had long since been covered by the soft snow that layered everything around him and his shoulder with a cold beauty that he wished he could enjoy fully, but he was only half of himself. He followed that voice to wherever it originated from and then he heard another voice that was masculine and also familiar to him. The farther he went the more voices he could hear, as if the world were coming alive to him and it was then that everything began to look like it did once, before everything was destroyed. Where have I seen these places before, they seem to be all familiar, full of warmth, but yet I can't recall ever being here? What is this place? What is it to me? The answer was like a splash of cold water on the face of a sleeping person. This place is my home!
"Welcome home, son," said a soft female voice that was close to a song in the wind and Shenlong ran through the snow, trudging through the ice as he tried to get to the voice of the woman he knew to be his mother.
"Mother," Shenlong shouted to the air as he ran towards the voice. "I've returned to you mother. Don't leave without me mother, I've gotten it together. Moth-"
Shenlong fell into the snow at the sight of the place of origin of the voice, a gravestone that belonged to his mother, carved in with his own sword. His mother wasn't there waiting for him, like everyone he ever knew or cared about, this was enough to make Shenlong snap and for a year there were reports along a certain trail leading to the Mist about a lone wolf swordsmen who killed anyone who came in his domain.
Skip the part where Gaara and yuki find Shenlong. I already wrote that in a chapter. This is after.
Shenlong opened his eyes two minutes after gaining consciousness, feeling the softness of a warm bed, something he hadn't had in a long time and he looked out to see that the room that he was in was a special medical wing. He'd never been admitted to one, but he had seen one before as was custom for a person whose comrades would be taken to the medical wing and he could tell that he was either being prepared to be taken to Konoha or was a prisoner. His eyes searched around the room to find that he wasn't armed with much, just a teapot that couldn't be used for much and he might be able to use his claws, but he wasn't fully healed. He noticed that he wasn't in much, just a pair of boxers that he knew were new. In a chair in the corner of the fairly large room was a chair that had his pair of black pants, not the ones of his uniform but a pair of leather ones that he had taken from a raid for supplies. Outside all he could see was sand and people walking around the stone buildings that protected well from the sand.
"If I went up against the Kazekage then why the hell am I alive," asked Shenlong as he picked up the tattered remains of the pants on and started looking for other clothes when the door opened. His first instinct was to move towards the person who threw it, but he was tripped by a mass of sand that had collected at his feet.
"I know exactly who you are, Shenlong," said the same red haired teenager that he had met before that he had now identified as the Kazekage. "You don't have to worry, Konoha has taken you out of the bingo book and you are now a free agent who can be placed anywhere. I can assure you that as long as you're here I will do everything I can to make sure you are not harmed."
"Thank you," said Shenlong as he got up and he could sense something, he sensed that the Kazekage had something in common with him. "I thank you for sparing my life, but there are other places that would also demand my death."
"I've already talked with the Godaime and she has also agreed to help erase all charges," said the Kazekage as he sat down and then nodded for the girl to pick up the teapot and pour some tea for Shenlong.
"Why are you helping me live," asked Shenlong as he looked at the Kazekage and he saw the same bit of loneliness in the Kazekage.
"We are both creatures of loneliness, you and I, but I see that yours is worse than mine, a loss of everything," replied Gaara as he took a cup himself and looked into the tea. "Few know what it's like for us to live or to have be us with everything that has happened to us and so they treat us all like monsters, only keeping us from being better than we are and achieving happiness. That is what I want to do as Kazekage, offer a safe haven for people like us and help them gain that part of them that they lost a long time ago, to finally shine the light on the monster and reveal the man that was always there. That is my wish, but it was one of the hardest to achieve."
"Your right that we are the same type of person and I guess you are right about me," said Shenlong as he set the cup before him and the bowed to the Kazekage. "Kazekage-dono, I would like to join you in your attempt to create that safe haven as this now seems like the only purpose I can have now in my life. Thank you for giving me some hope for the first time in my life and I will be your servant forever, as you have now shown me that there are still some things that I can live for."
"Thank you, Shenlong-san," said Gaara as he held out a headband to Shenlong and Shenlong accepted the headband. "You are now a shinobi of Suna and I won't waste your talents by having you start out as a chunin or genin, but you will be in my ANBU. Additionally, is there any other place that you would like to be placed at?"
"I would like to request, if I may, to be your bodyguard since protecting you is now something important in my life," said Shenlong, still bowing, but with the headband tied to his forehead. "I will never let anyone harm you, no matter who they are."
"I see, well you will now be working with Yuki-san," said Gaara, motioning towards the woman next to him. "Also, I have already contacted your wolf family and they will be here soon to see you."
"Thank you, Kazekage-dono."
"Please, you and I are like brothers, call me Gaara."
"Yes, Gaara-dono."
