Then There Were Two
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki...Katsumi Uzumaki...are the twin children of the Honorable, Late Fourth Hokage...both outcasted by Konoha, the two find strength in one another that is incomparable and irreplaceable. The Teams...are quite different now, and the future...is looking more than a little bit brighter…or is that but the calm, before the storm?
Anime/Manga: Naruto
Genre: Romance/Humor/Adventure
Pairing: I... know who with who will be. I'll let you guys fidget and wonder.
Rated: M for Mature
-x-x-x-
When your day is long,
and the night, the night is yours alone.
When you're sure you've had enough,
of this life, well hang on.
Don't let yourself go,
ćause everybody cries...
and everybody hurts sometimes.
- Everybody Hurts (Jasmine Thompson)
-x-x-x-
Staring at the red head as he leaned against the railing of the Inn, Katsumi was fuming at what had only taken place less than an hour ago. Aquamarine eyes locked with her darker and blue. She could scream! It was so embarrassing; her only reprieve was that no one else saw what happened.
(Flashback)
"AAH!" Katsumi closed her eyes as gravity pulled her to the ground. When she felt time pass her by with the obvious absence of pain, she tensely forced her eyes open and tried her best to evaluate the situation. Feeling stupid for not reacting to falling out of the tree as a Shinobi should. Really, how hard was it to utilize the skills that had been ingrained into you since early childhood?! No! Civilian ineptitude it was! At least the sand was soft.
Yeah. That had been like a highly anticipated blanket of soft sand that had caught her before she hit the ground. Very thankful for the barricade that appeared between her and the hard ground. Though, it wouldn't have been necessary if she had acted like a Shinobi. Actually! No, no! It wouldn't have been necessary if the red-haired panda ninja hadn't appeared out of nowhere, upside down, behind her! So, yeah! It was completely his fault! Or, if anyone asked, that's what she'd decided to go with.
"..."
Katsumi felt her feet touch the ground before the warmth of the sad left her and returned to the gourd on the boys back. She looked back up at him and frowned, "...thank you." Should she have been surprised when he didn't say anything? She wasn't. He hadn't spoken once since she'd begun following the three siblings. If she thought about it, "how long were you aware?!" Realization hit her like a rock.
He raised a brow, "the moment you arrived. Why are you following us?"
She glanced down as she considered her next words carefully, "because I was curious."
"Explain."
She shrugged, "I want to know what kind of people you are. I want to know what kind of Shinobi you are. You, your sister and brother...I'm curious about the three of you."
Vanishing in a swirl of sand, he appeared crouched before her before standing and looking her square in the eyes. "If you get in our way...I'll kill you."
She felt her blood run cold. As he stepped past her and began walking off, she smiled and shook the sudden feeling of dread off her before turning to look at his retreating form. "So, then it's okay if I continue to follow you? So long as I stay out of your way, right?"
He paused but said nothing before he continued walking on his way. Katsumi considered this his answer and grinned internally at her personal victory. Taking off into a tree and following a bit closer to him as she knew he was already aware of her shadowing him.
(End Flashback)
"What a bother/ This can hardly be considered tailgating." Turning onto her side, her hand rested on the side of the railing as she slouched in her irritation at the situation. True, it worked out well enough that he simply didn't care, but he knew. That's just...not right!
Her eyes didn't leave his, and his didn't leave hers. 'I'm pretty certain that this isn't what the Hokage had in mind.' She perked up as the door slid open and she watched the blonde step out.
"Gaara, Baki still hasn't returned, should we go look for him?"
"...no."
"But―"
Gaara turned away from Katsumi and she felt a breath of air that she hadn't known she'd been holding, escape her. "The finals is a few days away, whatever has happened to Baki, I won't miss this match."
"...I understand."
The two returned to the room together, though, Gaara walked in, the blonde, Temari, had followed nervously after him. Katsumi shook her head and sighed, jumping rooftops, she sat down just above their room. 'They're nothing like the way me and Naruto are. How can you be so afraid of your own brother?'
-x-x-x-
Hours had passed and Katsumi had followed the siblings in silence from their room to the dining spot across the street. She made a clone when Temari decided to walk around the village a bit and investigate the shops. She kept her eyes firmly glued to the three as she tried to make sense of the reason behind breaking the alliance between Wind and Fire. It really was a wonder. Why strive for war, when peace provided you with so much more free time.
Night was falling and she and her clone had met back up, Temari was walking inside the inn and the brothers were already in their room. It was around this time a large gust of wind and dirt was kicked up across the village near the hospital. The sound of something heavy hitting the ground accompanied the gust of dirt and drew Katsumi's eyes away from the inn and towards the hospital. "What was that?"
"Maybe you should check it out,"
She rolled her eyes but didn't bother turning around to verify who'd spoken. The boy had a habit of materializing out of this air in a swirl of sand. Why should this surprise her? "No, I'm fine. I'll probably hear about it tomorrow."
Gaara sat down on the roof and closed his eyes as he brought an arm to rest on his knee.
Glancing back at him, she took in his exhausted frame. "Why don't you sleep? You look tired."
"..." he said nothing, the wind whispering against his hair.
'Right, why did I expect him to say something?' She fought back her own yawn and sat down on the room beside him. "You guys need to stay out of trouble."
He barely peered at her from beneath his eyelids.
"I know I'm saying too much, maybe because I'm sympathetic, or maybe I'm just senseless when it comes to things like this. However, I want to see to the safety of the sand siblings. I can only do this, if you don't act on your orders." Sand swirled in her ears, she wondered if she should be afraid or just act like she didn't notice.
"I knew you were following us on orders, but you look to be my age. I thought for sure they would have the insight to send someone...more experienced."
"I asked the Hokage to be assigned to you three. You aren't interested in these orders, are you?"
"I am a Shinobi; a tool to be used by my village."
Katsumi turned to face Gaara, "...I can't say that I'm not the same thing. However, this tool will choose how she's used. I will not raise up against those who bare me no ill will. I will not turn my weapons on those who mean my family, friends and village...no ill will. Gaara...if you stand against me, I will fight you, and I will win. If you choose not to, then I will protect you and your family, should that time come. Do not turn against the Leaf Village. Do not break this alliance. Stand with us...please..."
"Why should I care about your village, your family or yours friends? Why would you think I'd care about your plea?"
She gave an overly dramatized shrug, "I don't know. I guess, why I look at you...I see something scary."
His eyes narrowed, "something...scary?"
"Yeah, it probably won't make sense if I explain, but let me try." She crossed her legs and turned fully to face him. His eyes trained on her, but she could feel the spite in his gaze. "When I look at you...when I look in your eyes, I see...I see...what might have been. That scares me. You look lonely and hurt...very hurt. Sad even. I wonder, for how long you've been alone. You have a brother and sister, yet, you act like strangers. They cower in fear like you're some kind of...monster. As if one wrong word could be their last. That's not family. For me, up till I was seven years old, it was just me and my brother. We were born on the night the Nine Tails attacked, and our parents were supposedly killed. Though, if you ask anyone here about them, they'll give you the cold shoulder. It's completely taboo. Naruto and I...grew up thinking that something might be wrong with us. We were called demons, monsters...parents told their kids horrible tales about us, like we were some evil being that would eat their souls. It was stupid, really."
Gaara listened, watching a stray tear befall her cheek, he turned away from her and closed his eyes.
"By a stroke of luck, we met Kiba...and then...Chouji...followed by Shikamaru. They became our friends. They made the choice to decide for themselves what to believe. Should they believe the gossip in the village, or what their own eyes tell them is true. When Naruto and I were seven, we were found and pulled from the darkness that this village, at the time, had been dragging us into. I learned; retaliation will get me nowhere. I don't want to be the monster that they fear me to be. I want to be me. This person, who lives, and fights to protect the people who she's grown close to. This person who knows that she'd give her life if only it meant saving her only family. I studied. I trained. I blew off sleep to extend my knowledge. I knew, if I could gain their trust, then I could achieve that peace of mind, and peace of heart. When I looked into your eyes, I was brought back to when I was seven years old. If me and my brother hadn't taken Kiba's hand, where would we be now?"
"...your world was bleak. By some miracle, light shined on you and your brother...I however, never left the darkness."
Katsumi stood and walked before Gaara, crouching before him, she held her hand out. "...choices like these...last forever. What will you choose?"
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Me: Chapter 28 is DONE! And Naruto seems to have returned from training? Well, if you know Naruto like you think you do, then you know where we are without my needing to write down the episode. XD LOVE YOU GUYS! Review~