ONE

Hour of Knowing

"The princess shall indeed grow in grace and beauty, beloved by all who know her. But, before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die."
- Maleficent

KIYOMI KNEW THE DECISION WOULD BE MADE WHEN she first shattered the hourglass. As she watched the sands slide over the hard wood floor, she felt absolutely numb. People were talking to her, but then again, people were always talking to her. She had many friends when she joined the academy at five years old. She was six when people first started calling her a genius.

This isn't real, Kiyomi had thought to herself when she was first told she wouldn't make it past eighteen.

After that, her family got second opinions. They got third opinions. Fourth opinions. They got so many opinions, that eventually they had to accept these were facts.

Kiyomi was going to die.

It wasn't something she ever thought about before. Thinking of death, she means. It was a passing whimsy that she didn't really have time to dwell on in the past. She always thought she'd die heroically, in protection of someone else. She thought she'd die in the sands, next to fallen comrades. She even thought she'd make to when she was old, her fingers clasped tight around a loved one as she made some speech about a life well lived.

She never pictured her actual death. She never thought she'd lose access to her limbs. She'd lose the ability to walk. She'd lose the ability to speak. She'd lose to ability to see. Eventually, she'd lose the ability to breathe. No, that was not a fate even she could not picture.

Still, as she stared up into the the sky, to those passing by, it was almost as if she already lost all of that. Still, she didn't move as she watched the hot sun begin to lower into the sands. She didn't cry. She didn't pout. She just sat there, on the bench, as if she were already waiting to die.

━━━━༻❁༺━━━━

"Kiyo-chan," whispered the soft voice from across the park. Kiyomi was dazed, but eventually she looked over to spot her little brother padding across the sand. She let out a small smile, holding out her hand as the little boy grinned and gripped onto his sister's waist.

"Done playing then?" Kiyomi asked, her eyes leering down at her brother as she squeezed him tightly into her chest.

"I wanted to play with you," Kota reminded her with a frown. She chuckled, glancing over to his friends that had settled over in the distance. Her brother was only a year younger than her, but her parents always told her that she had the mind of an elderly woman since she never liked playing. Even after turning six years old, she still chose the act of reading a good book over playing in the sand.

It wasn't even children's books or actual novels, but instead books on Chakra development and the inner workings of the human coils. Even at a young age, Kiyomi always knew her dreams. Instead of drawing with her brother, her pass time consisted of creating charts and ideas of new training regimens. It was amusing to her parents, who insisted they throw her a birthday party only to be bombarded with a seven page essay on why parties were a waste of her time and she should instead be allowed to train.

Her parents, being scholars in their respective fields, had been impressed by her thesis, but not enough to allow her the chance of skipping out on socializing. That was how Kiyomi was wrapped into inviting her classmates to a party she did not want.

"Sorry your essay didn't work," Kota said, holding onto his sister's hand as she walked him out of the park. Kiyomi didn't get a chance to answer as the loud screaming broke her off from answering.

"Quick, run away, it's Gaara!"

"Get away!"

"MONSTER!"

Kiyomi froze, careful to force Kota behind her as she turned around to see the red haired boy walk towards the group of children that had been playing in the sand of the park. In his hands was a ball, likely the same ball the kids were playing with before. Her heart was beating rapidly, her fear palpable as she watched the red haired boy offer up the ball to the children.

"Kiyomi, we have to go," Kota whispered, tugging on his sister's overall dress. Still the girl didn't move. "Kiyomi."

"Kota," she whispered, watching as the boy, Gaara's, eyes flickered to her and her brother. "No sudden movements."

"I brought your ball," Gaara whispered, holding out the ball to the other children.

They screamed, all shoving one another to run away. Kiyomi watched as Gaara held out the ball before slowly lowering it back to the ground. She took a deep breath, taking slow steps back as she dragged Kota away from the scene. After all, she had to protect her little brother, and Gaara was a monster. Still, the curiosity had frozen her. She knew what she should do, but this was Gaara and she had so many questions.

She took a step forward, her eyes scanning over the red hair, the trembling fingers, the soft pout. He looked so small. Still, looks must have been deceiving because inside him was a great demon. Her parents said to never stay around him for long. The other kids swore they saw him drinking blood. Some adults say he ceased to be human long ago and never even slept.

Kiyomi was curious by nature and took another step. How must it be, she thought, to never sleep. To drink blood. To be a demon.

The boys eyes drifted to her, but her brother's whimper broke her from her daze and she took a step back. She grabbed him quickly, horrified that she could put him in such danger for mere curiosity.

Kota was silent the entire way back home, his fingers clutched onto the back of Kiyomi's robes as they made it back to the complex. By the time they were just outside, Kota had began crying. Kiyomi quickly shushed him, kneeling down next to him. "You can't cry. If you cry, mom will ask why!"

Kota was still scrunching his fists to his eyes as he tried to control his hiccuping. Still, he gazed up at his older sister's face. "Why can't we tell mommy?"

Kiyomi winced. "If she knows, you won't be able to play there anymore. You might not even be able to go with me anywhere."

Kota sniffed, trying to control his crying. "I can't...go there?"

"You know how mom is. So let's keep this between us, kay?" Kiyomi, in hindsight, probably should have told her mother since perhaps taking her little brother to a park that now the demon of Suna liked to roam was not a great idea. Still, if it made her brother happy, she would do whatever he wanted.

"What did you do to Kota?" Midori asked upon seeing her children walk into the house, Kiyomi looking sheepish and Kota having obviously just stopped crying.

"How was I supposed to know that sand in the face could hurt so much," Kiyomi said with a shrug. "I apologized. I realize I am grounded. I will be in my room to study."

Midori lowered her glasses as she worked on her own reports at the table. Slowly she sighed, standing up and leaving her pen on top of the documents before kneeling over to Kota. "Is that true? Did your sister bully you?"

Kota glanced towards his sister with a tilt of his head, as if looking for approval. Kiyomi, standing behind her mother, nodded her head. Slowly, he looked to his mother. "She hit me in the face mom!" Kiyomi shugged, thinking it was a bit much but it was only a slight punishment. It was better than telling her mother that she nearly got them both killed by Gaara of the sand.

"Is that right?" Midori asked with a sigh.

Kota nodded his head, wiping his eyes one more time. "And then she held me down and made me eat sand!"

Kiyomi's eyes widened, shaking her head to her little brother who began to cry again. The act was very convincing, and when her mother turned her face to Kiyomi, the anger drifting in the woman's eyes, Kiyomi visibly paled. It was a feat, considering she was naturally very tan.

"She did, did she?" Midori stood, and Kiyomi glanced towards her smiling little brother with murder in her eyes. Kota's smile turned devious, as if he was unable to resist the effort of the act.

"Mom, he's lying. I didn't do the second part!" Kiyomi was gonna get her ass whooped and it was not gonna be pretty. As if on cue, reminding the little girl why she so often teased her brother, Kota began crying again.

"Mommy, it was horrible! Kiyo-chan is mean!" Kota said, his smile nowhere to be seen when Midori looked at her son.

"Kiyomi, up stairs. No studying. I want you to read all of Kota's books, front to back. Every one of them." Midori's voice was firm, causing Kiyomi's lips to drop.

"Mom, that's not fair. His books are stupid!" Kiyomi glanced to between her brother and mother, the former of which was smiling. She stomped to Kota's room, took out one of his books where a talking scorpion sang the alphabet, and wondered what she did to deserve this.

Still, the days leading up to her party was filled with reading all Kota's dumb books. She also filled the time with little petty acts of vengeance such as folding the pages in Kota's books and shoving globs of sand in his sheets.

When she spotted Kota walk into their shared room, Kiyomi stood up, vengeance in her eyes. Kota opened his lips to scream, but she had silenced his voice with her palm and slammed her elbow lightly into his stomach.

"That's fair," Kota said with a grunt as he collapsed on the ground.

"Apologize," Kiyomi ordered, and he glanced up, his small eyes gazing into hers.

"No. Get off me you crazy zihyt," Kota shouted out, and Kiyomi's eyes widened at his curse.

She instantly regretted teaching him Sunanojo. She just hadn't expected him to use their language against her in a fight. "Boy, you better take that back!" Nobody can call me a zihyt in my own house!

"You are one!" He shouted at her. "neh quch wuaph chea'ko u zihyt!"

"How dare you!" Kiyomi raised her fist and pounded her fist into his skull. "The disrespect! The dishonor! Eak tenekuzpo unyojhekj!"

"Fuck our ancestors! Stop hitting me!" Kota whined, opening his mouth to scream for their mother. He didn't get the chance as she slammed her palm against his mouth. His scream of 'mom' turned muffled and ultimately disappeared.

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Tan fingertips pressed up against the stone, trailing over the carved words as if they meant something. The clouds hung in the sky, far above her head, reminding her of the impending rain. The air was frigid and moist, and hung over her in its wake of a hot desert sky. The usual dusty wind didn't have the same effect as it used to and she rather missed being able to feel it. No, lately, she hasn't been able to feel much of anything.

"I thought of you often today," Kiyomi told him, her eyes stinging, but she had long since lost the ability to cry as she used to. Instead, she was reminded of his smile. It wasn't present anymore. "I dreamed of the past. I suppose people do that when they are close to death." Her eyes stung again. She tried to remember what he would have said to her before. He used to be able to cheer her up over anything. Now, she'd give anything for him to say anything.

Kiyomi felt her ribs ache. They had been doing that more often as of late. Lately it had felt as if she was always in pain. Her muscles always felt as if she had just suffered a long battle. Her bones always rattled. Her heart always beat just a bit too quick, making her lose her breath a bit faster than usual.

"Do you remember?" Kiyomi paused as she spoke to him, and like always, he was silent. "I became a ninja when I was young, and you hung off my leg before my first mission. You begged me to take you. You promised you'd be silent. You promised you'd stow away in my bag. You'd curl up and I wouldn't even know you were there."

Kiyomi let out a strangled cry. Her shoulders were shaking, as she tried to hold in those tears. She missed his smile. She missed beating him up for disrespecting her. She missed his smile.

"I should have taken you," Kiyomi dropped to her knees as the stone became taller than her body when she fell. Her hands clutched the grass, digging into the dirt where her brother rested. "I should have taken you with me. I should have taken you far."

Kiyomi was trembling, as if the motion could make her warm when she always felt too cold. The rain had yet to start. Her parents were probably worried about her. She should probably leave. Still, she couldn't move. Her cheeks were damp, her heart was clenched, and she wanted to die.

She couldn't look at the gravestone anymore. It was too cold. It was too bitter. It didn't have enough writing on it. 'Shirogane Kota' wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to describe him. He deserved sonnets. He deserved paragraphs to describe how he made people feel like they were the center of his world. He deserved to be alive for how he made her feel special. He made her feel strong.

She missed his smile.

"I will join you here," she whispered, her fingers digging harder in the dirt. "I will join you."

She buried her head into the grass, as if she could sink into her little brother's coffin and lay there amongst his skeleton.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I am so excited for this story. It's a different one for me since I never imagined that I would ever make a Gaara based love interest. I'm actually very nervous since I have no idea if I will be any good at depicting him. He's definitely not the type of guy I would usually go for, but when I thought up Kiyomi's storyline and was brainstorming what village she would be best suited for, I couldn't help myself.

Gaara is going to be the most challenging character I've ever tried to get in character (surprisingly Naruto is a very close second!) so please tell me if and where I messed up!

Thank you so much for reading!

- Ul'Yana