Ghost in the Sand
Stay

"Stay."

Gaara proceeded to give Temari a blank stare as he sat on the rock not far from Suna. Shukaku's voice piped up at the back of his head. "She just treated you like a dog. Aren't you going to do something about it?"

"Aren't tanuki a type of dog?"

"We are not. Where would you even 'get' such an idea."

"Why?"

He watched as Temari and Kankuro blinked a couple of times before looking at each other. Gaara remembered on the way back how they would speak among themselves before looking at him. The talking among themselves honestly wasn't something new, but in the past his two older siblings would look at him in fear. The looks he received on the trip back were different. "We need you to do so."

The youngest sibling felt the corners of his mouth turn down. "Our mission is over. That means reporting in."

"Gaara..." Temari took a deep breath.

"It's not as if you bothered reporting in with us before." Kankuro folded his arms across his chest. "So why does it matter?"

"It matters."

"I'm the oldest, so that means I'm in charge."

Shukaku quickly laughed. "She's in charge. Do you remember the time when she let you be in charge?"

Temari leaned in closer. "I want you to stay here until somebody comes to retrieve you Gaara. If nobody comes by sunrise tomorrow then I want you to run. I want you to get as far away from here as possible."

"Why?"

"Because we told you so! Isn't that a good enough reason!" Kankuro's words snapped out at the younger sibling, but then he glanced away. Normally the look would be fear, but this time around the look seemed to be one of guilt.

"No."

Temari took a deep breath. "Please? Can you do this for your big sister?"

Gaara looked at the ground and didn't at first say a word. He looked up to see Temari and Kankuro waiting for an answer. Reluctantly he spoke up. "Yes."

He looked down again and felt Temari's hand reach out to ruffle the top of his head. "Thank you."

The young shinobi looked away and traced his finger around the rim of the sand gourd which sat next to him. His other hand constantly reached up to try and grip at his heart. Shukaku kept telling the young jinchuriki they'd abandoned him, but he didn't want to think Temari and Kankuro would do such a thing.

Sitting on the rock he felt a slight breeze begin to blow, and the desert wind begin to whistle in a manner that made the feeling of being alone grow. He felt the presence of a strangers chakra caused his head to dart up, and he titled his head to the side as he looked at a small female staring at him. His eyes remained fixated on the sight wondering why she kept staring at him with the blank look on her face. The urge to say hello quickly welled up, but he felt his throat freeze.

He watched as the girl's mouth moved as she clutched her doll to her chest. Words finally came out of his mouth as the silent words made no sense. "I can't hear you."

Another presence caused his head to turn and his eyes widened slightly. Among the group was his own sensei as well as the sensei of the two Konoha genin he fought during the chunin exams. Gaara also saw his father held up between Baki and one of the ANBU. Something felt wrong about the situation, and he opened his mouth to say something. Rasa's head darted up then, and he saw the stern look on the man's face.

He looked away as a shiver ran down his spine only to see the girl was gone.

M

The Suna shinobi finished pulling the members of the ANBU who were buried with the Kazekage out, and they prepared to start back. Rasa attempted to stand up only to find himself teetering from lack of chakra. Baki came forward to steady the man along with another Suna shinobi. The injured ANBU also found themselves helped up as the party proceeded back to the hidden village.

The Kazekage kept his head high, but let his eyes drift down slightly to make sure he didn't misstep on the trip back. "The council is going to be in a riot when we get back if they aren't already." A familiar presence caused the man's head to dart up. He saw Gaara sitting upon a rock with his gourd next to him as the boy stared off into space. "Is he waiting knowing I'm in a weakened enough state to kill me?"

Rasa watched as Gaara's head darted up and for a brief moment saw a reaction of fear upon seeing him. The boy looked away in order to avoid eye contact, and then for some reason startled as if something he'd seen nearby was no longer there. "Another hallucination of his?" The man could sense the fear imitating off of most of his men. The only ones not afraid of the child in front of them other then himself were Baki and the two shinobi from Konoha. "Gaara..."

The boy turned his head to look back at them. Rasa's wondered where the older siblings were. "Why are you out here? Where is the rest of your team?"

"Temari ordered me to stay put until I was retrieved."

Rasa stared at the boy wondering what was going on in his youngest head. "His behavior is off."

"Have I been retrieved?"

"Yes." The Kazekage watched as his son stood up and stepped off the rock letting the sand lower him to the ground. The boy turned to head back to the village.

"Hey Gaara!" The Konoha shinobi wearing the ridiculous green git up held his fist up so his thumb was sticking up. The Suna shinobi besides the Kazekage and Baki flinched. "Good to see ya!"

"Is that idiot trying to get killed?"

Gaara turned back to look at the men. "You're the meddling mother hen form the chunin exams."

"Apparently the idiot's managed to annoy Gaara already, and yet managed to some how live."

"Lee says hello and to pass on the message he doesn't hold any grudges."

Rasa felt his stomach lurch. "No grudges? Someone actually survived an incident with Gaara." A sigh escaped the man's lips. "That must be what Gaara meant by meddling mother hen. That man interfered with one of Gaara's kills. I'm still surprised that... no, I must be imagining things."

"Oh. And Kakashi. Didn't your student Naruto want to pass on a message as well."

"I don't remember such a thing." The white haired shinobi glanced away.

"Oh yeah! He wanted to invite Gaara to have a bowl of ramen from Ichiraku's." The Kazekage turned his head slightly to look at the shinobi from Konoha, before turning to give his son a mystified look. The boy took the look as another look of displeasure and quickly disappeared from sight without saying another word. The man in the strange green outfit put a hand behind his head. "Did I say something wrong?"

One of the shinobi from Suna choked out a response. "May I suggest being careful about what you say to... him? There is no telling how he'll take what you say to him. You're lucky he didn't use his sand coffin on you."

Rasa watched as the man tilted his head to the side in confusion. The other Konoha shinobi remained emotionless as they approached the gate.

The people of Suna spoke in whispers as they came in, and the loud mouth proceeded to make a nuisance of himself as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You'd think your village would be more excited to see their Kazekage back safe and sound."

"It can't be helped." Baki's voice came from right next to the Kazekage's ear. "Gaara's just came through here. You two have seen first hand how he can be."

The auburn haired shinobi turned his head to see the villagers gossiping, and he couldn't help but wonder what kind of rumors had started because of the mess with Konoha and Otoga. He also wondered where his two oldest children were, and why they left Gaara outside by himself. Mentally he held back a sigh of frustration. A particular thought shout through his mind. "You would have done the same thing. Things don't look like they went well, and chances are Gaara is in a bad mood after what happened. I'm surprised he didn't kill his own siblings."

The idea that Gaara had killed his older siblings nagged at him, and when the group arrived at the small hospital. The men were led to a room where the medical-nin begain applying treatment. Rasa glared at one of the medical-nin when they approached him causing Baki to let out a sigh. "You need to let them treat you. It's rather obvious you're injured Lord Kazekage."

Rasa turned to him. "On top of helping our guests get settled in I would appreciate if you found Temari and Kankuro. I honestly don't trust Gaara to have not killed them, and now have lied about it."

The look Baki gave him was puzzling, but he choose to brush the look off.