Ghost in the Sand
Strange Sorcery
The report Baki gave was not to Rasa's liking.
The most shocking news was finding out two of Konoha's genin shinobi manged to push the limitations of Gaara's sand shields and armor, and this was done using taijutsu. Rasa wasn't surprised to find out one of the genin was the student of the loud mouth, nor was he surprised Gaara tried attacking the youth again only for the sensei to interfere again.
The other major shock was the idea Gaara panicked twice by Baki's estimation. The first time was when Gaara realized the genin he was up against in the tournament was using taijutsu in the same manner the young man he fought during the preliminary rounds did. Out of fear Gaara decided to change to Shukaku before the expected time to do so. The transformation failed because his opponent managed to injure the young Suna shinobi.
Yes... Gaara ended up injured by someone.
Seeing his blood caused Gaara to panic a second time. Instead of losing control, or making some rash decision. Gaara simply froze and Baki ordered the two older children to get Gaara away. Baki pointed out the slight panic in Rasa's tone of voice resulting as his frustration with his youngest child escalated. The fact Gaara couldn't follow instructions was a problem albeit the instructions weren't' the ones Rasa wanted to give the young shinobi.
The door clicked open as Temari and Kankuro slipped into the room. "Baki's already filled me in up to the point where he had you retreat with Gaara."
"That..."
"I've not yet given you permission to speak Kankuro." Rasa leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "I want to say something before you give your reports. Stay away from Gaara unless your missions call for it."
His two oldest glared at him. Temari finally folded her arms across her chest. "No."
"Excuse me." Rasa felt his shoulders tensed up.
"You heard me."
"Gaara's dangerous! What don't you understand about that? You two are at a high enough risk during missions of being injured, maimed or even worse killed by him!" The Kazekage's fingers tapped on the top of his desk.
"Gaara would never hurt us intentionally!" Temari stormed forward and slammed her hands onto the front of the desk causing the finger tapping to stop.
Rasa glared at his daughter as she looked at him in defiance. His fingers tapped on the top of the desk as his mouth twisted up into a deep frown. The kazekage couldn't quickly think of an answer in response to the girl's comment, and instead changed the subject. "What happened after you parted ways with Baki?"
The two siblings looked at each other, and then Temari raised her eyebrows as if to say she would handle things. She turned to look at the man with eyes that reminded him of her mother. "We found ourselves chased by a few of the Konohaga shinobi. Kankuro stopped to hold them off while I took Gaara on ahead. I tried treating Gaara's injuries, but he didn't want help. One of the shinobi came, and Gaara began to..."
The man watched as Temari stopped speaking, and her facial features twisted up. "Let me guess? He became Shukaku."
"Yes. He became Shukaku. He made himself go to sleep, and let Shukaku have control. One of the Konohaga shinbobi ended up fighting him to a draw. We, Kankuro and I, were prepared to take the other one on, but Gaara told us it was enough."
"Gaara did?"
"Gaara did. We then took him, and brought him back here." Temari looked her father in her eye. "After that Gaara kept apologizing, and tried being helpful."
Rasa's eyes widened, and he simply stared at his two oldest as he clasped his hands in front of his mouth. Multiple thoughts crossed his mind as he tried figuring out the strange events, and the most likely options were that Temari and Kankuro mentally lost it, or Gaara wanted something and found a new way to manipulate things to his liking. The man's hand reached up to rub at his forehead to try and relieve some of the stress he felt coming on. "That means the situation with Gaara's becoming worse"
"Temari, you do realize that Gaara's likely trying to manipulate you and Kankuro?"
The man watched as his two oldest stared at him as if he were the monster instead of Gaara. A silence fell over the room as the Temari and Kankuro continued to glare at the man. Temari finally spoke up, and her anger was obvious. "You've just never been willing to give Gaara a chance. Nobody ever gave him a chance, so what's wrong with Kankuro and I finally wanting to do what we should have done a long time ago, actually be his older siblings?"
Kankuro nodded his head, and folded his arms across his chest. "Agreed. I don't want to hear a lecture from the person who didn't do his job as a father."
Rasa glared at his two eldest children, and stood up slamming his hands onto his desk. He pointed at the door. "Get out! Both of you! Now, before I do something I regret!"
The two looked at each other, and let themselves out. Temari however stopped in the doorway. "I think it's funny that you talk about doing something you would regret, when you've already done plenty."
The door slammed, and Rasa flinched as a picture fell off the wall, and clattered to the ground. He felt his eyes twitch, and he sat down at the desk. His eyes shot down to the lower drawer, and his hand reached down to open up the desk drawer. "What would they know about what I do, or don't regret? The fact I've done plenty I should regret doesn't mean I want to do something else."
The drawer slid open, and Rasa's eyes picked up the picture frames which remained upside down in the drawer rather then on his desk. A particular item though was missing from the drawer, and a gut wrenching feeling that such a precious item was gone shot through his stomach. A knock on the door made Rasa's head dart up, and he slammed the drawer shut. The contents of the drawer rattled as he bid the person to come in. One of his eyebrows darted up upon seeing the Shinobi from Kunoha. "Do the two of you need something."
The white haired Shinobi lifted something up, and shook it slightly. The man's eyes were closed, and Rasa was sure that the man smirked under the mask. "Are you missing something Lord Kazekage?"
The auburn haired man felt the color drain from his face at seeing the familiar teddy bear, and the hand the two Shinobi couldn't see clenched into a fist. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Apparently one of your Shinobi took this from your desk in an attempt to use any scent on it to find you, thinking it belonged to your daughter Temari, or your son Kankuro when they were younger." Kakashi tossed the teddy bear with a swift motion, and Rasa reacted in just as swift a motion to catch the stuffed toy. "Truth is though, this toy belongs to your youngest one, Gaara. Does it not?"
"I believe this is the business of Suna, and not you leaf ninja." Rasa removed the item from sight, dropping it to his lap.
"Is it? You asked what we wanted, and pretty much what we came here is to ask that you give your son a chance."
Rasa's fingers stroked the worn fabric of the toy while glaring at Kakashi, not pleased that this conversation was going the way it was. "So now Konoha wants to interfere with my parenting, the parenting of the Kazekage? Are you trying to make me laugh?"
Guy lifted one hand up to rub the back of his neck. "Actually, we were thinking you'd want an outside point of view. The way your shinobi talk, they didn't seem to fond of the kid, and went so far as to say you only have two children. Thus it stands to reason any advice they give you is going to be biased, based on what we observed during the chunin exams."
"I'm not sure you could tell me anything new." One of Rasa's hand's reached up to drum on the top of his desk. "I'm quite sure the two of you've noticed that Gaara is a problem child, and much of the time I don't know what to do with him. It's always been that way. He's not like other children, and I never had problems with Temari and Kankuro, at least until now."
"When a child isn't like other children you're supposed to change up your strategy." Kakashi waved his hand. "This really isn't about giving you advice about how to parent, or teach though, but to let you know what we observed."
"And what have you observed?" Rasa leaned back in his chair, the teddy bear still in his lap.
Guy held up a finger. "I see a child that does not understand because no one has bothered to explain things to him in a way that he would understand."
Kakashi rubbed his neck this time. "Well, you didn't need to put it that way."
"And how would you have put it?" Rasa folded his arms across his chest.
"Gaara is actually quite intelligent, and he wants to know how the world works. There is however a mental block which is preventing him from figuring out how the world works. Children need ways to learn how the world works, and when they're young they learn this from the act of role playing, and playing with others."
"He says he's not lecturing me about parenting, but that is exactly what this moron is doing."
"They also learn through trial and error, by getting hurt in various ways. Of course, it stands to reason that there are things that prevented Gaara from having these factors in his life, and he didn't have the trial and error process other children go through."
"Despite the fact you say you're not trying to give me parental advice, it really does sound like you are."
"Ah, sorry. I'm actually not talking from the experience of a parent, but from the experience of a child here." This comment from Kakashi made Rasa stare at the man.
Guy spoke up then. "My rival here was our generations child genius, and he didn't get much interactions with those his age, but now we both have grown through our relationship with each other."
"What Guy means to say is Gaara has made relationships with a few of our young Shinobi, so it stands to reason you should see whether this has an effect on him."
"This can't though be your only reason." Rasa kept his arms folded across his chest.
Guy continued to speak. "Nothing really. He seemed to show some confusion as to why I would protect my student despite the fact Lee failed, but beyond that, nothing."
The Kazekage tapped his fingers against his desk. "Fine, well, giving Gaara a second chance. You do realize that child has never once felt physical pain? It stands to reason..."
"... that said child will not understand the concept of limits." Kakashi held up his hand. "Lord Kazekage, you should have received reports by now that Gaara did indeed feel physical pain for the first time, and also other new experiences." Rasa's facial features twisted up, and Kakashi's facial features twisted in a manner that indicated he thought the Kazekage's reaction was amusing. "See, you're thinking from the mindset of a parent, if you think about it. A parent's worst nightmare is that their children will come to harm, and that's exactly what happened to Gaara."
Rasa felt the color face yet again, and his facial features twitch. "Parent? I doubt I would have stuck a beast into my son if I put the priorities of family before the village."
"I don't know. It's obvious that you do put the needs of your village before your family, but you've not been able to erase the fact you're a parent or the feelings that have gone with it."
"Are you mocking me?"
"No." Kakashi pointed towards the spot where the teddy bear rested on Rasa's lap. "No, I doubt you would have kept that old toy if family didn't mean anything to you. I think it's your regret, the fact you've had to put the village before your family. I think it hurts you, that Gaara's turned out the way he has so far. It's why it's his toy specifically. My ninken Pakkun identified it as the boy's. You either keep it because you still think there is hope for him, or because you regret the fact the child you love is dead to you, or even both."
The Kazekage felt his hands clench the desk, and he stood up letting the teddy bear slip from his lap. Guy beat him to the punch. "We're simply trying to say here, that there is still hope, and that maybe the child you think is dead all that time ago really isn't."
Rasa's mouth twisted down into a deep scowl. "And how is this any business of Konoha?"
"None. We've just taken a liking to Gaara-kun." Guy let out a laugh. "Lee and Naruto-kun are also quite fond of him as well, and since they're our precious students we feel the need to interfere, so they don't lose their previous friend. Not sure if that makes any sense though."
Kakashi made a quick bow. "We'll be taking out leave now Lord Kazekage, now that we've had our say."
The man's jaw dropped as the two men left, and he sat down. Rasa leaned back in the chair, and looked up at the ceiling. The door clicked open, and someone came into the room. His tone of voice took on the sound of annoyance. "Gaara, I know you're there."
"I've a question."
"What would this question be?"
"If someone hits you, does it mean they're you're friend?" Rasa's eyes widened, and he sat up in a quick motion. He looked at his preteen son, wondering what was going on. Gaara's reaction was to flinch at the reaction, and back out of the open door. "I'm sorry. The question wasn't appropriate, Lord Kazekage."
The door clicked shut, and Rasa felt his mouth drop for a few seconds. He glanced down at the teddy bear on the floor, and carefully picked up the toy. The desk drawer opened again, and he set it down while turning the pictures back over. The first was a picture of Gaara and Yashamaru back when Gaara acted somewhat normal. The second though was a picture of his wife, and he took it out of the drawer and set it back on his desk.
"Karura..." Rasa traced her face with his finger. "I'm sorry I let things with Gaara get out of hand like I did, but I think I can stop apologizing constantly when I see your face. I think I can instead tell you Gaara's turning out to be the young man he's supposed to be." A frown crossed his face, and he pushed the picture down. "Who am I kidding. I turned our son into a psychopath."