Part 6-Ritsuko
"Desert graveyard…" He clenched his fist and the sand crushed the woman. He could hear her muffled screams as the sand clamped down on her. Finally, as if an explosion, her blood and the sand splattered everywhere. Her bones, skin, everything was crushed finely and mixed with the sand. As a bit of the blood mixed sand splattered on his face he went wide-eyed at what he had just done. An intense pain shot through his head, he was sure Shukaku was laughing at him. He collapsed face forward into the ground. He clutched his head in one hand and his other hand grasped the dirt and sand below him. He screamed, he screamed out in pain, he screamed out to anyone who cared.
***
Temari and Kankurou sat opposite each other. Temari tapped her fingers on the table repeatedly.
"Do you have to do that?" Kankurou stared at her
"Sorry… Nervous habit…" She rested her hands in her lap.
Suddenly a scream shot through them. A blood-curdling, ear piercing scream. Temari jumped up and ran to the window. "That was Gaara!"
"How do you know?" Kankurou got up and joined his sister at the window
"I just… know…" She clutched at her chest tightly, Gaara, please come back safely…
***
Gaara wandered through the village absent-mindedly. Eventually he got fed up of walking and used his sand transportation to get home. He arrived in a 'tornado of sand,' and was greeted by a hug from Temari. She clawed into his back and held on to him as though she were a mother holding on to her child.
"Gaara… Are… are you okay?"
"I'm fine…"
"I was so scared." She buried her head in to his shoulder and cried
"Why…?"
"I heard you scream… I-it scared me." She cried even harder
"Temari, I-I'm fine…" Gaara looked at his elder sister. She held on to him like a mother protecting her child, but she looked sweet and vulnerable like a child herself.
"Gaara…" She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She saw a white ball of fluff emerge from behind him and rest on his shoulder. She moved back a bit and looked at it, "what's that?"
"A rabbit…"
"A bunny!" Temari picked it up off of his shoulder and cradled it; it clawed its way out her arms and dashed back to Gaara, "it's very attached to you."
"Yeah, it won't leave me alone…"
"Any idea why?"
"Probably because I saved it… someone stuck an explosion note to it's back…"
"Who would do something like that!?"
"Someone tried to assassinate me today…"
"I thought they stopped!" Temari cracked her knuckles, "I'm gonna have to deal with them."
"Temari, don't worry about it…"
"Fine…" she sighed, "What are you gonna call the rabbit?"
"I was thinking about Ritsuko…"
"Ritsuko… What's that on your face?"
Gaara quickly wiped the forgotten blood and sand mixture off his face, "n-nothing." He got up and walked away, as he was about to leave the room when Temari stopped him.
"Why Ritsuko?"
"It's the name of someone who cares about someone else no matter what. Even though I carry a strong scent of blood, it wouldn't leave me alone…" He looked back at her over his shoulder, "Temari, I killed someone today…" He walked down the corridor to his room
He sat on his bed and let Ritsuko down. She ran around a bit and jumped back in to his lap.
"Knock, knock."
Gaara turned to see Kankurou standing at the door, "What?"
"I was worried about you…"
"…"
"Look Gaara, you don't have to believe me but I was…" He turned around to leave, "Be careful with Temari, she's in a fragile state and I'm worried about her…" He left.
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A/N-So what did everybody think, I quite liked it ♥☻ and yes, that is part of the meaning of Ritsuko, I'm not entirely sure about the Japanese meaning though