Suna's Kekkei Genkai
Chapter 17: Someone Precious to you
Neji looked down at the sand-nin leaning on his shoulder. He had exhausted himself from his crying fit. Neji continued to rub his back, calming him down. He was angry at Kankurou for treating Gaara like this, but then he began to think it over and realized some things.
"You know what?" Neji asked, brushing the red hair from his dark rimmed eyes.
"Hm…?" Gaara sniffed.
"I don't think Kankurou meant those things he said."
Gaara tensed up angrily. "What? Then why did he say them?"
"Hear me out, ok?" Neji ordered patiently. "Sometimes, when people are worried or scared, they say things that they really don't mean. They say them to protect, even though they hurt. Kankurou didn't mean what he said. He just wanted to protect you from getting hurt."
"How do you know?" Gaara demanded.
"That day Ghostfist came and attacked you, Kankurou told me how upset he was about it," Neji smiled and leaned his head onto Gaara's. "Despite what he said and what you think, he loves you. So does Temari. You're their brother and they love you more then anything. Tsunade-sama sent them out to attack the sound nins that have been sighted in the fire country. Everyone is worried that Ghostfist is among them and they don't want you to get hurt."
"…..why?..." Gaara asked.
"Cause there are people who care about you a lot," Neji replied.
"Like who?"
Neji held up his hand in front of Gaara's face so he could see. "Me, Kankurou, Temari, Tsunade-sama, Sakura, Naruto, Hinata-sama and Shikamaru."
"Hachi…" Gaara murmured. He whipped his eyes and relaxed again. "….'protecting someone precious to you'…."
"What about you?" Neji asked.
Gaara held up his hand too. "Temari, Kankurou, you, Naruto, Sakura and…obaachan." he frowned at the small number, then smiled at how much he had.
Neji nodded against his head. "And you should protect them, shouldn't you?"
"Cause their precious," Gaara said, feeling a lot better.
"Mm-hm."
Gaara took a dead breath of the cool night air. He felt a whole lot better now. Amazingly better. He didn't like being left behind, but he didn't feel bad about it anymore. He thought about Temari and Kankurou and wondered what they were doing. 'Probably fighting the sound nins by now…' He frowned when he thought of the sound nins. That Ghostfist…
Gaara's eyes widened and he gasped when he suddenly remembered something.
Flashback
"Ghostfist might be among them."
End Flashback
Flashback
"You be careful, little sand. Be good or people around you might start to…disappear…" Ghostfist said before Gaara blackout.
End Flashback
Gaara froze in panic then jumped up onto the houses to hurriedly get to his house. When he got there he grabbed his ninja bag and ran out of the village following his siblings trail.
"What do you mean Gaara's gone!" Tsunade shouted, slamming her fists down on her desk.
Neji and Sakura tried not to look as scared as they felt. "He was at my house because he was upset about Temari and Kankurou then he went home," Neji said.
"I went over to hang out with him and he wasn't there," Sakura added. "So I went over Neji's and he said he had gone home ten minutes ago."
Tsunade sighed and sat back in her chair.
"Tsunade-sama, I think he went after Temari and Kankurou," Neji ventured.
"Obviously!" Tsunade snapped.
"Hokage-sama, you should send someone after him to bring him back," said (….(thinks really hard)….) Chunnin #2. (:P gomen)
Neji and Sakura stood straighter and started to say something, but Tsunade cut them off with a glare. "Neji, you can't go. Konoha needs as many people protecting it as possible. And your duty is protecting the Main Family. Orochimaru will want the Byakugan as well as other blood limits. Hinata and Hanabi mustn't be taken. Neither should you," she added to his glare. "Sakura I need you to stay here and see to the patience in the hospital."
"But—" Sakura started then stopped.
"Who will go after them!" Neji demanded.
"I will go myself. I'll take Inuzuma Tsume with me to track them," Tsunade told him as she stood then led the Hyuga outside. She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "Don't worry," she assured him. "I'll bring them back alive." Neji smiled back and darted off back to the Hyuga estate. Tsunade's smile faded. "…I hope."
Ghostfist smiled wickedly, sensing a familiar chakra rapidly approaching. He clicked his teeth. "Tsk tsk. What a bad boy…"
Gaara jumped down into a large clearing. He surveyed the scene before him with wide eyes and an open mouth. Ghostfist was standing in the center facing him, between him and when Gaara was standing, Kankurou lay unmoving in a pool of his own blood. His eyes were closed, but his face was wrung with pain. Gaara froze unable to move.
He snapped out of his daze at Ghostfist's laughter.
"You should've listened to me," he said. He reached down and lifted Temari, who was the same as Kankurou, up into his arms and rubbed her face. "Such a pretty face, your sister has. What a waste."
"Don't touch her!" Gaara shouted, rushing at him.
"Fine." He tossed Temari towards Kankurou.
Gaara jumped to catch her and laid her next to Kankurou. She was cold to the touch and it scared him. He set her down, unable to take his eyes off her still face. Ghostfist came up to him and knelt next to the sand nin.
"Ain't it a shame?"
Gaara cracked and swung his arm to stab him with the kunai he'd whipped out. Ghostfist leapt away, but Gaara followed him, throwing the kunai ahead. Ghostfist's finger slipped into the ring and threw it back. But this was one of Tsunade's favorite tricks and Gaara was ready to dodge. He made a sign and the sound nin was flung into a tree by the sand. He made three quick signs and took a deep breath.
"Fuuton: mugen sajin daitoppa!" Gaara released a massive storm of sand and wind at Ghostfist. He watched the smoke clear, waiting.
He's coming.
Ghostfist seemed to rip himself from the smoke, charging at Gaara. He made several quick hand signs.
That's the technique. Shukaku warned again.
Gaara dropped down into the stance Kankurou had taught him and also darted forward, ahead of the sand, meeting him half way. The sound nin was in shock as the sand nin fought even with him, punch for punch, barely leaving any openings. Frustrated, he pushed past Gaara's defense and placed his palm on his chest, knocking him twenty feet back. Gaara coughed and clutched where he had been struck.
"Hm! I'll admit I'm amazed at how much you've improved in such a short amount of time," he said with distain. "But you are far from my equal. The blow I landed is supposedly similar to the Hyuga's gentle fist. I've attacked your insides with sound." he grinned evilly. "Hurt's doesn't it?"
Gaara grimaced. He wasn't going to lie; it hurt like hell, but not enough that he couldn't move. He stood, panting for breath, staring down his opponent. 'Any bright ideas?'
You can do the same to him. Shukaku voiced. The inhuman strength the Hokage taught you should be enough to cause some major damage.
'I don't want to rely on strength alone. I learn jutsus too.'
… Shukaku was silent for a minute. I have one suggestion, but you might not like it.
"Are you two done talking yet?" Ghostfist sneered. "You and your pathetic demon prepare your selves." Without waiting for an answer, he darted forward pulling a katana from its sheath on his back.
He swung down at the still sand nin, but gasped as he blocked the blade with his own arm. Drops of blood fell to the ground as Gaara raised his head to give him an icy glare.
"You shouldn't insult him. He gets angry," Gaara said. He twisted his arm around and grabbed Ghostfist's wrist and pulled him off balance. His fist connected with his face with a bone crushing force that sent the sound nin sailing to the other end of the clearing.
Don't listen to anything he says.
'He hasn't said anything.'
He will. He'll try to catch you off guard when he realizes he can't beat you. He lied to your face when he said you weren't fighting on equal level.
Gaara frowned and released the Kyokubun'ya. He watched Ghostfist get up and watched as waves of chakra left his body. He frowned. 'Is that a curse seal?'
No. It's just chakra. He's preparing to attack.
Ghostfist looked up and saw the Kyokubun'ya. He grinned then disappeared.
Gaara paused then caught sight of moving chakra and looked up. Ghostfist sent thousands of kunai filled with his technique's chakra down at him. Gaara grinned as well and reached out with both hands. He spread his territory out to a diameter of thirty feet and grabbed several strands of wind that passed through. When he had a firm grasp he spun as fast as he could, twisting the strands of wind around him knocking the kunais away.
Ghostfist sneered. "You're Hyuga friend's taught you a lot haven't they?"
Gaara blinked in surprise. "Whoa it worked!"
Ghostfist: (crash)
Shukaku: (Crash)
You baka! You didn't know it would work! Shukaku screeched.
"It just came to me, so I thought I'd try it…" Gaara replied aloud.
Ghostfist stared then snicker. "And here I thought you were exceptionally talented. You're just lucky."
Gaara just smirked and put up the barrier again, preparing for the next attack.
"Too bad your brother wasn't as lucky. It might have saved him…or you could have been a little..faster."
Gaara stopped short, forgetting Shukaku's warning, and his defense dropped for a moment.
Ghostfist grinned and made several more signs. "Zankuuha!"
An enormous amount of air pressure hit Gaara, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying again. He squeezed his eyes opened to look at Ghostfist, but all he saw with the bloodlimit was a mount of chakra. 'It's a clone!'
His flying came to a sudden stop as he ran into something and the something went straight through his side. Grimising and coughing blood he looked down and saw a long blade. The bushin puffed away and ghostfist snickered behind him.
"See?" he said right before he twisted his blade around and sliced out of Gaara. Gaara cried out in pain, then Ghostfist landed a kick on his back knocking him into the dirt.
Gaara groaned and tried to move. A wave or pain shot though his body from his side and he gave up on that idea.
I told you not to listen. Shukaku said without pity. 'Damn….we're really in a tight spot now…'
Ghostfist started walking towards Gaara examining his katana which was dripping with blood. Gaara saw him with the kyokubun'ya he'd left open. He took a deep breath and focused on the wind around him and sent his chakra underneath his body. The sound nin leapt forward ready to finish him off. His blade came down hard causing the ground to break.
Ghostfist gasped and stared. Gaara had disappeared. He looked around for the sand nin, knowing he couldn't have gotten that far with that wound.
"See? I told you this was a good specialty that could come in handy," Gaara said talking aloud to Shukaku.
Oh shut up.
Ghostfist looked up and saw Gaara sitting cross-legged in midair. There was no sand underneath him holding him up either. Glaring in frustration, Ghostfist threw a kunai and shuriken at him, forgetting to send his chakra into it, allowing the sand to catch it.
"You can fly now!"
"So?" Gaara replied. Ignoring him, he reached down and touched his side, flinching. He forgot the pain for a moment when he realized he had a hole in his body. His body. This was worse then the Chidori. He looked down when Ghostfist laughed.
"What will you do now? Just hang there until you bleed to death or I leave?" he asked. "I have orders to kill you, I'm not going anywhere."
"No, I'm coming down," Gaara lowered himself to the ground and stood, breathing heavily. "And you played into my hands."
This time Ghostfist really laughed. "You can't be serious! You can barely stand! How do you expect to pose any threat to me now!"
Gaara just grinned and made the hand seals Tsunade had shown him. He glared at Ghostfist and crouched down to a fighting stance. "You will die for killing Temari and Kankurou." He reached up and pulled his hat off, revealing his tattoo 'ai'. It was no longer red like it use to be but black. "Nimpo: Souzousaisei!"
Ghostfist stared as seals, not unlike the curse seals of Orochimaru, crept across his face from the kanji. There was a small hissing sound and smoke came from all of Gaara's wounds. Before his eyes all the wounds and cuts healed themselves and closed up.
"This is Tsunade-obaachan secret technique. Chakra is gathered over a period of time and stored. It is able to be released at will and used to heal. It also gives me an enormous boost of power," Gaara explained. He frowned to himself. 'But I have to hurry. The effect isn't perminate like Obaachan's yet…the wounds will return in a moment…'
Gaara grinned wickedly at him and held up his bandaged right hand. With his left, he ripped them off and wiped some blood from his side wound with his thumb and ran it down his arm. Dark blue seals and veins slowly appeared and Ghostfist's senses were filled with an incredible chakra. The chakra surrounding it wasn't Gaara's. It was black and smoke like. The smoke took form and something stared out of it.
"Meet my demon," Gaara said. Pulling his hand back, he charged at Ghostfist. His fist connected with his chest and the Shukaku's chakra smashed though him. Gaara stood still, panting, as the smoky chakra dissolved. He winced and groaned as the effect wore off and his wounds reopened. His vision began to blur and he coughed up more blood.
The kyokubun'ya disappeared and the blue seals on his arm faded to black. Turning from the sound nin on the ground, he saw his brother and sister lying together where he left them. With his heart stinging painfully, he staggered over to them. His face felt wet, from blood or tears he couldn't tell and didn't care. He laid down next to Kankurou and used his chest like a pillow and reached over to touch Temari's arm. He felt very comfortable, despite the wound in his side.
As he rested, he went over all the things they'd done together.
Flashback
"Why wont you listen to your older brother for once?" Kankurou demanded, grabbed his shirt.
"Gaara, please?" Temari begged.
"My existence will not be erased! I wont let it!"
"Don't come any closer!"
"The pain of being alone…It's not an easy one to bare…Why is it…that I can understand your pain?"
"They saved me from the pain of being alone. They acknowledged my existence…That's why they are important to me."
"…Love…"
"Temari…Kankurou…I'm sorry."
"It's ok."
"My eyes hurt" he mumbled rubbing his eyes.
"I'm sorry we couldn't stop them" she said.
Tsunade set the cup and spoon on his stomach. "It tastes good and it's cold." Gaara picked it up and tasted it. He paused to savor the sweet cold taste then ate the rest. "Sorry I was harsh." she said sitting next to him.
"Put me down"
"No."
"Put me down now!"
"Or you'll do what" Kankurou asked walking up the stairs.
"I'll squish you"
"Just try" Kankurou replied feeling very bold. No answer. "Well"
"I'll do it later" came the mumbled answer.
Kankurou decided to join Gaara and the two brothers ran around the clearing, and even extended it more then Tsunade had meant for Gaara, as they began competing for things like who could go the longest, and who was in front. This took both their minds off the amount they had actually run so they ended up going almost double the amount before Tsunade stopped them.
The puppet-user looked the sand-user up and down. "You look cool" Kankurou told him.
"I've decided to take you with me as my student and assistant" she told him.
Gaara's face visibly lit up. "Really" he cried before he caught himself.
"Yep" Tsunade said holding back a laugh. "I'll train you more on the way" she stood and walk passed him. "You didn't think I'd leave you behind, did you? What kind of friend do you think I am" she shut the door behind her.
"GAARA" Gaara looked up in time to see a purple blur run up to him and wrap it's arms around him in a hug. Over the purple blur's shoulder he saw an orange blur coming at him as well. "We missed you so much"
He likes you didn't you know
"Huh"
He s in love with you
"You can love many people at once" Temari continued. "Not just one. For instance, I love Shikamaru very much, but I also love Kankurou..and you, Gaara. I may be nasty to you guys sometimes, but that doesn't mean I don't love you. You are my only brothers and I'd do anything for you." she smiled at both of them as they had a moment of silence.
"Kankurou, Temari"
"Yeah"
"...I love you, too."
"I'm sorry about earlier" Gaara mumbled.
Neji smiled. "Me too. I shouldn't have gotten so mad."
Temari and Kankurou followed him shortly and the three climbed into the futons. During these rare happenings, Kankurou was usually in the middle, but this time Gaara got pushed into the middle and the two others 'snuggled' up to him for 'warmth'. All three sighed in unison, then began to drift off into slumber.
"I don't think I want to do this..." Gaara said holding onto the wall of the rink like it was the thing that was between him and certain death.
"It's easy, once you get the hang of it" Neji assured him skating around him.
"You know...I don't really mind going shopping," Gaara mumbled to Sakura. "Actually I like shopping. But I do. Not. Like. Carrying. Other. Peoples. BAGS!"
Sakura giggled and turned to him. "But don't you want to be the gentleman?"
Gaara jumped up and ran into his room and shut the door. He dove headfirst onto the bed and under the covers. He knew he was acting spastic, but didn't really care at the moment.
'I'm asleep! I'm asleep! I'm asleep!' Gaara told himself over and over.
'Dear Gaara,
We really hope that maybe you can find your reason to exist here in our village. We want you to know that we love you very much and you are always welcome with us. We hope you and Temari and Kankurou have a very happy first Christmas together.
Love,
Naruto 'tebaiyo, Sakura (flower drawing), Kakashi, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Asuma, Shino, Hinata (little smiley face), Kiba (underline underline), (a paw print), Kurenai, Lee (little face with ping teeth), Tenten, Gai ("Power of youth!"), Jiraiya (Ero-rennin was written with Naruto's handwriting), Neji (Naruto's handwriting again: 'I love you!'), Tsunade-obaachan (We love you!)
Temari looked up at Gaara, lower lip trembling, and Gaara thought he did something wrong until she burst into tears and glomped him. Repeatedly, squealing her thanks.
"You see, against me, your sand is useless and you are helpless."
"Why do you… like me?" he asked, not looking at Neji, but instead, at Neji's hands, which were in Neji's lap.
Neji was awake now. "What?"
"Why do you like me?" Gaara repeated, still not looking at him.
Neji frowned. "What kind of question is that?"
"Well… I was curious…"
Neji's frown of slight anger turned to a thoughtful one as he scratched his chin, looking out the window, deep in thought. "I guess…"
Gaara looked up.
"I guess, at first, I admired your strength, because you were able to beat Lee, my teammate, in the Chuunin exam," Neji began. "When I heard you and your brother and sister helped rescue our squad from the Sound Nins, I thought, 'well, no wonder we got out of it alive'…"
Gaara looked at his own hands, slightly embarrassed but at the same time a little sad that Neji only liked him for his strength, supposedly.
"…But then, after Kankurou and I started training together, and I saw more and more of you," Neji continued, not seeing Gaara's look, "I started looking at you as a person, and not just another ninja. And I started seeing your qualities, too."
"Quality?" Gaara repeated.
What are we, eggs?
"Yeah. You know, your sense of humor (You have a sense of humor? Shut up!), your care towards your siblings, things like that. I admired these qualities, too, but at the same time, I admired the person who had them, for just being who he was." Neji suddenly blushed slightly. "Then, I started to actually look at you… and I started liking… the way you look…"
Gaara looked up again, confused. "The way I look?"
Neji nodded, turning to give him a small smile. "You have pretty eyes."
Gaara blinked. I do?
You do?
Neji smiled, reading the look. "You do." He yawned again and scooted over. "Come on," he said, patting the bed next to him. "You don't have to sleep."
Gaara climbed meekly up on the futon and laid down, propping his head up with the pillows Neji put there for him. After Gaara was situated, Neji laid his head on Gaara's stomach as a pillow and fell back to sleep.
"You heard me! You're always in the way with everything we want to do! Everything bad that's ever happened to us two is because of you! We have a job to do and we aren't taking you to mess us up!"
"Gaara, what's wrong?"
"I don't think Kankurou meant those things he said."
End Flashback (s)
(H-R: oh my god I hate flashbacks….)
(Shukaku: You pulled and SNG)
(H-R: …and it was so hard…and frustrating…)
Gaara closed his eyes. He felt very tired; missing Temari and Kankurou was a new feeling. He understood why Neji was upset with his father's death. He never wanted to see anyone's smiling face so much before. Gaara closed his eyes and smiled, knowing he'd see them soon.