Blood Breakdown

Part 4

By Juno42

"This is…unique."

Shikamaru and Chouji watched as Shikamaru's father frowned into the magnifying glass at his son's peptide chart. He was peering at the large cluster of dark characters that Shikamaru had not recognized earlier. Shikato didn't recognize it either. But he deduced its purpose.

"It's like some super-opioid. Organic morphine. It's huge, though. A normal brain wouldn't produce this on it's own. Are you sure he was clean?" Shikato asked his son.

"Clean as a preacher's sheets." Shikamaru replied. Are you saying the brain can't or won't produce something like that?"

"Unless he was taking a very powerful drug I've never heard of, which you proved he wasn't. There's wouldn't be any instructions in human DNA on how to make it. Peptides aren't supposed to be that big." The elder Nara shook his head in bemusement.

Shikamaru frowned and looked troubled. "What if," he suggested carefully. "the instructions were coming from something else?"

His father raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"The demon. Shukaku."

It wasn't often that Shikamaru had the pleasure of seeing his father's jaw drop. He was no mood to savor it just now, however.

"It would make perfect sense, really," he continued. "I mean, not to be crude, but isn't that how a lot of pimps get their prostitutes to knuckle under?"

"By getting them hooked on drugs…" Shikato murmured, frowning in thought.

"Shukaku wants to kill. Gaara doesn't. He can't force Gaara to do what he wants as long as he's awake, so he tries a different tactic."

There was silence for a few moments, as they all attempted to wrap their minds around this astounding idea.

"Can I get this straight?" Chouji said finally. "Shukaku gets Gaara to do his killing by drugging him every time he kills? And he does it from inside Gaara's own brain?"

"It's possible." Shikamaru said. "Shukaku itself was sealed in Gaara, but its power wasn't sealed in any way, unlike…unlike others. He may not have been to completely take over, but he could have enough power to influence something Gaara can't consciously control, like his hypothalamus, where peptides are made."

Chouji considered that, and shuddered.

"I assume you're going to inform his sister?" His father asked. Shikamaru nodded. "Tell her I'm going to try and mix up something that will neutralize that stuff. I don't like the idea of that stuff being possible, let alone existing somewhere. He's probably having all the symptoms of someone coming off a heroin addiction. Although, I'm a bit surprised," He bent over the chart again. "He has amazingly little resistance for his other natural painkillers."

"The sand." Shikamaru told him. "Nothing ever touches him. He's never been injured so he's never needed to use his other painkillers."

"And I couldn't even find his melatonin, and he has an over-build-up of adenosine. He needs to sleep, now, sooner if possible."

"He can't sleep, remember?" Shikamaru reminded him.

"Well, tell her if there's any way for him to, he should do it as pretty damn quick. It's a miracle his brain hasn't dissolved itself." Shikamaru could hear the medic in his father coming out.

"Question," said Chouji.

"Possible answer," Shikato prompted.

"What's oxytocin? Shikamaru was bugged because it was barely there. What does it do?"

"Oxytocin is the hormone that reinforces social bonding." It was Shikamaru who answered. "It's mostly present in pair bondings like when people are in love, or in friendships. It reinforces trust, it calms people down. And Gaara has nearly none of it." he added to his father.

Shikato peered around the chart, but couldn't spot the barely visible cluster of characters, Shikamaru had to point it out to him.

Chouji thought through the implications. "His life must've sucked." he summed up.

"In a nutshell." Shikamaru said.

"Anything that can fix that?" Chouji asked.

"Well," Shikamaru mused, "If Temari is as determined as she sounds in the letters, it may correct itself, in time."

"Hope so," Chouji said. He'd always been a compassionate person. "It's amazing Naruto turned out as well as he did-" He cut himself of as Shikato gave him a sharp look, aware that he'd said too much. Shikato turned the look towards his son.

"It was driving me nuts," Shikamaru said. "I had to tell someone." Shikamaru had found out about the Kyuubi in their second year at school with Naruto, completely on his own. Simply puzzled it out of series of consecutive incidents. All his father had done was confirm his suspicions (knowing that Shikamaru wouldn't let it go until he did) and make him swear he's never tell anyone else he knew, or they could both get in serious trouble. Shikamaru had done his best, of course, but the bigger the secret, the harder it is to hold onto by yourself, and Shikamaru had caved in and told Chouji. Chouji had never had any reason to tell anyone else, so the secret was safe.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, but let it go.

"Well, I'm gonna go write Temari back with this." Shikamaru said. "We'll see if they can come up with something for him.

Meanwhile, in Sunagakure, Kankuro came plodding home around dusk, taking a roundabout way along the perimeter of town to avoid crowds (Suna was busiest just after sundown, when things began to cool off). He made it to the house, dragging Karasu after him, opened the door, called out "Hi, homie, I'm hun!" to announce his arrival to Temari. He dropped Karasu with a thunk just inside the door, but that was all the noise he heard.

Kankuro blinked in puzzlement. "Temari?" He called again. He heard a thunk upstairs, then a repetitive thumping, and then Temari came into view at the top of the stairs.

Kankuro thought it might as well have been her just come back from a mission. She looked exhausted, like she hadn't slept more then a couple hours at a pinch for several days. "Jeez, what's up with you?" he said. "Are you okay?"

Temari blinked slowly at him. "Thneh…" she said. She crossed her arms on the banister and dropped her forehead on them. "Not a good week," she muttered from under her arms.

"Gaara?" Kankuro guessed. It was, he was sorry to say, the default hardship of their family.

Temari lifted her head sluggishly, with an almost melancholy look on her face. "I dunno what it is, really." Her frown tightened a bit more; to Kankuro it looked like she was thinking of crying. Temari didn't cry easily, so something was up.

Kankuro climbed the stairs and leaned against the banister next to her. "Tell it."

She did. And she did end up crying a bit, when she told him about Gaara's scrape with death. Kankuro could actually feel his face pale under his makeup. Despite their constant fear of him, the idea of him dying was somehow more unbearable. When she finished talking, she dropped her head down on her arms again, letting a few more tears loose. Kankuro rubbed her shoulder weakly and tried to think. "Where's he now?"

Temari sniffed and lifted her head again. "In my room. He doesn't want me to come in there." She let out a frustrated sign. "God, I wish I knew that mind-reading trick we saw at the Chuunin Exams," she said. "Then maybe I could find out what the hell's going on with him!"

"I'll check on him. You go to bed, use my room." he said sternly.

"You just got home," she protested.

"I'm good for another six hours, easy. Get."

Temari didn't argue again, proving how exhausted she really was, just grunted thanks and shuffled down to Kankuro's room. Kankuro went to the door of Gaara's room, and pushed the door open just enough to peer inside.

Gaara was there. Sitting cross-legged on the bed. His skinny arms were tucked in close to his torso, his head down, shoulders hunched, rocking slightly in a fitful way.

"Hello?" Kankuro murmured. Gaara stopped rocking and his head came up just enough to peer at the doorway. His face was blank as usual, but his eyes were wide, like a wild animal in a cage. He said nothing.

Kankuro decided just to go for it, and came into the room. He approached the bed, kept both hands in sight, trying to be as non-threatening as possible. He could only wonder what organ directed all this, as his brain would usually be telling him to flee in terror at this point. Spinal chord, maybe. Or, maybe he was just sick of being afraid of his brother. What was to fear, really? The worst Gaara could do was kill him, and quickly at that, Gaara had never been one to beat around the bush when it came to the killing. And Temari had mentioned that Gaara had said he didn't actually care for it anymore, if he ever had.

Gaara watched him for a few steps, then let his head sag back down again. His breathing was slightly shallow, like he couldn't quite catch his breath. There was a slight sheen on the skin Kankuro could see, and he was shaking like a man with a killing fever.

Kankuro reached the bed, climbed on, and sat cross-legged in front of Gaara. And there he had to take a moment to admire the fact that he done that, with the feeling like he'd just snuck a piece of meat away from a sleeping lion without waking it. Gaara didn't react, but Kankuro knew that he was aware of him.

"So," he began. "You really gave Temari a hard time this week, she says."

Gaara's voice was low, slow, with hardly any strength behind it. "Is she sleeping?"

"Yeah." Kankuro replied.

"Good," Gaara said. "She was starting to look like me."

There was no trace of irony in that statement. "What's wrong with you?" Kankuro asked. "Is it the demon?"

Gaara lifted his head slightly again, and Kankuro could see a really confused look on his face. The sort of look someone gets when they just can't figure out what the hell is going on around them. "N…no." he said.

Kankuro blinked. "Really? He's not bothering you?"

"No."

Kankuro was astonished. It was the same feeling he had when Gaara had told him he'd gotten rid of his gourd of blood-tainted sand. "Is he stiff there?" he asked.

Something like remorse passed over Gaara's face. "Yes."

"But he's not pestering you?"

"No."

"Is he doing anything?"

"No."

"He's just sitting there?"

"Yes."

This was starting to feel too much like twenty questions to Kankuro, so he tried to think of something other then a yes or no question for him. "Why?"

"I don't know."

Kankuro rolled his eyes in frustration.

"But…"

Kankuro perked up. "Yes?"

"I think…"

Kankuro waited.

"I think…She scared him." Gaara stressed the verb with something like amazement coloring his voice.

"Who scared him?" Kankuro asked, even though he feared he already knew who She was.

"That…Fox."

Kankuro blinked. Not the person he expected! "Fox?" he asked.

Gaara looked up, he eyes staring at an invisible point just short of infinity. He looked amazed. "That guy, that Naruto…" he said, intensity coming into his voice. "He's got one. He's got a demon. It's Kyuubi."

Kankuro just sat there. This was something that had quite simply not crossed his mind. Someone else was wandering around with a demon trapped in him? Not only that, but that blond nut job from Konoha? He could barely even credit that! That guy was so completely opposite Gaara in almost every respect. It was inconceivable

Then again, Kankuro thought, it would take another demon to beat Gaara wouldn't it? But that wasn't the important part of this revelation.

"Naruto has a demon," Kankuro said, "the Nine Tailed Fox. And you think it…scared Shukaku?"

Gaara nodded slowly. Kankuro didn't know what to say. Since he was hastily thumbing through his script for something what he blurted out was, "How?"

"She's older than him." Gaara said softly, eyes drawing back from the infinite as he ducked his head again.

What did that mean? Kankuro didn't know. "But he's doing nothing now?" he said.

"Nothing."

"Well…that's good, right?"

Gaara ducked his head even further down, if that were possible. He shuddered. "I don't know," he said. "I don't know what's going on."

Kankuro was at a loss. He looked at Gaara, really looked at him this time. He never thought he'd see Gaara as totally desolate and weakened as he was now. Gaara shuddered again, almost spasmodically this time, sucked in a gulp of air, and suddenly lifted his arm and bit down on his wrist.

"What are you doing?" Kankuro said, shocked.

Gaara just stared blankly at bit of sheet between them, arm clamped in his teeth. Kankuro could not see the bruises up and down his forearm, where he had been biting it. None of the bites seemed to have broken the skin, however. Kankuro reached out before he could think and pulled Gaara's arm from his mouth and looked at it. Gaara didn't resist. Kankuro shook his head at the bruises. "Jeez, Gaara," he murmured.

Gaara tugged his arm back slowly and folded it across his torso again. "Go to sleep, Kankuro." he told him.

Kankuro was thrown by the non-sequitor. A bit of his usual annoyance at his baby brother ordering him around resurfaced. "I will if you will." he countered.

Gaara lifted his head again and looked at him like he'd grown horns. "I can't," he said flatly.

Kankuro raised his hands in a shrug. "Why not?" he said. "You said the raccoon wasn't doing anything. This might be your chance."

"No, it's just…" Gaara groped for words. "I can't!"

"I'll watch, wake you up if something happens."

"That's not it."

"What, then?"

"I forgot how!"

Kankuro couldn't help it. He snorted and then broke into giggles. Gaara glared at him, so he stifled himself. Then looked a Gaara in puzzlement when he continued to glare.

"You're telling me you really have never slept? Ever?"

Gaara made a little shrug. "If I have, I don't remember it."

"Yikes." Kankuro was astounded, and dismayed. He's once come back from a mission to the Rock Country with all but five ribs broken, and could not sleep for more than two weeks. Not for more than a few minutes at a time, it hurt too much. Every part of him felt directly and mechanically connected to his rib cage. It was necessary you remain absolutely still, all day, and all night. If he fell asleep, some part of his body would move, a finger would flex, say, or his foot would twitch, or his head sag sideways on the pillow.

Have you ever been awake for anything approaching two weeks? That, in itself was mind-shattering, never mind the pain that caused it. For Gaara to have been awake for so long that he couldn't even recall how it was done was an idea somewhere between unbearable and unbelievable. In that case, Gaara really had no business being sane at all, much less as sane as he was, which by all accounts wasn't much.

Kankuro got off the bed and sat down at Temari's desk. "Lie down." He told his brother.

Gaara stared at him.

"Humor me." Kankuro told him.

A few more moments of staring, then unfolded slowly and stretched halfway out on the bed, facing the desk.

"Now, just close your eyes," Kankuro said. "And try to relax."

Gaara stared into space for a minute, then apparently decided he had nothing left to lose, and closed his eyes.

Kankuro was a bit surprised at how easily Gaara gave in. Maybe Gaara had given up on being afraid as well. Kankuro remembered something he read once: "It's amazing how much mature wisdom resembles being too tired." How apropos.

Kankuro spent the time using some of his sister's stationary to start on his mission report. He kept hearing Gaara's breathing slow for a bit, then give little starting huffs. After the third time, he looked up as saw Gaara blinking blearily into space. "You don't have to fight it." Kankuro told him. Gaara looked doubtful. "Seriously, it's normal. People spend a third of their lives asleep."

Gaara blew a little sigh, closed his eyes again. After a few minutes his breathing slowed, at this time it stayed that way.

A/N: Yay, a new installment! Before you review, a few notes:

I said before somewhere, I'm not entirely sure about Shikamaru's father's name is. My research seemed to split even between Shikato and Shikaku. I picked Shikato because I was going to be mentioning the demon Shukaku and thought the other name sounded too similar. If someone knows for certain his real name, please tell me, but I am going to use Shikato for the remainder of the story, for consistency. One anonymous reviewer said it was Shikaku, any takers?

The quote Kankuro remembers, about wisdom resembling being too tired, is a quote from Robert Heinlein. As is also the description Gaara finds of the word "love" in Step On A Crack.

For more info on oxytocin, peptides, addiction and whatnot, I recommend checking out Wikipedia. I use it a jump-off site for a lot of my research. It can get technical, but it's a start. Oxytocin has it's own site, too: www.oxytocin.og/refs/index.html. Dig that.

Out of curiosity, did anyone else think that Gaara looks a bit like an anime version of Danny Elfman circa to mid-80s? Tell me I'm not the only one who saw that! Also, now I seem to have Kankuro's English fanfiction voice, in my head, sounding like Elfman as well. That's just odd. But somehow appropriate.

Thanks everyone for reading!

:3