All I Ever Wanted Was Love
What You've Taken Away
Her head was spinning.
How did she get back here?
Where was she?
Who were these old people, really?
Kisa could practically feel her whole world caving in on her- it felt so hard to breathe. Much like the time Gaara had been practically lying on top of her. But this was different.
'Gaara…'
She seriously needed a friendly face around right then. Without him, she felt lost- especially in such a strange place.
"I-I'm sorry…" Kisa apologized, "Where am I?"
The elderly man turned to look back upon the girl.
"Yoshiko-dono, this is your room. You may not have seen it in several years, but you should remember it."
Kisa blinked at the fragile man. They were calling her 'Yoshiko', too!
She painstakingly tried to conceal her frustrations as she tried patiently explaining to them who she was.
"I'm not Yoshiko, or whoever you're calling me. I'm Kisa."
The elders looked confused as they examined her. It was as if they thought that their age might have affected their eyesight.
"No, no," the elders muttered amongst themselves and addressed her.
"You are Yoshiko…"
"Akadou Yoshiko!"
"Do you not remember your true identity?"
More muttering came from the ancient looking group before her.
"Maybe he lied to us about her return?"
"Baki wouldn't have lied."
"The Kazekage…"
"His promise-"
"He's dead now…"
Kisa narrowed her eyes- she didn't like what she was hearing.
"I'm Kawamura Kisa. I was born and raised in the Hidden Village of the Sand with my older brother Kyo-"
"Oh, I see…"
Kisa- cut short by Reiko- was thoroughly confused by his comment.
"What… do you mean 'oh'?"
The leader made a motion for the other elders to leave the room- and they did so obediently. He turned back to the girl sitting on the lavished silk bed.
"So… you are the Kisa…"
Gaara sauntered into his room.
Not that it was much of a room- it didn't even have a bed- but it was a room enough for him.
However, right now he would have much appreciated a bed so he could slump onto it.
'I could always go to Kankuro's room…'
Gaara mentally shook away the thoughts.
The siblings had just arrived back at their home in the Sand Village- and each sibling went off to do… well… whatever they wanted to do.
The red haired shinobi really wanted to take a shower or a bath to help relax right then- however, Kankuro had headed straight for the bathroom- there was no telling how long he'd be in there. Gaara gave an inward sigh as he took off the gourd and let it lean in the corner of his room. He made his way to a nice cushion on the floor and practically fell onto it.
He didn't have the strength to do anything else.
Nothing interested him.
Nothing made him want to go on a killing rampage.
Nothing could take his mind off her.
He brought himself into a sitting position, with his head on his knees.
He couldn't forgive himself- he couldn't save her.
His dark-rimmed eyes closed.
What was this feeling inside of him?
Why did it slowly tear at him?
What was this feeling…?
This feeling…
Of nothingness.
Temari glanced up at the ceiling worriedly at the sound of a 'thump' from upstairs.
She stood in the kitchen, halfway through taking out some vegetables to make dinner. Gaara's room was right above the kitchen.
'Something… something is really bothering him…' she mentally stated the obvious to herself.
Images of Gaara back at the cabin play through her mind again.
'Gaara… he… he seemed so… gentle… with her.'
Silently, she set down a pot to boil the vegetables, as she was carried away in her own thoughts.
Definitely, Gaara hadn't been the same since they left the cabin. But he only seemed to get worse when Baki took Kisa away to the Akadou estate.
'Poor Gaara…'
Her train of thoughts suddenly came to a halt when the sound of the toilet flushing came from the bathroom.
'Oh yeah… dinner…'
"Kankuro!"
Sandy blonde hair appeared from the staircase.
"Yeah, what?" the unhooded puppeteer casually called out to his sister.
"What do you want to eat for dinner?" Temari asked, removing the armor from her outfit and replacing it with an apron.
"Eh?" Kankuro seemed appalled by his sister's actions, "You still have energy to make dinner?"
Temari blankly looked up at him.
"Why?"
Kankuro thought better of his questioning.
"Oh… Its nothing…" he scratched his chin where a couple of hairs were beginning to grow again, "I guess… shougayaki would do."
"Shougayaki?" Temari looked a bit troubled, "I know this was a long trip and all… but you really are asking for a bit much…"
Kankuro was about to protest, but decided not to when he saw Temari willingly bringing out the frozen pork.
"…Why?"
Temari looked up confused at Kankuro's question.
"What do you mean 'why'?"
"You're being… nice, all of a sudden."
Temari looked down at the knife in her hands. But didn't answer as she began using the knife to expertly cut the pork into pieces. Kankuro patiently waited for an answer.
"Ne… otouto-chan…"
Kankuro would have groaned at the name calling, had it not been for the serious tone in her voice.
"What is it, nee-san?"
Temari's bangs covered her eyes.
"…You… You saw it, too. Didn't you?"
"You mean the nice Gaara?"
The sister's head nodded.
"Yeah…"
"You know, Kankuro. We haven't really had a family dinner time since Mom died…" she stopped to pour the pork into the pan, "I would like it if we could… for us to be a family… to care for each other…" she flipped the pork about the pan, "I would like that very much."
Kankuro smiled at the back of his elder sister.
"… Me, too."
Temari continued to fry the pork.
"… Thanks Temari…"
The fan-user looked back up in time to see the sandy hair disappear back around the corner of the staircase.
She gently smiled.
"No… thank you, Kankuro…"
Kisa could only stare at the leader of the elders as he finished his explaination of the past of a girl named Yoshiko.
She had always known that she had been a part of an experiment that enabled her to mold chakra into solid matter.
She had always known that she had been put into another body for the purposes of the experiment.
Kyo had explained to her that she was being pursued by a clan who wanted her for the purposes of using her as a weapon.
Kyo told her how the clan planned to use her in conjunction with Gaara from the Kazekagure to take over rival villages, after they had used her to fulfill their purposes.
Kisa knew that she carried a great burden with her when she had fled from the Hidden Village of the Sand.
She had done it to save the lives of many innocent people… and to save Gaara.
But she hadn't been able to save Gaara- not from what she learned from him through their time together at the cabin.
She knew that she had failed to save the people that were most important to her.
But she hadn't known that she, herself, had taken the very life that another girl was supposed to have led.
Kisa blinked back the tears of realization.
According to what the elder had just explained to her… She, Kisa, had been put into the empty soulless cavity of a girl named Yoshiko.
While her soul had taken over the body of Yoshiko, Yoshiko's soul had been sealed within her.
It definitely explained why she had been dreaming strange dreams recently.
But it didn't explain why another voice had popped into her mind.
Nevertheless, Kisa now realized that the very group of people she had been avoiding for seven years had finally caught her.
She had to escape somehow…
"Ano… Reiko?"
The elder's green eyes looked at the girl- the heir to their bloodline.
"I'm not Yoshiko… I'm Kisa."
Reiko understood what she had implied, but did not concede.
"So you are…" he turned to the door and opened it, "So you are…"
The door closed.
And locked.