I know I know! I'm sorry I'm late. I've been really busy as of late with school and such, but here I am! I'm not dead, and neither is this fic! So, with no further ado, I present the next chapter, Caught In The Rain.
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"Sir, is this really necessary?" The nameless assistant watched his Kage's face, looking for any flicker, any dawn of reason. "I mean, the tribes aren't exactly defenseless. They ARE descended from the various Nin from each country! We have no idea what sort of hand combat skills they could bring to the battle field, and I'm not even mentioning bloodline limits or strange jutsu!"
The Kazekage silenced him with a wave of his hand, his eyebrows furrowed deep in thought.
"I've taken that into consideration already." His words were slow, his cabinet eerily quiet. "And I also know that they have their own pockets of strong, celebrated individuals. Certain tribes that have executed and honed their skills into almost an art form, and their numbers are stark compared to ours." He smirked at the growing unease and tension in the meeting room, the thunder outside merely adding to the general anxiety.
"If every combat-ready tribesman were to take arms against us, they would outnumber even Konoha itself 5 to 1."
His cabinet rumbled in alarm, muttering among themselves. The same bold subordinate rose again, intent on making reason appear again at the meeting room table.
"Then why're you proceeding with your decision to declare war if you know the risks! If we make one mistake, Suna will cease to exist!"
"…Have you studied their society and culture at all, Counselor?"
The bold cabinet member blinked, caught off guard.
"…excuse me, sir? What's their culture got to do with war!"
"Everything." Leaning forward on his elbows, he let the silence spiral, his cabinet antsy in their seats for answers.
"Their culture, society, economics, and battle skills all revolve around a central core of religion. They're terrified of their own abilities, thinking it a sin for anyone but a 'god-sent' or a 'blessed sent' to be taught in their jutsu." He pushed himself out of his seat, making his way towards the window to watch the rain pour into the streets below. "Anyone outside of the tribal leader's family or close chosen officials is forbidden under death to learn their techniques. This in itself eliminates some of the most talented individuals from EVER becoming trained in the first place. They may guard their techniques carefully, but only a select few know how to use them, and even fewer know how to use them well."
His eyes caught the movement under his window, paid it no attention, and went back to explaining it to his now relaxing cabinet.
"…That, and I can't allow them to menace my youngest son anymore either…If this keeps happening, he'll regard himself as a human being again…"
He dropped his chin as he turned back towards the settled counselors.
"Dismissed."
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"KANKURO!"
No answer. The red head mustered his fist again to briskly thump on the doorway.
"KANKURO!"
Whether the older brother was choosing to ignore him or not wasn't clear. Either way, no one answered the door. Gaara stifled a sneeze at the minor defeat, glancing back at his blonde companion. He tried to convey hope despite his minor disappointment. Mara already looked too disgruntled and twitchy for her own good, but he could ignore that.
"They're not-"
Mara's rush for the door ruffled his hair with the speed. He looked after her charge, trying to understand how little girl minds look. In the meantime, Mara thrashed the door with every limb, as thought trying to exact revenge on the door for some wrong doing in it's past life.
"STUPID-STUPID-STUPID-STUPID!" She shrieked over the roar of the lightning, fists wailing on the wood. The red head blinked, blankly scratching his head and watching Mara dispose her fury onto the poor unsuspecting door with a fountain of sympathy.
Poor Door…
No matter how much pity Gaara held, the thrashing continued. Despite the barrage of punching, kicking, screaming, and cursing (Gaara's red face could only be matched by his hair), the door stayed steadfast. I don't doubt that it inwardly wept and cried and asked god what or whom it had tortured to earn the wrath of the flailing tribesgirl. Taking her teeth to it, Mara's viciousness was thrown towards the offending doorknob, wrenching it to and fro as more cursing flew from her mouth in a colorful array!
Click!
And the door swung open, throwing her inside the dry hallway with the spite that only comes from a bitter victim. Mara's yelp echoed in the cavernous hallway, the stone amplifying the thunder outside.
Gaara stared on in disbelief, right eye twitching from the sheer horror of their own stupidity.
"Oh…" Mara pushed herself up, sheepish and bashful. "…Didn' try the knob, did we."
She paused, cocking her head to one side at her companion's stony silence and still figure.
"Why haven't you come in yet? You're soaked!"
True, rain water was soaking into his clothing, his hair was plastered to his head, and he had a supreme case of the sniffles, but that just made him look all the more miserable with himself.
"…It was unlocked." He grumbled, his face contorted in a irritated fume. "…The ENTIRE time."
"Oh get over it Gaara! We got in, didn' we?" Mara waved him in, shaking her mass of hair free of water and splattering the walls with her doggish wriggling. Throwing the blonde mass back and erecting her posture, an eyebrow shot up at the empty doorway.
Where'd Gaara go?
"Gaaraaaaaaa, get insiiiiiiide!" A smile hung in those azure eyes despite dropping off her face, loping back out the front door. Her head poked out of the frame, scanning for her friend's engraved form.
Wump.
Mara paused, her head swinging around to the right. A crafty, almost sneaky smirk revealed her teeth, throwing herself at the wall. Flat as she could get, the scooting began.
Wump.
Gaara didn't notice her sneaking, too busy steadily pounding his head into the wall to perceive it.
"What'cha doin'?"
Wump.
Mara took a chance, scooting a little closer. There was no change in her friend; the red head methodically bobbing back and forth like a drinking crane trying to pound the stupidity out of his head.
"…you're gonna hurt yourself-"
He threw his hand out, index finger aloft. Mara pulled back, cut off and staying as such.
"Shush…" He hissed, icy eyes intent on the wall receiving his head. His female friend remained silent, rocking on her bare feet in an attempt to by off her curiosity.
A mere 5 minutes passed, and the blonde couldn't stand it any longer.
"…what is it?"
Silence from Gaara, the boy staring vacantly into the rock wall.
"…another dream." He muttered, her question a side note to his concentration. "I get these sometimes."
She took a seat against the wall, watching him as though he were about to shift into some animal form and attack. "…but people don't have dreams in the day time."
"…"
There was a moment of silence that stretched into the eons. Mara cautiously venturing his attention after Gaara grew slack-jawed.
"…Gaara?"
In his mind, Gaara had a perfectly-detailed birds-eye view of his home village of Suna... As he was observing the details, he would have jumped in shock as a strange-looking bird swooped into his sight. The creature was obviously NOT a bird that had appeared naturally in the world. It had a strange surreal shape about it, as if nothing more than a child's sketch of a bird.
Whatever it was, the creature soared around Suna like an eager hawk circling its prey. It then flapped its wings once before tilting them to the side, folding its wings back and falling into a dive towards the village.
Its attack was interrupted by a massive paw backhanding the bird, sending it spinning off to the side before it managed to regain control. When Gaara realized what had just saved Suna, he gasped out loud.
There, crouching over the village with an all-too-familiar threatening expression was the gigantic shape of Shukaku. The one-tailed demon lazily flexed its tail, readying its paw for another swipe, should that be required.
However, it looked as if the bird had other things on its mind. With a loud shriek, it flapped its wings and somehow seemed to launch some of its body at the Shukaku, the result being a massive explosion right in front of the racoon-like demon's eyes.
Shukaku reeled back, roaring loudly as its paw clamps over its eyes, a low growl escaping its maw.
The bird now began to fold its wings up, gathering light to itself before it took off into the sky, losing its bird-shape and now looking almost like a shooting star.
From other locations that Gaara could not see, eight other bursts of light shot upwards, each arching together and impacting together, shaping into a massive swirl of power. From this nexus came a large, pearl-colored shape. A massive ghostly hand stretched downwards towards the stunned Shukaku, placing the palm against the beast's chest and curling the fingers together.
Slowly, the hand began to draw back towards the nexus. And with it slowly came a second ghostlike entity. With each inch, Shukaku roared in renewed agony as its ethereal double was dragged from its physical form, until with a final yank the spirit came free.
The physical Shukaku reared back, giving one final cry of wordless agony as its physical form began breaking down, dissolving into nothing more than a mountain of sand. Slowly, some wind kicked up, blowing away the sand to reveal something underneath it.
Gaara gave an unheard gasp of shock. From the red hair, the pale complexion, the massive shadows around the eyes, and the unmistakable character carved into the teenager's forehead representing 'Love', it was obvious who that was.
The human who had died when Shukaku's spirit was taken was none other than Gaara himself...
"GAARA!"
The boy snapped from his hallucination, his mind and his balance still swirling like the sands he had just witnessed. Mara did her best to catch her friend, but the most she could do was ease his fall. Worry sketched itself across the blonde's face, easing Gaara's head into her lap, the rain refusing to give any sort of mercy.
"…Gaar-" Her call was cut off by the boom of thunder, adding a shriek to the roar above as she hunched over her still reeling friend. "Gaara!"
"I…I just…" Mara was too impatient to let him finish his mortal address.
"Fainted, that's what!" Soaked to the bone and icy cold, oblivious to his confusion, she dragged him through the still open door, Gaara's shoes dragging troughs in the road.
Mara's eyes pinpointed, flying open and ignoring the fact that she unceremoniously dropped her friend with a muffled 'OOF!'
"You LIVE here!"
Mara half-heartedly rung out her hair on the stone floor, her eyes ignorant to Gaara's frantic attempts to wipe it up as the eternal blue, wide and ecstatic, swept over the internals of the home.
"Your dad must have a TON of wives!" Mara squealed, bouncing and twirling along down the hallway. Everything seemed a wonder, her greedy eyes and fingers sliding along every picture and object to absorb it through as many senses as possible. Gaara merely stood by in the background, once again utterly confused.
"…wives?"
"You know, those things guys have that girls don't?"
Gaara's face instantly bleached white, his confusion bleeding into his horror.
"THAT'S SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!"
Mara paused, taking her hands off a vase. "…What're you TALKING about? The more you have, the wealthier you are!"
"…."
She left the gaping, twitching Gaara behind in the hallway to try and grasp what she had just said, strolling to the left into a larger room.
"Oooohhh, look at all this stuff!"
The mental image was almost too much for Gaara, inch-worming his way after her into the meeting room. Already he could feel the dread coursing like hot lead through his chest, and it only worsened with the tale-tell sound…
Blonk….Blonk-Blonk-Blonk…
Of someone knocking on glass.
"Gaara? Gaaaaraaaa…" The blonde bringer of mischief peered over the edge of the couch, catching sight of him instantly. "THERE you are!"
"What is it M-" He couldn't finish, Mara snatching his wrist and whipping him over the couch cushions to join her. She didn't wait for him to get settled, leaping off the couch and approaching the object in question.
"What's this?" The redhead blinked, watching Mara scurry all over the strange looking box.
"…That's a Television."
Mara's head seemed to twist like a badly oiled hinge, giving Gaara a look so vacant and empty that it could've been the poster-picture for an anti-drug campaign. The normally buzzing blue eyes were frozen. One could see the gears behind them locked and rusted in place, weeds spontaneously erupting in the cracks like a tractor left to pasture.
"…you know…a TV."
One could almost hear the crickets chirping from inside Mara's ears. Gaara tried again, his lips slow and accenting each syllable, his fingers curling to add emphasis.
"…Teeeee….Veeeeee." His hand plunged into the couch cushions, pulling out the remote for said television. "You watch it."
He then did something he should never have done, and, probably later down the road of his sad and sorry life, he probably still laughs at himself for doing something so stupid in Mara's presence.
Gaara's thumb crept to the power button and turned on the set.
Mara's body seemed to spontaneously catapult itself off the TV set as though electrocuted, landing on all fours in front of the screen. The gears, previously locked in place, leapt to life, flinging rust everywhere and starting to smoke from the overworking. The blue eyes regained their sparkle, wide and staring at the screen as it played along. Gaara leaned back, setting his hands behind his head.
"Ah, Konoha news…You know, this is my dad's favorite thing in the hou-"
"…how…how'd they fit in there…?" Mara muttered breathlessly, staring at the shifting figures.
"…I don't really know. I just-"
Mara sprang up, throwing an accusing finger at the tv screen. "YOU! LET THEM GO NOW!"
Gaara blinked, a little alarmed. "…It's not going to talk ba-"
"LET THEM GO, I'M WARNING YOU!" She shrieked, the TV seeming unabashed. "I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO EAT ANYONE ELSE!" Without another word, the tribe girl charged out of the room like an enraged Spanish bull, practically blowing smoke as she left.
"…Um….Mara?" He slid off the couch in the silence, hearing a distant clatter somewhere in the distant reaches of the house. His apprehension grew as he crept towards the door. His head slid out into the danger zones beyond the trim of the door, staring out into the empty hallway.
"…um…Mara?"
Nothing could've prepared him for what he saw next, or could've floored him more easily. The blonde burst from the kitchen archway, adjusting the old saucepan that was her helmet like a weathered war veteran. Her eyes, glaring out from under the giant saucepan, matching the purpose of her boastful stance, her torso covered by a serving bowl almost in mockery of a pristine white beer belly. A blackened skillet was clutched in either hand, the fingers clenched and the knuckles white. Gaara stared at the kitchen-aid valkerie, not believing the scene his eyes was delivering.
"Mara…Mara, what're you-"
Her purpose had come too far, screeching forth a heinous war cry a Viking would be proud of and charging with all the force of a freight train towards Gaara's outpost.
"AYEAYEAYEAYEAYEAYEAYEAYEEEE!" She hollered, waving the skillets aloft and roaring down the hallway. It was all Gaara could do to stop gawking and get out of the way.
"GAH!" He hurled himself around the corner of the doorway, his hair blowing in the gusts of Mara's passing as she hurled herself, all screaming 4 feet of her, at the misjudged Television. Gaara's face seemed to melt off of his skull in his horror.
Oh no…not the TV…
"FACE HEAVEN'S SKILLET'ED WRATH, YOU GODLESS SQUARE MONSTER!"
Glass, sparks, tubing, and tribal curses flew everywhere, her incurred wrath one the TV could not hope to survive. Gaara ducked under a vacuum tube as it flew by, staring in disbelief as his father's pride and joy was demolished under the guise of a holy crusade.
Oh no oh no OH NO OH NO!
Mara's berating hands jerked to a stop, the sand coiled around them holding them still.
"MARA! Stop it! I'm going to get it if my father finds-"
"….Finds what."
Gaara spun in place, his sharp about-face not the only think draining every drop of blood form his face.
"…oh….Hello dad…"
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OH CRAP. Dad caught them! OO! What happens next? Find out next time in 'In the Dark of the Night'!