Helllllllooooooo readers and friends (in my brain). Welcome to chapter 9 *confetti canons*. Whew, two more chapters and the Chuunin Exam arc will be over. This chapter will feature a toggling perspective between Gaara, the siblings, and Miyako, so you can listen to Gaara's perspective through the narrator. Exciting!
As per usual, thanks to all my favoriters, reviewers, followers and anyone who reads this story! You have my heart, take care of it, kay?
Thoughts are in italics
Memories/flashbacks are in bold italics
'Bold surrounded by apostrophes are Shukaku's thoughts in this chapter'
Bold if not for emphasis, is for my beginning/endnotes.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but one day I'll write an amazing series and hopefully people will write fanfiction about it!
Intermission
Miyako was avoiding them, avoiding him and rationally speaking Gaara didn't know why. After she'd failed to follow him up the stairs after his match during the Chuunin exams, Gaara thought she was simply going to the bathroom. But when she'd still failed to show up, even after that pitiful excuse of a last match that had to be only 2 minutes tops, for the final match-ups Gaara became suspicious. When he and the other siblings hadn't been able to find her after returning to their temporary home, Gaara became even more wary, deflated when he didn't have the chance to subtly rub his match-up against Sasuke Uchiha in her face.
'She's afraid of you.' Shukaku cackled, but Gaara batted him away, not totally convinced of that. After all, she was not only unaffected by his sand, but she'd even jumped in its path and stopped it from causing others harm.
'She's a lightning user,' Shukaku growled in his head, 'skilled enough to make currents not visible to the naked eye. That must've been what she did to your ultimate defense sand.'
Gaara paused in his trek back to his room, eyes straying to the palette left undisturbed in the living room. Either she had taken time to make up her makeshift bed before rushing out to the Third exams, or the bed hadn't been slept in for what was now 5 nights in a row. Gaara's thoughts vaguely drifting off to where she could've spent the night instead if not here.
He shook his head, what did that matter where she spent the night? She clearly wasn't following Sasuke, so whatever she was doing was of no interest to him, even if it was for Suna's benefit. But still…he was curious. What if she was planning something against him? What if she was collecting information during the entire match to use against him? She did seem overly concerned with the Leaf village and even had told him to stop during his and Lee's match, maybe she was double agent and was reporting to Konoha right now?
'Let's find her and kill her now then!' Gaara seethed, gripping his head, wondering why the demon was so fixated on Miyako all of the sudden when she wasn't even their original target. Aside from having no evidence to back up any of their claims, it also wouldn't look that great if he suddenly killed Miyako with no warning. Not out of character, but still odd enough to draw attention.
The sudden thought of Kankuro's angry face at learning that Gaara had killed Miyako had Gaara rolling his eyes. He was sure his older brother would be distraught beyond consolation if he'd learned one of the only people that could tolerate him was killed on Gaara's whim. He didn't feel like dealing with Kankuro's whining so he'd refrain, for now, primarily because he was curious about her motives.
'Could I even kill her though?' Gaara wondered suddenly. If Miyako was a lightning user, his sand would be ineffective no matter what he tried.
'Idiot,' Shukaku sneered, making Gaara sneer at nothing right back, 'we'll drain her of her chakra and then strike, there's no way she could outlast us.' The demon's cruel laugh rang out in his head and Gaara furrowed his brow and forced himself to keep walking.
Miyako, from what Gaara had gathered in the week they'd known each other, didn't seem by any means stupid. If she had been able to successfully track ANBU Black Ops without being detected, and accurately judge strengths and techniques of each participant in the Chuunin exams, then it stood to reason she had a lot better chance at killing Gaara then vice versa if that was her aim. And even if that wasn't her aim, should Gaara try to kill her, he had the feeling he wouldn't be successful.
He just didn't know enough about her. And her sudden disappearance after his fight gave him the feeling that she'd done so on purpose either to throw him into chaos—which was working even if he didn't want to admit it—or to further scheme up a proper strategy.
He wasn't, however, going to stoop to following her. He didn't want her to know that she even fazed him, and if he caught her doing something normal and had no explanation he'd only feel stupid. No, he'd give her several days of whatever this behavior was before he acted, he shouldn't even care anyway.
G/M
As for where Miyako slept last night…well a tree obviously, where else was she going to take refuge? She watched the light filter in through the leaves of a thus far abandoned training ground, thoughts swirling from negative guilt-ridden gibberish to further plans that would make her feel no doubt more guilty in the future.
'Why do we go so far for him?' She snorted at herself, finding the question stupid. She already knew why she went so far for Gaara, the saying that people do crazy things when they're in love rang true in this instance.
But it was a fair question to pose to the fates: why Gaara? It had been nearly two centuries since she had felt even a spark of interest for anyone, and she'd met a lot of people. Why did they decide to torture her this way? Hadn't she dealt with enough?
It wasn't like she was attracted to him as a child, her nose wrinkled at that thought, but the innocent sort of protective love she'd had when they were children, well when Gaara was a child, had been allowed to bake while she was sealed away in the lamp and when she'd come out, 13 and with developing hormones it had turned into…something else. Something she couldn't lie to herself about and was much more dangerous when one of them had a position of power over the other.
Attraction really was a strange thing, but there was no use dwelling on it right now though, nothing was likely going to happen on that front now, or maybe ever.
Her thoughts rolled with ever dawning sky, eventually coming back to the expression on Lee's face as he unconsciously stood to keep fighting. The face that had been haunting all of her dreams last night. She groaned and rolled her face into the bark of the tree, trying to understand why this time was so much more difficult than all the other masters beforehand. Not only was she going out of her way to try to improve a master's life as opposed to her usual strategy of simply giving them whatever they wanted and allowing them to reap the consequences of their choices, but she was also beginning to care about other people.
That was what the voice who was whispering for Miyako to just give up on Gaara was, the idea of the status quo. It reminded her that loving Gaara was a useless folly, and that even if she should get to a place where feelings were reciprocated, he would die and she would still be tethered and forced to relive another heartbreak. It encouraged her to speed this whole thing up to avoid falling deeper, to just go to Gaara and tell him the truth, consequences to his life be damned. That way she could be justifiably closed off again, that she would stop planning and feeling and caring.
'Ha," she rolled back over to look up at the brightly shining sun, 'as if this bond would ever allow my former self to win.' She placed a palm over her heart, distraught at its beating, but not finding it in herself to hate the feeling it brought her. What she had with Gaara, at least for her, was like the sun itself. It didn't matter if it rose and fell everyday no matter where you were, somewhere else it was shining just as strong. It didn't matter if clouds came to mask it in the sky, it never dimmed or accommodated anything and still managed to break through eventually despite the weather.
She sighed and pushed the image of a broken Gai hugging the passed out Lee from her mind, pushing herself up to a sitting position on the branch.
'First things first,' She combed the leaves and branches from her mane of hair, 'I have to find out who the siblings are fighting in the final round.' She sighed heavily. 'But I'd like to not face the questions that would come out of asking the siblings themselves.' Leaving immediately after Gaara's match was bad enough, but worse was that she didn't currently have a proper explanation for her behavior that the others would buy.
'I could ask my Jounin friends, but considering that Gai was on the friendliest terms with me and two of the siblings are responsible for his team's defeat, would it really be fair to ask him? I wouldn't want to see a Sand headband anywhere near me after what Gaara did to Lee or how Temari treated Tenten.' She didn't think that Gai was the type to hold grudges, but it was best not to risk it.
The only other option she had was the genin, and the only Leaf genin she really knew well enough to ask was, well, Naruto.
'It certainly will help me kill two birds with one stone.' She dropped down from the tree and straightened out her clothes. She subtly smelled herself and determined that she just smelled like a mixture of leaves and slight sweat, something that could be easily written off as early morning training.
Miyako ambled along the road, realizing too late that finding Naruto would be a tad bit harder than previously. Not only was his chakra tampered with and not as strong as before, but the places he previously frequented would throw her off with its lingering overwhelming presence and mask his true whereabouts.
She grumbled to herself and tried to think about where Naruto would go. 'Maybe to see Sasuke? I guess I should check the hospital first, and if he's not there, then the Ramen shop. I'm sure I'll be able to find him at some point in the day so there's no use in worrying.'
Miyako leisurely made her way to the hospital, unsure of what time it was, but she guessed that with all that energy Naruto would probably already be awake, hopefully. If she had to guess he was probably excited to get to training anyway, knowing that he wanted to put up a good fight against the other competitors.
'If I remember the winners from yesterday correctly, we have: Sasuke, Shino, Kankuro, Temari, Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, Gaara and most likely Dosu. That means in the bracket someone will have to fight two people.' Another thought occurred to her that had her pausing in the middle of the street.
'How long will the Sand and sound allow the Chuunin exams to go on before they infiltrate?' Since they hadn't moved yet, it stood to reason that they'd planned this whole thing in advance. Oversaturating the exams with advanced Sound ninja in order to test Sasuke and create a need for preliminary rounds, she obviously didn't' know the timeline for the actual final round, but if she had to guess it wasn't going to be anytime soon. They clearly were collecting more information, and possibly planning to abduct Sasuke in the chaos that ensued.
It would obviously make the most sense to make a move during the exams itself, a large population of people and elite ninja were going to be in a smaller space, making incapacitation easier. But the question was: how many matches were they going to let pass by before they began infiltration?
She didn't know what round Gaara was supposed to fight Sasuke, but if she had pin money on it, that fight would be the most popular amongst spectators. The Uchiha were renowned across lands, despite having been wiped out, and it was likely that expectations for Sasuke were high. Gaara was similarly feared across nations, it would be a clash of titans to the greedy betting class of Daimyo.
More than anything Miyako had to find out when Gaara was supposed to fight Sasuke; that would give her a rough timeline of what she could do during the infiltration to prepare.
On her way to the hospital, a flower shop caught her eye, and she abruptly changed course. If she was going to the hospital she might as well look like she had a reason aside from obvious stalking.
Ino perked up at her entrance, greeting her kindly but trailing off with wide eyes in sudden recognition.
"Say…aren't you the Sand girl that was with those siblings yesterday?" Ino clutched the stem of the flower she was trimming too tightly.
Miyako regarded her briefly before looking around at the selection, confirming absentmindedly that she was. She ignored the internal war Ino seemed to be having at the attempt to maintain a professional demeanor with Miyako or to express her displeasure with the Sand. Miyako didn't care either way, if the girl wanted to be short with her she'd still purchase something, it wasn't like this would be the first time she'd bear the brunt of someone's rage for her master anyway.
"Ah, can I help you find something?" So she'd decided on professionalism, Miyako turned her eyes to the curious Ino but shook her head.
"No," she remarked easily, picking up a Gladiolus, Dandelion, Campanula and Rue before turning to Ino who was looking on at her flower choices in interest.
"This is an…interesting combination." Ino remarked, wrapping and arranging the flowers together nicely on a separate counter.
"It's less strange if you know who it's for." Miyako remarked, holding out a few bills as Ino rang up the price and doing nothing to encourage or discourage her inquisitive look.
"Oh? Who is it for, if I may ask?" Ino handed her the bundle which Miyako took delicately from her with a small smile in her eyes.
"Just someone that I'm grateful to." Miyako answered simply, giving the girl a small wave before heading out with nothing further.
Ino stood silently, musing on the interaction. She'd obviously seen the purple-eyed woman during the second and third rounds of the Chuunin exams, knew that she wasn't a genin, and that she was clearly close to those Sand siblings. Further than that she was a mystery, but Ino couldn't help but be curious on who the flowers were for—because they certainly couldn't be for any of the Sand comrades she had here.
Those combination of flowers…Ino had been perplexed at first, thinking that maybe the woman didn't know the meanings and had simply picked them because they were pretty. But in studying her choices as she wrapped them up, it looked like the woman was offering her thanks for someone's strength, but was regretting the consequences and hoping they made it through their hardship.
It was a complicated message, and Ino wondered who this person was and what kind of relationship the woman had with them to feel the need to send such a message at all.
G/M
Miyako didn't have great luck in life, but she had amazing luck when it came to finding her prey of choice apparently.
Naruto and Kakashi were in the front lobby of the Konoha hospital, seemingly arguing over his training when Miyako arrived. Kakashi immediately sensed her presence and clammed up, but Naruto didn't seem to mind that a foreigner was in their midst and kept insisting on continuing the conversation.
"You're just going to train Sasuke instead aren't you?!" Naruto huffed. Miyako tilted her head curiously and greeted the nurse at the reception desk absentmindedly, quickly asking for Rock Lee's room number so she could concentrate on eavesdropping on the ensuing conversation.
"Don't sound so troubled, I found someone even better than me to oversee your training." Kakashi promised, still carefully eyeing Miyako as she passed by the two nonchalantly. Naruto looked at Miyako curiously, seemingly opening his mouth to question her, but Kakashi turned his attention to an approaching figure. Miyako saw, as she rounded the corner, a man with a dark bandana and round glasses standing before Naruto.
"Not this closet pervert!" Naruto exclaimed so loudly that it carried down the hall. She stifled a laugh behind her hand and quickly made her way up to Lee's room, interested to know who this new face was, and if Kakashi thought he was better suited to training Naruto then himself, would he prove to be just as much of a problem for Miyako as Kakashi was turning out to be?
When she arrived at Lee's hallway on the second floor, she checked to ensure first that no one was in his room. Luckily the medic-nin were too swamped with the recent admitted patients to the hospital to question why a Suna ninja was going to visit a Leaf ninja in the hospital after another Suna ninja had put them there. Then again, they hadn't seen the match, running into any Leaf ninja from yesterday that had seen the match would be a lot more difficult to explain.
She popped her head up to view the scene in the hospital room and was relieved to find Lee still sleeping. She'd have to get in and out without him waking up, which shouldn't be a problem. She slipped in the room quietly and quickly prepared a slender vase with water, arranging the flowers just as Ino had in the transferal from the plastic wrapping to the vase. Once satisfied, she looked at Lee, still dozing on the bed even as the light slanted down onto his face.
She didn't move any closer, or speak above a whisper, but it was still there, the ardent wish that Lee would recover lingering between them. "I can't grant my own wishes, but I hope when you heal, stronger than ever, that you forgive Gaara for his transgressions, and me too."
G/M
By the time Miyako was through with her impromptu apology to Lee, Naruto, Kakashi and the "closet pervert" sensei were gone.
"Fuck." She mumbled under her breath. Now she had to start all over again. But maybe she could think of it like…training? If she could track Naruto without his Kyuubi-fueled chakra as a dead giveaway, then she could at least say she made some improvement if nothing else.
Miyako picked a random tree in the epicenter of the village and pulled herself on a semi-high branch. After getting as comfortable as one can on a tree branch, she closed her eyes and began her search, senses trying to dredge up that feelings of wild roses, their scent, the wildness, the softness of the petals and the harshness of the thorns.
She had to, as she suspected, fight past the addicting quality of his heightened Kyuubi chakra, the spots he frequented nearly knocking her over with their intoxicating qualities. She breathed through the desire to turn back and soak it all in and kept searching.
Eventually, after what had seemed like hours, but was really only 15 minutes, Miyako detected Naruto's new fainter presence more east in the village moving at a rapid pace. She opened her eyes and furrowed her brow, latching onto the aura she took off after him, forcing her body to move in double time so she wouldn't lose him.
'Why is he running around?' Miyako knew she must've looked crazy when she suddenly changed directions in the middle of the street and hopped onto a rooftop, but it wasn't her fault, Naruto was running serpentine and changing directions frequently. He was clearly being chased and trying to lose someone.
There was a slight pinch of worry between her brows, wondering if Naruto was being chased by an enemy, if he was alright, if she should come to his aid.
Miyako tried to pinpoint if there was someone following his path, but there wasn't anyone in his nearby vicinity that seemed to be matching his pace or his steps. Finally he stopped somewhere in the marketplace, and Miyako caught up a minute behind him, crouched low on a rooftop far enough away to give her a good view of what was happening but hid her from detection.
At first Miyako couldn't find him, only seeing an obnoxious billboard ad for what appeared to be an adult movie. But he was definitely there, at closer inspection, the woman on the billboard running away look too 3 dimensional in comparison to the man.
'I don't know that it's…the best disguise, but if it manages to throw off whoever is following you, then sure?' Naruto, if nothing else, was so amusing to Miyako.
It only took two minutes, but the man with round sunglasses, dubbed "closet pervert" by Naruto, appeared and seemed to be looking around. He stared right at the billboard ad, and started visibly fanboying.
'Uhhhh,' Miyako blinked, but then the man straightened up and finally addressed Naruto, who changed back into his original shape. Miyako couldn't hear what they were saying, but seeing as Naruto didn't feel or appear distressed, this must be a part of his training right?
After a short exchange, Naruto made a flurry of shadow clones who took off in every direction. Miyako, luckily, managed to detect the original body by the fluctuation in his aura when conducting the jutsu. She waited until they'd all flown off and the man gave chase before giving chase herself.
'I mean, it's pretty important that I find out this information, so I'll just apologize if I'm interrupting something important.' She justified internally. 'Besides, it didn't seem like Naruto liked that guy too much, and I don't think I believe that they became friendly that fast, so it's only fair that I check!'
She managed to cut the original Naruto's path off as he attempted to flee down some side streets of the village, and pulled him into an alley, probably too easy.
The boy squirmed, squaring up once Miyako let go of his collar, before dropping his stance when he saw who it was.
"Oh Miyako-chan!" He blinked rapidly in confusion, absent-mindedly returning her friendly wave.
"Oh, Miyako-chan! What are you doing here?" He was so loud Miyako had to shush him.
"Naruto, you looked like you were running from that man earlier, so I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Miyako whispered, crouching close to the orange clad ninja, who copied her stance quickly.
"Ah, don't worry about me Miyako-chan, that guy isn't anything to sniff at." Naruto beamed. Miyako decided she wouldn't lecture the boy on underestimating his enemies, that "closet perv" he wasn't so fond of was a jounin for a reason after all. Sometimes you just had to leave the kids to learn by themselves though.
"Hm? Then why is he following you?" She wondered.
Naruto groaned at that, too loudly, and Miyako slapped a hand over his mouth and reiterated that he needed to be quiet. "It's like you want to get caught." She teased as the boy rubbed his head sheepishly.
"Kakashi-sensei is training that bastard Sasuke and stuck me with the closet pervert instead!" Naruto whined. He banged his fist into his open palm and continued ranting in a quiet voice. "So I challenged that weak guy! He said that if I can outrun him for the whole day then I could have another jounin train me."
Miyako hummed in understanding as the boy continued to grumble about his rotten luck. "But Naruto, what other jounin would train you instead?"
This stumped him, and he fell into a trance of thought. "Well…erm…maybe…?"
"Asuma can't train you because he's helping Shikamaru, Kurenai can't train you because she's helping Shino, Gai can't train you because he's helping Neji, Kakashi already said he's helping Sasuke, so who do you really have left?" She pointed out, and Naruto deflated.
"But Miyako-chaaaaaan, I don't want that guy training me~!" He whined.
"Maybe you should hear him out, there's always something to learn Naruto." Miyako encouraged, but the boy wasn't hearing it.
"Say, say, you're a jounin aren't you Miyako-chan?" The boy suddenly grasped her hand, eyes hopeful with puppy like sparkles.
"Naruto, have you forgotten that we're from two different countries? I can't train you." She patted the rejected boy as he hung his head sadly.
"Besides that, I either won't know enough about your opponent to be of use to you, or it would a conflict of interest." Miyako leaned herself on the brick wall. "Who is your first opponent anyway?" She threw in casually.
"Huh? Oh that's right, you weren't there for that…" He poked his chin in thought and then suddenly pointed at her, finger mere centimeters from her nose. Miyako almost went cross-eyed looking at it.
"Oh yeah, where did you go?" He exclaimed in a whisper-shout.
Miyako calmly moved his finger from her face. "I was tired, so I went back early to sleep, since the siblings had all finished their matches."
Naruto blinked, seemingly still not convinced, but Miyako quickly distracted him by repeating her previous question.
"Ah, I'm fighting that bastard Neji first." Naruto pounded his fist into his open palm again, eyes shining with confidence of victory. "I'm gonna wipe the floor with him and everyone else until it's between me and Sasuke."
"You seem confident." She drawled. "One of you is going to have to fight at least one of the siblings you know." She reminded him.
Naruto's face suddenly darkened and he looked Miyako straight in the eyes. Somehow Miyako knew that her worst fears had come to fruition before Naruto could even confirm them. She tried to swallow past the bile that suddenly burned at her throat.
"Miyako-chan, I know you can't train me, and Sand is your home country, but—" Naruto's fist tightened, presumably to help him control the sudden tremors racking through his body. "Is it possible, for you to tell me more about Gaara? That guy…he ripped right through Bushy Brows yesterday, and I think if you and Gai-sensei hadn't been there…he would've killed him."
Miyako sighed heavily, sinking into the pavement and lightly tapping the back of her head against the solid cement of the building behind her. She kept her eyes on the blue of the sky while she answered Naruto.
"Gaara is…broken." She whispered lowly, not even flinching when Naruto scooted closer to her, his look one of intense concentration.
"As you saw, his control of sand is effortless, and it has given him this…superiority. He doesn't think highly of people unless they can present a challenge to him, and then it becomes a game where he'll do nearly anything to prove he's greater."
Miyako was sure Gaara wouldn't get as far as killing Sasuke, the proctors would in no way allow it, but that didn't mean Sasuke's life was in any less danger.
"A guy like that…Miyako-chan, how did you get involved with people like that?" Naruto growled under his breath, still shaking. She could imagine the memories playing across Naruto's eyes, they were the same ones she saw constantly, except hers came with the intimate knowledge of exactly Gaara felt in those moments.
"They're my people Naruto." Miyako sighed. "And Gaara isn't…a totally hopeless case." She breathed. She looked back to Naruto, noting in the back of her mind that his eyes were more intense than the blue of the sky.
Naruto didn't look convinced in the slightest, but Miyako knew the boy would come around eventually, she had time.
"Anyway, you shouldn't be worried about Sasuke, there's plenty of time to prepare, right?"
Naruto nodded. "A month."
"You wouldn't happen to remember who everyone else is fighting would you?"
Naruto hummed, "ummm, oh! I think Shino is fighting your cat face paint friend." Miyako stifled a laugh. "Naruto, you met him yesterday, his name is Kankuro."
"Yeah, yeah, he seems like a jerk, no offense." Naruto sniffed. "Hmm, and Shikamaru is pretty unlucky, I think he has to fight the other two."
"Thanks." Miyako said through her giggles. Miyako rested her palms flat on the ground and regarded Naruto with a meaningful look. "Now, I think you've wasted enough time with me Naruto, you should go hear that... "closet pervert" out." She snorted at his sulky face.
"Can't you just hide me here Miyako-chan?!" He cried.
Miyako got up, dusting herself off and ignoring the consistent tugging on her free hand as the boy pleaded on his knees for her not to leave.
"Nope, sorry." She didn't bother to hide her laughter at his dejected face. "But, if you ever want to talk I'm here for you." She patted Naruto's head again, shoving the image of him looking like a kicked puppy out of her mind before she gave in to his demands.
"Bye~" She sang and skipped off, conveniently pretending she couldn't hear Naruto's cries after he was caught, yet again.
G/M
Gaara was annoyed, no one liked it when Gaara was annoyed; the whole house was avoiding him like the plague. Well, more than usual.
Kankuro and Temari didn't get it, but Kankuro quickly figured it out after a few days when he yet again woke up not to the smell of breakfast.
"So…has no one seen Miyako?" Kankuro made sure to look at everyone when he asked this. Gaara didn't visibly react, but he did seem to stab into his food more slowly with his chopsticks.
"No," Temari commented offhandedly and Baki only narrowed his eyes in answer. Kankuro pouted and flicked his not-as-great-as-Miyako's-cooking food around his plate, wondering where she had gone off to.
They knew she had been in the house, because things had been tidied up, and her palette had been just the slightest bit off, but she hadn't appeared before them since the third round of the exams. Everyone was thinking the same thing even though Kankuro was the only one who said anything out loud: where was she going and what was she doing?
Kankuro assumed it was to gather information, but why did that mean she didn't show her face to them at all? He was also slightly weirded out about Gaara's behavior surrounding it. Even if his younger brother wasn't saying it, it was obvious that her absence was upsetting him. Moving past that was hard enough, it implied that Gaara noticed and cared enough about her presence in the house to notice when it was gone, and it had essentially only been a week. But what was harder to wrap his brain around was Miyako and Gaara's relationship. He thought Gaara was only using Miyako to get information on Sasuke, which, fine, but something had changed between the Forest of Death and the matches and it almost seemed like Gaara…respected Miyako?
Kankuro would ask, but he didn't want Gaara to crush any of his limbs with his sand. As it was, the sand was more prone to acting out recently than ever before. Whether Gaara wanted to admit it or not, Miyako was something to him.
What everyone else failed to understand was that Gaara wasn't just annoyed that Miyako hadn't been home longer than a few hours to sleep, it was because he'd been following her, so he knew, to some extent what she was doing.
When Miyako hadn't come back after three days, Gaara had decided to confront her himself, not exactly sure of why it was so important for him to do so, just that he didn't like not knowing what was going on.
He took to the trees to search for her, and eventually he'd found her walking inside a flower shop, which of course had confused him. He'd used his third eye to follow her further without being detected once she'd exited with a bundle of flowers and was even further confused when he caught her entering the village hospital. Unfortunately he hadn't been quick enough to have his sand follow her all the way to whoever she was visiting, but he caught her coming out after only 3 minutes, only for her to disappear abruptly afterwards and be untraceable much to his frustration.
The next day when he'd lost her shortly after she'd entered a training grounds, he quickly picked up that she knew at the very least someone was following her. Gaara wouldn't put it past her to have figured out it was him and was playing a game of cat of mouse, where she would occasionally be spotted and let Gaara track her, before disappearing altogether.
He sand felled a tree after he'd lost her once again, this time near the border. He decided to retreat back to the compound for the time being before he drew too much attention to himself, wanting to avoid Baki's bitching more than anything.
Besides it was a full moon tonight, he didn't want to give Baki or the others any more of an excuse to breath down his neck than they already had. The moon wasn't even in full beautiful view and Shukaku was already throbbing with excitement, fueled by the fact that Miyako was driving Gaara nuts.
'Let me hunt her boy!' He demanded, so loud that Gaara had to pause in the street, hand to head to physically anchor himself back to the present.
As easy as it would be to say yes and let Shukaku do whatever he wanted, it wouldn't solve Gaara's problem of figuring out Miyako's plans. Shukaku was a great executioner, but wasn't suited for detective work. It didn't help matters that Miyako letting herself be seen around the village, only to disappear seconds later, was making Gaara more paranoid that she was planning something.
'Ha! As if that woman is powerful enough to kill us.' Gaara ignored the pressure on his skull from Shukaku pressing his will against Gaara's own. 'Whatever she's planning won't work anyway, so just let me kill her!'
Memories of Miyako brushing Gaara's sand off held him back; prevented him from giving into the tempting calls in his body to just close his eyes. And…something in his subconscious didn't want Miyako to meet Shukaku, he couldn't decipher the feeling. Maybe it was because…if anyone was going to kill Miyako it ought to be him?
Whatever, he didn't have time for this, it was giving him a headache. He needed a distraction from Maki Miyako and he needed it stat.
G/M
Gaara thought this hunchbacked kid was beyond stupid. He was honestly lucky that Gaara hadn't unleashed Shukaku the moment he showed his crooked face in front of him. After he'd declared that he was going to just kill Gaara then and there so he could get right to Sasuke, Gaara had the strange urge to laugh.
He faintly recalled Miyako relaying information about this guy and his group hunting Sasuke in the forest, but Gaara thought that this one must be acting out of his orders now, or no one had warned him. Sound sure was just letting anyone die these days, but this guy was clearly going to stand in the way of Gaara's ambition and he couldn't allow that to slide.
He finally felt a moment's peace from Shukaku's endless tirade in his body, barely paying attention to the ensuing slaughter, and just resting in the peace of being alone in his brain for once while Shukaku was distracted.
While he was in here, he began to wonder at why this kid was after Sasuke at all. Miyako had said that he'd been given separate orders to kill Sasuke, but who was giving them? Maybe that was what Miyako was after? It didn't seem likely that Miyako would go out of her way to find out the reason, no one would do anything like that for Gaara.
Gaara was back in the present before he could further think on it, a mangled body in front of him and Miyako being backlit by the moon, her hair flying away with the wind and her eyes seemingly to glow in the darkness.
"He's a messy eater." Miyako drawled, slowly approaching Gaara and the body a few feet away from him. He couldn't make out too many of her expressions in the darkness, but from the way her eyes crinkled a little, she was probably disgusted at the image before her.
The hunchback kid was unrecognizable. Aside from the fact that several limbs were twisted and in the wrong places, sand was still licking up the blood that poured from his various fatal wounds like a pack of rabid dogs devouring prey. Still, despite looking displeased for reasons Gaara didn't have the mental capacity to wonder about right now, she didn't seem afraid or in the least bit bothered otherwise. She sent little sparks to the sand and it retreated backwards off of the body slightly, hovering above as she scooped it up with a grunt-sigh.
"Where are you going with him?" Gaara heard himself say distantly.
"To burn the body obviously." She turned her head to regard something to the right, but seemed still unbothered.
Gaara was still kind of delirious, he was always delirious when he had a half-transformation, so he couldn't stop himself from saying whatever he wanted. It normally wasn't a problem, except—
"Come home tonight." He demanded to her back.
She stopped in her trek to the end of the roof and looked back over her unoccupied shoulder to study Gaara.
"Fine." She agreed after a beat and then jumped off of the roof.
Gaara turned to see that Baki and the gray-haired guy from the Chuunin exams were talking amongst themselves, before Baki leapt off. Gaara watched as the remaining man looked off in the direction Miyako had taken off in before seeming to shake his head and disappear.
Something was going on here that Gaara was missing and he'd be damned if he continued to be left in the dark.
G/M
Miyako pasted a smile on her face as Naruto bounced around his apartment, her mind in a state of giddy chaos as he gathered his things to go on what he was babbling was going to be the "greatest training trip ever".
Too many things had happened in the span of less than a week. First her fears about the matchups for the Chuunin exams had been realized, then she'd formed a bit of a friendship with Naruto, then Gaara had started following her, then Dosu had tried to kill him and ended up being killed himself, then Gaara had asked Miyako to come home. Home. It still made her dizzy with pleasure not only that Gaara went out of his way to follow her, although probably not for the best reasons, but asked her to come home on top of that. She'd wanted to scream into her pillow that night and had barely refrained.
If that wasn't enough, the next time she'd seen Naruto he was back to full addicting Kyuubi-added strength and was babbling about having met Jiraiya, or "Pervy sage" as he'd dubbed him, and that he was going to train him for the upcoming exams instead of the closet pervert. If it weren't for the fact that Miyako was well aware of the Sannin she would've thought that Naruto had only upgraded to an out and out pervert instead of a covert one by the way he was so flippantly describing his new mentor.
Naruto broke her from her trance by suddenly getting in her face, suddenly very serious. 'Does this child not know what personal space is?'
"Miyako-chan I know what you said before, but since I'm gonna be gone for the foreseeable future, do you think you could tell me about that Gaara for real this time?"
Miyako blinked and tilted her head, "what do you want to know?"
He squirmed onto his bed and Miyako rearranged herself and sit cross-legged facing him, he mirrored her posture and hummed in thought.
"Well, you seem to know him fairly well, I'm just wondering if Sasuke will really be okay against a guy like that." He sighed forlornly, his eyes straying to the picture on his small bedside table that featured only a smiling Sakura, a sheepish Kakashi, a glaring Naruto and annoyed Sasuke.
"Well, I don't know Sasuke like you know Sasuke, so I can't say for sure." She watched as Naruto deflated a little and decided giving him a little hope wouldn't be so bad.
"But Naruto, you just bragged to me that your training with Jiraiya meant you'd be able to defeat Sasuke, do you think he'd really be the type of person to lose to Gaara so easily?" Naruto timidly shook his head, but was still scowling lightly.
"You told me that Sasuke was looking forward to fighting you, right?" He nodded quietly, still refusing to look at Miyako.
"Well then he's going to do whatever he has to do to win and face you in the final round." She nudged his chin with her finger and he finally met her eyes that grinned at him softly. She didn't like the idea of lying to Naruto, but she also didn't need him trying to dig up information on Gaara, going anywhere near Gaara really until after he'd gotten in some training with Jiraiya. His chakra was back to normal, but that didn't mean she was just going to feed him to the lions.
"Besides, Kakashi-san has seen the fight between Lee and Gaara and I'm sure he's preparing Sasuke as best he can for whatever Gaara can throw at him, so I wouldn't worry too much."
Naruto blinked and screwed his mouth to the side. "Oi, Miyako-chan, shouldn't you really be rooting for your home country right now? Why are you making me feel better about this?" He mumbled.
Miyako sighed heavily and leaned back a little to look at Naruto's cracked ceiling. "Well, it's simple, it's because the perception you have of Gaara, that he's a ruthless," she muted the word, but Naruto seemed to understand what she meant so she plowed on, "I know that he's capable of being better, of changing. But he'll never do that unless he tastes defeat."
Naruto blinked. "But, couldn't you very well do that Miyako-chan? I've seen your jutsu, and Gaara seems like he listens to you…"
Miyako shook her head, bitterly laughing, only wishing it were that easy. "Unfortunately what Gaara needs I cannot give him. He doesn't need fear, he needs his heart changed. He needs to be freed of the idea that his life is only meant for causing pain."
Naruto let that sit between them for a few moments, his gaze focused solely on the picture of his team before he spoke again, warily. "But can that really happen? That guy, he seems like he's too lost to me. And if it's not you Miyako-chan, than who?"
Miyako nudged Naruto with her toe, grinning when he wrinkled his nose in glee and shoved her away. "You could." She let the declaration hang between them, soaking in Naruto's shocked expression before she continued.
"I've seen you do it, many times." She grinned at his confused look. "You could, if you believed Gaara could change, you could convince him. He doesn't need fists, he needs to see that someone understands him, and has overcome in ways he could, if he only tried."
"I don't…understand." He breathes, acutely aware that this was a pivotal moment, but not totally understanding why. If he knew that Miyako had followed a carefully plotted strategy, that this was a conversation she was driving the entire time, that this conversation was the seed subtly planted to ensure Naruto would move exactly the way she wanted him to, would he still feel the same? There wasn't time for Miyako to dwell on the lengths she was going for one person, or the lives she was willing to manipulate.
"Do you remember when I said that Gaara was broken?" She continued after he recalled their previous conversation. "That's because he was alone, isolated, and hurt by those around him. That in part made him what he is today. Lost. He needs someone to guide him out of that hurt." Miyako smiled gently at Naruto's gaped look before rising and stretching exaggeratedly.
'He's getting better and better at finding me.' She sensed that Gaara's sand was swirling somewhere outside of the complex. She'd better get out of here before Gaara assembled his third eye completely and put two and two together.
"Well, I don't want to distract you from packing. I'll see you soon." Miyako gave Naruto a pinch on his whiskered cheek, which he protested quite loudly to, before disappearing from his room.
The sand outside of Naruto's apartment building bristled, sensing immediately that its prey had fled. Further in the village, Sabaku no Gaara was a mixture of frustrated and amused, once again feeling more like the mouse in this situation than the cat.
G/M
While Naruto was off with Jiraiya God-knows-where, Miyako was taking frequent trips outside of the village to inspect the terrain. There were two reasons for this. One: she saw quite a few "Konoha" ninja doing this, and having rendezvous with Sound or Sand ninja quite a distance from the gate. Two: she was plotting a route for the siblings to take to "escape" but that would really lead them into a clearing where Naruto and Gaara could duke it out without causing too much damage to the village or others. Now all she had to do was make sure that Naruto engaged with Gaara.
There were a lot of variables that couldn't be controlled by Miyako, but the ones she could control she held tightly to with an iron fist. One of things she couldn't control was Naruto's training, she was literally putting her faith in a man Naruto fondly described as a Perverted Sage. She couldn't even check on the status of his training in fear that Jiraiya would discover her. The last thing she needed was either Sannin's eyes on her. But, if Jiraiya had went to the lengths of restoring Naruto's Kyuubi chakra, then that had to be a good enough sign that he'd be able to keep up with Gaara.
What she could control, to an extent, was Gaara's interest. Luckily for her and unluckily for him, Gaara had a bit of a god complex, so he didn't feel the need to train too much, so the only thing he had to occupy his time was to follow Miyako and give in to his paranoid tendencies. She was well aware that he probably still had a strong suspicion that she was sent here to kill him, and for now she was using it to her advantage. When she was at home, which wasn't for that long, she'd make sly comments about the siblings needing to train, while staring pointedly at Gaara.
"Sasuke isn't going to be like Lee, Gaara." She leaned back against the counter, ignoring Kankuro moaning around the breakfast she'd cooked. The puppet master was obscene sometimes.
Gaara slowed his chewing and nonverbally demanded she elaborate, but Miyako refused to say anything further.
One of the things she did quite frequently to rile Gaara up, was to purposely get caught going to the hospital. He'd figured out by the second week she'd gone to visit Lee, and around the 4th time in total, that the green clad Leaf ninja was who she was going to visit. Needless to say he'd gotten quite a bit more frustrated at her and everyone around him. Miyako knew very well she was playing with fire by allowing Gaara to see that she was visiting Lee, but through this method, the image of parental care Gai had displayed with Lee would constantly be fresh in his mind.
She also made sure he spotted her spying on Sasuke quite frequently with his third eye so he'd find a reason to be worried about his competition. Honestly her methods were cruel for Gaara's mental health, but in the long run it would be worth it. Right?
But honestly he should be worried in Miyako's opinion. Miyako had to be careful about how close she got to Kakashi and Sasuke while they trained in the more mountainous region, because Kakashi had previously proven that he was quite adept at detection no matter how small Miyako made herself. So Miyako could really only allow herself around ten minutes at most at a far distance, but from what she'd seen, Kakashi was not only working on Sasuke's Taijutsu and the speed of it, but some sort of lightning technique that seemed to cause quite a bit of damage.
There was no way Gaara's defense would survive a type of attack like that. It made her sweat a little under the collar, made her killer instincts haze her vision for a moment, so badly that the first time she'd seen the technique she'd nearly revealed herself when she'd covered half the distance intent on gouging those goddamn Sharingan out of Sasuke's head for learning such a deadly move.
Needless to say, she avoided the duo for a solid 3 days after that to allow her panic and anger to simmer down enough to where she wouldn't interfere in their training and have her whole plan foiled.
Outside of these three activities, Miyako was just avoiding being at the compound too often and trying to collect any information she could on the specifics of the infiltration while trying to nail down solid ideas of how to get Naruto and Gaara in the same space to fight.
Miyako didn't like going in blind for anything, but not being able to get up close and personal to Orochimaru or Kabuto without being discovered put a wrench in every idea she had. Unless she knew for sure what their motives were and how they planned on carrying them out, she would have to simply wing the infiltration the day of. She wasn't pleased in the slightest.
She at least knew that Kankuro was planning to forfeit against Shino, no matter what the circumstances, in order to avoid having his jutsu further discovered. She also knew that there was going to be some summoning happening in the forest to help break the border and allow Sand and Sound ninja to start pouring in.
But nothing more she could not discover and the last week before the exams approached rapidly. Miyako made her usual trip to Lee's room in secret a day before the exams, more flowers from Ino's shop in her arms this time after learning that Naruto had also ended up in the hospital after exhausting himself. While she wasn't too pleased at way it had happened, this was as good a time as any to subtly pry and learn what Naruto had developed since leaving several weeks ago.
Unfortunately for her it seems Naruto's exhaustion had him unresponsive, so Miyako would have to wait until tomorrow to interrogate him, but she put the Goldenrod, blue Hyacinth, Yarrow flower combination on Naruto's bedside before stealthily slipping back out, deciding at the last minute that she would sleep at home tonight. She needed to make a show to Temari and Kankuro that she had something to report. Baki had gone back to the Sand sometime last week and had yet to return. She wondered who Orochimaru had playing the Kazekage right now. She wished she had gotten a gander at those finalized plans he delivered, but there was nothing she could do about it now.
G/M
Miyako overslept, she knew she overslept because she heard Baki come in, and then she also heard his panic when they couldn't find Gaara.
She shot up, hair askew and blearily searched for his aura, but it wasn't anywhere in the vicinity. She clamored up from her palette to Baki yelling that Temari and Kankuro were supposed to keep an eye on Gaara.
Miyako vaguely wondered if there was any reason to panic, but she guessed that Baki wasn't going to put it past Gaara to do something rash before the day of the exams—like kill another of the participants. Maybe even Sasuke. Miyako had just finished straightening her clothes when Baki and the others rushed downstairs, to presumably question her about where Gaara could've gone.
"She's not going to know, she was sleeping up until now!" Temari snorted, but Kankuro rushed to her anyway.
"Gaara's been following you the past couple of weeks, right?" Miyako blinked, surprised Kankuro had noticed, but nodded anyway.
"Do you know where he could've gone?" Baki demanded, getting in her face.
"I have an idea." She offered vaguely and brushed her fingers through her wild hair, subtly noting that she needed to wash it soon.
Kankuro and Baki seemed to want her to come out with it, but Miyako just yawned, barely covering her mouth and waved them off.
"I'll get him, don't worry about it." The siblings and Baki gaped at her as she moved past them to brush her teeth, somehow not at all panicked at the idea of Gaara being missing, most likely because she'd be able to find him within minutes.
"Miyako this is serious." Baki thundered from the doorway to the bathroom. "We need to look for him now."
Miyako shrugged, gurgling around her toothbrush that they could look for him if they wanted but they'd just be wasting time. It sounded more like "mwo maan mwook for mim iii oo wan-"
Baki groaned and stomped off, leaving Miyako to finish brushing her teeth with a shrug. She tapped into her bond with Gaara, sensing that while he was confused and irritated, he wasn't particularly murderous yet.
She closed her eyes to track him, discovering he was at the hospital, and beaming at how unconsciously considerate he was being since she needed to go to the hospital anyway.
After completing her morning routine and feeling more refreshed than ever, Miyako set out for the hospital, hoping to catch Naruto there and get some information out of him before she had to deal with Gaara.
G/M
'What is it about him?'
Images of the boy lying on the hospital bed danced tauntingly through Gaara's mind. Reminding him that this repulsive creature had not only his sensei wrapped around his finger, but had somehow garnered Miyako's attention as well, enough to cause her to further defy Gaara than she already had.
It was one thing for Miyako to put a stop to Gaara killing this…atrocity when his sensei had already intervened. It was another for her to be consistently visiting him for weeks on end and giving him flowers. It burned Gaara's blood.
Maybe it was the surmounting offenses piling onto Gaara's shoulders. From the little things that his siblings did to annoy him every day, the way Miyako was playing him, the never-ending confusion he felt at the bond thrown in his face that this thing and his sensei shared. It had Gaara in a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. He found himself hating that his siblings were ignoring him for the most part, but annoyed every time they approached him for anything they felt necessary. He felt simultaneously aggravated at Miyako's consistent absence over the past month, but couldn't deny that he didn't want her anywhere near him due to his suspicion that she wanted to kill him.
And this green-clad boy, this stupid, honor-bound, menace was the center to it all. He and his useless care and compassion. That was why he had lost to Gaara, why he would've been crushed and savored by Gaara's sand if his stupid sensei hadn't interfered. He would finish it now, get these feelings out of his head so he could operate normally again.
The sand hissed as it slid through the open window and into the room, collecting into a pile on the floor before starting a slow crawl to the boy's bed.
Gaara was aware that he was breathing too heavily, that he couldn't get air into his body fast enough as it vibrated with excitement and raw energy, the rush of a kill hazing his mind over and taking him into a space that was equal parts scary and addicting.
He tried to settle himself, tried to go into the more unfazed mode he took when he normally took lives. But this wasn't at all like that—this person, if he could even be called that, had upended Gaara's life. He wanted to punish him slowly, to remember his screams so he could replay them if he ever felt this way again.
Briefly his chest constricted as a small part of him thought of Miyako's face, how disappointed she would probably be that Gaara had killed her friend. His jaw clenched at the thought of it, the idea that Miyako had probably sat here, laughing with this gross thing, most likely about Gaara. But that thought was buried under the gnarled fingers clawing at every part of his body in encouragement to kill this obstacle.
His hand shook as it lay outstretched in the air, more sand piled inside.
G/M
Miyako interrupted a conversation happening between Naruto and Shikamaru, something that involved a lot of yelling that was interrupted by Naruto's stomach growling.
"Wow, that sounded like a dying animal."
Naruto, who had previously been kneeling on the bed, jolting around to the doorway. "Miyako-chan!"
"Huh? Miyako, what are you doing here?" Shikamaru looked at the grinning Naruto and the softness in Miyako's eyes, his genius brain quickly finding an answer. "Don't tell me you two are friends?"
"What's wrong with that?" Miyako questioned, moving into the room to sit on an available chair near Naruto's bed.
"Miyako-chan, I'm glad to see you but I'm sooooo hungry, please tell me you have food with you?" Naruto cried, weakly grasping onto her wrist in faux agony.
"Naruto, where would I hide food in this outfit?" She gestured to her fairly open and slightly indecent outfit with an arched eyebrow that only made Naruto whine.
"Yah, Naruto, stop crying. I actually was here to visit Choji and brought him food as a get well present, but it turns out he can't eat it, so…" Shikamaru picked up a fruit basket near his chair and gestured to it.
"Oh, is Choji that sick?" Naruto reached for an apple while he said this, polishing it on his shirt as Shikamaru answered that he got sick from eating too much BBQ.
Naruto burst out laughing, exclaiming that it was just like Choji. Miyako watched their interaction with a sort of fondness before she broke them out of their trance.
"How did you end up here anyway Naruto?"
The boy hummed and took a bite of the apple, taking his time to chew. Miyako rolled her eyes at his dramatics, turning to Shikamaru when the boy made a show of groaning happily around his next bite.
"Still, I'm surprised someone like Naruto has female visitors." Shikamaru remarked, causing Miyako to snicker behind her hand and Naruto to flounder and choke on his apple angrily.
"Oi, I'm very popular with the ladies!" He cried, and Miyako shook her head. "You're definitely not." She shot back and ignored his indignant whines.
"You still haven't answered my question Uzumaki Naruto, how did you end up in hospital?"
Naruto grumbled a little more, but eventually gave up that he was training with Jiraiya on how to summon and had over-exhausted himself.
'Summon huh? That might be useful in a fight with Gaara.' She observed the boy as he picked up another apple and snickered something to Shikamaru.
'And if he managed to exhaust all his chakra, that must mean he accessed the Kyuubi chakra at some point and even exhausted that.' She wondered what Naruto could summon with that type of chakra at his disposal. Possibly something massive.
"C'mon Miyako-chan, we're going to torture Choji." Naruto exclaimed before taking off out of his room, Shikamaru following at a much slower pace, muttering good-naturedly about how much of a drag Naruto was.
Miyako rose to follow them when a sudden spike of bloodthirst shot through her body.
'That's right, Gaara is here.' She'd have to catch up with the boys later. She flickered out of the room and ended up outside of Lee's hospital room's window, in full view of Gaara with his hand hovering over the sleeping boy's bed, sand snaking around his body and ready to constrict at any moment.
Miyako was ready to intervene, but she caught the image of a shadow on the floor just as Naruto ran in and punched Gaara right in the face.
'Well it's a little early, but let's see how this plays out.' Miyako crouched a little lower and made herself invisible to the naked eye, pulling the window open a little wider stealthily so she could listen to the ensuing conversation.
"What were you trying to do to Bushy Brows huh?" Naruto exclaimed after the two had gotten their bearings.
Gaara looked dead at the leaf genin. "I was going to kill him."
The two, appropriately, looked quite shocked, with Shikamaru visibly clenching his jaw in worry, and Naruto…
Miyako's breath stopped in her chest and she closed her eyes, but made herself stay put despite how her tears stung the inside of her eyelids. She'd seen that look before, the ones villagers would give Gaara, even as a sweet child. The cold fear, the realization that the person in front of you is no longer a person, but a monster.
"Why would you have to do that? You beat him in the match, isn't that enough for you?"
Gaara blinked, bored, and reiterated that he simply wanted to kill Lee and that was that.
Shikamaru balked. "You…you had a lousy childhood didn't you? All you care about is yourself."
Miyako sighed silently. 'Of all of the things to bring up.'
"You're right, I do only care about myself. And if you two get in my way I'll kill you too."
Shikamaru scoffed in disbelief, Naruto seemed to win back his bravado, the fear disappearing in his eyes to be replaced with anger as he challenged Gaara to try his hand.
Miyako warily watched the scene, wondering what the two would do next. She eyed Shikamaru, knowing that out of the two of them he would be more level-headed and less likely to provoke Gaara into a fight. Naruto, it seemed, on the other hand was rearing to prove himself. Now was obviously not the time though, so Miyako would intervene if necessary.
Shikamaru seemed to center himself, suddenly smirking. "I know that you're strong from seeing you in the match, but Naruto and I can keep up with you, and Miyako is just down the hallway."
Naruto grunted with agreement, "yeah bastard, why don't I call Miyako and see what you'll have to say then?"
Gaara seemed to freeze for a moment, his eyes dilating slightly before a crazy grin took over his face. "Call her." He urged and the three watching his every move shivered slightly at the raspy edge his voice took on.
Naruto sputtered. "Call her here so I can kill him in front of her." He continued, laughing lowly, brokenly.
'So that answers the unasked question of how Gaara felt about me visiting Lee quite frequently.'
"Tch, you talk a lot considering you're outnumbered, if we call Miyako here it would be three against one." Shikamaru maintained a calm smirk, but Miyako could feel how alert he was, his yawning aura giving way to panic, which she could tell was not a normal reaction for him.
"Be smart and get lost." He sneered at the otherwise impassive Gaara.
There was a beat of silence, so heavy with tension Miyako felt like she would choke on it, before Gaara answered slowly, as if he were speaking to a toddler.
"I'll only say it once more, if you get in my way, I'll kill you both." He bristled, small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Call Miyako or don't I will kill him, and you if you try to stop me."
Naruto shouted that he wouldn't let Gaara do anything of the sort, causing Shikamaru to hiss to him to shut up before Gaara unleashed his monstrous strength on them both.
"Heh, I have a real monster in me, no way will I lose to this guy."
Gaara seemed to latch onto this, Miyako guessing that since he was stuck there he felt more talkative than normal. She released some of the tension from her shoulders, settling back to listen to what Gaara would share.
"A monster? We have something in common then." He scoffed lightly, blinking slowly before meeting their eyes again.
"I did have a terrible childhood." He started in a drone. "I was born a killer, my first victim was my mother, and then in order to make me into the strongest shinobi of the sand, my father had me possessed by a Sand spirit." He closed his eyes slowly, Miyako mirroring them as she relieved her own memories with Gaara.
"His name is Shukaku, a vengeful monk that was previously sealed inside a tea cauldron."
Shikamaru scoffed. "What a parent, that's some twisted kind of love."
Gaara and Miyako both seemed to scoff in tandem. "Love? Don't measure me by your standards. My family and the ties I have to them, those aren't of love." His fists clenched by his sides. "They are simply lumps of flesh who created and molded me to be the ultimate weapon of the village, the Kazekage's child. I was spoiled, over-protected and alone, that was my love. Until that first incident happened."
Naruto and Shikamaru waited breathlessly, goading him to tell them the incident. He finally met their tensed forms with a crazed smile.
"From the time I was six years old, my father has tried to have me assassinated more times than I can count."
Shikamaru choked back a gasp, Miyako heard him ask just what that was about considering Gaara had been spoiled, but she was too busy trying to channel her rage.
'So this is why you're so quick to believe I want to kill you, Rasa never stopped sending assassins after you.' She wasn't surprised, and if Orochimaru hadn't already killed the Kazekage she would've done it herself, his reasons be damned.
She heard Gaara describe how he had been feared, how the villagers had been slow to realize that he had emotional problems, and how his father had simultaneously prized and feared him, labeling him a dangerous person since six years old.
'So he doesn't know that Rasa has been sending assassins against him since he was 5. Best to keep it that way I suppose.'
She tuned back in for Gaara's explanation for living. She had never heard it aloud, and even though it was painful for her to acknowledge, it had to be done. She had to know. Naruto had to know, so he knew what was at stake here.
"As long as you're alive you need a reason, if you don't have one you might as well be dead."
Miyako turned her gaze on Naruto as Gaara continued to describe his reason for living, the fear back in his eyes squeezing her heart painfully. Still she had to let Gaara finish, she had to see if Naruto would meet his existence with understanding, or with rejection. She didn't even know what she was looking for, what kind of sign she wanted, all she knew was that she needed Naruto to have even a sliver of hope in Gaara for this to work.
"I am living in order to kill beings other than myself. With my life constantly in danger, in not knowing when it would be over, I finally became calm. In killing the assassins I found my reason for living. I live only for myself, I love only for myself, and as long as others populate this world for me to kill my reason for existing will never cease."
Naruto and Shikamaru gaped at Gaara, caught in his dead-eyed stare. Naruto, for a long moment, just took Gaara in, and Miyako desperately wished she could see his thought process, but the only thing she could feel from him was tumultuous winds undulating from fear to understanding. He took a step back, Shikamaru turned to speak to him, and the sand writhed up suddenly.
Miyako moved before she could think much about it, mechanically facing Gaara, gulping back the tears still trying to break free and shakily staring him down. He grinned, a peal of broken laughter escaping from his lips again at the sight of her.
"Oh you've come without even being called? Excellent, you can watch me kill this pathetic calamity and his friends."
Miyako shook and took a breath to get herself together, the battering of Gaara's bloodthirsty glee and Naruto's violently rocking emotions more than she could handle. Being in an enclosed space with two jinchuriki was not recommended it seemed. The power curling around every cell in her body was playing tug-of-war, but still, she had an obligation to Gaara first and foremost.
"Gaara, enough. Let's go back, Baki is looking for you." She whispered, firm and calm.
Gaara looked right past her, seeming to take delight in Naruto's still frozen look of horror, while Shikamaru tried to urge him to get himself together.
"Gaara!" She commanded, slamming her foot down on the sand in front of her and spiking lightning through it, not even having to turn to know that it fell uselessly at Naruto and Shikamaru's feet. He brought his eyes back to her, scowling as sand continued to writhe all around him. They had something of a stare-off, the scene looking positively eerie to Shikamaru and Naruto as sand continued to lash out violently behind Gaara and the lights flickered, visible streaks of lightning popping up from the ground in random intervals to shock sand into submission.
"I said that's enough." She seethed quietly, her palm lighting up with crackles of lightning to back up her words.
Just as Gaara was going to open his tensed jaw, the door slid open Gai standing in the frame with a much too calm look for what was happening in front of him.
"Stop right there!" The three boys turned to Gai, Miyako closing her eyes and calming herself as he continued to scold them about the match being tomorrow.
Miyako felt the sand moving under her feet and back into Gaara's gourd, some of the grains still dusting the floor after being pinned by lightning, useless now. She heard Gaara choking, knew he was gripping his head in pain, could feel the memories swirling around his brain of no doubt Yashamaru and how alike this bond in front of him was, but she made no move to comfort him.
She moved first, bowing to Gai and the others in silent apology and stepping slowly to the door. She briefly looked at Naruto as she passed, smiling sadly at his still frozen state. Gaara trudged after her, momentarily pausing to promise to kill them all.
"Let's go Gaara!" She snapped down the hall, the entire incident grating on her already sensitive nerves. But most of her irritation stemmed from the turn of events that had suddenly taken place. She wondered at what would've happened if she had intercepted Gaara earlier. Should she have? Naruto was now fully shaken up and it was essentially her fault for letting it go on that long. Gai should have never had to interfere like that.
'Is Naruto totally lost to the plan? Should I really even be thinking that right now? The kid just went through a traumatizing explanation of Gaara's tragic life story after he tried to kill one of his friends, I should probably be more sympathetic to that.' Miyako paused, now on a random street and ran her hands down her face.
'But still it's not like I can pretend that I don't know why I did this, why I let it go on for that long, why I got involved with Naruto in the first place. There's nothing pure about my intentions at all. I'm probably worse than Gaara at this point.' She let out a low self-deprecating chuckle. 'At least he's honest in his intentions no matter how fucked up they might be.'
She sighed and leaned against the fence, massaging her temples. 'Maybe I can fix this? Talk to Naruto? Try to plead to his better nature?' Those all were desperate half-baked plans and she knew it, but she didn't think she could just leave things as they were.
'But if I get any more involved in the situation Naruto might start to think of it as less of a coincidence and more of a suspicious act. Ugh, and who knows what Shikamaru might be telling him now as well. This is all too much.'
The spiral of her thoughts was interrupted by a gentle tugging on her left arm. She followed a trail of sand to an annoyed Gaara and sighed deeply.
She joined him on the tree branch he was situated on, ignoring him for the time being to instead lean back against the trunk so she could try and even her breathing. It was all in an effort not to lash out at him at his behavior, her mounting frustration at having lost control of one of the only variables she felt she had a modicum of control over driving her to breaking points she didn't think she had before now.
"You…I want to know why you're here." Gaara finally demanded after a beat of silence between the two, his voice crackling at the edges, the events of the past 20 minutes obviously having got to him too.
"You know why I'm here." Miyako answered as patiently as possible, still refusing to open her eyes in fear that she'd do something rash.
"No," she felt sand creeping between the crevices of her clothes, gently shaking her, only heightening Gaara's frustration, "I want to know what your game is!" Another soft jolt to her body had her opening her eyes to regard a clenched teeth, balled fist Gaara. "You've been gone for nearly a month, you let me follow you at your convenience and you expect me to believe you don't have ulterior motives?" He scoffed, and the sand caressed her throat, only managing to slightly tilt her chin up despite the force Gaara must've put behind it.
"Talk, why did my father send you here?"
Miyako jutted her chin down against the sand to look Gaara in the eye calmly, not giving him even an inch. "I'm a spy Gaara, you know why your father sent me here."
"Come out and say it." He seethed, "Say that he sent you here to kill me so there's no more uncertainty."
Miyako blinked, knowing of course the entire time that this was probably Gaara's theory, but being confronted with it was an entirely different story, it not only said to her that it was out of character, but that Gaara must not believe it himself.
"Kill you?" She echoed, bored. "What a paranoid thought." Her eyes gave a little sarcastic crinkle as he bristled. "What would the Kazekage have to gain by sending me to kill you? Have you forgotten how large a part you play in this infiltration? The thought has never even crossed my mind."
She scanned Gaara's disheveled state from top to bottom, cooing softly as his face displayed angry confusion, and his thoughts contemplated the truth of the matter.
"This is so unlike you," she went on, "to confront me directly. If you really believed that I was here to kill you, you would've waited for the right moment to strike without conversation." She suddenly surged forward, breaking from the sand to crowd into Gaara's personal space, eyes dancing with mirth as a gasp fell from his lips without permission.
"What is this really about?" She breathed, inches away from his face. "Don't even try to lie to me."
The sand attempted to bat her away, but only trailed lightly across her everywhere it touched. Miyako got to see Gaara's frustrated pout in full, and it was slightly thrilling.
"Why does it do that?"
She didn't indulge him. "Gaara—"
"You don't know me well enough to say that." He suddenly cut, maintaining a glare even though it was markedly softer than before. Miyako acquiesced 2 inches to give him back a sense of comfort, but no more.
"After the match with that green-suited disaster—"
"Gaara," Miyako sighed exasperatedly, rolling her eyes at his sharpened glare.
"You left immediately after, with no explanation, looking fearful." He pinned her with a stare. "Why?"
Miyako blinked, not expecting this of all things to have been bothering him.
"Why did I leave or why…?"
"Are you afraid of me?" He asked point blank, arms crossed expectantly.
She focused in on his body language, understanding without him even saying it what he wanted the answer to be. But why?
It came to her in the form of his emotions, the tiny spark of hope underneath all of the projected negativity. She and Gaara were apparently at the point in their relationship where a change in her opinion mattered to him. It occurred to her, suddenly what it would look like to anyone watching outside of her.
Gaara assumed that because she left after the match, that because she was caught visiting Lee, that because she'd been spending less time with him and the other Sand siblings, that she was afraid of him. He thought that now that she had seen it firsthand she would join the leagues of others who felt the same, fear. He also didn't understand why he felt any of this abhorrence to the possibility in a change in her opinion, only that in his world, if his sand couldn't hurt her than he had no power, there wasn't a reason to be afraid of him. So all of the signals he'd been getting were a direct challenge to that belief.
That, paired with the fact that she boldly told him where to shove it, could only come to one conclusion for him. She was an enemy, a formidable one that he had put on his scale of respect. In all accounts he knew less about her and her skills in comparison to everyone else that had won a place there, he had seen Sasuke's jutsu, Neji's fighting style, but he only knew her to have a lightning style, a weakness of sand, and few personal details. To Gaara, having a respectable enemy, in the end, equaled in his mind to having a friend—a friend who in no way shape or form should be afraid of him.
"I'm not here to kill you Gaara, believe me if that were the case I wouldn't go to all this trouble in covering your ass." She finally answered, brushing his sand off of her so she could lift herself into a crouching position. "I'm also not afraid of you. For the record you're not that scary." She shot.
Gaara narrowed his eyes, but said nothing in retaliation. She could feel his eyes on her as she jumped down from the tree and dusted herself off of the clinging grains of sand.
"Let's go back, I was serious about Baki." She called. He teleported down next to her, still eyeing her wearily, but ready to follow behind her nonetheless. She motioned for him to go on ahead, to which he scoffed in disbelief, but obeyed anyway.
She watched his back for a second, the reality of tomorrow crashing in her head, and she said to the wind, unsure if Gaara would even hear it:
"All the pieces fall in place tomorrow. I hope you'll understand one day all I've done for you."
Wheeeew I'm finally doooooooooooooone!
The most words ever my readers, wooooow. Happy mother's day to all the mothers out there, and all those who can't be with their mothers, please remember them fondly.
I'll see you in the next one!
.Acronym