Heeey!

So I'm going to be honest with you guys. The reason I'm not updating as quickly as I should is that I am WAY too busy daydreaming about the new and improved fantasy world that I'm going to adapt this story into fitting.

It's going to be so, so cool. It will be my own, personal, truly unique story. AAAAAAAAAH

But before I actually get to writing that, I told myself I have to finish this first for you guys. Which is needless to say, hard with how my inspiration is being.

But I'm doing it! I am!

Promises Not Made are Promises Never Kept

Chapter Thirty-Two: Reunion

The water loomed above Sasuke, rolling and shifting within itself like a monster waiting for a command. In shock, Gaara backed away, feeling the sand quiver within his gourd.

But the beast within held no fear. It was unusually quiet as it stared at the new transformation, and Gaara could only mentally look at him in confusion.

"Know it," Shukaku admitted quietly, and Gaara noticed that the usually raging storm that constantly weighed behind his eyes had calmed. And then he noticed that a strange calm had settled over the arena. The stands were quiet, drinking in Sasuke's new appearance, and the wind had stilled. He couldn't even hear birds. "Know it – know it like the beasty in the history. Not like before – before, a red. Now, a blue. Now, heart is still."

It was like everything had silenced itself to witness the newcomer as he shifted, rising into a stand.

"I can't beat it, can I?" Gaara asked softly as Sasuke's hair moved to its own rhythm – like a coursing river. "You're giving up."

"Never give up – not give up. Respect," Shukaku replied. It had been so many years, Gaara was used to the creature's broken speech. "Old soul. Old soul in wind and air – like soil. Older than sand on oldest beach. Fight, yes. Fight and fail."

Sasuke felt the same thing from the creature within himself, and he sighed as the characteristic calm enveloped him, allowing him to see everything with crystal clarity.

"There is something within that boy that is familiar to me," Ragnarok admitted to him quietly as they simply stared at each other for a long moment. "Sasuke, I think he realizes that he is grossly outclassed. I would advise against killing him."

It was hard for Sasuke to argue with him – as of that moment, there was more of Ragnarok than there was of Sasuke – and he could only sigh deeply. Ragnarok's calm had thrown a blanket over his senseless, flaming rage, and he could feel it being smothered out.

Sasuke moved, walking forward towards Gaara as the water flowed around him. Gaara jerked at the movement, stepping backwards.

"N-no!" Gaara stammered, raising his arms to hide his face. "Don't! Stay back! Stay back or I'll kill you!"

But the sand made no move to assist him. Temari and Kankuro stared down in shock.

"What's going on?" Temari asked numbly. "Why aren't they fighting?!"

"I…" Kankuro breathed. "I don't know."

"You know me, don't you?"Sasuke asked Gaara as he neared, Ragnarok's influence so strong within his breast that his voice had changed into something floating and omniscient, rumbling with internal power. "Is that why you choose not to fight?"

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Gaara swore again, taking more backwards steps to keep the distance between them. "STOP! STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Sasuke, however, was undaunted.

"Because I know you,"Sasuke insisted, taking another few steps to match Gaara's. "Please don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid of you…!" Gaara bit out, pulling at his face with his fingers as he felt the monster within him come to a decision, feeling the storm within pick up speed again. "I… I…"

Gaara buckled over, holding his stomach as the rage within him suddenly became too much to bear, and he let out a scream as the sand poured from his gourd, enveloping his arms until giant limps tipped with claws raised him high up into the air. Screeching, he sent a limb for Sasuke, who promptly dodged out of the way.

"I HATE YOOOOU!"The deep, angry voice of Shukaku bled into Gaara's own tones as the beast's chakra snaked into Gaara's pores. Relentlessly, he attacked Sasuke, making the boy dodge and leap and spin around the attacks. And as he attacked he ranted and raged- "WE TRUSTED YOU! AND YOU ABANDONED US! ONE LITTLE SLIGHT FROM THE HUMANS AND SUDDENLY THE WHOLE WORLD WAS AGAINST YOU! WHAT ABOUT US? WHAT ABOUT THE ONES WHO NEVER LEFT YOU? WHO ALWAYS BELIEVED IN YOU? WE SUFFERED LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Sasuke was knocked off balance, spiraling down towards the earth and slamming into it ruthlessly, skidding along.

"What the hell is he talking about, Ragnarok?" Sasuke silently asked him as his body picked itself up, rolling onto its back as Ragnarok stared out of eyes that weren't his. The influence was so heavy, wounds closed up in seconds and he couldn't even feel pain. "And why didn't you try to catch yourself?"

"Maybe I deserve this punishment, little lion," he explained simply as he stared up at the sky for a moment, Gaara's sand nearing. "The creature within that boy is one of the nine tailed beasts. Meaning that he was one of the original."

"One of the original what?"

Sighing, Sasuke – or for all intents and purposes, Ragnarok – pushed himself into a sitting position.

"He was one of the original creatures that believed in me," Ragnarok explained softly, out loud. He closed his eyes. "He was one of the original creatures that I failed."

Suddenly a monstrous arm caught him by the abdomen, and Ragnarok grunted as his body slammed into a wall, his entire torso swallowed up by a gritty, vindictive arm.

"Ah…"he breathed, feeling his power flicker in and out as his strive for battle suddenly dispersed. His image reverted back to normal. And even as the sand pushed insistently at his internal organs, leaving him gasping for breath, he continued to speak. "I know you're angry with me," he breathed difficultly, even as Sasuke begged him to fight back. "And I know that the way I am now, I can't apologize and mean it." The sand crept around his neck, beginning to squeeze as the irritant filled his eyes. "But…" he raised a hand, struggling to touch Gaara's face. "I never meant to hurt you."

His hand faltering, it fell to rest on the sand arm, and as the weapon enveloped it, Ragnarok's Chakra sent itself forth into Gaara's body and into the link that connected the boy and beast. In that split moment, the essences of Ragnarok and the beast touched, and memories and emotions passed between them as if they were one.

Gaara screamed as if he had just been stabbed, and he yanked himself away from Sasuke, stumbling backwards. The water that Ragnarok had extracted from the arena to heal himself collapsed back into the earth, and just like that the shrubs and trees seemed to reflate back to life.

"You were just a tiny little raccoon when I first found you, captured by a human's trap," he breathed softly as Gaara stumbled backwards, Shukaku screaming in his head. "You were going to be killed. Skinned and eaten. But I saw within you a fierceness and a will to live that made me smile. You fought with the humans that had captured you like you were going to kill them all, even though you knew in your heart you stood no chance. That sort of devotion to life was something that I needed to be taught to the world, so I decided to save you." Slowly, he walked over to Gaara as the boy lost his balance and fell on his rear upon the ground, the sand retreating back into its shelter. "You became the last of my council. The one-tailed raccoon. And as you ascended, I gave you a name." He pursed his lips. "Shukaku, how your rage has taken hold of you."

"Shut up," the beast muttered through Gaara's lips, looking up at him with unrivaled hatred. "You're one to talk. Don't try to tell me you didn't mean to do what you did. After you rid the world of yourself, the love you taught me betrayed me! I was captured! Used as the humans' plaything for hundreds of years! And you wonder why I hate you!"

Using Gaara, Shukaku was able to put his feelings into actual, coherent words, and Ragnarok gazed down at him in what could've been sadness.

"But this boy you are within has done nothing to you," he stated simply, kneeling down in front of the redhead. "He did not ask for this. Why must he suffer your wrath?"

"Because the world had to suffer yours!" Shukaku growled through Gaara's lips. "When we disobeyed you, there was no forgiveness! No leniency! Only punishment! We suffered when we only did as you taught us!"

"I won't deny any of that," Ragnarok stated simply. "But now, I am suffering too. I feel nothing. I feel no love, no sadness, no rage. I am empty. This is my punishment upon myself. Shukaku…" He raised a hand, and set it on Gaara's forehead even as the redhead tried to jerk away. "I may not be able to ease your anger, but you still love me. If you didn't, you wouldn't be angry to begin with. And you wouldn't have been angry for this long. And if you still did not love people, you would've killed the boy that houses you long ago, even if it meant your own death." He gazed down at Gaara, seeing someone else entirely, as the boy's breathing slowed and he swallowed, looking up at Ragnarok as Shukaku shivered beneath Ragnarok's touch. "I want to fix this world. I want to free you and the others. I want the world to understand that peace can be reached without armies or subterfuge. I want things to be like the way they were before. But…" with Sasuke's help, he gave a tiny smile. "I won't mess it up this time."

Shukaku, through Gaara's eyes, stared at the creature he idolized all those years ago. The familiar chakra covered him like a shield, and he found himself resting against it just like he always used to do.

"Can you truly hope to heal a world using love when you don't even feel it yourself?" He asked softly. Ragnarok gazed at him for a long moment before shaking his head a little.

"I'm going to try," he stated quietly. "But I need you, Shukaku. I need you to set the example among your fellows. They're still out there. And they are watching. And they all feel the hate that you do. I know you can love your host and ease his pain. You know him better than anyone, after all."

Shukaku merely looked at him before sighing, taking hold of Sasuke's shoulder and lifting himself up into a stand.

"Okay. Weird," Sasuke mentally commented as the two looked at each other.

"Will you stand by my side, Shukaku?" Ragnarok asked him. "Will you find it in your heart to forgive me? Even when I cannot properly ask for forgiveness?"

"I would rather feel pain than nothing at all," Shukaku admitted suddenly as he looked at his elder. "The fact that you would take that nothingness upon yourself, just to save us all…" He shook his head. "Your presence is still enough to calm the angry storm within me. I will talk to my host as best I can. We will help you."

Ragnarok smiled, clapping the redhead on the shoulder.

"You have always been a cunning beast," he told the other proudly. Shukaku rolled his eyes.

"Please, don't flatter me," he told the other as they stood next to each other. "There is nothing cunning about blind devotion."

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!" Temari yelled down into the arena. "GAARA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING AROUND?! KICK HIS ASS!"

The crowd began to mirror her displeasure, and the two in the arena looked up towards the stands before looking back to each other.

"You can have the match," Shukaku stated as they both proceeded to ignore the unhappy cries. "It was silly of the boy to believe we even stood a chance."

"Now now," Ragnarok chided. "Fear is unbecoming of you, Shukaku."

The redhead raised an offended eyebrow.

"Fear?!"

Then, suddenly both sets of eyes widened as they registered the same threat. Sasuke's eyes flew up to Kakashi and his teammates, and his old teacher saw panic in the black orbs.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Kakashi cried as an explosion erupted upon the rooftop of the building behind the middle stands, where the Hokage and his council had been watching the matches. Debris and rubble fell upon the audience as hysteria set in.

All of the sudden, Gaara shoved Sasuke, sending him stumbling to hit the arena wall as a wave of kunai struck the ground where he had just been standing.

"Go find your teammates," Gaara, now fully in control, told the boy simply as Sasuke stared up at him. Dismissing the Terranova, Gaara walked away with his sand curling around him. "I'll kill you later."

Breathless, Sasuke picked himself up as everything quickly descended into chaos when Sound ninjas erupted from the woodwork.

"Some of the friends you keep, Ragnarok…" he breathed, rubbing his side. "Psychos. All psychos."

"Quickly, Sasuke!" Ragnarok urged him. "Your teammates!"

Knowing that the god was right, Sasuke leaped out of the arena and into the stands.

End Chapter Thirty-Two: Reunion

Dun-dunun-NUN!

And so the story continues...

Please review and tell me how cool you hope it's going to get? :3

Much love,

DDB