Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But, on the bright side, my
uh… wot's today? My April 10th's resolution (instead of New Year's Resolution. Hahaha? Get it? Right.) is too write longer chapters so yeah. Whoo. Here goes nothing.
Gaara was crying. Sachi could see the pain radiating off of him. Not psychical pain, but emotional- and lots of it. He was sitting on a wall, back facing the world. No one wanted to accept him. But why was he the only one? Why was he the only monster in this world? Why did he even have to exist?
Sachi watched him from a distance, wondering what he was thinking. She could still see the pain radiate from him by using her Gekitsuugan- Her kekkei genkai. That's what allowed her to transfer pain, see pain, and morph pain in many ways. Her Gekitsuugan made her eyes turn whatever emotion she was either holding or seeing. She had a special color for each emotion, and wounds made her eyes turn black. Right now, her eyes were red with a tint of yellow- anger (Red) and sadness (Yellow). She knew, though, by just looking at him, if it had been her own emotions she had been looking at, her eyes would have been purple, the color of love and compassion.
She saw his shaking figure and the way his emotions came out in large waves- a sign of bottling most of his feelings inside usually. She could always feel a stronger feeling coming from someone who always kept their feeling to themselves. Sachi remembered how she got her first experience with this, by seeing her brother come home once after being at the ninja academy. Her memories were all still very fuzzy, and she could only remember bits and pieces in dreams, but for some reason, this image was something she could probably never forget.
Her brother had come home with a black eye, and various bruises all over his arms, and a few on his legs- Sachi couldn't see a lot of them, for most had been covered in bandages. His mother had looked at him and started crying right away. Sachi could swear she almost saw her brother cry too, but only a slightly watery eye gave it away- or so she thought. She, too, had begun to cry. But, not because her mother was crying. Not because her brother was hurt so badly- though that was part of it- but because of the pain she saw in her brother. It hurt her to see him hurting inside. Sachi had wondered if her mother could see his pain too, as clearly as she could, and if that was why she was crying. But she wasn't too sure.
In fact, Sachi had always thought she was the only one in her family who had this gift. Until, of course, that fateful birthday, when she discovered yet another power she had. She found she shared this ability with her mother and brother, but she hadn't told them about how she could experience pain in such an extensive way. She thought, maybe, if she told her mother, she might get angry or upset. Or she might feel bad and cry- Sachi hated it when her mother cried.
For her mother, too, had pain Sachi could feel. When Sachi lie awake sometimes at night and her mother left, she felt an air of guilt around the house. And when her mother came home, she felt an even stronger amount of guilt come with her- and a sense of disappointment in herself. She had wanted to comfort her mother at these times, but was afraid. She never had questioned her leaving and never cried when she left.
Sachi was not one to cry, except when she was alone. Maybe that's why the memory of her brother stuck to her. Maybe that's why she was always reminded of her brother. He was the first person to see her cry- and he didn't make fun of her. When she cried, she'd run off somewhere and hide. Not because she was embarrassed she was upset, but because she was afraid she'd be seen as weak. She felt she needed to be strong, for her mother and her brother, even if they didn't need her.
It made her feel like she had a purpose. She would be training constantly. Sometimes practicing with her brother, other times all by herself. She'd set ridiculous goals that six year olds shouldn't even be thinking about. Like, if she could get her Gekitsuugan to work better then her brother's, she'd go eat dinner that day. But if she didn't, she'd never eat again. Of course, Sachi never really fulfilled these promises to herself. She'd always be back the next day, physically and mentally exhausted, her mother and brother worried sick. It made Sachi furious with herself, because she really truly wanted to improve herself. What if her family needed her some day?
And Sachi had the feeling they had needed her. She had the feeling they had been powerless against something- someone and they needed her help. But where was she? Even she didn't know.
Sachi continued watching Gaara. But then, something she didn't expect in the least happened. Without a warning, several kunai flew from almost nowhere, aimed at Gaara. Sachi wanted to react quickly, to save the day, but her senses shut off. She had no clue what to do or how to help or if she even was needed. But whatever force that protected Gaara decided for her. A barricade of sand flew to Gaara's aid- before Sachi even blinked.
Here was another scenario in which Sachi was no help. Would it always end like this? Would she ever find someone to need her? But she did have someone who needed her, she thought, and he was right in front of her, lost and confused and protected by sand. At first, Gaara was wearing a look of shock-which quickly turned to anger. This surprised Sachi. Gaara never was quick to kill- except the drunken man earlier. But that wasn't his nature.
Who was this man trying to kill him? What was his purpose? Sachi thought. Had someone held a grudge against Gaara? Her thoughts were running wild. But instead of thinking any longer, Sachi decided to act. Or perhaps it was her heart that took control, instead of her brain. Or perhaps it was true friendship, or love, or the thousand other things Gaara and her shared.
Sachi ran as quickly as she could and stood in front of Gaara. In a way, she was preventing two things from happening: One, Gaara wouldn't get hurt by this mystery assassin, and Two, Gaara wouldn't hurt anybody else.
"Stop right there!" she cried out at the man "What do you think you're doing? WHO ARE YOU?!" Sachi shouted those last two lines as a cover up for how scared she really was. Being only six, you have a few options when you reach a difficult situation- Freeze in terror, like Sachi had done before, or put up a show of power, like Sachi was trying to do right now. Sachi performed a quick handsign and shouted "Gekitsuugan!" By activating her Kekkei Genkai, Sachi had shown this man she would do anything for Gaara. Sachi thought it might be best to reassure Gaara. She knew he was angry, confused, and sad. His emotions said it. When Sachi looked back at him, her eyes turned brown- a mix of mainly bad emotions. Her eyes would turn pink when it was a mix of happy, good emotions.
"Don't worry!" Smiled Sachi, trying to reassure herself as much as she was reassuring Gaara, "It'll be one hundred percent fine." When Sachi saw Gaara's nervous, sad, angry face, it hurt her. Not because she thought her emotions were aimed at her, but because it alarmed her to see him so hurt. They were very close, and Gaara had never been afraid to be open to her. But he never showed emotion openly in public. It was always a straight face- though Sachi could still see what he was feeling if she was really confused by using her Gekitsuugan.
It was funny. This was the first time Sachi had used her Gekitsuugan since before she had come here. She had almost forgotten about it, and that scared her. She had forgotten the majority of her past, but she absolutely could NOT forget her jutsu- they were her life. By practicing them, she almost felt like she wasn't so alone. It kept her in a surreal sort of state- as if life was on standby.
But life wasn't on standby- in fact, it was moving very fast. And Sachi was still standing, unprotected, in front of Gaara. She knew he didn't need her protection- that was the sand's purpose. But it was just like with her mother and brother in the perspective that she had something to live for when she felt like she could protect them. Maybe this was not the end, but perhaps the beginning of something so much better then what she had before.
Thanks for reading! I hope it was long enough, and sorry about the typos in the last chapter. I'll fix them as soon as I can, but right now I'm sneaking this chapter on, seeing as I've been grounded from the computer, but that's another story. Thanks for the reviews so far and more reviews would be appreciated- constructive criticism is welcome and heck, flame if you want. Whatevz.