Swan Song of the Sand: Aria and Gaara
Chapter 2: A New Face
Nightfall was Gaara's favourite time of the day, as it was the only time that people left him alone. Ever since the incident in his youth, the Suna villagers rarely ventured out of their houses at night. It gave Gaara the feeling that the night belonged to him and that he was finally a part of the village. He smiled sadly to himself at the irony that he could only feel like he belonged when there was nobody around him. It was almost like he was destined to be alone all his life.
The search in the morning had not gone as well as he had hoped. Despite trawling the entire village in search of the black haired girl, Gaara had not had any luck in finding her. In fact he was now beginning to doubt she was even from the village. For all he knew, she could have been a messenger from another village or a traveling merchant. The search was made worse by the fact that the village children had run away at the mere mention of his name. Gaara had hoped that the next generation would not know of his true identity but that had turned out to be an empty dream. He should have known that the adults would have told their children about Gaara the monster, his name being passed down like some sort of Sunagakure urban myth.
Gaara's thoughts were suddenly diverted by a feeling that he was being watched. He stealthily checked out his surroundings and from the corner of his eye, he spotted movement from the streets below. He turned slightly to get a better view and to his surprise, found himself staring at the back of the black haired girl. The famous Suna winds whipping her thick lustrous hair around her head as she walked further and further away from him. For a moment, Gaara could do nothing but sit and stare at her retreating back and at the distance separating the two of them. How strange, he thought, that I would begin to care so much about someone I do not know.
When Aria pulled down the shutters of the glass shop, the usual view of the moon was obscured by someone perched on the Suna village temple. Aria was curious at this new sight, having never seen anyone sitting on the roof at night before. The person had the silhouette of a young boy, the sash around his shoulder flapping in the wind. When Aria looked closer, she noticed the head of flaming red hair on his head. Even though his back was facing her, Aria was certain that the person on the roof was the boy she had met, the monster of the sand.
She took a few steps nearer, tilting her head slightly to the side, her original task of locking up all but forgotten. The sight of him with his left arm resting on his left knee, his head tilted up to the night sky enraptured Aria. She was tempted to leap onto the rooftop with him and had taken a few more steps toward him when her cautious side took hold of her and pulled her back.
She quickly turned away and locked up the shop, before taking one long last look at the boy on the roof. Finally, she tore her gaze away from him and turned away, heading back to her boring little life.
After stepping out of the Sunagakure gates, Aria increased her speed and ran at almost full speed back to her safe haven. So as not to let her shinobi training go to waste, she would hone her speed on trips to and from home. Aria would zip past the sandy wasteland on the village border before leaping into nature's own obstacle course; the forest that she called her own. Besides leaping on tree branches, Aria cleared all the rocky areas and slippery slopes with relative ease, all the while maintaining her breakneck speed. Besides training her stamina and honing her speed, traveling in the forest at high speed also served to throw off any pursuers. Aria knew that few shinobi could match her speed and traveling in the more treacherous areas of the forest meant that pursuers had a harder time catching up with her or capturing her scent.
Instead of going straight into the waterfall area that she called home, she went around the area to check on the traps that she had laid in the parameter. Noticing that none of the traps had sprung, and that the area was clear, Aria released the seal jutsu that kept her cavern home hidden. Once inside her home, Aria resealed the area and laid out her futon, preparing for another sleepless night.
Gaara knelt by the rocky banks of the river running through the border forest and examined the trail of sand that the girl had left behind. When he had realized that she had been watching him, he decided to follow her. But he didn't have his sand gourd with him on the temple roof and was not prepared for a long journey. Moreover, there was no way of knowing if the girl was friend or foe. Instead of just following her, he manipulated a small amount of sand from the village ground and moved it into her coat pocket; not so much that she would notice the extra weight. The sand was modified in a way that it would slip out of the pocket as she moved, leaving a trail for Gaara to follow, much like bread crumbs.
The thing that surprised Gaara was the way the sand had scattered. For the trail to be so sparse and the sand to be so widely scattered would have meant she had moved at an insane speed. Even the jounins in the village would have a hard time catching up to her, much less a slower mover like Gaara. Gaara was impressed by her speed but it also made him a little wary. Why would such a talented shinobi suddenly show up in the village? Gaara thought of the numerous assassins that his father had hired to kill him and the possibility that she could be one of them immediately registered itself in his head. Gaara had used to enjoy the challenge and the bloodshed, but now that his mindset was beginning to change, he was not sure if he would truly enjoy killing again. Moreover, from his observations, this new shinobi would prove to be a force to be reckoned with, since his weakness had always been speed.
Standing up, Gaara decided that he would give her the benefit of the doubt while remaining on his guard. With that, he took off along the river bank, following the trail of sand.
ria moved with the grace of a dancer; her arm movements were fluid and strong, while her leg movements were precise and forceful. Her father used to end off training sessions with similar taijutsu exercises, stressing to her the importance of fluid body movements. She remembered him telling her that the key to good chakra control was the proper control of her body and she had always looked forward to the exercises. She loved to watch her parents train like that; the pair had always looked so stately and graceful, just like a pair of swans. Reminiscing about the past made Aria lose her focus and her lower lip began to tremble. Determined not to let her father down by stopping halfway, she pushed the thoughts out of her head and carried on.
As usual, Aria could not sleep and had been doing chakra training the whole night. By the time she had finished her taijutsu exercises, she was drenched in sweat and was short of breath. She sat on the rocks by the waterfall and waited for the last of the night breezes to die down and for dusty pink skies to appear, signaling the start of the new dawn. She would have loved to sit and wait for the sun to rise, but if she continued sitting there, she would be late for work. So she quickly threw off her white training robes and dove into the pool of water. The water was cool on her skin, just the way she liked it. She breathed in deeply, letting the fresh water refresh her body after a long night of training. It was at times like this that she let her guard down, believing that no one would disturb her at such a private moment like this,
So it was with great astonishment and embarrassment, that when she turned around to get her towel, she found herself staring at none other than the boy whom she had been so curious about while she stood there stark naked. Without even thinking, she screamed and leapt back in the water.
Gaara had not expected it to be so difficult to locate the girl. Firstly the clearing where the sand had led to had been rigged with many traps and Gaara had spent a considerable amount of time disarming them. Even though the traps were hand-made and crude, the design was ingenious and would have done a good deal of damage had he ventured in unknowingly. Gaara had decided to approach the clearing when day broke so as to avoid springing any other unseen traps.
Finally, when day had broken, Gaara had ventured into the area and found the girl swimming in the water. Gaara walked over to the girl, thinking it was better to introduce himself and make his presence known than sneak around and spy on the girl. And so, he had stood there by the water, facing her back, thinking of what he should say. That was when she got out of the water, turned around and faced Gaara in all her unclothed glory. The girl panicked, wrapping her arms around herself and screaming, before jumping back into the water. Gaara stared at her and said lamely, "Sorry. My name is Gaara"