Nonexistent Mourning
by tovanell
-AU- An assassination attempt on ten year old Gaara is successful, and Temari and Kankurou mourn for the brother they never really had.
When they came back to the steppe, there was only sand. The grassland was no more; no green anywhere they could see, just sand.
"He completely transformed the landscape…" Baki muttered, looking all around.
They walked through the newly formed desert, trudging carefully through the sand, heading in the direction where Gaara was. They were silent for a while, until Kankurou let out a shaky breathe and asked:
"Do you think…Do you think that he might still be…alive?"
Temari glanced at him, then at their teacher, but Baki-sensei ignored Kankurou, looking straight ahead and kept on walking.
"Sensei…" Seeing how Kankurou failed to get an answer, Temari tried. Baki-sensei ignored her at first too, but then he slowed down to a stop. The siblings glanced at each other and stopped too.
"…Gaara may seem unstoppable because of his sand, but sand is still earth. Lightning is naturally strong against earth, and we believed that if we could use Lightning techniques against Gaara, we might actually succeed. But, unfortunately, Suna doesn't have any Lightning users." Baki paused, turning around to face his students.
"After the incident in the Bazaar two weeks ago, your father, Kazekage-sama, had decided that Gaara was simply too dangerous to keep alive any longer, and decided to get rid of Gaara by any means necessary, even if it meant relying on foreign Shinobi." Baki paused again, grimacing, obviously still not liking the idea.
"Kazekage-sama hired a group of Kumo-nin for this latest attempt, Kumo-nin that specialized in Lightning techniques. He then assigned this mission to our team, because the attack had to happen outside the village, and in hopes that the extermination of the tribe would tire Gaara out, and make the assassination easier. He was right."
Baki sighed, looking at the two siblings. They stared back at him.
"When we find him, he should be dead. After all, he took a sword through the heart-" He was cut off when Kankurou snorted and looked away.
"He should have died the instant that happened, yet he was still moving. And got even stronger. That was freaky…" The puppet user shifted uncomfortably. "Gaara's not normal. He always lives, and this time shouldn't be any different."
"…In any case, we wouldn't know unless we go find him. Even if he had survived, I doubt he's in a good condition…He should be severely weakened…" Baki trailed off.
"Kazekage-sama has ordered me to kill Gaara, if that was the case." Kankurou and Temari jerked their heads back to look at him, eyes wide and filled with worry and surprise. "I should be able to do it with minimal difficulties. But if anything happens," Baki shot each of his students a look, "Run."
"But-"
"That's an order. You two will run and take cover if anything happens." And with that, Baki turned and continued walking.
"Let's go."
The Kumo-nin were nowhere in sight, not even mutilated bodies or bloody patches in the sand, but Temari knew that they were undoubtedly dead. Instead, they found Gaara alone, lying on the sand and so, so still.
He laid on his side, half-sunken in sand, curled up a little, bloody hands clutching at his chest. There was so much blood – the sand beneath Gaara was soaked in it, and the white sash he wore was dyed red.
Gaara had his eyes closed, and with those dark rings around them, it looked like there were holes where his eyes should be. Blood trailed from his mouth down his chin. Even in death (that's right…because he really was dead now), his face was blank, holding no expression.
They all hesitated when they within a few feet of Gaara, looking down at him, and stood there uncomfortably, not wanting to get any closer. Baki-sensei slowly drew out a kunai – best be prepared – and finally walked up to him. He knelt in front of him, carefully turning him over so that Gaara laid straight up, then felt his neck for a pulse.
For some reason, that one second was agonizing. Then-
"He's dead."
-And Temari let out the breath she was holding, while Kankurou beside her shuddered a bit.
Gaara, dead. After all those years, all those assassination attempts and dangerous missions, he was finally
-dead-
It was almost surreal.
Temari walked slowly up to the body, and knelt beside Baki-sensei, staring at her little brother's corpse. She took in the pale, pale skin, the blood-red hair, she took in his face and the hole in his chest, right where the heart was; she took in the blood-and-sand encrusted hands…
And realized how small Gaara was. He was skinny, scrawny, and his hands were smaller than hers. With him lying down like that, with his eyes closed and with him looking like he was sleeping (except for the all the blood and the fact that Gaara never slept), Gaara looked like a little boy, like a little brother and Temari remembered that he was only ten-years-old.
Ten-years-old and dead, assassinated by jounin hired by their father and killed by a hole through his heart…
(When she was ten, she was still in the academy, her fan still too heavy for her to carry around)
That numbness she felt earlier was still there, only now it was all there was, having blocked out her relief (and maybe even a bit of sadness?). She didn't mind it, though, because she had no idea what she was suppose to feel and didn't think she would want to feel any emotions right now if she could feel, so numbness and the lack of feeling suited her just fine. And, besides, she was a ninja, and ninja was better off not feeling anything at all.
"Baki-sensei." The jounin turned to look at her. "What should we do now? Should we clean off the blood or something…?" And there was just so much blood, mixed with sand. It all looked so familiar, only now it's Gaara's own blood and the sand was still and dead.
"No. That would be the coroner's job." Her teacher stood up and pulled out a scroll from his flak jacket. "This is a storage scroll for bodies. We'll seal him and go home."
Baki-sensei looked down at her, then at Kankurou, who still stood behind them, hands in his pockets, shifting a bit from foot to foot, looking weary and nervous.
"Are you two…okay?" Baki asked.
Kankurou grunted and muttered "Yeah", while Temari just nodded. She glanced at Kankurou, and he at her, and they both looked away.
"We're fine."
A/N: School sucks.
Sorry for taking so long, and for such a short and simple transitional chapter. I'm separating chapters by content, instead of length, so they will vary.
I really do hope that I have the characters in character...it's difficult. Temari, Kankurou, Baki... I really think they do care a bit about Gaara, but won't ever show it, or admit it. Plus, they're trained to not show - feel- any emotion, so getting their reactions is kin of tough.
Feedback and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.
tovanell