Ch.1: Cut It Off At the Roots

Since the very minute she regained consciousness, Temari's actions boomeranged between glaring, ranting, and plotting out possible results in the air with her finger. Her wings had been fluttering nonstop, and her mouth had not ceased making noise since it opened. "Dead? Hah! Fools wish! I will cut their throats! Disembowel them all with a rusty spoon and then make pudding pie of their innards."

Shikamaru was strangely calm for a person who was probably about to be killed in the next four hours. "She's a bit more violent than the lot of you, you realize?" He mumbled somberly.

Neither of the males responded her. Gaara continued glaring at the wall of their current dwellings as if it would crumble under his gaze. Kankurou cracked his knuckles periodically, slow gurgling growls erupting from his gut.

"I see neither of you have moved." Baki commented simply as he entered the room.

Temari flew up from her seat on the mossy bed. "I refuse. I adamantly refuse to take part in whatever the council wishes to do. I quit you lot. You all quit me. We were happy that way." Her lips were pursed and eyes a furious black coal. Shikamaru wondered if her appearance scared the rather tall tree-like creature. It was certainly frightening enough.

"Temari, when you involve a human in fairy affairs, it ceases to be your problem alone."

"What fairy affairs!?" Temari lifted some feet off the air, her nose pointed straight at Baki's own. "I don't think I've let him in on any fae nonsense." She snapped. "I've only let him in on my own affairs."

"The council believes him a threat."

"Explain to me how." Temari dared furiously.

"Temari, please, feet back on the ground and face away from mine."

She shook violently. "No! No! No! We're going home. H-O-M-E. And you are going to tell those idiots in charge that we are none of their business."

"That is not up for me to decide."

Before Temari could start ranting again, Gaara cut in. "Temari, it's best if we follow their protocol. Maybe that way we can convince them otherwise. Not seeing them would only cause more suspicion and anger on their part. If they don't see it our way…" he paused, "Then we figure it out."

Temari slowly lowered back to the floor, her wings though, did not halt their flapping fury. "Fine." Shikamaru felt her hand close around his own. "I presume they want to see us now?"

"They want to see him."

Temari scoffed. "They want him? They get me too. Package deal."

"Baki," Gaara cleared his throat, "seeing as his death affects us all, I believe we should all be present."

"I was told—"

"If this council has any objections, I would like to speak privately with them on the matter as to our special circumstances. I'm sure they will see reason in this respect." Gaara explained smoothly.

"I will bring up the issue." Baki said stiffly. The oak of the man then swirled out of the room, stepping out in the most grandeur way possible.

Shikamaru marveled at the proceedings. He'd never quite seen Gaara take charge so suddenly. He always assumed that as the eldest Temari would be the voice of the siblings. Maybe she would be if the situation didn't anger her so much. Even with Temari out, Shikamaru would've presumed Kankurou would take the role, but the purple marked fairy had yet to utter a word.

Shikamaru winced as Temari's grip on his hand reached unseemly proportions. "Please stop squeezing my hand, Temari."

"I'm not squeezing your hand."

"It's purple."

"Purple's good for you."

"Temari!"

She let go slightly. Her face was clouded in doubt and worry. "Die? Die? Like hell you'll die. I'll kill you before that happens."

"A bit of a pointless action, don't you think? Either way I cease to exist." Shikamaru mumbled.

A loud slam sent Shikamaru jumping a few feet in the air. To the left of him Kankurou had punched the heavy clay wall leave a crumbling hole. Shikamaru seemed to be the only one paying him any mind; his actions did not make Temari or Gaara falter in the least. Shikamaru considered saying something, but figured there was nothing he could say. He wasn't even sure why Kankurou was so furious.

Kankurou's fists shook. "Why are you so calm?" He hissed.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Not sure. Lack of reality, I guess. All feels like one giant dream."

Temari slapped him when he said that. "Well, wake up!"

"I don't get the point anyway; why are we scared of these people?" The lazy human sighed.

Kankurou seemed to be having trouble forming words rather than indiscernible growls, "The council runs the fae on the pretext of keeping control, but all they do is mess with the nature of things and amuse themselves by harming others." He curled his fist, "These things are murderers and all of our kind smiles and thanks them for their supposed justice." He slammed the other fist in the wall making a matching dent. "It's sickening."

"I guess this isn't the first time they've screwed you over." Shikamaru mumbled.

"Other than our father's foolishness," Temari said softly, "they're responsible for all of our hardship."

Shikamaru stared around the dark and earthy room. It smelled nice and felt like home, but it wasn't home. It was a temporary cell for his impending execution. How did fae kill anyway? Would it be painless? Looking at his three family members, he found himself hoping so. They were angry and irrational, something he found only happened when they were at wits' end. Well, save for Gaara, who never seemed to act very irrational. Scary, livid, and quiet reactions were more his forte.

The oak creature wandered into the room once more. "They've agreed to see you all. And they wish to do so now."

Temari's grip on his fingers tightened again. Shikamaru stared absently at the floor. Shouldn't he feel a little more uncertain at meeting these creatures? He should feel something to that effect, but all he could really think of was that the way the vines curled into parts of the strong clay wall seemed to bring the castle itself together. It was such nice architecture.

Baki swished out just as abruptly and extravagantly as before. Temari pulled Shikamaru along after the tree-man. Gaara took to Shikamaru's left one step ahead while Kankurou trudged behind them by about four steps. Onward to the executioner's block, Shikamaru thought sullenly.

Baki led them to a rather large ornate wooden door. The door was four times taller than he himself was, carved with illustrations of leaves, flowers, bushes, two simple Latin phrases, and ancient fairy symbols. Gaara had been teaching him to read the fairy symbols; from what he could gather the words 'we are just' were carved in the door along with the phrases ad finem and ab initio. "To the end" and "From the beginning". Grass moss crawled into the heavy wooden seal along the edges of the door with silver and gold threads dusting the frame.

It was beautiful.

He said so to Temari. She only stared at him in a mixture of sadness, anger, and agreement. He only wished he could read the entirety of the fairy tongue inscribed into the door; he was sure he would appreciate it far more if he could. Without warning, the door shuttered open quickly without a squeak of any sort; it was almost as if the door were newly made instead of the centuries the door frame seemed to suggest. Shikamaru could not see what lay inside the room, for all he could see was but shadows. "They await you." Baki announced with finality.

"Fucking assholes." Kankurou swore.

Gaara took the lead stepping rather authoritatively and confidently into the dark room. Temari led him in next, her steps a bit clumsy and uncertain, but determined. "C'mon, Kankurou."

Kankurou followed in hesitantly, muttering something about sneaky underhanded fae. "I'm coming."

Shikamaru didn't notice much as he walked the first steps into the room, most likely because he couldn't see anything. As he walked along a barely lighted soft floor, there was nothing to grace his eyes but black shadows and the feeling that there was a lot there he couldn't see. "Temari—"

"Hush. You'll see."

His steps didn't even echo in the room, they seemed swallowed up in what he perceived as great vastness of the room.

He stopped as Temari signaled him firmly. He couldn't see Gaara, Kankurou, or Temari through the heavy darkness. While they were not in his vision, he could certainly feel Temari, from her grip on his own hand to the light breeze created from her fluttering wings. He could hear the grinding of Kankurou's teeth somewhere behind him and he could also hear the soft murmur of Gaara's even breath.

"This is him?" A high, disbelieving, feminine voice laughed from somewhere above him. "This is the creature you all are so afraid of?" The voice continued, "Why I could smush him with the flick of a finger." Lights slowly started to glow from a point above in the fixated darkness and shapes started to take form. Five straight-backed figures and one soft bendy shape. As the lights increased Shikamaru began to see with clarity. Before them, raised above on a dais were six silver chairs that seemed to be made of liquid string winding in and out among themselves, pointing almost menacingly up above. In the two center chairs sat a broody dark human wrapped in heavy curling shadow wings and another similar creature, but female, perhaps a little older. On her left a small ivory skinned creature with curling horns sat glaring at them. On the side of the dark male an imposing creature with paper-thin and visible skin watched them in obvious disinterest. Multi-colored veins throbbed underneath the skin and watery grey eyes dominated his features. To the left of him, a little ways off, a petite girl lay sidewise across her chair, an even smile on her lips. She had dark brown hair, white eyes with a shimmering rainbow glow, sand colored skin dusted with freckles of golden brown, and the most peculiar of all were the pearlescent ornate designs etched on her skin. When Shikamaru squinted his eyes it almost looked like it was fairy writing carved on her skin. He couldn't say tattooed, for the markings seemed deeper and more natural than any inked skin.

These were his killers?

"Hush, Kirai." The dark-winged male snapped.

The young girl straightened in her chair, a ghost of a smile still playing on her lips. Something – something angry seemed to be written in her eyes at being silenced. Shikamaru just wasn't sure what exactly it was or to whom it was directed to. "Very well, Kano."

The dark-winged woman smiled viciously. "Step forward, human."

"Where is exactly is forward to you people?" He asked not wanting to get too close to them in all actuality. They seemed a bit too much for him to chew at the moment. "Like, how much?"

"Step forward." She repeated coldly.

Shrugging Shikamaru took three steps forward.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"Not really, actually. Care to mention it to me?"

Behind him Temari inhaled sharply. "Watch your tongue." She warned. "They're not forgiving."

The horned one looked down coldly. "Why do you live with her?"

Shikamaru paused, uncertain of what answer they were looking for. The dark creatures didn't seem to care for his answer, wanting only to skin him alive. The translucent one didn't seem to care for his existence at all, as if his life or death meant nothing, in fact. The horned one seemed to have already judged him, but willing to listen. And the young girl watched him in a mixture of contempt and confusion. He wasn't sure what any of it meant. He decided to opt for a slightly evasive answer at first. "I want to."

"Why do you want to?" The horned one tried again.

"I love her." It really was the only answer he had.

The dark woman laughed. "Love? Ridiculous." None of the other four seemed to believe his statement either. "She's a fairy. You're a human. That is impossible."

Temari bristled. "Why don't you—" She didn't finish her statement. Gaara had her mouth shut tight with sand in an instant. The five fairies turned to look in interest.

"Who did that?" The translucent one slurred in a peculiar accent. "The sand?"

"I did." Gaara's voice was calm and superior. "Sometimes Temari sticks her foot in when it is not duly appropriate."

"Indeed." He mused. "A nice ability. Haven't seen that one."

"We are not here to appreciate gifts, Amun." The dark woman snapped.

Amun nodded. "I suppose not."

"Human!" The dark one thundered, Kano, if Shikamaru recalled his name correctly. Shikamaru stared up blankly. "I hear tales that you are an alchemist."

Temari mumbled something incoherent through her sand gag. Shikamaru presumed it was something along the lines of 'how the hell do you know that, you jerks?'. "And?"

"Are they true?"

"Yes."

"What experiments are you conducting with our people?"

Shikamaru blinked. Crap. All the times he'd messed with Kankurou were about to bite him in the ass. The tensing in Gaara's shoulders, the lack of movement engulfing Temari, and the low hiss from Kankurou were evidence to that. Well, there was no point in lying, now. If he did, then they would just ask the other three and his credibility went out the window. Was there some way he could dodge the question? Hm, probably not. "Nothing of any value. Sparring amusement."

The young girl jerked up. "You have conducted experiments?" She seemed angry. This time he knew she was angry at him. Well, there weren't what was potentially his only ally.

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't. But like I said, it wasn't of any value. And it wasn't so much on fairies as they were experiments in general."

"Do you plot something against us, human?" Kano questioned deeply.

"Of course not." Shikamaru scoffed.

"Bah!" The woman exclaimed, "What good is his word? He is but human."

"I have not told you a lie."

The woman's eyes could chill stone. "Words from a human's lips have less merit than those from a frogtoad's fingertips. You are not bound by any oath as we are. Humans lie. That is all they do."

"If I may speak, medame?" Gaara asked calmly.

She scoffed. "Speak."

"He does not mean our kind any harm. He has saved myself and my brother from certain death. He is naught but a stupid human prone to stupid occupations such as amusing himself with Kankurou to pass his meaningless whims. Stupidity is in his nature, but disloyalty is not. He's bound himself to Temari, and will not cross her or her kind intentionally."

"You say intentionally." The girl cut in, her eyes taking Shikamaru in disapproval. "Do you believe he will ever harm us?"

"Any one of us could harm the other by accident."

"Such diplomatic answers; just give it to me straight." She half snarled.

"No. I don't believe he will ever harm us."

"Bah!" The dark woman scoffed, "His opinion is not worthy enough for us to judge upon. We must make decisions based on what we know."

"How do you know what you know is enough to make an accurate decision?" Shikamaru cut in without thinking of his statement.

"I say we kill him." The horned creature snapped.

"I concur." The woman sneered.

The dark man nodded. "It is for the best."

The translucent man raised his eyes to stare at him deeply. "Not that it counts for much considering the voting poll," He drawled, "but I disagree."

"Three against one." The woman snapped. "He dies."

Shikamaru swallowed. Temari began fighting against the sand. Kankurou started swearing.

"I believe Kirai has not voted." Gaara replied softly.

"Even if she votes in your favor," The woman sneered, "His death is still the clear victor." She tossed her hair behind her head. "Besides, her vote does not account for much."

The girl tensed visibly.

Gaara watched the woman skeptically. "It does if she chooses to invoke the old rites."

"No one has done so for decades. And no one will now." The dark woman enthused. "Baki! Take him to be—"

"Excuse me, Falynne!" The girl straightened. "Nothing happens unless I decree so." The fury in her eyes seemed to parallel the rising tides of the light given off in the room. "He will not die."

"You have no power to invoke the old rites!" Kano clamored.

"She does," Amun said slowly, "to introduce the fairy trials."

Kano's anger faded promptly. Instead a satisfied smile stretched across his lips. "Is that what you wish, Kirai?"

The girl pursed her lips. "Is that all I can do, Amun?"

"In your current situation, yes, it is all."

"You!" she snapped, her voice cold and annoyed, "the leader."

Gaara blinked. "You are speaking to me?"

"Yes, you." She huffed. "Do you want his death or do you wish to have him attempt the trials?"

Gaara shrugged visibly. "It is not much of a choice, princess. I suppose we desire to allow an attempt at the trials." He nodded. "A slim chance is better than none."

"You know what the trials entail of?"

"Naturally. They are famous."

She slouched back in her chair. "So be it. The human shall be tried tomorrow."

The woman pursed her lips in annoyance. The dark man smiled in anticipation. The horned one grinned malevolently. The translucent one examined his nails.

"You may leave." Kano thundered.

Shikamaru shuddered. He didn't much like the sound of these 'fairy trials'. Based on Temari's dour look, Kankurou's increased anger, and the look of worry on Gaara's face, he figured he could safely assume these trials were not a good omen or a gift. They might be worse than his very death.

Oh, joy.

A/N: Yay, chapter one. I don't really like the chapter title, though. If anyone has better suggestions for me, I'd love to hear them.

Oh, and in case you'd like to know, Kirai means 'hatred'. (Thanks to violaqu33n for pointing out the correct defintion to me!) Kano means 'one's masculine power; capability'. I made up Falynne, so if it means something, I'm not aware of it. Amun means 'God of mystery'.