Disclaimer: …… BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRP, that burp belongs to ME! Which is good, because not much else in this fic does. On with the show.
Through Crimson Eyes
Chapter 14: Dreams Falling Like the Rain
Pure, undiluted drivel. Complete and utter bullshit.
That was the basic gist of Tsunade's thoughts as she strolled down the hallway of her manor, recalling the wake that had taken place about a day ago. She really wanted to crush something right about now, and while she was generally not all that violent a person, at least not without some sort of provocation, she found herself hoping that one of her aides would come in, daring to laden her down with yet another mountain of paper work. It would at least give her a reason to pulp somebody.
Speaking of which…
"Where's my paperwork!" She shouted out. There was a crash, followed by a few audible shrieks and the sound of rapid footsteps beating a hasty retreat in the opposite direction. Tsunade sighed in disappointment.
Unfortunately they seemed to have become wise to her moods and have been avoiding her quite a bit as of late…
She sighed again, rubbing her temples in attempt to ward off the migraine she knew was coming. Just sitting through that damn wake made her want to puke. Despite how callous it might have seemed, the people killed in that mob got what was coming to them. The only regret that she had about it was that Naruto, wherever he was, was probably drowning in guilt right about now, if he had even come to his senses that is.
She really hoped that he had. Though she had not seen him herself, the description that Jiraiya had given her before he had left had sent a chill through her blood.
This brought her back to the reasons behind her current destination. The third, for all his failings, had been the biggest contributor to the Hokage personal library of any of the Hokage, including the Fourth. There was something that she had to discover, and if there was any information to be found, it would be here.
A slight sound outside caught her attention briefly.
"What a time for rain." She sighed as she watched water gather against the windows. As if her mood wasn't bad enough. After another moment watching the rain fall, she turned back, opening the large set of double doors which led into the Hokage library. She cracked her knuckles.
"Oh well. I guess it's time I got started."
The rain had begun just shortly before reaching their destination, cascading down in a mild torrent. Still, it seemed only appropriate considering the scene which appeared before them.
"N-nechan?" Kisa sniffled, her eyes already beginning to leak tears down her face as she looked upon the sacked and burnt out remains of what had once been a small village. Half charred wood lay strewn about. Windows were shattered. Bodies lay bloody, rain-soaked and forgotten in the streets. Kisa turned her head away, her small body trembling harshly.
Asuna fared only little better. Her wide eyes gazed down upon the village, tears making their way down unheeded. Her lower lip quivered slightly. She opened her mouth a few times before she finally found enough voice to speak.
"Come on… Kisa. Let's… let's get inside."
Sniffling a bit and biting back her own tears, she and Kisa continued to haul Naruto's comatose body down the wooded hills towards the skeletal remains of home.
The sight that greeted them was even more horrifying from close up. Now that they were close, they could recognize the corpses, putting a face to each one, faces that had, merely a few days ago, been full of life. Faces that they each knew intimately.
They finally made their way to a burnt building at the far end of town, a structure that had once been so familiar, yet now seemed so alien to them. They stopped at the front door, both hesitant to take that first step in, each considering the notion that if they did not see what they expected to see inside that it might make the whole situation simply disappear.
Still, the rain continued to fall, and their trembling became more intense as the cold rain mixed with their broken hearts. Finally, biting her lip, Asuna stepped through the door, followed by Kisa, Naruto still dangling between them.
They made their way slowly through the small home, from room to room, all the while both expecting and dreading what they would find. Coming upon the last room, the bedroom, Asuna recoiled in horror, her own sobs drown out by her sisters agonized shriek.
It certainly was not unexpected, neither one of them believed that reality would be anything otherwise. Still, seeing your own parents hacked and bloody corpses would unnerve even the coldest individuals.
"MAMA!" Kisa shrieked, immediately dropping Naruto's legs to run over to the two bodies. Left with the boys full weight, Asuna dropped to her knees, Naruto's head landing in her lap. If she noticed, she gave no sign of it, her gaze fixed on the gruesome scene.
"MAMA! PAPA!" Kisa continued to cry, clutching desperately at her parents bodies. Finally recovering a bit from her shock, Asuna managed to drag Narutos body into another room. After laying him down, she walked back out, her eyes shadowed by her bangs.
"…Kisa…" She whispered, gently laying a hand on her sisters shoulder.
Kisa simply kept crying.
"Kisa. Come on, we…" She stopped in mid sentence to bite back her own sobs "…We should g-give them a burial. So… so come on, help me… help me bury them."
Kisa nodded, rubbing at her eyes "O-ok…"
"Geeze, it's raining at a time like this?" Sakura griped, attempting to shield her face from the light downpour. Looking over to her right, she made a face at Gaara who was walking calm and collected as ever.
And dry.
Apparently Gaara was the only one who had thought ahead enough to bring an umbrella. The other members of the group apparently shared her sentiments, each of them looking through wet bangs towards Gaara with undisguised envy.
There's a city close by here." Jiraiya stated, attempting to ring out his massive mane of white hair "We'll take shelter there until the rain stops."
"But we can't just stop our search now! We…" Sakura began.
"This rainstorm will only get worse. See." Jiraiya stated, pointing towards the horizon. Massive clouds were gathered as far as the eye could see, and as if in confirmation, the rain seemed to pick up the pace, coming down harder and harder.
"But…"
"And besides, ever since Naruto's chakra disappeared we have basically been wandering about with absolutely no leads or plan as to how to pick up his trail." Jiraiya finished. Sakura looked as though she might argue some more, but eventually nodded and gave up the debate, looking defeated.
"That would be the best course of action anyway. It's getting colder, and none of us will be in any state to travel if we end up catching a cold." Neji agreed. Next to him, Hinata shivered in the cold, drawing her jacket closer to herself.
Gaara simply nodded.
"Yosh! Then let's go!" Lee shouted from the rear of the line, apparently still full of energy despite the dismal atmosphere. He started running.
"For crying out loud Lee" Sakura shouted back at him, fixing him with an irritated look "figures that you can be so damn cheerful even in this nasty atmospheeEEEEEEEEEEEK!" Sakura shrieked out the last part of the sentence as Lee immediately scooped her up and onto his back in mid run, taking off down the muddy road, Sakura's voice shouting various curses all the while. The others stood there dumbly for a few moments.
"Ummm, ok then." Jiraiya said before he began running after them. Neji and Hinata were not far behind, Neji helping her along by her hand.
Which left Gaara alone and dry in the rain. He let out a slight snort before he continued walking, obviously intending to take his time.
A small sound, barely noticeable in the pitter patter of falling rain stopped him in his tracks. He looked up towards the sound in time to see a small bird fly off into the sky.
Gaara continued staring after the bird for a few more moments as it vanished from sight before he continued to walk through the driving rain.
His pace was much quicker than before however.
"This weather is such a pain in the ass!"
"Just try to deal with it without complaining Deidara."
Two cloaked figures stood perched in a high tree overlooking the massive forest, their large hats dripping with rain water. Their black cowls hung limp and damp against them, the red cloud design taking on a duller color from water saturation.
"Yeah, yeah whatever. And why the hell are you with me anyway. This is my target you know, yeah."
Sasori sighed "You do remember that we operate in pairs don't you? Whether this is your target or not is irrelevant, I am still required to accompany you and provide backup where necessary. Besides, he is not traveling alone."
"Geeze boss, you really don't think much of me do you? I can handle some snot nosed gennins no problem, yeah." Deidara shot back.
"It is not the gennin which is our concern. One of the legendary three is accompanying them as well, and if our information is correct then he is by no means an opponent to take lightly. The Jinchuuriki is also quite dangerous as well. The fact that there are several gennins with them would simply add to the trouble. We should wait until a suitable opening presents itself to us."
As Sasori ended his lecture, a small bird landed on Deidara's shoulder. It began to emit small, nearly imperceptible tweets into his ear. After a moment, the blond haired Akatsuki grinned.
"Looks like we might have our opening sooner than we thought, yeah." He crowed. Taking the bird from his shoulder, he gripped it in his hand, crushing it back down into a ball of clay. Then, standing up, the two then leapt from their perch and into the rain soaked forest.
"Gaara-san?"
They had arrived in a small city just fifteen minutes after they had broken into a full out run in the rain. It wasn't until Hinata's small voice spoke up that they noticed that one member of their little band had yet to make an appearance.
"What was that, Hinata-sama?" Neji asked, turning to look back at her. Hinata's gaze was focused back out towards the road they had just come from.
"What is taking him so long?" Jiraiya grumbled irritably.
"Do you think he's ok?" Sakura asked.
Jiraiya looked thoughtful, his face set in an unusually serious and thoughtful pose.
'Damn! If it had been anyone of the rest of us, I wouldn't be so worried. Every one of us is capable of dealing with the typical brigand or thug that might be encountered on the road. Gaara, however, is at considerably more risk by himself with the Akatsuki running around hunting for demon containers.' Breaking from his thoughts, Jiraiya turned back to the assembled group.
"Neji, Lee, you two come with me." The hermit stated, pointing to the two boys in turn. They both nodded.
"What about us?" Sakura asked.
"You two try and arrange a room for tonight. We'll be back as soon as possible." With that, he and the two young men took off running back down the road. This left Hinata and Sakura standing by themselves in the rain.
"Well… I suppose we should get a room for tonight…" Hinata began.
"What, are you kidding!" Sakura exclaimed, already starting off down the road as well.
"S-sakura-san, wait. Jiraiya-san said that we should…"
"Screw what he said! That old bastard seemed real worried about Gaara, despite the fact that Gaara is probably the most capable member of our group at looking after himself. There's a lot more to this than Jiraiya is letting on, and I going to find out what it is." Sakura finished, her tone indicating a definite end to the conversation.
'Especially since it also involves Naruto' She added silently.
"But… o-ok." Hinata acquiesced. She then ran after the pink haired girl back into the rain.
The sound of dozens of wings was the only warning Gaara had before everything seemed to explode around him. Dozens of small objects, what appeared to be small birds, hit the ground around him, each detonating into a small explosion which sent a mass of wet mud spraying about him.
"…"
The explosions caught Gaara completely by surprise, throwing him violently to the muddy ground. His umbrella lay tattered a few feet away.
Leaping quickly to his feet, Gaara scanned the area around him, looking for the source of the unexpected assault. Another faint sound signaled another attack as a small bird dove straight toward him. Confidant now, Gaara stood his ground, knowing that his shield of sand would protect him.
So it was quite a surprise when the bird detonated just a foot in front of him, the small explosion catching him directly and throwing him down to the ground again.
"…!"
What the hell was going on? His shield of sand had almost never failed to deflect an attack before. Looking behind him, he found his answer.
His sand had indeed leapt to his defense, but due to the rain, the sand was quickly soaked to the point where it was no longer fluid. It moved sluggishly behind him, chunks of wet sand falling to the ground.
"Having problems?"
Gaara looked up towards the sound of the voice to see what appeared to be a giant clay bird floating in the sky. Perched atop it was a small figure in a black cloak, bright red clouds embroidered upon it. The figure smiled wickedly at him, casually holding several small birds in one hand.
"Awww, too bad. Guess your sand doesn't work in the rain, yeah. Oh well, that makes my job easier." He said cheerfully. Several more birds seemed to simply form in his other hand. Each of them then took flight, flying in a circular pattern around the fallen Gaara. Then, with a small gesture, the flock of explosive birds dove down towards their target again.
"So just what is going on?" Asked Neji as he, Lee and Jiraiya ran through the rain, back towards where they had last seen the sand nin. Jiraiya was silent for a moment, apparently debating just how much information he should reveal. Finally he responded "Gaara, like Naruto, is a demon container as you already know. There is a group, an organization by the name Akatsuki which are, for whatever reason, gathering the demons which have been contained in various vessels."
"WHAT! NARUTO-KUN HAS A DEMON!" Lee shouted. This was all news to him. Jiraiya simply nodded.
"What kind of organization is the Akatsuki? And why are they looking for the demon vessels?" Neji asked.
"They are a militant group made up of various S-class missing nin. There are roughly nine total, ten if you include Orochimaru who we know recently quit the organization. As for why they want the demon vessels… We don't know."
Neji looked thoughtful. 'So… they're being hunted. Both Naruto and Gaara, as well as…' Neji was struck by a sudden question as he stopped in mid thought "Jiraiya-san, just how many demon vessels are there?"
Apparently not expecting this question, Jiraiya gave Neji a double take. Then, sighing he answered "Nine total. Each has a different number of tails. Gaara is the container for Shuukaku, the one-tail, and Naruto is the container for Kyuubi, the Nine-tails."
"WHAT! THE NINE-TAILS! NARUTO'S GOT THE NINE-TAILS!" Lee shouted again. Jiraiya gave him a glare.
"Well, in any case, now we know why Gaara should not be left alone for any extended period of time. If these Akatsuki…" Neji trailed off as his sharp eyes focused on something farther down the road. Noting his sudden silence, both Jiraiya and Lee turned to look back towards the main road.
There in the middle of the muddy road stood a hunched figure. Its posture was that of an old man, though it was the clothing that drew their attention. It was garbed in a black cloak with red clouds. Jiraiya sucked in his breath.
"So can I assume that this is one of the aforementioned Akatsuki?" Neji asked.
"… Yeah…" Jiraiya said, gritting his teeth.
The figure looked up, two malicious eyes peering almost lazily out over a simple face mask. The voice that then emanated from its form was deep, almost hollow sounding.
"I'm afraid I can't let you go any further down this road, not until our business is concluded that is." Sasori stated in a lazy draw. A large barbed tail rose slowly out from behind the cloaked figure, swaying back and forth over its head like a massive scorpion tail.
"Well I'm afraid that I can't let you block us." Jiraiya shot back.
Sasori regarded him calmly "Very well… I suppose that I'll have to waste my time killing you then… though I have a feeling that you'll all be excellent additions to my collection..."
It took the two of them nearly an hour to bury their parent's bodies in the driving rain, both of them working diligently despite the downpour. After their work was done, they offered a tearful prayer before they finally went back inside to escape the torrent.
Covered head to toe in wet mud and stained with blood the two girls entered the small home. Kisa, no longer able to hold back anymore dashed into what had once been her room, her cries resounding through the walls.
Asuna, walking haltingly, unsteadily down the small hallway, made her way to the main bedroom. Her glazed eyes once again took in the sight, crimson staining the floor where her parents had been lying. So many memories came flooding to her as she looked almost unseeing into the room that had once been so familiar. Their parents smiling faces as the two sisters ran through the house, the meals they spent together. Hugs that they would never have again…
"It's… it's not fair." She whispered, walking over to kneel at that spot. A drop of water fell to mix with the drying blood. Another followed it, then another. And another.
"It's not fair! I-it's not… it's not fair!" She cried out, not even bothering to hold it in anymore. She pounded a small fist against the floor, her teeth biting into her lower lip so hard that her own blood began to dribble off to mix with her parents on the floor. She collapsed bodily against floor, her head pressed against the blood stained mat.
"It's not… it's not…" She murmured brokenly once more.
She lay there for a while, her body twisting with sobs until eventually she slipped into an exhausted sleep.
AN: No I am not dead. No I do not intend to stop writing on this story. And yes I am planning on completing it, though it is turning out to be a much larger, though much more enjoyable undertaking than I had originally anticipated. Though I am a little embarrassed to say that for this chapter I suffered from the very rare 'Writers overload', a condition in which the writer is tied up with 'too many ideas' rather than a 'lack of ideas'. Simply put, I wrote about six different versions of this chapter, and frankly it took me awhile to settle on which one I should submit. I guess too much inspiration can be a bad thing as well. Go figure.
It's getting a little dark huh? I should probably start thinking about putting this in the angst section. Just to let people know, I am not exactly a sucker for the overly sweet, candy land type stories. I don't dislike happy endings per-say, but I do enjoy scenarios in which characters are forced to adapt to the shit that happens in life, rather than everything magically turning out the way they wished it would. It just seems too unrealistic to me. And as they say; life is seldom, if ever, fair. And another note, while this is by no means a spoiler, I will openly admit that I will not pull any spontaneous Dues ex Machina's in my fic. And what this means of course is that the threat of death is that much more real, and that much more important to character actions and decisions. It's the constant threat which inevitably hangs over the lives of ninjas and any others who follow the warriors path, and it just isn't good when that threat is greatly trivialized. I also HATE resurrection plot devices that seem pulled out of the author's ass because they don't want a particular character to kick the bucket permanently, despite the fact that they put that character in a certain death situation in the first place. And yes this is a rant about Gaara living (Don't get me wrong, I love Gaara's character, as people reading my story can tell. But I am objective enough to know that his death would have served the plot far better than him living and getting groupies. Ok rant over)
Oh, and another thing I would like to mention while I'm at it is that I will be taking the next week or so to re-write some of the earlier chapters of this story. I went back over my early chapters and began cracking up at just how bad they were (At least compared to my later chapters.) so I intend to go through and give each of them a bit of a face lift. Don't worry though, I don't intend to change anything drastic, the same material will be there, just re-done in a more complete fashion. I will post a note in the synopsis stating which chapters have been redone, so for those who have followed my story thus far (and thank you all very much by the way) be sure to go back over the early chapters again, and hopefully it will add more to the story I have weaved thus far. I will then resume with chapter 15 the following week (Hopefully).
Thank you for your patience and support.
Chi13iM