I wasn't planning on adding this one, but since I already had it written and The Withered asked for some angst, it worked out. :) Not completely angst, but it sort of is.

TITLE: Solitary Darkness

GENRE: Drama, Angst, (Romance)

RATING: K+

I mark the days on my forehead so I can never see how long I've been there unless I see a mirror. The next time I see one will be when I'm released. So I'll only go completely insane once I'm already out, and that's not so bad.

A little bit of panic creeps up on me when my forehead doesn't have enough room and I start tallying down my temples. I get a little nervous when I reach the corners of my eyes and downright scared when my cheeks filled up with marks. Terror starts up in the back of my head when I have to start tallying the days down to my jaw, and I figure that I can't count under my chin very well so next, I start down my neck.

Bile rises at the back of my throat when I start seeing the marks run down my chest, flow over my shoulders, and crawl down my skin. They look hideous, reminders of the months of imprisonment that I'm still suffering through now and I mark the day.

I feel helpless, so terrifyingly powerless, that it is all I can do not to curl into a ball and rock back and forth like a child. Upon imprisonment, they sealed my chakra. I have nothing but my hands and feet which did nothing against the seals that shut me into this gloomy dungeon.

When they let me out, I stumble into the light, squeezing my eyes closed against the brightness. I don't know how long I've been down there, but it feels like a decade since I saw the sun. In the desert, it's the worst, and the heat is harsh on the back of my neck as they usher me quickly. A new pair of hands are on me, a sweet, familiar voice whispering that it would be okay, that I'm safe now.

We enter a cool building and I finally feel the light dissipate enough that I can crack my eyes open, and the first thing I see is light green hovering before me. Then blue shoots towards me and I'm pulled into a tight embrace I don't even want to escape.

Her smell is upon me, and my entire body which has been stiff and uncooperative until now relaxes. I can only hoarsely get the name out. "Mizukage-sama?"

"Gaara," she breathes into my shoulder, hers shaking.

I wonder how long it really has been. I ask to be escorted to the restroom and Kankuro is the one to lead me there. He tries to warn me that I look like hell, but I give a weak smile and say, "I know." Inside, I feel the blood drain from my face. The black tallies were like a million bugs skittering around my face all the way to my chest. I couldn't breathe.

Forcing myself to calm, I try to count them, but there are so many smudges that I can only estimate about forty-three up until my neck. Two hundred and fifteen days, and I can't count my chest and shoulders out of pure fear that I never experienced before. Probably over a year of my life I was in solitary darkness, captured underground, while the Fourth Shinobi War raged above my very head.

I furiously wash the marks away, leaving only slight traces of the black that once was. I would count the days by whenever they would feed me, about once a day, but they most likely didn't come every day, so even my calculated numbers were low. Sickness threats to rise but I push that down by sheer willpower. Kankuro asks if I'm okay from the other side of the door and I shout that I'm fine too quickly for him to believe and then he's in the room, eyebrows lifting in concern.

"She was really worried about you the whole time, that Mizukage," he says softly.

My mouth opens a little, and the shock is too much to overcome. She cared?

"I don't know what you did to her, but she's been a mess, saying she should've known when you were right under her feet. But there's a reason why she couldn't feel you, right?" Kankuro held his gaze steadily. "Your chakra points are severed. I can't feel the tiniest bit of chakra from you."

I grit my teeth hard, clenching my fists. "I can't be Kazekage anymore."

"No, but do you really think we've been without a leader this past year and a half?"

"Year and a half?" I croak, stumbling backwards.

Kankuro watches me sympathetically. "Let's go back outside. Maybe you'll find that Mei-san — you know, the Mizukage — is really helpful."

Nodding numbly, I follow Kankuro out of the bathroom, and Mei finds me instantly, her visible light green eye shiny from the tears that she tries to keep away. I remember when we were at the Summit of the Five Kages and she stood up for me, smiling at me cheerfully after I was forced to kill my own father and saying that she was proud of me for being the strong Kazekage I was.

We talked, then, and I still don't know how we formed such a bond. But she held true to that bond, and now I'm in her arms again, feeling the horrors of that confinement slowly fading away.