Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
OCs © reaper-of-lost-souls
A/N: Well I had some time today so I decided to review the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Here's some more information on Suzume. Once again if you have any questions you can ask. If you would also like to suggest an OC(s) that's fine too. I'm open to comments and reviews, but let me just warn you in advance that I tend to not answer my messages for a while. I used to be on top of that, but now I've been behind. So yeah. That's all. I don't intend to have all my comments as long as the first chapter was… ENJOY!
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"Is it bad obasan?" Temari asked while Suzume had her back to her, looking down at her hands and twiddling her fingers nervously.
"The girl will be fine Temari," a pleasant looking man with sandy brown hair and big brown eyes answered, but his eyes remained fixated on the tattoos on the small girl's thin body. He gently patted away the blood on her skin, wrapping bandages on her wounds that made the child look like a mummy being prepared for burial. There were five tattoos on her body: two on her ankles, two on her upper arms, and one on her stomach. The symbol of fuuton was on her left arm, ration on her right arm, doton on her right ankle, suiton on her left, and koton upon her stomach. Each symbol had a circle tattooed around it, a symbol of the endless circle around each image. Without those symbols the girl was still in bad shape. She must have been starving for days, raw bruises on her wrists and around her ankles as well as her neck, her long raven hair was messy, un-kept, and will probably need to be cut, and her skin was pale due to being underground. If that hadn't been enough, she looked like she had been through a war. The hot sun had dried out her skin and she looked parched, but Suzume was still alive. How? "… Are you alright child?"
"Yes," Suzume answered meekly, barely caring that the man was poking her and touching her wounds. "… Are you going to make me leave?"
"What?" Yashamaru looked up at the girl confused, Suzume staring down at him with lifeless eyes.
"Are you going to kick me out? I wouldn't be surprised if you did… I don't care if you do," she told him, looking down at the ground.
Yashamaru exchanged glances with Temari before a light chuckle escaped his lips, Suzume looking at him puzzled while he gave her a grin. "Of course not child. Why would we do something like that –"
"Well no one likes me so… I figured you would hate me too," she shrugged. "Isn't that what people do? Spit on me and call me an evil beast?"
"… Now why would anyone do that –"
"I-I don't know, but they do. So why not you?" she asked with a cold look on her face, but Yashamaru could see the pain appearing in her darkened blue eyes.
"Because… because I try to see the best in an individual," he smirked, lifting up her arm and wrapping the last of the bandages down her biceps. "You must have been through a lot. What happened to you?"
"… I don't want to talk about it," she answered in a quiet whisper, noticing the man was still giving her a smile that made her pout even more.
"Do you even know what happened –"
"It's all a blur," Suzume sighed deeply, "and I just know a lot of… pain."
"I'm sorry," he frowned as he let go of her arm. "Am I hurting you –"
"Not that," she shook her head. "I-it was something else… that you don't want to hear. I won't say it."
"I don't want to hear it or you don't want to say it?" he asked, but the girl looked down, back at her hands that were bandaged up except for a small piece of flesh seeping out of the side of her wrist. "… Temari did you find any clothes yet?"
"Oh? S-sorry," she chuckled, quickly dashing over to her closet and looking through the various piles of clothes she had. Suzume stared at Temari emotionlessly, knowing she was staring at her like everyone else does. Always staring… the thought made her frown. To be seen as a monster or just a stranger. Never as Suzume, a person.
Yashamaru stared at Suzume, studying her eyes. Perhaps bringing up the past isn't the best idea right now. Proper rest will do the girl some good. Then maybe she would like to talk. As for telling the Kazekage Temari and then Gaara pleaded to not tell anyone, even their father. Why? Sure the man wasn't bad, but Yashamaru could see why he supposed, at least in Gaara's case. If the Kazekage made the child leave the boy would be devastated. What Temari said was true; this girl seemed to be a friend now. He wanted her to stay, but would she want to? Where did she come from? Does she have any parents? Is she trying to get somewhere? –
"Y-yashamaru?" a meek voice came from the door, three pair of eyes turning to the red headed boy that peeked one eye into the room before quickly pulling away to stare at the door.
"Yes Gaara?" the man asked with a smirk.
"F-father wants to see you," he told the man, Yashamaru sighing as he stood up and grabbed the medical bag by Suzume's side. "He… wants you to do something, I-I think –"
"Well then, Lord Gaara could you come in here and watch Suzume for me?" The boy peeked his head back into the room, staring at Yashamaru widely that made the two girls snicker, "I'll be back as soon as I can you three. Don't do anything absurd while I'm gone."
"Yes Yashamaru," Gaara answered as the man left, looking down to the ground as he closed the door and kept his back to the wall. "A-ahhmmmm…"
"… Is something wrong?" Suzume tilted her head to the side, forgetting she was practically naked except for the clothing between her legs and the bandages she had on.
"The boy is just being polite," Temari snickered, throwing a set of clothing at the younger girl; Suzume yelping in surprise as it slumped over her face and flopped down onto her lap. "Gaara, get your butt in here and just… ah… sit over there in the corner."
"O-okay," he mumbled, quickly walking around the bed to the other side, sitting down on the matress with his back facing Suzume's back.
The room was silent for a while as Suzume slipping on the clothing, except when she yelped while struggling with the various holes while Temari helped her into the clothes. "Geeze. I'd think you never wore clothing before, huh?"
"J-just enough I guess," Suzume shrugged back, smiling slightly at Temari's playfulness while her eyes began to stare at the boy in the room. She pulled on the faded blue baggy shirt, the light brown pants small enough to fit around her tiny waist while she tugged on the ends and tried to make everything fit. Even if the outfit was a little big it wasn't too bad, the ends of the pants barely grazing the floor while Suzume walked around the bed and jumped onto the end of the bed, startling the boy. "So Gaara! What's up?"
"W-what's up? –"
"I wanted to thank you for this," she grinned, pointing to her bandages, "but honestly you didn't have to go through the trouble. I'm fine with just letting my wounds heal on their own –"
"You were hurt. I'm not going to let you walk around in the middle of the hot spells like that… D-does it hurt?" he asked meekly, enough for the girls to hear even though he was being quiet.
"Honestly… yes," she scratched the back of her head, chuckling and shaking her head once she noticed the frown on his face, "but not to worry. This is normal for me. You shouldn't worry so much."
"… May I ask you a question?" Gaara asked again.
"Ah, sure. I'm not stopping you," she smiled.
"Those markings… they're not natural markings, are they?" he said, Suzume's smile waning while she looked down to her hands resting on her lap.
"N-no, but I've always had them," she told him. "I think… from what I've been told… my village specialized in ninjutsu and the studies of… elements I think? Different styles and combinations I'm guessing. I don't know if everyone has them or just me, but the black circles around the words are for sealing… or maybe it's not sealing. Maybe they just appeared to drain my chakra."
"Oh," Gaara nodded, Temari snorting and sitting down beside Suzume.
"What?" she huffed. "That makes no sense Suzume. Why do you need a sealing spell anyways?"
Suzume didn't say a word and continued to look at her hands, her fingers twiddling while the boy looked at his older sister and pouted. "Temari –"
"No please tell. Apparently you're not saying something –"
"Don't make her say it," he frowned.
"Say what?" Temari snorted, but Suzume just looked away and bit down on her bottom lip. "What's so important that you can't tell me? –"
"Temari. I'll only say this once. Stop," Gaara glared back, causing the girl to flinch and scoot away.
'W-what'd I do? –"
"I-it's okay Gaara," Suzume chuckled nervously and held up her hand, the small amount of sand that was beginning to form in the air stopping right at her palm and the boy stared at her confused. "Let her ask. I-I don't mind."
"But –"
"But what? –"
"I-if you tell onnesan, even if you wanted to, f-ather will make you leave," Gaara frowned and looked away, staring down at his hands as the sand began to recede back and fall to the ground.
"… You actually don't want me to leave huh?" Suzume thought aloud and the boy nodded his head, a tired sigh escaping the girl's lips and then a smile appeared on her lips once she thought about the reason for a while. "Then don't worry. I won't tell a soul if that's what you're worried about… but I need to tell you I will have to go."
"What?" Gaara turned his head to stare into Suzume's eyes, her mouth smiling fainting before she couldn't bare his gaze and looked away. "W-why –"
"I don't know if they'll find me," she frowned. "I already told you I escaped. Someone may still try to find me. I-I don't want you, anyone, to get in trouble for my sake –"
"I don't care!" he yelled at her response so he could be heard. "You're like…ah… you're a friend to me Suzume."
"Friend?" she tilted her head to the side. "What's that?"
"You don't know? –"
"A friend is someone you know and trust," Gaara smiled happily, "and who you like. Who doesn't run away and wants to stay with you and talk with you. Am I your friend Suzume?"
"Yes," she grinned in response. "If that's what a friend is then yes! I like you too." The boy's eyes widened in response and he looked to the ground, his sister giggling at the red tint in his cheeks while Suzume tilted her head to the side in confusion. "A-ah did I say something wrong Gaara?"
"N-no," he shook his head, still looking away, "you didn't."
She expected the boy to say more, but since he didn't Suzume sighed and shook her head. "No something's wrong, but if you don't want to say anything I won't ask," she bluntly told him.
"… Hey Suzume!" Temari jumped to her feet, grabbing the girl off of the bed and she yelped in surprise. "You can sleep in my room, right?"
"S-sleep? –"
"Yeah. It's practically nightfall now, see?" the girl pointed out the small circular window and Suzume followed her gaze, noticing the bright light in the sky was indeed gone like the older girl was describing. "Why? Don't you sleep?"
"Ah… yes, but only when I'm tired," she shrugged, "and I'm not really tired… but I suppose, if I must, I'll try to."
"Oh really?" Temari thought. "Well alright. You'll try then! We'll just wait for Yashamaru to come back and we'll get to bed, right Gaara?"
The boy looked at his sister and looked at Suzume before looking back to Temari and giving her a nod. "O-okay I guess. Right, bed. It's bedtime for you Suzume."
"Alright, I guess," the girl shrugged before sighing and standing up to her feet. "But," Suzume groaned as she stretched her limbs and began to walk around the room, "I don't see the point, but if you want me to sleep I will gladly do it. If that's what you're supposed to do around here."
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Little sapphire eyes peered beneath long black bangs. Suzume covered her arms and shivered, feeling the wind sweep past her body while her exposed arms and legs suffered through the elements. She looked around, feeling the ground beneath her feet. Dust picked up and blew past her face, the little girl covering her face with her left arm. Again she felt the wind pick up and she fell on her right side, dirt flying in her face while she coughed up blood. "I-I know you're there," she mumbled, crawling on her hands and knees while she tried to get away, "and I-I just want you to know I'm not afraid of you –"
"Afraid~~?" she heard a hiss behind her head and turned her neck, only to find that nothing was there except for the wind blowing past her ears. "You should be very~ much afraid little sparrow. I noticed you're not where you're supposed to be? Oh what a pity~ –"
"You know as much as I do that you wanted to get out of that cell. What?" the girl snarled, her bright blue eyes glowing intently in the darkness. "Are you going to eat me now? Is that what you want?! –"
"Perhaps later," the deep voice thought with a hiss. "For now let us see what you'll do for me."
"… Shut up," she huffed, standing up to her feet and stumbling away from the voice. Yet wherever she walked the voice circled around her through the wind, the ground grabbing her feet wherever she stepped. "I want nothing to do with you! I'm with people I like so leave me alone! –"
"Ah, but they had you sleep now didn't they~~?" the whisper seemed to grin through its teeth, but Suzume snarled back and paced back and forth. "If they were truly~ people that cared for you they wouldn't let you sleep –"
"Hah! I'm not stupid!" the girl laughed at the wind. "If I told everyone what I am I would be kicked out. No, only one person –"
"I know~. That bijuu child, the one with the one-tailed raccoon-dog within him. Yes, I know that demon pretty well and many more are out there, ripe for the pickings~~" it snickered through its teeth. "Yet he lets you sleep. If he knew what I was capable of he wouldn't let you –"
"Shut up," she snarled.
"And he wouldn't have left you –"
"I told you to shut up!" Suzume yelled, something large and massive appearing in her hand and she hurled it at the voice. It laughed heartedly at her attempt, the girl whimpering in anger and slumping to the ground. "I may have needed you when I was trapped, but I don't anymore. Leave my head alone! –"
"Never," it snickered, the girl yelping in surprise and curling up on the ground, clutching her left arm and right foot in pain while it laughed. "Not until I eat~~ you –"
Suzume gasped, waking up from her dream. She felt something drip onto her cheek, looking up in horror to see a large serpent hissing at her made out of the dirt of the earth. Noticing its dark red glaze she glared back, a warning glance with menacing sapphire eyes that twinkled in the moonlight that came from a nearby window. In a whirlwind the dirt fell to ground, a deep sigh escaping the girl's lips as she slumped back into bed and rubbed the sleepy seeds out of the corners of her eyes. She looked at the older girl sleeping in the bed above her mat, Temari's back turned to her and her blonde hair cascading down her back. "Nothing happened," she sighed deeply in a whisper, sitting up and groaning in pain at the waves of strain on her body.
She felt as if she had been walking aimlessly through the desert again, even though she had been asleep this whole time. The nightmare drifting about her sleep was another snake, a snake of dust it seemed. It was the combination of wind and earth, which was why her left arm and right ankle was in so much pain. Lifting up the bandage Suzume could see the fuuton glowing fiercely, the black tattoo circling around her arm enrapturing the wind. She put a hand on her arm and closed her eyes, wielding the pain to stop. When she opened her eyes again the tattoos on her left arm had stopped glowing, the black circle had stopped with its thick head in a different spot then it had been before nightfall. She had to do the same with the doton on her right ankle, wielding the black snake to stop circling around her tattoo before she slumped back onto the mat. This is why she never tried to sleep for fear of the nightmares. The demonic snake would always in different forms of elements to torment her dreams. That's why the demon couldn't be a bijuu, it had multiple personalities and heads. Ayumu told her the demon was a snake with multiple heads. He never said anything about multiple tails.
Suzume sat up and gripped the small pendent around her neck: a red, orange, and yellow bird necklace with a small blue flame within its belly that seemed to glow in tune with her chakra flow. After a dream like that she always felt better gripping the pendent tightly as if it gave her the extra strength she needed to awaken. This was a routine for her in the cell: to sleep once she couldn't stay awake, dream of a particular voice, and wake up to that snake hissing at her before evaporating into the air. Because of this she trained herself more and more to stay awake for longer periods of time, but still… it was scary. What if a snake finally eats her in her sleep? Now that she's with other people will they notice? Yes, yes they would and for tonight they wouldn't know. Another thing she had to keep secret, Suzume sighed deeply and ran her fingers through her long hair. That Temari was a heavy sleeper, the girl realized with a smirk, and decided to roam around the building a little bit since she didn't want to sleep anymore.
Slipping off of the mat the girl slinked her way through the darkened room, the only thing illuminating her body was the moonlight shining from the window and her bright blue eyes. She actually had excellent night vision, something that she adapted after living underground, and would rather be up at night then during that blinding daytime. Suzume remembered to keep silent, her steps as quiet as pond scum, but she didn't have to work at that either. The only problem was opening the door, softly to not make a sound, and slowly closing the door behind her.
The girl noticed the hallway lights had been turned off, but she continued in the darkness. Maybe she could find light somewhere, something so she could read from the book she had taken. After all what's the point of keeping this Nagakawa Handbook if she never learned what was in its contents, right? Suzume wasn't dumb or illiterate. There was a lot Ayumu taught her and she was grateful. He told her many things like how her parents hated her. How they never wanted her around. How the village didn't even what her around and simply used her as a vessel for a demon. She grew to hate that village she was born in, but… when Ayumu told her to kill everyone she couldn't do it. Suzume didn't want to do it. Why kill everyone that spat in her face and gawked at her? What could that accomplish? She may hate their guts, but she didn't want to kill people like that. After all you should never kill the innocent, or that's what Suzume always believed in. something internal told her not to, but… when it came time to run and those men chased after her she couldn't help herself. And Ayumu… she knew he died, making her the last of her clan. She was all alone, on the run. What can she do now?
'Survive'
Ayumu's last words echoed in her mind like an ever flowing river.
'Survive. For us, for the Nagakawa clan, for yourself. Survive. Kill whoever gets in your way, but stay alive. For me. So we can live on, together'
So that is what she will do, survive. Even if she has to kill others to stay alive she will. Yet there was also one rule for herself she wanted to follow. This beautiful world above she wanted to protect with her life. This friend she has, that jinchuuriki, she wanted to protect. Only a year or two younger, yet he was so sweet and innocent. She would protect those who are important to her, protect the world around her. Suzume had to, for herself, for them, for her clan. She had to at least try –
"S-suzume?" a meek voice called to her and the girl looked up the hallway, noticing little Gaara holding a small brown teddy bear by his side. "A-are you leaving me –"
"No," she quickly shook her head and then gave him a smile. "I couldn't sleep."
The boy could tell in her eyes that she had gotten scared and he smiled, waiting for her to come closer before opening his bedroom door. "If you want to talk you can talk with me, your friend."
"Eh? Shouldn't you go to sleep too?" Suzume asked and the boy shook his head.
"No," Gaara told her, "I can't sleep either because of Shukaku."
"Oh… okay," she smiled and followed him into the room, the sand closing the door behind her even though Suzume had reached out to grab the doorknob to close the door. "… Is this where they keep you?"
"You can say that," Gaara mumbled, sitting down in the corner next to some blocks and began to mindlessly stack them one on top of the other. "There's no spell to keep me in the room. This is just my room."
"Alright," Suzume smiled, sitting down beside him and began to stack up blocks with him. She didn't see the point of stacking these blocks, but this was actually sort of fun! She giggled, creating a tower just as tall as her, and Gaara smiled back noticing how happy the girl was. He noticed she had pulled away some of her bandages and he could now see the tattoos on her left arm and right ankle, Suzume slowly stopping once she noticed he was staring and slumped back onto the ground. "Yeah… I don't know what these are, but they sometimes cause me pain and wake me up."
"That so?" the boy thought and scooted closer, reaching out for her arm, flinching back to see if she was going to turn away, but she gave him an emotionless expression that made Gaara frown. She lifted up her arm for him to see and he gently grabbed her bandaged arm, unsure if he was causing her pain while she stared blankly at him. "… How can that fuuton wake you up?"
"… Well from what I figured out so far," she began as she pulled out a small book, the boy's eyes lighting up with interest while she began to flip through the pages, "that my clan must have had something to do with ninjutsu… and… I'm guessing the tattoos on my body are connected to my… what is it called?... Chakra points!" Suzume grinned happily, "Yes, chakra points. Or my chakra or whatever you would call it. What wake me up at night are the markings, like fuuton and doton woke me up this time," she explained while gracing the two tattoos with her fingers. "Because… you see these large circles blobs around the word?"
"Yes," Gaara nodded, shifting closer to Suzume so he could notice the black circle around the fuuton symbol. As he did the black circle shifted slightly, the thicker part of the head began to spin a careful inch while it caused the boy to shift away in shock. Not only was he startled, but the demon sand spirit within him stirred in a way that made him suddenly uneasy. "W-what is that? –"
"I'm still trying to figure out if everyone in my clan had the five elements engraved on their skin or not," she continued in a calm manner, but moved her arm away noticing the boy's nervousness, "but I know for certain the black brush marks that circle the elements on my body are snakes."
"Snakes?" the boy stared at her in confusion. "H-how can you think that? –"
"Well my markings always wake me up when I'm having a nightmare," she sighed and slumped against the wall, "and that nightmare is… dreaming of snakes. This time it was just a voice in the wind and beneath my feet, but there have been other voices whispering to me in different ways, yet they know of our previous conversations as well as what I see them throughout the days. I think it's one thing… it's the demonic snake that lives inside of me."
"… I can understand that," Gaara nodded, "because Shukaku inflicts pain on me and can even control my body when I sleep, but how come those circles have anything to do with –"
"I told you," Suzume snorted. "I am a jinchuuriki with a snake demon living inside of me. Whenever I start dreaming of the snake my body reacts. I can sleep. I don't have problems with that, but as I sleep the demon feeds on my chakra. It slowly sucks the life out of me. That's why I didn't want to sleep, at least not yet. If the five elements: wind, lightning, earth, water, and fire, are connected to my chakra points then as I sleep these circles activate and begin to feed on my life energy. I am awakened as a warning because I am being fed on and Ayumu noticed that as I sleep the circles revolve around my skin while slowly turning into black snakes. Sometimes they go as far as to slither throughout my body and shine menacing red eyes at those who are watching. The longer I sleep the more the snakes feed on me and if I sleep for too long they begin to take over my body. I don't know exactly how this demon works, but it's a horrible trickster and without this reaction from my body I would have probably died years ago," she frowned. "There's not much you can do in a cell Gaara. All I could really do was drink, eat, and sleep. I barely had enough room to walk the length of the cell. Everything I know about the outside world, including being able to read and speak, is because of Ayumu. Without him I wouldn't have even left. There is nothing for me out here until he told me how glorious the world can be."
The boy tried to smile, scooting back to Suzume and staring down at her left arm again. "I feel so bad for you," he smiled weakly, gently taking her hand and pulling her arm closer so he could see the tattoo work in detail. The girl was right. He could feel the weak chakra energy coming off of the black fuuton tattoo while the black circle moved ever so slightly. Reminded him of a rattlesnake slithering in the sand, slowly and without warning until you grew too close to its fangs. "D-doesn't this ever stop –"
"No," she shook her head, "but I rest better when I'm awake then when I'm asleep. I learned that in my dreams the demon is able to take over my body easier. That could be why I was locked up, but there's more to that demon then what meets the eye. I just need to figure it out before it's too late."
"… I can help," he looked up to her eyes, but she quickly shook her head shake against his idea.
"No way. It's too dangerous. Besides it's something I have to do myself. You wouldn't even know what to do," Suzume told him. "Sure, as I grew I became more in control, but even so I don't know what exactly I am or what this creature is inside of me. Is it just one demon? Is it trying to trick me with multiple personalities or maybe it's a demon with different personalities. Maybe it's all just in my head. I don't know Gaara… b-but now that I have been given freedom I need to figure out what I am. I don't want to hurt you or Temari or Yashamaru, especially you."
"E-especially me?" Gaara blinked in confusion, the girl noticing his cheeks blushing lightly while a smile began to grace her lips. "Y-ou care about m-me –"
"Of course," she nodded. "You're my friend, right? Plus you're not that bad. Maybe cursed people like us are just misunderstood, right?"
"Right," he grinned happily. "… So what's that book?"
Gaara pointed to her hand and Suzume looked down, noticing she pulled out the handbook and quickly slipped it back into the folds of her clothing. "I-it's nothing!" she quickly told him. "Or…" she realized she should explain herself before he started to dislike her, "it's… just… a reason why I ran away. No one is to know I have this, not even you."
"Okay," he nodded, giving her a smile and noticing she probably didn't want to talk about the book anymore. "… It'll be a few hours till anyone wakes up. Do you want to go back to Temari's room or do something else?"
"… Can we just sit here and enjoy each other's company?" she smiled weakly and he grinned back.
"Yes! I-if you want… I won't keep you here –"
"I don't want to wake your sister up and I need my chakra to restore itself," Suzume told him with a shrug. "So no, you're not keeping me here. I want to be here." The boy nodded and smiled, causing the girl to giggle at his grin. Then they both went back to stacking up blocks till the sun began to rise, Gaara introducing his teddy bear to the girl as well as showing her other things around his room.
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A/N: To quickly clarify: fuuton, ration, doton, suiton, and koton are the five main elements in the Naruto series. The various other types like ice or sand is a combination of these five elements in different ways. So fuuton is wind, ration is lightning, doton is earth, suiton is water, and koton is fire. Just so you know ^^ As for the black circle tattoo I was looking up various tattoos online and found the Ouroboros. The Ouroboros is that image of the serpent/dragon eating its tail. I also found Ensō, the Japanese word for 'circle' and associated with Zen. I got that idea for the black tattoos that are around the five elemental symbols, mainly they look like Ensō. I found some tattoos like that and I thought it was cool. So Suzume's sealing tattoos are a combination of those two elements: Ouroboros and Ensō.