Writing fan fics is better than revising, and is certainly going to be good for my prospects in later life. Yessums it is XD. I was gonna be a meanie and not offer up this chapter for a while, y'know, TORTURE you all a lil, but then I was so chuffed that I'd actually got round how the Hell I was going to deal with it that I just had to share teehee.
cheh - Mwahahhaa y'see I'm sneaky like that, I tried to make Shiro as 'Who the Hell is he?'ish as possible so noooone would suspect him. Not much of Hinata and Neji kicking butt in this chapter but I shall give them ample opportunity soon enough tehee
Kiramysticmoonkitsune - (throws a chapter on to your lap) TADAAA!
Kan Ne - Gaara's such a tortured soul, I must stop tormenting him! But not any time soon, (laughs like a maniac)
AnimeSiren - Oh yes oh yes oh yes. Ordered; One Crazy-ass Gaara. Here he comes!
xbakatare - yays thankee, glad you like it XD
kimahrigirl - EEEEE, I never let people down (ego puffs up several notches) Yeah I heard he's in the new movie, MUST SEE IT!
iheartchopsticks - I like your dedication, it makes me feel googly! Thankee kindly.
Gacktlover14 - WHOO go me (victory dances before forcing Hogo and Gaara to boogie. Gaara does not look happy) Whoops :S
i'manobody - HURRAY someone else who has work to do that they're avoiding! I give you Gaara-shaped distraction!
LinnyShindou - No flames for me, no flames for me (victory dances once again - gets a very annoyed look from Gaara and decides to not get him to join in)
Enjoy!
There was an irrevocable moment, a second of transition, that all shinobi knew as well as their own names - the transition from flesh to meat. Human life to a dead carcass. It was known so poignantly because it was unclear where, amidst the limbs countering and blood spilling, it fit in. Perhaps the instance before death, or simply the very second it was decided by the shinobi, that they intended to kill their opponent.
Man to meat. Person to nothingness. Maybe it was only possible to know when it happened to you - when there was no doubt that your identity and life was nothing in the face of the vulnerability of your body.
As it was, the Konoha and loyal Sand Shinobi had resorted to the only sensible strategy when so horrendously outnumbered, and had scattered like an explosion out across the desert, being trailed speedily by their enemies. The sun was ebbing and lit the world in burnt orange and crushing red as they fought, plundering the corners of their strength and hate to make it out alive. Actual thought became a luxury as whiplash instinct predominated, only a visceral awareness saving Kankurou from spearing Kiba with Karasu as their backs met in a moment of pause in the ceaseless blur of violence.
"Shikamaru and Temari went East. D'you have a plan puppet man?" gasped Kiba, heat radiating off his body as Kankurou flung Karasu in the direction of some shinobi's who swiftly evaded him.
"I've always favoured the old-fashioned staying alive plan. Lee and Neji are next to Hogo and her father. If we can maintain distance, and try to regroup..."
The two were not given an opportunity for further conversation as a wind technique sliced the air towards them, forcing them to start running once more.
Meirou Jiyuujin was astonishing. He was attuning himself to the fight without his eyes, blade's cutting air as he span and dodged, face set in vivid concentration.
"Your friends seem scared Hogo." he murmured, sensing his daughter for all her veiled chakra. She would not travel far from him.
"Konoha is not like Suna father. They've never had to..." she began, letting out a savage shriek as she ripped a blade up through a missing-nin's belly to his ribs. Meirou sighed quietly to himself, the rustle of movement beneath him causing him to grip his daughter's sleeve and launch himself into the air. Seconds later a shinobi vaulted out of the sand where they had stood, and they remained suspended in mid-air as Hogo began initiating a hand seal.
"It's not the way a girl should become a woman."
"Through death? I wouldn't have it any other way." Hogo snarled grimly.
Hinata strained as absolute panic tore through the determination of battle that wrapped her mind. She couldn't move, not her feet, her neck, her fingers. A small whimper of frustration puffed from her mouth, evaporating into silence as a second shinobi shot forward while the first maintained the binding jutsu. His kunai gleamed in the light like a glowing retribution and she had not thought she was going to die, like this, with her heart in her mouth and so many questions unanswered. Even as he became close enough that she could see the pupils of his eyes, alien to her in all their cruelty, she continued to fight with all her mind screaming, muscles balling in their attempt to move.
"Koganemushi no Shinsuu!"
It didn't matter to Hinata why the two of them were flailing back with frenzied movements, hysteria in their eyes as they hacked at their own flesh with weapons until they bled out, still shrieking even in their last moments. Hogo's back was tense before her, her hair wet with sweat, hands clenched into shards of aggression. "Sorry Hinata. We almost didn't make it in time." she muttered, crouching before zipping off at a monumental speed to her right. We?
"Jyuukenhou, Hakke Rokujyuu Hanshyou!"
Oh. The shinobi dropped like a boneless creature to the floor after making a single hacking noise, and Hinata hazarded a glance back at her cousin. The byakugan gave his eyes all the heat and strength that had been missing in his coldness towards her as he met her glance. "What's wrong? You can do better than this!" he snapped, ducking and parrying a few swiping attacks, flipping some distance from her in order to evade a katon technique.
"Fight Hinata! You don't have time to be afraid, just fight!" he roared, and Hinata's breath caught in her throat.
Neji never yelled. He even looked surprised himself for a minute and their eyes met again. Through years of restraint and diffidence she could still see an element of pleading in those proud eyes. You told me you didn't want my protection. Then defend yourself, so I don't have to.
The Byakugan's field of vision served her well as she pivoted on one foot, dipping low under the advance of an energy release aimed for her throat, and slammed her palm home into the attacking shinobi's chest. She winced as she recalled with vivid clarity being on the receiving end of such a technique, blood spurting from his mouth before he fell to the floor. She stared down at him for a moment, numb, before she felt the heat of Neji's shoulder pressing against hers. He was breathing heavily, those all-seeing eyes scanning around them as he gripped her wrist, prepatory to run. More were closing in on them now. "That was good. Now just keep doing that."
"Nnneji..."
"DON'T think about it. Just do it." he interrupted. Blood and fear all around them, and his heart still had time to lurch as she tightly held his hand in hers. As they began to sprint off into the expanse of desert, he could hear blearily the rumbling sound of immense power, back the way they had come.
The sound of war had nothing against the shrieking noisiness that was Konoha's number One Loudest Ninja. But it wasn't that which Hogo heard first. Rather, first she felt it, familiar in all it's primal insanity and hate. It was enormous, so overwhelming and consuming that she felt she was being crushed, ripped piece by piece by its very presence. Shinobi ran for their lives around her, flying off into the bleeding sunset as her ears registered the wailing, hissing noises pitched so fiercely it almost made her stomach tremble. The air was positively dense with charged, hideously murderous chakra as she forced herself to turn around. A wet blanket of power numbed her senses to anything but that feeling. It was only then that she managed to decipher Naruto from the screams and roars that manifested the chakra.
"HOGO! RUN! GET AWAY HOGO! HE'LL KILL YOU!"
Up, up, up the wall of sand she looked, so alive and writhing, seething like a collection of serpents. It was still about forty feet away, and even now it was taking all she had not to recoil from that black madness. She would trip in and she would fall and she would never come out again. She would become another of the voices in that mass of screams. Her world condensed down to one point, to one figure riding the crest of that wave, his face taut with anguish and fury. All else withered and died as she focused in on him, drawn in by blinding chaos and panic. Despair was rolling off him like a scent, rank and disturbing. He looked so small relative to the enormous power he was mastering at a subconscious level, his eyes wide and staring, every single lean muscle wound up to impossible tightness. He was terrified and furious and he wanted to kill her. She couldn't hear it against the sound of the sand rumbling, but she could see his clenched teeth murmuring frantically over words, a mantra to rein himself in by. It didn't even occur to her to try and move. Why would it? Tendrils of sand, thick as the tentacles of some kind of sea monster, rippled out towards her, dozens of them erupting from the wave of sand and descending upon her motionless head.
Hogo almost laughed at the absurdity of the only thought she could muster into her head; I missed you. His eyes met her eyes and her mouth opened around a silent sob, heart impaling itself on her own ribs. Even after all the blood she had shed, the death she had meted out. After it all, here was where she had done the most damage.
Then her vision was obstructed as powerful arms held her fast and she was moving up, up and backwards in one vaulting leap. Stunned into obescience, she looked up at her father's dead eyes as he set her on the ground, turning back to face the approaching Gaara.
Gaara. He was struggling, Hogo could tell, the sand was becoming more erratic, splintering off in clumps and falling lifeless to the desert floor whilst other pieces twitched madly. His chest was heaving as his eyes locked with Meirou, a savage growl reaching them over the hiss of the sand. He was taking in Meirou's condition without a change of expression, perhaps some vestige of him that remained sane trying to see how this fit into the scheme of things, because he was not attacking. He let out a groan of frustration, buckling slightly and clutching one hand to his stomach as if he'd been dealt a blow and Hogo just wanted to run over to him, even if he killed her for doing so, but her father's arm held her fast.
"Why... Hogo... HOGO." he seethed, his voice gaining in volume at her name, the only logical thing he could latch on to, a focus for all this fury and hurt.
"She's right here Gaara-sama. But I will not allow you to do anything... foolish which we will both regret." Meirou's voice was as cool and powerfully understated as a nighttime breeze, in the face of Gaara's savage power. He didn't hear these words, simply shaking his head fitfully, eyes returned to Hogo and seemingly unable to see anything else.
"You... After all this... after all... you're just like... just.. like..." he seemed to be nearly hyperventilating over the words, throat clamping around the name that Hogo knew he meant and her heart bled as tears clung unbidden to her eyelashes. She didn't even realise she was shaking her head until the tears spilt free and her hair brushed her cheeks, a fibrous whiplash to her sweat-soaked skin. "I'm not. I'm not, I promise Gaara..." she stuttered out.
"YOU PROMISED BEFORE! And it.. it hurts Hogo! It hurts SO MUCH!" he screamed, his face child-like with confused pain, but there was nothing child-like about the fury emanating from his chakra as sand shrieked up into full form again, rising up over his head.
"Control yourself Gaara-sama! Hogo left you to save me, not to hurt you." Meirou rose his voice over the renewed sound of the sand. Gaara's gaze was steady now, burning with an insane conviction, and Hogo remained paralysed under his eyes, unable to do anything other than stare at what she had done to him. She did not consider herself stupid enough to think this was truly about her. It was about someone giving him a promise like that, and breaking it. For that reason, his next words shook her to the foundations of her ability to cope.
"You could have taken me with you. You could have let me PROTECT you!" he growled loudly, descending into a scream, sand lashing about them erratically, mindlessly violent. She stared at him in mute disbelief, mouth open "How could I? I'm meant to protect you!" she said, her voice breaking. She couldn't bear this.
"I won't let it happen, I won't, you left me, you left me and you could have died. You take too many chances and you're not strong enough..."
"I'm not strong enough!" Hogo retorted, the fire coiling up from her guts and for a moment lighting up her despair with anger. His gaze sobered momentarily and a grin fought its way through the tension of his features, tight and weary "I'll kill you before I let you leave me again."
He had not calmed down. He had not relaxed or started to feel better and he had meant every word he said. But they remained that way, gazes locked in a mutual agreement on which neither really knew the sentiments the other had pressed. Meirou stepped back briskly and leant down to murmur in Hogo's ear, "Hogo. The enemy is regrouping.".
"He's right, they're heading our way again. They probably want to capture Gaara." Kiba landed beside them speedily, Naruto not far behind. At the back of Hogo's mind she was amazed that either of them had been so strategic as to stay out of her and Gaara's discussion. She nodded slowly, not taking her eyes from Gaara. She knew he would not appreciate it right now. The sand had not simmered down in the slightest even if he was looking more collected, his chest still heaving but his eyes focusing more, a frown of concentration crossing his face. "Kiba, Naruto. Take my father with you and try and escape. Gaara and I will travel South to try and attract their attention, if it is him they're truly after. What happened to the others?"
"Gone. They scattered when the numbers were too many.".
Hogo smiled grimly "It's for the best." Finally she detached her eyes from the shinobi before her, turning to the others. "I only hope I'll see you all soon."
Naruto nodded determinedly, flashing her an enormous grin. "Don't worry Hogo-chan, we'll take care of your old man!" Meirou said nothing to being casually called 'old man' although his eyebrows puckered slightly in either amusement or irritation, Hogo wasn't sure. Then there was a blur and they were departing. And her and Gaara were alone once more.
"Why the Hell are we hiding Shikamaru! What kind of a man are you?"
"Baka, just shut up would you? We're in open terrain, miles from Suna, with some annoyed-as-Hell shinobi after us. We'd be slaughtered in seconds. And DON'T question my masculinity every two seconds!"
Shikamaru was not happy. He had been separated from his team, something that he would definitely consider a failing as a team captain, and it was beginning to get dark. As if this was not in itself a bad situation, he was stuck with the one person from his team that he was quite achingly uncomfortable around. Add to this the fact that the only hiding place they could find was some prickly shrubbery which they had been forced to lie in, and that the desert was rapidly cooling to icy temperatures, and he didn't think it unreasonable that his temper was on the verge of snapping. Temari had lapsed in to a sullen silence which, whilst he knew it would undoubtedly cause him Hell in the long run, he was momentarily grateful for. Utter quiet descended as he marvelled at just how still the desert was, the sun having faded and leaving them nothing but empty darkness. He could barely make out the gleam of Temari's eyes off to his left. She currently had her head rested on her arms, laid flat out on her stomach as she chewed her bottom lip in thought. Much as she would undoubtedly rather die than say it, she looked worried.
"In the morning we can head back to Suna. The others are probably doing exactly the same thing, none of them are stupid." he managed awkwardly, trying to sound reassuring. She blinked and nodded slowly "I guess. I just wish I knew Gaara and Hogo were okay. Neither of them are exactly... sensible... when it comes to the other." Shikamaru kept his gaze on her for a bit longer, then continued to look up at the night sky that was progressively becoming peppared with brilliantly bright stars.
"They're both strong. But of course you know that. They're quite the pair." He felt the intensity of a gaze on him and turned his head back in Temari's direction, quirking an eyebrow in surprise at the expression he could dimly see in the dark. She looked practically predatory in that moment, eyes lidded and devouring in their devotion to chartering every inch of his face. He blinked and frowned slightly, squinting through the darkness and seeing her expression was totally normal. Now he was imagining things, fabulous. She was nonetheless, staring at him. "What?" he said after a few moment's silence, feeling his cheeks flush slightly in embarassment. He was actually grateful for the darkness now.
"What d'you mean what? You were looking at me as if I'd grown an extra head." she replied, sounding mildly annoyed. He snorted in amusement, settling his hands under his neck as a feeble pillow and continuing to stare up at the nightsky. "Now that would be a sight. Two of you having a go at me." he murmured idly, yawning and stretching.
"Now that just sounds like a guilty conscience. Why d'you think I'd need to have a go at you?" she retorted, shuffling forward slightly. Shikamaru felt his skin prickle with awareness but determinedly didn't look to his left where she was. Likewise he decided to forego mentioning that he thought she would have the need to have a go at him because that was what she did, and simply shrugged. "I messed up again. You probably reckon I've left your brothers and the rest of my team to be butchered, and that I'm acting like a coward again." Although the words were said in as off-hand a fashion as he could manage, his jet eyes slowly counting the stars by way of distraction, he felt his throat tighten in self-disgust. When hands fisted into his fishnet top and forceably yanked him over onto his side he blinked in surprise, finding his face inches from Temari's, glowering with determination. He nervously tried to backpedal on the palms of his hands but she was having none of it, hooking her fists more securely into his clothes and shaking him firmly.
"More self-critical nonsense. Why are you always so willing to give up and crumple on some things? You did what seemed best at the time. If people die, they die. But you did your best. I won't have you simpering and whining about how you're not good enough, d'you hear me?" she growled softly, her warm breath puffing against his skin. In the meanwhile Shikamaru was valiantly trying to both veil the surprise in his expression and come up with a witty retort to Temari having - once again - smacked some sense in to him. He was pleased at how he managed to school his voice in to a tone of indifference "I forgot that you're the only one that's allowed to tell me I'm not good enough."
He was expecting either a smack in the face or a shriek of annoyance, but instead sucked his breath in sharply as her nails scraped casually along his chest through the fishnet. "You better believe it." she purred, the sensuous touch gone almost as soon as it had been there. Without the hands gripping his shirt Shikamaru slumped back onto his back, mildly stunned, vaguely hearing a corresponding 'thump' and then feeling the heat of warm body slipping under his arm. He looked down and dumbly recognised Temari's golden hair as she slipped her arms around his waist, slinging one leg over his hip. It was beyond even his levels of self-control not to let out a small yelp at the hot sensation of her leg scissoring across his navel, or the corresponding lurch of his stomach.
"T..Temari..." he gargled out, glowing crimson as he stared down at her in disbelief. She shot him a wry smirk and tightened her grip, pressing herself flush up against him. "This is the desert baka, I'm trying to retain body warmth. Or do you want to freeze over the night?" He continued to eyeball her for a few minutes before allowing his head to thunk back down against the floor, letting out a small chuff of defeat. He could practically feel her grin in victory as she snuggled closer to him like an affectionate kitten. An extremely beautiful, mouthy, obnoxious, sexy kitten that was going to kill him as soon as she realised that he was having a hard time controlling his breathing with her this close. She let out a soft murmur as she shifted, trying to get comfortable, and every single muscle around his spine tensed as her lips brushed just under his ear. Amidst all of his nerves screaming he tried to find a bit of his brain with something sensible to say. The best he managed to find was simply: it's going to be a long night.
This was not the same man she had known and held that morning. This was not the man who had demanded, in his simple, direct fashion, that she teach him about happiness. Because in that moment he might not have known why, but he had known that she would give him anything she had. But then a lot had changed in the last twenty four hours.
She remembered the sense of alienation she had first experienced when she had been assigned to be his guardian, and had looked in to his eyes. The mad Gaara she had known, been familiar with for all his sadism and cruelty, but he was almost like a myth from her past, a childhood fear that was pale and distant in the emotions it evoked. When she had looked into this cold, collected Gaara's eyes she had been unable to discern anything of him. It had taken her months to establish an awareness of the subtle alterations in his eyes, the twitchings at the corners of his mouth, that spoke volumes of things he would never willingly share. The new Gaara held such a tight rein over himself that it had initially seemed as though all that madness had evaporated. Often enough, for all her impatience, she had ripped reactions out of him, desperate for proof that all the villagers had done to him over the years had not rendered him emotionally dead. In fights and in screaming taunts she had found some kind of relief in knowing that she could get a response from him. She didn't know when that had not been enough anymore. Knowing the fury and the hurt was still there had been one thing. Going about removing it was another. And who was she, that she thought she could? Humiliation and shame washed over her, hot and dousing. What could someone like her offer to save him from everything a world had fought to turn him into? Did she honestly think she could claw off all the years of loneliness and blood, sleepless isolation from any normalicy, just because she wanted to? She had already failed. In so small a task, in the simple offering of a promise, she had shown she was not up to the challenge. It didn't matter that she had meant it with every inch of her. She never wanted Gaara to be alone again, and she wanted to be the one that made sure he wasn't.
His eyes would tell her nothing now as he stared at her with an almost bloodless, starved expression, control binding him up so tightly, rigidly confining him into a clean slate that she could read nothing from. Slowly, he began to walk North, past Hogo, his sandcape billowing up slightly in a draught of wind. He could not have been more of a stranger to her in that second. For all of her that wanted to grab his arm and turn him round and scream at him until he felt something, there was far more of her that knew she could not touch him ever again. She had already failed.
"Gaara wait, you can't go that way, that's where the missing-nin are."
"So I'll kill them. Are they your allies that you want to save their lives?" was his caustic reply, those icy eyes flashing round to hers in an instant. The hot lancing pain that went through her heart at this off-hand accusation was almost par for the course now, and she ignored it even as it stung her.
"Of course they're not. But if they're after you then they must have some kind of plan - they know not to take you lightly. It's YOU I'm concerned for!"
He gave a snort of disgust at this and Hogo thought she saw his entire form tremor for a second with the burden of keeping his control. "I don't believe you. I never should have believed you." He closed his eyes for a moment, his mouth twisted into something ugly before he lifted his head and opened them once more. "You've done your job well. I'm sure the Elders will be pleased with your services to the village. You've allowed me to entertain whatever thoughts I've wanted so that I would be less of a threat. You let me believe... things that were never real."
What words could she give in response to that? He would not believe a single one. She knew that now. Gutted out and scooped empty with all the truths he would only see as lies, she simply shook her head and felt it confirmed that she was helpless to save him.
"... Would you have it that the Elders gave you a new guardian"
"No!"
The word was a whipcrack in the silence, sharp and echoing in the settling dusk. His eyes were brilliantly bright in the golden sunlight as they met hers for an instant before he evaded them again. "There's no one else." he amended bitterly through clenched teeth.
The arrival of the missing-nin was not unexpected. Gaara had made no signs of moving and Hogo could find nothing inside her that could even approximate a plan. The only automatic response she knew was that if Gaara was not going to leave, then neither was she.
"Cousin, I see your Konoha allies have abandoned you, what a surprise."
Hogo wearily lifted her gaze to view her treacherous cousin, dully pondering why the shinobi were not attacking. He looked her over with a supercilious smile as she grinned slightly back, a shifting of muscles that could hardly be called genuine.
"Shiro-san. I'm going to kill you and present your heart to your father." Shiro raised his eyebrows in vague surprise and clicked his tongue in remonstration. "Dear cousin, do you really think such an attitude is necessary? In case you hadn't noticed you're hardly in the situation to be offering up such uhh, charming promises."
Gaara seemed to simply be viewing the throng of shinobi with a cold curiousity, taking in the large number and gauging their reactions to him. They didn't seem in the least bit perturbed, only confirming Hogo's fears that they must have some kind of plan for subduing him.
"Well perhaps you should use your advantage of numbers instead of talking. You have nothing to say that I want to hear, traitor." Hogo spat, nonetheless not making any motion to assume a fighting stance. In truth she didn't know if she had it in her to fight any more, much as the thought disgusted her.
"Traitor? That's a terribly presumptuous term to use Hogo-chan. I've merely been more strategic than you, or my father more importantly, was willing to be. The Leaf are merely a hindrance, and when Baki's followers overthrow the Elders it will be in the best interests of the Jiyuujin if they were to cooperate."
"You care nothing for the Jiyuujin, teme! You tortured my father!"
Shiro frowned slightly and shook his head "That indeed was regrettable. I tried to get father to stop his reconnaisance, but Meirou can be almost as stubborn as you on occasion."
"And then you thought you could remove any other complications by sending me in to be killed alongside him?"
His smile was almost apologetic in its charm and Hogo had an abrupt urge to vomit "You can't blame me for trying to keep a footing on both sides of this war Hogo-chan. It would be unfortunate if, God forbid, this rebellion were to prove ineffective, that my involvement were found out. But naturally you proved far too tenacious to simply die. I should have expected as much."
Hogo didn't know where this was going but she didn't like the confident ease with which Shiro was smiling at her. She glanced back at Gaara to confirm that he was still there, still all right, and he was continuing to survey the group that surrounded them, arms folded.
"I see perhaps you are beginning to understand the relevence of this conversation." Shiro said dryly, removing his glasses and polishing them against his sleeve. Fighting fury was easily swimming back in to her veins as she watched him. She had never seen her cousin in combat - as the second son to the heir he had always known he would be passed up for power and had attempted to be as amenable and helpful as possible. He studied and kept to himself save for conferences with his brother and father about plans for the future. To know that someone like him had been keeping all of this beneath such a veneer made her want to rip him to pieces.
His gaze slid easily to Gaara and then back to her and a gutwrench of unease caused her to step back, closer to Gaara. "It was never my desire to have you caught up in the situation Hogo-chan. I consider you a useful member of the Jiyuujin clan, superfluous as some of the lesser branches are. And I know that you are loyal, which is why you should consider what I am about to offer you carefully."
Her guts only tightened further as realisation unzipped her. They had not been coming back for Gaara, at least not directly. They had come for her.
"You are ambitious, you seek to obtain power. I know you do." Shiro's eyes were almost reptilian in their purely evaluative look. How had she never noticed how he looked at everyone as if cataloguing their uses? "And after the rebellion, I can see to it that all manner of benefits are put your way. My studies have revealed all manner of fascinating genjutsus that you could wield to unimaginable effect."
He stepped closer now, his tone softening, becoming persuasive. "Give us Gaara. I know it's in your power to do it. That is why you are his guardian."
She could practically feel Gaara bristle behind her, but still he did nothing, and she found she could not look away from Shiro's eyes. Eyes that said he had been cataloguing her for some time, and that offered a type of power she could never hope to achieve on her own.
"No."
His face showed that he did not believe her and a smile almost graced his lips "Take a chance to consider Hogo-chan. Think of all the things that I can offer you, the knowledge I have of Jiyuujin techniques that have been denied you as a branch member..."
"I said, No. And I will repeat this. I intend to kill you and present your heart to your father. That foul tongue of yours, I intend to keep for myself."
Those reptilian eyes hardened as the shinobi around them began shifting impatiently, waiting for carnage in whatever form it would come. "I do not understand your motivations Hogo. You of all people should be willing to see Gaara suffer..."
"Shut up."
"He's the very reason that you long for strength and look in all the darkest corners of yourself for something capable of destruction."
"Stop it..."
"He KILLED your mother!"
The words resonated like a shockwave through her brain as everything around her became silent in its wake. She knew her lips formed the word 'No' but she couldn't hear it, couldn't feel it. Her ears were suddenly ringing and the world was tilting at an impossible angle.
"He took away your childhood and yet you choose to follow him. Why?" She distantly heard the words through some muted spectrum, through the thick cloth that seemed to pack around her brain. It didn't matter because she was turning to look at him, at his wide wide eyes and the look of utter disbelief and horror that was written there.
"I..." So many times so many deaths, how could he possibly know? How could he remember one face amidst a hundred, even if it was the only face for her, the face of her mother who she'd seen broken and covered in blood?
The world was trembling underneath their feet and she could hear the shinobi's shouting but she only had eyes for him as he clutched one hand over his heart and breathed raggedly, as though it was torture to have to drag breath in to his lungs. There were walls and mountains and coils of sand that filled up the horizon and swallowed the sky for them as they rose up, sobs of wild despair filling her ears along with the thunder, the trembling of the world. She thought perhaps the world would crack and let them fall in together as he screamed, the shaking becoming too much for her so that she fell to her knees. Shockwave upon shockwave, a vivid impact that could not bring it all to rights once more pulsated through her, one single tear hitting the swirling desert floor beneath her hands. Nothing now but Sabaku No Gaara taking their lives to pieces in front of her, howling like a possessed fury with one hand over his heart to try and stop it hurting. Their hurts matched, if only from different angles and she would tell him, she would explain it all, she would make him understand how she had never wanted him to know that he had done this to her.
Are you choking on the angst? Are you, are you? Lemme know what you think my lovelies XD.