Chapter V: Childhood Memories

"Yashamaru, why are we here?" Gaara asked timidly as he looked up at the magnificent two-store building. Long stairs lead to a raised high base, dominated by beautifully carved columns, while large rectangular glass windows adored the entrance. As though that wasn't enough a tall wide wooden door stood in the center as if challenging anyone that came in.

"Well Kazekage-sama, is too busy to train you at home. So he has requested that we meet in his home instead," his uncle said smiling down at him, though he was not greeted with a smile.

"More training?"

"I know Kazekage-sama may be a bit tough on you, but he does it for your own good," Yashamaru continued after seeing the disappointed look on the child's face. "You are very special to the village, Gaara-sama."

But still the five-year-old didn't respond with too much enthusiasm. About six months ago, Gaara had begun an intense training; however things were not progressing as the Kazekage would have hoped. The child still had trouble controlling his abilities, and as a result the Kazekage had recently stepped in to personally train his son.

Two guards stood solemnly, one on each side of the massive doors, their hitate shining dimly in the bright sun. They humbly greeted the pair as they walked into palace, opening the doors and informing that Kazekage-sama was expecting him.

The two walked in, surprised by the sight that greeted them.

If the building outside was beautiful than inside was magnificent. Bright rich colors covered the spacious interior with elegant mosaic stained windows and white polished marble floors. A spiral staircase led to the upper rooms. The view was sharpened by the high round ceiling that surrounded the palace with bright natural light.

"Yashamaru, is that you?" came a sweet voice from above the staircase. The blond medic turned his head and smiled happily as he saw a little girl quickly dashing towards him. "It is you!" she said happily wrapping her arms around him and giving him a hug.

"Temari!" he said happily holding the child. "You've gotten so much bigger since I last saw you."

"Of course, I have Yashamaru!"

He smiled at his niece. It really was such a long time since he last saw her, almost two years ago. "Where's your brother?"

"Kankurou? He's playing with his new bamboo snake," she answered leading her uncle by the hand to the living room. A large Persian carpet covered the floor with red sofas on either side; again more mosaic windows decorated the room. "Mana, get us some tea!" she ordered to the maid that stood behind her.

"That won't be necessary Temari-chan we're here to see your father."

"Oh. Kazekage-sama is in his study. I could take you there if you want," she said eagerly.

"It's alright I can find my way," he looked over at Gaara that had been hiding ever since he saw the older girl. "You stay here with Temari-chan alright, Gaara-sama?" The child looked at him with pleading eyes not to be left alone, but Yashamaru merely patted his head and left the two children together..

"Hi!"

"Me?" he asked unsure if the person was talking to him.

"Who else would I be talking to?"

"I don't know," he said shyly hugging the brown teddy bear tightly. "Not a lot of people talk to me, except for Yashamaru."

"How come?"

"I don't know," he said shyly hugging his brown teddy bear tightly.

"Well I guess I will. I'm Temari. I'm your big sister, ya know," she said proudly.

"You're my big sister?" He asked looking at her with wide eyes.

"Yup, I'm seven years old," she said holding out seven small fingers. "You also have a big brother, but he's not older than me!"

"I have a big brother and a… sister?"

"Uh-huh. Kankurou, come here!" she yelled out, her voice echoing in the palace. Within a few minutes a boy came from behind her. He was a bit taller than Temari with dark brown locks and cheeks slightly flushed from having been running in his hands was a long wooden object that had many bends, sort of resembling a snake. "What is it Temari? How am I ever going to be a puppeteer if you never let me practice!" he said crossly.

"You've been playing with that thing all day!" she said angrily. "Besides how are you ever going to become a puppeteer by playing with a toy?"

He made a loud raspberry at her; Temari put a finger in her eye and opened it at him. Little Gaara just stared at the two kids not sure if he should say anything to them, but after a few minutes of making faces at each other Temari finally remembered the younger child.

"Wait Kankurou!" she said putting her hands up. She slowly approached Gaara. "This is Gaara, he's our little brother!"

"Really?" Kankurou asked forgetting his irritation at his sister. He spun his head to view the younger red-head child. "Yes! I'm not the youngest anymore…! But wait a minute, how come he has different hair color?" he asked looking at the red locks of the small child. Feeling self conscious, the younger child covered his head with his hands.

"Leave him alone Kankurou!" Temari said angrily, shoving him aside. "…We've heard a lot of stories about you Gaara," Temari explained. "Our nanny told us that you're very special to the village."

Kankurou nodded in agreement. "She said you're very strong and we should be nice to you if we ever meet you." He took a quick look at the small redheaded child; in contrary to what they had been informed, Gaara didn't look all that imposing, clutching his brown bear and staring at his feet.

"C'mon Gaara," Temari said grabbing a hold of his hand. She led him outside to a small courtyard with a large round water fountain in the middle. Long arches and plants provided shade and cool fresh air from the harsh desert environment. This must have been they're play area, since the gray stone floor was littered with various toys.

Kicking the toys aside, Temari grabbed a long rope and showed it to Gaara smiling at him. "Now that there's three of us, we can play jump rope!"

"Temari I don't want to play jump!" Kankurou wined.

"Well I'm oldest so you have to do what I say!" she said putting her hands on her hips.

"But I don't want to!"

Fifteen minutes later, Temari jumped happily as Gaara and Kankurou turned the rope up and down. "See I told you this would be fun!" the little girl said, her pigtails flopping up and down.

"Temari, let us have a turn!" Kankurou yelled out having grown tired of seeing his sister hog the game.

"Alright! Now its Gaara's turn!"

"Me?"

"Why do you always do that, Gaara? Of course it's you!" she said stepping aside.

"B-but I…" He gulped.

"It's easy!" Temari said out loud grabbing the end of the jump rope. Gaara nodded and slowly jumped just like Temari had done before.

"See that wasn't so hard?"

They continued playing for a few minutes, before there grew footsteps behind them. Yashamaru came into view, gently telling them that the Kazekage has requested meeting with Gaara.

"Oh I guess we can play later," Temari said dropping the rope to the ground.

"Yeah, next time I'll should you my bamboo snake!" Kankurou said happily.

"Not that!"

"You're just jealous!"

"I'm not!" On no, here they go again.

"Temari-chan, Kankurou-kun, I believe your nanny is looking for you," Yashamaru stepped in.

Both siblings gasped. "Oh no! We have to go Gaara."

"Yeah, our nanny's probably mad at us for skipping classes."

"Bye Gaara! We'll see you around!" They called out grabbing a hold of the other's hand and running away.

"Um… bye!" he said a little bit disappointed that their playing had to end.

"Kankurou?" Gaara said softly as he opened the door. The room was a mess with various clothes and toys littered the room.

"Gaara?" he said opening his eye at him.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously.

"Sleeping," he said semi-unconscious.

"Why?"

"Go ask Temari," he said turning around and putting his head under his pillow. Nodding at the idea, Gaara closed the door behind him and walked through the empty corridors. In no time at all he found Temari's room. He put his hand on the doorknob and silently walked in.

"Temari?"

Temari stirred in her bed, before slowly opening her teal eyes. Focusing on the figure above her, she saw a patch of red.

"Gaara? It's really late, shouldn't you be asleep?" she asked yawning out loud. Gaara and Yashamaru had stayed in the palace for almost a week now, but lately they had been seeing less of their little brother. And as much as she would continue playing with him, she was simply too tired.

"But I'm not tired. Why do you and Kankurou sleep for, I thought only grown ups slept?"

"No, Gaara everyone sleeps."

"But… how come…." He paused. "I've never slept before."

She looked at him curiously. "How come?"

"I don't know."

He bowed his head, as though feeling guilty that he couldn't sleep.

"I know!" Temari said raising her small finger in the air. "Our nanny showed us this jutsu when me or Kankurou can't go to sleep," the seven year old said, "She says the only time she can get out of this hell is when were asleep."

"You can do jutsus?"

"Of course!" she said happily crawling out of her bed and walking towards him. She pulled a chair towards the closet and standing on her toes to reach out for something. A heavy book came crashing to the floor before Temari jumped off the chair.

"It's called the Feigning Sleeping Technique," Temari told him opening the book on the floor and flipping through the pages.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Gaara asked watching his older sister.

"Of course, that way you won't be left out. And then tomorrow morning we can play all day... Wait here it is!" She exclaimed happily, stopping on a page. Gaara looked over Temari's shoulder and stared at the diagrams of the hand signals. It looked simple enough and the words weren't that difficult to pronounce.

Gaara moved his hands as the book demonstrated and recited the chant. Both children waited for a few minutes, but nothing happened. "Did I do it?" he asked a little bit of excitement in his voice.

"No, I think that you messed up with your pinkie and you have to say Tanuki Ne…ir…ir no Jutsu," Temari said trying to pronounce the word. "Try again," she said thoughtfully. The little boy performed the seals "Tanuki Neli Jutsu!" he said after the seals were performed.

"Nothing happened," Gaara said pouting slightly that he couldn't master this simple jutsu.

"That's because you didn't pronounce it right. Its 'Tanuki Neiri no jutsu," she said slowly pronouncing the syllables.

"Alright," Gaara said determination all over his face. Performing the seals the finished by yelling out "Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu."

"Did it work?" Temari said looking at her little brother.

"I don't know. I did every…" At that moment he let out a yawn, something that he had never done before.

Yashamaru walked down the long hallway to check up on his young nephew. He was busy with paperwork from the hospital and didn't have a chance to see him until now. Slowly he knocked on the door, but received no respond. Brows furrowing in puzzlement, he opened the door to find an empty room.

"Gaara-sama are you hiding?" he asked looking under the bed, behind the dresser drawer and any other hiding spot where a five-year-old might be lurking. But he was no where to be found.

Panic slowly reared its head, and Yashamaru could only think of how furious the Kazekage would be. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he'd figure the child was probably on the roof watching the moon. But tonight there was no moon. He dashed down the hallway to Kankurou's room.

"Kankurou-kun?"

"Huh? What's going on Yashamaru? Why is everyone waking me up?" he asked sleepily after being shook awake.

"Have you seen Gaara-sama?"

"Yeah," he said sleepily getting ready to put his head on the pillow.

"Where?" Yashamaru said shaking him once again.

"He came by and I told him I was sleeping..." He yawned.

"And?"

"I told him to bother Temari." No sooner had the words left his mouth that Yashamaru went down the hall. "Yashamaru, what's wrong?" he asked sleep slowly disappearing as he notice his uncle's strange behavior.

"I feel funny," Gaara said scratching his eyes slightly.

"Yay! The jutsu is taking affect," Temari said happily. "I'm a very good teacher!"

…Cr…ac…k…

"Do you hear something?" Temari asked after hearing a faint crack. Carefully, she approached her window, noticing large crack appearing on the glass surface. If she didn't know any better it seemed as though it was stretching wider.

"My eyes feel like they want to close," Gaara said never really used to the symptoms of sleeping.

"Of course Gaara, that's what happens before you fall asleep..." She said turning her head briefly to look at her baby brother.

C…ra…ck!

She was right the crack was actually getting even longer until it was the length of her small arm.

"Great, Nana's gonna get mad at me for breaking--"

CRACK!

Out of now where the window completely shattered, spewing sharp glasses all over the room. Reflexively she brought her arms to cover her face, feeling the sharp glass rip through her flesh. Sand appeared from the broken window, pushed her violently on the floor. Wind howled violently throughout the room knocking her bedside lamp onto the floor and rapidly circling around her baby brother.

"Gaara?" she asked realizing that all the sand was gathering around him, as though he was the one calling upon it. More and more sand started to appear, carefully being molded by the howling wind. Finally, after a few minutes the storm blew itself out and Temari stood in front of a large round shaped cocoon.

"Gaara… what are you doing?" the seven-year-old asked fearfully. She slowly approached the cocoon and hesitantly touched it, but quickly drew her hand back as small droplets of blood started to fall from her finger. In all her young life she had never seen anything like this so she was starting to get worried that something might be happening to him.

"S-stop playing around… this isn't funny…" she stuttered, her heart beating rapidly. As though Gaara had heard her, a small hole opened and started growing wider. Temari didn't know what was inside, but she didn't hear Gaara's small voice, instead the sound of shifting sand.

"Gaara?" Temari softly whispering, stepping back towards her door. The sand inside started to shift rapidly until a yellow star-shaped eye stared eerily at her.

"Free..." came a low voice from within the sand.

"I'm FREE!"

A gust of wind and sand sprayed throughout the room, shattering windows, throwing furniture, and crushing anything in its path. The thing inside the cocoon kept growing and growing until it destroyed the roof and reached the cold night sky.

How Temari managed to survive this, she didn't know.

She supposed that it was a good thing that she walked by the door, but her thoughts weren't on her lucky survival. She was more focused on the face of the monster that had once been her baby brother. Craning her neck up to the night sky, she could make a clear view of the creature.

It was made completely out of sand resembling a tanuki. Sharp teeth made completely out of sand were supported by a strong jaw. It swung its long tail completely destroying what little remained of Temari's room.

"Wait!" she cried out under the rumble, but then froze as she saw that golden star-shaped eye staring wickedly at her. It was as though her brain shut down and her body felt numb and the only thing she could do was scream.

She screamed and screamed until tears started falling from her green teal eyes. Wrapping her arms around herself, she collapsed on the floor and continued to scream until she could no longer feel her voice.

"Temari!" Kankurou came dashing as he heard a scream. He saw Temari in the corner of the room, her entire body folded tightly upon itself like a ball.

"Temari, what's wrong?" he asked. In an instant she jumped into his arms, holding tightly on him for dear life. She sobbed loudly on his shoulder shaking from head to toe in fear.

Kankurou held her tightly trying for all his best to act strong. But how could he? Temari was so much braver and stronger than he was. The only thing he could do was curse the monster for doing this and try hard not to cry as he saw a monstrous figure walking away from Temari's room.

Shukaku roamed about the Sand Village happily rejoicing his return to the world. His host was a young and naïve child that had accidentally set him free with the help of that little girl. His loud chuckles ran along the empty streets of Suna, quickly awaking all the villagers from their peaceful slumber. Stretching his arm into a large length the innocent building that was standing to his right was obliterated. Debris flew down from the sky raining down on other nearby buildings. Shukaku laughed even louder as the villagers awoke screaming one by one to the wreckage. Yes, the demon thought. Tonight he would satisfy his bloodlust.

The Kazekage awoke from his slumber from by the shaking on his nightstand. Irritably he turned on the light wondering what in the world could be waking him up in the dead of night. It was his hourglass that was shaking as though it was a ticking bomb. Placing the hourglass on his palm, the time keeper still shook. It was as though the sand was trying to come out. But that was impossible…unless…

As if to prove him wrong the hourglass burst into a million pieces, cutting his palm, and then the sand rushed out under the door. But if he thought that was bad, then the deaf breaking eruption only added to his confirms that Shukaku was awake. Dashing towards the conflict, he saw the ruins of what used to be his daughter's room and looking beyond he saw the monstrous figure of the sand demon. He turned his head and saw the small balled up form of Temari cuddled in the corner, still crying out.

Yashamaru and Kankurou approach minutes later both of them looking terrified at the completely destroyed room. The Kazekage noticed from the corner of is eye that Kankurou had rushed over to comfort Temari.

"Sir, please…."

"I don't need your excuses now Yashamaru," he said coldly. "I want the ANBU in my office in five minutes, four teams by the water supply storage, and another six teams to go after that monster! Have a notification ready for evacuation after ten minutes pass."

"Hai!" Yashamaru saluted and dashed off.

So this was Suna's trump card? Ironically it would bring their downfall instead of their salvation. The Kazekage ran to his office, there was a lot of work to be done tonight, and any hesitation could bring the destruction of Suna.

Fūton: Renkūdan!

Shukaku cried out happily, taking a deep breath of the cold desert air and blowing up his stomach. With a quick whack in his gut he shot out a large call of compressed air and chakra destroying another three buildings at once like a domino effect.

The demon hollowed in laughter. But his laughter was short lived as he felt sharp objects colliding to his arm. He spun his head angrily looking down at a small group of Sand shinobi that had gathered and launched catapulted arrows at him.

"Fire!" one of the commanders yelled out. Simultaneously arrows spluttered at the large sand demon.

"You think you can stop me!" he yelled out simply waving his hand at the small group. His large side added his advantage caused the attack group to be thrown aside like a broken toy.

"Fire!" Another voice commanded from above Shukaku. In seconds a squad of puppeteers each performed long chakra strings, trying to bind the creature, but the monster merely turned his head breaking the strings and throwing the puppeteers down to their untimely death.

"This is bad… he just threw our best puppet squad in the air as though they were nothing. Suna will be destroyed in a matter of minutes. Unless…"

"Baki hold the monster down. The only way to defeat him is by awakening Gaara," The Kazekage said looked up at the sand demon, staring carefully looking pass the sharp teeth and the round skull….it was so small compared to the monstrous figure.

"Sir!" Baki saluted waiting for further action.

"Take the north team and the south team and surround the demon!" he yelled out. His people no sooner responded to the command and furiously a group of Sand. Around him a group of Sand shinobi sat in a circle cross-legged muttering something in low chants. Small green and orange scrolls were held in their mouth. Soon a bright blue color shone in the sand shaped like a circle and traveling to each of the members in the chant. A small white smoke started to form in the center of the circle, slowly rising to the sky above.

"Summoning!" the Sand shinobi called yelled out loud, each of them slamming the scroll to the ground. The smoke grew even more fiercely covered the entire area, a long thin tongue breathe out into the night air. A three headed brown snake stood after the smoke subsided. It hissed dangerously at Shukaku, but the monster did nothing but smile at it.

"You can't stop me!" it yelled out, voice echoing in the air. "No one can stop me!" It ran head first into the snake, changing even more of the landscape and killing even more people. The three headed snake continued to hiss at it and with its three heads bit down on Shukaku's shoulder. Venom trickled down the snake's teeth, but it was no use this thing was completely made out of sand. It was like trying to fight the desert all by itself.

Using its thick fingers it gripped one of the snake's heads. Shukaku growled out at the snake and using his other hand, he broke the snake's neck in two and threw the other half to the side. The snake puffed away after being defeated. Shukaku laughed at his victory," Do you hear me? Now one can defeat me!"

"Do it!" the Kazekage shouted out loud.

A sea of kunai flew towards the monster. Caught off guard, Shukaku fell back as though he were caught in a spider's web. The kunai stopped in a building, trapping the creature in a net. The Kazekage approached the creature, ignoring the sand that pierced through his body. He stood bravely in front of the creature and muttered a jutsu of his own, sending an icy cold breeze enough to keep the monster still. Using the opportunity he threw a single kunai at the creature's head, hitting its target perfectly.

"No!" Shukaku yelled out angrily after recovering what had happened. He spread his arms wide, effectively destroying all the strings and stared down at the leader with pure hatred. He was about to put one of his heavy palms on the leader, effectively crushing him into pieces

In the last split of a second the demon paused, its eyes turning into a dull orange. Suddenly it started to dissolve, spilling sand like water into the streets. The sand knocked down buildings, buried even more roads and instantly knocking any shinobi that weren't quick enough to move away. Bloody limps rain down from the sky smearing blood into the sandy streets of Suna. Sand continued to spread out until it reached the roofs of homes. The inhabitants that were inside their homes screamed out in fear as sand appeared rushed into their homes instantly dragging them away and suffocating them in the process.

Crimson blood soaked the streets.

Shukaku was only awake for about ten minutes, but those ten minutes nearly destroyed half of Suna. The village was in ruins. Buildings were sprawled on the ground, while a heavy dust as well as the stench of blood fills the air. Shukaku's power was very impressive, but at the same time very powerful. To think that not even the Kazekage could fully defeat the demon, and if it hadn't been for waking up Gaara then he knew right away that he would have been history.

Huffing from that huge amount of chakra that the Kazekage had to use, he looked about the battlefield. It seemed to him as if an entire army had attacked the village, not just a little boy.

"Kazekage-sama, are you alright?" Baki asked appearing right by the leader, immediately noticing the blood trickling down his arms.

"Get me a head count," he muttered ignoring his concern. "And Baki I might have further use for you."

He nodded not quite sure what the Kazekage was thinking about, but he'd learn that this man did everything for a reason.

"Sir, Gaara-sama has awakened," another shinobi responded right beside him.

Little Gaara looked throughout the area a bewildered look in his eyes. "What happened?" he said looking about the sand ninjas who returned a look of pure hatred and fear. For a moment no one wanted to approach him, but within time the crowd split and in walked the Kazekage looking anything but pleased.

"Gaara," he said his voice sounding harsh. "Do you realize what has happened here?"

"No," he said fighting back the tears that were starting to form in his green eyes.

"Do you realize that the demon inside of you awoke and nearly destroyed all on Suna?"

A surprise looked in his face proved that he had no idea what had happened in the last few minutes.

"Come," he said walking past him. Gaara ran next to him wondering all along what his father would be telling him. They approached the palace that Gaara had been admiring a week ago, now the place looked like a complete rundown building. The roof had caved in, while broken glass and debris littered the front yard. The sand hovering in the air made it hard for him to see and breath.

"Yashamaru!" he yelled out. In a minute he heard the shifting of footsteps and the blond medic approached him. "Take care of this," he said motioning to Gaara. "I want you to leave by sunrise; there will be no more training. This was all a mistake…. You will be escorted to make sure that nothing else happens."

"Yes sir," he said grabbing a hold of Gaara's hand and walking away with him.

The Kazekage walked back to Temari's room and just like he expected he saw his two children on the floor. Temari was holding tightly to her brother, hiccupping slightly with red eyes that showed that she had been crying. Kankurou looked ghostly white but when he saw the Kazekage he bowed down pushing Temari down on the floor as well.

"Kazekage-sama…" Kankurou said looking down at the floor. This was possible the third time that they had seen their father, and they were awfully aware how strict the man was. They knew right then and there that their father only came to talk to them when he was extremely upset with them or he was about to make a life changing decision.

"Temari," he said glaring at her and with a swift move of the back of his palm hit her square on the cheek. "Do you have any idea what you have done with your childish tricks? You nearly caused the destruction of the village!" He yelled angrily at her. Temari didn't say or do anything; she was still too traumatized after coming so close to death. She stared down at the title floor, tears falling down her green teal eyes and shaking with fear.

"Please…. Kazekage-sama, don't be mad at Temari," Kankurou said softly. He looked at his son, and immediately Kankurou grew quiet.

"From now on you will be training to be shinobi under your new sensei, Baki. I expect you to do well… maybe you can be half as strong as Gaara," he muttered, turning and walking away. "Wipe those tears off your face!" he said angrily. "You are the Kazekage's daughter and you can not be showing weakness to anyone!"

"What about Gaara?" Kankurou asked, since it was rather common to have a group of families under a team.

"Do not worry about Gaara because after a while you won't be seeing him anymore," he said ominously.

Slowly her eyes opened to the surrounding darkness, shivering from the temperature. Or maybe it was just her?

It was that dream again, the one she just never seemed to forget. She wished Kankurou was here to make her laugh and tell her everything was alright, and then joking say he won't let any of the monsters hurt his nee-san.

Her entire body was feverously hot and cold sweat would fall down her brow. She touched her injured arm and winced slightly in pain. How long had this wound been left unwounded and expose to the air? At least the poison was gone, but now she had to deal with this bad infection.

"I'm not going to let a stupid fever get me," Temari muttered sitting up against the wall of the prison. "They can't take me that easily."