Chapter XIII: Accomplished Feats

"Idiot! I swear if you do something like that again, I'll kill you!"

"Okay, okay, I get it. Don't leave without getting permission," Kankurou said sarcastically, reapplying her bandages. She was certainly doing much better than before, Kankurou noticed, a brief relief settling over him. "Here," he said pulling out the small glass bottle from within the paper bag. It was a deep violet, thick like syrup, and with that terrible after taste doctors seems so fond of making.

"Ugh," Temari said making a face, after drinking a quarter of the bottle.

"Sorry, they were all out of the cherry flavor," Kankurou smirked, handing her two rolls of bread that he managed to steal back in the town. She took a bite into it, savoring the buttery taste, but then asked him whether he had eaten anything himself. Yeah, he replied keeping himself busy with applying new bandages, and carefully avoiding her eyes, but he said something else to throw away any worries.

High upon a tree branch, Gaara silently watched the interaction between the two.

He thought he liked it better when they were like this, when all shinobi rules were put aside and danger wasn't lurking behind a corner. Smiles came more natural, he noted, and eyes shone a bit more now that it was clear the other wasn't dead. They spoke easily to one another, laughed, and occasionally swatted each other, but for a good hour all they did was talk. Talk and talk, about Kankurou's whereabouts and his close encounter with the Leaf-nin, about the short attack while he was away, about leaving the campsite without evidence and finding a new one instead. And then lastly, they talked about him.

Don't you want to see how red it is?

Gaara shifted, aware that that voice was speaking to him again. He jumped onto another branch, realizing that this voice in his head was what alienated him.

He was just a stranger, a stranger that happened to share the same blood as them. And because he was that stranger; because of Shukaku; because of that night so long ago that Temari shook whenever she saw him and Kankurou stuttered a bit, and Baki looked away; because of that mysterious night that he was still too young to remember, but saw ruin buildings and so many lifeless bodies sprawling on the streets overnight. Because of all this he could never form any bonds with Temari nor Kankurou.

He shook his head in a pathetic attempt to stop that voice. Why don't you listen to me?

"I don't need you telling me what to do."

Listen to me.

It was never silent, not since the day he saw that man—the one that spoke comforts to him and had fake smiles and told him tales of love—not till that day when something began to whisper in his mind. It called itself Mother, and told him to always listen to him because Mother always knew what was best. And he did, but not now.

A while ago, it had been so much easier to listen to Mother: to just rip the insides of a human and watch the blood dripping, like sacred water; and Mother praised him, and didn't hate him as much and he didn't feel so alone, so unwanted. But now, after Uzumaki Naruto proved him wrong and his definition of existence didn't quite fit anymore, now he just wanted it to be quiet.

Be a good boy and listen to me.

"Hey Gaara," Kankurou said, standing a few feet away from him. His hat was gone and his face free of paint and they looked so much like brothers.

Kankurou looked a lot like Father, Gaara thought, but instantly put that though aside remembering that Father had never loved anyone.

Hesitantly, Kankurou approached Gaara, producing something from his pocket and handing a small round object, wrapped tightly in a napkin. "Here, I know it's not much, but it's better than eating that rabbit food, you've probably been eating for days." Kankurou gave somewhat of a chuckle, as if trying to lessen the mood a bit, but Gaara merely stared at him—a part of him curious that he would willingly approach him, would actually think of him.

The seconds spread out. "If your not…" Kankurou slowly began, probably apologizing for some unintentional insult, but at last, pale fingers took the wrapped bread.

"Thank you."

"Any time," he shrugged, clearly pleased that Gaara hadn't reacted violently. A few minutes passed between them in silence as night quickly approaching and the sky began to dull in color. "So, Temari told me what happened, and I guess I should thank you... for having taken care of her."

"I promised, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did."

Another silence passed, the sky began to brighten, creating long shadows in the process, and sending soft colors on the black sky. Kankurou stood standing behind Gaara, while the latter continued to stare off into the horizon.

"It's much harder than I thought," Gaara said abruptly, still staring off more like he was voicing his thought than speaking to him.

"What is?"

"Protecting someone," he continued, resting his head on his folded up knees. "I realize that just now. To protect someone means, to sacrifice your free will and a conflict of interest could arise. Something binds you to that person, like a contract that cannot be broken, and your choices have to be drawn carefully to avoid that harm of not only yourself but that of the individual."

Again they were silent until Kankurou cleared his throat. "Yeah…but I guess you kinda change perceptions, ya know?"

"Any what would that be?" Gaara spun his head, examining Kankurou's face for any deception, but for once Kankurou seemed completely serious. These weren't those half baked truths he usually made up when he was around him; for once Kankurou was truly being sincere to him.

"Well, I finally trust you."

There was a silence between them, but it lasted for only a few seconds before Kankurou cleared his throat.

"You know, I thought I hated you," Kankurou continued. "Along time ago, it came out," he said an almost invisible shiver coursing through his spine, "and got Temari really upset, then we were shoved off into the real world. I thought it was your fault, but I see now that I was being stupid. You kept your word and protected Temari, when I doubted you this whole time. And well…what I'm trying to say is that what happened along, long time ago wasn't your fault. You and it are two different beings, and I've only just realize that."

The round sun started to peak from below the horizon, slowly climbing the darken sky.

"We've been on so many missions, fought so many enemies, but it was only up till now that we really needed you. And I know that Temari's strong and can fight for herself, but well…you were there when we needed you," he said looking off in the distance, watching the morning come. "And I'm grateful for you having taken care of her."

"Anyway, I guess it's stupid to hold grudges, especially against your siblings, since you're stuck with them for life."

And for once Mother was silent.

Baki walked down the long white corridors; ignoring the looks of bewilderment he was getting nurses and patience. It seemed that Konoha was in a state of crisis after those two invaders. They wanted to reform the alliance, and have a Hokage standing as quickly as possible. Now he needed to return to Suna to report the current events to the council.

But before he left for the long voyage, he realized he had left something undone.

He entered a closed door, guarded by two ANBU. Immediately they denied him entry, but he reassured them that he would be quick. They seemed hesitant, but perhaps because he was Suna's liaison and Konoha wanted things to go back to normal, they allowed his entry.

He entered a small room, devoid of windows and colored in white. In the middle sat a woman on her bed, an IV in her arm, eyes cast down.

"What do you want?" Yugao looked up when she saw him, perhaps too tired to enact on her revenge.

"I'm not here to lecture you," Baki began standing in front of her. He seemed much taller and powerful then her, able to destroy her in a moment. "I am not here to tell you what is right and wrong. If you want your revenge, then so be it. I'll be ready for you, come at me today, or tomorrow. Hunt me down for years and years, until you slowly start losing those around you until you have nothing left. Just don't ever get one of my students involved in this.

"People die, villages get destroyed, families get separated, but the world does not stop for you. Get on with your life, its just plain stupidity to give up everything for nothing in return."

She didn't know why, but that tone. That tone in his voice spoke volumes, suddenly made her feel so small and insignificant, like a child that had been scowled by their parent. Yugao knew now that everything she had done, all the painstaking labor she had gone through focusing her mind and energy on one task was complete stupid. She bowed her head not bothering to meet his eyes. "You said you understood. Who was it?"

He seemed hesitant to answer her, as though afraid of the old memories that would resurface. But he spoke at last.

"My family."

He had been on a mission when the village was attacked, corpses and shambles and grief plagued the village. He remembered rushing home to a caved house and quickly throwing stone aside believing that his wife would be safe under all that rubble. A part of him knew that she wouldn't have survived, but it was only until he saw her lifeless body did the truth finally settled in.

He lost his wife that day and his unborn son.

And then eight months later he had received a mission of capturing the shinobi that were responsible for attacking the village. But he was so obsessed in his revenge that he didn't' noticed that his teams were ridiculously outnumbered, he didn't notice that most of them were wounded, and that most of them wouldn't be able to make a trip to the desert. But still, despite the cost of his men, despite the cost of the mission and his scarred face, he had achieved his revenge.

He had given up everything for nothing.

The Kazekage was not pleased for his arrogance and mistake, but he still kept him alive. "You were once a great shinobi, teach my children that," the Kazekage had said. The Kazekage wanted Suna strong, and did not mind the cost of his children's happiness and future.

How is it that a man, could be like this? Baki wondered. Whereas he lost his wife and his child, the Kazekage didn't care about his two children, he didn't care about experimenting on his unborn son, he didn't care about risking his wife's life.

He would teach these children to become shinobi and in return move on with his life once and for all.

"I understand," Yugao spoke at last. She did not say anything else.

Baki turned away walking solely in the hospital ward, many of the medics stopping in their track and staring at the foreigner in their hospital, but still Baki continued to walk forward. He passed by a girl with cherry blossom hair, emerald eyes cast down and staring into the lifeless form.

With Temari back to health in less than three days, things were definitely looking good, though they stumbled upon something very strange. They had been expecting some sort of border patrol considering that they were nearing Rain Country, but after a quick surveillance they found no such thing, rather, by the edge of a river, there lay three border patrol shinobi on the floor, unconscious. There were no external injuries and the surroundings, didn't covey any resistance.

"It must have been some genjutsu," Kankurou responded having come to the conclusion that it wasn't poisoning. Gaara's eyes had narrowed, a somewhat suspicion look crossed his features, but other than that he said nothing.

In the end, they left the bodies, recognizing that for once they weren't forced in some unnecessary battle. And for a moment things were definitely looking towards their favor until Kankurou came back in the evening with a grim look in his face after a short surveillance.

"Well?" Temari asked, looking over to Kankurou, stopping her picking of wild mushrooms. If one good thing came out of Temari, beside her trill of a challenge, it was definitely her wide knowledge in botany.

"Well, Konoha hates our guts –that's for sure. There's ANBU all over the place!"

"ANBU?" Temari thought out loud.. "That's odd."

"What do you mean?"

"Konoha just had a war, so they shouldn't be able to spare shinobi that easily, especially highly skill ANBU. Something must have happened in Konoha for them to have put up this much security."

"Maybe they're still in a mess with Suna," Kankurou offered.

"Maybe," Temari said thinking out loud. "But you know how Konoha is. They're probably willing to listen to negotiations, and well… Sound wasn't useful were probably stuck trying to patch things up. And since we're not that big of a threat anymore, then there wouldn't be that much of a reason to keep such high security around."

She continued thinking for a while, but then shook her head, realizing that they should be more worried about getting home then the problems of Konoha. "I guess we'll have to travel northwest, but cross the border before we reach Rain Country. There shouldn't be too much security, since that area is so remote. From then, it's not too far from Siwa, and we can get supplies. We'll leave tonight…" She looked away from him, finding an old tree branch interesting all of a sudden. "So tell Gaara."

Each night he insisted on keeping watch, and each night he'd disappear to the highest tree branch, coming back in the early hours of the morning.

She asked him what he was doing up there, and he'd say something about a better aerial view, but growing up around Kankurou, she knew when he was lying. This had to do something with Gaara—since he hadn't yelled at them for so long, even through the crappy food—but she still couldn't understand what was going on between them.

As the evening turned into night and the mushroom were roasted, the two siblings sat in silence.

"Those mushrooms better be good than that lichen we had this morning," Kankurou teased making a face.

"I don't see you looking for food," Temari countered, her teal eyes sharpening.

They took a bite from the cooked mushroom, and both had the same reaction.

The mushrooms were bad, rubbery and had a terrible after taste to them. Temari narrowed her eyes and he took it as a sign to shut up. They didn't speak for a few minutes, mostly because chewing that crap was hard enough, but after another two bites Kankurou placed the mushroom to the side.

"Temari, I think he's changing."

"Kankurou," she looked at him, a fret in her voice.

"He's changing. Something must have happened back in Konoha in that fight against that kid."

It was true. She could see that whatever, Uzumaki had said to him had gotten through, much more effective than anything else. She hadn't talked to him, since he saved her from that ambush several days ago, but still there was something about him that was different, like that violent sandstorm that had finally died down.

"Just be careful that's all I'm saying."

Tall overgrown grass prickled the exposed knees of the several three ANBU that stood watch. Their backs were straight, body set and ready to attack at any moment that seemed out of the ordinary, though it certainly didn't look so. The scene was rather tranquil: the sky was blue, the grass green, and nature stretched out as far as the eye could see. Within another few miles there grew a small woodland, and afterwards the land started to dry until it eventually became nothing more than an ugly stretch of sand and weeds.

Since the invasion of Konoha, there had been teams constantly surveying the border between Wind Country and Fire Country, more so than usual. Of course it was to be expected, no one had seen the invasion until flocks of Sand nin started pounding on the gates of Konoha, and as a result there had been a growing fear that more Sand nin would come thronging to Fire Country. But recently two S-ranked criminals had sneaked into Konoha. Accordingly, one of the criminals had set Kakashi-san and the Uchiha boy into some sort of coma, and had left just as swiftly.

The entire country was in fear from these repeated trespassing, and there was a growing demand to have the Hokage put in his desk. The borders had been close, if only to easy the fear of spooked merchants and federal lords, but as of yet the land was devoid of any travelers.

A breeze flew spraying bits of sand into the green landscape. All at once, the three ANBU looked at one another, nodding in comprehension. One of them—the one with the cat's mask—pulled out a katana, eyes narrowing through her covered mask. The landscape was devoid of any trees or rocks, and it would be easy to spot someone approaching.

Twenty minutes passed in silence, until there was a deep crunch in the air. At once the ANBU stood straight, ready at any moment to attack. The captain met eyes with the cat's mask signaling with his head to go check it out. She nodded, before disappearing silently.

Again the three ANBU were left in silence that is until they suddenly heard something from behind, metal, by the sound of it. Pulling out a weapon one of the ANBU turned around, half expecting to see a kunai, but the fields were empty. He took another step forward, and yelled out in surprised.

An ugly brownish body erupted from the green ground, spraying dirt and grass everywhere. For a moment the captain believed it was a corpse, but when seven long arms wrapped around his subordinate, and he stared at triangle shaped eyes, and jagged missing teeth, it occurred to him that this was a puppet.

The puppet gripped the ANBU tightly, and for a minute the captain feared that his subordinate would become crush. But then he saw with amazement that the puppet drew out a sharp thin needle from within its palm and struck it squarely on the back of its captured prey. The ANBU fell at once on the grass floor, poison engulfing his blood stream.

The puppet stared at the remaining two ANBU, an eerie smile on its face. It shuttered its teeth and joints, sending a 'clank-clank' in the air, opening its mouth and emitting a cloud of purple gas. The gas hissed as it was released, and gather quickly throughout the air with a horrendous smell.

"Cover your mouth!"

The gas was thick in texture making it difficult to breathe and see. They spun around wildly, trying to throw kunai, but failing miserably.

Each one of them ran some distance, trying to get free of the gas. At last it seemed to be clearing, but then he stopped running, throwing two kunai at once.

A girl stood there a smirk on her face as she blocked the flying kunai with an enormous fan, made out of steel and paper and three purple moons.

Kamaitachi no Jutsu!

With strength, she pulled back the fan and heaved it forward sending a gush of wind crashing upon him. The wind that had been so soft and soothing this morning was gone and replaced by this cyclone. Skin burned raw from the cold bitter wind, until bits and pieces of his flesh were sliced. He pulled out his sword, striking it to the ground and holding tightly on the handle, trying with all his might not to get pulled away, in a frantic attempt to not get pulled away by the vicious wind, but his hands couldn't grip the katana's blade and he tumbled in the air like some sort of rag doll, consciousness sipping away.

Quickly she turned towards the captain, sending a gust of wind. He managed to dodge, despite the burning sensation still left behind by that smoke. He coughed, tried to stand but felt a wave of nausea and dizziness settle over him. Pulling out kunai, he threw them one by one, but the girl knocked them aside easily with her fan. There was another 'clank-clank' in the air and he turned around to see the puppet standing behind him, its creepy smile sending shivers down his spine.

He jumped a few feet landing in the soft spot of grass and sand.

"Who are you?" he asked. The puppeteer jumped out from the ground, walking a few distance to stand next to the girl.

"We just want to pass," she said, her eyes narrowing as she saw his drawn out katana.

"That's not very, likely. We won't let spies get away that easily. I'll admit that you surprised us with that ambush of yours, but don't think you have the upper hand. More ANBU are coming to… arrest you!"

He looked at her, evidently worried by this, but the girl smirked once again at the ANBU. "Good, you'll be needing medical treatment."

Folding her fan and turning around, the ANBU yelled out in bewilderment as he felt the ground beneath him dissolve. The world around him began to get smaller and smaller, his legs began itching and itching with grains of sand, and with each frantic step he made it became harder and harder to move. It was quicksand.

There was the sound of footsteps as a boy approached the desolated area. He had vivid red hair and black rings around his eyes.

The captain couldn't help but gasp out loud. This boy he had heard of him, the young Sand genin from the Chuunin Exams that had set world records and amazed all the proctors. This team had been captured as they were trying to leave Konoha, and had escaped from the heaviest guarded section of the prison, injured prison guards as well as ANBU.

These Sand genin… they were certainly powerful to have gone against so many obstacles.

The quicksand became harden, just barely reaching his chin. The captain craned his head, noticing a shadow block the blue sky. He saw his third subordinate, her mask off, blood trickling her scalp and cuts and bruises all over her body. A blob of sand was holding her still body.

"Everything went accordingly, Temari," he said, with a voice flat. "However, there appears to be a team approaching."

A lone drop of the woman's blood dripped onto the grass.

"Yes. Thank you, Gaara, for your cooperation," she said uneasily. Kankurou stood behind her, wrapping up Karasu in its bandages. "We should get moving. The enemy is stabilize, and we probably won' t have another element of surprise."

But Gaara still wasn't releasing that woman. He held her tightly in his grip, watching with a sort of wonder as her blood continued to fall down in drops.

"Gaara?" Temari asked, realizing that the sight of blood was making Gaara act this way, just like he had a few days ago when he saw that Leaf chuunin bleeding.

"We should get going another team is coming," Kankurou said mostly directed to Gaara.

Still there was no respond.

"Gaara," Kankurou said leaving Temari's side and walking behind the younger boy. "C'mon let's go."

Gaara didn't respond, still memorize by the drops of blood from this woman.

"Kankurou," Temari muttered, but he ignored it.

"Look, this might be easy for you, but it's dangerous for Temari and me."

And they were back; back to the Forest of Death, back to seeing the three slaughtered Rain shinobi and seeing the sky rain down pools, and pools of blood.

And then—

"Very well," Gaara said dropping the woman to the floor, none too gently. Her ribs were broken, blood oozing underneath her uniform, broken bones and bruises all over her body.

Gaara willed the sand to retreat back into his massive gourd, and slowly walked away from the approaching battle before dashing quickly through the green meadows.

And like always Temari and Kankurou followed behind him.

Two ANBU came approached the deserted meadows. They sprang into action when they saw their fallen comrades. After a quick run of examinations, it was nothing to fatally serious, though the woman was rushed to a medical nin. The captain was trapped within the earth, and he seemed absolutely furious about being so humiliated. At once he asked to go after them.

But the ANBU wearing a wolf's mask shook his head. He had seem those Sand genin—no they weren't really genin, they were much more advanced to be called genin—had captured them that night so long ago, and was certainly impressed by their strength.

"The council wants us to leave those kids alone."

The air smelled not like the crisp, green leaves of Konoha, rather something old and decaying. Trees were robbed of their green leaves until they stood skinny and naked against the blue sky, its brown branches spraying out, like a hand asking for food. A heap of logs sat overhead, the wood tender and breaking off easily to a colony of fat, white worms. Fluffy bunnies and other cute creatures were gone and replaced with annoying bugs that eagerly buzzed to their skin, until they were swat away. Where there were large green canopies that provided shade, sunlight penetrated through the trees beating down on the ground.

But still they ran not once looking back; for fear that they would be caught and dragged away. The sound of their footsteps overpowered that of their beating hearts, and when legs got tired and a stitch was trying to slow them down, they ignored it; threw it behind them and kept running with all might. Because they were just so close.

So close to seeing the red sand and red sun that their physique was forgotten for a moment for the sake of seeing that stretch of land and sky.

Trees grew less and less until they were gone, grass sprouted in different arrangements becoming nothing more than yellow weeds, and the wind blew and blew shuffling their hair and roughly caressing their skin.

"Stop," Gaara said. He was further along of them, his gourd bobbling up and down with his movements. Temari and Kankurou stopped, sucking the air to their empty lungs, both their faces red and sweaty from the run. Kankurou fell to a heap on the floor, still gasping for oxygen and hastily drinking the canteen of water Temari handed over to him.

"I can't believe we got pass them," Kankurou spoke, grinning at their accomplishment.

"Yeah, but we still have to keep moving," Temari spoke, ruining Kankurou short moment of glory. She looked to Gaara, noticing a conflict growing within him. Her eyes met with Kankurou, both of them understand what was wrong with their youngest brother.

More blood could have been drawn! Why did you stop!

Again Mother spoke to him, urging him to go back and kill that woman, wanting so desperately to see more blood. The voice continued to echo in his head, each second louder and louder until he felt his head aching in pain.

"Gaara?" Kankurou asked. "C'mon lets get going."

Gaara looked up at him, Mother's voice suddenly disappearing, slowly walking out and stopping as they reached the top of a hill. The three Sand shinobi stood speechless watching the landscape in from of them.

What remained of grass there was nearly nothing more. The land was hard and flat, stretching infinitely towards the sky, rocky plateaus hung farther down in the horizon while the red sun continued to shine without mercy.

Fire Country swarm with rich vegetation, plenty of water, and comfortable weather, but the Wind Country was anything but that. The land was sterile and dry, its inhabitants fighting for what little the land gave, and constantly fighting a never-ending battle against Mother Nature.

No one in their right mind would think of moving further along, of willfully walking into sand and wind and the blazing sun. Of coming into the clutched of poisoned snakes and scorpion, where one could step so easily. Of coming to a land where the black vultures awaited to eat flesh and the hungry wolves howled in the night. This land where drought and disease awaited them, and there seemed to be no hope.

But to them it didn't matter how other people viewed their country. Because to them, the people who embraced and fought against the clutches of Mother Nature, only they could miss this ugly, forsaken land and only they could view the desert as a beauty.

They took the first step, their weight sinking in a pudding of sand; and for the first time, they truly, truly felt safe.