Chapter Eleven: The Omen
A/N: Chapter Eleven. Everyone CLAP your hands together!! Lol, jk. XD
Sachiko: (Sigh) I feel so evil from last chapter…
Author: Sachiko-san be quiet! You're throwing off my groove!
Although morning had come the sky remained grey and the sun barely offered any light. It felt dark and dreary; not nearly the way a brand new day should be. This day was an odd one. Birds did not sing their love songs this day and they had been far into their mating season; smiling faces were a rare find this morning, and hopeful hearts were nearly nonexistent.
Gaara had barged into Sachiko's room again, ordering her to hurry up and follow him for they had more 'duties' to tend to. His red tendrils of hair hypnotized her as they walked to his new obligation. As the pair set foot into a child's playground a sick churning feeling made itself a home like a parasite in Sachiko's stomach. She couldn't help but feel déjà vu. Had she ever been in this child's playing field before? Her mind frantically tried to piece a puzzle together but it is no use to piece a puzzle with missing pieces; efforts are futile. Her head began to pound like a cold steel hammer against a nine inch nail. The only memory of last night that she had was talking to Naren while they were resting in a tree. After that she had absolutely nothing; she was missing the most important pieces of the puzzle, the ones that decided the outcome of the picture its entirety created.
Sachiko drifted away form Gaara, not caring that their shadows weren't touching. She wasn't connected to him and she didn't desire to be so. Sabaku no Gaara stood there, newborn sunlight licking at the red curls of hair on his head. He had been conversing with the three ANBU black ops from the day before.
Each ANBU were distinct from one another, yet at a distance anyone may be easily confused and mix the three up. The first ANBU black op wore a cat mask. He stood tall, higher in rank than the other two. The second black op wore a mask with two red circles around the eyes. He was of medium stature and seemingly strong; but looks are deceiving. The third ANBU was a strange one. His whole being seemed to be lazily put together, back curved into a slouch. His mask looked as if it didn't match the rest of him. Any passerby observing him would think his mask was total opposite from his idle body. On his mask was a laughing mouth and laughing eyes. Sachiko wasn't sure about these ANBU. She wasn't to keen if they had their attire picked out for them or if they had picked it out themselves. If they had picked it out themselves, why in the world would the third one pick the laughing mask?
Sachiko rid herself of such thoughts as she made the dirt floor her chair, feeling suddenly exhausted. Her soreness over came her and she couldn't fathom why she had felt so drained of energy; like a plant without sun or baby without its mother's milk. She frowned as she listened to Gaara's conversation with the three expert shinobi. The Kazekage had just arrived as well.
The Kazekage looked less menacing this day. His eyes seemed tired from lack of sleep which didn't make sense to Sachiko considering his son was the one to pull these night shifts. Gaara was the one who never slept so why was the Kazekage so tired? All these questions were filling her brain and she desired very much to cast them out. The only way she sought fit to distract her mind from asking so many irrelevant questions was to scoot closer. She sat herself within Gaara's shadow, becoming one with it. Trained ears listened intently without having to strain themselves as noise hit them.
"Did you do this," the Kazekage asked Gaara with accusing dark eyes.
"No," Gaara replied stoically, "I did not…"
Sachiko was shocked to see how unperturbed he was about the question. She would have handled the situation much differently; differently in the sense that such an inquiry as that one would have marred her into an emotional state or a hurt one.
"Then I leave the rest for you to figure out," said the Kazekage, "I have other matters to tend to…"
"Hn."
The leader of the ANBU was brave enough to speak up. "These children have many lacerations from hat seems to be claw and bite marks. One child's hand was completely severed off. We have reason to believe this is the same murderer who killed the old man because they occurred within the same time frames."
The shinobi with circles around his eyes spoke up this time. "We also have reason to believe it was an animal. The old man's death was completely different from this one. The little girl's face was chewed up pretty badly," said Circle Mask.
A dizzy spell took over Gaara as Circle Mask spoke. It was the kind of dizzy you attain in a euphoric way; he didn't feel sick. There had been too much blood at the murder scene for the demon boy to handle. It made him feel thirsty but of course not for water. This kind of thirsty was the unappeasable kind. Water bared no cure for this type of dehydration. The only means of quenching this was to have blood.
Gaara began to pant heavily like a dog. Hot breath poured out of his body and sweat trickled from his brow. He placed his hands on his knees, hunched over, as if the action would somehow purge him of such a desire as bloodlust.
"If it was an animal we need to locate it and put it down," said Laughing Mask as he took some notes in his scribbling pad.
"It's no animal," Gaara breathed as the same sickening smile from the day before crept up on his face like a slithering snake, "It was a monster… a blood thirsty monster." Gaara almost giggled as he spoke the word 'monster', feeling high.
"Are you okay, sir?" Cat Mask, the leader and the brave one, asked.
Gaara's reply was more of his labored breathing and throaty cackles. His hands gripped his head, red hair seeping out from in between his pale fingers. His body curved suddenly, doubled over nearly as he attempted to maintain a grip over himself.
"All this blood," he thought, "It makes me want to…"
"Kill? I agree, do it," laughed the monster within, Shukaku.
"No… I can't," Gaara hissed to the raccoon, "I must find the one who did this… This person… thinks he can prove his existence before my own. He is the one whose blood I must have… I must kill him…"
Sachiko watched as Gaara's panting finally ceased. She almost felt as if she could relate to him. Sometimes, she had admitted to herself, she felt such blood thirsty dizzy spells too. The redheaded boy stood back up and corrected his arched back. That had been to close for comfort for the three ANBU black ops.
Sachiko Cloudishida was snapped out of her eavesdropping boy a rustling in the leaves behind her.
"Psst," called a voice from the bushes behind her, "Sachiko!"
Sachiko whirled around to face the talking plant, eyes huge with bewilderment. She saw a pale and slender hand with black fingernails gripping the branches of the green shrub.
"Naren," Sachiko asked in a confused look.
"Yeah, it's me kiddo," said the Egyptian looking girl as she stepped out from the bushes, "Kiddo keep your voice down… They can't see me remember? It looks like your talking to yourself."
Naren gave Sachiko a crooked smile that made her believe something was insincere. Sachiko took another look at her friend and decided that Naren was just that; her friend; she was always sincere.
"Oh right," Sachiko whispered, "Look Naren… These children were killed… What happened last night…? I can't remember a thing…"
"We were playing around," Naren replied with a sour expression, "Doing practical jokes kiddo… I didn't know these kids would get hurt."
"So you did it," Sachiko said in dismay, a horrified whisper penetrating Naren's eardrums. Sachiko placed her trembling fingers over her mouth to silence herself on the subject but of course, it didn't work. "Naren you did this?"
"No kiddo… We did this… together," Naren responded coolly as she began to play with Sachiko's hair. "Don't go saying we did this out of cold blood, you understand? It was supposed to be a joke! We were just having fun, kiddo, lots and lots of fun," Naren was shrieking like a cornered cat that was about to have water spilled on him.
Sachiko bit her lip, making it bleed. The effort didn't help to fight back the tears that were now streaming down her cheeks. Naren had never yelled at her like that before. Naren had always been kind and had always said sweet things.
"Don't cry kiddo," Naren told her as she raised up Sachiko's chin, guiding her eyes to look into her own, "You're a big girl… Suck it up."
"Sorry," breathed Sachiko, "I didn't mean—"
"—Shh… The boy… he nears you."
Gaara had snuck up behind Sachiko to see what all the fuss he heard was about. When he reached her he saw that no one was there. But who had she been conversing with just seconds ago? Did this strange girl have more psychological damage than he to the point where she spoke to herself or had imaginary friends? "Who is it you're speaking to," he demanded as he balled up his fists. He gave her a disgusted scowl when he saw that she had been crying.
"N-nobody," she said in a shaky voice, affirming the suspicion that she indeed had been crying over something.
"Liar," he hissed as he grabbed her by the throat and pulled her up to a stand that way, "Who was it?"
"No one!" Sachiko cried out as she rubbed her sore neck. Gaara's grip had given her some ugly purple abrasions but she could feel them beginning to heal already. She always was a fast healer, as were all the containers for the demons.
"Hn," Gaara grunted, "Nuisance."
Gaara's teal eyes bore into hers. She timidly brushed some hair out of her face as he continued his deep glare, piercing her through such a stare. She felt compelled to tell him about Naren yet she bit her tongue so that she wouldn't speak.
People slip and so do words. "I know who… I know who killed them," Sachiko said in a trembling murmur to Gaara.
The three ANBU black ops that were still examining the corpses had heard Sachiko's confession and were readily listening. All three of them, Cat Mask, Circle Mask, and Laughing Mask either had a note pad out or a kunai. Some ready to write information, others ready to arrest the felon who committed such atrocious murders.
"Well say it then," barked Gaara angrily with a threatening voice.
"It was my friend… Naren…"
"Go look up any residents by the name of Naren," Gaara ordered Cat Mask.
"She doesn't live here… she snuck in," Sachiko said quietly as she twisted one of her fingers in her hair.
"Can you give me a description," asked Laughing Mask. She wasn't sure whether to give him one or to laugh with him.
"She's got short black hair, black eyes, wears all black… but she didn't mean to kill them," Sachiko said urgently, "It was an accident."
"It was bloodlust," groaned Gaara as he began to pant again.
"No! It was a practical joke! She didn't mean for them to die," Sachiko began to sob, "She would never—"
"—Shut up Nuisance," Gaara hissed at her. He then turned to the remaining two shinobi, "Find the girl… Naren… And I will punish her myself."
"Yes sir," said Circle Mask as they set out to accomplish their task.
"Nuisance," Gaara suddenly barked at her, "Its time to tend to other things."
Sachiko sniffled up her tears. She rubbed at her eyes and cheeks to remove the tear stains that had been created under each eye. She couldn't believe she was crying and to top it off, in front of Sabaku no Gaara. Had she really been melted down to such a weak state of mind?
XXX
Nightfall hit the Sand Village again. The night had been even stranger than the day had been. The moon usually shone fully without anything blocking it out but this night clouds of misery percolated from every corner of the atmosphere. Stars usually twinkled on such a night but tonight they disappeared as if they were running away from the full moon. Sachiko stirred in her bed. She could feel someone's tender touch against her spine.
"Naren," she whispered without looking up from the pillow, "I don't think I want to go out tonight."
"Aw, come on kiddo… It's a full moon," Naren said with enthusiasm, "You know how I feel about full moons don't you?"
"Yeah… I know." Sachiko turned over in her bed and faced her dark haired comrade.
"Get up kiddo," Naren insisted as she waited for Sachiko to get out of bed, "Once you get a good look at the full moon… you'll see… come on!"
Sachiko reluctantly followed her friend and looked out over the balcony. In this distance was a cloud covered full moon. She stared into the shining round orb with despair in her eyes. The moon reminded her of a tear drop; it always had but when it was like the way it was that night, it aroused her. Sachiko could feel her senses heightening with each moment. She cast her eyes downward, averting her gaze from the trap.
"Ready to go," Naren asked her as she played with Sachiko's hair.
"I am."
XXX
The two impish girls approached the Kazekage's office. It was a tall and desolate complex this time of night. Sachiko had been to the edifice many times with Gaara on his Kazekage-in-training duties. She wouldn't say she knew it like the back of her hand but she knew it well enough. Sachiko stuck a long, sharp, black nail into the key hole of the sliding glass door. As she slid it open her hand was met with a burst of cold, waking all her senses. She sniffed the air, catching the scent of another human in the building.
"We're not alone," said Naren for she felt the presence of another being in the building as well, "Be as quiet as possible… just signal me if you have to speak."
Sachiko gave her a short nod and began to walk through the long hallways. Naren went ahead of her, dragging her hand along the wall, the ridges of the wall giving her fingers a tingling sensation. As they turned the corner and went up s flight of stairs, they noticed a light was on in the room next to the Kazekage's office room.
"Wait here," instructed Naren as she took her rightful role as leader.
The short raven haired girl crept up to the room. She opened the door slightly, hand gripping the edge to steer it. Naren's black eyes peeked in and scanned the room. She carefully closed the door and tiptoed back to Sachiko, grinning triumphantly.
"It's another old geezer," Naren spoke gleefully, "The Kazekage's advisor… old man Kawizawa… Let's pull a prank."
"Oh no…" Sachiko bit her lip hard, imagining all the possible consequences for such a deed. "It's not a good idea Naren, that's the Kazekage's advisor."
"Who cares? He deserves it anyway… we saw him stealing money from the Kazekage, remember kiddo? We will punish him for the misdeed," said Naren, voice thick with determination.
XXX
Gaara had felt unbearably restless that night and more so than usual. It wasn't just the full moon that had enticed him to wander but an unusual feeling in the pit of his gut. He floated through the Sand Village like some sort of ghoulish creature with his red sash billowing behind him like the tattered ends of a poltergeist's glowing garment. His feet had stopped just before the Kazekage's building. He could see a light on in the room next to the Kazekage's.
Placed at the rear of the building, Gaara walked to the front to face the entrance. Upon approaching a sliding glass door he noticed it was a jar; just open a creak to let someone slip in and out unnoticed. He noticed one set of fingerprints on the rim of the door. He studied them with a trained eye. The fingerprints didn't belong to anyone in Sand; that much he knew about them. His father had made him study the fingerprints of every citizen of Sand and not that his memory was impeccably photographic but it was called remarkable from time to time. The fingerprints belonged to someone who wasn't a resident of Suna. Perhaps it was the girl that Sachiko had spoken of earlier; Naren?
He allowed his sand to slide the door open for him that way he wouldn't damage the fingerprints in case they were needed for evidentiary support of some sort. He walked slowly and quietly down the gaping halls, as a ninja should. His feet lightly tapped like a drip of water leaking from the sink. He climbed up a flight of stairs to the second floor with much anticipation ailing his bones. He peered out into the hall and suddenly the assumption he had made in his head were proven correct. He had just witnessed the brutal and inhuman killing of one of his father's oldest advisors yet he couldn't say that he didn't feel aroused from the viciousness of it because he in fact, did feel an abrupt lust for blood.
Sachiko loomed over Kawizawa's old and lifeless body which had looked even more fragile, and dismembered in this departed state, panting. Her labored breathing was not a result of nervousness or exhaustion but a result from what one would call a "thriller". She had had her bloodlust for the night and found herself to be unduly satisfied though she had provoked to commit this heinous act by Naren, the girl she called 'friend.'
"I did good," said Sachiko, saying it more like a question than a statement to a person that Gaara could not see.
"You did very good," said Naren but Gaara couldn't hear the reply for to him, Naren was nonexistent.
"Thanks Naren," said Sachiko to her with an appreciative smile.
Naren narrowed her eyes at Sachiko, thinking of the smile as more of a smudge than a facial expression; a smudge that she wanted so badly to wipe off Sachiko's smug little face. But that, Naren had told herself, would not be very 'best friend' of her.
Gaara waited for the girl Naren to appear from her hiding place but she did not. He had been convinced that she had concealed herself somewhere nearby where only Sachiko could see and hear her but it looked like Sachiko was talking to herself.
"Kiddo," Naren said, "You've got the makings of a great ninja… Raikage even."
"Arigato Naren," said Sachiko still breathing heavily as she removed some fresh blood from her cheek, "But you're the one that killed the old man, "I just knocked him down… You cut his throat and finished him off…"
Gaara's ears couldn't believe what they were hearing and his eyes couldn't muster up what he was seeing; or rather not hearing nor seeing. No one was standing there next to Sachiko yet judging by her body language, she was talking to a dear friend. No one was talking to Sachiko and yet she had cocked her head to side to hear better; to be a better listener. The strangest was that he had just seen Sachiko finish off Kawizawa on her own using a sharp black nail to cut deep into his throat; a beautiful laceration, he had to admit; the gash was simply flawless. Sachiko was the murderer not this girl Naren. Even if she was present in the building she had still not laid a finger on the old man.
"Kiddo, we make a great team," Naren said enthusiastically, "Hey… are you okay?"
The Cloud native dropped to the floor, most likely fainting from fatigue. Gaara took this opportunity, such a golden opportunity, to make sure she would be caught red-handed. He departed from the building to retrieve the Kazekage.
"I knew something was up," Shukaku told him. The raccoon gave a throaty cackle before speaking again. "Well you should have known boy… a black cat crossing your path a couple nights in a row… well that's an omen."
"Hn… An omen indeed."
A/N: Well was it to your liking? REVIEW!!
Author: Strange… wear is Sachiko-san?
Sachiko: (Snoring)
Author: OH YEAH! She's passed out… and snoring… urgh. Well, no matter… The show will go on without her.
Gaara: There you are…
Author: YIKES!! I GOTTAGOBYEEEE!!
Gaara: You can't run away from my Sand Coffin forever…
Author: BUT I CAN SURE AS HECK TRY! AIII YAAAAAHHHH!! (Runs like an Olympic sprinter)
Gaara: (gives chase) You WILL be my PREYYYY!!