A/N: Just a heads up guys, I have a con this weekend so I won't be updating again until at least Monday!
I'm really surprised how many people haven't heard the term 'poof' before! I feel like an old bat!
SanJapan, here I come! Enjoy the chapter!
It came to a point where being alone during the summer days was just that, lonesome. Out of habit I wandered into Tackle and Things, finding Tsunade dusting off what looked to be an old painting.
It only really caught my attention because of the young mermaid boy on it, holding the face of an assumed sailor with something sparkling in their eyes.
It was beautiful, crafted perfectly and able to capture a number of emotions I wasn't even capable of feeling. Despair, hope, love, it seeped from each paint streak and I knew I wanted it, if for nothing more than to stare at when I doubted my ability to feel…
"How much?" I asked softly, craning to look over her shoulder at the old thing.
"Not for sale hun."
I hadn't heard her say that before, the woman always looking to make a quick buck.
"I just got it in, beauty ain't it? I'm gonna hang it up right there, for everyone to see." She pointed at a cleared space behind the counter. "No point keeping it stuffed in some drawer right?"
"Why is it so important?" It was beautiful, sure thing but the woman had sold many beautiful things that most would hoard to themselves. "Is it… sentiment?"
She laughed, leaving me uneasy.
"I guess so, for Konoha. This, my boy, is history." She held it up, proud and with a grin that spoke miles about that pride.
From the newly acquired angle I saw that the two were sinking into the ocean, a tragic ending.
"He was lured away?"
"More like driven." She scoffed, stepping up on a stool to hang the masterpiece. "A hundred years ago they say, this man here, named Zabuza, fell in love with the most beautiful mermaid any had ever seen." Her tone was that of wonder and I had to admit from the painting, he could be considered beautiful. "The mermaid's name was Haku, long hair and sea bound he sat atop rocks and spoke to the sailor as if he were just another person. No secrets or tricks or even attempting to hide from anyone…"
I wondered if this was a story she'd often heard as a child, she spoke it so dedicatedly.
"All the sailors were angry at him and at Zabuza because he was the reason the boy kept coming. Haku never hurt anybody, he never killed or drowned or cursed even though his magic was as powerful as he was beautiful."
"How'd they know?" I asked, picturing in my head something similar to Naruto.
"Because he'd make every day perfect for Zabuza, he'd calm the sea or heal the sick, anything that made that man happy. He was the first mermaid to never show any ill-intent towards humankind." The frown on her face revealed that it was meaningless; of course this story couldn't have a good ending of any sort. "He just had a lot of love to give and although Zabuza never said it out loud, he loved the boy just as much."
It's easy to imagine, falling in love with something both beautiful and sweet.
That's normal isn't it?
"So much oppression, so much hate from all around…" I wished her solemn expression would disappear; this side of the woman was more unpleasant than how I usually found life. "One day the man stopped showing up, the sailors forbidding him to leave his house until the witch was gone. Haku was deterred though, he took a knife to his own hair, giving up his magic, and climbed out of the water on shaky legs."
My chest clenched.
"He walked proudly through the gaping town and found Zabuza, asked him to go into the sea with him, said that they could be together forever."
"Wait, I thought he never tried to… you know… eat anyone."
Tsunade shrugged, brushing her hair free from her face.
"No one knows if he got eaten, he just disappeared into the sea." She smiled up at the perfectly aligned painting. "Since then, Sailors stay out of each other's business, especially when it comes to sea witches. No one wants to drive someone into the sea."
"Does everyone think this way?" I whispered, eyes locked on the soft hand of the mermaid that held lovingly to the tanned sailor.
"Only the true believers; they know that you can't fight a mermaid, all you can do is resist them."
Walking down the docks I wondered if there were a number of people who watched us waste days together, silently hoping I'd come to my senses and just walk away.
As if I could at this point.
()()()()()()
"Temari… What do you think of Naruto?"
If dinner the night before hadn't sent my siblings into a state of shock, my inquiry sure did.
"What?" She croaked, dropping the pan she was washing back into the sink.
"Naruto…" My throat grew dry, the confidence I had to approach her dwindling instantly.
"He's… adorable." And she was smiling, eyes drifted to the ceiling as she thought back on dinner. "He's honest and a bit clumsy, somewhat mischievous if you ask me."
"How so?" I rose an eyebrow, I wasn't sure if mischievous was a word I would use to describe Naruto, even if he was a mermaid.
"The bastard kept stringing you along." Kankuro piped up, making the atmosphere of the kitchen go cold. "Acting cute, making you cut up 'is food, coddle 'im like a woman."
"Kankuro!" Temari shouted, shutting off the sink. "He was just being flirty."
"Flirty? More like conniving."
"You're being ridiculous."
Shikamaru picked up his mug, obviously giving up hope for the situation.
"And you're okay with some blonde butt pirate seducing our little brother?"
"Do you even know your own brother? 'Gaara' and 'seduce' can't be accurately used in the same sentence."
I frowned, somehow they had managed to forget that I was sitting right there, Shikamaru sparing me a piteous glance.
"Do you really think this is dinner conversation?" The genius piped up, mug clicking on the table as he set it down to stand.
The spikey haired young man approached my sister, wrapping his arms casually around her waist from behind.
"Can't this wait?"
Kankuro scoffed, standing abruptly. "This is ridiculous, I'm out."
And he was off, slamming our room door behind him.
Temari sighed but I tried not to let it get to me.
"Just remember Gaara, no one is going to persecute you for wanting to be happy."
I didn't touch my food that night.
In bed I realized that I felt better, as if I'd gotten advice on something I wasn't aware had been bothering me.
Maybe I am the one that lost it; maybe Naruto wasn't a mermaid after all.
Maybe he was just someone special.
I didn't sleep; I just stared at that damned ceiling until sunlight filled the room.
()()()()()()
I waited a good couple of hours past dawn before looking for Naruto, walking briefly into every store and eatery we'd ever been to together. Declining invitations from Deidara, Shizune, Ino, and even Sakura as I made my way through every inch of the docks, looking for a yellow mop of hair I knew had to be lurking somewhere.
Upon finding no trace of him I wound up on the rocks, scrambling over them with a now practiced footing. Just beyond the highest point was that cove, as beautiful as the first day I saw it.
There were a great deal of things that I hated about that rotten boat, mainly that it was the closest thing the warm being that is Naruto had to call a home.
I feel like the universe was just being plain cruel to the boy, he who had seemingly never harbored ill-intent to anyone.
I also hated the sound it groaned out of its underbelly when I made each step, entering the broken and empty room. The only thing in there was the giant pile of thrift blankets the blonde had made into his bed.
It almost looked comfortable from here.
Maybe that's why I curled up in it, inhaling deeply the scent that always clung to Naruto, as if I were suddenly washed in his presence. I could tell that's where he slept by how loved the worn pile felt.
I fell asleep almost instantly and above all, I didn't dream.
I woke to the feeling of water droplets on my face, opening my eyes in the shadowed little room I saw Naruto, sopping wet. He was looming over where I had curled up, obviously not intending to wake me with the unwelcome cold of the water.
His mouth hung open like he had been ready to say something, though now just stared and forgot to shut it again.
"Where were you?" I murmured, still groggy from my sleep.
His big blues just sparkled, a hand swiftly rushing to place a finger against my lips, silencing me.
That was almost comical, the blonde making me quiet down… Temari would have an aneurism.
Then he wrapped those fingers up in mine, a fit so perfect it gave me trembles, and then dragged me to my feet. Together we braved the rotten boat's deck and walked out into the sun, the clear water around us filled with large and grey masses.
They seemed to dance around our little boat.
"Better dolphins than porpoises…" Naruto whispered, showing off his teeth. "They're much nicer."
It was all he said before he let go of my hand, something I would have resented if he hadn't proceeded to leap right into the water. The dolphins were not off-set by his arrival, in fact gathering around to investigate the newcomer or perhaps, returning playmate.
He was soaked when he first arrived, wasn't he?
I tried to ignore the way he began speaking to them as if they could understand, I would give him his antics whether they were childish fantasies or real qualities.
I was getting used to the strange things I saw him wrapped up in.
If I ever doubted what he was, I take it back. I am nearly positive that he is some sort of deity from the sea.
And although this acceptance slowly grew on me, I felt no fear of the boy with the yellow hair.
Not even when he pleaded with me to join him in the water, something I obviously would not do.
Not because I feared him anymore, only because I feared where he might have come from.
()()()()()()
Sometime that night when everything was black I heard a voice.
Whether I slept and it dragged me into the world of consciousness or whether I had simply been snapped free from some reverie, I know not.
Either way Kankuro was up, whispering across the room from the darkness.
"I'm sorry Gaara." He confessed, something that must have been hard on him. "For the Naruto thing… No matter what 'appens, you'll always be my lil' bro."
My eyes felt like they were on fire. Why?
"Thank you, Kankuro."
He's silent after that, obviously awake due to his lack of snoring. I wonder if he was just staring up like I was, contemplating how things had turned out the way they did.
When did I transition from a lonely child who wanted nothing more than love into a spoiled preteen, tattooing my face and getting into fights that were hardly fair? When did that angry boy turn into a tired man? Someone who went on day by day waiting for something to happen that never really did.
Until now.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that I'm not even sure what my story is about.