Reading Guide
"Hello" Talking
'Hello' Thinking
(Twenty Minutes Later) Time
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Naruto.
Gaara stood up ready to face the Shukaku, but the Shukaku was nowhere in sight. Instead he was staring at a vast expanse of perfectly white sand that stretched into the distance in all directions. The sand was flat and there were no dunes present, instead there were bone white spires sticking up sporadically all over the place. Looking up the sky was cloudy, and looking closer it was raining. 'No, not raining.'
Reaching his hand out Gaara watched one of the flakes drift down into the palm of his hand. 'Is this. . . snow? I've never actually seen snow.'
Kneeling down Gaara touched the white sand. It was cold. 'Is this snow too?' His musings were both interrupted and answered by Zoro a moment later.
"For a sand demon there sure is a lot of snow around."
"Do you know where the Shukaku is?" Gaara asked.
"It's your mind," Zoro reminded him. "And Observation Haki's worthless here, the Shukaku's presence is everywhere."
Gaara nodded, "It is. I wonder. . . why don't we follow the sound of his screaming." The two stood in complete silence for a moment before Gaara spoke again. "It stopped. When?"
"Probably when we entered your mindscape. On the way in he was screaming his lungs out and now he's silent." The two stood in silence for a moment longer.
"No," Gaara countered, "Not silent. Listen, do you hear the wind? That's him. I know it." Turning around Gaara turned around and pointed to one of the bone like structures. "There."
(One Hour Later)
"Distances here are deceiving," Zoro commented as they stood before a large opening in the even larger structure. It had seemed like it would be a ten minute walk at most when they started, but like Zoro had said, distances were deceiving there.
"Lets go," Gaara said, lacking his usual upbeat and happy nature, he was serious. Without the slightest hesitation he pushed forward into the cave.
'He. . . makes me feel alive.' Zoro smiled slightly as he followed after the redhead.
The inside of the cave was almost unbearably warm. The inside was small and lit by torches that were wholly insufficient for providing light even in the limited space. As their eyes adjusted they noticed another opening in the stone. Ducking through it they found themselves at the top of a long spiraling staircase. Frowning slightly Gaara began to descend into the even greater heat. Down, further and further the duo traveled and yet they didn't seem to be making progress. Looking back up the distance they had covered was obvious enough, but looking down nothing had changed since they started. Eventually the pair with the Christmas hair (Yes, I know my rhyming abilities leave a bit to be desired) reached a door. Gaara's frown deepened, but he ignored his feelings of unease and knocked.
A booming laughter erupted from the other side of the door. "Knocking! You're knocking? That's rich! Well, come on in, little one. I've been waiting."
Pushing open the door Gaara stepped into a room resembling some professor's study. There were bookshelves packed with scrolls and even a roaring fire to complete the picture. In the middle of the room sitting behind a desk was a large leather chair facing away from them. In the most cliché way possible the chair swung around to reveal the Shukaku.
He didn't look anything like the Villagers and ninja described him, but he didn't look human either. He was a human shaped mass of darkness, but occasionally a spark of color would race across his form.
"Are you the Shukaku?" Zoro asked.
"Not sure who else I'd be," the demon responded. "I'm Shukaku, the demon. And I've been waiting just as eagerly to meet you as well, my fellow demon. Welcome, Roronoa Zoro."
"How do you know my full name?!"
"Your time as a Pirate Hunter left you quite famous," the demon replied, then laughed. "What, you expected a handout? No way. But, I am willing to make a deal. Gaara," the Shukaku shifted it's attention to the other occupant of the room. "I hate humans. All of them. But, I'm willing to tolerate you, and even give you power beyond your wildest dreams if you'll help me kill them. What do you say? A deal like this promises to be much more effective then simply driving my hosts insane, that takes so very much time."
"No," Gaara responded without even a hint of hesitation.
"Well, fine then." The Shukaku sounded miffed. "I guess that I simply have to take you over," he growled. "But you're not just going to sit by, are you?"
"Did you think I would?" Zoro answered.
"Ahhh, figures. This'll be more difficult than anticipated. In that case. . ."
The sparks of color that raced over the Shuaku's form quickened until his form simply changed. One moment he was a mass of ever shifting darkness, the next he was a youngish man with black hair and an straw hat. Zoro's eyes widened.
Taking full advantage of the opening the Shukaku lunged and speared him through the gut. Collapsing to his knees Zoro coughed up blood and his eyes widened yet further as the blood brought back memories. The memories.
"Time to end this," the Shukaku cackled as turned towards Gaara, before he stopped. Unlike what he had expected, Gaara seemed to be taking the turn of events rather well. His expression was firm and determined and he didn't seem off guard in the slightest.
"You hurt Zoro," he said. "I can and have forgiven you for what you did to me, you must have been suffering too. But. . . I'm not going to let you hurt one of my friends."
Unlike another yellow haired jinchuriki Gaara's glare wasn't wildly emotional. Instead of rigouts anger it contained cold fury and the promise of retribution. For a moment the Shukaku was actually scared.
"Like I'm going to let a brat stop me!" the Shukaku screeched as it lunged again. "We biju always loose, but no more. Screw you, screw all you damn ninja. I'll fucking rip you limb from limb!"
Any cool the Shukaku had possessed had gone out the window by this point as it neared Gaara. His form wavered before collapsing entirely as he punched Gaara out through the door he had just come through. Too far gone for reason he chased after his prey and dived into the pit after Gaara.
It took him mere moments to catch up to the falling redhead but when he did he was surprised again. Instead of panicking Gaara was deadly calm and despite the fact he was falling he was sitting in a rigid meditative pose. His face was completely black and his eyes were dead.
"I'll give you one chance to back of, it's still not too late," the now freakishly menacing five year old intoned.
"Screw you!" the Shukaku yelled again. "I'm not going to play with some human scum! Die!" He lunged for the third and final time.
"You're forgetting," Gaara chastised the nearing demon. "This is my mind." His eyes widened further and a surge of energy burst from him. It radiated outward like a tidal wave, but unlike a tidal wave it had no physical substance, and unlike chakra it had no particular feeling. It was. . . empty.
The Shukaku's form shattered as it returned to the mass of darkness it had been in the beginning. Looking down Gaara saw a light. Moments later he and the writing mass that was the Ichibi fell out of the sky and back into the snow covered fields where Gaara had first emerged. Landing gracefully in the snow Gaara looked up to see the now recovered Zoro.
"How did you get here?" Gaara asked, his cold visage melting into childish curiosity.
"I thought you might end up here, and you did. As did he," he said motioning over to the now unmoving dark mass.
The mass shuddered before forming up again and glowing before transforming into a young woman. This time Gaara's eyes widened, although he had never met her, he knew her well.
In a second the silence was broken and the disguised Shukaku attacked, but Gaara was ready. Using the snow like he would sand, he formed a shield to protect himself and then attacked. Dodging the attack the Shukaku collapsed to the ground for the final time.
"Damn, thought I had you, bastard."
"You would have, but I have Zoro now." The Shukaku looked up. "From the moment I could think the only thing that kept me sane was the thought that my mother loved me, but that was taken from me by Yashamaru. But then Zoro appeared, and he's been with me ever since. He's my anchor."
"Ch," the Shukaku scoffed. "Nicely said, but you're freaking five. Yet another thing I hate about shinobi, it's always about power. Training from birth, Kekkai Genkai theft, and how could you forget the biju capturing."
"And you don't deserve to be sealed?" Zoro questioned.
"Hn, it's certantly not my fault. It was all that bastard Kurama."
"Kurama?" Gaara asked.
"A hothead through and through. We biju lived in peace with humans, well, we avoided each other but there was no animosity. Till a human claimed to be as strong as a biju. His name was, damn, um. . . can't remember. Anyway, I didn't care. It was bullshit. I knew that, and so did all of the others. Still, Kurama being the dolt he is, went and killed the guy. From there things only went downhill to what we have now."
"I see," Zoro replied. "In that case, work with us, we can benefit each other."
"Really?" the Ichibi asked. "I know I have knowledge you want, but what stops you from ending me once I spill the beans?"
"You're immortal," Gaara responded instantly.
"Immortality," the Shukaku said, "Doesn't exist. I can be killed, but not easily. Still, with him here," he said glaring at Zoro, "It wouldn't even be all that difficult."
"No, before I spill anything I have to trust you. Actions speak louder than words, make me trust you. In the mean time I'll give redhead one of my powers on faith and I'll give you a single piece of information," the demon said to Zoro.
"The biju come from a different dimension, we are not of this world. Neither are you, not usually, at least."
"Not usually?" Zoro asked.
"Figure it out on you own," the Shukaku cackled as it's form evaporated into a dark mist which quickly dispersed.
"Zoro," Gaara asked once the demon was gone. "That man that he turned into, did you know him?"
Zoro frowned, and although his eyes weren't visible Gaara knew they were filled with sadness. He still hadn't taken off his armband mask.
"He was my captain," the swordsman replied. "Now let's go, sticking around here gains nothing."
(A/N: Hope you liked it, and hope I made the Shukaku realistic. Since the biju weren't really expanded on in cannon I'll be doing my own thing with them. Oh, and can anyone figure out what the Shukaku meant when he said that Zoro's not usually from that dimension. If you do, congrats. I'm still working on it myself, but never fear. I'll figure it out eventually.)