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Well, Chapter six is finally here! I hope you all enjoy, and review, review!:)
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in Naruto.
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A Story for Myself
A Naruto fanfic
Chapter 6
Gaara, saved
"Look," Sakura said. Gaara walked to the computer and sat on a stool next to her.
The title of the web page was "The World's Legends".
"This one reads:" Sakura began, "'There were once nine powerful beasts, with numbering tails. These beasts were sealed long ago in human hosts, and harbored in the five great nations as serious power forces.'"
"But, see, if we go here," Sakura pulled up a web page that said: "The World Today" and showed it to Gaara.
"Yeah, I've been to this one, before, remember, we used it in Social Studies for a whole unit," Gaara said referring to the "World Today" page.
"Yeah, that's where I found out about it," Sakura said as she clicked then scrolled down a page. "And here's the statement that always kept me wondering. It says: "The five great nations harbor power forces and serious strength through each country"."
"That sounds extremely similar to the legend on that other page," Gaara said almost to himself.
"I think that means that something's up. Which means something in these statements is completely possible. You're not crazy, Gaara," Sakura half smiled at him. "What memory did Shukaku give you to prove that he's real?"
"Well it was a war…" Gaara said remembering, then shuddering.
"Are you okay?" Sakura said alarmed.
"Yeah, I'm fine… I just, well it wasn't the best memory, you know," He said putting a hand on his head.
And that's why he looked like he was in pain this morning in art. Sakura thought. It was all fitting together now.
"Look, on the legends page…" Sakura trailed off, reading.
"What?" Gaara said.
"What did you call the voice in your head?" Sakura asked warily. She didn't look up from the screen.
"He called himself 'Shukaku'," Gaara replied.
Sakura pointed to the screen. "This," she said.
Gaara read the page.
Shukaku- The one tailed beast spirit of the sand. Said to have been confined to the land of Suna, sealed in hosts that come from that country, the Desert country.
He read it five more times before he leaned away from the screen.
"Sakura," he said.
"Yeah," She responded.
"Shukaku had told me that he was a part of me, Gaara of the Desert,"
"This isn't a coincidence, Gaara, something's up." Sakura said as she looked at him with a concerned look in her eyes.
"Look up 'The Battle at Deserts edge.'" Gaara told her. He turned away from the computer. "And ask me facts about it."
"O-okay," Sakura typed.
Shukaku, whatever she asks me, you have to tell me the answer. They're facts, so you should know all that, right?
Gaara herd a deep, sinister sounding laugh through out his head. It kept getting louder.
Finally it was too loud. Gaara covered his ears, like that was going to help.
He was plunged into another memory.
This one was briefly in fast forward though, as all the information flowed into his head.
He saw a young child sitting alone, curled into a ball in the middle of a street. He heard a gunshot and the child's shirt started to get soaked with blood.
He felt a stabbing sensation through his chest and blinked to see that the child was gone and instead there was a sword through his chest.
A man in front of him held the sword. He spoke, smiling evilly.
"You will die, beast host," but then spears of sand pierced the man holding the sword, and Gaara watched him fall to the ground, eyes wide open. Gaara wasn't controlling him self this time.
He pulled the sword out of his chest slowly and painfully, and threw it on the ground. It landed with a clashing sound, and he blinked again.
People all around him were screaming, running and panicking. There was a huge sand storm going on around him, the sound of swishing sound of the sand was blending into cries and moans. It was Suna. Gaara looked down at his chest, just in time to see the wound healing, closing itself and the blood around it drying up with a sizzling sound.
What is this? Gaara held shaking hands before his eyes. What am I?
You are the one-tailed beast host of me, Shukaku! A deep, evil laugh sounded again, but this time out side of his head.
A dark energy shone in the sand storm and more screams arose around Gaara. He saw I black eye with a yellow iris in it. Then he saw a pair of eyes like that, and the pupil was a black stretched diamond. The eyes looked directly at him.
"Gaara?" Sakura saw that he had his hands over his ears.
"Gaara!" she said more alarmed, but she was careful not to be too loud, or else Lana would here them.
Gaara didn't respond, but instead he slumped over and clenched his hands on his head harder.
Sakura hurried in front of him. She could tell he was having a memory; he looked just like he did in art this morning, but seriously injured this time instead of just in pain.
Whatever kind of memory he was remembering she couldn't let him be in pain like this.
The images of Shukaku's eyes and the images of disasters and sand storms raged across his mind along with the images of people dieing and people trying to kill him.
Sakura tried to shake him once, and then tried to say his name to get him out of the memory. It seemed nothing was going to work.
She placed a gentle hand on his forehead and closed her eyes.
Gaara, come back. Come back to me, here…
Then Gaara was in the middle of a desert. The ground was cracked and dry. He looked up. No one was there, nothing even, at all, and this nothingness went on for miles. All he had was the ground and sky of a desert. He sat back down, putting his face in his hands.
What's wrong with me?
He felt a hand, flesh and fingers, touch his forehead. It stayed there.
No more memories, Shukaku, you're… you're a demon, I… I don't want to remember any more memories from… your past.
Oh, but this isn't me. Shukaku actually sounded confused. Gaara opened his fingers up to look at the person's whose hand still rested on his forehead. He was getting calmer.
"Sakura?" Gaara spoke out loud in the barren landscape.
"Gaara, are you alright?" She asked, taking her hand off his forehead. She kept it extended, though, and Gaara hesitantly grabbed it.
She pulled him up.
"I, how did you get here?" He asked once he was standing.
Sakura glanced around at the desolate space around them. "You're not the only one who's special," Sakura gave him a sincere smile.
"Come with me," Sakura said as she pulled them both into a walk.
What's going on? Gaara thought.
This girl is one of a kind. Shukaku laughed all around them. Sakura looked around for the voice.
"Shukaku?" She asked Gaara.
"Shukaku," He told her.
He blinked and suddenly he was back in his room, with Sakura's hand on his forehead.
She blinked too, and looked into his eyes. Finally she exhaled and dropped her hand. Leaning back she sighed.
"Sakura…" Gaara said quietly. "I'm sorry,"
"What?" She blinked in surprise.
"I'm sorry I, well I don't even know what I just did."
"Me neither," she responded. "But it wasn't you're fault Gaara! I heard Shukaku, and that wasn't just you and it wasn't a trick."
"How did you…?" Gaara asked puzzled.
"I… I don't really know either, but I've always had this kind of… quality, to be able to know people, you know, like read them," She responded. "Except for on you, until now. Until now Naruto and you are the only people whose thought patterns and expressions I can't really decipher."
Naruto… Is that his name now?
Sakura walked back over to the computer and looked at Gaara.
"Do you still want to try this?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah," Gaara told her. He turned around away from the computer.
"I don't even know if the "Battle at Deserts edge" is real or not, though," Gaara said. He rubbed his temples, since his head started throbbing.
"Oh it's real alright," Sakura told him. "What war was it in?"
"The 2nd Great War between all five great nations," Gaara responded.
"How many people died?" Sakura quizzed him.
Three-hundred and forty-six. Shukaku sounded like he was on Jeopardy or something. The thought of that almost made Gaara laugh. Almost.
"Three-hundred and forty-six people died," Gaara relayed.
"Where did it take place, exactly?"
Youl pass.
"Youl pass." Gaara said.
"That's it Gaara, look, it was real, and you know all about it," Sakura said as he turned around. There was an informational page on "The Battle at Deserts edge" pulled up on the computer.
"Shukaku knows all about it," Gaara corrected as he read the facts that he had just said but never known about until Shukaku.
"Right." Sakura said.
"This… this is all really, really… weird? Crazy? Creepy?" Gaara shut his eyes. "I don't even know what to call it."
"True," Sakura said. "But maybe it's just our story, or yours, with Shukaku. Your life…" she trailed off.
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Just Gaara's story, huh? Well what about Sakura? Does she have a story as well? How deep does her's go? Will Gaara be able to withstand Shukaku in his head?
Thanks everyone for reading, and I love reviews, very, very much :) The inspire me to write more and faster.
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