.

The First Shifting Grains
CADEL

CHAPTER 5

The next morning, Gaara tried his best at fixing his room by sweeping away signs of debris and splinters of wood from his flattened table.

Rubbing the remaining sleep from his eyes, Gaara trudged back into the bathroom to freshen up. It didn't take long to realise that he was poorly accustomed to the fogginess that came with too much sleep. Even when he had been older, he did not make sleeping a nightly habit.

When he looked at the reflection in the mirror, Gaara mapped the tattoo on his forehead.

The ink was still as red as the day it carved itself into his skin.

Staring down at his smaller hands, Gaara wondered how much he'll have to train just to feel satisfied that he was good enough to protect himself and those around him. He was well aware of his body's limits at age eleven. There was no point promising to be a protector when he wasn't strong enough to live up to his nindo.

He had time now, and that gave him some comfort.

But for now, the genin's main concern was breakfast. With that sentiment, Gaara made his way to the lower parts of the house while in deep thought. He failed to notice his sister in the kitchen when he entered.

III

All three siblings had different morning schedules.

Temari was an early riser. Her mornings started with stretches and simple katas to warm up her muscles for the day. Then after a quick shower, she had the kitchen all to herself.

Kankuro was happy to roll out of bed at noon. Maybe even later if possible. Then the genin would find something to eat outside because he was never bothered make his own breakfast.

Late or early, Temari and Kankuro never saw Gaara in the mornings. Their paths never crossed, whether by design or accident.

Gaara came and went as he pleased, he ate and trained whenever he wished, and never stuck around the house for longer than necessary. Their home was merely a pit stop, and with no sleep, Temari imagined Gaara's entire life to be one long day.

So she nearly dropped her knife when her youngest brother entered the room, nearly bumping into her as moved past the kitchen counter.

Temari held onto her butter knife, not entirely sure if she should put it down or not. After a few moments, she shook her head and placed it back on the counter. She did it as quietly as possible, suddenly having the paranoia of being too loud.

She watched Gaara from the corner of her eye as he walked towards the fridge and stared into it for a moment before his head disappeared behind the door. The whole way through, he ignored her, which she was grateful for.

The kunoichi looked down at her bread slices and decided to quickly finish making her breakfast. But a moment later she noted that all the ingredients that she required were in the fridge...the same fridge that Gaara was taking an awful amount of time digging through.

She silently cursed her luck and fidgeted with the butter knife while waiting awkwardly for Gaara to leave.

After a few long moments, Gaara's red hair poked out from the fridge door with a carton of orange juice and a...cucumber? Temari blinked at the odd fruit.

Even when her brother shut the door, she still couldn't go to the fridge because Gaara was blocking the way while looking through the cupboard above it.

Gaara's presence filled the space and it felt like she was invading his space, so she sat back down on the kitchen stool and made herself look busy.

The kunoichi sighed. She was being ridiculous.

It was a moment later when she realised that Gaara had stopped moving and looked up to investigate the cause of the abrupt silence. She was startled to find a pair of pale green staring at her.

Those eyes slowly shifted lower till they landed on Temari's hands and the butter knife she picked up again at some point. The kunoichi tensed, but quickly shook her nervousness away. She was a ninja; she always had weapons on her so a butter knife wouldn't be seen as anything more than what it was.

Temari was first to look away and fiddled with the slices of bread in front of her. The following noise of closing cupboard doors indicated that Gaara had resumed his business as well.

Before Temari contemplated leaving her breakfast entirely, two jars were suddenly placed in front of her.

She blinked then stared down at the two glass containers.

Apricot jam and peanut butter. Gaara was standing in front of her almost expectantly, waiting for her to take it. When she didn't, he pushed the two jars towards her. "Here."

She looked back up at her brother only to find he was already sitting across her, pouring orange juice in his glass cup and crunching away at that ridiculous green thing.

Pushing away her surprise that he hadn't already left the room, Temari muttered a quiet, "Thank you" and began making her sandwich.

When Temari finished spreading her jam and butter, she spent an uncomfortable amount of time contemplating whether she should leave. Normally, she would have let Gaara do his business in peace but she felt it would be a little rude this time to just walk away. Eventually, she reasoned that he did help her, so Temari stayed and pretended he appreciated her company.

It was a novel experience indeed.

There were little seeds stuck to Gaara's cheek as he bit into his cucumber, unaware that his sister was watching him.

Temari was the oldest out of the three of them, and she remembered Gaara when he was much younger. She remembered thinking he looked a lot like their father, but with their mother's complexion and her delicate mouth line.

Temari barely had any of her father's features. She's been told that she took after her mother and paternal grandfather. She was fair haired like her mother too, something she took unusual pride in.

Gaara was all burnt red hair, the colour of too much iron and rust.

They did look alike, she thought. It was just hard to see when her brother's face was twisted and angry.

She took a small bite from her sandwich as she glanced once more at her brother.

He must have been lonely. He must still be lonely. After a moment, Temari banished the thought. It wasn't practical to think that way. Gaara was dangerous and there was no denying that. But Temari observed his oversized cup of orange juice and suddenly it hard to find the creature crawling behind his face.

She sighed. She was losing her appetite.

Gaara finished his drink and abruptly stood up, startling Temari out of her thoughts.

It was an odd moment to notice that Gaara's hair was sticking up in an odd place near his ear, like the kind she got when she slept in a bad position. A secret smile twitched at the corner of her mouth as she mauled over the idea of scary Gaara having bad bed hair. That cow-lick looked impressive.

Gaara was starting to leave when Temari suddenly felt she had to say something before he left.

"Er...will you be joining us for the team meeting today?"

Her brother stopped at the threshold and turned his head a little so Temari could only see a bit of his right eye staring back at her. For a few seconds, he did nothing and continued looking at her making her feel distinctly uncomfortable. She was not surprise when he continued to ignore her and began walking away.

But just before he completely disappeared, Temari heard him answer.

"Maybe."

She blinked at his response, then a moment later, continued her breakfast.

III

The librarian watched the boy with curiosity.

Gaara's small figure was hunched over stacks of books in Suna's library, and he was so absorbed in his reading that he did not notice the apprehensive stares shot his way. Or perhaps he did know, and if so, he had been ignoring them for the last couple of hours as he poured over book after book.

The librarian of Suna was an elderly man with an impressive beard that seem to be so long, it came off as comical in all respects.

Perhaps if he had been a magician, it would make more sense.

Gaara on the other hand, was ignoring the world around him as he skimmed through book after book, scroll after scroll.

Very few seemed promising in aiding his understanding on his very strange predicament. There had been a few books that listed theories and half-cooked ideas about time-travel, but none that really seemed very plausible in practical context. Others actually listed jutsus that seem to function on time and space, but they were few and did not seem to be all that true to time travelling itself. There would be moments when Gaara would stumble onto something that gleaned some insight, but then it would be cut short or turn into some bizarre theory that honestly made no sense.

Gaara sighed and shut another tome and rubbed his forehead.

He didn't think it would be easy, but his lack of progress was frustrating. The idea itself was completely possible, but actually performing it was another thing entirely.

But that was just the problem.

Gaara had not performed anything. At least he didn't think so.

His memory was still fuzzy on anything leading up to the moment he arrived in the past, but he was certain that this was not his doing. He had neither the power nor the skill to execute such an ambitious jutsu. That was if it was a jutsu at all.

Perhaps a seal?

Gaara's mind immediately flashed to the Yondaime, but he was dead. Maybe an Uzumaki with knowledge of the sealing arts? But that was practically a dead end as well. Naruto's clan was spread far and wide, their knowledge almost completely lost.

The only person Gaara could actually have an intellectual discussion on seals in this time, which wasn't dead or dying, would be Jiraiya the Sannin.

Gaara had to push down the urge to groan in frustration.

Jiraiya might as well be dead because he knew that the old man could not be found unless he wanted to be found...or if you were a naked woman in a hot spring. And Gaara most certainly was not a nude bathing woman.

Gaara had always known that just looking in Suna's library would not be enough. Its resources were limited and the more dangerous information would not be privy to the public. If he was still the Kazekage, Gaara would have checked the private archives, but as an eleven year-old genin, it would be near impossible despite his knowledge of the archives tight security.

Gaara unrolled another scroll and began reading once more.

He'll have to finish soon for the day, it was almost eleven am and his stomach was already beginning to ache in hunger.

That was another adjustment to his new body. He was hungry all the time, but he felt no desire to gorge himself with food.

Gaara was also dismayed by his body's lack of endurance for the simplest tasks. As a fully grown ninja, Gaara had been able to go days without food, but now, he was stuck in a child's body that seemed to be softer than he remembered.

The jinchuuriki's attention moved to the sound of rustling robes and the scent of dust and paper.

"You keep staring at my scrolls like that they're gonna catch fire."

There was an old man, balancing a dangerous amount of books stacked almost sky high in his arms as he grinned down at Gaara. The eccentric librarian with the ridiculous beard.

Gaara had been aware that the old librarian had been watching him the entire time he'd been there – staring at him at different intervals, shamelessly watching without bothering to hide his staring. Like the way he was currently staring at Gaara at the moment.

He gave the young Kazekage a cheery smile that honestly threw Gaara back a bit. "If you keep staring at me like that, I'll catch fire." he chuckled lightly as he placed the precarious books on the table. "Now, is there something in particular you wanted help with? You look a bit overwhelmed."

All Gaara did was blink at him, completely thrown by the man's jovial but blunt manner.

"No, I'm fine." Gaara finally answered quietly.

"Alrighty then." the old man smiled. "Can I ask what a young man like you doing cooped up in a dusty library on a day like this?"

Gaara paused but answered truthfully. "Researching."

The old man twisted his beard around his fingers as he peered over the books sprawled over the table. "Hmmm...You wouldn't be a ninja would you?"

Gaara just nodded and continued to stare at the scroll in his hands.

"Well, whatever your researching it doesn't seem like you'll find what you're looking for." he picked up the nearest book on the table and stared at the cover. "Yup...ain't gonna find nothin'."

Gaara looked up at the man quizzically. "I wasn't aware you knew what I was researching."

The old man just laughed and was now braiding his white beard happily. Gaara wondered if the man was entirely sane.

"Oh, you can call it a bookworm's intuition. This is my library and I know every book in here and its content." he beamed at Gaara as he began to braid another line of plaits in his beard. "And from the look of the books you've have got here...I suspect that it hasn't got you very far. Too many topics, too many sub contents mixing with scrolls and books of different disciplines. Am I right?"

Gaara just stared at the eccentric librarian and sighed.

"Yes."

"Well then there's no point looking anymore." He looked over the titles of the tomes again and nodded to himself. "Space-Time eh?"

Gaara looked up sharply at the old man, his eyes narrow with suspicion.

"You're putting me on fire again," he laughed completely brushing of the sudden hostility. "Well, rather ambitious aren't we. You lookin' for sake of research or looking for answers of passion?"

Gaara just looked back confused.

The old librarian laughed. "You know what you should do? You should ask me something."

The red-haired boy just stared blankly at the jovial man.

"Come on, it'll be fun. Perhaps I can help you," he said while picking his ears which had visible white hair growing out of it.

Gaara inwardly sighed again but decided to humor the old man.

"I'm researching possibilities of time-jumping to the past and manifesting consciousness in a younger body. Is it possible and how can it be done?"

The librarian just stared at Gaara with a strangely blank look then started to laugh.

The young jinchuuriki remained unmoved by the old man's outburst as he continued to stare at the senile man.

"That's stupid!" he wheezed holding on to his stomach.

Gaara sighed again at his own misguided hope in the old man.

"You shouldn't be looking at how you got there but what it all means," he suddenly answered completely serious but still with a jovial smile on his old face.

Gaara raised one none existent eye-brow. "What do you mean?"

"Well...if I was this person, then I would focus on the now. Finding the 'how' in the grand scheme of things isn't really important."

Gaara blinked in confusion.

The librarian began to explain again. "It's like asking how you got to your aunt's house. 'Well sir, I used a horse' but that don't matter does it? What's important is what you are going to do when you get to your aunts house."

Gaara was frowning a little. "What if you need to go back and the only way to do it is to find how you arrived in the first place?"

"Go back?" he shook his head. "No stay! Aunty can make the best dishes and she'll be a nice hostess!"

Gaara was a goldmine of knowledge that could be used to shape the outcomes of events yet to happen. It meant he had the upper hand against the Akatsuki and Orochimaru and could prevent the death of countless people.

But Gaara was not stupid.

He was not god.

And some part of Gaara was a coward.

He was intellectually mature enough to see the pros, but there were such severe repercussions that honestly, it was not worth it.

The genin rubbed his eyes. He could feel a headache starting to form in his head.

He turned to look back at the senile man and asked genuinely curious. "What would you do?"

"Huh? What would I do? I'd run. My aunt's a she-devil. I wouldn't stick around that woman or get my horse anywhere near her. Thank god she's dead." he added bluntly but grinned again. "But I like you, I wouldn't run from you."

The young jinchuuriki wasn't entirely sure if this man knew who he was, because no person in the entire Wind Country would say they wouldn't run from Gaara.

"If you're smart, you would." Gaara stated finally.

"Well, I'm gonna get some lunch so I'll be closing the library for one hour." the old man informed abruptly, completely ignoring Gaara's last statement. "You done kid?"

Gaara nodded and stood. There wasn't much he could do and the old man seemed to have made the jinchuuriki more confused than when he had come in. Gaara began to stack the books and place them on the return trolley.

The whole way through, the old librarian twiddled with his beard at stared at Gaara with an incredibly concentrated expression.

"You know...there's something about you...I can't seem to put my finger on it..." his eyes were narrow in inspection Gaara's face. "I couldn't help but wonder..."

The jinchuuriki tensed. It would be a few moments until he would be cast out with hostile eyes.

The eccentric old man suddenly leaned into Gaara's personal space and the boy had to control his sand to not shoot upwards.

With a seriousness fit for a funeral, the librarian asked, "Why don't you have eyebrows?"

III

"Come on, let spar!" Kankuro shouted.

Temari just glanced at her brother with a bored look that said she was not amused. "We already did. You lost."

"You cheated."

"Did not, I won fair and square."

"You used your wind jutsu to knock me off! You said only Taijutsu. Come on, rematch!" Kankuro was fidgeting with the hem of his black shirt as he goaded his sister.

"Don't be such a sore loser Kankuro. Besides we're supposed to be waiting for Baki-Sensei." she explained calmly. She watched Kankuro continue to bounce on the spot like he had ants in his clothes. "What wrong with you today, did you have too much cactus juice? You're acting all jumpy."

Kankuro stopped at her words. "Am not." he turned to look up at the sky. "Just...got a bad feelin' this morning." the boy's eyes narrowed. "My guts telling me something's gonna happen."

Temari just raised an amused eyebrow at him. "Going all sage on me are you?"

The puppeteer scowled at her. "Whatever. Just hope sensei gets here soon."

Temari discreetly watched Kankuro lean against the wall, and felt a little guilty for initiating a Taijutsu match. She was well aware that Kankuro still had his wounded leg to worry about and noticed a very small limp every time he used his right leg. She had asked him flippantly if he was alright, but he insisted he didn't feel anything.

The kunoichi sighed at boys and their pride.

Kankuro on the other hand was still trying to push down the strange feeling in his gut. The puppeteer wasn't superstitious, but he relied on his instincts as all ninja do and couldn't ignore the nape of his neck standing on ends for the last two days.

The puppeteer frowned at his sister.

"What's with you?" Kankuro finally demanded.

Temari looked over to him with a questioningly look. "What?"

"You've been staring over your shoulder for the last twenty minutes." he explained still looking up at the sky.

Temari blinked then mimicked her brother by staring up at the expanse of blue overhead. "Have I?" she murmured. "I guess...I was seeing if Gaara was going to show up."

Kankuro cocked his head to the side in bafflement.

"Why would you think that? Gaara never shows up for our regular meetings, he only comes for missions or if Baki-Sensei orders all of us to have group training."

Temari remained unmoved until she shrugged an answered. "He told he might be coming today."

Kankuro blinked. "He told you?"

Temari nodded. "Yeah, this morning at breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Kankuro added incredulously.

"Yeah I know." Temari relied while scratching her neck. "I asked him and he said 'maybe'." she shrugged again. "Whatever, as long as he's in control it doesn't matter. Besides we're in need of some team training anyway."

Kankuro didn't like group training with Gaara. It was bad enough that he had to sleep with one eye open when they went on mission together, but actually having to train with the demonic sand was enough to make him run for the hills.

The only thing good about being in the company of Gaara on an almost daily bases, was the fact that Kankuro had developed alert senses that was practically non-existent before he joined their genin team. Both Kankuro and Temari had also been forced to train their long-range defensive and offensive maneuvers to almost perfection, for the sole purpose of surviving if Gaara decided to indulge his needs.

"Let's hope not." Kankuro mumbled.

It was a moment later when Baki-Sensei suddenly approached them from behind. "Sorry for the delay, I was speaking to the Kazekage."

Kankuro looked up expectantly. "Are we having a mission?"

Baki just shrugged at the boy's question. "Probably not. We were discussing political matters, nothing that concerns our team."

Kankuro deflated at that and began training their katas under the supervision of their sensei.

Baki continued to adjust and fix issues in their forms, but the siblings didn't need much improvement. Soon afterwards, he ordered Temari and Kankuro to demonstrate their individual styles.

Temari has raw skills with her wind element, but was wasting far too much chakra when she exerted them though her war-fan.

Kankuro's chakra control was excellent but his range was poor when using his puppets.

After assessing their flaws, he assigned them a week to fix their problems and then demonstrate their improved techniques.

Baki realised he should have asked one of them specifically to start, because both siblings dished out their techniques at the same time causing a great deal of rubble splitting out of the ground.

Baki armored himself with his chakra, but a great deal of it went flying over head toward a presence he had recently detected. It seemed both Kankuro and Temari had noticed too.

To the horror of all three ninja, the debris went flying directly toward Gaara, who was sitting upon a boulder not too far away.

Sand immediate shot up and guarded the boy from the flying rocks. Gaara didn't even twitch a muscle as the debris rolled off his sand wall and fell to the ground in graceless mounds.

The dust finally settled, but Temari and Kankuro were so wide-eyed that they didn't notice. Baki remained unmoving to observe the extent of damage the two genin had foolishly caused. He greatly hoped Gaara was in a good mood today because he didn't want to explain to the Kazekage why his children were dead.

After three seconds of cold silence, they watched Gaara slowly shift his sand lower to reveal his face.

When the sand completely disappeared, the boy remained on his boulder, sitting like nothing had happened and stared off into space with all the excitement of a dead fish.

After another few uncomfortable moments, Baki finally cleared his throat. "Er...powerful attacks but I think you should work on your communication. Your techniques are useless if you end up killing yourself from flying debris. Not a very impressive way to go" The Jounin added bluntly.

Both siblings ducked their head and nodded demurely.

Baki sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Again. This time Kankuro begin then Temari."

Both obliged obediently after taking a surreptitious glance at Gaara, who still remained unmoving on his boulder with his arms crossed loosely over his chest.

The training session lasted for another four hours with Baki-Sensei making the two genin switch from their Taijutsu katas to ninjutsu sparring. He assessed their improvements and weaknesses without giving them any indication of his final judgment.

The whole time, Gaara did not move from his spot on the boulder. He did not join the training or utter a single word.

He just watched, his eyes tracking their movements.

It was unnerving for both Temari and Kankuro. Now and then, Baki glanced at Gaara. He noticed that Gaara did not have his customary gourd on his back. Baki had only managed to get the boy to be involved in group trainings a couple times, and those were if Gaara was in complete control and was feeling lenient.

The Jounin sighed. Baki decided to never take another genin team after this one...and that was if he survived.

III

Gaara had forgotten about Baki's team meetings.

He remembered only because of Temari's reminder. He rarely participated in the past, but Gaara decided that he would show up this time. If he was going to be working with them, he wanted to accurately assess their skill level.

It had been a long time since he had worked in a three-man cell, and Gaara could hardly remember what Kankuro and Temari had been capable of at age thirteen and fifteen.

He had the utmost confidence in their skills, but that was when they had been older and far more experienced.

Watching them now, he could see a ghost image of their potential imprinted in their movements, which was still too raw and green. They had a long way to go.

Whether he would accelerate their training himself, was still a question in the young Kazekage's mind, but for now he would only observe. It would do no good if he started to get too helpful, and it was even less likely that his siblings would take his advice anyway.

At least not now.

He looked at his hands that were too small. Thin fingers with knobby joints.

A musician's hands, Tsunade once pointed out when she had too much to drink, in between war tents and buried bodies.

Gaara tightened his hands into fists.

Watching with calculating eyes, he hoped for his siblings to turn into the powerful and reliable ninja they would soon become.

.

A/N: Thanks for making it this far!

I don't really like OC's, but since Suna is such an unknown element I decided to create them as foil character and catalyst for the story.

Please tell me your thoughts, your reviews are always welcome.

CADEL

[EDITED – 3 APRIL 2015]