Back with the next chapter of Lion in the Desert! I'd have love to post this up earlier, but my internet connection was worse than usual, so yeah…
It stopped PMS-ing on me, so here it is!
So, today's the 16th of February. Guess what day is it today?
…Lemme give you a hint.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
I'D LIKE A REAL-LIFE PICHU BADLY
I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FIFTEEN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
Special thanks to:
MidnightCherryBlossoms
wordcrafter
Child-1763
QueenoftheKill
Shifuni
Jessluvswriting
Only a small band of readers, but I really cherish each and every one of your support! You are the reason for why I strive to better my writing!
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Tobi and Madara would be two different people, 'cause Tobi's a good boy!
This story will not have any relation to Naruto's dream of achieving Sasuke Uchiha's return or deafeating Orochimaru. This happens a little bit after the Rescue Gaara arc. In other words, kind of AU. Thought you should know.
Deep down underneath the earthy ground, lay a hollow expanse of a dimly lit room, carved out from a massive acre of aged rocks. Rivulets of water trickled down the walls, dripping into a slowly forming puddle in a rhythmic pace, echoing faintly in the vast underground chamber.
Presently, two figures, enveloped in bland shades of beige-green cloaks walked alongside each other, across the brick bridge that stretched across the ravine in the middle of the underground hall.
Clearly, the musty dampness of the chamber did nothing to bother them, but this was uncertain, as their faces were completely concealed by animalistic porcelain masks, save for separate locks of sable and russet hair.
"Sir," two baritone voices intermingled with each other as the broad-shouldered figures came to a complete halt at the end of the bridge, in front of a hollowed out space where a solid throne of stone rested on a raised pedestal. The both got onto one knee, backs hunched over in respect.
A shadowy figure was sitting on the straight-backed throne; he was completely covered in the dark shadows casted over him, like most of the darkness engulfed places of the chamber.
"I trust you bring news from the neighboring land?" a ragged voice croaked from within the tenebrous darkness.
"Yes, sir," one of the two - the one with the red-inked corvine mask - got off his knee and his gloved hands snaked forwards; a scroll rested on the upturned palms of his black-gloved hands.
A weather-beaten hand, riddled with age lines, reached forward; bony fingers closed around the scroll, pulling it back. There was a rustle of paper as the two masked men waited patiently; the corvine-masked one had resumed to his submissive position again.
"Hm… it seems like our plant has successfully integrated itself into the system without any trouble," the voice rasped again, "But a particularly irksome obstruction has left little to be accomplished at the moment,"
One of the masked men, this time the one with the black-inked ursine mask, raised his head. "Would you like for us to go check on the situation at hand?"
The crepuscular figure starting laughing - it was low and wheezy, more of a bark rather than a laugh."No, that won't be necessary," he rasped, "We must be patient, and bide our time. In time, I will send someone else to check on the plant. Now, you may be dismissed,"
xxxx
"Chins up; shoulders braced! Proper throwing posture must be maintained if you want to actually hit something!"
Naruto decided that he liked screaming himself hoarse as the group of teenagers standing in a row in front of him followed his orders and with a satisfying series of thuds, twenty separate kunai sang through the air and landed on the marks, their targets stationary in front of them.
"What do you think of their progress?" Naruto turned to the silent observer beside him, "Not bad for three months of continuous practice, huh?"
Russet eyes darted back and forth assessing the clean damage done to the targets. Kohaku nodded; a slight movement of her head that was barely noticeable. "Adequate progress," she concluded softly.
Watching from a short distance away, stood Gaara. The brightly shining non-toxic morning sun made for a Vitamin D-filled exercise that marked the third month since Team Kakashi accepted the mission.
With some incredible miracles and Naruto's exceptional people skills, the Naruto-Kohaku duo had finally managed to overcome their differences and work together. Despite this, the redhead could not help but give a slightly troubled frown beneath his stiff-necked collar.
Instead of assessing the two shinobi's aptitude in teaching the students of his village's academy - which, as a Kazekage, was something he was supposed to do - Gaara had been studying every movement Kohaku made. Ever since that unorthodox midnight stroll a few months ago, Gaara found that he'd been watching Kohaku more closely than usual; he didn't know why he did it, but he always caught himself sliding his eyes over to where Kohaku stood.
Now, as he studied her, it was like something about her was different.
What was different, exactly?
Nothing much about the titian-haired girl had physically changed - her height remained as short as ever; that perpetual expression of nothingness was, well, perpetual; she still carried that stiff air of refined dignity; people still found her presence eldritch… in short, she remained as antisocial as always.
But since he'd taken to basically stalking (But of course, Gaara refused to admit it) the girl with his eyes whenever she was around him, the young Kazekage could tell when something was different or off about the girl.
"For one," Gaara drily thought to himself as he started pointing out the viable differences, "There is a slight downwards curve on her lips, which shows she's either constantly deep in thought, or under a lot of stress but prefers to keep quiet about it,"
And there was also that far-off look in her eyes. As detached as they seemed to be with only a glance, one could tell with intense observation that Kohaku was in a ruminative mood; a subtly troubled gleam behind the aloofness of the russet orbs.
Gaara liked to think that he was someone who didn't involve himself in other people's business. Really, he couldn't care less about things that did not involve him, the people he cared about or his village, but Kohaku was someone who intrigued the curious Kazekage to no end. Just simply looking at her somewhat suspicious actions called for deeper investigation for Gaara.
Strange.
xxxx
"So, I haven't seen you in quite a while, Chibi."
A pair of russet eyes looked up from the thick, hard-backed book lying open on the wooden table. Piles of books were neatly arranged in a gently curving arc around the open book, forming a defensive wall of sorts. If not for the freakishly neat way the books were settled, Gaara would've thought that someone else was in Kohaku's favorite corner of the library.
Actually, the thought of someone else being in Kohaku's corner of the library gave Gaara a strange, convoluted feeling in the stomach. He couldn't imagine anyone else feeling right at home surrounded by four shelves packed full with desperately boring (In Gaara's opinion) titles.
"Kazekage-sama. Good afternoon."
As Gaara's seafoam-colored eyes locked in a hard gaze with Kohaku's hazel-brown ones, an uncomfortable silence hung weightily in the air. An inquiring glaze settled over Kohaku's usual nonchalance as she remained where she was, sitting in the wooden chair at the table.
"You don't come here that often anymore," Gaara commented at last, breaking the tension, "Not since the night I caught you,"
"If you have extrapolated ideas for my less frequent visits to the library from that, I have to say that you are sorely fallacious, Kazekage-sama," came the cold, detached voice of Kohaku's, "I merely have had some work that needed my full attention,"
Ah. That parlance that was so uniquely Kohaku. How had Gaara ever managed to live without the confusion it caused him?
"I was just saying that we haven't had any face-to-face meetings since then," the redhead decided to rectify his earlier sentence, "Although we've been in each other's company for quite a few number of times for the past few months, we haven't really gotten to talk at all, don't you think?"
Kohaku chose to give no reply as her eyes flickered back to the book lying open in front of her; attention back to solely focusing on the book. Gaara took it upon himself to drag a chair over to the table and sit next to Kohaku.
xxxx
Hearing the distinct sounds of furniture scraping across the floor, and the sudden burst of warmth on her right side, Kohaku knew that Gaara had unceremoniously taken it upon himself to make himself comfortable next to her.
Really now, what was the point of her avoiding the library if Gaara just pretended like they were good friends despite the fact that they hadn't spoken to each other in two months?
Tapping a finger softly against the pages of the book, Kohaku willed for Gaara to up and disappear. What the redheaded boy found so entertaining about talking to an unresponsive person like her escaped the girl's knowledge. Those books that she had read on social interactions were nothing but full of ridiculous lies.
Social Don'ts #5 : Don't ever be unresponsive during a conversation. Your friend will assume that you find the conversation boring and a waste of time. This will result in bitter enmity and you'll find yourself with one less friend.
Blasphemy.
Ever since Kohaku realized that she was beginning to lose her disciplined shell, she had been reading on how to get rid of people. More specifically, Gaara. The last thing the auburn-haired girl needed was a Kazekage who was constantly around her. It was bad enough that he was extremely close friends with her housemate, Naruto. Gaara was often around to visit Naruto when they had days off, but Kohaku had easily avoided meeting him by barricading herself in her room with books mass-borrowed from the library.
She went out of her way to avoid him, because he was dangerous. He made her forget the sense of duty as easily as it was to breathe. He made her feel. Just one irksome comment from him set her off like a fuse of a bomb - definitely something Kohaku needed to avoid at all costs.
Well, since the lily-livered boy was here, she might as well take a stab at asking him.
"Excuse me, Kazekage-sama, but is there any way you could be able to grant me access to the restricted section of the library?"
xxxx
"Is that a voice I hear?" Gaara's voice was set to his best mockingly disbelieving tone at once, as soon as Kohaku finally broke her short vow of silence.
Once again, he had been watching her side profile as she read her book, blatantly ignoring his presence. He took casual note of the way wisps of coppery hair fell against the back of her neck, managing to escape the loosely-knotted bun sitting high on the back of Kohaku's head. Bangs ghosted her vacant eyes, which were darting right to left at an incredible speed as she continued to read her book.
At one point of Gaara's life, someone had had the courage to tell him that he was a scary person - you couldn't just ignore his presence because it was too dominant; too commanding. Right then, the redhead had felt compelled to find the person and refer him to Kohaku's brazen performance of paying no attention to him.
"You…" Kohaku's narrowed eyes gave the redhead a strange sense of satisfaction. Maybe it came from knowing that he was still able to push all the right buttons to irritate Kohaku; obviously, the Kazekage found it entertaining to see the stoic, calm Kohaku in an annoyed state.
"So Chibi, would you like to accompany me to the teashop down the street later?" Gaara offered without thinking, surprising himself. As strange as her question was, Gaara decided to put it aside for later, "It's good to take a break once in a while, you know. That's what Temari tells me all the time,"
xxxx
Of all things Kohaku found impossible, this particular situation was the hardest to deem possible. Her and Gaara, sitting at a table in the restaurant that she liked to frequent after visits to the library, and having a somewhat civilized conversation over tea, dumplings and mochi.
Had the balance in the universe gone awry?
"So…," Gaara trailed off, wondering what to say next. The past half an hour had been alright; Kohaku, appeased by the many mochi offered to her, was more or less obliged to answer Gaara's questions. It felt like deja vu for the both of them, with the way Gaara was paying and managing to make the girl talk against her will.
Kohaku looked up at Gaara from her plate. For some reason, she was paying more attention to him than usual; she felt more conscious around him than she had ever been. Was it because they hadn't been alone together for such a long time? Kohaku didn't know.
Wondering, Kohaku then remembered her earlier question that Gaara had failed to answer. Well, since Gaara had finally stopped his barrage of questions, she might as well take another shot.
"Kazekage-sama, as I was asking earlier, is it possible for you to grant me access to the restricted section of the library?"
Gaara, attention abruptly pulled back by Kohaku's question, lifted a querulous brow. "What part of 'restricted' do you not understand?" he asked with a mild tone, "If normal villagers of Sunagakure are unable to enter that room, what are the chances of an outsider like you being able to have access to the place? After all, it is the archive of sensitive information,"
Point taken. Kohaku gave the redhead a mute nod of understanding, picking up a stick and nibbling on the dumplings.
"Why are you so interested in getting inside there anyway, Chibi?" Gaara wanted to know, "There's nothing much to read in there. It's all old reports of missions and other things like that,"
"Curiosity," was Kohaku's short answer. Gaara couldn't help but notice how her eyes refused to meet his, which was strange, considering the fact that the Kohaku he knew like to meet everyone's gaze head-on when they were talking to her. He assumed that it was because she was well-versed in conversation etiquette, despite her dislike for conversing with people.
"Oh really?" Gaara's tone was disbelieving, as was his expression, "I would think you were trying to do something potentially harmful to my village by gathering information of sorts,"
A cold glare from Kohaku was shot at Gaara, which made him smirk back in return. "I was joking," he said, the smirk still present on his face, "Ever heard of that word?"
"Of course I have," Kohaku snapped testily, frowning deeply. Seeing her troubled expression made Gaara heave a good-natured sigh. Was she really that big on the subject of politics? Did she have a burning ambition to be the next Hokage, perhaps? Looks like Naruto was going to have more competition, if that were the case.
"If you really want to read the books in there, you could just give me a vague idea of what kind of subjects interest you, and maybe I'll try to see if I can get some out for you,"
Gaara realized he'd spoken without thinking. Really, what was wrong with him today? First, he had asked her to accompany him to the teashop despite the well-known fact that Gaara was a man of solitary dining, and then now offering to do something like that for her? Did Kohaku mean more to him than he'd originally thought? Instead of an extremely antisocial girl who hated human company and was on the short side, maybe the labels had switched out without his noticing. But if that was so…
What was Kohaku to him now?
FAQ Time!
What's the restricted section all about?
It's essentially the archive where Sunagakure's scribes seal and file their works in. Anything and everything top secret or particularly significant can be found in it. Its other name is, unimaginatively, the Archives. See why I call it the restricted section instead? It's got more of a badass feel, no?
Gaara's tea time is…?
Well, for this story, Gaara likes to eat an afternoon snack in teashops. And he likes to do it alone. See the significance in him inviting Kohaku alone?
What happened to the guy who told Gaara that he was scary?
Still alive, but now married with a wife and two kids. No, Gaara had nothing to do with it.
Gaara. Has. No. Eyebrows.
Yes, I know that, but that's only what you see. He's actually got some, but they're just… hairless? Like the Thai monks I saw on the telly. (Seriously, with his raccoon eyes, it's actually a good thing they're hairless. It would be weird if he did have eyebrows with his black-ringed eyes.)
Who are the shady characters in the beginning of the chapter?
People who will play a part in the bigger picture. Oh yeah.
So now, I'll be leaving you waiting for the next chapter! As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!
Luv,
Pichuzilla