Introducing the fifteenth installment of Lion in the Desert! Thank you for all the reviews, favorites and alerts for the previous chapter! I'm particularly glad that the fact that Kohaku turned out to be a member of the Root was well-received.
YellowMittens said that I'm a talented stranger, but I'm really just a stranger who happened to be hit with a plot bunny that people (thankfully and hopefully!) like! But thank you all the same; it's rare for me to hear something like that.
Special thanks to:
MidnightCherryBlossoms, my beloved beta who's been busy but still did her job anyway!
Shifuni
sync94
YellowMittens
ImaginarySuicide
Anonymous
IcyBreeze7
Lonetear
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: Naw. If I owned Naruto, why would I be on fanfiction?
This story will not have any relation to Naruto's dream of achieving Sasuke Uchiha's return or defeating Orochimaru. This happens a little bit after the Rescue Gaara arc. In other words, kind of AU (Alternate Universe). Thought you should know.
Flick. Silence. Flick. Silence. Flick. Silence.
The weak, dim light of the streetlamp flickered idly, blurring over the poorly-lit pages of the open book. The shadow of the building that the light of the half-moon cast over the bench did nothing except darken the pages even more. Kohaku's eyes, however, did not stop moving, as they continued to read and digest the information written meticulously on the rice-paper pages of the book before flicking to the next page. Occasionally, the tips of her fingers rubbed against the worn cloth-bound cardboard of the book's cover, as if she were trying to reassure herself.
"Ninpou: Choju Giga!"
It all happened very quickly. One moment, the girl had jolted at the sudden sound of the familiar incantation and the next, she'd dodged rolled off the bench, narrowly missing the swipe of a painted beast's massive paw.
Kohaku's normally blank, expressionless eyes were slightly narrowed, as she looked from the splattered remains of ninja ink and towards the roof of the building that had been looming behind her. Only slivers of paper-white skin could be seen in the weak light of the moon, but a pair of equally expressionless eyes stared back.
"Sai-senpai," Kohaku's tone was formal; restrained. "May I ask for your vindication for surreptitiously ambushing me?"
Sai looked down; not a trace of emotion was on his face. Yes, he smiled in the presence of the others in Team Kakashi, but it was different with this one. He didn't know her well, since they were in different sub-factions; they had only met a few times during joint training exercises, but their connection was unmistakable.
She was like him.
One of them.
One of the Root.
"Danzou-sama was rather concerned about the way you were taking such a long time to complete the first phase of your mission," Sai's tone was hard to discern. It was like he was mocking and warning her at the same time. "You know what he's fearful of when it comes to you. You know why he assigned you to this mission. You mustn't fail, Kohaku."
Despite the use of her first name and the lack of an honorific, it was clear that there was no amity in their relationship. Kohaku lifted her eyes to boldly meet Sai's, as she always did when she was talking to anyone. "I am well aware of the reason as to why Danzou-sama delegated me to this mission," she spoke in subtly acerbic tones, but her face betrayed no emotion, "I am also mindful of his doubts about me. However, that does not expound your reasons for ambuscading me,"
Sai lowered his eyelids at Kohaku's frosty tones. He had learnt plenty of things from his time with Team Kakashi, and that included reading body language. Granted, he was not a master, and he had been wrong on more occasions than he'd been right, but Kohaku's body language was no brain teaser. "I was testing you to see if you are strong, since we're going to be working on the same team together. I can't have weak people getting in the way," he explained coolly, "You should have noticed my presence sooner. Your senses have dulled, from the last time we sparred, I see."
A slight frown appeared on Kohaku's face, but it was quickly masked with another expression of indifference. "While it is true that I still have much to ameliorate on in regards to my fighting competence, and it will be quite some time before I will be able to transcend you, I remain doubtful of your saying that I have weakened."
Without even another warning, Sai's hand automatically lifted itself and deftly drew the brush over the scroll spread out on his other hand, quickly painting over the paper. "Ninpou: Choju Giga!" a flock of aquiline birds were released, screeching with intense ferocity that Kohaku remained steely to.
The inked beasts soared and drop-dived in front of Kohaku, who had her hand reaching for the weapons pouch around her waist. They launched themselves towards her, propelling at a breakneck speed, but missed and splattered into the wall of an opposite building as Kohaku sprang out of the way. A loud roar reverberated behind her, but she was a split second too late; a massive paw struck a powerful blow into her chest, sending her flying across the street. The impact of her body left an ugly depression on the sturdy building.
Sai seized the chance; another massive lion pounced onto a dazed Kohaku sprawled onto the ground. It sank its jaws into Kohaku's arm, drawing out a large amount of blood. Kohaku scowled the slightest of scowls at the sight of the blood spilling out of her arm. An imitation beast, but still, all the same, a beast. She drew out a kunai and viciously stabbed at the ink painting, destroying it.
"As compulsive as before, Kohaku," Sai commented dryly, as he watched rivulets of ink stippling the ground, "You're still weak in dealing with long-range attacks and ambushes, I see,"
A very clear memory of her last sparring session with the ebony-haired boy came to Kohaku's mind. He had had his ink snakes burrow underground prior to the battle; she'd been completely caught in the trap, rendering herself vulnerable to the onslaught of small birds hammering into her.
Her eyes narrowed by another slight measure.
Getting up, she wiped the blood away and flung the kunai at another advancing lion quickly, jumping out of the way. A flock of angry birds came fluttering towards her. Her hands wove seals quickly; too quick for an untrained eye to see. "Raiton: Shishi no tsume!"
The disconcerting sound of electricity crackled in the air; the crackling chakra took shape like that of a lion's paw over her hands, the claws curved and menacing. The girl swiped the onslaught of attackers, piercing into them and eradicating them with a single blow of her electric-charged hands.
Sai surveyed the scene with clinical interest, his eyes landing on the blue glow of Kohaku's chakra-cloaked hands. "I can tell that you've improved in some other areas," his tone was slightly begrudging, "Your chakra manipulation looks better."
Indeed, the last time Kohaku had used her shishi no tsume, the shape had been ambiguous. If it weren't for his rigid training to shed himself of all emotions, Sai would've probably laughed his way to defeating the girl. It had looked more like a demented hedgehog constantly changing shape instead of a proper lion's paw.
Kohaku still had her guard up. She regarded the boy with a sliver of distrust in her eyes. Sai noticed this, the expression on his face still remote. "It's always easy to beat you, you know. It always has been the case with your lot. Always impulsively rushing into battle, letting the blood pound in your head…"
Kohaku let her hands go slack, but the chakra remained. "What point are you trying to make, Sai-senpai?" the scowl had disappeared; the misanthropic expression morphed into a perfect mask of indifference. She had a mien perfectly matched to the black-garbed ANBU shinobi's own one.
"Nothing. I was just stating facts," was Sai's cold reply as he rolled up the scroll, slotting back the inkwell and brush into the reel, "Just think of my presence and arrival as a warning and reminder from Danzou-sama."
And he slipped into the shadows of the night, leaving a perplexed Kohaku wondering underneath her frozen mask, doubts springing up in the form of a distinctly crimson-coloured head.
Kohaku blinked, shaking her head once to clear it of its thoughts. The glow of chakra coating her hands dissipated, leaving Kohaku free to retrieve a scroll; she'd hidden the book from earlier in it. She'd hidden the scroll in a surreptitiously dug hole when Sai had sent her flying into the wall. There was no way she would've let a precious antique get destroyed in a fight that didn't even make sense to her.
"Just think of my presence and arrival as a warning and reminder from Danzou-sama."
xxxx
Kakashi rapped on the door twice, eye still glued onto the book in his hand, before a quiet, 'Come in.' beckoned the jounin into the room. The jovial man was taken aback by the identical grim expressions on all of the siblings' faces as soon as he set his eyes on them. Gaara was seated behind his desk, fingers bridged together in front of his face, hiding half of his face. Temari and Kankuro were standing side by side, having turned their heads when Kakashi had entered.
"Er… you called?" Kakashi surreptitiously shoved the green-covered pocket novel into his weapons pouch. Clearly, this was not the situation to be engrossed with his Icha Icha Paradise novel.
Temari cast a furtive glance in her youngest brother's direction. Kakashi took note of the way her blonde eyebrows were knitted in a worried line and then noted the tense hold in Kankuro's shoulders and finally, Gaara.
The powerful Fifth Kazekage looked nothing like what he was supposed to be. Instead of powerful, confident and stoic, Kakashi could not believe himself after he had determined the expression in Gaara's eyes. His face bore no emotion as always, but his eyes were full of doubt, insecurity, and was that - deargoodness - anguish?
Kakashi fervently hoped that the siblings were just practicing their grim expressions for future use.
Gaara nodded to his siblings stiffly, and they relented. Kankuro patted Gaara's back, squeezing his brother's shoulder before walking past Kakashi and out of the door. Temari was more subtle; she cast worried glances as she looked askance at her youngest brother whilst retrieving her iron fan before leaving the room.
"Kakashi, thank you for coming at such short notice at this time of the night," Gaara spoke when they were finally alone; his tones were mostly steady, but Kakashi's well-trained ears could detect the hesitation in them. "I know it's your day off today, but this couldn't possibly wait any longer,"
Quickly, his brain jumped into action. Gaara was acting strange; he looked exactly like Naruto when Sasuke had first defected from Konoha. Who did Kakashi know could have possibly caused him to be like this? His brain went into a trial-and-error frenzy.
Naruto? Nah, Naruto hadn't done anything remarkably stupid for a while now.
Sakura? Gaara didn't know her very well, so no.
Sai? Definitely no.
It definitely wasn't either of the siblings - they were here too.
Himself? Impossible - Kakashi did not make stupid mistakes. Much.
Who else? Who else did Kakashi know could have affected Gaara by this much?
He thought back onto the people he'd seen around Gaara's presence; that genin girl that the most of the Konoha Eleven had gone to aid in rescuing surfaced, but Kakashi knew enough to discard her as a potential candidate. Gaara was just not that kind of person. The council elders came to mind, but Kakashi knew Gaara always listened to their opinions but never considered them. The jounin that had trained the siblings, Baki, also briefly surfaced, but Kakashi had seen him on his way here, so that was a dead-end, too.
Then it hit him.
The thought hit him in the form of a short, slight figure with auburn hair and owlish eyes.
"It's Kohaku, isn't it?" the words slipped out before he could contain them.
Kakashi nearly winced visibly when he saw the way Gaara had reacted to the name. His expression had turned into a tortured one for a brief second before the redhead had composed himself.
Shit.
Gaara coolly met Kakashi's gaze, his jade eyes betraying every bit of emotion he was feeling. Kakashi felt awkward at being subjected to the Kazekage's vulnerable side; it just felt wrong. It made him feel intrusive. "I'm assuming you know of her… situation," the way he had tried to delicately put his words together was tactful, but the strain in his voice was palpable.
Situation? A cold feeling of dread washed over the jounin, making him frown underneath his mask. The brow of his visible eye crinkled in a concerned manner, looking at Gaara sharply.
"You know."
It was not a question, but a statement.
"The Godaime Hokage sent over a reply message telling me that there was no clerical error pertaining to the omission Shishimiya's mission records," was all the explanation Kakashi needed to hear for confirmation.
The pained look in Gaara's eyes never left, but he lifted his head, holding it up high as he spoke. "I need you to be clear and honest with me, Kakashi," His voice was regaining its usual timbre of quiet confidence; the one that seemed more like something inherited from noble ancestry, "Is there a hidden motive behind Shishimiya's placement on this mission? If so, do you know about anything? If you do, please tell me anything that may directly or indirectly involve Sunagakure,"
Kakashi shook his head. "I'm afraid that anything that has to do with Root remains a mystery to me. Not even Tsunade-sama knows what goes on. Up until recently, we were all led to believe that Root had been disbanded. You would have to speak to their supreme leader, Danzou, if you want to know details, but I don't think he would willingly part with any bit of information."
"That's what I thought," Gaara suppressed a wobbly sigh, "Thank you for your time, Kakashi. I will let you know if we will choose to take action."
Kakashi nodded reluctantly, stepping away before turning for the door. He paused as he turned the knob, looking over his shoulder. "Gaara, you know we're here to help you," was what he had meant to say, but the Kazekage had already rested his forehead against the desk's surface. Kakashi grimaced slightly at the vulnerability Gaara was so openly displaying.
Kakashi liked his privacy, so he respected other people's wishes as well. Choosing to not speak, he quickly slipped out of the room with much discretion.
xxxx
Gaara sat up, and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumbs, eyes falling onto the scroll lying open beside him. The words glared up at him, taunting him. His eyes reread the next lines of text Tsunade had written after the section about Kohaku's affiliation with the Root ANBU.
'Gaara, I'm sorry about my powerlessness and inability to help you by giving you information on things related to the Root ANBU. I, too, remain ignorant to what that man Danzou is planning, and even I as the Hokage of Konohagakure have to tread carefully around him. I objected to assigning Shishimiya Kohaku to the mission, but the elders removed Sai and put Kohaku in instead. It's shameful, but all I can do is provide you with is a warning to keep watch on Shishimiya Kohaku, and if worst comes to worst, I will provide help in any possible way, should the Root begin to act. I have sent Sai as back-up for the mission, but I advise you to also give him the same benefit of doubt as Shishimiya Kohaku.'
Gaara wanted to think that it had been all a big joke. The warning from Tsunade, Kohaku's involvement with the Root ANBU… He almost wished that he had never asked Tsunade about the presumed clerical error at all. How could she, a short, queer eccentric be a part of the suspicious organization, Root?
It was almost laughably ludicrous.
Her acting had been a stellar performance; she'd shown no signs like Sai had, what with his telltale tanto and his strange raiment. Her persona betrayed nothing about her loyalty to Root, maybe except the antisocial personality.
By now, Gaara was already familiar with the dull ache in his chest, only it hurt more now. The pain was twisted; convoluted. It didn't go away. Was it the bitter feeling of betrayal?
Gaara decided to go for a walk, standing up from his chair. He definitely needed some of the fresh, bitterly cold air of the Suna desert night to placate his emotions and thoughts.
xxxx
As he quietly meandered down the desolate street, Gaara was trying to sort out the jumble of thoughts in his mind. A chilly breeze blew at his back, but he felt none of it despite the lack of sand armor, for he was too preoccupied in trying to rationalize his mindset. The silhouette of the Kazekage would've been a strange sight to see at night; what with the flapping tails of his crimson coat and the large, bulky shape of his gourd.
"What is she to me?" he asked himself softly, head bent down as he tended to do when he was thinking, "She meant something to me, but I don't know in what way. Does she still mean something to me?"
Good question. Did she?
He thought back on whatever sliver of memory he could recall with Kohaku in it. A clear image of an indignant Kohaku surfaced; it was when she'd been at the library earlier that day, and she had been unable to get the book she wanted. The Kazekage had offered his help, and much to her chagrin, he assisted her anyway, despite not wanting to accept his offer of assistance. Instinctively, the corners of his mouth curved upwards into a fond half-smile, before Gaara realized what he was doing.
His chest twisted again; the pain was worse now.
Before the redhead was able to continue his contemplation though, a familiar smell hit his senses. Long ago, he would've felt the faintest of stirrings of bloodlust at the smell, but now it just caught his attention and worry. And now, he could sense signatures of chakra, unfamiliar ones. Was there a fight going on?
Gaara walked faster; almost running.
He could hear the loud sound of something breaking; he started running.
The cacophony of what sounded like viscous liquid splattering on the ground made Gaara's stomach churn slightly. It wasn't because he felt queasy - no, it was because he was afraid that maybe, just maybe, Kohaku had started acting under Danzou's orders.
One of the chakra signatures was unmistakably hers - quiet, reticent, almost in a state of somnolence. She didn't wield or carry her chakra around in plain sight like most shinobi did, she masked it most of the time around company, but when one had watched her from the background for many months as Gaara had done, it wasn't hard to find a rare moment where she didn't hide her chakra.
The metallic smell of the blood drew Gaara to where archaic, abandoned apartment buildings were. Gaara could tell at once that he was at the scene of the fight. There was a telltale fission on the wall of one building, and then gobs of black, murky liquid were on the ground; some of it was dripping down the half-destroyed walls and onto the rubble.
Kohaku's chakra was now a very strong presence. She was close, Gaara could tell. With a mixed sense of bittersweet resent, Gaara's hand instinctively went to clutch at his chest.
It was hurting.
"Kazekage-sama."
The controlled tones, so full of self-assurance and silent dignity that was so familiar to Gaara, made him react in a strange manner, like he always did when it came to her.
He turned around, making sure his features were placid. The mask he wore cracked, though, when his eyes landed on Kohaku. His eyes widened; his mouth parted in shock. "What happened to you?"
Albeit there was not much light to illuminate Kohaku's features completely, there was no mistaking the ugly gash on her arm, as her other hand tried in vain to stop the bleeding. Ribbons of blood trickled down her unfortunate limb, but all the while Kohaku maintained her perfected mien of detached indifference.
For a brief, surreal twilight moment, Gaara swore he had felt some of his old bloodlust return, as a thought of pursuing the person who had injured Kohaku and then punishing him for hurting her had fleetingly crossed the young Kazekage's mind. He blinked his eyes, hard.
Did he really just think that?
"The injury isn't pernicious," Kohaku expounded as she gripped the wound tighter, attempting to cut off blood circulation. Drops of blood slid off her fingers, stippling the ground. "I will survive."
"Like hell I'm going to let you just walk off like that!"
xxxxx
It was very quiet when Gaara struck a match, lighting a candle to illuminate the room. The glow of the flame lit up the place, and shiny surfaces of the kitchen sink and stove gleamed. Kohaku watched Gaara with an unreadable expression. She had been flabbergasted when Gaara had impulsively wrenched his forehead protector off his gourd's leather strap, grabbing her injured arm and bound the cloth around it.
The Kazekage of Sunagakure had used the Sunagakure forehead protector as a bandage for someone who wasn't part of his village. He'd forsaken his pride to help another, and he hadn't even stopped to think about it.
Kohaku's eyes had widened in bewilderment, staring dumbly at the makeshift bandage before looking up at the Kazekage with an inquiring pair of eyes. Gaara avoided her gaze, instead he pulled at her good arm and started dragging her towards the direction of the Kazekage mansion. Now, Gaara was rifling through the cabinets, pulling out a first-aid kit and setting it on a kitchen counter.
"Come here," Gaara spoke softly, careful to avoid Kohaku's scrutiny. When she didn't budge, Gaara pulled her towards the counter, and picked out a dry cloth, wetting it before wiping away the mix of dried and fresh blood on Kohaku's arm.
Silence.
Gaara worked quietly, hands clumsily trying to be as careful as possible with the wound. What had Temari shown him again? Clean the wound, use antiseptic, place wads of cotton and bind it firmly with a gauze; Gaara repeated the steps in his mind as he picked out the gauze. He was foreign to first-aid; he'd never needed any because of his Absolute Defense. All the while, Kohaku remained watching him wordlessly.
Gaara then realized something.
The pain was gone.
The ache, the one that he had felt ever since he had found out that Kohaku was not as she seemed, was gone. Now, all he felt was just a warmth that he could not place a finger on - what was it? As he guided the gauze over the already-cleaned gash, sufficiently packed with cotton to stop any more excess bleeding, wrapping it around her arm neatly, his face felt prickly with an unfamiliar heat. Gaara's hands shook slightly, but he steadied them as he tied a knot.
"Kazekage-sama, you look unwell."
Gaara jolted, quickly pulling his hands away from Kohaku's arm, as if he had been shocked. The warmth crept down to his neck, spreading as he became horribly self-conscious of his surroundings, more specifically Kohaku. She was staring at him, as if she were trying to figure something out. There was a distinctly slight crinkle in between her eyebrows; she seemed to be very focused.
"Why're you looking at me like that, Chibi?"
It was strange. Gaara no longer felt tormented, nor did he feel any of the anguish that had plagued his mind, clouding his judgement. He just felt calm; at peace. (Of course, with the minuscule stabs of what seemed to be nervousness, but Gaara quickly dismissed it.) Even the silence was not an uncomfortable one; he felt completely at ease, standing with her in the weak glow of the candle's flickering flame.
Was this all Kohaku's doing?
He thought he wouldn't trust her after what Tsunade had told him; he had truly believed that he wouldn't look at the girl in the same light ever again. But looking at her now, with her typically unfazed and remote expression, the one that could always shift without one knowing unless you looked hard enough… Gaara would have been skeptical of Tsunade's words, if it had not been for the seal and paper the Hokage had used to in writing her message.
"Why did you help me?" her tone was different now; it was one of perplexity. The young Kazekage's eyes moved away from her face; he didn't want the full brunt of Kohaku's unabashed staring. His gaze landed on the forehead protector she had been holding - the one that belonged to Gaara. The cloth was caked in blood; the metal plate was stippled with smeared droplets of blood.
"Because I-," Gaara stopped short, not knowing what to say. He wanted to say that because he cared for her; that because to him, she was a friend. But the reason made him feel uncomfortable - almost like he felt as if he would have been lying if he had said that. Did she truly mean nothing to him now? Or was what he felt for her something else? If so, what was it?
His eyes remained trained on his forehead protector, grasped within Kohaku's hand.
"You helped me, without even considering the weight of pride staked on this forehead protector," Kohaku was speaking, but from the way she had said her words, it sounded more like she was talking to herself rather than to Gaara. "Even when you knew that I was not a person to be trusted," her grip around the forehead protector tightened, turning her fingers into a bloodless white. "Why?"
"Isn't it natural to help someone when they're in trouble?"
"It isn't for me," Kohaku deadpanned.
His conversation with Temari from some time ago swirled in his mind; snippets of the blonde's words repeated themselves in his mind. He had to act on her words, to discover the meaning behind them. Gaara looked up now, and saw that Kohaku still had a subtly puzzled expression; somewhat contemplative.
What was she thinking about?
Gaara knew the best way to figure out was to look into her eyes. And he did.
But the moment his eyes met hers, Gaara understood what Temari had told him before.
Every, single thing.
xxxxx
"Well, if you put it that way, letting Chi- Shishimiya into the archives would be a good option - I wouldn't be lying to Naruto and she'd probably be happy," Gaara nodded in appreciation for his sister's ingenuity, "I knew there was a reason why I trusted you to be my diplomatic liaison."
"Besides the fact that I'm good at social relations and I rock? Yeah, I guess," Temari hoisted her fan over her shoulder, "Look, Gaara, I know you hate to deal with things of this nature, but you've got to sit down quietly and listen to what I say for once,"
Gaara gave his sister a questioning look. "Didn't I just do that?"
Temari rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes, be sarcastic, why don't you?" She shot her youngest brother a dry look, "I mean, you always run away from things you don't understand. That much is pretty obvious from the way you've always lopped off people's heads before when you were younger, if you didn't understand the situation surrounding you,"
"Those words of yours have a double meaning, don't they? I suppose you're heavily insinuating that I must've given you a terrible childhood," Gaara deadpanned.
"Like crap," Temari confirmed with a grin, "But no, not really. I'm just trying to explain it as clearly as I possibly can,"
"I'm not mentally incapacitated, you know," Gaara frowned at his sister's words. Did she really have to treat him like a child?
Sometimes, Gaara thought that maybe it would've been better if people still lived in fear of him.
"You're stubborn, though. You always stuff your fingers in yours ears and start singing whenever I try to make you face your personal baggage,"
"And you care because-?"
Temari struck the end of her fan against the floor of Gaara's office, making the place tremble slightly; a hard look was on her face. Gaara was already testing her patience. "Sunagakure needs a good leader, and the leader they've chosen is you," Her tone was serious now, "What I'm doing is trying to make sure that the leader they've decided to place their faith in doesn't fail to do his job because of his cowardice for facing things that are strange to him,"
"What do you mean by that? I've faced countless of strange things! Like that Akatsuki arsonist-!"
"That's not what I mean. It may have been foreign to you, but at the same time, it wasn't. It's because you're grown up fighting, and fighting is as easy as breathing for you. It's easy for anyone who is a shinobi," Temari's eyes locked into a steady gaze with her brother's, intent on making Gaara see sense, "What you're scared of is to come to terms with your feelings. Not the feelings of comradeship, friendship and loyalty. That's the easy stuff. It's the complex ones that are scaring you.
"I know I wouldn't have said this to you, long ago, but because you're a changed person, I'm telling you this. You're acting like a petulant child, Gaara. You're fifteen, and bound to experience things that are alien to you. It's even more worse, because you've had a twisted childhood and now, you're being treated like an adult. You've completely missed the part where you learn about life through proper experience, like any normal, teenaged shinobi would have."
Gaara blinked; he was completely taken aback by his sister's outburst. "Temari, what are you getting at, exactly?"
Temari shook her head, pulling her fan back to her side. "Think about it, Gaara. You're smart, so I don't expect you'll have a hard time figuring out what I mean," she started for the door, and paused as she opened it. "You'll only be able to understand what my words mean if you stop running away."
xxxxx
He finally did it.
He had stopped running away.
All those weeks of denial and pushing things onto a shelf - they were nothing now.
They say that the eyes of a person are the windows to their soul. Gaara hadn't had the faintest clue of what the saying meant before, but now he did. But it wasn't Kohaku's soul that he'd peered into. Her eyes had reflected his own feelings back, making him understand what Temari had been trying to tell him.
Kohaku did mean something to him.
He had feelings for Kohaku.
What feelings were they?
Gaara wasn't sure, but they were definitely not feelings of friendship.
FAQ Time!
Temari's so… knowledgeable.
Well, she's got a 'questionable relationship' with Shikamaru. (As quoted by Gaara in one of the previous chapters)
You really believe in the 'windows of the soul' thing?
Who knows what to believe in anymore these days?
What's this 'Shishi no Tsume' thing Kohaku used?
A technique I came up with. Horribly unoriginal, but y'know, I like to be simple.
Why's Gaara using his forehead protector to bandage Kohaku's arm such a big deal?
Because to a shinobi, the forehead protector is essentially his pride. It signifies the fact that you are a proper shinobi of your own right. So a shinobi, especially when he's a Kage, using his forehead protector on a shinobi from a different village for something as menial as bandaging is a really huge deal.
Kohaku looks so… unaffected.
You'll see.
Why must Sai be portrayed in such an antagonistic light? I thought you liked him?
Every character has a role to play in a story. This is Sai's role.
I had a ridiculously difficult time trying to figure out how to go about this chapter, especially that last bit. Gosh, I really suck at the romance department. But I suppose I'm growing along with Gaara and Kohaku, so I do hope you'll be fairly satisfied with the amount of skill I displayed in this romance thing! Oh, and the battle scene. I enjoyed writing it, and I plan on incorporating more in the future, but I won't hide the fact that I'm rubbish at it. I will strive to better improve myself! So I hope I have your continuous support!
As always, reviews are awesome and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!
Luv,
Pichuzilla.