Hey there! Like promised the next chapter right on time! Thanks to distantdreamer104, MyLifeInWhole and Jestie Uchiha for your reviews!
Let me tell you beforehand, I pretty much messed up with this chapter. Sorry 'bout this.
About the creepy voice: No, Minari won't get invincible nor will she get super strong. This voice is only here to annoy her and somewhat important for the plot!
That said I'll shut up and let you enjoy this chapter (hopefully)!
Sins and Sunshine
Chapter 15: Old memories
"Hello, Gaara." I greeted the boy in front of me with a smile while fighting the tears that just kept rolling down my cheeks.
The redhead didn't reply anything just stared at me with wide eyes while the rest of his features remained emotionless.
"What are you doing here?" I heard Temari's voice that sounded for me like she was very far away.
"Weren't you supposed to be dead?" Kankuro's voice joined hers.
"You know them?" Pinky asked and some other voices from little kids joined the others.
But it didn't matter. I didn't care for all the voices as they all sounded so distant. All that mattered at the moment was the boy in front of me and the inner fight I had with my mind as all the long forgotten memories came back to me. My whole past rushed back into my consciousness and washed away everything else like a big destructive wave until not even those cool cyan eyes could reach my mind anymore. Instead pictures kept rushing through my vision and voices echoed in my ears. And from the deepest depths of my subconsciousness I could feel an overwhelming darkness crawling up to the surface and a dark threatening voice began whispering sweetly in my head.
Hello, Minari. Did you miss me?
"Minari-chan!" Naruto's scream echoed through my head as my mind grew heavy and the darkness took away the last bit consciousness that was left in me.
Outside POV…
Her vision went blank as the girl's knees gave in and she fell forward. But before she hit the hard ground Sasuke caught her and picked her up bridal style. Then he glared at the three suna-nins, who stood there wondering what happened just now.
"What did you do to her?" he asked with a dark threatening voice.
"W-We didn't do anything." Temari stumbled waving her hands like saying "It wasn't us so don't glare at us like that".
"What did you mean with her being supposed to be dead?" Naruto growled his pupils turning into slits.
"That, we just thought that she was dead." Kankuro explained getting nervous.
"That's enough." Gaara interrupted him with a cold voice than turned around. "We're leaving."
As his siblings hesitated for a moment he gave them a murderous glare and they followed him straight away afraid of being killed otherwise. Then they were gone in a swirl of sand.
"W-We should take her to the hospital." Sakura suggested a shiver running down her spine from the mere presence of the two furious boys.
Flashback…
9 years ago in Sunagakure…
On a playground a little boy sat on a swing. His short red hair swayed in the cool evening breeze as his sad black rimmed eyes watched the other kids playing soccer. He squeezed his teddy bear as the kids kept laughing and kicking the old ragged ball.
But one of the kids kicked the ball too hard and it landed on top of a big wall. They stood in front of it wondering how they could get it back as the wall was too steep to climb it and they were still too young to do anything related to chakra.
The redhaired boy called Gaara saw his chance there to actually be useful, so he used the sand to get the ball down the wall. It floated into his hand and as he held it out to the other kids they just stood there starring at him with horror in their eyes, then turned and ran away.
Gaara clutched the ball not understanding why they were running away from him. He just wanted to help them. Why were they afraid of him? Why were they leaving him alone? He didn't want to be alone. He wanted to bring them back!
"Uhm…"
The boy turned around to see the source of the voice and was surprised to see a girl his age standing there nervously glancing up at him.
"Uh, do you want to play with me?" she asked him smiling shyly. He blankly stared at her. She wanted to play with him? Wasn't she afraid?
The girl started grinning at him and scratched the back of her head.
"Well, you know, I can't go out to play very often and since all the other kids have left I thought that we could play. At least if you want." she mumbled fidgeting with her fingers and her voice getting quieter with every word.
She waited for an answer but as the boy remained silent she already wanted to turn and leave but he stopped her.
"W-Wait. I, uh, would be really glad to play with you." he answered insecurely. She looked at him and a smile grew on her face.
"Okay! So you want to play soccer?"
The two kids randomly kicked the ball and ran after it. After they both were out of breath they played with the swings then started building a sand castle. The girl watched in awe as Gaara made the sand taking the shape of a castle by itself. As he finished the girl clapped and called his ability magic, the boy's fears that she would run away if she found out about his sand controlling now completely gone. She then decorated the sand building with rocks and twigs as he collected these things for her.
They were laughing and japing. But after a couple of hours as the girl looked up her gaze went blank and she stared in the distance. Gaara followed her gaze and found a woman standing at the entrance of the playground watching them with a stern look on her face.
"I'm sorry. I have to go now." the girl mumbled with a monotone voice.
The boy helplessly watched her standing up and brushing the sand off her clothes, not knowing what to say to her. But before she leaved she turned to the boy.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask for your name."
"… Gaara." he answered, again anxiety growing in him that now that she knew who he was she would become afraid of him and he would never be able to play with her like this again.
"Okay, Gaara." she said smiling "My name's Minari. The next time when I can sneak away from home let's play again."
He nodded smiling. She waved goodbye to him and then went to the person that was now impatiently waiting for her. The boy stared at his hands the smile still present on his face.
"Let's play again." he repeated, feeling this happy for the first time in his life. And for the first time he felt the urge to run home and tell his uncle about the great time he had today.
…End of flashback
Still in a dreaming state I felt like I was floating in a dark cold ocean. Still feeling dizzy I thought about the dream I had just now, or better the memory of my first meeting with Gaara. Gaara, my only childhood friend. But what happened? I grabbed my head as I tried to remember how I ended up in this state.
We had missions. Kakashi told me that I got transferred into another team. I wanted to tell my team mates and looked for them. As I found them I saw Gaara. And then…
So you finally remembered.
You! I growled at the voice that rang all too clearly through the darkness.
What did you do to me?
I did nothing. The repressed memories were too much to handle for you so you passed out, the voice explained.
Then why did you decide to reappear in exact this moment, huh?
Because I was one of your repressed memories. But we can continue this conversation later. You should wake up now.
Slowly the darkness and the numb feeling faded away and as I opened my eyes they got blinded by a bright light so I pressed them shut again.
"Ow, stupid headache!" I grumbled.
"Hey, she's awake!" I heard a familiar voice yelling. Unfortunately too loud, this made my headache only worse.
"Idiot! She said that she has a headache so stop shouting!" another person shouted.
"That applies to both of you, Naruto and Kiba." I growled irritated.
My eyes finally attached to the light and I now saw that I was in a hospital room. Seems like I was brought to hospital…
Around my bed were all my friends gathered who looked at my worriedly and relieved.
"What happened?" I asked confused.
"You lost consciousness." Sasuke explained who was standing beside the others leaning on a wall and now stepping forward.
"When we heard that we decided to visit you." Shikamaru said lazily.
"W-We bought you a fruit basket." Hinata told me and pointed at an overly cheesy decorated basket filled with fruits.
"Wow, thank you." I said smiling.
"But how long have I been unconscious?"
"Since yesterday." Naruto answered. Wow, a whole day. Wait, since when were they waiting here?
"But why did you collapse?" Kiba asked and got hit in the chest by Shino. Kiba, empathic as always.
I lowered my head in thought. Should I tell them?
If you want to be killed, go on.
Can't you just shut up and leave me alone?
I rolled my eyes and sighted. Will it go on like this from now on?
"What's the matter?" Naruto asked.
"Maybe you're hungry?" Choji suggested.
"Not everyone is as greedy as you, Choji." Kiba retorted and again doubled over in pain. Sometimes I wonder if he is a closet masochist and secretly enjoys it to always get beaten up.
I sniggered and then turned to face the others.
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. More important, Naruto, Sasuke, I have to tell you guys something."
"What's up?"
"You know of the chunin exams?"
"Yeah and I'm definitely gonna pass, believe it!" Naruto boasted.
"Whatever. Anyway, because of this I got transferred to another team."
"What?" everyone shouted in unison. Too loud!
"Why do you get transferred?" Naruto wanted to know.
"Because only teams of three can participate."
"And why you?" Sasuke asked. Wow, seems like he actually minded me being away. I bet it was because I acted as his personal anti-Pinky-shield.
"I wonder." I answered sighting. I still preferred Pinky being thrown out instead of me.
"And what is your new team like?" Kiba asked.
"Dunno. I'm gonna meet them today."
"And when?"
I glanced at the clock that was conveniently located at the opposite wall.
"Exactly 10 minutes ago."
So that's it for this time! This chapter was brought to you by Corpse Bride and Resident Evil – Extinction. Not easy to write while watching TV.
Please review! I love review just like everyone else does!