EDITED!
A/N: Hello again people. Sorry for being late. Been busy with organizing camps for my juniors and such. )
I've been wondering, no one really told me that the previous chapter was confusing so is it just my imagination or something? I did read through and understood most of it, but I wrote it so that's obvious. What about you guys? I tried to explain a lot in here. I hope you guys get it.
Oh and in case you're stuck in the shipuuden days? This is BEFORE chuunin examinations, alright? I'm moving a little faster now. On with the chapter!
-
Hurting
Keimyou poured the coffee he brewed into two cups, one for himself and the other for Seki, when she awoke for her training. He took the coffee towards the window that showed the rest of the village and the entrance gates. The sun, slowly rising was casting its light upon the other houses, making the sand look golden and shimmering under the light. Shadows were chased away as the warmth of the sunlight spread inside Keimyou's house.
The guardian of Seki sipped his coffee and turned, accidentally kicking away the can of permanant orange dye that Seki used before she left to find Gaara the day before. His eyes revealed the depth of confusion he felt right now, as many questions were left unanswered.
"Keimyou, Keimyou!"
Keimyou put down his coffee and reached for the door handle, wondering who was up so early. A swing of the door revealed a young waterfall shinobi, probably not older than twenty, holding a sealed scroll.
"Tomiro? What is it? What are doing all the way here?"
"A letter from your clan's elders, Keimyou. They said it was urgent," Keimyou accepted the scroll and moved to the side. "Come in Tomiro, come in."
"Thank you, Keimyou, but I need to rush, I'm on a mission."
"Right, but why are you here?"
"Your clan elders are in no condition to deliver a message, and I happened to go by your old house, which was along the way."
"I see, thank you, Tomiro."
"No problem, Keimyou. I haven't forgotten the debt I owe you for saving my life last year."
"Consider it repaid again," Keimyou smiled as Tomiro disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Memories of a past mission flooded Keimyou as he closed the door. The Land of the Waterfall was very peaceful, and he would have enjoyed traveling there for a vacation if he wasn't there to destroy a huge snake. It was the most peculiar mission as well, seeing as how the snake had vanished without a trace after his team and Keimyou had dealt the last blow.
Keimyou heard the sounds of Seki awaking and took the scroll to his bedroom. He remembered Tomiro, the young teenager he had saved from the snake. His family had been lost to that purple reptile so he traveled alongside Keimyou and his team to their next mission. Both parties had shared some information about themselves to the other, hence grew a friendship Keimyou never expected.
Tomiro did return to the Land of the Waterfall in the end, not before promising to repay the debt he owed Keimyou. However, it seemed everything he did for Keimyou was not worthy of repaying the debt. Keimyou thought about his last words to Tomiro and knew well enough that the young boy had not taken note of it again.
"Uncle? Is that coffee for me?"
"Yes, Seki. Drink it before you train!"
"Okay, thanks!" Keimyou poked his head out to wave goodbye to his niece, who had downed the coffee faster than he could say Goodbye.
Turning his attention, finally, towards the scroll, Keimyou frowned as he gazed upon the seal, which was a picture of a lion. It was the mark of the Raion clan, the symbol created by Iwashi and his father themselves. Keimyou muttered a soft, "Eiki," their clan's most sacred being, which was the command to unlock the seal.
Keimyou watched the scroll unfurl itself, as the contents were slowly absorbed by the shinobi. If anyone was present with him, they would've seen his maroon eyes widen with horror and glance around with worry, as if the people mentioned within the letter was right there in the room. If anyone had seen him, they would've seen Keimyou pacing the room in a nervous manner as he contemplated on revealing the information he had just received with his niece.
If anyone was with him, they would've watched him close the message with the seal and hide it inside a desk drawer, which he locked with another seal. They would've noticed his maroon eyes shining with determination, as Keimyou decided not to tell Seki about the message.
Yet.
-
Seki lay on her back, exhausted but happy. It was rare that Gaara would ask her out to train, and she wondered how long it took for him to gather the courage to do so.
As she looked over to the redhead staring at her, amused at her reaction towards fatigue, Seki knew the courage she spoke of was not the normal kind of courage. His courage, was more than similar to Seki's courage to make friends, to talk to people in this village. The kind of courage that was meant to protect your heart from rejection.
To be hurt, but to have the courage to stand up and try again.
"Come on, you're not even a little tired?" Seki whined as she sat up, noticing that Gaara wasn't even sweating. The male shinobi raised an invisible eyebrow, and looked away. Seki rolled her eyes and laid back down.
"You're not difficult to beat."
"What did you say!?" Seki shot up on her feet and stomped over to Gaara. He was not at all threatened, or angry. In fact, he was even more amused and let a smirk appear on his pale face. That's when Seki realized he was teasing her.
Seki was actually harder to beat now that she had improved her stamina level. But not the extent that Gaara would feel tired, of course.
"You managed to keep me awake I guess."
"Sabaku no Gaara, you idiot!" Seki fumed and tossed a few tornadoes towards him, which the redhead easily deflected with his sand. What he didn't expect was Seki to appear almost immediately behind him. Even with the sand defence, Gaara stumbled backwards with surprise. Seki grinned at this, and showed off her newly acquired speed as she tried to penetrate his sand with kunais and shurikens, kicks and punches.
After about fifteen minutes, Seki stopped, panting heavily and collapsed on a pile of sand. She giggled and tried to position herself more elegantly on the floating sand cloud that Gaara had conjured, before giving up and toppling backwards with an exaggerrated sigh.
And Gaara watched this, both amused and curious at her reactions.
Seki turned her head towards him and scrunched her face in a cute manner, before saying, "No one can get through that defense of yours, huh?"
Gaara was about to nod when his heart skipped a beat, reminding him of more meanings to her question than what she was expecting. Seki sat up straight at the change of his demeanor. She knew she wouldn't be able to touch him, but placed her hand on his shoulder anyway. Any kind of physical contact, a hug, a handshake, was comforting, and Gaara needed it more than anyone.
Seki felt the sandy texture and whispered cautiously, "Could you, take it off?"
Although Gaara knew perfectly well what she was referring to, he hesitated and turned to face Seki with questioning, ocean-blue eyes.
Please, Gaara. I know how you feel.
And as if the redhead had heard her thoughts, Seki watched out of the corner of her eyes, sand sliding off Gaara's right hand, revealing pale complexion, as if it had never seen the sun for a few years.
Seki turned as Gaara took the initiative and raised his hand, just as Seki reached hers out.
-
"Gaara!"
Kankurou's voice pierced through the silence as he appeared through the forest. He reached the centre of the forest floor, where Gaara and Seki had been training, to find both of them sitting on sand, facing each other rather awkwardly. Well, at least Seki looked awkward. Gaara had on a stoic expression that revealed nothing to his older brother.
"Seki? I didn't know you were here."
"I came to train with Gaara," Seki replied calmly, although she looked away from Kankurou. The puppet master frowned, wondering why Temari had not told her about not taking part in the examinations, but didn't question her, and turned back to his younger brother.
"Baki wants to talk to you about training. He thinks you can draw out its power easier if--"
"Kankurou."
Seki turned at Gaara's tone. It was low, deep and dangerous. Almost as if he wanted to hurt Kankurou. The latter didn't answer, but glared back as well. Ocean and dark eyes faced off in a staring competition as Seki looked from one shinobi to another.
'It' meaning the ichibi? Why would he need his power? Seki looked over at Gaara, the murdering aura starting to radiate from him.
Hesitantly, Seki placed a hand on Gaara's shoulder, drawing his attention to her red eyes, questioning him silently. Gaara turned stiff under Seki's gaze, but did not draw away. He stood, willed his sand to help Seki up, and without a word, he left the forest clearing with shunshin to Baki's office, where his mentor was most likely waiting for him.
Kankurou stared at the space Gaara occupied and then at Seki, who smiled at him warmly.
"You hungry? I'm famished after training with Gaara. He could kill you, you know," Seki joked as she brushed the dirt off her. Kankurou chuckled and leaned on a tree as the young kunoichi picked up her weapons.
"Yeah, I know."
-
"If what you are saying is true, that would mean they could be here in less than a month."
"Unless I bring Seki away."
"But the Kazekage?"
"Obviously her life is more important! If I can get her out of Sunagakure, they would not be able to track her down so easily. This might save the village as well."
"She's not going to go quietly."
"She will understand."
"I cannot process your leaving papers without letting the Kazekage's consent. You may have to--"
Baki paused as he saw a whirl of sand appear in front of him and Keimyou. Seki's guardian straightened up and brushed his hair back, as the red head solidified within his shunshin and stared at the occupants of Baki's office. Keimyou smiled nervously and nodded as an acknowledgment, which Gaara returned. Baki stood up, a sign for Keimyou to leave.
"We'll talk about this later."
"No. I'll tell Kankurou to tell you when," Keimyou decided firmly, and shunshin our before Baki could say anything. Baki frowned and sighed heavily, before gesturing to Gaara to come closer.
"No."
Baki looked up, blinking at the unexpected answer.
"I won't use it unless I need to."
"Why?" Baki asked. He was surprised at Gaara's reluctance to use the Shukaku's power. "What are you thinking, Gaara?" Baki frowned under his half mask when he met the redhead's silence.
"Why did you assume Seki was going to be used?" Gaara asked, suspicious of Keimyou's presence earlier.
"The council knows more things about the clan than we do, Gaara," Baki replied definitively. Gaara held his mentor's gaze for a while, prompting him to explain what he meant. Baki frown creased deeper and he sat down, crossing his fingers in front of him.
"The Raion clan was one of the few clans that left Sunagakure and still served the Kazekage. Their shinobis have been used for Assassinations as they were better than anyone at concealing and killing," Gaara's mind echoed the Nibi's voice when she was in Seki's body, recalling what she said about him killing Seki's father.
"Only Iwashi and Keimyou rejected such missions. They have served Sunagakure for so long it is only natural for them to take note of Seki Raion. Kunoichis of their clan are not exceptional or abundant, but Seki is, what with the Nibi's poison as well as her genes."
"You'll help her," it wasn't a question, a statement from Gaara that caught Baki unawares, although he was as good as him at keeping stoic expressions. He glanced around furtively, before giving him a tiny nod.
"She is part of Sunagakure."
Gaara, satisified with the answer, walked out of the office, closing the door behind him with a snap.
-
"Bye, Kankurou!"
Seki waved as her shinobi friend disappeared around the corner, and stepped into Keimyou's home, removing her sandals as she called out to her uncle. It was only after placing her things in her room did she notice the lack of response. Walking out towards his room, Seki found her uncle holding on to the black journal and sitting on his bed. His maroon eyes seemed hazy, as if he was in a daze.
"Keimyou? Uncle? Uncle!"
"..Huh.. What? Oh, Seki its you."
"Uncle, what's wrong?" Seki sat beside her guardian, covering his hand with hers.
Keimyou looked up and smiled into her red ruby eyes, placing his arm around her shoulder and pulling her towards him. Seki leaned on his chest and closed her eyes, smiling as she absorbed the warmth of Keimyou's body.
"Uncle? Are you alright?" Keimyou's eyes flickered, but Seki didn't notice as she relaxed into her uncle's arms. He rubbed the top of her head, kissed it softly and pulled back so that he could see Seki clearly.
Seki cocked her head to the side curiously, laughing a little as Keimyou took in Seki's appearance. Her cropped brown hair was longer now, allowing Seki to tie into a small ponytail whenever she trained so that it wouldn't hinder her movements. The orange dye had probably sunk into her roots, so orange highlights were seen even though Seki had used up all of her orange dye. She had grown slightly taller, and was not skinny as when she first arrived, starved and weak. Her bright red eyes from her father, shimmered under the glow of the setting sun. Her facial features from her mother, gentle and loving.
"Uncle?"
"Seki. Do you trust me, that everything I do, I do it to protect you?" Keimyou asked suddenly, catching Seki by surprise.
"Of co-course, uncle. Why? What's wrong? Did anything happen?"
"No. No, nothing. Not yet anyway," Keimyou finished mysteriously. Seki looked carefully at her uncle, concerned. There were some white hairs slowly appearing on the tips of several strands of hair.
Uncle is probably stressed out with me causing so much trouble, Seki thought sadly. Keimyou noticed her change in demeanor and smiled.
"Come on, don't look so glum. Let's have some pie for dinner!"
"Eh, really?" Seki exclaimed. Keimyou chuckled and headed towards the kitchen, letting Seki daydream about the shepherd's pie they ate the week before.
When Keimyou called out for Seki however, he only found an open window and a small note from her. Smiling sadly, Keimyou wrapped the pie and placed it in the fridge, so that Seki could heat it up and eat it when she got back.
-
The cold air that would have made anyone shiver uncontrollably, especially in Sunagakure where temperatures in the day soar, and temperatures in the night dropped so low a normal person needed to wear a jacket to sleep. However, people who lived in the Land of the Wind were used to these varying temperatures.
Shinobis such as Gaara and Seki were not only used to it, they needed the refreshing feeling to clear their minds of confusing thoughts and feelings that overwhelmed them in the day.
For Seki, as she sat on the roof of some restaurant in the village, she thought about her life so far. Killing her family members, being exiled from her clan, arriving in Sungakure, meeting the Sand Siblings, training for the Chuunin Examinations. It all seemed like a distant memory, yet it was her life, the one she was living right now. And Seki thought again, how long ago since she had actually lived properly. Those years of traveling, getting lost, mugged, thrown out and shunned, it seemed like she was there experiencing it, but not feeling anything. Her heart had been so cold, frozen over and unable to stop the numbness, Seki continued to hurt until she finally found Keimyou. Found Gaara.
Her insanity periods were more dangerous now, but Seki knew she was able to control her emotions better after the last attack. She thought about what Keimyou told her about the Nibi, and the connection with the voice in her head. Chuckling, Seki reflected on her naïve personality just a few weeks before and took out her lighter, flicking the flame on and off.
Now there are two Houseki Raion, and one of them is a cat, Seki thought lightly. She looked down on the orange cat design on the pant leg of the bottom she always wore. Was it coincidence that she packed only this pair of pants when she left? It was a gift from her mother, and her father always told her that her personality was just like a cat. Curious, playful, sly, intelligent. Now she realized she had a cat in her all along, albeit an alternate persona.
How were things going to be played out? Seki wondered, but didn't bother to persue her queries as she looked beyond the city walls. She thought about Gaara, her feelings for him and the memories they shared. Shutting the lighter, Seki crouched and looked around for another roof to leap on, as she began her night adventure again.
I wonder what he thinks of me, now that I've attempted to kill him more than once.
-
Gaara watched the orange spot light up and fade away into the darkness, heart beating slowly as he realized Seki was only a few rooftops away from him.
He refused to believe in love, no, it was too soon for him. However, he was willing to consider friendship. She had done nothing to betray his trust so far, and knew she probably would not. There were things they could relate to each other that no one else in their lives would understand.
Seki was a danger, just as Gaara is, just that he has learned since his childhood – if he had one – how to control his emotions much better than Seki. It resulted in this, cold, alone, talented but loveless.
And hurting.
Did he want to accept her? He was afraid of nothing now, so rejection was not a concern. However, the same feeling of helplessness overwhelmed him as Gaara pondered over his future with Seki. What was it called? Worry.
The orange spot disappeared from view and Gaara saw the familiar figure leap away from the rooftop towards the city walls.
A few seconds later and the place Gaara was sitting on, was empty as well.
-
A/N: Edited and removed Orochimaru. He's coming out in 17. Sorry for the confusion, but I prefer to stay on the storyline. Thank god I am rewatching Naruto.
Tomiro - Fortunate child
-JE