The feeling of the weight around my waist was more prominent just before I appeared back in reality as I left Isobu. It was the feeling of an embrace. There was also a weight on my legs. I tried to see where everyone else was to see that Gaara was hugging me close from behind, Temari was curled up tight on Gaara's otherside, and Kankuro who fell asleep at the foot of the bed moved up and now his head rested on my curled up legs with his pillow discarded.
I was a bit surprised that I wasn't able to feel any of these movements, but I was a bit occupied with my training so it's not really that much of a shock. I stopped regulating the flow of everyone's chakra and right away I could feel the change in their chakra flow. Unsurprisingly, Gaara's chakra network was the first to react to the change in the flow of his chakra, still he didn't stir. I wasn't able to tell if he was waking up or not so I decided to lay still and let him hold me.
I waited for what felt like hours before anyone showed signs of waking up. None of them must be morning people. In a way that kind of shocked me, they live in the desert and it's sunny all the time. You would think they would be up before mid day.
The first to start to wake up was actually Kankuro. Honestly, I didn't know who I thought would wake up first, but I really didn't think it would be him. His head moved slightly and he reached up to rub his eyes. I heard him yawn as he moved his fist to his other eye, suddenly his body jolted off of the bed as he sat up straight and pushed himself away from me. This sudden movement caused Gaara to start to stir. Kankuro then slowly turned around until his eyes settled on me.
"Good morning." I greeted. I pushed myself up to get a better view and couldn't help but smirk at him. "Did you sleep well?"
"Was I-" Kankuro cut himself off. His cheeks burned red, which I didn't understand, why would he be blushing? "I must have lost my pillow." Gaara still had a grip on my waist, now he had himself pushed up and he was glaring down at Kankuro. "S-sorry, Gaara. I didn't mean to wake you." Kankuro's cheeks stayed red as he scrambled off the bed and started to leave the room. "I'm going to go to my room now."
I patted Gaara's arm to indicate that he should move it. "I should get up too." I said. He slowly moved his arms so that I could swing my legs over the side of the bed and get up. I reached down to my toes and then stretched my arms over my head before walking out of the room after Kankuro. "I'll see you later."
Kankuro disappeared by the time I reached the hallway, I just assumed that he went straight to his own room. I didn't really care where he was, I'm sure I'll see him later at some time. I thought it would be best if I was by myself this morning. I was going to find Rasa's room and get a change of clothes for his body to be buried in and I thought that it might be too much for Temari or Kankuro to come with and for some reason I didn't think Gaara left the Kazekage building often.
I thought of the layout of the Mizukage's building to determine where to go. Uncle Yagura's office is at the very top of the tower with the rest of the top floor being made of a large room for meetings with different sectors within Kirigakure. His bedroom is also on the top floor, though it's on the other side of the building as his office. Actually the top floor in the Mizukage's tower is mostly residential too. I feel as if the Kazekage building was designed in a way that was kind of similar to the Mizukage's tower. Now, I just have to find Rasa's bedroom.
Before I could explore much of the top floor I was stopped by Baki who looked like he was going to go into a council meeting. "Ketto, can I help you?"
"I was looking for the Kazekage's room." I said. "I told the mortician that I would have someone drop off a fresh pair of clothes for the Kazekage to be buried in, but I decided I would do it myself being that I have time for it."
"I see, the Kazekage's room is further down this hallway." Baki said. He pointed down the hallway he just came from. "I can take you there if you want."
"That's okay, I'm sure I'll find it. I don't want you to be late for your meeting, what's it about if I may ask?" I wondered.
"Being that the Kazekage is truly dead we've been trying to determine who the next Kazekage should be." he said. He then sighed, "I doubt we'll come to an agreement anytime soon. The feudal lord isn't even here. The other members of the council just want us all to agree on a candidate before the feudal lord gets involved."
"I wish you luck in your meeting, it sounds like you'll need it." I continued on down the hallway without waiting for a response from him. I was correct in assuming the inner design of the building was the same as the Mizukage's tower. Now I think I know where I need to go. I briefly thought about who would be nominated to be the next Kazekage, but I didn't know much about this land and its people so I decided to shake those kinds of thoughts from my head.
I passed the open door of the Kazekage's office and ended up in front of a closed door. For some reason I felt the need to knock, but I think that's more out of respect being that it used to be someone's personal room. After my hesitation, I opened the door and entered the room making sure to close the door behind me.
It was the room I was looking for, there wasn't much in here to show that it was lived in. There was a bed and a dresser, what surprised me was what was sitting on top of the dresser. Lined along the edge were picture frames of various sizes. The first was one of Rasa with a blonde woman, they were both smiling happily towards the camera and Rasa had his arms wrapped around her. That must have been his wife, the very one who died giving birth to Gaara. Rasa and his wife were also in the next picture, but so were two small children who looked to be Temari and Kankuro. Temari only had two pigtails and she was missing a front tooth, while Kankuro, who didn't have any paint on his face was looking at something away from the camera. Temari looked like she was three and Kankuro was maybe one or two years old. The third picture surprised me, it was of a newborn Gaara with his mother. She had tears in her eyes, but she looked happy.
Seeing these pictures made me realize that Rasa cared deeply for his family. Temari said that he used to act as a caring father and in the second picture where he is posed with his wife, Temari and Kankuro, he really does look the part. When Temari said that both her and Kankuro felt that they disappointed their father I didn't know what to think. I know that Temari and Kankuro were not compatible with the one tails, and maybe that's why Rasa was disappointed in them.
I remember overhearing somewhere, that the Sand's own feudal lord started hiring ninja from other villages rather than from its own. I'm not sure what the reason for that could have been, maybe it was because the Sand didn't have as strong of a military force. Still, to defund the capital of your own nation? That's a bit extreme. In a way, I understand why Rasa thought it was important to create a jinchuuriki. It was so that the Sand would still have a strong weapon and that they would seem stronger than they were. What I don't understand is why Rasa didn't just make himself the jinchuuriki. If time was an issue then that's what would have made the most sense. Unless if for some reason he was incompatible with the one tails. Yet if that's the case then how could he think one of his children would be? Or was that just his hope?
It seems as if Rasa cares for his village more than his family. While I understand Rasa's actions I don't necessarily like them. In his position he should have tried to fill the void his deceased wife left. As a ninja from Kirigakure, I acknowledge that the only way Rasa could have coped with his wife's death was to shut off his emotions and give his best efforts to building up his village.
Thinking about it, I really don't think the Sand can afford to lose its allies. Their military strength alone is almost nonexistent. The land of Fire and especially the land of Water are significantly more adept in their militaries. Economically the two nations seem to be doing significantly better than the Sand too. I know that the land of Fire excels in healing and the land of water is more than capable of battle both on the land and in the water. The Sand has its sealing corps, but is that something that's really coveted?
It might be possible that they may have access to desert plants that may be used in medicines, but that's not really something that matters to the land of Water, we have several islands that are home to various medicinal herbs. We get requests from the land of Fire all the time to see if they could pick some of the plants.
From what I can remember, the Sand doesn't have anything that could really benefit the land of Water, but uncle Yagura said we needed to be allies for something that would happen in the future. I wonder what he could have foreseen? Maybe he knew the Sand had a hidden resource that he knew we would have a need for? When I get back to Kirigakure I should research the other nations more before I leave for another mission. Maybe then I would be able to understand everything more.
Also, this Akatsuki, I want to know more about them. I want to know what their goal is, why would they start collecting tailed beasts? What could they possibly need them for? I could understand if they wanted the jinchuuriki to be on their side, that would be one unstoppable army. But, uncle Yagura specifically said that the Akatsuki planned to extract the tailed beasts from their jinchuuriki. I wonder how long it'll take for someone to figure out that I'm the jinchuuriki of the three tailed beast. I doubt they'll know how to extract Isobu from me, they can try all they want, as long as my seals are intact I have nothing to worry about. The only one who can break the seals on my body are myself, uncle Yagura, and possibly Kankuro. All of which are difficult to get to; uncle in the Mizukage's tower, Kankuro in a different nation on the other side of the continent, and my own skin is impenetrable. So, I really have nothing to worry about.
I dug around in the drawers of the dresser to get clothes for Rasa's body before I tried looking for an extra set of his Kazekage's robes. Then, I managed to leave the Kazekage building without being stopped. In no time at all, I found myself in front of Solace Funeral Arrangements.
While balancing the clothes on one hand, I opened the door with the other. A small chime went off to indicate a customer. While I waited for someone to notice that I was here I tried not to think of the strong smell of the embalming oils, but the scent was so overpowering that I knew I couldn't overlook it.
The store owner, Audun came in through a doorway covered with a cloth. He was pulling plastic gloves off of his hands as he approached me. "You're that girl that was here with Lord Kankuro yesterday."
"Yes, I've come with clothes for the Kazekage's body to be buried in." I raised my arms to show the clothes. "I was also wondering about your progress?"
"We're nearly done with the autopsy, we'll need to wait for the results of the samples we took earlier this morning to see if there was any chemical interference." Audun said. "There was leftover residue on his body that leads us to believe that a poison may have been involved."
"I see." If that's the case then there might not have been a way for him to get back to the village in time to receive an antidote. It looks like Rasa may have died because he chose to stand his ground and fight, the poison would have spread throughout his body faster. His body must have started to shut down mid battle depending on how good his resistance to poison was, but not many people choose to build up a resistance to poison, so his body probably started to shut down right away. "Are the other two bodies here too? What about them?"
"The bodies of the bodyguards?" Audun asked, "They are also here. We haven't started an autopsy on their bodies yet. The families have been notified, only one gave their consent to have the body examined."
"Really?" I thought it was strange, wouldn't you want to know how your loved one died? But then again maybe they're in denial. "Would you happen to have their addresses? I wish to pay my respects."
"Very well." Audun moved over to the counter and pulled out a big book. He grabbed a piece of paper and started to write on it. "Here are their addresses, if I were you I would visit the Osei family first. They were the easiest of the two families to work with."
I placed the bundle of clothes on the counter before taking the piece of paper from him. "Thank you for this." I glanced at the paper to read the first address and left the shop.
The first address took me to the other side of the village to a home made out of clay like the rest in the village. At first, I overlooked it because I wasn't paying attention to the house numbers. I walked up to the door and knocked. While I waited I heard small footsteps running towards the door.
I could hear as the supposed child tried to open the door, but their grip slipped.
"Here, let me get that." said an older woman. She opened the door to reveal herself, an older woman with a few wrinkles on her face and black hair starting to turn gray and the younger child who was a boy about five years old that was shirtless yet wore a cloth wrapped around his head. "Can we help you?"
"I'm looking for the Osei family." I said. "This is the address I was given, are you the Osei's?"
"We are, what is this about?" the old woman asked.
"This is about Datura." I watched the little boy shrink away at that.
"We've already been informed of his death." the old woman said. "If that's all, my daughter-in-law has had enough heartbreak and she shouldn't be reminded of her loss." she tried shutting the door on me but I held the door open with one hand. I thought Audun said that these people would be the easiest to talk to?
"I've come to give my condolences." I started. "As you can see, I'm not from here. I was left in charge of the Kazekage's funeral arrangements by his children and I was wondering if you had plans for Datura's service? If not, I was wondering if you would like it if he was included in the Kazekage's ceremony?"
"What are you talking about?" she asked with wide eyes.
"Your son was loyal to the Kazekage until the end of his life, don't you think it would be fitting if he shared the same service? It's the greatest honor he could receive." I said.
She stopped trying to close the door and instead opened it. "Would you care to come in?" she moved aside to let me into her home. "Carrai, we have a visitor!"
A much younger woman with brown hair entered the room carrying an infant in her arms. "Oh, who is it?"
"Sorry dear, I never got your name. I'm Orae." the older woman said.
"That's alright, my name is Ketto Momochi." I said. "I've come to discuss your husband's burial."
"What about Datura's burial?" Carrai wondered. The sadness was visible in her light brown eyes.
"As I told your mother-in-law, I was wondering if you would like for his to be included in the same service as the Kazekage?" Carrai was shocked silent so I continued, "Datura was a loyal shinobi of the Sand and protected the Kazekage until his death, I thought you would like it if he remained by the Kazekage's side during the ceremony. I'm not sure what you were planning for burial arrangements, but his body could be blessed at the same time as the Kazekage's."
The tears that formed in Carrai's eyes spilled over. "Could you really do that? Have my husband included in Lord Kazekage's final rites?"
"Yes, it wouldn't be a problem." I said. I haven't exactly talked to anyone from the council about this yet, but I didn't think it would matter. Something similar was done in the Leaf village with the Hokage's funeral. I'm sure no one would object.
"I would like that very much." she said through her tears.
"Good, I should go and speak with the Harumori family next." I said as I turned around to leave the home.
"You may not have much luck with them." Orae said. "I'll go with you."
"Uh, okay." I wasn't expecting her to want to come with, but I wasn't going to tell her no.
She pulled me out of the house and down a few streets to the Harumori residence. She knocked on the door several times until someone answered, a teen several years older than me. He had darker brown hair than Carrai had. "Can I help you?" he asked.
"Yes, Joden are your parents home?" Orae asked.
"Just dad, moms working at the hospital." he said.
"Well, don't go standing in the way. We need to talk to that man." Orae scolded Joden to move out of the way and barged into their house. I slowly followed after not sure if I should or not.
"Go on, she's an old friend of my parents and she invites herself over all the time." Joden said.
"If that's the case." I entered the home without hesitation.
I wondered where Orae went until I heard her. "There you are Vaon! What the hell are you doing lazing around for?" I followed Orae's voice to a living room area to see her harassing a man with light brown hair that looked like it was losing its color making it look faded. "This is Ketto, she's come to talk to you and I want you to shut up until she's done talking. It's about Bast."
"What about that good for nothing?" Vaon asked.
What did I just get into? "I've been put in charge of funeral arrangements for the Kazekage's burial and I thought it would be appropriate that your son shared the same service being that he was by the Kazekage's side when he died."
"My son deserves no such honor." Vaon said. "You can leave now." he dismissed me and turned his face away. I wasn't quite ready to leave yet, not until he knows what kind of person his son truly was.
"Why do you say things like that?" Orae demanded. "My Datura died the same way your son has. He was honorable until the very end, why can you not see that?"
"My son failed, his duty was to protect the Kazekage and he failed! He's dishonored our family with his failure." Vaon raised his voice as Orae shook her head not believing a word that is coming out of her friends mouth.
"You idiot, do you really believe that?" Orae asked.
"He should have been able to ensure the Kazekage's safety." Vaon insisted.
"Dad, sometimes there are things that we can't prevent." Joden said. "I'm sure Bast did the best he could, it just wasn't enough."
"That just goes to show how weak that boy really was." Vaon said.
"Our sons were some of the best anbu! How dare you say that!" Orae was now the one to raise her voice.
I cut in, "Mr. Harumori, I believe you decided against having an autopsy performed on your sons body right?" I was growing impatient with this man, but I wasn't going to let him know that so I kept my voice at an even tone as I talked to him.
"Yeah, what of it?" Vaon snapped. "It's my right not to have it done and I didn't care to know."
"I'm not saying anything against that." I said. "It's just, I requested an autopsy be done on the Kazekage because I thought his children may want to know in the future and that by knowing how he died they would be able to move on. During the autopsy there was a leftover residue that is believed to have been poison. If that's true, then your son wouldn't have had a chance to survive anyway."
"And why do you say that? He still could have made sure the Kazekage got back safely so that they both could receive treatment." Vaon said.
"Not necessarily, the more physical strain you put on your body the faster a poison will spread throughout your bloodstream." I said. "My guess is that the effects were instantaneous, so he wouldn't have had the energy to carry himself back to the village let alone the Kazekage. It doesn't matter how strong a person is, your son would have suffered the effects of the poison anyway."
"See dad, I told you Bast did his best." Joden said.
Vaon was quiet, so I decided to speak again. "Would you like your son to receive the same final rites as the Kazekage and Datura Osei, the men he died alongside of?"
Joden stared at Vaon waiting for a response. "Come on dad, Bast didn't dishonor us. There was no escaping his fate, he did what he could."
"You know Vaon, you're too hard on you kids." Orae said. "It's obvious that we grieve in different ways, but I don't understand why you have to disrespect your son in this way. He did the best he could do, he was strong enough to make it into the anbu, Lord Kazekage himself couldn't do anything to save any of them."
"He can be a part of the ceremony." Vaon said.
"Whatever honor you think you lost will be restored with this." Orae said. A small smile fell on her lips. "Right Joden?"
"Yeah, Bast will be remembered dad." Joden agreed with Orae.
"I'm sure you've heard, but the funeral will be held the day after tomorrow." I said. "Everyone in Suna including the feudal lord will be there. I've also been told that the new Hokage will also pay her respects to the Kazekage." I moved to leave. "I'm sorry about your loss, but now that we have discussed this I should go to make the appropriate arrangements, good bye." I didn't wait for Orae, I left to the Kazekage's building to see how Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara were doing. I don't quite know how to act when it comes to meeting new people and situations like this so I always try to get away the first moment I can.
My walk to the Kazekage building was peaceful. I managed to not have anyone stop me on my way back, so I didn't waste any time. I took myself to the residential area of the building only to see Kankuro lounging on the couch with his arms folded under his head and his eyes closed. "What are you doing?" I wondered.
"What does it look like? I'm relaxing." he said. He opened an eye to look at me. "What else should I be doing?"
"Spending time with Temari and Gaara." I said.
"Is that why you disappeared this morning?" he asked. He sat up and put his legs over the side of the couch. "I guess I didn't think about it."
I sat next to him on the couch. "You should have, what will it take for the three of you to try and get closer to each other?"
"It might be better if you were there to defuse the tension." Kankuro said. "Temari and I are more likely to be awkward and silent, then it'll get all weird."
"Hn." I agreed, the two are sort of awkward.
"You shouldn't agree with me. We're not that awkward." Kankuro whined.
"You were blushing like crazy this morning because you found out that you used me as a pillow for most of the night." I said.
"That's part of the reason I was blushing." he mumbled. His cheeks heated up again and he looked away.
"Then what's the other reason?"
"You really don't know?" he asked shocked. "Gaara was holding you close this morning like one would hold a lover."
Kankuro's reaction made sense now. "I didn't realize." I said, I looked off to the side in thought. Maybe Kankuro was just being over dramatic, Gaara couldn't have meant it like that. I was just the closest one to him that he could get a hold on, so I assumed it was innocent. I don't think it could have been as Kankuro implied. "Do you think Gaara knew?"
"Uh, I think so." he said. "Remember, he glared at me."
"I thought that was just because you woke him up." I said. If I cared a little bit more about sleeping, I could imagine myself doing more than glaring at someone if I was woken up. Actually, I can't. Like I said, if I cared more about sleeping I would probably be more annoyed than anything.
"Nah, he was probably up before that. Did you notice anything different about his chakra?" Kankuro asked. He looked at me as I thought about it.
"When I stopped using my chakra to settle everyone's chakra network his was the first to return to normal. I thought that he was just tired because he doesn't sleep often and that's why he remained sleeping." I said. I looked to Kankuro as he watched me. "You're sure he was awake?"
"I'm sure, I'm pretty sure he's only asleep when you use your chakra on him." Kankuro said. "I doubt Gaara even knows his feelings."
"Feelings? I just thought he wasn't aware of his actions." I said. I sighed, "I've never thought of something like this happening."
"What do you mean? Someone possibly liking you romantically? Why have you never thought of that happening?" Kankuro asked.
"My whole life, I've been training to be a weapon of mass destruction." I placed a hand on my chest as I continued, "People usually fear me, they don't want to get close to me at all. So this is kind of shocking. I've barely accepted that Jiro and Mitsuru care for me, but that's a different kind of care. They just want to protect me, or at least I'm pretty sure that's the kind of care they give me. Now I realize that I'm kind of oblivious to these kinds of things."
"I'm pretty oblivious too." Kankuro said. "I think it's different when you witness something happening between someone who isn't yourself."
"What do you think I should do?" I asked.
"Maybe I should get Temari, she's better with this kind of thing." Kankuro was about to push himself up from the couch when I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back down. "What was that for?"
"I don't think I can talk to Temari about this." I started. "You saw her in the Leaf village, she fawned over the two of us that morning. I'll admit that I didn't know what she was talking about in the moment, I had other things on my mind like reporting to my uncle. It doesn't have to be awkward to talk about. We're the same age, help me out, I already know that Temari will be biased."
"Fine, first things first, what do you feel for my brother?" he asked.
"I don't think I feel anything. Like I said, all of this just came out of nowhere." I said. "I know I don't hate him."
"That's a good start, I guess." Kankuro muttered. "You know, I think you should just let it play itself out. If you don't know how you feel about him now then maybe you'll know some other time. Just don't think about it too hard or you'll stress yourself out. Remember, Gaara probably doesn't know how he feels either."
"So what you're saying is that I should forget you said anything earlier." I said.
"Oh ha ha." Kankuro stopped being sarcastic. "But yes, forget about it." I already started pushing those thoughts from my head because they seemed like they could be too much for me to handle. I don't even know where to start.
"Being that we're on the topic, do you have feelings for anyone?" I wondered. I watched as Kankuro's cheeks get red again.
"There were a few girls, but they were all afraid of me because they knew Gaara's my brother." he said.
"Sorry about that." I said. "Don't let it get you down though, maybe your luck will change?"
"Yeah, sure." he grumbled tossing his head back against the couch.
"Pessimist." I replied.
"No, I'm being realistic." he countered.
"You're being realistic about what?" Kankuro's head snapped to the side and we saw Temari.
"It's nothing." I said.
Temari pouted at us. "You're keeping secrets."
"You and I have secrets, Kankuro and I can have secrets too." I replied.
"I guess you're right." she said. "Are the two of you hungry?"
Not really, no, but I won't tell her that.
"Depends, is this a ruse to get me to help you make something?" Kankuro questioned with narrowed eyes. "She's done it before."
"Not this time, everything's already finished." Temari put her hands on her hips, "Would it really have been that bad if you had to help me?"
"Uh." Kankuro at least realized that he had to be careful with how he continued. "Yes." Nevermind, he's stupid.
Temari smacked him upside the head. "It doesn't hurt to help." She loosened her fingers out of her fist and said, "Alright let's go eat, I made hamburger steaks. It's your favorite Kankuro."
"Yes!" Kankuro bolted off of the couch and disappeared from the room. He must really think with his stomach… I followed after Kankuro while Temari was behind me, that is until she wasn't so I could only assume she went to get Gaara herself this time instead of me having to get him.
Kankuro sat down at the table and started serving himself. "Shouldn't we wait for Temari and Gaara?" I asked.
"Come on Ketto, I'm hungry!" Kankuro whined but pulled his hand away from the pan with the hamburger steaks in it. He sat down and leaned his chair back from the table. "You know, you're pretty polite. I wasn't expecting that."
"Are you saying that you thought I was rude or something?" I asked.
"Not exactly, it's just sometimes you act in a certain way that shows you've been alone a lot." he said. He leaned his chair forward again so that all four legs were resting on the floor again.
"Yeah, I've noticed too." I said. "It's just I've always had an image of what a family should or shouldn't do and I think that a family should wait to eat together. I never had that. Zabuza and I were always away on missions and more often than not uncle Yagura would eat in his office."
"I bet that you ate alone a lot too," he said. He looked to me, "Hey, I was wondering about something. You eat irregularly and I bet you skip a lot of meals. Do you have anyone that makes sure you get the nutrients you need?"
"Emon does most of the time." I replied. "He's an anbu that works for my uncle. I'm not sure if that's one of the tasks my uncle gave him or if he decided to do it himself. When I'm hungry, I make my own food too."
"You can cook?" he seemed surprised.
"I taught myself to make certain dishes. Over the years I started trying to advance my skills in the kitchen, but I'm better suited for battle." I said. "I gave it a try, it just wasn't a good fit."
"You waited?" Temari appeared with Gaara. "I was expecting half of it to be gone by the time I got back. I'm surprised that Kankuro didn't eat it all." she chuckled which caused Kankuro to scoff.
Kankuro wasted no time in serving himself a hamburger steak making sure to take plenty of the gravy with onions. He even gave himself a helping of mashed potatoes. When he was finished I took my serving, which did not equal Kankuro's but no one said anything. When Gaara didn't move to get his own food Temari served it to him before taking anything for herself.
I cut a piece of the hamburger steak making sure to get enough gravy and some onion together for my first bite. I've never had a hamburger steak before, I've had regular steaks and beef other ways, but never like this. Placing my forkful in my mouth, I didn't quite know how to describe it. The taste was good enough, my favorite part was the onions. "This is good Temari. This isn't the first time you've made me a meal, thank you."
"It's not a problem." she beamed a large smile at me as she ate. "I like cooking, and someone has to take care of these two."
"Hey, you make it seem as if I can't take care of myself." Kankuro was upset.
"Would you or would you not just go out to eat if I didn't make anything?" Temari asked with a brow raised.
"I- so what if I go out to eat!?" Kankuro snapped.
"She was just proving a point." I said. I continued to eat as I talked. "Those who can't take care of themselves rely on others to do it for them even if it's something as simple as going out to eat." Kisame used to take me out to eat. He claims that there's only one place that makes a decent mangalore- style crab sukka, so we used to be regulars there because it was his favorite. I'll admit that I sucked at truly taking care of myself mainly because I didn't have a care for my well being. Out of everyone Kisame took the time out of his day to make sure I was eating well enough and just to check in on me.
We were quiet as we ate for awhile until Kankuro suddenly put down his fork after giving himself his second helping of hamburger steak. "I think we should do something together tomorrow. We can do some training together or something."
"No, I don't want to spend time with you." Gaara said. His response was sudden and sharp, it was something that I was kind of expecting but they all need to get over this awkwardness they have around each other.
Temari seemed uncertain, "Are you sure that's what you want to do? I think it's a good idea. Gaara, you should come with us tomorrow, we can go out to the sand sea for training like we used to do with Baki sensei."
"If I don't have to spend time with the two of you then I won't." Gaara said.
Kankuro kept glancing to me, earlier he mentioned that there wasn't any way the three of them would agree to be together for an extended period of time unless if I was there. "Temari, Kankuro, could I join you?" I asked. I know it's kind of what Kankuro wanted me to say, but I also feel as if I went long enough without some serious training. When I was out training with Kankuro yesterday that was more for him. I don't think there's much I could do in the desert. Maybe work on taijutsu, or try and do some water jutsus without a pre-existing water source. That might take up a lot of chakra though, still, I want to see how far I can push myself. I feel that with my recent training with Isobu the things I can do on this plane might be greater than what I can remember doing.
"Of course Ketto, can you teach me some of your taijutsu?" Temari asked sheepishly. "You kind of wiped the floor with me in the preliminaries."
"Sure, I can teach you." I said.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with Gaara?" Temari asked him. "You could work on your taijutsu too."
Gaara put down his silverware and pushed his plate away. "I'll think about it." he stood from his spot and left us.
"Well, it's better than nothing." Kankuro said. He started eating again. All of the tension in his body disappeared once Gaara did.
I can't imagine myself ever being intimidated by my brother. Even when I was really young and he first started training with me, he didn't show me his true power right away. He knew that I wouldn't be able to adapt to his level of skill that fast, so he took it relatively easy on me and he helped me to become stronger. I've spent a lot of time training throughout my life, it didn't take long for my abilities to progress. Even then when Zabuza started using more power and strength in our training sessions I wasn't afraid. Both Kankuro and Temari have a lot of work to do to overcome the fear they have for Gaara. I wonder if they'll be able to do it?
I finished eating with Temari and Kankuro in peace. The hamburger steaks were really good, I didn't like them enough to want to make them at home, but I liked them well enough. It felt a bit later in the day, but I couldn't get a good enough feel for how late. Either way it's too early to go to sleep, there was actually something that I was curious about. "I'm going to go back out into the village." I said.
"At this time? Do you want me to go with you?" Temari asked.
"No, that's fine." I pushed back my seat and stood up. "There's something I wanted to see, I'll be back soon."
"Well if you're sure." Temari waved me off and I left.
When I got outside I realized that it really was later. The sun didn't set yet, but it was hanging lower in the sky. I started to walk towards the giant crack in the wall that I first passed through when I entered this village. I wonder if the wall is really effective in keeping out intruders. In the Leaf village parts of the wall were destroyed during the invasion of the Sound. The wall didn't seem to be all that effective then, but out here an enemy would be spotted before they could get near the village. The wall here also seems to be a more reinforced one than the one in the Leaf village. The idea of being able to keep out enemy forces seems ridiculous. There isn't a such thing as a wall in Kirigakure. The geography and the weather work together to deter anyone from successfully breaching the village. First they would have to survive the ocean and make it passed the Oceaners who sail their ships on the boundary lines of the land of Water. Then, they would have to plan out how they could take the land with limited visibility from the constant mist and fog. No one has ever attempted it before and that's probably a good thing, uncle Yagura would never let me leave the village again if that happened.
At the wall, I approached one of the shinobi guards. He watched me curiously as I stopped in front of him. "Could you take me to the top of the wall? I've never seen anything like it in the land of Water."
"I think it would be best if you didn't." he said. He turned away from me to continue his watch.
"Why not? I promise I won't get in anyone's way." I said. "I really just want to see the view."
"I shouldn't let you because you could be plotting your own invasion." he didn't turn to look at me.
"I wouldn't, I'm here for the sole reason to create a new peace agreement between our lands." this guy didn't seem to care about what I had to say, so I decided to use logic. "Besides, why would the land of Water invade the land of Wind? If we did our troops would have to pass through the land of Fire or travel by ship through several islands and around a peninsula just to get to your coastline. Realistically do you think we would do such a thing?"
"Ketto, what are you doing out here?" I glanced over to see that it was Baki that addressed me.
"I wanted to see the wall from the top and this man thinks that I'm trying to plot out weaknesses in your defences for a counter attack." I glared at the man, why would he assume such a thing? I've done everything in my power to help out here and this is the kind of reaction I get from one of the defenders of the village? Obviously he doesn't know how Kirigakure would have countered if we wanted to avenge Konohagakure.
Baki glared at the man too. "I'm sorry Ketto, I can take you up to the top."
"Thank you." I turned back to the other shinobi. "By the way, if Kirigakure wanted to counter attack my uncle would have ordered me to kill you in the middle of the night when I first arrived here. War is one of our specialties and guerilla warfare is something we don't shy away from."
We left that shinobi were I found him. Baki directed me up a manmade ramp carved into the wall to get to the first tier. Then we had to take ladders to get to the other tiers. I didn't realize how many there were. If they were to have a confrontation I could picture ninja lined up along each tier for a long range attack.
"Here you go." Baki said. "On my way down I'll make sure to tell everyone to leave you be. You can stay up here as long as you want."
"That's nice of you." I moved over to the ledge and sat down with my legs hanging. "I was wondering, does everyone really think that I'm here for the sole purpose of creating a counter attack?"
"No, there are some people who are very untrusting since they found out we were all used for Orochimaru's plans." he said. "At some point they'll get over it, or maybe they won't."
"It doesn't really matter to me, I was just curious." I said. I gazed over the desert, as far as I could see there was only sand. Nothing much to look at, but with the sun setting behind us everything looked golden. Definitely not like anything I've seen back at home. This is my second sunset that was different than what I've already seen. In Kirigakure, if we were lucky enough to see a sunset it would range from yellows, oranges, pinks, and purples. The simplicity of this view is what makes it beautiful, I wouldn't trade this one for the one at home, but I do appreciate it.
Baki left me without saying anything, he probably didn't want to disturb me. I lifted my legs from the ledge and crawled across the short distance from this side of the wall to the otherside. I wanted to see the village, I was a bit curious about it earlier. The whole set up of it was strange. Like it's divided off into sectors sort of like a clock face. The Kazekage building is in the center which is the only part of the design of the village that makes sense. Could it be for evacuation purposes? But then if it was the main streets would be targeted.
I leaned back to sit on my heels, does the layout of the village really matter? Do I really need to have these questions answered? I turned back around and sat with my legs over the edge of the wall overlooking the desert again. I let out a puff of air and decided not to go back to the Kazekage building yet, instead I thought I should do some training. My fingers flexed into the last hand sign for a water clone causing one to appear at my left side. I held my hand out to her. "Are you ready to start?"
My voice echoed back to me as she spoke, "Ready, we'll get it fully this time."
I nodded and turned to gaze out at the desert again. I probed for Isobu's chakra in my water clone, which was easier to do outside of Isobu's place within my body. It was easier to focus with less of the chakra surrounding us. I made sure to keep my eyes closed the whole time. Just like last night, I didn't feel any different, but I felt as if something was different. It was my left hand that was holding my clones and now it's my right. So, I must have switched places with her. I tried focusing my chakra to a point in my left hand to see if I could do anything with my chakra. If I could perform jutsu with a water clone while controlling it from a different location then I essentially I could be in more than one place at a time.
It was hard to get anything to happen. I was patient and was willing to wait all night practicing until something happened, but why was nothing happening? Was my connection to my water clone incomplete? That's why my true self talked last night while I was talking through my water clone.
I focused more on the piece of Isobu in this body. Feeling his familiar chakra and instead of just sensing it, I embraced it. I wasn't submitting to it, I was accepting it as part of me as if I would if I were in my own body. Then, I tried focusing on a center point in my left palm. It felt like it was working, so I peeked open one of my eyes slightly just to see it and saw a small sphere of black coral forming. I used more chakra to create a bigger sphere, but I was startled.
"What are you doing?"
The small sphere of black coral that I had burst into dust and I could feel my consciousness snapping back to my body. I felt disoriented and had to let go of my water clones hand so that I could get a good grip on the ledge until I was able to gain a sense of stability again. My whole body was fuzzy and I could feel myself shaking slightly. Along with the faint ache in my head, my eyes also ached with the sudden shift, especially with the additional strain when I looked up towards the one who snapped me out of my meditative state, Gaara.
"I was just training." I let go of my water clone and she turned into water that spilled over the side of the ledge. "What are you doing out here?"
"You weren't at the Kazekage building, so I followed you." he said. Gaara sat down on my other side where it wasn't wet.
"I came out here to see the view and then I decided to do a bit of training." I wasn't going to elaborate on what type of training I was doing. I thought that with my explanation I would give too much away. "Hey, are you going to do some training with me, Temari, and Kankuro tomorrow?"
"I still haven't made up my mind yet." he said. "But, I think I might."
"Good, you need to spend time with them." I said. The setting sun behind us started to disappear. The rays no longer could reach over the wall so the desert wasn't as golden as it was earlier.
"I was wondering about your coral. It doesn't seem like a typical jutsu." Gaara said. "What chakra natures are needed for it?"
"Of the five basic chakra natures it requires water and outside of the basic natures it requires yang." I explained.
"Yang?" he became interested at that and looked to me.
"Yang is is based on the physical energy that governs vitality and is created by altering the ratio of spiritual and physical energy in favor of the physical. It gives you the ability to breathe life into form." I said. As I was explaining it to him I gathered some of my chakra in the palm of my hand and started forming the coral. Normally, I would be able to use water particles along with my chakra but out in the desert I have to use more of my chakra. Actually, the water that I usually use is nearly nonexistent. I think it's more about having a water affinity than anything. "How does your sand work? Is it similar to my coral?"
"I use wind release to help expand the jutsu, otherwise I think it's mostly an ability of Shukaku." he said. "Sometimes when I'm in danger, I lose control of the sand and it protects me on its own."
"That's strange." I mumbled. Isobu has never tried to interfere with my safety and I've been in plenty of dangerous situations. I just seemed to realize what I said and added, "I wonder if that's something all jinchuuriki experience?"
"I wouldn't know. The only other jinchuuriki I've met was that Naruto Uzumaki and the Mizukage, but I didn't exactly get the chance to talk to either of them about anything significant." Gaara said.
"Uncle Yagura talks about his tailed beast all the time." He doesn't talk about specific things concerning Isobu anymore, but he does push for me to talk to him whenever he can. He didn't want the two of us to become out of touch with one another because then I couldn't be considered to be a perfect jinchuuriki just as he was.
"Is it true that he has tamed his tailed beast?" Gaara wondered.
"It's true." I responded.
"Do you know how he did it?"
I could still feel his gaze on me, so I turned myself so that only one leg was hanging off the edge and the other was curled close to me. "He's explained it like this, if he wants to talk to the three tails then he has to go to the demon where he's sealed in his inner self. Once there he used his staff to impair one of the three tails eyes and assert his dominance over the demon."
"What do you mean by this inner self?" he asked curiously.
"My uncle said that it's kind of easy to get there. You have to be in an in between state of conscious and unconsciousness while also focusing on the chakra of your tailed beast. Then, he said that he appeared before the sealed cage of his demon." I stopped talking for a bit and realized that reminds me of something that I've seen recently. "It reminds me of when you did your playing possum technique and you were able to temporarily release Shukaku. I imagine that it's similar to that only you're both in the same state." I haven't given it much thought but being that Gaara became a jinchuuriki in a different way than most jinchuuriki are made would he be able to also communicate with his tailed beast? "Have you ever been able to talk to Shukaku?"
"Not very often," he said. "He's usually threatening to come out if I ever fall asleep, but other than that he doesn't talk to me. Sometimes, I feel as if my actions are made because of his influence over me. It's hard to control all the time."
It sounds like Shukaku has more power over Gaara than Gaara has over it. I've never had that problem with Isobu, but then again uncle says that compared to other tailed beasts Isobu is relatively peaceful. Also, Naruto doesn't seem to have any difficulties with his nine tails. Maybe it's the lack of a traditional seal that is what causes complications with Shukaku?
"Do you ever wish you weren't a jinchuuriki?" I wondered.
"I can't picture myself not being a jinchuuriki. Besides, if I wasn't made into a jinchuuriki I'm sure that my parents would have had another child who would be. I wouldn't wish this life on anyone." he said.
I thought about myself. I'm very certain I was made a jinchuuriki because I was born with the ability to take the life of a person with a single touch to sustain my own demonic chakra. I don't know what my life would have been like if I wasn't the three tails jinchuuriki. I know smaller details, like my mother would have lived, I wouldn't have been isolated from my own brother until the age of five, and uncle Yagura wouldn't have shown as much of an interest in me. I wonder if I still would have met the Seven Ninja Swordsmen? Would I still have been compatible with the executioner's blade? I suddenly realize that I would have been sent to the academy like every other kid, I doubt that my gender would have mattered to my parents. Maybe, just maybe, I could have had friends at the academy.
"Ketto, are you okay? What are you thinking about?" Gaara asked.
I snapped out of my thoughts and gave him my attention. "I was just thinking about what it would be like if uncle Yagura wasn't a jinchuuriki, or Utakata. Would uncle still be Mizukage? Would Utakata still have been made anbu at such a young age? Probably not for the later, I remember that he relied mostly on his tailed beasts jutsu."
"What was he like?" Gaara wondered.
"Who, Utakata?" I asked. Gaara nodded his head and I continued, "I met him when I was seven and he was seventeen, we were assigned to be partners in the anbu. At first he was cold towards me, always trying to lose me while on missions, he wouldn't talk to me or acknowledge that I had a similar status as him as the Demon of the Mist. Though, I would always be able to find him without difficulty and I didn't mind that he didn't talk to me at all. I preferred that it was quiet between us, that way I didn't have to hear how he truly felt about me. Actually, in a way he reminded me of Zabuza. At some point Utakata started to care about me and he started to protect my blind spots. It was kind of nice to not have to worry about that. Having him protect me was strange, but it felt sort of nice too."
"Is he someone precious to you?" Gaara watched me curiously as he waited for my response.
"Utakata..." I stopped and looked away from him. Would I consider Utakata precious to me? I lifted up a knee and rested my chin on it as I thought. "I've never thought about it, but I guess you could say that he is precious to me. I kind of miss him, it's been so long since he left the village, but I know that he has no reason to return so if I ever see him again it will probably be by accident and that's okay. He left because he didn't want to be associated with the Bloody Mist. I just hope he's happy now. It was very rare for me to see any of his smiles, and even then they just barely graced his face. I don't think there was anything that made him happy."
"It's hard to be happy if everyone treats you as if you are the demon sealed away within you, I understand how he feels." Gaara said. I looked back to him to see the sadness and understanding reflected there. "I imagine that you've gone through something similar as the Demon of the Mist haven't you? Why are you even called that?"
"At least once every generation a Karatachi child is born with an immense chakra that seems to carry its own bloodlust." I started, "So far there hasn't been anyone able to control it fully, or that's what everyone says. Zabuza was able to control his bloodlust for the most part and I only lose my control over it when I battle with my blade, but then all Kiri nin have a difficult time controlling their bloodlust when holding a blade. I think the people of Kirigakure mostly fear me because of Kuroba, the son of the first Mizukage. He also had this demonic chakra and because of that he was made the first jinchuuriki of the three tailed demon turtle. The elders thought that the two chakras would cancel each other out in a way, but Kuroba only grew more powerful and started losing his sanity with the new power he had. I'm only feared because they think that at some point I'll lose all control I have over the demonic chakra I was born with and instead of being Kirigakure's weapon I'll be its greatest enemy. I don't necessarily blame them for being afraid either. My uncle has had me do many missions for him that would make the citizens think I might not have any control over it."
"You've already accepted their hatred of you?" Gaara seemed surprised at that. Maybe it's something that he's struggling with.
"I have, there's no point in changing their minds." I said. "They can think what they want about me, I don't really care. As long as none of them get in my way of performing my tasks my uncle assigned me then it's not a problem. My goal is to show them that I'm not who they thought I was. That I can protect the village as I've been trained to do." I doubted any of them knew or cared that I was on the front lines with Utakata during the Kiri-Kumo war and even if they did, it would only fuel their fear of me. "I wish to one day become Mizukage so that I can show the villagers that I am more than someone to be feared. I want them to respect me for taking on challenges that none of them would and to acknowledge that just because I have a strong chakra it doesn't mean I'm going to use it for anything sinister."
"You want to become Mizukage?" Gaara wondered. "Why would you want to do that?"
I felt my lips lift up at the corners into a small smile. "I've just told you, besides, Kirigakure needs to go through some serious changes if I ever want my friends to visit. The people there are still stuck living as if it's the Bloody Mist and that era has ended. Not completely, but it's on its way there. If you and Temari and Kankuro ever visited, I wouldn't want you to think that you always had to stay alert because of some hostile ninja."
"Do you think I could be Kazekage?"
I tried to hide my surprise, "Why would you want to be Kazekage?"
"They didn't do much for me, but this village meant everything to my father. He cared more for the village than he did for his own children. I want to protect this village just as he would have wanted me too and I want to make up for all of the bad things that I've done by protecting everyone here." he looked off to the side as he spoke. "I really just want to show everyone that I'm not a demon."
I was quiet for a moment while I thought and then I spoke, "It won't be easy, but if that's what you really want then I bet you could become Kazekage."
"Then I'll become Kazekage and you'll become Mizukage." he no longer looked off to the side as he spoke. "We'll change what our villages currently are for the better."
"We can try anyway." I agreed. The two of us fell into a comfortable silence after that.
