Chapter 2
Katiya (two months later, approximate time: 10:00 PM)
Katiya carried Gaara on her back, piggy back style. It was near midnight, but neither of them were tired. Katiya had taken a food pill hours before, and was not unused to skipping nights of sleep. What she had to show Gaara could only be seen at night, and was an experience she knew to be unique to Suna.
"Are we there yet?" Gaara asked, wide-eyed as ever.
Since coming into Gaara's life, she hadn't seen much sign of the monster she knew to be within him. For two months, she effectively squatted in Yashamaru's house—all expenses paid—and at least two meals free. She lived in their house, and it was seemingly both a safe place for her and Gaara and his friend, as she called him, alike. A part of her wondered about the hospitality, but part of her thought it an effect of being a kind person—one kind enough to help out his nephew. The kindness of others never ceased to amaze her, but the shinobi training from her parents kept her wary of the opposite.
"Almost," she said aloud.
Katiya was wearing an ensemble that was a mixture of Suna and civilian Land of Waves attire. Her teal vest was atop a white kimono-style long-sleeve, and her light grey trousers were tucked into black shinobi regulation boots that went to her knees. She wore neither bandage wraps nor fingerless gloves today, today being a special day, not a training day.
She came to a stop in front of a field of cacti beside a mountain—the one that made the back border wall of Sunagakure, and not too far from the border. A black Suna war-hawk circled above them, but she paid it no mind. She was here to watch the cacti bloom, not kidnap Gaara.
"What is it?" Gaara asked, climbing off her back. Gaara took in the field of cacti. "Is that it?"
Katiya gave Gaara a knowing smile. She did her research before coming here. So few civilians came all the way out here, being worried about nighttime sand storms and getting lost, and instead grew cacti themselves as hobbies—if that was their hobby. But even so, she supposed living in a desert full of cacti made them lose their allure. "Just wait, Gaara," she said, placing her hands on her hips.
She sat down on the floor, keeping an eye on the closed green and faintly tinged white blooms on the spindly bush-like plants. Crossing her legs, she patted the ground beside her. At least she didn't have to worry about Gaara falling asleep and missing the show.
… (approximate time: 11:55 PM)
Katiya slowly began to nod off when Gaara gave her an excited poke. "Katiya—LOOK!" he exclaimed.
Katiya awoke with a start. All that research, and she was nearly missing it.
The flowers—night blooming cereus—were beginning to awaken. The exterior sepals peeled off, then the next, like the rays around the sun. They seemingly illuminated the spindly branches of cactus a moment before. Then finally, the delicate and slightly wavy petals unfurled. The night was quiet, but one can just hear the songs of the creatures around them sensing the blooming. Gaara jumped up, and without a word, ran over for a closer look. Katiya got up and followed at a slower pace.
Gaara was drinking in the image of the flower in awe. He put his hand up to touch one, but Katiya placed her hand up before the flower. "Careful, Gaara. Everywhere else besides the flower, there's thorns. It's only right now, that we can see them bloom," she warned.
Gaara nodded before carefully cupping one of the flowers in his hand. "It's just like me," he whispered.
Katiya lifted an eyebrow, but said nothing, allowing Gaara to take in the flower in silence. She stood back, admiring the flowers and the scene before her. The dead bushes were now alight with life, white blooms glowing in the dark.
"They—they only bloom at night?" he asked, quietly.
"Only at night," she confirmed, equally as quiet. "Every other time, they're spindly little twigs that look kind of dead."
Gaara placed his cheek to the flower. "And no one wants to get near them."
Katiya placed a hand on his shoulder. She pointed to a moth on a nearby bloom. "Not at this time of the year." Gaara looked up at the moth in wonder. "During the year, these cacti have only themselves for company. But right now, everyone loves them," she said.
Continuing, she said, "But there are those who don't mind the cacti." She pointed to a startlingly white barn owl using a saguaro cactus as a perch in the distance. "Owls just like that one don't wait for a bloom to happen. They see people as they are, and don't need some flower to attract them. That cactus is their home."
Katiya gazed at it, meeting its eye, until it flew off. A single flap of wings, and then silence like the night itself.
It was a nighttime well spent.
Yashamaru (approximate time: 10:45 PM)
Yashamaru bowed before the Kazekage. "You called me, my lord?"
The Kazekage narrowed his eyes under the green and white hat that gave his position, marked with the kanji for "wind", the word their country was named for. Yashamaru shifted nervously. "Are you aware the girl and my son are currently outside of Sunagakure's borders?" the Kazekage asked, each word aspirated, shifting the veil in front of his mouth and nose.
Yashamaru stood from his bow. Lord Kazekage must be... surlier... than usual. "Yes, my lord. She requested permission to allow Gaara to watch the night blooming cereus tonight. I obliged."
A vein bulged in the Kazekage's forehead. "I thought I told you to keep an eye on the both of them."
Yashamaru gave him a curt head bow. Yup. Definitely angry. "You also told me to aid his emotional development, as a medic-nin. I thought it a good experience for Gaara to interact with someone other than myself. I thought it a good 'bonding moment' for them."
The Kazekage sighed through his nose, exhaling slowly. Even if Yashamaru himself wasn't at the scene monitoring Gaara, they both knew the Kazekage had other ANBU watching him.
"And how goes his development?" the Kazekage tried, taking a noticeably calmer tone.
Yashamaru hesitated, choosing his next words carefully. "It is going better than expected, my lord, but I think more time is still necessary before we take any action."
The Kazekage's veins bulged again, after just relaxing moments before. "The boy is dangerous. I cannot have an uncontrolled… demon… roaming the village."
A shiver ran down Yashamaru's back at the impersonal tone the Kazekage used when referring to his son. He quickly suppressed all signs of his turmoil, however. "Both the efforts of myself and the girl, Katiya appear to be paying off, my lord. Gaara hasn't had… a fit… in weeks, months even."
"The girl is assisting you?" Incredulity hung on his superior's voice.
Yashamaru stepped forwards half a step, and forced conviction into his voice. "Yes, my lord. Gaara's emotional state is more secure than it ever was thanks to her."
The Kazekage tilted his head sideways under the hat, resting his head on his closed fist. "And have you learned anything about this… Katiya?"
Yashamaru's eyebrow twitched. "Only what's already inputted into the ANBU files, my lord."
In the Land of Wind, forceful interrogation of a civilian or search-and-seizure of their property was illegal without written approval from the daimyo's court judges unless the civilian(s) in question had one or more felonies already on record or was caught breaking any written law in the shinobi village. Neither of which Katiya did.
The Land of Wind daimyo had already effectively cut funding to Suna in favor of Konoha, funneling missions away from them. If word got out the Kazekage forcefully interrogated what was, legally, a civilian (even if she wasn't a citizen to the Land of Wind), the Land of Wind daimyo could possibly hire shinobi from Konoha to depose him as the Kazekage to staunch the civilian uproar at what could've been portrayed as an unprovoked attack on a civilian by a Kage. Starting, possibly, a civil war. Especially if whoever the daimyo hired was discrete and didn't claim responsibility for the assassination, allowing the daimyo himself to bear the burden.
The Kazekage was more than aware of the detractors within his Council, who would've benefitted from the opportunity to depose him and wouldn't hesitate to leak information of a civilian interrogation to the daimyo. No matter how suspicious the civilian actually was, seemingly "coincidentally" befriending his only offspring that was a Jinchuriki.
"Hmm… Those blasted Taki-nin are demanding we hand her over. You're aware that she's guilty of theft in Takigakure, aren't you, Yashamaru?" the Kazekage asked rhetorically.
"Yes sir."
"Perhaps as soon as she's gone, and now that 'Gaara's emotional state is more secure than ever', we should begin constructing a proper test for my young son," he continued.
Yashamaru's eyes widened. "Sir? So soon?" Panic crept into his voice.
The Kazekage gave him a dead-eyed stare. "Something wrong with that, Yashamaru?"
Yashamaru bowed his head. "No sir, I… I only think it's best if we waited. Or perhaps scheduled a meeting with… with Miss Katiya. She has greatly benefitted Gaara's development, and perhaps with a bit more time… we can guarantee a greater chance of success."
"Hmmm…" the Kazekage responded whilst in thought. Suna and Taki never had the best of relationships, and if successful, Gaara could very well be the perfect weapon he desired to lift Suna out of bankruptcy. "Very well then. She has six months to prove her worth, and if she doesn't, I want you to remove her from Suna and the Land of Wind before some… tonchiki uses her as an excuse to start a war with us while we're still low on resources."
The Kazekage had ground out the last few words of his speech, grumbling about less-than-smart jerks. With a wave, Yashamaru was dismissed. This can't be good.
Katiya (a week later, approximate time: 7:00 AM)
Katiya got up out of her bed and dressed before walking to the bathroom. She knocked on both Yashamaru's and Gaara's doors. She knew Yashamaru was probably already at work doing whatever stay-in-Suna shinobi with no missions did in the Kazekage's office, but if he was here, that knock would be his wake up call for a small breakfast. Hearing no noise of a shinobi stirring from a light sleep, she assumed he was gone for the day and proceeded into the kitchen.
Katiya wasn't a cook, but she did what she could to ease her conscious and not feel like a useless squatter. She insisted that on the days he had to leave early for work, that she'd cook (or pay for) at least breakfast for herself and Gaara—the least she could do for his hospitality. She pulled out some leftover rabbit meat from the fridge.
Just recently, power lines and therefore non-chakra powered electricity ran through Suna and several other villages as well (Suna, of course, using shinobi-strength reinforced power cables to withstand their notorious sandstorms). Before such a thing existed, only chakra was used to preserve foods and medicines or the other things civilian-created electricity now powered. It was a combination of a hassle saved only for the wealthy and important and a waste of shinobi better utilized on missions.
Now, pulling out a refrigerated rabbit, she appreciated the improvement in civilian made goods and the innovations of her non-shinobi counterparts alike. She pulled out some lettuce and a few eggs, the former of which she washed and chopped, the latter of which she cracked and fried.
Gaara came out of the bathroom.
"Hey, Gaara," she said without looking up from her cooking.
"Mmmph..." Gaara mumbled.
"How was your sleep?"
"Mmmph..." Gaara mumbled again.
Katiya flipped the eggs. Those were fairly standard answers she or Yashamaru would get upon asking Gaara about his sleep. Gaara rarely, if ever really slept, and everyone in the house would know if Gaara had a bad sleep, regardless of asking.
She scooped the eggs out, placing them onto the sliced rabbit and bed of lettuce. She poured dried basil and sliced tomato slices on top of it. She did the same one more time for herself.
"Breakfast," she said.
Gaara took the plate. "Where's Yashamaru?"
"Probably out at work. Why?"
Gaara hesitated, then quietly said, "Nothing."
Katiya picked at her food with her chopsticks. "You sure? You look worried."
Gaara frowned, then took a bite out of his eggs. Still frowning, he said, "Yashamaru cooks better."
"Heh, he also isn't here," Katiya said with a laugh. Then, shifting back to serious, she asked, "You sure you're okay?"
Gaara nodded and then took another bite out of his food. Katiya did the same. She only knew Gaara for about two months, really, despite their quick growing relationship from years of loneliness, from both of them. She didn't prod.
Then, Gaara said quietly, "I'm worried about him."
Katiya looked up from her food. Even without a name, Katiya knew immediately who Gaara was referring to. The other him, she thought.
"He's been quiet recently," Gaara continued.
Katiya gave him a look. "Isn't that a good thing?"
Gaara shook his head, "It means he's going to be stronger later."
Katiya picked at her food quietly. "Maybe not. Maybe he's gone for good."
Gaara shook his head again. "He never goes away—not for long—never for long."
Katiya, sensing Gaara's growing anxiety, met his eyes. "It's alright, Gaara."
"No! It's not!"
Katiya placed her chopsticks down carefully, watching little grains of sand begin to rise from the floor where they had tracked it in from their sandals over the course of the month and who-knows-where. Gaara, noticing them as well, took a few deep breaths, attempting to calm down.
Seeing him calm down, she placed her hand, palm up on the table. Knowing the gesture was for him, Gaara reached to take her hand. A loose circlet of sand around his wrist stilled, slowly dissolving onto the table as he reached for her.
"Gaara," Katiya began, "I don't—I can't hear or see or feel what you feel, Gaara. I don't know what's going on… I don't know how to help you."
Gaara frowned, but understood. "I-I have a-a thing inside me, that's what Uncle Yashamaru told me. He said that… my mother loved me, and that the sand is my mother's way to protect me—that the thing, the Shukaku of the Sand is usually for combat purposes—but that it protects me because of love."
Katiya waited. She'd sensed a "but" somewhere.
Gaara continued, "But that's not what—that's not what the villagers say. They say I'm cursed, that I'm… that I'm some sort of freak."
Katiya closed her hand, encasing Gaara's, squeezing firmly.
"What do you believe?"
Gaara shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know… I-I wanna believe Uncle Yashamaru… but-but I hear him at night. He's always stronger at night."
"Shukaku?"
Gaara nodded. "He-he tells me things. He-he—" Gaara hesitated. He was sure Yashamaru knew from spending so much time with him, but he had never told anyone else this before. "He tells… he tells me… to hurt people," Gaara said at last, quietly.
Katiya rubbed her thumb over Gaara's knuckles. "But you managed to fight it, right? There's a reason why Yashamaru and I are still standing, right?" she asked, looking for some silver lining to the clouds.
Gaara nodded slowly.
Katiya gave him a small smile. "Then you're doing fine, Gaara. You've been… managing... him… Maybe he's quiet because you're doing better now."
Katiya was no real expert in medical ninjutsu, nor genjutsu that dealt with the psyche nor even mental health issues. It was all she could say, really. That, and simply being there. She'd just try her best and hope it all went well—besides using psychology for torture and interrogation, shinobi were far from the best to talk to for psychiatric advice.
Gaara looked at her semi-skeptically. "Maybe."
I suppose that's the best I can ask for for now, Katiya thought. This "Shukaku'" however. She shook the thought away. She picked up her chopsticks again to resume eating, resolving to check out this "Shukaku" whenever she had the time, the monster now having a name.