Chapter 3
Katiya (three months later, approximate time: 9:00 AM)
Some of the kids were getting wise to her relation to Gaara, and were using it to get on her nerves. Gaara and she had been with each other for over half a year, and it seemed as if she'd grown into the household, if not Suna. If anything, her relation with him put her at odds with some of the locals, but she didn't mind. It was that way back in the Land of Waves as well, people avoiding her and her family unless they needed them, or she went to them. If anything, some of the shinobi adults rather revered and feared her because of her relationship with Gaara. She didn't mind that either.
It was the kids who irritated her. Those little monsters didn't know tact. Gaara reacted rather positively to their presence, if not their bullying. Katiya, however, reacted negatively to both. Because their presence, she worried, may set off Gaara, forcing her to reveal her abilities when she had no intention to. The adults, at least, knew to treat Gaara with care—it wasn't as good as treating him as she did, as a normal kid—as a friend—but at least it had the least chance of causing any damage to anything or anyone.
She batted thrown rocks away with a circling stream of water from a pouch at her hip, before whipping around to face the irritating children.
"Are you kids stupid or something?" she yelled at them.
They recoiled, before the biggest one in the center of the group yelled back, "NO! But we don't like freaks like YOU!"
"Yeah! Anyone friends with Gaara's a freak!" "YEAH!" "Go back to the Land of Waves, freak!" "And take the other one with you!" "FREAK!" The little kids yelled.
The bunch of idiots. Gaara would've killed them by now, she mentally growled.
Katiya narrowed her eyes. She had a passing thought to smack them with every jutsu she learnt over the years but chose to refrain. That wouldn't have helped anyone. She clenched her fists.
Instead, she used the Body Flicker Jutsu, channeling chakra into her legs, to run and "magically appear" behind the main aggressor of a child. To anyone except herself, she just teleported, having moved faster than the human eye could catch. She leaned down so that she could whisper into his ear, holding him firmly by the shoulder. The kids behind jumped and began trying to edge away stealthily. The boy himself stiffened in shock at the apparition.
"If I were a real freak, and a real shinobi, you'd be dead by now. But I'm not. So I recommend you count your blessings and never do such a thing before me or my friend, Gaara. Because if you do, you'll see what a real freak can do," she whispered. "Or did you forget what Gaara did before I was here?" she continued, edging just a slight bit of force—not even killing intent—into her words.
The boy whimpered before proceeding to cry. All well. She kicked his legs out beneath him and let him fall on her feet before smacking the rocks and twigs out of the other kids' hands with well placed kicks. They all spun around to run.
Loudly and to all of their receding footfalls, she yelled, "You can run from Gaara all you like, but throw rocks at him, and he'll react much, much worse than how I did just now. So you kids better consider yourselves warned."
She resumed walking as if nothing happened. Tension was built up on her forehead. It was harsh, but better than the alternative; it was better she dealt with the kids now, than Gaara later. Because she knew what would happen if Gaara were to react, either angrily or just in fear. Far from injuring a couple kids, Gaara would destroy the village entirely. She considered herself lucky they were after her, and not him.
But, she worried, it's me stabilizing Gaara and teaching him control that's making the kids think they can bully him like this and get away with it, isn't it. What if I just made it worse?
She rolled her shoulders, to roll away the guilt at minorly bruising kids that didn't know any better. It didn't work.
Katiya (the next day, approximate time: 5:20 PM)
The two were back on the roof, working on making shapes with their elements today. His sand, and her water. The kids down below, making faces that hopefully Gaara didn't notice. Katiya absentmindedly made a slow-moving rotating shield in the creative shape of a wiggly phoenix to obstruct Gaara's view of the street below just in case. Round, and around, and around it went, around her and Gaara.
Luckily, the kids' poor aim couldn't reach them.
Privately, she wondered why Gaara's actual siblings didn't live with him, but whenever she attempted to ask, Gaara would look at her with sad doey eyes, and Yashamaru would give her vague answers. She was aware, now, that Gaara had been born with some sort of "curse" named "Shukaku" that made him a monster. She took it into account when she trained or played with him.
Yet, she could never get a straight answer from what exactly the curse was, besides the one time she got a name from Gaara: "Shukaku." And she couldn't find anything in the Suna libraries she went to about the name—or even the subjects she suspected were related to Gaara's curse. It was curious, to say the least. All of Suna was a giant conspiracy, but Katiya had to satisfy herself with the dregs of clues. Some, from shreds of memories of old idle conversations and her own speculation. Because, in the shinobi world, if one wasn't careful with the questions one asked, one's head may be lost.
She also hadn't made much progress with wind-style jutsu, but she was fine with that. She, for the moment, was satisfied playing with Gaara. Wind came easier for her, now, but she only managed to learn to do two jutsu from the libraries. Water was much harder for her, but it was more versatile—especially her having been trained by her mother a few shy jutsu—and those scrolls from Taki. Scrolls she now suspected were of a former hiden or secret jutsu, much like the Uchiha fireballs before becoming publicized village jutsu.
She shook the thought off. But either way, I'm happy where I am. Suna's… a long shot from the Land of Waves, or the Land of Waterfalls, but maybe I can live here long term. It's a bit shady, but isn't every shinobi village? Maybe I could get a job, rent an apartment, and stop squatting in Yashamaru's place and still be with Gaara. Maybe I'll even tell them both who I really am… No lies or half truths anymore…
…
After their game and chakra exhaustion on Katiya's part, the two sat at the edge of the roof, looking down at the street below. The kids had all left, leaving them in peace. The setting sun threw shades of pink across the rooftops, making it appear as if Suna was glowing. Gaara had his head rested against Katiya's shoulder, while Katiya sat swinging her legs.
"Hey, Katiya."
"Hmm?" she asked, tilting her head to look at him, wondering what it could be with such a sad, introspective tone.
"Why is it only with you my sand doesn't… react?"
Katiya didn't respond immediately, instead watching the skyline for the moment.
"Maybe it likes me," Katiya said lightly joking, knocking Gaara with her shoulder playfully in a manner that belied the seriousness of what she knew Gaara to be getting at.
"I don't know…"
Katiya gave him a tense smile upon hearing his hollow and downtrodden tone. "The sand doesn't react around Yashamaru, now does it?"
Gaara frowned and in an almost whisper, said, "Yes, it does."
Her brows knit together. That's strange, she thought. "I guess your sand really does like me, then, huh?" she said, trying to keep her voice light.
Katiya had a suspicion that the sand only reacted to others' negative emotions—fear and anger, the reason why she tried to get Gaara to use positive emotions to control his sand. But why would those emotions be coming from Yashamaru?
Gaara stayed silent, giving her no answer.
Yashamaru (approximate time: 5:20 PM)
Yashamaru stood in the messenger room, a room of war hawks, a scroll in hand and an aforementioned war hawk in the other. It was a message he wished, like assassination orders and autopsy reports for next-of-kin who requested them, he wished he did not want to deliver. As part of his "deal" with Lord Kazekage (one does not ever truly "strike deals" with any of the Kages unless one is stupid or powerful), Yashamaru had to convince Katiya to help Gaara train both emotionally, and physically, much like how she had already been doing. Only now, she didn't have the luxury to take her time.
And a part of that meant a show of force from the Kazekage.
He placed the Kazekage's summons into a messenger hawk's carrying strap on its leg, before shooing the bird out, watching it flap away.
Katiya (approximate time: 5:50 PM)
The kids came out of one of the nearby houses, probably heading back for the day to their own homes. A group of them, maybe seven of them. All of them between ages ten and twelve. Laughing wildly, they had all frozen upon seeing Gaara and her in the street. Katiya stiffened. The few adults nearby stilled as well. Not this again.
Fifteen adults—all civilians, Katiya counted. These kids better not try anything… I'm not sure if I can calm Gaara and deal with their stupidity at the same time.
"Whatchu staring at, huh?" the oldest, the farthest one in the back yelled, pointing at Gaara.
A pit-like feeling grew in Katiya's stomach. Not what you're supposed to do.
Gaara's eyes immediately narrowed and grew dark. The faint sensation of killing intent blew past—Gaara's and Shukaku's killing intent, which smelt of blood and warmed the air. Sand hissing stilled the atmosphere. Katiya placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Are you kids going to move or what? We're only staring at you because you're in the way, not sure if you can tell," Katiya responded with a hint of tense sarcasm. Her grip tightened on Gaara's shoulder. Still, now, Gaara. Please.
Some of the younger ones shifted back, realizing who they were talking to and where they were. Then the rest, until only the oldest, snottiest one was before them in the middle of the road. He whipped around, realizing everyone else had gone. Frightened. Some of the more cowardly adults ducked behind nearby crates and store stalls or hid in the alcoves from the strangely shaped Suna buildings.
Come on, move, idiot. Move, she mentally pleaded.
But the kid stood his ground, puffing out his chest and striking what was supposed to be an intimidating pose, she guessed.
"I ain't afraid of you!" the little kid shouted.
Tension clung to the air. Then one of the adults stood behind him—a civilian, an uncle or something. "Yeah! He's with me!"
Then another civilian. And then another. Like they were going to scare Gaara off with sheer numbers. Mentally Katiya cursed. She tightened her grip on Gaara's shoulder.
Didn't anyone tell them that those cornered and desperate strike out? The civilians should've just… RAN… if they didn't know how to diffuse the situation. Provoking him… THE IDIOTS.
The sand began to shift, Shukaku's killing intent becoming cloying.
Oh no. Katiya cut the air with a single, quick backhand swipe of her hand. You idiots are out of time.
"Get the hell out of here! Now!" Katiya verbally commanded.
Hearing the urgency in her voice, and seeing Gaara's—the demon's—growing anger and killing intent, they scattered.
Finally.
Katiya spun Gaara until he faced her, firmly. "Gaara, you're alright."
He didn't respond, and instead attempted to turn back to face the villagers.
"Gaara? Gaara—listen to me. Gaara? It's alright. They're leaving. Gaara?"
The sand nearby began to kick up in plumes. The adults had evacuated the vicinity and those from the buildings nearby shut their windows. Gaara still didn't respond. She gently held his head. Her heart pounded, in fear for the both of them.
"Gaara?!" she was shouting now, but Gaara was still in his trance with Shukaku.
The wind whipped at her hair. She shut her eyes and shifted her center of balance downward. She held him tighter, her grip now that of a bear hug around his body. "Gaara! I'm here! I'm here! It's alright! GAARA!"
Gaara didn't respond still. Katiya, who had her eyes closed because of the sand, activated her Sharingan and looked into Gaara's eyes. She had only two-tomoe in her now red eyes—one less than her clan's full Sharingan, the Uchiha clan's ocular kekkei genkai or bloodline trait that she inherited from her father, but it had to be enough. Enough to just see clearly what was going on—even if she couldn't do much else without a full Sharingan. She looked into Gaara's slate green ones.
She had to find him in there.
Gaara (approximate time: 5:50 PM)
HAHH HAH HAAAH HAH HA!Shukaku laughed, the sounds that greeted Gaara in what he knew to be the trance he entered… when he took over. Gaara was in the chamber again. With him. Shukaku stood before Gaara, clawing at the bars of Shukaku's prison, unable to reach the paper seal on the door that held him. Laughing.
Heh HAH HA HA hA hA! YOuR PrECioUS ViLLaGe Is GoiNG tO DiE!
Shukaku was much more… solid... than he usually was in real life, and yet he still dripped streams of sand from his pelt. Blue vein-like markings stretched across his fur, which stuck up in spikes. His plump figure belied the strength of the demon's form—his ability to relentlessly kill and slash down anyone and everyone without consequence.
The beauty of a body of sand, literally, writhing and horrid. Like Gaara, black ringed his eyes. Only, the black of Shukaku's pulled down to his mouth of razor sharp teeth. In the center of Shukaku's black raccoon-dog mask and matching dark sclera, his yellow irises and plus-like pupils.
Those eyes.
Like usual, they screamed for blood and rooted Gaara to the spot.
Gaara fell to the floor and began to shake. Gaara knew where he was—that this was all really in his head—in the seal that held the demon in his body. In the seal on his stomach that marked him as a Jinchuriki. Gaara knew all of this—but he couldn't get out. He was here. With Shukaku—right there. Right there. Gaara hugged his knees, attempting to stop himself from hyperventilating in the chamber that existed only to himself.
I'm GoiNG tO BEEEEeeeeee FFFRrrrEEEEEeeeeee!
Gaara clutched his head. Gaara knew that Shukaku's statement only meant Shukaku was leaking into the physical reality—where Gaara's actions in the mental reality meant nothing. Gaara curled into a tighter ball. His head throbbed from the split—being both here and there.
DEsTroY suNAGakURe, LiTtLe GAARA! LeT's DeStRoY SuNA ToGeTHeR! LittLE GAAAAHHhhh-RRrraaahhHHH!
The laughter—his voice rattling it. His head hurt. His stomach—where the seal was hurt. Everything burned. Gaara couldn't move, couldn't fight. Shukaku was taking over.
Shukaku merely laughed some more.
Katiya (approximate time: 5:55 PM)
She awoke in a chamber, sand caking everything, and the floor she awoke upon. The grains digging into her palms where she laid. It was warm, hotter than even the heat of Sunagakure and the Land of Wind's desert. It was dark, and she couldn't see anything, however. Merely sense this huge, all-encompassing presence, her eyes essentially overloaded by chakra. She was blind in Gaara's… head—or wherever she was. Every sensation, however, felt even more real than her own reality.
"Gaara?" she called. She held her hands up, feeling the air before her, standing up. Echoes. She stumbled.
"Katiya?" Katiya heard Gaara's pained voice up ahead.
"Gaara, I'm here," she called, half-running half-stumbling to him until she bumped something. She felt for him—his shoulders—the top of his hair. She knelt down to his level, squinting as if that would help her temporary blindness in Gaara's mind. Gaara?
"GGGGgggrrrrr…" Shukaku growled. "WiLLy LiTtLe GirL, ArEN't YoU, LiTtLe UChiHA?"
Katiya gritted her teeth. Hopefully, Gaara wouldn't know the significance of the name. Hopefully, he'd forget. She hugged him.
"Who are you?" she called to the voice.
The beast giggled. "MY… dOn'T yA UcHiHa KnoW AnY ManNErS? MY NAME IS SHUKAKU!"
She narrowed her eyes, tilting her head to face the direction behind Gaara despite not knowing where the voice was originating from. The cavernous walls reflected the sound. She grit her teeth. So this is Shukaku.
"On second thought, I don't think I care who you are—you're letting Gaara GO."
Katiya heard the sound of sand shifting. "HHHHhhhhhrrrrRRRRRRR… AnD HoW Do yOU ExpEcT tO mAkE ME dO ThAT, eHhh?"
The wind in the chamber picked up.
Katiya closed her eyes, feeling and focusing the sensation in her own body, rather than the wind in the chamber itself. She may not be able to truly see Shukaku, with her weak two-tomoe Sharingan, but she had the will to make up for it. She had the will to enter, and she willed to have enough to leave. She released her chakra from her body, encasing Gaara in it as well, focusing on the sensation of her arms around Gaara's small frame.
She had made a bold statement, but didn't really know how she would go through with it. She only hoped to follow what she knew of her reality back to her truth. It felt the most right to her, so she followed it.
"GGGGGgggggRRrrrrr…" she grunted with the effort, trying to pull herself out, using what she knew of her physical body at the moment as her anchor.
White seeped into her blind image within Gaara's mind. The swirling sand and wind within the chamber blended with Shukaku's further yowls. She felt something slam into her, tugging and pushing and scrapping—as if a giant hand made of shifting sand paper was gripping her.
She enveloped Gaara within her chakra—as if she had created a water wall without the water where her consciousness met his. Safety. She focused on the sensation of her true body holding Gaara. Her projected self holding Gaara. The safety the real world offered because of that embrace.
The roughened tugging and scraping began to die down into fiery itch. She pushed it to the back of her own mind. The itch was there, but it did not mean she had to focus on it.
With one last sense of what she knew to be a cavernous room—hot with the heat of nearly a thousand suns, she and Gaara left. Katiya channeled her chakra into her reality, focusing on her reality.
With a blinding, burning flash of light, they escaped.
...
Katiya became aware of the reality before her. Real reality—the physical reality. She had her eyes open—her Sharingan eyes, which were going dry and blurry from staring at Gaara in such a trance for so long. Gaara looked at her in amazement. She quickly withdrew the chakra from them, deactivating them. She hugged Gaara tighter.
"It's alright," she said, one last time that day.
No one else, besides her parents, had ever seen her eyes.
Katiya (two days later, approximate time: 7:00 AM)
The atrium was heavy with veiled killing intent, predatory and vile. Yashamaru, at this moment, was not Gaara's loving uncle, but a shinobi. A member of Suna's Assassination and Bodyguard Unit; as was evident by the white veil over the lower half of his face, and tan armored vest similar to the rest of the room's occupants beside the walls. Nearly a year had passed since Katiya came into their lives, an opportunity they were willing to take. The Lord Kazekage had hoped to use Katiya to control Gaara, to help mold him to his needs as a weapon. However, Yashamaru's subtle (and lackluster) nudges to help get the girl to help the Kazekage were to no avail, so they had to use alternate methods.
Katiya entered the atrium shortly, pausing to look at all of the ANBU agents in the room. She gave a deep bow upon seeing the Kazekage's veiled face and stark white robes with cactus green trimmings. Katiya was dressed her best (and in her most nondescript clothing) upon reading the Kazekage's summons. She wore Suna's more neutral whites and greys, a white head scarf loosely wrapped around her face. No hitai-ate to demonstrate her allegiances, her shinobi pouches were the only things that marked her as a kunoichi, strapped to pastel blue belts on her grey cinched pants.
The Kazekage couldn't tell, but her mind was churning as fast as it could go.
"Do you know the reason why I called you here, Katiya Shiratori?" The Lord Kazekage boomed.
Katiya stood from her bow. The Kazekage used Katiya's mother's family name. Good, Katiya thought. He hadn't caught on to exactly what she could do, otherwise he'd attempt to use her as a weapon, just like what she saw he was trying to do to Gaara. That also meant no ANBU reported what happened two days previously. "No, I don't think so." Katiya responded plainly.
Slight irritation flashed in the Lord Kazekage's eyes, but no one in the room made a noticeable reaction, all of their emotions buried deep underneath. The Kazekage started again, "I called you here regarding my son, Gaara. I am told you and he are close."
Katiya's face remained deadpan. "Yes."
She was fully aware of Gaara's heritage already. Told first by Gaara, then confirmed by Yashamaru. After she started living with them. At that point, too ingrained in their lives to leave easily without arousing suspicion. Too invested in Gaara-the-random-child's training to have realized to even begin training him as Gaara-the-Kazekage's-son was to invite suspicion. Since then, she knew a meeting like this was bound to happen at some point.
Yashamaru frowned under his mask, making sure his eyes remained indifferent to the turmoil he felt. He knew Katiya, for sure… but… a shinobi was taught to see underneath the underneath, and a year was not nearly enough for him to glean her beneath the face he saw daily, not really. Not all of it, at least. She guarded the sensitive details of herself well, and watched her step. He supposed he did the same. Yashamaru had the faint impression that Katiya would try to defy whatever Lord Kazekage would tell her to do if she didn't agree with it, but Yashamaru didn't want her to be the type of person who'd react badly; make another corpse he'd have to drag back to the grave.
"Are you aware of the rumors that surround my son?"
Katiya tilted her head ever so slightly. "Yes."
The Kazekage nodded slowly. "Then you do know why I summoned you."
Both Yashamaru and Katiya sucked in a breath. Katiya narrowed her eyes before responding, in a dead emotionless voice, "You want me to train him or kill him because he's much too powerful."
Katiya did her own research. The libraries had guarded sections, and the ANBU and war-hawks she knew followed her everywhere made it difficult, but none of the Suna-nin knew exactly what she knew. The word "Ichibi"—One-Tail—clung to her mind. Yashamaru gave a sideways glance to the girl beside him. Yashamaru made no response, physically or verbally. Gaara's progress as a controllable weapon was too slow. He was still too "dangerous", despite Katiya's and his own efforts. After being so close to Gaara and himself for so long, it was only a matter of time before Katiya figured out at least the gist of what was going on.
The Kazekage glanced at Yashamaru, who Katiya didn't recognize in the gear and veiled mask. "Yes," he said at last. The Kazekage paused. "As you know, my son, the 'Cursed Prince of the Desert Sand' has immense power. However, he has not made the… necessary growth I expected from him. He is still as uncontrollable as ever."
Katiya began to take an interest in the floor, averting her eyes from the Kazekage. The way the Kazekage referred to his son, even using his nom de guerre rather than his real name. "He is improving, though. Perhaps his tutors—" she started.
"No. He has no real tutors besides his uncle, Yashamaru, who I believe you've met before."
She looked at him in a mixture of morose understanding and interest. "So they're all that afraid of him, huh," she murmured barely audibly.
Both Yashamaru and the Kazekage nodded slowly. The other ANBU members in the room shifted uncomfortably in their stances around the walls. The Kazekage dipped his head to her and said at last, "I will give you six months to train my son into a proper shinobi."
Katiya met his eyes, the intensity of the Kazekage's possible meaning dampening the light in her eyes. "Meaning what, exactly?"
"Meaning a weapon I can use." Seeing the look on Katiya's face, he went on. "The daimyo of the Land of Wind has… cut funding to Sunagakure and is instead relying on Konohagakure, the Land of Fire's resources. My intention to harness the power of Shukaku of the Sand, a demon, to re-establish Sunagakure as the daimyo's dominant military village fostered my son, Gaara… However, I did not anticipate his… demeanor… Suffice to say, it would be to the benefit of the village—to both of us—if Gaara were… to be more… controlled."
Katiya's stomach churned. You couldn't control him, and you want me to. You want me to mold a child into a weapon for you. "And if I don't… ?"
The Lord Kazekage gave Katiya his most intense stare. "Then I will inform Takigakure that we are holding the thief of some of their rare specialty scrolls, and send a squad of my ANBU to escort you to their borders."
Katiya lifted an eyebrow at that. Theft of a few scrolls hardly seemed like it'd warrant a heavy penalty, maybe a few years in a prison, at worst. The Kazekage noticed the look.
"In a body bag," he ground out as an afterthought.
Katiya nodded slowly. "Count your blessings, young one," her mother used to say.
"I'll see what I can do," she said calmly.
She had to start planning to run.
Author's Note
Canonically in the anime, Sasuke Uchiha was able to see and communicate with the Nine-Tails with just a three-tomoe Sharingan (which allows for the limited visualization and copying of muscle and chakra output) so I thought it plausible for Katiya to be only able to do one or the other with two-tomoe. The way I imagine it, though, there's a visual chakra overload to the two-tomoe Sharingan, hence her not being able to see Shukaku here. Just in case that wasn't clear.