Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ From Here to Eternity ❯ Mother ( Chapter 42 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

 

 

Gaara woke up early on Saturday, if nine o'clock can be called early, and slid out of bed, his feet barely touching the floor. He stood, stretched, and left his room in search of Kankuro.

 

The eldest Kaze sibling was currently indisposed, sprawled out in his bed, his uniform still on. He had gotten home at eleven thirty the night before, and had announced that he was finally one of those stuffy adults who came home every night grumbling about how much they hated their jobs.

 

“Kankuro,” Gaara said, nudging the side of his brother's bed with his knee. “Get up. You promised.”

 

“Whazzat?” Kankuro said, briefly cracking his eyes open, and yawning. He closed his eyes, all the air seeming to have escaped his body. “Yeah, I guess I did. All right, all right. I'm getting up. But I am NOT getting `Ri up.”

 

“Okay.”

 

While Kankuro proceeded to detach himself from his bed, Gaara slowly walked over to his sister's room, and knocked on the door.

 

“Temari?” he said loudly. “Temari? Are you up?”

 

The voice from inside the room was anything but happy. “What do you want?”

 

Gaara swallowed. “Kankuro and I are gonna go visit Mom… I was wondering if you wanted come with us.”

 

There was silence for a moment, then the sound of a pair of feet shuffling over to the door. It opened, revealing Temari's tired face. She had on an oversized tee shirt, and her hair was a scruffy mess.

 

“You're going where?” she asked in disbelief.

 

“T-To visit Mom,” Gaara said, trying to sound nonchalant. “You don't have to come-“

 

“No, no. I'll come.” Temari frowned. “Coulda told me sooner.”

 

“Sorry,” he said automatically. She shook her head.

 

“It's fine, it's fine.” She shook her head. “I'm gonna get dressed.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Gaara turned, and went back to his bedroom, pausing at Kankuro's door to make sure his brother hadn't fallen back asleep. He hadn't.

 

 

Fool enough to almost be it

Cool enough to not quite see it

Doomed

Pick your pockets full of sorrow

Run away with me tomorrow

June

 

 

The redhead turned into his own bedroom, and closed the door, making sure it stayed shut. Then he pulled out the clothes he had set out the night before: Black pants, and a black button-up shirt. He changed into them, then looked haphazardly at his discarded gloves. He reached out and touched one with the tips of his fingers, then decided against it.

 

No gloves today.

 

He left his bedroom, and stepped into the bathroom, turning on the light. He brushed his teeth, dragged a comb through his hair (not that it did any good), and reached instinctively for his eyeliner. Then he frowned, and withdrew his hand.

 

No eyeliner today either.

 

 

We'll try and ease the pain
But somehow we'll feel the same
Well, no one knows
Where our secrets go

 

 

He left the bathroom, and almost slammed into Kankuro as he did.

 

“Ouch,” the seventeen-year-old grumbled, blearily opening his eyes. He had on a pair of slacks, and a button-up shirt. “Well. Don't we look special today?” he said, rolling his eyes, but smiling a brotherly oh-I'm-just-kidding smile. Gaara shrugged. Then he walked passed his brother, and trudged downstairs to wait for his siblings. He sighed, realizing he didn't have anything nicer to put on his feet than his old, ratty Converse. He tugged them on, then sat cross-legged on the couch until Temari came down the stairs. She had on a white, short-sleeved blouse, and a long black skirt.

 

“I didn't think you owned anything black,” Gaara said, with an approving grin. Temari turned slightly red, and rolled her eyes.

 

“Yeah, well,” she mumbled with a shrug. She sat down on the couch next to Gaara, and put on a pair of slim, black sandals. Then she too sighed, and stood to scream up the stairs, “KANKURO!”

 

“WHAT?” Kankuro's voice drifted down the stairs. Temari started to bellow back a nasty retort, then sent a look at Gaara, and deflated.

 

“Please hurry up!” she called resignedly, frowning, her voice much softer than usual. Then she sat back down, and crossed her legs, her brow creasing.

 

Kankuro finally tromped down the stairs, his hands in his pockets, and his hair neatly brushed. Temari and Gaara stood, and Temari said, “Kankuro, I assume you're driving?”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Kankuro said with a yawn. “Why not?”

 

The sky outside with a pale gray, and the wind was blowing gently, but with a knife-edge. Gaara turned his face to it, and took a deep breath.

 

`I can do this,' he told himself, before sliding into the back seat of Kankuro's ancient Sedan. He slammed the door, and buckled his seat belt. Kankuro started the car, and backed it out of the driveway. He sped off down the road, and made no move to turn on the radio or put on music, as he normally would have. He stared straight out the window, his eyes never darting from the road, even for a moment. Temari sat stock-still, her hands folded in her lap, and her face unreadable. Gaara was beginning to feel a bit weird.

 

Not that that was anything new.

 

As they drove through the main part of town, Kankuro got an idea. He pulled off the street, and parked the car in front of a small, purple-painted building. The sign above the door read `Yamanaka Flower Shop.'

 

He pulled out his wallet, and dug out a ten-dollar bill.

 

“Gaara,” he said, passing the note back. “Go buy some flowers for us, hm?”

 

Slightly confused, Gaara took the bill, and opened the door. “Sure,” he said, sliding out of the car into the cold October air. He entered the shop, the bell on the end of the door making a merry twinkling sound as he did.

 

The aroma of flowers hit him like a slap to the face. In every corner of the shop sat an explosion of color. All types of flowers, roses, tulips, daffodils, sunflowers, bluebells, daisies, black-eyed susans, tiger lilies, and ones that he couldn't even name, anointed the walls, and floor of the shop. It almost hurt his eyes.

 

“Hello, welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop, may I help… you?” Ino Yamanaka came out of a back room, and stood next to a display of roses, her mouth turning down in a frown. “Gaara Kaze? Uh…” She shrugged, and decided that a sale was a sale. Wiping her hands on the stained apron over her jeans, she said, “Anything particular you want?”

 

Gaara looked over at a bunch of daisies. “I'm looking for flowers for someone very special. But… not too expensive…” He hoped he wasn't blushing.

 

Ino was having a hard time recognizing the fact that Gaara Kaze, in all his black-covered glory, was standing in the middle of her dad's flower shop, asking for flowers for someone special. She slowly began to realize then that perhaps this Gaara Kaze, despite his make-up and strange choice of clothing and associates, was a person… not a… freak. A person… who wanted flowers.

 

“Mmm… Well… do they like bright colors? Or something that smells nice? We're having a sale on carnations this week if-“

 

“Tulips.”

 

“Mm?” Ino turned, and stared. “Tulips?”

 

“Yes,” Gaara nodded, his gaze straying over to the case of deep red, yellow, and orange flowers. “Tulips. I think she'll like them.”

 

“All right,” Ino said, straightening. “A dozen sound all right to you?”

 

“Fine.”

 

“Swell,” Ino said, lifting a group of tulips, and counting them out. She took them up to the front counter, and trimmed the stems. Then she pulled out some wrapping paper.

 

“Y-You don't have to-“ Gaara started, but Ino cut him off with a wave of her hand.

 

“It's fine,” she said. Measuring carefully, she cut a length of the paper, and tied it around the stems with a red ribbon to match the petals. Before ringing them up, she said, “Who?”

 

“Who are they for, you mean?” Gaara said, surprised that he was feeling so talkative.

 

Ino slowly met his gaze. “Yeah. I mean… do you have a girlfriend or something?”

 

Gaara really did blush this time. “N-No,” he said, dropping his sight. “They're… for my mom. She… passed on.”

 

Ino was quite taken aback. “O-Oh.” She swallowed. “I had no idea your mom was… gone, Gaara.”

 

What? Not freak? Not loser? Gaara? She decided to press on. “Uh… when? I mean, you don't have to tell me, but…”

 

“When I was born.” Gaara's face had taken on a melancholy hue, and Ino decided not to ask any more.

 

“I'm so sorry,” she said. “My mom left us when I was a kid… I guess that doesn't really compare, especially since I still get to see her, but…” She moved a hand over to the cash register, and rang up the flowers. She started to tell him the price, but stopped. “Know what? Forget it. It's on the house this time,” she said, pushing the flowers forward. Gaara's eyes widened.

 

“Really?”

 

“Sure.” Ino managed a small smile. “Say hi for me, okay?”

 

Gaara almost smiled. Almost.

 

“Sure.” He picked up the flowers and turned to leave. “I'm sorry about your mom, too.”

 

“Thank you.” Ino watched as he left the flower shop, but didn't say anything more.

 

 

I send a heart to all my dearies
When your life is so, so dreary
Dream
I'm rumored to the straight and narrow
While the harlots of my perils
Scream

 

And I fail

But when I can

I will

Try to understand

That when I can

I will.

 

 

“Tulips? Nice choice,” Kankuro commented as Gaara slammed the car door.

 

“Yeah. She'll like them. Don't you think?”

 

“Definitely.”

 

Kankuro started the car, and drove the rest of the way to the cemetery without another word. The cemetery itself was located right in between Sunaga and Konohaton, carrying the deceased of both towns. It was surrounded by a wrought iron fence, and had only one entrance. Kankuro parked close to it, and stepped out of the car, shivering slightly. It was colder here than at the house, and those clouds weren't looking too happy.

 

Temari and Gaara followed suit, and walked solemnly through the gate, and across the long-since-memorized path through the graveyard.

 

Temari always hated coming to the cemetery. She hated the dark gray stones that shot up from the ground like trees, hated the way the grass was too green, hated the way the air was always too cold, hated the way everyone was always so quiet whenever they came, hated the way Kankuro would never fight with her on days that they came, and especially hated the way that hot tears burned at the back of her lids when the finally came upon the grave.

 

It was a simple, gray marble tombstone carved in a square, with black imprinted words across it.

 

Yoshiko Kaze

 

Mother, Sister, Friend

 

We will miss you

 

Rest in Peace.

 

Gaara knelt down and laid the flowers against the headstone. Then he gently folded his hands, closed his eyes, and bowed his head. Kankuro and Temari also bowed their heads, Temari wiping away the sudden wet trail that had appear down her cheek.

 

 

Mother weep the years I'm missing

All our time that can't be given

Back…

Shut my mouth and strike the demons

That cursed you and your reasons

Out of hand and out of season

Out of love and out of feeling

So

Bad

 

 

After several minutes, Gaara slowly raised his head, his eyes lusterless.

 

“Let's go home.”

 

Kankuro nodded, and exchanged a sad smile with Temari. “Yeah. Let's go home… together.”

 

 

When I can, I will

Words defy the plan

When I can, I will

 

Fool enough to almost be it

And cool enough to not quite see it

And old enough to always feel this

Always old, I'll always feel this

 

No more promise, no more sorrow

No longer will I follow

Can anybody hear me?

I just want to be

Me.

 

When I can, I will

Try to understand

That when I can, I will.

 

 

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“I hate laundry day,” Ten-Ten grumbled, resting the clothes-filled basket against the railing of the stairs, and breathing a sigh. Two loads of laundry had taken her all morning long, and Mom had picked up an extra shift at the diner, so she was on her own for the day. She frowned, and took the weight of the basket back into her arms as she scaled another flight of stairs.

 

The empty apartment that awaited her wasn't the only thing weighing on her mind.

 

Ten-Ten knew she needed to apologize. But… apologies were not something she was good at. Oh well. She'd swallow her pride and do it. She'd done it before…

 

But this wasn't some petty cat fight. They had had plenty of those in the past. No… this was serious. Tayuya had come to Ten-Ten in a time of serious need, expecting, hoping for comfort. But what did Ten-Ten do? She turned her down.

 

A pang of guilt stabbed through her stomach, but she trudged through it.

 

The girl shook her head, nudged open the door to her floor with her foot, and stepped into it. Whose idea was it to put the laundry room on the first floor when she lived on the fifth?

 

She walked down the hall, then stopped at the seventh door, shifting the basket to her hip, and fishing down in her jeans pocket for the key.

 

“Excuse me, Miss, would you happen to know… Oh! Ten-Ten!”

 

“Huh?” Ten-Ten glanced up to see a familiar face. “Mrs. Torsten?” she said blankly. Christine Torsten, Tayuya's mother, came bobbing over to her, her graying-red hair up in a tight bun, and a faux-fir coat thrown on over a cotton dress and overpriced shoes.

 

“Tayuya isn't here, is she?” Mrs. Torsten demanded harshly, but her light blue eyes desperate. Ten-Ten shook her head.

 

“No,” she said slowly, her brain not processing what was happening. “She left last night.”

 

“Well,” Mrs. Torsten said, her chest swelling. “She didn't come home! She's gone!”

 

The basket of clothes slipped from Ten-Ten's arms and tumbled to the ground.

 

 

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Kat: My first time at a songfic. Song-chapter. Shit. Give me a bad review if you must, but I thought it was nice. I believe the song fit very well. Critique away! But remember the biting sarcasm that awaits! -waves hands around-

 

Soriko: … Forgive her. She's very tired.

 

Kat: BAH! I DON'T NEED TO SLEEP!

 

Karene: -V-sign- Please review!

 

Kat: And DON'T SNARK AT ME for the last part! It was needed to keep the bloody plot going! MRAH! And I don't want anyone complaining about this being a short chapter! I've been fucking busy as hell over the last two weeks. God I hate school… Anyway… review and I'll update sooner than last time.