Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Home ❯ Chapter ( Chapter 2 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Lsama-no-miko 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Fantasy / Romance / Shounen | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.04.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 7.8K | Visits: 223 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Fantasy / Romance / Shounen | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.04.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 7.8K | Visits: 223 | Status: Work In Progress
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By Sakura (aka L-sama no miko)
Part 2
The younger tengu paused, letting the sword hang limply at his side. He didn’t need to turn around to see who had interrupted him. “I figured you’d find me sooner or later, aniki,” he said stoically. “After all, I did run off before you could thank me for helping with destroying our clan.”
“I didn’t make you do anything you already didn’t want to, Sasuke,” the older hafbreed said just as emotionlessly.
“The hell you did! You dared to use our clan’s secret technique on me and brainwashed me into killing our parents!”
There was a sardonic chuckle from the taller man. “Admit it otouto. You felt the same way as I did. They were only holding us back. You and I are not meant for such a simple, servile life.”
“WE ARE NOTHING ALIKE!” shouted Sasuke as he raised the Kusanagi and lunged at him. Smirking faintly the taller man stepped aside at the last possible second, making his younger brother stumble, forcing to use his former sensei’s sword as a crutch to keep himself from falling embarrassingly on his face.
The older of the two then turned his attention back to the still sleeping kitsune. “Now, why would you want to mar such a lovely thing, I wonder?” he said running a finger along the kitsune boy’s bare back. Said hanyou shivered and murmured in his sleep, snuggling closer to the rapidly cooling corpse. The weasel tengu gave a wry smile before bending down again, this time to pick up the blond. He was the real reason he was there after all. It was about the time when the now deceased naga would hand over his leftovers to him to sell off to some slaver somewhere.
“Don’t you dare ignore me!” shouted Sasuke, “Itachi!”
“Impatient as ever I see,” he said as he began leaving the cave. “If you wish to die, otouto, then by all means go ahead. Fight me. Otherwise, get stronger Sasuke. Get stronger and let that hate you feel for me grow. You’re still too weak to beat me as you are now.”
“Damn you, Itachi!” the younger tengu bellowed, rushing his brother again only to miss yet again and receive a judo chop to the neck. Within moments Sasuke slumped to the floor, unconscious.
“Pathetic,” Itachi muttered coldly. The bundle in his arms started to squirm and the bluest sapphires he’d ever laid eyes on, blinked confusedly at him. He gave the kitsune boy the tiniest of smiles, one that caused icy fingers to dance up and down the blond’s spine. “Go back to sleep little one,” he whispered, holding the hanyou’s gaze with his now red and black eyes.
Naruto fought against the hypnotic eyes as long as he could, desperately calling out for his ‘Rochi-sama.’ However, no rescue came. The kitsune boy lost the battle and his eyes reluctantly fluttered closed.
Smirking smugly to himself, he slumped the boy over one shoulder, confident the jutsu would hold for quite some time.
“Oi, what’s that you go there?” a man with pale blue skin, beady white eyes and gills just below each eye asked, “Sure don’t look like the usual leftovers.”
The man’s eyes narrowed, flashing a dangerous red as they glared at his ‘friend’. “Never you mind Kisame,” he said, warningly. “Let’s go.”
Knowing well enough to drop it, the shark hanyou shrugged his shoulders as he picked up the enormous zanbatou he kept insisting on lugging everywhere. “I was getting bored anyway,” he said, “There’s nothing here to kill.”
Shaking his head to himself, Itachi left the forest clearing not bothering to wait for the other hanyou.
Naruto found himself bound to a cross-like structure. All around him was nothing but an eerie blackness lit only by an even eerier blood red moon. “’R-Rochi-sama?” he asked, shaking when he found he was unable to move.
He yelped in pain as a pale hand struck a whiskered cheek. Looking forward, he saw the naga before him, an evil glint in his usually kind golden eyes. “You are to address me properly!” he hissed, “You will call me master!”
The little kitsune hanyou stared at him in utter shock. Gone was the gentle loving man he’d come to care for so much. “B-But… I thought… I thought…”
“I loved you?” sneered the snake demon. He gave off a heartless laugh. “Foolish little kitsune! You should have known by now we snakes like to play with our prey.” He laughed again, noticing the crystalline tears that were fighting their ways down Naruto’s cheeks. “Time to learn your true place, pet.”
The blond gulped as the naga advanced, lust clearly written all over the pale face. “P-Please don’t!” he pleaded, not wanting his first time to be like this. “I-I don’t want it like this! It’s n-not right!”
Orochimaru glowered then wrapped his tail around the boy’s throat, squeezing harshly. “It doesn’t matter what you want,” he hissed, “I am the master here. Now if you wish to remain alive for a bit longer, I would suggest you be a good little slave and obey your master.”
A look of infinite hurt made itself known on the kitsune boy’s face. The betrayal of the person he loved most in the world had cut deep, very deep. He whimpered as the coils tightened, cutting off more of Naruto’s precious air supply. He was broken. Using what little strength he had left, he hung his head in defeat, resigning himself to being this demon’s slave.
“Good boy,” the naga said smugly, “I knew you had some sense in that pathetically empty head of yours.” Naruto said nothing, just allowed himself to hang limply against the invisible bounds. “If you’re as good as I think you’ll be,” Orochimaru said, running his long forked tongue along the hanyou’s bare body, “I just may keep you a bit longer.”
The blond didn’t even shudder when the naga leant into kiss him forcibly on the lips. It was as if he were naught but a fine china doll. “Now this won’t do,” tsked Orochimaru, “Not at all.” He then smirked evilly, licking his fangs. With the lightning speed of a king cobra, he lunged forward and bit hard into the kitsune boy’s jugular. He smiled to himself as Naruto shrieked and yowled in pain as the venom began coursing through his veins.
Orochimaru hung on a few more seconds, making sure this particular venom had been properly administered and dispersed. When he deemed he had injected enough, the naga had gone back to kissing his little slave. He didn’t have to wait long for it to take effect; the kitsune hanyou was moaning seconds into the second kiss. “That’s much better,” he hissed conceitedly, letting a hand snake its way down to a very sensitive spot on Naruto’s anatomy.
He was in that blood red lit world again, chained once again to the cross by unseen bonds. This time his master was not there, instead stood a tall man with black hair, wings, reddish black weasel like ears and tail, and red, red, eyes. He couldn’t tell what this stranger was thinking for he could see no emotions on his face, none at all. “M-Master?” he whimpered, sapphire eyes darting back and forth for any sign of the naga.
The stranger continued to stare at the broken hanyou with that expressionless face of his. The blond began to whimper again, the need for his ‘master’ obviously written all over him. “He won’t be coming back,” he said with a tone that spoke of finality, “You belong to me now.”
The kitsune hanyou whimpered yet again, struggling against the bonds holding him to the smooth polished wood. “M-Master…” he moaned pitifully. There was the briefest of moments when something akin to pity flickered in the taller hanyou’s red and black depths only to be squashed and replaced with the lust he’d been feeling ever since he found the boy.
“Oi, you gonna let me have a turn this time?” his shark hanyou partner griped. The other man frowned, but paused. After a while of consideration, he stepped aside and allowed the shark man to approach the now, shaking and whimpering kitsune boy.
“I still say we should keep ‘im,” the shark hanyou grumbled as he and Itachi reached the desert’s edge. “I’m not done having fun with the brat.”
“The way he is now, he won’t last past the next day,” his weasel/tengu partner returned, shifting the unconscious blond slung over his shoulder. “Even if he were able to withstand the tsukuyomi, I still would not keep him. We can barely afford to feed ourselves Kisame. He’d only be a burden and a drain on our limited resources.”
“Awww, c’mon! You know I don’t eat that much.”
The weasel/tengu turned and glared at the shark man. “Out of the two of us, you eat the most. We will not keep him Kisame.” His aquatic ‘friend’ sighed and began grumbling under his breath. Once that hanyou made up his mind, there was no changing it.
Itachi spread his wings after gathering the kitsune hanyou into his arms. With a graceful leap, the weasel/tengu flew off deep into the desert. A few hours later, he returned, but not with their much smaller ‘toy.’
“We’re leaving Kisame,” he said emotionlessly as usual.
“Still say we should have kept ‘im,” Kisame grumbled, but followed Itachi back into the forest.
The redheaded tanuki hanyou stood before seemingly lifeless form lying on the golden sands. Light teal eyes gazed in a mixture of annoyance, curiosity, and perhaps even the slightest hint of pity. He and his troupe of desert bandits were returning from a successful raid on yet another foolish caravan that dared to cross his domain, when he had spotted something bright and yellow lying in their way.
“Yo, what is it Gaara?” a slightly older boy, black and white paint plastered all over his face. Glancing at what had held his half brother’s attention for the past few minutes, he let out a small gasp. Sprawled unceremoniously on the desert floor was a naked boy. No, not exactly a boy; some sort of half-breed like his younger brother. At least that’s what Kankurou thought it to be, it was rather difficult to tell with so many bruises, cuts, bites – not to mention the various other stuff – littering the blond creature’s otherwise pleasing form. He wasn’t even sure if the reddish lumps on what appeared to be its head were ears or not. “Poor little guy,” he said, pityingly. “Want me to give ‘im a proper burial?” he asked his younger brother.
The shorter redhead said nothing. Instead he stooped down and knelt beside the boy, reaching for what he hoped was his neck.
“Gaara! Don’t touch that thing!” cried an older girl about nineteen or twenty, her hair done in four odd blond pigtails. “You don’t know where it’s been! Besides it’s just some filthy hanyou that was stupid enough to get lost in the desert.”
Gaara whirled around, anger clearly sparking in the teal pools. Two sand colored ears appeared on his head and a sand and black striped tail appeared behind him, bristling furiously. “Is that what you think of me Temari?” he asked accusingly, his otherwise velvet smooth voice, harsh as the grains they were now surrounded by. A coil of sand hung suspended dangerously close to her throat.
Temari gulped, visibly shaken by her half brother’s sudden anger. She had never regretted her words more. She of all people should have known not to talk like that in front of Gaara – he was a hanyou himself after all. He had heard enough of that kind of talk from most of the people he was the ruler of; he didn’t need it from his only remaining kin. “I-I’m sorry!” she apologized, “I… I was only looking out for your safety. You know it doesn’t matter to me or Kankurou if you’re half tanuki. It’s just that we don’t see many other hanyou this far into the desert. And well, we’ve all been kinda stressed lately.”
Her half brother’s eyes flashed dangerously, but the rope of sand that had been poised to crush the girl’s windpipe broke apart and fell, dissipating into the golden sand below. Both older siblings let out matching breaths of relief. “Get something to cover him with,” the tanuki hanyou commanded, returning to his examination of the unconscious blond.
“R-Right!” Temari stammered, still shaken. The older blonde rushed back to their troupe and within seconds came back with a piece of white muslin, probably part of one of the tents they were adept at making.
Nodding in thanks and approval, Gaara took the cloth and carefully draped it over the smaller hanyou. With equal care and gentleness, he scooped the blond into his arms.
“Hey! Wait a sec!” Kankurou spoke up in protest, “You don’t have to do it, you know. I’ll make sure he won’t haunt us or anything.”
“He is not dead, Kankurou.” The redhead then strode past them, heading back to the troupe.
“He may as well be though,” Temari said, not to be hateful, but to try to get the rarely sympathetic hanyou to realize the facts. “Just look at him. There isn’t a spot on him that isn’t wounded.”
Gaara paused and glared at his half sister. “We have more than enough medicine with us. He will survive. That is all.” She sighed, knowing how stubborn the tanuki hanyou could get. She glanced at her brother and gave a shrug that clearly said, ‘might as well go along with this.’ The older of the males gave his own shrug and followed the other two back to the troupe in silence.
Gaara was good, she had to admit it. Not only did he manage to keep the blond kitsune hanyou – they were finally able to figure out what the blond creature had been – alive for the few days that it took to reach their village of Sunagakure no Sato, but managed to disguise him well enough to get past the guards. If they’d seen him carrying another hanyou into the village, they would have refused him entry, Kazekage or not.
Temari shook her head in disgust as they made their way through the narrow streets to the Kazekage’s palace. She really hated how the people had treated her half brother over the years, how she had been one of those who had bought into the whole ‘demons are pure evil’ bit when she was much younger and hadn’t learned that the same lonely little boy she and the other children would bully, tease or just plain run away from was really her half brother. She had almost completely changed after finding that out, though she would occasionally slip and make a mistake like she had done back in the desert.
Gaara glared at the healers as he entered the palace infirmary, daring any of them to come near the blond bundle in his arms. He knew all too well how ‘well’ they would treat patients who weren’t humans. “We’ll be taking care of him,” he said in a tone that left no room for objection.
“Y-Yes K-Kazekage-sama,” stammered one woman before dashing out of there. Soon the room was empty for the other healers had evacuated, fearing their leader’s wrath.
“My, what’s all the fuss about?” an old woman asked. She was one of the few who weren’t cowed by the hanyou’s short temper – she was the boy’s great-grandmother after all. “Oh my!” she cried, seeing what her great-grandson had been carrying. “Get him onto a bed!” she ordered.
“We found him out in the desert, Granny Chiyo,” Kankurou explained, as Gaara gingerly laid his bundle on one of the cots, “About two or three days from here.”
The old woman’s eyes widened in surprise. “You poor dear,” she muttered as she began to examine the kitsune hanyou. “Well it’s a miracle he’s even breathing. Your work I assume?” she asked of the redheaded hanyou. Gaara nodded. “Couldn’t have done any better myself,” she praised, a brief glint shone in the tanuki’s teal eyes, “Well done Gaara-kun. I’ll take it from here.”
“I’m staying,” Gaara protested.
Chiyo chuckled softly. “Suit yourself, but you help.”
The tanuki hanyou nodded, going to fetch some disinfectant and fresh bandages.
The red haired hanyou sat beside his bed, having moved the blond to his own rooms since he hardly slept anyway. His older siblings had tried to get him to leave at least to eat, but he refused to budge from the room and had been there ever since he had brought the hanyou home to Suna. He had all meals brought to him there as well as whatever business required his attention as the leader of a village and desert bandits. He wanted to be the one to be there for the boy should he… when he woke up. He refused to let himself think otherwise. This boy would wake up and he would need someone who wasn’t prejudiced against hanyou to help him heal.
He carefully ran a finger over one of the scars covering the boy’s eyes. It had astounded and enraged him when his great-grandmother had said they were self inflicted. Whatever the poor blond had gone through must have been terrible if he had tried to gouge he own eyes out.
He frowned, forcing the anger of his tanuki side into the dark reaches of his mind until he had a proper target for that anger. “Whoever did this will suffer,” he vowed, even though the kitsune hanyou couldn’t hear. He sat still for a while longer, occasionally stroking one of the boy’s hands or the soft sun silk hair. He almost jumped out of his skin when the blond began to moan quietly. He watched raptly as the kitsune boy’s eyelids fluttered a few times before revealing pupilless milky white.
Gaara stifled the angry growl that threatened to escape his throat, it wouldn’t do any good to scare the boy – nor would it restore his eyesight. His great-grandmother’s suspicions were right, the kitsune hanyou’s eyes were beyond repair. “You shouldn’t move so fast,” he said quickly pushing the boy back onto the bed upon seeing him trying to sit up and get off.
The shorter hanyou let out a tiny whimper, but didn’t struggle when he felt arms surround him and put him into a half laying, half sitting position. The redhead had gone to fetch a glass of water that had been left nearby a few hours ago when he felt something latch onto his sleeve. He curiously watched as the blond pulled at him until he was now practically lying on top of him. His light teal eyes widened in shock as the kitsune hanyou began to kiss and nuzzle his neck, light touches ghosting under his shirt. Moaning at the butterfly touches and licks, nips, and kisses, the taller hanyou clenched the bed covers in tight fists.
Gaara was hard pressed to continue with this, but quickly grabbed the wandering hands before they had him completely undone, causing him to do something he’d regret the rest of his life. “No,” he growled out, barely managing to make it sound less frightening. “You don’t have to do that. Not ever.” He pushed his tanuki side away again when he felt the beast rage at the blond’s behavior. Now he knew part of what had driven the boy to self mutilation, he had been used as a sex slave!
He had never really cared when he heard such stories of half-breeds like him being sold into slavery, he had even sold a few himself – it didn’t concern him, besides he’d never seen what could happen. Now that he had seen for himself what the effects of being sold into slavery could do to a person, he regretted ever selling out others like him. He growled lowly, hating himself with every passing second. ‘Never again,’ he swore silently. ‘I will never sell our prisoners again.’
“M-Master?” came a tiny whimpering and hoarse voice from the bed.
Pitying teal eyes glanced at the trembling form before him. “I am no master,” he said, placing a gentle hand on one tear stained cheek.
The blond leaned into the touch, somewhat grateful for the kindness he was being shown. “Where…” he whimpered again.
“You’re in my home,” the redhead replied.
“Where’s master?” the kitsune boy sniffled, still trembling, not understanding what it was that was wanted of him.
Teal eyes narrowed in fury and hate. Gaara was glad the other hanyou couldn’t see him, he was sure he looked pretty scary right now. “No masters here,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “You are free. Understand? You are my guest.”
“F-Free? Guest?” he parroted.
Gentle hands wiped away the remaining few tears, making the smaller boy to lean into the touches. “You may do whatever you want,” he said. “But you need to go slow for now.”
“Free…” the blond sniffled. He was free, but he felt like he was dying inside. If he was ‘free’ it meant that his master had no longer wanted him for real. He had hoped what the tall raven haired stranger had said was nothing but a nightmare – he’d even tore at his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look at that evil man’s emotionless face anymore, but it appeared that the naga had truly no longer wanted him. “M-Master!” he bawled before sobbing his heart and throwing himself at this new stranger.
Gaara stared at the whimpering and sobbing blond for a while, never having been the one to give comfort before. He then remembered the time he watched a mother comfort her crying child after it had scraped its knee. He tentatively wrapped his arms around the kitsune hanyou and ran a hand over the bare back while the other held the sunlit head close to his cloth covered chest and stroked the blond locks. He hadn’t been close enough to hear what the woman had said, but it seemed that words weren’t needed, for the gentle movements seemed to be working.
There was a knock at the door, but he ignored it, choosing to continue comforting the boy. Whoever it was should know to go away if he didn’t answer. “Alright Gaara,” came his half sister’s voice, “Enough is enough. You’ve been cooped up in there…”
There was a gasp as the blonde desert bandit strode into the room. Temari then smirked at the sight of her little brother hugging the smaller hanyou. “Hey Kankurou!” she shouted into the hall, ignoring the deadly glare the redhead was giving her. “You’ve gotta see this!”
“What’s up Temari?” the middle one of the siblings asked peeking from his room.
“Just hurry up and get in here!” she ordered, shaking at her head at the paint still smeared on his face. How the guy could wear that stuff all the time, she’d never understand.
“Okay, okay. Take it easy will ya,” Kamkurou muttered coming over to his younger brother’s suite. “So what’s the big fuss?”
Temari turned around to see that the redhead had gotten up from the bed and was now standing, glaring at them. “Aww, you moved!” she cried pouting. “You missed the cutest thing,” she said to her eldest brother. “Gaara was hugging the kid.”
Kankuro did a double take. Did she just put ‘Gaara’ and ‘hug’ in the same sentence?! He glared at his onee-chan. “You know I hate pranks, Temari. That wasn’t funny.”
“No seriously,” she said giggling. “He was really hugging him. It’s not my fault you were too slow.”
The eldest of the male siblings glanced over to his younger half-brother. Gaara just continued to glare at them for one: interrupting him and two: Temari making a fuss over what he’d been doing. “Oh jeez, you really are serious,” he said. “It’ll start snowing in the middle of Suna next.” It would have to since his younger hanyou sibling had done something he was dead certain that he’d never ever do.
“You’re scaring him,” came said hanyou’s cold voice.
The older two then looked over to the blond on the bed, the sheets pulled up to his chin and fear clearly shown in the sightless eyes. “Hey, it’s okay little guy,” Kankuro said, trying to sound as friendly as could.
“We won’t hurt you,” Temari said, having better luck getting the blond to stop trembling. “We’re Gaara’s brother and sister. I’m Temari. The idiot over there’s Kankurou.” There was a short ‘Oi!’ from the older male but she and Gaara both shut him up with matching death glares. “You already met Gaara I see.”
The kitsune hanyou looked between the three, not sure as to what was going on. He knew the first of these people had said he could do whatever he wanted now. He had even comforted him when he couldn’t stop crying, but he still wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or awake.
“No one will hurt you here,” the first of the three had said again. “I will not allow it.”
The smaller hanyou stopped trembling slightly. There was something comforting about his velvet voice. ‘I wish I could see what he looks like,’ he thought, finding that he needed to see the face of the one who held him.
Temari and Kankurou stared at their younger half brother. Never had they ever seen him act like this. The Gaara they knew was a cold, aloof bastard who cared for no one, not even them. They then turned to look at the smaller hanyou. It was true that he was easy on the eyes, but there had been nothing special about his looks. It had to be that lost and helpless air he kept giving off. Yes, that had to be what was making the redhead act like that. This kitsune was like a little lost abandoned and abused kitten.
“Well, we’ll leave you two alone now,” the blonde said, grabbing hold of her brother.
“Hey! Not so hard Temari!” Kankuro protested, as she dragged him from the room.
The kitsune hanyou stared after them, listening to the retreating footsteps since he couldn’t see. He felt the bed shift and jumped slightly as it sank a bit beneath the added weight.
“Here,” the velvet voiced person said, pressing something smooth and cold into his hands. “Water,” he explained upon seeing the boy’s confusion. Nodding in thanks, the blond took a sip from the ceramic cup.
He stood outside the blond’s door, not sure how to tell him. Over the past few months he had found himself wanting to spend more and more time with the little blond, even if was just to watch him stare blindly out the window, which seemed to be Naruto’s favorite pastime.
Gaara had spent months on this particular mission, and now that he’d finally completed it, he didn’t how to give his guest the news. He had finally learned what really happened to the poor kitsune boy.
After he had gotten the kitsune hanyou to trust him, Naruto – he had introduced himself as – had then launched into how the people of Konohagakure no Sato had captured him and sacrificed him to a naga that had been terrorizing them for the past twenty years. That enraged the redheaded tanuki hanyou greatly, but he fought against his baser instincts and made himself stay still as Naruto’s tale continued.
Things had gone well with the naga actually. The snake demon had taken a shine to the little blond and Naruto had eventually fallen in love with him after having been living with him for a month or so. But that was when things all went to hell. According to the blond, his lover had turned on him, telling him it was only a joke; that the naga had been playing with him all along. He then went to say that Naruto was his slave and proceeded to rape him while he’d been chained to some weird cross thing.
That had broken more than just his heart, the fire in his spirit had started to die down as well. The rapes and beatings went on for months, always in the same frightening red and black world he would find himself in upon waking. Then one day, he had woken to find that his ‘master’ had vanished, leaving him at the mercy of a ‘weasel/bird man’ and a ‘fish man.’ The weasel/bird man had told him that he was theirs now. By then the fire had completely died and the timid and overly obedient Naruto before him was all that was left.
When asked why he had destroyed his own eyes, the kitsune hanyou sadly replied that he did it so he wouldn’t have to see his ‘master’s’ evil red and black eyes anymore. They had absolutely frightened him like nothing ever had. He even said that they’d still haunt him as he slept, causing him to have horrible nightmares.
The redhead then immediately ordered his best spies to seek out a certain weasel/tengu hanyou and his sharky partner. There was a certain ally to seek out as well. He knew them all too well. He even had helped the weasel/tengu and his partner capture a few hanyou to sell to slavers along with the ningen they would bring after paying Suna’s ally a visit. He swore that he would make one Itachi of the Uchiha tengu clan and Kisame of the Hoshigaki shark demon clan suffer for what they had done. As for the naga, well he’d get to him too, just as soon as he beat his whereabouts from the other two. And there was the matter of the village of Konohagakure to deal with as well.
Those who had hurt his precious guest were now food for the desert. After having made sure they would suffer a slow and painful death – he buried them up to their necks in cocoons of sand with flesh eating scarabs – he had released what was left of them and left them lying exposed to the harsh entity that was the desert. An evil smirk appeared on his face at that memory. Oh he enjoyed watching them writhe and scream as the insects voraciously ate at their flesh. It was a shame that they hadn’t lasted longer. Oh well. He had gotten what he wanted from them anyway – the truth.
Deciding he’d been stalling enough, the tanuki hanyou gave a soft knock on the door. A moment later a soft, timid “Hai?” came from the other side. Taking that as an invitation, Gaara opened the door and cautiously stepped into the room he’d been sharing off and on with the blond.
A small sad smile appeared on the redhead’s face as he watched the blond sitting by the window, his sightless eyes peering at the village outside. “Gaara-sama you’re back!” the kitsune boy cried and immediately glomped the taller hanyou.
He frowned at the –sama. He still hadn’t gotten Naruto to stop calling him his master. But he couldn’t stay mad for long. Not with a happy kitsune hanyou nuzzling his chest. He allowed himself the tiniest of smiles at that. “How did you know it was me?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“I smelled your scent,” he replied, grinning widely. Gaara just smiled back – though the blond couldn’t see it. “I’ve missed you so much!” Naruto said again, tightening his arms around Gaara, scared he too would disappear, like the kind, gentle naga he still loved.
The tanuki hanyou chuckled softly as he picked up the blond and carried him back to the plush window seat. “There is something I have to tell you,” he said sitting down, making sure his guest was situated comfortably in his lap. Naruto gave a contented sigh before what had been said to him sunk in. Upon the seriousness of Gaara’s tone, he let out a stifled whimper.
‘He’s going to leave me too!’ he inwardly wailed.
Sensing the kitsune hanyou’s distress, the redhead began to stroke his hair, hoping to reassure the little one. “I found those who hurt you,” he said, frowning at the sudden stiffening of the blond. “They will never hurt you, or anyone else, again.” Naruto let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. Did he mean what he thought he meant? “I made sure myself.”
The blond turned around and buried his face in Gaara’s chest, then began to shake and sob uncontrollably. After what seemed an eternity of listening to the kitsune boy’s cries, they had suddenly stopped just as they had started. “T-Thank y-you Gaara-sama,” he sniffled, wiping at his eyes.
The taller hanyou gently took Naruto’s hands away and carefully brushed away the tears for him. “There is something else you should know,” he said. The blond looked up at him expectantly as well as fearfully. “It concerns that naga you told me about.”
“M-Master?” he asked, trembling again. Was he being given back to him?!
“I’m sorry, Naruto.” The blond’s lower lip shook, his milky white eyes on the verge of tears again. “What you thought to be that naga wasn’t him.”
“N-Nani?!” he stuttered wide eyed.
Gaara began to rub soothing patterns on the blond’s back, pleased that he had had put on a bit more weight since he left. “That ‘weasel/bird man’ had used a very powerful genjustu on you. He made you see what he wanted you to.” Naruto stared at him utterly confused. That hadn’t been ‘Master’? It was all a trick?!
“I forced it out of him,” the tanuki hanyou continued, “He told me that he had gone to the naga’s base to ‘deal’ with his younger brother when he found the naga dead and his brother about to kill you.” The blond gasped. The snake demon was dead?! Sasuke-teme had killed him and was going to kill him too?! Why?! It was true that the two had hated each other the moment they’d met, but Naruto hadn’t done anything to make the tengu want to kill him.
“M-Master is…”
“I’m sorry Naruto,” Gaara said again, pityingly. “There is nothing more I can do.”
The blond surprised him again by latching onto him and turning on the waterworks. He was sure Naruto had cried himself out the last time. An hour or so later, Gaara carefully rose from the seat and laid the now sleeping kitsune hanyou on the bed, making sure he was properly tucked in and comfortable.
It had gone a lot better than he’d thought, though it pained him greatly that poor Naruto had reacted the way he did. He knew he had nothing to do with what Itach had forced the kitsune boy to go through, but he couldn’t help but feel guilty; that he was somehow responsible.
He stroked one whiskered cheek and kissed the shorter hanyou’s forehead. Gaara then brushed a hand over the tattoo he now sported on his forehead. He had done it himself, using the over abundant sand to blast the ancient symbol for ‘love’ into the skin. When asked by his older siblings why he’d done it, he had said, ‘I was a monster who loved only himself.’ That blood red mark would forever serve as a reminder of the grave sins he’d done to his kind as well as a symbol of his desire to atone. Neither Temari nor Kankurou said anything, choosing to just accept it as one of their half-brother’s many quirks.
The tanuki hanyou turned and silently left, going to start on his next mission – revenge on the ningen.
The red haired tanuki hanyou laughed maniacally as he watched half the village burn and his merry band of bandits scurry about, looting, pillaging, and just generally having a good old time. Temari stood behind him with Kankurou, both humans frowning. They hadn’t approved of Gaara’s desire to attack Konohagakure for revenge, but could do nothing. In their eyes, it was either let the tanuki hanyou have his way or risk having him gradually go nuts and start attacking random people in Suna until he got it, just like he did when he had been a child. So they let him do as he pleased to the Fire Country village.
Gaara stopped in mid laugh as several ninja appeared at the village gate. He stared at them quizzically, as none of them were bothering to draw any of their weapons. “You’ve won,” spat a pink haired kunoichi bitterly, “Take what you want and go!”
The tanuki hanyou laughed again. “What I want,” he said smirking evilly, “Is for all of you ningen to die!” He then released the sand from the gourd he had strapped to his back. The golden yellow substance moved as though it was a living thing, and quick as a snake, it soon had the poor girl completely buried. “Sabaku Sousou!” he said, gradually closing his fist. The others watched in horror as the mound of sand began to shrink in upon itself. There was the sickening crunch of bones breaking and within seconds, an enormous fountain of red spurted from the still imploding sand. Those nearest scrambled away, not wanting to get drenched in the poor girl’s blood.
“We surrendered!” cried a blonde ponytailed kunoichi, “You didn’t have to do that!”
Gaara turned his bloodlust filled teal eyes on her and she shrieked; backing up before being paralyzed by the immense aura of murder he was now giving off. “You wish to die next.” It wasn’t a question.
“No!” cried a boy with white pupilless eyes, his sleek dark chocolate hair held back by the hitai-ate of a ninja. Gaara whirled about and turned to face this new fool. “This is about that kitsune hanyou isn’t it?”
All eyes turned to stare at the white eyed ninja. They had all forgotten about that incident except for him. The blond’s screams and curses had haunted him ever since he’d been dragged off into the forest. After all, he too had been dealt a fate he couldn’t fight against, no matter how he wanted to.
“You’re here to avenge him aren’t you?”
“What of it?” the tanuki hanyou asked icily, impatient to get along with the massacre.
“But that was months ago Neji!” the blonde kunoichi interrupted. “It’s probably nothing but bones by…” She was abruptly cut off by a snake like tendril of sand, slowly crushing her windpipe.
“You will not speak of Naruto like that,” the redhead said venomously.
“What if I were to give myself up?” the ninja called Neji asked bravely approaching the psychotic hanyou. “I was one of those who helped capture him.”
“N-Neji-ni-niisan!” cried a shorthaired kunoichi with similar features as his. “Y-You c-can’t d-do t-this!” she pleaded.
“Shut up Hinata!” he spat back at her, making her ‘eep’ in surprise, “I am partially responsible for all this, I must do what I can to make amends.”
Gaara stared at the boy who was now mere inches away from him. He did have to admit, this ningen was rather pleasing to look at. And he could sense he was no weakling either, there was a strength hidden in that boy. “What would I do with a forest ningen when I have many who already obey me?” he asked. He was considering on taking this pretty boy up on his offer, but it all depended on his answer.
“That may be true, but I am certain you could always use another fighter,” Neji replied, “I am skilled both in taijutsu and my clan is heir to a rare technique as well.”
“N-Neji-nii-niisan!” the shorthaired kunoichi protested again.
That had the tanuki hanyou’s interest piqued; such a ninja would indeed be useful. “What sort of rare technique?”
Neji took a deep breath, steeling himself before answering. “I can see the chakra network of people.” The veins surrounding the pupilless eyes suddenly bulged, stretching the pale skin, making them clearly visible. “I can even see yours. I can see it flowing into that sand of yours.”
Gaara stood still for a few moments, running this new piece of information in his head. He decided to test the boy to see if he was telling the truth. He then slowed the flow of his chakra into the sand, but not enough to allow his current victim room to breathe. To all of them present, it should appear that nothing had changed with the sand at all. He then looked back at the smug looking ninja.
“You slowed the flow just now,” he said, still smirking smugly.
There was a brief flash of surprise in the teal eyes. So this ningen was telling the truth after all. “What do you want in return?”
“You have already killed the others who were involved,” Neji spat defiantly, “Leave the rest alone! I’m the only one left who was involved in catching the kitsune hanyou!”
The short haired ninja began sobbing as another ninja boy with a dog on his head, held her close. He growled and stared at the tanuki hanyou, menacingly for making his girl cry. The other ninja were just as scared, angry, and anxious as he, all eyes now on the redhead who had become silent.
After several agonizing minutes, the tanuki hanyou turned back to Neji. “Take that off,” he ordered, indicating his hitai-ate. “Your life is mine now.”
The boy grimly nodded and obeyed, letting the metal and cloth headband drop to the forest floor with a dull metallic thud. There was a shriek from one of the kunoichi and Neji winced, knowing just who had screamed. ‘Sorry Hinata,’ he silently whispered, ‘Minna, gomen.’
The redhead stared at the curse mark carved into the boy’s forehead. ‘He’s a slave,’ he thought, finally realizing why the boy had offered to sacrifice himself. ‘Just like Naruto.’ It was definitely settled, the boy would be leaving this disgusting place with him and to hell with any who stood in the tanuki hanyou’s way.
Nodding approvingly at the former leaf ninja’s obedience, Gaara released the blonde kunoichi and turned to leave. “Any of you attack me and the whole village dies,” he warned, not bothering to acknowledge the hateful looks he was sure they were giving him.
“Please,” Neji said to them, “Listen to him. It’s for the best. It was my fate to sacrifice myself to save Konoha.”
“Come,” Gaara commanded, growing impatient with the delay.
Neji gave his friends and teammates one last forlorn look then began to follow his new master into the forest.
~TBC~
Kyuubi: I’m waiting for you to explain ningen.
Sakura: Gomen, Kyuu-san. I really, really, really didn’t want to do that to poor Naru.
Naruto: Then why’d the hell did you do it?! You’ve gotta be one wacked out lady. First you stick me with that snake freak then teme’s older brother! What is wrong with you?!
Zelgadis: She’s nuttier than Martina, that’s what’s wrong.
Sakura: I heard that stone boy! Chill out Naru-chan!
Naruto: I will not chill out! You better start explaining or I’ll sick Kyuubi on ya!
Sakura: You do that and you won’t find out what happens next.
Naruto: Like I really care. What happens next?
Sakura: Ain’t telling kit. Not if you’re gonna be such a gaki about everything. Sasuke’s bratty enough as it is I don’t need another gaki running around.
Naruto: Aww c’mon!!! Tell me! Tell me! I’ll be nice! Believe it!
Sasuke: I am not bratty.
Sakura: Yes you are! And I’m still not telling Naru-chan. You’ll have to find out like everyone else.
Naruto: Hey no fair!
Sakura: Pouting’s not gonna work this time kit – as kawaii as that is. Anyhoo, you know the drill, you review lots, I post the next part quicker. Jya ne!!
By Sakura (aka L-sama no miko)
Part 2
The younger tengu paused, letting the sword hang limply at his side. He didn’t need to turn around to see who had interrupted him. “I figured you’d find me sooner or later, aniki,” he said stoically. “After all, I did run off before you could thank me for helping with destroying our clan.”
“I didn’t make you do anything you already didn’t want to, Sasuke,” the older hafbreed said just as emotionlessly.
“The hell you did! You dared to use our clan’s secret technique on me and brainwashed me into killing our parents!”
There was a sardonic chuckle from the taller man. “Admit it otouto. You felt the same way as I did. They were only holding us back. You and I are not meant for such a simple, servile life.”
“WE ARE NOTHING ALIKE!” shouted Sasuke as he raised the Kusanagi and lunged at him. Smirking faintly the taller man stepped aside at the last possible second, making his younger brother stumble, forcing to use his former sensei’s sword as a crutch to keep himself from falling embarrassingly on his face.
The older of the two then turned his attention back to the still sleeping kitsune. “Now, why would you want to mar such a lovely thing, I wonder?” he said running a finger along the kitsune boy’s bare back. Said hanyou shivered and murmured in his sleep, snuggling closer to the rapidly cooling corpse. The weasel tengu gave a wry smile before bending down again, this time to pick up the blond. He was the real reason he was there after all. It was about the time when the now deceased naga would hand over his leftovers to him to sell off to some slaver somewhere.
“Don’t you dare ignore me!” shouted Sasuke, “Itachi!”
“Impatient as ever I see,” he said as he began leaving the cave. “If you wish to die, otouto, then by all means go ahead. Fight me. Otherwise, get stronger Sasuke. Get stronger and let that hate you feel for me grow. You’re still too weak to beat me as you are now.”
“Damn you, Itachi!” the younger tengu bellowed, rushing his brother again only to miss yet again and receive a judo chop to the neck. Within moments Sasuke slumped to the floor, unconscious.
“Pathetic,” Itachi muttered coldly. The bundle in his arms started to squirm and the bluest sapphires he’d ever laid eyes on, blinked confusedly at him. He gave the kitsune boy the tiniest of smiles, one that caused icy fingers to dance up and down the blond’s spine. “Go back to sleep little one,” he whispered, holding the hanyou’s gaze with his now red and black eyes.
Naruto fought against the hypnotic eyes as long as he could, desperately calling out for his ‘Rochi-sama.’ However, no rescue came. The kitsune boy lost the battle and his eyes reluctantly fluttered closed.
Smirking smugly to himself, he slumped the boy over one shoulder, confident the jutsu would hold for quite some time.
“Oi, what’s that you go there?” a man with pale blue skin, beady white eyes and gills just below each eye asked, “Sure don’t look like the usual leftovers.”
The man’s eyes narrowed, flashing a dangerous red as they glared at his ‘friend’. “Never you mind Kisame,” he said, warningly. “Let’s go.”
Knowing well enough to drop it, the shark hanyou shrugged his shoulders as he picked up the enormous zanbatou he kept insisting on lugging everywhere. “I was getting bored anyway,” he said, “There’s nothing here to kill.”
Shaking his head to himself, Itachi left the forest clearing not bothering to wait for the other hanyou.
Naruto found himself bound to a cross-like structure. All around him was nothing but an eerie blackness lit only by an even eerier blood red moon. “’R-Rochi-sama?” he asked, shaking when he found he was unable to move.
He yelped in pain as a pale hand struck a whiskered cheek. Looking forward, he saw the naga before him, an evil glint in his usually kind golden eyes. “You are to address me properly!” he hissed, “You will call me master!”
The little kitsune hanyou stared at him in utter shock. Gone was the gentle loving man he’d come to care for so much. “B-But… I thought… I thought…”
“I loved you?” sneered the snake demon. He gave off a heartless laugh. “Foolish little kitsune! You should have known by now we snakes like to play with our prey.” He laughed again, noticing the crystalline tears that were fighting their ways down Naruto’s cheeks. “Time to learn your true place, pet.”
The blond gulped as the naga advanced, lust clearly written all over the pale face. “P-Please don’t!” he pleaded, not wanting his first time to be like this. “I-I don’t want it like this! It’s n-not right!”
Orochimaru glowered then wrapped his tail around the boy’s throat, squeezing harshly. “It doesn’t matter what you want,” he hissed, “I am the master here. Now if you wish to remain alive for a bit longer, I would suggest you be a good little slave and obey your master.”
A look of infinite hurt made itself known on the kitsune boy’s face. The betrayal of the person he loved most in the world had cut deep, very deep. He whimpered as the coils tightened, cutting off more of Naruto’s precious air supply. He was broken. Using what little strength he had left, he hung his head in defeat, resigning himself to being this demon’s slave.
“Good boy,” the naga said smugly, “I knew you had some sense in that pathetically empty head of yours.” Naruto said nothing, just allowed himself to hang limply against the invisible bounds. “If you’re as good as I think you’ll be,” Orochimaru said, running his long forked tongue along the hanyou’s bare body, “I just may keep you a bit longer.”
The blond didn’t even shudder when the naga leant into kiss him forcibly on the lips. It was as if he were naught but a fine china doll. “Now this won’t do,” tsked Orochimaru, “Not at all.” He then smirked evilly, licking his fangs. With the lightning speed of a king cobra, he lunged forward and bit hard into the kitsune boy’s jugular. He smiled to himself as Naruto shrieked and yowled in pain as the venom began coursing through his veins.
Orochimaru hung on a few more seconds, making sure this particular venom had been properly administered and dispersed. When he deemed he had injected enough, the naga had gone back to kissing his little slave. He didn’t have to wait long for it to take effect; the kitsune hanyou was moaning seconds into the second kiss. “That’s much better,” he hissed conceitedly, letting a hand snake its way down to a very sensitive spot on Naruto’s anatomy.
He was in that blood red lit world again, chained once again to the cross by unseen bonds. This time his master was not there, instead stood a tall man with black hair, wings, reddish black weasel like ears and tail, and red, red, eyes. He couldn’t tell what this stranger was thinking for he could see no emotions on his face, none at all. “M-Master?” he whimpered, sapphire eyes darting back and forth for any sign of the naga.
The stranger continued to stare at the broken hanyou with that expressionless face of his. The blond began to whimper again, the need for his ‘master’ obviously written all over him. “He won’t be coming back,” he said with a tone that spoke of finality, “You belong to me now.”
The kitsune hanyou whimpered yet again, struggling against the bonds holding him to the smooth polished wood. “M-Master…” he moaned pitifully. There was the briefest of moments when something akin to pity flickered in the taller hanyou’s red and black depths only to be squashed and replaced with the lust he’d been feeling ever since he found the boy.
“Oi, you gonna let me have a turn this time?” his shark hanyou partner griped. The other man frowned, but paused. After a while of consideration, he stepped aside and allowed the shark man to approach the now, shaking and whimpering kitsune boy.
“I still say we should keep ‘im,” the shark hanyou grumbled as he and Itachi reached the desert’s edge. “I’m not done having fun with the brat.”
“The way he is now, he won’t last past the next day,” his weasel/tengu partner returned, shifting the unconscious blond slung over his shoulder. “Even if he were able to withstand the tsukuyomi, I still would not keep him. We can barely afford to feed ourselves Kisame. He’d only be a burden and a drain on our limited resources.”
“Awww, c’mon! You know I don’t eat that much.”
The weasel/tengu turned and glared at the shark man. “Out of the two of us, you eat the most. We will not keep him Kisame.” His aquatic ‘friend’ sighed and began grumbling under his breath. Once that hanyou made up his mind, there was no changing it.
Itachi spread his wings after gathering the kitsune hanyou into his arms. With a graceful leap, the weasel/tengu flew off deep into the desert. A few hours later, he returned, but not with their much smaller ‘toy.’
“We’re leaving Kisame,” he said emotionlessly as usual.
“Still say we should have kept ‘im,” Kisame grumbled, but followed Itachi back into the forest.
The redheaded tanuki hanyou stood before seemingly lifeless form lying on the golden sands. Light teal eyes gazed in a mixture of annoyance, curiosity, and perhaps even the slightest hint of pity. He and his troupe of desert bandits were returning from a successful raid on yet another foolish caravan that dared to cross his domain, when he had spotted something bright and yellow lying in their way.
“Yo, what is it Gaara?” a slightly older boy, black and white paint plastered all over his face. Glancing at what had held his half brother’s attention for the past few minutes, he let out a small gasp. Sprawled unceremoniously on the desert floor was a naked boy. No, not exactly a boy; some sort of half-breed like his younger brother. At least that’s what Kankurou thought it to be, it was rather difficult to tell with so many bruises, cuts, bites – not to mention the various other stuff – littering the blond creature’s otherwise pleasing form. He wasn’t even sure if the reddish lumps on what appeared to be its head were ears or not. “Poor little guy,” he said, pityingly. “Want me to give ‘im a proper burial?” he asked his younger brother.
The shorter redhead said nothing. Instead he stooped down and knelt beside the boy, reaching for what he hoped was his neck.
“Gaara! Don’t touch that thing!” cried an older girl about nineteen or twenty, her hair done in four odd blond pigtails. “You don’t know where it’s been! Besides it’s just some filthy hanyou that was stupid enough to get lost in the desert.”
Gaara whirled around, anger clearly sparking in the teal pools. Two sand colored ears appeared on his head and a sand and black striped tail appeared behind him, bristling furiously. “Is that what you think of me Temari?” he asked accusingly, his otherwise velvet smooth voice, harsh as the grains they were now surrounded by. A coil of sand hung suspended dangerously close to her throat.
Temari gulped, visibly shaken by her half brother’s sudden anger. She had never regretted her words more. She of all people should have known not to talk like that in front of Gaara – he was a hanyou himself after all. He had heard enough of that kind of talk from most of the people he was the ruler of; he didn’t need it from his only remaining kin. “I-I’m sorry!” she apologized, “I… I was only looking out for your safety. You know it doesn’t matter to me or Kankurou if you’re half tanuki. It’s just that we don’t see many other hanyou this far into the desert. And well, we’ve all been kinda stressed lately.”
Her half brother’s eyes flashed dangerously, but the rope of sand that had been poised to crush the girl’s windpipe broke apart and fell, dissipating into the golden sand below. Both older siblings let out matching breaths of relief. “Get something to cover him with,” the tanuki hanyou commanded, returning to his examination of the unconscious blond.
“R-Right!” Temari stammered, still shaken. The older blonde rushed back to their troupe and within seconds came back with a piece of white muslin, probably part of one of the tents they were adept at making.
Nodding in thanks and approval, Gaara took the cloth and carefully draped it over the smaller hanyou. With equal care and gentleness, he scooped the blond into his arms.
“Hey! Wait a sec!” Kankurou spoke up in protest, “You don’t have to do it, you know. I’ll make sure he won’t haunt us or anything.”
“He is not dead, Kankurou.” The redhead then strode past them, heading back to the troupe.
“He may as well be though,” Temari said, not to be hateful, but to try to get the rarely sympathetic hanyou to realize the facts. “Just look at him. There isn’t a spot on him that isn’t wounded.”
Gaara paused and glared at his half sister. “We have more than enough medicine with us. He will survive. That is all.” She sighed, knowing how stubborn the tanuki hanyou could get. She glanced at her brother and gave a shrug that clearly said, ‘might as well go along with this.’ The older of the males gave his own shrug and followed the other two back to the troupe in silence.
Gaara was good, she had to admit it. Not only did he manage to keep the blond kitsune hanyou – they were finally able to figure out what the blond creature had been – alive for the few days that it took to reach their village of Sunagakure no Sato, but managed to disguise him well enough to get past the guards. If they’d seen him carrying another hanyou into the village, they would have refused him entry, Kazekage or not.
Temari shook her head in disgust as they made their way through the narrow streets to the Kazekage’s palace. She really hated how the people had treated her half brother over the years, how she had been one of those who had bought into the whole ‘demons are pure evil’ bit when she was much younger and hadn’t learned that the same lonely little boy she and the other children would bully, tease or just plain run away from was really her half brother. She had almost completely changed after finding that out, though she would occasionally slip and make a mistake like she had done back in the desert.
Gaara glared at the healers as he entered the palace infirmary, daring any of them to come near the blond bundle in his arms. He knew all too well how ‘well’ they would treat patients who weren’t humans. “We’ll be taking care of him,” he said in a tone that left no room for objection.
“Y-Yes K-Kazekage-sama,” stammered one woman before dashing out of there. Soon the room was empty for the other healers had evacuated, fearing their leader’s wrath.
“My, what’s all the fuss about?” an old woman asked. She was one of the few who weren’t cowed by the hanyou’s short temper – she was the boy’s great-grandmother after all. “Oh my!” she cried, seeing what her great-grandson had been carrying. “Get him onto a bed!” she ordered.
“We found him out in the desert, Granny Chiyo,” Kankurou explained, as Gaara gingerly laid his bundle on one of the cots, “About two or three days from here.”
The old woman’s eyes widened in surprise. “You poor dear,” she muttered as she began to examine the kitsune hanyou. “Well it’s a miracle he’s even breathing. Your work I assume?” she asked of the redheaded hanyou. Gaara nodded. “Couldn’t have done any better myself,” she praised, a brief glint shone in the tanuki’s teal eyes, “Well done Gaara-kun. I’ll take it from here.”
“I’m staying,” Gaara protested.
Chiyo chuckled softly. “Suit yourself, but you help.”
The tanuki hanyou nodded, going to fetch some disinfectant and fresh bandages.
The red haired hanyou sat beside his bed, having moved the blond to his own rooms since he hardly slept anyway. His older siblings had tried to get him to leave at least to eat, but he refused to budge from the room and had been there ever since he had brought the hanyou home to Suna. He had all meals brought to him there as well as whatever business required his attention as the leader of a village and desert bandits. He wanted to be the one to be there for the boy should he… when he woke up. He refused to let himself think otherwise. This boy would wake up and he would need someone who wasn’t prejudiced against hanyou to help him heal.
He carefully ran a finger over one of the scars covering the boy’s eyes. It had astounded and enraged him when his great-grandmother had said they were self inflicted. Whatever the poor blond had gone through must have been terrible if he had tried to gouge he own eyes out.
He frowned, forcing the anger of his tanuki side into the dark reaches of his mind until he had a proper target for that anger. “Whoever did this will suffer,” he vowed, even though the kitsune hanyou couldn’t hear. He sat still for a while longer, occasionally stroking one of the boy’s hands or the soft sun silk hair. He almost jumped out of his skin when the blond began to moan quietly. He watched raptly as the kitsune boy’s eyelids fluttered a few times before revealing pupilless milky white.
Gaara stifled the angry growl that threatened to escape his throat, it wouldn’t do any good to scare the boy – nor would it restore his eyesight. His great-grandmother’s suspicions were right, the kitsune hanyou’s eyes were beyond repair. “You shouldn’t move so fast,” he said quickly pushing the boy back onto the bed upon seeing him trying to sit up and get off.
The shorter hanyou let out a tiny whimper, but didn’t struggle when he felt arms surround him and put him into a half laying, half sitting position. The redhead had gone to fetch a glass of water that had been left nearby a few hours ago when he felt something latch onto his sleeve. He curiously watched as the blond pulled at him until he was now practically lying on top of him. His light teal eyes widened in shock as the kitsune hanyou began to kiss and nuzzle his neck, light touches ghosting under his shirt. Moaning at the butterfly touches and licks, nips, and kisses, the taller hanyou clenched the bed covers in tight fists.
Gaara was hard pressed to continue with this, but quickly grabbed the wandering hands before they had him completely undone, causing him to do something he’d regret the rest of his life. “No,” he growled out, barely managing to make it sound less frightening. “You don’t have to do that. Not ever.” He pushed his tanuki side away again when he felt the beast rage at the blond’s behavior. Now he knew part of what had driven the boy to self mutilation, he had been used as a sex slave!
He had never really cared when he heard such stories of half-breeds like him being sold into slavery, he had even sold a few himself – it didn’t concern him, besides he’d never seen what could happen. Now that he had seen for himself what the effects of being sold into slavery could do to a person, he regretted ever selling out others like him. He growled lowly, hating himself with every passing second. ‘Never again,’ he swore silently. ‘I will never sell our prisoners again.’
“M-Master?” came a tiny whimpering and hoarse voice from the bed.
Pitying teal eyes glanced at the trembling form before him. “I am no master,” he said, placing a gentle hand on one tear stained cheek.
The blond leaned into the touch, somewhat grateful for the kindness he was being shown. “Where…” he whimpered again.
“You’re in my home,” the redhead replied.
“Where’s master?” the kitsune boy sniffled, still trembling, not understanding what it was that was wanted of him.
Teal eyes narrowed in fury and hate. Gaara was glad the other hanyou couldn’t see him, he was sure he looked pretty scary right now. “No masters here,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “You are free. Understand? You are my guest.”
“F-Free? Guest?” he parroted.
Gentle hands wiped away the remaining few tears, making the smaller boy to lean into the touches. “You may do whatever you want,” he said. “But you need to go slow for now.”
“Free…” the blond sniffled. He was free, but he felt like he was dying inside. If he was ‘free’ it meant that his master had no longer wanted him for real. He had hoped what the tall raven haired stranger had said was nothing but a nightmare – he’d even tore at his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look at that evil man’s emotionless face anymore, but it appeared that the naga had truly no longer wanted him. “M-Master!” he bawled before sobbing his heart and throwing himself at this new stranger.
Gaara stared at the whimpering and sobbing blond for a while, never having been the one to give comfort before. He then remembered the time he watched a mother comfort her crying child after it had scraped its knee. He tentatively wrapped his arms around the kitsune hanyou and ran a hand over the bare back while the other held the sunlit head close to his cloth covered chest and stroked the blond locks. He hadn’t been close enough to hear what the woman had said, but it seemed that words weren’t needed, for the gentle movements seemed to be working.
There was a knock at the door, but he ignored it, choosing to continue comforting the boy. Whoever it was should know to go away if he didn’t answer. “Alright Gaara,” came his half sister’s voice, “Enough is enough. You’ve been cooped up in there…”
There was a gasp as the blonde desert bandit strode into the room. Temari then smirked at the sight of her little brother hugging the smaller hanyou. “Hey Kankurou!” she shouted into the hall, ignoring the deadly glare the redhead was giving her. “You’ve gotta see this!”
“What’s up Temari?” the middle one of the siblings asked peeking from his room.
“Just hurry up and get in here!” she ordered, shaking at her head at the paint still smeared on his face. How the guy could wear that stuff all the time, she’d never understand.
“Okay, okay. Take it easy will ya,” Kamkurou muttered coming over to his younger brother’s suite. “So what’s the big fuss?”
Temari turned around to see that the redhead had gotten up from the bed and was now standing, glaring at them. “Aww, you moved!” she cried pouting. “You missed the cutest thing,” she said to her eldest brother. “Gaara was hugging the kid.”
Kankuro did a double take. Did she just put ‘Gaara’ and ‘hug’ in the same sentence?! He glared at his onee-chan. “You know I hate pranks, Temari. That wasn’t funny.”
“No seriously,” she said giggling. “He was really hugging him. It’s not my fault you were too slow.”
The eldest of the male siblings glanced over to his younger half-brother. Gaara just continued to glare at them for one: interrupting him and two: Temari making a fuss over what he’d been doing. “Oh jeez, you really are serious,” he said. “It’ll start snowing in the middle of Suna next.” It would have to since his younger hanyou sibling had done something he was dead certain that he’d never ever do.
“You’re scaring him,” came said hanyou’s cold voice.
The older two then looked over to the blond on the bed, the sheets pulled up to his chin and fear clearly shown in the sightless eyes. “Hey, it’s okay little guy,” Kankuro said, trying to sound as friendly as could.
“We won’t hurt you,” Temari said, having better luck getting the blond to stop trembling. “We’re Gaara’s brother and sister. I’m Temari. The idiot over there’s Kankurou.” There was a short ‘Oi!’ from the older male but she and Gaara both shut him up with matching death glares. “You already met Gaara I see.”
The kitsune hanyou looked between the three, not sure as to what was going on. He knew the first of these people had said he could do whatever he wanted now. He had even comforted him when he couldn’t stop crying, but he still wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or awake.
“No one will hurt you here,” the first of the three had said again. “I will not allow it.”
The smaller hanyou stopped trembling slightly. There was something comforting about his velvet voice. ‘I wish I could see what he looks like,’ he thought, finding that he needed to see the face of the one who held him.
Temari and Kankurou stared at their younger half brother. Never had they ever seen him act like this. The Gaara they knew was a cold, aloof bastard who cared for no one, not even them. They then turned to look at the smaller hanyou. It was true that he was easy on the eyes, but there had been nothing special about his looks. It had to be that lost and helpless air he kept giving off. Yes, that had to be what was making the redhead act like that. This kitsune was like a little lost abandoned and abused kitten.
“Well, we’ll leave you two alone now,” the blonde said, grabbing hold of her brother.
“Hey! Not so hard Temari!” Kankuro protested, as she dragged him from the room.
The kitsune hanyou stared after them, listening to the retreating footsteps since he couldn’t see. He felt the bed shift and jumped slightly as it sank a bit beneath the added weight.
“Here,” the velvet voiced person said, pressing something smooth and cold into his hands. “Water,” he explained upon seeing the boy’s confusion. Nodding in thanks, the blond took a sip from the ceramic cup.
He stood outside the blond’s door, not sure how to tell him. Over the past few months he had found himself wanting to spend more and more time with the little blond, even if was just to watch him stare blindly out the window, which seemed to be Naruto’s favorite pastime.
Gaara had spent months on this particular mission, and now that he’d finally completed it, he didn’t how to give his guest the news. He had finally learned what really happened to the poor kitsune boy.
After he had gotten the kitsune hanyou to trust him, Naruto – he had introduced himself as – had then launched into how the people of Konohagakure no Sato had captured him and sacrificed him to a naga that had been terrorizing them for the past twenty years. That enraged the redheaded tanuki hanyou greatly, but he fought against his baser instincts and made himself stay still as Naruto’s tale continued.
Things had gone well with the naga actually. The snake demon had taken a shine to the little blond and Naruto had eventually fallen in love with him after having been living with him for a month or so. But that was when things all went to hell. According to the blond, his lover had turned on him, telling him it was only a joke; that the naga had been playing with him all along. He then went to say that Naruto was his slave and proceeded to rape him while he’d been chained to some weird cross thing.
That had broken more than just his heart, the fire in his spirit had started to die down as well. The rapes and beatings went on for months, always in the same frightening red and black world he would find himself in upon waking. Then one day, he had woken to find that his ‘master’ had vanished, leaving him at the mercy of a ‘weasel/bird man’ and a ‘fish man.’ The weasel/bird man had told him that he was theirs now. By then the fire had completely died and the timid and overly obedient Naruto before him was all that was left.
When asked why he had destroyed his own eyes, the kitsune hanyou sadly replied that he did it so he wouldn’t have to see his ‘master’s’ evil red and black eyes anymore. They had absolutely frightened him like nothing ever had. He even said that they’d still haunt him as he slept, causing him to have horrible nightmares.
The redhead then immediately ordered his best spies to seek out a certain weasel/tengu hanyou and his sharky partner. There was a certain ally to seek out as well. He knew them all too well. He even had helped the weasel/tengu and his partner capture a few hanyou to sell to slavers along with the ningen they would bring after paying Suna’s ally a visit. He swore that he would make one Itachi of the Uchiha tengu clan and Kisame of the Hoshigaki shark demon clan suffer for what they had done. As for the naga, well he’d get to him too, just as soon as he beat his whereabouts from the other two. And there was the matter of the village of Konohagakure to deal with as well.
Those who had hurt his precious guest were now food for the desert. After having made sure they would suffer a slow and painful death – he buried them up to their necks in cocoons of sand with flesh eating scarabs – he had released what was left of them and left them lying exposed to the harsh entity that was the desert. An evil smirk appeared on his face at that memory. Oh he enjoyed watching them writhe and scream as the insects voraciously ate at their flesh. It was a shame that they hadn’t lasted longer. Oh well. He had gotten what he wanted from them anyway – the truth.
Deciding he’d been stalling enough, the tanuki hanyou gave a soft knock on the door. A moment later a soft, timid “Hai?” came from the other side. Taking that as an invitation, Gaara opened the door and cautiously stepped into the room he’d been sharing off and on with the blond.
A small sad smile appeared on the redhead’s face as he watched the blond sitting by the window, his sightless eyes peering at the village outside. “Gaara-sama you’re back!” the kitsune boy cried and immediately glomped the taller hanyou.
He frowned at the –sama. He still hadn’t gotten Naruto to stop calling him his master. But he couldn’t stay mad for long. Not with a happy kitsune hanyou nuzzling his chest. He allowed himself the tiniest of smiles at that. “How did you know it was me?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“I smelled your scent,” he replied, grinning widely. Gaara just smiled back – though the blond couldn’t see it. “I’ve missed you so much!” Naruto said again, tightening his arms around Gaara, scared he too would disappear, like the kind, gentle naga he still loved.
The tanuki hanyou chuckled softly as he picked up the blond and carried him back to the plush window seat. “There is something I have to tell you,” he said sitting down, making sure his guest was situated comfortably in his lap. Naruto gave a contented sigh before what had been said to him sunk in. Upon the seriousness of Gaara’s tone, he let out a stifled whimper.
‘He’s going to leave me too!’ he inwardly wailed.
Sensing the kitsune hanyou’s distress, the redhead began to stroke his hair, hoping to reassure the little one. “I found those who hurt you,” he said, frowning at the sudden stiffening of the blond. “They will never hurt you, or anyone else, again.” Naruto let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. Did he mean what he thought he meant? “I made sure myself.”
The blond turned around and buried his face in Gaara’s chest, then began to shake and sob uncontrollably. After what seemed an eternity of listening to the kitsune boy’s cries, they had suddenly stopped just as they had started. “T-Thank y-you Gaara-sama,” he sniffled, wiping at his eyes.
The taller hanyou gently took Naruto’s hands away and carefully brushed away the tears for him. “There is something else you should know,” he said. The blond looked up at him expectantly as well as fearfully. “It concerns that naga you told me about.”
“M-Master?” he asked, trembling again. Was he being given back to him?!
“I’m sorry, Naruto.” The blond’s lower lip shook, his milky white eyes on the verge of tears again. “What you thought to be that naga wasn’t him.”
“N-Nani?!” he stuttered wide eyed.
Gaara began to rub soothing patterns on the blond’s back, pleased that he had had put on a bit more weight since he left. “That ‘weasel/bird man’ had used a very powerful genjustu on you. He made you see what he wanted you to.” Naruto stared at him utterly confused. That hadn’t been ‘Master’? It was all a trick?!
“I forced it out of him,” the tanuki hanyou continued, “He told me that he had gone to the naga’s base to ‘deal’ with his younger brother when he found the naga dead and his brother about to kill you.” The blond gasped. The snake demon was dead?! Sasuke-teme had killed him and was going to kill him too?! Why?! It was true that the two had hated each other the moment they’d met, but Naruto hadn’t done anything to make the tengu want to kill him.
“M-Master is…”
“I’m sorry Naruto,” Gaara said again, pityingly. “There is nothing more I can do.”
The blond surprised him again by latching onto him and turning on the waterworks. He was sure Naruto had cried himself out the last time. An hour or so later, Gaara carefully rose from the seat and laid the now sleeping kitsune hanyou on the bed, making sure he was properly tucked in and comfortable.
It had gone a lot better than he’d thought, though it pained him greatly that poor Naruto had reacted the way he did. He knew he had nothing to do with what Itach had forced the kitsune boy to go through, but he couldn’t help but feel guilty; that he was somehow responsible.
He stroked one whiskered cheek and kissed the shorter hanyou’s forehead. Gaara then brushed a hand over the tattoo he now sported on his forehead. He had done it himself, using the over abundant sand to blast the ancient symbol for ‘love’ into the skin. When asked by his older siblings why he’d done it, he had said, ‘I was a monster who loved only himself.’ That blood red mark would forever serve as a reminder of the grave sins he’d done to his kind as well as a symbol of his desire to atone. Neither Temari nor Kankurou said anything, choosing to just accept it as one of their half-brother’s many quirks.
The tanuki hanyou turned and silently left, going to start on his next mission – revenge on the ningen.
The red haired tanuki hanyou laughed maniacally as he watched half the village burn and his merry band of bandits scurry about, looting, pillaging, and just generally having a good old time. Temari stood behind him with Kankurou, both humans frowning. They hadn’t approved of Gaara’s desire to attack Konohagakure for revenge, but could do nothing. In their eyes, it was either let the tanuki hanyou have his way or risk having him gradually go nuts and start attacking random people in Suna until he got it, just like he did when he had been a child. So they let him do as he pleased to the Fire Country village.
Gaara stopped in mid laugh as several ninja appeared at the village gate. He stared at them quizzically, as none of them were bothering to draw any of their weapons. “You’ve won,” spat a pink haired kunoichi bitterly, “Take what you want and go!”
The tanuki hanyou laughed again. “What I want,” he said smirking evilly, “Is for all of you ningen to die!” He then released the sand from the gourd he had strapped to his back. The golden yellow substance moved as though it was a living thing, and quick as a snake, it soon had the poor girl completely buried. “Sabaku Sousou!” he said, gradually closing his fist. The others watched in horror as the mound of sand began to shrink in upon itself. There was the sickening crunch of bones breaking and within seconds, an enormous fountain of red spurted from the still imploding sand. Those nearest scrambled away, not wanting to get drenched in the poor girl’s blood.
“We surrendered!” cried a blonde ponytailed kunoichi, “You didn’t have to do that!”
Gaara turned his bloodlust filled teal eyes on her and she shrieked; backing up before being paralyzed by the immense aura of murder he was now giving off. “You wish to die next.” It wasn’t a question.
“No!” cried a boy with white pupilless eyes, his sleek dark chocolate hair held back by the hitai-ate of a ninja. Gaara whirled about and turned to face this new fool. “This is about that kitsune hanyou isn’t it?”
All eyes turned to stare at the white eyed ninja. They had all forgotten about that incident except for him. The blond’s screams and curses had haunted him ever since he’d been dragged off into the forest. After all, he too had been dealt a fate he couldn’t fight against, no matter how he wanted to.
“You’re here to avenge him aren’t you?”
“What of it?” the tanuki hanyou asked icily, impatient to get along with the massacre.
“But that was months ago Neji!” the blonde kunoichi interrupted. “It’s probably nothing but bones by…” She was abruptly cut off by a snake like tendril of sand, slowly crushing her windpipe.
“You will not speak of Naruto like that,” the redhead said venomously.
“What if I were to give myself up?” the ninja called Neji asked bravely approaching the psychotic hanyou. “I was one of those who helped capture him.”
“N-Neji-ni-niisan!” cried a shorthaired kunoichi with similar features as his. “Y-You c-can’t d-do t-this!” she pleaded.
“Shut up Hinata!” he spat back at her, making her ‘eep’ in surprise, “I am partially responsible for all this, I must do what I can to make amends.”
Gaara stared at the boy who was now mere inches away from him. He did have to admit, this ningen was rather pleasing to look at. And he could sense he was no weakling either, there was a strength hidden in that boy. “What would I do with a forest ningen when I have many who already obey me?” he asked. He was considering on taking this pretty boy up on his offer, but it all depended on his answer.
“That may be true, but I am certain you could always use another fighter,” Neji replied, “I am skilled both in taijutsu and my clan is heir to a rare technique as well.”
“N-Neji-nii-niisan!” the shorthaired kunoichi protested again.
That had the tanuki hanyou’s interest piqued; such a ninja would indeed be useful. “What sort of rare technique?”
Neji took a deep breath, steeling himself before answering. “I can see the chakra network of people.” The veins surrounding the pupilless eyes suddenly bulged, stretching the pale skin, making them clearly visible. “I can even see yours. I can see it flowing into that sand of yours.”
Gaara stood still for a few moments, running this new piece of information in his head. He decided to test the boy to see if he was telling the truth. He then slowed the flow of his chakra into the sand, but not enough to allow his current victim room to breathe. To all of them present, it should appear that nothing had changed with the sand at all. He then looked back at the smug looking ninja.
“You slowed the flow just now,” he said, still smirking smugly.
There was a brief flash of surprise in the teal eyes. So this ningen was telling the truth after all. “What do you want in return?”
“You have already killed the others who were involved,” Neji spat defiantly, “Leave the rest alone! I’m the only one left who was involved in catching the kitsune hanyou!”
The short haired ninja began sobbing as another ninja boy with a dog on his head, held her close. He growled and stared at the tanuki hanyou, menacingly for making his girl cry. The other ninja were just as scared, angry, and anxious as he, all eyes now on the redhead who had become silent.
After several agonizing minutes, the tanuki hanyou turned back to Neji. “Take that off,” he ordered, indicating his hitai-ate. “Your life is mine now.”
The boy grimly nodded and obeyed, letting the metal and cloth headband drop to the forest floor with a dull metallic thud. There was a shriek from one of the kunoichi and Neji winced, knowing just who had screamed. ‘Sorry Hinata,’ he silently whispered, ‘Minna, gomen.’
The redhead stared at the curse mark carved into the boy’s forehead. ‘He’s a slave,’ he thought, finally realizing why the boy had offered to sacrifice himself. ‘Just like Naruto.’ It was definitely settled, the boy would be leaving this disgusting place with him and to hell with any who stood in the tanuki hanyou’s way.
Nodding approvingly at the former leaf ninja’s obedience, Gaara released the blonde kunoichi and turned to leave. “Any of you attack me and the whole village dies,” he warned, not bothering to acknowledge the hateful looks he was sure they were giving him.
“Please,” Neji said to them, “Listen to him. It’s for the best. It was my fate to sacrifice myself to save Konoha.”
“Come,” Gaara commanded, growing impatient with the delay.
Neji gave his friends and teammates one last forlorn look then began to follow his new master into the forest.
~TBC~
Kyuubi: I’m waiting for you to explain ningen.
Sakura: Gomen, Kyuu-san. I really, really, really didn’t want to do that to poor Naru.
Naruto: Then why’d the hell did you do it?! You’ve gotta be one wacked out lady. First you stick me with that snake freak then teme’s older brother! What is wrong with you?!
Zelgadis: She’s nuttier than Martina, that’s what’s wrong.
Sakura: I heard that stone boy! Chill out Naru-chan!
Naruto: I will not chill out! You better start explaining or I’ll sick Kyuubi on ya!
Sakura: You do that and you won’t find out what happens next.
Naruto: Like I really care. What happens next?
Sakura: Ain’t telling kit. Not if you’re gonna be such a gaki about everything. Sasuke’s bratty enough as it is I don’t need another gaki running around.
Naruto: Aww c’mon!!! Tell me! Tell me! I’ll be nice! Believe it!
Sasuke: I am not bratty.
Sakura: Yes you are! And I’m still not telling Naru-chan. You’ll have to find out like everyone else.
Naruto: Hey no fair!
Sakura: Pouting’s not gonna work this time kit – as kawaii as that is. Anyhoo, you know the drill, you review lots, I post the next part quicker. Jya ne!!