Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Three ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: mine? don't think so.

Translations:

hentai: pervert or perverted

oyaji: old man

ai: love

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Three

by: Lostlily

Chapter 6

Gaara, Naruto, and Yuri traveled throughout the night and half the morning before they decided to take a break. They picked a resting spot right next to a smoothly flowing stream that ended with a small pool of water. Naruto volunteered to catch some fish, while Yuri went off to collect some firewood, and Gaara...well, he opted to just lean against a tree with his arms crossed and watch their stuff.

Soon, they had a nice fire going and three large fish roasting. After their meal, they were content to rest a while before moving on. Naruto stretched out on his back and stared up at the clouds floating overhead. He could remember doing something like this during missions with his team. He could almost picture Kakashi-sensei sitting up in a tree reading his hentai book and Sasuke brooding by the fire while Sakura-chan prattled on about one thing or another. He glanced at his current companions. Gaara was sitting on a large rock, staring off into space while Yuri was a small distance away from them, picking flowers.

He had known Sasuke and Sakura for most of his life and they had even become very important people to him over the past two years. Yet, even though they were his teammates and they had been through so much together, being with them didn't feel the same as being with Gaara and Yuri. All the friends he had made would never understand him they way these two did. He felt more comfortable with these two people than he felt with his own teammates. With these two, he had nothing to hide.

Smiling with contentment, Naruto then yawned and drifted off to sleep.

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Yuri plucked another flower from a bush, then placed it on her lap with the others she picked, adding to the colorful array. She lifted one up and inhaled its sweet fragrance. She loved flowers and back at the Hidden Cloud Village, she would spend hours sitting on the hill just outside the village, just because it was covered with all sorts of flowers. It was on that hill that she had first met Akuma-anki.

-flashback-

Yuri hummed to herself softly as she lightly ran her fingertips over the soft petals of the flowers in front of her. Today was a special day. Today she had earned the title of genin. But she didn't graduate at the academy with the other kids. Instead, her private tutor solemnly gave her a forehead protector and told her that she was now a genin. She glanced towards the village where she knew other kids who graduated from the academy that same day were probably celebrating with their families. 'Chichiue didn't even come to see me today...'

She looked down at the flowers a bit sadly. Sometimes she wished she was a flower. A flower's existence was so simple. Grow, bloom, and die, making the way for other flowers to grow. She sighed, as she spotted from the corner of her eye, the jounin that was sent to watch over her. He wasn't really there to keep danger from her, but was there to keep her from endangering others.

As she usually did, she decided to ignore the shinobi and instead, concentrated on her flowers. Most of the time, she wouldn't see her jounin guards and the times when she did, they would always keep far away from her, but this jounin was different. She picked up her basket of flowers and stood, ready to return to the village.

The young girl became startled as a shadow suddenly fell across her. She looked up and found herself staring into a pair of cold, magenta-colored eyes. Dark bangs recklessly fell across a cloud forehead protector and a black cloth masked the rest of the face below the watchful eyes. This was a jounin that Yuri had never met before.

"Do you need help with that, Yuri-sama?" A smooth, deep voice politely asked her. Her mouth dropped open with surprise, then she stuttered, "I-iie, I'm f-fine." Her hands tightened around the handle of her basket. "A-ano...are you one of the guards sent by Chichiue?"

"Hai. I am Akuma." He studied her a moment, then his gaze strayed to the protector tied around her neck. "Congratulations on graduating, Yuri-sama."

Her eyes widened with disbelief. Why was he being to nice to her? She had a strange feeling inside, but she didn't know what it was. She gave a wary nod as she whispered softly, "Arigato..."

-end flashback-

Yuri stood up and carried her flowers over to the dying fire. She sat next to Naruto and began to weave the flowers together into a chain. The blond ninja smiled in his sleep and mumbled, "One more bowl of pork ramen please, oyaji!" The cloud-nin gave a small giggle at the boy's sleep talk.

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Gaara glanced at them from the corner of his eye. They seemed so carefree. It was something he wasn't used to. Back at the Hidden Sand Village, he learned that relaxing wasn't much of an option for him. He turned his head to watch the others more fully. It felt strange to be with them. He was barely used to spending time with his siblings and now here he was together with two genin from two different villages, striving for one common goal.

He looked towards the drooling blond boy, who slept peacefully amongst people he barely knew. At first glance, one would never have thought it possible that a boy like that could have the power to defeat such strong opponents such as Hyuuga Neji and Gaara of the Sand. He was a mystery. Gaara's first impression of the boy was that he was nothing more than a weak little bug, but as the Chuunin Exam progressed, Naruto slowly proved to the others that there was more behind his fox-like grins, than what they had expected.

Gaara gazed down at his reflection in the water flowing before him. In a way, Naruto had saved him from totally succumbing to the hate that had started to grow in him, since the night he was told of his father's order to have him assassinated. He watched as the pale green eyes staring back at him became sad as a single name floated through his mind, 'Yashamaru...'

-flashback-

Six-year-old Gaara was kneeling next to the bloody, broken body of his uncle, Yashamaru. A person that always watched out for him and was very precious to his heart. A person that had just attempted to kill him.

His hands clutched his head in confusion as he sobbed uncontrollably. He whimpered, "W-why...Why...Why is it...!? Why you...? Why...!? Why...?"

The dying shinobi quietly replied, "......It was an order."

The crying boy wiped at his tears as he said brokenly, "Always...You were always...Only you were my..."

Ever so softly, "I was ordered to assassinate you..."

Green eyes opened wide with disbelief, "...!?"

"By your father....Kazekage-sama."

Gaara was in shock. He couldn't believe what Yashamaru just said. He remembered the look on his father's face a few hours earlier when Gaara passed by him after killing a man out of a burst of emotion. 'Chichiue...' He covered his mouth as he felt the bile rise in his throat, but it was all too much. He bent over and vomited.

Yashamaru explained to him about why the Kazekage had ordered for the boy's death. He explained how Gaara had become too dangerous for the village. Though he was saddened to hear this, Gaara felt a small ray of hope pierce through him.

".....Then...Then....you had no choice. It was because of Chichiue..."

"No...You're mistaken. Yes, I did receive Kazekage-sama's order. But...I could've declined it if I wanted to..."

The red-haired boy felt the ray of hope fade away as he listened, his tears still flowing freely down his pale cheeks. "!?"

"Gaara-sama...Deep down inside...I must've always...Resented you..."

From then on, Gaara felt his whole world crumble around him. He listened on as the one person he thought he was precious to, began to tear his life and what little happiness he had, apart with his words. His mother never loved him. Yashamaru never loved him. He was never loved.

He was Gaara, 'A demon that loves only himself.'

After destroying the young child's illusions of his life, he made one last attempt to destroy the child himself. He activated the exploding talismans under his vest, "...This is it...Please die..."

The explosion was big, but it didn't affect the demon possessed child who was automatically shielded by sand. He just bowed his head, rage beginning to swell within his small body. His head snapped up and he yelled out with a crazed look in his eyes as sand suddenly flowed to the left part of his forehead. The sand fell away, leaving behind a bloody mark, the kanji 'ai'. As blood trickled over his left eye he felt like he finally understood. A picture of his older siblings and his father flashed through his mind. He wouldn't consider them as his family anymore. He was alone. All alone...

-end flashback-

Gaara knew his life was more different now than how it was before the Chuunin Exam. He wasn't so alone anymore. Despite their fear of Shukaku, he knew Temari and Kankuro were there for him. And now...his eyes strayed back to the girl and boy sitting by the fire, he had those that were like him.

Naruto had awakened and was now happily chatting with Yuri. They both noticed Gaara looking at them. Yuri smiled at him and Naruto gave a big grin with an enthusiastic wave.

Yes, he was definitely not alone anymore.

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-Konoha Village-

Sakura arrived at Naruto's apartment building, mildly surprised to find that Sasuke wasn't there yet. She glanced up at the sun. She wasn't late. Where was Sasuke?

Not wanting to enter by herself, the pink-haired shinobi leaned on the wall, deciding to wait for her teammate to arrive. But an hour passed and then another. Still no Sasuke. Feeling worried now, she quickly set off in the direction of Sasuke's home. A short while later, she stood in front of his door then, after hesitating a moment, gave a couple of knocks, calling out, "Sasuke-kun? Are you home? Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura nibbled on her lower lip, frowning now. He didn't appear to be home, but what was this strange feeling of apprehension that crept upon her? Something was wrong...very wrong, but what? What should she do?

After thinking long and hard about it, she said to herself, "I'll go talk to Hokage-sama. Maybe she could talk to Naruto or something and maybe she'll know when Kakashi-sensei will be back from his mission."

Sure with her decision, she marched off towards the Hokage's headquarters, not knowing that just beyond the door she had just left, lay the unconscious form of her dark-haired teammate.

A/N: hope you enjoyed this chapter. I delved a bit into Yuri and Gaara's past, neat huh? Gaara's flashback was pretty much straight from the manga, so it should be accurate. I know that there wasn't much action here, but I just wanted to take a moment to get to know the main characters themselves and show the budding bond between our demon possessed friends. Hopefully the next chapter will have a bit more action. Thanks for the reviews, they were all really great. I'm glad you guys want me to continue, so I'm going to do my best for you all. oh, and the subject of pairings came up like twice. to be honest, I wasn't really planning on having any pairings in this story, but if you guys really want me to, I can. I just kinda think that having couples might muddy up the story a bit. oh well, we'll see. plz review!! ja ne!!