A handsome red haired man strode down the hospital hallway quickly and with authority, his coat flapping furiously around his feet. A man in a doctor’s coat wearing spectacles went up to him. The Kazekage asked, “Is all well?”
“W-well sir,” the man stuttered nervously. “I b-believe that your wife passed away. We are all v-very sorry.”
Something flashed in the Kazekage’s indiscernible face. Grief? Regret? Whatever it was, it was gone quickly, leaving no trace behind.
“That was expected. What off the child. Healthy?”
The man looked increasingly nervous and stuttered all the more.
“Yes, sir. S-sir, there is something that w-we had not expected. There are-”
Before he could finish, the Kazekage opened the doors to the nursery and went in. He glanced at the crib, then turned on the man in a fury.
“Twins? You didn’t tell me she had twins!”
The man eeped and cowered in terror. A very nervous man indeed. For good reason. At this stressful moment, the Kazekage looked as though he would snap the man‘s neck.
Another man stepped in front of the Kazekage and said, “It was unexpected, sir. We did some tests on the children. It seems that the boy has the Shukaku in him, but it is very odd sir. The girl seems to be a part of the boy and the Shukaku. Look.”
The man motioned to the crib. Two babies were inside, both red haired, taking after their father. The boy was bigger than the girl, who was wailing continuously, while the boy watched them curiously. The boy had jade eyes, and the girl a deep emerald green.
“Watch.”
As they looked on, the small girl, turned to her brother. Seeing him, she quieted and reached out with her hand to touch him. To the surprise of the Kazekage, her hand disappeared into the boy, and she seemed to vanish into him in a few more seconds.
The Kazekage studied his children for a moment, than said, “Will this interfere with our plans for them?”
“No sir. I’ll demonstrate.”
The man removed a knife, and, lightning quick, thrust it towards the boy, who seemed to now be the only one in the crib. Sand rose and blocked the knife.
“I see.” said the Kazekage, who had not even blinked when the man tried to stab his children. “Names?”
“Your wife named the boy with her dying breath, sir( while cursing the entire village as well). His name is Gaara. We thought that you would want to name the girl.”
The Kazekage said with cold indifference, picking a random name from his mind, “Her name shall be Aiko.”
***
About 5 years later,
***
A little boy, of about the age of five and a half, looked out at a bunch of children playing, from a far off corner next to a building under a tree, where he would not be noticed.
Next to Gaara sat a little girl who looked similar to him, but more feminine, with long sharp bangs framing her soft, childish face, and short hair in the back..
She was looking up at her brother steadily, as though thinking deep and important thoughts of him. Her small frame is dressed in a pant and a too-long shirt that reached her knees and was tied around the middle with a belt. Shabby clothing, but hardly anyone has ever told her how to dress except Uncle Yashamaru, and anyway, she likes this type of loose clothing any how. When she had worn it, she had though of cutting the outside edge of the skirt with scissors, but her brother had firmly told her not to. He was already appalled at her fashion sense (or lack of it. He said she looked like something the cat dragged in.)
--Aiko--
I looked up at Gaara, my brother, and noticed his lonely look as he stared out towards the children. I’ve had that look many times on my face as well, and I know how he feels, what he‘s thinking.
Why do people treat us as monsters when we have something inside of us (mainly brother) that we never asked for? It’s their stinkin’ fault for sticking that stupid Shukaku in us in the first place! Sometimes I think they should thank us for keeping this guy inside of us if he’s so terrible.
I have the ability to make my substance (I don’t know what else to call it) go away so that I can go through things and stay inside of them,, but I can’t do it for long. I don’t know why I have this ability. Maybe it‘s like I have power over my molecules like Gaara has power over sand! Wow, I never thought of that.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I stay inside brother. Maybe because I stay inside Brother nobody knows how I look, except a very few. The outrageous rumors I’ve heard when I sneak out (I’m able to do that because nobody knows how I look) and mingle with the crowd! I’ve heard that I have three hideous heads, a crocodile’s tail, and tiger’s claws, and I’m cooped up ‘cuz if I was let loose I’d wreck havoc! Hah! Me? I’d never hurt a fly! Except for this annoying one which has been buzzing past my ear for ‘far’ too long.
I kicked my foot against the ground in anger as I tried to kill the pest, only succeeding in bringing up the sand around me, and I coughed and sighed, coming back to my original train of thought.
We’ve been isolated for all our lives. People looking at us with dreadful eyes, filled with hate and anger and fear. Those eyes that look as though they want to stab us to death..
I remember when our nurse fled from our house screaming with terror, and bleeding. Served her right! Trying to stab me, it was a good thing brother hurt her.
I’ve been ever so lonely. Maybe most would think that Gaara and i wouldn’t be lonely because we have each other, and it is true that I can’t imagine life without Gaara, but, the company of just me, myself, and Gaara is hardly fun. Being shunned and hated and run from like demons isn’t exactly great either.
Sometimes I sneak out and mingle with the children, listening to what they have to say of me and my brother. I search for someone who will play with us. There never is anyone. Everyone views us as monsters and despise us. I never stay long. It’s hard to stay inconspicuous if you’re remembered.
I give up on the fly and look out from our corner at the children wistfully. I wish to join them as well. Why do people think we are monsters?
I see a butterfly and follow it with my eyes as it flutters about. So beautiful. Maybe I can get Brother to catch it with his sand.
Suddenly, Gaara got up and went forward. I ran to him.
“What is it?” I asked.
He just pointed.
I saw the ball stuck on the top of the building.
I grinned at him. “Do you think they’ll like us if we get it down?”
He grinned back. “Yeah!”
“Then let’s go!”
I touched his shoulder, and my hand disappeared into him. Calmly, I stepped into him, disappearing entirely. Once, when I did this in front of a maid, she’d fainted. Funny. Maybe she’d thought I was a ghost or something.
I settled down, and Gaara went forward, stretching his hands out in front of him. Sand surrounded the ball, and it gently floated down to land in Brother‘s hands. The kids turned around and caught sight of Gaara.
Gaara held the ball out to them. They started muttering among themselves, and suddenly, they turned and ran , screaming. I could feel Gaara’s desperation and felt it myself. Why didn’t they like us? We got the ball for them. Why did they treat us like monsters?
Why?
Brother thrust his hands out and shouted, “Stop!”
The sand rushed forward, catching a girl on the foot and tripping her to the ground. She let out a scream, and suddenly there was a figure standing in front of her and the other children.
“No Gaara, Stop!”
The sand struck Yashamaru, and blood dripped down his hands. I and brother stopped.
Why? I answered my own question. Because to them we are monsters.
***
Yashamaru walked into the room, his hands bound with bandage. Gaara touched them gently.
“Do they hurt?”
I was sitting in a corner, studying a book about medicine. Maybe I could make one and cure Yashamaru.
“Radish leaf, Commomerant, Scieer… What the heck is all of this?” I murmured after a while, and looked up to ask Yashamaru. My heart skipped a beat as Yashamaru slit his own finger. Great! Now I had one more cut to heal. Men. I listened in on their conversation, and looked for ways to help small cuts.
“Hmm. Band aid! There’s band aid in the bathroom. Um, turmeric powder.” I looked up to see Yashamaru sucking the wound, and then Gaara taking the hand and sticking it in his own mouth. I threw my hands up in the air, book and all ( it landed on my foot a second later) and said, “Great, ’now’ you’re introducing bacteria to the wound!”
I stood up, stomped over to them, grabbed Yashamaru’s hand, and stuck it in my own mouth. At Yashamaru’s questioning look, I said sheepishly, “My mouwth doesn’t have any bacteria.”
He laughed, and Gaara grinned, and I glared.
Suddenly, Gaara smiled and said, “Can I ask you a favor?” to Uncle Yashamaru.
***
Gaara ran down the moonlit street happily, holding a bag of medicine in his hand. I was excited at his brilliant idea ( at least I didn‘t have to get Commomerant, whatever that was, and make the medicine. Brother was a genius!), and I asked Gaara from inside of him with my mind (I can‘t speak out loud in here) , ‘Gaara, do you think that girl will forgive us?’
‘Yeah, if we give her the medicine, I bet she will!’ answered Gaara, just as excited as I was. I grinned as we came up to the girl’s house and Brother rang the doorbell. Soon the door opened and the girl looked at us. When she saw us she scowled, but Gaara spoke before she could close the door. “I’m sorry. I know it must hurt. Here’s some medicine. It’ll make you feel better.”
Gaara smiled at the girl, but she slammed the door in our face, saying “Monster!” as she did so.
Me and Gaara were both in shock for a moment and we stared at the door. As Gaara turned around to go dejectedly back down the street, I slipped out of him, took form, and walked up to the door again, knocking.
I was furious. What right did that sack of bones with straw on her head have calling us monster?
I could here a scrambling sound on the other side of the door, and knew that the girl was getting a chair so she could look through the eyehole at me. Checking to make sure Gaara wasn’t still there. When she saw me, she opened the door and looked at me.
“Who are you?” she asked curiously.
I smiled sweetly at her and said, “I saw what happened this morning. I was wondering how you were, so I came here to check it out. Can I come in?”
The girl allowed me to come in, and I looked at the pictures of her and her family enviously. I wonder what it would be like to have ‘real’ parents.
She led me to a chair in her living room, and I held my hand out to her and introduced myself, like a good young lady must. That’s what Uncle Yashamaru had said. Uncle Yashamaru tells me a lot. When I asked him why, he said I wasn’t as responsible as Brother. Meanie. I am too responsible!
“Hello, my name is um- Isane. Nice to meet you.” I said, making a name up out of the blue. What had sprang to my lips at first and caused me to stammer was Aiko, and it was common knowledge that that was Gaara‘s twin‘s name. Good thing I didn’t blurt it out.
“My name is Keiko. Thank you for coming to see me. That boy was so horrid! I was scared to death. Do you know that that boy was here just know? He apologized and was giving ma bag of medicine. ‘I’ bet it was poisoned or something. He really is a monster, just like everyone says. His twin as well. I heard that it is an extremely ugly thing.”
I felt my anger flare at this, but I held myself in check. I’m not ugly! And Gaara does have a name, you know, miss I-just smelled-something-sour.
The girl went on, obviously eager to tell juicy gossip to me. I hate these kinds of people. Actually, she’s the first person I’ve met who’s like this…. Never mind. I still hate her.
Keiko leaned forward eagerly. “I overheard my parents talking. Do you know that the Kazekage is going to send assassins to kill those two? His own children! Good riddance, I say.”
My eyes widened, but I hid my shock. I felt betrayal prick me, but I pushed it away. There was no love lost between us and our father. We were just his tools of power and destruction, not his ‘kids‘.
Idiot! Idiot! I mentally kicked myself. I shouldn’t have left Gaara alone like that after this. Idiot!
Eager to leave and get to Gaara, I stood up abruptly. “I’m really sorry. I have to go know. It’s late, and my parents are waiting.” I wish. The only parent I had left was trying to kill me. Oh the irony!
She escorted me to the door, and I said, “Bye, “ before running off. I ran so fast, I couldn’t see properly, so I ran smack into somebody, and without thinking, I hugged that person, shivering uncontrollably with the news I had just learned. I needed comfort, and my senses abandoned me. After a long moment, I came to my senses (fine time to abandon me, senses!) and looked up at the person I had grabbed a hold of.
Cold eyes looked back at me, and I saw dark red hair that was an exact replica of mine shine in the moonlight.
Father.
My heart hurt, and fear filled my mouth with its bitter taste. I pushed away from him and ran, skidding to a stop as I encountered an obstacle once more. Two bloody bodies lay on the ground, and people were gathered around them. I knew at once who had done this.
Gaara.
I ran forward, forward, until I sensed him. Upon the roof of the building next to me. Jumping up, I grabbed hold of the wall and pulled myself up, bit by bit.
Halfway up, I swore. “Stupid, watermelon rinds floating in fruit punch with a side of goat feces!”
(I’m smart. Most five year olds don’t know how to read, let alone know the word ‘goat feces‘. Hah, Miss Prissy!)
“Whose idea was it that climbing up walls were better than the stairs!” I yelled, exasperated, as sand filled my nails “Oh yeah-mine.”
I heard a scream. Gaara!
I scrambled up faster, ignoring my nails. Near the top, I stopped, transfixed by what I was hearing.
“The Kazekage gave me this mission, the mission to assassinate you.” These words filled my ears.
What shocked me was the voice. Yashamaru. Oh Yashamaru. Tears pricked my eyes. I wiped them away, nearly falling 30 feet in the process.
I heard Gaara’s voice say hopefully, echoing my own thoughts, “T-the Kazekage ordered you to, you had no choice! You had to do it, he told you-”
Yashamaru interrupted, “No Gaara. I could’ve refused this mission, but I accepted it.”
My blood turned cold.
“I’ve always hated you Gaara. I’ve tried to see you and your sister as my sister’s children, but I couldn’t. Deep in my heart I hated you for taking my beloved sister from this world. She died cursing this village, Gaara, and she named you after the phrase, ‘self loving carnage.’ She never loved the two of you, she named you that because she wished for you both to take revenge upon the village that murdered her.”
Every one of Yashamaru’s words pierced my heart like deadly knifes, taking my breath away and making me gasp. Tears flooded down my face. Yashamaru. The only one whom we thought loved us actually hated us. His words hurt more than the fact that my father was trying to kill me. They hurt so much.
My hands hurt, and I hauled myself over the edge suddenly, and as I did so I saw Yashamaru’s eyes flick to me, and I saw him smile a terrible sad smile. He opened his shirt, revealing a multitude of paper bombs, and said, “Please die.”
Those two terrible words pierced my soul. I crumpled to the ground behind Gaara as the explosion blew my uncle to smithereens. I was sobbing so hard I could hardly see for tears. I slowly got to my feet and went to crouch in front of my brother. I saw a kanji on his forehead. It said love. As brother looked at me his eyes were cold.
I reached out and took hugged him suddenly, shuddering with sobs. As I dissolved into him, my tears subsided. I felt brother’s feelings as clearly as if they were my own, and so they came to be.
We were alone. We were always alone. We had no one except each other. And our reason to live was to kill .
***
When we went back to our house, I lay in my bed ( I can sleep unlike brother. His bed is always unused.) thinking of today’s events. My heart had hardened. I know knew better than to trust anyone other than Gaara. Yashamaru did that to me.
As I thought, my thoughts drifted towards my and brother’s situation. We were both trapped in never ending darkness, alone without light, without hope or love. The door to the outside was officially shut and sealed. Our souls were trapped, and they felt as though they had no purpose. We had made a purpose. Our purpose was to kill so that we could live.
As I curled up, hugging a pillow to me, I thought something.
I don’t like that purpose.
I want to be the torch in my Brother’s darkness, lighting his soul at least a little. I know I can never open the door to the outside for him. He must open it alone. But I will try to open my door, and while I try, I want to be his light in that never ending darkness.
That is my purpose.
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Chapter notes: Ok, guess what I did, I stinkin' deleted this whole story! Waaah! Sigh, oh well.
I had to change the story summary because I didn't memorize the other summary...
The chapters are going to be a little edited, some of them may have biiig changes....
Anyway, sorry for stupidly deleting the story, i was trying to delet one of the chapters only, not the whole story!
Ok, so please read and review!