Chapter Seven
Part One
Gaara never felt so angry, never felt so completely fueled by fury he wanted to destroy and kill everything in his way living or dead. He roamed the streets of Tokyo with a attitude that, to a casual onlooker, would seem random and aimless, but his wanderings were far from being haphazardly and arbitrary. He trailed the detective Sasuke to and from work, to his visit to a well-known psychotherapist, to a visit to his and Naruto’s apartment. He knew they’d discovered the body behind the dumpster but hopefully they wouldn’t contribute it to the work of the killer of whom Naruto was under suspicion of at the moment. He tensed and followed the detective with his sharp gaze as he spotted the black-haired man cross one of the living-room windows, the heavy curtains he had utilized to keep away the surplus light seeping into the apartment that he abhored so much having been removed. He could see the man clearly, if only his upper portion as the high-rise was on the third story, as the detective’s coal black eyes scanned the room in search of something. He narrowed his own lusterous blue eyes, shining with a malice that would’ve made anyone close enough to him running for the hills. Thankfully no one was and he gazed up, his searing gaze burning into his adversary. As he watched the Uchiha pick up a small decorative sculpture and examine it, he felt tinges of white-hot fury fuel his blood in a way that was not unfamiliar to him. Knowing he needed to calm himself, he melted into the shadows, his movements like that of a cat’s, and into an adjacent alleyway facing the residence he and his brother had shared. A low growl emanated from deep within his throat that never made it out as he realized he wasn’t alone. Feeling the proverbial sense of adrenaline race through him, throughout his entire body he crouched down, a confident smirk coming unknowingly on his face as he viewed his prey. The thought of killing for useless purpose had long ago ceased to bother him, so long ago he doubted he ever had it at all; but when he’d realized what a rush he got from the hunt, from feeling warm, sticky crimson liquid on his hands and a body ceasing to function beneath him, he’d turned it into a game, into a distorted vision of his idea of fun. His malevolent eyes, long accustomed to picking out perfect targets, scoured the area, the surroundings, eliminating temporary distractions and passing them off as harmless so he could carry out his twisted mission uninterrupted.
This one was perfect - so, so perfect, he could feel the anticipation rising as the young, college-aged girl muttering and scolding quietly to herself hurried along the alleyway, not noticing the danger stalking her, and he waited till she was so close he could smell the strawberry shampoo she had used, wafting up to his nose. It was unpleasant to him but it did not quell his desire to see her dying before him.
Like a panther in the night, silently he struck. Perhaps he had misjudged the distance - perhaps she was more alert than he’d expected - but before his hands closed around her she had time for one brief, shrill shriek that rang in his ears like a song of bereavement before it died into a rattle of death. As she slumped into his arms, he glanced around him, evaluating the danger of someone hearing the girl’s last derisive call for help and decided he was in the clear. For now. He let her fall unceremoniously to the concrete floor with a sickening, muted thud of flesh against solid mass; he enjoyed that sound, the sound of flesh tearing, of ripping, the feeling of something small, beautiful in his hands to do as he wished, to crush, to kill. He allowed himself one small, triumphant smirk that rapidly dissapated as he heard footsteps. Glancing up sharply he saw a figure in the shadows - how ironic, this time the shadows, his shadows, were hiding the prey from the predator; a contour of a man making his way to him and what he had done.
As light fell - briefly - onto the face Gaara lifted his upper lip in a silent, anamalistic snarl and spun. Uchiha Sasuke had spotted him and now shouted: “Freeze! Police!” to which Gaara paid no heed, melting into the shadows as though he had never been there, the only proof to his existence, if at all, his handiwork of inhuman mercilessness.
Shit. The expletive never passed Sasuke’s lips as he saw the monster and the body. One look and he knew she was dead; it was classic of the serial killer. Thinking fast, he took off after the red-headed demon, never minding the fact that, amidst the shadows not only had he lost him, but he was putting himself in great danger as well. One hand moved to his waist and this time he swore aloud as he realized he no longer had his gun. Instead he felt his phone, the little digital thing he got for emergencies. He grit his teeth and said through them, his words surprisingly forceful: “I know you’re out there, you bastard. Do you know what you’ve done to Naruto? Huh? Do you?” He was taking a gamble, or would have been, if he hadn’t been so certain that this was indeed the infamous Gaara Naruto spoke so fearfully of; the red hair and the deep eyes darkened with mascara, those baby blue eyes that held so little compassion and so much desire to kill. Every one of his senses were hightened to the point of screaming; his heart was thundering in his ears and he seemed to be seeing white spots in his eyes. He blinked and squinted, dropping to a slight crouch. As the irony of the situation hit him he began to laugh, a low chuckle that reverberated throughout the alley loudly. “So,” he said softly, knowing full well Gaara could hear him, “How does it feel to become that which you have so passionately hunted, Gaara? The hunter becomes the hunted.” Unknowingly a full smile of something he wouldn’t have been able to recognize came over his face and, if someone had told him what it was he wouldn’t have believed them, but he had joined the hunt, he was experiencing the same symptoms Gaara did as he stalked. He could feel the adrenaline racing through his veins, white-hot and leaving destruction in its wake; he felt exhilarated, like he could do anything. And what sickened him the most - what would continue to sicken him, what he would never forget again - was that he enjoyed that feeling, he enjoyed being in control over something infinitely weaker, over something he could crush in his hands.
Only Gaara wasn’t weaker, and he couldn’t crush Gaara within his grasp. Now, as he spun, his peripheral vision catching something that moved, he raised his hand. Click. The flash of white was blinding and he shut his eyes, squinting and blinking as he raised his hands over his face for protection. Again, the shadows, doused once more with blackness, moved. Click. Click. Click. The alleyway became alight with lightning, only it wasn’t raining. He swore as something swooped past him, and another click filled his ears like it had been a bang; again the small area became awash with light. What’s happening? he thought wildly as everywhere around him seemed to be moving, almost dancing around him, and he dropped to his knees as a low laugh resonated through his consciousness with the force of an earthquake.
“How does it feel?” a raspy, hollow voice chuckled from - from somewhere, from everywhere, from inside of him - and again, that chilling laugh which wasn’t a laugh at all. “It feels... like I am God. It feels like I exist for a purpose, and that is to end the existence of others.”
You’re crazy, Sasuke thought distantly; he hadn’t realized he’d spoken it aloud till it left his lips and again, again, the laugh - that laugh that was making him go mad.... he was hearing things - this was Gaara, this was Naruto’s brother, this was... this was the killer. He wet his lips and this time the words came out, forceful, strengthened by something he couldn’t identify but one image was burning in his mind as he spoke. “You sick bastard. I will kill you for what you’ve done.”
“Will you?” the voice chuckled. “No. I don’t think you are capable of the duties given to me to end mankind. There are responsibilities, there are certain traits you must possess to become one of us.”
“Us,” Sasuke repeated, as though it was a mantra and he took a breath. “Who’s us?”
“Why, everyone who has the duties of a killer,” the voice said. “We are all one. We all have the responsibilies to quell the uprising population of these wretched beings that walk this earth and think they are better than their fellow beings.” He could hear the sneer in the voice.
“So,” he said tiredly, “It’s true. You really do exist. For a while -” he let out a whoosh of breath that sounded almost like a derogatory laugh, “For a bit I thought you were just a part of Naruto. In his mind. I thought... I thought he’d killed all those people.”
For a minute there was silence, then: “Naruto and I are one and the same. We are of the same blood, of the same womb, and nothing is closer than that. For what Naruto does, I do, and what I do, Naruto does. He killed them because I did; he is inside of me as I am in him. I am a part of him, a part of his mind, as he is a part of mine.” Another silence, this one thoughtful.
“But I do not approve, nor am I a part of, his love for you.”
Sasuke didn’t answer, shocked. Finally, when he could speak, he said dryly, “Well, that’s a relief.” Naruto... loved him?
“The stronger must survive because the weaker cannot rule,” the voice continued. “You are weaker, Uchiha Sasuke. And that is why I must mercifully end your existence here. This is where it ends. Naruto will never love you again.”
Colors exploded into Sasuke’s vision as something struck his head; hands, he thought remotely as the blow made him crash onto his side. The hands. They are so feminime, like they couldn’t hurt a fly, and yet the strength inside of them... Again his head became a myriad of colors as he was hit and he began to slip, mercifully, into blackness and the pain began to fade even as it throbbed, and he forcefully lifted his eyelids to glimpse a face, its eyes dark, its hair red as the blood pooling around him, before he slipped away into unconsciousness.
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Chapter notes: A/N: Ah-ha... this chappie rocks! I leave you with a gigantic cliffy and laugh. Review, I say, review! And, well, I'm doing this to be nice. ^^ After all, the last chapter was so short, so I decided to add another one... but it'll drive you crazy 'cuz of the suspence... anyway, on to the story before I ruin it! Enjoy and please review! SBP