Author Uozumi
Genre Dark/Drama/Romance
Rating R
Disclaimer I do not own nor claim to own this. The characters, ect...contained within are not my property. This is an act of fandom and I do not make a profit from this endeavor.
Summary It was really like a fairytale, wasn’t it? Just like the Brothers’ Grimm in which someone was undeniably going to get mangled by an animal…Temari/Naruto. NOT a lemon.
Chapter Prologue
WARNING Character Death
Note Expect this to be a bit dark and morbid. Rated for adult situations and violence.
Forever
The castle shall fall,
Three strewn about,
A land dying,
Forgotten.
The hero shall falter,
And the animal’s golden mask,
Shall be shattered,
Corroded.
The child will run to the belonging place,
And be put up by peasants,
The animal shall withdraw away,
Mortified.
The child and the animal,
Will meet one day again,
And thus will begin the legend,
Forever.
The Castle Falls
Water. Water was everywhere, but as much as she clawed, trying to break the surface, there was nothing to grasp. Reminding herself to breath, the young woman shouted out orders and watched helplessly as her efforts resulted in a lemming-like trance. She pulled back with the other troops, giving the call for retreat and then disappeared through the sand dunes to the hiding place of her people.
They arrived shortly after covering their trail as much as they could. Their enemy wasn’t stupid and soon the concealed area would be discovered and certainly a mass slaughter would occur. Walking through the campsites, the young woman looked out at her people. The war started five years ago, and now it was drawing to a climax. Her country was dying and as much as their sister country tried to help them, the enemy just kept coming. They were the dying village; they would be the first of the opposition killed.
“Temari-hime,” a voice came from beside her. The young woman didn’t jump, she had seen the teenager appear. “Kazekage-sama has requested your presence.”
Temari nodded and thanked the messenger before retracing her steps. She had only just passed her littlest brother’s tent moments ago. His tent was small and humble, not befitting of the leader of their country. A tent with a red flag was set up far away as a decoy, but sometimes people wondered if an enemy could be so stupid. The fear of massacre was always in the air.
Approaching the guards, she watched as they looked her over, making sure that she wasn’t a henge. Satisfied, they let her into the tent where her two brothers were already discussing something. Temari was the oldest of her family and the youngest was the Kazekage. Outside of one council member, they had no other family left.
“You’re late,” the redheaded leader noted. He was dressed in simple ninja gear, his light green eyes fixed on his sister.
“We had to retreat and then perform a feint,” she replied and took a seat around a mat spread out on the floor. There was simple food on it, the same size rations as everyone else received. “We had to ultimately retreat though.” Her speech was formal, but there was a bit of familiarity in it.
“The Sound keeps getting closer,” the middle child, brown hair sticking up in all directions said darkly. “They will find us. Gaara and I were talking about possibly splitting up.”
The oldest blinked and then she said, “Kankuro…”
“The people are in danger,” Gaara stated to avert questions his brother had already asked, “and Suna is even more so.” The teenager met his sibling’s eyes. “I have already made arrangements with some of the guards. Six groups will leave here before sunrise. We will each be in one group,” he finished.
Temari swallowed the silly question that rose to her mind. Once they were split up there was a slim possibility of founding Suna again, but she knew that most likely they all would become lost to each other. “Then, we should pick where we are going, shouldn’t we?” she asked. She didn’t know where she would go. Gaara most likely would go to the Fire Country; he had friends who were like family there. Kankuro most likely would go to one of the northern countries, although it was dangerous in Kurado and Ishi. No one was sure whose side they were on any longer.
Gaara broke her thoughts when he passed a sealed parchment to her. “Do not open this until your group is ready to go.” He slipped his into the vest he was wearing as the others did similar. “Gather your people and get your things together.” He paused and then he said quietly, “Goodbye.”
Shouts were rising through the village amidst shrieks and confused voices. Above the villagers, a teenager flew across rooftops and soon landed in the window of the tallest building in the village. “Obaa-san!” the teenager called out into the room he was perched by and then glanced down at the staircase bellow. A woman with long hair was hurrying off towards the center of the ruckus. The teenager dropped to the ground and ran after her. He had just returned from a Chûnin mission only to have the village erupt into chaos mere minutes after he returned.
“Obaa-san,” he said after catching up to her, “what’s going on?”
“That is what I’m going to find out,” the woman replied. “Go and begin rounding up ninja, Naruto. Put them into groups and send them out in different directions. I will deal with the threat.”
Naruto looked like he was going to argue, but he merely nodded and ran across the rooftops searching out his comrades.
The woman continued on her way, her eyes intent on an area. She knew what was waiting for her. Calming herself, she mentally began preparing for various situations. This battle had been in and out of her reach for many years. She was intent on finishing it that night.
There was a shadow Hokage amongst the group Naruto called together. He repeated the Godaime’s vague instructions. People were already leaping in other directions as Naruto looked to the group with him. He had a growing idea of who was attacking and what was going on around them.
“It’s Orochimaru,” one of the people with him stated. “He’s already started fighting Jiraiya-sama.”
Naruto gritted his teeth and looked of in the direction of the battle. He could tell from where they were that the Godaime had entered the battle.
“It’s her battle,” a pink haired teenager grabbed onto his jacket sleeve. “Tsunade-shishô said that no one is to interfere.”
Naruto looked over at her then back at the battle.
“There are others to help,” the man with them said. “Hokage-sama can take care of herself.” He gave them a reassuring smile. The Chûnin only looked over their shoulders at the battle before disappearing with him.
The day had long since started. Naruto opened his eyes and then shot to his feet. He was in the street and asleep! Looking around, he carefully watched the area around him. How did he wind up asleep here? Replaying the night over in his head, he tried to stop breathing through his nose. There was a putrid stench in the air.
Taking a few steps forward, Naruto debated which direction to go in. Where he was seemed empty, only two dead bodies were nearby in his area. One looked like an enemy and the other was a third-year academy student. Looking away, Naruto leapt up onto a rooftop to survey his options and then froze.
The real battle had taken place near the bridge he met with his Genin team at periodically. The first thing that drew his attention was the three dead shikagami in the streets. The shikagami were large, three beasts with blood pools dried around them. What made him freeze, however, where three bodies near the center of what looked like a wheel of destruction. He couldn’t make out who exactly they were, but he knew all the same.
Jumping across to the next rooftop, Naruto made his way quickly to the battle scene. Various people were observing the bodies with a mixture of emotion. A small child reached out towards one of them with a stick before his mother came and snatched him up, scolding him things he didn’t understand.
“What should we do, Hokage-sama?” Naruto heard a voice from somewhere nearby.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw the council speaking to someone. The man’s face was hidden by a pile of rubble.
Naruto averted his eyes to the bodies. They were far enough away that he could make out who they were, but he had to see them up close to be sure. A little voice whispered that him that he would regret this. Oh how he would mourn this if he went over there right now. This pain would not compare to losing the Sandaime, the voice continued, but as always Naruto said nothing in reply.
He was within meters of them when he stopped again. He didn’t want to go over there, he didn’t want to see, but he was going to. He was a ninja after all, so he had no excuses for not doing this. Putting on one of his rare non-smiling faces, the teenager approached the bodies, psyching himself up. It would be okay, he would be fine, and no, it would not regret this.
He put his hands the pocket of his jacket, hoping it would quell the shaking. He began focusing on one foot at a time; otherwise, he only stopped again to stare stupidly at the three bodies. You can stop at any time the voice told him. You can turn around right now if you like, you already know who it is.
Naruto shook his head and closed his eyes. This was so pathetic! He couldn’t even walk over and look at three people! He had seen many dead bodies. He had run by many to get to this place. This shouldn’t be this hard! However, the little voice was working against him and the closer he got, the more he was inclined to obey it. Then he was standing in the center, looking down at the three bodies around him. His eyes quickly glanced over one of them, the one he had thought of killing for many years. Then they rested on the woman lying not too far away.
Naruto flexed his fingers, keeping from balling his hands into fists. He had to see this, he had to know this. He wouldn’t be able to believe it otherwise. He didn’t want to repeat the mistake he made when Sasuke died. His eyes fell from her and followed the ground until they landed on the last body.
“…the Hokage’s body…” he heard someone murmur, and then after a bit of garbled speech, “…Jiraiya-sama…” and he simply flexed his fingers again before bolting from the scene.
She won’t deny guilt of drawing Konoha. The other two countries on the papers her brothers took would be easy to figure out if she wanted to, but she knows better. They were forced to split and that was how it was going to be. Never would she see them again. Looking ahead, she could begin to make out the walls of Konoha and slowed the group behind her. It had been a long time of traveling, several times longer the time it took for a ninja to travel it even at a slow place.
“Are we close, Temari-hime?” a guard asked from behind her.
“Stop calling me that,” she hissed. “You don’t know who is listening.” Turning away from him, she watched the group she was leading begin to take their break. She hadn’t stopped them for longer than she should have, but once they got to the border, she wanted them as deep as they could get into the country before she stopped them again.
The word went around the group quickly. They were within sight of their destination, their new home. Many began to rummage through their bags to find their papers and papers for their family. Temari perched up in a tree and scanned her paper. She would of course have to go and talk to the Hokage. She liked the woman to a degree, but they always classed on something. Both were just too stubborn, but she would like to think that the woman didn’t hate her.
Gaara said he had sent word to the various countries they were going to. He didn’t tell them if they would be receiving one of the siblings with the group of people, but he had checked that he could send his people there. He didn’t say if he checked with all of them, just the three that they had picked. There were too many people to put in three countries, but there were enough that it wouldn’t bee too much to put them up in some country.
After a while, Temari decided that they had rested enough. Jumping down from the tree, she gave the signal and the group began gathering their things back up and making sure everyone’s family were together before the group continued on their way to Konoha.
The group was sent to an area of the Hokage complex where they could be checked. Temari, however, went up to the Hokage office, papers in hand as she set her face. She doubted that she would have to almost barter with the Hokage, but she always prepared herself to be diplomatic, but not afraid to lock horns with someone. Walking up to the lobby near the office, Temari gave pause. That woman, Shizune, wasn’t behind the secretary desk, but a teenager she thought she had seen in the Chûnin Exams a long time ago.
Walking up to him, she introduced herself, explaining why she had come. The teenager nodded and then knocked on the door. A muffled reply came from behind the door. “The Hokage will see you,” the Chûnin announced.
Temari nodded and slipped through the door, and then stopped. This wasn’t the Hokage. At least, not the Godaime.
“Hey,” the Rokudaime looked up from Icha Icha Adventure, “what can I do for you, Temari?”
Temari blinked, taken aback slightly. Her first impulse was to gape and say, “You’re the Hokage?!” but instead she said, “This is from the Kazekage.” She handed the silver haired Hokage a scroll.
The man looked down at the scroll through one eye. The mask over his mouth and nose shifted position slightly, indicative of a very small frown forming underneath. He looked up at Temari and said, “You know, the refugees just can’t walk into the village.”
“I know,” she said. “They’re already being quarantined. I was asked to join them after I was through speaking to you.”
“Good,” his visible eye lifted upwards slightly in a smile. He had always been like this, giving small reassurances. “I will let you join them now.”
“Thank you for your time,” Temari said, bowing slightly. Then she walked through the door, passing the pink haired ninja as she walked into the room.
“Kakashi-sensei, have you seen Naruto?” the teenager asked.
Kakashi set his book down and observed her. “No, not for a while, Sakura.”
Folding her arms, Sakura sighed. “I haven’t seen him since the Sound attacked. His landlord said he’s been in his apartment, but when I went there, he was gone.”
Kakashi leaned back in his chair and observed his former student. He too hadn’t seen Naruto since the three of them split to fight the enemy. He knew that the boy was alive, but felt concern tug at him. Certainly Naruto would have burst through the door to pester him by now. He had constantly done that to the other Hokage before Kakashi after all. “Well, what can we do about it? If he doesn’t want to be seen, he won’t be seen.”
Sakura chewed on her lip. She wanted to make sure Naruto was okay. There had to be a solution, a way to find him at least.
“He will show up when he’s ready,” Kakashi pointed out.
Sakura regarded her former instructor and then nodded. “You’re right. Thanks, Kakashi-sensei.” Then she left the office.
Kakashi looked to Icha Icha Adventure and then to the papers on his desk. He could continue off where the heroine Tsunade had just battled down the evil Council to restore some semblance of peace and continue her quest for her absent lover Jiraiya, or he could deal with these refugee papers. Kakashi’s eye move between the papers and the book.
It wasn’t a tough decision, though he would much rather be reading his book.
Temari couldn’t become a ninja of the Leaf. As much as her talent was needed, the fact she was from another country ruled her out immediately. Like the other ninja and the townspeople she brought with her, she had to secure a job and a place to live. The apartment she chose was a block away from the market district and was decent. It had one bedroom and a very small kitchenette in the corner. There was one window, which looked out towards the village proper and a small table in the center of the floor with two cushions by it.
Untying her apron, Temari hung it on the hook with two others and bid Mrs. Yamanaka farewell. Just as in Konoha, girls in Suna were expected to master tea ceremony, flower arranging, and other activities to make them “good wives.” Temari didn’t enjoy constantly making flowers sit together in pretty arrangements, but at least it paid decently.
Stepping out into the village, the young woman looked out at the sky as it began to change from blue to orange. Looking across the market district, she debated how much she wanted to go back to her apartment. Looking to her left, she paused and then started in that direction, weeding her way through some thin alleyways. Years ago Shikamaru had shown her these streets and back ways when they walked Konoha together. There was even an alleyway about five blocks away in the less-than-pleasant area of the market district that held special significance, but Temari and Shikamaru just hadn’t worked out in the end. Even if somehow they had known she would eventually come to Konoha to live, she was sure their decision would have been the same in the end.
She was in the middle of a grassy field wandering down a worn path without thinking. It wound itself up to the Hokage mountain. Looking up at the nearest face, Temari looked away. The Godaime had been a nice woman, sometimes hard to deal with, but she was a nice woman regardless. She easily jumped up the rocky cliff and made it to an outcropping near the Yondaime. As she neared the area, she slowed and then stopped, one hand under the jaw of the Yondaime, her posture stooped.
A thin teenager sat on the edge of the outcropping, his legs dangling over the edge. His head was tilted up to the sky and his hands were clasped in front of him resting between his legs. His jacket was open, his shirt collar hanging off his body as though it were a size or two too big. After a time, his eyes averted from the sky to her.
Temari waited for his large fox grin, waited for a smiling “Hello” but all she got was a lackluster and quiet, “Hey.” Then his eyes were back on the sky again, legs kicking slightly to an unheard rhythm.
This was different. Temari didn’t claim to really know Naruto, but from the few times she had been around him, she knew that this was an atypical reaction. She hesitated and then she asked, “Can I sit?”
Naruto seemed to glance through her when he tilted his head and his eyes hooked onto hers. “Do what you want,” he replied and then looked back up to the sky.
Temari stepped out onto the outcropping and then sat by him, putting her hands in her lap so that her skirt didn’t flip up and give anyone bellow an inadvertent show. She looked out at the city. The view from atop the Yondaime was spectacular. Her dark eyes watched as lights began to go out in the city and street lights went on. It wasn’t quite like in Suna where everything seemed to go dark after a time at all. The breeze blew her pig tails into her face, but she didn’t push them back.
Looking over at Naruto, she frowned inwardly. He was unusually quiet. Whenever she saw him normally, he would be babbling his head off or complaining, or just generally making some sort of noise. However, the boy was quietly staring up at the sky, his eyes unfocussed. She watched him shiver slightly as the fall breeze picked up, but he didn’t make a move to zip his jacket back up or to do anything at all. He merely continued staring at the stars.
“You’re just like Shikamaru,” Temari said after a while. “Always fixed on the sky.” Yet, it wasn’t true. When Shikamaru watched the clouds, his eyes were engaged along with his mind. He used the clouds to help him think about things. His eyes were always clear when they were open and he was very three-dimensional. Naruto’s eyes were merely glazed over and he seemed to be somewhere far away.
Naruto didn’t respond but his eyes looked through her again. He looked like he was thinking up a reply but he decided against speaking and looked back up at the sky.
Temari stood up and dusted off her short skirt. “Well, I’m going to get dinner.” She paused and then added, “Do you want to come?” It was polite to offer after all.
Naruto’s eyes were the only things that moved as he looked over at her. Finally a tiny, “No,” seemed to appear without his lips moving and then his eyes returned to the sky.
Temari sighed inwardly and then turned away, leaving Naruto to whatever he was doing.