Title: Shining on Your World

Author: Hitachiin Hikaru

Fandom: Naruto

Rating: "T" for blood, death, and bad language

Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Naruto, including characters, cities, towns, scenarios, titles, or anything else about it that you can think of. I just want to express my creative intent with this fic. Hell, I don't even own the plot. BUT! I do own Masao, Sorakage, Hikarigakure and such other things that I invented for all purposes with this story.

By the way, Masao's gotten a lot ruder with her speech. It seems Gaara left an interesting change on her once content demeanor. Curses are her new favorite pastime and she enjoys making fun of people.

Summary: Sequel to Medicine for the Heart. Spoilers for Naruto II Arc GaaraxOC

A/N: Set during the Naruto II Arc, so major spoilers for those who haven't read it. Medicine is during some strange alternate universe period so Gaara was still "containing" Shukaku. Now, I know Masao wasn't present during any of this because, duh, I made her up. But I'm adding her into the events that happened concerning Gaara, the Akatsuki, Itachi, and Shukaku for my own purposes. Enjoy!

Prologue

Nighttime. One of the most breathtaking times of the twenty-four hours of one Earth day, with the stars shining, the moon (depending what phase it's in) lighting up the sky either none, a little or a lot; a soft wind usually blowing through the trees and other flora, and reflecting off the lake near the village giving it a spectacular, otherworldly gleam. It was a cloudless night, this one, ideal for stargazing with your significant other, or to just take a stroll bathing in the illumination of the crescent moon. One person decided on the former, but they were alone, sitting on a large rock by the lake and staring into the blue water with sad eyes.

She was pretty, with short maroon hair layered in half-inches from the top of her ear to her shoulder and silvery eyes portraying such emotion one might never believe her to be a shinobi, much less a high ranking one. She wore a black shirt with the sleeve trailing down her right arm, and a purple one under that with the sleeve dangling on her left. Her skirt was knee length and red, with a silvery cape-like piece of cloth hanging over her right leg, hiding the enormous amount of bandages covering the entire appendage. A dark blue headband adorned with a silver plate was tied around her forehead, and a sun was etched into the surface.

The young woman stared at the surface of the water with passionate concentration, as if she could draw something out of it just by gazing at it hard enough. Sighing, she ran her hand into the chilly liquid, perverting the moon reflecting on its once still surface into ripples. The clear, blue water reminded her so much… so much of him. Calm, stoic, cool, until moved by a small, nameless force. Then, before you know it, back to the way it once was, seeming as if it never changed at all. She blinked and glanced into the lake, noting her reflection in the calming wrinkles. You yourself can distinguish it became altered, and you can see your face in it and truthfully say, I changed the way this once was, but you really can't tell anymore. The world's tranquility returns to normal, and the ripples vanish into nothingness, leaving you to wonder if it was a good thing to cause the wave.

It's that indecision that confused her. He came one way and left the same. Yet in-between a miraculous change occurred, and she could have sworn he would stay that way. But things adjust, and he left with the flow of time. Her current in his life was small and unnoticeable, and always that is how it will stay. She knew this, but couldn't stop herself from thinking that maybe, one day, he would come back and save her from her loneliness. She had saved him, now it's his turn to save her.

She waited. She peeked out of her office window whenever she could, to see if he might be walking down the road, willing to take her into his arms, kiss her tenderly and tell her everything would be all right. Apologize for leaving her alone in the world once more; to suffer in her misery again.

For a year and a half she waited for him to come. When she realized he wouldn't, and never would, she fell into a state of depression deep enough to swallow her whole. She didn't know what to do anymore. If she couldn't wait for him, what could she do? Finally, someone pulled her from the void and told her, annoyed, that well if he wasn't come to see her than, hello, she should go to him. But, of course, she had hesitated. What would he do if she suddenly turned up on his doorstep, begging him to rethink his verdict? Would he turn her away in disgust? Or would he consider her pleas? There was no way to be sure, so she decided to take the safe, and easy, way out by not even going to Suna.

She couldn't face him.

She was too pained, too saddened by the past. Too frightened by what the future may hold to do anything with the present. What was the point? It was lost love, forever drowned in the sea of insecurity, the sea of doubt. In the lake, she saw a delusion that she couldn't possibly have seen, but was there anyway. Soft, crimson hair; pale, sapphire colored eyes delineated in thick, black lines; a handsome face marred only by the kanji engraved into his forehead. Tears fell from her eyes into the water, disfiguring the picture set before her.

Gaara…

"Why?" she whispered to the illusion in the water, "…why?" She clutched her heart and screamed, "Why did you go!" He made no reply, just stared at her with those vacant eyes and emotionless expression. Splashing the image away, she faced away from the lake and up at the stars, letting the water drip down her cheeks. She needed to find him and ask him why personally. She had to know. And she had to know now. Narrowing her eyes she thought, He better have a good explanation or there'll be Hell to pay God dammit!