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Ch.3: Inciting Incidents
Gaara would not smile.
From underneath another pile of fallen rock, Gaara fell against the back of his ultimate defense.
Right now, nothing was funny.
He was surrounded by the circular space consisting of only dark, dampness, and sand.
The left side of his body that had previously sprouted the Sand Tanuki's claws underwent a slow transformation, changing Gaara's demonic appearance back into his normal disheveled state again.
He felt sick, at the edge of nausea, memories of what had happened a few minutes ago too hazy to recall.
Running his hands over his hair to cover his face he groaned, eyes clamping shut.
What happened?
He shouldn't be able to control sand.
Well, the sand shouldn't have been in here in the first place, and how the heck was he released from the chains?
Where were the guards?
Why weren't there shouts or screams from guards to restrain him?
He stood up shakily and felt a head rush come over him, and steadied himself, placing a hand on the damp sandy surface.
What the hell… happened?
A muffled shriek came from outside of the wall.
Leaning forward with an ear pressed onto the surface, he commanded a nanometer of sand to fall out of his circular defense structure.
His ears vigorously picked up scuffling, fast movement.
And a sob.
Gaara slowly lowered his eyes, a frown carved deep into his face, pondering on what had he done.
THUMP.
The impact of a sudden blow sent Gaara almost flying to the other side of the impenetrable sand sphere.
Someone was trying to sabotage his defense?
Gaara's ears pricked up upon hearing another sob, and waited for another strike.
THUMP!
The sand on top of the ceiling of his defense fell, and Gaara grinded his teeth, while the muffled noises outside seemed more distressed and agitated.
Where the second impact had landed, a small crack was forming, even in the dark, as he picked up a sudden wift of cool air from the outside.
He wondered who was outside, who had such great strength
However, Gaara did not feel safe in his shell anymore.
Bracing for the next impact, he loosened the tight bonds of sand that helped keep its invincibility.
THUMP!!
This time, the blow sent the sand blasting in every direction.
Having absorbed a small bit of the brunt of the force, Gaara flew back almost gracefully. His wandering eyes locking in contact with tear-filled ones that shown dully on an angry little girl.
Her face was contracted with so much fury; her breathing came out deep and shallow and her right arm that she stuck behind her looked as if it was grasping something with so much force, the minuscule veins on her arm could have been seen strikingly through her paled complexion.
Gaara stared quietly in sheer amazement at the concentration of chakra spiraling up her quivering arm that was held extended behind her.
In an attacking position, the girl cried out in anger.
"Aaaaugh!"
Her chakra around her arm were strikingly visible, almost sizzling with unexplainable electricity as she heaved her arm around and swung it in front of her.
Not being fast enough, Gaara watched as if everything happened in slow motion, almost all dust, pebble, rock, stone, boulder and almost twenty five percent of the prison was hurled at him.
Gaara shot to the left, desperately attempting to avoid the flying stones that flew at bullet speed at him, his sand protecting his body from the flesh-puncturing rocks just in the nick of time.
He dove, avoiding a mud splattered chunk of what was once a door and fell upon the ground.
Immediately, the sand enveloped him, and he dove under, into the desert underground, finding a sanctuary in the Suna sand.
--
Aboveground, the little girl sank to her knees.
She was too exhausted and upon seeing the jinchuuriki sink into sand, and…
She wanted to just give it up.
She fell against the ground, feeling dawn's new rays illuminate her face.
No, she couldn't do it. Not right now, not in her state.
Feeling hot tears run down her cheek, she thought of the proper things children did at the age of ten.
They weren't forced to fight.
She closed her eyes; her short bangs flying back as a mysterious breeze rode through.
A bird let out a melodic cry near the heavens, where the wispy clouds included a palette of blue, orange, and pink.
Eyes drooping, she let herself go.
She was not old enough.
But her duty...
her duty…
Before plunging into unconsciousness, she could swear her father was there, illuminated, standing faraway on the horizon.
--
Gaara walked slowly toward the sun, leaving the scene behind.
Face emotionless, barefoot, and barely making a sound, his feet stepped in and out of the sun-heated sand and his mind raced in circles.
Freedom. He was out of there.
But who was the girl?
Why would she free him and then turn around and try to kill him?
Gaara stopped and turned, barely seeing the small frail body amidst the ruins.
She was quite strong.
He started walking back towards the sun, treading his path to nowhere.
How desperately he wanted to get out of the place, how he'd groaned and writhed in it's rotting chambers, and here he was, four years later, not relishing the fresh air and light that was taken from.
Why?
He walked on and on, and soon the sun had crossed the sky a few times.
He was tired, but he was neither hungry nor thirsty.
Walking through the barren desert, he never ended his pace, feeling proud of his new freedom.
But inside he knew he was lost.
Gaara was the frightened little boy being swept around where fate would lead him.
The nagging thought that the girl he'd left behind could've killed him, soon vanished as the sand soon turned into greenery, little patches of weeds became shrubs, and the moon began to dim and peek at him through rustling leaves.
Gaara knew he had wandered into another country.
Upon reaching the outskirts of the city, he felt nauseous.
His heart contracted with fear, being not sure if he should enter.
He hadn't experienced civilization for such a long time, and the noise of this city, such noise irritated him so.
What would the people think? Would the citizens stop and stare before he was taken away and thrown back into the dungeon?
Walking in front of the towering moonlit entrance, he stood silently in front of the open gates.
--
The girl silently arose from the sand.
The sun was sinking, casting rare long shadows on the barren desert.
She stood still, reminiscing in the silence, head bowed low.
Her jet-black hair blew all over the place as they revealed a hardened face, glistening dully with tears.
Looking over the horizon, she slowly lifted her head and gazed at the sun.
She was going to follow him till she died and no one would fucking dare stop her.
As Konoha readied herself for bedtime, Sakura could see the cherry tresses of her hair flying from her face, in a desperate attempt to be as far away as the up coming ground as possible.
"Stupid hair," She thought quickly, "Should've left it short,"
Our pink-haired kunoichi was falling from the building.
Gritting her teeth, she lashed out an arm, scantily grasping a random window ledge with an iron grip.
She sighed, her heart beating deliriously inside her chest.
Hanging from the 15th story was strangely calming however, the pink-haired kuniochi decided, watching her legs loosely dangle in the air.
Almost orgasmic, Sakura nervously chuckled, feeling the adrenaline roar as she looked down upon at the ground.
Tilting her head back, she could barely make out a small tinted window through the darkness, looming above the ledge.
"Hey!" She shouted at the window, receiving no reply.
Sakura gave out a long groan.
How much longer was she going to dangle there before some idiotic person noticed her?
Plus, she wasn't in her ninja attire with her handy equipment strapped on. No, she had to just leave it on the balcony and realize the stupid budgie had flown away and tripping over a plastic bench and idiotically flew over the balcony fence.
"HEY!!!" Sakura shrieked again, a second time, expecting no response.
And sure enough no response came.
She gripped the ledge tighter, readying herself for a day stuck in the horrible position.
Slowly the lights in the city flickered, and one by one, the shocking glow of the immense city began to fade.
Sakura's eyelids grew heavier, drooping until she was half-asleep.
"Unh!"
Her hand slipped a few centimeters of the ledge. Her body was jostled down an inch and Sakura snapped back to consciousness and cursed.
"So, no sleep tonight eh?"
She glared at the moon, as if it was its fault.
Sharp pains started in her armpit, and then spread to her arms, fingers, and lower back, before her whole body began to ache. The strength of holding the ledge was tearing at her muscles.
Sweating and terrified, she tightened her grip on the ledge, using her chakra to grasp the ledge harder.
The ledge wasn't exactly planning to stay perfect the whole night, already worn down by wind and rain and dust and neglect.
And sure enough, a bit of chakra controlled strength was too much for the little wooden ridge.
The window ledge broke with a splintery sound.
Sakura was almost too tired to make any more noises, and lost consciousness as she hit the ground, ignoring the other unconscious figure underneath.
Oh shoot. I made an error. Does it rain in the desert? oO ...cuz last chapter, I wrote that a drizzle of rain fell..
I'm really starting to hate the first part of my story, the prologue. It's so.. ANNOYING --.. I think people get turned off by it... Anywais, thanks for reading.. and blah ;) -Channahcrux