December: A Family To Call My Own

[endless_scrolls]

Title: A Family To Call My Own
Type: Fanfic
Fandom: Naruto
Theme: December - Of red fireworks and green trees
Character(s): Tenten, Sabaku no Gaara; mentions of Temari, Kankuro
Pairing(s): GaaTen understanding
Warning(s): One of the first fight scenes I had ever written.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but these words.
Note: Won the monthly theme at ten_squared but only because it was the only entry.


“Rising Twin Dragons!” I shouted as the two scrolls uncoiled from their wraps, unleashing a barrage of weapons in their wake.

In his usually passive manner the sand-nin easily stopped the attack, sending a wave of sand to entrap the weapons before they could be pulled back by my chakra strings. Seeing how vulnerable I was without my arsenal, he decided to return the sharpened toys back to their owner, sending the weapon-filled sand barreling towards me at an amazing speed. I barely had time to jump high up into a tree before the wave came crashing down on the trunk, embedding its contents into the hard wood.

“You’re going to have to do better than that,” Gaara said evenly, a hint of a challenge in his tone.

Seeing all my equipment displayed in the trunk of the tree, I rushed off through the forest in hopes of buying some time to think up another strategy. My weapons were useless against Gaara’s sand attacks just as they were against his sister and I had little other options to fend him off. I was desperate and it was time for last resorts. Just when an idea started to form in my head, a tree came crashing down behind me. I curiously looked back in time to dodge a sand spear that was shooting straight towards my head.

“Are you trying to kill me?” I asked to my invisible opponent, “This is only a spar, remember?”

“In a real battle, the enemy would never hesitate in his attack,” the sand-nin countered emotionlessly.

As if to emphasize his point, the tree I was standing in suddenly was pulled from its roots, knocking me out as it came crashing to the ground. Managing to land gracefully on the forest floor, I turned to face my opponent with nothing more than a kunai grasped tightly in my hand. Standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and displaying his usual indifferent mask, the sand that surrounded us slowly retracted back into the gourd he carried on his back. All the while he merely stared at me intensely with his jaded, green eyes.

A pillar of sand shot out from underneath me, leaving little time to jump out of the way. By executing a spinning back-somersault, I was able to dodge the assault only to be pursued by the sand-filled limb through the entire area while Gaara just stood there and watched. He was so busy silently gloating at my struggles that the sand-nin had left himself open for an attack. Unfortunately I was too occupied with staying away from the lively appendage to take advantage of that.

Pausing for a moment to catch my breath, I took notice of the tight formation of trees surrounding us. Bolting straight for the nearest one with the sand in hot pursuit, I jumped on the bark of the tree and pushed myself in the opposite direction. The sand was slow to react accordingly and that allowed me enough time to throw the kunai in my hand towards the unsuspecting Gaara. Sadly, I had forgotten about his sand’s protective properties and watched with disappointment as the kunai bounced off of a sliver of sand that emerged from the ground, doing well to protect its master.

“This is the weapon master of the Hidden Leaf Village?” he said mockingly, “How pathetic that you couldn‘t even keep a hold on your own tools.”

“If you think I’m so pathetic, why don’t you come and get me instead of sending your sand?” I said in retort, irked that he was being so smug about it, “Or are you afraid to face me head on?”

Taking my not so subtle invitation to attack, Gaara self-righteously took a few steps forward towards me with murderous intentions. But to his surprise, the moment he walked into the ring of trees I was standing in, he found himself caught in my trap. He lifted an invisible brow questioningly as he struggled to get free from the net of strings, getting a bit frustrated when they continued to stick to his pale skin.

“What is this?” he asked flatly.

“A web made out of chakra strings,” I explained, cautiously approaching his trapped form, “I knew you would never feel the weak energy of the strings and so would walk right into it.”

To emphasize my point I tugged on the strings, resulting in the web tightening around his calm form. There was little his sand shield could do since the threads of chakra were thin enough to slip through the spaces between the sand. There was a grunt in displeasure as one particularly thin thread left a paper thin cut in the shinobi’s arm. At seeing this, I loosened up the strings a fraction, not wanting to cause any other unwanted injuries to his person.

“Clever,” he admitted evenly, “But I’m afraid that won’t be enough.”

Sand suddenly started swirling around him as they effectively and mysteriously cleaned off all of the sticky strings of chakra, dispelling my only defense against the demon carrier. Then without warning, a pile of sand in the shape of a hand raised out of the ground and pushed me back into a nearby tree, pinning me down with a force that knocked the wind out of my lungs on impact. I was dazed for a moment, allowing the appendage to get a better hold on me. Though I struggled against the restraints with all my might, I still couldn’t manage to free myself.

“I believe that is the end of this match,” the sand shinobi stated as he slowly approached, “Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Fine, you win,” I admitted reluctantly, trying hard not to choke on the sand flying around me, “You mind letting me go now?”

With a simple wave of his hand, the sand disappeared, allowing me to rub the bruise that would undoubtedly form where the sand had hit me. But despite the fact that I had lost, it was a good spar; something that I had lacked since coming for a visit to the Hidden Sand Village to spend with Temari and her brothers.

“All this just because Temari wanted an authentic Christmas tree,” I mumbled, eyeing all the green trees that had fallen in the wake of our fight.

“Why she insists on finding an appropriate tree for the holiday every year is a mystery,” Gaara commented, “I find it an inconvenient and pointless indulgence.”

“And yet you come out here every year to get one for her,” I countered with a knowing smirk. After thoroughly shutting him up, I looked around at the carnage we inflicted and said, “There’s green trees everywhere, so take your pick.”

Nodding at a random tree, the shinobi willed a cloud of sand under it and swiftly carried it towards his village. It wasn’t long until we found ourselves out of the forest and treading through the sands of the Wind Country, entering through the gates of Sunagakure. The sun was setting by that time and the temperature in the air had noticeably cooled as the night’s festivities were underway.

“I think I’ll walk around a bit,” I said, unconsciously glancing at through windows of the shops, “Take the tree back to Temari and I’ll meet up with you guys tonight for the fireworks.”

Gaara nodded in understanding and proceeded to float back to his home in the his cloud of sand, leaving me to stand alone in the middle of the street. The entire village was decked out in the traditional Christmas fashion, reminding me distantly of my own home in Konoha, minus the snow that covered the ground of the Hidden Leaf Village at this time of year. But despite the warm climate I was unaccustomed to, it still held the good cheer of the season.

And there was no beating the Winter Festival held here every year, ending every night in a great display of fireworks since the village didn’t have to contend to with mother nature and her cold temperaments. It was something that could never be managed in the snow covered grounds of Konoha and despite my resolves about this time of year, I couldn’t help but look forward to them every time I would spend Christmas with the sand siblings. It was one tradition that could contentedly be enjoyed alone, something that I had been forced to deal with at a very young age.

“You would’ve liked this,” I mused somberly to the ghost of a memory that was trapped in my heart.

The smile that had found its way to my face was cheerful and full of good cheer as I watched the villagers mill about, busy with preparations. But it soon disappeared when I was reminded of the family I had lost long ago. Spending Christmas alone was a familiar occasion in my childhood and it was only recently that I had been invited to share the holiday with the sand siblings. Still unfamiliar to having other people around me during this time of year, I often found myself reverting back to the depressive state that had plagued my early years at the Academy.
I don’t have a family to spend Christmas with, my young voice echoed though my mind, It’s always been like this so don‘t worry about me.

Shaking my head of those thoughts, I found myself surrounded by more people than previously thought. Suddenly finding the growing crowd around me suffocating, I leapt up onto the rooftops to escape my quickly growing anxiety. The free air swirling around me as I jumped from roof to roof was refreshing and did well to clear my mind. Finally stopping on the Kazekage office building, I quietly stood and looked down at the people gathered there.

With the winter season well on the way in the other regions of the land, the Village of Hidden Sand was always crowded this time of year with people who wished to get away from the frigid weather of their lands. What better place to get away from the cold than a desert? But with this great surplus of tourists in the area, there was hardly enough room for all of them to safely move about in the village. Not even the holiday spirit could stop the small scuffles that occurred during the Winter Festival as people fought for space in the swarming streets of Sunagakure.

“How troublesome,” I muttered to myself, taking a page out of Shikamaru’s vocabulary book as I spotted a fight breaking out below me.

Quietly sitting down on the roof of the Kazekage office building I closed my eyes to the hustle and bustle of the world below, concentrating on the calming breeze blowing softly against my face. Content with staying in this state of mind, I lost track of time and soon the sound of music and singing reached my ears. Opening my eyes to reality once again, I found that the stars had already come out for their nightly visits. Looking below, I found that the crowd had grown to an immense size, reminding me of sardines in a can. And Gaara of the Sand stood out like a sore thumb.

I spotted him immediately in the crowd of people gathered in the streets below, his bright red hair standing out against the browns and blondes of the Village. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the young sand-nin as he walked through the streets, the crowd unable to part in his wake because there were just too many people to allow the room. I could see the great restrain he was demonstrating while strolling through the crowd of villagers and tourists, being so adamant about not being touched in any way.

Taking a closer look I noticed that he was alone, Temari and Kankuro nowhere in sight. Then I noticed that his gourd was missing from where it usually remained strapped to his back. Without it, the red-haired shinobi seemed so much smaller and less threatening. But despite his outer appearance, I knew better than to believe that Gaara would be defenseless without it. I had sparred with him enough times to understand how extensive his abilities were. I remembered the beat down I had received on one occasion when I had convinced the young shinobi to battle me without the sand. That was the last time I ever underestimated his abilities.

“Do you know how irritating you are?” came a familiar, monotone voice.

Startled by the broken silence, I whipped my head around in alarm and found myself face to face with the red-headed sand shinobi himself. Sometime during my deep and reminiscent thoughts, the young sand-nin had managed to spot me from the crowd below. So lost in my musings, I remained oblivious to his approaching form, catching me off guard. Still at a loss for words, I studied the scene before me. The moon shining behind him gave the sand-nin a soft blue glow about him, adding to his vulnerable appearance. But the image was broken with the way he stood so casually on the roof with his arms folded over his chest in an annoyed manner, the wind blowing about his sash.

“How did you…?” I finally managed to ask, letting the sentence hang as I gestured to the crowd below.

“I’m far more perceptive than everyone would wish to believe,” he replied vaguely to my unfinished question. Then as an afterthought, he added in his own smug way, “And you were distracted.”

“I see,” I commented, unable to find anything other way to respond. Then seeing that he was alone, I asked, “Where are your brother and sister?”

“They decided to stay home,” was the shinobi’s simple reply, moving to sit down next to me, “Something about Kankuro repainting his puppets.”

“Oh, he finally found those huh?” I chuckled, causing the demon vessel to look at me curiously.

“Do I really want to know?” the sand-nin asked coolly.

“Even if you did, I’m not telling you,” I replied nonchalantly.

Not really caring either way if I explained the situation to him or not, Gaara turned to the overcrowded streets below. There was a tiny grimace in his face as he quietly watched the scene before him, unnerved by the growing mob of tourists. It wasn’t that he had a bad case of claustrophobia. It was just simply harder to keep control over the demon spirit when he was distracted by all the looks and glares sent his way by the villagers and visitors. For that reason, he made a great effort at avoiding all human contact whenever possible. And it was with that in mind that I couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t just stayed home with his brother and sister, away from the crowds of people.

“Why are you out here?” I asked, voicing my curiosity.

“I had no desire to stay in the house and listen to those two bicker all night about what was done to my brother’s puppets,” Gaara replied simply, never taking his eyes off of the festivities.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at his logic. It was true that when Temari and Kankuro were thoroughly pissed off, no one was safe from the sibling battle that would surely occur. Silently thanking whatever deity had saved me from that fate, I returned my gaze back to the crowd below. Despite their congested surroundings, all the villagers still seemed to be in good cheer, perhaps giving into the spirit of the season.

“They seem so happy down there,” I mused aloud to no one in particular, so accustomed to speaking to myself.

“Happiness is overrated,” Gaara commented flatly. Then as an afterthought, he added, “I despise this idiotic holiday.”

“It’s not so bad,” I mused, despite the lonely feeling that I was getting at seeing the little children walking about with their parents.

“The idea of having your emotions and behavior dictated by a simple date seems idiotic,” he pointed out, “Then to assume that all your problems will simply go away after a few days of merriment.”

Gaara had a point of course. And despite my wanting to disagree with his argument, I couldn’t help but find myself agreeing with the idea. Under the glitz and glamour of Christmas, there was a dark undertone that no one was willing to openly address. And it was something that I was forced to face every single year during this time.

“Not all of us are able to forget about our problems,” I said flatly, quickly dealing with the reality I was trying hard to avoid, “This holiday wasn’t made for people like us, Gaara.”

“People like us?” he questioned, taking the time to turn to me with slight interest.

“The forgotten orphans of the world,” I explained morbidly, “While everyone is out buying presents and spoiling their families, no one ever takes into consideration that people like us don’t have the luxury of spending money on useless gifts and trinkets for our non-existent families.”

“You make a valid point,” he admitted, turning back to the brightly lit streets below.

“All this holiday does is remind us that we’re alone in this world,” I added somberly with a hint of longing for something I would never have.

“…I’m never alone,” Gaara said unexpectedly, his voice carrying with it a hint of what appeared to be confinement.

It was then that I was reminded of the demonic sand priest spirit that was locked inside of him, having been burdened with the task of being its vessel at the moment of birth. Turning towards the brooding sand-nin, I looked up at the marking on his forehead, a symbol of the entrapment that was forced upon him. Seeing me staring, he turned to me as if expecting me to say something. Never one to disappoint, I decided to voice my thoughts.

“Did it hurt?” I asked quietly, reaching out to touch the tattoo, “When they put that on you?”

He flinched away from my touch, quickly reminding me that such actions were never allowed because he was so unaccustomed to physical contact of any kind outside of the battle field. Realizing my mistake, I jerked back my hand and flashed him an apologetic smile before recoiling my arm back to rest quietly in my lap. Reprimanding myself for forgetting, I bowed my head in thought.

“Yes,” was his simple reply once Gaara was sure that he was safe from my touch, “But my family never really did care much about my feelings.”

“Your siblings tell a different story,” I said, recalling all the times both Temari and Kankuro had stayed with the demon carrier, “The fact that they remained by your side through all of this should count for something.”

“They only stay out of obligation,” he explained, putting his logic over the simple truth, “They are afraid of me and what I could become should they leave.”

“How can you be so sure of that?” I asked, a little horrified that he would think that way even after all the years I had been around him.

“How can you be sure that it’s not true?” the demon carrier countered.

“…I can’t,” I admitted after a pause, “But whatever the reason at least they’re still here with you.”

I pushed down the aching in my heart as I suddenly stood, unable to remain still any longer. There was a tickle in the smallest corner of my eye, indicating the tears that wished to fall at the memory of my lost family. But as all other matters that dealt with death, I faced it the only way I knew how, the way a kunoichi must handle such things. So with a deep breath to calm my nerves, I pushed back the tears and emotions that laid dormant in my shattered heart. All the while, Gaara watched me curiously, possibly intrigued by my last statement.

“Be happy with what you have, Gaara,” I continued somberly, “At least you have a family to complain about.”

With that said, I turned away from the happy crowd of pedestrians below towards the more empty streets of the village. I could hear the rustle of clothing as the sand-nin stood up from where he sat. His footsteps echoed in the night as he approached me, his face appearing out the corner of my eye as he looked down at the empty streets as well. The expression on his face was unreadable, his mouth forming a hard line of some mysterious emotion known only to him.

“Yes, I have a family, that much is true,” he simply said, finally feeling a need to break the silence, “And for that, I am grateful despite their…annoyances.”

“Families are meant to be annoying, Gaara,” I commented with an empty chuckle, “It’s part of their charm.”

“You know, they consider you a part of this family as well,” he stated in a nonchalant manner.

I was a bit confused at his statement at first and was about to ask him about it when an explosion in the sky interrupted me, signaling the start of the night‘s fireworks display. Wordlessly, the sand shinobi lifted his gaze to the sky as it erupted with a great show of lights. I stood there watching as the light reflected off his pale face, mesmerized by the peace that was in his eyes as he observed the illuminating images appearing before him.

“And I see no problem with you sharing that same belief,” Gaara added as an afterthought.

It was then that I finally comprehended the meaning behind his words. With a nod of understanding, I turned to watch the sky as three rockets exploded in deep red images of light. I smiled as they reminded me of the three sand-nins and quietly enjoyed the rest of the show. The brilliant colors flashed across the heavens, forming amazing images. Glancing over to the usually emotionless Gaara, I couldn’t help but smirk at the slight upturn of his mouth, the smallest hinting of a smile as a red burst of light illuminated the sky over the village.

“A family to call my own,” I mused quietly, “Imagine that.”