Who am I? [Gaara]

Chapter 10

"J-just you wait a minute! How would you know?!" I screeched vehemently.

"Because I, Kasumi, am your brother." He says more thorough.

As soon as I hear is words, I feel a burning sensation in my head. I grasp onto it, all in vain. It feels like my brain is being eaten away.

"Ah! What... What is this?!"

"That is the jutsu my twin brother, Katashi, used on you. The jutsu is a very powerful one; it makes the victim of the jutsu forget whatever the user wants them to forget. It took me years of research to find its weak spots. There are two, to be exact actually. One is if the person who used the jutsu dies. I killed Akahoshi, but his chakra is way stronger than normal, so the jutsu wasn't broken. The second is to tell the person about what they were made to forget. And because I've seen what happened, this should be a piece of cake." He was growing eagerly on my nerves by the second.

"You... So you mean you're taking away my valuable time I could be spending sleeping over this?!" I shouted clenching my fists.

"Hm, listen up girl, and listen well. This will be the last thing you hear." He knitted his brows and I backed away slowly.

"You won't!" I growled bitterly.

"Oh I will. But first, I have to prove that I am no worse than Akahoshi by breaking the jutsu. Story time, little girl" he says. I can't even throw a kunai at him with this headache. Heck, I'm barely standing. I sit down onto the soft grass, accepting my defeat and listening to him. Tears are running down my cheeks.

"Our whole clan was a bunch of rogue ninja. We kids of the 'clan' were allowed to do anything we pleased. Our parents were criminals, listed in the bingo book for murder of a relative of a Feudal Lord, as well as countless others. They were amazing shinobi, even if they were rogue ninja. Dad knew heaps of cool nin-jutsu. He had four chakra natures, summoning jutsu, not to mention his mastery in hand-to-hand combat. Mom was a genius medical ninja. She invented a healing technique called the multi-mystic palm. So then the criminals decided they want children. Well that's us. Akahoshi and I were born 14 years before you. Akahoshi had a talent in nin-jutsu, like dad. He was a genius. And I was... regular. Mom tried teaching me medical nin-jutsu, but unlike Akahoshi, who was able to master the basic healing technique within a day, I was useless at medical nin-jutsu. I was just about to give up on training, when you were born. What can I say? I wasn't the 'baby' of the family anymore. There was somebody younger and weaker than me. Four years have passed and still, you were barely able to walk. Already you were grasping the basics of medical nin-jutsu. You were clumsy, weak, but you were still a genius. Just like mom. Our whole family was elite, apart from me. And I hated that. So one day, I ran away. I ran off to the Hidden Stone and turned our clan in. I would finally get to prove my worth, by destroying the elite. Mom, dad, Akahoshi, and you.

But somehow, the clan knew we were coming. They prepared. Akahoshi knew what I was after. So he and our parents decided to save at least one family member. Apparently, they all agreed on you. Akahoshi wanted you to live life as a normal kid, so he used that jutsu on you to make you forget the bloodshed that you saw on that night. When the slaughter was over, I went through the bodies, but I couldn't find yours. That's when I realized that you escaped. I started tracking you, and found you in the Hidden Sand. As a shinobi of the Hidden Sand. I would get into trouble if I were to bluntly assassinate a citizen. So I decided to make it look like an accident; a house fire. Perfect. Those people that you thought were your parents weren't related to you in any way. They weren't shinobi. They were just merchants. They died in that fire to protect you. When I realized that the attempt failed, I decided to wait a bit and then start another fire. But that guy with the sand... He rescued you-"

"But I-I was told that some old lady that was walking past my house saw the fire and began yelling." My anger was taking the best of me as he talked on and on.

"That's a lie! I saw him go into your house and use his own sand to put out the fire. It's funny how all your life, people have told you lies to protect you and died because of you, and now, you just came to your own death, all by yourself." He smirked evily. So... I killed a lot of people. My clan, my adoption parent... I thought I was a medical ninja, and thought I was useful.

"Why am I never good enough?" I whispered to myself. I looked up to see a kunai flying straight towards me.

Too bad. I never got to tell Gaara I love him. Shikamaru never taught me to play Shogi. I never reached the position 'Leader of the Medical Corp'. There is just so much I want to do... But it looks like, my end is here.

"You were right all along, Kiba. We should have reported this to the Hokage." I say. The kunai is inches away from me. My head is throbbing. And most of all, I'm alone. Tears a pouring from my eyes. I close my eyes. I can already picture my dead body. Bloody, and to add to things, I'm wearing my favorite top. I really didn't want to get blood on it. Oh well. This is unavoidable. Wait. Something isn't right here. The kunai should have hit me by now.

I slowly open my eyes. Sand. I look behind me. Gaara. Standing there with an phlegmatic expression, arms folded. Sand pouring out of his gourd, and snaking towards 'my brother'. I know what's going to happen next. I force myself to watch. The sand slowly wraps around the ANBU, crushing his bones as it did so. Sand was going down his throat, into his eyes. All the while, tightening the tenacious grip around him. Gaara stretched out his hand. I shut my eyes tightly. I can't watch.

"Sand coffin!" I hear Gaara's quiet raspy voice. Seconds after that, I hear the sand drop. I open my eyes. Quickly, I turn away from the bloody corpse, fresh blood pouring out onto the soft grass.

"Wh-What?! I...?!" I felt the urge to say but not daring to look him in the eye.

"I want to know why you left the Sand Village. I wanted to kill you myself." He replies darkly. Great... Out of the frying pan and into the fire...

"I was transferred to the Hidden Leaf by the 4th Kazekage." I melancholy said closing my eyes.

"Don't lie. He told me that you moved here out of your own free will." He exclaimed.

"Gaara...Why would I? Why would I leave behind my life in the Sand to go live somewhere else? It's not like I had a choice you know!" I half yell getting frustrated. I get that he's angry, but he should respect my words at least a little! I stand up, pain shooting through my body. I must ignore it.

"So you didn't want to, but you had to obey the order?" His voice isn't as harsh. Gathering up all of my will, I finally looked him in the eyes.

"Yes." I say firmly. I don't care if this guy is going to kill me. He needs to respect me more. I don't just do things like that for no reason!

"Kasumi... I'm sorry..." He says. This takes me by surprise. I haven't heard him say that to anybody ever since he made the love kanji on his forehead.

"Don't worry about it..." I quickly regain myself and dryly laughed. Gaara looks down melancholy.

"Hey, I bet Ichiraku Ramen is still open. We should go there. Trust me; the ramen there tastes like heaven!" I quickly say. He looks back up at me, expression still showing no emotion. He just nods and stayed silent. That's what he always did back in the Sand! I feel a light blush spreading across my face.