That Thing That Works Hopefully (Naruto)

That Thing That Works Hopefully

"I don't know why you're even asking."

Rasa glared at his eldest son, who did nothing to hide his disdain toward the old man. "Because I am."

"Well, that answer's not good enough. Not after all these years," Kankuro said, glaring at him before going back to work on his puppets.

Rasa remained there, watching, then asked, "Should I go ask your sister?"

Kankuro froze, turning to look at him. "You know her response is going to be the same."

"I doubt it," Rasa said.

"Then why ask me if you believe that?" Kankuro said.

"Because you're his brother, you surely know what a good gift for him would be."

"He and Temari are closer," Kankuro said. "Not that he and I aren't close. Unlike you, who couldn't bother to be a part of his life even after he made an effort, he did change himself to be a better person. But then, you've never cared."

"So then it would have been better to ask her?" Rasa asked.

Kankuro turned, looking at the man. "Why are you even bothering? You don't care about him." Rasa's eldest cleared his throat. "Correction. You didn't care until he proved himself useful to the village, nearly getting himself killed in the process."

"Which is why I'm bothering," Rasa said.

"He's not a weapon. When will you get that through that thick skull of yours? He's a human being, just like Temari and me."

"How exactly did we go from Gaara nearly getting killed to me thinking of him as a weapon?" Rasa said. "Which I don't."

"Says the person who put that thing into his son."

Rasa took a deep breath. "That's fair. I should go to Temari then."

Kankuro paused, looking up from his puppets. "Wait." This stopped Rasa in his tracks. "If you really are serious about this, if you really are trying to make amends to him, get a cactus."

"A cactus?"

"Cacti are to Gaara as puppets are to me," Kankuro said. "You can't go wrong, but if you want to get something he doesn't have yet or something like that, ask Temari. She's got a better idea of what Gaara has in that cacti collection of his."

"I'll ask her," Rasa said.

Which was how he came to be beside Gaara 's bed with what was called a Christmas Cactus, although he didn't know why it was called what it was. He set it by Gaara's bed.

"She said you already have one in your collection, a couple, but that this type is a personal favorite of yours," Rasa said, sitting down, frowning. He leaned forward, unsure whether Gaara could hear him; for a while, the sand responded there hadn't been a single response from the boy. And because the sand wasn't a danger, there was no demand for him to remove the tailed beast, to render his son dead. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. This wouldn't have happened if I had been a stronger father. But please wake up. I've already lost your mother, Gaara. And I think I took that loss out on you without realizing it."

A finger twitched, then slowly, a pair of seafoam green eyes opened, the familiar scowl still there.

Rasa sat there, then after a few minutes. "Gaara?"

The boy turned his head, then reached out a hand.

Rasa reached out and paused right before Gaara 's hand, remembering how hard it had been to touch him over the years, not since infancy. But then he grasped the hand, letting out a deep breath to finally touch his son once again. "Your mother must be watching out for you."

He felt Gaara flinch. "Why?"

"Because she loved you."

"That's not what Yashimaru said."

"Yashimaru?" Rasa asked.

"He said she named me the monster that only loves itself," Gaara said. "Because she hated me and this entire village."

"That's a lie," Rasa said.

"Yashimaru wouldn't lie to me."

"Yashimaru also," Rasa paused, frowning. "You didn't find his behavior at all strange?"

"Why? You ordered him to kill me, just as you've ordered others to kill me."

Rasa stared, then lifted his other hand to grasp his sons. "I should have learned to communicate with you better." His eyes closed. "There are definitely things we need to talk about to clarify."

Such as the fact he 'd never sent anyone to kill him, but then the council was always trying to manipulate things in the direction they wanted them to go.