Frozen Past (A Naruto FanFic/Gaara Love Story)

Ambush: No Way Out

How do you get past something like that?

Easy.

You don't.

None of us have said a word in the twenty minutes since we've left the blood-soaked clearing. Currently, I'm trying not to blink, as every time I close my eyes, I see the petrified face of the first Rain Village Ninja to die by Gaara's hand.

Shino, Kiba and Hinata are as traumatized by the experience as I am, but at least I can accept it. I felt Gaara'a raw power, his bloodlust, the first time I laid eyes on him. But these guys... they can't seem to believe that a boy our age, possibly younger, was able to do such horrible things to people who had already surrendered to him.

If they hadn't seen it for themselves, I'm sure none of them would have believed it.

I pull ahead of the others, wanting to distance myself from the silence for as long as possible. We've never stayed silent this long, well, maybe when the Rain Ninja were infiltrating our Village. Maybe. But we weren't experiencing this kind of fear last time, no where near as crippling.

My heartbeat won't calm down, no matter how many deep breaths I take. It is perpetually on hyper-mode, determined to burst before giving me any rest.

Oh, God. Don't let me die of fear. Please, that would be so humiliating.

I need something to distract me from the massacre I've just witnessed. We all do. But there could be someone out here as... well, no one could even come close to being as monstrous as Gaara, but there could be others out here with the same killing-intent as him. I don't want to come across people who show no mercy even when they're only partaking in a test.

I've known all my life that sometimes, people don't come home. I know that death at a young age is a very common thing for Ninja. But somehow, I never pictured myself dying at the age of twelve. And never at the hands of a Sand Shinobi. The Village Hidden in the Sand is our ally at the moment; what grudge could they have against the Hidden Leaf? I mean they must have, to send such terrifying Genin to our Village for this Exam. They must know what a danger Gaara is, to everyone, and not just his enemies. I've now seen him threaten the life of his very own brother. I could never do that seriously with Masaki. There's just no way. But he did it so easily, and without any emotion at all. He's the first cold-blooded killer I've ever had the misfortune to meet.

Despite my fear of him, he intrigues me as well. How could a boy that young end up so twisted? Was he born a monster, or made into one? If the latter's the case, then what a horrible childhood he must have endured. Of course, there is no excuse for how he acts, the way he so mercilessly kills people. Naruto was shunned his entire life, hated by the Village. And yet he's as bright and cheerful as Kiba usually is. If he didn't turn out that way, why would Gaara?

I'd ask Temari, but I doubt she'd tell me.

And... she scares me as well now. The way she carelessly said "Bye bye" to those Ninja... It makes my blood boil just at the thought. Do these people have no respect for human life, that they'd just mock them even as the life drains out of them?

I'm not sure being her friend is as good an idea as I'd originally thought.

A sharp pain in my arm makes me jump back in alarm, barreling into Kiba, who wraps his arms around me to steady me.

"Akari!" he says breathlessly, removing his hand from my arm. It comes away covered in blood. I blink, and look behind me. There's a shuriken lodged in a tree about three meters away, shining with my blood.

Kiba releases me and turns to Hinata, who's already activated her Byakugan. Her eyes widen as she inhales a sharp breath. "Two teams," she says, her voice quavering. "On either side, surrounding us."