Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Dancing Kitsune ❯ walking with Gaara ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I own nothing that is involved with the maker of Naruto… Luckily, I do own a Naruto Key chain. This is my muse and it will determine the fate of this story! Wahahahah!

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Naruto kept his eyes locked on the back of Gaara's head as they walked down a canyon path that the red head had claimed would lead them to the hidden village of sand.

He had his doubts about its authenticity, seeing as the village hadn't ranked up very high with being wealthy.

He had heard from Kakashi that the hidden village of sand had fallen into troubled times six years before hand and there had been a few rumours that the entire village had begun to experiment in forbidden techniques in an attempt to keep from sinking into a despaired black hole of existence.

He had never really trusted all the of the rumours himself, except for the few little tidbits that Kakashi had personally revealed to him, and it scared him to think that something of extreme darkness could occur in the present times…

Gaara stiffened, as if hearing his thoughts, but continued to walk on down the hardly worn path with a rigidness in his posture that would have rivalled the stance of a statue.

Naruto shook his head, trying to block out the feeling that Gaara could hear him thinking and turned back to the matter he had been discussing with himself prior to his little lapse.

The small fox he had seen in the sand was something that had been occurring to him quite frequently that month. He had seen it in dreams, a startling little creature that seemed to draw all the worry out of him into a ball in the pit of his stomach.

It had always appeared when something had occurred during the day that had been troubling, like failing a test, or accidentally setting his hair on fire- something that happened rarely if ever. Yet, this had been the first time he had actually witnessed the creature outside of a dream. It had shocked him, the sight of the tiny thing sitting there in the reflection of the sand as if it were real.

Perhaps stress was finally getting to him he mused, examining the landscape with a look of disgust etched acidicly across his lips.

This place, he grumbled to himself, was something that didn't look like it could possibly breed anything that would live as something of intelligence. He eyed a cactus that was perched on the sandy side of the path with a look of complete loathing, not sure how he had ever managed to trick himself into following the sand ninja. He didn't trust anything that had so many spines sticking out of its body, and the fact that the miniture creature was swaying deviously in the sweltering heat was something that concerned him…

That is, it concerned him until he felt the world swell up. He fell forwards, landing roughly on the ground with his face pressed against the gritty earth with the world spinning viciously around him like someone's sick and twisted merry go round that was running out of control.

Darkness filled his sight and he closed his eyes, seeing the nine tailed fox cub sitting within inches of his nose.

When he woke up next, he was slumped across Gaara's shoulders, being carried like a sack of potatoes off to market. The red head didn't say a thing to him when he groaned and tried to wake his stiff limbs up from their temporary coma and he had to shift lightly in order to see that night was once more falling on the wasteland.

" Oi… What happened?" he managed to slur drunkenly, voice taking on the sound of bordome.

Gaara didn't respond directly, still walking with Naruto held over his shoulders, one hand clamped around the blonde's waist to keep him from falling to the ground.

" You passed out." The ninja said with a frown, ignoring Naruto's nervous shuffling on his shoulders.

Naruto felt his cheeks go pomegranate red with shame.

He tried to shake it off lightly, hoping to get the sluggishness out of his body before Gaara could comment further on it when Gaara began to speak again.

" I suppose your not used to walking in a desert, are you? I'm surprised you kept walking for so long, to tell you the truth. I'll give you that." He said blandly, looking up at the sky as the sun began to dip below the horizon in a moving whirl of colours that would have marvelled a rainbow.

He stopped dead in his tracks, entranced with the display of light for a brief moment, before resuming walking as if part of a funeral march.

The darkness of the sky flared up, the navy blue swiping away the few threads of colour that had dared to remain on the horizon as night fell, swallowing up the land in a ghoulish grasp.

" We've got to stop for the night- not that your tired, seeing as you spent most of the day being carried like a princess." Gaara murmured softly, reaching out with one hand to touch the walls of the canyon, causing the sand to bubble inwards, revealing a traveler's resting place most likely known only by the sand ninja's.

The small room was plain and simple, having only a small wooden bench in the far corners of the darkness.

He stalked inside, setting Naruto down in the sand, stalking over to the bench where he sat down with his arms crossed looking rather unpleasant.

Wobbling, Naruto sat up, feeling his blood run sluggishly around his body. His limbs felt numb and cement filled as he tried to move in the sand. Pain jostled his brain out of its sleepy jumble and he winced, rubbing his cheek in an attempt to regain the feeling in his face.

He caught sight of Gaara in the dimly lit room and winced as his eyes had to adjust to the light.

Gaara locked eyes with him, shifting a little in his place, for once looking as if he were a tad nervous at being in Naruto's presence.

Naruto crossed his legs, trying to collect his thoughts into something that would make more sense then the strange yarn ball of memories that were stills swirling around in his skull.

Finally, Gaara spoke as if wanting to have a little conversation.

" I suppose you haven't had too much in the way of desert survival training in your little village… it's not surprising that you're so weak." He stated smoothly, as if trying to get a reaction out of Naruto.

Naruto stared blankly at Gaara, eyes half closed.

" Why did you carry me here?" He asked with a grumble.

Gaara snorted roughly, examining a fingernail for lack of something better to do.

" You expected me to just leave your sorry ass there in the middle of the road? I don't want to have to accidentally trip on your carcass on the way back." The sand ninja growled, closing his eyes.

Naruto sneered back at him, finally able to work his facial expressions into a recognizable expression.

He managed to sluggishly pull himself up from the ground, dusting off his pants as he did so.

He scowled at Gaara, dragging himself over the bench where he collapsed into it, flopping down on his back on the hard wooden planks, inches from Gaara's leg.

Needless to say, Gaara wasn't all that pleased with the movement, but he kept his silence as usual.

Naruto looked up at him from upside down, tucking his arms under his head to make a makeshift pillow.

He yawned lightly; about to close his eyes when he noticed the fox perched on the backrest of the bench, watching him with a look of sullen amusement.

He locked eyes with it, trying to figure out why it would appear at all when Gaara began to speak.

" Is there something in your little mind that makes you think that you should sit next to me?" He growled.

Naruto didn't look away from the fox, trying to ignore Gaara, but the sand ninja was persistent.

Gaara uncrossed his arms, reaching out to prod Naruto in the head, suspecting that the blonde had either fallen asleep, or had passed out. Naruto simply smacked his hand away, eyeing the fox suspiciously.

Gaara however, didn't seem to think that he should be ignored by anyone, let alone Naruto.

He cleared his throat loudly, jabbing Naruto again in the shoulder.

" did you hear me? Or did you fall asleep-"

Naruto reached up with one hand, about to swat the fox in an attempt to determine if it was real when he accidentally ended up brushing the side of Gaara's face.

For a moment, an ugly look spread across Gaara's face, a look that was so fearsome that it seemed even more dangerous then anything that Naruto had ever witnessed.

Quickly, Naruto shuffled a little farther away from Gaara, laughing nervously when the sand ninja sent him another death glare.

" eheheh… sorry… I sort of thought I saw something." He said.

Gaara wasn't pleased. He crossed his arms again and glared coldly at Naruto, lips pursed.

" don't you dare touch me." He whispered with silent malice.

Naruto unfortunitly had never been able to let anyone get away with making a statemtent like that before. He sat up and sat up on his knees, inching forwards, almost gleeful.

He reached out with one hand and lightly poked Gaara in the shoulder, smirking childishly when the red head glared more hatefully at him.

" are you deaf, or did you not just hear what I said?" Gaara growled.

Naruto grinned, reaching out quickly to poke Gaara again. Unfortunitly, this time Gaara grabbed him by the arm, twisting it around so that the offending appendage was wretched behind Naruto's back at an awkward angle.

Yelping painfully like a wounded puppy, Naruto struggled against Gaara's hold, eyes watering with pain.

" did I not warn you not to touch me?" Gaara grumbled, releasing Naruto.

Naruto shuffled, backing away from Gaara, wincing angrily as well as fuming.

" oi! You didn't have to do that-I was just having some fun! It's not like I was trying to be a pervert or something!" Naruto whined, rubbing his arm, nearly pouting.

Gaara snorted angrily, closing his eyes. He tucked stretched, tucking his arms behind his head.

" You deserved it. No one pokes me and gets away with it. Your lucky that I'm in a better mood then usual, or I would have ripped your damned arm off." He said, yawning.

That made Naruto smirk suddenly, as if he had just learned a secret that would benefit him.

Straightening up, Naruto clasped his hands together suddenly, forming the necessary seals to perform his shadow replication. In the blink of an eye, there were ten other harassed looking Naruto's lounging around on the bench beside him, each eyeing Gaara apprehensively.

Naruto waved for them to crowd around him, ignoring the strange look of confusion Gaara was sending him; he began to deal out the orders quickly and efficiently, as he had created a language he used with his shadow replications out of carefully controlled hand signals that were most likely impossible for anyone else other then him to understand.

The ten replications turned around after receiving their orders and stared blankly at Gaara; some scratched their heads in amazement at the task they had been asked to perform. Then, when Naruto snapped his fingers, the ten as well as Naruto sprung into action, flinging themselves on the "unsuspecting" Gaara, a kamikaze attack ment to bring the most destruction they could.

They began to tickle any available surface, finding any open skin in the blink of an eye. At first, Gaara seemed genuinely shocked by the attack, and was batting away the attacking Naruto's with lightning speed, but when his sand shield suddenly failed to black out the crowded group of poking and tickling blondes, he became more dangerous. He dispelled three of the clones, searching rapidly to find the real Naruto so he could end the strange mayhem but for some reason he couldn't stop them all.

One finally managed to worm its way behind him, causing him to stand up as it pulled his arms behind his back in a hold that immobilized him in a strangely ironic position. Then, the clones descended mercilessly upon the captured foe, striking at all the weak spots on the sand ninja's body; they tickled him under the armpits, on the stomach, the backs of his knees and there was no laughter.

Gaara didn't appear to even feel the attempted "attack". In fact, he glared more fiercely at one of the clones, kicking it away. Unfortunately, this was the real Naruto, and he collapsed into a heap on the floor while the remaining replications vanished in a puff of smoke.

Gaara walked over to Naruto, standing over the felled youth. He glared until Naruto sat up, laughing mindlessly as he usually did.

" You are an idiot." Gaara growled, stalking back over to the bench. He sat down and crossed his arms across his chest, glaring at Naruto with a look of aggravation.

Naruto rolled onto his back in the sand, looking up at Gaara from upside down again.

He stopped laughing and yawned tiredly, eyes half closing.

" You know Gaara, people around you probably think you're a stick in the mud." The blonde ninja murmured drowsily.

Gaara leaned back against the bench, staring up at the ceiling to avoid direct eye contact with Naruto, obviously finished with the ninja's foolishness.

Naruto shook his head, stretching out so that he could more his bruised stomach.

Well, he thought, at least I got my blood running around my body again.

He smirked to himself, drained of energy.

That was when the cold sprung up, leaking into the room with a misty frigid wave of heatless wind.

He shivered, trying to stop his teeth from inevitably chattering; The ground suddenly felt frosty and unwelcoming to him.

He would have to sit up and go sit on the bench…

If Gaara would let him…

He shouldn't have played his childish games with Gaara; he should have kept his temper. He should have ignored the fact that Gaara had practically begged him to try to poke him.

A shiver coursed its way snakelike down his back, making his body curl into a fetal position, trying to conserve heat.

He turned around, looking at Gaara with baleful eyes, nearly sticking his bottom lip out in sadness.

Gaara's eyes remained closed; leaving him oblivious to the look Naruto was sending him.

Naruto let out a sigh, pulling his jacket around his shoulders tighter, trying to work the cold out of the fabric but it absolutely refused to do as he wished. He abandoned the fabric, deciding to lean against the walls of the small resting area. The cold zoomed up from the wall and slapped him across the face, making him shiver harder.

Why did the desert have to be so cold, he wondered again.

Finally, Gaara opened his eyes.

" Alright. You can sit on the bench. Just don't touch me."

Naruto beamed, jumping up to fling himself onto the bench where he sat down with his arms wrapped around his chest, still freezing but somehow a little better.

He listened to the strange foreign sounds of the canyon; he heard the howl of a coyote and the strange buzzing of some unknown animal that was perhaps wandering about in search of food.

It was oddly terrifying, the sounds of complete utter emptiness. He had to duck his chin close to his chest to keep the noises from causing him panic further.

Never in his life had he ever felt as if there was nothing of humanity around him…

He had certainly been on nature hikes and camping expeditions, but it occurred to him for the first time that he was now in a place where there was no human intervention going on in the background. Even though Gaara was sitting beside him on the cold hard bench, he still felt as if there was nothing with him; it was as if he were isolated from everything that he had ever cherished.

He wanted to start humming, needing to have some sound that wasn't created by the outside or by the animals in the area that could be heard, but he moment he was about to start whistling he realized he couldn't remember any of the tunes he had held in his mind's eye.

It puzzled him.

This was the first time he had been completely unable to draw up a song that he had whistled on days long past. It was as if the desert had soaked up all of his emotions and his mind.

He shivered again, staring over the collar of his shirt, eyes crossed.

It didn't make sense.

Why didn't his mind have a single thing to comfort him in this barren wasteland?

He would have panicked, had he not remembered a Ramen commercial he had heard once; Ramen, the one thing that kept him sane.

" Dance to the beat of the noodles, sway with the soup, laugh with the broth and dine with the best. Super-crazy noodle Ramen."

Gaara raised an eyebrow, turning a little in his place to stare oddly at Naruto.

" What the hell kind of song is that?" He growled.

Naruto shrugged, humming the comforting theme again under his breath.

" It's a Ramen commercial I heard a while ago. It sort of got stuck in my head."

Gaara shook his head in frustration, annoyed by Naruto's lack of genuine intelligence.

" You're stupid, you know that?" The sand ninja growled.

Naruto laughed nervously, scratching his head.

" Well, it's not like I know anything better to sing right now. I kind of can't remember anything better -besides! I love Ramen! I can sing about whatever I want!"

Gaara scowled.

" No you can't. If you dare to sing that stupid song once more, I'll personally make sure you have are put into a permanent coma."

Naruto blew a raspberry at Gaara, crossing his arms again.

" You've got no sense of humour, you know that? I've seen mouldy potatoes getting more laughs out of people then you do!" He crossed his arms and stared fiercely at the red head, looking down his nose at Gaara.

" Shut up and go to sleep you baby." Gaara snapped, squeezing his eyes shut harder.

Naruto sighed, stretching out again so he could try to at least fake getting some sleep.

He continued to squirm and move for what seemed like hours, unable to get comfortable on the hard wooden bench. Gaara glared at him periodically, but didn't do much more then that, lapsing back into a light snooze.

Finally, Naruto decided to go against his instincts. He turned around and laid back down across the bench, head nearly touching Gaara's leg. He tucked his arms around his chest and closed his eyes, letting the darkness melt over him like a comforting blanket.

He relaxed, drifting off a little when Gaara leaned a little closer to him involuntarily, twitching in his sleep.

He drifted off, slumping.

A few hours later, Naruto woke up with the strangest sensation buzzing around his head.

He pried open his eyes, yawning as he did so, trying to figure out what had caused the strange feeling; he saw the tiny nine tailed fox sitting in the entrance of their claimed sleeping quarters, its eyes wide and dark like orbs of the night sky.

Its tail twitched a little, swishing out to wrap around its small delicate feet, it bobbed its head low to the ground and ran forwards, jumping up onto the bench. It landed lightly on Gaara's lap, ears perked up like tiny Christmas trees, eyes on the sleepers face.

Naruto followed its lead, looking at Gaara; The sand ninja seemed restless, even in his sleep, moving about every once in a while to try to get more comfortable.

The fox mewled softly, yapping a few moments later, jumping from Gaara to the floor where it darted to the entrance again. It waited there for Naruto to follow, bobbing its head at the blonde.

Naruto stared at it in bewilderment, unsure of what to do.

Should he follow the fox?

It wasn't like he had anything else to do anyway, he thought.

The fox yapped nosily again, whining.

" Fine. I'm coming, I'm coming." He grumbled, dragging his tired body off the cold bench.

He stumbled over to the door, tracking footprints in the soft sand; he stepped out of the small room and stared blankly as the fox began to scamper off across the canyon where it paused on the other side, sniffing the wall mysteriously.

Shrugging, Naruto followed it, stopping at the wall to stare at the seemingly solid surface.

He looked down at the fox.

" What do I do now?" He asked in annoyance, gritting his teeth.

The fox stared up at him with large jewelled eyes, yapping once more, pointing with its tail to the wall.

Sighing, Naruto reached out and touched the wall; suddenly he was falling through the wall, melting through it with incredible speed that shocked his senses into a horrific spinning whirl.

He caught up to his senses when he hit the ground with a light bump, body trembling.

" What the fuck?" He grumbled, struggling to his knees.

The fox was at his side again, biting the leg of his pants in an attempt to get him to stand up.

It dug its tiny feet into the sand and began to pull backwards, urging Naruto to follow it.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the small creature, standing up.

It yapped again excitedly, pleased that he had followed it's prompting and then took off through the darkness.

Grumbling to himself, Naruto took a blind leap forward, starting off in a run, charging down the lightless path. He heard his footsteps echoing like the babbling of a brook and sped up, trying to stop the sound as it raced around behind him like a monster haunting his steps.

He squinted, seeing a small orb of light farther on down the blackened path, not seeing even the floor beneath him. He took a deep breath and kept going, wanting to find the light for the sake of sight.

The ground became liquid, sloshing under his feet. He felt the cold dampness leak up into his the souls of his shoes, soaking his socks. He wanted to scream profanities at that moment.

Then, unexpectedly, the small light shot forwards, embracing him in its light.

He held one hand up over his eyes, temporarily blinded and reached out to try to grope for anything that could help him. He found nothing and nearly fell when the fox jumped up and landed lightly on his shoulders, nibbling his ear.

The light dimmed to a tolerateable level, revealing a small shabby chamber covered in strange markings that seemed to dance across the walls they adorned. He recognized them instantly as pictographs, things he had seen in a history textbook once, and squinted at them, trying to make out their fuzzy images.

Slowly, he walked deeper into the room, feeling as if he were betraying the sanctity of the chamber with his presence; the fox wrapped its furry tail around the back of his neck, making him quiver.

What could this room be?

He guessed by the strange images on the walls that it was of some importance, and nearly tripped over a small pedestal in the centre of the room, dimly lit.

He saw a small glass orb stationed in its top, and stooped down to blow a gust of dust off of it, coughing as the dry sand went in his eyes and mouth.

He spat out a mouthful of sand, rubbing his eyes with both hands.

The fox yapped loudly, hopping down to floor beside the small clear glass orb, pawing at it.

" What do you want me to do?" Naruto growled, putting his hands on his hips.

The fox turned and growled at him, snapping its teeth.

" You want me to take it or something?" He asked, reaching down to pick up the orb.

The fox yapped happily, rubbing its head against his chin.

Naruto picked up the orb, holding it in the palm of his hand.

It felt smooth and warm, like a boiled egg just out of the water; he lifted it up to his eyes, staring through the ball. It appeared close to a marble, a small tornado swirl in the inside of the glass that seemed to have been made by the glasses itself.

Naruto blinked.

In a blinding flash, he found himself lying flat on his back on the bench beside Gaara, exactly in the same place he had been a few minutes before.

The fox had gone and all that was left with him was the glass orb, which he held up to eye level, confused.

What had just happened?

One minute, he had been in the middle of the strange room filled with pictographs, and the next he was back where he had started.

It was strange…

The air suddenly seemed colder then it had been before, and he shivered, sitting up.

Gaara slid across the back of the bench, falling against Naruto's shoulder. He laid there, asleep, body limp.

Naruto scowled, about to throw the sleeper off when Gaara began to mumble in his sleep, sliding across Naruto's chest to lie across the blondes lap, arms stretching out before tucking themselves under his head.

Naruto felt his left eye begin to twitch.

His mind told him to shove Gaara off, to give the sand ninja a taste of his own malice, yet for some reason, his heart told him to let Gaara be.

Shaking his head, he tucked the glass orb into his backpack, leaning back against the bench.

It was strange, he mused, Gaara seemed to be so warm all of a sudden.

The sand ninja shivered in his sleep, snuggling against Naruto.

With a sigh, Naruto closed his eyes.

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Naruto woke up the next morning, hanging off the bench on his back with Gaara snoring softly into his stomach. He yawned, squeezing his eyes shut again.

It was too bright, he thought firmly, to be awake already.

He lay quietly on his back with Gaara snuggled against his stomach for a few moments longer, trying to conjure up a way to wake the sleeping Ninja of Sand up, when Gaara groaned softly, stretching out.

He pulled one of the flaps of Naruto's coat over his head, as if it were a blanket, before sitting up rigidly looking mildly embarrassed.

A red tint came to Gaara's cheeks.

He pulled away from Naruto, practically crawling backwards off the bench to avoid the physical contact he had already managed to subject himself to. He looked as if he were suddenly suspicious of the blonde, as if he suspected Naruto had been a pervert and had perhaps done something to him while he slept.

" Didn't I tell you not to touch me!?" He snarled, standing up stiffly.

Naruto rolled his eyes, sitting up and running his fingers through his hair. He worked the blonde hairs into a non-bed head like structure.

" I wasn't the one to roll on you, it was the other way around, and I didn't touch you! I'm not twisted enough to molest someone in their sleep." Naruto grumbled, standing up. He dusted off his pants, yawning and stretching while Gaara watched him from the bench.

The sand ninja seemed even more suspicious then before. He hunched his shoulders and glared fiercely at the blonde, arms crossed again. A dangerous look shot through his eyes, as if something inside him wasn't pleased with Naruto's comment or presence.

An ugly look spread across his lips and the kanji on his forehead glowed eerily, making shadows dance across his face, darkening his eyes.

He raised his chin, locking eyes with Naruto's, a burning fiery glow spreading through his eyes.

He began to tremble, a spasm making its way across his face like an uncontrollable earthquake.

" I warned you not to touch me…" he whispered dangerously, starting forward toward the blonde ninja with a look of pure murder in his smile.

Naruto crossed his arms, feeling a little startled and scared by the change in Gaara's face.

He didn't trust the bloodthirsty look in the other ninja and he sure as hell didn't want to be around if Gaara decided to go crazy and start killing anything, especially if it ment Gaara would be trying to kill him.

He cleared his throat loudly, temporarily snapping Gaara out of his rage.

" Look, let's just let this drop, ok? We've got to get going if we want to get to your village before something else decides to happen, we'll have to keep the peace between us, ne?" He said, raising his hands above his head in an expression of defeat, suddenly confused.

Gaara relaxed a little, eyes reverting to their normally annoyed look. The sand ninja scowled and stalked away.

" Oi, aren't you supposed to have a sand demon locked inside you, one that wakes up when you sleep? Shouldn't you have-" Naruto began suddenly.

Gaara broke in, glaring at Naruto.

" It's locked inside the hour glass around my neck… you don't have to worry about it killing you unless the hourglass breaks…" Gaara scowled.

Naruto frowned, scratching his chin.

" And what about your gourd, the thing you used to wear on your back? What happened to that thing?"

Gaara frowned at Naruto.

" It's in the sand outside… I don't need to wear it anymore."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, scratching his head.

" But, how does that work? Shouldn't it still-" he broke off when Gaara stared blandly at him, as if waiting for him to shut his mouth.

" Do you never shut up?" Gaara growled fiercely, crossing his arms so that he could drum his fingers methodically on them.

Naruto stopped and began to tap his index finger on his lip, nodding his head as if actually thinking through Gaara's statement. He crossed his eyes and then yawned, stretching.

" You know Gaara, for someone as antisocial as you are, you make everyone feel at least a little bit more happy in the morning - it's like adding a little fuck you to your breakfast cereal. It really makes my day."

He skidded out of the entrance to the resting place, nearly running head first into a wall of sand with Gaara slowly stomping behind him, eyes glowing eerily.

Laughing nervously, Naruto backed up against the wall, feeling it's grainy fingers tickling his back as it flew at him vengefully.

Gaara smiled crazily, lips curling ever so slightly at the corners, and stopped walking. He stood in the entrance, leaning a little to the left as he held up one hand, flipping Naruto off.

Naruto grinned nervously, edging his way along the sand wall, flattened out against the barrier as if pretending to blend into the very grains themselves.

Gaara gestured with one hand toward Naruto and the wall instantly dropped.

" Alright. Now that that's all taken care of… we have to continue on…" he pointed down the long canyon's innards, smiling slickly to Naruto.

" And this time if you pass out, I'll leave you to rot." He growled.

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Sand village had deteriorated during the years somewhat.

The buildings were dilapidated, leaning crookedly to the left with the paint stripped from their walls in peeling skin like strips that made it even more pathetic to Naruto.

They had arrived a few hours after sun set, having dredged their way through the canyon's increasing amounts of sand until Naruto had practically had to swim through it in order to keep up with Gaara.

It made Naruto sad to think that the entirety of the hidden village of sand could be so beaten back with such hard times.

It wasn't even the buildings that seemed the worst off. The people who lived in the shabby buildings seemed malnourished and stick like, mere skeletons of their former selves. The food stands were over turned and filled with sand and grit, everything that had been edible having been scrounged away weeks before hand and even the one single still standing Ramen stand was empty of both ramen noodles and ramen sellers.

The land was cracked and falling apart, spider like fingers tracing their way down the ground, running deep underneath the shops and scraggly statues that had managed to withstand the waves of time.

Naruto felt sick to his stomach, or at least he would have if his throat hadn't been trying to kill him from lack of water.

He looked around for a well, or even for a fountain from which he could quench is thirst and found that there was nothing in the entire small village square that had any liquid in it.

Gaara didn't seem even concerned by the area's bleak condition. He even pushed a old man out of his way when the poor fellow dragged himself across the ground, begging for food.

Before he could go on any farther, Naruto pulled out his last sandwich quarter and handed it to the old man, smiling as best he could while his heart was trying to explode in his chest from the aching feeling in his soul.

He glared at Gaara, who hadn't even stopped to look at what had caused Naruto to pause in their journey.

How could someone walk through a village destroyed by hunger and famine?

Or for that matter, how could someone kick away a poor begging old man?

He clenched his fists, having to bite his lip to keep from snarling profanities at Gaara.

Gaara turned, eyes dark and more sinister then before.

He crossed his arms, locking eyes with Naruto who shivered despite his best tries to remain un-phased by the cruelty exhibited by the sand ninja.

" What?" Gaara growled.

The old man devoured the sandwich, thanking Naruto profusely for his kindness before crawling away to avoid the wrath of Gaara.

The red head stared unabashedly at Naruto, eyes narrowed.

" Do you have a problem with my village?" he asked.

Naruto snorted.

" I have a problem with its deplorable living conditions. How did it end up like this?" Naruto said.

Gaara shrugged, starting to walk in the direction he had been previously walking in.

" It ended up like this a few years ago… everything went down hill after the main underground river died off, leaving us with a few little wells that have water not fit enough to feed to dogs… Why do you ask?" The sand ninja said, leading Naruto farther into the centre of the town.

The centre wasn't much better then the rest of the town.

It's house was just as torn down, with spikes of wood sticking out of the walls like something had gone insane inside their walls.

The entire thing gave Naruto a strange feeling when he saw it. it was as if something was telling him that something important had occurred in those scared walls, something that involved both Gaara and Orochimaru.

Gaara threw open one of the nearly rotten doors, making it shatter as it hit an inside wall, and motioned for Naruto to follow him.

The blond ninja had to avoid a rotten plank as he tried to meander his way to the door, finally slipping into the room where he was surprised by a giant shrine that outshined the entire village in its splendour.

Gaara stood stonily in front to the massive marble implement, staring moonstruck at the object like it was something human.

In fact, the beauty of the thing made even Naruto stop dead in his tracks.

The statue was of a woman with long smooth hair that cascaded down the sides of its slender and sleek limbs. It wore a dress with pleats running down the sides in immaculate seams, and seemed to have a smile of complete tenderness etched across its face.

It was so beautiful in Naruto's eyes that he almost didn't see the small rounded out grove in the statues right hand.

In an instant, Naruto felt the glass orb in his backpack pulling him towards the statue.

He ripped his backpack off his back and threw it open, yanking out the orb.

Gaara yanked his attention away from the statues enthralling graze, eyes widening.

" Where did you get that from?"

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Why has the orb reacted to the statue and who is the statue a replica of?

T.B.C..