Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Enlightenment ❯ Cages ( Chapter 2 )

Author's Notes: Oooh, for anybody who is reading this and everyone who reviewed, thank you! But even if there's no one out there to support me, I shall continue my quest for delivering God's messages into everyone's hearts! For:

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."

Although the story will focus on Gaara, the deeper meaning of this fic is in what is happening to him along the journey.

I would really like it if someone expressed his or her religious views upon reviewing, it would definitely give some inspiration in my writing. And because we have different beliefs about how religion is taught, I would accept reviews pertaining to contradictions to what is written here. And, oh, who wants to be my beta-reader?

As much as I love writing this, I want my readers to enjoy as well, so please help me make this a pleasurable reading experience. So please, read and review!

Warning: Gaara-centric.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto's canon character, Gaara.

Summary: "Like a sapling he grew in front of us, like a root in arid land. Without beauty, without majesty we saw him, no looks to attract our eyes: a thing despised, rejected by man, a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. We thought of him as someone punished, struck by God and brought low…"

~Text: Ruth 1:16; Jeremiah 53: 1-5 © 1966 The Jerusalem Bible

"The web of our life is of mingled yarn, good and ill together," quote by William Shakespeare.

Is life always filled with misfortune? And if it is so, must we hate our neighbors and ourselves? Gaara seems to believe so.

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you (1 Pet. 5:7)

Chapter 2: Cages

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice saying, "This is the way; walk in it." (Isa.30: 21).

*******

Now he was really confused and a lot more irritated than he was before. The female proved herself to be kill-worthy, which, he will gladly perform later on. But for now, he will have to have his questions answered. The glare in his eyes showed what he was thinking, yet once again, he remained impassive.

Merely crossing his arms across his chest, he stared at her silent figure unwaveringly. His eyes trailed along her form from head to toe. She looked like a woman in her mid-30's, with long brown hair veiled with a lengthy white cloth, soft light brown eyes stared back at him, thin lips curved in a pleasant smile. Standing tall and straight, her long dress covered her completely; only her radiant face and gentle hands showed.

Her smile was real, yet there was a look in her eye that showed an emotion asides from joy…

Pity?

Did she pity him?

He needs none of her sympathy, none from others, none from anyone. And he would definitely not need their pity.

Frowning at her, he made it obvious that her presence was unwelcome. Her facial expression didn't change, and instead of walking away and shaking her head as if he was hopeless, her smile widened and she reached out her hand for him to take.

She said, "Take my hand, and follow me. There's something I want to show you." Her clear brown eyes shone with an inner brightness. There's something she's hiding that he probably needs to know.

He did not take her hand, though, but simply stared at it in deadpan.

"I know you have some questions, I'm here to give the answers," she said softly, giving him a smile of reassurance. It was strange, rather, for even if she was covered in shadows, she looked unaffected. Her stature seemed to glow through the darkness of the trees.

Hesitant, he only looked at her face, at her hand and back again. He wasn't bent on trusting someone he only met for the first time and almost cost what's left of his sanity to break.

*******

There's no bigger hypocrite than the person who pretends he doesn't need help

*******

"If you don't want to take my hand," she said slowly, "just come and follow me." She turned around, placing both hands on the sides of her dress. Walking cautiously, she went off without looking if he would follow.

Making a small grunt of annoyance, he obediently went along. There was nothing in the forest for him but darkness, and he didn't wish to be stuck there because he decided not to follow her. He figured if he killed her now, there would be no way out for him.

They walked for a long time; Gaara noticed that the surroundings began to change as soon as they strolled away, the place got darker and the trees lessened. Finally, after fifteen minutes of walking, they arrived upon a gloomy area. There were no trees; no shades to make it dark, yet the whole land seemed to have a mantle on top of it and dimness loomed overhead.

The sky was grey and sheltered with clouds that indicated rain, but the drops never came.

He looked once more at the veiled woman, expecting an explanation of why they came here. However, she remained silent as they approached the strange place.

******

As He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it.

******

She stopped, at last, looking up at the darkened city. There, the birds cried within their cages.

Gaara stared at the large structures erected in the city; they were not buildings, instead, they were jails of bones.

Inside the cages, no birds resided instead there were humans; each person had a single cage. Many of them would run around eagerly to attend some business here and there. There were circular metals made of gold, scattered around the bars. Papers with different colors and machines of some sort were placed upon the altars; time-by-time a person knelt in front of it and bowed his head.

Did they worship these things?

"They are good servants but poor masters," the woman murmured softly.

Gaara looked at her, thinking: the more she explained, the more she led him to confusion. Looking around, he stared at the figures inside the cages with boredom.

What was the significance of his coming here to the people encaged?

Crossing his arms across his chest, he decided to stroll along the unused streets, looking for something that would help him. Help him recover the memories that transpired before he came here.

There was nothing else there, though, but people in cages and another road leading to nowhere.

The road had two paths divided: a fork road. Another one?

His emotionless face stared silently at the roads that seemed to stretch farther than the horizon; he noticed that the streets were covered with only four kinds of plants, those that he doesn't know of and has seen for the first time.

An arm appeared from his back pointing to the right.

"Parsley, sage," the person said in a gentle tone, pointing at individual plants surrounding the area, "rosemary and thyme."

Turning his gaze to the arm's owner, he was mildly surprised at what he saw: The lady with the veil covering her hair.

"Are you wondering?" The lady asked, her searching eyes borrowing deep into his cold and emotionless ones. He looked away and stared once more at the split roads.

"One street leads to damnation," she said, pointing specifically, "And the other to glory." Another smile played upon her lips as she pointed at the other road, then she looked back at Gaara who was still gazing silently and unresponsively at it.

Once more, he left her presence and searched for solitude. He had to think clearly without her strange explanations on the place and what is happening. All he wanted was answers but he dared not ask, he will find out for himself. The answers she gave caused more confusion and it irritated him.

His footfalls were light as he walked away. And not long, an eerie silence greeted him. Looking at the back, he saw once more that his companion has disappeared. He didn't care about that, when had he placed an importance in company? Yet there was another question that played in his mind; who was this lady? He didn't contemplate on it for long and immediately put his attention on looking around the place.

Something caught his eye as he walked on. Stopping to look at it closer, he noticed a certain characteristic in this figure's image that drew him to it. Like all the others, it ran around the cage performing a task repeatedly. The black clothes that adorned it seemed to flow endlessly as it moved around. The hair, the eyes, they seemed utterly familiar as if they'd seen each other before.

He thought he saw a large pot filled to the brim with a dark liquid, overflowing because the form inside the cage kept on filling it regardless of its amount.

He walked nearer; the cage built in bones seemed to grin at him, to mock him in a proud, wide smile. The gleaming white bars appeared to have morphed in jagged rows of teeth, grinning, teasing… swallowing its prisoner. His eyes wide with shock, he stared steadily at the figure in the cage. Crimson hair that looked as if it was bathed in blood; eyes almost the color of the sea blending with the sky in a bright yet dull morning, its frame outlined in dark circles; a round face that housed within it, a cold and merciless image.

The person inside the cage…

It was himself.

Clutching his head firmly between his hands, a surge of memories from his past came raging through his mind. He breathed heavily and his lungs made wheezing sounds as he did. The person inside the cage moved again to pour liquid in the larger pot. Through blurry eyes, he watched himself move around the cage, repeatedly performing this specific task. Gaara squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block off all the pain that rammed immediately in his brain. Too immediate…

He fell to his knees, holding his head and massaging it for whatever that came in his head to go away.

The swings. The bear in his arms. The sand. The demon.

Yashamaru.

His so-called purpose in life…

Looking up at the person behind the bars, he noticed that he had been shaking involuntarily during the seizure. He tried to calm down, but he winced once more. In his surprise, he found himself asking nobody in particular, "Why?"

Cringing, his form shook once more, this time more violently. He dropped one hand for support as his body was already giving up. Trying to glance at the cage in front of him, he raised his head but was stopped by another rush of memories. Recollection of events he didn't want to remember. When will it stop? Eyes shifting from side to side, he gritted his teeth and waited for the pain in his head to subside.

It remained for only a couple of seconds but it seemed like eternity to him. Slowly, his breathing became normal and his body stopped shaking.

Now, he was crouching in front of the cage, digging his fingers into the soil. A bitter smile crept on his face, as he tried to push himself back up on his feet. But he fell on his knees again, as if a weight has been placed on his back. He felt heavier than usual, was it just him or is it something else?

A hand touched his back and his eyes widened, as he wasn't used to physical contact. He grimaced. The one slight touch made his whole body ache and he didn't even bother to look up at the person who laid a hand on him. Then it was hushed. The silence was gripping, and only a few rasps that came out of his mouth were the only sounds heard.

Gaara tried to push himself back up again, to no avail. His body felt heavy and tired, and his eyes felt as if he just wanted to go to sleep. Reaching a hand to his forehead, he held it tightly like he was coming down with another headache. Pain didn't come though, to his confusion and, strange as it may seem, disappointment.

A word formed in his mouth, although he didn't say it, it was clear.

Why?

The hand that was placed on his back tightened but it wasn't painful, it was rather comforting. Looking up, his face was yet again a façade of impassiveness.

The lady who accompanied him there knelt beside him, her eyes gentle and her lips smiling reassuringly.

"Gaara," she addressed him with a voice that shows treatment for her son, "look up." Pointing at the direction of the cage that contained a copy of him, his eyes stared at her with confusion and then at the cage. He frowned.

The replica continued to spill more liquid into the container, letting the liquid flood the cage.

"That is darkness," the woman said, pointing at the overflowing black water. "Through your lifetime, you filled that pot with darkness. You continue to do this, until now. It is in your hands to either stop… or continue and drown."

Then there was an abrupt halt. Breathing out, she continued, "You are one of them; the caged."

He stared at her puzzled, will she ever explain to clarify?

He gazed at the others in the cages.

Now he understood. Like all the others, he is imprisoned in the curse of cold reality.

******

What you worship determines what you become.

******

Author's Notes: Ok… That was… confusing, wasn't it? Oh, yeah, thanks for reading. Please review! And tell me; is he still in character? Should I just effing shut up? Oh, well.