Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Spring's Shadow- The Tale of Izumi Kumori ❯ Chapter 3:: Welcome to the Village Hidden in the Sand ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

One day, when Izumi was six years old, she was walking home from school. Yet again, she was fed up with how she was treated. Some treated her with respect, but mostly just fear. They wouldn't go near her during any class: physical arts (throwing shuriken, etc.), lunch, anything!
"Geez! Why can't they get over it!" she thought to herself. "I mean, yes I'm 'possessed', but still..."
She opened the door, and found her parents looking over a piece of paper. A very simple thing, but Izumi didn't understand why it was getting so much attention.
"Hey, Mommy? Daddy? What's up?" Izumi questioned.
Kimiko and Tazu looked up from the paper at their daughter.
"Oh, Izumi! Here you are!" replied her mother.
"She looks...excited," Izumi thought. She wondered why.
"We were actually waiting for you to come home!" said her father.
Izumi looked at them, questioning why they were so happy.
"How would you like to go to Sunagakure?"
Izumi looked at them, then began to smile.
"We wouldn't be moving there permanently, but you'd get to do some all around training! We would first go to the Village Hidden in the Sand, Sunagakure, and then maybe to some other villages, like The Village Hidden in the Grass, or the Village Hidden in the Rocks, or maybe even the Village Hidden in the Waterfall, or Mist, or Waves, or wherever! That way, you’d get to train all over the place, and see how the other villages train! Plus, your father and I can have some vacation and training time ourselves!” said her mother.
Izumi smiled doubled.
“Plus, I think we all need a vacation!” said her father.
“This is wonderful!” thought Izumi. “I get to train, and have a vacation!” “When do we leave?” she asked.
“We leave the day after tomorrow!” replied her mother.
“Great!” shouted Izumi. “I’ll get to train! I’ll be that much closer to my goal of being the best shinobi I can be! I’ll get to go away from school! I can’t wait!”
The sun was hot, and the air was even thicker. It was almost like a blanket, wrapping you up, and way too warm! Izumi trudged along. Even with her stamina the way it was (enhanced by Ryukami), even she was tired. She would have asked to get on the cart with her parents, but she didn’t want to take up anymore space. She wanted them to have it all to themselves. Plus, she was proud. A little too proud for her own good sometimes. But, she wanted to show that she could be as good as the shinobi that were helping them on their way to Sunagakure.
Izumi stared at them. When she’d first met them, she thought that it was so cool that great jounin, other than her parents, were coming with them on their way over to Sunagakure. She knew they would leave after that, but she had wanted to be friends with them. But now, they just acted harsh. Like, as a child she was too unworthy to even talk to. Like they were so much better than her. Well, she’d show them!
“We’re almost there.”
Izumi snapped out of her “internal raving”.
Now, she could see the gates to Sunagakure. The gates were made of sand. It was amazing that they even stood! It didn’t look like there was anything else to them.
“I like the place already!” Izumi thought.
Finally, after a few hours, they stepped inside the gates. Izumi was amazed! The whole place was filled with browns, yellows and tans. It was so different from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, in colors and the feel. Yet, some things were the same: kids running to school, mothers gossiping over the latest news, people trying to sell and buy stuff. Funny, how places could be so different from each other, yet so alike at the basics.
"So, Izumi, how do you like Sunagakure?" asked her father.
"Yeah, it's wonderful!"
Izumi was looking all around. There were so many great sights to see! By now, it was later in the day. People were going inside, and a slight shadow seemed to fall on the land.
Finally, her eye came to a little boy about her age, sitting on a swing, all alone, with red hair and a little stuffed bear. He looked sad, just sitting there. Other kids were playing, but he didn't look as though he was welcome to play with them.
"Hey, mom? Dad? I'm going to look around for a while, 'kay? You know, get my bearings, and maybe make some friends or something. Is that alright?"
"Yes, just make sure you're back by nightfall. We still need to settle in," said her father.
"You do know the address, right?" questioned her mother.
"Yes, I have the directions and address right here in my pocket!"
"Have a good time!" her parents called.
Izumi went over to where the kids were playing, but still almost hiding. She watched them play, saw the goals made, thinking that maybe they'd see her and ask her to play, too. It looked like so much fun! She was just too shy to go ask them if she could play.
Then, a boy kicked it, trying to get a goal, and the ball went flying up very high, and landed out of the kids' reach. They were talking about how they could get it down, when the ball came floating down on a blanket of sand, and into the red-haired boy's hands. He looked at them.
"Here..." he said.
"It's Gaara...Gaara of the Sand!"
"Run!"
At that, the kids started running away from the poor boy.
The boy reached out to them. "Wait! Don't leave me alone!" he cried.
Then, a snake of sand came out and grabbed the kids' legs.
"Help me!" one of the girls shouted.
The boy looked down at the ball, mumbling something.
Then a blast of sand came at the girl! At that second, a man rushed between the two. Then sand then subsided, deep cuts in the man's arms.
"Gaara-sama, please, calm down," the man said.
"Yashamaru..."the boy quietly said. Then, the boy looked down, as if ashamed of himself.
Izumi figured that the boy must be the "Gaara-sama" they talked about. "I wonder...the way he's acting, it's like he controlled the sand, and was trying to hurt them!"
"Gaara-sama," said the man. "I have to get these kids home right now! Come back to the house later, or just do whatever you want." With that, the man gathered up those who couldn't walk, or who were in too much pain, slung them over his shoulder, and walked away with the children.
The boy, Gaara, stood there, looking down at the ball, then backed away from it. He picked up his teddy bear, went over to the swing, and sat there. He looked down at his hands, quite sadly.
"Why...?" he seemed to whisper. Then his attention snapped over to the trashcan that Izumi was hiding behind. "Who's there!"
Izumi thought for a moment. She wondered if she wanted to get out at all. Would the boy hurt her? What would he do?
"It's just me," she said, finally stepping out from the shadow of the trashcan.
The boy looked puzzled. "Who are you? I haven't seen you around here."
Izumi smiled. "That's because I just moved here!"
The boy stared at her. Izumi assumed she could continue.
"Well, it's not permanent, but I'm here to train! So, I've kind-of-almost-moved!"
"Oh, that explains it..." he said, getting quieter with every syllable.
They paused, a thick silence coming between them. Izumi took a few steps toward him.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
The boy paused. “You don’t...know my name?” he asked.
“No, that’s why I asked,” Izumi replied with a joking tone and smile.
A tiny prick of a smile came across the boy’s face.
“My name’s Gaara,” he said.
“My name’s Izumi!”
Then another awkward silence set in. Izumi couldn’t take the silence anymore. “I wonder, if I asked him to play with me, would he? No one else would say yes, but he doesn’t know about me yet! Maybe he’ll like me!” she thought.
“W-would you...like to, maybe...if you aren’t to busy or something...like to...come and play with me?” Izumi asked, stuttering.
Gaara looked at her. “Are you sure?”
Izumi smiled again. “Of course I’m sure!”
“Y-you’d really want to play with...me?” he asked.
“Yes, actually, I’d love to play with you!” she replied.
Then she saw it. It was small at first, but soon grew quite large. The first smile she’d ever seen Gaara give to anyone. “He smiled at me!” she screamed inside her head. “No one ever smiles at me, except for maybe Mom and Dad!”
Gaara got up off the swing, teddy bear in hand. “What would you like to play?” he asked, quite politely, for a six year old.
“Hmmm...” Izumi thought. “Well, I really don’t know much about this village, so I don’t know anything that we could do!”
“Plus,” Izumi thought to herself. “I don’t know any games that we could play. He’s the first person to ever play with me!”
“W-well,” started Gaara. “If you want to, I could show you this place. It’s pretty high up, but you get a great view of the village!”
Izumi grinned. “That’s a wonderful idea!”
Gaara beamed.