Sand Crossed (Naruto Fanfic)

Prolog

Be patient with the wind
As the story unravels from it's spool
Of a family torn apart by madness
Of broken hearts wrought with despair
Of light extinguished before beginnings
Life not caring about personal feelings

Of first love to which one is blind
Making one act like a complete fool
Not expecting the coming sadness
Or the coming eventual disrepair
Simply she is an angel with halo
Not knowing the eventual woe

Time at the mothers heart doth grind
One son lost, now a puppet ghoul
A husband lost to the world's vastness
Another son disowned due to that affair
Turning ones back on everything
And yet this act brings no healing

One uncle no love can find
Another whose emotions pool
Still the same path of blindness
The similar stories coming to bare
A family torn completely asunder
Just to make even bigger blunder

Pain with no peace of mind
Eating the heart with a nasty cool
The bite gnawing away at the ashes
Never forget the eerie glare
The pain never goes away
And is there to stay

This is a tale...

This is a tale of first love
Of star crossed lovers perhaps
Of fates grinding luck to a halt
Of hidden truths pushed aside
In order their hearts to hide

Ebizo glanced around Suna as he hobbled behind the rather young Kazekage. A few of the next from Konoha were visiting, and the youngsters were situated in the library bored out of their minds as the seasonal rain fall which came once a year to the desert came down hard outside. A small fire was made in the center of the library, and young Baruto held his hands out muttering something about tossing the young Kazekage's books into the fire to make the fire larger.

Shikadai glared at his friend while holding his hands out over the fire. "Don't you dare burn those books! They belong to the Kazekage."

Ebizo smirked at the boy, while Gaara stopped short. Baruto let out a sniff as he wiped his nose across his sleeve. "Don't go there! Normally you don't call your uncle Kazekage, and are just using Gaara's title to try and make what I want to do sound worse then it actually is."

"Only I can not call Uncle Gaara by his title." Shikadai continued to glare at the other boy. "Don't threaten to burn my uncles books Baruto!"

Ebizo leaned over to the young Kazekage. "Lord Gaara, may I ask why the young shinobi from Konoha are stuck here at this point in time?"

"I believe they were sent here on C rank missions, and are now stuck here because of the deluge. The six of them are here though specifically because Shikadai's my nephew, and I'm playing host to his friends. I am not sure why they are in the library though."

"Why shouldn't I burn your uncle's books? I can't..."

"Don't you dare burn any of these books!" Sarada snapped at Baruto, as she held a book in her hands. "There's actually a collection of old romances in here."

"Romance?" Shikadai wrinkled up his nose. "Gross."

Metal Lee blinked a couple of time. "Gross? My father says that romance is part of the spring time of youth. The romance between him and mother is the epitome of romances out there, and fully represents the Spring Time of Youth."

Inojin leaned over to whisper into Baruto's ear. "Wait, who is his mother?"

The son of the Konoha Jinchuriki seemed not to notice his friends question. "No way! The romance between my father and mother is the most romantic of..." The preteen Shinobi stopped short upon realizing what he was saying. "Well, at least my mother would say it's the most romantic of all the romantic garbage out there. She always tells me and Himawari about how father saved their clan, and how Uncle Neji sacrificed himself so we could be born, and to be grateful, all that blah-blah nonsense."

Sarada stormed over to Naruto and poked him in the chest. "Your parent's romance is not the most romantic out there. Mine is. Mother knew at first sight that she was destined to be with my father, and she went to great lengths to bring him back, and to change him from the path of darkness he took. My father also to repent for his deeds..."

"Yeah, yeah... we know all of that. My mother says it was love at first sight for her to." Baruto began to pick ear wax from his ear.

"At least your parents have a romantic relationship. I'm adopted by the way." Chocho's words made all of the other young Genin look at her strangely. Gaara simply crossed his arms across his chest thinking nothing of it, until Chocho's eyes fell upon the Kazekage. "Wait! Maybe you're my real father, and the reason I'm adopted is because I'm some kind of illegitimate child or something!"

Gaara's eyes blinked a couple of times as the Genin groaned. "I highly doubt I'm your father, and I'm quite sure I know who your real parents are."

Shikadai's eyes widened upon seeing his uncle, and the young Shinobi rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry for taking over your library Uncle Gaara."

"It's not that big of a deal." The fifth Kazekage eyes were still on Chocho, and it almost looked like Gaara's already pale skin somehow became paler.

"Yeah, well, I've got the worst story parent wise." Chocho folded her arms across her chest.

"I don't know. My father and mother got together because my father accidentally called my mother the opposite of what he thought she was, and he's been stuck with her ever since. At least that's the way I understand the story." Inojin piped up. "It's thus better to be truthful with people. What about you Shikadai? Isn't your mom always talking about how romantic your dad and her relationship is."

Shikadai frowned, and stuck a finger in his ear. "Kind of. My dad to, says something about how I'll understand this when I'm older. I think though my dad forfeiting to my mom during the Chunin exams was rather lame. I doubt there is an ounce of romantic notion in my entire family."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Ebizo chuckled. "If one were to argue which of you has the most romantic storyline in their family, I would say it would be yourself."

One of Gaara's eyebrows shot up. "The last time I checked Kankuro and I weren't married"

The old man chuckled. "I'm speaking of the relationship between your father, the forth Kazekage, and your mother, Lord Gaara."

The corner of Gaara's mouth twitched, and a slight green flush appeared on his cheeks as if he were going to be sick. "I can't imagine the Forth Kazekage having a romantic bone in his body, honored one. Though it would still be nice if you would finally marry, or even Lord Kankuro. It's a tale of star crossed lovers."

The fifth Kazekage's mouth twitched again. "Well, sometimes I think you have an alternative motive to wanting me to marry beyond what you've said in the past. You always seemed to push more then the rest of the Council."

"Is the story really romantic though?" Sarada folded her arms across her chest.

"Well, I could very much tell you the tale, since we're all stuck here, and it would bide the time away wouldn't it. Plus, it would make this old man happy to tell you the tale. Who knows if I'll have another chance to pass it on to someone, particularly with how old I am." Ebizo hobbled over to a chair and sat down. "You might as well listen to Lord Kazekage, since you planned on working in the library today."

Gaara let out a sigh, before getting to work gathering the books he came for. The young Konoha shinobi gathered around the old man, ignoring the cold of the room, while the fifth Kazekage started in on his work. Baruto crossed his arms muttering something about dull, romantic notions, but Metal Lee's eyes sparkled as he lay on the floor ready to listen.

"As I said, this story started a long, long time ago, back when the third Kazekage was still around."