Sand Crossed (Naruto Fanfic)

Gut Wrenching

The young Anbu attempted to avoid eye contact with the woman in question, and instead took notice of a young girl helping a man out of the cart. The man's leg was bandaged, and Rasa quickly picked up on the fact the man's wound had opened back up. The son of the Kazekage bent down near the man, and he reached out to take a look at the injury. Rasa's movement stopped when a small hand reached out to grab his arm, and the tight grip made the young Shinobi look up.

The fourteen year old froze as he looked straight into the eyes of the young girl, and saw the strange indigo-colored eyes of the nine year old. Rasa's mouth refused to move as he looked at the girl, and she spoke first. "Do you have any medical training? Because if you don't you should leave this to someone who does."

Rasa felt his eyes widen as he looked at the young female, and his eyebrows rose up. The sound of a young boy from behind him made him turn to look up from where he knelt. This child like the girl had sandy colored locks of hair, and looked to be a year or two younger then the girl. The boy leaned over the edge of the cart, and held out one of the deserts jeweled beetles to the blond haired lady. "Sensei! Look what I've found!"

The boy held out the beetle to the blond haired woman, and she smiled at the boy. "I see you found a beetle Yashamaru."

...

"Wait, are you telling me that little girl is our mother?" Kankuro burst into laughter, and nearly fell over backwards. "You mean to tell me that the old man is a..." The puppet ninja tried not to choke as he continued to laugh. "Egads, I never imagined."

"It really isn't funny." Gaara glared at his brother. "I appreciate the fact you're enjoying the story, but I'm also trying to work here, so if you mind not being so loud."

"Plus, you just interrupted a good part!" Sarada snapped at the puppet ninja.

"Yeah, we're now getting the romantic bits."

Inojin tilted his head. "You do realize that this is kind of creepy."

"What do you mean?" Baruto rubbed the top of his head. "Some kid found a really cool beetle. Beetles aren't creepy."

Shikadai let out a sigh. "Seriously, Baruto. Inojin's talking about how my grandfather is an old pervert, perving on a child. That's not romantic at all."

"So?" Sarada folded her arms. "It is to romantic. I mean, the guy telling the story did say that we were getting to the romantic parts."

"I meant how they met was romantic." Ebizo let out a sigh.

"No, you really did just say that our old man is a hentai." Kankuro laughed.

"Wait..." Gaara stopped reading through the book he was reading. "Are you saying..." The Kazekage's pale skin suddenly flushed with a shade of green. "Is this story actually appropriate for..."

Ebizo let out a sigh. "Nothing happened."

"Wait, but this is supposed to be a romance story, so something must happen."

"Yeah, sex..." Baruto blurted out.

"Seriously! When I say their relationship remained chaste until Lady Karura came of age." Ebizo glared at the puppet ninja. "As for you Lord Kankuro, I ask you not put thoughts into the minds of these young Shinobi, or else you very well can leave the room."

Kankuro pointed a finger at Gaara. "What about him?"

"I ask that you not put ideas into the mind of the Lord Kazekage either." Ebizo let out a sigh.

Shikadai raised his hand. "There is though an age gap between my grandmother and grandfather. The way you're telling the story it sounds like love at first sight."

"More like love at first chastising." The old man placed his hands onto his knees. "If the person is the one, does it really matter if there is an age gap? Love at first sight also doesn't mean the person realizes right away. Some people can be quite dense in matters of love." Ebizo looked right at Gaara. "For example, an old man can obviously worry whether or not his clueless nephew will ever find their certain someone, and can attempt to try and point them in the right direction."

Gaara's eyes blinked a couple of times. "I'm honestly not following any of this."

Kankuro let out a sigh. "No, you wouldn't."

"Wait." Sarada folded her arms. "Love at first sight doesn't work that way. You see the person, and you know that they're the one instantly. That's how it works. That's what my mother told me."

"Well, I don't expect a child to understand what their mother actually meant by that." Ebizo looked Sarada right in the eye. "Love at first sight is defined by that thing which tells you that person is the one when you meet them, but it may still take time to recognize that feeling. Certainly it was that way with Rasa, and that in itself is romantic."

"Yeah, right." Kankuro rolled his eyes.

Sarada glared at the Puppet ninja. "Shush! He was just about to get back to the story you so rudely interrupted.

...

The boy's eyes turned to look at the sandy haired girl, and Yashamaru moved so that he swung over the edge of the cart with his small hand.

"Seriously, are you going to answer my question?" A shove from the direction of the girl created a sudden imbalance, and the young Anbu found himself knocked over onto his backside. Rasa blinked a couple of times as the sandy haired boy hurried past him.

Rasa sat up in time to see the boy shove the beetle into the girl's face, and a grimace appear. "Yashamaru, get that bug out of my face."

"Isn't it pretty Karura? You like pretty things!" The boy pushed it farther towards the girl, and she leaned back. A grin spread across the child's face.

"I don't like bugs that close to my face, particularly when I'm in the middle of something Yashamaru." The boy kept persisting, and the girl fell to the ground, and took off around the cart. "Sensei! Make Yashamaru stop being such an annoyance!"

Rasa let out a groan as the two children ran past, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Seriously? She had the gall to lecture me about not being medically trained, and now she's acting like a child. Well, she is a little child." A chuckle from the man she's helped out of the cart made Rasa stare at the man. "What?"

The young Anbu stood up just as the two children passed by him, and his tension snapped. One hand reached out to grab the back of the girl's clothing, while the palm of his other hand set on top of the boy's forehead. The grin on the boy's face remained, but the girl's indigo colored eyes flashed with anger. The blond haired lady raised a hand up. "Wait. I wouldn't do that if..."

Rasa felt a wrenching pain in his gut that knocked him to the ground.