Pain.
Burning.
Searing pain.
His flesh crawls.
He awakens with veins bursting with adrenaline. A heart pounding erratically within his screaming body. A shrill voice of madness hissing darkly into the depths of his mind. A voice heard only in his memory, one he hasn't heard in years.
rIP tEaR kiLL
Gaara jerks sharply.
His eyes widen.
He feels it—the urge to slaughter, an itch to stain the ground with blood and a lust to soak Sunagakure's streets red. Intellectually, he knows he definitely doesn't want to do any of that. His body seems to disagree. And Shukaku definitely wants blood.
Wait, Shukaku?
Distantly, beyond his own screaming and murderous thoughts he can hear himself think.
Confusion.
There's no mistaking the familiar sensation of bloodlust filling him or the recognizable room that surrounds him. It is his room, after all. But the layout is all wrong. It's too empty and barren. It resembles the room he grew up in as a child. And from his unfortunate position—curled on the ground whilst clutching his head—he notices his current body in all its youthfulness.
He is confused.
He is in pain.
And he is struggling to regain control.
He hasn't suppressed the Ichibi in years. He hasn't had the need to suppress it either. Why?
He is burning.
But Gaara hadn't become Kazekage because he was weak. He became Kazekage because he was strong. Gaara is strong, and so is his will.
But it hurts—-hurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtscan'tthinkhurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurts———-
A lot.
And the voice...it's just so angry—angryangryangryangryangryangryangryangry—-STOP!
His thoughts scream.
Stop!
Rip. Tear. Kill.
"Be...quiet..." he grits as sweat drips down his face. "I am a..protector.... I will not...kill for...you....I am the Kazekage...shut up!"
He shudders.
The voice only gets louder.
He thrashes violently and so does Shukaku but after a fierce struggle he manages to force the Ichibi into submission by sheer force of will.
It sleeps.
Gaara is afraid to find out what will happen when it wakes again.
He slumps to the ground beside his bed, panting, trembling and so-utterly exhausted.
He is in the past.
Alone.
Despite himself, Gaara chuckles.
The exasperation is overwhelming, but he can't help but wonder...
He was convinced that these sort of things only happened to Naruto.
Huh.
::
He tried not to acknowledge the pang of hurt that struck him when he saw his siblings' fearful expressions.
Temari, Kankuro...
He just wanted to hug and embrace them. To tell them that he loved them and how sorry he was...and that he missed them. They were Temari and Kankuro, but they weren't his Temari and Kankuro. At least...not yet.
Everything he worked so hard to build was undone. All the progress and trust he struggled and fought to create was gone. His relationship with his siblings and villagers didn't exist.
In the privacy of his own room, Gaara weeps.
It was maddening.
And knowing the taste of happiness and losing it so suddenly makes it all the worse. Kazekage Gaara hasn't been alone in years and now he suddenly is.
The pain is tremendous.
The void is...heartbreaking.
But Naruto taught him many things and of them was to never give up.
Gaara wouldn't give up.
He did it all once before. He could do it again.
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
A Path Paved in Red
फैनफिक्शनGaara finds himself in a time where everyone fears him and his control is slipping. Maintaining control of his homicidal urges while trying to bond with his siblings, protect his village and unravel the enigma known as the fourth Kazekage just got t...
