Tale of the Nine-Tailed Ninja

You Honestly Don't Remember Me?

So this chapter is pretty short. Sorry, but you do get to see more Gaara so there's that. Enjoy

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I trained with Kakashi for the rest of the day. It wasn't until the moon had risen over head that I was set loose upon the village. Even then, Kakashi told me to keep a low profile. He would report back to the Hokage about my skills but expected me to train with him tomorrow, no matter what the Hokage decided to do with me.

I was hungry and tired, but I was always hungry and I knew there wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell that I'd go to sleep tonight. Kakashi wanted me to train with his team tomorrow. I wasn't going to put them in danger simply because I couldn't deny my body its normal functions.

To distract myself, I searched for the scent of the blonde haired boy. I'd go to him before facing Gaara. I followed the scent to a small apartment. I didn't bother knocking on the door. If he was asleep, I surely didn't want to wake him. Instead, I hopped around the building, hoping to find a window in which I might peer into the child's room. I found it, sure enough, and the boy was knocked out. He lay sprawled on his bed that lay adjacent to the window. I frowned. I had been hoping to meet the child but I guessed it would have to wait. Now it was time to find my sand companion.

Gaara was a lot harder to find than the blonde kid. It had been so long since I had spoken to Gaara that his scent seemed to elude me. In the end, I found him by sheer luck. He was sitting atop a roof, staring up at the half moon. I jumped from my rooftop to his, landing only a few feet behind him.

"What do you want?" his cold, monotone voice asked. I didn't reply, simply walked around him to look him in the eyes. I crossed my arms and peered down at the boy. He glared back up at me.

He truly had changed. I hadn't been able to get a clear look at him the first time we met, but Gaara had black rings around his eyes and his pale blue eyes had no pupils. His hair was blood red, although it was nigh impossible to determine that in the moon's light. He wore a gourd (which I assumed was full of sand) on his back and the teddy bear I remembered him having had disappeared. There was the kanji for love carved into his forehead but that might have been there the last time we talked. I didn't know for sure.

"Who are you?" Gaara demanded.

"You don't remember me?" I asked, incredulous. The possibility of this guy's existence had haunted me for the past six years of my life and he didn't even remember me. That was cruel and, for some reason, it actually came as a blow. I wasn't expecting that. Sure, he had run away from me, and that had hurt, but I didn't think I'd truly care about the boy's views of me.

"No," he replied curtly. I frowned and then shrugged.

"Well, I guess it doesn't really matter anyhow. It was a long time ago and I'm sure you had other things on your mind." I sat down next to Gaara as I had the time before. He glanced curiously at me. I couldn't read his mind and that annoyed me. I wanted to know what he was thinking. Was he lying about not remembering me?

"What are you doing?" he demanded. I glanced over, acting surprised.

"I'm just looking at the sky. I hope you don't mind."

"Shouldn't you be sleeping or something?" he growled.

"Shouldn't you?" I laughed back, already knowing he didn't sleep.

"I don't sleep."

"I can't imagine why," I said sarcastically. "Well, I do. But not tonight. It will be about three days before I sleep again, if I'm lucky. Things get ugly when I'm well rested."

"Who are you?" he asked again. I smirked. At least I had gotten him to be curious about me. Of course, he was curious. I wasn't afraid of him, obviously knew who and what he was, and tried not to sleep, something I'm sure he'd love to have one peaceful night of. I'd be concerned if he wasn't curious.

"It doesn't really matter who I am, at the moment. Rather, it matters who you are, err... who you've become. You're certainly a lot different than the last time we met. What happened to your teddy bear? What happened to that frightened little boy I knew?"

"Are you from Suna," he assumed, still trying to figure me out. He was probably frustrated that I was asking questions and not answering any of his. Poor Gaara, I thought with mild amusement.

"Nope!" I piped cheerfully." I've only been once. Kazekage doesn't really like the likes of me around. Of course, I'm sure you know that first hand, don't you? A sand ninja for that guy? That has to suck."

"You're a jinchuriki," he guessed.

"Ha! I wish I were a jinchuriki. Maybe then I'd have a semblance of control. No, I've got it much worse than that." Gaara cocked his head to the side, not understanding any of this conversation. I was trying to make it as obvious as possible to who I was, without outright saying it, but Gaara was clueless. "So you seriously don't remember me, huh?" Gaara shook his head. I didn't know why but that made me sad. "You were young and had a lot on your mind," I excused him.

I laid back on the roof, putting my hands behind my head. Gaara glanced at me once and then refocused on the moon. We stared at the sky in silence for a long time before I blurted, "Do people still try to assassinate you?"

"Rarely," he answered honestly.

"You ever figure out who was sending them?"

"The Kazekage."

"Figures," I muttered, puffing at my shaggy bangs. I needed to cut them again.

"Have we honestly met before?" he demanded. "Did you tell me your name?"

"Yes," I replied. I smiled in amusement as his face took on a deep look of concentration. He was doing his best to remember me but it just wasn't coming. "Don't give yourself an aneurism," I half laughed. "All you need to know is that I'll be watching you and that I'm not a threat. I'm just curious. Painfully curious. Perhaps even recklessly so. In fact, I'm so painfully and recklessly curious that I approached you tonight. I should've waited for the daytime, when I'm at less of a disadvantage if you did decide to attack. Although, if you're as strong as you were then, I'd be hard-pressed to escape with my life even in the daylight. Still, I don't think you'd attack me."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because I know who you are, Gaara. I knew you before the demon within managed to take control. Just accept who and what you are. Stop fighting yourself. You'll be at peace that way." With that, I got up and left before he could utter a syllable. If he remembered me now, I didn't want to know.