It'd been days since the whole incident at the hospital with Naruto. Ever since that day, slowly... I'd been learning to breathe again. Naruto was with me every step of the way, and I found myself able to actually smile. I was at the hospital practically every single day.
Sometimes, Kiba would join Naruto and I. I was thankful for his presence as well. Together, he and Naruto were helping to seal the wound that Sasuke had left in my heart.
Gaara helped, too. I hadn't even known that he was staying in the village, but apparently, he was. He kept me company at night, whenever I couldn't sleep, which was a lot. A few times, I'd even invited him to stay in my room with me. He was always gone by morning. But no matter what, he always came back at night.
It was during one of his frequent visits, in fact, that I'd decided what I was going to do. We were discussing our plans, now that everything was slowly returning back to normal in both of our home villages.
"I heard that Naruto's going to be dispatched from the hospital soon," Gaara began in his sensual tone, "He's supposed to go training with Jiraiya."
"Pervy Sage?" I said, blinking my eyes. He stared at me like I was crazy, but I only shook my head in response. "Don't ask. Just know... That name describes him perfectly. Anyway... It looks like everyone's been making plans. Kimi's going to be Lady Tsunade's apprentice along with Sakura, since she wants to learn about medical ninjutsu. Hayato's stolen my original sensei, Kakashi, and now he's always training. And Daisuke's becoming more youthful everyday, learning Guy-sensei's teachings."
Gaara's eye twitched at the mention of Guy-sensei, and I tried not to burst out laughing. However, he continued on the conversation nonetheless. "And what about you?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, raising an eyebrows.
"If all of your friends are choosing what to do... What about you? What're your plans, now?" He inquired from his perch on my window sill.
I looked at my ceiling in thought, picking up my pillow and tossing it back onto my bed. "I... I don't know. I guess I really haven't thought of anything I want to do yet," I replied honestly.
I walked over to him, squeezing into the small space left on the window sill next to him, letting one leg hang into my room while I bent the other and leaned my chin on it. "Have you thought of anything?"
Gaara's perfect seafoam green eyes went over my pajama-wearing form before looking out at the moon. "Once I return to my village, I'm going to split from my siblings and join the regular troops of my village. And once that is done... I'm going to aim to become Kazekage of Sunagakure. Then, I'll finally become... Important to others. I'll gain respect and acknowledgement from others... Rising, as the Sand's next Kazekage."
I stared at him, my draw almost dropping to the floor. "And... When did you decide this?"
"Ever since our battle... After fighting with Naruto... I've figured things out. He helped me realize that ties to others... They're strength, not weakness. While fighting... We connected. He's just like me, facing the same mistreatment and unhappiness... Yet now, he has people whom he's precious to. My decision was made in order to be like him. One day... I wish to be precious to people, just like he is," He explained, his face completely calm. There was nothing unstable or monstrous about him; there never could be. I would never believe it.
"I think... That's great, Gaara. I'm sure that one day, you'll make a great Kazekage. But now, I do warn you... You'll have to deal with Naruto as Hokage, and God only knows what he'll do while leading Konoha," I said, laughing.
The redhead's peaceful expression was replaced by a smirk. "Oh, and just so you know," I began, "You're already halfway towards your goal."
He stared at me, his eyes widening a fraction in question. "I am?"
"Of course you are! You said you wanted to be precious to others, right? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret," I said, leaning over so my mouth was near his ear. "Gaara... Already, you're... Very precious to me," I whispered, smiling as the blush I hated crept its way onto my face.
The redhead stared at me, and then something odd happened. His own cheeks started to heat up, and I tried not to 'aww' at how adorable he looked while blushing.
Adorable, hm... Suddenly, thinking those thoughts didn't feel as wrong anymore. It felt okay to think about Gaara like this.
I mean, it was no secret that I'd been drawn to him from the very beginning. I wanted to know who the strange, cold boy with red hair was. I wanted to meet him, to get to know him... And more than anything, I wanted him to like me.
It was in the process of getting him to like me that I actually connected with him. All it took was one touch, one single touch, and suddenly, we were bound to each other for life. Something in me pulled me towards him, but I just didn't know what it was. It wasn't just a mental, emotional spark. It was real.
"Gaara... Do you remember when we were taking the Chunin Exams? How you and I sat next to each other while taking the written test?" I spoke up after a while, looking at him with curious eyes. He nodded, and so, I continued, "Do you remember if... Well, was there an instant when... Our hands touched on accident and something completely crazy happened. I was just thinking that maybe..."
"You want to see if it still works, don't you?" He murmured.
I bit my lip, nodding shyly as I scratched the back of my head. "It's completely fine if you don't want to, though. I'm pretty sure asking you to touch my hand is kind of weird."
"Around you, I've learned to get used to weird," He murmured.
I raised an eyebrow. "That better be a compliment," I warned playfully, and he nodded.
"It is," He assured. "Mostly."
"Say what!?" I exclaimed, and he smirked.
"Don't worry about it. Just come with me," He said.
"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.... But where the cheese are we- Ah!" And that's when sand surrounded, swirling and transporting us somewhere I didn't know.
When I could finally see again, I looked around and realized that we were now on my roof. We sat together, our closeness allowing us to share our body heat, and I tried not to shiver in pure joy.
"Okay... So I'm not exactly sure how this is going to work, but..." I felt my voice trailed off as Gaara captured me into his seafoam green gaze. My brain went to mush instantly, and I lost all memory of what I was going to say or do.
Directed by an unknown force inside of me, I began to raise my hand. Gaara did the same, the look in his eyes telling me that he was experiencing the same unknown pull that I was. Our hands met, closing the small gap between us as our pale skin tones seemed almost identical.
It was then that the sparks ensued. And they were just like before. They weren't just mental, emotional sparks, either. They were literal; shining like gold did in the sunlight.
And then we disappeared.
::In Minxie's Mind::
I looked around me, trying to figure out where the hell I had taken myself. Oh, great. I've gotten myself into ANOTHER crazy situation! Aren't I amazing?
When I saw the colorful lights, random floating pancakes, dinosaurs chilling in hot tubs, and Paul Wesley waiting for me in my bedroom, I realized that I was in my mind. As I stared at the odd, completely random things around me, I felt myself more and more convinced that this place was my mind.
Oh my god... Elmo singing "I'm Bad" by Michael Jackson!? This is surely my mind. I'm completely sure now.
Hm... It was even more screwed up than I imagined it would be.
Suddenly, everything went dark. I half-expected "Better With The Lights Off" to start randomly playing in the background, since this WAS my very messed up mind, but all I heard was silence.
"Um... Hello?" I called out, looking from side to side. I felt weird; standing alone in the abyss of pure darkness.
"Gaara?" I said, my voice cracking slightly as my tone got more urgent. I was starting to feel like one of those idiotic characters in scary movies, calling out to nothing, when in reality, I was beckoning all serial killers to come and end me. What if Jason or that Texas Chainsaw Massacre guy came out of nowhere to kill me in my own mind?
"Minxie?" I let out a breath of relief when I saw Gaara standing a few feet away from me.
"Gaara," I breathed out, walking towards him as a smile tugged its way onto my lips. Of course, that smile faded when an invisible wall smacked me in the face and prevented me from going with Gaara.
"What the...?" I said, poking the invisible wall in front of me. I kicked it and flicked it a few times, but it remained unmoving.
"Uh... What?" I asked, looking up at the ceiling of nothingness above me.
"You're confused, aren't you?" A voice asked.
"Well, obviously. I didn't think that my own mind could create invisible walls keeping me away from- Woah, what the heck are you?" I said, finally becoming aware that it was NOT Gaara who had spoken to me, but someone else entirely.
"I'm Aya!" the voice said brightly, "The thought-sorting mind pixie!"
"Um... Why do I need a mind pixie?" I looked around me, resisting the urge to eye twitch. "And why can't I see you?"
"You'll figure that out in time! And you can't see me because you aren't using the proper pair of eyes," She answered in her bell-chime voice.
"Proper pair of- Oh! I get it," I said, grinning. "Sorry. I'm a tad slow, especially since my mind is even more screwed up than I imagined... Anyway!" I quickly activated my Mind's Eye, and realized that indeed, I could see.
In front of me was a girl, about the size of my hand, with colorful wings and green hair. Her clothing was an array of different shades of blue, purple, red, yellow, and orange. She lit up the dark abyss that had overtaken my mind, and I couldn't help but smile at how adorable she was.
"Oh my god... You're so cute! How did I not know you were in my mind all this time?" I asked, leaning down so I could look at her better.
"Because you never used your Mind's Eye on yourself, silly!" She giggled, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I sweatdropped. "Heh... Right... Anyway! Why is there a random wall keeping me away from my friend?" I inquired.
"Friend? Don't you mean boyfriend? I've been to your memory and inner thought banks, and there's a whole file on him! My favorite one was when you met him for the first time, and you called his eyes, and I quote, 'the most beautiful seafoam green eyes you had ever seen in your entire life!' Oh! And there was also the time you called him hot when you were talking to- Mmf!"
The pixie finally stopped talking when I had slapped my hand over her mouth, silencing her chatterbox mouth.
I was turning redder by the second, and I prayed to the Holy Lord that Gaara heard nothing of what Aya said.
"Um... I'm gonna have a pixie-Minxie conference for a sec, kay? Stay there," I said to Gaara, and then I grabbed Aya by the wing and pulled her over to the farthest corner of my mind.
"Are you insane!?" I whispered sharply. "You don't just tell Gaara that!"
"But it was true!" Aya argued. "And jeez, don't you know anything about mind pixies? You can't just pull our wings!"
"Well, my bad! But anyway, back to the wall issue... As you obviously know, Gaara and I have this connection into each other's minds... And I want to see if it still works. I think it does, since he's here, but why did my mind suddenly go blank?" I asked, gesturing to the darkness around us.
"Well... He's Shukaku's host, right?" I nodded, and she sighed, continuing, "It doesn't get along well with Shukaku... The thing inside you, I mean. It thinks Shukaku's disrespectful, and it thinks that its host will be the same."
"Can't we bargain with it?" I asked. "Gaara's not the same as Shukaku. Why can't it see past the monster?"
"Maybe because it is a monster?" She said, shaking her head. "And you must be insane! No one's ever bargained with it and come out alive!"
"Well, if it has been living in me this long... I think I deserve a little consideration, don't you?" I said, putting my hands on my hips. "Especially since I don't know what it is yet."
She sighed. "All I can tell you is that your connection with Gaara isn't pointless, and that Gaara isn't the only one you share it with. That's all I can say. And as for the wall... Well, it is your mind, Minxie. You should be able to break it down if you try hard enough."
"What happens once I do?"
"Simple. Your minds merge, and your connection is brought to a whole other level."
"Meaning?"
"It can't be explained in only words. Break the wall down, and then you'll find out." And with that, she disappeared, leaving me alone in the darkness.
I sighed. "Creepy, mind-sorting pixies who disappear and give you riddles to figure out... What am I? Jeez..." I muttered to myself, walking back over to Gaara.
"I really don't know what's going to happen once I do this," I began, placing my hand on the invisible wall that was built between us, "But I think it's going to be good. Put your hand on the wall."
Gaara nodded, lifting up his hand to the same spot where mine was. Slowly, he touched his hand to the glass-like wall in between us. I closed my eyes, focusing all my power on breaking the wall down.
Miraculously, my fingertips touched his, and in a few more seconds, our hands were against each other's. My fingers intertwined themselves with his as I stared into those perfect seafoam green eyes of his, and a moment of silence ensued. The dark abyss around me went blank, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, colors began exploding, lighting up the darkness.
The next thing I knew, Gaara's mind was merging into place with my own. Images of a younger Gaara all the way up to an older one flashed through my mind, and it was then that I realized I was reading his memories. He was reading my own as well, witnessing everything I had gone to up to this point.
I relived the fight between him and my friends and I, remembering how deformed and monstrous he had looked. I remembered how I refused to give up on him, how he trapped me into a sand prison for my own safety. He had done so many acts for me that I lost count. I witnessed his own revelation, felt all he felt while Naruto slowly broke his icy heart open and bonded with him.
It was at that moment that I had a revelation of my own. I started remembering my brother, and how lost and confused he was. How cold he had become, how he was a shell of his former self. I might not have been able to remember our times together, but I was able to remember the love I had for him. Without even knowing him, after I had seen him for the first time, I couldn't help but open up my heart to him. Already, I loved him unconditionally, only knowing that he was indeed my twin brother.
I realized how much I wanted to know him better. I wanted to be able to help him, to make him feel the happiness and love of the world. I imagined how great it would be if he met my friends, and how happy he would feel to know that they welcomed him. I planned out the great life he would have if he wasn't in the Akatsuki.
Then, I figured out just what I had to do. I created my own plan for the future; what I would do for the next two years. It was all clear to me; plain as day in my emerald gaze.
Clearing my mind for the first time in days, I let out a deep breath, the same breath that Naruto had shown me to breathe.
And then it was back home.
::In Real World::
I gasped, letting my hand fall from Gaara's. Gaara's expression mirrored mine, although his seemed more calm and brooding. I'm pretty sure he looked better than I did, too.
"That was..." He began, and apparently, he couldn't find the words either.
"Woah," I supplied, a smile making its way onto my lips. "I didn't think anything could be like that. That was... Woah. Just really woah."
"You saw it, didn't you?" He said after a while, looking at the roof that we sat on. "The Shukaku, inside of me."
"Yeah. I kinda saw everything..." I admitted, placing the palms of my hands on either side of me. "... And I don't mind it. You and Shukaku... You're not the same person, Gaara. I saw it in you, you know. You're changing. You will change. It's like I said; you're already halfway there. And if you don't realize it by now, I'll just have to tell you again. Gaara... I've never seen you as a monster, and you know what? I don't think I ever will."
The redhead stared at me, his eyes widened a fraction. I only smiled happily at him in response with sincere emerald eyes. Then, my face grew serious.
"I'm not sure what you saw in my screwed up mind... But I know that this little experience helped me figure out things. I know what my plan is, now," I said, moving a lock of chocolate brown hair behind my ear.
"You do?" He said, still not fully recovered from his widened-eye moment.
"Mmhm. And you helped me figure it out, so thank you," I said, smiling at him. The devious gears in my head began to spin slowly, and my eyes glistened happily as possible ways of exercising my plan flashed through my mind. I looked at Gaara once more, a devious smirk playing its way onto my lips as I spoke,
"But... First thing's first. I can't believe I'm saying this, but... I'm going to the library."