Wandering Around

"Living in the Village Hidden in the Shadow and keeping to myself."

"The village hidden in the Shadow.. so you must have met the Shinikage, Ryu." He said, seeming like he was thinking hard on the subject. After his eyes had traveled to the ground while he was thinking, he suddenly looked back at Kani.

"If I could turn back time, I'd make it so none of this had ever happened.." He trailed off for a moment, his eyes arching slightly.

"But I can't. And neither can you, or anyone else."

Looks at the ground.

"You have no idea how much I wanted to change time..."

"No matter how much any of us wanted to change how things turned out, we never could. And never will be able to. It's the way things go, changing anything is out of the question." He closed his eyes, thinking, until he re-opened them and stared at her, his eyes showing hope.

"Kani, are you happy?"

"I-"

Looks at the floor.

"Let's put it this way...I actualy have some emotion."

"You were depressed for the longest time, were you not? What helped you heal from that?"

Looks up at him, right in the eyes.

"I never got over it...I just changed that emotion into nothingness. I didn't feel anything, though I should have either been screaming or crying most of the time. I've learned to block out everything: thoughts, emotions, wants...people. I adapted to isolation quite well."

"But you said you've gained some emotions back, did you not? I merely asked why, if you were so prone to isolation."

Looks at a spot just above Gaara's shoulder.

"I met Ryu...he came around to my house to say hi and then we talked a bit and I guess he saw that I wasn't 'happy'. He asked me why not, and I explained. He told me that you were alive but I didn't believe him..."

Hangs her head.

"It ended up in a fight and..."

Looks confused and then cringes at a thought, but then looks up at him.

"I decided that it wouldn't hurt to come and see if you were here (whispers) again. (no whisper) And here you are."

He shook his head slightly. "I'm sorry."

He suddenly remembered why they were in this mess, what wasn't able to be changed, and why. "It was my fault. I caused you pain. I caused Neko pain. And even Temari and Kankuro. I hurt everybody.. and now look, you've relied on isolation, Temari and Kankuro are missing, and.. I'm not even sure about Neko.. she was the first one back, the first one to forgive me...

"Or maybe she didn't, maybe she hates me. I don't know anymore.." He sighed, lowering his eyes from Kani's stare, feeling ashamed of himself. "I ruined everything, and you have every right to hate me, too."

He stood, turning away. "Be happy, Kani. My exsistence will only bring you more pain."

Jumps up and runs over to him, before wrapping her arms around him and hugging him.

"Gaara, don't think that! It wasn't your fault! You were doing what you thought was best! Temari and Kankuro are fine, I've seen them. And Neko doesn't hate you."

She turns Gaara around and holds his hands.

"Gaara...no one needs to forgive you...you did nothing wrong...I chose isolation because that was the only thing I could think of doing...I was afraid that I was going crazy and I left mostly because I wanted to protect everyone in case I did something to hurt them"

"I can't be sure. And I haven't seen Temari or Kankuro around at all, so I couldn't be sure what's going on with them, either." He shook his head lightly, staring at their hands. "What I did was wrong and selfish, and I shouldn't even be here right now.

"And you wouldn't have had to rely on isolation if I hadn't done what I did, even if you were doing it to protect people. Because, I would have been there to make sure everything was fine. Unless, of course, you didn't believe I was able to do so, and thought I might just leave you one day. I can't blame you, and you wouldn't have been wrong on that.

"Which means, you should trust your intuition, and save yourself the trouble." He pulled his hands away, frowning, and turned to face away from her, crossing his arms.

Just lets her arms fall and stares at his back, not used to the human interaction so she's not quite sure what to do.

Is talking kind of quietly "It's not your fault...you were trying to protect us and your plan kinda backfired. Nothing that has happened has been your fault. If you really want to blame someone, blame the Akatsuki. If they weren't alive then you wouldn't have had to be killed so that Shakaku didn't fall into their hands...so that no one else would die. You tried to protect us and we love you for that. Your plan didn't work as well as you thought...but from the beginning it wasn't really your plan."

Looks at the ground.

"The Akatsuki were probably counting on you to do this, because they saw how much you cared about us. Sure they wouldn't get Shakaku but then again, people would be angry and depressed about your death and then they would come and fight them. I would have...Neko, Swiss, Hitori...Kankuro and Temari...everyone would have gone to fight them and everyone would have died, giving them more demons then they would have hoped for. Also...with everyone dead they wouldn't have anyone to stop them from doing anything they pleased...the world would have been theirs..." (she sounds like she's talking to herself)

"It's my fault, I should have known better. It was a reckless plan, and it caused so much pain. And you just said that I could have killed you all, so that makes it worse. And look," He shook his head slightly. "Shukaku is still here. Despite my efforts to get rid of him, hes still here. My plan not only backfired, it changed nothing.. nothing but the lives of everyone around me."

"They are going to get what they want no matter what.. we just need to beat them at their own game. Though, clearly, I am out of the question when it comes to helping out.."

(still sounds like she's talking to herself) "Everything can go back to normal...no one's scared for life. We'll get over this...it'll all be fine. The Akatsuki are going to be taken down soon enough..."

Pauses and bites her lip.

"Everything is going to be fine...nothing big changed...life can go back to normal."

A short laugh escapes, as she says the word 'normal'.

"That is...if our life's were actualy what you'd call normal."

"It was never normal." He said, "And I don't believe the Akatsuki could be taken down very easily, if they even could be taken down at all.. I'm sure there are many more that would be willing to join the organization once it needed replacements."

He shrugged. "Like I said, I can't help. And I'm sure nobody was scarred for life through my actions.. if, of course, you didn't consider me part of this."

"You're right, nothing ever was normal, but now you're back and life can go back to being like that. And you don't need to do anything, leave others to it..."

Kani paused, not quite sure about what she's saying.

"You're back and that's what matters..."

"I'll never forget."

"Yeah, well no one ever will. No one will ever forget the time that the Kazekage died but then was reincarnated. No one will ever forget that in the history of forever. And I doubt that you ever will, since you're the one it happened to."

He stayed quiet, staring at the ground.

(lets say he's not facing her)

Kani bit her lip, staring at Gaara's back. Then she went up behind him and hugged him, not knowing what else to do.

He lifted his head slightly, turning it a bit in an attempt to look at her through the corner of his eye. "What are you doing?"

Kani closed her eyes, still hugging him.

"The only thing I know how to do right now."

"Why?"

"Because hugs are supposed to make everything better even if they don't."

(neko quote right there peoples!)