A Change In Scenery Brings A Welcome Discovery

Gaara stared at the mirror as his reflection stared back at him from the other side. Somehow, the younger him looked so familiar yet, so different.

What once was a pair of dull teal eyes without pupils, was now replaced with a pair of strange golden orbs the same color as the chains which pulled him out of the afterlife as well as a strange vertical slit in the center of his forehead.

At first, he was confused about the origin of the slit but, after recalling his memories, he was reminded of the tiny ten tailed beast which was wrapped in the golden chains, the same chains which pulled him out of the after life.

The same chains which fixed his soul and fused with him.

If he wasn't wrong, then the ten tailed beast should have fused with him as well.

Then it all became clear to him.

The ten tailed beast, Juubi, was described to have a single eye which possessed the Rinne Sharingan, and those who hosted the Juubi within them ended up growing a third eye on their forehead with the Rinne Sharingan as well.

That would make him the jinchuriki for the ten tailed beast.

But, if so, then why was his mind so quiet still?

Or was it possible that he wasn't a jinchuriki at all and just managed to acquire the third eye by mistake?

What in the world really happened in that war?

Gaara sighed to himself. He could spend days trying to come up with answers to his questions and still end up nowhere.

For now, he supposed he should do it the Shie Hassaikai way; by taking it one problem at a time. In this place where no responsibility awaited him, time was no longer a pressure to him.

He could spend a whole day just staring at his potted cactus and no one would come to trouble him. Yet, it is exactly this kind of leisure that left him feeling complicated.

Just what exactly was he supposed to do here? Arima told him that he didn't need to do anything to repay his favor but, doing nothing at all made him unsettled.

Perhaps he could aid them little by little, in a way that he can in his ability.

With that decided, he began to set his plan in motion; starting with taking a bath and changing his clothes.

Gaara nodded to himself as he thought back to the discrete gazes of disgust Chisaki sent him after realizing that he hadn't changed his clothes in two days.

Thankfully, a helpful subordinate who introduced himself as Irinaka Joi, managed to find some clothes which fit him.

Though the way he spoke reminded Gaara of Sakura; childish and arrogant, and the only way she would be able to voice her worry was if it was hidden beneath a pile of insults. Or at least, that was what he understood of her character from the way she interacted with Naruto.

Gaara absentmindedly stared at the shower head as he submerged himself underneath the water. No matter how much he distracted himself, it seemed he would always go back to thinking about things that he was no longer a part of. And people who he was no longer connected to.

From the corner of his eye, a glimpse of red caught his attention.

In the mirrored wall opposite of him, he saw a sea of spider lilies scattered throughout his back, painting his pale skin like a canvas.

Suddenly he understood.

The sea of blood, the dead souls beneath it, and the departed who refused to let him go even when the chains dragged him to this world.

Of course, nothing ever came without a price.

Death has marked him and now his life is its possession, and the flowers on his back were a testament to it.

It was now clear to him where his sudden ability to produce bone sand from his body came from.

His sins followed him to this world, clinging to his back like an ever present shadow. Even now, the universe reminded him of what he once was and what he always will be; a self-loving demon.

...

"I get that we're supposed to be looking for the guy who ran off with your stuff but, what the hell is a kid doing here?" A masked man asked gruffly as he turned towards Chisaki.

"The boss told me to bring him along for fresh air." Chisaki answered curtly, not even sparing the other man a glance as he continued walking with Gaara following close behind silently as well as a pair of very confused underlings.

"All the way to Tottori? Don't think I don't know that your base is in Kyoto." The man scoffed, biting the cigarette hanging on his lips.

Chisaki's hand twitched in irritation. The guy they hired to lead them to the betrayer ended up being more troublesome than he bargained. If it was before, he would've overhauled him already but, upon remembering his previous conversation with the boss, he decided otherwise.

And besides, killing outright would be a bad example for Gaara who knew close to nothing of what is basic common sense in this world. He might get the impression that killing just about anyone is alright.

Behind him, Gaara was looking around, taking in the city's sight with a blank expression but curious eyes.

To some extent, the older parts of the city somewhat resembled Konoha, but, the tall infrastructures which were cluttered in the center of the city were something he had never seen before.

Aside from that, something about the wind which blew through the city felt familiar to him.

It was hot and dry with a salty scent to it which felt like home to him. He smiled beneath his bone sand armor but his outward appearance only showed the same expressionless look as before.

Perhaps Arima was right when he said he just needed a change in scenery when he dragged him all the way to this city. Though he failed to understand the whole point of it if the older man was just going to lock himself inside the hotel room and let Gaara and Chisaki to roam the city on their own.

Crack!

One of the underlings abruptly kicked open a door of an apartment, causing Chisaki to grunt in annoyance when he realized that the betrayer had long since left due to the lack of any belongings inside.

"Let's go back. He already left." Chisaki muttered, irritated with the fact that he was doing a low ranked work in order to play along with the boss's whims.

"Wait, what about my-" Suddenly, the man grunted as an envelope filled with cash was thrown towards him.

...

Upon arriving back to the hotel with Chisaki, Gaara was barely given a chance to rest for a moment before Arima began to drag him out again towards an off-road vehicle, muttering about a surprise for him before forcing him to wear a mask over his eyes.

Gaara wasn't typically an impatient person but, when forced to be blind for nearly two hours in a cramped location that shook every once in a while, even he would get impatient.

So, when he felt the car finally stop and he was lead down to a place where he felt his feet sink, he immediately asked, "Can I remove the mask now?"

"Yes, you can take the mask off now." Arima chuckled at Gaara's apparent impatience while Chisaki waited in the car, unwilling to get sand on his clothes.

With that, he slowly took off the mask covering his eyes and was left frozen.

So this was where that familiar scent came from.

Gaara found himself in a sea of sand as far as the eyes could see, with winds blowing past him, seeming to be whispering about the secrets of the universe in a language no one could decipher.

For a while, he just stood there, unable to comprehend Arima's intentions for bringing him here.

Beneath his feet and towards the horizon was sand. Dry and fine, eroded particles of rocks and time, the golden brown sand which welcomed the sun.

It was his sand.

Unknowingly, he began walking forwards, the empty feeling in his chest suddenly feeling as though it were finally filled a little; not completely, but enough to feel the warmth of the world again.

Arima and Chisaki watched him silently, allowing the boy a moment to ground himself.

Arriving in front of a sand dune, Gaara looked up towards the distant sun, his hands twitching with the sudden urge to do something, even though he knew that it was impossible.

Despite that, the grains of golden brown beneath his feet called to him. It urged him and encouraged him. The sand was warmth and it was home.

In a single swift motion, he brought his arms towards the sky, feeling his chakra connect with each individual grains and willed them to reach towards the sun.

What followed was a musical droning as the whole desert was brought to life.

There, where the sand dune previously stood, a hand made of sand stretched out as if to capture the sun within its grasp.

"How...?" Gaara stood blankly, staring at the gigantic structure of sand he had just created. "He said my sand was a product of my connection with Shukaku... But, isn't Shukaku gone now?"

The way he looked at the sand construct was as though it were the final rope he desperately clung onto as he began to fall to the abyss.

"Gaara." Towards his confusion, Arima just smiled gently. "Your mother truly did love you."

And the first sign of life began to grow on the barren desert.

...

It all happened at once.

At first, it was the a faint itch in his forehead, then, suddenly, all kinds of plants began to grow in the desert.

Before he knew it, the desert became a fertile meadow, baffling both Arima and Chisaki.

When they decided to bring Gaara to the sand dunes of Tottori, they expected a lot of things to happen; like him discovering that he could still control sand. But, what they didn't expect, was the desert turning to a meadow.

Suddenly, the sky dimmed, the plants withered, and the sun abruptly disappeared, being replaced by a red moon.

A red rain with a scent of rust began to fall from the sky.