The Road Is Cracked But Not Broken

Blood.

So much blood.

The crimson rain which fell from the sky and graced the desert, flowing down the dunes to form rivers and turn into lakes.

Such overwhelming power. The untapped power flowing through his veins, the untamable chakra of the slumbering Juubi within him.

'But, it's still not enough! The chakra is not enough! More, he needed more! To sate this unquenchable thirst!'

As the his body tried to madly absorb the surrounding energy, a pair of slender, wooden horns began to grow on top of his head, reaching towards the moon.

"Gaara!"

From below, Arima watched the red haired boy floating in the sky despite Chisaki worriedly urging him to take shelter in the car.

He had been shouting for a while now, trying to catch Gaara's attention, though, no matter how many times he called for the boy, he never seemed to notice as he floated closer and closer to the moon, the slit on his forehead opening to reveal the Rinne Sharingan that was hidden beneath.

This was bad, Arima thought.

If this goes on, the Rinne Sharingan might activate on the moon and cause an Infinite Tsukuyomi.

He had to do something but, what could he do? Even Chisaki could do nothing in this situation.

Arima was desperate.

The longer they took to come up with a solution, the more dangerous it got for them. And, by the time the heroes managed to notice that something was wrong, the whole world might have already been stuck in an unending sleep.

They had to wake Gaara up quickly!

With that decided, Arima planted his feet steadily on the wet, crimson sand and shouted. "Gaara!!! Wake up!"

Unnoticed by him, his eyes had begun to gradually glow in a silver light.

All of a sudden, the world abruptly stopped.

It was as though someone hit the pause button, allowing Arima to see every single drop of blood hanging in the air, frozen and unmoving, seeming to be unaffected by gravity.

Behind him, Chisaki was frozen in the same position, his hand clutched on an umbrella with his face set in a worried frown, his mask having come undone.

It was silent.

With all the sound seeming to be sucked away in a vacuum all at once, Arima felt unsettled and disoriented, but, he had no time to waste on such useless thoughts.

Right now, he had to focus on the most pressing matter at hand, which was to wake Gaara up from his trance.

And thus, he grabbed the first solid object he could find within his clothes and threw it towards the floating boy in the sky.

Luckily, fortune seems to be aiding him today, as it managed to hit his target on the foot. And, all of a sudden, Gaara's golden eyes flew open, uncomprehending of the situation his body was in.

Though, the instant he opened his eyes, the two golden chains which previously attached themselves to Arima and Chisaki appeared once again, showing that they were still attached to them and, for the briefest of moments, Gaara's golden eyes flashed, revealing a ring with a single tomoe in each eye. Then, it slowly dimmed down, the ring and the tomoe disappearing as though it were never there.

If Arima weren't so focused on Gaara, he would have missed it but, he was, and he saw it.

At that moment, Gaara regained his clarity. And, with the flow of chakra disrupted, the third eye snapped shut, disabling the effects of the Rinne Sharingan and the subsequent genjutsu as Gaara fell to the ground.

But, before he could crash and hurt himself, a pillar of sand rose up and caught him, making Arima sigh in relief.

With a loud crack, time resumed once again.

Suddenly, Arima knelt on the sand, feeling as though all the energy he had in his body was forcefully drained.

Plop.

A single drop of blood escaped from his eyes and fell to the sand.

"That can't be-" He heard Gaara mutter, staring at Arima in disbelief. "Why do you posses a dojutsu?"

If Arima could see himself now, he would find his eyes to have turned silver with multiple ring patterns similar to the Rinnegan and seemed to be glowing a mysterious silver light.

But, right now, he didn't know at all what happened, and all he could do was succumb to the exhaustion, fainting to the sand.

"Oyabun!"

...

"Ah... What a wasted opportunity."

Within the dark recesses of Gaara's mindscape, a large fox-like creature which had its single eye opened briefly, closed it once again, its ten tails flicking about lazily as it continued its deep slumber.

"I'm hungry."

...

The next time Arima woke up, he came face to face with two pairs of concerned eyes. Upon glancing at the wall clock in the hotel room, he was relieved to find that barely 5 hours passed since he fell unconscious.

"Oyabun, do you feel unwell? Does your body hurt anywhere?" Chisaki asked in concern, his fingers fiddling with his gloves.

"Aside from the normal bodily pains which come with old age, I feel alright." Arima reassured, causing both Gaara and Chisaki to sigh in relief.

"I deeply apologize for what happened." Gaara bowed his head towards Arima. "I lost control of my chakra and it managed to awaken the Rinne Sharingan which allowed it to briefly take control of my body. I will make sure to keep it sealed away."

"None of that is needed, my boy. It is only natural for me to try and help you." Arima waved his hand dismissively. "Though, I don't think that keeping that eye sealed forever is a good decision."

"But, then-" Gaara tried to reason but, Arima cut him off.

"Although you might think that the eye you possess can bring about many dangers, learning to take control of it earlier on will be more helpful for you in the long run. You can't always seal it away." Arima explained patiently. "If you repress it too much, it will forcefully activate itself again, and, at that time, the outcome would be much worse than what just happened and you won't have any idea on how to stop it."

"I... see." Gaara said hesitantly, appearing to be in deep thought.

Certainly, Arima proved valid points. He can't always seal the Rinne Sharingan away. If he did, then one day, he would be caught unaware and the Rinne Sharingan will appear once again. What if it managed to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi successfully at that time?

He had to take control of it somehow in order to prevent that from happening.

"That aside, we need to talk about the other dojutsu you possess." Arima suddenly said, breaking the silence. "And judging from the look on your face, I'm guessing you have no idea what I'm talking about."

Chisaki raised an eyebrow. What look on his face? The kid never changed his expression since he arrived in this world. Chisaki conveniently forgot that he and Gaara were mentally the same age.

"The other dojutsu?" Gaara stared in complete confusion.

"By any chance, do you remember a certain pair of gold chains? The ones that got attached to Chisaki and I when you first arrived in this world?" Arima asked patiently. "They also appeared briefly when you were under the influence of the Rinne Sharingan."

"Yes, I remember." Gaara answered, trying to connect the pieces together to understand what Arima was getting at.

"When they appeared previously, I managed to catch a glimpse on your eyes albeit only for a brief moment." Arima said seriously. "Your eyes had a ring and a single tomoe on each of them. I surmise it has something to do with the chains that got attached to us. You don't happen to know what exactly those chains are for, do you?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Gaara shook his head dully, still not fully comprehending how he ended up with not one but, two dojutsu in his possession.

"Ah, I thought as much." Arima sighed as he sat up carefully, being aided by Chisaki. "Not much left to do other than experimenting with it then."

"Oh, and another thing. Can you come closer for a moment?" Gaara felt confused but did what was asked of him anyways and, before he knew it, he was suddenly enveloped in a warm embrace.

"This-" Gaara's voice wavered and, for an instant, it seemed like his expression was about to crumble, only for it to fix itself back albeit slightly cracked.

"A hug." Arima gently patted his back. "You look like you desperately needed one."

...

Recently, Vlad King's workload kept increasing for no reason.

First, it was just things like keeping an eye on the increasing amount of cases involving trigger in Tottori.

Then, he was told to investigate the origin of a sudden rain of white sand which enveloped the whole city for a short time before abruptly disappearing. Climate change, am I right?

And now, they were sending him off towards the desert in the height of summer in order to find out the cause of a crimson colored rain which left the desert smelling like rust. Why were they even sending a hero for this? Shouldn't a detective or an environmental researcher be more appropriate than him? Well, atleast they had the mind to send several police officers with him.

But, upon arriving at the location where normal sand met crimson stained slush, he began to realize that the authorities made the right call in sending him.

A red rain that smelled of rust.

It was so obvious that he wanted to kill himself for not figuring it out.

He was around this substance so often that it was impossible for him to mistake it for something else.

It was blood.

And a fuck-ton of it.

What in the world?

...

"What is this?" When they arrived back in the Shie Hassaikai compound that night, one of the accountants approached Arima and whispered something to him, to which, Arima excused himself for a short while and returned with a knowing grin and a stack of papers.

"It finally arrived." Arima stated. "Your birth certificate and quirk registry forms. All that we need now is for you to fill them up."

"A birth certificate?" Gaara clenched his fists beneath the table. He already understood what it was for but his disbelief made him ask for confirmation.

To that, Arima just smiled in understanding. "It's something like a proof of existence."

A form in a paper to prove he existed.

It all seemed so laughable.

More than a decade of uncertainty and pain, he used to kill people just to prove he existed. But it could all be solved so easily by a flimsy piece of paper.

Gaara didn't know how to feel about that. He was angry, for sure. A little hesitant yet relieved. But he mostly felt lost.

Silently, he studied the form in front of him, his eyes being drawn to a particular section and froze. "Why is your name in the section for father...? Arima-"

"Ah, I was going to bring it up later but, since you already saw it, then now is as good time as any." Arima tapped the table, the wrinkles on the corner of his eyes creasing as he smiled warmly. "Gaara, would you like to be my son?"

"I-" Gaara's voice hitched in his throat, refusing to come out as his expression cracked, his bone sand armor crumbling to the ground to reveal his true face within.

His fingers trembled as he struggled to form coherent words.

He remembered. When he was a child, his sole wish was to be accepted and loved. He wanted to be someone precious to others.

At that time, it was his impossible dream. But, now, someone was giving him the opportunity.

Gaara's lips trembled, forming into a wavering smile.

"Yes. I would like to."

Maybe he could really fulfill that impossible dream he once had.