Child

What's that sound?

Beep... beep... beep...

I know that sound. I've heard it before.

His thoughts were muddled, stuck somewhere between awake and asleep.

"What are you going to do, now?"

"Now I wait to see who will wake up and if he still wants to kill me."

He knew that voice. Knew it better than he recognized his own. 18...Rin.

"Do you really think he'll try in here? Out of the prison cell?"

Who is that talking with her?

"I don't know. Honestly, I'm kind of making it up, as I go."

He wanted to tell her he could hear her; wanted to open his eyes, but they felt so heavy.

His body felt weak, like there were weights tied to each limb.

What did they do to me?

"How did Kankuro and Temari bring him here? He was wild the last time I saw him."

"I assume they found the doctor you wanted. It's normal for our physicians to put someone under a temporary paralysis jutsu, if they're uncooperative."

"I see."

I hate that!

"He'll hate the feeling of that."

If he could have smiled, he would have.

Even after all this time, she still knew what he liked and, more importantly, what he feared.

"How long will their jutsu last?" Rin asked.

The man, he remembered as the Kazekage, answered. "Until the doctor breaks it. But that's going to be difficult, considering how no one knows where we are, except for my siblings. Can you work when he's like that?"

"Not ideally. Haru needs to be relaxed, sure, but if he doesn't give me consent to enter his mind, it's going to be dangerous for both of us."

What is she trying to do? Come into my mind?! No! She can't! Don't come in here!

"What kind of danger? Like what happened with me?"

"Similar, yes. If his mind rejects me, or even worse, acknowledges me as an invader or a threat, he can trap me there, hurting both of us. I can damage his psyche and since he's connected to me through my chakra, he can harm my waking body, draining me of my energy."

"Trap you? How could you be trapped in the mind of someone else?"

Haru waited to listen to the answer, he didn't know himself.

18 walked around his mind for years, but even he didn't know the extent of her capabilities.

She sighed. "It's complicated. I only had it happen a few times, but never with Haru."

"Why not with him?"

Rin hesitated. "Haru and I shared connections outside of the mental plane, our chakras know each other. He was my.... original partner."

Gaara didn't understand at first, but by the way she was choosing her words and the discomfort on her face, it didn't take him long to figure it out.

"Oh. I see."

"Yeah."

They were quiet for a moment and even in his drifting state, Haru could feel the tension in the room.

He wished he could roll his eyes.

Oh, come on, man, it was years ago. We were teenagers locked in the same living space together. What did you expect to happen?

Rin found her voice first. "It was obvious how he and I felt about each other from the beginning, but that wasn't why the scientists brought us together. Out of all the other experiments, Haru and I were the most compatible. My ability to access memories and the psyche of other people, just by touch and chakra transference, made me the natural choice for Orochimaru's next body. If he wasn't so obsessed with the Uchiha line, he probably would've claimed me years ago."

"That's what he designed you for? To take your body?"

"And my jutsu, yes. However, Orochimaru used me for other things as well. I don't know if he would've parted with those feelings right away."

Haru still wasn't able to open his eyes, so he couldn't see the expression on the Kazekage's face, but he imagined it.

"I don't know what to say."

"There's nothing to say, it wasn't a surprise to us. Every single creation in that lab knew what they were made for. Most considered it a great honor."

"But not you?"

"No, not me. Never me. I wanted... other things."

Haru felt a small light in his heart.

"Anyway, because of my talents, I was constantly undergoing training with other experiments. They'd have me induce over and over and over, but after a while, before I learned control, my partners would..."

She grimaced.

"Would what?"

Haru knew what, he'd seen it before.

Though he couldn't move his hand, he wanted to take hers in his and give it a squeeze.

This in-between state was a blessing and curse.

It was the first time he'd had real clarity in weeks, but to have it and not be able to tell 18 he was there, listening to her every word, was torture.

"The strain on their mind, when I didn't use my jutsu for relaxation, would leave them in a vegetative state. I broke them." She stopped talking.

Haru strained to listen, but only heard the faint shuffling of movement and the deep sigh of painful memories.

When Gaara's voice sounded, he assumed 18 was in his arms and he was glad.

If he couldn't scare away her past, at least someone was there to hold her.

"I'm sorry, Rin. That sounds awful."

"Yes."

"How did Haru fit into this?"

Rin's voice came out muffled, leading him to believe her face was pressed into another man's shoulder.

"Subject 15, Haru, was brought to me. His abilities made him the perfect match for someone with a destructive power like mine. We both shared incredible stores of chakra, but Haru was made with the blessing of restorative jutsu. He could undergo vast amounts of damage and repair himself, almost instantly. No matter how many times I was forced to enter his mind, whatever damage I unknowingly did, he always healed up with enough time to go another round. They used to make bets on us, you know?"

"What kind of bets?"

"Which one would collapse first. From what I hear, the game was a favorite amongst the higher-ups."

Bastards.

"Bastards."

Haru heard Gaara speak the word at the same time he thought it.

Huh, perhaps there's hope for this guy after all?

"So, because of Haru's restorative jutsu, I was never trapped in him. In the beginning, his mind would reject me, just like everyone else, but over time, it opened freely. He told me once that it almost felt weird to NOT have my voice in his head. He'd show me incredible things."

"What kinds of things?"

Rin's voice smiled. "Green fields, tall trees, streams that poured lavender flowers at my feet. I was too valuable to allow outside, they couldn't risk losing me, but Haru caught a peek through the doors a few times. He always held such an amazing world for me."

It's because I knew you'd like it so much. I didn't give a damn about pretty flowers, but you did.

Haru felt a slight pain rising in the back of his mind.

Oh no, not again, please let me stay here! Please don't make me hurt her!

The rolling pain turned sharp and racked him from within, splintering shards of glass stabbing into his brain.

It burned throughout his body, each fiber of muscle and nerve engulfed in rippling agony, but his lips stayed silent, his body still as the grave.

Rin nuzzled her head under Gaara's chin, before pulling back to look at his face. "Are you sure I don't have any more time to try it my way?"

"I'm sorry. The fate of my people is in your hands. I don't want you injured or trapped, though. What can we do?"

She turned to look at the mass that was Haru, his breathing quickened, but still holding strong. There wasn't a way around it, she'd have to induce without invitation, something she hadn't done in over a decade.

Rin was about to go to him, until a fierce knock sounded on the gigantic door.

Gaara waited, listening for the special code between he and his siblings.

Four sharp knocks and two softs, followed.

"Temari." He said, holding his hand towards the entrance and pushing the door open, with a sharp creak.

The Captain strode out of the darkness and into the blindingly white lab, both of her hands full with the objects Rin requested.

She stalked up to the smaller kunoichi and forcefully placed them in her grasp. "There you go! One book and one damned piece of yellow cake. Anything else I can get you? A drink? A fluffed pillow?"

"It's uncalled for you to act like this. Rin has a reason for what she does."

She looked like she would scream. "Gaara! Who am I?"

He was taken aback by the question. "Temari."

"Yes, Temari of the Sand. Keeper of the Wind and the Storm. Head of security and your private counsel. Nowhere in that description does it say I am a professional snack-getter! I am above this kind of thing! I am..."

"Forever in my gratitude." Rin said softly.

Temari heard the words, but didn't know how to reply at first. She lowered her arms to her side and sighed. "Well... that's something, I guess."

"Where is Kankuro? Has he been able to gather any new information from the prison?" Gaara asked, stepping between the two fiercest women in his life.

"The last time I saw him, he was sitting on his butt in the cell. Who knows what information he'll glean that way?"

"We'll just have to wait and see."

Temari took her fan out from behind her back and leaned against it. "You both are such troublesome brothers. What did you need that stuff for, anyway?"

Rin sat in front of Haru, placing the cake to one side and running her fingers along the cover of the book. It's happy, green cover smiled up at her. "To reach him."

"Cake and books, huh? Sounds more like reaching a five-year-old."

"You'd be surprised how often adults need to be treated like children, Captain. At the end of the day, it's what we all are, if we're honest with ourselves."

Gaara watched the interaction between them. "What's the next step?"

She looked at the chains, which held Haru captive to the wall. "I know time is of the essence, but if you can give me one more try? Just once, to do this my way?"

Temari groaned. "We really don't..."

Gaara put up a hand to stop her. "You may proceed, Rin. Just this one time."

She nodded her thanks to him and moved to sit with her back against the wall.

Haru's chains gave just enough slack for her to work her way right beside him.

Gently, she raised his head and slid her knees underneath it, resting him in her lap.

At first, she thought to rest her hand on his shoulder, but between the black and blue bruises, and the sharp lines of his bones, her grasp hesitated in the air.

He moaned when she adjusted her legs, sending a sad smile to Rin's face.

Her fingers trailed through his hair, combing out the knots that developed over time. His forehead was furled, as if he were trapped in a nightmare.

To the both of them, that's exactly what this all felt like.

She circled his eyes, like she had with Gaara, massaging the tension out of his face.

Sliding her finger down the bridge of his nose, Rin's other hand went to the book and she propped it open on her knee, shadowing his face from prying eyes.

Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper. "Hey, 15. Remember the 'Little Ninja and the Great Tree'? You'd listen to me read it to the younger experiments and then insist I read it again in your room. We used to lay like this, almost every night. Just like we are now. I'm here, Haru, I'm here and I'm watching over you."

He didn't say anything, not a single muscle twitch to prove he'd heard her, but he did.

The engulfing flame of pain, settled to a quiet burn, barely taking the edges of his mind.

18... Rin.

"Once upon a time, there was a little ninja and a great big tree."

The feeling of her fingers running through his hair, the soothing cadence of her voice, it made him ache with an entirely different pain.

"At the top of the tree, hung golden apples that shone in the warm sunlight. Legends said, that if someone could prove to the tree, that they were brave enough to reach the apples, it would bless them with the secret of true strength.

For this wasn't any normal tree.

Its trunk held wicked thorns, that sprung up from every unkind word spoken in the world.

Its branches grew twisted and gnarled. Its leaves were dipped with tears, so no one could hold on long enough to climb it. Lest they be overcome with the tree's sadness."

Gaara sat down where he was, his hands resting in his lap, listening to the story.

He tried not to let the spring of jealousy well up inside of him.

It made him feel like a petulant child, but there was a part of him that wanted to be the one curled up on Rin's lap, her fingers trailing through his hair.

He'd always wondered what it felt like to have a mother read a bedtime story to him. This may be the closest he'd ever get.

It was such a little thing, but the sight of the soft smile on her face, the peaceful expression on his and the clear affection she had for him, made Gaara feel lonelier than he had in years.

He wasn't sure when she'd become this important to him, but it was clear from the aching in his heart, that if by some miracle, she was able to bring Haru back and he were to lose her, Gaara knew he wouldn't come back from it.

He knew what the feeling was, deep in his heart, and his fingers found their way up to the symbol he kept hidden under his hair.

Love.