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Moons of Red Chapter 19

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Tifa grumbled in irritation. Charlie was not the type to get lost. Heck, her orientation abilities were rather superb. Something must've happened with the little puppet and that odd feeling in her gut made her frown. The white-haired woman was currently sitting on the right side of the Fourth Kazekage and was impatiently tapping her fingers on the table.

The Kazekage was slightly tense by her obvious disposition and wondered what would make her so irate.

"If you worry about Char-Lee, you shouldn't." he finally said. "I told you her safety is absolutely guaranteed as long as you are loyal to me."

Tifa was about to speak when she heard an outraged scream.

"Charlie!" The soldier stood up with lightning speed and headed towards the source of the scream. She knew it all too well.

But Charlie had been awake and it takes her hours to fall asleep in the night, let alone during the day. Something must have happened… and she was awake… and using her voice…

When Charlie was asleep, she was prone to talking in a very weird fashion, speaking in cryptic words and sentences. She rarely spoke loudly or shouted when asleep. Even during her nightmares she would only occasionally grunt or whimper… never scream. She, of course, occasionally did war cries but rarely. Never had she heard such a banshee screech as this one.

Many thoughts occupied Tifa's head as she rushed towards Charlie's room. Most of them involved severe pain for who ever disturbed her ward. After merely 20 seconds she was standing in front of Charlie, who had fallen to the ground in a swirl of sand…

Gaara did this. Tifa was now glaring holes into the air, thinking of different ways to hurt the male red head without actually killing him. Castration was a nice option right now.

She helped the girl stand up and back into her room. She was practically covered with sand, along with that entire portion of space. The red headed girl seemed exhausted and had very minor bruises here and there, but was fine otherwise.

Her eyes were lifeless and Tifa saw her hands clutching something hard enough to drawl blood.

"Charlie, what…"

Charlie was clutching the remains of her father's violin. The bastard did not just…oh boy… there was hell to pay now. It had taken years of therapy and Fia's constant presence to make Charlotte Georgiana into a remotely normal young teen… and now again through this.

Tifa did the one thing that she could think of. She slapped Charlie, hard enough to shake the girl out of her stupor.

Charlie stared, her eyes wide, and mouth agape. Did Tifa just hit her?

"You are NOT going to become an Emotionally retarded depressed little dolly on me, puppet!" Tifa was glaring dagger at her. The soldier woman could take tons of crap. And literally take on an entire elite squad of enemy soldiers by herself.

But letting one of her comrades end up like this was unthinkable. Tifa was pissed big time.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, puppet? Do you think you have the luxury to sulk or to feel sorry for yourself, huh? The violin is gone, so get over it! Concentrate on what you still have and not on what you've lost!"

Despite the rage in her voice, it was obvious that Tifa was very concerned with Charlie. Her voice was slightly cracked and one could understand that this was her being extremely just when concerned. Especially since she hated pansies.

Realization dawned on Charlie's face. Tifa was always right about anything. Even if she hated pansies.

The Kazekage was standing at the door frame, watching the exchange silently. He did not understand a word of what Tifa was saying, but he was sure that the contents of whatever she was lecturing about were along the line of anti-patheticness. He also did a mental note not to piss her off if he could help it. And then he remembered he had just said that Charlie was perfectly safe. Poor him.

"I know you are there, so you might as well enter, Kazekage-sama." Tifa was still glaring at Charlie while she spoke to him.

"What happened?"

"She had a close encounter with our resident sandman."

The Kazekage exhaled audibly. Gaara was only trouble it seemed and his decision to make Tifa his most reliable weapon about was becoming more and more awesome.

"Go clean yourself, puppet. Then come down for dinner. I'll speak to you about a few things afterwards."

Charlie nodded. She knew what Tifa was going to Lecture her about self-defense and self-confidence. Even if Tifa sometimes seemed to have forgotten that she was not one of her squad men, she was never too cruel or too unjust in her punishments or lectures. They were always the exact dose. That was why despite the fact Tifa had hit her for the first time, she was not angry at her. The two understood each other perfectly, even if they were so different- like the Metal one-legged soldier and the Paper Ballerina…

Tifa pulled on the Kazekage's arm and both went down.

There were several minutes of silence. The Tanuki-girl was trying to soothe her. Tifa was always right, and as life was never the kind goddess, Charlie made a note to become a tougher person, if only not to suffer… or at least learn to take the blows of life more efficiently.

Her mind went back to what happened when she met Gaara. She remembered a few things only. Being enraged always leaves a few blank spots in your memory. She did however remember how she wanted the sand to get off her right away. And it spread away from her. It had been the Tanuki girl's doing, she was sure. But she had no idea how it happened exactly. It was as if the demon was trying desperately to protect her.

She was able to control sand like Gaara, because of the demon within her. She felt sad for him. Again, she reminded herself how right Tifa always was… in fact, why had she stuck to such material possessions like her Father's violin? Sure, she felt the pain of it being destroyed, but it wasn't going to bring her father back. And how could she have even attacked Gaara? She felt very guilty now.

After half an hour, Charlie had gotten rid of all the sand in her hair and other places. Finally she was dressed in new set of clothes, again Sunan. Still, the vision of how scared Gaara looked haunted her. Was he so afraid to be hurt? No wonder, really, concerning his past. But still… Naruto was the person that had made him a different, better person, a Kazekage even!

Why wouldn't she be like Naruto? In fact, she was already calculating the possibility to make him a good person all by herself. Still, that would mess up the plot, but them being there was a big bad mess in the first place… She had to find a way to apologize for any inconvenience she might've caused.

Charlie headed down for lunch, she was looking forward to her life in Suna, in general, and she was going to show Tifa how tough she could be. It was her own little Red Dawn. She giggled at her own pun. She was a red head, after all.

Unbeknownst to her, Gaara had been watching her ever since he spirited away Sand style. She was indeed strange. Was his so called father trying to replace him with an angel like her? She had the perfect silky long blood red hair. Her eyes were blue, kind and gentle. She had pale skin, like porcelain, and there were very pale, almost unnoticeable freckles across her nose. She was like an angel, compared to him, the Monster, the Sand Demon… Gaara of the Desert.

She was very strange to him. Her emotions were always so visible…and she hadn't spoken a word yet. That did not matter as he could see her eyes, the way they were so lifeless at first and after that Tifa person spoke to her… they were full with determination and vividness… He despised her very being. Mother did not like her nor did he. She was a threat to his existence. She had to die.

But that would happen another day. His father already had too many ANBU for him to handle covering the girl. Again, he disappeared in a mist of sand. For now, he could only wait for the right moment to strike.

Charlie's appearance at lunch with a cheerful mood made Tifa smile at her. The tough woman knew that the kid had the guts to be strong, but needed also the heart. She was too kind and gentle and for some those were great weaknesses. For her though, it was an opportunity to make kindness and gentleness the strength of that petite 14 year old. It was time to turn a new page… her way, the hard way.

LINELINELINELINELI

No matter what, Charlie was still the most musical teen about and she needed to keep her musical prowess sharp. Due to the turns of events, she needed a new violin. And the Kazekage, after Tifa's ominous glares and occasional dark looks, grudgingly agreed to spare some money for the girl's new violin.

And so, Tifa, Charlie and Temari were looking about a Musical Instruments' Shop. Now, its wasn't common knowledge, but Charlie knew little to none Japanese. She had good people skills and Tifa was always about which greatly relived the immense language barrier. She was also easy to understand, Suna being a ninja village, and her being a very expressive 14 year old.

Several violins had caught the girl's eyes and she was now deciding which one to try. The shop keeper was not very thrilled with the young girl's scrutinizing glare, mainly because she dismissed seven of her (supposedly) best violins as bad quality. Who the hell was this girl to tell her which violins were the best. Well, she had no idea this girl had more musical genes in her blood than Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky AND Chopin, at the same time.

"Did you like anything, puppet?"

Charlie nodded at Tifa's question, and the woman smirked. She was about to stun people with one of her favorite 'testing' tunes. The red head grabbed the violin of choice and readied herself for a mighty fine melody.

When the bow hit the strings, the melody of Vivaldi's Four Seasons-Winter sprouted in the otherwise quiet Musical Instrument Store. Tifa's smirk grew into a devious grin, while Temari's mouth hung open.

The poor blonde expected the teen to be good. But she was not good. Nay, she was Godlike with a violin and its bow. The motions were swift and fluid, and the girl had her eyes closed. Temari was sure that she was practically seeing the notes from her memory. The other thing she was sure was that her father would find a way to make her violin skills into some sort of ninja skill.

For now, though, Temari simply enjoyed the girl's amazing musical prowess.

Unbeknownst to them, they were watched (any surprise here?) by Gaara. He still hadn't found a suitable moment to kill her, but he would. When the bow hit the strings, he was surprised how skilled he was. But unlike Temari, it was not awe but jealousy that sprouted in his heart. So she was here to replace him? He, the Demon, was going to be replaced by this little Angel…

He clutched his hands with anger. Mother was not pleased. How was he going to extract his and his Mother's revenge if he was replaced by her? He had to get rid of her. He had to prove his existence by destroying what which most threatened him.

And the music played on. Her face was completely calm, her eyes were closed. She seemed not to have a care in the world but the sweet melody, so tenacious and strong, coming from the violin. Of course, her music had attracted a small crowd of passer-bies, and the now happy shop keeper was enjoying a nice rise in the income for the day. She had to make sure the girl came more often. It was good for the business.

Charlie bought the violin with a big discharge. She had a small smile playing on her soft pink lips all the way back to the Kazekage mansion. Temari was very thrilled by the mere thought of having someone to talk to that was close to her age. Tifa didn't count much for a girly girl… not that she did either, but it was nice to talk about womanly things from time to time. Tifa wasn't bad, once one could get pass the whole scary bitch aura. And Charlie was a cute little angel… once you got pass the weird obsessive happy stare on her face. Creepy, huh? She barely had suppressed the shiver the first time, but quickly got used to it.

Finally, night time had come. Gaara was waiting for her to close her eyes and go to sleep, so the surprise on her face would be the greatest when he crushes her petite, gentle figure with his sand. He was slightly trembling with anticipation for the kill… it was going to be his only chance before his father sent him on a mission with Team Baki tomorrow.

The window to her room was opened, letting in fresh air. It was a bright starry night. There was no moon to be seen as it was a night of the new moon. Slowly and subtly, Gaara snuck into her room. First, he took a look at her belongings. She had a few sets of clothes, neatly set in her slightly open wardrobe; her violin was proudly on display on the desk next to the bed. He took a few silent steps about the room, making sure to check for any seals. Usually he was not so careful… but he wanted to make sure the little 'angel' suffered and screamed for mercy. Throughout the day he had noticed she had said no word… was it possible she was so afraid of him she was dared not to speak? He was going to find out soon enough. And no one was going to stop him, nor see or hear of her or her mutilated corpse ever again.

He smirked darkly, his aqua green eyes shining dangerously, like the eyes of a predator, in the dark room. Oh so slowly, did he make his way towards her bed. She was wearing only a thing night gown, her hair was loosely spread about her pillow. Indeed, a little angel… his little angel… his own personal victim, the proof of his existence. Maybe he would even carve the kanji 'Ai' on her forehead, since she wanted to replace him so badly. When she looked like him, why not make her completely look like him? Maybe he could even cut those silky red locks of hair? The possibilities… the torture he could imagine all because he wanted to please Mother and to prove his own existence….

Roughly, he pulled off her covers, only to find her staring emotionlessly into the wall, opposite of him. She was silently mumbling something, obviously deep in a conversation with someone. She didn't even notice him there. What kind of sick game was she playing with him? Did he not know he could kill her with a flick of his wrist and a swirl of sand? His anger and blood thirst boiled ever so more.

Suddenly, as she was laying there, she lifted herself swiftly into a sitting position, now looking straight ahead. Her eyes were unblinking, staring into something with a disconcerned gaze. Something was off though, as he could hear her breathing become more elaborate.

'…can use the red one, don't you think so, Mom?'

The only time he heard her voice was when she screeched like a banshee in rage. Now, her voice was rather sleepy, but gentle, soft, like a refreshing rain that was so rare here, out in the desert. Despite his desire to kill her in any possible way, he was also curious about why she was behaving so strangely. He couldn't understand a word she was saying, but he had the vague feeling it was the same language that Tifa woman used when speaking to her.

Her face twisted into a disapproving frown. She seemed to dislike something. What was she doing anyways?

"…because I can."

Her expression changed to a hurt one, then to a pleading one. She seemed to be arguing with someone about something.

"…sing a song?"

A sweet smile appeared on her face. Her head wobbled slightly to what seemed to be some rhythm. She closed her eyes and went back down into bed, lulled by her mother's song. In truth, her mother had never sung her lullabies, but she always dreamt of it. Gaara observed her strange behavior. It was as if she was awake and yet she was in her own little dream world, asleep. He was baffled by her, and weary of the fact that he could feel her strange presence in his sand. It was as if she was touching his sand with her chakra.

He felt frightened, like the time she attacked him and broke his defense. Tonight was not the night to take her life, as it was at the risk of his own. He would wait, as llong as he had to. But he would wait.
Chappie!!!
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