Sandman
Chapter Two:
"An important news update. There has been an accident down at KazeLabs. We are being notified that Rasa Sabaku is dead. The remains of his body have been deemed too radioactive to properly dispose of without a HAZMAT suit. As of what he has been working on is inconclusive. We'll bring you more of the story at 6."
The TV was shut off and a pair of aquamarine eyes closed with a flitting look of relief on his face. His wrists were rubbed raw from metal cuffs, as his ankles were. His red hair was matted and frizzy all at once. He sat in the living room of his father's house.
"Gaara!" Gaara's eyes traveled up and he saw his sister. She was older than he remembered. Although, he couldn't remember much. "Gaara! We were told you were dead!" Temari was crying instantly. She ran over to hug him, but when she got too close, she felt as if she were shocked. She took a step back and stared at him. "What happened? What did he do to you?" Gaara stared at her with his piercing eyes.
***
Pain. Yeah, that's the best way to describe my life. An endless loop of pain.
My father went drunk with power years ago. We were in an accident and in his lab, he was able to create some sort of power. He called it CHAKRA, it stood for something, what, I never cared to learn. It was a synthetic, highly lethal energy source that he was sure could save our town.
For god knows how long, the town had been at a decline. The air quality, the water supply was nonexistent. Honestly, he started out just trying to help. When he touched the CHAKRA after the incident, something in him changed. He wanted to know more about it.
So, he faked my death.
I was 12 years old when my father decided I would be better off "dead" than alive. He created this elaborate plan and after, I was chained in his lab. I don't think he meant to do it. He was a good man beforehand. He wasn't the same though. This was four years ago. Four years of just constant experiments. My father rarely went home. His work was very important to him.
He discovered if you were to feed CHAKRA through a filtering source (in this case, me) the energy it exerted was pure, nonpolluted and safe. Unfortunately, it was not good for me. My body was highly toxic and I almost died, I probably did, he kept me alive as a harvesting farm for energy.
I'm completely unsure how I was able to stay alive... Actually. That part is a lie.
My dad changed something in my DNA. I didn't know what it was but there was just this thriving power source inside me. I had to be asleep though. He kept me asleep for a while.
When I was sleeping, this power possessed me, I wasn't the same person. I saw recordings of what happened when I was asleep. My father didn't want to keep me awake when he realized what my body started doing when I was awake. I started to steal energy from anything. If they were close enough, I could take it. My father made that mistake a few times, getting too close to me and I would knock him out and steal his energy. I would short-circuit his computers, break the lights. Take everything. The more energy I had, the harder it was to knock me out, and I was tired of being asleep.
I hadn't realized my power until recently. The explosion? That was my fault. And his, if you're being technical. The more power I have, the less Shukaku does. Shukaku? That's what my father named his beacon of pure energy. Strangely enough, the videos I've seen with Shukaku proved he was anything but a beacon of pure energy.
The fight Shukaku and I had over my body turned lethal. Since the less energy I have, the harder it is for him to be awake, my father was draining my energy, this gave Shukaku just enough upper hand to take over just enough to release all of my energy out at once. They must not have known it would create an electrical explosion. The CHAKRA in a nearby safety container exploded and got over most of the lab. It was still the toxic solution, he hadn't filtered it through me yet.
My father was dead before he hit the ground.
Shukaku got to walk around for a while before I could take control. When he has control, I sleep. By sleeping, I get enough energy to wake up. My father stopped this when we were chained by just taking the energy as I replaced it. Now, there was nothing from keeping me from taking control of Shukaku.
I can't sleep. I won't let that monster out. I'm just going to have to work even harder at making sure to maintain a certain energy level at all times. I should move somewhere with a source I could syphon off some.
For now, I'll use what I have. Lights, electricity, and people. I hope my siblings don't get too excited to see me.
I'm unsure how much energy I will take from someone who's too close. Who knows how long they'll be sleeping for.
***
"Hey boss, we got something." The grunt placed a manila envelope on the large desk. The man sitting behind it raised his only visible eyebrow.
"What do you have for me?" He asked and took the papers.
"It was just automatically emailed to us. It was a failsafe system at KazeLabs. It was printed and we brought it directly here." The man behind the desk nodded and looked through the folder.
"What does it say? Is it something we need?" There was a smirk under his mask as his eye scanned the file.
"Yes. I believe so. Add his file to the others when I'm done. He will do quite nicely. It looks like he was an experiment in his father's lab created with CHAKRA."
"CHAKRA? Wasn't that stuff deemed too dangerous and unstable?"
"Yes, but somehow he was managed to filter it through this young man. Terrible pain he must've been through. But the abilities he has listed are quite impressive. His name is Sabaku Gaara, also dubbed the Sandman. When he's awake he is a black hole of energy extraction. Says here that it couldn't be recorded how much energy he could absorb because there was never enough. He could absorb the explosion of a bomb if needed and come out unharmed. He stays awake by taking energy from others. I suppose this is how he got his nickname. You'll fall asleep if he touches you. I'm more interested in his second half. When he falls asleep, his body turns into an energy source that could power almost anything. His notes call him Shukaku. His abilities aren't clear, but I do see that he isn't a stable source. Gaara apparently has more control and more humanity. Shukaku is destructive even with the pure clean energy."
"Do you think he can help us though?"
"I think he's going to need some training."
"Should we send in an experienced member?"
"I know just the person to send in. Don't you worry."
"Of course, Mr. Hatake." They bowed and left the room, leaving Kakashi with more to wonder about than before.