Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
A/N: This was a story request from ilovemyboys about the Kazekage arc from Gaara's POV. As a note, Deidara is "she" because according to the manga, Gaara doesn't realize that he's male at the beginning. Also, since I think that this might become an issue, yes, it is extremely similar to the original scenes. Like I said before, it's because it's the same scene as canon, just played from a different POV.
Gaara leaned against the back of his chair, the warm glow of the setting sun shining into his office. Everything was quiet, save the gusting wind outside which was busy picking up loose sand. He slid his green eyes over to look outside one of the many circular windows in the room, regarding the tall cliffs behind the roofs of various sand-coloured buildings.
As he observed the village, Gaara realized something odd. In the dimming orange sky, there was a bird that he had never seen before.
What is that? Could it be that the Akatsuki, like how Jiraiya warned, have come? A spy?
Gaara stood up, and walked towards the rack that held his standard Sand uniform. He wouldn't take any chances; it would be best to prepare for the worst.
The Kazekage dressed quickly, and then strapped his gourd onto his back. He glanced around his quickly darkening office once more, and then left, shutting the door quietly behind him. The halls of the building were deserted, with the shinobi either having all gone home, or still working inside their offices. As it was, away from the sounds of the wind now, it was quiet.
Climbing the stairs, Gaara heard a faint explosion. Perhaps it was only his imagination, but he knew better; the attack had begun. It was already dark by the time he was on the roof. He stepped onto the roof just in time to see a blond haired person leap off the strange bird from before and land on the roof as well.
"Infiltration success," muttered the stranger, head bowed. Taking that opportunity, Gaara immediately flashed silently, towering over the infiltrator.
Red clouds on a black coat... this is definitely the Akatsuki. But to attack so soon...
The blond Akatsuki member's visible eye widened slightly as she looked up, meeting Gaara's stony stare. The wind blew loudly, and Gaara tilted his head down to look directly at the infiltrator.
"That's as far as you go," he informed, expression not changing. He doubted that the person would comply. Gaara could see the blonds' strange white bird, circling above them. He would have to keep an eye out for it.
The other smirked, and Gaara could feel himself tense slightly, preparing for a possible attack.
"Oh?" The Akatsuki member got up. Gaara was not sure, but he could guess that this was a woman.
Swiftly, the blond reached behind and shoved her hands into a beige pouch connected to her side by a belt. At the same time, Gaara began to send sand towards her, not taking any chances. This person was dangerous. What was she trying to do?
The sand rose and swirled around the Akatsuki member quickly before constricting itself. The person simply leaped up high into the air though, landing on the strange bird from before. To Gaara, the bird did not seem like a summon, but rather something else. The foreign animal ascended quickly. Reacting just as fast, the sand shot up directly behind it, poised to pierce if he were able to catch the intruder.
The bird swerved all around, all the while gaining altitude. The kazekage brandished his arm left and then up, commanding the sand to do so as well. The white bird was getting further now, and soon Gaara would have to rise as well in order to not lose sight of the enemy.
He was sure that the intruder was not trying to escape; her bird's course wasn't towards the desert out of Sunagakure. That could mean either she was a long distance fighter as well, or was buying time.
I should capture her quickly.
The sand roared loudly past him, continuing its onslaught towards the intruder. As if attempting to make a escape, the flying white dot in the distance turned and began soaring towards and over the outskirts of Sunagakure. Even if she were trying to escape though, Gaara would not allow it. They may - will - come back after all, in the future.
Urging the sand forward even more quickly, he was soon able to block the Akatsuki member's path and turn him back towards the village. Successful at preventing her escape, the red haired shinobi leaped up and after being caught by his sand, zoomed forwards and up to gain a better view of his enemy. Said enemy suddenly dove down and began weaving through the streets down below, in an attempt to lose the sand.
This isn't getting anywhere.
With that though in mind, Gaara sent part of his sand into another street; one that directly intercepted the street that the stranger was currently flying though. He was able to accomplish his goal of driving the intruder back out of the streets and into the air. He did not know the other's abilities and even if he did, it would be dangerous to the inhabitants if a fight were to break out down in the streets.
His sand continued its three pronged assault on the returning enemy, forcing her back towards the center of the village and into Gaara's path. Gaara himself zoomed forwards, standing on his sand some ways below the revolving enemy. Gaara watched her, anticipating her next move. What were the intruder's abilities?
The Akatsuki member stopped soon enough, and Gaara's sand stayed where they were, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Both opposing side stared at each other, one with a smirk on her face while the other was looking on impassively.
She raised her hand in front of her... is she attempting a technique?
"I gotta say, you noticed me pretty quickly, yeah," admitted the blond, looking down at the kazekage with her ever-present smirk.
It's obvious to me. "In this desert, there is no such bird that looks like that," replied Gaara the wind whistling past his ears.
"I see... heh, seems like my sneaking in was a failure, hm. Although thanks to that, I don't need to search for you, yeah," remarked the man, for now Gaara could tell that the intruder was a male.
In response, Gaara raised his arms. A loud roar made its way to both of them, almost instantly followed by the source of the sound; a wave of sand, towering above both of them and stretching far in all directions, rose up behind Gaara. The blond let out what seemed to be a shocked gasp as he beheld the sight.
To attack here... Too bad for you. I have the geographical advantage; this entire desert is my weapon.
The man murmured something to himself, his smirk back in place as he continued regarding both the red haired shinobi and the wall of sand behind him. Gaara caught a flash of white come out onto his hands, and quickly sent the sand dashing towards him. Slowly, his sand took the shape of a arm; Shukaku's arm.
Sand swirled and hovered around the kazekage, ready to provide support. The hand grabbed at him, but just before it could clench down, the white things from the intruder were enlarged and thrown towards the hand. Next thing that happened was a loud, resounding "boom" as sand flew everywhere, dispersing the sand arm into parts.
I had made sure that it would avoid where he threw the white things... but it seems that he used an unusual exploding object... and it's also a homing type. No matter...
Out of the broken arm, two more grew, leaving a total of three large sand arms twisting and chasing the intruder. From his other hand, he tossed down three more, each one attacking a sandy limb as well. Not missing a beat though, Gaara quickly reformed them.
If this is all he can do... No, I doubt that.
His sand continued in their relentless pursuit from all directions, trying to catch the enemy that was darting around. They would always grasp, but miss by a bare meter. With his eyes, Gaara could make out two more object being thrown out by the man. These two grew larger and weaved through the claws of his sand and continued zipping towards Gaara.
These are faster. Not all of his explosives are at the same speed. Would that mean that these have a stronger explosive power, as well?
He knew that his sand would not intercept the speeding explosives in time, and settled for the next best thing. Crossing his arms downwards, the sand circling him quickly rose up and wove around him, joined by the sand from his gourd. At the same time, he managed to make his third eye. Not a moment afterwards, the two explosive bird crashed against his defense and exploded nosily, sending slight tremors through the now spherical wall.
Knowing that the enemy would be distracted, trying to see if his explosives had hit home, Gaara took advantage of this; the sand silently spread out and merged into one gigantic claw that quickly closed in on the man.
With his third eye, he could see the smoke dispersing around his sphere to show it unscathed. To the front, he could see his sand looming over the figure, nearly completely surrounding the enemy. The thick strands of sand would continue their quick crawl until the enemy was captured.
He was dimly aware of Kankuro and other sand jounin watching from the roof of one of the buildings.
What are you doing, Kankuro? You need to prepare everyone for the worst and secure the village. There may be more enemies.
"Desert prison," named Gaara, as the attack closed in on its victim.
He could hear the roaring of the sand from within his dark defense, and could see the enemy being trapped with his third eye. Soon enough, the sand had wrapped it way all around the infiltrator, providing no simple means of escape. In the place of where the blond once was, was a giant sand prison, larger than Gaara's own current sphere of defense. He continued observing, the smoke and sand settling now.
Did I get him...? No... it's not over yet.
As if on cue, an explosion sounded, and out from the bottom of the sphere, a figure bearing red clouds on a black robe burst out, his blond hair waving wildly behind him as he fell. The sand continued clambering and crawling over each other, though only able to grasp the black smoke from the explosion.
You will not escape.
A chunk of sand detached itself from the failed cage and chased after the blond, faster than the falling human. The sand did not let down Gaara's expectations, and caught on to the man's leg. It gripped on tightly and swayed, flinging the helpless Akatsuki member back towards the larger ball of sand. Said sand opened up its jaws, prepared to swallow the victim back up.
It let go, allowing the momentum to keep the blond on course. To his dismay though, the man had quickly tossed two explosives; one to play the role of being caught by the sand, and the other for enemy to land on and fly away.
I shouldn't have let go... no, the correct thing to have done should have been to crush his leg, and make it more difficult for him to evade future attacks.
The giant clump of sand opened up once more like a deadly flower, it's sharp petals shooting out to give chase once more. Gaara knew from experience though, that just normal sand may not be enough. That was why he had allowed the part of his defense that had his special, gourd sand to join the chase. Not only would it be fast enough to catch the intruder, but it had more power as well.
The blond rose higher and higher on his bird - which Gaara could assume was also an explosive - and swerved this way and that, always evading the pillars of sand. Gaara was not worried about that though; he knew that he would catch him.
Where his larger, normal sand failed him and missed, his gourd sand did not. It continued chasing, gaining on the blond at every second. Deciding not to waste his chakra, Gaara let the normal stand on standby and focused on just his special sand for now.
The blond would swoop, spin, jerk, and spiral in its attempts to dodge but to no avail. Gaara's sand had finally reached him. He couldn't see the enemy's face clearly, but he could guess that he was surprised at being caught. He didn't give up though, and kept flying up higher, trying to get the sand off.
It's no use.
Gaara reached out a hand and peered out from his shell at the blond. As his hand rose, so did the sand. It continued to crawl up, higher and higher along the Akatsuki member's arm. In another attempt to free himself, he threw down a large white centipede, which crawled down the sand and towards the center of the long bindings.
Placing his hands in a tiger seal, he said something and the centipede exploded.
That won't work. This sand is not like normal sand. You will be caught, one way or another.
True to his thoughts, nothing happened to the sand. Gaara narrowed his eyes, watching the arm that his sand had caught, carefully.
Last time, I made the mistake of not crushing your leg. I will not make the same mistake this time. Desert coffin.
He clenched his outstretched hand. He could feel through the sand, the blood that had spurted out of the now useless arm that he had crushed. In the distance, past the howling wind, he could hear almost all of the village celebrating from below. He ignored it though; the battle was not over.
Maybe it was from the shock of having his arm crushed, or for some other reason, but the infiltrator began a wobbly descent downwards, his head turned slightly to look at the sand grasping his destroyed arm.
What? My sand isn't holding him anymore.
As the enemy began to ascend again, Gaara could figure out what had happened now.
He ripped his own arm off... We're enemy's but I respect him for having the courage to rip his own arm off in order to escape. Although now, I failed and let him escape.
Slowly, he withdrew his arm, green eyes never leaving the blond man. The stranger inclined his head slightly, and for a moment, the two of them met eyes. Gaara had a slightly uneasy feeling about what would happen next. The wind continued to gust, blowing sand and the smell of smoke all around.
I'm giving him too much time to think of a plan. I need to end this quickly before he comes up with a strategy.
His gourd sand shot up from their idle position below, aiming to spear through the white bird above it. From where he was, the red haired shinobi could see his enemy shoving their arm into a pouch once more. Most likely to prepare his next attack. What could the Akatsuki member have in mind? He sent his sand down again, only for it to be avoided just like previously.
He was flying around again; had he come up with a plan? Was Gaara too slow? He could just make out his opponent holding something white. It was larger than the previous creations, and Gaara sincerely hoped that it had already been enlarged.
The village was silent now, everyone waiting for the next thing that would happen. The blond had risen higher into the air, nearly skimming the bottom of the clouds.
He's trying something... what, though? This is bad; he seems confident. Whatever he is trying to do... I need to prevent it. It's no longer only going to affect me, now.
His ultimate defense sand sped down towards the bird in a straight yet wrangled path. Missing again, he continued. Up went his sand, to the right went the enemy. Down went his sand, to the left went the enemy. The pattern continued, as if the kazekage's luck and speed had run dry, and could no longer catch the threat. There was no satisfying crash of sand against human, but rather the "whoosh" of it missing. Every time, it would miss.
Was it because he was too far away from the target to properly aim? The sphere he was residing in began to move as well, zooming closer to his enemy, next to his shower of special sand. The enemy swerved the other way, and soon it became a game of tag. The shouts and yells of encouragement had started up again. Though it warmed the red haired shinobi's heart slightly, it also strengthened his resolve to win; such a threat could not be allowed to go uncaught and possibly harm Sunagakure.
Gaara glimpsed down as he dove to try to get closer to the enemy again.
Good... they're preparing and securing the village. Are they also... trying to help me?
He quickly slid his eyes back to lock on his target. At this distance, he could clearly see that what the blond was holding was exceedingly different from the previous explosives. The blond muttered something too quietly for Gaara to hear. What he said after wards though, was crystal clear.
"That's it, I'm going to destroy this town, yeah. I would be in such a bad mood if I were stopped from below. That and I'm sick of your having to look at your impassive face," smirked the blond.
The clay figure from his hand floated out and stopped directly between Gaara and him.
What is that... wait... no, that's an explosive, and by its positioning...! Sungakure is danger. Was this his plan? A full scale attack?
Gaara's eyes visibly widened and his mouth gaped open as the object expanded with a puff of smoke, the moon casting ominous shadows all over it as it loomed over his height, it's large wings outstretched. Suddenly, it began to drop, picking up speed at every moment, accompanied with a strange mix of a screech, whistle, and some mechanical sounding bird.
He watched it fall, getting faster and faster. A half formed comet tail began to appear, and that was when Gaara snapped out of it, panicking.
No!
As quickly as he could, he mustered up the remainder of his chakra to force all the sand he had at his disposal under the bomb, just as his enemy put his hands together in a tiger seal and screamed, "katsu!" He couldn't tell whether or not he was able to fully protect the village, as the smoke and sand was obscuring his view, as well as the blindingly bright flash of light accompanied by one of the loudest explosions he had ever heard.
Was I too late?
The explosion continued to grow, covering any other sounds. Either way; even if he hadn't made it to stop the full brunt of the explosion, he had to focus on at least stopping the rest of it. Panting, he focused whatever chakra he had left to make sure that the sand would take all of the blast. When the explosion finally disappeared, to say that Gaara was relieved that he had made it was an understatement.
The sand had prevented everything, leaving the village with barely - if not no - damage. He knew that his troubles weren't over yet though; he had to move the sand out of the way now, so that it wouldn't all collapse on the villagers.
I'm nearly out of chakra... I have enough to move the sand away, though...
"Hm...!?" grunted the kazekage in surprise.
Sliding his eyes over quickly to look at his left, he saw a white bird hovering just outside of his defense, next to his face. He knew that moving the normal sand wouldn't be fast enough to block, leaving him with his ultimate defense sand. Shifting the sand from the rest of his sphere would no doubt make it weaker, and allow the explosion to break through.
The shell shuddered violently. Luckily though, his sand had reached Gaara in time to shield him from the explosive power. It had been close; a little later, and he would have gotten hit. Although he could feel his chakra draining, just by making that sand move so quickly to his aid. He gasped for air, breathing in the scent of sand.
The sound of sand shifting alerted Gaara, and he straightened up. His eyes wide, he stared at the sand in front of him, where the sound originated from. Sand began to leak out from tiny holes. Upon closer inspection, he could see...
What is that...! I see... so this was his real plan all along. This is bad.
"Tch... Sh-!" Gaara took a futile step back and commanded whatever sand that was surrounding him to block the explosion. As he was low on chakra, and the explosives were directly in front of him, he didn't make it.
The next thing he knew, he could see the blinding light of the explosion in front of him, accompanied by pain from all sides, no doubt the result of the explosion being reflected by the sand.
Maybe it was from the shock of such a close explosion, or maybe it was because of his lack of chakra. Either way though, sand began to pour out of the multiple cracks in the slowly collapsing shell. Was that Kankuro who just yelled his name? He wasn't sure; Gaara was too busy trying to keep conscious.
Even with his eyes closed, he knew that his armour of sand had been nearly completely destroyed, and that his shield of sand was slowly loosening. Perhaps not as slow as he thought though; a entire section near the bottom had just fallen, letting in a gush of the cold desert air. As if triggering a chain reaction, more pieces began to fall down, piece by piece until all that was left was fine sand slowly cascading down his hunched over body, and the platform of sand that he stood on.
The sand... I still have to move it... away from the village.
Even opening one eye took effort. How on earth was he going to successfully move all that sand? He had to though; as kazekage, he had to protect his village at all costs. Gasping for air, he check if his arms still worked. When he produced a twitch, he knew that it did. If the Akatsuki member was closing in on him now, he didn't notice. Nothing matter at the moment except for keeping Sunagakure safe.
He lifted a shaking arm up, against the pressure of the water fall of sand and clenched his fist. Just a bit longer... He just needed long enough to move the sand away.
Through hazy eyes, he could see the sand beneath him shudder and begin to move ever so slowly away, towards the outskirts of the village. He could hear the wind clearly now that the rain of sand had receded enough to leave his ears exposed.
Almost... Almost...
He grunted and kept on clenching and unclenching his hand, willing the sand to move. His breaths were shaky and his muscles were tired. He opened both eyes now, and watched the sand intently.
This sand... It's a double edged sword... once you run out of chakra... What is that? Am I hearing explosions? No... I don't think he has enough explosives to create so much, still...
He pushed away his fear of the blond attacking the village, and concentrated on his current task. A bit more... just a bit more... His head was pounding and his eyes were just begging him to let them close. At last though, the tip of the pile of sand had made it outside. A few more seconds, and it would be over; the sand could fall.
He clenched his fist harder, and grit his teeth. Ten more seconds... Five... Zero. The sand had made it over the borders of the village. The kazekage loosened his shoulders and his hand opened limply. In response, the sand fell outside with a thunderous "thump".
It's over... the village is safe... No, I shouldn't be relieved... I'm out of chakra; I wouldn't be able to protect them if Akatsuki attacked again, now. I can't... I can't fall unconscious... I...
Gaara's eyes drooped and his body bent over as the rest of the sand slid off. Only a few clumps clung on. With nothing to hold him up, he began tumbling towards the ground. The wind whistled by his limp body. He wasn't sure what happened next, except that he couldn't see, hear, touch, smell, or taste anything. He couldn't think.
Gaara found himself sitting in front of a tall fence, with the desert all around him. He knew what was behind it, the moment he laid eyes on it.
"Shukaku," he stated quietly to himself.
"Hey, hey! If it isn't you! Come closer, come on, let's party, eh! I haven't done that in a long time! I need to kill someone; it's been years!" screeched the one tail, prancing around behind the fence, all the while staring hungrily at Gaara.
The red haired shinobi didn't reply, opting to simply fix the crazed tanuki with a stare.
"You heard me, come on! I want to get out, like three years ago! There's no one to destroy here, and you won't do it for me anymore," Shukaku complained.
"Can you wake me up," demanded Gaara.
"You're sleeping? Sweet!" he proceeded to slam against the fence, only to realize that it couldn't get out.
"I'm gonna kill you, liar!" he howled.
"I am unconscious. We will die if I don't wake up," informed Gaara, staring at the raging monster impassively, arms crossed. He wasn't technically lying; it was very possible, at the moment.
"You got beat? AHAHA that's why you should have let me out! But you have a point; I didn't kill anyone yet! Get out!" he cackled, and the kazekage felt himself fade out again.
He wasn't sure how long he was out for, but he knew that it wasn't just a short one-second blankness. He couldn't move, and he could just barely hear things. He wasn't sure whether or not what he was hearing was real, though. He would hear two voices; one slightly familiar, one completely new. One voice was harder to discern, as the voice was so deep and low. They didn't talk often, but when they did, he could only hear parts or mumbling.
"...explosion, hm!"
"You still... lasting..."
This would go on for awhile, and usually ended with one of them attacking the other, if the louder voices and shaking of wherever he was laying down, was any indication. He never found it in him to try and figure out what they were talking about. Whenever Gaara heard the word "explosion" though, he would honestly try his hardest to figure out what they were talking about.
It was cold when he was able to hear the voices. He could assume from there that it was either night time, or he had been unconscious for a long time. All the while though, there was one thing that never stopped; the howling of the desert wind.
He knew it was futile to try escaping from wherever he was, at his current state. Not even having the strength to open his eyes, least get up and flee. Sometime later though, he heard a different voice call out loud and clear.
"Wait!"
After that, everything had sounded mumbled to Gaara. He recalled hearing his name being said though, and he remembered who the voice belonged to.
Kankuro... why did you come here? Now that I'm not in Sunagakure, you have to help them.
"Deidara, go ... ahead"
Deidara was the name of one of them.
Following that, were the mumbling overlapping with the wind again. Deidara, as his name was that, presumably leaped onto whatever I was currently on.
"Alright, we're going on ahead, yeah."
There was mumbling again, and a new noise. He couldn't tell what the sound was, but it didn't matter; he was getting farther away from it anyways. It was quiet for a while, and soon enough, the cold was replaced by the heat of the sun blazing down. Surprisingly enough, he could hear everything properly now. A quick twitch of his finger proved that he could also move.
He wasn't sure whether or not he had enough chakra, but if he did... He would have to g about it silently.
If he were to escape, now would be the best time. He had faith that Kankuro had delayed the other man, long enough for him to escape. If he had to be honest though, he was also worried for his brother's sake.
His finger jerked, and with it, some of the sand from his armour of sand. As they continued traveling, Gaara began to mix and infuse what chakra he had left with the desert sand through his armour of sand.
This is enough.
Slowly, he opened an eye and glanced to his right. The sun was blindingly bright and at first, he couldn't see anything. After a few more seconds though, his vision cleared and he could see the form of a person sitting on top of something white, connected to whatever was holding Gaara up. That would mean that he was being carried by a bird.
He jerked his finger up, and sand began to slither up the side of the bird, slowly and silently.
Keep your breathing steady... I can't raise suspicion.
By now, a whole glob of sand was directly behind Deidara. If he could just do this... His finger twitched again, and the sand sprung up and wrapped itself around the blond.
"Guh!" Deidara exclaimed, surprised. He brought up both hands to his neck, where the sand was and began to pull at it.
Dessert coffin.
The kazekage clenched his hand as quickly as he could, watching the man thrash as his sand compressed and broke his neck with a crackling crunch. Gaara could have sighed with relief if he weren't gasping for air. Just that much had completely drained him of whatever chakra he had left. He closed his eyes, breathing. To his horror though, he heard the tell tale "poof" and smelt the smoke. He didn't have to open his eyes again to realize what had happened.
"Nice try, jinchuuriki. But just because I lost an arm, and you were unconscious, doesn't mean I'm not alert, yeah," stated a familiar, not-so-dead sounding voice.
Even without opening his eyes, he could tell that Deidara was not dead. What he could tell though, was that his conscious was fading away again. His chance had failed.
A/N: This is a two shot, a second chapter will be up shortly.