A Tragic Romance
Chapter 1: Akemi
(4 years ago - Sasuke's POV)
Sakura, Naruto and I were following behind Kakashi, who seemed to be leading us further into the woods.
"So, Sasuke what are you doing after training?" Sakura asked. I rolled my eyes. It was so easy to see that she was aiming to do something together in hopes that I might fall for her…she is so predictable.
"I'm going to be training until sundown" I stated.
"Get away from me!" a girl's voice shouted. We began running in the direction her voice was coming from. When we came into a clearing, we saw a girl with long fiery red hair that came down to her waist, she had pale blue eyes that were rimmed with thick black lines, she was wearing a long black coat that came down to mid- thigh, the coat itself was done up with numerous black belts, she was also wearing black boots that came up to her lower thigh and she wore her shinobi head band around her neck. She appears to be from the sand village…what is she doing here? The girl was being attacked by a man in a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up so we couldn't see his face.
"Come on baby…" the man laughed. The girl glared at the man, she dropped her hands to the side and some sand began to pour out of her sleeve. The sand made it's way towards the man and began to encase the man's legs.
"Wh-what is this?!" the man asked.
"Sand. The most deadliest weapon that a sand shinobi could have" she smirked raising her hand and clenching it shut, making the sand squash his legs. The man screamed, before passing out.
"Wow, what an annoyance" she sighed, turning around. She saw us.
"Oh, hello" she smiled.
"Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki" the blonde idiot greeted.
"I'm Sakura Haruno" the pink-haired girl smiled.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha" I sighed.
"And I'm Kakashi Hatake, this team's captain" the masked man…smiled?
"My name is Akemi" she smiled.
"Interesting, what brings a shinobi of the sand village to Konoha?" Kakashi asked.
"I'm trying to find my little brother. His name is Gaara, he's about 5ft 4, he's 12 years old and looks extremely adorable" she described. What?! She's his sister? We heard a rustling coming from nearby bushes. Gaara stepped out of the bushes. Akemi ran over to him, automatically hugging him. He did nothing. Odd…usually he would kill the person who remotely tries to touch him.
"I was so worried! Don't run off again!" she cried, we just stared in wonder as the threatening Gaara actually hugged Akemi back.
"I'm sorry for worrying you, Akemi" he sighed.
"I know you may have the one-tailed shukaku demon sealed inside you but I still care that you may get hurt" she sighed, releasing him.
"You're the only person who does care about me, mother, father and uncle didn't. Even Temari and Kankuro are scared of me"
"Mother, father and uncle are idiots and Temari and Kankuro just don't appreciated us younger siblings. Besides I find it very hard for people not to love you, you're too adorable"
"…You mother me too much…"
"Yeah, because our parents are obviously not cut out to be parents. So, you'll just have to make do with me"
"…You're only two hours older than me…"
"That's probably why were so close, we're twins" she smiled.
"You're right…" he smiled slightly. Akemi turned to us.
"Don't worry about it now!" she smiled. Naruto walked over to Gaara.
"Now that Akemi mentions it…you are kind of adorable" Naruto teased.
"I will destroy you" he glared.
"Gaara, be nice" Akemi sighed.
"Maybe later…" he murmured, looking down.
"Aww, you just soo cute!" she cooed, I couldn't help but smile.
"Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi, we must be heading back to the village now. I might see you all tomorrow, I come here often to bring messages to and from the hokages of our villages" she smiled, turning to Gaara again.
"Let's go home" she smiled, he nodded. Akemi raised her hand and a dark vortex opened up by a tree. Akemi and Gaara walked into it, as soon as they had walked through it disappeared.
"Wow, that is really high-level ninjutsu…and she seems to only be and academy graduate like yourselves, I wonder how she learned it?" Kakashi muttered.
"Anyway, lets get back to our training" he continued, we all nodded. What a strange encounter, I thought that Gaara only had a brother and a sister…
(The Next Day - Akemi's POV - At home)
God this place is dreary! Heaven forbid father actually buying a remotely nice place for his children to live in. Gaara hasn't left his room yet. Poor thing, he is always been hated and feared by everyone just because he has that demon inside of him. They don't see that lonely little boy that I grew up with, I know how dangerous Gaara can be…but I don't care, as far as I'm concerned I'm his big sister and I need to protect him. I love him unconditionally and he will only show me his true thoughts and feelings when we're alone. I decided to get up and walk around the house, I was just walking by when;
"He's a failed experiment! He needs to be destroyed immediately!" that was father's voice.
"I want you all to destroy Gaara as soon as possible" he commanded. What?! They're going to kill him? I can't let that happen! I burst through the door
"Akemi! What are you doing here?!" Father asked.
"I heard everything! How could you kill your own flesh and blood?!" I cried.
"He's not my flesh and blood! He's a monster! He needs to be destroyed!" he yelled.
"I'm not going to let you kill my little brother!" I yelled back, turning around to run towards Gaara's room. When I reached Gaara's room, I knocked frantically. I hope nothing's happened to him. He opened the door.
"Akemi, what's the matter?" he asked was a surprised look on his face.
"We have to leave now! Father's going to try and kill you! We have to leave now!" I cried, grabbing his arm and pushing him into a dark portal.
"Wait! Why are you staying?!" he asked.
"I need to get a few things, just go! I will find a way to find you!" I could hear father's assassins getting closer.
"But how--"
"Just go! Please Gaara! If anything happened to you I wouldn't be able to forgive myself! Go!"
"Okay…" he replied, running through the portal. As soon as the portal disappeared, I turned to run towards father's bedroom. Father's bedroom was the most lavish room in the house. I knew he had to have money around here somewhere…in the drawer! I quickly opened the drawer and grabbed about 9 million yen and some photos and stuffed it into my pocket. I ran back out to the front room. Several assassins were waiting for me.
"Where is Gaara?" one of the hooded men asked.
"I don't know" I replied.
"Don't mess with us, girl. We know you have something to do with his disappearance"
"I don't know what you're talking about"
"Fine, then we will just have to extract the information by force!"
"What?!" the assassins formed a circle around me and began to throw shurikens and kunai at me. The pain was unbearable but I refused to give them the satisfaction of hearing me scream. I collapsed after a few moments, I could feel my blood run down my damaged body. I laid there, motionless.
"I think we broke her" one of the men laughed.
"Let's go, I think we will be able to find him ourselves" another sneered, as they walked off. I summoned a portal and I managed to drag my battered body into the portal. I was dropped somewhere, but I wasn't sure where. My vision began to blur as began to lose consciousness…
(Sasuke's POV)
I was walking through the woods aimlessly. I wonder what I could do…I came into the clearing, that we met Akemi in yesterday. Oddly, I haven't been to stop thinking about her…there's just something about her that draws my mind back to her. I saw a figure laying on the ground on the far side of the clearing. I ran over to see the girl that had been occupying mind crumpled on the floor with shurikens and kunai protruding out of her skin. She appears unconscious, I need to get her to a hospital now! I picked her up and began running towards the hospital.
(2 hours later - Akemi's POV)
I woke up in a…hospital room? What? How did I end up here? What a moment…
"Gaara!" I cried. Shooting up, only to be stopped by the pain in my stomach.
"You shouldn't strain yourself" a voice came from next to me. I turned to see who it was, I was surprised to see that boy from yesterday…Sasuke.
"What? How did I get here?" I asked.
"I found you unconscious in the clearing in the woods. You were covered in shuriken and kunai, what happened?"
"Father was going to kill Gaara, so I sent him away and the assassins that were after him thought that by beating me they could force me to tell them were I sent him. But, I refused to make a sound and when I collapsed they thought they had killed me so I was able to teleport away and then I blacked out" I explained.
"Why is your father trying to kill Gaara?" he asked.
"A demon similar to the nine-tailed fox was sealed into Gaara when he was first born, our mother gave her life to do this. The fourth hokage, our father wanted to use Gaara as a weapon for the village, but sometimes he harmed the villagers by accident. Now father calls Gaara a failed experiment and wants him destroyed so he can't hurt anymore" I explained, he nodded.
"I need to find him…I'm all he has…" I murmured, bowing my head.
"Well, the doctor said you can be released when you wake up. And I have nothing in particular to do, so…" he trailed off.
"You'll help me find my brother?" I asked, looking up.
"Yeah" he smiled.
"Thank you" I smiled. I got up from the bed I was laying on.
"Come on. Let's go find your brother…" he smiled again.
(Outside the hospital)
"Do you know where you sent your brother?" Sasuke asked.
"No, I was rushed so I could have sent him anywhere. But I know Gaara is more likely to travel to one of his favourite spots in Konoha, so we should check the roof tops first"
"Why a roof top?"
"We like high places"
"Okay" he nodded, as we began to scale the buildings.
(3 hours later)
"Okay he isn't on a roof top, we should check the forest next" I sighed.
"Okay" he nodded.
(2 hours later)
"The last place he would be the water fall" I yawned.
"Luckily, that's only over there" Sasuke said, pointing to another set of bushes. We arrived at the water fall, it absolutely beautiful. I looked up to see my brother sitting on a rock part way up the water fall.
"Gaara!" I called. He jumped down and walked over to us.
"What happened to you? You're covered in cuts!" he asked.
"Father's assassins, tried to force me to tell them were you are. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I was lucky enough for Sasuke to find me, he brought me to the hospital and he helped me find you" I explained. Gaara walked up to Sasuke.
"Thank you, my sister is very dear to me. I appreciate that you helped her, I don't know how to repay you" he smiled slightly.
"Thank you so much for your help, Sasuke" I smiled.
"It's okay, what are you going to do now?" he asked.
"We will go and see Hiruzen Sarutobi, he's a family friend. So he should be able to help us with immigration papers" she smiled.
"You're moving here?"
"Yeah, this is the only place we will be safe. Father knows the hokages of the other villages really well so that means that they will tell him we're there straight away."
"Okay…"
"I will see you around" I smiled.
"Yeah…" he smiled, as Gaara and I began to walk away. When we were out of ear-shot, Gaara turned to me.
"You like him don't you?" he asked.
"…yeah, kinda…" I replied in a small voice.
"I think you deserve someone to make you happy…what did you grab from home?"
"Some money and a few photos of us as children. Now come on"
"Okay…"