Using the last of his chakra, Gaara was finally able to defeat his attacker. He stared at the corpse on the ground, covering his bleeding wound with one of his hands and breathing heavily. His sand laid around him on the forest floor, wet and useless to him.
Being as persistent as he was, he ignored his body's cry for rest and continued on his way. With each step he took, the pain grew stronger and his body grew weaker. He walked on for about five minutes before his weary legs started to shake beneath him. He now struggled to keep his balance, but was determined to stay on his feet anyway.
Slowly, his exhaustion started getting the best of him. He began tripping over his own two feet, it was getting harder for him to breath, and his vision was deteriorating. His footsteps were smaller, causing him to gain less ground.
After about 5 more steps, Gaara finally collapsed on the side of the dirt road. He attempted to get up, but found that he couldn't move. The sand-bearer sighed in defeat and aggravation. There was nothing he could do at the moment. All he could do was lay there and wait for his body to regain its strength.
Even while he was lying there, he was still battling. He struggled to fight of unconsciousness. He had already succumbed to exhaustion. There was no way that he was going to let the darkness overcome him.
The teen was able to fight it off for about an hour. After that, he allowed himself to close his eyes. He was still conscious, but closing his eyes allowed him to relax more.
Over the next hour, Gaara heard the footsteps of travelers. He listened as the footsteps slowed. He figured that they were probably stopping to see who he was and what was wrong with him. Then the footsteps would quicken in pace and disappear moments later. He knew that they figured out who he was and knew what the consequence would be if they were to try and get involved with him.
Another hour passed by before he heard another set of footsteps. They slowed in pace and got closer. He waited for them to fade away again, but they stopped all together.
"Where did they go?" he wondered. He got his answer when he felt another presence beside him.
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A young female was walking down a dirt path, her eyes constantly darting from one side to the other. Her ice blue eyes were taking in everything, as if anything that happened would be the last thing that ever happened. She stopped in front of a bloody corpse, tilting her head to one side. She knelt down to take a closer look.
It was a ninja of the hidden rain village, and it looked as if he had only been dead for a couple hours. Her eyes wandered around the area, trying to pick up clues to what had happened. She noticed that the ground was wet and that there was wet sand everywhere.
"What happened here?" she asked herself out loud. She shifted her eyes back towards the corpse lying in front of her, a smirk spreading across her face. She laid her hand gently on the back of the dead ninja's head and closed her eyes. She began to relax her breathing and focused her thoughts on the task before her.
After a couple of minutes, her hands began to glow a luminescent light blue color. She stayed that way for a few more minutes before slowly removing her hand. Her eyes remained closed a few moments longer, before she opened them and got up. She looked around the area, as if she were searching for something. She sighed in frustration and continued onward.
As she walked down the dirt path, she noticed that there was a trail of wet sand. She looked at it curiously, wondering where it led to. She slowly followed it, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw where it ended. She frowned at the crimson haired boy that was lying on the side of the road.
"That was the boy that rain ninja had ambushed," she thought to herself. She slowly approached him and knelt down beside him. "I sure hope he's okay."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Hey boy, are you okay?" Gaara felt someone gently shaking him by the shoulder. Groaning, Gaara slowly opened his eyes and saw a female his age kneeling over him.
After a few moments, Gaara could clearly see the girl. The only thing that really stood out to him was her piercing ice blue eyes and her bleach blonde hair.
Gaara tried sitting up but was immediately met with dizziness and had to lie back down. The girl put a gentle hand on his chest and examined the wound. She then looked back up at his face and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"You're Sabaku no Gaara, aren't you?" she asked, shock written all over her face. The boy closed his eyes, not wanting to see the fear and hatred in them.
"She's going to run away," he told himself, "Just like all the others." Gaara opened his eyes again a few moments, realizing that she was still there. He stared into her eyes, not seeing any trace of fear in them.
"Would you like me to dress that wound for you?" she asked, giving him a shy smile. He responded by giving her a perplexed look.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Gaara blinked at her, breaking his stare.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked.
"I just told you, didn't I? What's the big deal?"
"If you know my name, then you should know about the things I have done." Gaara looked down at the ground in shame. The girl sighed, nodding her head.
"Yes, I've heard about those stories. Now that I have answered your questions, I'd appreciate it if you would answer mine. Do you want me to dress your wound or not?" He looked back up at her, staring into her eyes blankly. She looked absolutely serious to him, which was confusing.
After staring at her for a few moments longer, he finally nodded. He figured that if he was going to get back to the village anytime soon, he would have to let someone help him. Plus, he didn't sense anything dangerous about her. She seemed fairly weak as a matter of fact.
He allowed the girl to help him sit up. She un-strapped his gourd and undid his brown shirt. The female then had him lie back down as she dug through her rucksack and pulled out some ointment and bandages. She squirted some of the ointment onto a piece of gauze and rubbed it onto the wound. Gaara closed his eyes, trying to ignore the stinging of the anti-biotic.
"Who are you?" he asked as she pulled him back into a sitting position. The girl was quiet for a moment as she started wrapping the bandages around his chest. She tied it off when she finished and looked up at him with a smile.
"My name is Nakanishi, Hana!" she told him sweetly. Gaara stared at her with a blank face. She stared back at him for a few more seconds before buttoning up Gaara's shirt and helping him get his gourd back on.
"I can walk back with you to your village," she told him softly. Gaara shook his head.
"I don't need you doing anything else for me," he sighed. Hana chuckled.
"Well, could I at least follow you? It will be my first time going to the Hidden Sand Village and I would feel a little bit better if I knew exactly where I was going."
"Why are you going to Sunagakure?"
"It's my mission," she told, another smile gracing her lips.
"Why is she always smiling?" Gaara wondered to himself.
"Why would they send someone who doesn't even know the way?" Gaara asked coldly. Hana's smile grew bigger.
"Because the elders of your village asked for me!"
"Why would they ask for someone as pathetic as you?"
"I'm special!" she chirped proudly. Gaara wanted to roll his eyes at her, but he didn't. He nodded at her, knowing that the journey back to his village was going to be extremely long and extremely miserable.
