Chapter 2
The sand lashed out, blocking a wave of shuriken as it flew from the shadows. Around the young boy lay countless shuriken, kunai, katana, cracked poison vials and senbon. He was being attacked. He was losing.
Gaara just stood in the open market square not bothering to hide from the 14 shinobi surrounding him. His sand had already dispatched six, now free from his control it acted as a shield, blocking all their attacks and suicide runs.
Gaara had long given up trying to protect himself. He had long ago stopped trying to escape these assassins. He was ready to die; begging for the sweet release death would bring from this sleepless hell the mortals called life.
Just as he sank slowly to his knees bored with the attempts on his life, a young girl arrived. Maybe arrived isn't the right word. The girl appeared, falling from the sky to land with a resounding crash, scant centimeters from the young boy. As the rubble cleared form the air, the sand lashed out striking a would be assassin as he crept through the smoke.
The young girl moaned and sitting up rubbed her head, seemingly unaware of the battle taking place around her. She gasped leaping to her feet, readying herself to face an opponent. Her head cocked to the side, elbow length hair cascading over her right shoulder as she assessed this new arena.
She shrugged as a kunai flew past her and then flinched when it was flung right back at the man who had thrown it. She half turned, notincing the young boy for the first time as she fought to see past the veil of sand that protected him.
"Gaara-sama? What are you doing..." the question never finished as she jolted, a kunai burying itself in the back of her right thigh.
The young girl turned, anger blazing in her eyes. She looked into the man's eyes. Laughing at the apparent shock that lay unmasked on his face she reappeared behind him, brutally twisting his head to the left. CRACK. She had broken his neck before proceeding to take out the rest of the assassins with nothing but a kunai and her fists.
She never actually moved from the spot. Blood poured down her leg, soaking the ground beneath her crimson. She flung the first kunai; it passed through one man's windpipe and entered the skull of another with a sickening thud. Slamming her fist left fist into the ground a long deep gash opened beneath the other men, before collapsing on them burying them alive.
The young girl turned, her face covered with a sheen of sweat, fatigue showing in her every movement.
"Gaara-sama...are you alright?" the young girl gasped as she fell to one knee, clutching her stomach as blood seeped through her clothing. Collapsing in a heap she threw one hand out to Gaara as he turned to inspect the new arrival.
Her green eyes slid shut as her head hit the ground, almost before Gaara noticed them. How does she know my name? Better yet why isn't she afraid of me? Gaara stood slowly, and surveying the young girl as he walked, he approached her prone figure.
Her long brunette hair spread over the ground, cushioning her face from the dirt. Her clothes were dirty, torn and bloodied. The tight fitting shorts ending just above the kunai protruding from her right thigh. Her top lay open; an unbuttoned blouse covering a mesh shirt, her arms covered in metal protectors and gloved adorning her delicate looking hands. He noticed her barefoot state but couldn't decide what colour he clothing was as the moonlight faded. He grunted and turned to walk away.
Gaara-sama...are you alright? The obvious compassion in her voice echoed in his head, stopping him in his tracks. Not sure why he was doing it Gaara turned and made his way back to her. He picked her up, and slung her over his shoulder, before teleporting to his house.
