Chapter Three: A storm on the horizon.
Gaara:
It's nine am and I'm already working, not that I don't love being Kazekage and all, but seriously there is a lot of work. Not to mention Temari had to stay another day in Konoha, after meeting a strange person, I don't know the details because she said she'd explain when she got back in her letter. She's strong and all but I can't help feeling a little worried about her, she is my sister after all. What if this 'strange person' is an assassin or harms her? Getting worked up won't help anyone so I just need to stop stressing myself out, Temari's on her way back now and I'll see that everything was fine and I was worrying for nothing. She said she'd leave at six am so she should be back by about eleven, twelve latest today, -she left three days ago- but the weather seems nice and calm so it should be about eleven.
Nine thirteen and twenty-three seconds, that's when it happened. Don't ask how I remember, I looked at the clock the moment I felt something was up and have a feeling I'll never forget that time. I felt a sharp wind from the window left open at five o'clock from me (slightly right from directly behind him). As I've said I don't know why but I checked the time on my watch, nine thirteen and twenty-three seconds the clock read. I turned back to my paper work, the wind died down after about 30 seconds, I suddenly heard someone humming behind me, slowly; carefully I turned to face the window.
That's when I saw her for the very first time. I small; slight girl, a year younger than me at a guess. She was paler than me, if that's even possible, she had soft light grey eyes and long white hair. She wore a dress just like one Temari owned. She was just sitting there, on the window ledge, one leg out the window, swinging; one leg on top of the sill; she lent an arm on her bent leg and stared straight ahead. I sat there silently for a second before it set in. A strange girl had managed to break into the Kazekage's office without anyone noticing. I started to worry this might have been the strange girl Temari had met, all I knew was this girl was pale, had unusual powers and travelled with the wind. She seemed to fit the description.
Suddenly she looked straight at me. She must have noticed the fact I had been staring at her for about a minute.
"Hello." She said with a sweet smile on her thin lips.
"Er…hi, I'm Gaara. Well you probably know that you have just broken into my office." I almost growled. I wanted to seem dangerous to this girl so she didn't try anything but it didn't seem to faze her.
"Broke in? I would never do such a thing! Do you see anything broken? I merely stepped into your office Kazekage-sama." She said in a menacing tone, she almost gave me the creeps, which is something I would have bet on being impossible. It's just that she seemed like an empty doll, like one of Kankuro's puppets and was just so plain, there seemed nothing interesting about her. She also had a frightening look in her eyes but it soon was replaced with a soft, sadder one though the sadness didn't seem felt.
"Your sister is in trouble." She stated. "A sandstorm is brewing on the horizon. There is no way of her knowing this."
"She's a sand Shinobi don't underestimate her, we were brought up facing sandstorms almost every day, she will have a better chance of sensing it that most other people." I smirked, trying to hide my slight worry but my sisters a big girl, she can look after herself.
"We will see about that. You will be able to see the storm forming in 26 seconds if you look due-west out of this window, in twenty minutes it will hit Temari, she will notice it only one minute before she is caught in it and will not have time to hide. You won't have time to send anyone to warn her and even if you tried they would get caught in the storm first. Here it comes." She waved me over; I stood over her, looking straight at her until she grabbed my jaw and turned it so I was facing due-west, it is times like these I miss my ultimate defence not needing to be summoned, as she had predicted a sandstorm started to form.
"How did you… how could you know that when no one in the sand village could even tell? I would have been told by now if they had so how could you, an outsider, know?"
"How do you know I'm an outsider, do you know all your civilians? I knew because I could feel a change in the wind coming." She seemed almost angry, as though she thought it was bad I didn't know all my civilians, which I don't I admit but can a guy be expected to know everyone in a village? The only person I know with an I.Q. high enough to memorize them all would be Shikamaru and like he'd ever be bothered. I was about to speak when someone came barging in.
"Kazekage-sama! We have detected high wind levels due-west; we believe it is a sandstorm forming." Kankuro burst out, he still insists on calling me by my title in my office though I'm breaking that habit of his. "Temari's still out there we need to go warn her!"
"We can't do that."
"What? That's our sister, you have to help her!"
"We can't charge out into that storm! We have to hope she can figure out one is coming herself!"
"She won't, more accurately she can't." The strange girl interrupted, "I told you already Gaara-kun, she won't notice it." I'll let it drop that she wasn't being polite this once.
"Who the hell is this girl? What does she mean? How dare she underestimate Temari and what's she doing in here?" Kankuro burst out in outrage, his eyes blazing and fists clenched, the girl didn't even turn to look at him.
"I believe this is Fuu, the girl Temari told us about." I said coolly, much more calmly than I was feeling.
"Well how do we save Temari? We can't just let her die!" Kankuro is always the pessimistic one, we really need to get an optimist in our family to lighten things up.
"I'm not sure yet, I'll think…"
"Don't worry." The girl smiled with her mouth but not her eyes. "I'll go to her and bring her back to you safe and sound and in one piece."
"But you said no one could get to her in time." She really was confusing me, couldn't she just be straight forward and explain things properly?
"I'll be with her in a second, calm down. Gaara-kun, pass me your wrist." She said forcefully, I obeyed, I wasn't sure what else to do she was telling me she could save my sister; I needed to believe in her for now. She held my wrist gently; it still shocked me when people touched me, most people where still weary of me. She concentrated chakra to her finger and started to draw on my wrist, we were all silent until she finished.
"Is this the mark Temari told us of? Why are you giving it to me?"
"It might make things easier for me, if my chakra reacts that is and besides, it's a great way to keep track of people. I'll have Temari back by ten-thirty."
"Ten-thirty but she wouldn't be back until at least eleven if she didn't have to stop and you're saying you can make it faster?" I scoffed, wow, I haven't done that in a while but this girl had no common sense.
"Never underestimate your enemy is something you learn as a ninja right? You should start to teach your students to never underestimate anyone."
And with the she pulled herself up so she was standing in the window sill, walked across to the far end and then suddenly dived off sideways. I stood, still shocked; staring at my wrist. I heard Kankuro scream in the back ground 'what the fuck? Is she suicidal or something?' then run to the window, afterwards stating 'she isn't there, she disappeared.' Why would this girl help us?I thought.
And that's how she entered and exited my life before I even had time to realize what had happened. She left at sixteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds after she arrived, at exactly nine thirty. Now I just had to trust she could save my sister.
Fuu:
"Stupid boys underestimating me." I muttered to myself, the one thing I hated more than anything, bearing in mind I'd only been alive a few days so this hasn't got much to back it up, was being patronized and I counted being underestimated as patronizing. I was dancing through the wind again, dancing is the word to describe it; it's the closest thing I can think of. I was hurrying, I didn't have long to find Temari before the storm hit her. I was aiming to find her in thirty minutes, I estimated that would give me a further fifteen to get her to safety, or take her to my inner dimension, I would also have to make her believe what I was saying. "Temari," I called, however I knew my voice was carried by the wind at a pitch the human ear would not hear.
Twenty-four minutes later and I caught site of a figure in the near distance. I slowed my dance and let the wind fall to a standstill around me. Sure enough it was her. I skipped over, a smile lightening up my face. I hate being so jolly but I needed her to trust me to keep her safe, so I played it up.
"Temari!" I waved as I came closer to her.
"Who's that?" She squinted. "Fuu? Is that you? I thought Naruto was taking you to the Hokage the other day, they let you go already?"
"Why would I go to the Hokage? Anyway I visited the Kazekage already."
"Impossible, you couldn't get there and here so fast. Then again, you are capable of some weird things. Why are you here?"
"I'm here to save you." I smiled, gosh being sappy wasn't my thing; I could feel my insides churning at the happiness of it all.
"Save me? I don't need to be saved thank you very much." She snapped, that might have been the wrong more, oh well I'll keep going now that I've started.
"Oh but my dear you do, your dear brothers told me not to underestimate you, that you'd notice it but I knew you couldn't, even as a wind user you can't understand it like I can. A sandstorm is on its way. It should be here in around fifteen minutes; you will notice it in fourteen and fail to get to safety." I sneered, I know I was meant to be being all happy but that didn't work and I couldn't stand it alright.
"A sandstorm? I'd be able to sense it I one were coming and I would have received a warning from Suna, besides," she started but I couldn't be bothered to listen to her go on and on.
"Gaara had the same response at first. I promised to take you back to him and I won't go back on my word, you can either come willingly or ill take you by force." I saw her flinch; she probably wasn't so used to being threatened by tiny girls with no muscle. She immediately readjusted herself, I could tell she was to proud to flinch in the face of someone threatening her and was obviously annoyed at herself.
"You can just try, I'm not going to let some little girl who isn't even a ninja take me down." But that's all she got to say, within moments I had closed my eyes and concentrated her into my inner world. A second later I joined her there.
"You can't fight in here dear," I laughed, "I won already. You knew about this ability and you should have seen it coming." She lurched towards me but I simply made her freeze. "I told you before that I can control things whilst they are in here, you can't escape. The storm will be here in a second; we will ride the wind and return you to Suna. Don't worry I won't harm you. I owe you."
"You don't owe me anything you little bitch." She hissed, I'm not sure why surly having someone owe you is a good thing.
"Of course I do, you gave me my first clothes, you and your friend gave me a name, I owe you and I must keep my promise to Gaara, Kankuro will also be annoyed if I break my promise, even if it wasn't to him." I ended in a laugh, and then I left my inner world and started to ride the wind back to Suna.
