Gaara reached his home when he heard an explosion. Several people came out after hearing it and he told them to stay inside. He then told the attendants to get the village into the safe house underground. The men nodded and spread out to cover the village. Gaara saw a large bird flying overhead. It was far larger than any bird anyone in this village had seen. It resembled an owl in a way its face had small eyes and small beak. It soared through the air with its large wings. Its entire body was grey and had almost no texture. A tall thin man with long blonde hair with bangs covering one of his eyes which seemed to have a metal plate over it, he was wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. He stood on top of the bird carrying someone in his arms. Gaara used his sand to lift him into the air to the same level as the bird.
"Deidara." Gaara knew the man from meetings about the Akatsuki. His gaze shifted to the girl. She was covered in bruises and cuts. Gaara wondered who the girl was as her body lay limp in Deidara's arms. The wind blew the hair away from her face which revealed it was Mei.
Gaara gritted his teeth. Mei… Memories of his past with Mei flooded his mind. She had always been the one that was kind to him. She was the one that truly cared for him more than anyone ever had. Even when her mother told her to stay away from him, she still went to play with him. She made him feel as though he was not alone in this world. It was her that made him have doubts about what Yashamaru said; that no one will ever love him. He didn't know why but he felt this burning hatred in his heart in this moment. A kind of hatred he had not felt in a long time. He fought back the hatred knowing that if he did not calm down the demon in him would take over his very soul.
"Aww is someone mad?" Deidara grinned cynically and dropped her onto the bird's back. He then held out his hands and balls of clay came out of the mouths on his hands. He threw them at the sand supporting Gaara, they exploded causing the sand to collapse but he caught himself before he could hit the ground.
"Leave her out of this…" Gaara growled.
"Why, she makes things interesting…and she's pretty cute" Deidara grinned and picked her up by the neck.
"Let her go" Gaara sent sand flying in the direction of Deidara who simply dodged.
"Come on, you wanna watch your aim, don't wanna hurt her do you?" Deidara grinned as he placed Mei back down on the bird's back.
. Gaara knew he would have to be careful if he did not want to harm Mei. The battle raged on for hours, both were evenly matched. The each dodged each other's attacks. Gaara evaded a few more clay bombs, using his sand to cover him and act as a shield.
Gaara sent sand flying at Deidara who dodged again. Deidara sent several clay bombs flying at Gaara and his sand. Gaara was able to evade most of the bombs by making a sand cocoon around himself while still sensing Deidara's movements. He used sand to wrap around Deidara's ankle and slammed him against the hard sand and buildings.
Deidara broke free from the sand as the sun began to rise on the following morning.
"Mei!" a voice called out.
Mei turned and saw the group of children walking over to her. It was the same group of children who she had seen teasing Gaara the day before.
"Yes?" Mei spoke timidly.
"Why did you defend that monster…" A boy spoke with an angry look in his eyes.
"B-Because he did nothing wrong…what you guys did was wrong." Mei had always been wise beyond her years. She never understood why people hurt one another for no reason. She had always had a kind heart and people said she had gotten that trait from her late father.
"He is a monster" A girl shouted.
"No he isn't!" Mei shouted back.
"How do you know?" A boy smirked.
"Because he has never done anything to anyone! He never hurt you guys or anyone before." Mei was growing angry at these kids.
"Monster lover!" The kids shouted at her.
"He isn't a monster!" Mei shouted back at them.
"Let's teach this monster lover a lesson." The brown haired boy smirked.
Mei then began running away as the group of kids chased her. It was getting dark and this part of the village was virtually deserted at this hour. She felt scared and wanted to hide. She kept running away from the kids until she tripped over a rock. She fell hard in the sand.
The group of children surrounded Mei, who slowly got up and tried to find a way out but no one would let her through.
She then felt a rock hit her in the head and she fell over. The kids then began to kick her. She cried out in pain when the kids suddenly stopped.
"Leave her alone" A voice spoke.
Mei slowly lifted her head as she saw Gaara standing in the shadows.
"Ah it's the monster!" A girl screamed and the kids quickly ran away.
She quickly rubbed the tears from her eyes. She did not want to seem like a cry baby.
"Are you okay?" Gaara walked over to her.
Mei nodded.
"You're bleeding" Gaara knelt beside her.
Mei gently put her hand on her forehead and touched it only to cringe. She brought her hand down and saw blood.
"Gaara it's getting late…" A kind voice spoke. A feminine looking man with chin length blonde hair stepped out of the ally way. He was wearing a simple blue kimono. His eyes were a soft blue color. "Oh my what happened?"
"Some kids beat her up Yashamaru…" Gaara rushed over to the man and grabbed his sleeve.
"Come on…let's get you cleaned up." Yashamaru smiled…
Mei slowly woke up from her dream and tried to sit up but pain shot through her body causing her to lie back down. Where am I…She looked up and saw Deidara looking down at her with an evil smirk.
"Someone's finally woken up…" Deidara grinned. "Sorry hun but you will need to go to sleep again." He attempted to kick her but she grabbed his ankle and twisted it causing him to fall on the bird's back.
"Leave Lord Gaara alone…" Mei spoke through clenched teeth. She was so focused on protecting Gaara in this one moment that the world around her seemed so foggy. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she glared at Deidara.
Sand suddenly wrapped around Deidara's arm and Gaara murmured "desert coffin…" and closed his fist. The sand tightened around Deidara's arm, crushing it completely. Deidara screamed in pain as his arm was crushed. Deidara then retreated on the back of his bird, hiding between buildings as he planned his attack. Mei was still too weak to put up much of a fight.
Deidara soon fled into the sky above the village with Mei still on the back of the bird.
"I w-won't let you harm him…" Mei slowly forced herself to her feet. "Or our village…" Mei may have seemed like a happy child when she was young, but she had always felt so alone. She had always heard stories about the father she was never fortunate enough to know. She had learned from others what he was like since her mother refused to talk about him. She would always run around the village looking for answers about the man that died to protect his friends. She once sat down and listened to the man her father saved tell her stories about her father for hours. After hearing all of this she vowed to be a girl that would make her father proud. A girl that protected those she cared for, and did not treat others badly for reasons she did not see as just.
Mei spun and kicked Deidara hard in the side almost knocking him off the bird.
"Someone just won't quit" Deidara grinned and grabbed Mei before she could react and kneed her in the stomach, hitting her broken ribs and causing her to cough up blood and pass out.
Deidara soon created another large bird like creature out of his special chakra infused clay. It grew and flew down into the village and soon exploded but Gaara had created a shield of sand to protect the village.
Deidara grinned as a bomb suddenly went off just outside Gaara's sand cocoon. Gaara's eyes widened as he saw what looked like insects crawling into the cocoon and soon exploded. The sand soon started dissipating around him. The ninja who were watching the battle from below started shouting for Gaara, not sure if he was alright. Gaara used his last bit of strength to move the sand he used to protect the village away so that it would not fall and damage the village. He knew he was too weak to fight any longer, so if he could do one thing before losing consciousness, it would be to protect the village.
The ninja of the sand started firing arrows with paper bombs attached at Deidara but none hit the target. They all wished to protect their Kazekage no matter what.
The sand soon was completely away from the village and Gaara lost consciousness and began to fall only to be caught by the bird Deidara was on.
Deidara grinned and kicked Mei off the bird's back then flew away with Gaara.
Kankuro sent his puppet out and caught Mei before she could hit the ground. The puppet carried her over to the medical ninja who quickly carried her off to the hospital.
"And you all thought we couldn't trust her…" Kankuro scoffed. He barely knew this girl, but if Gaara could trust her then anyone could. He knew his brother was very shut away from the world and cautious to let others in. Mei had broken through Gaara's hard shell and that made her part of his family.
"We were right…She is just like her father. Ready to die for her allies…" The older council member looked out in the direction Deidara carried Gaara away in.
"We will find him…" Kankuro tightened his hands into fists then proceeded walking towards the hospital. He wanted to see if Mei was alright before he took any rash actions. He walked inside and walked towards the room where the medical ninja were working on Mei.
"How is she" He looked at one of the medical members as the doctor walked out of the room.
"It doesn't look good, she put up quite a fight but with her already broken ribs she was not able to move as fast as she possibly could…He had the upper hand from the start, against her and Lord Kazekage…" The ninja spoke faintly.
"Will she make it?" Kankuro asked worried.
"I believe so, but she'll have to fight. If she is anything like her father than she should be alright." The man nodded.
"Keep me updated…" Kankuro walked out of the room.
The medical team kept working on Mei, trying to heal her injuries. Hours had passed before the team stabilized her condition and left her in a room to rest. She laid sleeping for hours before she woke up and looked around. She sat up quickly and felt a sharp pain but ignored it.
"I see you finally woke up." A man in a white lab coat smiled softly.
"Where's Gaara?" Mei looked at the man who frowned.
"Deidara took him." He responded solemnly.
That was all Mei needed to hear before she got up out of her hospital bed.
"Wait you need rest" The doctor tried to get her to lay back down.
"I'm going to find him…" Mei ran past the doctor out of the hospital and right into one of Gaara's attendants. "S-sorry" She apologized.
"You should be resting" The man smiled faintly but pain was hidden in his eyes.
"I am fine, I'm going to find Gaara…" Mei clenched her hands into fists.
"We already issued an emergency summons to the leaf village…we will find him." The man tied his boots. "Kankuro went on ahead, I'm going after him. Rest at least until reinforcements arrive."
"Fine…but be careful." Mei bowed. The man smiled weakly and ran out of the village.
Mei went back into the hospital and to her room. She laid down on her bed and looked out the window. She saw people weeping over Gaara being missing. All she could think of was how much she wished she could have saved him…