After writing this chapter, I realized just how much I make Ciara interact with boys instead of girls. I mean, I guess it makes sense that she would talk more to guys because she's been joined at the hip with Naruto for like…eight years, but it's actually kind of weird. Should I have her interacting with girls more? Or would that make her too 'girly'? Is she too girly already? Not girly enough (less of a concern since she's a ninja and all, but still)?

Thoughts?

I know that it's not the best of things to do, but I know for a fact that like me, Naruto has barely rested at all since we left the Leaf. I'm not entirely sure if its anxiety, fear, or impatience, or all three, but I know that for me, it's definitely all three.

Which is why, after two days in high gear, and covering more distance than we usually would in this amount of time, we come to the edge of the desert about twelve hours ahead of schedule.

Naruto sighs with relief, a small smile reaching towards his eyes. "Alright, we finally reached the desert."

"The Village Hidden in the Sand is just up ahead." Temari points off in the direction of a tiny pinprick. If the desert weren't s flat as it is, it would be completely impossible to see. "It's best if I take the lead from here on out.

Kakashi nods, seeing great wisdom in letting the local guide us to the village. "Lead on." After all, if anyone can have us there quickly, taking shortcuts and stuff, it would be Temari.

And so, we take off through the desert, and because of the loose qualities of the sand beneath our feet, I apply the water-walking principle to the situation, sending chakra to the soles of my feet in order to not sink into the sand.

We're good for about seven hours, before the sand starts to kick up a fuss. The wind…is not a happy one right now. "Temari, is this the start of-"

"A sandstorm, yes." Answering my question, she looks around, spotting a large formation of rocks. "There. We can take shelter in the caves there until the storm dies down."

"What are you talking about? We have to get to the Sand now!" Naruto looks over at us, frustration and anger in his eyes.

"Naruto…" Kakashi catches up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "If we get caught out in a sandstorm, not only will we lose a lot of time by getting lost, but we could die out there. And that won't help us save him."

As if heeding Kakashi's words, the wind picks up, kicking even more sand into the air. Temari turns, leading us towards the caves, while I try t block out the sound of Naruto's cursing.

Once we're all safely in the cave, I look back outside to see exactly what we just barely escaped getting caught in. What was once a gentle breeze is now similar to a typhoon. Except with sand blanketing everything. Damn it, how long is this going to last?

Naruto sits, glaring out at the sandstorm as it continues to rage. "We got this close to our target, and we're just sitting here! I can't stand this waiting!

"Naruto, for the last time, relax. There's nothing we can do." Kakashi is trying to be the voice of reason, but Naruto's heightened emotions are making him mostly beyond that at this point.

Naruto's emotions refuse to cool, however. "I know, but-"

Sakura chides him none too gently. "Just be patient. Would you look at Temari? She's the one who's worried the most."

Temari looks up, her face still calm. "The cardinal rule of traveling in the desert…if you hit a sandstorm, you stay put. You lose all you sense of direction in a storm like that. I've heard of many people getting lost in the desert and dying of thirst." Then, she smiles. "Don't worry, the sandstorms we get this time of year usually don't last very long."

Naruto doesn't look particularly reassured by that. "Well, I just hope you're right."

An hour later, Temari's words turn out to be true. The sandstorm dies down, clearing the way to the Sand Village. And I'm the first on my feet. "Alright, we've got time to make up. Temari, lead the way."

"Right." She's on her feet in an instant, long with Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura.

The five of us take off towards the Sand, traveling at a rapid pace for over an hour, covering a vast distance as we leave the remnants of the sandstorm far behind us.

When the passage to the village comes into view, my heart soars. "We're here!"

"Yeah!" Naruto finally allows us to slow the pace as we approach the gates.

The two guards on duty approach us. "We've been expecting you."

"Lady Temari, you were with them?" The other guard looks back and forth in slight confusion.

The first doesn't give anyone time to answer. "Please, this way." He takes off into the city, leading us further inside. "Lord Kankuro has been recovered and transported to the hospital already."

Temari's eyes widen in alarm. "What!? You're saying they got Kankuro as well?"

The ninja nods as we run. "Yes, when the enemy took Lord Kazekage, Kankuro went after them by himself. He was poisoned, and we haven't been able to find anything to counteract it. He won't last much longer."

Temari looks heartbroken, so Sakura runs up to her side. "Don't worry, Temari, let me take a look at him."

"Yeah, I'll take a look too." Putting aside my differences with Sakura, I smile. "Looks like you guys really hit the jackpot with who happened to be in the mission room when the message came in. You got a team with two medics on it." And I have to wonder just how much Sakura learned under Tsunade while me and Naruto were away.

Temari's expression brightens for a moment. "Thank you."

"Well, don't thank us quite yet. Thank us once we've saved both your brothers." Because we will save them. First, Kankuro, then, Gaara.

We race into the hospital and through the corridors, Temari in the lead as we run into the emergency room. "Kankuro!"

Sakura, Temari, and I head straight for the bed in the middle of the room, and I can already tell that this isn't going to be pretty.

"Damn you!" An old lady runs past us, straight for Kakashi. "Get ready to defend yourself or die!"

I skid to a stop, frowning as the old woman goes on the attack, then roll my eyes and jump over the bed and land on Kankuro's other side. Whatever it is…Kakashi can handle it.

Or not, because it's Naruto and his clones who handle the old lady. "What do you think you're doing attacking Kakashi-Sensei like that, you wrinkly old prune?"

"I haven't forgotten what you did. I've been waiting for this day, White Fang of the Leaf. The day I wreak vengeance on you for what you did to my son!" This lady is clearly senile. I've never heard Kakashi called anything like that.

Kakashi holds up his hands sheepishly. "No no no, you see, I'm not-"

"That's enough talk!" The little old lady looks ready to go right back on the attack, until she's stopped by an equally old and wrinkly old man.

"Take a closer look at the man, sis." Though I don't see how he can look at anything, considering how huge those eyebrows are. They're even bigger than Lee's. Not to mention the fact that almost all of Kakashi's face is covered. "It's true there's a resemblance, but this one is not the White Fang. Besides, as you know, the White Fang of the Leaf died long ago. Remember? When you heard the news, you wept in frustration because that meant you would never have your vengeance. Isn't that so, sis?"

Her demeanor changes in an instant. "Oh well, nevermind." Then she goes and starts laughing. Laughing. She's crazy, absolutely has to be.

Then, Kankuro starts thrashing again, and I move to hold him down, before looking at his sister. "Temari, grant Sakura and I permission to take over the emergency room!" It's going to take both of us to do this, I just know it.

She looks at me, stunned. "Uh…y-yeah, of course."

"Alright." I usher the medics away as Sakura puts up her hair and moves to his other side. "Okay, so we're dealing with a severe poisoning case. I doubt that my all-purpose antidotes will be much help in this case, but I can always give it a try. Sakura, how versed are you in poisons?" She was taught by Tsunade after all, and Jiraiya has talked more than once about how talented Tsunade is at concocting antidotes, poisons, and other drugs.

"Probably more than you, but since he's this far in…" I might have been offended by that, but her tone and the situation make it clear what she means.

I place my hands on Kankuro's stomach, letting chakra fill my palms. "Yeah. We both have our place, right?"

"Right." Sakura looks around. "It'd be better if you all clear out." And as she says so, she starts examining his eyes, and shoving her hand into his mouth, while I go about examining his internal organs. It's not good.

"What're you-" One of the Sand medics approaches the table. "Who are you?"

Sakura takes her hand out and straightens up to look t them. "I'm a Leaf medical ninja."

I nod, my hands still working on examining his body. "And I'm a jounin level combat medic, also from the Leaf." As if that wasn't already obvious by my headband. "You guys got really lucky today. The four of us happened to be on hand when your message came in, so we got sent here. We didn't know you needed medics, but I guess Kankuro has someone watching over him." I frown at my findings. "We do have a problem, though…" the glow around my hands brightens. "He doesn't have much longer. A couple of hours, tops."

"I see." Sakura presses her head down to Kankuro's chest, just above my hands. She listens for several long moments, before nodding. "We're definitely dealing with a heavy metal-based poison. It's the kind that attacks muscle tissue, destroying the cells' integrity."

The medics look astonished. "You were able to learn all that…in one look?"

Sakura holds out her hand expectantly. "May I see his charts?"

"Yes, of course, here it is." One of the medics hands over a clipboard. "We were getting a breakdown of the poison, but there's still quite a few blanks."

Sakura looks over the chart. "I know just what'll happen. The cardiac muscle will be weakened to the point where the heart will collapse and cease functioning altogether. It's doubtful we'll be able to come up with an antidote in time."

"What are you saying?" Temari's eyes grow wide with panic. "There's nothing you can do!?"

"Well, normally, I would agree with that, but…" I move around and place my hands firmly on Kankuro's shoulders, before glancing at Sakura. "I can buy you another…twelve, maybe thirteen hours at least, maybe twenty-four at most. Can you work with that?"

Sakura looks to me, then nods, before turning to the medics. "I'm going to need a few things, and I'm going to need them quickly. This is going to be pretty crude, but it's the only option we have."

"Right." The medics stand at the ready, just waiting for an order.

I take a deep breath, my chakra flowing out into the room, before focusing in on Kankuro. "Then I'm going to use the same technique on him that I used during Lee's surgery. I'm going to activate all of the cells in his body at once, and I'll direct the cell replication as needed. Take that time to get your first measures ready."

"Right." Sakura turns to move towards another door, leading to what looks like a lab. The medics move to follow her.

Over the next hour and a half, I sustain Kankuro's life, waiting for Sakura to stop sending the medics running for various ingredients. And eventually, all becomes quiet. That's either a very good sign, or a very bad sign.

It's a good sign. Sakura emerges from the room with the medics, buckets of a clear solution in hand, as well as a few empty buckets. She looks to me gratefully, before turning to the medics. "Hold him down and don't let him move. This part of the procedure is not going to be easy for him." Six of us clamp down on him. Three medics, Kankuro's old teacher, as well as me and his sister. Meanwhile, Sakura reaches into the solution, making a large bubble of it adhere to her hand, before pressing it down to Kankuro's chest. "Here goes."

Kankuro tries to escape the treatment, put I hold his shoulders down firmly, pinning him to the bed while Sakura forces the solution into his body. Then, as she pulls it out the other side of his chest, where the wound is, a sickly purple fluid is suspended within it.

Temari looks at it in slight terror. "What's that? Is that the poison?"

"Looks like…" And now that Sakura has extracted all of the poison from his heart, I direct my healing energy there, restoring and rebuilding the muscle.

Sakura sighs and lets it drop into the empty container. "Another!"

"Right!" One of the medics takes the tainted solution, exchanging it for a fresh batch, which Sakura then takes and applies to Kankuro's abdomen, drawing the poison from his liver, stomach and pancreas.

Over and over, she takes the poison out, and I redirect my energy to healing the damaged organs. It's working well, and by the end of it, Kankuro is nearly purged of the poison.

Finally, Sakura sighs and backs away. "There, I've removed most of the poison. That should put him out of any immediate danger. And this way, Ciara can regenerate his cells without them breaking down again."

"Yeah, I can definitely do that much now." The glow intensifies once more as it envelops his body, regenerating cells all over the place.

Naruto races into the room, grinning. "Way to go, you did it!" Meanwhile, Temari leans back against the wall, looking rather faint as she slides down it and clutches t her heart. She must really have been on the verge of losing her mind over this.

"But he's not completely out of the woods yet." I shoot a knowing look at Sakura.

She nods. "I have to put together an antidote to purge the remaining traces of toxin still in his body."

"I see." The older sensei nods. "Anything you need, don't hesitate to ask."

"Well, first I'll need a list of all the medicinal herbs that you have in this village." A logical first step for Sakura. "And we should change these bandages for new ones."

"I'll do that." I reach for my medical kit and pull out an antiseptic, some ointment, and a sealed roll of sterile bandages. "With an injury like this, it's better to be too careful. And get an IV drip over here. He's been out of it for three days, so he's dehydrated and lacking in nutrients. As soon as he's well enough to eat and drink, he's going to need lots of water, nutritious food, and some vitamin and mineral supplements, just in case." And I get to work on disinfecting and treating the wound, before sealing it up and covering it with new bandages.

"Yes, and I want some of the toxin I extracted set aside for later. I'll be needing it later." Sakura and I seamlessly transition from one of us giving orders, to the other. And despite being foreigners, the medics heed our orders without question.

The old woman walks over to the table, and I glance out of the corner of my eyes as she approaches Sakura. "You remind me of the old Slug Queen, Tsunade. Isn't it strange, you turning up in our village like this?"

Sakura finishes putting down her hair and smile. "Well, after all, Lady Tsunade is my teacher. And it was by her order that I personally came here."

I snort with laughter. "Yeah, and I'm the tag-along who happened to be in the room at the time. Lucky for Kankuro. Though I think I preferred healing him when he let a sentient sword bite his shoulder. At least then, he was still strong enough to carry me on his back while I healed him."

One of the medics returns with a list of medicinal ingredients, and Sakura walks off with two of the medics in tow. Meanwhile, Naruto is making a bit of a ruckus in the hall. But that doesn't deter me from my mission.

Breathing out carefully, I place one of my hands on Kankuro's forehead, pumping chakra in there as well. And in just a few moments, I see the telltale twitch that I was looking for. "Good morning, Kankuro. Did you sleep well?"

He groans and stirs a bit more, his mouth opening slightly, along with his eyes. "Wha…"

"Kankuro, are you alright?" Temari draws his attention, leaning over him just as I'd expect a concerned older sibling to do.

"Temari…" Well, at the very least, he can recognize people. "You're back already." And Kankuro seems coherent enough to remember things, like how Temari was in the Leaf for a while.

She nods. "I heard the village was in trouble."

"I'm sorry to be such a bother." Okay, either this guy has gotten a lot humbler than the last time I saw him, or he's an idiot.

Temari seems to be thinking along the same lines. "You're not. Don't be ridiculous."

Kakashi looks rather satisfied by Kankuro's recovery, before addressing the puppetmaster's teacher. "Can you take me to where Kankuro's fight took place? I'm known for having a pretty good nose for tracking. If even the slightest trace of their scent remains on the scene…"

"There's no need for that." Kankuro forces himself into a sitting position. "Where are my puppets? I assume that my puppets were recovered, right?"

I click my tongue irritably. "You know, you shouldn't push yourself so hard. You almost died, you're allowed to lie down."

He shakes his head and waits as his puppets are brought in. "Bring Crow here." And as instructed, the medics bring that rather familiar puppet over. "One fought with me, while the other carried Gaara away. You might be able to track Gaara's scent, but you can definitely track the one I fought. I made sure of it." His voice is rough and gravelly at best. He sounds like he's got a couple toads down his throat. Then, he points down at one of Crow's hands. "You see? I've got his scent right here." And the hand opens up to reveal a piece of torn black cloth. "The last thing I did was make sure I got a scrap of his clothing."

Kakashi reaches for the cloth, holding it between his fingers. "Even in defeat, you went down fighting. Just what I'd expect from a Sand shinobi."

Kankuro smiles, then groans in pain, holding his newly bandaged stomach. Temari panics. "Kankuro, what is it!?"

Kankuro looks up to see Naruto standing at the end of the bed, and his expression becomes serious. "Is that…Naruto Uzumaki?"

Naruto beams at him. "Hey there."

"Hey, I wanna say hi too!" I touch Kankuro's shoulders, sending another jolt of chakra through him.

He doesn't even look at me at first, only flinching slightly. "Ciara?" Then, he turns around, frowning. "Wait…you're not-"

"I am." It's funny that his eyes didn't recognize what the rest of him did. "I grew up, didn't I? Long story, I'll tell you another time."

"Right…" He looks away from me, his eyes back on Naruto. He's almost as fixated as his brother always seemed to be.

There's a puff of smoke near Kakashi, and out of it appears a whole pile of ninja dogs. And at the top of the pile is Pakkun. "At your service. Eight ninja hounds."

Naruto moves along to talk to the dogs. "Hey Pakkun!"

The dog seems more than a little surprised. "Is that you, Naruto!? Long time, no see!"

"Whoa, look at you, you haven't changed a bit." Naruto's right, you'd think that the dogs would at least look a bit older, but no, they're exactly the same as ever.

Naruto waves a hand around jokingly. "Hey, what're you talking about? I'm a lot taller for one thing."

"Alright, alright, let's skip the reunion." Kakashi interrupts them, holding out the scrap of cloth. "I need you guys to get on this right away." He kneels down and holds the cloth out as the hounds gather around to sniff at it. "Find out which way he went. Go on!"

All of the dogs disappear, and Naruto watches as Pakkun's tail is the last to disappear. "They won't let us down." Then, he turns back to us. "Okay, we move out as soon as Pakkun and his posse get back. So I say we start getting ready."

"Not so fast, Naruto." Kakashi chides him slightly for the excess enthusiasm. Not that I can blame either of them. I want to go as much as Naruto, but I know that we have to keep calm, at least for the moment.

"Kankuro." The old wrinkly ones stride back into the room.

My patient looks more than a little surprised by the visitors. "Lady Chiyo and Lord Ebizo? You're here?"

The woman nods. "There's something we must know, and only you can tell us. Am I correct in thinking that one of your opponents, the one you fought with, was Sasori?"

When Kankuro lowers his head, the old man addresses him. "Well, speak up, Kankuro."

"Yes." Kankuro looks up slightly. "It was Sasori of the Red Sand. He told me so himself."

"Sasori of the Red Sand, huh?" Kakashi steps towards them calmly. "I get the feeling you know something about this Akatsuki. Will you tell us?"

I roll my eyes and focus my attention back onto Kankuro. "If you guys re done distressing my patient, I'd like to get back to healing him now. If I don't, he's not going to be in any shape to walk for another week."

"Ah, of course." Kakashi quiets down, watching patiently as I go about healing Kankuro's extensive internal injuries.

The sun is long down by the time Sakura comes back in with a vial, a cup, and a teapot. "Alright, I have an antidote, as well as some medicinal tea for you to drink it with."

I nod, letting Kankuro up so that he can steady himself as Sakura pours the tea and adds the antidote. Then, she holds up the cup and brings it to his lips, one of his hands grabbing it as the first of the hot liquid passes his lips. He cringes, but doesn't stop drinking for even a second.

Sakura approves, tilting the teacup a little more. "That's right, drink it all." Then, once the cup is finished, Sakura puts it back down. "There, you should be alright now. Just lie back and rest, and don't move around until the numbness passes."

"All of you are going to need rest as well after your journey. We've prepared rooms for you." It looks like Baki, I think Kankuro called him while he was waking up, has gone ahead and foreseen our needs.

Naruto, though, is as stubborn as always. "But we've gotta go after Gaara."

Kakashi completely disregards Naruto's words. "Thanks, we'll take you up on your offer." Then, he eyes the rest of us. "We may have to travel far and fast tomorrow."

Despite his own desires, Naruto's eyes prove that he sees the logic in the argument. "Alright, you win."

Kankuro starts to tremble, so I put my hands back on his shoulders, pressing my fingers into the muscles of his back, using chakra to knead the tension out of them. After all of the massages that Naruto's given me, and the ones I've practiced on him in return, I know just where to press to ease out a lot of tension.

His voice barely a whisper, Kankuro speaks up. "Naruto…save my little brother, will you?

"Don't worry, I will." Naruto grins determinedly. "After all, I'm gonna be Hokage someday. And for now, the Kazekage can just owe me one."

I burst out laughing. "Well, I guess that's one way to earn political favors." Then, I press harder on the tightly coiled muscles. "But yeah, we'll get him back, definitely. And the ones who took him…well, they're gonna pay for it. And the rest of the Akatsuki will learn not to kidnap the people we care about."

"Right…" Kakashi crosses his arms. "Well, it's about time we hit the hay. We'll need to rest up for tomorrow. Naruto, come on."

One of the medics steps forward. "I can take your to your room." Kakashi nods, and the medics hurries out into the hallway, followed closely by Naruto and Kakashi.

One of the other medics walks over between me and Sakura. "If the two of you will follow me, I can take you to your room as well."

"That would be great…" Sakura sounds pretty tired, and I certainly can't begrudge her that.

But I'm a different story. "I'll go to sleep later. Right now, I have a patient to tend to. I'll be done soon, though." Sakura looks at me strangely, so I smile, despite having blown up at her yesterday. "It's alright, I'll be along in half an hour, an hour tops."

"Okay…" Her jade eyes leave me as she walks out of the emergency room.

As the remaining people in the room file out, I press my fingers back into Kankuro's shoulders. "Do you think you can lie on your stomach? Or would that be too painful for you?"

Kankuro blinks, then moves around a bit, wincing slightly as he moves away and turns over. "I can handle it."

"Alright." He's being a bit more stubborn than I would like, but this should help with his recovery. "I'm going to give you a massage and try to activate some of the pressure points in your muscles to release endorphins. I'd rather not put you on any more medication, seeing as I don't know how that would react with the traces of antidote in your system, but this is a natural way of numbing pain, and it should help your muscles heal faster too, once they're not so wound up."

"I see." He nods his head slightly as he lies face down, head tilted to the side. "Go ahead, then."

"Right." I trail my fingers down his back, feeling for anything worrying, and finding nothing to be particularly concerned about. Then, I press the heels of my palms down, rubbing slow circles into his back as I begin the therapeutic massage. "You know, Naruto had to do this for me while we were off training. I had to do it for him too. He'd always push himself too hard, and end up straining his muscles. I was dealing with growing pains, so he did it to try and relieve some of the pain."

Kankuro nods, his eyes becoming a bit unfocused. "You look…different."

I resist the urge to snicker at him. "Yes, I do, don't I? That, Kankuro, is what puberty does to someone. I was a late bloomer, but about a year ago, I decided that enough was enough, and I tinkered around with my hormones with a bit of help, and I sent myself into a rapid growth spurt."

"So that's it…" He takes a deep breath, deep enough that I can feel the whole motion under my fingers. "He grew too…Naruto Uzumaki."

That makes me laugh. "Yeah, he did. Though it's still hard to believe how much we both shot up. And I can just about look him straight in the eye now. The height difference is almost gone." I remember the day when I finally looked into Naruto's eyes, and shocked him when he saw that we were both standing, rather than sitting. "It's been a rough couple of years, but we're back."

"Yeah…" He sighs. "And just in time, too…" He seems to be falling asleep under my hands, so I carefully turn him back over so that he can sleep on his back.

Passing a chakra-filled palm over him one more time, I smile before walking out the door. "Sleep well and heal well, Kankuro. We'll be back with Gaara before you know it."