I have returned! I'm sooooo sorry about the ridiculously long time it took for me to bring this chapter out, and I apologise from the bottom of my heart. Disclaimer: I own nothing except this storyline and my OC. Fucking hell, I really get sick of writing that...
As I'm sure you could have figured out, I've been insanely busy at the moment, and I'll actually be going away for two whole weeks in two days time.
Hopefully, I'd like to have the first chapter of my new Hisagi x Siren Bleach AU fic up before I leave, just to hold you all over for a while.
Again, I'm sorry, and I'll do my best to have it updated as often as possible, as well as my Death Note fic.
Thank you for everyone who has stuck with this fic, and I hope you all enjoyed it!
Please let me know what you think :D
Chapter 7 - Mission
It was the day before Hitori's team was supposed to leave for the mission. The wind was whipping up around her, black hair waving around her smaller form as she watched her hand picked team going through their flawless plan that she had spent hours and hours agonising over.
Temari, Kankuro and her had spent a whole day just trying to put together a good team, then they had been training ever since. The team was 15 strong, including the siblings, and Hitori. Both siblings could tell that this was troubling for her, but since she hadn't told them why or acted like she had any interest in revealing why, they had kept to themselves and hadn't asked. They knew that if she wanted to tell them, she would.
"Okay guys. That will do for today. Go home, get a good rest. We will be leaving at first light tomorrow." Hitori's voice sounded out and everyone stopped moving and bid their goodbyes before heading off home.
Ashinami was allowed to be on the team, only because of Hitori's sympathy with his position, and he mostly ignored everyone during the training sessions but sent the Kazekage's brother and sister a respectful nod, and a much smaller one to Hitori before going in the opposite direction knowing that if he didn't at least do that, he would probably get kicked off.
He had been thoroughly pissed off at first, but when Hitori had personally come to him and asked him whether he wanted to be on the team, he had gained a new respect for her. The brunette man wasn't stupid. He had figured out that something was up with Hitori as soon as Gaara had brought her into his office when they were being briefed on the mission.
Even though he was still upset about not being able to lead himself, he didn't contest with Hitori's rule, mostly just because he didn't want the crap beaten out of him and also because he would probably get kicked off the mission if he did. He was just glad to be on the mission.
Hitori smiled at Temari and Kankuro who were currently strolling over to her and all three of them began heading in the direction of home, where Gaara would have most likely only just arrived since it was a little after 5pm. The blond kunoichi tried to make conversation with the grey-eyed woman, but she was being insufferably stubborn and stayed mostly silent, using mostly one worded answers.
She knew that Hitori wasn't trying to be rude, but this quiet act was starting to get on her nerves. Usually the two of them would be taking a dig at Kankuro, or talking about something that they had done over the years. But the Konoha jonin was withdrawn, like a turtle into it's shell, and Temari was being pushed to her limits.
"So, what should we have for dinner tonight?" she asked conversationally, and punched Kankuro in the stomach when he went to put in his two cents. Hitori simply shrugged and made a small sound symbolising her saying 'Whatever'. A vein popped in Temari's forehead, and it was the last straw.
"Alright! I've had it! Hitori, what the hell is wrong? I'm sure that if you wanted to talk to us about it, that you would, but you are being so damn closed off that it's making me depressed!" she said loudly, finally losing her temper.
The black-haired woman didn't react outwardly, knowing that she should have been expecting this sooner or later. A low, long sigh sounded from her and she nodded in acceptance. She couldn't keep acting like this forever. When they walked in the door of their home, she looked up at her two friends and the look in her eyes told them that it was something painful.
Temari's expression changed from frustrated to concerned, and Kankuro walked over and put an supporting arm over Hitori's much smaller shoulders and lead her towards the living room. All three of them sat down, and at that moment Gaara emerged from the hallway his room was located in, but because of the serious aura he felt, he approached silently and said nothing.
"I guess I haven't got much of a choice but to tell you... A few years back, I was put in charge of a mission almost exactly like this one. A group of rogue shinobi had killed Konoha shinobi and stolen important information from them. I chose a team and we went after them. They were all slaughtered in front of my eyes, but one of them survived long enough to inject me with a formula that kept me alive but made it seem like I was dead and it was all because of...my jutsu." she surmised quickly, not wanting to go into too much detail.
"The Kage Oni jutsu." Kankuro spoke up sounding uncharacteristically serious.
Hitori looked up at him with slightly widened eyes, and then turned her gaze to Temari, then Gaara, who all had a knowing expression on their face. Clearly, they knew who she really was now. She sighed again.
"Yeah. That would be me." she admitted reluctantly, averting her eyes to the floor below her.
She didn't really mind the three of them knowing about her being the 'Kage Oni', but barely anyone knew in the first place aside Kakashi, Naruto and Tsunade and it was just the idea of more people knowing that made her the slightest bit uncomfortable. The lengths she had been to over the years to cover it up was almost ridiculous and these three had just managed to figure it out without her even telling them.
"Hitori. You do realise that...if you hadn't survived that mission...we may not have won the war..." Kankuro continued, still sounding oddly serious. She went to contest and argue with his statement, but Temari's voice stopped her.
"He's right. Who else would have been able to single-handedly stop that thirty strong specialised force that allowed us to break through the enemies defences? No one that I can think of!" she encouraged louder, trying to win over her friend.
Grey-eyes fell on Gaara, who had said nothing so far, as if waiting for him to support his two siblings, almost like she needed to hear him say that they were right as well.
"Temari and Kankuro are right." he stated simply, fully agreeing that without the power of the Kage Oni, there would have been a good chance that they wouldn't have won the war against Madara and been subjected to his Moon's Eye Plan. Since the jutsu was, as far as they knew, the only one of it's kind, it was only natural that it was not known about and used almost like a secret weapon.
She breathed out deeply and her face scrunched up a little with her inner debate. They were right, but she hated the fact that her comrades died trying to protect her and keep her alive. She would have found it more honourable and true to herself if she had died along side them.
But there was a good chance that no one would have been able to break through the enemies defences, since there was no knowledge of any concealment jutsu that was as flawless as her own. Let alone anyone who was strong enough to use such a thing to it's limits, and push said limits a bit more.
Gaara watched intensely as something akin to acceptance slowly came across her face. She was still clearly unnerved by the whole ordeal, especially with going through something so similar all over again, and yet with just a few words from the three of them – and most likely Naruto as well -, she had finally started the road to getting over being the last one left alive after that mission.
A small, but sad smile came across her face and she lifted her head up to look at them all. It felt like the weight that she had been carrying around for all those years was finally starting to lift off, and it felt much better.
"Don't feel guilty, or like it was your fault. You know that you couldn't have prevented it, and your comrades would have known as well. Be proud that they gave their all and made such a end." Gaara spoke quietly and didn't take his turquoise eyes off her grey ones.
She nodded slightly, and the immense worry she had been feeling about the mission tomorrow lessened as well. It was surprising that he could have such an effect on her, but it's not like their connection hadn't been a little different to what she had expected with the man who was the youngest child of the late Yondaime Kazekage and had succeeded his father to become the Godaime Kazekage.
But then again, it wasn't like she even expected to become such good friends with his siblings, even to the point where she would reveal who she really was, and tell them about her most painful experience that was actually supposed to be a classified file. Classified even from her, but she was sure that was just for the reason that she probably would have gone ballistic after finding out that she had been right about being kept alive if Naruto wasn't there with her.
All in all, she couldn't say that she was unhappy with the way things had turned out. Naruto seemed to be a little less worried about her as well, even though he had been a little concerned about how she was feeling about accepting the leading role to the mission, probably because of the memories it would bring back, and especially only just after finding out about the reason she was alive.
Temari was good for her since she was also a fiery woman, who still had her soft side, even though she never let anyone but her siblings (and maybe a certain extremely intelligent Konoha shinobi who could manipulate shadows) to see, and it seemed that she had allowed Hitori to start to see that side as well.
Kankuro was always a lot of fun, and kept her amused whenever he was around, and occasionally had a profound insight on particular things. Usually she was never the type to run around and do stupid things just for the sake of it, let alone get in laughing fits for several minutes after seeing someone try and carry a bunch of books to a different room, trip over a table and get a nosebleed from hitting it so hard, pick up all the books then run into a wall after getting dizzy and hit the back of his head, but Kankuro had changed that.
And Gaara...well...Gaara was just...indescribable. There wasn't really any way to put words to what was going on between them. Hell, not like they even knew. It was pretty obvious that they liked each other, and there was definitely some sort of...chemistry between them, so to speak, but their lack of experience stopped them from knowing what to do and how to act around each other.
Maybe she would try and talk to him about it before she left, just to give him some time on his own to think it over. Yes, that's what she would do. In fact, now would be the best idea.
Hitori went to stand up, only to see a hand waving in front of her face and all three siblings staring at her like she had grown an extra leg...that was protruding from her forehead. She suddenly realised that she must have been just sitting there, thinking for at least 5-10 minutes in complete silence.
"S-sorry. I was thinking." she blurted out, still in a bit of a daze.
"You certainly were. It was almost like you were in a coma." Kankuro joked, going back to his usual carefree self, and then stood up from the couch and stretched his arms above his head. "Anyway, I'm going to get some sleep since we're leaving at dawn tomorrow. Night all." he strolled off in the direction of his room and the other three people bid him goodnight as he went.
"I'm going to do the same, and you should too Hitori." said Temari and she waved goodnight over her shoulder and was gone as well.
Hitori looked over at Gaara, who was already looking at her with still slightly concerned eyes. She gave him a reassuring smile, and he eyed her for a minute before relaxing. Silently, they both walked in the direction of their hallway and they both hesitated when Hitori's door came into sight.
Neither of them knew if their relationship dynamics had changed enough for them to be staying in the same bed. The other night was a little different since they had both ingested a little bit of alcohol and most of the usual inhibitions were much more than just out the window.
Gaara abruptly realised that Hitori might not come back from the mission she was leading tomorrow. Even though she had mostly gotten past being the only one to survive the last time she went through this, he wouldn't put it past her to sacrifice herself to save someone else. Kankuro or Temari in particular. His awkward and shy aura was completely forgotten in moments and intense worry set in.
He had faith in his siblings, and both of them were certainly formidable opponents, even more so when working together, and Hitori on her own would give even Naruto, who was like a small army on his own, a bit of trouble. The team they had assembled was definitely a well-rounded, smart and skilled bunch, and they had been training all week, but that didn't mean that they would be successful.
It didn't mean that they would all come home.
There was also another problem. They didn't know exactly how far away the target was by now. In the report Gaara had received, which had been sent by the village's fastest bird that had covered the two day shinobi pace in a bit under half a day, it said that the group had left at least 2 hours prior to when the doctor of the town had gotten the chance to send the message.
So firstly, he would have to worry about them making the trip there, and having enough supplies to make sure that they were fit and at 100% for when they actually intercepted the target. Then there was the fight itself, not to mention the trip home.
Hitori instantly noticed the change in his demeanour, and the concern that glazed his black-framed eyes. She waved a hand in front of his face to snap him out of his trance and he flinched slightly and looked straight into her pale-grey/silver eyes.
She mustered all the confidence she could and huffed before she gave him a light, but firm slap upside the head. His eyes went wide as saucers and his body tensed, since that was certainly not was he was expecting from her and he blinked at her with still wide eyes while she stared back at him.
"Don't worry so much. We'll be fine. I might just be doing you a favour by leading this mission, but to me this is a mission exactly the same as one sanctioned by Naruto." the smaller woman glared defiantly at him, her eyes demanding that he stop worrying so much.
After a moment, he sighed and averted his eyes from hers, knowing that he wouldn't be able to stop worrying a hell of a lot, no matter how much she tried to tell him that everything would be alright. Temari and Kankuro had both learned and accepted long ago that it was pointless and that they couldn't prevent him from being overly concerned for their safety every time he sent them out on a mission.
They both knew that lives would be on the line, and there was no guarantee of success, as there never usually was on shinobi missions, especially ones such as this where the skill level, style, technique, elemental affinity, jutsu and team work of the opponent would have to be gauged on the spot.
And even if they were successful, who said they would still survive? Hitori had hand picked two other medics to accompany them, since she wouldn't be able to take care of the other twelve shinobi, especially if some, or most of them were in critical conditions or half dead. If the medics ran out of chakra or passed out from exhaustion, there was no guarantee that the injured shinobi would survive through that time.
Hitori continued to see his face contorted minutely in thought and finally, after standing there idly for a moment, hoping he would snap out of it himself, she lifted her thumb and pointer finger up towards his forehead, and flicked him. Hard.
Gaara's head flew back and he collected himself for a moment before clutching a hand to his sore forehead and looked at Hitori with a slightly disgruntled expression. He noticed her furious one, and his temper died almost instantly. Grey-eyes were narrowed, brow furrowed, nose scrunched up and mouth twisted. She looked....adorable.
Laughter bubbled inside his chest and eventually escaped from his mouth. It wasn't very loud and it didn't last very long, but it was definitely a laugh. The black-haired female's expression went from furious to utterly perplexed and almost incredulous as she watched the Godaime Kazekage laugh for at least a good 30 seconds before calming down.
He looked back at her, and beamed – in his own way – until her confused face turned into a sweet, but small smile. Swiftly, he bent down and pressed a light kiss to her cheek before pulling back and continuing on his way down the hall, Kazekage robes gliding behind him gracefully.
The red head didn't see the kunoichis blush that dotted her cheeks, nose, even the tops of her ears a little. She shook it off and awkwardly followed him down the hallway, wondering if this is what he wanted her to do.
That question was answered when he opened the door, and moved aside for her to walk past him. She smiled meekly up at him, nervousness and shyness setting in. Gaara quietly shut the door behind them and moved over to his dresser and opened the drawers to look for something for him and for Hitori to wear to bed since they had just walked straight past her room.
She quickly used his shower while he was sorting out the clothes, and thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being wrapped up in his big, red – what a surprise – fluffy, towel after she was finished and stepped out to find him sitting on the bed with two sets of clothes next to him.
The man smiled at her and gestured to the large red shirt, and simple pair of black boxers he had gotten out for her to wear. She thanked him as he walked past her and into the bathroom, the scent of his soap and shampoo as well as her natural scent filling his nostrils. While Gaara was showering, Hitori quickly dressed and got into bed.
She was nearly half asleep when Gaara emerged from the bathroom, smelling clean and fresh and dressed in the exact same outfit she was dressed in. A quiet snort of amusement escaped her and she rolled her eyes, realising how partial he must be to sleeping in this particular outfit.
He walked over and got in bed, and quickly pressed another kiss to her cheek before making himself comfortable with an arm around her shoulders, and turning off the lamp on his bedside table.
Only when the light went out, did they both allow a large smile to come across each of their faces, and slowly their breathing evened out
And even with the underlying feeling of dread about the next day, both of them slept better than ever.
5am came, and both Gaara and Hitori's body clocks woke them shortly after. A few minutes of idle silence passed, and the small contemplative time that passed between them meant more than they could express with words.
They both heard Temari and Kankuro getting up and walking around the house, preparing to leave for the mission, and they both knew that they had to face reality. Slowly, they both rose, getting out of each side of the bed, not looking at each other because of nervousness and not really wanting to face that part of the music yet.
Gaara was hoping desperately that Hitori and his two siblings would come out of this mission unharmed, but he had a feeling that his luck had run short. Hitori just wanted Gaara to stop worrying so much, even though she knew it was completely understandable, and she knew (hoped) that they'd all be fine.
Both of them were still facing away from each other while they dressed and Gaara slowly gathered a few pieces of paper and a few files for work while Hitori quietly waited, leaning up against the wall next to the door. He walked over to her, looking straight at her, and she looked straight back at him, both struggling over what to say or if saying anything at all would help.
Instead, Gaara put his work down on the bed and turned back to Hitori, who looked noticeably nervous and a little shy. The red head gently pushed some of her bangs out of the way and cupped her face in his pale hands.
He moved closer and felt Hitori's arms wrap around him and saw her blush before they both closed their eyes and Gaara's lips made contact with Hitori's. They didn't move until the need for air became dire, and eventually pulled back to breath. After a moment, she sweetly brushed her nose against his and he smiled before they let each other go.
The same type of smile was on both their faces – the kind of smile that people have when they realise how much someone cares for them – and it took them another few seconds to turn to the door, open it and walk out into the rest of the house where Kankuro and Temari both were.
A quick breakfast was made, and three back-packs with food, medical supplies, weapons and various scrolls had already been set out and placed just inside the front door. Naturally Hitori's was a bit bigger to make way for medical supplies that none of the other shinobi (aside the two other medic nin) would have, like poisons, antidotes, various herbs and plants, soldier pills and tonnes of scrolls with various medical information and jutsu.
Her katana was strapped to her back, her leg holster full of kunai on side and poisoned senbon on the other side and her chakra was at 100%. Kankuro and Temari looked like they were ready to go and all four of them walked out the front door after a moment of knowing silence.
Gradually they got closer to the village gates were Hitori could already sense about six or seven presences. Gaara was going to wait with them until they left, and there was still approximately 20 more minutes until sunrise. Nods of acknowledgement were given and respectful greetings were given back, especially towards the leader of their mission and the Kazekage.
10 more minutes passed, and now they were only waiting on Ashinami and the two medics. Some shinobi had asked about them, but Hitori told them that they were actually in the hospital, making sure that Ashinami was fully recovered and able to be on the mission. It didn't take long for them to be seen walking over towards the gates and join their comrades for this unpredictable mission.
Just as Hitori was about to speak, two more shinobi appeared and walked towards their group. Gaara looked towards her saying that it was okay, so she didn't bother thinking anything of it.
Hitori stepped forward and began to speak. "Alright. Now that everyone is here. Firstly, I'd like to thank you all for accepting this mission and working so hard to train for it, I appreciate it. Secondly, as every shinobi mission is, this could be extremely dangerous and it would be naive to say that everyone will come back unharmed. In fact, I expect the opposite. I cannot tell you how strong our opponents are, nor how many there are, not even their techniques and styles. But I can tell you, is that our force is one of the strongest I have seen, and that I believe we can defeat them!"
She had tried to practice some sort of speech in her head as they were getting ready this morning, just to psyche up the team, but in the end, everything that she thought of didn't sound right and instead she just decided to wing it. And it seemed to work.
Gaara stepped forward next. "Everybody. I also would like to personally thank you for accepting this mission. You have been granted the opportunity of having a great leader, as well as Suna's two best jonin to accompany you. As Hitori said, we cannot guarantee that you will not be harmed, but I too believe that you can defeat the enemies and come back here, to your home. I have asked these two to stay in the village for a while and help the people clean up and assist them with repairs. Good luck." he said, calmly and with a reassuring tone.
Hitori turned to him and gave him a small smile and a single nod which he returned, and almost everything that they didn't know how to say passed through their eyes at the moment. Then, he turned to both his siblings, nodding at them as well, telling them to return home safely.
A moment later, the sun rose above the horizon, shining it's bright and beautiful light on the world and everyone knew that it was time for them to leave.
"Let's move out!" Hitori exclaimed loudly, and the team of fourteen Suna shinobi, and one Konoha ninja began to walk out the village gates and through the deserts of the Land of Wind.
The Godaime Kazekage stayed to watch them, as the sun continued to rise, and did not move from that same spot until he could no longer see the black dot that was made up of fourteen shinobi, and the three most important people in the world to him.
"Finally! We're here!" Kankuro said loudly as they walked into the village that had notified Suna of the rogue shinobi that had raided their village two days after they had departed from Suna.
There were a few broken windows here and there, as well as some small stalls being in pieces on the ground. Houses had holes through the walls, shops were completely destroyed. Hitori was sure that it would have been much, much worse just after the group had left. They walked through the village, and the people living their were eyeing them cautiously until they noticed the Suna hitai-ite.
A middle aged woman walked up to them with a happy smile on her face. "Thank goodness you are here! The village's doctor will be able to tell you everything. Right this way."
The woman began to lead them towards the doctor's office, and there was various people of all ages standing outside of it, with bandages covering random parts of their bodies, suggesting injuries. The woman began shooing some of them out of the way, saying over and over again that the shinobi were here. Finally, they got to the doorway and she looked back at them, wondering how they would all fit inside the building. Without even thinking about it, Hitori took charge.
"Kankuro, Temari, and you two with me. Everyone else, wait out here." she gestured to the two shinobi Gaara had asked to help out here, and the five of them went through the doorway and saw that there were even more people in here, waiting for medical treatment.
Amongst them, was a blonde haired man, tending to a young child. As soon as he saw them, he stood up and walked over instantly with a relieved look on his face. He smiled and introduced himself as Takumi. Kankuro and Temari didn't bother with the pleasantries, so Hitori was the only one who introduced herself, though she used a fake name.
She explained to him that the shinobi team that was with her was in pursuit of the group that had raided their village and they would be leaving two shinobi to assist with the clean-up and rebuilding process. One of said shinobi added that they had a small amount of medical training, so they could also help out the injured.
Before everything dragged on too long, she left the two shinobi and bid goodbye to Takumi and the middle-aged woman who had spotted them earlier. The team moved on yet again after having a quick rest to eat and drink something just outside the village.
Now the hard part had started...
"Find anything Pakkun?" Hitori asked for the fourth time that day.
It was 8 hours since they had stopped in at the small village that had been raided and they had all stopped to rest for a few hours while Hitori did some scouting with the ninken. She sighed loudly when the pug shook his head apologetically.
As if the heavens themselves had heard her sigh of disappointment, a distant howl of one of the ninken sounded through the trees. It sounded like one of the smaller dogs, and immediately Pakkun and Hitori set off in that direction. Hitori had sent them out on a rather wide range to try and smell out any large groups that smelled like shinobi do, of smoke, metal and earth.
Within a minute, both dog and human had reached the location of the particular ninken who had picked up a scent, which was Uhei, who wore the bandages. She grinned and gave him a few of the dog treats that Temari had saw earlier before she had summoned the ninken and given her a very funny look.
"It's getting faint, so they're probably about 5-6 hours away at a slow to medium pace. But if you kicked it up a few notches, you could reach them in about 2 hours tops. There's definitely at least 12 of them with decently strong chakras. You should be right with your team though." Pakkun confirmed with his gruff voice.
She didn't make it obvious that she noticed, and sent one of the other dogs back to get the rest of the team while she fed the others. Within a few minutes, they all came over and we're relieved to know that the ninken had picked up a trail.
And with that, they set out at full speed with the dogs leading the way...
2 hours later, they were informed by Pakkun that the group was only a few kilometres ahead. Instantly, they all slipped into work mode and they began to form a large line that would hopefully encircle and outflank their opponent. Chakras were masked, presences hidden and Hitori's Kage Oni jutsu activated subconsciously and when it did, all the ninja disappeared.
The technology department had cooperated with the medic nin to develop a tag that when connected to a shinobi, would have the same effects cast on them when Hitori activated her Kage Oni jutsu. The tag connected their chakras so that Hitori could almost synchronise with them and hide them in shadow.
When they got close enough to keep the trail on their own, the dogs disappeared with a whispered thanks from Hitori and a promise to spoil them later when she got back. Slowly, the team began moving out further and the outer links began speeding up to hopefully head around and surround the group.
Firstly, the circle was absolutely massive, almost a kilometre in diameter, but that was the point. They planned to have the shinobi at the front slow down to a stop and confront them while the others at the back and side caught up and eventually joined in on the fight. It was going very well, and Hitori felt the chakras up ahead begin to disappear as if they had already noticed or suspected that someone was around.
Just ahead, she could see the group of shinobi, twelve, exactly as Pakkun said. They had all stopped and were looking around cautiously but confusedly. It seemed that they knew something was there, but they couldn't see or feel anything.
Her team looked around, being able to see each other, even though the jutsu was cast on them – something Hitori had only found out when they started using the tags – and with one nod from her, it was on.
They had planned for this to be silent and invisible assassination at it's peak. Complete perfection in the art of killing your opponent or target without them even knowing they had died until they awoke in whatever the afterlife held. Hitori's forte, in fact.
As the back of the circle slowly caught up, making sure to be silent as they went, they watched the four shinobi descend down the trees and two of them got close enough and flung kunai at the back of the necks of two shinobi and caught them before they hit the ground and made a noise, also shrouding them in the Kage Oni jutsu.
"Futon: Juha Sho!" one of the shinobi yelled loudly after noticing that two of his comrades completely gone, and blades of wind chakra went flinging in all directions. The ninja still weren't able to tell where they were, and Hitori planned on keeping it that way.
She just hoped that her team wouldn't get reckless because of their being hidden in shadow like they had done a few times in training. Temari stalked down the tree to her right as they joined the circle, and Kankuro to her left did the same.
Holding her concentration as much as she could while watching what everyone was doing from her high vantage point, she watched two more enemies being picked off at the sides. Temari was about to take one out when the shinobi that had cast the Futon jutsu earlier started making seals again that was for the same jutsu.
Unfortunately, Temari was close enough to him so that if he cast the jutsu in her direction, she would be hit. Badly. The blonde didn't seem to notice until the last second when the shinobi's chakra had been moulded and he was about to speak the name of the technique again.
Grey eyes darkened and widened as time seemed to slow almost to a stop, and before she knew it, she was just able to feel searing pain in her left shoulder and she felt herself slip into unconsciousness, if only for a moment, it was enough to break her concentration and reveal the location of each shinobi on her team.
At first, she didn't realise what had happened, and that she was injured at all, since the adrenalin just weakened the pain and distracted her so much that she didn't think of it. From then on, it was an all out fight to the death. Shuriken, kunai, and senbon went flying as well as fists, feet, knees and elbows, jutsu were used and their plan basically fell to pieces before their eyes. There was no way that they were going to get out of this without a damn hard fight.
When she finally come around, her shoulder started to hurt more, but she paid it no heed and tried to implement some sort of order amongst her team. They had organised so that if things didn't go right, she would use her chakra enhanced strength to make a small tremor, which would hopefully throw the opponent off balance just long enough for them to get the upper hand of the battle.
She dropped to the ground, and smashed her fist straight into the ground sending large cracks all through the earth and making the ground shake beneath them. One enemy shinobi was caught in one of the cracks and Hitori took his moment of being distracted to throw a single poisoned senbon to hit his jugular directly.
Luckily, since her jutsu came naturally to her, it wasn't much more of a stretch for her to reactive it, concealing everyone again and allowing them to stealthily take out the remaining enemies. After that, the fight wasn't kept up much longer.
Immediately after the adrenalin began to wear off she began to feel that searing pain again. She looked down at herself and saw that she was soaked with blood that was gushing out from her left shoulder. Medical skills kicked in without even thinking twice about it, and she began to heal the wound, feeling lucky that she would have enough chakra to heal it mostly, even after using her jutsu on fourteen other people.
Temari helped her sit down, and they rested until she was well enough to start back towards home. They had planned on crashing overnight in the small village instead of struggling on home with barely any rest, and after the way the battle had gone, injuries would need to be healed, so it was going to be necessary.
Kankuro was kind enough to carry her piggy-back all the way back to the village, not caring about the blood that soaked his shirt as well. She was in a complete daze most of the time, from losing so much blood and before she knew it, Temari was wiping most of the blood of her and changing her into a spare shirt so she didn't have to rest with bloodied sheets.
She didn't wake for 8 hours...
The trip home was hard, and slower than she had hoped, but Kankuro and Ashinami made sure to carry her the whole way so she could continue healing the horrendous wound that the Juha Sho jutsu had made on her.
Before she knew it, they were entering the gates to Suna, and Gaara was waiting for them, probably already been notified by border patrol that they were coming back in the village limits. His small smile at seeing them all back quickly turned into a blatant frown at seeing a paler than usual Hitori slumped over Kankuro's back.
"What's wrong?" he immediately questioned, his tone showing urgency.
"She's fine, just a pretty big wound on her shoulder she got from protecting Temari. I tell you what, it was the fastest thing I ever saw!" Kankuro exclaimed, and smirked at hearing a weak laugh from said black-haired woman who was clearly awake.
"Don't worry, I've been healing myself the whole way back. Just some more rest and I'll be good as new." Hitori reassured him, finally bothering to open her slightly dulled eyes and look at Gaara, who was clearly worried as hell.
He seemed to accept her words, and walked with them as the team went to the hospital to get themselves properly patched up with help from all the supplies that the two other medics couldn't carry with them.
Again, Hitori slept long and deeply, and awoke the next morning to see the top of Gaara's head resting on his arms on her bed. She ran a hand through his hair with her good side and he seemed to rouse quickly and turquoise eyes focused on the sight he had been worried he would never see again. Her silver-grey eyes, and mouth twisted into an awkward smile.
Beaming at her in his own way, he stood up and lent over her, gently brushing her hair out of her face and sighing with relief. She giggled sweetly and he brushed his nose against hers before pressing a soft 'I'm glad you're okay' kiss to her lips, which made her smile and giggle again.
"Is she awake yet Ga-....ara....?" Kankuro stepped into the room, obnoxiously as usual but stopping dead in his tracks and staring for a moment before chuckling nervously, turning around on one foot and literally marched out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Both of them laughed a little, but paid not much attention to it, since they were both just glad that everything had worked out. While Hitori laid there, she told him about what had happened on the mission, how the fight went, and what happened when she got injured – which involved a lot of frustrated grumbling about people with Futon natured chakra and her bad luck with them – as well as whatever she remembered about the trip home.
After a while, he left her to rest a little more and in that time, Ashinami peeked his head through the door and smiled when he saw that she was awake. He scratched the back of his head and walked in, standing at the edge of her bed.
"How ya feeling?" he asked casually, but with a hint of concern.
"I'm fine. No need to worry about me, I'm the medic here. How about you?" she replied, chuckling a little when he rolled his eyes.
"Not a problem. I only had a few kunai slashes and a bit of a burn. I'll tell you what, Kankuro was right when he said that you saving Temari was the fastest thing ever. It was almost like the Yellow Flash, but black!" he commented with awe decorating his voice.
"Don't compare me to Yondaime, idiot." Hitori laughed a little more, and shook her head before telling him to go get some rest, even though she just wanted to get some sleep.
Less than 3 minutes after he had gone, and with her thoughts revolving how glad she was that the mission went well, and still being pissed off over her luck with Futon jutsu, she fell asleep.
Two weeks later...
"Gaara, just sign off this shit first. I need to send it to Naruto so he can- eep!" Hitori pestered, while her sort of Kazekage lover nuzzled her neck affectionately as he tried to lead her to his office door so that they could go home since it was 5pm, while she resisted so he would sign off these few pieces of paper work that could be sent away immediately.
Apparently, whenever it was 5pm exactly, it was immediately time for him to go home nowadays. Although that was probably just because of the woman that had done more than just catch his attention. She had him wrapped around her little finger, and he knew it. But he was feeling particularly stubborn today, and had decided not to listen to her for a particular reason that she would discover when they got home.
Naruto would probably find it hilarious if the reason why his documents were late was because of this. Hell, he would probably egg Gaara on. Both of them knew that as well, so Gaara didn't care, and Hitori just felt like making him earn it.
After a few minutes of play wrestling in his office, she finally let him win, and they put on their 'casual-as-can-be' masks – even though everyone would have to be stupid not to pick up on their relationship - before strolling out the door and through the village until they arrived back at their home. All the lights were off, and she could smell something absolutely wonderful coming from the dining room.
She eyed him curiously, wondering if he was up to something, and the look on his face that he just couldn't hide from her confirmed it. The little sneaky bugger was up to something...just finding out what was the problem.
Without another thought, she disappeared into thin air and resisted the urge to crack up laughing when his shoulders slumped, and his expression dead panned into complete shock. Not wasting any more time, she dashed straight to the dining room to see the fanciest meal she had ever laid eyes on, right in front of her. There was bits and pieces of so many different types of food, and she was sure that this alone would be worth a lot of money.
Trying to glare, she released her jutsu and waited until Gaara casually strolled in the room, knowing that he was going to cop it for doing this. Not really for spending so much money on it all, but more or less just for embarrassing the crap out of her.
He just walked over and pulled a chair out on one side of the table and gestured for her to sit down. She couldn't really say no when those beautiful smells were just begging her to eat the food in front of her, and so, she sat down, and watched as he went around the other side of the table and sat down.
Gaara just smiled disarmingly at her, even though she was trying to glare at him, and the pale woman had to look down so that maybe he wouldn't see her blushing like crazy, even though he would have known anyway. Instead of telling him not to do this kind of thing, she just decided to be happy that he wanted to do something so kind for her and enjoy it while it lasted. She smiled back after looking up, and then it was his turn to look away from her to hide a blush.
They both enjoyed an amazing dinner and conversation filled any gap that it could fit in. They talked about everything from books, to weaponry, to politics and even art. All in all it was an amazing night and Hitori was so flattered that Gaara had gone to so much effort for her, and Gaara was just so happy that Hitori had enjoyed it.
At about 10.30pm, they decided to retire for the night, and after showering, they both climbed into bed, thoroughly happy with how their day had gone. They talked a little while longer, but sooner or later just after Gaara had laid an arm over her waist, and pressed a light kiss to her shoulder, the woman who had caught his attention from the moment he laid eyes on her, as she was checking bodies for her katana.
Soon enough, he couldn't keep his eyes off her, with her pale skin that contrasted so much with her jet black hair, and those vibrant silvery eyes of hers. She had managed to lure him in without doing anything at all, and he didn't know how it ended up that he had her in his arms now, but he certainly wasn't going to complain...
There you go! That's it of this fic :(
I just want to let you all know, that this wasn't really supposed to be blatantly fluffy or anything like that.
It was more or less supposed to be about unspoken bonds that don't need to be labeled or identified. They're just there to be enjoyed and embraced.
Again, I'm sorry this last chapter wasn't up sooner, and I hope that it's good enough to make up for it!
I love you all, and thank you for reading.
Til next time!
