Blindsight
Chapter 6
by Methinks
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The sands were near scalding by the time the pair entered into the shadow of Suna's massive walls. They stopped a little ways away from the gate and he let her off. As Tayuya climbed down, keeping a death grip on his shoulder the whole time, she asked, "You promise that they're going to help me?"
"Relax. On my word as a shinobi, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Naruto turned to face her and tipped her head up so he could look into her eyes, even if she couldn't see with them. "You remember what I said about my nindo, right?" She nodded. "Good. Come on then," he said, handing her the crutch. "Just let me do all the talking and I promise we'll be fine."
He saw her relax slightly as she took the crutch from him, but grabbed her flute with her free hand and wrapped her arm through his regardless. Together they approached the gate as the guards stepped out to challenge them. Until they realized who exactly was standing on their doorstep, "Is that you Uzumaki-sama?"
"Hey there," he waved brightly. "I think I remember you," he said to the captain approaching him. "Saizuchi-taichou, isn't it? You were here the last time I came through here."
The man smiled brightly, obviously pleased at being remembered. "That'd be me. It's good to see you back here, sir."
"I'm pretty sure I also told you not to call me sir. It makes me feel like one of those wrinkled old elders."
Saizuchi smiled. "I'll try to remember." Then he sighed. "I'd let you through, but they've told me to check all papers." Tayuya's arm tightened around his.
"It's no problem." Naruto smiled and handed the man the Konoha passport he'd fished from his pockets. The captain flipped through it once and handed it back.
"It looks like you are who you say you are. How about the lady?" Naruto could feel her beginning to panic.
"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to show them to you. It's important to Konoha that we keep her identity a secret. If it makes you feel better, you can send someone to the Kazekage to confirm it."
Saizuchi cleared his throat and stepped back. "No need. Good luck on your mission, sir," he said as the pair passed by.
As they cleared the massive walls and entered the streets Suna Naruto could feel Tayuya starting to shake. "There's so many shinobi," she rasped, her breathing coming faster and faster. "What if somebody sees me? What if they recognize me? They'll kill me and..."
Hearing the hysterical tinge rapidly entering into her voice, he gave her a quick shake. "Calm down. Nobody's going to be looking for you, they all think you're dead. Besides, I promised you, didn't I?" She nodded. "So trust me. You'll be fine." She nodded again, but still didn't relax.
At least she wasn't panicking though.
He led her as swiftly as possible through the streets of Suna and over to the Kazekage's office, her grip on his arm not loosening in the slightest the whole way there. Finally, they reached the building and Naruto stopped in front of it. All traces of the happy-go-lucky blonde were gone as he turned to Tayuya, "I know you don't want to, but I need you to give me your flute. We can't chance the guards recognizing it as a weapon. We're going to have enough problems as it is," he added underneath his breath.
Her grip tightened on it before she allowed him to take it from her and slip it in his pocket. "You better give it back."
"I will, I promise. And I'll keep it perfectly safe."
Taking a deep breath to prepare himself, he turned and opened the door. The two of them found themselves walking into a small hallway where they were immediately challenged by four of Suna's elite ANBU. "Uzumaki-sama." There were no pleasantries with these guys. "May we see your papers please?"
Wordlessly he handed them over. The ANBU looked over them considerably longer than Saizuchi had at the gate. Finally satisfied, the shinobi handed them back. "And her's?"
"Unfortunately, my mission requires complete secrecy regarding her. We need to see Gaara immediately."
The ANBU stared silently at Naruto and for a moment he was afraid that the shinobi was going to call his bluff. Finally, he acquiesced. "Just head to the waiting room and we'll notify the Kazekage that you're here to see him."
With that, the man disappeared and Naruto navigated the two of them over to the lounge provided for visitors. Once they sat down she whispered furiously, "What the fuck are you doing? The fucking Kazekage?! I knew it! I knew this was too fucking good to be true..."
He cut her off. "Quiet. He's been a friend of mine since before he became Kazekage and I've saved his life several times. He owes me. Just keep your mouth shut while we're in there. No matter what happens."
Judging by the scowl on her face, she still didn't believe him, but the ANBU from before came back before they could continue their argument. "The Kazekage is ready to see you now." Pulling Tayuya off the couch, he hauled her after the ANBU. Finally, they stopped in front of Gaara's office.
Naruto barged in without pausing to knock, "Yo!"
Gaara didn't look up from where he was staring at paperwork. "You're doing something stupid again, aren't you, Naruto?"
"Is that how you great an old friend?"
Gaara continued on without pausing. "No word from Tsunade about a mission. There's a strange woman on your arm with no papers. And the last I heard, you were saddled with enough paperwork to drown a small elephant." The sand user finally looked up with a sigh. "I'm not even going to bother asking. Just tell me how much trouble this is going to get me in with Tsunade?"
"None?" Gaara just stared at him. Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched at the back of his head. "You remember the time we played poker and I cheated to give her a winning streak and then bet her that if she lost the next one then she'd have to have to make Gai do my paperwork with her for a whole week?" Gaara sighed and let his head drop to the table with a thump. "It's worse than that." He thumped his head again.
He sat there quietly for a few minutes before standing up and staring out the window for a few seconds. "What do you need?" he asked, massaging his temples.
Naruto's grin dropped. "She needs treatment."
"Then why don't you just take her to your hospital? It's better than ours anyways."
"There's too many people there who would recognize her."
Gaara stood quietly for another few seconds. He sighed. "Why do I let you pull me into these things?" He paused as something else occurred to him. "Will this cause me to break any treaties?"
Naruto shook his head. "I don't think so."
Gaara huffed slightly. "That's encouraging, I suppose. She's not a missing nin, is she?"
"Well, not technically. She's actually supposed to be dead, so..."
"Is she a threat to either of our countries?"
"No," Naruto said resolutely.
"And you just want her treated?"
"Without anybody knowing..."
Gaara stared quietly out the window for a few more minutes. "You do realize you are going to be owing me major concessions after this?"
Naruto grinned, knowing he had him. "I figured as much."
Suddenly, he heard someone running down the hallway before the door burst open and Temari burst into the room, fan clanking on her back. Naruto felt his heart stop for a second as he looked over at Tayuya, the woman was sheet white.
"Naruto! How's my second favorite Leaf shinobi?" she started, before seeing the look on Naruto's face and glancing over at his companion. It took only a second before Temari recognized the redhead and hissed, "You! I thought I killed you?!" She began to pull her fan off her back just as Naruto jumped in front of the redhead.
Gaara, realizing he was about to have a fight on his hands if he didn't act swiftly, put up a wall of sand between the two blondes and snapped, "Stop this!" Seeing them drop out of combat stances, he let the wall fall. "Temari, close the door." Sullenly, his sister put her fan away and obeyed. "Now both of you tell me what's going on?"
Temari beat Naruto to it. "That's one of the sound bitches responsible for kidnapping the Uchiha. I thought I'd killed her back in the forest. What the hell is she doing here?" she growled.
"Were you aware of this Naruto?" Gaara asked calmly. Naruto nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but Gaara cut him off, "Then I suggest you have a damn good reason for allowing a shinobi belonging to a recognized enemy of the Sand into the Kazekage's office or I may just decide to have the two of you hauled off to Tsunade in chains."
"She's a cripple," Naruto said bluntly. "The injuries Temari gave her damaged her lungs and throat, left her blind, and messed up her right leg. Furthermore, she was abandoned by Orochimaru following her defeat. She no longer has the curse seal. She poses absolutely no threat to either of our countries."
Temari looked at her suspiciously. "Where's her flute?"
Naruto pulled it out of his jacket and had to stop himself from flinching as Temari began laughing contemptuously, "That's her flute? She couldn't even hurt a fly with that thing!" He could feel Tayuya shaking behind him, but he wasn't sure if it was from anger or tears. Probably both, he figured.
Gaara sighed and sat back down. "Why are you doing this, Naruto?"
"Because I couldn't just leave her to die."
"She's an enemy of your country. Who knows how many of your people she's killed?!" Temari snapped.
Naruto turned towards her, a hard look in his eyes. "So were you and Gaara once," he stated quietly, his statement all the more powerful because of it. "Would you have had me kill him as well?"
Temari grew quiet and her face softened slightly as she realized the truth of the statement. The office slipped into silence until Gaara said, "We'll treat her, but she can't stay here. As soon as she's released she'll have to leave. I don't care where she goes, but it can't be in Sand country.
"I won't inform Tsunade of this, but if she asks I will be forced to tell her the truth. I will not risk relations between our countries for this woman."
Naruto nodded solemnly. "I understand. And thank you."
Gaara said nothing, but hit a button on his desk and spoke into an intercom. "Saiya, I need an ANBU escort over to the hospital. And send someone to inform them that there is a patient coming in that requires their best doctors immediately."
"Yes, sir." The intercom shut off.
"If there's any backlash from this," Naruto said quietly, "I'll make sure to take full blame for it." Gaara grunted once, but said nothing. "You know I'd do the same thing for you."
There was a knock on the door and Temari opened it to let to ANBU inside. As Naruto and Tayuya began to exit the office, Gaara spoke once, "Naruto... just take care of yourself." The Kazekage's lips twitched up into the smallest of smiles, "I'm going to be furious if I have to come break you out of Konoha's maximum security prison."
Naruto laughed, more out of relief that he hadn't destroyed things between him and Gaara than the redhead's weak joke. "Like I'd let that old hag catch me," he grinned and then led Tayuya out of the office.
--
The trip over to the hospital was made in silence and it was with a strange nervousness that he watched the medics haul Tayuya away on a stretcher. He whipped around as someone spoke behind him, "Thought I'd find you like this..." Temari said, a half-smile on her face.
"So..." she said hesitantly, when he didn't say anything, "that was quite interesting back there."
"If that's what you want to call it..."
Her face fell. "Look," she said quietly, "I'm no good at this whole apologizing crap so just hear me out. You were right in there. About all of it. And I'm sorry I flew off the handle like that."
Naruto grinned, relieved. "Don't be. You did only what any good shinobi should to protect their Kage."
"No, I should be. I should know better than to doubt you by now. You didn't just give me back Gaara, you gave me back my little brother. And I don't think I can ever repay you for that."
She hesitated. "Just answer me this, why her?"
"Why Shikamaru?" Naruto shot back. He thought for a moment before giving a small laugh. "I don't even know what I want, much less if she's it. She's foul-mouthed. We fight more times per day than Sakura and I ever did. And she's all screwed up from spending four years by herself blind in a forest."
Naruto paused. "I just know this is something I have to do. It really is just like when I saved Gaara. There was no real reason for it and every reason not to, but I just knew that I couldn't kill him. It just kinda feels right..."
Temari considered that for a few moments. "And you swear that she's no threat to either of us?"
Naruto looked at her dead serious, "I'll kill her myself before that happens."
She regarded him in silence for a few more seconds before her customary smirk reappeared on her face. "Anyways, Gaara's already doing everything he officially can to help out. Anymore and Tsunade would be well within her rights to string him up by his heels. However, I may have accidentally overheard him mention that our customs office was so booked right now that another set of papers could easily get lost in the works."
She gave him a outright wicked smile. "How does Yakamura Keisei sound?"
Naruto grinned back.
--
Author's Note:
Wow. Over a month since I posted the last chapter. I'm not going to lie, it would likely have been longer too if it hadn't been for Avatar (the movie, not the show).
When I first started writing this, I made a promise to myself I wasn't going to post any other stories until I had this one finished. And trust me, I have plenty of other stories I could post (getting involved in two new ones was what originally kept me - a Harry Potter and another Naruto). But I am now breaking that self-ban with zero regrets.
For those of you who haven't watched James Cameron's new movie, go. Now. It's amazing. I myself was rather skeptical going into the movie but found myself spell-bound from the moment it started. The story sunk its claws in me, pulled me in, and quite honestly I'm desperately struggling to keep it from letting me go. That's what this new story, Tsa'helu, is - my attempt at remaining in a world I find far greater than this one.
Unfortunately, this one is the one we're stuck with, including the responsibilities within. So in tandem with posting Tsa'helu, I'm - obviously - posting this chapter. And as this story came first, it will remain my first priority. As such, I'm going to make a point of only posting one chapter in Tsa'helu for every two chapters in Blindsight. My own personal motivation to finish this one up. Though I will admit to skimping on said responsibilities with this chapter, seeing as how it's half my usual chapter length. Sorry, but I just really, really wanted to jump into Avatar. I guarantee the next chapter will be back up to my usual 5,000 words.
So just bear with me, beloved readers. This story will be completed sooner or later and we will at last be able to move onto bigger and better things together (not including Tsa'helu, of course). Or at least hopefully you'll still be with me. And I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, or at least what's there of it.
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Published: 12.24.09