Chapter 7: The Loss
Unfortunately, fate seemed to be against all the teams that day as the Akatsuki were already making their next move.
Keiko dropped Gaara back to his office and she went to sleep on the couch since she had been up through the night. He watched her sleeping form for a moment before breaking open the seal of a scroll on his desk. His eyes narrowed as they flew over the page. So movement of the Akatsuki had been noted nearby. He leaned back in the chair and put his fingertips together. Something was coming. Soon.
He watched Keiko for another minute and listened to the grains of sand flow through the kinetic timepiece on his desk. He traced the features of her face in his mind. She was very beautiful. He wondered for half a moment if he would have been happy in a life with her before abandoning the thought and looking back down at the scroll on his desk. He heard an explosion in the distance as the contents of his desk rattled slightly.
He stood and Keiko's eyes flew open. They both rushed to the sliding door of the balcony, throwing it open.
In the distance, they saw what appeared to be a large bird. Gaara's advisor's and guard appeared on his balcony. "This is the second one sighted. The ANBU just went after another invader in the canyon," said Baki.
Kankurō bared his teeth, "So they managed to draw protection away from the village."
"That is how it would appear," said Baki.
"Ready the defenses," said Gaara as sand surrounded him, lifting him into the air.
"That's amazing," said Keiko, "I've never seen his justsu on this scale."
"The sand always protects him without him having to do anything, but it takes a lot of Chakra to lift himself with it, so he doesn't do it often," said Kankurō.
Keiko stood by Kankurō as they watched their attacker come closer into view. Gaara rose to meet him.
"You must be the sand demon," said the stranger.
Gaara glared wordlessly, arms crossed.
"Don't you want to know who I am?"
"Not really," said Gaara dispassionately, "but I do want to know what you're doing here and advise you to leave."
"Heh," scoffed the stranger. "My name's Deidara, and you are coming with me," he grinned.
The village watched as the battle unfolded, until their view was shielded by Gaara's protective sand.
Keiko shifted nervously. She wanted to help, but she didn't want to undermine his authority in front of the entire village. This was his battle.
An ANBU operative appeared next to them. "There's trouble, in the canyon," he said, "we were being overwhelmed."
"I will go," chimed Keiko. "If you please, back up your kazekage, I will do what I can."
Keiko looked when she reached the canyon and noticed the ANBU operative was gone. Strange. Perhaps he went back to protect the Kazekage. The canyon was a bloodbath. The shinobi were all already dead. She stood for a moment as her stomach lurched. She thought she was going to vomit. She felt a sharp pain but it passed. She had been in many battles, seen lots of death. She was not particularly bothered by it. But the realization that only one Akatsuki member did this made her worry for her friends. She never used to worry about loss beyond letting down a comrade in a sense of duty. She wasn't used to feeling particularly attached to any human over another. This was why her kind was against human attachment. They thought of it as weakness.
She was not weak, she told herself, casting off feelings of unease. Keiko turned away from the scent of blood and chased after the Akatsuki member leaving the canyon.
"A little short for an Akatsuki," she spat. Seriously Keiko, now isn't the time for that.
"I am Sasori, of the red sand. Not that you will live long to remember it. I hate to keep people waiting," he said.
Keiko took an earth stance and the ground rose around Sasori, trapping him between stony fingers. His tail swung and broke the rocks apart lazily. Keiko paused. She didn't know if she could take him down without killing him. She sensed the spirit pressure from his chakra and it was enormous. He needed to be taken alive so they could locate the Akatsuki.
"I don't like to BE kept waiting either," said Sasori, "I would rather you die quickly."
His tail swung again and missed as she shadow stepped away. She could see poison dripping from the end.
Keiko wasn't versed in many jutsu. Kakashi was going to work on it with her but they hadn't really found the time since he started teaching graduates from the academy. Most of her powers came from magic from other worlds, and without a wand or catalyst, a lot of it was elemental or healing. There was only rock as far as the eye could see. She could use fire, but it may kill him. Hand to hand combat wouldn't help her here. She may have to kill him.
She summoned fire into the palm of her hand as a pain in her abdomen dropped her to her knees. What? Blood...
She was bleeding, but from where?
Sasori laughed, bemused, "They let a pregnant woman go alone against the Akatsuki. Obviously the stress on your body from the smell of death and destruction was too much. Perhaps I won't kill you. You're about to pass out anyway it seems," he continued to laugh menacingly, "there's no point exerting myself on such a weak opponent."
The patch of red continued to spread across her kimono. She looked down at her hand covered in the same as it went in and out if focus. She wasn't even that far along. How could there be this much? Had Sasori poisoned her? Was she dying?
No... Gaara ...Kakashi. Sand blew over the rock surface beneath her and she reached out to it as if begging it to help. A wave of nausea coursed through her again. Darkness took her.
The sand shinobi found her when they found Kankurō. When she woke in the hospital wing of the Hidden Sand, Kankurō was sitting up, talking to Naruto. Keiko's heart lept. Naruto meant...
"Kakashi?" Keiko croaked.
They all went silent.
"Where's Kakashi?" Keiko repeated. "Gaara?"
They all looked down. Sakura's and Temari's eyes welled with tears.
"Gaara was taken by the Akatsuki," said Kankurō, "the Ninken are out searching for them still, but..."
Naruto balled his hands into fists. "Kakashi...Kakashi-sensei. He scarified himself so we could get away from Itachi."
Keiko's face paled in shock, "no," she whispered.
"I'm, I'm going to kill him," said Naruto, shaking. "I'm going to kill Itachi, and I'm going to take all the Akatsuki with me when we rescue Gaara."
Gaara . "Gaara is still alive?" Keiko asked weakly.
Neji walked into the room. "We believe they need Gaara for the same reason they are searching for Naruto. We aren't completely sure of what they intend to do with it, but we know they are after the power of the tailed beasts. But what happened to you, Keiko?" Neji looked at Sakura uncertainly.
"I've let everyone down," she said evenly, "I've let you all down."
"No you didn't," said Sakura. "You came back to us alive so we can save Gaara"
"The baby," Keiko said, voice beginning to waiver.
"I'm so sorry. So early in the term, the stress your body was going under from everything going on...it's not your fault," Sakura said soothingly.
"I didn't even do anything. I didn't even take a blow. I know I didn't," she said defiant, "How?" Keiko half shouted.
"It just, happened. I am so sorry Keiko," Sakura said, hugging her. Keiko broke into tears. "A dozen worlds," she choked, "I have led battles on a dozen worlds...and when it came time to protect my family, I was weak."
"No Keiko-nee-san," said Naruto, "don't say that."
"I won't fail again. We will rescue Gaara."
Chiyo of the Sand stood in the corner solemnly.
