She crawled over to her flimsy bed made of thin blankets and smelly pillows. She buried her head in them, finding no other comfort in that small, cramped room. The paint on the walls had been torn apart or didn't even exist. Holes also dotted the sides letting bugs and rats skitter in and out whenever they pleased. The girl rolled out of her bed and crept over to the small cactus plant that was perched on the sill of a hole which served as the window. Her hand reached out to it, then drew back, afraid of being hurt.
Outside was the desert, dry and vast, offering no hope of escape and nowhere to go. How long had she been in that room, alone? How long has it been since she last saw the face of her parents, or even heard their voice? She walked over to the door, sat herself down, and waited. She had been told to wait. That was the last command she ever heard from her mother. She was to wait. Suddenly, the door swung open...
Yoko gasped as she blinked out of her daydream and shook her head. I must've nodded off or something... she thought to herself and looked around. Her hands were still tied to the pillar and everything was pitch black. How long has it been since those... Curry Tigers? No... what were they called again? Whatever... the curry dudes... how long has it been since they left? How long has it been since I dozed off?
She squirmed a bit, uncomfortable in her position and sighed. Her stomach let out a low growl and she muttered, "I'm hungry..."
"Being hungry isn't the problem here," Temari's voice snarled from behind her. It was obvious that the older kunoichi was getting irritated."You're amazing, daydreaming when Gaara's and our lives are in danger."
"Oh... thanks?" Yoko tilted her head to one side, wondering whether it was sarcasm or not. "I'm not too worried about Gaara getting hurt though... even less of him getting killed."
She clicked her tongue, "Whatever. I guess there is some truth to what you said."
"Uhm... Temari-neesan?"
"What?"
"Why are people scared of Gaara?"
Temari let out a long sigh, "Just... I can't tell you and I won't tell you. Gaara will let you know if he wants you to."
"Okay..." Yoko finally quieted down when a thin ray of light appeared in the darkness and attacked her right eye.
The girl let out a soft squeal and turned her head away. Stupid lights! Why are they always shining in my eyes!?
"Yoko? Temari? You here?" a familiar voice called out from the slit of light.
"Kankuro!" Temari breathed, "How...?"
The ray of light widened and a shadow covered it for a second, before letting it shine all it wanted on Yoko's face. After a few seconds, the young genin felt her bonds loosening and her arms being freed. She quickly straightened up and hugged her saviour.
"Kankuro-niisan!" she exclaimed.
"I could tell almost immediately that that girl, the impersonator, was a fake. She was way too nice to be you, Temari," Kankuro explained in a low voice, feeling his cheeks start to flare pink in embarrassment, "But before I could catch her, the impersonator released her transformation jutsu and ran off."
"I love you too, little brother," Temari said. The other two couldn't see the older girl's expression very well because of the dim light, but they could tell that she was a bit annoyed,but grateful.
"Anyways," she continued, "We have to find Baki-san and the jonin who was with him. I'll go find and release them while you two go look for Gaara."
"How come you're not going to join the fight?" Kankuro asked.
"When I was tied up, there was a seal on the rope that sucked out my chakra. I have to regain my chakra first. Yoko, are you fine with going straight into battle?"
Yoko blinked rapidly and released Kankuro before staring down at her hands. She just noticed that she really did feel weaker. However, she nodded and smiled, "I'm fine!"
"Alright then," Temari commanded, "Let's go!"
"Right there!" Hanako giggled and pointed towards a large iron door on the side of a mountain. "That's our hideout!"
Their hideout is.. in a mountain? Gaara stared at it for a moment before starting to quicken his pace in the direction of the door.
"Wait up!" the rogue called out and bounded over to him before also increasing her speed. She arrived in front of the entrance first and knocked on the door. "Hello? It's me, Hanako! I brought the One-Tail boy!"
The door slowly creaked open and Hanako pulled Gaara in. As soon as they were inside the mountain, the gate closed shut behind them. Before the boy could even react, a single light shone down to reveal a large hooded man and a little boy with purple hair and yellow eyes in front of him. Gaara quickly darted to the side in alarm and sand spewed out from his gourd, ready to defend. A booming laugh echoed throughout the room and the man ripped off the cloth to reveal a macho chest, muscular arms, short legs, and a curly moustache. However, there was no sign of a hair on his head. The man continued to laugh as he flexed his arms and balled his large hands into fists.
"Hoho!" he rumbled, "You must be the One-Tail's jinchuriki! Nice to meet you, boy!"
He's... weird...Gaara thought to himself and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm so glad you asked, boy! I am... B! O! B! BOB THE LEADER OF KURO TORA!" the man punched the air for each letter of his name.
"This is embarrassing..." The purple haired boy muttered beside him.
Clapping noises erupted from Gaara's right. Another light shone down on Hanako as she cheered, "Woo! Go Bob-sama!"
"Where are Temari and Yoko?" Gaara demanded, ignoring Bob's flamboyant greeting.
"Oh, non, non, non, non, non!" Bob sighed, hugging himself as he swayed back and forth, "Too much of a rush! Too much of a rush, I say! Just wait for a bit..."
"Where are they?" his voice turned into a snarl. He could feel his blood start to boil with anger and annoyance.
"Hey, don't interrupt Bob-sama!" Hanako said and skipped over to her leader's side.
"It's quite alright, Hanako," The muscular man patted the girl's head and continued, "As I was saying, boy, just wait and the little kitten will show up soon... Oh! Ohoho!" his eyes widened and he exclaimed, "She's here already!"
"What-"
All the lights in the room suddenly lit up to reveal two winding staircases leading up to the second floor near the back of the room. Chandeliers hung on the high ceiling and the floor was covered with glossy marble tiles. Suddenly, a slight shifting noise sounded from above Gaara and he looked up to see Yoko diving down with a short sword in hand. Gaara's sand quickly blocked the blade and lightly tossed the girl to the side. Yoko smoothly landed onto her feet and as soon as her feet touched the floor, she lunged at the jinchuriki once more.
"Yoko?" Gaara's sand grabbed onto the girl's katana and ripped it out of her hands. The kunoichi then threw a few shuriken, which were easily deflected. Why.. Why is Yoko fighting me?
"Jinchuriki boy, I called you here for a reason..." Bob said, twirling moustache around his finger, "Give us your chakra. Become our life supply of energy and we'll let the kittens go."
"No," Gaara replied in a low voice. His sand formed into a large hand and roughly grabbed Yoko. More sand started to pile up on top of her. "You can't fool me. If I had a choice, I would never die as a tool of some rogues. Also, this impersonator isn't Yoko... Yoko doesn't know how to use a sword.
"Is that so? Hoho!" Bob started to laugh once more, "I'm pretty sure that is the kitten you are talking about, though. Care you look again, boy?"
"Gaara-san..." Yoko's voice squeaked from the mound of sand. The jinchuriki turned just in time to see her tearstained face. She whimpered, "Gaara-san, it hurts... How could you? How could you do this to me?"
He opened his mouth to reply, and for a moment, his sand weakened along with his heart. Bob smirked at Gaara's reaction and thick black vines erupted beneath the boy and engulfed him before he could even move. Yoko stepped out of the powerless pile of sand that now lay at her feet and her features slowly changed to match the purple haired boy who was next to Kuro Tora's leader earlier.
The little boy leaned closer to Gaara as the vines wrapped around his entire body and he sneered, "Baka*."
An arm of sand swung out of the mass and reached for Bob, but before its claws could harm him more than a scratch, it crumbled to the floor, powerless.
"My absorption jutsu is working well," Bob said, "Soon he'll be too weak to keep the monster in him under control.
"I wonder where Gaara is..." Kankuro muttered to himself as he ran down a brightly lit corridor, "This place is like a maze!"
"Hmm..." Yoko, who was running alongside him, skidded to a stop and looked around. "By the way, Kankuro-niisan, how did you find this place?"
"Eh? I was chasing after the fake Temari when I found this mountain... I can't believe this kind of place is in a mountain..." he trailed off when he realized Yoko was no longer listening to him and a stray strand of hair on her head was waving suspiciously. "Hey! Listen to other people when they talk!"
"I can sense Gaara-san somewhere here," she said and pulled out her red scroll. Her stray hair was now twitching in an odd manner.
Since when did she have an ahoge*? He thought to himself as Yoko summoned her Dragon Head Cannon. "Hey... What are you doing?"
"I'm going to blast through this wall. Gaara-san is somewhere on the other side," she replied and raised her weapon. I'm lucky I made it so that my cannon automatically returns to the scroll after being left alone for two minutes. She pressed her chakra into the gun and said, "Fire Dragon Blast!"
A ball of compressed chakra, wind, and fire penetrated the wall with a loud boom and pieces flew right back at the attacker. Yoko shielded her face from the bits of wall with her cannon and stepped inside the other room. She lowered her weapon to see a large macho man in the center of the room accompanied by a purple haired boy and Hanako, and the same little boy standing next to a writhing mass of black vines. She tilted her head to one side in confusion when she saw the two identical boys. ...Huh?
Kankuro entered the room behind her muttering something under his breath about the girl's recklessness and he looked around. He narrowed his eyes when he saw Bob and demanded, "Where is Gaara?" Judging from his appearance, he's the leader here...
The purple haired boy next to Bob disappeared and Yoko's head returned to its normal position. Her ahoge perked up when she realized what was going on. I see! It was a clone!
"If you're talking about the sand boy, he's over there," Hanako cackled as she pointed to the black mound. How did that flat-chested girl get out so easily? And tattoo-man... why did Bob-sama let him find our hideout and free Miss Flat-Chest? Her eyes widened a bit in realization and narrowed again. Oh... I see...
"OHOHOHO! You're here already, little kitten?" Bob chuckled.
Yoko bluntly ignored the muscular man and darted over to the mass. The little boy with yellow eyes backed away from her and returned to Bob's side. When she was about to tear the vines apart, the leader of Kuro Tora said, "You know, kitten, I wouldn't touch that if I were you."
"What do you mean?" Kankuro snarled, "What did you do to Gaara!?"
"Calm down. His chakra is only being sucked out by Bob-sama's jutsu, which are the vines. Anyone from the outside who touches Bob-sama's technique will be burned," the purple haired boy sighed.
Bob rumbled, "That's right, Rui, my boy. Soon the One-Tail boy's unlimited amount of chakra will be all mine! I didn't think using such a cliche trap would be so effective, though..."
"Well then, I guess I'll just have to blast it all away!" Yoko shrugged and raised her cannon.
"Oi! Don't do something so stupid!" Kankuro yelled.
Before he could do anything to stop her, a large disfigured arm burst out from the mass of vines and grabbed Yoko by the throat. The genin let out a faint shriek in alarm and dropped her weapon. The arm slowly raised her up off of the floor.
"YOKO!" Kankuro called out as a shiver ran down his spine. That hand... Damn! Just when he finally got control of his bloodlust! The chakra absorption forced him into that state!
"Well, that was fast..." Bob shrugged, "Maybe I drained his energy a little too quickly..."
The torn vines slowly dropped onto the floor and unveiled the beast they were hiding. Half of Gaara's body was already taken over by the One-tail and sand was starting to layer his entire body. Part of his face was badly disfigured and drool dribbled out of his stretched mouth. Gaara's eyes, now cold and full of bloodlust, glared at Yoko, whose face started to pale.
She let out a tiny squeak, "Gaara...san..."
I'm so sorry for the late update and for not keeping my promises! TT^TT it's just that... school life and work are killing me...
Please bear with me and I hope you like this chapter even though the pace is a bit fast... ^^"
Gomenasai, Gaara fans... he's a bit weak in this chapter... but he'll make a cool comeback soon enough! *fire lights up in eyes* +0+
Maybe I made Yoko a bit too stupid? =^=
Baka*: means "stupid"
Ahoge*: practically means "stupid hair". A bit stupid characters in anime/manga have ahoge*s. For example, Italy from Hetalia. He has a curly ahoge and is clearly stupid... and an airhead. Yoko's ahoge is just.. special. It has a built in Gaara sensor ;)
Hope to see you soon~!
Love, grachiel 3
