Chapter 9:
For a ranch in the desert, the grass around Orochimaru's home stretched out for 2 acres all the way around. Just as the siblings had said, there was a loose board in the surrounding fence, several yards from the back of the stables. It was situated over the deepest part of the gully that the fence ran parallel to. There, the three bandits and the three Konoha stopped to rest.
"So, what now?" asked Naruto.
"We'll split up once we get inside," Gaara replied. "I'll take Naruto. Kankurou, you take Sakura, and Temari will take Shikamaru."
"Hold on just a minute," Temari argued. "Why do we have to split up like that? Do you really trust Kankurou alone with a girl?"
"Hey!" said the middle sibling in indignation.
"Kankurou is more susceptible to the poison then the rest of us because he's been shot with it before. If he doesn't receive treatment immediately next time, he really will die," Sakura explained. "You were shot with it, too, but it didn't reach your heart last time."
Temari pulled her mouth to the side, swinging her head to look at Naruto.
"Hey, I'm staying with Gaara. I owe him my life!"
She wasn't about to win this argument, and eventually accepted that for what it was. Once her pseudo-tantrum had finished, Gaara continued to tell them the plan.
"So let me get this straight," Sakura clarified. "Our plan is that we don't have one?"
"Essentially," answered Gaara.
Naruto threw a fist into the air, not at all bothered by running into a dangerous situation with little hope for survival. "Let's do this!"
Sakura grabbed him by the waistband just in time to stop him from sprinting headlong into the compound. "Settle down, Dummy! This is no time to act so eager!" she hissed at him, giving him a smack upside the head to drive her point home. Or maybe she just wanted to hit him; one could never be sure.
The sun had just reached its highest point in the sky when they finally approached the large, white house that the Sabaku family had inhabited a little more than ten years before. There, as their minimal plan had dictated, they split into their three, predetermined groups, with Kankurou and Sakura being the first to leave them in favor of overtaking the barn.
The remaining four went on to the house, where Gaara silently killed the two soldiers guarding the front door. Once inside, Temari led Shikamaru through the foyer and down the hall to where the sitting room, kitchen, dining room, and study were located.
Gaara led Naruto up the grand staircase. The polished, deep mahogany had not been there last Gaara had seen it. As he recalled, it had been simple oak planks with a painted white banister. Somewhere near the bottom, he remembered there being lines drawn on one of the posts, marking Temari and Kankurou's heights, put there back when their mother was still alive. Fixing his eyes ahead, he willed himself not to think about it.
"Gaara? What are we going to do when we find him, again?"
"Kill him." The answer came quickly, naturally. Gaara had spent his whole life waiting for this moment. Plotting and planning exactly how it would all play out. Of course, Konoha had nothing to do with it in his plans, and Orochimaru met him in the desert, where they ended their battle exactly where it had begun. But, he supposed, one couldn't always have their way.
"Look in there. I'll check this room." Gaara watched for a moment as Naruto did as he was told, then moved on to the aforementioned room and silently pushed the door open.
Inside, there were sheets draped over the furniture, but Gaara could distinctly remember the piano beneath those sheets. This had been the nursery. Their mother had played that very piano for Temari and Kankuro when they were little, before Gaara was born. Temari had tried to learn how to play, but she had no talent for music, it turned out.
Naruto came back out to meet the redhead in the corridor. "Nothing," the blond reported.
"Very well, that leaves only Father's room." Gaara's aqua eyes traveled along the intricate rug until they panned up to the dark wooden door of the one room where Gaara had never in his life been allowed to enter.
"There?" asked Naruto.
"Yes."
"All the mission states is that we get the stone back," Shikamaru muttered. "No reason to get ourselves killed with the rest of it." He inwardly cringed when Temari's eyes flashed angrily at him.
"Have you forgotten what Orochimaru plans to do with your village?" asked Temari. "He'll destroy your home if he doesn't die today."
Their conversation was cut short by a maid in the kitchen. As Temari went to approach the woman, Shikamaru grabbed her by the arm, tugging her back through the door to hide in the parlor.
"That woman is no soldier, nor is she Orochimaru," he said into her ear. "What business do you have killing her?"
With a scoff, the blonde pulled away from him, entering the kitchen once more. A muffled scream was the next thing he heard before a heavy thud. Shikamaru took a deep breath and followed the feisty cowgirl in to assess the damage.
To his surprise, the maid had not been killed, but knocked unconscious. Shikamaru fought the urge to smile, which Temari made easy by glaring at him.
"I'm not sparing anyone else, so you had better hope we don't run into anyone else that you deem innocent," she nearly spat.
They went on without another word, through the kitchen and past the dining room, until they came to the last door at the end of the hall. From what Shikamaru recalled of their briefing beforehand, this must have been the library. To his left, Temari was breathing heavily and glaring at the door as if she intended to will it into flames.
"Orochimaru could be behind this door," she murmured. Shikamaru nodded in return and noted how she trembled in anticipation.
She counted down silently, then kicked the door in, cocking her gun and aiming at the first humanoid thing that came into her vision. Shikamaru stood slightly behind her, suddenly very aware of how unprepared he felt.
Kabuto's hands froze in his task of examining the Gem, but her made no move to look a them. "I should have known," he said blankly.
"We came for the Gem," said Shikamaru, unnecessary as it was.
Kabuto tilted his head to look at them. "I can't let you have it," he said. "Lord Orochimaru has tasked me with unlocking its secrets, which means I must guard it with my life."
"I'd applaud your loyalty if it weren't so misdirected," Shikamaru commented mordantly.
Kabuto chuckled just as wryly, "You know nothing of the pain in this world. Lord Orochimaru has taken a wasteland, and given hundreds of people a home. But a forest-dweller like yourself would know nothing about that. You all assume that if you stay in your woods and don't interfere with the world around you, you can go on unaffected by the suffering that occurs every day."
"You make it sound like my wish to be left out of the affairs of others is unreasonable."
The silver-haired man pushed his spectacles up his nose. "By allying yourself with the Sabaku siblings, you've already robbed yourself of that ever being a possibility," he replied, shaking his head.
"Shut up," spat Temari, making Kabuto very aware of her gun by pressing it into the side of his face.
"Honestly," Kabuto plowed on, "I'm surprised you survived. It was reported to me that you had been shot with my poison. I mixed it myself using different venoms from Lord Orochimaru's pet snakes. I cultivated it until it had the perfect combination of torture and fatality.
"You should understand fairly well, Miss Temari," Kabuto smiled sweetly at her. "The satisfaction in seeing your prey suffer before it dies."
She was about to protest. She wanted to suggest that he not automatically assume that she was anything like him, but something stopped her: it was true.
The realization was almost too much for her. Sure, she and her brothers were known for their brutality, but only to those who deserved it. At least, that's how it was at first. When had killing innocent travelers become okay? When had she decided that a simple maid in Orochimaru's household belonged in a shallow grave right along side the filthy snake himself? When had she turned into this, this monster?
"Temari…?" Shikamaru watched as the color bled from her face, as if she was about to be sick. "Temari," he called to her again, but her eyes were fixated on the gun in her hands and she showed no signs of hearing him.
Her rifle, the most comfortable thing in the world to her—right next to sitting in a saddle, and the way the desert smelled right before sunrise—suddenly felt unfamiliar. Too heavy with the weight of her conscience.
Kabuto 'tsk'ed, "Aren't you going to kill me?" As he expected, the blonde paid him no mind. "What? Nothing? Very well, then," Kabuto mocked being overworked with a deep sigh as he reached just below his desk for something that was hidden there.
And Shikamaru had a feeling he knew what it was.
It seemed to go in slow motion for Shikamaru. His mind worked overtime, willing his body make Temari move. In a bout of something that he never knew he possessed, his hand was over hers, his finger pressing her own down onto the trigger, and in the next second, Kabuto was on the floor. Upon realizing what he had just done, Shikamaru felt as if he would be sick on the floor.
It shocked Temari out of her trance. Shikamaru's pale face upset her, and grabbed his arm, steering him from the room. The reached back and grabbed the Gem as a second thought.
The sickly man in the bed stared at them. He was weak. He was in pain. He was not the devil that Gaara remembered.
Naruto turned away from the pale land baron, hiding his face. "This is him?" he muttered to Gaara in absolute disbelief.
Steadying his aim, Gaara counted off ten seconds to clear his mind, then reevaluated the situation. At last he answered, "Yes."
Orochimaru wheezed, clenching his eyes shut when a gunshot sounded from elsewhere in the house.
When no second shot followed it, Gaara took it to mean that Temari had killed another of Orochimaru's men. The inky-haired man in the bed seemed to draw the same conclusion, and Gaara watched Orochimaru's eyes as he came to the conclusion that he was outnumbered and there would be no help coming for him.
Orochimaru had never been one to give up. When he wanted something, he killed or bribed whoever he had to in order to get it. If only immortality had been on his agenda a few years sooner, he might have had a chance. But, as the circumstances were, Orochimaru was so tired.
Though Naruto was quietly protesting the idea of killing Orochimaru, Gaara was, as he had been all his life, intent on slaying the man. And from the look of him, the snake man was ready to die.
Gaara shook that thought away. This was not a mercy killing. This was revenge.
Naruto stared at the wood floor as Gaara's shot was fired, fixing his gaze even more intently when the bedsprings creaked ominously. The final muted thud was what made the blond leave the room.
"Temari," Shikamaru said from his place in the parlor's armchair, having gathered himself enough that he no longer felt lightheaded. "Give it here," he demanded gently.
Temari pawed at the Gem a few times more. "What's so importantly about it, anyway?" she inquired, silently refusing to do as he asked. She turned it this way and that, and still couldn't find anything special about it. "It's a rock," she pointed out.
He reached to swipe it away from her, but she held it out of his reach. "Just give it to me. It doesn't matter what it does," he tried to reason. "It's an artifact of my tribe and-"
"So I'm not allowed to touch it because I'm an outsider?"
"Where you're from has nothing to do with it. What matters is the fact that I'm in charge of returning it." He stood to take it from her, but she was being her usual stubborn self. His wounded stomach disagreed with how he attempted to stretch over her to snatch the Gem out of her grasp, and he cringed.
The weight of him on her made her lose her balance, and she dropped the stone, where it rang like a bell as it hit the hard wood of the side table, jarring the lamp and knocking it over. "Oh now look!" muttered Temari, reaching to right things, but she was stopped by Shikamaru's hand on hers. His eyes were fixated on the ceiling, and Temari had not choice but to look up at what had his attention.
On the ceiling, as well as the four walls, hundreds of tiny dots shone like diamonds against the surfaces that they hit.
"What is this?" she asked, more to herself, but she still received an answer from the young man beside her.
"The sky. They're stars," he said. "That group is called The Fox. And those are The Leaf." As if just then realizing it himself, he added, "It's a map."
"To what?"
"To the promise land. Konoha." Shikamaru recalled. "The First Hokage used the Gem to lead his tribe to their prophesized home," he told her. "But it really had nothing to do with prophecy. He was navigating by using this and the stars."
Temari chuckled. "And he never told anyone about it. Smart man."
The two froze in place when a gunshot fired from upstairs. Temari held her breath.
"You don't think…" Shikamaru trailed off. Was that really it? Was it over?
Footsteps creaked overhead, moving quickly, and Temari and Shikamaru only relaxed when they saw Naruto descend the staircase. His face was pale, his eyes blinked constantly, as if he was trying to remember something he had forgotten. Or perhaps forget something he didn't want to remember. He said nothing until Gaara had also come down to join them.
"What should we do now?" he asked. He didn't receive an answer from Shikamaru, who was just as unsure as Naruto at that moment. Nor did Temari¾far too busy trying to keep herself from weeping with sheer relief¾answer.
Finally, Gaara answered quietly. "Burn it."
"Burn it? Gaara, this is—was… is our home." Temari stared at her youngest brother.
"We'll rebuild. I want nothing to do with this place, as it stands." He turned, "This is no longer the house that it once was." The redhead left them, going to the front door and opening it soundlessly. That is, until the ruckus from outside suddenly burst in. The remaining three hurried after Gaara to see what was going on just beyond the walls of the old house.
Near the stables, Kankurou was doing his best to fight off a swarm of Orochimaru's cronies. Farther off, Sakura was crouched beside the barn, tending to someone who sat against the red exterior for support. Baki sported several wounds on his arms and torso, seemingly inflicted by a riding crop. His face was dirty, and his otherwise well-muscled chest looked old and frail. He drank greedily from Sakura's canteen.
Kankurou noticed them and retreated back ten feet to stand with them. "About time," he commented sharply. Reloading his pistols, Kankurou tore holes in his opponents in the next wave of shots, but Orochimaru's forces continued to pour from inside the stable.
"Found a nest, did you?" Naruto asked, still a little pale, but grinning in spite of he dozens of men that fell before the Grave Robber.
"Heh," Kankurou chuckled in forced humor. "You guys planning on helping, or what?"
At that, Gaara and Temari prepared their own guns and began firing at anything in an Oto uniform. The shots continued back and forth, but, being the superior gunmen, the siblings didn't allow any of the Oto soldiers to get close enough to take accurate shots.
Shikamaru and Naruto joined Sakura behind the cover of the barn, and the blond watched restlessly as his Desert comrades fought. He felt completely useless, and upon voicing this helpless feeling, Shikamaru thrust a revolver into Naruto's hands.
"If you're so worried, go do something about it." Of course, Shikamaru had thought that Naruto might actually run out and do it.
But, then again, they didn't call Naruto unpredictable for nothing.
Naruto hit nothing in his first five shots, but just as an enemy almost got lucky and hit Gaara while he was reloading, Naruto's final shot killed Gaara's would-be murderer. Though impressed, the redhead saved his praise for when the battle was won.
As the numbers quickly dwindled, the more cowardly of the ranks were forced out, surrendering just as soon as their faces came into the sunlight. One by one, they discarded their weapons and dropped to their knees, babbling about their families and listing why they should be spared. By the time the sun had set, there were countless dead bodies littering the gravely earth between the house and stable, as well as fifty-seven men who had willingly allowed themselves to be captured in order to avoid being killed. The Sand Siblings debated lining them all up and killing them, anyway, but Shikamaru suggested letting them keep their jobs and simply taking command of them.
The newly-recruited Suna Settlement soldiers' first order was to remove the unconscious maid from the kitchen, then set the house ablaze. As the moonless night fell upon them, the fire that erased Orochimaru from their memories burned brightly.
A/N: Ugh. Ignore this chapter. It doesn't exist. I already rewrote it three times—I give up!
Thanks for all of the lovely reviews and such thus far. I would love it if they kept coming, though. :)
