My head hurts.

Drip...

My body is sore and heavy.

Drip...

I smell blood. Is it mine?

Drip...

I feel cold and wet.

Drip...

I can't breath well. I can't move. All I see is darkness. Am I dying?

Gaara's attention turned to a loud horn he recognized as an alarm. Rising to his feet with the sand gourd strapped he quickly departed the room as he made his way towards the princess's chambers. He found he wasn't the only one to come straight to the room as he saw Nene running down the hall from the stairs. Sprinting must have been faster for her than waiting for the elevator. Opening the door just before she could arrive Gaara saw it completely vacant. His heart dropped and an old, familiar anger filled his eyes.

Nene had gasped from the sight of an empty room and immediately ran to the open patio door and saw a sight she didn't want to see; an advancing army of ninja. More specifically they were clones of a single ninja; a ninja who was to be feared amongst these lands. A ninja who was often let off his leash only to cause mass murders of entire villages and even cities for the sheer enjoyment of chaos. The clones were killing the guards with ease and making their way towards the castle itself. "We need to stop them!" She yelled out and jumped down from the patio, having a small scroll which let loose a personal hang glider to take her down with no harm.

He followed along at her request on a mound of sand infused with his chakra. Descending he could see Hideyoshi, the three boys, Hanbei, Kanbei and even Hanzo joining the battle. Gaara however began to search for signs of where Tenten might have been. She didn't have many places to go without someone seeing her except for... Ignoring the fighting warriors Gaara made his way towards the Sakura trees and that was when he caught sight of Motochika at the same spot from the previous night. Fueled by rage, Gaara went against his better judgement and grabbed at Motochika, surrounded the prince in blades made from his sand. "Where is she?" Gaara asked, the urge to kill ready present as excuses were growing easier to come by.

The Prince felt himself being crushed. He had felt Gaara running over and didn't put his guard up thinking he would be more civilized but Motochika was caught by surprised. "I didn't take her, you damn demented fool! I was looking for her too. Magoichi is gone and so is she. Someone must of set this up!" That's when he felt the sand around him loosen up and he saw the rage inside of Gaara's eyes. He was mad as well but went over, holding a crushed letter out to him. "This isn't my writing. It's Magoichi's, but I've know him for years, he would never do something like this."

Gaara held back the tempting anger biting at his heels to see sincere honesty in the Prince's eyes. "Then what do we do?" He kept his tone clear and calm but he was frustrated with this whole ordeal. Tenten went missing and so was the prince's guardian who may have been behind this abduction.

Without a second to ponder their thoughts, they turned as they heard Hanbei yell out to them both, "Are you guys just slacking off or what? Follow the trail of where the clones are coming from!" The young strategist slammed a large bladed sundial on top of a clone's head, causing it to fall to the ground and turn to smoke. "They are coming from the north end, find the real one before they torch the place down. We'll keep them busy here but hurry! Tent- The princess hates to be kept waiting!" With those last words, Hanbei ran back to the fray of the fight. Gaara and Motochika didn't waste moment and ran towards the forest, passing the crowd of warriors trying to defend themselves and protect the keep of their homes.

She could hear her breathing. It was uneven and came in small doses. She could feel a pain on her neck for a second, like a needle piercing her skin. Tenten didn't know what happened after she made it to the cherry blossom trees. Where she had planned to meet Motochika and hear what he needed to tell her. She remembered him not being there but soon after heard a voice behind her.

"Ah! Oh, Magoichi... You frightened me!"

"Apologies young princess. I meant no harm."

"No harm done, but where is Prince Motochika? The letter you gave me said he'd be here."

"Motochika... Hmm... Why Motochika?" The young man asked, walking towards the girl. He began to rub his chin, ignoring the girls confused look. "Is there something wrong with me? Why go after a prince? He has so many woman after him already and you

being added to his flock while I get the scraps..." He smiled at the girl as he walked around her, her gaze following his as she took a hesitant step back. "Ah, sorry princess. I'm just blabbering on about nothing. Ah but there the prince is now."

Tenten felt a small amount of relief when she heard he was coming, turning away from the body guard, which was her critical mistake. The moment he no longer was within sight, she blacked out.

She managed to gather up all her strength to move but then heard a familiar voice speak to her, "Now, now... It's unbecoming of a princess to be drooling as she sleeps." Even without sight, she knew who it was. Taking in a deep breath hurt her chest and speaking made the pain even worse but she was managing to bear it.

"Magoichi... why...? I can't..."

"See? Ah my dear, it's all just a side effect of the drug I used. It made you completely lose all senses. However you are rather strong for a person of your size. I had just administered something of an antidote for you. It will numb the pain, unfortunately. I like hearing a girl scream, but we can't have that now can we? I'm sure your little dogs will try to find you. I have plans for you myself before I give you in to my lord."

Tenten didn't know what was going on, but she knew she was in a terrible situation. The drug inside her was starting to work slowly as she no longer felt a headache but the warmth of a hand on her leg scared her. She was starting to tremble as another hand touched her other leg. The material of her nightgown was being moved away and the hands were now touching bare flesh. She wanted to scream for him to stop but the pain in her throat and chest still did not diminish. Her body was like a doll's; cold and lifeless as he moved his large hands past her knees and towards her thighs.

"My lord said not to kill you nor harm in any way, but taking away a princess's virginity is every mans dream. Who am I to deny that to myself?" Tenten wanted to shutter and this lunatic's words. Hell what she really wanted to do to this man involved her whole arsenal going up his ass, but sadly at this very moment she was truly a damsel in distress. The gown was now over her belly, her legs bare and being stroked by his hands.

After a minute of toying with her legs, he spoke again, "Plain and white; boring for a princess but underneath is the real excitement. Let's see if the carpets match the drapes." His hands skimmed the waistline of her panties gently before pulling them down her lifeless legs. "Mmm. So little princess is shaved down there. So smooth..." He opened her legs to get a better view of her pussy then used a finger to stroke the slits, rubbing them gently as he watched the girl's darkened eyes. He continued speaking to her, "You may not be able to feel it but your body will react the same way. Heh, like now.. I feel you becoming very wet and all I'm doing is this. You must really want to be fucked by me. Being raped turns you on? Some pure princess you are."

She would of yelled for him to stop but even that took too much energy out of her. Without her sight it made things more terrifying. Although even if she did have her sight she knew she'd turn away. Not wanting to look at what he did to her. She was a virgin, never having a boyfriend previously nor a guy she'd fully give herself too. At the moment she was regretting holding on to her maidenhood, disgusted at herself knowing it would be stolen by this freak of a man. She held her composure together as best she could, scolding herself in her head. "I'm a kunoichi. We are trained mentally for this! We are willing to use our bodies and give up something precious for our village. I must endure!"

"If I had all the time in the world, I'd give you a taste but this marks the end of the line for foreplay. Now let's get down to main course. Oh, before I forget... If by some chance you do manage to scream, be sure to cry out my name..." Tenten heard his voice change. It was no longer Magoichi's suave voice, it became darker and more deep with a slight raspy tone, "Cry out Kotaro."

An eyeball of sand floated within the forest, watching out for any signs of life. Gliding left and right it moved on from its location. It found a few night beasts hunting for prey but not the beast he was hunting himself. Gaara closed his eye and continued on north with Motochika following behind. The Kazekage had wanted nothing to do with him but the Prince also needed answers for his lost companion. The man strummed a cord from him shamisen softly as he watched out for anything moving. Both men stopped as clones of the ninja appeared, they both were ready as Gaara willed shuriken of sand towards them and Motochika send a wave of sound infused with chakra.

They were fast, quickly moving out of the way of both sand and sound. The five clones all laughed as they began to make hand seals, creating a deep purple that drifted towards their opponents. The light fragrance of poison could be detected as the haze began to surround them. Gaara almost grabbed a clone with sand but it slipped from the grasp with ease, sending flames hurling down to the Kazekage. He blocked with his sand but the heat from the fire was too intense to hold back, the flame turning the sand into glass, becoming useless to him.

Gaara retreated and moved his remaining sand with him to keep for an offensive move. Two of the clones pursued him, drawing blades from their sides as they ignited the weapons with flame. Gaara maneuvered the sand to push the ninja away, encasing one of the clones within and solidifying it quickly with his Sand Coffin technique. The other managed to dodge and with quick footwork slashed at his face. The Kazekage moved back, keeping what sand he had on the clone on the ground all while dodging the other's weapon.

Fighting with Lee for many years had given Gaara an edge against opponents much faster than himself. He dodged the blade with little trouble but the clone didn't seem like he would let up soon. Gaara just needed a few more seconds to finish his attack. "Sand Burial." With a clasp of his hand the clone on the ground was crushed under the pressure of the sand and dissolved into nothing. He finally had a weapon to use, soon after creating a spear that stabbed into the attacking clone's body. It fell to the floor and vanished without so much of a puff of smoke.

Motochika jumped away from the three clones pursuing him, dodging all of their attacks. His enemies threw shuriken and kunai but the prince strummed his shamisen and knocked the weapons away with the sound. Despite this they persisted after him but he moved gracefully around their aggressive attacks. He may have been prince but he set himself with high standards when it came to the art of battling and playing his instrument in tandem. In past wars he'd fought alongside his armies, never leaving anyone behind and destroyed all those who would oppose him. This may not have been a fight for his land, but fighting for a lady who placed herself within his heart was just as important.

The prince sighed hard, unable to shake their advances no matter how fast he dodged. Shaking his head, he took in a deep breath and strummed on the strings of his shamisen with some force, sending a high frequency shock wave towards the clones. The noise spread forth in front of the prince, his chakra and sound slicing through two of the clones like a hot knife through butter. His last opponent managed to dodge the attacking using the other two as cover. With this opening the clone stabbed Motochika in the shoulder but was unable to do much more as its head was engulfed in sand and compressed swiftly with enough force to destroy the clone. "Are you alright?" The Kazekage asked.

Motochika merely nodded and they both continued their search.

The eyes of sand and the strum of a cord broke through the darkness as both Motochika and Gaara sensed a wave of chakra coming from behind a slew of trees. They both ran through to find a hidden cavern covered in foliage and without any hesitation, sliced the plant life and found a disturbing sight.

A young woman on the floor, gown hiked up over her belly, panties gone from her waist and although her eyes completely blank and lifeless, the men were able to see streaks of tears over her cheek. Over her was a tall man who had the same features as the clones. Long, deep red hair in braids that were pulled in a pony tail. White paint covered his face and a black headband with a red star embedded onto it. Chain mail covered his torso along with a white scarf, wearing armguards and clawed gauntlets. Hakama pants covered his bottom half, his leg guards went down to his feet which turned into metal plates that were clawed at the toes.

His eyes were filled with an emotion Gaara had not seen since those many years before Shikoku left his body, before meeting Naruto. Filled with a blood lust that could not be sated, a sadistic grin only made his eyes gleam with more evil. Gaara wanted to rip out his eyes so no one would ever have to look into them.

"Here I thought I'd have more than enough time but we can continue where we left off once I finish off your hounds, princess." The assailant said as he readied his clawed gauntlets.

"Why have you done this? Where is Magoichi?!" Motochika asked, rage fuming within his belly as the sight of the princess made him want to rip this man's head off his neck.

"The idiot of crows? I left him several miles away from the castle. He is a fool and quick to help any woman in need. He's still alive... but only just." His eyes looked at the red head, then the other man and eyed his wound. "One of my clones landed a blow? I suppose you'll feel it soon enough. A poison native to this part of the land, it will bring you down to your knees within a few minutes."

Motochika didn't stir from the thought of being poisoned and held on to his instrument tightly in his grasp. His eyes were filled with determinations to kill the man who harmed his best friend. "Gaara... Go on and take the princess back." He didn't look over at the direction of the Kazekage and didn't wait for him to answer. "Odds are she's been poisoned too. Take her back to the castle, Nene may have some form of antidote. I'll stay behind and deal with this demon." Motochika knew that Gaara was about to protest but he was able to interject, "The princess's life is in grave danger if she remains here during the fight. Do as you were hired to do and get her away from harm's reach."

Gaara didn't argue. What sand he had left could of easily been also taken away to become glass by this ninja and render him almost useless until he could make more. He moved past Kotaro without any problems and picked the young kunoichi up. Her eyes remained lifeless as he moved her night gown down to no longer expose her sex as he left Kotaro, the prince and the cave far behind him. He only hoped Nene had some sort of cure for his invaluable friend.

Motochika didn't stir as the Kazakage left the scene. He took grip to his shamisen and strummed a few cords with a flick of his wrist. "I am the Motochika Chosokabe, the ruler of Shikoku Island. I will not allow you to cause anymore harm to the princess, nor her friends and subjects. I will tear the head off your shoulders without laying a hand on your disgusting skin. I will make you pay for what you did to my friend."

The large ninja only laughed and responded, "Then let's begin."

Tenten didn't know what sort of a state she was truly in. All the pain she had experienced was completely gone but not in a good way. Her vision was a blur at best, she was still unable to talk with ease and her hearing was a muffled mess. She knew she felt warm, as if she were in someone's arms. Not the arms of that terrible ninja, but of someone she trusted. He held her close to his body but not too tight to harm her, she felt protected. The wind was hitting her face but she couldn't feel it, she knew she was moving though at fast speeds. Various colors of browns and greens moved past her sight until she saw a glimpse of white with black figures. Her eyes felt strained and so she closed them, now using what little of her hearing to figure out what was going on.

"...happened?"

Something happened, but what?

"He's fighting..."

Who is fighting?

"...is...where..."

Who is where?

"Poisoned... cure... fast..."

Poison? That's right, I was poisoned.

"...go..."

Go where?

An explosion.

I hear something explode. What was it?

She wanted this living nightmare to end. To make this awful night go away forever. Opening her eyes, she caught glimpse of sea foam green dots staring right into hers. She felt ashamed, the fear and relief washed over her and tears streamed down her face as she cried in his arms. All she could say was "I'm sorry" before her eyes shut again, this time into sleep.

The clear and crisp noises of birds had her standing upright and immediately regretting it. Feeling dizzy, Tenten closed her eyes and used her hands to support herself against a familiar bed under her. She was back in the room that belonged to the princess. She felt all the weight she carried from the night before lift from her shoulders as she sighed softly.

"So you're finally awake. I'm glad!" The cheerful voice of a mother came from right beside her. The little kunoichi turned her head slowly to see the beaming smiles of Nene and Hanbei. They both had tea in their hands and a tray of assorted breads next to Hanbei on the nightstand. "We've flushed all the poison out of your system, so given a bit more rest you'll be back in top shape again," said the older woman. She gave Tenten a pet to the head which made Tenten feel like a cat laying under the sun, lazy and content.

Hanbei nodded and gave Tenten a wink, "We were glad that Kanbei had some books to find a cure for whatever the heck that filthy ninja Kotaro made." He took a bite out of a small piece of bread and looked over at Nene, giving her a nudge before standing up to leave. "I'm heading out to check on other guests."

Tenten watched the boy leave and look back at Nene, "The others? Where's Motochika and Magoichi? Gaara? Are they all okay? What happened to Kotaro."

"Woah, slow down. Give me a second to answer your questions. Magoichi was found almost ten miles away from here. He was badly hurt, a few broken bones but nothing too severe. As for the prince... Well, from what we found at the scene, he was unconscious but that was due to the same king of poison you'd been infected with. Kotaro... Well..." Nene took a second to recall the fallout of the battle.

"There was an explosion not long after you got here. It was very loud, like it could of blasted your ears right off if you were a mile or two closer. When we went to investigate, we found the prince down but still breathing and away from him was Kotaro's body with pieces of his head around the forest." Nene took Tenten's hand and gave her a look of worry. "I'm just glad that you're alive. We've only known one another for a short time but I already feel like you're my daughter; that we're family."

Tenten felt warmth in her heart at those words. She knew the feeling; after meeting Nene and knowing her for just a short amount of time, she'd call Nene her mother. "I know the feeling... Mom." Tenten and Nene giggled softly as they let their hands go and Tenten looked over to the bread tray and saw the hairpin Gaara gifted. "Where is Gaara?"

"Behind you," she said, directing her eyes over on the other side of the bed and Tenten's gaze followed. "He hadn't left your side for the last two days. I tried to make him sleep but he wasn't having any of it. I've never seen anyone stay awake that long like it was nothing at all to them."

"Gaara..." Tenten whispered and looked back at Nene, who understood the situation and left to give the two ninjas some time together and talk. "Gaara... I'm sorry. I should of listened. I was being stupid and I put myself in danger. I thought I had it all under control, thinking I can leave and come back without trouble. I put my life, your life and the prince's life in danger. I'm so sorry."

"I'm simply happy to know you're okay." Gaara's voice was low and groggy but he pushed fatigue aside and looked into Tenten's eyes. He wanted to yell at her but seeing her recover made him just want to enjoy her company once more. Seeing her so lifeless in his arms had broken his heart and struck rage but now... "Tenten, there is something I must know. Did he do anything to you."

Tenten gave a slight twitch with her hand, she didn't want to remember, didn't want to think of what had happened in that cave but she bit back the fear and shook her head. "No... He almost... Things almost happen but you and Motochika stepped in just in time. He almost..." She was beginning to tremble from the memories but soon felt arms wrap around her and Tenten leaned into his body for warmth and comfort. "Gaara? Please stay like this a little longer with me. Please," she asked in a whisper.

"As you wish, my princess."

Thanks again for HHarlequin to double check my stories. I'll be starting up school so things will be slow once more. Please be patient and thanks for the reviews. More is to come!