Chapter 11: Daisuke and a Bad Headache

"You're here to escort us to the Wind Daimyo?" asked Kankuro as he ran over to where Izuka and Gaara were standing.

"Yes" answered Daisuke as he started to tentatively walk closer to the group.

"Hold it." said Temari as she joined the trio. "How do we do we know that you're telling the truth. I've been to the Wind Daimyo's palace before, but I have never seen you there."

"I was recently appointed to his advisors' council about a month ago." said Daisuke matter-of-factly as he continued to close the gap between him and the teens. Currently, he was ten feet away from the group.

"I still don't believe you." said Temari.

"Me neither and I haven't even been to the Wind Daimyo's palace. I don't usually trust guys that dress up like trees." said Kankuro as he pointed at Daisuke.

Daisuke looked down at his green shirt, brown pants, and brown sandals. "Sorry. I ran out of clean clothes to wear. I'm not much of a laundry person. At least I don't wear a cat hat."

"You did not just go there." said Kankuro as he started to walk over to Daisuke, clenching his hands into fists. Gaara immediately used his sand to bring Kankuro back over to his side.

"How long have you been following us?" asked Gaara as he continued to stare down Daisuke.

"Actually, I've been following you ever since you left the Sand village. I was in the village for another assignment when I got a message from the Wind Daimyo to escort you to his palace. By the time I went over to the Kazekage building, you guys had already left the village. I had to grab all my stuff in a hurry in order to catch up to you guys." exclaimed Daisuke as he took off a big backpack from his shoulders.

"How were you able to follow us unnoticed. I would have sensed you if you were at least 100 kilometers from us." said Izuka. With her ANBU past, Izuka had learned how to sense people within a seven mile radius of her.

"Oh, sorry about that. You see, because of my status as one of the Wind Daimyo's advisors, there's a big bounty on mine and anybody else's head if you work for the Wind Daimyo." said Daisuke in an exhausted tone. "We're required to wear seals that enable are presence to be undetectable whenever we leave his palace."

"Oh really? Can you give us just one second, Daisuke? The four of us need to talk about this for a moment." said Temari.

"Of course. Go on ahead. I understand." said Daisuke as he sat down on his backpack.

"Thank you, Daisuke." said Temari. She grabbed Kankuro by his shirt collar and dragged him back towards the cave. Gaara and Izuka followed the two.

"Do you guys believe him?" asked Temari as she let go of Kankuro's shirt collar as they reached the cave.

"Hell no! He insulted my cat hat!" exclaimed Kankuro as he pointed to his head at the said hat in question.

"So you do admit that it's a cat hat?" Gaara asked as he looked over at his brother.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Kankuro. Gaara looked away, smirking.

"I'm not sure about that Daisuke guy. I don't know if his story is legit." said Temari as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Me neither." said Gaara as he did the same thing.

"You know. There is a way that we can find out without him knowing." said Kankuro as he looked over at Izuka's direction. Temari and Gaara did the same, realizing what Kankuro meant.

It took a while for Izuka to realize what was going on. "No." she deadpanned.

"WHY?" whined Kankuro and Temari. Gaara just gave Izuka a sympathetic expression, knowing what she meant by her statement.

Thanks to Ryuna, Izuka was telepathic, but her power came with a cost. Anytime she looked into another person's mind or lifted things with her mind, it would give her a headache or make her faint. It was because of these symptoms that she barely used her psychic powers. The only times that she didn't suffer from her psychic power was when she telepathically communicated with Gaara and when she used her power to make herself fly. (Take that Iwa nin.)

"Come on Izuka. Just this once." asked Temari as she tried the puppy-dog eyes on her.

"No, and besides, Matsuri does the puppy-dog eyes better than you." said Izuka as she glared at the wind mistress.

Kankuro laughed at Temari's stunned expression. "OH SNAP! YOU JUST GOT PWNED, SIS!" exclaimed Kankuro in between giggles.

Gaara said nothing. Instead, he looked at his blonde friend.

"We don't have any other option, Izuka. I think your telekinesis is our only option." he said in a defeated tone.

Izuka sighed in understanding, realizing that there was no other option. "Fine. Catch me if I faint, okay."

Gaara nodded and moved over to Izuka so that he would catch her if she passed out. Izuka closed her eyes and started to scan the area with her mind. Once she found Daisuke's presence, she started to look through his brain. After five minutes straight of looking through images and memories of paperwork and giving the Wind Daimyo advice, Izuka concluded that Daisuke was telling the truth.

"It's true. Daisuke is what he says he is." said Izuka as she placed a hand right on her forehead. Gaara placed a hand on Izuka's shoulder.

"Are you going to be all right?" asked Gaara in a worried tone as he looked at Izuka's face. Since the recent mind excursion, Izuka skin became a sickly pale complexion and her eyes were droopy.

"I'll be fine." said Izuka as she wiped a bead of sweat from her face.

"You're not fooling anyone." said Temari as she handed Izuka a wet towel. "Put this on your forehead."

"Like that's going to help." said Izuka, but she took the rag anyway.

"So Daisuke was telling the truth, huh? Looks like I owe him an apology." said Kankuro. He walked over to the cave's entrance.

"HEY DAISUKE! EVERYHING'S CLEARED. WE'LL LET YOU ESCORT US TO THE WIND DAIMYO'S PALACE!" Kankuro screamed.

Izuka groaned in pain. "Ugh. No loud noises please." she moaned. Gaara and Temari glared at their fellow sibling.

"Sorry." apologized Kankuro.

Daisuke walked into the cave a few seconds later. His attention went straight towards Izuka. "What happened to the Lady Sage?" he asked in a worried tone.

"It takes a while to explain." said Temari as she sat down on the cave's floor. Daisuke and Kankuro followed after her. Gaara helped Izuka to sit on the ground and after he sat down, Gaara let Izuka rest her head on his shoulder.

"Let's get back to the matter at hand, shall we?" said Gaara as he scanned the cave. His gaze met Daisuke's. "Why has the Wind Daimyo called for our presence?"

"He hasn't even told me." said Daisuke simply. "What did he write to you in his message?"

"That he'll explain the situation once we get to his palace" said Kankuro.

"I see." Daisuke turned towards the cave's entrance, where light started to pour in from the east. "The sun is starting to rise. We need to leave quickly if we're going to evade any bandits."

Kankuro turned to his siblings. "You guys didn't tell me this was bandit country!" he said in a strained voice.

"We can handle them." said Temari. "Besides, we can't leave yet while Izuka is weak." They all turned their heads to Izuka, who had officially passed out on Gaara's shoulder five minutes ago.

"How long do you think she'll be like that?" asked Daisuke.

"Whenever she goes through a fainting spell, it usually takes her a few hours to for her to get to full strength." said Gaara as he observed the blonde girl sleeping on his shoulder.

"If that's the case, we'll just have to wait. Hopefully, no bandits will try anything on us." said Daisuke.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up." said a gruff voice.

Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, and Daisuke all turned their heads to the cave's entrance. A group of about 12 men stood at the entrance, each one as ugly and mean looking as the one next to him. A man walked up from the middle of the group.

"Well what do ya know? We got a group of travelers on our hands boys." the man said. "Looks like we got a fan user, a puppeteer, an advisor to the daimyo that's dressed like a tree, the Kazekage of Suna, and-"

"The Sage of the Sixth Paths!" piped up from another man in the group in a lustful manner. Gaara gritted his teeth when he heard that last comment.

"Indeed, my friends." said the man. "She'll fetch a pretty penny on the black market." he continued with a sneer.

Gaara was getting more and more agitated by the second. Ever since the war, Gaara has been more protective of the people close to him, especially Izuka. And not just because of her cookies, if you know what I mean.

"Come on men. Let's capture them." he continued.

Daisuke, Temari, and Kankuro got into fighting positions. Gaara laid Izuka down next to her backpack, grabbed his gourd, and put it on his back as he stood up.

"Come on everyone. Let's show these idiots what we're truly made of." said Kankuro.

Gaara's sand started to swirl around him and then around the whole cave.

"With pleasure."

End of Chapter 11

Author's note: Review and vote on my poll, located on my profile page. The battle ensues next chapter.