The fire continued to burn the Kazekage's Mansion like it was made of paper.
Almost suddenly though, the fire was doused; doused by an unlikely source. Sand. The squad below stared with wide eyes as a giant wave of sand drowned the fire in the sand castle.
"… Gaara??" Kankuro finally called out; God help him if it wasn't.
As a sort of response to Kankuro's call, Gaara walked out from behind the mansion, with Temari following close behind. Kankuro exhaled a long-held breath and jogged up to them.
"You guys alright??" He said, almost demanded, actually.
"We're fine Kankuro," Temari answered, stepping up beside Gaara, "Thanks to Gaara anyway."
"Whoa, how the hell did you guys get out of there in one piece??" Kiba thought out loud.
Temari gave the unusual group a questioning look and then turned back to Kankuro as if expecting an explanation of some sort.
"That can wait," Kankuro answered, "Was there anyone else inside?"
Temari's expression turned grim, and she opened her mouth to speak when Gaara interrupted.
"There was," He slightly accented the 'was' part.
"So you're saying that they were caught in the explosion?" Naruto asked.
Gaara glanced at Naruto momentarily, "Not quite… It's not something that's easy to explain."
"We can show you," Temari said hesitantly, "Before the other Sand ninja come to clean up the mess…" With a beckoning hand, she and Gaara led everyone to the back of the Kazekage's Mansion, "Here," She pointed to the body of a Sand ninja sprawled on the ground.
Everyone made sick and angry faces as they all realized that there were no puncture wounds on the body. He did, however, look like he'd been tortured… Badly.
"Damn it!!" Kankuro cursed, clenching his fists.
"What could they be trying to accomplish?" Temari said in barely above a horrified whisper.
"That's why we're here," Shikamaru said dryly, standing up. He had been crouched over to examine the body. He turned to Temari, "As for their goal; we don't know. But we do know how they've been killing these people."
A group of Sand shinobi came around to the back and- like Temari said –started to look around the mansion for the major area of damage.
"… I kind of think that we should be someplace more private," Shikamaru said again, "Not that they can't know, but it'd probably be best to keep a low profile right now; we don't want more people to panic."
Temari nodded in agreement, seeing that Shikamaru had a valid point, "Yeah, I understand. We have a house here that we can talk freely in."
"A house?" Naruto looked a little confused, "I thought you guys lived in the Kazekage's place?"
Temari gave Naruto a look like he asked an obvious question, "It's always good to have a back-up place to stay, isn't it?" She said this matter-of-factly, "Besides, we really have no reason to live there anymore."
"…I still don't get it," Naruto thought tiredly.
The group had successfully maneuvered their way out of the still shocked crowds and into the house Temari spoke of without much trouble. The house itself was a relatively small place, with the bedrooms upstairs and more living space in the entryway. Everyone moved silently into the living room – a round room with a couch and cushions lining the walls- and shifted into a comfortable position as Shikamaru started relaying what they knew about this deadly enemy trio and their experience with them.
"They never really said what their problem was with us," Naruto said, going into serious mode, "But it must've been something big for what they did to Shikamaru."
Choji flinched a little.
"… My guess is that they knew Kankuro was sent for reinforcements," Shikamaru stated after casting a quick glance at Choji's uneasiness, "They must've known how this was all going to play out."
"How do you figure?" Kankuro asked.
"Well, it seems a little too convenient that they would blow up the Kazekage's Mansion when they knew we were coming. Also, the fact that they used their genjutsu to tell me what they were going to do adds to the plan suspicion. They knew that we would come if we knew what was going to happen; and they set it up perfectly… But…" He sighed, "I've worked my head around all the angles and can't see a clear picture of what they want."
"Do you think they could be trying to destroy the village?" Choji asked. Temari and Kankuro shifted in their seats on the couch nervously.
"If they were trying to destroy the village, they would've done it by now," Gaara said suddenly. Everyone seemed a little startled at his interjection. He faced them unblinkingly, "You've all seen for yourselves what kind of power they have over one's mind. The fact that they also got around our security multiple times suggests that they would have no problem destroying us."
There was a small series of head nods from the people in the room after Gaara finished.
"Gaara has a point," Shikamaru said, crossing his arms, "These guys have been able to keep the villagers in a steady panic without even breaking a sweat…" He thought hard, trying to look at this from an intellectual point of view, being as he knew these guys were smart, "It almost seems to me that they want us here…"
"Why would they want us here?" Kiba asked, "I figure they're smart enough to know that we didn't come to help them out."
"I don't know," Shikamaru admitted with a heavy sigh.
There was a long silence in the room before anyone spoke up again. The first one to break the silence, actually, was Akamaru. A loud yawn escaped from his lips as he shuffled into a comfortable position at Kiba's crossed feet. The little dog's yawn made everyone realize that they still hadn't slept, and the more they thought about that, the more tired they became.
"Why don't we all get some sleep?" Temari said, "No use trying to figure things out when we're tired," She stood up, "We don't have enough beds for all of you…"
"That's ok, we came prepare- oh crap…" Naruto trailed off as he remembered that they had left their sleeping things at the campsite.
Temari chuckled a little at Naruto's idiocy, "We can have a group of shinobi go grab your things."
"You sure it's not too much trouble?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.
Temari stifled a laugh, "Come on, a little walk won't kill us."
"Wait," Kankuro caught the 'us', "Are you going Temari?"
"I don't see why not?" She smiled, "Don't worry Kankuro, I'll be fine; besides, you're all so wiped out you can barely stand…" Of course that was an exaggeration, "I'll be back," With that, she walked out the door and ran off to see if she could spare a few shinobi.
"Hope she doesn't run into those guys," Naruto said hopefully.
"Don't freak out about that," Kankuro chuckled, "If she finds them she'll kick their asses."
Who could argue with that?
"Thanks for the help Baki," Temari had just finished making arrangements with her sensei about taking a few ninja out with her to recover the group's things, "We'll be back soon."
"Right; watch yourselves out there," Baki nodded as he saw Temari and her little squadron off.
They dashed along the sands swiftly and quickly, pacing themselves as the hours rolled by, "Damn, they really ran a long way…" Temari thought as they all finally caught sight of the camp; the sleeping gear and doused fire was an obvious mark.
"Alright everyone, let's gather up the stuff and hightail it out of here," Temari announced. The group nodded and quickly gathered everything, putting them in the bags – though they didn't know whose was whose – and throwing them on their backs. Everyone was ready to leave when Temari held out a hand signaling for them to stop.
"Hold up…" She said quietly, "We've got company."
As they all braced themselves for an attack by the now dreaded Mashima brothers, an unexpected sight came. Instead of a ninja, a young man who didn't look older than his late twenties came fumbling out of the brush. Temari looked surprised as her muscles slightly relaxed.
"Please…" He gasped, falling on his knees, "Help… It hurts…"
Temari walked over to the man and knelt down, "What's wrong with you? Are you injured?"
"Please," The man said again with a gasp. He clenched his head, knotting his fingers in his black hair, "My… Head…"
Temari gasped silently as she remembered what Shikamaru had told her of what happened to the Mashima victims; this man matched up the description of someone who was going through that jutsu, "Damn!!"
"Ma'am??" One of the ninja asked.
"You!" Temari pointed to one of the ninja who didn't have anything on his back, "Can you carry him?? We need to get back to the village as soon as possible!"
The ninja she had shot her finger at nodded seriously and quickly heaved the suffering man on his back. With not a second to lose, they all shot off back to the Sand Village.
Temari wasn't sure if this mysterious stranger was from the Sand Village or not; she hadn't seen his face around, so she guessed not. However, he still needed help. And for her, anyone who they could save from the enemy counted. There was no way she would allow any more death in the Sand Village.
"Man, what a nightmare…" Naruto mumbled as he groggily sat up from his sleeping position on the floor, revaluating about his most recent nightmare. A world without ramen; sent shivers right down his spine, "I think I need to get some fresh air…" He clumsily stood up, trying not to step on anyone else that was sleeping on the floor like him, "They have a staircase to the roof, right?" He thought as he glanced at the spiral staircase in front of him, "Might as well…" With that thought, he slowly ascended up the stairs, making his way to the roof, where he was surprised to see someone.
"Gaara?" He questioned as a small sliver of wind blew through the air.
Gaara, who had been sitting on the rooftop with his hands on his knees, turned around and glanced at Naruto, "Naruto Uzumaki…" The blond shinobi felt a little uneasy, though he knew Gaara was a friend, "I would think that you'd be tired from your journey."
"Well, you know, just thought I'd come out for some fresh air," Naruto said, walking up and sitting next to Gaara, "Why are you out here Gaara?"
"…" Gaara was silent for a moment. The truth of the whole matter was that he couldn't, no, wouldn't let himself sleep, because of the Shukaku. But, even if he could sleep, he wouldn't want to this night, "… Something doesn't feel right."
"Huh?" Naruto was puzzled by his reaction, "What do you mean?"
"I'm not exactly sure," Gaara admitted in his monotone voice, "But I do know that something is amiss. There's uneasiness around the village."
"Well, that's not really surprising, is it?" Naruto asked, "I mean, your guys' Kazekage's Mansion thing was almost burned down; people are probably freaking out about that."
"… Maybe so," However, Gaara felt that there was more to the story than that. Being around death and blood so long, no, living for it, had made Gaara more aware of things in that genre than most. He did want to change the way he was; he wanted, truth be told, to be more like Naruto… However, that want didn't null his perception of when things were at ease, and when they weren't. And things, he knew, were not at ease. At least, they weren't going to be.
Author's Note:
First of all, sorry for not updating in so long! Been busy! XP
Kind of an awkward chapter I suppose, but I wanted this one to be told more about the Sand ninja like Gaara, Temari and Kankuro. Well, mostly Gaara and Temari. This is their entrance chapter, so I wanted to make it kind of focus on them, and what their thoughts on the situation were.
Also, I do love writing for Gaara. He's a fun one to make dialogue for. You have to be careful in what you type, because he's never ecstatic like Naruto and never quite depressed all the time like… Oh, I dunno, Kimimaro maybe. But if you type right in the middle, you can hear him say what you type; at least, that's what I do with him. I type something and try to imagine him in the series saying it. It usually works, and I hope I'm keeping him in good enough character. Please tell me if I'm not.
Someday I want to write a story in Gaara's point of view or at least a story about him. I think it'd be fun!
