Author's Note: Yeah. I'm horrible. Really, really horrible. Will you guys forgive me? I have a lot of stuff to do right now and thus lack of fanfic time. It's complicated. I hope this chapter is worth the wait.
Also, we finally have meaning for the title of this fic! Haha! (Oh, and I finished this at five to midnight, so forgive me if there's some typos.)
Sasuke says: "Review or the Kanky gets it."
Warnings: Violence, etc.
Twelve. W.A.R.
Kankuro
There was a party of five coming across the horizon. I could see them from the slats between the blinds in Gaara's office.
"So," he said. "Seems Konoha is finally staging their attack against me."
I managed a weak smile. "Uchiha is on the front line."
"Good. If I have to die by one hand, I would prefer it be his."
"You admire him that much?"
"No," Gaara shook his head. "It's not that at all. It's just…if someone besides me chooses to take my life…I'd rather it be someone who knows my own hands as well as his." He held both his hands in front of his face, staring but not really seeing.
"You're not making any sense."
He shook his head again and pressed a finger to each temple. "I'm sorry. It's just…nerves, I think. There are far more people than these five that want to kill me, Kankuro."
He handed me a scroll. "Here. Go to the gates and deliver this. I want to know their response immediately."
So I went.
xxx
Uchiha snatched the scroll from my hands as soon as I shut the gate behind me. "Touchy," I smirked.
Uchiha's wicked smile grew bigger as he read the message. "Oh, look at this. He's pleading with us to surrender. How cute." He thrust the scroll back into my arms. I bowed my head, having nothing to say. "Oh, don't cry," he said. The sarcasm in his voice was evident. "After all, you'll be dead in a few hours, anyways. I'll leave Suna alone. All we want is you."
"Why?" I yelled. "Why do you want me?"
Aubrame Shino emerged from the back of the group. "You kidnapped my best friend and raped him," he hissed in a low voice. "We would like justice."
"Wait—I did what?" I yelped.
Uchiha smiled. "Exactly my point. You did everything. This is entirely your fault, Kankuro of Suna. Maybe if you hadn't been so stupid, things would have turned out differently. We could have had a treaty, even. But as for now…" he glanced down at the scroll, and his eyes flashed as he glanced back at my face. "Tell Gaara I say no."
xxx
"He said what?"
"He said no, Gaara." I hung my head. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. This is my fault, not yours. If I hadn't started this war, they wouldn't be marching on Suna right now. Damn Konoha. This is their fault—theirs and Uchiha's."
I gulped and leaned back against the wall. What was I to tell him? Uchiha had said that they were here for me. Aubrame had thought that I'd—I'd—no. How had they even come up with that logic? Surely Kiba had said…
"But…you…you slept with me…" I said, stunned. "Didn't that…didn't that mean anything to you?"
"It meant plenty!" Kiba said. "No, it's not like that! The sex…last night was incredible! I mean, I've never been with a person like that before. But to say it's love, after just one night…it's too soon. Love and sex aren't the same thing, Kankuro. And while I love having sex with you, I don't love you. Not yet. Love…it's a scary thing. And I'm…I'm so afraid!"
I fell forward. The shock was too much—he couldn't take it.
Kiba, I love you. Really love you.
I blinked. Gaara was waving some sand in front of my face. "Kankuro. Kankuro, are you alright?"
"Fine," I murmured.
"Good," he said. "Go back to this band from Konoha and request for me to meet with them first thing tomorrow. We need to sort this out."
"But Gaara…" I whispered, trailing off. "Gaara, the representatives that have to come to represent Konoha…"
"So what if it's Uchiha? I told you before, if I have to die by one hand, I'd prefer it to be his."
"But Gaara…"
"But what? What is it, Kankuro?"
"Why? How did this happen? How did you, Gaara, the one who loves only himself, as it was once said, come to love someone as distant as that guy? How the hell did this happen right underneath mine and Temari's noses?"
He sighed and took a flask from one of his drawers, taking along draught. "It's a long story. There's no time for it now, really."
"Not even a summary? Gaara, I discovered it in the least gentle way possible. I at least deserve an explanation, don't I?"
I certainly thought I did. If I had to walk in on Gaara being fucked by Uchiha, I at least wanted to know why.
"It was a few months ago," he said finally. "Uchiha had been on a mission in the Earth country. He came to me with no where to rest for the night, after journeying nearly nonstop for two days. I let him stay with us. With me."
"And so you slept with him? What kind of logic is that?"
"I'm not sure, really. I think we were both just rather…desperate."
Kiba, I love you. Really love you.
That was what Gaara's story made me think of: Kiba. He was gone. I had woken up, and he simply hadn't been there.
I didn't know what to think. He'd said he didn't love me, and then he'd left. Was it my fault? Had I forced myself on him?
"You kidnapped my best friend and raped him," he hissed in a low voice. "We would like justice."
What if—what if I had forced myself on him? What if he hadn't wanted it? What if—?
No.
My breathing slowed. The more I thought, the more I realized he'd forced it on me. He'd kissed me, and he'd been the one grinding his hips against mine, so desperate for intimacy. Not that I'd minded, of course.
Neither of us had forced it—something had been there, and it hadn't been rape.
We wanted to be together. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was something I wasn't factoring into the equation.
"Kankuro," Gaara said. My head snapped towards him. He was sitting at his desk, head down, fingers laced together. His dark-rimmed eyes locked onto mine. "Now that I've told you about Uchiha…what about you and the Inuzuka? Taking him into your room…do you know what I think? What Konoha thinks? Why would you do something like that, Kankuro?"
"I know what Konoha thinks," I whispered. My fingers skid against the rough stone of the wall as I searched for something to grip on to. There was nothing, so I slowly slid to the floor.
Gaara rose from behind his desk. "And?"
"And they're wrong. I didn't kidnap him."
"So what did you do, then? Tell me, Kankuro."
"I—I was helping him," I spit out. My voice was rough and emotionless. I didn't like telling this story—it was a hard one to tell. "I found him lying in the forest—he was wounded by one of our shinobi. He'd been sent on the retrieval team for Yamanaka Ino, and his teammates had abandoned him. I decided I had to help him, but I knew Konoha would turn me away, no matter how urgent my business. So I brought him back here. I didn't tell you because I thought you'd take him as a prisoner of war. And I…I didn't want that for him. I thought he deserved more than that. He was…special."
Gaara nodded and slid down next to me. "I see."
"But it wasn't wrong!" I protested. My voice boomed off the walls, and I could hear some shinobi scrambling in the next room. "I only did what was right! I love him, Gaara! I love him!"
"What's right," Gaara said softly. He chuckled, which surprised me. He normally wasn't the type to laugh, no matter what the situation. "Someone once told me that war stands for We Are Right. But now I find myself asking…who is right? What is right? Are we right, or are they? It's a series of questions I can't bring myself to answer. With one question comes another, until finally my head hurts so bad that I can't think any longer. And that's when I need him," he said. Gaara's hand moved to his face, wiping at his cheeks. I realized he was crying. Just a few tears, but they were still there. "It's time like those," he laughed. His whole body was shaking. "When I think too much about right and wrong…that's when I need him. He comes along, and suddenly, in the middle of it all, he takes my hand. And that's when I realized that this is right, being in this moment. And those questions don't matter any more."
"But…what if they do matter? What if…what if I can't stop asking it?"
"What are you asking?"
"Did I do the right thing for him, or did I do it for me?" My voice was low, and a little panicked. "What if I was just being selfish? What if he really didn't want this at all?"
"Did you force yourself on him?"
"No." My brow furrowed. I was talking myself in circles. "He kissed me."
"Then stop being a dumbass."
I blinked, feeling slow and dense. Had Gaara seen something I hadn't?
"So…I'm being stupid because none of this is my fault, and I did what I thought was right and I probably saved Kiba's life and I don't deserve to be killed by Uchiha and Aubrame?"
"Right," Gaara said. He paused, as if taking in the full extent of my words. "Wait. Who wants to kill you?"
My throat was so dry that I could barely rasp the words. "Uchiha isn't here for you, Gaara."
Gaara's dark eyes narrowed. "So they've come to punish you for something I started?"
"No, they've come to punish me for something that is entirely my fault. I took him prisoner—I'm the one who deserves this. You didn't do anything."
"I started this war!" he yelled. With one sweep of his hand, all the papers flew off his desk like large, white snowflakes. A vase of lilies—not unlike the ones I had seen before—crashed to the floor, the water leaving a large stain on the pristine cream-colored carpet. "I started it, and this is my fault! And do you know why, Kankuro? Do you know why? It was because he called me WEAK! So I set out to show him I was strong enough for him! All I wanted was to prove myself!" He gripped the edge of his desk and took another sip from his flask. His eyes were wilder than I'd ever seen them. "And I still have to prove myself to him, even now! A leader has to take the blame for his people, no matter how badly those people may act. When I go to counsel tomorrow, you're coming with me."
I watched as he took a final sip from his flask, tipping it all the way back to get every last drop. Amber liquid ran down his chin, and the room smelled like dead lilies and stale alcohol.
I bolted, and he took that for an answer. He wasn't in the mood to hear no.
xxx
It was exactly sunrise when Gaara and I set out for the meeting point. It took us a day and a half to travel there. The meeting point was in the forest, dead center between Konoha and Suna. No man's land.
Uchiha and his comrades were already there, toeing the thin line between the Land of Fire and Land of Wind. All five of them turned their heads in our direction as we became visible on the horizon.
"So you've brought a comrade," Uchiha called.
I didn't know whether he was talking to me or Gaara. All I knew is that I was walking, however slowly, to my death. Each step the sentence bore down on me. Much as Gaara insisted we would make them "See The Light", I had my doubts. Just from the way their brows knit at the sight of us, I could tell that this was no place for simple apologies and explanations.
They had no time for that.
I could see the Lee kid flexing his legs, and Hyuuga was already set with his Byakugan. Smalls beetles were already crawling in little black lines across Aubrame's cheeks. Weapons glittered from the lone kunoichi's fingers, poised to strike.
And Uchiha had his blood-red eyes set on Gaara, and no one else. As lovers, as rivals, he and Gaara had eyes for no one except each other.
Gaara held out a hand, which they all refused. "Greetings," he said. "I am Gaara, Kazekage of Suna, as all of you know. I have come here to negotiate terms associated with the end of this war between our countries."
Sasuke stepped forward, a long bundle of white paper in his arms. He pulled it open, revealing a dozen or so white lilies. I smiled. A present for Gaara—how sweet.
It made me wonder if Kiba or I would ever do anything for on another like that. Not that he'd like flowers or anything as girly as that. Something else, maybe. Beef jerky, or a bottle of sake, maybe.
Once this war was over, I'd go see him. Gaara was withdrawing a scroll from his robe—the treaty. I remembered what Uchiha had said the night before about their being no treaty. Perhaps he'd changed his mind.
The instant the last drop of ink was put on that parchment, I was set to race across the Konaha line. I wanted to hold my Kiba.
My Kiba.
I promised myself I wouldn't let him go, not until death took him from my arms.
Just as Gaara held out the scroll, Sasuke threw the lilies at his feet. "I brought you a present," he said sweetly. "You can lay them on your brother's grave once we're through with him."
"What?" Gaara's pale eyes grew wide as he realized what was happening. Uchiha nodded, and the other shinobi sprang on me. I barely had time to initiate my puppet master jutsu. "We had a deal! You promised you wouldn't do this!" Gaara yelled.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "And when did I say that?"
"Last night." Gaara's voice quivered as the shinobi advancing on me stopped and turned to listen. "Last night, you promised. You told if I did what you wanted, you wouldn't hurt him!"
"I lied."
Last night? My mind was racing. They had met last night, again? How had I not noticed? Had Gaara really done…that…for me?
Gaara clutched at his head. His voice was a low, demonic roar. It reminded me of back when he had been Shukaku. "You can take my heart!" he snarled. "Take my mind, take my purity, take all you want. You can even take my life," he pleaded, holding out a hand that Uchiha didn't take. "But you will never, never take the life of one of my villagers so long as I'm Kazekage!"
Sand shot from the gourd on his back, pinning Uchiha to the tree by the throat. The fighting commenced, and Hyuuga rounded on me. I had no time to hide, and shooting a smoke bomb would jeopardize any of Gaara's chances against Sasuke.
My attempts at moving Karasu's arms were weak. I didn't want to fight. I didn't want to kill anyone. What if I killed someone he loved? Would he forgive me?
Aubrame took advantage of my uncoordinated stance to slip a swarm of bugs my way. I dove, pulling Karasu into the bushes with me. I pulled a scroll off my back and summoned Kuaori. Hopefully two puppets would even the score.
The only problem was two puppets took even more skill than one, and my form was already off with Karasu. The kunoichi—Tenten—took one of her knives and tried to wedge it in Karasu's neck socket. With a flick of my pinky she was drawn into Kuaori.
Nobody moved. Just a twitch of my other hand, and this would all be over. She would die.
Not that I wanted her to. Hyuuga took advantage of my dilemma to swiftly plant a chakra-filled hand right against my left lung. I wheezed and fell, writhing. It was nearly impossible to catch my breath. Then the next kick came from the Lee kid, swiftly against my jaw. Bugs swarmed my nose, my mouth, my eyes. A hollow beating against Kuaori's cage told me that the kunoichi was eager to rejoin the battle that I had so clearly lost. It was either free her now or let her be freed once my hands moved no more.
I chose the first option, and immediately a kunai came soaring down and planted itself firmly in my right shoulder.
Hyuuga landed a blow to my stomach, and my back arched, only to have my body slammed back into the earth by the Lee kid. I choked—the beetles were filling up my mouth, and my chakra was leaving me. I couldn't breathe.
There was a high-pitched chirping, crackling sound from my right. Just from the corner of my eye, I could see that Uchiha had Gaara, bruised and beaten, cornered against a tree. And now he was going in for the kill.
"No!" I jumped, ready to take the attack for Gaara. My body was hit hard from above. I went down once more.
Something wet and salty dripped down my lips and the side of my cheeks. I licked it. Blood, but not my blood. It was coming from somewhere above my head.
I blinked up as the blood seeped down my forehead and into my eyes. I blinked it away with tears. Tears not to blink the blood away, but for the pain.
Standing above me, legs planted on either side of my head and shoulder caked with blood, was Kiba.
Why? Why are you bleeding…why aren't you saying anything? Kiba, no, don't…don't…
Behind him, Hinata was mumbling breathlessly to Shino and the other ninja, who were nodding to everything she said. Gaara stood in the midst of all the commotion, not bother to ask how or why. It seemed Uchiha had broken him, if just a little. Sakura and Naruto, who both had shown up precisely at the right time, each had one arm around Sasuke, holding him back. His left hand was pinned against the tree in at my feet.
The right was planted inside Kiba's shoulder.
I found my voice in the quiet aftermath. "Someone get a doctor!" I yelled, licking Kiba's blood from my sun-chapped lips. Everyone turned, finally realizing the gravity of the situation. Still, they did nothing. I gathered all the energy in my weary body and yelled as loudly as I could, tears blurring the shapes above me. "Someone help Kiba!"
All hell broke loose as they tried to figure out how to save my Kiba, my love.
