Chapter 26 The End of the Sand.
"So we just wait?" asked Kankuro as he looked up at the entrance to the room, right beyond that was the infected army.
"Yes." said Gaara
"What are they waiting for, they could over run us in a few seconds." said Kankuro as he looked at his hands, his hands where now covered with a strange pattern of dark yellow, black and brown scales. His nails had fallen off as each finger was now pointed like Sasuke's and Karin's he figured he was becoming a snake type. He wasn't sure about Gaara, he knew he was turning into a mammal of some kind; he now had patches of light tan fur on his arms.
"Do you smell something?" asked a wolf type.
"No not really." said one of the many snake type as the wolf moved forward as he neared the door he suddenly fell to the ground.
"What the?" asked a snake as he moved forward only to fall down as well.
"Gas." said Kankuro "They must be flooding the room with knock out gas so they don't have to fight."
"And that they can capture us." said Gaara as he looked at his ninjas. "Everyone they have to just be on the staircase if we can reach them we can stop their justu if not they will have all of us without a fight."
"We are ready Gaara." said Kankuro "But what of the gas, won't we pass out?"
"Just don't breathe until we break into their line." Resounded Gaara as he turned toward the staircase. "Go."
Meanwhile out in the desert Temari slightly opened the door to the end of the hidden tunnel. "All right we are clear." said Temari as she stepped out into the early morning sunlight. The exit was located in the side of a sand dune slowly she and Shikamaru walked out.
"Who is there!" yelled a voice from above as Temari and Shikamaru looked up toward the top of the sand Dune only to see what looked like the outline of two snake people.
"Play along." said Temari as she tackled Shikamaru to the ground and started making out with him as the snakes came closer. The snakes stopped only feet above the entrance to the tunnel. If they had gone down to ground level they would of seen Naruto and the others hiding in the tunnel.
"What in the hell do you think you are doing?!" yelled Temari as the snakes backed off.
"We are a patrol looking for people Lady Tsunade wants." hissed the snake man
"Ya, ya a couple of foxes, two lions and two snakes." said Shikamaru as he placed his hand on Temari's breast causing a slight moan from her as Sakura covered Katara and Saito's eyes "and as you can see we are neither of those."
"Ya go away I need to claim my mate." said Temari as reached her hand down toward Shikamaru's privates.
"Stop!" yelled the snake
"We can't really stop, when you are in the season." explained Temari hoping she was looking the part of a sex craved female wolf who only wanted to do it with her mate.
"We know you dumb wolf, just wait for us to get some distance away." said the snake as he turned around "And make sure your back in camp as soon as you're done, we don't want you wolves in our new land."
"Your land this is the Sand's land not the snake's land." Thought Temari as the two snakes headed quickly up and over the sand dune.
"Very smart." said Naruto as he popped his head out of the hole
"Thank you." said Temari as she and Shikamaru very slowly separated.
"You could have made it a little more kid friendly." said Sakura as she pointed toward the wide eyed Saito and Katara.
"Sorry but we had make it look like I am in heat." said Temari
"Ok, what did I just see?" asked a confused Saito
"We will explain later." said Sakura "Now Temari which way to this Mt. Kimo?"
"It is on the boarder between Sand and Treasure." said Temari "So to the south in the grass lands of Treasure country."
"I never been to Treasure country, how far away is it?" asked Naruto
"A day and a half to two days at human speeds." said Temari "Now let's get going before the snake people come back."
Meanwhile in the Sand the remaining ninjas charged forward into the knockout gas all the while holding their breath. The line of creatures was stunned when out of room came pouring a mixture of half transformed people at the lead was Gaara. Gaara was the first one to hit the enemy; because he was already losing control of his sand because of his turning he just simply punched a bear woman across the face. That blow broke the control of the justu. The gas was no longer being funneled down into the hold it was now spreading out all over the area. However because of the size of the area that the gas was heavier then air could only knock someone out if they where low to the ground.
"Hello Tsunade." Said Gaara as he say the she wolf Hokage standing there.
"Gaara, why couldn't you just stay down there and go down peacefully?" asked Tsunade
"Because we are ninjas of the Sand and we don't go down without a fight." explained Gaara as the corner of his face sand armor just fell away showing a light grey fur.
"Well we tried to spare your life but it looks like you are not going to let me." Said Tsunade as she got into a stance, her already limited chakra was low from all the fighting she had done last night however her new form didn't need chakra to fight. It had a natural strength that surpassed anything she could have done as a human. "This isn't good for me, Gaara had a lot a chakra to begin with, he may be turning and every moment it is going down but he still has more chakra then me. He may actually be able to defeat me."
Her salvation came from an unexpected source as suddenly Kankuro punched his younger brother across the face sending him to the ground and gas. Gaara's lungs quickly filled with the gas. He just had time to look up at his brother before he passed out.
"I don't know what that was for but thank you." said a confused Tsunade
"I didn't do it for you." said Kankuro as he looked at his brother passed out on the floor "I did it for him."
"Why can I ask?" asked Tsunade
"He has something to live for, he and his girlfriend are going to be parents." explained Kankuro
"So you knocked him out so that he could be a father." said Tsunade "I understand, if you want I can knock you out and you can see your niece or nephew when born?"
"No, someone has to fight." said Kankuro "However can you try to make Gaara's girlfriend, Matsuri. She is in bunker number 3."
"I will try." said Tsunade
"Thank you." said Kankuro as he charged forward two poison tipped fangs.
Meanwhile out in the desert Temari stopped in her tracks. "What is it?" asked Shikamaru as he and everyone else stopped. Slowly Temari looked back toward the sand, in the sky the thick dark clouds of the fires still burned.
"It is just a feeling." said Temari as she remembered her trip back to the Sand all those years ago and the cup of tea broke. "Like something bad just happened."
"Hello we are all half human half animal monsters something bad happened a long time ago." Snapped Saito
"No, worst then that." explained Temari
"What could be worst?" asked Saito as his sister just looked at him.
"Like her brothers dieing, just like mom did." explained Katara as Saito lowered his head.
"Sorry, I forgot that her family is still back there." Said Saito
"Its ok." said Temari as she lowered her head. "They did what they felt was right and they died for the village."
As she was speaking her brother Kankuro stood in front of Tsunade, however her fist had gone straight though him and out the other side. Warm blood ran out of his body and down Tsunade's arm making the fur stick to her body.
"You could have just given up?" asked Tsunade as she looked into Kankuro's eyes as life started to leave him.
"Well when one doesn't have someone or something very important to live for then it is better to die as a human then turn." explained Kankuro with a grin.
"But you had your siblings to live for?" stated Tsunade
"I don't have someone like Shikamaru for Temari and Matsuri and a baby for Gaara." said Kankuro "I love my siblings but I like being human more."
"So you are willing to die?" asked Tsunade
"Yes." said Kankuro with his last breath.
Tsunade lowered her head of the lost of such a powerful ninja.
"He would have made a strong member for the snakes." said Tsunade as she pulled her arm out of Kankuro's body, she could actually see though the blood drenched opening. She could even see the white of the spine. Unlike most casts she didn't just throw the body over her shoulder as if he was nothing. Instead she lowered him gently to the ground.
"Lady Tsunade it is over." said a tiger man as he walked up carrying a knocked out Sand ninja in hand.
"No it isn't Naruto and the others we want are missing and they have the cure." said Tsunade
"It is only a matter of time until we have them." Said the tiger
"With time they could expand the cure they already have, no we need to hunt them down." said Tsunade
"Ok, but first we have a village to turn." said the tiger as he looked at the Kazekage. "I wonder what he is becoming."
Just then a pair of claws came out of Gaara's hands, they where black and extremely covered. The claws then retracted back into his body.
"Purrfect." said the tiger extending the r as a sign of his joy "He is becoming a cat of some kind."
"Too bad." said Tsunade as she shook her head "And you will have more because Gaara is going to be a father and I made a promise to his brother that I would do everything possible to keep a young family together."
"Do you have the supplies to turn her here?" asked the tiger
"No and I am betting the medical lab of the sand was cleaned out by Sakura." said Tsunade "We will just have to be careful and transport her to the Leaf."
"We could take her to the cloud." said the tiger "That is where we cats are making our new home."
"Gaara still has his human mind and we don't know if his mate has the vaccine or not but we all know that there is a strong instinct to stay near your mate no matter what race you all." said Tsunade.
"Very well then how do we transport her to the Leaf?" asked the tiger
"The same way we transported Hana's family to the boarder of the sand before we transformed them." said Tsunade as she tried not to remember the look of fear on that little two year old boys face when they infected him, instead she focused on his smiling new face when he finished turning and he enjoyed his new body.
As she was thinking two of her wolves walked over to pick Gaara up and take him to the holding area. "Hold it, tie him up and take him to the hold." Said Tsunade as the wolves and the tiger man looked at her.
"The villagers need to see their Kage and his mate needs to see him or else she will fight us and then she may get infected before we are ready." said Tsunade
Matsuri sat in the dark dimly lit bunker. The bunker system was built during the Sound war but it still wasn't a place anyone wanted to be but for a ninja who was used to seeing action sitting and waiting was hell. She had found she was pregnant the same day that they got news from Temari that the Leaf had fallen and almost every single allied Ninja was infected. She looked at her watch it was almost noon, around 3 am was the sound of the last explosion however because of the way the bunker was set up you could only hear the loudest of explosions.
"Gaara I hope you are ok." Thought Matsuri as waited for the huge metal and stone door. She was the only one who still stood by the door, everyone else had moved down deeper into the bunker system. Each of the 16 bunkers where separated from each other and could hold up too a thousand people each for 5 days. They where made of a large tunnel to the surface and then deeper down and behind yet another door were the main holding room.
Suddenly the huge door started to open as light flooded the dark tunnel. "Gaara?" asked Matsuri as she saw a figure lying on the ground. She couldn't make it out clearly at first because of the sudden increase in light. However as her eyes adjusted she saw the truth. There was Gaara or his animal form. His face had taken on the clear cat like features as his face was covered with light tan almost sand color fur he had white fur around his mouth and two lines of black ran from the side of his lips to his eyes. Two tan cat ears popped out of his hair however the black marks under his eyes and the red mark on his forehead remained only in fur.
"Gaara!" yelled Matsuri as she ran forward without thinking. She just had to see him. She bolted though the door before sliding on her knees to a stop right by Gaara thanking her full body armor for protecting everything part of her body. (Except her face every inch is covered in amour)
"Gaara-kun?" asked Matsuri as she placed her gloved hand on his shoulders trying to shake him awake. "Come on Gaara wake up."
"He will wake up in time Matsuri." said a new voice as Matsuri turned to see an entire pack of wolves, cats, snakes and other animals all around her. Instantly Matsuri jumped up and pulled a kunai from her vest she stood over Gaara.
"I am not letting you take him." Yelled Matsuri
"We have no intention of harming you." said the lead wolf as Matsuri relieved who it was.
"Tsunade?" asked Matsuri
"Yes, and I have a deal for you and Gaara's child." said Tsunade as Matsuri's eyes widened "Yes, I know about it now the question is do we just infect you and hope you turn into a cat like Gaara or you can come with us peacefully and you form a family with Gaara."
Matsuri just stood their thinking if she wanted to risk not being with Gaara when she turned because at the moment she knew there was no way for her to get out without being infected and without the vaccine in her she would be an animal just like them in time. So the choices where try to escape and maybe not have a family with Gaara or don't try and have a family with Gaara. Either one she would lose her humanity.
Tsunade smiled as Matsuri threw her weapon to the floor before knelt down beside Gaara again stroking his new fur covered face with her gloved hand.
"You made the right choice, your family is more important then your humanity." said Tsunade
"Shut up you bitch." Cried Matsuri as the sounds of screams filled the air as the people in the bunkers where dragged out, infected and then turned. Some of the people tried to fight back but where quickly subdued, others simply cried and still others just stood there to stun to cry or fight back. Matsuri watched as mother desperately tried to shield her you daughter in her arms from being infected however they was no shielding for this as they where both infected. It was the end of the sand as a human village.
Well I hope you liked this chapter. I have set up another Fanfiction poll including clips from the two upcoming stories from me. Thanks Wilkins75.