After what seems like hours Kira and I finally manage to haul Gaara over to Chiyo's house. By the time I explain the whole situation to Chiyo, Gaara has nearly passed out. His eyes are squeezed shut and he can barely move without moaning. I don't know what that ANBU member did to him, but I'm surprised that Gaara's seal is still holding up at this rate. Though the sand covering half of Gaara's body hasn't moved much, the red marks have spread to the point where I can barely see any areas where they haven't reached yet.
Chiyo directs us into a small room which I'm assuming used to belong to Sasori judging from all of the various weapons scattered near a workbench. Even though she is now covered in sweat and gasping for breath, Kira still manages to lower Gaara only the cot that's against the far wall. Before she can do or say anything else, Chiyo literally drags Kira out of the room. I know that Chiyo's going to need some peace and quiet while she works, so I don't have long before I have to leave Gaara. I carefully bend down to hold his hand for a moment. I can barely even look at him without my eyes filling with tears now; if I even try to speak I think I won't be able to do much more than sob. Gaara opens his eyes just a little when he feels my hand around his. "I'll be fine," he hoarsely whispers before giving me a shaky smile. I try to smile back for Gaara's sake. I'd better get out of here before I get any more emotional. The last thing Gaara needs right now is to worry about me.
After I exit the room, Chiyo stops me. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave for a while. I won't be able to concentrate on fixing that seal if I can hear you crying while I'm working." Chiyo puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder in an attempt to keep me calm. "I know you want to help Gaara as much as you can, but I'm afraid there's nothing you can do here right now. Perhaps you and Kira could try and figure out why that man was sent here. That could help you stop worrying so much." Just looking at Chiyo makes me understand that she's silently asking for me to get Kira as far away from her as possible. It takes about two minutes after Chiyo locks herself in with Gaara to start the operation before I spot Kira with her ear pressed against the wall. "I said get out of here you crazy girl!" Kira leaps away from the wall as Chiyo yells at her and smacks something into the wall to emphasize her point. I can't resist chuckling a little as Kira sulks off with one hand rubbing her now sore ear. As much as I hate leaving Gaara, something tells me the daimyo needs to learn a lesson. It wouldn't kill me to have someone like Kira to shield me just in case things get ugly. I lead Kira towards the outskirts of the village before summoning Kamatari.
Kamatari can't stop himself from bearing his teeth at Kira even after I explain why we're bringing her. "Why are we bringing this untrustworthy girl for back up? We all know what happened to the last person to do that." Well that's just great, now he's dragging Takeo into this. What's next, Kankuro leaving the village and Sasori not showing up when we need him? "I can understand that we need help, but I don't think we need a drooling fangirl of questionable origins trailing us."
Kira lets out an exasperated sigh. "If I'm such a fangirl, why would I not want to help Gaara? He's the only person in this entire rotten village that doesn't treat me like the plague unless you count the cats. As for Takeo, he almost ripped my hands off. No offense, but anyone crazy enough to join forces with Orochimaru kind of does deserve to die." How is that not offensive? Before I can start unloading my anger on Kira, she resumes what I'm guessing will be a long speech. "I don't even know why I bothered coming here. The two men who could have helped me proved to be untrustworthy; Takeo was a lunatic and Sasori raped some woman he had been chasing for years before deserting her with their son who by the way has probably contemplated suicide judging by how poorly everyone treats him. I can't imagine why I'm surprised." Kira rolls up her right sleeve a few inches to reveal a dark red, softly glowing seal. "It's not like I was every treated well either."
Kira finally stops talking even though her whole body seems to be shaking with anger. Kamatari cautiously sniffs her arm for a moment before recoiling in horror. "So you do have something to do with that creature who has been helping the snakes!" Kamatari examines the seal for a moment before sighing with relief. "At least that seal only seems to be reacting to some traces of that thing's chakra. Come to think of it, this seal seems a bit like what Karura said the ANBU put on Gaara." Kira nods. Kamatari's fur bristles up, but he takes a few deep breaths to keep himself from slicing Kira into a million pieces. "You have to get out of here soon you know. The last thing we need is for someone to die just because you decided to run here. I'll take you to the daimyo, but you have to swear that you'll get out of this village within the next week. That seems like plenty of time to get your things in order." Kira quietly agrees. As Kamatari prepares to transport the two of us, I can't tell whether she looks more relieved or terrified. Personally, I just hope that Gaara isn't killed by whatever's going on here. If I find out that Kira's father was the one who sent that ANBU and Chiyo can't fix Gaara's seal, I swear that Kira is going to pray that her father had killed her before she ever even considered bringing this horrible mess anywhere near my family.