Chapter 21
The sun was high, which indicated that it must have been around noon. Aby was happy and she was humming to herself, under Sofia's gaze. She was disappointed that Sofia was already sleeping when she entered the tent the previous night; She wanted to tell her everything. But even in the morning, Sofia was not smiling. She was not as upset, but wasn't herself. She had asked her what happened. "I'll tell you some other time," she said with a smile. Sofia was now looking at her and smirked.
"Did you guys kiss again?" she asked.
Aby looked at her with a shy smile and held her hands.
"I'll tell you some other times," she answered teasingly, with sparkling eyes.
"Ohhhh my … could it be? Did it go … further than kissing?!"
"No! No, it didn' t…" she blushed, which confused her friend.
"Aby … it makes me happy but …" she whispered, "you know we have to go back, right?"
She sighed impatiently. Why was everybody telling her that!
"Yes! Yes! I know!"
She stopped walking and faced Abigail.
"Aby … don't go too far, I know you! Don't dive too deep, or you won't be able to come back up!"
"What does that even mean?!"
"I don't want you to get hurt!"
"You're the one to talk!"
She regretted her words instantly. Sofia was just trying to watch out for her. Her friend nodded sadly and let go of her hand, but kept walking by her side.
"Sofia, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."
"No, you're right, but in my defense, I can take it … can you?"
Abigail watched Gaara from behind; he was leading the group, as usual. Toshiko and Tori ran past her and in front of him, chasing each other with mud on their fingers.
For the first time, Sofia touched a nerve she didn't want to feel. She pictured herself and her friends going through the gate … leaving this world behind, including Gaara; and she felt pain.
"..."
Sofia squeezed Aby in a tight quick hug and walked on.
A few rainclouds passed by, letting a few droplets fall on them, occasionally. The forest was quite charming during day time, even when it was raining. Aby saw birds and flowers of all colors, all perfect, as expected.
She walked by the writer who was whistling.
"How was your training last night?" he asked. She blushed, to his surprise. "You DID train, did you not?" he asked with accusation.
"Yes!, what else would we do?" She blushed, thinking about all the possible answers. "Yes, I trained … he said that I was making progress; but I'm not sure about that."
"Well, if he said you did, then it must be true!"
"It's such a beautiful world," she said, trying to change the subject.
"Yes, with beautiful people too!" he smirked in her direction.
"I suppose," she feigned ignorance.
"Neesan! Tori made cake for you!"
Tori presented her dirt cake with flowers petals all over it. "Oh! Thanks Tori! So beautiful!"
Kankuro stopped in his tracks and shushed them. Gaara did the same, followed by Sasuke. Sakura and Yashiko got their kunais ready.
"What's wr …"
Kankuro shushed Sofia even harder. The shinobis looked around concerned. Gaara backed away cautiously, and stopped beside Aby and Sofia.
"We're being watched."
Aby looked around and listened, but couldn't see or hear anything. Only the wind flew by and wrestled with the leaves and long grass of the forest.
"I don't hear anything," she said.
"Exactly," explained Gaara.
She then realized; she didn't hear "anything"; The forest should have sounds in it; birds, animals, but it was completely quiet. She felt it too … the uneasiness of being watched. The same feeling when she met Gaara the first time. She glanced towards the children who stopped playing, concerned, but were still a few meters away, ahead from the group. She began to call out to them with a quiet voice, to come closer. As they rushed over, Tori was suddenly snatched away by someone who suddenly appeared from under the ground. A feat quite popular in the manga, but still impressive to see in real life! Two more guys stood behind them. Tori yelped and Toshiko ran to her, screaming. Kankuro caught him and restrained him.
"You're no match for that man, little guy!"
The shinobis had no time to plan an attack; one of the guys behind went straight for Abigail and Sofia and the other attacked Gaara. He easily dodged the attack, and Sofia was pushed aside by Abigail, who reacted by sheer instinct. The two girls ended up rolling on the ground, covering their bodies with scratches and bruises.
"STAY DOWN!"
Aby wasn't sure where or who the voice came from; the commotion was too confusing. She and Sofia held onto each other, staying low, and were joined by Toshiko.
Next was a chaos of dust, sand, wind and shouts. Everything was too fast for Aby to comprehend what was going on. She only knew they were in trouble; but why? Why were they attacked? Gaara was not joking when he said the enemy would use ambush as a technique of attack; it was very efficient!
She was blinded by all the dirt and dust from the ground. The sounds of flying and clinking kunais surrounded them. They were too afraid and shocked to scream and didn't know where to look. Everything was chaotic; a big mess of flying people and clothing.
Amidst the dust and confusing roar of metal against metal and body against body, Aby caught a glimpse of red and pink fighting a flying white and blue clothing, throwing series of punches and kicks against one another. Meddling in between, a clear glimpse of Sasuke and his spinning and swirling sword; she then saw a bright flash, followed by a blazing heat and a very loud chirping sound,
"CHIDORIIII!"
A red figure with a long red coat jumped out in front, twisting his body in a cloud of dust that was swirling in an unnatural way. Her eyes focused on it.
Gaara's fighting was unbelievable. The first time was impressive and scary enough as it was, the second time, he mainly avoided blows; this time, she watched in amazement at the speed he was attacking and counter-attacking, the exchange of blows were obviously more challenging then the previous fight she saw. The sand kept changing shape, as if it was alive. More impressive was how all shinobis were focused and seemingly in control amidst the chaos; none were in each other's way. It's as if they had choreographed the whole thing!
A strong wind suddenly appeared and sand was blown in her, Toshiko and Sofia's eyes … Temari was standing further away, her fan wide open, in a fighting stance; she had just overthrown one of the guys
Abigail's body suddenly moved backwards on its own; before she could understand what was happening, she saw a flash of metal pass an inch away right above her face; where it came from, was only her guess. Her body was stuck for a second and then released. She saw a man right behind her, dodging the kunai that struck a tree behind them. By the time she realized that the kunai was meant to disable the man who was out to strike them, he was already back in another fight, helping his buddy out. She realized a few seconds later that Shikamaru had thrown the kunai at the guy behind her, but seeing that she was in the way, he used his shadow possession jutsu to move her out of the way.
She heard Tori cry out and then, the chaos stopped. When she looked up, Tori had a kunai at her throat and was crying. Kankuro, somehow, was shielding the three of them from one of the guys, Gaara had a sand pike at Tori's assailant's throat and the rest of the shinobi were lined up, either facing him or the other, ready to strike.
Akio, Aby noticed, was nowhere to be found. Was he hiding? More importantly, where was the third guy?
As if to answer the question, a sharp object slightly poked her skin in her back. She instinctively raised her hands to show submission and the man laughed.
"Abigail! Don't move!" Sasuke yelled.
"Touch her and he dies!" Threatened Gaara, his knife on the tall guy's throat, still holding Tori.
The man chuckled, unafraid. "Kill him and SHE dies!" The man pointed to Tori with his chin. He dragged Abigail away and all eyes followed them, calculating a way to stop him.
"ABIGAIL!" cried Sofia, feeling helpless.
"Sorry sweetheart, but you need to come with us."
Temari growled, her opened fan spread across her back, ready to strike, but struggling to keep standing. It was Shikamaru, beside her, who spoke.
"Why do you need her?"
"That doesn't concern you!"
"It concerns me!" Growled Gaara angrily. "Let her go or he dies! Last chance!" he warned, struggling to keep his voice calm. The man laughed without a care.
"Lord Kazekage," warned Sasuke, "that's the guy with the poisonous blade …"
Aby felt the adrenaline rush through her, if she was confident in her abilities, she would have used water to get away, but she wasn't, and she was paralyzed with fear, for herself and Tori.
To be fair, she thought, I don't need to move … just a distraction …
She closed her eyes and tried to summon water with her mind. She flexed her fingers a little, and hoped it would work. It was like back at the cleft, summoning water without knowing where it was …
She anxiously waited, thinking it wasn't working, but the man holding Tori gasped.
"Yuuta! Behind you!"
The man holding Abigail looked back and saw tiny little water bubbles floating above the ground.
She hoped to see her friends grab the opportunity and strike, but instead, a small creature jumped out of the bushes, roaring; and landed at the throat of the man named Yuuta. He screeched and let go of Abigail, twisting and turning round and round, pulling at the creature's tail.
Gaara had summoned Shukaku somehow and planned to wait for the confusion to strike at his opponent who was holding Tori. However, the tall man was quicker than anticipated and slit part of Tori's throat, interrupted by Gaara who grabbed the blade with his bare hands and fell backwards, under the man's weight.
Aby saw Tori falling to the ground as if in slow motion.
The little girl's eyes grew big with terror. She held her neck where blood was pouring from.
Aby couldn't make a sound, but the boy did. The scream was a howl of despair. Tori convulsed on the ground, with tears and fear in her eyes.
Aby, like in a nightmare, couldn't look away. She felt an arm grab her and didn't have any strength or will to resist. Her legs gave in, her whole body shut down. She saw Toshiko run to his little sister, crying.
Sakura quickly followed and fell beside the girl, dropped her weapons and hovered her hands over the tiny neck without wasting time. Sasuke protected her from the guy who was fighting him and Gaara alternately.
Temari screamed in Aby's direction, but Aby didn't hear anything. She only saw her lips moving.
Her eyes became hazy. Her brain replayed Tori's throat being slit over and over again, like a nightmare, and she couldn't breathe.
Gaara fell on the ground again, holding the side of his rib cage, as Sasuke kept fighting the tall man. He struggled to get up, trying to comprehend why the sudden pain. He got up and fought, but soon started to feel an obstruction in his movement. His chest became sore, and every move became more painful with every second.
He took a second look to his side, and was surprised to see a kunai, lodged in his body. The realization made his body wake up with excruciating pain. How? When? He was used to his sand blocking any attack, so much so that he had taken it for granted until now. Somehow, this guy found a way in?
He took a deep breath and looked around. His eyes locked on Aby, being dragged away; her eyes were empty. His body found a new strength; he stood up and ran with difficulty towards Abigail who was being taken away.
Temari started to follow, but fell on her knee. Aby watched Shikamaru kneeling beside her and telling her something, with a concerned face.
Yashiko and Kankuro came into view, seemingly trying to reach Aby, but cut short by the third guy. Aby's assailant was surprised by Akio who resurfaced from his hiding spot and hit the man's head with a rock. Yuuta dropped Aby, long enough for Gaara to jump over her and wrestle with the man who was still up, but slowed down by the head injury. Aby looked up in a daze, seeing Gaara and the man fight. Gaara growled in pain a few times, slipped, but always jumped back up. To his surprise, the man's poisonous knife cut him a few times, but the adrenaline kept him moving, somehow being able to dodge blows on vital parts and counter attack. His sand was back, blocking most of the blows, but failing in some instances.
Abigail brought her fingers to the wet fluid she felt on her cheek; it was blood. She took a moment to realize that it was Gaara's. He was wounded on the side of his chest and he couldn't help but raise his hand to it.
As he was losing strength and speed from his injuries, he was pushed to the ground by the man who raised a knife and aimed at Gaara's chest. Shukaku reappeared once more, attacking the man by the neck. Yuuta roared in frustration and held the demon by its tail, which enraged the tanuki. He bit his nose off and spit it out, blood running down its jaw. Out of nowhere, a hawk came down and went straight to the man's left eye. He fell from the pain and screeched, before being completely covered with sand and blown into bits by Gaara's sand coffin jutsu. At the same moment, Kankuro's puppets sliced open his opponent's chest as Yashiko planted the man's own kunai in his right temple. The blood instantly splattered onto both shinobis who didn't flinch.
Two down; one to go.
Aby watched Sasuke and the slim man facing and circling each other. The man grinned at Sasuke's sword.
"Seems like you guys have the upper hand at the moment. They all turned to him with a disgusted expression on their face, except Sakura, who was still trying to save the little girl's life. She turned towards Gaara and gasped in surprise, unaware until now of his state, she glanced between him and Tori. His eyes half closed, exhausted and still losing blood, he pointed to Tori, as if to say "take care of her first".
"Well, you should thank me, that one'll be one less brat to feed tonight!" continued the man.
Toshiko yelled and ran towards the man who looked down and planned on kicking the boy's life out. However, Sasuke took the moment of diversion to open his opponent's chest with a series of sword strikes. The man fell forward, not knowing what had happened, and breathed his last, a sick and amused smile still on his face.
It took some time for everyone to move at last. Yashiko rushed to Gaara, removed his own shinobi jacket and shaped it into an improvised ball and applied pressure on Gaara's wound. Aby knelt on the ground and watched with empty eyes. The shinobis reached Tori first, safe for Gaara, who was catching his breath, each of them painful. They all bent over Sakura and Tori who lost consciousness. Sakura who kept her cool until now started to lose confidence. She let out a sob, still working at it.
"I can't close the wound … I can't … the blood keeps running out!"
Sofia cried and hugged Aby. She felt numb. The trauma kept playing in her head.
The tanuki walked passed Sakura and hopped over Tori's motionless body. He bent over her pale face and his tongue slowly licked the opened throat. Once he did, the wound was closed and fairly cleaned, and he jumped down and waited.
"That should do it," he said.
Sakura sighed with relief, feeling her work finally working, and her eyes grew with hope.
It took several minutes, but she finally threw her head back to rest; the girl was still unconscious, but breathing steadily.
Sasuke turned to the body of the man he killed a few minutes before and hissed between his teeth.
"You disgusting piece of shit," he said while the hawk landed on his shoulder. He knelt down to the ground and wrote a note to send to Kakashi.
Aby finally woke from the nightmare, realizing that Tori would live, and cried. She had no strength left in her and fell to the ground. She then turned to Gaara who was still short of breath. He slowly but steadily crawled to her. He obviously saw better days! He put his arms around her.
"Is it over?" she whispered.
"For now," he said, before losing consciousness.
Sakura went around to heal everybody's wounds. She even checked Aby to make sure she was okay, but spent most time with Gaara who had deep wounds and poison in his blood; however, the poison has not been there long enough to make as much damage as it did with Sasuke.
Aby stayed in the tent with Sofia, Toshiko and Tori. The two were sleeping, Tori was still unconscious. The wound on her throat was barely noticeable now. She didn't know that the tailed beast had this power to heal serious wounds; or at least, to seal them.
The tanuki had already left, but not before he had a word with Aby.
"They are after you. It is odd. They know you, but I do not know you."
"Thank you for what you did for Tori, and also for helping us."
"The brat will live."
"And I'll make sure she knows you saved her!" smiled Abigail.
"Whatever," he smiled, then went away. "Take care brat, and take care of him too!"
She had a feeling he meant "Gaara".
She wondered how he was and walked out to see him. She was greeted by Kankuro.
"How's your friend?" He asked with a grin.
"She is still unconscious."
"I meant your other friend … she was pretty shaken,"
"She is sleeping. I don't know how anybody can sleep after that."
"You'd be surprised if you tried! The body who is put under such stress and adrenaline needs sleep the most … same for Gaara." he added while looking at her.
He probably meant for her to let him sleep. She smiled back and nodded.
"Don't worry! He's seen worse! He'll be fine!"
"The sand did not protect him. I don't think he's ever been worse …"
He raised an eyebrow. "He died once."
She frowned and then remembered when he was taken by the Akatsuki.
"Oh! That's right!"
He nodded, smiling. She walked away, disappointed she wouldn't see him, and ran the events in her head once more and got anxious.
How am I supposed to fight? I didn't even know where to look … I was completely useless! She thought. There is no way I can fight like them! They have been trained since they were in the crib! There's no way … Me? A guardian?She sat by the fire and hugged herself. They're after me? Why? What do they need from me?
Did they know she was a gatekeeper?
The night was quiet; as if nothing happened. Yet, things kept on changing; new information, new complications …
New boyfriend … She smiled at the thought … The word "boyfriend" seemed underrated. A Kazekage was not a "boyfriend". Or rather, a "girlfriend" didn't fit for a Kazekage. Her smile was lost at the sudden thought. She didn't "fit" for the title.
She hid her face in her hands.
He almost died today. So did Tori! How much more will they endure because of her?
Sakura came to join her and sat beside her.
"May I?" She examined her head once more.
"I'm fine, I was not really hurt, not as you guys were,"
Sakura dropped her hands to her sides and smiled, looking at her.
"What's bothering you?"
Aby explained to her what she was thinking. Sakura listened attentively, without blinking.
"I'm not a soldier, it's not in me."
"Akio-San seems to believe you are; and you do have some cool moves with the water … I saw those bubbles earlier! You did that without even saying anything!"
"Gaara said that it's the mind that controls the ability."
"Maybe for his ability" she laughed, "most of us have to use hand gestures to achieve our jutsus. But of course, that does not apply to you since you are not of this world. But I guess you and him share something similar … I would trust him."
Aby didn't answer.
"You like him," Sakura said.
"Who doesn't like him?" she smiled.
Sakura didn't quite understand why she would think that … Sasuke was much more popular; the reminder of the rejection, earlier, made the lump in her throat resurface, which she shook away.
"But he's in love with you," Sakura said with a reassuring smile. "His siblings were the first to notice, and now it is obvious to all of us!"
Abigail looked up at her with teary eyes.
"I, I don't know what to do." She hid her face with her eyes for a few seconds and cried, which took Sakura by surprise. She then dried up her face with her sleeve.
"He almost died today! He tried to save Tori and then, he tried to save me, and he almost died! They're after me and I can't defend myself; I'm putting everyone in danger!"
"But he's ok now, this is normal for us here. It'll take much more than that to defeat us, let alone the Kazekage!"
"But he can't heal just like that, what if we are attacked again tomorrow?"
"It's very unlikely. Those were the same guys we encountered a few days ago … now they're dead. Besides, it's not like he's alone; we're still here!"
