Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.
Special Thanks: goes out to mafia13, rao hyuga 18, McKazekage, Warrior of Sangre, princess p, xforeverherex, TheGirlWithNoIQ, Guest, Daheim, Goddess of the VioletMoon, sailorangelmoon1, Variante, and lidianm for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who has added this story to their favorites and follows lists!
Author's Note: And so comes the chapter I promised you, where Gaara finally gets to go completely berserker - and I actually managed to get it up on time! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!
*~Chapter XXXI~*
~Bloodred~
Stay focused.
Keep calm.
Think rationally.
Breathe evenly.
Gaara's instincts, self-taught after his father's death, had been hard-won, but were now second nature. He kept them at the forefront of his mind as he spun through a never-ending series of attacks, maintaining control of the match by being better than his opponent, even if only by a hairsbreadth. It was the way it had always been. It was what made him indestructable, untouchable.
Undefeated.
Above all, never attack in anger.
Orochimaru chose his assassin team well. He chose his bodyguards even better.
Light flashed off Gaara's opponent's glasses, hiding his eyes from scrutiny. Though most people telegraphed their next moves with their eyes, Gaara did not necessarily have to see them to know. His instincts were so well ingrained he could sense the next feint, the following jab, the responding block, and counteract them all.
He'd battled and defeated thousands of enemies, some more challenging than others. This one would prove to be no different, of that he was certain.
What does it feel like, knowing you're going to die? The thought floated into his mind, detached from the majority of his concentration yet still persistently present. It had occurred to him before, once or twice, but he'd never put serious thought into it until recently, until Hinata. In all the battles he'd fought, he'd never given a single moment's consideration to what it must be like for his enemy, in those few moments between when the battle turned in Gaara's favor and when he finally dispatched the other person.
Now he wondered. For just a moment, in the very back of his mind, he gave thought to what it might be like if he dropped his defenses, muzzled the beast inside him, and harnessed his instincts. Would he regret the move, or would it not matter in the end, since his reward for such a deliberate failure would be seeing Hinata again?
A frisson of anger sparked up his spine, but Gaara smacked it down firmly. Never attack in anger. Remember. It had been one of the first things his father had taught him, all those years ago when Gaara had barely been old enough to understand what he was being told, and one of the few teachings he'd kept close at hand in the years since the man's death. The Sabaku patriarch had, despite his failings and years of brutality and violent teachings, passed on a few wise words and useful tricks.
It was time for Gaara to utilize every single one of them.
Keeping the calm, calculating coolness about him others often mistook as complete lack of emotion, Gaara threw himself anew into the fight before him. To his left, he sensed Itachi battling Sasori, both men committing themselves completely to their own attempts at coming out the victor. Somewhere behind him, Orochimaru watched silently, his remaining bodyguard close at hand should his battle prowess be required.
Fighting was as familiar as breathing for Gaara, something he'd been doing since childhood. His mind raced ahead of each move, calculating his opponent's strategies even as he came up with ones to counteract and get ahead.
Fighting was what he'd been born to do. In some ways, it felt like everything had come down to this: his final battle, as it were. All his years of training and retraining and blood and heartache had been intended to prepare him for this moment, this fight. Only one question remained: would he make the decision to come out the winner, or the loser?
Ultimately, there was more he had to do before he could give up. Twisting his blade under the other man's, he easily flipped it away. Panic flickered across the other man's face; was immediately replaced as his features went slack with death and he crumpled silently to the ground.
Mind already shifting to focus on his next target - Sasori - Gaara spun around, ready to help his brother-in-law against Suna's most infamous rogue nin.
White hot sparks exploded across his vision as pain - foreign, frightening, powerful - slammed through his right shoulder. Gaara stumbled back in shock, mind reeling, unsure of what to make of this unfamiliar sensation. He'd suffered muscle aches, bruises, even bled once as a child when pricked multiple times by thorny roses, but none of those things even came close to comparing to the fiery agony encasing his entire arm from collarbone to the very tips of his fingers.
How? For a timeless moment, Gaara met Sasori's triumphant glare head-on, instinctively knowing the blade had been meant for his heart, but he'd turned at the last moment. How had this happened? How did he cope with such unfamiliar pain? And how could he fight without his dominant arm?
Sasori charged Gaara, sword already moving to slice straight across his opponent's neck. The leader of Suna reacted instinctively, dropping into a crouch so the blade whizzed harmlessly overhead. Grasping his sword in his left hand, he swiped at Sasori as he rose to his feet once again, clenching his teeth against the unending waves of pain bouncing from his collarbone to his hand and back up. I can do this. I will do this!
Itachi, bleeding from a shallow cut across his cheek and a slightly deeper wound on his side, approached Sasori from the other side. He and Gaara shared a look - though they had rarely fought side-by-side, they understood each other's styles well enough to formulate a plan quickly and without speaking.
Swinging their swords in a scissoring motion with the intent to kill, the two men aimed straight for Sasori's neck. But, seeming governed by the same instincts as Gaara, he ducked, balancing on the ball of his right foot as he swept his left around in a quick circle.
Itachi was able to jump in time to avoid it. But Gaara, still sluggish from pain and shock, landed hard on his back, the breath forced out of him upon impact. He watched as if from a distance, observing one of his own nightmares in a kind of out of body experience, as Sasori spun away from Itachi's retaliatory attack and moved to plunge his sword through Gaara again - and this time, he would not miss hitting a vital point.
Instinct regained control of his body. Clenching his teeth, Gaara violently rolled to his right, ignoring the shrieking pain in his shoulder as he slammed his body into Sasori's legs, sending the other redhead reeling back in surprise. The tip of his sword slashed across his sleeve, slicing the fabric but miraculously missing Gaara's skin.
His brother-in-law was there immediately, driving Sasori back with a series of attacks from his dao, the two blades again joined into one sword. Gaara grasped the hilt of his own katana and forced himself back to his feet, ignoring the heaviness in his injured limb, not to mention the sticky wetness dripping from the tips of his fingers to the floor, making it slick. Locking the pain away in the back of his mind, Gaara swung his weapon around once in his left hand and moved to follow Itachi, determined to put an end to this.
Having already made the decision to live - at least for a little while longer - he hefted his blade and swung with all his might, knowing with grim satisfaction he would not miss his target this time.
Hinata swung into Kiri's saddle, trying not to let her nervous energy transfer to her mare as she clutched the reins. Temari, already aboard Sanraizu, moved to the hidden entrance through which Tenten, Ino, and Matsuri had come. The left wall of their hiding place showed huge spider-webbed cracks in its surface, visible thanks to the flare the blonde held aloft with her left hand.
"We will ride away from the village as fast as we can," Temari said firmly. "We'll head toward Konoha, at least for now, and hope the Akatsuki troops are too distracted by the attack on Suna to notice our getaway. Understood?" Her features appeared unnaturally pale in the bright glare of the flare.
"The troops from Konoha will be giving the Akatsuki something else to concentrate on," Tenten said while settling into the saddle of her swift, compact black-and-white mare. "They won't notice even if we sneak by within a few inches."
"Still, to be safe, we'll give Suna a wide birth," Temari asserted. "Ino, Matsuri, you ready?"
Ino nodded resolutely, hands firm on the reins of her dun gelding. Matsuri, looking pale but determined, offered a somewhat shakier nod.
Temari pressed her lips together, as if she wished to make some other comment, but ultimately refrained. Guiding Sanraizu's head around with a tug of the reins, she said, "All right, everyone follow me, stay quiet, and stay alert."
Keeping Hinata and Matsuri in the middle of their somewhat lopsided group, the five women rode through the tunnel leading out the back of the hideout - the ceiling of which rained an unsettling amount of sand atop them as they rode - and into the open desert.
Things were much brighter outside than Hinata had anticipated. As they left the cover the back of the cave offered them, she looked toward Suna and felt sickened to see at least half the village aflame, illuminating the mass of humanity swarming around the gigantic hole in the wall, each fighting to turn the tide of the battle in their direction. She could not tell friend from foe at such a distance, but she instinctively knew - or at least desperately hoped - the combined forces of Suna and Konoha had the advantage.
"Incoming!"
Tenten's warning gave Hinata just enough time to lay back flat against the heaving flanks of her mount. Three shuriken spun through the air overhead, one of them clipping off a bit of Kiri's forelock before they vanished. Off-balance, Hinata tried desperately to grab onto her saddle to regain her seat, but missed, sending her tumbling to the sand.
For a moment she lay completely still once she had stopped tumbling head over heels, staring up at the sky - the stars obscured by the light from the burning village - the breath knocked out of her. She tried not to panic, withdrawing a kunai from the pouch at her hip even as she waited for her lungs to unseize and work again.
Sand flew as Tenten came closer. "Hinata, grab my hand!"
Forcing air into her lungs and steadiness into her limbs, Hinata scrambled to her feet and grasped her sister-in-law's hand as the other woman came alongside. With strength belying her slender build, Tenten pulled Hinata up onto her mare behind her, barely waiting for her to get her seat before she whirled the horse and charged off toward where Temari, Matsuri, and Ino were firing a hail of kunai and shuriken toward the still-advancing enemy.
"We need to find cover!" Tenten shouted. "Lady Temari, is there anywhere around here?"
Hinata twisted in her seat, trying to hold her arm as still as possible despite the racing horse beneath her, and fired the senbon-launcher secured around her wrist. She quickly lost sight of the poisoned needles, but felt triumphant when she saw one of the three pursuing riders flinch slightly and nearly come unseated from his own mount.
"This is a desert!" Temari's voice, though tight with anxiety, still carried an undercurrent of scorn. "It's not like we have groups of trees or rocks just sitting around waiting to provide cover."
"No need to get snippy," Tenten muttered. Still grasping her mare's reins with one hand, she pulled a modified crossbow from its holster in her saddle, already loaded with six arrows. "Hold on!" she advised Hinata, who tightened her grip about the other woman's waist as the weapons expert twisted in her saddle.
Even aboard a galloping horse, with another person seated behind her, Tenten's aim was true. The already weakened rider Hinata had gotten with a poisoned senbon earlier tumbled from his horse, churning up sand in his wake as he rolled away, then lay completely still.
"One down, two to go," Tenten muttered, returning her crossbow to its holster. This time she drew her katana, its blade gleaming bloodred in the light of the flames. "They're catching up!" she called to the other three women. "Now would be a really great time to form a plan of some sort!"
"We outnumber them four to two," Ino remarked. She glanced at Matsuri, who rode alongside. "No offense."
Matsuri weakly shook her head, her lips folded tightly shut, her face deathly pale. It looked like all her concentration was being directed toward just remaining upright and on her horse.
"What are you saying?" Temari called back. "Stop and fight?"
"Either that," Ino replied, "or get picked off one by one."
Temari's hard gaze slid to Hinata, and she knew what her sister-in-law was thinking. "I c-can fight!" she said. "I know I c-can." Her hand slid automatically to the kunai pouch at her waist. "Trust me."
The blonde stared at her for a long moment, expression twisted in an odd mix of concern and doubt. Finally she sighed and nodded once. "Gaara's going to kill me," she said, flipping open the fan in her hand. "All right - we turn and fight!" Her gaze snapped to Matsuri. "You keep riding. Circle back toward Suna and see if you can't find us some backup."
The brunette nodded jerkily to acknowledge her assignment.
Hinata admired Temari's plan. Not only did it get Matsuri out of the bulk of the fighting, it allowed one of their group to split off and rally help. Though she'd be going into an equally - if not more - dangerous situation, all five women knew it was the best plan they had available to them at the moment.
Knowing they had the element of surprise on their side, Hinata, Tenten, Temari, and Ino all pulled their horses to an abrupt halt, whirling them to face their oncoming enemy with all manner of weapons drawn and ready. Matsuri spurred her own mount on, giving the group a wide girth as she headed back toward the village.
For one reason or another, three of the women left should not be fighting: Tenten and Temari because they were pregnant, and Hinata because she had little training in the area. But the situation had come down to this, and one way or another, they were all going to see it through.
Urging their own horses on with single-minded focus, the enemy - both of whom were bound to be the biggest, meanest, ugliest men the Akatsuki had to offer - approached with their own swords flashing and black cloaks flapping.
Even in the most impossible of situations, there is always a way. Hinata kept the hopeful words in the forefront of her mind as she lifted her arm and fired a hail of senbon at the encroaching enemy. We will win this!
He was gone.
Gaara clenched his teeth as pure rage shot through his veins, offering him a slight reprieve from the pain in his injured shoulder. While he and Itachi had been distracted with dispatching Sasori, Orochimaru - like the giant, cowardly snake he was - had slipped from the room to who-knew-where.
His escape, however, would not be that easy. He would not be leaving Suna alive.
Continuing their silent accord, Gaara and Itachi left the former's bloody office and entered the hall cautiously. Without giving himself even a moment to second-guess his gut instinct, Gaara turned to the left and raced down the longer portion of the hall. He's headed toward the house. This fight had rapidly grown personal for Orichmaru, as it had for Gaara. More than the palace in general, more than his office in particular, one part of the sandstone building housing both his home and workplace meant a great deal to Gaara.
And Orochimaru had to know that. Gaara put everything on the line to depend upon that one thin thread of hope, that he still had the ability to outthink and outfight every single enemy he would ever face.
It had never been as important as this moment, this fight.
One or the other of them would break tonight, and Gaara determined it would not be him.
At the bottom of the six sets of steps leading from the top of the tower to the ground floor, the massive set of double doors separating the business and domestic sides of the palace stood slightly open, as if someone had recently slipped through them. Yes! Reaching out, Gaara secured the handle of the left door with his corresponding hand-
"Gaara, wait-!"
The rest of Itachi's shouted warning was lost in the deafening roar of a massive explosion going off directly overhead. The entire building shook unsteadily, giant cracks appearing instantaneously across the walls and ceiling, which threatened to collapse.
Itachi threw himself against Gaara, knocking both men through the partial opening and away from the caving ceiling. Barely managing to keep his balance, the Uchiha spun and instantly grasped the door handles, pulling the massive doors shut and confining the worst of the damage to the other side - at least for now.
It began so slowly Gaara almost didn't notice at first. But as his own anger grew, fed by that of the monster he'd been trying so hard to keep caged deep inside him for so long, the red haze starting at the very edges of his vision rapidly expanded until everything he looked at was tinted bright crimson.
The Tower had fallen. Suna was being overrun by the enemy. He and Itachi were injured. His wife and sister were dead.
There was little left to live for, save one thing, perhaps the most powerful driving force of all: Revenge.
Gaara was barely aware of Itachi's stepping up alongside him, one hand out in a placating gesture. "Milord, now isn't the time-"
His rage spiked. Unleashing his own monster from its final restraint, he lashed out at his brother-in-law, who just barely managed to escape the blade which very well could have taken his head off, much like Sasori's only a few minutes before. "This ends now!" His voice, full of thoughtless rage and unimaginable anguish, growled even deeper than usual. "And no one - least of all you - will stop me! I will have revenge for Hinata!" The pain in his chest twisted sharply, and he channeled it into his all-consuming rage. Nothing would stop him.
Nothing.
Without giving Itachi a chance to respond - or try to stop him - Gaara spun away, racing through halls familiar to him since childhood. He charged past the fallen, heedless of whether they were friend or foe or both, certain without knowing how that he was growing closer to his target with each pounding step.
Blood, the monster whispered, its voice silky and hungry. It's been so long, too long.
Yes, Gaara agreed, taking the steps before him two and three at a time. But we are close now, so close, to finding that satisfaction again...
A distant part of him, still trying to cling to the peaceful existence he'd found with Hinata, wondered at how short a time it had taken after he lost her to seek solace in the familiarity of monstrous bloodshed. But it no longer mattered, since she was beyond knowing of his shameful fall.
In the end, he had never deserved her. The realization hurt deeply, but he allowed it to fuel his rage. There was nothing he could do to deserve her, but he could do something to try to make up for his failure - to deserve her, to protect her, to save her.
He could avenge her.
Any obstacle which placed itself between Gaara and his goal was instantly cut down, given no further thought than the minimum effort required to eradicate it. At last he reached Orochimaru's final bodyguard, laughably easy to defeat.
And then - finally - he faced Orochimaru.
Teeth bared, eyes blazing with rage and anguish and hatred, Gaara growled out his final vow: "I am going to kill you."
*~To Be Continued~*
Author's Ending Notes: Finally the part I promised - Gaara going berserker - and I actually managed to get the chapter up on time! Unfortunately, this chapter means we're coming up on the climax of the story, which means there're only a few chapters left... But I'm trying not to think about that too much! Thank you, as always, for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you again for the next update!