Disclaimer: Naruto & co. don't belong to me. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
A/N Right- three weeks long gone, and this is all I've go to show for it- I had NO idea that going through exams could be this tough, and the worst thing is that this 'exam season' won't end till the 25th of November! -sob- (this means that I will no longer be updating regularly, time I used to spend to writing will have to be spent on revising. I've got all the basics of this story down but I lack the time to type it out - this means that I have absolutely NO idea when I'll be able to spare enough time to devote myself into this eeee- my bad.)
What you might not like: Rape. Err.. sort of. You won't see it. It didn't actually happen. But the implications are there.
Chapter: Return Home
Not all was good at the Hidden Sand Village. They made a mistake. A big mistake. Yuki had suggested that they left the protection of the Village for a bit so she could at least see how the outside had changed. She'd been cooped up inside the village for too long. Temari and Kankuro were watching her in the day. Gaara looked over her at night. She was restless, to sum it all up. But in the end... she got more than what she asked for.
Gaara looked down at the still, curled up female figure that was lying within the comforts of his sand. Gaara had made the sand into about three quarters of a sphere, where only he could look through the opening. The girl's anbu mask was broken in half, her cloak shredded to rags. He clothes ripped. Slits on her half-mask revealed angry blood-stained gashes.
They were training out till dusk. They were trying to assess the limits of her newly found chakra and they had drained her to her last drops. Yuki had collapsed on the grown, dangerously drained. Way too dangerous. She was pale-... paler than usual. Gaara was worried, as she attempted to sit back up, he ordered her to lay still and keep quiet while he went off, at her insistence, to look for more water for her. Yuki felt greatly relieved at his assistance. But not for long. That was when they caught her.
Gaara wasn't around, and she was basically defenseless. Easy picking. Three men came, grabbed her and escaped. Yuki barely had time to register that in her mind before they tied up her limbs and gagged her. It was not good. She was completely out of chakra. Her muscles were stiff, sore and basically useless. There was nothing she could do.
She couldn't even scream when they started touching her. Her mind snapped and she couldn't feel anything. She didn't even realize that her muscles were moving reflexively at their violating touches. The world was dead to her. Terror had closed her mind. Gaara openly winced at the memory. He had come on time - ... before they could do anything seriously damaging to her. They were fools that thought that they could go against their Kazekage... that thought that their demon leader had already used her. So they thought that it would've been alright if they... played around with her too. Fools.
Yuki, unbound, crouched near his legs and barely looked up at him. She didn't say a word. Gaara had summoned the sand to keep her safe instead.
"What happened?" Temari gasped as Gaara brought the girl in. Kankuro furrowed his brows in worry. Gaara answered her in an equally short sentence.
"She's in shock," he said, making the sand go forth towards his elder sister. "What do you think?" Temari looked solemn. The scene just wasn't right. Was this the girl that had become captain of Konoha's prestigious anbu squads? Was this the Kanzen Seishin?
"I'll take her to my house. Best not bother her for a while. Gaara..." Gaara turned his eyes away from the purple-haired girl to his blonde sister. "I know her training is important, but would you at least give me a month?"
"A week," he said, shaking his head. But it was barely two days before Yuki had asked him to come. She refused to see anyone other than him and Temari. It was a week before Kankuro would be let in. Two weeks before she stepped out of Temari's home. Her recovery was amazing, but alarming just the same. At times, Temari would see her crying to herself alone at night, thinking that no one else was awake. Sometimes she could hear her say one word - it was almost imperceptible - it sounded like 'niichan'. She must've been homesick.
The rest of her training went well. Gaara suggested that he and Yuki would leave for Konoha as they wrapped up the training. Temari and Kankuro would stay and protect the village. Then something surprising happened just as the two left the village.
"Yuki-chan!" came a shriek. Yuki stepped back quickly, holding a kunai in front of her defensively. There was a blurred figure coming at her from the front. It stopped only inches away from the sharp point of the kunai. Yuki nearly dropped it when she recognized who it was.
"Hinata-chan!" Yuki gasped as she lowered her arm and allowed the normally-shy girl to envelope her in a hug. Hinata broke down, sobbing into Yuki's clothes. Yuki awkwardly patted her on the back. "What are you doing here?"
"Silly girl," muttered a male voice. Yuki twisted her head and found herself looking straight into her other cousin's eyes. She unconsciously stepped nearer to Gaara. Hinata looked befuddled. "Is this where you've been hiding?"
"Hi-..ding?" she said, looking a little nervous as she looked at Neji. "I haven't been hiding. I've been on a mission." Neji snorted.
"You were trying to escape from us." Neji stepped forward and Yuki immediately took a few steps back. Neji noted the terrified look in her eyes.
"Gaara, I've changed my mind," she said shrilly.
"No," he said firmly. "We finish this training as we go back." Neji and Hinata were staring at their cousin with open curiosity.
"Shit." Neji let out a string of curses that Hinata didn't even know he knew.
Yuki was out cold.
How did that happen? Neither of the Hyuugas knew. It was odd. She was practicing a jutsu with Gaara when she just... fell to the ground. Gaara didn't even miss a beat as his sand gathered her up. It was almost as if... he had anticipated it.
"What are you doing?" Neji growled. Gaara ignored him and let the sand form a cylinder around the unconscious girl.
"Unless you can carry her all the way to Konoha, I'll be carrying her. It'll be faster this way, anyway. Hyuuga?" Neji nodded grudgingly and continued walking on. Hinata looked unsurely between the two.
They arrived at Tsunade's office with basically half the ninjas of Konoha following them. All were curious but only few realized what the Hyuugas were probably doing with the Kazekage. They found it odd that Gaara was travelling without an escort from his own village. Odder still that he had some sort of cylinder made of sand following him.
"Kazekage-dono," Tsunade ushered him into her office. It appeared that she was already informed of his coming arrival at the village. "What brings you to us?" she inquired, ushering him to a seat opposite her table. With her eyes, she ordered the two Hyuuga escorts to wait across the room on the couch.
"Hokage-dono. Thank you for letting me in Konoha in such short notice." Introductions were over. Gaara brought forth the cylinder and cleared the things on Tsunade's desk with his sand. The sand slowly cleared away from the cylinder that had made its way to her desk. "I thought it was time this little girl was returned to her home."
"Yuki!" Tsunade gasped. "What happened to her?" she demanded after checking her pulse. It was normal. Gaara tilted his head towards their curious onlookers. "Neji, Hinata, please wait outside." Neji looked put out and very suspicious, but did not argue with her. Hinata took his arm and pulled him out before he decided to change his mind.
"I must say, Hokage-dono, frankly, I first thought you were a little... off-the-top? Sending anyone to learn anything from me." Tsunade didn't know what to make of that. "I didn't expect you to send this... Kanzen Seishin."
"So you know."
"I would be foolish not to."
"Of course, Kazekage-dono. But why is she-?"
"It's finally settling down."
"What? What do you mean?" she asked. Gaara didn't answer. "What is settling down?"
"The Fuyu Seishin. To complete her training, I sealed the Seishin in her to give her access to more chakra." Tsunade's face displayed shock. "Nothing to worry about," he said with a shrug. "The Fuyu Seishin is a very mild spirit, but her body still needs to get used to it."
"Why?"
"I've explained why."
"Why didn't you tell me first?"
"I wasn't aware that I had to answer to you, Hokage-dono, in matters you requested me to accomplish. In any case, this is not what you should worry about. There is another matter-"
"Sasuke!" Tsunade gasped. Sasuke had just appeared in the middle of the room.
"I-is s-she here?" he choked out, kneeling over. Sasuke was a mess. His entire body was tainted with blood. Tsunade spied a shuriken half-stuck on his leg. It was beyond alarming. "Is she here?" he repeated with more force as he pushed his body forward.
"She's here," Tsunade whispered, still in shock. There was a flicker of relief in his eyes before he coughed. Blood splattered to the floor.
"Don't let them get her." Those were his last words before collapsing near the floor.
"Don't let who get her? Tsunade thought as she left the desk to go by Sasuke's side, to feel his pulse. It was beating erratically.
"Hokage-dono. If you would listen..." Gaara said, emphasizing on each word. Tsunade stood up and glared at him. Gaara let out a little 'hmph' and then told her what had happened those few days back that had caused Yuki to withdraw to her present state. That had caused Yuki's mind to withdraw to her fear and terror.
"The pact was supposed to keep her from-" Tsunade couldn't even say it.
"Tsunade-dono." Tsunade gaped. It was the first time the young man called her by her name. He hadn't before, not even when she had asked him to those many years ago when he had first become Kazekage. "That incident... cannot happen again." Gaara walked around the room for a bit and then stopped near Sasuke's body. "Hatake-san, there is no need to hide."
"What did you do to her?" Kakashi asked angrily as he stepped out from his hiding near the window.
A 'custody' battle began between Kakashi and even Naruto, since Sasuke remained 'disabled' for the first few days. However, the Hyuugas had taken up a position in his place. Sasuke felt the entire situation to his distaste. He could do nothing to stop it till he regained control over his body as a whole. Not even Kakashi would listen to him. Why on earth would they want to fight over her custody anyway? Legally, she still belonged to the Hatake family. By verbal agreement, she was already promised to the Uchiha.
Naruto, he could understand, only wanted to protect her interests and keep her in Konoha, but wasn't Kakashi doing that as well? And he had never asked the Hyuugas to do anything and yet there they were, arguing, for him, apparently. Sasuke understood that they would all want her. Heck, who didn't want her? Here was a unique powerhouse. No one was just going to leave it lying around. Unused. Sasuke winced.
He was lying in his room that night, when he recalled the events that brought him immediately back to Konoha. It was a messy business. It was disgusting. It was horrifying. And it was downright humiliating.
flashback
"Really? A Kanzen Seishin? Like... those two siblings from...?" The Uchiha had just entered a bar. He was in the Hidden Sand Village. He'd traced Neji and Hinata all the way there and had decided to rest for a bit at an inn. The bar was a natural place to go to. At the mention of Yuki, Sasuke immediately tried to find a place to sit closest to them. To eavesdrop. Maybe they knew something of her whereabouts.
"Yeah, who could've thought? After all the trouble the Hyuuga and Uchiha have made in creating those two, you'd think they wouldn't try to do it again. Do you remember when they told us about what happened when Konoha started becoming all powerful?"
"Yeah, they ripped up half of what Konoha is now, didn't they? Too bad for the First and Second Hokage. They had to reconstruct the entire place just because of them."
"They really are a nuisance."
"Yeah, they could mean trouble."
"So. This Kanzen Seishin now, as I heard, is female." Sasuke clenched his jaw. There was an odd lilt to the man's voice. He was drunk though. He was leaning half away from his seat towards his friend. Disgusting.
"Female?"
"Yeah, and a pretty young thing too. Too bad she was promised to the Uchiha."
"Uchiha Sasuke? You don't mean-"
"Well, he's the only Uchiha around isn't he?"
"Che. Why do they normally stick all these high-and-mighty people together? S'not like they can't share their bloodline with the rest of us... or something."
"Yeah, but everybody wants their kids to be powerful." They were slurring now. Sasuke still didn't like the way their conversation was going.
"Hey, so where's that girl now?"
"Dunno. From what I heard she was last seen with the Kazekage." The other man let out a snort.
"I bet he wants a piece of that bloodline too."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he's already done with her. I heard a while back that these bunch of people got killed 'cos they tried to interrupt him and-" Sasuke was gone immediately. "Heh? Where's that guy?"
"What guy?"
"He was sitting right behind you."
Sasuke was running, almost frantically, going as fast as he could outside. Towards the offices of the Kazekage.
"Who goes there?" Sasuke appeared right outside the door connecting to the main office. Only a surprised sand-nin stood in his way.
"The Kazekage. Where is he?" The sand-nin didn't answer so Sasuke roughly pushed him away from the entrance and went inside the room - just in time to see someone escaping from the room through a window. Sasuke gritted his teeth and made to follow that person. There were two people. Both were in cloaks. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" The two ran off faster. "Damn," he thought, picking up his speed as well. One of the cloaked figures looked back. A Konoha anbu mask! "Yuki!" The two stopped running and took battle stances.
"Identify yourself," said the girl behind the anbu mask. Sasuke halted abruptly. It didn't sound like Yuki. Who was this person? Hell, Yuki would've recognized him, would she have?
"Any true Konoha anbu would have recognized me." The other cloaked figure turned and whispered to the one with the mask.
"Uchiha Sasuke?" The one that spoke, the one with the anbu mask, quickly looked around. "There's no time to speak. We need to run." Sasuke felt a little perplexed. Why run? The anbu was definitely not Yuki. So who was it? Why didn't they recognize him? Heck, he'd've thought the whole world would've known him since that incident during the his first chuunin exam. Something was moving from his left. His hand immediately moved to the holster on his leg. The two in front of him were increasing their speed.
"What are you running from?" Sasuke asked, trying his best to catch up to them. He'd already decided that they weren't his enemies.
"You should take better care of your fiancé, Uchiha," said the second person in a cloaked figure. It was male. Sasuke felt like punching him for his statement but kept his cool, unaffected mask on his face. No need to get all emotional. That was Naruto's department. "People have been swarming all around, trying to attack us in every direction."
"Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'?" hissed the female. "There's a Kanzen Seishin within their reach, and you're asking us 'why' they want her?" Sasuke grunted, knowing how silly his question was.
"Who are you?" The girl's answer was interrupted by a loud shout. A dark blurred figure was making its way towards them. A fight ensued. It was a close fight. Ninjas kept coming one after the other. The two stranger's teamwork was impeccable but Sasuke was having a hard time keeping up. He wasn't used to their tactics. But he was flexible enough to follow most of their moves. The sharingan helped a lot.
"Che. So that's why they keep telling us that the Uchihas are 'terrifying'," said the male cloaked figure grudgingly. He had just watched the Uchiha... decapitate... one of the ninjas.
"Shut up, Kankuro. Concentrate," the female hissed. Sasuke finally realized who they two were.
"You two...-" Kankuro took off his guise.
"Yeah, we were told to take care of things here," he grumbled as Sasuke took in his form.
"Stop talking," the female snapped. That must've been Temari. "Uchiha. We should run to the forest. That way we can distract them and you can escape. Go back to Konoha, and warn them before they realize that she's already gone."
"Konoha-?" The trio began dashing their way towards the forests. "You mean she's already gone back?"
"Yes."
"Temari, you better take off your cloak before they decide to ambush you, and still think you're her."
"Not till the Uchiha leaves. Then I'll take it off."
"You're taking a big risk here."
"It doesn't matter," she said shortly. "All fighting will stop once I drop this disguise anyway. They wouldn't dare attack me." Sasuke heard the implications of her smirking at that thought. "Kankuro!! Uchiha!!"
end flashback
That was when they ambushed them, just as Kankuro expected. Sasuke had no idea they wanted Yuki that much. Dead or alive, one of them had mentioned. Just make sure you have her body. Sasuke winced at the thought. Thank god they didn't find her. Her body didn't have any protection against the methods a ninja could use to extract the secrets of her body from her. Who knows what kind of jutsu they could discover just be dissecting her body. On his way back to Konoha, after separating from the siblings, he was ambushed yet again. So many ninjas. He couldn't even keep count of where they had come from. But they stopped coming when he reached within close range of Konoha. The distance, he suspected, anbus began keeping watch of. Maybe the anbus were helping him.... But Sasuke at that time was too distracted to notice the few curious eyes that glinted between the trees. He went straight and used a jutsu to transport him to the Hokage's office.
The night sky began to rain. Perfect. Sasuke stood up from his bed and closed the windows and stood by the doors that led to the balcony.
It suited his mood perfectly.
