Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine…la di da…oooh, if you wanna see the pic of Kakashi that makes me drool, it's on my profile.
Chapter 16: Trapped in a Box with a Broken Lid
When Temeki woke up, she found herself face down on a dirt floor. She placed her hands in front of her and slowly pushed herself up and into a sitting position. She looked around her and saw Naruto unconscious on the floor. Crawling over to the leaf nin, Temeki gently shook his shoulder.
"Naruto," she whispered as she shook his shoulder. "Wake up, please."
Being helpless wasn't a feeling Temeki enjoyed. Ever since the jutsu last week placed her into this body, she couldn't mold chakra the same way she could in her old one. Temeki knew all of the right hand seals and incantations, but without the use of her chakra, she was pretty much worthless.
She tried to move the boy so that they could lean against the wall, but Naruto proved to be bulkier under his jacket than Temeki originally thought. She settled for placing the injured boy's head in her lap. She felt warmth pour onto her fingers and raised her hand to eye level.
Blood.
Temeki tried to remember what to do, but could only hold back her sobs as she tore at her skirt to bandage Naruto's head.
Stupid girly hormones! she thought. Why am I acting like this now
"Naruto, you can't die," she sobbed; the feeling of helplessness and being truly powerless for the first time since she could remember overwhelmed her. "I swear if you die here, I'm going to beat you to a pulp!" She knew that she wasn't making sense, but didn't care. Sitting there in the dark room with the bleeding boy in her lap, Temeki thought about what Naruto had said and slowly came to realize something.
Before, when she was a boy, when she was Sasuke, Temeki sold her soul to Orochimaru for the power he could give her. All so that she could kill her brother and avenge her family.
But now that she was faced with the possibility that the boy in her arms could actually die, Temeki wondered why she had gone to such extremes.
That day, by the waterfall, when Naruto had come to stop him from going to Orochimaru, Sasuke couldn't bring himself to kill the blonde.
In his heart, he didn't want his best friend to die.
Now, Temeki was willing to move heaven and hellto keep him safe. Her dream of killing Itachi seemed so cold and far away compared to the dream she now held in her heart.
She needed to protect her best friend with her life.
Please, she prayed. Someone find us!
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"Kotetsu, Itsumo," Tsunade said as she healed Hinata. "Summon Hatake Kikashi, Temari, Kankuro, Haruno Sakura, and Hyuuga Neji. Have them meet us behind the dunking tank. Tell Sakura and Temari to bring articles of Naruto and Temeki's clothing with them; preferably something that they've recently worn. Go, now!"
The two disappeared as they hurried to do the Godaime's bidding.
Hinata stood up and started walking to the back of the dunking tank. Gaara and Tsunade walking quickly behind her.
Ibiki, Gai, and Anko were surprised to see the Hyuuga Heiress, but even more so when she was followed by both the Hokage and Kazekage.
"What's going on?" Anko asked. "Hinata, you're bleeding!"
"What happened, Hinata?" Gaara demanded.
"Naruto-kun was arguing with Temeki," the girl responded. "Temeki got upset and ran away. Kina-san followed her and Naruto-kun followed her. I was going to wait a few minutes, in case they all needed to talk to each other, but then I heard Temeki-san scream. When I got there, Naruto-kun was fighting one of them while the other two held Temeki and Kina-san. They stabbed me and knocked Naruto-kun unconscious. I saw them run toward the Eastern gate before I passed out myself."
Gaara's eyes narrowed. "Kinabuhi didn't defend herself? She didn't fight back?" he asked.
"The Kazekage's Lady fight?" Hinata asked. "She would never—"
The sentence was cut short when Gaara's sand wrapped around the girl.
"Gaara!" the others shouted.
"Little liar," Gaara stated calmly, applying pressure to the girl. "Kinabuhi teaches taijutsu at the Academy back home. Next time, gather your intelligence with a bit more care before you spin a tale. Now, where is she?"
The henge disappeared and a laughing girl stood caught in Gaara's sand. "Like I'm going to tell a monster like you!" she spat. "Your Lady deserves a special place in hell for allowing a demon like you into her bed!"
At that moment, Kankuro, Temari, Sakura, Neji, and Kakashi came running towards them.
"What happened?" Sakura asked. Tsunade quickly gave them the details of what happened and looked at Gaara.
"Who are you?" he asked, coldly.
"Shinkirou Kori," Kankuro answered. He stepped up to the girl and scowled. "You and half of your clan were banished from Suna more than a year ago." (1)
"Ah, yes," Gaara recalled. "You dared to question my standing as Kazekage."
"Suna belongs to the Shinkirou Clan!" she shouted. "Not the Sabaku Clan!"
Asuma and Kurenai had heard only that Hinata was injured and ran behind the dunking tank to help. Gaara looked at the ruby eyed kunoichi and threw Kori at her.
"She is member of a Clan that was banished from Suna," he explained. "Their talents lie in genjutsus. Kurenai-san, I understand genjutsus are your specialty as well. Please detain her while we retrieve my wife."
He turned to Kakashi and raised his eyebrow. The silver haired man nodded and quickly summoned Pakkun. "We need you to trace these scents," he said. Sakura and Temari put pieces of cloth on the ground while Gaara removed Kina's braid from its hiding place behind his sash.
As the dog sniffed the articles, Gaara spoke quickly. "This is an A-rank mission for the Sand shinobi as well as a request for back up for the Leaf shinobi. A banished Suna Clan has kidnapped Kinabuhi. They now have her, along with Naruto and Temeki. They are skilled at genjutsus, so be on your guard and don't believe everything you see."
"Got it," the dog said and ran off towards the forest. The three Sand nin, Kakashi, Sakura, and Neji followed quickly after. They all listened intently as Gaara continued to give out orders.
"Temari, Kankuro, your jobs are to watch our backs and capture as many of the Clan members as possible. Sakura-chan, you're our medic—I have a feeling we'll need your talents very soon. Neji, Kakashi, I'll need your skills—Neji for your ability to close chakra holes, and Kakashi for your knowledge of binding jutsus. I'll need your help to control them if they get out."
"Who gets out?" Kakashi asked lazily.
The Kazekage looked at the Copy Ninja and frowned. "Their demons," he replied.
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Kina sat on a rock and watched helplessly as Temeki cried her heart out over Naruto's unconscious body. Her own heart ached when she realized that the other girl believed that the boy was severely injured, if not dead, instead of merely suffering from a blow to the head.
When she woke up, Kina had a brief glimpse of a small, dirt packed cottage before her powers kicked in and she saw through the genjutsu. Instead of a dirty cottage, she and the people who had kidnapped them sat in a quiet circle in the middle of a grassy field.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on expanding her 'vision'. When she opened them again, she realized that the field itself was under a genjutsu. Whoever passed by probably wouldn't see them unless they used the 'dispel' jutsu. Considering the fact that it was just an open field in the middle of a sunny day, no one would have any reason to do that at all.
Kina calculated in her head. She knew that she was under a genjutsu; Temeki and Naruto were in one, and the field they sat in as well. She was amazed. Multiple layer genjutsus were difficult to master and maintain. She shot a look at her captors from beneath her lashes.
Seven, she counted. Too many for me to take out by myself.
Three of them had their hands positioned in various seals and seemed to be concentrating very hard.
Three genjutsus. Three people.
That meant that the number of enemies she had was down to four. Four to one, she thought. The odds weren't great, but if she could get to Temeki and Naruto maybe they could even them up a bit.
An idea came to her mind. But she totally rejected it as insane and unnecessary a moment later.
Kina brought her knees to her chest and buried her head in her skirts. She had to make sure that the people who took her and the other two still believed she was in the genjutsu. The only problem was that she didn't really know what the genjutsu looked like. She didn't know how big the room was supposed to be or if there was any furniture in it.
Think, she ordered herself. Think!
"How long do you think it will take her to crack?" one of the men asked.
"Not long," another, Kina thought this one might be the leader, said. "Look at how fast her handmaiden broke. This is the power of the Sabaku Clan? Once we are rid of that demon bastard, Suna will belong to the people who deserve it."
Kina realized that they were after Gaara and froze.
"The Shinkirou Clan will rise again," a third cried.
Shinkirou. After today, your Clan will exist no more, Kina vowed.
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"What do you mean 'their demons'?" Sakura asked.
"You know that I am the vessel for the raccoon-dog demon, Shukaku, right?" Gaara asked.
The others made noises that Gaara took as affirmatives and continued. "Naruto is the vessel for the kyuubi and Kina is the vessel for an i-guru demon." (2)
Neji and Sakura were stunned by the knowledge that Naruto was the vessel for the kyuubi, but tucked the information into the back of their minds.
It sure explains a lot though, Sakura thought.
"I-guru?" Kakashi asked.
Gaara nodded. "Tsunade and I figured it out during the Festival. All of Kinabuhi's symptoms fit. The color of her chakra, the reasons why Akatsuki wants her…everything she described and everything I've seen points to her being the vessel of the eagle demon Tsubakiri." (3)
Temari gasped. "Are you serious?" she gaped.
"What's so bad about that?" Neji asked. "Apart from the obvious, of course."
"There's a legend in Suna," Kankuro answered. "One that's told to all of the children by their parents. In it, Shukaku and Tsubakiri ruled the desert together for a hundred centuries and the desert flourished under their care."
"Guess that explains why you and Kina got along so well so quickly," Temari said.
"Again," Sakura repeated. "That doesn't sound that bad."
"That's not the bad part," Kankuro continued. "The legend also says that another demon coveted Shukaku's land and his mate. The two battled for decades until Shukaku grew too weak to fight and disappeared to heal himself."
"Tsubakiri was angry and confused by her mate's disappearance and vanished herself," Temari added. "But not before trying to kill the demon who took Shukaku from her. When Shukaku returned and found his mate gone, he went a little insane. Suna is supposed to be cursed with discontent and hate until Tsubakiri returns."
The Konoha shinobi were silent, taking in the story they had just heard.
"You've mentioned Shukaku, the raccoon-dog demon, and Tsubakiri, the eagle demon," Kakashi started.
"Who was the third demon?"
Kankuro pushed up his speed so that he was alongside his brother. Temari did the same and the three Sand nin answered Neji's question together:
"Kyuubi kitsune."
A/N:
Uh-oh…Vegas was a blast, but I still managed to write some stuff on the trips to and from the city...
I just pray that I don't get writer's block before I finish this story…that would suck.
(1) Shinkirou means 'mirage'.
(2) I-guru means 'eagle'
(3) Tsubakiri is a combined name I made up from tsubasa, which means 'wings', and kiri, which means 'mist.' So Kina's demon's name means 'wings of mist.'