Chapter 116
Gaara, carried by his sand, is in pursuit across the sky over the desert. His target swivels to look at him and even grins as he zigzags across the sky.
Gaara's sand tries to reach the clay bird but every time it's close enough, a bird bomb flies and explodes near the tail, risking Temari whose body then curls tightly around her son. Gaara grits his teeth. He knows that the bomb is a mere warning not to approach but it doesn't deter him as he remains in pursuit.
The enemy nin laughs. His hand with a mouth bites a clay from his bag and chews. Once it spits out the clay, Deidara, the enemy nin, creates a bird-shaped toy rattle with 3 little birds caged inside giving it the sound as it rattles and he makes it hover near Shikadai. The baby's hand can be seen trying to reach for it as Temari scrambles to re-position her hands imprisoning her son's arms. The enemy nin's laughter turns louder.
"Your son has a great appreciation for my art!" cackles Deidara. "So I'll create more!"
The bird-shaped clay rattle is joined by a bird-shaped clay plush toy. They hover near Shikadai. Temari raises one hand to slap them away but the bird they are tied to, suddenly plunges down. This change in position brings Shikadai lower and her above him. Biting a scream, Temari's hand returns to her son, holding on to him with both hands tightly.
"Damn you!" shouts Temari.
"What's the rush, you say?" Deidara laughs. "I hate making a certain someone wait because this certain someone hates, simply hates waiting."
"Damn you to hell, asshole!" growls Temari.
In response, Deidara's clay bird suddenly flies up faster.
Gaara follows with an extra sand ready to catch Temari and Shikadai if they fall down as the clay bird flies and change in direction seemingly on a whim.
Suddenly, Deidara releases a small bird and this bird becomes larger and larger as it slowly drops down. At the same time, one by one, the tail feathers wrap around Temari and Shikadai, unfurls.
Temari starts to feel the pull of gravity, pushing her and Shikadai down. She knows she can't take her fan from her back without one hand letting go of her son. Creating seals is also out of the question. She won't risk it. They are not high enough to give her sufficient time to create a seal and catch Shikadai...and that's if the enemy nin won't suddenly make a grab of Shikadai.
If she let's go of her son now...she calculates the risk and she recognizes that if she does that she is as good as lost him.
Another feather loosens around them.
Temari looks behind her at Gaara. She knows her brother will catch them.
The big clay bird starts to explode on the ground. Gaara has no choice but to raise the sand above the ground, getting higher and higher and expanding and expanding, the size of which is almost the size of his entire village. In the event that Temari and Shikadai plunges down, the heat and fire from the explosion won't reach them if he already has created a sand roof over the explosion.
Deidara laughs, brandishing another same like bomb as he flies faster from the explosion.
Deidera drops his new bomb on top of Gaara's sand canopy.
Gaara responds by creating another canopy on top of his original one and extending and extending it into the direction where Deidara flies his bird.
The desert land is covered by two huge layered sand canopy containing the explosions.
Deidera's bird suddenly plunges down the edge of the double canopy as he releases numerous bird bombs that fly straight towards Gaara, slowing his pursuit.
The last feather holding Temari and Shikadai unfurls and they slide the bird and drop down into the air.
Temari's hand goes to her back to take her fan. As she is finally holding her fan it suddenly explodes, making her let go of it midair, stinging her left hand.
Temari clutches her child with her good and wounded hands. She can see Gaara's sand approaching them. "Come on," whispers Temari. She could have used her fan to slow their descent.
Suddenly, a very tiny clay bird that was hitching a ride on Temari's yukata enlarges and swoops them up just as the approaching sand encounters an explosion.
"Shit! Shit!" Temari swears to herself. Checking her clothes and Shikadai's for any more bird bomb hitchhikers. She should have known of that trick when her fan explodes.
The bird carrying them now has four wings. The two wings, each on both sides of the bird folded upward and inwards and envelop Temari and Shikadai, holding them captive.
The bird carrying Temari and Shikadai flies lower as the bird carrying Deidara flies alongside them. Deidara scrunches up his nose as he points at their bird then he makes an exploding gestures with his hands before he raises a mask to cover his face. "I don't want to smell burned baby flesh," he says as his bird gains distance from them.
Temari glances down at the bird beneath her feet. She and Shikadai are standing on top of a flying bomb. She will jump down if she can but with the wings holding on them tightly that's just not feasible.
Gaara is near them now. Temari raises petrified eyes towards her brother.
"Kill me and you can set them free," Deidara shouts towards Gaara before his bird flies higher and higher, expecting Gaara to follow him.
Gaara looks at Deidara then at Temari.
Temari, defiantly, tries to raise her crying baby towards Gaara but immediately the clay bird plushie and rattle that now accompany them, vibrate. The rattle creates a sound that takes Shikadai's attention and dampening his cries.
Gaara shakes his head sideways at Temari. He will not just save Shikadai. He won't allow his sister to sacrifice herself to be blown in order to save her child. He will also save Temari. Kamaru-nisan won't ever forgive him if he comes back to Suna with only Shikadai.
Gaara recognizes that he can't save his sister and his nephew without fighting Deidara.
Gaara's sand, carrying him, then follows the enemy nin as his bird flies higher and higher then the bird turns back going in between the two layered sand canopies.
Temari's eyes follow Gaara's progress. The bird she and Shikadai is riding turns too but before it gets too close towards the sand canopies it halts and flies close to the ground.
Even if they fall down, it's now safe. But Temari knows that the bird they are in can and will explode on a whim.
The sand canopy below and above reform, extending gigantic hands, all trying to reach Deidara.
Gaara's sand then successfully catches and envelops Deidara's left arm. It is now easy to fully enclose the enemy with sand when suddenly, the clay bird plushie explodes near Shikadai's face.
With quick reflexes, Temari is able to cover her baby's face with her injured hand from the explosion. The back of her hand, the skin on them then breaks and the flesh beneath is exposed as her left hand burns. The flesh of her hand then turns reddish black and it hurts so bad.
"Gaaraaa, nooo!!" Temari shouts as the rattle remaining beside them rattles and then the encased little birds inside the rattle come out. "You can't hurt him, Gaara."
If that was Shikadai's face that was burned, his nephew will grow up blind and deformed if he survived it. Or maybe a healing jutsu could lessen the damage but a damage will still leave its mark. Gaara's sand then retreats from around Deidara.
"What do you want?" Gaara asks his opponent.
Instead of answering, Deidara asks a question of his own, "Why are you still okay, man?"
Gaara stares at his enemy then he suddenly clutches at his chest as he feels a squeezing, tightening feeling around his heart. Breathing also becomes difficult. He feels faint as each breath he takes becomes a struggle.
With dilated pupils, Gaara raises his eyes to look at his enemy. "You use poison," Gaara speaks each word slowly as he struggles to breathe.
The enemy just points towards his mask to acknowledge.
With his sight further blurring, Gaara searches for Temari and his nephew. They are still below, near the canopies' edge. If the tons of sand go down, they will be buried beneath it.
Gaara swivels back his attention towards his enemy. Moving the tons and tons of sand away from his sister and nephew and towards his enemy. But then three tiny birds from the rattle fly around near Shikadai and then boom, simultaneously detonate.
Temari tries to move her body to cover Shikadai, the best she could.
When the exploding stops, the sand canopies near her has receded back to earth creating a small mountain. Then suddenly the bird, she and Shikadai are riding on becomes smaller and smaller until it also explodes. But before that happens, Temari, carrying Shikadai, scrambles for release and jumps down towards the ground.
Temari looks around her for Gaara. It takes a split second for her to see him plunging back to earth with his head down and his sand, not enveloping him, but dropping down with him.
Her brother, has he successfully defeated the enemy?
But at what price, as Temari spots Gaara falling fast back to earth. She watches as her brother hits the ground with a loud thud.
She knows he has been poisoned.
Temari puts down her baby on the ground then she removes her obi. Biting to tear a small piece of the obi, she puts it loosely around Shikadai's nose and mouth, the edges tucked beneath his head on the sand. Then with the remaining cloth, she wraps it around her nose and mouth before she runs up towards her brother.
Kneeling down, Temari then immediately searches for a pulse at Gaara's neck. Her heart thumping faster as she can't feel any. With her uninjured hand, she tries to find a pulse in his neck then at his wrist then at his neck again. A tear then rolls down from her eyes to be absorbed by her obi as she valiantly looks for a sign of life. Temari then hits Gaara's chest, starting compression.
Gaara is strong. He can't just die just like that. Those words keep repeating in Temari's head.
When suddenly, from the corner of her eye, Temari sees Shikadai being raised from the ground by a scorpion-like tail.
Temari swivels around, standing up immediately as she stares at the enemy holding her son. "You're dead," she utters, staggered to see the stooped old man with his metal tail coiled around Shikadai with the poisoned tip near her son's heart. "We killed you three years ago, Sasori."
The puppet's mouth merely clatter.
Temari shouldn't have left Shikadai on the ground but she has no choice, the air around Gaara could still be poisoned. "Give me back my baby," growls Temari, with her stance, ready to fight.
"Or else what?" another voice asks. Deidara then suddenly appears, jumping down from his bird to land beside the puppet of a stooped old man with a metal scorpion tail. "You used up all your kunais and sembons leaving a trail. You even dropped your fan and your left hand is severely injured. Plus hey, we have your baby." Deidara gestures at his accomplice. "Or rather this person has your baby.
"You're late," the puppet says in an ominous voice to Deidara.
Deidara pouts, "We kept flying round in circles 'cause the bitch kept on dropping her things."
Temari glowers. She would have detected that they were traveling in circles if she had grown up in Suna but the desert land, seen from above is just an expanse of sand unbroken by any possible landmarks. If Shikamaru ever finds them now it will be more out of luck rather than of skills. "How did you know that?"
Deidara smirks. "Weight."
Of course, every time Temari secretly tosses a kunai, her weight would lighten. Explosive experts calculate weight after all it equates to exploding power.
"Mission complete," Deidara says proudly.
Temari sneers. "Oh but the poison isn't your work of art. It is his!" Temari points at Sasori's puppet. "And it will take three more days for it to take full effect—"
"Does it?" the puppet interrupts Temari's words with a smug tone. "I have perfected this particular poison for the past three years."
Temari clenches her hand, looking sharply at the puppet. "Sasori is dead! Whoever you are-"
"Deidara,'' the puppet utters, "your art is magnificent."
"Yes, isn't it," Deidara answers proudly. "And yours is too."
"Why did you—why did you kill Gaara when you want the tailed beast inside him?" Temari asks. "That will make controlling the tailed beast harder."
"Who said we want the bijuu," the puppet says, waiving the crying child up in the air.
—oOo—
Shikamaru has ordered several teams with a medic to trace Temari and their kid.
Along the way, Shikamaru's team so far has found only one kunai. That's when another shinobi from another team finds their group and delivers his message.
The Suna nin declares that Gaara is found...dead.
Shikamaru just shakes his head in utter and helpless disbelief. "Gaara is strong. He can't be dead."
"The medic is quite sure, the Kazekage is dead," the nin repeats. "There's no mistake. There's really no mistake. The medic on my team has checked for signs of life and could find none."
"Take me to him," Shikamaru finally says, defeat leaving his voice flat.
—oOo—
~9 27,10 4 20 P 10 4 20~
A/N: Concrits, violent reactions, or just any reactions?