Hellllllooooo friends it's time for chapter 14, aka the filler arc in which those cheesy villains from that artisan village attempt to extract all of Shukaku's chakra from Gaara to resurrect their even cheesier "god" like leader. And if you were waiting for romance it's finally here!
Anyway love to all of my readers, favoriters, followers and reviewers. *.*
Thoughts are in italics
Memories/flashbacks are in bold italics
Bold if not for emphasis, is for my beginning/endnotes.
Disclaimer: So it turns out no amount of my pathetic bribing will convince Kishimoto to sell me this series, so, you know, still don't own Naruto.
Notice Me
Raccoon wasn't jealous. Raccoon wasn't jealous, so she hadn't wished harm upon Matsuri. And because Raccoon wasn't jealous and hadn't wished harm upon Matsuri, it wasn't indirectly her fault that Matsuri had been kidnapped.
As with everything else though, it was easier said than done.
Gaara was pacing, something she'd be willing to bet he'd never done in this life before this moment because Gaara didn't worry like this before, in front of the Jounin Council's doors, frown chiseled into his otherwise stone like expression. If Raccoon hadn't been drowning under Gaara's sea of worry, she would have to deal with her own tug-of-war between not-really-jealousy-but-felt-pretty-close and guilt. She knew it was senseless to feel responsible for Matsuri being kidnapped, especially since the girl was in no way her problem, but Gaara…cared about her so it felt like she should've kept her safe so at the very least Gaara wouldn't look like this.
At this point it didn't matter, Matsuri was gone, having been taken sometime at nightfall after they released the class for the day. Normally the siblings were the last one at the training grounds to leave, getting in cool down exercises while the kids wandered off one by one, but yesterday they'd had to leave a little early for an errand. The siblings were by no means responsible for other children, but they'd forewarned the few left that they had to leave before they and Raccoon took off for the afternoon. Sometime in between then and when the Jounin Council received the hostage note at midnight, they'd taken off with Matsuri to God-knows-where.
It was 6 in the morning, the siblings had just been informed, and only because Baki had made the effort to inform them as soon as he'd received notification, which had only been around 30 minutes ago. Apparently the Council was doing their best to keep Gaara as far away from this as possible, even at the cost of crippling their own inner systems.
Baki had only been able to scribble out a quick note on carrier pigeon, because he was limited on time Raccoon guessed, that a group calling themselves the Celestial Warriors had sent a ransom note stating they had Matsuri and would continue pick off Gaara's loved ones every day he delayed engaging them. Raccoon and the siblings had no clue what they wanted with Gaara besides Shukaku, and if that were the case then Raccoon understood why the Council didn't want to send Gaara after one not-even-a-genin. The fact that she was Gaara's student and that he may have an attachment to her be damned.
Raccoon got it, and maybe if she were still of the mindset that people were expendable she would've agreed, but as it stood she couldn't agree with letting Matsuri be kidnapped and then leaving her to die. If the Council wasn't going to send Gaara they had to send someone, it looked bad on their part to not only excuse the fact that someone broke through their borders, but that an Academy student had been stolen. Raccoon had morals now, but she wasn't above feeding the information to, say, the village gossips and letting them drag the Council's reputation through the ringer.
Still, it didn't look like she'd have to speak at all, the Council finally decided to have audience with Gaara after making him waste a half an hour pacing their hallways. As soon as he'd stepped foot into the chambers he exclaimed/announced: "I'm going after her" as if discussion wasn't necessary.
"Absolutely not!"
"I cannot stress enough how bad of an idea this is."
"We cannot allow our Kazekage elect to pursue terrorists."
These were the only sentences Raccoon was able to make out amongst the blending racket the councilmembers made in protest. Goro, upon seeing Gaara's jaw ticking in anger, called for silence in the room.
"I understand that she is your student and you are concerned for her, but we cannot allow you, as the future Kazekage, to pursue enemies when you are their target. You risk our nation if you fail and they get ahold of the Shukaku." Goro said bluntly, but Gaara grit his teeth—a silent challenge to the Council that he wouldn't back down on this matter.
Raccoon was playing tug-of-war yet again between logic and her feelings. The Council was more than correct in their misgivings on sending Gaara anywhere—not only was he a future leader of a nation, but a Jinchuriki and their target; they had no clue what they were up against as far as numbers and strength, it was frankly a strategist's worst nightmare and potentially a suicide mission. In the same token she was exceedingly proud of him for caring enough about a person to throw himself headfirst into battle. In only half a year he'd come so far from the misunderstood love-starved orphan he once was. She knew he understood what the risks were to his own person, but he chose the safety of others above the safety of himself and it was an admirable, loveable quality.
Raccoon willed herself to focus in, the siblings having devolved into arguing that this was pointless—Gaara wouldn't be alone because they would go with him, and the longer they spent debating the further away Matsuri got and the greater the chance the village was at more risk for further abduction.
Raccoon heard Himura snort under his breath that there wasn't many others the adversaries could take because Gaara cared for no one, but she wisely chose to ignore it. Outwardly. She definitely wasn't smirking in victory when Himura suddenly developed a migraine that had absolutely nothing to do with her. Nope.
"Enough." Raccoon held herself back from jumping, having never heard Gaara raise his voice in this much frustration in his life. It wasn't so much loud as it was demanding.
"I'm going whether I receive permission or not, I don't have time to waste arguing with you over the safety of one of Suna's villagers. Now you can either approve Raccoon, my siblings and I to go after these," he sneered, "Celestial Warriors, or I will deal with your consequences when I return."
The Council gaped at the three while the siblings smirked back and Raccoon had to talk herself down from how absolutely turned on she'd suddenly become. My word, who knew ultimatums were so sexy?
"Very well." Goro sighed, face snapping back into a smooth mask. "But you will not be taking Raccoon with you."
Also not surprising, although there was no way in hell Raccoon was going to watch Gaara leave the village and wait for his return like some sort of damsel, if the Council had to be…persuaded, she could make that happen.
Kankuro, surprisingly, was the first to open his mouth to protest. Gaara and Temari looked equally miffed, but Raccoon could tell by the stone-faced Council that they likely weren't going to majority budge on letting her out of the village to aid in saving an Academy student. It was already a miracle that they were letting Gaara go at all, sending Raccoon would just be "wasting village resources".
"There's no time for arguments, you must set off immediately so you don't lose their trail completely." The ANBU Captain interrupted, wincing minutely when Kankuro's jaw snapped shut. He seemed to study her, but Gaara's affirming grunt had him turning quickly to his siblings and filing out, most likely to their quarters where they'd pack light before following whatever trail they could still find.
Raccoon waited for the siblings to be well out of the premises before speaking over the indignant murmuring of the Council.
"If I may speak freely?"
Goro arched his eyebrow quizzically, but motioned her to speak nonetheless as the Council turned their beady gazes upon her.
"I understand your…reasoning behind demanding that I not assist, but I feel it's against my direct orders if I cannot at the very least be dispatched to ensure Gaara-san makes it out of this altercation alive." She grunted.
She did not miss the shifty looks shot between Himura and Katsuo, nor the slight twitch of Goro's facial muscles as he fought to remain stoic in the face of her questions. They had better be glad they couldn't see Raccoon's face or their faces would've melted off from the force of her glare.
It was easy to guess why the Council had agreed almost too easily to letting Gaara go despite having no idea the strength or size of their enemy and knowing that Gaara was their intended target—they hoped, even just slightly, that Gaara wouldn't come back. They were of course worried about the Shukaku falling into the wrong hands, it was after all the village's greatest asset, but the thought that someone perhaps had a vendetta against Gaara personally with no capability of removing the tailed beast far outweighed the risk of the demon falling into the wrong hands. And since they'd maintained the farce that they were against it at first, they could easily write off that Gaara had gone against the village's recommendations and tragically gotten himself killed. Only for them to be able to say in the next second "oh well, better choose a suitable replacement for Kazekage!"
"Your dedication to your duty is…" Goro grimaced lightly, "admirable, but unnecessary." The man waved his hand dismissively, missing the fleeting tensing of Raccoon's fists as he went on. "I'm sure Gaara-san is more than capable of taking on these "Celestial Warriors" as it were."
They weren't taking it seriously, and to be fair if a group claiming to be the "Celestial Warriors" had left her a ransom note she probably wouldn't at first either, but when it came to Gaara anything and everything was a potential threat; a potential life and death situation. And while she would love to sit here and argue that point until she was blue in the face, she couldn't let the siblings get too far ahead of her—the further away Gaara got the antsier she became—because while no, they didn't know what these people wanted with Gaara, whatever it was was likely no good.
It was why she justified yanking off her mask when she knew every eye was aimed at her—eye because Baki kept one of his hidden for who knows what reason—and once she was sure every living being was under her thrall she hissed out instructions to their slack faces.
"This is what is going to happen: you've gone back and forth with each other about the merits of sending Raccoon for backup as per her original orders and have decided that personal feelings aside," the ANBU Captain, who had been marching around the perimeter of the round table as she ranted, paused to glare at the clique-y group of anti Gaara fans consisting of Goro, Himura and Katsuo, before resuming her pacing, "that it is best she be dispatched to ensure Gaara's safety because," she huffed at having to add in this next sentence because it shouldn't even be their primary thought, but alas, "finding another candidate for Kazekage isn't feasible at this time in the process."
"You will also," she growled, her worry rising to a fever pitch at the thought that she wouldn't be enough, "send out a request to Konoha for backup due to their numbers and skill being entirely unknown to us."
She rounded back to the front of the table, eyeing down each glassy-eyed member of the Council one last time with barely concealed rage. "When I finish speaking you will have no recollection of having seen my face or the orders just given to you in this time period. You will carry out your commands immediately upon the release of this spell, nod that you understand."
Upon receiving the affirmative, Raccoon clapped her mask firmly back onto her face and swiveled out the room, the bubbling concoction of worry and anger the only thing keeping her from feeling the slight drain using her magic had cost her.
G/M
Whoever had taken Matsuri had left an obvious path for Gaara to follow, which only made the siblings feel grimmer about the situation they were about step in. To make matters worse they had absolutely no backup to speak of, as there was no way the Council would send any more resources in what they considered a suicide mission. It might've been doable if they had been allowed to bring along Raccoon, but they'd been denied even that, a fact Kankuro swore up and down about as they raced across the desert.
"Damn Council, how can they stick Raccoon on us and then yank her away whenever it's convenient?" He hissed.
Even Temari, who wasn't the biggest fan of Raccoon was grumbling to herself. "And she didn't even argue, although I'm sure it wouldn't have looked great if she had."
Gaara was the only one who hadn't said anything about their current predicament, eyes focused ahead as they followed strange symbols etched in the sand that washed away as soon as they passed. From the trail it looked like they were headed for the Land of Rivers, and with this knowledge, Gaara picked up his pace, knowing that they'd have to stop the kidnappers before they made their way out of Rivers or Leaf territory. The bloody Mist was vicious, Gaara didn't fancy having a fight there, and if they lost them outside the Land of Fire it was all over from there.
No one was acknowledging the elephant in the desert though—this obvious trail, the fact that the note named Gaara specifically, the fact that they'd stolen Matsuri, whoever these people were they'd done their homework. Going into this fight they had to assume that they enemy had extensive knowledge of them, and the only thing the siblings had going for them was the hope that their strength outmatched their opponent's.
Temari and Kankuro shot each other wary glances, but sped after their brother, another factor wiggling in the back of their minds, a voice that had gotten steadily smaller over the past months, but now roared with a vengeance.
'We can't let things go so bad that Gaara lets out the Shukaku.'
G/M
Hours later saw a familiar group of genin launching themselves out of the Konoha gates, an eerily similar formation that had a certain orange clad ninja nervous.
"Here is the run-down of what we're getting into here." Shikamaru grunted from the front. "A student of Suna's test Academy has been kidnapped by four thus far unknown assailants. All we know from the information provided is that she was a student of Gaara's and thus far we can assume that Gaara is the target."
Naruto scowled from his spot in the middle, fists tightening in barely concealed rage. He knew exactly why Gaara was being targeted and he'd be damned if another of his friends was going to be ripped from him.
Kiba, who had been leading the charge with Akamaru, spoke up from his position. "What gives though, these are too few people, especially since I'm the only tracker in the group and I don't know exactly what I'm tracking."
"Shino, Hinata, Neji and Sakura have been sent on ahead." Shikamaru looked over his shoulder at five behind him. "This is not going to end up anything like last time, we will succeed, and I'm taking every precaution to make sure of it."
Lee, Kiba, Naruto and Choji all shared a grave look of understanding that Ino felt acutely left out of, but she was determined to do her part on this mission. The boys all seemed to share a certain antsy energy that she worked diligently to separate herself from, especially when they were waiting for intelligence from Shino and the others.
Her thoughts drifted while they were waiting though, and she couldn't help but think about how different their alliances had ended up after only six months. If someone had said that she'd be aiding the Sand demon of Suna right after the Chuunin exams, she would've scoffed right in their face. Her profession may come first, obviously, but she still wasn't as eager as the rest of her team to lend a helping hand to Sabaku no Gaara or his siblings. She was aware that they'd aided this very team in their attempt to keep Sasuke from leaving the village, but was that supposed to make up for the near-death experiences Shikamaru had faced at Gaara's hand? Or how the siblings had treated Lee's team during the Chuunin exams?
"Shikamaru?" She called from her spot next to Choji, as they waited perched on branches for the intel from Shino.
He turned to regard her coolly, tuning out Lee's loud posturing next to an arguing Kiba and Naruto who both seemed intent on making it clear to the other that they were going to bash more enemy skulls.
"Why…us?"
This was what was bothering her the most. They didn't know much about who was targeting Gaara, but anyone who was capable of breaking into a village and confident enough to target Gaara and make him angry was either suicidal or strong enough to pose enough of a threat that Suna's Council thought it necessary to call in backup. But then if this was so serious, why had they not just sent Jounin after the girl? If they needed Konoha's help, why hadn't they requested a team of higher ranked individuals?
"Ino," Shikamaru rolled his eyes good-naturedly a slight smirk on his face, "this is Mission: Return the Favor, why wouldn't it be us?" At her put out look he went on, looking a lot more serious, a recent demeanor adopted only after becoming Chuunin.
"You haven't seen how…different they've been since the infiltration but they've changed, in ways most people won't acknowledge." Shikamaru sighed, rolling his shoulders slightly as he faced towards the sky once again, the others outside of team 10 quieting down uncharacteristically.
"We won't fail this, between us and the siblings, but Suna has dispatched an ANBU just in case."
Ino's eyes widened fractionally, even an ANBU? Why not send a team of ANBU if these people warranted enough fuss for one?
"You have to remember Ino, Suna is still recovering from the loss of half of their forces." Shikamaru threw in. "The siblings and a singular ANBU is all they probably could afford to send."
Before the conversation could carry on further, a group of insects flew straight at them, congregating around Shikamaru's waist before regrouping and spelling out the information they were waiting for.
"Shit, it's already started." He whirled around to face the others, already tense with anticipation as he directed them to different parts of the forest.
"Mission: Return the Favor commences now!"
G/M
There was only so fast Raccoon could go. She'd already had to stop twice as the heat of the desert at high noon mercilessly nipped at the few patches of exposed skin. Her lungs felt like they were too big behind her ribcage and were expanding rapidly with the coagulation of worry, stress, and the ever-growing sickness consuming her.
Now at a tree line, Raccoon had to pause again to hack up blood that looked too dark against the bright green of the grass. The forest ahead was eerily silent as she forced her breathing to regulate, wincing even after a slight wheeze could be heard.
While she was forced to stop for her own condition she surveyed Gaara's. Thus far he seemed to be alright, the sparkler of his aura a still steady glow, even if it was backlit by a simmering red rage it wasn't necessarily frightening or worrying to Raccoon. The energy didn't feel like it was Shukaku driven or like an invitation for the demon to take advantage of. There wasn't hate in these feelings, only righteous anger, something similar to Naruto rippling gales through his field of roses. Righteous anger she could work with.
Still, that didn't mean she could rest here for much longer. She may have risked her body and exacerbated her "illness" by pushing herself through the desert in only four hours with what should have taken double the amount of time, but she also knew that the situation could take a turn for the worse at any moment, and that was something she simply could not chance.
She staggered to her feet, staring hard at the blood she left behind and wondering if it would behoove her to clean it up. She was a wanted criminal after all and maybe shouldn't be so sloppy, but who was really looking for her that hard? After the Sasuke mission failure several months ago, people had stopped searching so hard after the lack of leads. And really, who could trace her blood back to her if they did find it?
She shrugged noncommittally, even knowing that it could be a massive mistake. But really, if someone did out her it would probably be a blessing in disguise, at least then she'd be free of having to make the decision herself.
The hours blended into themselves, but she knew she was close when she suddenly lost her footing and collapsed on the ground.
The world swam, the image of a smug looking man with an odd lion looking plated armor danced in front of her eyes. Gaara wasn't in anguish-causing pain, but his chakra had been significantly depleted. If he pushed himself too much farther he'd risk awaking Shukaku, and no one was prepared to deal with that outcome.
She pushed herself up from the ground, fighting the flickering images that made it hard for her to separate herself from Gaara. Fatigue was a heavy added weight, but if Gaara was going fight through his disadvantage, she had to as well.
Things jumped around like a fever dream from there. Her body moved on autopilot while only providing her brain flickering images. Vaguely in the back of her mind she knew the only reason she was walking around like a zombie was because of Gaara's chakra depletion, and the emergence of Shukaku, but she couldn't quite understand why she couldn't fight through the sluggish pain wracking her body.
One moment she was surrounded by no one, as fine as someone can be when their master was facing off against an adversary alone with little to no chakra. Then pain, the blinding kind that made her scream out loud, that rattled all the bones in her body. Her psyche maybe couldn't take it, but her body somehow endured, pushing her to the middle of a canyon-type situation in the next second. Her mind hazily registered roses, a sunrise across a lake, and an out of control sparkler backlit by pulsing red. He was in that metal thing, get him out, get him out, get him out!
G/M
Seimei was pleased, it was as if the villages were handing him his victory on a silver platter. Sending children after him? Laughable. And the container for the Shukaku was cooperating quite well, his stance as a weapon made no sense—protecting others, just what did that accomplish? But Seimei had to say he was surprised at just how many people would willingly throw away their lives for a demon-child as he tossed away the bait-girl like a ragdoll.
She and the boy were mere fodder, an appetizer before the main course that would be his revenge on the hidden villages. But this woman who had shown up to catch the bait-girl in her arms, this ANBU, he knew there was something…extraordinary about her.
He got to taste a little of it when she clawed onto the dome entrapping the Shukaku, her chakra naturally being absorbed as he took another sip of the demon's power like fine wine. And he could tell immediately that the flavor was enhanced, heady, rich. Whatever she was, she complimented the demon like no other. Was she also a demon? No, this didn't even taste like chakra—it was something thicker, even more deliciously addicting. Should he have his fill of Shukaku's chakra first and then take his time savoring the ANBU woman, or throw them both into the dome and let their flavors mix?
The fodder boy danced in front of his vision again, interrupting his plans for limitless food source. He had climbed on top of the dome once again, hands bloody as he tried to claw at the prison with the help of the girl.
He scoffed, sweeping the tendrils of the dragon sword to bat the orange-clad pest away like the fly he was. The woman, anticipating his move, intercepted his left blade with her bare hands, while deftly avoiding the others.
Again, he got a shot of her thick chakra, eyes rolling to the back of his head in heady pleasure,but his bliss was short-lived. He came out of his haze to find the dragon blade driven into the top of the dome, disrupting the flow of the Shukaku's chakra into his system—cutting off his supply!
She flitted away gracefully, as the remaining blades swiped at her, just in time to avoid both the sharp tails, and the sandy arm that shot out from the top, shattering the dome entirely.
He frowned down at his meal and his hopefully future meal, noting that they gravitated towards one another naturally. His sharp gaze caught how the woman seemed to angle herself to half-shield the Shukaku, a strange concept indeed, though she remained standing at his side. A side, Seimei might add, that was half-morphed into a monster, but she seemed entirely uncaring of this fact. Interesting indeed, there was a relationship that transcended an ANBU merely carrying out orders—whatever this woman was, she had a strong bond with the demon.
G/M
"Raccoon." He winced between his heaving and uncontrollable growls, the Shukaku-morphed side of him garbling her name into near unintelligible garbage.
Gaara couldn't read masks, but as Raccoon slowly turned to him, he knew that she already understood what he was about to ask.
"Protect…Naruto…Matsuri." He looked down balefully at the pool of saliva just those three words had managed to create. Nose wrinkled in disgust, knowing that behind that very mask he couldn't read, Raccoon must be grimacing in either pity or revulsion.
She tilted her head slightly, a shadow of the dramatic head tilt she'd give to communicate she was studying whatever problem the siblings had given her. It let him know, somehow, that she was still very much paying attention to their adversary while still engaging entirely in the conversation.
"I'm to protect you." She answered softly. He shook his head. Couldn't she tell that he was the last person that needed protection? Like this? As it was, the fact that she was here at all seemed like magic. The Council had clearly rejected the idea of her coming after them, so how was she here right now? What had she said?
He didn't even want to get into unpacking how her intervention made him feel much less what to think about it. Luckily she seemed to understand this wasn't the time to argue with him, nodding sharply, though he got the impression that this was intentionally done to communicate how much she didn't like the idea.
He jumped, breath catching when she purposefully placed a hand on his sand encased arm, entirely unafraid. "Don't let him win."
Then she was moving away, leaving him with that cryptic message, that double entendre—did she mean don't let Seimei win or Shukaku? Regardless both were true, and he looked determinedly up to the "Weapon" to growl.
G/M
The woman was graceful as she once again danced out of the way of his dragon blades, chasing her with teeth bared. She didn't settle too far away, seemingly ordered by the Shukaku to stand guard over all the fodder children. How quaint, the monster had morals.
"Your ANBU companion is exquisite." He commented offhandedly to the container, measuring his reaction with his eyes. The boy didn't even twitch, taking his own time to size Seimei up.
"What is she?" He dogged, but the boy wasn't much of a talker it seemed, not like the orange colored appetizer child.
Seimei turned slightly to the woman again, who shifted her stance minutely to shield the children from view. He laughed.
"Rest assured I will have you as well, ANBU." He narrowed his eyes with a devilish grin. "I don't know what you are, but it isn't human."
When Seimei looked back the Shukaku-child was ruining his fun, the sand falling off of him in golden waves. Frowning in thought, he wondered how he could go about engaging the Shukaku once more, now that their dome had been destroyed.
The stare off was intense for a moment, a calm before the storm, before they both struck.
G/M
Temari was talking to her, what was she saying?
"What are you doing here?" She didn't sound displeased with the idea of her being there, not like she would've been if she had been Maki Miyako right now, but still, how dare she!
Apparently her brain to mouth filter was malfunctioning, she heard herself say: "Wow, is that how you say hello, Temari-san?"
Kankuro snorted beside her, though it was hollow, too busy watching Gaara and that futuristic clown looking man stare off. He was bad, beyond the obvious desire to kill Gaara, he'd also apparently been able to tell from tasting/feeling her power that she wasn't human. So Raccoon was prepared to spring in and kill him if necessary.
"But seriously," Kankuro shot her a look and she tore herself away from the conversation Temari and Shikamaru seemed to be having about Gaara choosing not to fight in any transformed Shukaku state, "how did you get here? The Council seemed pretty against it before we left." He didn't look suspicious, but he was clearly filled with unbridled curiosity.
"The Council and I…talked."
That hung in the air, Raccoon pasting her lips together beneath her mask so she wouldn't say anymore.
"Talked?" He echoed.
"Yup."
He didn't have time to dive into his disbelief, because the two struck at that moment. However, instead of the wannabe-god going for the obvious target he aimed for the ANBU, who, since she had been given orders, had to use her moon sickles to deflect the snake-like appendages away from the others.
"Your opponent is me!" Gaara yelled, hands in the typical prayer like position of a doton jutsu.
"Ha! You're no match for me with what little chakra you have left." He smirked and turned his attention back to the ANBU who was tensed and ready to battle, the others shifted into defensive positions as well.
"You should've sent your ANBU to fight your battle for you." He finished with a sneer, knowing that through that blank mask that surveyed him Raccoon was matching him toe to toe with her own sneer.
"While it's true I may only have a little chakra left, I wasn't doing nothing while in captivity." Gaara glared and called forth a sand tsunami.
Raccoon felt the shift, even though the Sand Tsunami didn't engage immediately, ignoring the ghastly walking fashion disaster's laugh of derision. It was quickly buried under what had to be 100 tons of sand. So much so that they had to flee to higher ground.
Raccoon felt Temari's questioning gaze on her as the ghost cosplayer re-emerged, and filtered out everyone holding Naruto back to give her a signature head tilt.
"What the leader of the artisan village said earlier, you not being human, what the hell does he mean by that?"
Shikamaru's interest seemed piqued by this, though his eyebrow twitching up was the only giveaway, eyes trained solely on the battle happening before them.
Raccoon's mouth opened to refute them, to say something like: he's a crazy once-resurrected psychopath, who knows what the hell he's talking about? But her words died on her tongue, gaze instead snapping back towards the forest, where she felt a weak aura like sludge slinking to the edge of the battlefield.
"Raccoon?"
"How many adversaries were there?"
Even though Gaara was significantly weakened at this point, the haze that seemed to envelope Raccoon before, that had her feeling like a floating head without a body, snapped back into shape like a rubber band releasing tension.
"Four." Shikamaru answered immediately. Temari's brow furrowing in concentration a second later, as if she was trying to sense what Raccoon sensed.
"Did you confirm death for all four adversaries?" She snapped her head to Temari.
"Ours drowned." She promised, hands up in defense.
"Naruto confirmed that the final adversary sacrificed himself to resurrect Seimei." Shikamaru once again provided. "And he says that Gaara put a javelin through their first adversary's heart."
"The fourth is skewered inside Black Ant." Kankuro finished, eyebrow pitched up as Gaara completed Giant Sand Burial, and the freaky children's nightmare's aura, which felt like steel chains endlessly rattling, dissipated.
Temari and Kankuro took off to Gaara the moment it was over, with Matsuri and Naruto hot on their trail. Instead of listening to her heart, which beckoned her to throw herself to Gaara's side immediately, she listened to her instincts that drove her to stalk to the ever-approaching presence, an action that didn't go ignored by the rest.
G/M
That scum! That filthy, paltry excuse for a weapon! To kill their leader, the great Seimei. He could not allow it to stand!
The remaining Celestial Warrior clutched at his chest, where the wound inflicted by that pathetic boy was steadily bleeding out. He didn't have much longer, he knew. While the redheaded boy had missed his heart, he had still pierced a major artery. But he had just enough fight in him left to take the boy with him. It was the perfect chance to strike, he was down and his comrades weren't close enough to assist him.
He charged forward, spinning his flail with all his strength for this blow. He threw, and it sailed forward, straight on target. Despite his fatigue, and his weakness, there was no way he would miss. He would avenge not only their again fallen weapon, but all the people who had suffered at the hands of the Hidden Villages.
A clang turned his triumphant smile on its head, eyes staring unseeing into a ringed mask of what had to be a Suna ANBU. Yes, the ANBU, how had he forgotten about the ANBU? The one Seimei was ecstatic to take from as well, her chakra apparently so potent that it sent his leader into a crazed state of euphoria?
"You." He choked as the demon container's siblings flanked her, creating a wall between himself and the redhead. The ANBU shifted in her stance, something about her body language gave the distinct idea that she'd already calculated 100 ways to kill him. He shivered, inhuman indeed.
"So Suna acknowledges the power of the Artisan village and have finally sent a worthy opponent?" He chuckled despite the blood trailing out each side of his mouth. The cat-hooded boy and the blonde haired girl scoffed in unison.
"That's big talk for someone halfway in the grave." The black-clad boy spat.
"Maybe so, but I will be taking the demon with me. If we cannot have our ultimate weapon, then neither shall you."
The siblings scowled and shifted to an offensive stance, fully prepared to fight him even in their exhausted states.
The ANBU however held up a hand to halt them, stepping forward, shoulders squared and neck cracking as she rotated it.
"I will take care of him." He was balked momentarily by the stark difference between her aura and her voice. She gave off a chilling vibe of murderous intent, but her voice was so lilting and melodious that it would trick even the most seasoned of ninja into believing they'd read her wrong.
G/M
Raccoon knew that tapping into the Shukaku's chakra was a bad idea, but she wouldn't let any of the others continue to fight and she certainly couldn't allow Gaara to use up the last bits of his chakra against this resilient fleshbag before her.
If she had to explain the phenomenon to people she would sound insane, but in layman's terms, because she derived power from Gaara, she could also derive power from Shukaku, but she and the demon weren't tied as intrinsically as he and Gaara. It was just enough of a degree of separation to make control possible. Not easy, nothing with Shukaku was easy.
She remembered the first and last time she'd allowed herself to tap into that connection. She didn't even want to dive into the memory of the night right now. It was a stark reminder of what she capable of, and she'd thought that was nearly anything, but when she'd come out of that red haze to find the assassin after Gaara's body parts stitched back together like a Raggedy Ann doll, complete with a forced crazed grin—she'd thrown up every last thing in her stomach. She'd barely choked back screams as the bile mixed with mess of blood and body parts on the ground.
But she was older now, and her "illness" was an unlikely blessing, because there was no way she could sustain that state for long enough to do any more damage than to the immediate threat.
The man had since taken back his flail, spitting something about Suna's weapon not being so impressive if they had to send ANBU to clean up their messes. The words bounced around in her head, a darker part of herself begging her to play with him, unprofessionalism be damned. The sick parts of herself wanted to see him bleed out on the sand for talking about Gaara like he was some sort of inanimate object. It would be so easy, she could fill him with sand until he burst. Or she could gut him and drag him back to Suna to use as a trophy to show to anyone who thought of fucking with Gaara again.
She forced herself to make hand signs, feeling the slight stick of her moon sickles shift in her palm. She took a couple of calm steps forward, knowing that Kankuro and Temari would thank her later for not covering them in blood.
The flail came straight at her face and she didn't even flinch, raising her arm to entrap the flail in a magnetic field, drawing the weapon taunt and making it impossible for her opponent to reel it back. She vaguely heard the man gasp as she brought her left moon sickle up, in what seemed like slow motion, but realistically couldn't have been longer than a few seconds.
With just a shift in thought the magnetic field around her weapons changed from polarizing to magnetizing, and with a yank from her left hand he was sailing through the air the few meters they were separated.
She could see the moment he realized he would die, she savored it even as she dropped the mace portion of his weapon from her magnetic field and reared her arm back. Still he fought it, tried to slow his momentum toward her by letting go of the handle of his weapon, but it had been too little too late of a reaction. She pirouetted to her toes, as he was slightly taller than her, and brought her arm into a deadly arc through the air.
To outsiders it had to be morbidly beautiful, the way his head disconnected from his body one way and his body thrown in the entirely opposite direction simply by a few subtle movements on her part. It was probably the way she'd twisted in her leap, landing in fifth position, sprinkled in blood with the setting sun burning orange as her backdrop, accentuating the red dripping from her blades.
The finale had to be the most spectacular though, as she held her left sickle out perfectly to catch her opponent's severed head in some macabre type of flourish.
G/M
"Fuck."
Shikamaru watched the ANBU carelessly drop the head onto the sandy ground and move with panther like grace back to the siblings' sides, jolting them out of their gaped states. They traded a few words before Shikamaru himself was interrupted.
"Maa, that was certainly a spectacle."
He whipped his head to the Jounin, cursing himself for being so out of it that he didn't even notice the man's approach. But to be fair, this was Hatake Kakashi, Copy Ninja, even seasoned Jounin probably made this mistake.
"Ero-Sennin!"
"I told you to stop calling me that!"
A spiky white-haired man had accompanied Kakashi it seemed, Shikamaru vaguely recognized him, having thought he'd seen Naruto with the man before, which would explain the familiarity.
"I'm surprised Suna sent her after all." He remarked far too conversationally for the situation.
"I'm surprised they sent the two of you." Shikamaru threw back, straying his eyes back to the siblings and Gaara. Kankuro had taken one side of Gaara, supporting most of his weight, and the others, i.e. Naruto and Temari, were arguing over who was going to support Gaara's other side while Matsuri was blushing and stuttering right in Gaara's face as he gave her a tired smile.
In the background Raccoon hung back, and it seemed odd to Shikamaru that she was displacing herself, until he realized that maybe it was intentional. Shikamaru had seen the dynamic between Raccoon and the siblings himself and realized that it was probably…strange. He didn't know the full details of why the siblings had an ANBU detail following them around, but he could guess. Whatever the reason, it probably didn't look that great for Raccoon to be showing so much…emotion? He didn't know her exact orders either, but something about that display seemed like a breach of some unwritten rule.
From what he could tell though, she was fighting really hard to maintain some sort professional composure: the twitch of her hands near her sides, the fact that she was still hovering closer to Gaara despite being feet apart. It was clear that she and Gaara's relationship went beyond Council orders.
Shikamaru saw Kakashi stroll over the group, probably to get them to breakup so Raccoon could properly dispose of the body, and Shikamaru figured he should also do his job and rally the "troops" as it were as well.
G/M
"Maa, long time no see Raccoon-chan."
The ANBU tilted her head to Kakashi minutely in respect, but otherwise didn't take her focus from Gaara, who it was finally decided would be supported by Temari despite her exhaustion, Naruto squirming in Jiraiya's arms and exacerbating his own injuries.
"It seems Jiraiya and I rushed over for nothing." He hummed, his lone eye trained gently on the ANBU in what looked like thinly veiled pity. She didn't appreciate it, but she understood why he did it so she didn't comment.
"Not nothing." She jerked her head to the boisterous white-haired man who'd finally managed to get the blond to settle down. "He is very good at controlling this one."
Kakashi let out a hearty laugh. "You're quite funny for an ANBU on duty, Raccoon-chan." He let himself trail off into chuckles at her bored shrug.
"You must be exhausted." Kakashi waved off Shikamaru's curious look, dismissing them with a shooing motion.
"Raccoon?" Kankuro and Temari hesitated with Gaara, the redhead fighting to open his eyes fractionally and regard her as well.
"The body." Is all she said for them to understand. "I will be with you momentarily."
The siblings and Gaara gave grunts of confirmation and leapt off, leaving the ANBU and the former ANBU alone with one another.
"Do you need assistance?" The silver-haired man offered. He knew that her presence being dispatched meant that she would not only have to dispose of the body after she searched it, but that she would also have to secure the perimeter and possibly dispose of the other bodies. He vaguely wondered why Suna hadn't sent out a whole team, but reasoned that they probably didn't have anyone to spare.
"No, thank you." She spun to the body, her steps wobbling slightly—either from chakra or emotional exhaustion he could not tell, and he wasn't keen on leaving her alone after seeing that kill.
He was more than aware that if she was an ANBU captain she had probably seen and/or done worse, but judging by her height and stature, she couldn't be much older than Gaara, if she was Temari's age. It was a lot to ask a 15 year old to do, even though Kakashi had been doing worse much younger. But Kakashi also didn't want to see anyone else become anything like him.
It was technically against protocol for anyone not assigned to the ANBU's detail to be present for the cleanup of a scene, but Kakashi didn't much care for protocol all that often anyway, so he left her "alone" though he was aware that she knew he was still in the vicinity.
30 minutes later she joined him on his branch. He snapped his book closed and gave her a "u" smile, receiving a head tilt back, the only indication she was "back to normal" or as normal as a child soldier could be after they'd murdered someone.
They set off together the lack of communication comfortable between them as they silently agreed to race to catch up to the others.
G/M
45 minutes after they set out, Raccoon appeared on a branch above them, the Copy Ninja's laugh ringing out behind her.
"You cheated." He jibed as he passed the group, eye alit with playfulness that had the siblings surveying their ANBU sideways.
She didn't address him, but her pointed turn of head towards the siblings let everyone know that she didn't agree with his assessment.
"You're tired." She directed towards Temari. Said sibling scoffed, even though it was obvious as she shifted Gaara's weight on her shoulder. The ANBU held her arms out in silent invitation until Temari groaned and gave in.
"In shifts!" She protested as they stopped so Raccoon could sling an arm across Gaara's waist and hook his arm over her shoulder. Once situated, the woman didn't even bother to acknowledge Temari's demands, taking off with Kankuro once he was ready. Temari sputtered and chased after them, Raccoon's laughter floating back to her on the breeze.
Matsuri, who hadn't been too far ahead of the siblings, drifted back to them, blush painting her cheeks as she shyly and softly offered to support "Gaara-sensei's" other side.
"No." Raccoon blurted, partially spurred on by the feel of Gaara's head on her shoulder, sparking memories of the last time the opportunity had arisen. She beat down the butterflies in her stomach as they skimmed their wings across her entire insides and cleared her throat as eyes bored into her in question.
"You've been through a lot." She said much softer, willing herself to believe the words she was saying and not the little green monsters riding the butterflies that screeched for Gaara to only rest his head on her shoulder. She wasn't jealous and it wasn't that she believed Gaara was comfortable enough with Matsuri to do the same with her. Even though he'd just risked his life to save hers. Nope.
"Oh." The girl flushed harder, whipping her head back and forth between Gaara and Raccoon and the group ahead.
"I…well, if you change your mind?" She offered. Raccoon didn't say anything verbally, but her head tilt must've been enough to have the girl jumping back to the front.
"Possessive." Kankuro snickered. She pinched his side in retaliation, to which he gasped and protested playfully, nagging Raccoon even though she was pointedly ignoring him, though the shake in her shoulders told a different story.
Jiraiya and Kakashi observed with craned necks from the front, Naruto on Jiraiya's back snoring as the sun continued to drift down the sky.
"So?"
Jiraiya looked at Kakashi to his right and grinned. "I think the kid is lucky."
G/M
After Gaara and the siblings had been put to bed in Konoha's temporary housing, having been healed of all injuries and cleared by the medic-nin, Raccoon collapsed into a coughing fit she'd been holding back for hours in the dead of night.
She chosen another abandoned building on the edges of Konoha's housing district. Not minding the dust or the spiders or the mold surely growing in the corner, she spit up the blood in her lungs in a cracked porcelain sink, gripping the edge so hard she was sure it would crumble beneath her fingertips the moment she let go.
Her mask lay haphazardly on a towel hook near the bathroom door, and the part of her that was still trying to protect this shitty existence she was living in urged her to find a water source to rinse the sink out of her DNA. She hacked up more blood in response.
When her chest stopped rattling and her breaths stopped wheezing, she crawled through the dust covered floors to the window, perching her elbows on the windowsill and gazing out at the full moon. Normally Gaara would be up looking at it as well, or he would've if she hadn't utterly failed him by letting those vengeful clowns get a hold of him.
She'd been telling herself this the moment Gaara had reformed himself, but she needed to tell him what she was eventually. Not only for herself, but for him as well. She wasn't crazy enough to think that this would be the last time someone would target Gaara for Shukaku, and that Konoha and its ninjas would always be there to give them backup. As it was, the team that had been put together had barely accomplished their mission. The unit that had been used for combat was exhausted, and though she knew the others used for reconnaissance would've stepped in and managed had the situation called for it, what if they weren't so lucky as to have 9 genin and 1 Chuunin to come to their aid again? With a Sannin and a Jounin as backup to boot?
Had she been at full power she could've decimated those walking jokes, but as it was she had to rely on Shukaku of all things to ensure she protected her master. That should've never been an option.
The only thing stopping her from ripping Gaara from sleep right this moment and telling him everything, consequences be damned, was the fact that he was still running for Kazekage. Oh, also that she was fucking terrified of his rejection, but who wants to dip into that?
She promised to the moon that night, in an abandoned condominium on Konoha grounds, that when Gaara made Kazekage she would tell him the truth, she just had to hold out until then.
G/M
Months later she received her chance. It almost seemed arbitrary, the way the Council had just called Gaara into their chambers once sunny afternoon in the middle of June and announced that he was to be inducted into office 2 weeks from then, the first week of July, exactly a year since the failed infiltration and since he'd changed for the better.
Temari had choked on her tongue she was so excited, and Kankuro let out a laugh of disbelief before he schooled himself. Gaara and Raccoon were the only ones who remained composed. Though she could swear she saw Gaara's mouth twitch up into a smile for a split second.
"We will have the ceremony July 2nd and the party that night, if you have any requests for the specifications of the celebration portion, you may coordinate with the designers." Temari nodded, seeming to be in her element. It was clear she was more than ready to take complete control of the event, Raccoon felt a prickle of sweat on the back of her neck, having no doubt that she and Kankuro were about to be driven to exhaustion by Temari's demands.
"Additionally, you will need to submit your choices for Right Hand to us by the end of the week so that we can properly vet them." Goro continued, reading off a scroll marked with several points.
Gaara tilted his head curiously. "You're letting me choose?" He seemed incredulous, and Raccoon couldn't blame him, it seemed much too good to be true.
"Of course, you have to trust the person who will be helping you run office." Yura rebutted softly.
"But we will have to approve of them! So choose wisely." Himura piped from his seat, no doubt being the only thing he was going to say at all since he was negative by nature.
Gaara hummed but said nothing else, and the Council went through the rest of the requirements and preparations needed before the day of.
"And of course, after the induction ceremony, Raccoon will be relieved of her duties, and your Right Hand will take over from there."
Raccoon caught Gaara's brief flash of panic before it was smoothed over and told her heart to shut up immediately after, having interpreted it as Gaara coming to the realization that if he didn't pick her as Right Hand he'd rarely see her again and would miss her. Preposterous!
"Do you understand these instructions and duties as we have read them to you?" Goro and the rest of the Council stared Gaara down at the end of the speech, looking expectant, some of them maybe hoping he'd chicken out at the last minute?
"Yes." He said simply.
Baki beamed at them, an odd look Raccoon still wasn't used to even after occasionally seeing it for the last year. "Congratulations on your appointment to Kazekage, Gaara. I'm proud of you."
Raccoon actually felt her throat closing up because she wanted to cry. And Gaara, Gaara looked at Baki in this strangled sort of fondness, like he wasn't sure what to do with his expression, so he settled for deer-caught-in-headlights.
"Thank you." He finally whispered.
G/M
As expected, Temari had Kankuro and Raccoon running around Suna like headless chickens for the next week. Despite all of the things Gaara needed to get done, most of his time was actually spent inside filling out paperwork. The only time Raccoon mercifully got a reprieve was when he would leave the confines of the Council chambers for robe fittings, or "dress rehearsals". Apparently appointing a new Kazekage required a lot of pomp and circumstance.
Kankuro was not so lucky, and constantly seethed at Raccoon when she would mockingly wave at him as he was dragged away by his sister.
An elder woman with a hooked nose was the ceremony coordinator and she was as strict as they came. She found Raccoon's presence distasteful at their first dry run through, though Raccoon did nothing outside of her training, trailing Gaara like a shadow. Well, okay, she might have been hovering because she didn't appreciate how shrill the woman was and how clearly uncomfortable and inferior she made Gaara feel. Also, she was constantly touching Gaara. If he didn't follow a direction the precise way she wanted on the first try she would reach over with her manicured talons and adjust him herself.
Okay, so maybe the woman didn't like her very much because the first time she'd pushed Gaara into the appropriate position, Raccoon had had her moon sickle to her throat in the next second. Needless to say, they kept a wide berth from one another.
"Really, I don't see why Gaara-sama needs an ANBU that's not his Right Hand frolicking about." She huffed, ignoring the way Gaara tried to squirm away subtly as she straightened his robes yet again. As per usual, Raccoon's only response was to move slightly closer to Gaara, and thusly the coordinator, making her flinch and back off immediately. It was an automatic reaction she didn't particularly enjoy having and felt the need to attempt to ream Raccoon out every time she had one.
Luckily Gaara and Raccoon were saved from her nagging by the arrival of one of the woman's assistants, a nervous looking wavy-haired girl in her early 20s that honestly put up with way too much shit.
"Junko-san?" She called, quiet as a mouse, but the woman had advanced hearing and snapped at her instantly.
"What is it?!" The elder coordinator glared at her over the tops of her glasses.
"Uh- well, there's been a problem with—"
"And you couldn't fix it yourself?" She hissed snidely.
"They asked for you specifically!" The girl snapped back, though her act of bravery immediately lost steam at her flinch.
The elder tutted and whirled back to them with a warning glare. "Do not move, I will be right back."
After she was aptly out of earshot, which was the large cavernous room entirely, Gaara turned to Raccoon with a smirk. She was glad ANBU's were not known for their conversation skills, because she would've been tongue-tied at the rare, but sexy expression.
"You have to stop pissing her off on purpose." He didn't seem too serious about it if the little laugh he let out afterwards was anything to go on.
"I'll stop pissing her off when she stops hurting your feelings." Raccoon groused, despite the fact that she should've kept that to herself.
Gaara pitched his nonexistent eyebrow up, looking too amused. "You're concerned about my feelings?"
She stared right through him then, gaze heavy even though he couldn't see it. "You haven't figured that out by now?"
The room was empty save for the ANBU and future Kazekage and somehow her admission made this all the more real for the two of them. Gaara was becoming the Kazekage in a week, even though Raccoon had no doubt in her mind that he would do it, and that he'd kind of wished for it so of course she was going to make it happen, it was still amazing.
"Be my Right Hand." He breathed and she sucked in an embarrassingly loud breath and tried to quell the heat in her cheeks, paranoid he could see it past her mask.
"Are you sure?" She choked out, swallowing the declaration of love on the tip of her tongue.
"You don't want to?" It was light, the bastard knew she would accept and was teasing her. Teasing her! Who knew the day would come.
"It would be an honor, of course." She purposefully turned away from his triumphant grin, mad that now that she had accepted, she couldn't justify pinching him in retaliation. Not that she had ever, he wasn't Kankuro, and normally wasn't this overtly playful with her. He was high on his accomplishment it seemed.
The moment was shattered as the old bag came stomping back in, huffing at the decrease in distance between them.
"Get back to your post!" She barked in the ANBU's face. Before Raccoon could snip right back at her on where she could shove her attitude, politely of course, Gaara interrupted her smoothly.
"Actually, my Right Hand is supposed to stand over my right shoulder during this portion of the ceremony, so she's right where she needs to be."
Junko couldn't see behind Raccoon's mask, but she was certain the girl was grinning smugly at her as she sputtered in indignation, her assistants tittering behind her.
G/M
"So...unsurprisingly you've been named Right Hand."
Raccoon, who was standing at attention near the entrance of the private fitting chamber organized for Gaara, sent Kankuro an unimpressed hand gesture he guffawed at.
"Congratulations." He offered after calming down, Gaara shuffling back into the room with an unimpressed frown and a stately middle-aged following after, just in time to hear her give out a quiet "thank you".
Gaara didn't question, only looked curiously between the two as the man fiddled with the thus far ill-fitting trousers they were forcing Gaara into for the "after party" of sorts.
They were tight, and thank god for Raccoon's mask, because she was shamelessly eyeing the way the clung to every line of Gaara's legs, and that butt.
"Are we going to get the honor of seeing your face at this shindig?" Kankuro's voice broke her free of her perverted train of thoughts. Luckily she caught herself from snapping her neck up in his direction.
"Hmmmm." She murmured noncommittally, chiefly because she was too busy eyeing the man pinning Gaara's inseam, so it accentuated his inner thighs even more, and why was she here again? This was torture. She ripped her eyes away from his, ehem, package and focused back onto Kankuro who was thumbing through the racks.
"Oh come on!" He whined. "It's been a year!" He exaggerated his lips into a ridiculous looking purple pout, and Raccoon couldn't keep the snort from falling past her lips.
"Kankuro," Gaara paused to scowl down at the tailor's head as he pinched more fabric together, "leave Raccoon alone."
The elder brother gave an exaggerated gasp, hand flying up to cradle his chest as if wounded. "You're taking her side! I'm your brother."
The future Kazekage rolled his eyes in response and almost collapsed in relief when the tailor nodded to himself as he took down notes and finally released Gaara to shuffle precariously back into the changing room to get back into his roomier clothes.
"One of these days I'm going to see that face, Raccoon."
She didn't doubt that was true, she just hoped they were under better circumstances.
"Alright Kankuro-san, your turn." Raccon reared her head back in silent laughter at Kankuro's grimace, shaking harder at Gaara's smug look of satisfaction as his brother passed him, whining.
G/M
Gaara was back on desk duty as the ceremony closed in, signing final documentation, going over classified files with the Council, familiarizing himself with the dignitaries that were to be attending the induction. Normally, a Right Hand would be required to be attending as well at the Kazekage's side, or attending some other training that would ready them for their own responsibilities, but the Council were being "by the book" and reviewing Raccoon's qualifications for Right Hand. Even though they'd recommended her for the job from the very beginning, and Gaara had only given them one name supposedly, so it shouldn't take them three days to do an unnecessary background check.
All of this was to say that Raccoon shouldn't be at Temari's mercy right now.
"Keep up Raccoon! Aren't you supposed to be an ANBU?"
The captain in question huffed and lightly jogged after Temari through the busy streets of the Bazaar. They were running last minute decorating errands for the after party today. And after they were done with this they had to make a seating chart for the dinner portion of the celebration, which meant studying the attendees and ensuring that dignitaries, lords, ladies and other esteemed members of import from both the Lands of Wind and Fire weren't seated by unwanted company. Raccoon simply couldn't wait. Truly.
Temari, as was her right as a snarky elder sibling, wasn't doing any of the heavy lifting in this situation. Kankuro and Raccoon were her pack mules, and at this moment Raccoon was straining underneath the weight of several bolts of fabric that would be used to decorate the tables. Temari had claimed to take pity on her and was carrying the considerably lighter load of fairy lights that would decorate the outside area partitioned off for dancing. They were on their way to their last stop before returning to the Kage mansion, a seamstress, because in all her planning Temari had apparently forgotten completely about a dress.
"I don't understand what the big deal is." Raccoon grunted as she waddled after Temari, almost sighing in relief when they stepped into the cooled area of the seamstress' shop.
"It's a dinner party Raccoon!" Temari scolded. "I have to look nice, and I can't just wear something I already own."
"I know that." Raccoon delicately unloaded her arms under Temari's scrutiny, positioning herself by the seating area for now, her training demanding she protect Temari despite the fact it was nowhere in her orders. "But you're not really a…fashion-centered person." She trilled carefully, nearly sighing in relief when Temari continued to thumb through fabrics without flinching.
"No, but I have to look good, there's going to be a lot of important people." She mumbled, pulling a teal-ish looking fabric across her body.
"Too on the nose." Raccoon remarked, and tapped her eye holes when Temari looked to her clarification. With a wrinkled nose of realization she rolled the fabric back up.
"Sure, like Shikamaru?" The ANBU teased, reveling in the way Temari yanked too hard on the next roll of fabric, sending a wave of it tumbling over her head like an inverted veil. She quieted her snickers as best she could as Temari straightened herself out.
"Who cares about him!" She protested too quickly. Shoving the last bit of fabric back aggressively before moving on.
"Me thinks thou doth protest too much." Raccoon didn't even bother to hold back her cackles as Temari stomped out of her vision.
For a beat she was alone, hearing in the short distance Temari conversing with the shop owner. They reappeared, Temari pointing out all the fabrics she'd liked available as the seamstress frantically took notes and ushered her to a partitioned fitting room. Raccoon followed obediently when Temari gestured, hefting up her own fabrics with a grunt.
"I'm sure he'll like anything you wear, Tem." Raccoon murmured, scratching her chin beneath the mask.
"Stop that." Temari chastised, clicking her tongue as she swirled in the dress she had on, it was loose and bright, two things Raccoon wouldn't associate with Temari as far as dressing went, but perhaps she was looking to subvert public opinion about her.
"I don't think I ever said congratulations." Temari said into the fabric as she yanked off the sample dress. Raccoon thought momentarily about making Temari repeat herself, this time to Raccoon's face, but knew she wouldn't get anything more vulnerable out of Temari and took it graciously.
"Thank you."
"You'd better protect my brother." Why Temari felt the need to warn her of that now after Raccoon had been doing it for a year already was a mystery to her, but again she agreed easily.
"Anyway, there's no one better for the job so…" Temari's teal eyes met her ringed masked ones through the mirror. It was obviously meant to be more biting, but the soft look in her eyes spoke volumes of trust that thickened Raccoon's throat. The ANBU stuck to nodding.
Temari cleared her throat after a moment, a crooked grin on her face as she demanded Raccoon give her verbal feedback on her dress options from now on. It took another hour before they were finished with the grueling task, and it was filled with droning, groaning, teasing and Raccoon denying the seamstress the pleasure of "dressing the Right Hand" several times, but Raccoon found that she actually enjoyed it. A wonderful distraction she favored over wondering how Temari was going to react when she found out who she really was.
G/M
Even if Ai had been staring at Gaara all night she certainly wasn't the only woman to do so. A cursory glance around the glimmering venue revealed that most women, taken or not, had set their sights on the newly minted Kazekage, never mind that he was still a minor.
Ai herself was fairly ordinary: silken light brown hair, pale skin, almond shaped brown eyes and a svelte body that fit in an off-the-shoulder sheath black evening gown, sans bra and all because she could get away with that.
She flipped over her table card, glossed lips quirking up into a smirk at the letters written in fancy script by her own hand: Iyasu Ai, the identity behind Raccoon, though no one quite knew that, not even Gaara.
She stopped herself from raking her hands through the flowing strands of her hair thrown over her shoulder and ending in loose curls, lips dipping down into a frown at how…wrong it felt to be walking around in this lie of a glamour. She wanted her curves dammit! But she had to be unassuming and unremarkable if she wanted to do her job as Gaara's Right Hand properly, and so she pressed her lips into a fine line and skipped her eyes back to Gaara's location. She kept herself from rolling her eyes as a highly regarded merchant practically hung off his coattails and thrusted his made up daughter in the redhead's carefully crafted face of polite disinterest.
She felt waves of discomfort roll off of him, but there wasn't much she could do for him at this point without drawing that unwanted attention to herself. She checked again for the hidden ANBU, Nightingale and Lynx both taking up positions on opposite sides of the venue in the rafters. Not to mention the ANBU posted outside of the venue in plain view, guarding the event. But the whole point was for the upper crust of the Lands of Wind and Fire to rub shoulders without feeling like they were being overtly monitored, so any ANBU visible on the venue floor were required to wear plainclothes. She knew that besides herself, two more ANBU were mingling amongst the guests, but more likely being more sociable.
To be fair to Raccoon, she was nervous. It was why she kept tugging on the dangling tassel earrings instead of her hair like she normally would, the only tell she had. Why was she nervous? Because she was trying to corner Gaara so she could tell him the truth tonight. Like maybe all of it.
She'd gone back and forth in her bathroom that night as she magically curled her hair between her heated fingers. Could she do this? She had to. But how much could she realistically tell him in the small span of time she could get him away without it looking suspicious? Maybe she could whisk him away? Or pause time?
She tried to keep her thoughts away from the worst case scenario, which in her world was Gaara believing her but decided she'd hurt him too much with her lies and manipulation and failures to want her around and wishing her away—for good because he only had one wish left. She tended to hyperventilate if she went down that path.
So she'd rip it off like a bandage. She'd reveal herself and tell Gaara the truth in a word vomit and let him decide if he believed her after she said what she needed to say.
She definitely was not going to tell Gaara she loved him. Not at all. It was stressful enough to think of his reaction to being told he had a genie he'd apparently forgotten about, there was no need to add a concept he hadn't even delved into yet into the mix.
Ai caught the Kazekage managing to slip away into the back gardens, and easily blended in to the crowd and a dark corner, tendrils of dark purple smoke the only indication she'd ever been there that faded away just as quickly.
G/M
Gaara was looking at his lesser known favorite stage of the moon, a waning crescent. It wasn't as full and brilliant as the full moon, and it provided virtually no light to see by, but something about it was still beautiful to him. Maybe it was the shape? Or the symbolism of it all? It was after all the last stage before the new moon, total darkness, another cycle. It was a sign for people to enjoy their last vestiges of the old, because the new was on its way in, and changes were coming whether they were accepted or not.
The only other lighting in the back gardens were Temari's dimmed fairy lights strung between the open slats of the pergola overhead. It was a romantic setting from what little Gaara knew of romance, and he was surprised no one had tried to take advantage of it as of yet.
He closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh, tucking himself further into the darker corner of the gardens away from the windows and prying eyes of the guests inside, tired of all of this acting he'd had to do all night to please people who only wanted to now rub shoulders with him because he was the Kazekage, when they'd cowered at him all before when he was but an innocent child.
He was jolted out of his thoughts as the length of a very feminine body suddenly pressed into him from behind, her hold solid but not in an attempt to be overpowering and certainly not threatening. He tensed nonetheless as his eyes were blocked by her hand, while the other arm snaked around his waist, trapping him to her. He willed his sand to react, curious and slightly panicked that it hadn't done so automatically, but froze when he felt her lips on the length of his neck quickly, tickling his skin so lightly he questioned if it had even happened at all. They ended their path molded over the shell of his ear and hummed in a low, familiar voice:
"Don't turn around, Gaara, it's just me."
His breath hitched, and his head, which had previously been going haywire wondering if a woman from the party was attempting to take advantage of him, ceased all thought.
"Miyako." He called, a hesitant note in his voice despite how low and assured it had come out.
She didn't acknowledge the call of her name, for obvious reasons, but her sign washed over the still sensitive skin of his ear, calling forth goosebumps and pulling a grunt of confusion from her captive.
"I missed you." It was all the admission he was going to receive that behind him was Maki Miyako, a wanted criminal. By his nation. The one he was just made Kazekage of.
His body didn't seem to care that he had duties and loyalties to protect now, unwittingly relaxing slightly in her hold, though his mind still buzzed with questions.
"You…" he paused to gulp back the nerves suddenly clogging his throat. "How are you here, where have you been?"
Miyako nuzzled her nose behind his ear, and he choked quietly in her hold, not understanding why she was using such an…odd tactic in an attempt to capture him. Was she trying to capture him? Was she intending to abduct him now that he was Kazekage? Was she here to kill him?
"I never left." She answered simply, settling her mouth back on his earlobe, sending another wave of shivers down his spine.
"You mean you've—" he attempted to twist his body, his disbelief too potent not to turn and verify her words with her own facial expressions. She, however, tightened her hold around his waist and halted the movement in a half motion, and righted him again.
"Ah, ah, what did I say?" Because of his squirming, her lips had traveled to the outer shell of his ear once again, so he felt the vibration as she purred the words at him.
"But why?" He snapped, still quiet, but frustrated with the situation. His hands were still free, he could've easily overpowered Miyako if he so chose. But his body betrayed him, easily following Miyako's orders as if she had him under some sort of sedative, not to mention all of the strange reactions he was having to her voice in his ear, and her body shifting against his back and her hands on him and, and—what the fuck was happening?
"Why?" She repeated, hand drifting up from his waist, slowing sliding across the cool cotton fabric of his dress shirt to stop at his heart, which was beating too fast in…anxiety, fear, he couldn't tell. The mixture of hos body's responses and strange reactions inside were throwing him for a loop.
"Do you remember what I said to you, the day you broke into Lee's hospital room?"
He racked his brain, even though that wasn't an answer to his, albeit not terribly specific, question. He remembered they were in a tree and Gaara had demanded to know if she was an assassin, she'd laughed at him and said…
"You said you hoped I understood everything you'd done for me one day."
She hummed, scratching lightly at the shirt over his still too quickly beating heart. "I also hope that you understand everything I do is for you Gaara."
He gasped audibly this time, heart lurching inside his chest painfully, the words pouring from him before he could stop them even though he desperately wanted to bite them back, chew them up and swallow them. "Then why did you hide? Why are you letting them say you work for Orochimaru? That you killed my father?"
Her hold tightened on him fractionally, but it seemed less like a way to keep him from escaping, which he was beginning to doubt was her aim at all, and more as a way of comfort. "Do you believe that I work for Orochimaru, that I killed your father?"
He answered honestly before he could stop himself. "No."
"Then that's all I care about." She murmured into his neck, every syllable tattooing itself into the skin.
"Naruto said that…" He noted blearily that she tensed, but plowed on despite it. "Said that you cared about me. Does that mean that everything else he said—" His voice trailed off in misplaced hope. She was an S-classed criminal, why was he looking to her to validate him with care?
"Everything during the exam, the infiltration, was so that you could get to this, this happiness. I'm so glad I got to see it." He felt the smile against his skin and his arm finally moved up to grip her hand over his heart, fingers lacing unconsciously with hers.
"But…why? Why do you care about me? Who are you really? Miyako—" He fought for his voice to remain steady, to pull away from these confusing emotions swirling in him.
Her palm fell from his eyes and hooked onto his shoulder. He blinked rapidly at the sudden return of the lights, as dim as they were, acutely noticing how Miyako pressed herself harder against him, her body trembling at the exertion of effort.
He forced himself not to crane his head back to look at her, maintaining this illusion that she'd created of a midnight rendezvous ending in an embrace, where they could only be truthful to each other in low lighting and averted eyes.
"Gaara," now it was her breath hitching, her body shivering in the night as she clawed at his shirt, "I'm—"
A scatter of rocks over pavement shattered the illusion instantly. Someone was coming—Kankuro he realized just as Miyako ripped her body away from his, hands leaving him last.
"No!" He exclaimed, though still quiet, as the setting demanded. He spun around, hands finally coming to his aid as he gripped her wrist and tugged her back to him.
His eyes captured her coppery bronzed skin in the low lighting, the moon's rays and the string of yellow lights creating a soft hazy glow around her. Her hair was still wild ringlets that now floated around her head and fell into wide purple eyes, and caught on the gloss of her full lips, tickling the underside of a round nose. A nose, and lips, he'd never seen before, but still somehow looked starkly familiar to him, and those clothes—tiny golden chains linking together satiny see-through purple fabric, the skin of her arms, stomach and uncovered leg bared to be ogled at. All of it tickled his memory in a way that wasn't reminiscent of just a year ago when she'd waltzed into Konoha and his life.
Then purple eclipsed him, Miyako having used his study of her and the momentum of his pull to her advantage. He felt the arm not in his possession slide to his shoulders and she stopped herself nose to nose with him, breathing in his space with a calm this situation didn't call for.
The hand settled on his neck suddenly and pushed him forward, Gaara lips touching hers gently despite the firm pressure on his neck.
This is called a kiss.
He knew that, had heard about the electric sensations that were supposed to travel through you when you kissed someone you were attracted to, had heard it was supposed to be amazing. He knew all of this, but he'd never kissed anyone before, so was he even doing it right?
He was simply overwhelmed, pressing back into the pressure on his own lips just as they slipped away, and she slipped away, her hand again the last thing leaving him. He chased after the sensation in a stumble, clasping onto the empty air where Miyako had existed for a second like a dream.
He felt like sobbing, missing it already, feeling empty. Were first kisses supposed to feel like this? This aching for more while simultaneously feeling like you were robbed? Or was that simply because his was stolen?
"Gaara?"
He turned to his brother slowly, trying not to look as dazed as he felt. Kankuro either didn't notice or didn't say anything as his brother acknowledged him.
"C'mon, everyone is wondering where you are."
Should he tell Kankuro about what had just happened? That Miyako was not only alive, but also in Suna? And not working for Orochimaru? And apparently caring enough about him to kiss him?
He parted his lips to do so, he was the Kazekage now, it was a part of his duty. But the words halted on his tongue, lips still tingling from just that momentary pressure, as if saying the whole experience would be soiled if shared.
"Ok." Gaara said instead, straightening his shirt and following his brother back into the banquet hall, briefly passing a finger over his lips to test if he could make the tingling ghost pressure cease. He couldn't, no matter how hard he pressed.
Ahhhh, why was this one so hard. I was looking forward to it so much, but I got stuck on the scenes where they fight the Celestial Warriors, ugh.
Excuse the obvious mistakes. And sorry for the late chapter it's been a crazy few weekends. Interesting side note though, this chapter is actually missing a whole scene after the kiss between Raccoon and Gaara, but you're just going to have to wait for it in the next because I'm already close to exceeding my word count *insert upside smiley face*
Anyway, thank you so much lovely readers, hope everyone had a great Juneteenth! See you in the next one.
.Acronym.