Their Fight
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The constructions of the village aquifer had been underway for almost a week. Gaara looked on, observing the building of what Imao had coined to the council. A satisfied smile crept up on his lips as a proud feeling enveloped him but then turned to a sullen and longing expression.
'I wish she was here to see it. I didn't think she felt... caged by staying here.'
He sighed at the thought and pondered about her new found passion but also wondered about their relationship.
'I don't want to hold her back but... I want her here...
Is it bad to feel this strange possessive want over someone?'
He turned away from the incomplete oasis and took his time walking back to the Kazekage building, contemplating the previous events that led to their discord. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by two frantic Suna ninjas calling out to him as they ran running.
They immediately stopped before him,
"Sir! We received the distress signal bird." The ninja's winded breathing steadied.
"Where did it coming from?" Gaara questioned with great concern.
"A couple of miles from here." The other ninja pointed in the direction from where the signal came from.
"Let's go." The Kazekage and his ninjas took no time in quickly making their way through the Suna streets and out of the village.
Her ears perked up as she tried to listen to the outside noises. She could hear Kankuro and the driver make their way in front of the two horses that pulled their carriage.
"What's going on?" The councilman questioned, before peeking through the window curtain. Imao's curiosity got the best of her and stepped out of the carriage, with the councilman following behind her.
"Tanaka! Get the councilman back inside!" Kankuro's frantic words startled the councilman and apprentice.
"What's happening?" she tried to hide her concern as she heard the urgency and aggravation of his voice. The puppeteer and the other Suna ninja stood in a readied fighting stance.
"I knew something was up with you. Ever since you tripped her at that one place." Kankuro glared at the man that stood various yards away from them. It seemed the homeless man they had run into a few weeks before had found his way to them, wearing a dark coat over the same dirtied shirt and pants. The only difference giving his intentions away was the ninja sandals and a forehead protector with a music note symbol in the center of the metal plate.
"Give me the girl. That's all I want." The disheveled looking mad spoke with a matter-of-fact tone and stood hunched over with a sinister look on his face.
"Like hell I will!" Kakuro shouted defiantly.
"Don't worry, I'll send you to hell soon, foolish boy, but first," the man took a few steps forward, making everyone's body twitch in anticipation, but then stopped to looked over at the blind council apprentice, "Young woman... I know what you are. You don't belong with these normal humans. You deserve to be treated like a goddess." The dirty-looking man, though still at a distance, extended his arm to her.
Kankuro leaped to block his view of Imao,
"Don't listen to him-"
"I saw the way this one treated you. Do you truly believe someone like him would want what's best for you? I can help you achieve-"
Kankuro and the other ninja abruptly rushed to the disheveled looking man, stopping his manipulative speech. The purple painted ninja swung his puppets before him and his comrade.
The kidnapper-to-be frowned at his attackers, jumping up and away to gain time to make his hand signs. In an instant, strange green lightning erupted from his hands and struck the puppets and the Suna ninjas. The puppets were scorched and splintered meanwhile the electrocuted ninjas laid flat on the desert sand, groaning from the pain.
"Kankuro!" Imao and the councilman crouched in fear. Her humming helped her sensed what had happened but also noted something very strange. Somehow the lightning that had struck the sand around them had created small glass spikes. The man began to walk towards his fallen opponents as he chuckled at their state. Imao did her best to muster up some courage and quickly made her way in front of the carriage. She knew she had to protect her group and immediately made her hand signs to release a deafening screech from her mouth. The enemy had instantly surrounded himself in a spinning air bubble that repelled her attack.
The uncontrollable sound waves spread all around her and as the screech dissipated, a thud from behind startled the council apprentice.
'Oh no...' To her dismay, her premature jutsu backfired and paralyzed everyone in her group. She turned back as her opponent laughed loudly at her lack of fighting performance. This gave her an opportunity to pinpoint his location, take out a few kunai from her holster and swiftly threw chakra-infused weapons at the man. The assailant jumped away, not letting any of them hit him. Once again, she paced herself forward and away from her group and tried to release another sonic screech. She gasped as nothing came out of her throat and fell to her knees out from her attempt to use chakra.
"Who are you and what do you want with me!? I am nothing of value!" The exasperation flowed through her barely amplified words.
"I go by Manabu. I work for Lord Orochimaru as a special human hunter and I should tell you, we share something in common. I, my dear, am a successful experiment... Like. You," he paused to give her a forced smile, "And we experiments have to stick together, no?"
'He's... like me?' The blue dressed woman tried to contain her surprise caused by the man's reason. She shook the nonsense off by thinking about her hopes and dreams, as well as protecting her paralyzed group members,
"No! My body may harbor an uncontrollable monstrosity but my heart and mind are pure. I will not leave my friends out here to die-"
"This isn't your choice! I'm going to kill them all and take you as my prize!" He laughed, though annoyed at her defiance, then did his hand signs once more, releasing a larger amount of lightning than before.
Imao quickly leaped in front of the injured Suna group and gathered enough chakra to released another jutsu in order to protect them. A sonic boom shield traveled out of her stretched arm and spread to her sides. She was able to block most of the extending streams of lightning, most bouncing up into the sky, though a thin stream of lighting managed to hit her forearm and singed her long sleeve.
To her surprise, the blast from her sonic boom jutsu not only exploded sand up into the air but also pushed her enemy farther away from the Suna group . He landed several yards away, somehow unharmed by the jutsu. The little granules began to rain down around the disheveled man.
"Ugh... ghastly." His disgusted face turned towards the ground and stood up. He dusted and shook off the sand that continued to fall on his cloak.
Her breath heaved as she felt her chakra almost run out. Anything she would try next would possibly kill her in the process. As she sat there waiting for more electricity to be thrown about, she noted the calmness,
'He's not using his jutsu...' This felt like the right moment for her to make a quick plan.
"If I can't have you... then no one can." His frowning mouth turned to a disturbed smile as he began to walk towards the shaken young woman.
It caused her great frustration to hear that. Imao was not a fighter but she wasn't going to allow a twisted person get what they wanted. She placed her hand on the sand directly in front of her and did a small-scale echolocation jutsu that didn't require much chakra. As soon as the pulse gave her his position she grabbed a nearby kunai, jumped to her feet and ran towards him with all her might.
"I am not a tool for anyone to use!" Her legs lifted her high into the sky, as she prepared to swing her arms down and impale her opponent with a kunai in her hands.
At the same time, Manabu threw a large clump of sand into the air with a quick air jutsu and electrified it, condensing it into a large piece of glass. His electricity continued all over the glass and burst it into smaller, sharp spikes which were sent flying at her direction.
Imao could only hear her impending doom but for once, it didn't matter. In her mind, she knew that if she died, no one from her village would ever be hurt because of her - it was a sacrifice she was willing to take.