I'm updating this story today because one of the reviewer...i won't name any names but their initials are Yashako-Chan...threatened to kill me if i didn't. I just want to say that i appreciate all the reviews...even the violent ones.
Also i'm gonna bring in the akatsuki in about 2 maybe 3 chapters and i was thinking about making one of them turn into a good guy. at this moment i'm leaning towards Sasori but i'm open to suggestions if anyone wants to give one. the former bad guy will live in suna and i will probably pair whoever it is with temari or something like that. just figured i'd give ya'll a chance to comment on this.
Disclaimer: I know you want me to stop talking so you can read the story but I have to put this in here or someone might get the silly idea to sue me. anyways i don't own naruto or any characters from naruto
now without further ado here's the 7th chapter of A Suna Story
Ch. 7: Problems
Kaoru was walking out of a store when she heard the commotion at the gate to the village. She ran. Gaara and his team were supposed to be back any day now and she was excited about seeing her friend again. When she reached the gate her eyes widened and she ran faster. There was a group of ninja being helped to the hospital. Then she saw Yuki with an unconscious Gaara on his back.
"What happened to him?" she demanded in fear when she reached them.
"We were attacked," Yuki managed in between pants.
Kaoru got herself back under control. Gaara wasn't the only one that needed help after all. The whole team needed medical attention. Gaara was the most injured so he needed to get to the hospital. Kaoru glanced around and saw a familiar black hood heading their way. "Kankuro, over here. Gaara is hurt."
Kankuro reached them and then lifted Gaara up himself, "I'll meet you at the hospital."
She nodded then returned to making sure that the rest of the team got help reaching the hospital. When Kaoru got to the hospital the other medics tried to get her to work on the rest of the team first but she wouldn't until they told her who was treating Gaara. She felt her anger reach it's peak when they told her that no one was treating him. After throwing a few object and shouting at everyone in sight Kaoru told them that if they needed her she would be in Gaara's room treating his injuries. In the meantime, they could treat the rest of the team since they were to good to treat Gaara.
Kaoru was in Gaara's room treating him for the next several hours. She couldn't understand how he had gotten so injured. His sand should have defended him. Why hadn't it? Not to mention Gaara was a powerful and skilled ninja. How did someone get through his sand, skill, and power and injure him this badly? He had several broken bones and his body was riddled with bruises. Then there was the single stab wound where a kunai had barely missed his heart. She definitely had some questions for his team.
Kankuro and Temari came in when Kaoru had just finished healing Gaara. She looked up at them with anger smoldering in her blood red eyes. Her tone was very controlled when she finally spoke, "Something went seriously wrong. Gaara is completely out of chakra and he's physically exhausted, not to mention he had a lot of physical injuries that he shouldn't have gotten."
The two sand siblings exchanged looks. Both were thinking the same thing, 'How the hell had he gotten injured physically?' Then Temari spoke to Kaoru, "Are you going to stay in here with him?"
"Yes. I can't trust the rest of the medics to take care of him. I'll stay the night and make sure that he'll be alright. I've done all I can for now." Kaoru turned to Kankuro, "Can you find Yuri and ask her to come check him herself when she gets a chance?"
"Sure, Kaoru. I'll be right back."
After Kankuro left Temari left to go get Kaoru something to eat. Healing always made the girl hungry but she couldn't leave Gaara until she knew he was out of danger. Kaoru didn't leave Gaara's room for the rest of the day. Kankuro and Temari were with her when they had time and they even brought both her and Gaara an overnight bag for the next day. Temari made sure that Kaoru got dinner. Yuri came in to check Gaara out herself and told Kaoru that he would be fine. He was just exhausted. Kaoru still didn't leave. No one really expected her to.
The next morning Kaoru was changing Gaara's bandages when he woke up. She smiled in relief when she saw those sea foam eyes open up. Gaara sat up and placed a hand on his forehead. If he showed emotions he would have groaned. As it was all he did was frown and let out his groan mentally. He felt as if he had been on the losing end of a fist. Oh wait, he had been. Kaoru threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. Gaara wrapped one arm around her waist and braced himself on the other.
"Thank god you're alright. When they brought you back and I saw all the bruises and the blood," tears began to pour from her crimson eyes as she spoke.
Gaara found himself wrapping his other arm around her and just sitting there while she cried. She had really been worried. No one had ever done this before. They never felt so relieved he was alright that they cried. What was with this girl? After a moment she pulled back, "I'm sorry, Gaara. This seems to be a bad habit of mine every time you end up in the hospital."
He smirked and shook his head at her, "You worry too much."
She smiled, "Perhaps."
He was about to comment a when there was a knock on the door. She stood up and walked to the door. Meanwhile Gaara was just noticing he was lacking a shirt and got up to find it. He found his shoes first and put them on. Now where was his damn shirt? There was a familiar voice at the door so he looked over. Yuki and Aimi walked into the room. When Aimi saw him she seem to freeze and her silver eyes widened. She blew her strawberry blonde hair out of her eyes and then looked at him again.
"I'm glad to see you're alright, Gaara," Yuki commented. "We were all worried for a moment there."
"Now will someone tell me how the hell he got so injured?" Kaoru demanded with her hands on her hips.
Yuki suddenly looked very pissed off, "We were ambushed."
"How did they sneak up and five highly trained jonin?" Kaoru asked.
"Well, Gaara and Kaito were supposed to be on guard duty. Kaito went to sleep anyway and left Gaara alone to watch. Normally that wouldn't have been a problem except Gaara was already tired. His senses were sluggish so he was a few seconds to late in noticing the enemy. They focused on him as the major threat so Gaara had to deal with the bulk of them."
Kaoru took a deep breath to get control of her temper. She could kill Kaito later. "Alright. So Gaara was physically exhausted. That means that even if he had all his chakra he wouldn't have been able to use it as effectively. That explains how come his sand couldn't protect him as well as it should have."
"Actually that's not entirely true," Yuki said. Kaoru looked at him in expectation so he continued, "Hiroshi was about to be killed but Gaara redirected his sand so that it protected Hiroshi instead of himself. That was when Gaara started to get injured. Gaara was too tired to protect himself and Hiroshi. As a result he had to fight the enemy head on and he still had a majority of them after him. Then one got a lucky shot with a kunai."
"That's where the stab wound came from."
"Yeah. Aimi and me rushed over to defend him. Neither Hiroshi or Kaito were in much of a hurry to save him."
"I can kill them later," Kaoru chanted under her breath a few times. Only Gaara was close enough to hear her and he found himself smirking. She saw his smirk and a sheepish look crossed her face. He just shook his head at her then glanced around the room again. Kaoru tilted her head, "Lose something, Gaara-kun?"
He looked at her then rubbed at his bare arm while looking around the room again. Kaoru smiled as she figured out what he was looking for. She crossed the room to where two bags were sitting on a table. She reached into one and pulled out a new set of Gaara's clothes. She turned back to face him and noticed that she now had his undivided attention. That's when it hit her. Gaara was standing in front of her without a shirt and damn did he look good. There wasn't an ounce of fat on him. It was all well toned muscle. She quickly focused on his face. No one noticed Kaoru's moment of distraction. She smiled at Gaara and held up his clothes, "Shower first and don't put your shirt on until after I have a chance to finish treating that stab wound."
He took the clothes and the bag then headed for the bathroom. Kaoru turned back to Yuki and Aimi. She noted Aimi's eyes follow Gaara as he moved to the bathroom. Kaoru was expecting the girl to start drooling any minute. Gaara didn't seem to notice her at all or if he did he didn't care. They all continued to talk about what had happened during the mission. The good news was that they had managed to bring some of the plants with them even if they didn't get as much as they had originally wanted. They had already given them to Yuri to make the medicine with and plant the seeds in their greenhouse. A nurse came and took Aimi and Yuki away to change their bandages and make sure their wounds were healing alright.
After a few minutes later Gaara came out of the shower. Kaoru got up and walked over to the bed with him. He sat down on the edge of it and waited patiently while she tended to his wound. Kaoru was trying to ignore the fact that Gaara was shirtless and she was touching him. She thought about the mission he had just come from instead. The medic was still feeling annoyed at Hiroshi's and Kaito's treatment of Gaara. Aimi's interest in Gaara didn't help either though Kaoru refused to admit it even to herself. Her tone was cheerful when she spoke, "Looks like you're developing a few friends outside of me, Temari, and Kankuro."
"It would seem so," Gaara said slowly. He was watching Kaoru's face and saw the anger boiling underneath the surface.
"You've even got the beginnings of a fanclub in Aimi. Must have really impressed her, huh," Kaoru commented without looking up.
Gaara reached out and took her chin in his hand. Kaoru had no choice but to look at him when he tugged on her chin. His sea foam eyes held slight amusement but mostly concern.
"I know you're angry about what Kaito and Hiroshi did but I didn't expect you to get jealous about Aimi," he said more to distract her than because he believed she was jealous. The thing was he didn't believe she was. As far as he knew Kaoru had never been jealous of anyone before. She had always been happy just the way she was and didn't care to get much else. The only excuse I can give for his ignorance is Gaara doesn't have a good understanding of a girl's feelings. Any girl could have told him that Kaoru was definitely feeling jealous.
She gave an indignant look, "I am not jealous."
He was definitely smiling now, "If you say so. Just so you know, I have no interest in Aimi. She's too loud or as Shikamaru would say, troublesome."
Kaoru couldn't help but smile then she frowned, "Oh, Gaara. It's just that...What Hiroshi and Kaito did was wrong."
"I know. Kaoru, I knew that I couldn't change everyone's mind. What I expect is for some of them to begin to tolerate me and then perhaps give me a chance to change. Not for them to like me."
"I know but that doesn't mean what they did pissed me off any less," Kaoru grumbled. Then added, "And I was not jealous."
Gaara chuckled as he pulled on his shirt. Kaoru walked over and grabbed her bag. Then huffed into the shower but grinned over her shoulder to let him know she wasn't serious before shutting the door.
After her shower the two of them headed out to meet Kankuro and Temari for lunch. Gaara looked over at him with a smile. The four of them enjoyed their time together. The red head didn't act that different but it was obvious that he was more relaxed than normal. He allowed small smiles and his eyes displayed his emotions instead of keeping them guarded. Gaara sat back and just listened to the conversation around him and felt content. It was good to be home.
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Gaara wasn't so sure this was a good idea. He would rather be on an A ranked mission than where he was right then. Unfortunately for him, Kaoru and Yuri both said he needed time to recover from the injuries he had sustained from the last mission. So his siblings and Kaoru dragged him here. Here was a school by the way. Apparently his friends had started a school that mimicked the Konoha academy. It was a good idea except Gaara hated teaching and he wasn't good at it.
The kids got a chance to ask questions. One girl with choppy shoulder length brown hair and black eyes had asked if she had to use a weapon because they could hurt the other person or even kill them. The girl wore a loose green shirt that slipped off one of her shoulders and you could see the sleeve of a tank top under it. Her skirt was black as were her gloves and thigh high stockings. She wore light brown boots and a yellow bandanna around her neck.
Kaoru was going to stick close to Gaara to keep him from bolting for the closest exit. They knew he would if given the opportunity. He seemed to take an interest in this girl's question and would have given her an answer except everyone else's terrified reaction. Kaoru let out a sigh. The adults' fear didn't bother Gaara nearly as much as the children's. When he noticed their reaction he stopped speaking so Temari and Kankuro answered for him. Kaoru placed a hand on Gaara's arm in support. He shot her a grateful glance while the children ran to pick an instructor. Kaoru only took the ones with interest in medical training beens that was her specialty. The others were to get split among Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara.
Gaara stood there with his eyes closed. He wasn't expecting anyone to choose him. That would have suited him just fine but the girl had other ideas. She walked up to him and asked him to train her. Gaara looked at her in mild surprise and asked if she was sure. She definitely seemed sure. Kaoru, Kankuro, and Temari all smiled at the sight. Gaara asked her for her name.
"It's Matsuri," she replied nervously. The girl wanted to please too much. Gaara felt himself soften when her shy smile and timid manner reminded him of someone else. She picked the club because she had thought that was what he wanted her to pick. He finally handed her the jouhyou. It had a knife at one end of a string that was attached to a hollow stick. He told her how to use it and told her to practice. She did even though it was obvious she didn't like weapons. Gaara allowed a small smile when no one was looking. Definitely reminded him of someone else by doing what she didn't want to do just to please someone else.
Kaoru walked up beside him, "You look amused."
"She reminds me of someone."
"Oh, who would that be?"
He glanced at her, "Someone special."
They heard the knife end cut into the ground. The two of them looked over to see Matsuri had froze up and just staring at the sharp object as if it were a snake about to bite her. Kaoru started to walk towards her in worry but Gaara stopped her, "Let me handle it."
"Alright."
He walked up to his student, "What's wrong?"
She told him about her family. Matsuri's parents had been killed in front of her by many weapons and now she was afraid of weapons. Kaoru felt her heart go out to the girl. She knew what it felt like to lose your parents. She had came home to find her parents' dead bodies and now she was afraid of the dark. Well, afraid of what was in the dark rather than the dark itself. The medic could definitely relate to this girl in a way. Gaara asked Matsuri why she used a weapon. This surprised the girl. Then he explained what Naruto had told Gaara when they had fought. He turned and walked away to let her think about what he had said. Kaoru followed him out with a wave to Matsuri.
When they walked back into the village they saw Temari and Kankuro with one of the ninja that had been guarding the gates. The ninja told them that someone called the Shitenshounin had said they would kill someone important to Gaara for every day that he didn't respond to their challenge. Gaara glanced around and saw that everyone that mattered to him was right there except for... He suddenly turned and started to run. Kaoru told Kankuro and Temari to go after him. She would tend to the other sand nin. They agreed and followed after their brother.
A few hours later the four of them were standing in the council room asking for permission to go after the Shitenshounin and save Matsuri. Baki did some arguing for them. He told the council where the enemy was going and that they should request help from Konoha. The council agreed with him. Then Baki turned and ordered them to form a squad and prepare to pursue the enemy. Gaara was the only one that didn't complain. He turned to leave. Temari, Kankuro, and Kaoru weren't nearly as cooperative.
"Wait a minute," Kankuro demanded. "The enemy's objective is Gaara. Are we suppose to just fall into their trap?!"
Temari agreed with him, "That's right. Why aren't we developing other units?"
Kaoru just stood beside them. She would let them argue because she was the first to admit she didn't like confrontations. There were exceptions but this wasn't one of them. Temari and Kankuro were doing just fine and they were better at arguing anyways. Baki had an answer for them. They didn't want to risk this being a diversion to get at the village while it was defensless. The three of them weren't going to be fooled. They knew the council was hoping that Gaara would get killed while he was saving Matsuri.
"Well, at least you're coming with us, right, Baki?!" Kankuro demanded in anger. Kaoru could feel the guilt coming off of Baki. He wanted to come. He knew how hard Gaara was trying and wished to support him but the council wouldn't let him. Koaru felt sorry for the jonin. He was stuck between Gaara and the council. Baki took so long answering Kankuro said, "Well?"
"I've been given a different mission. Go."
Before Kankuro or Temari could argue anymore Gaara walked right past them. Even though he didn't say a word the rest of his team knew that meant he was going to do just what the council ordered him too. They followed him when they reached the gate of the village they stopped. Kankuro turned to face Kaoru, "You should probably stay here."
Kaoru gave him a withering look, "If you honestly think I'm going to stay here while some psychos try to kill Gaara then you've lost your mind."
Temari smirked then said, "We might need her. She's one of the most skilled medical nins in the village so she won't be useless and we all know when push comes to shove Kaoru can defend herself without any problems."
The other two agreed. Kaoru crossed her arms and seriously considered hitting Kankuro but decided against it. They might need him later. She could hit him after they'd saved Matsuri. They turned and then stopped again. Standing in front of the gates was Yuki, Daisuke, and Aimi. Daisuke spoke for the group, "We wanted to wish you luck. The council isn't allowing us to come with you so that's all we can do. So good luck and come back safely."
Gaara nodded and this time they headed out without interruptions.
Meanwhile Konoha had just received news of the kidnapping and had formed a team under Shikamaru to go help. Shikamaru had chosen several people for this missions including Naruto, Lee, Ino, Choji, and Kiba. He split them off into two man teams while they were traveling. They ended up waiting for Shino, Neji, and Hinata to find the enemy and the four sand nin. Sasuke and Sakura were both ahead of them too. Sasuke was there to watch Sakura's back because she was there as a medic for the teams.
By this point Temari and Kankuro had both stayed behind to fight different enemies. Temari was fighting some girl with control over the wind just like her. Kankuro was fighting with some kid that had a extending sword. Kaoru could tell that Gaara was worried but both of his siblings assured him that they would be fine. Kaoru wasn't so sure. There was something about these guys that just wasn't right. Meanwhile her and Gaara were still following the two guys with Matsuri. One of them suddenly stopped. So did Kaoru and Gaara.
Kaoru knew she couldn't stay behind like the others. She wasn't that strong of a fighter. Besides she was here as a medic and that meant she had to avoid fighting when she could. Kaoru looked at Gaara. He nodded in understanding then motioned to the forest behind him. With a nod of her head Kaoru jumped back out of the way. She stood in a tree looking down at the two fighters. The one that wanted to fight Gaara watched her leave. He looked back at Gaara, "What? Is she too important to you to risk in a fight?"
Gaara only said one word, "Medic."
The man's eyes widened. They hadn't factored that in. They had just assumed that they were all normal ninja except for Gaara. It hadn't occurred to them that one would be a medical nin. Oh well, that wouldn't matter. She wouldn't be able to save Gaara. They would see to that. As Gaara and the other ninja fought the Konoha ninja were saving Temari and Kankuro and just in time too. Sakura and Sasuke were heading towards the fight to give medical support.
Then something happened. The enemy used some kind of jutsu to get Gaara's sand wet so he couldn't maneuver it. He got injured as a result and lost all this sand use. The ninja he was fighting attacked with his big weapon while Gaara couldn't move. Kaoru was about to move to save Gaara when someone else entered the battle and did it for her. The medic had never been so happy to see Rock Lee and Naruto. They defended Gaara while Kaoru jumped down to take care of Gaara. Sakura came out of the woods and took over the healing. Kaoru let her. She wanted to use her healing chakra as last resort because she was a better fighter than Sakura at the moment though her pink haired friend was getting stronger. Sasuke stood watch over both girls. Kaoru stood next to him. She could feel the edginess coming off of him. He wanted to fight.
"Go one, Sasuke. I'll watch Sakura while she takes care of Gaara. I can handle that much," she told him. He glanced at her then nodded and joined Naruto and Lee in the fight.
After Sakura finished healing Gaara the best she could she had to leave to see to Ino. Sasuke landed beside her and the two of them headed off in the direction of the waterfall. Gaara got back into the fight. He formed a spear with his sand armor and killed the enemy with one hit.
Kaoru knelt beside Lee and checked out his leg, "You can't fight anymore. Even if you want to."
Naruto and Gaara walked up and told them that they were going to catch up to the other ninja that had Matsuri. Kaoru looked at them with concern. She needed to take care of Lee's leg but she wanted to go with Gaara to make sure he would be alright. Matsuri screamed. Kaoru looked at Gaara, "Go get her, Gaara. You too, Naruto. I'll take care of Lee."
"Alright, Kaoru. Don't worry I'll keep Gaara safe," Naruto promised enthusiastically.
Kaoru smiled at him, "Thanks, Naruto."
The two of them headed off in the direction of Matsuri. Kaoru turned to Lee and began to treat his injury. Lee sat there patiently through it. She sat back with a smile, "Alright. That's all I can do here. When we get back to Suna I'll be able to fix it the rest of the way."
"That is good," Lee said as he began to sit up.
Kaoru frowned and placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him, "You shouldn't participate in anymore fighting until your leg had finished healing."
"I have to. Gaara saved my life and I have to return the favor," the genin argued.
"Look, Lee..." Kaoru started but Lee interrupted her.
"Kaoru, you care about Gaara right?"
Kaoru nodded slowly unsure of where this was going.
"Well, Gaara is my friend too. Tell me would you just sit here and wait to heal while your friend was fighting?"
She looked at him for a moment then let out a resigned sigh, "No, I wouldn't."
"Then you know I can not just sit here either."
"All right, Lee. Let's go catch up to them then, shall we?"
The two of them got up and headed in the same direction Gaara and Naruto had gone. The others caught up to them and they entered the area together. The fight was taking place in a U shaped valley with vertical cliffs forming the U. There was a large silver dome in the area and Naruto kept trying to get into it. There was a silver haired man in large white robes and a gold ring around his forehead floating on a glowing green ball. He had all the weapons from the other ninjas.
Kaoru ignored everything but one person. He was standing in the center of the valley and something was terribly wrong. Shukaku was coming out. Half of Gaara's body was already taking the form of the beast. Kaoru felt the rage rolling off of Gaara and the fear coming from everyone around her. The only person in the entire area that was calm was the silver haired man. Matsuri told them that the man called himself Seimei, the founder of the Takumi Village. The medic from Suna suddenly felt like pounding that man. Didn't he realize what he had done? Of course not because he was a dumbass. Naruto started to go back into the fight but Sakura wouldn't let him until she had treated his injuries. The other's couldn't get too close because of the chakra absorbing armor. So everyone was forced to just stand there and watch. It was killing Kaoru.
Gaara was trying to keep control. He knew that his friends would be in danger if he lost his consciousness to Shukaku. He kept thinking about the things his uncle had told him before he had died. Yashamaru had been wrong. Gaara knew that now. There were people that loved him. His family and friends were here now because they cared and wanted to help. He couldn't let them down. Gaara began to fight to put Shukaku right where he should be in his subconscious. Everyone watched in amazement as the sand fell off of him and the Gaara they knew came back. Kaoru let out a sigh of relief.
It turned out that Gaara had a plan from the very beginning. He had extracted sand from the area around them and buried the man in it. The man came back up and began to drain Gaara's chakra again with the armor. Gaara used what was left of his chakra to form a spear and pierced Seimei's body straight through his armor. Then Gaara sucked him back into the ground and used the Sabaku Taisou. Without his armor Seimei died instantly. After the fight was over Gaara turned towards them and collapsed. They all ran to him. Kaoru got there first because she was the only one not exhausted from fighting. She check him for any serious injuries then smiled in relief.
"He's going to be alright. It's just exhaustion."
Kankuro smirked, "Go figure we made him take a vacation so he could rest and that's the last thing he does. Gaara seems to be developing a nasty habit of ending up in the hospital."
Kaoru shook her head, "He doesn't need to go to the hospital. A few bandages and good weeks worth of sleep and he should be fine."
"That's great," Temari said in relief.
Kankuro picked Gaara up and the group headed back to Konoha for treatment. Tsunade allowed Kaoru to treat Gaara's injuries herself. After a few days of rest the Sand nin prepared to return home. Before she left Kaoru found Sakura sitting with Naruto and Sasuke. Team 7 looked at her and each acknowledged her presence in their own way. Sasuke nodded his head. Naruto jumped up and hugged her with his goofy grin on his face. Sakura smiled and said hello.
"Hey guys. We're leaving so I was coming to say good bye."
"We heard. Sasuke and Naruto are leaving too so they can train. Sasuke-kun is going with Kakashi-sensei and Naruto is going with Jiraiya. I'm staying here to train with Tsunade," Sakura said.
"I want to wish you guys luck. Oh, and by the way I hope you will come visit us in Suna once and a while." Kaoru turned and began to walked way waving over her shoulder, "See ya guys again someday."
The sand siblings, Kaoru, and Matsuri headed back home. Kaoru put her arms behind her head while she walked. She really hoped that her friends in Konoha would do alright. The Suna medical nin couldn't wait to see how they turned out. That's when she remembered something. She reached over and hit Kankuro on the head.
"Ow, Kaoru, what was that for?" he demanded rubbing at his head.
"For even thinking that I would have stayed behind earlier. You should know better."
Gaara shook his head at the two of them as they continued to argue. He swore they fought like siblings. Oh well, it kept life interesting.
There it is. Now Yashako-Chan please don't kill me. I hope you guys all liked this chapter. Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go work on the next one.
Oh don't forget to send me a review.