M'kay, I know I shouldn't update this soon, but...I can't help it!!!! I'm freakin' excited! My computer crashed, and I'm so relieved that I got everything back that I'm going on a splurge of story writing!
Life is good.
Just...not for Azami ;
Oh! And I drew a picture of Gaara and Azami! If I can get it scanned onto a computer eventually, I'll upload it to Sheezy and put the link in the next chapter :) It's so kawaii!
&&Chapter&&
Azami sat outside of Gaara's office, nearly growling with impatience as the gate guard stood outside of Gaara's door. She looked over at him. "What day is today?"
"W-wednesday." He stuttered, startled that she actually spoke to him.
'Wednesday. They'll be back in my village on Saturday, so I have four days, counting today, until the Sound ninja are in my village.' Her eyes widened. 'Wait...that would've made it Monday when I woke up, and it was Saturday when I passed out...so Masayoshi survived for over two days before I got to him!' To stop the tears that she knew would come at that realization, she got up and began to pace angrily, mumbling to herself.
"Pssh...no wonder this is the second-best shinobi nation. The lack of prudence here is disgusting. Here I am with a matter of national emergency, and I've been sitting on my ass for the past ten minutes. What the hell?"
The guard began to blush in shame.
Finally, she stopped in front of the guard and began to yell. "What is this?! This could mean terrible things for every country on this continent, and he can't even take the ten minutes to see me?!"
He put up his hands. "Please, miss, keep your voice down. Gaara-sama is very busy, and he'll see you just as soon as he's able to-"
"He'll see me now!" She screamed, brushing past the guard.
She had her hand on the doorknob before he stopped her. "Please sit down, Kikuchi-san, or we'll be forced to remove you from here until Gaara-sama can see you." At that, Azami began to cry, slumping in his arms. Bewildered and scared, he stared at her. "I...I'm sorry, Kikuchi-san..."
Inconsolable, she wailed, "I didn't just watch the genocide of my entire village to be told that the Kazekage of the one village that can help me doesn't have the time to see me!"
Shock registered on his face. 'Genocide? But...that means the murder of an entire race of people. I pray to the gods that she simply has her words confused...'
"Please, cease your crying." Replied the guard. "I'll go speak with him and reaffirm that this is of utmost importance, if you'll just stop crying."
Instantly, Azami wiped her tears away and stopped sobbing, though the tremble in her voice told the guard that she hadn't been putting on an act. "R-really?"
He nodded, releasing her. "Of course. I will be back momentarily."
He disappeared through the door into Gaara's office, leaving Azami alone in the hallway. She heard voices talking softly, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She didn't care that much, however. All she wanted was to talk to Gaara, get vengeance, and die. She stared at a painting on the wall for a little while, then sat down again, looking down at her broken arm. It had begun to swell. She touched it gently and winced in pain. "Ow..."
Just then, the door opened, and the guard came out. He looked at her. "Gaara-sama will see you now."
"About fucking time." She replied before walking into Gaara's office.
She had never seen him before, so his looks were a surprise to her. She had been expecting some evil-looking ugly fat guy, but Gaara wasn't any of those things. She thought he was actually rather good-looking. 'Well, appearances can be deceiving.' She thought, not willing to give up the hope that he'd kill her.
Gaara, meanwhile, was taking in her appearance with shock on his face. Staring at her swollen arm, black eye, and the numerous scratches, cuts, and bruises on her body, he half-rose from his desk. "You need to get medical attention."
"No."
"No?"
"No." She frowned determinedly. "This is more important."
"If you don't take care of yourself first, you'll die."
"So?" Realizing her mistake, she added, "This is more important than my injuries. Me dying from these wounds would be only one person. However many people will die if you don't get this information...I don't know how many, but thousands will die."
He sat back down. "Alright. Let's hear it."
"Well, first off, I demand that, if I give you this information, you help me find the bastard responsible for it."
"If it is relevant to the safety of our village, we will help you."
She thought about that for a second. 'Well...if we catch him when they return to my village, it'll be fine. Yeah...and that's relevant to Suna's safety...so they'll help. Ok.'
She looked at Gaara solemnly as she spoke. "The Sound ninja are responsible for the genocide of Kawagakure."
He looked at her in puzzlement. "Firstly, I wasn't aware that the River Country was a shinobi nation. Secondly, I don't see how this relates to my village."
"Kawa no Kuni isn't a shinobi country. My family and I are ninjas, and our village was so proud of us, they named the village Kawagakure, or the Hidden River village." She paused and took a deep breath. "But now, I'm the only one left. My mother, my father, and my little brother-" Here, she broke off. Another deep breath helped to calm her down and keep her from crying. "They were killed. No...they were murdered. After they slaughtered our village and our parents, one of them took my brother. I followed him and tried to stop him, and he threw Yoshihiro at me, but three more surrounded us, and he...he was..." She swallowed heavily. "Anyway...before we fought, he revealed their plans. He was bragging, and said that it wouldn't matter because I'd die anyway. Orochimaru plans to set up a base in my village."
She paused to let it sink in, but she couldn't read his expression. He raised his eyebrow. "That's all you know?" He began to rise again. "We've known for years that Orochimaru wanted a base in the River Country. Now, you need to see a medical ninja-"
"That's not all." She interrupted him. She waited for him to sink back into his chair before continuing. "Besides being a laboratory, this base will, from what I understand, become like a secondary village for them. They will travel to the village, set up fortifications, and prepare themselves. When they're fully prepared, they will go out and monitor Konoha and Suna. Any ninja either of your villages send out will be attacked, and if you attempt to send your messenger birds, they will be killed. If you try to go directly from here to Konoha, or vice versa, you'll be traveling through Sound country, and the ninja sent will be murdered. Any relations will be prevented, and as your strength weakens, theirs will grow. Your village may be under siege at any time, and your people will become restless and altogether terrified. I say this about your village because Konoha is stronger than Suna, and Suna is closer to Kawa."
Gaara looked at her intensely, the gravity of the situation pressing on his mind, though he showed no sign of his inner turmoil. "Thank you for this information. It will prove useful. But until I can verify it, I cannot do anything. Diplomacy forbids me from acting against even Oto unless I have absolute proof. I can't take the word of one kunoichi as my proof."
"You can't take my word for it?!" Growled Azami. "Look at me! I just fought six Sound ninja for three days on end! My arm is most likely broken, I'm dehydrated and malnourished and emaciated and everything under the sun you can think of, I've lost more blood than I knew I had, and my entire village is dead! Do you really think I don't know who did it?!"
"I cannot do anything unless I have absolute proof that a Sound ninja did this. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."
"God damn it!" Azami slapped her hand down onto his desk and screamed into his face. "You fucking psycho, you more than anyone should know how murderers like that work!"
Calmly, he looked at her, though his insides were boiling with rage. "I'm not like that anymore." He was curious when he saw that her face fell. "If you thought that I was a 'fucking psycho', as you so charmingly put it, then why have you done things that surely would've gotten you killed?"
She sat back down in her seat. "I was hoping that you would kill me."
His eyes widened. "What?"
She looked calmly back at him. "My mother and father are dead. Why wouldn't I want to die?"
"My parents are dead as well, you know. I don't want to die."
"That's because you're the Kazekage. You've got your entire village behind you, and my village is dead!" Tears formed in her eyes. "I've got no one...I don't think you understand just how badly it hurts."
He looked at her with pity and empathy in his heart, but not on his face. When he began to speak, however, she could hear it, along with an unmeasurable sadness, in his voice. "No...I understand completely. In the beginning...my mother named me Gaara as a wish for my death and died during my birth. Yours would have named you Azami as a wish for you to be tough and difficult, but so you would be a good ninja. My uncle tried to assassinate me under my father's orders, and my father was murdered before he even got to see me become a Chuunin. Your village has stood behind you, yes? Mine has tried to assassinate me."
She looked at him with a slight amount of sadness and surprise in her eyes, but she was too wounded by the loss of the people she loved to care too deeply about someone she had just met. "I'm sorry for you, but I suppose that's where we differ. Loneliness is what you've known since birth, so you were used to it. I've known a loving home and family...and now it's gone. I want to die."
'She's not lying...and if what she said is true, we have three days to get to Kawa and prepare for their arrival. I've got to take her word for it...I have no choice. If everything she has told me is true, I cannot take the chance that she's lying and not go.' Gaara sighed. "Alright. I believe you. If this matter is as serious as you say, I'll have to go." He pushed a button on his intercom.
"Yes?" Came the voice of his secretary.
"Please summon Kankurou for me."
"Very well, Kazekage-sama."
In minutes, Kankurou was in Gaara's office. "Yes?"
"I'm leaving the village as soon as Azami is taken care of. You will watch over things here?"
"Certainly, but...it's that serious?"
Gaara looked at him gravely and nodded, and Azami's disapproval of him lessened in that instant. At that moment, she understood that his earlier speech had been an act, and he had understood the gravity of the situation the whole time.
"Then shouldn't someone else go with you two?"
Gaara shook his head. "I need Azami to show me where to go, but beyond the two of us, there should be no other ninja. Stealth is a necessity here. Besides..." Here, he paused to look at Azami, who stared back at him with burning, fiery green eyes. "Azami fought them on her own for three days. We'll be fine."
Kankurou nodded and sat down at Gaara's desk, and Gaara turned to Azami. "Now, Kikuchi-san, you need medical attention."
She agreed, and as they walked, she said, "I agree, but please don't use my surname unless you're pronouncing my full name."
"Why not?" Asked Gaara curiously.
She looked at him seriously. "There's no one else with that name that I am related to any more. I don't like to be reminded of that."
Gaara fell silent at that, mentally chastened but outwardly emotionless. He took her to their best medical ninja, knowing that if anyone could prevent permanent damage, she could.
"Kameko-san." Gaara voiced as he stepped into the greenhouses. "This is Kikuchi Azami. Azami, meet Moshizuki Kameko."
Azami stepped forward and held out her good hand to shake hands with Kameko, and Kameko gasped, but shook hands. Gaara walked towards the entrance. "Azami, I'll be back for you at nine. I've got a lot of preparations to make, and I want to leave under cover of darkness. We can go a little slower if we leave tonight anyway, so we'll just do that."
She nodded, and he left. Kameko turned to her. "Let's get you healed up now!"
Azami sat silently as Kameko healed her, but the whole time, she was thinking desperately. Then, as her eyes rested on an apple tree sapling, she got an idea.
"Kameko-san?"
"Yes?"
"...will you teach me a medical jutsu?"
&&Chapter&&
Well, that's an interesting development! Now I have two choices for the next name analysis. Mitsuo or Kameko. You guys pick!
I hope this mega-long chapter can tide you over until next week!
And, not to toot my own horn, but...AZAMI'S SO HARDCORE!!! XD I LOVE HER!!!
BlackDragon333 :)