Care

Lee pulled himself onto shore, panting. As a knight-in-training, he was stronger than most merfolk. However, he had never had to carry another person over the Surface with a one-armed stroke over nearly a league of water. He was greatly appreciative of Gai-sensei's strenuous training now.

He pulled the dead weight of the human further onto land, though it was hard with the sandy beach's cohesion; he kept slipping, cutting up his unoccupied arm. Lee was very glad he had found a relatively secluded spot; a stone outcropping, which rolled onto the grass beyond, hiding the pair from view.

Having pulled both of them well onto the beach, with just their tailfins ('Feet' Lee thought to himself. 'Humans have 'Feet') left in the water, Lee let himself collapse on his back for a minute, gasping. It was hard, adjusting to his previously unused lungs after a lifetime of only using gills.

The mer-boy flipped over, so that he was hovering halfway over the human. Gently brushing the feverish cheek, he worried over the thing's health. It had been in the water a long time, so why was it sick? All living things needed water to live, so what was wrong with seawater? Maybe the seawater was why humans drowned? Something in it? In that case, he should find landwater. But where would he be able to find landwater, if it even existed?

Suddenly, a saying his old teacher at the academy came to mind. He always used to say; 'As the waters of the world flow through the land, so too do they flow through us.'

Maybe his teacher had meant it literally as well as metaphorically! Maybe there was someplace landwater merged with the sea! Glancing around, Lee's enthusiasm faded as he realized he had no idea where to look for such a place. It could be a great distance in any direction, and he didn't have much time before he had to head back.

Praying to Matme, Lee shoved off and headed east, hugging the shore as much as he could.

Lee found a stream just a few minutes away, a small thing that barely had the width of his outstretched arms. In his excitement, he had rushed into it, when he suddenly couldn't breathe. Gasping, he broke surface, spitting out the burning liquid from his gills and quickly changing back to his lungs.

It was no wonder humans were crazy! They had to live with burning water! Sputtering, Lee realized something. He had gone looking for landwater, when he didn't have anything to carry the water back with! The only way he could would be to-

Lee blushed furiously at the thought, then shook his head. It was the only way to help the human, and since he had decided he was currently responsible for it…

He sighed, braced himself, then got a mouthful of the torrid water. He flinched, and almost swallowed it in shock. With a large shiver, he headed back towards where he had left the human.

It lay there, still, where he had left it. Its large sleeves had dried out somewhat in the sun, and salt started to crust on his lips and hair. Aside from the constant brushing of the waves, it hadn't moved, and Lee wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. After hoisting himself onto the sand, Lee tentatively picked it up, tilting its head back so that its mouth slid open. Slowly, very slowly, Lee leaned down and let some of the bitter liquid dribble over its split lips. It sputtered, not expecting something to invade its mouth. He let it relax, then tried again. Except this time, it did something he didn't expect.

It tongued him.

Lee sputtered, spilling the remaining water over its face. It coughed up the brackish water as Lee feverishly splashed his mouth with sea water. Wiping his mouth, Lee glanced back at it as it finished coughing. That was when he knew he was in trouble, because two azure eyes stared straight back at him. Those two eyes captured him, the colour of the sea, bright under the light of the rising sun, full of the fervor of life, even in this state. He never knew his imagination to be so creative, as it just had been. Those two sea-green jewels flittered, and it started to say something before it started wheezing again. Lee had started reaching towards it, but jerked back at the sound of voices. With one last glance at the creature that had sent his thoughts into a roller-coaster, he hurled himself into the water, sending a wave to wash away his tracks with one sweep of his strong tail. He then hid behind one of the jutting rocks as a smallish, blonde human showed up, yelling at the top of his lungs, and two brunettes, one with his hair in a spiky ponytail, the other a ruffled mat.

Upon seeing the redheaded human, the blonde yelled something guttural-sounding and hurtled down the sandy slope at the semi-conscious boy, the two others close behind. It grabbed the salt-crusted human and shook him wildly, repeating the guttural sound, before the other two stopped him. The redhead then apparently did something good, because they all smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. The blonde hoisted it onto his shoulder, and with a speed that it obviously couldn't keep up, raced up the hill and off in the opposite direction, the other two scrambling to catch up.

Lee sighed out of relief himself, now that the human was gone. He just had to hope that it thought he had been a hallucination from the lack of landwater… or something…

Looking up at the lowering sun, Lee dived off, wondering how he was going to explain his tardiness to Gai-sensei.

Gaara flinched. It was cold. He couldn't move. Something was hitting him. His feet. Repeatedly. It was cold. Cold. Coldcoldcoldcoldcold. Something was moving-moving him. Head was moving, falling back, but he couldn't stop it. He hurt. He hurt and hurt and hurt, and it was cold –why is it so cold- and he was still moving and-

BREATHE! Air-breathe-suffocating! Pain in his throat, his lungs, his nose. Painpainpainpain. It stopped. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Wait. It wasn't so hard to move now. Something was in his mouth, something sweet. It was good. Good. He wanted more. More, more and now. He was moving again, please oh please oh please more!

YES! There it was again! Must have more, must go after it! He did, and suddenly there was pain again, but oh, it was temporary, the other pain was going away! More, more to move, more to wake up, more to thank whatever Powers That Be for bringing him back. Had to see –who is helping me?- see who was there. Who? Whowhowhowho?

Gaara eased his salt-crusted eyes open, searching for something to hold on to, someone to help him, help him get up, help him move. All he could see was a blur, a vague skin-tone, black hair, large eyes. Something green? He opened his mouth, tried to thank them. His throat closed on him, pain again. He tried to recall who it was, did he know who it was who saved him? It moved –it? Who is it? Man or woman?- and was gone. But there was something else there, a loud something else. He recognized it, what –who- was it?

There it was. Something large and yellow in his vision. He knew this. He knew it, because it was yellow and loud and annoying and familiar. Then -sharp movement!- Movingpainnomovingstopstopsto-

" 'aru…to…" he wheezed. The horrible pain stopped. There was a smile, chattering, then more pain! He coughed out "-op! s'op!" but it went unheeded, why is Naruto deaf?

Oh nevermind.

Naruto wasn't listening. He must have thought the protests were home-sick mumblings or whatnot. Better to just brace against him, to keep from jarring.

Gaara tilted his head, cracked one eye open, towards the sea. He still couldn't see much, just the blue of the water. Wait-

Was that black?

Sankyu everyone for all the support! Just when I was really hitting a rut, you all go and inspire me! X.

mega inspiration; Into the Ocean by Blue October