The Raikage was not a patient man by nature. He had none, in fact. He was a do it now, question it later guy. It was the cause of a lot of things in his life, including his appointment to Raikage. His country was prosperous and wealthy. He was entering into negotiations with the Land of Wind, another powerful country. As an added bonus to this little talk, the Kazekage had control of the Uchiha.

Gaara Sabaku, the youngest Kage in a century, somehow succeeded where he had failed. The Raikage may have lost to the Uchiha but the red head had won and now they could often be seen together. How he'd done it escaped him and he was was very interested in finding out. He'd bumped the negotiations up to try and throw the boy - because that's what he was in the eyes of a man like himself - off his game. Hopefully he could simply steamroll over this boy and these negotiations were going to be finished fast.

But let's stay on topic. The Raikage was pacing in his office. Furious. The Kazekage was supposed to have been here a week ago. He had no idea where he was. Which was bad. If the boy had been hurt then he had the advantage in this treaty because it would be the Raikage's fault.

"Sir?" His secretary leaned in and smiled pleadingly at him for calm. "I have a parcel from you. It has no sender so we scanned it thoroughly and it is clear. We just don't know what it is..." She raised one eyebrow and waited for him to approach and take the package from her. Once he did she waited for him to dismiss her. He said nothing and she took it as her usual invitation to stay and wait for him.

He nodded to himself and gave her a scroll from the package. She rolled it open and slammed a hand onto it upon his order. The apparition was that of a ANBU from the squadron escorting Gaara to Lightning. The secretary, Riako, struggled to remember the name of this particular ANBU. Kooegi? No, Kooisi. The apparition began speaking.

"Raikage, as you have no doubt read. We have the Kazekage as our hostage. He is mostly uninjured and will remain safe as long as you comply with our demands. We know you'll want to think about this so we'll give you a week to think. At the end of the week we will send proof of the Kazekage's life should you require it. In return for his safety and our silence we want..." The woman went on to list her demands and both people's eyebrows raced for their hairlines at the amount of money. Of course Lightning could pay, but that much?! It was disgraceful.

"Sir! You should not pay these thugs!"

"Riako, if they tell Suna that the Kazekage was kidnapped while I was supposed to be protecting him then there will be hostility between our countries and our shinobi. The Kage himself will already be furious. I cannot avoid that, but the country's rage can be dodged. All I have to do is quiet these people and get Gaara-dono back."

Riako, horrified as she was, understood the logic. Though it burned her pride at the idea of paying. She glared at the scroll. "What does the letter say?"

"The letter is from a doctor, a medic-nin, she says that she is Gaara's attending physician and that while he is under her care she will take pains to prevent any long-term damage. Short-term, she says, can be avoided by paying. She doesn't state her name though." The man scowled and Riako's glare deepened. How dare these disrespectful fools threaten her Raikage, or the Kazekage for that matter. It's so....Oh! She didn't even have words.

"We have to find him. If we find him then this can be entirely covered-up." She offered. The Raikage nodded and leaned against the desk behind him, signalling the young secretary to roll up the scroll and bring it over. She did as ordered and handed it over. He tucked it away in the wall of scrolls behind the desk and murmured to her to memorize the location for him.

Once again, she nodded and obeyed.

"Riako, go back to work, forget this happened. I will give you orders later." He ushered her out of the office and shut the door after she bowed. Riako snarled softly and sat down at her desk. Insulting, impudent thugs! No class. She rose and kicked the wall viciously. She had to protect her Kage. He could not have a weakness like these mercenaries.

She felt a plan brewing and sat back down. She would protect her Kage....

.

.

After the whip connected with his back things happened very quickly. Keiko finished off Han, then hurried to Gaara's side. She gripped his shoulders and held him up. "My whip has poison laced into it, you're going to start going numb in your legs, tell me when that happens." She murmured and maneuvered him to lie on his stomach.

The whip had gone through Han's arm and torn into Gaara's back. It ripped through the flesh there and had successfully clicked the metal tip against his spine. Both injuries had the possibility of damage he couldn't recover from. The damnable thing was that she couldn't even tell if there was damage. Her whips poison hid the only symptom. If Gaara couldn't feel his legs then normally she'd conclude that he had spinal damage. That option was unavailable to her right now.

"Do you have someone you love?" She asked "Family? Anything?"

"Both." He gasped when he felt her fingers probing the edge of his wound.

"Think of them, maybe it will help you ignore the pain." The she pushed apart the muscle and began focusing healing energy on his spine. Gaara held himself down, thrashing could injure him worse. Keiko hissed when she discovered the whip's tip had slammed directly into the bone and dented it. She focused her chakra and the healing orb around her hands darkened. Gaara bit down a yell when she pulled the dent out and fixed the spine. She pushed the layers of veins, muscle and skin towards each other and began stitching them back together.

Keiko smirked at the thought. She'd said it to Gaara but he didn't understand. Humpty Dumpty. Her brother had told her that story and she immediately put it straight to her job. A healer could put all sorts of people back together again. Thank god, because now another Kage needed her help.

This time, the difference was that she could and would help. Once she finished stitching his back she coaxed him into a sitting position on the couch and quickly put his forearm together. Han had shattered it, the damn fool. He should never have joined this little gang. He was in it for the kills not the money. Killing a Kazekage was too tempting to him and if she hadn't heard the bone in Gaara's arm break then the red head very well would have died.

"You're crazy." She murmured.

"No. Just determined. I have to get out of here." Gaara's senses were reeling, he couldn' think straight. His legs were numb, wasn't he supposed to do something if that happened? Oh right. He was supposed to tell Keiko. He opened his mouth and spoke. "Numb." Fatigue washed over him and Keiko nodded. She waited until he passed out, from prior knowledge he was a better patient when he couldn't back mouth her.

He'd been here a week and been conscious for about 2 days - not that he knew that. For all he was aware, he'd been here for 2 days. But Keiko had kept him unconscious for 5 days. For those peaceful 5 days, she had been able to bring his health back up to 100. Once he woke up, he made it much harder. Attempting an escape, fighting with the guards and with her. He'd hurt himself more in two days then then she could hurt herself in 3 months. Amazing, she thought it took effort to get that hurt, but he made it look easy.

She wondered if he knew that he was consciously unconscious. The terms were wrong, you couldn't be consciously unconscious, but Keiko called it that anyway. It was when you were still awake, but you didn't realize that fact. She checked his pulse and smiled. He was alive, she rejoiced, he wasn't dead and he wouldn't die. That in itself was a relief to her.

"Is he asleep?"

"You could say." She looked up into Tadashi's face then rose and slipped an arm underneath Gaara's shoulders. "Help me take him to my room. He clearly doesn't appreciate the little jail cells you lock him in."

"Clearly." Tadashi took the other side and picked up the slack. Together the two made their way slowly down the hall. Tadashi studied the man he was dragging, or more specifically studied the way his head hung between his shoulders. He looked depressed and broken, Tadashi smiled. It was one of his quirks. He loved breaking down the most powerful men around. Seeing Gaara - who had such pride, such a stubborn streak - looking so broken down. It was fun.

Tadashi stared at Keiko and spoke, "Do you see your brother in him, is that why you take such good care of him?" He smiled warmly. Keiko was one of the strongest minds he'd gone up against. She'd been near him for a year now and had yet to break down. She tossed him a contempt filled glance. Hate spread between them like a cloud.

"What is it about this Kage that fascinates you so? Do you want to use him or just drive him insane?" she snarled at him. Either he wanted the money that he could get from Gaara, or he'd felt that strange urge he got sometimes to mess with the head of another. Keiko knew that there was something unstable in Tadashi's mind, a split-personality almost that got distracted from any long term goals by the craving to murder someone mentally.

"Drive him insane. It would be extremely pleasurable to see this man break." They put Gaara down on the bed in Keiko's room and Tadashi swung his legs up to sit on the bed. When she raised one eyebrow and went to bark at him he held up a hand. "I know that he hates physical proximity to a stranger-"

"Or a kidnapper."

"-so if I want to freak him out, then being close is how I do it." Tadashi lifted Gaara and put the Kage's head on his lap and placed one hand on the man's throat.

"Tadashi that jutsu of yours, the fire, don't use it on him. He's physically weak right now so it could damage him." Tadashi nodded absently and smiled at her. Keiko sat on the end of the bed and stared at the situation, of course the green haired man looked completely at ease. He was a manipulator by nature and it was easy for him to stick his fingers in your weak spots. Gaara's apparently would be the physical side of things. Hers had been verbal.

"You, I would have used."

Gaara awoke once more to the sound of Keiko's yelling. Odd, he thought, my head feels like it's floating. He scowled at Keiko's most recent jab. "Is this how you work?! Draw me in with verbal banter, physical battles with him. " She had practically thrown the words out and Gaara suspected that there was not a single trace of remorse for her rash words written into her features. Keiko Atsuko just didn't seem to have it in her to feel bad about anything.

Up to and evidently including send a whip collinding with his spine.

"Didn't I say wait? I could have talked him down." He muttered bitterly as he opened his eyes. He felt a hand on his throat. Too big to be Keiko's hand, but he frowned when he realized that he could see both the young medic's hands. They were up in an attempt to placate him.

"By the way, you look cute together. Totally Christmas." She smirked at him morbidly as he put it together. He was red, the only green in the building that he'd seen was- "There you go. He's got it."

"Take you hand off me!" He yelled as he went to throw the hand away. He felt chakra, strong chakra, pulse through him and felt his nerves light on fire.

"Don't move." Tadashi's voice resembled an order and his hand pressed down, "otherwise Keiko-chan will have to cut you open to fix you up again." Gaara gave an imploring look at the medic, it seemed to scream help me at her. Keiko's hand found her scarf and she fiddled absently. The chakras in his system seemed to create a fire in his veins. Everything about this chakra made pain radiate through his blood.

"Tadashi. Chakras don't mix 60% of the time and I believe he's in pain. I told you not to do that." Keiko's eyes flashed with concern for him. Tadadhi pressed down a little harder and managed to wrangle a strangled gasp from the red head. Keiko looked away and Gaara felt a heated flash of shame.

Then it was over. Tadashi's fire-nerves stopped and Gaara hated the rush of relief that spread through him. He was a Kage damnit, a little pain was supposed to be nothing for him. He let a frown appear as he studied his place instead of focusing on the shame. He was lying on a bed now. Tadashi's hand on his sternum, so casually resting on his person, was flustering. But much more embarrassing, his head was resting on Tadashi's lap. Following that train of logic, Gaara deduced that Tadashi must have sat down before Gaara was placed down. Or Tadashi posed him.

Asshole.

"We need to talk Gaara. The Raikage is going to ask us for proof that you are alright and alive in a few days. And well we need to make sure that he believes us. Any ingenious ideas as to how to do that?"

"Drop me off at the border. I'll tell him myself." Gaara felt the fire begin to burn and prepped himself for the pain but nothing came. Tadashi stood up and Gaara sat up, immediately feeling the the urge to shower and clean away the man. He wanted nothing to do with Tadashi. The green haired man walked around the bed and gripped Gaara's chin to hold his head in place. He murmured just loud enough for Keiko to hear him.

"The next time I come in; you cooperate. Got it?" Keiko had to smirk as Tadashi made sure to be in Gaara's personal bubble. If the Kage was uncomfortable then he was agitated and he was making mistakes. Brilliant move, even if she would never say that to Tadashi's face. The red head glowered each time he was touched but he made no moves to stop it. It must have gotten through that he would not be able to fight his way to freedom. Tadashi shut the door behind him and Gaara immediately walked into the connecting bathroom. Keiko listened with a growing smile as the shower started running and Gaara stepped in. Pants and all. Evidently stripping took to much time.

"What an ass." He called to her. Keiko nodded and lay back on the bed. She could feel it happening already. Gaara felt that she hated it here and he was going to use that to try and form a bond. If he could get that bond then he had an ally. Someone he could escape with. Someone who knew the layout.

Another fucking brilliant plan. Why were all the men around her smart? Couldn't she get the stupid ones?

"Keiko, can I talk to you, honestly?"

Well shit.