AN: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, only my OC's…wait I don't have any OC's, they're all my co-authors *sigh*. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
AN: Hey, it's been a while. Haven't really felt like typing, and I slacked off, not gonna lie. But here I am, back again with another chapter...yay. Be happy my dear fans and followers of this story. Please R & R!
Masked Affections
A Naruto FanFiction
Chapter 12: Seeing Sand
It's been about a week since that shadowy figure stood outside Suna, and so far nothing catastrophic has happened. So far being the key words, because today, that would change.
Outside the village's walls Dawn trains with Temari to learn good defense techniques, so as to be a good bodyguard to Gaara.
"Good block, not bad at all, I really think you're getting this." Temari praises her.
"Thanks Temari. I was a kunoichi before, so I'm not surprised that this is so easy to me." Dawn explains.
"Well that's enough for today, let's go ahea..." Temari is cut short, and simply falls over.
Dawn jumps to her aid, "Temari..." She shouts, but then falls into blackness herself. When she wakes, groggily, she realizes it was a sleeping genjutsu.
She also realizes Temari is gone. "Temari! Temari..." She shouts, but no reply. The sun hadn't moved far since she fell, so the kidnapper couldn't be far off. She whistles sharply and Valiant flies to land on her extended arm.
"What is wrong Dawn?" Valiant asks, cocking his head to one side.
"Find Gaara and tell him Temari has been taken, and I will be going after her captor."
"But.." Valiant starts, but is interrupted by Dawn.
"No buts, now go, I have to find Temari before something happens." Dawn chastises, and Valiant nods, flying off to tell Gaara. Dawn quickly heads in the direction of the footsteps, thankful for the sand, and very light winds today.
It doesn't take long before she sees Temari's body, laying in a sand dune, completely alone. Dawn knows something is up, and makes sure to look for traps, but sees no other footsteps or traps. She goes and attempts to wake Temari, but to no avail.
"I see you have caught up." Another voice says from behind her. Dawn whips around in time to see a silver haired man with large round rimmed glasses and a sound headband before her.
"Who are you?" She asks ,eyes narrowed, quietly pulling her daggers out and keeping them behind her back.
"You do not know me, but I know you Dawn. Orochimaru heard where you had gotten to, and couldn't help but want you and your skills back in the village...again." He sneered, mischievous.
Dawn scoffs, "As if I would go anywhere with you, you kidnapped my friend." She jumps at him, daggers flying at this neck, but he flips backward, reading his hands in a taijutsu, chakra lacing them.
"I see we'll have to do this the hard way." He smiles. She knows it's probably want he wants, to tire her out, but she is careful to conserve energy and throws kunai at him, only for him to dodge or knock them out of the air.
He flies at her, hands whizzing through the air, cutting it with ease, and she's careful not to get hit with it. She throws another set of kunai at him, and this time she manages to get him in the leg. But he throws in a few more quick slices of his hands and as she hits the ground, ready to balance he grazes her across the eye, but her mask takes the blow, and it's not deep enough to cut it through to the skin.
It is then the wind picks up and sand flies around, limiting her vision. She struggles to see as sand tears at her skin and she attempts to cover her eyes. He flies at her and she dodges as best as she can, but the sand makes things too difficult. She knows she's beaten.
But she isn't because she can see. Right through the sand. It hasn't let up, in fact if anything, it's harder. But she sees him, right there, struggling to see, same as she had but moments ago. She can even see Temari's body, lying there in the sand, and somehow she knows she's fine, just sleeping same as she had earlier.
She takes what she has, figuring she'll question it later; she rushes at the kidnapper, and he doesn't see her coming. She knocks him out with ease, but does not kill him. She won't stoop to that level, it's not in her morals. She picks up Temari's sleeping figure and makes her way through the sand, back to Suna. She gets two thirds of the way there before she collapses, figuring it was from exhaustion.
The sand lets up not but a few minutes later, and then Gaara appears with Kankuro, Valiant and a few ninja at his side she doesn't recognize. Through her closing eyes, she knows it'll be alright.
She wakes up a few hours later according to the ninja assigned to watching her. She can tell he was warned about her and her knives, because he doesn't wake her by touching her, only shouting, and she can't help but smile at that. She asks where Gaara and Temari are, and is directed down the hall.
Temari is awake, and doing fine, and even though Gaara acts worried, Temari keeps assuring him that she's fine, and then sees Dawn.
"Dawn! I'm glad to see you're up and doing well." She says, giving a big smile.
"Thanks...I don't see why I wouldn't be, I was just tired." Dawn says.
Gaara raises a non-existent eyebrow, but it quickly goes back down. "Dawn may I talk to you outside for a moment."
"Sure..." Dawn says, wondering why.
They go outside and shut the door, "Who took her?" He asks.
"A sound ninja, with silver hair and big round rimmed glasses." She describes him, best she can.
"Do you know why?" He ponders.
"I think he was trying to get me. Or test me. He really wanted me to fight. Didn't you grab him, I did knock him out..." She questions.
Gaara shakes his head, "No, when we looked there was no sign of him or even of the fight. The sandstorm must have covered his tracks."
"Though there is something else..." He starts.
"What? Is something wrong?" She questions, thinking he's about to throw her out, since it was a sound ninja and all.
"I need you to go to the Leaf Village tomorrow." Gaara states, his eyes serious and dark.
AN: I hope that was a good chapter after that long pause. But no worries, here's another cliffhanger for you to hang on! And for those waiting for Madara, no worries, he should be here in either the next chapter, or at most three chapters, so just hang in there!
AN: Will Gaara really kick Dawn out? Why was Kabuto trying to get Dawn? How did he wake up so fast? Why did Dawn faint before? Was she really tired, or is it something else? How did she see through the sand storm? And where did that sandstorm come from? Am I being silly because it's a desert and stuff like that happens and it was really just a plot device? What will happen next? Stay tuned for the next installment of Masked Affections!