Desert Rose-Chapter 5
Hinata could see the fear in Gaara's eyes as he looked at her, wondering what she would do.
"I thought your sand protected you" Hinata said as she started digging into her backpack for supplies. Gaara frowned for he realized she was right and that his sand hadn't protected him.
"I think it has something to do with the sand pit and the sandstorm for neither one was normal" he said in a pained voice as the pain started to creep steady higher up his body. Hearing a splashing sound, Gaara watched as Hinata pulled out a pan, filled it with water from her canteen, and turned back towards him with a green glowing hand.
"Thankfully Sakura taught me how to extract poisons from the body when Neji nii-san got bit by a poisonous spider once."
Gaara then watched as Hinata started removing the poison at an impressive speed before it had time to spread to his lungs and heart. Feeling the poison leave his body he calmed down as he watched Hinata wave her glowing hand over his body extracting the poison.
"I think I know what happened" Hinata said after a few minutes of silence as she did her job. "I heard of summoning scorpions and their unique poison that can be deadly if not dealt with immediately. I believe someone is out for you and your family Gaara-kun-er-san and waited until your guard was down to attack you. The quicksand was the first phase to weaken your defenses. They used the quicksand to break down the sand around your legs to inject you with the poison. Since we were still close to Suna to make it back before you got sick they bid their time until phase two…the sandstorm. They combined some of their poison when they created the sandstorm to weaken your sand shield knowing you would use it to protect us and therefore making it slow to react to when you were in danger. Now all they needed to do was wait for the right moment to strike but couldn't since they knew I could sense their chakra and wouldn't strike when I was around. However the scorpion, having a twisted sense of honor, said that if I could save you in time then it wouldn't attack Kankuro or you and Temari anymore."
Hinata's hand stopped glowing as she had drawn out most of the poison making sure Gaara wouldn't die. Breathing hard Hinata picked up her canteen and gave Gaara the rest of the water which he drank, his throat dry from the poison. Hinata finished the rest of the water and poured the poison water mixture back into the canteen saying it would help to be examined and be prepared in the future for the type of poison. Gaara's legs were still numb and he needed Hinata's help in getting up from the desert floor. Leaning on her for support, Gaara started coughing as his throat seemed to be closing up.
"Hin…ata…chan" Gaara managed to breathe out as he started to see spots from lack of oxygen. Realizing that his throat was closing up, Hinata quickly kissed Gaara surprising the hell of him as he felt Hinata breathe into his mouth, opening his throat and feelings his lungs with air.
"Better?" Hinata asked as Gaara nodded head still spinning but for a different reason as the kiss was incredible to him.
'Nobody ever kissed me like that…in fact nobody ever showed compassion towards me except Temari and Kankuro, especially from someone from another village.'
Gaara looked at Hinata as they slowly made their way back to Suna something on his mind that didn't add up to him.
"Hinata ch-san, why are you helping me?" Gaara asked as he remembered how he treated her earlier that night since it kept replaying in his mind almost taunting him. Hinata looked at Gaara before smiling and saying, "the same reason you came looking for me after I left Gaara-kun." Gaara stared at Hinata who kept looking forward a soft smile still on her face as Gaara thought about why he did go after Hinata.
'Because I knew she would go back to Suna…no. Because I'm responsible for her since I asked her to come along…no. Because I'm the Kazekage and she feels that I'm important and-no not even close. Because I wanted to apologize for what I said…'
Gaara looked at Hinata who had activated her byakugan and was checking their surroundings trying to figure out how to apologize to her since he wasn't used to apologizing to anyone.
"Hinata-chan, I want to say I'm sorry for-" Hinata laughed a little and told Gaara she had already forgiven him and didn't need to apologize. Nodding, he let Hinata carry a little longer until he realized that she was breathing heavily from using up a lot of her chakra. Gaara asked her to stop and she did, tired from the use of chakra and lack of sleep.
"We can ride on my sand since the danger seemed to have passed" Gaara said as the sand stood in front of them into two large pillow like shapes. Agreeing for she knew trying to continue on foot in their state was risky she helped Gaara onto one before she jumped onto the other one. As soon as they both got comfortable the sand took them higher in the air before swiftly making its way back to Suna, Hinata activating her byakugan every now and then to check for danger. The trip back was quick as there wasn't any obstacles to overcome except Gaara having a hard time breathing twice before they reached the sandy village late the next morning. Gaara and Hinata took short naps along the way back and was somewhat refreshed when they made it back to the village where they saw Kankuro on the back of a hawk with Sasuke at the same time they arrived. At the gates the guards greeted everybody back as they informed them that the medic requested their attention immediately. Hoping that they weren't too late Kankuro and Sasuke ran to Temari's room whereas Gaara and Hinata arrived by sand in front of her door. A medic was passing by when they handed her the pollen saying to make two antidotes then have the quicksand, and the water examined as she ran off to follow the orders. Seeing that Kankuro and Sasuke had just made it they were about to ask if everything was okay when they heard a cry for help come from inside the room and some loud crashing and banging. Thinking someone was being hurt, they quickly opened the door to find…Naruto pinned down by Temari. The four looked at the over-turned chair, papers everywhere, the bed seeming to have claw marks and back at Naruto who was trying to push Temari off but not succeeding.
"Naruto what happened in here?" Hinata asked looking at the blonde whose mind was elsewhere, like talking to a certain nine tailed fox about a side-effect he forgot to mention. As they saw that Temari was acting strange like rubbing her face against Naruto. Kankuro decided that enough was enough and managed to pull Temari off of Naruto long enough for him to run and hide behind Sasuke who had a slight smirk on his face.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Temari?" Kankuro said sending an evil glare in Naruto's direction who didn't so much as take a glance from behind Sasuke. Kankuro's words managed to calm down Temari, who was inching her way towards Sasuke who was trying to scoot to the side as not to be attacked by her, as she turned to look at him.
"What-the…NARUTO WHAT DID YOU DO TO TEMARI!" Kankuro screamed as he advanced towards the blonde who was somewhat saved by Gaara who told him that he couldn't answers from a dead body. Sweat dropping at the comment everybody looked at Temari who was frowning and looking at them as she finally noticed they were there. That's when everybody realized what made Kankuro yell out loud like that for Temari's eyes were slit slightly and showed twinges of red that the group realized was the Kyuubi's chakra. Everybody in the room turned towards Naruto who was flat up against the wall wishing for a door to magically take him anywhere but where he was.
"Naruto, explain" is all Gaara says as he looks at the extremely nervous blonde who looked between Temari, Kankuro, back to Temari, and finally at Gaara.
"Well the Kyuubi told me a way to say her and said I should use as a last resort if you didn't come back in time with the flower. I explained it to Temari and the side-effects and she told me to save her when she slipped into a coma and was slowly dying. So by combining the Kyuubi's chakra and my blood I was able to lengthen her life until you got back but it seems the baka fox forgot to mention THIS side-effect" Naruto said angrily as he heard the fox in his mind laugh saying it slipped his mind.
"Exactly what are the side-effects?" Kankuro said anger still heard in his voice as he looked at Naruto who gulped and said, "her eyes being slit and taking on some red but that's temporary, higher healing ability, senses are more sensitive, and from what I just found out…very sexual in nature" Naruto said that last bit quickly blushing a bit as he avoided everybody's eyesight. Too bad he wasn't paying attention to Temari who, on the word sexual, was off the bed and back to pouncing on Naruto as Sasuke managed to dodge in time.
"Help me" the blonde screamed as Temari start rubbing her face against his making soft purring sounds as Naruto tried to escape but couldn't. Kankuro and Gaara looked at each other before slowly shaking their heads wondering what they were going to do about the two blondes in the room.
"Naruto if I find out you did this to her for any other reason than to save her, I will personally kill you and turn you into a puppet" Kankuro said as he frowned at the blonde who was still trying to escape Temari's clutches. Gaara looked at Naruto whose face showed a variety of emotions that Gaara was trying to figure out. Fear from Kankuro's threat, anger that Kankuro believed he would use the power for something else, relief that Kankuro wasn't going to kill him yet, and love when he looked at Temari who was now clawing at his clothes. Gaara then began to look around to see how everybody else was reacting to the blonde's tug of war with Naruto's clothes. Kankuro was stone-faced but a small smirk could be seen every time Naruto called out for help. Sasuke was smirking also but his face showed a bit of curiosity and sadness as he thought about finding someone that loved him like that. Then Gaara turned to Hinata and feared the worst on how she would take the scene. However Hinata surprised Gaara on how she was reacting. Although Hinata had a sad look on her face as she watched the game of tug of war continue Gaara noticed the soft smile on her face as she looked at Naruto, happy he found someone he could love with all his heart. Sensing someone watching her, Hinata looked up and met Gaara's beautiful teal eyes as he stared at her thinking about all she had been through. Blushing she looked down at the floor lightly rubbing her right hand with her left. Gaara smiled and took one of her hands making her look back up into Gaara's face and smile as they seemed to stare into each other eyes forgetting about everybody else in the room. Realizing after a few minutes how the room was dead quiet they looked around and noticed everybody even Naruto and Temari was staring at them an eyebrow raised. Blushing greatly, Hinata looked back down at the floor, hands still intertwined with the redheaded Kazekage.
'Oh, seems something happened while they were in the desert ALONE' the group was thinking as Gaara stared at everybody. Gaara nodded and said, looking down at Temari and Naruto "I will accept the relationship you have with my sister Naruto but I warn you, you better not hurt her in anyway or it will be your LAST mistake."
Naruto nodded as he resumed struggling with Temari who tried even harder to get his shirt off.
"Thanks Gaara although I think I'm the one who should be worried about being hurt" Naruto said as Temari's now lengthen claws slashed at Naruto's shirt leaving some marks on his body when she dug too deep. Laughing at Naruto who finally gave up on the shirt and created clones to help him, the group moved away from the door as a medic came in saying that the antidote was ready as she brought in a cup with a sweet aroma wafting from it that was the pollen from the desert rose.
"Let her take the antidote and get some rest, Gaara I want to talk to you about your adventure to the oasis and what happened to take so long" Kankuro said shooting a quick curious glance towards Hinata before leaving the room. Gaara, Hinata, and Sasuke left the room and closed the door as Naruto was screaming something like "don't leave me here alone with her" making the group chuckle at the irony. The group followed Kankuro to the office where Gaara comfortably sat…before being interrogated by his brother.
"Okay, what happened while I was gone, what took so long, did that Hyuuga girl do anything to you, and-" Gaara started coughing violently as he felt his lungs gasping for air. Hinata without thinking ran over to him and begin to kiss him making it easier to breathe as she filled his lungs with air.
"Thank you Hinata-chan" Gaara said gasping as he once again could breathe. Kankuro and Sasuke watched, jaws dropped, at the scene in front of him.
"So…exactly what kind of feelings do you have for each other?" Kankuro asked staring at his brother who looked at Hinata and smiled and said that was something they needed to discuss. Gaara stared at Kankuro who waited for his brother to continue until he noticed the slight frown on his face.
"ALONE, Kankuro" Gaara emphasized as Kankuro finally got the message and let the office with Sasuke in tow both muttering something about "never finding someone to love" and "Gaara got all the good looks" before the door closed on their comments.
Hinata sweat dropped as she heard the comments cut off with the shut of the door. Hinata then turned to Gaara who was looking at her. They stared at each for a few minutes before they started speaking and stopped laughing as each one tried to talk first. After a few minutes, Hinata explained to Gaara how her feelings had changed over the few days as she grew to know him. Gaara, never knowing what it was like to fall in love with somebody said that there was a lot he didn't understand but was willing to try love. As the two wrapped up their conversation there was a knock on the door in which a Suna medic came in and placed a tea cup full of the antidote in front of Gaara. Leaving the both looked at the cup before Gaara smiled, picked up the cup, and began to drink. After finishing the tea, Gaara looked up at Hinata and smiled seeing that she was taking in the sites of Suna as the sun went down in the darkening sky.
"Hinata-chan…thank you for all you've done for me from helping me find the antidote for Temari to saving my life."
Hinata looked at Gaara, went over to him and gave him a hug saying you welcome as she finally felt like someone cherished her. Sharing a quick kiss they both looked at the door as they sensed something fast coming their way. Hearing screaming they silently smiled as they watched Naruto run into the room before slamming the door shut. Naruto was a sight to see as his shirt had been torn to shreds, bite marks all over his neck and chest, and was breathing heavily with a scared look on his face.
"Temari-chan wanted to see you two and thank Hinata for finding the antidote" Naruto said in between breathes as his heart rate returned back to normal. "Also as a friend…can I ask for your protection in going back because…well."
Gaara and Hinata laughed as the great fox vessel was asking for protection as they followed Naruto back to Temari's room thinking life was great.