Part 13 Tears of Betrayal
Another phoenix with beautiful feathers flew up to the Akatsuki member, Makaiko knew this guy?! Suddenly sand rushed up from the ground in great big columns to aid Gaara, I saw Makaiko dodge them but I don't think Gaara even noticed she was there. Makaiko flew and landed beside the cloaked man, or so I could see, they were so high up.
"She betrayed me," I whispered, Temari looked at me,
"Who?"
"Makaiko betrayed me,"
"She knows Akatsuki?!" Temari asked looking alarmed,
"I am assuming so, she isn't one to make friends on the spot," I frowned thinking hard try and remember if she'd ever mentioned this guy, oh but of course, she hadn't mentioned him, the guy at the bar had. A blonde haired heart throb named Deidara, why'd she come to find me and not to stay with him? I looked up again and saw the sand form a massive clawed arm that rushed after, this Deidara (if that was in fact him) I could make out some kind of birds flying towards it then they exploded, the sand was ripped apart but reformed almost instantly. Gaara was probably aiming to kill and so was Deidara, but could Gaara really defeat an S-rank criminal of all people?
"Gaara," Kankuro said, he was looking up at his younger brother with amazement and fear, Deidara flew towards Gaara swerving to avoid the sand arm but he turned back as more sand flew up to protect Gaara. They both just stopped watching each other, three more explosions on the sand arm but yet it did not break. I was pleased he could fight so well, he just stood and watched as the bird swooped down, another arm extended to be blown up by another bird bomb, then another explosion and another leaving big billowing clouds hanging in the air. The arm kept trying to grab the bird which was speeding fast in front, suddenly. A massive explosion that lit up the whole village in an orange glow, "Gaara!" Kankuro yelled, I gritted my teeth, he couldn't be dead, please let him not be dead, please let him not be dead, please let him not be dead! A big ball of smoke clouded everything so we couldn't see; Kankuro looked even more worried for his younger brother's safety. The smoke cleared and I saw a giant sand ball where Gaara must be inside, hopefully alive. An eye floated a little way from the sand; it must be so he can see his opponent, then a great sand claw reared behind Deidara and Makaiko which encased them, was I going to lose a best friend? Well she had betrayed me, I thought bitterly.
"It's over," I looked at Kankuro, but I had a really bad feeling that it wasn't nearly over because I knew Makaiko and she wasn't beaten that easily. The guards around us relaxed,
"That's to be expected of Kazekage-sama," one of them said with a grin,
"Yeah, as long as Kazekage-sama is here, our village is safe," Kankuro smirked at these remarks,
"No," he suddenly said with a frown, finally he'd caught on, then an explosion blasted part of the ball away from where Deidara and Makaiko were trapped inside, I knew it. Makaiko and Deidara were sent plummeting out of the sand, it raced after them. It grabbed Deidara by the leg and threw him back into the ball of sand, I assumed Makaiko had changed again because I saw her nowhere then a huge bird appeared once again under Deidara and then Makaiko flashed in to view. Then the ball divided into more hands and sped after them, "That idiot, no-one escapes Gaara's sand!" I looked at Kankuro who seemed back in smirking mode, I hoped he was right. The huge sand arms rushed around, diving and crisscrossing all over the place, but a trail of sand was still on the bird's tail constantly.
"Kankuro!" I heard a surly voice say, he and I turned to face the speaker, "Is Gaara-sama fighting?" a team of guards jumped down to land next to us, "Where is he?" asked the guard,
"Yeah, over there," Kankuro pointed, they all looked up to the sand ball Gaara was in, they all gasped and smiled.
"Gaara," whispered the guard, they all seemed to have this great respect for him, now I knew why seeing him fight with such strength, the bird, Deidara and the deserter Makaiko still flew in a vertical line upwards avoiding the sand. I knew Gaara would probably kill them both if he caught them, suddenly sand latched onto Deidara's arm, a hole had appeared in Gaara's sand which was obviously the lightening fast one which has latched onto his arm. It edged up his arm slowly, a huge many legged thing scuttled along the arm of sand and exploded but the sand firmly held on, suddenly blood spurted out of the sand, Gaara was obviously crushing Deidara's arm, was this how Gaara could be so deadly?
"He got him!" they shouted all around, I looked down all the village had flooded out to support their Kazekage, I just hoped it all went okay,
"Kazekage-sama is awesome!" I gave a weak smile, Deidara still race along with the sand latched on to his arm, I gasped as he wrenched his arm off so just a bit of his sleeve flapped in the wind. I marvelled at this guy, he really had guts, mind you he was an S-rank, now I feared for Gaara's safety even more and by the looks on Temari and Kankurou's faces they feared too.
"He got away?" someone muttered,
"That guy's lucky," Kankuro muttered, I wondered what he meant; I looked at the ball with Gaara in and saw his face lit up but the moon, he was glaring at Deidara so intensely I was surprised Deidara wasn't frazzled to a crisp by now. The sand swirled in a cloud above Deidara and Makaiko, I saw that Deidara had something in his hands but I couldn't see what it was. Silence fell over the village.
"Black cloak with red clouds, judging from the way he's dressed, Kazekage-sama's opponent is a member of Akatsuki,"
"Just as I thought," Kankuro said still staring up at his little brother high in the sky,
"Kankuro," a guard said with a cloth obscuring half his face,
"What?" he asked turning around, the sand lunged at Deidara and Makaiko again but missed, it lunged again and again but the bird was too quick.
"Gaara is using his 'absolute defence' sand to fight," this sounded bad whatever it meant, "We have to assume that the enemy is highly skilled, we also need to consider what to do if Gaara loses control," I knew perfectly well what that meant, obviously the Shukaku if you can't read between the lines. Kankuro gasped at the thought, I stared at the guard, "We need to consider a scenario where Shukaku comes out, the villagers are in danger," my eyes widened, that couldn't possibly happen, not now of all times! Kankuro surprisingly smiled,
"That won't be a problem," he turned to face me and directed his gaze specifically to me rather than the guards, "Gaara will never harm the villagers," I tilted to my head to one side as he still looked at me, "No matter what," he came closer to me as the guards looked upwards and whispered in my ear, "I know this because he said that in order to escape the path of loneliness I have no choice but to work hard and make my own path," I frowned I didn't get it, "If I do that, then someday… someday I can be like him, he was referring to that Uzamaki Naruto boy you met," why was he telling me this and not them? "That's why as shinobi of the Sand, I'll aim to be the Kazekage, so I can live a life connected to my village, I want to work hard, so that others will accept my existence," I had accepted his existence as soon as I met him, Kankurou looked sideways at me as if he knew what I was thinking, "That's what I thought when I looked at Uzamaki Naruto, up until now, my bonds with others have only been ones of hatred and murder. But, seeing him fight so hard made me wonder what a bond really is, I think I understand a little now, suffering, sadness and joy. To be able to share it with another person," I gasped he was deeper than I thought, "Uzamaki Naruto, when I fought him, I feel that is what he taught me. He experienced the same type as suffering as I. And he taught me that you can change how you live your life. Someday I want my existence to be necessary to others, not as a weapon to be feared, but as the Hidden Village of Sand's Kazekage." He drew away, that was so sad what he'd said, maybe I should've talked to him after all, "You are need by everyone here, you're the Hidden Village's of Sand Kazekage," he murmured to himself, there was cheers of support for their Kazekage,
"Issue an emergency summons!" the guard was barking orders at them all,
"Yes sir!"
"You, take two squads and guard the reservoir!"
"Yes sir!"
"Seal all roads leading in to A-Block!"
"Yes sir!"
"There's no reason to think that there's only one enemy!"
"What?!" there were more?
"Whatever happens, do not slack on battle preparations!" the guards were all running left right and centre, "Have the medical teams create a barrier and get all civilians inside immediately! Hurry! We cannot afford a single casualty!" he was been very scary and thinking of the worst possible outcome, good strategy but it was scaring me slightly, "Got it?" nice orders, "We will support Gaara… No, Kazekage-sama, with our full strength!" I stepped forwards; Kankuro put his arm out,
"No, Keitii-chan just stay here you'll most likely get injured,"
"I can't just sit here like a duck!" I yelled indignantly and I could handle myself perfectly fine thank you very much! Kankuro stared back up at the sky,
"Gaara…." Suddenly the thing that'd been in Deidara's arms floated out then grew to an immense size, there was an intake of breath. I had been watching this guy, those bombs were infused with chakra, I couldn't see how he was doing it from so far away but I knew that thing in the sky was a huge bomb. He seemed to like modelling things on birds, this bomb had its wings wrapped around its body that went in a bulging triangular shape, and its mouth was a great big gaping whole like it was screaming in pain but silently. The wings opened, and it dropped, I was going to die I knew it,
"No!" I screamed loudly Kankuro and Temari shielded me so we were crouched down on the ground as the bomb exploded, I could see Gaara's horrified face was looking directly at his siblings and me. I knew it would end and the life in all those around me would be gone! Makaiko did nothing!
"This is bad everyone retreat!" a bright white light blinded me, I couldn't see anything I screwed my eyes up against the brightness but it penetrated right through my eyelids, I heard Temari and Kankuro breathe in.
I was deafened by an almighty blast that vibrated the ground underneath me, it was still light. I was dead, I was dead, I was dead! I opened my eyes, and looked up to see a huge wall of sand protecting the village from the bomb,
"Wow," I whispered in amazement,
"Nothing less from the Kazekage," someone muttered as Kankuro helped to my feet,
"Gaara…." Kankuro said smiling at his amazing brother, then all of a sudden an explosion rent the air and it had happened where Gaara had been, I gasped and put my hand over my mouth,
"No," I whispered as Kankuro yelled,
"Gaara!" the smoke cleared and I saw the sand dropping down, it didn't drain away though which meant he was still alive! Then an explosion came from inside as the sand ball bulged. This couldn't be happening! The sand started to drain off slowly at first but it became faster, falling to the ground like rain.
"What happened up there?" asked a guard,
"G-Gaara!" stammered Kankuro, he ran forwards to the edge then stopped, "Gaara!" his voice echoed around the whole village, I would not give in so easily because there was every chance he was still alive just doing a different……. I didn't know but I was sure he wasn't dead!
"Kazekage-sama" they all said at once,
"I-impossible! Gaara's ultimate defence…"
"What did he do?" Kankuro asked, the sand was starting to fall away in great chunks, I could now see his limp body dangling in mid air and there was nothing I could do! Deidara flew towards him,
"Don't touch him you bastard!" I yelled at the Akatsuki member, Makaiko was still there, I hoped she could hear the anger in my voice and I hope it ripped her apart in the end to be with a murderer! Suddenly Deidara flew back, not I realised because of my yell but because Gaara was still conscious! "Gaara!" I yelled up, I prayed he could hear me, the sand above us trembled and moved, he was moving it away so the village wasn't destroyed.
"W-what's this?"
"He's using the last of his power to move the sand away from the village, so that the village won't be damaged," I looked at Kankuro, it almost seemed to pain him to see his younger brother defenceless, "G-Gaara," he said weakly,
"What are you doing? We must protect Kazekage-sama! Commence attack!" attack? He was considering attacking an S-rank criminal who had almost beaten the strongest person in their village?
"Yes sir!"
"Fire!" arrows flew at great speed towards Deidara and Makaiko, it was no use, the arrows were pathetic compared to Deidara's power! He dodged them easily,
"Fire!" this time one exploded right next to him, they all started to explode everywhere.
"You can do it Kazekage-sama!" they all yelled words of encouragement to him,
"Gaara, just a little further!" yelled Kankuro, I looked at him and shook my head as though it couldn't be real. The sand like a great monster, glided over the cavern where Sunagakure was placed and out into the desert, it all crashed on the other side, "He did it!" Kankuro smiled, then Gaara slumped as the last of the sand drained away. He fell speeding towards the ground,
"Help him you idiots!" I yelled at them,
"Gaara!"
"Rescue Kazekage-sama!" They all gasped in horror as Deidara flew on his bird towards the rapidly falling Gaara, the bird's tail caught him,
"Gaara!" Kankurou yelled as Deidara, Makaiko and Gaara flew off into the distance.