Sakura squatted down next to Ayumi's body. A piece of glass penetrated her shoulder and she had scratches all over her arms and legs. With gentleness in contrast to her fighting style the pink-haired kunoichi held Ayumi's wrist and pressed her fingers alongside her artery. Under the thin skin the blue-green vein throbbed.
'The pulse is almost normal.'
Sakura grabbed a small flashlight from her pocket and pushed Ayumi's eyelids apart. The beam pointed straight into her iris. The other ninja watched a frown appear on her forehead.
"What is it, Sakura-san?" Hinata asked.
"Her pupils don't shrink. There... there's something going on with her eyes... It's strange. The color doesn't seem right."
"What do you mean?" Matsuri asked tensed.
"They are blue... but fogged or... they have a milky shine. Whatever the case, she's definitely knock-out," she replied. Sakura examined the wound on her shoulder and carefully extracted the shard.
"This material…" she breathed, "it's like the glass we found on the beach." It shimmered between her fingers, the multi-coloured refracted light falling on her face. Sakura stored the piece in another container and turned to the girl. She focused her mind on her fingertips, gathering chakra from her stomach and transporting it to her hands. The others could feel the tingle of energy in the air. Soon after a green glow emitted from her spread palms and seeped into the skin of the unconscious girl. The wound was beginning to close.
"What the fuck? Why would you heal her?" Kiba asked incredulously, "what if she's one of them?"
"We ought to interrogate her right? Besides... I'm a medic nin, I can't ignore someone wounded... Even if she could be my enemy..." Even after Karin got gravely hurt in the battle between Sasuke and Danzo she overcame her inner-struggle to let her die in order to save her. Save her... even though the sensory-type girl followed Sasuke closely at his side, the place Sakura secretly had wished to fill in her heart of hearts all those years since Sasuke left the village. Regardless if Karin was both her competitor in battle and love that moment, something compelled Sakura to always save those she could.
Kankuro stared at the girl in the skin tight suit. "Wow! A bit small on the bosom for my liking, but dang! Quite a babe!" he commented with a lopsided grin and received a look from Rin that said he was a perverted nutter. Gaara huffed expecting as much from his brother.
"What?" Kankuro exclaimed holding his hands up apologetically, "can't a man speak his mind?"
"Sure... now Temari isn't around," Rin replied grinning making Kankuro laugh. If he made remarks on a girl's physique with his sister there... Boy, he'd be in for a row!
"Uhm... Shouldn't we constrain her before she wakes up?" Hinata chimed in.
"Good call, Hinata-san," Matsuri replied. She wanted to move forward but to their surprise Gaara beat her at it. He squatted down and picked Ayumi up, holding her in a sitting position. Her body was limp and wiggly as made of jelly. Her head fell back against his shoulder. Gaara felt the humidity of her clothes and the cold radiating from her as she lay against his chest. Did it rain here or... did she emerge from the ocean? Gaara gazed at her face from the corner of his eyes. People used to comment about his pale complexity, in-fact, Temari suggested numerous times he could use the rooftop of their house to sunbathe like she did. She said he hid too much under his Kage hat. Temari would lay on the rooftop in her bathingsuit on a stretcher, rubbing sunlotion over herself. As if he'd ever follow up on such a ridiculous suggestion. However, this girl's skin was even whiter than his... And so translucent... the thin veins on her eyelids and those running from her neck up to her cheeks exposed. He wondered, did she ever see the sun?
"She's cold," he commented in his regular monotone. Sakura nodded.
"She's slightly undercooled," she replied whilst picking a small peg of quick salt from her pocket. She placed it under Ayumi's nose and within an instant she starting snorting and coughing. Her body rocked against Gaara's who supported her while loosely holding her wrists with two cuffs made of sand. Ayumi's eyelids fluttered a few seconds before she opened them fully. Two milky blue irises stared straight up and past Gaara. Her lips parted. He could see the captive became aware she wasn't alone. Ayumi lifted her head from Gaara's shoulder and tried to sit up by herself. She arose from a deep chemic slumber caused by spores of barbiturate in her bloodsystem and her muscles did not yet cooperate. As she fell back into Gaara's chest a white flash of pain shot through her forehead.
Tape roughly put across her mouth. A pair of strong hands grabbing hold of her waist, swinging her across his shoulder. Hot tears down her cheeks. Where was she going?
'What... am I recalling...?'
She groaned under the pressure of the drumming in her head. Did it mean... she strongly felt... was she kidnapped? Instinctively she raised her hand to support her head, but something constrained her. Something scoured against her wrists, coarse like sand. She jerked and writhed her hands around to get free herself. A moan escaped her lips and Ayumi became fearful.
"See! She belongs to enemy camp!" Rin spat, perceiving Ayumi's struggle as a sign of hostility.
"Don't move," someone spoke beside her ear. A calm and masculine voice. Had she not been scared to wake like this, she would have recognised there was no malice in that voice, but finding herself in this dark nightmare it just seemed threatening. She groaned and thrashed her head in all directions. This girl looked so frightened, Gaara felt sorry he had to tighten the cuffs, but then Rin stepped forward and pressed a dagger against Ayumi's throat. Ayumi stiffened at the feel of the icy metal against her bare skin. Being blind, all other senses were heightened. Her underlip trembled and Matsuri, Kiba and Hinata shifted uncomfortably. This was not the image of the ruthless enemy they had hoped to find. They had wished to catch a culprit to blame for the countless deaths and disappearances, someone they could vent their anger on, but watching this blind girl stiffen like a plank under the touch of a simple dagger made them feel foolish. As if they were the bad guys of the situation.
"Are you done?" Rin said threateningly, not sharing any of these emotions. The frail girl shivered against Gaara's body. A second time a memory rose to her consciousness.
Pain concentrated in her elbow, something sharp breaking through her skin. Ice running through her veins… immobilizing. Something triggered these horrible flashes. Gaara watched how she contorted her face into a grimace.
"Stay put, Rin," Gaara commanded as sharp as the look in his eyes. Taken aback Rin withdrew the kunai and moved away. She scanned the faces of her comrades and noticed some exposed sympathy for this imposter. Bah! How could they be so easily deceived? Wasn't it clear how suspicious this actress was? Her eyes trailed back to the girl before them. The first one of those who killed so many innocents to fall into their hands. Trapped!
'You're not gonna slip away from me,' she thought angrily and glowered. If looks could kill Ayumi would be mortally wounded.
"I am Gaara... Can you tell us your name?" Gaara asked. His voice demanded an answer but was soothing all the same. The fogginess in her head did not reside yet.
'My name... Why is that so hard to answer? Didn't I - Didn't I talk to someone who told me it's important to remember?... Aghh, what's my name!?'
"She's in shock," Sakura said watching the girl's inner struggle, "or she suffers from one of the most riddling and complex ailments known to humankind... Amnesia."
"Let's hope for her she's just in shock, or the intelligence department will know what to do," Shino spoke from behind his coat.
"Can you stand?" Gaara asked. Slowly she nodded. Some of these people were scary, but this guy holding her... Maybe he could be trusted a little. Ayumi pushed herself up and wiggled on her legs like a new-born foal. An arm unexpectedly wrapped around her back. This body was different, possibly of the girl who had spoken before about amnesia. Who were these people and how did she get herself in this stupid situation? Somewhere close she heard the rustling of clothes. Something soft was pressed into her hands.
"Here, wear this poncho." It was Gaara, handing her a camel coloured garment he had taken with him for cold nights. She grabbed the poncho wordlessly. The material was soft and thick, a pleasant change from her damp divingsuit-like outfit. Sakura helped her wrap it around her shoulders.
"Tsk! Damn, I can't stand watching a girl this hopeless," Kankuro sighed, "yo Kiba! Can she ride Akamaru's back?" Akamaru whined and sniffed Ayumi's leg. He lay down flat on his belly so that Ayumi could mount him with ease.
"That's a yes," Kiba smirked.
"What do we do next?" Matsuri asked.
"We return to the inn," Gaara said after giving it some thought.
"Why? Are you hungry again?" Kiba asked surprised.
'Idiot,' Gaara thought, but gave nothing away of his thoughts. "There is something I need to verify."
"Oh I get it, Gaara. The inn-keepers' blind daughter was missing, right?"
"That's correct," Gaara replied his brother, "before we take this girl as a political captive we ought to eliminate the possibility she is one of this country's missing citizens."
They all nodded and readied to continue their journey. Ayumi dug her fingers in the dog's fur. It was somewhat alienating to sit on an animal, she could not remember if she had ever experienced such a thing, but the dog's body heat felt nice. He moved forward with her hobbling on his back. Sunlight fell on her face. She turned her head to the sky to fully enjoy the rays of warmth.
"What the fuck..." Kiba whispered to Kankuro, "she really is blind. She is staring straight into the sun without a flinch. I've only seen Shino able to withstand that... but that guy even sleeps with his shades on!" The two young men chuckled.
'Ah, what's this feeling as though being cursed..?' Kiba thought, aware of a cloud of tension floating his direction. He looked over his shoulder to find Shino glowering at him through his dark shades. The hood of his jacket seemed to be pulled even deeper over his face, concealing himself in shadows. 'He overheard me,' Kiba gulped guiltily.
Luckily for him it didn't lead to a confrontation as Gaara jumped onto the tree branches. They were leaving.
During the way back Hinata and Sakura attempted to make conversation with the lavender haired mystery girl, but got no response. Sakura was not all too surprised. It didn't matter if she was an evil person or not... If she had recently experienced a traumatic event she could be unwilling or even unable to speak. Her spooked reactions over cracking twigs and insects flying near her ear confirmed her suspicion. Ayumi seemed to perceive everything as threatening and clamped onto Akamaru as if he was her final lifeline. Well... she was blind after all... in the end that could be a good explanation too.
"Hey, I'm Sakura. Are you alright? Relax... We are trying to find out who you are," she tried to ease the girl's worries, "soon we'll arrive at an inn where you can sit a while in peace."
Ayumi moved her head in Sakura's direction and nodded. This voice was similar to the one of the girl who had supported her earlier. And her shoulder... apparently this 'Sakura' healed her.
'Am I really being kidnapped or am I taken somewhere safe? Owh I don't understand.'
"If you relax you'll notice it's actually quite nice," Kiba told her. She hadn't heard him move closer so his voice came seemingly out of nowhere. She gasped a little startled.
"Eheh, sorry," he laughed sheepishly, "but hey, if you are so tensed you can't enjoy the wind and the sun."
Somewhere he had expected a reply but Ayumi gave no sign of having understood him, she only frowned a little. Kiba glanced questioningly at Sakura. She shook her head indicating he shouldn't wait for an answer.
"Well, uhm... see ya," Kiba said uneasily and moved to Shino. "She's like a doll or something... no reply, no nothing..." he told the bug-user uncomfortably but then noticed Shino's penetrating glance.
"Are you still upset? Ah... I'm sorry buddy, no judgement was intended. If you like those glasses and that old jacket it's fine with me. I like you the same."
"Old... jacket..." Shino replied slowly and ticked off.
"Ah - Shino? Why are your bugs-?" Kiba nervously mowed his arm in the air as Shino's insects started to circle around his head, but more and more were crawling from under Shino's jacket. "Shino!?"
He sprang forward swiftly past Hinata, Matsuri and finally Gaara and Kankuro who formed the front of their formation. An angry cloud of bugs chased after him. "Shino I'm sorry, no need to mope, you got swag alright?... SWAG!" Shino stared at him and decided he wouldn't let his friend off that easily. The bugs started to chase Kiba even more ferociously and he quickly dissapeared out of sight.
"SWAAAAAAAAGG," he wailed from a distance.
"Wow, where do they get the energy," Matsuri giggled.
"Yes," Hinata answered smiling, completely undisturbed by her comrades natural behaviour, "by the end of the day they'll make up."
"We are in an allied country and close to Tanigakure, but it's unwise to make this much noise," Gaara said.
"Understood," Shino replied behind him. Dutifully he called back his bugs, but Kiba didn't return. A short while later they broke through the trees and landed on a dirt road. They saw Kiba smirking and leaning against the fence surrounding the inn's garden. Ayumi nearly fell off Akamaru's back from the shock of the landing. Thankfully the dog switched his positioning to catch her blow. She patted the dog's flank gratefully.
"So we're back at the inn," Sakura mumbled. She looked up to the three-story wooden building in front of her.
"Now we'll find out if she belongs to this country..." Gaara responded.
A/N: OMG... I posted again... I'm back guys.
I thought it would be realistic for Ayumi to have some post-traumatic stress from what happened, but soon she'll gain confidence and make a remarkable discovery about her adjusted body. Also will add more Gaara moments. Next chapter she will meet her family... will this split family be whole again?
Make my day and leave a comment! :3