A Political Gamble

The weather was cold outside the window, Komogakure has a different season compared to Suna where it has been hot and dry all year round. Gaara gripped the phone tighter in his hand, he wasn't able to call her sister again since the line in Konoha was very much monitored and the government kept all the information that was passed thru a tiny wire.

He remembered his brother's last words before he escaped from the prison. Gaara convinced Kankuro to run away with him, the guards that were sent by Komogakure were sailing through the sea to flee them from the prison. Kankuro swear to sacrifice himself in order to complete their plan, for his country, for his siblings, and for the person he didn't intend to fall with.

"You need to go brother, stay at Kumogakure and bring Temari with you" Kankuro whispered while they both ate at the cafeteria with handcuffs on both of their hands and feet.

"The Kumogakure guards are now sailing near the sea, they're hiding in the blind area of the prison. You need to come with me Kankuro, there's enough time"

"You know I cannot do that. This is the only way Gaara, I already told you when we stir this plan. And that fucking wolf hunter kept staring at us. Where did you hide his knife?"

"I delivered it to Raikage"

"That's perfect! We'll be needing that one to prove our case. You need to tell the Raikage that Shino has a lot of scythe knives in his house, Kiba saw it. All were in the same design, what a lunatic. They need to keep an eye on him"

"Are you sure you're going to do this Kankuro?"

"I told you, I'm willing to go this way. So he could assume that he won, and bring the information that we gathered to Raikage to inform the other villages about Senator Sato's plan. If we both escaped, we were likely to get caught"

"Kankuro, you've b—"

"Gaara. Please…just get out, stay away from this prison. I'll be seeing the wolf hunter tonight. I know he'll going to kill me, he reminded me every day in the cell. If it's the only way for you to run away and save the village, I'm willing to do it. You're the best person I know who can do that Gaara"

There's a long silence after that. Gaara's heart felt heavy about his brother's fate "Your sacrifice will never be forgotten my brother"

A chilly sensation starts to crawl up through his skin after a moment of flashback appeared in his mind. His stillness broke when the Raikage entered the room. The tall well-built man who holds the highest position in the village initiates a talk with him, Gaara was thankful that the Raikage helped them on their mission.

"Is there any news about your sister, Gaara?"

"Unfortunately, not. I have to admit that it's my fault, I didn't inform my sister about our plan, she's now trapped in Konoha" Gaara half-turned and walked to the couch

"It's not your fault. I should have delivered the news to your sister after you escaped from the prison but my guards already informed me that your sister left your village and traveled to Konoha. You know how monitored the people in there, the government always what to rub their hands on everyone's business" The Raikage sits across the chair he was sitting in, and his assistant poured tea on their table.

"I agree, I also sent Yukata to reach out to Temari in Konoha but that was a failed attempt, she was able to reach my sister at first and ask to meet her one night but Yukata was killed by the wolf hunter before she sends the letter that I want to give"

"Is this the reason why you send the knife to her apartment? One of our guards informed us that she already received the one we sent"

"Yes, this is the very reason why. I want her to convince that she's in danger. I hope she saw the letter I attached to the lid, an instruction for her escape and a way leading to Kumogakure. I did a few calls but the line always break and I'm afraid that the government was listening to every conversation we have" Gaara sips the hot brewed tea from their table.

"Senator Sato is a fucking threat in his country. Just tell me what I could do, we are all in debt with your service to all the villages. If it weren't for you, our village was now in pure chaos and was invaded by those bandits"

"We owe this one to my brother. I don't want to let Kankuro's sacrifice be a waste"

The hot tea calmed his body but the feeling of fear still peaking inside of him. Her sister was now missing, a spy that they sent to Konoha informed him that night. Gaara was blaming himself for the situation his sister was now into but there was a slight hope in his heart that she will be safe, especially after he discovered that there was this one detective who's being protective of her. Just like how they're very protective of their sister.

He knows her sister has been a lot in the past, this is the very reason they wanted her to stay away from this kind of plan. Temari was the head of their village academy, making sure that their principles and culture were taught well. Their sister is the best person to assign in this department, they both trusted her so much.

Suna was a small country and the information inside of it was limited, the other villages didn't know that Gaara is the head of the Suna military because of how silent they had been for years until they heard an arising threat from the mouth of the bandits.

Kankuro was his lieutenant general, he offered a plan to his brother about gathering information from Konoha to find the person that was hiding in the name of Senator Sato. For months, they've been searching for several data and found out that someone was currently handling the senator's case.

Kiba was their only way to know about Senator Sato's plan regarding the invasion of villages. His brother performed well in extracting the information from Kiba, they found out that the Senator has a plan on sending a group called Akatsuki to invade the villages and forced them to sign their military alliance.

If they disagree, the Akatsuki will burn their village. Fortunately, Gaara was quick to send the message to different villages about their plot, they were able to stiffen their military before the Akatsuki infiltrated inside.

"Your brother was a brave man"

"Indeed" Gaara knows there are a lot of reasons why Kankuro did that but he solely blames it on the thing they called love, it motivates him to do his sacrifice. Love for his village, for his sibling, and for the man he didn't intend to fall with.

Even if Kankuro was silent about it, he knows his brothers too well. His affinity of him with Kiba was different from all the people they interact with, his soft gaze only reserved for him. Unexpected love, that's what they called it. That was not part of his plan about having a soft spot for him but fate playfully tease them.

Just like what her sister was in now.

"I already sent a guard to Konoha to search for your sister" The Raikage confirmed

"Thank you, Lord Raikage, I'm still waiting for Lady Mizukage to send the documents about Senator Sato. I'll be bringing them on my way to Konoha tonight, I need to have that document to prove the accusation and to stop Senator from his doings"

"If that's in case, I'm going with you. I need to see that senator put behind bars, I want to see him suffer and I'm just going to kill him if they didn't give us justice" he playfully teases while taking a bite of the biscuit that was served on their table.

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"How did you know about her brothers Shino? How did you know that her brothers were Gaara and Kankuro?"

The pressure starts to rise up when the silence of the room becomes louder. The faded struggle and squeal of a woman start to reverberate from his garage.

Shikamaru's gaze moved to the door leading to his garage, Shino grabbed his arm and grip it tight.

"What are you hiding Shino?"

"I think we need to start looking for your girlfriend now. Let's head back to your car" He pulled him away from their spot but Shikamaru's feet froze to the ground and his gaze didn't move on the door he was looking at.

"You haven't answered any of my questions, Shino"

"Is there anything needed to be discussed? I thought you were in a hurry to look for Temari?" he said with his stoic expression.

"You know what, I really thought I'm just having some dumb moment when I thought the fourth fingerprint was yours. I'm doing my own research on Kiba's case, separately from what we did in the police department"

"There's no fourth fingerprint Shikamaru, that's still Kankuro's and I gave all the evidence on that report" his voice starts to become louder

"Funny enough, your evidence was very much different from the image that was given on the day that fingerprint was captured. I kept the duplicate copy if you're going to ask me, why was it different from the original Shino? That's the third question that you owe me an answer" he walked near to him while Shino was stiffened from all his questions.

Inside the garage, all she could see was pitch black. Temari drained all her energy from all the crawling she did and the panic attack she had. She whimpers in pain and tried to call his name one more time.

"Looks like you're struggling for-" before he continues his words, he heard a faint noise from the door leading to his garage.

She whimpers his name the loudest she could.

"-air" he continues his speech while his feet immediately walked to the door. Shikamaru knows every detail about Temari, her laugh, her cry, the way she yells, everything.

His hand touched the cold metallic handle of the white door. Shino immediately grips his wrist while glaring him down.

"I'm going to call the police and file trespassing if you're going to twist my goddamn knob and enter my garage like you fucking own it!" He screamed at him

"We're both a fucking police you moron! What are you hiding!? I'm not dumb Shino, you're hiding something! Or should I ask, who you are hiding!?" Shikamaru's eyes were bloodshot, he was ready to kill him if he found out that his lover was on the other side of his door, covered in blood. He's praying that he's still not late in saving her.

Shino pulled his arm away from the knob while Shikamaru was using all of his force to twist it. In a split second, Shino pushed him to the table making him fumble to the ground.

"I hate people sticking their noses in my business" he slowly walked toward him

His body was now in pain after he landed on the glass table. He grabbed the broken piece of the vase to use it as a defense. Bits of glass stuck on his skin and had minor bleeding but Shikamaru didn't care, all he wanted to do is to get inside his garage.

"I'm going to answer your questions now Shikamaru. Since I decided that I could kill you both tonight like what I did to Kiba and Kankuro. First, I know her brothers. Of course, because I'm on a mission to kill her. Second, the one that I'm hiding behind that door—" he pointed his fingers to it "is your girlfriend"

He gripped the broken vase tighter ready to stab him, if only he hasn't left the gun inside his car, he could shoot him right then and there.

"To your last question, I manipulate all of the evidence. Surprisingly you're all too dumb to notice it. I guess I'm going to give you credit for having your own research"

"If you touched her, I'm going to kill you!" Shikamaru has the capacity of killing people and Shino knows that especially if he's motivated to do it. He pulls his drawer and grab one of the scythes he made, Shikamaru saw a set of scythe knife collection in his hidden drawer.

"Not if I'm going to kill you both first" he walked towards the door leading to the garage and twist the knob. A heavy smell of bleach escaped inside of the room, almost suffocating on how dense the smell was.

He opened the light and lifted Temari who was now unconscious from the struggle, her panic attack, the almost suffocating smell inside, and everything in between. Her body couldn't handle all of it, she was exhausted.

"Is she what you're looking for?" he throws her on the ground

"Tch!" he tried to lift his body and crawled his way to Temari

"Say goodbye to your lover-or not. I bet you're both going to see each other in the afterlife"

Their hands touched while regaining his energy, Shino slowly walked towards them holding the handmade scythe knife that he used in every killing he did.