Gaara led me to a guest room, there wasn't much in here for furniture but it was enough. There was a bed and a dresser, that was it. It looked like a bathroom was connected to the room. At this point I just wanted to lay down and didn't care much about cleaning Kimimaru's blood off of my clothes and skin. I didn't have any clothes to change into anyway because I wasn't expecting to stay in the Leaf. I don't have a problem with wearing bloody clothes so it'll be fine.
I unbuckled my sword belt without bothering to detach my sword first and dropped all of it on the floor near Gaara's gourd. A pulse of pain passed through my head that was stronger than the others causing my left hand to go to my temple. "This is your assigned room isn't it?"
"It is, I didn't think you would mind." In my haze I didn't realize that he had shut the door to the room behind us. I pulled off my sandals and let them drop to the floor too, then I took my hair out of its bun hoping it would give me some relief with the pounding in my head as I walked to the bed. There wasn't much of a difference with the pain in my head. I had every intention of face planting on the bed and going to sleep when Gaara grabbed my arm. "You should go get cleaned up, you're still covered in that man's blood."
"I don't have an extra change of clothes because I didn't think we were staying the night. Besides, this isn't that much blood. I've been covered in more blood for longer periods of time before." I tugged on my arm a bit hoping Gaara would let go. I didn't pull too hard because I didn't want to offend him by my rudeness, I thought he would just let me go but he didn't. His grip didn't waver.
"I know you're covered in more blood than you say, it's black from the poison isn't it? I can smell it on you, it's strong and metallic. I can practically taste it when I breathe through my mouth." Gaara pulled me towards him and picked me up with one arm supporting my back and the other under the backs of my knees. "You can wear some of my clothes. I'll just sleep in this."
"You don't have to carry me, I can walk by myself." I tried pushing myself out of his arms but he was keeping a strong grip on me.
"You can barely walk without seeming unsteady and your attempt at pushing me away is weak." he set me in the bathtub and turned on the water to a warm temperature, I could see the steam rising from the water. I didn't care that I was still fully clothed, maybe if I scrub hard enough I can save my clothes and wear them tomorrow? "I'll be right back." he left the bathroom leaving me by myself. I decided to quickly unravel the bandages around my abdomen before pushing my shirt over the top of my seals just as Gaara came back with a pile of clothes that he set on the counter by the sink. He grabbed a cup and a rag from a drawer before coming back over to me. I was unraveling the bandages on my shins knowing that my leggings are underneath and he won't see any seals. "Turn around, you have blood in your hair." He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows while I moved.
It was a bit of a tight fit, but I turned so that my back was facing Gaara. He took the cup and filled it with water before dumping it on my head to get my hair wet. I didn't think that he would help me scrub myself clean much less wash my hair. I know he definitely wasn't the caring type before and I didn't think he would change that much in the time we've been separated. What happened between him and his siblings when I was in Kiri?
I finished unraveling the bandages that were wrapped around my shins and balled them up into a wad to set on the floor outside of the bathtub. Then I took the rag and got it wet before using the bar of soap already on a ledge by the bathtub. I started with my biceps and moved to scrub the material covering my chest working my way down. The bubbles that accumulated turned a light gray before quickly darkening to a darker color, in some spots the suds were black. I splashed myself to rinse several times and continued scrubbing, the water grew darker the longer I sat in it. At some point I wondered if it was even worth it to keep using the water because it was so black or if I should just drain the tub and fill it with more water.
Gaara was gentle as he washed my hair. He took the time to try and rinse as much of the black blood out of my hair as he could before he used soap. There wasn't a lot of blood in my hair, but it dried thickly where my hair rested by my neck when it was in the ponytail. When I carried Kimimaru over my shoulder he continued to bleed and it flowed down my neck and back where my hair stuck to it. Gaara was taking extra care to rub my hair between his fingers with soap to make sure all of the blood got out. I briefly wondered if the black blood would stain my hair? Regular blood does a little bit and that's red so it's bound to stain, but with the way Gaara's scrubbing my hair I don't think it will. He has bubbles all through my hair, my head feels a bit lighter and I can hear the symphony of small pops as the bubbles disappear.
"Thank you for helping, you didn't have to. I could have done this myself." I continued to scrub the material of my clothes, I was scrubbing the cloth covering my stomach again, there was more blood covering my torso than my leggings. "If the blood stains my hair it's okay, it happens with red blood so it's more likely to stain with black blood."
"I don't mind helping, I don't like his blood on you." He moved down to a new section of hair to apply more soap. He was giving it as much attention as the rest of my hair even though I knew there wasn't any blood that far down.
My movements slowed down and I pressed harder into the spot I was scrubbing. He doesn't like that I'm covered in Kimimaru's blood? He's never had a problem with me being covered in blood before, so I wonder what's different?
Gaara continued scrubbing my hair, at some point I stopped washing the rest of my body. I was leaning forward with my chin resting on my knees close to dozing off at Gaara's gentle touch. Once he brought the cup up and started to rinse my hair I was reminded of where I was and what I was doing. While Gaara was massaging my head my headache dissipated greatly, the rest of my body seemed completely drained of energy. I didn't know if I could support my body myself, it was a challenge just keeping my head up.
My hand rose to grab Gaara's wrist to stop his actions of rinsing my hair, he already had most of the suds out. "I can finish on my own, I'll be finished soon. You can leave."
"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself? You don't seem to have much energy." He said.
I was so close to telling him he should stay, I didn't care if he saw me naked but what I did care about was the original seal that's on my stomach. He probably wouldn't care if he knew I was the jinchuuriki of Isobu though I still think it's best if fewer people know about it. So far Ao, A, B, and possibly Akira know about me being Isobu's host. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Kankuro grows curious about the new development of his chakra and he'll also know. I really can't risk anyone else knowing about Isobu even if they are also a jinchuuriki.
"If I need help I'll call for you." I didn't try moving, not yet. If he saw me struggle just to lift up my head and straighten my back he probably won't leave. 'Why do I feel this way?'
'You're lucky that this is as bad as you feel. No human is supposed to be able to transfer that much chakra at one time.' Isobu's voice echoed in my head. 'The only reason why you aren't hospitalized yourself is that our chakra is one. If you haven't already been merging our chakra I doubt your own demonic chakra would have been enough to sustain you. Or it may have but just barely.'
'So I would have been fine if I would have spread out the time between each transfer?' While talking with Isobu telepathically, I watched as Gaara took out a couple of towels and found a fresh roll of bandages before leaving the bathroom and closing the door behind him.
'Yes, but that doesn't mean you should do it.' Normally, Isobu is the one who acts younger despite being centuries older than me. It was a bit strange that he was the one showing concern when he is usually so child-like. The last time he even hinted at being concerned for me was when we met Gyūki and B while they visited Kiri, Isobu didn't like that my skin is mostly marked in black seals.
'What if I transfer some of our chakra into objects for a later time when we might need it?' I wondered. With Gaara out of the bathroom, I pushed against my legs to change my position. I wasted no time in taking off my clothes and tearing through the remaining bandages that were still secured around my arms. I spent some time scrubbing my arms, the blood stained my skin a gray color but no one would be able to see after I rewrapped them.
'I guess you could do that. What are you going to do about concealing your chakra once it's been placed in the object? Anyone who can sense chakra even on a basic level will be able to detect it.' he pointed out. He's right though.
'I'll have to go through the trouble of placing seals along the walls of the armory. That should work being that I'm the only one that has access to it now.' I finished washing myself as fast as I could because I really did want to just fall asleep. The tub drained taking the blackened water away. Getting out of the tub was difficult, I ended up taking a nosedive out of the side of the tub when the muscles in my arms suddenly gave out. I guess a chakra transfer like that took more out of me than I thought. The fall wasn't too bad, Gaara didn't come running so maybe he didn't even hear me?
'It should work. We'll have to see when we get back to Kirigakure.'
I dried off the best I could with the towels Gaara left out and to save myself some trouble, I wound up my shins in bandages underneath my pants instead of on top like I normally would with leggings. I struggled with the rest of my bandaging because it felt as if every ounce of energy was stripped from the cells in my body, so I ended up having to give my arms a rest a few times before continuing. Out of all the training I received, I've never felt this way before, as if I was fading away and couldn't do anything to stop it.
As soon as I had my seals covered and Gaara's clothes put on I left the bathroom, I didn't even bother to wring the water out of my hair. All I wanted was sleep, I hoped that when I woke up in the morning I would feel better.
Gaara was laying on the bed above the sheets, he took off his sash and the jacket to his outfit, which I didn't even realize was a separate piece of clothing. If I didn't feel as if Kofuku just squashed me and had more energy I could have given more thought to the image of a shirtless Gaara waiting for me. Or consider whether or not Kankuro was right and Gaara did have feelings for me.
He took care of me while I was recovering from transferring that much chakra so he definitely cares, he might even be a bit possessive. I didn't even realize until he mentioned that he didn't like it when I was covered in Kimimaru's blood when he never cared about me being covered in anyone else's blood before. I wasn't able to think about anything beyond that when all I could think about was how good my head would feel against the pillow.
My body fell against the bed with my head colliding with the pillow. My eyes shut immediately but I didn't fall asleep right away. I reveled in the feeling of my body against the comfort of the mattress. It probably looked like I fell asleep right away so I wasn't that shocked when Gaara moved the blankets to cover us. When he settled down next to me, I could sense a slight hesitation from him before one of his hands moved to run through my wet hair. I was barely conscious as his fingers massaged my scalp and I fell asleep that way.
It wasn't until I woke up in the morning that I realized I was too exhausted the night before to use my chakra and help Gaara sleep. So, he was awake all night. Or at least that's what I assumed, when my eyes opened I was met with the sight of a sleeping Gaara with his forehead pressed against mine. His hand rested on the side of my neck, almost as if he fell asleep stroking my hair last night.
I had a strong urge to stretch out my arms and legs but I didn't want to wake him up if he actually managed to sleep without me having to soothe Shukaku with my chakra. Instead, I tried to fight that feeling by thinking of something else. It was now that I remembered Gaara was shirtless last night.
We were covered with blankets so I couldn't get a look. Normally the thought of seeing a guy shirtless wouldn't bother me, I've seen many guys shirtless before. Sometimes while we were training together Mangetsu and Suigestu would discard their shirts, I've even seen Chojuro shirtless before even though he was definitely more shy back then. It's just ever since Kankuro said Gaara may have romantic feelings for me, I've been thinking about if that may be true and if it's possible if I feel anything for him.
I've been thinking more about the things he does or says towards me and I can't seem to see if any of that translates to romance but nothing is clicking to me. I don't want to fuss and worry over something like that so I'm not going to worry about it. Or that's what I told myself. It's moments like now when we find ourselves in a position like this that I realize Kankuro may be right. He might also be right in thinking that Gaara doesn't realize what he does as he sleeps. But then when we were in Suna instead of letting go of me that morning he held on as he glared at Kankuro for being too close to me, so I think he knows exactly what he's doing.
Either way, it forces me to have to think about what I think of him. Do I also have romantic feelings for him? No, at least I don't think so. I really want to change Kiri into a better place so that I can show my home off to him, but the same could be said for Kankuro, Temari, and Naruto. Would Gaara be someone I would want to go home to at the end of the day? Would I want his face to be the first and last I would want to see everyday? I can't imagine myself relying on something as domestic as that, I've been in and out of my own village continuously for years. Sometimes I would have to leave just as soon as I get back from another mission. I didn't have the time to miss anyone while doing mission after mission.
Honestly, I haven't thought of anything other than the development of my nation and our standing with others since I've become Mizukage. I haven't thought of what I wanted for myself in a long time, I didn't need to. I always thought of doing whatever uncle Yagura wanted me to do, he already had everything planned out for me.
I remember that I wanted to be one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, but I've already excelled beyond that before I could properly take up the role. Now, I'll have to re-evaluate what I want for myself now that I'm the Mizukage. Can I picture Gaara being with me in this new vision? I don't know, all I can think about right now is the feel of his skin against mine where his hand touches my neck.
Does that even mean anything? I'm so deprived of human skinship that I might have a craving for it, at least in small doses. Besides, Gaara is one of my first friends outside of Kiri, even the friendships from Kiri are questionable. I would hardly call Suigetsu my friend and Chojuro may have been afraid of me when we were younger but they were all I had. Gaara's friendship means a lot to me, the same as the ones I have with Temari, Kankuro, and Naruto.
The fact I was able to befriend them shows that I'm still human, my inner demon hasn't completely taken over. They're all labeled as special to me. Naruto and Gaara are also jinchuuriki, we share that in common even though they'll never know. None of us have to be lonely anymore because we have each other to rely on, which was demonstrated during the Sasuke recovery mission. Temari already considers me as her sister and I've never had someone care for me as openly as her. And I was hoping Kankuro and I could have the kind of relationship Zabuza and I should have had, one that brought us closer to one another. Something different than what Kisame and I shared, hopefully less toxic and dangerous like a normal brother-sister relationship. Or at least something normal outside of Kiri.
Gaara's eyes opened revealing his light turquoise irises. He seemed surprised that I was awake but didn't try pulling away from me. His hand stayed in place on my neck. "Did you sleep well?" His voice sounded a bit more husky than it normally would, which is to be expected from someone who just woke up. It sounded pleasant, I wouldn't mind getting to hear his voice like this more often
"Yes, I'm feeling much better than last night. I'm sorry that I didn't give you any of my chakra so that you could sleep, but it looks like you were able to sleep on your own." I thought it was strange that he even attempted to sleep last night. I thought Shukaku told him that if he tried to sleep he would take over his body and wreak havoc? Was that just a bluff from the one tails to scare his host?
"It's alright, you don't always have to soothe me with your chakra. I was able to sleep just fine being near you." he said. His hand moved slightly causing a tingling sensation to pass over what he touched, I tensed because I wasn't used to the new sensation which prompted him to remove his hand. What the hell, I liked it when he touched me but still reacted as if it bothered me.
Is it really going to be like this? Whenever he touches me even a little bit intimately I'll feel euphoric and repulsed at the same time. Do I even bother explaining that the only contact I've had with another person is when uncle Yagura would ruffle my hair or when my fists beat on an opponent's body? No, I can't say anything, it'll only make me seem sad and pathetic. The last time I remember getting something as innocent as a hug was... Damn, that was years ago when I was still training with the seven swordsmen. It was a hug from Suigestu who always greeted me with one. He made a hug seem like a sin with the way his hands wandered. I didn't even realize he was being a pervert until Kisame told me one night while we were eating crab sukka at our favorite restaurant.
"We should get up, I feel like I slept in longer than I should have." I pushed myself up in the bed and swung my legs to the side before getting up. As I walked to the bathroom to remove the water from my clothes I wore yesterday I glanced to see Gaara laying on his back with his hands under his head. The blanket fell to his waist revealing his bare chest that I wanted to see earlier. He's more muscular than I gave him credit for, or maybe he's developed more muscle since the last time I saw him? Either way, he was holding me close last night while he was half dressed and I missed the opportunity to touch him to see if that would trigger anything in me.
When I entered the bathroom, I went to check on my clothes that I left in the bathtub right away. They were still soaked, but it looked like most of the black blood was more or less washed out, so I pulled the water molecules from the fabric and changed clothes. The outfit Gaara let me borrow for the night was folded before I left the bathroom with it.
He was now fully clothed and putting on his ninja sandals as he sat on the end of the bed. "Here you go, thank you for letting me borrow them last night." I set the small pile of clothes on the bed beside him then looked for my own sandals to put on.
"It's not a problem. You could have worn them today too if you wanted." he said. The rustling of fabric was heard behind me as Gaara moved around. "You're going to the hot springs with your students and Kankuro right?"
"Yeah, did you want to come with us?" With my sandals strapped on I stood up, getting ready to leave the room. Gaara followed after me, leaving his gourd where he left it last night.
"I've never walked on water before, I can learn to do it. I might need to know how some day." he closed the door to our room behind him as we walked down the hallway. I used my sensory skills to find Futto and Zagura, but they weren't in the building. Hikari wasn't either, I just assumed she met up with Tsunade early this morning like they planned. It still doesn't make any sense as to what the other two are doing? They don't know anyone from this village, that means the two of them are together somewhere.
Kankuro was lounging on a couch in the area I found everyone last night. It honestly looked like he was going to fall back asleep. If I didn't already know where Temari was I bet I could guess correctly on the first try. "Going to sleep some more?" I wondered.
"No, I'm up!" Kankuro jerked up and he tried acting as if he wasn't about to doze off again. "Gaara, are you coming with us?"
"Yes, it might be beneficial to know how to walk on water. Besides, from what I understand it's one of the more advanced forms of chakra control." Gaara said.
A smirk slowly formed on Kankuro's face before he started his teasing, "Is that the only reason you want to learn? Are you sure it's not because you'll get to spend time with Ketto?"
Gaara didn't let Kankuro's teasing get to him, his face remained impassive. "I don't see how that could be a problem. We're supposed to keep close relations with the Mist."
Kankuro's face fell, "That's not what I meant." he mumbled.
I wanted to laugh at the look on Kankuro's face as Gaara deflected his attempts at trying to embarrass him, but I kept neutral about it. I'm sure Kankuro wouldn't take kindly to someone laughing in his face over something like this. Besides, what if my laugh sounds weird? Mitsuru and Jiro have managed to get me to smile and chuckle a bit, yet I don't really remember the last time I really and truly laughed. How can someone open themselves up to others so casually?
"Kankuro, have you seen Futto and Zagura this morning?" I asked. From the placement of their chakra I could tell that they were outside the Hokage building, they were quite a distance away yet near enough that they were still in the village.
"Your students? Nah, no one else has come by since I got out here." he stood up and stretched out his arms over his head with a yawn. "Do you need help looking for them? I can help."
"No, that's fine." The two were in the area the hot springs are, they could have left already to start some training. "We can start heading to the hot springs for some training."
"We should probably eat first, we just got up." Kankuro was looking at me curiously, "Your first thought was to start training?"
"Yes, I don't eat much and I haven't had as much time to do any training since I became Mizukage. Or at least not as extensive training." I can just picture the next time I see Kofoku. He doesn't like it when I'm away for too long. My money is on him either whipping his tail at me or using his claws to slam my body down into the sea floor. It all depends on how long I go without seeing him, if it's just a couple of months it'll be fine, but something tells me it might be longer than that before I get to see him. "Is it strange that I want to do some training right away?"
"Kind of, yeah." Kankuro shrugged his shoulders. "It's whatever, I guess. We should grab something to eat before we go."
Together the three of us took a detour to the kitchen area for guests and grabbed something to eat. With the exception of me, I had some orange juice. The sugar in a single cup was enough to give me an energy boost for this morning. Gaara and Kankuro didn't say anything against me only having something to drink. I feel like that would have been a different story if Temari was up with us.
We walked out of the Hokage building and to the hot springs as soon as the two of them ate something. The closer we got to the hot springs the more certain I was that Futto and Zagura were already here. Their chakra was unmistakable even though we couldn't see them, I could sense them under the water's surface and by the sudden spikes in their chakra I would say they were battling underwater. I wasn't aware either of them could hold their breath or manipulate the air out of the water to breathe.
Before any of us approached the water's surface a large tidal wave rolled across the surface, the current for that must have been pretty strong underwater. Zagura's chakra must have developed better than I thought it did if the wave was that large above water. He has more time to practice his water chakra than his lightning so it only makes sense that he's stronger in that area.
Kankuro stopped at the water's edge and narrowed his eyes as if it would help him see better. "Is that those two kids down there?"
"It feels like their chakra, it's quite impressive that neither of them has come up for air." Gaara stood next to me with his arms crossed as he spoke. "This feeling though, I can detect bloodlust. It's not something children their age should be able to express or even understand."
"In the Mist anything is possible. Everything is different there as opposed to everywhere else in the five great nations." I dropped to a knee at the water's edge so that I could focus on Futto and Zagura's movements. After the wave dispersed, the surface of the water was overtaken by small foamy bubbles and it was hard to make out anything. The two of them managed to move around fast enough to form more bubbles before the current ones could disappear.
A geyser of water shot into the air, it took me a couple of seconds to realize that it was actually a jet stream of air, Futto's wind release. Zagura's body was launched into the sky, he was tumbling through the air with his feet flipping over his head, he kept in that rotation for a few spins before he regained his balance and landed roughly on the water's surface. Futto also breached the water's surface, but more gracefully than Zagura. They both had red skin from the nearly boiling temperatures of the hot springs yet they acted as if they weren't bothered.
Zagura's fingertips left the surface of the water as he sent up a wall of water towards Futto with another following from the other side, Futto's only option was to either drop under the water again or run at Zagura straight down the middle, which is what he decided to do. He didn't have his katana on him, probably to give Zagura some kind of handicap being that he hasn't been carrying a sword. Still, when Futto sliced the space next to Zagura's cheek with an air blade I was impressed that he was able to dodge by sinking down below the surface of the water and grabbing Futto by the ankles as he went.
When the surface of the water continued to ripple harshly after the two of my students disappeared, Kankuro spoke up, "I feel like we should stop them before they kill each other."
"I suppose they do look like they could be tiring out." I said. Both Zagura and Futto's movements were slower than they normally are, so they must have been sparring for a while.
"That's not what I meant." Kankuro groaned. "I mean that you should stop their fight before they hurt each other. They're treating this like a real fight."
"I would expect no less from them. The only way you can expand your abilities is if you gain experience through combat. If they were to hold back against each other they wouldn't be able to become stronger." They wouldn't have real battle experience as they would during wartime but this is the next best thing.
"I understand, it's only when you push yourself beyond your abilities that you're able to grow." Gaara said. "I'm sure you understand that, right Kankuro?"
"Okay, yeah, but still they shouldn't be going at each other to seriously hurt one another. How old did you say they were again?" Kankuro looked at me expectantly, he wouldn't like the answer.
"They're eight, which shouldn't matter. They want to be capable shinobi and there isn't a better time than the present." My fist connected with his shoulder, I didn't think it was that hard of a punch but Kankuro grabbed the place I hit him as if it hurt. "You're not going to hold back, are you?"
"Jeez, what are you made of, rock?" he rubbed his shoulder as he winced. "I'll give it my all if that makes you feel better?"
"You should always give your all even in a friendly spar." I turned back to the two boys who were still fighting each other underwater. "They really should take a break though." I ran across the water for a bit before diving in to see Zagura had slammed his fist into Futto's stomach with silvery-gray coral coating the spaces in between his knuckles. Futto drifted off as if he was in his own current, I used some of Isobu's speed as I appeared behind Futto with my arms hooked under his armpits. When Zagura pulled his fist back he looked shocked at seeing the coral but otherwise he didn't seem too concerned. He caught sight of me and I jerked my chin upwards to indicate that we should rise.
When we breached the surface, Futto spoke first, "You weren't looking for us for too long were you? We wanted to get some sparring in before you got here."
"When did the two of you get here?" I wondered. I let go of my hold on Futto and the three of us swam to the water's edge towards Gaara and Kankuro who were waiting for us.
"We left the Hokage building the same time Hikari did." Zagura answered. He pulled himself out of the water and crawled just far enough to get his feet on land.
"The two of you squirts should rest for a bit." Kankuro said.
Zagura lifted his head just enough to glare in Kankuro's direction. "What did you call me?"
"Calm down Zagura," I nudged one of his feet with my toes to get his attention. "He didn't mean anything by it, just that you're younger than him. You and Futto can catch your breath and join us okay?" Zagura huffed and lowered his body back down to the ground so that he could rest for a bit.
"I need to talk to you about something later." Zagura's voice was muffled a bit from having his face so close to the ground.
"Alright, I'll remember." I turned to Kankuro first before Gaara. "Do you remember what I taught you the last time about walking on water?"
"Yeah, I have to constantly change my chakra output to match the water's current." Kankuro turned away from me to face the water. He let out a small puff of air before taking a step forward.
"Gaara, you said you've never done this before?" I asked.
Gaara was observing Kankuro as he walked out further without falling through the water's surface. "No, never."
I didn't think he would have, considering there aren't large bodies of water out in the desert. "It seems complicated but it's really quite easy. You'll have to focus chakra into your feet but like Kankuro mentioned, you'll have to adjust your chakra output to match the current."
He didn't wait for any more of an explanation and took the first step on the water. I was a bit shocked that he didn't fall through right away like Naruto and Kankuro did when they were first learning. "How are you able to do it right away!?" Kankuro pointed an accusing finger in Gaara's direction. "You didn't even stumble a little bit!"
"It's similar to my sand armor, just a different area of focus." Gaara said. "What would you like us to do, Ketto?"
"Zagura, Futto, can I have two kunai!?" I called out to the two. Futto was sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest while Zagura managed to roll onto his back. Futto pulled two kunai out of his thigh pouch and threw them at me. My fingers inserted themselves in the openings at the end of each kunai and allowed them to spin around my fingers once before getting a good grip of both of them, one in each hand. "The two of you can spar with each other." I tossed one to each brother and started to back away. "Whoever falls through the water first loses."
This might just be one of the stupidest things I've ever thought of. It could end one of two ways: they could potentially kill each other, or, they could get rid of some of the tension between the two of them. Kankuro looked uncertain while Gaara observed his kunai.
"I've never seen a kunai like this before." he adjusted it in his hand, not sure how he should hold it. "It feels different."
"That's because there's an extra protrusion near the handle that makes it more difficult to pull out of your opponent's flesh. It's supposed to cause more damage than a regular kunai. It might take you a little while to find a grip that works best for you." Another two steps backwards and I stopped. "Alright, begin!"
Surprisingly, Kankuro was the first one to lunge forward with his kunai in hand. Gaara barely deflected with his own kunai. A few more rough attacks and a scratch on Kankuro's cheek made me suddenly remember that close combat isn't either of their specialties. I mean, it wouldn't hurt for them to work on it but there is only so much they can learn from each other before they keep making the same mistakes.
We worked on fighting on water for a while. Kankuro was bothered by the fact that Gaara was much better than him right at the start when it came to walking on water. Gaara didn't really struggle all that much, it's just like he said, it's similar to maintaining his sand armor.
Kankuro did pretty well distributing his chakra this time. He didn't fall through the water, not right away. Gaara was the first to fall through the water's surface when Kankuro used more strength behind a hit forcing Gaara down by the suddenness of the attack. When Gaara didn't come up right away I started to wonder if he even knew how to swim. There's no reason for him to know how he grew up in the desert. It's just Kankuro seemed to know how to swim a little bit when I was first showing him how to walk on water, so I just assumed that Gaara knew how too.
Without waiting for Kankuro to say anything, I dove beneath the water's surface the second I felt Gaara was down there for too long. My arms pushed through the water as I got closer to him. His red hair was floating around his head as if it was a halo. His arms were outstretched and lax while his eyes were closed. I never thought I would see him like this, when I first met him, he seemed untouchable. As if nothing or no one could hurt him and here he is, helpless. Of all things water is his weakness, he looked so at peace for someone who was in danger of drowning to death.
My arms looped under his armpits and pulled his body towards me. His chest brushed against mine as I started to kick harder to bring both of us above the water. With another person weighing me down every second transformed into minutes. For some reason time seemed to slow down and I was more aware of each movement along with everything else happening around me in slow motion. The last time everything slowed down like this was during the Kiri-Kumo war when someone almost killed Utakata.
This must mean that Gaara really is someone precious to me. I don't want him to die, he can't die, he's only just started trying to get close to people after isolating himself from everyone for most of his life. He's trying to change to be a better person and I'll admit that I want to see what kind of person he turns into. Maybe he really will become Kazekage like he wants to?
I was calm despite what was happening, if I panic then that will affect Gaara's chances of recovering from this. Even when we finally burst through the surface of the water and Kankuro rushed over to us as he fussed over Gaara's state of unconsciousness, I thought Gaara would have regained consciousness once he got some air. Futto and Zagura didn't bother to say anything as I dragged Gaara out of the water to lay him down near them. Futto scrambled out of the way while Zagura was frozen in place, I guess neither of them have seen someone almost drown before because everyone in Kiri knew how to swim. Their reactions are appropriate for someone who would experience someone drowning in front of them, one was too shocked to move while the other was freaking out, Kankuro was in the second category too.
Kankuro and Futto were both freaking out, I could hear them talking hurriedly trying to decide the best way to get Gaara to the hospital. It kind of amazed me that was what's on their minds right now, but then maybe none of them would know about CPR considering Kankuro is from the desert and children in the Land of Water are taught to swim sometimes before they even know how to walk. I checked Gaara's neck for a pulse and couldn't find one.
"Zagura." The least I can do is have the more calm one of my two students present learn something. Zagura gave me his attention, the look of panic still in his eyes but at least he snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "I want you to observe, hopefully you'll learn something. Gaara doesn't have a pulse, so we'll have to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation if we want to try and save him."
"Oh my god, my baby brother is going to die and it's all my fault! Temari's going to kill me!" Kankuro was freaking out more, it took everything I had in me not to punch or yell at him for losing his shit at a time like this. I went back to blocking out his cries when he started yelling about how I was too calm and that I didn't care that Gaara was dead.
"Lace your fingers together like this and place your hands palm facing down on the center of the chest." As I was talking I was demonstrating the proper way to do everything before starting chest compressions. "Don't lean into the person you're trying to resuscitate, instead do hard and fast compressions on the chest. Do fifteen before moving on to mouth to mouth so that you can start up a consistent flow of air to try and get the excess water out and jump start the heart."
"Mouth to mouth?" Zagura didn't seem disgusted or even embarrassed at hearing that. He seemed genuinely curious about what was happening which wasn't what I was expecting from him.
My fingers unlaced from each other to move up towards Gaara's head to tilt his head at an angle so that I could get better access to his mouth. The thumb and index fingers of my right hand moved to pinch Gaara's nose. "Do this to confine the flow of air so that it goes down into his chest cavity and take a deep breath." I hovered over Gaara with my wet hair falling in clumps around me. The thought of our lips touching didn't affect me until mine met his own at a slight angle and started pushing air into his lungs. This is the first time my lips have ever connected with a boy's, but not the first time I've locked lips with someone. Ameyuri had to resuscitate me once when she hit me with too much of her lightning chakra when I was younger.
Kankuro was a sniffling mess, as annoying as he's being right now I couldn't really judge him. He fell to his knees next to me, exclaiming, "Nothings happening Ketto!"
I pulled away from Gaara and continued talking to Zagura because he was still the calmest one and I was teaching him CPR. "You may have to do several sets of chest compressions and mouth to mouths before you get a response." My hands were clasped together and on Gaara's chest to do another set of chest compressions. Though I didn't get a response from Gaara until I tried breathing more air into him again. He started choking on water so I backed away from him so he could turn to his side and cough it up. It looked as if he was puking up large amounts, how long was it before I dove down after him?
"Gaara! You're okay!" Kankuro threw himself against Gaara's back to hug him, Kankuro must not be as afraid of Gaara anymore, either that or he was just stuck in the moment. "I thought you were gone."
"I'm fine, I'm not dying." Gaara continued to lean to the side. He didn't try to comfort Kankuro by saying anything else and he didn't try to push him away either. He's just waiting for Kankuro to let go of him.
"Lady Mizukage, where did you learn to do that?" Zagura asked.
"Yeah, I thought he was definitely dead, but you brought him back." Fuuto was more calm, now he looked like he was in a similar state of shock as Zagura. At least he wasn't freaking out anymore.
"When I was younger, Ameyuri Ringo zapped me with too much lightning chakra during our training and my heart stopped. She used the same technique that I just used on Gaara to revive him." Both Zagura and Fuuto looked at me in awe. They likely didn't know someone's heart could be jump started with CPR in cases other than drowning.
"Kankuro, you can let go of me now." Gaara said. He pushed himself up into a better position to sit but he didn't push Kankuro away yet.
"Huh? Oh sorry about that." Kankuro quickly let go of Gaara and backed away to give him some distance. "I'm just happy that you're okay. We may not get along very well but I thought things were getting better between us and I don't want you to die."
"Gaara, why didn't you tell me that you didn't know how to swim?" I asked. If I would have known I could have dove in after him sooner.
"I didn't think it was important. If I would have said something you might not have let me on the water." he said. Gaara crossed his legs in front of him as he sat upright, his arms supported his weight as he leaned back. "Besides, I thought that if I did fall through the water that my body would know what to do. I've never given swimming any thought, it should have been easy to get my head above the water but I couldn't do it."
"Maybe we should be done with walking on water for today." Kankuro suggested.
"It's okay, I can still fight." Gaara said. He tried to push himself up but Kankuro shoved him back down.
"I don't think so, you would have died if Ketto wasn't here." Kankuro said. He averted his eyes from Gaara as he added, "I panicked, when Ketto pulled your body out of the water and I saw that you weren't breathing. I didn't know what to do, I already thought it was too late to save you. You're not even fazed that you almost died?"
"Of course I'm bothered by it, that doesn't mean I should start crying about it." The way Gaara talked so calmly about almost dying didn't necessarily bother me, that's how I would be when I talk about dying too. The thought of it doesn't bother me because I know exactly what kind of life I'm living. As a kunoichi I could die any time I leave the village for a mission, and now that I'm the Mizukage I'm even more of a target. I've always had someone trying to kill me for one reason or another so it didn't bother me. I'm just a little surprised that Gaara's heart stopped and he's acting as if that never happened despite only a couple of minutes passing since he cleared out his lungs.
Kankuro continued to argue with Gaara about how he should be feeling at least a little bit affected by what just happened. I let the two brothers have a moment while I gestured to Zagura and Futto to follow me so we could try to give them some kind of time to themselves. Neither of the boys questioned why I was separating them from the sand siblings until I took a knee to get to the money I tucked under the bandaging of my calves.
"Ketto-sensei, what are you doing?" Futto wondered. He looked even more confused when he saw that I pulled out a small wad of cash.
"I think this is enough training for you today, the two of you and even Hikari have been pushing yourselves beyond your limits lately and as your sensei I should allow you time to rest and recuperate. So here," I pulled a few ryo from the small wad I was holding, all of the water molecules were taken out of the paper before I pressed a few into Futto's hand and did the same with Zagura. "I want the two of you to go and enjoy the rest of our stay while we're here in Konoha, alright?"
"Lady Mizukage, we don't mind training all the time, if anything we prefer it. We don't need to have a break." Zagura tried giving me the money back, but I held his hand with both of mine, keeping the ryo pressed firmly in his hand.
We had a bit of a stare down, Zagura glared at me with his pink-purple eyes while I remained indifferent to him. "You've been more tense lately Zagura, whether you know about it or not you should know that I've been having people check in with all of your home lives. Remember what I said to you before leaving Kiri? Maybe some time apart will do you some good, so please take this time to be the eight year old kid you are and have some fun alright? When we're back in Kiri there's no guarantee that you'll have any more time to yourself away from any problems you might have back at home."
"What about Hikari?" Futto wondered. He took a step closer to us, giving Zagura a look that said 'take the damn money'. "Shouldn't she also have a break too?"
"She will, but not right now. She won't have as much free time as the two of you will have while we're here or when we go back to Kiri." I brought my hand back towards myself to tuck the remaining money into the waistband of my leggings.
"Why is that?" Zagura demanded. He aggressively pushed the money into his pants pocket and crossed his arms expecting an answer. Do I even tell them why Hikari is doing what she's doing? If I do then it'll only encourage these two to work even harder than before, and if anything Zagura needs his arm to heal after he burned the skin off of it. I guess it can't be helped.
"Has Hikari ever talked to the two of you about wanting to learn medical ninjutsu before?" I asked. Futto looked at Zagura as if Hikari confided in him the reason why she was doing it being that he was a bit closer to her. But Zagura only shook his head and so did Futto. "She taught herself the basics so that if anything happened to either of you while on a mission she would be able to save you. The three of you may have only been teammates for about a month but she cares for you and she wants to make sure that the three of you always return home from a mission alive. When she brought Neji Hyuga back to the village during our recovery mission she realized that the basics that she knows might not be enough, so she asked if Tsunade could teach her more. I would be surprised if Tsunade gave her much free time because training to be a medic is more time consuming than being a regular ninja."
"I didn't realize that's why she wanted to learn medical ninjutsu." Zagura mumbled. "That's all the more reason for us to train harder, the more experienced we get the less likely we are to get hurt."
"It doesn't matter how experienced you are, you could still sustain life threatening injuries." This kid constantly thinks he can do anything as long as he is strong enough. All he wants to do is train on his own. He doesn't want to rely on anyone else even if they are teammates. He probably thinks he can do everything on his own, actually I know he thinks that way. That's how I am, it's not like I can lecture him when I'm the same way even if I'm getting better at trusting other people. "Futto, don't let Zagura go into any weapons stores. Make sure he gets something to eat, do some sightseeing, make a friend, I don't really care. You can continue training later on if you want, but I swear if I find out either of you two stayed out training after sundown I'll make your lives miserable when we get back to Kiri, got it?"
"I understand Ketto-sensei." Futto grabbed Zagura by the shoulder and pulled him away. "Let's go eat and we'll come back, it wouldn't hurt to take time for yourself."
"She brushed it off, why is that?" Zagura followed along with Futto without resistance, which surprised me. At least the two of them are starting to get along a bit better than they used to. It's almost like they've finally become friends.
"It's none of our business, I'm sure Ketto-sensei has her reasons." Futto said.
I walked back over to Kankuro and Gaara to see them glaring at each other. "Fine, it does bother me. My whole life I've had my sand protect me from harm, but my sand couldn't do anything while I was under water. I've been trying to take my own life for years and all I had to do was drown to get what I wanted. Are you happy now?" Gaara demanded.
Kankuro dropped his glare and looked to his feet. "I didn't know that was how you felt."
"It was once, but now that I nearly got what I've always wanted, I didn't want to die. I wasn't scared, not really, it's just I would have missed someone. The thought of being without them made me want to live." Both Kankuro and I were quiet, though his dark gaze settled on me and our conversation back in Suna came back to me. "I don't understand it, I've never cared for someone else enough to change my mind about killing myself. Now, my heart can't stop pounding in my chest, it hurts whenever I think of them not being there. What does that mean?"
"That you'll miss them when you're gone." I said. A small smile spread across my face, but when I felt my teeth brush against my bottom lip I stopped remembering that pointy teeth came off as intimidating and scary to some. "You must really care for them if the thought of being without them caused you to change your mind about something like that."
"I don't know what I feel about them, it's just my heart aches when they're not there." Gaara grabbed at the material of his shirt above his heart. "It also happens when I think about one of us dying. I don't know what it means."
"That sounds like something you should talk to Temari about." Kankuro said. Obviously this was beyond his knowledge and he couldn't help Gaara figure out what he meant or what his feelings were.
"I don't think I can help you either." I agreed. While I may have an idea of what he's feeling, I wouldn't actually know. I've never felt that way about anyone before. I can associate that feeling with missing someone, but something tells me that's not quite what the feeling is. Temari really seems like the kind of person that can help him figure it out. Forget about me and Kankuro helping him. Kankuro doesn't seem like the kind of person to know much about this kind of thing and I know that I definitely don't. It's not like I was ever shown much affection or had Zabuza talk me through some of this. Kisame once told me about Suigetsu's intentions towards me, but he didn't say much about that either.
"Hey, where did those other two go?" Kankuro asked.
"Futto and Zagura? I gave them some money and told them to have some fun. Though something tells me that they'll be back to fighting each other soon enough." Zagura knows he can trust Futto to not hold back in a fight with him because they were paired during their time at the kenjutsu academy for sparring.
"That's a pretty good idea. I didn't exactly get to check this place out the last time we were here." Kankuro said. "I'll see the two of you later." He walked off with one hand up as if to wave goodbye, he looked like he couldn't have left fast enough.
"Well, I was planning on visiting Naruto in the hospital. If he was awake, would you like to go with me?" I asked. My hand moved to draw water out of my clothes to dry them, water started to accumulate in small orbs that continued to get larger as they took in more water. I did the same to Gaara so that he could also be dry.
"I haven't really seen Nartuo since we were in the village the last time we were here," he said.
"Then let's go, I'm sure he would like some visitors." He fell into step with me quickly.
The two of us walked through the village without any interruptions. It was strange, when we were nearly at the hospital we saw a ninja carrying Naruto over his shoulder. Naruto looked like he was cocooned in a long piece of white rope. He was struggling to get free and that's when I realized he must have escaped the hospital before he was released. "I don't think I've ever seen someone run away from a hospital before." I muttered.
"Me either." We picked up our pace and followed the ninja back to Naruto's hospital room where he was placed back onto the bed trying to fight his way out of his restraints.
"I'm not untying you until you agree to stop trying to run away." Tsunade stood at the end of Naruto's bed with her hands on her hips. The ninja who brought Naruto back left as soon as he wasn't carrying him.
"We can keep him company." I suggested.
Naruto quickly looked in our direction at hearing me speak. "Ketto and Gaara? It's nice to see you!" A big grin spread across his face.
"If I untie you will you stay put until you're healed?" Tsunade asked. She sounded exhausted having to deal with Naruto. "I have other patients to see and I'm overseeing some training for one of Ketto's students in medical ninjutsu. So, if you could cooperate, that would make my day run more smoothly."
"I can't make any promises, granny. Just release me so I can do some more training. I'm not strong enough, I can't afford to sit around and do nothing!" Naruto argued.
Tsunade scoffed, "Then you can stay tied up. I'll keep you here for as long as I have to for you to understand that you need to let your body heal before you put it through more trauma." She turned around and started walking out of the room, stopping by me. "If he tries to convince you to let him out, leave him there and if he jumps out of the window again you can either pursue him or notify the nurses at the nurses station, they'll send that jonin after him again."
"Alright, I can do that." If it comes down to it I'll gladly capture him and bring him back here. Tsunade left, leaving me and Gaara with Naruto. "Just so you know, there is nothing you can say that will get me to untie you."
"Come on Ketto! I'm fine, there's nothing wrong with me!" He tried pulling against his restraints with no luck. I'm sure he probably has healed already, before my thick skin developed from being Isobu's host, I remember healing from any injury pretty fast. No matter how bad the injury I would always be healed within the hour. Naruto should still rest his body to store up some of the chakra he used.
"Your chakra levels aren't fine. They're actually quite laughable right now." I said. His chakra is weaker than that of an academy student here in the leaf village.
"Ketto, that was mean!" Naruto whined. I pulled a chair to Naruto's bedside with Gaara copying my actions.
"She's right." Gaara agreed. His chair was placed close enough to mine that it might as well have been one chair. At first I assumed he didn't want to be too far away from Naruto for conversation. Then I realized that wasn't the case when Gaara kept giving me his attention, it took me a little while to realize it though, my focus was on Naruto. He was explaining that he needed to constantly train in order to get stronger. He was ignoring the fact that he'll be overworking his body the whole time and was being stubborn, so I changed the subject.
"I don't know if anyone told you, but I've become Mizukage since returning to Kirigakure." I said.
"No one told me that. It's not fair that you became a kage before me!" Naruto whined.
"It was less than desirable circumstances, uncle Yagura is missing and he nominated me for the position. He arranged everything so that he wouldn't have to go back to the village. I think he's dead, it's just this feeling I have, I know he's dead." Isobu mentioned that he couldn't feel the part of himself that was still in uncle Yagura, so it has to be true.
"I'm sorry about that." Naruto was more solemn, he seemed genuinely sorry about uncle Yagura.
"You didn't tell me that." Gaara said.
"I didn't tell anyone. The only people who know are from Kirigakure. The Raikage and his brother also know, they came to the village offering to help me transition better." I sighed as I slumped into my chair. "It's been very busy, but everything is slowly being figured out."
"That's good, I've never put much thought into what will happen after I become Hokage." Naruto doesn't seem to be giving up on his dream, he still wants to be Hokage. Maybe he will be Hokage one day?
"It's manageable and it's not like I'm doing everything on my own. There are people that I trust who have been helpful." I said.
We continued to chat until Gaara mentioned that we should go eat something. Then we went back to the Hokage building to see if Kankuro and Temari would like to eat with us. Before we left, Naruto declared that the next time we saw him, he would be even stronger than he is now. I just hope he doesn't do any permanent damage to his body while he's away with Jiraiya, he'll miss the chunin exams in Kiri, it'll be years before I get to see him again.
At the Hokage building we saw that Zagura and Futto were nowhere to be found. Though I had a sneaking suspicion that after they were in the village earlier they circled back to the hot springs for more training on the water. I decided to leave them be, that is until the sun set, then I went to collect them myself.
They were exhausted and didn't put up much fight once they saw I was there. They chose to go back to the Hokage building with me to rest for the night. "We really did explore the village for a while." Zagura said. "It's not like we came back out here after you left or anything."
"Zagura, don't say it like that. It sounds like that's exactly what we did." Futto gave Zagura a look before addressing me. "We went out to eat and looked at the weapons shops. We didn't buy anything from there because there's more variety in Kiri. Then we checked out the Hokage monument before coming back out here."
"It's good that the two of you were able to check out the village. It's very different from Kiri isn't it?" Not as different as Suna compared to Kiri, it's the opposite of the living conditions we're used to. Kumo is the most similar to Kiri even though there's still a lot of differences, which I'm sure are only visible to those that live there.
"How was Hikari's day?" Futto asked.
"Tiring, I'm sure. I only saw her in passing on my way out to get the two of you. She might not have even noticed me." She looked dead on her feet. I was going to call out to her, but she looked like she just wanted to go to sleep.
"She works too hard. I don't want her to overdo it." That's a lot coming from Zagura, the one who keeps pushing beyond his limits even if his body can't handle it, just like me. Maybe our stubbornness is a Karatachi thing? Actually, it's probably just a Kiri-nin thing. That's exactly how my dad died, he refused to give up.
"Then the two of you should talk to her about it. There's a certain transparency you'll need to be a part of a successful team." Even I knew that. Utakata and I were very open with each other when we were paired up. He would have no problem telling me how he didn't need a child as a partner and that it was just a waste of his skills to have to supervise me. I like to think that I proved myself to be a worthy partner, but I wouldn't really know. A part of me thinks that he only said those things because he was trying to distance himself from everyone. He wanted to be alone without other people getting close enough to him to influence his life like his old sensei did.
"We'll talk to her." Futto said.
Just before entering the Hokage building we were stopped by Shizune. "Ah, Lady Mizukage, there you are! This came from Kirigakure." She handed me a scroll.
We haven't been here that long, there shouldn't be any reason for Chojuro to send me a message yet. Unless, "Is it urgent?"
"It wasn't marked as urgent. No one has opened it yet." She said.
"Alright, thank you." The scroll was tucked into the waistband of my leggings for later. If it's not urgent then it can wait.
When we all entered the Hokage building, Shizune went a separate direction than us. "What do you think it's about?" Zagura wondered.
"Who knows, I'll read it later. The two of you should eat something and get some rest. Everyone else is in their rooms."
"See you tomorrow Ketto-sensei." Futto left for the small kitchen area with Zagura trailing behind him.
I went back to my shared room with Gaara who was already lounging on the bed. "You're back."
"It was pretty easy to find them. I was right, they were at the hot springs again." The scroll Shizune gave me was taken out of the waistband of my leggings. It's Obviously not life or death, but it's still important enough for him to send it. I unrolled the paper to see words that shouldn't have surprised me. Zagura's grandmother, Razuchi, is dead. I knew her health has gotten significantly worse lately, I just didn't think she would die while we were away from the village.
Will Zagura blame me? He wanted to stay back with her and we convinced him to leave. Did Razuchi know that she was going to pass and that was why she pushed for Zagura to leave? How do I tell him, not just about Razuchi dying but that I'm his cousin and uncle Yagura was his dad?
I must have stood there staring at the paper for too long because Gaara called out to me. "Are you coming to bed?"
"Uh, yeah." My sandals were taken off and I crawled into bed after turning off the lights. I laid on my side facing away from Gaara. "Good night." It'll probably be a while before I actually fall asleep, I'll be thinking about what to tell Zagura. He's a pretty blunt kid though, he might be fine with me telling him as it is. Still, he's only eight.