Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Glimpses of Fire ❯ Desperate Chase ( Chapter 24 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Glimpses of Fire
Author: shattered-words

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, it'd be called 'Gaara'. So, isn't it a shame that I don't own it?

Summary: There were many things that shaped the plans of a certain Nukenin, and one was a shinobi that was as destructive as fire. AU/Mentions of Shounen-ai/Yaoi/Yuri [Linked to 'Caught in the Rain']

AN: Here is the next installment in the story and also the last chapter before the Epilogue. I apologize if the dialogue doesn't match what Naruto said to Gaara but I had no chance at the time to go back and see the episode. Besides, because of Haku changing him, Naru has changed o.o so...yeah, lol. Anywho, here it is. Thanks to my beta Shadows-upon-Sand. Without her I would take longer to post these. Please read and review, and don't forget to enjoy! n.n

“I’m sorry,” the red head said to his siblings’ amazement. He was being supported between them since he’d used too much chakra against the fight. The Uchiha had been weaker than he’d thought and had gone for the kill. Then Naruto had intervened and sent him flying back with a kick. They had fought and he’d lost.

‘They are the reason I'm strong! I fight to protect them because they are precious to me. Don't you have someone that is important to you? Isn't there someone that you wish to protect and make happy?!’

The words spoken by the blonde had filled him with confusion and understanding at the same time. As he thought more of them, a sudden wave of dread washed over him as Eizan’s face came to mind. ‘What have I done?’ he asked himself, but there was no answer that could comfort him now.

He turned as two figures appeared on either side of Temari and Kankurou and he could feel the slight tensing of his brother and sister at having the kunoichi so close. They didn’t speak or even look at him but he could tell by the emotion in their eyes that they wanted to go look for their friend.

“Itagaki, Erizawa,” he addressed them, not remembering their names. “Bring Eizan to me.” He knew what his voice sounded like but at the moment he didn’t care.

Amane frowned at his tone and Iwane’s eyes narrowed on his weary face. “What did you do?” the usually silent Suna-nin demanded.

“Onegai,” he pleaded, not answering the question. “Bring her to me.” He had never said such words or felt such urgency to have the girl by his side. The last he had seen of her, she had been standing in the middle of the stadium as the sound of fighting resounded around them. ‘Is she still there?’ He felt that something was terribly wrong.

“I’ll kill you if anything’s happened to her,” Iwane promised. She fell back and turned around. Amane didn’t say anything but her ebony orbs relayed the same message to him before she followed after her comrade.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Haku was instantly alert as two figures paused in the clearing that Eizan’s jutsu had made. He held the bloody Suna headband in his hand and had been wondering if the other had dropped it. Then he’d realized that he hadn’t been wearing it during their fight.

He was still weak and wouldn’t be able to fight but he remained where he was as the shinobi moved toward him. A feeling of confusion filled him when he realized that it was Eizan’s teammates.

They wouldn’t be here unless something had happened to the sand-nin after he’d left. Or perhaps they intended to finish him off. He doubted that since his opponent would have already done it before leaving.

Both ninja surrounded him and pressed kunai to vital points. “Where is she?” the tallest of the two asked as black orbs narrowed on his face.

He was confused as to whom they were referring to. “Dare?” he asked, only to have the sand-nin’s blade pressed harder against his throat so it almost broke the skin.

“Don’t act stupid,” the emerald-eyed ninja growled. “You’re holding Eizan-sama’s hitai-ate. Where is she?!”

Everything suddenly clicked into place about things he’d noticed about the short haired Suna shinobi, but he allowed his face to remain devoid of emotion. “Shirimasen,” he admitted. “She defeated me and when I woke up she was gone. I found her hitai-ate on the ground.”

“You lie,” the Erizawa hissed and pressed the kunai’s tip more into his back. He could tell that she knew the human body well. If she were to drive the weapon deep enough then she’d damage the spinal cord and deprive him of his ability to walk.

“Iie, I do not,” he told her. He lifted the headband so they could take it. “Gomen, but I don’t know where she is.”

Iwane was about to say more when she noticed something and turned. There was the faint retreat of footsteps from where a bit of blood had splattered the ground. “A set of tracks,” she told her teammate.

“Doko?” Amane asked without taking her gaze off the older boy.

“Kita,” she replied with a grim face. They both knew that Oto lay toward the north. The thought that the Sound had betrayed them crossed their minds. Amane frowned as she snatched the hitai-ate from Haku’s hand, turned and was gone in the next instant.

Haku inclined his head to the side to glance at the other Suna-nin behind him who peered up at him unflinchingly. “Did you stay to finish me off?” he asked calmly.

The Erizawa smirked and let the cool metal of the weapon slip across his throat. “I was thinking that it’s a shame that such a pretty face is on a boy,” she said thoughtfully. “And if you lied to me, I will cut it off.” She disappeared with a flicker of motion.

Haku relaxed as he sighed, and didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath. The shinobi’s emerald eyes had been maniacal and terrible to look at and the words spoken the truth. The kunoichi was obviously one of their precious people and would thus do anything to protect her.

He could honestly say that he pitied those that had taken Eizan when the sand shinobi caught up to them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Amane landed beside her crouched teammate as her emerald orbs studied the ground intently. She suddenly shifted and dashed off again with the Itagaki hot on her heels. Meanwhile, she was keeping her ears open for any noise other than the slight ones they were making.

The Erizawa was hardly making a sound and had barely torn her gaze away from their prey’s tracks. It had already been determined that there was a single person and from the tracks it was either a heavy set person or he was carrying someone. Both girls were more than certain that it was someone and he was holding Eizan.

They were gaining on them judging from the freshness of the tracks when the wind user heard the approach of footsteps from the direction they were headed in. She signaled Iwane and the other nodded to indicated that she’d seen it.

The girls separated as one and used a similar version of Kakuremino no Jutsu to blend in to their surroundings. They prepared themselves to ambush whoever was approaching. It didn’t matter who it might be.

A group of four Oto-nin came into the clearing they had just abandoned moments before and stopped as if they sensed danger. It was too late as Iwane and Amane finished the last seals of their jutsu.

‘Doton, Shichuro no Jutsu!’

‘Kaze no Yaiba!’

The four walls of the Erizawa’s earth prison surrounded all four startled ninja and sealed at the top and the blade of wind demolished the whole structure.

Two figures shot out of the rubble, injured but still alive. Both girls lunged at them and attacked with prejudice. Amane knew that Iwane’s hot blooded nature wouldn’t allow her to leave her opponent alive and so she was forced to curve her actions and left hers breathing.

Iwane approached with a bloody kunai in hand from where she had slit the sound-nin’s throat and wiping a red stain from her cheek. “Where is Eizan-sama?” she asked the downed, older man.

It didn’t appear like he’d talk and the earth user wasted no time in breaking every single finger of his right hand as Amane muffled his screams. “Let’s do this nicely,” she said with a sadistic grin. “Where is she?”

Several broken bones later and a threat to his crotch and he was ready to talk. “Kabuto-san took her to Otogakure,” he said through clenched teeth, giving them detailed instructions on how to find it. “She rightfully belongs to Orochimaru-sama by the agreement with Suna.”

Amane froze at those words and glanced at her teammate. Iwane’s face had twisted into an expression of fury. “What?” she asked, and her voice was so quiet and cold that it sent a shiver through the Itagaki.

“The agreement between the villages was that Oto would help Suna in exchange for Ashikaga Eizan. Sand accepted by way of Sabaku no Gaara.”

Iwane visibly flinched and Amane didn’t hesitate to drive her kunai through the man’s throat until he ceased to move. Only a gurgling sound came from him as his eyes rolled back into his head.

“Son of a bitch!” Iwane snarled and dashed toward the direction the Sound shinobi had indicated they should go. Amane appeared in front of her and she stopped with slight surprise. “Get out of my way.”

She shook her head. “He has too much of a head start on us. We’ll never catch up to him before he reaches Otogakure.” Her voice was calm but she was filled with the same rage her friend was feeling.

“I don’t give a damn! I’ll march right into Oto and kill everyone that’s touched her,” she yelled and went to move around her.

Amane sighed and pulled her hand back and let it fly. The slap resounded through the relatively silent woods and made Iwane stop in her tracks. Her hand gripped her rapidly swelling cheek as she stared at the taller girl in disbelief.

“Stop and think for a moment,” Amane actually yelled. She paused as if she’d surprised herself and breathed in deeply to calm down. “Eizan-sama would knock you into the ground if she heard you talking like that.” She turned and glared toward the north.

“We have to retreat and return to Suna to report this to Gaara-san.” She turned her glare on Iwane as the girl started to protest. “It could be a lie and Oto has betrayed Suna, and is now trying to confuse us into doing something stupid. If that’s the case then we’ll need more than the two of us to break into Sound to recover her.”

Iwane gritted her teeth and clenched her hands to keep from knocking the other down and running. “And if it’s the truth?” she asked as her voice shook.

Amane’s eyes grew cold and hard. “Then I’ll kill him.”

“We might be cast out of Suna,” she muttered, glancing longingly toward the north. “He’s the Kazekage’s son.”

“Then so be it,” she replied. They turned and disappeared into the gathering darkness, but now their destination was Sunagakure. As they did so their hearts ached at leaving their friend in enemy hands, but they had no choice. At times, being a shinobi was a harsh existence, and soon they’d discover how much worse it could get.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Iwane punched the wall over and over until the skin of her knuckles broke and bled bitter, red tears. “Shit, shit, shit!” she sobbed. She raised her fist back to hit her unmoving adversary again, but she was pulled back.

Amane’s arms wrapped around her from behind as the shorter girl slumped against her. “We’ll get her back,” she whispered in her ear.

She repeated it several times but all Iwane could do was weep and clutch Eizan’s hitai-ate in her uninjured hand. The blood had dried in the cloth and stained her own clothing a brownish color, but she refused to be parted from it.

“We’ll get her back,” Amane could only say as her own tears streaked her face.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She lifted the small, white cup to her lips and observed the figure standing in front of her desk over its edge. His features were devoid of emotion even after what he’d been told. It was almost like he had already known, but she could still see the pain in his dark orbs.

“You understand what you’ll have to do and what it’ll mean?” The cup was set on the desk besides an unraveled scroll. It contained what they were speaking of, and at the top, right hand corner “S-rank” had been written.

He nodded with determination. “I do,” he said firmly. “I will complete this mission.”

A sigh left her lips as she filled the cup again. “Normally someone of your rank wouldn’t be given this type of mission,” she said almost as if she spoke to herself.

“Hai,” he actually agreed. “But no one else can do it. He would know immediately.” He frowned slightly as he thought about everything he’d been told, and the details of the mission.

“There is no guaranteed time limit, and failure is not an option,” she told him. “Only one other person besides you and I will know of this mission. You know the consequences of that?” He nodded but said nothing.

“Very well,” she said and drowned the contents of the cup. “You leave tonight, and expect interference.” She watched him for several moments. “Can you face him?”

Now he hesitated and turned to look out the window. “If I must. The mission must be completed at all costs.” He met her eyes now. “Failure is not an option.”

She smirked as he repeated her words and nodded. After reading over the contents once more, she rolled up the scroll they’d both signed and which had been stamped with her official seal. “You are dismissed then. Best of luck.”

He gave a slight smirk. “I don’t need luck,” he said as he formed seals. He disappeared from sight in smoke and when it cleared he was gone. Where he had been standing was his hitai-ate.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair after sealing the scroll closed and putting it in a secret place. “I hope I don’t regret this later.”

A hand rubbed her tired eyes and thought back to the last several days since he’d approached her. She had sent word to bring the other person to their village, and most of the Jonin and Chunin had been sent on missions before hand. It had to be done in order for his mission to be successful. Although, she hoped there were no casualties.

The last mission that had been given of this magnitude had resulted in a few deaths. Mostly, it had been Oinin. She understood that her sensei had done what he needed to do in order to preserve lives. The deaths had not been predicted, but it had been a possibility.

She turned her gaze to one of her windows and peered outside. The sky had darkened with afternoon light and the wind had picked up. Soon autumn would catch up to them, and by that time many things will have changed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gaara left the Kazekage’s tower after a meeting with the elders of Suna. Konoha had agreed to a meeting about reforming the alliance, but had been asked for their assistance. The elders had called him and he'd been told that his team would go as delegates of Suna.

“Itagaki, Erizawa,” he said and two figures appeared. Iwane was leaning against the building with her hands stuffed into her pockets and her face turned away from him. Amane was beside her with her arms crossed over her chest and was staring at him with a blank expression on her face.

The kunoichi had hardly spoken to him since they had agreed to help him recover Eizan. He knew they wanted nothing more than to wring his neck, but getting their friend back was more important to them.

‘You will die regardless of whether we recover her or not.’ Those had been Amane’s words, and he knew that she intended to fulfill them. Gaara wasn’t sure if he’d try to stop her. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things lately. All he knew was that he wanted Eizan back.

Gaara had felt something shift inside of him with Naruto's words. He no longer wanted the people of Suna to look at him and only see a monster and fear him. When Eizan returned to his side he wanted her to see that he was changed. He wanted to become Kazekage to surpass the terrifying image that people saw when they looked at him. Also, he wanted that seat of power to rescue Eizan.

Gaara looked at the Suna-nin before him as he pushed all other thoughts to the back of his mind. “We have a mission to Konoha,” he told them. He wasn’t the Kazekage yet but the girls would follow everything he told them.

Eizan’s last order to them had been to protect him, and she had always instructed that they listen to him as they did to her in her stead. It was obvious that they would only obey until she was recovered. Then they intended to break their vows and take his life. Gaara knew this but he still wanted to recover the Ashikaga as soon as possible.

Amane nodded and Gaara turned away to watch his siblings make their way toward him. When he turned back the kunoichi were gone, but he knew they were near as he felt their eyes on him. They were like vultures that were watching and waiting for him to die.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The figure watched as the two Oto-nin brought the girl in. There were several lacerations and wounds over her entire body, which was clad in rags that barely covered her.

Her unconscious body was strapped to the metal table and then left alone. He had been hiding in the shadows since he was instructed to always keep out of sight. However, something had pulled him to this place and to this girl.

His five feet, eight inch frame was slender but well built. The subtle play of muscles was visible at his biceps and a bit of neck, since most of him was covered. His shirt was black and ended halfway up his neck and sleeveless. The rest of his arms were covered by long black gloves that had a thin metal plate over the knuckles. Over the shirt was a gray colored armored vest and he had on black pants and black sandals. It was the attire of an Oto Oinin.

He approached the table as he felt a strange curiosity over come him. The expression on his face, if there was any, was hidden by the white Hunter mask as he stood there for several seconds.

The girl stirred but he didn’t move. When her eyes fluttered opened, they flicked immediately in his direction. He saw the fear in them. “Who are you?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse as if she had been screaming. He didn’t doubt that she had been by her condition.

The Oinin didn’t answer and continued to watch her silently. His master had instructed that if anyone ever saw him then he had to kill them. It didn’t matter who it was. He lifted a hand and leaned toward her. She flinched and he paused. It was confusing to realize that he couldn’t reach out to hurt her. Instead, his outstretched hand came to rest on her head as she stared up at him in slight awe.

The door opened behind him suddenly and he turned to see that it was one of the men that had brought the girl in. She whimpered in fear as he saw the man and he glanced back at her. Meanwhile, the man had paused at seeing him in the room.

The Hunter didn’t hesitate to draw his blade and slaughter the taller male as his blood splattered the hallway and the walls. As he cleaned the katana and sheathed it, he knew that he had killed the man because the girl had been frightened of him, and not because he’d been seen.

When he approached the table she was watching him again but there was no fear anymore. He lifted his hand and she didn’t cringe away this time as his gloved fingers came to rest on her bruised face.

His eyes moved over her body and he saw a ghastly looking hole at her right bicep. Also, he noticed that her arm was out of its socket. He placed his hands against it and her eyes widened in fear. A nod was all the warning she got as he quickly set it in place with a sickening snap, and it was quickly followed by a restrained groan from her.

A tear slipped out of the corner of her eye but other than that she was trying to hold back her exclamation of pain. She breathed in deeply for several moments before she could mutter thanks.

Someone else entered the cell then and the girl’s eyes turned in their direction. He felt her go stiff with fear and she saw the terror within her oddly colored eyes as they fastened on the figure in the doorway.

“Look at the mess you’ve made,” he heard his master say with a sigh. “Stop letting my subordinates see you, kudasai.”

The Hunter only nodded but said nothing to him, and he maintained his position between him and the girl. His master, who was slightly taller than him, noticed this as he chuckled. “A bit fond of my prisoner, aren’t you?” he asked, but appeared to be terribly amused by something.

He lingered in the doorway as he crossed his arms over his chest and allowed a wicked grin to spread over his features. “This is Hitori, my dear,” he addressed the girl now. “He is my puppet. His mind is enslaved and he will follow my orders even if those orders are to slit his own throat.”

The older man turned to walk out, but paused as if he’d just remembered something. “You may be wondering why I’m telling you this. Well, let me show you,” he said with a smirk. “Hitori no Tate, remove your mask.”

As the Hunter obeyed he left the doorway so the light from the hallway flooded into the room. He was half-way down the corridor when he heard the girl scream, and a cruel laugh parted his lips.


The Oinin still held the mask in his right hand and the other hand was placed on the hysterical girls’ face. It was almost like he was trying to comfort her, but she still continued to weep as tears streaked her face. She kept repeating a name, but he didn’t know whom she was calling out to.

He could only caress her cheek to try to soothe her sorrow, but he didn’t know why he did this. There was a strong need to protect her within him, and right now he knew that it was his face that was upsetting her.

The Oto-nin moved to replace the mask but she pleaded with him to keep it off. He’d only ever obeyed his master, but now he did as she said. Although, he didn’t understand why his face had coaxed such a reaction from her.

All he had ever known and remembered was death and darkness, but there was a light coming from her that almost made him think clearly. She was important but he didn’t to whom she was important to. Hitori only knew that he had to protect her until he found out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The blonde Genin felt a relief flood his body when Haku told him the first shred of good news all day. He’d been so scared that Chouji or Neji would die. Since the Exam Neji and he had grown to respect one another’s talents and he’d been with Chouji in the Academy and they'd run from Iruka-sensei many times. So, it would have been a devastating blow to lose either boy. However, even if no one had died, they have failed in their mission.

Uzumaki Naruto's feature twisted into a frown and was once again filled with anger and sorrow. A despair so overwhelming filled his heart that he had to bite back a sob. His best friend had left their home village in search of power. Uchiha Sasuke had betrayed Konohagakure no Sato to go to Orochimaru.-

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Translations:
1. Dare: who
2. Doko: where
3. Kita: north
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
End Chapter Twenty-three

That took a lot out of me to write. Please leave comments here, anything (flames too) is welcome, please! Thanks.