Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Leaf in the Desert ❯ Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 

 

Aikou's silent tears subsided and she became acutely aware of exactly where she was.

 

Wrapped in Kohaku Uzumaki's arms, weeping like a weak female.

 

And it felt… good. Warm, gentle, soothing, like when she was a little girl and her father would hold her in his arms and they'd stare out over the desert surrounding Suna…

 

Father…

 

The tears threatened again but she forced herself to focus on other things. Like removing herself from Uzumaki's all-too-comforting embrace.

 

She pulled away and, somewhat to her surprise, he let her go with no protests. No suave words, no charming smiles, no suggestive mannerisms. In fact, he barely acted like the lover-boy son of the Hokage that he was reputed to be. She moved to the other side of the room, her ice blue eyes staring at her companion through the dim-lighted cell.

 

Was it possible this was an Iwa shinobi, disguised as Uzumaki?

 

Slowly, her hand went to her hip for the lid to her gourd- and realized belatedly she didn't have it with her. Those who brought them here must have taken it. Her hand slid up to her hair, which was loose around her shoulders. They even took the needles that held up my hair… I am defenseless. I did not even have time to utilize the sand armor Father taught me…

 

Uzumaki watched her with solemn eyes- and she found that she actually missed the mischievous gleam that was usually present in the bright blue orbs. “They took all our weapons,” he said quietly.

 

“How do I know if you are the real Uzumaki?” she retorted, giving him a familiar icy glare. “You could very well be an Iwa agent.”

 

He blinked in surprise. And that gleam abruptly reappeared in his eyes. “Should I kiss you again?”

 

Aikou harrumphed. “That encounter could have been witnessed by a spy and reported back here. I do not see how that would prove-!”

 

“Hiraishin no Jutsu…” Using a technique made famous by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze- and, coincidentally enough, Kohaku's grandfather- he was in front of Aikou, his arms around her waist and his lips against hers.

 

At first, Aikou was both outraged and shocked that he would choose now as an ideal time for this sort of activity, but as his lips moved gently on hers, she realized something.

 

Slowly he lifted his mouth away from hers, but kept the closeness of their lips. “Are you convinced it's me,” he whispered, his eyes appearing a darker hue than before, “or should I kiss you again?”

 

“Are you not afraid I will punch you through the wall again?” she murmured back, a hint of a smirk on her lips.

 

“If it means I get to keep you in my arms for even a moment longer, I will gladly be knocked unconscious again,” he said, dipping his mouth to hers again.

 

Her hands came up and knocked him away- so hard he hit the wall on the far side of the room. For a moment he hung there, looking rather confused.

 

“Wha… did… I… say…?” he groaned as he slid off the wall and crumpled in a heap on the floor.

 

“You convinced me, Uzumaki,” she said pertly, brushing off her hands briskly. She faced him with an expression of great relief, much to his surprise.

 

“W-was it the kiss?” he asked, bewildered.

 

“No, leaf-nin,” she replied with a smile that nearly caused a nosebleed in the poor abused Konoha shinobi. “It was the schmoozing words you used.”

 

Kohaku lifted an orange eyebrow. “Schmoozing?”

 

Aikou nodded emphatically, looking quite proud of herself. “Matsuri-sensei told me how unfaithful men will schmooze women in attempts to get them into bed. She has loaned me all of her reference material on the subject and I have studied it diligently.”

 

He gave her a look of complete dumbfoundedness. “Um… reference material?”

 

“The Icha Icha reference texts, of course.”

 

His first response was to keel over with laughter. Aikou stood on the other side of the room, silently seething. “What is so amusing, Uzumaki?”

 

Kohaku sat up and face-palmed his head. “Ehhh, Aikou… those books…” He snorted. “They're not `reference texts'.”

 

Now it was Aikou's turn to look confused. “What? Of course they are. Why else would Matsuri-sensei read them all the time?”

 

Sounds like Kakashi-ojiisan has a soulmate, Kohaku mentally muttered.

 

“Allow me to correct your misinformation, Princess…” he chuckled, crossing his legs and leaning one elbow on his knee so that he could support his chin with his hand.

 

This woman is going to be the death of me, one way or another…

 

---------------------------

 

Inside the medical emergency room, Sakura, unable to bear the thought of trying to heal her husband with him so close to death, focused her talents on trying to heal Gaara, while Ino, having been trained as a med-nin as well, with the best of her former students, worked on Naruto.

 

Naruto has Kyuubi inside him to help heal him, Sakura thought as she fought to close the gaping wounds in Gaara's chest and stomach. His left arm had nearly been ripped off and everyone in the emergency room was covered in blood from both Kages. Gaara has no such help. It's going to take everything I've got to keep him alive.

 

She frowned as she focused all her healing jutsu on stopping the blood escaping from Gaara's chest, perspiration trickling down her temples.

 

Why isn't this stopping? It's almost as if there's something… preventing me from using my chakra to heal him…

 

“Sakura,” Ino called, concern evident in her voice.

 

“I'm kinda busy!” she hollered back, tears in her eyes. Come on, Gaara… you can't give up on us… Fight, dammit!

 

“Sakura-sensei,” one of her assistants murmured, “the Hokage…”

 

Emerald eyes lifted from the bloody body of Gaara to snap over to the equally torn up form of her husband. “Naruto?”

 

“Naruto?!”

 

“Sakura-chan,” came the faint reply, causing tears to stream down the pink-haired woman's cheeks.

 

Naruto was still badly injured, but at least he was conscious. Sakura wiped one of her cheeks with the back of her wrist. “B-baka,” she whispered with a hint of a smile on her worried face. He only calls me Sakura-chan when he's worried about me being mad at him…

 

The blonde Hokage winced in pain as he tried to reach out a hand to his wife and his best friend. “G-Gaara,” he rasped. “H-how… is…?”

 

Ino gently grasped Naruto's hand before he could hurt himself more. “Let forehead girl take care of the Kazekage,” she admonished him quietly with a comforting smile. “And let us keep working on your injuries.”

 

“I don't matter,” Naruto spat out. “I'll heal- b-but Gaara…” He winced again. After a moment he opened his eyes and settled his bright blue gaze on his wife. “Is he… still alive…?”

 

Sakura's back was turned to him as she struggled to stop Gaara's bleeding. She didn't reply.

 

“Dammit, Sakura! Is Gaara still alive?” he managed to yell, causing the med-nins around him to scramble to hold him down, so as not to worsen his injuries.

 

It's not enough, Sakura thought, trying not to cry. I don't have enough chakra. And Naruto… he can't help this time.

 

--------------------

 

Aikou sat quietly, her hands in her lap, her head down, and her face doing its best to blend in with her long red bangs. “S-So… how… are we getting out of here?” she managed to ask in a semi-normal voice.

 

Kohaku propped his knees up and rested his arms on them, his back leaning against the stone wall. “I have a plan,” he replied in all seriousness. “And you, kanojo, are a key part in it.”

 

“I would hope so,” she shot back, her face still somewhat red from his revelation of what the Icha Icha series really was. “And what right do you have to call me that?”

 

Bright blue eyes blinked in the dim light. “Does it really bother you?”

 

She opened her mouth to confirm that yes, it did bother her, when… nothing came out. Her face burning even more than it had been, she lowered her head again.

 

“I… suppose… there is no harm. Uchiha said that there is no conflict between duty and affection.”

 

Kohaku narrowed his eyes. “Shou said that, eh?” He gave her a suspicious smirk. “Are you sweet on that Uchiha heir, Princess?”

 

He could practically see her hair stand on end. “Of course not!” she fumed. “I am not `sweet' on anyone!”

 

“Do you even know what that means?”

 

She blinked, then resumed her previous demure position. “…no.”

 

Kohaku chortled. “Oh, Aikou. You're a great help, you know that?”

 

Her head lifted and she gazed at him curiously. “Help?”

 

The smile he gave her was so sincere and warm that her chest tightened in response. His eyes no longer held the playful gleam from before but instead shone with a light of honesty- and something else. “You have helped… to take my mind off my troubles.”

 

A blush was still vivid on her pale cheeks- and in revelation of his genuine smile, it worsened. By the desert flowers… he is a very handsome man… Was I blind before?

 

“Thank you, Aikou-sama…”

 

----------------------

 

Sakura gazed mutely at the still form of Gaara, now lying in a normal hospital bed, his body wrapped in bandages and gauze. The bleeding had had to been stopped via surgery and transfusions, but his chances of surviving…

 

A slim pair of hands appeared out of seemingly nowhere, as if in offering, to the pink-haired med-nin. “Sakura,” Safaia murmured, her voice about as lifeless as her friend had heard in ten years. “Use my chakra. Save my husband.”

 

Sakura blinked in confusion for a moment. “Safaia…” She shook her head. “I can't do that to you. If I use too much, you could… you could…”

 

“Please,” the lovely woman pleaded, tears in her eyes. “If Gaara dies… I could not bear to go on without him. Use my chakra, as Naruto Hokage did for him when they were young.”

 

“S-S-Sa…fa...ia…”

 

The two women immediately turned to see the Kazekage's eyes barely open and looking for his wife. Immediately she was at his side, her gentle hands stroking his crimson hair back from his brow.

 

“I am here, my love. And I will save you, Gobi and I both. Do not leave me now…”

 

Gaara took a shuddering breath, lifting his hand to touch Safaia's cheek. “H-H-Ha…ru…? So…ra…?”

 

Safaia turned and barely nodded once at the handsome young man standing with his brother near the doorway. Looking back at Gaara, she stroked his hair again, trying to not sob uncontrollably. “They are here, itoshii. Your sons are here.”

 

His aquamarine eyes widened slightly and he looked at his sons, then back at Safaia. “A-Aikou?”

 

Safaia choked on a sob. Sakura had to explain. “In the attack… Aikou and Kohaku… were captured,” she said quietly. “They were taken to Iwa.”

 

A furious haze entered Gaara's aquamarine eyes, but soon turned to concern as he looked at Sakura. “N-Na…ru…t-to…?”

 

“He is resting as well, Father,” Haru answered for her. “His injuries are mending.”

 

A look of relief washed over Gaara's pale face. He winced in pain and turned to Safaia once more.

 

“I… can…not… save… Aikou,” he whispered.

 

“I know, my love,” Safaia choked out. “We must heal you first. I told Sakura to use my chakra, and Gobi's, to heal you.”

 

Black-rimmed eyes lifted to Haru, who stood silently with his brother's arms wrapped around his waist. Sora sniffled, his eyes bright with tears.

 

“Haru,” Gaara announced hoarsely. “You… are now…

 

“…the Sixth… Kazekage.”

 

 

.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.

 

Hiraishin no Jutsu- “Flying Thunder God Technique” (The Fourth Hokage's special technique, which allowed him to teleport anywhere without notice by the use of a special seal)

 

Matsuri- a Sand kunoichi that was Gaara's only student in the Suna Academy during the filler episodes in the anime, was kidnapped by some bad guys and Gaara and everyone had to go get her back.

 

Ojiisan- “grandfather/grandpa” (Kakashi: “Who you callin' a grandpa?!”)