Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Loveless Suna ❯ Chapter 39

Beta: SilverTwillight88

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

“Don't worry, you're safe here.” Keiko soothed me.

“From what?” I asked confused. This wasn't making any sense. Why was that woman standing in front of me like she had just saved my life?

“From the Kazekage of course.” She blinked with a surprised look on her face. But I was certain my face looked funnier than hers.

“Why?!”

“You don't know! Dear, he was the one responsible for those attacks!” She answered and my eyes almost bulged out.

“Gaara what?” I said horrified. Keiko nodded seriously.

“You've seen that guy with the white dreadlocks, right. He told us!” I had to keep my mouth shut or I would have told her she was nuts.

`How can you be so naïve?' “He… told you?” I repeated carefully.

“Yes, I had to get you out of there!” My `savior' was moving her hands up and down like she wanted to push her beliefs into me.

“Wait…” Something dawned to me. “I'm here because you wanted me here?” The woman nodded firmly.

“It was the prize for her cooperation.” Eho informed me. I had almost forgotten the other woman was still present. I glared at her, but felt relieve they didn't capture me because of Gaara. It seemed his plan had worked.

“If only Shori was still alive, you two would have been happily married and the Kazekage wouldn't have gotten a chance to use you.” Keiko sighed sadly and I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes.

`Why does she keep mentioning him in her delusions? He would have hated that.' I thought recalling the relationship of the siblings.

“I need to get back to keep an eye on things. Don't leave this building for your own safety.” Eho interrupted us. She walked out of the light of the oil lamp, back to the window on the roof. I cursed the darkness that made it impossible to see how she opened it.

“So, what was your side of the deal?” I asked after I heard the window close again.

“Connections, money…” I could have guessed money was involved. “It's only a small contribution to guarantee your safety and that of my family.” She smiled and I could even see a small bit of relief in her eyes.

`I haven't seen Kaeda at the meeting or the debate…' I realized, `, but Daisetsu was present!' “Your husband is still at the marketplace…” I said carefully keeping an eye on her face. Her expressions seemed to tighten and she had to use all her willpower to keep smiling.

“He isn't. He's at home watching Aya with Kaeda.”

`So, that's how she thought to keep them safe. “Aren't two babysitters too much for a good girl like Aya?” I could see the doubt forming in her eyes.

“He…he's at the marketplace?” Keiko asked with a small voice. “But they aren't going to kill the villagers. They only need them as leverage for the Kazekage.” She tried to convince herself.

“And you really want to risk that? If something goes wrong do you really want to tell Aya her father got killed by people you helped?” Her eyes widened and her hands started to shake.

“We can't stop them…” Her voice was trembling.

“We can! We have the advantage of surprise and don't you know their plans?” I knew I was right when her eyes started to sparkle.

“The only one who can make the paper bombs explode is that dreadlock haired guy. If we take him out the Kazekage could do the rest.” I nodded taking in the information.

“We don't have time to lose!” I said while walking to the window. I groped over the glass, but couldn't find the handle to open it.

“Let me.” Keiko breathed in my neck, making me want to jump out of my skin. She was suddenly standing so close. Taking a step out of the way she quickly opened the window and with a little help got on the roof. “Could you help me down when we get to the back? There the guards at the front door shouldn't be able to see me.” Keiko pointed to the side she meant while I slowly closed our escape route.

`Guard… front door? Of course how else would she have entered? She isn't a ninja.' I nodded as answer, but she was already standing impatiently at the end of the roof. Carefully I dropped her to the ground and she couldn't have pulled a more relieved face when her feet met the sand. “I'll try to distract them.” She whispered before sneaking out of my view. I looked from where she had stood to the horizon in the direction of the marketplace.

`What am I going to do?'

-

Carefully I sneaked as close as I could. I couldn't see a lot from my hiding place, but I had a clear view on the attackers. During my absence Gaara's gourd had switched owners and was now standing next to the dreadlock guy. `Now Gaara only has the sand he uses for amour nearby.' I muttered, but I knew giving him the chance was more than enough to make the sand under his feet obey his command. My eyes left the white haired guy and went looking for his helpers. `They're all in his sight. I can't take one of them out without him noticing.' Biting my lip my attention returned to the dreadlock nin. `First I better get closer to him!' The first step of my plan had formed itself.

Sneaking back to a safe distance I started to run until my prey was in front of me. Slowly and carefully I practically crawled closer until a hint of the marketplace came into view. Gaara was still standing where I left him with his hands crossed, glaring my kidnapper to death. The villagers had been split up in little groups over the plaza with the counsel members on Gaara's side in the middle of the plaza. The others had disappeared, probably transferred to one of the nearby houses.

Suddenly a loud bang was heard and a lot of smoke came from the west of the village. Not trusting it Dreadlock sent the big guy towards it. `That was probably Keiko's distraction.' I muttered and took in the leader that was standing alone now. `Now it's time to attack… Hmm, I can't give him the change to make hand signs. A couple of clones could be handy.' Only a couple of seconds after thinking this two more of me had joined me. “Now I can attack from three sides!” I mumbled to my clones, who nodded eagerly. I gave them the chance to get in position before getting a couple of ninja stars out of my pocket. Counting to three in my head I threw them and at the same time stars flew from three different sides. Dreadlock hadn't seen this coming and reacted too late. A couple of scratches were visible, but I wasn't done yet. I still had that really big star. Since it was heavier it was more difficult to throw, not to mention to aim, but my prey had to avoid it nonetheless. Then I let my clones run up to him, but the smallest tough made them pop away.

`Oh right, they're normal clones, not the once Naruto created.' I didn't have a lot of time to beat myself for my stupid mistake since ANBUs jumped out from nowhere and replaced my clones. Surprised I watched Dreadlock block every attack and I almost jumped a meter in the air when Kankuro suddenly dropped next to me.

“We saw Keiko.” He said clearly and looking around I noticed all the attackers were in the middle of a fight with Suna nins. “We need to get the gourd back to Gaara.” Kanky continued while calling his puppets out of their scrolls. “Get to the side!” He ordered me like a real leader. Without a word I nodded and got up. Once in position I turned back to the fight and noticed the gourd was almost in the hands of the puppets. The white dreadlock guy seemed to have trouble keeping it out of reach; while getting attack from every side. Looking at the marketplace I noticed Gaara was busy with getting everyone to safety. Our eyes met and it was clear we were both happy to see each other alive.

“Shizuka!” Kankuro's voice pulled me back to reality. I turned around to accept the gourd from one of the puppets. Turning back to Gaara I saw that he was already making his way towards me. “Shizuka, watch out!” Kanky's voice again, but this time I didn't get the change to turn around. A sudden weight on my back made me push the gourd off the roof and the weight jumped after it. Getting up as fast as I could, I saw Dreadlock landing a couple of meter from the gourd that was rolling to his owner.

`I have to stop him!' I screamed in my head and decided that it was time for my greatest technique. “Katon: Goukakyou no Jutsu!” I yelled while forming the right hand signs. Just before I blew I looked at Gaara, whose face only showed shock. The white dreadlock haired nin had to abort his mission of getting the gourd to get the hell out of my line of fire. The moment only burned sand was left, Gaara had already strapped his gourd on his back and was ready to fight fully recharged. I let out a relieved sigh and felt a little impressed seeing him stand there in all his glory. Glancing downwards I noticed our enemy grabbing something out of his back pocket and recognized the small bullets.

`They can't penetrate Gaara's sand.' I pushed my worries to the back of my head. Then I remembered the paper bombs, maybe those bullets had something to do with detonating them. Quickly I looked over the plaza. `Everyone's been evacuated, so it wouldn't make a difference.' I even nodded my head to convince myself. By now the bullets were flying around their controller. In a split second they broke into two groups. One flew towards Gaara and the other towards me. Without seeing I was also in danger the redhead called a sand barrier in front of him, leaving me for the sharks.

Quickly I replaced myself with a sand clone. The moment I was standing on the ground I saw myself getting hit. I hadn't noticed Gaara was dropping his barrier until I heard him scream my name in fear, but I didn't miss how his eyes almost popped out when only sand was left of me.

“Hi!” I said from his dead angle. Never had I seen him turn around so quickly.

“Shizuka!” He almost stammered over my name.

“It seems you've gotten better than last time.” Dreadlock interrupted us.

“Thank you for the complement.” I faked a smile. He smiled back before making in less than two second a couple of hand signals. For a moment I wondered what he was doing until I felt heat from behind me followed by a loud bang. Turning around I saw one paper bomb after the other explode. Too shocked to move I felt arms around me pushing my back into a broad chest while sand covered us from every side.

-

The heat disappeared and the sand dropped. We were standing on a roof only a couple of meters from the battlefield.

“Gaara! Shizuka!” Kankuro couldn't have looked any more relieved. He tried to pull me out of his little brother's arms to hug me, but the redhead's grip only tightened. ANBUs appeared around us with one prisoner.

“The others are dead.” A man with blood over his entire mask informed us.

“Arrest Eho, she had endangered the entire village with her selfishness.” Gaara ordered. With a nod the nins left, except the two who were playing guard.

“Get him to the interrogation room.” And the last two ANBUs left. “Kankuro go… take in the damage?” The puppet master understood he was unwanted and also disappeared. Before I realized it Gaara had turned me around and plastered his lips on mine. He ravished my mouth like he was starving and I could only melt against him. How long had I wanted this? But a voice in my head told me not to forgive him just yet. He hurt me a lot just because he didn't trust me enough. How could a relationship without trust last?

“Vi…villagers!” I mumbled with half open eyes when we broke for air. It was the only word I got over my lips. I had to get myself back in control, but he was so close.

“In a minute.” He whispered before capturing my lips again. I felt my knees give in and he was the only thing that was still keeping me from falling to the ground.

“Villagers.” He repeated when the second kiss ended. Before I could answer we were standing between all the survivors and was Matsuri pulling me away. She was saying something, but I couldn't hear her. The only thing going through my mind was that I couldn't forgive him so easily.

Stephke23: Gaara recognized Shizuka because of the Katon. He knows Temari can't do that jutsu and probably also knew from Tsunade that Sasuke was training Shizuka. Putting all the pieces together, he found out it's the real Shizuka. Review!