Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Runaways ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Runaways

A Temari Story

Chapter Three

Temari hated the forest; the thick trees she couldn't see around, the damp air, the animals that darted out without warning. It was doing very little for her already frazzled nerves. So was Kankuro's incessant complaining, which he had resumed minutes after the siblings got out of the desert. Worst of all, they were lost.

“Let me see the map now, Temari,” Kankuro whined, holding out his smudged and dirty hand, “I bet I could figure it out, because I'm a boy.”

“You have already looked at it,” Temari snapped. She was very tempted to whack her little brother over the head with something.

“Just let me see it!” Kankuro persisted.

“No.”

“Come on, Temari!” he said as he lunged for the sheaf of paper. Temari held pulled it out of his pathway just as the boy tripped over a projecting root. He fell to the ground with a cry, landing on his right forearm.

“Kankuro!” Temari called out and swooped down beside her little brother. He rolled onto his back, his face contorted in pain. His left hand was clutching his right forearm and blood was seeping over his small fingers. Temari tried to pull his hand away, but Kankuro whimpered and tugged his arm away. Temari grabbed a hold of the boy's arm and pulled his hand away to reveal a gash in his pale flesh, a broken off stick the width of Temari's thumb lodged in the wound. Temari gingerly touched the rough, frayed end of the wood, causing Kankuro to yelp in pain. Gaara was beside his sister, hovering over his brother, staring fixedly at the dark, oozing blood spilling out of the cut.

Temari was starting to panic. She knew she had to get the switch out of Kankuro's arm, but he kept twisting and turning. And even if she could get her brother to stay still, if any fragments of wood were left behind in the flesh, it would get infected.

“Kankuro,” Temari called, holding her brother's tear stained face sot that he was looking at her, “Kankuro, listen to me.” Her voice was noticeably shaking. “I am going to pull it out, okay?”

“No,” the boy whimpered, shaking his head.

“Gaara, hold him down,” Temari told her youngest brother. Sand sprang out of nowhere and clamped around the eight-year-old's limbs, holding him fast. He began to writhe against his bonds, crying and screaming. Temari reached into her bag and pulled out her blanket which was frayed at the edge where she had ripped off a strip to clean off Gaara. She tore two additional pieced, folding one over a few times and putting it in Kankuro's mouth to give him something to bite down on. She unscrewed the cap off of her canteen so that she would be able to rise out the wound as soon as the stick was taken out.

Temari took a deep breath and sat up on her knees. She could feel her stomach twisting itself into a Celtic knot and the end of every nerve was buzzing painfully.

“On the count of three,” Temari said to her brother, who was still vainly trying to free himself, “One, two—” She took another deep breath and got a firm hold on the stick “THREE!” she yelled as she pulled the switch out with one motion. Kankuro screamed in agony against the swatch of cloth in his mouth, while Gaara just watched.

Working quickly, Temari poured a liberal amount of her water over the wound, and peered closely at it afterwards. It appeared to be free of all foreign bodies, and so she wrapped the second swath of blanket tightly around the gash in her brother's arm. A splotch of blood immediately began to grow in the grey fabric.

“Let him go now,” Temari said to Gaara. The sand slipped away, but Kankuro stayed on the ground, rolling onto his side, his back to his siblings, and his arm cradling his wound.

Temari fell back against a tree. She let out a relieved sigh and looked up at the patch of blue sky that was shown between the treetops. Her hands were still shaking. After a minute, Temari reached into her bag and pulled out some of the dried fruit that she had bought in the market at Suna, twelve days ago. Temari found it hard to believe; it felt like a different lifetime.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when a kunai went flying towards her head, imbedding itself in the bark just above the girl's head. Before she had any time to think, a small cylinder was thrown into the small area where the siblings were, pouring out smoke. Temari began to choke as her eyes watered.

“Gaara!” she croaked, “Kankuro! Gaara!”

She was silenced when a strong hand covered her mouth and she was lifted off the ground.