𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚎r. (𝙶𝚊𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚡 𝚘𝚌)

The Targets ( Chapter 3 )

"You're here early..."

Ura woke from her nap to see Temari's face, though they weren't the best of friends, they found a common ground somehow. Temari helped Ura up so the kunoichi could dust herself off, then explain, "All I need to carry are my umbrellas and my hari bag, that's it. So I came here to wait so I won't be late."

"You really want to be on this time, don't you..." Temari commented as she leaned against a tall rock.

"Well...i'd be happy on anyot-"

"Don't think i'm blind, Ura, I know how you feel about Gaara," Temari smirked, "It's a shame he'll never feel the same for you, or anyone to be precise."

Ura didn't know what to say, she didn't want to give away her emotions to Temari, but she didn't want to believe that Temari was right. Temari noticed how uncomfortable Ura was getting, then shrugged, "Look, I think he's not going to change in the next few years. So if you want to believe that he'll change everything about him, then be my guest, just be realistic."

A few minutes passed, Kankurou finally got to the spot an hour before Baki would arrive, Gaara arrived a little after Kankurou. Kankurou approached Ura and Temari, "Ok, we all need to keep an eye on Gaara, i'll take the first two days, Ura gets two days, and Temari gets the rest of the days."

"I think Ura should have the rest of the days and i'll just take the two," Temari stated.

"N-no, i'll be happy with the two days," Ura stuttered.

"Whatever, Ura gets the rest of the days and Temari has the two after me," Kankurou shrugged, then looked over his shoulder to see Gaara had his back to them.

Temari and Ura joined his stare on Gaara, but Ura turned to the desert with a blush on her face. Kankurou looked back at Ura, "Hey, are you getting sick? You look red..."

"I'm fine...just a little warm, that's all," Ura crossed her arms, "I'm healthy."

"No you're not, you're really warm," Kankurou had his hand on her forehead, "Maybe you should sit this one out."

"She's fine Kankurou," Temari stepped towards them, then murmured something in his ear.

Kankurou eyed Ura with a sly look, "I knew there was something..."

Ura knew they wouldn't tell Gaara, so that didn't make her worry. She began to tighten the umbrellas strapped to her back while they all waited for Baki. Everyother five minutes, Ura would look over at Gaara and wonder what was going on in his head.

After an hour went by, Baki showed up with three scrolls, "Good, all of you are here on time this time. I brought three scrolls that you will be needing in case anything goes wrong, don't use them unless they are your last resort. One is the scroll of healing, another is the scroll of power, and the last one is the scroll of defense. Here, the scrolls will affect everyone on your team, they will take half of your chakra, so be wise when you use them. Now lets go, we've wasted enough time already."

Ura held the scroll of power, Temari held the scroll of defense, and Kankurou held the scroll of healing, Gaara followed his team as they ran into the desert. Running for the rest of the day, Baki finally stopped at a huge oasis, "He's been here...look at the tracks in front of us."

"I see...they're fresh, he's been here an hour or two ago...but it doesn't make sense, the wind should've covered them," Temari commented, "What is this man?"

"He's not just a man...this 'thing' had metal planted into his bones, making him the most deadliest weapon alive. His weight is unbelievable compared to how thin he looks, that is why this is such a dangerous mission," Baki explained, "We need to keep going with caution from this point on, so bring out your weapons."

Kankurou readied Karasu, Temari brought out her fan, and Ura opened both her umbrellas, they ran as stealthfully as they could. It was until they came across a barren, dead village Ura had confidense, but when she saw the dead bodies and a river of blood streaming from the village to their feet, she feared for her life. She wanted to go back and quick, sensing death all around her, it would be a matter of time before she would be sick from the stench. Temari's eyes were wide, "What...what is this place? What happened here?"

"This is the village where trade happens the most, many valuable items are taken here for hiding. The man stopped here, he's resting somewhere in there... Split up individually, and whatever you do, if you come in contact with our target, send out a signal to the rest of us," Baki stated, "Now go!"

They all disappeared into the village, Ura kept to the shadows, avoiding the dead bodies. She wandered far into the village, until she the body of an infant, cold and lifeless, Ura hunched down to the ground and touched the infant, "Poor thing...you don't deserve to die without your mother holding you..."

Ura looked around, until she saw a woman on the ground, who looked like she was reaching the infant. She placed the baby in the womans arms, then said a small prayer for their souls. After she finished, Ura wandered a little more aways, until the smell of blood was at it's thickest. Ura coughed a few times, before getting sick all over the ground, "This blood...it's toxic..."

"Heheh...it should be, you're blood will join such a wonderful aroma..."

Ura froze in fear, until she flipped to her back, holding her umbrellas protectivly in front of her, she saw the man before her, his skin was silver. She gasped, not only was his skin silver, his eyes were blood red, his teeth were sharp fangs, and his hands were menacing claws! He chuckled when he saw the fear in her eyes, "What? Afraid of me? That's the look I love to see from everyone."

She tried to scream, but her voice wasn't working properly, then she realized how badly her throat hurt. The man laughed even louder, "Stupid girl, didn't you realize why the aroma was so thick!? I add a metallic element into the air in this village, so your insides are all rotting from lead poisoning."

Then, Ura stood up, she threw her umbrellas into the air and did a few handsigns. The man crossed his arms, "Your hari won't work on me, i'm made of pure metal, nothing can penetrate me."

That was right, she had to use more than just hari to kill him, so she made on last hand sign, the sign of the sun. Her umbrellas began to twirl, all of the hari flew down at the metal man at such a fast speed. The man took the attack, but was surprised to feel all the hari melt inside him, until he caught one and saw how hot it was, it was melting his metal skin! He glared at her, "So...you're using heat to kill me? Your plan has worked so far..."

They looked down at his feet, they were beginning to melt! Ura smirked at him, now she had confidense on how she was going to win, until he lifted a palm to her, "Too bad it's not going to work on me."

His hand extended to where he grabbed her throat, squeezing so hard Ura could feel her bones ready to crack. When her umbrellas fell to the ground, Ura was able to catch one of them, so she threw it so high in the air, then, through pain and agony, she opened her mouth, "AAGGAGHGHAHAHGHAAHAHGHAHGAHAHAHGHAHGHAGHAHAHGAHGHAGHAGHAHGAGHAHGAHGHAGHAGH AGHAHGAHGAHGHAGHAGHGHGHAGHAGHAGHAGHGHGHGHGHGHAGHAGHAGHAGHAHGAHGHAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH"

The man threw her in one of the abandoned buildings, but when he was about to leap in and kill her, Baki appeared an began to go after their target. Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou appeared, joining Baki, but Ura was at the brink of unconsciousness, she tried to get up. Grabbing onto everything, Ura managed to stand up, she pulled out the scroll Baki to only use as a last resort, now she needed it to help. She opened the scroll and read the instructions, she bit her finger and allowed the blood to drip on the scroll. Then, doing a few hand sign, the scroll glowed a blood red, and entered into her soul, where it burned with such fury. Ura could feel it draining her chakra, but added to her physical strength.

Ura dashed out of the building and punched the man across his face, then picked up one hari, and for just a few moments as he was slammed up against the wall from Karasu, Ura stabbed the man in his neck... Temari pulled Ura away as sand slithered up the dying man, Ura noticed Gaara doing a few handsigns, but when she looked back to the man...he was dust.

"Is he..dead?" Kankurou finally spoke,

"No...that was just his clone...the real one is much more-"

"Ahuhghou."

Everyone turned to Temari, her eyes were hazed, it looked like she was choking on something. She held her throat as she went to her knees, Ura took a step towards Temari, but Baki stopped her, "Don't get any closer, she's being used to transmit a message."

Then, Temari stood up, he head down, then she looked at all them, her eyes still hazed, but a smirk on her face, "Well, well, it seems you have found me," said a dark, evil voice, "Too bad I made my way north while my clone was playing with that girl. No mere ninja can defeat me, for i'm too powerful to be defeated."

"Don't be a fool, we all know you're too afraid to fight us, that's why you're running," Baki stated, "We'll find you, and we'll tear you limb-from-limb."

The transmition ended, Temari went unconscious and fell to the ground. Ura looked over at Baki, but when she tried to speak, her throat felt like it was on fire. Baki noticed Ura cringe in agony, holding her neck, her eyes wincing, "Hm...you'll be fine, you don't show any signs of your insides having lead poisoning, all that you have is a throat that inhaled metal. Kankurou, carry Temari, we have to keep on moving, we don't know how many clones he has in this area. Ura, don't try to speak, you screaming was enough damage to your vocal cords."

Ura nodded, picking up both her umbrellas and her hari bag, strapping them back onto her. They ran northward, but Ura could feel the power of the scroll draining most of her chakra, she didn't know how much longer she had before she, too, would pass out. They reached the border of their country, they were entering the Country of Earth. Getting permission to enter the country, they did their best to stay in the shadows, until the sun began to come up.

"Damn..we can't walk around like this in daylight, we'll have to stay low until dusk. Kankurou, you and Temari hide in one spot, Ura and Gaara find another spot, i'm going to search discretely, but i'll recrute you four when the first star comes out. Now go and hide," Baki disappeared.

"How about we trade spots, you'll be more comfortable with Temari, when she wakes up," Kankurou suggested to Ura as Gaara walked off.

Ura shook her head and followed Gaara, leaving Kankurou to go find a hiding spot with Temari. She was nervous, completely nervous, not because of how much she felt for Gaara, but the thought of someone stronger than she had to face was still out there, somewhere. Her chakra was dangerously low, she was regretting ever using that scroll when Gaara was the one to kill the clone. Ura looked up to see the back of Gaara's head, did he even notice she was right behind him? Oh well, Ura let out a small sigh of disappointment on herself, if she could've been his friend when they were younger, maybe things would've been different between them.

"If you get us found by anyone, i'll kill you..."

Ura's eyes widened at his threat, he stopped walking, but she had never seen him so distant before. But she came to her senses, soon enough, Gaara would see how strong she really was, and he won't threaten her again. Standing her own ground, she began picking some of the herbs around her while Gaara leaned against a tree, his gourd to his side, just watching what she was doing. Ura brought out a hari and opening a few weeds, draining the liquid out of them, then mashed all the weeds together with rocks, making little noise as possible. When she finished, she grabbed a small chunk and tilted her head back so the herbs lightly touched her throat, just enough to ease the pain.

"Much better," she smiled as she brought out a small container and placed the rest of the healing herbs inside for later.

Ura realized how hungry she really was and brought out five more hari, she was about to ask if Gaara wanted something to eat, but decided against it. They seemed to have gotten good terms, so it was best to leave it like that, she'll just bring him something. She left without Gaara saying a thing, and stealthfully traveled the rocky area they were hiding in. There wasn't much to find, but was able to find a market near the rocky area that were selling something. Ura bought two weird looking fish, the manager said it was the top of the market so it was pretty pricey, and two weird looking fruits. Hurrying back to where Gaara was at, she went into her bag and pulled out a blanket on the dry land, placing the cook fish that was chopped up and the fruits on the blanket.

Gaara eyed the food, but made no attempt on eating it, yet Ura was digging into her own fish, and tried the strange fruit. Ura noticed Gaara staring at the food, then she commented, "It's really good, you should try some of it."

He ignored her comment and just went into his own mind, forgetting that Ura was in his presense. She got a little annoyed by how he was acting, though everyone hated him, he didn't need to be rude to the one person that almost loves him.

*This is going to be tougher than I thought it would be....but I can't give up now, i've worked so hard to get here, now i'm going to work hard staying here!* Ura thought as she glared at her food.