Crow's feathers - Naruto fanfiction

Chapter 21 Those that are precious

Matsuri watched from her hiding place. She was frightened. All those dreams about becoming a shinobi… she had fooled herself. How could she ever have believed she could be a fighter. The first time she was in trouble, she cowered behind a rock and let others do the work for her.
She glanced at the cage. She wasn’t sure what was going on inside, but she was concerned about Gaara. He had been kind to her and she had repaid him by getting him in danger. There had to be something she could do…
She looked around the clearing and her eyes landed on an object on the ground. She frowned confused for a moment when she recognized it as her weapon. How did that get here? She was certain she had dropped it in Suna. Now that she thought about it… she had seen Gaara toss something aside before the cage locked him and Taryn in. Had he carried her weapon with him? Why? Did he honestly think she could be of some use? But she was just a kid…

Naruto barely managed to get away from Yodan’s attacks. “Why do you want to protect the host of the one tailed beast so much?” Yodan asked, “what is he to you? Why would you care about a monster?”
“Gaara is not a monster!” Naruto growled, “he is my friend and I’ll protect him with my life!” Yodan chuckled. “One life it is,” he smirked and lifted his hand. “What?!” he suddenly shouted when a chain wrapped around his arm. He looked to the side and saw Matsuri standing there. She had a determined look in her eyes.
‘Weapons can be used to protect loved ones,’ she thought.
Yodan laughed. “Will you look at that. The little girl has some spunk.” He wrapped the chain around his hand and gave a firm pull on it.
Matsuri flew forward and fell to her knees. “Gah,” she gasped.
“Matsuri!” Kankuro’s voice suddenly called.
All three of them looked up and saw Kankuro and the others run up to them. They came to a halt and gasped when they saw the large metal tank.
“What’s that?” Sakura asked.
“Gaara is in there!” Naruto called, “and Taryn too!”
They jumped when the cage suddenly broke down. A half transformed Gaara stood in the clearing. Behind him lay an unconscious Taryn.
Matsuri’s eyes widened and she gasped.
Naruto turned to her. “Go,” he said, “hide somewhere safe.”
“But…,” Matsuri protested, “Gaara-sensei…”
“He’s trying to protect you!” Naruto shouted. He turned back to Yodan who held a kunai dagger ready.
Matsuri stared at Naruto and then at Gaara. “Protect me?”
Kankuro and Temari walked up to her and escorted her to the others. “You stay here with us,” Temari said.
Neji narrowed his eyes and studied Yodan carefully. “There is  flow of chakra streaming between Gaara and that ninja,” he noted.
“They want to steal his chakra,” Matsuri told them, “that ninja is after Shokaku’s chakra.” Everyone looked at Gaara who was still only half transformed. Behind him, Taryn wasn’t moving.
“Taryn-sama,” Dante gasped.
“Don’t worry,” Naruto said, “Gaara won’t hurt her. She’ll be fine there.”
Kankuro looked at the boy surprised. It was true, but the boy had no way of knowing that.

Gaara heard Naruto’s words too and he remembered a few earlier words Naruto had spoken in Konoha. It seemed such a long time ago.

“I’ve got people that care about me now… people that are important to me… and I won’t let you hurt them.”

‘Could it be that simple?’ Gaara thought ‘is that what makes him so strong?’  He glanced at Taryn behind him. She wasn’t moving. He knew the wounds she had were caused by him. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but he hadn’t been able to contain himself. He sighed relieved when he saw her chest rise and fall.
He turned back to Yodan and concentrated. Slowly he willed back his transformation.
From a distance the others were watching.
“Won’t that make him weaker?” Shikamaru asked.
Kankuro nodded. “Still,” he said, “he chooses to fight with power he can control instead of power he cant.”
Dante formed a few handseals. “Hold on everyone,” he said and directed his jutsu at the ground. A platform rose and lifted the group up, keeping them safely out of the sand’s reach. On the ground Taryn stirred and slowly came to. Her vision was a little blurry and she was vaguely aware of the fight around her. Something was wrong though and she couldn’t quite place it. She ignored the wall of sand that rose up next to her, shielding her from Yodan’s attack. Something wasn’t right… but what?

Yodan stared at Gaara stunned. “How did you do that?” he asked, “your sand was gone. I saw it myself.”
Gaara smirked. “Didn’t you know? I can use what ever sand I want and fuse it with my chakra.” His eyes turned cold. “Now die.” He closed his fists and sand locked all around Yodan. “Sand funeral” Gaara called and watched the sand crush the enemy.
“It’s over,” Kankuro sighed.
Just then something stirred under the sand and Yodan broke free. “Did you think it was over?” he laughed, “this armor I wear protects me. You have no way of wining.”
Gaara stared at him. When he heard a faint sigh coming from Taryn, he narrowed his eyes at his opponent. “You made him  hurt my sister,” he growled. He raised a hand. Sand flew up from the ground and grew shape.
“There’s a huge amount of chakra emitting from Gaara,” Neji gasped, his Byakugan still active. “It’s Shokaku’s spear,” Kankuro said wide-eyed.
Gaara aimed and threw the large spear at Yodan. The impact broke his armor and Gaara grinned.
Yodan’s eyes grew wide with fear. Gaara raised a hand again, but it was obvious it cost him a lot of effort. He knew this would be his last attack. “Sand funeral,” he said and closed his hand. Sand locked around Yodan and he died screaming.
Gaara stumbled on his feet. He knew he had given more than he could and he fainted.
“Gaara-sensei!” Matsuri called and ran up to him. The others followed suit.
Kankuro looked at his younger brother. ‘You did it,”  he thought, ‘you protect everyone.’  He remembered what Gaara had told him not so long ago. That he wanted to bond with others, be acknowledged. ‘’I’m sure you’ll succeed.’ He glanced at Taryn. She had put Gaara’s life over her own again as she always had. But he wasn’t jealous. Never had been. He understood. And he knew she would do the same thing for him and Temari. Gaara was just more important to her. “They need medical attention,” he said.
Sakura was already kneeling beside Gaara. “I don’t know…” she said, “I think they need to get to a hospital. I’m still a student.”
“We’re closest to Konoha,” Shikamaru noted, “we’ll bring them there. If that’s alright with you?” He looked at Kankuro.
Kankuro nodded. “Yeah.” He was looking at Dante who kneeled next to his sister.
Taryn looked at Dante with an exhausted expression. She was close to losing consciousness again. She saw his lips move as if her were talking and frowned at it confused. Why was he acting this weird?
Then her eyes widened and she looked around.
There was no sound at all.
Not the wind, not the others moving about, not even her own breath.
She looked at Dante again who eyed her concerned. His lips moved again and then she understood what was wrong. When she had protected Gaara in that cage, he noise had affected her and torn her eardrums.
She was deaf.