Beautiful Silence

Chapter 26: I Will Find You

"This should be where the location that konoha shinobi told us about."

Temari said while looking around. Kankuro sighed.

"I knew it... It's in the middle of nowhere."

"Shut up and look for clues or footprints or something!"

"As if they'd just leave their foot-! Hey!"

Kankuro ran towards something he spotted on the floor. Temari went up to him as well and looked at where he was looking. There were footprints on the floor.

"You were saying?"

Temari looked at Kankuro with a smug smile.

"I didn't think they were that dumb!"

"You're the dumb one! These are not the enemies' footprints."

Temari squatted down to take a closer look at them.

"It's just as I thought. These are Gaara's footprints. Let's go!"

The two of them followed the footprints for a while until they finally saw a silhouette in the distance.

"Gaara!"

Kankuro called out to his younger brother. Gaara turned his head towards his siblings who were running up to him. He couldn't help but feel a bit of relief to see them.

"What are you doing here?"

He asked them.

"What do you mean? We're here to save Riko-chan!"

Gaara looked at Temari with surprise. He then let out a small smile.

"...Thank you."

The siblings all smiled at each other. Without wasting any more time, Gaara explained to them what he was doing. Understanding that it was the only way they'd get to Riko, Kankuro and Temari settled on following their little brother. The further they went, the easier it was for Gaara to uncover the footsteps of the enemy.

"Seems like they started getting less cautious at this point."

Kankuro smirked.

"They probably thought that no one would be able to get this far."

Temari said. Gaara just focused on progressing forward. They were getting into the more rocky area of the desert. There were a lot of caves and crevices around.

"We're close... I know we are..."

Gaara mumbled.

Riko was trembling uncontrollably. One of her kidnappers, a woman with long grey hair and tanned skin, looking to be no older than Kurenai, had taken out a very sharp looking katana.

"You understand now, don't you? Come, be a good girl and accept your fate."

Her voice was just as cold as everyone else's.

"No, please! Don't touch her! I'll do anything!"

Kurenai was crying by that point.

"A shinobi crying? And over a demon at that? Now that's a first!"

The black haired man laughed in an exaggerated manner.

"What do you say, Riko-chan? Do you want to live in exchange of your beloved Mama?"

Riko hiccuped from sobbing so much. The man laughed even more. He was enjoying every second of it.

"Tomeo, hurry it up already. The longer we stay here, the more likely we'll be discovered."

The woman interrupted the man's laughing. He then gave her a disgusted look.

"Tch. Always spoiling my fun. Fine! Do what you have to do."

The man named Tomeo then shoved Riko towards the woman who was holding the sword. Without hesitation, she thrust it into Riko's heart.

"Ah-!"

It had all happened so fast that Riko had barely any time to know what had just occurred before she fell to the ground, her body convulsing in pain.

"Riko! No! You monsters!"

Kurenai's screams were getting more and more distant.

"Shut her up."

The woman coldly said to the bulky man who had been silent this whole time. He then quietly took the knife and, without hesitation, thrust it at Kurenai's face. Riko's eyes opened wide, horrified by what was about to happen. Before the knife reached, however, a wall of sand stopped it.

"What...?!"

Tomeo exclaimed. Riko's vision was fading. She didn't want to give in, but she had no strength left. It was as if the weapon was absorbing her energy within it. Just as she was starting to give up, she saw Gaara. He was there. He came for her. She could see the anger in his face.

"You... What did you do to Riko?!"

The look on his face was scary. It was as though he was reverting back to who he was before. With the little energy Riko had left, she held the sword and started pulling it out of her chest.

"Tomeo! Don't let her pull it out!"

Tomeo ran to Riko, but was stopped by Gaara's sand. Temari then hurried to Riko.

"Riko-chan! If you pull it out, you'll lose too much blood!"

Riko decided to not hear any of that though. She kept pulling the sword out bit by bit, grunting in pain at the same time. Seeing how determined Riko was to pull the katana out, Temari decided to help her. The sand wall was now gone, since Gaara was instead focusing on fighting Tomeo while Kankuro assisted in keeping the other two at bay.

As soon as Temari and Riko pulled the sword out, it shattered and Riko's wound closed up immediately. Temari couldn't help but just stare wide-eyed at what had just happened.

"That's it... Tomeo, retreat. There's no benefit for us to stay any longer."

Tomeo frowned.

"Don't think this is over, little demon."

After saying that, they all moved out at such a high speed that nobody could react to them. In an instant they were gone. Riko was still trembling from what had just happened to her. Temari petted her hair soothingly while Kankuro released the Konoha shinobi from their bindings. Gaara then immediately crouched down next to Riko who was sitting on the floor with Temari's help. Seeing her in such a miserable shape brought so much pain to his heart. Without thinking, he embraced her in a tight hug. His strong arms helped her calm down her trembling. His familiar smell soothed her. She closed her eyes and let her body fall limp into his arms, losing consciousness from the extreme fatigue she'd felt. Gaara carried her back to Sunagakure while Kankuro and Temari took care of the other captives. Kurenai dried off her tears, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. Riko was alive and in good hands. However, there were a lot of things that she had to think about. That group was the one they were asked to investigate. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought them to be this powerful or that they would be after Riko. She knew that the matter required more research, but she'd have to talk about it to the new Hokage. For now, she wanted to heal up and spend every second she had with Riko.