Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while, I try to write as much as I can when I have internet, but that's not very often. I'll try to figure something out so that I can update a lot more a lot quicker for you guys! I apologize in advance, I haven't watched Naruto in a LONG time and so, as you can already tell from my previous mistakes, I get messed up on information and whatnot. I know you guys are highly anticipating the scene of actually finding Gaara, and believe me, so am I, so I'm going to speed things along just a little. I'm not exactly sure how long it took after Gaara was captured in the series to when they found him again, so I'm just winging it. Also I'll be switching up some parts so that obviously, Rasha can fit in. Again, I apologize for that. Hope you guys enjoy!
~Raksha's POV~
It's been about 2 days since I faced Itatchi and sent out on my path of trying to find either Guy's or Kakashi's team. So far it hasn't worked very well. I haven't caught anyone's scent. Where could they be damnit?! No new leads, so scents to follow, no nothing!
I was beyond frustrated.
2 days.
2 FREAKING DAYS! And Gaara's still in their clutches! Where could they have taken him? My frustration was quickly turning into panic and worry.
I stopped as the thought I had been fighting surfaced.
What if he's dead? The thought struck me like lightning, tearing at my heart. Tears sprang to my eyes as the reality of the situation hit me straight on. No! That's-that's not possible! Gaara's strong, he'll hold on! At least, until someone can get to him... He'll fight.... HE'S STILL ALIVE DAMN IT!!!!
Whiping away the tears before they could spill, I held on to the very top of the highest tree I could find, closed my eyes, and concentrated. Taking slow, deep breaths, I let all emotions leave my body, all traces of thought faded away until I was completely aware of everything going on around me. The sounds, the smells, I could imagine everything that was going on in the forest. There was a river off to my right. Something was going on over there.
Lots of movement, lots of water activity. I took a breath. 5 scents infiltrated my senses, all familiar. I could imagine what was happening now. I had finally located Guy's Team, but they were in trouble, they had run into Kisame.
Opening my eyes, I set off towards the river to help them. Reaching the river, I took in the scene before me. Kisame and Guy were locked in combat, Neji, Ten Ten, and Rock Lee were stuck in one of Kisame's water traps. They were running out of air in the water bubbles they were locked in.
Guy was sweating, Kisame wasn't even winded. I could tell Guy was stressing the most over his pupils. They were quickly running out of oxygen.
Just as I looked over at them, Ten Ten collapsed inside the water bubble. Acting quickly, I manipulated the water. Concentrating on all 3 bubbles at once, I pried the water apart in the middle, exposing at least their heads so they could breath. Kisame's jutsus were very, very strong.
Ten Ten began taking deep breaths and she soon regained conciousness.
"Raksha!" Rock Lee greeted excitedly,"Think you can get us out of this?" he nodded his head towards the water he was still locked in.
I chuckled,"Working on it, dude." fixing my attention on Ten Ten's bubble, I slowly pried each section of water off of her body. Once I took off the last section, she fell to the shallow river bed underneath her. Then I did the same thing with Rock Lee, and finally Neji.
By now, Guy and Kisame caught on to my presence. Guy kept Kisame as busy as he could, trying to give me an opening.
I took the opportunity and nailed Kisame right in the side with what I like to call my Rock Punch. Pieces of the ground and rocks come up and make a barrier around my hand, then I use the coating as a form of attack. After that one punch, I continued throwing several more, my left hand was coated with rock, and my right was now projecting electricity.
But even with the onslot of attacks, Kisame held his ground, trying his best to fend off both me and Guy.
Jumping out of the water, I yelled at the others to do the same. Kisame was getting weak and tired, so he was a tad too slow to move away from my next move.
"Lightning Wave!" a bolt of lightning shot out from my hands, hitting Kisame dead on. For a moment, it seemed to go in slow motion. The electricity from the lightning surfaced from seemingly nowhere and everywhere, to my hands, and projected itself straight at Kisame's body. I watched as Kisame's eyes widenened at the quickly approaching stream of electricity. When it struck, it hit him straight in the heart and filled his body with the high voltage. It flowed from his body down to the water. A few fish floated up to the surface of the river, dead. After the stream of electricity from the lightning ended, Kisame stood there, staring wide-eyed at me for a moment before he completely collapsed in the shallow part of the river.
Rock Lee took a step forward, towards Kisame's motionless body, but I held out my arm to keep him from going any further, "Don't touch the water. The electricity hasn't faded away yet. Besides, that's not the real Kisame."
"Huh?" "What?" "What are you talking about?" came their responses. Looking out at the body floating in the water, I could already see that the person had changed back to their original form. Testing the water with my bare hand, I concluded that the electricity had died down enough for us to go in, "Alright, you can go look for yourself."
The four of them rushed the the floating body. Ten Ten gasped in surprise, "Who is that?"
Neji shook his head and looked back at me, "What is it?"
"It's a sort of jutsu, like puppetry, I suppose. Kisame was never really here. That guy lying there was being used like a puppet. They're meant to be every bit as real as the person they're portraying as, but it's not really them. That's why he's dead, and Kisame isn't."
"Then where is the real Kisame?" Ten Ten asked.
I shrugged, "How should I know? He's somewhere safe, watching the whole fight from a distance. Now that his little decoy is dead, who knows what he's going to be doing now?" I shook my head, "Kisame isn't our main focus here, Gaara is. We need to find him, and fast."
"What do you think we are working on?" Rock Lee replied.
Ten Ten looked at me with sympathy and concern in her eyes, "Raksha, look, we know you want to find Gaara as soon as possible, you love him, and you're afraid form him. As a Jinchuriki like him, you feel you need to do everything you can to make sure he's safe. And we're working as best we can to get him back, for you and the Sand Village."
I looked at her sharply, she had hit a small nerve, "You don't know anything! Gaara was taken, he's having Shukaku sucked out of him as we speak! And all because I left instead of staying that night. Had I stayed there, Deidara wouldn't have been able to take him. I'm a member of the Akatsuki, other members are like my family. But they betrayed me the moment they held bad intentions towards the one I love most. That's the reason why never wanted to care for others, except Gaara. But I did, and look what happened! If we don't find him soon... Gaara might die..."
A firm hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked up to see Lee, he gave me a confident smile and a thumbs up, "We'd better get moving now then, shouldn't we?"
Giving him a half smile, I nodded in agreement.
"Hold on," Guy said. We were silent for a moment before he spoke again, "I've located Team Kakashi. They say they've found where Gaara's most likely being held, but they can't get in." he listened for another moment and I looked quizickly at Ten Ten. She mouthed 'radio' and tapped her ear, showing the small piece of black machinery inside her ear and all the others.
Guy nodded as he listened, "There must be four others located elsewhere. Neji."
"On it." Neji used his Byakugan and began spouting off the locations of what I'm assuming the other marks of what they have to find...
"I'm completely out of the loop." I said.
Ten Ten looked at me and began explaining, "They found Gaara, but there's a seal. The thing is, there's five of them placed at random at other locations. One's on the boulder sealing the cave, and the other four are elsewhere. Kakashi's team is at the boulder. The thing about this seal, is that all five have to be removed at the same exact time. So Kakashi'a in position to remove the first one, the four of us are going to find the other four. Sakura's in position to destroy the boulder once the seal is removed."
"Raksha, you'll be able to find Team Kakashi by scent from here. There will probably some Akatsuki members inside the cave that they'll need some help with. You go there and help retrieve Gaara. We'll focus on releasing the seal." Guy instructed.
"You don't have to tell me twice." I said before heading off in a hurry. Just as Guy said, I easily found their scents. It took me maybe five minutes to get to them. I had a full blown grin on my face, "You're sure Gaara's inside?!"
Naruto smiled,"Raksha! Yeah, we're pretty sure. You ready to be reunited with your man?"
I blushed slightly and smiled, nodding enthusiastically.
"Come on guys, this is serious. There are other Akatsuki members in there, and they're not going to be easy to beat. Raksha, are you sure you'll be able to fight them when it comes down to it?" Kakashi asked seriously.
I nodded.
"Are you sure?"
"If it means getting Gaara back, I'll do anything." I confirmed.
He nodded once, pleased with my response. Hopping up onto the boulder, in position to take it off, Sakura stood about 15 feet away, fist raised, ready to strike. I noticed we were standing on a small, shallow stream. Boy is it good to be able to manipulate our chakra so we can walk on water.
I felt like I was on a pink cloud. The sounds around me were just a buzz. Finally, I was going to be able to reunite with Gaara, make sure he's safe. And make sure he will stay safe for the rest of our lives.
Kakashi counted down before ripping the seal off. Sakura took a running start and struck the center of the boulder with her fist.
The boulder crumpled to pieces and fell into the water below. After the deprise and rubble had calmed enough for us to see inside, what I saw made me freeze.
Gaara lay on the gorund in the center of the cave, motionless and as pale as a fish's belly. Sasori stood at the end of Gaara's feet. Deidara, the bastard, was sitting ontop of Gaara's stomach, the back of his hand lightly smacking Gaara's cheek, grinning.
The moment Deidara saw me, he froze himself. My eyes never left Gaara's face, though. I couldn't look away. Tears spilled over my cheeks as my worst fear came true in that moment. I couldn't move, everything was numb. Everything was silent as we all took in the scene before us.
I screamed in hearbreaking fury. I screamed for the hurt, the pain, the saddness, and the rage I felt.
Gaara was dead.
AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDDD THERE YOU HAVE IT!!!! They found Gaara, but, alas, he is dead... Poor Raksha... What will happen now? I'll try to update as soon as I can guys! But please, be patient. I still don't have internet so I'll try to get access to it as much as I can. ANYWHOS! VOTE! FAN! COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR READING AND STAYING FANS OF MY SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~ANC