Why Do I Feel This Way?

Chapter Thirty-Two

Author's POV:

      Hana's breathing grew heavy as she held onto Gaara, his scent alone driving her crazy. Gaara kept shaking his head, doing his best to ignore the tantalzing scent Hana was giving off, not to mention the... ahem... growing disturbance in his pants. Instead he used his sand to create a thin barrier between him and her, lessening their touch and thankfully lessening some of the growing urges. He would steal glances at his beloved, only to grit his teeth at seeing the marks all over her body: scratches, bruises, cuts, bleeding from an open wound on her leg, a hickey on her neck from that bastard, and a possible fractured rib.

     Gaara couldn't believe he let this happen to her. He was so ashamed his mate was near death because he couldn't protect her. He blamed himself relentlessly during this entire mission. It's all because of that bastard. He felt like he should have killed him slower, more painfully, in a crueler way. Maybe that would make up for what he was feeling. But one thing was for sure: he would never let this happen again. Hana will never have to worry about this again. Even if the gates of Suna are covered in shinobi, Gaara himself would guard the gates just to make sure this never happens again.

"Gaara! Over here!" Said Kankuro in a clearing. Gaara shook away his previous thoughts as he focused on the mission at hand. As he looked up, he realized all the other bandits were weak compared to their leader. They were already tied up or killed by the.... is that aconite? Gaara quickly noted that this was Hana's doing. He smiled internally at her creative measures to escape... and her devilish measures of revenge.

"Gaara..." Hana whispered. Gaara turned his head and lowered himself to hear her better. "Hiniku, help him p-please..." Hiniku? Gaara wasted no time.

"Which one you know where is Hiniku?" 

"The kid? Said one. "He ran off with her in the woods. Knowing Sora he'd killed off his little brother by now." 

"Thank you, you'll be the one to survive." Said Gaara before using his sand to slit the throats of the rest of the group. The bandit fell back in fear, attempting to crawl away from Gaara's presence. "You will go back to your village and tell your people what the Kazekage is capable of doing to protect his mate. Do not attempt to return to these lands unless you wish to commit suicide. We will kill you all without hesitation. Do you understand me?" His eyes were of bloodlust, wide eyed and unwavering. 

"Y-yes Kazekage-sama!" Said the bandit. Gaara relaxed a bit as the heat were affecting even the strength in his legs.

"Aozora, could you please try to locate Hiniku in the woods? I assume he's wounded so follow the scent of blood." Aozora nodded before shifting into a bloodhound and storming off into the woods. 

"Hey," Interrupted Kankuro. "Aozora said these pills should help you guys, they suppress heats for a bit. Might suppress it long enough for us to stop at an inn or something." Gaara thanked him before feeding one to Hana first and then himself. Slowly but surely he gained strength in his legs. He set Hana down as he began to tend to her wounds. She winced as he wiped her down with the alcohol pads. He kissed her forehead in apology as he wrapped her wounds. The wraps were...avant garde?

"Gaara, I feel like a mummy." She joked, a positive sign her strength was returning. Her wraps were looser than they should have been and they weren't tied correctly to actually stay in place. Kankuro turned to see what happened. He laughed a little and say "the few times I remember you're my little brother. Don't worry Gaara I can do it." Gaara stepped aside, albeit a little grumpy that he couldn't do it right himself. But as long as Hana is properly treated that's all that matters. After she was fully bandaged Hana sat up and held Gaara's hand. "Is it over?"

He held her hand tightly as he nodded. "It's over, we can go home now."

"Well 'technically' home is a four day trek." Added Kankuro. "And seeing everything we've been through, I think we should be-"

"Actually, we could get home in two days" added Hana. "My dad and I just need to rest for a day and the next day we could fly you all home."

Kankuro eyed her for a moment. "Um, no offense but there's no bird big enough in existence that could carry us."

"I never said it was a bird." Interjected Hana as she grabbed a bottle of water. Both of the boys looked at her to elaborate. She finished her few gulps of water before turning to them.

"Let's just say you're in for a surprise." She said with a smile. The boys both opened their mouth to ask a question, but soon closed it and opted not to ask anything.

"Found him!" yelled Aozora in the woods. Gaara quickly responded.

"Bring him here we found more medical supplies!"

"I can't!"

"Why not?!" Answered Kankuro.

"....He's very heavy.." 

Kankuro mumbled "I don't believe this." Before getting up and saying "I'll help you Mr. Aozora." Sometimes you gotta help the elderly  thought Kankuro as he chuckled to himself. When he found Aozora his breath hitched as he took a step back at the sight. A white tiger was on the ground, on its side. And Aozora is willy nilly tending to its injury with a wet rag.

"....Is that a tiger?" Questioned Kankuro, not sure whether to run and help or run for help.

"This is Hiniku, he's so weak he's changed to his natural form. We conserve energy this way. Thankfully this also made the wound a bit smaller. He'll be alright, but there's no way we can haul him out this way."

"Aozora, this may sound stupid... but can't you transform into something that can carry his weight?"

"He weighs like 400 pounds!"

" Isn't your animal the bear? They can carry heavy stuff." Aozora had what looked like a brain fart before saying

"Oh yeah..." He quickly transformed and turned Hiniku to his stomach before trying to shimmy the tiger onto his back. Kankuro aided with positioning the paws and tugging a little to get Hiniku on the center of Aozora's back. They walked back to the clearing to see Hana strong enough to stand again, thanks to a chakra pill Gaara saved for her.

"You weren't kidding when you said he's heavy." Said Hana. Kankuro grabbed the medical supplies as Aozora tried to gently roll the tiger off his back. Hana started to look around the clearing and felt uneasy.

"Hey, when Hiniku is tended to, um, could we maybe go to an inn or head back to the village?" Asked Hana.

"My love, with the chakra we've been using it would be hard to hurry back while still saving chakra in case of another attack. We let one go to tell his village the news. We don't know if they will be coming back soon or if ever." Gaara explained while holding Hana's hand.

"I just, I just don't want to stay here in the woods."

"Why is that mi amor?"

"Did you forget how many corpses we're surrounded by?! I- I'm not used to seeing this much death in one place... it's kind of starting to freak me out a bit.

The three of the men stood there in mild shock. Of course they didn't really care about the bodies because well, all three of them have been in several missions, not to mention the war. But they took the moment to look around the corpses, and they remembered the first time they had to kill, how terrifying it was.

"I'm sorry mi amor, as soon as he is stable we'll move to a different spot. But it may not be too far from here since we still need to rest and heal." Hana thanked him with a soft kiss before going to assist Kankuro with the medical supplies.