RTK- Lemonade

Chapter 14: Overdose/Tie me to Dusk

There was something in the dead silence of the night that seemed ominous to her. As Ai walked into the Kazekage's quarters, she noticed the candles flicker in fear upon hearing the distant shouts of shinobi. Even Ai could feel it, in her bones, licking around her legs as though trying to catch her; Shukaku's intent flooded the palace with eerie malcontent. The beast was in the shadows, clawing at the walls to get to blood, seeping itself out of Gaara's soul.

As Ai approached the corridor that lead to Gaara's room, she began to hear a rumble, no, a buzzing, a humming in the air, deep and endless, it was a sound she had heard before and it struck a note of fear in her.

The hall outside the Kazekage's room was in chaos; shinobi were running around in a frenzied attempt to get things under control. There were a group of ninja stood at the entrance to the Kazekage's bedroom, Kankuro included, all looked as though they were hesitating before going in to battle. Baki, Kankuro, and three other palace guards seemed to be waiting to enter Gaara's room.

The courtesan walked down the corridor with such confidence that no one dared ask her what she was doing there. Heads turned as men caught sight of those red lips, the thin white gown, those crystal blue eyes, before they remembered where they were and returned to their impending tasks. Ninja ran past her, shouting to one another for new sealing scrolls, cursing themselves for not acting sooner. Ai glided through the mess, to make her way to Gaara's bedroom door. That buzzing she heard earlier was getting louder. It was a familiar and foreboding noise. Where had she heard it before?

"Ai!" Kankuro exclaimed upon seeing the dancer come and stand next to him. "What are you doing here?" But Ai was not listening, she was staring, wide-eyed, at the bizarre and terrifying scene before her.

The Kazekage's figure was barely visible through a wall of spinning sand. The source of the humming heard in the corridor was the sand whipping through the air at such a rapid pace. It was also what was preventing Kankuro and the other ninja from entering the room to help the Kazekage. Clumps of sand were whizzing around the bedroom, around Gaara's figure, marring any view of him. The Kazekage looked like a washed out silhouette, stood, frighteningly silent and unmoving, by his dresser. Gaara's ultimate defence was preventing him from being saved, a bittersweet irony that left Ai's mind racing; what to do, what to do?

"What happened?" She asked Kankuro who frowned as he saw Ai reach across him and remove, from a pile of equipment placed there by other sand shinobi, a kunai. Did she have a plan?

"Gaara lost control. I don't know what- what are you doing?!" Kankuro shouted at her as Ai took the kunai in her right hand and cut the tip of her ring finger on her left hand. Blood trickled like a firework from her skin and Ai held out her bloodied finger to the sand. "Are you mad?" Kankuro grabbed her arm and held her back.

"No." Ai withdrew her arm from his grip and looked at him with such determination that Kankuro did not stop her when she held out her hand to the sand again. Almost as though the glittering mass had a life of its own, it seemed to sense her presence and began to part, making an entrance for her. Sand seemed to rush towards her arm before sensing something and missing the girl by inches. Kankuro and Baki looked on in confusion; why was Shukaku letting Ai through? She lowered her arm as though satisfied with her hypothesis. "I need to borrow some chakra," Ai exclaimed suddenly and Kankuro looked startled for a moment before nodding; she seemed to know what she was doing.

"Jin," he called and another Shinobi came to stand with Ai and Kankuro upon hearing his name. He glanced at Ai in confusion before remembering himself and standing to attention in front of the puppet master.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Let Ai borrow some chakra."

"Of course," Jin held out his hand for Ai to perform a medical ninjutsu but before he even had time to register what was was going on, Ai whispered her thanks and swiped her bleeding fingertip across his forehead. "Wha-?!" Ai put her hand up to his forehead.