Control

Racing Hearts Part 2

You were about a foot away from Sasuke when Naruto jumped in front of you and landed a sharp kick to Gaara's side. You were a little peeved Naruto butted in front of you like that. If you had been any closer the two of you would have hit each other!

You shook your head, brushing your thoughts away. Now wasn't the time or place--right now was a time of action and right now, Sasuke was injured. You weren't sure of the severity of his wounds but the blood dripping from his lips surely didn't foretell anything good.

Finally reaching Sasuke's form, you dropped to your knees beside him and gently touched his shoulder. For the time being, Naruto seemed to have things under control so you could afford to look over Sasuke.

"Where are you injured?" You questioned, looking over Sasuke's hunched-over form.

He was covered in strange black markings...you saw them from afar earlier but had never seen them up close. They were odd... you made a mental note to ask about them later. Right now you were more concerned with finding any immediate wounds.

"I'm fine... you need to leave...You shouldn't be here." Sasuke spoke, his voice strained from the pain he was in.

He then tried propping one of his arms up to push himself off the ground but failed miserably as he collapsed back to the ground with a thump. You shook your head at his stubbornness.

"Yea, you sure look fine..."

"And I can go where I please." You added with a huff as you finished looking over Sasuke. He was bruised and pretty scraped up in some places but otherwise, his injuries appeared to be more internal. You weren't sure if your blood could help with that...or how you could even convince Sasuke to consume your blood just on the theory it may heal him...Yeahhh he definitely wouldn't do that and you weren't about to offer something like that unless you were sure it would work. Just the thought of asking him something like that caused you to internally cringe.

"Sasuke!" Sakura suddenly exclaimed, breaking you from your thoughts as she dropped to the ground beside you. She then proceeded to fret and whine over the dark-haired male.

Sasuke shared a look of utter exasperation with you at Sakura's behavior and a soft chuckle left your lips. The moment was quickly cut short though by Naruto's panicked shouting.

"Guys get up! We have to go!"

You turned to Naruto to see Gaara charging straight past him toward you, Sakura, and Sasuke. Half of his face and body were morphed and disfigured into an animal-like appearance. His eyes were sharp and full of rage as he ran in your direction. You had never seen Gaara like this before...he looked terrifying.

Gaara then made his target clear as he jumped into the air.

"Die Sasuke!"

Like hell you would let Gaara kill Sasuke! You cared a lot about Gaara but the way he was acting was wrong and you wouldn't stand for it. You refused to sit idly on the sidelines while he attacked and harmed your friends.

Quickly, you began weaving your hands together, forming a slew of hand signs as you raised your hand to your lips as Gaara neared you.

"Smoke release! Shroud of smoke!"

You then blew a thick plume of smoke right into Gaara's face as he tried to attack you. Immediately he started yelling and violently coughing as smoke filled his lungs and stung his eyes. He then landed on the tree branch in front of you, his forearm covering his eyes as he roughly rubbed them in an attempt to soothe their stinging. You wasted no time as you began throwing kunai and shuriken in his direction. Unbeknownst to Gaara, you had attached paper bombs to some of the kunai and they immediately began exploding as they flew past him. You internally thanked your past self for already having some of those kunai prepared. It was a trick you had picked up from your uncle during one of your training sessions.