Protect Me (Gaara fanfic)

Protect Me: Chapter 8

GAARA'S POV

She was in the Akatsuki. She was in the... She was in... She was... Akatsuki... She... Akatsuki... WHAT?! So that's why she was so different. She came back to kill me or capture me or whatever they wanted to do to me.

I won't let them have you. Her words floated through my mind. I clutched my head. No, she was lying. She had to be.

'No she wasn't! She will protect us!' I groaned in pain at the yelling in my head.

"Please don't get so angry," I muttered. The Uchiha looked at me strangely. Yes, even with an Akatsuki appearance, our battle still was demanded to be seen. No one seemed to care that I was about to lose my last grip on sanity. My sand dropped around me and I looked up at the Uchiha. "Come on." He just stood there, looking at me and I him. Then he moved. He threw two shuriken at me. My sand moved up and turned into a clone that caught them. The it threw them back. The battle had begun!

KURYAH'S POV

I was in darkness. It was suffocating. I was being pulled down. Down to the darkness that was darker than anything I'd ever seen.

Eraba Reta. Eraba Reta. Over and over those words chanted around me. I could feel the kanji carving into my skin, not over, but around the other kanji scars I already had. I tried to open my eyes, but my eyes were sewed shut. There was no sound around me to give me a mental image, but I didn't want any. Sound meant the pain was real. That I was still alive. Suddenly I was being pushed up. It felt like I was rushing through water. The surface came and my eyes popped open and I gasped for air. My eyes quickly snapped back shut at the bright light. I heard movement and a faint image appeared. All I could make out was two very blurry figures.

"Are you awake?" I opened my eyes slowly this time and sat up. I was in my room, on my bed. Itachi and Inazuma-sensei stood close to one another, like they had been talking, but now Itachi was walking towards me.

"Stay....away," I croaked, my voice uneven and...afraid? This caused them both to look at me in surprise. I looked down and realized I was in a tank and shorts. Itachi could see my new scars... I instantly wrapped something around myself, which happened to be my Akatsuki robe.

"Imouto-san, what are those scars from?" I felt my heart clench. I never realized he thought of me as a little sister. I'd never called him my brother in his presence before. I looked at my bed, finding the pattern in the sheet quite interesting, and kept quiet. I felt the change in the atmosphere. Off Itachi came annoyance and off Sensei came curiosity.

"Do you know how she got them?" Sensei asked.

"She told me her aunt gave her most, but she has ones that are old, but not that old. I'd say two years." I pulled my knees to my chest and closed my eyes. I punched the wall with my chakra covered left hand and found that Hidan was no where in the area.

"Nii-san," I whispered. He turned to me. "Hidan did it." I felt anger roll off him.

"When?" he growled. I sighed and gripped my robe tightly.

"When you were gone checking on Sasuke two years ago." I heard an animalistic growl and flinched. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jumped away, across the room. My robe draped closed over me.

"He did more that give you those scars didn't he?" I almost didn't hear him. Almost. I slowly turned and saw the emotionless mask he always had around others. I inwardly cringed. I realized Inazuma was looking between us in suspicion. I turned away from them both and looked at the floor.

"Sasuke and Naruto made it to the final round, although I couldn't stay to see Sasuke's battle," I muttered. "However it seems that Orochimaru got to Sasuke. The curse mark activated during a fight, but he was able to suppress it." I sensed surprise from both of them, but I stayed where I was. I wanted them to leave. I wanted them to be alone. My thoughts wondered to the first person who had ever been nice to me.

'Gaara...' Suddenly there was screaming in my head. I gripped my left temple where it was most painful. An image passed through my mind's eyes. It was Gaara, in a dark place; and arm with electricity sparking was in his shoulder. Gaara was bleeding. I heard Shukaku roar with pain and anger. I gasped and fell to my knees. How could I see what was happening to Gaara?

"Its is the bond you have shared since birth,' Kami explained somehow over the noise in my head. Bond? What bond? What was going on?!

Then it was totally silent.

Not just the screaming was gone though. It was eerily silent. No sound waves met my ears. It was worse than being deaf. I stood up and looked at Itachi. I could see his mouth moving, but I couldn't understand him. It was like my mind refused to comprehend words. All I could do was stare at Itachi, confused, as I felt my left shoulder split open and blood pour down my arm. I could've stopped it, but for some reason my brain wouldn't recognize this fact. My vision started going blurry from blood loss and I fell face down on the floor. What was happening to me?

GAARA'S POV

I was barely aware of what was going on. I could vaguely tell that someone was carrying me. The Uchiha had hurt me. He had gotten through my ultimate defence. Just like Kuryah had. Kuryah... She had kept the name I'd given her all those years ago. Why? Why had she cared enough to do that?

'What's your name? a younger me asked. The girl sitting on the hospital bed shrugged. My eyes widened in disbelief. 'You have to have a name.' She looked down at her hands in her lap.

'If I do, I don't remember it. My aunt and uncle never used it.' I felt anger and something else build up in my chest. How could people be so cruel to a girl who had never done anything? Then I had an idea.

'Hmm... Well can I give you a name?' I saw her hesitate slightly but then nod. I started thinking. 'Ok, let's see... Oh! Kuryah! You can be Kuryah! Do you like it?' She looked at me and smiled. A light, bubbly feeling filled me and I smiled back.

What had those feelings been? At one point, I'd known, but now they were forgotten. She wasn't the same. Why had I cared about her in the first place?

The girl I'd found in the desert on my walk was looking at me with tears in her eyes. I couldn't see fear, but I knew she was scared of me. Everyone was. Then she did something that surprised me. She shook her head no. I asked her why she was crying then. She further surprised me by wrapping her frail looking arms around me. I froze.

'Because you're in so much pain,' she whispered. 

I felt a strange emotion clench at my heart. It wasn't fear, but it was something like it. But then, it could've been fear... I had never experienced it for myself, but I had felt many facets of said emotion from the people around me. Sudden;y I realized that the pain in my shoulder was gone, and that Temari was with me.

"Temari, put me down," I muttered weakly. She stopped on a branch.

"What? But Gaara-" I punched her in the gut before she could finish, and sent her flying into a tree trunk. I could feel her fear of me.

"That's no way to treat your nee-san, Gaara." My head snapped up at the voice. Before me stood a figure in a short black kimono. The left shoulder was pushed down slightly to expose a bandaged shoulder and torso. Long, dark brown hair hung loose.

"Kuryah," I whispered, breathless. Her form looked so pale and even more frail than when I'd first seen her. She looked like a dark angel. Even Shukaku seemed in awe. The girl before me walked along the branch. She stopped less than an arm's length from me. He right hand slowly lifted and her fingers lightly traced the kanji on my forehead. I couldn't move. I was frozen. I was vulnerable.

"You must fight now, but do not lose yourself, Gaara." Then sh was gone. All that was left was a tingling sensation on my forehead. I turned to see the Uchiha, and anger flooded me. He made her go!

"I'm going to kill him," I mumbled. "I'm going to kill the Uchiha!"

The battle had begun.