I've known him my whole life, but will we spend the rest of it together?

Chapter 9

~Raksha's POV~

I was hauling @$$ through the desert until I hit woods.

But I didn't even let up then when I began to jump from tree to tree.

All I could think about was finding Gaara and saving him. I'd kill every member of the Akatsuki if I had to do so, nothing would stop me from saving him.

Slowing down, I looked around and noticed my surroundings.

Nothing out of the usual, but something was... off. I could sense another presence nearby, it was familiar but I couldn't pinpoint the exact identity. Whoever it was, they were blocking me from telling who their identity was.

Coming to a complete stop, I was panting by now from how fast I ran from the Sand Village.

Closing my eyes, I tried to concentrate on the being around me. To try and unfold their mask, and put a face to the familiar presence.

Once I realized who it was, however, my eyes snapped open in slight shock,"You might as well come out. You aren't working too hard on consealing your identity."

A shadow emerged from the forest, all I could see was the Akatsuki cloak at first before his face came into view. Red eyes staring at me with no emotion.

"Dad."

Itatchi stood before me, and I knew he was ready to fight me to the death if need be-those were more than likely his orders, to kill me so as not to get in the way of their plans. He was probably instructed to fight me until I was on the brink of death and then drag me back to have Gobi sucked out of me, ultimately killing me for good.

"Raksha, I'm sure you know why I have come." Itatchi said, staring at me.

 I nodded once, getting into a fighting stance,"And I'm sure you know that not even you can stop me. Of course, you've been ordered to try, but it'll do you no good. You know I'll win this."

I saw his eyes soften ever so slightly, before that emotionless barrier came up again. Following my lead, he got ready to fight.

 "I hope you know I will not go easy on you, Raksha."

"Wouldn't want it any other way. Because neither will I, old man."

Without another word, we took off, straight for one another. Once we were in arms length of eachother, Itatchi went for a chop to the neck. I countered it with a block of my upper arm. Without missing a beat, Itatchi brought his leg up in a kick to the spine. I dropped to the ground as his leg narrowly missed my head, and brought my own leg up and swept it underneath his.

We continued to do hand-to-hand combat for a few more minutes before we really became serious. Standing 15 feet apart, we weren't even breaking a sweat.

"Alright old man, it's time to get serious. I need to hurry and get to Gaara. And you're the only thing standing in my way."

"You can try, Raksha, but I have been ordered to not let you go any farther than this."

"Then so be it. I had hoped you would listen to me, and it  wouldn't have to come to this. But you leave me no choice, Itatchi." quickly straightening, I pressed my hands together. Making my palms face the ground, I slowly began to pull them apart. As I did so, the ground started to shake as it pulled apart with my hands. The ground underneath Itatchi's feet started to crumble. He swiftly leaped from the spot, only to land on another patch that had already begun to crumble as well. As he leapt into the air once more, he shot a fireball at me before landing in a nearby tree.

Holding my hand out, the fireball slowed until it rest just above my outstretched palm, and remained there. Locating the tree Itatchi was hiding in, I sent the fireball straight back at him. The tree quickly became engulfed in flames. I watched as Itatchi's form quickly retreated, a trail of fire following him. He landed 20 feet in front of me, his robes set aflame. As the fire ate at the robe, Itatchi threw it off of him and onto the ground, stomping on it in an attempt to extinguish the fire.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to try." Itatchi said in a chiding voice.

"Who ever said I was nice? Or that I play fair?"

"True enough."

We stared at eachother for a few more moments, waiting for the other to make the first move. But I didn't move and neither did he.

We stayed like that for what seemed like forever, until I finally couldn't take it anymore,"Gahh Itatchi, I don't have all damn day for this! Time is wasting, I have to get to Gaara damn it!" sending a series of lightening bolts towards the ground at Itatchi's feet, I ran with the bolts in an attempt to pass him, Itatchi dodged each bolt, but saw right through what I was trying to do. He countered by sending a blast of fire directly at me. I quickly caught it, hurling it straight back at him.

I didn't waste anytime, as much as I hate running away from a fight, if I continued to have it out with him, I would end up killing him and might be too late to save Gaara. And I didn't want either of those things to happen. So I ran like hell while Itatchi's robes had once again caught fire, and the smoke from the grass blinded him.

I didn't look back, and I didn't hesitate. I just ran as fast as I could.

As I continued to run, I debated what would be the fastest way to finding Gaara. Should I allow Gobi to take control and have him sniff Gaara out, if he could? Find each Akatsuki and interrogate them until they gave me his location? Or I could meet up with Kakashi's team again or Guy's team and see if they've found anything out.

None of those sounded too appealing. First, releasing Gobi wouldn't ensure 100% that I would find Gaara, but it would ensure that havoc would rain down upon anyone or anything nearby.

Second, I could find some of the Akatsuki members and torture them, but only if I found the right ones. Which wasn't very likely since Pain would probably be keeping the weaker of the bunch for whatever they're doing with Gaara and sending the others after me, Kakashi's team, and Guy's team so that we don't interfere. That also brings up the problem of running into Deidara and Sasori. They were friends to me, and I didn't want to harm them, either.

Third, I had just left Kakashi so that I could find Gaara faster. Turning back now would only slow things down, especially if I ran into Itatchi again. But then again, if I met up with wherever Guy's team is and find out whatever they know, that could be helpful.

So, I was left with either letting out Gobi, or finding Guy's team.

I went with the latter and hopped up into the tallest tree I could see and looked around, sniffing the air in hopes of catching either Guy himself, Lee, Negi, or Tin Tin's scent.

Not even a whiff of any of their scents around.

Great.

So, what now?

I'm wasting precious time I could be using to stop whatever the Akatsuki have planned for Gaara!

But, how can I do that when I don't even know where they have him held?

Ok, I need to stop for a moment and think.

But it's filling me, just standing here when Gaara's probably somewhere lying injured, in the clutches of the Akatsuki.

I noticed that Gobi was being unusually quiet, especially since I brought up releasing him. He would typically jump at the opportunity and try to get me to agree to the matter.

"You're real quiet, Gobi. Something wrong?" I muttered.

Not at all, he replied, Just thought you'd want to figure this one out on your own, since you do have other options.

"Yeah, except none of those options are anymore appealing than the one including you."

Again, silence. He was starting to irritate me. Right when I could use someone to talk to, the voice in my head stops talking back.

Wonderful.

Ok you guys! I'm sorry its so short and its taken so long, I am rarely ever able to get online anymore. But I'll do my best just for you guys!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOPE YOU LIKED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~ANC