The Fairy's Return

Chapter 4

"Lady Tsunade, I have a question."

Tsunade looked nervous as she nodded for me to continue.

"Why is Sasuke not joining this mission?"

All conversation around me stilled. An eerie silence filling the place. My heart started beating faster, all the pity filled stares making me anxious.

"Mizuki" Tsunade put a hand on my shoulder "Sasuke defected from the village soon after your supposed death."

My heart shattered.

~~~

Mizuki's pov:

My breath hitched at the news. Sasuke was gone. He was a rogue ninja now and that meant that he was an enemy to Konoha. An enemy to me.

A tear slowly made its way down my cheek as I desperately looked at Kakashi, praying that he'd tell me that this was a joke. A stupid joke. That hope faded as he stepped forward to give me a hug.

"I'm sorry I couldn't stop him." He mumbled in my hair.

I cried softly in his vest, my tears leaving a wet spot on the front of his vest. It was true. Sasuke really defected from the village to go to Orochimaru. My stomach churned at the thought of Sasuke having to live with the creep.

After a good minute or so I regained control over my emotions and wiped my tears. I pulled out of Kakashi's hug, a determined look on my face.

I looked up and saw Naruto waving at us as he came running to the gate.

"I believe we have a Kazekage to rescue."

My eyes narrowed in determination as we dashed away from the village.

Hold out just a little longer, Gaara. We're coming.

~~~

"Naruto" I spoke up "Please slow down a bit. Don't break the formation."

We'd been traveling at a relatively high speed for the past hour but Naruto was restless and kept on breaking formation to dash forwards.

"Don't lose your cool" Kakashi spoke "Jiraiya told you not to, remember?"

"Temari!"

We immediately came to a stop next to the casually walking sand nin. She must have not heard the news yet.

Kakashi quickly told her what had happened to her younger brother. After recovering from the shock, Temari and team Kakashi dashed through the trees again.

"Naruto! I told you earlier not to break the formation..."

My teammate was increasing his speed again, causing our formation to break.

"I don't like it!"

I flinched at his tone.

"Even I know why they're after people like Gaara and me. You know it already, don't you Mizuki? That I've got the Kyuubi sealed inside me... Gaara and I both have monsters inside us. That's what they're after. That's what I don't like! They only see us as monsters! Gaara and I are the same, but he had to fight for himself more than I did. Why does he always get the short end of the stick?! I can't be wasting any time getting to him!"

My eyes wavered as teardrops fell from Naruto's face. He wanted to save Gaara more than anyone.

~~~

"Okay, break's over."

I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes. I only got to sleep for a few hours. We cut down on most break's to get to Sunagakure as fast as we could without collapsing from exhaustion.

A sleepy Temari and I sat across each other against some trees. Kakashi had just jumped down from his post to wake us. As I glanced around I couldn't find Naruto.

"Where's Naruto?"

"Up there."

Kakashi pointed to some tree a few metres away from us. Naruto stood on a branch, facing the direction Sunagakure was in. Looks like he didn't get a lot of sleep... I worried about him.

"Let's get going again."

A few hours later we had finally reached the desert where Temari took the lead, as she knew the quickest way to get to the village.

We're almost there, Gaara.

~~~

Luck definitely wasn't on our side. We had to sit in a cave for a few hours, seeking shelter from the sandstorm that raged outside. But nevertheless, we had finally managed to arrive on the third day.

Without wasting a second, we immediately were led into the village and rushed to the hospital. Apparently Kankura had been poisoned. I promised Temari that I'd try to help, but even I can't work miracles.

We skidded to a halt in Kankuro's room. An old lady with a bun on top of her head and an old man with very long eyebrows were seated next to his bed. As soon as we entered the room, the lady jumped up and attacked Kakashi. Naruto only barely managed to fend off the attacks.

"I'll never forget what you did, white fang of the leaf. I shall avenge my son's death by defeating you today!"

Question marks floated around my head. White fang???

"Er.. no you see... I'm-"

"Don't speak!"

The old man leisurely got up from his seat and raised a hand in front of the lady.

"Big sister, take a good look at him. He resembles him closely but this is not the white fang." The old lady narrowed her eyes at Kakashi. "Moreover, the white fang died long ago. Remember? When you got word of it you cried tears of regret since you couldn't avenge your son."

After peering at Kakashi intently, the lady suddenly smiled.

"Gotcha, I was only pretending to have gone senile."

I sweatdropped as the woman started laughing like she didn't just try to kill my legal guardian.

Our attention snapped back to Kankuro as he started groaning in pain again.

"Please let me take a look."

I walked to a make-upless Kankuro.

"Everyone, please give me some room."

As soon as everyone except Temari left the room, I put my hands on his chest. I took a deep breath and focused my magic into my hands.

I cursed quietly as I found the cause of Kankuro's agony. I pulled back a bit.

"They seem to have used a heavy metal-based toxin. It's the type that acts upon the muscles to destroy the cells."

A man scampered into the room.

"Here is list of the toxins. There are a few blank spaces but we got most of it."

I accepted the list and briefly skimmed through it. I bit my lip in worry.

"The cardiac muscle will be destroyed and the heart could stop beating at any time. I can try to neutralize the poison as best as I can, but I don't know if my capabilities are enough. I'll be honest with you. I can't guarantee that I can heal him in time."

Temari gasped in shock.

"Please Mizuki, help my brother."

"I'll try, Temari." I then turned to the door opening where Kakashi, Naruto and the elderly siblings were standing. "I'm gonna start treating him now. This will take a long time so I advise you to go rest in the meantime. Please refrain from breaking my concentration."

Naruto and Kakashi nodded and decided to sit in the corner of the treatment room.

I took a deep breath. This was gonna take a lot of time and a lot of energy.

I placed my hands on his chest, once more channeling magic directly to my hands and from my hands into his body. I hope my training paid off.

Let's do this.