Resonance (Kakashi x OC, Gaara x OC) -- Book 2

Chapter 8: Wands and Wonders

"We cannot afford to send Shinobi after Gaara. Perhaps this is meant to be. Even if Gaara himself would never wish to harm our village, can he really control the beast?" Ebizō said.

"The honored grandfather has a valid point," Keiko heard another voice chime in before Kankurō started shouting.

Keiko walked away from the door and slowly down the corridor, thinking. So. The Sand was just going to defend its borders and abandon its Kazekage. She needed to gather her resources so she could go at these Akatsuke full force, with the help of the Hidden Leaf or without. The Sand was obviously out.

She still hadn't totally recovered from the blood loss. Had she been a human, she might not have pulled through. She knew there were further complications Sakura chose not to tell her. That's what she told herself anyway, she would not admit to being weak.

She would have to hurry to get to the Leaf and back before anyone noticed she was gone. After she reached the edge of the Village Hidden in the Sand, her body began to elongate as she ran. Her eyes glowed red as her face stretched. Her muscles grew as the rest of her body. In seconds she was pounding through the forest between the Sand and Leaf villages on all fours, paws digging into the earth. With a swish of her tail, she bounded into the sky and let out a roaring howl.

She transformed back on the outskirts of the Hidden Leaf. She leaned against a memorial stone, panting. Damn, the effort from her haste was taking a toll. As she stood up, she looked at it wordlessly. The names of the fallen shinobi of the Leaf were scrawled across the surface. Hatake Kakashi would be added to it within the coming days. Keiko choked back the wave of emotion in her throat as she forced it down. Itachi. His name, would they put it on this stone after she was through with him?

She ran her fingers over the textured carving on the black marbled surface. She didn't have time for this. There would be time to mourn when Gaara was safely back in the sand and the Akatsuki destroyed, she seethed.

In the back of her mind, she recalled Kakashi warning Uchiha Sasuke about revenge. She saw it rip Sasuke apart as he threw away his new family in his quest to seek revenge for family long gone.

"This is about more than that," she vowed silently. "The Jinchuriki will never be safe until the Akatsuki are destroyed. If they succeed in their mission, the whole world will be at their mercy, or at the mercy of the tailed beasts if they will not obey their new master."

Keiko expected the streets to be busy, but all was eerily quiet. Then she remembered everyone must be gathering at the mount to watch fireworks for Hokage day. Tsunade-sama had tried to do away with that particular event but Shizune insisted it was good for morale and it honored those that came before her.

Keiko closed the door to her apartment after gathering preparations. She looked down at the wand and wiped it on her fresh kimono. Sparks flew out of the end and she muttered. She hadn't used it since visiting a world where witches and wizards lived in secret. She found that world fascinating. Most of the worlds she had been to, lived with magic and power in the open. She kind of respected the wizarding kind for wanting to blend in with their fellow humans. As she visited these worlds, she never even knew if she would be able to learn their ways or not. She had natural magical and elemental attunement, so she was able to get by in some sense. Much of it was destructive. The wizards were the first that really focused on defenses.

At the edge of the village, she stopped by the water next to an oak tree; their oak tree. She walked past it to the water's edge. She stood feet apart, one behind the other, as she faced her palms to the water. A stream lifted from the surface and bent with her as she guided it to a container on her hip. Satisfied that she was as prepared as she could be, she transformed to her true form again and made for the Sand.