Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Living Stone	By : Resting-Madness Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Rock Lee/Gaara Views: 2359 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the naruto universe, or the characters involved. I also make no money from this work of fiction.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Naruto couldn't believe that he'd been ordered home to bathe! So he'd sent out fifty clones to help with the repair work, who knew that when they came back the blood, tears, and sweat... mostly the sweat, would come along with them? But did Kakashi really have to do it in front of everyone like that? He'd been enjoying a replenishing bowl of ramen with Chouji, Ino, and Tenten, and Kiba when the masked Hokage-in-running popped his head in with his nose poked out giving the air a hefty sniffing.
"Just when I was beginning to think a septic tank had burst." Harsh. "But it turns out it's just you, Naruto." Double harsh. "Go home and take a bath, and that's an order."
The whole shop erupted with laughter. He couldn't even smooth talk his way out of it, he was snatched up by the scruff of the collar and thrust from the restaurant. Does anyone ever comment on the more than manly smell coming from Maito Gai or Rock Lee? They train all the time, and smell less than rosy when they're done. But he supposed that they didn't decide on a meal before hitting the showers after training. So maybe Kakashi had a point.
Sinking down in the tub, he blew some bubbles with his mouth. Dulled by boredom eyes look over the skim of the water at his knees. There are so many scars there. He actually has a lot of scars everywhere. ...This was why he hated being inactive. The war was still very fresh in his mind. The battles and how they'd stretched on embedded in his memories for the rest of his life. Such strong shinobi's one after the other, gunning for dominance that they even began to attack each other. It was horrifying and traumatizing.
Naruto was sure he never wanted to experience anything such as that again. He was good for now. Filled to the max. It'd be ok with him if the way of the ninja found another way. But he knew that could never be the case. War breeds more war, no matter how long of a stretch there is between it. But he can cheer up; sitting up straight against the back of the tub he grinned. That's right! There would be a stretch between whatever the next big thing will be. And in between that time things are going to be pretty good. He can rebuild severed friendships with people. He can try new ramen ideas from Ichiraku. He can get that second story he's always wanted.
"Yay!" He leaned back comfortably as that dream busied up the frightened spaces in his mind. "Kage bunshin no jutsu." He said calmly.
A clone popped out and grabbed a towel to wrap around its waist. Leaving the bathroom it went into the kitchen and grabbed a small carton of milk bringing it back to Naruto in the tub.
"Thank you." He took the carton before dispelling the clone.
Opening the carton, he took a long drink from it, then set it down on the rim of the tub. It took a moment to balance it properly, then he realized he'd have to hold onto it if it were set there and he instead moved it to sit on on the windowsill. Maybe he needed this break after all. He has been working really hard since the war ended.
"Better get out soon," Naruto splashed his hand through the water. "Water's turning cold."
A knock on the door caught his attention, and out popped the same clone- towel and all- to go see who's at the door. He muttered to himself about clone abuse when passing through the small home. Pulling open the door he was surprised by the visitor.
"Neji?"
Noticing right away it was a clone, the visitor spoke to it anyway. "Have you heard anything from Lee or Gaara recently?"
"Mm? Gejimayu and browless?"
"Lee was supposed to be back in Konoha by mid-day, the evening is approaching and no one's heard from him or seen him all day."
"Maybe he stayed over with Gaara," smirked the clone with his pinky up, giving it a wriggling back and forth for suggestion.
Narrowing his eyes, he brushed past the clone. "If he were staying over he'd of given notice. Where's Naruto?"
"In the tub." The clone replied, with the accusing pinky now digging wax from his ear. "Taking a bath."
Marching through the house he opened the bathroom door, not at all surprised when blond leaped out of his skin assuming whomever was at the door wouldn't come in once the clone passed the message on.
"Ne- Ne-" He stuttered as he reached for a towel not there; deciding instead to cup himself, he finished his sentence. "Neji!? What are you doing here?"
"I came to ask if you've heard anything from Lee or Gaara recently?" Neji didn't care whether Naruto was fully dressed, submerged in water, or the nude he is now. His interest lay elsewhere and he wasn't a voyuer. "He was supposed to be here by now, but it's getting late and no one's heard a thing from either saying otherwise."
Still embarrassed, he relaxed his frazzled state when taking in what Neji said. "Maybe Lee stayed in Suna?"
"He would have said something, at least to Gai."
Neji didn't need to say especially to Gai, not when everyone knows the pairs bond has grown since Lee nearly witnessed his mentor's death. Not even Naruto had been there when Jiraiya had met his end. He could imagine the hyperactive-ninja would be irreparably damaged by something so tragic.
A frown marred Naruto's face, having close to the same thoughts as Neji on the matter. "Was there anything in his last letter that might say where they could have stopped. Maybe they got distracted by something, or each other. Couples do that you know." Uncovered, he walked casually past a suddenly flustered Neji. Flustered, by Naruto's implication that he's never 'coupled' before.
"I didn't think to look." And he hadn't. Lee says a lot of things in his letter, he mostly skims through them. He'll be sure to check once he's at home.
"Oh! Wait!" Naruto emerged from his bedroom fully-clothed and holding the last letter sent by Lee. "I remember, he said they were going to Tea for a light snack. They could still be there if you're going to check."
"Thanks. It's a place to start." Replied Neji. "Can you tell Gai I've gone to look, if you see him?"
Nodding, he gave his friend some assurance. "Hope it's for nothing. See ya."
Neji nodded to the assurance and the departing words before walking out. He heard Naruto chastising the clone for taking the one clean towel from him before he dashed off.
Hyuga Neji had to force himself to worry. He honestly did. He's never once worried about a single member of his team, knowing they're beyond capable of taking care of themselves should something come up. Would he help them out if the situation got out of hand, no question. But he never worried. And he held pride in that knowledge. That fact. So going all the way out to Tea Country in order to check on Rock Lee's whereabouts for his former sensei, was something he had to catalogue as just that. Something he's doing for his sensei's worries. But still... There was that deep down feeling that something was wrong. Lee is punctual. Always. And if he'd made other plans, he'd let you know about it. So either the messenger bird was apprehended or Lee was.
"Ready to go?" Tenten asked her fellow Jounin when appearing at the front gate, travel-pack on and light gear inside.
She's worried about their teammate. And is not about to have the same conclusion as Neji that Lee is perfectly fine, and sipping tea with the Kazekage having simply lost track of time. Lee can be absent-minded when it comes to his own troubles. He's left the hospital prematurely more times than she can count. He's trained when he's been strictly ordered bed rest. And don't get her started on being sick. Lee was notorious for acting like nothing's wrong. So if things were all right they'd full-well know about it.
"Yeah, we need to be qui-.."
"Wait!" Came Gai's voice behind the pair.
Turning slightly around, Neji spoke to the man approaching them. "You can't come with us, Gai. You're retired."
Hurtful words, but very true. Since losing part of his leg and recovering from near-death, the man wasn't even asked to "Take it easy", he simply took it when needed. Thankfully the medical teams were on-the-ball with healing the injured, and the hospitals in neighboring villages took them all in while Konoha's hospital building was being reconstructed. Gai was laid up for a long time, giving him even longer to think whenever his sobbing then chipper, then sobbing precious pupil came in for visits. His days of youth had to be shelved, it was time to retire and pass the torch. Though his mind still remained vibrant and sharp, his body wasn't. He'd actually been on his way home from the work he'd done today, but seeing Neji and Tenten he had to speak to them.
"No. I only wanted to ask that you bring someone with you. Kurenai, or Shizune... Lee might be hurt."
"Gai-sensei," sighed the kunoichi. "I've got medical supplies, and even if something had happened to Lee, he's with Gaara. I'm sure he'll have protection." Funny she could say that to her former sensei but she couldn't quite convince herself of it. Not yet.
"Tenten and I are both Jounin, and I've been on more S-rank missions than there are leaves in on the ground during Fall. We can handle whatever happens."
Gai couldn't deny the truth of that statement. Neji is a genius after all. But Neji was also taken away from them during battle, and he, Maito Gai, had almost joined him- even having had back-up. No, it's better he believe in the best. The war is over. Peace has come to the land of the shinobi.
"Good luck." Said the man reluctantly.
Both gave him an assuring nod before they disappeared.
x x x
Gaara watched Lee carefully once stepping into the spacious room beyond the bashed open doors; he expected more machinery to be here, not just along the walls. Aside from the large dome in the center of the room holding what looks like diluted blood. The Kazekage also expected there to be a cluster of lab coats milling about. There were men in lab coats alright, along with the soldiers sent in to defend the scientist. They're taking up more space in the room than the means to make such a powerful gem. All of them felled by Lee.
The sea foam gaze travelled up Lee's body; the chakra flowing inside of the Leaf-nin was massive, it's seeping from his pores in a black mist that looks like small tentacles wriggling about the space around his body. He was volatile, the slightest breeze would cause the Leaf-nin to burst.
'Damn, Kerai.' Gaara glowered, sliding his gaze to the camera that's undoubtedly watching them. Studying them. Lee to be more precise. 'I have to knock him out.' Is the Kazekage's plan of action.
It seemed the only way to gain control over the situation without killing Lee- not that that was even an option. But it would be tricky. He's proved time and again even when knocked out Rock Lee will fight. And Gaara can see the nothingness in Lee's eyes. Solid white like he's possessed. And considering what's happened to him, he may as well be. If the souped-up shinobi is unconscious and Gaara should hit him without knowing... It could kill him, at best put Lee in a coma. He won't take the risk, he has to be careful.
Gaara was unnerved at the idea of moving, knowing that one wrong step might set Lee into attack mode. Maybe if he moved carefully? Kneeling he clapped his hands together, and after a quick apology to Lee, he commanded from his sand. "Sabaku Shigure."
Lee vanished, avoiding the sand cloud forming over his head that's ready to rain down shards of sand that would have done quite a bit of damage had he been hit. His attack aim was for behind Gaara; the unsuspecting male was alerted to the danger when his automatic barrier went off when taking the hit. It was fine if Lee wanted to tire himself out by attacking his barrier, Gaara wasn't using that first attack to harm Lee, it was the next one that would do the damage, he just needed more sand.
"Ryusa Bakuryu!"
The concrete beneath them began to tremble. The clumps of sand from before spread out and swirled around and around chiseling away at the concrete creating fine particles of dust for him to add to his sand. The waterfall attack grew and spread out until it was like an ocean during a storm, causing thunderous crashing waves slamming about the room. And while Lee had been trying to get a land on Gaara he wasn't able to see the first wave coming at his left. The curl of sand knocked him clean into another and another, but it would seem two could play at that game because Lee used a substitution to avoid the next wave.
That's when he was able to move in past the Suna no tate. And though Gaara was wearing armour, his automatic had to face Lee's incredible speed once again as the male launched him into the air. The kicks and punches and elbows to the side came so quickly an onlooker- and there is- can only see Gaara suspended in the air not moving, Lee would make blur giggle at the speed he's moving. But instead of breaking into a lotus he spat a jutsu.
"Mizu bunshin no jutsu!"
The sand was still making attempts on Lee, swiping for his limbs or torso when it caught up to him. A curl of sand swirled into the air like a mini typhoon snagging him, finally, around his left ankle. Dragging him down, sucking him in. The more Lee struggled the more stuck he became. It felt as though the quicksand had tar blended within its granules. But Lee had luckily summoned water clones who're now darting for and shattering through the sand like it's nothing special.
Gaara hid away beneath the sand that's settled on the floor, the surface grains are still going after the power-packed shinobi. His third eye is hovering in a corner of the room watching over the fight. He's got to find an opening so he can hit Lee hard enough to knock him out, with the water clones diving in and out of his sand freeing Lee from any entrapment Gaara manages, it won't be easy.
Done with defending and dodging, Lee folded his arms together and spun himself like a drill. "Kiyanondoriru!"
As the attack is named Lee became a drill moving with the strength and speed of a canon ball. It differs from the Gatsuga by a hair; this attack is at such a speed it can break through stone and steel in a single shot, so for a body to take the hit it's like turning the opponent's body into a sack filled with bone dust. So when Gaara was hit by Lee his armour shattered instantly, he'd been hit hard enough to go flying from the armour like he'd been launched from the casing. The Sand-nin's back hit the wall sending him through it.
Wincing from a fractured, hopefully fractured and not full-on broken rib, Gaara turned on hands and knees then crawled through the air duct he'd broken through. Getting his wits about him, a swath of sand wrapped around the male's legs helping him with a boost of speed to move away from his pursuer. Lengths of water whipped past Kazekage's face, the liquid gathered at the end of the metal tunnel to bar it off from his escape before it slid down the pipe towards him. His exit gone, Gaara shattered the tubing beside himself, and in a quick swoop he ducked out the hole he'd made going into the room below.
Kerai was practically giddy watching the showdown between the pair. He'd been more than put-off when they'd disappeared into the ventilation pipes, but luckily they didn't stay inside for long as the wet/dry match resumed for his viewing pleasure. He's never seen such speed, such agility and strength as the pair engaged in hand to hand combat. The bob-haired young man was blasting off water attacks as though he'd been born that way, and Kerai found himself at an applaud when a long stretch of wood shot from the floor bashing the Kazekage against his spine. It's a godsend that this thick-browed shinobi should just pop up out of nowhere and just hand himself over for his experimental use.
'And just think of when I unleash him on the neighboring villages.' His smile was so broad the corners of his mouth curled.
Gaara can bend mud, but barely. So when the room was flooded with water he had to go in for a Plan B, because the wet sand wouldn't be strong enough. "Lee.. This isn't you. Look at what you're doing?" His ashen voice spoke through exhaustion. He's never had to battle a multitude of elements before. Especially when each one selected is able to take him down so completely.
"What... Now that we're on an even playing field suddenly you're afraid of me?" Lee snarled. "I can be a threat to the great Kazekage," he summoned a team of water clones. "It's time you and the rest of the ninja world realize just how powerful I am."
The water clones threw senbons made from water at the Sand-nin, who defended himself with a kunai, but he still wound up taking one slice to the leg from a missed deflect.
"Not on your own, it's a false power that'll lead to a false victory." Gaara watched the clones; he's already getting his armour back in place after having it stripped from him by those clones. They took him apart like a puzzle when Lee entered the room after him. And they'd do it again and again. He's weaponless in technique, and powerless in physical ability. "What happened to being counted for your own strengths? Your shinobi way?"
"It died with the idea of peace." Snickering, Lee disappeared and once again Gaara was sent in a tailspin from a kick to the face.
The Kazekage wiped the blood from his split open cheek, the sting from the swelling bruise gone ignored as he took in the situation. That's it!
"Come at me, Gaara... As equals.. No," he corrected himself. "Come and meet your match."
"You were always a match for me," retorts Gaara. "But now... Now you're just a weak pathetic fool."
"Shut up..."
"With borrowed power!" He clenched his throat so as not to be choked out by the firm grip around his neck. "I'm so..."
A gathering of sand shaped itself like a mallet over Lee's head, then it dropped its weight down bashing the unsuspecting male right over the head knocking him unconscious.
Relieved, Gaara lowered Lee to the soaked floor where the wet sand was accumulated high enough to poke out from the water. After checking the male's vitals, he looked at one of the camera's. 'And now for Kerai.'
0 0 0
The door of the tea shop slid over. It was the third one they've checked so far, and so far no one's seen Lee.
Tenten walked over to the counter, smiling at the woman who greeted her in the same. "Excuse us, we're looking for our friend and were wondering if you'd seen him? His name is Rock Lee, he's travelling with the Godaime Kazekage Gaara."
"Aah, the eccentric young man with the big eyebrows?" The woman pointed a finger in the air as if to point at the lightbulb over her head.
"That's him!" Tenten called over to her former teammate. "Neji, she's seen Lee!" her attention back on the shopkeeper. "We've been looking for him, did you happen to overhear where he was going from here?"
"No." Seeing the girl's posture slump, she reaches beneath the counter for a box filled with items. "This is our lost and found, he was in the middle of writing something and left it on the table. A postman came in and handed something to the Kazekage, they left shortly after that. It was too late to give this back to him before they disappeared."
Tenten took the note, reading it with Neji at her side doing the same.
"He's gone to Rain." He said outloud. "It doesn't say why, but I can guess it's because of something important to Gaara." Walking to the exit, he wonders to himself as he goes. "Could they still be there?"
"It's possible. Amegakure isn't known for their trusting disposition." Replied Tenten with unrequested feedback to an unasked question. "Maybe they got held up."
"We should check it out, at least."
Pocketing the note, she followed Neji into the dimming light of day.
0 0 0
"Very good, Kazekage," Kerai said into a microphone that boomed his voice over a loudspeaker. "But what are you planning on doing about them?"
The double doors sprang open in a blow, a spill of shinobi scurried into the room poised with kunai ready to strike. Gaara was not in the mood, he was bruised and bleeding and over it all. The drying sand shook on his command and swarmed around him like a pile of hornets until it accumulated more and more forming an outward image of Shukaku. The sand wrapped around Lee as well, carrying the unconscious male comfortably in the tail while Gaara sat up front at the steer.
The men gauged the makeshift beast, knowing that while Gaara's had the creature extracted from him by the Akatsuki a couple of years back he's no less dangerous then he was before. A roar came from it's sand-toothed grinning mouth before a plethora of shuriken went flying towards them. As the men dodged the spray of violent sand stars, Shukaku went running towards them at full speed before dropping onto its belly and spinning like a top about the room slamming into the distracted men. The replica's hands are enlarged pounding four men, two beneath each clawed paw, into the wet sandy floor. Behind him the remaining three of the seven shinobis. They threw senbon at his back, sending a jolt of electricity through a long stretch of wire once the needle points took anchor.
They hadn't expected lightning rods to protrude through the sand monster's back, and they didn't expect the pulverizing claws to reach back and grab the wires. Gaara almost swung them into each other but missed his chance by their simply releasing the cords in their sign-woven hands. Not wanting to rattle Lee more than he is, the clone of Shukaku spun on them shooting a ball of wind at them knocking them away and against the wall. Gaara chose that moment to make his escape, and with one great leap he smashed through the ceiling and into the next room then the next until he was out in the darkened city making his way to safety.
Kerai watched the departure with full amusement. The Kazekage could escape with his prized catch if he liked. Because the side effect of the stones is not one to be taken lightly. 'I can see the villagers of Suna gathering around to help the young man, not knowing they've allowed a living bomb into their midst.' There, of course, was the risk of the male staying in Rain, but that seemed unlikely with how worried the red head had been about his friend. 'Looks like it's on to the next one.' He recalled the Leaf-nin's words to Gaara when they were fighting, about how they were finally on an equal playing field. 'Or perhaps he isn't a lost cause after all. These simpletons of Rain like to get a stone and play shinobi for a day or so, as long as the stone lasts few want the power for anything outside of fun. But that young man proved different.'
Turning off the monitor he sat in a chair behind a desk at the back of the room, fingers steepled in contemplation. 'Sawada died from the stone he'd been given. But he was a mere mortal, couldn't take it. Not like this one... I have to get him back.'
Shukaku leaped from roof top to roof top until they landed at Sawada's home. He couldn't go to the hotel where people knew outsiders to be shacked up, and he certainly couldn't take Lee to Miyamoto's. If Sawada has become invisible to everyone but the little boy, hiding out in his home was their only solution. He wants to get Lee back home as soon as possible, but he knows once his eyes open Lee will demand they head back to Rain and help the young boy find his brother. Whatever happens is going to have to be here.
'There could be a discrete doctor somewhere here, who can help Lee.' Gaara mused. 'And if not, I can brandish some of my positive Lee'enforcement and make him help in secrecy.' With a soft thump the molding of sand lands before the battered and forgotten man's home.
Shukaku slithered up to the door knocking, he hoped Miyamoto was still inside. When the wooden door slid open, easily as he doesn't expect any danger in this neck-of-the-woods, he received the scare of a lifetime upon seeing the short beast at his doorstep.
"Haaaaa!"
Gaara's face emerged from the face of Shukaku and placing his own finger to his lips he says. "Ssshhh, it's me."
Calming himself, he stepped back from the door while keeping a frightened eye on the mass of dissolving sand. "What happened to Mr. Lee?" He wondered. Seeing Lee sliding across the floor through the house on a sheet of sand, he gasped. He recognized that look. The aching expression, and the swelled limbs. Lee took a stone, and not one of the one-of-the-mill ones that don't last but a week or so. This was the blood stone with Kekkei Genkais. "When did he take that?" Miyamoto asked in a frightened squeak.
"I'm not sure." Lee is place on the couch, then Gaara turned to the child. "Is this going to happen to Lee as well?" He nodded to Sawada, barely conscious in the bedroom where the child had moved him to sleep.
"If he took the big one, yes. I don't think anyones body can handle what those stones can do." He burst into tears. "It's not fair!"
"Get a hold of yourself, I won't allow Lee to die." Gaara took a seat at the kitchen table, at a loss of how to convince even himself that that's the absolute truth. "Now Tachibana said the stones don't last very long, but she doesn't know about the larger ones, I'm guessing."
Miyamoto shook his head. Wiping his tears he joined Gaara at the table. "Few do."
"Is there a doctor in town, someone who maybe treats you whenever the town's people become to violent." If they all believe the boy a pest, surely it branched further than a couple pissy neighborhood lums. Even the bartender thought the boy trouble. "He needs to see a doctor to make sure his vitals are all right."
"There's doctor Kaomi, but he lives on the South side."
"You'll have to be quick then, to and from. I can't risk going back out, Kerai could be looking for Lee or me."
"I'll be as fast as I can," he ran a hand across his eyes and nose to clear his sadness then got up from the table.
'What should I do until then, there has to be something...'
"Huwwwaaa!" Lee's body convulsed on the chair. He'd arched so hard Gaara thought the male would take flight to the ceiling.
Out of his seat and at the male's side, Gaara tried holding Lee down to keep him from twisting too much. Lee's teeth are bared as if he's holding something back, and by the time his convulsions have stopped the Leaf-nin's nose is bleeding heavily into the couch cushion. The leaking dark smog receded back inside Lee's pores.
'It's as if the techniques are trying to escape him whether he commands them to or not.' It was like a light bulb had gone off. Maybe if Lee used up all of the stone's abilities, he'd be rid of it like all the other villagers who thought the power was expended after a point to have them buy more to inflate the economy. Could it really be possible?
Gaara sure as hell was going to give it a try, anything would do to stop Lee's next wave of pain. But he had no way of knowing them, not all of them. There must be a book in the archives, even forbidden jutsus are known to studious shinobis. So it can't be all up in the air.
"I'll be right back," he says to the trauma-lapsed male, not knowing whether he's heard by him or not. "Henge." He poofed into a young man with black hair and brown eyes with a spray of freckles across his face. The pancho was a nice touch too. 'Noone's going to recognize me like this.'
Ten minutes later Gaara met Miyamoto at the door with a tall thick man wearing medical clothes. He had to explain to a library clerk that he was researching jutsus because he was planning on buying a stone, he wanted to be sure he got the best of the best. The woman laughed, telling him he wasn't the first to request the book and that something once obsolete is now on order for a few more prints. Gaara felt sick as he realized the ninja world wasn't the only one suffering corruption. He checked out the book and hurried back to Sawada's.
"What happened to him?"
"He took a stone and it's not agreeing with him." Explained the male still in disguise.
He couldn't risk changing back should this doctor be under the influence of Kerai's delusions as well. You never know what goes on outside when you're walled up. This man could be approached and rat out a red-harried, sleep deprived young man travelling with a bob-haired, bushy-browed, and sickly looking shinobi. He could only hope the wet towel he wrapped around Lee's head disguised him enough to keep his cover.
"I need you to check his vitals, that's all. Don't stick him with anything without running it by me." Gaara crossed his arms daring the man to object.
The doctor nodded, and became brief with conversation as he checked Lee over: heart rate, breathing, temperature. The doctor wanted to take a blood sample to get a more accurate reading but he was refused. They all braced themselves when Lee began screaming and convulsing again.
"I'd like for him to take this, it'll help relax him. His heart rate is off the charts." The doctor showed Gaara a slip of paper that held a couple pills. "I don't think your friend should have messed with something he didn't fully understand, it might have killed him."
"It wasn't his choice."
"You mean someone did this to him?"
Gaara didn't say who. "It happened a short while ago, maybe an hour."
"Has he thrown up? It could still be in his stomach, if it were a large piece." The doctor helped Lee to sit up. "He isn't the first person to come in complaining about those Chakra Stones. It's usually from people who've had them longer than a week or so, others said they took something brown with some bloodline nonsense... Frankly the whole craze just seems like political propaganda to try something new with a smile on your face."
"You don't think the stones are for the better?" Asked the Kazekage.
"Not if they do things like this. Experimental drugs are tested on people who've volunteered, that have healthy immune systems. They're not just handed out like a prize at a festival- can you get me a bucket, please?" Opening Lee's mouth, with two fingers he rams them down to the back of the male's throat once the bucket was in place.
The sickly male vomited everything from his stomach into the bucket and once done he's laid back down on the couch.
"Best I can suggest is to ride out the side effects."
Wiping Lee's mouth, Gaara inquired. "What are the worst to expect?"
"I haven't seen anything as bad as one of my former patients, sadly he died. For the most part the side effects are vomiting, high fever, and dehydration. Your friend is inconclusive without a trip to the hospital."
There was a large hesitation there; Gaara was sure Doctor Kaomi was talking about Sawada as the patient who'd died. The man isn't dead, more like disappeared. And he's not exactly better for it. He's little more than a shrunken, dried root.
"I'd like to try something first, if that doesn't work than you can take him to your clinic."
"Good call. He's sleeping now," explained the doctor. "You just allow him to rest, and if his condition hasn't changed bring him in."
Nodding, Gaara walked the man to the door and whispered to him just before he walked out. "You won't tell anyone about this."
The man sensed it was neither a question nor a request. Seeing a strange look in the young man's cheerful brown gaze, he nodded then hurried away from the slums and back to the main sector of the city.
Turning to child. Gaara says. "Make Lee some soup, please. I'm going to read for a while."
Nodding, Miyamoto got to work on the soup. Walking over to the couch he took a seat on the floor, removing the book from his pocket. Back to his normal appearance, he cracked the cover but couldn't begin to read. His attention went to the bucket at his side. Fishing around the contents of Lee's stomach he located the stone that was inside of him.
'It's this small? Or perhaps its dissolved more than I thought it would in such a short time.' Sighing, he crushed the stomach acid weakened stone in his palm into dust. It would probably be a matter of time before Lee's bones did the same thing as the stone just now, turn to dust.
0 0 0
Tenten finished the last of her water, and her dinner of fish and pickled radishes was already taken down twenty minutes ago. She doesn't want to sleep, but seeing as Lee had been in the middle of writing a letter to Gai-sensei about his going with Gaara to Rain, it wasn't a long battle from Neji to convince her that they needed a rest. Maybe they should have traveled by cart. A smile spread across her face at the thought of Neji travelling like a common merchant. Her refined friend would sooner run along side it like a body guard than sit inside as a passenger.
Cleaning up the dishes he'd used to eat with, Neji then grabbed a bucket to fill with water from the river to put out the fire. The sooner they recharged with some sleep the sooner they could get back on the road, confirm that Lee's ok, then head home with him. Gai wouldn't have it any other way. And hearing that the man is worried Lee would come along willingly. They may even come across them here in the sort of crossword between Konoha and Amegakure and not have to bother going into the dreary village at all.
Water swam into the bucket like it were alive and waiting to stop the endless journey to wherever the river met a stand-still. Lifting the bucket from the water, Neji's frosted gaze looked across the river to the other side. Walking across the rush rather, than through, he spots foot prints in the dirt at the river's edge, and another imprint that he decidedly ignored since it looked like the length of a body with the legs at the wrong side. But one set of foot prints was far less pronounced than the other. He's seen this before. Because of the weights around his ankles, Lee makes very deep foot prints whenever he walks the earth, he may even make them in the grass though they aren't seen. Obviously.
'At least we know they were here.' Thought the male returning to his own camp.
0 0 0
Lee's eyes opened slowly, and his bleary gaze stared at the ceiling while they waited to clear. To adjust. His body ached all over. Each limb numb but burning, his skin leathery and sweaty. Even his mind was paste. Extreme discomfort knocked him out cold for an hour and a little more. Aside from drowsy, he doesn't feel nearly as horrible as his battered mind and body can recall.
A frown on his face, he spoke over a crackling throat. "Gaara,"
Turning around from his position on the floor before the chair, the relieved red head set down his book. "Don't speak. Can you sit up?" Hand on Lee's chest, he slid the other beneath Lee's back and assisted his grunting love to a sit. "Miyamoto, put some soup in a bowl."
Like a soldier put into action, Miyamoto salutes the Kazekage then sets to work ladling soup into a bowl.
Returning his attention to Lee, Gaara asked. "Just gesture, how are you feeling?" He put a hand to the male's forehead.
Taking a hold of that hand Lee lowered it to rest between them on the couch. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, you didn't want this."
He gave the Sand-nin a weary look.
"Maybe you did want it, but not force-fed... And certainly not a failed attempt." Taking the bowl from the idling child who approached the couch, he spoons some into Lee's mouth. "Kerai won't be alive much longer; once I beat the cure from him, he'll be of no use to me or anyone anymore."
"Gaara, you can't do something like that. I'll make things bad between Ame and Suna."
"Then they shouldn't have messed with you." The bitter red head glared in defiance.
A faint smile spread across Lee's saddened face. "Some one's always going to 'mess with me', but I can defend myself." He took down a spoonful of soup. "I have to defend myself." Taking the spoon from his nursemaid, he stirs it thoughtfully before taking another bite. "How will I achieve my ninja way if someone always comes to my rescue the moment my opponent lands a punch?"
Gaara could only stare at Lee. The Leaf-nin had to realize that when it came to them, Lee has no choice but to be protected. He'd do whatever it took, even if he lost his own life in the process. Bowl off his lap, and task of feeding no longer his, Gaara grabs the book from the floor.
"I think we can remove the absorbed chakra from your system through expelling it."
"Mmm?" Asked Lee through a closed mouth filled with potato chunks and chicken and broth.
"Before it can do more damage to your own chakra, you need to use every jutsu in the book." Gaara explained. "The stone might become drained of it's attachment."
Setting the bowl down onto his lap, Lee vigorously scratched his right arm. It feels like worms are crawling around inside of him, under his skin. A pained sound choked from his mouth, before he spat his love's name.
Standing, Gaara kept himself calm hoping it would have a calming effect on Lee as well. "We need to get you outside," he pressed his index and center finger to his eye. A ball of sand formed into an eyeball then flew out the window to look around. "Use a transformation jutsu. Keep changing until you feel better, that might stave it off for now."
"Hnnnn..." His teeth bared through the pain. And through a gritty and dry throat he muttered. "Henge."
While Lee went from himself to his form, to Maitou Gai, and Neji; Gaara used the chance to search for cameras with his third eye. He only hoped if he had to destroy some they didn't draw attention by whomever is monitoring them. Even if it's the police, their checking it out could result in Kerai finding not only Lee but his first failed attempt Chouji Sawada. Whose body already blew a fuse and remains little more than a shriveled rag of a human being. The area seems to be completely isolated of humanity, nothing more than trash and a couple homes- one of the two being Sawada's. Returning his eye, he reached out to Lee helping him from the couch.
"Bring a blanket outside, if you have one." The Kazekage asked of the little boy.
The pair walk out into the backyard followed shortly by the kid with a rough blanket. He held it out to Gaara then watched with extreme interest. If this helps Lee then... Well, no. Sawada's probably long since missed his chance. His being alive can't even be considered a blessing to count, because what exactly is there for him?
Lee's pained scream echoed through the alley, alerting no one. Not yet. He wriggled and writhed within Gaara's grasp. The Kazekage is sitting on the concrete street, and with the blanket he covered the fevered male.
"I know, I know." He whispered trying to be soothing. "Just try to relax, and repeat after me." His hand rubbed up and down the pained male's torso and chest. "You know my attacks, go through them all with me. Squeeze my hand when you need to stop."
Lee heard Gaara's words over his screams, and with a nod he spat out the first technique. "Sa..Sabaku k.. kyu.."
Miyamoto was thoroughly spooked when a chair took the assault and rose into the air in a cake of sand. He's never seen anything like it.
"Good, and the next one." Comments the coach.
The command came and the chair was crushed into the size of a juice can, dropping to the warm ground. Lee then went into a fire attack, but after the flaming ball passed his lips, he leaned over around Gaara's knees to throw up the little bit of soup he'd eaten. Why didn't it hurt this much when he first used it? As ig that would have mattered. He truly had wanted to out a stone, and no matter how it happened he's to blame for the prices of pain. When the pains calmed down, he released the grip on Gaara's hand and knee, then began again.
Night had been long, but the dawn came quickly and with it the search party made their ways along the last stretch to Rain.
x x x
"We're looking for two people who've come here recently," Tenten said to the guard when reaching the gate around 10 o'clock in the morning. "Are they still inside?" Tenten showed the large man the cards with Gaara's and Lee's photos on them.
"Haven't seen 'em." Said the guard, not even looking at the photos.
"But we have a note that says this is where they've gone." Protests the kunoichi.
"I'm telling you," he swats at the cards held up to his face. "I haven't seen them, if they came here they're probably gone by now. And you should follow their example."
Neji turned his glaring eyes from the man and looked instead at the village gate, or rather he saw through it. With his dōjutsu he saw merchants, refugees, civilians- of you could call them that- and there just at the far reaches of the city he saw through the man's lie. Blinking his vision back to normal, Neji turned to his teammate and the uppity guard.
"Tenten, we should go. They're not here."
Looking rather smug the man snipped. "Told ya. Now get lost."
Leading Tenten away Neji then spoke quietly to her. "I saw them at the back of the city, the guard lied."
"But why?" Brows furrowed, she looked over her shoulder at the grim bastard.
"I think something happened to Lee," he looked back over at the entrance into town. "His chakra channels looked strange."
"Strange?" Blinking Tenten scanned the wall for a point of access.
"I don't know what happened, but it must be bad and they're trying to cover it up."
Now they're both glaring at the guard who's suddenly glaring right back.
Lee was exhausted, one more jutsu and he'd be finished. But his pains had stopped, the vomiting too. He had a feeling he'd suffer again once his chakra replenishes, but right now he just wants to sleep.
"It's going all over town!" Miyamoto hurried around to the back of the house, out of breath and in a panic. "Kerai is declaring you guys upstarts, and he's asking the townspeople to bring you in! They think you're trouble- dangerous!" Slumped over he waited to catch his breath before speaking again. "They're even offering a reward of 20,000 ryo."
"Relax, Miyamoto," Gaara spoke calmly though his stress level had just spiked. This was not good. "Lee's symptoms have calmed down, we can go back inside." He slid his legs from around Lee's hips then lifted him bridal style. "Will you get the door?"
The young boy pulled open the back door and helped Lee inside, well, he mostly patted the older man's shoulder. But help is what it is even in th simple form of comfort.
"The announcement started just now, pretty soon everyone is gonna be looking for you guys."
"They can find me," comments the Kazekage walking to the door. "I need to find your brother, and Kerai needs to answer a few questions for me." He left out the fact that he's then going to kill him. No need to make the kid more distressed than he is.
"You're going alone?"
"I have clones." The front door is tugged open and beside Gaara appears a sand clone.
The clone seemed to know what to do, pulling the hood of the cloak over its head, it then hurried down the street away from Sawada's home with a mission to draw the villagers away from Gaara's movements.
"Keep the door locked; don't even look out of the windows." Using a transformation jutsu to disguise himself, he adds. "If Lee starts to freak out again there's a book on the table, just read off the jutsus inside, don't let him over exceed his chakra supply, it could kill him."
Miyamoto looked like he was about to spiral into a fit, but he nodded, noted, and planned to execute if the time came. And hopefully it wouldn't.
"I'll be back when I can." Gaara released another clone that stood in the shadows beside the home to act as defense.
"Gaara's on the move somewhere," Neji whispered to Tenten while watching the strange goings-on in town. "There's a clone traveling in the opposite direction."
"What are you two talking about over there," wondered the guard; releasing a large axe from it's holster behind his back he kept a firm hand around the handle. "I just told you that your friends aren't here, if you continue hanging around I'm gonna have to move you myself."
The trio outside of the wall can hear Kerai's message being broadcasts over loudspeakers set up around the village. The speakers had been installed a long time ago, long since forgotten since they'd served no purpose. So no one noticed or cared that Kerai had taken them over for his own uses a few months back.
"Those worms, I knew they'd start trouble." The guard said to himself when hearing the descriptions of the upstarts. It sounds like the Kazekage and his weird looking friend. "Looks like the cat's out of the bag. I don't suppose you showed up to help these troublemakers?"
"Tenten!" He shouted to get her attention of the large axe swinging down over her head.
But that was only a rouse to keep the man's attention from where Neji and Tenten really were, which is right behind him and throwing an arsenal while the large weapon dropped its full weight down on some logs.
"Hunh?" The guard managed to dodge and repel a few of the projectiles coming his way while a good amount slashed into his generously proportioned body. With a laugh, he looked at the kunoichi and mocked. "Is that the best you've got?"
Behind him Neji says. "Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!"
The guard made a move to escape but it was too late, he was sent into a world of hurt as weakness raked through his body ceasing his movements stopping his chakra flow. Not that he had much beyond his unused genjutsus. And by the time Neji had finished the last stab the final whirl of movement, the guard was a stiff pile of jelly lay in a heap on the grass.
"Let's get Lee."
The two head for the door when they're accosted by four men wearing Suna head bands.
"We'll assist you inside." One said to them from beyond a mask. "Tell us where the Kazekage is." They recognized the Byakugan user from a previous mission he'd had in their village.
"To a factory near the outskirts of town." Replied the Leaf-nin. "It's the largest in town, you can't miss it."
Nodding the four disappear beyond the walls, Neji and Tenten do the same.
The town was practically in a state of panic, or perhaps not panic, the crowd was foaming at the mouth as the Leaf-nins made their way through the anger and shouting. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was getting violent when a can filled with what sounded like rocks went sailing and landed between Tenten's shoulder blades. The girl spun around, anger in her gaze as she searched for a figureless culprit among many.
"What's going on?" She asked her former teammate.
"I don't know." Using his Byakugan he sees the clone through the crowd, and with his Heavenly Spin he shot the crowds out of the way so they could get through.
"I'll bet they're helping the trespassers!" A man called.
"They wanna take away our equality!" Screamed a woman in agreement, grabbing for the pair as they hurried through the chaos. "Stop them!"
Standing beside the sand clone, Neji asked. "What happened, is this a rebellion?"
"Of sorts." Replied the clone using a whirl of sand to stop a flaming torch from hitting him. "You need to go to Lee and get him out of this village, he's been infected with something called a Chakra Stone."
"What's that?" Asked the kunoichi using her three-pronged-nunchuck to bat away ariel assault, and one man's aim with a pitch fork.
"It gives a normal person abilities of a ninja."
"Then you mean," Neji looked at the swarm of people. "All of them have ninjutsu?"
"Yes."
"And the real Gaara?" He then asked.
"Stopping the man responsible for it."
The three part like a bomb went off, and in a way one had as a man skimmed past them using a Chidori. Neji chopped the man to the back of the back knocking him out instantly. All show and no real ability. This was a ridiculous.
"I'll hold them off, you get Lee out of here!" He said to Tenten and the clone.
"Right." She shoved the point of her bo into a woman's stomach tossing her and a woman that was too close to the ladies back over her shoulder.
Gaara's clone and Tenten made their way through the crowd to Sawada's home. The clone was sure to knock out everyone following them or who showed up along the way to prevent giving away the man's home. Thinking about it, they should get him out of the village as well. But clones don't think. With any luck Tenten will realize they can't leave the man in his home when he was a victim of the experiments as well.
0 0 0
The doors to the upper level of the factory opened with a lazy sort of movement. It was more question than contempt. Then Gaara appeared through the entrance, his eyes adjusting to the dim lighting before he spotted the corrupt elective.
"Kazekage... A pleasure." Said Kerai rather smugly. Somehow he knew he'd be seeing the sleep deprived little figure-head again.
"Where is Miyamoto's brother?" He asked getting right to the point. "And how do I cure my friend?"
Kerai merely laughed.
Ignoring the man's mirth, Gaara continued. "These things you will tell me, and then I will kill you."
"Kill me?" The man really was enjoying the joke now. "What makes you think you can, or would even get close enough to me for something like that to happen?"
The man snapped his fingers calling for twenty men from the next room to come to his aid. Arms crossed, the puffed-up elective offered Gaara a look that dared him to make ease of these men.
"They don't seem to be on the brink of death, they must have normal stones," commented the Kazekage. "It shouldn't be an issue then, since they're not as powerful as the Kekkei Genkai stones."
"There's an odd declaration, are you trying to tell me that you see the value of my creations?"
"I can." Lied the male. "But it's funny that you don't see the flaw of it."
"I see the flaws, your friend, like Sawada, is going to blow sky high." He takes a step backwards. "And for me it's simply on to the next."
"Wrong." Gaara continued bluffing. "My friend is perfectly fine, and powerful. He's outside laying waste to the band of fools you've got swallowing poison and fighting for you." He takes a step forward, eyeing the men who're now closing in on him upon seeing their boss's restreat. "You forget, he was only knocked out... He took to your experiment just fine, and your being a weakling, not even willing to use your own creation... he's going to come in here and destroy you."
Kerai scoffed at the notion, but the worry was there. When the man slipped out of the room, Gaara knew exactly where he intended to go. Knowing the greed of humanity, Kerai will want the best he's got for himself and, wherever he keeps it, Miyamoto's brother will be there. Removing a kunai from his weapon holster, Gaara faced the crowd of ninjas and civilian. He didn't want to hurt them, but they knew what they were signing up for.
Hearing a water summoning jutsu, Gaara smiled. "Predictable tactic," reaching into his pouch again, he grabbed a handful of tiny smoke bombs. Tossing them to the floor when the cloud released into the room shrouding it with white mist, the Kazekage drew another kunai then attacked.
"It's here," said the clone pulling open the door to Chouji Sawada's home.
Miyamoto shrieked and held a kitchen knife up in defense of the intruder. "I won't let you have him!" Declared the child's shaking voice.
Tenten had entered first and walked over to the couch where the child is planted as a guard.
"Aaahh!" Miyamoto charged at her, but was easily thwarted off and held from any further attempts by his knife wielding wrist.
"Miyamoto, this girl is Lee's friend. She's here to help." Said the clone.
"Are you really his friend?" He asked.
"I am." Letting go of the child's wrist, she knelt down beside Lee. "What's wrong with him?" Even a blind man could tell Lee wasn't in a good place.
"Oh no," Miyamoto leaned down to lift Lee's arm to rest around his shoulders. Lee was clenching his teeth and grabbing at the couch. His symptoms must be back. "We have to get him outside so he can use the jutsus to get rid of the stone's effects."
Tenten felt bad for the weeping kid, and took charge of the situation to ease his fears. "I'll take him outside and help him. You stay here and make some tea."
"Okay." He was so relieved his legs gave out and he collapsed to the couch. "Thank you." Pointing, the child added. "Mr. Gaara said to use the book, all he has to do is use the techniques until his chakra is almost dry."
There was something Tenten never thought she'd hear when someone was referring to Lee. Dispel chakra through jutsus. It's only been what three days? What on earth has been going on? Pushing open the back door, she eased Lee into a bent up chair resting against the home.
Wiping the male's sweaty forehead, she was baffled over what to do. Thumbing through the book she snatched from the table on their way out, she read a technique out loud and wondered what that was supposed to do to help, until Lee repeated after her and turned into a puddle of water. The kunoichi's eyes bugged out of her head seeing the injured male reforming into the chair. Her stupor was shaken off and she looked for another technique.
Neji was making quick work out of the attacking civilians, the only real issue was dodging multiple fire blasts or some other tactless assault. It really was a shame. Like sending children to war with nothing more than a wooden stick and a stone. They knew what they were in for, but no clue of how to handle it.
From the corner of his eye he sees a tree spring up towards the sky over by Sawada's home. Knowing it must have something to do with what Gaara had told them about, Neji shoved his fist into a teen's stomach, pushing him out of the way before turning on his heels and making for the home. They'd recover. What they did after that was their own business. If they'd learned anything, it should be that whatever was going on in the village shouldn't be their business. Most of them weren't even born in Rain, they're refugees. Outcasts. If the ninja wars weren't good examples of that, in Neji's opinion, these people need to be put down for good.
0 0 0
Gaara burst through the door where Kerai ran off to. He wasn't going to waste anymore time with the small army, not when a simple blow to the head or stomach took them out. He couldn't see in the dim lighting, darker due to the lack of windows in the hall. So he was sucker punched by an enlarged fist that thrust towards him, landing a blow to his cheek.
Sailing a distance before hitting the floor, Gaara rolled from the landing up onto his feet. He didn't even put an ice pack on his former injuries, his face was going to swell immensely now. Though one couldn't tell since his armor was up and he looks unharmed as per usual.
"You said something about my being weak? That your friend was coming for me," Kerai's arm shriveled back to a more natural state. "Let's see how well he does now that I've got the same abilities." Weaving a sign, he spoke to the Kazekage. "It was good of you to help me come to my decision to gain the power I so kindly gave out." With a sinister smirk, he added. "Maybe I won't hurt you too much."
Gaara, who had been watching his sand accumulate behind the elective, turned his frosted gaze on him. "Doing me favors?" He wondered. "If you think I'm going to die by your hands, then why not tell me where Miyamoto's brother is hidden?"
"I'd rather drown you."
Gaara was encased in a bubble before he could figure out what sign the man had woven. The Kazekage held his breath while commanding his clones to attack. He may not be the most skilled at using taijutsu, but he was surely better than Kerai. Now that he had a distraction, he wriggled and squirmed trying to free himself from the enclosure, but it was proving not to be an easy task. No slash nor punch made a dent on the thing.
'What can I do?' Wondered the Sand-nin. If he couldn't break free, surely he could at least move it. Shoving his weight forward, he rolled the jiggling ball of water over to Kerai, who's got his back to him while fighting his clones.
The ball rolled into the man just as he took a lunge backward from a kick aimed at his chest. His body held against the bubble for a moment but soon the enclosure engulfed him just as it had Gaara. The Kazekage's hands wrapped around the elective's throat, squeezing him until he started to turn blue. Kerai had three choices, get strangled to death, take a breath and drown, or release the jutsu and find a way to slither out of harms way. Bubbles drifted from his nose, he almost let himself drown by taking a breath, but he stopped himself by releasing the jutsu and freeing himself when they fell to the floor.
Gaara caught his breath along with Kerai. He couldn't let him recover first, he hadn't been inside the bubble as long as Gaara so his recover time would be drastically shorter. The Sand-nin removed a kunai from his pouch and swung it down into the man's side.
"Aaa!" The back of the man's fist slammed against Gaara's temple in an attempt to dislodge himself from the teen, who's digging the weapon deeper into his side.
Kerai continued crying out in pain as he rolled himself over bringing the teen with him.
"Perhaps I used the wrong approach with you, Kazekage." Kerai's arms liquefied and coiled around Gaara's body, mummifying him. "Maybe I'll just crush you instead."
Through pain grit teeth, Gaara replied. "Funny, I was thinking the same thing."
The ceiling slid away slamming down on the pair crushing only Kerai and missing Gaara, who'd fused with the compacted sand. Pulling his sluggish body from the pile of sand, he felt around grabbing Kerai once his hand brushed into him.
"You should have just told me what I wanted to know." He said to the unconscious lump in his hands. Lifting Kerai from the floor, he took him down to the lower levels of the factory.
...
Commentary: Well, this was supposed to be the last chapter, but I thought the epilogue would be kinda tiny with what I had, so I chopped it off and will have the actually story's ending done some other time. Thanks for reading this, leaving a review, or favoriting and following. It's just cool seeing that. I hope you continue to enjoy it. I'm gonna write out some notes, then get some lunch my brain needs a rest. Fight scenes always take it out of me when it isn't simple martial arts ahaha.
Oh and if this hasn't flowed smoothly, I'll end up fixing it some time later. But sometimes I get winded and my words type out like alphabet soup or they don't flow and my checkers only tell me if something was misspelled. So I'll check back, it always looks different when it's posted.
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Living Stone