Gentle Re-assurance

You stand from your position on the ground to stare the beast in the eye as he lowers his enormous head down to you. Your breath comes in ragged gasps, the summoning having used up nearly all of your chakra and strength. The dragon studies you for a moment, his crowned head tilting slightly to the side to see you better with his golden eyes. Temari and Kankuro stand behind you in shock as the creature speaks.

“(Y/n) . . . why have you summoned me?” His voice is not harsh or demanding, as one might expect from such a beast. Rather, it is calm; a soothing medley of low bass tones, and it is full of concern for you. You place your bloodied hand on his large snout and smirk at him.

“Nice to see you too, Yuudai,” you reply, climbing shakily a top his head. He frowns at you, worry still apparent in his eyes.

“You know the dangers of your kekkei genkai. Summoning me could very easily result in your . . .”

“I had to keep them safe,” you interrupt, sending him a warning look. The last thing you needed was for the sand siblings to worry about you. You were very aware of the chance of your death when the Sabaku Tatsu was summoned. It had gotten slimmer as you had grown stronger, but it still stole most of your energy. You and the dragon had been destined for each other at birth. It was part of your advanced bloodline. No other was able to summon this dragon, only you. The few in your clan that were also gifted with the kekkei genkai were also gifted with their own dragons. Though, you weren’t sure if your clan even existed anymore. Your mother had escaped from your village while she was still pregnant with you, saving you both from the horrid war that was going on there at the time. She had fled to Sunagakure, where she had given birth a few weeks later. You were raised with Temari, who had been born exactly six months later.

Yuudai looks over at the three sand siblings, then out to the enemy, some of which having stopped dead at his appearance. Most of them, however, still continue to wage their war in a vain attempt to reach Gaara and the others. Yuudai lifts his head from the ground, and you grab onto the scales beneath you so as not to fall off.

“What is this?” He asks as he continues to study the humans, as if noticing them for the first time.

“I’m not sure,” you reply. “At first we thought it was just an assassination attempt, but why so many? They held them off as long as they could, but things weren’t looking so good.” Yuudai is silent for a moment, apparently lost in thought.

“If you knew there were so many, why didn’t you avoid them?”

“That’s just it. We didn’t sense them until they already had us surrounded.” Yuudai gives you a perplexed look and lashes out with his tail, swatting away a large group of the enemy that was getting too close. He pauses again for a moment, then closes his eyes.

“The reason . . .” he states slowly, concentrating a large amount of power around his body. “This is a genjutsu.”

The four of you stare at the dragon in shock, barely daring to believe his words. You glance downward at Temari, who is still struggling to suppress the bleeding on her arm. Her wound was defiantly real, and there were still many bodies lying around, none of them having vanished when defeated.

“I . . . don’t understand . . . if they’re just illusions . . .how were they able to physically harm us?” Yuudai remains silent.

“Where’s the source?” Gaara asks him. Yuudai opens his eyes. His great head swivels this way and that. Finally, he stops and points his tail to the southwest.

“There.” Yuudai’s chakra builds up around him, glowing a dark blood red. He mutters a word of cancellation, focusing his energy at the source. As quickly as they had appeared, the army vanishes from around you.

You look upward. The sun still holds its midday position, as if no time had passed at all, yet if feels like you had been fighting for hours. You collapse against Yuudai’s brow, letting out an exasperated sigh. As unsettling as this whole situation had become, you were glad that the four of you were safe, at least for now.

“Now what?” Kankuro asks as you leap off of the dragon’s brow after he lowers his head to the ground.

“We need to get Temari to a doctor,” Gaara states, moving to inspect her wound. You glare at him.

“Umm . . . hello?” you say, gesturing to yourself.

“You’re exhausted as it is from your summoning. I don’t want you to over-exert yourself.”

Your glare hardens further as you stubbornly place yourself next to Temari, gathering what’s left of your chakra in your hands. Gaara frowns at you, but you are already working on Temari’s injury, so he dare not interrupt you, lest he cause further injury to either.

Yuudai watches you while you work, his concern for you still apparent. He sighs, a light smoky vapor billowing from his nostrils. Slowly, he begins to shrink in shape and size, until a beautiful horse, twenty hands high and with a blood red coat, is standing where the dragon once did. Kankuro watches the beasts’ transformation in amazement. He looks back over to you and shakes his head. Since when were you stronger than him? His expression turns to a bit of a pout as you finish healing Temari’s arm.

“There, good as new.” You give Gaara a prideful “so there” look as Temari tests her newly healed arm.

“Thank you, (Y/n)-chan,” she says, smiling broadly at you. You stand and give her a thumbs up, grinning.

“Now all we need to do is . . .”

Whoa.

Suddenly you weren’t feeling so great. Maybe using the last of your chakra hadn’t been such a good idea. You don’t have much time to think about it now, however. As the last of your strength fades, darkness overtakes you.

* * *

You awaken to a dull throbbing in your skull, and an odd sensation of movement. Something soft and warm is beneath you. Slowly, your eyes open.

Darkness.

Wha . . .? Were you blind? No . . . wait . . . there were small dots of light. Stars. It must be night. How long had you been out? You groan lightly and sit up, slowly starting to make sense out of your surroundings. Carrying you is Yuudai, still in horse form. He looks back at you and lets out a brief snort. You carefully swing your legs around to ride him properly. Temari and Kankuro are walking on either side of Yuudai, with Gaara a few paces in the lead. The three of them look over at you at the sound of Yuudai’s snort. Temari practically leaps at you in her excitement, happy to see you finally conscious.

“(Y/n)! How are you feeling?” she says loudly, grabbing your hand and checking for a pulse. You wince at the noise, the ache in your head growing.

“I’m fine, not so loud, Temari,” you grimace and rub your head again.

“Sorry . . .” she whispers, letting go of you. “It’s just that you’ve been out for at least eight or nine hours. We were worried.” You yawn and stretch lightly, your back aching from riding on Yuudai.

Gaara approaches you and holds out his arms to help you down from the beast. You hold onto him gratefully as he lifts you down with ease.

“Where are we?” you ask, seeing the bright stream of lights on the horizon for the first time.

“A league away from Enderhall, our initial destination. We’ll rest up there and see if we can find any information on our attacker,” Gaara explained. You nod your head, immediately regretting the action as your headache comes back in full force, nearly knocking you over. Gaara steadies you, his strong arms still wrapped tightly about your weakened form. He frowns at you. “I told you, you shouldn’t have used so much of your chakra.” You give him half a grin and shrug lightly.

Yuudai lowers himself to the ground.

“Ride me again. We haven’t much farther to travel.” Gaara guides you back over to the blood-red horse and you sit down onto his back, leaning your body against his strong neck as he stands again. The procession then continues forward, and you close you eyes for a moment and sigh.

For the remainder of the journey, as the city lights grow closer and closer, you watch Gaara, content that you were able to keep him safe. Still, the strange occurrences have left you unsettled, and you are anxious to get any information you can on the massive attack that left even Gaara weakened.

A little over an hour later, your party reaches the borders of Enderhall. All around, the sleepless city bustles with activity. People stop to stare at the Kazekage and the blood-red stallion following in his stead. Gaara ignores them, traversing through most of the city until he finally stops before a large estate. Yuudai lies down, allowing you to slide off of his back, then quickly changes again, this time into a small cat with crimson fur and black stripes. He leaps up onto your shoulder and curls himself around your neck, purring contentedly. A few moments later, a servant runs out to meet you, opening the gates to the estate and escorting you into the house.

“Who lives here?” you ask, nudging Kankuro in the side.

“Fuyutoko Emiko, the Blessed Child. She’s the one Gaara has business with.” You bristle slightly. A woman?

“What kind of business?” you ask, unable to ignore the cold bite of jealousy on your thoughts. Kankuro shrugs.

“I don’t know for sure. Probably something political.” You prod Kankuro for more information, but all he tells you is that Emiko was descended from a long line of wealthy lords and ladies, and currently belongs to one of the most powerful political families in the Land of Wind. Before you can inquire more, you find yourself in a large living area. A young woman wrapped in a layered silk kimono with jewels dangling from her midnight hair, whom you suppose is Emiko, is seated on a chair near to the fireplace. She looks up when you enter, rising gracefully from her seat and rushing forward to great Gaara.

“Kazekage-sama! I’m so glad you finally made it! We were worried you wouldn’t.” Emiko exclaims, her voice matching her stunning beauty. You feel the blood rise to your face as she takes Gaara’s hand in her own. You take a step forward, ready to rip her away from him, but Temari places a hand on your shoulder and gives you a warning, yet sympathetic look. “Please, have a seat,” Emiko continues, having missed your attempt at her. You make sure to sit extra close to Gaara, locking arms with him in a possessive manner. Yuudai leaps from your shoulders and curls up in your lap, watching Emiko closely.

“I apologize for our lateness, we were delayed by an attack from an unknown source,” Gaara begins, giving you a questioning look in the process. “We were hoping,” he continues, “that we could find some more information on who our attacker might have been.” Emiko takes her seat by the fire again and you see her exchange glances with the servant that had escorted you in.

“We will do our best to find information for you. In the mean time, we have rooms prepared for you, and the hot springs are always open, so use them as you please. There is always food in the kitchens as well. Please, make yourselves at home.” Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro nod in appreciation. You merely scowl. There is an awkward silence as Emiko clears her throat. “Well,” she concludes, standing again. “My servant will show you to your rooms. After a three months of travel you must be tired, so please . . .”

“What?” Kankuro asks, giving Emiko an odd look. She stops speaking and tilts her head.

“Did I say something wrong?” she asks.

“What do you mean three months? It only took us a few days to get here,” Kankuro states, glancing over at Temari, who nods in agreement. Emiko looks at the four of you and blinks a few times.

“Did you not leave Sunagakure on the twenty-third of September?” she asks Gaara. He nods, just as confused as the rest.

“Well, what is today?” you ask. Emiko looks at you, as if noticing you for the first time.

“It’s the twenty-first of December! You’ve been missing for nearly three months!”