through the sand, for you. (gaara x reader)

chapter twenty eight

Water droplets still fall off my body as the blonde sand sibling, and I sprint towards the hospital. We pass buildings, and the entire village seems to be in shambles, but the orange sun rises over and adds some colour. Things are looking up. Hope. to the surroundings.

Temari hasn't said much other than the words she screamed when she entered the house.

Gaara is alive and back.

She is covered in blood and an arrangement of injuries, but that is something we will deal with once we are at the hospital and the adrenaline runs off.

Through the hospital entrance, I see pink hair pass my vision. Sakura. Trusting my instinct, I follow her. And I was right. She leads us straight to the room where Gaara is lying. Motionless. With so many people moving around him.

I don't know what to do, so I just stop staring through the door window. I don't think it would be the best idea to go there. I would just mess something up. But how badly I want to run in there and touch his skin. Just to know he is real and isn't dead. That he came back and this isn't just some other fucked up dream like I have been having over the past few days. But I don't. I just stand here. Waiting. That is until I hear a thud.

"TEMARI!" My best friend's blonde hair is spread out along my feet. She fainted. I drop down to her level, picking her head off the ground, "Someone-"

Before I can finish the sentence, she is scooped away from me by two nurses. One I recognised from my last visit here.

I fall backward, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the hospital corridor. Once again, I am crying. I think I have cried more times in the last two weeks than I have in over many years. And I don't know what to do with myself. A few minutes pass, and no one bothers me. They just walk past. Probably knowing that it is their best option with everything else at hand. I decided to push myself up. I still have a job to do. I am still the temporary Kazekage as Gaara is obviously in no position.

Kakashi, the leaf ninja, is the first person who isn't horribly injured that I run into. "Do you have enough energy to go through a basic run-through?"

"Start me off with the bad news." he nods his head in response and signals me to enter the room. Naruto and Sai are in the beds across the room. I assume the empty one next to Kakashi was for Sakura.

"We lost fourteen." The white-haired male is looking me directly in the eyes. He looks tired and slightly distraught. My heart drops, and my mind starts racing. But I suppress it, "All sand ninja."

"Oh my god." I break eye contact. "Their bodies?"

"Brought them with us... they are somewhere in the hospital."

"Thank you. Your ninja? Are they all safe?" I bring my eyes back up.

This is the part I need to get out of the way, the leaf side of it. Harsh as that sounds, I can deal with my ninja later. But when other ninjas get involved... It's hard. Kakashi clearly understands what I am doing. He gets the leaf side involvement out in the open. Explaining that Shikamaru was the one who suffered the most injuries out of the small group, but he is conscious and remembers his own name. The only minimal issue is that Sasuke was there and actively involved.

"The Akatsuki's goal was to kidnap you. But they were just as happy with the opportunity of taking the Kazekage. We are unsure of what they plan to do with them. I assume they would use it as leverage and corrupt The Hidden Sand. Get you guys involved in their scheming. We arrived on sight. Gaara was badly injured though he was still trying to fight. Fights began. It was just Deidara and Toby at the start. Sasuke and Orrichmaru then arrived. And that's when the hell broke loose. Three different battles were being fought at once, and that is where your ninjas began to fall." Kakashi continues, going into more detail about the fights and the logistics. I thank him and end the conversation by making a mental note of everything.

Searching for a notepad, I write down everything I have just been told. Not leaving the hospital once. I begin to talk to ninjas of my own, my friends. Then make my way to the leaf ninjas. Many hours have passed. I have created a full report by the time it is midday, discussing everything with the elders along the way. No one knows anything about Gaara's condition, just that he is alive.

Which, at the moment, is the only thing keeping me going.

Now comes the most challenging part. I have to go to the body of the fallen ninja.

One person comes to mind when I think about that. I had not seen this one person within the hours of when everyone got back.

Kankuro.

I have no fucking clue where he is, and Temari is unconscious.

My heart is beating so fast it feels like it's breaking as I make my way to the bottom of the hospital.

I can't do this. I need him to be alive. I do not want to have to break the news to Temari that one of her brothers is dead and that there is a possibility that the other one won't wake up because no one but the doctors in that room knows about his condition.

That is why I am again praying to a God, any God that Kankuro is alive.

I stop. There are people in the hallway. Injured ninjas, workers and two elders. "Do you need assistance, miss y/n?"

"No. I'll do this alone." I give a lopsided smile as tears enter my vision.

I have to do this alone. Because I don't know if I will be able to handle the situation on

the other side of the door in front of me. No matter what the outcome is. There are dead people. Most likely dead friends. People I grew up with, and some probably helped raise me.

I can't hesitate any longer, so I build the courage, walk toward the door, and open it.

"Kankuro..."

Authors note

~

I am back ;)

I apologise for the months waiting for this chapter and what is gonna happen next...

BUT THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SUPPORT IT IS LITERALLY UNREAL!