Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Given The Chance ❯ No Escape: Part 2 ( Chapter 23 )

Chapter #23

No Escape: Part 2

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.

 

Here is a nice long chapter to wrap up this little misadventure, and the chapter that took me for freaking ever to write (I kid you not). While writing this I realized this is my first attempt at a Naruto fight scene (I am a terrible procrastinator) so in the spirit of the holidays please don't come after me if it kinda sucks!

 

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`I can do it, I can get my sword somehow if I just…' Cassandra struggled against Masakazu trying to get her hands back but his grip was like iron. She shifted her hips backward and planted her feet against the tree, `I just have to be flexible enough to reach it…'

 

“Go to hell bastard,” she hissed.

 

Kicking off the tree hard she swung her lower body at his torso then side kicked as his chin. He didn't move much but he had obviously not expected such a bold move from a prisoner so she was distracted enough not notice her swing made her sword fall out of its hilt. She was barefoot anyway so she grabbed it with her feet and slashed at his legs with it.

 

He yelped and jumped back out of range before she could get a second swipe but thankfully let go of her wrists.

 

“Little bitch!” Masakazu didn't seem all that upset which made Cassie a little uneasy, “I don't think anyone has dared even try something like that for years. You're a feisty little shrimp aren't you?”

 

Cassie took hold of her sword and went into a fighting stance, “Stupid perverted bastard…”

 

“Well if it's a fight you want little girl it's a fight you get but I won't hold back,” was Masakazu's response.

 

`Bring it, all I need to do is hold out until someone finds us, I can handle that.' She was dead set and waited for him to make the first move which was a chance he took more than gladly.

 

Masakazu was not only big a bulky with muscle and a deadly arm he was also so fast he was a complete blur. Cassie barely had enough time to block his strike much less fight back but she was able to use his own momentum against him to send him stumbling forward.

 

`He's a real close range fighter with that arm of his and even if he misses he has enough stamina to keep going for much longer than I ever could,' Cassandra's mind quickly went to work finding a way to stall for as much time as possible, `This would be simpler if I had some Shuriken but all I have on me is the sword. Damn it handicaps are annoying…'

 

All she could really do was keep dodging and hope that either an idea came to her or someone came to help.

 

That arm of his was finally able to clamp painfully onto Cassandra's leg. The claws dug right into her flesh as he picked her up and sent her flying until she hit a nearby tree.

 

Cassandra gasped for a moment. She couldn't move at all, her leg felt like it had been torn up, and her left arm was likely dislocated because she couldn't move it at all. She had dropped her sword when she was thrown, and along with her body being in shock and unwilling to move meant she was defenseless.

 

“Its amazing how much trouble I have to go to just to get you to sit down and accept the fact that you're outmatched,” Masakazu shook his head disapprovingly and walked almost casually over to where Cassandra was lying. He was about to pick her up when something came crashing through the trees and snapped at his flash and bone arm.

 

“Kobi,” Cassandra blinked to try and bring things into better focus. Another one of the furry animals came and started nuzzling her to encourage her to get up, “Cori?”

 

Kobi's large jaw gripped Masakazu's arm as hard as possible and quickly began drawing blood. Masakazu swung the dog around trying to shake him off but it only made the tearing of the flesh of his arm worse.

 

`Maybe it's a good thing Kobi never listens when people tell him to stay,' Cassandra almost didn't believe how loyal both her dogs were. Cori had never once left her side either, Cori was the one to always comfort her, and she shared her brother's love of their owner. `And it's a good thing Cori is always there to help.'

 

Cori allowed Cassie to put some of her weight on her back so she could struggle to a sitting position. Cassie stroked Cori's head thankfully and noticed her dog's uneasiness about letting her brother be the only one to fight, “I'm alright Cori.”

 

The dog seemed to understand her command and immediately got to her feet as Masakazu threatened to use his metal claw against Kobi. It came down to a battle of who was the most stubborn as Cori anchored her teeth into the flesh just above Masakazu's mechanical arm.

 

“You think a couple wimpy dogs can stop me?” Masakazu grunted and lunged forward despite the injuries the dogs were causing and thrust his claw at Cassandra who was completely helpless to stop anything.

 

And then it all just stopped. Everything in front of Cassie literally froze like someone hit the pause button on a movie. It took her a few moments before she realized Masakazu's freezing in mid lung and the dogs stopping struggling could only be caused by a paralysis jutsu. But who cast it?

 

“You were under strict orders Masakazu to bring her to us alive and unharmed,” a monotonic voice stated as a figure walked into view, “I won't have you disobeying orders because of an attitude problem.”

 

What surprised Cassie was the fact that the person who saved her life - though not for the reason that would have made her happy - was a little girl. A puny little girl with messy black hair and black eyes that could not have been more than ten years old. She was wearing a plain black long sleeved ninja outfit, some sort of corked vase strapped to her back, and a sword that almost seemed to long for her was tied to her belt. Her expression was rather cold, almost angry, with eyes like coal that gave Cassie the shivers.

 

When those eyes darted to Cassandra and glared at her right in the eye Cassandra froze like she too had been placed under a paralysis jutsu - though she knew it probably wasn't that - and she was completely creeped out by it.

 

The girl walked over to Cassandra rather calmly and tilted her chin up with only the tip of her finger, “Even I have to admit I didn't expect one girl to cause so much trouble. Its no wonder the Shukaku boy is fond of you. You're a very passionate fighter, lots of spirit.”

 

The small girl placed one finger on Cassandra's forehead and in an instant her pupils widened so far that there was nearly no green left. Her mouth hung open for a moment as she tried desperately to continue to breathe normally, `W-what … what the hell is this girl?'

 

“I think you understand our situation now Iwate-san so there will be no more resisting,” the girl murmured with a small smirk as she grew six years right before Cassandra's eyes. Her short black hair lengthened to barely shoulder length and her face changed. Within seconds Cassandra was looking at a much colder version of her own face. “My name is Yang.”

 

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Gaara didn't understand how there could not even be one trace of them. They had been searching for a little over an hour and with each passing second the feeling in his gut began to get worse. Something was very wrong. Had she been captured … or worse? He would have thought there would be something that would lead him to Cassie's location.

 

“Hey! Hello is anyone out there!”

 

Temari snapped to attention, “That's Gina's voice.”

 

The two darted in the direction of the call and before they knew it they found Gina stumbling her way through the forest looking worn out and scared out of her wits.

 

“Oh Kami I never thought I would be saying I was glad to see you guys but I have just been chased back and forth across this forest and you know what they say about looking a gift horse in the mouth,” Gina panted. She would have collapsed if Temari hadn't caught her and she was trembling violently.

 

“Where is Cassie?” Gaara half demanded making Gina panic even more.

 

“I-I don't know,” Gina whispered.

 

Gaara stepped forward and Gina fell backwards in response, “What happened!”

 

If Gina had been a little spooked by the just cold and unsociable Sabaku no Gaara before she was absolutely terrified of angry Gaara right at that moment, and it made it hard as hell for her to choke out her story, “We were trying to hold out until you guys found us but some freak with a mechanical arm found her out! She fought him and he was about to finish her when some freaky little kid came out and ordered him to stop!”

 

“Which way did they head?” Gaara wasn't in a mood to drag out the explanations.

 

“I told you I don't know,” Gina almost spat, “I was scared and I ran ok?! Call me a coward if you want but Cassie ordered me to stay out of sight and I wouldn't have been able to do shit all!”

 

Gaara's knuckles were turning white as he turned to leave.

 

Just before he did Gina got up the nerve to pipe up, “That kid I told you about isn't normal. All she did was touch Cassie and it did something to her that really messed her up! I don't I've ever seen her look so afraid!”

 

Gaara stopped for only a second to give Temari an order, “Take her back to Kankuro and get everyone to Konohagakure.”

 

“Right,” Temari gave quick nod and slung Gina's arm over her shoulder so they could head back. She didn't think she could be around Gaara when he was so close to loosing it anyway.

 

So Gaara took off on his own running faster than he thought possible through the forest in search of a sign, or even a slight trace that someone else had been there. But he found nothing.

 

[What will you do if you can't find her, hm?] The Shukaku's voice taunted and made Gaara's teeth grit together. [For all we know they could have already killed her. They'll likely use her as a hostage to get to you, but you know hostage situations … they don't always guarantee you'll get her back safe and sound…]

 

Gaara staggered slightly and had to struggle to control himself. A small animalistic growl escaped his lips but there was no way he would let Shukaku win the battle of wills, `Shut up bastard raccoon!'

 

[No,] Was the demon's cocky response, [I preferred the old Gaara better, the one that would only fight for himself, the one that wouldn't do something stupid like risk his own life for a girl! Do you want to die baka? Do you think that girl would still be by your side if she saw with her own eyes what you were? She isn't different Gaara she's just clueless! She'll run the moment she sees you, the real you, and you'll find those feelings of love were false.]

 

He shook his head stubbornly to try and push the demon's voice out of his mind. There was no way that could be true. Cassandra was different, “I SAID SHUT UP BASTARD RACCOON!”

 

“Talking to yourself is not a good idea if you want to convince people that you are sane,” a flat stoic voice responded to him coolly from the shadows just out of sight. A little girl with shoulder length ghost white hair stepped out from the shadows. Her black eyes flashed dangerously despite her emotionally void face and a round mirror was clutched firmly in her pale hands, “Greetings Kazekage-sama.”

 

Gaara striated his posture and stared at the little girl for a moment, “Are you the kid Gina was talking about?”

 

“My sister is not the one with which you should be concerned at this time Kazekage-sama,” the girl responded, “My name is Yin.”

 

“Where is Cassie?” Gaara demanded.

 

“You mean the girl? She put up quite a fight but we were finally able to … quiet her down. My sister and I hired a group of simple highwaymen to take care of the details but I don't guarantee they're going to follow orders,” the girl took a small step forward, “If I get what I want you will get what you want. It's as simple as that.”

 

[This kid is a freak, don't agree to anything.]

 

“What do you want?” Gaara continued to struggle to control himself.

 

“I want to see your friend,” she took another small step forward and the light of the full moon glinted off her silver mirror, “I want to see the real you.”

 

There was no other answer from Gaara than the wave of sand that flowed from his gourd to crush the girl to minced meat, but she disappeared in a puff of smoke when she was crushed. The person he had been talking to was nothing but a shadow clone.

 

“Such a temper, but my request is simple and I practically handed the situation to you. You change when your emotions aren't under proper control, so the girl had to be used as sort of a tool,” Yin stepped out once again from behind him.

 

Gaara commanded his sand to wrap around the girl and he held his sand out to crush her, “Sabaku SouSou!”

 

She disappeared in a puff of smoke once again. Damn, how many clones could one ten-year-old make at once?

 

Another Yin - most likely another clone - stepped out from the shadows and this time a couple dozen kunai knives shot out from her mirrors. Gaara's sand easily stopped them but something seemed to happen to the sand that the kunai hit. Whatever sand the kunai touched hardened all on its own and turned to stone making it fall out of his shield.

 

It was no use trying to make his sand break down the stone and turn it to sand again. It was as though the kunai deadened the sand and took away his ability to control it with some obscure jutsu.

 

`She's trying to wear me down by forcing me to make new sand and attack her clones over and over,' he realized after her shadow clone was destroyed and she showed up once again from a different position, `If she is so confident she'll outlast me then she must have a lot of chakra at her disposal, but there has to be some sort of trick to what she is doing…'

 

A few new faces started turning up for their chance to try and take a swing at Gaara. They were all men - most likely more hired highwaymen - and they were real since their blood soon soaked the grass around his feet. None of the normal men were fast enough to get around even his basic defense but that didn't stop the particularly stupid ones from trying anyway. Among them would always be that girl with that old kunai trick that forced him to continue making more sand.

 

`I've had enough of this nonsense,' he quickly decided and got ready to get rid of anyone nearby quickly. Before his enemies had the time to think they were bombarded with huge waves of sand that took out numbers of them at a time and for a few seconds everything seemed still.

 

Six more clones of Yin stepped slowly out into the clearing - the large area Gaara had destroyed with his massive sand attacks - creating a perfect circle around Gaara.

 

Expecting more of those mirror kunai of hers Gaara sent a sand shuriken at each of the surrounding mirrors. Each reflective surface bent and absorbed the projectiles like pools of silver water and sent the attack right back at him. The shuriken had been turned black like the kunai and also deadened the sand that shot up to defend Gaara.

 

“My mirror can copy any technique its sees and send it back at my opponent, even Kekkai Genkai, but your technique is different. Even my mirror can't affect a demon unless it shows its true self,” each clone spoke in perfect unison. No matter which way Gaara turned he was surrounded by the reflections of himself in the six silver mirrors and he could sense the massive chakra behind the reflections. “You can't lie about what you see in the mirror Gaara because what you see is the true you.”

 

Each reflection changed from the red headed Kazekage that stood before it and morphed into the hideous face of a demon that he was all too familiar with. He looked away refusing to even make eye contact with the demonic being in the mirror, but as it turns out there really was no escaping what was portrayed in the mysterious mirrors.

 

Almost without realizing it the sand from his gourd began covering his body and his skin began turning a yellow colour. Large amounts of sand began forming his tail and arm, and half his face began to change.

 

“The truth is always in my mirror even if you deny it,” Yin reminded once again, “Do you think the woman you love would love you even if she saw you like this?”

 

Two of the clones stepped aside so a figure was visible standing just in front of the line of trees making Gaara's heart almost stop beating.

 

“Cassie…” He whispered.

 

There she was plain as day. Her breathing seemed labored and she had a few odd cuts and bruises, but other than that she seemed fine. It was her expression that crushed Gaara inside because she didn't just look afraid or confused she looked mortified. Her legs gave way and she fell to her knees, dropping the sword she had stolen, and she tried to back away despite the fact that her legs didn't seem to want to work.

 

“What are you…?” Cassandra's voice cracked slightly in fear, “What the hell are you?!”

 

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Cassandra's body felt cold and numb like she was being held down in a bucket of ice water. Surprisingly enough even the numbness made her aware of every scratch, bruise, and other injuries she had acquired trying to stand up and fight. She had almost hoped the numbness would help her get past some of the aches but instead that seemed to be all there was.

 

Her leg was pretty torn up and would probably need some stitches, there was a dull throbbing in her left shoulder and she couldn't move her left hand so it was probably dislocated, and a headache appeared that seemed to get worse with every heartbeat had manifested from being thrown around so much.

 

Cassie's mind was working slow making her groggy and she felt like she was in a fog. Things were hard to make out around her but she could still tell Masakazu was the one restraining her from his distant cursing.

 

`Focus this is no time to doze off,' she ordered herself stubbornly, but that was easier said than done. What that girl used was no ordinary jutsu; it was more like she borrowed her identity, when she touched her forehead it allowed Yang to have a free for all rummaging inside her mind. It was the perfect jutsu since Yang knew everything about her and the package seemed to include her DNA as part of the deal. Cassandra only knew vague stuff like that because there was a little swapping of memories in the process, but she couldn't tell if it was a side affect or if Yang did it on purpose.

 

`Awake, you gave to be awake,' she chanted in her mind. Cassandra began flexing her sluggish hands that had been pinned to her sides by Masakazu's metal arm. She tested how much movement she could muster by tapping at the metal with her fingernails and seeing how hard she could hit him.

 

Masakazu yanked sharply on her hair and talked in a slightly bitter tone after being mauled by her dogs, “Its metal smart ass there is no feeling in it. Just stay quiet or I will snap your neck you little runt.”

 

`Go choke and die already,' Cassandra's eyebrows furrowed. There was no way she would let him get away with pulling on her hair like that, it hurt, and she needed to get to Gaara before it was too late.

 

Even while groggy and half numb her pick pocketing skill had not been affected much, but of course Masakazu's big mistake was not tying her wrists in the first place. She was able to reach the kunai on his belt and he was none the wiser, and what was almost as convenient for her as not being tied was the fact that he couldn't feel her slowly loosening the screws on his arm.

 

The tiny silver screws didn't make any noise as they plopped one by one onto the soft earth and Cassie was beginning to feel a bit of achievement, `Serves you right for being such a pervert earlier, and hurting my dogs.'

 

One by one his claw like fingers came loose and he never even realized it until they actually fell off.

 

Running was a pain, literally, her left leg was mangled and her entire body was numb. The moment she hit the ground she doubled over, but she somehow managed to pull herself onto her feet and stumble forward.

 

She was able to make it a few more feet before tripping over something again. The thing she tripped over just happened to be the container that used to be strapped to Yang's back. The find couldn't have been better, so grabbing it she began to drag it toward the distant sound of fighting in the clearing.

 

It was tuff going - because the vase was heavy and she was half asleep - and her breathing was labored by the time she was close enough to almost see the fight through the threes. She forced her half limp body so hard her foot caught on a shrub and she fell awkwardly on top of the vase into the clearing.

 

“Ow…” Cassandra groaned, wondering if she even had any more strength to even get to her feet again, but she didn't realize until she meekly looked up exactly how close she was to where she wanted to be.

 

The air escaped her lungs for a moment and she thought she might be put under another one of Yang's energy zapping paralysis jutsu, but that wasn't the case. Gaara stood no more than a few yards ahead of them - the imposter version of her standing between them - and what she saw caught her off guard.

 

One half of his face was the Gaara she had grown to love, but the other half was something completely different. The sand from his gourd had attached itself to him turning his skin yellow with some black markings, and the one side of his mouth was twisted upward in a sharp toothed snarl. His right arm was covered in it to, along with something that appeared to be his tail, but what caught her attention first was his eye. One of his eyes was a completely different colour and the pupil narrowed to slits. That wasn't his eye - it was something else - it belonged to the demon that lived inside him.

 

`So this is why everyone is afraid of him,' Cassie realized as that demonic eye bore right into her, `This is why everyone seems to hate him, and this is why he always looks so alone. Whatever it is inside of him that controls the sand … is something completely different from him.'

 

Cassandra bit her lip. The one eye that still belonged to Gaara was also looking at her, and that was the one that carried the heart breaking expression. There was sadness and confusion shown clearly there, and that same loneliness he always carried that seemed to be amplified.

 

The imposter - Yang - turned to give her a slightly angered look that only got worse when she saw Cassie had her vase. Cassie realized, `I have to do something, now!'

 

She only had time to shove the vase out of the way before Yang was completely in her face and lifting her off the ground by her neck. Her eyebrows - or rather Cassandra's - drew together, “You really don't understand when you should leave well enough alone don't you? You don't value your life enough to see when you're outmatched.”

 

“I won't let you hurt him, I won't let you,” she choked back. Cassie coughed trying to catch her breath, “Gaara break the vase-!” The vice grip around her neck tightened substantially.

 

It had been an illusion all along, and Gaara couldn't believe he actually believed it. For a moment he thought he would die inside, but then she came stumbling through the trees once again and he almost felt relieved. It was kind of like getting the chance to rewind time and he would have had a chance to hide himself from her because the last thing he ever wanted was for her to see him like that, but he didn't move. His legs wouldn't let him.

 

When she yelled for him to break the vase he didn't hesitate. His sand arm extended from his body and shot toward the container and was about to shatter it before Yin jumped in and deadened the sand with her mirror.

 

The girl holding Cassandra began to change again. Gaara could see her get a little bit taller, and her black hair grew down past her shoulders. There wasn't a perfect replication of Cassie anymore - she was someone different - but definitely not someone unfamiliar.

 

`I've seen that woman before … she looks so much like Cassie,' Gaara leapt forward as his sand began to take over more of his body and his other arm extended with the sand.

 

The woman turned toward him and gave a small smile with the same wide green eyes Cassie possessed before jumping out of the way. She dropped Cassie where she would take Gaara's blow and where it would be hardest for Gaara to stop. He was able to make himself it the ground just in front of her instead but she was still sent tumbling backwards.

 

Gaara froze again for a fraction of a second before leaping forward to catch her. The sand from the arm cushioned her fall, but she didn't move. She just sat slumped over with her bangs in her face as Gaara's sand pulled her in towards his body, `Kami something's wrong…'

 

Surprisingly Cassie's eyes were open wide but there was no real expression on her face, she just seemed to be staring off into space until she finally looked up at him. She didn't look afraid, just sad, like she was coming close to tears.

 

Most of Gaara's body was transformed - he could see his own reflection in her eyes - but she still didn't look afraid, `She's amazing and so brave…'

 

“You have to break the container,” her voice cracked slightly and she seemed to have difficulty breathing, “If it's opened before they are ready they'll have to leave…”

 

Gaara nodded and turned to the figures still standing behind him. Enough was enough, Gaara wasn't going to accept how they hurt his Cassandra, and he was going to put an end to the fight quickly.

 

His free hand extended and struck at them with almost twice the speed of before because of his anger. The sand went around the mirror Yin was holding but she still managed to barely escape with the container in tact, and her shape shifting sister got grazed and bounded away with a shallow cut on her arm.

 

For the first time Yin was showing signs of frustration so she was obviously not expecting such a fierce comeback after spending so much time trying to wear Gaara down. Or rather she did not expect Masakazu would be stupid enough to let her escape and come barging in to give the Kazekage the boost of anger he needed to improve his performance in battle.

 

Another wave of sand barreled in Yin and Yang's direction and they had no choice but to keep running. After using so many big moves they expected Gaara to run out of steam sooner or later but he just kept rolling out attack after attack until finally a sand shuriken made a lucky shot and glanced off the frame of Yin's mirror. The mirror turned in the wrong direction for less than a second but it was all that he needed to have his sand find a way around and crush the vase-like container to dust.

 

“Damn,” Yang swore in a voice that did not belong to her.

 

Both girls just disappeared, and whatever had been in the container expanded in a great ball of energy. It was similar to a small bomb and it forced Gaara to jump back and shield Cassandra from its blast.

 

Afterwards there was nothing left around the spot where the contents of the vase had touched. All the sand Gaara used was turned to black stone and the few surviving trees nearby had been leveled. Everything around the site was completely silent as the dust settled.

 

“They're not coming back,” Cassie said in a tired little voice. Her eye lids felt like they weighed a ton and her body just had no more will left in it to move, “We'll be … alright now … I feel so tired…”

 

The sand began to retreat back inside his gourd and Gaara could feel his body slowly turning back to normal. It was only a few short seconds before his actual arms were the ones supporting Cassandra's small limp body, and he took the chance to pull her into his chest, “You should sleep.”

 

Cassie's hand clutched the fabric of Gaara's shirt and she closed her eyes for a moment, it was just so hard to stay awake, “I don't want to sleep … I'll just see her face again, and it hurts…”

 

“Its ok if you sleep, I'm right here,” Gaara picked her up bridal style, “I'm not going to leave you. No one will take you from me.”

 

 

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