Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Given The Chance ❯ Disappear ( Chapter 30 )

Chapter #30

Disappear

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.

 

(Runs out dancing) Exams are OVER!! Teehee, this is a celebration for me mostly because I just finished my final exam this morning. You'll notice I kind of breeze through the traveling home, and there is a good reason for that, nothing really happens!

Lol ENJOY THE CHAPPIE!

 

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It was either freezing cold snow or the dry heat of the desert. Where was the happy medium? It was not like she could travel down to Konoha during the summer or spring when everything was green, it was always the Christmas holidays, but somehow she didn't mind. Even though she rarely ever saw green anymore she found herself content, so when they finally reached Sunagakure again after three days of traveling she didn't feel like she was missing much more than a heavy coat.

 

Sakura was good company to have on a trip so Cassie and Temari always had someone to talk to when Gina was being antisocial. As for Neji, well, his disposition was similar to Gaara's so he didn't really talk all that much. He even crossed his arms over his chest the same way Gaara did, and every time the girls saw them do it side by side they would break down into fits of giggles.

 

And just when they were getting sick to death of traveling they finally reached the gates of Sunagakure. The group reached the Iwate home and decided to relax for a little while there.

 

Hale grabbed the extra chairs while Cassie prepared tea and coffee for everyone. It was casual and a social little gathering, and extremely tiring in the end because they arrived home late in the first place.

 

Cassie's eyes burned slightly with fatigue as she waved off the guests and cleaned up all the cups and plates. In the end she was the last one to get ready for bed and go to sleep. It didn't even matter that Gina already started snoring because she was asleep before she hit the matrices. Going to Konoha and everywhere else was fun and all, but it would be nice to get back into routine again.

 

“We have late shift at the shelter tomorrow,” Gina yawned as she curled up under her blankets. Thankfully, they were both to tired to get on each other's nerves … much.

 

“And it's your turn to feed the animals tomorrow too,” reminded Cassie.

 

Gina cringed, she hated going into the back store room to get food, partly because she didn't have the muscle to carry the big bags of dog food. Gina was doom to spend the rest of her life in reception while Cassie did all the grunt work.

 

It didn't matter that Gina was snoring loud as ever that night because Cassie was asleep upon hitting her matrices. She wasn't even awake to see Gaara slip in to wish her a good night before slipping back out the window again.

 

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Hospitals always made Cassandra anxious, and it was even worse in the wing where her mother was staying. In most other places in the hospital the beds were filled with recovering patients and those going into surgery, but that wasn't the case in the rooms surrounding her mother's. These beds were filled with people that were only waiting for death, those poor souls who couldn't be healed, the ones hidden behind a sea of beeping machines and vein like IV tubes.

 

Cassandra's large green eyes were focused squarely ahead of her so she wouldn't look in the people wasting away in their beds and feel the sadness build in her heart. People like her own mother.

 

Finally finding the room the receptionist directed her to Cassie paused and tightened her grip on the flower she bought at the shop. She was beginning to regret coming on her own, but she had to see her mother again even if she had to sneak out to do it. Cassie wasn't as naive as she seemed, she full well understood what cancer was, and she knew every time her father picked up another shot glass it meant her mother's condition was deteriorating.

 

She pushed open the door and walked inside the small room. If she didn't know any better Cassie would have though she'd walked into the wrong room. Behind the sea of tubes, machines, and other bizarre instruments was a woman she barely even recognized.

 

Iwate Rita' s skin was as white as the bed sheets, her hair - which would have otherwise have been midnight black - was gone due to the chemo, and she lost a dangerous amount of weight. There was barely anything left, just skin over bone, and sunken in features that made her mothers face more like a bare skull.

 

`Mom,' Cassandra's eyes glistened with the threat of tears, but she just bit her lip and stepped forward so she was standing near the edge of the bed.

 

Rita's eyes lazily moved from gazing out the window - that had the shades closed anyway - to Cassie. Her voice wasn't even the same, it was like a throaty whisper when she spoke, “Hand me my glasses, please.”

 

“Hai,” Cassie grabbed her mother's glasses from the beside table and carefully placed them on her thin nose.

 

Behind the lenses of her glasses Rita's eyes looked larger, kind of like they used to look, but there was no mistaking the lack of sleep. “And who might you be?”

 

`What?' for a moment Cassie wasn't sure if it was a serious question, “Cassandra, Iwate Cassandra…”

 

“What a lovely name, I always said that if I ever had a girl that was what I would name her,” Rita's voice sounded about as cheery as it could, given the circumstances anyway, “Are you one of those cute little volunteers that come in to see me?”

 

`S-she doesn't remember me…?' Cassie remembered her father saying something about all the chemo and pain killers doing something to her mind, but could it actually make her forget her own child? “Do you recognize me at all?”

 

“I'm afraid not. Should I?” asked Rita innocently.

 

`Would she even believe me if I told her I'm her own daughter?' Her grip threatened to snap the flower she bought in half, “I volunteered here before, I-I delivered your flower last week. Don't you remember?”

 

“I don't remember even getting a flower before, I'm very sorry.”

 

“It's no problem, I'll just leave this here for you,” Cassie couldn't even bring herself to take her eyes of the floor. She almost felt ashamed of herself, she felt like a coward, and she couldn't bring herself to look at her mother.

 

As Cassie left the monitor on her mother's heartbeat started to beep rapidly. Half a dozen medics and nurses must have shoved passed her to fix whatever had gone wrong. She was tempted to turn around and take one last look, but her heart already felt like it shattered inside her chest.

 

“I'm sorry Mom,” she whimpered.

 

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Cassie shot up in bed, clawing angrily at the air, but she didn't make anything more than a pitiful whimpering noise. She felt sad, she felt frustrated, and she felt angry. She felt so angry at herself very well remembering that was the last time she ever saw her mother. She felt angry at herself for being so pathetic as to be hiding in a closest because of a stupid thunderstorm the night she died. Then the fact that she was suddenly so angry made her frustrated again.

 

`It was just a dream, why am I getting so worked up over a goddamn dream? This has happened almost every night since that kid touched me. She brought back the memory like I was reliving it.' Her heartbeat was thudding in her ears making them ring painfully, `I need something or this is going to give me a migraine.'

 

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and walked to the doors - not even bothering to quiet her footsteps. The only ones she disturbed with her footsteps were her dogs that always slept just outside her door. They followed her down to the kitchen and watched Cassie as she swallowed a painkiller.

 

Cassie scratched Kobi and Cori behind their ears and forced a laugh, “Don't worry about me guys. I'm just fine. I just hope this waking up in the middle of the night thing doesn't become a habit, its tiresome, and I'm going to have rings around my eyes like Gaara if it keeps up aren't I?”

 

Cori snuggled her head against Cassie's leg while Kobi trotted off into the living room. He started clawing at the back door and growling again.

 

“Is Gaara out there Kobi?” for some reason Cassie had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she pushed it aside thinking that it was just the side effect of getting worked up over her dream. She followed her dog into the living room without a second though about it and looked out the back window to see what Kobi was getting so worked up about.

 

At first she didn't see anything, but her eyes caught movement outside after a few moments.

 

`It's not Gaara, I sense someone else's chakra,' were her thoughts just before an oddly sudden drowsiness set in. Her temples throbbed like her brain was trying to hammer its way out from the inside.

 

If anyone other than the dogs hand been there they wouldn't have seen her arms drop limply to her sides. They would have seen her eyes look almost clouded over, and her walk was lethargic, like she was sleepwalking.

 

“Stay,” she ordered her dogs softly as she opened the back door and stepped outside without even bothering with her shoes.

 

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Bright and early Gaara was already busy sorting through missions and sifting through endless paperwork that accumulated in his absence. He was almost starting to miss running around in the cold to see Cassie, at least it was a lot more fun that being stuck behind a mountain of scrolls.

 

Afterwards he would have to deal with the elders, and then he would start handing out the missions to the shinobi. He'd be lucky if he got finished his work by that night. It was going to be tough since he already found himself zoning out. Whatever Tsunade did was contagious.

 

Hale walked in, giving a tired knock on the door, “I'm here for my assignments.”

 

Ever since getting back Hale more or less accepted the fact that Gaara and Cassie were, undoubtedly, a couple. But just because he had to accept the fact didn't mean he really had to like it, in fact the only thing he did the only thing he liked was that Cassie was happy. Other than that all Hale was doing was somehow being civil and stubborn as a mule at the same time. But what else could be expected from him? Except for the fact that Hale wasn't perverted, Gaara actually found Hale reminded him of his own older brother, not that he though of him in such friendly terms.

 

Gaara pulled out the correct mission scrolls and handed them over to the Chunin, “You've got a lot to do this week.”

 

“I can see that,” Hale looked at how thick his mission scrolls were with a sigh before pocketing them. “I'll be back as soon as they're finished.”

 

“Hm,” dully responded Gaara as he went right back into paperwork mode.

 

“Oh hey, since I'm going to be busy for the next little while, could you tell Cassie that her sneaking out to go to your house at all hours of the night is getting to be a pain.” Hale grumbled, “I spent ten minutes this morning telling her bedroom door to get ready for work before I realized she wasn't in there.”

 

Gaara arched a not existent eyebrow, “She wasn't with me last night. I've been here since I left your house.”

 

Hale - who'd been heading to the door at the time - paused for a moment, “Would she be with Temari then?”

 

The Kazekage shook his head, “Temari and Kankuro are both on early morning missions before seeing Neji and Sakura off in about an hour.”

 

“Well, she didn't just disappear,” snapped Hale, “Cassie doesn't just get up and go somewhere without letting someone know where she is.”

 

`He's right,' they both knew Cassie was one of the closest things to a goody-goody you could find. If she wasn't with Gaara she was at work or home, and at home she was still in the habit of leaving notes for her family.

 

“I might not get to these missions until later,” announced Hale abruptly, “I'm going to go find out where Cassie went. If I don't I won't be able to concentrate.”

 

`Something seems off,' Gaara pulled off his Kazekage hat as she stood up, “I'm coming with you.”

 

 

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