Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Given The Chance ❯ Unwilling to be Found ( Chapter 31 )

Chapter #31

Unwilling to be Found

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.

 

Teehee (happy dance) so many reviews, so many reviews, and so little time… Here is the next chapter everyone!

 

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`How many places are there for someone to hide in this village?' Gaara cursed as he leapt over the rooftops, his sea foam eyes scanning the area, but there was no sign of her. He'd been searching for over an hour at that point, and with his speed that was plenty of time to comb his way through the streets. He'd checked all the obvious places and then some, but there was no sign of her.

 

It was no good, if he was going to find her in such a big area Gaara would need some help. So he headed back to the Kazekage tower where his siblings, Sakura, and Neji were waiting.

 

“Have any of you seen Cassie?” the stress in Gaara's voice was apparent. “Have any of your heard from her at all?”

 

The four of them exchanged glances before shaking their heads.

 

“Kankuro and I have been on missions, Neji and Sakura were with us,” Temari answered.

 

“Why are you looking for her?” asked Sakura.

 

Gaara cursed, and without realizing it he began pacing around the room, “Hale came into my office this morning and told me Cassie has been missing since some time last night. I've already been back and forth across this village over the past hour and I haven't been able to find her.”

 

“You're positive you're not just being paranoid?” said Kankuro. “You can't expect to know where she is every moment of every day. You probably just missed her, bro. Tell you what, we'll help you look for her, I bet she just got a little side tracked heading to work or something.”

 

Neji nodded, “I agree, you could be worrying over nothing.”

 

“I hope you're right,” muttered Gaara, `but something still doesn't feel right…'

 

“Sakura and I will go check at her work. She might have just come in late.” Temari motioned for Sakura to follow her.

 

Kankuro turned to leave as well, “I'll go double check at the house.”

 

“I'll help you search the city again,” offered Neji, “with my eyes it will take much less time. She has to be somewhere in this village, and we're going to find her.

 

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`Why is it so cold here?' Cassie slowly came to in a dark place where she couldn't see a thing. Her fingers had long since gone numb and her slightly blue skin was covered in gooseflesh.

 

She groaned as she got to her feet. Not only were here muscles stiff from the cold but it was almost impossible to breathe, “What is this place…?”

 

There was no answer, she was alone, standing in a cold world filled with nothing but darkness. The air was heavy there, or she was just short of breath, she couldn't tell, her short gasps were like trying to breathe in acid.

 

But off in the distance there was something, or rather someone. It was a tall figure of a woman facing away from her with long platinum blue silver hair that seemed to be the only source of light in the desolate place. She walked slowly away with the grace of an angel, threatening to leave Cassie alone in darkness.

 

“Hello?! P-please wait for me!” Cassie managed to croak out.

 

The woman just kept walking like she didn't even hear her, so Cassie stumbled after her. Each of her limbs felt like dead weight, but somehow she managed to catch up with her and grab on to her thin wrist.

 

“Please … tell me where I am, please?” Cassie begged.

 

The silver haired woman spun around, and Cassie let out a small scream. The woman had no face. Her face was nothing but a layer of silver skin pulled tightly over her skull.

 

The woman's skeleton like icy fingers gripped around Cassie's wrists. She didn't speak because she had no lips, but her voice still carried in the heavy air, “I've been very eager to meet you Iwate-san. I longed to see the face of the girl who was able to get in the way of my puppets, and the one who led to the destruction of my containment jar. You've giving me quite a bit of grief, Iwate-san. I never would have thought that someone like you could have outsmarted Yin and Yang, they're connected to me after all, but it just goes to show how useless puppets can be…”

 

`Containment jar … does she mean that jar that Gaara shattered on the way to Konoha?' Cassie tugged uselessly against the woman's grip, “Who the hell are you?!”

 

“My name is Faceless,” her voice replied evenly, “Welcome to my world Iwate-san.”

 

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Neji's eyes scanned the area around them picking up any possible movement. He'd spotted everything from children to house pets within the line of vision of his Bayakugan, but no Miss Iwate Cassandra. Even the Hyuga prodigy was beginning to wonder what was going on. Even if he was not using his advanced blood line he would have thought someone would have found her. How hard was it to find one sixteen-year-old girl anyway?

 

On top of that Gaara was unusually tense, which was making Neji tense as well. The Kazekage was known for being reserved and virtually emotionless, but somehow the disappearance of Cassie turned him into someone ready to lash out at any moment. Somehow Neji could understand, he wasn't sure how he would act if Tenten disappeared, though he could wager a guess that his rationality would drop below zero. Its funny how loosing the one thing that was precious to you can make a person act so different and do stupid things.

 

A pink haired blur dashed up beside them, “We asked Gina and Fukui-san if they'd seen her, but they said she never showed up for work. Fukui-san said he'd close up early to help look, but I told him not to worry. But of course I thought you two would have found her by now.”

 

Temari came bounding up next, “I thought Neji could see anything? Haven't the two of you gone back and forth across Suna already? It's been hours…”

 

“I'm not seeing anything but sand,” Neji growled. “Kankuro's on his way.”

 

Sure enough it wasn't a few seconds later Kankuro caught up with them. The puppet master was cursing like a pirate, “Daichi is pissed. It's been hours, he hasn't seen his daughter since last night, and he was in a kitchen filled with endless weapon possibilities. Why is it me that gets attacked all the time, huh? Where the hell is all the bad karma coming from?!”

 

A tense silence fell on the group. By now no one could deny something was going on, and whatever attitude Gaara had was getting contagious.

 

“We split up,” ordered Gaara, “if you don't find her within another hour we meet up again. We're going to find her.”

 

With a unanimous nod they split up, and Gaara picked up speed, `Please, let this just be a misunderstanding, don't let anything have happened to her.'

 

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Run. That was all she could do, but with nowhere to run to Cassie felt like she was running around in circles. Her lungs and her sides were on fire so there was no way she could keep running away for ever.

 

“Such a stubborn girl,” Faceless appeared right in front of Cassie forcing her to grind to a halt. “But I have to admit I'm impressed. A girl with such little formal training has been able to stay awake for so long.”

 

`Damn it.' Her chest was struggling to keep up with the demand for air, and her head was beginning to spin. How long could Cassie keep running in a place that was draining all the energy out of her? She would certainly find out sooner or later, but for now she wasn't going to stop running.

 

“Its painless I assure you, Iwate-san.” The silver haired woman continued to show up in Cassie's path everywhere she went. “You see, I'm a wondering spirit I can't survive without a body, and I only seek out the strongest. You're not the intended target, but outside my container I can't last very long, and you're the only one to have made physical contact with my puppets. It's actually quite convenient that I could end up inside the mind of someone close to my new vessel.”

 

“Leave me alone!” Hollered Cassie, “Whatever you want, I'm NOT giving you!”

 

Faceless just chuckled softly, “When I take over a body, the occupant inside it simply goes into a deep sleep. You're still fighting it, but soon you'll grow tired, and I'll be allowed to take over basic motor functions. If I'm in control long enough we'll become one, you're thoughts and feelings become my own, and vise versa. I'll transfer my soul into my new body, and you'll come with me.”

 

`Intended target … new body … she doesn't mean…' Anger rose in her chest, “I'll never let you anywhere near Gaara.”

 

“Now that I occupy you're body it's inevitable, I'll eventually control your body, I can assure you that. If you keep struggling like this your spirit will break, and you will simply cease to exist. But if you simply let go you'll be reunited with the man you love inside my mind,” Faceless's finger gently tapped Cassie's sweat covered forehead, sending small waves of numbness throughout her body.

 

“Go. To. Hell!” Summoning all the chakra in her body Cassie thrust her fist at Faceless's face - or lack there of. “I'd rather cease to exist than let you ever touch him!”

 

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Darkness was beginning to fall over the village and things were getting a little more frantic. Cassie was still nowhere to be found.

 

Kobi walked down the street with his back hunched high and all his fur standing on end. The dog still despised Gaara, or at least what was inside him, but he lived and died to serve his master so even he - a dog - was willing to put his own person distain aside for Cassie. That's why he followed Gaara's scent while his sister went to seek out Cassandra. It may have taken him most of the day to try and track down the Shukaku boy, but persistence pays off in the end, and Kobi was nothing if not persistent.

 

Gaara was searching with Neji again when spotted the snarling dog as he neared the outskirts of town. He was about to ignore the animal and keep searching but it seemed set on following him.

 

“What do you want?” demanded Gaara. He didn't think there was much point considering he was talking to a dog.

 

Neji cocked an eyebrow, “You know the dog?”

 

“He belongs to Cassie,” Gaara grunted.

 

The blonde dog curled around tensely, glancing down in the direction he wanted to go, and growling in impatience.

 

`The dog wants me to follow him … so that means he knows where she is.' Gaara smirked, “So you finally have a use, stupid dog.”

 

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Gaara followed after Cassie's dog. He was a lot slower than Gaara - who was anxious to find her - and Kobi would stop at every corner to sniff around for the direction he was looking for. It was a struggle for Gaara to keep his patience with the animal, and Kobi seemed to think likewise because he would snarl every time Gaara's sand picked up. It's always a bad combination putting two stubborn beings together, even if they are completely different species.

 

“How much further?” asked Gaara in an irritated growl.

 

“I think I see her, another couple yards forward … it's odd though,” Neji muttered under his breath, “I can almost see Cassie's presence, but it's like its being overshadowed by something. It must be why I didn't see her before…”

 

Gaara snarled and quickened his pace, “So then someone's with her.”

 

`This is bad,' Neji grudgingly followed, but still didn't have a good feeling about the second presence. Whoever it was had to have massive chakra control to trick his Bayakugan into glancing over Cassandra's familiar chakra - she was a relative of Gai's so he became quite acquainted over the years.

 

“…Get away from me … get away … get away…” The two men turned onto the next street and saw a familiar dark haired figure stumbling away. They couldn't see her face because she was walking away from them, but there were lots of cuts and bruises along her arms and covering her bare feet. Even from a distance she was visibly trembling and her footing was uneasy. Cori being beside her for support was the only thing that stopped her from falling over.

 

“Cassie…” Gaara whispered under his breath in concern, `Neji said there was a second presence here, I feel it too, but no one else is here. And those scrapes … judging by the way she's walking my guess would be that they're probably from stumbling… What the hell is going on?'

 

Her thin body gave a distinct shiver before she screamed, “Go. To. Hell!”

 

Gaara leapt forward and landed in front of the screaming girl. He'd never heard her actually scream like her life depended on it, and boy did she ever have a set of lungs on her. She thrashed around so badly she tripped over herself and started kicking and punching at the ground. Thus explaining the many self-inflicting injuries.

 

The red headed Kazekage stepped forward to grab her and prevent her from hurting herself but she drew back sharply, still screaming and kicking.

 

“Get away! Don't touch me!” Cassie said shrilly. For the first time her messy hair parted so Gaara could see her face. Cassie's skin was pale and covered in sweat, her skin was covered in goosebumps, her lips were a light shade of blue, and her eyes were open wider than humanly possible. He'd seen the expression before in people who he killed with his sand when he was young.

 

Pausing Gaara wasn't sure what to do. Those of hers made a sharp pain rise deep in his chest, just like when Yang impersonated her in the forest.

 

With a short cut off yelp Cassie buried her face in her hands and started yelling again, “I won't let you near him! I won't let you touch him! I will not let you hurt him!!”

 

`But her eyes are looking past me,' Gaara thought as he noticed the far off look in her glassy eyes, `it's a sign of hallucination, or is it that she's seeing something that I'm not?'

 

“There's some sort of seal on her forehead, and its radiating a strange chakra,” Neji stated once he'd gotten a good look at her face. “We need to get her somewhere were we can get a better look at this, she needs to be somewhere where she can't hurt herself, and we need Sakura to help heal these wounds.”

 

With a nod Gaara ordered his sand to pick up the struggling girl and they headed to the hospital, `Please, hold on and be strong just a little longer, Cassie.'

 

 

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And there you have it … another cliffie! (Runs away from sharp objects) Sorry, my friend is moving on Sunday and I need to help her with packing and stuff before I move on to sobbing!

Some of you may be scratching your head after this chapter, but no worries! Everything will be explained in the next two coming chapters so don't go thinking that you missed anything! As for Faceless and her very (very) appropriate name … that's just me and my lack of imagination… (Joins Shikamaru's Lazy and to Uninterested to Bother Caring club as I skip off the caffeine high I'm on right now!)

 

Lil_Pix

 

To the reviewers:

 

Ultimate Nobody- Well kind of the twins, they have close ties because the twins are `puppets' for Faceless. Their uses/creation/abilities are explained more later.

 

Fightingpheonix36- You kind of know who's responsible now, but you don't really know who's responsible (brain hurts). Don't worry about the fic finishing any time soon because there is still a lot more to come! I was actually thinking about a sequel type thing, but I'm not sure how consistent I would be with it…

 

Gaara_Freak- Eep! (Runs away giggling) We'll see who escapes who! Buhaha!! I eat souls and children! (If that's not a sign I should come down off the coffee I don't know what is…)

 

Hiei81- Yay, a new chapter! Praise me!

 

SupersexyPooka- This chapter half answers your question, I guess… You'll just have to keep reading to get the whole story!

 

Dudekiller- Hehe, (sighs in amusement) you have no idea what I plan on doing with plot twists (queue bad evil laughter)

 

Darkgal69- Keep reading to find out! I apologies for the vagueness of this chappie for what exact is going on … everything will become clear soon I promise!

 

Amique- Thanks for the continued reviews, and awesome enthusiasm! Enthusiastic crazy people (like us) make me giggle.

 

BakaHanyouRahvin- I know Gaara's possessive, but I guess that's just how I'd picture he'd be if he had someone precious to him. He spent most of his life not knowing love, and killing, so he'll do anything to keep her safe. (Fangirl scream) KAWAII!!!!!!