Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Given The Chance ❯ Who's Name? ( Chapter 34 )

Chapter #34

Who's Name?

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.

 

The reason why I'm posting so late: Writing/editing the first half of this chapter nearly made me cry! Goddamn sad scenes! I've gotta take a page out of Itachi's book and get rid of the part of the brain with emotion…

 

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There was a lot of bright light that everyone around Sunagakure saw right then as the seal begun to shatter like brittle glass. Anyone nearby was blinded by it, including Gaara and Sakura, and it was a while before the little white spots in their eyes dispersed to clear their vision and they could see anything at all. It was all massive confusion, and it was only made worse on the lack of knowledge on what was going on to begin with.

 

“Mistress?” murmured Yang nervously to Cassie's body which was sitting slightly slumped over with long black locks mopping over her face. Yang nudge her body gently with wide eyes, “…I don't know what's going on … this has never happened before...”

 

Gaara - who was sick and tired of everything that happened - walked right up to the puny little girl and picked her up by the collar of her shirt. His limbs were shaking with anger, and the look in his eyes was scaring even Yang who hadn't shown emotion in front of him before. His voice was strained as a sign of his struggling control of his emotions, “What happened to her?”

 

“That Iwate girl may have tried to push my mistress out of her body, but I'm not sure. I just said that this has never happened before! If she did its likely that both of them are going to die!” Yang - being much stronger than she looked - pried herself from Gaara's grip with difficulty. She needed to put at least a little distance between her and Gaara because that look in his eyes made her unbelievably nervous. `But I'm still alive, even after the seal broke, and yet I'm still alive… It doesn't make any sense, if the seal is broken then she shouldn't be occupying the body, and the sunlight would kill her. I still feel connected to her but I can't hear any commands…'

 

It was Sakura's turn to voice her opinion to Yang, and that came as a devastating slap across the face that sent her flying, “Do you really think we're going to accept that?! There has to be something we can do! You little brat, you better tell us everything or I'll make you wish you were dead!!”

 

Yang staggered to her feet, nursing her swollen cheek so she could speak properly. “There is nothing you can do! That body has no soul anymore, don't you get it?! That body is nothing but a useless doll now. There is no way to bring a human soul back!”

 

`No … never, not her, not her!' Gaara felt helpless as he walked to Cassie's body. Underneath that veil of silky black hair were a pair of grey eyes staring with a glazed over look at the world, like dead eyes. Instinctively his had moved gently over her cheek to try and wake her, in hopes that she would snap out of it, and she would smile sweetly at him and say everything was alright. But she didn't respond at all. Whatever balance there had been keeping her upright disappeared and Cassie's body fell limply to the side.

 

Gaara caught her in his arms and pulled her into his chest gently, “Cassie, wake up… Come on you have to wake up…”

 

`She can't be…' Sakura outright refused to believe that Cassie was dead, and her heart ached when she saw the look on Gaara's face. It was a tear educing mixture of terror, disbelief, and grief. `Cassie-chan meant the world to Gaara, and now…'

 

“Cassie, wake up!” Gaara started yelling her name, and his voice cracked dangerously.

 

The bright light from before attracted everyone who was searching for Cassie from the beginning. They all arrived just in time to see Gaara try desperately to wake Cassie who remained in the same state no matter what. It was painfully obvious to everyone that she wasn't even breathing anymore.

 

Temari's grip tightened on her fan, she hated herself for only arriving in time to find her friend dying, “No way…”

 

“Oh man…” Kankuro almost couldn't watch. He'd almost thought of Cassie like a little sister, someone adorable that was fun to tease, and he knew how much Gaara cherished her. `Don't let Shukaku take this chance, not now; otherwise there won't be any hope at all…'

 

“My sister … my little sister,” Hale was too stunned to mumble out more than that.

 

Neji's Bayakugan scanned the girl's limp body, but he could really only see the systems of Chakra, and not whether a soul was still present there. `The seal somehow shattered, and now there isn't any chakra in her system at all. Though, that would make sense, such a complicated seal would take a lot to break it, and if she did overdo it then she will inevitably die…'

 

“…G-Gomenasai…” One of Cassie's hands lifted slowly to his back, “…you have to get away…”

 

Gaara would have felt relief, had there not been a numbing sensation spreading up his back from where Cassie's hand was pressed. With the chilling feeling old memories came flooding back and none of them were good. Every time children ran away from him, every time he was just left alone, when Yashamaru betrayed him, and everything else bad in his life that went on. Needless to say, it was a long line of memories since Gaara's childhood wasn't exactly delightful.

 

“Nice try, Gaara-sama, but I'm not that easy to get rid of…”

 

Without warning Gaara slumped over, and his siblings immediately jumped to catch them both. They knew better than anyone what would happen if he fell asleep, and if they all wanted the village to stay in one peace they would have to do something, and do it fast.

 

“Gaara, come on bro stay with us!” Kankuro snapped at his younger brother as he supported him to keep him sitting upright. “Stay awake, Gaara!”

 

“That mark is on his back,” Neji stated, “Somehow that thing inside Cassie held on long enough to get Gaara to make contact with her. He's in some sort of trance-like state now, but I am not sure whether he'll fall asleep.”

 

Hale picked up his sister and laid her out on the ground. He held his face close to her mouth to check her breathing, and he held two fingers to her neck to attempt to find a heart rate. “Damn, she's not breathing, and I can't feel a goddamn pulse!”

 

“Kankuro, keep Gaara awake, I need to deal with this first or Cassie will stay dead. You won't want to deal with Gaara when he snaps out of it if that happens,” Sakura ordered. With her usual firm but gentle hand she made Hale shove over slightly so she could have some room. She'd seen similar instances where shinobi used forbidden jutsu or pushed themselves too far. It's because they drain any energy they have in the body to keep the rest of their functions going.

 

`As Tsunade puts it, it's just like jumpstarting an engine, if you do it right it'll come back to life again…' thought Sakura as she summoned a large amount of highly energized chakra to her palms. With a deep breathe she brought her hands down on Cassie's chest, and her body convulsed like it had been shocked with electricity. Then nothing, her body didn't respond.

 

“Shit, Cassie if you give up on me I swear I'm going to slap you,” Sakura hissed under her breath and began to prepare her chakra again. This time she used a lot more than usual, in hopes that she would respond to it. Her hands made contact with Cassie's skin and Sakura's super energized chakra flowed into her body making all her muscles contract for a brief moment.

 

Another long pause and Sakura felt her eyes grow hot. If Cassandra's body would respond there wasn't much she could do, especially if the soul was already gone. Her body wouldn't be able to survive without her mind.

 

Then suddenly Cassie's chest heaved up, almost far higher than it normally could have, and took in as much air as it possibly could. Her breathing was heavily labored, but she was breathing!

 

“Kami,” Hale grasped his sister's hand, “I should have known she'd be too stubborn to give up. I never thought I'd be thankful for it!”

 

Sakura rubbed her temples and muttered something about it likely that she'd get an ulcer from her line of work, “Hale, take Cassie back to the hospital and have the staff there give her the IV and make sure she's monitored strictly for any changes in her condition. She'll be out for a while, but if she responds well to treatment her strength will return.”

 

Hale nodded thankfully, but before he left he made sure to give Sakura a bone crushing hug. After nearly breaking one of Sakura's ribs he left carrying Cassie who was fast asleep in his arms.

 

With one teen brought back to the land of the living Sakura turned to Gaara whose sea green eyes only carried a far off look in them. But because they weren't being destroyed by a demon they could wager a guess that he wasn't really sleeping. As far as Sakura knew the Wondering Souls needed their host to `sleep' and allow the takeover, and it puzzled Sakura as to exactly what the soul was planning on doing by trying to take over the body of someone who never slept.

 

“We'll take him back to the hospital as well, it will be easier to keep an eye on him there,” Sakura announced after not finding any other solution.

 

“Wouldn't that be putting everyone in the hospital in danger?” asked Temari. She hated to say it about her own brother, but it was something she couldn't ignore, and she knew as the Kazekage Gaara would also agree if he was aware of anything at all.

 

Sakura sighed, “It might, but at the hospital I have access to everything I will ever need to keep him awake, should that become a problem. We'll also have a better place to monitor him, and we'll have an entire hospital staff behind us.”

 

Nodding, Kankuro got to his feet with his brother's arm over his shoulder, “Then what are we doing just sitting around here talking? Let's get going already!”

 

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Suddenly Gaara understood why Cassie's lips had been blue when he found her. He hadn't been so cold since Christmas day when he had to go to see the Hokage without a shirt on.

 

“Where the hell am I?” he muttered to himself as he wondered the darkness.

 

“You're nowhere really,” a cool feminine voice responded. “But if you want to think about it in literal terms then you've been trapped inside your own mind, Gaara-sama.”

 

Gaara spun, fully intending on using his sand to crush a potential enemy. That was when he realized his gourd was gone, he'd grown so used to having it with him he hadn't even noticed, and there wasn't any sand or earth around them either. In fact there wasn't anything at all.

 

A figure of a tall woman with long blue-silver hair was standing there behind him; the shocking pale colours of her were the only light in the darkness. She stood in a relaxed pose with her skeleton-like hands resting lightly on her hip. Gaara imaged she'd have a confident expression on her face, if she'd had a face that is.

 

“Who are you?” demanded Gaara.

 

“Of course, you don't recognize me in my true form,” as she spoke her height suddenly began decreasing, and her hair grew shorter and darker. Her face began to develop distinct features until it became Cassandra's face, with the exception of the coal black eyes of course. “My name is Faceless, and I must say it's an honor to meet you, Gaara-sama.”

 

Gaara's eyes narrowed, “You're the one that hurt Cassie!”

 

“And you're the one who couldn't protect her,” pointed out Faceless in a singsong tone, “and in the end all this was thrust upon her because she met you. That would make you the cause of her death, Gaara-sama.”

 

“S-she … she…” the normally stoic Kazekage's voice began to crack again. His chest felt like it was being torn apart.

 

“But honestly, women are troublesome to begin with. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered the feared Kazekage himself caring for a puny little girl. If you ask me it was a foolish move to make for a leader, because leaders have to be willing to make decisions and sacrifices without emotion clouding their judgment. Having that girl around made you soft, Gaara-sama, and men like that are not leaders.” Faceless's original form restored itself as she spoke, “Though, if it means that much to you, she did put up one hell of a fight. People occasionally wake up, but no one has ever been able to break the seal before. It was a little touch and go for a while, but again, the whole reason I survived was because you rushed to her aide. Any longer and I would have died with the girl.”

 

There were no words Gaara knew that would even come close to all the things he wanted to throw back at Faceless. Cassie was his world, and now she was gone. He'd die before he let Faceless survive after what she did.

 

Faceless took one delicate step forward, her long silver hair trailing behind her like silk, and she placed one hand on Gaara's chest. The area around her hand started to grow colder than the rest of his body, “Such pain … I could ease that pain for you. I could make you forget all those little things that make your heart ache. All I need is your first memory of her.”

 

Gaara's mind was already reeling with all the precious memories of his Cassie and everything about her he would no longer get to see anymore. So just the suggestion of their first meeting brought it to mind involuntarily, `It was the night I was assigning her brother to a mission, and she came to walk him home. Cassie had those dogs with her, and she didn't seem afraid when she caught my eye. She looked curious because her dogs were barking at me…'

 

“Very good,” cooed Faceless. Her hand moved from his chest to his temple, and just as the memory was passing through Gaara's mind it begun to disappear, “Now tell me, what where you doing when you met her? What was she doing?”

 

“…I don't remember,” answered Gaara truthfully.

 

“Do you remember if she had anyone with her? Relatives, or maybe pets?”

 

Gaara shook his head tiredly.

 

Faceless paused a moment in anticipation, “What is her name?”

 

There was another long pause before he numbly answered, “Who's name?”

 

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It was the throbbing of his head that first began to wake Gaara, but for a few minutes he couldn't make sense of anything. His mind was in a fog and spinning like a top, and his limbs felt so heavy he couldn't move. When he tried to clear his vision he was blinded by the white walls of his hospital room, and he saw that the main reason why he couldn't move was that his limbs had been put in restraints.

 

`What the…' Gaara looked over to the nurse who was to deeply into her book to notice him waking up, “What on earth is going on?”

 

The nurse jumped, and instead of answering Gaara's question she scurried out of the room to go fetch Neji and Sakura. The two of them walked in a few minutes later, Sakura looking concerned, and Neji looking indifferent as usual.

 

Sakura sipped at the coffee in her hand before speaking, “Please, tell me it's really you, Gaara. With all the stuff that's happened I haven't gotten any shuteye in over forty-eight hours.”

 

“It is,” Neji stated, “The seal is still dormant.”

 

“What are the two of you talking about? What seal? How did I get here? Will the two of your quit staring and untie me already?!” Gaara would have broken the restraints himself already if his body didn't feel so drained, “There better be a long explanation for all of this.”

 

The pinkette gave him a skeptical look, “What is the last thing you remember before you passed out?”

 

Gaara had to think for a moment because his mind was still in a fog, but he could distinctly remember the last thing he was doing, “I was in my office briefing a group of Chunin on a new mission.”

 

“So you're awake, thank Kami,” Kankuro walked in and munched on a chocolate bar.

 

`It's amazing how Kankuro can do that to a serious mood,' Neji sigh before asking the most obvious question, “Gaara what's the date today?”

 

That was a harder question. Everything around the time he thought he zoned out was fuzzy at best, and things like exact dates were almost impossible to remember, “… August, or early September … I think…”

 

Kankuro, Sakura, and Neji glanced at each other in concern for a few seconds.

 

“You're off by six months there, bro, its January now,” Kankuro was the first to break the news.

 

“What are you talking about? Six months? I've been out of it for six months?” asked Gaara, “And why has no one untied me yet?”

 

Sakura began undoing the straps on Gaara's wrist, and then the one across his chest, “You don't remember anything from the past six months?”

 

“No.”

 

There was another exchange of worried looks, and Gaara was starting to wonder exactly how much he'd missed. Evidently he'd completely forgotten about half a year out of his life, but from all the `looks' he got the distinct feeling he wasn't just forgetting that, he was forgetting something even more important.

 

“Does the name Cassandra ring any bells for you, Gaara?” probed Sakura.

 

“No, should it?” he answered truthfully, but for some reason he was getting a funny feeling in his chest when he answered.

 

 

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Gasp! Poor Gaara-kun, getting tricked into loosing over six months worth of memory! Poor Cassie, she's right back to square one!

 

Thank your for so many reviews, and keep it up!

Lil_Pix

 

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SupersexyPooka, Hiei81, Valinor's Twilight, Shadow_Dragon, Temari92, Dudekiller, fightingpheonix36, Gaara_Freak, BakaHanyouRahvin, xXdonutsXx, Amique, Hinata 87,