Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Given The Chance ❯ Grudge Match ( Chapter 41 )

Chapter #41

Grudge Match

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.

 

(Collapses) Stupid school, stupid homework, damn part-time job… Its all leaving me with so little time to write my fingers were twitching in class today (I am not kidding…). Here ya go! A long awaited (well, for a week anyway) chapter of my story!!!

 

00000000000000000000000000000000

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000

 

 

“Hale, where is Lee?” asked Cassandra as she through the front door open.

 

Her brother was the only one home. He was sitting in the living room watching TV after coming back from a series of missions.

 

“He went with Sasuke to see if they could track Gaara down, so you're guess is as good as mine,” Hale shrugged. “What's the matter, Cass? You look all flushed and out of breath. Did you just run all the way back here?”

 

“There is no time to explain,” Cassie pushed past her brother easily and rushed to the closet where she was keeping her kunai pouch, “We need to get moving now. We're going to have to split up if we are going to have any chance of warning the others in time. I'm going to go to Gaara's house, Temari or Sakura will probably be there, and then we have to find Gaara.”

 

“Hold up, you're trying to jump the gun here, just slow down and tell me what's going on!”

 

“Its time, the twins are on their way back here, and they're coming fast. This will be our only chance to get the scroll we need!”

 

Hale was struck dumb momentarily. “How do you know this?”

 

“I just do,” she stated simply, “while that thing was having a grand old time using my body like a puppet our souls were merging. I got out unscathed, but for some reason I can feel her presence. I think I'm the only one without a Kekkai Genkai that can see the seal on his back. That's how I know.”

 

“So then all hell is going to break loose?”

 

“Ya, basically.”

 

Cassie tied her kunai pouch around her waist and then grabbed the hilt of a sword from the closet. It was old and battered, and appeared to have the blade lopped off leaving only half an inch or so of broken metal. To anyone else it would have been nothing but junk, a useless sword that couldn't cut, but to a creative and crafty former Kunoichi it could be the best weapon in existence for the enemy she had to fight.

 

“You're not think of fighting are you?” after hearing that Faceless's little minions were back it took a little while before the fact that his sister was arming herself to sink in. “Do you even remember how long its been since you fought? And you're also thinking of using that damn sword of yours, don't even think about it. It uses up way to much chakra.”

 

“Hey, it's like riding a bike, and I can handle the `damn sword of mine' so come off it will you,” snapped Cassie. She dragged her brother toward the door with surprising but controlled strength, “There is no time to waste arguing with me over my battle tactics, now go.”

 

00000000000000000000000000000000000

 

All Gaara could feel was white hot pain shooting up his spine, so much so that he couldn't even see strait. Everything was stars and spots, and the floor was rising and falling in his vision unpredictably. He staggered towards the door, clutching his head, and cursing.

 

Half of what he was seeing wasn't even the actual surroundings. It was unfamiliar scenes that he apparently lived through, broken memories, the missing months out of his life. Through that pain he could see that girl's face smiling brightly at him, kissing him, making him smile, and making him feel happy. But they were nothing but mute pictures and short sputtering soundless video feeds in his mind, so her name was still gone, and so was that very voice he knew used to make him smile.

 

“Shit!” Gaara's fist met with the nearest wall. He didn't know when he'd made it all the way to the wall, but he hoped he wouldn't be finding the stairs.

 

“Gaara?” his sister's voice called from downstairs.

 

It figured someone heard all the racket he was making. With all that was going on he wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or grateful.

 

“Something bad is happening, we need to get him to the hospital,” Sakura's voice was barely audible through the white noise in Gaara's mind.

 

Each of them took one arm and placed it over their shoulders to support Gaara's weight. It was a little bit of a relief since I didn't have to struggle to stand anymore, but his head was still spinning like an out of control top. It was like doing a thousand three-sixties while freefalling.

 

Not fun.

 

“Gaara, can you hear me?” asked Sakura.

 

“Hm.” Gaara grumbled.

 

“Are you in any pain, Gaara?”

 

“Hn…” The answer should have been obvious by that point, but Sakura still needed to test his responses.

 

“The seal is activating again, just like she said it would,” Temari cursed, “that means the shit is going to hit the fan again…”

 

`She…' Her face was still clouding his mind. He could see her frightened face screaming at the mention of the seal, and unnatural black eyes that didn't belong staring out from her delicate face. “H-her name … w-what…?”

 

“Gaara, try to clear your mind, don't put yourself under unnecessary stress or you'll only get worse,” instructed Sakura.

 

“Someone is coming,” Gaara grunted. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he could feel it, some would go as far as to say he could sense the presence coming closer. “… t-two girls…”

 

His vision cleared a little, not very much, but it was enough to realize he was being taken to the hospital. They were leaping the roofs to get there faster, but he didn't think was a good idea. Gaara had a very bad feeling about the presences he could feel closing in, they were definitely dangerous, and they were coming for him.

 

Gaara wrenched his arms away from Temari and Sakura, and staggered to remain on his own two feet. The sad part that he was already starting to get used to the spinning so it didn't take long before he regained the ability to walk without assistance. He backed away from the girls, slowly at first, but he picked up speed before they could catch up with him or protest.

 

It was the only way to draw the dangerous figures away from populated areas where he would have to protect others. He could barely keep himself standing, much less protect a hospital full of people, and as the Kazekage he had to make that choice. As expected his pursuers followed him instead of staying on their original path. It looked like he would have to face the enemies one on one, not that it was any surprise to Gaara.

 

Managing to put great distances between himself and any over populated areas despite his own pain Gaara could still feel the gap between him and the two enemies close rapidly. Along with another faint chakra source he found oddly familiar but couldn't quite place. Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time Gaara felt something vaguely familiar around him, as of lately it was almost expected of his day to day life.

 

“It's nice to meet you, Kazekage-sama.”

 

Gaara skidded to a halt at the sound of the voice. It was a soft stoic voice that obviously belonged to a child by the pitch.

 

Two girls, no older than ten or eleven, stood front of him in the blink of an eye like they'd been there the entire time. They were perfect mirror images of each other with the exception of their hair colour which greatly contrasted with each other. They stood side by side with the same postures and the same emotionless expressions, the ivory haired girl clutching an antique silver mirror, and the ebony haired girl with a sword attached to her hip.

 

`Damn, how did they get in front of me without me sensing them?' Gaara grimaced, “Who are you two? What do you want?”

 

“We're here on some unfinished business,” the ivory haired twin stepped forward, her mirror reflecting what was left of the desert sunlight, “on behalf of our master.”

 

Gaara's sand stirred around his feet, ready for any possible attack, `something bad is going to happen, I can feel it … this isn't good… I can feel their excess chakra radiating off of them like their not even human…'

 

“You're a stubborn one,” the ebony haired twin added, “I'm surprised you're still able to see, much less walk, you're a lot like the girl. But we have ways to correct particularly … stubborn cases…”

 

The dark haired girl pulled a scroll out of her pocket and balanced it expertly on her index finger. A flash of amusement was barely visible behind her black eyes, “This will be sayonara, Sabaku No Gaara.”

 

One of her shockingly pale fingers reached to the little gold seal on the black scroll, the tip of her fingernail slowly turning up the edge and allowing chakra to seep out from beneath. The pressure the chakra inside the scroll was incredible and it gushed out from the small gap like a shaken can of soda being opened.

 

The sand around Gaara dropped dead and scattered across the ground like it normally would. No matter how much Gaara tried he couldn't regain control over the sand, something was stopping him. Something was zapping him of all his chakra.

 

Thud.

 

A kunai whizzed through the air, grazing the dark haired girl's hand, and landed on the ground smoothly. It'd been expertly aimed, and if the dark haired girl hadn't moved it would have given her a lot more than a scratch.

 

“Oi, Yang, don't be rushing into things, we all know Faceless can wait another few minutes,” a figure - obviously the thrower of the kunai - landed smoothly between Gaara and the two girls. Her slender back was to Gaara, but he didn't need to see any more than that to instantly recognize her as the girl he kissed before, and with the recognition came a new wave of pain up his back.

 

Gaara growled, “Who are you? What are you doing here?!”

 

She turned, smiling softly at him with kind green eyes, and the Konohagakure headband around her forehead glinting in the setting sun. “Gomenasai, for getting here so late, Kazekage-sama. Are you ok?”

 

“What are you doing here?” demanded Gaara once more.

 

“Just settling a score,” she answered simply, “The little twerp with the scroll and I have a grudge match that has been long overdue.”

 

`Yang' looked even more amused than before and her eyes scanned over the green eyed female carefully, “You think putting on a headband increased your skill level? I've seen you fight, and as I said before, you're not even in my league.”

 

“I think of this headband as more of an indicator actually, not a tool,” the green eyed `Kunoichi' tapped the metal of her headband with the tip of her finger and smirked, “when you fought me before I wasn't fighting as a ninja, I was fighting as a village girl, someone virtually useless in battle. I could fight you without it, but I figured you might take me seriously as a ninja.”

 

“You were a Genin,” scoffed the little girl, “a joke, Iwate.”

 

“Seeing may be believing, but its not necessarily understanding. What you don't understand is that I fight my best when I'm fighting for someone else, and if I have a reason I can't loose then I won't.” The Iwate girl pulled four kunai from her pouch and held one in between before taking a loose, but oddly familiar, fighting stance. One hand was poised behind her back, the other hand with the shuriken up in front facing her opponent, and one foot firmly planted in front of the other. She was ready from an attack from anywhere in case something unexpected happened. “For my friends, for my family, for all those precious to me, and for my ally village of Sunagakure, I'm not going to loose. I'm going to take back that scroll and set things right.”

 

“As noble as that pretty little speech of yours was I have more important matters to attend to, so stand aside, I don't owe you a fight nor do you owe me.”

 

The ivory haired twin stepped forward, “Yang, you should fight her, if she has a death wish it's her business. If she's finally gone it will only serve to help us in the end. No wasting time, finish it quickly.”

 

“Yin…” Even Yang looked a little surprised, but it passed quickly enough and she looked forward determinedly, “Very well, if you want to die that bad who am I to deny your wish? I hope you at least came prepared.”

 

The green eyed girl smirked again, “I have to please ask you not to underestimate me. My new sensei helped me brush up quite a bit.”

 

“We'll see.”

 

Yang lunged forward with her sword drawn faster than any normal human eye could track. The cold steel blade plunged into the green eyed girl's left shoulder, probably piercing a few arteries, but the strike was obviously not meant to kill. Not right away at least. The goal was to cause pain, and teach the girl a thing or two about overestimating herself against a strong opponent. Yang wasn't going to make the fight as quick as her sister wanted, but from the look of the first move it would still be a relatively short match anyway.

 

“If you can't keep up you have no hope of beating me,” chided Yang, “you're nothing but a hopeless kid.”

 

There was no doubt the sword made a direct hit, and in all logic the force of it should have at least fractured her collarbone, but something was very different about the way the sword entered her body. There was little resistance and nothing solid. No bones, no organs, and no flesh. Yang might as well have tried stabbing silly putty because there wasn't even any blood coming from the wound site.

 

“What…?” Yang tried yanking on her sword, but it was stuck. “Is this a shadow clone? A replacement jutsu?”

 

“Thanks to my training I was able to more than triple my suppress chakra levels, and I was able to brush up on my old techniques. I thought you would have at least seen that while you were rampaging through my memories.” The `Iwate' girl grabbed the hilt of the sword and gently pulled it downward, purposely creating a long gash. “Say hello to the Solid Clone Replacement Jutsu.”

 

`So she is a Kunoichi, that has to be a high level jutsu,' Gaara watched as another figure - her real body - appeared in a burst of speed behind Yang. `Who is she?'

 

“Leaf Hurricane!” she called out as her foot base contact with Yang's back.

 

 

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000