Gaara Love story ~ Chapter 157

Sometime later, you weren’t quite sure how long, you heard someone coughing next to you & then Kakashi’s body sat up & so did Hatori’s, & Fatalis’s, & Arisa’s, & Kyouya’s!

‘Guess I’m dead then.’ You decided & sat up

‘Kyouri?’ Kakashi asked, frowning

‘I exhausted my chakra supply then converted my energy into chakra. It killed me I think.’

‘No Kyouri, You’re not dead.’

‘I’m dreaming?’

‘No, we’re alive again.’

‘You can’t be; I felt you die.’

‘No Kyouri, Kakashi’s right. Check for yourself.’ Hatori added

‘I can’t, I have no chakra left. I just explained that.’

‘Well then, you’ll have to take our word for it.’

Your students were staring at their hands, at where their wounds should have been, in wonder.

‘Is it true? Are we really back?’ Kyouya asked pinching himself to check if he could feel anything

‘I,. . .I think so.’ Fatalis replied, experimentally clenching & unclenching his fist.

‘Did Tsunade-sama heal us?’ Arisa asked

‘She can’t bring back the dead.’ You informed her

‘Then how the hell did we get back?!’

‘You’re not really back, I’m just dreaming.’ You reassured her cheerily. You felt the sharp sting of Hatori’s hand as he slapped you across the face. Ow, that hurt like it was real. He was shaking you,

‘Kyouri! We’re not dead, snap out of it. I was dead, I’m sure of it, but I’m back now. Someone brought us back.’

‘How?’ you demanded

‘I don’t know! I’ve been dead for the last-’ He cut himself off, ‘How long has it been since we died?’

‘I don’t know, I collapsed here about 20 minutes after you guys died. But if this is a dream then god knows how long I’ve already been sleeping.’

‘It’s not a dream Kyouri! Did you die?’

‘No, I don’t think so.’ You replied uncertainly, trying to concentrate, but your head was hurting too much.

‘Well I did, & now I’ve come back.’

‘But How?!’

‘I don’t know!’

‘If you can’t tell me how then I can’t believe you are real.’

Kakashi sighed & caught Hatori’s hand as he made to slap you again

‘Hatori, talking to her right now won’t help. Neither will beating the hell out of her. We might be back but she’s still dying. Whatever technique brought us back didn’t help her because she wasn’t dead yet. We need to get her to Tsunade.’

‘What about these three?’ Hatori motioned to your students

‘They can come with us.’

Hatori nodded & picked you up, he saw your hand & swore, ‘What did you do to your hand!?’

‘I punched the ground.’ You explained easily, feeling the mad urge to laugh.

‘Why?’

‘Because I was annoyed that I couldn’t save you guys, duh.’

‘You still have a complete disregard for your own safety.’

‘Well I’m dead or close to it. So what does it matter?’

‘You’re not going to die. I won’t let you.’

‘I said the same thing about you. But I couldn’t save you.’ Tears started to leak from your eyes, you blinked them away, your body felt disconnected from your emotions.

‘Kyouri, it’s okay. I’m back, we’re back.’ Hatori assured you.

‘Yeh right. Miracles don’t happen to people like me.’ You retorted. Hatori shook his head & sighed but said no more.

Sakura’s P.O.V-

You watched as people who definitely had been dead a few seconds ago were standing up & talking to each other. You had a sudden thought, Kyouri! She wasn’t dead yet, so she might still be dying!

You started running

‘She’s to your left.’ Katsuya instructed, you turned to see Hatori holding Kyouri while Kakashi and her students ran alongside him. She was unconscious, but still alive. She wouldn’t be for much longer though, if someone didn’t help her.

‘Sakura! We need your help.’ Kakashi called, rushing over to you.

‘I know.’

‘Where’s Tsunade?’

‘She’s passed out and hasn’t come around yet, but I might be able to heal her.’

‘I’m not sure if you have enough chakra left.’ He pointed out.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll help out there.’ Hatori decided, laying Kyouri on the ground before you.

You kneeled next to her & placed both of your hands on her forehead, Hatori placed his hand on your shoulder, channelling his chakra into you. A few seconds later, the hands of Kakashi and Kyouri’s three students joined as well.

An hour passed & you moved onto her hand, ‘God, she doesn’t half know how to fuck something up.’ You complained as you started the long process to repair all the bones, muscle & skin that made up her hand. There wasn’t even one full bone, let alone any in the right places.

Another hour passed & she was pretty much healed, she opened her eyes.

‘Huh? My hand’s fixed? Is this another dream?’ she asked, much to your confusion

‘No Kyouri. You’re not dreaming, this is real.’ Hatori said softy, sudden realisation dawned in her eyes.

Normal P.O.V-

‘You guys are really alive?’ You sat up, slapping Hatori, ‘You are!’ You threw your arms around him, ‘I thought you guys were dead!’ Tears dripped from your eyes, Hatori laughed.

‘How does you slapping me prove that I’m alive?’ he asked,

‘In my dreams you always manage to block me.’ You explained, he laughed again & hugged you back. You let go & rushed over to your students, ‘I’m so sorry you guys. I failed you, I couldn’t protect you.’ They grinned at you

‘You could make it up to us by buying us dinner.’ Arisa suggested

‘But that’d only be the start.’ Fatalis added. You laughed, so unbelievably happy. How could this have happened? How could they all be alive again? How could everything suddenly be alright? To be honest, you didn’t really care, as long as they weren’t dead, that was enough for you.

‘Deal.’

You turned round to face Kakashi

‘You can make it up to me by not constantly asking to see what’s under my mask.’ He decided before you could speak, you pouted, though you felt like grinning.

‘That’s not fair!’

‘Yes it is.’

‘I’ll stop asking if you show me, just once?’

He laughed, ‘That kind of defeats the point.’

‘Hm. I’ll think about it.’ You replied, trying to sound serious but you couldn’t stop the tears or the grin

‘What about me?! I’m the one who saved your life!’ Sakura interrupted

‘That means you’ve just started to repay me for all those times I saved yours!’ you retorted, smirking, then your face grew serious, ‘But seriously, Why are you guys alive again?’

‘Well, from what Katsuya tells us, Naruto managed to negotiate with the real Pein, a guy called Nagato, and he was so moved by Naruto’s words that he sacrificed his life to bring everyone back to life.’

‘Woah. Really?’ You took a second to absorb in the information, looked like you owed Naruto big time, ‘Well whatever, it obviously worked. Where’s Naruto now?’

‘On his way back, let’s go out to the front of the village to meet him.’ Sakura suggested, you nodded but Kakashi hesitated

‘I think I’ll go out and pick him up.’ He decided, and with no more explanation than that, he was off. You caught up with Sakura and followed her to the village gates.

A few minutes later, Kakashi appeared, carrying Naruto piggy-back style. A huge cheer went up from the crowd that had gathered. Kakashi let him down and you smiled as Naruto blushed and cheered him on.

‘Naruto, you idiot! You’re always so reckless!’ Sakura yelled at him, whacking him on the head. But she caught him before he could hit the ground and pulled him into a hug.

You smiled at him through the crowds and turned to walk away, let him have his glory, you’d thank him personally later.
You were walking through the deserted streets of Konoha, on your way to the graveyard when you heard Naruto call your name, you turned round to see him running towards you, Hatori and the others close behind him

‘Kyouri! You’re okay! Sakura told me what happened.’

You just smiled at him and gathered him into a hug, ‘Thank you Naruto. I owe you one, big time.’

He pulled away, ‘For what?’

‘For everything. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m willing to bet you had something to do with everyone coming back to life.’

He grinned and rubbed the back of his head, ‘Yeah, well. It wasn’t just me.’ You shook your head at him, still smiling despite the tears leaking down your face.

‘Thank you for keeping Konoha safe while I was gone.’ He said, you shrugged, this time you managed it, wiping the tears from your face ‘We’ve all been told how you lifted the village into the air to keep it safe from Pein’s attack.’

‘Ha! That little trick?’

‘The little trick that almost killed you?’ Hatori put in, his voice disapproving

‘Actually, it was after that. When I helped Hinata & followed Naruto to help him deal with the last two Peins, I had to convert most of my body’s remaining natural energy into chakra.’

‘Either way you were an idiot to try it. You could’ve died!’

‘Says the man who practically threw his life away trying to defeat someone he knew was too strong for him to take on.’ You chatisised, Hatori frowned, then grinned

‘God. You’re lecturing me now? This isn’t good.’

‘Sorry to break up this touching family reunion,’ Arisa said sarcastically, ‘But shouldn’t we go help some of the other villagers?’

‘Mm, you’re right. Sakura, do you have any chakra left?’ you asked, command back in your voice

‘Yes.’

‘Enough to heal people?’

‘Yeah. I ended up using hardly any of my chakra to heal you.’

‘Good. You go do that. Maybe Naruto should go with you if he has any chakra left.’

They both nodded, ‘Can your students help us?’ Sakura asked

‘Sure, but will they be any help?’

‘When I trained them they picked up enough basics to heal minor injuries.’

You nodded, ‘Then feel free. Arisa, Fatalis, Kyouya, You are to assist Sakura & do what she says.’

Your three students nodded, ‘Yes sensei!’ The five of them headed off into the village. That left You, Kakashi & Hatori. ‘Do either of you know if Tsunade or Jiraiya is awake yet?’

‘Neither of them is.’ Hatori told you,

‘Damn, there’s a calling for the Kages, Konoha needs to have a Hokage who can go. The Village Elders will no doubt elect someone quickly. Probably Danzo, though hopefully the Jounins won’t vote him in, nevertheless, he will most likely be the one to attend the meeting on Konoha’s behalf. If the other Kages approve of him then there’s less of a possibility that he’ll be voted out by the Jounin. Plus we’re one of the only Nations with a Bijuu left.’

‘How do you know so much?’

‘I have my ways.’ You grinned, then frowned again as you started thinking, ‘Danzo will do anything to ensure that he’s made Hokage, this is the opening he’s been waiting for, but we can’t let him, it’ll mean the end of Konoha as we know it.’

‘Mm, Danzo as Hokage is a frightful thought.’ Kakashi admitted

‘Which means we need to convince the council not to elect him, unfortunately we three might not be the best people to do that, seeing as I frequently leave the village without permission,

Hatori doesn’t even live in the village anymore & Kakashi’s probably second choice for the title so they’ll see anything he says as a ploy to get himself elected.’

‘You think I’d be considered for Hokage?!’ Kakashi asked, you rolled your eyes

‘For someone who’s meant to be relatively clever you really can be an idiot at times.’ You told him, ‘Naruto & Sakura might not be much help either, seeing as Naruto’s the Bijuu & Sakura was Tsunade’s pupil.’

‘We might not be able to have a huge effect on the council, which means Danzo will probably be elected temporarily,’ Hatori agreed, ‘But you & Kakashi will definetly have an effect on the Jounin, so when the time comes for them to vote, we might be able to kick Danzo back out again.’

You nodded, ‘Okay good, we have a vague plan. But for now I would really like to get home & have a very long sleep.’

They both laughed & let you go. You slipped through alleyways the entire way, trying to avoid the crowds, the last thing you wanted now was their praise. Though Naruto was doing a very good job of putting up with it.

You made your way to the Konoha cemetery, despite what you’d said to Hatori and Kakashi. You’d come very close to losing more people that you loved today than you could take, and you’d relived that feeling of loss all over again. But, despite that, you hadn’t thought about your brother or sister, or your father or even Ikari. Their deaths still hurt, when you thought about them, but you hadn’t been thinking about them. You were forgetting them. You could hardly remember what your little sister’s laugh had sounded like, or what the cheeky grin your brother used to wear looked like. Your memories were hazy and fading. You couldn’t lose them, you just couldn’t bare it. Your memories were all you had left of them. You also wanted to see your Mother’s grave, to accept those feelings and memories you’d kept hidden, the ones you’d purposefully forgotten because they were simply too painful. But you needed to confront it, for all the shit Nabiki had put you through in the last few weeks, she had done one thing right; she’d forced you to remember and accept that you’d never been anything more than a tool to your mother, she hadn’t loved you, and there was no point disillusioning yourself about it. All memories were important, whether they were good or bad, and you couldn’t afford to forget any of them.

You arrived at your family’s graves. The grief washed over you, but you were expecting it this time, and it didn’t crush you, didn’t overwhelm you, you managed to stand there and bare it. You accepted it. You were still sad, you still mourned their deaths, you probably would forever, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with that; you’d loved them and they’d died needlessly from Pein’s orders. The guy had killed nearly everyone you loved, and yet, you didn’t hate him anymore. You walked over to your mother’s grave and crossed your arms, trying to assess your feelings. Anger, satisfaction, but there was still sadness there, and not just at the fact that she’d never loved you. She was your mother, no matter what she’d done to you, and she had died to save you, whether for the right or wrong reasons. You had loved her, there was no denying it. You didn’t love her anymore, but she was still family, and some small part of you still mourned her.
You sighed and stood there for the next hour, just staring at the graves and thanking whoever was listening that you hadn’t lost anyone else today.

‘I thought I’d find you here.’ Kakashi’s voice spoke, why did he always seem to know when you were visiting your family’s graves?

‘Mm. I’m assuming you’re here for the same reasons I am.’ You said instead

‘Yep.’ He was standing next to you now. ‘How are you holding up?’

‘Surprisingly well.’ You admitted, shrugging. Well, now was as good a time as any. ‘I know about you and Hatori, by the way.’ You offered it up casually. You felt his immediate surprise, quickly followed by a slight fear. ‘I don’t mind. In case you’re wondering.’

He was quiet for a while longer before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, ‘I should’ve guessed that you’d figure it out.’

‘Well, I can sense people’s emotions, so I don’t know why you tried to hide it from me.’

He shrugged, ‘I guess Hat- I guess we thought you might disapprove.’

‘Seriously, you should know better.’ You rebuffed, but you turned to smile at him, ‘How long have you two been together?’

‘Well, we’ve been friends since we were both kids. We went through a lot together, first the deaths of his parents, then the death of my father. We were best friends. I was an annoying little bastard when I was younger, but Hatori put up with it; “there’s no limits to friendship” he used to say,’ Kakashi smiled at the memory, ‘When we were older, Hatori dated several girls, I was always too concerned with becoming a ninja, but your cousin was quite the flirt,’

‘I can imagine.’ You agreed dryly

‘Yes, well. He figured out that he, erh, wasn’t interested in girls, when he was only about 15. It wasn’t until a mission we were on together, that I realised it. We ran into some enemy ninja who far outnumbered us. We got away, but we were both heavily injured and took shelter in a cave for the night. I was on watch when they attacked, and I was pretty badly wounded by the time we’d killed them all.’ He sighed, ‘We both thought I was going to die, Hatori told me he’d,’ Kakashi cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed ‘He’d do anything to keep me alive, because he loved me.’ You had to smile at that, who knew Hatori could be so cute? ‘And, well. I wasn’t really in a position to argue with him. By the end of the night, after he’d run all the way back to Konoha, carrying me, I knew he actually meant it and well, I guess I realised maybe, I loved him back.’ You grinned at him and Kakashi rolled his eyes, ‘Don’t say anything!’ He warned, predicting your next move.

You huffed, ‘You know me too well. But, fine, I’m not going to say anything, but only because I don’t really need to, do I? You already know what I’m about to say.’ You teased, but in truth you were happy he was able to open up and tell you this much. Kakashi was like a father to you, but neither of you were particularly good with dealing with your own emotions. Which was strange, considering you dealt with other people’s emotions on a daily basis.