Elemental (Gaara Love Story) (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 10: Thank You, Lady Chiyo

I stood there in shock. Tears began pouring down my face, but not a sound was made. I slowly dropped to my knees and began to sob in my hands. I took a moment to look around me and saw tears and distraught faces. "No Gaara! You can't just die!" Naruto yells at him angrily. Ren looked down and petted my head to comfort me. 'I could have saved him if I were quicker. I'm so sorry Gaara!' I think to myself and continue to cry. I realize the way I'm behaving is inappropriate and begin to collect myself and stand up. I walk over to Gaara's body with everyone's eyes trailing me and I sit next to his head. "Gaara-kun, I haven't known you for a long time, but you became my close friend in that short time. And although it may be too late to tell you," I pause and kiss his forehead, "I love you." Just as the words left my mouth the tears begin to fall and land on his tattoo that reads "love" in kanji. All of a sudden Lady Chiyo pushes me aside and puts her hands on Gaara's stomach. I watch her in confusion as her hands glow with chakra. "Lady Chiyo?" Sakura questions standing behind her.

"I'm going to bring him back," she says to us focusing all her chakra in her hands. She struggles though with her lack of chakra after the fight with Sasori. Naruto then walks over to her and puts his hand out for her to take. "I'll give you my chakra. Take as much as you need," he says with a determined look on his features. I stand up and put my hand on top of Naruto's. "So will I," I tell her while she looks at the both of us in shock.

"Both of you, place your hands on top of mine," she answers and we smile. Once I place my hands on top of hers I feel this enormous pain that feels as though the life was being sucked out of me. I then start to understand this jutsu Lady Chiyo was using. She was trading her life for Gaara's. "All my life all I ever did was wrong, at least now in my final hours I can do something right," she says with a smile. I begin to cry silent tears but ignore them. "The sand, mist and the leaf, may your future be bright and relationships better than they were in my time," she pauses again, "Naruto, Mariko, protect Gaara and save the future if shinobi. Be a kage worth remembering," she says and collapses. I look to see Gaara with more color in his skin, but Lady Chiyo lay in Sakura's arms dead.

It took a while before Gaara woke up, enough time in fact, that his siblings and other shinobi arrived while he was still unconscious. I hadn't moved my spot next to him and began to whisper in his ear, "Gaara-kun, it's time to get up, everyone is worried and waiting for you." After the last of my words slipped out of my mouth he began to open his eyes and sit up. "Naruto?" His deep voice questions why his friend of the leaf was here. He looked around to see all the shinobi surrounding the area. His eyes looked over his siblings and ninja and eventually landed on me. With a blush on my face I couldn't help myself but dive in for a hug. "Gaara kin thank kami you're okay!" I say to him with a few tears.

"I'm glad to see you again, Mariko," he says to me and hugs back. As soon as he and I let go of my embrace, to young girls sprint over to Gaara asking if he needs help. Those two fling Naruto and I away from Gaara to where Kankuro stood. Kankuro begins too laugh at us. "Don't you worry that's how most girls are, fan over the elite cool guys. Those types of girls are really weak," he says to us while I looked over at the two girls being blocked by Temari. It was then Gaara tried to get up and both Naruto and I ran to help him up. He struggled to get up and Temari made a worried face. "Take it slow Gaara, it won't be so easy to get up yet," Temari says to him.

"What happened?" He asks looking at me. I look over at Lady Chiyo lifeless in Sakura's arms. Gaara followed my line of vision and instantly understood. "Granny revived you Gaara! Don't worry she just fell asleep after using such a crazy jutsu. She'll be up soon!" Naruto exclaims with a smile, looking at Lady Chiyo with gratefulness.

"No she won't Naruto," begins Kankuro looking down,"She used a forbidden jutsu to exchange her life force with Gaara's. She's dead." Everyone including Gaara looks at Lady Chiyo. Naruto begins to cry and with the help of him and I, Gaara stood on his two feet. "Everyone, please bid farewell to Lady Chiyo," says Gaara and everyone becomes silent to respect their deceased elder. Once we finished Naruto and I helped Gaara begin to walk back to the village, leading the way for the rest of his ninja. "Mariko," Gaara begins looking to his left where Mariko was helping him up, "is it true?" I look at him unsure of what he was referring to. "What are you referring to, Gaara-kun?" I ask him giving him a small smile.

"What you told me when Lady Chiyo was resurrecting me," he says his cheeks turning red and looking straight ahead again. I suddenly realize that he heard me confess to him and I look straight at him deciding what to say. At last I decide to tell him the truth. "Gaara-kun, I-" I began only to be interrupted by thousands of sand villagers waiting for Their Kazekage at the gates of Suna.

"Talk about a welcome party," Kankuro says to no one in particular. I dismiss that I couldn't finish what I wanted to say to Gaara and instead smiled at the large crowd of people who were happy to see their Kazekage safe. "Well lead the way, Lord Kazekage," Kankuro says with a grin.

"No not yet, first lets honor Lady Chiyo," Gaara says and Baki, Gaara's original sensei who ran up to greet him, tells all of the village to give Lady Chiyo a moment of silence. Afterwards, her corpse is carried into Suna to lead the way, closely followed by Gaara himself. I pray to Kami for her in thanks to saving the person I love. Eventually, we make it back to the Kazekage's mansion after a long heartfelt funeral. Naruto and his teams bid farewell to Gaara because they had to report to their Hokage. Temari, Kankuro and I led Gaara to his bed where we laid him down. Both Ren and Kenji were asleep in the guest room where I would be joining them soon, to leave Gaara to rest. Without the Shukaku inside him, he would try to get some sleep, Temari and Kankuro said goodnight and left Gaara to sleep. "Well goodnight Gaara-kun, I hope you get some sleep," I tell him and bow making my way out the door.

"Wait Mariko-chan," Gaara says before I can put my hand on the door. I blush that he called me "Mariko-chan" instead of just Mariko. "Yes?" I say turning around to look at him.

"Don't leave yet," he tells me and motions me to come over. I walk over to him reluctantly and sit next to the bed. "You never answered my question you know," he tells me looking at me in the eyes.

"I, um," I started shyly knowing exactly what he was talking about, "Well Gaara-kun, I said that I-I l-love you." Gaara looks at me without a change of expression and leans up towards my face. Before I knew it, our lips collided and fireworks went off in my stomach and sparks flew around the air. Once we pulled away Gaara held my hand in his. "Mariko-chan, I always swore to only love myself. However you showed me it was possible to care for someone other than myself. Mariko, I love you too," he says with a smile and faint tint of red on his cheeks. I smile at him feeling the happiest I have in quite a while. "Well, Gaara, I'll leave you to sleep," I say to him and begin to walk away.

"But you've been sleeping here, are you sure you don't want to just stay with me?" He asks me completely serious and not in a flirtatious way.

"I can stay with my teammates."
"Mariko-chan I insist, it may help me learn to sleep too." With that comment I looked at his eyes begging for me to stay and decided to lay down next to him. He held my hand in his while I dazed into a deep sleep. "I love you Gaara-kun," I whisper as I finally close my eyes and let sleep consume my body.