Girl On Fire [Naruto Fanfic] (Completed)

Chapter 49: Dead Girl Walking

Third Person's POV

When the fire blasted, nothing but tiny sparks fluttered down to the ground. None of it hurt anybody, luckily. "What is this?" Sakura puts her hands out in front of her as the sparks floated down.

"Where's Mokou-chan?!" Naruto searched around to look for her. Everybody else did the same but wasn't able to find her. 

The only trace that was left from Mokou was her bow that she wore on the back of her head. It had fallen into Itachi's hand. It made him frown just by looking at it, knowing that Mokou was gone. . .

"What did you find?" Sasuke walks over to his elder brother when he saw him frowning. He looked at the bow in Itachi's hand and examined it. He didn't want to believe it at first nor did he want to face the truth. Sasuke clenched the bow tightly in his hand as he gritted his teeth, trying his best not to cry.

"Did you find anything?" Yuuki ran over and went wide eyed as snatched the bow out of Sasuke's hand. "No! . . . No! No! She has to be here somewhere! We have to keep searching for her!" Yuuki growls and ran off to find Mokou but was stopped by Kakashi.

"Enough, Yuuki. . . She's gone. . ." Kakashi's voice cracks, trying his best not to break down crying.

"Mokou-chan. . ." Naruto choked on his words as tears streamed down his face when he saw the bow. Almost every shinobi and Kage frowned as a few started to cry. Especially the people who cared for her most: Her teammates, Kakashi, Yuuki, and Itachi. Cries and sobs were heard all around the battlefield because of the lost of a great shinobi.

After the previous Kage's animated bodies went away, each shinobi returned to their villages since the battle was finally over. 

The very next day, the leaf village held a funeral at the bamboo forest. Yuuki was in his cat form and the squad members, sensei's, Tsunade, and Orochimaru, Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo, were standing in front of Mokou's house. They cleaned out the house and made it look new so that it would look presentable.

A frame of Mokou was on the stoop with flowers, a small red robin toy from Kakashi, and in the middle of the items lied Mokou's bow. "Mokou. . . A strong kunoichi and a great friend to everyone she has met. She fought for what she believed in and protected the ones who she cared for most. Stubborn, aggressive, passionate, yet strong. . . A loving student and comrade who will never be forgotten." Kakashi gave a speech for the funeral.

After the funeral was over, everyone went home except for Yuuki. He decided to stay at the Fujiwara house so that he could feel close to Mokou. Itachi was with him because he didn't want to leave Yuuki there alone. 

"Yuuki, we have to go. You can't stay here. . . I know it's hard, but we have to move on." Itachi tells Yuuki. 

"That's what you want to believe. . . I'm not leaving! Mokou-chan is family to me. . .The only family I ever had. . ." Yuuki hung his head down as more tears began to well up in his cat eyes.

"Yuuki. . . Mokou-chan wouldn't want you to be like this."

"Mokou-chan is dead. . . It doesn't matter. . ." Yuuki sobbed as he lied in the ground.

"Geez, I can hear you both from my bedroom. Would you mind keeping it down?" Itachi and Yuuki's heads snapped up when they heard a familiar voice. They looked at the front door to see Mokou walking out of her house, wrapped in a red blanket. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Mokou?!" Itachi and Yuuki exclaimed.

"Not so loud. I just woke up and all." She yawns while rubbing her eye.

"Mokou-chan! Mokou-chan!" Yuuki ran up to her and jumped into her arms, snuggling his head in her chest with tears in his eyes. Mokou giggles as she catches the cat in her arms and rubbed his furry back. "I thought you were dead. . ." Yuuki sobbed.

"Mokou-chan. . . How are you still alive? Everyone thought you were dead. And why are you naked?" Itachi questions.

"Well, I was dead but I was reborn." Mokou explained. "Becoming that phoenix to defeat Madara was something new to me. What I didn't know was that the remains of the user are gathered into one and returns to it's nest, thus being reborn. What annoyed me was that I woke up naked." 

"Remains? You don't mean. . ?" Itachi raises an eyebrow. 

"The sparks from the blast." Yuuki lifted his head up. "It makes sense now. Those sparks were the remains of the phoenix, aka you, and they gathered back here to the nest, and that nest is your home. Once you returned to the nest, you became whole."

"Being reborn to be exact. That explains why you're naked."

"Mhm." Mokou nods her head. "Thanks for cleaning up the house and replacing the furniture and mattress. I was almost convinced that I had woken up in somebody else's house." Mokou smiles and walks down the stairs with Yuuki in her arms. 

Itachi walks up to her and wraps his akatsuki around her. "Let's show everyone the good news." He smiles and pulls Mokou into a hug while stroking the back of her hair. "I missed you so much, Mokou-chan. . ." He whispers to her.

"I missed you too." Mokou smiles warmly. 

Itachi, Yuuki, and Mokou returned to the village and went straight to the Hokage tower. It didn't take long for someone to give out the word that Mokou was here in the village. Some villagers were shocked.

"Naruto! You won't believe it! Come to Hokage-sama's office!" Sakura shouted up to Nauto's window. 

Naruto was sitting on his couch until he heard Sakura's call. "What?" He said to himself and jumped off the couch, then running to the Hokage's office. While he ran, he heard his friends saying,

"I can't believe it!"

"How is this possible?!"

"It's a miracle!"

"I-Is it really her?"

Naruto bursts through the doors and entered into the office. "What's wrong, Granny?!" Naruto shouted with worried. His eyes widened when he saw her. The girl he shared memories with, who had his back, who ended the war, and his first friend he made. 

Mokou Fujiwara. 

"No way. . . Mokou-chan?!"

"Naruto-kun!" Mokou smiles at him. Naruto was shocked and couldn't believe his eyes. 

He stood there frozen, not sure what to do or say. 

"Why are you staring at me like that? I'm sorry to show up like this, and for troubling you with how you must have felt at my funeral. But I'm here n-" Before Mokou could finish her sentence, she was hugged tightly by the blonde ninja.

"Do you know. . . how much I missed you? And it's only been a day, Mokou-chan. . ." Naruto sobbed.

"I'm really sorry, Naruto-kun. I really am." Mokou slowly hugs him back.

"You should be. . ." Naruto lifted his head and smiles at the girl with tears streaming down his cheeks. "Don't scare me like that again, okay?!"

"I won't." Mokou gave her best friend a closed eye smile. 

Everyone cheered and was so happy about Mokou's return. A celebration was held in the afternoon and everyone had a blast. Mokou was dressed in a red kimono like everyone else while they were partying and drinking.

"You almost had me there when we couldn't find you in the battlefield. I was about to shed some tears like everybody else. I would like to hear how you are still alive. I thought you were gone for good." Tsunade smiles at the young kunoichi while she sat next to her, drinking sake.

" I can't wait to tell you all about." Mokou smiles back.

"You should know how worried I was about you. I almost forgot you were immortal." Sasuke looked away, trying to be cool.

"I didn't know you had a heart. Looks like you're not too much of a heartless bastard after all." Mokou smirked at the Uchiha who smirked right back. 

During the celebration, Yuuki couldn't keep his paws off Mokou and basically kept her to himself. When night arrived, Mokou walked home to the bamboo forest with Yuuki in her arms. Itachi offered to walk her home since it was so dark out.

Mokou set the sleeping cat, Yuuki, on the couch and sat on the porch in front of her house. "Everyone is happy to have you back." Itachi sat next to her when he said this. "How do you feel about that?"

"Honestly. . . It feels great. I never felt this much excitement, care, and acceptance before. It makes me very happy." Mokou smiles at the starry sky. "All this time I thought I would never feel or experience anything like this. Fighting along with friends and allies, and learning about my own emotions. Words can't explain what I'm feeling right now."

"Then this proves that you always have a home come back to if you ever feel lost again, Mokou-chan." Itachi gently grasps her hand, causing Mokou to look at him.

"I don't think I will ever be lost again. . . Because I have friends who look after me, and you." Mokou says in a soft voice. 

The two of them lean into each other and close their eyes when their lips connect. The kiss was heated and full of passion. Mokou was right where she wanted to be. 

After the kiss, Itachi and Mokou pulled away from each other as Mokou leans her head on Itachi's shoulder.

"I love you, Mokou-chan. . ."

"I love you too, Itachi-kun."

The End 

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Thanks for reading, my children! I hope you loved the story as much as I did. And the picture shows Itachi and Mokou together X3