Drawing is Shiori's new look~ listen to the music for the feels
Naruto jumped at Gaara and tried to punch him but his tail pushed him aside. "Naruto!" I shouted. "He's too strong for us! Don't go in too recklessly!"
Gaara cackled at us. "As long as you fight for the sake of others, you'll never advance past this level. Only one can be undefeated and only he will feel whats it like to truly exist! Forget your friends, fight for yourself!" Gaara told him.
"You're insane,"Naruto glowered. "Forget my friends?"
"Friendship and loyalty clouds your focus; you'll die."
"Oh yeah? Keep talking while you can cause I'm about to shut you once and for all." Naruto said. He pulled out a kunai and leaped towards him but his tail whipped him away.
"What's the matter?! Why don't you attack? Don't care what happens to your friends?!" Gaara mused. Letting go of Sasuke, I decided to go over and try to find a way to break Sakura from Gaara's grip. "You! You're in my way!"
I tried to dodge his impending attack but I wasn't fast enough so he slashed me in the arm. My eyes widened and I cried out in pain, gripping onto my arm. Falling down, he struck his tail against my stomach causing me to cough out blood.
"Shiori!"Naruto yelled. "Stop hurting my friends!"
Expecting to fall hard onto the branch, I landed into someone's arms. I looked up right into Sasuke's eyes. He saved me but he's still in pain. I clenched my teeth, fighting back the pain as my wound stung.
"S-Shiori, you're wounded, we have to take you-"
"No!"I interrupted. "I'll be fine. We can't leave just yet. Not until we rescue Sakura and once Naruto beats Gaara."
"........." Sasuke silently placed his hand over mine which I had on my wound to try to stop the blood. I gave him a reassuring look and glanced over at Naruto.
He bit his finger, slid his blood on his hand and slammed it down.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Instead of a large Toad, a tiny orange and purple one appeared. I sighed. Maybe I should try summoning instead... "I'm really starting to hate you stinking frogs!"
"Anti-amphibian, huh?! Take that you big bigot!" The toad stuck out his tongue at him.
"Listen," Naruto said. "I don't have time to play games, slimy little squirt!"
My eyes widened in horror as I looked over at Gaara. He was turning more and more into a monster. His body was almost completely covered by thick sand. He separated part of his arm from Sakura while keeping her stuck to the tree.
"Only by defeating me can you free her and you should hurry; with each passing second, the sand will harden until it crushes her to death, "Gaara affirmed. "Sand Shuriken!" Naruto leaped up but was still hit.
"N-Naruto.."I tried to call out but it hurt too much to talk. "D-Dammit.."
"Shiori,"Sasuke said. "Don't try to talk too much. You're already losing blood."
"What's the matter?"Gaara asked Naruto. "Are you afraid of me? Are you still thinking about how to save your friends? Fool, forget them! Think of only yourself! Love only yourself! That is what it means to be the strongest. What's the matter? You were so bold and cocky before. Show me your strength! Attack, you coward! Fight me or I'll kill the girl right now!"
"Okay! You asked for it! Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"Naruto called out. Gaara shot out sand, blowing them away. Then, he shot out sand shuriken.
"What is this?! You come at me and that's all you got? All that effort and you couldn't ever hit me. What a joke!"
Naruto used his clone jutsu again and they headed at him. Naruto then went behind him and to my shock, he tried to stick two fingers up Gaara's butt. My eye twitched. Gaara smacked him away but Naruto stuck a paper bomb on a kunai into him. It didn't do much.
"Naruto," Sasuke began. " Listen to me, you have to save Sakura. Once you get her, grab her and flee as fast you can," Sasuke then lifted me off my feet. "Try to find a way to take Shiori with you too. I can hold him here a little longer. If it ends here, it just means this is how far I was supposed to go.." I furrowed my eyebrows, looking down sadly. Don't say that . "I lost everything once, I don't ever want to see that again," He glanced over at me. "I will not allow my comrades to die.."
"He's no different than I am," Naruto spoke up. "..Going through life with the exact same sadness and loneliness I had to carry. He fought only for himself, never relying on anyone and because of that, I thought that he possessed strength..I really did. I didn't know, I guess I should have known better..That's not what real strength is. If you never fight for anyone but yourself, you'll never be strong, no matter what you do." Naruto released a huge amount of chakra. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Amazing.."I gasped. "The amount of chakra he can access.." Sasuke frowned, saying nothing. What's with him?
"Gee, I'm sorry but I didn't mean to keep you waiting so long," Naruto grinned at Gaara. "Get ready for a original jutsu straight from my ninja handbook! Sasuke, Shiori, take it easy for a while, you deserve it. Leave the rest to Naruto Uzumaki! Here I go! Let's do it! Shuriken everyone!" Gaara blocked but the clones kicked him up. "Uzumaki Barrage!" They all punched him, causing him to fall to the ground. "Barrage of four thousand kicks!"
Gaara shot up sand and surrounded Naruto.
"Naruto!" Me and Sasuke shouted. His legs stumbled but he regained balance. Naruto tried summoning again. This time it was Gamabunta.
"Gamabunta-san!"I exclaimed.
"What is this?'Gamabunta exclaimed. "Well, will you look at that? Shukaku the sand spirit!"
"Will you fight alongside me, Chief Toad?"Naruto asked.
"....Take a hike!" I irked at his response. "Why go out of my way to fight a guy like him? What am I, an idiot? We haven't sealed the deal yet over a cup of sake." Naruto is underaged...
"Pops! You should give this kid a chance!" the little frog spoke up. "There's more to this kid than meets the eye."
"Is that right?" Gamabunta placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. "You're hereby accepted as my henchman! Sit tight, I'll show you what duty is all about. I'll take him down." Gamabunta jumped towards Shukaku and stabbed him.
"Not bad Naruto Uzumaki!" Gaara began to appear out of Shukaku's sand-covered head. He had no pupils, being completely taken over.
"I'm finally free! Here I come, baby!" Shukaku shouted. "I hope you're ready to die! Let's do this. Wind Style; Air Bullets!"
Gamabunta quickly dodged. "Water Style: Liquid Bullets!"
"Air Bullets!"
"Liquid Bullets!" Gamabunta was hit.
"I did it! I did it! I did it! I killed him!"Shukaku cheered. Gamabunta jumped out of the dust that appeared and got close enough to Shukaku's forehead but he didn't have time to jump on.
I tugged onto Sasuke's sleeve."Tell Naruto to use transformation jutsu to have claws since Gamabunta can't hold onto him. It's combined transformation I think." He nodded.
"Naruto, Shiori said to use the combined transformation jutsu to get an animal with claws!" Naruto and Gamabunta got on it, transforming into a fox with nine tails. The two of them started to clash. The force of the two sent strong gusts of wind, almost blowing me and Sasuke over. Naruto jumped on and socked Gaara. I then noticed that Naruto's jutsu was fading meaning he was running low on chakra. "His chakra is running out.."
"I'll wipe you from the Earth,"Gaara snarled. "I will not cease. Believe me.. I will kill you. I will not cease to exist." Red chakra surrounded Naruto. It's the nine-tails.. I got a sudden dizzy spell and held onto Sasuke.
Naruto jumped towards Gaara, head butting him. That caused the jutsu to break and the two descended down. Sasuke immediately put me down.
"This must mean the sand holding Sakura broke off, I'll be right back!" he told me before going to find her. I nodded and kept watching Naruto. He threw a punch at Gaara and the two landed on the ground.
Naruto tried crawling towards him despite Gaara shouting to him to go away. "It's unbearable, isn't it..The feeling of being all alone..I know that feeling. I've been there in that dark and lonely place but now there are others, other people who mean a lot to me. I care more about them than I do myself. I won't let anyone hurt them. I won't ever give up. I will stop you even if I have to kill you!"Naruto declared.
"Why? Why would you do this for anyone but yourself?"
"..Because they saved me from myself. They rescued me from my loneliness. They were the first to accept me for who I am. They're my friends."
"Naruto, that's enough!" Sasuke said. "Look, Sakura is going to be alright. The sand crumbled away. She's free. This guy's chakra is all used up."
I carefully leaped down to Naruto and helped him sit up. "Idiot.."I muttered. "Don't be always this reckless!"
"Shiori..Sorry.."he apologized, holding onto me. I smiled, hugging him but started to feel light-headed.
"Naruto...Thank you.."
<<<<<<<<<<<<
I opened my eyes slowly, finding myself in a hospital bed and with my arm bandaged up. I looked around the room, turning my head when I saw that Sasuke sat by my bed with his arms crossed. My face burned up, feeling embarrassed and he noticed, his cheeks flushing too.
"Sasuke.."
Immediately, he stood up. "Don't get any ideas. Kakashi and Naruto actually stayed for days watching over you. They just left though." I smirked at him, raising my eyebrows. "What?"
"Aww, you do care. I'm so touched," I teased, wiping away fake tears. He just rolled his eyes at me, sighing.
"Anyways, how are you feeling?" He asked. "I'm surprised you didn't pass out earlier, you lost a lot of blood.." I changed my smiling expression to a serious one.
".......I'm fine..Thanks for taking such good care of me back then." I smiled tenderly at him. Sasuke didn't say anything but kept staring at me. He's so hard to read sometimes... I paused and took a deep breath. "What happened?"
".......The Hokage died.." My eyes widened and I clutched the edge of the bedsheet. "He died protecting the village... His funeral is tomorrow. Do you feel well enough to go?" I nodded.
"I have to go. I need to pay my respects."
<<<<<<<<
The next day, the sky was dark. I stepped outside of my house wearing a black kimono. Sasuke stood waiting for me and we headed to find everyone else. Dad had taken off earlier that day.
Walking in silence, we arrived at the funeral. Everyone was depressed with their tear-stained faces. I went and stood by Naruto, hearing Konohamaru sobbing and Iruka comforting him.
We all began to remember what the Hokage was to us. He was practically everyone's grandfather who was willing to risk his life to ensure our safety. He was one of the nicest people I ever met. I knew he would be watching over us.
Standing in a line, we all walked to his memorial stone and placed down a flower, giving a small prayer. My lip quivered as the rain began to pour down. I quickly headed back before I broke into tears. I cried so I tried to hide my face in my sleeve. The last time I cried like this was when I thought Sasuke died..
"Shiori, "Dad said. He then wrapped his arms around me. "It's okay." The rain slowly began to stop and the sun shined in through the clouds. I rubbed my eyes and cracked a smile.
~~~
Once the funeral ended, we all walked home but Sasuke surprisingly decided to walk with me. I found it weird but didn't say anything to question or reject the idea. Having him beside me was comforting. I was happy being by his side. I never realized just how much I loved him.
After long periods of silence as we walked, I let out a long sigh. "Sometimes a good cry helps," I commented, looking in his direction.
"...Are you okay?"he asked. I nodded.
"Yup," I gave him a smile to assure him. He frowned, unconvinced. "What? You don't believe me?"
"Your usual smile is brighter," He noted causing me to blush but I laughed afterward. "I was being serious you know."
Giggling, I grinned at him." Heh heh, thank you. I'm just not used to compliments from you especially about me."I said. "I like this side of you. The nice one..." I glanced up at the sky then looked back at him. "Hey Sasuke, promise you won't leave..."
"Hm? Why do you say that?" he asked confused.
"If something happened to you, I don't know what I would do..." I admitted.
"I don't plan to die. I still need to avenge my clan," he stated, walking on ahead. I clasped my hands together, standing still.
He doesn't understand. Is he really this dense or just avoiding the whole subject? He was never the one to be interested in romance.. I let out a loud sigh. Just say it.
I ran up to his back, clutching on tightly and pressing my forehead against his shirt. "Shiori.."
"Sasuke, you seriously don't get it? I'm saying I love you... I love you so much." Once I spilled out those words, he turned around.
"......You love me?' He questioned, staring at me. My face had already turned completely red and I felt the heat rise in my face. I had a hard time looking him in the eye. "Aren't you going to look at me?"
I frowned, clenching my hands at my side. "S-shut up.. This is embarrassing! I just confessed to a guy! I've never liked anyone before so of course, it's hard to look you in the eye especially since it's you.."
"Heh." My eye twitched and I glanced up, catching him with a smirk on his lips. "Idiot."
Why...why this jerk. I regret saying anything! Why did I have to like him anyways?!
I puffed out my cheeks, pouting. "Jerk. Why do you have to tease me? I'm being open about my feelings! I realized that I really like being with you! I like seeing you but you're just insensitive.. Never mind.. This is stupid. I know you don't care or have time for romance." Lowering my gaze, I sighed. At least I got this off my chest. "It doesn't matter if you don't return my feelings. It's totally fine. I'm going home. You can even forget this conversation if you want"
As I prepared to leave, he grabbed my wrist, interrupting me.
"Idiot.. you talk too much...I really like you too."
What..
WHAT..
My heart is pounding like crazy! This guy actually likes me back???
" Y-you do?" I asked. He nodded, moving closer to me. "...That really makes me happy.. This whole time, I was okay with just being beside you.." Looking at him with a warm smile, I noticed his face was only a few inches away from mine. I blushed and he lowered his eyelids halfway slowly as he moved his face closer.
My heart feels like it's coming out of my chest..
"Idiot.." He muttered. We closed the gap between us, pressing our lips together. When he pulled away, he clutched my hand in his. "I don't want to lose anyone else so I'll protect you." He promised. "I've already lost my family before, I don't want to lose you too."
He then suddenly hugged me, resting his chin on my shoulder, causing me to blush again.
Returning the hug, I whispered. "I'll always be here for you.."