"Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope," I said as I quickly walked over to Gaara. "I refuse to believe that this punk is dead. There is a village that needs him. The Akatsuki could not have won this battle."
It was when I was a few feet away from him, I stopped. My mind could barely comprehend that Gaara was dead. Flashbacks of when the Third Hokage died flooded my mind in a river of thoughts. It was then that I realized just why I had wanted to help Gaara so much; it was because I wanted to do for Suna what I could not do for my own village those few years ago.
That realization punched my heart in pain. My heart felt as though it was being sped up yet slowed down at the same time. Everything felt as though it was going faster and slower.
This is a disaster.
"Sakura, can't you do something?" I asked her in a needy voice. My lungs felt as though they were being drowned in water and I was forced to breathe through a straw.
When she had reached me and saw the look in my eyes, she nodded her head. Slowly, she walked towards the dead Kazekage. Her hands glowed green as she held them above him. Within seconds, her hands stopped their lively glow and she shook her head from side to side.
Another Kage protection failure, I thought as I looked at the ground. Maybe I do not care as much as for Gaara as I think I do, but it is what he does for his people that I care about. Losing a Kage is a big blow to a village and its people. Here I thought that I could stop some people feeling the way that I did, to possibly protect some people from some sort of pain.
Everybody was quiet as we all accepted the fact that Suna would have to go through the process of getting a new Kage while trying to keep quiet about how their recent one just died. It would be fearful because of the uncertainty that came with having a new Kage. We knew the uncertainty that came to a village in fear of being attacked due to other nations realizing that they have no leader at the moment.
"My generation has done many wrong things," Chiyo said as she walked up to Gaara's body, "We can be to blame for the position and mess that we have left to the generation that is now. Our loose ends have had to been resolved by this generation because mine was too stubborn to fix them. I have lived a long and stubborn life. I have realized that I want to help this generation fix the mess that it has been given."
She began to perform hand signs and put them on Gaara's chest. "I have lived a long while, this young Kazekage has much more life ahead of him. This place makes me think about all the mistakes I have made in the past, and I have made many of them. The least I can do to fix my wrongs is to help give back what has been lost."
"No fucking way," in amazement, I muttered under my breath as my eyes widened at the sight in front of me.
"You are going to bring Gaara back?" A new voice asked. However, that voice was not new to me. When I saw that it was Naruto, the edges of my lips pulled back to smile.
"An old bat like me has experimented and learned many things through her long life. This is a Forbidden Jutsu that I have come up with along the way." Chiyo explained as her hands began to glow the shade of green that Sakura's hands were not so long ago.
Naruto's eyes widened and I felt my heart rate speed up a bit. "I want to help, I have plenty of chakra." He explained and looked Chiyo right in the eyes.
"Be my guest," she said and looked at her hands. "Just put your hands on top of mine and flow chakra through them."
Naruto sat down beside her and put his hands on top of hers. Soon, greener chakra flared from her hands. Everybody was quiet as we watched in anticipation. After a minute, Gaara's eyes began to flutter open. Sakura had walked forward and taken ahold of Chiyo's body.
As much as I wanted to celebrate with Naruto and the others, I knew I had to be there for Sakura. My comrade was holding a dead body of somebody who had just given her life so another could live. The person whom she had just spent a while fighting with against the same enemy.
When I had walked over to Sakura I put my right hand on her shoulder. "So how much does it hurt?"
"Not as much as you expect." She said and looked at Chiyo. "I was only with her a short amount of time, but she was more than I had expected. You look relieved though." She pointed out and looked me in the eyes.
Sheepishly, I scratched the back of my neck. "I guess you could say that I am relieved they do not have to go through what we had to go through. They have more people who are older, who can understand the amount of pain that is going on. We were blessed enough to be at a younger age so we could not fully comprehend the amount of pain that everybody was going through."
"You know, I think Gaara is pretty happy to be alive." She said and her line of eye sight went towards Gaara.
He truly looked happy. His eyes showed how happy, shocked, relieved, and amazed he was.
Those are the eyes of somebody who was dead for quite some time, then alive, then dead again, and happy to be back alive. I thought and smiled as I looked at Naruto who was just as happy as Gaara.
The kind of guy who is stupid and goofy. The kind of guy who helps others because he does not want them to experience the pain that he has gone through. The kind of guy who loves those who are precious to him and want to protect them at all cost. The kind of guy I could be in love with and want to be around forever.
****
The people of Suna were relieved to have their Kazekage back. It did not take long for us to get back to the village. Many people celebrated to have Gaara back. Every time Gaara saw how happy the people were, he looked amazed.
I might not have had all my motives for rescuing Gaara directly towards him, but I was still glad to see he was happy. He was not the emotionless monster that he was a few years ago. It was probably hell for him to change and accept emotions back in his world. Nevertheless, I was glad he had changed.
When we held a small funeral for Chiyo, her brother had shown up. He looked sad to see that his dear sister had died and his eyes tore up a bit.
"You had one kick ass sister." I said to him as we looked at her grave.
"I am shocked and not shocked at the same time for how she died." He said to me and I nodded my head.
"I know what you are saying." I said to him and we looked at each other for a moment. Formally, I extended my arm for a hand shake. "It was an honor to meet your sister."
The old fragile man took my hand and shook it slowly. A light smile had formed on his face when I talked about the honor of meeting his sister. "She was a stubborn one."
"I could tell. I apologize that I did not get to talk to her a whole lot, but the little talk we did have was great. She did a courageous thing. Everything she did in this mission will not go vain." I promised him.
What I said, I truly meant. The hurt was visible in his eyes. They were the eyes of someone who had lost somebody precious to them. He lost somebody he had spent years together with. I understood that pain more than anybody should have at my age.
It had seemed as though that the older I had become, the more I wanted to protect others from what I had gone through. A stupid grin had formed on my face when I thought of Naruto and how his dedication towards others had rubbed off on me.
Rubbed off how?
My face went a deep shade of red when that thought came to my mind. No, I am not going to become a pervert about Naruto. I thought to myself in determination and embarrassment. I then saw Ebizo give me an odd look.
"Is something wrong?" He asked me and I shook my head as I tried to ignore the perverted thoughts in my head. I wanted to move forward and talk about Chiyo.
"Nope, I am just really determined to make sure every moment that she did in this mission does not go in vain. I have a feeling that Gaara will not allow her death to go in vain either. He will protect the village even harder now."
As I spoke the last words, I knew they were true.
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There is just something I dislike about this chapter. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but I hope when I edit it that I will fix whatever it is.
What did you guys think of the chapter? How are you? What do you think of the forming character development in Harmony? c: You now you want to watch the video on the side. :3
I hope you guys have a swell day and smile. Farewell!