I gaped at him, bewildered.
"A war?" I asked. Gaara nodded at me, his expression impassive. I knew instantly that it was a topic none of them liked. A war? I had never experienced something like what I was feeling now. I was feeling confused rage.
"Why are you even here, when your comrades probably need you right now?" I demanded, stepping towards him.
"You think we let ourselves be sent here on purpose? We were sent here by an enemy that we were battling with!" Kiba, I think, growled back. We looked each other eye to eye, daring the other to look away. I was suddenly pulled away, as a small dagger whizzed past my face. The pale, quiet one stood staring at me, his eyes emotionless, like he was dead on the inside.
"Sai, cut it out!" Naruto shouted, his face clearly displaying his annoyance. I paused, stiffening against Lucy's attempt to hold me back.
"He made a threatening move toward a comrade. I am simply following orders, Naruto." He replied with a merry voice that was so hollow it could have given me a shiver, had I not a flame burning within me.
"Natsu," Gaara began. I turned to look at him. "We need to return to our world, or universe, or wherever else we may be from. We are key figures in this war. Especially Naruto. He has a . . . gift."
"What he means is that this entire war is because of me, so I need to fix this by helping everyone win!" Naruto interrupted urgently.
"You mean we, Naruto." Temari interjected. Naruto shook his head, brooding. I felt something within me stir.
"We'll help you." They all turned to look at me, as the guild members stared at me too.
"You will?"
"We will?!"
"Hey, don't just go making decisions without asking the rest of us!" Gray grabbed me by the collar. I glowered at him.
"Well, if I'd said I was gonna do it by myself, you would've come anyone, so cut the crap!" I snapped. I paused and sniffed the air.
"What is that?" Several voices asked simultaneously, my voice among them. I looked round and saw Gajeel, Laxus, Kiba and Wendy all sniffing the air too.
"You have a strong sense of smell?" I inquired.
"Yeah, I'm a dog nin master." He said. I looked at him for a while, trying to figure out what he meant. After realising that I wasn't going to get it, he blew out a breath, and walked away. I could feel myself grin. He seemed familiar somehow.
"Stay here." I called over my shoulder as I ran out of the guild, smiling broadly at the face palms and sweat drops behind me.
*0*0*0*0*
By the time I arrived back at the guild, my teammates had also returned, equipped with small bags for their possessions. Apart from Erza, who seemed to have her usual cart with her, earing some stunned glances from the, er, shinobi. Laughing freely, I turned my back on them and began heading to the front doors so that they wouldn't see my face. This smell that was lingering in the air was spiking my curiosity. Marching onwards purposefully, I made my way to the train station, but stopped when I came to stand a few feet looking directly in the eye of a young man around my age, with hair that was so dark it was practically black and eyes that were so green that you could mistake it for an intensified gem. He was just looking at me. I growled,
"Who the hell are you?"
