Memory

Miyo

I carried Shino all the way back to the village and left him with his dad – using my newfound trick of channeling chakra through a doll, because Shino's too heavy for me to physically carry – and then went right back out.

Little Sasuke was guiding me back, because I didn't have a Pakkun like Naruto and the others did.

I heard carnage somewhere ahead of me, and was worried of coming too close.

Little Sasuke suddenly stopped on his own and waved at me to stay back. He edged closer to the trunk of my tree and stopped. Then he looked back at me, waved one little hand over his eye, leaped to a different tree and looked around the trunk.

Little Sasuke's been showing a lot more free will lately while connected to my chakra. Still, it was a good idea. I closed my eyes and looked through his.

I almost lost focus after that. Gaara had mutated into some…thing! Some hideous, asymmetrical, drooling creature! And he was fighting Sasuke!

Hoo boy…I don't think this is entirely skewed by Little Sasuke's size!

...I took up the wrong profession.

Now, mind you readers, I wasn't scared of Gaara's inner demon, exactly. I was scared of his clear, utter lack of control…and the state of his mind. He was easily on the verge of insanity, if not already there!

Then Gaara mutated even further! One of his moves in trying to hit Sasuke put him practically right in front of Little Sasuke! The real Sasuke was getting pounded!

What to do, what to do…I can't use my Gaara doll to stop him, not when he's like this!

…But saving Sasuke…that's well within my range of abilities.

I took hold of my string, preparing to yank. I gotta time this just right…

Sasuke pulled out another Chidori…almost…

I didn't see what happened. But Gaara's sand-arm fell to, well, sand. Of course, then he made another one on his other arm and Sasuke collapsed!

I watched the curse mark spread on the doll and Gaara lunge for Sasuke…

I yanked the cord around the same time that Naruto got here to kick Gaara. Sasuke went flying towards me.

I hadn't prepared for anything after that. Twitching the cord a couple of times made sure he didn't hit any trees, but then he crashed headlong into me.

Sakura kept me and Sasuke from falling all the way to the ground. "Miyo! What are you doing here?"

"Long…story…"

Gaara lunged for us again, but Sakura defended us. He shoved her out of the way and pinned her to a tree with a gigantic left claw, but then just…stopped!

"You…"

I twitched, but didn't move from my crouched position.

"I…remember…you…"

I straightened slowly, lifting the doll of Sasuke and tweaking it so that his arm was slung over my shoulders.

"You…have no fear of me. Who are you?"

Naruto grabbed Sasuke right off of me and leaped him off to a different branch. "Sis, I suggest you get out of here…"

Ignoring him, I answered, "Miyo."

Then Gaara reached forward with his (now normal) right hand and grabbed the front of my sweatshirt! "Why don't you fear me?"

My only explanation for my next reaction was that I'd just gone past fear: I started laughing giddily, my knees going just weak enough to where I had to support myself on his arm.

"That's it," I heard Naruto say behind me; "she's lost it."

Finally, I calmed down enough to answer, slipping my arms out of my sleeves. "Because…I know I won't die at your hand."

Then I hopped backward, off the branch and tucking my knees up in the process.

I fell straight out of my sweatshirt. And while my knees were up, I unclasped my boots.

Then I caught a branch as I fell, spinning around it with my momentum and kicking my boots off.

I heard them hit a tree, and it sounded like they never fell. Of course, I also heard my sweatshirt fall past me. Gaara must have dropped my sweatshirt in surprise. I should remember that particular move - it might just become my favorite version of the Substitution Jutsu!

I vaulted out of the way and into hiding, letting Naruto take on Gaara.

I could tell exactly when Naruto's fighting spirit turned on.

Naruto pulled some Shadow-Clones, and made a bomb go off right under Gaara! And then he went charging in headfirst again! Multi-Shadow-Clone Jutsu, and kicking and punching Gaara all over the place!

Gaara fell right past me to impact the ground! But then Gaara super-sized into his inner monster! And then Naruto summoned a giant toad!

Of course, then Naruto had to argue with the giant toad before they could really start fighting. That just seemed...typical.

Shockwaves made me hide my face for a minute. I ended up soaked thanks to the fight. When I looked up again, the gigantic whatever was fighting a giant nine-tailed fox!

Naruto? What did you just do?

Then the fox was a toad again, and I don't know what happened!

The sand beast fell to pieces, the giant toad left, and then Gaara and Naruto struck out one final blow against each other. A physical one with fists; were both combatants really out of chakra? I'd believe it.

Naruto won! Who else, in a battle of fists born of total equalizing exhaustion, would land the last punch first?

I ran to find the two where they'd fallen. Neither could move, and I wasn't entirely sure Naruto was even conscious.

Oh wait – he was. He inched like a worm over to Gaara – entertaining to watch, really. It looked to me like Naruto understood perfectly what Gaara had gone through, because it was his story, too. The difference was Naruto had found people who believed in him.

"It's almost…unbearable, isn't it?" Naruto asked. "Feeling all alone. I've been in that dark place."

Every other word he said went through me, nearly bringing me to tears.

Sasuke showed up, telling Naruto that Sakura was free. And then Gaara's team showed up.

"That's enough," Gaara near-whispered. "It's over."

Hm. Wasn't expecting him to say that, though he did look like he was thinking about what Naruto had said.

Kankuro heaved Gaara up and the three of them left. I ran off again to get my things. My boots were so stuck I nearly did myself in pulling them free, and my sweatshirt had broken a couple of branches on the way down.

The next day, we all headed to the Hokage funeral. The Third Hokage had died during the battle. All of us had to wear black. My only black outfit didn't include the sweatshirt, so it was the closest to form-fitting I ever wore minus my sweatshirt.

I didn't appreciate getting soaked by the rain, but…still…

I pulled my Third Hokage doll from my pocket and left it at the memorial instead of a flower. He'd always liked my dolls, and admired my work on them, including the one I'd made that looked like him. I didn't leave the hat - I'd give the little cardboard hat to whoever became the next Hokage.

Finally, the rain stopped, and the teams separated again. I stayed at the memorial a little longer.

Remembering.