Until We All Fall Down Chapter 9, Terrible, a naruto fanfic

Until We All Fall Down

XxMookinexX

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, I only wish I did. Any and all unrecognisable characters and situations belong solely to me and are not to be touched without permission. I am not making any money off of this and I write with the soul purpose to entertain.

This story takes place when our characters are 18/19 and takes account of everything up to chapter 337 of the manga. Written in Ino's POV.

Guys… I seriously almost had a heart attack whilst writing this chapter. How awful is that? You would have never known the end of the story. It would have just… stopped! For more info read the various rants at the bottom of this chapter.

Special thanks to S-G-luver3210, Strong123, Cheese Maiden, greywings2, Itsumo Neko, Katar, ……, liltle and tomboy-girl-21who all reviewed last chapter. You guys rock! Here are you're scrumy slices of carrot cake. I've discovered that I will in fact be home in time on Monday to update for you after all. I've already written the chapter so it's a simple matter of updating. Hehe, sorry I've probably just pissed you all off by saying that. ANYWAYS! On with the chapter, savvy?

– Chapter Nine –

Terrible

I'm not sure what to say.

For that matter I'm not sure what to think.

I really… can't believe I just… we just… uhm… did that.

Somehow this feels very unreal… although it feels real enough. He's warm and his skin is ridiculously soft (probably since it's been sheltered from everything for years) against mine… and let's be honest, I wouldn't really have it any other way. I haven't stopped smiling since.

But…

That doesn't stop the inner-me niggling away at stuff…

Like how sudden this was and… Gods I'm a slut. Well… not a slut but…

I'm frickin' easy! NOOOO! No No No No No.

...But... I like him. More than like him – I really do feel like I love him. Even more so now than before, though that might be some sort of hormonal response.

It wasn't… planned. Certainly not. I suppose one thing just lead to another… which is okay. I mean… I am nineteen… and he's eighteen… so it's not like we're too young.

Um…

Yeah. It just sort of… happened.

Listen to me! I'm trying to rationalise my own actions to myself. Screw it. I'm not ashamed. Yes, admittedly that was rather sudden but I enjoyed it God-dammit and I like that he was the one I did it with. I mean, if not Gaara then who? Besides… he's… really very good… and… um… yeah – far more passionate than one would think. Though that makes sense… if he really hasn't had this level of acceptance from anyone before. Though I can't talk, it's not like I have either. But I've had really good friendships… and I've kissed before… I mean, come on, nineteen people – even Gaara will have kissed someone before by now and he's eighteen. Oh Gods… I hope it wasn't Matsuri. But my point is when he was younger, if he thought about this sort of thing he probably never imagined it was possible.

I sighed, my fingers absentmindedly playing with his hair, brushing it lightly out of his eyes. I stretched up to kiss him on the nose, smiling as he twitched slightly in his sleep.

It's weird, isn't it? How suddenly I've become the insomniac. You'd think it'd be the other way round but my brain doesn't want me to sleep for some reason… I mean, I'm exhausted… for various reasons… and I just can't sleep.

It's not embarrassment – it's kind of hard to be embarrassed after… well… after that. It's not discomfiture – this is surprisingly extremely comfortable – using him for a pillow I mean - and I still feel all warm and bubbly inside… It just feels like something's holding me back.

Like there's a barrier or something in the way between me and sleep. But that's stupid. Why would that happen?

Maybe if I just stopped thinking so much or worrying about everything I'd fall asleep?

Yeah… stop thinking Ino. It's a good plan. Now all you have to do is follow it…

…but it's not like I can just not think. I mean…

I'm nervous about tomorrow I think. Not so much about Gaara 'cos I'm fairly sure this is going to progress somewhere... I mean… I've got the impression by now that he likes me too. So I'm not too worried. But! Just in general I have anxieties about the future. Since I want to be with him and he does hold such a prominent position… life might be a little difficult later on down the line.

I guess I'll just have to deal with that when it comes.

I smiled again, unable to resist watching him sleep. Just seeing him relaxed like this makes me ridiculously happy… I'm fairly sure I'm the only one to have ever seen this side of him because (YAY!) he's not wearing his sand. Hehe, I feel like such a… well… I feel like the young romantic me again. In the good way. Since romance is always good.

I really like Gaara…

I think… I think this might turn out to be the best thing that's ever happened to me… I feel like something… really… good… is waiting for me… just… beyond… the horizon-

I was in a room. White, but as soon as I started to think how bored I was with that colour the walls morphed into a slightly bluish, yellow tinge – swirling slightly since I couldn't make up my mind which of the two colours I preferred. For some reason I found myself thinking of Gaara's hair. I'd never really thought about the colour red before. Usually it just reminded me of blood but… I quite like his colour.

Just like that a blurred streak of it slashed the walls and expanded to fill the whole space.

Okay, perhaps I should say I like it in moderation… it looks a little too dark in here with everything that colour.

A pale sort of beige covered the top half of the wall, a thin strip of pale brown wooden-substance dividing the two to make it look like a proper wallpaper or something. Light poured in from nowhere, brightening the whole display of the walls so I could check they were exactly as per spec.

This must be a dream I realised. Things never respond like this in real life.

And then I thought. It's a funny sort of dream too. Dreams are never this real.

My thoughts seemed to come from far away, and it was like I could hear them rather than think them in my head.

How strange.

I wonder if something's wrong.

But how could anything be wrong? I mean yes, admittedly usually my dreams are less random than this and have more things happening in them than walls simply changing colour but every dream has to start somewhere, right?

But… what if this isn't a dream? What if it's something else?

The thought hit me like a chill and I shivered, though the temperature seemed fairly pleasant – almost hot, really.

Okay, let's choose to believe, for a minute that this isn't a dream… where am I?

The answer hit me instantly as if I'd known all along… and somehow I felt unsettled at the realisation – as if I knew something but didn't quite know what it was. It was a feeling… quite unlike any I've ever experienced before. A sense of belonging but a sense of urgency too… as if to hurry me to get out or do something first.

Strange…

Because, I realised, I was in my own room. Not my bedroom – that'd be a little freaky at this point. But… the essence of my mind. The same place I'd visited when I'd entered that man's mind.

Well… boy's mind.

…Why am I here?

Usually people never consciously visited these rooms in sleep… it was a place maintained by the subconscious… but I've been prying in these places with my jutsus… so maybe… maybe I've set something off?

Right… so… what's here then?

As if on command – well technically I did command it - one wall suddenly opened up to become a cloudy sky and I felt grass underfoot as I stepped towards it.

My room was still behind me… but I had travelled somewhere… almost deeper.

What could be deeper than a person's mind? A person's essence?

But… I had my answer almost before I asked it. There was… something… like… a spark of life – something so small, so precious. Something I had to protect here. I knew it as instinctively as I knew my own name. I willed myself towards it – hoping to narrow my search and a door – a sort of pink then blue wooden thing that looked like it had been taken straight from a doll's house – complete with the etching of a small heart and a friendly, inviting handle appeared in front of me.

I knew then… that I was being maternal… that this could probably imply…

I walked forwards and the door swung open for me and I knew it would only open at my request for this was the most guarded part of my mind. A link between that of me… and the unborn child now within me. A spark. A gleam. A single wonderful hope. More than the stuff of dreams, of legends… the stuff of life. Simple, wondrous life. And I wondered how I could have ever lived without knowing its glow. It was amazing. Pure and wonderful and… simply beautiful. Like magic, only better.

I felt like I should cry and laugh and sing all at once but I could do nothing but smile.

It was a crèche filled with golden light… and it was amazing. And I had to protect it. Something had to be wrong… for me to be summoned here. I shouldn't be brought here, especially since what I need most right now is sleep. I haven't slept…

I haven't slept properly since I visited his mind. Things kept getting in the way… and he was clever, wasn't he…

Something unpleasant filled my gut. This place of dreams would only be opened to me. No-one else… but if he… if he had somehow followed me in here…

I was turning even as my subconscious threw up a protective casing like an egg-shell comforting and reassuring and impenetrable to attack.

He looked even more pasty than the last time we met. Yet at the same time he seemed black… like a sinister shadow. Something wrong. Something to be got rid of at all costs. Greasy and skulking and menacing – I had to get rid of him.

He shouldn't be here. Why is he here?

A door once opened can be opened in both directions.

And I shouldn't be able to hear him speak.

That wasn't speech though… that was thought…

Oh dear… this was going to become really bad, really fast.

What do you want? I asked him. Might as well do some interrogation. Why are you attacking my friends? My family?

I didn't mean to say the last part… hopefully he wouldn't read too much into it but…

I saw his eyes flick to the shield behind me and the unpleasant curve to his lips as he halfway sneered and smirked at the same time.

You were the one who got in the way. You involved yourself. If you hadn't insisted on continuing to get in the way I would have spared you – I don't hurt women on the whole. Not ones who've done nothing to me… but you keep getting in the way. Like that other one with your Hokage… I had to hurt her also. It's amazing how much loyalty that old hag inspired in other people. The Kazekage too…

His expression suddenly darkened anger clear in every line and contour of his face.

But they started this war… they were the ones who killed my friends. My family. They were the ones who've made me what I am.

What do you mean? I tried desperately to understand. What did they do to you? Who are you?

He studied me with those dark eyes as if summing me up. His expression became one of restrain.

Ranma Kotaio though I don't expect you would know the name. They weren't the lovely people you imagine them to be, you know. Your Hokage and that Kazekage… you've greatly misjudged their characters if you believe them to be so worthy of your loyalty and respect.

Why are you telling me this? I don't understand. Why are you here?

A warning… since you seem intelligent, since you have the talent to invade minds and find out ones deepest secrets…

He leant forward, but I refused to flinch or back down. I was sure of my footing here, and I have worked out how I can expel him from this place. Since I control this place. It is mine to command. By stretching the floor I can have him miles away – completely incapable of ever reaching this place even if he ran for three days straight.

If you get in the way one last time I will kill you, regardless of whether you're pregnant or not.

He reached out then, as if to run his hand over my face, but I'd long since set up an invisible wall between us. He smiled as his hands met the barrier. The expression, usually so happy and care-free on other individuals, looked cold and twisted on his face.

Send my regards to the Kazekage… I'll be visiting him shortly… and then my revenge will be complete.

Why are you doing this? I tried to reason with him. Why waste the last days of your life with revenge?

His smile broadened.

Oh very good. You even know of my declining health. I must admit I'm impressed…

To my utter disgust he made to trace me with his eyes, tongue flicking over his lips as if he was relishing the anticipation of his next meal.

Perhaps I'll take you with me after I've killed him… that would be… entertaining. Or-

He tilted his head to the side.

-Perhaps I should take you first. Since he seems to be the one you're protecting… That might be even more so.

Get out, I said, refusing to rise to the bait and give him the reaction he wanted. If you don't I can force you out. It will be more painful I promise you.

His eyebrows rose, as if in challenge, so I closed my mind and reached for the gap in my mind, propelling the two of us out of that room (which I heard lock behind me), skidding us over the grass into the central room that was my control centre… and then from there I felt for the doorway I'd created between my mind and his and I made it so that the door was behind him and I pushed. Forcing him out of my mind using sheer will-power alone before forcing the door closed and crafting bars and cages and padlocks and gates to keep him chained out of my mind forever.

I'd come back to check on him, of course, and I'd double the defences around my child… but that was enough for today. Too exhausted to even walk back to my room, I simply passed out on the floor, willing myself back to my own body… and into proper, deep and healing sleep.

Tomorrow. I would worry about this tomorrow.

Chapter nine… Okay so… dramatic chapter yes? Just some notes – first off be glad that my best friend is such a nice person else something really horrible would have happened in this chapter which would've made Ino depressed and I probably would have eventually given up on the story 'cos I wasn't too sure where it would go or how to finish it up from there. So be glad 'cos the story is continuing in a nicer direction! It makes me happy!

Next, this is the same night as was begun in the previous chapter – I know! They got ridiculously carried away but! First off it's vital for the plot else Kotaio would have turned up in her mind before hand and she wouldn't have known she was pregnant etc. Secondly! I actually think this would happen between the two of them since they're rather… love-deprived and I'm fairly sure that they're the sort of people who might just go for it once they start something. I mean, come on, they've been building up for it for AGES and they had like a month apart where they would have been thinking about one another and… more specifically dreaming of one another and certain… urges will have arisen in the backs of their mind.

Final point – I think the last scene isn't written as well as the others. I blame this entirely on the fact that I practically had a heart attack half way through writing it. There I was – in my flow – and this fucking big spider came out of nowhere and crawled right under my chair and into my bathroom. I mean! Come on! I was trying to write this really dramatic scene which would be seriously freaky if it ever happened to anyone else and I just see this horribly huge multi-legged THING out of the corner of my eye. I swear I nearly died. And it's not like I hate spiders, I actually think they're really cool but that happened at the worst possible moment when I was all tension-filled and dramatic. Jesus. So yes… if the chapter's flow just breaks down at one point you'll know why.

Final final final thing – since I never take up so much space. THE NAME!! "Ran" means Orchid (which you can find the significance of somewhere in the reams of text at www dot proflowers dot com/flowerguide/flowermeanings/orchid-meanings dot aspx if you replace the dots with full stops. "Ma" means real or true. I just thought it was ironic and the last name I made up 'cos it sounded good. You'll understand the full irony next chapter – which I have already written by the way to enable me to update it next Monday since I won't have access to a computer all week. NOOO!

Please review people! I love knowing what you think.

Luv ya

XxMookinexX