Chapter 21
Three days pass, then four, then five. Kyrie paces by her bedroom window. "What the heck!? A message was suppose to arrive here! It's been five days!! The message should have been here in three! What happened! They could have been ambushed by the Sound Village! They could all be hurt! They could all be dead! I can't take it anymore! I'm going to find them!" Kyrie stops pacing and abruptly turns to…find Gaara staring at her. "What the…?"
Gaara, leaning up against Kyrie's closed door, closes his eyes and sighs. "You worry too much."
"Sam told me a message was supposed to be here in three days!"
"That's if they could take a straight path to the Leaf Village. They probably realized that was a bad idea and so they took another, longer way to the Village. I'm sure they are all fine. Give them another day or two. In the meanwhile, come and train with Kai like you promised. He is fully healed now and anxious to train with you. Come." With that Gaara takes her by the arm and drags her outside. Kai is waiting impatiently.
"Gaara-sensei! Lady Kyrie! Finally! Now we can all train together!" Kai runs up to Kyrie and gives her a big hug.
"Lady? What…? Why are you calling me Lady?" Kyrie gives Kai a weird look.
Kai looks up at her, then at Gaara, completely confused. "That's what Gaara-sensei calls you." With that Kai runs off to the middle of the training arena.
Kyrie looks at Gaara with wide eyes. Gaara avoids her eyes and walks to where Kai is.
"Come on Lady Kyrie!" Kai yells. Kyrie snaps out of it and joins them in the middle of the arena. Kai picks up some iron knuckles and gets in a fighting stance. Gaara picks up some kunai and unleashes some sand, also getting in a fighting stance. Kyrie watches them and then looks at the array of weapons before her. Seeing the katana, Kyrie picks it up and then moves also into a fighting stance. The three face off.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Konoha, the Leaf Village, Sam picks up a discarded scythe from a defeated enemy. Lee rushes by, followed by Gai. They fight their way through the enemy, who had mistakenly tried to ambush them. Kakashi can be heard using his Chidori. Sakura punches her way through countless enemies, while the Sand shinobi fight as well.
An enemy slips by Lee, rushing toward Sam. Lee panics and turns, realizing he's too late. The enemy launches himself towards Sam. Sam watches in fascination. The enemy sword slices down. At just the perfect moment, Sam slips aside and stabs her scythe through his midsection. His body rips in two. Lee watches raptly, wide eyed.
"Don't worry about me! Pay attention!" Sam yells at him, smiling. Lee whips around just in time to defend himself from a devastating blow.
An opening appears in the enemies ranks. "Go! Everyone!" Kakashi yells. Sam, the Leaf shinobi, and the Sand shinobi launch into the opening, running full out toward the Leaf Village.
Back at Sunagakure, the Sand Village, Kai launched himself at Gaara. Gaara braced himself, but Kyrie was faster. Kyrie blocked Kai's attack with her katana. They met for a moment in a standoff. Then Kyrie gained the upper hand and sent Kai flying back with a burst of power. This proceeded for many hours. Gaara verses Kyrie verses Kai. After a few hours Kai grew tired and Gaara sent him off to rest for the day.
"Now it's just you and me. Feel like backing down?" Gaara taunted.
Kyrie smirked at him. "Never."
Sand flew at her. She dodged. Gaara launched kunai at her. She parried them with her katana. Getting close to Gaara, she swung a punch. Gaara, not batting an eye, easily put his hand up to catch her hand…But her fist stopped an inch before his hand could close around hers. She disappeared. Coming up on the other side of him, she punched. Hitting him in the jaw, Gaara flew back. Staggering a few feet back, Gaara regained his stance. Looking at her, he blinked and then smiled. "Not bad. Your abilities are improving rapidly."
Kyrie smiled, walking over to him. Seeing the blood on his lip, Kyrie gasped. "I'm sorry. I didn't think I had hit you that hard." Putting up her hand, Kyrie gently wiped away the blood. Gaara's breath caught.
"Gaara-sensei! Lady Kyrie! Come look! There's a message for you two!" Kyrie and Gaara look toward the commotion. Kai runs up to them, out of breath.
"What are you talking about?" Gaara says.
"What kind of message?" Kyrie says.
"A message from the Sound Village," Kai replies. Kyrie and Gaara look at each other and simultaneously start running toward the council room.
"Finally, the invasion is over," Gai sighs. Sam comes up, covered in blood. Lee looks at her and starts to freak out.
"Lee, I'm alright. It's not my blood. It's the blood of the enemies I cut down." Sam smiles tiredly at him. Lee nearly faints with relief.
Sakura comes in at that time. She looks at Sam and frowns. "You need to rest. You aren't even a shinobi, yet you kept up with us all this time, hour after hour. Come. I'll show you to your room. You can meet the Hokage tomorrow."
"No," Sam replies. Lee, Gai, and Sakura look at Sam. "The village needs help to clean up all the bodies of the fallen enemies as well as the fallen comrades. I will help with that. Then I will rest."
"But-"
Sam interrupts. "No, I'm going." With that she exits the room. Lee looks at her proudly and follows her out. Hour after hour, all the shinobi of the village helped clean up the village. Finally, after dawn, all was quiet, the village safe, under control, and the clean up over.
Sam reached her bed. Sighing, she dropped onto the bed, asleep within seconds. Lee walks up and smiles sweetly at her. Behind him, Sakura comes in. Noticing Lee's smitten expression, she laughs. "Lets let her rest. Lady Tsunade will want to meet her in the morning. Already rumor of her power and protection of the Leaf Village spreads. She will be bombarded with all kinds of people tomorrow. Come." Lee walks over to the bed, takes off Sam's shoes, and then covers her with a spare blanket.
Leaning down to her cheek, he gently moves the hair out of her face. He whispers to her softly in her ear, "Tomorrow you will be a known hero of Konoha. A great day." With that he turns and leaves, followed by Sakura.
Sakura smiles as she closes the door. "A great day indeed."