Chapter Twenty-One:

Living Dead

When Kairi awoke, she found herself chained upright against a wall. Her back was sore, and felt bloodied and scratched from being dragged, but she could care less. The bandaging gave her some cover, a form of relief from her humiliation and vulnerability. Her head felt full and stuffed, which made her eyes constantly droop stupidly and give her a sense of grogginess.

She finally got her eyes open enough, ignoring the part in the back of her mind that said she might have a concusion, and looked around. She was back in the throne room, which was now filled with a council of older vampires, all atleast over a hundred a piece. Robert, in the corner, was rolling around a head, and she looked away, feeling her curse mark pulse with her revulsion, that it was Phillip.

She focused to the center of the now bowing crowd to see Nicolaos standing from her chair, and just by instinct, Kairi raised her chin in defiance. Orochimaru was kneeling before the child vamp, but something was off.

Suddenly, Nicolaos flicked her hand above her, and Orochimaru flew back to hit the wall right underneath Kairi, and he screamed.

Screamed obscenities, curses, threats, animalistic sounds, but he also screamed of pain and hate. With another flick of Nicolaos's wrist, Orochimaru's neck snapped, and the screaming stopped, only to echo with the sound of bone breaking.

Kairi screamed herself, overcome by pain of her cursemark throbbing when the man had died.

She felt herself blacking out again.

X.x.X.x.X

When she felt conciousness tug at the edges of sleepy pain, Kairi let her eyes open and look to what had awoken her. A vampire was unhooking her chains. When he heard her groan in exaughstion, he looked up at her and smiled, a genuine, kind smile.

Kairi felt taken aback.

"Who are you...?" She asked on confusion.

"Me name is Collom. Master says to untie you, so I ask's him why, and he says 'cause Sandman wants ya, so I say yes mastah, and rush ta come and untie ya, but he also says to bring ya backs ta tha dungeon so's ya won't be here when the fightin' start's." He said with a smile and look that was equal to that of a puppy seeking affection.

Kairi squeaked when she dropped from the wall. The vampire, Collom, quickly caught her bridal style, only for her to wince in pain and curl into his chest. She felt incredibly weak and beaten, but she was smart enough to know that she probably couldn't walk anyways. He furrowed his brow.

"Master says you be strong and good kunoichi, but nows I sees ya, ya don't looksies strong and good. They musta hurt ya, pretty lady, but mastah did say they did bad things to yas, so I don't be doubtin' tha Master." Kairi just looked into the soft brown cotton of his shirt and allowed him to carry her through the passages.

Finally, they reached her traditional cell, and he set her down in the corner and took off his bag. Kairi didn't protest, in fact, she barely even moved, only when he told her to or something hurt, while he took off her old bandages and cleaned and bandaged all of her wounds. He then helped her slip on a breast band, T-shirt, zip-up sweater, sweatpants, socks, ninja sandels, and her weapons pouch.

"Ya wonts be able ta do much for a while without a propah medicine-man, but I dids me best. Ya probably can't fight eitha but I don't know no kunoichi thats well." Kairi just nodded, not meeting his eyes as she relaxed against the wall.

"So who's your master?" She finally asked.

"Mastah says his name is Jean-Claude, or sos mastah says." Kairi smirked a little, amused by the way the vampire spoke, only to jump and wince as an explosion went off in the distance.

"So what's going on?"

"Mastah says that Witchy Bad-Mouth Woman," Kairi chuckled and Nicolaos's nicname, since she did seem to have a colorful vocabulary when she was angry, "hads all tha music-shinobis and kunoichis killeds. He says that nows's he cans take back our homesies." He seemed positively ecstatic about the idea, and Kairi was inwardly just as glad. It just hurt to much to express it outwardly.

She silently took record of her injuries.

Scrapes across her back, shoulder, neck, calves, thighs and bottom. Cuts across her chest, bruising in to many places to count, internal bleeding right above her kidney, a ruptured stomach, a sprained ankle, bruised bronchial cords, and several shattered ribs. And the most painful, the internal pain between her legs from some of the vampires, and the hole through her ankle that had connected her chain, so that she couldn't escape even if she unlocked it. The bar that went through the bones had to be broken to unlock.

That was going to hurt in the morning, she concluded, before sitting up more when she heard running down the hall.

"She should be in here!" Collom stood up at the sound of the voice.

"Thats be fox-man and medicine-man-girl and sandman!" He said brightly.

"Do you means," She shook her head harshly to fix her grammar, "Naruto, Sakura and Gaara?"

Collom nodded.

She brightened up infinitely, but was too weak to do more than smile widely as Gaara came sliding in, fast and hard enough that he slid into the doorframe, and tumbled inside, his sand keeping him from falling flat on his face. He scrambled up from his knees when he saw her.

"You worthless fucking bitch," Gaara growled. Kairi's eyes widened. "I told you the locket wouldn't stop the undead! THEY COULD'VE KILLED YOU!!" He raged, pain in his voice. A stern-looking Naruto and a terrified Sakura watched as the Shukaku merged with Gaara's spirit before he raced forward. Naruto and Collom sprang into action, subduing the jinchuuriki. Gaara narrowed his eyes.

"May I hug her or is that to dangerous?"

"Yes's thats a too dangerous, buts we thoughts ya were gonna tear her up more," Collom said in apology before pulling back. Naruto did as well. Without another thought, Gaara surged forward, to his knees in front of Kairi.

"Leave us alone, please." Kairi said softly, sensing there was something Gaara wanted to talk about privately, or atleast something she wanted to talk about privately.

Naruto started to protest, but Sakura dragged him out, and with a nod from Gaara, Collom left as well.

The second they were alone, Gaara breathed a sigh of relief, and his shoulders relaxed. Kairi turned to meet his eyes wich were filled with pain, conflict, hate, anger, love, lust, and so many other things they still can't put into words. She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding as she felt a sob build in her chest.

Kairi knew that she had once had a brother which had died. She knew she once had a little sister that had also died. She knew her father had died two years ago in a murder, and that her mother had died giving birth to her younger sister. She knew she used to live in a small town in the Land of Lightning. She knew she had grown up reading and writing and drawing and playing games and taking care of her family. She knew that she had dreamed of being a ninja.

And to add to her list of the things she knew, she knew she loved Gaara.

What she didn't know was that her memory up until she met Gaara, Temari and Kankuro, had been altered and in some areas erased.

Gaara hesitantly lifted a hand, his features questioning. She cupped his hand in the palm of hers and held it against her unmarred cheek. His thumb carressed the dirty skin, and she closed her eyes, subconciously leaning forward.

Gaara watched her in a childish sort of awe, and before he could convince himself out of it, he leant down and met her lips with his. Her lips were soft, warm, slightly chapped from her few weeks in this hellhole, but he didn't care. He kissed her chastely, his hand as gentle as his lips, trying to tell her just how precious she was in that one kiss. She pulled back, eyes wide, breath rigid and body shaking.

Gaara averted his eyes. He knew it. She was afraid of him.

"Wow... That was some... some first kiss..." She panted. Gaara furrowed his brow in confusion and turned to face her. She grinned impishly.

"I'm sure I wasn't that good. Can I try again?" Gaara blushed, and before he could object, she leaned forward, eyes watching him for his reaction as she pressed her lips against his, and rested her hands on his shoulders, moving slowly, watching to see if she did it right. She prided herself when his eyes closed and she could feel his body warm beneath her, and the sand against her hands tingle against her skin.

She pulled back, taking in air, and smiled.

"I... did not... mean to call... you a... bitch." Kairi giggled, and leaned back in. This time, Gaara pressed her against the wall, hands on either side of her head. Just as his lips hovered over hers, breath hot and heavy against her skin, they heard shouts, and then a sudden curse as someones shadow fell over them.

Gaara pulled away, and heard another strain of curses, an intelligible shout from Gaara, still unable to tell who was in the doorway.

And suddenly, the name her brain had been trying to block out, reached at her senses.

"Kankuro!" Gaara's voice was filled with relief as he stood. Kairi felt her breathing hasten.

"What the fuckin' hell Gaara?!! We're out here fighting a war while you pin an injured girl to the floor?!!" Kankuro's face contorted with a familiar emotion to both Gaara and Kairi. Jealousy.

Kairi felt tears well in her eyes. It was all to much. Suddenly, the curse mark on the back of her neck pulsed, and Gaara and Kankuro, and the people outside of the room gave quick shouts of pain. The lockets around her neck pulsed, and they all fell to their knees, shouting in pain, before collapsing.

Kairi stared in fear at the unconcious bodies, when Collom walked in.

"Don'ts ya worries. Theys just sleepy-bys." He said cheerily. Kairi nodded, closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead against the coming headache, only to fall onto her side as a sudden shock of pain ran through her body.

Kairi screamed in pain.

A/N: I know you all probably hate me because I left such a horrible cliffhanger here with all of these questions, but I'm telling you all now, the second arc of this story is coming to a close! No more than two or three chapters left! Then it's on to the third arc!

And I apologize, the book Guide to Kairi has been put on hiatus since I can't upload my graphs yet, and my website got crashed and hacked so that all of my codes and pics are gone... yeah, I'm pissed about that.

I'm also sick, and my birthday is in ten days, I'll be officially thirteen then, and I have my first artists job. My biological father, Kirk, is paying me fifty dollars to design a T-shirt for his buisiness, and about twenty for a buisiness logo, both of which are still in progress.

I'll show you a link to the deviantart uploads to them when they're finished!

Kitty: Hope this came up to standards!

Cheeky half-demon: No, her memories were just... altered. Well, any questions about this confusing-as-hell chapter and let me know. Here's your update, just for you!

ALSO, IMPORTANT MESSAGE EVERYONE!!!

Should there be a lemon later on?

Hmmm...???