Can I Be Happy Now?

Mira leaned against the wall in her cell, trying desperately to keep her thoughts together. Phoenix's calm voice helped, but the past few months had wrecked their havoc on her. She was dangerously thin, and her already pale skin had lightened even more. Circles had formed around her eyes, and her crimson hair was unbrushed and matted as it drifted scraggily around her face.

The door to her cell door opened and she was grabbed by harsh hands and dragged to the contraption that they had been taking her to since her capture.

Because of it, Phoenix seemed to be getting weaker. But Mira hardly could move anymore, let alone fight as they strapped her in.

First was the daily medical examination, done by Kabuto.

"Your body is healing from that trauma nicely," he smirked, "Good. We need you alive for this."

Her eyes hardened as she glared at him. A month ago he had informed her, laughing the whole time, that she had suffered a miscarriage.

When the time came to power the machine, she tried to overload it, pouring every bit of chakra she had into it, somehow trying to take it and her out of existence.

It almost worked. Sparks flew, and she was injured and close to death.

But the contraption still stood, and they came for her the next day, her strength too low to even walk. They still strapped her in.

Once again, she wondered what it was that this machine did. All she and Phoenix could fathom was that it was something that would combine the eidolons, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out how. There were nine different compartments, and she saw Kei's green stone in one, glowing as it stood in the machine, a blackened body behind it.

If Kei wasn't the one that dragged her to this room every morning, she would assume that the body was his.

The medical examination over, Kabuto retreated, but not before placing the stone Phoenix resided in into the alcove in her compartment as Mira was pushed in, still strapped down.

She didn't even have the energy to scream in pain as the machine roared to life.

Yuko bit her lip, the injured kept coming in, and there seemed to be no end in sight. And if that wasn't bad enough, Naruto was still in critical condition.

Shane hadn't left his side, holding the jinchuuriki's hand as Minato looked sorrowfully on. When Umbra came to deliver the message that there was to be yet another attack today, Shane simply stared at her a moment, before turning back to Naruto.

"I'll go," Minato said clenching his fists, "Somehow I'll protect you both." he left then.

Yuko stared quietly after them as the older man left. She took a vial of Naruto's blood and checked his vitals, "His heart rate is improving," she said quietly. When Shane didn't answer, she took the vial and went to test it.

The crow cawed at her from his perch in the supports of the tent, and she looked up, giving a very small smile. "You were always cheering me up," she said quietly, "Even when we first met…" she shook her head, trying not to think of how she had left Kiri, how she had joined the Akatsuki…

She wondered that if she had never returned from that mission at that time and never found out the truth of Madara controlling the Mizukage, the event that forced her life into this direction.

Would all of this had happened?

The baby moved and she stopped, "Of course," she said, shaking her head. Life went on, despite all the injustices of the world.

Somehow, she would try to save everyone. She owed that much to these people that had taken her in when she had been stranded in Kumo. Granted it was for a mission that she had healed them.

But they didn't have to treat her as they did, making her feel like part of a family again. Somehow she would repay them, now that she had finally cut all ties with Akatsuki.

For now she would have to simply save Naruto.

Gaara's eyes widened as he received the report from Temari, then he grabbed the nearest shinobi, "Take this message to the Yaoikage and Tsuchikage… I need to speak with them now."

Dyzzi and the old man came running a few moments later, "We're about to go into the fight," Dyzzi exclaimed, "They're on the move now."

"It's a faint," Gaara said, pointing on a map, "The real threat is here where the Akatsuki base is," he looked up, "My spy sent word that Danzo has commissioned a weapon from them. And based on the information, he received, it's supposed to be able to have more destructive power than five bijuu. They plan on using it today."

"What?" Dyzzi said, "B…but…" she clenched her fists, "Where the hell would they get anything like that?"

"The eidolons," the Tsuchikage mused, "You whippersnappers are too young to have heard the stories, but there was an ancient weapon that used the power of the gods. The stories are older than those of the sage of six paths."

"It stands to reason that if Mira is still alive," Dyzzi chewed her lip, "She's in that thing acting as the battery.""If it uses eidolons, it won't be at full power until they're all found. But even so, we should be careful," Gaara pointed to places on the map, "If we attack from these points, we could flank them, perhaps destroy this thing before they get a chance to accumulate any more of them."

The other Kages nodded.

Mira gasped in pain as the machine started to move. Vaguely she became aware of voices outside the contraption.

"…attack now…test…at…destroy Dansho…" she could only make out snippets of the conversation.

Is Karin alright? What of Gaara and Neji? Or Umbra?

The straps tightened against her and suddenly she was in more pain and all she could see around her were flames.

From the top of the contraption two masses of chakra complied into a single beam and shot out.

From where he stood, Madara smirked beneath his mask, "And that's with just two."

Far away in Danshoku, the streets were still empty, everyone still safely in the shelters.

The beam of light hit, blasting everything it touched.

Iruka rubbed his eyes as he looked from his vantage point in the shelters. "My gods…"

Danshoku laid in flames, he looked back at the small group of children he was watching over, hoping they didn't see…

"What's wrong Uncle 'Ruka?" Karin asked, "What was that sound?"

He said nothing, just pulled the children close together, "We need to stay in here a little bit longer," he bit his lip and reached the door, pulling it shut, Later. I'll tell them all later.

"Well now we now what it does," Gaara said darkly as he received the reports from the runners, that day's battle hadn't gone well, Skyler, Yuko and the other medics had another multitude of wounded to tend to, and they were no closer to reaching that weapon, instead his team made a forward camp a good deal closer.

They might as well been on the moon. There was a wall of bones surrounding the place, and not even his sand was getting through.

He closed his eyes. Luckily the people in the shelters were safe, they only had to rebuild when this was all over. He worked out calculations of the supplies he could send to them.

Not much longer… this couldn't go on. Somehow this had to end and soon.

Mira was thrown back into her cell, more exhausted than she had been from any of the previous extractions.

She leaned her head against the wall to tired to even sleep. She placed a hand on her abdomen and stared out the high window, vaguely seeing the stars.

Phoenix, much much weaker now, whispered soothing words. Mira wondered if they were more for her comfort or for the bird-maiden's.

Do I even have a home to go to now?