A/N: Epiloguee!!
I thank all my reviewers: Dark Will To Die, Adorkable93, pik.and.Mable, Luffly Emi, shunie102, LOPE, TheGrimSqueaker, CrystalHeart27, Dragon of Twilight, Unknown-Uchiha, TheFirstTime, Kay Chan, manga19, Grim Goodbye, Gaara's Pryo RACCOON, LawfullyDeceitfulElly, AllsFair-N-Love-War, RikoYuzuyu13, 0smidgen0, Miss Stellar, Itami-chan, Originalatorian, SomeOtherPerson, sasukenejisfirewolfgrl12, krizzy-sama and Hatsue Cybanne.
Also thanks to the many anonymous reviewers (:
Thanks too to everyone of those people who added my fic to their alerts and favourites, there's too many to name.
I would like to give special thanks to Grim Goodbye, and Kay Chan for their numerous reviews from early on.
And I would like to give VERY special thanks to RikoYuzuyu13 who not only reviewed a tonne of times but also contacted me through e-mail to just talk. And she offered to make me a fan art (it'll be on my profile soon, check it, she's amazing)
Well that's all folks. Enjoy the Epilogue.
Disclaimer: -insert witty disclaimer here-
Fluffy white clouds hung low enough over the horizon that some of the tops of the buildings were lost in them. They were densely spread, allowing only a few rays of sun to shine through. Only on rare occasions were people able to stand in direct sunlight, but nevertheless, the nimbus's alabaster colour seemed to glow from the light of the giant sun behind them, lighting up everything. Those clouds surrounded the village each and everyday, hence giving the name of 'Village Hidden in the Clouds' to Kumogakure.
On top of a small hill, a slender person lay on their back with their hands behind their head as they looked up at the sky so peacefully, they could pass as being asleep.
As the wind blew, the person's short ebony hair moved slightly, revealing dull grey eyes with pupils only slightly larger than the size of a pinpoint. When they noticed that their eyes escaped from under the cover of their hair, they quickly sat up and adjusted their ninja hitai-ate(1) on their forehead so it was over top of their bangs and their odd and unusual eyes could not be seen.
"Yo, Shouza! Watching clouds again, eh? You're getting lazy, you're supposed to be helping with the chuunin exams!" The person turned around to see a boy come up the hill, his flamboyant orange hair blowing in the wind.
It took the person a moment's hesitation to reply, as they still weren't quite used to the alias 'Shouza' quite yet. "Yeah, yeah Kyum. I'm coming." The person stood up and jogged to the boy who had sat down, having given up climbing the steep hill. As soon as the person reached him, the two walked to the centre of the village.
The streets of Kumogakure were much more crowded than it would normally be because of the chuunin exams that were occurring currently. Shouza scanned at the people's headbands to see what village they were coming from. Before too much could be seen, Kyum had jabbed his friend with his elbow.
"Hey look at those chicks over there!" He let out a whistle and giggling could be heard.
"Yeah Kyum…listen, I just remembered I have to talk to Oyabun(2) about something. I'll catch up with you soon." Before the boy could reply, his friend was gone.
Agile as a cat, the person named Shouza made their way around the crowd to the girls who were still giggling at Kyum. The person stopped a short distance away from the four teenagers as they talked.
"That boy was so cute, did you see him?" The blonde gushed as she closed her blue eyes dreamily.
The brunette laughed. "I saw him all right, this village is full of guys." The pink haired girl agreed.
Only one of the girls wasn't gushing over the boys. "Uhm, I t-think that the one b-beside him w-with black h-hair looked sort of f-f-familiar…"
"Glad you recognised me, Hinata-chan." The person took this moment to step out of the shadows. Slowly, they removed their hitai-ate with the cloud symbol etched into it and brushed their bangs aside. Smiling grey eyes looked at the shocked faces and a grin stretched across the person's face. "What? Is Hinata the only one who remembers me? That's really sad, I only left a year ago."
Ino's eyes widened and she just stared for a moment. Then she too grinned. "It's great to see you again, Layuki."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Honestly Ino, I don't think this is going to work. They'll probably recognise me and wonder why I'm cross-dressing. In case you've forgotten, I am supposed to pretend to be a boy." Layuki twirled in the dress Ino had thrown on her as she stood in hers and Sakura's hotel room. Hinata and Tenten had left earlier to meet their teams and left the other three girls alone.
The blonde frowned and tightened the ribbon of the flowy blue summer dress, ignoring what the shorter girl was saying. "You haven't changed, you're still tiny as ever. It doesn't look like you've grown either." This earned her a scowl. "But Layuki, we have to make you look like a girl, at least for a day. You can't meet everyone while you're still pretending to be a boy."
Sakura was lying on her bed reading a book on medical ninjutsu as she tried to ignore her arguing friends. Layuki couldn't help but feel guilty remembering the last time she'd seen the pink-haired girl was back when she had an argument with Uchiha Sasuke.
"But Ino, my hair! They'll recognise my hair. And besides, I told my teammates that I'd meet them later. How am I supposed to go explain that I spent the rest of the afternoon being a girl?"
Ino sighed. "The hair is easy, we'll buy you a wig, one that your hair looked like before you chopped it all off. And isn't there at least one guy that knows you're a girl?"
The shorter girl stopped twirling and sat down, watching the dress spread around her legs like a fan. She had never liked dresses, and this one was too short for her liking, ending mid-thigh. "Yeah, Saturou-chan knows…but still, I can't get caught! I attend a boys only training camp pretending to be a guy. If the figure out I'm a girl I'll be sentenced to death! As in, I'll be torn up into pieces and thrown into the river without a second thought."
This comment made a slap hit her face. She opened her eyes to look into very desperate blue ones. "I know that Layuki, but almost all our friends are here and the Hokage too, you're strong and can defend yourself, but do you think we would let them kill you? Stay here."
With a 'swoosh' Ino was out of the room. Since Sakura wasn't talking, Layuki looked out the window to see a sky white with clouds, as usual. Within a couple minutes Ino was back with a shopping bag.
She pulled out a long black wig and secured it on Layuki's head. Then as a final touch, from Layuki's weapons pouch she took out the leaf hitai-ate and tied it around her neck. "There, now wrap bandages around your upper arms and your legs and you can pass as a shinobi from the leaf."
Layuki sighed and obeyed. After she was done, she allowed herself to be dragged out of the hotel. For once, luck was on her side as her teammate passed in front of them.
"Saturou-chan!" She called out and skipped to the boy, causing his friend to pat him on the back. "Saturou-chan, can I talk to you for a minute?" Before he could reply she dragged the confused boy to back where Ino was standing.
The blonde eyed him curiously. Saturou was tall and had a head of messy brown hair, which he scratched the back of awkwardly. "Hi, uhm, do I know you?"
"Saturou-chan. it's me, Layuki. Or Shouza, or whatever you want to call me." She ignored him as he looked her over, shocked. "Anyways, I need you to cover for me, I'm going to meet some old friends."
Dumbfounded, he nodded as she gave him a quick hug and skipped away. Ino lead her to the place where the leaf shinobi were training and she picked out the ninja in her year quickly.
She squealed very uncharacteristically and ran over to them and wrapped her arms around the first person she touched, who just happened to be Kiba. He was silent with shock for a moment, and then recognition crossed his face. "Layuki! Hey!"
A grin spread across her face as everyone paid their 'hellos' and as they say, time flies when you're having fun, because soon the morning turned into late afternoon. She had spent most of her time with her best friend, Shikamaru. But now she walked over to her old teammate, who was with two other people.
"Oy, Kaoru! It's been a while." The redheaded boy looked up and grinned at her and wrapped her in a one armed hug.
"What happened to saying good-bye a year ago, eh?" Then he gestured to the boy with long black hair and bright green eyes and the girl with navy hair who looked oddly familiar. "This is Mitashi Suyu and Izuku Ami-chan. I guess you could call them your and Karin's replacements. Suyu, Ami, this is Fuyaku Layuki. "
A pang of guilt went through Layuki as his deceased sister's name was mentioned. She held out a hand to the two new people. "Nice to meet you Suyu-san, Ami-san." She stopped at the navy haired girl with eyes matching her hair. "Izuku Ami…then you must be – "
"My sister, so be nice to her. " A tall man with the same navy hair walked in on the four. He set his eyes on Layuki who knew what he was going to say next. "What happened to telling me you were leaving, Layuki?"
She smiled innocently. "Heh, well you see, Rei-sensei, Tsunade-sama told me to leave whenever I wished and so I guessed that as long as she knew I…" Her voice trailed off as she spotted a bright red head a distance away. "Hold on. I'll be back. Oh and if you see me around with short hair and dressed in the Kumogakure Training Camp uniform like a boy, call me Tabashi Shouza. That's my alias while I'm here, but I think Tsunade-sama already filled you in."
Rei nodded. "She did. Are you taking the exams?"
"Nope." She grinned proudly. "I got chuunin standards at the last exam in the earth country. But don't worry; I'll be watching everyone fight. If you come by the camp, ask for Shouza and me and Kaoru can have a sparring match to show you how much I've improved." She looked back over and saw that the red head was getting farther. "Got to go, see you around."
Turning her back on several bewildered faces, Layuki ran as fast as she could through the streets, gracefully slipping past pedestrians and trying not to hit anyone. As she ran, she saw several more shinobi from the leaf, but didn't stop to talk. Instead she just ran.
And ran.
And then she stopped, having lost track of the fiery red hair. Then she caught it again and ran towards it, panting. When she was close enough, she pounced on the person in a tight hug, almost toppling them over.
"Gaara! It's great to see you again." But when she looked closely, she saw that the red hair was lighter than it should be, and the person who faced her wasn't the one she wanted to see. "Oh! Gomen(3), I mistook you for someone else. I'm sorry." The person shrugged and kept on walking.
Layuki swore, she still had the same foul mouth as she did back then, at herself as she could barely see over the heads of people around her. She made her way to a nearby shop and stood on top of an over turned basket so she could get a good view.
She knew she saw Gaara. She was positive that she would recognise him anywhere.
Before she had a chance to really look, the shopkeeper yelled at her to get down. Scowling, with one last look she spotted a mop of red hair. With satisfaction settling in her veins she jumped off and headed toward her target, but not before she looked at herself in the mirror.
If she did say so herself, she looked very feminine. With the short blue dress and long haired wig, nobody from the camp would probably recognise her. She made a mental note to praise Ino later.
Then she began running again. When the people in the crowd kept growing denser, she grew more agitated as she needed to slow down. Growing impatient, she focused chakra to her feet and leaped to the rooftops, where running was easier. Layuki ignored the yells and attention she had attracted.
With a swift movement, she had landed in front of Gaara. She grinned widely. "Hey."
His sea foam green eyes looked her over as she noticed his siblings next to him. She nodded and them and turned back to the redhead who was viewing her with an expression of indifference. She noted that he'd grown taller, and now stood nearly a head above her. "It's you."
"Yep, it's me. Live and in person." She mocked a small bow. "How are you Kazekage-sama?" Layuki figured he'd be used to his position by now and would make her call him that.
But that wasn't the case. "No, my name is Gaara."
She smiled. "Well, Gaara, it's been a while hasn't it?" The next time she looked his siblings had disappeared. Leaving the fourteen-year-old girl alone to deal with her developing hormones. Swell.
"It has. Walk." She obeyed and walked beside him for a while in comfortable silence. She was probably the only person capable of walking in a comfortable silence with the Shukaku container.
She didn't know where they were going, but she was pretty sure they'd gone a while without stopping. Judging by the sun's position, it was nearing dusk. The wind blew lightly, sending a shiver through Layuki. Though the Cloud Village was humid during the day, the temperatures tended to drop at night. It didn't help that Ino had forced her into a dress with spaghetti straps and the bandages on her shoulders didn't do much at all to prevent the cold to prevent the cold.
The next thing she knew a cloth was draped over her shoulders. She looked up at Gaara and noticed he was wearing his normal clothes, having given his Kazekage robes to her. She smiled. "Thanks. But I don't think giving me your Kazekage robes was the best idea. Knowing me I'll probably trip and ruin them."
And as if on cue, she stepped on the hem of the warm material that hung to the ground because Gaara was so much taller than her. With only enough time for a small yelp, she prepared herself for collision to the ground.
But instead, the only thing she fell on was very soft sand.
"You're still clumsy."
Layuki cracked a grin and righted herself up with aid from the floating sand. She then tightened the robes around her. "Just like old times, eh? I fall, and you catch me."
He didn't reply to that. Instead he was looking at the long scar on her right leg that went from above her knee all the way down so it disappeared into her shoes it stood out incredibly, especially in the dim light. "Your leg. It's fixed."
It took her a moment to figure out what he was talking about and then she smiled sadly. "Yeah, the Hokage patched me up. Don't worry, the only people who know that you did it is me, you, and Shikamaru. I trust him with my life and I know he wouldn't tell. So your position of Kazekage is still safe." She continued walking. "And don't you go on forgetting our deal. You promised to not try to kill me again."
By now, it was past dusk and the people on the streets were dispensing. Soon, the shop lights switched up and it was only the two of them on the streets. Looking up into the sky, she saw a full moon. It brought back memories, like the first time she had really talked to Gaara. Or yelled at him, same thing.
"What's wrong with you?"
The question caught Layuki off guard and she spun around. She quirked an eyebrow as he stood there and watched her. She smirked. "There's lots of things wrong with me. Would you care to be more specific?"
There was a moment's pause. "You're too at ease. You should be afraid."
"Afraid?" She almost laughed. "What's there to be afraid of? The village is completely safe, I've been here for over a year." She talked though she knew perfectly well that wasn't what he was talking about. Layuki stayed silent for a second to add to the moment. Then she glanced over at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Unless of course, you're talking about me being afraid of you?"
Gaara looked at her as if she had just stated the most obvious thing in the world. Which, in a way, she had. "Yes."
"Why would I be afraid of you? You're like a giant panda bear." Layuki swore that if he had eyebrows, they would be twitching right now. Then she leaped onto the rooftop, with him following a moment after. Her tone was serious now. "I'd asked myself back then why I wasn't scared of you. The only answer I could find is that I didn't want to be. Cheesy as it may sound, I really wanted to get to know you."
It was silent between the two. Yet, despite the situation, it was still a comfortable silence. "You were stupid, I've caused you much pain." Layuki was about to retort when he started talking again. "But I thank you Layuki, thank you."
She smiled at him as she stared up at the moon. "Those were the last words you said to be before today." Another comfortable silence. "Take me up to the sky. It's been a while since I've gone flying." She chuckled to herself. "The gryffons I summon are mad at me since I trained one of them too hard. So I've been stuck on the ground for some months now and I probably will be until they let go of their grudge."
"Will you jump?"
Layuki laughed loudly and winked at him. "Will you catch me?"
He didn't answer. But the next thing she knew she was soaring through the sky with Gaara seated right next to her. She let out a whoop of delight.
Then they stopped right in front of the moon. It was large that night, and it was bright, casting rays over the large village.
"It's like a pearl, isn't it? A large, shiny, expensive pearl from the biggest oyster in the sea." She sighed and leaned back in the sand. "I love full moons, they're so beautiful."
"It looks more like an eye." Gaara said, staring up at the moon as well.
She laughed. "Well an eye like that could create one hell of a doujutsu(4)." Layuki felt like a small child compared to the world. Her eyes lit up as she spotted a shooting star. "Ooh look! Make a wish." She closed her eyes and did so. When she opened them again she grinned. "What did you wish for?"
"It won't come true if I tell." His aquamarine eyes flickered to her and she grinned even wider.
"No, it won't. Good for you." Then yet another comfortable silence. "It's been a long year. How's it like being Kazekage?"
There was no answer for a moment. Then, "It feels good knowing that I'm needed by people."
"And they must feel safe with a Kazekage that can control the sand."
Silence again. "No. People still think I'm a demon. A monster."
"Well you are." Layuki immediately regretted her words; she hadn't meant to be so blunt. "Were, I should say. People can't change who they are. Once a monster, always a monster." By now her voice was little more than a whisper. Then she turned to him and winked. "But who says all monster's are bad?" Gaara smiled and after that nothing else was said.
The two of them just floated in the air and watched the moon. The silence was the most comfortable either of them had ever shared.
A/N: The ending is also dedicated to Riko who loves romance ;) I tried my best.
1-hitai ate: I've used this before. It's the ninja headband for those who don't know.
2-Oyabun: Boss
3-gomen: Sorry
4-doujutsu: eye jutsu
Wow, that was the longest chapter I'd ever written.
Now I'm ordering you all to review :P
I mean, seriously, come on, it's the last chapter!!!
The sequel will be up in a month or so, I'll probably post something in this fic saying it's up.
Thanks so much to everyone! Reviews are very highly appreciated:D
Thanks for sticking with my fic till the end!
Good-bye!
fanny-kun