I can't believe the Naruto manga is finished! I don't think I ever expected it to end. Funny story I'm using Nanowrimo to inspire me to start the remake of this. In which my characters will not come from our world but many of the same characters will be used. Sorry I'm having so much trouble finishing this off but the end is in sight. Enjoy.
In the morning she waited for Temari to gather the others. Gaara's rescue would begin soon. Team Kakashi was well rested and ready to go, which was more than Kayla could say for herself. Stabs of pain had woken her through the night, and any sleep she did manage was laced with horrific nightmares filled with sandstorms and blood. As the morning sky began to lighten she decided to prepare for the mission knowing any more attempts at sleep would be useless.
Kayla stayed back from Kakashi's team. Temari was on her way with other elite ninja who wished to accompany the leaf team to rescue Gaara. Eri was already out in the desert, waiting for them to depart.
Rose was waiting with her team, Pakkun had come with the location of the Akatsuki hideout early in the morning. They would be leaving soon. She looked back to see Kayla was leaning on a building shaking slightly.
"Hey Kayla, are you alright?" she said walking towards her sister. She was shocked when Kayla looked up. Angry gold eyes met hers and she took a step back, "Kayla?"
Kayla relaxed at her tone. The gold disappeared leaving a cloudy blue, "Sorry, just a headache."
"Are you sure? Your eyes were doing something funny" Rose pressed.
"Yes I'm sure. I'm f-" she began but choked suddenly. Pain boiled under her skin and she slid down the wall.
Rose dashed to her catching her before she slumped to the floor. "You're definitely not okay."
"I need to save him Rose." She groaned out, no one had caught on to her collapse yet, if she could stand she could still make it.
"You'll only slow us down like this, Sakura can you come over here?" Rose called to her pick haired teammate.
Said teammate approached cautiously but upon seeing the fallen girl she went full medical mode. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." Kayla said through gritted teeth glaring at Rose for drawing attention to her.
Sakura shook her head tying her hair back, "You Sand-nins never want to admit when you're hurt."
Kayla paused, grinning through the pain, "you count me as a Sand-nin?"
Sakura's hands started to glow a light green. "You're wearing the headband aren't you? Just like Rose is a Leaf ninja, doesn't matter if you weren't born here. You live here and damn well act like them."
Kayla almost laughed, cringing slightly as her hands glided over her body, the chakra soaking into her skin. "Thank you that means a lot to me."
Sakura's brow furrowed in concentration and confusion. Kayla's chakra wasn't reacting how it should have to her medical jutsu, instead of flowing in smoothly to the chakra system to mend, everything was boiling over. Something was interfering with her jutsu, but it didn't feel like Kayla's chakra.
"Save your chakra, you can't help her." Elder Chiyo's wry voice rang out causing them to look up. She leapt from the building Kayla was leaning against, landing as a well trained ninja would even after decades of retirement.
"What do you mean I can't help her" Sakura demanded.
"I mean that no amount of healing even from the apprentice of the Slug Princess will help this girl. The One-Tail cursed her with his chakra and with no seal to contain it it's running rampant through her chakra network."
They all stopped, looking from Chiyo to Kayla, trying to understand what they had just heard.
"What? How? Why?!" Rose stumbled over her questions
Realization crossed Kayla's face, Chiyo smirked upon seeing it. "I am not versed in the affairs of the Kazekage, after all I'm a retired old bat. To be young and foolish again." Chiyo smiled her gummy smile, "The duties of a personal guard certainly have changed since my day."
The insinuation was enough, realization seemed to dawn on Rose and Sakura. Sakura turned as pink as her hair, Rose seemed shocked into silence for once. Kayla was furious, anger overriding the embarrassment of the moment. "That is none of your business hag!" Her eyes flickered gold once more frightening Sakura and Rose to take a step back.
Chiyo only dropped the smile she had been wearing thus far. "Of course it's my business. I was the one to seal the One-Tailed beast into the boy in the first place."
Kayla's bared her teeth into a vicious grin through the pain she still felt. "Well that turned out to be a crap job"
"Hmm," Chiyo didn't look disgruntled by the accusation, "Since the one-tailed beast belongs to Sunagakure and you possess some of it's chakra within you, you will be confined to the village until further notice" Even being retired she was used to her orders being followed. Being old still had some perks.
"This village does not own me! You can't make me stay", Kayla said through gritted teeth, her desperation becoming evident through the anger.
Chiyo shrugged, "You can stay here with your dignity or you can be restrained. You won't be able to fight for long. If you use your chakra the One-Tails chakra will damage your system more than it already has. If you use too much, I don't doubt it will tear you apart."
She was ready to argue, ready to fight if she had to, she could see Temari's team approaching. "Kayla. Stop." Rose broke her train of thought. "Enough fighting. He'd never forgive you if you died saving him, hun. And I wouldn't forgive you either."
She had called it her purpose. To live for him. She had failed miserably. Her shoulders slumped in defeat, the pain lessening as she relaxed.
Rose looked to Kakashi. "Is there any way.."
He seemed to know what she needed. "You will stay here in the village. Its the reason Lady Hokage assigned you to this in the first place."
She nodded, hopping Kayla didn't give her too much of a fuss.
"Sorry for making you wait" Temari had arrived. Four other sand-nin followed her including Matsuri.
"Alright! Lets do this" Naruto exclaimed, ready to go.
"Wait" Baki entered the fray, jumping from a building, "Temari, you and your team will remain here on border patrol duty."
"Are you kidding me?" Temari gawked at the serious man.
"Its an order from our superiors." he explained, clearly as upset as she was.
Kayla just stared at the sand around her, resignation taking root in her mind. She couldn't listen to the reason given, She knew how the council could worm a 'reasonable' explanation into anything.
Temari was arguing just as she had, perhaps more eloquently but to the same effect. Kayla motioned for Rose to help her up, they began a slow trek towards home. She couldn't bear to hear it all again. "I'm out of knowledge Rose. I haven't seen past this point."
"I know," Rose said making sure she didn't fall, "But I forgot all that stuff a long time ago. People aren't supposed to live like that, it's not the end of the world." she tried to comfort her. Kayla was barely holding up her own weight as they made there way into the house and to her room.
Rose dropped her on the bed, she seemed to already be asleep. Although the look of pain on Kayla's face worried her. She left to find some food, waiting for her sister to awaken.
Quicksand. She was stuck, sinking in a slow but steady pace. She tried to pull out of it, it enveloped her ankles. She searched for something to grab, it crawled up her calves. She felt something in her pocket. A knife. Feeling a sudden epiphany she sliced across her palm letting the blood drip into the sand. She stopped sinking, the sand becoming still just below her knees. The desert was empty against the pitch black sky.
She crawled out of the sand, hissing at the pain of the cut on her palm, now irritated and still dripping. The drops were turning the sand red beneath her feet, and then as if some sort of strange gravity were pulling it, the redness spread creating a path in front of her.
She took a step carefully, the blood drenched sand spread further in front of her leading her away. She followed, drawn by the colour, over dunes till she saw it. An Oasis. In the distance it looked almost normal. As she drew closer she could see the trees were made of twisted, mangled flesh, torsos twisted together to form the trunk with limbs making up the foliage. She saw no faces.
The pool of the Oasis was red as the blood she follow and sitting at the edge of the pool was a white throne. The red sand path stopped at the throne and began to spread in all directions across the desert. She stepped closer to the throne. Realization struck, it was made of bones. Skulls adorned the headrest, spines with half their ribs attached acted as armrests. She tried to take a step back but her legs froze up.
The sound of bubbling reached her ears. She looked towards the pool. The blood was beginning to froth and bubble, then something surfaced. A head. It bobbed and spun in the bubbling liquid till it faced her. Rosanna's head. More heads begin to surface. Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Anian, Kina, Sand ninjas, Leaf ninjas, her parents. They floated staring lifelessly at her.
She wanted to run. More than anything to not be here, to have been swallowed by the quicksand. The bloody sand grabbed her arms and legs dragging her to the bone throne, holding her in its grip forcing her to stare back at the lifeless eyes. She couldn't take it. She screamed in rage trying to pull free, the sand refusing to budge.
"Kayla" Rose shook her awake gently, still dazed from the dream Kayla flailed wildly. Realizing she was no longer pinned, she looked around the room. No blood, no bodies, no sand holding her down, and her sister, staring worriedly at her. Kayla lunged, surprising Rose once more when she caught her in a tight hug. The first tears in years released as she cried holding her sister.
So Lixie Lorn is the only reviewer for chapter 36 but thats okay, I'll finish this if it kills me. There were a few favourites and alerts and that is so incredible. Thank you. So did anyone notice Gaara found Mu using sand sensing? Kinda like how I made him find Kayla that time. I think the makes Mu one of my new favourites. Big part to play in the remake of this. I guess I'll request to know if anyone is actually interested in a remake. Like I said not the same beginning but using lots of the same characters. Thanks for reading, Review is you please.