Shoutouts-

KingofHearless'09: Hi I'm glad you enjoy the story.

XSweetXSourXSoulX: Don't worry she got out of the woods but now she's heading for fire. I think

Invader Kyuubi: The Shop only because of the nickname it shall have later on…you'll see

Xxyangxx2006: Hello, you two. I'm glad yo9u both enjoyed and damn you are fast reader Kakashi. Maybe you'll enjoy reading that one story I'm writing about you.

Tamaka Haru: Thank you, I really enjoy it too. I should go check those songs out sometime and maybe work them into my story for part two.

A/N: Okay, I'm going to say this now…This chapter is short and cheesy in its ending but I'm gong to do an epilogue and give you a teaser for the first chapter of part two in the epilogue that is. I hope you all enjoy it.

Chapter 38: Robert

-Day 173, night-

Ibiki wrapped her in a fire blanket. It made it easier to lift her and put her on the stretcher that they brought. They'd carrier her this way until she cooled down and woke up.

One threat was neutralized but Aido had gotten away. That didn't matter though. Alex would be returning to her reality with her doctor. Ibiki looked down at the unconscious girl, amazed at how much damage she could do. They had been lucky that they were able to get out of the room fast enough to avoid her flames. The ninjas working for the woman, on the other hand, weren't so lucky.

He sighed and followed everyone out of the cave. There was going to be a lot of paperwork because of her and he wasn't looking forward to writing them up.

-Day 174, early morning-

Alex yawned and stretched on her strange moving bed. She rolled over trying to find a more comfortable spot and fell to the ground. The ninjas froze and looked at her while Sakura moved to help her up.

"It's okay guys," the pink-haired kunoichi said. "She's cooled down."

"How long have I been out?" she croaked.

Ibiki answered her, "Only six hours, the suns about to rise."

"You're taking me back to Konoha, aren't you?"

"Yes," he replied curtly. "And now you can walk."

"What makes you think that I'm going to idly let you take me there?" she shot back even though she didn't have any fight in her.

He sighed heavily, "Alex don't make me knock you out and drag your unconscious ass back to Konoha."

Alex stared at him and blinked a few times. She had never heard Ibiki swear and she sighed heavily. "Fine. But don't expect me to stay."

They reached the village unhindered. What she saw didn't make her happy. Robert ran up to her and grabbed her. He turned her around to check and see if she was in perfect order. She frowned at him and jerked away from his prying hands.

"What do you want Robert?" she asked coolly.

"I just wanted to see if you were alright and to take you home," he replied, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"And what if I don't want to go home?" she vehemently replied. "I've made a home here. I have a life here and friends. Back home…" Alex broke off and then said in barely audible whisper, "Back home, I'm nothing but a monster. A person who loves to set fires and who murdered her family."

"You don't belong here," he said. "I don't belong here. Surely you have realized that."

I looked down. He was wrong. I belonged here because my heart was here. The others wouldn't let me stay but that didn't mean I couldn't find other means to get back to the Akatsuki. I would come back.

That evening they marched through the woods to the trees that she had marked with torn up clothing. She looked at him and then back at the trees. It was her entry point and the place that she finally accepted that she had been lost.

The trees were her entry point and they were now going to be her exit point. She turned and looked out, fighting back the tears. She never got the chance to say goodbye to Zetsu or her other friends. Biting the inside of her cheek, she turned around. No one would see her cry and she walked through the trees, and disappeared from the view of the Konoha ninjas, knowing that Robert would follow behind her.

Words of the day:

Vituperatively means: be harshly critical: to attack somebody in violently abusive or harshly critical language Synonym: insulting, abusive, offensive, malicious, slanderous, scathing, critical, censorious; evilly, wickedly, nastily, spitefully, viciously, hostilely, venomously, malevolently

Austerely means: 1. suggesting physical hardship: imposing or suggesting physical hardship 2. unsmiling: grimly unsmiling, humorless, or suggesting strict self-denial 3. plain and without luxury: plain and simple, without luxury or self-indulgence lived an austere life on the frontier 4. plain in style or design: severely plain in design or lines, without distractions or decoration Synonym: grimly, harshly, rigidly, seriously, severely, ascetically, somberly, simply, starkly, severely, basically, sparsely, plainly, barely, simply, clearly

A/N: Now if you don't mind I got to run away from Zetsu who is probably thinking about murdering me but he shouldn't because then he'll be denying Alex's nii-san some tender, loving, care.