Here we go folks. Final chapter, not counting the epilog that's going to be coming.
Oh yeah, you non yaoi people might wanna put on the blinders there towards the end. Yaoi fans? Luv ya! ^_~
Thanks everyone, and enjoy.
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No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…this was not happening. His little girl was not dying in front of him. Not from something as stupid as chakra depletion. He always knew…always knew…he had tried to be so careful…so very careful…But then the snake and Sasuke…Sasuke…Sasuke was dead some distant part of his brain told him. But that didn't matter. Nothing mattered because she was dying in his arms…the only thing that mattered was fading away like a shadow clone once it had done its job of attack or distracting the enemy. No more chakra…he'd gone through so much trouble to make her…so very much blood and chakra…and now some of it was gone and she was going to go because she didn't have enough chakra anymore, even though he'd given her so very very much to come and bring joy to his miserable life. And now he wasn't going to see her smile any more or hear her laugh or watch her play with Kon Kon ever again because she didn't have enough chakra, despite all that he had given to those six years ago…
Given to her…his eyes widened and he started forming the seals before he knew what he was doing.
"Naruto…"
He ignored the voice that was calling him. It wasn't important. Nothing was important. Except this.
"What are you doing?"
There was a hand on his shoulder now, trying to shake him, but he ignored it.
"What the hell are you doing?!!!"
Whoever it was was trying to stop him. He lashed out and pale skin caught his hand. He saw red hair. Gaara, his brain supplied.
"Let go!! I've got to save her. She needs chakra, just like she did when she was born. I've got to give it to her or else!!"
"You'll kill yourself. You said it nearly killed you the first time and you were healthy. You're exhausted and worn out; it'll kill you to give her chakra now."
"I don't fucking care!!! I've got to save her, understand?! She's the most important thing there is. She's my family. She's the only one that's ever loved me unconditionally, no matter what, she's the thing that makes me worth more than the demon inside of me! Now fucking let go of me so I can save her or I'll rip your throat out with my bare teeth!!"
"You're committing suicide!"
He laughed and it had a hysterical edge to it. "I know and I don't care! I've got to save her. Now Let. Me. Go."
Gaara let go and he began the seals again. He could feel the chakra flow out of him and into the small body before him, strong at first but gradually weaker and weaker…It wasn't enough; he was going to kill himself and still fail to save his baby girl.
Part of him laughed bitterly at how stupid a way to go this was, and another, larger half was just happy that at least they'd be together.
Then suddenly, the flow of chakra strengthed. It wasn't his own, and it wasn't Kyuubi's, but it felt familiar. Opening his eyes, he found Gaara sitting across from him, pale hands formed into the last of the seals, pouring what was left of his chakra into the small form just as Naruto was. The blonde looked at him in amazement and the redhead stared back.
"Family sticks together."
~~~~~~~~~~
Shikamaru viewed the remains of the Sound base with an exasperated sigh. Yup. Property damage. Leave it to an Uzumaki.
"Oi. Kiba, anything?"
Kiba looked up from where he had been poking around what looked to have been a door way at one point, Pre-Demon Invasion. One finally sniff, and he nodded. "Yeah. Their scent goes in here and keeps on."
The team leader nodded in response and his dark eyes flickered to the Hyuugas on his left. "Neji?"
The dark haired man frowned, veins around his pupil-less eyes scrunching together. "There's chakra in there, but it's faint. I can't…"
A not quite dead Sound nin suddenly rushed forward, kunai in hand. He didn't get far enough to even reach his target as gentle hands touched his chest and back and an even gentler voice said "I'm sorry. Please, sleep now."
Hinata gave the man a sad smile as he fell to the ground before her feet. She then turned to her cousin. "Is it them, Neji-niisan?"
Neji nodded a brief surge of pride at how far his timid little cousin had come. "Aa. I think so."
"So, what are we waiting for? An invitation?" Chouji ask around a mouthful of odango from behind Shikamaru. The shadow ninja grinned.
"I think this is invitation enough. Man. Uzumakis….mendoukusai na…"(1)
"You said it." Kiba agreed as he cautiously entered the hallway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
They found the main room, with little trouble and the scene that awaited them caused just as little surprise. Although, Hinata did let out a soft gasp and race quickly to the back of the room where the bodies of the two demon vessels lay, almost as if protecting the smaller body in between them. Quickly setting about, she checked the pulse of all three and gave an audible sigh of relief.
Kiba came up to stand behind her. "Okay?"
She sniffed. "Alive, but I wouldn't say okay. Just look at the state Naruto-kun and Gaara-san are in." She quickly switched to the Byakkugan to check their chakra.
And was quickly amazed.
"By the Hokages…" she said softly. Neji who had joined the two looked at her curiously and looked at the three and let out a low whistle.
"Uh…Hinata-chan? Love of my life? For those of us with pupils, please explain?" He gave her puppy dog eyes and she favored him with a nasty look. Neji smirked. Yes, so very far his little cousin had come.
"It's amazing they're still alive. All of them. They've got the most depleted chakra I've every seen. Kizuko-chan's is not as bad as Naruto-kun's or Gaara-san's but there's something odd about hers now. I can't quite place it."
"But…they're all alive?"
"Yes. They all need a very long rest, and probably some medical attention for those wounds, but nothing serious." She was quite for a minute. "The only reason they're probably still alive is…because they are what they are."
"And it's probably the only time I'll be thankful for it." Came the weak voice.
"Gaara-san?"
"Yeah."
"How…?"
"Can't sleep, Tanuki'll eat me."(2)
"…right."
She set about healing what she could there on the spot, with healing jutsu and the supplies she had with her.
Chouji came up as she finished tying a bandage around Naruto's stomach. "They're okay?" he inquired.
"They're alive." She replied.
Chouji nodded. "That's good, because we've got other problems."
"Oh?"
He nodded over at Shikamaru who stood a little below the group, towering above a motionless little girl with dark hair who was clutching a hitae desperately.
"Uchiha problems. The girl won't move. Shika's really trying not to use the Kage Kuri Shibari no Jutsu on her. And Sasuke is…Sasuke is…"
Hinata nodded and packed up her supplies. She paused before Neiji, and bowed slightly.
"Neiji-niisan, please use the Byakkugan to continue monitoring their chakra levels and alert me if anything changes." Neji nodded, crossing his arms and settling into position to watch the three demons. Hinata bowed again. "Thank you, Niisan."
She grabbed her slightly confused husband, and headed towards Shikamaru. Upon reaching her destination, her eyes swept pass their team leader to the body lying on the floor. Between the placement of the katana, and the large pool of blood on the floor surrounding him, Hinata's heart sank. She reached down to take a pulse any way, closing her eyes sadly when she found none as she had expected.
Then the little girl who had remained motionless shot forward, grabbing her hand.
"Don't touch him!" she shrieked "Don't you dare touch Otou-sama!"
Tears streamed down her cheeks, her throat showed signs of abuse and blood trickled down the palm of her right hand as the metal of the hitae bit into her flesh. If she was going to say anything else it was cut off by a large hand of shadow grasping her about the throat and pinning her in place.
"You," Shikamaru said in a voice that was anything but annoyed or lazy. "are already walking on very thin ice. So shut up."
She looked at him with dead green eyes.
"Nara Shikamaru, you let that child go right this second."
Inuzuka Hinata, formally of the Hyuuga, was normally a sweet and gentle creature. However, harming a child, regardless of what the child had done, in her presence was enough to bring the Righteous Fury of the Hyuugas raining down upon thee. Perhaps it was this. Perhaps it was the fact that she was a doctor and he had to get sick sometime. Or perhaps it was the incredibly creepy, uncanny resemblance she bore to Ino who used that exact same tone on him. Whatever it was, Shikamaru released the jutsu.
Thoroughly disgusted with himself, and perhaps just the tiniest bit frightened, he went to stand by Kiba who was suppressing a grin.
"Scary, huh?"
Shikamaru didn't say anything.
"Quite a bit like a certain blonde kunoichi who works in a flower shop…"
"Shut up, Kiba."
"Don't feel bad. I think it's yet another one of those strange powers women have that we just can't understand."
"Shut up, Kiba."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hinata attempted to move the little one away from the body of her father, but she refused to budge. Internally sighing, she put on her best 'Doctor' smile and gently spoke to the girl. "Uchiha-san?"
"Kaede." Came the emotionless response.
"Very well. Kaede-chan, then. Your father…Sasuke-san…could you please tell me…"
She watched as the girl bit her lip hard enough to make it bleed and squeezed her eyes shut.
"O..Orochimaru-sama did it. He…he was aiming for me and Otou-sama stood in front of me to protect me. Orochimaru-sama…he killed Okaa-san and Nobutada…and now he's killed Otou-sama too. I…" Kaede looked at her, quite lost.
"Inuzuka Hinata. I'm a medical nin from Konoha."
Kaede nodded slowly, as if trying to take it in, but the world still just wouldn't work around her.
"Inuzuka-sensei…I…this is my punishment, isn't it?"
"Pardon?"
"For…for the little boy I hurt and the Uzumaki brat…but, see….I thought Konoha had done it! Killed Okaa-san and Nobutada…but…but Otou-sama was just lying to me…and I really wanted to make him proud…and …and now I'm alone…and…" She gripped the hitae tighter, fresh blood trailing down her arm.
"Here now, don't do that." Hinata gently unfolded her fingers from around the cloth and metal and took out some anti-septic and bandages to treat the wound. Kaede returned to her silent emotionless state.
"I…can't say for certain what will happen to you. But…I think you'll need to return to Konoha with us and talk to Hokage-sama."
Kaede winced. "I think the man over there with the ponytail doesn't want me going anywhere, except a torture chamber."
Hinata smiled gently, but there was a slightly evil glint in her eyes. "You leave Shikamaru-kun to me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Naruto awoke in the hospital a few days later, his first thought was Help! The ramen's dancing ballroom style!! His second thought was a bit more coherent. Kitling!! Sitting up, he realized that he wasn't in their bed at the apartment nor was he on the cold floor of the Sound base. "where…?"
The curtain to the left of his bed suddenly flew aside, and Gaara of the Desert stood there glaring sand shuriken at him.
"Gaara, where…"
Gaara stalked over, grabbed him with a hand on each side of the blonde's face, and then proceeded to kiss him senseless. Naruto moaned into the kiss and eventually felt his lungs scream for oxygen. Stupid necessary breathing. Breaking the kiss, Gaara stepped back and continued to glare.
"If you ever try that again, I will kill you myself. And brush your teeth. You've been asleep a week."
"A week?"
"You're a fox, not a parrot."
"Kizuko…?"
"To your right." The sand nin nodded, indicating to the curtain to the right of the bed Naruto was in.
The blonde hopped out of bed, and then realized that a week in bed can lead to slight atrophy of the muscles not to mention really bad pins and needles.
"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow…."
Gaara rolled his eyes heavenward and slung one tan arm around his neck, helping Naruto over to the right side of the room. Pulling back the curtain revealed Kizuko curled up in the hospital bed, her golden hair spread over the pillow and her breathing normal. The Naras must have visited some time while he was asleep because a freshly mended Kon Kon lay on the pillow next to her. Naruto gave a sigh of relief and then broke into the fond smile of a father.
Almost as if she sensed him near, the little girl began to squirm in her sleep and make general waking up noises. Hobbling closer, Naruto knelt down, folded his arms on the side of her mattress and rested his chin on them.
"Hey there, Kitling. How're you feeling?" he asked softly.
"Mmmm….Papa?" she asked with her eyes still closed.
"Yup. Gaara's here too."
The sand nin reach over and brushed a few golden strands of hair away from her face in confirmation. She sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes.
"Kizuko had a bad dream that she left Papa and Gaara and went some place dark and cold."
"Hey, Papa and Gaara are right here. So that's all it was, a bad dream."
She smiled and opened her eyes. Naruto's jaw dropped and Gaara's eyes widened. Blinking, the little girl cocked her head to the side confused.
"Papa?"
"Nu…nothing, Kitling. Don't worry about it."
Behind him, Gaara's eyes had returned to normal size. He snickered.
"Oh shut up." Naruto said in disgust.
"Looks like she's not exclusively Papa's anymore."
"Don't make me hurt you."
"But you make it hurt so good…"
"GAARA!!" Naruto turned as red as Gaara's hair, a completely scandalized look on his face. "Not in front of the Kit!!!"
Gaara smirked that ever so arrogant smirk.
Naruto dove at him.
Hinata walked in, saw the position the two had landed in and promptly walked out stuttering something about being back later and Naruto-kun shirtless and fanning herself.
Kizuko just giggled, hugged Kon Kon close, and smiled.
She looked down where Papa and Gaara where on the floor and laughed aloud, her bright green eyes sparkling.
Everything back to normal.
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(1) Mendoukusai. I've tried not to use more Japanese than necessary most of the time, but this one is somewhat difficult. Shikamaru says it all the time and it's a bit difficult to translate. I've heard it translated as everything from 'tiresome' to 'pain in the ass'.
(2) "Can't sleep, clown'll eat me." Okay…so Gaara's not remotely Bart Simpson like in the least….I thought it was funny….oh shut up.
Wow…I didn't realize so many people liked Sasuke….ummm…sorry? I just…really couldn't think of any way for him to redeem himself within the eyes of Konoha… He got to see Sakura and the baby again, that helps, right? Right....? ^^;;;;; *listens to the crickets chirp* Kaede'll be okay though. I swear. Heck, if you're observant you can already tell what I plan to do about her.
Oh, and why is Hinata so OOC here?
(1) Shikamaru's being stupid because of what happened to Shinosuke. And because Kiba's a bit clueless, Chouji just follows the leader, and Neiji just stands in the background laughing at them all, I figure Hinata's the only one left with common sense to take charge.
(2) She trained with Tsunade, remember? Anyone who hangs around with Tsunade for a certain amount of time is going to learn how to command men and get them to do her bidding. In my humble opinion.
(3) Because, darn it all, Hinata kicks ass and I like her. So there. *maturely sticks out her tongue*