Chapter 20: Friends (Epilogue)
"Um, got any idea to where we're gonna stay?" Naruto asked Sakura as they walked down the large main street. Sakura rolled her eyes.
"There's an inn at the end of the street," Sasuke answered for her. "I told you that already."
"Heh, right." Naruto grinned sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.
The day was ending as the sun set slowly over the large town. The crowd in the street livened in anticipation of the exciting night ahead. The three Jounin that walked down the street hardly attracted the attention of the villagers, who had never really been bothered by the occasional travelers.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were one of the best teams in the Konoha. Naruto and Sasuke were the elite of the Jounin, and Sakura's medical skills were second to few, including the current Hokage, Tsunade. With their combined skills, their success rate on missions was nearly one hundred percent.
They neared the large inn at the end of the street.
"Hey, a ramen bar!" Naruto exclaimed as they passed a large restaurant. "Come on, let's get something to eat first!"
"Naruto, we have to get a hotel room first!" Sakura yelled at him. "What if they run out of rooms? Right, Sasuke? ...Sasuke?" Sasuke was staring at something, a strange look on his face. Naruto and Sakura followed his gaze.
"I think this mission just got harder," Sakura said as she stared at Gaara, who was leaning against the hotel with his arms crossed and eyes closed. "He hasn't seen us, if we leave now..."
"What're you talking about?" Naruto looked at her like she was crazy. "It's not like he'll eat us or something." He started to walk towards Gaara. Sasuke shrugged and followed. Sakura wavered for a minute, then hurried to catch up to them.
"Yo!" Naruto called out. Gaara looked up, and was surprised to see the three Genin he had fought in the Konoha six years ago.
"Uzumaki Naruto?" he said, showing mild surprise.
"Hey, you remembered me!" Naruto said cheerfully. "I guess I made an impression on you, huh?" Gaara's eye widened a fraction of an inch.
"You can say that."
"What're you doing here?"
"Waiting for someone."
"You know," Naruto said as he crossed his arms importantly. "It'd be easier to ambush someone in a more secluded area."
"I'm not going to ambush them." Gaara looked slightly annoyed. Naruto grinned sheepishly again. Gaara looked at Sasuke.
"Uchiha Sasuke," he said. "You've gotten stronger, right?" Sasuke frowned.
"Yeah," he said. "You want to see?"
"Not really," Gaara replied, ignoring the challenge. The group fell into a strange silence.
"Hey, I got it." Someone threw a key at Gaara as he caught it with one hand. The Jounin turned around. Behind them, a girl dressed in black with traces of red was standing with wide blue eyes as she stared at them, her long black hair blending in with her clothes.
"Sakura-chan!!"
"Kitai-chan!!"
They both ran to each other and hugged happily. Eccentric strings of "how've you been?" 's, "oh my gods, look at you!" 's, and "I've missed you so much!!" 's followed as they both laughed happily, ignoring the strange looks from people who passed by.
"Geez, you've gotten so much taller!" Kitai grinned as she looked at her friend. "And you changed your hair!" Kitai grinned as she observed it. Sakura's pink hair was cut to her shoulders, and her bangs hung down in front of her face. She was wearing a white tank top with loose dark red capri's that had pockets for all her scrolls and tools. Her headband was tied around her waist.
"You've changed too!" Sakura laughed. Kitai's wild black hair reached her waist now and was tied in a loose ponytail, her black and red clothes made her blue eyes stand out vividly. She still had the same goofy grin that she remembered, except on an older face. They both saw the mature look in each other's faces, realizing that a lot must have happened to each of them.
"Kitai-chan, that's really you?" Kitai noticed the short blonde guy standing behind Sakura. She recognized the wide grin and crazy blue eyes instantly.
"Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed. "You've...! Well, you haven't gotten much taller, have you?" Naruto's face fell in disappointment.
"Geez, is that all you've got to say after five years??" Kitai laughed.
"I was just kidding, you've gotten taller, really!" Naruto still didn't look convinced. He was wearing what looked like another version of his favorite orange jacket, his spiky yellow hair still standing wildly on its own. He looked just like the old Naruto, except a little older. "It's good to see you!"
"Okay, whatever," Naruto grinned. Kitai looked at the dark figure standing besides him. He was wearing a white shirt with a wide collar, and black pants beneath that. His headband wasn't visible on his person. His eyes seemed darker and older beneath his spiky black hair that hid half of his face.
"And Sasuke-kun! How've you been?" Sasuke shrugged. Kitai smiled widely. "You haven't changed much." Then she whispered to Sakura: "He's gotten cuter." Sakura laughed nervously.
"Anyways, what've you been doing?" Sakura brushed off the last comment. Kitai could tell something had happened to the old pair.
"Just bouncing around with my traveling partner! You all remember Gaara, right?" She motioned to the forgotten ex-Sand nin as he stood in the back of the group. Everyone, but Sasuke, gaped at her in disbelief.
"What?" She knit her eyebrows in annoyance as she walked towards him.
"Oh, nothing!" Sakura snapped herself and Naruto out of their trance.
"I didn't think he was the type to like girls," Naruto muttered not so discreetly. Sakura elbowed him as Kitai gave an exasperated sigh.
"I heard you died in battle," Sasuke said, his voice showing indifference. Everyone but Gaara looked at him in surprise. "There was a report that you were killed six years ago."
"Yeah, that's true," Gaara replied simply.
"If you're still alive, then why haven't you reported back to your village?"
"Because that'd just annoy them." The Jounins looked at Gaara in disbelief.
"Kitai, you and Gaara could really get in trouble," Sakura said, concern in her voice. "If the Kazekage finds out then he could mark Gaara as a rogue shinobi and..."
"Relax!" Kitai grinned. "According to the Kazekage, Gaara is already dead. And even if he was being hunted down, I'd still stay with him." Sakura was taken back at her friend's response. "Anyways, you guys are too gloomy. Let's celebrate! How about we go out for ramen?"
"All right!" Naruto yelled.
"Hey, Kitai," Gaara told Kitai as he straightened himself. "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep."
"Are you sure?" she asked. He nodded.
"Besides, these are your friends. It's okay, just come up to the room when you're done. I'll leave the door unlocked." Kitai grinned as she nodded. Gaara nodded at the group, silently saying good night, then walked into the inn.
"I'm turning in too," Sasuke also walked into the inn, not bothering with any parting words. Kitai silently noted how different he was.
"Ramen time!" Naruto, on the other hand, was still his usual ramen-obsessed self.
"Sasuke's changed a lot, hasn't he?" Kitai asked as she, Naruto, and Sakura sat in the ramen restaurant at a small table. He and Sakura seemed to deflate a little at this comment.
"Well, a lot's happened," Sakura said as she stirred the noodles with her chopsticks. "He changed so much, that I hardly felt like I knew him for a while."
"So this is a totally re-made Sasuke?" Kitai asked.
"You can say that..." Sakura said sadly. "After what happened, I felt as if I had lost the Sasuke that I had wanted." She looked worn out. "So, I let go of any ideas concerning me and him. Even Ino could see the difference, and she also let him go."
"What happened?" Kitai asked, apparently concerned.
"It's a long story," Naruto answered, his mouth filled with ramen.
"We've got all night."
Kitai listened in silence as both Sakura and Naruto retold the incident with Orochimaru and the Sound Nins, starting with Naruto's trip with Jiraiya and the encounter with Itachi, to the death of Orochimaru. A couple hours and bowls of ramen later, they all sat in silence as the story finished.
"All that, huh? You guys have been busy," Kitai said. "Well, things just happen sometimes, and you just have to ride them out."
"Sometimes," Sakura said softly. "I wonder, if I had been able to stop Sasuke that night, a lot of the things that happened wouldn't have happened."
"There was no way you could've stopped him," Naruto answered darkly. "His mind was set. It was almost impossible for me to convince him to get back." Kitai looked at Naruto fondly.
"If anyone would've been able to stop him, it would've been you, Naruto," Kitai mused. "You have a way of exposing things and feelings that just clears things up for people. You're like... I dunno... an angel of reason." Naruto didn't know how to answer, he just grinned as he slurped up another bowl of ramen.
"You're talking about Gaara, aren't you?" he asked as he finished. Kitai laughed and nodded.
"You really knocked some sense into him, and you confused him too!" Naruto grinned again.
"Just doing my duty as a ninja! Just wait until I'm Hokage!"
"And when's that gonna happen?"
"When I feel like the old lady's done her part. She's actually not that bad of a Hokage."
"You're not waiting for her to get old, are you?"
"No way, she's already over fifty and she's got the strength of a twenty year old. I've got time."
"Heh, whatever." They talked for another few hours, reminiscing about old times, and listening to Naruto brag about the new techniques he learned from the Toad Senin.
After a while, Naruto fell asleep, slumped over the table as he dreamed about all the yummy ramen. Kitai and Sakura began to talk as they ordered some tea.
"So, Kitai, why exactly do you like Gaara?" Sakura asked slyly.
"Oh, I've got my reasons," Kitai blushed lightly.
"He doesn't seem like the kind of guy that could show a girl a good time."
"You'd be surprised," she laughed. "We've had a blast, going from town to town, dropping in on festivals and parties, and just enjoying each other's company. We've run into problems, true, but nothing we couldn't overcome."
"Problems? What kind?"
"Annoying kind, shinobi kind. Getting ambushed sometimes and such. The shinobi's at the Mist found out about Gaara. They tried attacking a few times, but they never really lasted long."
"Sounds dangerous, but I guess not many can stand up to Gaara of the Desert." Sakura twirled a chopstick through her fingers.
"That's true, and it did get dangerous sometimes. Gaara gets really protective. One time, he tried dumping me so that I wouldn't be in any danger. Can you believe that?" She laughed half heartedly. She didn't want to mention that she had almost died from being miserable.
"He tried dumping you so you wouldn't get hurt?" Sakura's eyes were wide. "Aw, he really cares about you!" Sakura crooned. Kitai blushed crimson.
"I guess..." Her eyes had a faraway, dreamy look.
"So that's why you like him so much!"
"Yeah!" Kitai said happily. "And, you've gotta admit that he's really cute."
"If you like the dark mysterious type... hmm, very Sasuke-ish."
"The only problem is, he doesn't realize just how good looking he is! He gets a bunch of unwanted female attention."
"Unwanted for him, or for you?"
"Please, he doesn't even notice how girls swoon over him."
"It's the same with Sasuke."
"Well, yeah, but he ignores them to act cool. He always has. With Gaara, it's just plain ignorance." She gave a dramatic sigh. "What can I say, I love an idiot." She and Sakura both laughed.
"So, where are you guys headed?"
"We're going west, off this continent and on to the next one! We've already been to every country here, so we're gonna explore the rest of the world."
"Gods, that could take a while."
"Yeah," Kitai laughed. "But who knows, maybe we'll stop someplace or something."
"Don't you ever get tired of traveling?"
"No... Well, sometimes. Anyways..." Kitai quickly changed the subject as the night winded down.
Kitai walked down the poorly lit hallway of the hotel quietly. It must've been past midnight. She and Sakura had talked for hours, until Naruto woke up and they decided it was time to head back to the hotel.
Kitai had actually felt a pang of remorse at some point. She regretted not being there for Sakura during the event with Orochimaru. She knew she and Gaara could've helped, even though Naruto said both Temari and Kankuro had come to help out. That must've been where they were headed when she and Gaara met them at that inn that day. Both Naruto and Sakura were looking forward to going back to the village, and sometimes Kitai regretted not having an actual home to go back to.
She reached the room she and Gaara had checked out, and stepped inside. Another hotel room in another city. Sometimes she did feel weary of traveling.
She looked around, the room was lightly lit by the moon, and she could see Gaara as he slept soundly in the futon. He was lying perfectly still, probably the exact way he had gone to sleep. She realized that she must be the one that messed up the bed so much by moving around while sleeping. She couldn't help it, after lying in a hospital bed for nearly two weeks, hardly moving, she couldn't stand sitting still. She was always moving in some way, even while sleeping.
She got ready for bed. Before she crawled in, she noticed Gaara. His face looked so serene as he slept. A hint of a smile was on his lips. He must be having a good dream.
She got in beside him, resting on her side as she put her head on his shoulder. She put her arm on his chest, and watched it rise and fall with each breath. She had to admit, sleeping with him like this every night was just as good as coming home.
Any regret that was left in her ebbed away as he slowly put his arm around her in his sleep, muttering her name in his dream as he turned his head slightly.
Shadows of smiles were on both of their faces as the moon traveled across the night sky, and they slept soundly at each other's sides.
Author's note!!
How was that for a kawaii ending? I hope you all like the story as much as I had fun writing about it. I really liked Gaara, and I couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy when I read about his ridiculously sad childhood (I read the manga online, but I haven't seen the series). I started to wonder who could make him feel happy, and I decided it must be someone happy, bouncy, and the complete opposite of what he was. So, Kitai spurted out of my imagination. I didn't think much about her appearance, except for her hair and eyes. If ya noticed, I hardly described her clothes. Too troublesome...
Anyways, technically this story is finished. Maybe I'll add some little episodes later if I feel like it... but right now I'm happy how things ended up. Please review and share any thoughts with this one! Try to numb down flames to constructive criticism please!
Arigatou!!
Kie-san