AN: I'm really happy that you all are reading this and like it so much! 450 views already? Only in two weeks too! That's just awesome! Please, keep it up! Also, remember I said last time that this chapter was the reason I bumped the rating up. I also said in the last AN that this chapter had sexual content, but it isn't really considered a lemon or lime. You will probably understand when you get to that point.

And to Thomas Drovin, Sure. I'm gonna be needing some help with coming up with the bad guys. I'll send you a message when I need help, but that won't be for a while, sorry. I mean, the ultimate bad guys don't really show up until the end. But I would love help coming up for evil characters. But I'll explain what I want for the bad guys to you when that time comes. And I see you didn't comment on the fact that Kankuro was dating Matsuri… just wait till Gaara gets back! .

And to the rest of you who would like to know what is going to happen, REVIEW!!! You'd be surprised at how much I'm willing to reveal, like above in my reply to Drovin.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters etc. You know the drill.

Chapter 10: Roxanne's Memory

It had been two days since Cordi had gotten there and she had basically thrown Shikamaru out
of her sister's hospital room. She was feeling really bad about it, so she decided to drop by. She stood outside his door. He lived in a small guest house next door to his parents, and it didn't take too long to find it.

She lifted a fist and rapped it against the door. She heard footsteps coming toward the door just before it was wrenched open by a disgruntled looking Nara. He glared at the dirty-blond standing in his doorway. "What?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," Cordi started. He rose an eyebrow at her. "Look, I know that Rox would want us to get along. I know it's not your fault. So I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I know you did what you could. And thank you for your effort. At least she's still alive." Shikamaru nodded, pursing his lips. "So, that's all I wanted to say. Are we cool?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru muttered. Cordi nodded and turned to leave. "How's she doing?"

"She's doing fine, but she's still in the coma," Cordi replied, smiling a little. He nodded as if he should have known. "You can join me if you want. I'm just heading down there. I read Rox her favorite book every day." She held up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, shaking it a little.

He bit his lips a little thinking, then said, "Give me a couple seconds. I gotta put on my shoes." He walked back inside, and joined her a couple moments later to walk down to the hospital to read.

Rox could feel the sun's warm rays against her face. She blinked open her eyes to see big windows. She noticed she had hospital equipment hooked up to her. She quickly removed the breathing mask and wires attached to her chest. Then she felt her chest. What were these massive lumps that seemed to be attached there?

She did what any other girl would do, scream. Apparently there was a girl who was snoozing in the chair next to the bed, who jumped immediately at the loud noise. Two other people skid into the room. One was a man who had black spiky hair pulled back into a stubby ponytail, brown eyes, and wore a black outfit with a green vest. The other one was a young woman who had long dirty blond hair that reached her mid-back and brown, almost black, eyes. She wore flared jeans, comfortable looking tennis shoes, and a black shirt that said "I'm a sucker for vampires" in red and silver lettering. Both of them had a look of urgency that suddenly turned to happiness.

"Oh, thank God!" the dirty blond girl sighed.

Rox looked at them confused and turned to look at the girl who had been snoozing next to her. This girl had chin length dark brown hair and piercing green eyes. She wore a white t-shirt and jean shorts with flip-flops. None of these people looked familiar.

"Who are you?" Rox asked looking at each of them.

The dirty blond haired girl walked over, her face disbelieving what she was hearing. "Rox, don't you remember me?" she asked, taking a seat on the hospital bed.

Rox looked at her, and then noticed a couple familiar features on the girl's face. She saw the diamond shaped scar on her forehead that was settled directly in between her eyebrows. She had a beauty mark on her upper lip. Those were the only similarities, the only ones she needed, that made the girl recognizable.

"Cordi?" Rox asked. The girl smiled and nodded. "But you're too old. Cordi's only nine." Cordi's eyes widened. She had lost so much memory. "Where am I? This isn't Round Hill."

"Rox, we're in Konoha. Remember the comic Naruto?" Cordi asked, knowing it was a long shot. "Remember Shikamaru?" The man raised his eyebrows expectantly. Rox shook her head in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Rox asked. "I don't read comics. I don't like to read anything."

"You mean you don't remember Harry Potter?" the other girl asked.

"Harry Potter? Not really. Who are you?" Rox replied.

"It's me. Fred. Your best friend?" Fred tried.

"You don't look like Fred. She has long brown hair, and it's lighter than yours. Although, you both have similar eyes," Rox explained. Fred nodded. Then she gained a confused look again. "Am I in the future?"

"No, well kind of, but not how you think. You hit your head during an asthma attack the other day…" Cordi explained.

"I have asthma now?" Rox asked. Cordi nodded.

"You lost a lot of your memory. If I'm right, you should be in your fifth-grade mind," Cordi explained.

"Yeah. I'm in Mrs. Carson's class," Rox replied.

"So, did you stab him yet?" Fred smiled.

"Who?" Rox asked.

"Warren! The guy you've hated since second grade!" Cordi replied.

"I stabbed him?" Rox asked. The girls nodded and smiled. "Awesome." Then she stopped to think. "How far along is Dragonball Z? I remember Trey was recording the Cell Saga."

Both Fred and Cordi suddenly gained sad faces. "Dragonball Z ended several years ago." Rox looked down, a little depressed. Shikamaru looked as if he had no idea what the girls were talking about.

"How old am I now?" Rox asked.

"You're eighteen, almost nineteen," Cordi replied. Just then the nurse walked in and saw she was awake.

She smiled and checked off her clipboard. "Alright, Roxanne, I'm just going to do some routine checkups, and then you will be free to go."

"Uh, but, Miss, she's lost several years of memories. You can't just let her go. She has to stay until they're all recovered," Cordi tried to convince the nurse.

The nurse just smiled, and continued checking Rox's eyes, ears, breathing, and reflexes. "I'm sorry, but we've found loss of memory to actually be recovered faster in the person's normal home. We just can't hold someone who is perfectly healthy. We have to keep some rooms open," the nurse explained. Cordi gaped at the nurse.

"But…. We're not in our normal homes either!" Fred protested. The nurse ignored both girls.

"You are perfectly healthy, and may leave," The nurse smiled to Roxanne. Everyone except the nurse looked confused as the nurse walked out.

They walked out of the hospital, not really knowing what to do. "I'll walk her home," Shikamaru offered.

"That would be great. I have to go back to the hotel and tell Gaara the news," Cordi replied. Rox looked a little betrayed. "Don't worry, you'll be fine! This is your teacher, and he wouldn't want to hurt you in any way." With that, Cordi walked off in one direction, away from the group.

"I'd go with you both, but I was going to meet Ronni and Lynne for lunch. They need to know you're out of the hospital," Fred mumbled and meandered away, obviously not wanting to leave her friend in such a confused state.

"You ready to go?" Shikamaru asked. Rox nodded, though her uncertainty was obvious. She followed him through the crowds on the street. Soon enough, they were outside her apartment complex, not that she knew really. He led her up the flight of stairs and down a hall. They stopped in front of a door, which Shikamaru unlocked and opened for her. "Here is your apartment. If you need anything, I'm in the building next door." Rox nodded and walked in. Shikamaru shut the door behind her. Rox sat down on a chair in the living room area.

"I heard you got out of the hospital," she heard echoing through her head.

"What? Who's there?" Rox asked in a panicked voice.

"Chill out, it's just me. Gryffin," she heard the voice say.

"Gryffin?" Rox asked. "Who are you?"

"I'm your dragon. You couldn't have forgotten, could you?" Gryffin asked.

Suddenly a couple images ran through her head. She saw a purple dragon that looked like a griffin hatch from a purple egg. Then another of a bigger version of the same dragon crashing through a wall with a red dragon, biting it, rolling it, and pawing at it. She lifted her hand to her head. It was such a rush, those images suddenly popping back in her head, but she still didn't remember a lot. Several more of the dragon rolling around guffawing at something and pointing at her, flashed through her mind.

"Do you remember?" Gryffin asked.

"No," Rox replied regretfully. Suddenly she felt sad, as if she had hurt another part of herself. "Sorry."

"Hey, I'm back," Cordi announced as she walked into the hotel room. They had given them a suite, like before, but this one was smaller because it wasn't the presidential suite. Apparently a feudal lord was in it at the moment. Gaara took a step into the kitchen and lounge area from their bedroom, yeah, one bedroom, which made them both uncomfortable.

"And?" Gaara asked. "You seem to be early, so what happened."

"She's awake, so the hospital let her go," Cordi stated.

Gaara smiled. "That's great news."

"Yeah, but there's a catch," Cordi added. "She has lost all her memory from when she was ten years old. She doesn't remember coming here. She actually doesn't remember anyone except for me, Fred, and Ronni, because we didn't see this comic series until four years later. It only became a TV show two or three years ago. And we didn't read much at that age."

Gaara's shoulders sagged. "She doesn't remember anything?"

"When she hit her head during the seizure, it knocked her back nine years, since she'll be nineteen in the fall and that's the season she's remembering," Cordi explained nodding her head.

Gaara walked over to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said, his eyes sincere. "I'm guessing you want to stay longer?"

"And your guess would be right," Cordi replied with a half chuckle. "At least until she gets her memory back." Gaara nodded as if to say, "That was obvious."

It was nearing eight o'clock, and Roxanne was feeling rather stir crazy. She was stuck by herself in a place she didn't know. She would look in the mirror and not even recognize herself. She had wavy brown, almost black hair, and curves. And the shirts she had in her closet showed off those curves. So she decided to go out, get some fresh air, and recognize herself with the town.

She grabbed her key, and locked her door after she had shut it behind her. She meandered around the dark streets. The shadows the buildings cast were eerie and creeped her out a little bit. She continued her walk. After a couple minutes, she started feeling a little paranoid. She could swear she heard people walking behind her, following her. She turned her head and saw a group of guys, around five of them, standing on a street corner looking at her. She turned back to her walk, but picked up her pace a little. Then she heard the group following her. She turned again, and saw them start to run after her. She ran too. Rather rapidly, she started losing her breath, which was a strange feeling. She turned into an alley against her screaming judgment to find it a dead end.

She turned around and saw she was cornered, and out of breath. Out of instinct, she threw up a hand, and a huge gust of wind burst blowing one or two of the guys away. But it wasn't enough, and she couldn't sustain the gale. Her shortness of breath was too great, and she lowered her hand to see what looked like the stronger ones of the group still standing there. Her eyes were wide with fear as the center man took a step forward, a menacing smile on his lips.

"Boys," He ordered. The two guys on his side smiled greedily at their leader. "Hold her down."

The two flunkies turned to her and took several menacing steps forward. Rox quickly took several steps back, until she hit the wall. She let out a whimper that the men laughed at. The two flunkies grabbed her wrists painfully and pushed her down on the ground, face down.

"Whatcha' gonna do, Boss?" one of the flunkies asked.

"What do you think?" he asked in a husky, yet brutal voice. Rox even knew instinctively what was going to happen. She struggled against her restraints, but it didn't work so well. She could feel the boss spreading her legs apart and his hand on the waist band of her jeans. "Quit struggling. It will only get worse," the boss growled. He ripped the back of her tank top and bra, so that they fell off her shoulders, revealing her breasts.

She continued to struggle as she yelled out to anyone, "HELP ME!! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!!" But as she yelled, the boss had ripped her jeans, so they had fallen down to her knees. "NO!!! PLEASE!! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!!!! HELP ME!!!" she screamed as she felt him ready to mount her, forgetting her loss of breath.

Suddenly, there was relief on her arms and she could no longer feel the boss. Their presence was replaced with the sounds of a small battle. She curled herself into the fetal position, protecting herself from further damage. Soon enough, the fight was over, and she could sense someone hovering over her.

"Roxanne, it's me, get up. You're safe," she heard a familiar voice say. She rolled over on her back to see Shikamaru's bored face with a hidden hint of worry. She saw his brown eyes, the only part of him that showed his worry. Then suddenly, all her memories flooded her mind. Her love of reading, the comic Naruto, the end of Dragonball Z, getting asthma, meeting Lynne, coming to Konoha, getting their dragons, getting their powers and learning how to use them, Cordi going to Suna with Gaara, becoming a chuunin, her chakra training, her asthma attack, Shikamaru crouching above her just like he was doing now, and growing up in general.

She got up, taking in deep breaths. Shikamaru noticed what was happening to her and took something out of his pack. He handed it to her, which she noticed was her inhaler. She took it gratefully and took a hit from it. She held her breath for twenty seconds, and then she was able to breathe normally.

"How do you feel?" Shikamaru asked, his worry apparent in his voice.

"A little freaked, but thanks Shikamaru," Rox answered. "You not only saved me from – yeah, but you also rejuvenated my memories. Thanks, so much."

Shikamaru nodded, still worried about her. If he had been a second later, well he didn't even want to think about what could have happened. He looked at her. Her shirt was torn and her breasts were visible because her tank sleeves wouldn't stay up. Her jeans were torn down the sides so they flapped from her knees to her ankles. Her underwear was torn on one side so that it was hanging on by a thread literally. He blushed at the sight. He looked around quickly and found an old piece of cloth that looked big enough to be a blanket. He picked it up and handed it to her. She grabbed it and wrapped it around her body, covering herself. "Thank you," she replied.

"You're welcome," Shikamaru replied. "Now, let's get you back." Rox nodded and walked with him back to the apartment complex.

The next morning Rox met up with the group, Shikamaru, and Gaara. She was proud to inform them that she had gotten all of her memory back. "Wait, how?" Cordi asked.

"Well, it's a long story, and I don't feel like explaining the details," Roxanne grimaced. Shikamaru kept his mouth shut. They had discussed it last night that they were just going to forget about it. Shikamaru already broke the promise kind of by turning in the would-be rapists last night to the local police ninjas. He didn't tell the police who they were trying to rape, just that he had caught them in the act.

"I'm just glad you remember me. I was devastated last night when they told me that you didn't even know who I was," Lynne sniffed. She had been crying tears of joy at the news.

"Well, we have to head back to Suna today. Kankuro can't stay as Kazekage for long, otherwise the head council will have my head, so …" Gaara trailed off. Cordi and Rox nodded in understanding.

"Ok. Don't do anymore stupid things while I'm gone, please!" Cordi begged Rox. "I don't think Aleera can take the constant flying. I was thinking about seeing you once a month, but it's only been a week and I have to come back here." They laughed, and Cordi moved on.

She turned to the rest of the group, minus Gaara and said, "And you all, make sure she doesn't do anymore stupid stuff, ok?" The group nodded. "Alright, well, we gotta go. I love you guys! I'll see you in a month, as planned!" The girls nodded and let Cordi and Gaara go.

"Well, not that I don't want to stay and revel of the miracle that is Roxanne, but I have someone waiting for me," Ronni stated.

The group raised their eyebrows at her. "As in a date?" Fred asked suspiciously.

"No, just a friend. He's really nice, and he's showing me around the vet today. You know how I'm a sucker for animals," Ronni laughed, giving them a nervous smile and scratching her head a little.

They barely heard Fred mutter, "Yeah, you're a sucker for boys, too."

Shikamaru, who did catch what Fred had said, laughed. Rox smirked and asked, "Kiba?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Ronni asked. She donned an innocent face and looked at the group.

"His mom and sister run the vet, duh!" Lynne said in an obvious and bored tone. "Did you forget?"

"uh…." Ronni said, thinking back if she had forgotten or not.

"She forgot," Shikamaru laughed. Then he added, "How troublesome."

It had taken Aleera about one hour to reach Suna. Gaara was already on the ground, faster than Aleera could lend a hand. He was obviously looking for someone. Cordi could only guess Matsuri. But Matsuri wasn't there. She rolled her eyes at the Kazekage's rush to find his girlfriend. She took Aleera's paw down and pulled off all the bags, including Gaara's bags.

"Yo, Gaara," Cordi called to get his attention. He turned to look at her as if annoyed that she asked for something. "Why don't we go drop our bags off at the house before you run off to find your friend." Gaara frowned at the idea of the delay. "The faster we get these home, that faster you can find your friend. And don't forget you need to relieve Kankuro of his duties."

Gaara grimaced and walked over, snagging his bags and walking off toward their house. Cordi smiled at her small victory and turned to Aleera and said, "Thanks, you can go hunt if you want." Aleera nodded and flew off. Cordi dragged her bags to the house and when she walked in she reached her room and set her bags in it. She went down to the living room and turned on the TV.

"Hey, Temari?" Cordi asked.

"What?" Temari called back.

"Who was the last person to watch TV?" Cordi asked.

"Uh, Kankuro I think. Why?" Temari called. Cordi snickered and almost yelled her answer back to her when Gaara sprinted by.

"I'm going to relieve Kankuro of his duties! See you all later!" Gaara called, followed by a door slam. He ran as quickly as he could to the Kazekage building, wind blowing in his hair from the speed he was running at. He was so happy to be there when he entered.

Gaara walked briskly through the Kazekage building's halls. He noticed Matsuri wasn't waiting for him at the front gate. He couldn't wait to see her, but he needed to relieve Kankuro of Kazekage duties first. Throughout his walking through the halls, several of his subordinates greeted him with "Welcome back, Sir," or "Good afternoon, Sir." He'd nod a reply to the speaker as he continued his walk.

Soon he reached his office. He stood outside his door about to open it, and he heard something strange. He heard a familiar voice almost screaming, "Oh, oh, oh. YES! YES! KANKURO!!! YES!!!" Gaara scowled at the door. How dare Kankuro have a nooner in his office, most likely on his desk.

"Kank – " he growled as he opened the door. Then he was able to take in the scene. The couple was having sex on his desk, this much was obvious. But suddenly, Gaara could feel his heart lurch, and, as if it had been sitting on a shelf, fall, shattering into a billion pieces like a glass figurine falling onto a hard floor. His heart had found its rock bottom. And suddenly the fact that the couple was doing it in his office on his desk didn't seem to mean as much as when he was standing outside.

Matsuri was the woman lying under his brother with her legs wide and wrapped around him, screaming "Kankuro" in ecstasy, while his brother continued to pound away into her in a hurried pace, made obvious with the sound of skin slapping against skin. Gaara's eyes were wide and his brain didn't want to accept it. He silently shut the door and stepped away slowly, as the couple continued their horizontal dance on his desk, which he'd have to replace. His brain finally processed what he saw and what he was feeling . . . and he ran, their moans and screams echoing in his head.

AN: From here, I'm just going to leave you with your thoughts. I know, what a horrible way for Gaara to find out. Anyway, please review! Thanks!