Well, at least I'm finally on time. THANK YOU to all who have reviewed and told me what's finally wrong about my story and for telling me how great it is at the same time :D thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Enjoy!

Chapter 22

Even a Strong Will is Never Enough

She took a deep breath and tried to relax. "Good luck... Gaara." She weakly smiled at him.

He just gave her a cold glare that could freeze her to the bone if he was an ice element user.

"GO!" The proctor shouted to them.

Asuka quickly jumped back to the wall and focused some of her chakra into her fist then punched the wall; water pipes spewed from the giant crater and landed on the floor around her. She pulled out her elemental rapier and barley let the tip touch the surface of the growing puddle.

"Have you ever faced a ninja who can use five elements?" She grinned at her opponent, whom has yet to move a single inch. She glanced at Hatsuharu who already knew their plan and started it by sending out three water clones. Asuka just sped off to Gaara, trying to land a few blows on him but failed as his sand blocked every single attempt without him physically moving a single muscle.

What's with this guy? I had a feeling he was a genius, but this is just ridiculous! She slid back in place, a few yards away from him.

"My turn." Was all he said, he motioned his hand towards her and a wave of sand followed his command.

She channeled wind chakra into her sword and expanded its fan, ready to blowback the sand just in case the plan didn't work.

The sand was then disrupted with the sound of grunting and growling; Hatsuharu had succeeded with the plan and had actually made physical contact with his body, biting all of his limbs.

"Was Hatsuharu too fast for you?" Asuka gloated, trying to irritate him.

The Gaara the wolves were holding soon fell apart into a pile of sand.

"What the-" She then felt sand wrap around her ankle, she whipped around to find her opponent just about a foot behind her.

"Is that all?" He asked darkly.

"I'm just getting started." She winked at him and got out of his sand grip with a water clone. She appeared above him and held the handle of the sword in her mouth while performing hand seals. Several water wolves came out of the now giant puddle and went after Gaara. All of them fell from his sand.

I knew it, I'm just wasting chakra by using ninjutsu like this... unless I use both taijutsu and ninjutsu when the time is right. She looked over to her partner and twirled the sword in her hand. He nodded and went after Gaara with all of his speed.

Gaara was barley able to block Hatsuharu, his speed was too fast for the sand to keep up at the moment. Gaara seemed surprised to see the giant wolf's speed in action.

Asuka jumped up and landed on the ceiling. She looked up to see Gaara still struggling to keep up with he wolf's speed. She smiled and struck her sword into the concrete ceiling and swished it out. The concrete cracked and cracked more as it started to progress faster to her target. When it was only a few feet away did rock spires come out of the ground and to Gaara. He dodged it by jumping back and almost getting bit by Hatsuharu.

Asuka took her chance and jumped as hard as she could to Gaara with sword in hand and eyes narrow to her target. Gaara saw this and knew that his sand wouldn't block, he moved out of the way in time for his arm to only get grazed instead of cut off completely through the bone. She landed and slid a few feet due to the dusty debris.

His creepy smile appeared again with wide eyes staring right at her. "Is that all?!" He asked her with a shaky yet creepy dark tone.

"Like I said, I'm just getting started." She dug her sword into the ground and formed a hand seal, looking into Gaara's eyes with a plot behind them.

"Guy sensei," Lee spoke up, "What is she doing?"

"She's doing Genjutsu." Guy replied.

"I didn't know she could do that." Lee said astonished as he watched his friend's battle. "Why did she make a single mark on him then? Couldn't she have cut him up more?"

"She could have, but her sword was soaked in poison before she cut him to make it easier for him to fall asleep while she used her Genjutsu." Guy informed him.

Asuka kept eye contact with him the whole time while trying to get him to fall for her Genjutsu. He was slowly going for it, she was deep within his mind now. It was dark and eerie, making her want to make him fall asleep sooner rather than later and end this match while she can.

A giant roar erupted in his mind, she whipped around and saw something big, light brown with black marking and dark rings around its eyes. It was terrifying, making her mind freeze in place as she stared up at the giant creature in horror.

"GET OUT!" The creature roared at her, he took a giant swing at her and made a direct hit, knocking her out of his mind and breaking the Genjutsu.

"Gaaaah!" Asuka shrieked as she held her head in pain and got to the ground on her knees.

Hatsuharu ran to her side and tried to help her up.

"What's going on!?" Lee gripped the railing so hard it started to leave indentions.

"Looks like the Genjutsu didn't work..." Guy told him. "If the Genjutsu is interrupted somehow in the mind, then the Genjutsu breaks and hurts the user mentally more than the opponent." Guy finished and kept his watchful eyes on the fight.

"Gaaah! Guurrr..." Asuka's vision wasn't its best right now; it was blurred with darkness and bright light.

I have to gain a hold on myself and fast... Gaara might take his chance and get me while I'm down.

"Hatsuharu... distract." She rasped to him.

He followed her orders and went after Gaara, distracting him and his aggressive sand.

After what seemed like about a minute or two, her vision had begun to clear, but her thoughts were all over the place.

What am I doing here? What's going on? Why are there people everywhere? Why is there air? Why can't I feel my own heart? How come I can't feel my brain? It is mine... Snap out of it!

She shook her head vigorously, trying to shake the pointless thoughts out of her mind. Then one, sharp, desperate cry of pain made her mind snap back to reality.

Hatsuharu.

He whimpered and struggled to get back up, Gaara was pleased and moved onto Asuka. "Your next."

Her breathing increased, anger boiling, she was pissed. "You can hurt me however the hell you want, but NOBODY, hurts Hatsuharu." She death gripped her rapier and thrusted it out of the ground, causing the ground the tremble beneath their feet and shoot out sharp pillars toward Gaara.

He easily dodged and appeared a few yards away from her, throwing his sand around her. "Sand burial!" Sand was all around her, there was no escape.

But she wasn't going to give in so easily...

She channeled more chakra into her sword and sliced through the sand with lightning. "DIE YOU BASTARD!" Anger so hot it could freeze lava was coursing through her veins as she swung her electric filled sword just itching to make contact with something connecting to the ground.

She thrusted her sword to Gaara's face, but his sand blocked it. She dug harder into the sand and inched closer and closer to his face. Electricity was shooting out everywhere, into the walls, the ground, even toward the people who were watching.

"She's mad..." Lee commented silently while dodging some lightning that shot to the wall behind them.

"No fooling..." Naruto acknowledged.

"Even with all that power, she's still no match for Gaara." Kankuro told them.

"How could you say that?" Lee asked him, "Do you not see the field right now? It's near demolished!"

The field was nearly destroyed from all the lightning and earth ninjutsu she's been using. Causing craters to form and cracks to emerge with every passing minute. Debris laid everywhere on the field with puddles loitering the floor.

"That may be true, but Gaara is far stronger than you think." Kankuro warned them.

"We'll just watch and see wont we!" Naruto scolded him.

Asuka's sword was only centimeters away from his face now, icy fire filled her enraged eyes as she kept digging her sword through the sand and to his face.

He was totally calm, not a single emotion showing. Even if lightning that possibly held death's door was only mere centimeters away.

"Sand burial." He motioned his hand to her and made contact with her body, covering it from the neck down and held her in place. He backed away and made her drop the sword. "You still going to kill me?" He teased.

"..." She struggled to breath; the sand was constricting her lungs and limbs in place.

"What's the matter? Can't breath? I'll fix that with your death." He smiled ever so creepy again and started to slowly close his hand, making the sand close around her and near impossible to breathe with each passing second.

Damn... I'm not giving up... not yet... I can't... I just can't...

She struggled ever so slightly against the burning sand digging into her skin. Making it hotter and harder to breath.

The sand started to loosen.

She gained a few deep breaths and looked at Gaara, he was being attacked by Hatsuharu.

"Go Hatsuharu!" Lee cheered on.

"Kick his ass!" Naruto cheered along.

Asuka got free of the sand and fell to her knees as she held her chest and breathed in the cool air. Her eyes shot wide as she heard the worse noise possible for her to ever hear. She looked up and saw that her partner was in Gaara's sand. Blood eased out of the sand and crashed to the ground. Gaara threw him to the wall and left him there.

Tears brimmed her eyes as she saw her beloved partner, companion, brother, down on the ground, barley even breathing. "HATSUHARU!" She cried out and sped off to his side and propped him up. He whimpered slightly at her gentle touch. "Hatsuharu... I'm sorry..." Tears landed on his soft, blood clumped fur. "I'm so sorry, please, live through this... please." She scratched gently behind his ears and kissed his temple.

"Are you done yet?" Gaara asked her coldly.

Her eyes were covered in shadows, refusing to look at her opponent. She gently picked up her companion and sped off to the sidelines, placing him ever so gently on the ground next to her team. "Take care of him; I'm going to finish this." She jumped back to the ground without a response and finally looked at him, her opponent, whom in her eyes will die after a few more planned out moves.

"Why would you care about a mutt?" Gaara asked her coldly.

"He's no mutt, he's a wolf, and he was my first friend." She pulled out her old artificial weapon, the Kunai Claws, and held three in each hand. "Let us end this." She focused on her Taijutsu and opened the first gate, then whispered out the second and third one. "Gate of Rest, open." All of her physical, even internal wounds were healed almost instantly, she felt stronger and faster now. She even removed her 150 pound jacket and made another small crater big enough to fit her whole body in it. "Gate of Life, open." Her skin turned red, chakra exploded all around her and made the debris float around her. "Prepare for your untimely death Gaara of the Sand!"

She sped off and kept bouncing off the walls, making little indentions where she's been. Making it seem like she's invisible to the human eye. But Neji activated his Byakugan and followed her every movement. "She's so fast, even my Byakugan is having trouble keeping up." Neji commented.

"I knew she was fast, but I didn't think she was this fast." Lee acknowledged.

"Hmpf, I did start training her when she was only six." Guy told them proudly. "Of course she's this fast, she could be faster..."

"Guy, I can't believe you even taught one of your students this." Kakashi told him with a hint of anger.

"I did it for reasons Kakashi, reasons you wouldn't understand." Guy retorted.

"Still... I would never have thought you would teach one of them how to use the eight inner gates, how many can she open?"

"Six." He replied.

What? I can only open five... Lee thought, So, she would be stronger than me if we did have a fight. Lee tried keeping up Asuka's movements, but failed trying.

If I keep this up, my plan will work, he can't keep up with me, and neither can his sand. Asuka thought to herself as she kept jumping around. Time to make my move.

She threw one of her Kunai Claws' and it went straight thru Gaara's right arm and into the ground, spewing blood all around him, she quickly nailed the other end of the kunai's chain into a wall and repeated the process with all of his limbs with two in each limb; making it near impossible for him to move.

She drew her sword and made a final jump to him. "Prepare to feel my rage in full! Lightning water style: Wolves fang!" Water formed around the blade as lightning streamed from the edges, surrounding her sword and right arm entirely of water and electricity.

She sliced through half of his skull and landed behind him on her knees. She turned around with a serious look on her face as the inner gates closed and let her muscles basically turn to stone. Her facial expression quickly turned to mortified. "No... that's not possible..." She gripped her sword tightly as the sand clone crumbled and fell to the ground.

My chakra is extremely low, I can barely move, I'm finished unless I can think of something... anything.

Gaara stood more than ten yards away from her with a wound in each arm. "You nearly had me Asuka... but it wasn't enough." His creepy smile grew wider as his eyes were filled with psycho killer look in them. "Now, I'm going to enjoy killing you slowly." He threw his sand at her and caught her ankle.

Damn... what do I do? Take his beating until I think of something? I don't have a lot of options...

He started throwing her to the walls around them, breaking and crushing vertebrae, along with her ribs and limbs, making it near impossible for her to move now.

"COME ON ASUKA! DO SOMETHING!" Naruto cheered.

"She can't." Lee informed him depressingly.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"If you use even three of the eight inner gates excessively, your body will be in so much pain you can't even move an inch or else risk ripping a muscle." Lee replied. "That's why she's so physically strong, so then she could bare the pain of using it, but it seems that she's used it too much."

Come on Asuka... you're smart, think of something... anything. Lee encouraged her silently.

One last throw of his sand sent her flying above Naruto and crashed into the wall with her back to it, leaving a giant crater. Her eyes shot wide and coughed up blood before she fell flat on her face to the ground next to Naruto and Kankuro. They both backed away, making sure not to touch her and risk disqualification.

Her breathing was raspy and full of pain as she struggled to get back up but failed trying each time. Blood seeped out of her mouth, nose and eyes, making it harder for her to breathe and see anything.

"You should give up, there's no chance of you winning now." Kankuro stated to her.

"Don't say that!" Naruto scolded him. "She still has a chance!"

"You dumbass, look at her! She can barley move." Kankuro retorted.

"Shut up..." She rasped. "I'm tired of people thinking I'm dead weight... I can do this."

"Don't kid yourself, you'll die." Kankuro warned her.

He may be right... I have to live... for Hatsuharu...

She crawled to the railing and jumped off the ledge and back to the field. She looked up at Gaara's crazy eyes with her tired/soft eyes. "Ga...Gaara..."

"You wish to plead for mercy while I kill you?" Gaara guessed with wicked eyes.

She shook her head and shifted her weight to her other leg. "B... Before I die... or faint today."

"You will die by my hand alone!" Gaara told her.

She sighed, "B...Before I die... I want you to know... I enjoyed fighting you."

Everybody, including Gaara was in shock.

"What?" Gaara queered.

"I... I hope to fight you... Again one day... You're... You're a real challenge." She smiled and pulled out a kunai.

Gaara raised his sand, prepared for an obvious attack.

She shook her head and started cutting her hand, after she was done carving, she raised her left arm, showed him her blood filled/stained hand. "This... This is the symbol on your forehead... "Love"... This is a sign... that one day... I will defeat you." She stumbled and dropped the kunai; then fell to her knees. "You... You're my new rival... Gaara of the Sand... I, Asuka, plan to defeat you one day..." Her eyes slowly closed and filled with darkness as she face planted the ground.

Everybody was in shock on what she just said and did to herself. Gaara seemed to be in more shock, but shook it off and got angry and threw his sand at her.

"The winner is Gaara!"

"I don't care! SHE MUST DIE!" Gaara was filled with anger as his sand went after her motionless body. The sand crashed and spewed in all different places. He was slightly confused and looked around to find her safely in somebody's bandaged arms.

"The match is over, you won, isn't that enough for you!" Lee scolded him as he held his friend gently, feeling her broken bones and blood seep through her dark clothing.

Gaara snapped out of it and held his injured arms. "Why did you save her?" He asked harshly.

"Because she is my teammate, and more than that she is my best friend and I care for her deeply! So if you wish to kill her, you have to kill me first." He challenged him with his hard, dark eyes.

Gaara growled and used his sand to teleport back to his sensei.

Not soon after, the medical nin came out and took Asuka off of Lee's hands and set her on a stretcher.

"Will she be fine?" Lee queered.

"We don't know yet," Replied one of the male medical ninja, "please, just go back to your team and wait."

Lee nodded and had one last look of her peaceful face, and her newly carved hand before hopping back over to Neji and his sensei. The medical nin then carried her off in the stretcher and into the hospital.

Please Asuka... please be ok. Lee pleaded silently as he watched the medical nin carry her off.

To that one reviewer who said, "I hope Asuka doesn't get too hurt"… I'm so sorry XD but… yah, I nearly cried while I was making this, and I have a stone heart so… yah. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope you review, don't be afraid to break my heart with constructive criticism, I love criticism :)

See you guys next week!

April 1, 2013

*Broken Memories*