Note: Ah, chapter fourteen as soon as I hit fifteen I will have hit the halfway mark on this story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor do I own the Naruto story line.

Chapter Fourteen:

Where This Soul Fell

He looked at the hand that Naruto had extended to him with an expression of distrust and anger.

I could see in those sea foam green eyes trimmed in ebony that he still blamed us for his siblings death, and he should.

They had trusted us and we let them down.

We had trusted him and he let us down.

"No," it was a simple word and one that made me nearly cry.

Naruto clicked his tongue for a few minutes in thought then said gently, as if he was talking to a small child, "Awe, come on we need another person for our team!"

"No," he repeated, his tone was not angry or hurt, but distant and emotionless.

It was depressing really, after all he had changed for the better.

But now-

Then-

He was different, possibly more than ever before.

The beautiful and curious beast on his shoulder took flight swirling up in the air for a few moments before coming to land on Naruto's shoulder; she sat there for a few minutes as the blonde stroked her silver tipped wings for a few moments. Gaara watched on in silence as if waiting for some kind of signal from the bird to see if it was safe or not.

"Things wont be like last time," Naruto's voice was so low that I could hardly hear him, his head was bowed so that his hair fell in front of his eyes.

I took a step forward so that I could see his face.

It stung to see that damn tear fall down his cheek, he never cried but then there he was with just one tear on his cheek. I looked up at Gaara to see if he had see it and he had just like me.

I bit my lip.

I don't know why Sasuke had to be so selfish, but I did know that seeing him cry made me decide on something:

We were going to get him back alive and Gaara was going to help us.

"You're after Sasuke right?" I asked, my voice held leadership in it, the irony of it made me nearly laugh.

He looked at me for a moment his eyes not shielding anything from mine, "Yes."

"Then travel with us!" Naruto flashed him his usual grin.

He must have been trying to hide the fact that just now his emotions had gotten the better of him; he was always doing that kind of thing- thinking that he always had to be the stronger than the rest of us. I'm not sure if he acted that way for us, or if he did it for himself- either way I loved him just the same.

"No."

"Why not?" he whined to the red head folding his arms over his chest.

"Because you want to save Sasuke and I want him dead."

A simple answer with a chilling effect.

"Yeah, but you probably don't know where he is," I pointed out to him, "Do you?"

The fact that he didn't reply was an answer enough.

"But we know where Itachi is," Naruto taunted as the falcon flew closer and closer toward me.

I watched as her graceful wings cut the air as the wind ruffled her darker feathers on her small head; her honey eyes scanned the area below as she looked for a place to perch.

"Itachi?" he cocked his head in confusion.

"Sasuke's elder brother," I informed him, "Where he is we will find Sasuke you can count on that."

Jiyrah landed on my shoulder, which startled me because of her sharp talons digging into the tender flesh on my shoulder. Gaara seemed to be thinking as he watched his beast nuzzle her head under my chin as if we had been life long friends this entire time.

Finally he spoke, "Alright I'll join you-"

He was cut off by a yes from Naruto.

"But," he contuined to warn us, "If you get in my way when the time comes to kill Sasuke I will make you regrett it."

I gulped as he said this- I knew he ment it with every fiber of his being.

He wanted revenge and nothing or anyone was going to stop him from having it.

So with his warning and Naruto's wave off of his warning we took off on what could be considered the best part of pur journey to save Sasuke and one of the happiest times of my life.