Until We All Fall Down Chapter 7, Remarkable, a naruto fanfic

Until We All Fall Down

XxMookinexX

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, I only wish I did. Any and all unrecognisable characters and situations belong solely to me and are not to be touched without permission. I am not making any money off of this and I write with the soul purpose to entertain.

This story takes place when our characters are 18/19 and takes account of everything up to chapter 337 of the manga. Written in Ino's POV.

Hmm… this one's too short. Sorry. But I felt something was better than nothing.

Okay so, who's for ice cream? (Hands out scoops of mint choc chip or otherwise) Special thanks to RefusedAngel (who reviewed chapters 3, 1 and the intro as well as chapter 6), Cheese Maiden, lori and Katar. I'm really sorry if I haven't responded to any reviews yet from you – I really don't have time but on Thursday after my Mechanics (the last AS!!) I can catch up with it. Next week has to be special 'cos I'll have done my exams so… hmm… yes, I'm afraid it will have to be chocolate fudge cake. (le gasp).

– Chapter Seven –

Remarkable

What did I expect?

Certainly not this, I'm sure… I never expected that as soon as we crossed the boundary to Sunakagure my bracelet would go haywire and start dragging me along before dissolving into sand and flying away from me, nor that an escort of Sunakagure shinobi would appear to escort us in. Apparently there's more to that bracelet than I originally presumed. Although I'm a bit peeved that it's disappeared. Gaara better plan on getting me a replacement…

Still, it was a bit of a relief that we wouldn't have to go through any screening processes or anything. Our honour guard led us straight through the beefed up security. We were, all of us, too tired to really deal with that. Although Chouji wasn't in a fit state to voice his thoughts. His fever had hit five hours ago… and with the limited supplies I had all I could do was drug him up to the ears so that he didn't feel any pain and hope we got here soon.

"Shika!"

Temari was waiting for us just inside the gate, smiling and waving.

I frowned as we approached her, unable to tell what was different about her… but something was. Somehow she was indefinably different.

Temari, inspecting us in turn, suddenly looked angry. Perhaps something to do with Chouji being unconscious, hanging off both our shoulders and our weary faces.

"What happened?" she asked, voice lightly concerned but there was underlying harshness that showed just how worried she really was.

"Mist-nin," Shika replied non-committally. I glanced worriedly at him then shifted my gaze back to Temari again.

"Chouji's hurt… can I borrow some medical supplies?"

She looked startled. "Of course, but shouldn't you be resting? You look exhausted… our own medic-nins can look after him for you-"

"No!" I cut her off then bit my lip, realising that I'd been rude and that she'd only been trying to help. "Sorry, but it's something I want, no, need to do…"

I know it's probably just me being pernickety, since I've already saved his life, but I want to push myself to be better. I want to be able to heal my team on my own. To earn the position of medic-nin amongst them.

Shika sighed from the other side of Chouji. "You'd better let her do what she wants; she's terribly stubborn when she gets like this."

Uncertainly Temari nodded, leading us towards the hospital. I smiled as she looked back at Shika again, a soft expression on her face. "It's good to see you again."

He smiled back, despite how tired he was. "Yeah, you too."

If Chouji and I weren't there I'm sure they would've linked hands. There's that phrase again… a perfect couple. Makes me wonder if I'll ever be so lucky. My eyes flicked to my bare wrist and realising where my thoughts were taking me I bit down hard on my lip, distracting myself with the pain.

There's no point in getting my hopes up.

I should have learnt that lesson already.

I closed the door behind me as I left Chouji's room, smiling slightly with the knowledge that his fever had broken and I'd done my job.

A part of me felt guilty, leaving him like that… but then I reflected on the things I should be doing – sleep being one of them. I don't want to be useless later because I couldn't take care of myself now. No, I've grown up enough to know that however romantic the notion, pulling an all-nighter just to be beside a friend when they awake helps no one when you're on the brink of war. It's incapacitating and turns you into little more than a dead weight that slows others down.

I wonder how long it's been since I started to think like that. How long have I been measuring my worth? Maybe since Sakura started to grow up – to blossom from that bud she used to be – to become brighter than the cosmos. Maybe since the point she first stood up to me – the point she threw away my friendship for the sake of a boy. Honestly, I think that angered me more than anything else. That she could disregard all that I had done for her, and challenged me when we both knew I was better than her. Does that make me shallow? Maybe it does.

I wonder what happened to the old me that looked out for her. I think she was poisoned… I think I poisoned her with my jealousy, my bitterness and anger. I used to be the sort of person who could defend the weak. I used to try and encourage others to reach their full potential. Whatever happened to that? I wonder… can I get it back? I want to. Maybe that's why I keep trying to be responsible for things.

A wave of dizziness suddenly overtook me and I felt myself wobble as I lost my sense of balance and the areas at the edge of my vision blacked out.

I must be more tired than I thought…

I reached out to the wall to steady myself, but someone else got there first, grabbing my arms at the elbows and propping me upright again. Still momentarily dazed, I had to blink a few times and wait for my tunnel vision to disappear before I ventured to move my head and look upon my rescuer.

And then I found myself looking into a set of familiar aquamarine eyes.

A startled gasp involuntarily escaped me as I realised it was Gaara, and then my cheeks started to glow as I realised how close he was – although I tried to play it off as embarrassment for almost falling over in the middle of the hallway.

"Where were you going?" he asked, slightly amused.

"Hmm?" I hummed, before coming to the startling realisation that I had absolutely no idea where I was. I'd just been aimlessly walking through random corridors, completely lost in my thoughts. "You know… I have absolutely no idea," I admitted, remembering that he seemed to like how crazy and quirky my character was at times. He laughed, and I scowled despite my blush – certain that he was making fun of me.

"That much was obvious," he stated. "You've walked past us down this corridor two times now."

My face blossomed into colour and mentally I groaned and buried my head in my hands. Idiot!

Then my brain picked up on something my subconscious had red flagged for attention. Us. My eyes flickered over his shoulder to rest on a girl, several years his junior, with shoulder length honey brown hair and sharp, watchful eyes that stared at me suspiciously. The hostility in that gaze startled me.

"Well," Gaara continued, oblivious to the glare being showered on me from over his shoulder, causing me to bring my attention back to him again. "If you're going to go wandering you'd best be wearing this." He reached for my hand and I felt something circular and glassy drop into it.

"My bracelet!" I cried, happiness surging through me like wildfire. "I thought it dissolved." His lips twitched in amusement, causing me to frown. "You should have told me it was going to do that, I almost had a heart attack when it jumped off my wrist," I grumbled, lightly hitting his arm by way of comeuppance.

He shrugged and opened his mouth to reply when the girl I'd noted earlier cleared her throat.

"We have a meeting, Gaara-sama." She put deliberate emphasis on the world and internally I felt pissed off about it. He wasn't supposed to let other people say his name like that. Other than Temari and Kankurou I mean.

Gaara visibly straightened as he turned and walked down the corridor towards her again, absentmindedly dragging me along by the elbow as he went.

"Thank you Matsuri" he said – all business once again. And suddenly I remembered who she was – that student of his that got kidnapped all those years ago. Matsuri-san smiled and fell into step on his other side.

Even if she was his student… I can't help but resent her.

Dammit… I really hate it when I'm jealous. It's one of the most unattractive things in the world. Still, just so long as Gaara doesn't notice I'm sure I can get away with it.

After all, I can't help it.

I like him.

Chapter seven… well… we saw some Gaara Ino development, that's something right? I'm sorry it's so short, and I'm sorry I missed last week's update I had lots of revision and… actually that's a complete lie. I got wrapped up in writing a really confusing piece of my own that if I ever turn into a proper writer I shall finish and hopefully get published. I guess you could say the idea took over my brain for the entirety of the next four days. I think I may have been obsessed… o.O!! Please review people! I love knowing what you think.

But yeah… next time we talk I'll have finished all my AS exams! WOOT! Just Chemistry and Mechanics left to go folks! YAY!

Luv ya

XxMookinexX