Chapter 15

In the weeks that followed Matsuri's cure and the decision of the four Kages and council men, Akina had begun to travel between the four countries with a team made up of shinobi from the Sand, Cloud, Rock and Mist. They were accomplished Jonin, specializing in scouting, defense, offense and strategy. Akina lead it, now wearing the Kumogakure headband upon her head. Over the time she spent in each village she learned the customs and beliefs of each. She gained knowledge of her team, which slowly began to become a family to her.

Wakana was not on her team, being that she was the head of the hospital; however that wouldn't stop her from keeping an eye on things outside the village once in a while with Kamina and Sojiro.

Akina stopped into the Sand whenever she could, often just leaving her village now as she pleased. She would of course receive lectures from Shee and the Raikage when she returned but things had become less strict from her in Cloud.

In the time she spent in the Sand she had reconnected with her old friends and spent more time with Gaara as he had the keys to the archives and often helped her with research…among other things.

Currently Akina was on a solo mission, deciding to give the team some time off in their respective villages. In actuality, she was suffering from chronic nightmares and hallucinations. She was unable to sleep at times, becoming a part insomniac. Those on her team began to suspect such, but she waved it off saying she was just a little jumpy. Some accepted that, others that had become closer than the rest didn't fall for it.

Her current mission, however, was simple. Recon in an area that is believed to be the meeting ground for the kyonshi and, hopefully, their leader. If it was true that it was then she would be able to handle it in no time now that she had upped her strength in the last few months. She'd often spar with Gaara when he had the time and Wakana as well. Her skills were sharpened; almost back to the edge they were all those years ago.

As she stood now, in the area she was to recon, letting the last kyonshi from her fight fall before her, decapitated and mutilated, she laid her eyes on the opponent in front of her.

"And you…must be the leader of these monsters." She said, leaning her scythe against her back.

The man, shrouded in a dark red cloud stepped forward. From under the hood she could make out a crazed smile. Her eyes widened as she flashed back to the time in Kumo when she saw someone with the same smile outside her window.

"A leader you say?" His voice sent a wave of shivers down her spine. She recognized it as the voice from her nightmares. "Indeed…but what can a weakling like you do without your precious sage?" Akina froze as he lifted his hand, letting a dark ball on energy surround him. She recognized the technique and as quickly as she could she whipped her scythe in front of her, a dangerous look in her eyes. A second later however she was up against a tree blocking a second scythe with hers. This one was black as night.

Akina grunted as he pushed her farther into the wall.

"Who…are you?" She demanded. "Tell me before I kill you!"

"Kill me? Insolence!" She felt his chakra spike. She felt something wrapping around her, constricting her. "Fight with me…I can give you everything you desire." He said, leaning into her ear. She grunted again, pushing back against him. She raised her chakra level, finally pushing him off with her scythe. She attacked then, slashing at him with her scythe. He laughed, enjoying the fight as he easily blocked her attack.

"You'll have to do better than that if you-" Akina's clone came from behind, jumping onto his back. She smirked triumphantly, breaking away form hi as she swung her scythe, connecting it with his jugular. Akina breathed slowly as she felt her scythe rip his head off its body. Blood splattered on the floor, his head rolled. She let her scythe fall to the ground, leaning it against her.

An intense pain flew through her body, making her scream out. Akina looked down, seeing the black scythe from before sticking through her abdomen.

"Too slow." She heard from behind her. She turned her head, coughing blood, only to be met with nothing. Her legs gave out, falling to the ground. She struggled to keep her head up as she moved to heal the wound. "Petty little attacks like that won't work."

Akina grunted, standing up with her still bleeding wound. She healed the major organs but it was still a risk to her.

"Honey, stop fighting him."

Then she froze, hearing the all too familiar voice. She saw the man's face crack into a smile as he walked around her. Confused eyes followed him until a look of complete horror came upon her face as her gaze landed on the woman next to her enemy.

"..M…Mom."

The slim woman smiled at her daughter.

"He is the good side sweetheart, join him." She urged. Akina shook her head, backing away slowly.

"You are not my mother…" She whispered.

"Of course she is." Another voice said from behind her. Akina stumbled, holding her wound again. She winced, feeling it rip a bit more. The feeling left her body again when she saw the tall man behind her. "Now, come along my strong flower."

Akina felt tears prickle on the edges of her eyes as she backed into a tree.

"No…no…you're dead."

"Akina-chan!" Her eyes darted to a blonde headed kid, standing on a tall tree branch.

"Naruto…" She breathed. Her world began to feel dizzy.

"Akina! Come on and join already!"

"Get away…" She whispered.

"I'm sorry sweetheart what was that?" Her mother asked in the same sweet voice from all those years ago.

Akina sank to her knees, hugging herself.

"Get away…"

"Now, now, is that how my daughter acts?"

"You're not real."

"Akina!"

They kept calling her names, making her sanity sink lower and lower. All ideas and realizations of reality came crashing down around her as everyone one who died before her appeared to her.

"Who… are you?" She exclaimed, dangerous and confused eyes falling on the man in a cloak. The man laughed, and she felt as if she knew the voice. Slowly the cloak fell from his body, Akina trembled as she recognized him immediately. "No…no way."

"Akina…" the man said, walking towards her. Her green eyes connected with familiar jade, creating an inescapable nightmare for her. She backed up, crawling through the bushes as he wound opened once more. Blood spilled from her body at a slow antagonizing rate as she felt her heart hammering in her body. She heard the continuous calls from everyone she held dear to her.

"Help…" She whispered, falling against a tree limb. "Someone, please…" She begged, curling up into a little ball.

"Akina!" She heard someone yell. She jackknifed up from her spot, a cold sweat on her forehead. She looked around frantically, not even noticing the person who woke her up from the horrible nightmare. Said person watched her as she freaked out from what was obviously a horrible hallucination. Finally Akina laid her gaze on the person who saved her.

"Satoshi…" She said, looking at the short boy with spiky brown hair and blue eyes. The boy sighed, standing up. His gaze matched hers in height perfectly.

"You need help, now." He said, grabbing her arm. Akina stepped out of his reach, grabbing his wrist.

"I just had a bad dream is all." She said in her commanding officer tone.

"Bad dream my ass, you saw your parents." He said. Akina stiffened.

"Big deal."

"Very big deal." He said in a defying tone. "Ne-san is already on the way here to join your mission. There was new information on it so Gaara-sama sent us."

"New information?" She asked curiously, not particularly liking then way he said it.

"Yeah…you're going to need us probably."

"What makes you say that?"

"'Cause there's been over one hundred kyonshi sightings here, the information was misread, it was not ten but one hundred."

"Nothing I can't handle." She answered curtly. Satoshi growled lowly, grabbing the collar of her short and pulling her forward. He glared daggers at her.

"Listen here Haruka, you act so tough and all the while we can see how much you want and need help, so suck up you ego and actually fight with us."

"I refuse to endanger your lives."

"Damnit Akina! You don't get it do you? The new Ruranain must be here!" He said venomously. "You need to find them and you can't be bothered with the kyonshi! We know damn well you could take them out but you need to find the kid first!"

Akina's eyes widened as the obvious hit her. So many kyonshi in one area? Only one reason would make sense and that was the Ruranain. Satoshi let her down.

"But first we have to do something about your hallucinations and shut your mouth before I shut it for you." He said, stopping her from any retaliation. "Now look, Wakana came because we make a good team and she wants to have a look at you."

"Yeah I get it."

"You can drop the act Akina." Another voice, female, said from behind them. "I can see your hurting." She looked at Satoshi, giving him the look to go off and find some information. Then she looked at Akina, pulling off her pack and taking out her medical supplies.

"Why do you and my brother yell at each other so much?" She asked, putting her hand son Akina's head.

"Because he catches me in a bad mood." She answered. Wakana scoffed.

"Well whatever, let's find out why you're having hallucinations." She said, creating a flow form her hands to Akina's brain with her chakra. Wakana used her minds eye, a special jutsu she learned from Ino as they were once close friends. He perfected it and now used it on psychosomatic patients. Not that Akina was psychotic…much. She stopped her jutsu for a moment, coming across a barrier.

"Akina…" She reminded, letting her know to let her barriers down. Akina hesitated but let her subconscious free, knowing she would find things no one else should ever see. "There's something in here the enemy has found out about and is using against you…" She murmured. "We have to find it and fix it."

Wakana stopped her flow of chakra and Akina already knew she found something. She felt her tense above her and just then Akina felt herself being dragged back to a time.

"Sorry I couldn't get them to play with you Gaara."

Akina and Wakana heard all of the small voices from her past, surrounding them in a never ending white noise. Wakana stared into the dark space, watching as the memories flew past. They surrounded Akina, who only had her eyes closed. Like a tornado they flew around her.

"Now you know my secret…"

"I had no idea-"

"That I was this messed up?" Her back was towards her now. "A lot of things happen in a person's life, not many are good."

"Akina…"

"You shouldn't-"

"Worry? They're going to use this against you! Why did you never say anything before!"

"Because…they're a reminder."

"A reminder? They're a hinder to your strength."

"You don't get it…." She sighed. "Inside here I'm a different person…"

"Who are you then?"

Akina sighed stepping aside as the room went from dark gray to white. Wakana looked over at her, and then to a corner of the white room. A small child hugged itself in the corner, no emotions present on her face.

"What happened to you?" She breathed.

"I lost too many suns."

"Too many….suns?"

"A sun for a jinchuuricki is the driving force behind them…they keep them from being devoured by power and the demon within. Many of my suns have already died because of me." She said, moving her hand.

"But then…what about all of us? Aren't we you're driving force?"

"There comes a point in someone's life where they are overwhelmed with guilt from the mistakes they've made…I've never gotten past that stage."

"Why?" Wakana growled, tightening her fists. "Why are you so guilty?"

"Because I couldn't protect you, I couldn't protect Naruto, Gaara, Toshiro, Mirai…my…parents."

"Damnit Akina! Wake up! You're not a kid anymore!" She yelled, punching Akina into the wall. Akina stood after a moment, wiping the blood off her face. A hard glare was set into place. "People die!" Wakana yelled, grabbing her collar.

"They died but we survived, we remember them! Just because they aren't standing next to you doesn't mean you've lost everything!"

Akina let the glare fall from her face, looking at the young, fragile version of herself.

"Wake the fuck up already. I know you're stronger than that, what would you're parents say if they saw you like this? Naruto? Gaara?" She whispered, setting her friend down. Akina stared at her, gripping the sides of her pants. "You have to let us in, and let it all out!"

There was a silence then as Akina slowly let go of the fabric on her pants.

"No…you're right." Akina said, finally calming down. Wakana stared at her for a moment hesitating before she saw the smirk. "I can use this…" Akina held up her hand, making a fist.

"Yes you can…let it out on the enemy."

"Yeah…" Akina looked back at the fragile girl before them. She bent down, putting her hand on her head. The smaller Akina looked up, surprise on her face. "Don't be so down kid."

The smaller Akina stood then, grabbing the hand on her head. Akina stood as well, watching the smaller version beginning to grow. Wakana smirked, watching as the two reached equal height.

"Hey."

"Yo."

They greeted each other.

"Shall we?" She asked, gesturing to Wakana. Said person nodded, walking along the path they had come from before. "Hold down the fortress bean sprout."

"Like hell it'll fall." The other responded.

Akina blinked, opening her eyes. She saw the outside world, smiling at the trees. Satoshi stood a little away from them, looking at the two of them. Wakana opened her eyes a moment later.

"I put up a barrier, no one can get through that." Akina nodded.

"One problem fixed…a bazillion more to go." Satoshi murmured, opening his instant ramen. Akina blinked, seeing Naruto take the place of Satoshi for a split second.

"We can handle it." She said, grabbing her ramen that finished cooking a slurping down the noodles.

"I'd hope you would be able to." Akina spun around, noodle filled mouth and all to look at the new arrival.

"Gaa-wah!" She exclaimed, jumping up.

Wakana snickered, watching as Gaara avoided the deadly hot water filled food.

"Did I forget to mention he was helping?" Satoshi said as if forgetting it. He shrugged. "Oh well…"

"You're terrible." Wakana commented, taking a bite into her rice ball. Satoshi grinned, continuing to eat as the other two made their way to camp. "Satoshi…sleep in my tent tonight."

"…Why?" The boy asked.

"Just a hunch."

"What kind of hunch."

"A…hunch." She emphasized.

"Like a hunch hunch or a hunch hunch?

"You really are an idiot…fine don't come whining to me later."

"As if."

"Baka."

Ahh family.

OMI FUDGING TACOS GAARA'S IN THE MANGA AGAIN! 3