Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one. I've never played shogi before so this is based off of knowledge I gleaned from reading about it, also this contains suicidal thoughts, so be warned. Please review to let me know your thoughts
Chapter 17: - The Hospital Besieged
I leant my chin against my hand as I thought about my next move, the gentle tricking of the sand in the hourglass was the only sound that perforated the cool room we sat in. I took one of my lances and moved it forward capturing my opponent's gold general.
"You know, I didn't think you'd be this good at shogi," My opponent spoke up, his usual tone of boredom gone as he focused solely on the game.
"Because I'm pretty," I stated. Shikamaru didn't make any sound or move, his face was completely blank preventing me from knowing his train of thought. "You know I hate being pretty. People underestimate me because of it and I am insulted by this misconception," I informed the brunette.
"Man, why are girls so troublesome?" Shikamaru whined/asked, as he rubbed the back of his head.
"I could ask the same about boys," I joked, before turning my attention back to the game. A strange feeling crept over me, almost like a shadow was descending upon the hospital.
"The sand's stopped. What's up with that? Did they forget to wind it or something?" Shikamaru stated/complained. I glanced down at the green particles to find that they had indeed frozen in place, the feeling spiked at seeing this turn of events. The ominous feeling was broken by a sound echoed from my left and I inclined my head to look at, seeing that Naruto had finally woken up after being unconscious for three days which had left him in the hospital.
"So you've decided to wake up have you?" Shikamaru asked, although it sounded more like a statement.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," I greeted my teammate. Naruto seemed impossibly confused by where he was and why we were there.
"Where am I? What is this?" Naruto asked as he rotated his head to look around.
"The hospital," Shikamaru answered.
"Speaking of which why does it seem that everyone I know ends up here?" I asked. Shikamaru shrugged in answer, not sure himself.
"Anyway, they say you've been out cold for three days straight," Shikamaru continued speaking to the blonde.
"Three days? THREE DAYS STRAIGHT?!" Naruto cried out as he leapt up from his lying down position.
"Uh, yeah more or less," Shikamaru replied. His tone gave away his nervousness and surprise at Naruto's sudden actions.
"Shikamaru, Ami, when does the final competition begin?" Naruto asked.
"Uh, tomorrow," Shikamaru answered. I simply watched in amusement at Naruto reaction, as he yelled at Shikamaru before rushing off to search for his clothes.
"NARUTO!" I yelled attracting both males attention. After taking a deep breath I began to speak. "You have to balance training and rest, if you train too much you'll wear yourself out and be unable to fight properly in the final tournament," I advised the blonde, who promptly fell on to the bed only to reveal he was hungry.
Shikamaru pulled out a basket containing different types of fruit, revealing that Chōji had be hospitalised for eating too much barbecue and that he couldn't have any food at all. As Naruto was about to eat the apple Shikamaru threw at him He stopped confusing us and then he began to laugh.
"Let's eat it in front of Chōji, it'll drive him crazy," Naruto suggested. I shook my head at the prankster's suggestion as I tried to suppress the genuine smile that was trying to force its way on to my face, I couldn't forget my promise.
"Man that's mean. I like it," Shikamaru responded. I decided to follow them if only to save their hides when Chōji decided to take the fruit. We stepped out and looked around to see that no one was present at all, which whilst convenient, since we were trying to sneak a patient out of their room, it was unusual.
The ominous feeling appeared again, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up and this time I wasn't the only one who felt it as Shikamaru and Naruto had both tensed up.
"What is that?" Shikamaru asked in a shaky voice, showing his nervousness. Naruto gulped as he didn't know what was going on.
"Evil," I stated. Both males looked at me as I schooled my face into a blank canvas, so as to reveal nothing. I then started off down the hallway following the sensation of darkness that drowned the building we were in, I could hear the other two chasing after me.
"Ami where are we going?" Naruto asked, as he and Shikamaru flanked me on either side.
"Don't know," I responded as we came to an intersection. I looked around trying to find where the evil was leaking from.
"Then what are you doing?" Shikamaru asked, confused by my actions and words.
"Follow, feeling," I answered, confusing them even more. I looked around when the feeling spiked again, making it so that if I were a cat my tail would be puffed out to immeasurable lengths.
"Ok lead," Shikamaru stated. I could only guess that he must have also felt the shadow's strength increase, I took off to the left, my speed increasing as I hoped to reach the shadow before something happened.
I looked around seeing that the entire building was deserted as not a single soul could be seen, the smell of herbs and other medicines twirled around the air and the only sound were our footsteps beating against the tiled floor. As we rushed down another hallway I recognised it and let out a string of curses.
"What is it?" Shikamaru asked, confused by the words I had just spat.
"Lee's room is on this hallway," I answered. If anything this new piece of information make us move faster, we rushed down the hallway coming to Lee's room which was wide open. Quietly yet quickly we stepped into the room, inside we saw something that immediately made Shikamaru activate his Shadow Possession Jutsu catching the person and stopping the sand in its' tracks.
"I can't move my body," Gaara muttered as he realised his hand was frozen. Naruto then punched him in the face forcing him back, this also affected Shikamaru who was able to keep his jutsu going.
"What the heck do you think you're doing in here you rat!?" Naruto yelled at Gaara.
"Hey man, go easy. I'm using my Shadow Possession Jutsu, so when you're bashing him you're bashing me to. You got it," Shikamaru informed Naruto. Naruto apologised whilst I kept my eyes on Gaara at all times, sand fell off of him, revealing that Naruto's punch had cracked his Sand Armour.
"Out with it what were you trying to pull?" Naruto asked as he return to my side as we all stared down at Gaara. "Well are you going to tell us what you were going to do?" Naruto snapped at Gaara, who simply stared at us with blank eyes.
"I was going to kill him," Gaara simply stated.
"You already beat him once in the competition. What's your problem, wasn't that enough for you? Do you have some kind of personal grudge against him or something?" Shikamaru asked.
"I have nothing against him. It's nothing that complicated, I simply want to kill him that's all," Gaara replied
"You know what you're sick in the head, you know that!" Naruto yelled at the red-head.
"Yeah you think we're just going to stand by and let you do whatever you want? You sick, selfish psycho," Shikamaru tacked onto to Naruto's statement.
"If you don't stay out of my way, I'll have to kill you three as well," Gaara stated, his voice completely devoid of emotion
"OH REALLY LET'S JUST SEE YOU TRY IT!" Naruto yelled at him holding out his fist.
"Wow kid, take it easy," Shikamaru told Naruto, worried the blonde would get us killed faster.
"Yeah, yeah. We watched your last match against Lee we know you're tough. But you know Naruto, Ami and I have a few tricks up our sleeves as well. We were holding back during the competition there are things you haven't seen yet, on top of that, hey, it's three against one so don't be a fool ok. Just take my advice and go quietly," Shikamaru bluffed. I knew he was because I had seen both of them fight enough times and Naruto wasn't one to hold back in fights, I was the only one that did hold back.
"I'll say it once more, if you get in my way, I'll kill you
"And I'll say it again let's see you try it," Naruto shot back. I really wanted to punch the blonde for his one-track mind at the moment.
"Back off will you, we don't want to go there. This guy's mad, he fights like a demon," Shikamaru hissed at Naruto.
"He can act like a demon if he wants to, but guess want I got the real thing inside of me," Naruto spat out. A look of sadness and anger flashed across his face for a brief second before it disappeared.
"Idiot. Leave this to me, what's the point of getting him mad?" Shikamaru questioned.
"A demon? My demon is as real as yours' is. From my birth, my upbringing was not what most people would consider a happy one, to ensure that I became the strongest of shinobi my father had cast his Ninjutsu on me, infusing my unborn self with a sand spirit. I destroyed the life of a woman that gave birth to me, I was born a monster," Gaara explained, his voice never wavering or breaking as he spoke and I knew that the others were frightened by his words.
"Its' name is Shukaku and it's the living incarnation of an old monk of the Sand Village who was sealed up in a jar of tea," Gaara continued. Shikamaru claimed that Gaara's father must have loved him a lot, however this wasn't true.
"You speak of love, don't measure me by your standards. Love, family; the only emotional ties I have to my family are the ones I like to wrap around their necks and they're only ties of hate. Given life by the death of my mother, I was brought into being and nurtured as the salvation of the village. I was the Kazekage child, my father taught me the innermost secrets of the shinobi he pampered and protected me and left me to myself, for a time I thought that was love. And that was when everything started," Gaara continued speaking. His words sent pain spiking through my mind as something began to crawl from the depths of my mind.
"When what started?" Shikamaru asked, his face betraying the fear that took over his body.
"What was it? Are you going to tell us or not?" Naruto probed, his face was far calmer that Shikamaru's but the fear could still be seen. "So go on. What started? What was it?" Naruto asked once again. That was when a dark, sickening smile curled onto Gaara's normally expressionless face.
"In the six years since I became six years old, my father tried to destroy me more times than I can count," Gaara revealed. The two boys were shocked by this, reeling back from the surprise, I however had remained in place.
"You just finished saying your father pampered and protected you, so which is it?" Shikamaru asked, having recovered a lot quicker than Naruto who was still shocked by the information we had received.
The pain in my mind began to increase turning into a stabbing pain, rather than a dull throb, also my breathing picked up slightly, unnoticeable to others but to me it was a drastic increase in my normal rhythm.
"Those who get to be too strong are apt to become feared. The jutsu that gave me birth had unbalanced something in my mind, even the fools in my village had finally realised I had… emotional problems," Gaara explained.
"My father the Kazekage, created me as his ultimate weapon, but I eventually became a threat to the village I was meant to save. By the time I was six I had become a figure of terror to the villagers, to them I was a relic of the past that they wished would disappear. So you see I had failed at the one purpose for which I was given life, what then was left for me in this existence? Why go on living? For a long time I couldn't find an answer to that, but in order to live you need a purpose, to exist for no reason is the same as being dead," Gaara continued with his explaination. And by this time I knew what was happening Gaara was dragging up memories I had buried, memories I wanted to forget… forever.
"What is this guy talking about?" Shikamaru asked, confused by Gaara's speech.
"Then in time the answer came to me. To put it simply my reason for living is in the killing of others. For years I lived in fear of those who were sent to murder me, but now I am at peace, I killed many would-be assassins and it was while I was doing it, that the truth became clear to me. I live solely for myself, I love only myself, as it was the death of my mother that first gave me life, now it is the death of others that sustains me, that makes me almost happy to be alive and there's no end to it, as long as there are still people to kill in this great, wide, crowded world, I will never disappear," Gaara finished speaking.
Suddenly Naruto took a single step backwards attracting our attention. "Hey where're you going? What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked. I saw the shaking hands and the fearful expression on his face, then the sound of trickling sand caught our attention. I snapped my head back to Gaara, in time to see the sand surging towards us, Naruto was frozen in fear and Shikamaru was stuck because of his Jutsu.
"Now let me feel alive," Gaara proclaimed. Knowing what I had to do, I stepped forward and formed hand signs whilst gathering my chakra, waiting for the sand to get just a little closer.
"Alright that's enough," Guy's voice cut through the room like a knife, disrupting the sand and drawing our attention. "Save it until tomorrow that's when the final competition begins. You're just wasting it today is that what you want?" Guy questioned Gaara. Gaara then clutched his head and the sand receded into the gourd, he then proceeded to leave and threatened to kill us one day.
"If you wanted to kill me, you should have done a long time ago," I spoke, my voice soft as my head began to spin from the pain of the memories. I then proceeded to run from the room and headed back to the house I lived at as I couldn't bear to be in that room anymore.
*Naruto*
That night the skies were clouded over by a thick blanket, the threat of rain hanging in the air. I found myself stood atop the mountain that had the faces of the Hokage, both past and present, carved onto it. The wind blew about dragging my raven locks to flap beside my face.
"It's so strange," I spoke, to the person who had discovered me at my crossroads. "Life is so fragile, such a short drop, tumbling and twirling like a feather in the wind, until you stop and then you're broken, unable to move unable to do… anything," I continued, as I stared off the edge of the mountain.
"I guess so," The person spoke, their voice identifying them as a male, the voice was familiar but I couldn't pinpoint it. I took a step close to the edge, feeling the wind become slightly stronger as it gusted over the rocky crevice.
"So fragile, all it takes is a drop of strange liquid, a swing of a blade, a step gone wrong," I finished as I took another step forward, gliding it into the air and away from the safety of the ground. I felt my body falling, if only for a short time, before a hand snapped around my wrist and dragged me back to safety.
I looked up to see the person who had saved me only to lock eyes with the old man who I had met the other day, Jiraiya.
"What were you doing?" he asked, his voice stern but not angry, merely inquisitive as to my actions.
"I've made many a mistake in my life, I wondered if there was any way to fix it," I stated. Then I felt Jiraiya place a hand on my shoulder and bent down to my height.
"There is a way, but killing yourself will not help, you have to face up to your mistakes and see if you can fix them," Jiraiya advised.
"How can I fix a mistake which turn a boy into monster?" I questioned, wondering if the Toad Sage would be able to help me.
"Apologise and explain," Jiraiya answered after a short pause. I looked down finally slumping in defeat as the weight of everything came crashing down on me.
"Everyone makes mistakes, it's part of being alive, if you don't make mistakes you're not really living," Jiraiya spoke up, drawing my attention. I looked at him before nodding and standing up.
"Thank you Toad Sage," I spoke, before bowing and then turning and leaving, hoping to find a way to fix my mistakes my own way without my death.