Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one, this chapter will reveal some of Ami's past. Please review to let me know your thoughts
Chapter 21: - A Reason to Live
Time passed as we continued our chase for Sasuke and the Sand ninja, Sasuke had stopped a couple of times, but he eventually started moving once again. There were also a few delays what with us having to bank around when an unknown ninja and one of the Sand began to fight and with Sakura becoming depressed after finding out she and Pakkun used the same shampoo, I had to slap her back to reality.
Eventually Sasuke stopped moving and for an extended period of time, so I could only guess that he was engaged with one of the Sand ninja. We approached the area were Sasuke was when I noticed something, a large figure looming over a tree branch, I quickly realised that there was a prone figure on the branch and it was Sasuke.
"Naruto," I called out to the blonde. He looked at me and I gestured in front and he saw, I landed on a branch as Naruto jumped towards me. I grabbed a hold of his wrist and spun around a few time before launching him forward giving Naruto more momentum.
Naruto flew on ahead whilst me, Sakura and Pakkun continued to hop over using the branches. We got close enough just in time to see Naruto landed on a branch, push off and slam his foot straight into the large figure's chin. The rest of us laded beside our teammates, I saw that Sasuke was paralysed due to his Curse Mark being activated.
I glanced around only to see Temari nestled safely a few meters away from us, I turned my attention back to the figure and what I saw terrified me. The thing that had emerged from the Sand Sphere had completely covered Gaara's left arm and it had also formed a tail that was attached to the gourd, the right side of his face had also been transformed, the white of his eye had turned black and the iris had become a dark yellow shade. Both eyes held a cruel and crazed look about them, the right half of his teeth had been turned into fangs and saliva ran from his mouth to his chin.
"What, what are you doing here?" Sasuke asked. The pain of the curse mark was evident in his voice. He then began to groan in pain.
"Sasuke hold on," Sakura called out. I glanced back only to see that Sasuke was trying to force himself up, with little success.
"Hey Sakura, Sakura, Earth to Sakura," Naruto called trying to get the pinkette attention.
"What do you want?" Sakura asked, angered that Naruto had disturbed her.
"This guy, who the heck is he?" Naruto asked. I seriously wanted to hit the blonde's head against a brick wall at that moment if only for his sheer ignorance, even though part of him was transformed there was still enough to clearly see that it was Gaara.
"His outward appearance may be different, but he's the one you know as Gaara," Pakkun told the other two. Naruto was shocked by this, I heard Pakkun say that he wasn't the fighting type but that was easy enough to figure out without him saying so beforehand.
"So it's you, the one I didn't kill that day," Gaara spoke up, drawing my attention back to him.
"Guys get up we've got to go now," Naruto called back. However Gaara took that opportunity to charge right past us and head for Sasuke. We could only watch in horror as Gaara's arm reached up to kill Sasuke, who was still unable to move, but before Gaara's strike could hit him, Sakura jumped in the way and held out a kunai in a desperate attempt to protect Sasuke.
"Move it!" Gaara yelled at her. His arm surged out and pinned her against the tree behind the one Sasuke lead on. Sakura crashed into the tree with so much force that she was rendered unconscious instantly. Gaara paused gripping his head in pain, I used that moment to jump over and grab Sasuke and then jump away with Pakkun and Naruto following me.
"Sakura!" Naruto called out to our trapped comrade. However she didn't stir from her forced slumber. "This is defiantly not good. What the heck do we do now?" Naruto asked, panic taking over him.
"First off get a grip, panicking won't us and it mostly certainly won't help them," I told the blonde. He nodded and gulped seeming to calm down, I returned my attention to Gaara who was still in pain, I wasn't sure what to do myself.
I thought about Gaara's words, they weren't just directed at Naruto and the hospital they were also directed at me and the night we first met. When both of us were barely into our tenth year.
*Naruto*
The moon's pale face glowed in the sky as I walked across the barren desert that surrounded me, the sand swirled at my feet almost as if the small grainy particles were dancing around me. I looked up and saw a large monument towering in the distance, knowing what it was I began to changing my course a little heading to a more remote part to avoid detection.
I came to an area deserted of shinobi so I began to use the tree climbing jutsu to ascend. Once at the top I jumped down and easily landed on the roof of the nearest building with barely a sound being heard.
"So he's sent another one," a cold voice stated. At first I thought it was him but the voice couldn't be, as it didn't sound like him. Turning my head, I saw a young boy probably only my age with fair skin, short, spiky, red hair and pale blue-green eyes. He had no distinctive pupils or eyebrows but he did have two very notable traits in his appearance. He had tanuki-like black eye rings, and he had the kanji for love on the left side of his forehead. His forelocks were parted from the left side, making the kanji more visible. I couldn't make out his clothing but on his back was a large gourd.
I cocked my head to the side confused by this statement, he had begun to raise his arm when my movement stopped him, he seemed confused by my actions. Deciding to move on, I jumped down from the roof before taking off down the streets of the Hidden Sand Village.
*Naruto*
I was brought back to the present once the memory ended, Gaara was still struggling in pain and no one else had moved from the positon they were in when my memories had flooded back. Gaara eventually recovered from the pain and the crazed look in his eyes had only intensified.
"What's the matter? Aren't you about to make a run for it?" Gaara taunted. I looked at Naruto wondering what we should do, we couldn't leave Sakura here but we also couldn't stay otherwise Sasuke was in danger.
"Sasuke, Naruto, Ami," A mumble echoed around the forest. I looked at Sakura to see that she was unconscious but still she was thinking of us.
"Who are these two? Who are they to the both of you?" Gaara asked. I had to wonder about that myself, they were teammates but I didn't trust them, I didn't even consider them friends… or did I. Turning it over in my head I began to think they had accepted me, even though Sasuke didn't trust me, they had accepted me with open arms and hearts, willing to listen and understand yet I had told them nothing of myself and they still trusted me
"Who are they to me? They're my friends is who they are. If you so much as lay another finger on them, Ami included, I'll pulverise you!" Naruto declared. His words only solidified my thoughts, I rose to my feet, a determine steel glinted in my eyes as I looked at Gaara.
"I'd have to second Naruto's comment. They're my friends, just like you are Gaara and no matter what I'll save all of you, even if it costs me my life," I told the opposing Jinchūriki. A look flashed in his eyes before they narrowed in insanity and anger.
His grip on Sakura tightened, causing her to scream, then Gaara began to taunt Naruto. We shared a look and nodded before we both jumped forward ready to engage Naruto in combat for our friends. Gaara swung out his tail and it slammed into Naruto sending him back, I landed on the tail but quickly pushed myself off once I began to feel myself sinking.
Naruto rose to his feet and said that he was going to save our friends however this only caused Gaara to begin howling with insane laughter, I was worried about him if this continued his mind could be lost to Shukaku… forever.
"And that's exactly why you can't win. As long as you fight for the sake of others, you'll never advance beyond this level. Only one can remain undefeated and only he will feel what it's like to truly exist. Forget your friends and fight for yourself," Gaara told us. This only served to anger Naruto even more.
"You're insane, forget my friends," Naruto responded, his fists shaking at the statement. I had to agree, for some reason with my new resolution it felt like I could feel my heart beating again something I hadn't felt for three years, it felt like I had a reason to live.
"Trivial feelings like friendship and loyalty will cloud your focus and you'll die," Gaara rambled.
"Yeah, yeah keep talking while you can, because I'm about to shut you up once and for all," Naruto declared before reaching into his pouch.
"Whatever you're planning I hope it works. We need to get him away from Sakura," I whispered to the blonde. His eyes glowed with a burning fire as he nodded his head, Naruto's determination was inspirational and it was something I now knew I could take comfort and strength from.
Naruto leapt forward a kunai in hand, I used the opportunity to hide myself so that I could launch a surprise attack. Naruto was sent back by the tail once again but I threw shuriken at Gaara from my position, he attacked with his tail, I barely managed to dodge out of the way but one of his spines ripped through my jeans, I landed beside Naruto and we both looked at Gaara only to see that once again he was in pain.
A small strand of my hair fell into my face and I couldn't help but be brought into another memory, a memory concerning the ribbon that I wore.
*Naruto*
Five months had passed since mine and Gaara's first meeting and since the day I saved him from an attempted assassination. When he asked me why, my response of 'why not?' had shocked him. After revealing I wasn't originally from the village he had explained to me what he was, but that hadn't put me off even after countless other villager told me to stay away from him otherwise I would end up dead, I still sought him out for some unknown reason.
It took a while but eventually Gaara got use to finding me wherever he was and simply ignored me most of the time but it seemed that something that wasn't understandable was growing between us. As it turned out because of my 'companionship' Gaara's killing toll had almost ceased to be, there were the odd deaths now and then but mostly they didn't happen.
One day Gaara asked me to go with him somewhere that he kept secret from me, I was confused by this but I followed him anyway. We arrived at another house of sand and went it. I immediately noticed that no one lived here there was a thick layer of dust. Gaara lead me up to the top floor and into a room that was less dusty than the other areas I had seen.
"Alright Gaara where are we?" I asked as I folded my arms. This attracted the Jinchūriki's attention and he looked around a bit before looking back at me.
"My uncle Yashamaru use to live here," Gaara told me. This attracted my attention, I had formed bonds of varying degrees with all three Kazekage children but none of them had ever mentioned an uncle.
"Why are we here?" I asked as I approached the boy. I noticed a picture frame that was placed down so that the picture faced the table that we were stood by.
"I wanted to ask you something," Gaara spoke up. I looked at him and nodded to let him know it was alright. "Yashamaru told me once that love can heal the wounds of the heart and that love is the desire to protect and serve someone precious to you. I was wondering if you had someone like that," Gaara asked. I looked down as he flashed through my mind before I shoved him out with fury at what he had done.
"I did once, but he lied to me and betrayed my trust," I told Gaara. Intrigued I reached over and lifted up the picture frame it revealed that held within the glass was the picture of a woman who had shoulder-length, sandy-brown hair which framed her kind-looking face, and indigo-coloured eyes. I had seen Temari with a picture of her once and she had told me it was Karura, their mother.
"Yashamaru was the only one who ever cared about and he betrayed me as well," Gaara admitted. I returned the picture to its' face down position and looked at the boy.
"So we've both been betrayed by someone who claimed to love us, I guess that explains why I sought you out, I understand the pain you're going through. Perhaps one day Gaara we'll both find the love we need to heal our broken hearts," I told the boy.
"I have something for you," Gaara told me as he used his sand to bring out a small piece of cloth. "It's a thank you for everything you've done for me," Gaara explained. I took the cloth and opened it up to find a pure white ribbon held within.
"You're always complaining about your hair getting in the way so I thought this could help," Gaara explained, a touch of shyness appeared in his voice. I smiled before tackling the boy with a hug surprising him but he hesitantly returned the hug.
"Thank you Gaara," I muttered. After tying my hair back we left the house and went back to our daily routine of hiding away somewhere within the village
*Naruto*
"What's the matter, why don't you attack? Don't you care what happens to your precious friends" Gaara taunted, once he had recovered from the pain. He then proceeded to tighten his grip on Sakura, causing her to wince in pain.
"Sakura! Let her go!" Naruto demanded, worry for his friend rising. He then began to form familiar hand signs, shocking me that he had learnt the Summoning Jutsu. "Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto declared as, as he slammed his hand down on to the tree we stood on. A cloud of smoke went up but when it fade all that was revealed was a small orange toad with dark blue markings wearing a jacket.
"What is it, what do you want kid? Whatever it is I hope you brought along some treats, because if you think I'm doing anything for nothing you're wrong," The toad rambled. I felt like hitting myself with a paper bomb at this exact moment, because the toad was practically useless in this situation.
"Oh give me a break, I'm really starting to hate you stinking frogs!" Naruto yelled at the toad.
"Oh anti-amphibian well take that you, big bigot," The toad responded and then proceeded to stick out its' tongue. I was really starting to question Naruto's plan or lack thereof at this point.
"Worried about the others, that's your big mistake. When I fight, I fight for me and me alone," Gaara spoke up. I looked at him only to see that his entire face had been transformed, then his right arm and torso were transformed as well, his left arm then detached from Sakura but the hand was still holding her in place. "Only by attacking and defeating me can you free her. And you should hurry with each passing second the sand will harden until it crushes her to death," Gaara revealed.
Gaara then proceeded to attack us with Sand Shuriken, Naruto grabbed the toad and jumped upwards, whilst I jumped down, before heading back up, evading the sand attack. I rushed over to Naruto who had been slammed by the shuriken, as I arrived the toad proceeded to insult Naruto before asking who Gaara was by calling him a freak.
"Don't say that, he's just broken," I snapped at the toad. Naruto looked at me confused by what I said but it seemed like he knew now was not the time to talk about. I saw the look in Naruto's eyes as he stared at Gaara's transformed form, different emotions flitted through his eyes as he looked at Gaara the most predominant was the feeling of uncertainty, the feeling that he was too weak to stop Gaara.
The sand tightened once more around Sakura and Gaara taunted Naruto again, it seemed like he had forgotten me but I knew that he hadn't. Gaara demanded for us to fight otherwise he would kill Sakura, Naruto didn't hesitate as he leapt forward summoning some Shadow Clones, however Gaara used another sand attack and it obliterated the Clones. I threw up my arms and braced myself against the attack, when I faded I saw Sand Shuriken being thrown at Naruto.
I didn't think, I just acted, rushing across the trees, I stopped in front of Naruto and sent out a burst of chakra from my chakra points, turning it into lighting which formed a shield in front of us, the sand slammed into the shield and then crumbled at my feet.
"Ami?" Naruto questioned in shock.
"I told you, no matter the cost, I'll save my friends. Because you gave me a reason to live," I repeated my vow. Naruto looked up at me and nodded, the sand slammed into the shield again and I was forced back a bit, I looked at Naruto and I saw him slowly rising to his feet, the uncertainty in his eyes was gone, instead there was a burning – no blazing – fire. We shared a look and nodded, each understanding what we had to do, the lighting dispersed and flowed back into me as we prepared to fight for our friends.