Ch. 19 The Story Revived
A review of past events: Two members of Squad Seven and the handpicked Temari, along with a handpicked Squad from Konaha, were assigned a mission to repel an enemy. Little did any of them know that one of them would not be coming home alive. Don, the ninja who had affected both villages he lived in, sacrificed himself in order to save his friends. A year had past and it seemed all life in both villages that had cared for Don had died. In recent events, Suna was attacked and then an unfamiliar stranger saved the lives of everyone in the village. With the stranger's hood taken off, it was revealed that Don had returned from the dead. Those who were close to Don in Suna gathered around in joy to see a miraculous return of their formerly dead comrade. Now our story will unfold from there.
Temari, all cuddled up in Don's bed, slept softly as if she were an angel asleep on a cloud. A great smelling aroma filled the room. Temari took a feint whiff of the air as she was sleeping. "Oh Don, your cooking smells so great, of course I'll eat you…" she mumbled in her sleep. Temari hugged what she thought was Don. When she felt that she was hugging herself she woke up to find she was hugging a pillow and not Don.
She stared at the pillow to see Don had drawn an anime like version of him on it and it was sticking its tongue out at her and winking. Temari turned red hot with anger. "Don!" she shouted. She got up with the pillow in her hand and stormed to the kitchen.
Don was cooking breakfast when he saw her storm in. "Good morning Temari, I was hoping you wouldn't have woken up yet, I was going to surprise you with breakfast in bed." Temari stopped, "Aww, Don that's so sweet, let me return the favor." She replied and beamed the pillow at Don, knocking him over onto the ground.
"That's for the little prank you pulled on me with that pillow." Temari said. Don got up and walked to Temari with his hands behind his back. "Oh, come on lighten up, it was just a joke besides, I would think you would be happy I was back to make you lighten up a little." Don said dumping a bag of flour on her head. Temari evilly grinned. "Ok, now you're going to get it!" She shouted and tackled him and they began to fight around the room.
They began to tear up the room, throwing stuff at each other and knocking each other against the wall. All of a sudden, Kankuro and Gaara came running out of their rooms. "What the hell is going on out here? Are you two fighting over those damned chips again?" he shouted at them. Temari and Don looked up from their pinned positions on the ground.
"It wasn't my fault, Temari started it." Don said. "My fault? You little liar." Temari said banging Don's head on the ground and the two began to fight again. "Gaara, restrain them before they destroy the rest of the house." Kankuro said angrily. Gaara lifted his hand and constrained Don and Temari in a sand coffin.
"Why the hell were you two fighting this time?" Kankuro asked, trying to keep his cool. "Well, Don tricked me, I thought I was cuddling to him, but I was cuddling to a pillow that had a stupid drawing of him on it taunting me." Temari said. "It was a joke Temari, besides, I was cooking breakfast for you that I was hoping to give you in bed, but that won't be possible because you burnt it." Don counteracted her statement. "If I wasn't in this sand coffin, I'd show you what it really means to be burnt." Temari said wiggling her head.
"Bring it on baby, I got all day." Don said winking at her. Kankuro grunted and grabbed some brooms. "Now like last time you two destroyed this room, clean it up!" he shouted. Gaara let them go and the two took the brooms and started to clean. While the two were cleaning, Temari's brother's got dressed and left the home to begin their day of work.
Temari and don stood in the middle of the room, "Whew, that was a lot of work, but it's finally done." Temari said. Then her stomach growled. Don smiled at her, "Hungry I take it." "I guess so." Temari said. "Why don't you go sit down, I'll take care of things." Don said dashed into the kitchen and began to cook again. It wasn't long before breakfast was served; the two of them sat down together for the first time in a long time and ate. "I've missed your cooking so much Don." Temari said as a small tear slid down her face.
"You've been hanging around Shikamaru for too long, you're turning into just as much of a crybaby as him." Don playfully smirked. Temari glared at him. "I'm only kidding. I know, I've seen how hard you took me not being with you. You've been in so much pain inside since I've been gone."
"You are my best friend Don, I love you so much and when you died, I was just so alone again. It reminded me of when I was little and I had no one to talk to, no one to hold me or make me feel better." She chuckled, "no one to even cook for me." Don smiled. "Well, I don't see why you should worry about that now, I'm back and I'm ready to resume life as a sand shinobi."
Temari began to cry some and don got up to comfort her at her side. He began to stroke her hair and hugged her. "Come on Temari, let's get dressed, we are going to grab my teammates and leave for Konaha to show everyone I'm back."
Temari nodded and they both went to their rooms to get dressed. Don threw on his black cloak with his hood off. "Why are you wearing that thing?" Temari asked. "I don't know, I think I might scare someone with it, just for fun." Don said. The two of them left and gathered Rain and Gazu at the village gates. "Well, do you think you can get away so easily Don?" a dark voice called out to them. The group turned around to see Gaara standing behind them.
"Oh, right, I'm sorry; I was supposed to come see you this morning." Don said face palming himself. "There is something I need to talk to you about; may I see you in private?" he asked. Don nodded and they went around a nearby building. "Listen, since you died, things between Konaha and Suna have drifted apart. I want to remind you just to be careful when you visit Konaha like I know you are doing right now. I am not entirely sure how they may take your return. You see over the past year I have gotten letters from Tsunade telling me that there were rumors that me and my people planned your death because of some oblivious reason."
"That's absurd, Suna is like my home, sure the first few weeks here weren't all that great, but that's to be expected treatment to an outsider, am I right?" Don said. Gaara nodded, "I just need you to be careful." Gaara said placing his hand on Don's shoulder and faintly smiled. "You are one of our finest ninja, even though you weren't born here, you have grown onto my people and we are so happy that you are back. You will have to tell me how you did it when you get back. Now go, I don't want t keep you leaving any longer, just try to do what you can to patch up things Don."
Don nodded and joined his friends. Everyone was aboard Gazu's chariot puppet, "What do you think Don, pretty sweet huh?" "This is amazing; you must have spent forever making this Gazu." Don replied getting on the chariot next to Temari. Gazu whipped his chariot horses and they sped off into the distance.
They were nearing the village gates when they got off the chariot and began to walk the remainder of the small amount of distance. They walked through the gates, everyone in the area looked up in confusion and fear when they saw the stranger cloaked with a black hood on. They eventually made it to Tsunade's office building. They made their way up the steps and entered her office with Don going last.
"Hello Tsunade, how are you today?" Temari greeted her happily. "I'm doing just fine. To what do I owe such a nice occasion of your presence here in my village." Tsunade asked. "Oh, you know, the usual run of checking up on my lazy ass counterpart Shikamaru, but we also wanted to introduce you to someone." Temari said. "Who?" Tsunade asked with the most curious look on her face.
Temari turned to Rain and Gazu, "You can come out now." Temari and Rain and Gazu stepped aside letting Don step forward. "Oh, great not another one." She said. "Nope, just the same old one from last time Lady Tsunade." Don said walking up to her desk and taking off his hood smiling at her.
Tsunade jumped from her chair. "How the hell did you get here? You're supposed to be dead." Don just smiled, "Well I'm not anymore, see all flesh and bone." Don said poking himself. Tsunade got up angrily and walked to Don. "I'm gona get it now…" Don thought to himself. He shut his eyes and expected Tsunade to punch him out of her office and clear across the village, though instead he felt her arms wrap around him and felt Tsunade hugging him. "Welcome back."
"It's great to be back." Don replied. Tsunade broke from Don and sat back at her desk. "I have seen many things in my lifetime and I have never seen such an amazing miracle as yours Don, how did you manage to come back to life?"
Don turned to Temari and Rain. "Temari and Rain should know, after all they are the ones who were nosy enough to go though my family's scrolls." Temari and Rain turned red form embarrassment, and then Rain's head shot up. "Don's are you talking about your developed jutsu?" Rain asked.
Don shook his head. "But the scroll said that jutsu was in testing phase and was not successful yet." Rain said. "Well, isn't it obvious that it does work now?" Don replied. "Just what are you two talking about, what jutsu?" Tsunade asked. "The Tree of Life." Rain said "It is Don's own jutsu that he created himself, it brings the user back to life." Rain started.
"However from using this jutsu I created, I did however did find out its limitations. You see, in order to use it, you have to be part of my family, and my family has a special trait that allows us to use wood element jutsu masterfully. Next, the host tree that was selected to help bring the person back to life will die because it gathered so much energy over a short amount of time it uses up all of its life energy in doing so. I'm sure if you go see, the tree I used to sleep under is dead." Don said.
"You used that tree?" Temari asked. "Well it would seem logical, seeing as not only was that his favorite tree but he was buried under it so he could just as easily perform the jutsu." Tsunade said. "Anyway, as I was saying it can only be used once so, once I die again, there's no coming back to life. It was a bit tricky to do, but with some miracle, I managed to get it right just in time. You see, when I performed the jutsu, I placed a seal on the tree, when I died, the seal would break and the jutsu would activate. Depending on how much life energy the host tree could draw will determine how long it would take for the revival of the user. Take Suna for instance, let's say there was only one tree over there, emphasis on if, then it would take a long time for the user to be brought back, however seeing as I used the Tree of Life in Konaha, it took a little over a year to bring me back seeing as there is so much to draw from."
"Ingenious." Tsunade said. "Well you guys can finish up our business here, I know where our room is, I have to make another visit." Don said as he left the office, throwing on his hood.
Don arrived infront of an all too familiar house. He threw off his cloak and placed it by the door. He knocked on the door and waited for it to be answered. A boy about a year older than him with pale eyes and brown hair answered the door. His eyes immediately widened in shock. "Hey Neji, have you been doing well?" Don asked.
"Who is it Neji?" A soft voice called from inside the house. Neji turned, "Come see for yourself Hinata." Hinata came to the door and froze. "Hinata, it's been too long, I've returned…" he started and Hinata fainted. Don and Neji went to her side and carried her along into the living room and placed her on the couch.
Hinata woke up a few minutes later to the sound of Don and Neji talking. "So it really is you?" Neji asked, sipping on his lemon aid. "Yeah, it's really me Neji, I'm sorry I gave poor Hinata there such a scare. Though I think she will be alright, I've been giving everyone quite the shock the past two days."
"Well Don, it's not every day that a dear friend comes back from the grave." Neji replied. "Yeah, I know. I just hope things will go back to normal after me coming back to life has blown over." Don said sipping on his lemon aid as well.
Hinata sat up on the couch. "Rise and shine sleepy head." Don said childishly to Hinata. "Don is that really you?" she asked faintly. Don got up and stood infront of her and nodded happily. Hinata shot up and hugged him tightly with tears running down her face. "I've missed you so much, nothing has ever bee n the same without you." Don hugged her back, "I know Hinata, I know." He replied calmly.
They broke and Don looked at Neji happily, "Looks like we are one big happy family again." Don said chuckling in happiness. "Indeed." Neji said. Hinata nodded. "I need to go check in with my squad. Why don't you two come by our place later this evening and I'll make us all supper." Don said. "That sounds great Don." Neji replied and Hinata nodded in agreement.
Don left and headed to the spot where his tree was. He stood infront of it and looked at it, the tree as dead. He walked up to it and rubbed its bark. "Thank you, thank you for everything you have done for me, you provided me shade and comfort all my life and you helped me come back to life. Now it's time I returned the favor." He said and dug a small hole in the ground and buried an acorn he had picked from the tree before it had died in the hole.
Don made a quick few hand signs and placed his hand over the hole and a small sprout popped out of the ground. "There, now you can take your time in growing up and soon you will be as big as your former self." Don looked up at the sky and saw it was going to rain. "Perfect."
Don walked around the corner and headed into the room that they always stayed in when they came to visit. "I'm home guys." Don said as he came in. However, no one was home. He went into his room and lay in his bed and watched with rain fall on his newly sprouted tree. Don smiled. He closed his eyes and decided to take a nap until it was time for Hinata and Neji to come over.