DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT AND NOR WILL I EVER OWN ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH NARUTO JUST MAKING FOR ENTERTAINMENT. I ONLY OWN THE CHARACTERS I CREATE AGAIN, FOR MY/THE READERS ENTERTAINMENT ONLY! THANK YOU!

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Stage 7: If it Means A lot to You

Here I was. Ready to go fight. Ready to go kill at all costs. The thing that kept me going was Haku. All night I tried to hammer into my head that they were all nothing to me. Haku was everything. I needed to succeed today for Haku. To ensure his survival. This however kept me up all night long. Haku came into my room this morning and gave me a new set of clothes and even a mask. He knew that I was hurting because of this. He said that the mask and new clothes would hide my identity. Hopefully he was right. The days before we had prepared. We had to make sure we had everything to ensure our victory. So now, 4 days later, I was prepared and ready.

We hid from sight as we arrived at the bridge. We all looked but we saw no sign of the bridge builder at all. "Looks like we need to wait just a little bit longer," Haku concluded. I nodded but Zabuza seemed displeased.

"I came here to kill!" He yelled in a tone to where he wouldn't be noticed by the other bridge workers. "I'm going to kill now!" With that Zabuza disappeared and a moment later, we began hearing the sounds of men, yelling, screaming, moaning with pain. We hurried out to the bridge. Haku tried to help but Zabuza commanded Haku to stay out of it. This was going to be all for Zabuza.

We obeyed. I watched as he slaughtered man after man. To my surprise I didn't feel anything. Nothing. I wasn't even phased by the sight before me. I couldn't tell if that was a good sign or bad sign. After Zabuza had killed the last man, he sat down and began wiping the blood off his sword. Haku and I sat across from Zabuza. Haku chatted with me for a little bit. Haku shot up in the middle of our conversation.

"They're here," He said aloud. I put my mask on. Zabuza laughed his menacing laugh as we all jumped out of sight.

I listened. '1...2...3...4. Only 4?' I wondered to myself.

"What?! My men!" I heard Tazuna exclaim. "What happened here?!" A heavy fog began emerging, covering the whole bridge with a fog so heavy, not even the great Kakashi could see through it well.

"Sasuke! Sakura!" Kakashi yelled.

"Right!" They both exclaimed knowing what him wanted them to do. Sasuke took Tazuna's left side and Sakura took his right. Kakashi stood in front of Tazuna.

"I knew he was still alive," Kakashi said aloud. "He just couldn't wait for round two." Haku signaled for me to wait.

Zabuza laughed. "So Kakashi, you still have those brats with you." Just then, 6 water clones surrounded Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna. The water clone looked up at Sasuke. "This one is still trembling," Zabuza noticed. "Pathetic.."

Sasuke smirked. This surprised Zabuza. "I'm trembling with, excitement."

"Go on Sasuke." Kakashi told Sasuke with a smile. And just like that, in the blink of an eye all the water clones were all destroyed. Haku moved next to Zabuza. I followed Haku, knowing it was going to be time soon.

"Ooh, you knew they were all water clones," The fog began to lift a little around us. "Looks like you have a rival, Haku." The fog around us was almost completely gone, revealing ourselves to them. I felt slightly relieved that I didn't see Donna with them.

'If she knows what's best for her, she won't even show,' I told myself.

"So it seems." Then before I knew it, Haku was fighting Sasuke. Zabuza was keeping Kakashi from helping Sasuke. I stood there and watched, waiting for a command from Haku. Suddenly, Haku began using his 1000 needles of death. I watched as the icicles raced towards Sasuke. Somehow he dodged it. I was guessing it was because he used his chakara and channeled it to his feet, enabling him to jump out of the way. The fog began to thicken and Zabuza signaled me to follow Haku so I did. Soon I faintly could see Zabuza. I stood and watched as Sasuke was beating Haku. Haku began to get serious.

He made hand signs and I knew what was coming. "Crystal Ice Mirrors!" Haku exclaimed. He stepped into the mirror and began attacking Sasuke. I could hear his screams of pain coming from inside the mirrors. This didn't phase me still. I knew that Sasuke was done for. No one, not even Zabuza or myself knew how to break or even get out of that prison. It was impossible. I could hear that Zabuza and Kakashi were beginning their fight. I was hoping this would all be over soon so that I could leave without killing anyone. Sasuke's screams became louder and louder. Still I felt nothing.

Just then, something unexpected happened. Naruto and Elfi appeared across from me. Haku came out of the mirrors and began to fight Naruto and Elfi.

I froze. 'Why the hell did she show up?! That idiot!' I thought to myself. I knew what I had to do now. I ran full speed at Elfi and took a swing at her.

"Elfi!" Naruto yelled, taking a swing at me. I grabbed his fist and threw him full force at the mirror. I turned back to face Elfi. Before I could react, Elfi had two fans in her hands. She jumped up in the air and sliced my mask. I felt a sudden heat wave and then my mask fell from my face in two. Naruto stood back up and stared at me, eyes full of hatred, just like Sasukes'. "You!" He exclaimed, pointing at me. I ignored him. My eyes were fixed on Elfi. Her eyes were burning. Burning more than I saw them burning before. She was fired up. Haku began attacking Sasuke again. Naruto knew Elfi could take me on so he went into the mirrors in order to help Sasuke. I looked at Elfi and listened to Sasuke's and now Naruto's screams of pain. Still I was unfazed. I drew out my guns. I had already loaded them. I aimed them at Elfi. She held her fans up, ready to fight.

"I'm going to kill you now," I told her.

"Bring it on!" And just like that it began. I shot numerous rounds of bullets at her but she was easily dodged all of my attacks. As she drew closer, I drew back. I didn't want this to get too...messy.

"Phoenix claw jutsu!" Elfi exclaimed as I watched her perform her jutsu. He fans turned into two giant pairs of fire.

I smirked. "Fire is a major disadvantage against water," I told her. She didn't seem to care. She charged at me, full speed. I sighed. My hands began moving more swiftly than a fast flowing river.

"Water Dragon jutsu!" Out from the water, a dragon of water sprang and raced towards Elfi. Elfi and the dragon clashed. The outcome was obvious. Elfi had gotten swallowed up by the dragon. The dragon raced back to the water, with Elfi inside it. It landed in the water. I turned away as I heard the dragon hit the water. I knew Elfi was gone. I walked away from the water, proud to know that I could kill her.

Just then, the water that Elfi had landed in began to become violent. It shook and stirred with furry. I turned back to see a giant creature growing from out of the water. It looked like a giant fox. Elfi was standing on its head.

'She knows the summoning jutsu!?'I asked myself. I became pissed, knowing this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. Elfi signaled for the fox to attack me. Its paw rose from the water and came racing towards me. I jumped out of the way. The fox destroyed huge chunk of the bridge. I began making hand sighs.

"Water vortex!" Water sprang from the river once more. It raced towards Elfi. The fox simply swatted the water from Elfi as if it was merely a splash of water. I began to panic.

Suddenly, I was knocked onto my face. Before I knew what was going on, I was spun around, laying on my back. One of my guns flew from my hand in the process. A fan was held to my neck as I held the other gun to Elfi's head, my finger tightly on the trigger. Her eyes were burning. The fox burst into flames, along with the clone that was on its head. Our eyes were locked with each others, waiting for someone to make the first move. Out of nowhere, Elfi began to cry. Her tears fell on my face and I watched as her face became twisted with pain. Tears ran off her face just like a waterfall.

"I can't do it," She said, breaking the silence. I looked at her shocked. She lifted the fan from my neck and threw it away. "I can't do it. You're my best friend. I don't want to watch you leave again..."

"Elfi..."

"Shoot me if you'd like, I don't care. I will not be forced to watch you die again." She told me through her sobs. "I can't watch that again. If it truly makes you happy, then kill me now!"
Something triggered in my head. I began to remember clearly now what had happened. The last thing that happened before I came to here.

- - -

"Man what is up with you?!" Sasukee Neko exploded. All eyes, even mine somehow were on Sasukee. I was a little bit in shock. I knew that Sasukee had some anger issues but she seemed really upset and angry. "Why are you acting like this?!" She demanded to know. began. "Like you just wanna be, or you even are a ghost when you're not!"

"Like what?" I asked apathetically. "You. . . You used to be so happy," Aigo Ookami began tearing up a little. "There was hardly a time anyone, even yourself. You would never shut up!" added.

"Like you don't even wanna be around us!" Gaidoku Arikui

'Are they all gonna gang up on me now?' I wondered. Fear began to overwhelm me.

"And now you're acting like you don't care what happens to anyone, even yourself anymore." Hekia Shishi added "That's not who you used to be." Hekia uttered. I just stood there not knowing what to say, wondering who would be next to say something to me. commented. "And I know that you aren't that type of person," Elfi said, cutting Gaidoku off.

"You and I. We used to talk so much! Everyday you'd talk to me and Sasukee but now. ." I looked at Elfi's face. It was becoming twisted in pain. At that moment I felt something twist and turn within me.

"Now it's like we're strangers." Fukachi Tora

"What happened to change you like this? I may not know you as well as everyone else but this is certainly not you," Gojoteki Usagi said, tearing up as well.

"So. ." I began. "It was me who did change all along." My words hit me like a ton of bricks. I could see everyone wanted me to say more but there was nothing more that I could think of to say.

"Refi it's time for you to let go," Gaidoku began once more. I turned and looked at too looked as if he was in pain as well. He had all of our attention. "Something knocked you down and you've just stayed down."

"You may say you only never give up when it comes to training but I've seen you over the years and it's not just training. You gave 100% in anything and everything you did." Hekia began.

"We all know that you refuse to give up, and you used to get right back up, no matter how hard you got knocked down!" Aigo yelled.

"And now you're just giving up on everything in your life, like you have no will to go on anymore!" Sasukee added.

"You're not alone either you don't have to do everything on your own we will help you through anything we stick together and we'll never give up on you, even if you are how you are now." Gojoteki promised.

"But enough is enough. No more of this." Fukachi commanded.

"It's time for you to get back up. If you need help we'll give you all the help you can possibly get. But Refi." Gaidoku began. I didn't know what to do. My mind was trying to register everything.

"IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GET UP AND STAND!" Elfi exploded. Everyone, even I looked at her. We could clearly see that she was hurting.

"Elfi. . ." Elfi said, shock consuming her. Elfi had never exploded like this ever before that Sasukee could remember. She knew that Elfi was really hurt. Shock appeared on everyone's faces. Curiosity consumed me.

'What's so shocking?' I asked myself, not able to find my voice to speak. I panicked.'My voice!' Suddenly I felt something drip off my face. I touched where I felt something drip. It was drenched with something. I looked at my hand. It wasn't blood so what was it? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was crying. Shock and disbelief took over my body. I looked around at everyone's faces. Most of them were crying too. Suddenly I was able to feel again. And what I felt was one of the worst things I've ever felt. I knelt down to the ground, trying to catch my breath, trying to make this unbearable pain leave my body.

Suddenly I felt the presence of everyone close to me. They had surrounded me. Most of them knelt down with me, hugging me while some others placed a hand on my back, trying to comfort me. I was shaking uncontrollably and I could no longer hear my sobs. I couldn't hear anything. My body became nub and for the first time, nothing was on my mind. It was all just blank. I looked up at the person in front of me, shaking me. It was Aigo. He was trying to say something to me but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I managed to be able to read his lips the best I could.

"We're here for you Refi and we always will be." Tears just kept flying down my face faster than they have ever gone. I couldn't make them stop. I felt very dizzy and light headed.

"I need air," I felt myself say. It was like I didn't say that, but my body as a reflex. Everyone backed off. I tried to get air but it was slowly slipping from my body. Something came up and out of my mouth. It tasted horrible. I stared at the ground.

'Wait that's not vomit. . . it's blood.'

"Refi!" That was the last thing I managed to hear before I completely blacked out. My body felt cold and nub. My lips even started to turn purple. My heart became too overwhelmed with all the pain within me and I fell into a state of unconsciousness.

- - -

I threw my gun away as Elfi did with her fan and I began to cry. I cried harder than I cried in that one incident. I reached up and hugged her. She hugged me back as we cried on each others' shoulders.

"I'm so sorry," I managed to say through my sobs. Elfi continued to cry. "I promise you that I will never, ever put you through something like that ever again!"

"You just don't know how much you mean to me!" Elfi yelled at me, banging her fist on my other shoulder.

"Yes.." I replied back. "Yes I do! I finally remembered what happened that night! And now I remember, how much you really do mean to me! You are my best friend!!!!"

And that was when I truly knew how much a person could mean to me. We sat there and cried for a while longer, knowing that we would not be forced to fight one another like we had ever again. I swore on my life at that moment that I will never hurt Elfi like I have hurt her now.