1zara-uchiha1 and I don't own the Naruto cast or anything else you might recognize. 1zara-uchiha1 owns Laura and I own Kahlan. Together we own the plot.

Chapter 93

Note: When ninjas decide to start a war in your country, you can bet the military will get involved.

~Kahlan's POV

We reach the open gates of the graveyard. The steel gates reach about ten feet high ending in spikes. Beyond the gates are rows upon rows of gravestone of different types. The area is peaceful and untouched from the war…for now.

Itachi continues walking forward and the three of us follow. My hand finds Laura's since I know how she feels about being here. As long as this doesn't become our base I think she'll be just fine. But we would have to leave soon because the sun is setting.

About a quarter of the way in we come to a stop at an old oak tree. Its branches twisted looking like hands and fingers ready to reach out and grab someone. During the day it's an okay-ish looking tree, but at night it is scary as hell. I know because I came here at night once on Halloween back in high school with a group of friends. It was a game to see who was bravest to make it into the cemetery, how far in they could go and who could stay inside the longest. But that was another time and doesn't matter.

Standing under the tree is Leader, Konan, Sasori, Deidara and Sasuke. The four of us stop walking and silence just reigns between us all. Laura goes over and hugs Konan burying her face into her shoulder. Konan gives a small sad smile as she wraps her arms around Laura and rubs her back reassuringly.

"I'll be right back," I say after a moment.

"Where are you going," Leader asks.

"Over there," I reply pointing to one of the large gravestones. It is a kneeling angel smiling towards the sky, hands clasp in prayer. It's about three yards away.

"Why?"

With a shrug I reply, "It's something I need to do. You'll still have me in your sights so there is nothing to worry about."

Leader nods then replies, "You have until the others show up."

I nod then turn around and walk off heading for the angle gravestone. When reaching it I just stare at it for a moment. Slowly, I bend down and pull out the weeds and wipe away the leaves. My breath gets caught in my throat reading the head stone. It says, 'In loving memory Joseph Elijah Ward 1909-2007. The song has ended, but the melody lingers on.'

"Hey grandpa," I say standing up. Closing my eyes I feel the wind blow by slightly lifting my hair in a playful manner, something so wrong on a day like this. With a very small smile I reopen my eyes. "I really hope you can hear me…."

I fall silent, my words getting stuck in my throat. Tears threaten to burn my sight, but they never come. I wrap my arms around myself as if maybe that might help the possibility of keeping myself from falling apart.

"There has been a lot of crazy stuff happening these past few months," I say with an un-amused laugh. "You probably know all that though. Can you actually believe I'm taking part of a war…Laura is as well. This war…we're not cut out for it but…there's nothing we can do to stop it. They say war changes people…I'm hoping and wishing it doesn't change us too much definitely not Laura."

Sighing I run my hand through my hair. My throat feels tight, my eyes burn and my heart hurts, but no tears ever come. I swallow the lump in my throat and look up to the darkening sky.

"I apologize for everything that has happen today and the days to follow," I croak out, my voice sounding thick. I look back down at my grandfather's name.

"I'm sure he understands," Laura says from behind.

I don't turn around but my lips move in a very small smile as I nod. "Always quick to forgive and never judge," I say softly.

"He was awesome," Laura says standing next to me.

"Best grandfather in the whole world," I reply my smile getting bigger.

"Are you sure you two aren't raising his dead ego," Kisame says from behind.

"Leave them be," says the voice of Konan. I turn to see our team behind us along with Konan.

Smiling I reply, "You would have liked him if you knew him."

"I don't think Hidan would have liked him," Laura says with a thoughtful look.

Chuckling I say, "You're probably right, but it wouldn't have bothered him at all."

"How did he die," Sasuke asks.

"Cancer killed him, but he died peacefully in his sleep with a smile, his bible gripped in his hands."

"Ah so he was a religious freak," Kisame remarks.

"Unlike Hidan he did not constantly praise God nor try to shove his religion down anyone's throat," I reply looking back to the gravestone.

"He was practically a saint," Laura says with a smile. "He never judged anyone who believed differently than him and he was kind and many other awesome things."

"So why are you guys over here," I ask turning away from the gravestone. I've done what I needed to do.

"To see if you were okay," Laura replies with a small slightly worried smile. Konan nods her head in agreement with Laura's statement.

"I just wanted to know who the dead person you were talking to was," Kisame says with his shark grin.

I nod then turn to the Uchiha brothers. Sasuke only gives a Hn and Itachi says nothing. I shrug not bothered by their…lack of reply. Instead I place my hands behind my back and look over to where Leader is having a conversation with Sasori.

"We should head back," I say turning to look back at all of them. "It looks like everyone else has finally made it."

Laura places her hand in mine then with her other free hand grabs a hold of Konan's hand. The six of us head back to the oak tree. We only wait for a couple of moments then Kakuzu, Hidan, Tobi and Zetsu are at the tree as well.

"Did anyone else see a fucking huge black fucking machine thing in the fucking sky," Hidan asks yelling.

"Tobi saw the giant bird," Tobi replies waving his arms in the air. "It wasn't pretty like Deidara-sempai's bird but it was really loud. It hurt Tobi's ears."

"It wasn't a bird you baka," Zetsu says.

"What the fuck was it," Hidan asks.

"A helicopter," I reply.

"What the fuck was it fucking doing," Hidan asks with a glare and I only shrug in reply. How should I know; I thought it would attack but it didn't.

"I believe it was gathering information from the sky," replies Zetsu. That makes sense.

Leader looks over to us. "What do you two know of this?"

"I know nothing," Laura replies honestly.

"That the police force here had called the National Guard…at least they might have," I reply a bit unsure.

"What can you tell us about them," Leader asks.

"Not much," I reply running my hands through my hair. Damn, I've picked that habit back up. "I'm not in it, but they'll be bringing the heavy artillery. Depending on how long this last depends on what types of weapons will be brought in. There could be tanks, missiles, aerial shooting, bombs; gas could be involved so having some sort of gasmask might be helpful just in case. Other than that I really don't know much about them."

"If what you're saying is correct than your people will be participating in this war as well. We just won't have to worry about Konoha and their allies." Leader falls silent for a moment looking lost in thought. "Everyone outside of our group is a potential enemy. We will show no mercy to anyone. Do I make myself clear?"

"Hai," says every member of the Akatsuki. Laura and I can only nod in reply.

"Good," Leader replies handing each one of us a map. "Those coordination are where you will be for the night. For now we will all send out one clone to test the remaining of their ranks and then rest for the night. Before dawn Deidara you are to set bomb around town. As the sun starts rising have them go off. If by any chance you are able to run into the National Guard take care of many as you can."

"Hai, un."

"Everyone else," Leader says turning to face all of us. "Once the bombs go off you are to go in and attack."

Again there is a chorus of Hai. Laura and I only nod our heads in reply. Leader then dismisses everyone after letting us know to meet back up by the tree the same time tomorrow. Itachi is the one with the map so we turn to him. His eyes move over it for a moment before closing it up and start walking. The four of us follow; the only sound between us is the roaring of the ocean in the distance and crickets singing their songs.

We walk north, reaching near the outskirts of the town. The trees are closer together, rooted in place until mankind decides to destroy them. All of the buildings are behind us, and I'm sure that the ocean is but a five minute walk from here.

"This is where we'll stay," Itachi says.

"So who's going to get firewood," Kisame asks.

"For what," Laura asks in return.

"To eat my student," Kisame replies with a grin.

"We've already started a war," I state. "Why not just go back and steal some food? It won't be that far of a walk."

"She's got a point," Sasuke says.

"Who will go back into town to get the food," Laura asks.

"We will," Kisame replies with a grin putting his arm around Laura's shoulder. "We'll leave it up to these three to set up camp."

"I'm not setting anything up for you," Sasuke replies.

"Be careful," I say to Laura giving her a quick hug.

"I will," she replies giving a smile.

"Let's go my student," Kisame says then walks off back into town taking Laura with him.

I turn back to the two brothers. Sasuke walks off into the trees leaving me alone with Itachi. I bite on my cheek as the weird flips start back up again. I thought they were gone by now, why must they be back.

"So…." I say and trail off. Once again run my hand through my hair for what seems like the millionth time that day.

Itachi doesn't reply. Instead he takes out this scroll. He does some hand signs and then places his hand onto the scroll. There's a poof, smoke appears and then floats away from the breeze. On top of the scroll seems to be a few tents and sleeping bags. Well…someone came prepared.

Silently, we both work on setting up the tents. I've only set up a tent once and…well let's say it ended in a horrible disaster. So, you can guess my second attempt at trying was not turning out so well. It was getting me so frustrated that I felt like cursing it. Then I got the urge to beat it against a tree as if that would help beating it into submission.

"You're getting it tangled up," Itachi says causing me to look over to see him setting up the second tent.

"Thanks oh so much for the statement," I slightly snarl. Turning towards the tent I push it away from me. Forget the damn tent.

Before I know it the tent is being placed in my hands. I look up at Itachi confused ignoring the way my body is reacting. He sits beside me only causing more flips to happen in my stomach and that makes me want to move away from him. Earlier I was able to ignore because of the war, but with no battles going on around us it's getting hard to ignore.

"Like this," Itachi says then starts showing me how to set up the tent. Once he completely set it up, he dissembles it then places it back into my hands. "Try again."

"Yeah, yeah," I mumble and once again try to assemble the tent. Still I fail miserably at it. Hey, it is not my fault; I was never given the tent making skill.

Itachi reaches over, placing each hand next to mine. My breath stops as I watch him carefully. He flips one of the poles over then inserts it correctly into the other one. When he lets go and moves away, I release my breath then mentally glare at him in my head. How dare he do…whatever it is he's freaking doing. Stupid body needs to stop acting so weird and get itself under control.

"Thanks," I reply a moment later.

He only nods in reply and I once again try assembling the tent. He stands and walks off after a few moments. With him not so near I feel myself relax, not realizing I was tense.

It takes me forever, or at least a good half hour to assemble the tent. Before that time Sasuke showed back up. By the time I do finish Kisame is returning with Laura, both of them holding bags in their arms.

"Welcome back," I greet with a smile going over to take some of the bags from Laura.

"Thank you," she replies with a smile.

"Okay so I have energy bars, muffins, chips, beef jerky and some canned goods," Kisame says.

"I got water and juice," Laura says pointing to the bags that I set down.

"I've set up traps," Sasuke says reaching into one of the bags Kisame placed down and pulls out an energy bar.

"So we're just going to eat and then do what," I ask sitting down beside Laura.

"I will be taking first watch," Itachi says as Kisame starts passing the food around. "Kisame will get second watch at one and then Sasuke will be getting it at three. At five we will discuss plans and what course of action to take."

"Sounds legit," I reply as I remove the water bottle cap. \

Laura chuckles and I give a small smile then chug down some of the water. After a few minutes, I replace the cap. The day's events, emotional drainage finally catches up with me and I start yawning. Laura starts yawning with me making me yawn more.

"You better get some rest my student," Kisame says to Laura. "You're going to need it for tomorrow."

"O….," Laura starts to say but ends up yawning.

Itachi hands over one of the sleeping bags to Laura. "You and Kahlan will be sharing that tent," he says pointing to the tent I assembled.

"Okay," Laura replies again standing up. "Goodnight Kisame-sensei, Itachi and Sasuke."

Laura waves and then heads into the tent. I yawn once again. Itachi hands me one of the other sleeping bags and I nod in thanks unable to vocalize it because of another yawn. I stand up and walk over to the tent then stop right outside it.

"Goodnight," I say then go inside.

Laura has already set up her sleeping bag and is snuggling inside it. I go and set mine next to hers. I remove my backpack and weapons then place them into a pile. Crawling into the sleeping bag I close my eyes and force myself to sleep.

My eyes snap open as I sit up. My breathing is coming in hollow sound gasps as my hands try to claw at my throat to find some way to get air in. Sweat adorns my body and slides down making my clothes stick to me. Fiery liquid burns my eyes and leaves a burning trail on my cheeks. Screams, explosions and lots of gun firing fill my ears.

I hear Laura coughing beside me and turn to her. There some sort of smoke filling the tent…no gas. Quickly, I grab my backpack and pull out one of the first aid kits. Grabbing the package of bandages I rip it open then start tearing the bandage into strips.

"Here," I say placing a few of the torn bandages over Laura's nose and mouth. "Hold it there and try to breath as little as possible," I cough out.

She whimpers, tears falling from her eyes and says, "My eyes hurt."

"We'll get out of this don't worry," I reply as I take a deep painful breath.

I help Laura up then shove the first aid kit back into the pack. Placing it over my shoulder I pick up my sais and hidden blades put them on then rush out of the tent with Laura running right into Kisame. He grabs both of our wrists and then starts dragging us out of the area. I hand over some of the bandages to him but he shakes his head.

I place of the bandages over my mouth and nose then and take in a deep breath; I cough a little take another deep breath and then hold it. More fiery liquid streams down my cheeks. My eyes burn painfully, and my vision keeps going in and out.

We finally get out of the gas but Kisame keeps dragging us. Laura starts coughing while taking in large gulps of air. I do the same as well but look around for the rest of our team. For some unfathomable reason worry starts to settle in.

"Stay put," Kisame says after getting us a far distance from the gas filled area.

We only nod and then he pops, informing us he was just a water clone. Laura continues to cough and I have to blink my eyes as I continue to lose my vision. Explosions are still going off in the distance. When my vision isn't failing me I notice the sky glowing red from large flames scattered about the town.

"We need to go now," I hear Itachi say.

"Come on my student," Kisame says.

"What's going on," Laura coughs out.

"It seems your National Guard decided to strike," Itachi informs.

"We left behind some clones," Sasuke finally speaks up.

Sighing, I blindly try pulling myself up. "Shit…."

"What's wrong Kahlan," Laura asks, as another explosion goes off.

"Nothing to worry about," I reply after a moment. "Can you help me up please?"

"Sure," she replies. I feel her hand in mine then her pulling me up just as my vision comes back, hopefully not to be followed by anymore blindness.

"What now," I ask.

"We find the others," Itachi replies.

The hairs on the back of my neck rise. Coldness starts spreading around my body. My heartbeat increase as the sound of a click echoes in my ear, a familiar click, the clicking of a gun. I pull Laura down to the ground just as the sound of the gun echoes in the air. Someone swears and I hear the sound of the gun being reloaded.

"Sasuke take the girls," Itachi orders as he lifts me off the ground and Kisame lifts Laura off the ground. "Kisame and I will stay behind. We'll catch up with you soon."

Sasuke nods and without thinking I quickly hold tightly onto Itachi's sleeve. He glances down at me and all I can do is glare at him unsure of why I stopped him from moving away from me. Shaking my head I just let him go as Sasuke starts moving.

"If you come across anyone show them no mercy my student," Kisame says.

Turning away I mumble, "Be careful." With Sasuke in the lead, Laura and I follow after him.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The contest is being extended until chapter 100; this will be the only extension. Anyways, I know Kahlan mentions her grandfather a lot throughout the story but that's because she was close to him as well as looked up to him. He was her role model and the one person whose opinion mattered to her. So, I don't think I need to explain the reason why she went to his grave, but if I do then just ask.

We both hope that you have enjoyed this chapter and are enjoying the story. Thank you to everyone who has been reading, adding this to their favorites and/or alerts and for reviewing, it means a lot to us. Please stay tuned for the next update and once again thank you. Reviews are much appreciated and loved; until next time. ^.^