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 109

Note: There is no pause in life, no time-outs in war.

~Kahlan's POV

Sitting at the dining room table, I stare off into space while mindlessly stirring the spoon in my tea. Leader and Kakuzu are now on the list of the dead. I don't know about Konoha, but I'm sure almost all of them are dead too. How much longer does this have to last? Must they really keep this up until everyone on both sides is dead? I…I don't want anyone else to die. Then there's Laura, I'm sure she feels something for Deidara whatever it is, and if Deidara was to ever depart from this world I don't know how well she would be able to handle it.

A tear slides down my face and I quickly wipe it away. I'm becoming so afraid that we'll both lose everyone we care about on both sides. I…I just want this to stop. This…being in the middle sucks.

Sighing, I look down at the cold tea. Knowing I need fluids in me because of giving away my blood I chug down the tea when really I don't want it. Finishing it I go to the kitchen and place the cup into the sink and stare at the door leading to the backyard.

I shouldn't do any type of work, but I usually feel fine after giving blood. Well for the first few minutes I'm a bit dizzy, but once that passes I always feel fine. It's settled then, I shall tear up the yard now.

Grabbing a box of pocky and a few bottles of water I head outside. Once out in the yard I place the pocky and water down then I go to the shed, put on some garden gloves, grab the shovel, spray paint then back out into the sun I go. Placing the paint down, I get to work on digging up the yard to look for the money my grandfather left behind. One it gives me something to do, two keeps me from thinking about everything but the task at hand, and three…well I'm still thinking of a reason.

For the rest of the day I'm digging up holes searching for the money. When I find it, I place it back then spray paint an X so later I can get the money for when the war is over. When dinner time rolls around I just drop it all and go to make dinner.

As I'm making dinner I realize that there are not a lot of mouths to feed. There won't be much bickering at the table, or joking and laughter. It really hits home the fact of how small our…family has gotten, and I just know this isn't the end of losing the people we care about no matter how much I wish it was.

"Dammit," I mumble as I wipe away the tears before they fall into the soup.

"Are you okay," I hear Itachi ask.

"I'm fine," I reply stirring the soup. "I'm just thinking about…stuff. Dinner will be done in a couple of minutes."

He says nothing and I don't say anything else. Then a moment later I feel his hand on my shoulder and I stop stirring the soup. Slowly, I look up at him only to see him all blurry. I feel his hand wipe away the tears.

"I'm going to be fine," I say with a sniffle, pulling away to turn back to the food.

Itachi says nothing, but starts pulling other stuff out of the cabinets. I look at him a bit confused but continue with the soup. It takes me a moment to realize that he's helping and adding more to eat with dinner. Turning away I slightly scowl at the soup just so I can keep myself from smiling.

"What are you making," I ask as I turn the burner off and remove the pot of chicken noodle soup.

"Tuna sandwiches," he replies.

I nod in reply and help drain the tuna cans. When finished with the cans I let him finish with the dish while I get the bowls and spoons out. Placing soup into the bowls, I go and set the table. I wait for Itachi to bring out the sandwiches before informing everyone that dinner is done.

Konan and Sasuke are the only ones that go to the dining room. With Itachi's help I bring dinner to Laura and Deidara since Deidara is not allowed to leave the room unless it is to use the bathroom, and well Laura wasn't leaving his side.

Dinner was quiet and the nights following for the rest of the week were quiet as well. Konan and Deidara spent the week recovering from their battle. Sasori along with the Uchiha brothers were busy doing some medical stuff that they won't let anyone in on. Laura spent a majority of her time with Deidara. As for me…I was treasure hunting.

As of now, we are all outside. The sun is hidden behind dark storm clouds. There's a slight chill to the air, but not so bad you have to wear a sweater or long sleeve shirt.

"Laura," Konan says as she looks back and forth between Laura and I. "Kahlan, you two will be staying here."

"By ourselves," Laura asks with a frown.

"Hai," Konan replies.

"Where are you all going," I ask looking from her to the remaining members fearing the answer.

"To battle the rest of Konoha," replies Sasori.

"No," Laura says as she goes and wraps her arms around Deidara and Konan. "Don't leave."

"I'll come back, yeah," Deidara says as he wraps an arm around her.

"We must go," Konan says with a small frown.

"We'll come with," I say.

"No, un," Deidara says slightly narrowing his eyes.

"The two of you must stay here," Konan says. "The battlefield is not meant for the two of you."

"Stay please," Laura says as she looks up with puppy eyes.

"I can't, but I will come back, yeah."

"You promise," she asks as her eyes start watering up.

With a grin Deidara replies, "I promise, yeah."

Laura and Deidara hug and I look away feeling as if I shouldn't be watching. Sasuke shakes his head and looks away. Sasori gives them a minute of hugging then pulls Deidara away. I give Sasori a small glare for doing that but say nothing.

Laura gives them all a hug while I just stay back. There's something in the air like a warning. No, not a warning…more like it is trying to foretell something that is going to happen soon. Whatever it is, it has a hold of my heart as I fear the outcome.

"Wait," I call out as they start to walk off.

"We must leave now," Sasori says.

My feet take one step then another and then the next thing I know I'm running towards the group. It feels like a goodbye which makes my eyes burn with unshed tears. Konan is the first one I hug tightly. My throat seems to close up as she returns the hug.

After a moment, I go to Deidara. There was no way I was going to give him a hug, I don't care for him that much. So instead I give a very small smile and punch him in the arm. He glares but then smirks and punches my arm back.

"I promise I'll be kicking your ass if you hurt Laura," I say sternly.

"I'm not going to do anything, yeah."

Rolling my eyes I go over to Sasori. He just gives me this bored look and I just stand there. With a sigh I give him a small nod and he returns it. With a small smile I give him a one arm hug with a few inches in between us. He sighs but returns the hug.

After Sasori I go over to Itachi. Crossing my arms I just glare at him for the moment, a pathetic glare. I look down at the ground to blink back tears then look back at him. Removing my arms from my chest, I wrap them around him. For a moment he stands there but then returns the hug and that really makes it feel like this is goodbye and a few tears escape.

I wipe away the tears and pull away. "You may be a confusing individual," I say, my voice slightly cracking. "But you're not that bad of a person."

For a single second the corner of his lips move up but then go back in place. Turning away from him I look at Sasuke. He has a slightly annoyed look on his face with his arms crossed. With a grin I ruffle his hair and he glares at me which makes me chuckle.

"Learn to smile a little bit," I say.

"Hn," he replies swatting my hand away.

"Right back at you," I reply as I go and stand beside Laura. "You all be careful."

Deidara makes a clay bird and jumps on it along with Sasori. Konan and the Uchiha brothers take off running. Grabbing Laura's hand, I pull her into the house then shut the door.

"Go get your sword," I say.

"Why," she asks sounding confused as she wipes away tears.

"We are not staying here," I reply as we rush up the stairs.

"But we don't know where they're going to be at," Laura replies.

"We'll make clones," I reply as we reach the second floor. "The clones will look over town while we head for the beach."

"Okay," Laura replies with a nod and heads to her room.

In my room I start looking for my sais and the hidden blade. I don't find them where I left them and start searching all over the place only to come up empty handed. I walk out into the hallway and go to Laura's room to see her door open as she's looking for her sword.

"You can't find your weapon either," I ask.

"No," she replies pouting.

"Damn," I say. I gather my chakra then do the hand sign to make two clones. "Help search for our weapons."

They nod in reply and then take off. Laura does the same. With our clones looking, we also start looking around the house. It takes us about thirty minutes even with our clones to find our weapons in Leaders room along with the manga. I hand Laura her sword as I put on the hidden blades and sais.

"Okay," I say turning to the clones. "You guys split up to look over town while the two of us head to the beach." They salute the two of us and then take off running. Turning to Laura I ask, "Are you ready?"

"Yes," she replies with a nod.

Grabbing hold of her hand, we head down the stairs and out of the house. Once outside I start running in the direction I saw them all leave. We both place chakra in are feet to make us move faster staying away from the trees so not to get caught up in any traps.

There is this fear in my heart that won't leave. I keep trying to get us to run faster, but it just feels like we're going so slow and the grip fear has on my heart tightens. It doesn't help that sometimes I stop so I can reconstruct what the town look like in my mind so that I can remember which direction we have to go.

While running, the heavens above decide to open up as lightening splits across the sky. Within seconds we are soaked to the bone and we push more chakra into our feet. I stumble when I start receiving memories from one of my clones. Laura looks at me bring us to a stop.

"Tsunade has killed Sasori," I say. Laura frowns and I squeeze her hand. "Tsunade and Killer Bee are on the other side of town fighting Deidara and Konan now. I don't know where Shizune, Naruto or the Uchiha brothers are at."

"What if they are fighting somewhere else," Laura asks. "What are we going to do?"

Running my hand through my wet hair I pull us under a tree. What are we going to do? I look over in the direction of where Konan, Deidara, Tsunade and Killer Bee are at. Though I would like to also know where the others are at, I don't want us splitting apart.

Turning back to Laura, I once again run my hand through my hair. Giving a small smile I reply, "We go to Konan and Deidara."

"Okay," Laura replies with a small smile.

"We'll need a car," I say looking around the street. "It's too far to run."

"I don't like cars," Laura whines.

"Yeah and it doesn't help that I'm actually afraid to drive," I reply with a sigh. "We'll just have to run then."

Laura nods and the two of us take off running in the direction where Konan and Deidara are at. The rain continues to beat down causing me to shiver. Lightning flashes across the sky, lighting up the dark world.

"My clone found the brothers, Naruto and Shizune are at the beach," Laura says a few minutes later.

"Okay," I reply with a nod, happy to hear that they're all okay. I bring my free hand up into the hand sign to dismiss my other clone. Laura does the same.

We run without any breaks, the rain drenches our clothes weighing us down. I can't believe how large this town really is, but I never did have a good enough reason to go all over town. Argh, would it just stop raining already.

After a while of running Laura tugs on my hand. I look back at her to see her bottom lip trembling as she points forward. I look to where she's pointing to see a bright light shaped as a giant person in the area we're going.

"No," Laura yells as the light spreads and she starts running forward. "You promised!"

"Laura," I say trying to pull her back.

"No," she continues to yell as I pull her over behind a building.

I don't know what's going on but I know an explosion when I see one. Being out in the open from the type of force that will be putting out could possibly turn our insides into jelly. In addition, I have no idea how far that explosion leads to so the building will give some protection.

"He promised," Laura cries and I hug her tightly.

"I'm sorry," I say, choking the words out. "I'm so sorry."

Laura clings onto my shirt, screaming and crying. My own tears mix with the rain as all I can do is hug her. I don't know what happen but from Laura's reaction it must mean that Deidara is dead, and with the size of the explosion anyone around got taken with him. That means Konan, Tsunade and Killer Bee are gone.

"I'm so sorry," I choke out repeating-ly. I wasn't fast enough for the both of us to get there to stop what happen. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." I repeat the words over and over again crying along with Laura. Our friends…our family…almost all of them are gone.

"Come on," I say, my voice cracking a bit as I slightly pull away. "I know it hurts, but right now there's still a chance to save the others." Laura shakes her head. My voice cracks more as I reply while sniffling, "We have too."

Oh Lord, I hope we can make it in time to save the others.

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Sorry for the late update I've been busy with school, finishing up all the homework. On the plus side I am on break for a month so yeah.

Anyways, 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. ^.^