Okay! SO before I begin this next chapter, I just have a couple things to say...

HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN THE NEW SEASON OF VOLTRON!? (SKIP THIS RANT IF YOU HAVENT SEEN! CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I don't know about you guys, but that last episode in that season just royally messed me up (Emotionally that is.) Like, I was celebrating and stuff, because I was like "Yeah! They Kicked the Galra's sorry little asses!" BUT THEN!! This stupid ass robot shows up and begins beating the shit out of the Paladins. 

At this point, I am completely silent as I watch with anticipation like I'm almost shaking for gods sakes! THEN! When I start getting excited again because Atlas turned into a huge ass robot, and Voltron kicks the bad guy's metal behind, the story has a horrible plot twist that literally leaves me crying. 

THEY HAVE TO TAKE THIS STUPID ROBOT INTO SPACE OR ELSE IT WIll BLOW UP HALF THE EARTH!

So at this point, I'm crying. Like, ALL OF THEM were so accepting of their deaths that it was painful to watch. So I'm crying and my family thinks somethings wrong with me at this point. 

They do a huge memorial for those that have fallen in the war, MAKING IT SEEM LIKE THE PALADINS ARE DEAD! WHILE ALSO REMINDING ME THAT ADAM IS NOW DEAD TOO!

BUT- but Then they show them alive in the god damn hospital. My emotions did a full 180 and I swear I was as bipolar as Shizukana because then I was crying tears of joy. 

Like, tears are streaming down my face relentlessly and I look like an absolute mess. Once I finally calm down, it shows Alura and Sam doing research on the Galra robot, and they said they found its "power source" 

I'm excited yet again, and I yell "I BET IT FREAKING LOTOR! THE LITTLE SHITS ALIVE!" 

HAHAHAHAHAH NOPE! It's A FUCKING ALTEAN! 

These Alteans just keep popping up out of nowhere, and I'm losing track of where they're all coming from at this point. 

*Sighs* (Is screaming internally) Also. Klance hasn't happened yet, but I'm still hopeful. Seriously though. It's like this show just loves playing with my emotions. Now I know how you guys feel when I start killing off people left, right,  and center,  in the most horrible ways possible. Maybe I should loosen up the reins a little bit...Oh who am I kidding...I'm not going to be doing that at all. Makes things less interesting. 

ANYWAYS! now that my little rant is over. Might as well get on with the story. 

-Mizuko (August 15, 2018) 

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      The world almost seemed to tip over completely sideways, the ground rushing towards me faster then I could fully comprehend as a wave of dizziness washes over me. Strong arms wrap themselves around my waist, securing me and preventing me from hitting the ground. 

The strong urge to vomit suddenly emerges as I look over the dead body of Gaara. We had collected Sakura and Lady Chiyo soon after we dealt with Deidara. Even though the two were in worse shape then Naruto, Kakashi, and I, they were relatively okay.  It wasn't until all of us had gathered around that the reality of the situation hit me full force. 

Gaara was dead. 

"Lorelei....are you okay?" The voice of the person who spoke doesn't fully register in my mind as I continue to gaze upon the body of Gaara. Although my face was hidden by the mask, hot tears rolled down my eyes as my vision blurred dangerously. 

I'm vaguely able to make out the shape of Naruto as he stands near Gaara. 

"Calm down, Naruto." 

My body seemed to tense violently at the words. and my head moved almost mechanically in the direction of the voice. Lady Chiyo was the one who spoke such words. 

"Shut up! If you sand ninja hadn't put that monster inside of Gaara, none of this would have happened! Did you ever consider what Gaara thought?! Did you ever even ask!? You call him a Jinchuriki Host!? Who are you to decide his fate for him!?" Screams Naruto, his voice cracking with grief as he falls to the ground. 

Pushing away from whoever was holding me, I slowly move towards Naruto and fall down to the ground beside him. Turning my face towards the blonde towards me, I lift up my mask slightly and wipe away the tears that were still falling from my eyes.  

Inhaling a deep shaky breath, I ignore the tight feeling in my throat as I wrap my arms around Naruto. As I pull him into my side, I feel him clutch onto me tightly, his body shaking with sobs. 

Looking over his shoulder, I cling to him just as harshly as my eyes lock on to the red pendant on his neck. The one that still seemed to gleam with powerful Chakra. 

One that could have been used to summon me. 

One that could have saved his damned life. 

"I couldn't save Sasuke..I can't save Gaara..for three years I trained like crazy...but nothing has changed-"  I shake my head at Naruto's words, silence elapsing over the clearing that we had all settled in. 

"This wasn't your fault, Naruto. No matter how much we want to blame it on ourselves, we simply just weren't there to help...If anything blames me Naruto. He has a necklace to summon me with, and I felt that something was wrong, but I didn't trust my gut-" 

Naruto pulls away violently, and grabs me by my shoulders harshly, shaking me slightly. 

"Don't you even start! Gaara was protecting you! These-" Naruto rips out his Pendant from under his jacket, moving it close to my face. 

"-Are death traps for you, Nee-san! You could have died if he summoned you! You gave these to protect us, but at what cost, your own life?! I'll be damned if you continue to sacrifice yourself over and over again.!" 

A snarl takes over his features, and as he stares at me with a burning glare, I feel my chest constrict and throat close up dangerously.  Ignoring the glares from Sakura, Kakashi, Lady Chiyo, Gai, Lee, Tenten, and Neji, I bring up my hands and place them on either side of Naruto's face. 

"I will do anything for my Family, dear Nii-san. I will sacrifice myself over and over for them so long as I continue to see them breathe another day. Do not take that as simply giving up on life because that is far from the truth. My goal in life is to see as many as my loved ones live and do something with their lives, and I can't exactly do that if I'm dead, now can I?" 

Laughing humourlessly, I let go of Naruto and once again, turning back towards Gaara. Standing back up on my own two feet, I allow my Chakra to flare slightly. As if on cue, I feel Hikaru's chakra signature flare allowing me to pinpoint where he was. 

Hikaru was close. 

Raising my hand towards the direction in which I felt Hikaru, a silent command seemed to fill my mind. 'come to me, Hikaru.'

"Lorelei, what are you doing?" Neji asks cautiously, the feel of his gaze burning into my sides. Ignoring his questions, I continue to hold my hand out.  The tattoo on my shoulder starts to burn with a warming heat, the purple eyes glowing with an unnatural light. Just as my Chakra flared one more time, black mist slowly began to form around me, the water particles swirling violently as more appeared. 

From around me, shouts of surprise and alarm ring around me as someone's Chakra flares. I soon identified the Chakra to be Lady Chiyo's. 

"What're you doing!?" Yells Naruto.

"She's going to bring Gaara back!" Interrupts Sakura, her voice grave and sad. Whipping around, I regard her a suspicious look.  Hope filled my chest at the fact Gaara might be brought back to us, my friend could be alive and well if whatever Lady Chiyo is doing works out okay.

Although by the look, Sakura was shooting my way, there has to be a catch to this...no one can be brought back from the dead without a price to pay. As I'm thinking these thoughts, The black mist takes solid form, revealing a White-haired Hikaru. 

Hikaru takes one look at the situation around us before attaching himself to my side. With a slight whisper of concern in his voice, I make eyes contact with his blood-red eyes through his mask as he speaks. 

"Are you okay?" 

I simply shake my head and will the tears to not fall. The constricting my throat got even worse, but I will myself not to cry for the second time today. "I will be." I said gravely.  

"Can she really bring...Gaara back to life?" Asks Naruto, his voice filled with disbelief and hope. 

"Yes, she can." 

A loud groan emanated from the old medic nin, sweat dripping from her brow as she slowly overexerts herself. She was slowly running out of Chakra. "Naruto, come." 

Naruto was by my side in an instant. Crouching back towards the ground, I place my hands on top of Lady Chiyo's hands, which was soon followed by Naruto. "This should be enough chakra to help you out."

Lady Chiyo looks at the both of us with shock, before nodding her head slightly at the both of us. "Thank you-" 

"Don't thank us..we are simply just trying to help out someone that's dear to us," I say sharply, my eyes now cold and unforgiving. Regardless if she was helping Gaara out right now, she was still the reason that tailed beast was inside of Gaara in the first place. If she can truly bring him back then maybe I'll show a bit of kindness towards her. 

"Up till now..everything that I've done has been wrong...but at the very end, I think I might be able to do something right for once.-" 

Lady Chiyo looked up and met my burning gaze, her once empty eyes now filling with sadness and something akin to understanding. 

"Suna and Konoha...may their future be something different from our time. Naruto, become a Hokage the like of which has never been seen before! The power you hold in your self will be able to unite nations and turn enemies into allies. 

 Lorelei, I don't know who you really are, I don't know how you are connected to Gaara or any of these people...but with that fierce protectiveness that I see shining in your eyes....you will be a forced to be reckoned with...a ninja to be feared throughout the ninja world. I can already tell from the way you handle yourself...I can already tell that you will be a great leader at some point in the future.-" 

She then turns and concentrates more on her hands that held an aura of both Green, and red. 

"And Sakura? In the future, don't save a dying granny like me..help those you truly care about..you're a lot like me, to be honest. so few women possess such strong spirit..you'll likely surpass your teacher." 

No matter how much I wanted to stop myself from growing soft at her words, I did. I so wanted to be angry at her for putting a tailed-beast inside of Gaara, but I just couldn't bring myself to be angry at her any longer. She sounds as if she's truly sorry for the things she's done, and through her efforts, it's obvious that she really wants to save Gaara. 

Softening my glare, I feel a hand rest on my shoulder gently. Looking up, my gaze meets with Hikaru's. A silent agreement seemed to pass between us, and as he bends down to crouch beside me, i decided that maybe I'll go a little easier on Lady Chiyo...not for her sake, but for everyone else. 

"Naruto, I have a favour to ask of you. You're the only one that knows of Gaara's pain..so can you please...look after him for me?" 

Times seemed to pass by slowly as Naruto looks at Lady Chiyo in shock. All around us, allied ninja begin to trickle into the area, more gathering then I could have ever imagined. Looking around the area in shock, I turn my head towards Hikaru in amazement. 

He simply looked at me warmly and nodded his head. "I said I would gather together as many Ninja I could. Alongside Temari, I did just that." 

"Thank you, Hikaru," I say with a whisper, making sure no one else could hear my words. 

"Anything for you, Shizukana." He said with an equally as quiet whisper. 

The twitching of fingers, from underneath my own hands brings me back to the present. Tearing my gaze away from Hikaru, I watch as Lady Chiyo pulls her hands away from underneath Naruto and I's. Sakura moves to her side instantly, supporting her as her body seemed to grow incredibly weak. 

It seemed to last an eternity as I watched Gaara's unmoving body. Although, as I was soon about to give up all hope that Gaara was going to come back to us, my eyes snapped over to where his fingers rested. 

His fingers moved. 

Moving to the other side of Gaara, my mind seemed to push Lady Chiyo and her condition to the back of my mind and instead focused all my attention on the Redhead laying before me. 

Gaara's body seemed to begin twitching some more, and as if by its own record, he began to rise into a sitting position before his eyes slowly began to flicker open. Instantly, i moved and hold one side of his body, supporting him as Naruto did the same to his other side. 

Happiness filled my veins instantly and I felt tears of joy threatening to spill. 

"Gaara?" I ask, my voice cracking violently, as I struggled to keep in my emotions. Gaara's head slowly turns and regards me curiously. "Who are you?" 

Chuckling slightly to myself, I allowed my eyes to flash red for a split second. His eyes seemed to widen to recognization as he takes in the rest of my appearance. Including the tattoo and scar that decorated my shoulders. 

"Shizukana.." 

When I gave him a slight nod in confirmation, he turned and looked towards Naruto. 

"Naruto?" 

Naruto smiles at him slightly and also nods. Looking around him, his eyes widen in shock at the sheer amount of people that gathered. Even Kankuro came, albeit probably with a lot of arguing on Temari's part. She more than likely tried to make him stay behind. 

Chuckling softly at the thought, I survey the crowd, still shocked by the sheer amount of people gathered. 

"What is all this?" asks Gaara in bewilderment. 

Naruto laughs and looks at Gaara with a smile. "We all came running to your rescue, Gaara!" 

At those words, Cheers erupt throughout the crowd of gathered ninja. All of them either coming closer or cheering with their fists raised in the air joy. Their joy was contagious, as I suddenly felt the urge to join them. 

Hikaru didn't hold back as he joined in with all the cheers, no doubt shooting me a grin from underneath his mask. 

"You had us all worried!" Exclaims Naruto. 

I scoff and push Naruto a little. "Worried is an understatement. I might as well have stopped functioning. Might as well of had a heart attack!-" 

Turning towards Gaara, I fix him with a playful glare, making sure to keep my tone light. "Scare me like that again, and I'll kill you myself." 

"Sure caused us all a bit of grief little brother." Remarked Kankuro. 

"Why don't you all stop acting so superior, Gaara is still kazeKage! You brats!" Snaps Temari. 

Turning my head around I lazily fix her with an unamused look, which I'm sure she could feel because I sure as hell wasn't the only one shooting her the same look. Turning around, ignore Temari and go to thank Lady Chiyo, but I soon stop dead. 

Dread fills my heart as I look at her. 

She wasn't giving off a chakra signature. 

Rushing forwards, I grab her wrist and feel for a pulse only to find none. Cursing under my breath, I step away from her and ignore the look from Sakura. 

"Lorelei what's wrong?" Asks Naruto, his voice bordering on the edge of worry. 

Taking in a deep breath, I look at everyone with a serious look. "Lady Chiyo is dead." 

While Naruto and even Garra look surprised, no one else seemed surprised by this fact. 

"We know...Lady Chiyo used a resurrection Jutsu, one that takes a life in the exchange for another. Lady Chiyo led a project with the Puppet Master corps, that would let them breathe life into a puppet. However, she sealed and banned the technique before it could be tested." explains Kankuro.

Silence elapses over the area and as I thought no one was going to speak, Temari breaks through the silence. 

"Naruto..like I thought, you're definitely different. You have the power to change people...Granny Chiyo used to say that she didn't care at all about the village's future. She wasn't the type of person who would do this type of thing for Gaara. Granny entrusted the future to you and Gaara, it was a death befitting a Shinobi." 

As Temari finished these words, Gaara struggles to rise to his feet, and as he does I move to his side and go to help him. 

He simply waves me off and stands on his own, his face still as stoic as ever. 

"Everyone, pray for Granny Chiyo." 

As he says this, he turns and looks at me, his gaze asking me for a favour that he didn't need to say out in words. 

Stepping forward, I pray in my mind that my call wouldn't be morphed due to the mask being in the way. Looking behind me, I reach a hand out to him and motion for Hikaru to come by my side. Grabbing my hand, he holds onto it tightly as he moves to my right. Looking at each other we nod before simultaneously filling our throats with chakra.

Once we had the adequate amount, we both let out a shrill scream. One filled with longing, sadness, and death. It marked the ending of a life, the disappearance of a person from our lives. 

As I let the eerie sound surround us, my ears twitch from a distinct sound off to the distance, one that shouldn't be this close to Suna. 

Someone was answering our scream with their own. 

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Sorry for such a late update! Parents have made a new rule in my house where all electronics must be taken away by 5:00PM every day. This unfortunately means that I have to wait until at least the weekend to update or try and update whenever I manage to get time. Again, terribly sorry, but I hope you like this chapter. 

-Mizuko