Chapter 38

My heart was pounding at a speed I didn't know existed. I had the scroll in my hand and knew what to do but still somewhere deep inside, I was nervous.

In just a few days, we had gone through such an adventure. What started with an anime show addiction was now going to end as a reality. The fact that me and my 'supposedly' brother were actually from a fictional world was something that turned my life upside down. I had gone back to my real world with my real brother and then again got caught in a such a situation that could tear the two world's apart. Not to mention the heart breaks and love problems everyone faced.

But now, everything was going to end. I was going to bid this world goodbye. I was going to return to where I belong. I resolved as we made our way back to my car.

All through the way in the forest, no one said a thing. Silence. We had nothing to say. Everyone had a beautiful memory associated with this world...even Sakura, I supposed.

But waiting in front of my car, was a surprise. Tisha.

Her face had a scowl plastered upon it and her eyes were filled with anger and sorrow. I didn't know what was going on. Sue; I mean, Sanako was standing there just as still as a statue with the same painful expression. I didn't know what was going on.

As soon as she saw me, she came forward and gripped my arm so fiercely that it hurt. I wanted to get free but one look in her eyes and I knew I shouldn't.

"Wha-?" I couldn't complete my sentence. Shun and Sakura just kept standing besides me, not knowing what to do.

"You are Naeko, right?! You are the same Naeko which everyone told me about!" She shouted with tears forming at the corner of her eyes. "Tisha, you don't remember Naeko? She was your best friend, you were always together!" she immitated soneone.

I was speechless. I didn't know what to respond or reather, how to respond. All I could do was open my mouth and shut it again. No words came out.

Shun patted me on my shoulder and nodded at me. What was that suppose to mean? Should I tell her the truth? Or should I keep acting? I didn't know.

Shun left with Sakura and Sanako in his car. "Come back as soon as possible. We can't delay anything much longer." he said before going and after that I was alone with Tisha, again.

"Tisha, I'm..." I was cut off again.

"You, this place was yours right? It was you I would sometimes see in my dreams!" she sobbed loudly, "even though I told you, why did you not tell me? Do I not have the right to know about your disappearance?" she cried.

"Oh Tish...I'm so sorry! The circumastances were just..." I didn't have the strength to complete or to make up a lie. I broke down. Here, I was comforting her even though I knew I would be leaving again, once and for all.

"I'm sorry!" I cried and pulled her into a hug. "I am sorry Tish, I won't leave you again!" And I said it. What was I saying? It wasn't right.

I just hoped that she would forgive once again, like she always used to.

We sat in my car and journeyed back to her house in silence. When I glanced at her, she looked happy, there was a glint on her face that I couldn't help but notice. Tisha didn't know she wouldn't be seeing her ever again. This thought made my heart burn. I quickly looked away and concentrated on my driving.

I haulted near her front door as she slowly thrust herself outside. "Hey..." she finally said, "can I ...like, can I visit your place again?"

Thats it. It was too much. It was as if everything was repeating itself. I didn't want that.

"No," I said, "No Tish, I am going to have that place demolished. It was illegal." I said and stared at the hurt look in her eyes.

"I see..." she said and turned around to go.

"But-" I suddenly uttered, "We could go there sometimes, together." No , what was I doing! I wanted to cry. My tears literally fell down my cheeks when I saw her become cheerful yet again as she told me she was looking forward to it.

"See you in school!" she said and waved and closed the door behind her.

When I was pretty sure that she was out of sight and safely inside her house, I left the car.

On a piece of paper, I wrote down-

Dear Tisha, I am sorry. I can't keep my promise and I hope you will forgive me.

I am leaving my car, this baby, in your care. Please take care of it.

I will never forget you.

Yours truly,

Uzumaki Naeko

XoxoxoX

I folded the paper along with the car keys and slid it inside her door. With that I was ready to go, or so, I believed.

As I ran towards the place where Konoha was, I saw a lady crying on the foot path. She was down on her knees and cletching her husband's suit as he as well seemed to cry. A girl of about three years old was looking cluelessly at both of them. I slowed down to look at the flyers scattered around them.

MISSING

Inoue Hana, 13, wearing a black top and pink lowers. She was last seen near the central park.

There was a picture of a young girl with dark long hair. She was wearing a pair of big glasses and was smiling broadly.

Near the Central Park? I re-read. I hope something didn't happen to her because of me. I thought as I realised that the park was the one where Konoha was.

I shook the thought away as I couldn't help the family in any way and I continued running.

When I neared the park, I realized that some kind of commotion had spread. I trembled as I saw people looking at huge red and brickstoned buildings with old japanese.

There was loads and loads of police vans with teir sirens blasting, surrounding the village.

I am late! My mind screamed.

I scurried my way through the crowd of onlookers and then was stopped by an officer.

"You can't go there, it might be dangerous!" he snapped at me.

"Bu-"

"No means no!" he glared.

I looked at the other side and saw Shun and the others waiting for me. They had an impatient look on their face, I took time for me to notice that they all had become like the person of this world.

"Tsk." I gritted my teeth and reached for my backpocket. I didn't think I would have to resort to this. I slowly started pulling out a smoke ball.

"Oh! Naeko nee!" someone shouted and surprised me.

I looked in the direction from where the voice came and saw the little boy I met at the store. He came trotting towards me joyfully, his eyes gleaming.

"You are the real deal, aren't ya?" he said excitedly and I was shocked.

"How-?"

"Its obvious!" he exclaimed, "I can see the whole Konoha and every other character!"

Oh God, what was happening!

"You need to go back, I suppose," he said, "well, I have a plan!"

"A plan?" I questioned.

"Yep!"

--XxXxX--

"Officer uncle!" the little boy shouted, "There is something here!" he faked the tension in his voice.

"What is it boy?" he moved out of the way and got seperated by other officers.

"We don't know... smoke is coming out of it." I joined in.

"Hmnn..."

I had placed one of my smoke bombs and was ready to use more. When the officer came near, he crouched down to examine it. "Weird..." he said.

I inserted my hands in my pocket and took out two more bombs- a smoke bomb and a sound bomb.

The boy nodded and I readied myself.

"Ahhhhh!" he screamed, "the officer!" the crowd nearby got startled by it. "That man has bombs on him!"

As soon as he said that, I used the smoke bomb and the sound bomb to give the effect. The crowd got so confused that no one knew what was happenning. Amidst all the fuss, I kissed the biy on his cheeks and patted him. He smiled broadly.

"Here," I said, giving him my shuriken, "A token of thanks"

"Really?!" he said excitedly.

"Yes. But don't use it on anyone." I said threatingly, "It can kill."

The grim expression on my face must have made him nervous. He nodded and hugged the shuriken in his tiny hands as I ran towards the others.

As soon as I reached them I was pulled inside a line drawn as a periphery of Konoha. Sanako extended her hands and demanded the scroll. I did.

I didn't realise that she was already starting. Midway, when I saw that the two scrolls had started to float in front of her, I screamed.

"No! Sanako? Why aren't you inside?" I took a step forward but was stopped by Naruto. "Let go off me!" I cried.

"Naeko! Stand back!" Tsunade ordered in a scary tone when I started to fight with Naruto.

"Sanako!" Dread filled me. She wasn't going to come with us. Why?

"Why?!" I cried and finally freed myself from Naruto's grip. "Why are you leaving us?" Big, fat tear drops escalated down my face. This was not what I was looking forward to. Everyone was leaving.

"Naeko," she said in a low tone, her face smiling, "I have a role to play here. As an Uzumaki, it is my duty to protect everyone by my sealing techniques."

"What do you need to seal?" I barked at her.

"The memories." she said, "I need to seal the memories of the people here and make everything go back to normal."

"No, that's not important!" I tried to catch her but something blocked me from moving. Sand. I looked at Gaara and more tears found their way out. He just stood there, not looking at me.

"Why? I had planned you to come along from the start. We would have lived like we used to. Then why?" I tried to ignore him and questioned Sanako.

"We are a family and we will always be but we have to erase our presence from here. It is for the balance of both the worlds." she explained calmly. "Now stop crying."

I totally understood what she meant, but I didn't want it this way but all I could do that time, was to stand and watch.

Sanako did some hands signs and chanted in whispers. She had all her concentration on the two floating parchments. I couldn't move my eyes off her.

"Naeko! You bitch!" I heard a familiar voice cry at a distance.

"Tisha!" I shouted, "What are you doing here!"

I saw as she struggled to get free of the cops who weren't letting her near us.

"You told me you will never leave me again!"

"I am sorry Tish, but this is a goodbye!" I said aloud.

The small kid from before came up and held her hand. She looked at him in vonfusion and I nodded.

"Sanako, Tisha will forget too, right?" I asked in a small voice. She just nodded. Then its for the best. Good bye Tish!

The scene, the chaos in front of me, everything started to fade away.

"Wha- Sanako!" I cried as I saw her slowly disappearing as fragments of glitters and light. Her body had faded halfway when she addressed to Shun.

"Shun, always take care of your sister."

"Yes," Shun said, finding it hard to proceed. I could feel the words stuck in his throat. I watched in disbelief as the bulge in his throat kept moving upwards and downwards.

I passed him as sharp look as I could manage, with tears in my eyes.

He looked back guiltily and rephrased his words. "Yes," he paused again, "mother..."

I could see the sudden astonishment on Sanako's face as she took in the words. She was gone, almost gone, only a faint glimpse of her face was all I could see.

Before she disappeared she had a kind of face only an angel could have. The smile on her face was so euphoric that nothing could have eaualled it. There were tears forming at the corner of her eyes as she said, "Sayonara..." and disappeared.

I couldn't believe my eyes. It was the end. The end of the adventure, the end of her false life. She was finally returning back to where she belonged.

To Konoha.

I buried my face in Gaara's chest and cried. Cried as a familiar scenery appeared infront of me. He hugged me back. Shun stood motionless.

"We are back..." Sakura said in a small voice.

"Yes," I wiped my face off on my sleeves, "We are home!" I shouted with a smile that reached my eyes.

_____________________________________

A/N

Finished! I hope you all enjoyed the story! ^_^

Nahh, just kidding! :3 Look forward for the last chapter -The Epilogue of the book!

Cya around next time! :*

Vote and Comment!

~Sassy