Chapter 25: Fallen angel.

The war had officially begun.

All four divisions had already advanced to the menacing battlefront. News was reported back and forth with such striking speed. It was not long before the first clash occurred. Tension was high and blood was spilled. The Shinobi force had given their best in their violent encounter with the atrocious enemy. Their impetus was rising like a flaring fire and so did their opponents. So far, the battle hadn't decided its winner but both sides seemed to have suffered great loss.

Hii, I'm sorry…

Gaara slowly rose behind a rocky shield of the exhausted Tsuchikage. He could barely move his hands and worse, he ran out of chakra. Even with the help of Shukaku's power, he couldn't last more than five matches against Madara. That man was truly a beast. The shinobi's fight had turn the original mountainous place into a vast area, where dust was the only thing one could see. Gaara cautiously looked outside the battlefield and saw Madara ramping through every corner, trying to snatch them out of the stony shells. Gaara shuddered at the thought of being crushed by Madara. If that man saw him, he would be finished. Nevertheless, Gaara secretly moved from his position in order to attack Madara again. He could still fight; he wouldn't let that monster have the victory. Gaara focused his very last chakra and form a final sand tsunami.

"It's too late, stupid head." – Madara laughed cruelly.

Gaara stood frozen as a Sunsano'o threw its sword at him. He couldn't gather the strength to move. He could hear Tsunade's voice yelling from the afar and so did other Kages. Gaara closed his eyes at once. It was over.

But it wasn't.

Gaara hadn't come to his sense when he heard a high pitching sound, like something was drilling in his ears. Then he was lifted in the sky before he could find his calmness. The speed made everything become blurry through his eyes. Raikage swiftly caught Gaara as the phoenix released him from its claws before going back to its target. Gaara startled as he saw the Susano'o was shattered and destroyed completely. Such an immeasurable strength…To his surprise, he noticed an abnormal creature standing in front of him with sharp claws growing from its hands. When it turned to face him, Gaara suddenly jumped back as he saw its demonic features.

"Who are you?" – Gaara asked doubtfully.

"Right...I'm hideous."

"Who?"

"Gaara-kun, don't you recognize me?"

"Hii? Hii, is that you? Your voice is weird."

"I…I don't have much chakra left. If I don't fight in this form, I can't have enough chakra."

Hii quickly turned away as Gaara slowly walked towards her in pain. His arms were bleeding and so was his forehead. Hii took another step away from Gaara. To be precise, her appearance right now was to blame for the lost of her confidence. Deep down inside, she hoped that Gaara wouldn't find her to be scary.

"You look…scary." – Gaara said.

"Yeah, thanks a lot." – Hii replied, feeling annoyed all of a sudden.

"Aren't you supposed to take care of the shield at the headquarter?" – Raikage asked angrily.

"I heard you guys were having your ass kicked by Madara so I come to help."

"It's not time to fool around…"

"No, I'm not. Tsunade-sama, please treat others' wounds while I buy you sometimes with that old man."

"Come, you fool…"

Madara roared in excitement when he looked at Hii. The girl calmly reached for her sword on the back and brought out her pair of electrical wings. Within a split second, she dashed towards him with an immeasurable speed, escorted by her phoenix. Gaara opened his eyes widely at the brutal fighting scene occurring not far from his location. Hii continuously threw her lightning shurikens at Madara but his Susano'o had knocked them all over the place. Takehiko was also shooting metal arrows at him but they were all useless against his shield of darkness. Apparently, their plan of approaching Madara had failed. However, Hii was smart enough to embed her chakra in the shurikens. She smiled then performed a hand seal from a safe distance. Suddenly, blue rays of lights scattered everywhere, blinding people with their dazzling reflection. Madara was furious to find himself immobilized by countless electric strings coming from the ground. Determined not to let this valuable chance slip away, Hii commanded Takehiko to attack with her at once.

"DOUBLE AIR DRILLS!"

"DIE…"

Gaara instantly used his remaining chakra to form a sand shield protecting everyone as an enormous explosion took place, blowing the deadly heavy rocks at them. He looked to his side in horror and saw Hii lying motionlessly on the ground. The atmospheric pressure must have been too great that it knocked her unconscious. Her fingers started moving…Gaara hurriedly dragged himself to where Hii was, only to find her smirking at the sky.

"His Susano'o is too strong…" – Hii said bitterly – "…even stronger than Sasuke's…"

"He got his guard up against you, Nori." – Takehiko shook his head.

Hii leisurely got up and sighed. Weak. Useless. Those words started running wild in her boiled head. Hii clenched her fists and stood up once again in front of Gaara's astonishing eyes. She would kill that man no matter what; she would prove her capability to Takehiko. Hii felt that she had become more aggressive little by little. Fury was heating in her heart and shadowing her mind.

"Hii, calm down." – Gaara mumbled –"Madara isn't an ordinary opponent and you know that. We need a plan…Argh…"

"Gaara-kun, are you alright?"

Hii held Gaara's arm in panic when she saw him collapse because of the pain. She didn't have much time to concern about him since she had to create an air barrier to protect the troop from an army of wooden clones. They frenziedly dashed towards her like a bunch of hungry sharks but were later destroyed by the invisible air blazes from her shield. Madara narrowed his eyes at his defeated clone and dashed towards Hii with his monstrous speed. On his way, he created an enormous meteor and threw it at the army. Hii hastily formed another hand seal. This time, the whole meteor was slowly sucked into a transparent hole on the shield, the same hole that sucked in Sasuke's amaterasu. Heavy grey smoke was curling in the air, blocking her vision entirely. In order to absorb that huge fireball, Hii had lost quite a great amount of chakra. She was breathing heavily, nailing one of her knees on the ground… If this continued, the shinobi force would lose this battle.

"Any thoughts?" – Tsunade winced.

"If we can get Madara inside my shield, I can nullify his techniques. But we can't even get close to him…"

"Kazekage and I can protect the troop with our shields." – Tsuchikage said –"Save your chakra for the final blow, Imai."

"But you two are badly injured…"

"DEADLY BLOW."

Tsunade roared fearlessly and kicked Madara in the face as he appeared near the barrier. Needless to say, the legendary shinobi was thrown to a far distance before he could react. Tsunade smirked and turned to her comrades who were numb at her sudden disastrous strength.

"It's our chance. Let's go!"

Raikage quickly jumped on Takehiko's back with his granddaughter and disappeared in the clouds. Mizukage and Tsunade were also on their way to back them up. Before Madara could stand on his feet again, he was trapped by thousands metal spears from Takehiko and glued to the ground by the lava from Mizukage. He was struggling to get out of the sticky mixture and the scorching heat. Raikage saw it as a good opportunity and was ready for his attack…

"Wait! That's a clone…" – Hii yelled.

However, Madara had already made his move.

Hii didn't know what had happened as she was falling freely from the sky. Her mind was blank after seeing a weird purple light, which she thought to be one of Madara's techniques. She kept on falling…Strange memories started popping out from her head, appeared in various colorful bubbles. She could hear the painful groans from her father, the cry of her mother, Yuuki's weakened breath and the terrifying screams of those she killed that night…

"Hii, are you there?"

Gaara lightly shook Hii's shoulders to bring back her consciousness. Fortunately, he had arrived in time to catch Hii with his sand although he hadn't regained much of his chakra. She quietly looked around and caught Gaara's eyes again. Through the reflections in his irises, Hii could tell that she had returned to her human form.

"What's going on?" – Hii asked.

"Madara put everyone under his genjutsu. It seems like you're the only one that got away but still…it affected you a little. He sucked out your chakra…" – Gaara said.

"Everyone? Grandpa, where's my grandpa?"

Gaara sadly looked to his right when Hii asked about the Raikage. It didn't take her long to realize the body covered in blood of Takehiko was lying lifelessly on the dry land. Frightened as she was, Hii cupped her mouth then crawled to her beloved phoenix. One of his wings was broken and blood was coming out from his eyes. His golden feathers were shedding from his back and flew away with the harsh breeze. He was still breathing. Hii tremblingly lifted his enormous wing to find the Raikage…

There was nothing apart from blood on his face and his limbs. His chest was badly burnt from the flame, which turned black and swollen under her hand. He was alive but only in a matter of minutes. Hii let out a painful scream.

"Hii, calm down. Please…" – Gaara yelled, trying to hold her.

"THIS IS JUST ANOTHER ILLUSION. I'LL GET OUT OF THIS…"

"No, damn it. It's all reality. You're real. I am real. CALM DOWN!"

Madara's cruel laugh was sounding from a far distance. Hii had lost her mind and the only thing motivating her now was to make that man disappear from this world. Hii slowly rose straight and strong. Pushing Gaara aside, she coldly cut her finger…blood was dripping to her feet…

One, I'm afraid of being alone.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

Two, I'm afraid of being worthless.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

Three, I'm afraid of facing the past.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

Four, I'm afraid of losing my loved ones.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

Five, I'm afraid of Death.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

All those fears couldn't beat my will…

"Stop…" – Takehiko suddenly muttered under his breath –"Don't do it. You'll die. You can't summon him this way. It's not the right…"

Come out, Suzaku…COME OUT!

There was blood on her lips.

A high squeak astounded people in its range. A gorgeous beautiful phoenix made its appearance from Hii's blood on the ground. Everyone was stunned as they had never seen such a fearsome beast before. It fiercely flew towards Madara who was petrified with terror. He hastily threw his susano'o clones at Suzaku but the mighty phoenix destroyed them with it wings of fire. The beast was pursuing Madara with great speed. Madara's time had come…

"WATCH OUT!"

Gaara shouted as he spotted the real Madara was inches away from the Raikage and Hii. She didn't move away from her post...Madara brutally threw a wooden spear at the helpless girl. Gaara's remaining sand automatically covered Hii and at the same time held Madara tightly. Gaara could see the man was smirking…A second later, Suzaku dashed towards him and turned itself into a huge fireball, seeting Madara's rotten flesh on flame. Gaara silently watched the fire take place, feeling a relief in his heart. The battle was over. Madara was finally sealed away.

"Nice job." – Tsunade said with a smile.

"Please take care of Raikage." – Gaara said breathlessly.

Remembering that Hii was still in his sand barrier, Gaara happily walked towards her with a broad grin on his face. They had truly won. She had done such a courageous job and he was so proud of her. As he stood in front of his sand wall, Gaara suddenly had a fright as he saw a hole on his sand shield. The sand leisurely fell off…

No one celebrated anymore.

Gaara looked at the horrific scene before his eyes without having time to realize that it was reality. Hii was still standing in front of him with her hands firmly placed on his manly shoulder. Blood was dripping down from her mouth to the dry ground, drop by drop. Nothing could describe how much Gaara wanted to cry in pain but he couldn't. He couldn't breathe. He looked at the sharp wooden spear piercing through the middle of her chest, dyeing with the redness of her blood. Hii smiled at him lovingly. Little by little, she collapsed to the ground and tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"HII, HII NO…"

Gaara hastily caught her back, kneeling on the damp surface. He panickingly held her in his arm, attempted to pull the spear away but Hii had stopped him. She was breathing weakly now. Gaara's tremble hand was moving from her smooth black hair to her grey pale cheek. Her body became colder, which frightened him even more. Tears were in the corner of his eyes.

"Don't…don't cry…" – Hii said difficultly.

"I'm not crying, Hii. It's alright, the medic squad is coming here, just wait…MEDIC…MEDIC."

Everyone couldn't hold their tears seeing Gaara roaring hopelessly on top of his lung. Tsuchikage quickly held his shoulders to calm him down but Gaara seemed to lose his mind. He was hugging Hii tighter with an insane attitude. He couldn't keep calm anymore when he knew that Hii was dying. Gaara turned to Tsunade, giving her an imploring look but she shook her head in return. She was just as helpless as he was. Not far away, Temari was crying sorrowfully on Shikamaru's shoulders, calling her name. Hii tried to keep a pleasant face and raised her hand towards Gaara's face. He automatically rubbed his heated cheek against her freezing palm with a hope to warm it up.

"You must stay with me. We have so many plans for the future…" – Gaara mumbled, feeling out of his mind –"We will fight together, do missions together. We will have children, look at them growing up and getting married, then our grandchildren...No, you must not die."

Hii coughed again, with a lot of blood exited from her mouth. Gaara knew Hii couldn't hold on for long. Her blood was flowing everywhere, absorbed into the solid ground. He didn't want to live either, if only he could die with her.

"Live…strong…you're the…Kazekage…"

Hii spoke with a quavering voice then reached for her grandfather's motionless hand on the ground.

"I'm sorry…grandpa. I'm…no good…for you…"

Gaara shook his head and kissed her sweating forehead, his lips lingered on her skin for a while. His heart just wanted to explode. He didn't want to be separated from her. Her heartbeat was decreasing…Tears…No, he must not cry either. Hii wouldn't be pleased if she saw his tears.

"I love you, Hii. I love you so much." – Gaara said quietly.

"I lov..."

But before she could finish her line, Hii had gone up into flame. The vigorous blazing fire was consuming her body, leaving nothing behind. Temari was crying so hard that she couldn't stand on her own feet. She even seemed to suffer much greater when she saw her little brother hanging on to the burning corpse. Gaara was still sitting there like a statue, refusing to let go of Hii. The fire couldn't harm him since his sand continuously protected his body. His agony was beyond his bearing limit.

Can you at least let me feel the pain she's feeling?

The sand kept on covering him.

Finally, the fire was over. Gaara stared blankly at his bare hands, where a moment ago Hii was lying on. She had truly gone this time, burnt to ashes. The Kazekage slowly rose on his feet and walked towards the horizon. As Hii wished, he didn't shed a tear. He was strong.

He had won this war.

But with a price.

The End

Author's note: Finally, this is the last chapter and I hope you enjoy my story. Thank you, my beloved readers - those who read/reviewed/liked/alerted this fanfic. Once again, if you like it or want to help me improve, please review.

Disclaimer (again): mine are only Hii (Imai Nori), Johou, the Imai clan, Yuuki, Chie, Raikage's son (no name :"), Suzaku, Takehiko. Other characters appeared in this fanfic belongs to "Naruto" by Kishimoto Masashi -sensei.