Author's Notes:
This was written circa 2008-2009. It was the first fanfiction I ever wrote- a self-insert fantasy where I am the only one who can save the world of Naruto and also Gaara, who was my one true love. I was DEEP into Naruto to the point that when I graduated middle school and we got our equivalent of senior superlatives mine was "#1 Wife of Gaara." When my class did Secret Santa, my friend made me a notebook with a collage of pictures of Gaara on the cover. I would print out pictures of Gaara and tape them to my locker. I drew pictures of us getting married. It was a wonderful time. I had thought that this story, and the notebook containing it, was long lost to the ages. Thankfully, I recently found it. I have attempted to reproduce it as faithfully as possible in order to respect my 13-year-old artistic vision. A lot of the text was redacted because I thought that it was out of character for Gaara to talk so much at my deathbed. That text has been struck through in accordance with my past self's wishes, but has been retained (along with all spelling errors) in keeping with my archival responsibility. The only thing I have changed is redacting the name of my hometownPlease enjoy the most earnest and beautiful thing I have ever written.
"This won't work, Temari."
"Shut up, Kankuro. I've done kidnappings before."
"If she's half the hero these Leaf shinobi say she is, she'll grab the canister and throw it back out of the room. Then she'll track us down."
"Shut up, I said! This'll work! Now get over there!"
The speaker droned on and on. Laura neither cared about nor paid attention to what he was saying. "In my line of work, there are thousands of..." Laura stared out of the window, watching the shapes of the leaves change with the wind, swaying in the breeze. The rythmic background noise of the speaker buzzed in the background, lulling her senses out of their usual alertness... Laura closed her eyes, asleep as soon as the canister spun into the room, spraying gas in all directions while the speaker crumpled to the floor.
"Told you so, Kankuro. What did I say?"
"Fine. You were right. This doesn't make any sense, though. If she's so good, why'd she fall prey to our trap?"
"Because we're smarter, idiot. Hey, the 'great hero's' waking up. Bind her tight until Gaara gets here."
Laura woke up to rythmic jostling. She groggily blinked and looked around. Once her drugged brain registered that in fact she should not be inside of what appeared to be a giant barrel, all of her senses were alert. She searched around the sides of the bouncing barrel, but found no exit or even a hole for a cork. She began pounding on the sides of the barrel, loudly proclaiming her need for air. She heard muffled conversation, then felt a falling sensation. There was a thud as she hit the ground, and she blacked out. The last thing she saw was the sides of the barrel opening up, and a bright light...
Laura awoke to rumbling noises. Her eyes snapped open. She took in