DISCLAIMER -- I do not own Naruto. The only character that is of my own is Hana, and another character in the story that will make her appearance near the of the story. Hope you all enjoy and please REVIEW!

Gaara laid on his back in a small clearing in the forest. Rain pelted his exhausted, injured body. It slowly washed the crimson blood from his brown clothing and mixed with the mud beneath him.

Gaara winced in pain as he attempted to observe his surroundings. There was nothing but trees and the corpses of other shinobi. The enemies had been defeated, but not without the lives of his comrades. If it hadn't been raining, he would have had a better chance of protecting everyone. He had used all of his chakra in order to fight them off, but it seemed like it wasn't enough.

"Why am I so weak?" he asked himself, closing his eyes. "I know shukaku is gone now, but I didn't think that I would be this weak. Do I even deserve the title of Kazekage anymore? The reason I was appointed in the first place was because I had the shukaku within me. Now that it's gone..." He sighed to himself, trying to push those thoughts from his head.

Gaara was completely exhausted and he knew that it wouldn't be long before he would lose consciousness. He was determined to stay awake as long as he could, though.

He started whispering random things to himself. He recited different things that he had read, different memories that he had, basically anything that would keep him awake for a little longer.

"Poor Kazekage-sama," a female sneered. Gaara groaned, fearing that it was another enemy. He opened his eyes and saw a blurry figure standing over him. "You're very lucky that we decided to come out here to meet you. Are you alright?"

Gaara suddenly found himself unable to speak. Everything started to swirl together before being engulfed by darkness.

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Gaara's Dream

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Gaara and Hana walked through the desert in silence. Neither of them had anything to say anyway, so they just stayed quiet. They walked beside each other. They were holding hands, with their fingers interlaced. It was really hot out to be holding hands, but they didn't care.

They reached the border of the fire country at dusk and made camp. Gaara sat up against a tree, Hana sleeping against him for the last time. Of course, Gaara didn't sleep. Instead, he watched her until the sun came up.

He gently woke her and the two of them cleaned up the camp site. Afterwards, they stood there, staring at each other for several minutes. Hana finally through her arms around him, giving him a quick hug.

"I'll miss you," she whispered into his ear. She loosened her grip on him, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. She pulled away from him and smiled.

"Be careful," he told her softly. Hana nodded.

"You too."

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"What's going on?" Gaara mumbled, his words slurred together. He slowly opened his eyes, which were slightly cloudy. He rolled his head to the side, seeing a pink haired medical ninja standing beside him.

He attempted to sit up, but a gentle hand on his chest prevented him from doing so. He sighed.

"Don't worry Kazekage-sama," Sakura assured him, "You are in the hospital now. You need to stay still so that you don't pull the IV drip out. I also need you to stay still so I can finish stitching up your wounds." Gaara nodded wearily.

Sakura finished cleaning and sewing up his deeper cuts. She then covered the stitches with gauze, securing it in place with medical tape.

"Get some rest Kazekage-sama," she told him softly. Gaara winced as he felt her inject something into his arm. Gaara blinked a few times before being consumed by darkness once again.

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The next morning, Sakura was checking over Gaara. He was still asleep, which didn't surprise Sakura. He had used up an enormous amount of chakra the day before, and she didn't expect him to be back on his feet for awhile.

"Good morning Sakura-chan," a female greeted from behind her. Sakura turned around and smiled at the blond haired girl.

"Good morning Hana-chan," she replied. She turned her back to her for a couple moments while she gathered her things. She then turned back to face Hana. "Are you here to visit him?" she asked, smiling slyly. Hana grinned and nodded. "He's still asleep, but you can stay with him if you want. I have to go meet with Tsunade-sama, so call a nurse if you need something." Hana nodded and walked over to Gaara. She pulled a chair up next to his bed and sat down.

She looked lovingly over the peaceful features on his face. She lightly traced his lips with her fingertips. She smiled to herself as she remembered the time they had kissed. She longed to feel his lips upon hers again.

She cupped his cheek in her hand, gently caressing it with her thumb. She stopped when Gaara started to stir beneath her touch. Hana watched as he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a couple of times, looking at her in disbelief.

"Hana?" he asked groggily. The blonde chuckled at him and nodded.

"I'm here Gaara," she told him softly. She started running her fingers through his crimson red hair. "Just go back to sleep." Gaara slowly nodded and closed his eyes.