This is a revamp of a poor story that was forgotten in the midst of broken computers, writers block, and time getting away from me.

Hopefully it turns out better than the last.

"Sakura?" Naruto ran up to the village gate to face his longtime friend. She turned to him, eyes hardened and cold, watching him with a stare he wasn't so accustomed to and wasn't so sure he liked. "Sakura, where are you going?" He was worried about her, that was true. The first time he sees her in five days and she's leaving.

"Shut it, Naruto. I know what I'm doing. Leave me alone." Naruto wavered in taking a step closer to her, his eyes incredibly hurt. He'd never heard Sakura talk to anyone like that, especially not him. Her voice was colder and more hollow than he'd ever heard it.

"I just want to know where you're going, Sakura." His voice was soft and a soft shudder ran through him. It was like the temperature was five degrees colder around Sakura and he didn't know what to do to make it ok.

"I've got a coin," she began, pulling it out from underneath her cloak, "Heads, I'm going to Suna. Tails I'm going to Ame." She flipped the coin, not even letting Naruto say a word, not even giving him enough time to intervene.

Naruto caught the coin one-handed, staring at the face without hesitation. "Heads," he said. Then, as if he didn't quite remember it was hers, he tucked the coin into his pocket. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, but she didn't stop him and neither did she care. Just as she turned and was about to jump off into the trees, Naruto lurched forward and grabbed her wrist. She pulled away from him quickly, although his touch had burned her.

"What, Naruto?" She was becoming angry now. He had no right to stop her from doing what she wanted. She was a grown woman and he couldn't just sit around and treat her like a little kid anymore. It wasn't okay.

"You can't just leave without telling Tsunade," Naruto began, his voice rough and anger tightly reigned in. "You know she'll send someone after you to bring you back home." Naruto would love it if it would be him. He'd bring Sakura back home, where she belongs, not in some vast desert surrounded by people she barely knew. Sakura fixed him with that cold stare, and he shuddered when he detected something else in her eyes. She looked like she wanted to die.

"Tsunade knows I'm leaving Naruto. If she didn't, then I wouldn't be leaving so easily, would I?" Sakura gestured to the gates behind her, where the guards were watching Naruto warily, but didn't seem to be giving Sakura any sort of trouble. They'd went through the papers and she was ready to go. Now, if only Naruto would get through his thick head and leave her alone, that's all she needed to get away from the torturous memories that haunted her every living moment.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto turned and ran, not even sparing a goodbye or any other word to Sakura. She shook her head, turning to leap off into the treeline. She knew that this was for the best and it would all be okay in the end. Sakura would make it okay, even if she had to find a way to end all the pain. She simply couldn't stay in her hometown any longer. The pain of the memories of someone now lost plagued her every waking moment and gave her nightmares when she tried to go to sleep.

"Granny Tsunade!" Naruto came busting into the Hokage's office. The presiding Hokage wasn't too happy about this, since she'd have to find another replacement door, mainly because the idiot ninja in front of her could barely hold himself back from breaking it down each and every time he wanted to talk to her. This time, he seemed angry.

"What, Naruto?" Tsunade shot at him, her eyes spearing him right through. Naruto stopped short of her desk, not expecting her open hostility. He had to have known that Sakura was running away from Konoha, Tsunade decided. Why else would he come bursting into her office at eleven in the morning? The idiot ninja was usually asleep by noon.

"Sakura said that you know she's leaving Konoha!" Naruto shouted, seemingly at the top of his lungs. Tsunade resisted the urge to throw her hands into her forehead to try and quell the ache he gave her. She sighed. She knew this was coming at some point, but she'd hoped Sakura could have gotten away without Naruto finding out beforehand. She didn't know what to say to him now, other than the cold, hard truth.

"Haven't you noticed anything wrong with Sakura, Naruto?" Tsunade's voice was steadily rising, her anger at the entire situation showing through. "She hasn't been eating. She looks like a skeleton in her work clothes and even her training outfit! She doesn't even leave her house unless she's needed at the hospital and she's stopped sleeping as well." Or sleeping too much, Tsunade wanted to add. Sakura had been late for several shifts at the hospital because she didn't have the motivation to get out of the bed in the morning.

"Why do you think she's acting like that?" Naruto asked, taking a seat in front of his leader. Tsunade was happy that he seemed to calm down some, at least. Tsunade sighed and shook her head.

"Having your fiance shot down in front of you and being unable to save him does that to some people, Naruto." Tsunade's voice hadn't been condescending in the least. She hadn't been sarcastic or mean about it. It was simply the truth. Sakura hadn't been able to save her fiance and she was taking his death harder than the rest of them, that was simply how it was.

"I thought she moved on from that," Naruto said softly. "It's been three months and she always said she was fine..." his soft voice trailed off and Tsunade felt for him, knowing it would be the hardest for Naruto to understand why she left. He thought himself like her brother, and the fact that he couldn't stop her from leaving would eat him from the inside out for weeks. Tsunade wished there was something she could say or do to make him feel better.

"Naruto, you know Sakura. She doesn't like other people worrying over her. Whatever she's trying to find, let's hope she finds it so she can come home and we don't have to worry anymore," Tsunade's voice was just as soft as Naruto's, trying to find a way to console him. Naruto only stared at her, that hopelessness in his eyes that she'd grown accustomed to seeing in a lot of people's eyes as of late.

"Yeah, I know. I just wish she could have found it here." Tsunade nodded, agreeing with him.

"Anyway, do you know where she went?" Tsunade didn't have an answer for that from Sakura yet, and she'd doubted she would until Sakura arrived wherever she'd been running to. Naruto shrugged, fingering the coin he'd stolen off of her.

"She's going to Suna. She flipped a coin."

"Ah." Tsunade pulled out a scrap of paper and scribbled on it, calling a messenger hawk. Placing it carefully in the compartment, she told it where it needed to go. With a high pitched shriek that broke both Tsunade's and Naruto's ears, the hawk was off and away. Tsunade hoped it would reach Suna before Sakura. She rose from her seat. "I could use some lunch. Ramen on me?" she offered. She wanted to make Naruto feel better and she was quite hungry.

"Sure." Naruto gave her a halfhearted smile and rose from his seat. He was still worried about Sakura and he wasn't quite sure how to handle this situation. He'd thought he'd made it clear to her that he was always there for her, but she still decided to run away from all of her problems to do hell-knows-what in Suna.

Sakura leaped from tree to tree, keeping up her grueling pace although she was already tired. Her habits as of late weren't well nourishing to her and her speed and energy were low. She still traveled twice the pace of a normal shinobi, hoping to reach the midway point by nightfall. There was a small town there and she would be safe. She couldn't survive on her own out in the woods all night. Since she was so weak, she'd barely be able to fight back.

Sakura looked behind her, knowing she couldn't see her hometown anymore. She sighed. Leaving that place was harder to do than she'd let Naruto believe. She'd lived there her entire life and had left her friends and family, thinking it a better idea to be away for a while. Maybe she was right and that entire maybe was why she'd left. She couldn't live anymore, dwelling on the memories of the past and letting them consume her.

She looked to the left and the right, even above her, heightening her senses and making sure there was no one nearby. It was dangerous traveling alone, she knew that, but she still couldn't ask someone to go with her only for them to go back alone. She'd be putting their lives on the line as well and the medic in her rebelled against that notion. Sighing, she pushed herself to increase her pace and before nightfall she'd found the small town at the midway point. Once a large campsite for ninjas of all other tribes to gather amicably and protect each other during the night, it slowly grew and built up over time.

"Can I get a room?" Sakura had hopped off to the nearest motel, not caring where she slept for the night. The seedy man behind the counter looked her up and down and smiled at her, though she didn't return it. She didn't like this man at all.

"If you help me out, I'll take half off the room," the man said suggestively. Sakura glared at him, that hard icy glare she'd become accustomed to using around other people as of late. She thought him disgusting and wished he had never proposed that.

"I'll pay twice as much if you leave me alone," Sakura said, low and rough as she leaned against the counter. Her eyes were dangerous and she flashed a concealed kunai at him as an intimidation tactic. The tactic seemed to work because his eyes grew wide.

"I-I'm sorry, please, t-take the room. It's f-free," Sakura smirked and took the key. Civilians were so easy to scare when they didn't know how to fight. That stupid buffoon probably didn't even have any basic martial arts skills. Sakura yawned loudly and shoved the key into the room, opening it only to lock it quickly behind her. Sighing, she flopped down on the bed and buried in the pillows, trying to get rest after pushing herself so hard.

"Why didn't you save me?" his face, torn apart by the battle, mangled and beyond recognition asked her, his voice too rough and burnt. Sakura felt the tears come and she found herself on the ground beside him, a picture-perfect display of when she'd been trying to save him.

"I tried," Sakura said. No sound came from her throat as she tried to speak and the tears increased tenfold. She wished this would end, all of this would end.

"Why didn't you save me?" the ruined voice grew louder and the mangled man she'd loved rose in front of her, staring down at her with anger sparking behind the eyes that were no longer there. Sakura felt the tears increase tenfold and the ice in her heart reaching out to other places inside of her. Soon she would be all ice, she believed.

"I'm sorry!" Again, no sound came out.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE ME?!"

Sakura shot awake, thrusting her hands into her hair. She was still crying, she found, and she couldn't help the sobs from wrenching themselves from her throat. She sat in the middle of the bed and cried for hours into her knees, whispering "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," over and over again, clutching at the necklace hanging loosely from her neck. It was the only thing she had left from him: their engagement ring. When she'd come back from that bloody battle, she stopped wearing it, stringing it around her neck instead.

In the morning, Sakura pulled herself from the fetal position and stretched, trying to get some of the tightness and soreness out of her limbs. She picked up her pack and ran out the door, down the stairs, and left the key for the room on the counter, the foreman not even there yet. She didn't care. She had to get on her way and get to Suna before nightfall.

As she began to run, the dream from last night reverberated through her head with every footfall. Sakura shut her eyes tightly, trying her hardest to forget the words the mangled form of her fiance had yelled at her. Tears sprang to her eyes again and she shook them off, pushing herself harder, going faster, trying to run away from all the memories.

Sakura didn't like being haunted by this. It was her greatest failure and she wasn't so sure what to do anymore than to run away. She couldn't eat, the nightmares kept her awake at night and when they didn't she found herself sleeping an entire day away. She couldn't find anything to interest her any more, not even work, and she simply sat in her house, staring at a wall all day. Tsunade had finally noticed and suggested she find some time away from her hometown.

Sakura felt some sense of relief blossom in her chest when Suna came into view in the late afternoon. She was getting tired and her chest was beginning to hurt from her overexertion. She didn't allow herself to stop, however, until she came face to face with Suna's guards. They observed her quietly, wondering what a Konoha ninja was doing so far away from her home.

"Hey, Sakura!" Sakura turned to see Temari walking towards the gate, a large smile on her face. Sakura didn't say anything, merely watched her come closer. Temari was slightly taken aback at the outright hostility Sakura was displaying towards her, knowing this isn't usually how Sakura acted. Temari only smiled and gestured towards the street. "Gaara told me to come and get you."

"Okay," Sakura nodded and began to follow Temari down the streets of a town she knew nothing about. She kept her head down, trying not to be noticed by the other villagers. She didn't want to be seen by them and she didn't want them talking about her every moment of the day. Things like that were simply exhausting.

"Gaara's happy that you came here. He doesn't really show it, so don't be scared if he doesn't really say it. He's been expecting your arrival," Temari was happy Sakura was here, she really was, but she could see there was an underlying reason for Tsunade sending her. It wasn't every day that Tsunade would send her most treasured and prized student to their village just to train some medic ninja who had the skill of a squirrel.

"I didn't think anyone knew I was coming," Sakura said, her tone dead and flat. A worried crease formed in Temari's brow. She wasn't used to this form of Sakura. Usually she was all smiles and giggles, waving off the trivial things and getting right down to business when she needed to. Now all she seemed was hollow.

"A hawk arrived earlier today," Temari shrugged. Sakura remembered seeing a hawk fly overhead and the passing thought of what it was doing. Sakura didn't react and followed Temari into a large building and up several steps to the top, where she figured Gaara's office was. Temari seemed to run away the moment Sakura opened the door to come face to face with a man that once almost killed her. He was writing at his desk and it was almost enough to make Sakura laugh. She never thought she'd see Gaara doing something like paperwork.

"Yes Temari?"

"Not Temari," Sakura matched his icy tone. There was a slight surprise in Gaara's eyes when he looked up at her, not expecting the pink haired girl to be in his village already. He hadn't been expecting her for another day in a half.

"Ah. Sorry about that. Wasn't expecting you so soon."

"Had a feeling," Sakura flopped down on the couch near his desk, her arms clasped neatly in her lap and one leg over the other.

"You're going to be teaching our medics how to heal properly," Gaara said, pulling a file from underneath a pile of papers, leaning forward to hand it to her. Sakura flipped through it, looking lazily at all the files and how much they all sucked ass. "I have a room we used to use to practice with herbs. It has several tables, large enough to lay out your dummies." Sakura scoffed. She hated those dummies. She thought she never had to see one again.

"Anything else?" She stood and was thinking of where she would stay tonight.

"Your sleeping quarters."

"And?" Sakura was quickly becoming bored. She wished Gaara would just come out with it. He stood and walked towards her, coming nearly too close to her. "Hey—wha-what are you doing?!" Sakurra immediately became defensive, trying to move backwards and put space between the two of them. Gaara sighed and grasped her wrist, momentarily stunned by what he felt there. Old scars, barely healed scratches, and deep cuts marred her wrist.

"Just hold on, will you?" her abrasiveness was getting the better of his temper. Gaara pulled her towards him, trying to put the thought of what he'd found out of his head. Gaara held onto her wrist and transported them. He found Sakura moving closer to him until her face was buried in his shoulder. She was scared. The sand fell away and Gaara looked about the room, knowing it was his bedroom. It was the most familiar place to him and so his sand always transported him here when he wanted to come home. Sakura looked around the room.

"Um?"

"You can stay in here. It's in my home." Gaara didn't know why he said it. He closed his eyes and opened them, looking around the room. He didn't let her know that it was his room. He didn't let her know that he barely came home to sleep and he kept that couch in his office so if he needed to find a couple hours for a nap. "Bathroom's through there," he pointed, "and kitchen's downstairs. I'll bring you something to eat tonight. There's nothing in there right now." His sand began to wind around him to transport him back to the office.

"Gaara, wait!" Sakura lunged forward and grabbed his hand, trying to tell him to wait a moment. Gaara flinched and pulled his hand roughly away from hers. There was a look of hurt in Sakura's eyes, one that he possibly couldn't miss, and he wondered why. Everyone knew he had an aversion to other people and their touch was no different.

What?" He asked, his tone flat. She looked up at him, her eyes still incredibly hurt, and she looked like she was about to start crying. Gaara sighed. "Really, Sakura, what?"

"You'll be back soon, right?" she bit her lip as she looked up at him. She didn't want to be alone and Gaara didn't know why she let her cold exterior fall away for this. Was she lonely? Did she want comfort? If she wanted comfort, he was the wrong person to turn to.

"Yes." He answered her and then he was gone. Sakura looked around the spacious room and sighed. When was being alone going to get easier? She headed for the bathroom and took a quick shower, then laid down in bed though she knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep much. She laid on her stomach and pushed her face into the pillow, breathing in the unfamiliar scent of cinnamon and sandalwood.

Gaara sighed, taking a look up at the clock from his paperwork. He supposed he should get back to see how Sakura was doing. He sighed. He really didn't like babysitting other people because something terrible happened to them. Look at him. He'd had a demon stuck inside of him for fifteen years and he didn't complain much. He was a crazy psychotic killer, but at least he didn't go lording it over everyone that his life sucked.

On his way home, he stopped by a restaurant he particularly liked and ordered some ramen for the both of them. He knew she didn't particularly like it, mostly because Naruto fed it to her like it was manna from heaven, but he figured she wouldn't complain if he brought her something to eat. He left the restaurant and transported himself to his room, finding Sakura asleep on the bed.

Asleep was the easiest way to explain it, though.

Sakura tossed and turned, making a complete mess of his sheets and pillows. Tears streamed down her face and muffled words came from her mouth. She was biting down on her wrist, and all he could hear was "I'm sorry!" over and over and over again. He silently approached his bed, not knowing what to do, and stared down at her.

"Sakura." She didn't wake. "Sakura, wake up, you're having a nightmare," he reached forward to shake her awake, but she didn't stir from the nightmare. She whimpered when he touched her. He grabbed her shoulders and lifted her off the bed, trying to shake her. Tears dripped from her face and connected with his hands. He dropped her, as though burned. He looked at her, not knowing what to do. He couldn't call his siblings either, not unless he wanted this painted all over the newspapers.

Looking down, he grasped for Sakura's hand. Her hold tightened on him almost immediately and she stopped screaming, though tears still streamed down her face. She still writhed on his bed, twisting and turning and making it hard to hold onto her. His other hand drifted towards her shoulder and he pulled her up onehanded, sliding underneath her and laying her back down on his chest. He couldn't fucking believe that he was doing this.

The girl seemed to quiet the moment he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her. He leaned back against his messed pillows, his arms cradling her not too comfortably. She didn't stir, though. She readjusted in her sleep, pressing her face into his shoulder and falling into the crook of his arm. At least he found himself more comfortable. He didn't like the intimacy of this position or the thought that this girl would lose her temper once she woke and her rage would be pointed at him.

"Neji..." her voice was a soft murmur.

That's who she thought he was. He knew she was engaged and he wondered where her fiance was anyways. He should be holding her like this in the middle of a nightmare and Gaara was quite disgruntled that he had to do it instead. The girl hiccuped and Gaara found himself rubbing the space between her shoulders.

"Sakura?" He tried to wake her again, jostling her a little. She didn't wake and he wondered the last time she slept. Sakura was a shinobi, trained to wake up at a moment. If she was this deeply asleep, she must be bone-dead tired. He drifted his fingertips along her shoulders and upper arms. Underneath a thin layer of muscle, she was very bony. Since when did she eat last? Carefully disconnecting himself from her, he went to her pack to poke around.

There wasn't any food in it. Nothing that a shinobi should carry around. She had some extra weapons, a small pouch of money, and her small tent. Gaara frowned, wondering if she'd even eaten in the past two days. He heard a whimper from his bed and he sighed. Where was a fiance when you needed him?

Gaara rose and went back to her, sliding into his bed and wrapping his arms around her. If this is what calmed her, then so be it. He couldn't go calling anyone else when she would be in the paper the next morning, her personal life displayed for everyone to see. He knew now that Sakura wasn't well off. The difference in her demeanor and the fact that she felt like a walking skeleton told him that. He couldn't let her leave his home and let the others judge her until she gained a little weight. He didn't know if he could deal with it, but he didn't think Tsunade would be happy with him if he let her reputation get trashed.

Sakura began to murmur something under her breath and Gaara strained his ears to hear her. "I'm sorry..." She pushed herself deeper into Gaara's embrace, settling herself into that space again, making him much more comfortable. This was new to him, holding a girl. She was so small and seemed so fragile at the moment. She kept murmuring those words under her breath and she would try and push herself closer from time to time. Gaara stared up at the ceiling, willing for the time to go by a little more quickly.

A little while later, Gaara found that his arm was falling asleep. He tried to pull away from Sakura, but she clung onto him with a strength he didn't know she still had inside her. He sighed, trying to find a way to make this work to his advantage. Turning on his side, he found blood returning to his arm, but Sakura was jostled and she couldn't find that same place against him. Her eyes began to open, enough for her to turn on her side and push back against him, molding her body against his.

Gaara had been hoping that she was going to wake, but her eyes fluttered closed the moment she found herself comfortable and Gaara found himself trapped again. His arm was underneath her neck and she held onto the arm that was against his stomach. He knew pulling away from her would be more difficult and she looked like she needed sleep. Sighing, he stared out the window above her head, deciding that, maybe, he should let himself sleep. He wasn't getting out of this situation any time soon it seemed.

He heard Sakura mutter a soft "I tried," before he let himself fall into the black void of his dreamless sleep.