Hey Guys! this is my first everrrr multiple chapter story! So please go easy on me and leave me reviews with your feedback! I love this pairing and I've read so brilliant fanfic about them in the past, so I decided to write my own! ENJOY!

- Just a small side note to help you while you read:

"..." = Saying out loud

'...' = Thinking/ Saying in the head

'hime' = Japanese term for 'princess'

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto.

Gaara's eyes widened. He had found her.

The fair skinned women lay lifeless by the side of the path in the desolate and dry area between Suna and Konoha, her raven hair rested over her face that was slightly tilted towards the direction of Gaara, as if she had been trying her very best to stay awake for him, to wait for him.. But just couldn't. Making his way ever more hastily towards the girl, Gaara's heart wrenched and his stomach churned and his knees grew weaker with each painful step. As he reached her, his joints gave way; he fell to his knees with a thud beside her, in a pool of crimson liquid. His left hand reached behind her head as he gently lifted her up towards him, 'who could have done a thing to such an angel?' he thought bitterly as the word 'Hinata.' slipped through his lips in a regretful whisper.

While desperately fighting back tears, Gaara wiped the blood from his fiancée's beaten face as he cradled her in his muscular arms. Gaara had always had a lust for another person's blood; it was almost like a drug to him. But something about Hinata's blood hurt him deeply; this was blood that should never be spilled. He planted a kiss on her forehead as his right arm came under her knees and he lifted her with one firm, yet delicate swoop. He turned, cradling Hinata in his arms to the squad that had accompanied him, who were just coming from out of the tree line. "GET ME A MEDIC!" Gaara roared as he watched some of the Suna's finest medics cut through the small crowd of shinobi, who had stopped in their tracks at the sight of the Kazekage's motionless betrothed.

"Will she be okay?!" growled the obviously deeply concerned blonde haired girl, who was dressed in a black and red patterned kimono.

"Well, Tamari-sama, don't take me lightly when I say Hinata-sama was seriously injured. Her condition is stable for now, but the only problem is that we don't yet know just how serious her internal injuries are." Replied the hospital wards head doctor in a confident and reassuring tone. However Temari could see the fear in his eyes.

"Well, FIND OUT THEN!" Temari hissed as she swung her body round the face the other direction and marched away.

"Typical Temari, lashing out at other people when she's worried." Shikamaru chuckled to himself as he hoisted himself up from his chair and walked calmly over to the woman who was now facing the wall with her face buried in her hands. "C'mon Tem, what happened to the strong and feisty woman I married, ay? " He said with a smile as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Temari swung round and lunged towards her husband, hugging him tightly and burying her face as much into his chest as she possibly could. This surprised Shikamaru and usually when his wife lurches towards him it's to hit him for being 'irritating'. But this time was different, much different. Temari barely ever shows her weaknesses. Yet here she was, sobbing into in his arms.

"You don't understand Shikamaru, you don't understand the shit Gaara has had to put up with all his life," Temari muttered in a quivering voice, "he was rejected by everyone. The villagers, even his own family! He had to suffer while this demon was inside of him; everyone feared him. He has always been alone." Shikamaru's grip tightened as he felt his wife's emotional pain serge through his own body.

"She was the only one to have loved him, Shikamaru. The only person in this whole entire world not to fear him for what he had done. He can't lose her. It would break him. It would break my little brother into a million pieces."

Shikamaru thought for a moment as he gently held his wife by her shoulders and pushed her away from his body and looked deep into her eyes. Temari hated when he did this, he was the only person she had ever met who could read her like a book. So when he looked into her eyes as deeply as this with that look of concentration on his face she could almost feel him unpicking her brain and scanning her heart.

After a tense few seconds, Temari broke the eye contact by sharply turning her head to the side and closing her eyes. Shikamaru laughed inwardly (being able to tell what is wife was thinking), he loosened his grip of her and brought her into his arms again. "And you don't understand that I've known Hinata for as long as I can remember. She's a hell of a lot tougher than you think." He whispered into his wife's ear as he felt her muscles loosen in his arms as she began to relax. That's all she needed to hear.

Okay so that was a tense opening chapter! Don't worry, everything will become clearer once the next chapters are up!