Bruised Hearts (A Naruto Fan Fic)

Chapter 1

Hello and welcome to my new fic! I hope that some of you are reading my One Piece FF and no I'm not giving it up, I just am having major WB on how to write the chapter! (I have the ideas just not the words)! But to get my creativity flowing I have been reading other FF and a lot of the GaaxSak fics have given' me ideas! So here is the first chapter of a GaaxSak, romance/angst FF! Oh and pretty please R n' R! (The first couple of chapters might be a little short, fyi)!

Sabaku no Gaara was sitting at his desk with paperwork piled on all sides, boxing him into a personal hell. He seemed at ease with his pencil flashing across the papers filling them quickly and efficiently, but his sand betrayed him. Bubbling and twisting around his legs in an irritated manner which made almost everyone think that it was a sign that the Kazekage was in a fowl mood but truthfully, he was shattered. Broken, crumbling, like sand slowly falling out of your hand and to the ground. It had been 3 years and many people though the mighty Kazekage would be over that tragedy but truthfully, he wasn't. It tore at his bruised heart day and night, and he couldn't even get away from the thoughts by meditating, they always came back, clashing in his mind. Sometimes at night he would sit on the roof of his building until he couldn't recognize his body for his own. It hurt him so but he had to put on a brave face for the day so he put up a wall around his emotions and if someone egged him too much, his sand would do the rest. He mourned her; he was mourning her for 3 years.

Haruno, Sakura sat in Tsunade's office, head buried into a medical book. She read and read until her eyes we blurring and she could barely count her own fingers. Here in Kohana everyone knew of Sakura's anguish. Sauske, he never came back from trying to defeat his brother and Naruto, her husband, forever gone, forever more. She had grown a little quieter, a little sadder but she still tried to act normally around her friends; Ino, Hinata, Lee, Neji, and others but they all knew of her shattered glass heart. To rid herself of some of the pain she dedicated almost all of her life to her medical nin training. Before Naruto's death she taught a class on quick medical healing and learning how to identify ailments but after he passed away Sakura gave up the class, the children reminded her to much of his smiling face and eyes that expressed all of his emotions and love for her, and her only. 3 years since he died, 3 years since she had truly smiled, 3 years of being inside of The Hidden Leaf Village without leaving, 3 years since she had lost her love of life.

"Sakura?"

Sakura turned around from the heavy book too see the Hokage in the doorway holding a bottle and glass filled with Sake.

"You're going to have a horrible hangover tomorrow." Sakura stated observing the Hokage's barely perceptible wobble in her step.

"Mn." Tsunade mumbled and walked over to her chair, draining the Sake glass in her hand as she walked. "Oh yes!" Tsunade sat upright and looked at Sakura. We are assigning high-class medical nin to work in the other villages since they are a little short on medics and also, we hope, it will strengthen our alliances with them. We don't want a war on our hands do we? Well anyway, you are being assigned to a village, the Sand village."

Now it was Sakura's turn to sit up, closing the book in her lap.

"You haven't left this village in 3 years Sakura!" Tsunade sighed before Sakura could say a word in edgewise. "I know you have had a very hard life and these past 3 years have been horrible but you need to move on! I've let you practice your skill but now the village needs you." Tsunade took a breath and added, hoping Sakura would be okay, "Naruto, he wouldn't want you to sulk your life away, he would want you to live."

Sakura stood up and turned away from Tsunade to hide the tears on her cheeks, she still hated the feeling of being weak, especially before the Hokage. She stood in the office facing the wall, shoulders shuddering for what seemed like an eternity. She closed her eyes and the images of her teammates appeared before her, strong, brave, and also happy. They had been worse off than she was now but they still were always happy, in that way, she was still weaker than them. She turned around to face Tsunade.

"I'll go."

"The Hidden Leaf Village…" Gaara mumbled, looking at the ninja before him.

"Yes Kazekage-sama." The ninja, who was called Sobishi, said. "We have lost many medics on the field for the past couple of years and The Hidden Leaf village has lent us some of their finest, including the Hokage's own apprentice!"

"Who is he?"

"Uh…well you see…" Sobishi uttered afraid of saying anything that might tip the already annoyed Kazekage over the edge.

"Spit it out!" he barked at the frightened ninja.

"Her, her name is Haruno, Sakura! She will be arriving by the day after tomorrow at the latest!" Sobishi bowed deeply as he spoke.

Gaara kept his calm demeanor but at the name of the girl he twitched and the pencil in his hand snapped into two pieces. "Go." he said and Sobishi quickly and quietly left the room in a puff of smoke. Gaara closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, 'Her? She was the Hokage's apprentice? Before now she couldn't even lift a finger to help her team, she was weak. Has she improved that much?' he thought then looked at the half of a pencil in his hand absently and set it down on the desk. What did she matter to him? Nothing.

"You're leaving?" Ino uttered in surprise as Sakura sat on her bed with Hinata.

"Yes, Tsunade's orders. I have to go work in The Hidden Sand Village for the time being." Sakura said hugging the pillow to her chest. She wouldn't have told them but they had come over to visit and saw her knapsack out and demanded to know about what was going on.

Hinata smiled brightly at Sakura, little did Sakura know but she seemed a slight bit happier than she had been for a long time. "I hope it goes well for you Sakura."

"Thanks Hinata." Sakura smiled lightly.

"What about me? Hello?" Ino said waving her arm in Sakura's face.

"You too Ino." She said then stood up. "Now I have to pack I'll see you guys when I get back from the village. If anyone asks where I am you can tell them."

"Alright Sakura." Ino said and pulled Hinata towards the door. As they were leaving her apartment Hinata said very quietly, "Be careful."

Sakura walked back into her room and opened her closet door taking out her ninja attire. She had decided that she needed a change in attire from her usual cherry-red dress so she had bought a new outfit. She slipped on the black dress of the same style as her old one. On the right side a pink cherry blossom was sewn onto the fabric and a pink cross on the back identifying her as a medical nin. She tied up her now long pink hair in a bun with a few pieces framing her face. She sat down on her bed and began wrapping bandages around her thighs and hands. As she carefully hung her leaf headband around her neck a hard knock came from the door. Sakura stood up and walked towards the persistent knock and opened the door to see Neji and a horrified Lee.

"Sakura!" Lee cried, "You are leaving me!" He was going to run to her but was cut short since Neji had a hold of a tuft of Lee's hair.

"You look lovely Sakura." Neji complemented which sent a blush to Sakura's cheeks, then he explained, "My cousin told me about your long term mission and Lee ran as fast as he could over here but now we can see that you were getting ready to go, so we will leave you to it." he said adding a bite to the last part of his statement for Lee's benefit.

"I am truly sorry for my rudeness Sakura. It was rude of me. I just wish it wasn't such a long term mission." Lee said as Neji let go of his hair and wiped his hand on his pants.

"How much gel do you put in your hair Lee?" Neji asked disdainfully which earned him an icy glare from his partner which made Sakura giggle slightly and smile her sad smile that she had grown accustomed to use as her own.

"We'll be leaving now." Neji stated grabbing Lee's arm and dragging him away from Sakura's apartment.

"Bye!" Sakura said and closed the door, walking back towards her room. Another knock stopped her in her tracks. "What now?" she mumbled and walked towards the door again. She opened it saying, "No Lee, I am not…" her voice trailed off when she saw Naruto standing in the doorway.

"I'm proud of you Sakura." He said not moving from his position in the doorway.

"Naruto..?" Sakura blinked and he was still there. Suddenly she threw herself at him and sank to the floor trying to hold him in her arms. When she opened her eyes to see his face again all she saw was her own body, on the floor, all alone. Her eyes welled up with tears, but she stood up from her position on the floor and walked back into her room grabbing her bag of medical supplies. Then she slipped on her shoes and walked out in to the cold night, to The Village Hidden In The Sand.

Hey! End of chapter 1. Don't worry; the fluff will come when the time is right. Not yet, oh no, too soon. Well I do hope you are enjoying this fic and PLEASE R n' R. It means a whole lot to meh. ;) You guys rock.

Keep It Real

Silent Whisperer