The Order of a Demon

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

AN: Thank you all for the reviews/compliments. It certainly helped me type this chapter. I hope you like it!

Gaara stood leaning against the wall, watching the pale girl lying on the infirmary bed. She was wired up to several different machines. They were all beeping at different frequencies, and the sound of it was slightly driving Gaara crazy. The only machine he wanted beeping was the one that measured her heart rate, that was the only one that mattered.

"Lord Kazekage, may I speak with you?" asked the head doctor.

Gaara didn't remove his gaze from Hinata as he asked, "Isn't that what you are doing right not?"

"Um, well, yes, but," the doctor was never quite sure of how to act around the Kazekage. "The results of the tests have come in and I have new information on her condition."

Gaara wordlessly stood up and nodded. The doctor said, "If you would follow me."

The doctor led them into the nurses station several beds away. There was glass paneling, but Gaara could not see Hinata. The doctor gulped and took out some papers.

"The girl has sustained sufficient damage to the superior vena cava, which is causing internal bleeding. That's why she started coughing up blood. It's never good news when that happens. They usually don't have much time after that—"

Gaara glared at the doctor, who gulped again and dropped some papers. As he gathered the papers, he made a mental note never to give bad information to the Kazekage.

"We've tried to stabilize her, but there are several cuts on main veins and arteries. Whoever was trying to kill her knew what he was doing."

Gaara was giving the poor doctor his you're-going-to-be-dead look. The doctor looked at the papers, so he did not see the glare. He flipped to the back of one and cleared his throat.

"When the nurses were dressing her, they noticed some odd marks on her shoulder blades. They look like tattoos of some sort, but they're not from any ink that is familiar here. It's a set of three curved lines, the top one the biggest. They are joined together right over the point of the shoulder blade. They look like wings almost."

Gaara raised and eyebrowless eye as the doctor laughed nervously. A winged human, that was absurd. The only winged humans were angels, and everyone knew that they did not exist on this planet since it was so impure. The doctor saw the look that Gaara was giving him and stopped laughing immediately.

"We will keep you posted on her condition."

"What are her chances of survival?" Gaara asked coolly.

The doctor gulped; he hadn't wanted to tell Gaara this. "Ten to ninety."

"Against?"

"For." The doctor said, clutching the papers to his chest.

Gaara closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He'd love to kill the pitiful doctor standing in front of him, but this doctor was helping Hinata. If he killed him, another doctor might not be found in time. After several moments, Gaara opened his eyes and said in a level tone, "Thank you. You are dismissed."

The doctor bowed and scurried out of the room. The faster he got away from the Kazekage, the safer his life. He'd heard talk about the Kazekage's killing techniques. He didn't want to witness them first hand.

Gaara watched the doctor leave the room. Gaara suddenly felt so much older than his eighteen years. And so tired. Gaara turned to the wall and leaned his head against it. He would have liked to stay like that for a very long time, but he then realized that the beeps were getting slower. There was more space between them. That was not good.

Gaara half-ran out of the room and to her bedside. There were no doctors around. No nurses. Just him. How was he supposed to save a life? He was a murderer, a killer. Not a doctor or savior. Just a demon. A blood-thirsty demon.

Hinata walked through a dark forest. There were all manners of shinobi and creatures there, clawing at her. But, they never tried to pull her down. They just wanted to touch her it seemed like. Maybe they had never seen such a young girl here before.

Eventually, she reached a fork in the path. Each way looked just about the same. Neither one proclaimed where it would go. Hinata looked this way and that, trying to figure out which to take. When she found no clues, she decided to take the right path.

After several feet, Hinata came to a door. It wasn't fancy, but very plain. A normal Asian style sliding door. Hinata reached out to open the door, but she stopped in mid-action.

Her mother had once warned her: Never open a door in a dream. Hinata did not know why, but she sensed that something bad might happen if she opened the door. Yet, she wanted so dearly just to open the door and find out what was behind it.

After a long inner struggle, Hinata reached out again for the door. The hand that touched the door was shaking. Just as she braced herself to open the door, she felt warmth.

The warmth covered the hand that was not on the door. Like someone was holding her hand. She could feel warm breath against that side of her head. She heard a low, male voice saying something. Concentrating, she deciphered it.

"Return, angel. Do not journey any further, Hinata." The person who spoke was the demon from Sand, but he sounded different. Almost like he had a heart.

Hinata released the door handle and stepped back. Suddenly, the forest and its inhabitants were gone. Hinata was left standing alone. She felt warmth still…

Slowly, she opened her eyes. She heard several annoying beeping sounds. But, the more pressing issue was sitting next to her, holding her hand. A young man with crystal celadon eyes ringed in black, a 'love' tattoo on his forehead, and a shock of blood-red hair. Sabaku no Gaara.