Sasuke dashed into the hallway, eyes hunting for the nearest doctor. When he found none, he fell onto his back-up plan. Skidding down the hall he sprinted for the lobby. The desk could page Sakura, Sakura could take him to Gaara and it would be fine - Sasuke reassured himself under the idea that Laili was one tough broad.

Twisting hallways, doadging stretchers and nurses for a shinobi this was no problem. Though Sasuke probably did cause some heartattacks when he took to running on the ceiling to cut his time down. When he reached the hallway leading to the lobby he flipped down to the ground and continued running.

How do you kidnap the Kazekage in the middle of a hospital full of his shinobi? His temper flared bright for a second, someone tried to kill Gaara and not 2 days later they kidnapped him?

He latched one hand onto the corner and used that to pull himself to a stop," Ginso," he addressed pretty much every nurse or orderly by their name now, he knew everyone so well. Ginso was a full 2 years younger then him, but he worked harder then people older then Sasuke," I need to find Sakura right now please."

Ginso nodded, his head ducking into his frail shoulders when Sasuke spoke to him and scurried off. Ginso, who used to be such a confident guy, got beaten to hell by his own brother - at this Sasuke couldn't help but bristle - and put in the hospital. Gaara and Sasuke spent the whole night talking through what happened with him. The image of a 16 year old kid sobbing in fear whenever someone came too close to him was burned in Sasuke's head.

"Here she comes," Ginso smiled at him softly and Sasuke threw in a small compliment along with his thank you. He knew it came out quickly, and he likely looked at a mess, but Sasuke really couldn't bring himself to care. Gaara had been taken without his knowledge.

The pink haired woman ran into the hall, and seeing Sasuke nodded her understanding, no words were needed. Gaara wasn't in his room, Laili wasn't there either. Panic was running hot, after sitting vigil with Gaara for as long as Sasuke had been, the one time he goes outside Gaara disappears. Sakura figured she'd freak out too.

Sasuke's usually calm composure was invisible, his eyes were bright and hectic, and Sakura could just barely make out a twinge of red underneath that onyx. So beneath all that panic he's mad, Sakura concluded, mad because someone moved Gaara? Why does Sasuke care about Gaara, he's never cared about anyone like this, except maybe Naruto.

"Come with me," she gripped his hand in hers and ran down the hall, Sasuke hot on her heels, keeping up on her right flank, the same place she used to stand when he was the genin leader of their little three-man cell so long ago. They arrived at quarantine and Sakura pointed.

Behind a wall of glass an inch thick, still fast asleep was the Kazekage of Suna, several doctors crowding around him. Sticking needles into his arms, with every prick Sasuke flinched. Immediately Sasuke's gaze flicked to security, two ANBU by the door, and one in the far corner of Gaara's room. Seems safe. Besides all the glass.

Sasuke paled when he looked at Gaara. His lip was bleeding, but it was ripped to shreds, so Sasuke chalked that up to a nightmare. He was thin, even for him. Gaara had began dropping weight really easily when he lost Shukaku, especially when he trained or went on missions. Gaara didn't care, in fact he'd laugh about it and say," Ah well, I suppose I'll just eat like Choji when I get back to Suna."

But now Gaara was thin enough to see his ribs. He was so pale, but he was sweating like he had a fever. Sasuke glanced away for a second, regretting it instantly and turned back.

"What's wrong with him," the question wasn't meant to be voiced, but Sasuke's tired voice, under-used or over-used Sakura wasn't sure, rang out in the deafening silence of the hallway.

Sasuke lifted one hand to the glass and placed it flat. Sakura sighed, gripped his shoulder and shook her head," We don't know."

Sasuke scowled when he saw someone pumping pain meds through Gaara's system," Sakura take him off the morphine. If anything is keeping him asleep that stuff is, and he's healed, he's not in pain except what his head is telling him he's feeling."

Sakura nodded and through the intercom told the nurses not to give Gaara any more morphine. Sasuke thanked her then spotted the beginnings of a nightmare when Gaara's hand tensed into a fist. Even in sleep Gaara seemed to be capable of preparing himself for blow after blow to his already damaged psyche.

In a second Sasuke was inside, having ran through the door and through the security faster then most shinobi ever could. The speed training that Orochimaru and Akatsuki put him through paid off, Sakura thought as she waved the guards off him. Sasuke was at Gaara's side in a second, placing one hand on the redhead's sweat-soaked forehead and murmuring something in his ear. All the nurses stared at Sakura for instruction and she waved them off too.

One of the nurses stumbled back at something and when Sakura threw her a questioning glance she spoke," All that chakra."

Sakura could plainly see that Laili wasn't impressed with Sasuke just running in, yet she wasn't speaking out about it. Murmuring absently, and almost to herself, Sakura voiced a question," What the hell is going on with you Sasuke?"

She didn't expect any answer, and didn't receive one from anyone. She ran one hand through her pink hair and pushed it out of her bangs and tied it back. Her emerald eyes sparkled with questions and curiousty sat brimming on her very fingertips.

Laili ,who had been the first one to scrub down so she could get in to see Gaara and stay with him, approached on Gaara's unoccupied side and began murmuring in his other ear. Laili however unlike Sasuke talked loud enough to be heard.

"Gaara, it's Laili, you're in the hospital right now and it's killing everyone to see you like this. You've got to fight these things off, fight through the nightmares. Where's the confidence I saw when you were young, remember, when you fought Deidara away from the village even at the cost of your life?"

"Gaara, please."

"Gaara, wake up."

"Gaara, fight."

One by one, the nurses inside began calling out to their sleeping leader, and all of them gasped when Gaara's hand relaxed and his face fell into a calm. Sakura hesitated though, was this actually a calm, or merely the calm before the storm?

Sasuke's hand moved, going from Gaara's forehead to Gaara's hand," Please, if you can hear me. Try to tell me, I know you can feel me damnit now prove it," Sasuke finally allowed himself to be heard and then broke into a grin when Gaara squeezed his hand weakly.

"He can feel us at least, or feel us enough to know Sasuke's there," Laili turned to face Sakura with bright, joyful tears in her eyes. Sasuke shook his head however and Laili's face fell.

Sasuke was never kind, and he never would be Sakura thought. He didn't care about people's feelings, Laili had been overjoyed with the idea that Gaara could feel them, Sasuke was just the kind of person to easily dash that hope without a second thought.

"Well that's not it precisely. He can't feel me, he can feel my chakra. I'm routing enough into him to force him to either accept or reject it. Accepting it lets him feel me or my presence, rejecting it forces his system to wake itself up. Obviously, Gaara isn't ready to wake up, so now he can feel me but only me," Sasuke shrugged and quickly stopped a nurse from pulsing her chakra," No, you don't have enough, the amount of chakra I'm routing into him is roughly 86% of yours."

Sakura sighed. Sasuke Uchiha was exactly the kind of man who would risk something as dangerous as a chakra depletion to get someone to be capable of noticing him. Apparently if he was going to attempt it though, he wanted to do it for Gaara. Again the question of why ran straight to Sakura's head. Why was Sasuke trying something as risky as that, for what he didn't mention was that if Gaara's system rejected him Sasuke would be the one in the coma, for Gaara?

"Ah, thank you for protecting me Sasuke-san," the nurse smiled and Sasuke almost appeared...embarrassed? He looked away and let his hair fall in his face, sitting on the bed with his back to the woman.

"All I did was state facts," he muttered to himself. Laili smirked and clapped his shoulder. He scoffed at her and scowled, all the while keeping his grip on Gaara's hand," If I may, can you guys clear the room, I need to meditate but I'm not leaving him alone. Seeing as I'm the only one who knows everything about him, right down to the medical stuff. I hope you will accept my opinion that it should be me."

Sakura paused, stared at the last living Uchiha and smiled," You've changed Sasuke," when he looked up confusion - an emotion he never would have shown as a child or teen - was written clearly on his still gorgeous features. Sakura smiled, emotionally Sasuke had changed ( for the better she had to believe ) but physically Sasuke had grown taller, more defined, he was still the Adonis from her childhood ideals.

"Sakura," Sasuke began to question her but she turned and barked for everyone to get out. The question fell on deaf ears when Sasuke finally managed to voice," have I really changed?"

Sasuke grabbed the table normally used for holding bowls, medical tools and blood soaked clothing that put the patients at risk for infection, tugged it to Gaara's bedside and hopped on top of it. He closed his eyes, rested one hand on top of Gaara's bare chest, right where his heart was and began his meditation.

Consciously Sasuke was aware of nothing. Subconsciously Sasuke was aware of everything. Every beat of both his and Gaara's hearts was a drum pounding in his head. Every beep on Gaara's heart monitor rang in his ears like a shrill whistle blown too hard. Every thought on display, every motion too slow. Everything was there. Sasuke always thought that his subconscious mind worked the same way Shikamaru's conscious mind did. Operating on every level instead of one Shikamaru could do everything and nothing at the same time.

Sasuke always thought it was frightening how though he knew he was grounded to the table, he felt as though he was underneath water, the resistance slowing his movements, but making he himself lighter then air, capable of merely drifting through his own mind.

Everything has to add up somehow...

Someone set the fire, how did they go about it....

Where in the ruins would the 3rd floors remains be....

Gaara please, we work better as a team and I need your guidance right now....

Sasuke's thoughts spun around him, almost to fast for him to grasp but he reached out and clung to the last thought he heard," Need his guidance?" He faced himself and frowned," What does that mean? I've never needed help before."

In Sasuke's head, he'd created a second him. Not bound by emotion at all, couldn't feel enough of them to be attached. This 'Sasuke' was logic and Sasuke often drew on his own logic to figure out problems.

The person Sasuke had named Uchiha, unable to conjure up a better name for himself smiled smugly," That was before. This is now."

The two of him fell through Sasuke's mind, fell deeper into the water. Ironic that his mind made him feel submerged when his element was just the opposite. He gasped for air and gulped it down when he finally felt he could breath again.

"See this," Uchiha motioned around him," All this? This is why you need the Kazekage. This is the same reason countries need a Kage."

Sasuke looked around, all his memories were whirling around him, slow enough to be seen, but unless you grabbed on, you'd never see the whole memory. Sasuke smiled at one particular memory.

"Hey you!"

"Me?"

"No, the guy with the gourd, what's your name."

"I am Gaara of Desert, and I'm interested in you too."

"That's when I first met Gaara, back during the chunnin exams," Sasuke motioned around him with one arm," All this, this is supposed to help me understand? It's not. All I see are my memories. Brief flashes of happiness," Sasuke scowled and stared at Uchiha. The copy gave him an expecting look then groaned when Sasuke said nothing.

"To a country like the Land of Wind, a Kage is a symbol of power, honor, everything that particular country holds dearest to their hearts. For you, the last 4 words are the relevant words, although it comes out a lot more like 'dearest to your heart.' Somehow Gaara managed to fight his way through your cynical opinion on relationships and steal for himself a piece of your," Uchiha snickered," ice heart."

"You think I'm in love with Gaara. No way, I've only been dating him for a month, a month and a half at best. No one falls in love in that time span," Sasuke shook his head stubbornly and Uchiha smirked. He hopped up a little and tapped a memory. Taking Sasuke back to when Gaara first brought him away from Konoha.

In the background he could make out the testimonies he heard so long ago, some attesting to his kind heart, his usefulness. Others speaking strongly on the fact that he'd betrayed them once, he'd do it again in a heartbeat.

"How long has it been since then," Uchiha asked, an air of annoyance floating about him at Sasuke's continual blindness.

"7 years when Gaara turned 23. Now, a little over that," Sasuke shrugged then rounded," You mean--"

"Yes baka," Uchiha pushed them both out of the memory," You've been living here for 7 years, did it never occur to you the time that had passed? Did the great Sasuke Uchiha never clue in that perhaps Gaara took you in for a reason he wasn't telling you?"

Sasuke scowled, could Gaara really have liked him all that time? No, not possible. Gaara wasn't like that, yet Sasuke found his own explanation worse then Uchiha's improbable one. Sasuke shook his head and glared back at the mirror image of himself," Help me find out who put him in the hospital."

Uchiha nodded solemnly and focused on that, the two of them moving back to Sasuke's memories of the fire.

"The fire originated on the 3rd floor, in 3 places, the middle and the two ends, not in the staircase - there wasn't anything there to burn - but in front of it. Someone placed them so the building would collapse, it did once you two got out so if that's the case then the fire markers should be strongest," Uchiha floated them above the bird's eye view Sasuke had gotten of the ruins while waiting on Naruto to summon him. Uchiha's hands pointed out the section in the middle but as they shifted to point out the other two Sasuke was awoken from his meditation.

"Sasuke, Temari and Kankuro want to talk to you. Gaara's apartment has been turned into a makeshift office and they're asking for you," Sakura gently shook his shoulder again and Sasuke blinked hazy onyx eyes, waking up from that deep a meditative state was never quick and almost always left Sasuke's head in the clouds. Like coming down from a high you've never tried before, only it happens every time.

Sasuke nodded and stood, swaying slightly, normally he was never awoken, Gaara would vacate his office for hours to let Sasuke meditate, or Sasuke would spend hours sitting with Gaara on the rooftops. So Gaara could watch the sky while Sasuke drifted. Normally, Sasuke would slowly drag himself back to reality and he and Gaara would talk over his revelations - because there usually was one.

Hmm, normality seemed such a far away ideal now. Normal suddenly seemed unattainable; this hospital, every once in a while Sasuke would volunteer here, letting the medics draw on his chakra, would now hold too many memories of an unconscious, burnt Gaara. Not something he ever wanted to relive. Gaara's office had been burnt to the ground. The building couldn't be fixed until Gaara woke up, no one could manipulate the sands into the right form and keep it there long enough to be fixed in place.

"Here," Sakura gripped his head and her hands pulsed green for a moment, suddenly Sasuke's head was quite clear. It was like looking at something normally then through magnifying glasses for a moment before settling back to normal. He smiled and strolled out, Sakura was capable of caring for Gaara. The Kazekage's apartment was his second home, he knew the way to get there from any point in the village. Hell he knew Suna like the back of his hand with the amount of times Gaara and he had gone on walks when he first arrived, walking there was no problem. Plus, he really wanted to see the village again.

"Thanks," he shook his hair back into it's usual place then walked outside. Sasuke very quickly took note that the Konoha ANBU around the building had changed positioning. Evidently Naruto didn't want one guy in the same place for too long - wait no. Not everyone had moved. Just one man. Sasuke turned, focused on the horizon and made eye contact with the one ANBU.

Sasuke took a different exit out of the hospital everytime he left to make sure that using him, you couldn't figure out what room Gaara was in. If someone was moving with him, they had to be able to see him all the time. Through the walls.

There, he smirked, found you Neji Hyuuga. He mouthed," How are you Neji?"

The Hyuuga prodigy seemed not to care if he was recognized or not, because Neji stood and jumped over. He stopped in front of Sasuke and the last Uchiha could almost feel the glare," Sasuke Uchiha. Up to no good I'll assume," Neji began walking with him.

Sasuke almost rolled his eyes, of course he would be stalked every time he left the hospital. Naruto didn't want him taking off again because he got caught. As they walked, Sasuke easily taking point because he knew the city better, he and Neji caught up on old times. It was odd really, if it hadn't been for their pasts Sasuke almost thought that he and Neji could have been great friends. The two young prodigies.

"Sasuke, out of curiousty-"

"Why did I leave," Sasuke finished for him. That question was one that he'd been asked by everyone that had the ability to ask. So he'd had a lot of times to perfect his answer," After what happened with my family I swore to kill my brother. You know that bit. But every step I took towards getting strong enough to kill him, was a step I took away from Naruto and Konoha. Every step I took towards Naruto and Konoha was a step away from my goal.

"I would never ask for anybody's help to do something as dangerous as what I was going to do, so I left. I ran to the one person I knew could make me stronger, Orochimaru was always very much sink-or-swim, without worrying about any kind of emotional attachment," Sasuke finished as they reached Gaara's apartment building.

Neji seemed lost in his own thoughts and Sasuke smirked. Tell someone a story like that and see just how long it takes them to sift through what took you years to figure out. Sasuke smiled, bid a quiet goodbye and walked inside.

As he rode the elevator, he thought on what he could remember. Not hard considering the near perfect memory he had, most shinobi did. Most shinobi trained themselves to remember as much as they could. He'd seen Gaara doing the paperwork, helped him out quite a few times as well. Sasuke frowned, formal letters were the one damn thing he couldn't handle because they were usually addressed to the Kazekage and meant for his eyes only.

The elevator dinged softly and broke his concentration, he turned and walked towards Gaara's apartment. Gaara had a home, but he hardly ever spent time here, when he did come here it was to shower, grab a change of clothes and maybe eat if he had time. He'd appreciate that his apartment had a use.

"Hey Sasuke," Kankuro spoke and Sasuke looked up. Kankuro's gruff voice was a welcome change from the chipper nurse's voices. Kankuro and he had managed to form a sort of truce when Sasuke came to Suna. Kankuro and he got along, and if they knew they were going to disagree and knew it was going to end in a fight, one of them stopped," what do you know about paper work?"

"I've been here 7 years. I know enough to handle it, and enough to know that it's the most infuriating thing in the world if you let it build up on you. How is it I know more then you guys when you grew up with the guy?"

"You know more, because we were out on missions, you had the free time to see Gaara doing this stuff because he knew you'd kill yourself if you couldn't do something. Now," Temari emerged from the apartment, ink on her hands a drop on her nose," then you can help us out. Kankuro and I have been sorting through this stuff for the entire night, how the hell you and Gaara stay up for such boring stuff escapes me. It's so dull!"

Sasuke leaned in the doorway and balked at the stacks of paperwork," Christ," he didn't have much else to say. He stole a pen from Temari and began working. He put Temari and Kankuro to work, explaining different sheets and their use. Temari caught on fastest, snatching up a pen and settled herself on a corner of the couch with a book as her desk. Kankuro took a few minutes longer, but leaning over his elder sister's shoulder and watching her do it got him going.

"So, ground rules?"

"Do the paperwork as soon as it comes to you," Temari began in answer to Sasuke. 4 hours later, when Sasuke's hand and wrist were so sore that it could hardly move and his neck had cracked 3 times from going from looking down at paper, to looking up at people again. Sasuke turned and faced Kankuro.

"It you start getting frazzled, really frazzled, stop. Go sit on the roof or go for a run but don't continue if you're driving yourself crazy," Kankuro smirked and clapped him on the shoulder," get your ass back to the hospital and take care of our little brother. We'll handle the country."

Sasuke turned to say goodbye to Temari but froze when she hugged him, leaning up she muttered in his ear," Take care of my baby brother Sasuke. God knows he doesn't need it often, but he does right now," Temari squeezed his ribs softly then released him. Sasuke nodded and walked back.

He whistled a tune that he learned when he showed up here as he walked. God when he showed up, it had been in the middle of the Sakura festival and it was beautiful. Suna was gorgeous, the streets alight with lanterns and candles. The glow made his skin stand out among the far darker pallor of the Suna villagers like a lantern of a different color.

Gaara had stolen a sakura from a basket and he stopped walking in front of a girl. Sasuke instantly had thought she was beautiful, Gaara merely smiled, threaded the sakura into her hair and murmured just loud enough for her friends to hear," On an amazing night, someone as beautiful as you should have something equally beautiful in her hair."

Gaara had kissed her cheek then resumed walking along with Sasuke. Even thought Sasuke had doubted that Gaara even knew he was capable of being as intensely seductive as he had been, Sasuke had chuckled and called him a ladies man as a joke. Gaara had flushed to the ends of his hair promoting many questions from his very interested siblings.

Sasuke turned down an alley and froze. He'd been wandering, now he was standing in front of the ruins of the Kage building. Sasuke flinched at the awful brunt of memory. The Kage building had always left him torn. While Sierra was around they argued here more then anywhere, Gaara's office was here and that was pleasent. The fire, the fire was one of those memories he just wanted to forget.

"Someday he'll realize just what a fool he's been for keeping you so near Sasuke," Sasuke jumped, literally jumping back to put his back against the nearest wall. The awful sentence had been laughed at him during one of his and Sierra's more brutal arguments, but it had sounded like it was actually being spoken. Ever since he heard it, he's been very quietly freaked by the idea of it happening. Of Gaara waking up one morning, calling himself a fool and sending Sasuke away, or worse, sending him to Konoha.

"Gaara isn't a fool. Never has been, though the biggest mistake he ever made was putting that ring on your finger," Sasuke had spat back. For that one she had slapped him. Sierra had been a shinobi before she gotten engaged to Gaara, even her slap packed a punch. He and Sierra had always been good at arguing with each other, though they never let the fights extend to when Gaara was around.

Sasuke shook his head and stopped his pessimistic train of thought. Negative thinking had been the cause of every problem with him, so he figured if he didn't think like that anymore then maybe he could stop the problem before it started. He shoved himself off the wall with a fist and walked back in front of the building.

"While I'm here," he grumbled as he jumped to the remains of the 3rd floor. He flicked on his sharingon and looked down. All around the edges of the building there were chakra signatures, those had to be the ANBU putting out the fire. So the only 3 chakra signatures inside the building had to be his, Gaara's -which would be the strongest considering he used the most - and the arsonist. As Sasuke walked Gaara's chakra assaulted his senses.

Because Gaara used to have Shukaku's spirit inside him, his chakra had been tainted by the demon, so Gaara's chakra - much like Naruto's - would always make him stumble from the evil in it. Naruto's was vicious, but Gaara's was sadistic. So whereas Sasuke was willing to walk into Naruto's head to see Kyuubi. He avoided Shukaku like the plague because he didn't want to hear with the raccoon had to say.

His own chakra was second nature, no difference he barely even noticed it. He could tell where in the ruins was the place where he and Gaara had finally met thought, both their chakra's were stronger then any normal shinobi's so it was obvious.

The third chakra was malicious. Undoubtedly not friendly to him or Gaara, the flashes of anger as they set the fire burned in Sasuke's palm when he picked up a piece of wood. One of the pieces that had been lit up first before the building went up. Sasuke gripped the piece of wood so hard it splintered into his palms as he soaked in the chakra, memorizing everything about it. How the rage felt, how it moved, what it felt like when they used it. If this person ever came within 10 meters. He'd feel it.

Sasuke stared at his hand, blood leaking from the wood chips embedded in his hand. With a frown, he tugged his Suna shinobi headband from around his waist and tied it on his wrist to stop the blood flow. He ran back to the hospital and stole a pair of tweezers from a passing cart, flashing his hand as way of explanation when the nurse protested. He went back into Gaara's room and sat on the bed, using the table he had been meditating on as a mini-operating table.

He hissed when he found that one had broken off in his hand. He'd gotten nearly 3/4s of the wood out and now this peice was causing problems. He glared it and put his headband in his mouth.

"So don't have the time to play games with you," he bit down on the headband that muffled his words and let the fire in his chakra burn the piece of wood. The fire singed the flesh around the remaining pieces and Sasuke bit down harder.

"Get away from me!"

"Something wrong Gaara?"

"Someone help!"

Sasuke dropped off the bed onto his knees, clutching his head in pain. What the hell was going on, he did a quick internal check, everything was fine, but his chakra was going haywire. The fire on his hand went out and he breathed deeply. He turned all his thoughts to his chakra and found a small section of chakra that wasn't his. By god, he gasped aloud.

"Gaara," he sat back on the bed and reached up, touching Gaara's temple with two fingers. The milisecond he did he groaned when Gaara's chakra raced into him.

"This is my head damnit and I won't have someone mucking about in it," Gaara snarled angrily," If the nurses could get rid of you for a while I can too."

"There are three people mucking about in it already. Me, you and Shukaku." Sasuke tried to focus on the voice, but Gaara was the one in control, cussing when he couldn't focus.

"What are you talking about, Shukaku's gone!" Gaara was groaning, he sounded so tired, so angry.

The voice must've done something because suddenly Gaara was screaming in agony.

"Sasuke, Sasuke wake up," Someone grabbed his hand and pulled him to sit up. Sasuke gasped and stared at Laili like he'd never seen her before," Sasuke you were having a nightmare."

"No I wasn't, what do you mean?"

"You were screaming. Scared me and the whole staff," Laili brushed his bangs from his face and he coughed with embarrassment. He didn't even realize he was screaming, he'd never before spoken in his sleep. Hell, when did he fall asleep?

Sasuke frowned, he didn't fall asleep, but he'd been screaming without knowing. Sasuke thought on it a second and decided it must have been that he had been so wrapped up in Gaara's chakra creation that he was screaming outloud, where Gaara was unable.

Sasuke glanced over at Gaara's peaceful features, and stared at them in a totally different way. Gaara was capable, for momentary bursts, of pushing his chakra back through Sasuke through a physical connection. Sasuke smirked, Gaara had taken his chakra depletion idea and made it all the better. Sasuke didn't bother resisting the pride that ran through his system.

Gaara was like that though, if you taught him something and told him it wasn't perfect he'd nod at you then spend hours making it perfect then come back to you, show you it, then teach you it. Something in him had to have changed while Sasuke was away at Orochimaru's, because now Gaara acted so much different.

Sasuke realized Laili was staring and smiled at her, however it faded. Laili was staring at Gaara, but her eyes shone with two emotions, love and hate. Sasuke almost hesitated but then training kicked in. A threat was a threat, even if it came from a friend.

Immediately raising his defensive hackles he stepped between them," Laili," his tone was one of warning. Laili never looked at anyone with hate and it was creeping out Sasuke. He placed both hands gently on her waist and lifted her up, placing her down on the table and casually rolling it away from Gaara.

"I won't hurt him," She sighed. She raised a hand and rubbed her face, seemed like she was wiping the expression off her face. It was odd that that the fact that she was capable of wiping off an expression like that made him jumpy about what she showed and whether or not she meant it. Was everything true? Some of it? None of it?

"Why not, you seem to very suddenly hate the Kazekage," he growled, he didn't mean to, but automatically he had changed from Laili's friend to Gaara's guard. Gaara's safety came first, he couldn't defend himself and though there was no chance in hell Laili could've fought and won against Sasuke. Sasuke found himself unable to care.

"Did I ever tell you anything about me?"