I woke up to a buzzing alarm clock that would not shut the hell up, no matter how many times I hit the big button it would always start yapping again in a steady annoying pattern. After I threw it at the wall, hearing it satisfactionaly smash to pieces, and the steady beat become muttled and silenced, I got out of bed and did my usual routines that I do in the morning. Except this wasn't my usual morning. It was 1:45am and I was dog ass tired. I trudged through my apartment and groggily made a bowl of cereal, chewing it rather slowly. I thought that if I chewed slower maybe he would leave without me and I wouldn't have to go. That's when I started thinking of all the opportunities that could come out of this mission. I could earn a better chance of becoming leader of the med ops. That would be so satisfying for me. It will all be worth it. I told myself. I could finally get out of this match box apartment and into something more suitable for a human.

I made sure I had all of my necessities together. I checked through all of my stuff once more to make sure that I had everything I need for my long journey to the village of sand.

I have to be the Kazekage's escort back to Sunan. I would rather keep looking for Sasuke with Naruto than go with this guy all the way to bum fuck Egypt. I was a little pissed off cause this guy was not what I would call a friend. In fact I despised him. He did so much crap to this village and we just all of a sudden forgave him. It was like it never happened.

I haven't seen him since the Sasori incident. So that's about 2 years, I wish it was longer. I doubt he even remembers me.

I shoved the rest of my last minute crap in my back pack and headed off dreading how the rest of the day will unfold.

I dragged myself to the entrance of Konoha. I've never been out this late in the Konoha streets. Everything was so quiet. Everything was dark and creepy and I hated it.

I could sense people all around me. Even though I couldn't see them, they were there. One dwelled in that tree over buy the tatami shop that I just passed a few seconds ago. Another sat on the street wrapped up in a heavy jacket. Hiding in the open, I knew they were all anbu, especially him because his chakra levels were way too high to be some deplorable hobo's.

Security is getting tighter; it's obvious I'm getting closer to Gaara.

When I took the next street all the lights were off. Great, that just bought up a list of alarming thoughts. What if a group of drunken men came out of those shrubs over there, looking for a nice piece of ass? They won't find it here but what if they insist. Or what if a gang of midgets came up and tried to mug me? I can't fight midgets! That's just wrong!

I shook my head trying to disperse those thoughts. What's the matter with me? Since when am I this scared of the dark? I'm acting like a child. Get over it it's just a deserted street with no lights on, not a big deal. I sped up my pace trying to rid myself of this anxious feeling.

I turned the corner and saw him, barely, but still visible. Alone, he stood facing the giant opened doors that led to the outside world. No doubt waiting for my arrival. I took a deep breath trying to compose myself.

His posture was slightly dipping. It resembled the posture of a tired man.

I greeted him with the up most respect and courtesy when I reached him, no sense in acting like an ass to the Kazekage of a neighboring village that we are still treading water with. "Hello Kazekage sama, I'm Sakura if you don't remember me, are you ready to take off?" I asked quietly, but as cheerfully as possible. He just took a quick glance of me and started walking out of the Konoha gates. I just watched him as he quietly passed me. What the crap was that, I haven't seen him in years and he acts like this? So that's how it's going to be? "I guess so." I stated/ half answered my question as I walked a little faster, trying to catch up with him.

"So I have packed enough food for two days so we might have to make a pit stop." I was quiet for a moment to see if he wanted to respond. Nothing. "I also think we should make a stop in a few hours to rest, I'm exhausted and you will not like me when I don't get enough sleep."I said half joking. Still nothing. He just looked straight ahead not even acknowledging that I was even alive. What is up with this guy? I know he's the great leader of a huge village, but seriously, who freaking acts like this? I wonder if he knows that I don't like him. Maybe he has some weird mind reading powers that activate when he senses hostility in others.

"So how long do you think it will take us if we just walked the whole way?" I chirped in, trying to make playful banter and to sound like I was hoping to spend my time with him.

"If you keep dawdling we might get there in five days instead three." Insult. "Ha ha." I obviously feigned a chuckle. He is now at the top of my shit list.

I'm really starting to get the urge to kick myself for accepting this mission.

I slowed a little so he would be a few inches in front of me. Just enough room for me to examine him and be safe if he tries to look at my wondering eyes. I could see in the dim moonlight that he was actually quite tall. Maybe an inch or two taller than me. That pissed me off. He's going to look down on me when he talks . . . if he talks.

His hair looked like a dark purple/maroon under the moon. I'm not fond of that color, it gives me headaches.

There was something kind of strange about the way he walked. It was like he glided. His footsteps were quiet and soft. Creepy.

He looked back for a moment. "I still hear." I said with slight amusement that he would even bother. Nothing. He didn't say anything and I still had view of the back of his head.

I have never felt this way about someone. Not even Ino pig. Even though he barley says anything, it's still enough to piss me off. It was like everything about him just ticked me off.

There was a buzzing sound coming from the back of my head. A sound I knew too well. SHURIKEN! I screamed in my head. I ran and jumped for Gaara, trying to knock him to the ground. It was my job to protect him and I was going to defend that title no matter how much I despised him. I practically tackled him and he collapsed.

I felt a sharp wind rush by my head. I looked up from the ground to see a star stuck in the dirt right by my head. But that wasn't the worst of it. There was a fizzing paper bomb attached to the star. "Shit!" I gasped. But it was too late the bomb exploded.

I heard the explosion, but nothing happened. I held my hands to my face, but I quickly moved them and was astonished to find a wall of sand blocking my view from the bomb. It happened to fast to put me at ease for I knew if the ambusher had one then he was bound to have seven more in his disposal.

That's when I heard Gaara grunt and I soon realized that our bodies had tangled together. My elbows rested in his back and my body lied in between his legs. I had the sudden urge to rub his face in the dirt for him being a smartass earlier, but sadly now was not the time.

I went ridged because I heard a mess of buzzing sound coming in different directions. This is not happening. This can't be happening. We just left the village, how could there be an ambush already? I quickly pulled out a kunai knife from Gaara's leg holster and twirled to my feet using him as support.

Gaara had his sand to protect him and that was it, just him.

I, on the other hand didn't have the greatest defense in the world, so I would have to fight.

I saw three stars rushing at me in blurs. But the only one was coming straight for me. The other two were thrown sloppily and they went right past me. I easily deflected the weapon head on.

So we're dealing with amateurs.

I listened as hard as I could to try to hear anything out of the usual that would give the clumsy ambushers away.

There was nothing at all. My eyes franticly searched everywhere. "Gaara are you alright?" I asked. Barely even caring. I knew there was someone there, but I couldn't see or sense anything. "Yes." He said flatly, like he wasn't even phased that he could've just been decapitated if that thing hit him dead on.

Just then something constricted around my arms and legs. I was majorly caught off guard and I cascaded to the ground. I looked around to see if there was a rope anywhere, but there was nothing. I instantly knew that it was chakra strings. "Crap", I cursed. How could I not see it? Those two stars missed me on purpose, just to get the string around me. The middle one was just a distraction to keep me on my toes.

Before I could come up with a strategy to get out of my predicament, it inched me across the dirt. Then it slowly started to drag me across the ground. "Oh fuck no!"I breathed. I started panicking. I did everything I could. I squirmed in every way possible. I didn't know where it was taking me. It was so unnerving the way the rope would stop for a moment just so the unidentifiable human could get rid of the slack. I could feel the heat rise to my face as I struggled. I could feel the fear jolt through my body, my heart beat hard in my chest. My eyes were burning and my stomach was twisting in all sorts of ways.

Then I heard a man's voice. "Holy crap how much does this bitch weigh?" I stopped squirming. The fear was puraded from me. All that was left was animosity. I let him take me. I wanted to meet this guy.

It dragged me faster and faster, until it all of a sudden stopped and I was encased in sand. It swarmed around me and dragged me back to what I would have felt to be a safe place, but now it was just more ground to cover to beat the snot out of this butthole. As fast as it came it left and I was dumped on the ground at Gaara's feet. The sand had rid me of the strings and now I was like an angry bull.

I grabbed a shuriken out of my leg holder and ran at the direction I was dragged. I knew this battle was not over until this guy was twitching at my feet. I was the hunter and I wasn't going to stop until I had this guys balls mounted to the wall.

Then I heard a scratchy sound like sand paper rubbing together. After that all I heard was screaming. I quickly turned around to see a disguised ninja trapped in a mound of sand that was glued to a tree.

How in the hell did he do that?

I guess he carries the title of Kazekage for a reason, show off. "Let me go! Let me go! Monster! Monster! " He was screaming it at Gaara like he was the only one who was going to hurt him. I could feel the atmosphere change as the man spoke those words. It was melancholy with rage mixed in it. It wasn't my rage. My anger had subsided in fear of something else.

Gaara's aura. It was menacing,

I just knew in my heart that he was going to kill him. I knew it was wrong and yet I could not force myself to say or do anything. I soon pitied the man.

Did Gaara still have emotional gashes from his past that were not all the way healed? Hurtful memories that were scabbed and could easily be picked at and broken.

Then it was clear. This man was not going to see the beauty of the rising sun today.

Gaara turned from the man and walked on.

What?

"Sakura, get him to talk." His tone was as it always was, but I could clearly tell he was putting on a façade. Inside he was trying to sew it back up, that cut that had broken free for that lonely moment in time.

'Monster' was his trigger and I obviously will not be playing with that gun anytime soon.

I advanced to the pinned man. I grabbed his mask and pulled it off. He had a gaunt looking face. No doubt he had a lanky, rangy body. His lips were chapped to the point of blood. He had sunken in eyes and an unshaven face.

"Nothing more than a common thief." I told myself knowing Gaara had dispersed. My voice held a large amount of malaise, for I knew what had to be done. Even though the darkness had depleted his vision, the moon still shone in all of its bright conceded glory.

No one was to know about Gaara's absence from Suna except Suna itself and the Konoha government. It was my duty and I had to do it whether I wanted to or not.

The man was shaking, probably from fear of what was going to happen to his future.

"Sir it's going to be ok. You'll be fine." I said it like I was his doctor that he came to in fear of a life threatening disease. I normally would ask the people for their name, but not this time, I don't want to know.

I placed my gloved hand reassuringly on the back of his neck. I was thinking about how just a few minutes ago I wanted to beat the crap out of him and now I want nothing to do with him.

His pain didn't last long. He died instantly, I made sure of it. Nothing can survive a when their brain has severed all bonds to the body.

I was left with the orders lingering in my mind.

'No one is to know of his absence.'

I saw Gaara supporting himself with an arm against a tree. The hill that we were on looked over the entire forest.

I didn't care what his problem was. I was so disgusted about the whole thing.

I have never had to kill a man like that. He had a mother once and a father. He might have even had a brother or a sister. That man might have run away to see if he could make it on his own, but things fell through the cracks and he ran low on luck. Maybe he was stealing to try to earn enough money to return back to his family. But that wasn't going to happen, I stole him from them.

I shoved the mask that I had took from the man in Gaara's chest and held it there. I made sure that he understood what I had done. "Listen, I'm here to be your escorts back to Suna not kill people, you fucking moron." this was his entire fault. If he hadn't been at Konoha then I wouldn't have had to take this stupid mission and that man would still be alive. I shoved my hand in his chest trying to intimidate him and walked off thinking I had won, but deep inside I knew this was only the begging.

THANK YOU FOR STAYING WITH ME TILL THE VERY END OF THE CHAP! YOU ROCK FOR THAT. I REALLY HOPE YOU UNDERSTOOD WHAT WAS GOING ON CAUSE I WAS REALLY TRYING TO MAKE IT TO WHERE SAKURA IS NOT VERY FOND OF GAARA. I ALSO HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT CAUSE I WAS HAVING QUITE A TIME MAKING IT. ALSO IF YOU HAVE READ THIS STORIE BEFORE THEN I HOPE YOU LIKE THE EDITING CAUSE IT TOOK ME FOREVER!!I SHIT YOU NOT!

I FREKING LOVE YOU!!!!!3