A/N: Freaky strikes again! Originally I had typed this story up to be six chapters but you guys were just so encouraging I'm lengthening the story. I've already added two chapters (and counting) and I'm so happy! My work is coming out the way I want it to and I'm just feeling so much better! I thank everyone for the immense support because it came at a time where I really need it and while you guys may not have known that, you all have perfect timing!

The sound of crunching footsteps and cursing were the first things I was aware of. The voice sounded familiar when it cursed, "Shit, someone broke the passenger window. Go around and see if anything was taken from the car. A separate pair of crunching footsteps approached me before the person stopped abruptly.

"Holy fuck! Temari!" The first set of footsteps sprinted closer to me before the owner of them cursed too. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know! See if she's conscious!" I felt hands on my shoulders, pulling me up into a sitting position. I let a groaned protest since the movement jostled my aching and sticky feeling head. Hands touched my head and I let out a scream of pain causing them to quickly jerk away. That was when I put effort into forcing my eyelids open to see it was day and Kankuro was holding me up by my shoulders and Temari's hand was hovering near my head.

"Sakura, what the hell happened? You're covered in blood! You need to go to a hospital!"

Despite the pain I immediately turned my head so I could look her in the eye and shouted, "No, I can't!"

She looked stunned but quickly recovered. "Sweetie, there is probably glass in your head and by the looks of it you lost a blood! That isn't even mentioning the probability of a severe concussion, the guarantee of at least a minor one, and the fact you drank a lot last night!"

I again protested, knowing me showing up in a hospital severely would be horrible for Sasuke's image and that would end up biting me in the ass. Or smashing me in the head, whatever Sasuke preferred. That was when Gaara and Shikamaru came walking up.

"Why the hell does getting an amp take so fucking lon..." Gaara trailed off when he caught sight of me. "Looks like prince charming isn't so great after all."

I managed to sneer at him. "You think I didn't fucking know that." I retorted, my head aching from the hangover, blood loss, glass shards, and concussion.

"So you stick around with him why?"

"Complicated reasons." That was when I made an attempt to stand. I got halfway up and my legs just collapsed.

"Stop it, both of you. Sakura, you need a hospital!" Temari pleaded and with Kankuro helping on my other side lifted me to my feet.

"No. I need a mirror and tweezers to get the glass out." She looked absolutely stunned. Gaara simply shrugged and Shikamaru was still remaining silent.

"I have tweezers in my clutch, but can you guys take me inside and put me on the bathroom sink?" I pleaded, hoping they'd just comply. Temari was about to refuse along with Kankuro when Gaara stepped forward, snatched my clutch, and wrapped an arm around my waist before heading back to the bar with me in tow. Once inside he maneuvered through the bar while holding me up off the ground with his one arm so my legs didn't drag before taking me into the women's bathroom. He then set me down on the sink and handed me the clutch.

With shaking hands I reached into it, searching until I found my trusty tweezers. I used my empty hand to gently, but still painfully, find glass shards as I picked them out with the tweezers. I continued the process, having to pause and stop myself from bursting into tears after every painful removal. That was when I heard a grunt behind me. I glanced in the mirror to discover Gaara was standing behind me watching me.

"Here to watch me torture myself?" He shook his head with a sigh before stepping forward and taking the tweezers from my hands. He then turned my chin away and began studying my head. "What are you doing?" I felt him pluck out a shard and winced, but it was less painful than blindly doing it myself.

"I can't stand watching you pathetically struggle. It hurts my eyes." That answer was good enough for me and he delicately began picking around my head for the glass. The moment would have been intimate the way he carefully touched me had in not been under such bad circumstances. Silence reigned while he finished cleaning up my head of glass. After that was completed he filled his hands with water from the sink and dumped it over my head. It stung, but I knew it was necessary. The whole process had been uncomfortable, but at least I hadn't begun gushing blood. After the cleaning was done he dropped the bloody tweezers in the sink and turned on his heel, exiting the bathroom. When he did that I sighed, my eyes sliding shut as I reviewed the night before. The alcohol had obviously failed my because I could almost crystal clear remember everything. Especially Sasuke.

When the door swung open I expected Temari but there stood Gaara with bandages in hand. He set to work again, this time covering my wounds and occasionally rubbing disinfectatant into the bigger wounds. I winced countless times, but Gaara kept a straight face the whole time. By the time the whole ordeal was over I was dizzy, tired, and in pain. I let my eyes close and I felt warm envelope me before sleep took me under.

Third Person POV

Gaara lifted the sleeping pink haired woman up in his arms, grunting at how little she weighed. He carefully carried her out of the bathroom and into the bar before heading into the back where there was a set of stairs leading up the second story apartment he and his siblings as well as Shikamaru were renting from the bar. This stupid girl was going to be his demise, causing his heart to jump like it had when he'd seen her all messed up on the ground. When he'd seen her the first night the band had played, something about her had been off as well as intriguing. Meeting her after the show, he had known something was up.

Especially when he saw her eye. That had been the verification he had needed to know why he had been interested by her. She was like him. Or rather, she was like he had been in his childhood. Unable to hate his father since he loved him no matter how many times the man hurt him. That weakness in himself had bothered him, but seeing it in another more vulnerable person severely pissed him off.

He could tell Sakura liked, possibly even loved, the Sasuke asshole and it aggravated him somehow. It was like the pull to her that wasn't entirely related to their alike situations and he didn't understand either feeling. They only added to his frustration, making his fuse even shorter around her. He hadn't been entirely fair to her and had spoken out of line, but he was not one to apologize. He helping her clean up her wounds seemed like it should make up for his rudeness to him.

Flashback

As they climbed up the stairs to their apartment, unlocked the door, and walked in Gaara couldn't help but think of the hasty exit the pinkette had been forced to make by the Sasuke character. Temari was apparently was thinking the same thing because she spoke up. "I don't like that guy that took Sakura from the bar. She seemed so nice and he was so forceful with her. That matched with her black eye makes me want to give that poor girl a helping hand."

"Troublesome, but you're right. She seems to be in a bad situation." Shikamaru admitted as he pulled his arm tighter around Temari's shoulder. Kankuro, who had headed straight to the fridge, peeked over the fridge door.

"She's cute too. She shouldn't have to put up with being slapped around." He then returned to foraging for food.

Gaara simply dropped down in a chair at the kitchen table. "She should get herself out then if it's so bad. It doesn't concern us."

Both Temari and Kankuro turned to him but Temari was the one with the guts to speak up. "We all know that it isn't that easy Gaara. You especially so you shouldn't be so harsh on her."

End Flashback

He passed Kankuro and Temari who were seated at the kitchen table and went into his room, setting the sleeping girl on his bed before standing up and leaving the room. He made sure to close the door behind him as he exited the room, turning around to meet two devious smiles. "So...you and Sakura?"

Gaara glared at Kankuro for that. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You actually talked to her when she sat with us even if it was insults, you looked like you had a heart attack when you saw her in the parking lot, you brought her inside and cleaned up her head after getting the glass out of her head, brought her upstairs, and put her in your room in your bed."

"Well yeah. If I put her in your room she'd wake up to see makeup and dolls everywhere."

"War paint and puppets! Get it right!"

"Gaara, I have to agree with Kankuro. You seem to have taken interest in Sakura." Temari interjected, kicking Kankuro under the table.

Gaara glared at them and dropped down in a chair. "She's like me. She's stuck between loving this guy and running for her life. It was the same between dad and I. The difference is I could protect myself and she doesn't even try. She just lets him hurt her."

Both his siblings could only solemnly nod their heads in agreement to that. They all sat around the table in silence, each trying to come up with a way to convince the pink haired girl get out of her situation. That was when Shikamaru came out of his room, yawning. "She may not think much of herself, but if Sasuke hurt someone or some people important to her maybe she'd change her mind. We just need to become those people so next time he shows up I know there'll be a fight and hopefully she'll stay with us."

With a smile Temari concluded, "You're a genius Shika!" He shrugged, grumbling about knowing that fact.

Gaara glared at the lazy genius. "I never said I wanted to get involved." At those words, Temari released Shikamaru and whirled around to face Gaara.

"Don't you dare try to tell me you don't wish someone would have helped you get away from dad! Now you are going to help this girl because what if Sasuke comes back and hurts her again? We may not know exactly how she came to be bloody and glass infested on the ground next to a smashed car window, but I have an idea! If I have to I'll take on that dark haired bastard on my own because Sakura, in fact no one, deserves that horrible treatment!"

Gaara couldn't help but to mentally agree with Temari. His sister sure had learned to hit his soft spots. "Alright, quit yelling! I'm making no promises but I won't sit by and let the asshole think he can slap her around in front of me." Temari let a soft smile fall across her lips, knowing that was the closest to saying he cared Gaara would get.