Sakura and Gaara sat under the willow tree together. Neither said a word but were happy to be in each other's presence. Sakura's eyes were still fresh from crying and staring steadily at the willow tree across the pond. Gaara sat with his arm around Sakura's shoulders and staring at the willow tree too. The sun set behind the tree leaving a black hole on the sky.
"Aren't you two just adorable?" Temari and Kankuro stepped out of the shadows behind Sakura and Gaara. Gaara stood and faced them with a cool smoothness. Sakura stood up after him with as much of the cool smoothness that Gaara had had as she could. She took his hand but Gaara's face did not change expressions and he didn't look at her but he took her hand back and gave it a squeeze.
"What's your problem Temari? Do you enjoy pain?" Gaara's voice was cold and heartless. Chills were running down Sakura's back as he spoke. "What about you Kankuro? Did you come to see if the circus was in town?" Both of Gaara's siblings stumbled back.
"N-No. T-Temari told m-me that sh-she ha-had f-f-found something in-interesting h-h-here." Kankuro barely got all the words out of his mouth. Gaara had never turned on him before and Kankuro was scared. Man, he doesn't even use this voice when he talked to the people that he killed. Kankuro took another step back as Temari took on forward. "I'm sorry Gaara. I'll go now."
"No. You won't." Temari took another step forward. "There's been enough of this. No more will this family be embarrassed by you Gaara. It ends now." Temari pulled a face of sternness onto her face.
"You dare go against me?" Temari nodded. Gaara took his eyes off of her for the first time. "Sakura, I want you to go home. I don't want you to get hurt." Gaara's cold eyes turned warm for a second but went cold again.
"No. I don't want to leave you. I want to help." Sakura felt the sand starting to repel her away from Gaara.
"No. Kankuro, take her home and when she's safe don't come back. Make sure she stays home." Gaara's attention turned back to Temari. Kankuro ran over to Sakura and started to pull her away. Temari suddenly pulled out kunai and threw them at Sakura. Gaara's sand whipped out and blocked them but one made it past and went into Sakura's left thigh. A cry of pain escaped her lips. She pulled out the kunai as Gaara's sand hurtled towards Temari. "Carry her if you have to Kankuro! Just get her out of here!" Kankuro picked up Sakura like Gaara had done when carrying Sakura to their now chaotic sanctuary. Sakura reached down and pulled the kunai out of her flesh as Kankuro ran on the path that Gaara and Sakura had walked on.
"Take me back. I can fight." Sakura dropped the kunai but proceeded to hit to Kankuro. Tears streaked her face but Kankuro didn't put her down.
"No. He told me to do something. I'm going to do it." Kankuro glanced down at the crying Sakura. "I'm sorry but even though you're not scared of him…I am." They sped out of the park as Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi was coming in. The world seemed to slow for Sasuke and Naruto as they saw Sakura's thigh steadily dripping blood. Kakashi never noticed since his face was buried so far into his book. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other then down at the trail of blood.
"Follow it." They both said it in unison and ran down the path leaving Kakashi there. He looked up but merely shrugged and went back to his book.
Temari was bleeding badly from her right leg and arm. "Come on. Is that all you've got?" Temari smirked.
"You are not in the place to be taunting, Temari." Gaara's sand lashed out and her full in the face. A gash running from her forehead to her left cheek opened and blood ran down her face. Both fighters heard a snap of twigs and the rustle of grass as Naruto and Sasuke partly stumbled into the clearing.
"What are you guys doing? You're supposed to be family and family doesn't do this!" Naruto was shocked to see the two siblings going at it to kill. Neither sibling stopped to acknowledge what had just been said.
"Naruto, we should help Gaara. Temari would have been the one to hurt Sakura, not Gaara. He would never do that." Sasuke pulled out kunai and ran to stand beside Gaara, Naruto close in his heels.
"I'm fine now! Let me go help him!" Sakura had on a fresh pair of pants. Her left thigh a bit bulky from the padding covering the gash. "Come on, Kankuro! I can help!"
"No! He said that he didn't want you to get hurt and Temari already managed to get you once! If you go he'll kill me!" Kankuro threw his hands into the air. "Besides, he doesn't need help. He's always been solo in his fights. Plus Temari is no match for him.
"I don't care! I want to go help him!" Sakura screamed at Kankuro. Her face was red. Kankuro just sighed and looked around the room.
Temari's actions were getting slower as the battle went on. She had several gashes on each limb and all deep enough that the blood was pouring out in a steady stream. I have to keep fighting no matter how bad it gets. They'll get tired eventually. When that happens then I will take the opportunity.
"Give up Temari. You are out numbered and you have lost a lot of blood. Stop now and you can live another day. We could take you to a medic-nin and get you all fixed up." Temari just snickered and threw a few kunai, which missed entirely. "I don't really want to kill you but, if it comes down to it…I will." Temari snickered again and threw more kunai. Her giant fan was laying behind Gaara, Naruto and Sasuke and ripped to shreds.
"Just kill me and get it over with. I could never live in the world like a normal person. They wouldn't accept me. I would never want to be around you either. You make me sick. You made dad sick and you probably would have made mom sick too." Gaara's sand whipped out and struck Temari right through the heart. Her face contorted between shock, horror and pain. She fell to the ground like that and did not move. Sasuke and Naruto straightened up.
"I'll go and get Kakashi. He'll know what to do. Naruto, stay here with the body. Make sure she's really dead. Gaara, you should go check on Sakura." Sasuke turned to walk away.
"Thank-you for coming. Normally I would not have been able to kill her. She's part of the only family or friends that I've really ever known." Sasuke turned around. "Don't get me wrong. I didn't want to kill her but, she was also right. The world would never have accepted her and neither would I." He didn't mention that the last comment had set him off.
"What's done is done. Nothing we can do about it now." Gaara nodded and ran off in the direction of Sakura's home as Naruto headed over to where Temari's body lay and Sasuke went to find Kakashi.