Disclaimer: yeah, yeah. You know the deal. Pouts, I wanna cute Gaara with a teddy bear.

Author Notes:

I am really sorry. I've been holed up in my room for the last two weeks of the semester rushing to get things done for my art critiques and anthropology courses. Didn't help that I procrastinate, but I think I still pulled of A's for the final projects and tests, so it's all good. The anthro test about killed me, it was a take home and I spent twenty freaking hours straight on it. He made it a Graduate level test even though its an Undergraduate course, ugh.

So, I read the Stats and it said I had 1585 HITS! WOOHOO! I am so so happy.

HANAJIMA UCHICHA: Yeah, I had a feeling it had been wrong. I had finally gone back to a couple Gaara fics and figured out it was Sabaku, so it will be fixed in future chapters. Thanks, though. And if you find anything else that doesn't match up let me know.

ShadowFoxAngel: yeah, but now he's crossed the line with Shukaku and Gaara. It's not just "I want to spill your blood and watch you die", think territory and retribution.

Mel: yeah, I like psycho guy stories : shrugs: what can I say? They are intense and I shouldn't I find it hot but I do. Well, when I already find the psycho attractive that is.

Caz: Thanks, I didn't want to turn him into a sap, but I didn't want him to be boring, so this was the result.

snusnu: I feel the love, thanks for the caps letters. Llike your name by the way.

TwilightBloodRose: thank you for the caps too.

DarkMage6: your wish is my command, let me know if you enjoyed it. I need sleep too, I just know my body is going through sleep depravation.

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A week had gone by filled with simple missions like getting Tomiyo's kitten out of the tree yet again and helping replant Mrs. Shin's garden after the dog had gotten in there and torn up everything. And now it was another peaceful and rather sunny Saturday. Sakura had found herself outside enjoying the fresh air and warmth after cleaning her room and reorganizing her gear. Unfortunately, she had found a silly weed that she had decided needed pulling. Normally this wasn't a problem in the least, except the small, green vegetation was refusing her techniques of coercion. She found herself working a good fifteen minutes trying to yank and pull it out with no luck.

Then out of nowhere Sasuke stood before her making her let go of the weed she had been fruitlessly tugging at.

"Good afternoon, Sasuke-kun," she greeted with a smile.

He merely nodded. When he did nothing else, she decided it was better just to go back to her annihilation- er weeding of the annoying green obstacle.

'What the heck?! This is like the weed from hell.'

"The Hokage has called Team 7 to report to her office," Sasuke eyed her evil weed as he leaned against the wall of her house.

'What? He thinks he can pull the little bugger out. Fine, let him have the conniption when he can't pull the little sucker from its comfy spot that just happens to be in front of my house,' Inner Sakura glared.

"Did she say what for?" Sakura asked brushing her hands of the residual dirt.

'Looks like you'll live to see another day my little pretty,' Sakura glared at the weed conspiratorially.

"Hn," he shrugged.

She took that as a 'no'. Figuring that was all she was getting out of him, she got up and stretched before leaving with him to the Hokage's Tower. Arriving there, they found Naruto and Kakashi-sensei already inside waiting for them.

"All right, now that you are all here," Tsunade started with a nod, "You have a mission to patrol the outskirts of Konoha."

"Wohoo," Naruto jumped up in his excitement, but suddenly was face first on the ground with no trace of what caused his sudden 'slip' besides the almost unnoticeable movement of Sasuke's arm returning to rest at his side.

"But- I thought we were restricted," Sakura frowned.

"Yes, well apparently many of the teams are out on missions at the moment and I am forced to use teams that are left here in Konoha."

"There are several teams within Konoha," Kakashi-sensei pointed out, wondering what happened to change the Hokage's mind.

"Yes, but I need all available teams patrolling. I have gotten reports of wild animal attacks. None of the witnesses had much to tell when it came to the descriptions of the animal but it has yet to be found," Tsunade rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Teams are already in the other quadrants so you will be covering section D, the forest outskirts behind Konoha. You will be stationed there for a week and check with the other patrol teams every three days. Questions?"

Receiving none, she dismissed them. When they left she quickly shuffled scrolls around in one of her desk drawers.

"Where is it? I know I put it here," the blonde Hokage's mumblings were followed by a couple of thumps.

"Ahh, there you are," she held her prize in the air adoringly.

Suddenly the door flew open and Shizune stood there with hands on her hips. Tsunade had already thrust her prize behind her back, hiding it from the other women's view.

"I thought we went over this, Tsunade-sama," Shizune reprimanded.

"What are you talking about?" the Hokage asked innocently.

"Hand it over," the other ordered holding out her hand.

"I don't have anything, so what could I possibly hand over?" Tsunade kept up with the act.

Barely finished with her sentence, Tsunade had to dodge the rocketing assistant who made a grab at whatever was hidden behind the Hokage's back. Darting around the desk Tsunade made it to the door before turning around.

"Mwhahaha, victory is mine!" the Hokage yelled and with a pop she disappeared.

Shaking her head, Shizune went back outside to her desk shaking her head.

"I don't understand why she always runs to the door instead of popping out in the first place."

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"Ahh, man. I really thought those berries would be okay to eat," Naruto whined holding his stomach and fidgeting on his feet. He couldn't leave Sakura, but he felt like he was going to burst.

The short journey to their patrolling sector had been uneventful besides Naruto's excited ramblings and egging on Sasuke to racing challenges. Her and Naruto had set up camp for the night, while Sasuke was hunting and Kakashi-sensei did the first patrol. The only problem now was the questionable berries that Naruto ate a few hours ago that were now disagreeing with his stomach. 'Serves him right,' she thought, 'Especially when considering I had explicitly warned him that they were often used to help with constipation.'

"Just go, Naruto." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"But Kaka-"

"I can take care of myself for a few minutes. Now go, before you explode or something."

"Thanks, Sakura-chan."

And just like that, Naruto was gone, seeking relief somewhere in the forest, hopefully far, far from their campsite.

….

"Just how many of those berries did he eat?" Sakura muttered, shaking her head.

Naruto had been gone for twenty minutes already. Granted he probably stuffed his face on those little blue berries he found. 'Idiot,' she thought.

Then again, maybe she should pick a handful on the way back. Shikamaru had left her with that mess he caused after ticking off Shino earlier this week after all. Who knew the lazy, cloud watcher would have such a hallucinogenic reaction to the bite of the bug which Shino had sent after him in retaliation? Still, it resulted in the decimation of several full trash bins at the hospital, which she was reminded he did not help clean up even after he had regained all of his senses. He had conveniently disappeared when she had turned away for but two seconds.

Growing rather bored, with nothing else to do around camp and no one to talk to, Sakura looked around for some inspiration. Nothing really stood out among the forest scenery besides one half-way fallen tree. It looked like it had been knocked down during a storm but the top got lodged in the branches of another tree causing it to remain standing, from what she calculated, at a one-hundred and thirty degree tilt.

Deciding to practice her balance she did a handstand on the trunk and began to sidestep up the tree. It wasn't all that hard to do even in a handstand, but it was something to do.

Her nose twitched. She swore she just smelt something like copper. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and tried to get another whiff. It was gone though. Realizing she probably looked like an idiot, which wouldn't be good if Sasuke happened to walk back into camp, she opened her eyes and was met by a pair of jade eyes.

Losing her balance, she fell backwards and barely managed to land on her feet. 'Did I just see-?' Looking up she found that yes it was Sabaku no Gaara on the other side of the fallen tree.

'When did he show up?'

'Don't know, don't care. I wanna rest so tell the moody little creep to come back later,' her Inner said before retreating.

Feeling something move on her arm she looked down to find a tiny bit of sand moving in a clockwise fashion on forearm. Was it just her, or did it look a tinge redder than normal. Then she remembered the smell. Copper, the smell of metal or- blood. She was quickly putting the pieces together. Gaara losing it, one week, animal attacks, outskirts, copper, Gaara, animal attacks- It was Gaara who had done the attacks. If he was still out of control that would explain the attacks that had been going on for one week since the last time she had seen him, which would explain why his sand smelled more like blood.

Taking in his appearance, she grew more anxious. His hair was mussed and his clothes were wrinkled, shirt and shoes gone completely (she pretended that the lean musculature of his chest was not visible for the whole world to see), and there were smudges of dirt and dried blood. He still had his gourd, whether he was even conscious of it being there or not was questionable. But what told her she was in some deep crap were those eyes. They would go from unfocused to being focused now and again and she could see the depths of insanity in them. The intelligent and stiff personality of Gaara wasn't there, but neither was the determined angry gleam when he had been holding her from her teammates a week ago. Instead, she only saw jumbled emotions and the simplicity of the primal and insane mind. He seemed to be focusing in more, though, the longer they stared.

No matter how jumbled his thoughts seemed to be, she knew he was still dangerous, maybe more so. His bloody sand could testify to it. And she was no match against him. And she was without her team again. Fate was a rather cruel mistress it seemed. However, just because fate may have given her lemons it did not mean she was going to make lemonade. It may have brought her into this situation, but Sakura was going to get herself out. And that meant finding her team.

Without giving away any signs of her strategy, she swung around to bolt for it, only to halt herself just as quickly when she was blocked by a redhead who suddenly appeared before her. And when she took into account the 'before her', it meant almost being nose to nose with Gaara. Not moving, she looked into those green eyes that were darker than hers and rimmed in black. He smelled like the forest, and managed to still look good in a gothic, shirtless way. It seemed he had gained even more focus because he was staring back intently.

Then, without a word or any other sign for her to see the reasons behind his action, he leaned over and kissed her. She remained there stunned. It wasn't a forceful kiss like she was expecting. It was light and rather innocent, like a shy first kiss. His lips were soft compared to what she remembered of his tongue from last time, and he was just so gentle. He was the one causing the wild animal attacks, right? Because the way he was acting conflicted with the description of a wild animal.

Slowly Gaara pulled back and she stood there still in shock. It had been a nice kiss she had to admit; it having caused her stomach to do a little flip.

She looked at him trying to figure out what was going on. Something flashed across the boy's eyes, but before she could figure it out everything went black.

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He felt angry, no furious. He was looking for something, for a 'her' that something kept whispering in his mind. It was so hazy, and things faded in and out. Sometimes there was silence, then there was the feel of leafs under his paws, was it paws? Or was it hands?

Now and then there was screaming and the wailing of a creature's upcoming death. And blood, warm blood. It felt so wonderful, warm and wet, covering the leaves. He felt free? He was free. No cares, just leaves, silence, blood, and screams. But that soothing, familiar voice kept whispering in growls, 'find', 'lost', 'her'. The presence was familiar and they were connected. They felt the same things. And they were furious, something was lost. And at moments he would remember, but then it was gone. He always knew what they searched for, kept urging them on to find what they had lost. But his head was cloudy, like he was floating in the sky. How long? Time meant nothing, only the leaves and screams, and finding what he said was lost.

And then it changed.

Something sweet met his snout-nose? It was inviting and soothing and made his mouth water, mind relax, and body tense. Lost, found, her. And they moved closer until they could hear soft breathing and the steady beats of a heart. He saw pink and green and pale. He growled and they were content. Her, her, her, found, not lost. Pink and green, not leaves and screams but sooo good.

Pink and green and upside down. He tilted his head confused. Moving easily up a tree on hands not feet. Graceful and confident. He wanted closer. Closer to the green, feel the pink. Then the green was gone and 'her' took a deep breath. He wanted to see the green though. So he came close, so close, her breath became his.

And then the green were open again and then wide with shock like a frightened rabbit. He liked rabbits, especially when they found one and ripped and tear it apart and lap its blood. Blood, so good. They knew hers would be too, but he did not want to rip that furless skin.

'Her' fell backwards but she landed on her feet and they watched her graceful recovery with an excited focus. Green was eyeing his body and he felt a shiver and his stomach tightened. She was tense like the rabbits when they finally caught their scent and were ready to dash and seek safety in distance. Oh, but distance was not what he or He wanted. They wanted closer to this pink rabbit. He knew when she was about to dash away, and he somehow knew this pink rabbit would be harder to catch than the others. So he was quick, quick as can be and stood in front of where she turned.

The sweet smell was making his mouth water and his mind get fuzzy and clearer at the same time. Bits and pieces were coming together to make a pattern in his head. And suddenly he remembered his name. Gaara. And the 'her', the pink rabbit, was Sakura. She had hit him and lived, touched him and healed him. He remembered her soft hair in his hand, and the warm skin beneath his tongue.

He had wanted to kiss her when he had her in his arms, kiss her like he had seen others do when they cared so deeply for others. He had always pondered over it, briefly least Shukaku make jibes at his curiosity. Some part of him had wanted someone to hold and kiss like others did, even though his tattoo always opposed such disillusioned thoughts.

He still wanted to experience it once. And so, with her standing before him then, he brushed his lips against hers and felt a tingle spread across them pleasantly as well as in the middle of his chest. He was hesitant, not quite believing he would be able to kiss this girl before him. Everything was always ripped away, but she was still there and it felt so unlike anything he had ever felt. 'Mine,' he whispered in his mind.

When he pulled away he felt his mind begin to muddle even as he still felt the affects of the kiss. And what made him feel even better was that although there was shock in her eyes, there was no fear. And he wanted to stay with her, but she had ran before and might do so again.

Raising his hand he brought his fingers to a point on the back of her neck and tweaked it causing her to fall into him.

"hmmmm," he sighed holding her close.

The coherency was beginning to fade again, but it was alright. This creature of pink and green was in his hold and he did not care about anything else.

A word, 'mate', was growled happily in his head. The word trickled into his mind and he latched on to it. He liked the word and repeated it silently holding the warm, pink haired and green eyed rabbit that was not a rabbit closer.

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Thank you all for reviewing, even if it is just to say you like it. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and hope it turned out okay. I was missing Gaara, so of course he got to come back into the picture after his solitary week in the forest. I know there are lots of people reading this, so if you could review it will help motivate me to write faster.

Oh, and I don't really know when I have this story set time-wise. I haven't watched all the Naruto episodes, and I am not clear on the timeline of everything going on. So if someone can help tell me where this fic sounds like it fits into the timeline I would really appreciate the help. Thanks.