A/N: If anyone knows of any fan art that relates to any of my stories, please send me a link since inspiration is always welcome and I was browsing through fan art today. Also, as pointed out by IridescentInTheDark the last chapter was kind of filler, but kind of not. It did three things. First, helped my writing skills. I have a tendency to write stories that only revolve around one character, one time, and one place so I'm trying to expand the 'setting' I guess. If that makes no sense, ignore my insanity. Second, I found Sakura's alcohol recovery important because her alcoholism got her into the bar where she met Gaara and also I feel she needs more support around her with her being away from her friends. Third, I wanted to further the relationship between Gaara and Sakura. I think it shows he really cares for her when he wants to help her conquer her addiction. From experience I know that some people when you ask them for the responsibility of just giving you a shoulder to cry on they get scared and ditch you which sucks. It's extremely hard to find someone who will dedicate themself to selflessly being there for you. I'm done now! This chapter is short, but it is supposed to be that way.
Sakura was laughing at Gaara's imitation of Al when they climbed out of his truck. Gaara was staring at her with a stern expression as he said, "Now little miss, if that damn pickle jar ever gives you a problem you just call me up and I'll open it for ya!" Sakura's laughter was cut short at the sight of a tall dark-haired figure standing in only a few feet in front of her with his arms crossed across his chest and a furious expression on his face.
"Hello Sakura. You seemed to have not heard my kind invitation to brunch because I was embarrassed in front of my parents when my girlfriend stood me up. How do you think it made me look? I looked like a damned fool!" He was yelling by the time he was done still keeping his tensely calm posture.
"You've got guts showing up here, I'll give you that. I'm also going to give you a nice hospital stay." Gaara announced as he stepped forward between Sakura and Sasuke.
Sasuke gave Gaara an infuriatingly confident smirk and took a step closer to Sakura and him. "That won't be necessary because I'm just going to take Sakura and we're going to leave."
Gaara glared at him and yelled incredulously, "You really think I'm letting her go anywhere with you?" Sasuke scoffed and then smiled.
"You won't have a choice." He was attacking Gaara immediately after finishing his sentence, throwing punches and kicks at Gaara in fast combinations. The red head at a short span of a second or two between attacks to ready himself for the next. He, after receiving a couple hits from Sasuke, moved onto offensive and began pushing Sasuke back away from Sakura with his hit and kicks. He managed to catch Sasuke off guard and kicked the dark haired man's legs out from under him. Sasuke hit the ground with a whoosh of air and Gaara was on him quickly. He grabbed Sasuke by his shirt collar and pulled his head upwards.
"You listen to me you overconfident dick. Sakura isn't interested in you anymore." Sasuke smirked at him, startling Gaara with his confident appearance in a losing position.
"That's where you're wrong." Sasuke kicked his legs upwards flipping Gaara over him and onto the hard cement. He then swiveled up into a standing position and while Gaara was still stunned he delivered a harsh kick to Gaara's head that elicited a pained grunt from the red haired man. Sakura had been standing back in fear before then but upon seeing the man who had saved her life get attacked she snapped. She flew at Sasuke, leaping up on his back and wrapping her arms around his throat.
"Stop it!" she screeched and Sasuke's hands flew up to his throat to try and tear away Sakura's arms. When he was unable to remove her iron grip he chose to throw himself backwards so all his weight came down onto her when she hit the ground backwards. It brought a cry of pain from her that got Gaara on his feet faster than he'd ever moved before. He saw the blood pooling behind Sakura's head and saw Sasuke crawling away from her coughing and he could only see red. He went at Sasuke and unleashed all the anger he felt in an onslaught of vicious and merciless hits.
When he tired out, his breath labored and limbs sore, he stepped back to see Sasuke's right arm looked severely mangled and hit right kneecap also looked out of place along with uncountable cuts and forming bruises. Gaara stumbled over to Sakura, the dizziness and fog in his mind slowing him down. He slid his hands under her knees and neck. He lifted her, wincing when she screamed, and headed towards the bar. It seemed to take years but he got inside, situated Sakura on a bar stool, and headed upstairs for the medical kit.
When he came back and parted her hair he was relieved to see there weren't any new wounds, just the old ones from the car window had reopened. He quickly pressed one of the rags on the bar to the wounds to stop the bleeding as he dug through the kit for bandages with his spare hand. He stopped the bleeding and wrapped her head before gathering her in his arms, not caring about leaving a bloody rag and medical kit on the counter, and climbed up to the apartment heading straight for his room. When he got there he set Sakura down on his bed and too exhausted to walk another step he dropped down beside her with a sigh.