Chapter 7
It was a few hours later, Kankoro was still getting used to Gaara's smiles and Sakura was still lavishing in the feelings that Gaara gave her, but Gaara seemed to be fine, just adjusting to his own mind, and the occasional x-rated comment from Shukaku.
They walked back through town, enjoying the daylight when Sakura heard a yell. "Hey! Sakura!" She turned to see Sasuke running towards her, a grin on his face. She jumped for joy, getting a hug and grinning. "Sasuke! I'm so happy you're back! I heard you're facing a trial to come back, what happened?"
They wandered around a little, Sasuke explaining that he was able to defeat Orochimaru before returning, but had a little trouble on the way with 'things'. He didn't elaborate. Sakura explained what had happened since he'd left, that nothing much had changed, and smiled as Gaara put his arm back over her shoulder. She leaned back, pressing herself against him and Sasuke froze.
"You're with Gaara?" Sakura smiled, nodding. Sasuke's face fell, and Sakura knew this was a bit of a blow to him. "I was hoping you would have waited for me." Sakura sighed, turning to Gaara. "Can we have a moment alone?" Gaara nodded as Sakura took Sasuke's hand and they walked over to the side.
"I loved you more than anyone. You meant the world to me, I would have died for you, but you left me. You abandoned me and ran off with the guy who wanted us all dead. He wanted me dead and you decided to side with him. Even then I prayed for you to come back and hoped someday we would be together. But I couldn't wait forever. I'm nineteen years old, and until yesterday I'd never been kissed. I waited for you for a long time, but I couldn't anymore. I'm sorry." She held her head down, trying to hide the sudden pain she felt. She still did care for him, but not at the risk of losing Gaara. She waited for a response, but after a second looked up to find him gone. She walked back to Gaara, and sighed.
Gaara knew the instant she talked to him how much he'd meant to her. He knew those years ago, and he'd heard about Sasuke's defection. He knew that Sasuke had been her world, and she knew that those feelings were never resolved, the way they spoke, their mannerisms with each other.
"Are you alright?" Sakura looked up at him, trying to keep her eyes dry. "Yeah, I just need a moment to recover." Gaara nodded, giving her a hug. Kankoro knew what was going on as well, his perception was great. He decided that his brother was finally happy, he wouldn't let it fail now. He would have to get creative.
"Hey, isn't that Ino?" Sakura looked over, nodding. "Yeah. Why?"
It was a few hours later that Kankoro walked in with Ino on his arm. "You sure you're up to this?" She sighed and nodded. "You owe me."
"You'll have a blast." Kankoro grinned and Ino winked at him. "I better!"
"What's going on?" Sakura asked, sitting at the table in her pink satin kimono with black shorts. "We're going to play a few games." Kankoro grinned, pulling off his helmet, taking a washcloth from the counter. Sakura turned and watched him. "What kind of games?" He turned, washing off his makeup.
"A drinking game, and a striptease."
Gaara sat at the table groaning. "You're really going to make me get in a situation where I may see you naked? You're my brother." Kankoro grinned. "Then you'll have to win." He shuffled the cards, a grin on his face. Gaara rolled his eyes and Sakura sighed.
(21)Sakura caught the first card, Garra the second and Ino the third. He passed himself a card and passed out a second to each, face up.
Sakura looked at her up card, a three. She looked at the other, an eight. "hit me." A king graced the table. "I'm good."
Gaara looked at his cards. Up was a five, down was a ten. "Hit." He got a four. He shooed Kankoro on.
Ino had an eight up, a five down. "Hit me!" She looked at the card she got. "I'm over." She stuck her tongue out at her ten.
Kankoro looked at the ace and jack. "Dealer stays." He looked over at Sakura.
As they flipped their cards, the two worst away from winning had to take a shot. Amaretto. Something that Kankoro picked up in the village hidden in the mist. Gaara was used to the taste, and had a bit of tolerance for alcohol, but after four rounds it seemed that only Gaara and Ino were taking the shots. Kankoro and Sakura kept winning. Kankoro was getting confused. He was cheating to make Sakura lose at this point, but she never did! The cards he was supposed to deal her kept ending out in Ino's hand, but he couldn't figure it out.
It was a few hands later he tried to pass the cards to Ino, but they actually ended out there. Gaara got the cards, and Kankoro got the cards himself once, but the cards never ended out in Sakura's hand! It was three hours in and Sakura was the only one not slobbering drunk. She watched as Kankoro threw the cards on the table and stumbled to his feet, nearly falling backwards out of the chair. "How do you keep getting around the cheating! I tried every time and you did this! How?"
Sakura's evil smile actually sobered him immediately. "I grew up with two boys. When you play cards with Naruto and Sasuke, you have to learn to cheat!" She laughed, leaving Kankoro impressed. Ino was passed out face first into the table and Gaara looked at the table, zoning out. Sakura sighed, and went to the kitchen to get him a glass of water. She came back with some for every one, but actually made sure Gaara drank his. With Shukaku it seemed dangerous to leave him in such a state. "Come on, I'm taking you to my room." Sakura sighed, taking him up.
Kankoro watched. It may not have been the intended way, but she was still beside him at the end of the night. All was good.
Sakura laid him down, covering him. "Is there anything you need?" He shook his head, just looking around zoned. She stood and walked to the armoire, finding a kimono and changing for bed. She laid down beside him, putting her head on her shoulder and fell asleep.
Gaara was so far gone he didn't even realize he'd fallen asleep till it was too late.
It was about two that morning that Sakura felt the draft. She sat up and yawned, stretching and looked around. Before she even had it registered what was happening the sand slashed at her from all angles! She jumped to avoid a second wave and looked around, her room a cyclone of sand! "Gaara!" She screamed, to find him unresponsive. The sand surrounded her and she looked around, trying to figure out what to do. She jumped from the room, running to the Kankoro. "Kankoro! Wake up! Emergency!" He took a second to pop his head out, finishing pulling up his boxers as he opened the door. "What's up?"
"Something's wrong! Shukaku is out in the room and Gaara is too drunk to wake up!" Kankoro looked at her horrified. "He's not drunk anymore, it's the summoner's soul, we have to get to him!" He grabbed her hand and opened the door to find Shukaku in form standing in the center of the room, the sand still trying to bond to him, Gaara no longer in sight. "Oh, hell! This isn't good," Kankoro reached over, grabbing a large staff from the wall and swinging it menacingly. "Come on, Let's do it. Sakura, if you see Gaara, attack! We have to get to him or else we're dead!"
Sakura nodded and fell into a cat stance as Kankoro jumped forward, slashing through Shukaku's shoulder, but it wasn't deep enough to reach Gaara. "Sakura, I know that you care for Gaara, you even turned down Sasuke for him! He's quickly becoming your world, so I'll make sure you get to see him one last time before you die..." The sand came at her from every direction, slashing at her harms and legs and began smashing against her, forcing her towards Shukaku! "No! Sakura, Stay away!" She looked towards Kankoro to find the sand had blocked her view of everything, and with the swirling she wasn't even sure of which direction she was facing anymore! She looked around, looking for anything that would tell her where she was, when Kankoro's staff broke through in front of her! She reached forward, trying to avoid the blade at the end and pulled herself out, seeing as she'd fallen knee deep in the sand.
The instant she was out Kankoro yelled over the howl of the wind. "Sakura! Go get Naruto! He beat him before, he may be able to do it again! Go now!" Sakura looked over at Shukaku and back to Kankoro. "I'll be alright, but only if you get back soon!" He ran over and grabbed Sakura by her hand, flinging her from the room. Sakura used the momentum to run, not grabbing shoes on her way out the door.
It was only a minute till she reached Naruto's door and started banging. "Naruto! NARUTO! I need you!!" She bashed at the wood till the boy finally opened the door, half alive and with a small stuffed bear under his arm. "Shukaku's escaped, Kankoro's holding him back! We need you!" Naruto growled at her, throwing the teddy bear over his shoulder. "This time the damned sandman died." Naruto grunted as he jumped ahead faster, Sakura on his trail.
The scene was horrible. Kankoro was unconscious when they arrived, thrown haphazardly on the roof through Sakura's new sky light. Naruto jumped down the hole and found Shukaku randomly bashing the inside of the apartment, his head rubbing against the ten foot ceiling. "Naruto Uzumaki, this time I'll end you..." The voice growled, and Sakura froze. It was the voice from in her head! The sand demon had seemed like a good guy! Why?
"Shukaku!" She screamed as she ran forward, a kunai flying from her hand and into his forehead. "Why are you doing this? What's happened?" The demon laughed as it grabbed her and flung her into the air, and Sakura looked at her destination, the overturned shelves of her armory! She noticed Naruto now facing off with Shukaku and grabbed a kunai, tying a thin rope to it and threw it to the side, pulling her trajectory away from certain death. She landed and ran over, grabbing Kankoro's bare shoulder. "Kankoro! Can you hear me?" She felt and knew he was alive, but his breathing was slightly laboured. He was out for a while. She looked back down to see Naruto lash out with the nine tailed fox' chakra and it was only a few seconds till the sand started breaking apart, having used up too much energy. Sakura saw the tuft of red and lunged, sticking a kunai in his shoulder.
She heard the scream and began digging the sand away from him, not noticing as Naruto did that it had begun retreating to the gourd in the corner. Gaara finally fell out, his head still spinning from the alcohol, and crawled back to the corner of the room. "What? I must have..." He mumbled, looking around.
"Hey." Naruto looked down at him, his eyes beyond cold. Gaara looked up at him, surprised. "Oh, I'm sorry to have been a burden." He mumbled, only half paying attention. "Gaara, I'm going to have to eliminate you. You're too dangerous to have in Konoha." Gaara glared up, stumbling to his feet. "You can try."
Naruto grabbed a shuriken from the floor and ran forward, pulling his arm back, readying himself to strike when Sakura appeared before him, blocking Gaara. Naruto froze in his tracks, looking at her agitated. "Sakura! Move!" Sakura shook her head, spreading her arms across him as he slid back down the wall to the floor. "I can't allow you to do this!" Sakura looked at the anger and hurt in Naruto's eyes and tilted her head down, trying to hide her own. "Sakura, I'm not joking! Move!"
"I can't allow this!" Sakura yelled again, not noticing Gaara behind her, looking at her confused. "Sakura, it's alright. I can handle a fight." He tried to see her face, but couldn't through the rest of her. "Why are you protecting him?!" Naruto yelled, running at her, and she looked up at him, showing the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Because I love him!" Gaara and Naruto both froze, looking at her. "You love this demon?"
"He's no more a demon than you, fox holder!" She yelled at him, reminding him of his own demon. Naruto growled and walked up, looking her in the eye. "You love him. All these years, making sure I was the best guy I could be, trying to get you to love me and instead you fall for him." Naruto scowled as his hand flew forward to slap her. The sand erupted from her, blocking the hit and Naruto narrowed his eyes, now nearly as cold as Gaara's used to be. "Fine, you can have this tramp." Naruto turned and walked out, leaving Sakura horrified.
She went the next morning to Tsunade, trying to figure out what to do with her apartment gone. "Kankoro's to be released this afternoon, there are no apartments left in the city, and now all of my belongings are smashed. What do you suggest?" Sakura knelt down properly, earning her an off look from the Hokage. "Why so prim and proper?" Tsunade looked at her, the sake still on her breath. "I angered Naruto last night, Shukaku escaped and we needed his help."
"You admitted your feelings for the Kazekage, didn't you?" Sakura looked up, surprised that Tsunade was able to tell so quickly what had happened, and sighed, nodding. "There is a spare room downstairs, but I think we need to talk to the Kazekage first. I believe I heard his mission here was done, and that he may return to Suna soon." Sakura felt herself flinch at the thought of him leaving and tried to calm down. They both knew it would happen eventually. "Hai." She stood, and Tsunade made a come here motion with her finger. Sakura walked over and watched as Tsunade reached out, brushing her finger over the side of Sakura's neck. "You had a hickey."
Sakura walked through town, eventually going back to her apartment, knowing there was no one there. She opened the door to see what had happened the night before, the living room wall had a hole the size of Kankoro smashed into it, and nothing was in place. She walked up the stairs, looking into her kitchen which now was missing a sink and all of the counters, now located in the basement, and looked in the guest room. There was a hole in the floor and Kankoro's puppets stood in the corner, completely useless. Sakura sighed before looking into the work out room. Three of the walls were more gone than there, and the floor looked like swiss cheese. There were blades all over the floor and sunlight spilled in from outside. The items were replaceable, but the apartment itself was pretty far gone. She liked this apartment. It was such a pity...
She walked through the hospital door to find Gaara sitting in the corner, his head down and his eyes fixed on Kankoro's broken arm. "It's alright, It happens. This is what I do! What kind of older brother would I be if I didn't help in those situations?" Gaara sighed, and nodded weakly, still looking concerned. "Gaara, Tsunade said you may be leaving soon? That your mission here is done?" Sakura knew what she was asking, but wasn't sure really on how to word things.
"Yes, you've been hired to accompany me and act as my escort. You may turn it down, seeing as it is a long term mission." Sakura smiled. He was going to take her with him to Suna? She nodded, relieved he wasn't just going to leave, and sighed. He stood and walked to her, putting his arms around her. "I'm so sorry. I should have been able to do something. Protect you, help you get away, and you ended up protecting me instead." He squeezed her lightly, rubbing her head against his cheek. "I'm sorry you had to do that." He kissed her on the back of the head, and she turned to face him. "I'm not. I'm not going to sit there and let someone hurt you." Gaara thought back through his life and smiled.
"Never have I heard these words. You speak them so openly, without hesitation. Thank you." Sakura smiled at him, wrapping her arms around him. "Everything I said was true. I may not have really ran them through my head," She lied," But it's all true. I love you, Gaara." He brushed her hair back, kissing her sweetly. "I love you too, Sakura."
"You two are so sweet!" Kankoro grinned before making gagging sounds.
