Well, this chapter will feature one of the endings (as I mentioned previously, I have made this into a two part ending story, one part being Gaara's ending, the other being Sakura's ending.) Gaara's ending will be during this chapter and will finish this chapter, allowing me to get to Sakura next chapter. Don't take ending in the wrong way; I really truly won't kill Gaara. If I can't kill Sasuke, do you really believe I could kill Gaara?

Chapter Ten: Gaara's Ending

"I believe it is…you."

Gaara smiled, thinking back. Yes, Sakura, Sakura was love. He turned his head to look down at her. She had her back formed to his chest, pressed as closely to him as possible, using on of his arms as a stuffed animal.

Gaara had finally found the thing he had always wanted, he had wanted Love, and if Sakura was love, then the only thing Gaara wanted was Sakura.

Technically, I won.

Gaara cocked his head at Shukaku. 'You waited two weeks to bring that up?'

Well, you have seemed distracted. So, you want Sakura?

'Don't I have her?'

Technically, no. Sakura isn't your property until you make her yours.

'How do I do that?'

Well, first, she has to feel the same way about you as you feel about her. She must love you. Second, jinchuuriki like to mark their mates, you know, to show that they belong together. Third…

Gaara flinched at the images in his head. 'There is no way I am doing that.'

Suit yourself boy, but you have yet to make Sakura yours.

Gaara looked down at sleeping Sakura, sighing sadly. So then, Gaara hadn't achieved his dream quite yet, but he wasn't about to give up his wish, no way.

Beside him, Sakura let out a moan. She was in pain. She bolted upright, clutching her head, and swayed, starting to tip over. Gaara pulled her close as pain tears fell from her eyes.

"Gaara, it hurts!" she coughed a little, tasting blood in her mouth.

"Nekomata?"

"YES!" she cried as another sharp pain overtook her. "Make it stop, please make it stop!"

Gaara just held her closer, wishing he could make it stop.

Sakura continued to cry and moan, trying to fight Nekomata. She brought up more blood, spluttering it all over Gaara, and her awful headache rendered her completely useless, at anybody's mercy.

"Make it stop!" she cried out again, holding onto Gaara and hurting him with her claws. They had unconsciously come out. They began to dig into his arms. "Oh kami, please, please, somebody end this! Please, Gaara…" and with that, she fell asleep.

Nekomata must have given up again, and Sakura was always exhausted after battling Nekomata like that. The coughing blood was an attempt to distract Sakura, the headaches pointing to Sakura battling Nekomata for control of the body.

Gaara pulled Sakura into his lap and wrapped his arms around her, whispering. "I would do anything to make it stop."

(Oh Kami, I was actually crying while writing that part. SO SAD!)

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Kakashi looked at the window. Yes, Gaara was making this extremely complex, ruining practically everything. He felt the wind in his hair as he perched on the roof, waiting.

"I thought you didn't like to keep people waiting." Kakashi said as a chakra signature appeared.

"I am not late." The red head said. "Have you done your mission?"

"I ran into some…complications." Kakashi replied, "I can't get the Jinchuuriki away. It has grown, how shall I say this, attached to something."

"The only way you can save your daughter is to give us the Jinchuuriki."

"Yes, Sasori, I know."

"Then how will you save your daughter?"

"You said I could have Samehada, Isonade's subordinate, for he has the side-effects of a Jinchuuriki, but isn't any use to your, the Akatsuki."

Sasori nodded. "We need the Jinchuuriki tonight. The ceremony will be performed in a hidden cavern within the Hokage Monument."

Kakashi nodded. "I will get it there. Or else, my daughter will die."

Sasori turned to leave, but then remembered something. "Don't let anything disturb us while we remove the Bijuu."

Sasori disappeared, just like that.

Kakashi looked back at the window. Yes, Gaara was complicating things, but not beyond fixing.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Hinata used Tsunade's special kitchen to prepare the food. Ever since she had brought Gaara that one tray of food, he had asked her, politely, to make him more. She was a good cook.

"Hey Hinata!" Naruto beamed, walking over to her. "Is that your cooking I smell?"

Hinata nodded, blushing. Naruto took a whiff. "I have said this before, and I will say this again, you will make one heck of a wife."

"Th-thank you, Naruto-k-kun."

Naruto nodded. "Why aren't you wearing the necklace?"

Hinata jumped and turned toward Naruto, eyes cast to the ground. "Y-yes, about th-that. Uhh…"

Kakashi walked into the room casually, a leaf in his hair. His eye crinkled as he smiled broadly. "My my, Hinata, what is that I smell?"

Hinata turned toward Kakashi. "Oh, it is a chicken with ramen noodles soup. I am also preparing cooked vegetables."

"For Gaara, correct?"

Hinata nodded. "I feel so bad, once this mission is over, he won't get home cooked food anymore. He so thoroughly enjoys it."

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you." Kakashi said, coming up and taking the spoon from Hinata. "Here, let me stir for a second."

"O-ok." Hinata stuttered, backing away. The only place she could really go was to sit next to Naruto. There she went, keeping her hands folded in her lap, eyes on the table.

Naruto watched Hinata, both completely unaware of just what Kakashi was doing with the soup. "Hinata-chan, are you alright?"

Hinata-chan?

Hinata looked up at him. Oh what was she going to do? At first, Hinata had been sure she was going to choose Naruto, but then she had met up with Kiba, coincidentally, and now she was torn again. These last two weeks had been especially hard on her.

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun, I'm f-f-fine."

Naruto nodded and smiled, giving her the Guy look. (According to some site that officially shows Naruto Episodes, Guy is actually how you spell his name, Mighty Guy, the subbers keep getting it wrong. It isn't Gai, but Guy.) "So, would you like to go get some Ramen tonight? Ichiraku's is the very best."

"S-s-sure, Naruto-kun."

"Hinata?" Kakashi asked, "You want to come finish this, it is approaching a rapid boil."

"S-sure." Hinata got up out of the chair and took to the stirring the chicken soup. Was the broth a slightly greener shade than before? She had thought it was supposed to turn browner. Hinata sniffed the soup, but it smelled fine. Shrugging it off, she returned to adding stuff to the broth.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Hinata carried in the tray to Gaara's room. He was lying on his bed, reading an article. Today was one of the days Hinata brought him food, so he made sure to be in his room when she came.

Hinata smiled and sat the tray down next to him, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. He nodded toward her and reached for the food. Gaara beckoned for her to talk, because that was what she did.

Hinata starred intently at the wall. "Th-things aren't going well."

"Why not?" Gaara replied, too keep her talking. She brought him food, the most Gaara could do was let Hinata talk to him, right?

Loving Sakura has turned you into a softie.

'I will kick your mental butt any day anywhere.'

Touché

"I thought I had finally chosen one of them, but then the other does something to make me sway, and then when I decide again, the other one makes me sway, again! It is driving me nuts! I can't decide, I really can't!

"I mean, surely one would think this is simple, right? But, no matter how much I look at the situation, they both are so much alike. Kiba-kun can be serious when he has to though, which makes him a good leader in bad situations. Naruto-kun can get a little too excited and doesn't always keep a cool head, but neither does Kiba when he gets emotional. Like the time something happened to Akamaru."

Gaara nodded his head, not really listening. He was enjoying the taste of the broth, it was so enticing.

"So yeah…I really don't know what to do. Kiba-kun, Naruto-kun! IT IS TOO MUCH!" And Hinata plunged her face into her hands.

"You say more good things about Kiba than Naruto." Gaara observed.

Hinata looked up. "Huh? I-I d-do?"

Gaara nodded.

Hinata looked up at the ceiling, twiddling her fingers. "I…I guess I n-never really n-noticed."

Hinata left shortly after that, leaving the room in silence. Gaara finished the soup happily, and then continued to eat the vegetables and the small glass of milk. Lying back on his bed, Gaara's eyes suddenly started to droop.

Boy, snap out of it, there is something wrong here!

'Huh?' Gaara asked, 'Why is your voice so distant?'

BOY! There was something in that soup. Snap out of it!

'I have no idea what you are talking about.' Gaara said.

BOY!!

But Gaara couldn't hear Shukaku. His head was currently swimming as the lights began to dim and brighten at the same time, and everything started becoming fuzzy, every sense. Breathing became a hard task, and Gaara realized he couldn't move anything. The worst part of it was the fact that he didn't care.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sakura kept her eyes on the wall across from her bed. Gaara was over there, in his room. Sakura had just come back from eating dinner with Shizune, who insisted on eating meals with her.

Shizune had been acting weirdly lately. She had been spending every moment possible with Sakura, insisting on playing Shougi or just talking about random things. Shizune was good with scientific theories, so Sakura and she could get into an argument for hours, if they tried. Yes, Shizune was acting strange, and Sakura couldn't wrap her head around it.

Sakura returned her attentions to the wall. Where was Gaara? It was starting to fall to evening; dinner had been two hours ago, Gaara knew she was in her room, waiting for him, nonetheless. Where was he?

I WANT OUT!

Sakura grabbed her head, trying to make the pain stop by her own pressure. 'Cut it out!'

MAKE ME!

'Why can't you just accept things!?'

Nekomata doesn't settle!

Sakura winced at a particularly sharp jab. She fell to her knees and coughed slightly. A couple minutes later, with the pain in her head getting worse, Sakura started hacking. An hour later, when the attack finally ended, Sakura lay on the floor, every muscle in her body trying to restore its energy.

Blood spatter was everywhere. On the floor, there on the wall, some on her sheets, and all over Sakura's clothes. She squinted out the window, the sun had come out. Sakura gingerly touched her head, expecting the bruises that were there. She ended up clutching her head so tightly she left bruises hidden by her strawberry hair.

Sakura refocused on the wall. Gaara? He always seemed to know when she had an attack from Nekomata, he was always there. She bit her lip worriedly. Was there something wrong?

Sakura stood on shaky legs, using the bedpost as support, and held up a hand. She began to focus chakra. After working with Tsunade for the past couple months, Sakura had learned to control chakra, and had quite precise control over it. She brought her fist back and lunged at the wall, tripping halfway there and sliding through the wall.

She plunged through the wall, creating a huge wall right at the base of the floor in the wall. Sakura slid into the room along with all the rubble and lay on the floor for a few minutes, recovering.

The two guards burst into the room and eyed Sakura, drawing their selected weapons. They had no idea what Sakura was about to do. Then, one of them, the tallest, noticed something.

"Where's Gaara?" he asked.

Sakura jerked upwards and looked around the room, panicking. Surely he wouldn't have left without telling her? Well, ok, he would have, but not leave her alone for so long. She stood on her still shaking and trembling legs, bringing her gaze to rest on them.

"You will let me through that door, and you won't protest."

The older ninja began to nod. "But sir!" the younger protested, "She is in no state to attack us."

"You haven't seen this girl in action." The other one objected, "She took down three guard ninja while doped on enough drugs to kill a normal person."

The young ninja let his nun-chucks fall to the ground. Sakura shuffled past them, trying to get her lethargic muscles to move.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 (yeah yeah, cliffhanger again, please forgive me.)

Hinata sat at the table with Naruto, her hands in her lap fidgeting. Naruto had finished off three bowls of ramen and Hinata's still three thirds the way full, basically, four bowls. Naruto had been chatting in between bowls. Apparently, there were two blonde girls after Shikamaru, and cloud-envy guy was really starting to wonder if he could perform a jutsu to turn himself into a cloud.

Hinata swiveled in her chair when she heard a familiar bark from behind her. There, watching Naruto and Hinata, stood Kiba with his giant Akamaru right behind him. His mouth was open to the ground.

Suddenly, he smirked and took a seat on the other side of Hinata. "Hey, you two, what's up?"

"Not much." Naruto replied, his tone false-happy.

"You guys on a date?" Kiba asked, still playing it as his usual cheerful self. He ordered some Miso Ramen with pork.

"N-n-n-n-"

"Yeah, what about it?" Naruto asked, his teeth starting to grind.

"Well, shouldn't the girl at least be smiling during a date?" Kiba asked, thanking old-man for the ramen.

Naruto looked over at Hinata and noticed she had a worried expression on her face.

"Hinata? What is the matter?"

Hinata started to bite down on her trembling lip. Kiba and Naruto had never really liked each other, as could be seen when Naruto teamed with them on missions. But this kind of hatred was beginning to be too much.

"How about I take you for a real date?" Kiba offered, extending his hand.

Hinata looked at his hand while tears began to form in her eyes. This entire situation was just so wrong, too wrong, oh so wrong. Naruto placed his own hand on Hinata's shoulder.

"She is with me, baka."

"But obviously she isn't enjoying herself." Kiba shot back.

"Hinata was having plenty of fun before you showed up."

"Well she didn't notice me for a while, which means she was distracted, and she kept her head down the entire time."

"Hinata really enjoys spending time with me. She also likes the necklace I bought her."

Kiba's eyes flashed murder. "You bought her some necklace? So what, I have given Hinata much more than that, things that mean something."

They continued arguing, Hinata's steady stream of tears going unnoticed. They were fighting over her. This was really the last thing Hinata wanted, she didn't want them to fight.

Hinata let out a choked sob and all attention was turned toward her. Kiba's face fell, realizing what had happened, while Naruto just had a confused look about him. Hinata couldn't do this right now; she truly really couldn't do this.

She stood up and got off the stool she was sitting in and ducked under the restaurant flap. Hinata immediately ran into Sasuke.

"Hinata?" Sasuke asked, "You seen dobe?"

Hinata pointed behind her. Sasuke grabbed her wrist and pulled her back in. Within, Kiba and Naruto had gotten back into their previous argument. Sasuke just bashed the two's heads in.

"Dobe! Our mission is finally set in!"

Naruto turned to Sasuke in surprise. "Huh? Mission?"

"The Jinchuuriki mission! Our mission was to protect them!"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"They are both missing! The guards say that Gaara vanished first, and Sakura started flipping."

Naruto's eyes paled. "Oh…Why are you holding onto Hinata's wrist?"

Kiba spotted it to and started growling slightly.

"Because if you haven't noticed, during this entire conversation, she has been a little absorbed in her own thoughts, barely aware of what is going on around her. Here, you take her then."

Sasuke gave Kiba Hinata's wrist. "You get to come with us, let's go."

Naruto gave Kiba one last look before following Sasuke, with Kiba following Naruto, out of the ramen shop and to a little semi-empty square.

"Hinata, I need you to use your Byakugan to track down Sakura and Gaara."

Hinata snapped out of her reverie. "H-hai!"

Hinata's eye veins became visible. "Byakugan!" she started searching, time slowing down for her as she darted around the village with her eyes, looking. She caught sight of Sakura only a few blocks away heading toward the Hokage tower.

Hinata searched around the Hokage Tower, but couldn't find Gaara. But then, what was Sakura heading towards? The Hokage Monument? Hinata's eyes glazed over it, feeling for anything amiss. She almost passed it, it was so miniscule, but a small amount of chakra was coming from the third's nose.

"The Hokage Monument, somebody is inside the Hokage monument." Hinata told them hurriedly, "And Sakura is headed there."

"According to the guards, she was in no shape for a battle. We have to hurry."

And with that, Sasuke jumped away. Naruto was right on his heels. Kiba took a look at Hinata before hauling her with her, never relinquishing her wrist. They arrived at the Hokage Monument.

"Are there hidden caverns or something?" Kiba asked.

Sasuke shrugged.

"Well, how else would you get into the Hokage Monument?" Naruto asked.

"There!" Hinata pointed, at the eye of the second. "There is a device there, open it right and the Forth's headband will open. Open it wrong and the mechanism will close forever."

Sasuke went over to observe it. "I can't find anything, even with Sharingan."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sakura used a wall to support herself for a second. Her legs were turning to jelly; soon Sakura wouldn't be able to stand up. But she had to make it to Gaara, even though she had no idea where he was.

"Nekomata, help me!" Sakura whispered, pleading.

And why should I?

"Because you owe me."

How do I owe you?

"For years I have done what you said, given you what you desired, have done everything but give you my life. Now, it is time to return the favor."

A young couple passing Sakura gave her a weird look as she continued to talk to herself, panting heavily.

I will not rescue Shukaku.

"Are you guys having some kind of feud?"

Technically, yes. It took me a while to place the chakra signature, but I realized Shukaku was the only demon to have ever betrayed me.

"And I don't really care!" Sakura snapped, taking a step forward, and then another. "The only thing I want is Gaara."

Why do you want Gaara? Tell me, and if the reason is worth it, I will help you.

Sakura paused. "Gaara…he has done so much for me in the short amount of time we have known each other. Without him, I would have perished beneath you, been swept away in the currant of your power. With him, I feel stronger, protected, and needed."

You love him?

Sakura's breath hitched. She had always read about love in those stupid books and magazines, but had never had the dream to love or be loved, she had only wanted peace. Gaara, however, had had the dream of being loved and loving somebody.

Did Gaara love her? Yes…Gaara loved her, he had sort of admitted it; he had called Sakura Love. So Gaara had achieved half of his dream, he loved something, but was he also loved?

"Yes, I love Gaara; I could not possibly live without him."

Nekomata nodded. Prepare yourself for this.

Sakura fell to the ground as something warm and semi painful started at her stomach and spread through her body, sending shivers through her. Legs became sturdy and muscles replenished their energy, Sakura's aching head vanished, her senses became heightened, and everything around her took on a new perspective, a different light.

"What is this?"

I have given my chakra, or as much as you can handle at your currant level. But, let me tell you this, there will be one hell of a punishment when this whole ordeal is over.

Sakura nodded. "I understand."

Yes, you are a girl in love; you will do anything for Gaara. Gaara is directly in front of you, keep going, I will help you find him.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Hinata approached the eye with caution and began to feel it with her hands, being careful not to press down on any of the triggers. The pupil of the eye was split into eighths, with the center being its own little trigger. Pressing down on one of the eighths would begin to lock in a combination, screw the combinations and the entire thing would lock up.

Hinata looked it over, trying to figure out which one should lock in which place, and how hard to press each slot. Nothing gave itself away.

"We actually have to have the combination to unlock this." Hinata told them. "My guess is that this was in planning from the moment the Hokage Monument was built. I knew there were escape tunnels along the monument, but this is a completely separate thing from that."

They all nodded and Sasuke went into brooding mode. "Which means the combination would have to be something the first used, right?"

Naruto nodded, not having the slightest idea of what anybody was talking about. Kiba went into concentration mode, Akamaru whining unhappily.

"This is one of those situations when we need Shikamaru." Kiba said sadly.

"What about a highlight symbol code?" Hinata asked, eyeing the structure. "A symbol will be highlighted by pressing down on the right ones, giving way to a symbol of great meaning."

Sasuke agreed. "Yes, that would probably make sense. I have a feeling the symbol highlighted will be a Sharingan comma."

"Why is that?" Naruto demanded.

"Because during the time of the fifth, the Uchiha Clan was the most powerful, followed closely by the Hyuuga's."

Hinata nodded her head. "Yes, which means, in order to match up with what the Sharingan would have looked like before evolution took place those many years, the symbol would look like this."

Hinata pressed down on the center trigger, one in the upper left corner, one directly across from it, and then stepped back. "The Sharingan only had two commas, and they were in that pattern."

"How come Sasuke's Sharingan has three commas?" Naruto asked.

"I only had two commas when I first used it, dobe. The Sharingan grows."

As Sasuke finished speaking, the four (or five with Akamaru) felt the ground tremble. Over the fourths headband, a gap came into focus, revealing a hidden passage.

"Here goes nothing!" Kiba shouted as they climbed into the passage.

The entire time they walked along the tunnel, Kiba didn't once let go of Hinata's wrist. He seemed inwardly scared, especially for Hinata.

"Do we have any idea what we are going to find in there?" Kiba asked, trying to stay positive.

Hinata shook her head. "N-no idea."

"Which means, we could both be killed? Actually, now that I think about it, I have no idea what this mission even is, other than the fact that you guys were hired to protect some mental patients."

Hinata sighed and spoke slowly so as not to stutter. "Tsunade-sama, leader of the medical hospital, especially the 'mental' ward, recently acquired new patients, two Jinchuuriki. She knew that one of them, the one with the demon Shukaku, was being targeted by a group called the Akatsuki. (sorry if I spelled that wrong). She hired us, as ninjas, to protect him, and the other Jinchuuriki if the Akatsuki happened to find out Sakura was also a Jinchuuriki with a Bijuu.

"We tried to get closer to the Jinchuuriki, gain their trust, in order to make it easier to help them. But they became attached to each other, and wouldn't really let anybody else in. Sasuke managed to break the walls of the second Jinchuuriki, slightly. I started a friendship, sort of, with the Shukaku Jinchuuriki.

"But somehow, the person who took Gaara did it without even being caught, even by the monitors. Now, it is our job to stop the Akatsuki from stealing the Bijuu before they can kill Gaara."

"Hmm…yeah, ok, I see." Kiba replied after pondering the information. "So now we have to go battle for this Gaara Jinchuuriki?"

Hinata nodded solemnly. "Y-y-yes, that is ex-exactly what we h-have to d-do."

They came out of the tunnel, aware of their surroundings, into a large cavern cave. Lying in the middle of the floor was an unconscious Gaara, a man standing over him with some sort of kettle. The man looked up, his eyes smiling, but his face calm and serene. His red hair was a brighter shade than Gaara's, where as Gaara's was blood red, this man's was cherry red.

"I hate it when people keep me waiting." He stated, not taking his eyes away from the Shinobi.

"What have you done to Gaara?" Naruto demanded.

"Nothing…yet."

"Yet?" Sasuke questioned.

"Once I take care of you, I will extract the Shukaku into the only thing that he will go into without too much of a fight, leaving me to do all the work. Once I take the Bijuu back to my organization, we will then harness the power of the Bijuu."

Sasuke took up a fighting stance, along with Naruto. Kiba and Hinata held back. "We can't let you do that!" Naruto protested, starting to form something in his right hand. "RASENGAN!"

And he charged, holding his fist out toward the man.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sakura made it to the Hokage Monument. There! Nekomata pointed over at the headband of the fourth carving.

"Sakura?" a voice asked from behind her.

Sakura whirled around, crouching into a pouncing position, her needle-claws at the ready.

It was Kakashi, and he was carrying a girl piggy-back style. Sakura recognized the girl as Aki, the one who had stopped Sakura from killing children. Later, after the incident, Sakura had thanked Aki.

"What are you doing here?" Kakashi demanded, his voice toned with worry.

"I am here to get back Gaara."

Kakashi sweat-dropped. Now Sakura was complicating things, but of course, he knew this would happen, he had warned Sasori that the girl would come after him. He had ended the conversation with an air of indifference.

"Let's go then." Kakashi said, leaping for the entrance. Sakura followed him.

"What is going on?" Aki asked into his ear.

"Don't worry about it, everything will be ok."

Aki gave him a worried look. Kakashi never told her anything, especially when it came to whatever it was he was doing for her.

Sakura followed them, staying only feet behind them, as they came out of the tunnel and into the cavern. As soon as they entered the cavern, Kakashi performed a hand-seal. "Body Flicker Technique!"

He disappeared from Sakura's side and reappeared hidden in a second entrance to the cavern. Only then, after telling Aki to stay exactly where she was, did Kakashi find out what was going on in the room.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Kiba were lying on the ground, having been thrown against walls after using all their chakra, with Akamaru and Hinata still standing. Hinata had worry and fear written all across her face as she stood against Sasori.

Sakura was still at the cavern entrance taking in the scene. Lying right behind Sasori and some sort of puppet looking thing, unconscious, was Gaara, his face contorted in pain. Sakura's breath hitched. She had never really seen Gaara in pain before.

"Iron Needle Rain!" Sasori stated, commanding his puppet with his blue chakra strings.

"Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms." Hinata shouted, moving her arms in motions so fast not even Kakashi could keep track of it.

Hinata fell to the ground, having used all of her Chakra on that last attack. She had protected her Kiba-kun and Naruto-kun, along with Sasuke, to the best of her abilities.

"Who are you?" Sasori asked, turning toward Sakura. "Kakashi warned me about you, I think…you are late, Kakashi."

"You will die." Sakura declared, spreading her arms out from her side to allow her claws to glint in the sunlight.

There are dead bodies against the walls, only hours old.

'Why would he need them?'

To remove a Bijuu from a host, you have to use sacrifices, especially when you are going for the temporary storage object.

'We can use them, can't we?'

Of course.

"You will not leave this cave alive."

Sasori nodded. "I don't like to keep people waiting."

He raised his hands and twitched the fingers, commanding his puppet. It shot forward, headed straight for Sakura.

Sakura flipped backwards, avoiding the near attack, and darted forward, plunging her claws into the chest. She brought them out and swiped at the head, only to have the head suddenly gone and an arm in her stomach.

Sakura gasped for air as some sort of blade entered her stomach.

Oh no you don't missy, I declared a long time ago that I would be the one to kill you.

Sakura fell to her knees as something spread through her body, rendering her motionless. Suddenly, the numb feeling began to disappear, and she could feel the hole in her stomach closing. Shakily, Sakura stood up and went into a crouching stance.

"A Jinchuuriki? Why didn't you tell me, Kakashi?"

Kakashi remained silent. He felt a tug at his sleeve and turned around to find Aki. "What is going on, why are they fighting?"

"In order to save you, this must happen." Kakashi said.

Aki peered around the corner before Kakashi could stop you. "Why are there so many dead people?"

But Kakashi's words were cut off by something else. "Samehada, get out here!" Sasori called.

Samehada suddenly came into existence, materializing out of mist. He looked a lot like Kisame, actually. He had gills along his neck and on his cheeks, his chest was slippery and looked like rubber, toned with plenty of muscles, and his skin was a dark blue hue, like the night sky.

"Yes, Master Sasori?"

"Kill the girl."

"Hai, Master Sasori!"

He jumped into action, doing Taijutsu with Sakura. Sakura jumped back from his first punch and then sliced her claws along his stomach. Samehada didn't even wince as a greenish liquid came out, but continued to try and land a punch.

Sakura parlayed them with her own punches, blocked them with her arms, or dodged them. She found she could read Samehada's movements, making it easier to deal with.

Focus on that body over there, the one with black hair wearing a bright kimono, and think about starting his heart.

Ducking a kick, Sakura did as she was asked. As she jumped over a low kick, she pushed Chakra towards the body, thinking of starting its heart, making its heart start, and then bringing it to life. (this technique has a name, but I don't know what it is.) The body, following Sakura's commands, intercepted Samehada's punch and began to fight with him.

Sakura backed off, took in some air, and darted for Sasori, who had his puppet at the ready again. The good thing about sending a dead body to Samehada was that the body wouldn't stop fighting its heart gave away, which bought Sakura a few minutes.

"I said you were going to die!" Sakura screamed, ducking around the puppets attack. She kicked it from behind, sending it toppling forward, and brought a chakra infused fist, claws included, toward the puppet. It splintered to pieces, leaving behind nothing but rubble.

"So, you aren't just any Jinchuuriki, you are an upset Jinchuuriki." Sasori smiled, pleased. "Well, I do not have the same weaknesses that other Puppet-masters have, I can actually use Taijutsu."

Sasori shot forward, engaging Sakura with a flurry of arms. Everything seemed to fall into slow motion as Sakura became away of nothing but Sasori's attacks. His arm came to her jaw, she tipped backwards just enough to dodge the blow and brought up her leg, aiming at his jaw, as she continued to go backwards and land on her hands. Sasori took one step back and two forward, aiming at Sakura's back.

Still on her hands, Sakura spun around blocked Sasori's fist, capturing it with her two feet. Pulling him towards her, Sakura flipped him up into the air. Sasori grabbed hold of her ankle and pulled her with him. As he began to land on his feet, Sakura twirled herself in the air and tried to kick Sasori in the head.

He tugged her ankle, making her miss and his against his stomach. A pain shot up Sakura's leg as it went against a hard surface. She landed on her behind and looked up at Sasori. He didn't waste any time. He tried to kick her, but she lay back flat. Grabbing his foot, she spun him around in the air. She then lay back on her back and pushed her legs upward, hitting Sasori higher into the air. Sakura jumped up, aiming her claws at the helpless Sasori's chest. Her claws dug into him, meeting wood, and refused to come back out.

Two things happened simultaneously, with the body Sakura controlled with only part of her mind and Sasori moving at the exact same time, in perfect sync. Sasori's fist connected with Sakura's jaw, ripping her claws out of her flesh, while Samehada went flying from a punch in the mouth too.

Sakura felt her blood pour from her fingers, she could hear Samehada's labored breathing, she could smell all of the blood.

WE CONTROL BLOOD! Nekomata screamed at her. THIS MAN JUST PLAYED INTO OUR STRENGTH!

"It's my blood!" Sakura cried out, everything vanishing as she smelled her own blood, felt her own blood. "IT'S MY BLOOD!"

Snap it, or you will lose Gaara.

Sakura's eyes opened wide. She felt Nekomata take some sort of control of Sakura's body, more in a suggestive way. She influenced Sakura to move, but at any given point Sakura could have disobeyed.

Sakura rolled herself upward, rocking her back until she landed on her feet, and stood up. The blood still fell from her fingers, but it started to turn into liquid strands instead of individual drops. (idea taken from Vampire Knight). Sakura smiled evilly.

Fast as a cheetah, Sakura moved. Suddenly, she was behind Sasori, and he was wrapped in strings made from blood, her blood! Tugging and pulling, Sakura tossed him into the air!

As soon as Samehada hit the ground, Aki moved. Jaw injuries were extremely serious things. Kakashi tried to grab hold of her wrist, but was too slow. She fell to Samehada's side and started applying pressure to his jaw. It was broken.

"This is going to hurt." She told him. With crunching and grunts, Aki tugged and pushed and pulled the jaw back into its place. Samehada didn't show too much discomfort from the whole thing. She began to wrap it up using cast-like material to hold the jaw together, covering his mouth but leaving his nose open in the process.

She began to tend to his other injuries. He had older wounds that looked infected.

Kakashi watched as Sakura pulled Sasori into the air using her own blood as string and rope. When he was in the air, strings tied around his body to prohibit movement, Sakura punched him with everything she had, kicking him in the stomach and the head, bashing his legs and his arms, and disconnecting one of his ears, all in a matter of seconds.

Sasori fell to the ground, unconscious. She had struck his ribcage hard enough to disrupt organs, organs he needed to live.

Sasori was thrown against the wall near Kakashi while Sakura ignored it all.

As soon as Sasori's body hit the ground, Sakura's eyes found Gaara's body, unmoving. She fell to her knees and crawled over to him, touching his bare chest and moving upward, feeling around for broken things or serious injuries. She made it to his head and pulled it into her lap. Why wasn't he moving? What had happened to him?

"Gaara?" Sakura whispered.

"Sasori hadn't taken Shukaku yet, he should still be alive. It is possible he is in a coma like state, trying to repair the damage preparations did to him."

"This is your fault." Sakura cried, talking to Kakashi.

Kakashi sighed. "I know…I am sorry. You would do anything for Gaara, would you not?"

Sakura nodded, looking up at Kakashi.

"My daughter, she means the world to me. She is the only thing I have ever cared about. I didn't find out about her until she was three years old, her mother kept it a secret from me until I found out. Then, I found out my daughter, my Aki, had been hit with a curse jutsu right after she was born.

"The only way she could live past twenty-years of age was to have the love of a Jinchuuriki or Bijuu. The Akatsuki found out about my little dilemma and proposed this deal. If I helped them obtain two Jinchuuriki, by finding them and helping the Akatsuki get to them if needed, I would be allowed to have Samehada.

"Samehada is basically a subordinate who was given powers by Isonade, giving him the right powers needed to save Aki, but he wasn't powerful enough to be of use to the Akatsuki. Apparently, when capturing Isonade, Samehada attached himself to Sasori. This made Sasori his master, which gave him the privilege to do whatever he wanted with the subordinate. Sasori could easily give Samehada to me, and then he could fall in love with Aki, and her with him.

"They gave me an entire year to think about it, and I had never really seen Jinchuuriki as people until I met Naruto, so I hadn't figured out what I had gotten myself into until it was too late.

"You two provided the perfect opportunity. I transferred to the hospital, making up some crap story and compromising a couple things, and then Gaara became comfortable around me. After waiting until the moment was right, I drugged Gaara's food, the exact food Hinata made him. He wasn't expecting the drugs because he trusted Hinata in some weird sense, she is harmless after all.

"Now, Gaara lies here, and we don't know if he will wake up, because Sasori did something to try and separate the consciousness of Shukaku from Gaara's. It would have caused a lot of mental damage."

Kakashi fell silent as he looked at Gaara. Sakura's mind, however, was reeling. She looked up over at Samehada, who had Aki tending his injuries. So Aki was Kakashi's daughter, and Kakashi wanted to protect her. Sakura could understand that, it was the weakness of humans, to care about something.

Sakura looked down at Gaara. She cared for Gaara, she would do almost anything for him, to make sure he stayed safe, to make sure he was happy. Yes, she loved this man; she had fallen for the weakness of humans.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Gaara was aware of intense pain during his numb state, his mind in complete oblivion. Something was putting a wall in between him and something, but he wasn't sure what it was. Then he felt an intense pain in his chest, like something was ripping out his soul, and then it stopped.

Time didn't seem to exist in whatever state Gaara was currently in. He couldn't feel or hear or smell or see anything, nothing at all…there was nothing.

Then, he heard a voice.

Boy, are you there?

What was that voice, who was it? It sounded familiar, like something Gaara had known his entire life, but he couldn't place what it was.

Boy, I know you can hear me, reply.

Shukaku, that was it, the voice belonged to Shukaku, but who was Shukaku?

'Shukaku?'

Yes boy, it is I. I am currently dissolving the walls that Sasori person placed on us. Sakura is worried about you.

Sakura, what was Sakura? A cherry-blossom, why would a cherry-blossom be worried about him?

Just hang in there boy, your life is still incomplete.

Incomplete? What was incomplete, what was life? Why was everything such a jumbled mess? Why couldn't Gaara remember where he was, or why he was here, or even what everything was?

Senses began to slowly return him. He could hear something that sounded sad, with several shaky breaths and sobbing cries. What was it? Then he felt something wet on his eye, something that reminded Gaara of…rain, yes, rain. What was rain again? He felt something touch his hair, and it felt good. He could smell salt and some sort of flower. Was that the cherry-blossom?

Ever so slowly, Gaara opened his eyes. There was a face looking down at him, some face framed in pink hair. Who was this? Was this the cherry-blossom Shukaku had spoken of?

"G-G-G-Gaara?" the face above him sobbed, talking to him.

Tears fell singly from the girls face and landed on his own. They were like beautiful liquid diamonds, the most beautiful things Gaara had ever seen. This Cherry-Blossom was extremely pretty, with her pink hair and green diamond-filled eyes, her lips parted as her breath came out in shaky hesitant breaths. Who was this cherry-blossom?

"Gaara, I love you." The girl stated.

The cherry-blossom loved him?

And everything within Gaara suddenly felt complete. Waves of memories crashed down upon him, never once disrupting the pleasant warm feeling coming from Gaara's chest, coming from his heart.

"Sakura?" he asked, lifting up his hand. He paused before touched her face, smearing the diamonds all over the place. He smiled softly, looking up into her eyes. "You are so beautiful when you cry, like you are made from diamond essence."

Kakashi smiled, happy to know everything was ok. He turned to look over at Aki, who was crouching over Kiba. Hinata was sitting beside Kiba, biting her lip with worry. Sasuke was starting to come around, but Naruto was still out cold, probably would be for a couple days.

Samehada was sitting upright, watching Aki with interest in his eyes. He was amazed that something in existence had been, well, nice to him. He had served Isonade for so long, and everything had run from his presence, but not this petite little thing with silver ringlets, the prettiest thing he had ever seen.

Everything was going to be ok.

There you go, Liquid-Starshine, since you requested Sasori, and I finally reached episode 22, so I finally know just how cute he is. Bet you guys didn't see any of that coming, right? Well, I didn't see it coming until Saturday, so yeah; I was just as clueless… Oh, and I didn't kill Sasori. Just so you know, I didn't kill him. He is too cute to kill! Sasori is even cuter than SASUKE!

Anyway, longest chapter yet, next one is Sakura's ending. After Sakura's ending, I might have one last chapter, I haven't figured it out yet, just depend, I guess.

Hope you all enjoyed it, sorry for some of the cliffhangers, sometimes I can't help it. Don't want to give too much away at once.

Something you liked? Something you disliked? Something you hated? Comments, criticisms, flames, and pointers are always welcomed in my review section, that I promise you. I never take things the wrong way…ok, fine…I do, but I try not to get carried away, and usually I only take things from a certain classmate of mine the wrong way, and then she takes things I say the wrong way, and then we get into a argument, and before you know it, we have caught onto the misunderstanding and respect each others different opinions.

So, Read it, Review it, Love it or Hate it, and ENJOY IT!