Hullo, guys! Thank you everyone for reviewing!

I've decided that I'm going to put one or two more chapters on this story, then I'm going to write the sequel. Don't ask me what it's gonna be called, though, because I haven't firgured that out yet.

Anyway, don't fall from that cliff, read on!

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Sabaku no Gaara had had a very long day. As soon as he had stepped out of his house, a crowd of screaming fangirls chased him for almost an hour, before he finally reached the sanctuary of the Kazekage's tower.

Then he attended a briefing and took care of a freak that had been running around killing random people.

After that, Gaara had been chased home by fangirls, narrowly avoiding harm. Temari showed up a few hours later, but Kankuro hadn't shown up yet. He was probably drunk somewhere, getting laid. Gaara didn't care though, he was that tired. Besides, going fourteen years without sleeping really took a toll on you.

He had just snuggled under the covers, sighing with relief, when he heard a frantic knocking sound. Gaara rolled his eyes heavily. It was probably just some person taking an unconscious Kankuro home. He waited for Temari to get up, but she must've been asleep already because the frenzied knocking came again.

Grumbling about how stupid that brother of his was, Gaara rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and threw the covers back. He stumbled to the breezeway, with only a pair of sweatpants on, and grasped the doorknob, when all of a sudden; a high-pitched yell came from the other side of the door. Gaara wrinkled his nose, wondering who in the world was at the door. No one would make this much noise over Kankuro. He turned the knob and took a step back in surprise.

Sakura Haruno was standing on his doorstep, tear streaks running through patches of dried blood on her face. Gaara was even more astonished to find that the lifeless body in Sakura's arms was none other than Neji Hyuuga.

Gaara acted on instinct, ushering Sakura in and taking Neji's body from her, and gently laid him on the ground. Then he told Sakura to sit down. Gaara banged on Temari's door loud enough to wake even a dead person and then grabbed a handful of bandages and a bucket of warm, soapy, water.

When Gaara came back, he examined Neji's body. He could tell that Sakura had tired to heal Neji, because her chakra was almost depleted, but Neji was still very badly wounded. Gaara took off Neji's shirt, and made a face. His whole chest was black and blue with bruises. After laying a careful hand on his chest, Gaara figured that Neji had about four broken ribs, and some serious internal bleeding. One of the ribs had punctured his lung, and Neji was unconsciously gasping for air.

Sakura had only healed two deep gouges in his thighs and his broken nose, but she was already exhausted. Gaara was going to have to call in some Sand medics.

Just as Sakura's eyes were drooping, Temari came out cursing.

"What the–" The blond gasped when she saw Neji's badly beaten body, but rubbed the sleep from her eyes and got right to work.

"Temari, we need a medic. Actually, we need three medics", Gaara said, using his 'You-had-better-listen-to-me-or-I-will-rip-out-your-throat' voice. Temari nodded, grabbed her coat, and left.

"Gaara… Do you think we can save him?" Sakura mumbled sleepily. Gaara grimaced.

"Neji's lost a lot of blood and one of his lungs has been perforated by his ribs. Without a blood transfusion, there's little hope of saving him. But I'll try." Sakura nodded, and closed her eyes. Soon after, she passed out on his couch.

"Sakura-chan… Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan, wake up!" Someone was calling her name. What did they want? Couldn't they see she was sleeping?

"Mmm… Goway…" She mumbled.

"Sakura-chan, wake up!" Two hands shook her gently. Hmm, that obnoxious voice sounded familiar. What was Naruto doing in Suna…?

Then it all came back to her. Meeting Akatsuki in the abandoned house. Itachi pummeling Neji. Sakura carrying him to Gaara's house. Falling asleep on Gaara's couch.

A tear escaped her closed lids. Naruto was probably here for Neji's funeral.

"Sakura-chan! Don't cry! Wake up!" Naruto yelled. Reluctantly, she obeyed, but was startled to see Naruto's blond head an inch away from her face.

"Naruto, give the girl some space!" She heard Tsunade yell. Sakura propped herself up on her elbows, and looked around. She was in a hospital room, with Tsunade, Naruto, and Kakashi all gathered around her.

"Ugh… How long have I been asleep?" Sakura groaned hoarsely. Her tongue felt like sandpaper.

"Two days." Kakashi said promptly.

Sakura cracked her knuckles, and then asked tentatively, "How… How is he?"

Tsunade smiled. "Alive. Very sore, but alive. You did the right thing, going to Gaara."

Sakura sighed with relief. Neji was okay! "So what are you guys doing here?"

At that moment, Ino came running in the room. "Sakura! You're up!"

"Ino!" Sakura smiled. The blonde konoichi gave her a big hug. "We were so worried. Shikamaru and I went looking for you in that house, but all we found was a big pool of blood. I though you were dead!"

One after another, all her friends came in, glad that she was awake. Even Temari came in, still a little dizzy, because she had given Neji blood twice already. (She had been the only other one at the time with type O blood.)

Once she had gotten dressed, Sakura went to visit Neji. Ten Ten was in there, with red, puffy eyes, holding Neji's hand. When she saw Sakura, Ten Ten smiled.

"Thank you… Thank you for saving Neji," She said quietly.

"Don't worry about it. The important thing is we're all alive and well, right?" Sakura grinned.

"No, Sakura, I owe you a debt. Thank you." Neji spoke up. Sakura just shrugged.

Gaara came in, with a stoned-looking Kankuro in tow.

"Sakura. You're awake." Gaara said in a monotone.

"Hey, Sakura…" Kankuro winked at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Hi, Gaara." Sakura sighed, and looked at Neji. "I guess the mission failed, huh?"

Neji nodded.

Then the sound of stampeding footsteps came from outside of the room. Gaara froze, like a deer caught in a pair of headlights.

"The fangirls. They've found me!"

They all laughed.

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Yay! Happy ending! Neji lives, and all is good... Or is it? Tune in next time for the conclusion to 'CherryBlossom123'!

Keep reading, and review!