A/N- Review! I keep getting all these hits on this story, but not that many reviews. Please review, I want to know what you think of my story.

Gaara stood in front of them with his arms folded over his chest and his Kazekage robes flowing in the breeze. He acknowledged Naruto's enthusiastic greeting with a curt nod of his head before he gave Lily a hard stare. Lily's tail twitched uncomfortably and she tried to hold her head confidently.

"Welcome to the Sand Village," Gaara said. "The Council will gather in two hours, that should give you time to clean up after your journey."

"Thanks Gaara," Naruto said with a grin.

Gaara motioned with his hand for a sand shinobi to come forward. "Show our ambassadors to where they will be staying. Also, show them where the Council will meet; I don't want them to get lost."

Naruto scoffed indignantly. "Why do people doubt my sense of direction so much? I led us here didn't I?"

Sakura shared an amused glance with Lily before she addressed Gaara. "Thank you for your hospitality. We will see you in two hours then."

"Good." Without another word, Gaara turned and walked towards the largest building in the Sand Village.

"Gaara seriously needs to work on his social skills," Naruto complained with his hands behind his head.

Lily stretched her hind legs and yawned. "Can we go get clean and rest now? My pelt is starting to feel all scratchy from all of this sand."

Sakura nodded and they followed the sand shinobi to a small building that was close to the largest building in the village, which they assumed was the Kazekage's office. The building was clean and, to the three's relief, sand free. The sand ninja lead them upstairs and pointed out two different rooms.

"This room will be for the medic nin and the fox," he explained when he opened the door to a rather large room. "Each room has its own bathroom, shampoos and conditioners have been provided for all of you."

Naruto grinned when he saw the beautiful room. "Let's go see my room now!"

The sand shinobi closed the door to Sakura's and Lily's room and opened the other door. Naruto's room was considerably smaller, probably only a third of the size of the other room, the walls were the color of clay and sand covered the floor.

"What!" Naruto gasped in disbelief. "Why is my room less fancy than Sakura's?"

"The Kazekage specifically said that this was to be your room, I believe he told me that with a small smile," the sand shinobi laughed. "Be wary, at night the sand blows into this room, you'll probably want to securely close the shutters before you leave."

Naruto groaned and their escort left with a small smile on his face. "This sucks," Naruto whined. "Gaara has a weird sense of humor."

Lily peeked from behind Sakura's legs and barked out a laugh. "I hope your taste in sand improves," she teased. "Because it looks like you'll be living in it for the rest of our visit."

Sakura giggled with Lily. "Let's go take a shower," she said while she stretched. "Don't get covered with sand again after you've showered, Naruto," Sakura laughed with a wave when she left the room.

Lily smirked at Naruto one last time before following Sakura into their room. She shook her pelt for the tenth time since they got there before jumping on the bed. "Is there a jutsu or anything to prevent sand from getting in my pelt?" she asked while Sakura took off her pouch and rummaged through it until she found a clean pair of clothes and the small kit of supplies she used to clean Lily.

"Not that I know of," she answered while she smoothed out the wrinkles. "I'll clean you first, Lady Tsunade would pummel me if you looked like a desert rat when meeting with the Kazekage."

"Fine by me," Lily said with a fox grin.

Sakura was very thorough when cleaning Lily, giving Lily's pelt two washes, combing out the sand when the fur was still wet, drying it gently with a towel and smoothing it down with a thorough brushing. Lily loved being groomed, but she especially loved not having sand in her pelt anymore.

"All done," Sakura said after forty-five minutes of grooming. "Now, just rest while I freshen up."

"Thanks Sakura," Lily sighed contently while she trotted out of the bathroom and jumped onto the bed.

She must have fallen asleep, because the next thing Lily heard was Sakura tossing her bag onto their bag. Groggily, Lily sat on her hind legs and beat her wings a couple of times.

"Are we heading to the Kazekage's office now?" she asked Sakura.

"Yes. Why don't you go wake up Naruto while I finish getting ready."

Lily groaned, but didn't argue while she jumped off the bed and slipped out of the room. Naruto's door was shut, and Lily started to scratch at the door.

"Wake up, baka!" she shouted. "We're going to meet with the Kazekage!"

She could hear something crash on the floor, causing Lily to grin. Naruto opened the door and glared down at the vixen who was sitting calmly in front of him.

"Are you ready to go yet?" Lily asked in exasperation.

Naruto grit his teeth and shut the door, almost squashing Lily's nose. Lily growled in anger and beat her wings so that she hovered just before the doorknob.

This would be easier if I had thumbs, she thought while she tried to grip the doorknob with her paws. After a couple of tries, the door opened and Lily pushed her way through into the room to find Naruto sitting on his bed with his head in his hands.

"What's with you?" Lily asked while she landed on the ground and kicked the door shut. "Why do you hate me so much? Is it because Sakura spends so much time with me?"

Naruto looked up and Lily felt her heart pinch in pity when she saw the tears in his eyes. "I don't hate you," he said softly. "It's just…every time that I see you; I'm reminded of what I did to my best friend."

Lily tilted her head in confusion until she remembered the story that Sakura had told her about their seals. "You don't like looking at me," she began carefully. "Because I remind you about how you attacked Sakura when you used the Kyuubi's chakra. I thought that Sakura told you not to feel guilty about that?"

"I can't help it," he mumbled. "I love her."

They didn't talk for a few moments, Lily was too busy staring at Naruto in shock. "You love her?"

"Ever since we formed Squad 7," Naruto said with a small smile. "I've always had a crush on her, but she only had eyes for Sasuke. When Sasuke left, it broke Sakura's heart, and I promised to bring Sasuke back to make her happy again. All I want is for her to be happy, even if that means it's with someone else."

Lily sighed and jumped on Naruto's lap. "If you care about her so much, you should tell her. She has a right to know, and you have a right to be happy. You don't know if she still loves Sasuke. He hurt her pretty bad, and you kept her together."

Naruto stared at Lily's seal and sighed. "But, I don't want to ruin our friendship. I don't think I could bear losing her."

"If you two are as close as I think," Lily began carefully. "Then nothing will be able to hurt your friendship."

"Naruto! Lily! What's taking you two so long!" Sakura demanded impatiently from the hallway. "We're going to be late for our meeting."

Lily jumped off of Naruto and gave him a genuine smile. "If you want to talk to her in private, I'll leave you two alone."

Naruto gave Lily his sheepish grin and laughed. "I'll talk to her after our meeting with Gaara. But I want to thank you for listening to me."

"Does this mean we can be friends now?" Lily asked. "I know that it would mean a lot to Sakura."

"Believe it!" Naruto laughed. While still laughing he opened the door straight into a very impatient Sakura.

"Baka!" she shouted in his face. "Now we're going to be late."

"Sakura," Naruto whined. He shared a small grin with Lily who paced in-between Sakura's legs.

Sakura sighed and stepped over Lily to lead the way to Gaara's office, with a chuckling Naruto and Lily bringing up the rear.

Lily shifted uneasily in front of the Kazekage and the rest of the Council while a few sand nin examined hers and Sakura's seals. Gaara was reading the scroll that Lily had given to him after she released the jutsu that Tsunade had placed on it. His eyes didn't give any hint of emotion at what he was reading, but Lily could feel his eyes burn into her every now and then.

"This is a complex seal," the sand ninja holding Lily's arm observed. "It must take perfect chakra control to create it."

Sakura stepped in front of Gaara while Lily yanked her leg away and followed. "If you want to go through with this Lord Kazekage, I can create the seal for you. My chakra control isn't as good as Lady Tsunade's, but I know how this seal works more than she does, it takes someone who has this seal to fully understand how to create it."

Lily watched when a large man with paint on his face stand up and slam his fist on the table. "This is ridiculous!" he exclaimed. "A seal like this is dangerous, it could kill you Gaara if she messes up. Is it worth it? You're plenty strong without Shukaku, why do you want to do this?"

"That's enough Kankuro," Gaara said softly. He stood up and looked Sakura straight in the eyes. "Let's go talk in private."

Gaara walked out from behind the desk and offered his arm to Sakura. She looked at it in surprise, but took it and let Gaara escort her into a smaller room, leaving a confused Lily and a seething Naruto with the Council.

"No fair," Naruto whined. "If I offered my arm to Sakura like that I'd be pounded into the wall. And now we have to wait for them to finish talking about the seal."

Lily butted Naruto's leg with her head to get him to shut up. "We're in front of the Sand Council, baka," she hissed. "Save your love life for the trip home."

Naruto grinned sheepishly and turned to talk to Kankuro. They were in the middle of a heated discussion about Shadow Clones versus Puppets when Gaara lead Sakura out of the small room they were talking in.

"I will go through with the seal," Gaara said bluntly. "If what Sakura says is correct, this will incapacitate me for a couple of days. Kankuro, I want you to go with Sakura and Naruto to help Sakura prepare while I converse with the Council."

"Are you sure about this Gaara?" Kankuro asked with a worried tone.

"I made a promise to the people of this village to protect them," Gaara said solemnly. "If there is a chance of me regaining some of my former power, I will take it."

Kankuro looked at the ground and grit his teeth. Without another word he led Sakura and Naruto out of the room with Lily trotting behind. He led them into a small room with cushions lining the edges and a couple of windows. Sakura immediately walked over to the windows, closed them, and then sealed them to block any sound from entering or leaving. Next she gathered a couple of the pillows in the center for Gaara to sit on while she worked.

"I only need Lily in here once Gaara arrives and we start," she said, looking straight at Naruto. "I will need Lily to break the seal on the door to let outsiders in."

Naruto looked uneasily at Sakura. "Why won't you be able to break the seal on the door Sakura?"

Sakura sighed and gave Naruto a small smile. "Lady Tsunade learned the hard way to have someone in the room to help. Shizune told me that she had to break down Lady Tsunade's wall after I was sealed, Lady Tsunade and I were both unconscious."

"This is dangerous for you too?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "If that's the case, then I want to be in there with you!"

Sakura shook her head. "Lily would be less likely to be hurt by this process, because she has had it done on her before, chances are that she won't be hurt just by sitting on the sidelines."

Naruto opened his mouth to object, but Lily gently swiped at his leg with her forepaw. "She'll be fine," she told him. "I'll make sure she doesn't overexert herself."

Gaara arrived a minute later by himself. He muttered something to Kankuro, who grabbed a protesting Naruto by the collar and dragged him out.

"Let's get started then," Sakura said while motioning to the cushions she had arranged in the middle of the room.

Lily settled herself on one of cushions left on the side of the room. Her muscles were tense with anticipation and worry while Gaara knelt down on the cushions and took off his Kazekage robes and Sakura sealed the door.

Sakura took a deep breath and put on a confident smile. "Alright Gaara, let's get started."

Naruto paced anxiously right outside of the room where Sakura was sealing Gaara. He had been waiting for almost an hour, and he could almost feel his heart being torn out of his chest at each passing minute. Kankuro and Temari were leaning against the wall with their arms crossed while they waited for news of their brother's wellbeing.

"How long is this supposed to take Naruto?" Temari demanded.

"I don't know, I didn't even find out that Sakura was sealed until a couple weeks after it was done," Naruto admitted.

Temari grunted irritably and turned her back on him, causing Kankuro to grin. Nobody said anything else until they suddenly felt an enormous amount of dangerous chakra leak from the seal on the door.

Naruto felt his stomach knot up when he recognized Shukaku's dangerous chakra."Sakura!" Naruto shouted while he tried to open the door. "Are you okay! Please open the door! Sakura!"

Kankuro grabbed Naruto's arms and pulled him back. "We don't know what they're doing in there!" he shouted above Naruto's screams. "If we barge in, we'll only make it worse."

Naruto stopped struggling and hung limply in Kankuro's arms. The feeling of the chakra made their skin crawl, and they all tensed up to do something if the amount of chakra increased. After another half hour, the amount of chakra began to subside. The three waiting ninja sat taller and waited anxiously for the door to open.

Suddenly, the weight of chakra on the door began to lift and the doorknob started to rattle until it opened, revealing a bleeding Lily.

"They're okay," she said hoarsely while she leaned against the door frame. "They're both unconscious, but their hearts and breath sounds are strong."

Naruto ran past Lily into the room and saw that Sakura was collapsed next to Gaara. He scooped her up in his strong arms and felt hot chakra coming from her arm. Why is her seal reacting like this? He wondered.

Kankuro lifted Gaara while Naruto lifted Sakura and Temari inspected the wound on Lily's side. "We should take these three to the hospital," Temari said when she finished inspecting Lily's wound.

"Lead the way," Naruto said while he looked at Sakura's pale face.

A/N- Thanks for the reviews! Oh and wait and see to find out if Naruto gets a companion