Chapter 10

The wind whipped across her bare skin, stinging it with particles of sand. A mask protected her eyes as the huntress watched three distant figures wandering the sand dunes. She knew who they were, what they were here for. They were searching, searching for her. But she wasn't ready to be found, not yet. And especially not by him. They're voices carried on the wind, indistinct and too faint to make, not that she needed to hear them clearly to know exactly what they were saying. Two weeks now they had been tailing her, the only reason she hadn't been able to shake them was due to his abilities. Damn the sand. She thought fiercely, tearing her eyes from the trio. They had had to leave several times in their chase of her, needing to return to the village that she constantly kept within a day's travel time. But she would not return until she was ready too. And right now...she just couldn't. They couldn't understand, they wouldn't. This was something best left to herself. With one backwards glance, Sakura vanished into the dunes of the desert, always keeping ahead of her pursuers.

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"Sakura-chan!"

"Haruno!"

The two Konoha ninja scanned the horizon, searching for their teammate. They had found signs of her last camp several hours ago, but no direct sign of the elusive woman. The third member of their party walked along beside them in silence, eyes closed and hand folded together as his third eye roamed the sand dunes before them. Two and a half weeks, such a short time that could cause such a drastic change in a person. It had not been until the fourth day of the medic-nin's disappearance from his village that Gaara had finally told her two friends she was gone. He had told them nothing of the cause of her vanishing act, could not tell them.

"Gaara, which way?" Naruto asked loudly, panic tinging his voice.

He held up one finger to his lips in a 'shh' motion, returning to concentrating. Something glinted in the light of the setting sun, a closer look revealing them to be the remains of a desert hare. He pointed in the direction of where the remains were after noting the masterful job done of skinning the small animal and gutting it. "Probably her lunch remains, looks to be about three hours old." He muttered, moving his third eye beyond the clue to finding the woman in hopes of finding another. It was rare to find something so obvious from her.

"Gaara, take a rest." Naruto said, much softer now. He was concerned for his friend, no doubt. The rings around the man's eyes had returned to pitch blackness as he refused to sleep in favor of looking for the pink-haired shadow. Food had been forsaken too on many occasions, leaving him looking on the gaunt side. "Me and Sasuke will keep looking, you need a break."

"No." I have to find her. I caused this. "I'm fine."

The two Konoha boys looked at each other and shrugged. Something in the redhead's eyes as he came to them for help had stopped them from asking what had happened. All attempts since then had only been met with silence. "You know," Sasuke started, eyes looking off distantly at the rolling sand dunes. "She's more then shown us she can survive out here on her own. And as me and the dobe both know, she's a lot stronger then she was." The Uchiha had to swallow his pride on that one. "Maybe if we just leave her alone, she'll come back when she's ready. And I can almost guarantee she's watching us right now. Without a Hyuugi, its pretty much hopeless to find her right now."

Gaara turned incredulous eyes on the black-haired boy, which is to say they were barely, slightly, minisculey widened. Naruto however sighed heavily and plopped down to the ground. "I was thinking the same thing. I was just hoping you wouldn't voice it. More then likely, we're just driving her self-exile longer by dogging her. You know how she is." A wry grin quirked his lips. "Besides, we're a week late returning home. And since the old bag doesn't have Sakura to send after us at the moment, you know what that means."

The tinkle of bells behind them had the three whipping around, weapons at the ready and sand rising. Two bells tinkled together as they were shook again, held in the leather-clad hand of a jonin. "It means, you two will be repeating the bell test." Kakashi drawled, nose buried in his infamous orange book. "And this time, you can't ruin the end of the book for me." He raised a happily creased eye, informing them he had a huge smile on his face. "I already finished it."

The two groaned heavily, cursing their bad luck. "Kakashi-sensei."

A serious cloud dispelled the happy eye-crease. "So, by 'she' and 'her', am I to assume you two are speaking of Sakura-chan?"

Conversation stopped as Gaara adjusted the gourd that lay heavily upon his back. "As Kazekage, I thank the two of you for coming to strengthen the alliance between our two respective villages. Please pass on my gratitude to the Hokage and my assurance I shall send a full message of your success. You may return home." He turned his back on the trio. "Return home, I will find her."

Naruto's mouth dropped open. How could he demand they leave?! "I'm not leaving un..."

"There's a sandstorm that will be here in thirty minutes." Cold jade eyes glanced back at them. "You can't survive it. But I can." I will find her. He added mentally.

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The cave was hardly that, more like a shallow indent. But it was stone and would offer security from the storm she had spotted in the distance. Sakura pulled out the blanket she had been using to sleep on and hung it over the entrance, securing it to the ground with a pair of kunai. I hope that holds. I think maybe I'm ready to head back. Maybe. The stone was cold and unforgivingly hard, but she dare not light a fire because of the smoke and her only blanket was offering the only protection from keeping sand out. The cold is good, keeps me awake. And that was the important thing for her solitude. Not to be alone, but to stop the dreams. The nightmares. The ones that he had awakened once more and the ones that had been newly put in her head. But she could feel how heavy her eyes were, how muddy her mind was working. She'd already gone three days without sleep. But, she figured if Gaara could do it, why not herself. Afterall, he was a simple human deep down just like herself.

But then again, he didn't have much of a choice in whether to sleep or not. Hmm...when did the sand become so comfortable. Oh damn. Her eyes slowed down in their blinking, closing to quickly and lifting too slowly. It seemed she needed to blink more often, her eyes refusing to stay open for an appropriate amount of time. She knew the exact moment she fell asleep. It was when he appeared, sand whipping into the meager shelter cruelly, before he shut it out once more. Wearily, emerald eyes went into doctor mode as they noted the gaunt, almost scraggly, look to the noble kage. He looked faintly skeletal. Definately a dream. He's too vain to let himself go so much. Her lips quirked up in a ghost of a smile. She almost felt like giggling. Hmm, all that lack of sleep must have made me slap-happy. Maybe it'll keep the nightmares away.

He stared at her, slumped pitifully against the cold stone wall, obviously fighting off sleep. Dark circles ringed her eyes, eyes horribly bloodshot. "You know, I'm supposed to be the insomniac. Some medic you are." He commented dryly, moving to sit next to her.

Confusion shadowed in her eyes, showing to him just how exhausted she was. He narrowed his eyes dangerously as a bright smile lit up her face. "Hello!" Fingers moved with surprising speed to his cheek, pinching and pulling on it. "Hmm...you feel real."

Those same fingers set to work, poking and prodding at him. Gaara felt the muscle in the eye associated with irritation go into overdrive with twitching. "You're supposed to be an ANBU. Look at you and your condition, its pitiful. You're worthless like this." He snarled, smacking her hand away.

The sharp contact brought a change about the young woman so fast, the redhead had to do a double-take on her. The exhaustion vanished and a cold hardness filled her. Slack muscles went rigid, ready to spring into action. A feral snarl twisted her lips and she slowly rose to her feet. "I...am not worthless." Pure malicious venom dripped off every word. "Who are you to judge me, Sabaku no Gaara?! At least I have never died! At least I have never lost to Sasori."

Jade eyes had gone wide, not only from the very formidable amount of rage-filled chakra rolling off her, but also at how she was attacking him! His mouth opened, intending to show her who was the kage there, but she cut him off with more scathing words. "I am not pitiful. I am not worthless. I have more worth than someone like you, who can only kill. I can save lives. Tell me, Sabaku no Gaara, when was the last time you spared a life over taking it?" She bit out fiercely.

The young man stared at her, Sakura's last statement shocking him to the core. For one of only a very few times in his life, he was frozen into silence as he desperately wracked his brain for a time to prove her wrong. To his shame, he couldn't think of a single time. "Can't think of one can you, almighty Kazekage." She spat out. "Perhaps you should re-think who the worthless one of us is."

When all else fails, resort to anger. "I should kill you for speaking to me like that." Gaara seethed. How dare this girl presume to be so much better than he himself was.

Green fire lit in her eyes. How could he have assumed she had been helpless just moments ago? "Then do it. Prove to the world, the only thing you're good for is killing. Prove I'm right, that the only thing you can do, is kill." She raised her chin defiantely at him. And for the first time, Gaara saw the woman she had become.

"Hn."

A hopeless chuckle escaped her as she flopped back to the ground. "You're hopeless, you know that right?"

"Hn."

Her nose scrunched up. "I hate when you do that."

His lip twitched. "Hn."

Her hand reached out to flick him on the nose. She smirked at the dangerous look he sent her way. "I know, I know. You're going to kill me now."

Gaara didn't bother answering her, too absorbed in an internal debate raging in his heart and mind. First she drives me to the brink of killing her, now I feel like laughing at her. I don't...understand. Jade eyes narrowed as he puzzled over the dilemma. By all rights, he should crush her into nothingness. But that simple thought alone caused such a strong ache and negativity in his heart. "No." He mused, going over once more their little 'spat' from before. "I think...I shall spare your life."

Her mouth formed a perfect 'o' in wonderment, eyes going wide. "But...only this once." He added, granting her the benefit of seeing him smile. "And only, if you promise to never run away again. And return to your duties as my medic."

"I think I can handle that, if you guard my sleep tonight."

He quirked an invisible eyebrow. "Promise to return with me tomorrow."

Teeth flashed in a smile. "Cook breakfast for me." Sakura countered.

"File my paperwork."

"Train my medics."

Sakura frowned as a wicked aura surrounded the young Kazekage. "Marry me."

She coughed. Choked. Coughed some more. "Paperwork it is." She gasped out when she could. He did NOT just say that, did he? Her mind scrambled, while the redhead chuckled softly.

Why do I feel depressed she didn't keep up the debate? Its not like it was an actual request after all. Gaara questioned as he leaned back against the far wall of the shallow 'cave', eyes trained on the opening that thrashed as wildly as it could at the power of the storm outside. A weight settled on his outstretched thighs and he looked down to see the dangerous, yet intriguing, woman laying down with her head in his lap. "Be my pillow." She murmured tiredly.

He waited, long into the night until he gave his response. "Stay with me always."

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A.N: Wheeeee! Yeah yeah, I know. Its another short one. But be happy its not 5 months coming! Lol, I'll try and make the next one longer. Actually, I can guarantee it will be, because pasts shall be explored. Also, just so you know, I've started a new story. My first ever highschool one. And yes, its a Sakura pairing. Whoever can guess first what the pairing is, I'll make a special cameo of that person in one of my stories of their choice. Or just give them love cookies that can be traded in to make me write a chapter in whatever story they want. Ja ne loves.