A/N: THE BIG TEARJERKER! DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Chapter 9: Bleeding Love

Sakura was not hungry. She'd lost control of herself and the result had been the complete and utter destruction of the insurgent camp responsible for Gaara's detainment. She sighed and pushed her plate away. Her mother looked at her, then back at the children. They were still upset with their mother for leaving, but the promise of getting to meet their father today had softened them towards her significantly. Sakura smiled a fake smile and stood. "I'm going to see Kakashi. I don't know if Gaara's awake or not yet." Tsunade nodded and watched her leave.

On her way to Kakashi's office, she noticed that Gaara's room was open. She cocked her head and walked over to it. She looked in and found Gaara putting his pants on. She shook her head and leaned against the door frame. When he turned and found her there, his eyes became guarded. She wondered why.

"So, I hear you raised your body count to even higher than mine. Congrats." Sakura narrowed her eyes on him and then looked away.

"I was angry." she said, looking at his hands instead. He had something clutched in one fist. "What's that?" she asked curiously. Gaara looked at it and then at her, his eyes going cold.

"Some interesting reading material. You should see it." he threw it on the bed and reached for his shoes. He put them on and laced them up. Sakura still hadn't moved.

"Interesting, huh? Since when did you find anything the media had to say interesting?" She was getting really suspicious by now. Something wasn't right.

"Yeah. There's this article on the back. Big headliner from a few months ago apparently. Apparently, a man was found guilty for trying to kill his wife." Sakura noticed how he said the word wife and looked at the article. She saw her picture, along with Sasuke's. She scowled.

"Hn. Well I'll just have to call the press and inform them of the mistype." she noticed the surprise in his eyes. "I'm divorced." as soon as the words left her mouth, he made an awful face at her. One he'd never shown to anyone but those he hated.

"Divorced, huh? What about the kids they talked about in the article. Where are they?" Sakura's eyes frosted over as she stared at him. She knew he upset and acting on limited knowledge. She walked into the room and pushed the door too as much as she could without closing it. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him.

"Gaara, what the hell is wrong with you?" she asked, knowing he was going to need to blow off some steam. He glared at her and smacked the newspaper with his hand.

"This! You went and got married while I was rotting in a cell in the middle east!" Sakura's eyes flashed dangerously and she took a step towards him.

"What do you expect of me Gaara!? They told me you were dead!" she hissed at him. Gaara got up in her face then.

"You were here, you knew my status!" before she could retort, he circled her asking more and more questions. "Did he fuck you like I did? Did you enjoy him like you did me? Did you beg him-" he was cut off when Sakura reached out and smacked him…hard. He looked at her and found tears of pain and shame in her eyes. He just stared at her while she unloaded years of pain.

"I wasn't here to keep track of your status, Gaara! I was with my mother, just like I was when I resigned and told you where to find me! Four years went by before I heard anything from the agency, and even then, all they said was that you and the others had been captured. I ran six miles to the nearest town from my mother's house in Minnesota to contact them to come pick me up. When I found the others, but you weren't there, I was heartbroken. I went back to my mothers, thinking everyone would keep me posted on your status. Two years passed and I finally had to drag my ass to D.C. only to be confronted by your little fan club and be told you'd been found in a mass grave and that you'd died a gruesome death!" she screamed, tears of anger and pain falling down her face. She backed away from him and shook her head.

"I sunk into a depression so miserable that my mother had to take care of me like I was six all over again." She said in a shameful voice. She looked up and he could see the truth in her eyes. Like him, she'd suffered these last few years. "I tried dating, but no one ever compared to you. And then I met that silver tongued blackheart, Uchiha Sasuke." she pointed at the newspaper like it was evil.

"I married him to try and fill the void created when I thought you were dead. But he lied to me, cheated on me, beat me, degraded me in front of my kids, he…he raped me repeatedly…" she looked up at him and he felt the need to comfort her. "Not once in the eight years I was in the Agency did you ever tell me you loved me. I've waited for you to say that for fourteen years…and now you come here and make these…hideous accusations…" tears fell down her face as she stumbled to the door. She tried to open it, but her legs gave out and she fell, her eyes so full of tears she couldn't even see straight. She let out a sob and the sound of running feet met his ears.

Suddenly, the door burst open and two smaller figures were instantly all over Sakura. "MOMMY!" the smallest one screamed and started crying. The taller, older looking figure looked up at him with angry green eyes.

"What did you do to my mom!?" the boy stood and put his small body between Sakura and Gaara. "What did you do to her!?" he screamed again and glared at him with so much anger that Gaara couldn't even speak. There was a younger, smaller version of him standing there, screaming at him, and calling Sakura 'mom'. The kid had to be at least thirteen, maybe fourteen years old. That would mean…

Gaara stared at the two boys, dumbfounded. Sakura just continued to cry. The smaller boy looked up with pitiful eyes at his older brother. "Sei, why's mommy crying? I thought she was happy daddy was back…" this made Gaara's eyes widen and his knees buckled. They knew he was their father? Why hadn't he known about them? Why had Sakura not told him? He did the math in his head and knew why then…she'd have been pulled from the frontline had she let them know she had a kid. That would have taken them away from one another. He knew she'd refuse to ever leave his side voluntarily. Gaara just stared at Sakura, who cried like her she was dying.

He didn't blame her. He'd practically ripped her heart out and stomped on it. He stood on unsteady legs and tried to walk to her, but his oldest son came between them. "I wont let you hurt her again! All anyone in this place has done over the last five years has been hurting my momma! I wont let you!" the younger boy ran at him and hit him on the chest. Gaara looked down at his young son and couldn't help the emotion that welled up inside him. He pulled the boy into a hug, despite the boy's protests and the hits and kicks. The boy's angry yells soon turned to tears of anger as he beat against his father's chest. "Why!? Why weren't you there to protect her!?" Gaara could feel tears burning in his eyes and he shook his head, unable to speak.

He walked over to where Sakura had collapsed and dropped down in front of her. He pulled her into his embrace and wiped at her tears. "Sakura…I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant? I would have gone with you…I would have left everything behind to be with you, to raise our baby together…" Sakura cried harder and pressed her face into his chest. Gaara kissed her head and tried to calm her down. He made her look up and look at him. "Sakura…you said I never once told you, but I told you every day…with my actions, with my eyes…I couldn't say it then Sakura, I couldn't trust myself…but Sakura, I do love you…with every part of me, I love you." Sakura threw her arms around Gaara and cried against his shoulder. He rubbed her back and whispered to her.

Gaara noticed the smaller boy huddled to the older, both boys looked lost without their mother. Gaara opened his arm up so that they could participate in the hug. The little boy looked afraid, but Gaara smirked and teased him. "Better get in here or mommy's gonna steal daddy away." the little boy's eyes went really big and he rushed to Gaara's side, hugging him. Gaara looked up at the older boy, who seemed to be contemplating either hitting him again or breaking down and crying. Gaara gave the boy a knowing look and shifted the younger child so that the older could join, should he choose to. With an uncertain look, Sei walked over to them, but when he saw his mother clinging to the red head that was his father, he broke down in tears again.

"MOMMA!" the boy sobbed and threw himself into their arms. As a whole, they held each other and cried.