"Fuck that prick." Sasuke growled, as he walked briskly down the hallways.

Jez went slack in his arms, the pain and stress taking it's toll on her body. She came in and out of consciousness several times, but never for more than a few minutes. When she was awake for those few fleeting moments she saw that they were not going to the infirmary at all.

On the outside Jez lay on the bed, unconscious and still. But, on the inside her mind had taken her to a place she had long forgotten. A place she wished she could forget again.. If her mind ever let her leave this horrid memory.

The smell of smoke was heavy in the air causing the four year old to squirm in her bed, trying to find a comfortable spot on the bed that would allow fresh air into her lungs. After a few minutes of discomfort the child peeked open her eyes, having a hard time adjusting to the darkness and the thick fog that seemed to cover everything in sight.

"Momma?" she whispered, her voice cracking. "Momma, where are you?"

Pushing herself off the bed she wandered to her door and standing on the tip of her toes she was able to grasp the handle and pull it open. A wave of intensely overwhelming heat rushed at her. The child cried out and stumbled backwards tripping and falling on her own feet. Terror seized the child and she began to cry.

"Mommy!" she screamed. "Mommy!"

Jez shifted in the bed a soft moan escaping her lips; she turned on her side curling into the bed, brows furrowed.

Once Gaara had regained control of himself he stalked the hallways of his home looking for Jez. He felt an emotion akin to fury, but it was not directed at her; it was directed at two different people. Gaara had found out from Melody, a servant girl working there, that Sasuke had taken an unconscious Jez somewhere, and he wasn't going to stop until he found her.

Fortunately it didn't take him long to figure out where they had gone. The door to Sasuke's room was closed, though that held no meaning for the Prince. Knocking the door inwards he saw Sasuke sitting in a chair his eyes glued to Jez.

"What are you doing in here?" Sasuke demanded standing up and glaring at Gaara, his arms crossed over his chest.

Gaara said nothing as he moved to Jez's side going to pick her up. Sasuke grabbed Gaara and turned him around. "I asked you a question and I expect an answer."

"It would serve you well to remove your hand from me and to speak to your superior with more respect." Gaara said emotionlessly.

"I don't give a fuck what you want me to do. Answer my question." Sasuke snarled moving in between Jez and the prince.

"Move." Gaara said, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"No." Sasuke snapped. "You didn't care enough to take care of her when she was hurt, you don't get to barge in here and think you have the right to take her now."

"I have every right." Gaara spoke plainly. "She is mine."

Sasuke glared, his eyes narrowing in disgust. He lunged forward and took a swing at Gaara.

Jez shifted again, her breath coming out in labored gasps, as if she were choking.

"Mommy, Daddy?" the child cried tears leaking from the corners of her eyes and down her face.

She was now backed up against the far wall in her small room. The flames licked at the walls, making crackling and hissing noises as it effortlessly devoured her home. A couple of the windows in her room exploded outwards, as the pressure inside the home built up. She screamed the terror paralyzing her, her body shivering; the smoke thickened and she began coughing, the fumes making it hard for her to breathe.

Gaara dodged, grasping Sasuke's arm and twisting it painfully so that Sasuke shifted with it. With his free hand, Gaara grabbed the back of Sasuke's head and slammed it into the table he had next to the bed. It cracked and splintered under the force. Sasuke grunted kicking out at Gaara catching his legs and bringing them both to the ground.

The little girl tried to scream again as the fire reached closer but her lungs couldn't get enough air, so all she could do was emit a strangled cry. Through the roar of the flames she could hear frantic voices outside her home, and she tried to call out to them, but was unable.

Another crash was heard as pillars started coming down the flames nearly reaching her. A figure burst through the window to her room, and seeing her crouched in the corner ran to her, lifting the small, barely conscious child into his arms.

"It's alright now, little one." He said as he moved back towards the window he'd come through.

Sasuke and Gaara rolled around on the bare floor, swinging at each other landing blows; one trying hard to knock the other out.

Jez coughed, sweat beading on her skin, her heart pounding as the images flashed through her mind. She tried hard to wake up, but like the flames in her dream, it wouldn't let her go.

The small child wrapped her arms tightly around the mans neck burying her face into his chest, wheezing, trying hard to breathe.

"You are alright now." He cooed slipping through the broken window and out into the fresh air. He rushed them away from the fire and gently laid her in the grass a safe distance away. He had to make sure that she would survive; her parents already dead in their beds, he didn't think he could bare seeing a helpless child die too. "I am here now, you will be alright."

Jez rolled over again, in her sleep, but she was so close to the edge that she fell and landed on the hard ground. The force woke her up and she gasped, panicking, drawing in as much air as she could, her eyes wide with fright. The scene in front of her didn't help, and she watched for a moment as Sasuke and Gaara rolled around on the floor, both bloody and bruised.

It all seemed like it was too much. Shukaku inflicting pain on her, the mental strain of her dream, accompanied with the panic of suffocation that lingered with her, she felt like she couldn't handle it anymore. Jez clamped her hands over her mouth, tears leaking down her face; she leapt to her feet, jumped over the two men and bolted out the door and down the hallway.

Gaara and Sasuke stopped their fighting as they both watched in shock as Jez took off. Gaara gave Sasuke one last hard punch to the temple before going after Jez.

She didn't stop, she didn't slow down she just ran. With no knowledge of where she was going or for how long she was going to run, she just kept moving. Eventually she burst through a door that led to the back courtyard of the castle; that was when she slowed and finally stopped falling to her knees, her body seeming to crumple in on itself as she sat there and sobbed in silence.

She remembered. It had all come flooding back to her and she wished it would go away. Her birth parents death when she was so young. Her adopted father rescuing her from the flames, and taking her in as his own. Meeting Gaara those first few years without her parents feeling lonely and abandoned, him as her only friend and comfort. Then losing it all; all the memories the pain locked away for so long only to come rushing back all at once.

Gaara stood at the door to the courtyard, watching her silently. Her body shaking, her chest heaving with sobs; he knew some of that pain she felt was part of his fault. If he had better control of the thing inside his own mind, she would never had to have remembered it like this. But still, he felt little.

She was a weak little girl, and she needed to know the harshness of life, like everyone else did. There was no exception for anyone, and he was not one for coddling.

"Girl." He spoke coldly walking out into the cool night. "Get up."

Jez turned slightly hiccupping, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Through blurry vision she saw that Gaara barely had a scratch on him, but how was that possible? She'd just seen him fighting with Sasuke only moments before.

"Do not make me repeat myself." Gaara said reaching her, towering over her frail form.

Slowly Jez stood, her arms wrapped around herself now aware that once again she was in his presence almost completely naked.

"Where is the dress?" He asked, his voice demanding obedience.

"He made me take it off." She replied softly, her eyes on her feet.

"Where?"

"I... I can't remember. I-in the hallway." She sniffled wiping at her eyes.

Gaara shifted and when Jez looked up, he was holding out his shirt for her to wear. "Put it on and show me. You look like a whore, and I will not have it."

Jez shockingly took his shirt and pulled it on over her head, meekly walking past him through the dark corridors to the place where Shukaku had chased her down. She found the room where he had kept her and knelt down to pick up the dress.

Without a word Gaara walked in front of her and she followed knowing that she had to. He led her into a brightly lit room and ordered her to sit and remove the shirt she was wearing. Jez did as she was told; looking down at herself she winced. All the cuts and bruises sticking out against her pale skin, the burn on her thigh. She didn't want to look at her face, knowing that it would look the same if not worse.

"Look at me." Gaara said, sitting down in a chair in front of her.

He looked her over and grabbed some salve from the desk next to him and began applying it to her wounds and bruises. His hands were soft and gentle on her skin and she closed her eyes breathing out silently at the cooling relief she felt. He was careful around her chest making sure not to touch her inappropriately, and the same on her thigh.

"Tilt your head." He spoke, his voice not nearly as cold as it had been before. Obediently Jez tilted her head and moved her hair away from her neck, hissing in pain when he rubbed the salve over her burned skin. "Look up." Only commands he gave, never saying anything as he was applying the medicine.

When Gaara finished he leaned back a bit, his eyes always stoic, never showing emotion. "Where else?"

"U-uh... What?" she asked, startled.

"Where else?" He repeated irritation underlying his tone.

"My back." She murmured, embarrassed.

"Turn around." Yet again he said nothing else, only applied what he needed to where she was hurt.

This was different, and awkward for Jez. Having only known Gaara as a man who aims to hurt her, to have him help her in a way unnerved her.

"May I ask a question, Lord Gaara?" Jez spoke tentatively. The Prince hesitated for a moment but gave a grunt of approval. "Is... Is what Shukaku said true?" Tears brimmed her eyes, but she blinked the wetness away. "Is my... Is he dead?"

"Yes." Gaara stood and put the salve away.

"Oh," she breathed raggedly. After a moments silence she spoke again, "Thank you, Lord Gaara."

Another grunt from Gaara; Jez suspected that was all the conversation they were going to have and resigned to silence. She sat with her hands in her lap, her eyes distant.

It seemed a long while before anyone spoke, but Gaara was the one to break the silence. "You will stay with me." He said. Seeing Jez's confused look, he rolled his eyes in annoyance, but decided to clarify. "You will be by my side at all times. Understand?"

"Yes, my Lord." She stuttered. Why all of a sudden?

"You will only leave when I command it." He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. "Come. You need to be washed."

Wanting to take that in a negative way, but unable Jez just nodded numbly and walked with Gaara down to the washroom her mind reeling. Why was this happening all of a sudden? He hated her, made it known; so why? He obviously knew about what Shukaku had done, maybe that was why? Maybe it was to protect her?

That thought almost made her laugh, but then again, he had made it abundantly clear that Gaara himself was the only one allowed to touch her. Maybe it was to protect what was his, not necessarily her at all.

While in her thoughts, she lost track of what was going on around her, and suddenly found herself completely bare in a tub of warm water. It was the pain that brought her out of her mind, but embarrassment that kept her from retreating back in.

No one else was around except for Gaara, so he had to have been the one to strip her. Which meant... Heat flooded to her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around her chest, staring down into the water avoiding his gaze.

"I have seen many women. You are nothing special." Gaara huffed in annoyance, resisting the urge to roll his eyes again. Naïve girl. "You have five minutes. I will be waiting outside."

He turned and left Jez alone, blushing and furious.


A/N: What's this? Gaara actually doing something nice for her? Is his super hard shell cracking?! O: What?! Teeheehee~ Ok, there is a reason for it, not because I want him to be OOC, but because he believes it is his fault she got hurt because he wasn't strong enough to hold Shukaku back. That and only that. Well... and he didn't want Sasuke to step in and be all "blah blah blah you hurt her I have rights to her now blah blah blah" if that makes sense. Next chapter will probably be full of tension between him and Sasuke, and Jez will be wallowing in her thoughts of her family... maybe Shukaku comes back! You'll have to wait and find out my loves. R&R&R~!