Chapter Eleven: April

This chapter is so far from perfect, it almost kills me. But I don't know how to fix it! Sometimes I seriously consider hiring a beta. Anybody know a good beta?

Sub-Chapter: Homecoming

As soon as Gaara stepped into her room that morning, Sakura was all over him.

"Now listen here, Kazekage, I am leaving this apartment today, no matter what you say! I am going to go to the roof, I am going to train, and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

"Fine."

Sakura blinked. "What?"

Silence.

"You just said I'm allowed to go to the roof?"

Nod.

"Well then fine, good thing for you, cause you wouldn't have been able to stop me." And with that, the pink-haired ninja walked out of the room and through the apartment door, her raccoon on her left shoulder, Gaara tailing her. Burizu was acting as an arm band, going up and down in circles.

Settling down in her crisscross position, Sakura spoke. "I'm going to do some wind meditation, wake me up in three hours?"

Gaara replied with a nod as he sat down across from her.

The kuniochi closed her eyes and began to hum, summoning the winds to her. They pulled at her loose Suna clothing and whipped her now long hair around. Sakura noted that she hadn't cut it since she was still in Konoha, and it was indeed getting long. She probably should have put it up in a braid or something. Each one attempted to coax Sakura out of her body, asking her to join them. There was a hurricane in Mizu again.

Sakura stood firm. She was here for one thing and one thing only.

She felt herself detach, she felt her body become supported by breezes, and then she felt herself drifting, following the wind currents that she wanted. Sakura knew exactly where she was going and exactly what she wanted.

Everything felt good in wind form. If a particle of sand got caught up in your folds, it tickled and soothed, and the feeling of other winds rubbing up against her was nice. Wind thrived on feeling; it's what made it a thing. The feeling of water running through it was amazing, and the feeling of snow was interesting, the feeling of grass had a scratching sensation, and dirt was like lotion. Waterfall spray from Waterfall Country and rain from Rain Country were soothing feelings.

Winding her way up high into the sky, Sakura picked the currents she wanted, the ones that would sweep her across Suna. She barreled up to the top and came sweeping back down, reveling in the feeling of sand. The sand was definitely the best feeling. She glided across the lands, sometimes leaving the currents, only to join them again later.

That's when she saw them, two bodies, walking. Sakura immediately set a course toward them. Their clothes marked them as Sand Shinobi, and as Sakura got closer, so did the headbands. That didn't stop her from going to them anyway, brushing past them and winding around clothes for the briefest of seconds. Clothing was like a shirt being peeled from a body, while skin felt smooth and caressing.

She moved on, going past the two shinobi. As she wound on, Sakura ran into several more groups of Shinobi either leaving the Suna capitol or going there. But Sakura couldn't find the two shinobi she was looking for.

Sakura knew her time limit was about to expire, Gaara would awaken her at any moment. Dejected, Sakura made her way to some shinobi, discouraged. She hadn't come across any in a little while. She decided to wind up the legs of the first one, going up and under the pant leg and then coming out of the loose material. That's when she noticed the color of the second shinobi.

Only one person would order orange robes, designed for Suna weather and shinobi missions. Overexcited, Sakura dipped down the back of the robes, teasing the shinobi in all of his ticklish places until he was on the ground, laughing.

"Dobe? What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, staring down at his squirming partner getting sand in his clothes.

"There is some-something in my-haha-clothes." Naruto squealed, trying not to laugh. "It won't stop."

Sakura exited the robes through the left sleeve and climbed up to Sasuke, whirling around in his hair until his chicken-hairstyle was a mess, coming out of its perfectly natural style to hang like Itachi's. Sasuke shrieked in exasperation, holding a hand up to his hair. It was a lot longer than Sakura would have guessed.

She moved back to Naruto to lazily move up and down his torso as he began to talk to Sasuke.

"It won't leave us alone."

"I can see that, dobe!"

"Think Sakura sent it or something?"

Sasuke turned to eye Naruto, or more like Sakura. He shrugged and kept on walking. "Come on."

Who said he could ignore Sakura? Huffed and a bit ticked off, she flew straight to him and messed with his hair some more, effectively making him mad. Naruto just started laughing.

"Dude, I think that is Sakura!"

Happily, Sakura wound around his leg in excitement. That's when his smile faded. "Dude, the wind just agreed with me, did you see it agree with me?"

Sasuke nodded, the blood draining from his face.

"Sakura!" they both exclaimed, pumping the chakra to their feet and racing off.

Sakura kept pace with them, wounding around them occasionally, when the thought dawned on her. Sasuke and Naruto, they were here, they were alive, and they were racing home. With one goodbye lap around Naruto's head, Sakura raced off, testing time.

She gladly rejoined with her body, only to find Gaara starring at her, his face only an inch away. He actually sighed in relief when Sakura's eyes opened.

"You wouldn't wake up."

Sakura ignored him, but proceeded to hug Gaara with all her might. "The boys, they are coming home, they are coming home!" And without waiting for him, Sakura raced down the stairwell. She didn't bother to check her hair in one of the hallway mirrors, but ran out of the tower until she was at the gates. Five minutes later, Gaara materialized beside her, giving her the questioning eyebrow look, which was a funny turn-out when Gaara made the face.

"They are coming home!" Sakura squealed for the umpteenth time, hugging Gaara again before impatiently looking out over the horizon. They would be here so soon, at any moment.

Any moment turned out to be a lot later than Sakura thought. She had misjudged the distance, and hadn't taken into account the haggard looks of her two companions. Sakura didn't know when she fell asleep, but she did.

It was in a dream-like state that Sakura witnessed the homecoming of Sasuke and Naruto. The left side of her head was kept warm by Gaara's shoulder. He nodded toward the two shinobi, this was the action that woke Sakura in the first place, as they sighed in relief. They both walked over.

"We were afraid she had escaped you or something." Naruto admitted, kneeling down to look Sakura in the face. "We thought we felt her."

"Dobe thought he felt her." Sasuke stated, giving Sakura one glance over before turning away.

Gaara nodded, easing the 'sleeping' cherry-blossom into Naruto's arms. The fox-brother smiled, cradling the girl. "I can't believe I've been away from this for a month."

Sasuke walked up behind Naruto, surveying the kuniochi. He had missed her too. His hand moved up to his now flat hair.

Picking her up, Naruto started making his way back toward the Kazekage tower. "So what were you two doing out here? She didn't do this every night, did she?"

Gaara shook his head. "She was meditating for the first time since you left. She began to shout about you two and ran to the city gates. We have been there since the afternoon."

Sasuke walked on in silence, casting Sakura occasional glances to assure of her wellbeing. "You have been taking care of her?"

Gaara nodded.

"Bet you had tons of fun. Sakura-chan isn't a morning person."

"She was fine."

"Really?"

Another nod.

The three were silent from then on. Gaara left them at the tower entrance, leaving Sasuke and Naruto to tuck her into her bed.

Sub-Chapter Two: Rain Water

Sakura was on a mission, and that was what she told herself as she lugged a pail of water and several books up to the rooftop. Naruto was a lot easier to sneak past than Gaara and his sand walls, and Sakura relished in the freedom.

Plopping the pail in the middle of the roof, Sakura sat down across from it and opened several books. Time to find out exactly how evaporation works. After reading several chapters from several books, Sakura began to form an idea on how to make it rain in Suna.

Setting the books aside, Sakura took up glaring at the bucket. She would have to conduct enough heat, using the sunlight alone. If Sakura passed continuously moving air that wasn't saturated, the evaporation process would speed up.

Looking up, Sakura glanced at the sun before looking back down at the bucket. Activating her blood-limit, Sakura pushed it. If she could see the wind, could she see the sun? The sun beat down constant rays of light upon the world. By minimizing the heat to another area, say the Tea Country, by the smallest of degrees, Sakura could then direct the heat at the pail, where the surface water, or the warmest water, would begin to evaporate.

Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated. Focus the heat from one place to another, take the rays from this small place, and direct them there. She began to move a constant current of wind over the pail, allowing constant dry air to move over it. Heat, air, heat, air, dry air, the water needed dry air, and more heat.

After what felt like hours, but in reality was one hour, Sakura looked down at the pail of water. Only a few drops of water remained in the bucket. She looked around her at her current of wind, which looped around on the roof in a complicated pattern. By squinting, Sakura could make out the individual bits of water, so small that the naked eye would never be able to see them. The water had to be evaporated small, or else the droplets would be too heavy against gravity and would fall to the earth.

This was where the next step came into play. Standing up, Sakura began to direct the wind around her. Right now, the water droplets were tiny, but if condensed…

Sakura directed the winds to move up above her, swirling around as they became tighter and tighter, carrying their evaporated water with them. The whirling winds proceeded to cool off the evaporated water, allowing it to condense and turn from gas to water.

Within minutes, Sakura had droplets of rain splashing her face. The weirdest thing was, there was not a cloud in the sky. The rain only fell for the length of a minute, and slowly.

Maybe if the entire thing was done with more water, and condensed and cooled faster, the water would fall harder. If done right, Sakura could get it to rain so heavily in Suna, it wouldn't need rain for a year.

"Sakura?"

Sakura acknowledged Gaara with a hand, too busy running plans through her head. Where would she get the water, how hard would it be to get water to travel in its evaporated form, would she be able to alternate the heat in different places? Questions kept plaguing.

Gaara walked over to Sakura and touched her wet hair, raising it up so she could see.

"Yeah, I made it rain."

"And?"

"If you give me two weeks, I'll make it rain in Suna."

Gaara's eyes widened. He was relieved, Sakura could tell, relieved for his country.

Sakura just nodded at him, confirming every thought running through his head. "Should we tell the council?"

"Tomorrow!" Gaara decided, "We shall celebrate!"

It was Sakura's turn to question him. "How will we celebrate?"

Gaara turned to stare Sakura in the eye. His eyes glistened with emotions, emotions not portrayed on his face. He was ecstatic, happy, euphoric, excited, relieved, and every happy emotion that could possibly be described. While his face didn't portray it, nor did his body language, his eyes told all.

Smirking, Sakura squealed with delight and hugged Gaara.

Sub-Chapter Three: The Council and Break-ups

"You are sure you have figured it out?" the council head asked, his face beginning to spread into a look of joy.

"Yes, sir, I believe I have. In two weeks, I guarantee you rain, and hopefully enough rain that Suna won't need any for another year."

"Truly?" Another councilman asked, his head already spinning with delight. "Do you know what this means?"

Sakura nodded. "Of course I know what this means. If I can flood Suna, the water will be soaked into the ground, allowing a small growing season to open up in Suna. With the right plants, you can grow a crop big enough to feed Suna, with just enough surplus, hopefully, to trade with other nations for other types of food. You could even genetically manipulate certain food plants to grow specifically in Suna, providing a unique trading item."

The council began to buzz with excitement, each talking in happy joyous whispers that wouldn't quit. Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara stood before them for at least an hour before the council remembered they were there.

Quickly, the head councilman cleared his throat. "Well then, we shall hold you to your deal, Haruno-san, give us rain in two weeks, and we will grant you whatever it is you want."

As soon as they were out of the council hall, Naruto picked up Sakura in a bear hug. "You are so amazing, Sakura-chan!"

"N-Naruto, can't…breathe!"

"Sorry!" he set her down.

Sasuke placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Well done, Sakura."

Gaara nodded in her direction, giving her a proud smile.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sakura needed a shower! She was covered in water that didn't feel all that great, probably because it had come from a lake in Grass Country. But, when Sakura walked through the door of the apartment, she would have given anything not to be there at that exact moment.

Naruto was shouting from the kitchen area, every word from his mouth directed at the girl in tears sitting just in front of the television. Sakura had already closed the door by the time she noticed who was shouting, and was too terrified to move. There was Naruto, his eyes glowing a dangerous red, the whisker marks on his face more prominent, yelling. The entire sight scared Sakura to death.

The conversation seemed like the words people say to each other after a break-up.

Yukari was the next one to speak. "Well I was just leeching off of you!" she shrieked in desperation, "I am so sick of Suna!"

"So what, you thought I would get you out?"

"Yes! I USED you!"

Naruto scoffed, as if the idea were ridicules.

"It's true, I swear it is! I never liked you! I mean, come on, look at you!"

"Get out, Yukari, get out now!"

"It's good this is over!" Yukari stated, her voice high. "You care more about that Sakura than you ever did me!"

"Yeah, your right, it's true! I've always cared more about Sakura than you."

"Sakura?"

Not wanting and yet wanting to take her eyes off the scene, Sakura turned to see Sasuke. He had a hand on her shoulder, a look of sympathy on his face. What was it with Sasuke and emotions lately?

"Come on, Sakura!" he whispered, leading her out behind the fighting couple and into his room, where he allowed Sakura to sit on his bed.

They were talking about her now, but she refused to listen to what they were saying, going as far as hiding her head underneath Sasuke's pillows, clutching his hand like a life support.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Carefully, Sakura approached Naruto on the couch. He didn't look mad anymore, and his whiskers were back to their normal lines. He turned slightly, noticing her foot falls, and smiled at her.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto? Are you okay?"

He nodded his head, humming the word yeah. "Why don't you come sit down?"

She did, taking a seat to his left. The fact that Akuma wasn't around passed as a thought for the briefest of seconds before Naruto turned toward her. He picked up a lock of her hair, noting the weird color.

"Grass country water." Sakura explained, "Evaporation purifies water, but not perfectly."

They sat in silence for a little while, just starring ahead. Naruto never had been one for silence, but Sakura guessed everybody needed the alone time sometimes.

"What happened?" Sakura finally asked.

"She wasn't you."

Sakura's browed furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Naruto frowned for a second before smiling, wrapping an arm around Sakura. "You are too perfect, you know that, Sakura? How can any girl ever compare to you?"

Sub-Chapter Three: Clouds and Storms

"Are you sure about this, Sakura-chan?"

"Yes, Naruto, perfectly sure."

"You are sure you're ready?"

Sakura giggled. "Naruto, you are being difficult!"

"I know I am, Sakura-chan!"

Shaking her head, Sakura pointed at a clear bag full of clear liquid. "Hand me that, please!"

Naruto carefully picked it up and handed it to Sakura, who carefully placed it in a backpack. She rolled up a flat thing that held different needles and tubes and placed that in the bag too.

"Naruto, could you grab me a water bottle?"

"Sure thing!" and he raced off to the kitchen. "You do know the human body can only survive for three days without water?"

"Yes, Naruto, of course I know! I'm the medic here, remember?"

"Yeah, but this is dangerous, Sakura!"

"I know that too, Naruto!" Sakura sighed, taking the water bottles and placing them in the backpack. "But I'll have you, Sasuke, and Gaara to take care of me. Plus, I promised the council, I have to do this!"

"Of course you need to do this. I just don't want you to."

As soon as Sakura finished packing her backpack, she and Naruto were out the door. Gaara was going to meet them at the city wall and take them up, while Sasuke would join them later with more supplies. Between the three of them, they would be able to keep Sakura hydrated enough, and hopefully nourished.

Gaara greeted them with a nod, not bothering to ask if they were ready when he manipulated the sand to rise. They rode the platform up to the top, where Naruto immediately took the backpack from Sakura and began to set up, using the excuse of "Sakura-chan shouldn't overexert herself."

When everything was finally in place, and Sakura was running on a drip IV, she sat down. "I guess, here goes nothing." Sakura looked out over the city, butterflies beginning to flutter in her stomach. "If I can't do it, no one can."

"Well don't go thinking of it like that, Sakura-chan!" Naruto argued, giving her a thumbs up. "You can do it! Believe it!"

Sakura looked over at Gaara, who nodded, before settling down for the final time and closing her eyes.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

She was lost to them the moment she became a wind entity, flying up and far away from her own body. Sakura only had a vague idea of what exactly she was going to be doing. She made her way, however, toward Iwa, where there was a great lake. If Sakura took a decent amount of water from there, the people who lived in the Earth Country wouldn't be affected, for they drew their water from the ocean. The lake was contaminated with sediment and soil, making it undrinkable.

Sakura directed the heat over the lake, passing constant air currents over it until the air was saturated. Anymore water and it would begin raining. Now, Sakura had to get the saturated air to Suna without the air cooling.

It was like herding sheep, Sakura decided, the winds and currents wanting to run away to their usual routes, instead of the currents where Sakura mapped for them, or the new ones she created. With plenty of work, Sakura finally managed to get the winds to start roving around Suna, leaving them with firm direction to stay near the ground.

Next was Grass, where the swampland wouldn't miss too much of the water, and from there Sakura directed the semi-full wind-currents to go on to Oto, and from there to Lightning, where they picked up some melted snow. Sakura had to constantly direct the sunlight here, so her wind-currents wouldn't become cold. If the evaporated water turned back into a liquid state, Sakura would lose her hard work.

As soon as Sakura was done in Lightning, she and the watered-wind traveled back to Suna, where this wind joined the others circling around on the ground. Sakura then traveled to Mizu, debating what exactly the coastal fish regions wouldn't and would miss from their water supply. From their, Sakura skirted along through the oceans on her way back to Wind Country, picking up whatever water she could. The best part about the ocean was the seemingly never endless supply of water. Sakura could take as much as she really needed without affecting anything drastically.

Back at Suna, Sakura gathered all the currents she had collected. They were spread across all of Wind Country, but came to her call. From there, it was a matter of compressing everything into one giant cloud. As she worked, Sakura watched as white matter suddenly sprouted in the sky, turning from wisps of cloud into giant ones, where the color just began to darken and darken, the color soon becoming black. It needed no more work, now the weather just needed to cool down.

A cold front would do the trick. It would proceed to take any warm moist air that Sakura had missed and force it up into the sky, cooling it and forcing rain to fall, because cold air couldn't hold as much water as warm air could; it would also provide a path for Sakura's raincloud to travel. As it was, it stretched over half of the Wind Country.

Sakura went around the Wind Country, causing the pressure to drop and bringing forth cold gusts of wind, allowing the entire thing to pass through the Wind Country. She would have smiled if Sakura had been in her body, watching the clouds above receive even more moisture.

That was when she felt it, the duel sensation. It was the sensation of rain passing through her wind entity, and it was the feeling of rain against skin. It truly was an amazing creation, to feel both sensations at once.

But Sakura wasn't done quite yet. She had one last thing to do in Ame. Sakura took her time getting there; following the other winds and listening to them speak of the news. They were already speaking of the rain falling in Suna, and of how weird and wonderful it was.

Once in Ame, Sakura set to work on her final big endeavor. It was constantly raining in Ame, and it couldn't hurt the country to miss its showers for a week, now could it? Giggling to herself, Sakura directed the winds around her, recruiting others from miles away and the ones passing on the air currents above. Together, they pushed at the Ame Clouds, sending them flying at high speeds previously unknown to clouds. They raced through the Grass Country, Sakura not allowing a single drop of rain to fall, until the moment they hit the Wind Country.

From there, Sakura watched the wind push at all the clouds in Ame, directing them into Suna. Only then did Sakura make her way back to her own body.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

She woke up to find bodies on either side of her, Sasuke to her left, sleeping with his back toward her, Naruto to the right sleeping sprawled out on his stomach. Gaara sat in the corner of the tent the boys must have erected at one point, watching her. His eyes kept darting out to the tent flap to watch the rain.

Sakura could hear it, the tapping of the rain against the tarp of the tent, its pitter-pattering singing a song Sakura hadn't heard before, or not quite in the way she heard it now.

"Can you hear it?" Sakura asked, looking up at the ceiling. "The rain sings, so happy to find this dry land. And the sand soaks it up, its thirst finally quenched."

Gaara nodded as he handed her a ration bar. Sakura thanked him and took it, removing the IV needle from her arm. She also grabbed the water bottle Sasuke had next to him and downed it. Being careful not to disturb the two next to her, Sakura crawled over to Gaara.

She sat down next to him, watching the rain. It was beginning to puddle.

"It's amazing." Gaara stated in his normal tone, "Thank you, Sakura."

Sakura's face broke out into a smile as she hugged Gaara's arm. "No need to thank me."

Silence.

"You know, that day our teams collided in the forest, I never would have thought that event would mark the most amazing year of my life."

Gaara shifted his head toward her to show he was listening.

"That tree stump, it was huge, big enough to fit five Choujis. And then, of course, was the little argument we had. You didn't think I would have gone to Suna if you had asked, you thought kidnapping me and forcing me into it was the only way."

"Hokage-sama had to force you into the mission."

"Yeah, but that was because I didn't believe I had a bloodlimit. All you had to do was ask for my help. That event was also how this whole thing started."

Gaara cocked his head slightly to the left.

"That was the day when the sand refused to listen to, effectively trapping us. That was also the day I proceeded to do something really stupid and foolish, it was the day I kissed you for no other reason than the fact that you were right there, so close, I could smell your wonderful scent like I could smell it now. It was also the event that led you to pursue me."

"Naruto is correct."

"What do you mean?"

"You are perfect in every way."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It rained for an entire week, constant rain all the time. Sakura was one of the people who were constantly out on the streets, playing in the rain. She joined with children in their games, her long pink hair becoming entangled and matted with sand and dirt. She played with the younger ones until she was so dirty, even Gaara had problems keeping track of her.

When Sakura walked out, she was always recognized. People greeted her, children laughed and hugged her, and shop vendors insisted on free drinks. It seemed that the Suna Council had told the entire Wind Country who exactly was responsible for the rain.

Sakura had daily meetings with the council. She had arranged it so that come September, Sakura would make it rain again. This would mark the beginning of Suna's growing season, where the temperatures would begin to drop just enough for the plants to flourish with all the added moisture to the land, along with the added evaporated moisture in the air. She would also collaborate with some plant specialists to help design a special crop that would grow perfectly in Suna and provide enough sustenance for the entire country to survive off of for months.

Within two years, Sakura knew the entire economy would come back to life, until Suna was once again a major trading country within the nations.

ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO! Wow, I'm so happy. I'm going to finish this story before school starts, WOOT! And then, during school, I can start the big story I want to write! I'm going to write a Naruto/Sakura story, and I would have chosen any other couple, except this was the only couple the plot idea I had went with. It's going to be awesome, approximately 45 chapters, each around 8,000 words long, with twisted story lines and two sub-plots and millions of characters and many lemons (I mean the little yellow fruit, people).

Wow, I'm excited. I've had tons of fun writing this story up, especially after that bought of writer's block I had back in, what was it, October? I really want to thank everybody for the ideas they gave me, this story only exists because of everybody who read it! You are my inspiration!

Review, Mouse, and Finger want to have a girl's night out, only you can make the magical night happen!