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First just let me say, I'm so sorry. This chapter is pathetically short, and probably pathetically horrible, too. I'm bashing myself so you don't have to in the reviews, so don't, please. I already feel horrible enough for not updating, because that's one of my pet peeves, and I absolutely HATE it when other authors do it. I've been so fucking busy. It's not even funny. I did enjoy writing the last part, and to mention it, it's just a connecting chapter to the summer arc that I'll be writing soon. Hopefully that helps.

Anyway, I hope you find an ounce of enjoyment from this chapter. Short, I know, but hopefully I'll write a deliciously long one next. : ) Until then.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the charcters in Naruto.

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A Story for Myself

A Naruto Fanfic

Chapter 13

The Sunrise

A kunai came flying out at him as he rounded the corner. Gaara waited to embrace the pain. But he opened his eyes and blinked in surprise.

There was a wall of sand protecting him. He hadn't done a thing, though. Quickly he looked around, making sure no one saw him. At the same time he was looking for the weapon thrower.

"So you really are the host, then," A girl with blond hair and violet eyes said. She was leaning casually against a wall of a building, not more than five yards from Gaara. His sand had fallen to the ground, but slowly circled him. He glanced down at it curiously before focusing back on the person who had just tried to attack him.

"What do you want?" Gaara asked indifferently.

"You, of course, so we can save you from Shukaku," the girl said, looking straight into Gaara's pale blue eyes.

"Don't you mean kill me in the process?" Gaara snarled angrily.

"No, you wouldn't die, Gaara, if you just came with me, I will take you to the sand and show you… we have found a way to extract the beast without killing you," She said.

"Sure," Gaara rolled his eyes then glared at her. "Your Sheena, aren't you, the person who threatened Lana,"

"Yes, I am Sheena," She said, pushing of the wall and facing him. "If you will not come willingly then I'll just force you,"

"No," Gaara said. He raised his hands, just doing what felt right. Flicking them, thousands of tiny bullets pelted Sheena. She gasped.

"Ah!" Sheena covered her face, but little droplets of blood covered her arms.

That's right, Gaara, once the sand is inside her body you can kill her, the one who has been threatening you and your family.

Just her, and Lana will be safe…

Gaara smirked of satisfaction as Sheena screamed and sand began moving around in her arms, clumping together to destroy veins and arteries.

But suddenly, Gaara's arms started to have this exploding sensation, as if his arms were on fire.

What… what is…? Gaara grimanced as the pain grew steadily worse.

You need to stop thinking about her, and more on just the sand, or you will feel what she feels.

What? This is… I'm… killing her… He realized that he was literally destroying the person's arms in front of him.

No, I… I don't want to hurt anyone! Gaara started to panic in his own mind.

Sheena was clutching her arms, and there was a green aura around her hands. The pain in Gaara's hands stopped, and sand seeped out of Sheena's wounds.

Suddenly there was sand all around him, and then he was gone.

"Lana," Sheena said as she leaned against the kitchen doorway and Lana sat calmly at the table, reading the newspaper. She glanced over at the ninja girl and gasped. Blood was running down her arms.

Quickly Lana got up and dampened a few old towels.

"You're helping me?" Lana chuckled, shaking.

"No, I don't want you to get blood on the floor," Lana said in all seriousness.

"Gaara is the host, I've confirmed it," Sheena said.

"Tell me something I don't know, Sheena," Lana said, and frowned.

"You still have time to leave," The ninja said quietly.

Lana just sort of stared at her. "Really?"

"Yes, it's going to take them about four weeks to track down the new host. I'm only here to confirm that Shukaku has really activated in Gaara's mind."

Lana nodded as she heard steps coming down the stairs.

What the hell… Did Gaara come back and I didn't notice?

She looked back to Sheena. She wasn't there.

That's surprising. Lana thought with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes. Sure enough, Gaara came into the kitchen. He looked around hastilly, with a mixture of anger and nervousness on his face.

"Gaara, your home," Lana said surprised.

"Sheena, I ran into her when I was walking home, and I…" Gaara put a hand on his head.

"What?" Lana asked, still trying to decide if she should tell him that Sheena had just come here or not.

Gaara started from the beginning, until he told her that he had… hurt Sheena. He didn't want to lose her, but then again, she might think that he was a monster.

"I know, Gaara," Lana said with a sad smile. Her eyes only held understanding, though. She also silently cursed Sheena for telling Gaara a lie about not killing him just to get him to go with her. Just when she thought the girl had some hope... Though she pondered the lie herself. She could tell that Gaara didn't buy an ounce of it, and that's how she was going to leave it for now. "Sheena came here not too long ago, and her arms were torn up,"

"She did!?" Gaara said alarmed. "Did she hurt you?"

"No, no, Gaara," She said with a laugh. "Thank you for caring about me so much,"

Gaara just looked at her with a sort of half-smile that didn't seem to really fit on his face.

"She said that we have about four weeks and the only reason she came at you like that tonight was to confirm that Shukaku had indeed woken up."

"Ah, I shouldn't have been so careless," He said, sitting down and whamming his head down on the table. It felt about ready to explode.

"Well, just try to keep you abilities hidden, as best as possible," Lana said. "And don't hit your head so hard, Gaara," She made up an ice pack from the freezer once she saw the giant red spot on his forehead. Gaara took the pack then set it on the table, not even attempting to hold it on his forehead. Lana sighed.

"We should probably follow the same schedule, though, so we can move out next week, maybe postpone moving for two more days so we can pack more," Lana said. Gaara just leaned back in his chair. He glanced over at the clock. He had school in the morning, since tomorrow was Friday. It was already eleven.

Of course he wouldn't be able to sleep, though. He hadn't been able to sleep right ever since he had started hearing Shukaku.

Lana looked over at the clock, almost reading his mind. "You should probably get some rest, Gaara."

"Yeah," He responded as he headed over to the stairs. "Night," He called.

On his way up he took the spiral staircase two steps at a time. The rhythm of him going up the steps almost matched his pounding headache. It seemed like he had been getting a lot of those lately.

He didn't even bother changing clothes. He just simply lied down on his bed, put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. A lot had happened to him today. For the next few hours he went over it all. Once or twice he got another gruesome memory from Shukaku. Nothing he wasn't used to by now, though. As the time went by, without him getting tired, he noticed this light that kept getting brighter. It wasn't anywhere exactly, so he couldn't pinpoint it.

Finally the light got so annoying that he sat up on his bed. That's when he found the source of it.

It was the sunrise.

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Please review and give me some advice and story ideas for the next chapters. I pretty much have the plot set out, but I'd be definitely willing to add a twist here and there.

Thanks a bunch for reading, everyone! :)

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