Just so you know:

"CAPS ARE YELLING OR ENPHACIZING"

'Italics are thinking'

"Regular speech"

'Shukaku speaking'

Gaara-frenzy -ok so I'm writing with no help from Kairi and only a vague idea of what she wants so bare with me. Even though she can hardly walk without her crotches she decided to go see her boyfriend so I haven't talked to her in two days. It's weird. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 14

Both Naruto and Gaara lay on the forest floor. Both of them completely depleted of chakra and worn out. Both of them in silent memories of there past hardships. And unknown to both of them a pair of sad blue-grey eyes watched them. Naruto slowly inched his way towards Gaara panting heavily. Gaara lay there panting heavily also. (A.N. you know this part it's pretty much the same as in the show.)

"NO! Stay away!" Gaara yelled

"It almost unbearable isn't it. The feeling of being all alone. I know that feeling. I've been there in that dark and lonely place. But now there are, others. Other people who mean a lot to me. I care more about them than I do myself and I won't let anyone hurt them. That's why I won't ever give up. I will stop you. Even if I have to kill you."

"But why? Why would you do this for anyone but yourself?"

"Because they saved me from myself. They rescued me from my loneliness. They were the first to accept me for who I am. There my friends." There was silence for a while.

"You know Gaara," a sad voice said. "Being alone your entire life doesn't make you strong." Kayla sat on a rock a few feet away wearing a white tank top and regular long pants. "You don't have to be alone all of your life." She looked down at her feet. "Friendship… love… they're powerful. The feeling to want to protect a friend. To fight for them. To feel needed. That's what makes someone truly strong." she closed her eyes as Sasuke knelt beside Naruto and Temari and Konkuro knelt in front of Gaara.

"That's enough. Its over." Gaara mumbled.

"But Gaara," Konkuro said but he paused seeing the look on Gaara's face. "Alright Gaara." He put his arm around him, supporting him, and picked him up.

Kayla walked over to them. "I'm coming with you." It was clear by the tone in her voice that this wasn't a question. They looked at each other and nodded.

They all jumped off into the trees. Kayla stayed to the back of the group following behind but she could faintly hear Gaara apologizing. Temari jumped back so she was level with Kayla. "Why do you want to come to Suna?" she asked curiously.

"Well... I..." she paused. Why was she suddenly so nervous? "I want to stay with you guys." She mumbled quietly.

Temari sighed. "It won't be easy. Our father will probably not agree to this and it will be hard to convince him."

"I don't care." She didn't need to worry about him. "I'm willing to try anyways." She said this with confidence even though she still felt horrible about leaving Rosanna on her own. She knew something bad would happen to her. Kayla bowed her head and asked, "Am I a horrible person for leaving?"

"Sometimes people need to do what they want... if you think you're a horrible person then stay it's your choice in the end."

"Heh that helps" Kayla grinned sarcastically.

Temari sped up to jump beside Konkuro. They traveled in silence until it was time to make camp and stock up before their trek through the desert. Konkuro put Gaara down and Temari took charge. "Konkuro, you get the fire started, I'll get the tents set up, Kayla, you fill the canteens." Kayla tried to get them to switch jobs with her but to no avail. She really, REALLY hated water. She couldn't swim at all and nearly drowned when she was younger. So she found the shallowest part of the nearby stream and stared filling up their canteens plus an extra one in a hidden pocket in her pants. A twig cracked behind her and she jumped in surprise. She jumped enough that she fell in the water. Which took its toll by making her scramble at the edge of the stream. She was at the shallowest part so she managed to get out, but it took a ridiculous amount of time. When she finally calmed down she looked around to see nothing there at all. She growled in frustration and brought the canteens back to the clearing.

Shikamaru was lucky Asuma came when he did. He was out of chakra because he used it all up when he fought with Temari and if Asuma didn't come then Shikamaru was as good as dead. "Troublesome" he mumbled. Asuma had taken him back so he could rest in the hospital but most of the rooms were needed so now he was sitting in the waiting room trying to block out the nurses gossiping.

"Do you know the two girls we had in before?" one of the nurses said nudging another.

"Ya the weird people that were found outside the village. Right?" the one she nudged said. Shikamaru's ears perked up at this. 'Why would they be talking about Rosanna and Kayla?'

"Well, one of them was always hanging out with the sand village monster and I heard she disappeared out the gates yesterday." She said knowingly.

"You think she knew about the attack?" the other gasped.

"Well ANBU can always ask the other one because now she owes them her life." Shikamaru was a little confused by this so he kept listening.

"What do you mean?"

"She was attacked by enemy ninja and got beat up pretty bad, ANBU saved her after she passed out and they brought her here."

Shikamaru jumped up and walked over to the nurses. "Where's Rosanna's room?" he demanded.

"You should be resting instead of running around."

"You should be working instead of gossiping. Where's her room?" he demanded again.

"Who's room do you mean?"

"The girl you were just talking about, Rosanna. What's her room number?"

The nurse looked at him for a moment before saying, "fine, follow me" and leading him down a hallway.

"Hey why are you all wet? Did you decide to go swimming without inviting me?" Konkuro laughed as she curled close to the fire trying to dry herself off.

"Just shut up," She mumbled

The rest of the evening past and when it was time to get to sleep Temari said that Kayla could share her tent. Through the night Kayla rested fitfully. Dreams of everyone she cared for dead. (True that list isn't very long, but it has Rosanna and Gaara on it so that's what she dreamt.) She woke up 4 hours later (as per usual) hardly remembering the dream. She snuck out of the tent, trying not to wake the snoring Temari. The fire had gone out and the only light was of the early morning sun. "So how did you get it off?" she heard a voice like sandpaper from behind her. She jumped but restrained herself from squeaking in surprise. She turned around to see Gaara leaning on a tree nearby. She sighed

Flashback

'Ok, its ok. All I need to do is splash a little water on my face' she though pacing beside a river. 'But what if I slip and fall in and drown?! No one will ever know what happened' she was panicking. She kneeled now beside the river and dunked her head in. the sand fell off but some water got in her nose and mouth. She coughed and spluttered as she rolled over away from the river. "Damn it Gaara why did you have to do that."

End Flashback

"Water." Kayla said morosely. "I really hate the stuff though..."

"Hn." There was no conversation after that they just waited till Temari and Konkuro got up and they packed up and left.

They made it to the edge of the forest and started running through the desert. Kayla wasn't in much of a good mood when she noticed Gaara glaring at her again. "What are you staring at sand boy?" she practically growled at him. He looked away and ignored her for the next couple of hours. Everyone was pretty silent until Kayla noticed vultures circling something a ways to their left. "What's over there?"

"Probably some dead animal." Konkuro said

"What if it's a dieing person?" she said with a fake gasp.

"That's unlikely" he said kinda annoyed

"Why?" she asked like a little kid. The heat was obviously getting to her as she walked over towards it.

The sand siblings stared at the spot where she was before a sand dune got in their view. "Kayla?" Temari called. She treated Kayla like a sister. Since she was in a house full of boys after her mother died it was nice to have her around even if there wasn't anything girly about her but really that was better since there wasn't much girly about Temari either.

Kayla saw a cluster of the big birds jumping around. She didn't know why but she wanted to see what it was. When she got close to it the vulture flew away screeching and she saw a lump of grey and red-ish fur. 'Looks like Konkuro was right.' she thought as she turned away but noticed there was something moving underneath it. She knelt down as a pup crawled out and bared its teeth as if trying to scare her off from the body. 'I didn't know the desert had dogs? But it doesn't really look like a dog it looks more feral than that... if he doesn't get so water soon its going to be vulture food too.'

She took out her extra canteen from her hidden pocket and poured some into a cupped hand. She didn't know what it was but she almost instantly felt attached to him. She wasn't much of an animal person and never had pets but she didn't want to see him die out here. As she held it out the pup bit her but she didn't move. Something just made her really calm. ' Damn that mutt better be grateful'

The pup started to lap up the water in Kayla's cupped hand and Kayla almost smiled. When the water was all drunk the pup pawed at her hand and climbed onto it. She picked it up and walked back to the sand siblings cradling it while it suckled her bleeding fingers. They all stared and she smiled. Konkuro stared muttering something about 'the apocalypse had come.' Gaara did nothing but stared at the blood dripping down her hand. Temari looked intrigued by the pup. "That's a desert wolf! They're really rare because they can't retain water like other things that live in the desert."

"Hm."

"Oh my god you're bleeding!"

"Ya he bit me"

"And now you coddling it like it's a baby?!" Konkuro now looked kinda disgusted at the way the two girls were fussing over a wild animal. "What if it has rabies or something? You should get rid of it."

The pup growled as if he could understand everything Konkuro was saying. "Never. His mom died so now he's on his own. I'm not gonna let him die in the desert heat!" Kayla argued. Amazing how attached she had become to him so fast.

"Lets go. There's going to be a sand storm soon." Gaara said in his usual emotionless uncaring voice. In truth he didn't like the way she had attached herself to it or the way it licked at her bleeding hand but why would he voice his opinions like his idiot brother.

'Aw are you jealous boy' Shukaku teased

'I told you to leave me be'

'Why? Just because I said you like her?'

'Maybe that. Or it's the perverted pictures and fake feeling you keep putting into my head!'

'I'll admit the pictures are mine but the feelings are your own.'

They started off running, with Kayla carrying the pup. They had to find shelter or they'd be caught in the sandstorm. After a while they could feel the wind picking up so they had to make a shelter. They dug out a hole big enough for them to fit in the sand and covered it with a tarp. They could see the oncoming wall of sand but when they were about to get in it the pup jumped out of Kayla's grasp and ran. Whether it is some sort of maternal instinct or something Kayla ran after him ignoring the calls from the others. Gaara ran after her telling his siblings he'd get her. She could see the pup running and saw a wall of rock. As she looked for the pup she saw him running into a crevice. She frowned and ran closer. It was small so she barely fit through but as she went further in it got wider till she was it a sort of cave like a bubble in the rock formation. There was more leading farther in but she saw the pup sitting waiting so there was no need to go any further except for curiosity and she didn't have much of that.

Gaara-frenzy -so? How was it? I'm writing faster than normal so I have to completely rely on my spell check thing and it doesn't always get the grammar right so it might be bad. I have a lot of Kayla planned out but I'm trying to put in more Rosanna since I'm so focused on Kayla right now. Weird. And I forgot to mention last chapter that the move with the back handstand kick to the face is something I did to my brother once except he didn't pass out it was still fun though and it's my favorite move. Till I write some more please review.