Disclaimer: I own Naruto as much as I own the world…

Chapter 14: Crunch Time

Many weeks passed by without anything more interesting happening than new lessons and Kankuro's attempts to move a puppet without strings. It was fun to watch the six-year-old lose his temper every time he failed to move the puppet, but unlike Temari, who wanted him to keep failing for her own entertainment, Sakura was cheering him on. As of yet, she still hadn't seen the puppet move without strings and was starting to think that it might have been a joke. She hoped it wasn't, though, since it sounded interesting.

One morning when there was no school Sakura hurried over to the park where she usually met Gaara and his siblings. Of the three, only Kankuro was there, but he wasn't alone. Three other boys she recognized from school were with him, though he was the youngest, and before them sat a balding, middle-aged man. He was speaking to the boys gruffly, but Sakura didn't hear a word, her attention was entirely focused on the tiny wooden person that was, by all appearances, running back and forth of its own accord, as if the puppet were alive. It was amazing.

The older man's back was turned to Sakura, but she could see his fingers moving as his hands shifted from side to side and, after a few moments, it began to appear to Sakura that the way his fingers moved had something to do with the puppet. It wasn't until the puppet suddenly ceased moving that Sakura realized that silence had fallen over the group. Tearing her eyes from the puppet, Sakura saw that one of the older boys was pointing at her. Everyone else was staring. Sakura shrank back, first out of habit and then further in fear as the older man, who was now facing her, stood up, his face livid.

"What are you doing here?" barked the potbellied man as he loomed towards Sakura, "Spying?" Sakura scuttled backwards, shaking her head no furiously. This only seemed to anger the man more. "Lying chit—all you outsiders are the same." Sakura stumbled, landing on her behind, but she didn't stay that way for long. The angry man grabbed Sakura's arm, dragging her up as he shouted, "Which rat nest did you crawl out of?" Tears welled in Sakura's eyes as the man squeeze her arm—it was the same one that had recently been broken. "Who you selling secrets to, imp?"

The tears fell as Sakura cried, "I-I'm not—" The man shook her harshly, calling her a liar once more. Sakura tried again, "I was just looking for my friends—" This time Sakura bit her tongue when the man shook her.

"Deceitful winch! What upright Suna citizen would fraternize with the enemy?" Sakura sent a desperate glance past the man towards Kankuro, expecting him to stand up for her, but he didn't. He wouldn't even meet her eyes. Instead he huddled together with the older boys as they watched her be mistreated. As she was shaken again it became apparent that although each of the boys knew she was a citizen here now, not a one of them would speak up. She wasn't allowed time to ponder why because with the next violent jerk of her body, Sakura tasted blood. No one was going to save her.

Reaching up weakly, Sakura tried to pry the man's fingers away from her arm, but to no avail. She tried to beg him to stop but she nearly choked on her own blood and her tongue was swollen from having been bitten too many times. She tried to kick the evil man, but her arm being twisted back on itself stopped her in her tracks. She screamed—whether in pain, anger, or fear, she didn't know. The balding man twisted her arm even more, demanding the same things he had been before, but this time Sakura could only distinguish his voice, not his words, as pain overcame her senses. He was breaking her arm. Again.

As stars burst before her eyes there was only one thing Sakura could think of, and it almost made her laugh despite her pain. She couldn't even begin to understand why, as the man was breaking her arm, all she could focus on was the idea that once it healed again it would be stronger. Perhaps she didn't want to focus on anything else. If she did, she might have realized that this man wasn't planning on her ever healing. His plans were more finite than that.

Sakura saw a cruel grin on her attackers face through bursts of light and pain. The thought again: the bone will heal and be stronger. More pain. It will heal and be stronger. A terrible cracking sound. The man grinning. Pressure on her throat. Heal and be stronger. The man turns pale. Heal…be stronger. Falling…but not hitting the ground. Heal and be stronger. A voice crying out her name. It will heal and be stronger. A scream…many screams—

Sakura blinked away the darts of light, struggling to sit up. Around her was chaos. Boys were running in every direction, screaming as sand chased them, blocking off every escape route. It didn't hurt them, but they still ran in terror. A loud crash made Sakura jerk around. Instead of the cause of the sound, Sakura found pain and a wall of sand… looking down to the source of the wall, Sakura saw that what she was resting on was entirely made of sand. Another clash permeated the air. Sakura hurried to escape the sand bowl that had saved her from falling earlier.

As she clambered out of the opening in the sand, the potbellied man flew right past her, hitting the ground with a thud. He was soon back on his feet, a kunai in each hand as a throng of sand hurtled towards him. As he dodged, Sakura stumbled, nearly falling. The reason she didn't was because the sand that had saved her earlier moved to catch her again. The world swam as her arm hit the sand, and by the time it righted itself, she could see Gaara's back as his sand swirled around him, knocking aside the kunai that the balding man had thrown.

Sakura's eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat as she realized what must have happened. Gaara had lost control of his sand again. Tears fell out of her eyes with this realization, for she knew how much it hurt him to lose control and yet, because she hadn't been able to protect herself, he was now in the process of hurting himself…all because of her. Watching as the puppet man and Gaara continued to fight, moving all around in a cloud of sand, Sakura knew what she had to do. She had to stop Gaara. If she didn't, his sand would hurt the man and that would hurt Gaara.

Haruka walked beside Kirsche silently on the way back from escorting Youko to her shift at the hospital. Over the past weeks, Haruka had tried to spend as much of her free time as she could with Kirsche, and having done so, she had come to learn more about the mysterious woman. It wasn't so much that Kirsche had divulged much more information about herself, though from time to time Haruka was able to get a nugget of history out of the pink haired young woman; rather it was that Haruka had observed Kirsche unobtrusively and had discovered a story that Kirsche wouldn't or couldn't tell. The story might be lacking exact details, but Haruka could fill in the gaps well enough with what she already knew to be true.

For one, Haruka now knew that Kirsche had given up a lot in order to be able to come help Sakura. From the way the young woman shied away from the topic of her family, and the way she reacted around those who mentioned different aspects of family life, Haruka had been able to piece together that that she was not on good terms with her father and that her mother was most likely dead, though it sounded as if she had gotten to know her before she died. Haruka also concluded that Kirsche had left behind younger siblings and perhaps a boyfriend or fiancé in order to search out Sakura.

Haruka glanced over at the ever smiling young woman as she continued to review what she had gathered from observing her. Kirsche never spoke about missing her family—indeed, she hardly spoke of them at all—but Haruka knew that she did miss them; she could see it in the way a shadow would sometimes be cast over the young woman's eyes when a family strode by, looking peaceful and content. She also noticed that those where the times when Kirsche would smile her hardest and brightest, as if, pretending that she wasn't being reminded of a life left behind, would make it so.

Haruka had never asked outright, but she had a feeling that Kirsche would be with them for a long time, helping Sakura develop her birthright. It wasn't just that she knew it would probably take years for Sakura to master her Kekkei Genkai; she also could tell that Kirsche wouldn't be returning to where she came from for a while the same way she could tell that she had left a loving family behind. Haruka doubted that Kirsche would look so sad and forlorn about having been separated if she expected to be reunited soon enough anyhow.

But then again, there were things about Kirsche that Haruka just couldn't figure out no matter how much she thought about it. Perhaps Kirsche's family situation would continue to stump her just as the reason for Kirsche's oh-so careful choice in words did. After all, Haruka could come up with many reasons for the anomaly in Kirsche's speech patterns, such as an ingrained fear of lying, but there was no way to know for sure, and even if she were to ask, she knew Kirsche would twist her words into a truthful response that would yet leave the question unanswered. Asking about Kirsche's history would have the same results, Haruka knew, but perhaps Kirsche would be willing to answer a question about the future. Worth a try.

"Kirsche, how long do you think it will take Sakura to master her Kekkei Genkai?" Before the pink haired woman could say something about mastery taking a lifetime, Haruka added, "I mean how long will she continue her daily studies with you? Not that I'm trying to get rid of you or anything, but surely you want to go back home eventually, and I was just wondering…" Haruka shook her head as Kirsche raised one eyebrow. She really needed to work on stopping those monologs before they got started.

Kirsche laughed lightly, then answered with a grin, "I can't give you an exact time for anything. Much depends on Sakura and her progress. I can only tell you the rough plan of things…but it's probably better for you to know anyway." Kirsche shook her head ruefully before continuing. "I'm trying to teach Sakura as much as I can about her Kekkei Genkai before I help her to awaken it, but it must be awoken soon."

"Why?" Haruka gasped out, not even thinking about interrupting Kirsche, "She's only five. Even if she is smart for her age, that's too young."

To Haruka's surprise, Kirsche nodded and answered while looking up at the sky, "I know, but time demands it of her. That is why I shall help her through the trials she will face during her awakening." Shaking her head, Kirsche met Haruka's eyes, "Normally the process of awakening is done alone, but with her being so young as well as a few other things, I have decided that I shall guide her."

Alone… Guide her… Haruka felt as if warning lights were going off in her head. "You're taking her away!" she accused as her heart swelled with fear and love for Sakura. "You promised you'd not take her away when—"

"And my promise still stands." Kirsche interrupted, throwing the silver haired woman off guard. "I will not take Sakura away from Suna." And there was that oh-so specific word choice again. Haruka's eyes narrowed.

"So you are taking her somewhere, just within Suna, is that it?" That sad look came over Kirsche's face again despite her still present smile and in that instant Haruka felt part of her anger slipping away. That was the face Kirsche made when she was thinking about things she couldn't change…and it looked exactly like the face Sakura made when she was pretending she wasn't sad. Not for the first time, Haruka wondered just how closely Kirsche was related to Sakura.

Haruka was torn from these thoughts as Kirsche suddenly stiffened, the blues of her eye's abruptly being jerked away from their pin-prick pupils as if by an invisible fishing hook. Kirsche's head whipped left, following the path the blues of her eyes had taken, though the blue portion now seemed to be swimming anywhere and everywhere except where they were supposed to be. Kirsche went pale. Haruka felt her heart clinch with worry as the pink haired woman wobbled out "But how—it's not—it couldn't—Why now?" as if she were speaking to a person who wasn't there. Before she knew what she had done, Haruka abandoned what had been left of her anger and laid her hand on Kirsche's arm, asking what was wrong.

Kirsche's eyes snapped back together and a string of cuss-words fell out of her mouth, almost making Haruka jump, her hands clinching with the outburst. But the words weren't directed at her. That was obvious when Kirsche started running in the direction her eyes had flown to, as if she had entirely forgotten about Haruka. Of course, it was impossible for Kirsche to forget the person who had grabbed onto her sleeve, not when that person was slowing her down, but she didn't bother wasting time trying to make Haruka let go either. When Kirsche finally spoke, she sounded both distressed and distracted.

"We have to hurry…it shouldn't have happened…not today…not even for a week…" It was as if Kirsche were trying to explain to herself why she was so surprised as much as she was trying to explain to Haruka. What Kirsche was so worked up about, though, Haruka had no clue, but she didn't need one. As they practically flew towards the park where Sakura loved to play, what was causing Kirsche distress became evident; what it caused Haruka, though, was not distress but out-right panic. As she saw the sand hurtling through the air right at her little girl, Haruka opened her mouth to scream only to have a hand slapped across it.

"Don't," Kirsche whispered in her ear as she tugged her behind a tree, one hand still over Haruka's mouth, "We're too late to stop it."

Haruka struggled to free herself, but to no avail. How could such a slender young woman be this strong? Finally she gave up escaping just as Kirsche removed the hand over her mouth. Vehemently she whispered, "You're just going to sit here and let Sakura die?"

Just as quietly, but without anger, Kirsche responded, "No, but I'm not going to wade in there and get her hurt even more." Haruka made to argue, but Kirsche didn't let her get a word in, "If we interfere now, Sakura could be wounded for life. I was planning on helping her through this situation—and before you ask, yes, it was bound to happen eventually, but not today." As Haruka watched, Kirsche's eyes went dark with emotion, "That's the problem with relying too much on what could happen in the futures…even probabilities can be misleading. That she would be noticed today was all but impossible, a one in infinity chance." The chuckle and grin that followed held no happiness or mirth. "I don't know why things like this continue to shock me. You'd think I'd be accustomed to fate and luck never being on my side." Shaking her head, Kirsche finished with, "But as things stand, we can do nothing to help. We can only wait."

Haruka heard a man scream and tried to look around the tree to see what was happening, but Kirsche was in the way, and she still couldn't break free of the girl's hold. Suddenly a thought hit her, and she quickly whispered, "You're right, neither of us are ninja. We can't fight whatever that is out there. But at least can't we go get help?" Kirsche shook her head no. "And why not?"

Kirsche sighed, but answered quietly, "For one, because so called 'help' wouldn't arrive in time and for another, because doing so would only make the situation worse. I might not have expected this to happen today, but I do know what must and must not be done for the desired consequences."

"Desired consequences!" exclaimed Haruka breathlessly, "Is that all you care about? My little Sakura is out there in danger and all you—"

Kirsche's hand found itself back in its previous position. "Shhh," cautioned Kirsche, "We mustn't catch anyone's attention. Not until the decisive action has come to pass. Sakura has to make a decision, an unconscious one at that, and it must be the right decision." Kirsche remove her hand from covering Haruka's mouth as she added with a tight voice, "As to your accusation—I do care. If I could I would not have allowed her to come to any harm. But I couldn't. I can't. And what's worse is unlike you, I know the future. I know what I have to do…and that more often than not, what I have to do is the last thing I want to… But I will do it. Unlike for you, following my emotions is not an option. Too much rides on—" Haruka would never find out what Kirsche would have said, because just then Sakura could be heard shouting something that turned into a scream. Kirsche stepped away from the tree. "It's time…"

Sakura flinched as the puppet man flew until he hit a tree near her. Instead of getting up as he had every time before, the man slid down the tree until he lay slumped against it, his eyes unfocused. From the cloud of dust a stream of sand hurtled towards the dazed man. Sakura didn't even stop to think that the older man had just broken her arm—she threw herself between him and the oncoming sand, desperate to save Gaara. What followed next happened so quickly that Sakura barely was able take in one thing before another came to take its place.

First there was the sand flying towards her. Then she saw Gaara, his eyes widening with fear as he saw she was in his sand's way. Then the sand stopped a millimeter from Sakura's chest. At this point, Sakura's mind could only focus on one thing: Gaara's eyes. They were sea-green, as always, and unlike the last time he had lost control, there was nothing unclear about his gaze. It wasn't that the sand was making Gaara attack the man behind her, it was Gaara…Gaara hadn't lost control at all. But he was still attacking. She didn't have time to wonder why, though, because the instant she recognized that fact, the instant the sand halted right in front of her, was the instant the next round of events took place.

Sakura didn't immediately recognize the danger to her person when something cold touched her neck, but then there came pressure and pain and she realized that the man behind her was holding a kunai to her throat. But he wasn't just holding it. He was in the process of slicing. Sakura barely had time to let fear for her life creep in before the hand was gone. The moment the kunai had touched her throat the sand, which had really only paused, not stopped, rushed around Sakura as Gaara's foam-green eyes narrowed. Sakura had barely recognized that sand had resumed its attack when something warm and wet hit her back.

By the time Sakura realized that what had hit her was blood she could hear screaming, both from the man behind her and from the boys that were being chased by sand. Gaara's eyes were shrinking and he shook as sand started to rise up around him. It was as if he was only now about to lose control. For a moment Sakura was frozen in place as her mind tried to comprehend the fact that Gaara had just deliberately caused all this pain and havoc on her tormentor. Had Sakura been given enough time to really come to terms with this fact, she might have been too terrified to do what had to be done. But as it was, when she saw that Gaara's sand was pinning Kankuro down and that from the look in Gaara's eyes he was still, if barely, in control of himself and the sand—Sakura ran forward, barreling into the boy she called her friend in a mix between a tackle and a one-armed hug. Before the pain in her arm made her scream, Sakura was able to force out a shout:

"Stop!"

It's been a while since the previous chapter, but I did warn you that it would be. Between school and five jobs I'm more than just a little busy, but I am working on this when I get the chance, so please stick with me. It could be awhile before the next chapter too.

I hope everyone liked the action in this and I also hope you are catching some of the foreshadowing that I am blatantly putting out there.

Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcome to some left over Christmas Cookies; flamers won't even get to taste the crumbs. Now, on to the pretty list!

Thanks to: rj, Last to Cross, & strawberry030 for reviewing! Hopefully next time more people will review!