A/N: Sorry it's late! At least we're over the halfway mark now, in terms of plot progression, so I'll pat myself on the back for that at least, haha. Thanks to everyone for leaving reviews and such! Happy reading! :)

Chapter 13

"Strength is Strength: A Lesson in Relativity"

...

This must be some kind of trick. These two squads are supposed to be made of chunin, and while they carefully avoided the wire trap, they failed to see through the real intention: the wires only diverted them seamlessly into Shikamaru's Shadow Possession.

It works so flawlessly that Ino hesitates to rush forward and incapacitate them. Shikamaru might be a mastermind at making plans, but this… this is too easy.

She sends him a questioning look.

"Eight," he replies to her unanswered question. His voice is strained with chakra use. "The ninth is their backup in case of an ambush. He'll catch up any minute, and the shadow isn't long enough to reach him, too. I can hold these two squads for a little while longer, but that means I won't be able to do much else."

The rest of it goes unsaid. She'll have to take care of him alone.

Which she can do, definitely. It's just one person. One homicidal, higher ranked, more experienced person…

"Hey," Shikamaru mutters. He tips his head toward the trees.

He's already here?

Her eyes dart between the branches, trying to pinpoint his location, but not for very long. The enemy nin, a wide set man with studded metallic fist weapons surrounding his knuckles, drops from the tree in an instant. He's fast. His fist is already raised, planning to destroy their strategy and their hard work and the back of Shikamaru's skull in one blow. Shikamaru gives her a steady look. It's not pleading or scared; rather, it's a question.

Can she do it?

And Ino is not Ino if the answer is anything but, "duh."

She swallows her fear and drowns it with confidence. She's Ino-fucking-Yamanaka, and she won't die in a forest against a single enemy that's open and in her sights. Not now, not ever.

Her leap is just as quick as his. Every ounce of taijutsu training will be put to the test in this moment as she launches herself towards this man, dodging one fist in mid-air with a back bend. Her momentum still carries her forward, and the right hand, the one aimed at Shikamaru's head, she kicks upward with enough power to force him to step back.

"You idiots," he snarls at his team. "They're just kids. What the hell were you thinking?"

Good, he's underestimating us, she thinks, dodging his strikes. He's fast, but not fast than Lee or Gai; not even faster than the rubber balls she'd been pelted with. It's a little different to have to take into account the stretch of his limbs and the arc of his counter moves. Rubber balls can't twist in midair, can't catch her with grasping fingers if she's too slow. They don't have limbs and flexible joints.

Still, she manages, but only enough to not get struck. Which is good. Judging by the wind that goes whistling past her head when she moves to evade a punch, one hit from him could mean losing the battle.

The sound-nin quickly becomes frustrated by his inability to catch her, and she knows she has to end this soon. Shikamaru is running on rapidly dwindling reserves. There will be no opportunity for a Mind Transfer. If she has any hope of beating someone without using her clan's technique, and of beating someone with more experience than her, she'll have to use his assumptions against him. She'll have to use her supposed innocence to throw him off.

She'll have to kill him without a fraction of a second's hesitation.

He won't expect it. She can tell by his body language that he's already grown confident in the rhythm of their movements, and this is certainly an area where Ino has the advantage. She can read him like a book, and right now, the smugness of his face and the nonchalance of his strikes says, "If I punch, you'll dodge."

The problem of instant, assured lethality, however, is that Ino doesn't know if she has it. She's certainly felt angry enough to kill before, but even at the stadium, she'd focused more on incapacitating enemies than killing them, making them vulnerable to the finishing blows of her allies. Which isn't so different than killing them herself, really, but somehow, it is. It hadn't been her hands wielding the blade. This time, it has to be. And it has to be done without a second thought.

She has to think of it a different way. This is a matter of necessity, she reminds herself, sliding beneath the enemy's legs as he lunges for her – he really relies too much on his upper body strength. If she doesn't kill him, she'll die. Shikamaru will die. This squad will catch up and Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura will die too.

Would she kill to save the lives of her friends?

Absolutely.

There is no doubt in her mind, which is just as she likes it.

"I can't hold it much longer," Shikamaru grunts, distracting her opponent for the split second she needs.

He turns his head fractionally towards the sound of Shikamaru's voice, and even though his eyes are still on her, she can tell by the minute slackening of his expression that his thoughts are elsewhere for the briefest of moments it takes to register Shikamaru's words, and in that split second – where his focus is partly broken and he blinks – that time is all it takes. Her kunai slides into the fleshy part of his throat. She leaps away.

He flails even as he goes down, his arms swinging to catch her, but she's already too far away and he's already too far gone, too dead.

The squad still caught in Shikamaru's jutsu now looks exponentially less confident. Scared, even. She wants to make fun of them because they're frightened by a teenage girl, because that's what Ino would normally do, but somehow the words are caught between her diaphragm and her throat, which is not sliced open like the body on the ground's is, not making a mess of the forest floor, not dead, done, gone, finished –

Shikamaru doesn't say a word about it. Instead, because he is who he is too, because they're a team and he always comes through when she needs him – and because teams do things together, experience things together – he reaches for his kunai pouch. The enemies mimic his movements, their eyes narrowed as they strain to resist the Shadow Possession. He flings one kunai at a time, because he doesn't want to risk missing, even the tiniest bit. He watches unblinkingly as the first one crumples by the blade of a kunai embedded deeply in his neck.

Shikamaru takes a deep breath. "One for one," he says calmly.

Ino nods. "One for one," she agrees.

She does not remind him that they'd started with an odd number. Instead, she draws her kunai, and he draws his, and they take out the rest together.

#

"Our pursuers have stopped," Pakkun informs his two remaining companions.

Sakura tenses. Naruto cheers.

"Those guys! I knew they could do it. Hey, don't worry, Sakura-chan," he grins at her. "We'll get Sasuke and go back them up in no time – that lazy guy is too smart to get killed, anyway."

Several things go through Sakura's mind at once. The first is that she hopes he's right, that Shikamaru is too smart and Ino too strong to get killed. The second is an awareness of where she is and what she's doing, and that there is no hope of Ino catching up with them now, not when she's busy delaying their pursuers. She'll have to face this mess without her.

The last thought is of Sasuke. Sasuke, who put them all in this position, who forced them all to risk their lives, who inadvertently created this situation and her team's separation. Ino is far, far from her, and she's alone, and it's Sasuke's fault, and somehow, she still has to go rescue him from his own arrogance? Her inner self is furious. Sakura is surprised to feel it, too. It's unfamiliar to have such a sentiment directed outwardly instead of inwardly. She wonders if, when Naruto and Ino punch some sense into Sasuke, they might let her join…

Naruto is too kind, she thinks. Too understanding. He's already forgiven Sasuke for his errors, but she supposes when you have Naruto's kind of luck and endurance, the sort that ensures your survival against all odds, the risks he takes are so much lower. He has a skewed comprehension of what's really at stake or what's happened. His only thought is that a friend is in trouble.

If Kakashi-sensei hadn't assigned her this mission, she wouldn't be here. It's no wonder Shikamaru didn't want to come, either; what point is there in saving a comrade who cares so little about their lives?

But Kakashi did assign it, along with his order to stop Gaara and his team, and she's already here. She can't turn back no matter how badly she wants to. To do so would be to betray her comrades and her village.

Her frustration with their circumstances and with Sasuke only increases when they finally reach him. His crumpled form on the large branch of a tree might've induced some sympathy at another time. Now, though, it feels like little more than retribution. Still, when Naruto kicks Gaara out of the way, she goes to Sasuke's side, checking for injuries. The curse mark has spread across his skin again. It's not nearly so repulsive, though, as whatever it is Gaara has become.

Half boy. Half monster. The sand enveloping him is darker than normal desert sands and congeals around the right half of his body and face, morphing him into some clunky, feral creature.

Is it a jutsu? No – it couldn't be, could it? But what else…?

"Sa… Sakura-chan?" She does not like the way Naruto's voice shakes. "Who is this guy?!"

Of course he'd need her to tell him, as if it weren't obvious, and his evident fear sends panic ripping through her, overriding her usually compliant demeanor enough that when she speaks, it sounds more like an order than anything she's ever managed before. "It's Gaara, Naruto, and we should run. We have Sasuke, and we can't beat him. Let's go!"

She expects that it will take some convincing. Naruto is not one to back down from a fight, not one to give into fear – he'd faced Orochimaru in the Forest of Death without batting an eye, after all, but somehow, the mention of Gaara's name stills him completely.

He agrees without hesitation. "You're right! Let's go –"

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's Gaara that does not agree with their decision.

How can something that heavy move so fast?!

She switches immediately. Gaara is leaping for Sasuke, and whether she likes him or not, letting him die is not in the plan. Inner Sakura takes control and jumps between them with her foot outstretched, catching Gaara's hand… arm… sand-type-limb with brutal force, spinning him around and away from them. His back collides with a tree, jarring him momentarily, and she catches Naruto's eye. He looks uncharacteristically helpless.

"What – what the hell do we do?!" He shouts at her, as if she would know?!

Our mission is to retrieve. Gaara isn't going to let us leave – we either have to do what we did last time, where one of us stays and one of us goes back with Sasuke, or we have to take him down together.

(So, we stay, Naruto goes?)

…No. I think we should all fight.

Inner Sakura, still in control, yanks the edges of her gloves down to fit them tighter over her hands.

(That's uncharacteristic of you.)

I don't like it, but I don't think we can run. Only one of Gaara's teammates was caught up in a separate battle in the forest, which means another one is still around here. Even if we managed to stay and distract Gaara, Naruto wouldn't be able to outrun his other teammate with Sasuke on his back.

(What makes you think that they won't interfere with a fight here, then?)

Her eyes scan the forest, but she can't detect the chakra signature of Gaara's unaccounted for teammate, whichever one it might be, and she notices at the same time as her other half that when Gaara calls out to them, asking them why they'd protect Sasuke, his voice is strained. It sounds like he's trying to scream and whisper at once. it reminds her of the preliminaries, fighting against Ino, trying to kill her and not kill her at the same time... Gaara, she understands, is combating some force within himself. It's a sensation that Sakura easily comprehends.

His teammate is scared of him, she realizes. No one is going to interfere here.

"Sasuke is my friend!" Naruto answers for them both, and Sakura does not bother to distinguish between his answer and hers: "Because I'm ordered to bring him back."

Gaara's voice is a mishmash of tones, like the sand on his body is clawing its way up his throat, too. "No wonder you're both so weak. Forget your insignificant friends," he growls. "Only sentimental fools fight for such stupid reasons."

"Insignificant –"

Naruto does not get to finish. He watches, flabbergasted, as it's actually Sakura that rushes forward. She lands a punch to the side of Gaara's head so quickly that he doesn't have time to raise an arm to defend himself.

"Insignificant?!" She shouts, enraged. Who does this guy think he is, anyway? Some movie super villain? What kind of real shinobi allows himself to get caught up in idiotic banter and inappropriate advice, leaving him wide open in his need to sate his own ego? And with such stupid things to say, too.

"Yeah!" Naruto shouts, finally finding his footing again. "Sasuke and Sakura-chan are important to me!"

She flashes him a grin. Honestly, she hadn't been thinking of either of them; Naruto because he's present and can defend himself, Sasuke because she's pissed at him.

"And if Ino were here, she'd kick your ass for calling her that, but since she's not, I'll have to do it for her."

They're bold words. She and Naruto are good at those, though, and whatever fear he'd felt earlier seems to be evaporating as they feed off each other's energy and confidence. It's odd to be standing here with him, but she won't complain because it's also sort of nice to have him by her side. This sensation of assuredness is the first of its kind around him. For once, she feels like they're really on a team. They're standing together.

And for all that Naruto might lack in the brains department, he makes up for with stubbornness and loyalty, and right now, that's exactly what she needs if she wants to win this battle. A partner.

I wish –

(I know. I wish she were here too, but we'll be okay.)

Maybe you will…

Sakura bites her tongue as if to punish her meeker self, but she doesn't have time to argue. Not when Gaara is getting up, his face contorting with fury and sand. It distorts his features, his body, all the way down to his knees now. His eyes are like two bright yellow stars floating in blackness, as empty as the void of space in which they exist.

It's a look she's seen before. In the mirror, on Sasuke, and on Naruto, at times when he thought no one was looking. They glance at each other and a silent understanding passes between them.

Gaara isn't just crazy. He's hurt.

If only there were time for sympathy. He launches a barrage of sand kunai at them that she barely dodges. The wound in her side pulls tightly, slowing her down just enough to get nicked in the shoulder. Naruto gets hit fully as he blocks with his forearms, and as Gaara leaps for him in his moment of vulnerability, Sakura launches herself from the branch with chakra-enhanced strength, barreling into the monstrous form and sending them both crashing through branches.

Gaara's sand envelops her, and everything in her body at once screams danger! Run! As she sinks into Gaara like he's a puddle of mud, thrashing in her panic until she feels hands on her shoulders yanking her away.

"Thanks," she breathes to Naruto. If he notices her shaking voice, he doesn't mention it.

They attack together this time. Naruto's clones make perfect cover. Sakura tries not to think too hard about the sand piercing their bodies, about how easily that could be her own as she maneuvers through them, waiting for the right opportunity. Catching sight of her, Gaara swings an arm out toward her, and with a furious cry, she slams her fist into it. Her force overwhelms his and sends the offending limb backwards. It bends around a branch like a limp noodle and dissipates into nothingness.

Gaara's cry is inhuman. Naruto takes the spare moment to jam a kunai, wrapped with explosive paper, into Gaara's back, and they both leap out of range of the explosion.

"Did we get him?"

"I doubt it." Sakura's eyes strain through the smoke, and sure enough, there is Gaara, his sand armor warped around him, but oozing now. "His armor is too good for that to work. We'll have to find a way weaken it enough that we can hit Gaara underneath it, but how…"

Sasuke's chidori would sure come in handy right about now.

"She's right." Well, speak of the devil. They both turn to Sasuke, who is struggling to stand against his chakra exhaustion. "You need a blade to pierce that armor, and not a regular one. You two should run."

That plan is ridiculous. In his state, he would die in a matter of minutes, but the look in his eyes tells her that he's perfectly aware of that. Which means that, not only does he have the gall to pursue an enemy team on his own, but he also has the nerve to dismiss their help, too.

"Sasuke," Naruto growls, apparently sharing her irritation. "You can't just tell us to leave like that! If we go, you're going to die!"

"I know that, you idiot. And if I die, all it means is that's all I was capable of. There is no need for you two to lose your lives as well."

"Don't be an idiot! If we work together, we –"

"No!" Sasuke whirls on him, his eyes alight with the sharingan as his gaze jumps wildly between him and Sakura. The intensity of his voice catches them both off guard, silencing their arguments. "I've lost everything before! I won't watch my comrades die around me again. Just leave."

The admission is obviously hard for him. The desperation on his face is so strong it even makes Sakura cringe with sympathy, and she's surprised when his eyes land on her, when he directs the statement at them both, not just at Naruto.

She hadn't been old enough to truly understand what'd happened when the Uchiha clan had been massacred. She doesn't now the details. She can't imagine them, even, and whatever weight that Sasuke carries, she supposes she might be able to overlook his cold indifference, and even his arrogance, if this is who he really is. If he comes through for them, if he really cares – even if he doesn't say it often, or ever again – then she can forgive him. Mostly.

At least enough to work with him and not let him die alone. It's odd, she thinks, and fitting. She might have questioned whoever decided to put them on a team together with all of their haywire issues and at-odds personalities, but as the three of them stand together, injured and exhausted, she can see it now: they're all alike. They're all suffering from their own particular pains, differing in types and degrees, but there all the same, and breaking them each into unique people lined with their own personalized set of cracks and fissures. It makes her wonder about Kakashi, too. He must not be so different either.

The comprehension is game changing, and she assesses the situation, her and Naruto and Sasuke, and what to do, and whether they can get it done as a team. Whoever assigned them to each other's company obviously did so because they believed Team 7 could learn to pull each other together. Fill the gaps in each other's hearts, perhaps, and maybe it's not going exactly as expected – but, really, when does anything?

"I'm not leaving you," Naruto says firmly, and Sasuke looks like he's about to argue, but Sakura cuts him off.

"Neither am I. We can beat him if we work together, and through no other way. None of us are going to die here. We all have too much to lose."

Despite the solemnity of the situation, it's a happy thought.

"You don't understand! Gaara is –"

Lonely. Desperate. Angry. Deadly.

"I know," she cuts him off again.

Naruto tightens his hitai-ate and takes a fighting stance. Gaara is all but recovered now.

"We both do," he says grimly. "And we're going to break this guy apart so we can put him back together again. All of us, together."

Sasuke gives them a long, withering look, but all of his forced animosity cannot cover the gratefulness underneath the expression.

"Fine, then. I see I can't convince you. What's the plan?"

#

The plan is, in short, to kick the shit out of Gaara.

It even works for a while. Naruto summons a countless number of clones, covering Sakura and Sasuke's movement. As he barrages Gaara with a series of punches, Sasuke breaks through the crowd, his chidori crackling and, though weakened, strong enough to pierce the sand armor. Gaara's screech shrieks through the air as Sasuke rips his arm from the wound. The gaping hole he leaves behind is the perfect vulnerable point for Sakura to send her own fist flying into the injury.

There is the crunch of bone, the splatter of blood. Two of Gaara's ribs crack. She kicks him in the stomach and sends him flying, but when he crumples to the ground, it's not for long.

He emerges from the rubble a true, unadulterated monster. The markings on its body remind her of the curse mark, and if its size weren't enough of an indication as to its danger level, the pointed teeth and manic laughter certainly are.

"What the hell is that?!" Sakura shouts, hoping that someone might be able to answer her question and define this towering, gigantic thing before her, but Naruto's only reply is,

"I have no idea, but let's kick its ass!"

Of course he would say that, as if any one of them wouldn't be squashed with a single swipe of that thing's tail. It's taller than two trees stacked on top of one another. Eighty or ninety feet, if Sakura had to guess - far too large to realistically battle at their fractional size. Even paper bombs wouldn't dent a creature that big. Especially not one made of sand.

"And how do you suppose we do that, idiot?" Sasuke gripes. He's panting, but with Sakura and Naruto able to take the heat off him, his chakra has recovered somewhat.

Naruto's is as full to bursting as always. They both watch him wipe the blood from his face, form the seals, press his palm to the branch below them in a familiar way –

And then they're all standing atop the head of an equally enormous creature. A toad.

"What do you want, brat?" The gravelly voice booms from below them. Sakura and Sasuke share a mutually bewildered look.

"Naruto, what the hell –"

Sakura remembers suddenly, "Jiraiya-sama. He taught you this."

"That's right! Ero-sennin has a few tricks up his sleeve, after all."

It's good news. Now they have a giant toad to fight the giant raccoon with...

Sakura can't help but wonder if she's dreaming. Maybe she died already. It feels as though she'd gotten transported into one of those old-fashioned mega-monster comics some of her classmates read as children.

The top of the toad's head sinks under her feet like wet earth, and from here, she can see the entirety of the forest. This feeling of height, of power, is dizzying. It's also the part of this situation that – at least half of her – can't come to terms with.

This stuff is usually for heroes…

Inner Sakura, who is still in control of their body, rolls their eyes. (I keep telling you that we're awesome. Do you believe me now?)

Not at all. But she doesn't say so.

It takes some convincing to get the huge toad to agree to battle beside them.

"You three..." He sighs, a puff of smoke billowing around them. "It's like looking into the past."

They don't question it.

The battle tears up the forest. Gamabunta jumps from the ground, drawing his sword and slashing at the sand monster before them. A few more attempts yield a severed arm that grows back as quickly as it was cut off. The injury is enough to send Gaara over the edge, though. He emerges from the forehead of the giant beast and does what they least expect – puts himself to sleep.

To release the true power, Gamabunta explains, of Shukaku of the Sand.

"We have to wake him up," the toad grumbles through another smoke-filled exhalation. "One of you will have to get close enough to hit him."

As in, someone will have to leave the relative safety of Gamabunta's head, jump right onto Shukaku, and slap Gaara silly. Someone who can make that ridiculous jump to cover the distance between the two fighting gargantuan, and someone who can do it without being noticed.

Someone like Sakura.

Naruto and Sasuke seem to reach the same conclusion at the same time.

"If any of you know any fire jutsu," Gamabunta adds, "I can distract him by spitting oil. One of you can light it."

"That would be me." Sasuke is already molding his chakra in preparation. "Naruto, your clones will have to be a diversion. If he senses Sakura through her illusion, it's over."

Illusion? Me? But – I can't – you're the one with the strength, I can't possibly make that jump!

(It's the only way! I'll help you, just like in the Forest of Death. We can do this.)

No! I – I can't do that, I just, what if I mess it up? I can't…

Inner Sakura sighs through gritted teeth. "You're going to have to give me a minute. Can you guys hold him off for just a while longer?"

"Just hurry," Sasuke says in a surprisingly patient tone.

Sakura binds her feet to Gamabunta, stabilizing herself, and closes her eyes.

She meets her other half in their mental sanctuary. Sakura is cowering against the pillar of their gate, her eyes lifting to meet the furious stare of her inner-self standing above her.

(Sakura! Snap out of it.)

You don't know what you're asking! I can't do that! I don't even know how –

(To punch someone awake? Of course you do.)

But – the jump. I can't.

(I told you, I'll help you, remember? I'll take over our legs for just a second, like in the Forest of Death, and you do the rest.)

Sakura does not look convinced. Nervously, she plucks the stray strands of grass from the soil, tearing the blades into smaller and smaller pieces.

I don't think…

She's surprised to feel Inner Sakura grab her by the collar of her shirt, hauling her to her feet. Their faces are inches apart, and it's an odd sensation, looking into your own eyes and being afraid.

(You're stronger than you think! It was you who survived that beating in the Forest of Death, remember? It was you who survived the Academy, who excelled at it, even, and who pulled the knife from our side! What makes you think you can't do this, too?)

Sakura shakes her head. That's different. Pain is different.

(You're wrong! It's your determination that allows you to get through these things. It's a type of strength too, Sakura.)

No… I'm not determined. I'm not strong. I'm not anything, she whispers back, her eyes sinking to the floor, and Inner Sakura wants to slap some sense into her but it wouldn't work anyway. Not with her absurd pain tolerance.

But Inner Sakura knows she's right. Her other half is strong, stronger than she'll ever be able to see, and strong in ways that Inner Sakura is not. Self-discipline, endurance, tolerance, temperance… these are all skills that have their own merits, that are powerful in their own right, but maybe she's wrong about one thing. Trying to convince Sakura that she's worth anything is a futile task – and, in fact, all her strengths come from a place in quite the opposite direction: self-deprecation. In her own backwards way, Sakura is strongest when she believes she's the most worthless.

As much as it pains her to do it, as much as she doesn't believe her own words, Inner Sakura knows what needs to be said.

(You're scared.)

Sakura looks up at her, surprised. I'm not – not really, anyway, my fear is –

(Nothing), she finishes, rolling her eyes. (Yeah, I get it, but you know what? It was fear that stopped you from grabbing the bell during Kakashi-sensei's exam, and fear that kept you from jumping out of the way of Orochimaru, and it's fear that's stopping you now, too. Fear of death, fear of failure, fear of your own weakness. You might be able to endure a lot of pain, Sakura, but you're fear is going to get you killed.)

But, I… Sakura's eyes water ashamedly. I shouldn't be scared. What right do I have, when everyone else…?

Ino had offered herself up as bait without a single waver or hint of self-doubt in her voice. Shikamaru had followed suit. Naruto had overcome his fear to fight Gaara, and Sasuke had nearly sacrificed his own life to save them both.

Inner Sakura senses these thoughts and builds off of them, as much as she hates to do it.

(That's right! It's like what you told me back at the stadium. Maybe you don't think you can do it, and maybe your fear is stopping you, but what makes you think that you get to opt out because of it? Everyone else is struggling, risking their lives. Do you think that you're special enough to allow yourself to get overwhelmed by the same fear they're feeling?! Ino is fighting for her life right now – do you think you're better than her?)

Slowly, Sakura moves her head side to side, and Inner Sakura shakes her by the shoulders.

(Do you think you're special, Sakura?! Do you think you should be able to succumb to your worries when no one else does?!)

N-no… of course not…

(Well, then, what are you going to do? This is why Ino didn't challenge you at the stadium, why she doesn't acknowledge you as a comrade in arms! If you keep being selfish and giving into your worries, Ino is never going to see you like that, and do you want to fight by her side, or not?)

This answer is easy. Sakura grits her teeth.

I do.

Inner Sakura throws her through the gate, swapping their places.

(Then get the fuck out there and kick some ass already!)

Worst. Pep talk. Ever.

Sakura opens her eyes to the battle-torn forest. The landscape is significantly altered. Trees are uprooted and shredded like the blades of grass she'd been mutilating in her mindscape, and her teammates are hardly in better shape. Sasuke looks about ready to pass out. Even Naruto is hitting his limits.

And who is she to not work just as hard? The fear is there still, chilling her blood, pumping her heart impossibly fast against the back of her ribs. It's nauseatingly strong as she looks at the monster before her, stronger even than when she'd faced Orochimaru, and she nearly sinks to her knees and heaves with it. The sensation is overwhelming.

Sakura is terrified, but looking at her teammates, she knows that Inner Sakura is right. She's so, so scared, and it so, so doesn't matter.

"I'm ready," she says. Her voice trembles. Her knees shake. Sasuke looks unsure, but Naruto puts a hand on her shoulder.

"I know you can do it, Sakura-chan! I believe in you."

It takes Sasuke a moment, but then he smirks, because Sasuke can't show that he cares without hiding it under something else. "You were the only one who really passed Kakashi-sensei's exam, after all."

It's funny, sort of. Sasuke's compliment is stiff and unnatural, but the fact that he's said it at all is like being struck by lightning. She finds it amusing to think that almost any girl from her graduating class would've killed to hear that from him.

"Hey, kids!" Gamabunta breaks the moment. "We don't have all day!"

With one last look at her, Sasuke and Naruto jump to the forefront of Gamabunta's head. Sakura ducks down and casts her genjutsu, hidden by the cloud of dust between them. She stands beside her teammates and waits.

As soon as the smoke and debris clears, Shukaku screams at them, sending waves of chakra-infused sand their way. Gamabunta jumps high into the air and spits oil carefully at Shukaku's feet, and then Sasuke lights it, a massive fireball landing on the forest floor and igniting in a shower of flames.

Sakura takes a deep breath, feels her knees bend, and jumps.

And, as promised, Inner Sakura sends them flying. The exact moment she needs to send the chakra to her feet, she feels it like a lock clicking into place, a reflex built on muscle memory not her own. Her leap sends her flying forward with a speed she isn't used to handling. The oil has splattered up Shukaku's torso, alighting his whole form, and when she lands, she finds that his sand-body has absorbed the heat. Searing pain greets her fingertips as her hands hit the surface of his head to steady herself.

The soles of her boots, reinforced with rubber, melt against the intense heat until there is nothing but the wood underneath. Even that begins to char as the flames engulf the monster. His screams are like needles in her ears, but she pushes herself forward along the sinking, molten surface.

Her feet catch, sending her to her knees and scorching them instantly. She makes no sounds of pain. Shukaku could still kill her at any time if he notices her - the memory of being slowly submerged in the quicksand of Gaara's half-transformed body is still fresh in her mind. Gaara is just a few yards away now, and she half-crawls, half-walks, painstakingly yanking her feet out of the sinkhole of sand one step at a time. Their plan seems to work. Shukaku hadn't seen through her illusion and is too distracted by the fire to notice her.

Every inch of her skin screams with pain. Every muscle in her body seizes with it. Her eyes water from smoke and agony, and the pressure of a sob builds in her torso, threatening to escape from her ash filled lungs. The thought that the monster beneath would not hear her over the noise of the battle doesn't occur to her addled mind. Inner Sakura is notably silent, subsumed with the scale of their pain. Each step is a tortured battle, a minor victory, and she reaches Gaara at last, her skin singed and burning so badly that she catches the acrid smell even above the stench of the incinerated trees, and clenching her fingers, numbed by the destroyed nerve endings, she slams her fist against Gaara's face as hard as she can.

It's not like a blow from her inner-self, but it's hard enough. In mirroring damage, the side of Shukaku's face cracks and dents. The monster crumbles a mere moment later, and with her vision obscured, she can't quite catch herself as she falls. Gaara's eyes open, awake now, as they plummet to the forest floor. She hears Gamabunta mumble something; his deep voice rumbles the air. He disappears in a puff of smoke, no doubt sending Naruto and Sasuke crashing downwards too, though unfortunately a considerable distance away as they're all blown apart by Gamabunta's de-summon.

They crumple when they hit the ground. Sakura manages to roll with the impact a little bit, sparing herself broken legs in exchange for a dislocated shoulder and a torn ligament in her knee. Gaara just hits the dirt like sack of – well, sand.

He's somehow still conscious, though. He watches her struggle to stand against the pain of her injuries with cold, curious eyes. The relative silence of the forest feels deafening now. Only the crackling of the still smoldering trees keeps her ears from ringing. When Gaara speaks, it sounds like a whisper in her ear.

"Why," his voice rasps, "do you fight so hard?"

It's a good question. She wishes Naruto were here to say something inspirational. She's not good at those kinds of things, and her inner half is about ready to pass out from the torment of her damaged body; she doesn't dare switch and risk unconsciousness.

Still, she doesn't know how to answer. Before Ino, she'd fought because she didn't feel her pain was a good enough reason to quit. She's not sure she knows the answer anymore.

"Because…" It hurts to talk. Her mouth and lungs are seared with heat. She clears her throat and tries again, letting the words spill thoughtlessly. "Everyone around me fights their hardest. I won't insult them by pretending I'm special, that I can get away with doing anything less than that. I have to do this, to fight alongside them."

Gaara doesn't even blink. "But it hurts, doesn't it."

It's not a question. She's made it to her hands and knees now. The heat blisters on her fingertips scrape against the dirt, but she knows he's not talking about that kind of pain. She can tell by his voice, by his tone, by his spoken need to make himself feel real, that Gaara is a person who understands what it's like to be nothing. They're not so different.

"Even if it does," she halfway admits, "that's part of it, isn't it? Being nothing means having to recognize that the pain of other's is more valuable than your own. And… and if that's true," she continues, working it out as she speaks, "If their suffering is worth double, then I would rather suffer twice as much to…"

To do what? Could she ever really hope to do anything useful, to be more than a punching bag…?

Yes, she answers her own question. Giving into her worries had been selfish – by its nature, fear is self-concerned. Inner Sakura had shown her that. If she's really putting herself last, and if she's really putting her friends first, then she'll have to step up and fight with them. For them, if she has to. It makes sense now, the duality in her mind like a balance, one that she'd been taking advantage of for some time.

One to take punches, the other to deliver them. She the shield, her other self, the sword.

"To spare them the pain," she finishes in a whisper.

They stare at each other in silence. Gaara's face doesn't move. There is no reflection of emotion in his eyes as they watch each other from the short distance between them. From somewhere nearby and increasingly closer, they hear their respective teams bouncing through the now sparse trees in search of them, and finally, Gaara breaks the silence.

His tone is strange. "That is why you're strong?"

How can someone so monstrous a moment ago be so unsure and self-conscious the next?

But, of course, she's no stranger to that herself.

"If I'm strong," she says firmly, resisting the urge to dismiss the compliment, "then so are you."

His eyes widen marginally. It's even harder to detect than Kakashi-sensei's rare, nearly imperceptible displays of emotion, but she sees it nonetheless in the last second it takes for their teams to arrive.

There is a brief standoff, and then Kankuro hauls Gaara's body over his shoulder and they disappear into the remains of the forest.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto gushes as soon as they're safely alone. "That was awesome!"

"You guys were too," she replies with a weak smile, finally managing to get to her feet.

Sasuke almost reaches forward to assist her, but thinks better of it. "Can you make it?"

Her smile grows in earnest this time. Even as she sways unsteadily for a moment, her answer is sure.

"Always."

#

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