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Chapter 25: Protecting Gaara

Sakura held Gaara's hand as they walked towards the park. It was just the two of them today. Apparently the children had just been given their weekly allowance, and only Gaara, who was afraid of crowds, didn't want to go to the market. The three 'Gennin' had decided to meet at the park when the older children finished spending their allowance.

As they walked, Sakura made sure not to let Gaara let go of her hand. Ever since she had woken up that morning, she had felt a sense that something was wrong. Sakura looked around carefully, but she saw nothing abnormal. The people they passed on the street stayed as far away from them as possible and many people ran inside when they saw Gaara…but sadly, that was normal.

As they reached the outskirts of town, where the park they played in was, Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. But they reached the park without anything happening, so Sakura slowly relaxed; but she never let her guard down.

First they played on the swings, then they went to the slide, and then they went to the monkey bars. A half hour passed by, then Gaara asked out of the blue as they were walking towards the sandbox, "Why don't you hate me?"

Sakura froze in her tracks, she hadn't expected that. Gaara had continued walking until he noticed that she had stopped. When he did, he turned around and looked at her questioningly. Sakura finally asked, "Why would I hate you, Gaara?"

Gaara looked at her; his blue-green eyes were more serious than any child should be capable of. He stated without a hint of uncertainty, "Because you know about Shukaku."

Once again Gaara had surprised her. She hadn't told anyone, even him, that she knew about the sand demon. She hadn't planned to either, but now…

Sakura sighed and answered him quietly, "Yes…I know about Shukaku…but I really don't care." She looked at Gaara who was still standing a few feet away. She held his eyes with her own as she said sternly, yet kindly, "Remember Gaara, you are not Shukaku, you--" she broke off her sentence and grabbed Gaara around the abdomen, jumping away from where he was standing; just in time.

Five kunai were buried in the ground where they had been. Sakura jumped farther into the open so that she would see any more attacks that came their way. She put Gaara down by her feet and looked at the man who had appeared from the shadows. He was dressed as desert people dressed, and he wore no headband to signify what village he served.

The man spoke in a sickly sweet voice, "Very good little girl, you're very fast. Hand over the monster boy, or else we'll have to mar you pretty face." Sakura scowled, she didn't have to look to know that she was now surrounded. She felt for their Chakra, and if she wasn't looking for them, she knew she wouldn't have found them. They were good, whoever they were, they knew how to hide their Chakra signatures…but she was good too.

She figured that there were about twenty opponents hiding just out of her sight. So far only this man had showed himself, and she knew that no Gennin would have been able to sense the hidden ninja, so she decided to play the weak Gennin who knew nothing of real battle. "I w-won't let you h-have Gaara!"

The man smirked at her and she knew he had fallen for her stuttering act. He spoke to her as if speaking to a child, "Now, now, little girl. Think before you speak. You may be fast, I expected nothing less from Noya Shoi's daughter, but you are outclassed, child. Do you really want to die for the sake of that monster?"

Sakura shook with anger, how dare he call Gaara a monster! She continued her act, however, knowing that she should try to get as much information as she could before the real fight began. Once the real fight began she would have to try hard not to kill everyone so that they could be questioned later (Noya had made it clear that if something happened, he wanted at least one person left alive to question). Sakura let her voice as well as her body shake, knowing the man would think it would be from fear and not anger, "S-stop c-calling him a m-monster."

The man gave her that sick smile again (she was starting to wonder if he was a pedophile), "Stop calling him a monster? My dear girl, he is a monster!" Sakura made her face look confused, and the man fell for it. He laughed, "Of course you don't know! The Kazekage probably didn't want to tell you! Little girl, that so called 'boy' is nothing but the vessel for the demon Shu--"

The man fell where he was, a sebon through his throat. Sakura quickly made the hand signs and thirty clones appeared just as the hidden ninja came out. All but three of her clones engaged the enemy. Sakura looked down at Gaara who looked both scared and angry, and said, "Gaara, don't do anything. Stay with my clones and keep a hold of your emotions." She had said the last part because his sand was starting to swirl, "My teammates will be coming soon, so if you don't want them to find out, you'd best calm yourself and thus your sands."

Sakura closed her eyes and made a few hand signs. Her Chakra pulsated so strongly that any ninja within a five mile radius would feel it. This was a signal that Itachi, Kakashi and she had come up with not long after they had been promoted to ANBU. It was meant to communicate if they got separated on a mission, and in a way, it acted much like Morse code.

The signal she was sending out was a S.O.S. of sorts, as well as a beacon. Though no one else would know what it meant, other ninja were likely to come just to find out what was causing it. In other words: help was on the way.

She opened her eyes and found that five of her clones had been 'killed'. Sakura made ten more, assigning five of them to help guard Gaara as she and the other five entered the fight.

Itachi and Kakashi watched as Temari and Kankuro argued about which of their newly bought items were cooler. They had just gotten back to the Kazekage's home. The plan was to drop off the things that the children had bought then meet up with Sakura and Gaara at the park.

Both Itachi and Kakashi froze as they felt a Chakra pulsation. It was Sakura's, she needed help. Itachi swore, making both children look at him, but he didn't care. He turned to Kakashi and said quickly, "Take the children to Noya, tell him what's going on. I'm going to help Kumiko." He didn't wait for Kakashi to say anything; he just disappeared in the blink of an eye. Kakashi shook his head at Itachi's rash actions, but did as he was told.

Sakura retreated behind her circle of clones that were protecting Gaara; letting her other clones continue the battle. She was bleeding from a number of wounds and she was getting low on Chakra. She had killed five of her attackers, but they were professionals and they still out numbered her sixteen to one.

She heard Gaara whisper in a shaky voice, "Y-you're b-bleeding…" He seemed to be really bothered, frightened even, of the blood that was pouring out of her wounds.

She shook the blood from here eyes and heeled the small cut above her eye. The other wounds she didn't dare heal, she needed to save her Chakra, but she couldn't fight if she couldn't see. She wiped the last of the blood from her face as she told Gaara, "Don't worry about me. My mission is to protect you…and that is what I plan to do."

She left the circle of clones and reentered the battle. She knew that if she stayed with Gaara, the enemy would easily defeat her clones and turn their attention to him. As long as she continued to fight, they had to focus on her; because as they were learning: she was no ordinary Gennin.

Kakashi ran, holding a child in each arm. He burst through the doors that he knew led to the medical building. He ran until he found Noya, who was speaking with a number of medics, including Yashamaru. "Sensei!" He called in a voice that was almost a yell.

Noya turned to him immediately, his face showing that he knew something was wrong. "What's happened?"

Kakashi didn't let go of the children as he said, "I don't know, but I'm sure you felt Kumiko's Chakra just a moment ago. Something's happened to her and Gaara. Sai left Temari with me and went to help her." His face got as serious as Noya had ever seen it as he added, "She wouldn't have used the signal if something wasn't direly wrong."

As Sakura was fighting three of the men at once, she saw out of the corner of her eye another man making hand signs, but he was looking at Gaara, not her. Sakura felt fear grip her heart, she knew those hand signs, the man was going to try and kill Gaara. The Jutsu would raise the earth around Gaara and his sand shield, effectively cutting off his oxygen or crushing him under it's weight; whichever came first.

Sakura reacted, quickly casting an illusion on the men she was fighting. She ran towards Gaara, she knew she had to hurry, the illusion wouldn't last long, and the man was almost done with the hand signs. She reached Gaara and scooped him into her arms and began to jump away from the spot, but she wasn't quick enough.

The earth reached up and closed around her lower legs. It dragged her down, crushing her legs in the process. A short scream of pain escaped Sakura; the earth Jutsu was shattering the bones in her legs. She never let go of Gaara as she threw a kunai at the man who was doing the Jutsu. He had been concentrating so hard that he didn't notice until it was too late. He was dead.

The earth that had been grinding her bones fell away from her with the mans death. Sakura forced herself to sit up, biting back another scream. She had never let go of Gaara, and now she held him close to her, checking with her Chakra to make sure that he wasn't hurt. He was not, but she wasn't surprised, she hadn't expected his sand to let him be hurt that easily.

She couldn't move from where she was now, and without her, her clones were beginning to drop like flies. By now there were only ten men left, but Sakura knew she was near the end of her energy, and that she was now a sitting duck.

But she wasn't defenseless. Her legs may be broken, and she may be out of Chakra, but she still had her arms and her weapons. As the men tried to get closer to her, she threw explosion tags at them. They retreated. Apparently she wasn't the only one who was tired and out of Chakra, but they had the advantage of numbers and maneuverability.

Itachi ran in the direction he knew Sakura was in, worrying about her all the way. He was almost to the park when he heard something that almost stopped his heart: Sakura's scream. He sped up and his Sharingan activated.

Then he was there, and he saw ten men surrounding Sakura and the boy she was still protecting. But why was she on the ground? Then he saw why, and his heart went cold. These men had hurt her. Anger and hatred, as he had never felt them before, blossomed in his heart. These men had hurt his Sakura…they would die.

Just as Sakura knew she wouldn't be able to stay awake much longer she saw Itachi come up behind the men, killing three at once with a fire Jutsu. She held Gaara close to her, ignoring the pain. She could feel him shivering, and then she noticed why.

Itachi had his Sharingan activated, and his aura was murderous. Sakura felt as if the world was beginning to spin, but she wasn't sure if it was because of the sight she was seeing or because she had lost too much blood. He had killed all but one of the men. The one that was left was severely injured, but Itachi was about to kill him anyways. Before Sakura knew it, she was yelling, "Uchiha, stop! Stop…"

Itachi froze when he heard Sakura's voice call out weakly to him. Her voice was fading into a whisper, but he could still hear her, he could always hear her. She continued, her voice getting quieter and quieter, "…remember what Noya said…" He quickly turned to look at her. She was barely conscious, but even so, she was trying to complete her mission.

He turned back to the man, but he didn't kill him because Sakura didn't want him to. Instead he hit the man on a pressure point, making him drop into unconsciousness. Itachi turned his back on the man and hurried to Sakura, who was still holding Gaara protectively.

Just as he reached her, she weakly looked up at him and whispered while letting go of Gaara, "Thanks…" Sakura felt Itachi catch her before her now limp body fell on Gaara…

…then everything went black…

How was that? Everyone's commenting on how dense Sakura is. Well, just think of it like this: Sakura's in a state of denial because her last love broke her heart, and she doesn't want to love agin because of him.

Also, I will not tell people about what the dreams are or what will happen when she returns to her own time...that would completely ruin the story.

Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcome, but flames...you should know by now...time for the pretty list!

Thanks to: icegoddess52, Devil-Speaker, Blood Blossom, shadow miko, Coeur Casse, mistressofmischeif, SpeedDemon315, SilverMononoke, bubbleyum, Challa, Chibi Kabuto, blissfulrain, pinky101, Shadow Ninja, XxPinkCherryBlossoms4, Dreamergirl92813, Epitome-or-all-things-English, reader ninja, DeidaraAddiction, Nicolah2009, sakura-angel113, Flower of the Desert, dark Alley, xo Misunderstood kunoichi ox, Starlight - Wild Koneko, meisi, Jester08, Sakimi1014, xnarutoxrocksx, ItchiUchiha, Laore, demon-lulu, Tsubasa-Angel, NARUTARDMJR14, fionfee, Gothic Saku-chan, Inuforlyf, Ur-Bloody-VValentine, PhAnToM SpEaKeR, Crazy Neko Girl, inn0centdr3ameR, & for reviewing!