Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. As some of you guys may have noticed, I'm updating my new story, The Unknown Sibling, less and less. That's cause I can't remember what happened in the Naruto timeline...

So now we're back to where we left off...Gaara in half Shukaku mode, and Sazuko holding Gaara.

Sazuko POV

Slowly, Gaara changed back to normal. One by one his demonic features disappeared and was replaced by his normal looks. Within a few minutes, Gaara was just as I remembered him, his dark red hair and teal eyes as beautiful as ever. And yes, in case you haven't realized yet, I do like him more than a friend. By a lot.

Gaara put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me in the eyes with a small smile. "Thanks...for being there with me..." He closed his eyes and held me in a hug.

"Gaara...I don't do hugs..." I looked up at his face, smiling. "But I'll allow it...just this once." I allowed him to hold me tighter. I was just really glad that he was still alive.

We stayed that way for a few seconds, until I heard a voice behind me.

"Whoa, Gaara! Kickin' it off already!"

I turned around, embarrassed that someone had caught us like that. Who would've guessed it was Kankuro and not Ryu?

Gaara let go of me and walked away. I could see that his face was nearly the color of his hair. I grabbed his wrist to stop him. He should face his own brother.

I looked at my watch. It was almost six in the morning.

"I'm going to wake everyone up," I said, smiling. "Gaara, you can deal with Kankuro yourself." I left to go upstairs. Yay, now I didn't have to answer any questions.

Gaara POV

It was nice of her to let me hug her, but that was cheap!

"Well..." I tried to look for a way out of answering his unspoken questions.

"It's not everyday I see you hugging someone! And then acting really awkward about it," Kankuro smirked. Then he turned serious.

"Sazuko doesn't hug anyone or let them hug her either. What happened while I was asleep?" Kankuro asked, hesitantly.

"It was the sand demon, Shukaku. It appeared after I was training with Sazuko." I looked away. I didn't want to admit how I lost control to anyone, especially not to Kankuro. "But everything's okay now, you don't have to pester me anymore." I walked away to sit on the ground in a corner and started to concentrate on Shukaku. Kankuro left me alone after that.

Sazuko POV

"And that's about it," I explained to Shikamaru and Temari. I had just finished telling them what happened to Gaara.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Temari exclaimed. "I should have been there as his sister..."

I put my hand on her shoulder. "You would've just gotten killed by Shukaku." I paused to cough some blood. I hadn't recovered from Shukaku's attack yet.

"Are you okay?" Temari started acting like an overprotective mother.

"I'm fine!" I glared. "It's nothing, it could have been worse."

Shikamaru sighed. "You could have destroyed Shukaku easily, couldn't you? But that would mean that Gaara would've been severely damaged. And you didn't want that." He scratched his head. "Troublesome."

Temari looked at me with wide eyes. I don't think she knows the full extent of my power. In fact, I don't think she even knows what my power is.

"I can changed anything into anything I want. I could have turned Shukaku into a pile of mush, but I wasn't sure what would happen to Gaara. He's Shukaku's host now, and if I destroyed Shukaku, Gaara might have died with him." I looked away.

"Thanks Sazuko..." Temari whispered softly. "Thanks for saving my brother from the demon." I was surprised.

"I didn't do anything, it was all Gaara's work. In fact, I was pretty much useless." I look down at my hands. "I couldn't do anything, I didn't even sense Shukaku stirring in Gaara! He had to suffer so much because of me..." I felt some tears fall onto my hands. What would have happened if Gaara didn't stop Shukaku? He might've died, and it would've been my fault again. "I couldn't save my dad from Shukaku either..."

Temari pulled me close to her and Shikamaru patted my back.

"But everything worked out fine, didn't it?" Temari said gently. "You might think you didn't do anything, but I know that because you were there, Gaara was able to pull through to the end." I let Temari pull me into a hug. Man, I think I'm getting used to those phony things.

Kankuro POV

What had happened? And why isn't Gaara telling me anything about it? He knows that this is important, it could be deciding all of our futures.

I walked over and shook Sakura awake. "Hey, it's morning, you need to wake up."

Slowly, Sakura opened her eyes. "Huh...?"

I smiled. Gaara may be into Sazuko, but Sakura was ten times prettier. Well, to me at least.

"Hey, cutie, ya finally awake?" I said, trying to flirt. Sakura didn't really care. "Yeah, I'm awake. Get your face away from mine please. It's too close."

Gaara POV

I sighed, then stood up to go upstairs. I looked into the first door on the left of second floor, and saw Temari, Shikamaru, and Sazuko. Sazuko was crying, Temari was holding her, and Shikamaru was sitting on the floor looking up at the ceiling, thinking.

"Gaara!" Shikamaru looked up at me. "I need to talk to you." I shrugged and let Shikamaru guide me to another room.

"What happened exactly? What did Shukaku do to you?" Shikamaru grabbed my shoulders. "Sazuko doesn't know or wouldn't tell us, so I need to get this information from you."

I looked away from his fierce stare. "I don't know."

Shikamaru sighed. "You should. I'm this close to knowing how Shukaku is thinking. All I need is what Shukaku was doing before he took complete control of you. Did you feel like hurting Sazuko before that?"

My thoughts flew back to when I was holding Sazuko on the waist on the staircase. I had stayed in that position for an hour, doing nothing, but I think I've felt some urges to kill from Shukaku. "I think I've had some killing urges, but I've been sending people to the hospital before I activated my skill. So I thought it was nothing."

Shikamaru nodded slowly. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. "That's a great help, Gaara. I think you should go talk to Sazuko now. She's really upset."

I nodded, and then we both left to go back to Temari and Sazuko.

Sazuko POV

Temari held me tighter in her arms. It was nice of her to give me comfort like that.

"Thanks, Tem," I said, then looked up as I felt Gaara walk in. Yes, I am awesome like that. I can feel people walk in. I tried to blink my tears away.

"Hey, Gaara." I tried to smile but failed. I looked at Temari, saying that I wanted some time alone with Gaara. She nodded and left to talk with Shikamaru.

Gaara sat next to me on the bed. "What?"

I gave him a surprised look. "What do you mean, what?"

"What were you crying about? Is it because of Shukaku, or me...?" Gaara took my hand and held it in his. I smiled gently.

"I was just worried...I wasn't sure what I would do if I had to face Shukaku again. I know that if I want Shukaku to go away forever, I'd have to kill you as well. And I can't do that." I squeezed his hand.

"Sazuko...do you like me any more than a friend?" Gaara asked softly. He stared straight into a wall. "Because I really like you."

I made this chapter too long...ugh. Now I need to think for a week or something. Therefore, the next chapter may not be out soon. But then again, that's what I said about the last 5 chapters or something :P

Review please!