Shikamaru stood, weary from training, in the Konoha Hospital. Asuma had been working him to the bone with training all day(and all the days before, for that matter), but now it was going to pay off. This was what he had been waiting for, to see her.

He tried to prepare himself, though preparation seemed so unneeded with all that had gone on. What could he possibly need to prepare in seeing her, after they'd seen each other every day for the last two weeks? How could he actually still feel uncomfortable around her? It made no sense.

A plan, that was what he needed. Forget the reason, he just needed a plan.

A fairly stupid idea that only someone with limited female experience would think drifted into his mind as a nurse ferrying a tray of meals passed him, as he was leaning on the wall. He shot it right down, along with some others.

Then he recalled a conversation that sat in his subconscious memory: it was a sunny noon, on a mission with his team before Chunin Exams. . . yeah, he was leaning on a tree, trying to keep from picking up the litter by a creek in the forest, like he was supposed to be doing.

Ino had yet again gotten onto Choji for not being more conservative in his eating habits. She went onto a rant about what girls preferred in men, how they didn't like fat guys or something like that. But there was more then that.

Yes. . . girls liked Sasuke, she mentioned that quite a lot. But more then that.

Girls liked guys to be confident. It was a must. And cockiness was a plus. Edginess was a rush. . . yes, it was coming back.

Ino went on and on about how she was so intoxicated by his aloof attitude. . . so, to get Takara(wait, when did he decide on that? he was just trying to talk to her) he would have to behave like Sasuke?

Wait, he didn't want to be like Sasuke. Wait, did Takara like Sasuke like every other girl?

All the raging thoughts seemed to disappear when the giggly-mooded Taka came out from room 7-15, where she had delivered a package of various medicines to Old Lady Takushi.

With a wave and a pleasantry, she turned around to immediately meet honey brown eyes.

A pained smile rippled her face, but it didn't look real. And her face was all red. Was she upset to see him? She made a beeline towards him. His throat went dry.

"H-H-H-H-- Good m-morning, Sh-Shikamaru. G-Gotta go!!" She waved her hand behind her head and speed-walked down the hall. On a sharp turn down around a corner she even tripped over her ankles.

Taka gave Shikamaru a coy smile . All he could manage was an apparent look of astonishment. What in the--

She picked up herself and ran down the hall.

In The Mind Of Takara

Taka felt beyond embarrassed. Unlike every other day for a time that seemed amazing, she didn't want to see Shikamaru. Not now. Not ever.

Well, that wasn't true. She wanted to see him. She just didn't want him to see her. What would he think? It bothered her how that question never came up before.

She couldn't stand it: these thoughts were just too consuming.

And there was one thought more consuming then any of the rest. . . a little voice screamed whenever Shikamaru came to mind, and that happened a lot.

The first time was the night before when she was sleeping, in the middle of a good princess-esque dream, when all of a sudden she awoke from something that kept knocking at her brain.

Taka thought she was going insane, and she had to hold her pillow up to her head to keep from screaming! She bit hard into it, and involuntarily, spouted out something so nonsensical she couldn't wrap her mind around it:

"I think I love you!!"

What the dream was she couldn't remember, but she did recall a white dress, a field on a cliff, and a diamond ring.

She went back to sleep, a bit confused but overwhelmingly tired. When she woke up in the morning, she had the imprint of having been happy, but it was as though that happiness was gone somehow. And that turned to a desperate yearning for something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

That feeling Takara didn't know how to deal with, so she just pushed it back into herself. She'd hide it to herself, and never talk about it.

And try not to shout it when she saw him across the hall. (Though she barely did!)

That stupid phrase, "I think I love you!"

It was hard, but she suppressed the enveloping feeling again, running out of the Konoha Hospital with red all over her face the boy who plagued her thoughts behind her, confused.

This day would be hard to repress, but she would manage.

Later that night, after a day of less severe training, the sun had set and she was late to visit Shikamaru. She planned on going to see him, yes, but she wanted to hold out as long as she could.

Shikamaru sighed out on the field they always met in: she wasn't coming, was she?

On her flustered way to the field, Takara heard a commotion coming from a rooftop.

She jumped up to it, just in time to see Gaara and one Sound-nin whom she wasn't familiar with.

Taka didn't know the nature of the situation, but she heard very clearly what Gaara had to say.

"When there's a full moon. . ." He lowered his face to shadow his eyes. ". . . it's blood boils."

The following was too graphic for Takara's eyes to take.

From what she thought was Gaara erupted a strange monster, something unlike anything she had ever seen. It was horrific.

The swerving terror, half human, half other, took it's gigantic claw swiped into the roof of the wooden building, obliterating the helpless Sound-nin without second thought.

All Takara could do was gape with her eyes wide and her mouth ajar. It was wretchedly bizarre. What exactly was he?!

The answer to that question. . . Takara had no idea what it was. She couldn't think about that. She just wanted to scream.

In rest and proud of its kill, the savage beast that was Gaara shrank back to a more regular form for a bit, and turned, in shock, to see Taka.

There was tense silence.

"H--How could you?! Gaara-- you, what are you?! He-- how could you take his life?! What makes you think you can do that?! You. . . you. . ."

Tears now pouring from her unready-to-witness-death eyes, Takara's knees shook violently beneath her.

Monsters were always things in fairy tales. Wicked things, but so far away. There were always more real dangers to worry about, but this, this, was unbelievably sinister. And it was REAL.

"You monster!!" Fear and resent filled the eyes that once accepted so warmly.

Gaara cringed in pain: whether physical or emotional, it was hard to tell. They were becoming the same.

He grabbed his head as though it were going to crack.

With furiously fast sand snaking towards her, Takara was defenseless. It held harder then anything she had ever felt, in a deadly grip.

A few excruciating cracks, and everything went dark.

Day is done,

Gone the sun.

Blood hath run.

Oh, Gaara-kun. . .