A/N : The first part has absolutely nothing to do with anything. I just wanted to put it there because the idea of Kakashi with a kitten is cute.


"Omi, if you don't shut up I'm going to toss you off the balcony," Kakashi said lazily as he flipped through his brand new 'Come Come Paradise' volume. Omi sat upright on Kakashi's stomach and held his paw out while mewing. It was wearing on Kakashi's nerves. "I'm going to summon one of my dogs," he threatened the little bundle of fur. Omi cocked its little head to the side, watching Kakashi intently. Finally, it gave up and curled into a ball and was asleep within minutes.


"You realize you haven't hit me yet," Gaara stated.

"Shut up," Sakura shouted through her heavy panting.

Gaara glared at her, "I think we're done for the day."

"It's only noon!" Sakura protested.

"And you're exhausted. We cannot continue," he stated. He continued to glare at her for a moment more, then turned around. "You are too weak. It was a mistake for Tsunade to assign me to you. You'll only get despaired and lose hope by trying to keep up with me." He crossed his arms and started to walk away.

"Wait! Gaara!" Sakura held her hand out an took one step forward. She brought her other hand up to her heart and looked down at her feet. "Please... Don't give up at me. I need this... I need you..."

Gaara stopped and turned his head to the side, studying Sakura intensely. A moment passed and neither of them budged. Finally, Gaara turned his head back. "Are you hungry?"

"Eh?" Sakura faltered and almost fell over. "What?"

"Are you hungry?" he asked again. "Food?"

"Ah...yeah, sort of," she said as she gave him a quizzical look.

"I need to go to the market," he said.

"Oh..." Sakura looked at the back of his head. After a moment, Gaara closed his eyes and started walking again. "Hey...! Wait!" She ran up and stopped in front of him. "You're going to stop training me because you need to go grocery shopping?"

He nodded.

"You're kidding me."

He shook his head.

"Do you need help?"

He glared at her.

"Well, I doubt that you've ever had to buy anything for yourself," Sakura said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Anything I want was usually just given to me."

"I see..." Sakura said slowly. "So you're asking me for help."

"I never-"

"It's fine," Sakura said, smiling. "The market is this way."


An enormous energy made the hairs on the back of his neck prick up. Sasuke couldn't shake that it was some how /familiar/. As hard as he tried, he couldn't put his finger on it. Glaring at the horizon, he jumped off the building he was on and started following the source of this huge power.

It shocked him that the trail led him strait to the quaint little grocery store. How....odd. Sasuke shoved his hands in his pocket and looked around wordlessly. Nothing seemed out of place. He simply shrugged and walked into the grocery store. A familiar voice caught his attention right away.

"...and you should usually get some fruit to go with the meal. Apples are good, so are pears and...."

Holy shit.

Gaara turned slightly and met Sasuke's gaze. They held it, neither of them daring to back down from the silent challenge.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said happily.

Sasuke broke eye contact and looked down at his former team mate. "Hi."

"I was helping Gaara-san shop," she explained. "He just moved and-"

"You're staying here?" Sasuke asked Gaara.

He nodded slowly.

Sasuke shrugged. It looks like he found a new sparring partner.


It was awkward to say the least. Sakura ate slowly, concentrating on the food in front of her while trying to ignore the other's glares. She didn't know about Temari, but it was almost natural for Gaara. Sakura was used to that. Temari, on the other hand, just seemed to have an all around loathing for her.

"This is good," Sakura commented before she bit into another piece of her sushi.

More glares. Temari rolled her eyes while Gaara continued to chew on his food.

Sakura swallowed her food and pushed her plat in front of her. "Well, I'm done. I should get going. See you later." She stood up, bowed, and left the house.

Temari snorted and took another bite. "Why do you keep her around? It's bad enough we're forced to see her every morning."

"Because," he said, a hint of thoughtfulness in his voice, "She said she needs me."


"One moment!" Sakura heard from inside the apartment. There was a loud clash followed by angry cursing. Finally, after a few moments, the front door opened. Kakashi leaned against the doorframe, Omi sitting quiet comfortably atop Kakashi's head.

"Um, hi," Sakura said awkwardly. She looked up at Omi, who now had a silver nest for bedding, then back down to Kakashi. He gave her a look that he didn't understand what was so odd.

"What can I do for you?" He asked as he crossed his arms. In one hand he held the dirty novel that Sakura had bought him.

"I was wondering if I could borrow your book," Sakura asked.

"Eh?" His uncovered eye gazed down at the book in his hand. He shrugged then held it out to her.

Sakura blinked a few times before freaking out. "I meant the OTHER book!"

Sakura watched as realization for what she wanted hit him. "Ooh, you're right. This isn't the first book of the series. I'll go get it."

Sakura didn't have time to argue before the silver haired jounin disappeared back into his apartment. He emerged seconds later with a large blue bound book. He handed it to her, a goofy smile playing on his lips under the mask. "The information on the Shadow Demons starts around chapter twelve, pictures and all."

"Thank you," Sakura said as she ran one over her hands over the leader binding. "I'll read it tonight."


"What's that?" Sakura asked as Gaara pulled out two objects from a rather old box.

"Weights," he said simply, handing one to her. "For your legs."

"Where'd you get these?" Sakura almost fell over when he dropped one into her arms. "How much does this weigh!?"

"Two hundred," he answered, giving her the other weight. "We're going to run through the trails today."

"You're serious?" she asked.

"Why would I not be?" he asked. "Ready?"

She strapped on the second set of weights and nodded her head. Gaara launched off, heading towards to trails around the training area. Sakura jumped off, expecting to easily follow him. However, she didn't make up for the extra weight added to her legs and quickly fell back to the ground. She winced as she stood up again, watching Gaara speed to the trails.

"Hey! Wait up!" Sakura called as she started running after him. Once again, she wasn't expecting to carry any extra weight other then her own. She stumbled a bit, then set into a nice jogging pace.

Gaara had waited at the entrance to the trails, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. "Try and keep up." With that, he lunged into a tree and sped off. Sakura, however, could only manage a jog. As time went on, even that was too hard for her and she had to walk.


Sakura squinted as she read over the small print. It was her second time that night. She was determined to know ever single aspect of the thing that steadily grew in her mind. She didn't want to admit it, but she began to feel its presents inside of her more and more. Headaches became frequent, and she even blacked out a few times when she trained with Kakashi. There was a darkness within her; she could no longer think of this as a bad dream.

There was a light rap on Sakura's door. "Sakura? You have company, honey."

"Let them in," Sakura called, not tearing her eyes from her reading.

The door opened and shut; the guest stood awkwardly before her. She finally looked up. Her pink eyebrows knit together in surprise. "Gaara?"

He nodded to her, looking around her room for some distraction.

"Oh! Sit down! Here," she pushed some pillows off her bed as she sat on it. She indicated to the chair she was originally sitting in for him to take. He nodded again and sat down, still feeling uncomfortable.

"So, what can I do for you?"

"Do you sleep?" He asked quickly.

"What?" Sakura gave him an odd look.

"Do you sleep?" he repeated.

"Of course I do," she answered. "Don't you?"

He shook his head.

"Why not?"

"If I sleep, /he'll/ take over me," he stated. "The sand demon. Will the shadow demon do that?"

"I haven't read anything about it," she said. "I'm not sure."

Gaara cocked his head to the side, studying her. He just stared at her for a few moments. He didn't mean to, but it was unnerving Sakura. He stared at her for a long time.


Sakura tossed and turned in her bed. What Gaara had said to her really got her thinking. What if she did lose control in her sleep? What if she were to wake up and something horrible would have happened? She bit her lip in worry.

She stood up and walked over to her desk, picking up the book. She flipped through it again, searching if it said anything specific about her condition and sleeping. As she scanned through the pages, only one line stood out.

These demons will attack their host at any moment of weakness.

Meanwhile, a familiar ex sand shinobi was sitting in a tree, leaning comfortably against the trunk.

"Don't worry. I'll watch you sleep."

A/N: This chapter is short, sorry. Couldn't think of anything else!