As soon as Sakura woke up Gaara made her run through some quick drills and they set out again. 'Heartless bastard.'

Sakura blinked at the wavering desert. She knew it was the heat rising off the sand, but that rational part of her mind wasn't in power right now. She knew how useless how knowledge really was, thanks to Gaara.

She bumped into Gaara when he stopped. Inner Sakura grumbled, but she was too thirsty to show anything on the outside. If she had, she would have shown surprise when Gaara held out his canteen to her. She mumbled a thanks before drinking from it.

Only later after they had been walking for a while did she think about it, 'Gaara put his lips on that, and you drank from it. How gross.' Sakura had a hard time believing nay part of her could be so stupid. Gaara looked at her sideways when she snorted, but looked away quickly. Sometimes she was glad he ignored her.

As the sun set Sakura was sure they would stop, but Gaara kept going.

"We're almost there," he said flatly, and Sakura felt a new rush of strength. 'I can't wait to get out of your company either.'

As the village came into view Sakura felt her spirits rising. Night had fallen, but it was a though a ray of sunshine shone on her.

They walked through the town silently. Everything was silent, in fact. Sakura glanced around nervously, "Where is everybody?"

A small man scurried past them , but he couldn't escape Gaara's sand.

"Where can she get transportation?" Gaara demanded, holding the man up by his neck.

"Go see the chief!" the man squeaked, "Everyone must-urk!"

Sakura stared as Gaara's sand started to strangle the man. She couldn't form any thoughts about it though, all she could think about was that she would be going home.

She glanced up as Gaara threw the man away, still breathing she noticed. 'Gaara must really have mellowed out in few yrs.'

She followed him through empty streets to an elaborate double door. She snorted and entered the chiefs house after him.

There were men in the first room. As soon as they entered one of the men went further inside. Sakura realized her hands were shaking and clenched them at her sides.

She and Gaara were told to wait so they sat on chairs lined against one wall. It wasn't long before the same man who had left returned and said the chief would see them both separately. "The woman first."

Sakura hated the way the man looked at her, but she stood and followed him into another smaller room. There was a big man seated on a solitary chair at the other end of the room. Something inside her told her to run, told her horrible things about this man, but another louder part argued that she had never seen him before.

Until he stood up and walked towards her she believed that louder part. Until he said, "Didn't get enough before slut? I know you couldn't say away." And Sakura's mind unleashed it's memories upon her.

'Run away, run away, kill him.' Sakura found herself frozen in place, unable to do either of those things as the man approached. Moments of violence flashed through her mind. His hands on her face her throat, everywhere. Hands shoving her face in the sand, hands… She remembered that night in her bed, beaten and taken away in silence. Taken to this man so he could… He could-

'Rape, Sakura, the word is rape.' A voice inside her said as her whole body screamed at her to run away.

The man stood right in front of her now; she could feel his disgusting breath on her face as he fingered her hair, saying "You'll always come back for more of me. You're my whore." He back handed her casually, throwing her light body back against the wall.

Still she didn't move as that cruel little voice whispered to her of sex and rape and how dirty she was. 'Sasuke will never love you now,' it whispered, 'You're damaged goods.'

Sakura had had enough. "Fuck Sasuke." She said quietly and found her voice in the words. Before the man could take her voice from her again she screamed for Gaara.

Gaara sat in the room, twitching angrily as the men snickered at him. 'Kill them, kill them, kill them,' Gaara was used to the chant inside his head by now.

The girl's voice screamed his name. It seemed muffled, so far away, but he was sure it was her. The men were too.

They burst out laughing and gave Gaara even more looks. He stood threateningly, sand seeping out of his gourd. A few pulled out knives, still laughing at the boy trying to scare them.

"It's been far too long since I've killed anyone."

Sakura grabbed at the hands holding her up against the wall. "You little bitch." the man hissed and grinned at her. Sakura wanted to claw his mouth out, but she settled for his eyes. As she tried to scratch out his eyes she aimed a kick at his groin, and it connected.

He threw her away and for one second he was not watching her. It was the second Sakura needed. Ignoring her pain, she ran out the door. She ran through the hall blindly, hardly noticing Gaara and the men he was killing as she ran past. They didn't notice her either. As she ran outside she threw up her arms to shield herself from the sun. She almost ran past the camels, but she noticed them at the last moment and jumped on one.

What thoughts went through her mind ad she rode away? None. Sakura denied herself that. She didn't want to think, 'Just run.'

Gaara watched the girl riding away, knowing that he wouldn't have the chance to kill her now. The desert would take care of that.

"And good riddance," he muttered and went back to his life.

When she rode into Konoha village it was raining. Sakura opened her mouth to let rain fall in it and lapped rain off her skin. Finally, she was home.

First she went to see Tsunade to inform her of her return and ask if she knew where her friends were.

Tsunade was so shocked to see Sakura she didn't speak for a full minute. "You made it back on your own?"

Sakura nodded.

"What happened? We haven't seen you for weeks! Naruto and Kakashi went out looking for you, and Sasuke too." She gave Sakura a knowing look, but Sakura ignored it. "So, what did happen Sakura?"

Sakura considered a moment before speaking, "I was… kidnapped. I don't know why. I was brought to the desert, but not the Hidden Sand village, I don't think they had anything to do with this. I was beaten and dumped and left for dead, but I made it back." 'I'm home.'

Tsunade was struck by how coldly Sakura related the events. Sakura had never been an especially calm person. She decided to think of it later, "I'm sure Ino will be happy to see you safe Sakura."

Sakura brightened at the mention of her friend's name. Ino had given up on Sasuke when Sakura could not, and since then they had become friends again. Sakura bowed to Tsunade and left to find the blonde.

She found her eventually, kicking a dummy to death. For a moment Sakura was afraid, but when Ino stopped kicking to flip back her hair, she rushed forward.

"Ino!"

The blonde turned and when she saw Sakura her eyes widened. Sakura grabbed her and twirled her around, lifting the other girl off her feet, "I missed you!"

Ino had tears on her cheeks when Sakura put her down. "Everyone said you were never coming back," she whispered, "But I knew it couldn't be true. I knew you could never give up on Sasuke."

For the lovely reviewers :

JohnnyG : Thanks for the advice. I need to practice my summaries, I agree.

Scorpion05: To answer your question: Sakura is about 17 when the story begins.

And to the others Thank you.