Gaara dragged the struggling man a few feet behind him. It hadn't taken long to get back to Konoha village, but the journey was not pleasant. It must have been even more unpleasant for the man, but Gaara couldn't care less.

As unobtrusively as possible Gaara dragged the man to Sakura's apartment, then remembered she was staying with her friends and dragged him there, careful to hit the mans head as often as possible. He checked through the window to make sure Sakura was there and found her asleep in one of the rooms. He didn't want to deal with her roommates, so he just went through the window.

She actually woke up before he woke her this time. Of course, seconds later Sasuke charged in looking ready to kill Gaara.

He ignored Sasuke, "I have the man." He said and pulled his murderer into the room.

"Sakura," Sasuke started, but she stopped him with a hand gesture.

"I'm fine Sasuke," she said. Gaara felt a strange satisfaction to see her silence him so, and also that they hadn't been sleeping in the same room. "You're sure this is him?" she asked Gaara.

He nodded and showed her the man's face. As soon as his head was uncovered the man started yelling and Gaara quickly covered his mouth again. "Recognize him?" he asked smugly and turned back to Sakura.

She had gone white and was reaching for a weapon. Sasuke saw this action as well and put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe you should leave Gaara." He said.

"You shut up." Gaara told him.

"Stop it!" Sakura yelled, "That's not it Sasuke. This is the man who has really been murdering all those people. Now we're going to take him to Tsunade," she turned to Gaara, hesitated, "You should probably come too."

"Fine."

When they arrived Sakura did all the talking. Soon they were all in a room, all five of them, discussing the murders.

""I still don't see why you all think I would do something like that," the man, his name was Orphino, said. They hadn't gotten to his motive yet.

"Because you hate Gaara." Sakura replied.

"What? I've never even met him before!"

"Maybe not, but he's a well known man. You would have known who it was who killed your brother." He opened his mouth to protest, but she continued, "You would know all about Gaara's abilities and know that you're not strong enough to kill him on your own. But you wanted revenge, and you have no qualms about using and hurting others for your own purposes."

So she had figured it out. Gaara had expected she would recognize this man, and when he had seen her expression back at the apartment he was sure he was right. She really did have a quick mind, as everyone said.

Orphino laughed. He actually had the nerve to laugh. Gaara would have killed him then, but it would definitely not look good for them. 'Why did I ever leave the desert?'

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Orphino asked Sakura.

Sakura looked about ready to kill Orphino too. "I know what kind of person you are and I will testify against you. Your brother deserved to die, and so do you!" she yelled, "Gaara did the world a favor when he killed that bastard and I'll be doing them a favor when I get you killed you disgusting little weakling."

Orphino laughed again, "You're calling me a weakling little girl? You know, I heard there was a pink haired ninja up here who had given up because she was too weak. That wouldn't happen to be you now would it?"

Sakura stood, but Sasuke took her hand and told her to sit back again. Gaara glared at the simple contact; it was more than he had ever been allowed with anyone, and that brat was using it to restrain her.

"Stop it." Tsunade said, putting up a hand. "Everyone just calm down. We'll discuss this further tomorrow, with a group ready to make this decision. For now Orphino and Gaara, I'll have to ask you to stay here, and Sakura and Sasuke can go home and return tomorrow if you want."

"I do." Sakura said.

"All right Sakura," Tsunade put a hand on the younger woman's shoulder, "I think that for now, you should get some sleep."

Gaara watched them leave, hating Sasuke for all he was worth. Hate was, after all, the most familiar feeling.

Sakura asked Sasuke to wait while she went back to talk with Tsunade. She knocked softly on the doorframe before walking in.

"Tsunade."

"Sakura? Sit down, just give me a second ok?"

Sakura nodded and waited a moment before speaking, "There's something I haven't told you, something I haven't told anyone and it's kind of important in this case." Tsunade nodded and she continued, "When I was kidnapped, those years ago… it was that man's brother who was the leader of that group. Orphino was one of his men."

"I see…"

"No, that's not it. I mean, that's not all," she was stalling and she knew it. Why was it so hard now? "He… They raped me."

"Sakura I-"

"Just wait! Please let me finish. He was there. He must have recognized me and even if he didn't I recognize him and then Gaara came and killed them all, but they weren't all there at the time. He must have left before and when he came back everything would have been gone. Gaara didn't know what the men did, but he must have known something was wrong and he did kill those men, but they deserved it. I don't know why I didn't think of him before.I might have seen doing something with earth, but… But I guess I just didn't want to think he could still be alive. I didn't want to remeber anything from that time.I just wanted it to be all over.Because if its all in the past then it can't affect me anymore right?I want…"

"Sakura please, you can stop now, I understand," Tsunade paused uncomfortably. This was why Sakura had wanted to go on, to avoid the silence, "I'm sorry too. I guess… I don't suppose you'll want it known to everyone?"

"If it means he will be brought to justice then yes. I give you this information to use as you see fit. Now I'm going to go get that sleep you suggested." Sakura stood and left to Tsunade's soft goodnight.

She saw Gaara again on the way out. He was sitting on a bench, leaning his head back against the wall with his eyes closed. She really wanted to hug him then, but talked herself out of it.

"Tomorrow Gaara," she said quietly. He didn't move, but she knew he heard her.

She joined Sasuke outside and they walked back to the apartment in silence. Naruto was still asleep when they got back, and the sun was just peeking over the mountains.

"Want some tea?" Sasuke asked, but she shook her head.

"I'm just going to sleep…" she said, but instead of doing so she turned and hugged Sasuke as tightly as she could.

They sat on the sofa as she held onto him for dear life. "I never wanted to die…" she whispered into his chest. He probably didn't hear her, but he held her tighter anyway.

Everyone in the room would have liked to kill him, and he knew it. He wouldn't mind killing them either, but he had promised Sakura.

'For someone who's trying to convince people he's not a murderer, you sure are a violent little bugger,' the demon mocked him.

'I'm not trying to convince them I'm not a murderer. We all know very well that would be a lie. I'm just trying to convince them I'm not this murderer.' Gaara replied, humoring the demon for once.

Sasuke and Sakura joined the party late. 'Slept in, ugly buggers.'

'Why do you insist on using that word so much now? It's not even a good word. And don't talk about her like that; she's the one who doesn't want to kill me, I think. Sasuke of course, you can bad mouth all you like.'

It was rather obvious the room was not leaning in his favor. No one really expected this unknown, this nobody to be the murderer, especially when they had the madman Gaara in their clutches.

'What would happen if I let them kill me?' he wondered, but the demon was silent. 'If you weren't inside me, I would rip you to pieces.'

Sakura stood suddenly, "Tsunade, have you told them everything?" she asked.

Everyone including Gaara looked to Tsunade. Gaara knew she hadn't told everything, but he also knew it was useless to come to his own defense. Good thing he had Sakura on his side. Now he wondered what else Sakura wanted everyone to know.

Tsunade shook her head. Sakura pointed dramatically at Orphino, 'Always with the drama, she is.' "That man and his brother raped me, and when Gaara killed his brother he wanted revenge."

'Oh perfect, now she's going to go and make me look like a good guy,' Gaara thought, but an old man asked Sakura why he had killed the brother and she couldn't tell him.

"Well, I'm not sure… He didn't know what they had done to me exactly…" Gaara couldn't help but smile. At least if he lost, he wouldn't lose his reputation as well. And he could tell by the way people were talking that they weren't much moved by her declaration.

"If he killed my brother I would want revenge too…" "But this proves nothing really," "Why would he kill others to get back at Gaara?" Then one man yelled, "Hey Sakura, what happened to your hand?"

"None of your business." She said.

"It was him wasn't it?" Another man said, glaring at Gaara.

Sakura frowned. She was cornered, poor woman, "It was an accident!"

"How do you know that? Did he tell you?" They all laughed. Gaara's word was worth nothing as far as they knew. They didn't know he never lied.

Sakura had given up being lost and now she was just angry, "Don't you get it? Did you not all hear whatI told you?That man is a monster!" she pointed to Orphino. "And he's still not strong enough to get Gaara!" Poor, silly woman was getting all worked up over this. 'Well, he did rape her… It's not like this is all for you.' Gaara snorted. The men looked at him, but hewatched Sakura and waited for her to continue.

"He needed to get you all to kill Gaara for him!" she went on, flailing her arms about in her agitation, "Besides, it couldn't have been Gaara; he was meditating in the desert all that time. Just ask the desert people. They'll tell you, a sandstorm sprang up and stayed in the same place, right after he left…me…" Sakura sat down suddenly, looking awfully confused and a little disturbed. Gaara watched her, wishing he could read her thoughts.

She looked up at him and her eyes were so sad. Gaara felt like the rest of the room just fell away as he looked in those eyes. He could feel them pulling him into her and her sadness, her depression, and he was ready to follow her.

But then she looked back at her hands folded in her lap and the feeling passed. Gaara felt so much lighter, so relieved to be free of her. Yet, he wanted to stand and go to her, but he couldn't really. And what would he do then? He couldn't touch her, couldn't help her in any way.

Except to get rid of this man, all that was left of that past. He turned his attention back to the room and he could tell that now they were divided, now they actually seemed to be favoring him.

"That's where she found me," he said. All eyes turned to look at him upon hearing him speak for the first time all day. All heads but one. It seemed she was done speaking for him, so he would speak for her. "She came to tell me to be careful because someone had framed me for these murders. I'm sure of you really looked at the bodies they wouldn't quite fit with the bodies of the people I kill." He smirked, "After all, there isn't much of a body left when I finish with them. I'm not going to lie; we all know I'm a killer, but not this time. If you don't get this man for these murders, and I'm sure I'd understand, after all, I know what you think of me," he glared at them, "But you had better make him pay for his other crimes, or I will kill him myself. And maybe even you."

Sakura looked up at him then. Her depression wasn't as obvious as before, "I'm sorry," she mouthed, but he didn't know why.

The End.

Haha, but you'll all hate me for dragging this out. Too bad.

nishasha: I'd feel sorrier for my mind than for my fingers. winkwink And I never really thought about the six people Sakura would be thinking of.I'm not that responsible or thoughtfula writer.

Sakura Kage: I don't think anything will happen with Sasuke. I don't like him enough. But you never know... (I wish I had a beard to rub)

crazytreeotaku: ...

Malitia: Eheh, I'm sorry for confusing so much. There will be no more mystery murderers in the future I promise! But I won't promise less confusing-ness. That would end up being a lie.

Hao'sAnjul: Plotting is good. When I have one.

JohnnyG: Is so sophisticated. You make me feel like a big lame-o. Thanks!