Sakura sat in the back room with the boy while Gaara was out getting his mother. The boy had woken up earlier that morning, but he didn't cry as she expected him to. He just sat there quietly, staring at the wall. He reminded her disturbingly of Gaara.

Sakura didn't like it; she couldn't stand all the silence that had become part of her life. "So… what's your mom like?"

The boy's eyes were so empty when he looked at her she almost ran away. He was too much like the other. "Mother's dead."

"No, we're bringing you back to her."

The boy shook his head, "Mother is dead."

Sakura starting worrying then that they were doing the wrong thing, but she told herself to stop. The boy must have been told his mother was dead. Or the lord's wife had posed as the boy's mother, but she was now dead. 'There are plenty of good, sane explanations. Why do you have to be so hysterical?'

When Gaara came back he asked if she wanted to come with him to return the boy and she said no, watched them leave silently. She sighed after they left, looking around at the empty room. How could Gaara stand this place?

Sakura hated it.

She sat in the corner as close to the wall as she could, closed her eyes and imagined it was full of things. Beautiful furniture, lots of light, books, random things cluttering up the room. And people. People who talked quietly about their families and their jobs, normal things. Real people things. All the things she wanted back.

"You got them Sakura. You had them and it wasn't enough for you. It isn't what you want or expect it to be. So what do you want?

"I don't know. Something more." She realized she was talking to herself and his empty room and stopped.

When Gaara returned he found Sakura still in that position, huddled in the corner, though he had no idea why she was there. Of course, he alsohad no idea how to respond to this situation, so he did nothing.

She looked up when she finallynoticed his presence. He had expected her to be crying, emotional creature that she was, but her eyes were clean and dry.

"How did it go?" she asked.

Gaara shrugged. It was strange, the way the boy hadn't shown any happiness to see his mother. But who was he to judge such things. He wouldn't understand such feelings.

"I have a bad feeling about all this Gaara."

"Well?"

Sakura turned back to the wall embarrassed. Her cheeks grew red. "I don't know. I just don't like it. Can we follow them?"

"Fine." Gaara didn't know why he was encouraging her paranoid delusions, but he did so all the same. He figured this was the sort of thing that led to insanity. 'Maybe it will be nice, the two of us crazies.'

They followed the woman out into the desert. She held the boy's hand tightly, though he did not resist or react to her, and no one came near. When they were out in the desert where their presence would be obvious, Gaara hid himself and Sakura in sand.

The woman stopped eventually and Sakura got down low to watch her. The woman seemed to be waiting for something, or someone.

After a while two figures joined her. Gaara recognized one of them as the ninja who had escaped him at the mansion. Sakura gave him a look, as if to say, "You didn't kill him?" but he pretended not to notice and instead watched the scene unfold, as though it were of some interest to him.

"Fools," the woman was yelling at the two men, "You were supposed to keep the lord alive!"

"It wasn't our fault, that madman you hired killed him before we could get close." The taller man said.

"Yeah and he almost killed me," the other man muttered, "Next time, maybe you should hire someone less bloodthirsty. Maybe then your plan would work."

The woman hissed and grabbed the man by his throat, "Maybe next time, you won't be there to mess up my plans!" she dropped him soon and turned to the boy, "What are we supposed to do with him now?"

"Give him back to us." Sakura called as she stood. Gaara could have slapped her for being so stupid. It was a wonder she was still alive after all these years of living with her limited brain power and common sense.

The woman smirked and shook her head, "Unless you're willing to pay the ransom yourself…"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the woman. She almost looked dangerous when she did that, Gaara thought.

"No?" the woman continued, "Than back off, pretty girl and go back home to your man. No point in dying for trying to be a hero."

"I wasn't planning on killing you," Sakura said, still glaring, "But I've changed my mind."

The tall man laughed, "Stupid woman, you're nothing without that freak and I don't see him here."

"That wasn't very nice." Sakura said and jumped at the man, conveniently placing herself between the boy and the three adults.

Gaara rolled his eyes. H supposed that now would be the time to intervene. The others were so busy fighting each other they didn't notice until he had scooped them into the air, where they tried their best to free themselves of his sand. Everyone tried the first time. Of course, there wouldn't be a second time for these three.

"What you said about me, that was mean," Gaara told the man who had called him a freak. Gaara crushed the man beside him. Sakura jumped to cover the boy as blood rained down from the sky. She hid her face from the sight.

"And you. You should have paid me more. Maybe then I wouldn't have agreed to follow you." Gaara told the woman as he crushed her and the last man and stood in the warm rain. He raised his face to it and breathed deeply. How long had it been?Sakura did her best to hide from it. When he eventually turned to her she was shaking. Was it because he had killed those men? She had always run away before she could see anything until now. Maybe the sight was too much for her. Maybe the truth was too much. "This is what I am." He said quietly, angrily.

But Sakura didn't hear. She turned to him, holding the boy's face to her shoulder. "There's no one left… No one for him and it's our fault. We did this Gaara."

"Yes we did."

"We're monsters!" She yelled. She was covered in blood. Gaara thought fleetingly that he had never seen anyone look as beautiful as she did then. But it was not the time for those thoughts. Now was the time for truth.

"I have always been a monster."

Oh nose! What will they do now?

Hao'sAnjul: Nyar. You're going to be mad now... But no worries, something will happen in the end.

Ardell: Wow. You're too flattering. Eheh, but seriously, one day I'll be a real published writer and I'll write my name from here in the back for you to recognize ok?
I'm glad you like it!