New Revelations Chapter 10

Ok, the last chapter was short as all hell, so I'm going to do my best with this one. Inspiration has not been on my side lately, and this is doubling as my main outlet for a much-needed Gaara fix. I just love that little sand tanuki soo much! Gaara sighs and mumbles something about unwanted attention Anyway without further adieu, chapter 10!

"Perhaps you should have Hokage-sama instruct you in more than just medical ninjutsu."

She heard his words, but everything had happened so quickly. She found herself looking from the tree to her hand, from her hand to the tree, from the tree back to her hand, and then finally looking up to face him.

"Unexpected?" He offered.

He had no idea. She knew her chakra control was exceptional, the Fifth herself had told her that her skills were advanced, but to be able to do this on a whim? But Gaara had sensed it too; he noticed her potential even though she lacked the sense at the time to utilize it. If she looked at it that way then maybe it wasn't so surprising, it was simply untapped power. He had just wanted her to see it.

She smiled then. "You knew something like this would happen, didn't you?"

She had accepted it. "I expected some kind of reaction, yes." He answered, his lips shifted in a half-cocked smile.

All those jabs at her just moments before were only meant to make her unconsciously release her strength. "You miss nothing do you?"

"It's in my nature to take notice of these kinds of things, especially after so many assassination attempts. You study everything and everyone around you so that possible threats can be eliminated." The moonlight was hitting his eyes again.

"Are you going to eliminate me then?" Sakura tested him.

"Do you want me to?" He countered, the perfect response.

She raised an eyebrow. "Not particularly."

He stopped directly in front of her with just inches between them. "Then think nothing of it." He had no desire to kill her, the one who managed to stimulate various emotions from him that he otherwise would have bypassed. For that he would choose to keep her alive. Or even perhaps, in the very back of his mind, he realized it was for that reason he could not kill her.

He walked past her, heading back to the inn, "You're interesting Haruno Sakura, I'll give you that." He stated without bothering to turn around.

"AND YOU'RE CREEPY!" Inner Sakura went off. Interesting? "You never should have kissed him you know." Her outspoken inner voice reminded her. He had decided to pursue her further after all; she still didn't know exactly what to make of him. At times he was bearable and others he was downright loony, and then just for a moment he was almost like a normal person. She knew things had to be hard for him, so he had to be hard right back. She watched him until the light of the moon no longer shown on him and he became a small, black spot on the horizon.

Over the next couple of days Sakura pushed herself harder than ever during her training with Tsunade. Her log exercise was complete, and her next goal was to force the cells inside to form a small branch. Tsunade was curious about her student's sudden increase in motivation.

"You've been outdoing yourself lately Sakura-chan, more so than before, any particular reason why?"

Sakura turned away from her work, her discovery still fresh in her mind. She wasn't sure why she hadn't bothered to tell her sensei about it, maybe she just wanted to be sure it hadn't been a fluke. "I managed to do something, the other day." She began.

Tsunade's eyebrows raised, "Do something? Like what?"

"Over here I'll show you." Sakura approached a tree in the courtyard, forced her chakra to move up and down her arms as she had before, until it became unbearable, and then connected her fist with the trunk of the tree. Just like before, it was blown to bits.

Tsunade smirked, "I was wondering how long it would take for you to catch on to that sort of thing."

Sakura whirled around in surprise, "You knew I would be able to do things like this?"

The Fifth Hokage nodded, "Sure, it's a normal ability for ninjas who are good with their chakra control, it can defend and destroy."

With abilities like this she would no longer be a nuisance during missions. She faced her sensei with newfound determination, "Then-."

"Will I teach you other techniques besides medical ninjutsu?" Tsunade finished for her. "Sure, that's a give in, hands down, but for now, what do you say we call it a day?" The blonde smiled and made her way towards her office, picking up a stray sake bottle along the way.

Sakura retrieved her messenger bag off of nearby bench and slung it over her shoulder. Clouds hid the sun, promising rain at some point during the day. She stretched and left the training grounds.

Not even halfway down the block, she was greeted by a battered and bruised Naruto.

"Ohayou Thakura-chan!" He lisped, due to a swollen cheek and lip.

"Naruto what the hell have you been doing?" She demanded.

He was a wreck, there were small cuts and bruises all over the exposed areas of his body, and she could have sworn the giant red mark going across his face was in the shape of someone's foot. In fact, on closer inspection the grooves from the sole of a shoe were visible, and there was only one ninja in Konoha she knew had feet that big…

He laughed awkwardly, "Thparring with futhy eyebrowths."

She sighed, her assumption confirmed, "Again?"

Naruto smiled, his injuries making it seem as though he had an orange shoved against one side of his mouth, "Well yeah, I'm never going to be able to beat him, if I don't keep at it."

She should have known. Naruto never backed down from anything in the whole of his life, it's what allowed him to graduate from the Academy, defeat Kiba, and then Neji in the Chuunin exams, and even with the rumors of Akatsuki looking for him, for reasons yet unknown to her, he hadn't foundered once. The only time she had ever seen him look downcast, was after his group returned…without Sasuke.

"He'th pretty tough, ath thoon ath he wath done with me, he athkth Gaara to thpar with him."

Sakura felt her eyes widen. Lee sparing with… "Stupid!" She scolded herself. "He said he'd consider it the other day, that shouldn't be surprising at all!"

Naruto noticed the change in her face. "Thakura-chan?"

"Are they at the usual training grounds?" She asked. "I promised Lee I'd come by today." She covered, smiling slightly.

Naruto dropped all concern he had displayed just seconds before. "Yup."

She smiled at him, "Thanks, go home and clean yourself up! And put ice on that!" She poked his cheek for emphasis making him wince before hurrying off in the direction of Lee's favorite training spot.

Why was she hurrying? There was no reason to, and yet…She slowed to a light jog before stopping completely. What was she thinking? "Its just curiosity that's all! They're both strong and it's perfectly natural to want to see how they measure up after all this time." She rationalized, clasping her fist, as if to make the reasoning tangible.

She had barely made it halfway to her destination when it started to rain, drizzling at first before turning into a straight down pour. Sakura sighed as her petal pink hair clung around her face. She took shelter under the full branches of a nearby oak, and began wringing out her hair, when she distinctly felt someone's presence close by.

"Hey." The familiar gruff voice greeted her.

Gaara.

End of Chapter 10.

Hooray! Normal chapter length! I debated calling this chapter 9.5 after the previous horrendously short chapter. The relationship is developing slowly, and I plan to get the actual plot moving in the next few chapters, since this has been going on without an end in sight… not that I intend to end this quickly or anything, it's just that there's been a sincere lack of conflict besides the inner conflicts of Sakura and Gaara, and I don't want this to go on for 50 plus chapters since I think the readers would get bored. Thanks for all the great reviews! Keep up the good work! I enjoy and value your input! Even if I don't always go by it… ;