Sakura was close to tears. She rarely cried anymore, according to most people, unless someone died while she was trying to save them – which rarely happened. The truth was… She just quit crying in front of people.

It's amusing, she thought, taking out her kunai (one of the few she actually carried continuously) and throwing it. It hit a tree trunk with a dull thud, and she shut her eyes, the lashes containing one tear per set. It's amusing how I thought he'd be back by now, dead or alive… He's never been away for this long.

She didn't like the stares, or the whispers. She didn't like the fact that most of the adults, including some of her former peers, looked down on her. Only Tsunade – no, Lady Hokage - and her old mentors and friends… And Ino-Pig (She giggled at the old nickname) completely understood.

She was still in a sort of shock from Sasuke's departure, even though it had been more than four years. She come down here, to her stream, her happy place… He was here, sitting on this very rock… She comforted him, took him home… He stayed with her for a while and during that time… It was all very quick, very sketchy, but apparently she'd allowed him into her bed.

She shook her head with disgust. No ninja ever did something like that without cause (Save Kakashi, but he was "the Number One Sex-Crazed Jounin, at your service"), like a mission or something. But she had… And now there was a child inside her (AN: I KNOW! CLICHÉ! Anywho…). A child she didn't want.

Yeah, I'm a medic-nin, trained (if needed) to do this… But I can't.

Sakura blinked up at the stars.

Bring him home.

She closed her eyes and for a moment felt his chakra or presence or whatever it was, but it was gone. She sobbed. Here she was, a teenage Medic-Nin with a child. A BASTARD child at that.

"Kura?" (AN: In my head I pronounced this "Koo-rrah?" with the trilled 'r', almost like a 'd')

She sat up, turning, her eyes wide. There he was, at the edge of the clearing, leaning against a tree. She swallowed, stood up and nodded. He nodded back, a small smile on his face. She stood, shaking a little, until she could stand it no longer and ran towards him. When she got closer he held out his arms and she jumped into them. For a moment they stood like that, her arms around his neck, his around her waist, close to tears but laughing. She pulled away from him, tracing the tattoo and then his smile, locker his eyes with her own. There was something odd about them but that must have been the mixed emotions. He pushed her away from him. She stumbled and fell backward. Sasuke's image popped into her head, the look he had during the second Chunin test, and she finally realized the look in his eyes, the bloodlust.

Nuh-

Dead before she could finish her sentence, her body crushed within tons of sand. Gaara looked down at the bloodied sand, wiping away a muddy streak on his face, then turned.

Perhaps another person would have loved her child. The child was a loose end, one that he didn't need… Kill the problem before it begins. Kill the source.

Even if it means killing Her.