Standard Disclaimers Apply

Author's Notes:
Alright, I was reading the review and one of them really struck me. I haven't been giving enough attention to Gaara. So this whole chapter will be Gaara centric and in truth should have been a one-shot spin off of its own but I thought it would be a good transistion before the arrival of Zabuza and Haku. As you will probably note from this chapter, I am a big Temari fan and also a TemaShika fan and this will be one of the later pairings although I don't foresee much of it as I am not used to romance. This chapter is a whole lot of angst, like the last chapter but longer. There will be yet again another flahback. Don't worry, apart from this one there will only be one left and that will be during the preliminaries for the sake of forwarding the romance of the main pairing. This chapter was inspired in spirit by the phrase below the chapter title, from the ever great Bleach.

Chapter Four
That's What Family Does

People have hope
Because they cannot see death standing behind them

-Bleach Vol. 2 Goodbye Parakeet, Goodnight My Sister-

Gaara awoke to some sort of prodding into his side. Looking to the left, he saw his sister Temari at the doorway poking him with an overly long stick. "Um what are you doing Temari?"

"I was checking to see if you were alive. I've never… ever seen you sleep before. I mean, you only use your bed as a couch before. There's something weird going on here" said Temari with a scared look on her face.

'Oh damn it, can't I get some rest without someone getting on my case' thought Gaara

'Never mind about that; the girl knows something is up. All our plans could be ruined. Quick, act like the old Gaara before something worse happens' shrieked Shukaku. He had been a lot calmer since the merging when parts of their personalities merged but now that he sensed a danger, he went into full panic mode.

"What would it matter if I did die to you? I am a monster, you know" said Gaara quick coldly to Temari who was shaking at the knees at the moment. He turned his head to stare at Temari in the eyes. "Why does it matter to you?"

"B-because I'm your sister, in fact I'm your older sister; I should be looking after you. That's what family does." Gaara was happy to hear this. Temari was the only semblance of family he had apart from Naruto. Kankurou was always too scared to actually be brotherly towards Gaara but Temari had grown into her role perfectly.

But those words were just like her last. He remembered that day well, it was when he had lost his family, and it was when he lost everything he had left to live for.

Gaara was coughing up blood. He hadn't been in this much pain ever. The closest was when he was sorely beaten by Naruto after the Chuunin Exams were interrupted but this heavily outweighed it. Not only was there physical pain but he felt a pain even worse than when the children ran away from him when he was young, even worse when they would call him a monster when they thought he couldn't hear and even worse than when he found that Yashamaru had hated him all along and had truly desired his death.

'The bastards tried to take away Shukaku and were just going to leave me to die. It felt like my soul was being ripped apart' thought Gaara. 'Damn Akatsuki. This is the second time they tried to take me. If it hadn't been for Naruto being there both times, I would have died or have Shukaku ripped from me.'

Said blond was holding up Gaara with his arm over his shoulder, supporting Gaara's weight. He was extremely bloodied and his clothing had large gashes in it. Of course, Gaara didn't look any better. Naruto's red eyes with three commas around each iris were scanning down the multitude of corridors that veered off from the junction they were at. This was just terrific. They weren't in the best shape and they were lost in the middle of Akatsuki Headquarters. Temari wasn't strong enough to help the others; she had to hold herself up with her fan.

"Damn it! I did not come all the way here to save Gaara, wind up killing Itachi and Kisame to finally end up becoming lost when we're so close to escaping!" shouted Naruto. "We're so close!"

"I don't think you should have done that" said Temari.

"Why?" asked Naruto.

"Because I think they heard you, my friend" said Gaara in a hoarse voice. Indeed there were some distant sounds coming from behind them now and it was starting to get louder. Naruto had only one thing to say, "O crap!"

"You two go. I'll hold them off" Temari yelled at the other two. Gaara looked at her with a quizzical stare and said, "But…"

"I said 'GO'!" shouted Temari. Naruto went on dragging Gaara with a new vigour at this. Gaara was still somewhat confused. 'What does Temari think she's doing? She can't defeat all of them so what could she be thinking?'

They were very far away now. Temari couldn't be seen anymore but they could still hear her and the attackers that had reached her. "What are you doing? Do you honestly think you can stop us?"

"No. But at least I'll buy them time" retorted Temari, the defiance clear in her tone.

"Why would you do a thing like that? Doesn't your own life mean a bit more than anyone else's? Why would you give up your life like this?"

"Because he's my brother, and I'm his older sister. I should be the one looking after him not be looked after by him. I already lost my brother, Kankurou and my lover, Shikamaru, but there sure is no damn way in hell I'm gonna lose the last of my precious people. I'll give my life if that meant that he would live on. That's what families do." And with that they heard Temari give out a loud battle cry and the sound of large gales of wind. Gaara had tears in his eyes when the winds abruptly stopped. He completely broke down at that point.

"Gaara, Gaara, snap out of it. We have to be calm and all together or we won't make it out of this. Your sister died to make sure we, no, you could live. Don't make your sister's death a pointless one."

Gaara now had sunk to the floor and wouldn't move. "What's the point though? We have lost everything now. There's nothing left for us anymore. Wouldn't it be better just to die?"

"No! I promised to finish Orochimaru and to destroy the Akatsuki. I can't break anymore promises. I promise on your sister's love for you that you will not die before me, and I plan to live for a long time after this" Gaara was still shaken and frozen to the floor.

'Kyuubi, I need something… anything you can give me. We need to make it out of this alive.'

'Okay then. Make a summon now.'

'Why? In this confined space, my frogs will be able to effectively battle and I can't even summon the higher level ones with this amount of space.'

'Damn it Kit! Just do it now!'

Sliding his thumb across his blood soaked jacket he made the necessary hand seals and thrust his hand at the floor yelling, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" When the smoke cleared however, Naruto was surprised to see not a frog but a large wolf sized fox with five tails flowing from its back.

Turning its head towards Naruto it spoke, "Do not worry Naruto-sama, Kyuubi-sama. I will make sure you and your comrade will be taken to a safe place after I have dispatched of your pursuers."

That was all the confirmation Naruto needed before he passed out from exhaustion. The fox stared down the corridor that the remaining members of the Akatsuki were running down and opening its mouth, the temperature in the room increased tenfold until finally the fox released a large burst of flames down the corridor. There was no escape for the four that had been chasing them.

Using its tails to pick up the unconscious Naruto and the still quavering Gaara, and putting them on his back, the fox ran towards the nearest forest.

Dismissing itself when Naruto was safely in a sleeping bag and resting and Gaara was a little more stable, the fox left the two Jinchuriki. Gaara was contemplating the events that had just transpired. 'They're all dead but I should still live on and make sure things like this can never happen to other people again. But how? Is there any way to stop Orochimaru with just the two of us?'

'There is a way. And there are actually four of us.'

"Who said that? Who's there?" said Gaara searching through the tree trunks for any signs of the source of the voice.

'Gaara, it's me, Shukaku.'

'But if you can break out of your hold now, why aren't you taking over me?'

'Because you are now worthy; you have experienced pain and suffering that no living being should have to face. There is a way to make everything better.'

'How? Any way and we need it.'

'It's a crazy plan and Kyuubi knows of it better than I. It will take a while to hone but you will be able to start anew. And we will be making you stronger along the way.'

'Starting anew… yeah, that sounds great. We will be able to see everyone again won't we?'

'Yes, we shall.'

'We will be able to see them all again… Kankurou, Hinata… Temari…'

'Yes, now the only question is, are you willing to do it?'

'What sort of stupid question is that? If Naruto was awake, he would jump at the chance to say this but I'll have to do it… Hell yeah we're doing it. This time we won't fail. This time we won't lose our precious people. We promise and we don't break our promises, because that's our ninja way…'

As Gaara's thoughts travelled back to a year before they made the time jump, his hand moved over his chest and clenched into a fist. No one could see but his chest was covered in scars from everything he had to go through but they were covered by his armour of sand which he was now powerful enough to use all the time without wearing him out.

What it couldn't cover however were the scars of the heart that Gaara had learnt about all those many years ago from Yashamaru and for the briefest of seconds, Temari could see such pain and sorrow in Gaara's otherwise emotionless eyes.

"Gaara" whispered Temari, her face full of concern. Gaara snapped out of his trance and looked up at Temari with the usual cold eyes. He said, "I have wasted enough time here. I have to go."

Taking his gourd, Gaara left the apartment leaving Temari to stand in the same spot she was when he left, contemplating what had just occurred and wondering what did she really know of he little brother.

When Kankurou returned later he was surprised that his sister was not her usual bossy self and he chose not to question it.

Gaara was lying on the roof, his gourd at his side, looking up at the stars as they flickered into life in the night sky. He held an arm out and shaped his palm around the image of the brightest star in the sky.

"Why did you do it? Why did you do those things even though you knew death was coming?" He clenched his hand into a fist which blocked out the light of that star from his view. "I think I understand now; it was hope. Thank you for believing in me, I owe you so much…"

"I promise I will protect you, Kankurou and even my annoying brother Naruto, though he will never find out that I think of him as a brother. I won't let anything happen to you this time. I'll look after you, because that's what family does…"

The stars in the sky seemed to agree as they brightened faster than they had been before. Gaara took comfort in that and went to sleep, right there on the roof. Later, he would wake up to find a blanket covering him. He had no doubt who had put it there. He spoke out loud to no one, "Thank you."

Temari hiding out of sight heard this and silently mouthed, "Don't worry about it, little brother. That's what family does."

End Chapter Four

Author's Notes:
This was a really great chapter to write and surprisingly very easy to write. It just flowed so easily. This is my first try at angst as well as the main genre so tell me what you think. I am deviating away slightly from the normal line but then again, Gaara and Naruto are not perfect as proven by this chapter. I also liked the interaction between Gaara and Temari. In the next chapter, we will actually see a glimps of Naruto's new skill and power in the fight against Zabuza although it will probably end in the same way. After which we will have a shirt transistion bit and then the final Zabuza/Haku fight where they will live. Feel free to review and tell me what you think.

Hoping to write soon
Deranged Without Glasses