Chapter Four: What Love and Hate Can Do

(Old) Summary: Sasuke comes back to find that Sakura has married someone else! But who? (Gaara, duh, that's like Chapter Two, come on!) Sasuke tell her he loves her and…. (She got pissed, COME ON!)

(New) Summary: As Sasuke continues to pursue Sakura, he finds out it's going to be a lot harder than he thought. He has to come up with a plan or he'll never have the love of his life back. If only there was a way to get Gaara to…… gasp?

Disclaimer: THESE THINGS ARE SO ANNOYING! I'll have to come up with a gag for this soon or I'll just stop doing them and get sued! Well, I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. Just the storyline here. OH YEAH, THAT'S ALL ME BABY!

Oh yeah, special special thanks to Songstress of Victory and fallen.lunar who have been reviewing and helping me out bunches! This chapter and any ones folowing probably wouldn't be up if it wasn't for them!

THANK YOU!

Alert: The following chapters probably won't be up as fast as the previous two, I leave on a family vacation on the 16th and don't get back for a week, then I have a TON of stuff to do to get ready for the first day of high school. So PLEASE forgive me if I don't get the whole story completely finished, although it will be a long story anyway. Right now I'm just writing as things pop into my head with no real storyline set up, so I'm not sure exactly how long it will be. But I'm guessing over ten chapters. I'll keep writing, so don't worry.

STORY TIME:


Gaara wasn't on the roof of his home that night, he wasn't in his office finishing some paperwork that wouldn't need to be done for weeks, and he wasn't sitting at the entrance to his village. He wasn't in any of his usual places, but he was sitting next to Sakura bed. He very really watched her while she slept because she knew she wouldn't like him watching over her so closely. But tonight was a night where he wanted to watch her as she lay quietly in bed. Sometimes he would push hair out of her face or pull her covers up tighter so she wouldn't get cold in the desert nights. Tonight was different from any other time. She was thrashing about and mumbling in her sleep.

"Sasuke, no… don't, please," she said and hit the side of the bed with her fist. "Please… no… not that!" she screamed kicking and struggling against a dream.

Gaara wanted to wake her up, but he wanted to see where all this was going. "Why is she dreaming about Sasuke?" he asked himself quietly. "And what's he doing that's so horrible?"

As Sasuke walked through the town, heading back to his hotel, he looked towards the moon and then to the Kazekage's home. His mind reverted to Sakura and how she looked now. He remembered how her hair was swept up into a messy bun with golden chopsticks through it, supporting it. No doubt that those had been a present from Gaaaaaraaa! He thought angrily.

He kicked a rock, which hit the side of the Kazekage's house. He looked up at the highest window and noticed a red blob in the window. Sasuke quickly looked around and, it being three in the morning, there was no one around. He used chakra control in his hands and feet to crawl up the side of the building, staying as close to it as he could.

As he looked into the window he saw Gaara-sama sitting next to Sakura's bed. He looked over at Sakura and noticed she was rolling around restlessly. He saw Gaara get up and leave the room, closing and locking the door behind him. Sasuke quickly decided to pay Sakura a visit. He slowly opened the window and crept in, leaving it open in case he needed to jump out. He moved into the chair where Gaara had been sitting and looked down at Sakura. He gentle swept the hair from her eyes and ran his finger down her cheek onto her lips and touched her lower lip gingerly.

"Hnn… Sasuke, no, please… STOP! AAHHH! NO!" Sakura screamed and shrieked, thrashing around. She finally sat up straight and looked over at Sasuke who had gotten up so fast he knocked over the chair and was backing away towards the open window. "Sa-Sasuke… no, please. Don't leave me again," she said sleepily. Her eyes were clouded over and she was still asleep. She reached out towards him, her eyes watering. "I promise… I'll… I'll make you… h-happy, I promise. I-I lo… love yo..u," she finished falling back to her soft pillows.

Sasuke sighed in relief and sat back down. He prayed no one had heard her screams. He placed his hand on hers and stroked it with his thumb.

"Sakura… I love you so much…" He said simply, repeating the words she had told him years ago. "I want you back so badly. I'll do anything just to see you happy… with me," he said miserably. He became so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the door open.

"She's beautiful when she's asleep, hm?" asked a voice that made Sasuke jump from his chair onto the ceiling and pull out a kunai.

"Gaara…" Sasuke said smugly. Gaara gently wiped Sakura's forehead with a wet clothes and ran the tips of his fingers smoothly through her bangs.

"She doesn't love you anymore, Uchiha, so give up."

"No! She loves me… I know it. Why else would she be dreaming about me?"

"She screamed and told you to stop, I might not sleep, but I know what a nightmare sounds like." Gaara looked up at Sasuke with one of his famous icy stares.

Sasuke merely ignored his look and looked down at Sakura. "She wouldn't forget about me. Not like this," he stated, mostly trying to convince himself that this was a fact.

"Yes, she would, for the past four and a half years she has. And she's been happy with me. Without you," Gaara said as he moved towards the desk to the side of the large room. He picked up a framed photograph that was on the beautiful woodwork. He threw it towards Sasuke who caught it and looked at it.

The picture was Gaara and Sakura together again. Gaara was sitting under a tree with his hands behind his head and his back against his tree, the giant gourd he usually carried set aside by the tree, between his outstretched legs, cuddled up to him in a little ball with her chin rested on her knees and her head leaning against Gaara's chest was Sakura. She had her eyes closed and she would have looked asleep, except for the beautiful smile painted across her face. It was a smile that Sasuke had never seen before. It was a smile that he had never deserved. It was a smile that he knew he would never deserve from her. There was nothing he could do for her anymore. But he wouldn't accept defeat so easily.

He hated Gaara.

He hated Gaara for taking Sakura away from him, for doing everything for her that he had never done before and probably could never do for her, for giving her everything she needed and wanted… for loving her.

A sharp pain shot through his heart and he clutched the spot on his chest above his heart. He lost his chakra control and fell to the floor next to the chair he had sat in. He lay there on the floor, clutching his chest.

"Aww, does little Sasuke have a wound of the heart?" Gaara said, suddenly standing over Sasuke with the picture Sasuke had dropped during his fall in his hands. Gaara looked at it and smiled a half smile. "She changed me, Sasuke. I don't have to fight for myself anymore and I don't have to love only myself. She taught me what real love is, she showed me what it is and she always does, everyday we're together. And everyday she's with me we grow to love each other more and more. You won't get her back, Uchiha, I'll make sure of it." And with that sand started to slowly and quietly creep up Sasuke's legs and arms. "I promise it won't be painful, Uchiha. After all you're one of the reasons I fought Naruto and found Sakura. Thanks," Gaara said shortly, smiling like he was crazy.

Sasuke couldn't move from the pain in his chest and the sand was almost covered his face. He couldn't do anything but wait for it to be over… hopefully painlessly like the Sand Demon had promised.

"STOP IT!"

Both of the men looked at the where the scream had come from. Sakura was kneeling on her bed and looking at both of them. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears that would spill over any second. "STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!" she yelled once more. She looked down at both of them. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" she screamed as she ran out of the room covering her ears and her eyes closed tight. She left a trail of teardrops on the ground after her.

Gaara released Sasuke from his sand coffin and ran after Sakura. Sasuke ignored the pain in his chest and ran after her too. But both of them couldn't find her anywhere.

"This is your fault, you know," Sasuke said, walking away.

The next morning Sasuke went to the nearest market to get groceries. He kept an eye out for Sakura-chan or Kazekage-sama although he didn't have much hope of seeing them.

Why would they be here anyway? They probably have people to buy their groceries for them, like a chef or something, Sasuke thought, kicking a rock. He turned into the market, he knew he had to buy a lot of food, he didn't know how long it would take for Sakura to come back to him and he didn't really want to come here again. It would look suspicious if I came more than once, he decided quickly. He walked around, looking at the different foods and picking carefully. He somehow ended up in the flower aisle and he found himself staring at the large array of colors and shapes. His eye was caught by a bunch of white and light pink blossoms. He took a few, five or six, just to have. He felt their silky petals and remembered the feel of Sakura's skin when he had laid her on that bench. It was smooth and creamy white in the moonlight.

He moved to the checkout line and quickly escaped from the store. He walked around the small charts, only stopping to buy some plush toys of the Kazekage and his wife holding hands. He decided that he'd cut the red string that held their hands together and keep the Sakura doll. He might use the Gaara doll for kunai practice later.

He was staring down at the Sakura doll, letting the Gaara doll hang pitifully from his hand. The only this keeping if from plummeting to the ground was the thin, annoying red string. He was so entranced by the doll that he didn't notice when he bumped into someone, knocking them down. He was about to mutter how stupid the person was when he heard a familiar voice.

"Are you ok?" Sakura said helping the teenage girl from the ground. Her friends flocked around Sakura and the girl, asking their friend if she was ok and yelling remarks at Sasuke. But he didn't notice any of them, only Sakura. The dolls now lay in the dirt and Sakura picked them up. She was about to hand them to Sasuke when she finally looked at him.

"Oh, it's you," she said coldly. Placing the dolls in one of the bags he was carrying. Sasuke just continued to stare at her, taking in her every detail to dream about or think about.

"I'm sorry…" he mumbled to the girl and to Sakura, staring at the ground.

"You better be!" shouted one of the girl's friends as they flocked off.

"He was kind of cute, Ami-chan," he heard one of them say.

"No way, he's too pale," said another.

"They're right you know," Sakura said after a moment.

"Huh?"

"You are kind of pale, you should get out more," she said, trying desperately to think of a way to leave.

"Sakura…"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry…"

"For what? Barging into my house and my room, fighting with my husband, waking me up, coming back after six years and expecting me to have waited for you like some sad school girl, getting mad because I didn't, or all of the above?" she said angrily.

"The last one," he said, still staring at the ground, after some silence. "I just… thought you would wait. You loved me so much, Sakura."

Sakura's POV:

Why'd you have to come back, Sasuke? I thought as he said my name again. I can't stand you anymore. I hate you so much, more than I loved you back then. Before you ruined everything, before true love found me in the darkness you left me crying in. Gaara saved me though, Sasuke. He saved me and that's something you won't and could never do. You always watched me suffer, ran away, or let someone else handle it. I hate you, Uchiha Sasuke. I have every right to.

Normal POV:

"I hate you, Uchiha Sasuke," she said, letting the words tumble out of her mouth calmly.

"Wha-?" was all Sasuke could manage to say. He looked up at her in shock at what had escaped her lips.

"You abandoned me and left me in to cry in that horrible darkness for so long. Gaara was the only light that ever came. Naruto tried, but I just cast him out. Kakashi did his best, but he only made it hurt worse. It was like a wound that could never heal and every time someone talked about me when I sat at that bench and about how the ninja had found me there the morning after you left it got deeper and deeper. Gaara finally healed it, though.

Sasuke turned and left, he didn't need to hear more about Gaara. He had had enough of him and wanted to put a stop to him. No, he had to put a stop to him.

Tonight.

Short Ramblings! Hazooooooh!

Hey everyone who thinks this FF is interesting for some reason. HORRAY FOR OC-NESS! I know that Sasuke is horribly OC, but he's had to live SIX YEARS without his only love. And now he sees her with his rival? How would you feel? Yeah, that's what I thought! I doubt he'll get any better, and if anyone even says ANYTHING about it I'll make him wear…. PINK! I swear I'll do it, you know I will… possibly. Anyway, I gotta go, bye! Hopefully Chapter 5 will be done soon.