Sabaku no Hana - Flower of the Desert - Desert Flower

Standard Disclaimer Applies.

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super thankies to the people who reviewed previously and to my beta crystal-sama! now i give you this new chappy. dozo…

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Chapter 4: Scrolls

Gaara glared at the pile of papers in front of him in annoyance. The wind coming from the opened windows of his large office seem to play with it, ruffling the pages, and adding to his irritation. He was so terribly tempted to use his sand to rip the papers into tiny little pieces.

It was almost a day after Suna's best medical nin was able to stabilize Haruno Sakura's condition and a note had long been sent to the Kanoha's Hokage. Gaara surmised that it would not take very long before he received some sort of a reply from the Godaime herself.

He frowned at the thought of what happened to the unconscious girl- er woman.. in his infirmary, of course now he was expecting the unknown nin who had injured Sakura to finish what they had started. He shook his head slightly. 'Tsk..' Now his job had become more troublesome than it already is.

The Godaime's apprentice was known for her strength, wit, and skill in medical arts. If her ambushers were able to put her to the state she was in now, then maybe they were worth preparing for.

He stopped his self from snorting, such acts were not of his nature. He frowned again, maybe hanging out with his aniki was really a bad idea, as he had originally thought.

He laid his head back against the chair's head rest as he stared at the ceiling tiredly. Being the Kazekage at an early age had taken its toll on him, although more so in a good way as his aneue would like to say, the job was still tiring and troublesome. Especially when congregating with other villages' Kages since he could not just kill them if they annoyed him -which also happens. A lot.

He closed his eyes, trying to get a clearer feel of the people near the infirmary. In order for him to be able to guard Haruno Sakura, even if he's not near her, he placed grains of his sand strategically in the surroundings of her room, which will allow him to use his 'Daisan no Me' too. Although a team of jounin had been alerted, he wanted to have a hand in guarding her. He would like to think that he was still indebt to her since she saved his aniki, not to mention that Naruto would never forgive him if something happened to her while she was in his land. Eyes still closed, he sighed tiredly when he heard footsteps going in the direction of his office. "What do you want aneue?" he asked loudly just as the door was about to open.

Temari started, smiling while shutting the door after entering the large room. One of her brows rose slightly after seeing her brother. She walked to the side of the room where she asked a couch to be placed, plopping rather ungracefully on it, she also closed her eyes with a slight smirk. "Slacking, Kazekage-sama?" she asked in a teasing voice.

Gaara decided to ignore her, eyes still closed, he leaned back further into his chair and lifted his feet to his table. "Any improvement on our kunoichi?"

Temari sighed, "No change at all, and no matter how much Saki-san and the other medical nin try…they can't figure out where the poison came from or how to completely heal her."

Gaara nodded before opening his eyes suddenly, feeling something approaching them fast. He stood up facing the window where he felt it coming, Temari who also stood up pulled out a small iron fan. Gaara lifted an arm motioning to his sister that she didn't need the fan. A loud shrill cry was then heard and flaps of wings. Not a moment later a large hawk landed on the table carrying a small box case attached to its neck with the Konoha crest.

Temari walked over to the table and was about to open the case and get the scroll when the bird opened its beak with a small squawk then tried to peck at her approaching hand; she pulled away quickly then smacked the hawk lightly on the head with her closed small fan. "Rude bird! Do you have a death wish!" she asked angrily, pointing her fan at it. The bird just inclined its head and squawked at her again which served to annoy her further.

Gaara sighed, an eye twitching at his sister's antics. The hawk lifted his wings slightly while still looking at Temari. He opened the case on the back of the bird and fished out the scroll himself before his sister decided to have a yakitori in the middle of the night. "He was probably given an order to not let anyone but me touch the scroll, you know," he said as he noticed that the scroll was wrapped with a protective chakra by the Godaime. He opened the seal by letting out a small amount of his chakra and saw another scroll inside.

"Eh? That's a medical scroll." Temari said, her attention now at the new scroll. Her brother nodded before handing it to her. She turned slightly then sneered at the looking hawk.

Shaking his head, Gaara unrolled the first scroll at the table.

"To the Kazekage, Godaime Hokage." Temari read aloud the only words written on the rather empty scroll. "Well that's helpful. Do we need to summon the decoders here?"

"Iie." said Gaara, narrowing his eyes at the scroll, now he was really curious about what the Godaime had to say. He lifted his hands from the table and made three hand seals before slamming it to the words on the scroll. The ink on the scroll started to move combined with his chakra. He removed his hands when he felt something underneath his palm.

The ink then started swirling with Gaara's chakra before another chakra joined it from the scroll itself, which they figured was from Tsunade. The swirl formed into the leaf like symbol of Konoha first before changing into a red & black swirl. The swirl flickered then a small lifelike image of the Godaime suddenly appeared before them standing on the middle of the swirl.

Gaara crossed his arms waiting for the message and heard his sister murmur a soft "Sugoi!" at his side. The technique was, of course, new to him, although the unravelling seal he made a while ago was not, he didn't expect to see the image of the Hokage emerge from the scroll.

"Kazekage-sama." The image of Tsunade said with a small bow. "I assume you are surprised or more or less curious about this unconventional message. This is particularly prepared because of the other scroll that came with this one which if you have noticed is a medical scroll, specifically a Reviving Scroll.

For now though, let me give you my utmost appreciation and gratitude for helping my apprentice, Haruno Sakura." Tsunade bowed again before continuing. "As you know, I am in a much needed diplomatic visit to another village and I'm afraid that I would need to ask you to extend your hospitability further.

Just recently we have been having problems in the east & south of Konoha's border. Our jounin and most of our high ranked nin have been dispatched to the areas of trouble and because of this, I think that Sakura will be much safer in your protection than in Konoha at the moment."

Gaara's eyes narrowed at the image, he was unaware of the problems inside Konoha. He silently thought of the situation. If the kunoichi will be staying at Sunagakure it might pose as added trouble to his land, attracting the unwanted attention of her unknown ambushers but he also can't turn his back at the Hokage's request.

"I know that you're mainly wondering about the reviving scroll so let me explain what it is for." Tsunade continued. "Since we were unable to determine the poison the best thing for us to do is to revive Sakura. She will be able to assess the damage and might even rid her body of the effects of the poison. It is also possible that there is still some poison left in her system. Yes her condition has stabilized but if I am assuming correctly her ambushers are highly skilled which means that they will not just hit her with something that could be removed fully right away knowing that she is a rather highly trained medical nin."

"Is she by any chance insulting our medical nin? I told you we needed to start an exchange program with the medics of Konoha but did you listen? Noooo.." Gaara heard Temari muttering while poking him in the arm. His eyes started to twitch in annoyance at every poke before replying a "Hai hai aneue, you're right." to placate her. "Now can we just listen to the Godaime without you poking me?"

Said Godaime, or at least her lifelike image, continued speaking. "However, even if we do succeed in pulling her out of unconsciousness I ask you to please stop her from using any jutsu that is ranked more than average like the 'Dokunuki no Jutsu', which if you remembered is what she used to heal Kankurou before. Given her condition it will be unwise to use any high level jutsu but I must warn you that she is very stubborn and most likely not to listen. She should just make use of herbs for a moment until her chakra reserves became higher.

The reviving scroll that I sent you will allow her body to accept your chakra thus allowing her to wake up but it will only work for five hours even if you give her enough chakra to last a whole day. The scroll will also absorb any poison left in her system but not the effects which will be up to her.

The scroll will require sacrifice and giving up a large amount of chakra. To make use of it you will need to draw this symbol on her chest." The image of Tsunade lifted a hand which was holding an opened scroll with a circular symbol in the middle.

Gaara stared at the image stoically although he inwardly started. 'In her chest!' he thought incredulously. 'What am I worrying for; I'm not the one who's going to perform it.' He thought confidently until he heard the next words of the Hokage and noticed the somewhat smiling eyes of the image before him.

"Of course the best person to do this would be you Kazekage-sama." Tsunade said. "I understand that you have a very competent medical team, but this is a high rank jutsu that will require your S-Class level. You will then need to make this five hand seals."

Tsunade proceeded to illustrate five complicated hand seals and repeat it which Gaara already memorized the first time even if his mind was in some state of turmoil. 'Her chest? Her bare chest!' his mind seem to be in shock and kept asking over and over again. He decided to avoid looking at her sister lest he see her suggestive smiles. He groaned inwardly, he was acting like a hormone driven boy. It was only the chest, no need to drift into other thoughts. He's doing an honourable act by doing it and he's actually saving the he kunoichi's life he assured his self. It's not as if he had never seen a naked girl before.

There were even times that he had discovered naked women in his room courtesy of some idiot lord asking for his protection which he'd also always refused. Those kinds of 'gifts' only stopped coming recently when he threatened to kill the last lord who sent him one. But this time he was having trouble moving on the fact that he will be seeing and touching the bare chest of Haruno. He mentally shook his head and focused on what the Hokage's image was saying, he already missed a couple of words and he will be damned before he asks his older sister to repeat it for him.

"After the five seals you will need to draw enough chakra to sustain her for at least five hours and focus it to your right hand. You will then need to hold the sealed reviving scroll with your left palm above the symbol then place your right hand above your left and force your chakra to her body.

If the jutsu is successfully done, the seal on the scroll would be removed instantly. It will also mean that the scroll was able to pull out the remaining poison in her body and I am confident that you will succeed.

I apologize for the further inconvenience, Kazekage-sama, demo I know you are the only one in your village that would be suitable for this technique." Tsunade sighed heavily before smiling. "And we will most definitely repay your kindness in one way or another.

If conditions in our southern and eastern border alleviate even in some degree, the baka Uzumaki Naruto will probably visit but that may take more than a week or so from today. He also sends his best regards and asks me to say his message in his own words rather than mine.

The baka says that he's glad Sakura-chan is in your protection and that you should take good care of her or he'll never forgive you if his ambushers ever touch even one strand of her pink hair again. He also says that Shikamaru would like to say hello to Temari-chan."

"Chan?" Gaara repeated in surprise turning slightly to his sister and noticed her reddening. "Since when did you get close to Naruto-kun and that Shikamaru?"

"Never you mind." said Temari with a nervous laugh, waving a hand dismissively. "Let's just listen to what else the Hokage might say ne otouto-chan?" she smiled sweetly at him before averting her eyes quickly.

The image of Tsunade lifted a hand to massage her head. "Again it was all the baka's word and not mine and I highly doubt that Nara Shikamaru's exact word is 'hello' but I am sure that he sends his regards to your sister.

Again I apologize for all the trouble and thank you for taking in one of Konoha's best nin." The image then flickered before disappearing completely. The red and black swirl started moving again and transformed into the symbol that was needed to be drawn in Sakura's chest.

"It seems like the trouble in Konoha's quite serious." Temari commented thoughtfully to her brother after a minute of silence from both of them.

"If it wasn't, Naruto would've been here already." said Gaara while extending his hand to his sister to get the medical scroll.

Three years ago, Uzumaki Naruto had been named the Godaime Hokage's successor and was titled as the Sixth Hokage but since the Fifth still has not stepped down yet, Naruto was only the second in command.

Scrolls in hand and the hawk perched in one of his hand, Gaara exited the room with Temari in tow. He handed the hawk to a passing ninja with an order to feed and bring it to their aviary. "You still haven't answered my question a while ago aneue." He voiced out and without looking back he was sure his sister was blushing.

"And I noticed you were quite deep in thought when the Hokage was telling you what you needed to do to use that scroll your holding." Temari replied instead, her face reddening before she thought to add, "I wonder what Kankurou would say about that… hmmm.."

Eyes widening, albeit unnoticeably, Gaara felt his ears warming and just ignored his sister (which he often does) by walking faster, he decided then to just leave something behind in his trail for her. He heard a thud and an "oomph" sound behind him and smirked before calling his sand back, he instinctively turned his head slightly and a small iron fan flew past him.

"Just wait 'til I get my hands on you tanuki atama!"

"Taichou-sama"

A man in long dark green cloak turned around while shaking his head. Narrowed eyes looked at the kneeling form of the one who called him. "You disappoint me soldier. You lost her." He said coldly.

"And I beg your forgiveness taichou-sama, but this girl - " the soldier started nervously. "- landed in Sunagakure and is now being protected by the Kazekage we were-"

"Kazekage you say?" the cold voice interjected sounding curious.

"Hai taichou-sama." The soldier nodded. "The one they called Sabaku no-"

"You need not remind me soldier. I know him quite well." The cold voice interrupted again this time accompanied by a burst of chakra. Various cuts appeared on the arms of the soldier as he attempted to shield his face from the attack. "The Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara." The cloaked man repeated with a laughing voice. "You are lucky, soldier, that I find this incident highly amusing. You just earned your life back by giving me this fortunate news."

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Important Notes (Spoiler Alert):

For visuals:

The case on the back of the hawk are like the ones in Manga 250 where Sunagakure asked for Konoha's aid and used their fastest bird.

The first two that appeared on the first scroll are both Konohagakure symbols, the one in their head protectorr and the one the konoha nin has in their uniforms (see: Kakashi's back, the red and black swirly thingy).

About the symbol Gaara will make.. erm.. I'm still thinking about that so I can't elaborate for now. Gomen!

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Needed to be mentioned & some Trivia:

Ninja / Nin - are both singular and plural (so I had some mistakes in the previous chappy adding an s when I was referring to more than one. Sorry bout that.)

Daisan no Me (Third Eye) – is one of Gaara's spying technique which if I remembered correctly he used during the chuunin exams

Dokunuki no Jutsu (Poison Extraction Technique) – Sakura used this to heal Kankurou in Manga 253

Regards – often said or used in Japan ("Yorushiku" / "Yorushiku Onegai Shimasu")

Use of Chan – used as a suffix to a name of the person you know quite well, also can be used as an endearment or insult if added inappropriately

Tanuki – Raccoon Dog in English, native only in Japan & other Asian countries different from the Raccoon animal, they are also magical creatures in the Japanese mythology, Shukaku the beast inside Gaara before is a Tanuki (thus also me making Temari call him Tanuki Atama)

S-class – A legendary status, gained power far beyond an average jounin, highly revered nin. Examples are the Legendary Sannin & the Fourth Hokage and others.

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(Most Naruto factoids came from Wikipedia, some are from Narutofan . com too)

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Nihon go Vocab:

Nin – Ninja

Otoutou – Younger Brother

Aniki – Older brother

Aneue – Older Sister

Kunoichi – Female Nin

Demo – But, However

Sama – Denotes great respect

Sabaku no – Of the Dessert / Sand

Taichou – Leader

Sugoi – Amazing, Cool, Great etc.

Atama – Head

Yakitori – Roasted Chicken / Bird

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A/N:

So sorry for the late update had some trouble with my muse, she decided to take a vacation and left me with a writer's block.

Thanks so much for the reviews and please do keep 'em coming. -

I'll try to update soon.

Arigatou again minna! R&R!

Ja ne!