Beta'd by MindTrash
Chapter Sixty-four
"Gaara is about to die."
Sakura's eyes widen in shock while she stares at Naruko's stationary gaze. It takes Sakura a moment to determine whether her friend is being serious or not. Naruto likes to joke and make up stories, she tries to reason in her mind. This is a joke. It's an odd one to play now, but as Naruko remains quiet and motionless Sakura realizes the blonde is not jesting.
"Gaara is?" Sakura mouths in barely a whisper.
The roseate is fast, like the lightning that strikes and flashes outside her window, to stand from her seat. Sakura doesn't argue with the voice in her head when it speaks to her.
'Go to him.'
Despite everything; her fatigue, her feelings, her doubts, her helplessness, her fears those of all which revolve around the redhead, Sakura practically throws herself out her bedroom door before sprinting outside of the house and into the pouring rain.
Naruko meanwhile stands back and keeps her stoic gaze set outside the window
"Ho-o?" Naruko hums lightly in her spot; curious by Sakura's reaction.
Despite the blackness outside, Naruko's eyes still dance around as if able to see everything in the jungle.
"You chase after people too, Sakura-chan?"
With that, the blonde hops on her feet before she slowly marches her way out of Sakura's room.
"Now..." she chimes to herself. "Let's see if I can find it."
It doesn't even register with Sakura that she is dashing through the heavy showers, in the dark and cold clueless where to go.
'Gaara,' her mind echoes.
She feels as though two voices, including her own, are repeating that name in her mind. She treads on, ignoring her wobbling legs and light dizziness caused by her cursed seal. In time she pauses her sprint and tries to use what little of her working senses she can to figure out what direction to take.
'Where would they even take him?' Sakura's mind floods with questions. 'Where is he? Why is he dying?'
Naruto had led her to believe that Gaara was just right outside the home, but now she…
She suddenly remembers the perfect way to find, or be found by, him.
"Oi!" Sakura cries as loud as she can over the rain the thunder. "Gaar-a!"
He'll come to her or at least signal his position, she knows he will. He has placed her at his hip until his departure and Sakura is sure he wants nothing but to place her back by his side to savor in her essence. When no voice or signal comes from the darkness, Sakura runs farther into the jungle and cries out Gaara's name more until eventually someone answers her.
"Sakura! Over here!"
A voice distantly cries out, and quickly she turns her steps towards the caller.
"That's Kankuro," Sakura speaks to herself, placing a person to the voice.
The brunette doesn't sound too disheveled in his words, and Sakura actually slows her sprint to a jog. Perhaps Gaara isn't as bad off as Naruto made it sound. Maybe the darkness clouded his eyesight, and he misjudged.
Yet, when Sakura spots fast-pacing and disheveled movement of people in the distance she knows chaos is ensuing. There are hollers she can't quiet make out, bur their shouts and screams are ones she is familiar with. An array of lamps are frowzled and their lights bounce back and forth in her scope. Sakura's eyes peer and freeze on a lone body laying on the ground. Even in the dark, she recognizes the silhouette of the person.
"Gaara," Sakura mouths as her heart drops into her stomach.
The sudden, distressing situation puts her into such a shock, and with her own exhaust wearing her down, that Sakura finds herself frozen in place until a voice whispers in her mind.
'Gaara needs you.'
It's like mindless control, Sakura's legs slowly begin walking towards the others despite knowing she should sprint.
"Gaara," Sakura manages to mewl.
Her loud voice has been stolen.
She doesn't understand why, but when Gaara doesn't answer or seem to move to her cry her heart continues to plummet, and her chest begins to tighten. It feels forever, but at the same time very quick for the roseate when her steps bring her closer and closer to the huddle of people. It seems it is taking her forever to reach Gaara, but at the same time every step brings him and the people all surrounding more clearly into her vision. At some point, a hand grabs her arm.
"There's been an accident! Temari is going to bring back the medical team but-!"
Sakura can hear Kankuro telling her. She feels the brunette's hold on her, but her eyes are still solely on Gaara as he lays on the wet ground a distance away still. Sakura continues her steps, and Kankuro hesitantly releases the roseate to let her draw closer to Gaara.
In time, Sakura gets close enough to spot another being on their knees next to Gaara. Without even needing to look at her, Sakura can hear the tears, bubbling spews, and frantic orders of the person kneeling next to Gaara.
"Gaara-sama!" Matsuri cries loudly in the pouring rain. "Hang on, just hang on! Please!"
There are other voices. Voices of men, women, Gaara's followers, orders are going back and forth. Demands for a medic can he heard every passing second, but Sakura recognizes none of the voices. She doesn't want to recognize them, she feels no need or desire to speak to anyone here now except for…
"Gaara," Sakura breathes before her steps finally stop next to his laying form.
Sakura swallows hard when a dimly lit lamp brings a shine over his body and Sakura can assess the damage clearly. Her eyes scan Gaara's form. His eyes are closed but Sakura can still see his chest heaving with small breath.
'He's still alive.'
Some relief is put back into her. Still, she is frozen just standing there looking down at Gaara while others are running back and forth past her. Sakura's emerald gaze catches sight of Gaara's torn open shirt; revealing his bare chest and also-
Sakura squints her eyes when she spots a hole the size of a fist through his upper abdomen. Matsuri's hands hold some cloth over the hole, trying to stop his bleeding, but while doing so she looks at Gaara while shaking her head, and crying to him still.
'He was attacked,' Sakura thinks, standing there still.
"Oi..." Matsuri's venomous voice calls to Sakura, but the roseate pays it no mind as she stares at Gaara's face and labored breathing. "You did this," Matsuri hisses at Sakura. "This all happened because of you! You poisoned his mind and convinced him to go! Konoha-Rat!"
Sakura's mind continues to ignore the agitated woman, even when the eyes of Gaara's soldiers pause at the mention of Konoha and her. Instead, Sakura's eyes linger on the hole in Gaara's body before her eyes slowly trail back up to his face.
'He is dying,' Sakura thinks to herself. 'He will bleed out soon.'
Her medic side analyzes the situation before her. It also seems to be common sense to Matsuri for she suddenly screams at the others around her.
"Where is a medic?! Hurry up!"
Sakura stands frozen in place.
"Gaara-sama, open your eyes!" Matsuri cries at Gaara.
Chaos is happening all around her in the dark and pouring rain, but Sakura's gaze returns to Gaara's closed eyes. The redhead does not stir or acknowledge Matsuri who keeps calling to him. For Sakura, she really can only recall seeing this Gaara passed out like this once before. He was merely a child then, Sakura recalls before something else comes to her head.
'Help him,' a voice in Sakura's mind begs.
Maybe it's because Sakura is worn and tired. Perhaps it's the very fault of the man dying in front of her; solely forcing her into emotional and stressful situations. Maybe it's just her inner voice suddenly returning. Whatever reason, Sakura speaks back to the voice inside her mind; a sign she knows she should be worried about.
'Why?'
Sakura finds her question justified even if her mind is empty and an answer is left unsaid.
Why help Gaara? There has been countless suffering because of this man. Lives that have been stolen, homes that have been destroyed, her friends well-being that have been threatened in front of her because of this Gaara. The very definition of the scar he had marred on himself is so twisted in his mind that he even tried to convince Sakura that he knows of love when-
'He doesn't,' Sakura can see in her mind.
Sakura's eyes narrow. The man under her who is now gasping for breath has brought nothing but pain, not only to her, but unknowingly to others. His siblings, though here now desperate to save Gaara, are cared not by the redhead. Meanwhile, Matsuri, whose tears fall heavier than the rain itself, is threatened and mocked by the very man she cries for. This very man, who has stolen so many lives before claiming Sakura's own is his most treasured possession. These thoughts resurface Sakura's dropped heart, and her eyes narrow angrily.
"Gaara..." Sakura hisses his name with distaste.
Sakura remains unmoved when Gaara's mouth suddenly twitches to the call of his name. Suddenly, bit by bit, as drops of warm rain trail down his face, Gaara's eyelids open far enough to teal slits. Sakura's eyes find Gaara's, and her gaze widens suddenly as his mouth attempts to move. Nothing but heavy breath escapes Gaara, but his eyes stare out past Sakura so much so that the roseate is unsure what he is even looking at. In time, her own eyes fall when she recognizes Gaara's look.
'A dying man,' she puts a label on that look
She has seen this look many times in her work field. It's someone who is lost at the current situation. He may or may not even realize he is dying as his eyes look unfocused up at Sakura. The young woman twists her head slightly and isn't surprised Gaara's gaze doesn't follow her movement.
'It will be soon...' Sakura concludes in her mind about Gaara's death. 'Unless a medic comes.'
It makes her swallow hard and suddenly there feels like a drum is going off inside her chest. Her heart rate picks up and she can't help but let her gaze fall back to Gaara's lifeless looking eyes. She half-wonders why Shukaku helps none in the healing process.
'He probably deserves this,' Sakura thinks, hoping her reasoning will calm her mind some as it begins to pick at her more to-
'Save him!'
He is not the good guy, Sakura is aware. Gaara is the bad guy. He has done so many wicked acts and pushed those close to him into the most stressful and mind-toiling situations. He has played with the emotions of others while not having an understanding or grasp of his own. He locks others in indescribable conditions including one of her closest friends; Naruto. He claims he wants the world and will destroy those in his path; Gaara threatens a balance past shinobi strived to build for their world. Though he has made her cage a golden one, fit for the beautiful swan he treats Sakura like, Gaara still has the key to her lock hidden.
His death will not only mean Sakura's freedom, but possibly a world of peace should he continue his war. The roseate is aware of all of this, aware Gaara's death right here and now would solve her biggest problem. The countless pain and suffering he has done all these years, would probably justify his death and more.
'Gaara is the bad guy,' Sakura continues to remind herself.
…
So, why can't she turn her eyes away from his? Why can't she calm her quick, beating heart? Her biggest question yet-
'Why do I care?'
She shouldn't. She should just turn around. Naruto's life wouldn't be threatened anymore. Konoha would remain safe. The healing that needs to be done with Gaara's siblings can begin. She could finally save herself!
And suddenly, when there is a movement in Gaara's gaze; a small shift that seems to settle on Sakura's eyes a little more...her heart suddenly drops.
'His eyes look just the same as his younger self,' Sakura direly thinks.
Suddenly, it isn't the bad guy that is dying under Sakura, but instead he's the image of the little, redheaded boy who was glued to Sakura's side. The image of her little redheaded friend racing after her hand begins looping through her mind. Sakura's heart races faster. There is panic in her eyes as she remains frozen in her spot. Along with that frenzy do her emerald orbs also heat up with frustrated and painful tears.
'Gaara is the bad guy!' she desperately tries to remind herself.
She knows Gaara's death would solve so much now, but instead of convincing herself that, voices begin to ring in her head, including that of-
"Ne Sakura, can we go get kakigori?"
Sakura lets out a small choke when Gaara's child voice can be heard inside her mind. This dying man has entrapped her heart from his younger years. There is an extreme care from Sakura to Gaara because of the bond they shared fifteen years ago. The very reason she has put up with this Gaara to this point is her chance to save the loving, little boy that may still be inside this cold-hearted man.
...Then again, that child that brightened her day, as Sakura did his, may have been lost the day she was sent fifteen years into the future.
That itself makes her question why, for what reason, and most importantly…
'How could I even save him now?'
She is without chakra, powerless as a shinobi. Even if she wanted to help, she could only lead by orders and direction. She decides all she can do now is stand here and watch. Maybe, in time, a decision with how she feels towards Gaara will come. Yet, as the rain picks up around them, drenching the poor, tired, conflicted roseate, the more her mind delves back to that happy past. Especially since she cannot turn her eyes away from Gaara's long stare.
Sakura's mind takes her back to the first time she saved this Gaara as a child. She had worked effortlessly to save Gaara's life in front of his own father, who wanted him dead like she contemplates letting him do now.
'Is this how Rasa felt about Gaara?' Sakura wonders. 'Was this his struggle with Gaara when sending assassins after him? How did Rasa deal managing this torn feeling?'
Sakura understands now the turmoil of a parent who realizes the darkness in their own child's heart and the hardship of not knowing how to fix it. She also spots the uncanny resemblance of her desperation to save this Gaara compared to the Sasuke of her world. Once she recognizes it does the guilt settle in more.
'Why not give Gaara that same chance?' Her mind questions.
'Because he is the bad guy,' She argues in her mind while her heart pumps to remind her, 'but you love Gaara for being your friend when he was young.'
With that thought does Sakura mentally curse at herself and that bond she still holds with Gaara.
"Please, don't hate me too!" Gaara's young desperate voice rings again in Sakura's mind.
Sakura's lips curl back as she continues to stare at Gaara's lifeless eyes.
Gaara was a babe without a say when his own father decided to put a powerful and dark entity inside his son. Later, that aim for power would came with a hefty cost; innocent lives. That in turn threw a child still trying to understand and grasp his emotions and purpose into situations that garnered no guidance.
'Not from anyone kind at least,' Sakura is able to realize.
Gaara's childhood was not a fair one, Sakura can see. Gaara's adulthood is not better, Sakura understands. She is torn on whether letting the suffering continue or if her friend can still be salvaged from whatever evil he has taken to heart and mind. Sakura watched Gaara kill Annaisha one night before hugging his two siblings the next day; is it not possible that Sakura can show Gaara the way again like she did back then?
In her mind is suddenly a boy leaping to wrap his small arms around Sakura's neck. He tightens his hold, burying his face into Sakura's shoulder.
"I'll love you forever, Gaara," Sakura hears in her mind; words spoken to a child.
Sakura blinks when the teal in Gaara's eyes begins to dimly hue.
"I'll always love you too! No matter what," Gaara's young voice echoes in Sakura's head.
Sakura's eyes narrow when it becomes clear to her what she must do now. There is one last cry in her head before Sakura brings herself closer to Gaara's body.
'Save him!' a voice pleads.
Sakura drops to her knees and takes a quick glance at Gaara's face. She is discouraged to see that his eyes no longer follow her movements, but Sakura can still see the redhead's chest slowly rising still. She needs to be quick if she wants to save Gaara, but she takes a moment to reach a hand out to cup Gaara's face. Sakura fights herself not to flinch when Gaara's skin is cold and clammy under her touch. Regardless, she speaks to him hoping he can hear still.
"Just like all those years ago..." Sakura whispers to the redhead before picking up her voice. "I won't let you die."
Before Sakura can pull her hand away, she suddenly feels a presence surround her before a blade sits on the skin of her neck. The roseate doesn't move, her hand still on Gaara's face as his subordinates suddenly surround Sakura. She should have expected it, Sakura knows. Their leader is dying before them, but they are still desperate to save Gaara and not willing to let his life be immediately stolen from the Konoha woman. Despite this threat, Sakura keeps calm and her eyes are trained solely on Gaara.
"What are you doing?" Matsuri, holding the cloth down on Gaara still, hisses in Sakura's direction.
Sakura is silent for a moment before revealing her intentions.
"I'm a medic," Sakura solemnly tells Matsuri, eyes still on Gaara.
The brunette's eyes widen. Perhaps she is surprised to hear this of Sakura, maybe she is growing infuriated the roseate took so long to speak up of her profession, or maybe she is recalling a tale Gaara had told her the same thing about Sakura. Whatever reason, even before Kankuro can order Gaara's men to let Sakura go, it is surprisingly Matsuri who barks at them.
"Get away from her!" Matsuri snaps at them. "She can save him!"
The battalion slide their weapons and back away from Sakura, all the while Sakura is wondering exactly what it is she can do.
'It's such a deep, open wound,' Sakura thinks to herself and peeks at the blood-soaked cloth Matsuri holds. "...and he has lost so much."
It's actually surprising Gaara still breathes but at the same time, Sakura comes to a conclusion as to why that is.
'Shukaku,' she thinks with a wrinkle forming between her brows.
So then, why is the chakra beast not instilling complete healing? Is the creature weakened as well? It makes Sakura question more.
'Who were you fighting?' Sakura asks only herself while looking at Gaara.
There is little time to dawdle on that idea. Instead, Sakura swallows hard and focuses on the energy inside of her instead.
'Just that spark again,' she begs in her mind. 'Give me something.'
Sakura's hand shake as she reaches for the hole on Gaara's abdomen. Sakura slides her hands past the now red-stained fabric Matsuri holds as the brunette whispers Gaara's name in almost a gentle chant. As she touches the warm wound, Sakura's eyes narrow once she tries to focus chakra into her fingertips.
Sakura tries not to panic when nothing comes.
'Come on...' she hastily tells herself as her hands remain on Gaara.
Still, nothing happens as Sakura beckons her inner strength and she is left feeling powerless sitting next to an old friend dying in front of her.
"Save him, please…." Matsuri suddenly whines at her.
Sakura's heart races when she notices Gaara's eyelids have fallen.
"Please," Sakura whispers into the air herself. "Just let me save him..."
She doesn't know who she is pleading to. If there is a higher power than she will gladly beg to it at this moment to at least give her the strength to save her friend. She tries focusing her chakra once again, and her hands tremble harder when nothing comes. In time, Sakura reluctantly pulls her hands back, and her eyes widen when she spots her hands caked in wet, crimson blood washing away with the rain.
At this point, Matsuri is fighting hiccuping sobs while staring at Sakura. Her voice is quiet as she asks in a whisper-
"...Is it too late?"
Despite the dire situation, Matsuri refuses to let go of the cloth until she is told Gaara has passed. Meanwhile, Sakura is refusing to look at anything but her hands. The roseate doesn't want to be the one to make that unfortunate call, and keeps her gaze away from Gaara for this reason. Sakura only moves, jumping lightly in her spot in surprise, when Kankuro comes behind her and places a gentle hand on her back. Out of everyone, he would be the only one to understand Sakura's true situation.
"Don't force yourself," Kankuro whispers to Sakura. "Temari should be back soon with the medics."
Yet, even Kankuro's quiet, calm, reassurance is breathed with distraught and fear for his younger brother. Time is a huge factor here, and Sakura finds its claim today to be the cruelest thing it has done to her thus far.
'I have to save him,' Sakura thinks in her mind.
Her hands shake as a rage begins boiling in her. Her chakra is her own. She has trained herself to control such a power within her for countless years with rigorous training. She has made it to the very top when it comes to medicine. So, the frustration is heavy in Sakura's heart when she can literally do nothing for Gaara but sit there and hope just like the others around her.
'That's not good enough!' She thinks, before her eyes furrow determinedly.
Sakura rolls her sleeves back before diving her arms and hands deep again towards the hole in Gaara.
"Please..." Matsuri begs to Sakura again while Kankuro steps back in surprise at Sakura's display.
"Oi," He warns, though hopeful, "Don't push yourself, Sakura."
Sakura ignores them both and instead delves inside of her own mind.
'This is my friend!' She expresses to herself. 'I won't let him die here!'
She closes her eyes and focuses on all the moments she shared with Gaara in his young age. From the night she first took him for kakigori and she teased him about a smiling moon to the beautiful cherry blossom tree in the snow, and everything in between. Once again, she focuses on that faint energy inside of her.
'Just a spark,' she begs her mind. 'Anything to keep Gaara going.'
Again, nothing comes, but Sakura refuses to back down and call it quits. She keeps her hands in place, and decides then she will keep searching for her energy at least until Temari's return.
Nothing…
'I have to save him,' Sakura continues to tell herself. 'He is capable still of becoming a good person.'
'You want to save him?' A womanly voice suddenly speaks inside Sakura's mind.
A voice she has blamed on fatigue and the stresses of being on this island. Sakura tries to push that voice to the side, she is not ready to confront another problem that is stemming inside her mind.
'Just a spark,' Sakura tells herself instead.
Again though, that voice speaks inside of her mind.
'You want to save Gaara?'
Sakura is reluctant to look back at Gaara when that question keeps echoing in her mind. She knows the redhead has caused so much pain to everyone here, including herself. Still, here they all sit and surround the very same redhead who befriended them each, as a child, Sakura, Kankuro and Matsuri. That want her mind keeps asking for should be answered with a hard no for the crimes Gaara has committed. Yet, when her emerald gaze looks at Gaara's fallen face, an answer comes quick in Sakura's mind.
'Yes,' she admits to herself. 'I want to save Gaara!'
Her back and forth in her mind is instantly forgotten and Sakura feels a sudden surge of energy race to her hands. It's more than a spark of power that comes rising to her palms, it feels like her whole entire energy has suddenly returned. The very second healing chakra hits Sakura's fingertips and enters Gaara is the same moment the redhead shows sudden signs of life. Yet, his way of expressing it shocks Sakura to tear her palms back and away and look at Gaara in wonder and worry.
Just a drop of Sakura's healing is enough to wake Gaara and the redhead abruptly announces this with a loud cry that feels like it's shaking the entire island as he roars louder than thunder.
"Gaara!" Kankuro is the first to his side.
Kankuro takes a knee next to his brother but does not touch him once Gaara begins to gripe and mutter incoherently. The redhead lifts his head while whining to glance at his abdomen. The sight of himself with a hole in his body makes Gaara once again cry out before he begins scrambling away from Sakura, Kankuro, and Matsuri.
"Gaara-sama, don't move!" Matsuri quickly tells him. "You'll bleed out!"
Matsuri's warnings do not faze Gaara as his hands begin to dive towards his open wound and he continues to attempt to move himself away. As all this is happening, Sakura is eyeing Gaara's wound.
'It should heal now,' Sakura thinks. 'Shukaku has a means now if he couldn't before.'
Sakura's eyes narrow though when Gaara's wound opens more to his light trashing.
"Calm yourself before your wound opens more and-" Sakura begins to tell Gaara before their eyes suddenly lock.
Sakura goes quiet with an open mouth once she realizes the eyes she is looking into is definitely not Gaara's own. And as if her presence is suddenly a calming one, Gaara's movements still once his eyes are on hers. At least, Sakura will call them Gaara's eyes for the moment. Yet, once she recognizes that sickly yellow and off pattern gaze, she whispers a different name.
"Shukaku..."
Gaara's body heaves still with long breath, but the young man is strong enough to keep his head up to look at Sakura. It is the mention of the one tailed beast, that makes Matsuri wide-eyed and paralyzed with fear that she remains in her spot while her eyes stay frozen on Gaara's own. Kankuro looks on passively, accustomed to this or without fear, while Sakura begins growing angry at the being in front of her. She had seen Kurama use Naruto like a suit, conveying his message using the image of the blonde. So, she's not surprised to witness the sand demon to be able to do the same with Gaara's body and with only an appearance change to his eyes.
What is angering the roseate right now though is…
"Save him!" Sakura suddenly snaps in Gaara's face. "You have a means to heal him!"
She cries at the beast inside Gaara to basically save himself. Yet, what seems logical to Sakura has the others around her trembling at the way she speaks to such a powerful creature. When Gaara's yellow eyes continue to stare at Sakura apathetically the roseate grinds her teeth as a memory resurfaces. The beast had no issue healing Gaara as a child in front of her, so why now does he refuse?
"Stupid human," Gaara's voice suddenly drags out in a deep, husk tone.
He says this with no change to his face, but his long stare on Sakura, including his choice words, has the roseate suddenly second-guessing her decision. Shukaku's mockery has Sakura now wondering…
'Did I do something wrong by saving Gaara?'
There's a sudden itch on Sakura's leg and without even looking at it the young woman understands what is shifting and sliding under her; sand. The element suddenly has a dark aura to it and the roseate is unsure whose emotions this sand plays off of. Is Shukaku toying with her now, or is Gaara subconsciously trying to speak to her?
Regardless, Sakura narrows her eyes back towards Gaara's golden, glowing stare. If she has a chance to speak with the tailed beast now, an opportunity she may never get again, she may as well ask-
"What happened?" Sakura draws closer to Gaara's face with the sand trailing behind her. "What happened to Gaara after I left?"
Sakura is surprised to see a slight change to Gaara's face. It's almost like a light scowl, disgusted with her, but with an underlying message Sakura can easily spot with the way his lip twitches and eyes shift.
'He knows,' Sakura thinks and can see someone, besides Gaara, with all the answers for her.
But will the beast who hates her very kind speak to her? For all she knows, Shukaku is the sole culprit who led Gaara down this dark path. Gaara's eyes shift past Sakura suddenly, and his gaze becomes transfixed on something that is only made clear seconds later.
"Over there!" New voices cry out in the distance.
Sakura suddenly feels a new presence next to her and she looks and watches as medic-nin begin scrambling around Gaara to work on his injury. Temari, too, suddenly appears by Sakura's side, and the blonde brings her face close to Gaara's as well.
"Gaara-sama," Temari speaks professionally, but with ease and relief in her voice seeing her brother awake. "Are you al...alright?"
Temari's words slow, and the woman tenses at whose eyes she is looking into. A quick glance at Kankuro and his eyes shift from the medic and back to Temari before he mouths-
"Don't tell them."
Surprisingly, the beast awake within Gaara makes no effort to speak against the now arriving medics, or frighten them away. Instead, his eyes stay transfixed in front of him while he remains silent to Sakura's question. It comes to no surprise Gaara's medics are top notch. Within seconds, one of them speaks to Temari.
"Captain, he is stable, but it be best if we bring Lord Gaara indoors and out of this rain."
'Stable?' Sakura thinks after overhearing.
The rosette's eyes sway from Shukaku's to assess Gaara's injury. Though significantly smaller, Gaara still has an open wound, but with the bleeding stopped the redhead will most likely survive whatever the medics decide next. Yet, with Shukaku awoken Sakura had known that Gaara would live. The beast wouldn't take himself out along with Gaara.
Right…?
Her eyes return to Gaara's glowing eyes, surprised to see them transfixed back on her own. His eyes continue to stay on Sakura's even when he allows the medics and others to shift Gaara's body onto a stretcher before lifting him and heading back towards the mansion.
Sakura is voiceless, watching Gaara be taken away but before he is completely gone, that deep voice calls out to Sakura.
"A full moon will come soon."
Sakura's eyes widen to that information before she watches Gaara disappear with the medical team. She is surprised to learn that Shukaku may have just warned her to be cautious of these coming nights, or maybe he is gloating. After all, Shukaku is aware that Sakura has been with Gaara during a full moon before. Sakura dwells on the thought for a moment before looking back down at her blood covered hands. Washing away with the rain, Sakura stares as the bloody drops graze down her palms.
"Thank you, Sakura," Kankuro comments before sprinting away with the medical team.
No one comes to speak to her as everyone seems just as unsure as to what transpired. One thing is certain among the group, there is relief for Gaara and his survival. Plus, more cause for celebration would be Sakura's declaration that her chakra is now under her control and that she is no longer being drained of her powers.
Yet, she noticed it the moment she pulled away from Gaara. The roseate continues to stare at her hands once that dismal thought returns.
'It's gone...again.'
Sakura's eyes squeeze tight before her hands do the same to make tight fists. Her eyes narrow out in front of her angrily.
'My chakra!'
