Three years or so had passed since the death of Sarutobi. Sharuka had asked at some point requested the new Hokage, Lady Tsunade, if they could be promoted to chunin. After looking at their records and what they had achieved, including how they faired in the chunin exams, she granted this request. Gaara became a chunin a year later, and then a year after that he became Kazekage. For Saori, Saito and Senji, it had been back to back missions and training. They would often stop by Suna as well, lending a hand when needed. Saori was still grieving over Sasuke abandoning Konoha to join Orochimaru. Despite all their past efforts, none of them were successful. The leaf village was indebted to Suna for aiding them on one of the rescue attempts. Due to all this, the ties between the two villages grew stronger than ever.

"So, the Akatsuki are finally making their move?" She asked him.

"Yes. You should know, their first target, is none other than Gaara of the Desert."

"Is that so? Well then, it seems I'll have to break my promise to you, in order to uphold the one I kept to him."

"I wouldn't expect you to do any different." He nodded.

"When the time comes, you need to tell him the truth." She was talking about someone else now.

"He's not ready."

"He's not, or you're not? He's not a little kid anymore."

"He still acts like one."

"That may be true, but still. You should tell him, while you can, Itachi." He began coughing up blood. She left, a pain was in her heart. She was clear of the cave by a few miles when she stopped, she was overcome with sorrow and dropped to her knees. She began crying, louder and louder. A tornado of blue, fiery chakra circled her, destroying her surroundings.

"Calm down, Saori. What if Gaara were to see you lose control like this?" A voice in her head spoke to her.

"I'm sorry, it's just... it hurts so much. Is this the fate of the Uchiha? To die?" She said through her tears.

"No one said they're both going to die. These matters are not set in stone. You still have a chance to change it."

"I know but... at this rate, I'm more than useless to save them. Itachi is sick, and Orochimaru is planning to kill Sasuke and take his body."

"Then save them, Saori. Find your true strength and find a way."

"I have to. I must. All I want, is for the people I care about to live happily." She pulled herself together and set off to Suna.

She looked all over for Gaara. She found Kankurō and Temari in the medical bay. They filled her in.

"I'm already too late. I have to go." Her anger grew inside her. Yet again she was too late to protect him. She followed the tracks in the sand. She eventually came to a cave and there she found Sakura, Lady Chiyo and Sasori. Naruto and the others were there too. That's when she saw him... laying there. His eyes closed and Deidara sat on top of him. Tears poured down her face. She was too late to save him again.

"Oh? Is he your boyfriend? I'm sorry but he's been dead a while." Deidara taunted her. She was already emotional but this pushed her over the edge. She lost control completely. She fell to the ground crying loudly. Her chakra began stirring, then the fiery chakra appeared.

"Huh? Why's it... getting so hot all of a sudden?" Sakura sheilded her face from the heat.

"That's no ordinary chakra. In fact it reminds me of ..." Lady Chiyo's eyes widened with the realisation of what Saori was. It explained one of the reasons why she had been so close to Gaara all this time. "There's no mistaking it. That's not her normal chakra. If she carries on, we could all die." The tornado of chakra grew and grew but before it got too far, Lady Chiyo used a sealing jutsu on Saori, which rendered her unconscious. When Saori woke up, everyone had gone.

She looked at the ruins of where she had last seen Gaara but there was no trace of him, or Chiyo or Sakura. However, there were many puppets laying about and then she saw Sasori's real body.

She rushed to look for the others. They weren't far off. She found them all, including Temari and Kankurō and everyone.

"Gaara... " tears of joy replaced the ones of anguish. She ran over to him and hugged him. "I-I... I'm sorry Gaara!"

"Saori. It's okay."

"You don't know how relieved I am. When I saw you there before... it hurt so much. It was like nothing I can describe. I thought... I'd lost you forever. How?"

"Lady Chiyo, she gave her life to bring me back."

"I... see... thank you... Lady Chiyo." She was saddened to hear of Lady Chiyo's passing. There were quite a few gathered round. Naruto was talking to Gaara and got scolded by Temari for being informal, reminding him that Gaara is still the Kazekage. Saori and Naruto got pushed aside by a couple of girls who were saying how cute Gaara was. Saori stood up and walked away. Kankurō noticed she was upset.

"Hey." He nodded to Temari, hinting to go talk to her. Temari nodded back.

"Saori."

"Oh, hey Temari. Sorry, it's been an emotional time." She wiped a tear away.

"That's not the issue here though is it. You're jealous cos of those girls, right?"

"It's... it's fine. He has the right to choose anyone he wants. It would be selfish of me to expect anything in return." Temari knew how Saori felt. It was obvious.

"You gonna tell him?"

"After seeing him like that, it made me wish I already had. And now, I have another chance to do so. It's just... Temari, do I still need to refer to him as Lord Kazekage?"

"I think in this instance, for you, just Gaara is fine."

"Right." She summoned the strength to walk over to him.

"Gaara, I think Saori wants to talk to you." Kankurō smiled, he knew what was finally coming.

"Saori?" Gaara looked up at her. He signalled for Kankurō to help him up so he could talk to her properly.

"Gaara, if I don't say this now I don't know if I'll ever have to guts to say it, and I wish I had told you before. When I saw you there before, it felt like I had not only lost you but also a piece of me. It's the worst pain I've ever felt. But there was also a feeling of regret. You see... I don't know whether it was when we first met, or if it's happened over the years, all I know is the end result is the same. You know you're precious to me. Well... it's because I... because I..." there was a pause and everyone waited, anticipating her next words. "Because I love you Gaara! I have for a long time now." His expression softened.

"Saori..."

"I don't expect you to feel the same way, I just... I had to tell you." She looked down. He walked over and tilted her head up with his hand, then he kissed her. It took her by surprise at first, then she closed her eyes.

"I love you too, Saori." As he said those words she went in to hug him. He was still in a bit of pain. Everybody cheered for them.

"Pfft, finally!" Saito and Senji rolled their eyes. Temari and Kankurō laughed, as they too had known the couple's feeling for a long time.

"Wait, so are you guys a couple now?" Naruto was confused.

"Nothing gets past you, does it, Naruto?" Sakura said sarcastically. Saori looked at Gaara for a confirmation. Gaara nodded and smiled at her.

"Yes, Naruto."

"Aw man! Not only is he Kazekage before I'm Hokage, but now he's got a girlfriend before me."

"You know all those times when you said 'he's not my boyfriend'?" Saito said to her.

"Yeah?"

"You can't say that anymore." He laughed. Everyone joined in.

The whole group made their way back to Suna, Kankurō and Naruto supporting Gaara. Upon their return, they were greeted by the whole of Suna. Cheering for the return of the Kazekage. Gaara wasn't expecting such a warm welcome home. The people of Suna came running towards them. They moved to the side to make a path. Gaara said for them to wait, and allow Lady Chiyo's body to go first. They had a moment of silence as they took her.

They were back in Suna and had little time to recover. They were all in the Kazekage's office.

"Do you guys really have to leave so soon? Surely you should rest for a while first?" Temari asked them.

"We'll be okay. Besides we really need to get back." Naruto insisted.

"I think Saori, Saito and Senji will be sticking around for a bit though." Sakura winked.

"Yes, after hearing of our latest news, the elders of this village wish to speak with her." Gaara added.

"Elders?"

"Yes, as it's unusual for a Kazekage to date outside of the village, and the elders are very protective of the ways of Suna."

"Jeez, I hope she'll be okay."

"Don't worry, it's just a formality. To make sure her intentions towards the village are ones that will benefit the village. Even though they know her from years ago." Kankurō informed them. "In fact, she's saved the village once when she was seven years old."

"She did?"

"Yeah. Remember when Gaara was younger he was... how he was." He didn't want to bring this up again or remind Gaara of how he used to be. Especially after he's out so much effort into being who he is today.

"Yeah, I remember." Naruto had flashback in his head of his interactions with Gaara at the chunin exams.

"Well there were a few times he lost control and the Shukaku has begun to take over and destroy the village...

She approached Suna, eager to have her mission finished so she could see him again. It had been several months since she had been here. However, when she got there, she was greeted with the people of Suna running in terror, sand was flying everywhere. She looked up to see Gaara had been partially possessed by Shukaku and was no longer himself. She knew she had to help him. She kept forward and blasts of sand came at her, but she dodged them with ease. She made it up to where he was. A tower of sand kept him midair. She managed to grab into him and pulled herself into him before the sand came and surrounded them. She pressed her forehead against his.

"Give him back to me." She whispered. Her spirit was now inside him, there in front of her was a cage, and within that cage was the Shukaku spirit.

"How dare you come here, girl." It's arm reached out but fell short.

"Shukaku. That's enough. Let him go."

"You, giving me orders?" Shukaku prepared an attack. "Insolent brat." He barraged her with sand, and then used sand burial to try and kill her. As the sand covered her and began to tighten around her, a shockwave of chakra burst through and the sand was sent away.

"Give. Him. Back. Now." She had such a serious look in her eyes. And behind her, a blue fiery beast could be seen in the shadows. Her eyes changed colour, one red and one blue.

"Hm. That's a technique I've not seen for a long time. And the different coloured eyes, must be your doing, Matatabi." Shukaku relaxed himself. "Very well. You can have him back for now."

"Thank you, Shukaku." She bowed and then was gone.

"Hm. Brat called me by name... and even bowed to me. She's different I'll give her that."

Saori opened her eyes and could see the sand was subsiding. Gaara was still unconscious and the sand tower that was keeping them up began to collapse. The two fell to the earth but before they hit the ground, Saori pulled Gaara upwards so that she hit the ground instead of him, and he landed on top of her.

"Dang Gaara, you're heavier than you look." She struggled. The impact had hurt her a lot.

Later that evening Gaara had finally woken up, he saw Saori there, covered in bandages and on crutches.

"Did I do that?" He asked her.

"Kinda. But don't worry about it, it was mostly my fault really." She laughed it off but Gaara was deeply upset, thinking that he'd attacked her during the possession.

"I'm sorry."

"Seriously, it's not that big of a deal." She laughed. "I'm just glad to have you back." Just then the Kazekage entered the room and asked to speak with her before leaving.

In his office, Rasa asked her to something.

"So, you managed to stop the Shukaku this time.?"

"I guess so."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want anything bad to happen to Gaara... or this village."

"Why do you care about him so?"

"Don't you?"

"He is a weapon of Suna. He's dangerous. You could have been killed along with the many he's already killed."

"Doesn't mean he deserves to be killed."

"You love him, don't you?" His question shocked her and made her think.

"I... yes." Even at that young age she knew what she felt was some kind of love. She knew he was her best friend and that she cared about him, and would give her life for him.

"Then you shall be responsible for him. Anyone who he kills, their blood will be on your hands."

"Very well." She bowed and left.

"Just who is this girl." Rasa thought to himself.

"So that's what you meant when you said those injuries were kinda my fault." Gaara asked her.

"Yeah. Your fault for being heavier than you look." She giggled. She had been adding to Kankurō's version of events in order to fill in blanks. They said farewell to Naruto and gang, and as predicted, Saori, Saito and Senji stayed behind in Suna for a while.