Here it is. This chapter is finally finished. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my made up characters

Ch. 20: The Nightmare Ends

Kaoru stared at that grinning shadow with absolute fear. Her mind was shouting at her to do anything but her body refused to listen to the demands. He continued to walk forward with that menacing smile. Kaoru knew he was going to kill her. She knew it like she knew the sky was blue and the grass was green. Still her body refused to move. Then her crimson eyes focused on his golden gaze. His eyes were filled with hate and rage. She felt her body begin to tremble.

Crimson eyes looked over when her friend moaned. Sakura was hurt. She needed help. Kaoru's eyes focused back on the man in front of her. She couldn't see his face. Only the shadow he was in her dreams but she knew who he was...Ken. Kaoru couldn't let him kill her. Not while Sakura was lying there defenseless. Once he killed Kaoru what was to stop him from killing Sakura too. The Suna medic couldn't let him. So she forced herself to move. He pulled out a kunai and she just barely managed to dodge. It grazed her shoulder and she felt the white hot pain shoot through her followed by the feel of liquid running down her arm. She was next to Sakura and lifting her up. Kaoru dodged another kunai then ran out the door.

"You can't run forever, Kaoru. I will find you and when I do you'll get to see your parents again. Won't that be nice?" he called from behind her.

Kaoru tuned him out. If she didn't she would lose what little courage she had left. She ducked into a room when she was sure she had lost him. Once she had the door locked, she made sure Sakura was alright. Her friend had a nasty bruise from where he had hit her but nothing fatal. She would be fine in a few hours. The thing was they wouldn't have that long. Today everything in Kirigakure was closed until noon for some kind of half rest day thing they did. The hospital would be opened in three more hours. He wouldn't let them hide that long. He would find them and kill them. Kaoru thought frantically about what to do. She couldn't leave Sakura here alone so she couldn't go get help. She couldn't fight him because she turned into a statue every time she saw him. That didn't leave many options open.

She stood up with a determined look in her crimson eyes. She couldn't let him get to Sakura. The only thing she could do was lead him away from the unconscious kunoichi. Kaoru peeked out of the room. When she didn't see anything she walked out and shut it behind her. The hospital never seemed so creepy before. Of course, being forced to run for her life could possibly have a negative affect on her view point. It didn't help that the lights were off and she was afraid to be in the dark. All the halls were empty and her footsteps echoed as she ran. She found the stairs and climbed up until she reached the roof. Maybe someone would see her and come to check on them.

When the door to the roof was open she froze again. He was standing there facing her. That terrifying grin spread on his face, "It's about time, Kaoru. I've been waiting for you."

"Why? Why are you doing this?" she asked shakily. If she kept him busy then maybe she could come out of this alive.

"I was furious when your father told me that he had fallen in love with your mother. He told me first because he wanted to make sure I would be okay with it. I told him I was but it was a lie. He should have known that. Your mother was a beautiful woman in both body and mind. She was kind, strong, graceful, in other words perfect. I wanted her for myself but she went and fell in love with Kohaku, my twin brother. I figured that in the face of her clan's disapproval she would give in to their desires and I would of course give in to my clan. But she didn't. For the first time she actually cared more about what she wanted than what her clan wanted. Kohaku had always been the rebellious one. Nine time out of ten he was in an argument with father because Kohaku had done something he wanted to do even though father had told him not to."

"What does that have to do with me? I'm not my parents and their dead. You killed them."

"I know. You're were actually my target that night. I wanted to make them miserable. But you hadn't been there. They had been sitting on the couch and were looking so happy that it made me sick. I couldn't leave knowing they were that happy. Not when they had both betrayed me."

"You told them it was okay. My father would have never betrayed you. You were his best friend. If you had told him how you felt he would have stepped back and you know it," she shouted at him.

"I shouldn't have had to tell him. He should have known. And now Kaoru, you die."

He through a kunai but she managed to dodge. He kept throwing them and she dodged all she could. There were a few that had managed to pierce her but none were life threatening. She had just dodged one when he pulled out several more with that smirk on his face. Kaoru wonder about that for a moment but he didn't give her time to for long. He threw all the kunai at once. she started to dodge but realized too late that she had no where to dodge too. She was standing on the corner of the roof. She could either fall to her death or get stabbed with a kunai. Pain shot through her and she gasped. Kaoru began to fall backwards.

She wondered why was she always falling? What an odd thing to think about when you were dying. She wished she could have seen Gaara-kun again. That would have been nice. She began to wonder if she was hallucinating because she could have sworn she heard him calling her name now. Maybe dying made you crazy too. No, she couldn't think like that. She couldn't die. Gaara still needed her. Her last thoughts before her world went black was, 'I know you'll come Gaara-kun.'

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They had found Sakura in one of the rooms. Sasuke was furious that someone had dared hurt her but he had stayed behind to make sure she would be alright instead of going with the other two to fight. Makoto had explained everything while they were running to the hospital. Gaara felt fear in the pit of his stomach. Makoto and Gaara had run up to the roof and saw Kaoru falling with a kunai embedded in her stomach. Rage consumed the Kazekage. Ken hadn't noticed them yet. He was currently walking towards Kaoru who was now lying on the ground. He had started to reach down when Gaara's cold voice stopped him.

"Don't touch her."

Ken froze and slowly turned around. He looked into Gaara's eyes and saw his own death. The Kazekage was going to kill him. There was no doubt about it. Kaoru's uncle smirked then reached out and kicked her off the roof. Now at least she would die with him. The air was suddenly filled with sand and it wrapped around Ken as Gaara used his Sabaku Kyuu. The last words Ken heard were, "Sabaku Sousou."

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The next morning, Gaara was sitting next to the bed. He was still furious. He should have been there. There wasn't any excuse for not being there to help Kaoru when she needed him. He had known that Ken had hated Kaoru but he didn't listen to his instincts. Instead he had over slept and his best friend had left the compound with a man that wanted to kill her. If he should have been there to protect her then none of this would have happened.

Sasori walked into the room and shook his head. Sasuke was in pretty much the same shape. He hadn't left Sakura's bed side since they had returned from the hospital. Both men were blaming themselves for what had happened simply because they hadn't been there. Sasori found it all kind of ironic considering the two were rivals most of the time. His tone was bored when he said, "Are you done sulking yet?"

Gaara gave him a look that would make normal men run screaming for their mothers. Fortunately for Sasori he could handle a death glare from the Kazekage without more than a chill running up his spine. That look was really rather scary if you didn't know that he wasn't going to kill you. Ken was actually the first man Gaara had killed in cold blood in several years. Gaara could have allowed the man to be caught and arrested but Ken had crossed the line. He had harmed Kaoru. That was the only thing that would make both Gaara and Shukaku work together and the power that they had as a result was incredible. The Kazekage had radiated so much power that even Sasori had made a mental note not to piss him off that badly.

"I'm not sulking."

"So you say," the puppet master replied in a tone that told Gaara that he wasn't buying it. Sasori walked out of the room to tell everyone else that Gaara was still sulking and that Sasuke wasn't in any better shape.

Gaara looked back towards the bed Kaoru was laying on. His friend was pale from blood loss. The kunai had just barely missed anything vital but stomach wounds always bled a lot. They had barely managed to save her life. Sakura had come around and had rushed up to the roof with Sasuke. She had quickly closed the wound in her friends stomach, which had made the Konoha medic pass out again much to Sasuke's annoyance. Kaoru would live now but that didn't make Gaara feel any better. He still should have protected her. She shouldn't have been wounded in the first place. He stood and walked over to the window to stare out it.

Crimson eyes opened slowly. Her head hurt. Where was she? She wasn't sure. The last thing she remembered was falling and pain. There was a lot of pain. That's right Ken had been trying to kill her. Did that mean she was dead? No, she couldn't be. Her head and stomach hurt too much for her to be dead. She let her eyes wonder around the room until she saw a familiar red head standing by the window.

"Gaara-kun?"

He turned and was at her side in a flash. Worried sea foam eyes stared down at her, "Kaoru, are you alright?"

She gave a shaky smile, "I think so."

"Good. Don't you ever scare me like that again. Waking up in the hospital is suppose to be my bad habit, not yours." He closed his eyes and his voice was barely a whisper when he admitted, "I thought I lost you."

Kaoru blinked then smiled, "I'm sorry, Gaara-kun. I didn't mean to worry you."

"Not your fault. I should have been there. I should have protected you." The girl immediately tried to sit up but pain immediately let her know that doing so was a very bad idea. Gaara placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed her back onto the bed, "You shouldn't try to sit up yet. A kunai did stab you in the stomach."

She frowned and continued to sit up anyway. He wasn't happy but realized that she was going to be stubborn about this so, instead of fighting her, he helped her. Once she was sitting up again, she took his face in her hands and looked him in the eye. She ordered him, "You listen to me Sabaku no Gaara. Are you listening?"

Gaara nodded.

"In no way are you are not to blame for what happened. You saved me so don't you dare blame yourself for this. Do you understand me?"

He nodded again with a smirk, "I understand, Kaoru. Now will you lay back down before you hurt yourself?"

She looked at him for a moment. He still held some guilt in his eyes but it had diminished. She could deal with the rest later so she allowed him to help her lay back on the bed. The girl gave him a small smile, "I knew you would save me in time."

A thousand of emotions danced through him. Kaoru could identify some of them but there were gaps in the waves coming off of him that told her some of them were directed towards her. She just offered him a smile. Then she thought of something and frowned, "What happened to Ken?"

He glowered, "There's no need to worry about him anymore."

She looked at him for a moment then nodded in understanding. Some part of her relaxed at the knowledge that the shadow could no longer get her. She was safe again. But she was still afraid of being left in the dark. Kaoru suddenly felt very tired again, "Gaara-kun...will you stay?"

Gaara sat down on the bed beside her, "Go to sleep, Kaoru."

She smiled at the familiar phrase. It had always been his way of telling her he would stay with her and guard against the nightmares. The medic fell into a sound sleep holding on to Gaara's hand as usual. He barely heard her whispered words before she fell into sleep.

"I love you, Gaara-kun."

He looked at her in shock. Sure he had known but knowing it and hearing it were two different things. This was the first time anyone had ever said those words to him. Part of him was afraid to believe it. He looked at the girl who had turned his world upside down and wondered what these emotions were. Her heard a scoff in his head and frowned. Apparently his other half knew something he didn't.

'Of course I do, boy. I know a lot of things you don't,' Shukaku stated arrogantly.

'Oh, and what would you know this time?' Gaara questioned. He hoped that the demon would actually give him the answer to his questions like he normally did. Shukaku liked to brag when he knew something Gaara didn't and took great delight in pointing it out to him.

Shukaku drew in a deep breath like he was about to tell him then said, 'I'm not going to tell you.'

'What?! Why not?' Gaara demanded.

'Because that would be too easy. This time you have to figure it out all by yourself. I know it'll be difficult considering that I've spoon fed you everything for a while now but you should get it in another year or two,' the demon replied.

Gaara mentally scowled, 'You just like to play games with me don't you.'

'On the contrary. Though I'll admit that the rest of the world is a game to me, that is the last thing I see this as. I actually like this girl and she will never be a game.'

'Why does she matter?'

'Your feelings are my feelings. Whether we like it or not we are connected. You'll have to figure out the rest for yourself.'

Gaara stared out the window trying to sort through the emotions the girl brought out in him. He was starting to wish he had more experience with such things. Then maybe this wouldn't confuse him so much. Shukaku just thought it was odd that Gaara could recognize love in someone else but not in himself. The boy could see that Sasuke was in love with Sakura. He could see that Temari had developed feelings for the puppet master. But the boy just couldn't see what he felt for the medical nin that had wiggled her way into his heart without even trying. The demon shook his head with a dark chuckle. It would be amusing to see how the boy figured it out.

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Kaoru woke up the next morning in pain. Her stomach still hurt. Oh well, what could you expect when you've been stabbed with a kunai and kicked off the roof. She looked beside her and smiled. Gaara was still asleep. It was rare for him to still be asleep when she woke up. He normally woke up long before the sun was even up. He must really be exhausted. As she watched sea foam eyes opened and Gaara was instantly alert. She wondered how he did that. It took her several minutes to wake up fully. When he looked at her she smiled.

"Good morning, Gaara-kun."

He nodded and got up. She tilted her head. Well, at least he was grumpy like a normal person was. Then again he was always grumpy so that didn't really mean anything. A happy Gaara was an weird thing. Actually she should say, a obviously happy Gaara was a weird thing. He was happy. He just hid it from everyone so they think he's grumpy. She smiled as he walked back into the room carrying a tray of food. Sakura was right behind him.

"How are you feeling, Kaoru?" Sakura asked in concern.

"I'm feeling better than yesterday but it still hurts to move my stomach."

Sakura checked her injuries then smiled, "It's healing nicely so you should be fine. Just be careful. You don't want to open it back up."

"Don't worry. I get the impression Gaara-kun isn't going to let me do anything that would risk that for a while," Kaoru said with a smile. Gaara, who had been standing by the window, looked at his friend through the corner of his eye with a smirk. She turned to him and smiled.

"Good. I've given Hayate-sama his medicine so you don't have to worry about that. He says he's going to stop by later today to check on you."

"Thanks, Sakura." Then Kaoru remembered that Sakura had been hurt too. "How are you?"

"I'm fine now. Sasuke is hovering though. It's kind of annoying," Sakura said with a frown.

"I get the feeling both of our friends are blaming themselves for not being there to protect us."

Sakura scoffed, "That's stupid. It's not their fault."

"I know but we'll have to indulge in their slight over protectiveness for the next few weeks."

Sakura let out a sigh, "I suppose you're right."

Gaara frowned. He wasn't sure if he should be insulted or not. The two girls were talking like they hadn't almost been killed. Didn't realize what could have happened to them? He hoped so. They were both reasonably intelligent so they shouldn't need it spelled out for them. At lease, he certainly hoped not. He didn't think he could tell them. Just thinking about what could have happened if he had been just a few seconds late made his blood run cold.

Kaoru looked at him with a smile, "Don't worry about it, Gaara-kun. We're fine. You weren't too late."

Gaara just shook his head and said, "We're leaving as soon as you recover. I want to get you out of here."

Relief flooded through Kaoru, "I can't wait."

Later that night Makoto walked in. He was carrying a plate full of food. Kaoru stared at it hungrily. She hadn't been able to eat in a while because of her stomach injury. Eating had been uncomfortable. When the food was placed in front of her she looked up into her grandfather's eyes curiously. Makoto hadn't once shown any signs of caring about her the entire time she had been here. This was an odd change.

"Did you want something, Makoto-san?" she questioned quietly. Makoto still made her nervous. His cold attitude wasn't something she could easily handle. Dealing with Gaara's ice emotions was different. She had known that Gaara cared about her. Makoto on the other had had gone out of his way to show that he didn't care at all.

He sat down in the chair next to the bed, "Yes. I wish to apologize."

That's it for now. I hope you guys liked it. Let me know what you think will ya.