EDITED!!!

Hello all!! Here's another chapter for you. Much longer than the others... ^_____^ Yay me. I do hope it's okay. Let me know what you think!!

This is slightly a filler chapter, but it still has some significant points in it. I'm fighting my writers block with everything I have, and I'm hoping I'll win!! I think I can pump out one more chapter easily. But I'm sure more will just automatically come out as I type. It usually happens like that. I can't just write with a pen. Too slow. XD But I'm fighting it!!! ^____^ Thanks for all you're support, guys!!!

(I changed a few things in it. Only how Gaara was addressed. Good point, L0stL0ve. ^___^ Thank you. I'll go more into your review next chapter.)

THANKS FOR 330 HITS AND 114 VISITORS IN LESS THAN FIVE DAYS!!!

Hanari-chan: Hahahaha, I love the evil look. But yeah, Sasuke is a jerk. OMFG I got you to like the pairing?!?!?! YAY!! *Gobbles a cookie and gives one to Gaara* Thank you!!! And possibly. I'm not sure exactly where and when but possibly.

Skye-Sama: Haha, yeah, Sasuke is just a plain jerk in this. It's not too hard to hate him. XD Thank you!!! More lurve coming up!!!

I don't own Naruto! If I did I would so put these two together!!! ^____^

Thanks a billion to my readers!!!!

Chapter 11: Unexpected

"He isn't going to like this…" Temari murmured, walking slowly through the halls of the tower. It had been a week since his return, and the Kazekage was still buried in paperwork from his absence. During that week, Ino had still remained in the hospital, and Gaara hadn't been able to visit her nor had he heard anything about her condition. Somehow, this seemed to cause a slight change in the way Gaara acted, so subtle, only his two siblings had noticed, mainly Temari. Kankuro only suspected he was getting annoyed with the amount of work to be done, but Temari had paid a little more attention than her brother.

At his desk, the Kazekage had always sat so incredibly still and quiet, eyes unmoving from his work, his pen moving at a constant pace. Lately, though, his actions began to give away his growing anticipation. His eyes would glance away from his work to the clock, only to dart back before a second could pass. As the third day rolled around, he would hesitate for a moment in his writing, like he had lost his train of thought, then resume after a few seconds. Temari had even seen him pacing once. She sighed, ascending the stairs as she thought about yesterday

Holding a cup of tea in one hand, Temari raised the other, gently knocking on the door with the back of her knuckles. She waited, hearing nothing from the Kazekage's office. "I'm coming in…" She told him after a moment, waiting a few more seconds before slowly turning the handle, opening the door and peeking her head through.

"A-are you… Alright?" She asked uncertainly, staring at her younger brother. He had his head buried in his hands, like he was holding it up, and his paperwork had been shoved to the side.

"Maybe you should take a break and relax for a while, Gaara…" She suggested quietly, walking up and placing the tea on his desk.

"I'm fine, Temari."

"But you've been working nonstop since you returned!"

"There's still work to be done." He slowly raised his head, opening his bloodshot eyes.

Temari raised an eyebrow at his unusually calm tone. Typically, he would have snapped at her by now. She frowned as she took in his state. She bravely raised her voice slightly, continuing on.

"You should at least get some sleep, you look terrible! Please Gaa—"

"Enough! I'm fine!" He roared, suddenly on his feet, gripping the desk. "Must I tell you again?"

Temari took a step back, swallowing as she remembered the way he used to threaten her and Kankuro with death. She raised her hands, palms out.

"F-forgive me, Gaara-San… I have overstepped my bounds." She said softly, turning and walking towards the door and stepping out, closing it behind her slowly.

"Temari."

She paused, her heart thudding in her chest as she reappeared in the doorway.

"Y-yes, Gaara?"

He was silent for a long time, his eyes boring into hers. He no longer looked angry like he was a second ago. The only thing that seemed to be left was exhaustion. A second emotion as well… was that… worry?

"Get me a report on her."

Temari blinked. "On who, Gaara?"

"Yamanaka-San. She is a guest to Suna and I expect her to be having the best possible treatment as she recovers. Tell the doctors that if she receives any mistreatment, I will not be pleased." He told her softly, sitting back down in his chair.

Temari stared at him for a moment, her eyes soft as she thought about it. There had to definitely be something more to this than her just being a guest. She smiled softly.

"Of course." With that, she turned to leave.

"Temari,"

She paused again, turning over her shoulder, hand resting on the door knob. "Yes?"

He was silent again; his eyes lowered to what she had placed on his desk.

"Thank you." He murmured, looking up to watch her vaguely.

"You're welcome."

She closed the door gently and made her way back down the stairs, slapping her cheeks lightly. "Don't you get mushy over this, Temari." She told herself. "Gaara's too tired to think straight right now so of course he's not going to act normal." She reasoned, then sighed after a few minutes. "But… Even so… Something else is going on."

She felt herself smile slightly as she hit the last step, coming to a stop in front of a door. Her frown returned as she looked at what she held in her shaking hands. Something about this girl was affecting him, similar to how that Uzumaki Naruto did. Yet… she couldn't help but feel that there was more to it. A lot more. Gaara had never acted like this before, never seeming stressed about someone else.

This girl, whether she realized it or not, had an impact on his thoughts.

She had an impact on his actions.

His entire being.

* * * *

Gaara slowly opened his eyes, the warm sunlight pulling him from the depths of sleep. He blinked. Sleep? Sitting up, he stared at the window, narrowing his eyes. When did he fall asleep? He had only lain down on the couch to close his eyes for a moment. Apparently it had been a lot longer than that. He sighed as he pulled himself up to stand, walking to the window and peering out. It had to have been at least noon by now, judging by the place the blistering sun held in the sky.

He turned upon hearing a soft, hesitant knock at his door. He stared at it for a moment, as if contemplating whether or not to let them in.

"You may enter," He said finally, watching as Temari slid into the room, her eyes on the floor. He frowned. She looked extremely nervous, her fingers tapping anxiously against something in her hands.

"Th-this is for you, Gaara. The report that you requested. From the hospital." She avoided his piercing stare, her eyes still on the floor as she held out a manila envelope, her hands trembling ever so slightly.

Gaara took it quickly, color draining from his face as he stared at it; a first for him. Temari glanced up, shoving her eyebrows together as her head snapped up.

"No, no, it's nothing like that… She's… fine." She said carefully, stepping back as Gaara opened it, his usual mask of tranquility returning as he reached for the paper, pulling it out and unfolding it. He frowned. There wasn't much on the page. He took a silent, deep breath, then let his eyes scan the page.

"Our Dearest Kazekage-Sama:

We know how busy you are, so we tried to make this as brief as possible.

Yamanaka Ino had been admitted into our critical condition ward as of yesterday. It appears that she had been poisoned with a very potent substance. The type of poison is unknown. During the first few days of her admittance, Yamanaka-San had passed all of our examinations, nothing of familiarity showing in her bloodstream. We had examined and tested her in every way possible until day four, when she started showing new symptoms. Her breathing had quickened, and she has some difficulty in getting air. Her body temperature has dropped dramatically; however, she had expressed a strong burning sensation all over her body, mainly at the point of her injury.

On day five, the flesh around her neck had become grey; it had begun to spread too quickly, and we had to remove it as means of surgery. We had examined the extracted flesh and we have detected something foreign, something alive. Our medics have been working around the clock to try to remove the substance from her body. The amount of the substance, however, hasn't gone down by much. It seems to be growing, multiplying itself constantly. We will continue this process until it is all removed. Unfortunately, we are sorry to tell you, Yamanaka-San is suffering greatly, as none of our medicines have been able to relieve her of the pain.

Even with this news of her condition, please note that we will do everything in our power to save her.

Our Best Regards,

Suna Hospital

Gaara felt himself begin to shake, beginning to pace, rereading the letter over and over again. He tried to relax his grip on the paper as he slowly folded it back up, sliding it into the envelope. Pausing, his fingers grazed something else, a smaller paper folded into a small square. Pulling it out, he dropped the envelope onto his desk as he unfolded it. His eyes narrowed to read the elegant writing.

"Gaara-

I heard that the doctor was going to send you a report on how I'm doing… I hope he didn't make it sound worse than it really is. I'm doing great. Don't worry about me. You have more important things to do. Just wanted to let you know I'm okay. Are you okay? I hope so. I can't wait to get out of this place. Hospitals SUCK!!

-Ino"

He stood there quietly for a moment, pulling the hospital's letter out and glanced back and forth between the two. Somehow, they didn't exactly match up in his mind.

"Have you seen her?" He asked his sister, his back towards her.

"Yes, I have once. When I picked up the report." She said softly, wringing her hands.

"How is she really, Temari?" His voice was slow, soft, as if not wanting to hear the answer anyways. He waited for her response, but only silence greeted him. He turned around to see her biting her lip, seeming to be thinking about something.

She was, actually, thinking about her. She recalled so clearly her short visit to the hospital.

She had waited patiently at the front desk as the secretary paged the doctor. She had to do it a few times, since he hadn't returned the page.

"Doctor Tanashi, you're keeping your guest waiting an awfully long time." The secretary had said into a speaker phone, obviously nervous.

A few seconds had passed, and she had reached for the button to page again, then stopped as the light came on.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. I just had to deal with…" He was cut off by a loud crash from his end. Temari and the secretary stared at the speaker. "Damn it, that hurt! Stop throwing things! My answer is no!" They heard him yell to someone else. They heard a female voice at the other end, yelling just as loud as him, but they couldn't tell what she was saying.

"How many times must I tell you? No visitors!" He cried, then another crash, the female voice screaming again. "Stop that! I told you no visitors until you are well!" Another crash. "Damn it! I said no!" Temari had gone wide-eyed, staring intensely at the speaker still.

"What's going on..?" Temari asked suddenly, hearing another crash.

The secretary sighed, but before she could reply, the doctor had appeared, looking very unhappy. His jacket was wet, and he had a bump on his head. "Please come with me." He asked, his voice almost pleading as he turned around. Hesitantly, she followed him. They went up three flights of stairs, people growing fewer and fewer until they reached the final floor. It was practically desolate.

He led her to a room and stood to the side. She reached for the door, grasping the handle and listening. It was almost silent. She could hear murmurs of a few different people. She also heard a quiet beeping sound, going at a fast, uneven pace. Narrowing her eyebrows, she slowly opened the door and walked in, the doctor shutting it promptly behind her. She looked around the room. There were many people there, some were sitting in chairs, drinking coffee and eating some bread. Some of them were sweeping up broken glass, another soaking up the water on the ground. She guessed it was a broken vase, probably what had made the doctor wet. All the ones sitting down looked exhausted, eyeing something on the other side of the room.

She turned towards it, pursing her lips. There were six medics surrounding someone on a bed, their hands glowing as they made their way up and down the body. She stepped closer, and the medics had lowered their hands, all of them backing away quickly. She stared as they walked away, even the ones that had been sitting down. She caught one of them by the arm. "Why are you leaving?" She asked, watching him as he stared back at her, fear in his eyes as he glanced behind him to the bed. "Never, ever, make her angry." He whispered, walking away as soon as she released her grip.

"Temari-Sama!"

Startling slightly, she turned quickly to the voice. And her mouth slowly fell open, her eyes wide as they took in the sight before her.

Her skin was pale and clammy, her thin fingers interlocked on her lap, squeezing so tight that her knuckles managed to become whiter than her skin. Her chest rose and fell astonishingly fast, as if she had gotten done with an intense training session, yet there was no sign of sweat or physical exhaustion. Just after one second, she had taken two breaths. The beeping sound from earlier, she now realized, was monitoring the speed of her heart; just as fast. A bloody bandage was wrapped around where her neck and shoulder met. Temari raised her gaze to Ino's face, shocked to see a smile upon her bony face.

"It's good to see you! How are you doing?" Her voice was scratchy, yet carrying a cheery tone. Temari struggled for words.

"I-I am well, thank you."

"That's good. Is Gaa—, I mean, is the Kazekage doing well?" She asked between breaths.

"The Kazekage is… doing okay. He is very busy at the moment, catching up on his work from his absence." Temari raised an eyebrow at the girl before her as she pulled something from under her pillow.

"Will you please take this to him for me? The doctor refused to let me put it in with the report that he was giving. Even if he let me, I had a feeling he would take it out and throw it away." She said in a hushed tone, holding out a small, folded piece of paper in her shaking fingers. Temari nodded, reaching out and taking it gently from her, placing it into her pocket. It took everything in her power to not shudder at the iciness of her skin.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it."

"It's nothing."

It was silent for a while as Temari watched Ino's face. It jumped back and forth from tranquility to agony, and Temari guessed that she was trying to hide the fact that she was in pain. She decided not to bring that up.

"About earlier… What exactly happened..?" Temari asked suddenly, unable to contain her curiosity. She tilted her head as she watched Ino began to laugh lightly, a small smirk on her delicate lips.

"Well… I heard that you were coming to pick up a report from him and so I asked to be able to speak with you. I even asked nicely, saying please a billion times. That idiot refused and so I kinda got angry with him." She said it nonchalantly; shrugging like it was an everyday thing. Temari looked around the room, noticing that many things were broken, and that there were dents in the walls.

'She has a temper like Gaara…' Temari thought as the pieces fell together. They both jumped at the door opening, the doctor walking in stiffly. "You're five minutes is up." He said calmly, appearing to have gone for a coffee break to relax and change his clothes. Temari patted Ino's hand softly. "Feel better, okay?" She told her, walking slowly out of the room. 'For your sake and his…' She thought, taking the manila envelope from the doctor, continuing on her way.

She almost tripped down the flight of stairs when a hair-raising scream echoed through the halls, causing her heart to thud loudly in her chest as she turned and looked back up to the door she had exited. The medics had returned, resuming their positions, some of them standing outside the door. They were staring inside, a strange, pained look on their faces. She pulled herself away, not wanting to see what they saw. She headed swiftly down the stairs and out the door.

"Temari?" She jumped up at hearing her name, her eyes meeting Gaara's. She sighed.

"She's… She's ill. I'll be honest. She didn't look so good. But the way she acted proved differently." She said cautiously, measuring his reaction.

"How was she acting?" He asked, eyeing her.

"Well… From what I heard over the speaker… She was practically throwing things at the doctor in order for me to come into the room. She said that the doctors wouldn't let her put her note with their report, so she gave it to me. She pretty much broke everything within reach over the doctor's head because she got so mad."

Gaara blinked, narrowing his eyes. "What do you think?"

Temari thought for a moment, then looked up at her brother. "I don't have a doubt in my mind that she'll recover. She's pretty tough. Not to mention violently stubborn." She assured, forcing a smile.

They both jumped as someone suddenly rushed into the room, slamming the door open. Gaara slid the papers under his work, shoving Ino's note into his pocket. "Kankuro! You know better than to barge in here unannounced. There had better be something important going on…" Gaara said acidly, glaring at his brother.

"There were some ninja spotted a few miles outside the gates. They're headed this way."

"Intentions?" Gaara pressed, one single thought edging in the back of his mind.

"Unknown. There are three of them. One has short raven hair; the other has long dark hair; and third has short dark hair. That's all the information the guard reported."

Gaara almost felt his heart stop.

"Don't let them slip away. Capture them and confirm their identities immediately. And whatever you do, don't you dare let them near the hospital. Report back to me as soon as you have more information." Gaara ordered harshly, watching his two siblings rush out of the room.

He stood alone, trying to work his breathing and heart rate down to a normal level. He needed to be calm before he stepped out. He began walking towards the door. Suddenly, his brother was back, bounding into the room.

"You'll never believe who just showed up!"