A couple of days later I'm surprised to find myself once again in a small room with a shirtless Kazekage. Only one week and he's back for another check up? He must really like me.

If only that were the case. Wait. If only…? What am I thinking?

Luo woke me early this morning, saying that he had received a visit from the ever lovable Seri (I swear he said it just like that) and that I was to go in early this morning. So I headed on over to the hospital, where I was once again directed to this room, and when I opened the door, lo and behold, there was Gaara, sitting on the table waiting patiently for my arrival.

I admit I stared at him a bit. But only as much as he stared at me, not even really. Gaara has an unnerving habit of staring at people.

"What are you doing back?" I asked, "We already did a check up just a week ago. Somehow I doubt you could have gotten anything since then." I didn't say what I really thought; that I doubt there's anything he could have gotten at all.

"I'm not sick." He said simply. I still didn't move from the doorway. "It's just a precaution. My ministers make me get a check up every week, to make sure I haven't been poisoned or anything, I guess."

I nodded. By 'ministers', no doubt he meant Temari. I shrugged and decided I might as well do the check up then. No wonder Seri had no time to be taking care of the Kazekage, if he needed this much taking care of.

"It probably wouldn't work you know." he says quietly, as I'm listening to his heartbeat through his chest. It's still there, thumping away rhythmically. I've always liked the sound of hearts; it comforts me somehow.

"Hm?"

"A poison. I doubt there's any poison that could kill me." He says. He sounds almost bitter, angry even. "But there could still be poison in my bloodstream, I've been told, so I should get my blood checked. They don't want me to get sick, they say."

"Gaara." I say gently. He looks up at me, frowning for some reason I can only guess at.

"What?"

"Maybe you don't like coming here, and getting check ups so often, but…" My voice trails off, as his expression changes, until he looks positively livid. He sits up very straight, and I think I've said something, and now he's going to kill me, but he just tilts his head to the side then, as if listening to something. I try to listen too, but I can't hear anything.

"What is it?" I ask.

He looks at me, as if he had forgotten I was there, and then he gets up suddenly and pulls his shirt on. "Follow me." I do as he says, following him as he stalks out of the hospital and out through the streets. Once we get outside he jumps to the rooftops and we start to run.

"Where are we going?" Luo asks. I shrug, as well as anyone can shrug while running full out, that is.

"There's an attack." Gaara answers, just ahead of us. "I can't let them get away."

I stare at the back of his head, wondering how the hell he knows this. And wondering why he told me to follow him when it's obvious he plans to do everything, whatever that is, by himself. I know perfectly well that he doesn't need help, not from me, and not from Luo.

It seems that hardly any time has passed and then suddenly we're running across sands. It's harder to run on the sand, as it sinks softly under my heels, but Gaara doesn't seem to have any trouble running on the sand, and he quickly pulls ahead. I concentrate my chakra in my heels, but it only helps so much. There's no way I can keep up with Gaara. Luo falls behind with me, and not out of kindness.

"We'll catch up." He says, sounding very sure of it. "I don't think the Kazekage is the type to run towards danger in anything but a straight line."

I nod, keeping my eyes fixed forward. That's where he is, that's where this attack is.

When we get there Gaara is fighting. There are two bodies lying nearby; as far as I can tell they're dead, and Gaara is fighting the third member now.

He's covered in a dome of sand, but to my eyes it doesn't look right, not like his usual shield. The one he's got now is much wider, with enough space in it for several persons. I stand away for a moment, trying to figure out what's going, and in that moment Luo leaps past me.

It's the first time I've actually seen Luo in action, and I'm kind of surprised to see how good he really is. Or how good he might be if faced with a real challenge. He quickly takes of the man attacking Gaara's shell. I still can't figure that out. I'm sure Gaara can't have changed so much that he wouldn't even have been fighting back.

"Leave him alive." Gaara's voice rings out across the emptiness, and the eerie silence in which the battle was fought. Now that I think of it, there was no sound. It was completely silent until this moment.

He broke the spell.

Luo looks at Gaara quickly, while still holding the man underneath him, and at that moment the man makes his move. He pushes Luo back and starts making hand signs, but he is quickly engulfed by sand. His hands go first, and I hear the sickening crunch of his bones being crushed in a fist of sand. The man still makes no sound. The sand spreads from his hands, up his arms and around his body until he is completely surrounded, except for his head which is left in the air, looking strange and naked above all that sand.

I look at Luo, but he looks fine and he is staring at the Kazekage. I follow his gaze. Gaara is glaring at the man in his cage with a look of absolute bloodlust. It's a look I haven't seen for a long time; a look we had thought was gone.

But, when I really saw him, I realized it was different. It wasn't quite the same, blind and open lust of younger years. This was surely Gaara, the man, but he was very angry.

And yet still that man was alive. I turned to look at him, to see how he was reacting, but he didn't look to be reacting at all. He was just staring down at Gaara, completely emotionless. He looked sort of dead. On his head he wore a ninja headband, and it was blank.

"Sakura."

I turned back towards Gaara at the sound of my name. He lets down the shield of sand, and I understand why it looked so strange. There, lying at his feet, is a woman, wearing the headband of a Suna ninja.

Without thinking I run over to her, to see if she's ok. Her breathing is shallow, and her body is in rough shape. I put a hand to her chest and listen. Her heart feels alright; it's just blood loss that has her systems slowing down. There's no damage to her heart, but some of her other organs will be needing treatment.

I look up at Gaara quickly. He's looking at the woman by his feet with a strange look in his eyes.

"Can you help her?" he asks.

I nod quickly and turn back to the woman. Gaara steps away as I lay her out gently, all the while concentrating my chakra. When it's ready I let it out, passing it into the strange woman, doing what I've been taught to do.

I let out a breath once the woman sucks in a deep breath and lets it all out again. She starts breathing normally, and so do I. This always happens to me; when I'm working I'll forget to breathe.

I lift the woman in my arms and turn to the other two. "Let's go."

Gaara nods. Luo is still watching him closely. I don't know what it is; maybe it's just because Gaara is the leader of his country. Whatever it is, I find Luo watching Gaara with such a peculiar expression; I don't know what to make of it. And truthfully, I don't think much of it; I've got other things on my mind.