Once Naruto wakes up ("Feeling better than ever!") we keep moving. Gaara sets a quick pace, so that we reach Suna sooner than I expected.

As soon as we set foot in the city the uneasy feeling in my stomach intensifies. I look to Gaara to see if he feels the same, but it's impossible to read his expression in this dark.

The streets are empty. It's true that Suna nights are much quieter than in Konoha, but there would still be some people out and about, even at this hour. No city ever truly sleeps.

Except tonight.

Gaara makes a small noise, something that sounds like a growl, and then takes off at a run. Naruto and I quickly follow. I feel like I'm on another night run almost, except that these two are with me now, and there's something waiting for us at the end of this run; I'm sure of it.

We come out into the square in front of the government building. At first I don't see anything, but I follow Gaara's gaze to the roof and see there a figure standing, silhouetted in the moonlight. It looks familiar, but I'm not quite sure until…

"Kankuro!" Gaara yells. "What has happened? Where is everyone?"

"They've all gone underground, little brother." Kankuro replies, spitting out the last two words with such spite that I nearly take a step back such is my surprise. "For the coming battle."

"What battle?" Gaara asks. I don't think he noticed the way Kankuro threw his words at him. Naruto must have missed it too, judging by the way he's looking around for an enemy, one who is standing right in front of us.

Then Luo appears beside Kankuro in a cloud of smoke. They confer quietly for a while, but by the time I've adjusted my chakra so that I can hear better they've finished talking.

"Sakura," Luo yells down to me. Naruto jumps to place himself between us, about to yell something back at Luo, but I place a restraining hand on his shoulder, and quietly tell him who Luo is. "You should leave here. Don't get involved in this; it doesn't concern you."

"How can you say that, knowing what you do?" I yell back. "There's no way I'm leaving now!"

"Me neither!" Naruto yells back.

Luo's shoulders slump slightly as Kankuro makes a small movement, and suddenly dozens of ninjas appear around us. We're surrounded.

"You were supposed to be alone Gaara." Kankuro says. I can hear the smugness in his voice. "But no matter."

I turn to Gaara, who has been silent. He's not looking up at Kankuro, as one would have expected. He's looking down, his face hidden in shadows.

"Nothing to say brother?" Kankuro goes on to ask. "No exclamations of surprise, of betrayal, learning that your own, dear brother is going to kill you?"

I never realized that Kankuro was such a bastard. I thought he and Gaara were getting along. I thought the past was over.

"How can you just stand there?" Kankuro demands, growing annoyed with Gaara's silence. "This is the end Gaara! You have no place left to run, no one left to revive you when you die, no one left who loves you, not even your own brother! Where are your supporters now? Where is our dear sister to stand up for you now? Aren't you going to cry, or scream? Aren't you infuriated? Answer me!"

Gaara looks up at last. The moonlight shines off his face, so that he becomes another moon of his own. He looks so serene, despite this betrayal. This isn't so strange to him, that it can shock him anymore. My heart feels like it's crumbling in my chest. It's too sad. How could Kankuro do this to his own brother? If Gaara won't ask the questions Kankuro wants to hear, I will.

But I keep silent. It's not my place to speak; this is between Gaara and his brother.

"You shut up!" Naruto yells suddenly, surprising me out of my thoughts. "I hate your type most of all! Acting like you're such a great guy, but it's only an act! I used to think you were a good guy, but not anymore! You're just scum! Now, I'm just going to beat you up!" He points a menacing finger at Kankuro, and I feel something like relief wash through me. I know we're in a dire situation, and that we might not make it out alive, but to have Naruto acting like he always used to just makes me feel so much better. It's like being home.

Kankuro laughs. "Fine." With a cry, he sets his puppets upon us, both the human and inhuman ones.

It takes only a moment for me to realize that Gaara is frozen. I fight my way through to him, to protect him. His sand armor seems to have taken most of the damage, but there's no way he can stay alive if he won't even fight for it.

I try to yell at him, to get him to wake up, while fighting off the shinobi who are attacking, but he doesn't react. I want to shake him, to hold him, slap him – anything to get him to wake up, but there is no time. All of my attention is taken up by the attackers.

Then suddenly, Naruto is beside me, fighting with me.

"What's wrong with him?" he asks. I shake my head; I can't help. "Come on Sakura, you've got to do something! You've got to be able to get through to him. I'll hold these losers off!"

I nod, and duck a blow. I move to stand right beside Gaara. For a moment nobody moves, and Naruto stands twitching, at the ready for another attack. But I'm only half paying attention to them now.

"Gaara, snap out of it!" I plead. I put my hands on either side of his face and try to look into his eyes, but he's staring through me, past me. I turn to see what it is he's staring at, but there's nothing there. "Gaara please."

I shake his shoulders, but he still won't react. How can this be happening? This isn't like Gaara at all.

"I'm scared." I whisper, thinking no one can hear me.

"Don't be. I won't let anyone hurt you; it's my job."

I spin around to face Luo, thinking he's come to fight with us, but he's still looking at Gaara with a hard look in his eyes. He grabs me and tears me away from Gaara, then jumps out of the fray, leaving Naruto and Gaara behind.

"Stop!" I yell, watching the scene get farther behind. "Let me go!"

"I can't keep you from harm back there Sakura." He says, letting me down anyway. He still holds my arms as I stare over his shoulder at the distant battle. "Please just stay away. I don't want anything to happen to you."

I look at him, with what I hope is a withering glare. "I'm not going to do that. And you can't keep me here."

"I can try."

I tear my arms out of his grip and try to jump over him, but he grabs my ankle and pulls me back. I answer with a kick to the face, and flip backwards to land on my feet. Luo stands, rubbing his chin, and shakes his head.

"I can't let you go back there." he repeats, settling in to a fighting position and facing me. This time he charges me.

I don't want to fight Luo, but he isn't giving me much of a choice, and there's no way I'm going to let him hold me back now. It's time to stop fooling around.

Luo jumps back to avoid a chakra loaded punch, and another. I keep driving him back until he reaches the end of the rooftop, and he is forced to jump across to the next one.

I glare at him across the distance, and I'm about to jump over to join him, but a loud cry sounds out across the city, many voices yelling at once, calling each other. Luo and I both freeze, and watch the battle below.

We stand still as people appear from everywhere, out of windows, racing across rooftops and through alleyways to join the battle. I watch in amazement as they corner the enemy, and smile as Kankuro is surrounded by six elite sand shinobi. Let's see him get out of this one.

"You ok?"

I turn to see Temari standing right beside me, holding her giant fan spread out behind her. She looks ready to jump in and join the fray.

"I'm fine, but Gaara…"

Temari nods with a grim look on her face. "It must have hurt, to realize it was Kankuro. We've had suspicions, but he wouldn't believe…" She shakes her head, leaning forward just a tiny bit more. I can tell she's impatient. "In any case, we can talk later – this isn't the time. I have another brother to take care of right now."

I nod in assent, and she jumps away, landing close to Kankuro, who turns to her. I can see their lips moving – they're talking, but I can't hear what they're saying. I remember Luo suddenly, and spin around to face him, but he's nowhere to be found. I move in closer to the battle to see that all of Kankuro's people have laid down their weapons and surrendered. They're all wearing blank headbands. Well, this does explain a lot… I think. I can tell Naruto is in the same boat as me – but still a whole lot more confused than even me. And still, I don't see Luo anywhere.

I want to smash something; I'm so frustrated. How can I not have seen it? How could I not have noticed something like this – whatever this is, a rebellion, a family feud or what – happening. It's obvious that everyone else saw it coming. But what gets me the most is how badly I misjudged Luo's character.

And yet…

I can't bring myself to hate him. I guess because I do understand where he's coming from. I used to feel the same way after all. And no doubt I'm more sympathetic because he loved me. Everyone will think I'm stupid for believing him after he deceived me in everything else, but I believe that little at least. I'm sure he loved me. Loves me.

I shake my head, trying to clear these thoughts from my head. This is not what I need to be thinking about right now. It's as Temari said – this is not the time.

I jump off the roof to land beside Naruto. He turns his head and smiles at me.

"That was as good as any surprise attack I've ever launched." He admits.

"If by 'as good' you mean 'way better and actually logical' then yes, it was."

He pouts at my insult. I just want to hug him – so I do. "I missed you." I say quietly in his ear, so as not to be heard by all the people standing around us.

When I let go I see that no one is even looking at us. They're all looking upwards, to the roof. I look too. Kankuro is being cuffed by a man, as Temari watches on, speaking to him.

I look around, but I don't see Gaara. "Where's Gaara?" I whisper to Naruto.

He shrugs. "He started moving just after you were taken away, and started fighting. He took out all of Kankuro's puppets, and then I lost him. He must be here somewhere."

Naruto seems unconcerned, but I am far from it. This is the end of the battle. The good guys have won again; Gaara was on the winning side, fighting for the right, so why has he disappeared now?