Just as I promised, chapter 6 is here. I even posted it on the same day as chapter 5! I guess I felt bad that those who were waiting for the last chapter had to wait overnight. I hope you like this chapter, I had a really hard time writing it. Let me know if it turned out good.

Disclaimer: I ran out of funny ideas for this one, and the last one. So I guess I'll just say that I own nothing except for the fuzzy walking banana monkey that lives in Willy Wonka's basement.

The Price of Freedom

Chapter 6

Sakura opened her eyes to see a canopy of stars overhead. Rubbing sleep from her tired eyes, she startled when the cot underneath her jumped and jostled around. Not knowing what was going on, Sakura shot upright with wide worried eyes. Scanning the area, she did not see manacled nomads or the Konoha guard as she had expected. All she saw were said nomads all around her, either riding horses, camels or walking briskly beside the cart she had woken up on. They seemed to be in no danger; on the contrary, they seemed quite content with whatever mode of transportation they took.

Many of the surrounding faces took note of Sakura's now woken state. "Hey! The magic lady is awake!" shouted a young child, riding bareback upon a horse with his father.

"Hush now child," The father cooed as he restrained the child, giving Sakura an apologetic look that she returned with a smile.

Though hearing this announcement, a blonde woman walking a ways behind the cart took interest and hurried towards the cart. Weaving in and out of man, cart and beast, she jogged up to Sakura's haul and jumped on. Watching in surprise, Sakura eyed the woman who looked back with equal interest.

"Hey, it's good to see your doing better." The woman stated with a smile.

Sakura shyly smiled back, "Thank you. I feel much better."

Turning her head to the side she fingered one of the four ponytails keeping her hair in place, "Yeah, my brother just about had a fit when he found out that you had been working so hard."

"Your brother?"

"Gaara, he's my youngest brother." Sakura would have never guessed that the two were related, they looked nothing alike. Though this woman had an air about her that commanded respect, just like Gaara.

A knot twisted in her stomach as the thought of Gaara passed through her mind. She could feel his arms embracing her like he had done earlier that day when trying to console her. He had been much kinder then she thought he could be when she had first met him in the palace. He had acted like a true leader throughout her short stay as well; despite his young age. Which brought up the question once again.

"How old is your brother?" Sakura asked with curiosity.

The blonde spoke, "You aren't the first to ask that question."

"I'm sorry, it's just, he looks so young."

Smiling widely, she continued, "Don't worry, he gets that a lot. Actually, he's as young as he looks. He's only 17. Though technically my other brother, Kankuro, he should have been leader when dad died. But He gave the position to Gaara when he found it didn't really suit him well."

Sakura nodded, "I understand. Does that make you Tamari?"

Resting her elbows on her knees, the woman nodded, "Yeah." She eyed Sakura up and down and frowned disapprovingly, "Gaara said that the robes fitted you fine. Cheap liar! Look at you, your tiny!"

Sakura looked down at the dark purple robes she wore; Tamari was right, these were so big they seemed to swallow her up completely. She shrugged, "It doesn't matter, I don't really mind."

Tamari snorted, "Yes it does! You're such a beautiful girl and those robes are just hiding the great figure you've got under there. Am I correct?"

Sakura blushed, "I don't know. I really think it looks fine."

"Oh pish posh, I'm going to find you a better pair of robes. You have no say in the matter," Said Tamari, crossing her arms.

Behind Tamari, Sakura could see Shikamaru ride up next to the blonde. "Sorry to interrupt your important conversation, but Kankuro has asked to see you, he's up in the front," He said, addressing Tamari.

She turned to see the ex-General behind her and the lightest tinge of red washed across the bridge of her nose. Sakura smiled at the cute action as Tamari nodded farewell to the both of them and hopped off the cart.

"I see you are better." Shikamaru said from atop his horse. Sakura slid over to talk with him.

"Yes, I am well."

He frowned at her, "That was a very foolish thing to do. It's a good thing Gaara found you when he had."

Sakura looked at the floor of the cart in embarrassment, "I know."

"What were you thinking? You could have killed yourself." He scolded further.

Her head shot up, eyes wide, "I couldn't just let all those people suffer! I had to do something."

Shikamaru looked at her impassively, "So, you would sacrifice your well being for that of another?"

She looked at him, puzzled, "Wouldn't anyone."

Boring into her eyes with his, he continued, "Not only were your actions incredibly foolish, but honorable as well. Maybe I did the right thing in helping you."

Smiling, Sakura looked down in awkwardness, "I never really did thank you did I? I haven't had a chance to talk to you since we got here. Well, there aren't enough words to thank you." Looking out across the sea of people, Sakura remembered the initial question she had meant to ask him, "Why did we leave? When I woke up, the camp was gone and we were traveling."

"This is a nomadic tribe is it not? Nomads pack up and leave all the time." He stated simply.

Confusion filled her eyes, "So it's not because of, well, what I did?"

"What did you do?" He questioned, obviously worried.

She gave him a funny look, "But I thought; Gaara told me he had been talking with you about a plan. You know, because Sasuke was going to… you know."

Shikamaru's mouth was set in a grim line, "So he told you?"

"No, I found the scroll." Feeling that sense of guilt building up again she looked away, "Because of me all these people are in danger. I should have never left."

"It's not entirely your fault," He said in a sad voice, "I am just as much to blame as you, if not more. I was thoughtless when I had told that gatekeeper where we were going. I didn't think that Sasuke would find out. I had planned to head back after I saw you to safety."

Sakura gazed at the ex-General; his eyes held so much guilt she thought that somehow her own had been given to him. Upon further inspection, she found that the sharp pang was still within her. Sighing sadly, she smiled slightly, "It will be okay. Gaara said you two were forming a plan. You weren't the youngest General in history for nothing right?"

Not concerning himself with the comment, Shikamaru looked up at the stars, "We should be there by tomorrow night."

"Where are we headed?"

"The desert forest; Sasuke is going to try and corner us there. I believe he had expected us to run from his forces. But what he won't count on is us fighting back."

Sakura gave him a doubtful look, "How? There aren't nearly enough people to fight against Sasuke's army."

"Precisely; we can just corner him, and when he is eliminated, his troops will stop. That is our plan." Sakura saw that he was rather confident in his plan; and if he thought it was a good one, it must be.

She smiled hopefully at him, "I know that we'll all make it through this. But what about those who are not fighters? Where will they go?"

"Gaara knows of a hidden cave in that forest, we plan to have all women, children and the elderly lead there by Tamari to wait until it is over."

Sakura's eyes narrowed in anger, "I want to fight too."

"That's not possible."

She crossed her arms stubbornly, "And why not?"

He gave her a warning glare, "You will go with the rest of them to the cave. You are now a valuable part of this community, your safety cannot be debated."

"So is Gaara, and you." She rebutted.

"Yes, but that is different." He said, as if it was plainly obvious.

"That's not fair! I could—" She was cut off by middle aged man that ran up to them in a frenzy.

"You're the healer right?" He questioned. Sakura nodded, worry written on her face, "Please, hurry to the front. Gaara has been injured." He seemed somewhat frantic as he waved his arms around to accentuate his point.

Sakura nodded quickly and stood up, only to fall back down again, "I'm afraid my legs are still weak."

"Here," Shikamaru brought his horse closer to the cart and held out his arm, "I'll take you up there." Sakura leaned over the side as he wrapped his arm around her waist and heaved her over the side and in front of him on the stallion.

Maneuvering quickly out of the center of the mass of people, Shikamaru brought the horse to a gallop. Holding on for her life, Sakura gripped the black mane of the large animal, her eyes tightly shut. As they neared the front of the crowd she could hear the shouts of worry for the injured leader.

Feeling Shikamaru bring the horse to a halt, she opened her eyes and tried to slide off its back. Seeing her struggle, Shikamaru grabbed her roughly and pulled her off. He quickly made his way to the group of people surrounding Gaara, Sakura still weak in his arms. Shouting for the frantic nomads to make way, he finally made his way to the center of the cluster of bodies and set the girl by the obviously pained boy.

Looking over him quickly, Sakura saw the dusty hoof print of a horse on the front of his buckled vest. Hurriedly, she fumbled with the buckles trying to get it open as fast as possible. When she accidentally put pressure on his chest, he gasped in pain and grabbed her wrist, "Don't touch it!"

Prying her hands from his, she pressed his arms down to his sides. After a few more fights from Gaara, Sakura had successfully opened his vest and pulled down the zipper to the front of his jacket. To her surprise, he wore nothing underneath. Large green and purple bruises were all over his chest and stomach. She could tell from the strange protruding bump in the middle that he had broken one of his ribs.

Quickly she summoned the green light and laid her hand upon him. Swiftly his hand shot up from his side once more to silence the light, "You need to rest. You could get sick again."

Smiling down at him, Sakura slid her hand out of his weakening grasp and placed it on his cheek, "Don't worry. I am well rested, thanks to you. I promise," She started as her hand slid from his face and down his chest, "this won't take long." She shuddered slightly from the feel of his smooth body under her palm. Fighting back this new feeling, Sakura once again let her hand light up with the dim green light as she began to heal the bone.

All the while, Gaara's eyes never left hers as his rib was visibly pressed back down and the bruise melted away. Painfully, she tore her eyes from his as she inspected his chest for any further injury. When she saw that there was none, a feeling of relief washed over her as well as the feeling of nausea. Doubling over in pain, Sakura fell on Gaara's now mended chest with a gasp.

"I thought you said you were rested." He said in a worried tone, sitting up with her in his arms.

She looked up meekly at him and smiled, "I lied."

Well, that's it. No more story. I'm done…………………..have you started crying yet? Well, don't becuz I'm just kidding. If you remember correctly, I previously stated that this story will have 10 chapters.

I was sorta worried that this chapter would seem like a filler chapter. But I don't think that that happened. I wanted to introduce Tamari, and show some more interaction between Shika and Sakura. Don't worry, it's not going to turn into a Shika/Saku pairing. Because I don't know if you noticed, but she and Gaara sorta had this thing going at the end there. Getting a little touchy feely there. LOL.

I have to check my calendar and see if I have marching practice tomorrow. If I do, I might not write the next chapter. But, then again, maybe I will. It depends on how much homework I have.