Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters just the plot.

Summary: What would have happened if Gaara had saved her before Sakura had given up hope and joined the Akatsuki? Would Akira and Taku still be born, and what about Kisho? A what if story from the blooming of the cherry blossom.

Chapter 9: The Only one and The Final Fight

Tsunade left Sakura's side once she drifted into a light slumber. The next morning Sakura awoke and found a sand blossom laying on her bed. Sakura immediately knew that Gaara had left the sand blossom on the bed for her. She pushed it off the bed and once it hit the floor it landed in a clump of sand. Sakura got out of bed and changed into her normal clothes and left the hospital for her apartment.

When she reached her apartment it felt oddly empty. It was just the way she left it before going the the hidden mist village. She knew she wouldn't be in Konoha for long so she headed out to the market to see if any of her old friends were shopping. In a matter of ten minutes Sakura reached the market. She looked around and the first person she saw was Gaara. He was at a jewelery stand looking at necklaces.

Hes probably buying something for Tamiko. Sakura tried her best to avoid him, but once she got close enough to him he recognized her chakra and went to try and talk to her. Sakura started walking faster once she realized that Gaara was following her. Soon Sakura found herself cornered in an alley way with Gaara walking towards her.

"what the hell do you want did you not find enough satisfaction in breaking my heart." Sakura yelled. Gaara kept on walking towards her until he was right in front of her. He then wrapped his arms around her. Sakura was pushing on his chest trying to get him to let her go.

"Sakura i love you please let me explain everything to you. It hurts me to see you sad like this. I just want you to know the truth. If you still hate me after what i tell you i understand but please listen to me." He whispered into her ear making her stop struggling against him.

"Fine explain." Sakura said

"I am not dating Tamiko, nor do i like her in that way." Gaara said

"Oh so you just slept with her and now she has you baby." Sakura yelled

"What? Yes she does have a baby, but I'm not the father. I'm only the father to one kid and they're right here." Gaara said while moving his hand over her stomach. "Tamiko got pregnant and the father of her baby had abandoned her. I agreed to help her out with her problem financially and mentally. You see Sakura, Tamiko is just like a baby sister to me. We grew up together and she was the only one who would ever talk to me." Gaara said with a small smile. Sakura was thinking everything over and everything seemed to be making sense.

"So your not dating Tamiko and you don't have another kid." Sakura said while looking at the floor. Gaara used his hand to lift her head up and caused her to look into his eyes.

"Sakura you are the only one i love the only one I'm dating and the only one who has my kid." Gaara said causing Sakura to smile and throw her arms lovingly around him.

"I'm sorry Panda-kun, i guess i should have talked to you about it in the first place instead of jumping to the conclusion that you had another girl." Sakura said while giving him a sweet kiss. Gaara was about to deepen the kiss when Tenten and Hinata rounded the corner and found them.

"Come on Sakura the festival is tomorrow and we need to go shopping." Hinata said while dragging her away from Gaara.

"Yeah sorry Gaara but you two will have to finish you little session sometime later, Sakura needs a kimono." Tenten said to a shocked Gaara.

"Wait what festival?" Sakura asked

"Dont you remember the the Sakura festival its tomorrow!" Tenten said with a giant smile and dragged her away.

The girls were out shopping trying to find the prefect kimono.

"Oh what about this one!." Tenten said showing Sakura a beautiful light purple kimono with little black birds on it.

"Its ok but i was hoping for something more red." Sakura said with a small smile.

"What about this its red and has tints of pink in it i think its perfect." Hinata said showing Sakura the kimono. Sakura looked it over she wanted it to be perfect and it seemed this was the closets to perfect as she could get.

"I love it, thanks Hinata, now we just need to find a cute mask for it." Sakura said while taking the kimono over to be payed for. The girls walked out of the kimono shop and went to find a shop that would be selling accessories. Since the festival was coming up soon they saw that almost every shop they went to was selling different types of masks.

"This one this is it." Sakura said with a small smile while picking up a red one that covered her the top portion of her face with only holes to see through.

"Yeah its perfect, look it even has a little pink cherry blossom in the corner." Tenten said and they went and payed for the mask.

Back with Gaara.

After watching Sakura leave he was going to head back to his apparent when Naruto and Neji stopped him.

"Hey Gaara, were under strict orders from Tenten that we are supposed to find something nice for you to wear to the festival." Naruto said to Gaara.

"So you guys are taking me shopping, what are you two girls. I'm sure i can find something to wear on my own and whats wrong with what I'm wearing now?" Gaara asked.

"Well last time i tried to go to a festival dressed in my normal clothes i almost got killed by Hinata and Tenten. Then i got yelled at until i changed, so i think it would be smart if you just took our help and came with us so we can show you what to get." Neji said while shuddering when thinking of his previous festival experiences.

So the guys were off to look at different things to put Gaara in for the festival. Once everyone was done shopping the girls went back to Sakura's apartment and the guys went back to Naruto's apartment.

"I don't get it why cant i get ready on my own back at Sakura's i haven't seen her all day." Gaara said in an irritated voice.

"Because the girls think its tradition that you don't get to seem them till the festival. So you have to get ready here with us while the girls go get ready at one of their houses." Naruto explained.

With The girls.

The girls where helping each other get dressed into their kimono's and doing hair and makeup. Hinata was the first to get done up. She was wearing a baby blue kimono with dark blue intricate designs going across it, her mask was also dark blue with baby blue lacing going around the edges and the eye holes. As for her makeup she just settled for a light blue to silver lip gloss, making her look like an ice princess. Tenten was next she was wearing a dark green kimono with black leaves that seemed to be falling down across the dress, her mask was black and had one little green jewel right in the middle of her mask where her forehead would be. Her hair was let loose from her usual buns and curled. Finally as for Sakura, she took the longest to get ready. Everyone was having trouble figuring out how her dress went on because it had so many ties and buttons. Once she finally got her dress on the girls put her mask on and fixed her hair. Her hair was up in a half ponytail with little curls falling in her face, but putting on her make up was the hardest part.

"Sakura you have to sit still or I'm going to end up poking your eye out." Tenten yelled as she tried to apply some light pink eyeliner.

"What color blush did you want a light pink or a dark red?" Hinata asked from the bathroom.

" I don't care you pick something." Sakura yelled back causing her to move again and making Tenten mess up her eye liner a bit. Soon Sakura was also finished, with light pink eyeliner, blush, and lip gloss.

"Do you know what would look so cool." Tenten said with excitement in her voice.

"What." Both girls replied at the same time.

"Well Ino and i have been working on a stain for your hair, its not permanent though it comes out when you wash you hair, Sakura did you want to try that?" Tenten asked

"Well i guess, what color and does that mean you have to take my hair down again." Sakura replied.

"I think we should go with red hair that matches Gaara and your dress. He will never recognize you and the best is we wont have to take your hair down because its a pill form." Tenten said while running to her bag to get a red colored pill. Sakura took the pill and immediately her hair starting with her roots started to change into a red color making her look complete.

"Hes never going to recognize you." Hinata said while hugging Sakura.

About an hour later the three girls were walking down the steps to enter the festival. It looked like a giant ball room with the midnight sky as the ceiling. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched the three beauties enter the area. Naruto and Neji immediately recognized Hinata and Tenten and went to greet them and ask them to dance. Gaara was a bit perplexed though Sakura was supposed to be with the girls, why didn't she come with them and who was this other girl that came with them. He was about to go over and ask the girls where Sakura was when the red head came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey cutie." Sakura said

"Um hello, sorry i cant really talk right now miss, I'm looking for my girlfriend.

"Oh really and what does this girlfriend of yours look like. Maybe i can help you find her, Panda-Kun" Sakura said. After she said that Gaara looked more closely at her and in her eyes. When he first saw her he thought she was Sakura because of her eyes and her voice and the pet name confirmed it. Gaara then bent down and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Didn't recognize you there for minute." He said making Sakura laugh.

"So what do you think?" Sakura asked while spinning around to give Gaara a better look at her outfit.

"Gorgeous, like always." He said while taking her hand to dance with her.

"you know you have changed a lot since when i first met you." Sakura whispered while they were dancing together.

" yeah well love can do strange things to people." Gaara whispered back. They continued talking well more so whispering into each others ears and dancing until they heard a loud crash.

"Looks like we have some party crashers." Sakura said looking at the direction where all the smoke came from and of course who else was it but the Akatsuki. This time they seemed like they were more serious in their fight for taking Gaara and Naruto. Every Akatsuki member had showed up including the leader.

"Come on Sakura we need to get you to a safe place." Gaara said while pulling on her hand.

"you need my help in fighting them there are to many of them here." Sakura yelled while pulling her hand out his grasps.

"Sakura i cant protect you when I'm fighting. I need you to stay out of sight." Gaara said while turning towards her.

"I can protect myself!" Sakura yelled back at him. Gaara knew this wasn't a fight he wasn't going to win with her.

"Fine, but be careful. If they get desperate they will probably start going over you and Hinata. So protect her as well." Gaara said and then disappeared in a vortex of sand.

Everyone seemed to be fighting. Sasuke and Itachi were fighting both with their sharingon's activated and going for each others throats. Neji and Lee were going after Deidara trying to avoid getting hit by any of his explosives. Tenten and Hinata were fighting Kisame. They seemed to be having the upper hand with him due to Hinata's speed and Tenten's precision. Sakura went off to fight with Zetsu, while Kiba and Shino fought with Hidan and Kakuzo. Chouji was fighting with Tobi and another unnamed member. This left the leader to fight with Gaara and Naruto. The fight seemed to be going on for hours and one by one Akatsuki members started falling and the Leaf shinobi would go help others against their battles.

It seemed as though the fate of this battle had been decided. The Akatsuki were outnumbered and were falling to their deaths at a rapid pace. The leader then called out to Itachi and yelled for him to take the girls. Itachi disappeared from his fight with Sasuke and reappeared in front of Hinata and Sakura who were fighting Zetsu.

"Zetsu you take the nine-tails woman and ill take the one-tails woman." Itachi said to Zetsu. Gaara and Naruto tried to escape their fight with the leader, but every time they tried to leave or they turned their back on him he would attack. Sakura and Hinata were trying to fend off the two Akatsuki members, but there attempts seemed to be useless. Soon Sakura and Hinata were both laying unconscious in the Akatsuki arms. Gaara seeing this his inner demon Shukaku began to awaken.

"Sakura." Gaara called out towards her. His attacks started to become more deadly. They had more speed more accuracy. Everyone stopped their battles and watched as Gaara and Naruto, seemed to be bringing their leader to his death. The few remaining Akatsuki members poofed away from their battles and went to aid their leader. Itachi and Zetsu set the two girls down and also went to go help.

"Get the girls out of here now." Naruto yelled. Neji and Tenten ran over to them and picked them up. They soon ran off to get the girls somewhere safe. The rest of the leaf shinobi went and aided Gaara and Naruto in their battle. Soon the last Akatsuki member fell to his knees. Gaara and Naruto soon fell unconscious from using up to much of their chakra.

Naruto and Hinata were placed into a hospital room together. Naruto awoke only after a couple of hours of falling asleep and was pacing by Hinata's bed waiting for her to awaken. The nurses would of course come in and check on them and they would scold Naruto until he went and laid down in his bed again.

Sakura and Gaara were also put into a hospital room together. Gaara had only received minor injuries and awakened the next day. Sakura on the other hand was in a bad state. She was in critical condition from her battle with Zetsu and Itachi. Tsunade would come in at least once an hour to give her more medicine and transfer some of her chakra into her. After a couple of days Naruto, Hinata, and Gaara were all released from the hospital, but Sakura had yet to awaken. Gaara stayed by her bed day and night. He wanted to be their when she opened her eyes. Tsunade would often tell him that its a miracle that she is still alive and that she would most likely be in a deep sleep for the rest of her life. Occasionally she twitched making Gaara believe that one day she would wake up. All of her injuries had healed and she was in perfect health besides the fact that she was unconscious. Gaara would talk to her every once in a while, believe that hearing a familiar voice would keep her mind in check.

Gaara was sleeping in her room one day when Tsunade came bursting through the door. Waking him up immediately.

"I think i may have found a way to wake Sakura up, but there is a high probability that when she does wake up she will not remember anything." Tsunade said while looking at Gaara.

"Ok, well whatever it is you need to do, do it. Wake her up, if she does lose her memory, then we will work hard to get her to remember everything." Gaara said hoping that she hadn't lost her memory. Tsunade gave him a small nod. She put her hands on Sakura's head and let a green flow of chakra enter her mind.

"Gaara i need you to talk to her tell her to relax, shes not letting me in." Tsunade said in a serious tone. Gaara nodded and started talking to Sakura saying sweet nothings and tell her to relax. Eventually she did and Tsunade was able to get into her mind and something she did seemed to trigger Sakura to open her eyes. Sakura sat up and looked around the room. First she saw Tsunade and then she saw Gaara.

"Who are you people?" Sakura asked.

"Just as i thought she doesn't remember anything." Tsunade said with a frown.

"Sakura i know you don't remember me but just know-" Gaara started but Sakura interrupted him.

"That voice, i know you voice. Your the voice who kept talking to me." Sakura said and it got quiet. No one was quite sure what to say to her. Sakura seemed to thinking about Gaara's voice and then everything came back to her. Gaara's voice seemed to be causing a domino affect. She closed her eyes and held her head in pain and yelled out. Gaara wrapped his arms around her and she started crying into his shoulder.

"Thank you Gaara. I remember now." Sakura said making Tsunade smile.

The next day Sakura was released from the hospital and it seemed like all of their troubles were over. The Akatsuki were gone and they were together. Gaara had appointed Kankuro as the new Kazekage in his place, because he couldn't fulfill his duties because he would living in Konoha, raising a family.

A/N: So theres chapter 9 for everyone. It seems like the last chapter and i considered it being the last chapter for a while but i decided I'm gonna keep on going on with it. Read and review please!

-Fuzzie

S. T. Nickolian- I started writing your one shot and it will be NejiXSaku, because Ive always wanted to write one of those. Unless you really want NejiXHinata, I'm fine with writing hyugacest, but i just had a quick question. I was confused when you said abuse to the girl when shes gone, what did you mean by this? As in like as she gets stronger someone hurts her and shes abused by them. And when you say abused to you mean physically, sexually, or mentally?