Greetings,

Okay.... this is the last chapter of ARC 1! Next is the interlude!!!! It took me

I would just like to say thank you to the people who took the time to review! I really do appreciate your reviews and do know that I have read most of your fan fictions, those of you who signed, and if not, I usually end up checking to see if you have stories that I will like.

But until next opening notes, that is all the answering time I have. But do know that I am taking your comments into consideration when I read them.

That is all my notes for now. I will write some end notes, but until then...

From Leaf to Flower

ARC 1

Chapter 7

Calling of the FlowerShadow

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or this would be where the story line would progress.

"Every child is an artist- the problem is how to remain one when they grow up" -Picasso

Sakura stretched slowly in the back yard, moving as slow as possible into the next stance. She stood on a rock that laid in the pond and practiced her breathing as she leaned her torso downwards towards the water as her left leg rose into the air, her arms stretched outwards and reaching for the sky.

She had her eyes closed as she though of the last couple of months. Rei and Amariris had turned six months. Both children cried, but not as much as she had expected. Amariris was fine with anyone, especially her jiji or baa, while Rei would cry if she handed him over to anyone. He was a real mama's boy.

Rei eyes had become a deeper shade of blue, matching Deidara's with no problem, while Amariris had her mommy's jade eyes, much to the surprise of the whole clan. Their hair was different too, but Haitaka said it was nice to see something so different in their clan. Rei had Deidara's sunshine blonde hair, but at the same time, he had some silvery white whips of hair too, making his hair naturally highlight in some areas. His sister had Sakura's birth mother's silvery white locks that shined in the sun.

Sakura couldn't be any more happier with the outcome. Not only had she gotten her sunshine, Rei, but she had also gotten her moonlight, Amariris.

Both of her children demanded attention from her and she also had her other duties to perform, so Sakura had taken to training her body in early morning so she could slim back down into her old pant size again. She had done so near the beginning of the month after she had given birth, much to Ino's chagrin.

"Why can't you stay a little bit fat for just a little bit longer?" The blonde had complained, "You could still fit into the maternity clothes. Now I can't take anymore pictures of you pregnant looking!"

That was the whole reason she wanted to slim down so fast. She slowly moved into another position.

"Getting use to those new stances I taught you, hm?" Haitaka called out from the kitchen door, he began to walk towards her.

"Yes," Sakura said as she held the new position, "I never knew that your clan was so flexible until you started teaching me."

"We aren't, hm," Haitaka said as he crouched down by the pond and sat, "That was my wife's taijutsu. She was from a different village entirely, but it was wiped out, hm. She called it Odori no Hanabira. I thought it would be fitting for our Kage, the Hanakage, to know the Dance of the Petals, hm."

"She must have been very flexible, some of these stances were painful in the beginning," Sakura said as she dipped herself backwards, the right leg high in the air as her head came as close as it could to her left leg.

"She was gifted alright," Haitaka said, "That right there is a very interesting stance, try it on Deidara sometime if you see him again, it is not necessarily just a move in the battlefield. It very well might turn him on, hm."

"Okay, didn't want to hear that from you," Sakura said as she pulled herself upright.

Haitaka laughed as he waved his hand in front of his face dismissively, "That was something my wife would have said, hm. She wasn't embarrassed of anything. I couldn't resist it, it sounded too much like her."

Sakura shrugged as she walked on the water, and finally was on the bank next to Haitaka, "Shall we spar?"

"Keep Tsunade off of me this morning and I'll consider," Haitaka said as he stood up and stretched briefly.

"So tell me again about the fourth mouth," Sakura said as both took a position, Sakura using her new taijutsu and Haitaka using a clan form.

"It's a large mouth were our hearts should be, hm" Haitaka explained as the spar began, he already dominating her in speed and dexterity, "Because of it, our organs are flip-flopped. The heart on the right and everything is shoved away from the mouth."

Sakura leaned far backwards as she dodged his roundhouse, then flipped onto her hands before moving away from his next attack.

"If the heart isn't on the right side, it usually means a lot of health problems, hm. That's why we don't inbreed. Incest would only assist the problem, not solve it."

"I see," Sakura gasped as she moved out of the way last minute, "And what category would you put yourself in? Long range?"

"I do the missions with the least amount of fighting. I'm good with short range and a tad bit of midrange, but I'm more of a shadow on the wall. Recon, assassination, and stealing are where my specialties lie. Deidara is really the only one who is long range."

"Why is that?" Sakura asked, dodging another kick.

"He had problems breathing as a child and would get sick easily. I kept him inside till he was able to breathe easier, hm. He never even wanted to go flying. I forced him on the bird and took him soaring for a bit. Was afraid of heights at that time, hm."

"You'd never know if you'd see him now!" Sakura laughed mildly as she got hit in the shoulder, "He's constantly flying!"

"But he probably is very prone to colds and poisons, hm. Your son looks healthy, so he probably didn't inherit Deidara's weak immune system, hm."

Sakura grabbed his leg, forced the spar to stop as she looked at Haitaka frightened, "What about Amariris? Or even Deidara?"

"Amariris is just as healthy as Rei, sorry about worrying you, hm. Deidara should be fine as long as he takes proper care of himself. Nothing to worry about, I pounded that into his skull as a boy. Eat well, eat right, and eat on a daily basis three times in one day, hm. Clean himself thoroughly. He just has to keep his immunity high that way and he'll be fine."

Sakura breathed in relief, as she wiped away the sweat, "I think I'm good for now."

"Alright, hm," Haitaka said as he fell backwards to lounge into the grass, "I'll be here resting till its time to start the day officially, hm."

"Alright, you do that, Kaa-chan loves coming here into the gardens in the morning." Sakura said as she began to head back in to take a bath.

"Oh second thought," Haitaka said as he pulled himself up, "My bones ache a bit. I'll go soak in the hot springs a bit before I have to take care of clan related things, hm."

Sakura laughed hard at the man's obvious fear of whatever Tsunade had been doing to him. He was constantly avoiding the woman, even though they both lived with Sakura. She had to admit, he was pretty good at it

It was obvious to her that she wasn't going to get any work done today. Rei was being too cute for that. Whenever he saw her and he wasn't being held by her, he would cry unhappily 'Momma momma momma' until she had him in her arms, snuggling the little momma's boy. Amariris was happy to play on the floor, inspecting every corner of her mommy's office.

Even though the two were twins, it was apparent that one was much more needy then the other. Amariris was happy with anything, Rei was only happy with his mommy.

"Rei-chan, I have to work," Sakura said as she snuggled into his already long locks of hair, "I can't keep playing with you."

"Momma," Rei whimpered as he clung to her harder, not going to let go without a fight.

"Fine," Sakura sighed as she inhaled his baby smell, picking up a pen and beginning to write, "I'll just deal with my work with you on my lap."

Rei just snuggled further into her chest and was asleep in a matter of seconds, happy to just listen to his mother's heartbeat.

"Just like that father of yours, you can't stay away," Sakura lamented as she began to write again.

Ino came in after a while and collected Amariris, leaving Sakura with Rei, who if moved would wake and cry for momma. Everything was calm until she noticed a hawk at her window, tapping away.

Sakura shifted Rei a bit and walked to the window. The little blue eye boy already awakened and curious to know what had made his momma get up. His eyes grew wide at the sight of the hawk.

"It's a messenger hawk, Rei," Sakura said as she opened the window and let the hawk perch on her bare hand, "Isn't it pretty?"

The Hawk was one that stayed with Konoha, but from the looks of the seal on the message, the letter was from Suna.

"The Kazekage sent us something," Sakura said with a surprised look.

She let the bird perch on her chair, so she could use her free hand to grab the message.

"Ah, ah, ah," She said quickly as she pulled Rei away, "Don't even think of it buster, you don't get to pet the hawk. The bird is not trained for that."

Oh, there it was, the infamous pout. Deidara would pout when he didn't get his way, Haitaka would pout when Tsunade messed with him, and now Rei pouted when he wasn't happy.

"Honestly, I don't see why you're pouting," Sakura said as she kissed his head, "You're merely too young to pet the bird."

Sakura didn't use baby words or that high pitched voice to talk to her children. She talked to them as if they were adults. She, though the others seemed a little unsure, was certain that more then half the time, Rei and Amariris knew what she was telling them.

Babies were suppose to be smart, but Rei was ridiculously smart with Amariris right behind him.

He was still pouting.

"How about I buy you a little bird that you can pet all you want?" Sakura said as she kissed his temple, "Will you stop that silly little pout."

He looked like he was considering. He eyed her for a second before snuggling against her again in the cutest manner possible and the pout was gone.

"Thanks baby," Sakura said as she unrolled the scroll to read it.

The letter was a letter of welcoming. Gaara was happy to have another person who understood love and friendship that some of the other Kages didn't seem to have. She smiled happily as she continued to read.

He wanted her to come to Suna. That stood out to her as she reread the letter. All she could tell about the little he wrote was that he thought it highly important for her to come to Suna as quickly as possible.

She looked at Rei who as curled up into a ball in her arms, staring into space, thinking of something. She couldn't leave him. He would be angry, but then again, she couldn't take him with her, Gaara was a wild card currently and she didn't know how he would react to her choice of men.

Sakura sighed as she wrote a response letter and took the hawk, ordering it to immediately go to Suna. The bird looked a little irked, but decided the extra bag of birdfeed it would receive was a good enough treat. Sakura sent that hawk out with another trained hawk, so her hawk could know the route.

Shinobi bred animals were smarter then regular animals. Now all she had to do was prepare and wait

She had received the reply 3 days after sending the birds out, and now, she was in the middle of the desert, dressed in gypsy clothing, and riding on an elk. Haitaka was on her right, Anko on her left, both looking nothing like usual.

They all wore cowls that hid their hair, their features, and their faces. All but their eyes which looked around the desert for on coming invaders. Haitaka and taken them as far as he could without sending an alarm to the Suna nin, who still were a little jumpy from Deidara, and had discovered the small remains of a shinobi village who raised elk.

That's where they got the ride. Sakura had quickly made arrangements for the surviving villagers –who had just had their village destroyed- to move to Hanagakure. The elk were mostly unharmed and many left without masters, but the people had reassured Sakura that they were smart.

And they were. Not only that, but they were slightly bigger then regular elk, their horns twisted backwards in a manor that made it so that it would balance them while they ran, they could survive even in the desert heat, and they could run even faster then a normal shinobi.

Her elk's name was Tsubasa. It was a good name for her. She was quick and even though female elk in the wild didn't have horns, she did. It was apart of her breeding. Hers twisted back and made it so Sakura could pull herself up onto the horns and shoot arrows from there. Bells and ribbons decorated the elk as Sakura sat on a blanket that jingled every time they moved.

"We're almost there," Sakura said, glad that the city came into view. Her cowl was white, laced with gold and bells that jingled a bit as she moved.

"Relieved are we Hime-sama?" Anko asked as she led her elk right next to Sakura's.

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get home," was all Sakura said, clicking her tongue and tapping her heels against Tsubasa to make her move faster.

The elk took off with a elegant dash, its brethren following with Anko and Haitaka on their backs.

"I'll be glad to take a break, hm." Haitaka said with a laugh, "I think Tsunade-sama has been coming on to me. If I dodged her one more time, I would have gotten a black eye, hm."

"Then she'd nurse you back to health even though she caused it in the first place," Sakura said with a grin, "I think she likes you too."

"Tsunade likes him?" Anko asked in disbelief, "Wait till I tell everybody!"

"Let's not," Sakura said, "I would like my children to keep their grandfather, if only for a couple more years. Tell the world and he's as good as dead."

"Blackmail then," Anko said with a grin.

"Do all women from Konoha have some sort of sadistic streak, hm?"

"Yes," Sakura laughed, "I can't think of a single female shinobi in Konoha that isn't just a little sadistic in their own way."

"Remind me not to go there, hm," Haitaka said with a shiver.

"Yeah, especially since almost all the men are perverts. If Jiraiya sees one hair of your pretty head, he'll go all gaa-gaa till he realizes you're a man." Sakura laughed.

"Even then he might add that to his perverted book," Anko said as she wrinkled her nose, "One thing I'm glad Hana doesn't have."

"Shhh, Anko," Sakura said as she slowed her elk, "We are here."

The gates were right before them and the guards stared at them suspiciously.

"State your name and reason for coming. Then show us your papers." One of the guards said as he approached Haitaka's elk.

"He is my guard, sir, do not bother him. I am Haruno Sakura, I have come to speak with the Kazekage under his request." Sakura said as she removed her cowl to show her unmistakable pink hair.

"Haruno-sama," both guards said as the backed away and bowed.

"It is an honor to have you here," one of them said.

"We will let you through as soon as we have your guards names and papers." The other said.

"She is fine, let her in," A voice said from above.

Sakura put the cowl back in place before speaking to the Kazekage who loomed on top of the wall, "Gaara-sama, it is good to see you again."

"As is it good to see you." Gaara said as he bowed his head a bit, "I heard some interesting rumors that I'd like to confirm."

"Then I believe I should answer them accordingly Kazekage-sama." Sakura said as her elk shifted a bit, "Our means of traveling are a bit tried and thirsty, is there a place where they can rest and refresh themselves?"

"My house. Would that be alright?"

"If it pleases you," Sakura said before shifting the strange basket on her back.

"What is that?" Gaara asked as he looked at the strange thing.

"Something I could not leave behind." Was all Sakura would say about it.

He knew she would tell him later, but right now, it was dangerous or private.

"Well then," He said as he let his sand bring him down to the ground, "Let me guide you in."

"But Kazekage-sama, her papers… her guards…"

"They do not need to be checked, I trust her," the Kazekage said before taking the reigns of Tsubasa and leading them inside.

People would stop and stare at her, the princess figure on an giant elk, lead by the Kazekage himself. Sakura couldn't help but squirm a bit, but one look from Haitaka told her that she should stop. She had to play the part that they assumed she was.

Her body straightened and her gaze became hard. She looked like a desert princess the way she was covered. She could only hope that they would enter the privacy Gaara's soon.

Sasori sighed as he walked about the city of Suna. Deidara was dragging a bit, he had been since 3 months ago. They couldn't find Sakura, no matter how hard they tried. So they were hoping that perhaps in Suna there would be traces of the girl who helped defeat Sasori.

So far there was none.

Deidara was beginning to thin out. Sasori hated how the blonde's appetite was slowly going away. He had already begun to force feed the boy a bit. Whenever he caught the 24-year-old skipping a meal, he would connect him to some chakra strings and force him to eat till Sasori was satisfied. Deidara was getting sneakier though.

"Keep up brat," Sasori hissed as he pulled the blonde closer to him.

Their cloaks kept people from recognizing him.

It was then he saw what people where whispering about. Upon an elk of all things sat a woman and two others, each on their own elk. But she was different. Her gaze was hardened, but her dress and cowl promised that she was quite a beauty. Not only that but the Kazekage was escorting her, himself.

"Look at that," Sasori mused, "Isn't she a beauty?"

"Hmph," Deidara said without even looking, "My girl was a beauty, anyone else can't compare."

Sasori looked at the strange looking basket and smiled. He knew what that was.

"It looks like she's married though, shame, I would have loved one as elegant looking as she. But I'm not as cruel as to separate a child and its mother."

"What?" Deidara asked, clearly confused.

"That basket is used to travel around with a child." Sasori explained, "It keeps the baby cool as they travel through the desert. It's an old trick that seemed to have died out years ago. Interesting…"

Sasori noticed Deidara's gaze land on the basket almost needing like. He had wanted a child with Sakura, but they had yet seen hide nor hair of the almost ghost like woman who seemed to have disappeared from existence.

"We'll find her, then you can have one with her," Sasori said, "I promise you that, brat."

"Sure," Deidara said before looking away, "I would like that, yeah."

Ah, the signature 'yeah'. Progress. Now if Sasori could only make it last, but he knew the progress would be gone by morning.

He had to find Sakura.

"So," Gaara said as he looked at the basket, "Can you show me now?"

Sakura laughed as she took off her cowl, now safe in the Kazekage's manor with no unwanted eyes looking at her. Haitaka had yet to do so, but that had been on Sakura's order. He wasn't going to until after the situation was explained.

"Of course, just don't get too loud, okay?"

Gaara raised a brow to that. When was he loud?

Sakura quietly opened the basket top and peered in. Slowly, she dipped her hands in and pulled out a small creature that Gaara had been told was called a baby. He had only seen one or two on occasion, but he had never had contact with one.

"This is Rei," Sakura said as she held the small human thing close to her frame.

Rei blinked a couple times, waking up from a really long nap and snuggled quickly with his mother before looking at Gaara with familiar blue eyes.

"Is this your child?" Gaara asked as he looked at the baby from where he stood.

"Yes," Sakura said as she kissed Rei on the temple, "This is my baby. One of two actually, but Amariris decided she wanted to be with her godmother instead. Rei here is a momma's boy. He doesn't like leaving me."

Gaara looked hard at the child. There was something so familiar about the features. He noticed Sakura was watching him as he tried to place the features of her baby.

"His father is Deidara, if that's what you're trying to do." Sakura said boldly as she put her finger in Rei's grip, "That's why I brought him here. To show him to you and to apologize to you for not telling you earlier."

Gaara looked at her with something close to shock, before being able to school in his expression. "Are his eyes different now?"

Sakura looked up a little confused. "What?"

"Deidara. Are his eyes lighter now? Or are his eyes still long for power, filled with hate and murderous intent?"

Sakura shook her head, "Deidara isn't like the man who killed you. Not when I last saw him."

"I see," Gaara said, "So do you love him?"

"Yes." There was no question about it.

"He is a wanted man, in Konoha, Suna, and Iwa."

"Not in Iwa, actually, hm," Haitaka said as he stood forward, "The Tsuchikage had made a mistake when he charged Deidara. He took the charge back and never posted him as missing, hm."

Gaara looked at the cloaked man before asking, "Who are you?"

"This is Haitaka," Sakura said, "He's one of my men, his whole clan was given to me as a peace offering between me and the Tsuchikage. Haitaka is also the grandfather of my child."

That made sense. Gaara nodded as he looked at the blue eyes, "You're son caused a lot of problems here. He attacked and kidnapped me."

There was an amused look in Haitaka's eyes as he pulled off the cowl and removed the form hiding cloak, showing his young looking figure and his flawless face, only the gray showing his true age.

Gaara studied him. He looked a lot like Deidara. His eyes were strong and determined, but soft and gentle when he wasn't trying to look intimidating. He had the same thin rings around his eyes as Deidara that made him look somewhat like a bird. Strong nose, strong jaw, but he kept his hair out of his face, pulled back into a braided twist with a tie at the top and bottom.

"You said he attacked and kidnapped you, hm? But you don't accuse him of being your killer."

"The Akatsuki as a whole killed me."

"Then learn to appreciate the battle. You are Kazekage, hm. A strong shinobi placed in an unfitting office doing paperwork. You probably barely leave the office to train or spar. Though his actions were most likely crude and uncalled for, you enjoyed the battle while it lasted, did you not, hm?"

Gaara grudgingly nodded, "I enjoyed the thrill of battle."

"And now you no longer have the heavy burden of being a Jinchuuriki, hm. Count your blessings, sometimes they come in the most unexpected ways. I know mine did, hm."

Gaara sighed as he closed his eyes, nodding gently before looking at Sakura, "If I ever have a child, you are to be the one that delivers it. Got it? We'll forget all this if you agree and keep your word."

Sakura smiled happily as she nodded, "I promise Gaara."

She looked down at Rei, who was still staring at the man, and smiled as she whispered something to him. The child looked at her, but instead of snuggling up into her like he would usually, he pointed to Gaara and murmured.

"'Aara."

He couldn't say 'Ga' but he was good at rolling his tongue to pronounce the 'r'.

"That's right," Sakura smiled before walking up to Gaara, who had taken a nervous step back, "He wants you to hold him."

Sakura offered the child, Rei, being highly uncharacteristic like, stretched himself out as far as his mother's hold would let him and reached for Gaara.

"'Aara," Rei said again as he managed to grab a piece of the man's clothes.

"I don't know how," Gaara said as he didn't move, other then looking extremely nervous.

"Take both arms, use one to support his bottom and one to support his balance. You can place it on his back if it makes you feel better."

"'Aara," Rei emphasized again, pulling himself out of his mother's hold and demanding in his own way to be held.

Gaara responded this time as he nervously did as Sakura had told him, being very stiff as the baby boy observed him. It was actually amazing how intelligent the baby's eyes were as the boy gently used his hands and mapped out Gaara's face with his fingers. One little hand stopping at his scar on his forehead and looking at his mother.

"It says 'love'," Sakura said as she smiled at her child's curiousness.

"He understands?" Gaara asked as the child went back his observations.

"He's just smart," Sakura said with a laugh, "Do not get me wrong, babies are all naturally curious, he just understands what I'm saying, not a lot of children are like that. Rei and his sister are just smart."

"A genius?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Sakura said with a nod.

Gaara looked back at Rei, he had relaxed some now that the six month child hadn't squealed in hatred or feared him. As the little boy slowly traced out the lines of his scar, focusing heavily on moving his finger in controlled movements. He decided that he like these things call babies.

Perhaps he would have one of his own one day.

"So why did you summon me down here?" Sakura asked lazily as she followed Gaara through the streets, her and Haitaka back in disguise, only Rei being exposed as he was contently snuggling up with Gaara.

"I have something, well, someone, that I need you to look at," Gaara said as he led her into the less populated area, closing in to the hospital.

"Ah," Sakura said as she walked a bit faster, "It's not an emergency, is it? You would have contacted me differently if it was, right?"

"No," Gaara said with a shake of his head, "It is not an emergency, more like a… favor… to me."

Sakura tilted her head in confusion, but followed anyways. He led her into the hospital, telling Anko and Haitaka to stay behind. They didn't look to excited about it, but with a nod from Sakura, they did as they were told. Gaara took her and Rei to an area that was closed off to unauthorized personnel. Sakura's head tilted as he stopped at a door and looked at her.

"In here. Just don't freak out. Loud sounds and all." He said, before opening it up.

It was like he was trying to quote what she had said about Rei. Sakura nodded as she slowly entered the room, not knowing what to expect, but when she saw what she was looking for, she knew that wasn't what she had expected at all.

Crimson eyes staring at her, red tufts of hair poking out gently from all directions, and his usual care-less expression. The child, no older then Rei, looked like Sasori.

"How-"

"Some of my men took the liberty to merge Sasori no Akasuna's DNA from his core to a fertilized egg they had, changing it and making it so it was a clone of him, from what I understand anyways. They had made it shortly before Sasori's core was stolen from us."

Sakura's blood went cold at those words. Sasori. His core had been stolen. Most likely by Akatsuki and most likely a mission given to his ex-partner.

"But we can't clarify which Akatsuki members did it, so the case was dropped." Gaara seemed to have known what she was thinking at that time.

"So… the favor?" Sakura said, a little disturbed at seeing the likeness of the baby to Sasori.

"I hate it when weapons are made out of humans," Gaara said as he looked at Rei, "Humans are not living weapons devoid of all emotions. My people seemed to have forgotten that when they made him, so all I am asking is that you take him. Naruto tells me you want a place filled with artists. This child will no doubt be one."

Sakura spun around to stared at the red head.

"What?"

"Take him, name him, and be something that the original Sasori never had: a mother." Gaara said as he walked over to the Sasori clone child and stared, "He deserves it."

Sakura blinked a couple times before her expressions melted into a smile, "Of course, Gaara."

She leaned over the cradle and lifted the baby out, much to Rei's chagrin, but he just settled for pouting rather then full out screaming like usual. The Sasori child struggled a bit, not use to much human contact, but Sakura pressed him against her breast and made sure he could hear her heart beat steadily. He wouldn't have gotten use to the sound of heartbeats if he had been made in the lab.

He paused as he listened, glancing up at her with a curious expression before closing his eyes slowly and listening to her heart.

"Kagerou." She said as she stroked his red tufts of hair, "Since Sasori is a scorpion and a desert dweller, you'll be Kagerou, a dragonfly who can live anywhere whether it be desert or lush forest area."

And with that, Kagerou became her child as well.

Gaara had led them back to the kage's house, where they stayed for a couple days, but soon, Sakura had to head home. So during nightfall, Haitaka made a large flying vessel large enough for all of them plus the animals and headed out.

Sakura closed her eyes as she listened to the flapping of the wings. It had been a long time since she had flown, last time being with Deidara, but she couldn't help but enjoy it. She gazed down at the earth and watched as the rest of the world passed by.

She looked at Rei, who after they had left Gaara, wouldn't detach himself from her and Kagerou, who found he enjoyed the beating of a heart, resting his head on her left breast and calmly listened.

Today, she had found a calling she had never even known. It was to take in the ones that would be used as living weapons, or were just unwanted by those around them, and give them a home and love them. And as they headed home, she had made up her mind, that she would reject no child that needed her love. None.

For Hanagakure had been made for that. For those who were misunderstood in life for their artistic ways, and needed a place that would just accept them for them. That meant the Gashu clan who had almost been massacred, the surviving villagers who raised their elk to be powerful yet appeasing to look at, and children who were different.

Hanagakure was truly a paradise for those people. And that was her dream being played out even now. She could only hope that the years to come were just as wonderful and fulfilling.

She didn't even doubt it.

Okay! End and wrap! This is the end of ARC one. The Interlude is next!!!!

Now, things that will break you heart is that the interlude stretches from this point in time to about.... ARC 2 starts up when Rei and Amariris are about five. Sorry. Cruel I know, but there is a reason for that. Rei is funnier the older he gets since he and his sister are smart.

Sakura ends up with a lot of smart children. Kagerou is smart because of who he is suppose to be a clone of. Others are smart for different reasons, but most of the time it is just because of circumstance and who their parents are.... okay not really who their parents are but.... Oh... you'll see. Rambling now.

I was afraid of how Gaara would react myself, but after reading the newer manga releases, I know this is how he would go about it.

On another note, Deidara was in here just to show that he was looking for her and there were side effects of him losing hope that she would ever be found. Trust me, he tries to have a field day.... more like bed day... when he finds her.

But until then, a few questions because I love feedback.

Do you like it? Why? (Give more then just yes)

What was you favorite part? Why?

Do you think that I should play around with the ideas I have presented throughout the seven chapters? Which ones interest you most?

Alright. That is it for now.

Tsubasa means wing

Kagerou means dragonfly

Rei means spirit

And this means I'm done for now!

Unknown Artist of Hanagakure.

Signing out.

-bleep-