Whatever Gaara owned, he was always territorial, and in his mind, he 'owned' Sakura, so he was, by nature, territorial over her

Previously:

"Thank you…" Gaara murmured out loud to Sakura.

There were so many things that Sakura wanted from him, things that he would never really know…

A smile adorned on Sakura's face before she fell into a deep sleep, filled with calmness.

But…

Gaara smiled a little weakly at this while still gasping her securely around her waist before falling in a slumber with her as well.

She might actually get these wishes; she at least had to try…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Soo…I found out that my 'block' things, like to show that it was a change, didn't show up…Jeez…anyways, So I switched to 'O's So hopefully this one goes well…

I want to say that this chapter is dedicated to a reviewer that REALLY, REALLY made my day, saying that my fanfic made her like the couple Gaara and Sakura, and that this was her first GxS fanfic! I'm glad for ALL of my reviewers, really. You guys keep me going.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Gaara was half meditating holding Sakura. Yesterday was a little blurry for him; he couldn't quite vaguely make out what happened. Shukaku was in control and he was not. He had failed again, not being able to control himself; he was so stupid, so weak…the only thing he really remembered was that he had lost control, he had injured-no, attacked Sakura and…she willingly let him? Didn't she say she wanted to become stronger? If she truly did, she should've protected herself, not let him continue to abuse her. He was awoken out of his meditation and deep thinking from the feel of Sakura stirring in his grasp.

Sakura woke up, sore, in pain, and surprisingly in a very comfy position. She peeked on eye open and saw Gaara half meditating, holding her tightly. She inwardly smiled at this and got up slowly, still trying to get her muscles to cooperate. Gaara noticed the movements that Sakura was doing, so he helped her get up in a sitting position in his lap, which Sakura didn't mind.

Sakura grimaced when she looked at the sight of her body. It was still covered in blood, but was dried and the smell made her uneasy and light stomached. "Ugh, I should heal these wounds." Sakura murmured to herself.

She was still in Gaara's embrace, so she scooted over and started healing her arms first, her clothes were torn from Gaara/Shukaku's claws so it was easy to heal.

"You should wash off the blood on you." Gaara mused as Sakura scrunched her nose up as an agreement.

Suddenly a jolt of realization hit her. "Um, Gaara, I can't do that…" She murmured.

Gaara was confused at first but knew why now. She still had the rational fear of water. He knew she would be scared of that, but she really needed to get rid of the blood. It was making him feel a little blood-thirsty.

They pondered a little while before Gaara got an idea. "Well, I could always be there so you wouldn't feel scared."

"Gaara!" Sakura said shocked.

Gaara tried to hide an amused smirk while saying "It's the best idea, besides; I've already seen you naked before."

Sakura blushed scarlet at this but then quickly thought, "But to 'help me' you'd have to…become…naked too…" If she wasn't red enough in the cheeks, that sentence did it.

"Do you have a better suggestion?" Gaara asked, he didn't care if she saw him naked or not.

It would happen sooner or later anyways…Shukaku thought in his mind, which Gaara pushed the thought away.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sakura had unclothed herself now, still desperately putting her hands across the 'necessities' so that Gaara wouldn't see her…fully. He would've rolled his eyes in irritation but was not the one to show emotions very well.

Gaara quickly took off all of his clothes so fast; you wouldn't even be able to see the difference in a blink of an eye. Sakura didn't know what hit her, she gaped at his rather large…place, and turned away desperately trying to erase her blush.

While she was turned away from him, Gaara walked up and pushed her in the stream at which she screamed and created a giant splash.

"Ahh! Gaara!" Sakura screamed at him. "It's cold!"

Gaara walked in the water after her and was now fully submersed.

Sakura started shivering from the coldness of the water and Gaara asked her bluntly "Are you going to start?"

She looked at him with confusion written on her face and asked "Do what?"

Gaara ALMOST rolled his eyes and explained "You went in the water to wash yourself and scrub off the blood, are you going to do it? We don't really have all day."

"Oh right!" Sakura said while scrubbing off the dried blood off her, while Gaara just stared at the trees and went into deep thought.

It was quiet for a while and neither of them talked. The birds chirped in the distance while the trees swayed peacefully, rustling their leaves against each other. Sakura started to hum a peaceful, sad song.

The water becomes tainted with her,

She is impure as she dips in,

The water becomes tainted with her tears,

The water once so pure now contains saline.

The water becomes tainted with her blood,

The water, once so crystal clear is crimson red,

The water may be tainted,

But as time may pass,

The tears dilute,

The blood dilutes,

And so does she,

May her guilt dilute with the rest

The sins that she has done will wash away

The water continues to travel downstream.

Time will pass, time that she will never forget,

Other times will be more memorable than others,

No matter how tainted she has become, it is never too late,

The water will dilute your past if you let it,

Let go and dilute.

Become pure once again.

So the water is won't be tainted anymore.

Sakura was busy cleaning herself and knew that there was a deep cut in her on her back, of which happened last night, from the rough ground of pebbles and rocks. She tried to reach it but couldn't, it was too high.

"Uh, Gaara, I need your help." Sakura said.

Gaara came out of his observation around them and looked to see what the problem was.

"I can't reach the wound on my back, I haven't treated it yet either, because I can't reach it." She explained.

Gaara waded towards her closer and her voice hitched but went unnoticed by him, as he swiveled her around trailing his hands over the wound, at which she winced and tensed at. He surprised her by washing away the blood ever so carefully and being so gentle with it. This was a side of Gaara that she had never witnessed before.

He accidentally brushed over the wound and Sakura took a sharp intake of air to ease the pain. Gaara stopped for a second and Sakura was about to turn around to see if anything was wrong.

Gaara spoke up and quietly whispered in her ear, "I'm sorry."

Sakura was again alarmed at how quietly he spoke, how caring, sympathetic and…regretful he seemed.

"What is there to be sorry for?" Sakura asked.

"I hurt you yesterday, I was unable to control myself. I'm ashamed of what I am, truthfully." He admitted, looking down.

"Gaara," Sakura breathed out, taking her index finger and lifting his chin up slowly so his eyes were facing hers. "There is nothing to be ashamed of. Instead of regretting, you should be learning, accepting not degrading yourself." After she finished, she pulled him in a hug, tightly holding him.

Gaara was shocked at first, but then lifted his arms around to hug her as well.

Sakura broke out of the embrace and said that she needed to wash her hair. Gaara nodded while thinking back of what she had said.

She filled her lungs with air before plunging down in the stream, scrubbing her hair in the process, when she felt something brush against her leg, she opened her eyes to see what it was. In reality, it was just a fish, but to her eyes, it was the hand of something…but it was too dark to see what it was. She traveled a bit lower and cried out a little, but wasn't heard because the minute she opened her mouth, all her oxygen escaped and was filled with water. She cried out because, the hand belonged to that of a dead corpse. It wasn't any dead corpse though; it was of Naruto's. Other bodies started to become vivid around her as well, all of them dead, fresh blood still escaping from their bodies, swirling in the water.

It was a beautiful colour, red, and such a deep rich, crimson red. Something so beautiful, yet was feared by most, and most included her as well. Her vision was getting more blurry and hazy from the loss of oxygen. She wanted to swim up, but the blood swirling around her made her stay in one spot. It was as if those bodies, that blood, had chained her down in the water, not letting her move. Her world was blackening, all vision of hers was dimming, and she would be trapped in the water, in the fate of her friends as well. She would join them.

She saw something traveling towards her though, but it was hard to see because, her vision was narrowing and it was getting cut off a little. She wondered what it was. But whatever it was, it was headed towards her pretty fast. The first colour she visibly saw from the form headed towards her was red, such a same colour of red, beautiful, vibrant, yet deadly…like blood. It kept on coming closer to her, she didn't want it to, she wanted the blood that surrounded her to fade, she didn't want it to come closer to her. Sakura tried to swim away from it, but she was too weak to do anything, she lost consciousness

Dammit! It seems like how much closer I get to her, the more she drifts away, as if I'm not even making any progress. Why did he care? Since when was it that he cared for anyone? He did not care for her, he didn't…so why was he even more determined to catch up to her, pumping his legs to propel him towards her as fast as he possibly could, like his life depended on it?

Gaara finally noticed that he had reached Sakura already but didn't have the time to think or realize how he got there so sudden and grabbed her around that waist and swam back up to the surface. His legs were getting tired, but he ignored the pain and kept on going.

When they broke to the surface, Gaara took a sharp inhale of air and swam to the shoreline, laying Sakura gently down. Putting his ear to her chest, he heard no heart beat. This was bad. He needed to perform…no, he wouldn't! but if he didn't, she would die? Why did he go to so long of extents to rescue this girl?

His heartbeat doubled as he slowly made his lips to hers. Why was he feeling this way? He did not understand. His lips brushed hers and he did a sharp intake of air. (A/N: he doesn't remember that he made any ahem, intimate things with her, oh, but she remembers fine ) He lifted her head and blew in her mouth, pumping his hands in her chest, counting…breathing in air again, he blew it in her mouth again, doing 30 chest compressions.

'Come on, breathe, breathe…'

He almost lost all hope of ever getting her back and felt a giant pain in his chest. He decided he would not lose hope, pumping his hand, 1…2….3…..4….5…6…7-

Sakura sputtered out water, gasping for air. "What…happened-cough!" Sakura started but couldn't finish.

"Concentrate on breathing first, talking later." Gaara instructed.

Sakura nodded, still choking a little on either air or water.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sakura shivered again, she was still a little cold and soaked from before and pulled her blanket closer to herself, tightly wrapping it around her.

Gaara came over and dropped some more dry firewood in the flames that was close to her. She stared intently at the flames, watching the wood burn and disintegrate into…nothing. That was how she felt like, nothing, she WAS useless and completely weak. She didn't pity herself, she blamed herself. It felt like she was not worth living.

Gaara, once doing the finishing touches with the fire, sat down next to her in silence, as if to wait for her to reply first.

It was silent for quite a while before Sakura mustered up the courage to say something." I want to talk about it."

"Continue." Gaara urged monotonously.

"I…saw them in the water again, their blood was as if it was chaining me to the spot, it was if I was too petrified to move."

She waited for Gaara to say something back, but he continued to stay quiet, so she continued.

"Then I saw you headed towards me, though I couldn't really make you out yet, as you headed towards me, the first thing I noticed was your hair, the colour of…blood, I wanted you to stay away from me."

Gaara's face flashed with pain at that moment, remembering how people called him a monster and wanted him to stay away from them as well.

"But I didn't know it was you at the time, I guess I was just panicking on the spot for nothing." Sakura added, noticing his facial expressions.

"Hn."

Sakura sighed, replaying how she had reacted how she did when she was drowning, "I guess I truly am weak." She mused.

"Everyone has their flaws, it is only natural. In order to get over those weaknesses, you have to work, accomplish, and overcome it." Gaara whispered.

Sakura thought about it and asked "And you?"

"What about me?" Gaara half snarled.

"What flaw do you have?"

Gaara paused to think over and carefully said, "I, unlike everyone else, have an unnatural flaw…It is my lack of control that lets me become the monster I truly am, it is incurable, unfixable, no one can help me."

"Not having control is a flaw, but yours is not an unnatural one, these flaws, they make us natural as you said, but not only that, they make us human. You are human, Gaara, and like everyone else's problems, you can fix it. And I will try and help you to the best of my ability, without you, I have nothing to live for." Sakura paused before continuing. "I think I am only needed in this world to help you as an individual, that is my only worth."

"…Then you are my lifeline, if you die, I am unfixable."

"Then we are a chain that links our lives together, to live, I need you to live, so please Gaara, don't die."

Gaara was shocked, this was the first time that someone was actually pleading him to LIVE. That was what was different of her than the others, others wanted him to die, she wanted him to live. On that day, though unnoticed to himself; he had set her onto one of his few most valued items he held preciously.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They headed out after; trying to gain the time they lost from before. Gaara had thought about their discussion and Sakura was thinking about it as well, but they were both thinking different things.

Gaara was thinking of Sakura as his now, that meant, she belonged to him. Whatever Gaara owned, he was always territorial, and in his mind, he 'owned' Sakura, therefore he was, by nature, territorial over her.

Sakura was thinking how this would affect her other teammates. She was worried they would try and shun him away from her. Naruto would try his hardest to become friends with her, but she was sure of it that he would always be cautious of Gaara and probably wouldn't be able to trust him enough to be near her.

Sasuke was definitely going to the be who would be the most disgusted with Gaara, she didn't want that to happen. In fact, she didn't even WANT to see Sasuke again. After all those years of loving him, he gave her nothing in return. But what would happen if she came back and still had feelings for Sasuke? She would never be able to choose between them…as long as she stayed away from him, she would have no second doubts.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sakura looked out in the sky and noticed that it was probably around 6:30 and figured it was time to have supped. She told Gaara this and said she was going to go catch them some food, Gaara refused to let her do this and said he'd do it. Sakura argued that she wouldn't go 'hunting' because of her 'condition' anyways; she was just going to get berries or something and that she needed to look after herself as well.

Gaara refused again, saying he'd get enough food for the both of them and ordered, yes, ordered her not to move from the site. She obeyed because Gaara would probably chain sand links to her ankles if she didn't obey, but when he left, she grumbled under her breath about him being 'too over protecting' and 'over dominating.'

When he got back, he found Sakura lying on the ground, bored out of her mind. He said "Because of your 'condition', I only picked fruit, etc. Hurry and eat, we have to catch up with the time we lost today."

Sakura nodded and they ate in silence. Gaara was used to it and Sakura was used to having a very loud and obnoxious Naruto with her, so the quietness was calming and a relieving new change.

They headed off again, and it suddenly went to sunset to dark night. Sakura stumbled everywhere, trying to adjust to the terrain and her eyesight.

Gaara took her hand, at which Sakura didn't gasp at like last time, she smiled warmly at him, which he could see clearly because of Shukaku's sight improvement. He frowned, which was not visible to her. He couldn't figure her out, what made her continue to becoming too innocent? Was that what made her go to such extremities for him? No one in their right mind would do something for him just for the fun of it. Accepting him was like an unwritten law. It wasn't written for everyone to see, but it was there, it was if everyone born, was born with that trait. Sakura seemed to be the only one who wasn't born like that. She was definitely different.

Sakura's legs were a little stiff from not properly staying in fit all the time, it was because some days they would walk vast lengths and others, unforeseen events seemed to happen which would not allow them to have a steady pace daily.

Gaara seemed to understand and pulled her up on his back, making her wrap her arms around his neck. Sakura yelped in surprise at the sudden movements but was grateful she didn't have to walk anymore.

Sakura felt her eyelids slowly close more and more. Fighting to keep them up was a challenge. She thought it unfair that Gaara had to carry her as well as her SLEEPING while he was doing all the carrying.

Gaara seemed to understand the situation and wisely advised "It would be better if you just slept right now, you will need to gain the energy for tomorrow."

Sakura wanly smiled and drifted off to sleep, tightly securing her arms around Gaara's neck. Gaara smiled as he heard her quietly inhale and exhale. She was beautiful, he couldn't disagree, she was breathtaking, kind that it was unnatural and she was also courageous when it came to it.

"Mmm…Gaara." Sakura murmured in her sleep, "I'll…do everything in my power…snore…to save you from yourself…"

Gaara was shocked, but then smiled again. He seemed to smiling a lot nowadays. But he was very lucky to have a 'friend' to help him and willing to risk her life for him. He was very pleased with this, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy of the fact that he was indeed started a relationship with someone. It had never happened before in a while. Was he going too slow or too fast? He was uncertain of himself. Was this really the right thing to do? He didn't want it to become like…'Yashamaru.' At the very thought of him, his smile quickly was replaced with an angry scowl. It was impossible for him to remove him from his memories…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ha! Kind of crash landed this one ; erg…usually I'm really good at making a solid ending, but this one kind of was out of control. If you're angry with this chapter and are disappointed, I wouldn't be surprised…sorry.

Ahh, sorry, I know it's a little shorter than my other chapters, but I couldn't' help it….I ran out of ideas. I was even more displeased with this chapter than the last one! T.T Feel free to advise anything to me how to improve…etc.

I don't know where this fanfic is even headed, so any ideas, just throw them in, it's already screwed up and there's no real plans in the future for this fanfic…Ahh, sad.

PS, The 'song' Sakura sung was not an actual song, I just wrote it in less than 10 seconds because I was too lazy to find an actual song that fit Sakura at the moment . so…it's not professional or anything. I called it 'The Water Becomes Tainted'. Pretty obvious name eh? That's because I'm never creative with names

I'm PREEETYTYY sure that their relationship is going a tad too fast, but hey…I was thinking that this fanfic would be a little shorter than what I originally planned. I'm thinking around 10 chapters-ish.

QUESTION!! A reviewer of mine brought up a really REALLY good point, how old do you think that they should be? …or did I already say how old they were? o.O Mm, was never good at remembering things.

REVIEW PPLZ!!