There I'm done. Done, done, done. Sorry for that. I really am sorry! Gomen, Gomen-nasai! I'm happy that I have finally gotten to update this. The end is coming up soon hopefully, but since I'm making this up as I go there will most likely be a lot more for me to write. So even though I want to finish this up as soon as possible It will most likely be a while. (Like a long while.) Gomen, Gomen-nasai!

Please review! I'm begging you…well not begging I have at least a little pride to maintain you know. But yes I would love your reviews. I have not received a single review that I did not like. Flames are welcome as always to toast my Marshmallows and melt my Swiss chocolate! Mmm don't you wish you had some Swiss chocolate.

I do not own any part of the Naruto world. Nuthing nu uh nope not a thing.

MOLD

The second part of the Chunin exams were over and the month spent on one on one training with each contestant's sensei was almost over. Naruto want on with Jiraiya and Sasuke went on with Kakashi to train separately for the remainder of the month.

Tsunade asked Sakura if she would like a sensei assigned to her but Sakura politely declined telling the first female Hokage that she survived this long without a sensei and she could survive another month or so without one.

Sakura sighed and readjusted her headband around her neck before exiting the small apartment to get a breath of much needed fresh air.

Aside from her team and the team Gaara was on there was one more from leaf and another from Mist. There was almost a palmary round for the second time in a row but Tsunade said that it was not necessary since one of the Mist ninja and that girl named Hinata dropped out at the end.

In the middle of a street Sakura stopped and looked over at herself in the reflection of a shop's window. Hesitantly she reached up to tap the wrapping around her face. At least the went well with her white long sleeved shirt and baggy black pants hat tucked into her black sandals with a slight heel. Her shirt closely resembled the top of a yukata. All a gift from the Hokage to replace her shredded black outfit she was forced to toss.

She remembered Tsunade personally smacking Naruto and Sasuke up the head for not offering her some spare clothing before taking Sakura away to change. All the while muttered about perverted boys and tacking advantage of a bad situation.

"Tsunade sama is a very kind woman is she not Okami?" Sakura thought awaking Okami from her thin slumber.

"…She is, a truly kind woman. She must see you a growing girl and not as a ninja like most do."

"Yes…I wonder if this is what it feels like to have a mother?"

"I would not know. My mother died when I was only an infant when I was still human." Okami replied standing up and looking away inside of Sakura's mind.

"Okami…what was it like when you were human? I mean how was it different from when you are-I mean you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"You want to know?"

"Hai, but only if you would like to tell me." Sakura replied walking under a tree and resting in it's shade.

"I was born to a Nobel family that dwelt in the mountains. My mother died two and a half years after I was born due to a failed assignation meant for my father. My father had the sevenths raise me up to become the perfect lady. And I was…until I turned sixteen."

"Sixteen? Isn't that when you are allowed to marry?"

"Yes, sixteen is when a lady such as myself would most likely get married. My father promised me to a neighboring lord and we were due to be married within a matter of weeks."

"Let me guess, you were in love with someone else weren't you?" Sakura asked softly with a small smile.

Okami smiled back and nodded slowly. "Yes I was in love with someone else. He was a monk serving in my lands for a shot time. We did not know each other long but that mattered little. We were in love and we both knew it. He did not want me to be married and neither did I so we devised a plan to stay together eternally. My favorite maid and my childhood friend agreed to help me a so in the dead of night the four of us stole out into the darkness."

"What happened to you and your lover?" Sakura asked in confusion knowing something had to go wrong since the two of them were not together at the moment.

Okami did not reply and from the look of it she seemed like she never would.

Sakura nodded understanding that her friend wanted to keep this matter to herself. "May we please speak of another matter. Like my training. You said you would help me with my newest jutsu., it dose still need a bit of perfecting."

"Pf, a bit? That thing needs a miracle." The motherly wolf demon replied rolling her eyes and returning to her normal playful self.

Sakura rubbed the back of her neck letting her gloved had slip under the cover of her shirt and pass over the tattoo on her back. "I need to perfect it before my next fight. When we were in the forest of death and I was attacked I heard it calling out to me again. I haven't been this close to humans for so long so it's never been this bad."

"I know what you mean. Hiru is getting more and more restless with each passing day. I didn't think it would be this dangerous to come in contact with humans. Maybe it would be better if we went back to the mountains Sakura chan."

"No, I promised Hokage sama that I would remain loyal to the hidden leaf village when I excepted this headband. Leaving would be the same as betraying the village. No, I want to stay. Besides running away is a cowardly thing. I would rather stand my ground and fight his thing. I refuse to let it take over me."

"…Then you had better continue with your training. Your opponent for the third past of the exam is no pushover. He is the son of none other that the Mizukage. He plans on becoming the ruler of his village once he passes his jonin exams. On top of that he is over a year older than you."

"Thanks for the encouragement." Sakura muttered hiding herself in a secluded training spot far from the shop and surrounded on all sides by trees. Undoing he shirts ties she slipped it over her head and faced the forest around her in her black tube top.

"Keppan ankoushoku no jutsu!" (Dark red Seal of Blood ) Sakura cried extending both pals out before bringing the two together in a complex hand seal only she knew.

The tattoo on her back glowed a dark red before beginning to writher and crawl out, bending to Sakura's will power. Most of it crawled down her back with the rest running down her arms and snaking around her neck. The dark red color began to grow a bit brighter as her tattos began to separate and form Chinese characters on her body. Seven to be exact.

"Jing: the well. Gui: the Demon, Ghost. Liu: the Willow. Xing: The star. Zhang: Growth. Yi: The wings. And Zhen: Strong emotion." She seethed through clenched teeth forcing her tattoos to form the desired symbols.

The well symbol was on her lower left shoulder symbolizing her well of chakra the tattoo would provide. The Demon symbol on her lower back off towards the left stood for Okami, who her tattoo would restring if she ran berserk. The willow mark on her left forearm stood for the flexibility she would gain from the tattoo. The Star character was on her lower back off to the right stood for how the tattoo would transform her. Like a star on fire, if she ever needed it. The Zhan sign on her stood for how much the tattoo would increase her power and how much she would grow. The wings character positioned between her should blades stood for the pair of fiery like wings she would grow from the tattoo. And last but not least the character for Strong emotion stood for how her tattoos would only yield to her immense will power fueled by emotion.

Sakura cried out in pain when the tattoos on her back rejected her commands and overpowered her will, stinging her and crawling back to their spot on the middle of her back. Falling to her knees she gasped as drops of sweet fell from her face.

"I…can't….do it." She gasped reaching for her shirt. "Damn… that bird of his."

"You're giving up after on try?" Okami asked shocked that Sakura was quitting so early.

"It's no use. My father designed it so that it would go against your abilities so much that it's impossible to control it. I can't do it." Sakura replied voicing the last part out loud.

"Can't do what?" Someone asked from behind her.

Sakura jumped to her feet and fell into a defensive position only to relax when she saw who it was. "Oh Gaara, it is only you. What brings you all the way out here?"

Gaara eyed the shirt in her hands and looked away before replying. A small hint of pink staining his cheeks. Sakura squeaked and pulled the garment over head as quickly as possible.

"...I sensed an strange chakra pattern coming from this area and came to cheek it out. I had no idea it was you training by yourself." The red haired sand lover replied fixing his gaze on her once again. "What were you doing. Out here anyway."

Sakura shrugged and looked away. "Training what else?"

"…If that is what you say." Gaara replied after a moment of silence before turning away.

"Hey wait, are you leaving?" Sakura called out running up to him.

"Yes why do you ask?" He replied giving her a sideway glance.

"Well I was wondering if you weren't busy training you could join me or some lunch or something." Sakura stated crossing her arms behind her back.

Gaara almost smiled at her offer before replying. "Sakura did you know it's almost three thirty? It's too late for lunch."

Sakura froze and laughed a bit to herself for acting so stupid. "Oh I didn't know that, sorry. Well would you like to join me for some Dango and a walk?"

"Hm what's the catch?" Gaara replied with a teasing tone behind his voice.

"You have to talk to me. A walk and a talk." Sakura replied with a sly smile knowing he would not refuse.

Gaara tapped his chin before looking down at Sakura who was just a head shorter that him. "Well I'm not training so I guess I have a few hours to kill."

"Great. Let's go, my treat." Sakura cried tugging Gaara by the sleeve towards the shops and street vendors.

Behind the bushes a few yards away from the couple, two sand ninja peaked through the parted leaves watching their brother with fascination.

"Did you see that? Gaara never acts that way with anyone…not even us?" Temari hissed shaking her brother by to collar as she watched her youngest brother be dragged away by none other than a girl. "Amazing, I knew Gaara lightened up a bit after meeting Naruto but…he's like almost…normal!"

"And is there a problem with that?" Kankuro asked rubbing his sore neck.

"YES! Normal males his age have hormones. Do you know what that means?"

"…No and I fail to see why you are dragging me around when the third exam is only days away. Can't I do something else aside from stalking my brother like some obsessed fan girl?"

His older sibling shot Kankuro a death glare and grabbed him by the collar once again. "No, we are going to stalk Gaara all day, both you and I."

"Dear God help me… please." The puppet boy squeaked as his sister pulled him out of the bushes once again.

I know it's shot but I ran out of ideas.

R&R