Authors notes: REVIEW PLEASE; i dont want to be writing this story for nothing! At least let me know it's being read! GAHH :)
Disclaimer: soo. ive checked the mail, and apparently i still do not own naruto? Oh well. perhaps in another life?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gaara felt the darkness closing in on him. He leaned against a wall as he slowly began to slide down leaving a blood trail on the wall behind him. He sat against the wall his head facing upwards and his eyes closed.
"What are you doing boy!" Gaara could hear a voice speak from within him.
"This is it Shukaku." Gaara answered.
"So that's it. You're just going to sit there and give up. You're not going to fight for your country." Shukaku said now growling.
"What do you suppose I do?" Gaara asked weakly.
He could hear Shukaku growl with laughter inside of him. "Take them out. Take them all out. Show them who is the strongest, make them fear you again. Make them pay. Make them all pay, especially the konoha shinobi, they did this to you. They destroyed your village. Make them pay..MAKE THEM PAY!" Shukaku yelled within him as Gaara brought his hands to his head and dug his fingers into his scalp due to the pain Shukaku was causing. Gaara opened his eyes as he lowered his hands.
"I..I can't." He said lowering his head.
"Why not? Is is because you love her?" Shukaku said followed by a laugh.
"Shut up, shut up.. SHUT UP!" Gaara finally yelled grasping his head again as the jade necklace he once held fell to the ground beside him and he looked at it gritting his teeth.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They stopped as they arrived at Suna. They slowly approached the front gates, you could call it, Sakura slowly pulled out the pass as she looked around. There were no guards in sight as she glanced back at Kakashi who nodded to her. Naruto just marched on through without noticing while the rest of them were cautious. "Naruto." Neji said in his demanding voice. Naruto stopped and looked over to Neji. "Nani, Neji?" he asked confused. Neji looked over at Sakura who was looking up at the sky. She shook it off as they continued through and into Suna. Usually, there would be a small gathering awaiting them, especially since they requested them for an urgent mission.
They slowly walked through the lonely streets of Suna, where vendors would usually be convincing people to buy their things, or dancers wouuld sing and dance happily through the street. A wind passed by blowing some sand in small circles. Kakashi glanced up at a building rooftop as he thought he saw someone. "Hn." he said as he got closer to Sakura and said in low tone, almost a whisper. "Something's not right. We're being followed." Sakura simply replied by nodding her head.
The continued as they arrived at the Kazekage building. Sakura turned to face her teammates. "Tenten,Neji and Lee , you stand guard out here. Kakashi and Naruto you come intside with me. " They all nodded without objection as Sakura, Kakashi and Naruto turned and entred as they could hear Neji behind them telling Tenten and Lee what to do and where to go and what formation to make.
The three ninja slowly walked through the dark and empty hallways of the building as they stopped when they reached the room where the meetings were held. Kakashi slowly opened the door with Naruto and Sakura behind him peeking over his shoulders. Kakashi immeadiatly upon entering, the smell of stale blood and death filled his nostrels. The scent soon filling the halls and Sakura and Narutos's nostrels as well.
Sakura quickly ran in examining the corpses. She checked all their pulses as all but one were dead. She ran over to Baki's body as she check his pulse and breathing. His breaths were slow, and life was slowly fading from him. She turned him onto his back as she pulled out a kunai and cut open his shirt. She stared at the huge gash on his abdomen and side as he had suffered sever wounds. She made a few hand signs as she held her hands over his abdomen and a glow of green surrounded her hands as she began healing him. He slowly began to cough of blood as regained conciousness.
Kakashi and Naruto made their way over to him as Naruto crouched beside him and Kakashi stood, his arms crossed looking down at him. Baki began opening his eyes as he looked at the three faces all looking down at him. Shock and fear suddenly took him over as he turned over on his stomache and frantically began crawling away. Confused, Sakura reached over and grabbed his shoulder. He stopped as he slowly turned and looked at her. "F..finish me off." he said slowly closing his eyes.
"What..what are you talking about!?" Sakura said as she pulled her hand away looking up at Kakashi, almost assuming he would know, but he simply shrugged to Sakura and turned his attention back to Baki. "What happend here?" Naruto asked impatiently. Baki spit in Naruto's direction as it landed by his feet. His spit was red, mostly blood. "How dare you mock me. You know what happend!" Baki yelled angrily as he turned leaning up against a nearby wall. Naruto looked dazed and confused as he simply stared at Baki shaking his head.
"The leaf shinobi, allies of the sand." he scoffed spitting once more. "You disgust me. Although, we probably deserve it for attacking you that one time. But you shamless cowards got close so we wouldn't suspect it. I should've known..I should've known!" he said banging his fists against the ground.
Naruto, insulted and annoyed, stood and picked Baki up by his collar holding him in the air. "Now listen here! Nobody insults the leaf shinobi, nobody!" Naruto growled furiously. "Now, tell us what happend!" Naruto said shaking him a bit and staring into his eyes.
"Alright," Baki said grabbing Naruto's arm. "I'll humour you. " he said glancing over at Kakashi and Sakura before returning his gaze upon Naruto.
Flashback.
"Kazekage-sama. The meeting is about to begin." Baki said standning in the doorway of the balcony. Gaara sighed as he simply nodded and turned walking past Baki and into the building.
Gaara and Baki both entered the room where the meetings were held, where the four tall statue's of the former Kazekage's stood proud. One of them being Gaara's father. Gaara walked over and took a seat at the head of the table as Baki stood at the door. The meeting commenced as a ninja soon burst through the door and soon after fell dead, a kunai in his back. Baki picked up the fallen ninja and exited the room. Gaara turned to the elders sitting at the table as he simply bowed and left after Baki.
He walked onto the balcony and over to where Baki was standing. "What happend?" Gaara asked in his monotone voice. Baki simply shook his head. "We don't know. But, we've recieved word the Konoha ninja are here on a mission we requested from them." Baki turned questiongly to Gaara as Gaara simply nodded his head. "Yes, I was aware of the mission sent to them regarding their help with that whol situation of the mole we had. An elder had requested it and I approved." Gaara said turning as he saw what seemed to be Sakura and Naruto enter the balcony. Naruto waving frantically and Sakura with a big smile on her face.
Baki bowed as he exited the balcony and headed to the meeting room to talk with the elders. Upon entering the meeting room he was shocked to find bloody corpses scattered throughout the room. One elder managed to escape, he saw the bloody trail lead out into the halway as Baki was about to turn to leave as he was knocked into the room and the door slammed shut. He looked up to saw a figure towering over him. That figure, was Kakashi. Baki scrambled to his feet as he rubbed his eyes to amke sure what he was seeing was real. "Kakashi!" he yelled standing firm. "What are you doing blocking the door! There's trouble, we're glad you've arrived we need your help and -- " he was cut off. " I know." Kakashi simply replied in a cold tone as he had an evil glare and he slowly lifted up his forehead protector revealing his sharingan eye. Baki stood both surprised and scared as he stared into the eyes of what was supposed to be his ally. He took out a kunai and readied himself for a battle of a lifetime.
Naruto and Sakura walked up to Gaara as Naruto patted him on the back and Sakura smiled sweetly at him. "We heard you needed our help with something." Naruto stated looking at Gaara. Gaara slightly nodded as he turned and looked out over Suna. "Yes, it appears that--" Gaara stopped as he felt a sudden pain wash over him. He turned to see Sakura and Naruto both holding their kunai's as it was lodged into Gaara's side. He looked up and saw an evil grin on both their faces as they flipped backwards pulling the kunai out. An evil laugh escaped Naruto as he dissapeard leaving Sakura. Shocked at what had happend, Gaara never expected these two people of any to be the ones to attack him. His wound, which should've healed by now, didn't. He looked down to see a green sticky substance around his wound as he noticed it was some sort of poison preventing his skin to heal and rebuild itself. He looked up to Sakura as she smiled and blew him a kiss as she then dissapeard. Gaara turned as he looked down upon Suna and watched as Neji, Tenten, Naruto and Sakura ran around terrorizing the citizens. Gaara held out his hand as a mountain of sand was created slowly as he then stopped thriving in pain as the posion had taken effect. He motioned for the citizens to follow his sand into a nearby building that could support them all. They all ran to the building as he held out his hand once more, mustering up his remaining chakra as he double plated the building with sound keeping the citizens in and the attackers out. The sand could not be broken through. Gaara heard an elder yelling behind him as he grabbed his side and walked off.
End of Flashback
Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi all stood horrified at the information they had just recieved. Naruto let go of Baki as he stood up slowly.
"I..I don't believe it." Sakura finally said, shaking a bit. "But, we just got here." Baki started to laugh as stared daggers at Sakura. "Save your antics, I know what you did. I saw it with my two eyes." he shot back. "Baki-san. You have to believe us, we didn't do this." Sakura said stepping forward.
Kakashi remained quiet as he thought to himself. "We have to get to Gaara and make sure he's okay. " Sakura said immeadiatly heading for the door. "Naruto, go to Neji, Tenten and Lee and let them know what's happening. Baki and I will search for these impostors and get to the bottom of this. " Nauruto nodded his head. "Hai." he said as he dissapeard. Sakura was already gone, in search of Gaara.
Please be okay..
------------------------------------------------
Lee sighed as he stared off into the distance then looked down at Neji and Tenten who were standing guard at the door while he was on watch duty atop this building. "This is boring." he said to himself as he suddenly pirked up. "No! I cannot sustain to this being boring. The spiringtime of yo uth must be patient. " He said smiling and giving a thumbs up to seemingly no one.
"Naruto." Tenten said surprised as Naruto appeared from no where looking at them without saying a word. A few moments of silence passed as Neji finally spoke up. "Well?" he asked, Naruto didn't answer. " What's happening? Did you find Gaara? Where's Sakura and Kakashi-sensai?" Tenten asked impatiently. Suddenly Kakashi and Sakura appeared beside him as Tenten let out a sigh of relief. "There you guys are, I was getting nervous. " Tenten said walking up to Sakura with a smile. Suddenly Tenten felt something cold around her neck as it became hard for her to breathe. She looked down and saw a hand around her neck. surprised she looked up to see who it had belonged to. "Sa..Sakura." she managed to say as she grabbed onto Sakura's wrist. "What..What are you doing!" she said in a panic as she tried to pry her hand off of her neck.
Neji stepped forward almost yelling." Sakura! What are you doing you baka! Let her go!" he said approaching them as he was suddenly thrown back against the wall of the Kazekage's building. He stood up to see that Naruto had just forcefully kicked him against the wall. Neji slowly got up as he noticed three new figures standing with them. Neji's eyes widened as he saw who they were. It was Tenten, Lee...and Neji. He glanced over to see that Sakura was still holding Tenten. "What the hell is going on.." Neji said in his cool monotone voice.
----------------------------------------
Sakura ran through the halls of the dark building as she made her way to the balcony. She ran to the edge as she looked around but saw no one. She was about to turn and leave when she felt she had stepped in something sticky. She looked down to see a pile of blood. She looked to the side as she saw dragged footprints.
Gaara..
She began following the footprints as it led to a small door. She stopped as she looked at the open door, only darkness awaited her as she took a breath and slowly entered.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Neji stood examining all the faces that stood staring at him. He looked over as he saw Tenten in Sakura's grasp as she began fighting for air. He sighed as he looked over at the other Tenten who stared viciously at him.
What do I do...
He though to himself when suddenly a vivid flash of green ran by grabbing Tenten from Sakura's gras as it stopped beside Neji. He looked over to see that Lee was there holding Tenten with a huge smile on his face. Tenten slowly regained conciousness as she began coughing. Lee set her on her feet as she was hunched over still coughing. She finally stood up as she looked over at Neji and Lee and then back at the others standing in front of her.
Neji got into a fighting stance. "Byakugan!" he yelled as veins protruded around his eyes and his vision was enhanced. He studied their chakra circulatory systems as his eyes returned to normal and he looked over at Lee and Tenten standing beside him. "It's unmistakable that these chakra circulatory systems are theirs. I don't sense anything different. But, it's not them." Neji said turning back to the impostors that stood before them.
"What do we do Neji?" Tenten asked eyeing herself that stood in front of her. Neji shook his head. "We have no choice but to fight. " he said as he turned his attention to the Neji that stood before him. Lee got low into a fighting stance as he grinned widely at the Lee in front of him. "But we're out numberd." Tenten stated with a worried look as she examined her team that stood before her. Neji sighed as he shook his head. " Be careful." Those were his last words as the impostor Neji started too attack.
--------------------------------
Kakashi and Baki ran through the hallways of the Kazekage building. Baki trailing a bit behind Kakashi due to the fact he was still injured, and that he did not trust him. "How do I know you're the real you." Baki said, finally breaking the silence. Kakashi didn't turn around as he continued running and his simply replied. "You don't." This didn't scare Baki any, but he knew it was true. Even if he had said he was the real Kakashi, Baki still wouldn't believe him. A sigh escaped his lips as they headed for the entrance.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Sakura entered the small room as she walked in, it got colder and colder with each step she took. The room seemed to be getting smaller. She stopped as she looked around. Her eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness. "Gaara..." she finally managed to say softly. No reply. She continued through the room as she stopped when she heard subtle breathing. She looked around as she could sense a strong presence of chakra. She began making her way towards that presence as she suddenly stopped when somethign wrapped around her foot and started making its way up her body slowly covering her mouth and lifting her in the air.
Her eyes widened as she was retricted to move. She stared in front of her as she sensed the chakra getting closer when finally she saw a pair of eyes glowing in front of her. Eyes filled with no emotion. Jade eyes,much like her own.
Gaara.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lee was slammed against a nearby building as a part of it chipped off and fell on his head. Tenten and Neji were also slammed against the building. "They have the exact same moves." Lee said wiping away some blood from his mouth. Neji and Tenten nodded as their eyes widened when they saw multiple kunai fly their way. They then heard the sound of the kunai's falling to the ground as they looked up to see Naruto standing in front of them holding a kunai. He glanced over his shoulder. "I guess you guys found out already." he said with a grin as he extended his hand to help Neji up. Neji accepted and stood, while Lee did the same to Tenten.
"They fight exactly as we do. And even with you here, we are still out numbered." Neji informed Naruto. Naruto nodded as he glared at the Naruto in front of him. They engaged in combat again as they were once again thrown against the building.
Breathing hard Lee let out a small laugh. "Wow, I never knew I was this hard to beat." he said wiping some more blood off of his mouth. "What are you talking about, I could easily whoop your butt!" Naruto said pushing some fallen rubble off of him. "What! No you couldn't! I could beat you!" Lee snapped back. "Wanna bet! I'll kick your butt right here!" Naruto said glaring at lee.
Neji sighed as it suddenly hit him. "That's it." he said looking over at Lee and Naruto who now stopped arguing. "What's it?" Naruto asked confused. "We can't beat ourselves, we'll fight each other." He said standing and offering his hand to Tenten. Tenten accepted as she stood beside him. "Tenten, you will fight Naruto. Lee, you fight Tenten, I'll fight Lee and Naruto, you will fight me. " He said pointing to the Neji impostor. Naruto nodded as they all repositioned themselves in front of their new opponents.
Neji had picked these oponents for them purposely. Naruto was a close combat fighter, with Tenten fighting as a long range she could keep him at bay and damage him enough without him touching her. He had placed Lee against Tenten, because being teammates all these years, he had known her weakness'. He had put himself against Lee, because with all the power and chakra he had within him, he could easily stop it with his abilities by getting only one hit, and knowing Lee's weakness' as well. And finally, he had placed Naruto against his impostor simply because Naruto was the only one who had even beaten Neji before, and he was positive he could do it again.
"Neji," Naruto said looking over at him. "What about Sakura and Kakashi?" Naruto asked glancing at them quickly. When suddenly he shileded his eyes as a high wind picked up and Kakashi and Sakura were blown back and slammed against a building as they turned to look at two figures that stood atop a building.
"We'll take care of them." A female voice spoke out, as Naruto and the other shielded their eyes from the sun and saw Tamari and Kankuro smiling back at them. They dissapeared and reappeared beside them. Tamari facing Kakashi and Kankuro in front of Sakura.
Neji simply smirked at their arrival as he turned his focus back to the Lee impostor in front of them.
------------------------------------------------
"Gaara.." she spoe softly again as she stared into his eyes. The sand squeezed tighter around her. She struggled to break free and gasp for air as the sand tightened.
"Yes boy. That's it. Squeeze her, squeeze the life out of her." Shukaku's laugh started over again as Gaara winced in pain from the strain in his eyes.
"Gaara..wh..what are you doing." she said gasping for breath as her eyes studied his.
"You destoryed my village, attacked me and now you will beg for you life. Something I will not give you." Gaara said emotionless staring back at her as the sands grip toghtened. Sakura could feel a rib or two crack, as a few other bones began to break.
"Gaara please." she said looking at him with pleading eyes. "I..I know what happened." she said with her few gasps for air. "Please, let me explain..it..wasn't..me.." she said as she began to lose conciousness from the lack of oxygen. "..please.." she managed to say right as the world around her became blurry and she could feel her eyes get heavy.
Gaara commanded the sand to release its grip as it slowly brought Sakura down to the ground. Gaara stood towering over her, crossing his arms. His Kazekage robes were thickly stained with blood as refrained from wincing from the pain that had begun to subside.
Sakura's eyes fluttered open as she looked up at Gaara. "Gaara.." she said as she began breathing normally again. She slowly sat up as she winced in pain from the broken bones. Gaara crouched down next to her as he glared daggers at her.
"I, I know what happend. Those people, they were impostors.." Sakura said still coughing from the lack of air from before. Gaara's sand carried and object over to Sakura as it dropped it in front of her. Sakura looked down and picked up the object. It was a jade necklace. The necklace she had given him last time he was in Konoha.
Flashback
Gaara stood and bowed to Tsunade as he made his way out of the Hokage's building. He walked down the street of Konoha as he made his way towards the gates when he stopped. He saw someone standing on the bridge. He made his was over to this person as he noticed the pink hair and emerald eyes.
Sakura
Sakura leaned on the railing as she stared down into the glistening water as she saw the cherry blossom petals fall gracefully from the Sakura tree and land innocently ontop of the water. She let out a sigh as she leaned on her hand and watched the water.
Gaara hesitantly made his way over to her. What was he doing, why was he going to her? And most importantly what was this feeling he was having. He stopped about half a foot from her as he looked at her with curious eyes. "Sakura." he said in his monotone voice.
Startled she looked up at him as she smiled. "Good evening Kazekage-sama." Sakura said with a bow. Gaara scoffed at what she said as he turned and faced the water. "Call me Gaara." he said glancing over at her as she nodded then returned her gaze back to the water.
"What are you doing out here all by yourself." Gaara subconciously asked. He stopped as he wondered why he was asking, why he had cared.
Sakura shrugged as a sigh escaped her lips. "I don't know..everyone else is busy I guess." she said with another shrug. Gaara watched as he examined her. She had grown quite a bit in these past few years. He only came her on occasion to meet with Tsunade. He would usually see her, due to the fact that she was afterall, Tsunade's apprentice. But he hadn't taken much notice about her, and about how she grew and improved. He rememberd the helpless little girl who was always crying and getting in the way, he rememberd how she would always fan over that Uchiha boy. The day he really took notice to her was when she had stood up to him, stood up to him to protect that Uchiha. She risked her life to protect his. It was that day, that fight with Naruto that he finally learned what it was to feel, to care for someone and want to protect them and not hurt them. What it was like to have friends, and be cared for. She had definatly grown, he was now of course taller than her. She was much stronger than before. She was a well respectecd kunoichi in Konoha, one of the strongest and best medical nin around. There has been rumours that she may one day pass Tsunade. Not only was she strong and powerful, but she was beautiful. He didn't understand why she didnt' have a special someone yet, or maybe she did and was unwilling to let go of him.
Gaara let out a sigh as he continued to look at the water, it began getting darker as the sun was beginning to set. "You're thinking about that Uchiha boy, arn't you." Gaara more so stated, than asked. Sakura let out another sigh as she looked over at him. "Why. Why do you dwell on the past instead of looking to your future. Why do you continue to love someone who will not return the same feelings." Gaara said to her as he glanced over at her. He saw a tear roll down her face as he let out a sigh. He hated seeing people cry, it rather annoyed him. He moved closer to her as he was surprised at his own action. He slowly lifted his hand and placed it on her shoulder. "He should be the one crying, because whether he wants to recognize it or not, he lost the best thing he ever had, the best thing anyone could ever have, " with that he turned to look out over the water again. "love."
Sakura looked up at him as she wiped the tear away from her face trying to hold back more as she luncged forward and hugged Gaara. Gaara stood wide-eyed at the action she had took. He didn't know what to do. His sand slowly pryed her off of him as he looked into her glossy eyes. He could see the hurt and betrayal in them as she quickly turned away. "S..sorry." she managed to say before bowing and turning to leave.
Gaara sighed, "Wait." he called after her. She immeadiatly stopped. He walked closer to her as he reached out his arms and forcefully pulled her close to him holding her. It was then she burst out crying and she wrapped her arms around his back. He could feel the tears sink through his robes and he felt them on his chest. Several minutes passed as she finally stopped crying and she slowly browk the embrace. She looked up at Gaara as she bowed, her short pink hair falling forward. "Thank you." she said as he returned with a bow.
"I have to leave for Suna now." Gaara started. " I understand." Sakura said as she began to walk away. "I'd like it if you walked me to the gate." he stated staring at her. She stopped and turned as she nodded with a smile. They soon approached the gates as Sakura sighed. "Well, this is as far as I go. " she said with a frown. Gaara nodded as he began to walk off. "Wait!" Sakura called running up to him. She reached her hands to the back of her neck as she undid the necklace she was wearing. "Hold out your hand." she instructed him, he obeidently held out his ahdn as she placed a jade necklace in the center of his palm. "I hope you will visit soon." she said as she smiled and gave him one last hug before walking back into Konoha.
Gaara turned and headed back to Suna, escorted by a few ANBU as he began thinking of the past events and he held the necklace to his chest. What was this feeling, was this what they called love.
End of flashback.
Sakura looked at the jade necklace she held in her hand as she could feel her eyes beginning to water. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she looked up at him. He simply turned and began heading for the exit as he glanced over his shoulder as in telling her to follow. She rose to her feet as she followed him and they soon made their way to the edge of the balcony hearing the sound of battle below them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's notes : DONE; a long chapter to make up for the two short ones before it. DONT WORRY; this is still a Sasu/Saku fic i just needed to add some fluff between Gaara and her. He loves her, but she only loves him as a friend. HAHH. i told you it would get more exciting? Dont worry. it gets better. Sasuke will come annd there will be MORE FLUFF;MORE FIGHTS; MORE DEATH !! haha. but more fluff. lol. REVIE PLEASE D :