The ten foot tall, gargoyle-like creature called Shukaku stood with his huge yellow back to us. The only sign of movement he gave was the slight twitching of his thick tail with every heavy, guttural breath he took.

His opponent, the grossly transformed Sasuke, watched the demon from a high tree branch, his misshapen wings outstretched as if ready to take off at any moment. One of his wings (the one not formed of snakes), looked like a giant clawed hand, and the whites of his eyes had turned black, giving him a greater demonic aura. That, combined with his blue hair and gray skin, his protruding fangs and marked face, made me wonder what curse in hell could have created such a grotesque being.

Neither of the men was recognizable in the state they were in, but I could see the sharp increase in chakra from both. I could still sense Gaara's energy within Shukaku, but I had no idea what the demon would do, or how much Gaara controlled it, if he could at all. Sasuke, I could tell, was still himself, besides his appearance and new strength.

I didn't realize I was clutching Toboe until I heard a low growl of protest to my grip on his fur.

"Sorry, Toboe," I whispered, letting go. I didn't dare raise my voice before those two beasts.

I wracked my mind for some way to stop them, to prevent causing any further pain to Gaara or Sasuke. But they both wanted the same thing, me, and neither of their stubborn minds would back down. The situation would have been romantic if my husband's life wasn't on the line.

It suddenly occurred to me that I was in a bad position at the moment. In the state I was in physically, I would be only a hindrance to Shukaku, especially if he had to defend me. I grasped a nearby tree trunk to pull myself up, but I had to pause halfway, grimacing in pain as the gash on my chest reopened. The cut on my face wasn't feeling too great either.

"Don't move, girl," a voice hissed. I whirled around. It was Sasuke, who was right behind me so suddenly I didn't even realize he had moved. He's fast.

He seemed to tower over me with his new evil look; his Sharingan glowing and his warped face emotionless as he watched me slowly lower myself to the ground in submission. I was no fool – I was worn out and terrified, knowing full well he might kill me on a whim or in retaliation.

Toboe jumped up angrily to defend me, or at least to come between us, but I held him back and pulled him next to where I sat. "Don't be stupid," I whispered to him, keeping my eyes on the Uchiha, "I don't want you getting hurt. Shukaku will take care of this bastard."

As if on cue, a fat rope of sand whipped its way through the air over my head and at Sasuke. But he disappeared in a body flicker, leaving the sand to strike at thin air before flying back again to its owner. I turned again to that clearing where Shukaku stood, facing us now. His thick, veined arm was outstretched towards us, sucking back in the sand it had spewed out. His yellow sunken-in eyes glanced at me before he whipped his arm around to his side, throwing a mass of sand again where Sasuke stood a second earlier. But again, the Uchiha was too swift to get hit. My Sharingan even had difficulty tracking his movements, which were much quicker than the body flicker technique commonly used. How did he move so fast? Could he teleport? I hoped Shukaku was fast or strong enough to catch him. He was a real demon, after all, so I knew he had some advantage.

Sasuke appeared again in the air above us, his horrid wings flapping fiercely while his hands quickly formed several seals. These, at least, my Sharingan could follow.

Ram, Boar, Horse, Tiger. "Great Fireball Jutsu!" And with a hand to his lips, he shot a gigantic burst of flame towards the demon.

Shukaku raised his clawed hands and a wall of sand rose from the ground, shielding him from the attack. The roar of the flames was loud as it hit the barrier, then dissipated. But Sasuke had the advantage now, for he was hidden from view. As the sand barrier melted back into the ground, the Uchiha wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Chidori!" he was suddenly high in the air above us, grabbing his wrist. His chakra pulsed and sizzled in electric energy until it became visible to the naked eye. The air filled with a high pitched chirping sound like the one I heard before. Then with one last beat of his wings he plunged down towards Shukaku, dragging his chakra-laden wrist forward.

Shukaku's large arm lifted up just in time to deflect the blow and toss Sasuke away in one movement. The attack had left a gaping crater in Shukaku's arm, but it immediately filled up with more sand and healed over.

"Yes!" I punched the air, startling myself with my sudden energy. Maybe Shukaku will win! I thought, And if Shukaku wins, Gaara wins.

As Sasuke pulled himself up again into the sky and farther away from Shukaku's reach, the sand demon threw his hand up once more, shooting dozens of sand-made shuriken, which Sasuke easily dodged.

But as Sasuke looked proudly down at us, the shuriken abruptly turned mid-air and shot towards him again. He had forgotten that Shukaku controlled the sand weapons. I heard a faint curse as he looked back, too late, as they spun toward him. Several hit him in the side as he turned, and one lodged neatly into his neck.

Even from on the ground, I could see the drops of blood fall from his body, several of which splattered before Shukaku. Sasuke faltered in the air and settled himself down on a branch to pull them out of him. His neck and side were now coated red.

At the sight of the blood, Shukaku's heavy breaths suddenly quickened and he took a step forward. Only then did I notice that his left arm, the one that had blocked Sasuke's Chidori, hung limply at his side. The blow must have done more damage than it appeared.

Sasuke's hand was holding his throat, most likely trying to stop the bleeding. He was clearly panting, but his expression was aggravatingly emotionless as always.

Shukaku took the opportunity t rest, but I was anxious for him to do something, to attack while Sasuke was hurt. But I knew that Gaara liked being on the defensive; it gave him comfort knowing he could block any attack.

Suddenly Sasuke leapt to the ground and began doing hand seals again. It was a risk on his part, because the moment he landed, the ground began to envelope around him. The sand was halfway up his legs by the time Sasuke bit his thumb and threw his palm to the ground.

"Gaara- It's a summoning jutsu!" I yelled out impulsively. Immediately a large puff of smoke blocked Sasuke from vision. I leaned forward trying to make out what had been done.

The mist blew away to reveal three huge snakes, all a sickly shade of green. Arched up as they were, each one was as tall, if not taller than Shukaku, and each green body was as thick as Shukaku's limbs. The middle snake was bigger than the others. On its head that Sasuke stood, his misshapen wings confidently spread and a katana in his hand.

The sand demon roared in anger and charged the trio, but the snakes moved as quick as lightning. One wrapped around his legs, another bound his arms to his sides. Shukaku opened his mouth and spewed sand at the third, but it and Sasuke leapt away just in time.

He flapped his wretched wings and rose into the air, leaving the third snake free to slither around the ensnared sand demon as he fought to throw off the binding snakes.

Toboe, still standing over me, growled and bared his teeth at the serpent. It was now headed in our direction.

I tried to rise to my feet, only to yelp in pain and fall back to my knees again. The open gash across my chest felt like daggers when I had moved. I moved my hand over the cut to slow the bleeding, which thankfully wasn't too bad. The cut was just deep enough to adequately wound me without being life threatening.

"I can't run, Toboe," I panted. "Go get help!" But the wolf turned away from me to face the snake. He would not leave me here with the snake, which was now only a few yards away. It had stopped where it was, carefully observing Toboe with its foul yellow eyes.

In a flash, Toboe jumped toward the snake. Its long tail whipped around and lashed at him midair, smacking him hard into a tree. His limp body slumped to the ground.

"Toboe!" I called out, watching helplessly as the beast wound itself into a wide circle around me, trapping me. It eyed me hungrily as it slithered slowly around, but made no further move to attack.

"What's wrong, Uchiha Seluni?" A voice whispered in my ear.

I turned a bit to look up at Sasuke, who was bent down right behind me. Transformed as he was, he hardly looked like the man I had felt bad for an hour earlier.

"I told you to stop calling me that." I hoped I sounded braver than I felt. "My name is Kazekage no Seluni, wife of Gaara."

He smirked and gave me a condescending look. "You think that you belong to Gaara? You think that demon wants you? Let's see about that."

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to my feet, ignoring my shouts of pain his actions had caused. I had to hold my wound with one hand to keep it from ripping and opening up again. The huge snake followed us, slithering forward while watching me, its mouth parted revealing long dagger-like fangs.

As we stopped before the beasts before us, Shukaku was being strangled by one snake and held still by the other. The demon roared in frustration and suddenly from his skin grew hundreds of needles, making him look like a grotesque porcupine. The needles pierced right through the snakes, spewing out a bright green fluid. It was eerie that neither snake made a sound as they died.

Shukaku withdrew the spikes and the snakes fell to the ground, revealing green stains on his skin. The demon groaned and turned to us, panting heavily. His golden eyes rested on Sasuke.

"What you're feeling now, demon, is the effects of a serpent's poison," Sasuke mused, never lightening his grip on my arm. "Right about now that venom in your veins is traveling throughout your entire body. I'd say you have about five minutes before it reaches your host body beneath, having a much stronger effect. It will kill you both immediately."

Shukaku took a heavy step towards us and Sasuke pulled me up by my wrist, forcing me to stand. He whipped out a kunai and pulled me to him, holding the knife to my throat.

"Careful, demon," he said, "You may be willing to sacrifice yourself, but what about her? If you try to attack me . . ." He let the sentence hang as the blade tilted just enough to nick my neck.

Shukaku paused. It was painfully obvious what choice he had to make. To save me, he would have to withdraw back into Gaara before the poison hit Gaara's body. The sand that formed Shukaku was filled with the poison, and would fall to the ground as soon as the demon was gone. But that would mean losing his battle and . . . giving me up. God, I got nauseous at the thought of Gaara leaving me with him. This Uchiha had a knife to my throat, he had cut me and threatened me, and he had made it obvious that he only wanted me to 'produce heirs'.

The forest was silent as we waited for Shukaku to act.

"Well, demon?" Sasuke called out maliciously, "It's up to you. Give up or the girl dies. Although, I can't promise you that you'll live either way."

Shukaku finally met my eyes. I saw nothing of Gaara in them, only that evil lust for blood and death. Was there anything left of my husband in that beast?

"Please . . . Gaara." I didn't even know what I was asking for. The situation seemed hopeless, but wasn't there anything he could do? To sacrifice himself for me was the worst option imaginable.

The demon shook his head around, seeming to have an internal battle. His face rose one last time towards us as he looked at me. I could finally see a bit of Gaara, a bit of love, in those resigned eyes. Then he began to melt away. Sand poured down from his whole body, coming off in chunks to land lifelessly on the ground.

Soon all that was left was the real Gaara, my Gaara, bloodied and covered in sand. He fell to his knees, his face downcast, hidden from sight. His shoulders shook from exhaustion as he gripped the sand in piles before him.

"Gaara!" I called out, trying to reach for him. Sasuke held me back and kept the knife pressed on me. From the corner of my eye I saw that huge snake move into my vision. It circled behind Gaara, waiting for its orders.

"Very good." Sasuke pulled away the kunai but kept his hold on me. Hot tears stung my eyes as I watched Gaara bend forward onto his hands. I couldn't see his face, yes, but the tears that fell made dark imprints on the sand beneath him.

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A/N: Thank you, to everyone who adds and reviews! Now, to answer a few questions–

Shunie - An OC is an Original Character made by the author to fit into the original storyline, in this case, the Naruto world. Any one can make one, they're fun to create.

Wingless - The gray beast is Sasuke, but in his cursed seal form. He got this power to transform from Orochimaru and accesses this power in difficult fights.

Join-Fei - I realize I've deviated from the manga quite a bit – I'll try to cover the (immense) plot holes! Let me try to sum up a few things - Right now Sasuke is unaware of who Tobi is, but of course, right now we don't know much about him, so I'm postponing his return into the story. Akatsuki never attacked Gaara until Sasori was already replaced with Tobi. Sasuke killed Itachi before the story, and he's returned to Konoha. It's all a bit rough, I know, but if you told me what the plotholes were, I could try and fix them. I appreciate the advice though!

O man I think I know who Tobi really is, cuz it fits in perfectly . . . I hope the manga tells us soon! (don't worry, I won't spoil it!)