A/n: Well here is the next chapter, I tried to put a little more humor in it since this next part is their journey. I really hope you all like it because I did put all my heart and soul into it! Now I am off to play Zelda: Wind Waker at mid-night. Heck yes. So please review, I would love it! Thanks!

"Oh look at that!" Sakura exclaimed excitedly, pointing towards a traveling man on the road. "And that!" she called again, pointing at a woman and child. She was absolutely astonished by each and every little thing of the outside world. What else could be expected from someone who had never been permitted to leave the Haruno estate? "Look ahead it's a town!" Sakura turned around to her traveling party and pointed forward to the small town ahead. "Oh I can't wait to see it up close," she smiled brightly starting to walk ahead of the three. Ino just looked worried and hurried after her, mumbling something that sounded like warnings.

Gaara slowly ran his hand down his face, trying to remain under control of his irritation. This was way too new to him, having to escort a woman who was amazed by every rock and insect they passed. "You ok Gaara?" Naruto asked, smirking slightly as he noted the slight twitch of the red head's eyes.

"Just fine." Gaara said through gritted teeth and clenched fists. "Perfectly fine," he forced out and sped up to try and keep up with the energetic maiden who was now talking to a strange man on the road. Sakura was chatting animatedly with him and he looked more than pleased that he had her attention. Gaara eyed the man suspiciously as he approached and grabbed onto Sakura's wrist forcefully, pulling her away from the conversation. "Come on," he growled lowly, dragging her forward without allowing her to get a word in.

Ino paled and nervously followed the two, as Naruto trailed behind them all laughing hysterically at the scene they were all making. "What are you laughing at?!" Ino practically blew up in the blonde boys face. "How dare you allow him to treat her that way, she is from a prestigious line and he has no right to touch her in the rough manner!" she shrieked, already on the verge of another eruption.

Naruto's laughing softened but he couldn't help but chuckle still, "Ino-chan please, no matter how much you complain Gaara will do what Gaara does. He is very serious and Sakura-chan is making a scene and the more people that notice her the more people Gaara has to watch out for." He pointed out, starting to walk after the arguing blur of pink and red. "Our job is to keep you both safe and it's hard to do that when you just run off and do as you please, this isn't a vacation many people would love to try and get rid of the clan's royalty." He nodded, crossing his arms still laughing softly. Ino sighed and rolled her eyes, walking beside him as she focused ahead on Gaara and Sakura who were now in a heated battle.

"I was just having a conversation with that man!" Sakura yelled in Gaara's face, he growled back viciously, keeping a firm grip on her upper arm.

"I don't need more things to worry about, it's hard enough with you running all over the road at every tiny little thing that you see. We don't have time for that!" he yelled back, glaring harshly at her. She shrunk down slightly from the intensity of his eyes and looked off, more angry than ashamed. "This is not a vacation, this is my mission, people want to kill you. Do you not understand that? Other lesser clans will stop at nothing at this opportunity to remove you from this world and I can't protect you if you keep running off, do you understand that?" Gaara's grip hardened on her arm, since she was remaining silent and not answering him. "Do you understand?" he said again, looking even angrier.

"Yes!" she yelled back, glaring at him as well. He released her and she jerked her arm back following him stubbornly, but silently. Ino hurried to her side and began talking with her silently, mostly asking if she was alright. Naruto sighed and followed silently behind the two women, looking around at the stalls and small shops as they finally entered the town.

Naruto looked towards the sky, it began to orange as the sun was lowering in the west. "Hey Gaara, I think we should probably find an inn to stay in for the night, it will be dark soon." He called to the front.

Gaara looked back towards Naruto and stopped, making the rest stop as well. "Why do we have to stop? Can we not just continue through the town?" he asked, obviously not catching what Naruto was trying to suggest.

"Well Gaara if we continue on it will be dark when we are on the road." He said simply.

"So?" Gaara replied back.

"You can't expect Sakura to camp out in the woods and sleep on the earth." Ino butted into the conversation. She was not going to stand for either of them sleeping on the forest floor, at any point in time.

Gaara rolled his eyes, crossing his arms stubbornly and refusing to look at any of them. "Fine. Do whatever you want but we leave at dawn, no exceptions." He told them, knowing he would lose the argument anyway if he continued on.

"And that means," Sakura smiled and looked around the town, "we get to explore the town!" she cheered happily. Naruto just laughed as Ino and Sakura already started towards stands with decorative fans and necklaces. Gaara just smacked his forehead, letting out an annoyed sigh, turning to walk off.

"Watch them like a hawk Naruto, I'm going to go to that inn at the end and get us two rooms." He told him, pointing towards the nice looking inn that was decorated elegantly on the outside. "I need some peace, if only for a little. I'll meet up with you later," Gaara sighed once more and took the things Naruto was carrying and Naruto's own bag. He left the small group and headed towards the inn, glad he didn't have to listen to the constant chatter of women. As he approached the woman at the front trying to get customers saw him and smiled, opening the door for him. "Thank you," he nodded and headed into the nice, silent, front room.

Gaara stopped at the desk where a dark haired man was looking through some papers vigorously. "I'd like two room, with two each." He told the manager who looked up and nodded, the man turned around and called someone's name from down a hallway. A short woman, probably his daughter came running out and breathing harshly.

"Yes father?" she asked kindly.

"Take this samurai's things," he ordered. She nodded and proceeded to Gaara holding her arms out for the luggage. He handed the things to her and then returned his attention to the inn keeper, "Now that will be 1,250 yen."

Gaara fished for his wallet and pulled out the amount, handing it to the man and then following the girl upstairs to the rooms. She stopped at one of the rooms and slide the door open for him, placing his belongings inside as well. "We have a special hot spring down stairs for our guests so please feel free to visit it," she smiled respectfully and bowed before leaving him. He looked around the room and slid the door closed so that no one else could bother him.

"Finally," he whispered surrounded by silence and darkness. Gaara went to the futon and lay down as soon as he could, he was tired of playing baby sitter. He closed his eyes and tried to relax, but odd images kept flashing around in his head. There was a blonde girl reaching out for him, people surrounding them and then nothing but red. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness, it was a relief from the image he had just seen. "What was that?" he asked himself, staring at the ceiling now that his eyes had adjusted. He slowly closed his once more and tried to relax once more, doing his best to keep his mind blank of all things.

Those fierce green eyes stared at him innocently, filling with nervousness. "Gaara-sama, I wish you would smile. I love when you smile" the small pink haired girl said sadly. She looked down, gripping tightly on her kimono, they were surrounded by the falling pink cherry blossom petals in a familiar garden. "I will do whatever it takes to make you smile again!" she promised, looking up with determination burning in her eyes.

Gaara sat up wide eyed in the darkness. He could feel his own breathing had picked up from the odd dream, these couldn't be memories. He had never seen Sakura before in his entire life until now, but the image was so vivid every little thing he could remember about her. "Impossible," he told himself angrily and shoved the thoughts aside. He got up from the bed and opened the door, he couldn't stand this darkness or this silence any longer. How ironic.

He shut the door softly behind him, so he wouldn't disturb any of the other people in the inn. He walked down the stairs and out into the streets, wondering where the other three must be now, Gaara hadn't realized how much time had passed while he was in there. It was already dark now and the streets were lit up with lanterns, it was actually very inviting how they set up the whole shopping district. It was almost like a festival, people were out and enjoying themselves at the shops. Gaara just searched the crowd, spotting the pink haired princess would probably be the easiest since she stood out so much. He turned around and saw Naruto and Ino at a mask stall, he walked over towards them and tapped on Naruto's shoulder. Ino turned around and saw Gaara glancing around, Naruto did the same but he had a kitsune mask tied on the side of his head. "Oh hey Gaara, you all better now?" he teased, giving him a friendly grin.

"Where's Sakura?" was his only reply.

"Oh relax," Naruto smiled and pointed over Gaara's shoulder. "She's right-" Naruto's eyes went over to the area he had pointed and he froze instantly. "She was just right there!" he panicked, looking around hastily. Gaara turned around and looked through the crowd trying to spot any sign of her, great this is what happens when you leave Naruto in charge of watching two women and he loses the most important one. Gaara began to push through the crowd in a hurry, hearing people's protest but his anxious and irritated look must have stopped them from confronting him further.

"Sakura!" he called out, not giving a second thought of how insane he must look right now. "Sakura!!" he yelled even louder than before. This was bad, very bad. What if someone had taken her? Or even killed her? He shoved through another crowd hoping to see her pink hair anywhere. But he saw nothing, he could feel the fear crawling around in his stomach, which was odd. He wasn't afraid of Sasuke, he hadn't even of thought of Sasuke being the reason why he was looking so vigorously for her, but then what was it? "Sakura!" Gaara yelled once more, hoping to get an answer.

"What?" a familiar, but annoyed voice asked from very close. Gaara turned around to see brilliant green eyes staring back at him. Relief washed over him and that was when he truly realized just how scared he was that she might have been gone. "What??" she asked again, looking irritated now.

"Are you alright? Where were you?" he asked, stepping closer to her and examining her whole body to make sure there was nothing wrong. Her gaze turned from annoyance to worry as he finally began to relax.

"I'm fine, why are you so worked up? I just went to go get some dumplings." She said, holding up the small box she had just purchased. "I was hungry…" she said looking ashamed now, like she had just committed a crime.

Gaara just breathed out and grabbed onto arm gently, "You shouldn't go off like that. Who knows what could have happened."

"Well sorry baby sitter, I didn't know you would have a panic attack." She rolled her eyes, taking one of the dumplings and biting down on it. She watched his worried expression turn to anger and annoyance. "I'm sorry, alright. I didn't even know you were here so don't get mad at me." She told him sternly.

Sakura looked around at the crowd and then back up at him, "You really shouldn't worry so much. I'm fine, nothing is going to happen to me. I mean really Gaara the three seconds you happened to be here was the time I was gone, I was coming back when I heard you making all this commotion. Here," she took one of the dumplings out of the box and held it to him. "Try one, there good." She smiled up at him, her anger had already evaporated from her mind. Gaara just took a deep breath and tried to do the same, taking the dumpling and biting into it. He looked at Sakura's face and found himself staring at it, Sakura blinked and stared back at him as her cheeks began to get a tint or red. "Umm," she gulped unable to pull her eyes away from his. "Is something wrong?" she asked quietly.

Gaara finally broke from his trance and shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong. Come on now it's getting late we need to get some rest. We're leaving pretty early," he told her holding his hand out to her. He was going to make sure he knew where she was from this point on, he took it hesitantly. They walked together in silence towards where Ino and Naruto had been, it was easy to locate them because they were doing the exact same thing Gaara had been doing. Once they had the other two in view Gaara cleared his throat. "I've found her," he said loud enough for them to hear.

The other blonde's looked towards them and Ino practically bombarded Sakura with a hug, "Oh we were so worried about you Sakura! Please don't ever wander off again!" she begged, giving Sakura a tight squeeze. "Unless you're with me alright? You big dummy," she smiled and hugged her once more before letting go.

"Well good to see you alright Sakura-chan," Naruto smiled and looked just as relieved as Ino did. "Well we should probably get to the inn then, right?" he asked, looking at Gaara for the answer.

"Yeah, it's getting late. But they have a hot spring, so you two might like it." Gaara said, trying to lighten up at least a little bit.

They all headed back towards the inn that Gaara had been to earlier, the keeper greeted them with a nod as he was counting money at the front. Once they were upstairs Gaara showed them their rooms and gave Sakura and Ino their things. Awhile later there was a small knock on their door, Naruto got up and slid the door open to see Ino and Sakura. "Hello ladies, is something wrong?"

"Oh no," Sakura smiled and waved her hands in front of herself. "We were just telling you that we were going down to the hot spring now." She said excitedly, clasping her hands together.

"Well then we are too," Gaara said, grabbing one of his swords and heading for the door. Naruto blinked, looking confused.

"We are?" he asked.

"Well we are not leaving them alone. Anything could happen." He said firmly as Naruto sighed.

"At least it will be relaxing…" he groaned, but he really wanted to sleep.

They all headed down stairs and towards the hall that was located down stairs. There were two doors right beside each other, one for men and one for women. Gaara looked alarmed and stared at the two girls. Sakura sighed and waved at him, "Don't worry if something happens I'll yell for you," she promised, giving him a comforting smile.

"Fine." He said simply, as him and Naruto headed into the men's side. There was a small room for changing in the front and fresh towels were piled on a table. Both Gaara and Naruto untied their clothes and wrapped towels around their lower bodies and headed into the room that contained the hot spring. It was filled with a warm steam and was formed into two baths that were separated by a folding wall made of bamboo. Gaara slipped into the water, he cringed slightly, it was really, really hot. He finally managed to settle in the hot water and get to a comfortable tolerance.

He placed his sword on the floor beside him and out of the water, so it would be ready if he needed it. Naruto eased in and smiled, sinking deeper into the water. He was instantly relaxed and closed his eyes, Gaara did the same and leaned against the smooth rocks in the spring. It was very relaxing and he could feel his muscles loosen. Then he heard Sakura's yell and his muscles tightened right back up, he got out of the water as fast as he could, grabbing his sword and slicing through the bamboo as if it were nothing. The makeshift wall fell and he rushed in, ready to attack but all he saw was a wide eyed Sakura and Ino, staring at him in horror. He looked around and then blinked, fantastic now he looked like an idiot.

Sakura turned a bright red seeing Gaara in only a towel and all the years of his hard training apparent all over his deliciously mouth water body. She could see the muscles in his arms, the smooth lines of his abs, and the strength of his legs. "The…the water was just hot." She told him, gulping, knowing he came in here valiantly because he had probably heard her yell from the hot water. Ino was just horrified that someone was seeing her without her clothing on and just a towel.

Gaara couldn't help but stare at Sakura and for the first time a very deep red blush rose on his face. "I'm…I'm sorry I heard you yell and…I'm sorry." She sheathed his sword quickly and turned around getting out of there as fast as he possibly could. Sakura just blinked and stared after him as Naruto followed him out, she looked over at Ino and sunk down into the water.

"Oh my goodness." She mumbled, almost breathless.

"What?" Ino looked over at her, still in somewhat of a shock.

"All I could remember was Gaara as a kid, when we would go swimming with Temari and my mother in the stream that ran right beside the house. I didn't…I couldn't even…wow. He is defiantly not a kid anymore," Sakura said breathlessly, moving her hand to her cheek. She could feel the heat radiating from it and she knew it wasn't from the hot spring. Sakura sunk into the steaming water and ran her hands through her hair, trying to get it as clean as she could. She came up and took a deep refreshing breathe. She finally stood up, holding her wet towel closely to her body and got out of the water. "I really need some sleep," she said nervously, walking with Ino the front of the hot spring and getting a fresh towel to dry herself with. Once the two were dry, they changed back into their clothes and headed out to the front and up the stairs, Sakura couldn't help but thinking about what she had seen. Ino opened the door for her and she just went in still dazed and lost in her thoughts. Sakura began to change into something that she could sleep in, she didn't even realize Ino was trying to get her attention.

Finally she heard her friend's voice, "Sakura!"

"Huh?" she looked over to Ino, wondering what she wanted.

"Are you alright? You zoning out and not paying attention to anything." She told her, crossing her arms and waiting for an explanation.

"Oh nothing, sorry Ino. I'm just really tired." Sakura lied and lay down on her bed, pulling the covers over her and trying to think of something else.

"Alright…" Ino said doubtfully, walking over to the candle in the room and blowing it out. "Good night Sakura," she said, yawning in midsentence.

"Goodnight Ino."