Chapter Seventeen: Chihoko's Advice

A/N: I would write more for l.a.c. but… er… I haven't really been inspired… Maybe if you guys write me a review on it or something and say something to inspire me I will… or give me an idea… I don't know… I have yet to dedicate a chapter of it to Dani's Random Fox…. But I have not forgotten!

Sachiko: OKAY ENOUGH!! I mean, Author-Sama… please write my fanfic –bats eyelashes-

Author-Sama: -Mesmerized by own OC creation- I will Sachiko-chan! NOW!

Three ANBU black ops, four genin, and one Jounin walked across the desert sand in silence. They were at least another day away from the Leaf Village. The three ANBU had maintained their transformation jutsus as an extra precaution. The team had made sure that they would be prepared in case a Leaf Village member was to meet them upon chance.

Sachiko, the Cloud genin, had been doing quite some thinking and wrestled with many thoughts and feelings inside of her. She had not spoken to anyone since she and Gaara had had their strange moment by the stream. Kankuro had attempted to comfort her but Sachiko could only stare back at him, tongue paralyzed.

"Nibi… I don't know what to do… please talk to me," pleaded Sachiko to the demon cat.

"Listen girl, I can give no advice if it deals with the human heart," replied the cat.

"Chihoko… I don't know what to do… Kankuro… he likes me… but Gaara is like me… he needs someone," Sachiko whined to the black cat.

"I have no advice for you."

"Please… I'm so lost."

The dark cat's eyes turned to slits as the demon sighed. To think a vessel would be so troublesome. "I do not deal with the affairs of love or puppy love, or friendship either, for that matter… But you are a persistent nuisance and always manage to interrupt each one of my cat naps. If you pay sudden attention to Shukaku's vessel your beloved Kankuro will feel betrayed…"

"He'll understand!"

"Do you want my advice or not?" Chihoko growled viciously.

"Sorry…"

"If your feelings for Kankuro are strong then you should pursue him… If they are not, perhaps you can finally make that friendless brat feel less lonely. Just keep in mind, Sachiko, who needs you more and who you need more."

Kankuro began to take notice to Sachiko's sour expression. She seemed bitter and depressed at the same time. He knew that if he attempted to speak with her in front of the others would only lead to more awkwardness between them and yet he couldn't help but strongly desire to speak with her. He had to come up with a plan to be alone with her somehow.

"Let's take a break," Kankuro suggested to the others, "Ten minutes tops."

Temari, Norihiro, Katsura, Kentaro, and Baki all shrugged. Gaara only stared at Kankuro warily. Gaara was mentally worn and was in no mood to pick another fight. He, himself had been wrestling with demons of his own.

Temari immediately flocked to Katsura and Kentaro to practice her flirting techniques and the two young men were more than happy to oblige. Norihiro and Baki discussed private matters. Gaara stood as distanced from the group as he could without seeming to be a stranger to them. Kankuro took his time to make his move.

"Sachiko-chan," Kankuro spoke softly, "May I speak with you?"

"Sure it's safe," Sachiko joked with a grin as she approached Kankuro, "So what's up Kankuro-kun?"

"I needed to talk to you about stuff… Well the stuff I had started to talk to you about back at the stream," he said shyly, "As I said, you've been on my mind a lot lately."

"Yeah Kankuro-kun," Sachiko treaded softly, "We should speak about some things."

"Sachiko-san, let me start first… The life of the shinobi makes no room for love or boyfriends and girlfriends but I had hoped for a moment that you and I… could be different. But my brother intervening is probably a sign of things to come… Still I want to try."

"Kankuro-kun," Sachiko inhaled deeply as she spoke, "I've been thinking about this a lot as well. At first I loved the idea of having someone to love me back. But your brother is right, I am a monster… And you're right as well; his intervening is a sign of things to come. I had wanted to try too, but I've thought it over and it simply won't work out."

Sachiko's words didn't sting but instead hit him hard in the chest as if he was getting the wind knocked out of him. His hand rose to his chest, and Crow fell to the ground without someone to support him. Gaara's eyes immediately flickered to the puppet. At first he had thought that Sachiko had attacked Kankuro but that was too strange to fathom. He kept watching the two although he had decided beforehand to give them privacy.

Sachiko's tiny hands wrapped themselves around the hand on Kankuro's chest in a tender gesture. She gave it a small squeeze and leaned inward to him. Gaara had been expecting them to kiss and suddenly felt disgusted. As he began to turn away he noticed Sachiko wrap her arms around the black hooded ninja. Kankuro welcomed the embrace and released her from the grip in the appropriate moment.

Sachiko's eyes flicked upward like the fork in a snake's tongue. They met Gaara's eyes instantly. Gaara turned his back to her, arms crossed defiantly. As Sachiko also released Kankuro she stared into his eyes. She searched them for more answers.

"He is not the one for me… I wanted him to be because he showed me kindness I had never met before… But he is not for me."

"Smart girl."

"Kankuro-kun, you deserve better anyhow," Sachiko whispered in encouragement.

"How would you know what I deserve," he asked her, compunction in his eyes.

"All I know is that you deserve better than me… And I am destined to be lonely like your brother. That's all there is for the vessels of demons… loneliness. Please try to understand that," Sachiko tried to explain to him. Her hand ran down along his in a comforting motion but he only pulled away.

"You're right Sachiko-san… That's all you and Gaara will ever think you have," said Kankuro, remorse still aching him. The face painted shinobi smiled at Sachiko, telling her that there were no hard feelings between them whatsoever. "Break time Sachiko-san, relax and enjoy yourself for the remaining time we have."

"Thank you Kankuro-kun," Sachiko said as she bowed low in respect to him.

Sachiko used her time wisely. She created one of her handy clouds but this particular cloud was a dark grey color compared to the white ones she usually summoned. She expanded the cloud with a few hand seals, and made rain fall from it with some more hand seals.

The group of ninjas was grateful to her and gave her approving smiles of gratitude. Kentaro and Katsura had even high fived her. She liked high fiving because she had never received any until that day.

As Sachiko's eyes wandered to find Gaara she found him standing outside of the clouds boundaries. No cooling rain relieved him of the desert heat. Sachiko began to make her way toward the redheaded shinobi.

"You don't like rain Gaara-sama?"

The redheaded shinobi swirled around to face her with his piercing teal eyes. They locked onto hers instantly, glaring at her. They were filled with intimidation and coercion but Sachiko returned the gaze with as much friendliness as she could muster.

"I do not…"

"Don't you want to cool off," asked Sachiko in a concerned small whisper.

"No… I don't feel a need to," he replied stoically.

"I see… I wanted to apologize to you," Sachiko began but he interrupted her.

"For what? There's nothing to apologize for," said Gaara, a bit irritated at her.

"Well I don't know… I just felt like it was my fault for making you get angry with me. I'm sure I did something horribly stupid to get you so upset with me," Sachiko said lightly, twiddling her thumbs and biting her lip out of sheer anxiety.

"Shut up," snapped Gaara, "You sound like an idiot…"

"Yeah, well you sound lonely," Sachiko shot back, not thinking before speaking.

"Speak to me again and I will kill you," hissed Gaara as he disappeared in a thick and heavy gust of sand.

Residual flying sand flew in Sachiko's eyes and she just sat on the sandy floor, defeated. Little did Sachiko know was that Gaara could see with a third eye and that was exactly what he was doing. Sachiko pounded the ground with her fists in anguish, just as she had done earlier that day. She blinked the sand away as much as she could before giving up. It didn't matter to her if a few pieces of sand were stuck in her eye. She'd soon be out of the desert.

"You're so lonely because you won't let anyone in," Sachiko muttered as she squished the sand in between her fingers.

Gaara's third eye technique wasn't an extension of listening but an extension of seeing. He had often used this technique to spy on those he felt needed to be watched carefully. Perhaps he was being nosy, but he certainly didn't think so. He had had a lot of practice with his third eye technique, enough practice to obtain the skill of lip reading. Gaara had heard every word of what Sachiko had said, so to speak.

Shukaku's vessel frowned. He didn't ask her to break up with Kankuro, for he had guessed that that's what had happened. He didn't tell her that he was so lonely that he needed some sort of companionship because he didn't. Gaara only needed and loved himself. The fact was so true that when he was born his father and mother had bestowed such a name upon him; Gaara, a demon that only loved himself. Gaara didn't care to have any friends; he had himself to worry about.

Sachiko had been running sand through the spaces between her fingers as if they were an hourglass. She had one minute of break time left, at least that's what she had estimated. She could be wrong.

"Time to go," said a low voice.

Sachiko faced the voice to find it had come from Sabaku no Gaara. She had remembered his threat from earlier and refrained from replying with words. She nodded her head slowly; her eyes were a bit fearful as they searched for the rest of the group. Sachiko figured they had gone ahead and someone must have volunteered to retrieve her; that someone being Sabaku no Gaara.

"Hurry up," he said as he seemed to wait for her, "I have little patience."

Sachiko nodded again and followed him into the unknown. Konoha, the Leaf Village was the unknown and it lied about half a day ahead.

A/N: This chapter wasn't as strong as the last chapter and I don't really like the way I had it started but I do like the ending. I think it seems to fit. What about you guys? Any thoughts or any ideas to make the next chapter move along/better; Let me know.

Sachiko: I loved everything you write Author-Sama!

Author-Sama: Sachiko-chan is a bit of a suck up… -sigh-

Sachiko: No, Author-sama, I'm not being a suck up! I just love you Author-sama. You are my creator after all.

Author-sama: That's true… -stumbles off to go do something important-

Sachiko: -frowns- Please encourage Author-sama! Give her ideas and thoughts with lots and lots of REVIEWS!! Bye now lovely readers!