It's been hours since they began their search and it was getting dark. "Alright, lets make camp here! We're not going to find anything in the dark." Itachi told them before he jumped down from the tree and landed in the small clearing. The rest of them fallowed close behind.

"Where could she be? I feel like we've been going in circles..." Kankurou said while sitting down.

"We were, every now and then." Kakashi stated while gathering some branches for the fire.

"What?"

"Apparently, Akane was all over this forest. Either she got lost or she was forced to move around a lot."

"That doesn't matter. We have to find her tomorrow, before the track becomes too old to follow." Sasuke said before taking the branches from Kakashi and putting them on the ground. After that Itachi made a few hand signs and lighted the fire with his fireball.

"Come on guys, cheer up! This is Akane we're talking about, I'm sure she's just fine!" Sakura was trying to lighten the mood, but they were all too preoccupied with their thoughts to hear her. She frowned at their lack of response and was startled when she heard Gaara's voice.

"I hope you're right." Was the only thing he said before silence took over again. Sakura looked at him worriedly. He probably feels guilty for what happened... I hope I'm right too. She thought while sitting down next to Sasuke.

The next morning they ate quickly and were on the move again in no time. Unfortunately, they still weren't very lucky. They didn't encounter anyone. Not Akane, nor the enemies. "Is this place deserted or something?" Sasuke and Kankurou said in unison.

Kakashi and Itachi were in front of them, while Gaara and Sakura were behind. A moment later, Pakkun appeared in front of them. "Kakashi, we have a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"The track ends here, there's nothing more to follow, unless you want to run in circles."

Kakashi stood there for a while, thinking about their options, then he spoke to the dog in front of him. "Alright Pakkun, you did enough. You can go."

"Understood. Call us if you need us, and, sorry about this." With that, Pakkun disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"That's just great! How are we supposed to find her now?" Sasuke was clearly frustrated and didn't bother to hide it.

"We can't. Besides, for all we know, she could already be dead."

"Don't say that Kakashi." Sakura warned while glancing at the two Uchihas who were throwing death glares at the said man.

"We should take a brake and think this through. Although it pains me to admit, Kakashi is right. If she really is dead, then we're just waisting our time." To everyone's surprise, the one who spoke was Gaara.

The bigger surprise was Sasuke, who ran to the red head and pushed him against the tree trunk. "You don't have the right to tell us when we should give up on my sister! You don't even care! The only reason you're here is because you're afraid that Konoha is going to blame you for the disappearance of one of it's shinobi!"

Itachi then came and stood between Sasuke and Gaara. "That's enough Sasuke, calm down. You'll just end up doing something stupid that we'll all regret later."

Sasuke looked at his older brother with sad eyes before throwing a death glare at Gaara and walking away to sit next to Sakura.

An hour later, they were still sitting on the clearing. They all knew that just sitting there won't help, but they simply didn't know what else to do. Going back and giving up on Akane would be a logical choice, but nobody wanted to be the one to bring it up.

"Why the long faces guys? Did someone die?"

They all stood up like the ground beneath them was on fire and looked in the direction the voice came from. "Akane!" She was sitting on a branch of one of the trees.

Sasuke was the first one to recover from shock and as soon as he reached his sister, he send her flying to the ground with a kick. "You idiot! We thought you were dead! Where were you?"

Akane sat up on the ground while rubbing her lower back. "I went after those ninja from Iwa a few days ago, but when I decided to return, I kinda got lost. But then I sensed you guys and went in your direction! So here I am!" She finished with a grin.

"Akane."

"Yes Gaara?"

"Do that again and I'll find you just for the thrill of killing you myself."

She stood up and smirked at him. "Like you could."

"You think I can't kill you?"

"No... I know you can't kill me, and considering the situation we're all in right now, I'd say that you can't find me either."

Their further argument was interrupted by Kakashi. "Come on you two, we need to get going."

It took them one whole day to get back to Suna.

"Finally! Bath, dinner and bed!" Both girls yelled and ran towards the kage's house before anyone could stop them.

"Women." The others said in unison.

"Come on guys, I'll lead the way." Kankurou went ahead with Itachi and Kakashi behind him.

Sasuke and Gaara were walking slowly behind them in silence. As soon as the other three were far away, Sasuke spoke. "Gaara, I'm sorry." The red head looked at him surprised, but the raven continued without giving him a chance to say anything. "I didn't mean what I said, I was frustrated and I took it out on you."

"Don't worry about it. I understand."

"Thanks."

Since Sakura and Akane were the first ones to clean up and change their clothes, they also made dinner while they were waiting for the others. The girls were wearing sleeveless shirts and skirts, only in different colors. Akane's shirt was red while the skirt was black and she had a black belt around her waist with the Uchiha's symbol on it, and Sakura's shirt was pink while her skirt was dark brown. Men weren't very original either. They all wore black pants and plain dark shirts on. The exceptions would be Kakashi, who still had his mask on, and Sasuke and Itachi, whose shirts had the Uchiha clan's symbol on the back.

After they all finally got to the table to eat, the good mood was spoiled by Kakashi who said that they had to hurry with the dinner and go to bed, since they'll all be leaving the next day. Including Akane.

"But why?"

"Because it's time for you to go home."

"But I don't want to go! Why can't I stay here instead?" As soon as those words left her mouth, Akane realized what she said. The look the others were giving her only caused the poor girl to blush a deep shade of red and focus her gaze on her hands that were lying on her lap.

Sakura giggled at Akane's behavior. "She's got a Hinata syndrome!"

"A what?" Although the people from Konoha understood perfectly, Kankurou and Gaara had trouble following. So Sakura began explaining. "A friend of ours, Hinata, who's been in love with Naruto, Sasuke's and mine teammate, for as long as we can remember, used to always blush like that whenever he talked to her. She also used to pass out every time they stood too close to each other or when he touched her. Anyway he was clueless for years, but they eventually got together. She still blushes a little every now and then, but not as much as she's used to."

"Wait. What does that have to do with Akane?" Kankurou was glancing from one girl to the other in confusion.

Akane stood from her chair and ran upstairs before anyone could answer.

Then all eyes turned to the unsuspecting Gaara, who stared back in return. "What?"

Akane ran straight into her room and onto her bed. She couldn't take it anymore, and all she wanted was for those dumb feelings to go away. She didn't bother to stop her tears from falling, she didn't care if anyone saw her cry. Pull yourself together! Life isn't fair, so just get over it! She was trying her best to calm down, but it wasn't making much progress.

Then she heard a knock on the door. She jumped from the bed and went to open the door so she could give a piece of her mind to anyone who dared to bother her. She frowned when she saw her visitor. "What do you want?" She asked while stepping aside to let him in.

"We need to talk." Gaara answered and sat on the edge of her bed.

"You weren't very talkative before." Akane stated while closing the door.

"People change."

"Sometimes. But never without a good reason."

"What makes you think I don't have a good reason?"

Akane just glared at him without answering.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Then why were you crying?"

"I wasn't."

He suddenly stood up and pinned her to the wall. "Tell me."

Akane looked straight into his eyes for a moment before she crushed his lips with her own. She put her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, while his arms were tightly wrapped around her waist. He licked her lower lip and she opened her mouth allowing his tongue to enter. They battled with their tongues for a while, and then Gaara's lips left hers when he decided to give some of his attention to her neck. His hands grabbed her tights and picked her up while her legs wrapped around his waist. He was slowly unzipping her shirt while kissing her neck and collarbone. Akane realized just how far he went when she felt his lips on her breast. "Gaara, we should stop now."

"Why?" He said and looked at her pleadingly.

Akane put her legs down and zipped up her shirt. "If we go any further, we might not be able to stop. And since I'll be going back to Konoha tomorrow, it will only hurt more."

"Why would it hurt?"

Akane looked at him with tears in her eyes."Because I finally realized that I love you and now I might never see you again."

Gaara hugged her and kissed her forehead. "I love you too. And don't worry, we'll see each other again."

She put her head on his chest and sighed. "But when? It could be months, years..."

"I can wait."

The next morning Akane and the rest of Konoha's ninja said their goodbyes and were on their way. Temari will also be coming back to Suna in three days.

Gaara and Akane promised to each other that they will wait until the day comes when they will have a chance to be together and stay together for the rest of their time.

Although the odds were against them, their willingness to at least try to make it work gave them both hope that they might actually do it. It was a fool's hope, but as long as it was there, it would give them strength to keep holding on.

THE END

I hope you liked the story. I'm not very satisfied with the way it turned out, but considering that I lost interest in it some time ago, I'm surprised that I actually finished it. Anyway, if you have any opinion of it, I would appreciate it if you'd review and tell me about it.