Here's Chapter 12! Man... I would have gotten it up yesterday, but I was helping my dad plan a trip to visit his parents. My aunt was informed that she was being sent to Afghanistan, so she's getting twenty-one days of leave to visit her family. So we're going to visit my grandparents while she is to see her off.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. However, I do own volumes 2-9, 13-15, 17, 19, 22, and 28-29 of Naruto manga. The book store really needs to get more than just two copies of each volume because whenever I go there, I always end up missing some, darn it! *Points at brand new volumes 17 and 19 as an example*
"Gaara… I love you." I was standing beside him on the very mesa where I was ordered to kill him, and the very mesa I would eventually be exiled on. We were both leaning against the railing, watching the clouds drift across the sky.
"I know." Gaara replied, and I smiled faintly. "What's wrong?" He asked quietly, his tone slightly concerned. He didn't like to show much emotion around people he didn't trust, but he was still working on better expressing it around people he did trust.
"I… I hate this!" I started out hesitant, but ended up just shouting it. Gaara frowned, taken aback.
"Hate what?" He asked hesitantly.
"I hate this!" I exclaimed, pointing at him. He frowned even more. "Not us, Gaara. Don't get me wrong. I just hate that we have to be separated. Every time I get a mission, I'm always distracted. I do a damn good job, but I just miss you so much… and every time you go on a mission, I freak out. I can't do anything. I end up just pacing around your room the entire time you're gone, panicking and thinking about the worst outcomes." I was tearing up at this point. "And it's ridiculous! I feel so pathetic and weak because of it!" Now I was spitting in anger at myself. Can you say moody? "I'm supposed to be a shinobi, not a weak little girl."
"Did you know that I can't sleep without you beside me anymore?" I finished quietly, feeling drained all of a sudden.
"…I can't sleep without you either." Gaara joked and I looked at him to see an amused expression on his face. I reached out and lightly smacked his shoulder, causing the sand at our feet to spin involuntarily as Gaara fought Shukaku's urge to protect him. We both ignored it, not allowing it to dampen the mood.
"You jerk. I'm being serious here, and you just joke about your demon induced insomnia. That's right, Mr. Demon-Shukaku. I'm putting all the blame on you." I said, sticking my tongue out at Gaara, who rolled his eyes at me.
"Look, I agree. I feel the same way, honestly… Especially with the not sleeping factor." Another light smack. "So I'll ask that you always be put on our teams." That made me pause.
"…Really?" I asked after a moment, and Gaara nodded.
"Really." He said and I grinned happily.
"Oh thank god! For a minute there, I was afraid I was going to get infected with your insomnia and never sleep again!" I teased and he chuckled so softly I almost didn't hear it. Despite that, it made me smile even wider.
"…They killed Asuma?" I asked, rubbing the bridge of my nose with my eyes shut. I used my other hand to hold shut the thick jacket that Kakashi had kindly offered me. I didn't even bother asking why in the hell he randomly carried around an extra jacket, and just took it greedily.
"Yeah… But Shikamaru killed Hidan. Naruto and Kakashi killed Kakuzu." Kakashi informed me, but I stayed silent. They killed Asuma… He was like a father to Shikamaru, who is Temari's boyfriend… I felt Gaara's chakra approaching and stood up, walking towards the exit. "Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving." I said calmly, and Kakashi stood up.
"I thought you were waiting for the Kazekage." He pointed out and I frowned.
"Then I suppose he'll be disappointed. I have other things to do." I stated and Kakashi put a hand on my shoulder to stop me as I grabbed the doorknob.
"I can't let you go, Sakura."
"And why not?" I questioned coldly.
"Because like it or not, you broke the law when you lived in the Land of Wind the entire time you were exiled from it. Since the Kazekage is coming here, it's my duty as a shinobi to keep you here until he arrives." Kakashi replied calmly and I slowly looked over my shoulder at him, narrowing my eyes dangerously. I felt him tense at my killing intent and I spoke.
"I said I couldn't control my chakra… I lied." I lied slowly and he narrowed his eye at me. "If you don't release me, I will demonstrate just how much control I have." I hissed icily and he met my gaze with equal determination. "Don't forget there are many civilians in the rooms around us." I reminded him coldly.
"You wouldn't bring them into this, Sakura." He said in a manner that told me he truly believed it.
"Oh really, Kakashi?" I asked in cold amusement. "Would you really like to test that theory? I am an assassin, you know." It somewhat surprised me when he reluctantly released his grasp on me, and honestly offended me a little that he believed my lies so easily but I didn't stop to think about it. I just opened the door and calmly walked out of the building as though the confrontation had never happened.
Damn… I don't think I can face Temari right now. Not after hearing that Asuma died. I thought as I sat down in a tree, the large coat that Kakashi had provided me wrapped tightly around my cold body. Suddenly, I felt a flare of chakra from Gaara, making me focus on him. Instantly, my eyes flew wide with surprise and I jumped to my feet. Frowning, I jumped off the branch and to the forest floor. "How in the hell did you find me?" I asked, genuinely curious and surprised. Gaara immediately floated down to the ground in front of me on a cloud of sand that dispersed when he hit the ground.
"I knew you would go this way. It was easy enough from there." He said and I frowned. "My siblings have gone on ahead. I told them I would catch up after they were asleep." Gaara added and I nodded, still frowning. "Though I am curious as to why you ran from me… or, for that matter, why you're even alive to do so."
"I'm too stubborn to die." I said with a snort. "And I ran because of several reasons. Number one being that I can't look Temari in the eye knowing that the bastards that damn near killed me ended up killing Asuma. Not to mention Kankurou's puppet…" I winced slightly and redirected my gaze to the tree beside me. "Anyways, I didn't run from you. Just the people around you.
"I don't understand." Gaara murmured in slight confusion, and I sighed heavily.
"Well, Gaara. I suppose we have a lot to talk about. Have a seat, then." I waved lazily to the tree across from me as I settled down against a tree trunk. Gaara calmly sat down across from me. "For starters… How much did Temari tell you?"
"Everything she learned from Chiyo." He stated calmly and I nodded.
"So less than half the story. Got it. Then let me start from the beginning. One morning when I was like thirteen or something, I was sitting around minding my own business while training. Out of the blue I get a message from the Kazekage telling me to get to the mesa. Already fearing for my life, I rushed to the designated place and waited for his late ass to show. He really had no manners." I rolled my eyes and went on. "So then he comes and tells me to jump. I ask how high. He tells me high enough to kill you."
"What a joyful conversation, no?" At Gaara's unamused expression, I huffed slightly in annoyance. I guess that sense of humor I brought out of him disappeared when I did... "Anyways… I heard the stories about people who refused to accept missions from him. Hell, I still have a few scars to remind me that they are true. So I accepted the mission, and very regretfully. I didn't know you, and honestly at the time I hated you just as much as all the other villagers."
"I just hated assassinating people, really. But that was in the job description, so I got to work on the deadliest poison I have ever made. I finished it in no time and was just waiting for the word when I started to think of your brother and sister like they were family. For someone who never really had a family of their own, that was a big deal for me. After a while, I started to realize that it would crush them to know that I had only used them to get to you, even though it became so much more than that."
"So… I started making plans. I had an entire escape planned out for when the Kazekage told me to kill you and I would give him the finger, actually." I said with a light grin. "Even dug a secret passage out of Suna. That's how determined I was to never lay a finger on you."
"Did you get rid of the poison?" Gaara asked and I shook my head.
"Nope. I kept it sealed up nice and tight and kept it with me at all times. Anyways, then the Chuunin Exams rolled around. Ah, the memories of being pinned to a tree and being damn near crushed by Shukaku. Good times." I said sarcastically. "and then you changed… And soon, I started to think of you as family too." I frowned lightly at the memories that had once brought me happiness, but now brought me sadness. "And then more than that… And then, once we got together, I started regretting not having just told your father 'no' the second he came to me."
"I tried to make up for it. I went with you on your missions, and protected you with my own body when it came to it. I gave you advice when you needed it, and told you how to become Kazekage, and you did it. But nothing I did helped with it… Then you approached me and told me you knew. I was so relieved that I didn't have to hide it anymore and carry that burden by myself… but you thought I was still plotting your death. I would have come to that same conclusion. But instead of trying to correct you, I accepted your punishment because I just hated myself that much."
I sighed heavily, putting my head in my hands. "When you pushed me over the side of the mesa, I landed badly. Though, that was because I wanted the fall to kill me because of how much I hated myself. I wound up with a cracked skull, broken rib, dislocated shoulder, and an elbow I couldn't move for a week." I chuckled bitterly. "but I didn't die from the fall, so I got up and walked towards the border to leave the Land of Wind, just as ordered."
"But I couldn't make it. I was injured, bleeding a lot, badly concussed, freezing cold, and I just didn't want to live. So I laid down and just let the icy temperature take me." I sighed softly, still burying my face in my hands. "Fate just wasn't playing nice with me. I was found and taken in by a man and his daughter. They were both wonderful to me, and I realized there was hope. I couldn't do my duty as a shinobi, so I would make up for my mistakes by doing my duty as a medic-nin."
"It was my fresh start." I smiled lightly. "I pretended to have amnesia so I could truly have a fresh start. I discarded my identity as Sakura Haruno, assassin and poison creator, and I became Saki Mashika, innocent daughter of a peasant family who healed people and saved lives for nothing in return but food to eat and a place to sleep… and I finally felt like I was making up for all my sins."
"But… nothing good ever lasts. I felt you fight with Deidara. I was rushed to Suna the second I felt your chakra drop to dangerous levels. I found Kankurou dying in the sand and removed the poison, then bottled it up and saved it for later. Then I chased after you. They never stopped moving, so I didn't either. I had run non-stop for three days when Temari came out of nowhere and started wailing on me." I laughed a bit at the memory.
"And Chiyo found us after that using the same thing I was using to find you. When they… When they started to… remove… Shukaku from you, I felt…" I paused, pulling my hands away from my eyes to put one on my chest as I winced in memory. "I felt it all… It was so bad that it literally had me writhing on the ground screaming in absolutely unbearable agony until I was so oxygen deprived that I just passed out. I ended up staying unconscious until the second day of the… extraction…" I shivered slightly. "But the pain was still bad enough that I could hardly see."
"Everything was spinning, and everything was white and blurred. Then some Akatsuki guy came up and made conversation with me while the others were just gone doing something or other. I didn't know he was Akatsuki until he was close enough, at which point I punched the ground to rubble. When I did it, though, I planted the poison I had made for…" I paused before just continuing without even saying it. "So I planted the poison into the ground. Then, after he kicked my ass because I was pretty much blind, I hit the ground again and broke the poison's container."
"…and then he died." I said with a sigh. "And we moved on. While everyone else went after… you… Chiyo and I stayed behind and fought Sasori." I closed my eyes at this, taking a deep breath. "I was the one who mainly fought him after the first several minutes. But… after I broke his puppet's shell, he showed his true face and…" I stood up and started to pace. "And then he brought out his puppet, and we fought." I completely skipped who Sasori was, and who his puppet was, and it didn't go unnoticed by Gaara, who frowned.
"and we won. We were losing for a while there, and his puppet had completely incapacitated Chiyo's puppets and semi-incapacitated Chiyo herself, so I was pretty much on my own for a lot of the fight. I ended up completely shattering my fingers and knuckles, and was still fighting with it. It took a lot of time, and I got badly injured in the process, but I managed to destroy the puppet. Chiyo was able to use her right arm again once I did that, and so she rejoined the fight."
"She brought out ten puppets at once while Sasori brought out a hundred, using chakra strings from his chest to control them all. We were losing, so I had to go for Sasori himself while Chiyo took care of the puppets. I got him pinned and sealed, but it turned out to be a decoy… It was too late when we realized it, and I was…" I paused for a second. "I was dying fast. Chiyo had to act quick and without me there to help her, it was harder, but she managed to win. Honestly, Sasori let her win… I'm not sure why exactly, but he did."
"He could have escaped, but he let her trap and destroy him… and then she used her tensei jutsu to save my life. Now she was dying instead of me, and we made our way to you…"
"I know the rest." Gaara said abruptly and I paused in my pacing to glance at him, but his expression was blank. I returned to my pacing and silently did so for several minutes before Gaara spoke up.
"Sakura, who is Alleria?" I froze.
Oh ho ho ho! What's this? :D Who might this Alleria character be?
Read next chapter and find out :D
Please review ^^