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Sorry for the slight delay, everyone! Luckily, with the new Naruto Shippuden I've been watching and the fact that I finally got caught up on the manga today has motivated me to write the rest of this chapter. It's the longest one yet. :) Oh, and my cat, Isis, also slowed me down a lot, seeing as though her new favorite place to be is on my desk :P But her visits were nice, lol.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in Naruto.

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A Story for Myself

A Naruto Fanfic

Chapter 5

News

The rest of the day passed on, slowly but steadily. Shukaku had quieted for the moment and didn't speak to Gaara.

I told Sakura to wait for me here… Gaara thought, rounding the corner of the high school. Sure enough, there was his best friend, waiting for him.

Sakura pushed off the wall that she was leaning against and stepped into pace beside Gaara. Gaara smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Anything new?" Sakura asked him. They hadn't seen each other since 7th Pd. With training they had to have 9 class periods in a day.

There school, Northern Konoha High, slowly grew smaller as they walked away from it and down Red Avenue. It was a beautiful day outside, surprisingly, for a Monday. The sky was a bright blue, and the sun shone clearly.

"I knew you two would get together," Naruto yelled as he ran after them. Naruto lived in the same direction of town that Gaara did, so running into him was no coincidence. Gaara and Naruto even walked together for a while some days, that is, when Naruto didn't have detention.

Gaara just kept walking while Sakura giggled. Gaara noticed the slightest tint of a blush on her pale face. It matched her pink hair.

"We're not together, Naruto," Sakura rolled her eyes, smiling at Naruto.

"Oh? Like you're not dating?" Naruto sighed at his wrong observation.

"Nope, I'm just hanging out with Gaara," Sakura said smiling at Gaara.

Gaara nodded to Naruto.

"Oh, Gaara, sorry bout that book, this morning, and tackling you, and almost getting you a detention," Naruto laughed devilishly with a huge grin on his face and his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Nah, it's cool," Gaara replied, shaking his head.

"Good," Naruto said as he glanced over his shoulder.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing, just thought I heard something- WHOA!" Naruto jumped away from Gaara and Sakura.

Gaara looked to his other side, where Naruto's shocked eyes were looking. Gaara's eyes widened a fraction of an inch, slightly startled, but he was mostly used to it.

"Hello, Karin," Sakura waved to her, smiling.

Walking beside Gaara was Karin, silent as a mouse. If Naruto hadn't heard her then seen her, Gaara wouldn't have ever known she was there. Of course, Karin was good at this, she picked it up from training and she excelled in stalking people.

"Hello, Sakura," Karin replied pleasantly. "Hello Gaara, Naruto,"

"Hello, Karin," Gaara said.

"Karin! You need to stop scaring me like that!" Naruto sighed, trying to regain himself.

Karin smiled evilly, some disastrous thought obviously crossing her mind. "You should be used to it, by now Naruto," She said smugly, "like Sakura and Gaara are."

"Yeah, well I'll never get used to it," Naruto said rubbing the back of his neck. Karin was indeed, quite evil at times, not to mention going out with Sakura's ex-boyfriend, but she had good intentions and was really very nice once you got on her good side, and not her bad or obsessive side.

"Maybe that's just because I don't stalk you as much as I do the others…" Karin said matter-of-factly.

"Well, maybe that's because you're too busy stalking Sasuke, your own boyfriend!" Naruto spat back at her, like not being stalked was a bad thing.

Karin exploded. "I DO NOT STALK MY BOYFRIEND!" She shoved her glasses up onto her nose. "I just used to gather information on him, and it's not like I do that now, since he's my boyfriend, there's no need to do that if he's my boyfriend, and he is!" She crossed her arms.

Naruto just raised one of his eyebrows and kept walking.

Gaara was uncontrollably smiling, almost chuckling and Sakura was trying her hardest to keep in her laughing.

"What, are you two together now or something?" Karin said crossly.

"No," Gaara and Sakura said at the same time.

Karin titled all the way out and looked them both over.

"Actually that would be… Hot," Karin said raising her eyebrows. "Don't you think, Naruto?"

Naruto looked them both over too, making Sakura go deep red, having Karin's and Naruto's eyes on her and her best friend, comparing them as a couple.

"Hmm…" Naruto rubbed his hand on his chin. "Quite nice,"

Gaara blushed a solid red as well.

"Aww, look there both blushing, now," Karin said adjusting her glasses again while looking away. "Naruto, stop looking at them!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Gaara, and Sakura," Naruto said pouting. "I was just remembering of Hinata…"

Hinata Huyga, Naruto's girlfriend, Neji's cousin and Sakura's other best friend was sick. She had been sick since last Friday.

"She said she was feeling better, though and was coming back to school on Tuesday," Naruto said happier.

Naruto and Hinata hadn't been going out long, but they were indeed a cute couple.

"Oh, well that's good, because I have some news," Karin said turning back to the other three. Gaara's and Sakura's blush had faded by the time she started talking. "This Saturday we're going to have a movie night at my house, and it's for couples only." She smirked and looked at Sakura and Gaara again. "Think about it, you guys!"

"Alright," Gaara said.

"Kay," Sakura replied.

"I'll invite Hinata," Naruto said.

"That'll be good," Karin said as they came up to an intersection. "See you guys later!"

Karin turned onto another street and Gaara, Sakura and Naruto all started talking at once.

"Stalker," Naruto declared.

"Sounds fun… but she scares me a bit," Sakura said with a giggle.

"Hm, she is a bit strange," Gaara said.

They all laughed.

"This is my stop," Naruto said soon after they stopped laughing. He lived in a nice apartment building.

"See you later, Naruto," Sakura said.

"Bye, Naruto," Gaara smiled.

"Thanks, guys, later," Naruto said as he closed the door.

The afternoon was still just beginning, it was only 3 o'clock.

"Well that was quite an interruption," Sakura laughed lightly.

"It was," Gaara agreed.

"Anyway…" Sakura continued. There was a brief moment of awkwardness, something that rarely happened between Gaara and Sakura. "Like I was saying before, anything new?"

"Nope, nothing actually," Gaara said thinking.

"Hmm…" Sakura said as they both thought for a moment. Then they were at Gaara's house. It was nice, quaint in a way. Sakura had been there many times before.

It wasn't squished in beside other houses. Actually it had a very nice lot it sat on, not too big but not small, either. It wasn't in the center of town, but it wasn't on the very outskirts either. The house was a chocolate brown color and had a small wrap-around porch. The roof was black, and the house had two stories.

Both Gaara and Sakura walked through the front door. The first floor had a small living room area, then a hallway leading to a kitchen, a laundry room, and Gaara's Aunt's bedroom.

"Gaara, you're home," his Aunt Lana looked up from the book she was reading in the living room with a smile. She noticed Sakura. "Ah, hello, Sakura!"

"Hello, Lana," Sakura waved politely.

"Hello," Gaara said to her.

That was probably the best part about Gaara's aunt. She didn't really mind much. Though she was strict at times, she was a really good aunt to Gaara. Lana had long dark brown hair and bangs straight across her forehead. She was Gaara's mother's younger sister, and only 27 years old.

Gaara and Sakura made their way up the black metal spiral staircase to the little second floor. The second floor had a small open room then a small hallway perpendicular to it leading to Gaara's room and the second story bathroom, which was directly across from Gaara's bedroom.

Both Sakura and Gaara dumped their school bags on Gaara's bed.

"Shall we get straight to it, then, and ask your aunt for some pictures?" Sakura suggested.

"You read my mind," Gaara smiled as they both headed downstairs. While spiraling down Sakura asked, "Should we tell her that we think you started to get your memories back?"

No. Shukaku spoke for Gaara, only Sakura couldn't hear him.

"I don't see why not, she's going to ask why we want to see the pictures anyway," Gaara told her.

"Oh, you two, if you want anything to eat I just bought some groceries this morning," Lana commented when she heard them coming down the stairs.

"Actually, Lana, I was wondering if I could see the old pictures, where did you keep them?"

"Oh?" Lana asked, suspicion in her voice. "What brought this on all of a sudden, if I may ask?"

Don't tell her Gaara, this doesn't feel right. Gaara noticed just then that he did feel rather nervous as soon as he brought up the subject of this with Lana.

Shukaku may not even be real; I can't let it stop me. Gaara thought. He heard an audible sigh.

"Well, I think I might have…" Gaara tried to say the rest, but he couldn't. He physically couldn't form the words. His mouth wouldn't even open.

I told you, DON'T TELL HER.

Gaara struggled to open his mouth, while trying not to panic.

Are you controlling me?

Sakura glanced over at Gaara.

"He thought he might have remembered something, from before he was six," Sakura said, getting the gist to not tell Lana too much.

Well, that'll do, I guess. Shukaku grumbled, clearly not happy that they told Lana.

"Oh! Well that's wonderful!" Lana said, closing her book and walking into the laundry room.

She brought back with her three big photo albums. "I always kept them in the closet, in the laundry room, so they wouldn't get sun faded."

"Thanks," Gaara said to her as she gave them to him. "Sakura and I will look at them in my room,"

"We should look at them together sometime, too, Gaara, I have some pretty good stories of your mother," Lana looked sincerely happy.

Why does Shukaku not want me to tell her about my memories?

"We will, sometime," Gaara told her with a smile.

"You should tell me about your memories later, too," Lana said while going back to her book.

"Thanks, Lana," Sakura said as they both headed up the stairs.

She heard a "No problem," as Lana began to read again.

Why was Gaara so hesitant? She thought. I think there's something he's not telling me…

"I have an idea," Gaara said as Sakura closed his bedroom door. "How about you look up a picture of my parents, then have me describe them to you, just so we know my mind isn't playing tricks on me,"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Sakura said distractedly.

"Here, start with the blue one," Gaara handed a medium sized blue photo album to Sakura as they sat on his bed, facing each other. "The other two have photos past the time I was six."

"Gaara," Sakura said fingering the cover of the blue book. "Why were you so hesitant to tell Lana about your parents?"

I'm going to tell her about you, Shukaku.

There was no response.

Gaara smiled.

"What?" Sakura asked, serious but curious at the same time.

"You can read me like an open book. Oh, and your going to think I'm crazy." He replied.

"I would never think such a thing!" Sakura said.

"Well, here goes nothing," Gaara mumbled then sighed, looking straight into Sakura's green eyes. "There's this voice in my head, that's shown me the memories,"

Sakura thought for a second.

"It call's itself Shukaku, and says it's a beast that's sealed inside of me," Gaara continued. "It showed me another memory, as well, to prove its existence,"

Sakura was silent for a moment, calculating.

"If someone sealed a beast inside you, they would have erased all your memories so you wouldn't ever have known about it." Sakura concluded.

Gaara looked at her again, to make sure she wasn't joking or being sarcastic. Her look was serious.

"You… believe me?" Gaara asked hopefully.

"I do," Sakura said getting up and logging onto Gaara's Mac computer. "It's happened before, you know, it's said that few people in the five great countries have major power, and that's just what they say today." Sakura looked back at him. "In the past, legends have told of people who used to have great beasts sealed within themselves, and of course there were stories that went along with different people with different beasts sealed inside them in different countries. Of course people today always think of it as just that, a myth, but many people, not long ago, considered it as real as the great wars."

Gaara closed his eyes and leaned against the bed. "That's one person who doesn't think I'm crazy," he sighed with relief.

"Two, if you count yourself," Sakura laughed.

"I had my doubts," Gaara said opening his eyes and looking into hers. He laughed too.

She believed him, she really believed him.

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Some one, at least, believes Gaara! Will Gaara and Sakura find out if Shukaku is real or not? Did Gaara really remember his parents? Or is all of this just a serious concussion?! That would really suck, now wouldn't it? ; )

Thanks for reading, everyone! Review, review! :) And thanks to all of you who have reviewed so far. Chapter six will be coming soon! :)

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