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Okay, everybody, I was pretty iffy on this chapter. I think it's a good explaining chapter, and I hope you all like it. :)

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 9

Power

"We should probably wait for Karin and Naruto," Gaara laughed as he and Sakura neared the blonde's apartment.

"Yeah, that'd be fine with me," Sakura said.

They were walking with their hands intertwined. Gaara smiled.

"What are you thinking?" Sakura asked curiously.

"How good this feels," Gaara told the truth as he held up their clasped hands.

"It does, doesn't it?" Sakura smiled.

Naruto's door burst open.

"Ah, Naruto!" Gaara yelled to him before he could start running to school. Naruto turned around and squinted at them. They were still a block away from each other.

"Gaara! Sakura!" He called as he jogged back to them.

"Hello, Naruto," Sakura waved.

"I almost didn't see you guys- eh?" Naruto looked at them now, noticing their hands. "Did Gaara finally get a girlfriend?" He asked smiling. Sakura could tell that Naruto was sincerely happy for them.

"Yep," Gaara smiled down at Sakura. She smiled back.

"Ah! Let's hurry, so I can see Hinata, then, because you two are making me so jealous!" He groaned loudly.

"See, what did I tell you?" Karin said from beside Sakura.

"AHH!!" Naruto screeched. He jumped backward and almost fell over.

The other three high schoolers burst out laughing.

"KARIN!" Naruto yelled. His face was red.

"What are you yelling at my girlfriend for, retard?" Sasuke asked as he joined their little parade.

"Wha?" Naruto asked, complete confusion overcoming his face. "Where did you come from?"

"What, now I can't meet my own friends in the morning, Naruto?" Sasuke asked him as if he was an absolute idiot.

"Sasuke, you can just-" Naruto's rage was cut off by Ino, who was just backed out of her flower shop that was also her home.

"Naruto, Karin, Sasuke, Sakura and Gaara!" Ino waved to them. "Wait, Sakura and Gaara?" She questioned as she joined the group.

"Ino, you're not sick anymore?" Sakura asked her suspiciously. "And yes, Sakura and Gaara,"

"Ah, I didn't even see that one coming," Sasuke added as he looked at them. "But I do suppose it makes sense,"

"See?" Karin bubbled. "I can almost see the future!"

"Why do I always get interrupted?" Naruto mumbled.

"Well," Ino said defensively while ignoring Naruto. "I just had a bit of a small cold, you know I haven't been feeling well,"

"Yeah, I know," Sakura admitted. "Are you feeling better now though?"

"Yep, good as new!" She gave a thumbs up to everyone. They all laughed at her Tuesday morning enthusiasm.

"So that means you can make it to my movie night on Saturday?" Karin asked.

"Ooo, of course, wouldn't miss it," Ino said, glad that she was included.

"Oh yeah," Gaara said now remembering what Karin had told them yesterday.

"Are you two coming too?" Karin asked Sakura and Gaara hopefully.

"Yeah, of course," Sakura said.

"Sure," Gaara smiled.

"Gaara smiled!" Karin pointed. "Best hook-up ever!"

"You're right, Karin!" Ino and Karin bubbled together.

The rest of the walk went like this until they all got to school. Gaara couldn't help up notice the queasy feeling that someone was watching him, them, the whole group.

Sakura fidgeted uneasily a few times as well.

"Does it feel to you like we're being followed, or… watched?" Sakura whispered in his ear. She had to stand on her tip-toes to stay quite.

"It does, and it's making me really uneasy," Gaara whispered down into her ear.

By now they were at the school.

"Talk to you later, in art," Sakura said as they parted for their first period classes.

"Yeah," Gaara replied before walking into the math classroom.

The feeling seemed to be gone.

By 9th period Gaara had received a few more memories of Shukaku. None of them were particularly bad.

Listen, Gaara.

What do you want?

You should know about your friends, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke.

What about them?

Well, I guess you're probably closest to Sakura, so let me tell you one thing. She should know more about this soon, as well. She is the Spirit Child of Madara. She inherited the spirit of the Uchiha, even though she is not of blood decent, she is the most capable of the spirit of Madara.

Madara… He was a famous Uchiha founder. Said to be a great leader and fighter.

Yes. Ask her more about it tomorrow. By then she should know.

What? Why would she just know then?

Well, a special quality that the beast hosts possess is a power to infect or rather 'awaken' another's inner power.

What?

Everyone has dormant power with in himself or herself. He paused impatiently to see if Gaara was catching on.

Right, okay.

When you, or any other beast host for that matter, are around someone a lot, and when you form a connection with that person, a bond, then you awaken their dormant power.

And Sakura is a Spirit Child? Spirit Children were supposedly people who had the spirits, mindsets, abilities, or wills of past great people. It was a legend. He was actually in Social Studies class right now. This is where he had learned about it, in their myths and legends unit.

Correct. The Spirit Child of Madara, the great founder of Uchiha.

Ah, but wouldn't it make more sense if Sasuke would have been the Spirit Child? He is from the actual bloodline, after all.

Uchiha Sasuke is the physical line of Madara, so yes, he is related to Madara.

Physical lines were just another way of saying relatives, but instead of just blood related, physical lines possessed actual physical qualities and traits of a person. Yet another legend.

Not that I don't believe that, actually those legends aren't even as far-fetched as you and I, Shukaku.

There was a deep evil laugh. Now you're finally accepting your destiny, child.

Ow, okay, enough information for today. Gaara's head was actually starting to throb again.

Oh, and one more thing, Gaara. Shukaku's voice dripped with menace and satisfaction.

Ah, what now?

To get her to remember you must test our power, and will her to remember.

Just will her to remember?

Just will it into her soul, her body.

Well, that sounds harmless. All right, I'll do it.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the day.

Gaara met up with Sakura at her locker.

"Hello, my cherry blossom," He said and smiled as they walked outside together.

"Gaara," Sakura said, hugging him.

"Do you want to come over to my house so we can finish that movie?" He asked her.

"Sure," She responded happily. "My parents won't get home until around seven or eight anyway."

They walked in silence for a few blissful moments, hand in hand, toward Gaara's house.

Gaara thought with all his strength, he willed Sakura to remember anything from her past, anything that related to her, or anything that made it clear to her that she was a Spirit Child.

Then he felt it, in almost tangible feeling, flowing through his body into her hand, her body, and her soul.

"Gaara," she asked him. She looked down at their hands. "Do you feel that?"

"I can tell you, right?" he asked her, looking into her eyes.

"You can tell me anything," She responded surely.

"Shukaku told me that you're a Spirit Child, Sakura," He said.

She gasped. "A Spirit Child, like in the legends?"

So Gaara went on to explain everything to her that Shukaku had explained to him.

"Ah, I see," She puzzled the information over in her head. "So what were you doing just now?" She pointed at their hands.

"I was willing you to remember anything important, that you needed to remember," Gaara said.

"Well," Sakura put things together. "This would make sense though, don't you see?"

"Hmm…" Gaara looked at her confusedly.

"If I were in fact the Spirit Child of Madara, then this would make sense," She continued, "Madara was supposedly able to read people's minds, actions, movements, among other things, and control them sometimes, as well."

Then it clicked for Gaara. "Just like you," He told her.

"Yeah, just like I can..." She got a far-away look in her eyes.

"Please, help me to remember, Gaara," She asked him. They were at his house now.

After they both greeted Lana they went upstairs and Sakura sat with Gaara on his bed.

He took her hands in his and channeled his energy through her. He gave her will to remember who she was, and to discover her inner power.

Gaara felt the sheer amount of power suddenly flowing through out his body, and he craved it, craved more and more. He craved to control it. The feeling overwhelmed him, almost scared him.

Sakura watched as Gaara's hair was lifted by a wind that circled around him. She could feel not only the power flowing into her, but it radiating from his body as well.

Gaara is truly powerful… He really has Shukaku inside of him. Sakura thought as the aurora let up and Sakura felt filled, renewed with energy and sheer strength.

"Gaara," She whispered.

"Sakura…" He said, sighing. "It might take up too 24 hours to remember anything,"

"Ah, but that's okay," She said. She hugged him, and he embraced her back.

But she doesn't need to know how much energy I just… lost. Gaara thought, exhausted and sore.

Well done, Gaara. You handled that better than I would have expected.

Gaara noticed that Shukaku sounded oddly pleased and satisfied.

For the next hour, Sakura and Gaara talked about anything and everything. Eventually she went home to meet her parents, and Gaara shuffled into the kitchen.

Lana was sitting at the table, drinking a cup of tea and reading the newspaper.

Gaara glanced at the clock. It was only 8:30 p.m., but he felt like he could pass out right then and there.

Instead, he warily sat down at the table and got him self some tea as well.

"Lana," Gaara said. She folded up her newspaper.

"What is it, Gaara?" She asked as she sipped her tea.

"When did you find out about Shukaku, and who told you?" He asked as if he was asking what day of the week it was.

Lana gulped hard on her tea.

"Shukaku?" Lana looked at him skeptically.

"Don't tell me you don't know," Gaara answered her.

"Ah, so you have started to remember, indeed," She looked down at the table with a sad expression.

"Yes, and I want to know what's going on," Gaara said, sincerely concerned as he pointed to the scratch on her neck. "You didn't accidentally cut yourself, Lana."

"We have a lot to talk about, Gaara," She looked up at him.

Finally he was going to get some answers. The only obstacle he had this time, was staying awake.

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Plllleaaaseee review. Anything to make it better, any sugestions, even if it's with a critical eye (with good intentions), reviews definitely help to make my story better.

Notice: This is my last chapter before camp. So if you read the notice in chapter 8, then you know that I won't be updating for a couple of days. Don't worry, though, I'm definitely not giving up or abandoning this story. :) I've gotten many good reviews, and I'm glad you all like it. Check back soon for more.

Haha, and if this randomly has any spelling/grammer errors in it (which it shouldn't cuz I've been using spell check and whatnot:) then it's because it's 2:30am in the morning, here, and my spelling always goes bad after... well, my spellings just always bad. :)

Anyways, Thanks a bunch for reading everyone!

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