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Hello, again! : ) This chapter I was again, a little iffy on, but I'm still trying to get everything figured out. I hope it's good, and I hope you 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 11

Problems

Heart racing, Sakura sat up with a jolt, throwing the sheets off her bed yet again. Once again she looked over at the alarm clock beside her bed. It read 4:59a.m.

Gaara. A voice whispered to her.

Gaara. Another voice sounded. They were different.

Go to- A third voice said.

Gaara. The first voice finished for the third.

Sakura blinked, suddenly wide-awake.

Now what the hell was that? She thought.

The voices sounded again, in the same pattern, telling her but one thing.

Go to Gaara.

Gaa…ra… Why… did you… do that? Shukaku said as Gaara started to die.

The door to Gaara's bedroom burst open.

"Gaara?" Lana yelled. She had heard him yell.

She looked over to Gaara, who was leaning against a wall of his bedroom. Surrounding him was a pool of blood, which came from multiple wounds all over his body. His clothes were torn; he had bruises already forming on his face and arms.

She rushed over to him, or tried to, there was a bunch of sand on the floor that slightly slowed her down.

He's losing too much blood. Lana thought desperately, ignoring the sand.

"La… na…" Gaara mumbled.

Lana leaned in closer, panicking, losing all train of thought.

"Go, let… Sakura… in the… house," Gaara said then shuddered violelently. He let out a cry of pure pain, and the sand on the floor closed in a sphere around him, while she heard muffled groans and slicing sounds.

She gasped, and then ran down the spiral staircase, tripping at the bottom and hitting her shin very hard on the side of it. Stumbling over to the door she unlocked it and flung it open.

There she saw a wide-eyed pink haired girl in mid-knock.

"Sakura, Gaara, he," She ran out of breath.

Sakura raced past her and she followed, staggering.

As soon as she got in Gaara's room she knew what had happened. The sand was a big hint.

He had a memory and lost control of Shukaku's power.

Bending down she placed a hand on his forehead before yelling, "Lana, call 911!"

They were both in the odd place where Sakura had awoken Gaara from a memory before. It was the vast emptyness with a desert-like setting.

Gaara was crouched down; sand forming around him again and again, creating barriers and walls, thicker and thicker. Sakura ran toward them, not quite sure what she was going to do. Tears leaked from her eyes as she fought through the sand, then it started opening for her. She wasn't trying anymore, another presence was controlling the sand, and moving it so she could get to Gaara.

Save him.

He doesn't deserve any of this. As she ran toward Gaara he seemed to get farther and farther away.

"Gaara!" She yelled. He didn't hear her. Her heart was throbbing, begging her to stop running so hard.

"Gaara!" She sobbed this time, pushing herself harder. She got brief images of his parents, how he killed them, more of Shukaku's memories, more of Gaara's childhood.

Sakura only got flashes. Gaara was reliving them all at once.

Gaara couldn't control Shukaku's unbelievable power as he was thrown in and out of memories, ripped apart, gaining knowledge too fast. So it lashed out, just like it did when he killed his parents. Only this time Gaara used the ounce of control he had left to form a barrier around himself, of sand, so the power would only unleash in the sand sphere. Unfortunately he could only create it around himself, leaving himself the only thing to unleash his own power on.

And that wasn't working too well. Besides the up of not hurting anyone he loved, the bad part was that he was killing himself. Not that he did it intentionally, but the only option he had had right then was to do this.

Now he couldn't stop the power from killing him.

He was going to die.

What's going to happen if I die? He thought in a tiny part of his mind that wasn't being ripped apart; the peak of a mountain, which he could barely sit on, in a giant flood.

Then he was washed into the sea with a giant wave. Knowing this was the end he opened his eyes under the water, not knowing what else to do.

Sakura was underwater, swimming toward him. She grabbed him, and pulled him back the other way. Not up or down, just the other way.

Suddenly he didn't have to hold his breath anymore.

"Gaara, are you back?" Sakura huffed as he looked around. Once again they were both in his mind, the vast desert landscape.

Gaara closed his eyes again and sighed. He couldn't feel any more memories. He could remember them, but now he could block the ones he had, the ones he had lived.

"Sakura," He throbbed all over and his jaw felt like it was broken.

"Gaara, we have to get back, come on," She smiled weakly at him. He could see her even though his eyes were closed. He could feel her presence.

He heard the blaring of a siren, the slamming of doors, and then he getting jostled around, like he was lying down in a car. He could feel Sakura's hand holding his, and that's all he focused on.

Gaara, YOU ALMOST KILLED YOURSELF! WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU TRYING TO DO? Shukaku yelled in his head. He cringed at the loudness of Shukaku's voice. It seemed to echo inside his head. He heard a soft female voice say, "It'll be alright, after one more shot you shouldn't feel anything that hurts." Little did she know what he was cringing from.

Shukaku, can you just try and be quite?

No, if you killed us, you know what-

PLEASE?

You're a real lucky host. Many before you have met their end at things much less fatal than things like these.

Are you getting attached, Shukaku? Gaara mentally smiled, seeing as though he couldn't feel anything but Sakura's hand holding his on the physical side of his mind.

Attached? To what, you? Isn't that an understatement? It's more like trapped, or sealed, or-

Gaara sighed, in a drug-induced bliss of painlessness.

You're not even listening to me, are you?

Nope.

You know I could cause you a mental Hell, and not any drugs could fix that. Ever. He said darkly.

Gaara fretted about in his own mind. He heard outside sounds momentarily before they were shut off completely, and it was only himself and Shukaku in the vast desert of his mind, once again. They couldn't see each other, they just talked, only voices in the soul existence of his mind.

But as you can see, I can't control how I unleash my power completely; just how I use it after it's unleashed. I can also control small amounts of it being unleashed at a time. Shukaku said quietly.

Gaara calmed again.

Okay. Gaara could hardly pay attention to Shukaku.

Even I wasn't expecting what just happened to happen. He said even quieter, his voice fading.

Gaara was there now, sitting in the vast landscape of his mind. He thought, and thought, and thought about what had just happened. He thought about all the memories, his parents, everything. He didn't know how long he just sat there, staring at the ground, not saying a word. It could have been hours. It could have been years. It could have been seconds. He just couldn't tell.

Meanwhile…

Sakura looked at Gaara, sleeping in his hospital bed. None of the doctors knew when he was going to wake up, they said he could be out for a few days, a few hours, he also might be slipping into a coma.

They had treated all of his wounds. He had gauze everywhere. Cuts and burns were all over his body, and there was a large wound from the top of his left shoulder mid way down his stomach. They had said that that was the one that was bleeding the most, and it was pure luck that he was still alive. But Sakura knew it was something more.

Shukaku.

The boy. A soft, light voice said.

The boy, A harsher tone with a louder voice said.

Survived. Both of them chorused.

The world is saved. The first voice whispered.

For now. A new voice finished.

Sakura inhaled sharply. Those voices definitely weren't in her head. She could tell that much. They were the same three voices that she had heard when she had known Gaara was in trouble.

Is this what it means to be a spirit child? She thought warily, looking around quickly, as if to find the source of the voices.

Suddenly the door opened and Sakura jumped with a small noise.

"Ah, Sakura!" Naruto said. He looked over at Gaara and his eyes grew wide. Quieter he said, "He really got hit by a car? It looks more like he went through hell,"

Sakura looked around the room again, starting to get paranoid.

"Naruto," she said sadly. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

For the next hour Sakura and Naruto, surprisingly, talked quietly beside Gaara, who was still on life support.

"I…" Naruto began, leaning back in the chair that he was sitting in. "Never would have imagined that he… well,"

"Yeah, I'm just glad that you believe me."

"Sakura, I am the nine-tails of Konoha," Naruto said, looking her straight in the eyes. This meant that he was serious.

"At this point Naruto, I'm not surprised." Sakura looked down at her fingers.

"But Konoha didn't screw me up." He explained. "I have a lot more power than others do, and it seems that Shukaku is a lot different than the fox, but I never got any memories of its. I just know it's there, kind of like a lingering presence. I live on my own too; my parents have died. But the old man third that runs our village has told me everything. Unlike those Bastards of the Sand, who kept everything from Gaara." Naruto clenched his fist.

"Lana has talked to me as well," Sakura said, opening the blinds on the window in Gaara's hospital room. "Suna knows now, that Shukaku has been awakened, and they're going to try and get Gaara, to transfer Shukaku, which will kill Gaara."

"We can't let that happen, it's just not fair!" Naruto said, his anger rising. "What did he ever do... to deserve this?!"

"I know," Sakura said as she leaned against the window frame and looked into the sky. It was overcast and thunder shook the entire building. Then it started to rain. Sakura looked into the sky, hoping to find an answer there.

Gaara…

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So Gaara could be slipping into a coma! Oh no! And what's up with Sakura, the Spirit Child? She's out there. ; ) I know Sakura may seem like she knows her powers better, and stuff, but if you compare them it was, indeed, Gaara, who has woken that power within her. Look at him, he has so much that it's too hard to control! Naruto is a host too! None of us saw that coming! Haha, just kidding.

Well? What do you think? Press that little review button down there to tell me! : ) Okay, well, again, I hope this chapter was good, if you like it then check back for more soon!

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