XXX

Hey, sorry everyone for the wait. I had slight writers corner, yes, I made that up: ) Because unfortunately I had no idea where I was going with this story after this point. But, it's solved, and I have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen. Once again, sorry for the delayness. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please tell me what you think of it! Any other ideas could very well be put into the story as well, so feel free to speak up in reviews or PMs. : )

Oh, and well as I've read over this chapter I've realized that there is some major OOC going on through out the story. Well, I just wanted to sort of explain that, I mean. This is the side of Gaara, where... well think personality after he becomes Kazekage. Thoughtfull, and even though it may seem like he talks a lot or doesn't have all of his normal habits, he isn't being compared to any other of the main characters.

ANYWAY, I apologize for the OOC, even with Sakura and what not, but I hope you understand and I shall try to improve that.

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

XXX

A Story for Myself

A Naruto Fanfic

Chapter 12

Leaving?

Naruto and Sakura had agreed that they would help Lana and Gaara in any way they could in the next two weeks, but to plan anything else Gaara would have to be conscious.

So that left Sakura alone in his hospital room. She stayed there day and night, for hours, only leaving to go to the bathroom. She was always holding his hand, even when she slept. Lana was there most of the time as well. Naruto visited after school.

When she was alone though, the only sound was the beeping of Gaara's heart and her muffled sobs.

Thursday morning

"Sakura," Gaara puzzled as he looked out the window. "What is today?"

"Oh, it's Thursday morning," she responded as she blinked and woke up. She had been sleeping with her head on his mattress but she was sitting in a chair.

Then she looked at him.

Gaara is awake.

Her eyes grew wider.

He squeezed her hand as he turned back to look at her.

"Then I was out for what, two days?" Gaara asked mostly to himself.

Gaara is awake.

"Sakura?" Gaara raised a thin eyebrow.

Gaara is awake.

Sakura pushed the button beside his bed for a nurse.

Gaara is awake.

"Sakura…?" his face took on an expression of worry as Sakura closed her eyes and let a few tears escape. She pinched herself, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Her super-hard pinch hurt so bad she almost yelped. She opened her eyes to find Gaara still looking concerned at her.

She wrapped her arms around him and he slowly hugged her back.

Gaara is awake.

"Ah, you're awake," She said drying her tears, as she still didn't let go of Gaara. He didn't seem to mind.

"Well, yeah, I just past out because, well," He tried to decide where to start.

Just then the door opened. They released each other as a nurse and a doctor came in.

"Sakura we-" The doctor started. Then he stopped in mid-sentence as they saw Gaara. Both their faces showed shock as the nurse flipped open a file and began scribbling down words.

"Gaara, you're awake," he said, relief flooding his voice. "Go call Gaara's Guardian, Lana, and report back here immediately," He told the nurse. She nodded and hurried out of the room.

Twenty minutes later and after many questions Lana arrived and burst into the room.

"Gaara!" She cried in relief. "Thank God!"

Then the doctor explained.

"He had scratches and wounds all over his body along with bruises when our ambulance brought him to the hospital. A fatal wound on his chest and stomach was stabilized and we were able to take him off life-support Wednesday afternoon. You said that a car hit him, though he doesn't seem to remember much of it. That's common, but will be just fine, since it seems that he isn't having any serious memory loss issues. Now, if you two don't mind I need to see Lana for paperwork and the nurses need to evaluate his status now."

Sakura let go of his hand for the first time for more than 5 minutes, and did a little wave to him as she walked out of the room with Lana.

He closed his eyes and though for a moment.

Did I really worry them that much? He thought surprised. There was a little twinge in his heart though, that he didn't really understand how to acknowledge.

It was a little while before they were all herded into the room again for a status report on Gaara.

The doctor and the nurse were flipping through the same papers over and over again.

"Gaara is…" The doctor slapped the file closed. "Perfectly healthy. Not a scratch on him now, not even any scars. It's absolutely amazing; his recuperative abilities must be astonishing."

"So you may sign Gaara out, but he will have to come in for a check up in two days, then every week for a month, but the secretary will handle that with you," The nurse said politely.

"We were planning on moving in the next month, so what should we do about that?" Lana asked.

Gaara almost opened his mouth in shock. They were moving? But he went along with it for the moment and nodded.

"We can just send Gaara's files to the next doctor or hospital you are closest to or going too,"

"Alright, Gaara, let's get you signed out," Lana said giving him a 'don't worry' glance when the doctor and nurse weren't looking.

And hour later they were all in Gaara and Lana's house, at the kitchen table.

"So were moving, eh?" Gaara asked. He wasn't going to let that happen. No way.

"Well, I don't know yet," Lana sighed and leaned back in her chair while rubbing her temples.

"You understand that we'll probably be on the run, since Suna isn't going to give up on trying to capture you, and kill you to seal Shukaku in another host," Lana said, still rubbing her head.

"We can't just… leave," Gaara said, trying to suppress emotion.

"We're going to have to, Gaara," Lana said somberly. This was the only way, and all of them knew it.

"We'll have to get new names and be on the run until… well," Lana stopped.

"Until what?" Sakura asked. She sounded a mixture of angry and sad.

"Oh, I just don't know," Lana said, defeated.

"You are going to have to move," Sakura sighed, and slumped in her chair, also defeated.

"Sakura," Gaara said gently, looking into her eyes. He didn't want to leave her, but if it meant keeping her safe, keeping their friends safe…

"I'll keep in touch," Gaara encouraged her.

"That wouldn't hurt, I guess," Lana said.

"When and where are we going to go?" Gaara asked.

"The Land of Water, most likely, in Kirigakure, then if they find us there, the Land of Lightning." Lana said.

"But what are we aiming for, moving around and all? What's the purpose?" Gaara asked.

"To shake them and hopefully come back here, or maybe to get assistance from Konoha or Kiri, to protect you, like they do their own tailed beasts…" Lana said.

"Can't you just do that now?" Sakura asked.

"No, because to get into contact with the Kage of any village will take probably six months, then it will take a while to get everything sorted out, and on top of that we don't know who we can trust," Lana sighed again.

"So we move around until we can get help from the attacking Suna?" Gaara asked, trying to sum everything up.

"Basically, and so we have to move in the next two weeks… well by, let's see," Lana got up and looked at the calendar on the fridge. "Since we assume that they'll need at minimum two weeks, and Sheena found out on the 25th of May, we have to be in the Land of Water by the 8th of June…"

"Today is…" Gaara trailed off. Being asleep for over 48 hours had really messed up his sense of day and night and date in general.

"It's Thursday evening," Sakura said, smiling at him. She was just still glad that he wasn't in a coma.

"So we'll head for the Land of Water in five days, on the 3rd of June, that way we can get packed and find someplace to rent or reserve, and you can finish school on the 2nd." Lana said.

"That sounds logical," Gaara responded, thinking of Sakura. He didn't want to leave her. Nor did he want to leave his friends… Naruto, and Neji, Sauke, Hinata, Tenten, his whole group of friends that he had loved so much, actually gotten close too, unlike he had to anyone else.

He tried to not think about it.

The movie night at Karin's. He thought suddenly. It wouldn't be to late for me to go to that.

"Oh, Sakura, you better be getting home," Lana said as she glanced at the clock. It was 7:30p.m. "Oh, I'm sorry," Lana apologized, "I didn't mean to push you out or anything, your welcome to stay, but your…"

"Yeah, my parents are probably worried," Sakura said glumly.

Gaara came over and hugged her from behind as she stood up.

Lana smiled sadly and said " I'll leave you two alone for a few," and walked into the living room.

"Gaara…" Sakura choked out a whisper. She was trembling as Gaara wiped a tear that had leaked from her eye.

"Sakura, it'll be okay," he said, holding her tighter. She just put her hands on his.

"You know I won't forgive you if you get killed," Sakura said.

"Oh, Sakura, I'm not going to die, and I won't forgive you if you forget about me," He said, playing with her fingers.

Sakura turned around in his embrace and leaned into him, hugging him back. They stood for a few moments of silence.

"I will never forget you," She said with a dozen powerful emotions in her voice. Gaara could here sadness, determination, longing, caring, but most of all, love.

Gaara held her chin with his thumb, index finger and middle finger, making her look at him. He looked into her eyes, conveying feelings without words, then kissed her on the lips, soft, gentle, but full of passion.

She kissed him back, engraving every second in her mind, as he did.

"Sakura…" Gaara said as he smiled at her. She looked at him and slightly tilted her head.

"I love you," and with that they went into another kiss.

"I love you too, Gaara," Sakura said truthfully.

They walked, hand in hand, all the way to her house, slowly. They talked and laughed, about everything, currently keeping their minds off of the situation at hand with Gaara moving.

When they finally got to Sakura's house, he pulled her into one last goodnight kiss, then let her go to her front door. She smiled back at him and said, "I'll meet you to walk to school tomorrow, right?"

"Of course," he responded, and with that she disappeared into her house.

It was only dusk, but Gaara stayed on main roads as long as he could on the way back to the house. Lana knew that they had just gone to Sakura's, but it was a lot later than any of them had planned.

Of course, I have two weeks. He thought to himself, turning onto the block where he lived. Only one more turn, and I'm home.

Still, on the deserted suburb block, he quickened his pace.

Watch it, kid. He heard Shukaku. Just now he realized that this was the first time he had heard Shukaku since he had woken up.

Gaara was on high alert now, though.

There was someone near him, he could feel it.

XXX

Okay, well I hope you liked it, everyone! : ) R&R, that's all I can say. Reviews are so nice. If you write on fanfiction, you probably understand that, so this whole thing about write reviews is mainly for the anonymous of you out there.

This was one of those iffy chapters, again, so I hope I did okay.

Oh, and one more thing. If you haven't already, check out my new High school fic, involving Gaara and my OC, Holly. It just got started, but it helped me get past my block on this one, and it has a pretty different view on Gaara.

And sorry for the major long author notes, I'll try to minimize on those as well. : )

XXX