Hi everyone! I just really wanted to thank you all for reading, following and favoriting my story, and specially for your wonderful reviews! You have no idea how much they mean to me! I really appreciate them! I feel very honored and happy! Thank you so much! :D So, onto the story...

Chapter 6

She was dying. She was slowly losing all her strength…

"Stop!" she heard. It was his voice.

Naruto had chased those screams as fast as he could and seeing Hinata like that, he was now completely enraged. He punched Gaara as hard as he could, making him fly into a tree.

"What the hell?!" screamed Gaara, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"You can't touch her," he said. "Not her. I won't let you."

Gaara was shocked and angry. Nobody was going to tell him what he could and couldn't do or what he could feed on and what he couldn't. That was his prey. He chased it, he hunted it. It was his. He felt red chakra bubbling from inside him and sand suddenly surrounded him.

Naruto got ready too; he made his eyes red and drew red chakra from Kyuubi. A one-tailed, bubbling, red chakra cloak now encased him. Gaara attacked with a growl, he sent a sand-hand towards Naruto but he quickly dodged it, carrying Hinata out of the way. Then he saw her, saw her bloodied neck.

"Hinata! Hinata!" he called. Hinata barely had any strength left but she managed to flutter her eyelids open and murmur.

"Naruto…kun?" Naruto sighed in relief.

"You're alive. Thank goodness," he said. Now he, too, was mad. Gaara'd touched Hinata. He'd fed on her. He'd almost killed her. She was barely alive and it was his entire fault! Naruto couldn't imagine what he'd do if Hinata was dead…

Then, Naruto attacked. He sent a chakra hand and when Gaara dodged to the side, he grabbed a tree and propelled himself back toward him, managing to deliver a kick to his stomach. Gaara got quickly back on his feet but Naruto kept attacking one punch and kick after another and he was so quick that even though Gaara managed to block some of them with sand, he took most of them until he was sent flying straight into a tree.

But now Gaara was seriously pissed off. There was sand everywhere, flowing in angry streams across the air, around Gaara. He felt red chakra bubble inside his stomach, urging him to fight, to feed, to kill. His eyes turned bloodthirsty red and the sand shot rapidly towards Naruto. Gaara had just fed a few moments ago, and had been feeding every single day, taking souls, while Naruto hadn't had the chance to feed for a couple of days at all. Gaara was now mad and all the chakra he'd gotten for those souls was flowing out uncontrollably. The sand molded itself into a giant bullet and Naruto was unable to dodge it in time. He ended up smashed against a tree, almost buried in it. That tree, having lost more than half of its trunk, fell over as if somebody had purposely cut it with an ax to make firewood.

Naruto was now lying bloody in the splinter-filled remainder of the tree trunk. He coughed and immediately felt an excruciating pain in his side. He winced and held his ribs.

Gaara was demented with bloodlust. He was seriously furious. He screamed and dashed towards Naruto, jumping at him. Naruto blocked his fist with one hand and delivered a punch to the ribs, but Gaara's sand blocked it. Gaara smiled sadistically and kicked Naruto in the ribs, where he knew it would hurt the most. Naruto screamed in pain and expanded his red chakra, shooting it out of him in every direction and sending Gaara flying as if he had been kicked. The cloak disappeared.

Gaara stood back up with wide, frenzied eyes and a spine-chilling grin overflowing with foam as sand surrounded him again, this time clinging onto his arm, his face and his side, becoming part of a beast. Naruto was still lying against the remains of the tree trunk, exhausted and in great pain. Seeing as he'd become a very easy target, Gaara used his sand to envelop him, as if he was being crushed by a giant sand-hand.

Everything Hinata saw was blurry, but she understood that Naruto-kun was in danger. Naruto-kun's face came in and out of focus but she could tell he was in great pain being suspended in the air inside that sand cocoon. Was there nothing she could do?

Naruto was indeed in great pain, yet he was still surprised by the fact that the sand was being controlled by red chakra that had been molded into it; he was never able to do that, to mold chakra into an object. How many souls had this guy consumed? To be able to do that, he must have killed many, many people.

The sand enveloping his body started getting tighter and tighter as Naruto's agony increased. He squirmed around, trying to set himself free but without results. Gaara's arm was extended before him, pointing towards Naruto.

"Sabaku… kyuu!" he yelled as he clenched his hand into a fist and Naruto was completely crushed by the sand. He screamed and coughed out blood and if it weren't for Kyuubi's chakra protecting him and healing him, he would have died. The sand released him and gravity claimed him.

But before Naruto was able to even hit the ground, Gaara came up behind him and punched him again, accelerating his fall. Naruto crashed on the ground hard, leaving a crater-like dent on the floor. Naruto was terribly injured, in terrible agony and exhausted. 'Gah! If only… if I only had a few more souls fueling my chakra—' he thought before being interrupted.

"S-Stop it…" Hinata murmured. She slowly managed to get into a sitting position. "Stop! Don't… don't h-hurt Naruto-kun…"

Naruto's red eyes widened in terror. Gaara had already forgotten about her! Why did she have to attract attention to herself?!

"B-Baka! If you have the strength to do that, run away!" he yelled at her.

Gaara looked at her and growled softly. That's right, she's the reason he was fighting in the first place; he'd forgotten with all the blood and the excitement. 'She tasted so good…' he thought. But as he walked toward her with that foaming, chilling grin, he felt something grab at this leg.

"Don't… don't you dare touch her!" yelled Naruto as he held tight onto Gaara's ankle. Gaara was confused.

'How unusual,' he thought, trying to figure out his motive. 'Does he actually have feelings for that human?" he couldn't believe it. He started laughing, laughing maniacally. He couldn't believe it. He stopped laughing and growled instead. He couldn't believe it. He started kicking Naruto in the head.

"A Jinchuuriki should know better!" he yelled. Feelings for a human! Humans were horrible creatures! He should know that!

Naruto got the message as he took blow after blow to the head. He knew what Gaara meant. But she… she was different. Her words bounced in his head once again. 'Naruto-kun, you're not a demon! Don't think that way! You're the sweetest guy I've ever met! You are strong and never give up and are always cheerful! You're not a demon at all!' She was different because she said the opposite of what everyone had told him his entire life. And now he needed to protect her, he needed to return the favor.

'I need more… more chakra! Please…' he thought. And suddenly he was back at that place in his stomach were Kurama was kept.

'Kid,' said Kurama sternly. 'What is it with you and that human girl?'

Naruto's eyes widened in shock for a second. He should have guessed. Of course Kurama would realize something was wrong with him.

"I… I don't know…" he said. He looked down for a moment but then shook his head. "Nothing! I just… I just need to repay the favor!" Kurama's eyes narrowed in suspicion. This was unusual. But Naruto didn't have time for Kurama's analyses or lectures. "Listen, I just need more chakra! I need it now!" he yelled. Kurama stared at him for a moment but gave in.

"I won't forget this Naruto," he told him as he allowed more chakra to leak through the gate and envelop Naruto. It was needless to say he would have to pay for it with more souls. "I'll keep this in mind in the future."

Gaara stopped kicking him. Red chakra was bubbling out of him, slowly this time. Naruto's grip got painfully strong on his ankle. Three tails bubbled into his red chakra cloak. He managed to get into a kneeling/crouching position and lifted his head to shoot Gaara a deadly glare. Gaara scoffed and tried to kick him again but this time he caught his foot. With both feet in his lethal grip he stood up, making Gaara fall on his head, and started spinning. He spun around and around and then threw Gaara into a huge rock with all his strength.

Gaara hit against it head first, cracking it and smashing it to bits and pieces. Before he was able to clear his vision, Naruto landed on him with a Rasengan. This time Gaara coughed out blood. Sand clung to him again, filling the rest of his upper body and turning him into a monster. He swung at Naruto but he quickly dodged.

"Hinata…" he said, turning his head to look at her with red eyes. "Run away, now!" he yelled. Hinata was still very weak but she knew Naruto was right; she had to get out of there. It took all her strength to get up and start running but she managed to somehow. Gaara saw her and leapt towards her but was caught off by a powerful red-chakra-powered punch.

"I told you I won't let you touch her!" he yelled and attacked once more.

Hinata ran as fast as she could. She wasn't even sure she was running in the right direction, but she had to get away. Her vision was blurry and her limbs were very heavy but Naruto had said she needed to get away. She needed to run away.

After what seemed like an eternity she was finally out of the forest. Now, she needed to get help. Naruto was battling the one responsible for those people's deaths. All those people's bodies they'd found, that boy was responsible. She ran more and more until she distinguished a shinobi, despite her very blurry vision.

She clung to him, definitely surprising him. "Hinata-sama?! What's wrong?!"

"N-Naruto-kun is… fighting…" she managed to say to him. "He's fighting the guy… who killed all those people! He needs backup!"

Gaara growled and kept swinging at him, kicking him, and throwing sand of various sizes at him, but Naruto managed to dodge or block most of his attacks. The three-tailed cloak made him a lot more quick and agile, but it blocked his mind and allowed him to attack on instinct only. He was in a bad situation, he kept spending tons of chakra that he would have to pay for by sending hands and bullets and such. If he kept spending and spending like that, Kurama might take control.

Naruto growled too and attacked again. He was getting exhausted and he thought his injuries hadn't healed properly because they were hurting him way more than they were supposed to. He ended up punching the ground instead of Gaara, who managed to jump out of the way.

"Kid," said Kurama. "Someone's coming."

'What?' Naruto thought back.

"Someone from the village is coming. No… not just someone, lots of people are coming. I can sense them. You need to change back."

And with that he took away the cloak and his eyes went back to blue in an instant.

"Crap!" he exclaimed as Gaara charged once again. He didn't understand why Kurama'd done that. He tried using his ninjutsu, even though he knew it wouldn't be nearly as effective. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he yelled and had his clones all attack Gaara. This was just for show though, because the people Kurama had sensed were already there.

"Hold it!" "Stop!" "It's him!" "We found the culprit!" "Get him!" they all yelled something and charged at Gaara. They had some kind of chakra-suppressing seals, and they all stuck them on Gaara. Gaara screamed in pain as the sand dissolved from his body and he was back as a normal person.

Now he understood. Even though he was a Jinchuuriki, there was no reason, or at least not enough proof, to think he'd lost control of his Bijuu. If he hadn't lost control, those people were most likely not killed by him. And having a Jinchuuriki in front of them that clearly had lost control, all suspicion against Naruto had to be raised.

Just when he was about to celebrate (in silence), he felt a stabbing pain in his side and winced as he held his ribs. Definitely had not healed right.

"Are you alright?" Medic-nin were suddenly around him and even though being surrounded by humans brought up bitter memories and his body was screaming at him to attack them, he pretended to be a very nice boy who'd fought his best and was now injured as he ought to have been.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'll be fine…" he started saying but the pain was too much and he winced again. He begrudgingly let them treat his injuries as he saw how they brusquely took Gaara away as a prisoner. He didn't like that. He hadn't wanted that. But what was done was done. 'I'm sorry… I'm so sorry,' he thought.

He did his very best to play nice and ended up being taken to the hospital. He hated the hospital. He'd sneak out later. He asked around for Hinata and they told him that after a few blood transfusions, she was going to be fine. They had a big mystery on their hands. Hinata had experienced major blood loss, but she had no more than scratches on her legs that she most likely got after running in the forest.

Naruto fell asleep on the hospital bed, thinking of a way to explain everything.

"This is not good…" thought Kurama as Naruto slept. The kid wasn't supposed to be able to have any kind of feelings. But this human girl… she was a problem. It seemed he'd have to personally do something about this feeling problem. He could always try that. And if that didn't work… then there would have to be more drastic changes.

Ooh... what's Kurama gonna do? ^_^ Hope you all liked it! I'm terrible at describing fights, it's really hard . Sorry! And for those who want a spoiler... Gaara WILL most definitely be back :D kufufufu (Mukuro evil laugh)

Reviews make me very happy! Thank you! :)