In The Flesh

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Sakura walked with her team through the streets of their village in silence. She was really just listening to her teammates argue and babble. Mostly Naruto though, he kept going on and on about how he was going to kick so much ass in the upcoming exams that even Sasuke would beg for mercy. Then Sasuke would counter it by saying some odd thing of him being annoying and that he couldn't even beat him in his dreams. They argued, and fought, and insulted. Sakura sighed in content. Everything was as it should be. Then she heard their voices got louder, and Sasuke's voice was suddenly gone. She looked around sure enough he was gone, and Naruto looked very upset. Sakura inwardly groaned. Why couldn't they just get along?

"Well who needs him anyways?" Naruto whined folding his arms and frowning.

"Naruto," Sakura said in a dangerous tone. "If we are going to do these Exams together for the next couple of weeks I expect you and him to get along you hear me?" she said, glaring at him. She really wasn't that mad, but if you didn't seem mad at him it never reached his brain through that thick skull.

"Uh, y-yeah Sakura" he said scratching his head. "Whatever you say" he laughed nervously. She sighed and turned from him only to see a little kid trying to hide behind a sheet made to look like the fencing. And the boards were facing sideways instead of up and down.

"Uh," she pointed to the cloth and look skeptically at Naruto. "What's up with that?"

"Oh? Konohamaru? What do you think you're doing?"

'Oh great' she inwardly groaned. 'It's the Hokage's grandson who won't leave Naruto alone. What does he want now?'

"Heehee!" the child giggled from behind the cloth and then moved away from the wall with a smile. "Just what I'd expect out of you, boss!"

"Well," Naruto leaned back and assumed a very macho stance. "I do take pride in what I do best."

Sakura leaned against the wall and looked up at the clouds, trying to drown out the noises of the two boys babbling on and on about how great Naruto was. How conceded can you get? Focusing on trying to find shapes and designs in the clouds was working to get her mind at peace and she started to relax, that is until they started to talk about her.

"Heehee, so boss" Konohamaru said in a hushed whisper. "She's got to be your girlfriend right?" Sakura's eyes snapped open.

'What?!' her inner screeched.

"Yeah, I guess you could say she's got the hots for me!" Naruto boasted.

"What?!" she yelled, glaring at the two of them with a deadly energy emitting from her body.

"Uh, n-nothing Sakura" Naruto stammered stepping backward.

"Tell me what you said, now!"

Konohamaru didn't seem to understand why Naruto was so different all of the sudden and chimed in. "Your his girlfriend because you got the serious hots for the boss here!" he said with a grin.

Sakura walked forward and stared at him. "Who told you that?" she asked sharply.

"Well the boss of course!"

Sakura glared at Naruto and charged at him. Her, like Naruto? It was absolutely unheard of. Naruto dashed away from her down the alley and his little minion fallowed.

"Naruto get back here!" she shouted. Naruto sped up as Konohamaru passed him. Then they stopped. Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. Catching up to him she saw what he stopped for. Konohamaru was being held by the collar by a man dressed in black. There was a woman with blond hair standing next to him. Konohamaru was struggling in the man's grasp but he only gripped him tighter.

"Hey put him down!" Naruto yelled, rushing at the man. The man only smirked. Naruto fell over and Sakura rushed over to him and helped him up.

"Kankuro put him down," the blond said lazily. "We don't want any unnecessary attention"

"What?" Kankuro whined. "The little brat should watch were he's going"

"Hey it's my fault, I'm sorry" Sakura said. "Just put him down, he didn't mean it"

"Yeah you big jerk!" Konohamaru said as he struggled against the larger man's grip.

The smirk that crossed the man's face was mischievous to say the least. Then, the man dropped him. His grip gone, Konohamaru fell to the ground and ran over to Naruto and proceeded to hide behind him.

"What the hell?" Kankuro groaned as he held his hand and looked up towards a nearby tree.

There Sasuke sat, tossing a rock into the air. Sakura felt her heart flutter. 'Sasuke to the rescue!'

"I don't take kindly to outsiders picking on the children here" he said coolly, catching the rock in his hand and crushing into powder with the greatest of ease

"Why you little brat!" he turned in Sasuke's direction and glared. Sasuke merely glared back.

"Kankuro," the man froze in place. "Stop fooling around" the voice said calmly. It was coming from Sasuke's direction and he moved to stand on the branch.

"G-Gaara!" Kankuro said, looking a little off now.

'What's his problem?' Sakura thought.

Just then, a flurry of sand appeared in the middle of the ally way. Sakura sucked in a sharp breath as a man stood in front of the other man and woman. She felt her body grow cold, and her throat contract into that sickly feeling and her knees got weak. It was him. The same blood red hair, the same piercing eyes, the same clothes, he was just, the same. The man from her dream, that killer who had murdered the man that had clung to her legs for life, the one who had almost killed her, was standing right in front of her. Sakura started to shake but did her best to contain it.

'He's a real person?'

Gaara looked in the direction of the team that had caught his brothers' attention and froze. It was her. The girl from the vision. The same hair, the same height, the same clothes, the same everything. But her stance, and that face. They were off. Her stance looked timid, unsure and afraid. Her eyes held fear and disbelief. She was looking at him, but quickly diverted her eyes. Their eyes met only for a brief second before she looked away. Was she afraid of him?

'She should be, they all are' he thought bitterly.

'I think this is different,' his demon whispered.

'What do you mean?' he demanded, only to be answered by silence. He inwardly glared at the girl. This was the fierce, crazy looking, and blood covered person who had helped the other him commit the untold amount of deaths showed to him by the spirit? She couldn't be. She looked frail, weak, and shy. Even her appearance was different. She looked healthier. Her hair was more natural looking, her skin wasn't so clammy and sickly looking, but alive and vibrant, and her eyes did not look sleep deprived and bloodshot. She looked healthy, well-kept and taken care of. She almost looked his opposite. But he took care of himself and he had also appeared in the same way during the vision. But why was she so afraid if all she had done was glance at him? It normally took a little more than that.

Sakura too stared in twisted awe at the person before her, the killer from her nightmare. Until he looked at her. He glanced her direction and his gaze seemed set in stone as she quickly diverted her eyes away from his. Her body still shook but she was sure no one else could tell. This wasn't supposed to happen, it was only a dream after all. Right?

'Well apparently not honey!' her inner spoke out. 'That guys right in front of you, and he won't stop looking at us!'

It was true, he was looking at her still. But from her peripheral she could tell that he was confused. Shocked maybe. He looked her up and down and she felt shivers under his gaze. The shivers were cold, and unsettling. But they strangely had a comforting edge to them... She couldn't even believe the thought herself but, they were. It was the product of sheer power radiating off of a person. The knowledge that in times of crises, one would be safe in the presence of that person. But this shiver was not of power, not entirely. There was power there, yes, and raw power. She could sense it. But there was something else. She couldn't place it, but she knew that the power didn't come from extensive training. There was a danger to him that didn't fit your average, deadly ninja. It just seemed to roll off of him. Her heightened chakra abilities also allowed her to sense the chakras of others better than your normal person, better then Naruto, or even Sasuke. She could sense an illusion a mile away and she could sense the danger and power of this man better than ever. There was a natural deadliness that fallowed this man that could scare the living day lights out of her, and was. No man should have the power that he seemed to have at the Genine level. She never got this feeling around her teacher, around the Hokage, or any other high ranking official. But now, in the presence of a stranger, it was overwhelming her.

'What do I do?' she thought frantically.

'Uh, we try not to attract any more attention and get our asses out of here!'

'Good idea.'

Sakura went to turn around when Naruto stopped her by grabbing her arm. Jumping slightly she turned to glare at him.

"Sakura, tell this big jerk that he can't come in our village for no reason and pick on the kids here!" he yelled pointing in the direction of the three across from them.

Sakura cautiously glanced over to the group before something caught her eye. They all had Sand Village headbands. They weren't from the area, and that could only mean they were here for the, "Chunnine Exams," she said quietly to herself.

"What?" Naruto blabbed. "What are you going on about Sakura? That has nothing to do with what I said!"

"Naruto shut up!" she yelled before turning back to the trio in front of her. "Your here for the Chunnine Exams right? Then I welcome you to our village and hope your stay is wonderful," she said as sweetly as she could. Naruto and Sasuke on the other hand, were appalled.

"How on earth can you say that!? If these nit wits want a fight then we should give them one for what they did!" Naruto yelled as he glared at them.

"Naruto I said stop it!" she demanded as she grabbed him by his sleeve and began to drag him away down the alley. "We don't want any trouble got it?!" she hissed, he hastily nodded his head when it finally dawned on him that she was serious. Sasuke sighed and disappeared as Sakura pushed Naruto around the corner. Leaning against the fence she let out a sigh and slid down, happy to be out of the view of that man.

"Sakura I would have taken him!"

"No you couldn't!" she hissed as she grabbed his color and pulled him down to glare at him on her eye level. "I don't care what anybody does alright! If they start trouble let the professionals take care of it! Don't go picking fights with people we don't even know inside our own village, especially not now! There are going to be ninja coming from all over and the last thing we want is a fight between villages!" she spat. Naruto went wide eyed before backing away nodding his head.

"Alright Sakura, you seem a little tense though, how about you go and get some rest. Sorry for disappointing you," he said quietly.

"Naruto no," she said getting up. "It's not that, I'm not mad I swear it's just, we don't know these people and I don't want you getting hurt," she pleaded. The image of Naruto being one of those dead bodies that littered her dream filled her head and horrified her mind. She quickly shook it away and continued. "I'm not sure what's going to happen but the last thing I want is my team being hurt for no damn reason. Please, take care of yourself?" she asked, hoping it would get through his thick head.

"Alright Sakura. I'll do my best," he agreed with a grin. "But I was serious though, you go and get some rest," he added as he walked away leaving her alone in the ally.

Sakura looked out into blank space, that man was out there, and he was real. He tried to kill her and seeing him in person proved that he just might try again. She laughed nervously to herself. Try and get some rest? "Hn, I'll try,"

Gaara sat hidden in the midst of leaves. He had been sitting there ever since he got to his apartment with his siblings. Once he set his few things inside his siblings went to go find their sensie and he moved to the tree that was outside his building. The spot gave him good view of one of the main streets that ran through Konoha. A Street, which the pink haired girl needed to take to get home from the ally. He had been fuming over nothing watching the people go about their daily lives unaware that their own meaningless existence could be swept away whenever he so pleased. It disgusted him really, they were all so happy and unaware of their own impending doom that they didn't even bother to look around for any potential danger when their village was going to be filled with ninja from other villages. They were going to be all but surrounded by what was a potential enemy and all they could do was go about their daily lives, seemingly unaware and blissfully ignorant. A flash of a pale, yet seemingly vibrant color captured his attention. The pink haired girl, apparently her name was Sakura, was walking down the street looking content and unaware of his presence. He had heard her talking with her friend when she shooed him away from ally. She had told him to be careful and not get into any unnecessary fights. He had almost wanted to laugh at this. That teammate of hers was going to get himself killed, and he wanted to be the one to do it when the time came. But if he were truthful with himself the girl in herself had piqued his interest. She seemed shy and skittish around them, frail and breakable. But in the vision the spirit showed him she looked wild and sadistic. There was no way she could be the same girl. He watched as she walked down the street weaving fluently in and out of the crowded area.

'Maybe I should fallow her and see for sure,' he thought to himself. Upon getting up to quickly get back in the apartment through the window he left open he heard his inner demon quietly chuckle in the dark corners of his mind.

'Or maybe we can test it, and see if she really is that girl,' he whispered.

He knew what the demon meant, he wanted to go and try to kill the girl, to see how long it took, and how easy it was. He wanted to spill the blood of the person that had been shown to him. It was all he thought about half the time, filling his head with thoughts of blood and carnage. He normally complied and did the demons bidding, more than happy to end lives of innocent people who had no fault in what he was, or even knew of him. But not this time, this time could wait. Even if only for a while.

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