The Voice of Angels

×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛× Chapter Start ×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛×

Gaara was in the presence of his siblings. He knew Temari had told Kankuro about the vision, it was obvious really; they both shared the same questioning look when they glanced over to him. He found himself not caring. No one knew about Sakura, and that's all that mattered. If his sensei, his village councilmen, or even worse – his father, ever found out about it she could be in serious danger. It was selfish of him to keep her around knowing the risk he placed on her. She seemed all too ignorant of the potential wrath she would feel from the Wind nation if they knew about how she effected Gaara. But for some reason his sister and brother knowing didn't seem all that bad.

They had 30 minutes before the gates to second testing grounds would be open. The forest was dark beyond the fences, he heard noises of unknown animals and the promise of danger and seclusion. The beast inside him stirred, eager to taste blood once again after being distracted by Sakura for the past few days. Gaara was sitting under the shade of a tree towards the back of the field they were gathered in to escape the mid-morning sun. His gourd was propped up against the tree next to him and even his siblings noticed it teeter back and forth as the sand became restless inside. It wanted out, badly.

Gaara smirked as he scanned the crowd, picking out the ones he hoped to run into in the forest, the ones that looked like they could put up a fight. His siblings beside him looked out their peripherals and saw once again the look of blood lust in his eyes. It was like they got darker, his face turned from lazy and bored to merciless and savage, and that creepy smirk on his face never helped either. It was like for a while he and the Shukaku were on the same page about something; battle. His grin was demonic and it always proved to be intimidating to say the least. But as he looked over to the edge of the crowd his expression changed. There was such a sudden shift in his eyes they instantly scanned the crowd to figure out what had caught his attention. His gaze led them to the team they first met in the city.

Sand shifted over the ground and swirled around his feet. Temari saw this and for just a second couldn't help but be proud of her brother for being so adaptive. This was nothing like their home in the desert, there wasn't sand everywhere and he didn't have a seemingly unlimited source around him at his disposal. He had made it seem so thin, so light and dusty. He seemed to just vanish when normally it consumed him. He instead found a way to move in this dramatically different environment. He was truly a master at his element, it was a part of him, and he never exaggerated when he stated that he could do anything with the sand he possessed around him. She and Kankuro had witnessed their young brother completely change the landscape around the walls of their village, he sat on the highest point of the wall and made the sand dunes move like waves on an ocean, all the while sitting in a casual slouch against his gourd and looking like he wasn't even breaking a sweat. Because of the dramatic shift in the landscape 26 people were lost in the desert on their way to the city. They needed to deploy search parties and mapping crews to create a new general layout of the land. Gaara had found it amusing.

But at the moment her brother was vanishing before her eyes. She reached out a hand and caught his wrist. It was an impulse really, she was hoping that maybe he would talk to her again like he had last night. Gaara snapped his eyes back at Temari and she quickly removed her hold on him. He settled his sand and stood in front of her, crossing his arms and looking quite annoyed and tired with her.

"What is it now?" he asked, his voice perfectly mimicking his expression.

She steadied herself and was determined to get something out of him again. Kankuro stood behind her ready to defuse any sort of backlash from Gaara. She nodded her head in the direction of the team that had caught his attention. "Which one of them are you going to see?" she said in a stern voice. She knew not to demand things from him, so the tone was just to make sure he knew she would appreciate an answer. She had done this enough for him to figure her out.

He looked back at the team as Sakura walked a ways behind them. She was looking skeptically and tentatively past the fences into the blackness of the trees.

'Don't tell them…'

Gaara ignored the voice of his demon and thought about what she represented. Gaara had told his sister that the night before he was leaving to figure some things out; he went to Sakura. She was the reason for his vision, the event – whatever the hell it was – would still happen if he knew of it or not, but he was instructed to find her. Since his vision revolved around her Temari would have to stand by her word to not say anything about Sakura either. If she did, it was simple; he would kill her.

"The girl."

Kankuro recoiled from behind Temari as she tried to hide the shock on her face, apparently she didn't do too well of a job. She cleared her throat and spoke in a – somewhat – even tone. "Gaara, why the girl?"

"I was told to find her."

"By who?"

"The messenger in my vision."

His siblings tried to come up with an answer for him, something to say back to the words they never expected him to say; he was going to see a girl.

"Temari?" Gaara asked after a moment. He wasn't looking at her, he was stills staring across the field to where Sakura was sitting with her team.

"Yeah?" she asked quickly, Kankuro leaned in to pay extra attention.

"You can't tell anyone about her." The demand in his voice was obvious, it always was, but he said it as if he wanted her to understand it as well, understand it like he did.

"Why's that?" she asked carefully.

Gaara paused for a moment before answering. "Nothing can happen to her, and I can't guarantee that our superiors will feel the same way."

Temari nodded her head and nudged Kankuro to do the same. "I understand."

Gaara gave her a stern glance before he once again attempted to vanish.

"Good."

….

Sakura was sitting with her team. She had seen Gaara when she walked in, he was with his team away from most other people, but didn't know how to talk with him in such as open space such as this. She couldn't help but laugh at herself. She was looking for a way to sneak away from her team to have secret meeting with a ninja from another village. What on earth was she doing?

She felt the familiar feeling of a dusty cloud of sand move past her legs and swirl along the ground away from the crowd. She got up and started to follow it. Naruto grabbed her wrist and yanked her back toward him and Sasuke.

"Sakura, where are you going?" he demanded.

She noticed the trail of sand recoil and shift around as she was dragged back to her team. It seemed to shiver, like it was a cat arching its back and puffing out its hair, she could have sworn that if it were only closer she would have been able to hear it hiss.

"I'm just going to the bathroom," she explained. "You don't know how long we're going to be in there and I'd much rather use a bathroom than have to squat behind a bush." She made herself seem annoyed so Naruto would release her hand. When he did she said she would only be gone a few minutes and started walking back towards the pile of slithering sand.

There was a soft gust of wind that swept across the field, it held a powerful energy to it and within just a moment Sakura felt like she was hit by a ton of bricks. Her body fell apart and she was engulfed by the very air itself. She panicked and tried to find herself again, trying to piece together the parts of her that had been lost to the wind. But within just a moment all the pieces she was looking for all came back and molded once again into herself, standing on shaken legs alone

She leaned over and supported herself on her knees. Breathing heavily she tried to calm down her stomach which was churning and winding into knots and traveling up her throat. As she attempted to fight back the urge to puke up her lunch she felt hands move through her hair and pull it back from behind her.

"It's better to just puke your first time and get it over with."

Gaara sounded bored and uninterested but in truth he kind of felt bad. He had only wanted to get her alone and he didn't really want to wait for her to follow his sand to him. He had executed his plan perfectly if he had to say so himself. He just needed her away from other people, wait until no one was watching, and within a second she would be gone and no one would know. But now here she was; bent over and clammy with a paleness to her skin that didn't fit her. He had used this technique with his siblings and sensie before, they had all puked their first time, unused to being dissolved and scattered across a given space. It seemed to get better after they let their body react the way it wanted to instead of fight it off.

She, however, seemed set on not throwing up in front of Gaara. He sighed in frustration with her and placed a hand on her back, taking care to keep all of her hair in his fist and out of her face. He trailed down the path of her spine and dug in the heel of his palm, shoving it back up her spine and stopping at the base of her neck. With the motion of his hand she could feel him emit chakra into her body and force the contents of her stomach up into her throat. She lurched forward and Gaara gave her the courtesy of looking away as she puked.

After spitting out the acidic taste in her mouth she wiped her lips and tried to breathe evenly. He noticed the color faintly return to her face but her knees still quaked and wobbled.

"Um," he mumbled as he looked down on her exhausted form. "Sorry about that."

"Wha-what was that?" she panted as she looked up at him.

He shrugged. "It's how I get around. Everyone else seems to have a bad reaction to it their first time."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You've done this to other people?"

"Well with my team, yes. Although they didn't like it too much either."

"Wow," she said with sarcasm evident in her tone. "I wonder why."

Gaara ignored it. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah," she replied in a shaky breath. "I just wanted to tell you that you don't need to constantly keep an eye on me okay?"

"Okay," he agreed as he nodded.

"Oh no you don't," she warned, not buying his comply at all. "I mean it Gaara. Once the exams are over you're not going to be around anymore and I can't get used to you watching out for me."

Gaara went quiet. It was the first time that either one of them had brought up the inevitability of him leaving her village – and her – behind. He couldn't stay here forever, he had a home in the desert. The village wasn't his home, but his element was. He could survive in the desert better than anyone. He could practically speak to the land and find water, food, and springs like little oasis's from miles away. It was where he belonged and he couldn't leave his desert behind. He didn't want to ask, for fear of what she might say, but he felt that she felt the same about the forest. She looked so at home among the green trees. He couldn't imagine asking her to come with him back to the desert and have her turn him down. He didn't know what he would do if she rejected him.

'Just don't ask,' the demon suggested. 'Just take her, she could learn to love the desert.'

Gaara mentally shook his head at his demon. It was that word that got him; could.

"What if you need something?" he suggested trying to cover up the let down in his voice.

"I don't care," she replied simply. "Once you're gone I can't count on you anymore so I don't want to do it now." Her expression shifted then, changing from stern to something more upset. "I really don't think that I can make it all the way like you will." He couldn't help but smile inside. She knew he was going to make it to the end just like he did, it was nice to know she understood his amount of power without even knowing what it stemmed from. "So, for as far as I do get, I want to make sure that I did it on my own."

Gaara understood her perfectly. She didn't want help in proving what she could do. She wanted her efforts to be hers alone and he could respect that. It would be hard for him not to keep an eye on her, the demon in his head was already upset with her suggestion of leaving her alone in the forest. He was sure that the next time he saw Sakura after the gates opened she would be bruised and dirty. The beast would not be pleased with such a sight but he nodded and agreed to her conditions.

She gave him a smile. "Thanks. Take care of yourself Gaara, and good luck."

He smirked. "I don't need luck."

×愛×▬▬▬×愛× In the Forest ×愛×▬▬▬×愛×

Sakura had managed to drag Naruto and Sasuke under the exposed roots of a large tree for some cover. She looked down at her team as they laid unconscious before her. The attack they had suffered in the beginning of the match was brutal. Naruto had taken some damage after dealing with such a powerful opponent and Sasuke was reacting to the bite in a way she had never seen or read about before. She cursed herself. If she had only been more diligent in her studies maybe she would have come across something like this.

She had dressed their wounds to the best of her ability with what they were able to carry with them but it would have been better for their situation if she had been able to pack more with her. With them unconscious – and Sakura having no idea when they would wake up – she was worried and afraid to be alone in this place after such a dramatic first encounter. She hadn't expected anything like it and was sure that she couldn't defend her team by just herself. She was starting to regret telling Gaara to leave her alone.

She wondered how he was doing, if he had encountered anyone yet, and even if he had finished. It had only been a few hours, there was no way he could be done already. The record time was nowhere near this early in the round. The thought made her heart sink a little. It was still early and they had a long way to go. She sighed and tried to concentrate on the mission at hand. Right now she couldn't think about getting a scroll and hauling ass to the safety of the tower, she had her team to think about. They were hurt and she needed to help them. She had done all she could but knew that they would need food and water when they woke up. Sakura calmed her breathing and focused her mind. She listened to the sounds of the forest. The echoes of animal calls and far off running water helped her tune her senses to the land. From what she had remember she tried to create a map of the land in her mind. Once she pinpointed the direction of the water and the general landscape of the region she would be able to find the direction of the current and follow it to a brook. Fresh spring water would be ideal and hopefully there would be some source of food near it.

Sakura emerged from the shadows of the thick roots and felt the air around her for the faint chakra signatures of nearby teams. There hadn't been anything in a while but it wouldn't hurt to check. The air was still and the birds chirping in the trees and small animals scurrying from branch to branch calmed her nerves. If they were relaxed than nothing was going to happen. The animals in the forest were always a good warning, either of an enemy or of approaching severe weather, they were sometimes a good first line of defense.

She climbed over roots in the maze of trees, following the sound of water to a small clearing in the forest. There was a shallow pool of water with grasses growing unkempt around its edge. She peered around the trees and found no one to be around. Stepping into the clearing she quickly got out her canteen and sunk in it the water. It was ice cold and perfectly clear.

She could hear the wind coming as it wound through the trees before she could feel it. It was a quiet whistle in the air and when the cool gust hit her it sent chills up her spine. The animals in the trees around her went quiet and the leaves seemed to shiver instead of flutter in the wind. She quickly put the lid on the canteen and stood to make her way back to her team. She turned back to the woods and her body froze in place. She tried to shift her feet but they seemed set in stone. Trying as desperately as she could to find the strength to move again her body quaked and shook and her heart raced at the possibility of being in another genjutsu like she had been through earlier. The trees waved in the wind, their thick trunks bending and swaying randomly and the leaves flaking out like small individual flames. Sakura's eyes were set on a dark patch in the trees ahead of her and no matter how much will she had she just couldn't look away. It grew brighter and brighter until there was a flash accompanied by a wave of pure energy. It filled her senses and jolted her nerves to life in a rush of an electric tingle from her toes to the tips of her fingers, every nerve filled with a feeling of rebirth. It was one of the most powerful and amazing feelings she had ever felt. It was…beautiful.

When her eyes focused once again there was a creature sitting proudly in front of her. It looked like a wolf; a long graceful snout topped off by noble deep blue eyes. It was massive and seemed to emit faint purple flames from its white coat. It was as pure as the color of clouds on a sunny day, as bright as the sun, but also soft looking, like cotton or freshly fallen snow. There was a grey brown color that faintly marked the side of its nose and circled around its eyes, the deep blue of the eyes clear and piercing in their gaze.

Sakura was torn between the urge to run from this creature and never look back at its other worldly presence and the urge to touch it and feel the flicker of the flames that waved from it like fur.

Her eyes were locked with the creature in front of her and she heard a gentle voice flow from the being into her ears. "I come to you with knowledge you must possess. You needn't fear me."

Sakura marveled at the voice the wolf had. It was pure and soft, like a melody to her ears and it seemed to numb her mind into a sense of calm and peace. It was like the voice of an angel.

"The boy that follows you, Gaara Sabaku, there is something you need to know about him. He was instructed by a messenger of the spirit world – like myself – to find you and he has done just that. He needs you Sakura. There is danger approaching."

'What on Earth can it be talking about?' she thought desperately. 'How does it know who I am?'

"You are very bright for your age and your skills in sensing the energy of others are years past your peers. With this you know that Gaara possesses a type of power that is very rare in this world of yours. He has sealed within him the spirit of the desert, a demon to this world and a native to the spirit world; Shukaku, the one tailed beast."

Sakuras heart sank. He was a host? Why had he never told her? Now that she knew it all made so much sense, the aura of power followed him like a shadow and she didn't even need to see him fight to know that he was not a force to be trifled with. But his presence felt so different from Naruto's. With Naruto you hardly noticed, there was a source of power in him, like a fire burning deep inside that he had only managed to tap into on rare occasions. With Gaara it was like the fire just spilled out of him. It was like he had a hold on it like he owned it, it was his to control and not some power sealed deep within him. It was so…effortless.

"He is a carrier of one from our world and because of this he is shunned and misunderstood. You mustn't be like the others that have turned their back on him upon knowing what he is and the power he wields. He is the key to defeating a danger the likes of which he has never faced. He will be your redemption and your savior in your hour of need. But Sakura, you hold his life in the power of your hands, when the end comes he will need you. You cannot fail him, if you do your world may very well loose one of its most valued protectors. But be warned, the beast within him is a master at temptation and manipulation and he is tempting Gaara with things he does not understand due to a life of solitude. You can save him from this and show him the light to which he has turned a blind eye. He has lost his way and needs you to guide him back to the right path."

Sakura was speechless and stared at the creature as it stood and approached her. It touched its large head against hers, the fur brushed across her cheek like the feather light touch of silk. She felt her body pulse all the way down to her very bones and she was overcome with visions of Gaara as a child, lost and alone, becoming bitter and recoiling from the world, the beast filling his head with lies and corrupting his heart. She felt the hate he felt, the heart ache and confusion, all the broken attempts to connect with the world he was forced into without choice and without concern for his future. She felt tears leak down her face as her heart cried for him. It was so sad, he had been so young and so hated. In a flash she had seen his progression into isolation and seeking seclusion in his mind. He lost the childlike wonder in his eyes and adopted the feral glint of the demon inside him. She watched as his killings changed from accidental to purposeful and unnecessary. Then she was there, the spirit showed her how the demon thought of her, how it wanted Gaara to give in to its wishes. Sakura felt sick at the images she was shown, but was also shown how Gaara had been fighting the mental onslaught and denying the demon what it wanted. He was fighting against the demon for the first time in years just for her.

The spirit lifted its head from hers and she surged back into forest, still waving like an ocean just as before. "He is confused and trying to find understanding in this world. You can save him Sakura, before it is too late. You cannot fail in this."

With a flash of light the creature was gone and her world was solid once again. Sakura fell to her knees, her arms limp at her sides and tears silently streaming down her face. What she had seen was the most terrifying and beautiful thing she had ever seen. It left her breathless with wonder and frightened at the same time. She tried to stand but only wobbled and fell to the ground again. It was like the jolt to her nerves gave them a feeling of new life and they had to figure out how to work again. She sat and tried to steady the shaking of her hands to wipe the tears from her eyes. The creature had been the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, its voice was understand and affectionate yet stern like a mothers voice, it was pure and seemed to sing out to her heart and touch her soul.

She made another attempt to stand on shaky legs and stumbled to the trees. The birds started their songs again and the rustle of the animals returned. It was almost like it had never happened…almost. Sakura couldn't erase the images burned into her mind from the spirit. The visions of what the Shukaku had done to him, what his village had done to him, and how the beast they chained him to wanted her. She shivered at the thought of the demon wanting her in such ways. Gaara had a look to him, a stoic appearance that appealed to the instinctual woman in her, that she couldn't deny. The visions had tempted her as well, she tried to shake the feeling but seeing herself closed in his powerful embrace and showering her with attention wasn't something that was easily forgotten. She was going to lose herself in him, she was sure of it. But before than she couldn't let it get in the way of her warning, Gaara was going to need her and – after she collected her scrambled thoughts and steadied her nerves enough to be around him again – she was going to do her best not to let him down.

×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛× Chapter End ×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛×