Hi again, minna-san! I'm back with the newest chapter of The Reason to love an avenger! I felt better with this chapter, and I hope all of you too will love this chapter.

Konan had finally encountered Sakura, and a battle broke out!

Well, what are you waiting for, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, though I really wish I do.

With Gaara

He knew that at this time of night, he was supposed to be asleep. He didn't have to worry again since now the Shukaku was extracted from his body and he can sleep at peace. But he still can't force his eyes closed. Not with the current situation, when the Sand Village's safety was at stake. The Kazekage threw away his blanket and stepped slowly to the window. Suna's strong wind blew to his face, making his red hair danced slightly in the wind and in a matter of seconds his whole body transformed into grains of sand blown away to the direction of the hospital.

As he arrived at one of the windows, the grains of sands accumulated and reformed. His jade coloured eyes searched for a certain Konoha shinobi. A small smile crept to his dry lips as he spotted her lying in a bed by the window. With great ease, he stepped inside in silence. Even so, she was revealed to be a real light sleeper as her lavender eyes shot open as he sat on the chair next to the bed.

"Ka...kazekage-sama..," she stuttered though it was more because of pain rather than shyness as usual. She tried to sit up holding her stomach as doing so. Gaara looked in alarm and gently pushed her down back to the bed. Hinata closed her eyes and sighed slightly. "Forgive me for troubling you…Kazekage-sama," her voice sounded rather weak. "Gaara," he demanded, his eyes fixed on her face.

"Ah yes, Gaara-sama. I forgot," she laughed quietly before reopening her eyes. "Everything is going to be fine," he repeated the message he passed through Kakashi. "Yeah, I got that message. So, how are you handling things around?" he shifted his gaze to the full moon outside.

"The one who attacked all of you is Konan. I can't bring myself to hunt her down myself. So I sent Kakashi to take care of her," he answered without once looking at her. "Why?" that one word was enough to tell him all her curiosities. That Konan was part of the Akatsuki, the organization that had killed him, but why did he can't bring himself to finish her off?

"She and I had a lot of commons. I understand her feelings, and why she did all that. She was born to be a tool, and so do I. But now I have found a new purpose of living: protecting the village. And she found hers," Hinata drew a sharp breath as he turned to face her, his eyes bore into hers. He was actually building up courage to speak more. After a few moments, she smiled at him encouraging him to continue.

"She and I lived for years without love, and when we thought we had found one, it turned out to be a mere pretend. I hated it. But unlike me, Konan still can braved up herself to give out love to someone else. She had never stopped loving though it had disappointed her several times. And I at the very least, would let her leave the village untouched as a sign of respect for her inner strength," his words were deep but she understood every word of it.

Flashback

Gaara was severely weakened by Deidara's explosion. They dumped him in a cell while waiting for preparations to be made to extract the Shukaku. He can barely move a limb, but he was still awake. 'I wonder if I fell asleep now, would I turn into the Shukaku? Will I be strong enough to break out?' the thoughts lingered in his mind.

"Whatever you're thinking right now, don't do it. I'll beat the crap out of you," a cold voice rang through the underground cell. But it was a feminine voice, though it sounded deadlier than Temari's and even Tsunade's. When both Temari and Tsunade's voices were harsh and rough, this voice was icy cold and sent shivers down his spine.

A second later she appeared from between the dark walls, carrying a tray of food. Standing at almost 170 centimetres tall, she was quite tall for a woman. Her long, curly azure blue hair trailed down her back and her icy cold eyes stunned him completely. The first time he saw her, she was wearing her hair in bun, hidden underneath her flower hair clip.

"Eat up, Kazekage-sama," she said mockingly and entered the cell. She was even bold enough to lock herself alone with him in the cell. "What are you trying to play at?" he glared angrily at her. Konan set down the tray in front of him and knelt down next to him. To his surprise, she gently helped him up from the floor and sat him leaning against the cold wall.

"Poor soul," he heard her faint whisper as she took off his heavy clothing and set them aside. "Why are you doing this?" he asked her sharply as she pulled the tray closer to both of them. She ignored him at first but smirked slightly when he slapped away her hand that was holding a glass of water.

"You will be meeting Shinigami soon. Surely you want to at least full with food, because you will never have any of these there!" her answer was simple but meaningful. He glared at her again, still unsatisfied by the answer. "And also, this is my way of saying sorry to your siblings, for causing them to lose a precious person. At least I can tell them that their brother died feeling full and happy," if it wasn't for the pain he was feeling, he would have rolling in the floor laughing his heads off (figuratively, of course. I can't imagine Gaara would be rolling on the floor!).

"Konan, that's plain stupid. No one died happy, un!" they both spun around to see Deidara was standing at the cell door, one of his hands in his pocket. He was not wearing his Akatsuki cloak for once, but just a short sleeved shirt with fishnet underneath.

Konan stood up and walked to the door. Before closing it back, she look back at Gaara and sighed ever so lightly. "I'll be back, Kazekage-sama," and with that, both her and Deidara vanished between the large rocks, leaving him alone to his thoughts again.

End of flashback

Gaara frowned when he reflected on the memory when he first met Konan. Hinata nodded her head meekly and smiled again. "I'm sure you did the best thing there is for the sake of your people," her words sent comfort to his soul. Finally, he decided that it was time to leave. "Gaara-sama, Arigatou," she said quietly, her face had turned really red.

He nodded and walked to the window. "Oh and, I wouldn't be here tomorrow night," she called out to him. He glanced at her, waiting for her to continue. "We will be discharged tomorrow," he smirked and vanished with the wind. Hinata stared at the spot he was standing just now. Truth to be told, she found comfort in the young Kazekage.

With Konan

She could sense it; it was nearing to where she stood right now. Konan jumped down and began forming hand seals. It was a rather long one, meaning it was a complicated jutsu. As soon as she finished the hand seals with a Tiger seal, immediately the earth around her area was raised in level, creating a small valley within 100m radius of her self. "Earth Release: Valley of Death, successful," she said to no one in particular. Now all she had to do was wait, until Haruno Sakura came across the spot.

As soon as she detected the Hokage's apprentice chakra signature nearing, Konan leapt to the middle of her created battlefield, eagerly waiting for her opponent. She had on her Akatsuki cloak and the straw hat, shielding her face from view. How Haruno Sakura would be surprised by her presence, Konan thought to herself, eyes scouting through the forest.

With Kakashi

The loud sound of rumbling disturbed him. Could it be Konan? He changed his direction and sped full speed to where he saw a small line of hills appeared out of nowhere. 'That chakra signature, felt like Miwako's!' 'Konan. Not Miwako, her name is Konan,' another side of him corrected.

He stopped between some thick branches, his eye carefully taking in the situation in front of him. Konan was standing in the middle of newly made large area, apparently waiting for someone. But who could it be? Kakashi touched the scroll inside his vest pocket. "Wait, this chakra signature! This is bad!" by the time realization struck him, Sakura had already stepped into Konan's territory; with the Akatsuki kunoichi was eager to finish her off.

With Konan and Sakura

Sakura jumped down and looked around. She never remembered there was such area in the route to Suna. "Ah, the bird. Wait for me," she was about to continue racing the bird when a figure that stood in the middle of the area caught her attention. "Akatsuki!" she froze immediately in her position. "Leaving already Cherry Blossom? Aw, I want to play more," the figure mocked her in a creepy way.

Sakura looked right and left. 'They move in pairs. Where is his partner?' Konan pushed back her hat a bit and stepped forward. "You don't have to find anyone else. Your opponent is me!" the pink-haired girl looked at her in alarm. Fear built up in her as the Akatsuki stepped closer to her.

Konan finally threw her hat away to some distance, letting Sakura to see her face. The hat turned into paper butterflies, encircling Konan. Sakura's emerald green eyes widened in shock as she saw that the Akatsuki member's beautiful face. She had never thought that the Akatsuki had a female member. But the young woman in front of her was not much different from the other Akatsukis. She easily sent shivers down Sakura's spine just by staring her down.

Sakura felt vulnerable with no trees to hide behind, and the Akatsuki was nearing her. She took off her Akatsuki cloak and that too turned into butterflies. Konan flicked her arm and all the butterflies flew away from her. Remembering Tsunade's advice, Sakura begin studying the kunoichi in front of her. She was wearing normal training gear instead of colourful attires like she had seen most kunoichis wore. 'This is no normal kunoichi,' she reminded herself.

The Akatsuki member had on a three quarter sleeved dark blue shirt with a long sleeved fishnet underneath it. Her dark blue sweat pants stopped someway below her knees, with her combat boots went all the way up to her knees. Her shuriken holster was strapped around her thigh, her kunai pouch hung loosely around her waist. Her elegant fingers expertly pulled her long curly hair into a bun and secured it with a flower made from paper. She was far from fashionable, but she was stunning.

"What do you want from me, Akatsuki?" Sakura shouted at her, trying to look brave.

"Nothing much. Just a little taste of your sweet blood would be nice," Konan pulled out fingerless gloves and put them on.

"What is wrong with you? What are you guys planning?".

"You're afraid, Sakura?" Konan practically spat at her name.

"Hell no! As if I would be afraid to someone like you!" Konan narrowed her eyes.

"Really, girl? You don't have Chiyo like last time. You're alone in this,".

"I'm never alone! You'll see, my comrades will arrive and together we'll bring you down!". Sakura smirked in victory. Konan was suspicious. She turned around, and saw that a messenger bird was flying straight towards Suna. Sakura had sent for back up without her noticing!

"Fine then. I'll finish you before they arrive," Konan pulled out a kunai and get into stance. She will go easy on Sakura first. Considering the Konoha kunoichi was a taijutsu user, she'll begin with taijutsu.

Sakura followed her suit, pulling on her gloves. As soon as she finished, Konan wasted no time and threw the kunai sharply at her. She had no time to dodge the attack; the kunai flew just an inch from her ear.

Konan smirked seeing her shock and jumped back, pulling the chakra string she applied on the kunai. 'She's fast,' Sakura thought, her eyes widened slightly. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" Konan teased her, her hand on her hip while her other hand was playing with the chakra string. 'Don't tell me she's a puppet user also, like Akasuna no Sasori,' Sakura pushed back her hair and get ready once again.

"This move seems familiar to you?" Konan called out to her with a satisfied smile. Sakura charged, powering her fist with chakra. "Now this is more like it," Konan said to herself and didn't budge from the spot. Just when Sakura's punch was inches before contact, she disappeared suddenly and reappeared behind Sakura. Konan delivered a back kick at Sakura's spine.

The younger of the two was thrown on the ground. Konan knelt down next to her and grasped a handful of her pink hair. "Tell me Sakura, is this how you killed Sasori?" she drew out a kunai from her sleeve. Sakura eyed the kunai before looking into Konan's features. "No, a whole lot different!" she flipped her body and kicked Konan in the back. Konan flew back and fell to the ground, but she twisted her body and dug the kunai into the ground to stop from flying back from the impact of Sakura's kick. She stood back straight and put a hand on her back, silently healing it. "Well, this will make this interesting; don't you think so, Sakura-chan?" Konan let out a few more fast flying kunais with chakra strings. It was a good thing Sasori used to teach her how to manipulate chakra strings, though she was not advanced enough to use it on puppets. 'Sasori, Pein, Kisame, Itachi, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Tobi, watch me!' she thought to herself, as she charged forward powering her feet with chakra.

Well, we have to wait for the next chapter, I guess! Until then, please review..Oh and by the way, I'm thinking of writing a oneshot and I'm thinking of a pairing. Any ideas, anyone?

Thank you for reading my story, and double thank you if you reviewed, especially Cute23Flower and Happyhappy!