Chapter 8

When Gaara awoke the next morning he had no idea that it was going to be one of the worst days of his life. The man had died, what could be worse than that?

Dinner last night had been wonderful. Sakura had been stealing glances at her handsome date and blushed every time he noticed. Temari had come and done her make-up and hair and Sakura had felt like a fairy princess, then she had stepped into the little black dress that Gaara had picked for her and felt more like a sexy goddess than she had ever felt in her life.

The walk back to their rooms had been extremely pleasant and they had even held hands. Gaara had been with women before. It was no secret that he had had many lovers, but he had never had a girlfriend. This was all new territory and he was discovering that he liked it very much.

Sakura awoke with a snap to extremely loud voices in the common room - "WHAT? That cannot be possible" she recognized the voice as Gaara's and jumped up to investigate.

To say that Gaara was pissed would be an understatement. He was livid. In the middle of his common room stood the three siblings and their old team mentor Baki, and beside the older man stood a small child. She was in rags and looked like she hadn't been fed in days. "That poor baby". She couldn't be more than 3 years old from her size and she looked like she had been badly beaten. Medic instinct kicking in Sakura rushed to the little girl and green chakra hands began glowing as she ran her fingers over the battered body of the girl checking for injuries.

Gaara sucked in a breath at the sight of the pink haired women looking over the child. His child. Baki had just brought the girl in from the hospital. Apparently the little girl and her mother were rushed into the hospital after they had been beaten by some lowlifes. The girls mother was a civilian and her prognosis was grim. As she lay dying she told the nurses that the little girl belonged to the Kazekage and that he should be told.

Baki had been called to the hospital to check into the situation and had nearly fainted at the sight of the little girl. She looked broken and starved, but what was the most surprising about her appearance was her seafoam green eyes and the blood red hair that was peaking out of her hat. Baki immediately picked up the girl and rushed to the Kazekage's living quarters. The three siblings had all been summoned to the common room and were startled to hear the retelling of what happened.

The three siblings had gone into denials, they would surely know if Gaara had fathered a child. They were all stunned to silence when the girls hat had been removed and her hair could be seen. That's when Gaara had started yelling. "WHAT? That cannot be possible" Which had woken Sakura and caused her to rush out here.

Looking at the girl now he felt a fury inside him. He had been so surprised at first by her existence that he had missed how badly beaten she looked. Looking at her now with Sakura's chakra illuminating her skin he could see every cut, every bruise and it only furthered his rage. He might not have known that he had fathered a child, but he had always told himself that if he ever had children that he would insure their childhoods were happy unlike his own. This scrap of a child looked like she was starved and beaten repeatedly. If the child's mother hadn't already had died he might have killed her himself just for putting a child through this.

Sakura gasped. This child had been beaten more than some of the ninja patients she had come in after a mission. Honestly it was a wonder she was still standing. Four broken ribs, her left arm was fractured and her right collar bone had been snapped. She looked like a miniature punching bag. "Gaara, this child needs to be laid down immediately. I don't know how she is still standing at all let alone not making a sound but she has several broken ribs, one of her arms is fractured and her collar bone had been snapped."

This had snapped Gaara into action. He knelt by the little girl's side "my daughter, and I don't even know her name" the thought made him a little sick to his stomach. "I am going to pick you up and put you in my bed so this nice doctor can look at you okay?"

The little girl who had almost been in a trance up until this point finally looked up to the man who she had been told was her father. At 5 years old she had seen many things in her life, but looking at this man now she was speechless. Looking at his eyes were like looking in a mirror. Her mother had often told her that she resembled her father, but now she could see that that was an understatement. This man was her carbon copy. She remembered that he had asked her permission to touch her and simply nodded. She winced at little as his hands moved around her.

Sakura rushed off to collect her medical supplies from her room and met Gaara in his after she had what she needed. She bent over to the little girl and noticed her eyes for the first time. "Those are the same eyes as Gaara's." looking over the little girl really for the first time she noticed a lot of things, one of them had been the girls hair. It was the exact same shade as Gaara's. She had his high set cheeks and his low brow ridge.

"Okay sweetheart, I am going to give you a shoot and it is going to help you sleep while I fix you up. When you wake up you might not remember where you are but we will be right here with you okay?" when the girl just nodded Sakura gave her the injection and then turned around to Gaara.

"Gaara how old is she? She looks like she is barely three years old but her bones say she is closer to 6."

Gaara looked stunned. He had no idea how old his child was.

The little girl who was rapidly drifting off to dream land lifted her eyes for a moment. "I am five you know. And my name is Mae." with that she was asleep.

"Gaara. This child is yours isn't she?" Sakura couldn't contain the small amount of her in her voice at her question.

Gaara could tell that Sakura was hurt at the thought of him having a child, he wasn't sure that he understood why she would feel so strongly about it unless her feelings for him went deeper than he had suspected.

"Yes Sakura, she is my daughter."

A/N: Well hope you enjoyed this chapter and the semi-cliffy that I left it on. When I originally came up with the ideas for this story the child was going to be a boy but then I noticed that most of the stories with children have first born children as boys so I thought I would change it up a bit. Anyway, let me know what you thought!