"It is clear that I must find my other half,
but is it a he, or a she?
What does this person look like?
Identical to me?
Or somehow complementary?
Does my other half have what I don't?
Did he get the looks?
The luck?
The love?
Were we really separated forcibly,
Or did he just run off with the good stuff?
Or did l?
Will this person embarrass me?
What about sex?
Is that how we put ourselves back together again?
Or can two people... actually become one again?"

-Hedwig and The Angry Inch-

She would kill him herself.

Much had happened in a short amount of time. To start, her entire village had been destroyed.

Naruto still insisted that Sasuke could be stopped and brought back. A thought she had believed when they first learned that Sasuke had killed Orochimaru. But not long after, he joined Akatsuki, the organization responsible for countless deaths. The Organization that stole tailed beast and planned to control the world with war. The people who destroyed the Leaf.

He was a rogue, a criminal. So if Naruto couldn't kill him, Sakura would.

That's what she had thought, until she could have gotten him and faltered. She just didn't have it in her to do it. Sure, she hated him now. And yes, without a doubt he would kill her. He tried to, he meant to. He told her he would.

But she couldn't do it. She couldn't kill an old teammate.

It was soon after that a war was waged against the world, A project of Madara's. He wanted to cast the world in a genjutsu and control all life as he saw fit. In order to do that, he needed the last two tail beasts, Naruto and a man that went by the name Bee.

They were hidden away on an island while the Allied Shinobi Forces took action, selecting leaders, enlisted shinobi, and organized units.

Tomorrow, when all the ninja were assembled, the war would begin.

Sakura showed up early, along with all her village shinobi. In the crowds of fighters, the Medic managed to lose her friends and comrades. She slipped by some officials and moved like a shadow, avoiding unwanted attention. It wasn't clear where she was going, but she was sure that she would get there if she just let her feet lead her.

Rounding another corner carefully, she climbed up and into window. Sakura had come to a conclusion recently and to prove if she was right, if this was as she had believed and denied, she would be able to find him without knowing where he was by the pull inside her.

Gaara. She knew he was here somewhere, word had it he was made commander and chief of all companies, as well as primary commander of the Fourth division. He could still be en route, but she ruled it out. Her path was too definite, her steps too sure. She could feel him. He was in this building, and not too far.

Slowing down, Sakura listened in the hall. When she was positive that no one was in the next hallway, she took off. Up ahead there were a few doors. With her experience in navigating official buildings, she recognized these doors as residential, maybe not full fledged homes, but a place where important guest could stay.

Her heart hammered in her chest. This was the defining moment. Sakura stood in front of one of the doors and place her hand on the knob. She took a deep breath. Her answer lay inside this room. Calming her nerves, she listened inside. Soft foot steps sounded inside, their pattern unknown, whether they were coming or going wasn't discernible to her.

Like ripping off a bandage, Sakura told herself to do it. Bracing herself as her body shook, she turned the knob and threw herself against the door, barging through so quickly she almost fell off balance.

She looked at the person in the room who stared at her with wide-eyed shock. Sakura dropped to the ground, shaking. The same shock registered on her own face. She couldn't breathe. The world started spinning and she punched herself in the leg to focus on the figure before her. She had come here without any knowledge, essentially running blind.

Finally she let out a gasped and one tear broke down her face, no others followed.

"It was always you." She said breathlessly, in awe of the man before her.

Gaara of the Desert.

The red haired ninja was speechless and Sakura could only repeat herself. "It was always you."

"Sakura?" He finally managed to say, still frozen in his spot. "Are you alright?" He sounded genuinely worried. Of course he was, she had made a scene.

"Gaara, I figured it out. I... I need to tell you . With war coming down upon us, I may not get another chance. If this is the end..."

The Kazekage pulled her off the floor and shut the door. "Relax. I'm having a hard time understanding what is going on." He said in his low, raspy voice.

"Gaara. I need you to know it." Sakura ripped her green vest off and unzipped the red one underneath, then lifted her shirt away from her scar. "This, Gaara. I'm talking about this. Why I would die for you." She said frantically trying to organized her thoughts.

Sakura had his attention. He straighten up. "Tell me."

The pinkette breathed. "Gaara, I have some sort of bond with you. I never told you. I never told anyone. Anyone but my mom. It happened when I was six. I knew you before I even knew you, Gaara. I saw you in my dream. I saw Suna. I saw you cry and I could feel your sadness."

Sakura touched Gaara's forehead, touching the Kanji there. "I saw you do this to yourself." He looked surprised at that last part.

"I woke up screaming and crying to my mother, I told her you needed me because you were in so much pain. She told me you weren't real, then six years later I see you. You were real."

"I jumped in front of you because I couldn't stand the thought of seeing you in pain. Not after seeing it and feeling it in my dreams. I couldn't tell you that without you thinking I was crazy, maybe I'd even think I was crazy if I said it out loud. But there was more."

"When you were captured by the Akatsuki, I felt sick like something was wrong. I felt chest pains when you were dying, and it just all stopped when you died. I didn't know until I saw you dead, but it times up exactly! Then, in your office, we almost kissed. I wanted you to kiss me. You touched me and I liked it! But I was so scared of that. I swore I didn't have those feelings for you. When I looked in your eyes, it just felt right!"

"I thought that I loved Sasuke, so I denied all of it. I even tried to tell myself it was in my head, but it wasn't him I fell for years ago. It wasn't him I wanted, he was just the first boy with sad eyes I saw. It reminded me of you! The sad boy from my dreams! It was always you, Gaara." Sakura looked desperately into his eyes, Looking for something in them.

Slowing herself down, she spoke again. "You probably think I'm crazy, but I thought so too. So I put it to the test, this tie I feel to you. Maybe it's only a one way street, this feeling, but no one even knows I'm here. I've never been here before and I found you on my first try. I just let my gut lead me here. I couldn't believe it when I saw it was you... Please believe me."

Gaara looked lost, absorbed all the information. He didn't look at her, staring off to the side. Suddenly realizing what she had done, Sakura covered her mouth. How could she have expected things to turn out differently than this. Now he would think her insane. If she had at least kept her mouth shut, she might have had a chance to be with him.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I lost my head. I just thought..." Panicking, Sakura opened the door to leave, but was pulled back by her shoulder and turned around. She was crying and now he was going to see it.

She prepared herself for the embarrassment. Awaited his disbelief, expected some remark on how idiotic her story had been and braced herself for the rejection he was about to give her.

Gaara kissed her hard on the mouth. All her fears and doubts were replaced by shock, then confusion. He broke the kiss and looked down into her eyes.

"I ordered a sakura tree, thinking it was the tree itself that I needed. It was never a tree. It was you, Sakura. I, too, had a dream when I was six, the first dream I had ever had. It was a sakura tree. I thought it was beautiful, the only thing I found that fit the word until I looked in your eyes at sunrise. That tree was supposed to be my salvation, but everything I wanted from the sakura, was in you, Sakura. I sat at that twiggy sapling every day and thought of you."

His lips crashed over her's and she kissed him back this time. Gaara backed Sakura against a wall as he kissed her, running his hand up Sakura's shirt and touching the scar on her side. He separated from her, panting. "When you were stabbed, I couldn't even handle it. I hated it, I hated seeing this gash more than anything. It killed me inside that you took the hit for me. I didn't understand why, why you would do it."

He was talking fast like she had, pouring out confessions" I was never going to kill you in the past. When I went to attack the Uchiha and you stood in my way, for the first time something told me no. I looked in your eyes and I couldn't do it."

"When you treated me after my sand armor absorbed water, I thought you reminded me of a sakura tree with your hair blowing in the wind. Your chakra calmed me and silenced the monster inside of me. I was too dense to make the connection. I hadn't even remembered that dream at that point."

Silencing himself again for a moment, Gaara engaged her tongue, kissing her deeply and pressing against her. Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck and melted when she felt him caress her face.

Releasing her, he stared into her eyes touching foreheads. "And I wanted to kiss you, I didn't know why but I did. And when I touched you, I still wanted to kiss you, but you ran away. When you let me rub dirt on your face and blushed at me, I wanted to kiss you. And now."

Sakura was swept up into his arms, carried off into a bedroom. " Stay with me tonight."

This time Sakura kissed him. A war was starting tomorrow and they would be parted, unable to be there for each other. Both of them could die in this war. Gaara lay her on the bed, crawling over her. "I love you. I think we've made each other wait far too long"

Gaara grinned. "I love you. I've always loved you."

They pulled at their own and each other's clothing until it littered the floor and they were nude. Gaara kissed down her body and Sakura traced patterns on his skin. He sat up and waved his hands over her, sand slid over her, forming thin tendrils and roving her skin. Sakura moaned at the feeling lightly gazing her skin, then cried out when she felt him licking her delicate womanhood. She felt hot and threw her head back as he found an effective combination strokes.

Gaara traveled back up and they kissed passionately, hands weaving together and bodies moving to make skin to skin contact. When the Kazekage's length met her entrance, he made no move to avoid it. Instead of taking things slow, he carefully pressed into her, wanting the connection he felt inside to be physical.

Sakura clenched her jaw as he entered her but she refused to let it bother her. She was a shinobi, virginal pains wouldn't compare to most things she endured. With an extra push, her barrier gave way and she could feel it snap with a short, sharp pain. Sakura leaned up and bit her lover's neck, bidding him to keep going. Even if it hurt, she wanted him. Needed to be joined with him.

The sand ninja moved out of her, then back in. He started a slow pace, enjoying the amazing feeling of being inside her. Soon, Sakura was sighing each time he entered her. After that, she was moaning, a sound he really found alluring. He was turned on with her every little sound, groaning as he took her harder and was rewarded amply with a shout of his name.

There was no denying anything anymore. Sakura belonged to him. It was always going to turn out this way. In this life and the next, she will find him and return to him. He was like a piece of her she needed. She could swear this wasn't their first time through this world together. Everything about him was familiar. His kiss, his touch, his thrusts.

As they panted, kissing, licking, biting, Gaara slammed into her small, wanton body with urgency. He listened to Sakura below him and although this was his first time as well, he just knew she was as close as he was. He held off as long as he could until he felt Sakura's heat wash over him with a soundless scream as she shattered. Feeling her release, he let himself go, cumming inside her with a short, primal shout.

Gaara slouched forward, his forhead hitting the bed just above her shoulder. Their chests heaved as they breathed hard, wasting no effort in moving as the both recovered for now.

It was important that they sleep in preparation for the early morning call to war. Being refreshed, sharp, and rested was crucial, yet they spent the better part of the night awake. Active. Connecting. Moaning and sighing, they made their connection over and over. They whispered promises between desperate cries and in husky voices demanded, begged that the other wouldn't perish in the war. That they would return to each other when it was over.

When they could go no longer they lay like ragdolls, crumbled together, limbs resting where ever they finally fell. No words were uttered, no words were needed. The sound of their light breathing in the room became some how melodic, hushed and rhythmic, slowly soften them and lulling them to sleep.

In the morning, they moved with lead feet, dragging about as if they could control time this way and have more of it together by trudging by instead of hurrying. The feeling in the accommodated space was downtrodden, sad. Sakura helped him dress in his commanding uniform, smoothed out the fabric of his clothing meticulously like a wife would groom her husband for work.

Still, no words were exchanged, only looks. Before leaving the room, they embraced and a few tears fell from Sakura's eyes. They were wiped away by gentle fingers. One final meaningful moment of eye contact, then they went their separate ways to prepare for war.

Never had either of them ever been so charged, so unshaking and unwavering as when they took to the field that day. The world depended on them, all of them who fought. To win this war meant everything, as everything was on the line. Sakura would not back down, give up, or weaken in her resolve to see this battle to the end. Gaara burned, pushed, and lead, refusing to give the enemy an inch.

And in the end, they won.

He moved forward, walking through the whirl and flurry of pale pink. Before him was a sakura tree, full and blooming beautifully thanks to accelerated growth brought on by specialized ninjutsu users. Scattered on the ground and in the air, petals dance about as he continue on his way towards it. But not to the tree itself.

To the unparalleled wonder within his sight. The white that adorned her, wrapped around her so perfectly. Angelic, otherworldly, stunning. She smiled at him and he knew he was smiling too. He wasn't nervous, he felt an inner calm. Devoid of that darkness in his past, it absent from him long ago. Only serenity filled his being.

When he came to a stop, he could see the tears in her eyes, which only shined in happiness. None of the words being said registered as they looked into eachother, no one in attendance even seemed to be there. She accepted him. He was at peace.

He took her hand and gave her a trinket to represent his heart, though it could never come close to what really tied them together. Her own symbolic ornament decorated his hand in an understated way that told the world he had already made a connection.

Pink and white rained like slow, listless confetti as he placed his hand on her waist. It was then that he was overcome, gripped by something beyond happiness. He cried.

This was where he woke last time, but this dream was real. He leaned in, closing the distance between them and sealed his promise to her, accepted her promise to him.

Married. United. Whole.

He wasn't that sad little boy anymore. She wasn't just a beacon in the night

They were one. Now and in the next life, and until the end of time, they would remain that way.

One heart. One soul. Shared in two bodies. Searching for the pieces that belonged together, until the connection was made again.

Forever.