Chapter 8: New friends

"Is he okay?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"I don't know," Naruto responded.

"H-he's s-still breathing." Hinata put in softly.

"Maybe we should leave him alone," Sasuke said. "He could be dangerous."

"Yeah…"

"Hi!" Ichigo called as she shook the stranger sleeping next to her. "Are you okay?"

"Nne…?" He asked groggily as he sat up and rubbed his black rimmed eyes. "Where am I?"

"On the boarder of the wind and fire nations." Was her response.

"Huh?" For a moment the strange boy seemed confused until he recalled the night before. "Oh, I remember…"

"Remember what? And what's your name again?" Ichigo pressed happily.

A bit put out by the peppy girl in his face he said the only thing he could think of to make her pull back a bit. "Gaara."

"Gaara?" Ichigo asked. "That's a nice name. Do you want to be friends?"

"ICHIGO!" the others exclaimed having finally come out of their shock.

"What?" Ichigo asked innocently. "He needs a friend."

"How in the name of Yondaime do you know that?" Sasuke demanded still a bit shaken.

Ichigo looked at him as if he had grown a second head. "I'm a Haruno. I can feel it."

"Oh yeah…" Sasuke trailed off. "I forgot…"

"So do you want to be friends?" Ichigo asked again.

Gaara didn't know what to say. He had never had so many people around him at once without them glaring at him or shaking in fear, so this was all a bit overwhelming. "Why do you want to be my friend?" he asked before he could stop himself. "Nobody likes me. I'm a monster…"

The corner kids glanced at each other in shock. "Who told you that?" Sakura asked a bit angrily. "I'll show 'em a monster!"

"Calm down, Sakura," Sasuke soothed before he too turned to face the red haired stranger. "So what are you doing sleeping all the way out here?"

Gaara's eyes became wide with fright and he began to tremble. "I was sleeping?" he whimpered.

"Yeah," Naruto responded. "You snore too, real loudly!"

Tears welled up in the sand boy's black rimmed eyes. "I'm not supposed to sleep," he whispered. "Bad things happen when I sleep. People get hurt…"

Ichigo tilted her head slightly and gazed quizzically at her newly proclaimed friend. "Really? Cause nothing happened last night."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kazakage looked out the window absently deep in thought. He knew that his son was gone but he wasn't sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing. After all he was already planning on having Yashamaru kill him but as long as the little brat never came back he would be as good as dead. On the other hand if he managed to survive who's to say whether or not he would return and destroy the whole village for revenge?

Kazakage sighed. Not for the first time he was regretting ever placing that monster inside of his son. But he was so sure that when the Sandaime destroyed that demon fox he had imprisoned it inside of a child. It wasn't until after he had already condemned his own boy did he learn that the Hidden Leaf had found another alternative.

"My lord," Yashamaru called breaking the Kazakage's trance. "You called for me?"

"Yes," the kage answered finally making a decision. "I have a mission for you."

XXXXXXXXXX

Gaara looked at Ichigo in shock, not sure if he should believe her. "Nothing happened?" he asked shyly. "But last time I fell asleep Yashamaru almost got killed…"

Ichigo, seeing his pain, couldn't help but reach out and take his sun-kissed hand into her own pale palms. "Gaara-kun," she started. "I promise, as your very bestest friend that nobody was hurted at all last night."

Still a bit wary, Gaara almost pulled his hands away only to stop in shock when he was suddenly pulled forward into a tight embrace. He stood shock still not even moving when she finally pulled away and once again grabbed his hand in her own.

"Come on Gaara-kun," Sakura said as she took his other hand. "You can come with us."

A bit numb all Gaara could do was nod absently and allow the two Haruno girls to lead him away after Sasuke, Naruto, and a shy Hinata.

XXXXXXXXXX

Yashamaru was a little worried. Kazakage-sama had said that he wanted Gaara-sama taken care of by the time the sun had set. A sigh escaped slightly chapped lips. Yashamaru was no closer to finding lord Gaara then…the thought was interrupted suddenly as Yashamaru spotted several figures wavering slightly in the noon sun. 'That looks like….It is!'

XXXXXXXXXX

"Gaara-sama!"

Gaara started at the rather unexpected shout but before he could respond to whom ever it was he was instantly surrounded on all sides by his new found friends. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata had each fallen into a simple fighting stance that was used to turn the opponents weight against them (rather useful for children and lighter weight women) while Ichigo plastered herself to his side, arms tightly wrapped around his waist.

"Don't worry Gaara-kun," Ichigo whispered. "I won't let anybody hurt you."

Gaara blushed lightly but brushed it off as he tried to see out of his little box of friends. "I think that's Yashamaru," Gaara told the corner kids. "He's my care taker."

"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked, a bit apprehensive.

"He has a pretty unhappy aura around him…" Sakura added.

"But he's not unhappy," Gaara told them. "He's always smiling."

"I'm sure he is Gaara-kun," Hinata told him.

"Gaara-sama," Yashamaru smiled as he landed in front of his small charge. "Your father sent me to find you. I was worried."

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered so that only the Uchiha boy could hear. "There is something odd about him…"

"I know," Sasuke answered. "I feel it too."

"What are we gonna do?" She asked the dark haired boy quietly.

Sasuke was silent for a few moments before he responded. "We wait," he said. "And we don't let Gaara-kun out of our sight."

XXXXXXXXXX

Hikari's breath hitched violently as she lay curled up on Itachi's lap. Her muscles were sore and large red welts coated her arms and legs. Yume reached out and, as gently as he could, he ran his glowing pink fingers across the cut that split her left leg from the outside of her ankle to the inside of her mid-thigh. Hikari whimpered in pain as the Yondaime's fingers stitched the torn flesh back together.

"Don't worry," Hikari all but sobbed. "There's only nine years and 364 days left."

Neither of the two men with her was at all amused.

End Chapter 8

Kaliea: is it just me or is the quality of my story depleting as I go? Ah well, please review. And give me more ideas for training scrolls cause if there is no scroll then there is no chapter. Cheers!

Review Answers:

iluvanime493: Thanks, for a while I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue them but in the end they won out. After all there is a lot of info to come that won't fit in the chapters.

sasuke9999: Hehe. Gomen, here it is.

Susakuru: Heehee, and the hyperness keeps on rolling…I love it!

Lady Misao: (completely red) D-domo arigato! That is such great praise! Domo arigato!

Jays Arravan: he, sorry about the shortness but hopefully they will get longer. And as for mimitsu…heehee sorry, it means secret.

Dragon Man 180: Lol. No, no, I just felt like delivering it that way for dramatic effect. In all actuality nothing real terrable will happen to him. And thanks for the tip!

Kaliea: As always thankyou to all my reviewers. You make my day! By the way, Is Yashamaru really a boy or is he a girl. I just guessed based on the name.