Chapter 10: Sakura's element

Sakura and Hinata carefully carried the two physically and emotionally drained children back into the insecure safety of Gaara's nursery. Having already placed Gaara on the large futon the two young girls wasted no time in gently placing Sakura's cousin at his side. Once they were sure that the two were comfortable Sakura left Hinata sitting watch over them as she went in search of warm water and some cloth for bandages.

Sakura didn't need to go far to recover the items she needed and soon she had once again joined Hinata at the two red heads' side.

"Ne Sakura-chan," Hinata spoke up softly her concern over riding her stutter. "What do you suppose will happen to Gaara-kun now?"

Sakura shrugged as she ran a warm wet rag across the bloody kanji on Gaara's pale forehead. "I don't know Hinata-chan." She replied as she pulled out her make shift bandages. "I really don't know."

The two girls lapsed into silence as Sakura placed a gentle kiss on Gaara's wound before she carefully began to wrap the long white cloth around his head. She had only just tied it off when Sasuke and Naruto stepped in from the balcony. Their hands were covered in sandy blood and the grim expressions they wore were much too old to be on the faces of children.

"Well Sakura." Sasuke spoke up suddenly. "We were right to be worried about Yashamaru-san. He's the one that attacked Gaara-kun."

Sakura said nothing as she returned her gaze to the younger boy lying in the large bed. She had expected as much so this confirmation came as no surprise. That didn't stop her from wishing it hadn't been. Who knows how this would affect her hurt friend.

Fortunately he now had a friend in Ichigo. A friend that, no matter what happened, would always be there for him.

"Ne Sakura-chan, Hina-chan," Naruto spoke up as he looked down at Gaara. "Gaara-kun's head was bleeding real bad right?"

"Yes," Sakura responded slowly. "Why did you ask?"

Naruto shrugged lightly before he said, "He's not bleeding."

A bit surprised Sakura turned her eyes to Gaara's head wrap only to find it as clean a snow.

XXXXXXXXXXX

It had been two days since his father had brought him to the clan's safe house with specific instructions to take care of Hanabi-chan. He sighed as the one year old baby started to cry once again. Standing from his stiff crotch the seven year old boy lightly bounced the baby hoping that she would start to calm down. No such luck. His eye twitched as his cousin continued crying. This carried on for over ten minutes before he finally lost his cool.

"Gah!" He shouted. "Stop crying!"

Everything fell silent as everyone in the safe house turned to stare at the boy, wide eyed. That is until Hanabi started crying again. Well screaming was more like it. He was absolutely horrified that this little creature had somehow managed to cry even louder then before.

Oh man did he wish that Hinata-chan was here. She was always able to calm her sister down. Unfortunately, though he had seen many Hyuugas from both houses, he hadn't seen her since his arrival. Now that he thought about it he was actually pretty worried about her. With all of those bad ninja out there attacking people who knows what could have happened to her? What if she was hurt?

He was quickly jerked from his thoughts as Hanabi, annoyed that he had stopped paying attention to her deafening screams, grabbed and yanked a handful of his dark brown locks while she attempted to scream even louder.

He was just about to yell at the baby again when a soft giggle came from behind him.

"Hi Neji-kun," the voice said. "You seem to be having a bit of trouble."

He was so startled by the unexpected intrusion that he spun around as fast as he could to try and find the source of the voice he had heard. As he turned his foot caught clumsily on a loose floor tile and he lost his balance. Fortunately he and his little cousin were saved from the fall by two steadying hands on his young shoulders.

"Gomen ne Neji-kun," the voice spoke up again. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Looking up he blinked in shock as he saw the very pregnant form of Haruno Kairi, one of his instructors at the academy.

"Haruno-sensei!" he exclaimed. "How did you get into the Hyuuga safe house?"

Kairi giggled again as she reached down to take Hanabi. "She's probably hungry Neji-kun."

He said nothing as he pulled Hanabi closer into his arms so that he could use his hands to form several familiar seals.

"Byakugan," he said before he turned his eyes towards the form of his teacher.

Kairi did nothing as he began his examination of her, and, while her out ward appearance didn't change she couldn't help an inner smirk from arising. 'Hm, good boy. You learn quickly.'

It didn't take long for his eyes to inform him that the woman in front of him truly was who she appeared to be. He let out a sigh as relief coursed through him. Now that he knew she was who she was he wasted no time in thrusting the crying baby into her awaiting arms.

"Come on Neji-kun," Kairi said softly so as not to be over heard. "I have to get you out of here."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sakura was very confused as she gently pulled away the bandage she had only just tied in place. Her confusion, as well as the others, only escalated as she saw the clean, new, and perfectly healed white scar that stood out ever so slightly on the boy's naturally pale skin.

"I don't get it," Sakura said to herself. "Even with medicine his cut was too bad to heal that well. I'm not a doctor and even I know that it should have left a real bad scar."

"Did you do anything besides wash it?" Naruto asked before Sakura shook her head.

"I didn't do anything but wash it and put on the cloth." She responded.

"That's not true," Hinata spoke up almost inaudibly. "You did something else."

"Huh?" was Sakura's confused reply. "I did?"

Hinata nodded. "Y-you kissed him."

"Oh yeah," she said as she placed a finger to her chin in thought. "I remember."

"You kissed him?" Sasuke suddenly asked his face rather thoughtful. "Where?"

"Just over the kanji before I put on the bandage," she told him. "Why?"

Sasuke said nothing. Instead he let his eyes wander around the room until he found what he was looking for. Approaching Gaara's small desk, he reached out and grabbed the small medical scalpel that lay there.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura questioned. Sasuke said nothing as he sliced open the pad of his left pointer finger.

"SASUKE!" several alarmed voices rang out in shock as they watched blood slowly drip from the dark haired boy's self inflicted wound. Sasuke's nose was scrunched and his eyes were squinting while he ground his teeth against the pain he was feeling.

Suddenly he thrust his finger into Sakura's face. "Kiss it," he hissed out between his clenched teeth.

"Wh-what?" Sakura asked still in a slight state of shock.

"Kiss it," the boy said again.

Shaking slightly Sakura complied as she softly pressed her trembling lips onto his bleeding finger.

"What in the world…!" Naruto was cut off however when Sasuke waved him silent.

"Hush," he ordered as he pointed to his finger. "Look."

They all looked and were amazed at what they saw. Right before their eyes Sasuke's slit flesh was pulling and stitching itself back together until there was no sign of the cut ever having existed except for the blood that was slowly drying on both his hand and Sakura's lips.

"Wh-wha-t w-wa-s th-that?" Hinata asked her stutter having returned with a vengeance.

"That is what we're about to find out." Was all Sasuke said before he grabbed both of the leather bags he and Naruto had abandoned by the table.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ichigo felt her unconscious mind jerk back into reality as she heard a rather loud shout ring though the dark nursery. She was dimly aware of the fact that they could be in trouble but she couldn't bring herself to even open her eyes until several moments after the cry had occurred. At long last she was able to open her eyes and turn to her side to check on Gaara, hoping that what ever had caused the others to shout hadn't been about to attack her poor tired friend. She wasn't disappointed in her hopes as she found an already alert Gaara looking at her though black rimmed eyes.

"Did you mean it?" he asked softly, almost brokenly.

"Hm?" She asked, slightly confused as to what he was referring to.

Gaara blinked before he asked again. "When you said that you loved me; did you mean it?"

A smile sprouted across Ichigo's childish face, already forgetting why she had awakened. "Of course Gaara-kun," she told him. "You're my friend. I love all my friends."

Gaara smiled before he allowed himself to relax back into the pillows. "Good," he said. "Cause I love my friends too."

Ichigo said nothing though her smile did widen just a bit.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Look!" Naruto exclaimed as he shook one of the scrolls above his head. "I found one! A Haruno scroll! I found one!"

"Baka," Sasuke hissed as he jerked the scroll from his friend's hand. "You're gonna wake up Gaara and Ichigo!"

"Oh, right I…what did you call me!" he growled. "Take that back!"

"N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said as she tried to calm her angry friend. "P-please calm down."

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms but still complied with Hinata's request, though he did stick out his lip in an over exaggerated pout.

"What does it say Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked as she leaned forward to see.

"Hm," the boy answered. "It says here that your clan can control seven different elements. Which one can you use Sakura?"

Tugging at the end of her hair Sakura responded. "Kaa-chan and tou-chan don't think that I have an element since I've never shown any specific powers for a certain one."

"But your hair is a funny color," Naruto spoke up. "And everyone in your family with funny hair has a power."

"Naruto's right," Sasuke said. "Not that I would have said it like that, but he's still right."

"So what do you think?" Sakura asked placing the stands of hair she had been playing with behind her ear.

"I think that you're spirit," Hinata said from her position behind Sasuke. "I-it's the only one with out any hair color."

Sasuke nodded slowly. "That's true," he said. "And every time that I've seen a healing jutsu everybody's hands glow all pink."

"Hey, yeah!" Naruto put in. "I remember that too!"

"So what c-can she do Sasuke-kun?" Hinata asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know. The scroll doesn't say very much." He turned to Sakura. "We'll just have to find out as we go."

"Yeah," She agreed with a firm nod.

XXXXXXXXX

"Where are we going Haruno-sensei?" Neji asked as he followed his teacher down a trail of hidden tunnels.

"We're going to meet my husband and a few of your friends. Then," she faltered a bit before she plowed ahead. "Then we are leaving Konoha and heading to Konokigakure no Sato; the village hidden in the tree."

Kaliea: So there you have it; chapter 9. What do you think? Review and let me know! Till next time, ja ne!

Review Answers:

Dragon Man 180: I think every one with power can be a bit pompous at one time or another but those who want power for personal gain are just out and out jerks. And yes, your comments on Sakura were dead on.

Sasuke9999: Maayybbeee…

Jays Arravan: Not really. You have to take into account the fact that the three special elements have never surfaced. Other then that all of the clans are pretty much equal. And even with those three the other clans have skills that could rival them (Mange sharingan, etc…)

NaruHinalover: True enough. Oh! I forgot to thank you for the cookie so, thanks!

Bittersweetdreams: Yeah I wanted Hikari to be the sort of person most girls wish they could be. You know strong, fun, happy, and with one of the cutest guys in the world (giggle). And Yeah, Sakura's element is spirit.

Danny-171084: Ah so that's were you went for a little while I was afraid that you stopped liking my story. ; )

Thanks to all my reviewers!