Her Experience

by Tiny.Dncer

Sakura has been taking care of her sick civilian mother alone since she was 8. But now a full fledged ninja placed on team 7, she must learn how to stop holding herself back and let her team in, although, that proves challenging when her teammates are the wild and childish Naruto Uzumaki and her cold closed off long time crush, Sasuke Uchiha. (Better explanation inside.)

13. Konoha Crush

"Sakura's thoughts..."

"Inner Sakura..."

Memories...

Disclaimer: I don't own Natruto.

---

"Huh! So that's what was happening! That Bastard, he's always in such a hurry!" Naruto growled as the sprinted through the woods, following Pakkun. Sakura had just finished filling Naruto and Shikamaru in on what had transpired while they were under or pretending to be under the genjutsu.

"So? How come you got me involved? This is a drag!" Shikamaru complained.

"I had no choice! It was Kakashi-sensei's orders!"

"Although I'm not complaining. Shikamaru's tactical thinking is an asset."

Pakkun's nose twitched. "This way!" He called, turning sharply to the right.

They rushed along to keep up.

Pakkun's nose twitched again. He'd hoped they'd have more time before someone started pursuing them, but apparently that had been wishful thinking.

"Hey! All of you, hurry up!"

"Why?! What's wrong?! Did you lose track of Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called, trying not to feel too frantic.

"It's not that. There are two squads, that means eight shinobi! Actually…plus one more…nine shinobi on our tails!"

"Hey, already?! You've got to be joking!"

"It doesn't look like they know our exact position yet…but they're definitely gaining on us."

"Damn! They're probably all chunin or above…If they catch up to us, we're dead!" Shikamaru growled.

"If they don't know our exact position, is there a way to mislead them?" Sakura asked.

"NIne against three…those aren't good odds…"

"Why don't we ambush them and get rid of 'em?!" Naruto suggested. He didn't care how many of them their were or what level they were at—nothing would stop him from catching up to Sasuke.

"Ambush…might not be a bad idea…" Sakura murmured. "If we lie in wait for them, we'll definitely have the upper hand! Even if there are twice as many of them as there are us, as long as we surprise them…"

"Nope. Won't work. They're all minions of Orochimaru, a former Konoha Shinobi."

"Damn…I forgot Orochimaru was a traitor to Konoha!"

Shikamaru grunted. "I thought we might have a chance, but I guess not…"

"What do you mean?" Naruto demanded.

"Even so, we could still—"

"Don't be so clueless. And this isn't the time for optimism, Sakura." Shikamaru admonished them both. "Listen up! Ambushing the enemy is normally an advantageous battle tactic, but only if these two conditions are met…"

"First, the pursued must be able to move about silently and locate the enemy first. Second, the pursued must be able to swiftly find, secure, and conceal themselves in a position where they can inflict the most damage to the chasers." Sakura recited. "An ambush is affective only if both conditions can be achieved. But what's wrong? We satisfy those conditions!"

"In our case, since we have a ninja dog's nose, the first wouldn't be too difficult. The second normally would't be impossible, since we know our own village better and can pinpoint the best positions for maximum surprise. But not in this case. That won't fly against minions of a former fellow Konoha shinobi. Our pursuers have studied our geography and practiced in preparation for this attack with mock battles. And they're probably all masters of pursuit jutsu." Shikamaru explained. "Even so, an ambush still might be to our advantage…except that there are too many uncertainties! Besides, our 'friends' were assembled specifically for this plot, while our group is composed of…"

"…a dunce…" Naruto glared at him.

"…a kunoichi with more handicaps than combat skills…" Sakura twitched at the descriptor.

"Damnit! Why'd he have to be hurtful and accurate?!"

"…a dog…" Pakkun gave him a dull side eye. He wasn't afraid to bite the brat again.

"…and the number one slacker, me!…Battle strategy comes from comprehending your own existing fighting strength and formulating the best possible plan based on that! So what's within the realm of possibility for us is just one thing…"

"One thing…? Oh! A diversion!"

"A diversionary tactic disguised as an ambush…one of us stays behind and delays them by making it look like we're lying in wait."

"In other words…a decoy." Sakura translated.

"That's right. If that person can detain them, the enemy will lose track of the other three, and we'll be able to shake the pursuit."

"But the person who acts as decoy…they'll die!" Sakura protested.

"It's the only option. So…any volunteers? We need our doggie guide in order to find Sasuke, which means…"

There was a pause as the three of them contemplated.

"No there's gotta be some other way…think Sakura!…but this is Shikamaru we're talking about. He's the one who taught me strategy and I've still never beaten him in shogi…if he's saying this is the only way…"

"Maybe he missed something, damnit!"

"But he doesn't miss things…not in these kinds of situations…"

Naruto understood. He didn't like it but he understood. And he had his shadow clones, which gave him a better chance of evening the odds.

"All right, I'll—"

"I'm the only choice." Shikamaru sighed, resignedly.

"You?!" She'd never expected him to make the offer—it was so out of character for him.

"Why you?!" Naruto demanded.

"It's better than all of us going down together. Besides the only one of us who has any chance of pulling off a decoy tactic and even possibly surviving is me." He explained coming to a stop on a tree branch. Naruto and Sakura stopped as well.

"He can't mean…"

"The shadow possession technique is fundamentally a detainment jutsu anyways."

"You can't do that! You can only hold it for five minutes at most—less if you don't have enough chakra! You used up most of your chakra in your fight with Temari! You can't do this Shikamaru! It's suicide!"

"You can't save everyone, Sakura!" Shikamaru answered sternly. "If you want to save Sasuke, we have to shake this tail, which means one of us dies. It's me or him. I already know what choice you'd make regardless, but in this case it's been made for you. We were assigned this mission to go save him. That means his life is more important than mine because he's mission priority."

"That's not true!" Naruto shouted. "No one person's life is worth more than anothers!"

"Maybe not in the grand scheme of things. But to individuals it is." His gaze settled on Sakura whose wide eyes were horrified. "You know I'm right. If killing some rando saved your mom, you'd do it, right?"

"You're…not some rando…" Sakura muttered quietly. She knew where this was going, and she hated herself, because he was right. She'd even said it before, if someone told her to kill some innocent person or her team died, she would do it.

"If it saved Sasuke-kun and Naruto…I would do it…"

"No. I'm your friend. And you punched me in the face for almost refusing this mission and abandoning your teammate. So I'm gonna do what I can to help my friends get their teammate back. Sacrifice is part of being a ninja anyways. You get that right?" He said turning to Naruto seriously. "You were about to volunteer too."

"I'm not sacrificing a friend! You're our teammate now too!" Naruto countered.

"…Shikamaru's right. This is the only way…"

"We're not just gonna let him die, shannaro!"

"…No. Absolutely not. I don't care what he says. I'm not choosing between my friend's lives!"

Sakura jumped to the branch Shikamaru was standing on, surprising him.

"If you say this is the only way, then you're right. I won't argue with you. But I'm not just gonna let you kill yourself for us." She dug through her pouch pulling out her second to last food pill and placed it in his hand.

"A food pill? Choji told me all about these. They work best if you have at least fifteen percent of your chakra left. I have less than that."

Sakura grabbed his hand.

"Hey what are you—?!" Shikamaru stopped when he felt a warm tingling spread through his arm, into his chest and around his body. Was she giving him her chakra?

"Hey—stop that! You don't have a lot of chakra to begin with!"

"I took a food pill during my battle when I had about 58% of my chakra left, and I didn't use up the boost throughout the rest of my fight. I'm at a little less than one and a half times my normal chakra right now, and I'm wearing lighter weights, so I can spare some of it. Now shut up and let me focus. Tell me when you're at twenty percent."

Sakura closed her eyes and focused on the flow of Shikamaru's chakra…even his chakra was lazy, in the slow unbothered way it flowed through him.

"His chakras too slow and we're short on time…I have to speed this up without hurting him."

"Let's just grab his other hand…double the entry, double the amount, faster recharge, right?"

"That's a good idea."

Sakura took his other hand as well, focusing on letting her matched chakra flow into him from both outputs. It was harder to match both, but she managed.

"Thank gods I'm not having an attack right now…his flow is so slow I don't think I'd be able to match my chakra to his in that state."

"I'm good now." Shikamaru said, his hand twitching in her grasp. He got what and why she was doing this, and she made a good point as to why it was necessary, but he still worried about draining her. She wasn't exactly a wealth of chakra reserves. Still, he was grateful. She just gave him a fighting chance at survival. "I'll catch up with you all later…so hurry up and go! We're short on time!"

"I'm counting on you, Shikamaru! So don't you dare die!" Naruto said firmly, giving him a grim nod before turning and taking off.

"Who knew you'd turn out to be reliable…" Sakura joked weakly. She didn't want to say goodbye, too afraid that it might become permanent if she did.

"I surprise even myself." He drawled lazily.

"Heh." She cracked a weak smile and jumped off after Naruto and Pakkun.

Shikamaru turned back the way they came with a purposeful air.

---

"Hey the enemy's still gaining on us! Is he really trying to delay them?!" Pakkun shouted.

"Running away wouldn't be out of character for him…"

"He wouldn't do that…"

"Don't worry! Shikamaru might be a slacker, but he's no traitor!" Naruto answered firmly.

"Besides, Ino-pig would never let him hear the end of it if he did…and that'd be too troublesome for him." Sakura added, only half joking.

It wasn't too long after when Pakkun sniffed the air and let out an exclamation of surprise.

"Our pursuers have stopped!"

"Yes! His tactics must have worked!" Naruto cheered. Nice! They were on their way, so Sasuke better hold on…and Shikamaru…he better survive and catch up with them!

"I hope the chakra I gave him will be enough to keep him alive…although I'm glad he stopped me when he did…I have a little over my maximum chakra capacity, but I've used up most of the boost from the food pill."

"Sasuke's stopped moving…he's still too far away!" Pakkun shouted.

"All right!" Naruto called, picking up his pace and rocketing ahead, forcing Sakura to do the same.

Pakkun's nose twitched. What was this scent…? "There are others pursuing Sasuke also!"

"What? Are they friends or foes?" Sakura asked, her mind racing.

"I can't tell…just that…they're not human."

"Not human? What could they be…Orochimaru summoned snakes before…could that be it? Pakkun would probably know if Kakashi-sensei sent more dogs, so we can rule that out…"

Naruto sped up even more. Sakura felt her breathing grow labored. She'd gotten a lot faster thanks to Kiba and Akamaru, but traveling at this pace for an extended period was exhausting.

It was another three minutes before Pakkun gave an update. "Sasuke's moving again and the pursuers caught up with him and are staying in the same spot."

"That must mean Sasuke beat them!" Naruto stated excitedly.

"That, or they were friends doing them same for him as Shikamaru did for us."

"Does that mean they're gonna try and stop us? We're the ones pursuing him…" Naruto asked.

"Won't matter." Pakkun answered. "Based on Sasuke's direction, we're gonna completely skirt around them."

"Good. Whether they're helping us or someone else, that'll make things less complicated." Sakura allowed.

"Also…we really don't want to know what the multiple non human pursuers are."

They didn't travel for too long after that before Pakkun's nose twitched, giving them another update. "Sasuke's stopped again."

"How far are we?!" Naruto demanded.

"Not too far. We should be able to reach him within the next ten minutes."

"Ten minutes is a long time for a battle…if he's engaged in combat, we could be too late!" Sakura said, trying her best to remain calm.

"Don't panic. We can't afford the time delay a reaction would bring about. We'll make it. This is Naruto we're talking about. He won't give up. And Sasuke-kun's strong. He'll be fine."

"Not on my watch!" Naruto growled, true to form, picking up the pace even more. Sakura didn't even think to complain. She just pushed off the branch she was on hard, using some of her chakra to augment her speed.

It was a good thing too. They made it just in the nick of time. Sasuke was on laid out on a branch, the curse mark spread across his left side, awake but unable to move with…something that resembled half Gaara, half…monster rushing toward him.

Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto suddenly intercepted the creatures path, kicking him hard across the face and sending him flying backwards. Naruto landed on a branch a little in front of Sasuke's.

"Sasuke-kun!"

He heard Sakura's voice though her footsteps were near silent as she landed lightly on his branch and knelt next to him, appearing in his view. Immediately Sasuke wished that she wasn't there…Gaara was terrifying and could easily set off her curse.

Pakkun looked down at Sasuke grimly. The girl had been right. Ten minutes had been too long. They were one step too late.

Sasuke grunted in pain. "You all…" They needed to get out of there, but he couldn't formulate the words, cut off by another groan of pain as his body convulsed a little.

"This is…the curse mark…he was probably fighting recklessly, just like that last time!"

"And Kakashi-sensei told me I didn't have to worry about that mark anymore…liar…hold on Sasuke-kun, it'll be alright." She told him soothingly.

"The mark reacts when he's low on chakra…After using some chakra to boost my speed, I'm about at my maximum capacity…and realistically any enemy that can reduce Sasuke-kun to this state, I'm gonna be useless against. Even with the training I did, I'm nowhere near fast enough to even touch Gaara with taijutsu, I don't have any effective ninjutsu at my disposal, and I used up most of my paper bombs in my match. Right now, my chakra's wasted on me. If I give some to Sasuke-kun, it might help the make the mark recede…"

Sakura reached out and grabbed Sasuke's hand. It didn't even take her long. Instinctually she remembered the feel of Sasuke's chakra flow, weaving hers in with his.

Sasuke felt the tell tale tingle of Sakura's chakra integrating with his ran up his arm.

"Stop…you're only supposed to do that when your—"

"You need it more than I do." She countered firmly.

"S…Sakura-chan…? Sakura-chan!" Naruto called, his voice faltering and uncertain.

"What is it?!" She snapped as she turned to him.

"Sharing chakra isn't exactly easy shannaro! It takes a lot of focus so don't distract us damnit!"

"Who's…that?!" Naruto asked, pointing towards Gaara, his expression looked…nervous.

Sakura's green eyes shifted towards the monstrosity crouched on a tree branch. Her eyes narrowed at him as she growled a little. Maybe she should have been scared. But she wasn't. She was angry, but not scared.

"He's the one who did this to Sasuke-kun." She answered.

"90% sure that's Gaara…but…is it? What is he?"

"Doesn't matter who he is! He hurt Sasuke-kun and we don't just let that happen!"

"His appearance may have changed, but it's that Gaara guy!" Pakkun said with a confirmation sniff.

Naruto's jaw clenched and eyes widened. He still distinctly remembered what Gaara had said the day before at the hospital.

I took the life of the woman I was supposed to call mother in the process of being born…in order to become the world's strongest shinobi…an incarnation of sand was implanted inside of me…I was born a monster!

Naruto swallowed hard. So that was the monster he was referring too.

"I'm not a battle type ninja dog, so don't count on me!" Pakkun informed Sakura with a huff.

"I can see that!" She snapped, turning her attention back to Sasuke and refocusing on sharing her chakra. She bit her lip in concern.

"He's bleeding from the mouth…is it an injury? Or because of the curse mark? In any case, we need to somehow get through this crisis and get Sasuke-kun back to Kakashi-sensei…Think Sakura, think!"

Sasuke clenched his teeth and grunted in pain. He had to suppress the mark! He gave a cough, blood spilling from his mouth, as he squeezed Sakura's hand tightly.

"Sasuke-kun!" She pushed more chakra into him praying it somehow lessened the effects of the curse mark. "I know you're in pain but I need you to talk to me. Did he hit you at all? Are you injured?"

"My…shoulder got cut…"

"A cut on his shoulder or upper arm shouldn't cause him to cough up blood. If it's the curse mark, there's nothing I can do about it…"

"Even if it's not, there's not much we can do about it…"

"If you're not gonna say anything useful, then shut up!…At this point I've given him 25% of my chakra…if I give him half, I'll still have enough to move. And it might be enough for him to suppress the curse mark…"

Sakura decided to let the cut on his arm be for now and focus instead on transferring her chakra. She wove more into him, trying to work as fast as possible, incase Gaara attacked.

Naruto looked over at his friends in concern. Sasuke still wasn't able to move much and was in no shape to fight. And Sakura…thank god she was so level headed. He didn't know how she was so controlled in this scenario, cause he was terrified.

"…You're one…I didn't get to kill…" Gaara growled.

I would fight only for myself and love only myself…for as long as there are people out there for me to kill…then I will not cease to exist.

Naruto's eyes widened at the memory of Gaara's words. He whirled around his hand extending to alert his friends.

"L-Let's run! C'mon!"

There was a rush of air and a brown and red blur passed him. "Huh?!"

"Die! Uchiha Sauske!" Gaara yelled, heading straight for Sakura and Sasuke.

Sakura's eyes widened.

"I…I've had enough of people trying to kill my teammates! Shannaro!"

She released Sasuke's hand, ending her chakra transfer. In one fluid motion, she'd stood up, pivoted and pulled out a kunai, facing the monstrous Gaara head on. She should have been afraid. She now had only half her chakra, twenty five percent of which she needed for her weights. Even if she had her full chakra and her weights off, it wouldn't be near enough to do anything against Gaara. Her kunai was going to be useless as well. If she moved, he'd have a clear shot and kill Sasuke. She wasn't fast enough to outrun this attack with Sasuke, maybe on her own, but not if she tried to move him as well. And she was unsure if it was safe to move him in the first place. This encounter could only end badly for her.

She should have been terrified. Her chakra should have been triggered. She was scared, but more for Sasuke and his condition. She wasn't scared of Gaara, she was mad at him. He'd hurt Sasuke and scared Naruto into wanting to run—the same Naruto who hadn't even been scared of Orochimaru. She was mad that he was trying to kill Sasuke when he was too hurt to fight back. She was mad that people kept threatening her teammates. So she didn't waver at all as she stared Gaara down. She knew it was reckless, but she didn't care.

"If all I can do is take the hit for him instead, that's fine. If that's all I can do to protect him, I'll do it. Gaara seems to feed on the fear he elicits in others…so he'll get none of that from me. If I can't do anything else, I can at least rob him of the satisfaction."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted. What was she doing?! She needed to run!

Sakura didn't acknowledge Naruto at all. She stared unblinkingly into Gaara's split eyes, his right side, the yellow of a monsters, and his left, the aquamarine of his human self. Her gaze all annoyance, fiery determination, and warm, loving, care—the desire to protect.

Gaara's human eye widened. That warm look, the utter lack of fear…a different face flashed in his mind. The only person he'd ever loved, the only one he thought ever loved him…Yashamaru…but he'd been wrong. Yashamaru hadn't loved him. He hated him for having murdered his beloved elder sister by being born. Yashamaru had a pretense to attempt loving him, as the last remanent of his sister. But why would this girl…? Why would she love the Uchiha? He had the same eyes as Gaara did…he was supposed to be alone, so who was this girl? Why would she go so far for him? He didn't understand. Why was she looking at him like that, without any fear at all?

Sakura registered the look in Gaara's aquamarine eye right before his monstrous sand claw collided with her hard, pushing her into a tree and pinning her there. Sakura felt her breath leave her, winded by the force of the hit. She'd luckily had the presence of mind to relax her body, so her muscles absorbed most of the impact, sparing her from broken bones.

She coughed a little, gasping for breath. But she'd seen the look in Gaara's eyes as he attacked her. The open confusion, the sadness…and…

"Was that jealousy?…he was like this when he attacked Lee-san and Gai-sensei intervened too…He doesn't understand why—I don't think there's anyone who would do this for him…His eyes are so sad and lonely…"

"And insane and murderous."

Gaara stood frozen over Sasuke, groaning and grabbing at his head with the half of him that was still human. Naruto took advantage of Gaara's instability to grab Sasuke and move him out of the way, settling on a different branch.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted in fear.

"I'm…fine…Get him out of here, Naruto!" Sakura gasped out in pain.

Temari, who'd been taking refuge among the trees when Gaara's monster started to emerge, stared at Sakura in shock. That was the girl Shikamaru had trained by playing shogi…she hadn't done badly in her match, but she had to know she was no match for Gaara…to think a girl like her really tried to stand up to him…she was incredibly brave. Or stupid. What other reason could there be for someone facing Gaara mid transformation without a drop of fear?

Naruto looked frantically between Sasuke and Sakura, one seemingly barely conscious and the other wincing in pain, clutched in the claw of a monster. Damn! Damn! What was he supposed to do?! He didn't know if he could handle this guy!

Gaara groaned, clutching at his head and shaking. "Why…?" He grunted, his aquamarine eye sliding up to Sakura while the other squeezed shut in pain. Rock Lee's mentor had defended Lee twice, staring Gaara down determinedly, and now this pink haired girl…why? Why would they risk their lives for another who had been rendered useless?

"…Because I…care about him…you know that, don't you?…I know you saw it…" Talking was difficult when his sand was preventing her from taking a full breath.

"But…why risk your life? Are you stupid?"

"…Maybe…Maybe I…just don't know when to quit…you made me angry…" She explained, though none of the anger was in her gaze anymore. She was finding it hard to stay mad at someone so clearly in pain, who was so confused by the simplest act of selflessness because clearly he'd never experienced it for himself.

"…Angry?" Why hadn't he made her feel afraid? That's how she should have felt! What had he done that made her angry? He hadn't hurt her at that point.

"Were…you not paying attention…during my match? I don't…tolerate…threats against my teammates…"

"But why…why aren't you afraid?"

"…there are…a lot of things I fear…you aren't one of them…"

Gaara's eye widened. "Why not?" Did she not see what he was?!

"Because…to me it seems…like you're…just a lonely kid…and that sand is…your only friend…so…when things become too much for you…you let it consume you…that's…sad. Not scary." She gave a small pained smile.

She understood that feeling. For so long, before she met Ino, and after she pushed her away, Sakura had just felt so lonely and isolated. The girls in her class hated her, and the boys were either indifferent or joined in. She either rarely saw her mother because she was so busy working her two jobs to keep them afloat, or after Mebuki got sick, there were several nights where she was too weak or tired to talk. During that time, Sakura's best friend became dancing. There were some days where she danced so long, so hard, that she could barely move the next day because her muscles were too sore.

Gaara stared at her wide eyed, before both of his eyes scrunched tight in pain. He clutched at his head as the onslaught of memories hit him.

But what are troublesome are wounds of the heart…they are extremely slow to heal…

There is just one thing that can ease the wounds of the heart…unfortunately it's a bothersome cure for you can only receive it from another…Love.

I truly believe Elder Sister loved you very deeply, Lord Gaara…When the sand tries to protect you, I believe it's an expression of maternal love.

That's what Yashamaru had said to him. But then Yashamaru had tried to kill him, ordered by his father but all too happy to accept. And he'd killed Yashamaru in self defense, unaware of who it was. With his dying breath, Yashamaru told him the truth. His mother hadn't loved him. She hated him. And she willed the sand to protect him out of spite…to be a continuous reminder to his father of what his perfect weapon had cost him. But this girl was right…whether it was out of love or spite…the sand was the only thing to ever protect him. To ever play with him. It was his only friend. And had she smiled at him? No one did that since Yashamaru! Somehow…she understood him…if he…if he added her blood to his sand, would he bond with it even more? Would her understanding and care soak into it? Would the sand start protecting him out of love the way she did her teammates? Would her voice start to whisper to him through the grains?

Gaara was breathing hard, the look in his eyes insane and wild. Naruto gulped. It was that look! The one he'd had in the hospital…

"I see…If my sand mixes with your blood…it truly will become my only friend, who will love and understand me!"

The sand pushed against her tighter, making her let out a choked cry of pain.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted in alarm.

Sasuke's eyes squeezed at the sound. He'd been in a haze of pain thanks to the curse mark, but Sakura's cry cut through it, clearing his head momentarily. He had to do something…why wouldn't the curse mark recede?! He had chakra now, so why wasn't it going away? Sasuke's fingers twitched as he clenched his fist. He couldn't just lie there helplessly while this guy killed Naruto and Sakura!

Gaara turned to Naruto, his eye narrowing. His grip on Sakura loosened just the slightest bit in his distraction, allowing her to take in tight gasps of air.

"You're still here? What's the matter? I thought you were going to run away?"

"Naruto…get Sasuke-kun out of here…don't worry…about me…" Sakura heaved out.

"Shut up, Sakura-chan! I'm not gonna abandon you!"

Gaara's eyes narrowed. Now him too? What was it with these people?

"Who are they to you?

"Th-They're my friends! If you touch them again, I'll slaughter you!"

Gaara didn't say anything, but his claw tightened painfully around Sakura again, making her cry out.

Naruto's eyes shot wide, his teeth clenching. He had to do something or Sakura would…!

Pakkun had never regretted not being a fighting type ninja dog more than in that moment. At this rate, Sakura was a goner. Kakashi wouldn't be happy with him. He was supposed to look out for these kids…

"Well…what's the matter? I thought you were gonna slaughter me?" Gaara asked, his menacing stare never leaving Naruto, who grunted. "Come on, then." This was fine. He'd slowly crush the pink haired girl to death, allowing his sand to fully absorb all her blood and love and understanding.

"Damn!" Naruto growled, jumping forward at Gaara, at a loss for what else to do.

The sand tail trailing from the gourd on Gaara's back whipped around, batting Naruto out of the way before he could get anywhere close.

Naruto slammed into a tree branch in front of the one Sasuke laid on. Sasuke forced his eyes open at the sound. Naruto wasn't acting like his usual self…had something happened between him and Gaara…? Whatever it was, he had to get his act together! That idiot needed to save Sakura and get out of here before it was too late!

Naruto was having a similar thought, watching Sakura struggle for breath pinned to the tree by Gaara's sand claw. He needed something strong and powerful…his eyes widened. That was right…in this situation, even though it used a lot of chakra…his only choice was to summon that toad!

He wove the signs and slammed his hand into the bark. "Summoning jutsu!" There was a poof and Naruto stared down blankly at the small toad sitting in front of him.

"What the?! You're just a brat! If you want me to help, give me some munchies! Or else I won't play with you!" The tiny toad demanded obnoxiously.

"Y'know, I really really really hate you frogs!" Naruto shouted at it in exasperated annoyance, giving it a thumbs down.

"What?! Don't mock amphibians!" The toad shouted back.

Naruto growled. "This isn't the time and place to be playing around, mini-wart!" He turned to see Sakura giving him an exasperated glare as she struggled to breathe against the crushing weight of the sand.

"Stop…goofing off…and get Sasuke-kun out of here…shannaro!"

Naruto looked down at his hands in frustration. Damn! What was all that training for? At this rate there wasn't…

"Friend…?! What a laugh. I fight only for myself…that sand is the only friend I need!" Gaara growled. His transformation had spread. His human eye had changed into that of the monsters. Sand spread across his other arm, transforming it into the same kind of monstrous claw holding Sakura. His mouth protruded, sharp canine teeth replacing his human ones. Gaara detached his arm from the sand claw still pegging Sakura in place.

"Unless you take me down, the sand around that girl won't dissolve." He turned to her, looking back at her still unwavering spring green eyes. "It will slowly constrict, eventually smothering and crushing you. Then you'll join with my sand."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted desperately.

"No…I won't…They'll win, Gaara-kun…they always do…" She answered with the same pained but honest smile she'd given him earlier.

Sasuke's eyes shot open wider. He'd never heard her use the honorific on anyone else but him. Why was she applying it to Gaara?! He felt so frustrated and annoyed by the whole situation—she was in this bind cause of him, because he was too weak! The mark burned stronger across his body. He had to get it to loosen it's hold on him so he could do something!

"Gaara-kun?"

"Maybe reminding him of his humanity will throw him off and give Naruto or Sasuke-kun an opening. I'd still rather they run…but neither of them will leave me behind…otherwise they'd have taken off already. They didn't when my chakra reacted with Orochimaru's attack either."

Gaara's monstrous form stared at her in shock. Why did she have so much trust in two people he'd proven to be useless failures? He'd told her he was going to slowly kill her—why wasn't she afraid of him?! Gaara-kun?! No one had called him something so kind and familiar…especially not when he looked like this! Was she blind?! Did she not see what a monster he was?! Why was she not treating him like one? Uchiha Sasuke, who had the same eyes as him and managed to wound him, knew exactly what he was. Naruto had told him in the hospital that he'd also been born with a monster inside him, and clearly he was terrified of him. Her teammates understood what a monster he was, so why didn't she? How could she still look at him and smile like he was a human?!

His head throbbed, his body shaking. If she smiled at him while he was like this…would she be his friend? If he released her, would she…No! He didn't need friends. Didn't need anyone but his sand. Once she was absorbed into it, it would truly become his friend. He didn't need her—just her blood for his sand to feed on. He didn't need anyone at all! He wouldn't trust anyone! His purpose, his reason for existing was to kill. She said she didn't like people threatening her teammates? Then he'd kill them. That would show her how much of a monster he was!

"Sand shuriken!" He shouted, his tail swishing.

Naruto gasped. The attack came at him too fast, he didn't have time to counter. He quickly grabbed the toad, shielding him against the sand shuriken with his own body, getting slammed hard into a tree branch.

"You're weak!" The toad admonished.

"…ugh, shut up!" Naruto growled. Damn, why did this mini toad have to show up?!

"But, what in the world is that thing?" The toad asked, staring at Gaara.

More sand had enveloped him, making him look more beast than human. Naruto couldn't look away from his yellow eyes though…He had such lonely, solitary eyes. He distinctly remembered looking in the mirror and seeing the same look in his own eyes. Gaara had a monster inside him, just like he did. He remembered the way the villagers looked at him. How parents told their children to stay away. How much hostility their eyes held. He had hated all of them…He didn't know who or what he was to be hated so much, or why he even existed. Ever since he'd found out he had the nine tailed fox inside him, everyone's eyes seemed even more callous and distrusting. It was so painful. But…then Iruka sensei almost died to save him, accepted him, and treated him like a real person. Sasuke…was always there pushing him to get stronger, and just like Iruka, he'd almost died to save Naruto from Haku. Sakura was the first of his peers to stand up for him, to accept and support his dream. Kakashi-sensei looked out for his health, telling him constantly to eat his veggies, and praising his growth. Hinata had told him he was an inspiration to her, that she felt stronger when she watched him fight and keep trying no matter what, that she was rooting for him. He started meeting people who acknowledged him…so, even though he had the fox demon inside him, and people still looked at him coldly, it wasn't so bad anymore…because he wasn't alone anymore. He'd never imagined life could be so joyful and happy. He was so…so deeply grateful to them. It was okay for him to be alive…to exist. That was why…when he thought about the past now, it made him shudder…that pain wasn't just anything, it was pitch black. If…If he had stayed all alone…It was like he was staring at a mirror when he looked at Gaara…what he could have become if it wasn't for Iruka-sensei, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, and Hinata. Gaara was him if the worst had happened. That was why he really did understand it.

To them, I am now a relic of the past that they just want to erase and forget. So for what purpose do I exist, why am I alive? So this was what I came up with…I exist to kill all humans other than myself.

Naruto didn't know what actually happened to Gaara, but…he knew he'd been alone this whole time, continuing to suffer…without any relief, he still…could only trust himself. He was still fighting inside the dark. Sakura had seen it too. That was why Gaara couldn't understand or accept her smiles or kind words. In Gaara's eyes, someone like him or Sakura, who had others that acknowledged them, seemed like cowards who lived in a sunny, carefree world…could he really win against Gaara?

The sand pressed down on her, squeezing tighter, pulling a painful gasp from her.

"It'll start cracking my ribs soon…"

"So?! What are we gonna do about it?!"

"There's nothing I can do…full chakra or half, there are no moves I could make that would get me out of this. I don't have the raw power necessary."

"So we're just gonna sit here while he breaks our ribs?!"

"A broken rib isn't fatal unless it punctures the lung…The only thing I can do is hold out as long as possible…so that's all there is too it. I'll hold out until Naruto wins. Cause I am NOT dying here, damnit!"

Naruto eye'd Sakura frantically. What was he gonna do?!

"What's the matter? Are you scared of me?" Gaara taunted. "Fighting for others is useless. You should love only yourself! Fight only for yourself! That's the definition of the strongest one! Now fight me! Show me your power, just like when you took down Hyuga! I'll grind that power into nothingness! Well?! What's the matter?! If you don't beat me, I'll kill the girl!"

Sakura strained against the sand as it tightened around her more. Pain erupted in her chest as she heard a cracking sound.

"Damnit!" Naruto charged at Gaara. "Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" Several Narutos appeared, bearing down on Gaara.

The sand monster sucked in a giant breath of air. "Wind style! Infinite sand devastation!" Swirling sand laden winds swept over the area, dispelling all the Naruto clones, shaking the trees violently, and blowing Naruto backwards, slamming him hard into a tree trunk.

He grunted in pain. Yikes, that really hurt.

"First, I'm going to play with you without letting you die. I want to see how long it takes for you to give up on your friends and try to run away." Not that he'd let him escape.

"You'll…be waiting…forever…Gaara-kun…" Sakura gasped out, wincing in pain.

His whole body shuddered at the friendly honorific she attached to his name. His gaze slid to her.

"Didn't…you see in…the exam…Naruto…doesn't know…how to run…away…" Talking only made the pain in her ribs worse.

"I'll prove you wrong…if you live that long…" Gaara growled, feeling off balance. Everything out of her mouth threw him for a loop. She said she didn't take kindly to people threatening her teammates, that she was angry at him for doing so and that's why she wasn't afraid. He'd looked right into her eye and could verify that. But that wasn't the look she gave him anymore. Now her eyes were just…sadness and understanding and care. Still no fear. But there was no more anger. And she kept smiling at him even though he was killing her. And she called him Gaara-kun. Like they were friends. Like she cared about him. What the hell was wrong with her?!

Naruto staggered up, grateful for the short recovery time Sakura had bought him. He couldn't give up. She needed him. Sasuke needed him. She believed him, believed he could get them all out of this…and Sasuke must have too, because he'd said he'd wanted to fight Naruto…that meant Sasuke thought he was strong. A worthy opponent. Hinata had said that he was strong because he never stopped trying—he hadn't in his fight with Neji, and he couldn't now. But…it wasn't just that…what…

Gaara let out a roar, shaken by Sakura's words and determined to take it out on Naruto. To prove them both wrong. Another barrage of Sand shuriken knocked Naruto off his feet and into a different tree. The blond pushed himself up again.

"More! More!" Gaara roared, sending one barrage after another at the boy, knocking him around senselessly. But no matter how many hits Naruto took, he kept pushing himself back up.

Why…did he feel like this? Another barrage of sand shuriken sent him sprawling. Damn…He pushed himself shakily up again, much to the surprise of everyone except Sakura, who was too busy focusing on intaking oxygen. What was…this feeling welling up in him…?

"For whatever reason…just…just against this guy…" he murmured, growling as he looked up at Gaara…he didn't want to lose to him even if he ended up dying!

Gaara stared at Naruto…the look in his eyes…had it changed?

The sand compressed harder against Sakura, making her groan, her eyes closing in pain. She heard another crack. It was getting harder to breathe.

"Sakura-chan…"

She heard him mutter her name, but talking was too much effort. She wasn't going to waste her breath on reassurance anymore…she couldn't. Instead, she gave a slow deliberate nod to let him know she was still awake.

Sasuke stared at her, his eyes wide. She was being crushed alive…in front of him…Sakura, who fussed over every injury he and Naruto received, and had been so relieved when he'd turned out to be alive in the land of waves. Sakura, who wasn't afraid to admonish him, though she was almost always so gentle about it. Sakura, who held him close when he was screaming in pain and did her best to sooth him, despite being exhausted and in pain herself. Sakura, who stayed up all night in the forest of death tending to his wounds, and fought so hard despite her weakened state to keep him safe. Sakura, who worried and cared about him enough to hate seeing him in pain due to the curse mark. Sakura, who despite having nothing, gave him a meaningful gift and wished it bring him something good when he left to train with Kakashi. Sakura, who stood bravely and stupidly in front of him, to take the hit that would have killed him in his stead…Sakura was dying in front of him. And that couldn't happen. She couldn't die. He couldn't let that happen. He felt inside him for the energy she'd given him, and focused on it with all his might, drawing on it instead of the curse mark's power. It didn't recede, but he felt the mark's hold on him begin to weaken.

"What's the matter? You're the one who hunted me down. Scared? You can't even come close to touching me…what a joke!" Gaara taunted.

Naruto reached into his weapons pouch, pulling out a kunai and a paper bomb, wrapping the tag around the blade's handle. He'd seen the way Sakura used a lot of paper bombs in her match, both as a distraction, and to blow up that arm device. That had been made of metal…and sand was weaker than metal so…if a paper bomb point blank could explode something metal…than maybe a paper bomb point blank could do some serious damage to Gaara too. He didn't know how far he could go or how much he could do, but he had to give it everything he had!

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Two Narutos appeared on either side of him. The group charged, leaping at Gaara.

"Here we come! Ladies and gents, we proudly bring you a most secret and special technique! The Uzumaki Naruto shadow clone body slam!" Three Naruto clones met Gaara's incoming claw, holding it back from attacking the real Naruto and other clone. "Now!" They called.

"Roger!" The clone shouted, grabbing the collar of Naruto's jacked and hurling him at Gaara. "Go!"

Gaara looked up at the oncoming Naruto and laughed. Did he really think this would work?

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Another shadow clone appeared, which Naruto used to jump off of and flip around Gaara, changing his trajectory.

"One more! Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto sprung off the newly summoned clones back, positioning himself under the sand tail. "Take this! Kakashi-sensei's specialty, Konohagakure's most sacred technique! One thousand years of death!" He shouted shoving his kunai in the soft underside of his tail.

Gaara stared at him for a second. He had to be joking. His tail swung around, slamming into Naruto's head and sending him flying. Naruto smirked, blood trailing from his mouth…Gaara hadn't noticed.

"…kaboom."

There was a huge explosion around Gaara as the explosive tag on Naruto's kunai detonated.

Sasuke caught Naruto, preventing him from slamming into the tree he was heading for. He'd finally wrestled control from the curse mark, just in time too. With how much damage Naruto had already taken, that impact might have incapacitated him and then they would all be screwed.

Pakkun watched in amazement. What a brilliant move…and even in his current condition, Sasuke had still managed to catch Naruto.

Sakura had watched the proceedings with one eye, the other squinted shut in pain as she worked on maintaining her body's supply of oxygen.

"Amazing…his timing with the shadow clones was perfect…and wrapping his kunai handle in a paper bomb was brilliant…Sasuke-kun managed to catch him, thank god. It would have been bad if he took anymore damage. And if Sasuke-kun's able to move, that's a good sign…but…it looks like the curse mark is still active…"

"Sasuke!"

"Heh…you're finally showing your stuff…" Sasuke said, breathing hard. "…but after all that…just one blow? You gotta try harder…cuz this time…I can't help you…like I did in the Land of Waves…idiot."

"Sh-Shut up…" Naruto protested weakly. But as the smoke around Gaara cleared, Naruto knew he was right. It looked like half of him was melting off, but Gaara was still standing.

Gaara growled. He'd managed to target that paper bomb right at his weakest spot—under his tail…he hadn't been able to absorb all of the impact. He underestimated him. But still, either way…

"I'm ending this now…" Gaara decided.

"…Hey…Naruto. You…better rescue Sakura, no matter what!" He said fiercely.

Naruto stared at him, shocked. Sasuke was a serious person, but the way he said that…it was a definitive order. It felt…different then when he'd taken the hit for Naruto in the Land of Waves and begrudgingly told him his body moved on its own. This wasn't a reflex to save his teammate…it was a conscious need. Sasuke needed Sakura to survive this. He knew Sakura was in love with Sasuke…but he never thought that the bastard might feel anything towards her other than comrades. It seemed like it was more than that for Sasuke…

"Sasuke-kun wants Naruto to save us!"

"Yeah he better…we're teammates, damnit, and I took that friggin hit for him! He damn well better want to save me, shannaro!"

"Sounding more like me every day…" Her inner voice sang. She shook her head weakly. She didn't have time for this…and as happy as it made her that her boys wanted to save her, and how ever entitled she felt to being saved by them, this situation was dangerous.

"If they're too worried about me, it'll be distracting to them…"

"…Don't worry…just win…" But she couldn't take in enough air to make her voice carry, and talking hurt her chest.

They both glanced over at her, having heard her mumble something, though they couldn't make out what she said…at least they knew she was still conscious. Sasuke felt his resolve grow, hearing only the faint mumble of her voice. That wasn't how Sakura was supposed to sound. They needed to get her out of there.

"…I trust you to be able to do it…and then…once you free her, take her and get the hell out of here."

"Sasuke…what?" Why did it sound like he wasn't planning on coming…why did it sound like he wasn't planning on surviving?

"…Even in this state, I can at least delay him a little…" It was over. This was all he could do. Fine. If this was his last act, so be it. At least his team would be safe…at least she would be safe. It hurt, he was unsteady, but he managed to push himself up so he was standing. "…No more…I've lost everything once before…I don't ever…want to watch those precious to me die in front of me again…" He declared, his resolve solid.

Despite the pain and effort it was taking her to breathe, Sakura's eyes shot wide open.

"We're someone precious to him! Eeeeeeek!"

"That's not important right now! 'Watch those precious to me die in front of me again'…?! Did Sasuke-kun…he witnessed the massacre?! I thought…I thought he walked in on the aftermath…or maybe was hiding somewhere while it happened. But he actually…he actually watched his family die…"

Sakura felt her heart break for him. Her own resolve grew.

"I'm not going to die here! I'm not going to put him through that kind of pain again!"

Naruto's eyes widened…Those precious to him…that was why Sasuke had reflexively jumped in front of him in the Land of Waves…because Naruto was someone precious to him. That's why Sakura faced down Gaara and took the hit for Sasuke…because he was precious to her. That's why Kakashi had vowed to not let his comrades die…because they were precious to him. That was why they were always defending each other when it came down to it, in spite of the insults they passed back and forth…team 7 was precious to one another. They were an incredibly close knit team, maybe even more so than the rest of the "Rookie Nine," because when it came down to it, they were all each other really had. And that was what made them strong.

"You're absolutely right…I thought of him as strong, cuz like me, he grew up wrapped in loneliness and sadness…and yet he kept fighting for himself from inside that core of solitude…"

Sasuke stared at him in shock…Naruto never really talked about how lonely he'd been before…Naruto never really spoke of anything he felt prior to Iruka-sensei accepting him. Sasuke had known he was all alone, just like him. He had seen it in his eyes. But he never spoke about that openly after they became team 7.

"…But that's not what it takes to be truly strong, is it…you can't really get strong just fighting only for yourself…" He thought of Haku, who'd become so strong because he had Zabuza to fight for. Iruka-sensei, who'd taken a giant shuriken in the back to protect him. Sakura, who became skilled at things a child shouldn't know anything about to save her mom. When people were protecting someone truly precious to them…they truly could become as strong as they needed to be!

Naruto pushed himself up, a serious, determined look on his face that Sasuke had never seen him wear before.

"…Naruto…"

"HYAAAAA!" He summoned the demon fox's chakra.

"It's just like before in his battle with Neji!"

Sasuke had missed Naruto's match. This was entirely new and unbelievable to him. The amount of chakra he was summoning…was this really Naruto?!

"I swear I'll protect all of you! Multi shadow clone jutsu!" The trees were suddenly filled with Narutos…too many to count. Pakkun, Temari, Gaara, and Sasuke were all absolutely shocked.

The small toad smirked. "Turn's out the brat's pretty good!"

Gaara looked around in bewilderment. "Wh…What the…how many clones did he create?!"

Sasuke looked up at Naruto wide eyed…the shockwave of the chakra Naruto summoned had actually thrown him off balance and made him fall on his butt. "You…this…"

"Sasuke, relax. Leave the rest to me!"

This…

"All right, y'all! Time to move!"

This was Naruto?!

"Go!" The endless amount of Narutos all rushed at Gaara from every direction. "Naruto's ninja handbook! Everywhere shuriken!"

Shuriken rained down on Gaara, who still hadn't recovered from the last attack. He could only use the sand to shield himself. He brought his claw up to block himself, the throwing stars embedding in his sand arm. He suddenly felt several feet kicking up hard at him from below.

"U—"

"Zu—"

"Ma—"

"Ki!"

"Naruto's 2000 blows…" Gaara was kicked and punched from every direction, throwing him higher into the air. "…Barrage!" A final Naruto punched him hard and sent him careening into the ground.

"Ugh…wh…what is he…all of the sudden…"

"Yeah! It ain't over yet! There's so much more to come!" The army of Narutos bore down on Gaara. "This time, we're using both feet as well…a 4000 blow barrage!"

Gaara glared. There was no way…he couldn't…

"I will not lose to someone like you!" Gaara roared loudly. There was an explosion of sand and wind, popping almost all of the Naruto clones. Tree limbs shattered.

Through the dust cloud, the form of a giant beast was visible, with a huge tail waving through the air.

Sasuke's jaw dropped. He shuddered at the killing intent the monster emitted. Wh…what was that?

The tiny toad croaked in surprise. "His opponent is quite good!"

Temari stared at what once was her baby brother in horror. It had finally emerged. The perfect possession form!

Naruto's jaw dropped, eyes wide with horror. So that was the monster Gaara had inside him…It was huge!

Gaara held out a giant claw, sand dripping out of it and surrounding Naruto.

Naruto had a moment of panic as the sand began to engulf him. Damnit! He'd used up all his chakra with those clones just now! What was he gonna—

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, horrified of what was about to happen to his friend.

Naruto felt a surge of determination. He had to save his teammates! His precious people! He bit down hard on his thumb, drawing blood, and began to weave signs.

Sasuke tried to move but his muscles shook. "Damn…can't get up!"

"I can't believe I was forced to reveal myself…but it's all over now. Sand coffin!" The beast growled.

The sand engulfed Naruto completely.

"Sand burial!"

"Summoning jutsu!"

Naruto and Gaara cast their jutsu in the same moment, and the the giant toad appearing under his feet was the only thing that saved Naruto from the sand about to implode on him.

Sasuke stared up at the humongous toad, clothed in a yukata, carrying a katana and smoking a pipe…How did he have the power to summon something so huge…just what had Naruto been up to?!

Sakura could no longer spare any focus on the battle. When Gaara had transformed into that huge creature, the sand around her had tightened painfully. There was too much pressure on her chest. Her lungs couldn't expand at all. She was gasping desperately for air, but it was no use, and in her body's desperate need for oxygen, her heart rate had started to speed up. She could feel it thundering through her.

She had trained under several emotionally triggering scenarios with Kurenai, but the one thing they had never worked on was physical panic. The kind brought about in the body's last desperate struggles for life. For some reason, in all her tests and trials, she'd never even thought of this kind of situation…She hadn't been scared or panicky before, because she wasn't scared of Gaara and the situation hadn't become desperate. But now she was suffocating, centimeters from death. There was no stopping it…she panicked.

Her chakra exploded out of her with such force, the sand gripping her in place blew off her and scattered into tiny particles on the wind. The tree she'd been pegged to cracked violently around her, her body leaving a small crater in the bark as she fell forward.

"What the…" Pakkun shouted. The smell of Sakura's chakra was overpowering, blocking out almost everything else except for the sent of the monstrous beast.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted, his eyes filled with terror. Maybe the appearance of that monster had pushed her over an emotional threshold and triggered her curse, but with her body already weakened, her chances of surviving the attack were probably even lower than usual! He gathered all his strength and jumped to intercept her free fall, catching her very carefully behind her knees and around the tips of her shoulders, wary of causing any greater injury to her chest. He set her down carefully on another tree, holding her close to him protectively, one had supporting her shoulders to keep her upright.

"Sakura!" Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut. Her body shook in his arms, her muscles twitching in pain. The chakra shone through her fair skin. He had no idea what to do. He grabbed her hand and her fingers locked around his in a painfully tight grasp, but nothing happened. She didn't start sharing her chakra with him immediately.

Sakura hadn't really been aware of herself falling, nor that her movement had suddenly been arrested. She was learning that physically induced panic was very different than emotionally induced. The attack had been triggered because of her desperation for oxygen, so she thought, with the pressure removed and the ability to breathe again, she'd start to calm quickly. She hadn't accounted for how her body would obviously try to over compensate, automatically sucking in deep breaths of air as soon as she was able. That would have been fine if it weren't for her broken ribs. Her chest burned painfully when her lungs expanded too much, forcing her to take short shallow breaths. These weren't enough to satisfy her body at a normal rate, so she had to take them quickly. That rapid kind of breathing was not conducive to calming down—actually, it fed into anxiety and panic. On top of that, her own chakra tearing through her and making her whole body scream with pain was definitely not helping. She was pretty sure the force of her chakra actually broke another one of her ribs, based on the sudden emphatic pain on the right side of her chest, but it was truly impossible to tell with how much agony she was in overall. She couldn't scream, because that took too much breath and forced her lungs to expand painfully. So much like her very first attack, her screams were forced out into clenched whimpers and pained groans.

"This…is a vicious circle…"

"Sakura!"

"…Sasuke-kun…?" His voice sounded far away. She couldn't hear him clearly.

"—chakra with me!"

"What?"

"Sa…Sasu…ke…kun?"

"Share your chakra with me, Sakura!"

"Share my chakra? Is he…?" She became aware that her hand was clenched tightly around something…his hand. She'd been too caught up in the unfortunate mechanics of this type of attack, that she hadn't even registered his presence next to her. She closed her eyes and felt his chakra's flow through his palm, concentrated on his thunderous rhythm, and with a lot of effort, matched hers to his, weaving it into his hand.

Sasuke once again felt the dispersing tingle of her chakra flowing into him, except this time, there was no end to it. He'd take as much of it away from her as he could if it meant she'd survive this.

Sakura felt her mind clear a little as her chakra lessened slightly.

"I need to calm down. Normally during an attack…I'd focus on my breathing…but that'll probably make things worse…"

"…Hair…"

"What?!"

Sakura attempted to move her right arm to her head, but it felt like someone set her chest on fire. Sasuke looked down at her, alarmed.

"Stop moving! What are you trying to do?!" Shouting at a person whose condition was triggered by panic was not the best move, but Sasuke wasn't sure what to do. He'd never been in the caregiver position before. This sort of thing was natural to Sakura, but not to him.

"…Pet my head…" She ground out, frustrated that she had to rely on a teammate for this. The whole point of her training was to be able to manage her attacks by herself, or at least, mostly by herself.

"Wha—" He stopped himself from asking. She was in no condition to give long explanations. And if he thought about it, he didn't really need one. He'd seen Sakura run her hand through her hair hundreds of times. When she was nervous, when she was anxious, when she was frustrated, when she was thinking. It must have some sort of soothing effect for her. He carefully shifted Sakura closer to him, bringing the arm that was supporting her around her shoulders to the side of her head, and gently brushed his fingers through her hair. He was a little surprised by how soft it was. It had always looked soft, but he hadn't expected it to feel as soft as it looked, especially under these circumstances. He didn't even notice the way his curse mark began receding with the repeated action, his focus was entirely on helping Sakura calm down.

There was a loud thud and a huge shockwave as the toad's giant katana impaled itself into the ground not far from their location. Sasuke had to use chakra just to keep himself in place with how violently the trees shook. He held Sakura closer, angling his body to shield her as much as possible.

The violent shaking definitely hadn't done her any favors. She let out a gasping cry of pain as she felt her ribs rattle. She focused carefully on the feel of fingers brushing through her hair, and Sasuke's chakra as she continuously transferred hers. Her mind was clearing enough for her to really start considering her options.

"Between my chakra, the pain, being unable to breathe properly, and whatever the hell is going on with Naruto and Gaara, I'm not going to be able to properly calm down…who knows how long it's been since this attack started, since it always feels like hours for me…I need to be fully knocked out…it's the only way I have a shot at surviving this…"

"…Sasuke-kun…" The shaking had temporarily subsided, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to hear her weakened voice. She was looking up at him her eyes pained but lucid…that had to good, right?

"…I need…to be knocked unconscious…in…in my pouch…there's…dark purple sedative…" It occurred to her that there was a good chance the bottle had been broken. She kept her weapons pouch on her backside, which had been slammed into a tree and crushed between it and her body being pressed into it by the crushing weight of the sand. "…if…ishattered then…you need to…knock me out by force."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He didn't think Sakura could take being knocked out by force at the moment. "Let go of my hand." He ordered.

She stopped letting her chakra flow into him, disconnecting her hand with some effort. With his other hand free, he shifted her forward and unclasped her weapons pouch. She groaned in pain at the change in position, and groaned again when he moved her back to the way they had been. With one hand he dug through her weapons pouch until he found the small bottle of dark purple liquid. It was cracked, but it didn't look like too much had leaked out.

"fast acting…but…it'll take my chakra…twenty minutes…to…normal…I have…at least three broken ribs…I'll probably be out…for a while…once Naruto's safe…all of us need…hospital…he's probably—"

"Worry about the rest of us later!" He snapped. She was so annoying! She was being ripped apart by her own chakra plus dealing with perviously broken ribs—by far the closest to death of the three of them right now, and she was worried about Naruto, who was mounted atop a giant katana wielding toad at the moment?

He uncapped the bottle and held it up to her lips. She'd thankfully calmed enough to be able to swallow it on her own without someone having to force her. It didn't take long for the world to grow fuzzy around her. She didn't try to fight the pull dragging her under. The last thing she saw before everything faded was Sasuke's onyx eyes staring down at her, and a downpour of water beginning to rain down on them.

---

Sakura awoke but didn't immediately open her eyes, instead choosing to do a mental check of her condition first. She noted she was lying on something soft…a bed. There was a smell of antiseptic in the air. She must have been brought to a hospital. There was a dull ache in her chest, but she was breathing normally. They must have healed the broken ribs but not fully…otherwise, she felt fine, with the exception of a minor headache.

She opened her eyes and began to slowly push herself up. Immediately, a hand was on her shoulder pushing her back down. She looked up to see Kakashi sitting beside her. Sasuke was leaning against a wall, arms folded across his chest, and Naruto was in the bed next to hers, sitting up, and looking more or less his usual energetic self, though he had bruises everywhere, and his cheek and head were bandaged.

"Take it easy, your ribs are still pretty bruised." Kakashi advised gently, secretly very relieved to see her wake up. After he and the other Jonin had taken out the enemies in the arena, he'd gone after his students. He'd come across Asuma on the way, supporting a tired and minorly injured Shikamaru, who'd informed him he'd sensed a huge explosion of what felt like Sakura's chakra earlier, though it had since faded. Kakashi had instantly assumed the worst, and sped to the area that had the most colossal wreckage. He'd found Pakkun, standing watch over an unconscious Sakura occasionally sniffing at her. He'd started checking on her, but had been interrupted by Naruto and Sasuke struggling over, the latter supporting the former. Sasuke had briefly filled him in on Sakura and Naruto's condition and that they needed to get to the hospital—by order of Sakura. Kakashi had taken Naruto from Sasuke, since his dark haired student looked exhausted, and Sakura was lighter than Naruto, and team 7 had set off for the hospital. The medic had said she'd be fine, but he was still worried, unsure of lingering effects from the kekkei genkai.

"I know, sensei, but so long as they're bruised and not broken, it's safe to move." Sakura countered, pushing herself up again and wincing in the process.

Kakashi blinked down at her. Yup, she was definitely fine.

"What time is it?"

"2pm. You've been out for 25 hours." Sasuke answered. He didn't move from his spot on the wall, but his eyes scanned over her to reaffirm her own assessment. The memory of her pained twitching and choked back screams had yet to leave his mind…he hadn't felt so useless since…His fist tightened against his side as he pulled his eyes away from her, glowering at the floor.

"Sakura, do you feel rested?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I have my full, normal chakra."

"Good." He said, holding up four metal bangles. "A medic returned these to me. Apparently Dosu was killed in the attack."

"Orochimaru must have deemed him a liability…"

"That sick psychotic bastard, treating human beings like expendable resources! Disgusting!"

Sakura quickly undid her weights, switching them with the four Kakashi handed her. Bending forward to put the weights on her ankles hurt her chest a little, but it was nothing unbearable.

"What happened with Gaara-kun?" She asked, as Kakashi activated the metal bands. She felt the familiar addition of half her body weight on each limb.

Sasuke tensed. She was still calling him that? And Gaara…apparently liked it.

Sakura hadn't been wrong. As Sasuke carefully shielded her from the carryover of Naruto and Gaara's insane battle, her chakra began to lessen and slow. When the giant Tanuki crumbled away, and Naruto's toad disappeared, Sasuke knew the battle was drawing to a close. He wanted to make sure Naruto was ok, after all, he'd finally admitted to himself that the loudmouth blond was important to him too, almost like a…whatever, he was important, but he hesitated to leave Sakura. As her chakra continued to slow and settle, he decided it was safe enough to step away.

He lowered her down gently onto the branch, his eyes softening as he looked down at her. She was hurt because of him, because she'd taken the blow in his stead…it bothered him, but it also made him feel…warm. He hadn't thought she would do something like that for him…hadn't thought anyone would do something like that for him. Everyone who might have had been killed, or betrayed him. Naruto would, but he was reckless and impulsive and…strong. It wouldn't be the life or death choice it had been for Sakura. She was strong too, but in a different way, not like that. So the idea that she would put her life on the line so recklessly…he never thought she'd go that far for him.

Pakkun padded over to them, looking at Sakura with confusion and concern. What the hell happened with that girl's chakra?!

"Take care of her…" Sasuke ordered, still looking at Sakura softly, before turning and leaping off.

When he reached Naruto, the blond was badly beaten, too tired to even crawl, yet he was still worming his way towards Gaara, who was staring at him brokenly.

"And they understand me…I couldn't live without them…I love them." Naruto declared.

"…Love…" Gaara murmured, his eyes softening a little as he recalled what Yashamaru had told him about love and how it made a person want to protect those precious to them. So, that was why Naruto was so strong…that was why that girl, Sakura, was so fearless. Because they had people they loved.

Sasuke landed next to Naruto, kneeling down. "You can stop now Naruto…Sakura's safe."

Naruto looked up at him in surprise. "Her chakra—"

"Blew the sand off of her and freed her. She's unconscious, so it's settled now. And Gaara's used up his chakra. She's safe."

"…Oh good…" Naruto said with a tired smile.

"That girl…Sakura…she's still alive?" Gaara asked.

Sasuke's eyes shot to him in a glare, but it melted at the look on Gaara's face…he looked relieved.

Cause he was. Gaara was very relieved to hear that Sakura had survived. Perhaps, maybe someday, he could be as strong as Naruto and Sakura. Maybe someday he could have people to protect, people precious to him. And maybe then…he'd become precious to someone else as well. If he started trying to let others in…Uzumaki Naruto, who was like him, but far stronger, who had opened his eyes and made him understand true strength. Haruno Sakura, who was one of the few to never be afraid of him, who'd offered him warmth and compassion despite his monstrous state, despite being too drowned in darkness to accept…so hearing that he hadn't succeeded in killing the first person to smile at him in a long time, the only one to call him Gaara-kun, was a great relief to him.

Sasuke hesitated, but nodded, eyeing the red head warily.

"…I'm glad…" Gaara murmured. The smallest of smiles graced his features. Suddenly the other two people he wanted to try letting in dropped in front of him. His older siblings, who despite their fear of him, did everything they could to protect him while he'd been unstable.

Temari and Kankuro eyed Sasuke and Naruto warily, tense and on guard incase Sasuke tried to attack…even now, they were trying to protect him, despite how badly he'd treated them in the past.

"It's all right…I quit." Gaara said tiredly, staring up at the sky.

Kankuro's eyes widened. He'd never seen Gaara so exhausted before.

"All right…" He allowed, pulling Gaara's arm around his shoulder and hoisting him up.

"Temari, Kankuro…I'm so sorry…" He said, as they leapt away. It was time to try again, letting people in, and loving them.

Sasuke watched them carry Gaara away, before turning to Naruto, who'd passed out. Copying Kankuro, he slung Naruto's arm over his neck and pulled him up. They had to get back to Sakura.

Sasuke's attention refocused as Naruto animatedly told her about his battle with Gaara, Shukaku the sand demon, and the chief toad.

"—He was actually happy to hear you survived, Sakura-chan!…y'know, I don't think he's really a bad guy…he was just…so alone. But you knew that, didn't you Sakura-chan?"

"Um, no not really…All I knew was that he was lonely, but I didn't think he wasn't bad…I just…I didn't care. I felt bad for him."

Naruto smiled warmly while Sasuke let out an exasperated huff. How like her. She really was too compassionate. Too caring. It would probably end up getting her hurt, but he wouldn't want her to change.

"What triggered your attack?" Kakashi asked. "Based on what Sasuke and Naruto told me, it doesn't sound like it was because of Gaara."

"I mean it was because of his sand. It pressed so tight that I couldn't breathe…I'd actually read about it before. Suffocation is a very slow and painful way for the body to die, especially because the body instinctually fights it. It keeps trying to draw in air no matter what, and because it isn't succeeding—"

"The body starts panicking." Kakashi finished. "So that was why. And your desire to survive pushed you over emotionally."

"Yeah."

"I knew it wasn't a curse Sakura-chan! Your chakra totally saved you!"

"And then broke one of her ribs and almost killed her…" Sasuke muttered. It still seemed like a curse to him.

"I wouldn't say that…" Sakura trailed off. She hadn't heard what Sasuke said, but her sentiments were in line with his.

"That kekkei genkai is far too painful to be anything but a curse."

"Never mind that, is everyone ok? Shikamaru? Ino-chan? Hinata-chan? Kiba?"

"All fine…Orochimaru…killed the Third Hokage…" Kakashi said after a brief pause.

Naruto and Sasuke's eyes dropped. He'd told them earlier.

"The funeral is tomorrow…"

Sakura stared down at her hands. She didn't have a strong emotional tie to the Third Hokage. She wasn't sure whether it was his ruling, or Hokages previous that he never deemed necessary to change, but the legislature of the village had made her life difficult on many occasions. Still, this was her village and her home. Her friends were here. Her family. And he had been its leader, its protector. More than that, it drove home the fear and dislike she had for Orochimaru.

"That snake bastard was strong enough to kill the Hokage and he's undoubtedly still after Sasuke-kun. He's incredibly dangerous…we'll have to be on our guard."

"The invasion caused a lot of damage in the village. The hospital staff and medics are spread pretty thin. That's why they didn't heal your ribs fully."

"That makes sense. If they're inundated, I should probably stop taking up unnecessary bed space…" Sakura's voice trailed off, her eyes widening.

"Caused a lot of damage in the village?! Oh no…!"

She was out of the bed in an instant, and tearing out of the room, ignoring the dull ache of her bruised ribs.

The boys and Kakashi stared after her for a second in confusion, before all three of them were on their feet and out the door, chasing after her.

---

"Sakura! You shouldn't be—" Kakashi called after her, but his protest died as he recognized the surroundings. Oh…that explained it. She was running for her apartment to check on her mother. And she had good reason for concern. Sakura lived on the outskirts of the village, not far from the wall…a geographically undesirable area for several reasons, one of which being that the walls and outskirts were the first to take hits during an attack. There was damage in towards central Konoha, but the damage was greater on the outskirts. Many of the villagers had been at the arena for the chunin exams during the attack, but that didn't include Haruno Mebuki…Kakashi had a very bad feeling.

Naruto and Sasuke recognized the direction they were heading in as well. Kakashi's bad feeling spread to them.

"Mebuki-obachan…you don't think…" Naruto trailed off, nervously.

"There are evacuation protocols in place." Kakashi answered with forced calm.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. That assumed Mebuki had been well enough to comply with those protocols.

She can't really go out anymore…

He picked up his pace, a foreboding feeling settling in his gut.

---

Sakura skidded to a stop in front of her apartment building…it was damaged, some parts smashed and caved in, but the structure was still standing. The back of the building looked worse then the front, making it unclear how bad and where exactly the damage was. There was a chunin with a clipboard nearby assessing the damage in the area, talking to a few other shinobi.

It felt like she was in a genjutsu scenario, training with Kurenai.

"Stay calm…I have to stay calm."

"Hey!" She called, running up to the chunin with the clipboard. "Was everyone evacuated from this building?" She demanded urgently.

"Yeah. That's protocol."

"Did you double check?"

"Well, I wasn't—"

"Did anyone double check?!" She all but growled.

"…No, there wasn't time—hey wait! You can't go in there! We don't know if it's stable!"

Sakura paid no attention, as she sprinted for the building's stairs.

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke, arrived in time to see Sakura starting up the stairs and wasted no time in following. The four paid no regard to how the building creaked and groaned with their presence.

Sakura stopped outside her apartment on the third floor.

"Stay calm…I have to stay calm. No matter what, I need to find her…"

Sakura pushed open the door and felt her heart stop. Parts of the ceiling and wall had fallen, allowing for a view of the completely wrecked apartment above theirs. Some of the floorboards had given out, revealing the apartment below. There were piles of debris everywhere, almost completely covering the main room and parts of the kitchen. The space where the futon should have been was completely covered in broken wood, stone, and metal. There was no stopping the panic clawing its way through her. She lunged at the debris pile as her chakra exploded, cracking the strained and damaged floors and walls.

The building trembled a little at the force of her chakra, and there were audible shifts and crashes as loose debris was effected by the overpowering energy she emanated, though the building didn't completely collapse.

It was the first reaction she had almost entirely no awareness of. Her body flooded with pain but her mind was so singularly latched on to finding her mother that it barely registered and hardly stopped her. She'd seen her mother die in tons of genjutsu simulations, but those ended the second her reaction started, and she'd always known she was in a genjutsu. Her mind had never latched on to the scenarios after they broke because she knew it had been fake from the start. Nothing prepared her for this—for having the reaction because it was real, because the scene didn't shatter. It was closer to the way she'd responded when Kurenai had tested rage. The attack didn't stop all of the thoughts in her head, her mind was still present, with the driving need to get to her mother.

Arms circled around her waist, pulling her back. A hand appeared in her vision, holding a small bottle of dark purple liquid.

"No! I can't be knocked out now! I need to find mom!"

She thrashed, knocking the bottle from Kakashi's hand, fighting hard to free herself from his grasp.

"No! I need to find her first!" She screamed, her voice strained with pain and desperation.

"You need to get control over this attack first! You could bring the whole building down!" Kakashi argued…but he knew it was unfair to tell her to calm down in this situation. No one would be able to. He certainly wouldn't. It's why he'd tried to use the sedative to put her under, instead of trying to tell her to do so. She struggled hard against him, the pressure of her chakra making her difficult to hold, forcing him to let go.

She completely ignored him, climbing over broken pieces of wood and stone, which began cracking even more under the force of her chakra. She fell to her knees near where the futon should have been and dug through the rubble, doubling over, when the motion sent a particularly strong wave of pain through her, ripping a horrible cry from her.

Naruto had never really seen the worst of Sakura's chakra attacks before. He'd either been away from the scene, or arrived when she had already begun to calm down. He stood, wide eyed and shaking at the sight. This was horrible…no wonder she and Sasuke thought of it as a curse…

Sakura gave a pained growl, before resuming her task of digging through the debris to find her mom. Naruto swallowed hard…he thought of how desperate he'd been to save Iruka-sensei when he'd taken the shuriken in the back for him. Sakura seemed even more so…he couldn't let her do this alone. Naruto knelt not far from Sakura and began digging as well. He'd help her find Mebuki, because that's what she needed more than to calm down at the moment.

Sasuke and Kakashi were not of the same mindset, both carefully approaching Sakura as if she were a wounded animal, preparing to knock her out by force.

Sakura let out another pained growl.

"I can't stop! I need to find mom…but I need to do something about this chakra…"

She acted on instinct. She reached out for Kakashi's hand. Realizing what she was trying to do, he quickly pulled his glove off, allowing her to grasp it. But she didn't stop there. Grabbing Sasuke by the shirt, she yanked him close to her, and pressed her lips to his.

Sasuke stiffened, his eyes shooting wide. Unfortunately, this wasn't his first kiss…due to a very unfortunate mishap in the academy, that had actually been with Naruto. All the same, it was unexpected and uncomfortable. He'd never even imagined doing this. And she wasn't a fangirl…she'd never expressed interest in him like this before, had she? Or had he just been unaware…Why would she—?! Now of all times…but then he felt his body warm and tingle. Her chakra was flowing into him faster and more seamlessly than ever before. She was giving him more at once more quickly than when she'd transferred her chakra by just holding his hand. That was why she did this. For some reason, lip contact must have been a better point of contact for the transfer. Besides, it really was just lip contact. There was no additional movement or change in pressure. And if it had to be invading his personal space like this, it was better Sakura than Naruto or a fangirl pressing their face to his..

Sakura wasn't thinking. She didn't have the time or energy to think about her actions. She had acted purely on the need to offload as much of her chakra as possible. It was easy transferring her chakra to Sasuke, now. Not only had she done it already on several occasions, but she felt his chakra much more clearly through the lip contact. It was a half baked theory she'd had during her training, that it would be easier to sense chakra as heat based energy rather than pressure based. She'd never tested it before though. It seemed like she was right…She'd never passed off so much energy so quickly. The hard part was the she was simultaneously attempting to transfer her chakra to Kakashi as well. She'd never transferred chakra to two different people at once…They both had very different chakra rhythms, and to complete the transfer, she had to match her chakra to both. It required the same kind of focus as simultaneously casting a jutsu while wearing the chakra weights. It was a difficult feat to accomplish under normal circumstances. With her chakra going haywire, it made it all the more difficult. There were a few times where she stopped sharing with Kakashi all together, in favor of Sasuke, whom she could transfer more too with less effort. But between the two of them, she managed to pass enough of her chakra off, that she figured she probably wouldn't die, not that that was important at the moment. The second she felt her chakra diminish enough for her to continue her search, she shoved away from Sasuke and Kakashi, immediately returning to her task of digging through the rubble.

Sasuke fell back a little from the force she'd unintentionally applied. His hand jumped to his mouth, his entire body feeling heated. From her chakra. That was why he felt so overheated right now.

Kakashi watched her grimly, her jaw clenched in pain…he couldn't bring himself to pull her away from this…

Naruto saw what happened, and after staring wide eyed for a second, he'd turned his attention back to digging. Sakura had said she was in love with the bastard…it was obvious to see if you knew where to look. But Sakura had never strongly acted on those feelings…and that wasn't the feeling she gave off when she kissed him. That wasn't an expression of emotions, that was something else. He didn't know what, but he wasn't jealous. It surprised him a little that he wasn't…he'd had a crush on Sakura since they'd been placed on a team. But there was nothing to be jealous of, not in that moment at least, because the situation didn't allow for it. It became even more apparent that her actions hadn't been motivated by her love for the bastard, by the way she shoved away from him, her focus entirely back on the rubble. No. There was definitely nothing to be jealous of. And the thing Sakura needed most in that moment, was to find her mother. So Naruto kept digging. But as he sifted through more debris something made him hesitate. He was no Kiba, but he had a pretty good nose, and he was pretty sure he was smelling blood.

Sasuke and Kakashi watched Sakura as she frantically dug through the wreckage. She tossed several pieces of broken beams, boards, and stone aside paying them little to no attention, but Sasuke's eyes caught on the streak of red on the corner of the broken beam segment she'd just moved.

"…Kakashi-sensei…" He muttered quietly, his stomach dropping.

"…Yeah…" The grown man answered grimly. He'd seen it too.

Sakura suddenly froze, such a sharp contrast from her earlier frenzied movements that it drew all the boys' attention.

Sakura stared wide eyed down at the white hand, streaked with dirt and dried blood. It sat in a mostly dried pool of blood, though some patches still looked wet and sticky. All her panic drained out of her, feeling sick and oddly blank as she stared down at the only visible part of her mom. This was what medical texts often referred to as being in shock, though her mind failed to supply that information. Her mind failed to supply her with anything. It was like everything sounded muffled and far away.

They all saw it. The hand. Kakashi was quick to react, grabbing Sakura and pulling her out of the room. Sasuke and Naruto just stood silently, staring at it.

Haruno Mebuki was dead.

They both felt the loss. They'd only met her once, but she'd smiled at them, welcomed them into her home with an open invitation to return, teased them and joked with them, and declared them a part of her family. They didn't know her well and weren't tightly bonded to her. But her words and warmth had meant a lot to both of them…and she was gone. Naruto had never lost anyone before…he'd never had anyone to lose. This was the first time, and it hurt. His eyes burned and his shoulders shook. He couldn't imagine how bad this must be for Sakura.

Sasuke could. While Mebuki's kindness had meant a lot to him, he hadn't fully let her in or let himself get attached. He wasn't as open to people as Naruto was…it had been amazing his team had even wheedled their way past his many walls in the first place. So while Mebuki was unquestionably a loss, it didn't hurt that much. And loss was a familiar feeling to him anyways, so it didn't deeply bother him or stir him to tears as it did Naruto. But he knew exactly how much it had to hurt for Sakura, and he was worried about her. He closed his eyes and bowed his head in a moment of silence before turning to Naruto.

"I'm going to check on Sakura."

"…Yeah." The blond murmured, his voice thick.

They both stepped outside, closing the door behind them.

---

Sakura sat leaned against a tree near the apartment building, staring blankly ahead at it, her knees pulled to her chest.

Her chakra had begun to slow and even out, coming down from the panic and the attack it had spurred. But she paid no attention to how exhausted and achey her body felt. She just stared at her ruined apartment. Kakashi knelt silently in front of her, studying her sadly.

"Sakura…"

She heard him, but he sounded so fuzzy and distant, even though she knew he was within arms reach of her.

"Mom…she's…"

He was concerned by her lack of responsiveness. Though it seemed she was calming…her chakra was steadying, becoming closer to its normal state. That was the only good news. He felt the boys draw up to them.

"Stay with her." He ordered, standing up.

"Where are you going?" He turned back to her, surprised she'd spoken at all. Her tone was flat and distant and she wasn't looking at him, all of which were concerning and disconcerting, but at least she seemed to have some awareness. She wasn't totally catatonic. He stared down at her for a second before answering.

"…To get her out." He said, finally.

Sakura blinked, then nodded slowly, her eyes still fixated on the ruined building.

Kakashi nodded and walked back to the apartment, though he peeled away first to settle the group of chunin and jonin who'd come running, having sensed Sakura's immense chakra and came in prepared to fight another enemy.

Naruto and Sasuke watched him for a moment before turning to Sakura. Naruto dropped down next to her, immediately throwing his arms around her. She stiffened and blinked at the contact, her head slowly turning to look at the blond boy.

"…Naruto…" Her eyes widened when she felt a hand gently brush through her hair. She turned her head to the opposite side to see Sasuke seated next to her, looking away from her, but his arm was extended, his hand brushing through her hair.

"…Sasuke-kun…"

Neither boy moved or made any attempt to change their position. Sakura slowly turned her gaze back to the apartment, becoming aware of the post chakra reaction exhaustion pulling at her…maybe if she gave in, when she woke up this would all just have been a nightmare. Maybe this wasn't real and her mother was still alive. She let her eyes pull closed, praying for a better reality when they opened again.

---

When her eyes opened again, it was late afternoon, and reality wasn't better. Her apartment building was still in ruins. Her mother was still dead. She hadn't moved, and neither had Sasuke or Naruto.

"Sakura-chan…you're awake." Naruto murmured, his voice heavy and his eyes filled with concern.

"It really wasn't a bad dream…it's real…she's really gone…"

Sakura-chan, what if I come see your match…

No, mom…

Sakura felt like she'd been stabbed. Twice.

"It's…it's my fault."

Sakura's fist clenched tightly.

Kakashi walked towards the three, holding a cardboard box. He sent it gently down in front of Sakura.

"This was all I was able to salvage…" He said softly, his eyes sad.

Her gaze slowly dropped to the contents of the box. A few dirty, slightly torn articles of clothing, a few jars of dried plants and liquids—ingredients for various remedies and medicines, her shampoo, soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, a couple of medical texts, a few scrolls, her experiment journal, their team picture, and the broken, cracked, frame holding her family picture.

Sakura-chan, what if I come see your match…

No, mom…

"It's all my fault…"

"…I need to arrange her funeral…" Funerals were covered by the state for active shinobi, but civilian's had to fund their own…and they could be pricey. "Land plots can be pretty expensive…" She murmured, more to herself than to the others, though they easily heard her.

Sasuke stared at her blankly. Funerals were expensive? She'd have to plan it herself? When his clan had been killed, he'd had no involvement in the funeral preparations. The village had taken care of it. He recalled Sakura telling them about how many village sanctions protected shinobi but didn't extend to civilians. This must be another. It struck him as the most unfair. To make someone grieving the loss of someone precious, solely responsible for burying them and honoring of their death. How was anyone supposed to plan anything while suffering that pain?

Kakashi looked at his pink haired student sadly. Even now, she was still so responsible and burdened by her circumstances.

"I'll take care of it, Sakura." He told her gently.

She didn't say anything for a second, staring down at what was left of her home.

"We don't have to worry about her, anymore…" It was such a quiet whisper, from the deepest part of herself, but she'd heard it, and it made muscles jump. Her fist clenched tighter.

"…Thank you…" She said tightly, her gaze trained on the box. "Please…please leave me alone…I…I just want to be alone right now."

"No way, Sakura-chan! We're not leaving you—" He was cut off by a sharp tug on his jacket as Sasuke pulled him away from her. "What the hell bastard?!"

"We're going." He told him flatly, dragging him away towards the road.

"But Sakura-chan—!"

"Leave her be." He knew better than anyone the need to be alone. Loneliness was the worst kind of pain…but sometimes other people were too much, and he needed space and time to himself. And when he needed that space, there was nothing worse than being around other people. If that's what Sakura needed right now, he'd give it to her without question, and he'd make sure the dead last honored her wish as well.

Kakashi straightened, watching the two boys walk away. Naruto meant well. And undoubtedly, they needed to make sure Sakura knew she still had them. That they were there for her. But in this case, he agreed more with Sasuke's choice. Sakura needed some space.

"You should read this…" She said, holding out the journal he'd rescued. His brow furrowed in confusion, but he took the journal none the less, slipping it into his pouch. Whatever it was, it could wait.

"I'll go get everything set up. Is there anyone you want me to tell?"

"Ino-pig…and it's ok if she tells Shikamaru…she'll probably want to see me but I…"

"I understand. Don't worry, I'll handle it." Kakashi turned to walk away, but stopped when he heard her begin to speak.

"Thank you, sensei."

He felt a deep pang of sadness for his student. As sad and despondent as she sounded, it was impossible to miss the gratitude in her voice. She was so used to having to handle everything on her own, that even such a basic show of decency came as a surprise to her. It was likely that there was a small piece of her that had been preparing herself for having to take care of this on her own since her mother first got sick.

"Of course, Sakura."

---

Sasuke lay in his bed studying the paper crane Sakura had given him. This had become a frequent practice for him over his month training with Kakashi. He knew by heart every fold of paper, catalogued every crinkle, knew the exact shades of blue, pink, and gold, was aware of every fine detail on the petals. Sometimes while he did this, he only thought of Sakura, sometimes only his mother, sometimes both. Today it was Sakura. She hadn't cried. Not once. When he'd lost his family…he'd cried so much that night. But Sakura hadn't. He knew she had the capacity to cry. She'd done it over him and over her mother. But she hadn't cried. That meant she was holding it in. Why? If ever there was a time…maybe she had once they'd left. Maybe she'd been holding it in because they were there, for some reason. The idea of Sakura leaning against the tree in the wake of her wrecked apartment, crying alone was oddly unsettling…

He sat bolt upright. Was she still out there? It was already dark. The sun had set hours ago. She couldn't still be sitting there…but where else would she go? That had been her home. Because she was the daughter of a civilian and a genin, the village wouldn't provide her with a new one. She had no money, so she couldn't afford an inn. He was out of his apartment in an instant, flying down the road.

---

Sakura hadn't moved. She sat silently, hearing herself sentence her mother to her death on repeat.

Sakura-chan, what if I come see your match…

No, mom…

"I should have let her come. It was one time, how much damage could it have done?! The arena had been attacked, but everyone had been asleep in a genjutsu, and the chunin and jonin who broke it protected everyone. There hadn't been any civilian casualties at the stadium. If she'd been there, she would have been safe!"

"That's not fair! We didn't know that would happen! And she wasn't doing well that morning…"

But her inner selfs arguments didn't matter to Sakura in the slightest. She was revolted with that part of her…the piece that kept whispering that she was free now, that she didn't have to worry and work so hard just for basic survival anymore, that she could really start training and working toward her dream.

"I make myself sick…"

Her fist clenched so hard, it made the still healing wound on her hand sting, threatening to reopen.

Two feet stopped in her line of vision. Her eyes trailed up, a little surprised to see Sasuke standing in front of her. The two stared at each other in silence.

Sasuke scanned over her face. It wasn't wet, her eyes weren't blood shot, red or puffy. She hadn't cried yet. So she was still holding it in for some reason.

Finally, Sasuke sighed, stooping to pick up the cardboard box of her minimal belongings—although a black funeral dress had been added to the collection. He didn't say anything as he walked away.

Sakura blinked in confusion before rising to follow him.

Kakashi watched from where he'd hidden himself in the tree, slightly relieved. After he'd taken care of the arrangements, he'd tracked down Ino at the Yamanka compound…

Ino-chan…

The girl looked up from the flowers she'd been arranging to see her mother followed by Kakashi. Her hands immediately stilled on the stem she was holding.

"It's Sakura-chan, isn't it? I thought I sensed her chakra earlier but dad wouldn't let me go check it out." Ino asked, concern etched across her features.

"Sakura's mother passed away during the attack…the apartment collapsed while she was still in it." Kakashi said without preamble. There was no point beating around the bush. Much to his discomfort, Ino burst into tears.

"Where's Sakura-chan?! How is she?! I knew it was her chakra earlier…she must have had an attack. It wouldn't have been possible for her to calm down on her own under the circumstances—did she get the sedative within a minute of the attack?! She must be a mess right now! Take me to her!"

Kakashi blinked in confusion. Ino seemed to know a lot about Sakura's kekkei genkai. She even knew about the sedative…

"Slow down a second. Sakura's fine…at least in that respect. She refused the sedative, but shared enough of her chakra that she was able to manage. And once Sakura saw her mother, she…settled."

"Grief was a downer emotion…" Ino murmured sadly, before speaking up again. "Where is she?! Let me see her!"

Kakashi shook his head. "I'm sorry. She wants to be left alone right now. She needs some space. So I can't let you see her, but she wanted me to tell you, and wanted you to be at the funeral. It's tomorrow, after the burial ceremony for the Hokage…"

"I'll take care of the flowers for it." Ino said immediately.

Kakashi nodded his assent, a little shocked by the offer. "She said it was alright if you told Shikamaru."

"He'll be there…Oh, she probably doesn't have anything to wear! Wait here!"

Ino ran upstairs to her room.

Ino's mother shifted sadly. "She really loves that girl, understandably. Sakura-chan's such a good kid. It's a shame she's had to deal with so much…"

It was…it was how he felt about his entire team…they really had grown on him, even though it felt like there was always something going wrong with one of them.

Ino came back down with a funeral dress. Kakashi stared at it for a second before taking it from her. Turned out coming to Ino had been a good thing, because he hadn't thought at all about a dress or flowers.

"Where will she be staying?"

"Well…" He hadn't thought about that either. Why hadn't he thought about that?

"She can stay here! Right mom?"

Ino's mother shifted uncomfortably. "Ino-chan…she can't. Clan rules prohibit anyone from outside to stay on the compound overnight, unless they marry or are adopted into the clan."

"That's not fair! She doesn't have anywhere to go! What's she gonna do?"

"I don't know, sweetheart. But she won't be able to stay here. Or with any other clans, most likely."

Ino looked crestfallen. "But that's not fair!"

"I'm sorry. It's the way it is."

"I'll figure something out." Kakashi told her. Really how had he not thought about this?

He was glad the problem had occurred to Sasuke as well, because he'd been considering what to do about it for the past two hours. He thought about letting her stay with him, but it would have been inappropriate. He lived in a single person apartment, and the age and gender difference between him and Sakura would have looked bad, no matter the intention behind it. His preferred taste in reading material didn't help the optics of it either. He thought about asking Kurenai if she could stay with her, but Kurenai and Asuma had been spending almost every night with each other, and then pretended (badly) that they weren't seeing each other during the day…Teammates stayed with each other all the time on missions. Her staying with Sasuke wouldn't raise any eyebrows. Although, he was surprised Sasuke had made the offer. He never would have expected that. Naruto might have, but that would be if it occurred to him, and Naruto didn't tend to think about logistical issues like that. He dwelt more on emotional ones, like not wanting to leave Sakura alone, and letting her know they were there for her. Besides, Naruto's apartment was too messy for anyone else to stay in. Sasuke had always been oddly attentive to Sakura, but he never would have thought the boy would let her effect him so much. As long as he continued to let his team in like this, there was hope for Sasuke.

---

Sasuke shifted the box of Sakura's belongings in his arm and pushed his door open. Sakura had been trailing behind him the whole time, in mild confusion, but she stopped as he stepped into his apartment, staring blankly.

Sasuke looked back at her.

"You coming?"

She followed Sasuke into the apartment glancing around. It was bigger than hers had been, that was for sure. The apartment opened into a sitting room with a couch and coffee table against one wall, and book shelves on the opposite wall. The kitchen was open and spacious, visible from the sitting room, with a connecting dinning table for meals. Sasuke's room was down the hall to the left, the bathroom down the hall to the right along with a closet, probably for linens. There wasn't any extraneous furniture of decorations, giving it a sparse, unlived-in feel. Sasuke didn't spend much time in his apartment, almost every minute spent on the training grounds. He never used the sitting room or dining table before. Whenever he was in the apartment, it was in his bedroom, with occasional quick trips to the kitchen, or bathroom. So the unlived-in vibe was pretty accurate. The only touch of anything remotely personal was the small memorial table in the corner, where his family picture sat, with incense sticks sitting next to it.

Sasuke set the box of Sakura's belongings down on the coffee table.

"Stay here…until you can afford a place…"

"What?!"

"That's alright Sasuke-kun, I don't want to be in your way. I can find somewhere else…"

"Where will you go?"

Sakura didn't have an answer. As much as she'd hated her tiny, cramped, cage of an apartment, now that it was gone, there really was no place left for her. Part of the reason she hadn't moved from her spot since Kakashi had leaned her against the tree, was because there was no where else to go. She'd hated that place, but it had been her and her mother's home. And now it was gone. Her money had yet to be dug up from the wreckage…even if it was, it wasn't like she had all that much of it in the first place. She'd been too busy wrestling with her grief, guilt, and self revulsion, that she hadn't spared a thought as to where she would go until it was already dark out. When she came up without an answer, she figured she'd eventually end up camped out of a training ground or in the woods. This offer was never even something that crossed her mind.

Sasuke knew from her silence that she didn't have an alternative, she was just once again putting someone else's needs above her own…even in this situation. She was so damn annoying. He turned to look at her, scowling, though his eyes seemed…soft.

"Just stay here. Bathroom's that way…" Sasuke had seen the contents of her small box of possessions. There hadn't been many clothes that survived, certainly none of them were clean. "You can borrow a shirt." Sasuke disappeared into his room, leaving Sakura somewhat bewildered.

"This…is unexpected…Is this real?"

"You can't make this stuff up!" Sakura glared internally. Her inner voice sounded…happy. And she didn't deserve to be happy. Not after what she did. Not after how she felt.

Sakura-chan, what if I come see your match…

No, mom…

"We're free now…"

Sasuke walked back into the room to see that Sakura hadn't moved and was staring off into space with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Sakura." Her eyes landed on him as he held out a shirt. She stared at it uncomprehendingly for a second before trailing back up to his face.

"You sure?"

"Hn." He wouldn't be doing any of this if he wasn't sure. He'd said it once already. She was someone precious to him. Naruto's apartment was filthy, and it wouldn't be appropriate for her to stay with Kakashi. He wasn't about to let her sleep on the streets—sure, they were ninja and camping out came with the job, but not in their own village. This was the only option.

Sakura collected her toiletry items that survived the wreckage and took the shirt from him with a quiet thank you, before disappearing down the hall into the bathroom.

When she emerged twenty minutes later, clean, wearing a black t-shirt courtesy of Sasuke and her leggings, Sasuke was in his room. A blanket had been left on the couch for her, along with a cup of tea and a plate with three rice balls on the coffee table.

"Sasuke-kun's…he really is the best…"

She really wasn't hungry, but she forced herself to eat one of the rice balls before putting the rest away in the fridge.

Sakura pulled out her family photo and put it on the coffee table facing her. Lying down on the couch and pulling the blanket up, she stared at her mother's smiling face, feeling her guilt eat away at her until her she finally fell asleep.

---

Sasuke and Sakura headed to the Hokage's funeral together. Her mother's would follow afterwards. Neither spoke as they walked down the road clothed in funeral garb. Sasuke kept watch on Sakura out the corner of his eye. Her face was blank and she looked tired. She'd already been awake when he got up, just sitting on his couch staring at the picture of her family. When he'd opened the fridge, he'd been annoyed to see that she had only eaten one of the rice balls he'd left for her. He understood. He remembered the feeling. Not being hungry. Only being able to stare at the faces of those who'd left him behind. But she needed to eat. At least he'd always been healthy and well fed. Skipping a few meals while he was grieving wasn't going to kill him. But that wasn't the case with Sakura. She'd never been well fed and due to circumstances, under ate. When food was offered to her, Sakura had a huge appetite, eating as much as she could, but that wasn't consistent enough for her to not be light weight. He understood her not having an appetite right now, but she needed to eat. She couldn't afford not to.

"Forehead!" A concerned feminine voice shouted.

Sasuke looked up to see Ino running towards them, a glare falling into place. The last time he'd seen those two interact, it had made Sakura tense and sad. If she tried anything to make Sakura uncomfortable right now, unlike last time, he'd intervene. Emotional battles were Sakura's own to fight, but not right now. Not while she was so raw and vulnerable.

For the first time in her life, Ino ignored Sasuke. She saw him there, it registered, but it was unimportant. Sakura mattered way more to her than her crush on Sasuke at that moment. She B-lined right for her and flung her arms around her, pulling her close.

"I-Ino-pig…"

"I get that you need time and space, but I'm not letting you go through this without me this time, got it."

Sakura smiled weakly against Ino's shoulder. "I promised I wouldn't push you away."

"Good. You better not. Did Kakashi-sensei find you somewhere to stay?"

"Uh…yeah…Thank you…for lending me this." Sakura answered, indicating the back dress to distract from the subject.

"I don't really feel like explaining to Ino-chan that Sasuke-kun let me stay with him…"

"Of course! I took care of the flowers. And I told Shikamaru, Hinata, and Kiba. They'll all be there…"

"You…told all of them?"

"You have friends who care about you, Forehead." Ino told her firmly, pulling away a little to look at her.

Sasuke watched the interaction, face impassive, but internally very confused. The last he'd been aware…those two weren't friends. No one told him anything about Sakura's preliminary match. He didn't even know who she'd fought. So he had no idea that they had cleared the air and rekindled their friendship. It seemed like such an extreme change and he had no idea what prompted it. But, Sakura actually gave a small weak smile to the blond girl, the first he'd seen from her since she smiled at Gaara. Ino was actually putting Sakura at ease and making her feel better, instead of the last time when she'd broken Sakura's composure just by showing her face.

"We should get going, come on." Ino said, giving Sakura's arm a gentle tug and flashing Sasuke a smile, acknowledging his presence for the first time.

The two girls continued to the towards the ceremony, Sasuke trailing a little behind, still a little confused.

---

Sakura stared at the gravestone for her mother…Kakashi had done really well. He somehow managed to get a plot next to that of her fathers. The gravestone was simple, but elegant. Just her mother's name and the dates she'd lived and died, but underneath it was a small carving of a cherry blossom flower with the bottom petal darkened, matching Sakura's necklace and her father's gave stone. She felt a wave of gratitude towards her sensei for his care and attention to detail.

The sides of the gravestone were framed by a beautiful arrangement of flowers, courtesy of Ino: Pale yellow day lilies (motherhood) and coreopsis (always cheerful), with chamomile (Patience in adversity) and sprigs of thyme (courage, strength). Ino had summarized Mebuki well.

Sakura stood in front of it, Kakashi next to her an arm distance away. Behind her stood Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru and Ino, all holding a white lily to leave on the grave. They all stood with their heads bowed respectfully in silence.

Sakura-chan…you might not remember this, but when your dad died, you cried alone for two hours, and wouldn't let me near you…When you came out, you weren't crying anymore. You smiled at me. I asked if you were alright, and you said, 'No. But Daddy says he likes when I smile, so that's what he wants me to do. When I'm happy I'll smile bigger for him, but for now I'll do this much.' That was the strongest thing I'd ever heard anyone say…

"I don't think I can do that this time, mom…I'm not as strong or capable as you think I am…I should have let you come to the stadium, then this never would have happened…I should have cured you long before now so that this never would have been an issue…this is all my fault! I'm so sorry!"

"We're free now though, mom. We can finally start actually living our life, the way you wanted for us."

"SHUT UP! I can't feel that way at her funeral! I can't think like that standing in front of her grave! Not when it's all my fault—when I'm the reason she's dead! I shouldn't think like that at all! It's horrible and revolting! I'm so sickening!"

Sakura's entire body shook, though no tears fell. She still had yet to cry.

You…had a bad day…didn't you, Sakura-chan?

Yeah, mom, it was rough.

Sakura-chan, what if I come see your match…

No, mom…

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Kakashi stared down at her, visible eye soft and sad.

"She was a strong woman. And she was so proud of you, Sakura."

"I don't deserve her pride."

Kakashi stepped forward, laid his lily on her mother's grave, and then stepped away. One by one her friends followed, each coming up to her afterwards to give her condolences before leaving.

Kiba and Akamaru were first. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a small smile.

"Whenever you feel up to training again, let us know. We'll race you any day." He walked away, Akamaru giving her leg a quick comforting nuzzle before following his master.

Then came Hinata. "S-Sakura-chan…" She hesitated for a moment before hugging her lightly. "You…helped me so much this p-past month…anything I c-can do to help, p-please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you, Hinata-chan…" Sakura murmured weakly. The shy girl gave her one last smile before stepping away.

Shikamaru was next. "You probably saved my life, giving me your chakra…"

"Probably?"

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru hesitated, unsure of what to say. "Shogi next week…and if you ever want any medicinal herbs, I'll still walk you through our forest…"

"Alright, deal."

As soon as Shikamaru cleared, Ino's arms were around her tightly. "I'll give you five days cause knowing you, you'll want to be alone, but then we're going clothes shopping. I don't care if I have to drag you, you probably don't have anything wearable left, and that's unacceptable."

"Pig…thank you. For all of this."

"Always, Forehead. Keep that dress. Shinobi always need at least one set of funeral clothes, and that one's too small for me anyways. Plus you'll need something to wear until we restock your closet."

"Okay." Ino walked away, casting a worried glance at her best friend over her shoulder.

Sakura was left alone with her team.

Naruto and Sasuke stepped up, placing their flowers gently on the grave. Bowing their heads in a moment of silence. They both stepped back, standing on either side of Sakura, who took a deep breath, wincing a little—her ribs were still bruised—and stepped forward, gently placing her flowers on her mothers grave staring down at it silently.

"Mom…I know you'd probably want me to smile. To say I'm going to be alright, that I'll be happy. That I'm gonna be strong and become a ninja who helps a lot of people…but I don't think I can. It was always because of you…you were the one who believed in me, even though in the end, I couldn't do anything for you. I couldn't save you and it was all my fault that you…How can I do this if you're gone?"

"We can do it because now we have the time. And we can give our full focus to our dream now. We can do this mom! We'll miss you, but we can make the best of this!"

"SHUT UP! I can't believe you're actually happy she's gone! You're disgusting!"

Sakura was shaking again. Still not crying. But shaking.

Her teammates watched with concern, unsure of the best course of action. None of them were familiar with comforting people. Finally Naruto stepped forward and placed his hand on Sakura's back.

"Sakura-chan? Y'know, we're here for you. You still got us…We're sorta like a family, you, me, the bastard, and Kakashi-sensei…" He spoke to her very quietly, only for her to hear.

"Who knew he had that much volume control…but it's nice to know that's how he thinks of us, since I think the same way…"

"Yeah. I know Naruto. We're a team…we three are one and all that."

"We should go get some ramen as a team. Mebuki-obachan would want you to eat well." Naruto said, a little louder, encouraged by her agreement.

Sakura gave a small smile. Naruto would try and solve every problem with ramen. But she didn't feel like eating. She didn't feel like doing anything. She shook her head weakly.

"No thank you, Naruto. I just wanna be alone right now."

"You sure, Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah, I think I wanna just stay here for a little while."

"Oh yeah…right…we can stay here with you."

"That's alright, Naruto. You guys go on ahead."

"But—"

"Come on, Naruto." Sasuke muttered.

Naruto turned to him to protest, but closed his mouth at the look on Sasuke's face. His face was impassive and serious as always, but his eyes…he'd never seen them look so soft and understanding before.

"…yeah…"

Both boys walked away, Naruto looking back frequently.

"Sakura." She turned to her teacher, who pulled out her journal. "You used yourself as an experiment?"

"…I wasn't sure what else to do. There was no available information, so I had to make some…"

"That was a risk."

"I wasn't sure what else to do." She repeated.

"It was…a brilliant decision. This is the key to mastering your kekkei genkai. When you're ready, you should resume training it. Kurenai is more skilled with genjutsu than I am, but if she's unavailable, I'll work with you."

"You…want me to continue? You kept trying to stop me before."

"If it hadn't been for the revelation of your kekkei genkai, I would never have doubted sending you to the chunin exams. It became apparent to me in the Land of Waves that you have the potential to be a great shinobi. If you have a way of handling the reactions, then I would hate to deprive the world of the ninja you'll become." It was an understatement. She'd been able to transfer her chakra to two different people at once while undergoing a reaction. Chakra transfer wasn't an unheard of technique, but it was a rare skill for a genin to have. And transferring to two different people simultaneously? That was a rare skill for a jonin to have.

"…Kakashi-sensei…"

"I'm not thrilled about this experiment you've taken upon yourself, mostly because I've now seen first hand what the reactions, and the scenarios that trigger them, put you through. But your mother was right to trust and believe in you."

"No…no she wasn't…"

"Thank you, sensei." She replied quietly, taking back her journal, her eyes dropping to stop him from seeing the guilt and doubt in them.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Though she'd tried to hide it, he was all too familiar with that look: guilt. She wasn't really blaming herself for this, was she? Sakura was always harder and less forgiving on herself than she was anyone else. If her mother had succumbed to her illness, he knew for a fact the girl would see it as her own failing for not being able to cure her. But how could she have possibly spun this situation to be her own fault? He wouldn't pry. She was an emotionally intelligent girl, and everyone handled grief differently. Hopefully, with a little time she'd process and accept the unfortunately reality. Or at the very least open up of her own volition. But he would keep an eye on her, that was for sure…every member of his team really had been dealt a truly unfortunate hand…

"Keep that with you at all times and log any attack you have, what triggered it, and how it was managed. If you can get detailed about the time, then do it, but if not at least log the other three things. Be sure to add your encounter with Gaara and…the one that happened yesterday, especially since you didn't try to calm down or take a sedative during that one. Now that you've identified one method that works, the next step will be to get skilled enough to calm or sedate yourself without the help of an ally. The step after that would be trying to identify when you're about to have a reaction and stopping it before it stops."

"And any additional methods discovered would have to be evaluated and tested as they're found." Sakura added, a spark of life flaring in her green eyes—one she'd been missing since yesterday.

It was why he'd even started this conversation. It was hardly an appropriate time for it, he knew. She needed to grieve, and he'd let her. But Sakura had looked so defeated, empty, and lost, like her purpose and reason to live had completely disappeared. The girl who had never given up and kept struggling through no matter how much shit life threw at her, looked like she was about to wave the white flag. And as her sensei, he wouldn't accept that. She was the type who loved puzzles, tasks, discovery, and answers. So he wanted to remind her that she still had one that he was going to hold her to solving. He was not about to let her give up after everything she'd already gone through.

The flare in her eye faded quickly. It was time to let her mourn. He gave her head a gentle pat before disappearing, leaving Sakura standing in front of her mother's grave alone.

---

Author's note: Little bit shorter this time around. I'm sure some you wanted Sakura to directly battle Gaara a bit more, but I didn't want to change canon that much, and my Sakura, while stronger at this point than canon Sakura, still wouldn't be able to hold a candle to canon Gaara, so I went for the emotional attack approach. Plus that fight is very important for Naruto's development and Sasuke's growing perception of inferiority. Again, I don't ship Sakura with anyone but Sasuke, however, if there was anyone in the canon story that I could imagine really falling for Sakura, it's Gaara. Mainly because of that moment as he's attacking her where he thinks of Yashamaru, who is stated to be the only person he's ever loved at that point. This Sakura is less judgmental because of her own "curse," and she's canonically stated to be unbelievably empathetic and compassionate, so I don't think it would be a stretch for her to see Gaara's pain and loneliness and try to treat him as a human, despite his darkness. I think it makes a good parallel between Gaara and future Sasuke. It sort of follows the same cycle on a smaller scale. I also think in this case Sakura, with her analytical skill, would see how off balance her being nice to him makes him, and would use that as a tactical advantage.

I feel really bad about killing off Mebuki, but I think it had to happen for Sakura to train more. Realistically there would have been no way for Mebuki to survive the invasion, given the amount of damage done to the village, and that the giant snakes broke through the wall, which meant the outskirts were the first thing to get attacked, and Mebuki wouldn't have been strong enough to evacuate or reach a shelter fast enough. Arguably, Sasuke letting her stay at his apartment might be ooc, but I don't think it is. By this point he's admitted to himself and others that he considers her to be someone precious to him, and this Sakura isn't a fangirl, and he isn't clear on the nature of her feelings for him, so I don't think there'd be any internal conflict within himself to stop him from letting her stay at his apartment.

This is more for the next chapter, but I figure I'll clarify now. In the anime/mange, Itachi and Kisame come after Naruto the day of the Hokage's funeral, and end up putting Kakashi and Sasuke in a coma more or less that day. That's a lot of shit to happen to team 7 at once, and I wanted to give Sakura some time to at least start processing her mother's loss before she temporarily loses Sasuke and Kakashi, so all of that will go down a week later. She'll get a week to process, and start letting her friends in. And team 7 (Sasuke primarily-she and Naruto bond more when he's gone) will get a week to help her with that and train individually before Naruto leaves with Jiraya to find Tsunade.

Anyways, thank you all so much for reading this far and for all the follows/favs/and especially the reviews. Please keep leaving them, because they are so helpful and such lovely motivation! You guys are the best! Thank you all for giving this story a shot!

:)