"Gaara."

Pacing, back and forth, back and forth. They were moving. He rolled his head around at the smell coming from his door. He sent a kunai flying through the wood. The person left immediately. Going back to his pacing, he watched very closely. Over water. Through a large forest but not out of the country. Hm. Not far enough to be close and not close enough to be too far.



"KIBA!" His voice rolled through the tower, sending sand tumbling everywhere. Kiba was in his office, by the door, but still there within minutes.



"Kazekage-sama?"



"Get me a map." The dog nin just nodded and walked over to the desk. "One with every country." He pulled out a large map and brought it to the red head who hadn't stopped pacing. Kiba stopped in his tracks, nose scenting the air. He looked into Gaara's eyes. Red. Glowing red.



"Gaara?" The red head just snatched the map. Kiba cowered away. Whatever had changed in Gaara, it gave him the jeebies. Something that would eat his little dog butt if he made it mad. He just stood by the door.



The red head stopped pacing and started tracing a path with his finger. Here, there, stop, there, here, stop, brief pause, permanent stop. He tossed the map and went to his desk to find a paper and he drew something out, folded it and stuck it in his pocket. He turned and called to the elder.



"Please Jii-sama, take my place for a while." The man looked at Gaara then to the red head's office.



"Two days." Gaara nodded and called out. He got four ANBU nin of his own and started issuing orders. Within the half hour, he was flying out of Suna, ANBU behind, and behind them, a sand storm the size of a city.



They moved with the speed of a tornado, flying over water and into the Fire Country in a day and a half. He made sure Kiba sent word to retrieve Kankuro. His brother would be back and heading the village by the morning. He stopped for two hours of rest, ate a ration and was back on their trail. He encountered no resistance and he knew he wouldn't. He couldn't feel anyone or anything around him. It was dead.



Stopping at a large rock face located next to a cliff, he signaled his ANBU down and his sand carried him. There they dangled, and waited. Soon enough there was a grating noise followed by a rumble of the ground above them. They made their move. Once inside, they stayed close together, their chakra suppressed to the point they weren't even blank spots on a radar. Oh, they would pay, dearly.





"What do you mean he just went in?!" She stared at Kankuro standing in her office. "What does he think he's-" She stopped and slammed her hand down on her desk. It didn't break in half, it shattered into tiny pieces. Kankuro took a step back.



"I'm heading back now."



"You do that. When he gets back there you tell him he's going to have my foot up his ass when I see him next." Kankuro swallowed visibly and left her office, heading straight for the gates. She looked to Shikamaru.



"Well, this put a knot in our plans."



"You're telling me." She sat down and called for a new desk. Shikamaru looked over his board and frowned, losing himself in through. He pulled some pieces off the board and moved some closer. "What?"



"I think this might work." He went into a deep explanation of things, pointing and moving pieces as he talked. Amazingly, she understood everything he said.



"Fine. Do it but make sure no one dies."



"I'll do my best Hokage-sama."





"Welcome to your new home..s." Riu tossed Sakura into one case and Naruto into another, forcing chakra into the bars, once again. "Enjoy." Naruto just passed back out, Sakura did something very unlady-like and gave her the finger. Riu stuck out her tongue. "Might be fun but I'm not into girls." Sakura smiled.



"I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole dearie." Riu growled and stomped away, Sakura just chuckled to herself.



"That wasn't nice." She looked up to the top of her cage and frowned.



"What are you doing here?"



"I've been following him for over a year. Then you two got in my way." Sighing, Sakura started cleaning out her finger nails.



"Well, we don't need your help."



"Hn." Hopping down, Sasuke just watched her. He looked her over, not that he hadn't in the time he'd been following these damn shinobi, and noticed little, almost invisible, lines under her eyes. "What does it cost you to heal someone?" She didn't bother looking up.



"If you cared, you would have stayed to find out." She rose her gaze long enough to see his sharingan activated. "You know, you probably shouldn't use that as much. I just fixed your brother's eyes because he was going blind." Sasuke just rose a brow. "If you happen to find the little black book he's carrying, you'll see what I've done...oh wait, you're not smart enough to read medical notes are you?" She lowered her gaze back to her finger nails.



Sasuke just watched her. Yes, she was very mad, but she held it in check like no one he'd ever seen, other than his brother. "If that was meant to hurt," he held a hand over his heart, "you missed by a long shot."



"And here I thought all this time you didn't know how to have a pleasant conversation." She stood and walked over to the bars, careful not to touch them. He still had his sharingan activated. "I'm being serious when I tell you to stop using that so much."



"I'm already going blind." She looked down and then over to Naruto.



"I fixed one, I'm not fixing another."



"What do I have to do to get you to fix them?" She thought about it and turned back to him.



"First off, I get to beat the shit out of you for knocking me out and leaving me in the cold all night. Then, you get to come back with me."



"Once I kill Itatchi, maybe."



"Oh? I never thought I would hear you bargain either." She stepped a little closer and didn't even notice when the bars started shocking her. "Listen here you bastard, if I fix your eyes you owe me. Big. That means you come back to Konoha and we go from there." She looked him up and down. "And I can tell you right now, in the shape you're in, Itatchi's going to kick your ass." Quicker than she could blink, Sasuke had a hand around her throat. She just laughed as he started cutting off her air. "Go ahead. No one will fix them then." He growled and let her go, his eyes returning back to black.



"Move." She moved back. He used his sword to remove the chakra from the bars and bent a few bars enough for her to slip out. She immediately moved towards Naruto's cage. He did the same thing. "Don't know why I'm saving you both..." She walked in and pulled Naruto up. he was in very bad shape. Clapping caught their attention. Sasuke turned to see Kisame standing next to his brother.



"Took him what Itatchi? A year and some to finally come out?"



"Hn." His gaze went to Sakura who held the Kyuubi's prone form and looked at him. "Come." She shook her head.



"I did my part Itatchi." She looked away. "You will be able to use them in two days. If you use them now, they will stop working in five hours time." He tossed the book at her.



"It took me a little while. You're smart." He held up a gold bracelet and tossed to her. She sighed and looked at it. She looked to Sasuke.



"Take him." Sasuke just looked at her like she was stupid and she handed the passed out form to him. He had no choice but to take Naruto or let him fall. He watched as Sakura stepped forward and slipped the braclet on.



"Now. Since you got it," she looked to Kisame and then back to him, "Who's first?" Riu came out of no where.



"Me!" She smiled and shed her cloak. "Besides, I want to play." Sakura nodded.



"That's fine with me Bug Girl."



"That's not nice Pinky." Sakura smiled.



"I've never been nice." she looked to Itatchi and gave him a real smile. "See ya." He nodded at her. Sasuke stared in awe as he watched Sakura take down Riu all by herself. She got behind the girl and snapped her neck. She looked to Kisame. "You want some big guy?" he smiled and pretended to shiver.



"Gotta love a girl who's willing to play hard to get." He tossed off his cloak as well and stepped forward.



"OYE! Kisame-sama!!" The sharkman looked up and frowned.



"YOU!"



"That's right." The form jumped down and stood in front of Sakura. Sasuke frowned. Oh hell. "How about you play with me instead of the pink haired girl? Besides," he held out a sword that was bigger than Sakura, "I've got Zabuza-sama's sword." No wonder she knew that sword. Zabuza had tried to kill them with that. Shaking her head she looked at Itatchi.



"I can see why you like your privacy." He just sent her a curt nod and looked to his brother. Sasuke looked to Sakura.



"What is going on between you two?" Sakura shrugged.



"A little understanding. Now, if I were you, I would take Naruto and get out of here." She looked serious.



"No way." He set the blond down and walked forward.



"Your choice." She looked to Naruto and moved her finger. His chest rose and his eyes snapped open. "Welcome back." He nodded and stood, wiping himself off. Quicker than suddenly, all hell broke loose. Sasuke went after Itatchi, the strange man went after Kisame, Sakura went after Naruto and Naruto went after Didera. Fights started everywhere and it wasn't until a rumbling around the room started that anyone paused even slightly.



"What a horrible racket." The voice was creepy. It made Naruto shutter. Kisame cursed, Didera turned around like someone hit him and Itatchi just looked up. All at once they said,



"Leader." Sakura cursed and looked at Naruto.



"You didn't do it did you?" He shook his head no. She sighed with relief and looked at the man enshrouded in shadows.



"Places." Sakura turned to watch the Akatskui members vanish and reappear on the fingers of two giant hands. Something was so not right. Immediately, three other's appeared on the open fingers. Only one was left without a member. They held their hands up and formed seals. Sakura was throw out of the way by an unseen hand to land on top of Sasuke.



"No! Naruto!!" She got up and started to run after him but Sasuke caught her and held her tight.



"It's to late. You can't save him."



"NO!"



Naruto felt something. It was painful, horribly so, but it felt so...odd. A white light surrounded him and he saw someone's mouth moving. Must have been the one they called Leader. He heard words but couldn't make sense of them. "...faster this way...doesn't need to break the seal..." and then he was floating.



Sand came rushing in, a tidal wave of it. It surrounded everything with a chakra signature and held it immobile. Gaara's form swirled out of the center of the sand, eyes glowing red. He looked around the room. Naruto. He spotted the blond in the center of what looked to be a large alter. He pushed his sand forward but it was repelled by some sort of barrier. He growled and pushed harder. He motioned and his ANBU went forward. One came back.



"It can't be broken." Gaara glared at him.



"Break it." The ANBU gulped and went back. He was trained not to be scared of anything but anything wasn't his Kazekage pissed off. Wave after wave of sand hit the barrier but it stayed strong.



Naruto?



Nani? He looked around and found the fox.



They're trying to remove me. It's time brat.



Five more minutes... Something swatted him.



You can't stay here forever. It's time to go. Come on.



Fine. He moved out from under the fox's breast and his form seeped through the cage bars. He looked at the seal and then at the fox. The seal is burning away.



Then you have to remove it. Naruto sighed. He didn't want to. Instead, he sat down and looked at it. The pain intensified. He cried out, Kyuubi growled and fell to his side. Remove it! Naruto, do it now! White light. He could see again. Faces he didn't know, ones he did. The last thing he saw was Sakura breaking free of Sasuke's grasp and running towards him in slow motion, then his eyes failed him. NOW! His subconscious self reached up and with all of his might, he ripped the seal off.





"Naruto?"



"Nani?"



"Wake up boy." He opened his eyes and looked around. Faces. He knew them but he'd met only one.



"Why are you here? It's not your time."



"Akatskui..." He looked to a blond head and moved forward to touch it. The head turned and he got a stunning image. It was him. No, it was the Fourth.



"Why are you here?" The face frowned at him and poked him between the eyes. "Get back down there before that fox gets out." The Fourth smiled at him and he felt himself falling. Gravity was closing in. He opened his eyes for a moment but they closed again. Blackness.





"NARUTO! Wake up damn it! Don't you leave me here alone!" Sakura hit on his chest once more and sobbed, her head falling down to lay over his heart. She cried and cried. He'd gone. Left her. Just like everyone else did. Lifting her head, she moved a few strands of hair from his face. Her breath stopped when his eyes opened and then shut. She leaned down and then turned around.



"He's breathing..." She looked back at him and instantly her hands glowed and she started working. Her hands went to his head first and with chakra forced behind her eyes she went in and searched, fixing what was broken here and there, and even managed to get ahold of the fox. You take the heart and brain Kyuubi. I'll get the rest of his organs.



Don't let him die girl or I'll haunt you for the rest of your days!



Don't ever do that to me again you blasted fox. All she got was a devilish laughter. Her hands worked faster than anyone could keep up with, green, blue and red chakra mingling, mixing and surrounding both her and Naruto. She worked until she collapsed backwards. Someone caught her. She noticed it was Sasuke. Her hand fisted in his shirt, her eyes narrowed and she brought his ear to her lips.



"If you leave me again, I'll kill you Uchiha." Then she passed out. Gaara moved forward and picked up Naruto's form. Sasuke picked up Sakura and they moved out. The members of Gaara's ANBU squad had died in pursuit of the Akatskui members. Konoha shinobi were just arriving and parting out of their way. With sand surrounding them all, they traveled back to the gates of Konoha.





Red eyes. All around him. Pain everywhere. His eyes snapped open and his chest heaved up from the bed then collapsed down, his eyes closing once again. The pain...it was too much to bare. He tried to hide from it, move away, get it to stop but it just kept coming. Over and over again it kept coming. When his eyes snapped open the second time, they didn't close again. He looked around. A room. He was in a room. Hospital. Pain. People. More pain. He rolled and landed on his hands and knees. Someone went to touch him and he threw them away with a burst of menacing chakra.



Trapt. He stood, stumbled and tried again. So many faces. So many people and so much pain. Red eyes. Red and black. One face caught his attention. He lunged. The face moved and he lunged again. His claw nicked the skin. Claw? Why did he have claws? He looked at his hands for a moment. The pain gripped his insides and he fell to his knees looking at his hands. He moved and felt his mouth. Sharp. Teeth. Too many. He looked around again and spotted it. Him. He moved towards him. He didn't move back. He reached for him, he took his hand. His claws bit into his flesh, he didn't even wince.



SLAP!



Pain, sharp, throbbing, gone. Dizziness. Arms, so strong, so sure. Shaking his head and moving to hold it, red eyes turned blue, the dizziness subsided. He looked around, groaned and almost fell, but the arms around him held him stead fast.



"Sak-ra...chan..." A hand on his face. He looked up into green eyes. Not the green eyes he wanted. It was her but...no. He reached up and touched her face. Soft. So different. He looked around, down at the arms holding him. Pale hands. Red sleeves. He turned a little farther. Green eyes. Green eyes he wanted. "Gaara..." His body was being turned, held tightly. Something wet was on his face. He looked. The green eyes were crying. He frowned and wiped the tears. They shouldn't be there. He looked around again. Everyone had tears...almost everyone. Red and black. He moved to lunge. Arms held him. He growled and tried to get away. Something at his ear. Warm. Soft.



"It's okay Naruto."



"Hmmmnnn...." he relaxed and rested his head against the green eyed ones chest. Everyone left. Puffs of smoke. Only one remained. The one who's arms were around him. Strong...so sure. He went to sleep.





He woke up a week later. He wasn't in a hospital room but his bed. Something was holding him down. He was up in a flash looking down at what it was. Arms. Pale arms. He looked up, a red head. He reached over and moved the blanket. Blinking eyes. Green eyes. He frowned. Moving, he pinched himself and yelped. No, it wasn't a dream. He looked back and the green eyes held a question.



"Gaara?" His voice...it was different. He moved to touch his throat. Deeper. Huskier. Shaking his head to clear it, the blond sat down and looked at his feet. They had socks on them. Socks? He never wore socks. He moved and touched them. Rough but soft. Such a new feeling. Something warm touched him. he turned. Gaara was rubbing his shoulders. It felt so good. He groaned and laid back. Warm surrounding him. He turned and looked into Gaara's eyes. "Am I dead?"



"No."



"Sleeping?"



"I was, but you woke me up." He smiled. Gaara smiled. "Welcome back Naruto."



"Hmm..." Wait. Son. Boy. Baby. He was up in seconds, running through the house. He stopped in the door of the nursery. Shozu. Asleep in the crib. He sighed with relief then walked over and lifted his son out of the crib. A blue and green eye opened but closed instantly and his son went back to sleep. Naruto felt like crying. He walked back out of the nursery, baby in arms and straight back to the bedroom. Gaara was waiting there, a slightly impatient look on his face but it softened into understanding once Naruto laid back on the bed. Shozu slept with them the whole night.





"Morning." He cracked open an eye to find pink hair floating in front of his face. He frowned and swatted at it. He got a swat back. He growled and it rumbled his whole body, the bed and the walls. For some reason, that made him agitated. "Oh knock it off you big baby and get out of bed." Sakura stood with Shozu and smiled down at him. "I made breakfast. Gaara's gone out for a little while but he'll be back in an hour or so." Something caught his attention. Shiny. He reached up and caught it. It just happened to be attached to her arm. "Hey-" She stopped, more like froze.



Naruto moved his face close to the bracelet and sniffed. His eyes searched it. It smelled like him but there was nothing on it that was his. He looked up at her, glaring. She snatched her arm back and started walking away. He stood and followed her out. When Shozu was safely out of her arms he grabbed her from behind and shoved her against the wall, his body pinning her completely.



"Why?" His voice was forceful, deep and it sounded almost like a growl.



"What Naruto?" He reached down and grabbed the bracelet, wrenching her arm back. "Stop it! You're hurting me!" He turned her around and threw her to the ground. His chest was heaving from retrained anger, his hands shifting between claws and regular hands.



"Why?" She looked away. He lifted her up by the neck of her shirt and peered into her eyes, searching for an answer. "Tell me!"



"I made him a deal."



"What deal Sakura?" A tear fell from her eye and she looked away. He snapped her face back to look at him. "If you're going to betray me and this village tell me now."



"I'm not betraying you! I would never-" She stopped and moved a hand to whipe at her eyes. "I sent him a message while I was working on his eyes. It was in the book I recorded all of the information in." He let her go, stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest. She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "This..." she held up the arm with the bracelet on it, "let's me know when he's around. The deal was, if he came after you again, him or anyone in league with him or Akatskui..." She looked up at him, "I would make sure his eyes never worked again."



She looked away and to the floor. "I fixed his eyes but I wrote everything down I did to them in code. Each number and letter represented something different so it would keep his guessing as to what it said. He had a tumor behind his left eye and it was helping to cause his blindness. I removed it but I attached special threads of my own chakra to slow the flow that went through his eyes. They won't give him problems ever again but at any time I can either make him go blind with brain damage or kill him."



"And what was your part?"



"When he needed me to check them or fix something with them he would summon me with the bracelet." She said the last quietly. Naruto looked away and scratched his head. He was so angry. It had to be the fox talking. He took a few deep breaths and turned to look at her.



"I appreciate what you did but if anyone finds out your life will end Sakura."



"I know Naruto. But until either he or I die, this pact will remain. Your life, Shozu's life, Gaara's life and the lives of every village member in the hidden villages is safe. If Akatskui can't get your fox, they can't take over the world." She stood and dusted herself off. "You can hate me for the rest of your days Naruto, but I saved you life." He stepped towards her and pulled her into his arms. he placed a kiss on the top of her head.



"Don't let anyone find out."



"I didn't plan on it." He stepped away and they let the subject drop.



Gaara returned some time later and Sakura was still there. She and Naruto were chasing around one very active baby. He stood in the door for a few minutes and watched. Then Sozu caught sight of him. The little red headed devil ran straight towards him. His arms came out and he picked up his son, tossed him up in the air, caught him and kissed his nose. Shozu squeeled with laugher and started wiggling. Sakura stood and waved at Gaara.



"Gaara-san."



"Sakura-san." He walked in and shut the door, stepping out of his shoes. As she went to leave he stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Stay for dinner." She looked to naruto who shrugged.



"I really should get going Gaara-san. I have another shift in...." She looked at the sky, "about an hour. I would like to get some shopping for my apartment done before I have to go save people's lives." He nodded and watched her leave. She waved at Naruto and he waved back. Gaara looked at Naruto and smiled.



"It's good to see you awake."



"Mm. Good to be awake and home." He reclined in his chair and rubbed his head. "I don't know how you do it." He looked at Gaara. The red head quirked a brow.



"When you had the raccoon and now a little fox of your own...honestly, without him sealed, it feels horrible."



"You'll get used to it." Naruto looked at the ceiling.



"I hope so."



So quick to assume Kit. Have you looked at the seal lately?



No. Why?



Well, I'm not going anywhere and I'm still stuck in this cage, I just have a little more influence over your body.



So you're still sealed in there?



You didn't really think you'd be able to release me did you? Tsk tsk. That father of yours really did it. I'm not going anywhere until you die Kit. You just ripped off a corner.



Father?



Oh that's right! Everyone's kept you ignorant. Well, remember that blond you met?



Yes.



There was a reason you thought it was you. That would be your father. The asshole who so graciously bound me to you. Where you go, I go as unfortunate as it is. Since he sealed me with his life as the glue, it's going to stay that way.



You know, I would normally argue with you but I just don't fell like it, and honestly, it doesn't fell to me like you're lying. I'll just have to asked Baa-chan later.



Take my word for it Kit. She won't answer you. Maybe that grey haired teammate of yours...The son of White Fang.



Kakashi? Why would he answer me?



Because the Fourth was his sensei. Their conversation ended there. Something was pulling on his pant leg. he looked down to two different colored eyes. Reaching down, Naruto picked up his son and nuzzled the boy's nose. He looked to Gaara who gave him one of the most beautiful smiles.



"I have some news." Naruto quirked a brow at Gaara's tone of voice.



"Nani?"



"While you were sleeping, I sent word to Suna. I resigned my position permanently. Temari has been promoted. If she steps down, the Suna council will call me back." Naruto was out of his seat, Shozu balanced under his arm like a package.



"What?!" His eyes were bulging almost out of his head. Gaara just stood up, grabbed their son and set him in the play pen with his stuffed fox. Shozu took it and completely ignored his fathers. Gaara walked over his pale hands starting to untuck his shirt, then unzip it. Naruto's eyes followed his hands.



"Think about it Naru-kun." Naruto looked up, liking the way the pet name sounded on Gaara's lips. He watched as green eyes flashed a light red and then back. Naruto's eyes flashed in response. His eys went back to watching Gaara's hands. They were sliding pants down pale white hips. Naruto licked his lower lip. "I get to spend every waking moment here," his hands moved to Naruto's night pants, "with you and our son...and I get to touch you like this whenever I want to." The smile Gaara gave him made him shiver in anticipation.



Something hit the back of Gaara's head. The red head turned and Naruto peeked over his shoulder. Shozu giggled. They both sighed. Gaara's head rested against Naruto's chest and the blonds head rested against Gaara's shoulder.



"No peace I tell you. None."