What we will do for our villages ...

Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto or have anything to do with it. Because if I did, there would be a hellofa’ lot more guys kissing. And Kakashi running around naked for no apparent reason.

Thanks for Reading!

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Chapter 3

The ups and downs of the world

It was so early that the sky held no indication of a sun soon rising. Sakura yawned as she slowly got out of the tent, and started the fire. ’Mm, early.’ her mind said slowly as she heard somebody get out of the tent behind her.

“Hey Sasuke.” she said drowsily.

“No it’s Naruto.” said with a voice that held no tiredness.

“Naruto!” she started as she turned quickly. “Is Sasuke still sleeping?”

“Mn, nm.” he sounded negatively. “He’s just getting up, but he wanted the tent zipped up while he changed, and didn’t want me there.” he said with a smile as he sat down across from her.

She looked at Naruto with fond eyes. He had certainly grown during the last five years. He was now taller than Sasuke by a few inches and had let his hair grow out a little. It’s clumping wasn’t nearly so thick, having settled for thinner, sharper grouping. His eyes had narrowed with age, but that only made his beautiful blue eyes stand out even sharper. The whiskers on his face had gotten deeper in colour and had become slightly thicker. All in all she had to admit that he was handsome, in a different way of course than Sasuke.

Sasuke on the other hand was a full head taller than her. He had let his bangs grow a little longer, but had kept the rest of his hair the same as it had been when he was twelve. His eyes had lightened up a bit, in shape as well as colour over the years. They now appeared to be a dark grey instead of the charcoal colour they used to have, and their shape was softer and not so angular as it once was. Sasuke was tall and lean, versus Naruto’s tall and built. She supposed if she had to give them body shape based upon the older men that they knew. She’d have to give Sasuke a Kakashi build and Naruto had more of an Asuma build.

For herself, Sakura wasn’t as impressed. She had stayed pretty short, being only five foot four, which made Sasuke around five foot six and Naruto around six foot three. Her hair had grown out again. It was longer than it had been before they had encountered the sound. But now she always kept it in a braid. Her green eyes were still nice and large, but they had lifted slightly in the outside corners, giving her a bit more of a feminine look. The years had treated her pretty well in the growth department though. She had gained weight in good areas. ’Not as good as Ino.’ she thought bitterly. But still she was a lot shapelier than she had been.

“Good morning.” came Sasuke’s voice, rousing her from her musings.

“Good morning Sasuke.” she said pleasantly as he took a seat.

He yawned. In recent years, Sasuke had become the one that would wake up second. It always was Sakura, himself, Naruto and Kakashi. Depending on the area, and the work that they had done during the long day, the last two would switch. He watched idly as Naruto stood and started packing up everything. Sakura was busy cooking what looked like dehydrated fruit nut muffins. He yawn again. ’Damn it! Stop yawning!’ He scolded himself.

“You okay Sasuke?” Sakura asked quietly, her words still drawing Naruto’s momentary attention.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” he told honestly. “Guess I’m more tired than I thought.”

“I can carry you if you need me to.” Naruto teased as he collapsed the tent once everything else had been packed.

Sasuke just threw him a playful glare. He inhaled deeply, the smell of the cooking walnuts was fantastic. He’d make sure to grab the extra muffin that Sakura was making. He wasn’t about to let Naruto get the tasty treat.

“Naruto are you done?” Sakura asked, watching her muffins diligently. “Breakfast is almost ready.”

“Yep, coming Sakura.” Naruto said as he placed the packs in a neat little arrangement. He looked at her as he sat. He could plainly see why he loved her when he was little, and could easily see why he loved her now. Only now he loved her as a sister, which was even better because the whole brother sister dynamic was fun.

Together they sat, and ate. The sky only now starting to change colour at the horizon. A slight breeze wafted through the trees, the smell of summer riding with it. She smiled as they put away the pan then put on their backpacks.

“If we do really well today, we might just go into the evening and make it early in the morning.” Naruto said as they started off.

“Maybe, we’ll see.” Sasuke said, not wanting Naruto to get ahead of himself. “Traveling in the desert is different than traveling in the forest.”

“We’ll see.” Naruto said as he threw back a smile. Then looked back to the front, and led the team towards the sand.

* * *

Morning. It only existed beyond nine. At least that was Kankuro’s thought on the whole thing. He rolled over on his bed. The light purple sheet caught up between his legs and wrapped around his left arm. His right arm held his pillow to his chest, forcing him to curl around it, so his head could lay on the very top. Kankuro was in a world of sleepy bliss. He was comfortable in his mangled position.

“Hm.” he muttered as he stretched slightly.

“Kankuro.”

“Mm!” he protested in his sleep as he rolled the other way.

“Kankuro.” he could hear the voice but he didn’t want to acknowledge it. It didn’t sound important if it was, they wouldn’t just be saying his name.

“Kankuro.”

His eyes squeezed shut as he clutched onto his pillow. ’No! I’m not going to wake up.’ His mind said.

“Kankuro.” ’No, no, no, no, no!’

“Kankuro, get up or I will kill you.” ’Gaara!’

Gaara stood there, and watched the humorous display of his brother trying to suddenly sit up. He had sat up semi successfully, until he had used all the slack from the blanket that was wrapped around a leg and his arm. It pulled him down at an odd angle, causing him to arch his back which ended up being the direct cause of his big brother falling out of bed.

“Gaara.” Kankuro said as he stood. “What is it?” He regarded his little brother with tired eyes.

“Temari is crying.” Gaara said quietly. “I don’t know how to fix it.”

Kankuro looked sadly at his little brother. “I’ll be right there.” he said in a tone that implied he wanted Gaara to leave the room. “Is she down-stairs?”

“Yes.” Gaara said loud enough to be heard over the sound of the door sliding shut.

Gaara went to the bottom of the stairs and listened to his sisters quiet cries. They had tamed some since he had first heard her. But still, he wanted to know what was wrong. This had happened before, twice before, two and six years ago.

Six years ago, he hadn’t cared. He had just looked at her with emptiness. He didn’t even know his siblings then. They were just more people, more people that were afraid of him. He had hated them then, hated their looks, hated the way they would tip toe around him. He remembered smirking at her. His eleven year old form standing in the shadows, not doing anything to help. Not even having the courtesy to leave. Too curious to leave, to disgusted to say even a word to her.

Two years ago, he had cared more. Not as much as he did now, but he knew that he didn’t like her tears. He knew that he wanted to stop them anyway he could. So he watched from a distance. Watched and tried to figure out what had happened. Why she was crying, why she was in pain. Wondering, if he himself would ever feel that pain. A pain so strong, it actually made him feel uncomfortable.

Now though, it hurt. His chest felt tight, and his head felt heavy. He didn’t understand still, even after all this time as to what was wrong. He had never found out either of those times. But he was certain that he would find out this time. He listened to her sobs as they started up again. His heart hurt, he wanted to go to her and make it all better, but he didn’t know how. ‘Damn it where is Kankuro?’ he thought to himself as her wail hit him like a spike through the chest.

Under his own accord, he moved. He was going to put a stop to this, he was going to make this better. He walked over to his sisters hunched over form on the couch. His bare feet padding lightly over the hard wood floor. He sat next to her without hesitation, causing her to look up at him. He saw the look of surprise flash behind her eyes. He knew that she had expected Kankuro, but he would have to do. Determinedly he placed hands firmly on her shoulders and turned her to face him. Then he brought her closer and hugged her.

Temari’s breathing hitched a moment from the surprise of what was happening. Gaara was trying to comfort her. This brought forth a whole different type of tears to her eyes as her arms wrapped around his waist and hugged him hard. She felt her youngest brother tighten his grip around her shoulders, as if to stop the shaking, and the sobbing coming from her.

“I’m sorry.” Gaara tried. Knowing that those two words could help in many occasions.

“Thank you Gaara.” Temari cried as she clutched him tightly. “Thank you for caring.”

Kankuro came down the stairs slowly and looked at the scene. He smiled as he straightened his hurriedly donned clothes. He sighed shakily, as he approached the two. Gently he sat behind Temari and rubbed her back. He could guess what had happened. He knew these tears, he had seen them before. He looked up to his brother and smiled at him. He knew that unless Gaara outright asked, they wouldn’t tell him about the men that broke their sisters heart. ’A year and a half, I’m so sorry Temari.’ Kankuro thought as he hugged her around the waist. It was moments like these that made him happy that he hadn’t had a girlfriend. He never wanted to feel this, and he doubted that Gaara ever would. And somehow the thought that Gaara would never have this pain hurt his heart worse than seeing and hearing Temari cry.

* * *

Evening was quickly approaching, and the team had managed to make it half way across the desert.

“Can’t stop now.” Naruto called as they ran. “It’ll get too cold.”

“Yeah, we have to keep moving.” Sasuke called.

The day had been very hot and dry. About six hours before they had managed to find an oasis and had rested there. It had been a life saver, none of them were used to the heat of the desert during midday. They had drank their fill and refilled their canteens, then moved on. They knew that the heat of the sun was one thing, but the freezing temperatures of nightfall were far worse in their minds. They had ran, covered in pale, light cloaks.

“How much farther.” Sakura asked, keeping her words short.

“Another six to eight hours.” Naruto called back to her as they ran across the loose sand.

“We have to move faster.” Sasuke called.

Together the three of them, poured their Chakra into their feet and leapt. They weren’t going to do too well in the desert night. Their tent didn’t have the self support to stand in loose soil, and their bags and blankets were light. They wouldn’t provide much if any protection during the night.

They ran hard, leaping bounds, trying to make the many hour gap they had left lessen. With each leap they were going at least seven running steps.

‘We’ll make it.’ Naruto thought determinedly. ’We have to make it.’

The three watched as the landscape briefly erupted in light given off from the sun just as it was dipping below the horizon. Suddenly the world became a deep shade of blue, as the night started to roll in almost immediately. It felt as if time around them was faster now, but the time that they were in was slowed. The stars began to show, and the moon was full. It’s eerie glow casting weird almost demonic shadows across the dunes.

The three of them lost themselves into their own minds as the temperature of the desert started to drop. Their silence told each of them of their urgency of the situation. They had lost track of how much time had passed, had it been hours, or only mere minutes? The sounds around them seemed almost muted as they ran across the sand. Their bodies once warm now cold, muscles moving only because of the chakra flowing through them. Arms and hands had long ago clenched to their bodies, toes having also lost feeling. For a brief moment, the three of them had each wondered, if this is how it was going to be. If this is how it would end, but each knew that it wasn’t. That they would only have to make it to the village, and how it couldn’t be too far off.

“H-hey I …” Naruto tried, his voice having gone hoarse from the cold air.

“We’re almost there!” Sasuke nearly screamed, not having the patients to warm up his voice. He winced at the raw pain that ripped through his throat because of it. ’We’re almost there.’ he thought.

The three pushed themselves forward. They could see the village, it was getting closer. They were exhausted, utterly spent. As they got closer, their desperation to stop felt almost overpowering. They started to slow as their bodies started to reach their limit. One fell.

“SASUKE!” Sakura cried as she stopped suddenly, to stop his own roll across the rough sand.

“I - I’ll…” Naruto growled as he grabbed Sasuke up and began to run again, his words again having failed him.

They reached the inside of the village, and were surprised to note that the Sand Village had a night life. People gave the three of them looks as the two forms walked heavily through the Village. Their movements slow and painful, but alert enough to ward off anybody thinking they were easy targets. With their faces covered by the hoods of their cloaks, they made their way through town, not talking to anybody.

“This is it.” Naruto said, finding his voice once more.

“I’ll do it.” Sakura said with a heaving breath as black stars started to cloud her vision. ’No, not yet.’ she told herself as she reached up to knock on the door. As her knuckles impacted the door once she heard a thud behind her. ’Naruto …’ her mind lazily began as pins and needles started to spread across her body.

“Please…” she attempted as she hit her hand against the door again. The sound of somebody approaching the door greeting her ears. “Thank you.” she whispered as unconscious took her.

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OHHH! Exciting! Well at least I hope it is ^^. Oh yeah, for chapter 2, anybody know the song or the band that Kankuro was listening to. I know it’s vague, but I’ll tell you it’s from 1999. ^^ If nobody knows I’ll put it down at the end of a future chapter, like six or seven ^^.

Thanks to everyone reviewing:

Yurikai Kurosaki - I'm glad you liked the begining of chapter 2, I was hoping people would like it.

Kai - I'm very happy people are liking my fanfic so much ^^ It means alot to me.

ddd anti Yaoiist - I already have my couple/s planned out. So you'll just have to read to see who's with who. ^^