Forgetting Sasuke

Disclaimer: Not mine. *Cries*

Okay... so this was the chapter that was supposed to go up after the glitch, but I realized I needed to reload the one before it first. Good thing I checked or this part would've made no sense. So... without further ado.

~~~~~

Gaara did not look well, that much was evident. Sakura could only stare at his frail form as he greeted them. “Kankurou will show you to your quarters,” he said weakly.

Kankurou walked over and prepared to lead the threesome out. Sakura dug her blank journal out of her satchel before handing the bag to Neji. “Please take this with you,” she asked him. His eyebrow raised.

Sakura stepped forward and said firmly, “Kazekage-sama, please allow me to escort you back to your office so we can begin a preliminary examination.”

Gaara stared at the pink haired kunoichi with hard eyes. It was rare to meet someone who would address him so forcefully. He studied her a moment before starting to cough. Sakura rushed to his side to support him as he crumpled against her.

“This way,” Kankurou said forcefully, leaving Kiba and Neji no choice but to pry their eyes away from the ailing kazekage and follow him out.

* * * * *

Neji never had any personal dealings with the Kazekage other than the rescue mission to save his life a few months back. He was not entirely sure what to make of him, but knew that he did not like how Gaara had stared so coldly at Sakura.

At the moment though, he had other matters to worry about. He and Kiba would be briefed in ten minutes about the situation with the guerilla attacks and what exactly they would be doing to help.

Something about the whole affair didn’t sit right with him, but he couldn’t figure out what.

* * * * *

Gaara was lying back on his bed, his eyes open and staring at every move the pink haired kunoichi made. She gathered pens and a notebook she had and sat down in a chair next to the bed. “Please tell me exactly what you’ve been experiencing.”

Gaara turned his head and stared at her. She met his gaze head on, completely unphased. “I started feeling… weaker… after the extraction.” She could tell it was a difficult admission for him. Tsunade herself would rather die before admitting a weakness.

“First things first, I guess. Tell me what it was like having the demon inside you.”

Gaara couldn’t contain his surprise at her question. It was the first time anyone had ever asked him what being possessed by the Shukaku was like. He was silent long moments, trying to find a way to articulate his feelings.

“It was… I didn’t sleep much. When I would sleep, Shukaku would take over, so I was afraid to close my eyes. I never slept except to wake the demon up in battle. It made me… unstable.” He looked pointedly at Sakura. “I know you must remember how I was before.” Sakura simply nodded, waiting for him to continue. “After… Naruto… I found a better outlet for my anger, but I still couldn’t sleep without risking the demon waking.”

Sakura wrote occasionally, noting something he’d said, mostly just keeping eye contact with him. When he finally finished, Sakura got him a glass of water and asked him to drink. Gaara tried to shoo her away, but she insisted. He drank.

“What have things been like since the extraction?” she asked after giving him a few moments to recuperate.

Gaara sighed. “Everything has been off since then. I’m able to sleep for the first time in my life, but I feel terribly drained upon waking, as though I’ve gotten no rest at all. I’ve been getting headaches, pounding headaches to the point that I can’t see clearly, something I’ve never experienced before. Sleep doesn’t stop the pounding, nothing seems to help.” He coughed a little, taking another sip of water. “I’ve been coughing as well, although that’s only been in the last week.”

Sakura again scribbled notes down as he spoke, rereading everything to find any correlations between anything.

She looked up to find Gaara’s eyes on her. “I’ll do what I can. It’s going to take a while to figure out exactly what the problem is before we can even begin to remedy it.” Gaara nodded. “I think right now, the best thing for you is to get some rest.”

“I’ve been doing nothing but resting. I am the kazekage of Sunagakure and my people need me,” he said coolly.

“I understand that, Kazekage-sama, believe me I do, but your first priority has to be your health. If your condition worsens, you won’t be any good to anyone,” Sakura said sternly.

Gaara stared hard at Sakura, clearly displeased with what she had to say. Unfortunately, he realized she was every bit as stubborn as the hokage and he would not be winning this battle.

“I concede,” he said quietly. “How long am I sequestered?”

“I want you to get some rest for now. You’ve already exerted yourself too much. I’ll be back in a little while to see how you are and perhaps continue. Unfortunately I can’t help you until I know exactly what the problem is in order to correct it, but I’ll do everything I can.”

“Haruno-san-“

“Sakura.”

“Thank you, Sakura-san.” He finally closed his eyes. Sakura let herself out.

* * * * *

“Civilians going outside the village’s gates have been attacked,” Kankurou explained.

Neji, Kiba, Kankurou and Temari were all seated together in a small room around a table, away from the distraction of various ninja littering the hallways.

“More importantly,” Temari continued, “our ninja going out on missions have been ambushed and slaughtered before even leaving Wind Country. They’re being attacked with no provocation, and these are vicious attacks. A team of genins and their jounin leader were killed not three days ago. We don’t want to be seen as weak, but we don’t know where the attacks are coming from until it’s too late. These are well planned attacks, almost as if they have inside information on Suna shinobi. We don’t even know who is behind it all.”

“We were spied on the way in,” Neji said, “although I had no way of knowing if the ninja were Sand or something else.”

“Our sentries stay posted on the walls. There haven’t been any ninja missions outside of the walls since the assassination of the genin team, so if you were spotted outside of the walls, it was not by Sand.” Kankurou looked grave.

“There weren’t any attacks on us,” Kiba stated, “perhaps because we’re leaf and not sand?”

Temari and Kankurou both shook their heads. “I’ve no idea,” she said. “It’s getting rather serious though. We’ve lost a fair number of shinobi to injury and death since these attacks began, and with Gaara-sama in such poor condition, we’re ripe for an attack on the entire village.”

Kiba and Neji exchanged a look, the meaning clear. This was not going to be a simple recon mission. Suna was preparing for an attack and needed reinforcements.

Neji was the one to speak. “Hokage-sama was led to believe from your message that you simply wanted assistance in discovering the identities of those behind the attacks.”

Kankurou shook his head. “Gaara-sama was the one who sent the message. He’s had difficulty in dealing with his own ailing health and does not want to appear weak among the other shinobi nations. It was Temari and I who added the request for an additional medic-nin to look at Gaara-sama. That petition was not approved and we’re going to get in trouble for it.”

There was a gentle knock at the door before it opened slightly. “May I join you?” Sakura asked.

Temari smiled and nodded to the empty seat next to her. “How is he?” she asked.

“Resting right now,” Sakura informed them.

“What do you know?” Kankurou asked forcefully.

Sakura shook her head. “Nothing yet, I’m afraid. We only discussed his situations both before and after the extraction. I’m fairly certain it has to do with his body adjusting after having the demon extracted, but I won’t know anything conclusive until I’m able to examine him more thoroughly.”

All faces in the room looked grave. Sakura’s eyes met Neji’s and he gave her a telling look. She blinked in understanding. They would talk later.

Kiba stretched. “So what’s the game plan then? Neji and I go snooping around to draw the attackers out, you call Konoha for more reinforcements, what?”

“We will most definitely be requesting further aid from Konoha,” Kankurou stated, “and yes, in the meantime I guess you should just-“

“Keep our eyes open,” Neji finished. The group nodded.

“I apologize, but I have to leave,” Temari said, standing. The rest of the table stood with her. “I have a class in fifteen minutes.”

“You’re teaching?” Sakura asked, surprised.

Temari gave her a sad look. “Hazuko was killed last week. I’m just filling in until they find a replacement.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She knew Temari and Hazuko had been close.

The two women walked out ahead of the men, officially adjourning the meeting. “Sakura, how is Shikamaru doing?” Temari asked quietly.

“He’s worried about you,” Sakura admitted, “but he’s okay. Filling the days with teaching at the academy. Ino gives him hell for you though.”

Temari smiled thankfully at her fellow kunoichi before taking off down a hallway. Sakura turned to meet Kiba and Neji, who were chatting after Kankurou left.

“We need to talk,” Neji said to Sakura, nodding at Kiba. They followed him back to his quarters and sat down for a long discussion.

* * * * *

“How do they expect to send for additional help when none of their own shinobi can leave the village?” Sakura asked, having been filled in on the situation.

“You should go,” Kiba said. “That makes the most sense. You’re closest to the hokage, and you’re in the best position to get through the forest with the least amount of difficulty.”

Sakura shook her head. “I can’t. My work with the kazekage is too important. Shishou sent me here specifically to collect data on Kazekage-sama’s condition. Between the three of us, he’s not in good shape. His body has deteriorated vastly since I last saw him.”

Neji nodded in agreement. “If it gets out that the kazekage is ailing, Suna will become even more of a target. In terms of getting help, it should be one of the two of us.”

“Then I’ll go,” Kiba replied. “It makes the most sense. Akamaru and I have a keen sense of smell, but you can see a lot more than I can sense. I think your byakugan will be a lot more valuable to Sand given the situation.” Neji nodded. “I’ll leave in the morning then.”

Sakura shook her head, “No, that would be too obvious. If we are in fact being spied on, it would look very suspicious arriving one day and leaving the very next.”

“Agreed,” Neji said. “I think it would be best to wait three days before going.”

“We traveled in as a trio,” Kiba stated, “so we should get some sand-nin to transform into the two of you so as to avoid further suspicion.”

Neji and Sakura both nodded. This entire situation was a lot more than any of them bargained for. What started out as a C-rank mission rapidly escalated into an A-rank and all were feeling the pressure.

“Well, we’ll let Kankurou know of the plan in the morning,” Sakura said. “In the meantime, I’m going to get some rest before resuming my work with the kazekage this evening.”

“It’s the next one over,” Kiba said, pointing to the left. “Mine’s the other side of yours.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you both in a little while then,” she replied, giving Neji one last fleeting look before exiting.

“Akamaru, let’s go get some air,” Kiba said, nudging the sleeping beast awake with his foot. Akamaru jumped up and the two jogged out, leaving Neji to his thoughts.

‘This is not good,’ echoed in his mind. ‘Sand should not be so weakened by these guerilla attacks, and yet they are.’ There was a piece of the puzzle that wasn’t fitting. ‘The kazekage is very ill… Sakura’s saying it’s a reaction to a shift in the body… could it be more?’

He paced back and forth in the small room without realizing it. Pacing was a nervous habit and one he typically frowned upon yet here he was, guilty as sin.

“Damn.”

~~~~~

I know this chapter is a little on the shorter side, but I promise I'm working on it! Thanks to all of my reviewers so far, please keep reviewing! I love hearing what everyone has to say. It keeps me writing more!