Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sweet Surrender ~ Sands of Time ❯ The Beginning Seeds ( Chapter 1 )

A/N: I need only say this once; I do not own the characters of Naruto. Also, please do not plagiarize my work or post it somewhere besides ff.net or mm.org

For some reason I became infatuated with the Sakura/Gaara (Sakuga) idea of a pairing. There really isn't a girl that I think goes well with Gaara other than Sakura, but it's a tricky one to stay in the realm of Naruto (without going OOC or OOS). Let's see how this one goes!

I tend to switch POVs as I feel like it - this is just for fun after all! My enjoyment and yours ;Þ

Please review!

**This picks up from episode 77-80 of the anime, so there may be spoilers for you if you haven't seen that far or read that far in the manga (the author would like to point out that eps 77-79 are some of the best Naruto episodes ever, and most anticipated after the author read the corresponding chapters**

Sweet Surrender - Sands of Time ~

Chapter One ~ The Beginning Seeds

He was facing his most exciting battle ever. He never thought that he would ever need to use his third form in battle.

"Naruto… you amuse me to no end… all this effort to save a girl… or is it that she is just a comrade…"

Gaara's head started to ache remembering how that girl stood up to him for the Uchiha, the Uchiha that was his prey… his kill… She stared at him, unwavering, eyes as green as his… so alike… but so very different… Love... Gaara was breaking down, becoming more and more unstable.

He showed her what came of protecting 'special, important people'. He slammed her to a tree trunk and sealed her with his sand, killing her softly… As much as he loved killing, he liked to kill women and men differently. Protecting her 'important' comrade, she chose to give her life. She would not live unless he, Gaara of the Sand, the most feared shinobi in the Village of Sand, was defeated. As if he, Gaara, could be defeated! He walked out of the second chunnin test in no time, unscathed, clean - without as much as a scratch to even his visage. Gaara only saw the blood of others, never the blood of his own.

The sand was his slave, and he was slave to the sand that saved him as he was its' god and the sand a goddess. Only a goddess could kill so beautifully, squeezing the life out of a person in an instant, sending them in a desert coffin to desert funeral to the afterlife, IF there was an afterlife… even if there was, it wouldn't matter to Gaara anyway… The sand was whispering to him the condition of that girl, her heartbeats, her panted breaths, her level of consciousness, and the word that she uttered in despair… "Uchiha"… Uchiha Sasuke! With every second of the battle that was passing with Naruto losing, that girl was closer and closer to death. Ah, the sweet surrender to fate…

Soon - soon - he could affirm his existence… thrice! His eyes shot up with anticipation and need. One affirmation would be from the death of Naruto, one big one from the Uchiha, and a whiff for the girl that the Uchiha called "Sakura."

Gaara's consciousness was aware of the developments in the battle, and in the girl, Sakura. He could still sense her heartbeat causing the sand to vibrate if only slightly. Her breathing was becoming more and more terse… She no longer was able to vocalize Uchiha's name… Soon - soon - she would be silent completely. His head began to ache more and more, something was not right in Gaara's domain, something was out of place… Time was running out for Naruto to save his one-sided love…

Why was it that when Gaara was actually sleeping for a change, his mind was not at rest? Why was it that he was feeling something more than anger and irritation? Why was it that he was reminded of his Uncle that protected others from him, but not Gaara himself? Why did his father keep trying to kill him… Why did his Uncle try to assassinate him… Why did his mother curse him… Why did Temari and Kankuro fear him when they were supposed to be allies? Did Naruto and Sakura fear Uchiha Sasuke???

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Gaara's mind couldn't handle the questions that he couldn't stop asking himself. Monster… Monster… Monster… I'M A MONSTER! He couldn't keep from splitting his mind open in agony. It had to be the Shukaku incarnation that was doing this to his mind… taking more and more of Gaara's self away from him… Seizing the opportunity to take over more and more of Gaara's mind and body the Shukaku would torment him for the rest of his life in his own desert coffin…

Gaara summoned what little capacity he had left for mental strength and rationalized his situation. He did not need to be protected… he was feared, not fearful, he was self-sufficient… He protected himself… the sand protected him… to an extent the greater monster Shukaku protected him and granted him insanity more and more every day… His strength came from the need to rely on his self - that was the way of nature and the rule of man - to live and die for oneself… Others were an accessory - he was always alone - always, always alone. This could only lead him to one conclusion - Gaara only needed himself…

The nine-tails combination transformation was proving to turn the tide in the battle. The tanuki was becoming worn down even though he had just been released because of the great amount of chakra it had to use in order to use its attacks. The excited funky speech was relegated to finite threats.

The claws and fangs of the transformed Gamabunta were effective in subduing Shukaku… at least for a little while… and a little while was all that Naruto had needed to punch Gaara in the face and wake him up from his fake sleep. That is just what Naruto did. He punched Gaara in the face, dispelling his fake sleep and putting Shukaku out of commission. Golden eyes faded to a dull green and bright, clear green eyes surrounded by sleepless circles shot open.

Naruto and Gaara, both almost out of chakra had to finish their epic, grand battle not with jutsus, but with bare fists. Shukaku taunted Gaara from deep within his consciousness and the nine-tails would not lend Naruto any more of his chakra. The two demons needed these hosts and still they would not relegate, probably from being too low on reserves themselves.

When Gamabunta's sword disappeared, the two boys lunged at one another with their fists, colliding, they fell to the hard ground. Gaara lay on the forest floor immobilized and Naruto, after regaining what little bearings he had left, made his way like a broken snake across the dirt.

"Stay away from me! Don't come closer!"

"I will defeat you..." Naruto looked him in the eye and Gaara, for the first time in his life, from a being other than the demon inside of him, was beginning to fear the one coming towards him who harnessed a power that he could not understand. He had said that they were alike, but how alike could they be? He and Naruto are two different people, their raison d'etre, their reasons for fighting were too different...

"Hey… You… - why can you sleep with a monster inside of you?" Gaara called out to the Kyubi cage.

"Because I am not a monster-"

"Ah… Is that so…"

"...like you." Gaara's face turned away. Naruto felt a small bit of guilt for saying something that harsh to someone who had the same problems of being alone and rejected. He was able to be the way he was because he had people that accepted him, and acknowledged his existence. The sand shinobi could only get that by proving his strength. Gaara was born to fight...

Naruto added, "Maybe the way the demons were sealed inside of us is different. Maybe it's because the demons are different. I don't think about that since the nine-tails doesn't bother me, and gives me chakra when I really need it."

"You're lucky… you can sleep at night." Naruto looked at Gaara, eyes downcast and then turned serious.

"Hey - release Sakura-chan, you need to use chakra to keep her there, don't you? Divert that chakra to killing me. I'd give my life to protect my important comrades. If I don't have the strength left to kill you here then I have failed."

"Eh---" Gaara looked up at the sky, a bird flew out of his range of sight as soon as he had detected it. What must it be like to be free like that? Free with nothing of earth binding you to its soil… I can't even decide to die! Gaara of the Sand laughed bitterly to himself…

Gaara could sense that that girl, Sakura, was approaching the state after sleep. She would die in a few minutes from suffocation at the rate his sand was crushing her. Gaara exhaled, her death would mean nothing now. The joy he got from killing came from killing those who thought they could kill him, and killing those who have great strength. He would have killed that blond cage a while back if he had known then that his strength was… Gaara released the chakra hold he had on the sand and called the sand towards him and then directed it at Naruto.

"Now I am going to finish you with this last bit of chakra I have left-" Gaara turned to face Naturo eye to eye.

"As long as Sakura-chan and Sasuke are okay, then I can deal with losing since I said I would stake my life on their survival, and if I gave up now, what kind of shinobi would I be?" Naruto let out a small laugh. "I really didn't think my life would end this way though-" Naruto turned to face the sky. "It sure is nice weather…"

"You won't fight me? Fight me with the last remaining strength that you have and then lose since I am superior to you!" Gaara was getting more and more aggravated by the moment.

"I don't have the chakra left to fight-"

"Mou…e…mou…e…." Gaara closed his eyes…

-----

"Sakura! Sakura! Get a hold of yourself! Oy! Sakura!" Sasuke held Sakura in his arms after he caught her from her freefall due to the sand's dissipation. Sakura started to breathe a little more fully and hr eyes flickered to a half-open state.

"I'm glad you are okay, Sasuke-kun-"

"Oy! Sakura - you idiot - facing Gaara like that! What were you thinking? You could'v-"

"But I didn't die, you saved me…"

"Sakura, you risked your life to save me, but Naruto risked his life to save yours. Naruto protected us all."

"Naruto? Naruto? He risked his life to save me?"

-------

"Yo! Gaara!" Temari and Kankuro came into the clearing with the two boys drained of all power. "Gaara - can you stand? We have to get out of here."

"Temari - you're still here? I would have thought that you would have evacuated at the sight of my second form…" Temari didn't respond to Gaara, although she had evacuated, she returned when the dust had settled. "Kankuro, you too..."

"Gaara…" Temari looked saddened by the ai-marked shinobi's state. Kankuro was shocked.

"Mou...e..." Gaara's voice trailed off.

"Gaara?"

"Whatever, I am too tired to think about anything anymore."

Gaara… I've never seen you like this… you're almost…hu- She cut her thoughts short.

"We have to go and regroup with the rest of the teams." Kankuro, shaken at his teammate's weakened state, picked up Gaara and with Temari ran through the trees, from branch to branch, faster than they should have been able to considering their injuries and the additional weight that Gaara added. Not that Gaara was heavy, but all that sand in that gourd…

"Temari... Kankuro... I'm sorry..." His comrades, surprised kept moving through the forest.

"Don't worry about it."

--------

Naruto lied on the grass remembering Gaara's last words to him. "I spared the girl's life for now - but I will return to finish what I started - you will not be able to run from me…"

"Shit!!!" Naruto kicked his weak foot against what was left of the forest floor. "Why does he have to pick on Sakura? She didn't even make it to the last part of the chunnin exam…"

"Shit! Why couldn't I have just finished him when I had the chance?! Shit! Shit! Shit!" All Naruto could do to keep from screaming and scaring all the creatures from the forest was to continually pound his fist against the ground and curse his own shortfalls.

---------

"Yo! Naruto! I finally found you."

"Sasuke, I couldn't defeat him. In the end, I couldn't defeat him!" Naruto's hot tears were creating mud at the base of his face. "How's Sakura-chan?"

"She's fine. More importantly, you are in worse condition..." Naruto's eyes closed and Sasuke took him back to where Sakura and Pacchun were waiting.

------

"I will return to Konoha and take those three on the next time we meet, without delay." Gaara closed his tired, piercing eyes…

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Now, in the manga, in chapter 212 (possible spoilers ahead), the last page is a 2 page layout that has Gaara, Kankuto and Temari in position to aid Shikamaru (Temari), Kiba (Kankuro) and Lee (Gaara [talk about WEIRD]). This story (as of now) does not account for the alliance between Sand and Leaf that happens much later on in the story than this major battle. I am aware of that and may, plots permitting, still allow that to happen.

I try not to use Japanese in the stories since it sounds out of place (eeeeeeJeeeeeeeeJ), so even though I am thinking in my head the Japanese that the characters would say, I try my best to translate it for you (e.g. Kuso = Shit). However, I left 'mou e" in Japanese (though "mou i" would have been more proper Romanization, in English, the e is pronounced the way the Romanized "i" is) since I couldn't think of an acceptable equivalent in this context that I liked.

I have another fic posted on ff.net, an InuYasha one. If you like it let me know and I will continue that one as well.

Lots of reviews make me write more and update more often. :D

Thanks for reading!

~AstroVixen~