Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sweet Surrender ~ Sands of Time ❯ Renewed Determination ( Chapter 5 )

A/N: I am sorry for the way that Chapter 4 originally uploaded. I wanted to get it up so I just left it as was. However, I was finally able to upload a copy of the chapter with the proper formatting. Please go back and read it if you had trouble with the deplorable first uploading.

In Chapter 4, most of it was a dream, Sakura's dream. I have the feeling that Gaara would be a little OOC in the dream, then again, I guess Sakura wants to be the dominate one.... however, I tried to stick to his character as much as possible in the scenes where he was observing her, since that is the 'real' Gaara in this story.

Given my upcoming schedule with papers and finals and graduation in the next few weeks, I probably will not be able to update as often, but I will still try to update every few days. I may update more frequently with smaller chapters. I hope that you will all keep reading!

Lastly, I have enabled anonymous reviews, so if you are anon and have been reading this, you can now give me your two cents like the registered users! <Thank you to a reviewer for suggesting this>

<This concludes the public service announcement from AstroVixen>

Thank you for all of your kind reviews! I will try to include more reviewer responses, at least to reviews with questions, in the next few chapters.

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Sweet Surrender ~ Sands of Time

Chapter 5 ~ Renewed Determination

It was eleven o'clock in the morning when Sakura finally awoke. The time did not surprise her as much as waking without her pajamas on, and having her chest bandaged up. She began to recall the events of the night before. How she had come home from learning that she was the only one that Sasuke did not remember. How she threw the shuriken at Gaara, not knowing how the figure in the shadows was, and then how that same shuriken gauged her chest. After she passed out, Gaara must have brought her into her house and bandaged her up. He watched over her. If Gaara wasn't there, Sakura would have been all alone.

She remembered waking up from a dream only to send him away. One thing is for sure, for some reason, she wasn't scared of Gaara anymore. And that dream... why she would dream about having tea with Gaara, she was unsure. And Sasuke, he disappeared in her dream as well. He didn't remember her in her dreams now either. Sakura felt that she was losing her mind. She looked at the clock. It was now ten past eleven. She promised to give the Hokage an answer on her proposal.

Sakura took longer than usual to get dressed. She didn't bother eating and she rushed out the door. She was going to say no to the proposal. If Sasuke did not remember her, then it would be too painful for her to be near him. Could she just scrap over six years of memories to start over, that is, if she was even given the chance. Sakura thought that Sasuke was going to be the only one for her. There wasn't anyone else in Konoha that interested her in that way. Sakura didn't want to start over, and she didn't want to move on just yet either.

She walked with determination to the administrative offices of Konoha. She passed by the bench where she talked to Sasuke after finding out that they were going to become teammates. The training ground where they had to get the bells from Kakashi in order to be gennin was the same as it was back then too. Sakura could only conclude that not much came in the way of change in this little hidden village of leaf.

Could she give up on Sasuke? After waiting all this time, when he returned from his personal mission, that was when her life with him was supposed to start. Years she waited just to be with him. Years she supported him from behind. She begged him to take her with him when left Konoha to see Orochimaru. He had put her out of commission and left her behind then too. "Sasuke..." Sakura sighed.

After being reminded of all that she wished to forget, Sakura finally reached the godaime's office. She announced herself to the guards and after a short while was beckoned in. She didn't bother sitting, instead she stood in front of the desk.

"Have you made your decision?"

"I am going to have to decline."

"Can I ask why?"

"It would be too painful to be near him when he doesn't remember anything about me, or even me at all."

"Are you sure you aren't making a mistake? True, we don't know why he lost his memory of you, but don't you think that that is all the more reason to help him through his recovery? Give him more chances to remember you?"

"I don't want Sasuke to fall in love with the woman who takes care of him. I want him to remember the woman who was always by his side for all these years!" Sakura started crying. She thought that she had cried enough over this matter. Apparently, she was wrong. Her heavy sobbing had aggravated her wounded chest, the stress of the whole situation probably made the healing process a lot more inefficient. Tsuande noticed the pain in Sakura's chest through simple deduction. She couldn't figure out what it was from though.

"Sakura, what happened to your chest?" The Hokage was concerned. The people in the village were her family. It was her job to protect them.

"Ah, it's just a gash from a shuriken... it's my fault though..."

"You didn't do anything rash, did you?" Her concern over Sakura was growing.

"No... no, its just a misunderstanding. Gaara-"

"Gaara? Gaara did this?" Tsunade was surprised and a bit taken aback by hearing that Gaara had attacked one of Konoha's shinobis. If Gaara was going out of control again... she didn't want to think about what would happen. "What happened?"

"I was coming home last night and noticed a presence in the shadows near my house, so I threw a shuriken and his sand sent it right back at me. I didn't even have time to move. He said that he was sorry, he hadn't noticed it before the sand had acted. He even dressed the wound it caused."

"Gaara did? That Gaara? He is most certainly a different person than he was some years ago." Tsunade stood up and went over to Sakura. "Here, let me heal it. Pull up your shirt and take off the bandage." After the healer had gotten a look at the wound she was surprised at how well it was taken care of. She never would have thought that Gaara would help another bandage a wound, let alone do it so meticulously and carefully. She was in better condition than she should have been. 'This will just take a minute." The Hokage started to form a ball of visible chakra between her palms and placed her palms slightly over Sakura's chest. Sakura could feel the heat and acceleration of it healing. She could even see the wound become smaller and smaller. Only a thin mark remained.

"That scar will eventually disappear, but you won't need to worry about it opening up or having to bandage it." The godaime returned to her desk.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

"Sakura, I want to talk to you woman to woman." Tsunade became serious.

"Ok." Sakura wondered what the woman wanted to say.

"I think that you still love Sasuke. If you didn't, you wouldn't have cried just now. You know Sakura, I was in love once. I loved him more than anything and one day, he was wounded. As a shinobi skilled in medicinal jutsu, I tried my hardest to save him. But you know what, he died. He died of wounds I couldn't heal. What is important about this story is that I did not give up on him until after I exhausted all possible options to save him. I am able today, to have no regrets about that time." Tsunade looked down at her desk for a moment before she looked up at Sakura. "You aren't the type of person who wants to live with regret, are you?"

"No, I am not."

"Then will you reconsider? Will you be sure to have no regrets? I am sure that we will figure out why Sasuke can't remember you. But maybe the explanation has to do with how he put you aside from all others in his mind. For whatever reason, he thought of you differently. Isn't that enough hope to keep you going?" Tsunade was imploring Sakura to change her mind.

"I hadn't thought of it that way. I was just so upset that he couldn't remember me at all, I never really thought about why..." Sakura looked from the floor to the eyes of the woman who was giving her an opportunity. "I will undertake your training so I can remain by Sasuke's side. I will be optimistic about this whole thing and just hope that somewhere down the road, he will remember everything."

'That's the spirit of the girl who pledged to remain by Sasuke's side and sacrificed everything to hold that promise. We will start later today. For now, go get some lunch to build up your strength. Then meet me back here at 2."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Sakura turned to leave the office.

"Oh, Sakura, one more thing... smile." The Hokage winked at her, and Sakura was not left with a choice.

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In a hospital room, a boy with dark eyes and dark hair was tossing and turning in his sleep, as if he was reliving a nightmare...

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Like? Dislike? Let me know! Please review.

Has anyone recommended this fic to a friend of theirs?

Has anyone read what I wrote so far in my InuYasha fic? Which is better so far?

I am sorry to disappoint those who were hoping for more Gaara/Sakura angst/romance in this chapter. I am hoping to make this story 'last', i.e. I really want to build up to things without skipping over parts that could be relevant. Sorta like Natsuki Takaya the manga-ka of Fruits Basket, but I promise that this fic won't go on THAT long without answers. Arcs are nice, aren't they?

Look forward to finding out clues as to why Sasuke only forgot about Sakura~

Thanks for reading!

AstroVixen