A/N:

I've been on a mini-hiatus for the past few months because of personal problems, but I will try and update much more frequently now that I'm back. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, all the favourites and alerts as well. That helps me know that people are still interested in this little story of mine. :) So, a big Thank You to you all.

Word Count: 3,564
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairing: GaaSaku

Enjoy.

Sakura's eyes opened slowly; her lids felt heavy with sleep. She wished that she could go back to that blessed state of unconsciousness. Unfortunately, she could hear Naruto scruffling around – more than likely looking for ramen, the baka – and if she didn't stop him soon, he'd wake up the entire forest.

She pushed the upper half of her body off the ground and rubbed her eyes. "Naruto, cut it out! You're going to wake up Sasuke-kun, and he needs to rest-"

She stopped rubbing her eyes and actually looked at the person fumbling around their campsite; she gazed upon a strange shinobi crouched over her teammates. Instead of the lovable blond idiot, this ninja was clad in a yellow jumpsuit and an odd gas-mask covering his mouth and noise.

His eyes narrowed. Running towards her, he pulled out several kunai as he muttered, "Unlucky."

Sakura drew kunai of her own to deflect his attack. In her other hand she grabbed a couple shruiken and threw them at his stomach. Her opponent dodged one, but was struck by the others in his stomach. As he jumped to the side in order to pull the throwing stars out, she drew more kunai and, without turning away from the enemy ninja, backed up to where Naruto and Sasuke lay. They appeared to be unharmed.

As she looked around the clearing, she thought for the first time, How the hell did I end up here?

She remembered a slightly familiar face hovering over hers. A face with aquamarine eyes with dark circles and crimson hair.

"Sleep, Sakura."

I guess he was the one who brought us here, whoever he is. That Gaara guy, probably. I wonder... is he still here? No, he surely would have gone on to the tower.

Sakura was snapped out of her thoughts as her enemy pushed himself off the ground and staggered towards her, clutching a kunai like it was his lifeline. She grabbed more shruiken and threw them at his approaching form. He flung up his arms to protect himself, and all of the throwing stars sunk into them. Sakura ran towards him, but tripped over a stray tree root she hadn't noticed. The enemy tackled her and attempted to restrain her.

She struggled to free herself, but his hand latched onto her wrists and forced her to the ground. He chuckled, "How lucky. Are you the one with the scroll? I would think that the dark-haired one would have it, but I didn't find it on him. Anyway, it never hurts to check, ne?"

Realizing escape was not an option, Sakura spat in her opponent's face. He held both her wrists with one hand and used to other to wipe off her saliva.

"You'll pay for that, bitch."

He reached into her shuriken pouch, and rifled around, searching for their scroll. She growled and tried to push him off, but he just kneed her in the stomach.

He sighed. "Not in there, huh? Well, I guess that I'll have to search somewhere else." His hand darted upward.

A sharp voice cut through the air, and the ninja's hand froze. "Get off of her."

Sakura peered around her captor to see if it was really him. She saw Sasuke standing up, but something was wrong with him. His skin was covered in odd squiggles that seemed to come from the bruise in his shoulder. More worrisome than that were the purple flames that engulfed his body and his cold, black and gold eyes. She shivered. Something was deathly wrong with the boy she had worshiped for most of her life.

Sasuke walked calmly towards the enemy shinobi and picked him up by his neck. He pushed him up against a tree, still choking him. He raised his fist and punched him in the face.

"Don't touch my teammates. Ever."

Sasuke threw him to the side, and the shinobi skidded until he collided with another tree. Sasuke turned to Sakura. "Do you want me to kill him?"

Sakura was frightened of this Sasuke. Sakura couldn't tear her eyes away, even as she begged her mind to let her regain control of her body. She shuddered as he stepped closer to her. "N-no. Please don't. He was just trying to get our scroll."

He grinned. "I could, you know. Kill him, that is."

Sakura was convinced without a shadow of a doubt that this Sasuke could kill without thought or regret. As a shiver went up her spine, she whispered, "Please don't."

"Why shouldn't I?" he walked up to the unconscious shinobi and whispered, "It would be so easy."

As Sasuke bent over to grab hold of his neck, Sakura ran to him and grabbed his wrist, trying to pull him away from the ninja. Out of some unknown reflex, she shouted, "Kiyomeru no jutsu!"

Sasuke shuddered violently and fell to the ground, still convulsing. Sakura tried to let go of his wrist, but her hand seemed to be stuck to his skin. Her hand grew warm, and the strange marks began to recede – not back into the strange bruise on his shoulder, but to his wrist where he held it. After a few more seconds, he stopped shaking and his skin was back to its normal pallor. When Sakura removed her hand, she was shocked to see that a damp black residue coated the span of Sasuke's wrist. Shakily, he turned her hand over and saw the same residue on her palm.

Sakura stuttered, "W-what is this?"

Unseen and unheard, the enemy ninja croaked out, "U-unlucky..." and stumbled away.

Naruto slowly pushed himself off the ground and shuffled over to Sakura. She quickly wiped her hand off on the ground before he could ask her questions that she didn't know the answer to.

He rubbed his head, yawned, and said, "What happened? This place looks awful, dattebayo!"

She smiled weakly and turned to face him. "You have no idea."

He tilted his head to the side, "Huh? We should probably check on our scrolls, don't you think? The teme looks worse than you do!"

Sparing a glance at Sasuke, Sakura reached into the kunai pouch strapped to her thigh, and felt not only one, but two scrolls snugly sitting side by side. Weird... She thought. I was sure that we only had one. She shrugged, It wasn't important, really. All that mattered was getting to the tower on time. Sakura was pretty sure that they still had a day left. When she looked through the trees around the clearing, she could spy the tower. She let out a small sigh of relief.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm and heaved him over his back. "C'mon! We're gonna get to the tower a whole day early!"

He bounded off to the large red tower with an unconscious Sasuke over his shoulder and Sakura trailing behind.

Kakashi knelt beside Sasuke and sighed. "Well, there's not much we can do now. I've already put a suppressor on the curse mark, and the Medic ninja have determined that there's nothing else wrong with him. All we can do is wait until he wakes up."

Sakura sighed, frowned, and looked sadly at Sasuke.

Sasuke-kun... if I'd only been stronger, I could have stopped Orochimaru from biting you and giving you that awful curse-mark. We would all be together, resting up and preparing for the next exam.

I'm useless.

Please don't beat yourself up. It's not going to make Sasuke wake up any faster.

For once, she pushed her inner self's voice out of her mind and let herself be overcome with grief. A single tear rolled down Sakura's cheek. Another followed and soon her face was streaked with tear-tracks. She was racked with silent sobs. Sakura slammed a fist over her mouth, trying to get control over her emotions and still her shaking hands and shoulders. Naruto placed an uncertain hand on top of her other hand and squeezed it.

Quiet for once, he whispered, "It'll be okay, Sakura-chan. The teme's too tough to let that creepy curse mark or whatever beat him."

Sakura gave him a tiny smile. Why had she ever been cruel to him? He was so kind; much kinder than Sasuke. He never ignored her, told her she was annoying, or brushed off her friendly hellos. Naruto was a true friend.

Sakura wiped her tears away and squeezed his hand back. "Thank you, Naruto-san. For everything."

Naruto stared at her, mouth agape. Kakashi stared at her as well, wondering what exactly had happened in that forest to make his only female student change so much. She had always yelled at Naruto before. Now she was being kind - thoughtful even.

Sakura smiled back at the both of them. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go out to the resting area. Feel free to join me, Naruto-san."

A grin lit up his face, and as he rubbed the back of his head he said, "Sure thing, Sakura-chan! Just let me ask Kakashi-sensei something and I'll be there! Dattebayo!"

"Okay." Sakrua gave Naruto one last smile and left the room.

Once the door had firmly closed behind her, Naruto turned to Kakashi and asked him with uncharacteristic seriouusness, "Do you know what happened to Sakura-chan?"

Kakashi's lone eyes curved. "You know what, Naruto? I think she's growing up."

Gaara leaned against the wall of the large room that housed he and his siblings for the remainder of the Second Exam. He wasn't tired at all from their journey, but his siblings were. They lay asleep, tucked into futons placed on the other side of the room. There were a few more stacked up in a corner, but not nearly enough for all the teams who were competing.

Hm. Doesn't seem like they expect many people to make it.

Of course not, squirt. It ain't called The Forest of Death for nothing.

…Whatever you say, Shukaku.

Gaara closed his eyes and wondered what the Third Exam could possibly be. They'd already proved their information gathering skills – First Exam – then they'd shown their survival skills – Second Exam – but now what?

Fighting skills. You're awfully oblivious for someone so smart.

Ah. Of course. But what do you mean by oblivious?

Open your eyes.

Gaara obliged and was quite surprised to see the familiar face of the pinkette kunoichi he had assisted in the forest not too long ago. Her eyes were closed and she was sitting on the floor with her head leaning on the wall behind her, across the room from him. She looked extremely tired. While his eyes roved her form, he couldn't help but notice that she had acquired more scratches and bruises since he had laid her down on the forest floor. He almost growled in frustration. Did the girl attract trouble or did it somehow find her? Gaara wasn't sure, but whenever he saw her she was in some sort of peril or another. Whether from himself or another shinobi, she couldn't stay away from danger. He had left her in a perfectly secure area and what did she do? She managed to find an opponent to fight.

It was just absolutely infuriating.

Sakura's candy-apple green eyes flew open, and Gaara was stunned. So many emotions flew through her eyes: surprise, confusion, and a little bit of apprehension.

That was ridiculous. What did she have to apprehensive for? It wasn't like he'd done anything to harm her; quite the opposite in fact. He had thought he'd done everything right. When her gaze shifted away, and he read discomfort in her bright eyes, Gaara realized that he'd been staring at her. He quickly turned his gaze to an interesting crack in the wall.

He heard her pick herself up off the floor and begin to walk. When her footsteps became louder, it almost seemed like... but it couldn't be.

He heard her stand before him, and he tore his eyes from the wall to look at her. She still looked apprehensive and perhaps even a little afraid as she bit her lip and averted her gaze.

Then she met his stare and said quietly, but with conviction, "I would like to thank you for saving me earlier. My teammates and I wouldn't have survived if you hadn't shown up." She placed her hands on her thighs and bent over into a deep bow. "Arigato gozamasu, Gaara-san."

Gaara simply blinked. He'd never been bowed to before; he didn't know how to react. He stood stock still, wondering what the hell he was supposed to say. Sakura peeked up at his frozen form, blushed, and quickly bowed her head again.

He managed to stiffly say, "You're welcome." He attempted a bow, but bumped heads with her instead. They both quickly sprung apart and muttered apologies. Gaara was sure his face was flushed a bright enough red to rival his crimson hair.

There was a loud crash as the door to the room was thrown open. A blond Konoha shinobi stumbled through the door. He looked around wildly until he spotted Sakura. A giant grin spread across his face and he bounded up to her.

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan! The teme woke up! Isn't that great news? You've got to come up and see him. He's even talking to Kaka-sensei!"

He was loud as well as blond, it seemed.

Sakura beamed and let out a relieved sigh. "Sasuke-kun..." She turned to Gaara and gave him a giant smile. "Good-bye, Gaara-san. I hope I see you in the next Exam!"

Gaara, stunned again by her smile, could only gurgle out a quiet, "Good-bye..." before she ran out of the room with the loud blond.

Shukaku's chuckle rumbled in Gaara's head. I can't wait to see how she fights. It's bound to be... interesting.

For once, we agree on something.

"The first fight will be: Uchiha Sasuke versus Sabaku no Kankuro!"

Sakura bit her lip as Sasuke calmly jumped off of the platform to land with a soft thump on the ground below. He quickly straightened up and adopted a fighting stance.

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin when Kakashi whispered in her ear, "Sakura. I need to ask a favor of you."

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself before answering, "Okay, Kakashi sensei. What do you need?"

"Naruto told me about what happened in the clearing. He heard you yell something and saw you drive the curse-seals effects from Sasuke's body. Sakura, I need you to stop Sasuke if he loses control. I won't be able to subdue him completely. You however, will."

Sakura said shakily, "Sensei, I thought N-Naruto was asleep when I-I got rid of the cursed seal."

Kakashi shook his head, "He told me that when he woke up, he saw you latched on to Sasuke's wrist and the curse mark was receding into your hand. I don't know what happened; what I do know is that I need you to stop him."

Sakura nodded, "I think can do that."

Sasuke-kun... I wish I could ease your pain, too. If only I were stronger.

"Begin!"

Sasuke lunged at Kankuro, kunai drawn. He simply raised his arm to block the knife. Sasuke, who was clearly not expecting this, lost his balance but then flipped backwards and skidded. He started to make a few hand signs, but then hesitated. Sakura wondered what was keeping him from using jutsu; did it have something to do with the curse mark?

Kankuro grabbed the bundle on his back and flipped it over his head he began to unravel it slowly. He didn't get a chance to go any farther than the very top because Sasuke lunged at him again, this time with shruiken. When Sasuke flung them at him, Kankuro simply lifted up his bundle and let the shruiken embed themselves in it. Sasuke aimed a kick at his side, which Kankuro blocked. He kicked again, this time at his back, and Kankuro was caught off-guard and flew into the air. Sasuke kicked him again in the stomach. Kankuro was thrust to the ground; the floor smashed underneath him.

"Itai... You sure do kick hard. Nice work, kid. I haven't been thrown to the ground in a long time." Kankuro poked his head from the rubble and smiled. When he picked himself up, a puppet popped up behind him as well. It had apparently cushioned his fall.

Sasuke frowned. "Hn."

Kankuro laughed, "Now I've got to get serious. What a pain."

The puppet leaped forward and lunged at him with a blade. Sasuke easily dodged it, but then the marionette twisted midair and slashed his arm. Sasuke howled in pain and flipped away. He looked down at his wound and then back at the puppet's blade. It was glistening with some sort of liquid.

Poison. Sakura gasped. Sasuke was going to need medical treatment as soon as possible. He stumbled towards Kankuro and let out an enraged yell, kunai drawn. He leaped over the puppet and slashed downwards with a furious aura. Kankuro shuffled backwards, and grabbed his chest. He gave Sasuke a vicious glare as he sent the puppet hurtling after him. In his haste, Sasuke formed handsigns for a jutsu, but was almost immediately overcome by the curse-mark. Sakura nearly leaped over the railing, but Kakashi threw his hand in front of her.

He shook his head. "Not yet."

Sasuke convulsed as Kankuro's puppet advanced, but then his face contorted further and the curse-mark began to recede into his shoulder. He shuddered and forced himself up, blocking his enemy's attack at the last possible second with a kunai. He flipped back to escape the dummy, but it continued it's mad chase after him. It's mouth opened suddenly and senbon glistening with poison shot towards Sasuke. He somersaulted to avoid them, but almost flipped into the wall in his exhaustion. He threw himself at Kankuro, inflicting yet another deep gash. Kankuro trapped Sasuke with his puppet, using the marionette's arms as a cage. Sasuke struggled violently, smashing the back of his head into the puppet. He yelled and then went limp, curse mark emmersing his body. He whacked the dummy one last time before it broke into several large pieces. He pulled himself up from the rubble and ran towards Kankuro with a renewed fevor, normally dark eyes shining bright gold and the curse mark covering his entire body.

Kakashi grasped Sakura's shoulder. "Now."

They shushined down to Sasuke and as Kakashi held Sasuke still enough for Sakura to get a good grip on him, she reached for Sasuke's wrist. Grasping him tightly, she channeled her chakra into him and whispered, "Kiyomeru no jutsu."

Sasuke shuddered as the curse mark flooded into her hand. He slumped forward, unconscious yet again.

The coughing shinobi stepped forward, hacking into his hand. He croaked, "Uchiha Sasuke is unable to fight. Sabaku no Kankuro is the winner of the first match."

Kankuro smirked and jumped back up to the balcony where his team waited. Temari smiled at him, but Gaara's face remained stolid.

Sakura frowned. Poor Sasuke. He was going to go ballistic when he found out he'd lost. She watched as Kakashi and a squad of Medic Nins loaded Sasuke onto a gurney. She walked with them and held Sasuke's hand until the white-clad shinobi ordered her back to what remained of her team. She walked back to Naruto, who was strangely solemn.

He turned to her. "Sasuke'll be alright, Sakura. Dattebayo."

Sakura smiled sadly. "I really hope so, Naruto-san. I do."

The coughing shinobi cleared his throat. Every ninja's eyes were trained on him as he said, "If you would direct your attention to the match board..."

Sakura gasped as she read the dark screen.

"The next match is: Haruno Sakura versus Yamanaka Ino."

A/N:

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Arctic Ice

Next Chapter: The fight between the two former friends is going to get heated! Who will come out on top?