Disclaimer: See chapter one.

I'm sorry it took so long for my update, I just needed a break to gather my thoughts. Wanted to keep it exciting and not let it drizzle out. So please please forgive me, and enjoy.

I love Gaara, he's like an emotionly challenged teddy bear, you want to hug him, even if in doing so you get eaten. So please be nice to him and me...

Sakura watched with a mixture of fear and amusement as Deidara and Hidan sparred, though she knew she was worrying for no reason. It was two days since Hidan had finally slipped away to do one of his rituals.

She knew that he was out there killing someone, but he promised her he wouldn't go after anyone allied with Konoha, but it still bothered her. Though, she was interested in the fact that his body was completely healed now. She had always assumed that his Jashin ritual only healed what he inflicted upon himself while within the circle, but that wasn't the case.

He had left sickly thin, and in pain, only to return a day later looking like he hadn't spent years in a hole starving to death. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes she wouldn't have believed it possible.

She smiled in contentment as she watched Hidan quickly dodge out of the way of one of Deidara's clay bombs, only to flip the blonde off in retaliation. Her smile widened when Kisame came to lean against the side of the house with her,

"Hey, Sakura-hime."

She threw a frown up at him before turning her eyes back toward the fight, she hated that they called her hime all the time, but she knew it was a foolish argument. They had all three decided to call her Princess, and no matter what she said they wouldn't change their minds. At least Itachi called her by her name, at least he did when she wasn't embarressed enough to avoid him.

Sakura swiped at an itch on her ankle, before letting her thoughts drift off toward Itachi once again. She wondered why he had kissed her a week ago, and than promptly gone back to being distant. Had he done it to get her out of her room? He didn't seem like the type, but she didn't really know him well enough to judge.

"What's wrong with your leg?"

Sakura glanced up at Kisame with a frown before turning her gaze to her leg, that she hadn't noticed she had been rubbing. It felt like someone was dragging a feather across her skin, but she couldn't see anything. She felt her eyes widen when the sensation left her leg and jumped to her fingers.

Lifting her hand in confusion she stared at her fingers for several moments, before she noticed what it was. There were little grains of sand sliding across her fingers, but how could there by sand here in grass? Oh...wait...sand...

"GAARA!"

Leaving the three ex-Akatsuki standing there looking confused, Sakura took off into the woods. She knew she would have to got to Gaara and his siblings, they wouldn't just stroll up to the house. They may trust her, but they didn't trust who she was living with, she hoped she could change their minds,

"Sakura-hime!"

Sakura glanced over her shoulder in mild suprise, she hadn't expected the three men to follow her. She didn't have time to think too much about it though, because she stepped right onto of something soft, that gave beneath her feet.

Her first thought was she had just found a sink hole, and she was about to fall, but than she smiled. It wasn't a sink hand, it was sand, and was roaring up around her, swallowing her in a typhoon. She couldn't help but laugh loudly in joy when the sand slithered over and around her body, incasing her in a cocoon.

"Sakura, what..."

She could hear the bewilderment and slight worry in Hidan's voice, and it touched her heart. But she couldn't reassure the humans at the moment, she was busy reassuring the sentient sand that she was alive and whole.

She wasn't sure how it had happened, but even without Shukaku his sand still retained a will of its own. It would always protect the red head, but in the time she had spent with the sand siblings, it had taken a liking to the medic. Sakura giggled when the sand slid across her ribs, tickling her,

"Gaara call it off, it tickles..."

She knew he was close enough to hear her, the sand never travelled far from him, never left his completely defenseless. Sakura smiled warmly beneath her mask when the sand tightened around her breifly, before it begun to retreat from her, trickling from her to slide into the shadows of the forest,

"You alright, Sakura-hime, yeah?"

Sakura threw a smile to the three men who all stood, looking deceptivly calm, she knew them better than that though. They were all ready for an attack, Sakura blinked slightly, when she noticed that they were all looking at her in slight confusion. It was than that she noticed that her hood and mask had both been pulled down by the sand.

"Sakura."

The pinkette snapped back around at the sound of that deep voice that belonged to her friend. Her smile wide and happy as she took in the red head, standing there looking cold and aloof, but she knew better, she could see the content happiness in his jade eyes. For the first time in a long time she felt as if her heart was about to explode from happiness, especially when Temari and Kankuro stepped forward to flank their brother, both smiling at the pinkette.

"Your here!"

She couldn't handle it anymore, she jumped forward to throw her arms around first Temari, than Kankuro, she was so happy to finally see them after being seperate from them for so long. Finally turning to Gaara, she watched his eyes widen slightly, but before he could back up, she had thrown her arms around him, crushing the red head to her in a tight hug,

"Its good to see you too, Pinky."

Hidan had no idea what to do, so he decided it was best to just keep his mouth shut and watch the reunion of friends. He had to admit, he was shocked to see this side of the pinkette, she looked so happy and at ease. She hadn't even been this happy when everything had been settled with the leaf shinobi, these three must be extremely important to her. He could tell that, just by watching her slap playfully at the man with the painted face for calling her 'Pinky' instead of putting him through a tree like she would anyone else.

"Oh my God, Sakura! I'm getting married!"

Kisame flinched slightly when Sakura let loose a squeal that he had never expected from her, at the blond woman's words. He was pretty sure that this whole meeting was going to be very awkward, after all, they had technically killed the red head. Yet he found that he was willing to deal with it, for no other reason than he liked to see that happy smile on the pinkettes face. The pure joy was something had never seen on those normally covered and emotionless features. When in the presence of those three sand shinobi, she was truelly happy, her smile coming from her heart, and lighting up her face,

"So he finally asked? You two have kept in contact for like what seven..eight years?"

Deidara shifted nervously when Kazekage's emotionless green eyes flicked over to him, he really wouldn't blame the younger male if he attacked him. At the moment, he would probably let the red head beat the hell out of him, he felt like shit. Yeah, he hadn't known Sakura when he was in the Akatsuki, but now that he did, he felt guilt for hurting one of her friends. From the looks of it, one of the few friends who understood the line she walked,

"We can catch up later, I'm starving."

Itachi watched from the shadows of the tree branches as the pinkette laughed happily, as she slung an arm around the painted man's shoulders. She had been avoiding him, since he had kissed her, and he didn't like it. He wasn't sure what he was feeling as he watched the woman smile and laugh, part of him was jealous that it wasn't turned toward him. Another part wanted to see that look more, she looked so beautiful with her face lit up in a happy smile, her green eyes practically glowing,

"Your always hungry, Kuro-kun."

Sakura sent a silent prayer up to Kami-sama for no fights to break out, as she slowly lead the three Suna shinobi toward the three men on the other side of the clearing. She was sure no one but her could tell, but all six of them were tense, either ready for the unexpected or with nerves she wasn't sure,

"Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, meet Kisame, Hidan, and Deidara."

Gaara met the eyes of each Akatsuki member, careful to keep his expression blank, if it was anyone but Sakura introducting him to these men, he probably would have already lashed out at them all. But the one thing he knew above all else, was where Sakura's loyalty lie, these men wouldn't try to harm him or his siblings. If they were a threat, she would have already killed them, or atleast warned him in some fashion or another,

"Hidan, Deidara, Kisame, meet the Kazekage Sabaku No Gaara, Ambassador Temari of the Sand, and there useless runt of a brother Kankuro."

Temari watched as her brother turned to glare playfully at the smiling medic, but when she turned to study the three older men, she couldn't help but burst into laughter. She could see that all three didn't know whether to take her seriously or laugh at what they thought was a joke. She could tell that these three men adored her pink haired friend, there was warmth in all their eyes as they watched the ex konoha nin. She wasn't really suprised, Sakura had that effect on people, they all naturally cared for her, or they died.

"Its okay to laugh, boys, Sakura-chan is just picking on him. They had a love-hate relationship."

Kankuro almost swallowed his tongue when three pairs of eyes snapped to him with looks so intense, he half expected to spontaneously combust. He wondered if they were all inlove with the pinkette, or if they were just extremely protective of the woman. He smiled slightly as he reached over to ruffle the girls hair, causing some to fall lose from her braid. He may not trust these men, but he was glad that Sakura finally had someone who could watch out for her,

"Lets get out of the middle of nowhere, and someplace more secure, yeah, Sakura-hime."

Deidara kept his voice light and cheerful, careful not to reveal any of the tension he was feeling in this situation. He almost flinched when all three sand siblings turned to look at him, two with amusement, and other with a blank look. He had never wanted to run so bad in his life, and not because he was afraid of them. No, he was afraid of a fight breaking out and Sakura getting hurt again, he wasn't sure she would survive the second time around,

"Hime?"

Temari couldn't keep a straight face when she questioned the blonde man about the nickname for her friend. When all three men shifted slightly in what she guessed was embarressment, she couldn't handle it, she busted up laughing once again. She thought she would never see the day when three of the most feared ninja in the world would act sheepish,

"Ya got a fuckin problem with what we call the bitch?"

Kisame cursed silently when all three Suna-nin froze, turning to stare at the Jashinist. Why couldn't he have just kept his mouth shut, now there was going to be a huge misunderstanding, and it was going, To. Be. Hidan's. Fault. His hand itched to slap the purple eyed man, but the pinkette beat him to it. He watched as she calmly stepped away from the Suna siblings, and over to Hidan,

"Hidan, honey, what did I tell you the last time you called me 'bitch'?"

Hidan sucked in his breath at that sickly sweet tone and wide smile on the pinkette's face, oh shit, he was gonna get it now. He vagually remembered her saying something about 'trees', 'ass', 'kunai' and 'balls'. He didn't remember exactly what she said, but he knew he wasn't going to enjoy it, and he was proven right. Sakura lashed out faster than he could duck, her open palm crashing against his chin, forcing his head back with a snap, and sending him flying backwards with a muffled curse.

"Sorry about him, lets get to the house."

Gaara almost smiled at his pink haired friend, when she calmly stepped back toward his siblings and himself. He allowed her to slide her arm through his, and watched as she did the same to his brother. It seemed that even though much had changed in the past few years, Sakura was still the same person underneath it all.

"Kisame, Deidara, you two can escort Temari-chan."

Sakura laughed when she heard her blonde friend giggle, and the two men stare at her, slightly confused, but she didn't wait around. Arm and arm with the brother's, she begun the trip back to the house. She knew that Hidan was fine, he was just sulking now, he would catch up when he was done. For the first time in a very long time, she felt completely happy and content, she was surrounded by people who understood and loved her. She was with her family.

Itachi watched as Sakura guided the Suna-nin toward the base, he knew they would have to leave it soon, too many people knew where it was located. He wasn't foolish enough to trust that neither Konoha nor Suna wouldn't send nin here for them later, but for now they would stay. Slipping silently ahead of them through the tree's he headed back toward the house. He wanted to be there before they returned, so that Sakura wouldn't know he had followed her.

Okay, This is the last chapter of The Watcher. I have decided to split this into two diffrent stories, the next one will be called The Guardian, and I'll start on that tomorrow.

This chapter was suppose to be light and fluffy, just to draw everything to a happy conlusion. Stay tuned and enjoy the next story.