Date last revised: July 17, 2020

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Part II

Black swallowtail butterfly

AN: This literally wrote itself so why wait? NO BETA bc u know how i roll haha. ENJOY!

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Sweat beaded on Sakura's forehead as she continued to heal the wound on her back. It must have been hours now – the chakra from the soldier pills were almost spent, but the wound was nearly healed. Her hands trembled, the tips of her fingers icy hot from the continuous output of chakra.

But the end was nearly in sight, until finally the last stitches of flesh came together, wonderfully pink against the rest of her pallid skin.

She could only muster a grunt as she finally rested her head on the edge of the bath tub. Her back ached from twisting to look at her wound, and her arms fell by her sides, heavy and tired from hours of work. The water was still warm even though by all counts it should have already been cold, but she filed the information for another day. Her mind could not take any more thinking.

As soon as her arms fell into the water, her entire body seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Her eyes stared at the ceiling, faintly aware of the redhead in her periphery. He had barely moved from his position, and she had almost forgotten his presence.

I should thank him, she thought as her eyelids fluttered shut.

X

Gaara watched as the girl quickly fell asleep in the bath tub. The ends of her pink hair was damp from the water, her bloodied clothes sticking to her thin frame.

Silently, he moved from his position until he leaned over her. Under the bright lights, he could see her pale face and the dried tracks her tears left on her cheeks. He grabbed her chin, but she must have been exhausted, because she didn't even stir.

"Wake up," he said, shaking her face lightly. No response. His sand shied away from the water. He considered calling for one of the servants to move her, but after this blatant attack, he wasn't sure if he could trust even the weakest of them.

Deftly, he placed his hands on her waist, before pulling her from the water and over his shoulder, careful not to jostle her back too much. Letting the sand roll under him until they moved him to his room, he wasn't surprised to see Temari waiting at the top of the stairs. Taking one look at the unconscious girl, she heaved a sigh and followed him as he entered his room.

After dropping the girl on the bed, she grunted in her sleep and turned; even in her unconscious state, she was careful of the newly healed wound on her back.

"They're getting bolder."

Gaara crossed his arms and grunted. The thought of Naruto finding out his teammate has been hurt in his house was unacceptable. His sand rattled underneath him.

"I really should just kill all of them," he said. He didn't fail to see Temari shiver at his words, and he tried again. "I can kill all of the Suna council and build it again."

Temari shook her head. "That's not how you should do things. Diplomacy is best."

"Diplomacy is what got us here." Both stared at the sleeping girl.

"This is what they want," Temari said firmly. "The moment you lose control – if you give it to them, all your hard work will go to waste."

He gritted his teeth. "What would you have me do? If Naruto finds out –"

"He won't. Do you think anyone will talk about this?"

Gaara sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. For everyone's sake, they had better not. Temari chuckled dryly.

"You've always been straightforward," she said. He glared at her, but it was without heat. She gave him a smirk. "Leave the underhanded things to me and Kankuro, we're much better at it. Instead, how about you tell me why you've brought her here?" She jerked her chin at the girl.

"It's none of your business."

His sister sighed and held up her hands. "Alright. Fine. I won't ask any more. But you need to keep her safe. We should at least return her to Konoha in one piece." He privately agreed. It wouldn't do to have Naruto think he inflicted the wounds. Their friendship, if it could be called that, was still fragile, and Gaara was doing his best to nurture it the best he could.

"I'll leave some of my clones with her."

Temari shook her head. "She should stick close to you. If this happens again, not even your clones will survive. The council isn't playing, Gaara."

"Well, Neither am I."

X

Temari could see Gaara's frustrations. He wasn't used to facing consequences for his actions, or being held back by those he believed to be lesser. It was obvious he only wanted to play by the rules when it suited him. And now, since some the Suna councilmen were blatantly going against his wishes, he was ready to stop playing nice.

"Don't forget why you're doing this in the first place," Temari reminded him, trying to calm him down. Gaara had always been temperamental, and she would rather not face his ire so early in the morning.

Her brother gritted his teeth, willing the restless sand to stop slithering all over the floor. "I won't."

She held his gaze before nodding. He was still too young to play dirty politics, and but she wasn't. She and Kankuro had grown up learning how to play this game; that was enough. Under their protection, Gaara would become the next Kazekage.

"For now, don't leave her side – "

"I'm busy." She sighed. His stubbornness was starting to show and she took it as her cue to go.

"You brought her here. Her safety is your responsibility. I'll talk to Kankuro later today, but for now, don't leave her side." She moved to leave, but hesitated.

"Although you might want to take a bath first. You look like shit."

With that, she slammed the door in her brother's room and made her way back towards her warm, inviting bed.

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When Sakura opened her eyes, her first thought was: This is uncomfortable. It was cramped, and she felt the Suna heat in full force. Groaning, she turned over, only for her back to meet air. She grasped the nearest thing, which unfortunately happened to be a pillow, and fell onto the ground with a dull thud.

She pushed herself off the floor and looked around – she wasn't in her room.

In fact, she wasn't even in the house.

Startled, she found herself in the Kazekage office, with Gaara too immersed in his work to pay attention to her waking.

The last thing she remembered was inadvertently falling asleep on the bathtub. Her hands quickly checked over her wounds, before lightly patting her lower back. Inserting chakra in her system, she was relieved to find everything had healed properly. She finally turned her gaze to the only other occupant in the room.

"Good morning," she croaked, voice hoarse. Clearing her throat, she tried again. "Good morning, Gaara-sama." Gaara said nothing, nor did he make any move to acknowledge her presence. Feeling embarrassed, she quickly pushed herself to stand. Her legs creaked from sleeping cramped on the couch.

"I'll take my leave now –" she started, before his cold gaze met hers and locked her in place. He pushed his paperwork away from him and folded his arms.

"You're safer if you're with me," he finally said, by way of greeting. "So stay where you are." She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Resigned, she moved to sit down until she violently remembered the books which she left in her room. Gaara, seeing the change in her expression, seemed to read her mind.

"I took all your things and brought them here," he said, jerking his chin by the door. Next to a tall, potted cactus was her bag and a paper bag carrying her books. Shoulders sagging in relief, she knelt next to her bag and moved to check the contents, happy all her books and things were accounted for.

Gaara cleared his throat and she looked up from hugging the medical books to her chest. He had moved so silently from his position on the desk to stand before her.

"What's your name?"

She stared at him in shock and disbelief.

Is he serious?

Dazedly, she racked her brain, trying to remember if she ever introduced herself to him, only to realise that, in fact, she had not. She had been too awestruck to say anything to him when she first saw him raise a sand wall against the sand storm, and then the opportunity never really presented itself since.

Embarrassed, she hastily stood up and bowed low.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. Nice to meet you."

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Kankuro downed the cup of coffee in one gulp and slammed the empty mug on the table. Temari played with her food and patiently waited for him to voice his thoughts.

"I thought I heard screaming last night, but to think that's what happened."

Temari hummed in agreement. She had peeked into Sakura's room the night before and her eyes widened at the mess her fight left behind.

It was a bloodbath. There was no other way to describe it.

"They were aiming to kill her because she's close to Gaara."

Kankuro shrugged. "Why the hell are we still alive then?" He rubbed his chin in contemplation, smudging the war paint on his face. "No, I think it's something else – maybe they know the reason why Gaara brought her here? I mean, you told me he wouldn't tell you why. Maybe he didn't want anyone to know precisely because she would be targeted?"

"I don't think so," she replied. "It's not like him to be worried about others like that." Gaara caring about some nameless genin? Enough to withhold information from even his family? The idea was so preposterous it made her chuckle. "If this was any other hormonal teenage boy, maybe. But this is Gaara we're talking about."

"Okay, you didn't have to laugh at my idea," Kankuro grumbled. "Are we sure it's someone from the council though?"

The Suna council were a formidable group of people. And they should be – they were made up of the strongest and wisest in their village. Last night's attack all but declared a war on their brother. If it really was from the council, it could spell big trouble.

But who exactly were they fighting against? Was it only one? A few? All?

"Does it matter?" she finally said. "It's obvious someone wants Sakura dead. This is the second attempt."

"That we know of," Kankuro pointed out. "There might be more. It's not like we're keeping tabs on her."

"Maybe we should."

"I'm not a bodyguard, Temari – "

"Think about it for a minute, you idiot," she hissed. "If we keep her alive, they might try to kill her again. We can use that chance and find out who wants her dead."

"Or they might not try again," Kankuro countered. "And we'll just be wasting our time."

"Let's make it so they'll try again, then," she said, tapping her nails on the wooden table.

Kankuro raised a brow. "How?"

"We give them an opening to kill her," she said firmly. Kankuro looked at her like she was crazy.

"You're fucking crazy," he said. "Literally, you just said we should guard her, and now you say we let them kill her? Which one is it?"

"I didn't say we let them kill her. I said we give them an opening to kill her."

"There's a difference?"

"There's a difference." Kankuro looked skeptical, but leaned back in his chair.

"Alright," he said slowly, and Temari can almost see the gears turning in his head. "Let's hear this plan of yours."

Temari looked around the room. Kankuro had assured her that there were no spies, but she dropped her voice to a whisper anyway.

"We flaunt the fact she's alive. I've told Gaara to keep Sakura by his side. They won't try anything with him there. But one month from now will be the Salt Ceremony. Gaara will be busy with it, and they'll use that time to strike."

"How can you be sure?"

"If you're the one planning to kill her, wouldn't you think the same?"

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Author's Notes:

Am I on a roll or what? Two days after the last chapter and here's another update! I guess this is my apology for leaving you guys for two+ weeks. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Black swallowtail butterflies represent big changes, and big changes are slowly but surely happening! Also haha I guess no one caught on that Gaara does not ever refer to Sakura by her name during his POVs. It's because he doesn't know her name!

You might be wondering why, and it's because: When we first meet Gaara in the manga, he asked for Sasuke's name because he recognised his strength. My headcanon is that Gaara (at this point) only recognises those whom he deems are strong (not necessarily stronger than him). So this is like, a step for him. He has recognised Sakura's strength! Good job Sakura!

But also, whoops, Sakura is going to be used by Temari and Kankuro. How will this develop? I'd love to know your thoughts!

I'm running on Vitamin C chewable tablets and chocolate right now haha. I'm feeling better but some days are worse than others.

I find myself obsessively refreshing my email for a review, so pretty please review? They really do fuel my writing, and I love reading and responding to them!

I'd like to take the chance to thank the following: avidreader_123, Genmastone, NDCtomato, Distant Voice and Sarah for reviewing! And a special thank you to Zaidah! Thank you for messaging me, you have no idea how much it made my day!

And finally, to Nanami: espero que lo estés haciendo bién.

If anyone is reading this, and English isn't your first language, or you're too shy to review, I completely understand! This chapter is dedicated to all of you silently reading this story. I thank you for taking the chance with this story. I hope you continue to support this story.

If you're reading this on FFN, there's an option there to PM me - don't be shy and say hi! I'd love to chat.

Also, I know this is a slowburn buuuuuuut as special thanks for everyone (I'm emotional today, sue me hahaha) (jk pls don't sue me I'm a broke college student huhu) HERE'S A SNIPPET OF SOMETHING THAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE FAR FUTURE (maybe. it's not set in stone yet). Let me know what you think of this scene!

I can tell you what inspired it: I saw a turtle gif. That's right. A turtle gif. I can't find that turtle gif anywhere, but you can thank it for this scene haha. Enjoy!

And pls pls make my day and leave a review?

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She cupped his face in her hands and stared at his unfocused eyes.

"Gaara. Come back."

To me. That last part she couldn't utter. She didn't dare. It seemed taboo, and by uttering them, she might bring to life something that shouldn't even exist. His body trembled and she tightened her hold on him, as if that might anchor him back to reality.

"You can do this," she said gently. She saw his consciousness slowly surface as his eyes found their focus on her. His expression was full of confusion, and her heart broke at the fear in his eyes. Breathing hard, his hands clutched at her arms tightly, desperately. The pain from his hold was almost unbearable, but she only gave him a smile.

"I'm back," he rasped, voice hollow. There were no tears in his eyes, but she felt them in his words. She held him tightly in her arms, hoping fervently her presence could extinguish his sadness, even for just a moment.

"Welcome back," she mouthed against his temple, relieved.