A/N: AU GaaSaku.

First and foremost, this is a SEQUEL to my one-shot The Monster Within. I highly recommend you read it first, if you haven't already. This is set almost two years later.

Gaara won when Deidara tried to capture him. Suna was demolished and had to be rebuilt. Sakura was sent with others to help with the wounded and rebuilding efforts. Then she returned to the leaf. Sasuke Uchiha died trying to destroy Konoha, and Kakashi is Hokage.

And the most important detail… Gaara still has Shukaku. Second most important would have to be that over the last 2-4 years, joint operations between Konoha and Suna have completely wiped out the Akatsuki. Yes, that includes Madara.

Also, I'll be writing the immediate aftermath of Gaara raping Sakura in as flashbacks, eventually. This is important, promise. In The Monster Within, Gaara and Sakura were 19, and here they are 21 years old… approximately.

'SHUKAKU'

Chapter 1 – Reunited

It had been a long two years since he had seen Sakura Haruno, so Gaara Sabaku wasn't sure what to expect upon her return to Suna. Standing patiently at the entrance to his village, he could only wait, knowing she wasn't far away. It had been two years… well it was actually less than two years, but not by much. He had tried to move on, to put his actions behind him, and to anyone who wasn't looking very close, he seemed to be the same person he had always been. But Gaara could never forgive himself for the rash, thoughtless actions that had led to him violating the finest medical ninja in the leaf village.

Sakura had fallen victim to rogue ninja in the desert; her party of ninja separated in a sandstorm, she had found the abandoned temple where Gaara had been meditating. The temple was also known as the Wind Shrine and had been the resting place of Shukaku in the past, trapped in a teakettle. The area where the temple is was once called the Nara Desert, and the Monks who resided there were tasked with guarding the container the wind god had been imprisoned in.

A guard above Gaara called out. "I see them!"

In the distance, four figures were approaching from the direction of the unseen forest that was traversed by ninja travelling between Suna and Konoha. Gaara tensed suddenly, glad that his siblings who were standing on either side and slightly behind him did not seem to notice. Kankuro and Temari both kept their eyes on the figures advancing toward the village hidden in the sand. They were anticipating this arrival eagerly as well it seemed.

Kakashi Hatake was the Hokage and in the interest of co-operation, Gaara had suggested to the allies of the sand to send a squad of leaf ninja to assist in the capture of a group of rogue ninja who were taking over Amegakure. It wouldn't be long before they became a problem; even though Ame wasn't one of the Kage run villages, the additions of these rogue ninja was a threat to the balance of Shinobi numbers that was supposed to be a deterrent to war.

Even after everything else that had happened, the problems went on.

Gaara sighed deeply at that. It wearied him, thinking about all the people out there that seemed to thrive on conflict, and these troublemakers had been giving him headaches as of late. As if he needed more of a reason his mediation was not working lately. Shukaku had not had the strength to control his body for some time, so it resorted to whispering in his ear and enticing him. His attempts to sleep without falling prey to the demon's control were not working. But he didn't want to ask Sakura for help. No, he would not bother her. He couldn't even think of what to say when she arrived, let alone once she was already in the village.

And there she was, dressed in a basic red top with black shorts, a short parted pink skirt, and pink elbow protectors; her gloves and high-heeled boots were both black. Except now, Gaara's eyes travelled along her body not only to notice that her attire was slightly more revealing than he remembered it being two years ago, but that she was clearly still nicely shaped. His eyes lingered on the outline created by her breasts for a moment before redirecting his sight to her face. If at all possible, she had grown more beautiful and though her expressionless was stoic, she had not lost the look of the passionate Kunoichi he had once known, who would lay down her life for those who were precious to her.

Indeed, as she stood alongside Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka, she greeted Gaara and his siblings with respect. There was no hint in her demeanour whatsoever that she was remembering the time the Kazekage had raped her.

They were in the new council room for less than an hour, being able to reach an amicable arrangement quickly. Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Sakura Haruno were shown to their rooms to rest for the night before the joint operation between the sand and leaf could begin. They needed to be fully rested before setting out.

Sakura had been nervous about returning to Suna, having not seen Gaara for so long. Immediately after that… incident in the Wind Shrine, she had had to continue on to Suna regardless. It had turned out that a medic by the name of Hana Kudamono had had a brilliant notion of incorporating R.E.M sleep into a meditative state that could be used to allow the Kazekage to sleep without letting Shukaku out to wreck havoc. Hana was a new medic, not long out of the Suna Ninja Academy at the time and had taken her inspiration from a paper Sakura had written when the sand had adopted training regimes similar to Konoha years ago.

Hana had the makings of being the greatest medic Suna had ever known; Sakura could see this potential in her. But her skills were still rudimentary, so the young medic had requested the Hokage to send Sakura to Suna, to see if there was anything she could do to speed up the process. It was why Sakura had been heading toward Suna when her squad had been attacked in the desert.

"Are you okay Sakura?" Ino asked her, having already dressed for bed. "You look worried."

They were sharing accommodations, while Naruto and Shikamaru were next door. Suna was very formal about sleeping arrangements separating male and female guests. Sakura knew this from other visits to the wind country.

Sakura nodded her head and forced a smile. "Sure Ino, good night."

"Night forehead."

Sakura rolled her eyes at her friend. "Sleep tight Ino pig."

Really, this banter never seemed to get old between them. Ino blew out the kerosene lamp next to her bed and Sakura did the same for hers. As she got under the covers, her eyes drifted outside, into the desert night. She sighed. Back when she'd met Hana, she was still angry at Gaara. Sure, a part of her had realised that he hadn't been in complete control of his actions, but another part kept asking her why he had raped her. Shukaku was a demon. Even if somehow it had been able to momentarily possess him without him transforming (except for his eyes), wouldn't that have just meant that he'd have killed her instead?

These thoughts had haunted her for the few weeks she'd spent in Suna afterward and for months after she left. But despite her bravado and determination to pretend it had never happened, she still felt nervous and fearful in Gaara's company. She had decided never to tell anyone what had happened, not only because it wasn't entirely Gaara's fault, but because she feared what would happen to the relationship between Konoha and Suna if word got out that the Kazekage had raped her.

Sighing, Sakura rolled away from the window. At least in the morning, she'd be leaving Suna again, and could take her frustration out on the rogue ninja they were here to track and kill or capture.

Gaara could not sleep. He could never sleep. He didn't deserve to.

He had tried to get some paperwork done, and found himself resting his eyes, as they grew heavy from exhaustion. It was just for a moment. He needed to meditate. Hana's work over the last two years, due mostly to Sakura's help, had improved his ability to meditate. But that inner voice that belonged to Shukaku wouldn't leave him be. It refused to give him a moment's peace. So that was why Gaara had not been meditating every day – his guilty conscience. Somehow, in those moments when he had achieved his eagerness and lulled out of his trance, the realisation of what he had done to Sakura had hit him in all its fury.

He remembered immediately, having felt the pinkette beneath him, felt himself still settled inside of her; the demon tortured him with the memory of having hurt her, undressed her, taken pleasure and forced himself onto her very being. Not a day went by when those images did not haunt him.

With that thought, Gaara felt his body rise. He was walking to his balcony, aware of what he was doing, but unable to stop himself. He climbed out of the window, and jumped along the rooftops to the apartment building where V.I.P visitors were always housed. He landed on the railing of the terrace outside the room Sakura was sharing with Ino Yamanaka. Shukaku had brought him here. It had been weeks since the demon had been able to move him without his permission. The fact that this had only happened now, terrified the Kazekage beyond belief. Now the demon wanted him to come here, to stare at the beautiful pinkette through her window. It could make him take her again, and would have if the object of his desires had been alone.

So it released control, whispering in his head.

'MAYBE NEXT TIME, MY HITÓ-JICHI'

It had to be because it was Sakura. He didn't feel this way about anybody else.

Gaara stared at the pinkette, trying to stop these residual urges. If there was one thing he had learnt, while researching Shukaku more thoroughly after he had raped Sakura two years ago, it was that it lived up to its trickster reputation. He had decided he needed to know if it was him or the demon that had wanted her that way. Dream states with the bijuu while attempting to meditate had helped to fill in the blanks as well.

Shukaku was believed to be the reincarnation of a Sand Priest defeated by the Nara Monk Oraga Nakashimu and imprisoned by him. This was why the Nara Monks were supposed to stop anyone looking to release this spirit; Shukaku could be reborn into the bodies of people killed by the wind and sand, and so his imprisonment in the teakettle after being defeated in battle after having taking over a human prevented him from returning to wreck havoc. The original spirit of Shukaku was rumoured in folklore to have been a Tanuki in disguise, and once trapped, was stored deep beneath the surface structure of the Wind Shrine where only the Nara Monks were supposed to be allowed to venture. According to myth, a Tanuki was a raccoon-dog spirit with power over sandstorms, control over wind, and the ability to manipulate sand.

What the monks hadn't counted on however, were the Shinobi wars, so after the devastation had taken its toll, the monks were all but dead and powerless to intervene when the fourth Kazekage sought to possess the power of the Shukaku.

But the most important information Gaara had been able to find out was the coup de grace for his curiosity. Shukaku was supposed to have had a very active sex life. He wasn't exactly the "god of love", but he was very much as mischievous, playful and horny as the mythological creature he was represented as. Gaara surmised that when he'd raped Sakura a bleed through effect of the natural, sexual rise that Shukaku felt at that moment had directed his actions toward the pleasure centre of his being, rather than simply trying to kill her.

This had brought Gaara to the conclusion that it had been the demon that wanted the pinkette, and not him. But somehow, seeing Sakura again had made more than his desire for her return. He was not stupid. He knew he had feelings for her. They had started back during the fallout of Deidara's attack on Suna, but since she clearly didn't return his affections, he hadn't said or done anything about it.

Almost four years – it was a long time to go without telling someone how he felt. But since they lived in different villages and he had heard that she was dating Naruto Uzumaki, Gaara forced himself to put the past behind him. Then of course, there was that stir caused in Konoha when Naruto had been the reason that the Hyuuga heiress had given up her title. Gaara hadn't known when Sakura and Naruto had stopped seeing each other, but his fellow jinchuriki was soon engaged to the blue haired girl Gaara remembered was called Hinata.

This was not long before the incident in the Wind Shrine, so Gaara had had mixed feelings about the fact that Sakura was single again, and encountering her when he was in that delicate state…

Gaara gripped the railing he was crouched on, concentrating. It wasn't Shukaku he was fighting against, but himself this time. He wanted to climb in there, grab her, and throw her up against the wall. His desire to hear her begging for more, and screaming his name was too much to bear. It was just a fantasy after all. She didn't want him that way. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing exercises. Soon, he was calm enough to leave without disturbing the occupants of the room.

The thing that concerned him now was that Shukaku intended on re-enacting that day in the desert.

A/N: The chapters will ultimately become darker than this one, as chapter 1 is just about setting things in motion. BTW, what I wrote about Shukaku is true. Some of it is actual Japanese mythology, some history for the anime and a line or two of my own devising.

Anyway, enough of that. What do you think? Good or bad, don't hold back. Just no flaming please!

R&R.

Shukaku called Gaara his Hitó-Jichi – it means "hostage"