Ascending (Sequel to Rock Bottom)

Chapter 22 - Bijuu Therapy

Gaara came back the next morning as if nothing had ever happened, rousing curious looks from all members of Team 7, but none of them said anything to address this.

Both Sakura and Kakashi were shaken from yesterday's events. But aside from their quick exchange of unreadable expressions, it was as if what transpired the night before never happened.

"We should get going." was all he said. Nobody objected, and soon the five of them were on their way once again as if nothing had ever happened.

While they were walking, Sakura noticed, much to her excitement, that Naruto and Sasuke were acting a lot more touchy-feely with each other. They had finally gotten together, she could feel it.

Then she sighed as her eyes were drawn to Gaara. He hadn't looked her in the eyes once this entire time. Had she really hurt him that much?

Sakura quickly glued her eyes to the ground in front of her as Gaara turned around. She didn't look at his face directly, but she could feel his stony expression. "We're almost there." He said simply before spinning on his heel to advance once again.

They continued to walk in silence until Naruto spoke up. "Okay, that's it! What the hell is going on between those two dattebayo?"

"Nothing," Sakura said quietly.

Naruto only rolled his eyes before saying, "Now,"

What happened next caught both Gaara and Sakura off guard. Kurama appeared next to Sakura, but this time in a larger form, and without warning he wrapped five of his nine tails around Sakura, effectively immobilizing her.

At the same time, Shukaku appeared in his usual form and rooted Gaara to his spot using sand. The Kazekage held up a hand to try to get the sand to move, making Shukaku's face contort into something akin to a smirk. "Tut tut, Jinchuuriki. This sand was mine before it was yours." Gaara glared wordlessly at the Ichibi in response.

"Now," Kurama began "You two are going to stay here until you've worked out all of your petty human disagreements." Shukaku nodded as the two Bijuu pushed Sakura and Gaara hard.

The two shinobi crashed into each other ungracefully, but as they parted, they noticed the decreasing amount of light. Shukaku! That evil raccoon! He was making a sand dome around them. "We'll give you two some privacy," He said.

But then both he and Kurama exchanged devious looks before turning back to listen to everything the arguing couple had to say.

Sakura leaned against one of the sand walls nervously. Gaara was silent; he had been the entire time. She knew he was expecting an apology from her.

"I'm sorry,"

"No, you're not,"

Sakura hesitated, "You're right, I'm not. What happened in Kumo was so minuscule-"

"No!" Gaara half-shouted, cutting her off in the process. "No, it was not minuscule. You were crying and writhing on our bed in the middle of the night, and I had no idea what to do because you didn't tell me anything!"

Sakura said nothing; she didn't know what do say. This made Gaara sigh and rub his temples. "I just want you to trust me, Sakura, that's all. From now on, no more secrets between us. Okay?"

Sakura took a shaky breath, but smiled nonetheless, "No more secrets, yeah, okay." Except for that one about her Gaara's lips twitched upwards in response, and Sakura didn't know what came over her, but she couldn't help but hug the big teddy bear she called her boyfriend.

He immediately wrapped his arms around her in response. He let his cheek rest on the top of Sakura's head as she snuggled into his chest, "I guess now would be a good time to share that we have Kumo's full military support."

"That's great!" Sakura replied, "So then what do we need the old coots in Konoha for? Let's go straight to Kiri!"

"Sakura, even if the people there have done some bad things, Konoha is still one of the Great Shinobi Nations," Gaara explained seriously. Sakura stepped back a bit to look at his face,

"But you terminated our alliance with them. Us trying to get in would end up worse than what happened in Kumo."

Gaara hesitated, Sakura had backed him into a corner. But he expected no less from her, after all.

"If I were to be completely honest, the main reason I want us to stop in Konoha is that I know you and your team still have unfinished business

Sakura said nothing as she processed this. That made a lot more sense now that she thought about it. She didn't have any loose ends to tie in particular. Perhaps, she would try to patch things up with Kiba or talk to Hinata, but that was it.

Then she thought about Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke. All of them definitely needed to sort things out, more than she did; and that was why she ultimately agreed to keep her mouth shut about Gaara's real motive for "visiting" Konoha.

"Yeah, okay. Let's tell them," She said. Eventually the two of them managed to get Shukaku to free them, and came face to face with the rest of Team 7, who were all wearing matching smirks.

"Finally made up dattebayo?" Sakura glared at her blonde teammate,

"You are evil, Naruto." Naruto's smirk only grew wider,

"What can I say? I'm the jinchuuriki of the nine tails!" As if that was a passable excuse. Nevertheless, the five of them set off once more.

The familiar gates of Konoha soon came into view. And all of Team 7 stood straighter as they neared the village of their past. But then Gaara led them to the side, away from the front entrance so that they could see gate, but the guards outside couldn't see them.

Sakura could feel a pit of dread forming in her stomach, but she couldn't tell whether it was from seeing the place of her painful childhood, or from the fact that she hadn't told Gaara about the side effects of her Kekkei Genkai, and Kami knows how he'll react when he finds out.

Sasuke felt beads of sweat forming on the back of his neck. He knew he would have to face the Uchiha again when he entered, and this time his whole team would be there to see what he had kept from them. How would he explain it to them? That he withheld so much information for the sake of his brother?

Kakashi knew that something was off as soon as the gate came into view. Even from the distance, it was clear that the guards weren't wearing the standard leaf shinobi attire. And it seemed like Naruto had noticed this too, as his hand was hovering instinctively over his kunai pouch.

It was obvious that Konoha was a changed village, and there was no telling what had happened inside those gates since they'd been gone. And as they neared the gate, Sasuke's eyes widened in realization.

He could already see how this would play out. And it would end with the Leaf in ruins at best.

Have these last few chapters seemed really slow to you?