Hello, everybody! I'm so happy to be back!

Quick apology for the lengthy time between uploads, I've been plagued with writer's block, lack of motivation, as well as getting caught up in things like work and family. But I missed this site and writing this story so much and, after a long break, I just had to come back to finish this installment. We're almost to the end of Installment 4 and I want to give the sincerest of thank yous to everyone who has stuck with this story from the start and to all those who have joined us somewhere along the way. All of your support and kind words mean so much to me.

I hope you enjoy!

Follow the Sun, Excerpts of Time

Installment 4; Part 3

×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛×

It was morning in the desert, the air was still fresh and crisp, not yet toasted by the rising sun and Sakura breathed deeply the dry, arid scent of the desert before sighing in content. Intoxicating. A smile settled on her lips as she walked in line with Temari, her brothers trailing a few paces behind them. They were off to breakfast, the lot of them stricken with hunger, and were all eager for a freshly made feast. Gaara decided to put off his runs for a while, Temari had insisted and he didn't want to be a disappointment while she entertained a guest, and joined them before he was to set off for the open desert.

"You'll love this place," Temari spoke with confidence, her smile did wonders to lift her tired face in the morning light. "It'll make you feel right at home."

She had only just woken up and had to wake Sakura as well, the long journey had taken its toll and Sakura had slept like a rock straight through the night.

"Do you come here a lot?" Sakura asked, turning to look behind her.

Gaara shrugged and Kankuro nodded. "A bit," he answered. "It's quick and cheap, gotta love that."

"Miller's coming, too, right?" she asked.

Temari nodded in return. "He should be meeting us there, that's what he said at least. I think he actually walked Niko to the gates earlier this morning so he might even beat-"

She was silenced abruptly by a muffled boom in the distance, the low noise hitting the ears unexpectedly along with the faint vibration sliding through the air behind it.

They all stopped in the street, along with everyone else walking with them at this early hour, and turned their heads toward the direction of the noise. Smoke rose above the buildings, somewhere to the northwest and from deeper into the city, and it was black.

"Bomb?" Temari spoke evenly, breaking the short silence between them. She was sure that smoke hadn't been there before. Could she really not have noticed?

"Don't know," Gaara replied, stepping toward the source of the smoke, the sand at his feet feeling for vibrations and clues. There were footsteps in that direction, fast ones, they felt frantic. "Let's go," he said, turning back to his siblings, his eyes resting on Sakura for a moment. "Stay close to them," he instructed.

Sakura nodded, following closely behind them as they took off toward the rising pillar of smoke in the distance.

Gaara wasted no time, and, with a single stride, fell away into the ground beneath his feet. The others would get there soon enough, but he could get there faster.

"It's coming from near the central market," Kankuro observed. "Aren't there quite a few inns in that area as well?"

"Yeah," Temari replied, her brow creased together in thought. "People staying there come from all over, could be anything." She was tempted to reach behind her, to find a comforting grip on the handle of her fan, but she hadn't brought it with her. This was only supposed to be a quick run for breakfast and it seemed unnecessary at the time.

Running through the streets, citizens stopped to leave them an open path and it hadn't taken long for them to find the source of the low boom. A four-story inn had the remnants of its first-floor windows scattered along the sandy ground, fire reaching out to the open air and engulfing the eastern side of the building. Other people were already there, helping residents and workers flee the burning building, and soldiers did their best to quell the blaze.

"I can help," Sakura said to Temari with conviction in her voice, the call to action evoking an automatic and immediate response. "I'll be with the others." She made way to those leaving the building, a good number of them riding a high of panic and adrenaline.

Temari only nodded to her as she and Kankuro went to help all they could with stopping the fire.

"My name is Sakura Haruno," she stated pointedly to the woman who looked most in charge of the situation. "I'm from Konoha and am currently studying under Lady Tsunade. Please, let me help."

The woman nodded, directing her to what looked like a gathering of cooks, some of them cradling their arm to their chest, their clothes covered in dirt and what looked like ash. "Some of the employees have burns," she informed quickly. "You can help Maya. You've treated burns before?"

Sakura nodded, her hands busy pulling her hair up and out of her face. "Not a problem."

She began work on them immediately and took one of the men's arms, his face twisted in pain and his arms shaking. He seemed hurt the most and sucked shallow, pained breaths through his clenched teeth.

"What happened?" she asked as she rolled up a sleeve to reveal a nasty burn. It had begun to weep, a sheen of puss covering the burns, curiously taking the familiar shapes of splash patterns.

He spoke stiffly after a shallow breath, his arms tense under her touch. "Grease fire," he stated, cursing under his breath as she poured diluted alcohol over the wound to wash off the puss and dirt. "And a whole lot of shit to follow."

"Bon," another man muttered, his face gaunt and reflecting the shock in his eyes. "I didn't mean to – I'm sorry –"

He was quickly cut off by an exasperated scoff. "You fuckin' better be!" Bon snapped, causing Sakura to tighten her grip so he'd remain still for her. "Really, Kato?!" The young man in question seemed to deflate, to collapse a little deeper into himself. "Water on a grease fire? Are you insane?"

Sakura peered to the side a moment, she felt a little bad for the guy, knowing how well panic could distort judgment, but held her tongue. Lessons had to be taught somehow.

"I – it just…"

"Save it," Bon seethed, clenching his teeth in pain as Sakura began her healing. "I swear, say one more word and I'll-"

"Focus," Sakura snapped, her eyes – bright with intent and focus of her own – settled hard onto Bon's face. He was riled, in pain, and he seemed ready to turn that anger on her. "Concentrate on your breathing or you'll go faint."

He thinned his lips into a hard line and looked to the side, stifling his fading pain and terror behind deep breaths.

"What about the guests?" Kato asked, his eyes glued to the flames flickering from the first-floor windows, to smoke rising up and choking out the upper floors. "It's so early."

"No one slept through that backdraft," muttered one of the cooks.

Sakura shook her head and spoke evenly. "Everyone will be evacuated, it's under control."

He looked back to her, his gaze resting to the singed arm under her care, and he grimaced. "Thank you," he muttered.

…

They'd almost been too late, and Gaara was still hesitant to say that the building could be saved. He kept a close eye on his sister, without her weapon she could only help settle those gathering outside the burning inn, holding ashy rags to their mouths and coughing in a most sickly way. She wouldn't go into the building, and neither would his brother, and Gaara preferred to keep it that way. Sakura was off with the other medics and he thought them competent enough in her company while she aided in their efforts.

Gaara sent his sand through the open doors and down the smoky hallways, practically able to feel the heat of the fire through his extended senses. Floorboards creaking under the strain of the blaze, the deafening crackle of flames filling the halls, smoldering carpets, and wallpaper curling up from the heat, he saw it all through his mind's eye, felt it all, but he felt no people. There were no cries above the sound of the flames, none that he could hear, and there were no vibrations of footsteps coming from within the inn. It had been burning longer than he'd first thought, and he concluded its evacuation protocol had been followed accordingly. The explosion that brought them here hadn't started the blaze, it was simply a kitchen fire gone wrong and by the time a sudden backdraft blew out the first floor's eastern windows, the inside had already cooked and burned. His only choice was to try and smother the flames and stop the spread of the fire before it took out the lower supports and collapsed the whole structure.

A bead of sweat slid down his brow and he frowned at the heat pouring out from the building, at how the wind seemed to push it all straight at him. A disadvantage, he thought, to have the wind blowing oxygen into the very flames he was trying to smother, and so he thought to change his direction of attack. With a glance back to the crowd of onlookers held at bay by his sister and some choice other faces, he saw his brother with her as well, and Sakura – always easy to spot with her light hair and bright eyes – was still busy with the injured. She wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. His gaze lingered there a moment, only now noticing the circles of fatigue beneath her eyes and the flush she had to her face.

Her spirits had been so high after waking that he hadn't noticed the weariness she must have felt.

Gaara departed with haste to the other side of the building, to block the wind from stoking the flames even higher, and to smother them once and for all. It was better for everyone if he could just stop the fire, then they'd all be off to breakfast and he could get back to his duties.

It wouldn't take long, he was sure of it.

…

"He's the last of them," the head medic said, approaching Sakura after sending her last burn victim on his way. "Thanks for your help."

Sakura nodded, taking a moment to wipe some sweat from her brow. "No problem," she said, turning to face the woman. "Glad I could be of use."

The woman nodded once and spoke with a firm tone of command. "We've got it from here, I suggest you join the other civilians behind the line."

Sakura nodded, once again thanking her for the opportunity to help, and gathered what little she could to help clear the area. The head medic turned from her and busied herself with matters of more importance, the others under her command doing the same, and Sakura was able to breathe easier knowing that everyone had either been tended to or taken for proper treatment in hospital.

Moving to the barrier line holding all the curious citizens at bay, Sakura returned the supplies she'd borrowed and sought to make herself scarce and let the professionals handle things.

"Jori?"

Sakura looked up to the crowd, the voice of a woman catching her off guard.

"Jori?"

A woman paced behind the barrier line, her eyes frantically scanning the crowd. There had been fear in her voice and it was still clear on her face. Over the sound of the crowd, Sakura heard the woman ask for her son, to which someone gestured behind them, to the gathering of guests that had received treatment, but her eyes kept swiveling back to the inn. Even standing at the edge of the fires radiating heat, Sakura felt a chill when that woman's eyes rested on her.

Absolute panic, she could describe it as nothing else.

With her heart clenched in sudden adrenaline, Sakura turned to the closest person within earshot, a soldier passing by with an armful of equipment, and spoke quickly. "I'll be back," she called out, her steps already taking her toward the smoking door. "I'm taking one last look inside."

He began to call back to her but she had already slipped through the smoldering door, a damp rag to her face as she squinted past the smoke and disappeared inside the building. Dropping his armful of supplies, he dashed off to the line to inform the closest ranking officer.

"Captain!" he huffed as he ran up to the head medic.

"What is it?" she asked curtly.

"One of the medics went inside," he said. "Said they were taking another look."

"What?" The woman's eyes went wide, looking toward the building crippled by fire. "Who?" she demanded. "Which one?

He stuttered a moment, unfamiliar with most of the present medics, and simply stated the truth. "I don't know."

"You there! Get a headcount of the medics," she barked to a passing nurse. The nurse, having come from the hospital a few blocks down, nodded readily and began her rounds through the bustle of people.

"I mean, I think she was a nurse…or something," the man muttered, much to the head medic's disappointment. "I just saw her treating people a while ago."

"Where did she enter the building?"

He turned and pointed off to a door hanging ajar, the top of it slowly breathing smoke into the clean morning air. "That side door over there," he said.

"Damn," she hissed, advancing a step forward, a sort of determination in her eyes. The fire took down an inner wall, the sound of crashing could be heard from the outside, and the medic captain hesitated. "All right," she spoke after a moment's pause. "Go report this to the fire team, they'll need to know someone is still inside if they're trying to-"

"Ma'am!" the nurse called out, she was a few paces away, approaching quickly with a radio clutched in her fist. "I've radioed everyone, they're all accounted for. We've got no medics in the building."

The head medic paused a moment before looking back to the man standing at her side. "Who did you see go in there?" she asked again, her voice was lower this time, more serious and expectant of a clear and concise answer.

The man appeared to fidget slightly under such a hard gaze. "That young girl that was with you," he said. "The one treating the burns, she had, like, purple hair or something?"

"You've to be-" she began to seethe, her lips pressed tight. "Go tell the fire team, now!"

…

Sakura took off down the hall, she kept her steps as light as possible as not to disrupt the stability of the structure around her. It was hot, stiflingly so, and she had meant to find a clear path to the lobby but the side door lead her straight into the guest room hallways. The long corridors turned sharply at their end, like a maze to nowhere, a maze quickly filling with smoke, and there was no fire escape routes in view, no maps from which to get her bearings. These inns were set up differently than those back home.

The smoke began to accumulate at the ceiling in a toxic swirling cloud. She could tell she was getting closer to the kitchen, to where the fire had started. Time to find another route. Sakura took a turn toward the adjacent wing, running down the hall and ducking low to avoid the smoke gathering at the ceiling. It was all filling up fast, but she was sure she'd feel some life in here eventually if she could just get close enough-

Something crashed behind her, a startling groan giving way to the sound of collapsing timber. She stopped, looking back at the way she came to the see the bend down the hall glowing with fresh flames.

Shit.

With her heartbeat pounding heavily in her throat and no choice but to press on, Sakura took off once again, watching the numbered suits pass by until a maintenance door caught her attention. Pausing outside the door, she hovered her hand over the metal handle and, sensing no warmth radiating from it, tried her luck turning it.

It turned, clicked, and opened for her.

She breathed a gasp of relief as she rushed herself inside to find not a closet, but a stairwell. It was dark and the light switch didn't seem to work from the loss of power, but it was unburnt. Amazingly, the doors had all been shut and the fire hadn't yet made it through. Sakura took to the stairs and climbed to the second level, pausing only for a moment outside the entrance door before taking a deep breath and pushing it open. There was smoke in the halls up here as well, and Sakura quickly shut the door behind her before shuffling low through the smoke.

She felt it now, that little flutter of life she'd been hoping to find, and she followed it as best she could. A bend in the hallway took her back in the direction of the kitchen, the smoke got thicker, the air was hotter, and that sense she followed only grew stronger. She pressed on, moving slower now, but was shaken by a sudden rumble from beneath her feet. The floor seemed to quiver and the sound of creaking wood and scattering flames filled her ears.

It was Gaara, she knew it was, and the sand he commanded pushed against the weakened walls as it flooded the lower floor. Of course he'd try to smother the flames, she'd expected as much, but she'd hoped for a little more time. The extent of the fire's damage wasn't so visible from the outside, after all, she hadn't known until she rushed in.

"No," Sakura muttered, looking back down the hall from which she'd come, her heart still racing in her chest. "No, I'm in here."

The floor creaked again, sending an even greater sense of urgency to her steps as she desperately searched for the boy, for Jori. When she felt that familiar buzz echoing from behind room 327, she gathered her strength and grabbed the handle, ripping the metal lock from the door and casting it aside. The door swung ajar as she stepped through.

Her eyes scanned the room. "Jori?"

Nothing.

She got low and peered under the beds. No one there. The bathroom door was the next to be warped on its hinges in her haste, and it creaked painfully as it swung out into the wall.

Jori was in the bathtub, the curtain was drawn around him with his slumped silhouette visible through the murky plastic. He jumped at the sound of her abrupt entrance, his wide eyes filled with hollow panic as he pulled the curtain back. He was just a boy, striking Sakura as no more than five or six, he was a scrawny thing too, and his hair was messy with loose, boyish waves.

"Jori?" Sakura questioned. He nodded once, his lips sealed shut in fright. "We have to go, Jori," she stated, saving no time for pleasantries or any sort of bedside manner. Stepping forward, Sakura scooped the boy up in her arms. His size might have made him a precarious passenger, but with a little extra chakra to her muscles, his weight vanished in an instant.

Jori didn't need to be told twice and he held tight to Sakura as she snatched a clean cloth from the bathroom counter. She gave it to him and spoke with a gentle, yet unyielding voice. "Hold this to your mouth, be sure to cover your nose."

He nodded and placed the rag other his mouth, tucking his face into her neck as she secured him in her arms one last time before heading back to the hallway.

The smoke was getting thicker, her visibility diminishing as the minutes ticked by, and her eyes watered as she strained to keep them open. Her pace was faster down the hallways than it had been before, the door the maintenance room was waiting at the end of the long hall if she could just-

The floor groaned, something sagged under her feet, and quick thinking told her to jump back. She landed with a hard thud, Jori clutched tightly in her arms, and scooted back from a fresh hole burning through the carpet at her feet. The floor had given out below her, the flames were reaching higher.

"The first floor is in bad shape," she said softly to him as she stood and gained safe distance from the burning carpet. Jori clutched her shirt in his small hands. "But I know where we can go to be safe."

"Outside?" he said, his voice cracking with a sudden hopefulness.

Sakura hesitated. "Maybe…but for now," she said as she shifted most of his weight to one arm and held her own damp rag to her mouth. "Hold on tight. I'm gonna jump."

She took several strong strides toward the burning hole and jumped from the floor where she felt the supports would still be able to hold her weight. The smoke burned her eyes as they flew through it, and she readied herself to toss Jori in case the landing sent her slipping to the fiery floor below.

But her landing was hard, the wood beneath her feet was solid, and she took off again down the hall.

The maintenance door was in sight now and every step brought it closer to her reach. She clutched the handle and spun herself inside, breathing deeply the fresher air of the stairwell.

She put Jori down and wiped some sweat from his face. "Take deep breaths, we're fine," she reassured him. "Wait here. I'm gonna look out that door."

Just down the flight, the first-floor entrance remained unburnt but Sakura wondered about the state of the building beyond it. The way in which she'd come had been quickly blocked by collapsing timber and open flames, any other route out of here was just a shot in the dark, but there had to be a safe way out.

She glanced up at Jori.

There had to be.

Sakura rounded the landing, pausing for a moment as a rumbling sound echoed through the stairwell. Accompanying the rumble was the familiar feeling of power, raw and unbridled, and it was coming toward them. She hesitated on the stairs, a sudden surge violently passing by the door in front of her and, within an instant of its arrival, a wave of sand had broken through the doorway.

It spilled into the small landing, swirling with a ferocity that Sakura hadn't seen up close for quite some time. Her heart skipped a beat and she took a few quick steps up the stairs as the sand quickly rose.

"What is that?" Jori cried out in shock. He was peering through the railings, his eyes fixated on the way the sand moved with confusion and fright.

Sakura held out a calming hand to him. "It's okay," she said with a soft smile. "It's not dangerous."

She looked back toward the swirling sand, gazing at it in sweet relief with that smile still stuck to her face. Taking a step down, she reached for the writhing waves. If she could just touch it, she was sure he'd sense it, she was positive he'd know it was her.

…

"I understand, sir, but that is not of importance at the m-"

"Of course it is!" the man spat. Temari grimaced and resisted the urge to sock him in the face. "My belongings are my livelihood, I've got thousands worth in merchandise in there. Someone has to go retrieve-"

Kankuro stepped up behind his sister. "Your life is your livelihood, don't you think?" he grumbled. "Get your shit insured next time."

Temari rolled her eyes and rubbed her temples. Her hunger was getting her to, to her brother as well, and they prayed for an end to the torment of crowd control. A sense of duty could be a very burdening thing at times.

"There's someone inside?"

Temari and Kankuro glanced over to a pair of men working the crowd. They were speaking quietly to each other, but they stood well within earshot.

"Yeah, I heard the medic captain going off about it. One of the nurses or something went inside, that transfer I think."

"Transfer?"

She and her brother shared a quizzical look.

"Yeah, I heard the captain say she's from Konoha or something?"

Kankuro sucked a sharp breath between his teeth, his steps taking him urgently to the two men. They turned to face his approach. "What?" he hissed. "Did you hear if they told the fire captain?"

They shrugged as Kankuro turned back to his sister.

Her eyes were wide, shocked at the sudden news, and she was searching through the faces of the crowd for her friend. "Shit!" she seethed as she dashed off.

"Temari?" Kankuro called out, following after her.

"Gaara's got his sand in there," she yelled back. "Someone needs to tell him!"

…

Sakura cried out from the sudden pain and recoiled her hand, holding it to her chest as she fell back on the steps. "Shit," she cursed under her breath, doing her best to keep her hand from Jori's view. She could instantly feel warm blood flow from her palm as the fresh slice began to pulse and flare with a deep ache.

He cut me…

…

Gaara stood frozen, the unexpected sensation of blood on his sand was not a thing to go unnoticed with him. He suddenly realized that there had indeed been someone left inside and, what's worse, he knew at that very moment exactly who it was.

Something clenched tight in his chest, constricting his heart and painfully clogging his throat.

What is this?

His eyes fixated on the smoking building before him, the crackling flames sounding even louder now, the quickening pace of his heart straining in his chest. How had she gotten inside? What could she possibly be doing? She was bleeding, she must have been hurt. Was there…was there even a way out now?

Oh, that's right, it's fear.

The stillness of his sand lasted only a moment before kicking up in a frenzy. There was a surge of urgency that drove each grain to satisfy his bidding, a newfound determination that had him taking quick steps to close the distance between him and the building.

"Gaara!"

His sister was calling to him, and he thought he saw a man running alongside her, but they would have to wait.

The sand swirled around him, ripping apart his physical form and sending what remained into the burning building. He knew where she was, he could feel her pulse, could practically taste her blood, and he would swiftly retrieve her.

…

Glancing down to her palm, Sakura flexed her hand around the slice, hardly able to believe she'd actually been cut and winced from the coarse grains stuck to her exposed flesh. The sand had been sharp but the cut wasn't clean and it hurt, a lot.

Only then did she notice that all around her the sand was frozen. The floor stopped swirling, the grains in the air hovered in an alien sort of stillness, and even those stained with her blood still lay on the steps before her. It was like everything had quieted in an instant.

"What's it doing?" Jori asked with a shake in his voice.

Sakura shook her head, bringing a hand up to the air to touch the grains that floated there. She nudged them with her fingertips, watching as they stirred and drifted listlessly away from her. They did not fall, they only hung there in the air, suspended on the whims of some unseen force.

How bizarre.

Then all at once, so suddenly that she yelped in surprise, the sand flared to life once again. It swirled into a vortex that had her shielding her eyes and it hummed with a curious vibration, a sort of pressure that quickly grew stronger and heavier until-

"Are you mad?!"

From the fury of the grains, a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, the grip so tight she felt it unshakable.

Sakura looked up to raging dust devil, a devil that Gaara quickly and abruptly emerged from. She hesitated a moment, thrown by the sound of his voice and the expression on his face. His words were harsh, angry, and yet there was such a conflicted look of distress on his face. "Gaara."

Glancing to her wounded palm, Gaara thinned his lips into a tight scowl, his jaw clenched. Without a word, he pulled her close, the arm around her waist holding her with more force than she was accustomed.

"Wait," she began, attempting to step away from him when she felt the familiar fuzziness of the sand breaking her down.

Gaara did not want to wait, not another moment, and he chose not to hear her over his own thoughts of self-analytical regret.

What could he have done differently? When did he make the wrong decision this morning?

"Wait!" she snapped, yanking her wrist from his grasp and pushing her hands against his chest. This gained his full attention, gained her a moment's pause to look behind her and up the stairwell. "Jori!"

Gaara looked up the stairs, following her gaze to the young boy crouched behind the spindles of the railing. Small hands clutched the metal bars, knuckles white and hands quivering in fear. He felt his heart drop and, even in the heat of the stairwell cooking by fire, he felt a sickly chill. Calling off the sand, he let the swirling vortex drop the floor.

"Where was he?" Gaara asked through the sudden tightness in his throat. There's no way he could have missed him.

"He was hiding in his bathroom, second floor," Sakura said. She stepped away from Gaara, intending to retrieve Jori. "Come on, we have to go." She climbed the stairs to him and held out her uninjured hand.

"They said everyone was evacuated," Gaara insisted. Who didn't do their job?

You didn't.

He broke a small grimace before he looked away and clenched a tight fist around his thumb, squeezing until it popped, his heart pounding in time with that demon's loathsome cackles. "How did you know?" he asked after a moment, his voice was quieter, and his gaze never lifted to her.

Sakura glanced over to him, the heavy pressure of his power had given way to something distorted and murky. It struck her heart and her gut with an uncomfortable ache. She didn't like it. "I saw his mom looking for him outside," she said, her breathing a little heavier now.

Jori couldn't feel it, he wasn't able to feel those uneven rhythms against his chest, or feel them interrupt his own. But he could see blood on her hand, blood she had smeared onto the shoulder of his shirt. "You said it wasn't dangerous."

Unable to help it, Gaara winced at those quivered words. Damn… That beast's laugh could be painfully deafening, but it wasn't as painful as that punch to the gut.

Sakura shook her head. "It's not," she said quietly, offering a gentle smile to the boy. "That was just my silly mistake."

Gaara swallowed hard, his gaze suddenly fixed to the clenched hand held up to her chest, to the thin trail of red running down her wrist. So it had been him. His lips thinned into a grimace. How could he have hurt her? Again?

Sakura took the boy's hand and pulled him up. "Let's find your mom."

Jori climbed into her secure hold, his arms clutching tightly around her with his face buried in her neck.

She stepped down the stairs and stood before Gaara. "Let's go," she said evenly, her composure gaining a more positive response from him in this moment of haste. "If you close your eyes," Sakura muttered to the young boy in her arms. "We'll be outside in no time."

She had felt Gaara's sudden upset as plainly as she had seen it on his face. The way those waves of energy rolled off of him now, it wasn't like what she had grown used to. This was unstable in fluctuation, overwhelming, and it hurt. It was heavy, too, weighing greatly on her heart and chest, and it pained her. She couldn't begin to understand the course of emotions like these, the uncertainty and distrust placed under the constant misguidance of malevolence, and the intensity of what they bore was so difficult to imagine.

The last thing she wanted to do was escalate things for him, so instead, she leaned a shoulder into him as he called upon his sand once again. But, before the darkness of that void opened up around them, she looked up to him with a worried sort of expression. Remembering what it was like to become engulfed by that darkness at first, remembering the sensation of that beast through every part of her scattered being, she wondered what would become of someone as inexperienced and weak of spiritual will as Jori.

Gaara only placed a hand atop the boy's head, his fingers resting in those messy waves. He wouldn't let that happen, not with a boy so young and so frightened.

After all, those malevolent claws only dug into his own heart and soul. Those predatory teeth only ate away at his consciousness and sanity. Only he could hear that cackling in his mind, could hear those demeaning whispers and retched temptations. They were incredible burdens to bear, but they were his and his alone.

×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛×