Prepare for the Authoress's Note of DOOM.

Hello again! CTO here with a new fanfic! My other one didn't really go that far but it doesn't matter. This one's gonna be waaay better. Longer too. Full blown plot. Action, adventure, romance, a little comedy, all that jazz. Yeah this one's gonna be epic. (God I hope I don't get lazy and crap out on this.) I'm already writing chapter five and I'm not even close to done. So far all my chapters are at least ten written pages. Anyway, I wanted to get some chapters written by hand before I started typing, so here it is.

This fanfic deviates from the cannon directly after chapter 273 of the manga, so if you haven't gotten that far you're in for spoilers galore and probably wont have a clue as to what's going on. If you don't know exactly which chap that is, it's the one where Sasori puts a sword through Sakura's stomach on the last page.

Although there will be other pairings, Gaara/Sakura is the main focus. I'm a very big fan of this pairing so if you don't like it, I wouldn't recommend reading this. However, there is also a very large and involved plot line that spans a few years into the future so romance is not the only thing that will be happening. I already have the outline written for the whole story. Also, if you're a huge Sasuke fan, back away quickly. I know that some of you people out there really like him and honestly, so did I in the beginning. I tried my best with him, but in light of the events in the manga and for reasons involving the plot of this story, there was only so much I could do to redeem him. All the other bad boys will be in here too. The Akatsuki and Orochimaru are gonna keep popping up, so bring your mallet and some bug spray. Oh, and for the brief mention of Gaara's mother, I have given her the name Kasuka.

Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome. Flamers will be summarily drowned in Jell-O. "You suck at writing" is not constructive criticism.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am making no money off of this. (Wouldn't that be nice though?)

Wow, that was a long Author's Note. Well its done, so now you can enjoy the fic.

The Way We Change

Chapter One

They approached the body slowly, Sakura leaning on Kakashi to support herself. He had a sad look in his eye. Chiyobaa limped off to the side, avoiding the body entirely, not looking at it. Naruto stood over the prone figure, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. A few tears streaked his dusty face. The marks on his cheeks were shrinking back to their normal size and only a hint of red remained in the irises of his eyes. Somewhere down the ravine lay a mangled corpse with a crossed out Stone hitai-ate headband and a black and red cloak.

Sakura let go of Kakashi's arm to kneel by the body next to Naruto, who continued to stand and stare at it. A breath of wind moved the red hair over darkly outlined eyes revealing a blood red tattoo on the forehead. The kanji for love.

"It's not fair Sakura."

"I know."

Several thoughts began running through Sakura's head. Like Naruto had said, it wasn't fair. Gaara had worked so hard to become Kazekage, to earn the trust of his village. And he had done his best to defend them, and died because of it. Who would lead Sunagakure now? No one in Suna was as strong as Gaara. Perhaps one of his siblings could take the job, but either way, Suna had been dealt yet another blow. Now she though of Kankuro-san and Temari-san. How would she tell them? They had lost their little brother, whom they had finally grown close to after years of fear and uneasiness.

She looked at his face, which still had bits of the cracked sand armor on it. Stretching out a hand, she brushed some of the sand away and rested her other hand on his chest. Now that she thought of it, she hadn't been this close to him since he had tried to kill her back at their first chuunin exam. She marveled at how much he had changed. Inside and out.

Suddenly she froze, and her mind finally registered what the hand on his chest was telling her: he was still warm. He should have been at least a few degrees cooler than normal, considering he had to have been dead for at least two hours. Hesitantly, she pressed an ear to his chest. Silence...and then...thump-thump. She grabbed his wrist and felt for a pulse, ignoring Naruto's questioning look. It was slow, and shallow, but still there.

"Naruto! He's alive!" she screamed.

"What?" Naruto looked wide eyed at the seemingly lifeless body lying on the ground. "What do we do?"

Immediately, Sakura's medical and analytical skills kicked in, taking into account every thing she knew about the situation. She was nearly exhausted of chakra, but her reserves were building up again. Naruto, no doubt, was quickly regaining what energy he had expended helping Kakashi kill Deidara thanks to the Kyuubi. Kakashi looked very tired, but not nearly as much so as Chiyobaa-sama. Sunagakure was at least two days travel in their current condition and they had no idea when Gai's team would find them. But Gaara needed medical attention now. She quickly came to her decision.

"We have to do what we can to stabilize him long enough to get back to Suna. Once we get him stabilized we can move him." Suddenly remembering that Kakashi-sensei and Chiyobaa-sama were still there, and that they both out-ranked her, she to turned to them. "Does that sound like a good plan sensei?" He looked at her through weary eyes, internaly amazed she still had the energy for her brain to work properly.

"You're the medic-nin Sakura," he replied. "You know what's best for the patient." He gave her a tired smile and she briefly returned it before turning back towards the prone Gaara. Now that she looked closely, his breathing was so shallow and infrequent that she hadn't noticed it before. That's odd... she thought. It's almost as if he's hibernating. She took his pulse again. Still as slow and shallow as before. I guess he's already sort of stable. She looked at Naruto, who was now kneeling beside her, looking between her and Gaara. He had been oddly quiet. He must be really worried, she thought to herself. But, suddenly he spoke up.

"He'll make it. If he's made it this far he can make it a little farther." There was that determination of his that she knew only too well. They looked at each other and she knew he was right. His eyes were once again completely blue and normal. Sakura stood up with Naruto and looked at Kakashi.

"He's stable enough to move somewhere nearby," she said.

"Good," breathed Kakashi. "We can find some cover in the trees, rest up a bit, and wait for Gai and the others to catch up. Once we're all rested and the Kazekage is stable enough, we will head towards Suna."

"Right," Sakura replied. She quickly checked Gaara again and found two fractured ribs and there would probably be a lot of bruises, but nothing that would be severely aggravated by moving him, so Kakashi and Naruto were soon organized to carry him up the side of the ravine and into the cover of the forest to find a good place to rest. Glancing back, Sakura noticed Chiyobaa-sama staring blankly at the shallow river rushing by.

Chiyo heard steps behind her and partially turned to see Sakura's feet as they stood next to each other. Chiyo spoke slowly as she looked through the shimmering water.

"I was thinking about the day I sealed the Shukaku into the unborn child inside of Kasuka's stomach." Sakura's eyes widened slightly in surprizer. She had thought she would be thinking about her grandson Sasori.

Sakura briefly recalled finally connecting her fist with his neck after she had pulled the sword out of her stomach. Even after healing it, that was gonna leave a scar. Pieces of wood and puppetry had flown everywhere, along with what had been left of his human organs. She snapped back to attention when Chiyo started talking again.

"She didn't say a word. She didn't even scream and I'm sure it must have been painful. But she never stopped cursing me and and the former Kazekage with her eyes." Sakura noted the lack of the respectful "sama" at the end of the Kazekage's title. "I was there the day he was born too. One of the first to hold him after his father. Covered in blood and sand..." Chiyo held up her arms in a mime of the memory. "This baby in my arms...never made a sound. He just looked at me like we both knew exactly what was coming."

Sakura expected her to continue, but she didn't. Chiyo simply turned toward the cliff the others had disappeared over and said, "We should go Sakura. We all fought hard today."

Nodding in agreement, they followed the path Kakashi and Naruto had taken to a clearing about a quarter of a mile from the ravine where a huge ancient tree had been partially hollowed out at the base by the slow passage of time. Gaara's unconscious form lay inside the hollow of the tree and Kakashi leaned on the bark close by, apparently resting. Naruto, with all his fantastic energy reserves, was setting up a camp and making a fire in a shallow sandy pit.

"Hey Naruto, is that my travel pack?" she asked, pointing. "I'd thought i lost it somewhere."

"Heh. I thought you'd want all your medical stuff later on, so I picked it up before we went after that Akatsuki guy that had Gaara." He smiled at her as he poked the fire into life.

"Well thanks," she said, smiling, as she squatted next to him and rummaged through the backpack, pulling out the supplies that she would need.

"No prob," he beamed. "Oh, and Kakashi-sensei set a few trip wires and stuff around the perimeter, so be careful if you leave."

"Good." She stood and carried a few supplies over to Kakashi and Chiyobaa-sama. Kakashi's wounds were minor and all it took were a few bandages to patch him up. His biggest problem was the same as Chiyo's: chakra depletion. Using both the Sharingan and the Chidori took a lot out of him. Chiyo was even worse, though physically fine. She didn't even need a band-aid, just lots of rest. Finally she checked Gaara again. First she poured a small amount of chakra into his chest to heal the fractured ribs. But even when she was done healing him, his heart rate and breathing had not changed. That's so weird. He should have a quicker pulse by now, or at least steadier breathing.

Suddenly a trip wire sprang somewhere nearby. Naruto silently cursed. "Damn! More enemies?" he whispered hoarsely. Sakura and Naruto both grabbed kunai knives and Chiyo and Kakashi tried to stand from their sitting positions but failed as they were too exhausted.

The bushes rustled on the edge of the clearing and all four tensed. Finally someone stepped out of the undergrowth.

"Tenten-chan!" exclaimed Sakura, relieved.

"Hey, hey! And Neji too!" cried Naruto. Neji limped slightly into the clearing as Tenten supported him with her arm.

"Ah, I'm so glad we found you guys," sighed Tenten. She helped Neji over to the fire and let him sit. Sakura went over to check his injuries. He resisted at first but relented when she threatened to knock him out. He had some bruising and lots of cuts and scrapes, but those were easily fixed with some medical cream and bandages. She asked him if he had sustained any internal injuries, and when he said no she joked and said that was good because he would simply have had to die if he did since she didn't have enough chakra left to heal him. Naruto laughed out loud at the look on Neji's face. Even Tenten chuckled at her comrade's misfortune. Sakura checked on her next. She had a plethora of cuts all over, but none were life threatening. More bandages were the order of the day.

"I am assuming you do not know where Gai and Lee-kun are?" asked Kakashi. Tenten shook her head.

"Nope. I met up with Neji by chance. But I see you recovered the Kazekage successfully. That's good."

"Yup!" cheered Naruto while giving the thumbs up and his trademark grin. "Mission: Success."

"Yes!" shouted someone from behind them. They all turned at the sudden voice. "The power of youth prevails again!"

"Fuzzy-Eyebrows!" Naruto shot out of his seat, returning the nice guy pose full force.

"Naruto-kun! Your youthful spirit never ceases to amaze!"

"What about you? What happened to you guys?"

"We all had to fight copies of ourselves. They were made of clay. It was an impressive technique but we prevailed in the end!"

"Gai-sensei is still not here though," Neji observed.

"I hope he's all right," said Tenten with a worried look.

"It seems like he's just fine," said Kakashi with a lazy smile.

"Observant as ever, my eternal rival," Gai interjected from the tree limb he was standing on, perched high above Kakashi's head. Everyone began settling around the campfire to eat. They ate rabbit, curtesy of Tenten and her throwing knives and the sun set shortly after. Every once in a while Sakura would get up to check the status of her teammates, silently thanking the gods that there were no life threatening injuries. I'm nearly drained of chakra. If anyone was seriously injured I would be totally useless. Her face saddened at her thoughts.

"Sakura-chan." She looked up into clear blue eyes over her skewer of rabbit. "Don't worry. We won right? We got Gaara back and we'll be going home and nobody's hurt."

"Thanks Naruto." She smiled weakly at him. Naruto looked around the campsite. Neji and Tenten were talking quietly to each other. Lee and Gai were talking animatedly to Chiyo about her and Sakura's battle, and about her puppets. Chiyo seemed reserved about telling them about her puppets but she couldn't really resist the efforts of the beautiful green beasts of Konoha. Naruto laughed at Lee and went over to talk to him. Gai drifted over to speak with Kakashi and Sakura decided to join in Naruto and Lee's conversation when Chiyo decided to turn in. The old woman rolled out a sleeping mat on the ground and settled under a tree to sleep.

Tenten soon set up blankets for herself and her teammates between the fire and the edge of the trees. Gai took the first watch of the night and Kakashi moved his mat near the fire. After a warm 'good night' to Sakura, Lee settled on one side of Tenten with Neji on the other, who was already asleep

"Sakura-chan, aren't you gonna go to sleep too?"questioned Naruto as he rolled out his sleeping mat.

"Yeah, but I should check Gaara-san's condition once more." He nodded and followed her as she strode up to the prodigious tree. It was huge. The hollow inside was circular, with enough room to lay Gaara down lengthwise without either his head or his feet touching the inside of the tree, and tall enough for Kakashi or Gai to stand up in with several more feet of space above their heads.

She knelt beside Gaara's unconscious body and took his pulse again. His face looked pained, as if he were having a bad dream. His vitals hadn't changed. Sakura bit the tip of her thumb in frustration and her brow wrinkled.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" Naruto was sitting on Gaara's other side, watching her closely.

"It's so weird. His condition hasn't changed since we found him. It's like he's hibernating, or in a coma. I don't know how to help him."

Damn, thought Naruto. What the hell did those bastards do to him? He's not dead, so the Shukaku can't be gone. Grandma said he would die if it was taken out. So what's going on? "Sakura-chan, it might have something to do with the Shukaku. The Akatsuki were trying to mess with it right? Maybe they did something to it." Naruto had a concerned expression on his face. "These demons have brought so much trouble!" he quietly raged and punched the ground in anger. "And he got the worst of it. Its' not fair."

Sakura looked into her friend's face. He had once told her what Gaara had said about living alone and loving only himself. Naruto had been alone too, and she often felt guilty about how she had treated him before she truly knew him. He was like a brother to her now. But Gaara, even with siblings, had still been alone. Sure he was insane, but insanity still loves company.

Naruto's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "But that's gonna change now. Right, Sakura-chan?" He grinned. She smiled back.

"Right." Sakura sighed and thought of Temari-san, Kankuro-san, and Sunagakure. Gaara had his brother and sister now, and the people of Suna had accepted him as their Kazekage. And somehow, Naruto managed to make friends with just about anyone. Gaara seemed to be on his list of precious people now too. Even Lee had never held a grudge against the sand-nin for nearly crippling him. Lee was truly a noble person, and even after he had finally stopped pursuing her romantically, he remained a devoted friend.

He's still kinda creepy... thought Inner Sakura as she looked down on the pale sand shinobi's face. No... she corrected herself. Not creepy. Just...very intimidating. She mentally sweat-dropped. She sighed and leaned back to look up into the split chasm of the tree.

"Well, it doesn't look like I can do anything more right now. We should get some sleep." She sighed again, got to her feet, and dusted herself off.

"Right. Good night then Sakura-chan." Naruto slowly trudged outside to settle on his sleeping mat which was just outside the tree, and pulled a blanket over himself. Sakura gathered up her medical supplies and walked out to find that Naruto had already rolled out her mat right next to his. Annoyed at his gall for putting their sleeping mats so close together, but too tired to argue or hit him over the head, she crawled onto her mat and was asleep as soon as her eyes closed.

Phew. Done. There you have it! He's not dead. Gaara will definitely be in the next chapter. It will be longer, but hopefully without the excruciatingly long Author's Note at the beginning.

One final note: There is a lot of confusion going around concerning Gaara's demon. It is a demon TANUKI. I have seen this translated as things like "raccoon-dog", "badger", and even in some cases Gaara has been confused for a squirrel or panda. Well let me put all your questions to rest once and for all. I have researched this thoroughly and this is what I have to tell anyone who wants to know. The confusion surrounding the translation of the word "tanuki" comes from the fact that there is no english translation. It is an animal native only to Japan and areas of southeastern Manchuria and Siberia. The tanuki can be found in tons of Japanese myths. It is actually an atypical species of the dog family and grows to be about the size of a raccoon or badger and has dark markings around its eyes (just like Gaara ). This is where the confusion comes from. Its scientific name is Canis viverriuns, nyctereutes, procyonoides. Just Google the word 'tanuki' and see for yourself.

That's all for now. Bye-bye.