I am so sorry for the hideously long hiatus I have taken! I have had to take some time to focus on keeping my head above water in real life and all I have been able to churn out are snippets or lines... so here is a little snippet that I wrote for 'Protected' a while ago, which doesn't fit into the main storyline, but acts as somewhat of a back-story.

Enjoy!

Baki had taken her aside during training, years ago, on one of the rare occasions where she had not been with Gaara. She had been fourteen, then. Old enough to understand the whispers and still fresh from her encounter with his terrifying outburst.

The older trainer's face was drawn, and grave. "Sakura."

"Hai, sensei."

"I'm going to teach you something. In case... in case it happens again."

Sakura, with the eyes of one much older than fourteen, met his gaze quickly, and Baki caught the understanding that flashed through them before she lowered her gaze respectfully again. They both knew what he was referring to. The angry canvas of bruises across her body from several days ago had barely begun to stop aching.

"And what might that be, Baki-sensei?" Sakura's voice was guarded. Baki ran a coarse palm across his face. Sakura was a smart kid, and considered Gaara her friend. Someone she had to protect, despite everything that had happened. She would not take this well.

"I will teach you how to hurt Gaara."

She glanced at him sharply, and held her gaze this time. "No."

"You mean well. I know it. But Gaara is unstable - "

"He wouldn't be if every single one of you stopped treating him like a ticking time bomb!" Sakura shouted, hating the word, hating the people who dared say it.

"He has not proved otherwise." Baki was calm, glancing pointedly at Sakura's blue-black arms.

"He is what Akasuna has made him out to be." Sakura fumed, fists clenched. If only she had been able to stop him - if only she had said the right words -

It was time to switch tactics, Baki decided.

"Do it for him, then. Do it so that he won't have to suffer again for hurting other people."

"My answer is still no. I am Gaara's friend, and I will never hurt him deliberately."

"You were hired to be Gaara's friend." Baki dealt the low blow, watching Sakura's jaw tense as she clenched her teeth. "And Kazekage-sama's orders are absolute. I will teach you, and you will learn."

Sakura's voice was strained as she scrambled for an excuse - any excuse - to kill this suggestion. Never. She would never hurt Gaara. She might have been ordered to be his friend, but her friendship was genuine from the start. "With all due respect, sensei, I will never be able to overpower him -"

Baki's eyes turned steely. "This is not about fighting. It is about hurting.

With words."