Summary: Sometimes, we all just need to escape the everyday routine. For Sakura, that means transferring to Suna. [Kankuro arched a brow, "What are you doing here?" Sakura glanced at him from over her glass of sake, and she snickered, "Didn't Gaara tell you? I live here."]

Review Replies:

Guest #1: Haha, alright, alright! We updated!

Alexia: You know, I've never read a KankuroXSakura fic until one week before I published this story. Aiko convinced me to read one of the only stories on here that was actually long and had a plot and I have to admit—I liked it. Aiko says he's glad he converted you into a KankuroXSakura fan, haha.

Sakura. Haruno. Love58: Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of leaving Kankuro alone! I find him too cute to be left alone to die because he deserves some love, dammit!

Wolfsis: Thank you, I'm so glad you like it. And yes, I will be continuing it through the end. I rarely leave a story and finished, and when I do, I usually go back to it after revising it.

AnnabellColt: Ah, thank you! I'm glad you liked it. And yeah, I love how Sakura is so strong and independent here in this story—it really makes her seem more like the boys in her team, doesn't it?

Trunksmybaby: Was something wrong? Though, I'm glad you liked it.

Slyhterin4ever: Haha I know. Sakura really seems like one of the guys here, doesn't she? Yet she still manages to uphold her "I am Sakura—hear me roar" personality. This is how I envision Sakura after the war haha.

FairiesDescent: Sorry for the late update! I hope you won't kill me!

Guest #2: I hope you're not angry with the late update…

Ilectrathewarrior: Well, a lot happens in this chapter, so I hope to see a review from you! ^_^

Guest #3: Haha I think you wrote a review on the wrong story, hun! Pein was never even mentioned here and I don't think he will be haha.

Author's Note: I am so sorry for not updating! This chapter had been finished and typed up and I didn't even realize it! If Aiko hadn't reminded me, I probably would've never updated it! I'm such a horrible person for keeping this from you guys. Feel free to be angry with me. *bows head in shame*

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Chapter Three

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Outside Sunagakure

Ringing, her ears were ringing. And her body trembled with a stinging sort of pain. And her head—oh God her head! She felt like she'd been thrown off a cliff, or maybe held underwater. Either way, she didn't like it.

There was blood on her face.

White blinded her vision as her eyes slowly fluttered open. That God damned ringing was beginning to ebb at the last of her nerves. She brought a shaky hand to her face, over her eyes to shield them from the blinding light, and she carefully took in the blurs of black and gold.

There were ninja all over the place, running back and forth and flinging sharp twists of metal at one another. She recognized the Sunagakure team almost instantly. They looked fine, she decided with a relieved sigh. There were no massive external injuries, rather just large gashes and bruises—nothing she couldn't heal easily. Those other ninja, however, she couldn't figure out. They wore simple outfits—black pants, black shirts and masks. Pretty generic, if you asked her; but they had to be at least Jonnin level ninja for them to spring such an attack on them, on her of all people.

There were a few broken items lying around her. They were mostly broken weapons and twitching corpses but there were some upturned earth from what she assumed came from ground attacks. She also noticed some residue from what looked like accelerant. Yes, there was a spot on the ground that was charred black; circular with prongs of black around it making it look like the sun above them.

A bomb—a high grade flash bomb caused this.

She forced herself up onto her feet, vision blurring with watercolored vertigo, nearly making her tumble over again. Sheer will alone was what made her stay standing, and she determinedly tugged on her leather gloves—a force of habit.

She couldn't remember the last time someone had snuck up on her, ambushed her; made such a fool of her. She didn't particularly like it, but she supposed there really wasn't much she could do but get back into the tiny war they forged.

So, Sakura took a deep breath, closed her eyes as she felt her chakra hum and circulate throughout her body. It felt warm; a familiar feeling that always made her toes curl with her pink bliss, and she smiled.

Her knuckles touched the terra; silence, a rumble—a loud explosion.

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The Great Escape

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Sunagakure Gates

The earth beneath their feet began to quake almost ominously, and all eyes turned towards the east. A plume of curling smoke rose above the horizon line, above the large knobbed trees of the neighboring forest, its tendrils creating odd shapes of skulls and rising hands.

They knew that trademark anywhere.

Temari narrowed her eyes and turned towards her accompanying squad. Her eyes burned heavily with her determination, and her very stare promised death should any dare to object her command. "We'll circle around them," she deduced. "I need the best weapons users in the forefront to counter incoming armaments."

She pointed out several individuals, all faceless men and women she couldn't admit to knowing the names of, and she barked their orders of shadow-lurking before sending them off.

Commanding, ordering, planning—she loved it all. She loved the power and the respect, but mostly, she loved the reward of brining all bodies back home.

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The Great Escape

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Sunagakure Hospital

Medics rushed around the room hurriedly, frantically. It was much too cramped in there, much too clean and yet—not. He didn't like the lights as they were too bright for him; and he didn't like the scent either. It was too clean, and reminded him of metal, of swords—of needles.

And the monitors were creating an annoying chime or erratic pings to add to the medics' frantic chatter. He didn't care much about the blood caking his flesh or the dull lethargy of the medications he took.

Kankuro just wanted to get out.

His face, once handsome, had contorted in absolute pain, and his fingers were frantically curling around anything he could latch onto. His back suddenly lurched away from the bed, his sweat making him impossible to hold down; a pained scream tore from his dry lips. His throat hurt—water, he needed water! He couldn't breathe—he couldn't breathe!

"Get it out," Kankuro demanded, eyes screwed shut in pain. Crystalline tears gathered at his lashes, only irritating him even further as the embarrassment mockingly needled him. "Get it the fuck out!"

A medic brought a damp cloth to his fevering head, his face twisted with horror at the curses the Kazekage's dearest brother screamed. "We can't, Kankuro-sama," he stuttered, flinching away when the puppeteer slapped the cloth away from him. "Please, we need to wait for the Konoha medic to—"

Kankuro's fingers curled into the collar of the medic's coat, his brown eyes bloodshot and teary with his agony. When the medic shivered, he hissed, "I can feel the poison spreading. Get it out—"

He was cut off by the disgusting coughs that ripped past his throat, accompanied by the vermillion specks splattering against his palm. He trembled now, uncontrollably so as his muscles clenched in painful paroxysms of four to five pulsations.

The poison was spreading, he knew, and each passing second brought it closer towards his heart.

Kankuro parted his lips to speak but found the corners of his vision beginning to film with a translucent rainbow, soon followed by black—he was falling. A medic said something, something he couldn't quite hear, and the panic returned.

Soon, the florescent lights had become eclipsed.

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The Great Escape

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Outside Sunagakure

She never liked fire. She didn't like the dry heat licking her flesh, or the sickening scent of decay that followed. And the death of that all around certainly didn't appeal to her, either.

She knew she was bleeding somewhere—she thought it was her arm—and her ribs couldn't expand properly. It hurt to move. It hurt to stand still. It hurt to live, to breathe; but she couldn't dare give up now, not when she was needed. Not when these men were fighting for her.

But there were so many of them, those pitiful fools who had the gall to attack her. They were either blind or stupid; she didn't care which. But it had done more than enough to ruin her days of rest.

There were a lot of them, still; too much for her and her little squad could handle, she admitted dejectedly, and she knew death would come to one of them if reinforcements didn't arrive. Grunting, Sakura pulled out a kunai and twirled it, trying to get use to the feeling of the rarely-used weapon.

She leapt backward, knife flying forward with a speed that seemed impossible, and twirled on her heel to avoid a mirroring shuriken. She ducked low to the ground to avoid a high-aimed punt and kicked her foot out in an attempt to drop the burly man before her. When he landed, she crawled over him, feet pinning him down, and used her chakra to lull him into a deep sleep.

She'd rather not kill, not because it was cruel, but because it was much harder for a shinobi to recover than to die.

A rustle behind her caught her attention almost immediately, and without a stint of hesitation she pitched another kunai into them. The metallic projectile was plucked easily from the air, nearly slicing the girl's hand off, but nothing more than that.

"Well that's a nice way to greet somebody."

A tired smile tugged at Sakura's lips, then; she appreciated Temari's sarcasm, especially with tall the stress and fatigue of the falling ash and ember. "Sorry, I've been a bit busy."

Temari set a hand against Sakura's shoulder, her expression now more morose than Sakura had ever seen before; it made her uneasy. "Sakura, its Kankuro. He's been poisoned."

"Say no more."

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The Great Escape

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Sunagakure Gates

Gaara stood there, watching the gibber stones far off in the distance with such a calm expression, that he would appear indifferent. But the slightest crease in his brow, the occasional twitch of his fingers—they spoke louder than necessary.

He'd seen the smoke and he heart the earth tremble, and it only made his worry grow when the short earthquakes suddenly stopped. Either she'd been found, or she had been killed. He seriously hoped it was the former.

Sakura was his last hope for his brother, and if she died, he would mourn for two bodies—fifteen days of celebrations both here and in her homeland, and he would be miserable through both.

"Kazekage-sama, I see someone coming!"

The words of his guard nearly made him jump, but the urge to run across the desert became much more appealing and he had taken off before anyone could try to stop him. It wasn't like they could, anyway.

Her pink hair stood out among the gold and red sands, and he didn't even bother to wait for her rushed greeting; he enveloped her in his sand and they disappeared into the dunes.

They arrived at hospital, and she ran inside before the dancing sand even cleared. She screamed at the nurses who stopped her, snarled so animalistic ally that even he looked away, but he barked at the nurses to let her pass.

They obeyed without hesitation.

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The Great Escape

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Sunagakure Hospital—Kankuro's ER

The door burst open, and everyone turned to question the new arrival only to applaud and laugh as Sakura strolled in. She was covered in sand, still dressed in her ridiculous red and brown outfit of the Leaf, and her hair had been a terrible nest of branches and blood; but to them, she looked to be the part of a savior.

She acknowledged their bows and cheers with a nod, but immediately delved into the medical persona she was known for—austere, succinct, professional—while they dressed her in scrubs. They answered her questions as best as they could and circled her as she set her hands into a bucket of water. The aqua circled her hands in a protective layer of pale blue-green, and she set her hands above Kankuro's heart and spleen.

"Hold him down!"

They obeyed her quickly, their hands pressing into his shoulders and arms and legs, and she forced the water into his body. He screamed (as expected), and his leapt away from her, and he even cursed her in his drug-induced state of mind, but she didn't pay much attention to it. She had a job, and she wouldn't finish it until she was done.

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The Great Escape

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Outside Kankuro's Hospital Room

They weren't sure how long they waited, but they would wait centuries if it meant Kankuro's survival. Temari had been pacing uncomfortably, her hands clasped together with her mumbled prayers and the occasional wiping of her eye; while Gaara and Baki sat tensely before the doors.

Their nerves seemed to taunt their vulnerability, as they jumped at every sound they heard.

And when the door finally opened and Sakura stepped out, her scrubs discarded and her skin pale, but she smiled. "Kankuro will be just fine."

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