Hello! Well here is my first attempt at writing a Naruto Fanfic. I hope you all like it and if you do please review. I actually had a dream about this which is why at three in the morning I woke up and had to start writing. So Enjoy!

Summary: Red, was the color of his hair, the color of their love and the color of his blood on her porcelain white hands. GaaraxIno

Red. It was everywhere and she didn't know what to do. It had happened so quickly and unexpectedly, which was odd considering the best strategist of their village was on their team. This had not been one of the possible outcomes they had planned for. Now, she was the only one who could do something.

Breathe. She told herself. Breathe and think, what would Shikamaru do? First she looked over her own wounds, nothing too severe but she had lost some blood. Then she looked over at her fellow teammates. One dead. Two seriously injured and unconscious, one missing, and a whole lot of blood. She looked around, where were they?

The fight had been so intense that they were thrown off course. She quickly jumped onto a tree to get a clear view. There at a distance she could see a village and one she recognized. Sunagakure. Now she had a choice to make, go for help or take them with her. She knew she didn't have a lot of chakra left and she didn't know if she would make it. Time was of an essence especially to her injured teammates. With a deep breath she made her decision.

She jumped back to where her teammates laid wounded and looked over both of them. Him. She said to herself after looking for the one with the most serious wounds. She gently picked him up and put him over her shoulder. She looked back down at her other teammate, her best friend, and said. "I am sorry, so sorry but I am coming back…. Just hang on a little more. Hang on." And with that she left going as fast as she could with the little chakra she had left.

It took her longer than expected but she made it. She was at the gates when she felt it, all her energy was drained and she was losing blood too quickly. The guards ran up to her, saying things she didn't pay attention to. She needed to get back, he needed help.

"Temari, the kazekage, whoever. Just tell them Konohagakure shinobi need help. 150 meters to the west." She said as commanding as she could in her current state. "And get him to the medics." She handed over the body to one of the guards. Both of them looked her over once more before running off to do as they were told by the injured kunoichi.

With strength she didn't know she had, she started her way back. She was almost there; she could feel the low chakra flow of her fallen teammate, when everything started to fade into darkness. "Shikamaru..." was the last word she whispered before hitting the ground.

Today was not his day. He had been having a strange feeling all day, it kind of felt as if something important was going to happen today. He had never felt this before, even the day he died, which made it strange. He tried to ignore the feeling but as the time passed by it only seemed to get stronger which was seriously affecting his work. He was behind as it was and today was the day he was supposedly going to finish his paperwork but that damn feeling was proving hard to shake off.

He was about to start on another document when a gate guard barged in without knocking. He looked up at the guard who had a panicked look on his face as if unsure what to say. So he asked. "What is it?"

The guard looked at him and then straightened up a bit to inform him. "A blonde kunoichi arrived at the gates at 1300 hrs and stated that there were leaf ninjas in need of help 150 meters west. She ordered us to inform Temari or yourself, Kazekage-Sama. She left us an injured shinobi. Then she left again."

Gaara looked over to the clock; about 20 minutes had passed since thekunoichi had asked for help. Minutes that could mean life or death. He was angry. He looked at the guard. "How could it take you so long to inform me? There are people hurt and it took you this long to come and tell me?"

"I..I am so..sorry." the guard stuttered scared of the vicious glare on the kazekages face. "I didn't know what to do."

With one last glare at the guard, Gaara ran out of his office and started on his way in the direction the guard had informed. If there were seriously injured ninjas from Konoha that die from the lack of help from Suna, this could mean a break in their alliance. It was a time of peace and they couldn't afford any complications like that.

He could smell the blood already from 100 meters away which meant it was not good. He continued and that's when he saw her. Her blonde hair messed up and her black uniform torn and stained with blood. He was about to reach her when she fell forward on the ground, he was close enough to hear her say one word. "Shikamaru".

He turned over her limp body and realized he recognized her. She had accompanied many times Nara Shikamaru to visit Suna on supposedly treaty related missions when he knew all too well he was simply there to visit his sister Temari. And this woman was his friend, whose name he could not recall but remembered how thanks to her they now had medicinal herbs that were of great use to the Suna medics.

He looked her over, she had lost a lot of blood but she would live. However that left him concerned, she was a medic nin and would only be coming back in her condition for one reason. Whoever was still out there was seriously hurt. He quickly placed her against a tree sensing no imminent danger and continued on his way to where said girl had informed his guards.

He arrived at a clearing where two shinobi laid. One he could tell was already gone but the other one was barely breathing and his mask was cracked. Gaara went over to him and removed the mask. It was as he suspected none other than Nara Shikamaru. He had serious injuries that could prove fatal. As quickly and carefully as he could he gathered enough sand to lift him up and return to the village only stopping to pick up the girl he had left unconscious.

He was by the gates in an instant and was met by Temari and Kankuro. It didn't take long for Temari to recognize the shinobi he had brought with him. She rarely showed emotion but he could see the fear in her eyes. "We must get them to the hospital. Temari take her." He said handing over the girl to her. "Kankuro there is a body that needs to be picked up. I trust you know where."

Kankuro simply nodded and disappeared. Gaara and Temari then followed suit to the hospital. At their arrival a team of medic nins where there to tend to the fallen. They were taken inside and all there was left to do was wait.

"What happened?" Temari asked in a voice laced with fear of what would happen to them, to him specially.

"I don't know. They were obviously attacked and the blonde one was able to get to the gates with one of the injured but she didn't make it to the other ones." He replied still trying to make sense of everything. He knew they were ANBU from the masks they wore which made it even stranger since according to Naruto their missions were always completely covert. Nobody knew about them. Nobody except the hokage and the one's doing it.

"Yamanaka Ino. Yes I know but….how could they not see that coming? He was on the team, he knows everything, he…promised…"she said as tears started to fall. "...promised he would be safe, that he would visit."

Gaara didn't know what to do. He had never seen his sister in so much pain. He knew there was a level of attraction between the two but he hadn't realized the extent of it. "He will be okay." Was all he said before leading his sister to the nearest chair, letting her cry out her feelings.

Gaara just sat there hoping that his presence was enough to comfort his sister; he didn't know how to deal with his own emotions much less those of others. He hoped for the sake not only of his sister but for the treaties that the leaf shinobi would be alright. He knew he had to inform Naruto of the situation but that would have to wait, at least until he knew the status of the injured.

Kankuro arrived but a few minutes later. He went to where his siblings where sitting. His sister trying to calm herself and Gaara as stoic as ever. Knowing his brother he was most probably assessing ways to deal with the situation, making a list of all the things that would need to be done. "The body has been dealt with; it is ready for whatever is decided." Kankuro said before sitting down next to his sister and wrapping an arm around her to try and comfort her a bit, something their younger brother would know little about.

It was a while before a medic nin finally came out, his uniform stained with blood.

"Status report" Gaara commanded as he stood up to face the head medic at the hospital.

The medic removed his glasses seemingly tired. "The first one they brought in is stable. It's a good thing they brought him in first since his injuries are quite extensive and he will need a few weeks to recover. The girl is fine; her injuries though profound were healed. She should wake up soon but she will still need rest." He paused looking over at the other sand siblings before returning his gaze to the kazekage. "The other one had many wounds, most of them healed but there is one in particular that…."

"That what?" Temari suddenly asked not liking the look on the medics face.

"That we don't know how to heal. We've tried various techniques but it just keeps reopening and not only is it making him loose blood but it's depleting all of his chakra. We can't get him stable which is why we have a medic feeding him chakra and healing him constantly. We will continue this until we figure out what it could be. "He explained. "I believe it could be a curse, a consequence of a jutsu."

Gaara nodded. He had heard of something similar but that only meant it had been someone powerful and dangerous. And considering it had happened near his village he had to know what happened out there. "Do what you must to figure it out. You may use any resource available."

The medic nin bowed. "Thank you Kazekage –sama. I will try to be as quick as possible."

"Can we…can I see him?" Temari asked.

"Yes, but try not to break the medic concentration. "The medic replied. "This way."

Temari followed the medic into another part of the hospital while Gaara and Kankuro stayed behind.

"I hope for her sake that he gets better." Kankuro said looking at the door their sister had disappeared through.

Gaara didn't say anything. There were so many things to be done and decisions to be made. But first thing was first. Without a single word he followed in Temari's footsteps, through the double doors and to the only person who could tell him what the hell had happened out there.

He found the room fairly quickly and stepped inside making his way towards the single bed with the single blonde female kunoichi. He had never seen her so up close. She was beautiful as he had heard many of his own shinobi call her, but upon closer inspection he noticed the faint scars that revealed her life as a ninja. Scars that spoke of a hard life and horrors seen especially during the war time in which both had lived things many wish to forget.

He was contemplating waking her up when she opened her ice blue eyes and looked straight at his own green ones. No one aside from Naruto had ever looked straight into his eyes and held his gaze for so long. Even though it had probably been seconds it seemed like an eternity before she decided to speak.

"How are they?" she asked hoarsely.

"They are being tended to." He replied. "I know you are injured but it's important for me to know what happened. Who attacked you?"

Ino sat up a little straighter not taking her eyes away from the Kazekage. "I can't inform you of too much for this was an S-Class mission and my report is for the Hookage. But what I can tell you is that we were close to Kirigakure in the land of water borders when we got attacked. It was more than 20 shinobi but there were no visible sign of alliance to any village. "She paused taking a deep breath and wincing at the pain it brought to her ribs. "I don't know how they knew we would be there, we never planned for this. Somehow the battle got so intense that we got separated and we were driven off in different directions. Finally Morino-san used his jutsu to eliminate a few but not before he was injured. Both Shikamaru and I were able to make our way to Ibiki but we were surrounded. Then there was a flash of light and it blinded us. I could only feel that we were being attacked. As soon as the flash disappeared the shinobi were gone, even their bodies and only Ibiki-san and Shikamaru were on the floor injured. Aburame-san was also there dead and Comani-san was missing as well."

"Thank you for the information. I already sent men to survey the surroundings. If your teammate is out there, they will find him." He replied already starting to get up.

"Wait!" Ino said as she grabbed the Kazekage's arm. "I know there is something you're not telling me. How are they? Really?"

Gaara looked down at where this girl was holding his arm. Her hand was soft and warm. Nobody ever touched him if not by accident, and even then they would apologize profusely. That was already two things this girl had done that surprised him in less than five minutes. It was just perturbing to say the least.

Ino slowly let go, noticing how he was simply starring at the spot she had held onto, but he was leaving and she had to know what was truly going on. Although she had to admit she had felt a current of warmth or electricity the moment her skin came into contact with his. This however she attributed to her lack of rest.

"There is a problem with one of Nara's injuries. It seems to be reopening and at the same time depleting his chakra. The medics are currently just continuously giving him a flow of chakra until they figure out what it is." Gaara answered truthfully once he was able to tear his gaze away from where he still felt the ghost of her hand grabbing his arm.

Ino eyes went wide. That's not possible she thought. That could only mean that…

Before Gaara could blink. Ino had jumped out of bed, barely clad in clothes and with only her undergarments and bandages she made her way out the door and into the hall asking the nearest medic where was Nara Shikamaru's room.

Gaara quickly followed her down a few more halls, she was surprisingly quick despite her injuries he noted, she found the room she was looking for and burst in.

"STOP!" she screamed at the medics. "You're going to kill him."

Temari stood up alarmed at her outburst. "What are you talking about?"

"A genjutsu was used on him by one of our teammates, Comani-san. It makes the victim fight with himself in his mind but the injuries he gets are real. It's intended to be a double edge sword. Either he uses all his chakra to defeat himself ultimately killing himself or he bleeds out. "She turned to the medics. "You are just giving him more energy to hurt himself. He has to be stopped."

"How... how do we do that?" Temari asked shakily, not sure how this could be stopped.

Ino herself wasn't sure what to do. Shikamaru knew her fighting style too well to defeat him in his own mind, which was the only way he would stop hurting himself and the medics could finally heal him without giving him power to destroy himself. There was only a single way she could think of but that was too dangerous, she wouldn't know if she could control it.

"What are you thinking Yamanaka-san?" Gaara suddenly asked breaking her concentration.

"I can only think of a way but I don't know if it will work…or if I can even do it." She replied with a troubled look.

Gaara looked at his distraught sister, whatever it was they should at least try it. He turned to Ino. "This situation is difficult but it's important we try everything we can to help. I trust you know what you need to do." He said and added "I trust you."

Ino looked up into his eyes. Here was the Kazekage who didn't even know her saying that he trusted her. It made her want to laugh but it also did give her the confidence to at least try. She sighed. "I need someone who can beat Shikamaru in a fight."

Temari and Kankuro both looked at Gaara expectantly. He simply nodded in response.

"Alright, I've only ever done this with a couple of birds but it's the basic concept. I am going to be a bridge between Shikamaru and the Kazekage'smind. That way the Kage can be in Shikamaru's mind and defeat him in order to allow the medics to heal his wounds. But first I need to create a connection between the kage's mind and my own." She said looking at Gaara for approval.

"Fine." Was all he said before reading himself to receive the jutsu and not block by instinct.

She made a few hand seals and as her body fell to the ground her mind went into the body of the kazekage. She saw so many images, all of them sad and painful. His mind was trying to get her out by also showing her the dark memories the ones as the jinchuriki. But there was one memory that absolutely froze Ino for a few seconds, it was of him as a child wanting, yearning for his mother's love only to be rejected and hated by his own mother and those around. It took her a minute to compose herself but she was finally able to create a connection between his and her mind before going back to her body.

When she awoke she found herself on the ground and in the arms of kankuro who was holding her against his chest peering curiously at her. Knowing her fate she did the next hand seals but this time in the direction of where Shikamaru laid wounded. Once inside she saw Shikamaru fighting another shikamaru who had the same wounds as the one currently in bed.

She quickly made the connection between Shikamaru and Gaara. Gaara she noted was definitely a bit disoriented but he focused the minute he noticed the Shikamaru's fighting. She saw how his long strides quickly got him to where Shikamaru was fighting. She saw his sand fly out the gourd and attack him. She saw how agile he was the moment Shikamaru tried to attack him only to miss. She could only watch as she held the connection. She watched Gaara's graceful movements. But mostly she watched Gaara. She didn't know why but before she knew what was happening, the fight was over and Shikamaru laid unconscious in his own mind. There was a reason Gaara was kazekageafterall.

Making sure Shikamaru was truly down for the fight she released the connection and woke up to the same position she had found herself a few minutes ago. She turned to Kanakuro "thank you." And then she got up to go by Shikamaru's side. "He´s going to be unconscious for a while but you should be able to heal him now."

A tear stained Temari looked at her. "Thank you. Thank you so much." Temari had never liked the girl too much, thinking she was too close to Shikmaru but that didn't matter right now. What mattered is that she had saved him and for that she would always be grateful.

Ino started to smile back when she suddenly saw the ground approaching her really fast, but before she hit she felt strong arms hoisting her up and taking her god knows where. Truthfully she didn't care, she just wanted to rest and succumb to the darkness but first there was something she had to do.

Gaara was taking the girl back to her room. She had obviously overexerted herself and now she had fallen unconscious as well. She needed to rest and recover her chakra. He was about to put her down when she opened her eyes and looked straight at him.

"I am sorry." She whispered.

"For what?" he found himself asking without meaning to.

"I am sorry you don't know what love is." She replied once more before truly giving into the darkness.

Gaara was speechless. Here was this wounded unconscious girl, limp in his arms and she was feeling sorry for him. For him, the Kazekage of Suna.

And what did that even mean? that he didn't know what love is. Of course he knew. He had looked it up in a dictionary, after all.

Today was seriously not his day.

Until Next Chapter So Review Please! :)