An Hour Later - Anna's POV

"Anna." Kankuro mutters as he sits up and me and Temari are at his side at once.

"Careful, your still weak." I say to him quietly, still worried, but also half asleep since I just woke up.

"Temari, Anna." Kankuro says to us in a raspy tone.

I get him a glass of water and I tell Sakura that Kankuro is awake and then I give the water to Kankuro.

"You worried me." Temari says to Kankuro.

"Sorry." Kankuro says to her and I help him drink the water.

The doctors and the rest of Team Kakashi come in with the two elders.

Kankuro explains what happened and I hit him over the head harshly. "Ow." He says to me.

"Moron." I say to him.

Kakashi then takes the cloth and sends his ninja hounds after the Akatsuki. 

I frown as I think about my summons and suddenly, Aka appears beside me.

"Finally." Aka says breathing heavily.

I bend down and pet her head as I take the scroll from her neck.

"I found the hide out, but, we were stopped by the Sharigan User of the Akatsuki, the others unsummoned themselves while I ran to get to here and ended up using my teleportation seal to get away." Aka says to me and I nod and pet her head.

"Thanks Aka, you did good, go on back and take a rest for a while." I say to her and she nuzzles my face before leaving.

"Anna." Kakashi says to me and I hand him the scroll.

"They found the place, your hounds should be able to mark the way there." I say to Kakashi who hums in agreement.

I sense Kankuro watching me and I look over and smile at him before I head out of the room.

"Your really worried." Sakura says to me.

"What makes you say that?" I ask her as she walks with me.

"You look like you haven't slept in days." Sakura says to me.

"Yeah, I've just been uncertain here, I can't sleep here unless Gaara is in the village, last time I stayed here, my parents were threatened, Gaara keeps the village in check, so if I do end up staying here for a mission, I feel safe that no one will attack me since they all love him." I say to her and she hums.

"Yeah, that makes sense, but you were dozing in Kankuro's room." Sakura says to me and I pull a small jar out of my pouch, filled with Gaara's sand.

"Gaara gave me this when we were kids, for my fourth birthday, he said, if I was ever in trouble, this sand would protect me, over and over again, it was one of the reasons why I survived the attack when I was five, I don't normally carry it around, but I brought it here seeing as the situation." I say to her with a small smile at the memory of Gaara giving me this jar. "And besides, I'm a light sleeper outside the village, I can detect anything coming for me a mile away." I say to her with a closed eyed smile.

I put the jar in my pouch as I head up to the roof while Sakura heads to another medical room.

I frown as I close my eyes.

"You spend a lot of time up here." The old man says to me.

I just hum in acknowledgment.

"The Ward Clan, do you know they per chance?" The old man asks me.

"No, I don't want to know the people who abandoned my parents." I say to him curtly.

"I see, then, why do you close your eyes up here?" The old man asks me.

"No reason." I say to him calmly, but starting to lose my patience.

"Why do you not make direct eye contact with people?" The old man questions me.

"Is this an interrogation?" I ask him.

"I simply have a few questions." The old man says to me and I just hum.

"A few touchy questions." I say to him and he sighs.

"So your the Anna Ward who was brought to my sister to fix your eyes." The old man says to me and I just snort.

"I have no idea what your talking about old man, I certainly didn't see an old bag when I was a kid and my eyes are fine." I say to him.

"I didn't say anything about you being a kid when you came." The old man says to me amused.

"Shut up." I say to him, not liking where this is going. I jump off the roof and I head back to Kankuro's room.

I sense Kankuro reach out to me and I feel him grab my wrist. "Anna." He says to me I stop and stand next to him. "I need you to get my baby brother back." Kankuro says to me, and I can sense sadness, guilt and self hate from him.

"I already was gonna do that, the sand siblings aren't complete without Gaara and the Sand needs its Kazekage." I say to him and I sense him relax in relief.

I sit down next to his bed as the doctors come in and examine Kankuro before he has to rest. Kankuro lays down and I sense him fall asleep.

After a while I end up falling asleep with my head in my arms and my arms on the bed.

"Anna." Someone says after hours of me sleeping.

I stir slightly and I open my eyes and I look in the direction of whoever woke me up and it was Kakashi.

"Come on." He says to me and I yawn quietly as I slowly get up.

"What's going on?" I ask him, stifling another yawn as I follow him out of the room.

"It's time to go get Gaara back." Kakashi says to me and I hum quietly, still waking up and I head to the gates and I wait for everyone.

"Anna." Naruto says to me and I look in his direction calmly before nodding.

We get going and 2 days later, we get to the base and I sense Neji, Tenten, Lee and Guy there.

I smile at them. "Your amusing, always getting here first." I say to them and Tenten hugs me.

"Anna." Neji greets me and I smile at him as Tenten stands back.

"MY YOUTHFUL RIVAL! YOU ARE LATE!" Lee and Guy yell at me and Kakashi.

"Wait what?" Naruto asks shocked.

"Yeah, we got held up." I say with a nervous sweat drop.

"What would that be?" Neji asks us.

"Fake Itachi fought us and died." I say and Neji hums.

We create a plan and the others remove the tags and Sakura punches down the boulder and I walk inside, furious.

"Uh oh, pissed kunoichi at 6 o'clock." Deidara says to me.

I've had a few run ins with this jerk, but now he's really pissed me off.

"You bastards, I will enjoy tearing you limb from limb, Deidara." I say to him with a closed eyed smile.

"Your as sadistic as ever." Deidara says to me amused. "Your insane, so I'll enjoy blowing you up, piece by piece." Deidara says to me.

"Like you can." I say to him and I sense cockiness from him as the old bag, Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto fall in beside me.

"You know him?" Sakura asks me.

"He's blown me up a few times, I've screwed him over a few times, lets just say he's a bitch who doesn't give up." I say with a small shrug.

"You say it like its nothing, my works of art that I created to kill you were magnificent." Deidara says to me and I roll my eyes.

"Considering I'm alive, your 'works of art' were nothing but clay and a explosive tag." I say to Deidara with a smirk and I can tell that offended him.

"You did not just insult my art." Deidara says to me.

"Did I?" I ask, purposely annoying him.

"He's getting annoyed Anna." Sakura says to me.

"I know." I say to her and I continue poking the explosive artist with a stick.

"Your insane." Deidara says to me and I punch him off Gaara.

"Finally an opening." I say to myself as I keep the two Akatsuki members occupied, clearly enjoying myself.

"She's gonna get herself killed." Sakura says to the others.

"Probably, but she's gonna go down enjoying herself to the end for what they did to Kankuro and Gaara. Its her Will of Fire, she's gonna go down swinging." Kakashi says to her.

"I mean hey, if I die, I only lose my life." I say with a shrug.

"Your just as bad as Sensei!" Naruto and Sakura yell at me.

I just shrug and Deidara takes Gaara's body in his clay bird and I go after Deidara as he flies out and I grab onto the tail of the bird as it starts flying and it lifts me off the ground. I pull myself up onto the bird and me and Deidara spar while Kakashi and Naruto follow us.

 "Anna, that's dangerous, get down." Naruto says to me worried.

"Oh please, I've worked with less space while sparring with Kakashi-Sensei." I say and after a while of me distracting Deidara, Kakashi uses his Mangekyo and Deidara goes down and I steer the bomb to the ground and I grab Gaara out of its mouth and I jump away before its blows, which it does and I land on a branch nearly falling, but Naruto catches me and Gaara and he takes Gaara as I sit down, out of breath.

"Thanks Anna." Kakashi says to me.

"I'm so tired." I say as I lean back against the tree next to Kakashi.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised your worrying has kept you up for too long and you were sleeping restlessly while you were sitting next to Kankuro." Kakashi says to me and I push myself up and I help him up and we head to a field with Naruto carrying Gaara while I have Kakashi's around over my shoulder, supporting him up.

I set Kakashi down and I sit down next to Gaara and I sense an immense sadness from Naruto as I look down in the direction of my old friend with saddened eyes. Then all of a sudden I sense a spike of anger from Naruto and he goes and gives one of his powerful speeches.

I sense the old bag kneel down next to me and I tense considerably as I sense chakra flowing from her hands over Gaara.

She starts losing chakra and Naruto offers his and I place my hands over theirs and I sense shock from the old bag while Naruto just expected this.

"Thanks." She says to the two of us and I smile at her.

"Gaara is my friend, and as you've heard and seen from me, I'll do anything to protect my friends." I say to her and she stays quiet for a moment before she starts talking to us and me and Naruto listen intently.

I frown as I listen to her. "You did what you thought at the time, was right, no one can blame you for that." I say to her and I sense shock from her again. "That's all we try to do nowadays, we try to do the right thing, sometimes we fail and sometimes we succeed, its a part of life to do what you think is right, to succeed with your dream, its a part of life to think you failed, sometimes you don't believe you'll succeed, but in the end, that thinking is what will get you to fail, but if you strongly believe in your dream and try and try and try and try, it'll come true, and what you did for the Hidden Sand, through out all your years, you tried to help Kankuro, your saving Gaara, you created a Jutsu that you hoped would help your grandson, those were right decisions in my view, it was, beyond amazing to meet someone who is selfless like this, even if I was a little hostile towards you at first." I say to her with a closed eyed smile and I sense a fizzy warmness from Naruto, so I'm guessing he's grinning and Chiyo has a small warmness herself as she continues the Jutsu.

Making people smile, Sakura said that was my super power, I guess she was right.

"You two are the only ones who can help Gaara now." Chiyo says to us and I hum quietly and I help her sit next to Sakura while Naruto wakes Gaara up. "Thank you Anna." She says to me quietly and I smile at her.

"Of course." I say to her and I sense life from Gaara as Sand Shinobi surround us all.

Temari and Kankuro walk up beside me as I crouch next to Gaara.

"You idiot." I say to Gaara as shock comes from him at all the Shinobi around us and I sense him look at me.

"Gaara, you had us worried." Temari says to him.

I get pushed out of the way by girls and my eye twitches, a black aura surrounding me almost everyone but a nervous Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara back away, except for the girls of course.

"They're gonna die." I hear Neji say and I get up and dust myself off while a dead silence fills the field.

I hit the girls on the head harshly and they groan. "You don't push me out of the way, you ask nicely for me to move, and if I don't, get on the other damn side." I say to them annoyed, not furious, just annoyed and irritated.

"Yes Ma'am." They grumble and I nod.

"Good." I say to them calming down and I put my hands in my jean shorts pockets as I stand next to Temari with a bored look.

"Thanks for not killing them." Temari says to me and I hum.

"They're just fan-girls, sure, they're annoying, but Sakura used to be one so I got used to the banshee screaming and getting pushed out of the way, its really not anything, just a small scolding usually gets them to listen to me." I say to her with a small shrug.

"Still, your temper is to be feared, Baki told us how you practically threatened to rip him limb from limb if my brothers didn't survive." Temari says to me and I just smile.

"Of course." I say to her and she sighs as she rests he arm on my shoulder and we say a prayer for Chiyo and we head back to the sound village and Gaara gets surprised by his village waiting on the walls for him.

I sense Temari glance at me and then at Gaara and I just continue smiling as we get greeted by the village.

After a few hours, me and Temari finally have Gaara and Kankuro alone in Gaara's office.

"I feel impending doom." Kankuro says to Gaara.

"Your moronic idiots! Ask for some damn help next time before you try to do everything yourself, especially when it involves the Akatsuki, if you asked for help in the first place, we wouldn't have been in that mess." I say to them and Temari hums in agreement.

"A scolding." Gaara says shocked.

"You had us worried sick, both of you, Anna could barely keep from going hysterical on everyone when she first got here, we heard from Kakashi that she made a three day trip in one for you two, you've seriously done it, I'm surprised she isn't hitting you right now." Temari says to them.

"I hit them already and if I did it again, they'd have brain damage." I say to her.

The two of us scold the boys for an hour before its drilled into their heads to ask for help, but they most likely won't.

Me and Temari leave the room and she goes wherever she pleases, while I head up to the roof and I sit down on the edge with my head turned up to the sky with my eyes closed and my hands on either side of me, holding the roof so I don't fall.

Gaara appears next to me and a smile lights my face as he sits next to me.

"Have you been sitting up here every night since you got here?" Gaara asks me and I can sense worry behind his voice and deep in his emotions.

"When I can." I say to him and he sighs.

"You should sleep." Gaara says to me and I shrug.

"I don't mind staying up for a while, its like when we were kids, right?" I ask him and he hums

"Your still stubborn." Gaara says to me and I give him a closed eyed smile.

"Of course." I say to him and he sighs as he moves closer to me and his Kazekage cloak covers me as he puts his arm around my shoulder. I feel heat rise to my cheeks and I sense amusement from him and I pout. "Your unfair Gaara." I say to him and he sighs amused as he pushes my head onto his shoulder.

"Temari told me everything you did for us and all your threats as well." Gaara says to me and the heat on my cheeks gets hotter. "Thanks for worrying about us." Gaara says to me and I smile.

"Of course, you guys are my friends, I'd do anything to protect those dear to my heart, because not many people are." I say to him and I pull my legs up next to me and I crawl under his cloak more and he watches me amused as I lay across his crossed legs with my arms folded under me with a content look on my face.

"Anna, what are you doing?" Gaara asks me amused.

"You told me I should sleep, so I'm getting comfortable since I know your not gonna move from this spot for a while." I say to him and he chuckles quietly and I sense a fuzzy emotion from him, its warm, but its full fuzzy.

"Alright." Gaara says to me and I smile as he rests his hand on my head and I fall asleep after a while.

Gaara's POV

I look down at Anna and I see she fell asleep, she's completely relaxed. I pet her head and she lets out a small sigh on content and I smile softly at her as she continues to sleep.

After a while I take her down stairs to her teams room and Kakashi looks up from his book and sees Anna in my arms sleeping with her head on my chest.

"What happened?" Kakashi asks me.

"She fell asleep on the roof." I say to him and he sighs.

"Of course." Kakashi says to me and I set her on the empty bed. "Thank you Gaara, for bringing her in." Kakashi says to me and I nod. "She's very protective of you, you know, she fought both Akatsuki members at the same time with no help." Kakashi says to me and I look at her shocked. "She does care about you and your siblings, she may not show it half the time, but she's protective." Kakashi says to me and I nod.

"She always has been, when we were kids, I'd get scorned a lot and she would always bully the adults back and then taking me somewhere else." I say to him and as I turn to go, Anna holds my sleeve, still sleeping.

"You and Naruto are very lucky to have her as a friend." Kakashi says to me with a closed eyed smile and I nod and I end up sitting next to Anna and she uses me as a pillow while Kakashi keeps an eye on me as I watch her.
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