I apologise for the HORRIBLLY LONG WAIT!

I have had many issues in my life which I am not going to list down right now...

Also! Dedicated to showmethelight because she asked me TWICE when I was going to upload! So I was like... NOW!

But should I change the cover? The picture at the side is what I made, my own cover at the moment is what it was based off, it was terribly hard trying to find a picture which looked like it.

Should I change it to that?

Thanks for waiting and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

~Wolfie

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Yuzuki's POV

A DAY AFTER THE PRELIMINARIES

This was all shattering into pieces quickly, I didn't know it would happen this soon, Shukaku trying to break free I mean.

Gaara's mental state is going to break any moment these days, we have to be wary and cautious of his, of course I have to control myself too, but I have slightly more self-control than Gaara.

“Yuzuki…?” Temari walked towards me slowly. I looked up and blinked.

“Yes?” I asked.

She sat down and bit her lip anxiously, “I-Is Gaara okay?”

I stared at her then then sighed, “Honestly?” I asked her, she nodded.

"Yeah..."

I leaned back, “I don’t know, I really don’t, it’s too crazy, we can never know what will happen, he might be calm one moment, then mad the next and ready to murder someone.” I shrugged apathetically.

Temari smacked her hands down, “How are you so calm about this?!” She yelled, but exhaled and sat down. I raised my eyebrow at her. “I mean, its Gaara! You like Gaara! You have to do something!”

I rolled my eyes, “You think he’s the only one with issues with Shukaku? No, I’m having trouble myself, but I’m trying my best here.” I slowly stood and towered over Temari. “I do care about Gaara. A lot. But do you know how terrible it is to not have any idea what to do about this? Getting whispers every night, I can’t even fall asleep anymore!” I snarled. “You have no idea!”

Temari swallowed and looked down, “...Sorry. I went a bit overboard there…”

I sighed and sat down, “At least you’re conscious of what you did wrong. However, I’d rather you didn’t get me too angry, because then we could have a problem with a giant sand racoon.” I said with a small tilt of lips.

She grinned, “Yeah we could.”

We laughed and slowly grew serious, “A month right?” Temari asked.

I nodded, “Yeah, you, Kankurou, Gaara and I all got through to the finals. Gaara’s against Sasuke, I’m against Dosu, Kankurou’s against Shino and you’re against Shikamaru.” I told her.

She nodded, “Do you know anything about Shikamaru?”

I nodded, “Yeah, but I’d rather that you didn’t go too rough on Shikamaru, he’s my… friend.”

Temari blinked, “Friend? He’s your friend?”

I nodded slowly, “Yeah, and his team, they are good people. Anyway, Shikamaru uses shadows, as you saw in the preliminaries, you’re a good match for him, since you’re both strategists.”

Temari smirked, “I’m going to beat him so hard.”

I rolled my eyes, “And apparently you didn’t hear anything I said in the last 3 minutes.”

She gave an apologetic smile, “I’m competitive.”

“Obviously.”

Shee chuckled and I let a small smile play on my lips in amusement.

"Where's Gaara?" Temari asked.

I shook my head, "I don't know."

"I do."

We turned around and faced Kankurou who was leaning on the door frame.

I blinked, "You do?"

He nodded, "I do."

Temari grinned, "He does."

Kankurou nodded again, "I do."

I blinked, "You do..."

We all started at each other and I rolled my eyes as they laughed.

"So? Where is he?" Temari asked.

Kankurou sat down, "Probably trying to kill the Uchiha right now."

I cursed and stood up, letting sand cover me and transport me somewhere else where I felt Gaara's faint chakra signature.

I saw him staring behind rocks hungrily at Kakashi and Sasuke, I grabbed him and pulled him the other direction.

"Yuzuki." He hissed, jerking his arm out of my grasp.

I froze at his tone of voice and slowly turned to glare at him, "Snap out of it Gaara."

He stared at me, "Excuse me?"

Now I was glaring right at him, annoyed and pissed off, "No, excuse me." I said with a frown. "You cannot start acting like this Gaara."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said.

I exhaled sharply, "Oh you know exactly what I'm talking about, this isn't like you. Seriously."

He stared at me in thought, while I gave him one of those looks.

"But I want to kill him, now."

I flicked his forehead, "You'll get the chance in the finals, and also we have to plan out the invasion you idiot, don't go rushing into things." He didn't reply, he just followed me off the cliffs.

I glanced at Kakashi, he eyed me and I nodded. He nodded in thanks and turned back to the unknowing Sasuke. Kakashi knew that we were there the whole time.

I sighed and kept a wary eye on Gaara, it was obvious that he wasn't himself right now, but it wasn't like I myself wasn't trying to repress Shukaku.

"Yuuzukii! How have you beeeeen?"

Speak of the devil.

Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say, Speak of the Demon.

The real demon.

I held my head in my hands, one eye shut from the intense pain in my head.

"Yuzuki." I froze as Gaara looked at me with a smirk, wide eyes, screaming blood over and over again. I could tell, my eyes widened and I clenched my teeth, trying to stop the pain in my mind.

"Ga-Gaara... W-What’s wrong...?!" I stammered out.

He just stared at me with that cold-eyed, blood wrenching, killer look.

"I want to kill!" He screamed into the sky.

I started breathing irregularly, dropping my arms from my head and stared at him with wide eyes.

'This isn't Gaara, it can't be... ITS SHUKAKU!' I screamed in my head. 'You can't lose control now you IDIOT!' 

I started walking towards him, my head bowed down, teeth clenched, my steps became faster, bigger, until I was right next to the boy I loved.

I raised my fist and hit him, hard. My eyes were wide, my teeth gritted, my mind was on the verge of going insane.

"STOP IT YOU MINDLESS IDIOT!!!!" I screamed at him, bringing back my other fist and hitting him harder, then hitting him again, and again, punching him, again, until blood started seeping out of his nose.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" I hit him again.

His head kept going in different directions, the way my fists were pounding them. His jade eyes were wide, not believing what was going on.

"You better take control of yourself or I will never forgive you!" I hit him another time.

He collapsed and I breathed heavily, glancing at the blood on my fists, and the blood trickling down Gaara's face.

He twitched and moved his head to look at me, "Y-Yuz-uki... W-Why...?"

I looked at him with hardened eyes, "Because I care about you."

His eyes went back to their normal size, he exhaled slowly, still lying on the ground, and he chuckled.

"I deserved that." He said.

I fell onto my knees, "Yeah, you did, baka." I sighed.

"So..." He looked directly upwards at the sky, I looked too. We smiled.

"The sky..."

"...looks so free."

Gaara's arm was hung over my shoulder and I was helping him walk. He took slow and uncertain steps, I walked at his pace and exhaled slowly.

When we arrived back at the house, Temari and Kankurou ran at us.

"Yuzuki! Gaara! What happened?!"

"Why are you hurt Gaara?!"

I rolled my eyes, "Both of you... Shut up." I said monotone.

They froze, I sighed and lay Gaara down on the bed.

"Uh... Yuzuki, why is Gaara hurt? Did someone attack him? How did they get past Gaara's defence? What about his sand?" Temari came storming with questions.

"Firstly, shut up." I snapped.

She laughed awkwardly.

I sighed, "And secondly, Gaara is hurt because he was losing control, so I started hitting him."

Kankurou blinked, "Do you mean hitting on him?"

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "No, I was hitting him, meaning I was punching him."

Temari gaped, "EHHHHH!??!!? Why?!"

I clenched my teeth in annoyance, "I just told you, he was losing control!"

Kankurou's eyes widened, "What?!"

I walked out of the room Gaara was passed out in, shutting the door.

"I'm not going to repeat it for the third time." I sighed.

Temari and Kankurou glanced at each other, "It’s too soon for this, and the finals haven't even started yet." Temari bit her lip.

"Yeah, what are we going to do Yuzuki? Temari?" Kankurou asked.

I sat down on the couch and bit my thumb, thinking intensely.

"We only have one thing to do, just make sure that Shukaku doesn't get out before the plan starts." I said.

"Are you sure?" Temari asked.

I nodded.

"What if Shukaku comes out?" Kankurou added worriedly.

I looked at him solemnly.

"Then... we are all dead."