It was early the next day. Sakura had long ago woken up, but still felt a burning ache over her heart. Her hand gently came up to trace the new tattoo that adorned her body. Her green eyes glanced at the hand and caught sight of her wrist. A thin layer of sand was wrapped around it. A protective device from Gaara. It allowed Gaara to know where she was at all times and request her presence whenever he wanted.

She sighed slightly and went back to the task at hand: warming up food for Gaara. After branding her he had gone on a killing spree throughout the village in an uncontrollable rage. It seemed murdering dozens of innocents would work up an appetite. Especially considering he couldn't sleep. Her gaze rose up towards the microwave that warmed up the leftover salted tongue.

It still had two minutes to go.

She sighed and closed her eyes. For a moment, all she could hear was the quiet hum of the microwave as it continued to warm up Gaara's meal. The sound of feet caused her to open her eyes and look up to see who entered the kitchen. She wasn't surprised to see that it was Kankuro and Temari.

What did suprise her were the happy expressions on their faces. It was as if they had no idea what went down. But the more she thought about it, why would they? Both of them were out cold long before Yasgamaru came. And if they had just gotten up, there would be no way for them to know of what went down. The siblings looked at Sakura and greeted her to which she responded with a small nod.

Temari furrowed her brows in slight confusion. She was always one to notice details and didn't miss Sakura's overly quiet nature this morning. Normally, the young girl would at least attempt a small smile. She thought perhaps she was tired. But a quick scan of her body showed otherwise.

Sakura had a few bruises and cuts around her neck and chest. Not to mention a red kanji for love on her chest. Worried, Temari stepped forward trying to grab her and examine further.

"Sakura, where did this come from.", she questioned as she reached out. Sakura immediately backed away until her back hit the counter next to the microwave. Her green eyes looked up at the time left.

A minute and seven seconds to go.

Temari opened her mouth to question Sakura, but she beat her to it. Sakura explained quickly in a quiet voice. "Master requests that no one but him touch me.", she said. Temari recoiled back violently.

'Master?'

A million thoughts rushed through her head. Since when had she ever called her brother by that name? Why didn't he want anyone touching her? Where even was her brother right now?

Temari turned her head to look at Kankuro to see his take on what was happening. He stood with a mixture of shock and confusion on his face. Absolutely no help. But she didn't blame him.

With a heavy sigh, she turned back to the young girl before her. Something obviously had to have happened for her to be acting this way.

"Sakura....what happened?", Temari asked in the calmest voice she could muster. She knew Sakura would run off as soon as the time on the microwave ran out. She had 50 seconds to find an answer.

The young girl still didn't answer. Kankuro fidgeted uncomfortably from the back, looking between the two cautiously. Temari was known to have a temper when others didn't respond to her. Luckily, Temari kept her cool. She wasn't going to tell at someone who needed help. And she certainly wouldn't lay a finger on someone her brother said not to touch.

45 seconds

Her eyes scanned Sakura's body for any more clues. There was a small, barely noticeable chain of sand around her right wrist. Gaara was knowing of her location at all times.

30 seconds

Her eyes furrowed as she studied the kanji on her chest. It didn't seem to sit on her skin like a tattoo. Upon closer inspection she realised it wasn't a tattoo at all. It was her blood, obvious by the swelling around the area which seemed to have hurt. Someone, probably Gaara she assumed, had perfectly carved it into her skin.

20 seconds

Sakura's hands tensed before flexing in pain. The sand on her wrist was beginning to dig painfully into her skin. Gaara was growing impatient. And he didn't like having her out if his sights for long. She bit in the inside of her cheek and glanced back at the clock.

It was then, she decided, that time would never be on her side.

15 seconds

Time was straightforward. There were seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and so forth. Each unit of time only brought you closer to death.

Life was like a clock. It can be stopped forever either on it's own from old age, from disrepair on the inside, or destroyed by someone else.

This was a lesson she learned early. Her time would be spent serving others until her death. Her death could come at any moment and may not always be convenient to those around her. And much like a clock, she could either be fixed by those who cared or tossed away and forgotten once her use was up.

Even a clock cannot control it's own time.

10 seconds

Time would always be the hardest thing to figure out. It would not always be kept up with and no one is ever truly content with it.

Many wish for time to be reversed or even moved forward. She could vividly remember Orochimaru scheming on his next plan to achieve immortality. He constantly switched bodies trying to halt the clock that ticked within him. Even if he managed to do so, she believed a clock that never broke on it's own could still be broken by another. If he wasn't careful he would die.

9

All morning, she had thought of being able to reverse time. To be able to stop Gaara from being attacked. Or even to escape while she had the chance. She never believed she was wanted any where else. Or maybe she would go back and try even harder to act as a friend to him.

But, clocks were not meant to be reversed. They were not meant to tick backwards. After all, a clock that was behind would always be wrong.

8

Perhaps she should hope for the time to move faster. The further time mover, the further she could get away from her pain. Or maybe the time would bring her closer to future pain. A life without pain is something she has yet to experience.

7

She had a feeling the pain would only get worse. With what Gaara, her first ever friend, was willing to do to her last night, she knew he would do it again. And again and again. He will never be satisfied until everyone feels pain. Or dies.

6

She had believed this place would be better. She had believed her destiny had changed at the hands of these people. She knew bad times would come, but not so soon. Not like this.

His uncle had broken him. No, it wasnt like him. His aura showed nothing but love and gentleness throughout all this time. If he had truly hated Gaara, then his aura would have shown it. She would have never let Gaara go alone.

5

She thought on it again. It wasn't like Yashamaru to act that way. He loved his nephew and would never willingly harm him.

Unless he was ordered to.

And the only person who could possibly make him do such a thing was the Kazekage.

4

He....couldn't have done so, right? He was mean and cruel, that much she knew. In a way he wasn't much different than Orochimaru. Both were willing to risk the lives of others to benefit their goals.

3

She didnt know why he did it. And she doubted she would ever get an answer. Why would she? She worked for him...well his son. He probably viewed her in the same way he viewed Gaara.

A weapon.

2

She supposed being a weapon was worse than being seen as a monster. Gaara was seen as both. But what was he more of? Weapon or monster? At the moment it seems like more of the monster was coming out.

1

He was a monster. And his father was hoping for a weapon. And he had two of them. Sakura and Gaara. Them along with Temari and Kankuro would make a deadly team.

Beep Beep Beep

Sakura was broke out if her thoughts by the beeping of the microwave. She quickly opened it and held the plate with leftover tongue on it. Her nose scrunched up lightly at the smile of it, but it wasn't for her. She looked and noticed Temari still looking at her, she didnt say anything and just walked to the door.

Sakura paused for a moment before speaking in a low, quiet voice.

"Yashamaru-san tried to murder Master last night."

She never got to see Temari's horrified face as she hurried down the hall.