Haru's POV

It was the next day and Naruto had just set out to the next part of the exams. I didn't want to follow Naruto into the exams because I didn't want to become some crazy psycho mother who's very protective of their children. 

About maybe an hour or so passed, and I had fallen asleep on the couch. Like last night, I woke up from the same nightmare I had. I sighed and frowned in frustration, hating having that nightmare as a reminder of what happened. 

I looked out the window, seeing how it was still early. So, I decided to go outside and take a walk.

After walking around the village for about twenty minutes, I had unknowingly came across a forest. "Is this the woods Naruto spoke of about his next exam?" I mumbled to myself. "Hey!" I looked over at a fence to find Anko Mitarashi sitting on a rock ass he ate dangos. 

"What are you doing here, Haru? Did you lose something out here?" Anko said, smiling. "Hello to you as well, Anko," I greeted. "You're looking well."

"Feeling good, too. But you look like you haven't aged a bit. What's your secret? Working out? Beauty products? Come on, let me in on it." Anko said, making me giggle. "I don't use anything, Anko. Although, I do eat vegetables." I said. 

My reply made her laugh. "Clueless and naïve as ever, Haru." She said. I smiled at her. "But seriously, though. What are you doing out here?" Anko asked. "I was just taking a walk and found myself here." I explained.

I looked towards the forest when I heard screaming. "Sounds like it's getting intense in there." I mentioned. "Well, they don't call it the Forest of Death for nothing." Anko replied with a grin.

"Miss Anko," Two ninjas appeared before us and they looked serious. "There's been an incident." One of them informed. "Damn. Of all the things... Haru, do you think you can stay here and watch over things?" Anko requested.

"Sure." I agreed with a nod. She and the two Leaf Village ninjas left, leaving me by myself. I looked inside the forest and began to hum in curiosity. I've never seen the inside of the Forest of Death, so I'm a bit curious to what it looks like.

"Well... Seeing how there's nobody around to stop me..." I leaped over the fence and began walking inside the forest. The screams of genin got louder the further I walked. "I really hope Naruto's okay." I said.

As I continued to walk, I made sure I avoided any traps that could be laid out here. Suddenly, I was getting this strange feeling in the pit of my gut. I thought maybe I was just kidding myself and getting paranoid for nothing, but this feeling I had wasn't going anywhere as I kept walking. 

"Huh?" I glanced at my cheek when I felt something wet land on my skin. "Rain?" I mumbled as I wiped the wetness off my cheek. Wait, but it's not supposed to rain today. It's supposed to be sunny all day. I looked down at my palm and noticed that the liquid was red. 

"Blood?" I looked towards the sky, expecting to find a corpse in the trees or something, but there was nothing. So, I could only assume that the blood came from somewhere closeby. I heard screams of fear coming from a certain direction, so I followed the sounds to investigate. 

I crouched behind a tree and found Gaara with his siblings as they seemed to be fighting some Rain Village ninjas. Well, it was mostly Gaara doing the work as Temari and Kankuro watched.

One of the rain ninjas tried to bargain with Gaara by telling him to let him and his teammate go in exchange for the Heaven's Scroll he was trying to give him. "That doesn't sound like a bad offer." I said out loud.

The Sand Siblings and the rain ninjas turned their heads in my direction as I rose to my feet, and stepped out from behind the trees, revealing myself to them. "Nanny?" Gaara murmured as his eyes widened slightly.

"Haru no Hana?" Kankuro said. "What are you doing out here?" Temari asked. "Just taking a stroll," I looked around, admiring the trees. "So, this is what the inside of the forest looks like. Quite fascinating." I mentioned. 

"You've never seen a forest before?" Kankuro asked. "No, I've seen one. I've just never seen the Forest of Death." I said. I answered. I looked over at Gaara and smiled at him. "Nanny, you shouldn't be here. It's too dangerous." Gaara said, his voice emotionless.

"So far, I haven't seen anything dangerous." I stated. I stood in front of him as gently stroked his cheek. As I did this, Gaara still stared at me with an emotionless and almost angry expression. What I also noticed was that Gaara's sand was slowly reaching towards me.

"Gaara...?" I looked at him as he didn't say anything. Does he plan on killing me? "Wait a minute, Gaara. What are you doing? You really don't plan on-"

"Shut up." Gaara silenced Kankuro. "Gaara, you don't have to do this." I told him. "Yes... I do." He replied. "I see... So, that's how it is." I said before closing my eyes, awaiting Gaara to kill me as there was no point in trying to convince him.

My eyes quickly opened and I slightly turned my head to look behind me while a gasp escaped my throat.

Behind me was Gaara's sand protecting me from a kunai knives and shuriken that were thrown at me. when I heard the the sand that Gaara was controlling shielded me from behind. "Don't ever... try and hurt my Nanny." Gaara said in a deadly tone.

"W-We're sorry! We didn't mean to! Please, just spare us!" The rain ninja said. But Gaara wasn't going to forgive them that easily. "Anyone who tries to hurt my Nanny... will be killed." Gaara said. "Sand Burial!" 

After Gaara killed the rain ninja, I walked over to the Heaven's Scroll and picked up. "Here. This is what you wanted, right?" I asked, handing it to Kankuro. "Yeah, thanks." He said as he took the scroll from me. 

"Are you all right, Nanny?" Gaara asked. "I was going to ask you the same thing." I said, smiling at him. "Are you even supposed to be out here?" Temari asked. "Well... no, not really," I answered, walking over and picking up the cork to Gaara's gourd.

"Originally, I was supposed to be outside the forest to look after things for Anko, but my curiosity of what the Forest of Death looks like from the inside. So, I decided to take it upon myself to go inside anyway."

I walked back over to Gaara and twisted the cork back on top of the gourd. "I actually have to get going before Anko finds out I went inside." I mentioned. 

I attempted to walk away until Gaara gently grabbed my hand. "Don't go." He said, quietly. I gazed down at him at his half pleading, half emotionless face. "Gaara..."

"Please don't go." He repeated. "Gaara, I can't stay here. As much as I want to be by your side, I can't right now," I hugged him close to me, gently stroking his hair. "I'll see you again soon. I promise." I said. 

Gaara's POV

I remember this warmth Nanny gave me when I was younger. I felt safe and at peace. As long as I had Nanny with me, nothing else mattered to me. My arms hesitantly wrapped around my Nanny, hugging her back. 

She gently took my face in her hands and kissed my forehead. "I'll see you soon, Gaara," Nanny whispered with a warm smile before letting for of my face. "Temari, Kankuro. Continue to look after your little brother." 

She gave a kind wave, then walked away. I watched her leave before walking the other direction. "Let's go." I said to my siblings. 

Temari's POV

I've never seen Gaara hug anyone like that, let alone let anyone go near him. What if that woman could be the key to having Gaara stay calm? Maybe Haru...

"Temari," I looked at Kankuro when he called my name. "Come on, let's get a move on." He said. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Right." I agreed, following him and Gaara.