Unstoppable

"It's dark. It feels too early to be so dark." Rin's thoughts drifted.

Her muscles told her she'd been in one place for too long. She tried to stretch out her legs, but they felt heavy and useless.

"Okay... let's try my arms then."

Her mind's eye saw them rising above her head, but the result was the same.

Wherever she was, her body checked out.

"When is she going to wake up?"

A voice. Kankuro?

"Whenever she needs to wake up. Don't be impatient."

Temari.

"It's been four days. Shouldn't we be worried?"

"The medics say she'll be fine. They replenished her fluids and managed to save her arms."

My what?? Why did they need to save anything?!

Rin thought about moving her arms again, but found the same result.

The feeling of cotton sheets against her skin and an IV stuck in her hand, let her know exactly where she was, but something else caught her attention, a feeling she was used to having when she woke up from trials or experimentation... another hand in hers.

The skin was cool and smooth.

She'd know that hand anywhere.

"Gaara?" Her eyes cracked open and piercing light came rushing through.

"She's waking up!" Kankuro yelled and was instantly shushed by his sister.

"The whole hospital doesn't need to know, dummy!"

There was a sound of a smack against a head.

Rin squinted and adjusted to the light. Her eyes drifted to Gaara, who was waiting at her bedside, her hand enclosed in his.

"Gaara." She breathed.

He gave her a soft smile. "Welcome back."

"Where did I go?" Rin's thoughts were jumbled. She couldn't remember how she got there or why it felt like a boulder rolled over her.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

She considered the question.

Flashes of memory went through her mind, pieces of this and that, but nothing settled the way it should.

"Um... I remember..."

Haru's face flashed in her inner eye. First, he was smiling and then screaming.

Rin felt her bottom lip tremble. "I remember everything."

Temari looked down. "I'll go tell the doctor you're awake."

She started to turn away, before her hand grasped Kankuro's sleeve and pulled him with her, leaving only Gaara and Rin in the room.

His thumb stroked the soft skin of her knuckles. "I'm sorry."

She wouldn't let herself cry.

If she started, she wouldn't be able to stop. It would come pouring out like a broken dam and there wasn't time for that.

Rin took a deep, cleansing breath and focused on the man holding her hand. "How long have I been out?"

"A few days. You were in really bad shape."

She pulled up the arm that was hosting the IV and saw the various bruises and cuts peppering her skin. "So, I see."

Gaara exhaled one long breath. "I thought you said if you were hurt inside another's mind, it would only damage you mentally."

"Only?"

"You know what I mean."

Rin sighed, lowering her arm back to the bed. "That's the case normally and if it were only me inside his mind, that's what would've happened."

Her mother's face came to her memory and it made her teeth grind. "But Yua's induction isn't the same as mine. She feeds off fear and control. She was stronger than me."

Gaara's hold on her hand tightened. "You won, didn't you?"

Rin's eyes drifted to his pale gaze, the tears she was fighting to keep back, threatening to come to the surface. "Haru won."

He scanned her face, taking in all the micro-expressions flittering across it. Even though she was bruised and bloodied on the outside, despite the medics doing their best to clean her up, there was something broken on the inside.

Something that wouldn't be cured with a salve or a splint.

Gaara leaned over the bed, carefully slipping his hand in her hair and resting his forehead against hers. "You both won."

They stayed like that for a long time, Gaara quiet, Rin fighting for control.

Finally, she found her voice. "Where is she?"

"Who?"

Rin pulled away so she could look in his eyes. "Where is Yua?"

His eyes flicked away for a split second, but it was enough and she looked at the wall to her right.

"She's in the next room, isn't she?"

"Rin..."

The fire that kindled within took away her reason and she strained to stand up.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Rin, you need to stay down."

"Not going to happen." She worked her fingers into the fabric of the sheets, trying to move the blanket off of her.

Gaara grabbed her hands and held them. "Rin."

"Let me go."

His voice came out with a bit more force. "Rin."

"Gaara please!"

"Stubborn woman, listen to me!"

Suddenly, his lips were on hers.

Though it stung from where her bottom lip was split, the feeling of his mouth on hers, quieted her a bit.

Gaara's kiss was soft, but certain, drawing her out of her actions.

She inhaled his musky scent, feeling the tingle in her brain, that was almost enough to disguise the sensation of her whole body hurting from the movement.

He pulled away, his voice soft, but commanding. "Don't get up from this bed."

Her eyes caught his. "I need to face her."

"Not right now."

"You don't know how dangerous she is."

He gave her a face and gestured down the length of her body. "I think I have a fairly good idea."

Rin's attention stayed on the wall that separated the two casters.

Gaara's fingers brushed her cheek, drawing her attention back to him. "You're in no condition to fight anyone. Look at you, you can barely sit up, let alone stand. The medics say you went through a different form of trauma than any of them had seen."

"Really? Then how are they going about treating me?"

She knew she sounded petulant, but being trapped by her own body's betrayal was enough to set her on edge.

The Kazekage sat back in his chair, only satisfied when she laid down again. "They're treating you as if you've suffered a genjutsu injury."

Rin sighed, feeling her maturity return. "It's not that far off. I believe that's what she used on Haru to torment him into madness. Multiple inductions, combined will cerebral torture and a mastery of chakra transfer makes her a deadly weapon to an outside force. It's only because she was more intent on hurting me, than killing me, that I'm still alive now."

"What do you mean?"

She studied the holes in the ceiling, trying to ignore Haru's voice about the game they played to make experimentation bearable. "Yua had every intention of killing me, but she wanted to hurt me first. If she'd stayed focus on the end result, I wouldn't be here."

Gaara's brow furled. "I think you're selling yourself short."

"I'm not. Yua's always been stronger than me. It's only due to a freak accident, that I was created in the first place. Orochimaru's sick curiosity."

He trailed his fingers along the stitched marks on her skin. "Fear and control don't equal strength."

Rin gave him a face.

He smirked at it and continued. "Fine, it may equal a bit of strength. Anyone who's been on the battlefield knows that. You need endurance and control to win a war."

"See?"

Gaara's trailing fingers settled over her damaged wrist.

Gently, he raised it up so that it was resting on his heart. "But there are different kinds of strength and in my experience, love and compassion, will always win over fear."

His mind flashed back to Naruto's smiling face and then to Rin holding him at night.

He stood up from his chair and kissed her forehead. "You're not just strong, Rin. You're unstoppable."