"No, it won't." He shook his head slightly. "It's a special procedure, one that won't kill the host."

"You promise?" she asked with her arms crossed.

"I.." He stared at her, wishing that he could afford to promise something like this. He knew that there was a decent chance he'd break the promise. "Well.. I can't promise anything.. because it has never been preformed before.."

"Then you cannot!" she snapped now scowling at him. "Why must you do this? Supposing it goes wrong, Suna will lose it's greatest Kazekage.....and I will lose my closest friend."

Her eyes glazed over with tears and she was biting her lip trying to calm down not sure how she manage to scold him....had she changed that much already?

"I know.." I he looked down, sighing. "But.. I've done some horrible things, Love. I don't want to worry about losing control anymore, I don't want to be what brings death and destruction, and I can't be sure that I'm able to stop it when the time comes. And besides.. they already think I'm dead at this very moment."

"I can assure you..."
Akuma cleared his throat.
"The procedure has a low rate of failure, maybe as low as five percent, and that the personality of the host won't be impacted in any way."

"That is too bad! The truth is you are not dead and that is how you will stay! Dying does not cure what has been damaged. Standing up and correcting it will fix it."

When Akuma spoke, Love beamed at him and threw her arms around him greatfully, "Thank you-thank you-thank you...."

She let go and bowed before Gaara, "If anything goes wrong I vow to prevent you from harming anyone and from harming yourself. Do not lose hope."

"I won't.." He lied, knowing he already had lost hope. His thoughts traveled back to the last time he spoke to Kani, two days after he had killed her. If he couldn't stop himself from killing her, there was no telling what would happen. He remembered what their last conversation had been about, and realized that no matter what he would only continue to screw up.

"Alright.." He turned his head, looking at Akuma. "Can we do this tonight?"

"Maybe. I'll send a clone with the secure location."
Akuma grinned.
"It shouldn't take long."

Love watched Gaara very nervous about the outcome and felt as if something was repeatedly stabbing her. What if that slim chance...what if it was the outcome? She cried on the inside fearing for his life and looked at Akuma hoping he knew what he was doing.

"Okay.." He wondered if he was ready to put his life at risk. Then, he realized that there was no better time than now. He looked at Love, thinking about how she would feel if things went wrong. "Don't worry, Love.."

Hitori stood there, blinking with a blank expression on her face. She wasn't able to follow the conversation so she just stood there. When she found a chance she looked at Akuma.
"So, how was your day?"

"The usual. Ask Gaara, he knows."
Akuma smilked.
"My job's never done."

"Uh..."
She looked at Gaara who was somewhat busy with Love.
"You can tell me later."
She said as she wrapped her arms around him to give him a hug.

"Love you too, hun."
He kissed her arm.