Heartbeat

A/N: I know I should be working on my other stories, I do! I just never seem to have the time, but I feel weird not posting anything at all, so I decided to do a quick one-shot and make it as cute as possible. Gaara may be a little OoC, but who cares?! We just wanna see him fall in love, right!? So yea, enjoy, have a great Christmas, and remember whose gift started all the gift giving in the first place!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sakura, Gaara or any other Naruto based character, I like to think the plot is my own, but there's always a chance it's been done before.

000ooo000

Sakura rolled onto her side and stared at the wall, the silence pounded in her ears. With a huff, she flipped over and stared at the ceiling. Slowly her frown grew steadily as the silence continued to boom in her head. Finally, she shot up, threw the covers off, and stalked out the door. She peered into the empty hallway for any sign of life. A faint light shone from down the hall, but it was so soft she passed it off as moonlight. Her scowl became more pronounced and she shut the door quietly behind her. She trudged down the stairs, through a maze of doors, and found herself in the kitchen. As quietly as possible, she yanked the fridge open and glanced inside. With a muffled moan, she shut it and wandered away into the bathroom. She stared at herself in the mirror and then walked out again. She moved up the stairs and stopped at Temari's door. Nothing but silence. She drifted over to Kankuro's door and listened for movement. It seemed that he was as fast asleep as his sister. With a sigh, she turned around. Maybe she would check the kitchen again.

000ooo000

Gaara threw down his pen and ran his fingers through his hair, spiking it in his agitation. Two hours! Two damn Hours! He looked at the clock on his desk. It was one in the morning, what on earth was that woman doing up?! He growled fiercely to himself and stood up. He listened as for the millionth time she plodded past his door and down the hall. Enough was enough, he decided. He was going to get her to go to sleep if he had to haul her to her room and tie her down himself! He opened his door and stalked towards the kitchen, where he had last heard her headed. He found her in the living room, flipping through a magazine.

"Woman."

Startled, Sakura dropped the magazine and spun around to face him, her hands already in a fighting stance. When she caught sight of him, her hands dropped to her sides and she only stared at him in surprise. "I didn't know you were still up." She whispered. Gaara glared at her, moving closer so she could hear his furious whispers.

"I may be able to sleep now but it's a habit I have yet to break." He whispered fiercely. She nodded and gave a squeak as he grabbed her upper arm and all but dragged her back up the stairs, into his office, and threw her into the chair across from his desk. "What the hell do you think you're doing up at this hour?! He demanded angrily, "Do you have any idea of what time it is?! Why are you not in bed?" he demanded, glaring at her.

Sakura sunk into her chair, trying to make herself smaller. "I'm sorry." She whispered, her eyes wide. Gaara cursed silently as he watched her lip tremble a little. Dammit, she had better not cry…

He ran a hand through his hair again and sat down heavily in his chair, watching her. "I know I should be asleep," she went on, "I'm a medic, I know it's important, it's just that I can't."

"Of course you can." Gaara said, with a hint of a snap. "You just lay there and close your eyes."

Sakura shook her head. "No, I just can't."

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you can't?" He asked, watching her as she slowly slid back up into a proper sitting position. She gave him a frustrated look and rubbed her tired eyes.

"It's my cat." She said, not looking up at him, her hand over her eyes.

"Why do you mean by your cat?" Gaara asked, confused. Sakura sighed and moved her hand to look at him.

"My cat from home, she always slept with me on my pillow." Gaara nodded, he believed that he understood now.

"So you miss her and can't sleep without her?"

Sakura shook her head a bit. "It's not so much the cat, as it is her heartbeat." Sakura said quietly, watching Gaara for his reaction.

"Her heartbeat?" He asked, confused. Sakura nodded and gave a weak smile.

"It's too quiet without her, I can't sleep and I can't just lay there either." Gaara studied her over the top of his desk. She wasn't lying, or else he'd be able to tell right away. She was just sitting there, watching him, waiting for him to say something.

Finally, he asked, "Will any heartbeat do?" Sakura looked at him, confused, she didn't seem to quite understand the question. After a moment of silence she said, "Yes, I guess so."

Gaara took a deep breath and prepared himself. It was for his sanity, he told himself, or else he would never, ever, in a million years even consider what he was about to do. He simply could not allow her midnight wanderings to continue or he would never get any work done. Silently he stood up, walked around his desk, and stood in front of Sakura. She looked up at him curiously. He was so tall, she had to tilt her head all the way back just to look him in the face. Suddenly, he leaned down and snatched her up into his arm, adjusting his arms so they held her comfortably under her knees and behind her back. She let out a yelp of surprise and shock and instantly threw her arms around his neck to prevent herself from falling. "What the hell are you doing?!" Sakura demanded in a whispered shriek. Gaara ignored her and used his foot to open the door and close it behind them. He continued to ignore her demands and struggles all the way down the hall and into her room.

When they reached the bed, Sakura fell silent and she began to eye the bed warily. "If you think we're going to…going to do that, you're sadly mistaken." Sakura hissed between her teeth, turning to glare at him. Gaara rolled his eyes and almost dropped her there and then. But he remembered why he was going through with this insane idea and kept going. Smoothly he released her back, which caused her to give an outraged squeak and hold on to him tighter, and pulled the covers back. Gently, he lay her down on the far side of the bed, next to the wall, and slid in next to her. He was rather glad he was in nightclothes or it would have been a little uncomfortable. He pulled the covers back over them, lay down, and grabbed Sakura. He moved her forcefully until she was lying next to him and her head lay directly over his heart. Sakura was stiff the entire time that he situated them but as soon as she could hear the faint beating of blood moving through his body, she relaxed considerable, seeing as whose heart she was listening too.

Gaara watched, amused, as her eyes drifted close and she snuggled into his warmth, despite her earlier protests. Instinctively, she curled up next to him and sighed dramatically. "If you insist…" She finally said. Gaara smirked at her and said nothing. A few minutes later, just before she succumbed to the need for sleep he heard her whisper. "You're not such a bad pillow after all."

000ooo000

Sometime later, after she had fallen asleep, Gaara remained awake and, though he would never have admitted it to anyone, he was rather enjoying himself. Gaara watched her breath in and out through half-lidded eyes; he could see why people liked to seek out others for this activity. Perhaps this was something he could get used too. With this last though his eyes closed and Gaara found himself enjoying the best sleep he had ever had.

0000000

A/N: So yea, this is partly from a weird Sakura/Gaara dream I had. Does anyone else have those or is it just me? Anyways, The other half is because my real cat, Cleo likes to sleep on my pillow and work her way into the middle of it, pushing my head off. She has a very loud purr and made me think of this. I am also blaming my dream on her. Look up my profile on (greeneyedgrimkitty of course) and you can see pictures of her.