/uhm. i couldn't contain myself. HEE./

er, her, herr, hurr, hair

"Haruno Sakura-san."

Sakura looked up from her dinner of ramen to see Sabaku no Gaara, Kazekage, sit down on the seat next to her. Mouth full of ramen, she just nodded to him, then swallowed before choking out a "Kazekage-sama."

He looked at her (was that a hint of a smile?) and said, "Gaara would be fine."

Sakura blinked at him, what is he doing here, and with me of all people?. "O-okay?"

Gaara did smile then, and Sakura thought that he looked fairly pleased, despite himself.

"What hair colors do your parents have?"

Why? was Sakura's first unbidden thought but this is the Kazekage we're talking about, the one with barely concealed murderous intent, though he has considerably mellowed down now.

"No, wait. I would assume one of them is a redhead, and the other's blonde?"

Sakura nodded, "My mother's a redhead, and my father's a platinum blonde, I guess. His hair's almost white."

Gaara nodded. "That explains your hair color."

Sakura fingered the ends of her hair, chuckling slightly. "Yes. I'd like to call it strawberry blonde, but really, it's pink. I've never seen anyone with hair color like mine."

The Kazekage nodded again. "You like your hair?"

"Sure."

"And I assume that you would want to preserve the genes for pink hair, especially for your children."

Sakura had no idea where he was going with this. "…sure…?"

"This leads me to my proposition to you."

…proposition?

"I have red hair, and if you would deign to marry me, our children's hair would be mostly pink. Some would get darker hair, perhaps the strawberry blonde that you wanted, but it would be okay. Furthermore, you know my older sister, Temari, right?"—he didn't even wait for her to nod before continuing—"she has blonde hair, which leads me to a certainty that there is a gene for light hair in my family, which could offshoot the redness of my own hair, leading into quite a nice mix of hair for our children."

He stood up, apparently thinking that he was finished saying his case.

Sakura was just looking up at him.

He sighed a small sigh.

"I'll let you think about it. I'll meet you tomorrow, same time, same place, to hear about your reply."

He stepped forward, then stopped and turned to face her, "I'll see you tomorrow…Sakura-chan."

Then he left.

Sakura gawped.

…WHAT?