A/N: Reposted because a guest (Concrit) told me that second person POV isn't allowed on this site, and also creepy. I had no idea (or maybe I've forgotten after all this time) that was the case. As for it being "creepy"... it's a stylistic choice and I understand it's not for everyone, but honestly? It's interesting and immersive and it's not so much "you" (the real you, the you reading this) as it is you being shoved into the protagonist's shoes (when it's not a Create Your Own Adventure thing). But whatever.
Disclaimer! I own nada.
Anyway: I'm back in GaaSaku hell and I'm happy about it.
Tsunade might've thought that the girl would have stayed away from him. Tsunade might have thought, despite everything, Sakura could have kept her distance from Gaara. After all, during the exams, he'd nearly crushed her to death. After all, all of Leaf knew that her heart belonged to the lone Uchila in the village. After all, Kakashi should have been watching her as closely as he watched Sasuke, as Jiraiya watched Naruto. But somewhere along the way, things got muddled. The world went out of focus, and by the time Tsunade came along to pick up the pieces that the Third had left behind, it was too late, anyway.
Gaara came to the village after the exams were ended by the ensuing battle. Temari and Kankurō followed close behind, intent on completing their mission: ensure that the backup team to Sasuke's retrieval unit intervened should anything go haywire. And, of course, they did.
And they brought Sasuke back in one piece, though he was hurting in more ways than the medic-nins could heal him.
The sand-nin didn't leave after Shikamaru and the others were delivered from the hospital. Temari and Kankurō disappeared into the village as the days dragged by, and those turned into weeks, then months. Gaara could be seen with Naruto when the blond wasn't off on a mission or busy mouthing off to the Fifth. "I owe the Leaf a great deal," Rock Lee had heard him say, and that was a testament to how, despite claiming that they were simply there following orders, they refused to return to their own village just yet.
But then Sakura went and demanded that Tsunade make her her apprentice, and then she began to learn. Through hard work and perseverance alone, step by step, she began approaching the point of no return - meaning that, soon, she could begin her real training as a medic-nin. The kind that included field training. The kind that got blood on her hands. But she was determined: left in the dust of the Uchila and Uzumaki boys, she forged a path all her own. The pink-haired kunoichi was forcing the sea of uncertainty to part for her, and Tsunade and Shizune smiled brightly at the sight of it all.
As Sakura forged a path for herself, Tsunade spotted the sand-nin trailing her. The brat with the kanji on his head. His impassive features and seemingly unblinking eyes didn't give anything away, but he was keeping an eye on her student, so, in turn, she had her own sets of eyes keep watch over him. But, the longer the Uchila brat stayed away, the less Haruno was overheard speaking to the Yamanaka girl about how much she missed her team; Sakura was able to focus, really and truly train and put her all into it. Tsunade couldn't help but wonder how Kakashi had overlooked such an utter, inexcusable lack of combat skill; Sakura was talented, yes, and knowledgeable, but either he, the Academy instructors, or both, had failed to realize that her combat skills were nowhere near up to bar, and so Tsunade trained her herself.
Tsunade trained Sakura to drive her fist into the earth and make an ocean of the solid ground, and the girl triumphed for it.
Trouble always seemed to find Team 7, though: between the Uchila and Uzumaki boys pairing off to go on missions and Sakura focusing on her medical training, trouble always seemed to find them. Usually in the case of wounds or failed missions, sure, but Gaara - that was another story. The brat wouldn't go away, no matter what the Fifth tried.
The sand-nin were slated to leave after overstaying their welcome for a total of two and a half months. Their village sorely wanted them back, as they were the strongest shinobi Sand had to offer. But Temari, Kankurō, and Gaara were forced to return eventually.
Things had changed since their arrival, though.
Tsunade suspected that Temari and the Nara kid had grown close, seeing as how they were both strategists and had a knack for saving one another in the diciest of situations; she thought that Kankurō had taken a liking to learning more about Shino and his mechanisms, despite how vocal the puppet master was about not needing any weak Leaf friends; and there was Gaara, too.
Tsunade saw them only once, but it was enough to confirm her suspicions: she watched Sakura leave Hokage Tower one day, aware of the lingering presence of sand particles leaving a fine, nearly undetectable trail after the pink-haired kunoichi. It was two days before the sand-nin would begin the journey back to their own village, and Gaara intercepted her outside as the shadows grew long in the setting sun. The Fifth narrowed her eyes and clenched her first when she saw him approach her - Sakura didn't need any more distractions than she'd had since Tsunade took up the mantle of Hokage.
Tsunade couldn't tell what he said to her, but Sakura stiffened. When she turned around, and she could see her face, she saw that the girl was bright red. Glancing back to Gaara, Tsunade saw that he was smug, nearly smirking; he watched her go; when the pink-haired girl turned a corner, he still stared after where she'd been. He didn't move for a long time.
Tsunade figured it was best that the sand-nin were leaving. Sakura had better things to do, anyway, then waste her time with that kid.
The sand-nin left, but promised the Leaf-nin that this would not be the last time they'd be seeing each other, and Tsunade shook her head as she heard them. Tsunade would only call in the sand-nin if she needed to, but she suspected they'd find their way back whether she ordered them or not.
Several weeks later, Sakura turned fourteen; a month passed, and she was required to go on a mission with Ino and Chōji to the desert. Tsunade sent her along because Shikamaru couldn't complete the three-man squad formation, and because they were bound to need a medic-nin - and she wanted Sakura to practice, too.
Sakura was gone for two months; when she returned, Tsunade looked her up and down as she stood in front of her appraisingly, noting the small changes in Sakura's stance, her shoulders, her eyes alone, straightening from her respectful bow, before asking, "so how's Gaara?" And the pink-haired girl turned red, red like a bleeding sun, and Tsunade smirked at her while assigning her hospital duties before dismissing her.
It seemed these things were going to go on, whether Tsunade liked it or not, so she figured sge might as well get some amusement out of it while she was still the Fifth's apprentice.