A/N: I wanted to do a one-shot for Itachi/Sakura, but I was in the process of being my usual lazy self. Another random Gaasaku fic. ^^


Title: I choose Him, But I love You

Summary: She likes him, but she loves him.

~I choose Him, But I love You~

The sun beamed down harshly onto the 15 Konoha and Suna ninja's. Purposely, it seemed as if the sun planned to come out of hiding particularly on that day when they all had a team mission that consisted as many ninja's as possible for back up. Some of them barked whiningly about Naruto and Lee coming along, but Tsuande wasn't budging. So, here they all were, walking slowly in the desert heat sweating like pigs. Naruto of course was the first one to break the suffocating silence.

"Hey guys, you think we could you know stop under some kind of shade or something?" He asked, no one in particular. Everyone turned to him like he had two heads growing on his neck.

"You Baka! We're in the middle of the fucking desert! Do you see any shade around?!" Sakura yelled, pointing around them which indeed wasn't any trees or rocks. Just plain sand.

Naruto scratched his head, and laughed nervously. He obviously was scared out his wits for his life, but he tried to act tough so she wouldn't t have another reason to beat him to a pulp.

"Oh yeah, forgot. Sorry Sakura-chan." He said, walking further up from her knowing she probably was going to burst any second.

The one thing she hated the most was the heat. When Sasuke found out about her little temperature problem, he teased her to earth's end just waiting for that death wish. Every chance he got he would weave his signature clan's jutsu fire style: fireball jutsu when she wasn't looking, and would light her body up in heat. Of course she was a chunin so there isn't anything she couldn't handle, but being constantly lit on fire could really annoy some people; like her.

"Jesus! It's so hot!" Sakura exclaimed loudly, clenching her fist.

Everyone, except Sasuke, Neji and Gaara, moved at least 20 feet away from her not risking the chance of being punched into oblivion.

"Duh forehead, you don't think we know that? Besides, there's nothing we can do about it. The mission has to be done in the desert, and if not then we'll be out here forever. So either we keep looking, or we keep looking because I have a perfect record of completed missions and I will not get a red stamp just because of some minor heat." Ino replied stubbornly, flipping her long blond ponytail over her shoulder.

Sakura's blood was literally boiling from the inside and out. She wanted to pull her hair out and use it for shade! Hell, it was long enough to! It wasn't as long as Ino's but it was appreciate-able for Sasuke's taste. Even though she wasn't really growing it out to get Sasuke's attention, she didn't mind him fawning secretly over her, but dare she say it, she kind of did still have feelings towards him. It wasn't much due to him only returning back to the village only months ago. When he walked through Konoha's gates, she ran straight to him and chained herself to him soaking his tattered shirt with her tears. It was emotional for everyone, but mostly Sakura was the one who was crying the most. Aside from Naruto who kept pestering Sasuke about why had he tried to kill them so many times, but other than that her and Ino and maybe Choji, she wasn't so sure, were the only ones that cried over his sudden return.

"Sakura-san may be on to something. It is quite...smothering." Gaara muttered lowly, while everyone gave him looks of displacement. They couldn't believe Gaara, out of the many people in Suna, was complaining about the heat when it was nothing but the heat in Suna. That's how it got its name! Sun-a! Sun!

Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow, and gave Gaara a weird look then peered down at his suffocating attire. And he's talking about the heat? Okay, something was really fishy here. Why would he be complaining and agreeing with her when he was wearing what he was wearing? It made no sense to her. Was he just agreeing with her so she wouldn't be alone on her opinion? He was truly confusing to the point of her just coming out and asking him about it. But it was nice of him to agree with her though. It made her feel sorta...special.

"Really Gaara? You're trying to talk about the heat when you're wearing the most clothes out here?!" Temari screamed, flinging her arms around to emphasize her point.

Neji cleared his throat catching some of the group's attention. "I think Gaara and Sakura might be telling the truth. Even shinobi's such as ourselves are not made to be in the heat for long. We must find some kind of shade or village somewhere nearby before one of us dehydrates." He said.

Shikamaru nodded in agreement. "The guy's right. It would be smart to look for some place to rest out of this suffocating heat before we tire out."

"Oh please Shikamaru! You just want to find a place to sleep and cloud watch! You lazy bum!" Ino yelled, slapping his shoulder with the back of her hand.

"U-um, I t-think I see a-a village up a-ahead." Hinata stuttered pointing to a small village that sat just on the brink of the hill.

"It would seem so." Neji agreed, moving a loose strand of hair form his face.

Naruto walked up and slapped Hinata on the back approvingly. She almost fell at the sudden strength put onto her back. She blushed and scrambled back into a previous position. "Great job Hinata for pointing it out! Without your expert eyes no one would've noticed it!" He said with a smile.

She pulled her trembling hands to her lips and felt her cheeks grow even hotter. "A-arigato Naruto-kun." She said, barely above a whisper. He beamed and walked ahead of her to walk by his two teammates. Hinata let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

Things between Naruto and her have been quite rocky since the destruction of pain had happened. That moment when she admitted her feelings towards him. The moment when she told him she loved him. It was the truth. She loved him since the day he saved her from the little boys that had beaten her up. Though she was forced to leave Naruto on the ground hurt and battered, she's been trying to train more frequently so that she would be a somewhat equal towards him. But ever since he was paired up with one of her best friends, he's been trying to gain her heart ever since. Of course like any other girl with a crush, she was saddened by the fact that she wasn't appealing enough for his perspective of females.

She had always been wondering what he always saw in Sakura but she figured because of her outstanding personality. She was loud, like him, she liked to have fun and sometimes laugh along with him when playing pranks on people, like him, and she had a sort of special bond with Sasuke, like him. So Hinata could understand that, but what boggled her fragile mind was what did he exactly see in her. Hinata was pretty, her personality was...well very shy like but she had her laughing moments, not with him of course, but they were there damnit. She just wanted him to except her. To at least want to hang around her more often like he was doing with his two teammates. What else did she have to do? She already told him her feelings so what? Did he not feel the same way? She scoffed. Of course. The answer was walking right in front of her. Sakura's long pink locks flowed graciously down her grown out body cascading around her shoulders. He's been around her a lot more than he's ever been with Hinata. It was obvious. He was never going to give up on her no matter what happens. He would always cling to her like she would someday be his if he just kept showing her his devotion towards her. Hinata hung her head watching as ruble and the plain dirt moved around her as she walked.

She was never going to be noticed by him in that way and she knew it. She had always known.

"Wow! From far away it looked so small but now it's really huge!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, causing the rest of the group to cover their ears in annoyance.

Sakura punched his arm with as much strength as she could muster, you know without chakra of course. Naruto yelped out loud. "Baka! Quit that yelling! You do know we're right beside you right?!" Sakura replied, or more like screamed.

He rubbed the bump that began swelling up. "Ow Sakura-chan that hurt." He mumbled.

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't give me that. You know what I told you about yelling when I'm near." She grumbled angrily.

Gaara peeked a glance at the two team seven teammates and mentally sighed. They weren't getting anywhere when arguing. Unlike them, he was sweating nearly to death in his attire and quite frankly he wanted to strip naked and rid of his clothes just to cool off.

"You two, please quit bickering. I would like to cool down at an inn, and arguing will definitely get us nowhere." He said, and kept walking down the hill to the entrance of the village while Naruto and Sakura gave each other a look of astonishment.

When they arrived at the entrance door, a man around his twenties stood stiffly in front the massive gates with a stoic look on his face. Akamaru growled dangerously. Kiba petted the dog gently looking the man from top to bottom. Gaara approached the man boldly.

"State your business here." The man said in monotone.

"We are travelers from the leaf village hidden in the leaves. We are just looking for a place to rest until tomorrow morning. My name is Gaara, I am the Kazekage of Suna and these are my...companions. They are with me as you can easily see. We were only passing through, and we noticed your village and we wish to reside in it for approximately 24 hours." Gaara explained, gesturing to the tired looking group. The man scrutinized the group until he finally gave in. He smiled softly, and opened the gates to let them in.

While walking in, Naruto of course was the one to break the concentrated silence. Sakura mentally groaned. When was he ever going to learn to keep his big mouth shut sometimes.

"Geez Gaara, I didn't know lying was even in your category." Naruto said, smiling. Gaara shrugged.

"It was the truth was it not?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Sakura instinctively glanced at her teammate Sasuke and quickly went to his side when seeing him put a hand over his pulsing curse mark. Quickly, she ran to his side, making sure not to attract anyone's attention, and stood by his side. Since Sasuke's return to Konoha, his mark has been bothering him a lot more than he really needed, so she came up with a solution. It would only be temporary but he was deprived of any more options they could try so he settled on the temporary alternative. Sakura removed his hand from away, and pressed her lips to the mark, and suddenly his tense form relaxed back to normal. Sasuke didn't look at her nor say anything. That's how it usually was. She rolled her eyes, and slapped him on the back.

"You'll be fine." She whispered, before jogging back to Naruto's side once more. Secretly, Sasuke was blushing. He would have to find another way to chill down his mark because this alternative was really getting to him.

Gaara sent a glare towards Sasuke. Sasuke sent him one back. Temari looked at the both of them and mentally sighed. It was obvious that Gaara was jealous because Sakura showed more attention towards Sasuke instead of him. A love triangle. 'Oh Kami.' She thought.

Once they made it to an inn, Shikamaru told the man at the desk that they would need a certain amount a rooms needed for each of them, but the man said they only had enough for each couple. Everyone paled and began complaining under their breath. Shikamaru took it anyway.

Naruto was paired up with Hinata, who which was sorta uneasy about that since he knew she liked him. Bad on Shikamaru's part, he was paired up with Ino. Like she was too thrilled about it but she wouldn't complain. That would make her seem like Shikamaru's equal. Tenten was paired up with Neji, she definitely didn't mind but he did so he figured he would have to keep to himself if he wanted no problems between him and her.

Shino was paired up with Kiba, who which didn't care who he was paired up just as long as it wasn't Kiba which he got paired up with anyway. Kiba wasn't too excited either but they had to do what they had to do, and he would make sure to keep away from him when they hit the baths. Temari was paired up with her brother Kankuro, someone she had a problem with. Every time they had to share a room when they go out on missions, in the middle of the night he would talk to his puppets and tell them a cheap bedtime story. Kankuro on the other hand didn't care. He was cool with everybody, so he thinks. Choji was paired with Sai, who, like everybody, didn't care whether he was paired up with Shino or Kami himself. Sai didn't argue either, though he did mind the part where there's only one bed in each room. That was gonna be a problem. Lee was paired up with...Well let's face it. Nobody wanted to share a room with him so he ended up getting one by himself. Lucky him huh? (HELL YES)

And last but not least, Sasuke, Sakura, and Gaara had to be paired with one another and let me tell you, it didn't sit too well with Sasuke nor Gaara. Sakura, of course, didn't mind sharing a room with the two because secretly she liked both of them and having to sleep in one bed with two extremely hot guys...it was eternal heaven for her.

Once everyone would get settled in, the girls decided to go to the baths for a relaxation. The boys were to do the same, except Kiba refused to go with Shino for one reason only. His insects. The rest of the guys were confused on what he was talking about, so they were still going to go anyway.

Sakura, Sasuke, and Gaara entered their room, and set their packs on the single bed in the middle of the huge room. Sakura smiled, and sighed.

"Aren't you two glad that we got paired up together?" She asked them, pulling them into a big hug. Sasuke glared at Gaara. Gaara glared back at Sasuke. A streak of lightning streaked between the two.

"Hn." Gaara replied.

"Hn." Sasuke replied.

Sakura beamed and hugged them tighter causing the two to be squished side by side against her. They blushed when feeling her enlarged breasts smudge against their chests.

'This pairing up thing just might not be so bad after all.' They both thought.

~~xXx~~

Sakura wrapped a towel around her body, and pulled her mid-back hair in front of her so that it rested along her shoulder. It had grown out a little longer since a few years ago, and because of the less stress from Naruto, yeah right, it was able to grow functionally. She gave the mirror a smile, and exited the bathroom that the three shared, and didn't see her boys anywhere in sight. She huffed, and placed her hands on her hips. 'Where had they gone?', she thought.

She shrugged, and opened the door of their room and came in contact with a rock hard wall. She held the frame of the door to keep her balance, but that didn't help so her foot slipped and just before she could hit the floor, an arm reached out and caught her.

"Damn Sakura, watch what you're doing next time." Sasuke said, giving her a frustrated look. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Like you're mister careful. There were plenty of times when you tripped over a rock and I had to say the same thing to you. So it's not like I make the most mistakes here, okay?" Sakura argued, with a irritated glare.

He scoffed. "Whatever, just watch where you're going."

Sakura sent an him a death glare. "I could say the same for yo-"
She realized what position they still were in, and pushed him away as her face became redder by the second. She squealed when feeling him grab her by the waist and pull her to his chest again. Her heart began beating rapidly against her chest. Sasuke was actually showing her interest. He never done that nor probably thought about it so what was the occasion? Did he make a bet with the guys or something? Probably no telling what was his problem, but it's not like she wasn't enjoying it.

"Sasuke-kun.." She muttered, as he kissed her exposed neck drawing his tongue along her collarbone. Her fists grabbed a handful of his shirt, wanting him to do more.

"Sakura.." He whispered, as she shuddered at the feel of his growing erection.

A slight whimper escaped her parted lips, as he pushed her up against the wall shutting the door.

~~xXx~~

Ino paced the hallway that she was on, while Hinata, Temari, and Tenten leaned up against the wall watching her.

"Where the hell is Sakura? I told forehead to meet us in hallway B so we can go to the baths. Just what in the hell could be taking her so long?" Ino said, obviously frustrated.

Hinata and Tenten shrugged while Temari held a sneer look. Ino gave her a weird look.

"I know exactly what Sakura's doing, and trust me, it wouldn't be good to bother her." She said, almost laughing at the thought.

Ino walked up to her, and put her hands on her hips. "What'd you mean?"

"I meant what I said. She's finally getting what she always wanted."

Ino raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"

A wide smile crossed her lips mockingly. "Sex."

~~xXx~~

Sakura pushed him onto the bed, and climbed on top and started unbuttoning his shirt hurriedly. His hands ran up and down her legs while their eye contact never wavered.

A knock echoed the room, aside from their heavy breathing. Sakura's towel was way across the room by the door, and just maybe she could reach it in time before the door opened. She jumped up from his waist, and went to get her towel when it was too late and the door opened.

She stood naked in front of the door while Gaara stood completely still with his hand still on the handle. No words were exchanged, and no movements were made. Just complete silence. An awkward silence.

Sakura felt so visible and cold just standing in front of her two crushes without anything to cover up herself. Gaara's eyebrow twitched, then he was finally able to look away with a angry expression.

Sakura quickly picked up her towel and ran into the bathroom and locked it. She went to the mirror and saw her face was completely red. What the hell did she get herself into? At that moment, she heard glass shattering. The first thing that came to her mind was Sasuke and Gaara fighting. She quickly took her clothes from her bag and put them on. After she was dressed, she opened the door to find them indeed fighting. Sasuke was at the point of going into the full curse mark and Gaara was about use his sand, when Sakura jumped out in front of Sasuke. Gaara stopped, and lowered his hands to his sides.

"Please stop fighting! I don't want neither of you to get hurt! Don't take your anger out on Sasuke! It was my fault! Please Gaara, don't hurt him.." She said, on the brink of tears.

The door opened to reveal everyone else, and their faces were all on Sasuke. They knew when Sasuke was about to go beast things were getting serious. Ino turned to look at Temari, and nodded.

"Now I understand what you meant." Temari nodded.

"What's going on here?" Temari questioned, even though she already had an idea.

"Why Sakura? Why do you love him so much? Am I not good enough for you?" Gaara said with a pained look. Tears already were coming down Sakura's cheeks.

"Because I've always loved him. I'm sorry..." She said sadly.

Gaara turned around swiftly, and left the room without another word said. Sakura turned around to face Sasuke and kissed the already mark and in almost an instant he was back to normal. She caught him, and laid him down on the bed. Ino walked up beside her.

"We got him, go talk to Gaara. He really needs someone to talk to right now." Ino said, moving a loose strand of hair from Sakura's face. She smiled.

"Thanks Ino."

"No problem."

Sakura left out of the room receiving looks of curiosity and frankly she really wasn't in the mood to talk about what happened because she wasn't really sure herself.

She found Gaara sitting in the nearby meadow looking up at the sky, deep in thought. He looked so peaceful, she wasn't sure of she wanted to bother him or not. But she knew she had to settle things out with him. It was for the best.

"I see you like to cloud watch. Maybe you and Shikamaru should hang out sometime." She said humorously, as she sat down beside him, a little too close for her but whatever. Can't go back now.

"What am I to you Sakura?" Gaara asked, barely above a whisper. She wasn't sure she heard him right.

"A friend of course. But hey, look Gaara, I know you're probably angry with me or at Sasuke, but please understand that I love him and not you. It's not because I've known him longer and its not because you're not good enough for me, I just..," She looked away from his eyes, and up at the sky. "I just don't...I'm afraid to...I just can't.." She muttered, lowly.

A hand rested upon hers. She looked up to meet his eyes once more. They had soften the last time she had saw them. Her prediction was that it was because he maybe understood her reason. Sasuke had always been the one she would always love. It was just the way it was meant to be. But Gaara wasn't half bad either. If Sasuke hadn't of came back, then maybe she would've ended up with Gaara, but it didn't happen that way and she hoped he would realize that too.

He smiled, and leaned forward capturing her lips for only a second before he pulled back and returned his gaze back onto the sky. Sakura was starstruck. Gaara had kissed her. The one that was continuously known to never show any interest in a woman kissed her. She let her fingertips roam her lips secretly savoring the feel of his lips on hers. 'For someone that hasn't kissed a girl before he sure is a great kisser.' She thought.

"I understand Sakura. You don't have to explain any further. If you chose him, then I am okay with that. But please remember something for me," Gaara then stood up, and held out his hand to her. She took it and stood up along with him. He leaned in to her ear.

"You'll always be the first girl I've ever loved."

And with that, he walked back into the building leaving her behind stunned. He loved her.

Gaara of the Sand, the Kazekage of Suna, Temari and Kankuro's brother...loved her.

And truth be told, she loved him too. She always had. And always will.

~~xXx~~

Hope you enjoyed it. :) Review if you want. (Plz review and I'll send you as many cookies as you could ever desire) ;)