Disclaimer: No! I don't own Naruto..or Gaara..or Sakura...STOP MAKING ME REMEMBER!!

The Sweetness in His Voice

Sakura Haruno. Average Girl. Besides being beautiful, abnormally strong, a kunoichi, and a Hokage's apprentice. Average. She's just an average seventeen year old girl. She's been heartbroken, tries to make a decent living, fights with her mom sometimes, but-oh, yeah. She's seventeen, everything every guy wants, and...

SHE'S SINGLE.

Yep. Absolutely single. Not that she has to be. Just chooses to be. Since Sasuke left...well, she hasn't found anyone that could even begin to compare. Well, Naruto was of course better than Sasuke. Hey, he actually LOOKED like a guy, he was sweet, charming...Basically they were Tsunade and Jiriaya. But she didn't love him. And then there was the protective, lovable, good guy Lee. Indeed the 'nice guy' in their group. Always determined. Always focused. Never let you down. And if he did, he'd do something so spectacular you couldn't help but want to smother him in affection.

But she didn't love him, either. Sasuke didn't deserve to be loved. Adored by every girl that ever crossed his path. To him he was another stupid fangirl. Merely infatuated. But she wasn't. Oh no, she was so much more. She wasn't stupid or incapable in the slightest. And she loved that stupid, absolutely undeserving almost looks like a girl Uchiha Sasuke. More than he'll ever begin to understand.

Because he doesn't know. And he doesn't care. The only person he might have cared for was Naruto. He couldn't figure out Itachi's true intentions, and wasted almost three years trying to be better, and making her and Naruto worry. Always worrying. Because...

HE JUST DIDN'T CARE.

Nobody but himself mattered. To kill Itachi. That was his goal. And revive the Uchiha clan. 'If he just would've stayed, we could've helped him...so much. With everything. We would've gotten married and Ino would be jealous.' But that didn't matter to him. No, he'd rather fight to the death with his brother who never did anything besides protect him. The idiot. 'Stupid baka.' And then Naruto almost died protecting Konoha from him. Because Naruto did the right thing. He stayed in the village. And he didn't try to kill his best friend. The closest thing he had to family. And it just made her so...ANGRY. Did he even think about her? About all the nights she wandered around, helpless...Crying?

No, this was behind her. She would find someone who would put her first. Someone who never made her worry. Sure, Naruto was the best candidate. But...After all that she had- well, hadn't done for him. She would just be an inconvenience to him. Because he didn't need medical help. He didn't need help making a strategy. If it really came down to it, he'd ask Shikamaru. And she would just stand there, helpless and alone. All alone...

She could've just been a citizen. But no, 'Mommy, I want to be a kunoichi, just like you!' Because she was selfish. Just stood there and watched for so long...Couldn't even stop Sasuke...

"Sakura? Hello? Earth to Sakura!" Shizune chanted.

"Huh what?" She said, coming out of her daze.

"Tsu-na-de-sa-ma wants you." She said with a smile on her face.

"Oh, yeah...Sorry." She said and started towards the Hokage Tower. 'This is all behind me. Let's find someone better. Much, much better.' She thought. And with that she smiled and went on her way.

"Sakura-chan, come in. How's the training with the new medics been?" Tsunade asked in her kindest-drunk voice. Wait, maybe she was sober...

"It's great, Tsunade-sama, everyone is learning quick enough." She smiled at her sensei.

"I'm glad, but you'll be replaced." She kept smiling. Sensei could be so evil at times...

"W-what? But sensei, they're getting it! They really are! And we're short-handed on medic-nins by at least a dozen! What if there's an epidemic! It coul-"

"Sakura-chan!" Tsunade said, a bit louder than usual. Drunk? No, sober. "I wouldn't do that." Sakura sighed. Evil sensei's, everyone of them... Tsunade smiled again. "But you will, for the time being, at least. There's a mission in Suna that requires medic-nin. I hope you remember Gaara-san." The Hokage said, holding up a scroll with the mission details. She grabbed it.

"How could I forget?" Sakura said with a smile. 'Oh, she is doing her own paperwork from now on...Every last bit of it...'

"Ah yes, I forgot that you and Naruto-chan have been over there quite a lot since the Akatsuki problem... I hardly noticed you were gone." Still smiling. Sober, definetly. She's nicer when she's drunk.

"Ah, and here I thought you couldn't live without me. I believe that's what you said after you ran out of sake last week." Yep, she could be evil too.

"You know you're like my daughter Sakura, I missed you a lot." The two very similair kunoichi smiled at each other. Genuine, this time. Like mother and daughter.

"Anyway, you'll be going with Shikamaru, Naruto, and Hinata. And of course two other medic-nin will be there to help you soon after you arrive. We of course have people replacing you as the medic teacher, but it'll be another week before that can happen. Besides that, you'll be living with the Kazekage. He insisted, since it was such a burden having some of the best Konoha shinobi being taken into another country for an unknown period of time."

Tsunade walked around the desk and hugged her apprentince. "You'll do great." She whispered in her ear. And they both smiled, again. Sakura walked out of the Tower and got packed.

They left at dawn the next morning. Of course, it just said 'Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, and Nara Shikamaru working border patrol, Haruno Sakura to attend Kazekage medical needs and training other medical ninja.'

Thanks Tsunade. Another 'adventure' where they didn't know what the hell was going on. She sighed. Hey, maybe she'll find someone better than Sasuke there. It's worth a shot, right?

And that's the end for now! This is the story to go along with 'The Letter and the Locket' as promised. Thanks and please comment!