Title: Sweetheart

Author: paws_bells

Beta-ed by: MelissaRose85

Characters/Pairing: Haruno Sakura and Sabaku no Gaara

Type: Continuous (InComplete)

Genre: Romance/Humor

Word Count: 5858

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

Summary: REPOST. Canon-verse AU. Non-compliant with Fourth Shinobi War arc. Chi ama me, ama il mio cane. For Gaara and Sakura, that particular Italian proverb had never been more apt.

Previous Summary: Love was a bitch sometimes, though for Gaara and Sakura, it certainly started out that way. Literally.

Chapter Last Revised on: 23/03/13

Chapter 1

Well, she certainly looks…surprised.

Kakashi eyed his one and only female student and promptly presented her with his trademark close-eyed/inverted-u smile that was so irritatingly infamous among all the nin in Konoha.

After all, everyone who was well acquainted with the outrageously tardy Jounin also knew that he was usually up to no good whenever that gleeful smile appeared on that all-too smug face of his—not that anyone could see much of said face in the first place, of course.

Haruno Sakura was, obviously, not amused.

It took great effort for the visibly twitching twenty-year old to turn her eyes from the pitiful scrap of…living thing that her Genin sensei had just oh-so nonchalantly deposited in the middle of her consultation room so as to glare at said culprit himself. Narrowing her eyes at the tall Jounin, the beautiful pink-haired medic-nin promptly jabbed a finger in the direction of the examining table that she herself had been gaping at seconds earlier.

"What the hell is that?!"

It was a close call, but Kakashi's smile did not falter at the kunoichi's ferocious demand. Geez, and he had never taught his cute little student to glare like that too; it must be thanks to the Fifth's influence that Sakura could wield a glare just as well as she could handle a scalpel.

Still, the way Sakura was eyeballing him looked quite dangerous and Kakashi quickly put on an innocent, sheepish look on his face. To his disappointment, Sakura hardly appeared impressed. In fact, she started to put her hands on her hips in a clearly intimidating posture, never mind the fact that her sensei was nearly a head and a half taller than her ridiculously petite form. Still, Kakashi secretly broke out in a cold sweat at the very scary 'Inner Sakura' look on his ex-student's face.

Ah, kids these days…no respect for their elders.

"Ahahaha…why, Sakura-chan!" Sakura's eyelid twitched at the '-chan'. "That's a puppy, of course."

The kunoichi's eyebrow lifted, clearly in disbelief, as she turned to look carefully at the quivering…thing once more. It truly was one of the ugliest living beings that she had ever seen, and weren't puppies supposed to look cute and cuddly? Honest to god, Sakura personally thought that it looked more like a scrawny grey rat than a canine. It didn't even remotely resemble a dog, for crying out loud.

For one thing, the little grey puppy was utterly devoid of fur except for a few choice tufts of white on the top of its head and on the tip of its long, rodent-like tail. The little dog was ridiculously skinny, with long trembling stick-like legs and its watery eyes bulged out from its small head in a most exaggerated manner that made it look perpetually shocked. Combining that with the fact that its long, thin snout appeared slightly squashed in, the poor pup looked like it was grinning maniacally while sporting a permanently surprised look on its face.

Altogether it was a pretty comical sight; Sakura was hardly tickled. The fact that it was shaking badly on the table had her frowning instead; the poor thing was obviously terrified. Ugly or not, Sakura's heart immediately softened at the pitiful sight and before she knew it, the kunoichi was heading over to the examining table, fingers extended to let the little thing sniff her. Formerly annoyed emerald orbs gentled when it looked hesitantly at her with those large, wet eyes, and Sakura felt her annoyance deflate when it timidly gave her fingers a small lick.

It wasn't the puppy's fault, after all, that it had come in with such an idiotic man.

"Whose dog is this, Kakashi-sensei?"

Said Jounin carefully eyed the way his former student was interacting with the puppy and was inwardly pleased with what he saw. Sakura wasn't totally repulsed by the animal's…odd appearance, and the mildly interested look in her eyes gave him great hope. He had made the right decision in stopping by the hospital; Sakura had always been impossibly softhearted and this might just work out for the best in the end. No, this had better work; Sakura was his last chance. His entire plan hinged on the younger kunoichi now, but Kakashi was confident that his persuasion skills would win out in the end. No one could withstand his charm, no one!

Slipping a rueful look on his face, Kakashi scratched his head and promptly gave Sakura his best boyish smile. In immediate response, the pink-haired female narrowed her eyes. A clear warning.

Okay, maybe he should just dispense away with that 'charm.' Sakura knew him too well for it to work anyway. "Well…" Kakashi quickly decided to stop pushing his luck and to speak now before Sakura finally lost her patience and kick both him and the dog out. "Technically, she belongs to Pak-kun."

It didn't take long for the sentence to click, and when it did, the kunoichi could only stare at him, who still had the gall to stand there looking somewhat sheepish.

"…Pak-kun?" Sakura repeated with surprised disbelief. "This puppy is Pak-kun's offspring?" Her eyes immediately flew back to the little dog in an effort to look for any similarities between it and the talkative pug who was one of Kakashi's best nin-ken. Now that Kakashi mentioned the connection, it was suddenly not very hard for her to see the link between sire and pup. Surely, only Pak-kun could produce an offspring who was even more…aesthetically-challenged than himself.

The look on Sakura's face must have been one of incomprehension mixed with quite a lot of bewilderment, for Kakashi started to explain how it all came to happen.

"Ahahaha…you see, Pak-kun had a little accident."

Sakura really didn't want to know, but she found herself staring blankly at her ex-teacher. "An accident," she repeated with a really disturbed look on her face. God, she didn't know till now that Pak-kun actually had a sex life, and she honestly would have been better off never knowing. Maybe she could get the silver-haired Jounin, also known as her Genin sensei, to use the Sharingan to obliterate her memory later on.

Oblivious to his student's discomfort, Kakashi nodded, still smiling his vague little smile. "There was this sassy little Chinese Crested down at the bar across the ANBU headquarters and-"

"And I think that's all I need to know about it," Sakura blurted out quickly before he could elaborate further. "Really, there is no need at all to elaborate about such specifics."

"Aa, of course." Kakashi was happy to oblige. The older Jounin quickly figured that it would be better to get into Sakura's good graces for now.

"So what brings you here today, sensei?" Sakura asked, eager to change the topic to a less…disconcerting one. "And don't tell me that you are here willingly for a checkup because all of us at the hospital know how squirrelly you are whenever it comes to that."

Once again, Kakashi gave her his 'inverted-u' smile.

"You are right on the dot as usual, Sakura-chan," the man replied. "I am here for a more…personal request, actually."

At that, Sakura's brow rose slightly.

"A personal request," she echoed.

At the same time, the medic-nin absently shifted her attention to the little puppy that was now feeling a little braver and was shyly butting its head against her hand in an unspoken request to be petted. Sakura obligingly ran her fingers through the small white tuft of surprisingly soft hair on its head and watched as it slowly wagged its long, odd-looking tail awkwardly. Reluctantly charmed by the pup's behavior, Sakura could not resist scratching the back of its overly large, bat-like ears. Once again, the kunoichi was slightly surprised by the silky texture of the animal's skin and could not help but let out a small smile when it emitted a small appreciative whine as its tail shook a little harder.

Sakura looked up from the endearing antics of the little dog just in time to catch Kakashi's nod.

"I need your help, Sakura."

The suddenly serious tone of her former sensei had her frowning a little. The older Jounin seldom asked of anything from her and now that he had, Sakura knew that she could not turn him away—at least not until she heard him out first. A little curious, the kunoichi straightened up and gave Kakashi her full attention.

"What can I do for you, sensei?" Sakura asked sincerely, all previous hints of irritation gone.

She always was a tad gullible like that.

Inner Kakashi laughed diabolically. He just knew that his incredibly soft-hearted student would come through for him.

Hook, line and sinker.

And that was how Kakashi managed to trick her into keeping Sweetheart, also known as Pak-kun's illicit lovechild with the sassy little Chinese Crested down at the bar from the ANBU HQ. Poor Sakura never really stood a chance, and didn't even know what hit her until her dastardly sensei escaped the hospital, leaving the little puppy in her care.

To make the long story short, Kakashi had fed the somewhat bewildered Sakura some sob story about how no one wanted the little puppy, and to add insult to injury, had even made fun of the little nin-ken's…unusual appearance. It didn't take long for the silver-haired Jounin to explain that his pack of nin-dogs was currently filled to capacity and, unlike its overly outspoken sire, little Sweetheart was painfully shy and therefore kept getting bullied by the other dogs. Before Sakura could make heads or tails of what Kakashi was really trying to say, the tall Jounin was already assuring her of how low maintenance owning a small dog would be and how dogs were man's best friends and all.

Open-mouthed and all but gaping in confusion, the kunoichi didn't even have the time to form a question on what the hell was going on when Kakashi was all but ready to leave. Hand on the doorknob signaling his impending freedom, the irritating silver-haired Jounin had the gall to smile charmingly at her before hitting her with a "By the way, she only responds to 'Sweetheart.'" before hightailing out of the hospital like a bat from hell and foisting upon her the responsibility of caring for one very…homely looking canine.

Stunned by how quickly she had been hoodwinked, it actually took Sakura five minutes or so before she finally understood her sensei's underhanded plan; he had overwhelmed her with so many redundant facts and information that her head still spun from it all. Not once had he given her the chance to speak, nor had he allowed her the opportunity to think through the repercussions of his words and before she knew it, she was the proud owner of Pak-kun's pup.

A growing frown gathered on Sakura's brow as the full extent of what her rascally sensei had coerced her into finally hit her.

Just what on earth was she going to do with a puppy?! She wasn't even sure if her landlord allowed pets in the apartment, and worse still, she had absolutely no clue at all how to rear a puppy! And that cheap, dastardly baka who was her former sensei hadn't even had the decency to buy some pet food and accessories to tide her through until she knew what she was doing!

Beginning to get intensely irritated, Sakura growled softly with growing aggravation. She should have known that Kakashi was up to no good when he appeared in her consultation room for no reason whatsoever! If she wasn't so sure that the silver-haired Jounin had probably shunshin'd himself to god knew where already, she would have chased after him with the puppy in tow. Life as a head medic-nin was busy enough as it was; when would she find the time to rear a little dog?

As if it was aware of Sakura's frustration, the little puppy in question gave a small whine and a cautious wag of its tail as its bulging eyes stared adoringly at this human female who had treated her so gently.

Sakura stared back.

Don't melt, don't melt, don't melt…

Aw…

Even though the little nin-ken wasn't exactly cute, Sakura was still utterly defenseless against its worshipful gaze. The kunoichi's agitation faded away quickly and bright emerald orbs softened. Sakura lifted her fingers again and lightly scratched one of those enormous bat-like ears, much to the puppy's utter delight.

"Sweetheart, huh?" Sakura mused resignedly at the small wriggling bundle of warm canine. "What am I going to do with you?"

It really had been Sakura's intention to return the puppy to Kakashi; however, circumstances just would not allow her to do so. After her shift ended, the pink-haired female had awkwardly gathered the little dog in her arms as she prepared to leave the hospital for the day.

Sweetheart was a real sweetheart, of course.

The shy puppy had allowed Sakura to pick it up with very little fuss and had docilely rested in the kunoichi's gentle arms. The little nin-ken was very small, smaller than even Akamaru had been when he was a puppy and only slightly larger than a Chihuahua. As such, Sakura saw no harm in unzipping her jacket and slipping her in to nestle amongst the warm clothing. The kunoichi zipped her jacket carefully shut again once the pup was comfortable and would not slip, and she made sure that only its head was visible. It was already mid-autumn in Konoha; the weather was getting nippy and Sweetheart had practically no fur on her body to keep her warm, after all.

The kunoichi received more than her share of strange/amused looks as she made her way out of the hospital. Some of her colleagues even did a double take when they saw the uncomely looking nin-ken popping out from Sakura's coat. Sakura could only smile weakly at the curious gazes as she hurried quickly out of her workplace, inwardly cursing Kakashi sensei yet again as she did so.

"Alright, little puppy," Sakura announced determinedly to the small dog when they finally exited the hospital. "Now, let's go find that irresponsible owner of yours."

As if she understood what Sakura was saying, Sweetheart gave a distressed little whine. It didn't want to return to the odd-looking, one-eyed human when its new owner smelled so much nicer and had the gentlest eyes it had ever seen. Not to mention she also gave the best ear rubs that it had ever received and, for once, it didn't have to fight other dogs for her attention. Large bat-like ears drooped slightly at the thought that she was going to be given back.

Utterly mistaking Sweetheart's unhappy little cry for something else, Sakura absentmindedly stroked the little canine's bony head as she set out swiftly for her sensei's house, a somewhat peculiar look of irritation mixed with resignation splayed on her pretty face.

Emerald orbs narrowed with aggravated resolve as the kunoichi remembered again how she had been so easily tricked earlier on.

Ooh, Kakashi was so going to be in for an earful when she got to him!

At the other end of the village, the Sabaku no Gaara was not having a good day.

Although it was hardly obvious, the Fifth Kazekage was just an inch short of losing that infamous temper of his and it wasn't helping that his advisors were currently engaged in a screaming match with Konoha's village council. The fact that the Leaf's counsels were just as enthusiastically participating in this en mass shouting session was not helping matters at all.

It had been four days since the Suna delegation had arrived in Konoha to discuss the details pertaining to the peacekeeping treaty between the two villages, and they were still nitpicking on the third clause of the seven feet long contract. The once formal and sedate conference room was now reduced to a messy political battleground as paperwork and official documents were being waved about and argued over, as each side stubbornly refused to give even an inch. At this rate, Gaara decided that his council would probably be staying in Konoha for a much longer period than they had originally intended.

The resulting cacophony as everyone started to yell above the growing din in order to make themselves heard was almost enough to push him into using his sand to do something drastic—like filling all their mouths with sand just so that they could shut the hell up for once and let him have some peace of mind. The powerful redhead could feel a pounding headache coming up, and judging by the aggravated sigh coming from the one by his side, he could safely assume that his counterpart was also feeling more than a mite irritated.

"Kazekage," the Godaime Hokage's voice was so dry it was a miracle that he heard her over the noise that their combined advisors were emitting. "It seems that this meeting is going to end like the one yesterday—with nothing done at all."

Gaara didn't bother to grace the older blonde with an answer, but then again, Tsunade wasn't expecting one. Sighing yet again, the busty Sannin forcibly tuned out all the noise that the scuffling members of both councils were generating and refocused on the paperwork spread before her instead.

Wordlessly, Gaara slid over a piece of parchment to catch her attention. Tsunade carefully looked over the concise and politically correct sentences that the Kazekage had penned in a perfectly masculine and legible handwriting before shaking her head slightly and adding her own demands to the clause that the redhead was proposing. She slid the piece of paper back to him after she was satisfied with the changes and waited for Gaara's response. Jade eyes roved over the edited document once before lifting up to meet unwavering amber ones. Gaara gave a short nod of acquiescence. The terms that the Hokage had set were agreeable to him.

While the advisors of both villages were furiously arguing over each and every one of the stipulations established by both villages in the peacekeeping treaty, and not making much progress while they were at it, both Kage were quietly ironing out the details amongst themselves, meticulously hammering out the agreement into something both sides could consent peaceably upon. Both village councils had no idea, of course, and they were too busy engaging the opposite side to notice either; which was perfectly fine by both Kage as they were allowed to discuss the treaty in relative peace. Just for that alone, Gaara was willing to tolerate all the ridiculous antics that he was unfortunately hearing—and seeing. It was almost embarrassing to witness the near childish level that even the most respected and dignified elders of his village could stoop to when all else failed. Gaara's only consolation was that Konoha's counsels weren't any better.

"Good." Tsunade muttered under her breath as she nonchalantly transcribed the newest agreed clause onto a longer parchment where eleven other revised conditions resided. "And that's the twelfth. Sixty-three more to go."

Gaara nodded grimly. It was amazing just how much they could accomplish by themselves and all this work had been completed only in the span of today, when the both of them had finally decided that enough was enough and that this en masse pissing contest was getting highly ridiculous, and was a precious waste of time too. Honestly, had Gaara known that things would have degenerated to this, he would have insisted on coming to Konoha all by himself.

"I think we should call it a night."

Tsunade interrupted the redhead's irritated musing.

Satisfied with the headway that they were making, the voluptuous blonde had looked up and out of the window only to realize that Konoha was already bathed in darkness. A glance at the wall clock told the Hokage that it was already late in the evening, and for the life of her, the Sannin could not remember even having had dinner. Sighing loudly yet again, the powerful female decided, not for the first time, that being a Kage really was a horribly thankless job. The fact that Naruto actually could not wait to become the future Rokudaime really spoke a lot about his common sense, or lack thereof.

The work hours were ridiculously long, you were always under public scrutiny, there was no such thing as freedom, and there seemed to be a lot of political bullshit just waiting to be cleaned up, no matter what, not to mention the mountain of paperwork that always seemed to magically appear on her desk every morning. How the heck did Naruto figure that this would be fun?

Tsunade gave a wry mental smirk. She really could not wait until she could hand the hat over to the brat. Then he would have firsthand experience of just how 'fun' Kagehood was.

But at the moment, until the younger blonde was finally groomed for this position, that was, Tsunade was still well and truly stuck with all the obligations and duties that came with her title. Of course, just because she couldn't shirk them didn't mean that she had to always stay completely sober while she took care of her responsibilities.

As if on cue, the powerful blonde started to yearn something fierce for the taste of sake; and she was going to get it tonight too, no matter what Shizune said. Considering her circumstances, Tsunade quickly decided that she had worked quite hard today and definitely deserved to indulge for the evening, especially after surviving this harrowing conference from hell. Oh yes, just thinking of it had the voluptuous blonde glazed-eyed and somewhat distracted.

Once again, Gaara said nothing to Tsunade's earlier comment, and she did not expect a reply either. She didn't have to; as odd as the Kazekage might be sometimes, no one in their right mind would want to remain cooped up in here with a bunch of cantankerous old biddies any longer than necessary. Besides, she was starting to get the vibe that her announcement had come not a minute too early. The powerful leader of Suna may look as bland as always, but there was this slightly pinched expression on his face that told the older kunoichi that Gaara was probably just an inch short of murdering his way out of this meeting.

Might as well adjourn this futile conference now. Knowing herself as well as she did, if Gaara really did start attacking the councilors she would probably be offering him a helping hand while he was at it, which obviously would not do because she would end up with even more paperwork to do, god forbid.

Rising from her seat, Tsunade quickly distracted the thirty or so elders of both villages. By her side, she easily sensed the younger Kazekage getting to his feet as well. "That is enough, Honorable Councilors," the blonde spoke with great authority, her suddenly steely gold eyes so intimidating that the noisy elders were effectively silenced. "It is getting late. We will stop for now and resume this discussion first thing tomorrow morning."

For the first time that day, the advisors of both villages were surprisingly unanimous in their overwhelming protests against the Hokage's announcement. Obviously, they did not want to leave until this last stipulation was settled and agreed upon, and secretly, an inwardly grumbling Tsunade wondered just why on earth they had allowed so many closet masochists to fill the council seats.

This time, Gaara came to the rescue, as he very well should have. He was probably the only sane (relatively) person in this room and backup would be nice right now.

"Little progress has been made on the third clause since early this evening," the young Kazekage stated evenly, his jade eyes calm and authoritative at the same time. "I doubt that a little more time would make any difference."

"But Kazekage-sama-"

"Most of us have not left this room since early this morning and have been diligently working on the details of this treaty." Gaara easily silenced the growing protest before anymore could be said. "A decent meal and a good night's rest would do wonders in improving our efficiency tomorrow morning."

"We are already far behind schedule, Kazekage-sama," another elder commented mulishly. "I still think that we should at least wrap this last condition up first."

That unyielding stance was the last straw.

The powerful and just Kage of Suna Gaara might be, but a patient man he was definitely not. In fact, the infamously short-tempered redhead had never been one to take kindly to sheer stupidity and foolish, unwarranted arrogance and he sure wasn't about to start now. This meeting so far had been nothing but a bloody joke and for the whole of today he had been forced to witness the most appalling display of cheap and low theatrics and unnecessarily loud arguments. He was hardly in the mood to be diplomatic any longer.

Suddenly, it was as if the temperature in the room had dropped drastically. Slowly and deliberately, the Godaime Kazekage flattened his hands against the large slab of a conference table and leaned low, sharp jade eyes narrowed on the obstinate old goat who thought he knew so much better than his own Kage, who had spent the last few hours a lot more productively than he could have ever imagined. The barely tamed killing intent swirling around the powerful Suna-nin was so palpable that it nearly attained physical properties. Immediately, all participants in the conference room, barring a mildly interested Tsunade, that was, started to shift around uncomfortably.

"Honorable Councilor," Gaara purred almost inaudibly, his voice dangerously gilded and low, a contemptuous sneer on his face as his upper lip curled almost imperceptibly with blatant distaste. "Are you questioning my judgment?"

Knowing that he was literally staring Death in the face, the advisor from Suna backed down quickly.

"Of course not, Kazekage-sama," the elder murmured subserviently. "I just cannot help but be concerned-"

"You worry too much, Councilor." This time, Tsunade interrupted before the old man could say anything that could land him in more hot soup with the Kazekage. Judging by the increasingly irritated vibes coming from the one beside her, it really wouldn't take much to make the younger redhead fly off the handle and the blonde really did not want that particular mess on her hands. Having a foreign dignitary killed on her watch would not look good on her resume, never mind that it would be his own Kage doing the murdering.

"Everything is under control. If that's all, let's summarize all that we have accomplished so far before adjourning this conference for tomorrow, shall we?"

There was a reluctant murmur of assent, but no one dared to protest too much thanks to the insanely powerful shinobi glowering quietly beside her.

It was great working with the Kazekage, as usual.

"So," Tsunade began before there could be anymore interruptions, "the third clause states that the free trade agreement between Sand and Leaf would hold for the next five years…"

The Godaime Hokage was nothing if not extremely efficient in wrapping up official conferences. She was brisk and utterly no-nonsense, quickly and concisely going through everything that the boardroom had discussed so far and allowing absolutely no interruptions while she was at it. The fact that the Kazekage was standing most forbiddingly behind her with his arms firmly crossed against his chest further encouraged the advisors not to interrupt the soon-to-end meeting.

They quietly despaired.

Both Kage didn't seem to give a damn. Tsunade could almost smell her sake already, and Gaara just could not wait to get out of the stuffy room.

The moment Tsunade declared the meeting over for the day, the redheaded Kazekage wasted no time vacating the premises. Without a by your leave, the powerful Suna-nin disappeared in a noiseless flurry of sand, leaving behind a group of councilmen who promptly heaved a collective sigh of relief. The killing intent swirling around the conference room had gotten so heavy that it was getting hard to breathe and Gaara's swift exit had helped alleviate that problem. A lot.

Tsunade rolled her eyes discreetly. If they didn't decide to provoke the lion all the damn time they wouldn't get snapped at in the first place.

It didn't take long for the gathered elders to notice that the other Kage was still in the room. They started to advance towards her.

Tsunade ran for her life.

Something was following him.

Taking in particular consideration of his current volatile mood, it took him a surprisingly long time before it bothered him enough to stop.

Normally, he wouldn't even blink as he imploded whatever was irritating him with sand. However, the soft pitiful whine drew his attention like nothing could.

The redhead paused in his tracks.

A quiet slither of sand moving out from his gourd and a brief rustle later brought him face to face with the ugliest creature that he had ever met in his life.

It looked like a horribly mutated rat. Was it some type of new animal that the nin in Konoha were totting about as their companion now? Then, it gave out a small yip.

It wasn't a rat. It was a dog.

Despite Gaara's inner incredulity, his face was as expressionless as ever.

The animal, on the other hand, reacted in an exact opposite manner. Rodent-like tail wagging furiously, four paws scrabbling enthusiastically in the air, it was all but wriggling with happiness but how it could be so ecstatic hanging by the scruff of its neck, Gaara really had no idea.

Never mind that it was nearing midnight and there was almost nobody on the streets, but it would look really bad if someone witnessed the Kazekage of Suna killing a defenseless little rat-like dog.

Gaara stared unblinkingly at the small animal being held immobile by his sand. The little puppy stared back with large bulbous black eyes.

The impromptu staring contest began.

There was no way in hell (or Konoha) Gaara was going to lose to this ridiculously pint-sized critter.

Five minutes later, the redhead was about ready to eat his words.

Damn, but the dog was winning.

A tremendous pressure burned behind intense jade eyes and Gaara was all but glaring at the little animal before him, but to no avail. The puppy was hardly intimidated by the man's dark glower.

To Gaara's increasing aggravation, the little rat-dog parted a small muzzle and started to look as if it was laughing at him.

He growled.

The homely puppy let out a small, happy yip.

Gaara gave up.

Soundly defeated, the redhead promptly commanded his sand to deposit the small animal back to the ground. After all, what would be worse than witnessing the Kazekage killing a small, innocent animal would definitely be to see him engaging in a staring contest with said animal and losing miserably while he was at it.

Gaara was not stupid; he decided to cut his losses and make a tactical retreat.

It was just too bad that the small puppy had taken an instant shine to him and had decided to follow this strange redheaded man until its new owner came to retrieve it.

Sakura was beside herself with worry.

Why? The pink-haired kunoichi had gone and lost Sweetheart, that's why.

It was all a very tragic accident, of course.

One moment, she was marching resolutely down the streets that would eventually lead her to Kakashi's apartment, the next she was engaged in a brief struggle with the front of her clothes (the onlookers had varying degrees of bewilderment and amusement painted on their faces as they watched the well-known medic grabbing at her own chest, much to the embarrassment of said female) and then Sweetheart had wriggled free and scampered quickly off to kami knows where.

Yup, the homely puppy definitely had nin-ken blood in her veins alright. She disappeared so fast Sakura couldn't even track her, much to the kunoichi's chagrin.

So now Sakura was left to her own devices, wandering around the deserted streets of Konoha at midnight trying to locate one errant puppy. As if that wasn't bad enough, the temperature was dropping like flies and Sakura was starting to worry that little Sweetheart, who was virtually unprotected from the cold, would be freezing somewhere out there.

The kunoichi started to double her efforts in looking for the little dog, never mind the fact that she hadn't even eaten dinner yet and it was almost eleven at night. As much as Sakura liked to grumble that this was all Kakashi's fault, she knew that only she alone was responsible for the pup's wellbeing. Her crafty Genin-sensei would not take Sweetheart back now that he had unloaded the little puppy off on her; therefore, Sweetheart was already as good as hers.

Sakura sighed inwardly. If she had just headed home with the pup in tow this would not have happened. Poor Sweetheart probably knew where she was heading by heart and ran off when she realized Sakura's intention of trying to return her to Kakashi.

By now, Sakura was somewhere near the Hokage Tower. Walking rapidly down the streets, she kept her eyes sharp for any signs of canine, but to no avail. She had quit calling out the puppy's name after the first ten minutes of yelling for 'Sweetheart'; having all sorts of people staring at her as if she was some sort of lunatic was not very high on Sakura's to do list and so she was reduced to whistling randomly and scanning for anything that might look remotely like a hairless nin-dog with tufts of white fur on its head and tip of its tail. Honestly, one would think that such an…arresting-looking animal would have stuck out like a sore thumb, but as it was, Sakura was not having any luck whatsoever locating Sweetheart at all.

The poor, exhausted kunoichi was very close to giving up.

That was before she turned down a street and saw the Godaime Kazekage.

Oh, Sakura was aware that the powerful Sand nin and his large delegation was in town, of course; for an entire week preceding their arrival there was nothing else that shishou had bemoaned anymore miserably about, so Sakura was not completely surprised to see Gaara.

No, it was the fuzzy little thing that was happily trotting along by his side that made her freeze—and stare.

Sweetheart was barely a foot away from the dangerous shinobi and even from that distance, Sakura could see that the plucky little puppy was hardly intimidated by the Kazekage whom it was cheerfully tagging along beside.

If anything, it was looking at the impassive-looking redhead with nothing short of pure adoration in those watery, bulging eyes.

Good grief, her dog was a canine fangirl.

However, Sakura was feeling just too glad at the moment to be properly embarrassed by Sweetheart's lovesick antics. With a thoroughly relieved expression on her face, the kunoichi started towards the little dog in rapid strides.

"Sweetheart!"

::tsuzuku::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

As promised, here is the repost of 'Sweetheart.' I will be posting one chapter per week, so the entire fic should be up in a month's time. (Ahem, I will be looking forward to reviews and comments – I'm still quite indignant to have lost all the wonderful reviews and reader love when Sweetheart was taken down last time.)

That aside, it took me a while to think up an alternative title. For the curious, 'chi ama me, ama il mio cane' is an Italian proverb that roughly translates to 'love me, love my dog.'

To all my newer readers who have never read this fic before, Sweetheart was originally written and uploaded to FF Net back in 2008. However, it was taken down early last year during the FF Net Great M-Rated Story Purge, due to a mere technicality that still makes me feel rather exasperated about to this day. Here's to hoping that the admins of FF Net would leave this fic well alone this time!

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Below are all the old chapter notes that I have written back in 2008. Heh. This is such a blast to the past.

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This is my first time writing Kakashi in such detail, so if there is anything OOC about him, my apologies!

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I really have no idea where I got the idea of Pak-kun and his offspring (hah! Conundrum!), and I suppose some of you are either very disturbed or very amused by now. For those who are not aware, Pak-kun belongs to a species of toy dogs also known as the Pug. His other half, at least in this fic, is a Chinese Crested. Not really the best combination to have adorable puppies with, imo.

The Chinese Crested is a breed of toy dogs that are rather well known for their odd-looking appearance. In fact, the Chinese Crested has been voted the World's Ugliest Dog for the last seven years or so, though I personally think that they are a rather adorable breed myself.

For those who have no idea whatsoever the type of dog I had been blathering about for the last minute or so, just google 'Chinese Crested' you will get to see what the dog looks like. It's actually that same dog Cruella DeVil was totting about in the movie, 102 Dalmatians.

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As for the name 'Sweetheart', well, let's just attribute it to Kakashi's decidedly strange sense of humor, eh?

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For those who are worried that this dastardly authoress is off on yet another new fic when she hasn't completed a few others, please don't! 'Sweetheart' is a four chaptered GaaSaku miniseries whose plot refused to leave me alone until I had it written out. It has been completed recently, and is currently being edited by my dear, dear beta, and Shukaku Love will probably be next on the update list.

Until then, I can only ask for all of you readers to be patient!

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Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

-paws