Sakura and Gaara one-shot
The summer sun beat down with ferocity. The green trees surrounding the village of Konoha provided little shade.
"Thwack!" A sound echoed through the old trees, scattering the birds from their homemade nests.
"Thwack!" There it was again.
The footsteps of a sand Shinobi changed path and followed the noise. His sandy red hair, tasseled and messy, gave his identity away; Kazekage to be, Shubaku no Gaara.
The sound meet his ears again, louder and closer this time followed by the low, mumbled curses of a female voice.
Gaara emerged from the thick underbrush, making no sound, and saw there was indeed a female there. He knew who she was, even though she was not facing him, the bright bubblegum pink hair was her calling card.
Haruno Sakura stood tall with her back still towards him, a bow and arrow in her hands. She pulled back on the string, fully concentrated, and released the deadly arrow from its prison. The arrow flew but did not hit the wet spray-painted target on the tree in front of her.
"Thwack!" The arrow had flown upward and hit a squirrel nest.
Sakura let out a string of curses.
"That's interesting language for a girl like you to have" said Gaara, arms crossed and a smirk on his face.
Sakura jumped, gasped, and spun around to face Gaara, but relaxed when she realized who he was.
"You scared me!"
"A ninja should not be scared so easily."
Sakura scowled and glared at Gaara. She turned on her heel giving him the cold shoulder. She reloaded her bow and shot the arrow, aiming for the target another time. The arrow skimmed a blue jay's wing before crashing into the ground. Sakura cursed under her breath.
"Would you like some help?"
"No! I will figure this out on my own," Sakura screamed.
Another arrow hit the ground nowhere near its target. Large hands wrapped around Sakura's wrists. She turned to yell at Gaara only to shut her mouth when she saw a trace of a smile on his face.
"You're too stressed out, Sakura-chan."
"What do you mean?"
"You can't hit the target because your body is to tense. Relax," he whispered in her ear sending Goosebumps up her spine. One of Gaara's hands traced up her shoulder and put slight pressure on it.
"First relax your shoulder," he whispered.
His other hand rearranged her fingers on the bow and loosened her grip on the arrow. Sand came up from the ground and wrapped around her ankles, changing her stance.
"You need a more solid stance," he said as the sand moved her feet. "Now listen to everything around you, and then block it out. Calm your breathing and focus only on the target.
Sakura did as he said.
"Release…"
Sakura let the arrow go, she let it fly and…"thwack" it hit the tree's target.
"Wow…" Sakura was breathless.
"Very well done," Gaara said.
"Well I had a pretty good teacher. How can I repay him?"
"How about dinner? Tomorrow night?"
"It's a deal," Sakura said smiling.