Author's Note: Okay, so this is my first Gaara and Sakura story. I hope you guys like it and that I have some readers out there! (The entire story has a general idea of how it's going to end, but if you have any input that you feel might improve the story or be exciting as it progresses, let me know.) Also, this story will be in the same format as 500 Days of Summer. If you don't know what that is, it just means that I will be skipping around to different time intervals. (In this case, the days represent how long it has been since she met Gaara again in Suna. You'll get the hang of it eventually. I wanted to do a story in that format just because I haven't seen one like that yet and I loved how it was used in the movie.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Summary: Sakura comes to Suna for a vacation, but most of her time is spent with an old red-headed acquaintance. When the time arrives for her departure, she doesn't know how to say goodbye. This story takes place after Gaara becomes the Kazekage.

An Old Friend

~Day 12~

Their eyes met for no more than a second about a week ago, maybe longer. But she could remember the masked man. Sakura knew it had to be the same man, the one who escaped some time ago. His motives were still unknown, though. Why was he targeting Sakura? No one seemed to know. Perhaps it was a personal vendetta? Or they were targeting her because of her skills as a medical ninja? Then it would make sense to attack her during her vacation when she should be relaxing.

Sakura decided to carefully assess the situation rather than panic. The masked man was holding a kunai to her throat, nearly cutting through her skin. He could kill her in one swift motion. All he had to do was slide the kunai and cut her jugular… It was time to panic!

His mission was clearly to kill her, so why did he hesitate? Sakura looked forward, at first seeing nothing. However, when she squinted, she could make out a figure in the distance. The figure advanced faster, accelerating to breakneck speeds. He was floating on a mass of sand. Gaara. His eyes did not shift or blink; they stared directly at the masked man with hatred.

Then Sakura realized that if his mission was to kill her, he would have already done so. Before Gaara was far away enough that he could have slit her throat and escaped. What if all along the masked man's objective wasn't her death, but Gaara's… Sakura was being used as a hostage.

The enemy was no fool. He had the brains to escape earlier, and he wouldn't come unprepared a second time. Surely he had traps set up, ninja tools that he could use against Gaara's technique…

She waited for Gaara, or at least the enemy, to say something. Rather, they were having a staring contest while she was having a panic attack. Her life depended on Gaara. Any motion on her part would lead directly to her death. Sakura had to leave her life in Gaara's hands. Helpless. Useless. Worthless. She began to question what the point of becoming a ninja was if she couldn't even defend herself.

Finally, Gaara broke the silence. "You have one minute to release her."

The masked man laughed while Gaara continued. "Do not test my patience," he said in a deep voice.

"It won't be that easy," the man said once he could force himself to cease his laughter. "You move that sand of yours so much as an inch and she dies." A look of horror spread across Gaara's face. "A little more hesitant now, are we? Ah, so it was true what they said then." The masked man's face was covered, but Sakura could tell that he was grinning at this point.

"What was true?" Sakura shouted. Her voice grew louder when the masked man hesitated. "Tell me!"

"That the Kazekage found a-" The man abruptly stopped at the sound of Gaara's voice. He had been waiting for it.

"I'll take her place." Gaara whispered. Sakura had to strain to hear his soft voice.

"Are you crazy? They're going to kill you!" She was crying. More tears, somehow she always had more tears stored away in her emerald eyes. The salty tears made her eyes sparkle. Her throat dried up as they crept down her radiant face.

Sakura noticed something odd about Gaara's expression though. Just before he said, "I'll take her place." She only registered it after she had begun to wail. Why didn't Gaara seem upset? Surely if he took her place the masked man would kill him.

Slowly the kunai moved from her throat. The masked man strained to pull it away. When she was released, she ran over and hugged Gaara, who had no intention of turning himself over.

"What a bother," Shikamaru muttered, holding the masked man under his shadow technique. Temari continued walking until she stood next to Shikamaru.

"You're really lucky we were here to save you." Temari loved to tease her younger brother. In the mean time, Shikamaru fought the masked man for control over his body.

"You could help me anytime. I'm starting to lose my grip," Shikamaru said.

Temari smiled. "Better not to waste any chakra on him." With that, she threw several shuriken, and the masked man fell dead.

Sakura moved her hand up to her neck, rubbing it cautiously. There was a tiny slit stinging her throat, but not enough to kill her. She asked, "Shikamaru, why did you come to Suna?"

He nervously rubbed the back of his neck with one arm and faked a smile. "Well, you see, that's…um.. classified."

It was more likely that he came to visit Temari. Despite their claims otherwise, everyone knew about Shikamaru and Temari. Gaara could sense that they attempted to conceal their relationship.

Gaara spoke. "Everyone knows."

Shikamaru and Temari blushed simultaneously. "It's none of your business," said Temari. As they walked away to avoid any more questions, Shikamaru threw an arm around her shoulder. If Sakura was clueless before, then this was a dead giveaway.

Sakura turned back to Gaara after they were out of sight. "You came back," she said. Even after what she'd done, she couldn't believe Gaara still cared about her, couldn't believe he would enter a trap set up by the masked man if it meant he could save her.

He didn't answer. Instead he started walking back to his office.

"You're not even going to say anything?" He continued walking.

She wished she could take it back, every word. After she heard herself say those things, only then did she realize they were false. It was a mistake. Would he ever believe her though? She needed to find out.

"Why did you save me?" Sakura asked. Gaara stopped, but his lips did not move. Perhaps he didn't need to answer for her to know. Maybe he didn't have an answer. But he did, and it broke her heart. She really shouldn't have expected him to say, "Because I love you."

"Because I am the Kazekage of this village and am responsible for protecting its people and anyone within these walls." He didn't say it, but Gaara was also implying, "I don't care about your personal well-being. I don't love you. I'm only saving you because of my responsibility. Nothing else."

At some point, Sakura was sure he loved her. And it was her fault that he had changed his mind. Was there anything she could say? She tried to form an apology, but nothing would change the situation. There was nothing she could do to take back her everlasting words. Only two words came out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry."

"Here, let me help you down!"

Shikamaru fell with a thud. "You could have lowered me before you cut the rope."

"Quit complaining and be lucky I let you down," Temari yapped. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "What I want to know is why an enemy would set up a trap to catch you in a net that you easily could have escaped from by yourself, and then have a bucket of water pour down on you."

While Temari continued yapping about why someone would try to soak him, Shikamaru got an idea.

"It wasn't meant for me. It was meant for Gaara."

"For Gaara?"

"Yes, the water would make it more difficult for Gaara to control his sand. Gaara doesn't manipulate mud," said Shikamaru.

"What if there are other traps set up by that ninja we just killed? We should go back and warn Gaara."

They ran along the sandy path until they saw Sakura walking closer to Gaara. They were talking. "Do you think they would mind if we happened to overhear their conversation?" Temari grinned.

"Do we have to?" Shikamaru sighed.

"Yes, we do. Now hurry up and suppress your chakra." She pulled him behind a building near Sakura and Gaara. Sand blew everywhere, covering them until they were perfectly hidden. Not even Gaara could detect their presence.

"I'm sorry," they heard a girly voice whisper.

"Shikamaru stop cloud-gazing!" Of course Temari would be annoyed with anything Shikamaru did, just for the sake of it. She might as well tell him to stop thinking, which happened on occasion.

"Shhh! You're going to blow our cover, Temari," He reasoned.

"Don't tell me to 'shhh,'" she warned.

"Quit distracting me."

"You're going to miss it!"

"We already did…" Shikamaru decided not to say "…because you wouldn't stop yapping," out loud. He figured it would only cause problems later. Temari knew how to hold a grudge.

Meanwhile, they missed the bulk of Sakura's and Gaara's conversation. Temari decided to hush before she missed out completely, but it was too late. Gaara was already directly in front of her. They had been too loud.

Gaara waited for an explanation. Temari cleared her throat. "We came back to warn you. Several traps have been set up specifically to counter your techniques. You're welcome."

"Don't worry. We didn't hear anything," said Shikamaru.

"There was nothing to hear," Gaara lied. He looked angry, and his face seemed to be wet. Little bits of sand moistened and then crumbled from his cheeks. He turned and left, leaving Temari flabbergasted. Shikamaru didn't pay much heed.

And what of Sakura? At first Shikamaru and Temari didn't see her, but when they turned the corner, they noticed her huddled on the floor with her head buried in her knees.

Please review! I accept and encourage flames. Please point out whatever you thought unnecessary or boring so I may improve as a writer. Thanks for reading.

Side Note: I will try to make each chapter longer than the next and update as often as possible.