A/N: I just read Kerry Connor's Strangers in the Night and I was hooked (God help me). Then I had this one shot GaaSaku dream that haunts me till now, so here you go. I was still finishing my final exam for this goddamn semester, sorry for the inconvenience. The first official chapter of the Creek of Forfeit will be published soon don't worry, but for now enjoy this little GaaSaku fan fiction I have as a compensation.

I also dedicated this story to jacpin2002 for being so active in giving a review, this pal is awesome in boosting confidence believe me and to FallenInDreams for making fanfics of GaaSaku that surely satisfies my needs, God, blessed her masterpieces.

Pairing: Gaara X Sakura (AU)

Warning: OC Gaara

Rated: M

The Desired Bystander

IettaArt

"Don't act like nothing happened."

Sakura bit her lower lip, she avoided Gaara's stare to wreck the growing guilt insider her. The guilt of having Gaara involved.

Gaara killed someone, again for her sake. Someone who wished for her death, someone who hunts her for months just to kill her, to shut her mouth forever, to bury all the necessary information that she had.

"I did not ask for your help," Sakura said, almost whispered.

"If you are still thinking that it's your fault that I'm involved in this hell situation, then better think about my suggestion, Hinata," Gaara demanded.

Hinata... Heh, he is still hanging from that fake identity.

Gaara placed Sai's corpse in a blanket, "I'm going to dispose this bastard in the woods, don't think about escaping, you know that I can catch up within a minute."

Gaara left the cabin, corpse on his left shoulder and a shovel in his right hand.

Sakura, of course, made a move for her own escape. There is no way that she will let Gaara dig deeper into her. She can see that Gaara is a good and reliable man, someone that is trustworthy enough to help her in surviving in this world where everyone wants her to be either captured or dead. But the fantasy of having a prince charming as a knight in shining armor is no match to the possibility that she is the one whose digging his grave.

There are two organizations who keep meddling with her not-so-normal life. The Akatsuki who wants to capture her alive, but does not guarantee that they will not hurt her, especially she holds a sole information about their illegal trades. The other one is the ANBU, the underground military force of Konoha who wants her dead after she discovered Danzo's Coup de'etat plan.

Her luck has never been better when she met Gaara, a former cop in Sunagakure. He was assigned personally to hunt Sai, who is obviously one of the ANBU and the one who Danzo sent to assassinate Sakura. The cat and mouse chase about Sai and Gaara is something that Sakura didn't know, but one thing is for sure, it has something to do with her case.

It is one of the reasons why she can't trust Gaara, she gave him a fake story, a fake expression and even a fake name.

Even though she's still skeptical about Gaara's true intentions, there's only one choice for her to be safe.

Trust nobody.

Sakura closed her hands around her pink backpack once she finished packing her things. Digging might be a long shot, but judging from Gaara's speed, every minute of his absence counts.

Sakura chose to pass through the window in the back part of the cabin. There is no way that she'll take the front door, Gaara might bury Sai near the cabin where he can spectate the front door while digging or he is digging right in front of the cabin, who knows.

Landing on her feet, Sakura didn't waste any time to pull herself into the darkness of the woods, letting herself to disappear into the trees.

After a few minutes of wandering in the dark, she stopped and cursed Gaara for being so clever in knocking her off when they are on their way in the cabin. She's completely lost and doesn't know the way out, the place was so isolated that makes her think that she's in a different country at the moment. To add up in the frustration, the moonlight was being covered by the clouds.

Then there it goes, raindrops.

"Great."

Sakura continues on her journey, sometimes she will bump into a tree, but it is not enough to stop her from getting away. After this she will find a transportation, hopefully a bus to take her in a far away town where no one can recognize her arrival, where no one can catch her for a long time, not even Gaara. Then after a few months she will disappear, and appear again and the cycle goes on.

A few minutes of searching for a road became eternity, especially when she heard a fast crunches of leaves behind her.

Sakura didn't bother to look back and ran.

"Shit!" she cursed between her breaths, the fast crunches became slow but intense.

He is fucking running.

She knows that it's Gaara, there's no doubt.

She needs a plan to lose him right now, considering all her available weapons compared to him, she'll lose but the darkness is an advantage, her bag is a nuisance for her speed but obviously, she can't go anywhere without it.

After running for a while, Sakura decided to slam behind a tree when she was convinced that it was far enough. She listens above the downpours and concluded that her pursuer slammed to a halt too.

There is no other way but to wait, she knew that Gaara is waiting for her to move too. Both of them didn't know each other's position, that's for sure.

Half an hour later, the rain is reaching its limit and Sakura is afraid that her patience is reaching its limit too, none of them are moving and its getting on her nerves, the itch to get away is pushing her to run again.

When she was about to take the first move, Gaara popped up from nowhere and clamped down on her other arm, jerking her back.

"You never learn, do you?" Gaara spatted while dragging her along with him.

Sakura gathers all her willpower to pull her arm from Gaara, including the annoying thought that he used his monkey skills to climb in the trees. But to no avail, the man will always be dominated compare to her strength.

After a few minutes of struggling from his grip, they finally reached the cabin. She flew right on the floor while he is securing the door and all the windows that will bring the possibility of her escape attempt.

Sakura notices that he even managed to clean the blood from the floor, God, was she that slow?

"You are making my head hurts, you know?" he announced while snatching the backpack away from her, she didn't resist this time since it's futile to do so.

"Nobody forced you to take the responsibility to save me," Sakura said between her teeth, "I thought that your mission is to hunt Sai, you didn't inform me about my participation."

"Sai is after you, so I rooted for you."

"Now that Sai is dead and your mission is obviously complete, isn't it odd that you're still concerning yourself onto me?" Sakura said while getting on her feet.

"I thought that I already made it clear. This is not about my personal mission anymore, it's all about helping you," Gaara utter.

Sakura laughed sarcastically,"That's funny, I never heard those cliche words except in romantic movies."

Sakura made her way to the bathroom, but Gaara didn't let their conversation to end, he quickly reached for her shoulder and rotated her to face him again.

"I know that there is something that's blocking you from trusting me, like how can you be so ungrateful if a man killed two men who are obviously after you? I had no problem with your mood swings, but I want to know why are you forbidding me to help you that bad?"

"Why wouldn't I? You are goddamn obvious."

"I mean no harm, Hinata!"

Sakura removed Gaara's hand from her shoulders, "Nice try, but next time, try to be look more innocent. It may win my sympathy, but I can't guarantee that it will work."

He took one menacing step forward until their bodies are only inches apart, Sakura didn't retreat, she knew that he's just provoking her again by invading her personal space. It was threatening, but maybe she was used to it.

Not today.

"Hinata is not your real name, isn't it? Tell me your real name," Gaara's demand rang in Sakura ears, damn this red haired bastard.

"How can you conclude that it isn't mine?"

"The name simply doesn't suit you, now tell me who you really are or-"

"Or what? For all the assassins and thugs who's rooting for my head out there, do you really think that you can scare me Gaara? What kind of threat do you have that you can offer?" Sakura said out of annoyance.

The fire in her eyes suddenly faded in an instant when Gaara gripped both of her shoulders like he was going to crush her using his bare hands.

"This."

He kissed her.

It was so sudden that there's no time for her to blink, he slowly devoured her mouth before biting her lower lip gently. His mouth was demanding, neutralizing her own unresponsiveness one without hardly lifting a finger. Not so long, she let her lips fell open nearly alone, with the delicate arrival of a moan. His tongue dove inside, stroking against her own in long, smooth pushes that drove a groan from the back of her throat.

It turned out as he nipped her bottom lip, teasing it, insulting her. The sound resounded in her ears and thundered through her body. Also, from a separation, she thought she heard him laugh, low thus extremely vain.

The Taste of him was inebriating, sending uprising unadulterated sensation straight to her mind. She felt bleary eyed, unfit to think, however, increasingly ready to feel safe. Gaara was hot to the touch, every last bit of him. Every part of him was pressed against her, and each and every piece of it was strong and hard. His strong chest squeezed against her bosom. She could feel his heart thumping as frantically and inconsistently as her own.

Sakura didn't notice him pushing her gently to the nearest wall, maybe because she's enjoying the touch of his lips, nipping her exposed neckline.

"Gaara..."

She tossed her head back, unknowingly to permit him more prominent access to the delicate skin underneath her jaw. Her hands got in his vermillion hair and direct him upward. He complied, leaving a trail of kisses up her neck. She tilted her head to lead him back to her mouth. His breath was warm against the wet trail he left there and she shivered.

"Please... Tell me your name."

And just that, the minute of heaven was over.

Sakura pushed him off, hugging herself like a cold water was splashed onto her.

I'm such an idiot

She gave no outward sign as she grabbed a couple of clothes in her sack and walked toward the bathroom.

"I..."

She didn't let his words slid in her ears, she let the slamming of the door behind her to do the talking for her.

Ignoring the heater, Sakura lets the pellets of cold water beat downward on her. She doesn't care if it will be the coldest shower, she will ever take as long as they could wash away the vibe of Sabaku's hands on her body or the flavor of his mouth on hers.

Unfortunately, the cold water couldn't shield her from the inclination of his warmth, She lifted a flimsy hand to her mouth, unfit to quit shaking. Her lips felt unusually swollen. Her cheek consumed from the rough stubble on his jaw. It was an odd sensation, one totally unfamiliar to her. She'd never been kissed that way.

Sakura slapped herself out of frustration, he definitely knew how to leave her filled with the taste of him, and leave her wanting for more. And she did want more.

She convinced herself the he was just trying to intimidate her, to push her to spit out the answers he's desperate enough to know. And he'd failed miserably. Because cautiousness was the last thing she'd felt.

Now she's seriously scared for the first time in five years of fleeing. Terrified of what he was able to do, terrified of what she now knew she needed, terrified that she wouldn't able to oppose next time.

Next time? Hell yes.

In this isolated cabin, quiet woods and unheard desires.

There will be a next time and they both knew it.

END