"Akane, what are you doing?"

The red headed gal smiled, and continued picking up the flowers from the wet earth. It was raining a few hours back, and there was a rainbow in the sky. Not only that, but Akane thought the flowers looked happy.

"Akane…"

She straightened up and looked back at her companion, ironically, he had the same hair color as her, they weren't in any ways related though.

"Kazekage-sama, I'm just picking up fresh flowers for the vase in your office."

She continued doing so without waiting for a reply, she knew he would wait and wouldn't mind. After meeting Naruto, Gaara had changed considerably, he was no longer the cold blooded killer than everyone thought he was.

The village accepted him for what he is, and what he has become. A saviour to them all.

Gaara only watched as she handled the flowers with care, almost as if they would break if she had handled them any more roughly.

He could smell the faint aroma of cherry blossoms on her, which was strange because she was picking bellflowers.

The longer he watched, the farther his thoughts delved about her. He admired how a Akane was a skillfull medical ninja, but pitied the fact that she wasn't skilled in any fighting at all.

But her ability to perform medical ninjutsu would surpass her lack of fighting skills perhaps.

Then another matter entered his mind, he never knew why he always looked for her when she went missing, the only place she would ever disappear to was this meadow of flowers anyways.

"Akane… I have work to do in the office."

The girl only nodded, her "village of the sand" headband lolling off a little to the side.

"Alright Gaara-sama I'll be right there."

Gaara hesitated to leave, he shifted his weight from left to right before deciding, with a sigh, to make an earth clone of himself. He made the necessary complicated hand seals, and a figure of him rode from the earth.

Akane felt the shift in chakra and turned to him with a questioning look.

"Gaara-sama?"

The kazekage put his hands down,

"This place is isolated from the village, it's not completely safe."

Akane smiled at his consideration and nodded,

"I'm sorry for hindering your work, kazekage-sama."

He only shook his head to signal a "no", implying that it wasn't a big deal, and was on his way off, leaving Akane with a smile to continue picking flowers. She could still feel the presence of the earth clone with her, she had to admit that it was reassuring he made one.

She knew she wasn't good in fighting, and if anything were to happen at that moment she would only be able to fight back as an amateur.

The wind picked up and she held on to the flowers tightly, she shivered a little at the cold, and placed one hand atop her head to keep her long hair from flying around relentlessly.

The moon was already visible in the sky when she settled to finish up on her flower picking, she put the flowers in the basket and started to jump from tree to tree to the village, the earth clone following behind her, although in a rather sluggish pace.

It was only when her feet hit the ground of the village that she started to walk peacefully, looking around the night shops opened at around this time.

"Ah! Akane-chan!"

The familiar old shopkeeper waved from his stall and Akane ran over, her eyes sparkling at the old man.

"Grandpa Jinu! Do you have it ready?"

The old man chuckled and nodded, rummaging under his stall and took out a small box.

"Your usual blend of fragrance, sakura blossoms. It's really rare to get them at this time of the year."

Akane smiled and bowed, thanking the old man and paying him for his service. She loved her perfume, and sometimes she couldn't get it because sakura blossoms weren't in bloom. She was lucky today.

She skipped along the path to the kazekage's building, minding her own business when she noticed that the street was eerily empty. She stopped in her tracks and looked around, feeling extra cold in the middle of the night.

"Strange huh?"

She addressed the earth clone, who in turn said nothing but stood by her side. She walked normally and looked around, wondering what the occasion was for the street to suddenly be empty.

She continued to walk, and walk more, and still she found herself walking when she was supposed to arrive at the office already. Her brows furrowed in worry and wonder, and her hands started to form the hand seals for a genjutsu cancel, just in case it was one, but her hands wouldn't move properly, in fact, it seemed as if she was paralyzed.

In the office, Gaara continued working on his papers, his hands grudgingly passing over the hill of papers, and his eyes scanning it for only a second. He didn't notice how late it was until he turned his gaze to the window, the moon peeking at him.

He stood and strode over to the window, thinking that Akane should have been back by this time. Outside the window the sight was as usual, the normal sight. People weaving in and out of shops and children gathering around a candy stall.

Gaara relaxed when he saw the familiar wave of red hair among the crowd, Akane was clutching a basket of flowers and what seemed to be a small box, the earth clone was still with her. Nothing drastic had happened.

He blinked, and leaned close to the window. Akane wasn't moving at all, in fact not even his earth clone was moving. It was as if the two of them was stuck in time, with everyone else walking around.

Then it happened, Gaara's earth clone burst into a loud explosion, causing everyone around to scatter and shriek in surprise. Some sand ninjas gathered to see what was going on, but they were unable to find what caused the explosion.

Gaara trudged over quickly to the balcony in his office, throwing the doors open and scanned the scene from up high. One sand ninja had noticed the unmoving Akane and tried to shake her out of it, but to no avail.

Then he smelled it. The smell of cherry blossoms, that unmistakable smell. Yet, something was mixed in it, something that smelled so familiar.

Blood.

He jumped down from the balcony on to a nearby building, spotting his target. A man cloaked in black standing in an alley. Gaara recognized the handseals the cloaked figure was making, a jutsu aimed at Akane.

His whole body shivered in anger, and he landed next to the girl enclosing himself and her in a ball of sand just as another explosion shook the ground. When the sand fell to the ground, Akane was already awake from the genjutsu, though slightly shocked.

"Wh-What happened…?"

Gaara was standing in front of her, and several sand ninjas had a man in a cloak seized.

At a wave of Gaara's hand, sand rose up around the cloaked man and he only struggled and screamed for mercy.

He didn't want to have to kill the spy, but he was rather enraged, for some reason. Specially when the smell of blood and cherry blossoms continued to infiltrate his nose. He couldn't accept what the spy had done.

"Gaara-sama!"

The sand ceased moving and Akane clutched at his kazekage uniform from the back,

"Don't do it…"

"You got caught in the explosion."

The blood from a wound trickled down her arm and Akane blinked at it, only noting the pain at that moment.

"It's okay."

She then healed it with her own medical ninjutsu.

"Thank you Gaara-sama."

Gaara only stared at the cloaked man,

"I have the urge to crush you… shed your blood…"

Even the sand ninjas shuddered at his tone, but Gaara retracted his hand and the sand followed. The sand ninjas took the cloaked man away on a wave of the kazekage's hand.

Akane smiled, as if nothing happened and had Gaara carry the basket of flowers, he looked at her strangely and at her slightly blood tinged sleeve. No words were spoken as they walked to the office together.

After all, Gaara was content by the scent of blossoms on her.