Sakura laid the thick tome she had been studying on her desk and rubbed her sore eyes, glancing at the clock. She had been reading up on medical jutsus for three hours already. It wasn't exactly uncommon for the medic-nin. There was not a lot that held her interest anymore except studying and training. Everything that she had was bent to achieve one goal - to forget about Uchiha Sasuke.

It had been four years. Exactly one year ago that day, Orochimaru had overtaken Sasuke's body. Itachi had been killed by his power-hungry brother, but Sasuke was essentially gone. Orochimaru was now running rampant, the Sharingan in his possession and the Uchiha genius's advanced abilites and potential. He was the most dangerous criminal alive.

And Haruno Sakura simply wanted to forget that he had ever existed. If she ever had to kill him, it might be even better as he would never be a thorn in her side again.

She had become, much to the disappointment of Naruto, a great deal like the deceased Uchiha. She did nothing but train to become stronger or more knowledgeable. If she was not studying and practicing healing arts with Tsunade-sama, she was studying offensive and defensive jutsus (along with some eyesight enhancement) from Kakashi, illusion techniques from Hyuuga Hiashi, or hand-to-hand combat from Gai. She had a two hour session with one of her teachers once a day in a rotating order. Sakura's senseis were impressed with her hard work and massive improvement as a shinobi. Using her intellect and cleverness, she caught on to everything quickly, practicing some jutsus for hours until she had them perfectly mastered. Two years after Sasuke had left, she had been swiftly promoted to Chunin.

It was now being considered that she be promoted to Jounin.

It was no secret that Haruno Sakura was one of the most stellar ninja in Konohagakure. Tsunade was fast running out of things to teach her in the medical arts. Her combat training had become advanced enough that her senseis would help Sakura practice by battling her themselves...and having a very hard time with it. No one had expected that peaceful, rather unskilled Sakura would grow so quickly. But it came at a great price to the girl. She took no interest in anything or anybody else if it had nothing to do with her training. She mildly tolerated Naruto and Rock Lee because they had always been kind to her and Naruto was her teammate. Aside from them however, she found no real comfort in anything except training to become stronger and stronger. It was indeed a subconcious act of trying to please her former beloved despite the fact that he was gone.

There was but one real friendship that Sakura had picked up somehow. Gaara, who visited Konoha frequently, had become a close confidante through a series of rather random and insignificant events. He would often stop by her apartment telling her this or that or simply sitting with her, sipping tea and not saying anything at all. It was not uncommon for Gaara to enter silently and leave silently without having said a word to Sakura.

It was probably the strangest relationship with another human being that Sakura had ever had. And nothing about that bothered her or even held her attention.

Sakura glanced out her window to see a few small academy students playing in the street outside her apartment. They bounced a ball around, some of them using it to practice a new basic combat jutsu they were learning in school.

They know nothing of a shinobi's true fate. They know nothing of the pain they will one day bear. To them it is all a game...as much as that ball they're bouncing around to "train" with is a game.

The jade eyes turned away from the picture of innocence and youth and focused on her stark bedroom. A bed to sleep on, a desk to study with, and enough floor space to allow for some stretching exercises and warm-up taijutsu. Not that she hadn't broken her lamp a thousand times with a kick or punch or something.

Sakura looked back at her clock. Quarter to three. She had a lesson with the Hyuuga clan head in fifteen minutes. Hiashi had just finished teaching her how to defend herself against sound genjutsu, especially with the acousticaly perfected bells, and was now showing Sakura how to perform such a jutsu herself. As usual she was quickly catching on to how to do so and had already landed Hiashi into a few basic illusions with bells on strings.

Making her way to the Hyuuga household, Sakura pondered the percise technique she needed to make the bells work accordingly. If she performed the jutsu wrong, it would have no effect or worse, would throw her into the illusion instead. Timing was everything.

By the end of the day I will perfect that technique.

later

Sakura was leaving the Hyuuga house and heading back towards her own home. As she had promised herself, she had mastered this genjutsu and had caught Hiashi off guard enough times for him to call their session off a half hour early. He gave her a book about how to use instruments like chimes and flutes to create more powerful illusions and told her to have it read by their next session.

She would probably have it done within a few hours tonight. Memorized by tomorrow evening.

Sakura unlocked her door and stepped inside. She immediately went to her kitchen and began to heat up noodles with a blend of seasonings that she didn't really pay attention to. Food was not exactly an important factor in her life. Sakura ate what she cooked and it might have tasted horrid for all she cared. The seasoning was a mere distraction and something for her to watch fall into her pot as she prepared to eat.

Everything in her life was set to be a distraction from what she could never have.

Dumping the contents of her pot into a large bowl, Sakura relocated herself to an uncomfortable couch and ate silently, listening to a breeze blow in through her open windows. It was rather soothing and the only thing that she really liked; such things were rarities these days.

Finishing off her dinner, Sakura sat down with her book of musical illusions and began to read eagerly. She absorbed the facts like a sponge, already thinking through ways in which to implement what she was learning. As she predicted, she finished the volume by seven-thirty.

It was far too early to go to sleep and Sakura was not one to be idle. She began to do chakra building techniques to increase her stamina and chakra flexibility. She walked up her walls and on her ceilings and with her hands. The kunoichi, who had always had terrific chakra control, had reached a level that astounded her Jounin senseis. Her chakra levels and control rivaled theirs and were certainly the best out of all the Chunins.

There was a creak of a door opening and Sakura turned to see Gaara walking in, closing the door behind him. He sat on her said uncomfortable couch and watched as she continued to walk about her ceiling as if she were strolling the streets of Konoha. Gaara never interrupted a training session of the kunoichi's. He simply sat there and waited for her to finish.

Sakura jumped off her ceiling (a difficult feat I can tell you) and faced Gaara. She smiled gently and walked into her kitchen.

"Temari looked upset today." It would not be a silent passing of time tonight.

"Shikamaru had to cancel their dinner date to head off on a mission on very short notice. Temari was being very petty about it."

Sakura said nothing. Gaara never really cared if she answered him or not. There was something refreshing about knowing that someone was not just responding because they felt they had to, but because it was necessary. It was simply something he enjoyed in Sakura.

The teapot hissed and within a few minutes, the two were on the balcony, sipping tea and looking at a full moon. Gaara, now free of the Shukaku, thought the moon a very beautiful object now and was happy to watch it for an hour or two.

"Hiashi says you're amazing."

"Hiashi is a teacher. He's supposed to say those things."

"The Hyuuga clan head is not going to exaggerate."

He had a point. Silence reigned again. Tea was finished and the tea things moved back to the kitchen. The two remained on the balcony, staring up at a lovely night sky.

"I'm getting restless."

Gaara turned his attention to his friend. "About what?"

Sakura met his eyes and they softened into a more vulnerable sheen, something she never allowed except with Gaara. "My training. My work. It's getting boring. I'm not sure what I planned to do with my prowess, it was orignially just an escape. But I know now that I need to do something or I'm going to go crazy."

The fact that Sakura had spoken more than three sentences meant that she felt strongly about this particular topic of conversation. Gaara was all ears. "What do you want to do with it?"

"Beat something up."

Gaara chuckled, another rarity. "Well there were these little kids playing ball today and it seemed they could use a little more combat experience."

"Oh shut up, Gaara." Her tone was not dislike. It was slight amusement accompanied by annoyance that he was not being serious.

"You know, I could make you call me Kazekage-sama."

"And I could make a slug slime your face," retorted Sakura, referring to a summoning technique she had picked up from Tsunade.

They gave each other looks as if they were both exasperated with the other's stupidity. They also knew each other well enough to know it was all an act.

"Sakura..."

The kunoichi tilted her head questioningly at the sand-nin.

"Do you still love him?"

Sakura's eyes darkened and she turned back to look at the stars. Her fists were clenched. "I told you not to talk about him."

"But you need to."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I'm your friend."

"Yeah, right."

"Sakura-"

"Why do you want to know!"

There was quiet for a moment before Gaara continued. "If you do, you should stop."

"Gaara-"

"I thought you didn't want to talk about it?"

Dead quiet. The tension could have been cut with a knife. Finally, Sakura sighed.

"I can forget him. It doesn't mean my feelings have changed at all."

"They should." With that, Gaara rose and headed for the door. Slipping out, he called back that he would be gone to Suna for a few days and didn't know when he'd be back. Sakura did not respond. Gaara shut the door and Sakura listened as his footsteps faded away.

I hate it when he does that, thought Sakura.