Missing the Green
Chapter 1: Leaves
A/N: This is the sequel to One Sunday Morning (by me- s/9528011/1/One-Sunday-Morning add the fanfiction website url at the beginning), so get your butt over there and read it before attempting this. Otherwise you'll be pretty lost.
To the people who've already read One Sunday Morning- this is a much lighter story than that (even though it wasn't all that heavy). Also it's from Sakura's POV.
Disclaimer: All rights to Kishimoto and whoever has the Naruto rights.
She hates sand.
She hates that it's in her bed and her hair and her shoes and her clothes and probably embedded in her skin and it irritates her eyes and she swears to Kami that it's in the shower water more often than not.
It's hard, hating sand, when you live in the Sand village, surrounded by desert (another word for horrendous amounts of the stupid sand) on all four sides.
Whenever she complains to Gaara, he rolls his eyes and tells her to go take another bath. And when she indignantly splutters 'I would, but there's sand in your water too!', he sighs with exasperated patience and kisses her on the cheek and makes up some excuse to leave for 'Kazekage business' (Bull. Gaara's hobby is avoiding 'Kazekage business').
Of course, she reflects, sand is the reason he's so powerful, so why would he want to get rid of it? She bets that he even purposefully puts sand in their house's water supply, so that he'll always have some on hold just in case! That devious bastard.
When she complains to Kankurou, he snickers and tells her she is too princess-y for her own good. Annoyed, she punches him lightly and then he usually has to leave for the infirmary.
But she never even uses chakra…that wuss.
When she complains to Temari, she laughs and retorts that she hates leaves beyond anything, because they're annoyingly bright green and hurt her eyes and require disgusting dirt and soil to grow. Sakura opens her mouth to say that leaves produce oxygen and they are the reason why Temari's sorry ass is alive, not to mention some are also extremely useful herbs and the reason why shinobi haven't gone extinct yet, but the uninterested blond kunoichi cuts her off before she even begins to speak.
'Why don't you just come with me on a visit to Konoha, where you can get away from all this offensive sand?' And she always sobers up and says stiffly that 'It's not that simple'. Temari never pushes and just shrugs and walks away, leaving her alone. That much-too-casual woman.
As much as Haruno Sakura hates sand, there are worse things back in Konoha.
So naturally, she wonders aloud for the 4th time why on earth she was on her way to the Leaf Village with the Sand Siblings.
"Sakura." She looks up at Kankurou, who has a smile plastered across his face. "Shut up."
"Kankurou!" Temari swats him sharply across the head with her fan. "Is that any way to talk to the Leaf ambassador, not to mention the Mrs. Kazekage-to-be?!" Her three companions all wince visibly.
"I'd really like it if no one called me 'Mrs. Kazekage' or 'Mrs. Kazekage-to-be'. Ever?" Sakura offers, and Gaara nods his agreement. His sister rolled her eyes.
"Honestly, when we reach Konoha, no one is going to even guess that you two," she points an accusing finger at her brother and Sakura, "are engaged. You don't even hold her hand in public! I've never even seen you guys kiss! How are we going to even produce little Gaara-Sakura spawn-"
"You don't have to be so bitter that they don't share their sexual escapades with you." Kankurou muttered, and Temari turned her flashing eyes on him.
"I'm not bitter! I don't even want to hear what they do in the bedroom, he's my freaking brother, for Kami's sake!" Gaara twitched. "All I want is for them to actually act like a couple in Konoha, otherwise other men and women hoping to snag the Kazekage or Leaf ambassador to Sand are gonna come knocking the instant we step through those gates."
"And 'we'? Having children is not a big group effort, my dearest sister. Well, it could be, but-" Kankurou stopped snickering and yelped in pain as a fan crashed down on his face again.
"Stop dirtying the atmosphere, you pervert! I'm just trying to help; if Gaara doesn't man up and start acting like a husband-to-be, those horny guards, Kotetsu and Izumo or whatever, are going to make a pass at Sakura. And then we're going to have a hard time explaining why exactly there are bloody remains encased within sand where the gatekeepers used to be." Temari tilted her head thoughtfully. "Then again, they may not do anything. They leered at me once and they still have the scars."
"Low standards, if they tried to hit on you-" Kankurou was cut off by a battle fan eager to get well-acquainted for the third time.
"As the Kazekage, I hereby order both of you to stop talking. Now. For the next hour."
There was a heavy feeling growing in the pit of Sakura's stomach, and she didn't know what to call it.
But the endless sand had at last faded to forest, and she found herself almost disoriented in the brilliant expanses of green and brown, after three years of nothing but… beige.
Only now when she could only see leaves and leaves and more leaves did she realized how much she had missed trees and bushes and vegetation and vivid colors.
Feeling giddy, she twirled around and around as the Sand Siblings watched in amusement. Breathless, Sakura leaned down to the forest ground and plucked three random flowers. Ceremoniously, she tucked one in Temari's hair, who rolled her eyes but didn't take it out, she dropped one on Kankurou's head, who fake-scowled at her giggle, and she handed one to Gaara with a flourish, who raised an eyebrow at her.
"Sakura…" the Kazekage began calmly. She beamed at him.
"Oooooh, Gaara's going to recite a love poem!" Kankurou loudly whispered to his sister, who nodded with mock excitement.
"… these are just weeds." His siblings slapped their foreheads simultaneously.
"Oh. Well, at least they're pretty weeds." Sakura narrowed her eyes at the redhead, whose mouth was twitching slightly upwards at the corner. "If you were a weed, would you be half as pretty?"
"…"
"…"
"… Gaara and Kankurou, welcome to the contagious craziness that is the Land of the Leaf."
"Look, the Hokage Mountain!"
"Yes, Kankurou. We have eyes."
"Shut up Temari-"
"Excuse me?!" Sakura smiled to herself at the squabbling that had become so normal, almost comforting to hear from the Sand Siblings.
The smile slipped off her face as the heavy feeling in her gut grew and grew until beads of perspiration were forming on her forehead.
She finally knew what it was.
Anxiety.
She had never been this anxious in her life. Not in any battle or any test, because that only required plain strength and intelligence and she had that. She knew she was unnaturally strong and she knew she was clever as hell; but this, facing all the people and places and memories, she had no clue if she was going to break down or cry or smile or-
"Sakura?" she felt a cool touch on her shoulder and turned around to face Gaara's slightly concerned face. "Are you… alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine don't fuss about it-" she lied, and Gaara narrowed his eyes, not buying it. Why am I so transparent? "It's just that there are so many things and I don't know what to think or what to do or what to feel and I don't know why I'm so nervous, I'm actually sweating and Kami I knew I should've stayed put in Suna." She drew in a deep breath.
He patted her shoulder awkwardly. Sakura sighed. There were downsides to preferring the strong and silent type.
"Who are you kidding? You hate sand." Kankurou turned around. "If you had stayed in Suna for much longer, you would've gone crazy."
"He's right, for once. And look! It's all the gloriously green leaves you could possible want! And don't you just looove leaves?" Temari teased lightly, nudging the silent kunoichi, who smiled faintly.
They chattered on about little things, like who recently got engaged to who or who broke a record for most failed A-rank missions, but Sakura could still feel Gaara's gaze on the back of her head.
Yes, I would've gone insane if I stayed in Sand.
But who's to say I'm not going insane right now, as we travel nearer and nearer to the very things I've tried to repress in my memory for three years?
Shikamaru is the first person they see, standing a little outside the main gate in his usual slack, couldn't-care-less stance.
Everyone's eyes turn on Temari, who flushes and scowls. "Why are you all looking at me?"
"No reason whatsoever." Sakura sings, and waves to Shikamaru, who raises a lazy hand in return. Temari crosses her arms.
"Konnichiwa, Sakura-chan."
"Konnichiwa, Shika-kun." Sakura says playfully, and the shinobi merely raises his eyebrows.
Shikamaru is the only person from the Leaf she has seen for more than a moment in the past three years, and none of their old comradeship has been lost. He was still endearingly, dependably apathetic about any and everything. And still a genius.
"The Hokage sends her regards, and would like you to meet her at 5 to discuss some matters, Kazekage-sama." Gaara nods. "Kankurou, she requested your attendance as well." The shinobi dipped his head politely. Shikamaru turned to Temari, and they engage in a three-second silent conversation of eyebrow furrows and staring contests, as Sakura tried to muffle her laughter. "Oh yeah, and you too, troublesome woman."
"'TROUBLESOME WOMAN'?! SO THAT IS HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME AFTER 6 MONTHS- YOU LAZY, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING-" Shikamaru calmly deflects all of Temari's enraged swats with a kunai that has magically appeared in his hand, and Sakura sighs dreamily. Gaara blinks at her. There are approximately 17 ways to interpret a single Gaara-blink, but she's not getting married to a stranger.
"It's so… romantic. All that pent-up sexual tension…" Temari glared murderously at her. "And no, I don't expect to fight all the time. That's just their type or something. Ask Ino." Sakura explained, and Gaara nods, bemused.
"Soo… you two, huh?" Shikamaru's facial expression is almost gleeful as he points at Sakura and Gaara. Her heart twists. You have no clue how much you look like a certain blond idiot accusing you and Temari of being on a date for the first time, do you?
"You dumbass, wasn't it already apparent the last time you were in Suna?" Temari glared at Shikamaru in a way that could be called affectionate. If one squinted a little.
"No. They barely even acted like they were acquaintances in public."
"See, Sakura?!" The blond kunoichi exclaimed. "You two need to hold hands, or make out, or something because I'm telling you people in Konoha are constantly in heat-"
"I'll make a public announcement." Gaara interrupted, rubbing his temples tiredly. Sakura looked at him in surprise. "Temari keeps harping on about it and I want her to stop." His sister huffed with indignation.
"No need. Sakura-chan, you sent Hinata-sama a letter, right?" Shikamaru cut in, raising an eyebrow expectantly at the kunoichi.
"Hai. And Hinata-sama?"
"She's Hyuuga clan head now."
"I know, but aren't you technically Nara clan head?"
"Hn. My mother still forces me to let her do everything though." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Troublesome woman. Anyways, Hinata-sama told a few people, because apparently you never told her not to. And one of those few people happened to be Ino, and well…" Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"…Now the entire village knows." Sakura half-sighed, half-laughed.
"Spot on, Mrs. Kazekage-to-be."
"Don't call me that!"
She drove her hands deeper in her flimsy pockets, almost shivering in the cool night air. Sakura was standing on the balcony of her and Gaara's hotel room, looking out over Konoha.
At the meeting, Tsunade had grabbed her former student up into a huge embrace, which she returned wholeheartedly. Her teacher hadn't changed much in three years; she still looked barely 30, although she complained constantly that her bones were starting to feel her real age.
After they were done with all the standard foreign exchanges that even Sakura, the bookworm that she was, found boring, Shikamaru told them to retire at the local inn, and whisked Temari off to the Nara complex ("I don't even want to know." Kankurou had said disgustedly). The puppeteer had said he was going to do something, and left her and Gaara alone.
So here she was, wearing a thin, green civilian dress, staring off into the sky. There weren't as many stars visible as there were in Suna, so she took to counting them.
"You look lost." She nearly jumped at Gaara's whisper on her neck, his arms suddenly braced on either side of her waist against the bar. She sighed heavily, and leaned back against his shoulder.
It still amazed her that three years ago, she couldn't even shake hands with this man without it being awkward.
"I am lost."
"Hm." Gaara leaned his head against hers, thinking. "Why'd you agree to marry me?"
"I'm not lost about that." Sakura flicked his forearm gently.
"I know." Gaara chuckled. "I was trying to divert your attention. And I was curious."
"Well, if you insist." Sakura rolled her eyes as he gently blew against her hair. "Because our children will be attractive."
"Stop trying to be funny."
"Fine. You're a good kisser."
"Flattering, but you don't marry someone based on that."
"Ino would. But yes, I wouldn't."
"As the Kazekage, I order you to tell me the real reason."
"Ooooh, the Kazekage card. I see. Well, the only other male I ever saw was Kankurou. And he calls me 'princess', so no. Amongst other reasons. I guess we bonded over… Naruto." Sakura winced. "And one day, I woke up and decided maybe your eyeliner was not actually detrimental to your ethereal beauty, but enhancing."
"You ruined the moment, Sakura. And these are birthmarks, for Kami's sake, why doesn't anyone believe me?"
"Denial, my dear Kazekage. You're also calm and collected and emotionless on the outside and you don't show any mercy to your enemies, like the astounding shinobi you are. But somewhere inside, you care a lot about your precious people." She felt her cheeks heating up. "Sorry for being cheesy. Now I feel obligated to make another snark about your 'birthmarks'."
"Did you consider the fact that our children might have these 'birthmarks' too?"
"Of course. A daughter wouldn't even have to wear eyeliner! I envy her."
"Huh."
It was later that same night, when they were lying side by side in bed and Sakura could already feel her eyelids drooping, that the dreaded statement came.
"You need to talk with Sasuke." Calm and quiet, but coherent and firm.
"Gaara-" but he was already breathing deeply, probably feigning sleep. She sighed, and shut her eyes tightly.
You need to talk with Sasuke you need to talk with Sasuke youneedtotalkwithSasuke SasukeSasukeSasukekun-
I KNOW. I know. I will. I'll get around to it.
Like hell you will. Last time he came looking for you in Suna, and what did you do? You ran. You stayed in the restricted Kazekage chamber for a WEEK, you coward.
That was different. I wasn't ready to see him. Much less tell him I was getting MARRIED.
Well he still knows, doesn't he? From local gossip, no less.
But all of Konoha knows as well.
Exactly. So now he's nothing to you but just another shinobi on the street?
Yes. No. I don't know. This makes my head hurt. Either way, I can't love him like that again because I'm freaking engaged to Gaara and-
Nobody asked you to love him. Maybe he just wants your friendship. Or acquaintance. Even your annoyance. Anything's better than this refusal to even look at him.
I just-
You have to stop running away from your ghosts, Sakura. Especially the living ones.
Gaara made no indication that he had said what he said the next morning, or that he had any memory of it at all.
Sakura didn't confront him about it. If she had, he would've just vaguely made a "Hm?" sound and tell her that her subconscious was trying to tell her something.
She suspected he was actually highly aware that she in fact regularly had conversations with her so-called 'subconscious'. More like evil, annoying Inner Voice.
"I have some Kazekage things to attend to. You're free to go re-acquaint yourself with Konoha." Gaara gave her a look that could be interpreted as meaningful. Sakura snorted into her morning coffee. 'Kazekage things' probably meant stalking Temari and Shikamaru, and making the latter feel threatened by his presence. All the while simultaneously not letting his sister know he was there. Ah, the busy life of a Kage.
"Yeah, you go stalk Temari- I mean, attend to Kazekage business." Gaara looked mildly offended. "I'll entertain myself. Do you think the Hyuugas would mind if I drop in unexpectedly?"
"No. Hyuuga-sama has been anticipating your arrival, I've heard."
"I will never get used to calling Hinata 'Hyuuga-sama', so I won't even try."
"Be careful, lest you offend the retired Hyuuga-sama."
"Hiashi-kun is actually nice and fluffy once you get past all that extremely terrifying exterior." Gaara looked extremely skeptical. "Okay, I guess I'll stick to calling him Hyuuga-sama."
"Don't purposefully make enemies, Sakura. 'Hiashi-kun'?"
"I won't, I won't. I wasn't Tsunade's apprentice for years without picking up a few things."
"Hn. I'm going, that Kazekage business is waiting."
"Nice timing, Shikamaru and Temari just passed by on the street beneath our window."
"Oh, really? Life seems to be full of the littlest coincidences."
The Hyuuga compound was fancier than the Kazekage quarters, Sakura decided.
Regal and proud, the huge, ancient buildings seemed to glare down at passersby. It reminded her a lot of the real-life Hyuugas.
She was now waiting patiently in the main sitting room (Yes. They had multiple Hyuuga sitting rooms), sipping tea and feeling nervous for some reason.
Three years ago, Hinata was a newly-made jonin, soft-spoken and second in her clan's eyes to the confident, self-assertive Hanabi. More than a few assumed she would retire early from the dangers of the kunoichi life, and become the meek housewife role to some well-financed young gentleman the Hyuuga would pick out for her.
'Assume' makes an ass out of you and me.
Hinata was now the head of the arguably most prestigious clan in the shinobi world. And '-sama' was the customary attachment to her name.
Sakura couldn't figure out how she felt about the young woman who had been her only consistent correspondence in the Leaf. She couldn't even write regularly to Ino, but Hinata's eloquent letters about Konoha's everyday life were a source of comfort in Suna.
She was proud of her, yes. Sakura was almost bursting with pride, her inner-Naruto whooping when the Hyuuga mentioned in a side note that she had been made clan head. And she felt a certain amount of vengeful glee at the sheer number of people Hinata had proved wrong.
But she could also taste the bitterness in her mouth she used to get so often, before when she realized she had been left behind again.
And wasn't it true? Most of the Konoha 11 were either clan head, or on their way to becoming clan head. Of course, there wasn't a Haruno clan, but it was still depressing. The old gossips in town probably thought her greatest accomplishment thus far was 'snagging' the Kazekage. Sakura winced internally.
No need to make Gaara even more smug…
"Sakura-chan?" A stammerless, clear voice from behind ran a bell in Sakura's mind. Her cup froze half-way to her lips, and she turned around in an almost-robot-like fashion. She took in the short, dark-blue hair, the huge white eyes, calm and focused, the lips slanted upwards in the beginning of a smile, the body that made her feel like a gawky teenage girl, the elegant fingers intertwined together…
"I swear you're one of those annoying woman who never stop getting more beautiful until the day they die." Sakura groaned, folding her arms across her chest self-consciously. Hinata flushed a more-recognizable maroon color. Well at least now she was sure it was in fact Hinata; no one els blushed quite as vividly as she did.
"Sakura! Really, what are you saying?" he dark-haired woman protested.
"You're as modest as ever." Sakura stood up and grinned at the still-red kunoichi. "To be unashamedly honest, which one should never do in political circles, I was afraid the Hyuuga head position would take away the Hinata I know." I am so freaking cheesy.
"Well, you're still the same old Sakura." Hinata smiled and the pink-haired woman visibly deflated.
"… you were supposed to say I grew more beautiful as well." Sakura looked forlornly down at her chest, and much to her horror, Hinata noticed.
"Doesn't Gaara already make you feel that way?" she said with a mischievous glint in her eye. Sakura gaped at her friend.
"Hinata!"
A few rooms and walls away, Hiashi-kun was deep in his meditation, when he was rudely interrupted by… laughter. He blinked. And decided maybe he really was getting old, if his eardrums were starting to hear strange sounds on their own.
To Be Continued...
A/N: So nothing has really happened yet. Sasuke hasn't come into the story. Stay tuned, children.