Previously on Shattered:

"Gaara, if anyone can save her, I know you can."

"So that's what this is all about," Gaara spoke softly, holding his friend's gaze steadily.

"I know you use to send each other letters all the time," Naruto said with a knowing glint in his eyes, "She use to talk about you all the time. Sometimes I grew sick of hearing about you." He laughed slightly at the memories.

"That was years ago, Naruto," Gaara responded with a breathy sigh.

"Even so, that doesn't just go away. I know, somewhere, you still care about her," he said before adding, "And I bet she still does too."

Gaara looked up into Naruto's endlessly blue eyes and had the notion that he was being set up on a weird, strange, twisted, cliche, and possibly cataclysmic date with Haruno Sakura. Or an adventure, maybe.

The resigned sigh that escaped Gaara's throat left the blonde grinning unabashedly.

"So, when should I send her?"


Updated: 11/11/15


A special thanks to: Far2addicted, for betaing this story.

You make me look like a pro.


Disclaimer: Naruto, in all facts and facilities belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I just borrow them for awhile. All emotional rollercoasters, heartbreaks, and pent up suspense, plotlines and what have you belong to me. Enjoy.


The Right Decision

Once more Naruto sat behind his desk, sighing as looked over the paperwork left by AnBu returning the night previous. His eyes were bleary from sleep and the words on the documents were blurring together, making them nearly impossible to comprehend, much less read. Leaning back in his chair, he raised his face toward the ceiling in an attempt to blink away the fog.

It had been nearly a week since he and Gaara had spoken. From the look of things, and the mission report, Sakura had returned late last night. This meant he would have to tell her about her upcoming mission soon, and it was not a discussion he was looking forward to having.

Every time the organization, which aggravatingly still had no name, that had attacked Konoha was mentioned, something in Sakura snapped a little more, and Naruto could hardly blame her. Although he had no blood relatives to lose, he did have a family of which she was a part of, whether or not she liked it. He couldn't imagine losing her or Hinata. He'd lost some good friends and comrades during that invasion; everyone had. He just wondered how much longer she could hide from it all.

Naruto was broken from his thoughts by his assistant entering his office.

"Good morning, Hokage-sama," drawled a voice lazily.

"Shikamaru," he acknowledged before sighing, raking his fingers through his blonde hair in a distressed manner.

The brunette genius held another stack of papers in his hands as he scanned the desk with lazy brown orbs, noticing it was already littered with paperwork. His gaze took in the Hokage's already stressed countenance and managed a sigh of his own.

Today was going to be a long day.

"Troublesome," he muttered while setting down the stack with a sigh.

"You have no idea."


A light film of sweat encased her figure as the strawberry-haired kunoichi viciously performed her morning katas while dew soaked into her black attire. The black pants that bunched below the knee, the high-necked, sleeveless shirt, even the wrappings on her arms, which extended from above her elbow to the first joint of each finger, and legs, from mid calf to just above her sandals: all were damp, and none of it was due to perspiration.

She'd already done the majority of her taijutsu workout, and her breath hot as it was reflected back against her face by the black half mask she was now famous for. Barely registering the cold temperatures of the early autumn morning, she kicked once more at an invisible enemy, deflecting their attack with one hand and stabbing them with the other that brandished a kunai.

He found her like this.

"Hyuuga," she greeted, never ceasing her movements, eyes lined with black never moving from their focused position. "You're late."

"Hn."

The kunoichi turned slightly to take in his visage, her hair swaying slightly in response to the motion. "You're thinner."

Her voice was monotonous, but Neji heard her unspoken question.

"Tenten has been busy," he supplied with a slight edge to his voice.

Sakura merely nodded. If she could tell Neji was lying, she didn't acknowledge it; yet, somehow, he could feel that she knew. This was Sakura.

He had been the one person she had helplessly latched onto after the invasion. Psychologically, it made sense: He had been there when Junsuino had died, and he had also been the one to comfort her after his passing. Ever since, she had been a constant force in his life.

It wasn't something that he disliked. She was a strong kunoichi, a good friend, and a member of his Anbu team. But maybe that was another aspect of it: in order to be an effective team, members of an Anbu squad had to know each other in a manner bordering on intimate. They had to know each other's reactions, how they handled stress, how they would react in stressful situations. In an uncertain situation, with people she had once trusted betraying her, he was the one certain thing in her life, and, due to the fact that he had known her so well, he had known how she would react. He had told her to cry because she wouldn't otherwise. She was Sakura.

The attachment at first had been comforting, but as time moved on it had become slightly unsettling. Sakura wasn't clingy or needy, like Neji had expected her to be; instead she was silent, distant almost, but aware. She could read him like no one else he'd ever known. If he was upset, angry, she knew, and what bothered him the most about it was the fact that they barely spoke. However, it was a double-edged sword, this 'understanding' of one another. Just like she knew him, he knew her. To everyone observing, Sakura had retreated into this zombie-like shell, unfeeling, uncaring, and emotionless. Nothing, as he knew, could have been farther from the truth.

It wasn't that Sakura didn't feel; she refused to feel. She couldn't handle the grief of complete loss, so she had hidden, locking it all inside, and it was because of this that Neji refused to give up hope on his friend.

"Hyuuga," she called, breaking him from his reverie. Her emerald orbs observed him as usual.

"Hn," he responded, melding his body into stretches his own opalesc eyes closed in concentration.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a messenger appeared before the two shinobi. Sakura ceased her motions and Neji leveled the nin with a curious look. He was a male, middle-aged, brown hair, grey eyes, athletic, with medium height and build. If he activated the Byakugan he could deduce more, but it wasn't necessary.

"The Hokage requests your presence in his office," he stated evenly to Sakura before his eyes glanced toward the Hyuuga. "Both of you."

Neji's eyes narrowed. It had been some time since he'd had a mission.

He heard a sigh off to his right as Sakura stretched her arms above her head in a seemingly bored manner. The messenger was gone with another poof of smoke, and without a word they both abandoned the training grounds in favor of the Hokage's summons.


Naruto had started the first page on the incredibly high stack that Shikamaru brought in when a curt knock resounded on the door. A bright smile plastered itself to his face as he spoke, knowing who stood behind that door.

"Come in Neji, Sakura," his cheerful voice boomed.

Neji nodded as he entered, taking his place before the Hokage, but Naruto's sight was trained on Sakura, who entered in a manner that would have made their sensei proud, quietly and swiftly. After closing the door behind her, Sakura leaned against the wall opposite Naruto, her arms crossed and eyes focused. Upon noticing Naruto's gaze, she inclined her head, slightly closing her eyes in a sign of respect.

"Hokage-sama," she stated in acknowledgment, her intonation flat at best.

The formal greeting stung Naruto slightly, but he didn't let it show.

"Sakura," he returned with a smile, softening the edges in his voice.

Instantaneously he recovered and remembered why they were present. He glanced at Neji before speaking.

"I have an assignment for you," he started noting the slight shift in the Hyuuga's posture. "I am aware that you, Sakura, are due some leave since you have just returned from a high risk mission; however, the cost of not sending you both out on this particular assignment could be fatalistic."

Sakura's expression was unchanging. She was always in a state of constant neutrality, so much so that Naruto couldn't read her anymore. Glancing at Neji, he noted the focus of his eyes and could practically see his cousin-in-law's brain whirling in search of possible options for the reason behind such a summoning.

"We have reason to believe that the organization responsible for the attack on Konoha has a new, high-priority target." He paused before continuing, crossing his arms and taking in the reactions of the shinobi before him.

Worry etched across Neji's brow, his lips down turning at the corners and his discomfort causing him to cross his own arms as if bracing for the identification. Then Naruto looked to Sakura.

To the normal onlooker, she wouldn't have changed, but if you were to look into her eyes there was an unmistakable hunger and sharpness to them that hadn't been there moments ago. In that moment, Naruto questioned his own motives.

He couldn't protect her from this for much longer. He couldn't save her, but maybe Gaara could. Naruto closed his eyes momentarily, setting his unwavering trust and faith in the man to bring his best friend back as Sakura had once done to him. He just prayed, this time, the outcome would be much different.

"The Kazekage has been targeted," Naruto said coolly, his blue eyes sharpening in anger channeled from his own failure. "I am sending the two of you to Suna as a sign of friendship in these hard times. Both of you have advanced knowledge of the enemy and will be assets to the Suna shinobi force." Naruto glanced at Neji, who seemed to be slightly more relaxed than he was before. It was now Sakura who was on edge. "The Kazekage has agreed to this detail. Neji," he said holding the shinobi's gaze, "You are team captain on this mission."

Neji nodded. He could sense Sakura's tenseness from beside him, her normally lax demeanor gone. It puzzled him slightly.

"Right. You will leave in three hours. Sakura, you are dismissed. Neji, I need to speak with you about a familial matter, so please stay."

Nodding curtly, Sakura rose from her post on the wall and left. Once Naruto was sure she was gone, he performed the seals to soundproof the room once again.

Neji's eyes narrowed at Naruto in question.

"What I am about to tell you cannot be repeated."


The sunlight barely shone into her apartment through the thick curtains covering her windows. A lamp beside her bed was the only light source as she packed for the mission.

She was nearly ready, her pack all set with scrolls and an assortment of weapons. Crouching down to grasp a basic antidote from one of her drawers, she spotted a forgotten piece of paper that lay beneath it.

Her emerald eyes narrowed slightly as she took the aged paper between her bare fingertips, and, upon scanning it, Sakura immediately recognized the elegant script as the Kazekage's. It was an abandoned letter of his, the last one she'd ever received.

Sitting down on the edge of her bed, her fingers traced the strokes of his hand, and she almost smiled at the memories it revived in her mind. Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro eating at the dinner table, strategizing at the war table, maintaining his health as the leader of the Allied Forces, sharing fears, fighting side by side, and possibly even falling in love…

Her eyes hardened instantly as she tossed the letter aside. Who she was now wasn't who she was then. Nothing would ever be the same. She knew that.

Irritated, she wrenched her plated black vest, of her own design, from the back of a nearby chair. It had a high, slender collar with a rounded back to protect the base of her skull, and was black with a contrasting white circle in the center of its back, the only thing she had left that linked her to her clan since that night. This, along with the Okami mask that hung loosely around her neck, was the only addition she made to her attire as she slung the pack over her shoulder. Outside the door, she double-checked her weapon pouches one last time before locking it behind her.

As she turned down the road toward the main gate, she took in the sights and sounds around her, knowing it would be some time before she would see it again. She had already cancelled her training sessions with the other former members of rookie nine. Lee had wanted to spar with her, but it would have to wait until some other time.

Sighing, she let her feet wander. If she went directly to the gate now, she'd be over an hour early, so she let her heart take her where it pleased, and wasn't surprised when she found herself standing before the memorial stone.

Many names had been added to the list that night two years ago. Almost instinctively, her fingertips caressed two names in particular: Senju Tsunade and Hatake Kakashi. Her eyes darkened as she traced the names of her teachers. Her family.

Lifting her eyes from the memorial stone, they traveled to the newly erected one beside it. On the top was inscribed: In Loving Memory of those lost to us in the Konoha Invasion. The name she searched for was fourth from the top. Haruno Junsuino.

Her fingers shook as she traced his name and somewhere deep inside her clenched tightly, a ball of pain and regret she had shoved into the deepest part of her being in an attempt to bury it. Of course, it hadn't worked, and that was when she had chosen an emotionless life. She would no longer feel, because she had been driven to near insanity when she had.

"Sakura?"

She felt her throat catch, imagining it was Kakashi catching her here, but someone else had taken up his post of watching over his teammates.

"Sai," she spoke evenly.

She didn't turn from her position facing the memorials, knowing he wouldn't move to comfort her even if she did. Sai had been greatly affected by the attack on Konoha, but in a very different manner.

"Is it because you miss them?" His voice sounded again in the silent grove of trees surrounding them. It seemed to be the only noise for miles. "Is that why you changed?"

Sakura raised her head from looking at the stones and fixed her gaze on the greenery on the other side of the clearing. She turned to leave but stopped just past him as he spoke again.

"Why did you change? Were you not the one who told me it was okay to feel things? To have emotions?" he challenged as he turned toward her, his dark eyes sharp with emotion.

Her eyes saddened slightly before hardening once again. "Sometimes it is better to not feel," she responded flatly as she walked away from him, leaving him behind with the dead.


Neji arrived thirty minutes early at the gate to find Sakura already perched in her tree, the one closest to the gate. He nodded at her as he walked by, not hearing her land behind him, and not needing to. The team had worked together for so long that they could practically predict each other's movements. It would be a good thing to have on a mission like this.

He glanced over his shoulder at the Hokage's office window where Naruto stood watching them leave, his arms crossed. The Hokage nodded to him in acknowledgement as Neji turned toward the path leading to Suna, already feeling the tension building in his shoulders.

Naruto's brow was furrowed as he watched two of his most prized shinobi, and family members, leave through the gates, and, for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, he asked himself if he was doing the right thing.

He heard Shikamaru turning the page of a tactical book nearby and asked, "Did I do the right thing?"

"Hn?" Shikamaru drawled, his eyes still drinking in the characters on the page he was reading, but Naruto knew better than to assume he wasn't listening.

"Sending Sakura to Suna. Am I doing the right thing?"

Shikamaru closed the book after dogearring the page and focused his chocolate orbs upon the silhouette of his kage and friend.

"Am I speaking to the Hokage, or am I speaking to Naruto?"

"Both," Naruto mused as he turned from the window, Neji and Sakura long gone from his sight.

"As a tactical maneuver it is beneficial to Konoha. With the person of interest out of the village, there is less likely to be a recurrent attack. However, politically it has put our ally in danger. If the enemy doesn't learn of her whereabouts, it is also not beneficial to Konoha either."

"Gaara knew the stakes when he agreed to this. As did I," Naruto defended, taking a seat across from the Nara.

Shikamaru raised a finger as he continued. "As a friend, I say you have the best interest of your friend, and our best medic, at heart. If this does succeed, it will benefit not only her, but our village and Suna's as well. It has the potential to strengthen the ties between our villages, and, if my theory is correct, we may have a semi-permanent ambassador in Suna from Konoha. Our ties would be inseparable."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly is your theory?" He inquired, his voice taking on a tone of interest.

"Was it not the letters that sparked this undercover operation of yours?" Shikamaru questioned with a sigh.

Naruto smirked slightly. "You think it could happen?"

Shikamaru leaned back into his chair, reopening his book as his eyes resumed their scanning of its pages before he stated simply, "I am a tactician. War is easy. Women are not."

Naruto snorted, remembering the time he had asked Shikamaru for advice on dating Hinata.

The Nara lamented the situation momentarily before speaking, "Women may be troublesome; however, I know my own kind. If Gaara didn't care for her, especially since he is the Kazekage, he wouldn't have agreed to this."

Naruto's blue eyes sparkled to life as he grinned widely and whispered, glancing out of his office window once more, "Maybe the 'Flower of Konoha' has one last blossoming left in her."


On the third day, the duo appeared upon the edge of the desert. It was late evening and the desert cold clung to their attire, making the trek slightly more cumbersome.

"We should be meeting a Suna nin soon," Neji spoke slightly above a whisper, his Mangusu mask firmly in place.

Sakura merely nodded in response. Her mind was elsewhere, hardening itself for the imminent meeting with the sand siblings. It had been nearly two years since she'd seen any of them, and she had no doubt it would be much different this time.

The village walls were coming into view on the horizon, but they still had a few hours of travel left before they would reach them. That was the infuriating thing about the desert; during the war, however, she had managed to find the sandy landscape, at times, beautiful.

Closing her eyes, she tilted her head upward, removed her mask, and breathed in the cool, calming fresh air of the night. Upon opening her eyes, she took in the brightly lit expanse of sky littered with stars of all intensities and sizes. They seemed perfectly placed in the cosmos, and, for a moment, she couldn't help but wonder how things had turned out the way they had. If a star was so perfectly placed in the universe, so as to not be absorbed by another and exist, then why couldn't her life be the same? It felt as if her whole world had shifted, like some unseen force was eating away at it, slowly destroying it.

Mind clouding with confusion, she forced her gaze from the magnificent sight and back earthward. Neji paused abruptly and Sakura stopped short beside him, instantaneously replacing her mask.

"What do you see?" She asked quietly.

"Two nin moving swiftly toward our position," he uttered, focusing his Byakugan.

"Suna nin?"

"Possibly," he said, still concentrated upon the approaching nin.

"Orders," she asked, withdrawing two kunai from her weapons pouch.

"Evasion until identification," he stated, scanning the surrounding area for cover.

Immediately, Sakura placed a henge upon herself to hide her pink hair. If they were enemy nin, they would recognize her outlandish hair color instantly. Neji nodded at her brunette adaptation approvingly, but Sakura paid it little attention, her emerald eyes scanning the horizon for cover and finding none.

Deciding quickly on the best course of action, Sakura removed a scroll from her weapons pouch. Biting her thumb, she unraveled the scroll and signed it in blood. Holding the scroll between her fingers, she performed the final seal, and in a poof of smoke a small pug, who used apple scented shampoo, stood before her.

"What can I do for you Sakura-chan?" Pakkun said, looking around himself before taking a sniff. "Are you in Suna again?"

"I need your nose," she stated flatly, crouching before him, her gaze locked on the sand in the distance.

"Right," he replied turning toward the darkened expanse. "What am I looking for?"

"There are two approaching nin," she stated as Neji joined her in crouching.

After taking in a few lungfuls of air through his nose, Pakkun spoke again. "They smell like Suna. Very young Suna."

Sakura nodded as she rose to her feet. "Thank you, Pakkun."

Absentmindedly, she scratched him behind his ears, to which he gave an appreciative sound before he was gone in a small cloud.

Neji stood beside Sakura waiting for the nin to appear as he stated nonchalantly, "I didn't know you were in possession of that summoning scroll."

"Hn," she responded, before elaborating, "The Hokage felt it necessary that one of us have it."

"I see," he replied as the two Suna nin came into view, both looking very young and inexperienced.

"You are the nin from Konoha?" the older of the two males asked sizing up the pair before him.

"We are," Neji replied, removing the mission scroll from his pack and handing it to the nin for him to inspect.

"Right," the nin replied, handing the scroll back to Neji before meeting his and Sakura's gaze. "We will escort you to the village."


Gaara had gone before ranks of shinobi to give speeches, he had debated adaptations to the village's security with elders, and he had gone through the trials of becoming Kazekage. However, this was the first time, in his short life, that he felt the notion of becoming sick, and the fact that Temari was pacing back and forth in front of his desk wasn't helping matters.

"I don't understand you, Gaara. She hasn't spoken to you in years, and when all of a sudden she needs you, you jump at the bait. You are a Kazekage! You cannot be making impulsive decisions because of some kunoichi!" She thundered, her green eyes sharp with anger.

"Temari, since when were you concerned about how I made decisions or what I made them on?" He retorted, a slight edge to his voice and his eyes boring into hers. He leaned back in his chair, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"Since you started to bend over backward for a woman who left you out to dry," she snapped sharply.

His seafoam eyes narrowed considerably as her piercing green ones clashed with his in a battle of obstinacy that he knew, in the end, he would win. He sighed, taking a breath to calm himself.

"Her village was attacked-" he started calmly.

"That was two years ago, Gaara! A lot happens in two years. Look how much you, how much Suna has changed in two years," she interrupted before sighing as she laid her hands on his desk leaning against it. Worry creased her forehead as she bowed her head and whispered, "I just don't want you hurt again."

Gaara leaned forward on his desk lacing his fingers together before him. He looked into his older sister's eyes evenly, "I appreciate your concern, Temari, but this isn't about me. This is about Sakura."

Temari jerked herself from his desk snorting, "Oh yeah! Because that makes this so much better! She's unstable, right? Possibly insane? So we have a mentally challenged kunoichi on the loose in Suna. Like Suna needs that," she scoffed as she began pacing the room once more.

Raising an elegant, uncolored brow Gaara peered at her curiously. "The same could have been said of me at one point in my life."

"That isn't the same-" she started her gaze returning to his.

"But it is," he retorted, straightening his back and crossing his arms. His gaze hardened and his voice was firm. "Do you know what saved me Temari?" He demanded pausing as if waiting for her to respond before continuing. "Friendship. Uzumaki Naruto extended his hand to me in one of the, if not the, single darkest moment of my life. Maybe what she needs right now is a friend. That I can offer, if not for her sake, then for Naruto's."

Temari remained silent as Gaara rose from his seat and walked toward the window that gave him a clear view of his village. The warm glow of the lanterns outside of the houses ignited the streets along with the moon and the stars giving it a warm, romantic glow. As he placed his hands on the windowsill, a wayward breeze threatened to ruffle his crimson locks, and his previous slight nausea forgotten at the sight of his village cozily tucked in for the night.

"I love my village. It is beautiful and rough; comforting and cruel. Opposites in pure harmony." He paused, letting a passing breeze ruffle his red hair. "If anything can save her, Suna can, because it once saved me."

He sighed once more, turning toward Temari, who stared at him, wonder reflected in her green eyes as they studied his for a few moments longer.

"Alright, Gaara. I will trust you, and Suna," she said softly.

"Thank you, Temari," he responded calmly as he made his way back toward his desk.

He had just taken his seat when four figures made their way swiftly down the streets of the village, as silent as the night itself. The nausea returned to his stomach tenfold as all of the past memories and emotions flooded his system, and he gritted his teeth in an attempt to keep whatever threatened to resurface into the world back down.

"Temari, open the window further," he stated, knowing that they would be brought to his office as he had specified.

As soon as she had, four figures poured into the room, and the one in the Okami mask, in the center, held his rapt attention.


Sakura had felt invigorated as she sprinted through the streets of Suna once more, a reservoir of memories breaking the dam in her mind with its intensity. Her lips had turned upward slightly because of it, not that anyone saw.

Upon entering the village, she had dropped her henge and her pale pink hair glowed in the moonlight. For the first time in a long time, Sakura felt alive.

"When are we meeting the Kazekage?" Neji sounded from her right, his opal eyes curiously studying his partner with mild interest. Even if she were masked, he had grown to know the kunoichi too well to not notice the slight change in her demeanor. She seemed almost happy.

"Immediately," responded the younger, blonde nin as he threw a glance back at the Konoha shinobi.

This was when Sakura felt a slight twinge in her stomach. She, however, ignored it as the nin in front of her started sprinting. Understanding that they were taking the fast way to the Kazekage's office, Sakura's lips split into a wide smirk. She'd always wanted to try this.

Sprinting ahead with the other two nin, Sakura leaped onto the Kazekage's tower without abandon. She heard one of the nin behind her bark a laugh at her antics, but she didn't care.

Obviously more practiced at this than she, the sand nin caught up to her in no time and she slowed to match her partner's pace. The window opened and all of the nin gracefully, as was their art, landed soundlessly on the floor of the office. Sakura caught a glimpse of a shock of red hair as she bounded over the lip of the window and, surprisingly, she nearly missed her footing, but no one else seemed to notice.

She landed silently in a crouched position between the shinobi around her. Removing her Anbu mask as per protocol, she instead hung it around her neck, keeping her eyes lowered. The other shinobi were dismissed with an unseen hand gesture and leaned against the walls awaiting further orders. This left her directly before the Kazekage himself.

She and Neji rose at the same time, but he didn't speak. Knowing that the Kazekage must be greeted, Sakura waited several more moments before bending at the waist. She closed her eyes as she spoke evenly.

"Kazekage-sama," she acknowledged before straightening herself and immediately noticed Temari's position to the aforementioned kage's right. She wasn't surprised. She also noted that Kankuro's presence was absent.

"Sakura," he acknowledged, a softer tone than he cared to admit permeating his voice.

She felt a twinge in her chest as he spoke her first name. Her emerald eyes glanced to meet his seafoam orbs, and in that instant her breath nearly caught. He was exactly the same as she remembered, perhaps a little older, his hair definitely tamer but still holding its spiky nature. That was all that she could, from her position, decipher that had changed about him, at least physically.

Then it happened. As if her mind caught onto her display of emotion, her eyes became void of all feeling and warmth that had previously been there, shutting her down completely as her jaw clenched slightly. This was the first time in two years she had let a semblance of emotion seep through her ironclad façade, and it was unacceptable, deadly even. It was what had destroyed her once before, and could do so again. She'd have to be more careful from now on.

Gaara's own voice had sounded foreign to him, as he had spoken her name to her for the first time in years. He maintained his calm air, but the rush of memories that assaulted him when her eyes met his had nearly sent him off kilter. The nausea from before had intensified, but was now masked by an unprecedented excitement at having her here again. With great difficulty, he pushed down his torrential, nearly out of control emotions. He wasn't a raging teenager in his adolescent years, he was the Kazekage in his early twenties, and he needed to act like it.

As he inhaled imperceptibly to steady himself, he also noticed that her partner, Hyuuga Neji, had yet to speak, instead seeming to observe her with apparent interest. Gaara narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to decipher whether or not it was due to an outright order, or a personal interest.

Chancing a quick glance toward her person, he properly took in the changes that had overtaken the woman he had once known so well. Black attire replaced her normally red and otherwise colorful garb. A black half-mask now obscured half of her face for a reason unknown to him, and thick black eyeliner intensified the green of her eyes, making them look darker and colder, and the usual spark they had held was absent. Every inch of her body was covered in black, as if she were permanently in a state of mourning. However, the purple rhombus was still proudly displayed beneath the tips of her bangs proudly. A sign of unprecedented power that he knew she had in spades. It was the only unchanging, familiar, feature to him. Even her hair had grown longer.

It was Temari that broke the deafening silence that followed.

"By protocol when meeting the Kazekage, you are to remove all articles obscuring your face," she snapped garnering a neutral look from emerald eyes.

He inwardly sighed. 'And so it begins.'

Sakura had been expecting some sort of animosity from Temari, and so wasn't disappointed when it started forthright. They had grown close before the attack, nearly sisters by the time she left, but it was only natural that she was reacting so strongly. Things were different now.

In an attempt to divert the crisis, Neji came forth to hand the scroll to the Kazekage as Sakura spoke.

"According to section 11-b of article 180, a shinobi in disguise will be allowed to withhold one's appearance from others even in the presence of a kage when one is unsure of the intentions of persons in the vicinity." Sakura's monotonous voice resounded in the quiet room.

"Are you saying you think I'm a traitor?" Temari demanded, a slight snarl marring her normally pretty face.

"No," Sakura drawled as she crossed her arms before glancing at the escorting shinobi leaning against the walls implicatively. "But they might be."

Temari's emotional display ranged from irritation to anger to outright disbelief. Sakura raised an eyebrow at the indecipherable utterances of the obviously angered kunoichi.

"Then how are we to identify you?" Temari growled once she found her coherent voice, her eyes sharp with animosity.

Sakura uncrossed her arms and shucked her vest that fell to the ground with a solid thunk. She didn't care to notice the looks the vest received from the room as she placed two fingers to the Anbu symbol on her shoulder, pulsing chakra into it where a series of numbers glowed brightly.

"In accordance to Shinobi Rights, article two, section 4-a, upon the advancement to elite forces within a hidden village, a means of identification is to be imprinted upon each individual of a given force. This number will follow the shinobi throughout their career and will be printed upon any given document that contains their name," she stated once more.

Looking murderous, Temari glared at her openly as Gaara glanced over the scroll in his hand. There, as she said, was a strand of numbers beneath the name Haruno Sakura. It was standard protocol, something Temari had already known. Gaara let the right side of his mouth twitch upward in a ghost of a smirk at the statement that had succinctly put his eldest sibling in her place.

Sakura replaced her vest as Temari clenched her jaw in agitation. Her emerald gaze scanned the room once more, noticing that Kankuro had still to appear. Sakura's brow furrowed slightly.

"Where is Kankuro?" She stated evenly, her gaze held on nothing in particular.

The Kazekage's eyes lifted to hers momentarily. She could see his jaw muscles jump slightly. She recognized that tick. He was debating something.

"He's in a coma," Temari snapped bitterly as she crossed her arms glaring into Sakura's person.

That struck a chord somewhere inside of Sakura. She nodded curtly in Temari's direction who only glared at the pink-haired kunoichi.

Gaara was through with the posturing. He sighed as Temari's tone reflected nothing but bitterness toward the person sent here to be helped.

Sending a reprimanding look Temari's way, he spoke to the other nin in the room, "Take Haruno Sakura to her accommodations at the Sabaku estate. Hyuuga Neji," he said, looking to the quiet, pale-eyed leader of this team, "I ask that you remain here for a debrief."

The Hyuuga nodded as Sakura inclined her head toward both he and Temari before she left following the other sand nin out. Once the door was closed and the footsteps had receded, he sighed. His fingers steepled before him, he glanced at the remaining Konoha shinobi.

"I assume you are aware of the nature of this particular mission," he queried, his gaze intent on the Byakugan wielder.

"I am," Neji retorted, leaning against the wall of the office and crossing his arms, his pale eyes fixed upon the Kazekage.

"And I assume that you are qualified to answer any of my questions regarding her mental status?" Gaara inquired once more studying Neji's countenance for any sign of inconsistencies.

"I am no medic," Neji responded, barely restraining a sigh of his own. "But I know her enough to understand what is normal for her and what is not."

Gaara nodded in understanding as he leaned back in his chair when Temari spoke.

"And I suppose it is normal for her to demean officials from the village she is currently residing in?"

Neji's eyes narrowed as his gaze trained to the fan wielder, "With all due respect, ambassador," he stated evenly, "It was you who questioned her choice to wear the half-mask. Yet, I do not recall once Hatake Kakashi ever having been disallowed such a privilege while in Suna."

Temari's forest green eyes narrowed. "Hatake Kakashi was also not potentially insane."

"While that could have been debated on many grounds," Neji stated curtly, his eyes focused on the Kazekage. "Haruno Sakura is not insane. She is damaged but by no means does she warrant that diagnosis," he finished, glaring once more at Temari.

"Then what is wrong with her?" Gaara questioned, leaning forward in his seat once more, his eyes sharp with concentration.

"She is incapable, at this time, of maintaining emotions any longer, particularly those that revolve around emotional pain," Neji stated, his voice softening as his brow furrowed in deep thought.

"What happened to make her this way?" Temari asked curiously, for once sounding concerned, as her green eyes softened slightly.

"With respect, ambassador, that is not my place," Neji responded, his gaze refocusing on the people in the room.

Gaara nodded, having received the information he required. "You are dismissed, Hyuuga Neji. Temari, please escort Hyuuga-san to his quarters at the estate."

Temari nodded curtly before walking from the room, Neji in tow. Once the sound of their footsteps had receded entirely, he signed heavily, brow furrowing. Collapsing in a very un-kage-like fashion on his desk, he closed his eyes. He could feel a migraine coming on, but that was pushed to the back of his mind. He had more pressing matters to attend before he could succumb to such a frivolous thing.

Gaara opened his eyes slowly, pondering the source of his problems at the moment: Haruno Sakura. He fingered the scroll before him and searched for her name before tracing the figures. Closing his eyes once more, he sighed heavily, worry etched across his face and brow, openly displayed for the empty room to see.

When he spoke, it was barely above a whisper. "What happened to you… Sakura…"