Sakura was disturbed from her sleep by a soft object hitting her in the chest, and instantly twisted around, searching for the kunai she kept on her shelf near her bed. She opened her eyes to see an expressionless Gaara leaning over her.

"What-what was that?"

"You didn't look like you were getting up anytime soon. Come on, Kakashi's here." Gaara left in the direction of the kitchen.

Grumbling to herself, Sakura tucked the pillow back under her covers and got dressed quickly in her usual attire. She paused then, memories of what she had been doing last night to Gaara. What the hell? No. She did not find Gaara attractive at all. And if she did, it didn't matter. What mattered now was removing the jutsu. She arrived in the kitchen to find Kakashi seated at one of her chairs, Ichi Ichi Paradise in hand. Gaara sat on a counter, looking foreboding as usual.

"Ah. Sakura." Kakashi put his book down and leaned gestured to the seat opposite him. Please, have a seat."

Sakura thought it rather odd to be offered a seat in her own home, but she sat down anyway and looked at Kakashi.

"Have you found them?"

Kakashi paused a moment, and then said, "No. Frankly, we have no idea where Orochimaru or any of his minions might be. However, the 5th Hokage would like to test some things, to see if this is a classic jutsu of this sort, or an offset."

Sakura felt a bit nervous. Just what might some of these tests be?

"Are you ready to come now?"

Sakura stared at Kakashi, thoughts spiraling, before realizing what he meant.

"Uh, yeah. We'll get the tests now."

At the door, Kakashi explained that he had vitally important things to do, which Sakura suspected involved sleeping and reading Ichi Ichi Paradise. She couldn't blame him, though. She and Gaara made an odd couple, that was for sure. He was taciturn and only a bit murderous; she was bubbly and excited, when she wasn't in the middle of a fight. Sakura was coming to the realization that she was annoyed that people, mainly her teammates, did not take her as seriously as she took herself. Just because she was optimistic and had a temper, they instantly classified her as a little girl. I wonder what Gaara thinks of me, she thought, looking up at him. No doubt he thought what everyone else did.

Gaara seemed to notice her looking at him, and glanced down at her.

"What?"

"Oh-nothing. I was just, you know. Thinking."

Silence. And then, "Thinking about what?"

"What everyone thought of me. I mean, normally I only go anywhere by myself or with Ino-Pig."

Gaara looked just the tiniest bit confused, then said, "You shouldn't care about what anyone else thinks. Everyone is too concerned with their selves to care about what you do."

Sakura was surprised. She had thought that Gaara's thoughts mainly consisted of "Kill, kill!" and didn't know what to say to this new philosophical side of him.

"Well, okay."

They walked in silence together, and Sakura found that she felt just a little bit better about the stares of the people going past. They reached their destination, and the 5th Hokage stepped out and greeted them.

"I am sorry to learn of your predicament." He said, speaking mainly to Gaara. "We will try our bests to resolve it as soon as possible. Now," He gestured for a scribe to come out and take notes on what he said. "We are going to try a few simple tests. Gaara, step out to where the steps end. Sakura, please come over here with me."

Sakura watched as Gaara retreated to the steps, and then at the 5th Hokage's direction, a bit further, until Sakura could barely see him.

"And now the test."

Before Sakura even knew what was happening, the 5th Hokage had taken a knife and slashed her arm right above her elbow. Taken by surprise, Sakura cried out.

"Now, now, it's just an experiment." The 5th Hokage called out for Gaara to come back and examined his arms. They were clear and unmarked.

"And did you feel anything? Any pain or pleasure?"

"I felt a knife cut my arm, yes."

"Well, that takes care of the pain part. Now for the pleasure." The 5th Hokage said cheerfully. He instructed Sakura to stand about 5 feet away from Gaara, and then lightly touched Gaara, who stiffened at the unwanted contact.

"And can you feel that, Sakura."

"No, not at all."

The 5th Hokage muttered to his scribe, and then smiled at Gaara and Sakura.

"Well, I regret to tell you this, but it seems you have the classic rendition of the jutsu. As I'm sure Kakashi told you, it can only be undone by the releasing of the caster's particular chakra. One last test, to be sure. Sakura, touch Gaara in a way he would find pleasurable."

Sakura blanched. How was she supposed to know what Gaara found pleasurable? Well, she had felt the effects of what she did last night, but Gaara had been asleep, and therefore without all his mental boundaries…She came to a decision. She circled around Gaara stood behind him.

"Sit down."

"Why?" He asked stubbornly.

"Just do it," Sakura said, exasperated. Gaara hesitated a moment longer, then sat on the ground, not looking comfortable at all. Sakura bit her lip, if her idea didn't work out, she would really feel quite foolish. But still, what kind of person didn't get pleasure out of a massage, especially a shinobi?

Sakura kneeled behind Gaara, placed her hands against his back, and felt nothing. Damn him, she would make him feel pleasure. She worked her fingers against the tight muscles of his neck, using her palms on his shoulders and back. When she hit a particularly sensitive spot near the top of his spine, she thought she heard him groan softly, and felt a rush of hotness on the same spot on her back. Oh yes, he was enjoying this.

Sakura felt wonderful, she could feel the exact same things that she was doing to Gaara on her body, but she found that she was enjoying even more the little twitches and sighs she was getting out of him. She put a little more pressure on his shoulder blades and nearly cried out again. Gods, had no one ever done this to Gaara before? No wonder he liked it so much. All too soon, the 5th Hokage stepped in and said thank you to them both, that was enough.

Sakura reluctantly let her hands fall to her sides and watched Gaara stand up and start walking back to her house without a backwards glance. She couldn't help feeling that they had just shared something incredibly intimate, and that now he was rejecting it. She ran to catch up with him, and looked at his face. At first glance, he looked the same, but Sakura thought that perhaps there was a slight relaxation of the muscles in his face. Just a little, she thought. But still, a little is something.