Chapter 3: Negatives

A/N: I don't know about you but I find this chapter pretty cute. Read and review onegai…

"You gotta be kidding me," the blond lady said as she stared openly at her little brother's sketch. "Then…" Temari's question was left hanging when they heard someone at the door. "Blast it, it's Gaara. Better get out of here quick before we become dog meat," her brother said as they quickly left the room.

"Gaara… welcome home," he heard his sister's welcome. Something wasn't right. Without saying a word, the red head proceeded to his room to change. Their dinner was silent with the tension hanging in the air. "So Gaara… that sketch of yours… when do you plan on painting it?" Kankuro tactlessly asked.

Glaring at his brother, "You were in my room?" his voice reeked of annoyance as he looked from his brother to his sister. Temari blinked innocently as if she did not know what was happening. She knew how his baby brother is when it comes to invasion of his privacy. "Ah… yeah," he sighed helplessly.

The grown man with short brown hair swallowed his food with difficulty as his little brother looked at him as if he was going to eat him alive. "I… I was just looking for something… and…I thought it might be in your room," he quickly made up. "Well the damage has been done. No need to feel annoyed now Gaara," Temari so wanted to know more about his sketch.

After feeling that his red headed brother had calmed down a bit, "So Gaara, what do color do you prefer for her hair?" Kankuro began casually. His forehead creased as he did not like the idea of other people seeing his sketch, "Pink," he said shortly. "And her eyes?" His sister interrogated. There was a long pause… it was as if Gaara was looking at some mental picture in his mind then… "Forest green," he replied then he stood up quickly after finishing his meal.

"Don't enter my room again," he tugged Kankuro's collar. "Un-der-stood," the struggling man conjugated. With that, he let go of his shirt marched to his room and slammed the door shut.

"That guy is in so in need of a love life," he said in a low tone making sure that only his sister would hear him. "But really, I can't believe it!" she clapped her hands in front of her chest with excitement reflecting in her eyes. "I want to be the matchmaker!" she declared as she turned her head to look at her brother. Kankuro however, knew that this meant trouble so he decided to slither away. "Where are you going?" he heard his sister's voice in a threatening tone.

He froze as if a gun was pointed at him. "Look Temari… I'm really happy that you get to meet Gaara's dream girl but… I don't want to get mixed up in this so…" "You were the one that said he is in need of a love life right?" her grin terrified him.

The pink haired photographer marched into her room feeling exhausted after all that transpired. Before her eyes surrendered to sleep, she heard her cell phone ring. "Hello?" she answered sleepily. "Sakura? Sorry for the disturbance but… can I invite you for lunch tomorrow?" Sakura recognized the voice to be Temari's but something was weird about her tone- she seems delighted and at the same time desperate to get her to come, but she had no time to refuse. She knew that if she tried to turn her down Temari would keep on pestering her. "Alright," she needed her sleep so badly.

"Sa-ku-ra," someone pulled her warm blankets away from her body and opened the closed curtains. Shivering against the sudden gust of cold air and blinded against the bright sunshine, Sakura sighed in slight annoyance then she sat up. "Tenten, what's with the wake up call?" she rubbed sleep away from her eyes.

"You guys are really sweet?" her friend said as she stared after Sakura entering the bathroom. "What are you talking about?" Here we go again… "You and your boyfriend… you guys made up right?" After all I did saw him last night in the exhibit. Tenten chuckled. "Oh… yeah," she raised her eyes to the ceiling in despair.

"By the way your boss called," "What did he say?" Sakura exited the bathroom feeling refreshed. "He said that he would come over to discuss something," her friend said casually as she checked her nails. "What?! Now? But I had an appointment," she bit her lip- a habit she often do when she's in a pinch.

"Whatever it is better reschedule it. Your cute boss seems urgent. By the mind if I hang over to see him?" Tenten winked at her friend. "Sure why not," she smiled. "You know I just don't understand you. You have the most eligible bachelor in your reach for the longest time and yet you did not made a single move to snag him." She stared at her friend now dialing something on her phone.

Gaara was watching television when the phone rang. It was not his habit to answer calls- after all, he did not like talking, so he let it ring and ring. "Phone," he declared as he was getting annoyed by the sound. Kankuro was taking a bath and Temari was nowhere in sight so he was left with no choice but to answer it.

"Hello?" a captivating female voice uttered from the other line. "Yes?" "Can I speak to Temari please?" usually he would reply with a short no and slam the receiver back but… "No, she's out," he waited for her reply. "Oh, is that so? You're her brother right?" "Yeah," "This is Sakura. Can you please tell her I can't make it to lunch today because of an urgent matter?" "Yeah," "Okay thanks," this was the first phone conversation that he had not ended himself.

His blond sister finally, appeared carrying grocery bags. "A girl called," Gaara said as he kept changing the channel. "Who?" "Sakura," then he heard her drop the bag. Turning around, he looked at her reaction questionably. "Clumsy me, what did she say?" she grabbed the fallen bag nervously. "She said she won't make it to lunch due to some urgent matter," he resumed channel surfing.

"Temari… you aren't planning on setting me up again with another friend of your right?" This guy's instincts are unbelievable. "Of course not, Sakura is a new friend of mine… she had absolutely no interest on you," she lied superbly. "Hn…"

The door bell rung, a pink haired girl straightened herself and answered the door. As expected her raven haired boss was there but to her surprise he was with a woman about in her mid-thirties. "Come in please," she gestured then she shut the door. "Sasuke-san, you've met my friend Tenten," they shook hands and of course her friend can't help but blush.

As she served them coffee, "Sakura, this is Shizune-san she will be sponsoring your first photo exhibit." Her boss said formally. "My own p-photo exhibit?!" she said incredulously. "Your shots are really famous and it would be my honor to sponsor your first day view. Do you have sample pictures that you would like to exhibit?" the woman with short black hair smiled at her brightly.

"S-Sure, Wait just a moment," she still can't believe it- she is going to have an exhibit that shows all her shots… only her shots. Rummaging through her tables, she recovered all her signature shots. "Here I'll help," her female friend handed her few of her photos from the other table.

Sakura nervously handed over her pictures to the woman. "Amazing… as expected from Haruno, Sakura," Shizune said as she kept browsing the pictures. "Thank you," she said humbly with a slight pink in her cheeks.

"I thought you were a landscape photographer." "I am … why?" her thin eyebrow rose in question. "Then this is?" the woman showed her a picture of a man sleeping peacefully. "Oh that's her boyfriend," Tenten butted in. "Boyfriend? I didn't know you had one," her boss looked at her with a cool expression.

"This shot is superb… may I request this picture to be included?" suddenly the air became heavy and her breathing became uneasy. "No…" she snapped. "No?" Shizune repeated. "He doesn't like other people looking at his picture…" she made up. "Too full of himself eh," Sasuke muttered. "Huh?" she turned to her boss. "Nothing. I said what man wouldn't like his picture to be exhibited," there Sakura had no choice but to agree. "Understood," she sighed in defeat. What are the chances of him seeing his picture anyway?

"Okay then… here are some passes I'm sure you'd love to give them to your friends." Shizune said before they parted ways. "Thank you so much," she bowed formally as her boss and Shizune walked away.

"Here, I expect you and Neji to be there okay?" she handed Tenten two tickets. "Count us in," she then marched out of her room. "Okay these are for Naruto and Hinata…" after dividing the passes she realized there are three extras. "Might as well," she smiled as she put it in her pocket and left her room.

"Where are you going?" his blond sister asked before he opened the door. "Out," Gaara said then without waiting for anymore questions he left slamming the door. A few moments after, someone was knocking at the door.

"What? Forgot your keys, genius?" Temari stumped her way to the door. "Temari did I come in a bad time?" a pink haired girl looked a bit scared from her reaction as she almost tore open the door. "Sakura?!" she can't believe it… it was only a few moment. They could've met each other already.

"Come in," she stepped out of the doorway. "I'm not going to stay long. I just would like to give you passes for my photo exhibit." She pulled out the tickets from her pocket. "A photo exhibit?! Your photo exhibit?!" Temari exclaimed. "Yeah, it's my first day view. I'm kind of nervous," she bit her lip in reaction.

"Here's one for you and the other for your brother," she said then she made her way to the door. "Sakura… you don't happen to have an extra do you?" "Aren't you lucky? This is my last one… I was wondering who will I be giving it to," she retrieved the last ticket. "So will I be expecting you, Kankuro and your 'date'?" she grinned widely. "Date? S-sure…sure," she smiled back at her. With that, she left quickly.

At a certain store, a man with short flaming red hair scoured the store for the color he was looking for. Carnation pink, baby pink, neon pink… all of them didn't pass to his standards though he didn't know what he was looking for. All he knew is that, the shade of pink is not like the ordinary one he sees. Where the hell will I find it?

A/N: Did you like it? Tell me please… read and review onegai…