Best Laid Plans

(when dealing with the Kazekage of Suna)

Plan 3:

Don't be swooned by kisses. You moron.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

He was following her.

He was masking his chakra well, that if she had been an ordinary kunoichi, she would not have detected it right away.

However, she wasn't an ordinary kunoichi.

She was the apprentice of the Hokage, and the former student of the ever infamous Copy nin—two people who are practically up there when it came to excellence, precision...and looking underneath the underneath. It didn't take long for her to figure out that from the moment she had stepped out of her apartment, and had gone to the hospital, and had stepped out once more (hours later, when it was time to go)...he had been following her. Hiding himself, and his chakra, as he did so.

And it was seriously starting to piss her off.

Oh, come off it! You're flattered!

No, she wasn't. She was pissed off.

Really.

Sakura usually had lots of patience with stalkers—if she didn't, she would have punched Lee to the ground by now, Kami bless his soul. She would have probably killed Naruto already—because while he hadn't been a stalker once upon a time (in the dim, dark past), he had definitely been edging to that term, what's with all his date-asking and kiss-asking. She had patience, because she knew patience was a virtue—and being a kunoichi, virtues were pretty much something that were so hard to come by, and should always, always not be taken for granted.

But what was the point of patience, really, when you simply were in no mood?

She was tired. She was hungry. She was sleepy—heck, she was practically asleep on her feet right now.

And she really, really hated stalkers.

And stupid, stupid guys.

Inwardly snarling, Sakura continued walking towards her home, all the while thinking up ways of catching him off guard. No way was she going to let him think he had the upper hand—seriously...did the guy really think he could get away with it?

He was kidding himself.

And she was a bit disappointed, really.

Who'd have thought the great Kazekage of Suna, and top shinobi of the land...would be this easy to detect?

But you're flattered! FLATTERED!

She was not.

No. Freaking. Way.

Mentally driving Inner Sakura to shut the hell up, and into hiding, Sakura slowed down her steps, making sure she did it as casually as possible. Subtly, she did a few quick hand seals, until the Sakura standing in the street became a sub, and the real Sakura ended up hiding atop a branch on a nearby foliage of trees.

The sub Sakura turned a corner, quietly disappearing into an alley.

She waited.

Waited.

Waited.

And then...there it was. A small, barely-there spike of chakra from somewhere to her rightright behind a thick array of bushes.

Kya! Jump him now! And don't forget to touch that big, big thingy of his so it will pulse again and—

Flushing at the thought (and the very vivid memories, even if that was supposed to be days ago), Sakura mentally pounded her inner into a pulp, and proceeded to do as planned. Adjusting her position, she crouched.

Swoosh.

Then she pounced.

She smirked triumphantly, when she collided into something solid and warm, and heard a very surprised grunt. Using that element of surprise to her advantage, she promptly tackled the body until it was underneath her, and put her hands on the shoulders and the pressure points, to render immobility. The body did not move. She immediately made eye contact, ready to gloat, and to snarl, and to darn well let him see just what a great kunoichi she was, and that he could never, ever fool her.

She ended up staring.

And staring.

...and staring.

Golden-brown eyes—not jade eyes! Not jade eyes!—stared back.

"Why, Sakura...If I knew you wanted to be this kinky, all you had to do was...ask."

Oh. My. Kami.

Sakura blushed in downright mortification.

Genma smirked in absolute mischief.

"And here I was, just wanting to ask you on a date and all...and now it seems you want to get down and dirty. Alright, I'll take your offer. Why don't we—OWW! Babe!"

She did the only thing possible, when faced with such an embarrassing situation. Sakura promptly removed his hands from her butt.

Then she gave him a hard, hard jab. In the jaw.

She glared.

"I am not a babe! And you suck!"

A pause.

"...you do mean suck your ti—"

Bam!

Bam bam bam!

KAPOW!

Needless to say, the poor senbon-wielding ninja was going to be recuperating in the hospital after that.

For one whole week, give or take.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Sakura?"

A weary sigh.

"What, Genma?"

"...can I still suck your—"

BAM!

"Sakura! The man is in medication! He's delirious! Have some pity!"

A grumble.

"Sorry, Shizune."

"Sakura?"

Another weary sigh.

"WHAT, Genma?"

"I would still like to suck your—"

KAPOW!

"Sakura!"

"Sorry!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It was past midnight, and this time, it was darn serious—she really was asleep on her feet now.

And it was all her freaking fault.

She just had to be kind and take pity on the beat-up Genma, and just had to take him to the hospital herself—and, since the hospital was a bit short-staffed, she just had to be the one to go and heal his injuries (the ones she had put there), while he flirted with her outrageously and tried to talk her into bed throughout the whole process. He was darn lucky she didn't beat him up again (well, alright—didn't beat him up for the fourth time).

And right now, she was darn lucky if she could make it to her bedroom without fainting at all.

Yawning, Sakura dragged her feet, all the while muttering curses under her breath. It was a relief to have Shizune finally take charge, letting her escape the guy and his ridiculous advances—because while it was sweet, in a way, it was also getting a bit annoying, and if she had stayed in that room a minute longer...well, let's just say a mighty beating-up was not the only thing he was going to get.

And it wasn't going to be hugs or kisses, either.

After some minutes of mindless walking, Sakura sighed out in relief when her apartment came into view. Finally. Ignoring her aching feet and sore muscles, she walked faster, taking her keys out, her eyes opening and closing. Quickly, she slid the keys in place, and prepared to turn it. So, so sleepy. There was nothing more she wanted now than to take off her shoes, and her clothes, and get under the blankets and—

"Why were you straddling him?"

—not hear that voice again.

Her eyes snapped open.

In an instant, she was whipping around, her gaze wide, her keys forgotten, her mouth open. She nearly squeaked, when she realized just how close he was standing.

Not mere inches.

It was safe to say that her sleepiness had vanished completely.

"I—you—what?"

He remained silent, and merely gazed at her with those really intense jade eyes of his. Blushing slightly, Sakura averted her own eyes—then, as the cloud of fatigue vanished from her brain completely, she began to realize exactly what he had just said.

Her eyes snapped back to him in shock.

Oh, dear hell. She was right.

He had been following her all along.

"You!" she sputtered, green eyes blazing and pointing an accusing finger at him.

Silence.

Then...

"Me," he finally agreed.

She began to grow very annoyed.

"I was right! You were following me! Hah!" she yelled, waving her finger around triumphantly. Then, realizing what she was doing, and how she was sounding (triumphant, of all things!), Sakura put down said finger, and instead, put her hands on her hips, in a stance that was well-known to be defiant, and quite intimidating. She glared.

He merely stared back, folding his own arms.

She tried very, very hard not to get intimidated at the gaze, and instead, stand her ground and look every bit scary and—

Scary? More like pathetic! Some kunoichi you are for not even noticing him following you!

It wasn't her fault!

It wasn't!

It—

"Are you mating him?"

She squeaked.

"What??"

He kept on staring.

More annoyed now, Sakura tried another glare, making sure to up the intensity factor.

He kept on staring.

She really, really wanted to throw her hands in the air now. Mostly in frustration.

She opted for turning around and ignoring him, and picking up her dropped keys, and reinserting them back on the doorknob's little hole.

She was about to turn it when he spoke again.

"Are you mati—"

Furious, she turned back to face him, and fire him with her very spicy choice of words.

"I am not, you bas—"

Her words stopped, when she realized that his eyes, and his face, and his body, seemed to be closer now—right inside her personal space. He was radiating heat, and closing in, and—

"You're not mating him?"

What was with his choice of words, anyway?

Gritting her teeth, Sakura turned back around to finally turn the key, and the knob, and open her front door.

"No," she replied shortly, yanking the door open and stomping in, intent on slamming said door as hard as she could (she didn't care that it was her door, and it was going to break, and in the end, she was going to be the one who pays for it).

Immediately, sand came up, to stop the swinging door, before it could make any progress.

"Good."

Her mouth dropped open—then, promptly shut when without further ado, Gaara let himself in, shutting the door himself. He didn't look her way, but instead calmly went to where the couch was, to sit there. Still without looking, he began rolling up the sleeves of his robe.

She blinked out of her stupor, and resumed being indignant.

"What do you mean, good? What the hell—and why are you just letting yourself in like you belong in this apartme—and darn it, could you please call your stupid sand off??" She glared at the sand (which was somewhat crawling lazily in her direction), for emphasis—then switched her glare to him.

He looked back.

"My sand is not stupid," he intoned.

"It so i—"

"I'm aching, Sakura."

She froze.

"W-what?"

"I'm aching."

I'm aching, too. For you.

Her mind stuttered. Automatically, she found her eyes straying to the spot below his waist—the spot where just days ago, she found herself touching—

He held out his arm.

"Heal me."

She blinked. Then, to her utter horror...realized he was talking about something else. Not...that.

Oh, dear Kami.

She was such an idiot.

"W-what?"

As an answer, his sand merely crawled nearer, and hooked onto her legs, proceeding to drag her closer. She yelped and squeaked for a while, realizing that his sand was in fact really warm, before reluctantly allowing herself to be dragged, when she finally got a closer look to the arm he was holding out.

It was then she noticed that it was bleeding, with a long, deep gash on it.

"Where...what did you do to your arm??" she practically shrieked.

Gaara shrugged, and laid his head on the cushion. He closed his eyes. "Training."

"Oh."

Her anger was gone in an instant. She eyed his arm in a bit of worry, her medic mode coming into place. She bit her lip. Narrowed her eyes.

"If I heal your arm...will you leave me alone afterwards?" she asked, cautiously.

Silence.

After a moment, he finally opened his eyes, jade orbs pinning hers in contemplation.

"Yes."

Aww, but Gaara-kun, I thought we were going to go tumble in bed and take care of that other aching—

She snapped out of her thoughts (annoying, annoying thoughts!), and huffed to where he was. Without further ado, Sakura kneeled, and yanked his arm (none too gently), and, with a very firm set on her jaw, went to work.

Eventually, her jaw relaxed—as they always did whenever the healing was done, and her chakra was being used to soothe someone. She felt her strength beginning to wane again, and her drowsiness return back bit by bit. She tried not to yawn, and instead, concentrated on her glowing green hands, as it healed and stitched his wound in neat, systematic little patterns.

"Gaara?"

"..."

"Who cut you in training?"

"..."

"You can tell me," she mumbled sleepily, her voice assuring. "I won't laugh."

Silence.

Then...

"It was Naruto."

She brightened at this. "Awesome! He always did know how to beat you, huh?"

He glared.

"Gaara?"

"..."

"Gaara..."

"...what?"

"What do you mean by...erm, good?"

"Exactly what it meant."

She frowned. "That's not an answer."

"I already answered."

She scowled.

He didn't so much as blink.

Irritated again, Sakura glared. "Fine! Whatever! I don't care!" Sulking a bit now (seriously, this guy was impossible), she wrapped up her work, and instantly stood on her feet, and stomped away from him, and right into the front door.

She yanked it open (viciously), and put her hands (once again) on her hips.

"I believe we had an agreement," she snapped.

He stared.

Then he quietly stood up, and nodded.

"Hm."

"Now go away!" she ordered.

"Hm."

"Because a deal is a deal!" she practically yelled, her temper increasing with his short replies. Just because he was the leader of the Sand village, and the guest of her village, and cute and—

She blinked. Scowled all the more.

He was not cute.

Yeah. Just hot and hunky and the best piece of ass we—

Her scowl deepened, as she rudely shoved inner Sakura down to the ground. Oh, that stupid little inner was so going to get—

"Alright."

She blinked again, when she realized she was kind of spacing out (all the stupid inner's fault!). He was nodding again.

"Why were you even following me?" she demanded irritably. "What do you want?"

"This."

And that was all she got from him.

Because the next instant...there was no more room for words.

She was shocked to the core, when, one second, he was by the couch, and she was by the door—and the next, he was suddenly just inches away, and his body was suddenly radiating too much heat, and she could do nothing but squeak in absolute, fascinated surprise. He pinned her to the door.

Then he proceeded to thoroughly, uninhibitedly kiss her.

With lips and tongue and teeth.

...her mind pretty much blanked at this point.

Oh, Kami...Gaara...you are sooo gooood...

No, he wasn't.

...she wasn't a very good liar.

And it was really, really becoming blurry all of a sudden, with his mouth all over, his hands all over, and his body so, so sleek and hot and pressing against—wait, was that a moan coming out of her mouth?

She forgot and closed her eyes, and kept on making noises, when his one hand suddenly came up to cup her breast and knead it softly. When his mouth streaked down to nip her jaw, and suck a bit there. His other hand touched her waist, and her leg, and glided to her neck, and her collarbone, and—

It was over in an instant.

No more heat, no more caresses...no more mouth.

Dazed, she opened her eyes. He was standing right in front of her, his hands on her waist, his gaze penetrating, his mouth—

"You're delicious."

She swore she nearly orgasmed right then and there.

"I—you—what?" she incoherently stuttered out.

He replied by simply moving his hands, in one more rubbing gesture. Moving his mouth, to nip her earlobe one more time.

Her hands gripped his hair with all her might.

"Goodnight, Sakura."

"But—"

"Go to sleep."

"But—"

Another thorough kiss.

She was going to faint with the pleasure.

"Let's mate soon."

And then he was out the door, and the door was closing.

And she was alone in the living room, confused and bewildered and irritated more than ever now.

Because her body was vibrating and her insides were squirming and damn it all to hell—she was so, so aroused.

And this was all. His. Fault.

Inner Sakura was still moaning out in pleasure.

Outer Sakura stomped to her bedroom, muttering out obscenities as she did so.

She was not going to mate him soon.

No freaking way.

No.

No.

NO.

...why wasn't she a very good liar?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Plan Status: Failed.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

a/n: A little reminder: Sakura thinks she's patient. I don't (at least, not in this fic). Heh. Poor girl.

P.S. Don't ask me where the sand came from (coz he did not have a gourd). It was just there (pretty convenient, eh?).

So, um...review? :)