Sasuke turned to the door and stood still for a second before gesturing to Sakura to hide in the bathroom. Seconds later, after shutting the door behind her, a knock came in followed by Gaara entering the room.


Sakura was still a mess while leaning closer to the bathroom's door to hear what's going. But the sound of her heartbeat covered it all. She was going crazy: What did just happen? And why did someone had to come just at that moment? But wait what happened? Or was she just seeing things? No she can still feel the warmth of his lips on top of hers, she could still his hot breath on her skin. Was he mad at her and just wanted to shut her up? But why would he be mad?

She took a step back and held into the sink next to her to support herself. Moments later came on a knock on the door

"Sakura, you can come out now." Whispered Sasuke from the other side.

Sakura found herself wishing she could hide longer in there, but realized she was done hiding, she mastered up her courage, unlocked the door and walked out. She expected to see a composed Sasuke and that she would have to make a lot of effort to make him talk but he was sitting on the edge of his bed and seemed deep in thought before saying:

"Gaara knows more than he should, he knows I won't kill you, he's going to cause us trouble if I don't listen to him"

Seeing the worry on Sasuke's face, Sakura suddenly felt cold and hugged herself tight.

"What does he want?"

"He said we'll find out soon enough."

Sakura moved slowly towards the bed, then sat on the other side of the bed away from Sasuke:

"So what are we going to do now?"

"Find a way out of here." Sasuke stood and walked towards the small opening in the wall, he looked out silently wondering what might Gaara want from them and how did he find out what he was really planning to do.

Time flew by so fast and when Sasuke finally looked back at Sakura she was still sitting on the edge of the bed, deep in thought as well. Feeling his eyes on her, she looked up and their eyes met. It was as if they were seeing each other for the first time, he got lost in the light green of her eyes then his eyes traveled to the soft pink on her cheeks, then her pampered lips. He remembered what occurred earlier today, how he lost control over himself as she seemed to no longer care about him, it felt as he was wiped out of her thoughts. But not her, he thought, just not her, she is the only person he wants to remember him, because she was always present in his thoughts, ever since he left, she hunted his dreams, her pleads for him to stay, her tears as she shouted how much she loved him, has she forgot it all already?

The room was colored deep orange as the sun started to settle down, the darkness will soon envelope them and each would be left to face his darkest nightmare as always. But this time it was different, they had a façade to maintain in front of each other; the tough boy and the independent girl.

Sakura was turning into a status on the bed so she decided to get up and head to the bathroom, she took a quick shower and just as she was about to put on back her dirty clothes a knock on the door startled her.

"Yes?" she questioned

"Clothes …for you." A faint voice responded

She slowly opened the door and reached for the clothes in his hand, she was surprised when she figured that they were none other than his own clothes, a shirt and a boxer. Her face turned red and she thank god for the walls separating them or she might have died with embarrassment.

The shirt reached her mid-thigh but she kept tugging at it as if it would get longer then after minutes of contemplating her looks she walked into the room. Sasuke had a towel on his shoulder and was getting ready to take in a shower but as soon as he saw he seemed startled and froze in his place but soon he recovered and brushed past her as if nothing just happened.

He closed the door behind him and stared at his reflection in the mirror, he was starting to wonder how he was going to be able to spend the night in the same room as her, if he wonder outside he risks of being seeing and therefore their safety. His minds travels back to her image in his clothes, she looked like a goddess and yet she was oblivious of it. God she was driving him crazy.

Half an hour later, Sasuke walked back to his room, he froze before reaching the bed, Sakura was already asleep, he sighed thinking about how tiered she must have been, spending her nights on the cold ground starving. A sudden wave of sadness ran through him as he laid next to her and watched as her chest slowly rose and fell peacefully. He tucked her hair behind her ear and her eyes stated to open

"Sasu..ke?" his name escaped her lips and his heart shot up to his throat,

"Sleep" he let out after composing himself.

In the early morning, Sasuke decided he should go and find them something to eat, leaving a still sleeping Sakura behind, he closed the door quietly.

He first walked around the base checking if anything was out of place, if someone has seen or sensed something off about him. Then he headed out to the nearest town, besides food, Sakura needed clothes. He loved seeing her walking around in his shirt but that won't be suitable for escaping.

An hour or so later, he walked into his room to find a frozen sakura standing by the bathroom door, suddenly Gaara emerged from behind her with a smirk on his face, he didn't seem to notice Sasuke however, not yet.

"you swell amazingly, like a blossoming flower, he said as he sniffed her hair, "listen gorgeous, let's not make it complicated, come with me and no one gets hurt" Gaara's hand caught Sakura's elbow and she looked both in pain and disgusted

"Where are you going, I wonder?" Sasuke finally said as he lost his patience for this intruder to notice him.

"Oh Sasuke! You are here!"

"Yes I'm, let go of her arm" Sasuke managed to sound both composed and threatening even though he could feel the blood in his veins boil.

"Oooh okay, better now gorgeous?" he questioned after letting the pink haired girl's hand free

"Step away from her."

"Come on now, aren't you taking a bit far now, I won't hurt her you know! I need her in one piece"

"What do you want?"

Gaara let out a laughter, then walked slowly to Sasuke before looking back at the girl: "her" then he stormed out of the room.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Sasuke jumped to Sakura's side

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, he is just disgusting… what does he want from me?"

Sakura suddenly felt dizzy and reached for something to support her, she gasped when a pair of hands engulfed her and carried her to bed.

"Thank you…" she said,"i think i have not regained all of my chakra yet"

"Careful" Sasuke answered as he reached for her chin and titled her head up so that his eyes were pouring into hers.

"Lay down and don't make any effort until you regain your strength, you are too vulnerable now, an easy target…" he trailed off as tears began to fill her eyes

"I didn't mean to…"

Sakura lowered her gaze before he could finish his sentence, escaped his touch and smiled

"Sorry..."

"Don't be" Sasuke sighed.

"I'm still causing you trouble, being an annoyance."

"You are an annoyance" he confirmed, her eyes widened and she gulped the lump that rose in her throat

"But not because you are weak, I know what you are capable of Sakura, but I can't help but worry about you..."

She looked up at him and somehow that gave him the courage to step closer to her and wipe away a tear that escaped her eye. He then caressed her cheek and let his hand settle on it.

Sakura shot up from her place and stepped away from him. "What is he doing ", she thought. "Is he messing me with now? Why does he have to be so cruel? And why do I get affected by the tiniest thing he does? Why so stupid!"

He walked towards her, eyes fixated on her, then he reached for her face again:

"Sakura, what is it?"

"What is it?!" she almost shouted but kept her tone under control.

She pushed his hand away from her face, determinant that today she will let it out. She was done being a foul for him.


AN: boring but hopefully next chapter is worth it!