Gaara insisted on driving. He said something about not wanting to get lost…

"Come on! I wouldn't get us lost!"

"Really? Temari got us lost a few months ago and we've lived here our whole lives. It took her four hours to figure out where we were."

Gaara kept his eyes on the road.

"Where were you?"

"We ended up two towns over."

"But the nearest town is an hour and a half away. How did she manage that?"

Suna was very isolated.

"I have no idea. I didn't ask… Needless to say, I've been driving ever since."

Gaara came off as very dry. Not humorless but just dry. I liked that though. All the guys I had ever met were too serious and ruthless, not serious at all and everything was a joke, or just plain brutal.

Gaara seemed to be the type who didn't play games. Very straightforward about most things, I guess. He hasn't mentioned anything about last night so maybe it was just me. Maybe he wasn't looking at me at all!

I don't know if I'm disappointed with that or not…

"There are three furniture stores in town. Which one do you want to go to?"

I shrugged, "Surprise me!"

Gaara didn't reply so my mind began drifting off. I stared out the window, watching everything go by.

I thought about what Sai said last night.

Sakura, I think I'm in love with you.

Stupid, stupid Sai! Why did he have to do this to me?

Truth be told, I've never dated anyone. I have very… high standards? My godfather has tried finding me a suitor because Kami forbid I die a single old cat lady.

I've seen Sai at his absolute best and worst. Just knowing what he's capable of if something went wrong in the relationship made me sick. Revenge can be sweet but it can also be bitter. It's bittersweet for most. But when Sai gets revenge, it's bitter for both parties.

I was tired of that word. Revenge. Everything in my life in Konoha was about revenge.

Revenge is best served cold, Sakura. Your mother played the game well.

Nagato always pushed it one step too far. My mother died when I was thirteen. I saw everything. Needless to say, my life hasn't been the same sense. My family was never normal.

My phone went off again, cutting off my deep thoughts.

Great. Sai again.

"Go ahead and answer it. Might as well get it over with. We're here anyway."

I shook my head.

"No way! Today is going to be a good day. No one is going to ruin it."

Gaara arched a brow at me and I stared back with equal intensity. Eventually, we went into the store. I hoped he would drop the subject. The last person I needed to talk about Sai to would be Gaara.

"Hello, miss, sir. How may I help you today?" A busty woman approached us as soon as we walked in the doors.

She eyed Gaara and looked like she was going to drool. I inwardly gagged. Gaara didn't seem to notice or trained himself not to care. If he did, he would come off as a lot more conceited.

"Um, yes! I just moved here and I need new furniture and paint."

"Alrighty then! Let us start with paint. What color were you thinking?"

I looked over at Gaara and shrugged.

"I don't really know yet… Do you have the color cards?"

The woman beamed us a smile and nodded.

"Right this way, hun!"

For some reason, I didn't want to walk alone. I wanted Gaara to walk beside me. Something was off but I couldn't quite put my finger on it yet. Was someone watching me?

I took Gaara's arm and pulled him beside me. He was walking behind me and I was walking behind the saleswoman. He gave me a confused glance but stayed where I put him.

The store was huge, like those giant hardware stores. In fact, this might just pass as one. The ceiling was a good sixty feet above us, it felt like. The floors were bland, polished looking cement. It smelled like wood and sawdust… I enjoyed the scent actually. It reminded me of the woods I would play in as a kid with Itachi and Sasuke.

Our families were pretty close. At one point, I was over at their house every single day. My godfather assigned Itachi as my 'bodyguard' even though I was only five years old at the time. He would take Sasuke and me to school every morning and pick us up every afternoon. But, over the years, Sasuke and I grew apart. He became more focused on sports and becoming the world's biggest man whore and complete forgot about me.

To be sadly honest, I couldn't tell you where he is today. I have no clue and there's no way I'm asking Itachi.

Speaking of which. There's the devil himself calling me right now.

"Excuse me ma'am, I need to take this. You two go on without me. I'll catch up."

The saleswoman was overjoyed. Yay, she got the hot redhead to herself!

I inwardly cursed her.

Gaara almost refused but I shooed him off.

"I'll catch up Gaara!"

He looked defeated and sighed, following the beaming saleswoman toward the smell of paint. He scrunched up his nose when she wasn't looking.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Sakura. What's going on?"

"I'm out shopping with a friend! Furniture shopping! When you finally come over, the place will look amazing!" I almost gushed but then I remembered who I was. Harunos don't gush.

"Good! I'll need a place to crash. Anyway, be on the lookout."

"Why?"

"Someone is coming your way. Stay with that friend of yours alright?"

"U-Uh… Sure, okay! I'll talk to you later then?"

"Yeah, bye!"

Be on the lookout? Seriously? Here? I go four hundred miles away from my hometown, only to have it follow me here to Suna!

I inwardly scowled and stomped my way over to the paint section. I planted myself right next to Gaara who was nonchalantly looking over the thousands of different paint shades the store offered.

"This is ridiculous. How am I supposed to choose when there are so many different colors?"

"Pick which ones reflect your personality. It's your house so it should reflect who you are." Gaara grunted.

I was speechless for a moment because he said something that made so much sense. Not saying he didn't make sense all the time…

"Okay! What about this green for the living room and dining room, this blue for the hallways and all the other rooms except my room and the kitchen, a lighter shade of green for the kitchen and this blue for my room? Hm, I like these."

Gaara nodded.

I looked around to see where the saleswoman went off to, to tell her I made my decision on the paints.

"Where did that lady go? Isn't she supposed to be helping us?"

"She asked me to ditch you and go to breakfast with her. I told her I had breakfast at your place and to piss off. She got pissed and left."

Whoa, she must have taken that the wrong way.

"Whoa Gaara, you must not appreciate girls drooling over you, huh?"

"There's only one girl I can tolerate with that kind of behavior. It sort of hit me last night all of the sudden. I actually enjoyed the attention she was giving me. Even if it wasn't intentional."

"Lucky girl."

I couldn't help but to feel a little jealous. Okay. That's a lie. I was jealous. More than just a little jealous. It pissed me off. Who am I to be pissed off though? Oh right, no one!

Gaara only smirked, not making eye contact with me. He took the paint cards out my hands and went to the counter.

"Which one do you want to start with?"

"Go ahead and do all of them please," I responded.

Gaara gave the card to the man behind the counter, who said it would take a few minutes for them to get finished.

"Want to go look around until they're done?" I asked.

Gaara only nodded and walked off. I followed him, trying to keep up with his pace. The silence was comfortable for a while.

When she disappeared to take a phone call, the lady who we were following practically pounced at the opportunity to ask me on a date. If I knew Sakura better, I would have stayed with her and away from that woman…

She whirled around to face me, her big brown staring at me hopefully.

"Wanna ditch pinky and go to breakfast with me? Come on, I know you want to!"

I scowled at her. Who does she think she is?

"I already had breakfast with pinky at her place so piss off."

The shocked look that engulfed her features as quite funny to look at actually. She must have really thought I would play her little game with her. This town is pretty small. She should know better.

Sakura came back, not even asking where the girl was at first. I don't think she realized she was even gone until we were done picking out colors.

I told her what happened and she rolled her eyes. Sakura was clueless. She had no idea I was even talking about her. I felt like it gave me an advantage in a way.

I took her paint cards to the desk and asked which one she wanted first.

"Go ahead and do all of them please!"

"It'll take several minutes."

"Okay, thank you!"

We started walking around aimlessly to waste time. In doing so, Sakura found several things she wanted. She wrote them down and gave the list to one of the employees so the store would deliver everything to her house one day next week, excluding the paint. We took all the paint back to her house.

Sakura looked exhausted.

"Why don't we start painting later? Go take a nap or something. I'll come back in a few hours." I only suggested this because she looked like she was going to pass out.

Sakura leaned against a wall and slid down with her eyes closed.

"My er… guardian said I couldn't be alone today."

"Why?"

"Stupid stuff…"

I kneeled down in front of her and stared. I wasn't going to question it any further. Some people just shouldn't be left alone sometimes. I usually don't care though. Why do I care now?

"Go take a nap. I'll stay down here and set out the newspapers to paint."