Pairings: GaaSasu, KankuKiba, NaruSaku later

Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did, because I would make GaaSasu canon in a heartbeat

Chapter Seven: The Chapter Where Sasuke and Sakura Say Mean Words

(Sasuke POV)

Days pass…

When I woke up, the bedroom was lit by a soft morning glow; Gaara and I had finally gotten the sense to pull the curtains over the window, taking away most of the glare. I blinked rapidly, trying to un-fuzzy my vision, and instinctively reached out. My fingertips didn't have to go for more than an inch before they touched something warm.

I sat up, stretching, and looked down beside me. Gaara was still asleep, his blood-red hair messier than usual and his arms still loosely around my waist. It was odd; for the past few days, he had slept in as well. I could only guess that it was because of the stress caused by that night, when Sakura caught us…

I leaned down and pressed my lips to his ear. "Good morning, my love," I murmured, blowing playfully on the edge of his ear. "It's time to get up."

Gaara let out a noise of annoyance and weakly hit my shoulder. I chuckled; not as asleep as I thought, then.

"Ah, well." I stretched again and slipped my legs off the bed. "You can sleep in, then, but I'm getting up to do something useful."

I started to get up, but a hand loosely grabbed my wrist and tugged slightly. "No…" Gaara mumbled sleepily; his eyes were barely cracked open, allowing a sliver of green to penetrate the mass of black rings. "Please… stay with me…"

He didn't need to ask twice. I practically dove back under the covers, grinning at the way Gaara immediately clutched onto me. "Jeez, Gaara, I'm not a teddy bear."

"No," Gaara agreed seriously. "No, you're much better looking than a teddy bear."

I rolled my eyes. "I beg to differ."

"Of course you do, Sas, of course…" Gaara yawned and nuzzled his head against my shoulder. His breathing soon returned to a slow, even pace and his grip on me slackened somewhat. I sighed deeply and ran my fingers slowly down his back, feeling content.

Content… When was the last time I had felt content? Had there ever been a time before now? I felt like a gaping hole in my heart that I had been unaware of had been filled to the brim and was flooding over. I was clean, I was whole, and for the first time I felt truly ALIVE. It had only been five days since we had gotten together, and already I felt… different. I was changing, I could almost physically feel it… and it felt so…

Knock knock knock.

I groaned and lifted my head. Why was someone at the door? Naruto had told me that there was nothing really planned for today. Unless, of course, it was Kiba again…

I softly pried Gaara's hands off of me and sat up. "I'll be right back," I murmured, kissing his cheek before slipping out of the room.

When I opened the front door I received a small shock. Instead of Kiba or Naruto, Sakura stood there, wringing her hands but looking determined. My eyebrows rose slightly.

"I thought you weren't speaking to me."

"Just—just let me inside," she said quickly, looking at the section of wall above my left shoulder instead of my face. I stepped to the side and let her in.

"Sakura…" I sat in the armchair; I wasn't going to give her the temptation of attacking me on the couch. "Why are you here?"

"I just want to talk. Is that so wrong?" She took my hint and sat on the end of the couch farthest away from me. "We're still friends, right?"

"That depends on how exactly you define 'friend'."

"I don't deserve that, Sasuke." She was looking at me steadily in the eye now, though her shoulders were shaking slightly. "I haven't told anyone about you and Gaara. I've kept my mouth shut. Doesn't that mean anything?"

Her question was followed by an uncomfortable silence. The truth was, I was still angry with her, and nothing she could do would change that. I didn't want to look at her, talk to her, or breathe the same oxygen as her, and she knew it.

She took in a shaky breath. "So, um… how are you and Gaara doing?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," I muttered, my eyes narrowing. She leapt to her feet with her fists clenched.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't act as if you aren't at least thinking about it."

"Why would I try to split you two up?!"

"Did I say that?" I asked mildly, a smirk forming on my lips. Tears of fury formed in her eyes.

"I-I could tell everybody if I wanted to!" she yelled, and I felt my heart clench. "There are laws against what you and Gaara are doing! LAWS! What if I went to Suna and told the council that Gaara's sleeping with you—"

"WHAT?!" I was now on my feet as well, though I had no memory of jumping up. "Why would you say that?! Gaara and I—we haven't—"

"Don't give me that." She looked me over slowly, her eyes grazing over my boxers and baggy T-shirt before stopping at my neck.

"What's that?" she asked loudly, pointing at the offending object in case I forgot where my neck was. I reached up and pressed my fingers against a slightly sore spot.

"This?"

"Yes! Is that a hickey?"

"Maybe," I mumbled, blushing slightly. "So what?"

"How do I know you weren't doing something ELSE when you got that hickey?"

"Why are you so determined to convince yourself that we're sleeping together?!" I shot back, keeping the small bruise covered with my hand.

"I don't need to convince myself, I'm sure that's what is going on!"

"Even if we were, is it any of your business?"

"Yes! Damn it, Sasuke—you were MINE! You were mine and then that red-haired jerk showed up—"

"Don't… you… dare," I hissed, sudden fury making my voice unsteady. "I was never yours. NEVER. When did I ever show any interest in you? I've… I've been in love with Gaara for the past four years. Don't you dare insult Gaara because I fell for him instead of you!"

There was a slight creak; our heads moved at the same time toward the bedroom door, where Gaara was leaning against the frame, still looking half asleep.

"Sas…? I heard you yelling… What--?"

Sakura cleared her throat roughly, and Gaara's green eyes flicked toward her. A look of confusion began creeping onto his face; she was glaring dangerously, her burning eyes fixed on his neck. I followed her gaze and choked.

"So, I guess I'm the only one that didn't hear about this new fashion trend," she muttered, her voice trembling with barely suppressed anger, before turning on her heel and storming from the room.

Gaara took a careful step forward. "What was--?"

I tapped the side of my neck, and his cheeks flushed a beautiful shade of crimson.

"Oh…" Gaara sighed wearily and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, if she's upset about this then I'm glad that she didn't take off your shirt."

Now it was my turn to blush.

"She also thinks that we've been sleeping together," I said bitterly.

Gaara's brow furrowed slightly. "Why would she think that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know… I don't think she actually believes that, though. She just wants to make up more reasons to stay mad at me."

A concerned look appeared in his eyes and he opened his mouth, but whatever words he had to say were drowned out by another yawn. Glad of an excuse to change the subject, I smiled slightly.

"Hmm? Still tired?"

Gaara glared indignantly at me. "Uchiha, I'm able to cope with a little drowsiness—Hey!"

In a quick movement I'd swept him off his feet and into my arms, holding him in that cliché "just married" style. He yelped and threw his arms around my neck, blushing fiercely.

"S-Sasuke, this is unnecessary—put me down—"

I ignored him and marched dutifully into the bedroom. I dumped him unceremoniously on the bed, smirking slightly as he continued to glare and scowl.

"I don't need to stay in bed," he muttered. He propped himself up on his elbows, but I wasn't letting him up that easily. I slid on top of him and clamped my knees on either side of his hips; my hands grabbed his and held them above his head, completely immobilizing him.

"Don't make me force you," I whispered, leaning down to lick the corner of his mouth. Gaara let out a low breath and interlocked his fingers with mine, giving my hands a soft squeeze.

"I don't mind… if you force me…" I felt rather than saw his leg move up, and his thigh rubbed against my "private area". I gasped sharply, but my face didn't burn; I had no reason to be embarrassed about this, especially since it was just me and Gaara. There was nothing wrong.

I released his hands and kissed him slowly, deeply, just like I knew he liked it. His hands moved to the back of my neck and then slid into my hair; my hands moved in the opposite direction, skimming across his waist to cup his ass and lift his body slightly to meet mine.

"Sasuke…" Gaara pulled away, looking slightly dazed. This was one of the many things I loved; every time we kissed, he acted like it was the first time, like every single one completely blew him off his feet or made his heart soar.

"Yes?"

"I… love you."

I smiled and rolled off of him, choosing instead to curl up by his side. "I know," I murmured, snaking my arms around his chest. "And I love you too."

My eyes fluttered close as Gaara's hand ran over my cheek, and I soon forgot about everything but him. Sakura didn't matter, her false accusations didn't matter. There was nothing she could do to us, nothing to damage our perfect, wonderful secret. We were impervious and untouchable.

It's almost shocking how wrong a person can be.

--

How the hell had this happened to me? AGAIN?!

"Dobe!!" I yelled over the pounding music, forcing myself through Neji and Tenten's disturbing display to reach Naruto by the punch bowl. He looked up, grinning.

"Hey teme—"

"What the HELL! You told me there was nothing going on today, and then out of the blue I'm forced to another one of these!!" I gestured dramatically around at the party going on, once again, in his hotel room. "I don't care if you throw these things, but do you REALLY have to take me along for the ride?"

"Well, you know, I just think you should interact with people OTHER than your roommate." For some reason unknown to me, he let slip a snort of laughter before hastily covering his mouth.

"Speaking of which, where exactly is Gaara-sama?" Naruto asked once he seemed to regain control of himself.

I shrugged dismissively. "How should I know? I'm not his keeper."

To my confusion, Naruto let slip another snort of laughter, coughing fruit punch up all over himself.

"Ha ha… if you say so—heheheh—" The dobe clapped his hands over his mouth and sprinted off, red liquid still spewing out through the gaps between his fingers. I stood there with my mouth hanging open rather stupidly. Naruto always acted strange, but never quite like THAT…

"Saaaaasauke-kun!"

I instinctively tensed with fear as I turned to face Ino, who wore a mischievous look on her face. It took me a few seconds to realize something odd; the blonde kunoichi wasn't trying to attach herself to me like she usually did when I was within a fifteen-foot radius. Something in my stomach gave an uncomfortable squirm. First Naruto, now Ino?

"Sasuke-kun, do you want to go out with me after the party?"

For once, this question made me sigh with relief. I changed my mind, there was nothing weird going on with Ino.

"Sorry, Ino, not interested," I told her for the billionth time in five years.

"Oh, right, I forgot." She smiled and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "You'll already be BUSY tonight, won't you?"

With another annoying hair flip and a proud smirk, Ino stalked off, leaving me three times as bewildered as I was before. What was wrong with everyone? Was there something other than alcohol being passed around? Maybe—

"They sure are acting strange, aren't they?"

I turned to see Sakura leaning against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. "Naruto and Ino, I mean. They're acting even stupider than usual, wouldn't you say?"

My eyes narrowed as a vague suspicion crept poisoningly into my mind. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, being a medic kunoichi, I suspect that there's something… going around, if you catch my drift."

The music seemed to falter and slowly fade away into the background; the warm air turned frigid and thick, and it wouldn't go down my throat correctly. I could almost hear my world as it crashed down around me, catching on fire, freezing over, then going through the entire process again and again…

"You… told…?" My voice was constricted and trembled violently. Sakura looked me over with a cold, triumphant fire in her eyes.

"Only a few people. I hope you don't mind…" She laughed bitterly. "But a love as strong as yours shouldn't have to be kept secret. I'm sure Gaara would agree."

I fought down my rapidly swelling panic. At the very least she'd only told Naruto and Ino… but that was even worse than Kiba knowing. Naruto would brag to the other guys, Ino would gossip through the girls, and eventually everybody would know, EVERYBODY.

And Gaara… what would happen to Gaara?

"You…" My fingers slowly curled into fists. "You have no idea what you've done."

Sakura stayed quiet and continued to stare at me. If anything, this made me even angrier. I instinctively reached into my back pocket but it was empty; Naruto didn't usually allow kunais or other weapons into his parties.

"What do you think you've done? Do you think you were just spreading rumors that made me a laughingstock? Did you even think about what could happen to Gaara if this got outside of our group? DID YOU?! I know you did, because you even reminded me about how much trouble we would be in if we were caught this morning!!"

The smirk slid off Sakura's face as I took a step closer; I guessed she never thought about what might happen if my temper erupted.

"I can't believe you!! Did you think this was all just a game?! You're SO SMART, aren't you, when it comes to paper tests at the Academy, but put you in the real world and suddenly you're the most emotionally blinded piece of WORTHLESS BAGGAGE that has ever set foot on this earth!!"

The silence that followed rang in my ears. Everyone was starting to stare obnoxiously; someone had even turned the radio down to better hear our shouting match. Sakura's eyes were literally overflowing; tears dripped down her cheeks, and as each one fell I felt a cold satisfaction. I couldn't take back what she had said, but at least I could do this.

"I…" She choked and wiped her eyes quickly. "I don't care what you say anymore… I'm not afraid of you… I'm not…" She trembled and closed her eyes.

"IS THE ONLY PERSON THAT YOU DON'T LOOK DOWN ON AND TREAT LIKE CRAP YOUR STUPID BOYFRIEND?!"

Another round of silence. Then, a collective gasp went around the room.

"Wha--?" Hinata looked from me to Sakura to me again, blushing even brighter than usual. "S-Sasuke has a BOYFRIEND?"

In a far corner of the room, Naruto burst into hysterics. I, on the other hand, couldn't see anything funny about the situation. This wasn't bad, it was horrible; if I didn't stop this—

"So…" Neji started with a small, mysterious smile. "Who could Uchiha's boyfriend be…?"

Everyone's heads moved as one to where Naruto stood. His laugh morphed quickly into a cry of disgust.

"What?! Me… and the teme?! Eeew, the images!" Naruto scrubbed at his eyes, as if that would clean away the mental scarring. "No way, that's gross! Sasuke fits much better with Ga—"

"NO!" I ran as fast as I could and slapped a hand over his mouth. "Shut up—"

"What, are you embarrassed?" Ino called sweetly, fluttering her eyelids.

"No!" I shouted urgently; everything was going from bad to worse to worst. 'God, please don't let Gaara walk in, don't let him walk in—'

The door opened, and Gaara walked in. Everyone in the vicinity turned from me to Gaara, and one by one looks of dawning wonder appeared on their faces. I let out a small whimper.

Shit… shit…

Gaara's brows raised slightly. "What a strange welcome…" He looked up at me, and his expression turned confused; I was gesturing at him frantically with my free hand to turn around and run like hell. Unfortunately, he didn't get the message, and slowly the mutterings began to burst forward.

"No way…"

"Could it be…?"

"Uchiha…"

"…and GAARA?"

"That's kind of sexy…"

"NEJI!!"

For a moment, Gaara looked shocked. His eyes locked with mine, silently asking the last question that I wanted to answer.

"I'm sorry," I mouthed before looking away. I couldn't even look at him. I'd screwed up; I'd egged Sakura into doing this. If only I had kept my mouth shut, controlled my overlarge pride… To my alarm, my eyes were burning, and I quickly ducked my head before anyone could notice.

A second later, he was by my side. His thumbs touched my jaw lightly, and I couldn't understand why he was touching me in the middle of this situation. I wanted to yell. I wanted him to yell. I wanted to hold him.

"Don't cry… my Sasuke…" Gaara murmured, brushing my bangs out of my face. Naruto, sensing entertainment, wriggled out of my grasp and sat back with the rest of the group to watch. That thought sent me on the verge of breaking down again, and suddenly words were forcing their way out of my mouth before I could keep them in check.

"I'm so sorry, Gaara, I'm so sorry, I completely messed up… and I'd made such a big deal about not telling people—I'm so stupid, I'm such an idiot—you job, oh God—"

"Sasuke, calm yourself," Gaara commanded, but his voice fell on deaf ears. I looked over his head at everyone else in the room, standing, sitting, all watching us, waiting for something to happen, waiting for a show. "The Fag", staring Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara as his gay, forbidden lover. I wanted to laugh and cry. How would that do as a show?

Gaara's hands cupped my cheeks and forced me to look down. "Don't look at them, Sas," he whispered, looking desperate. "Don't look at them; look at me. I'm here. I'll always be here."

"But—your job—"

"You worry about me too much." Gaara massaged my cheeks with his thumbs, as if nobody else was in the room with us. "I will be fine. Even if I lose my job… I'll still be here with you. Don't be afraid."

My eyes slowly closed and I let out a low sigh; a warm calm was slowly pulsing through my veins, amazingly obliterating all my fears and bad thoughts. It was amazing, the things that Gaara could do to me with a few simple sentences. My hands moved up and covered his, as if silently thanking him.

Gaara smiled softly and leaned up to lovingly kiss my lips. He'd understood.

"OoooooOOOOOOH!!"

Gaara and I turned sharply as our moment was abruptly shattered. The crowd in the room had re-materialized into reality (for a second, I'd kind of forgotten they existed), and their reactions appeared along with them. Naruto and Lee were on their feet, applauding and shouting words that didn't make sense; Kiba gave us an "I'm-so-proud-of-you" grin and two thumbs up; Hinata ran from the room, her face closely resembling a tomato; Tenten smiled vaguely (I wasn't sure if that was a reaction to us, though, that's all she ever seemed to do); Shikamaru patted a now-sobbing Ino on the back. My eyes roved over them all as my cheeks slowly burned again, but time seemed to slow when I reached Kankuro.

Gaara's older brother, unlike everyone else, stood as still as a statue. He clutched a broken bottle of sake in a bleeding fist, and the look in his eyes… shock, pain, betrayal, hatred. All directed unwaveringly at me.

"Kankuro's not crazy about the fact that I fell in love with you…"

I glared right back at him. I didn't care if I got Kankuro's approval or not. He couldn't change the way I felt, no matter how long he despised me. I didn't know why Kankuro had such strong feelings about me, but I would not be a coward anymore. I wouldn't back down, I wouldn't hide.

Gaara groaned and pressed his forehead against my shoulder. "Look at all the chaos we have caused," he sighed, rubbing his temples. I tore my gaze away from Kankuro and instead turned to the redhead in my arms, my whole world, my life, my heart. I put my arms tightly around his shoulders and held him close as the noise around us swept up into danger levels once again.

I was in love with Gaara, and I was not ashamed.