Title: Matter of Time

Author: AppleL0V3R

Beta-reader: Terror-Of-The-Crimson-Night

Fandom: Naruto

Pairing: Subaku no Gaara and Haruno, Sakura

Rating: T

Type: One-shot – Complete

Summary: They were all placed in one; it was only a matter of time.

Theme: #16 – Bingo Book

Word Count: 1,783

Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.

..:Xx0o0xX:..

She sighed when she saw her picture. She really didn't like her picture, she never did. In her opinion, a picture did no justice to portray the person it had captured. It only captured the surface, never what was beneath. And on top of that, it never did actual appearances justice either. But they had to be taken. It was a requirement that no ninja could avoid. Especially when one achieved a stature such as the one she had.

She was in the bingo book of every one of the five great nations and other shinobi villages except Konoha and Suna. Great. Now she would be hunted as well. True it was an honor. It showed strength, but she didn't like others determining her strength by the amount of damage she could produce or what her social standing was. She could do that just fine on her own.

She was currently in Suna and a new bingo book had been released. She had been bored and for one reason or another, had decided to flip through it since she wasn't currently busy with lectures or patients. Honestly, she was in her pajamas enjoying a cup of coffee in the living room sofa of the large Subaku residence where she usually stayed while in Suna's boarders. Temari would have a fit and a scene if Sakura didn't stay with her and her two younger brothers. And because it wouldn't look all to well to have the Kazekage's elder sister causing a scene, Gaara had stated from her very first visit that she would stay in his home in one of the guest rooms and no where else. That any where else would be disrespectful to him and therefore Suna.

So rather than argue with the stubborn male, she allowed him to make all of her living arrangements for every time she visited. Besides it saved time, trouble and money this way.

Plus the pink-haired kunoichi had grown fond of Gaara over the years. At times she felt closer to him than she did to Naruto. And Naruto might as well be her brother for how close the two were and how high of a regard they held each other in.

She found Suna to be like a second home since she had relocated to being here half a year ago on her Shishou's orders to make Suna's hospitals just as prosperous and experienced as Konoha's. Sakura wasn't the head medic and second only to Tsunade herself for nothing. And so she'd learned to get into the habit of waking up early if she wanted to spend time with Gaara. It was fun to poke and prod at the powerful red head when his people weren't around to observe. He wasn't so withdrawn and regal seeming then. In fact, he seemed like a broody male who would snap at her when she got under his skin, who didn't mind insulting her when she deserved it, and everything else that was within his character, but he wasn't entitled to show because he was expected to be more as the Kazekage. His people looked to him and so he couldn't simply act his age. It was nice to be around him when he didn't need to be.

Though, he was still an all around jerk. No way around that. The only difference was that as the Kazekage, he was more pompous and when he wasn't before his people he was a blunt asshole when he wanted to be. She honestly preferred the bluntness to the subtlety. But that was just her. Besides, the real Gaara was always better then one he showed to others.

As a medic, she'd learned to wake up early and go to bed late and not be tired throughout the day. So it was easy for her to wake up earlier than Gaara even though he was always up before first light and to also be up when he returned well after midnight. That didn't mean he was happy with her when she did it. In his opinion, she was unnecessarily pushing herself and wasted much needed sleep and energy.

Then she'd point out that he hardly slept either.

And his reply would be that he was Shukaku's container until he was fifteen and therefore didn't need as much sleep.

Of course this would stump her because she never knew what to say. It was a touchy subject for him, even if he'd never say so openly. So typically she'd pout or look away or some other childishness of that sort.

Then he'd snort.

And the conversation would be over so she'd find a new one, even after he'd already told her to go to bed. Though he never once told her to shut up or go away. So she stayed next to him if only to get under his skin and laugh at him when his beautiful sea foam green eyes glared at her half-heartedly.

That was how she'd spent her last six months. Lectures, working in the hospital, beginning and ending her days beside Gaara, and of course, hanging out with Temari when the two young women could convene to wreak havoc on Suna's occupants. She wouldn't have any other way either.

Naruto would visit once a month if he could as well, saying that even with his 'precious and innocent sister' so far away, he had to make sure she was alright and still innocent. Then he'd realize that the Subaku's were present as well and so state that he supposed he had to visit his sister's hosts and hostesses as well. And never once fail to look possessive of Sakura the whole time. Until either Sakura or Temari bopped the idiot on the head to remind him that he was married to Ino and shouldn't be acting like a possessive boyfriend.

To which he'd say that Ino was a loud handful – every one snorted to themselves here – then go on to say that he could be protective – not possessive – of Sakura because she was his little sister and she needed protecting.

Then Sakura would crack her fist warningly and Naruto would gulp nervously but wouldn't back down – because that would be against his nindo – and would end up face first in the ground for it. Thus ending the greetings.

The green eyed woman heard a snort from behind her, waking her from her stupor. She didn't bother to turn around. "Good morning, Gaara. Did you sleep well?"

"Fine." No one but Sakura knew that Subaku no Gaara was actually a zombie within the first half an hour of waking. So zombie plus his usual anti-social tendency ended up with a very quiet and inactive Gaara. Which was fine with her, because she was a morning person.

She bobbed her head and unfolded her limbs so she could stand, careful to not spill the very hot coffee all over herself. She'd done that once and had no desire to do so again if she could help it. Then she held out her mug of caffeine, "Coffee?"

He stared at her for moment then dropped his gaze to the offered coffee cup. She did this every morning and only every now and then did he accept it. He noted in the back of his mind that she was using his cup again. She was in a mischievous mood. She only took his cup when she was in such a mood. He groaned inwardly, he really wasn't in the mood for her cheery antics. He debated taking the coffee, he didn't think he'd need it today, but if she thought he thought he'd need it then she'd back off. Finally he decided to just live with her abrupt urge to be more of a pain in the ass than usual and declined her offer.

She shrugged, "Your choice." And then she retracted her hand taking a sip herself. Then she trailed after him as he headed for the breakfast nook "Anything worth mentioning today?"

He shook his head, already disheveled crimson locks becoming even more so. In her opinion, he looked hot when he was just waking up, still half-dead to the world. She couldn't help but smile to herself. She didn't miss the sudden alertness in his eyes when he caught it. She chuckled inwardly, he thought she was in a mischievous mood and her smile was to be his forewarning for what was to come.

"Hey did you know? I'm now in every bingo book except Konoha and Suna, don't I feel like a celebrity."

"I knew."

She snorted, "Right, sorry, I forgot that you're the Kazekage and therefore would know when someone was placed in the bingo book."

He gave a curt nod, choosing to ignore her lack of respect. She only showed respect when there were onlookers. That or she was trying to hide something and thought formality was the best way to go. It wasn't of course, he saw through it every time.

She then yawned and stretched like a cat. Of course with her arms extended in the air as far as they could go caused her shirt to ride up allowing the a sliver of milky white skin to be seen between her white tank top and red bottoms that engulfed her feet. Then she brought her arms back down, but didn't bother to fix her shirt. She tended to do that and he could never figure out if she was trying to be enticing or the thought just didn't register that she should pull her shirt back down.

It drove him insane though, because he knew it was there and couldn't stop glancing, so for the first time, he let impulse guide his movements when it came to this kunoichi and so he reached over and tugged her shirt back down successfully hiding the bit of showing stomach.

Sakura double blinked at the unexpected move. She hadn't realized that her shirt had come up to show off part of her stomach so much so that it actually bothered Gaara. Then she felt heat rush to her face when the information sunk in.

When Gaara caught the pink dust sprinkling from one proud cheek to the other, he didn't think to stop his next few words, "Hmm. You look cute like that."