Chapter 7: "Lucky"

Sakura didn't head out to find the Kazekage. Instead, she stayed in the house looking over the document, setting out papers, and writing down notes. She would have to make a trip to the library, she was afraid the books she needed wouldn't be here. There was no other way however, she will have to work with what she can find.

And it wasn't really that she was afraid the books wouldn't be enough. More like she was so used to Konoha's library that it almost felt like she was cheating on it by going anywhere else. She knew every book's place, author, genre… So even before she can do anything, she needed to get used to Suna's library.

Sakura heard a loud thud coming from the front door's direction. It was one o'clock in the morning. Thoughts raced through her head of robbers and homeless people, to wild animals and kidnappers. She stood up and prepared herself for the worst.

Only to find that the Kazekage was the thing that was trying to get in. A very drunk Kazekage at that. The pink haired ninja was confused, what happened? In the one month she's been there not once did he see Gaara like this.

"You're still here?" the redhead asked in a rather rude tone. Sakura stepped closer only to smell a lot of booze and something else.

"We should get you upstairs to change clothes, and get you to bed. I'll prepare a bucket just to be safe," she moved towards the kitchen to get the bucket, but Gaara was faster. He blocked her way and gazed into her eyes curiously.

"Why are you still here?" he half whispered, now really wanting to know. He couldn't think straight, and only felt his heart hurt more and more with her presence there.

"I've found what I've been looking for… Well not exactly, more like some documents that will lead me to finish my research," she stopped explaining feeling stupid to say even this much. There was no use, he wouldn't remember it tomorrow anyway.

She was right, he really wasn't even paying attention. He leaned on the kitchen table for support while she got the bucket, and lent her shoulder so he could go up the stairs to his bedroom.

Sakura wasn't even sure how he'd managed to get such a big – and by big meaning full of muscles – man up the stairs, but however she did it, she sure was proud of herself. In the hallway it got trickier. Gaara got tired of being half carried, and her sent just got too much for him.

He brushed her against the wall and took her lips with his in much hurry. He didn't care if he was going to lose her forever, it didn't matter. He wanted her, and she would pay for making him fall in love with her. She would pay for not having more time. She would pay for making him feel this hurt.

It took her a minute or two to respond. She could have escaped. She could have pushed him away easily. Only no matter what reasons she had to stay away from him, she ignored them all.

Sakura put her hands on his face, and let him in entirely. Gaara let out a small moan, before coming up for air. They had never felt anything like this. The new experiences, the new feelings made it all much more exiting, and much harder to stop.

Gaara put his hands on her waist, and the girl in respond let his face go, and wrapped her hands around his neck. For a few long seconds they just gazed into each other's eyes, then when it all got too much for them, they went in once again.

When Sakura was ready to make the next step, she felt his hands leave her waist. Here it comes, she thought. No matter where he wanted to touch her, she wouldn't stop him. She was his now. And he could do whatever he wanted. But in return she wanted the same. To touch him anywhere and everywhere.

But instead of moving his fingers up inside her shirt, or something, Gaara slipped down, and all at once fell asleep. Sakura just stood there dumbfounded. She couldn't believe it. For a second she forgot that he was drunk, even though she could clearly taste everything he'd drank that night, and there were a lot of things mixed up there too.

Instead of watching him, the ninja dragged the Kazekage into his room and put him on his bed. She would talk to him in the morning, but she needed her rest as well.

Gaara woke up with a huge headache. He was surprised to see medicine and water on the small table next to his head. He took the medicine, and got out of his bed. He needed to take a shower before heading down to eat.

Once he was finished he could hear noises downstairs. At first he suspected Temari and Kankuro. They were good ninja, they could have come back earlier then he though. The one thing he couldn't remember was last night. In his despair, had he brought home a woman?

He prepared himself to apologize and kick her out. He didn't want a relationship, it was the last thing on his mind at that moment.

He took his time going down. The sweet smell of coffee and breakfast hit him. Maybe she can stay for an hour or two, he thought.

To his surprise this girl was suppose to leave Suna a day ago. "Sakura?" he whispered. He wanted to pick her up and swirl her around the room, but his headache wasn't exactly gone yet. He wondered if he's still drunk.

"Good morning," the pink haired chunin greeted the Kazekage with a refreshing smile. Gaara couldn't help but smile back. She hadn't left after all. She was standing there in the kitchen making him breakfast. Just how imagined it would be in a normal family. Just the thing he always wished for while he was growing up.

He let himself enjoy breakfast before asking questions. They sure haven't spent a lot of time together, but today was peaceful. If only from now on she'd stay, if only from now she'd make breakfast every morning! Hell, even Gaara would make breakfast, he'd get up earlier, if only it would mean he could see her every morning. Every day. Every second of every minute.

"I'm staying for a while," Sakura broke the silence. It was the perfect time to talk. "I got everything I needed to proceed. Yesterday Ebizo gave me…" She stopped to think for a minute. "Ebizo-jii gave me helpful clues, and I found a document, which will help me… with my research." It wasn't exactly a lie. Ebizo did help her, if by giving her the document himself. She wasn't going to mention how she could've started a month ago.

"Will it take up all of your time?" Gaara asked, looking up at her. The answer swirled in her mind before she could finally give him the reply, "No, I will be able to continue working in the hospital."

"Will you be able to have lunch with me?" he gazed into her eyes deeper.

"Today? Um, I don't really think so, but… maybe next week. Temari and Kankuro aren't coming back for another one and a half month, but whenever they are we could all go out for lunch," she forced a smile. Why didn't she say yes? Why didn't she want to spend as much time with him as she could?

Oh, right, because she was going to leave one day. She didn't want to learn Chiyo's secret technique for nothing. She was going to leave forever. And knowing what happened only a day before made her feel even more unhappiness. They could never be together. Something would always separate them. And it wasn't about her anymore at all, she didn't care how her heart would be broken. All she could think about was Gaara. What'd he do after she's gone?

The deep kiss they shared came rushing back into her mind. How she couldn't resist, how disappointed she was when he fell asleep. After that she had all the time to think about what happened. To think about their future, only to realize it wasn't going to work. It's better to hurt him now, then to hurt him later.

It wouldn't be a problem either. All she'd have to do is ignore him again. They both would put up long hours of work, and she could just rent a room in a hotel or somewhere. Or even sleep in the hospital if it came down to that.

"You're not really here, are you today? It just seems you're lost in your own thoughts or something," Gaara said. He looked down on his plate, he ate everything that was on it. He drank his coffee, and stood up to leave. Sakura gave him a worried look.

"We'll need to talk about us," the redheaded stepped towards Sakura, and gave a kiss on her forehead. She touched the place where his lips were, like it was burning. And that was kind of true, only it wasn't her forehead but her heart that was burning.

"I don't think there's anything we should talk about, Gaara. We can't continue on with what we've done," Sakura said. She stood up and looked into his eyes. "That kiss was great, no, it was perfect. But I'm afraid it we can't be more than friends." She began to wonder whether she meant the first kiss or the second… but she settled that it was the first. And only. The second kiss didn't happen. It was just a slip on his part. But no matter what her mind claimed, her heart said something else.

The second kiss was only too real for her heart to just forget about it. For her heart to just look past it. She wondered all night what would've happened if he wasn't drunk. But before she let her mind go into another fantasy, she cleared her throat.

"Sakura, I want to have lunch with you. I have to leave right now, I'm already five minutes late. We'll talk it over while we're having lunch." It didn't feel like a suggestion anymore. Gaara was going to have lunch with Sakura if he had to drag her there.

Sakura sat there in the kitchen table before she got up to get ready. She prepared herself for the worst lunch in her life. But she made it her mission to make Gaara realize how they're just not meant to be. And he was a fool to think otherwise.

A fool Sakura loved with all her heart.

Shacking her head, she closed the door and left for work. She still had many things to do, many people to save that day. She gave a long sigh before leaving.

Rin was the happiest to see Sakura back. Takahashi was the angriest. Other than him, everyone was glad to see her back. Kyo made jokes about how mistreated he was, even though Sakura never really left.

Gaara came by at one o'clock. Here we go, Sakura thought. She said her goodbyes to Rin, and got ready to leave with Gaara. They went to the same place they first had lunch in. The same ramen shop. Sakura took her time sitting down next to the Kazekage.

"Are you sure this is where you want to talk?" Sakura gave Gaara a look. It was just that she thought the two of them would be alone. She thought after telling him how they can't be together, he'd hold her like that night and they'd kiss… But that was only a fantasy now. Plus it wasn't in Sakura's interest for them to deepen their relationship.

"Yes, everyone here's a friend. And everyone will know what I have to say soon anyway." Gaara told the chef his order and Sakura's. And he kept his mouth shut before talking about anything. He wasn't going to ruin his mood just yet. He wanted as much time with her as he could get. Even though he was pretty busy, and by doing this he knew there would be hell to pay. He wasn't exactly slacking off, but he wasn't exactly working either.

The uneasiness got too much for Sakura. She wanted to run. Run away from Suna. Run away from Gaara, and from everyone else. Maybe it was really for the best that she was all alone most of the time. Her only true friend was the Konoha library.

"I'm more glad that you stayed than you could ever imagine," Gaara tried to start this conversation as smooth as he could. By now he realized it didn't matter if he was working, he couldn't think about anything else but Sakura. What she said in the kitchen that morning… he had to make sure she didn't mean it.

He didn't want to be lovers. He wanted much more than that.

"I'm not so sure about it any longer. I'm not sure my decision was right," Sakura whispered. She locked her eyes on the table. She wouldn't dare look at him, because then she'd give in to everything she knows is wrong, and just let him take her in. All of her.

"I just don't understand you at all! You said you didn't regret our kiss!" He grabbed her shoulder, but she still refused to look at him. Instead the chunin looked the other way.

"I really don't think we should discuss it here," she said, trying to stay put. His touch burned with desire and lust.

"I love you," Gaara whispered with all of his courage and feelings.

"You can't! I'm from Konoha, it would never work out!" Now Sakura looked at him, but once he saw his painful expression, all she wanted to do was hug him. Hug him and never let him go.

"You don't have to go back," he looked away. His childlike expression only made her feel worse. And she felt pretty bad already. "I know the reason you're learning the reincarnation jutsu is so you can revive Naruto when he gets himself killed or …" He simply couldn't say Sasuke's name. Because that boy hurt Sakura, and Gaara would never forgive him for that.

"It would never work Kazekage-sama." Her every word hurt both of them the same amount. The pink haired girl tried to swallow away her words, but once she said them there was no going back.

"Then let's make it work, Haruno-san," he whispered into her ear as she once again turned her head to the other side. "I love you," he repeated. Now his voice was husky.

They forgot about everyone around them. For now, there was no one else in the world but the Kazekage, and Konoha's best medical-chunin.

They became a show, however, to everyone else, those who walked by stopped and stared at the strange couple. No one yet had understood what was exactly going on. What they were doing together was a mystery too to the 'outsiders'. At first there was only a small number of people, then the crowd became bigger and bigger, with more people coming by, more small whispers, gossips already flying about.

Sakura stood up, it was the only thing she could do now. Gaara's hand dropped to his side. She wouldn't say what he wanted to hear from her. She wouldn't stay by his side while they still had time. But she wasn't going to leave his mind or heart.

Sakura's pass flashed in front of her green eyes. If she'd gotten such a chance from Sasuke back then she sure would've taken it, and much more. Team 7 was no longer a team. Sai joined them, but even with him the past couldn't come back. Naruto slowly began to grow feelings for Hinata, and the crush he had on Sakura grew into nothing more than sibling love.

And Sasuke was gone. Gone from her life and with the help of Gaara, now totally gone from her heart. Something inside her lit up. A realization she had just at that moment made her knees tremble. She sat down before she'd collapse. She slowly turned to face Gaara, who lost all hope by then.

"I love you," she said, her voice unsteady. "I love you," she repeated, with a little more confidence. "I want to stay with you." At that sentence Gaara shot his head up to look at Sakura. Before he could say anything Sakura kissed him, putting in as much passion as she did at that night. No, with much more passion. With much more passion and happiness.

Tears ran through her face. She was free to live her life again, no more in misery of what happened to her. And it was all thanks to Gaara, who probably had no idea what made her change her opinion. But that was okay, she would tell him later.

And just like that, the crowd cheered, having just as much idea of what just happened as Gaara. Only Gaara couldn't help but feel the most lucky of them all.


See? Just to prove how I'm really sorry about slow update, here are two, yes that's right, TWO chapters in one day!!! Well actually I typed chapter 6 yesterday, but my computer crashed so I was only able to put it online today. Ah well, I hope you enjoy it, and please review!!! This is so I know you forgave me, and I can begin to write a new chapter (which will be up probably next week). And just so you know there are only one or two chapters left (if no one reviews I'm finishing it with the next). So bear with me~~~ XD And don't forget to review. Also I'm thinking of writing a whole new story, but I don't think I'll start it before next year. Or maybe just one chapter so you'd know what I have in mind and let me know if it's a good idea to continue on or not. I wonder if it'll be another Gaara/Sakura thing. And finally I've done something to match the title~ Aren't you glad?