Edit; 23/08/11 just a few extra bits in the latter part of the chapter, to get a little more feeling into it

finished it in one sitting, I am on fire this week... loved the reviews I got for the last chapter, I also find it a little annoying when Sakura is always pathetic so I had to get her being a bit more bad ass for this story

Kakashi looked on as Temari escorted Sakura into the council chamber and indicated that she should stand in the space that allowed her to face the council as well as the Kazekage.

He didn't miss that her eyes went straight to him the second she entered the room.

Gaara addressed her first.

"Sakura Haruno, you have been summoned before the council for questioning about your encounter with the rogue shinobi who held you hostage earlier today."

"I understand Kazekage-sama."

"The council may now address any questions to Haruno-san."

The disrespectful man went first. "Leaf medic, how is it that the spy was able to take you hostage so easily?" He sneered.

There was a long pause as Sakura looked at the man. She didn't even glare, just looked. But Kakashi knew that look. "Haruno-san." She said simply.

The man looked confused. "Answer the question medic." He pressed scowling.

Irritation slipped into her features. "Who do you think you're talking to?" She burst out suddenly, sounding scarily like the fifth. "My name is Sakura Haruno, I am the 'leaf medic' who killed Sasori of the Red Sand. I am the apprentice of Lady Tsunade, and one of the best medical ninja from the hidden leaf." She tapped her foot once in irritation and hairline cracks spread across the expensive floor. "I won't be spoken to like common pond scum."

There was a long pause as the council members looked at each other. Apparently they were just realising she would not be someone they could walk on.

The disrespectful one spoke again. "My apologies, Haruno-san, may I humbly ask how it was that you were apprehended so easily?" His voice was saturated with sarcasm, but Sakura chose to ignore it.

"The spy wielded a powerful Genjutsu that temporarily disabled me."

"What were you doing with the spy when he took you hostage? Trading medical ninjutsu?" he asked snidely.

Gaara interjected wearily. "We have already covered this, Jenra-san, Haruno-san has not been willingly passing information to the enemy."

"The Genjutsu can be used to obtain the knowledge and skills of the one under the jutsu," Sakura elaborated. "I was unaware that I was under it the first time, though I suffered mild memory loss. The second time I knew it was happening so I managed to garner some information from the man before he was killed." As she should, Kakashi thought smugly, she was a Genjutsu type after all.

The wispy woman, who seemed to be a fairly neutral council member, leant forward. "Like what?"

"How he was able to avoid detection for so long, and that he was from a group of wandering ninja who have grown to resent the hidden villages." From his vantage point he could see that Sakura was watching the council very carefully but subtly. He also saw the way several of the council members shifted.

"How was he able to remain undetected?" The older woman asked.

"A special transformation jutsu, it requires the body of the one they are transforming into to remain intact and in a fixed location. The transformation is undetectable once in place and allows the user to mimic personality perfectly."

The woman nodded. "Thank you Haruno-san."

"I still see no evidence that you weren't working with the spy. What is there to say that you didn't put that woman in a coma?" The condescending one this time. Kakashi could see that out for the twenty council members these three were the most vocal.

"I have secured several witness statements that confirm Sakura did not leave the hospital the morning Selenia Uchino was attacked. I can also personally confirm her whereabouts from the mid morning onwards." Gaara interjected.

"Then she may have taught the spy the jutsu." Jenra argued.

"Forgive me," Sakura addressed to Gaara, "But at their current level none of the medics in this village would be able to learn that specific jutsu, considering that the spy wasn't a medical specialist it wouldn't be plausible for him to have learnt it."

Gaara nodded. "Haruno-san, you are not under suspicion in this matter."

That was when Jenra stepped over a line. "Really Kazekage?" everyone noted the dropped honorific. "Maybe if you think that then you are not seeing things clearly, she is very much under suspicion. If you cannot see clearly then maybe you aren't suitab-"

Kakashi had forgotten how angry Sakura could get sometimes. Her eye twitched as Jenra dropped the honorific. And her fists began to ball up as his tone became steadily more disrespectful.

Suddenly Jenra went pale and stopped talking.

Probably something to do with the fact that Sakura had marched over to him and, before anyone could react, lifted him off his chair by his collar.

"How dare you show such disrespect to your Kazekage. If you were part of the leaf council I would have pounded you through a wall by now." There was total silence, apart from Temari's sudden coughing fit.

Kakashi noted that Kankuro now looked like he was suffering from severe constipation, and Gaara, well he looked the same as always.

She dropped the now white man back in his seat. "Good, I like you better with your mouth shut." She marched out without another word.

The meeting was uneventful after that, and ten minutes later they were all back in Gaara's office.

Sakura had been waiting for them there, feet up on the desk, rocking idly from side to side in the chair behind the desk.

She grinned up at them as they entered.

"That was fun, I should do that every day." Gaara smiled slightly as he shimmied her out of his chair.

"It was certainly informative."

She smiled wanly as she perched herself on the arm of his chair. "I'm glad my antics were helpful."

"It was an act?" Temari asked, taken aback.

Kakashi nodded his eye crinkling. "Didn't you notice? Sakura can lie and cheat with the best of them when she needs to."

Gaara's lips twitched. "So I'd been told."

"I don't get how it was helpful though." Kankuro mused. "It lifted my spirits though."

"The council orchestrated the attack." Gaara informed his siblings solemnly. "If you were a group of rogue ninja with a spy in the village, would you attack the civilian district?" He shook his head. "At first I thought it was just bad luck all round, they had failed to cripple our forces, and we sustained huge damage in a vulnerable area."

He looked up at Sakura and sighed heavily. "I realised as we were about to walk into the council chamber that they wouldn't have missed their target if they had a spy in the village. So that meant they must have wanted to leave our military intact." He nodded to Sakura. "I was beginning to suspect and then Sakura confirmed it for me."

"Did you genuinely think I'd lost my mind when I grabbed Gaara's wrist?" Sakura asked with a wry smile. "It was the only way I could think to communicate with him. I was able to use chakra infusion to just shunt a little of my mental presence in."

Everyone seemed to be surprised by how seamlessly the two had worked together.

"Right now we're supposed to think that the rogues attacked because they resent the hidden villages. They've actually been hired by members of the council, although there may be someone else entirely manipulating them." Sakura explained her tone subdued. The situation was definitely on a knife edge.

"Well if the council is responsible for the whole thing then their motivation is obvious." Temari murmured. "But if it wasn't..."

Their discussion went on for hours, endlessly going over who could be involved, what their motivation could be, how they could uncover them.

By the time it was starting to get dark everyone was frustrated. All they had decided was that Kakashi and his squad should head back to the leaf to brief Naruto on the situation.

They left Gaara's office with low morale, but hoping that they could at least get a good night of rest.

"Time for your chakra infusion?" Sakura asked as Gaara reached his bedroom door.

He shook his head. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep without it but Sakura was still a little pale and he didn't want to cause her more strain.

"Don't waste your energy tonight."

She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. "I have enough energy for chakra infusion Gaara, and it's not a waste. We all need to be fresh tomorrow." She pushed past him into his room and jumped on his bed before he could object. "I'll wait for you to change."

Sighing, but not entirely minding that she had returned to his bed, Gaara headed into his bathroom, changing quickly. He supposed he should be grateful that she wouldn't accept no for an answer.

He sauntered back out and sat on the bed facing her.

Her demeanour had completely changed; she seemed strangely hesitant as she moved closer and placed her fingers on his face.

He felt more relaxed before she even began, and once it started he felt his body begin letting go of the tension. But his head was still in disarray.

He tried everything he could to tell himself it could wait until morning, that there was no point holding onto the ball of stress.

After just five minutes he knew it was hopeless.

"Sakura, stop." He reached up and placed his hands around hers. She frowned and opened her eyes blearily. "I still won't be able to sleep."

He watched as those deep pools of green became more alert. She frowned again.

"Gaara -"

"No, it's ok just go to bed." He looked away, hoping she would drop it.

But she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"No, Gaara it's not ok." She turned his face to her but he still couldn't look at her, his eyes fixed stubbornly to the side. Despite the fact that he trusted her, he couldn't let her see him weak. She didn't need to bear his burdens. "The situation sucks and I know you're feeling the strain. But Gaara we will get to the bottom of this." He finally turned his eyes to hers. Her eyes shone as they looked so hard back into his. "We will find out who and why, and we'll set everything straight." Her fingers ran across the kanji on his forehead and she stroked his cheek. A small crease appeared between her delicate pink eyebrows. "It won't be easy," her lips twitched into a minute, sad smile, "but we'll make it through."

In that moment, he was so grateful. She didn't look afraid or consoling.

She looked certain.

None of the other women Gaara had been involved with had been like her. They were the ones that needed looking after, the ones that looked to him for support and comfort, something he had been none too good at. None of them had been strong enough to take care of him. None of them had understood him well enough to reassure him.

But this pink haired kunoichi was doing just that. He could feel it. She saw him. She was healing him.

He trailed his hands up her arms, keeping eye contact. He wanted her to know what she was doing to him, how she was making him feel.

But he didn't have the words for that. Nothing he could say to her would ever articulate it right. Maybe time would change that, maybe in ten years time he would know how to say it, but for now there was only one way he might tell her.

He moved forward and his lips met hers. Tentatively, gently.

It was a question, and she answered with one of her own.

They made eye contact for another second before moving in again.

It was nothing like the first time they had kissed. Then it was heated and lustful, acknowledgement of attraction.

This wasn't just about sex as it had been then. This was... connection.

As Gaara lowered Sakura onto the mattress his lips continued conveying to her what he didn't know how to say. Question, answer, an admission, a promise.

The heat was there; his body was tingling and burning for hers. He could feel her heart thrumming rapidly against his ribs. They were both sighing in pleasure as their bodies connected in all the right places.

Sakura's fingers found their way under his shirt and they stroked his bare torso and the garment was soon removed.

Gaara slowly unzipped the front of Sakura's top, and her back arched as his lips roamed the exposed skin and his fingers hooked under the top of her shorts.

He slowed then, and his lips met hers. Another question. Her eyes were clear and her expression was utterly open. Her fingers brushed the kanji on his forehead again before she pulled him down for another soft kiss. An answer. A promise.

He kissed her throat as he pulled her shorts away. Neither of them remembered when his trousers were removed and in truth neither of them cared.

They lost themselves in each other then.

She understood.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! seriously this bit keeps making me spack out a little bit...

I've got to get better control over these people, they seem to get a little out of hand. When I did my first draft of this bit they just had a bit of emotional kissing, it seems to have escalated ever so slightly.

anyway i'm sure my my faithful reviewers will have a lot to say now =s