It's been so long since my last update, I decided to end my chapter before I was originally planning so I could give this to you guys. Enjoy.
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Sakura hated to admit it, but she was excited and a little anxious for the next few weeks. When she mentioned it to Ino, she had laughed and said, "What's wrong with being excited? Of course you're looking forward to this! You're going to get to see Gaara again." But then Ino had quietly mumbled something about picking her out new lingerie and the conversation quickly ended as Sakura hurriedly excused herself.
Heading to the Hokage tower, Sakura didn't really pay much attention to what she was doing and let her thoughts wander around in her head. Ino obviously was teasing her, right? And was that thing with her and Shikamaru just going to blow over, or would Ino hold a grudge? Would she act like nothing happened…?
Realizing that she had reached the Hokage tower, Sakura put aside her friend's problems and climbed up to Tsunade's office. Letting herself in, Sakura said, "You told me to meet you at this time?"
Tsunade nodded and put aside a folder she had been going over. "The Kazekage and his escorts are expected to arrive tomorrow; I thought you would like to know."
Sakura cocked her head. She was happy, but Tsunade was acting strange. "You…had me come all the way here just to tell me that? Couldn't you have just sent someone to tell me?"
Tsunade smiled. "Good. If you started to walk out the door I would have been disappointed. Sit down."
Hesitant, Sakura walked over and sat. Tsunade was sounding a bit too serious.
Tsunade pulled another folder in front of her. From what Sakura could see from her side of the desk, it looked like it had been thumbed through many times. Tsunade flipped it open and looked back up at Sakura. "Now, I think you might have already heard of this, but Suna and Konoha have been going over ways to strengthen our alliance, and to show over villages our alliance is serious, not just on paper. Once of the things the Kazekage and I are going to talk about while he's here is an ambassador program."
Sakura frowned. Hadn't Temari mentioned that to her?
Tsunade hesitated before speaking again. "I've been thinking over appropriate candidates for that…and you've probably already figured out that I'm thinking about you for the position."
Sakura remained silent, she could tell Tsunade wasn't finished talking. She seemed slightly reluctant to continue speaking. "I…am not sure if I want to choose you. I think that it would set a bad precedent if I choose you and people find out your relationship with Gaara. It would seem that I chose unfairly, that I favored you because you're my apprentice and I was 'rewarding' you.
"But on the other hand, if I do send my own student, it could also look good—that I was making quite a sacrifice, giving up one of my best students." (Sakura felt herself redden slightly at the praise.) "You'd also be a good candidate because of your skills; I believe you could greatly benefit Suna should you be chosen."
Tsunade sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Sakura, you would be my preferred choice, but from what I just told you, you know I'm in a delicate position. I want to know whether or not you would like to go—but before you answer, let me tell you this. If you go to Suna, I will only send you. I won't be there like last time, and neither will Shizune. It's an act of faith of the alliance to send just one person. Also, you will have to stay there for a while. Not just a few days, or weeks. You will be there minimum of a month, and then you'll probably be allowed to come back to Konoha for a short while, then sent off again. That's a long time to be away from your village, from your friends, from people you know in a big strange place."
Sakura pursed her lips, thinking it over. "I…"
Tsunade held up a hand. "Sakura. I am telling you this so you know—but I am also warning you. Do not," she ordered, "just choose to go because you want to be with Gaara. This is more important than a single relationship. This is extremely important business between two villages that were at war just years ago. Should you say you want to go just for Gaara, and if two get in a fight, or your relationship doesn't work out—you will have to stay. If you go just for Gaara and it flops—you will be miserable for months, and you will be all alone. Gaara is your only connection in that village. Do not depend on him—this is not a romantic get away. If you choose to take the position, you will be making a decision that could affect the relationship between the two villages. Should you have bad behavior—our village will look bad, it could even set their village on edge. You will be an example, a representative, of Konoha ninjas to the Suna village—to their own ninjas, and to their civilians. I will not risk putting our village's reputation on the line just so you can see your boyfriend. Do you understand?" Tsunade demanded.
Sakura nodded. Tsunade didn't have to tell her how important this was. This was an extreme responsibility, and Tsunade was right—she couldn't let her personal feelings get in the way. To buy herself some time to think, she asked slowly, "If I were to go…what would I be doing there? What would my responsibilities be?"
"You would be expected to help at their hospital—despite Suna's recent growth, their medical technology hasn't been advance on much. You would do what the Kazekage asked you, and listen to orders of the higher ups on their Council. You wouldn't be sent on missions though—you would be to stay in the public eye and help the community so the people can learn about their ally."
Sakura nodded again, looking down at her lap. As she thought, she had to force the idea of being able to see Gaara every day out of her head. This wasn't about him. Could she handle the responsibility? She thought so. Could she handle having so many people watching her? Probably, though she couldn't say for sure because she'd never been in such a position. Could she handle the work? Sakura wouldn't know—Tsunade didn't really explain what exactly she would need to do at the hospital—but she was definitely willing to try.
Again the thought of Gaara entered her mind, but Sakura forced that thought out. This was serious. It was for Suna and Konoha—not her own interests.
Sakura took a deep breath. Did she want the position?
Yes, she did.
Sakura stood. Tsunade watched her, silent. "I want this. I want to be the Konoha ambassador. And—and I wish I could say otherwise, but I can't promise that my involvement with Gaara won't change my feelings or interest in this. But I will promise that I will stay in Suna for however long you ask me to, and I will act the way an ambassador is expected to. I won't let my relationship with Gaara get in the way of my being a representative for my village."
Tsunade gave her a small smile. "I expected as much. I'll admit I'm not happy about my favorite student leaving—but you are the best candidate. Prove to me that my faith in you isn't wrong."
Tsunade also stood. "When the Kazekage gets here, he's expected to stay here for at least a week—we're having other leaders coming here also. Not kages, but still high heads. I might require you to come here for a few meetings so they see you and such, but the talks might take a while. You shouldn't have to leave until a week and a half, maybe longer. You are dismissed…I have a lot of paper work to do now that you've accepted the position."
Sakura turned to leave, then hesitated. "May I ask who were the other people you were considering?"
Tsunade shrugged. "I had to consider people I knew would do well in such a position. I considered Neji, but I was worried that he might seem cold and detached to the Suna people. I considered his cousin, Hinata, also, but she might seem too quiet and shy." She paused for a moment. "If you had turned this down, I would have gone to Shikamaru. He's high rank, proven himself skilled, careful—he wouldn't have embarrassed the village."
Sakura couldn't stop herself. "Why did you come to me first?"
"It wasn't because I favored you, if that's what you're thinking. It was strictly based on your skill in medicine—you would be able to profit Suna more than Shikamaru."
"Oh…still thank you."
Tsunade rolled her eyes and fought a smile as Sakura walked out the door.
--
Gaara had to keep himself from smiling when he saw the gate—he didn't want to alarm his companions. Temari didn't seem to care though and asked, "You happy to be here finally?"
Gaara shrugged, playing it off.
Kankuro clapped his sister on the shoulder, covering a yawn with his hand. "I know I can say I'm happy to finally be able to rest my feet. Think we'll be able to get rooms this late at night?" he asked, nodding to the pitch black sky.
Temari mimicked Gaara, shrugging also. "I'm sure some of them stay open for stragglers all night. And would it be so awful to spend one more nightout here, you big bad ninja, you?" she mocked.
"Oh, be quiet," Kankuro threatened.
"Or what?" Temari shot back, but not seriously. Gaara had already begun to leave them and the rest of the group behind, so she hurried after him. "Gaara," she asked when she finally caught up with him, "what are you going to do? Are you going to come to an inn with us?"
Gaara looked at her. "I thought it would be obvious about where I'm going, since it's too late to report to the Hokage."
Temari frowned. "Sakura's bound to be asleep at this time. She probably won't like it if you wake her up in the dead of night, you know."
"Then I won't wake her up," he said simply, and slipped off down one of the alleys. Temari scowled after him.
"Where's he going?" Kankuro asked. "Shouldn't he stay with us?"
Temari rolled her eyes. "He just can't bear being away from his dear sweet cherry blossom," Temari said dramatically, inwardly irritated. She knew that if some guy had just walked into her room during the dead of night, boyfriend or not, she would brain him.
Gaara had no trouble at all recalling the way to Sakura's apartment, then quickly scaled up onto the opposite building. Happy to see her window was cracked, Gaara leapt over (making a mental note to tell Sakura about her poor security) and let himself in, dropping into her bedroom.
Looking over, he saw Sakura curled up peacefully in bed, sleeping. Though in the back of his mind he was seriously alarmed by her lack of defenses (he was a man who had just climbed through her window, and she had noticed absolutely nothing—what did Konoha teach their ninjas? Honestly. Any ninja from Suna would be up and alert, having sensed his chakra in their sleep—), Gaara was just happy to see her, though he wasn't sure if he liked admitting that.
Doing his best to be quiet, Gaara slid off his gourd and dropped his bag, setting them both in the corner. After his shoes and shirt joined them, Gaara carefully pulled back the blanket and slid under the covers. As he wrapped an arm around her, Sakura sighed in her sleep and rolled over so she was facing him.
Gaara smirked down at her. It was as if they hadn't missed a beat. Sighing, he closed his eyes.
He had really, really missed this.
Pulling Sakura closer to him, he buried his face in her hair and let himself fall into sleep.
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Ack! It's so short, but it had been a while since my last update. (Stupid school.) So much for saying I would make my chapters longer. Anyway, you know the drill, please read and review.