Wow, it's been so long since I've written but I finally found a bit of inspiration to continue on :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.

Chapter 10: News

It wasn't that Sakura didn't crave physical contact with Gaara but it just seemed to be happening all too fast. They were only reunited five minutes ago and now they were already frolicking on the sofa about to have sex. Besides, the thought of sex was more than a bit nerve-wrecking. It was her first time, and she wasn't even mentally prepared!

Sakura gently pushed Gaara away and began to pull her shirt back down. "I'm sorry Gaara, but all this, it, well, it's just all too quick for me. I'm not ready." She said, still breathless from their kiss.

Gaara wanted to slap himself. How could he have been so careless. His excitement got the better of him and the process of taking it slow had completely slipped past his mind. When he re-evaluated the situation he became slightly disgusted at himself. Undoubtedly this must the first time Sakura had done something like this and he was about to take her virginity on a shabby couch in his office. He didn't want it this way. He loved Sakura, so he respected her, he didn't want to complete the act like this – Sakura deserved more.

Gaara got off of Sakura and chose to sit on the floor, his back leaning against the sofa. "I understand. I'm sorry I rushed it Sakura. I didn't mean for it to happen this way." He said as he looked into her eyes firmly to show just how serious he was about her before he gently planted a kiss on the back of her hand. He wanted to express that he cherished her but found that words weren't exactly his best device, thus his gesture.

Her heart skipped a beat at Gaara's actions. She knew Gaara wasn't very good with words but his touch spoke for him. Sakura smiled sweetly at him and moved in to kiss him tenderly on his lips, whispering "I know". She wanted to revisit the innocent love they had when they were young and as for now, keep the lust bit out. She wanted to be a child again, together with Gaara, you know, just chase back all those years they've lost.

It was at that moment Temari got nervous about the whole ordeal. She stood patiently outside Gaara's door, listening intently, hoping to hear something, anything to get the slightest indication of the situation on the other side. It was a fruitless attempt though, and she knew, because the offices in all their buildings were rather soundproof. She couldn't bear it anymore and decided to enter, fitting a quick knock to alert them of her intrusion before hastily opening the door.

It appeared her concerns were for nothing as she saw her brother sitting by the couch, his lips connected to Sakura's, both their clothes dishevelled and crimpled.

Temari gasped at the sight of them. They both reacted to Temari's presence as quick as lightning flashing in the sky and both fumbled to reorganise their clothing, embarrassed.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry guys, I'll get out now." Temari blurted, as she receded out the door.

"No, wait!" Both Sakura and Gaara exclaimed.

Temari halted and stuck her head back into the room, just peering inside behind the door.

"It's not what you think Temari." Gaara said desperately, with Sakura nodding fervently in agreement. It hadn't occurred to Sakura why she was denying it but heck it was so embarrassing being caught out that she just wanted to deny it at this moment.

"Um, well, you know, both of you are really adults now so what you do is none of my business." Temari said, getting awkward standing there.

Gaara knew Temari was awkward now, but after her phase of awkwardness, he knew she was going to relentlessly tease him and by tomorrow morning everyone in his family would know this juicy piece of gossip and he did NOT want that. It wasn't that he didn't want anyone to know about Sakura, but he just wasn't ready to be teased by their other sibling Kankuro and being constantly pestered by their father about when they were going to conceive grandchildren for him. Women could be scary, just a whisper from their mouths would entail so much trouble.

"Temari, just," Gaara sighed, pausing, thinking of a way to phrase this delicately, but he couldn't think of anything, "don't say anything, yet."

Temari understood what this was about and snorted, her body moving into the room a bit more. "If you want me to keep my mouth shut, you may have to bribe me." Temari said as she deviously added a wink for her cute, baby brother. As mean as it sounded, teasing her brother was her hobby and possibly favourite pass time.

Gaara should've known Temari didn't do any favours for free and certainly not for him. "What do you want?" He conceded defeat as he begrudgingly asked.

"Nothing big, I just want to get to know my future sister-in-law better. Maybe a shopping session or two." Temari said casually. She caught the 'you may certainly not' face on Gaara and quickly added "Of course you are free to join – to hold our shopping bags."

Sakura stifled a laugh of amusement. Gaara was being owned by his sister. Hard. She wouldn't mind hanging out with Temari, she seemed cool, and she wanted to know more about how Gaara had been living for the past ten years.

Gaara considered her request carefully. "If Sakura is okay with it, consider it done." He didn't like Temari's suggestion, whatever it is, he knew she wouldn't pass up the chance to embarrass or tease him in any shape, way or form.

"Sure, I'm fine with it, I don't see why not." Sakura replied.

"Sweet." Temari said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Sakura was getting ready to leave after Temari had finally exited the office when Gaara held her hand, not letting go.

"Gaara," Sakura laughed playfully, "don't be silly, let me go, Ino's leaving tomorrow, I want to spend today with her."

"I know, I just wanted to say something."

He had her full attention. "Yes?"

Gaara sheepishly brought his hand to the back of his neck, his eyes averted. "Well, ah, it might be a bit late but uh, you know, would you be my girlfriend?" He coughed slightly at the word girlfriend and cleared his throat.

Sakura held her breath at Gaara's question, her heart beating a little faster, face flushing. It was a different excitement to hugs and kisses. "Of course, silly." Sakura whispered, her hands wrapping Gaara lightly around the waist. They both knew what her answer would be but it made her feel valued to be asked formally.

For a moment they stayed like that, revelling each other's company before Sakura finally had to return to Ino.

Ino paced back and forth in their apartment as she anxiously waited for Sakura's return. She hoped her friend had gotten everything sorted and that her relationship with Gaara didn't take a turn for the worst after the promising start they've had. Though she admitted to herself that Gaara keeping his identity secret was a douchebaggy move. It was quite cruel, after the girl had poured her heart out to him.

The door clicked, as it opened with a slight creak.

Ino immediately approached the door, waiting eagerly for Sakura to appear. As soon as she saw the bright pink hair of her roommate, her questions came out like endless bullets.

"Sakura, are you okay? Oh my gosh, what happened? Why did you leave me there, I could've come with you! Tell me everything!"

Sakura was unprepared for Ino's sudden assault and raised a hand to indicate a ceasefire on Ino's questions. "Stop, wait, calm down, I'll tell you okay?"

After they had settled down comfortably at the dinner table, both with mugs of warm green tea in their hands, Sakura spilled all that had happened to Ino. Well, not all, but most, deliberately leaving out all the extra intimate information. Best friends as they may have been, they had never talked about the intimate details of their bedroom life. Of course Sakura never had anything to say but Ino didn't tell anyone out of respect for her partners. Ino might mention that things got a little hot between her and her partner but never explicitly described it, it would have been uncomfortable for Sakura to listen to anyway. Ino may like her clothes revealing and may like to talk dirty, but that wasn't any indication of how she treated her relationships. She was always serious about her relationships – she didn't like to engage in pointless flings.

"So it's true then, President Sabaku is Gaara?" Ino asked with awe in her eyes.

"Yep."

"And you guys are dating now?"

"Yep."

Ino sighed dreamily. "That's so nice, I'm so happy for you Sakura! You have such a romantic love, I'm jealous."

"Anyway, enough about me, it's your last day in Japan, what should we do?"

Ino pondered, until she faced Sakura with an almost evil grin. It couldn't be good, Sakura thought to herself. "You know, I'd love to meet the guy who will be caring for my best friend while I'm gone."

"He might be busy." Sakura said. She wasn't lying; he was a president, which president had time to spare?

"Ah how sad, I probably won't get to know him ever, and would probably only meet him when you guys want to get married. So much for being best friends." Ino continued to sigh, feigning hurt.

It was Sakura's turn to sigh, giving in to Ino's mockery. "Fine… I'll call him to ask if he's free."

It turned out that Gaara was free and was more than happy to have dinner with Sakura.

For the entire day, Gaara worked enthusiastically, full of energy. He was usually productive, but he never completed his work with much vigour. Possibly the after-effects of successfully asking Sakura out. He was further energised when Sakura had invited him to dinner, albeit with her friend, though that didn't concern him. He wanted to get to know Sakura's best friend; he figured getting on her best friend's good side may prove to be useful in the future.

He picked up his phone and dialled a number.

"Hello?"A male's voice answered the phone.

"Hey, do you have time tonight?" Gaara asked casually.

"Depends what you want."

"Dinner."

There was a pause. "Sure, just the two of us?"

"No, with my girlfriend and her friend."

Another long pause. "I don't see why my presence would be necessary."

"It's Sakura."

"The one from the orphanage?"

"Yeah."

"I'll come to your office when you finish work."

The day passed quickly. Sakura and Ino were exhausted from walking around, exploring the city and Gaara had wrapped up his work and was now waiting for his friend's arrival. They had decided to go fine dining at a restaurant under the recommendation of Temari and agreed to meet at the restaurant.

Sakura and Ino were the first to arrive, since they were already in the city to begin with and just happened to be shopping near the restaurant. They entered the restaurant with a sign imprinted in clean black writing, spelling 'The Glass Tree'.

A waiter approached them, their uniform the standard white shirt and black vest. "Good evening ladies, how may I help you today?" The waiter asked politely.

"We have a reservation under the name Gaara." Sakura replied.

"Yes, a table for four, allow me to lead the way." With that the waiter, led them straight towards the back, a table right next to big, glass windows, overseeing the harbour side.

Sakura and Ino settled in their seats and waited till the waiter had left them.

"A table for four?" Ino asked astonished.

Sakura was equally confused; Gaara hadn't informed her of a fourth person during their last phone call. "Well, don't look at me, I don't know."

"How strange." Ino continued to ponder to herself aloud. "Who else could he be inviting?"

Sakura was about to reply with another 'I don't know', when she caught a glimpse of Gaara approaching them and waved. As Gaara reached the table, and took a seat, Sakura noticed another man slightly taller than Gaara and a face even paler than Gaara's already white skin following closely behind.

When everyone was seated comfortably Sakura quickly introduced Ino and Gaara to each other.

"Sakura, Yamanaka-san, this is Sai." Gaara said as he introduced the man sitting beside him.

"Nice to make your acquaintance." Sai said monotonously as he bowed his head slightly, which both Sakura and Ino mirrored.

The waiter had approached them again and had offered them menus. Each of them studied the menus carefully, not fully understanding what some dishes named in Spanish were.

While everyone studied the menu, Ino peered over her menu and studied Sai. She pondered what Sai's relationship with Gaara might be. Bestfriends? Sai certainly appeared to be as emotionless and cool as Gaara and possibly even looked bored, Ino thought, so it wouldn't be a surprise to her if he was his bestie. Sai caught her staring at him and like that, their eyes locked for a second before Ino refocused on her menu. After a minute or two she looked back at Sai only to find his eyes still glued to her and smirked at Ino's surprised expression.

While they waited for their food, a heavy silence blanketed them.

"Sai, is an artist." Gaara started. It was a surprise to them all that he was the first to break the silence but then more silence ensued as he started with a rather closed statement.

"I see, my mother is an artist too, Sai-san." Sakura added.

"What would be her name, if I may ask?" Sai responded, with a little more interest.

"Yumiko Evergreen."

"Mrs Evergreen, I see, I've met her at an art conference two years ago in America. Your mother's paintings are very beautiful." Sai praised, though his tone was still the same.

Sakura actually didn't know all that much about paintings and artworks. She knew bits and pieces but the movements and what-not in the art world, never did make sense to her. All she knew was her mother was a fan of impressionism or something. Just imagine something like Monet's paintings, she couldn't think of a better description.

The conversation seemed to end there again.

"Ino is an oboist, and I'm a pianist. We both played in the same orchestra ."

"So I've heard." Sai said as the waiter came back carrying plates of food. "Both of you are very talented, to be so distinguished at such a young age. Especially for a gorgeous lady like you, Yamanaka-san." Sai eyed Ino hungrily, his eyes never leaving her lips.

"Beef tenderloin with lemongrass flavoured parsnip puree for the ladies and sautéed fresh boneless trout with raspberry vinegar butter sauce for the gentlemen." The waiter said as he professionally lay down the dishes in front of the respective guests.

Ino blushed at Sai's comment and thanked him shyly before taking a gulp of her ice water in an attempt to cool the hot flush across her face. Sakura was very entertained. Ino never blushed, she always said 'he or she who blushes is the one who loses', so she always had a lot of control in her relationships.

Like that the conversation concluded at a dead end and heavy silence once again shrouded their table as they munched their food slowly. The food was great, but it could have been better if their company was, more, delightful – for lack of a better word.

What came next surprised Sakura and Ino, and Sakura especially.

"It's amazing how you've become Sakura-san." It surprised Sakura that Sai had even begun the conversation and even more, it caught Sakura off guard that Sai would make such a comment about her.

"I'm not sure what you mean Sai-san."

"You've become quite beautiful, and perhaps more independent than you used to be, I'm impressed." Sai continued. Gaara passed him a sideways glance when Sai mentioned that Sakura was beautiful.

"What do you mean? Have we met before?" Sakura asked, confused. She tried desperately to recall a time they may have met but to no avail, nothing came to mind.

"Yes. Yes, we have." Sai continued as he sipped from his glass of water.

"It must seem very rude of me, but I don't ever recall meeting you!"

"Maybe you were too young to remember." Sai said as he regarded Sakura with more amusement. "You were maybe only ten years old when I last saw you."

Ten years old? Sakura thought hard. She was adopted when she was ten but Sai indicated that he knew her before she was ten, which was impossible, she was still at the orphanage.

"I'm sorry Sai-san, you must be mistaken, I grew up in an orphanage and right up until I was ten years old I was still there."

"Yes, that is quite right." At this Sakura became more baffled than ever. Could it be that Sai somehow met her during her orphanage days?

"Then you mean to say – " Sakura was cut off mid-sentence by Sai.

"That's right, I grew up with you in the very same orphanage."

Now Ino felt very much left out, they all happened to be childhood friends and she felt quite out of place – kind of like an outsider. She felt like she had no place to speak, not that she wanted to anyway, the whole situation became very confusing and sort of mind-blowing but all the same, she was interested.

For a minute Sakura didn't know what to say, her mouth open, as though she were prepared to say something but she was at a loss for words. "This is unexpected, I would have never thought… I'm so sorry, but I really don't remember you."

"No, no, I understand. I didn't really interact with you actually, I did know Gaara though, we shared a room you see."

"Oh, is that right?" Sakura's eyes turned to Gaara, asking for confirmation, which he nodded silently to. "How did you manage to find each other after your adoptions?"

This time it was Gaara who had answered. "You see, not long after you were adopted, my family found me and took me home, but of course when I grew older I desired to find your whereabouts and in the midst of finding you, I found Sai."

Sakura itched to ask how Gaara's real family had found him, or managed to lose him at all in the first place, but felt that it wasn't exactly appropriate to discuss something so sensitive openly.

"Yes," Sai agreed, "we became well acquainted after he contacted me and we've been in touch once in a while ever since. When Gaara found me, I was quite stunned and when he had asked whether I knew of your whereabouts, I had no clue. Even the sisters didn't really know."

It was difficult for the orphanage to keep track of where some children went after they were sent overseas.

"I see."

"You were quite a popular child Sakura, even after you were adopted another woman had come to enquire about you." Sai continued in his even tone, almost as though he were bored.

"What woman?" Sakura asked, astonished.

"I never saw the woman, but I overheard the sisters saying that it was your birth mother."

Now this was the biggest piece of news Sakura had heard all day and being shocked was an understatement. She had thought her parents were dead.

"I'm sorry?" Sakura's shock had stopped her from eating, her undivided attention now on Sai.