Enjoy the chapter guys.
We managed to make it to my house in good time. "You can come in, if you want." I said as I gathered all my stuff together. Gaara got out of the car with me and followed me inside. I saw him take a cursory look around.
I didn't have time to give him a tour though, unfortunately. I ran upstairs straight to my bedroom. "Uh, you can just hang out in here while I get ready." I said as I dug around in my drawers for something nice to wear.
Gaara ambled around my room looking at all my books and the little knick-knacks that were littered about my room.
I pulled some dark wash jeggings and a pretty sky blue tank top out of one of my drawers and then went to my bathroom to change into them. I managed to change in record time.
I went back to my room and pulled on some black Vans to finish off the look.
"How do I look?" I asked, spinning around in front of Gaara.
Gaara looked me up and down. "You look great." He said in a very gay voice. I giggled, grabbed his arm and pulled him out of my room and down the stairs.
"Oh! One second. Let me go put on some perfume!" I said, sprinting back up the stairs and slathering on some deodorant and spraying a little perfume onto my neck.
I ran back downstairs. Gaara audibly sniffed and said "That smells really good."
"Thanks. My mom got it for me." I replied. I pulled my hair out of its ponytail and whipped it back and forth a few times and then smoothed it down with my fingers.
"That was hot." Gaara said.
I rolled my eyes. "Do you want a cookie?"
"I'd love a cookie." He said. We walked into my kitchen. I handed him two cookies off of the plate and grabbed two for myself.
We walked out to the car together. "Can I drive?" I asked him.
"Go for it." He said tossing me the keys.
I caught the keys and got in on the driver's side. "You know, most people wouldn't let me drive their car." I told him as I inserted the key and started the car.
"Well I'm not most people. Besides I figure that you're a pretty careful driver and won't crash it or anything." He explained.
I clicked the button to turn on the radio and classical music thundered throughout the car. I glanced over at him with my eyebrows raised. "Classical?" I asked.
"Don't knock it 'til you try it." He said.
"How about some pop music?" I asked him.
"Your wish is my command, princess." He said and pressed a button. "Heartbeat" by Enrique Iglesias started playing.
I sneered at the princess comment. Gaara rolled his eyes.
"I can pay for gas. It's a bit of a long drive." I said.
Gaara shrugged. "You don't have to."
I shook my head. "Don't worry about it." It was like a thirty minute drive both ways; of course I was going to pay for gas.
"If you insist." He said.
"I do." I replied and then turned up the music.
I started singing along with Enrique and, surprisingly, so did Gaara. I rolled down the windows and let the wind blow through my hair.
***NeW gIrL***
"We're here." I said, pulling into a long driveway. Gaara looked around.
"Nice place." He commented drily.
"I know. They're so rich." I said.
I pulled up behind all the other cars and parked. There were a lot of other people here. How did my little cousin have so many friends?
We walked up to the front door together. "You don't have to come inside if you don't want to?" I said, glancing over at him.
He shot me a look. "Sakura. What else am I going to do while I'm waiting for you?"
"Point taken." I said and didn't mention it again.
When we finally reached the front door after many days of walking I almost collapsed from thirst. Just kidding, it only took us like a minute to reach the front door.
I rang the doorbell and almost immediately my Aunt Tsunade answered.
"I got your voicemail. The last guest just arrived, so I don't think I'm too mad at you." She said. Her pretty brown eyes fell on something over my shoulder. "Oh good. You even brought help. Well, come on in then."
I opened my mouth to tell her that Gaara wasn't there to help when he spoke up "It's my pleasure." I guess if he didn't mind, then who was I to argue.
We stepped inside and Tsunade was about to lead us to the kids when, what felt like a little torpedo ran into my legs. "Sakura!" I heard a little voice yell.
"Hey, Moegi." I said, patting the top of her head.
She looked over and saw Gaara standing beside me. "Is that your boyfriend, Sakura?"
I laughed. "Nope. He's just a friend." I told her.
"Oh." Was all she said.
"Do you want your present now?" I asked her, bending down so we could see eye to eye.
"Yes!" she said and nodded enthusiastically. I straightened and dug around in my pocket. I finally managed to pull out a dainty silver charm bracelet.
"This is the bracelet your mom gave to me when I was your age." I explained to her.
Moegi's eyes got really wide and she said "Really?"
I nodded. "Mhmm, but it's yours now, so take good care of it." I put it around her tiny wrist and clasped it.
"Thanks, Sakura!" she said. She gave me a big hug and then ran off, probably to show her friends her new (at least to her) bracelet.
"She really appreciated that." Tsunade told me.
"I know." I replied.
"Well, I guess it's time to get you two to work then." Tsunade said with and evil glint in her eyes and a grin.
***NeW gIrL***
"Those kids are still going?" I asked, collapsing onto the couch.
"Oh, honey, trust me. You haven't seen the worst of it." Said a woman with long black hair and red tinged eyes. I think her name was Kurenai.
"Oh God. That was bad enough." I said.
"At least you had your friend here to help you. Gary was his name? He was pretty cute." Said another woman. Her blonde hair was cut into a bob.
"Gaara." I corrected her.
He had gone to the bathroom during our brief reprieve from the torture.
"He's pretty good with kids. That's always a good sign. Jiraiya is such a bad influence on the kids I'm usually glad that he's always gone." Tsunade said, winking at me.
I blushed. "Guys, we're just friends. We play soccer together. He's my team mate."
All the women simultaneously looked at each other and then looked at me. They all had the same silly smirk on their faces too.
"Seriously." I groaned.
"That's what we said in the beginning too." The one with the blonde bob said.
I rolled my eyes and wracked my brain for a way out of this situation. "I'm hungry. Let's have some cake." I said and jumped up from the couch.
"I'm sure Gary would like some of your cake!" Blonde Bob yelled after me.
I tried to quell the blush rising into my cheek. "Hey guys!" I called out as I walked into the kitchen. "Who wants cake?" All of the kids came running at me yelling "Me! Me! Me! Me!"
"Alright, alright. Everyone sit down at the table and I'll get you guys your cake." I said. Everyone did as I asked and obediently sat in their seats.
"Now, one at a time, everyone bring their plate up and I'll serve you cake." I told them.
Gaara walked into the kitchen just then. "Gaara, could you get them ice cream?" I asked. He nodded and got the huge tub of ice cream from the freezer.
I sliced the cake into even pieces and carefully started putting a piece onto each kid's plate. Gaara quickly scooped the ice cream out and gave some to everyone.
We actually worked pretty well together. It must have been all those team work drills Kakashi always had us running.
When we were done, I grabbed a candle and put it in Moegi's piece of cake. Then I set it on fire.
We all sang Happy Birthday to her. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and then a second later opened them and blew out the candle.
I pulled the candle out of her piece of cake and threw it away.
I gave Moegi a quick kiss and then walked back over to the cake. I cut myself a piece and scooped out some ice cream.
"This looks good." Gaara said at my elbow.
"Yeah." I replied, licking some excess icing off of my fingers.
Gaara got himself some ice cream and cake. Meanwhile I was surveying the table and didn't see a single open spot.
"Do you want to eat outside?" I asked him. He glanced over at the table and then back to me. "Yeah, we'd probably get mauled by some angry kid."
I snorted and led him out the French doors that led to Tsunade's patio. We sat on their porch swing and started to sway gently.
"The sunset is so pretty." I said, watching the colors spread across the sky.
"Mhmm." Gaara replied. I could tell, without even looking, that his mouth was full.
I glanced over at him and almost laughed out loud. Somehow he'd managed to get ice cream on his nose. He looked so adorable.
"What?" he asked me with wide eyes.
I laughed out loud then. "Chill. You just have ice cream on your nose."
I reached out and wiped the ice cream from his nose. And… I might've let my hand brush across his face unesscarily but I wanted to make sure I got it all! It was just so perfect, with the setting sun and Gaara looking all adorable with the ice cream…
He looked down at his plate and started swinging us.
I sighed.
We talked about trivial things like when Kiba had tried to steal the last chip out of Choji's chip bag. When we were done eating we headed back inside. We tossed our paper plates and followed the music we heard coming from the next room. We found everyone dancing.
Gaara turned to me. "May I have this dance?" he asked me with a small, sweet smile. He held out his hand.
I put my hand in his and replied. "You may."
We did like a tango/salsa/whatever else we could think of. At the end of the song Gaara lowered me into a dip. I suddenly realized how close our faces were. Our breaths were mingling and his eyes were very, very bright.
"Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss." The kids started to say. Gaara looked up at them and then quickly leaned down and kissed my cheek. Except, it was pretty much the corner of my mouth. He then helped me up from the dip and bowed. All the little kids laughed and clapped. My eyes met my aunt's and she gave me a knowing look and a smirk. I could see the I told you so written all over her face.
Suddenly, I felt my pocket start to vibrate. I pulled out my phone and looked at the screen. Temari.
I walked out of the living room and went into the kitchen. "Hello?"
"Sakura, is my brother with you?" She asked. I could hear the underlying worry in her voice.
"I – uh, yeah, he's here with me, Temari." I said.
I heard her breathe a sigh of relief. "We've been trying to reach him all night. He must've turned off his cell phone. Can I talk to him?"
"Sure." I said.
I went back to the living room and got Gaara's attention. I motioned to the phone and he came into the kitchen with me.
I handed him the phone.
"Hey." He said. He listened to what was said and then replied. "Yeah, I'm fine. No, we're not making out. We're actually at her little cousin's birthday party." I felt myself flush a little but he still looked as cool as ever.
He listened for a moment and then said "Shut up, Temari. I think the party is over at 8:30. I should be home by ten."
Temari said something else. "See ya, sis." He said and then handed me the phone.
"My brother is such an ass." Temari said. I laughed. "Well I guess you've gotta get back to your party now. I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura."
"Until then, Temari." I replied and then hung up.
I glanced at the clock on my phone. 8:23.
"It's almost 8:30; do you want to head out now?" I asked Gaara who was standing there, watching me.
He shrugged. "I'm fine with whatever you want to do."
"Ok. Then we'll leave soon. I'm getting a little tired." I told him. He nodded and followed me into the living room.
"I think Gaara and I are going to head out, now, Tsunade, if that's ok with you." I said.
"That should be fine. Thanks for all your guys' help. Moegi and I really appreciated it." She replied and pulled me in for a hug.
"Are you leaving, Sakura?" Moegi asked me.
"Yeah, kiddo." I said, ruffling her hair.
"Aww!" all the kids said.
"It's ok, guys. We'll come back again sometime." I told them.
After that, they all wanted hugs from Gaara and I.
When we finally managed to get out of there it was 8:40.
"Will you drive?" I asked him.
"Sure." He said, pulling his keys out of his pocket.
"Thanks." I replied and got in on the passenger side. I was so tired I about collapsed onto his seat. It had been a long day. Next time Tsunade wanted me to babysit I was going to bring the whole soccer team along. Hey, that wasn't a bad idea actually.
Gaara's car had bench seats so I slid over and laid my head on his shoulder. He tensed up for a second and then wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Friends did this didn't they? I wasn't going too far?
"I hope you don't mind." I said as my eyes slid shut.
"I don't." he replied with a soft chuckle.
I felt myself relax completely but just before I felt myself completely fall into oblivion I thought I felt a feather-light brush of something (lips, perhaps?) over my head and a quiet whisper of "Sweet dreams." Then the black encompassed me.