A/N: Sorry about the POV jumping, I do that all the time and don't even notice it! For those who pointed it out in reviews, if you could point out where I'm doing it I'd be more than happy to fix the errors and if you don't want to go back and look for them, I would appreciate it if you point out future mistakes I'm sure I'll make. Enjoy my lovely readers!

Gaara was not pleased when he was thrown out of the guest bedroom in his own house by his guest. Sure he'd seen her dressed rather scantily and she hadn't known Kankuro had undressed her, the idiot having left, so he really couldn't blame her for being suspicious. But still! He absently swiped a hand across his aching forehead where she'd had the gall to punch him before throwing him out.

He had to admit, he hadn't been disappointed when he saw her dressed in so little, she seemed to be a well-developed wo-What was he thinking? This was his political guest from Konoha who was training his medics, not here to service him. He shook his head as he stalked off towards the kitchen to get an ice pack for his head. He had no idea how she'd gotten through his sand shield, but it might have had something to do with the monster strength Naruto always whined about her using on him in his letters.

When he arrived in the kitchen he found Temari sipping a cup of coffee and she looked up when he walked in. She nearly spat out the coffee in her mouth when she spotted the swollen red spot on his forehead. "Gaara, did-did...Sakura hit you?" She laughed as she asked him that, setting her coffee down and turning to face him.

"You will say nothing," he hissed as he walked over to the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen peas to press against his aching forehead. Temari nodded, pressing her hands over her mouth to cover her giggles. Finally, when she regained her composure, she spoke.

"Gaara, how badly did you injure Sakura?" Temari sighed, annoyed with the political mess she'd had to fix.

"Injure? I didn't harm her if you are being so bold as to accuse me of that," Gaara grumbled. He took a seat on one of the seats at the island bar. He was about to berate his sister for even suggesting he would lay a hand on Sakura when the sound of feet against the stairs interrupted him. Sakura rushed into the kitchen dressed in a long, red bathrobe and looked around momentarily before spotting him and sighing while placing a hand over her heart.

"I'm so glad I found you Gaara!" she exclaimed as she ran around the counter and brushed aside his hand holding the ice pack from his swollen head. As a natural reaction his sand shot up and gripped her wrist that's hand was hovering over his injured head. "Gaara, let me heal you!" He slowly forced the sand to recede and she began babbling out an apology. "Kankuro came to my room after you left and explained what had happened. Of course I hit that idiot for undressing me without permission, but then I realized I had hit you and it wasn't your fault and I felt guilty so I ran down here to heal you because Naruto always says my hits hurt and-"

Gaara cut her off. "Sakura, it's alright. You had every right to presume I had dirty intentions when you woke up dressed in only your undergarments with me by your bedside. Though I do wish you hadn't hit me." He winced when she placed her hand against the swollen area, having his sand shift away so his real skin was revealed. When she gasped, he realized that it had been right over the spot of his Kanji she had hit him.

He tried to move backwards away from her, but she braced her other hand against the back of his neck and leaned closer making him very away of how little space between them there was. Her lips were hovering in front of his, parted slightly in what appeared to be surprise and interest. It was hard for him to tell since he was so focused on her soft looking lips.

He was jerked back to reality when she spoke, suddenly very, very aware of how wrong of him it was to be so interested in her and to get these odd feelings. Somehow he knew he wasn't supposed to have them for the pink haired Konoichi. "Gaara, is this a scar?" He didn't answer so she set to work. First she gently healed the swelling of his head before brushing her fingers over the mark making him want to groan for some reason. "Gaara, was the kanji for love carved into your forehead?"

Suddenly, he reached up and tangled his fingers with hers and brought their joined hands down to hover between their chests. "My uncle did that." He had absolutely no idea why speaking about such a dark part of his childhood came easily when talking to her. Something about her made Shukaku settle in his head, no longer clawing at his mind at odd hours in the day and whispering cruel deeds in his ears. In fact, he'd found that Shukaku had been mostly silent since Sakura had arrived.

"That's horrible..." she whispered and he nearly panicked when he saw tears gather in her eyes. On instinct alone he jerked their joined hands to his chest and pressed them over the place where his heart rested. She sniffled while staring at their hands and then lifted her gaze to stare into his eyes. "It was because of Shukaku, right?"

"Yes." His answer was calm, no anger or fear raging through his veins like there usually was whenever his past came up. It only made him more intrigued by Sakura.

"People used to hit Naruto, adults, when he was a child. I was too young to understand the cruelty, but as we've gotten older I've gotten Naruto to tell me about some of the worse parts of his younger life. You would think adults would have enough maturity to understand it wasn't Naruto's fault the Kyubi is in him and that he probably saved their damn lives by harboring that creature, but instead they attack him and treat him like a monster." She was sobbing by the time she finished speaking and surprised Gaara by leaning forward and burying her head in the crook between his neck and shoulder, their hands still clasped between them.

"It makes me so sad to know another was treated as poorly if not worse than Naruto. When will people learn, you were forced to give up a normal life just to harbor a monster inside you, but that doesn't make you a monster?" Gaara blinked, the girl leaning against him continuing to surprise him every time he thought he knew what to expect from her. He cautiously lifted his free arm and ever so softly wrapped it around her waist to hold her against him. She was so warm and his heart was beating so fast that the whole ordeal felt unreal.

"Didn't peg you for a drama queen, Sakura." Oh yeah, Temari was still in the kitchen. Gaara threw her a glare over his shoulder and Sakura lifted her head to send Temari a watery smile.

"Sorry, I just find people's lack of decency horrible." Gaara, as he'd seen mothers do to children who fell at the playground or came home injured from a day of adventuring, began to rub slow circles on Sakura's back.

Temari seemed to find this quite amusing because she smirked and made her way out of the room, but not before whispering in Gaara's ear on the way past, "We need to talk." That sentence left him curious and his mind was filled with questions about what Temari wanted to talk about as Sakura placed her head back in the crook between his shoulder and neck, sighing. Her breath ghosting over his skin sent a shiver down his spine and he had to refrain from groaning. He didn't know what it was, but she was affecting him in a way he'd never experienced before and while it concerned him, he also enjoyed it.