Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters.
--
Sakura nervously scratched her arm, eyes shifting from her brother to Gaara, then back again. When had they come in?
"What were you doing?" Sasuke asked, narrowed black eyes focused on Gaara, who glared stonily back. Kakashi pointedly examined the ceiling and said nothing.
Sakura opened her mouth wordlessly, then quickly shut it. She glanced to Gaara, silently pleading for help.
Obviously, she didn't know what they had been doing.
"None of your concern, Uchiha," he said dispassionately.
Because really, he didn't know either.
Sasuke's fist clenched, and Gaara tensed, preparing himself to fight. Obviously, the prodigy's ego was as easily damaged as it had been the last time they met.
When they were twelve.
But Sasuke just smirked at him, and turned towards Sakura.
"Why such low expectations, Sakura?" He asked, eyes flicking briefly to Gaara. "I would think that you couldn't get any worse than Lee, but apparently anything's possible for you."
Gaara unwillingly tensed again, closing his eyes and praying for patience, as Kakashi placed a warning hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "That's enough, Sasuke."
"Don't insult Lee or Gaara in front of me." Sakura's voice came out cold and hard, but even Gaara could detect the underlying tones of hurt.
For almost a second he felt a brief flicker of pride, for her hiding it so well, and resentment, for Sasuke making her feel bad.
He almost felt a small warmth at her jumping to his defense so quickly.
But just for a second.
Any longer, and the melee of foreign emotions would have usurped him into a sentimental overload.
The tension rolled throughout the kitchen as the three teenagers attempted to stare each other down. Kakashi sighed and delicately placed on hand over the left side of his face in an exasperated gesture, muttering something that sounded like "So dramatic..." Gaara resisted the primal urge to bare his teeth at the dark boy standing parallel to Sakura.
"So," Kakashi broke the silence at last. "As you can see, Sasuke and I got here all right."
"Did you run into any trouble?" Sakura asked, eagerly gripping onto the conversation.
"We did." Kakashi nodded. "But it wasn't from your mystery man, if that's what you've been worried about."
Sakura sighed with obvious relief, at the same time flushing with minor embarrassment. Sasuke scoffed. Gaara locked gazes with him, just daring him to say something.
"See, Sasuke sprained his ankle," Kakashi went on, in the same tone he used when he was making up some shot to shit excuse as to why he was late. Gaara and Sakura quickly looked at each other. "Which considerably slowed our progress, until we got to a village with some mediocre medics."
Sasuke had looked away from Gaara, and was now staring out the kitchen window, his ever present scowl deepening.
Had Gaara been any other person, he would have laughed.
A quick glance at Sakura confirmed that she was already trying not to.
Sasuke had sprained his ankle.
"So," Kakashi continued, since no one else opted to say anything. "Any trouble here?"
"None," Gaara answered, voice monotone. "The Hokage hasn't cleared you to return to Konoha yet, but we are in touch.
"Good to know," Kakashi returned blandly. "Naruto and Shikamaru get here yet?"
"Of course." Sakura entered the conversation again.
"Excellent. Where are they?"
"They're staying at that big hotel."
"The one you pass as you walk in?"
"Yeah."
"All right." Kakashi nodded. "That's where Sasuke and I'll be."
"Okay."
Kakashi hesitated a moment, eye flickering from her to Gaara to the table, before turning to leave. Sasuke waited until he had left the kitchen before speaking.
"Where are you staying?" He directed at her.
"Me?" She blinked, most likely confused as to why he cared. And then, just to see if she could piss him off (obviously she wasn't very happy with him right now), she answered bluntly. "I'm staying with Gaara-san."
Something that might have been anger flashed in his dark eyes, before he broke eye contact with her and followed Kakashi out of the kitchen with a mumbled "Whatever."
Sakura fidgeted, only looking at Gaara when they heard the front door open and close.
"Um," she said, awkwardly gesturing towards the living room. "I'm going to go do some pushups."
Gaara glanced at her, taking in the confused tilt of her mouth and her anxious posture. For a second he harbored the insane urge to push her back against the table and completely obliterate any uncertainty she had.
Then it was gone, before he had time to ponder exactly what that meant.
He nodded in reply and turned away from her.
And suddenly everything was back to normal.
--
Sasuke fidgeted. Hid dark eyes flickered from the bathroom door, where Kakashi was taking a shower, to their hotel window, which had been left tauntingly open.
He crossed and uncrossed his arms, then finally settled for shoving them deep into his pockets. His foot tapped anxiously against the floor. The curtains fluttered obnoxiously.
Kakashi would be done any minute. He never took long showers. Liked to save the water.
He cast another uneasy glance to the bathroom door.
Okay. Out he goes.
Sasuke silently crept out the window.
--
Sakura studied her mangled nails intensely. Three were too short to damage, five were broken and chipped, and two were split straight down the middle.
Hmm. She needed a manicure.
"See anything interesting?" Kankuro peered at her hands over her shoulder. Instead of walking to Kankuro's house, Sakura decided to make him come to Gaara's.
Because it was too damn hot for her to go anywhere.
"No," she replied, bored tone revealing everything.
Kankuro ruffled her pink hair, working some painful tangles into it. She swatted his hand away and smudged some of the purple makeup on his cheek with her thumb. He retaliated by poking her in the armpit. She elbowed him in the gut. He shoved her. She raised an arm to strike back, paused, then dropped it, instead opting to flop onto the couch.
"I'm so damn bored," she moaned, one arm dangling off the edge.
"Go to sleep," Kankuro replied unsympathetically, dropping down beside her.
"I'm too bored for that." She tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling, wondering how long it would take to count all the tiny black specks on it.
"I'm so sorry."
"What do you do when you're bored?"
"I sleep."
She made a small noise of frustration in the back of her throat.
"Gaara's been gone a while," Kankuro idly commented.
"Uh-huh."
"Longer than usual."
"He is the Kazekage."
"I know."
They were silent a while longer until Sakura, in a burst of inspiration, grabbed Kankuro's foot and tickled it. He spasmodically jerked it back and moved a safe distance away from her.
"...I'm going to bed." He stated, watching her reproachfully. "Gaara won't mind if I crash here for the night."
"Have fun."
"Maybe I will."
"...ew."
"...shut up."
--
Sasuke wasn't quite sure what to do with his newfound (and most likely soon to be short-lived) freedom. The concept of being away from his guardian for more than five minutes had become foreign to him.
And Suna was incredibly boring.
He could go see Sakura.
No...she's annoying, remember?
He wasn't in the mood to put up with Naruto...and he didn't like Shikamaru.
He turned his gaze upward, eyes roaming the rooftops of Suna's shops and homes. He caught a bit of dusty red out of the corner of his eye.
He focused on it.
His sharingan flashed.
--
Sakura lay on her back on the guest mattress, having followed Kankuro's example and gone to bed.
Except she couldn't sleep.
The sheets had long since been kicked to the foot of the bed, and she made no effort to pull them back up. She placed a palm over her chest, then put it back on the bed beside her.
God...she was so bored.
I wish Temari was here...or Naruto...or Shikamaru...she thought absently.
Any further remorseful thoughts were interrupted by a small thump from a few doors down.
From Gaara's room.
Her breath hitched. She hadn't heard Gaara come in. Which meant that he hadn't. If there was one thing she prided herself on, it was her sense of hearing.
A robber?
Sakura stealthily crept out of bed and slipped to her door, where she hesitated.
Hmm. Should she go get Kankuro? That had been the first thing Kakashi had taught them. If backup was available, go get it.
Or, she could go alone and kick the hell out of whoever had the balls (and stupidity) to break into the Kazekage's home.
Decisions, decisions.
She pushed her door open and, without a sound, began her silent trek to Gaara's bedroom.
--
Gaara collapsed against the wall, silently gasping with pain. His gourd dropped with a not so quiet thud beside him. He raised his hand and pressed it against his bleeding shoulder, trying to stem the flow. He didn't know what to focus on first...God, everything hurt.
Now, he was aware his tolerance for pain was abnormally low. But he was also aware that he was seriously injured, and needed to stop the bleeding.
He tried to stand and wobbled unsteadily, finally sliding down the wall into an undignified sprawl on the floor. Ugh. He hadn't felt this weak in years.
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, breathing raggedly through his mouth. Okay. Maybe after a few minutes' rest, he would be stable enough to move.
Suddenly his solitude was interrupted. His door was thrown open and the light from the hallway was cast over his bleeding, pathetic form. He squinted at the ground, not wanting to look up as the figure in the doorway froze.
"Gaara," Sakura whispered in a horrified voice, eyes huge. "You're bleeding..."
He grit his teeth. He didn't want her to see him like this. Why couldn't she have just stayed in her room?
But it was too late for him to tell her it was nothing. She'd obviously spotted the blood staining not only him, but the wall and floor beneath him.
And he knew he couldn't tell her he was fine. He was bleeding and injured and weakened, and if he didn't do something about it, he had no doubt he would die.
He lifted his head slightly to return her stare.
"Help me," he rasped.
She was at his side in a second, experienced hands prodding his body, searching for wounds.
"...stomach and shoulder," he said in a strained voice, deciding to help her out.
She gently slid one hand behind his back, helping him to sit up while she cut the top of his robes off.
"Gaara," she said cautiously, eyes fixed on the gaping slash on his shoulder, and the prominent burn on his stomach. "How did you do this?"
He didn't answer at first, closing his eyes as her chakra pushed its way into his body, taking assessment of the damage.
"Uchiha," he said eventually.
Her hands stilled and she stared at the floor, before once again forcing her chakra through his skin, this time to begin the healing process.
"I see," she said quietly. "You two got into a fight?"
"No," he said sharply, and she started with surprise. "He attacked me."
"Oh." She suddenly sounded exhausted. "...what happened to Sasuke?"
Her words lingered hauntingly between them. What did you do to him?
"Nothing. He got bruised, but is otherwise fine," Gaara said. "Your sensei broke us apart."
She removed her hands from his abdomen and moved to his shoulder.
"How long have you been bleeding?" She asked quietly.
"...ten or fifteen minutes."
In the green glow from her chakra he could barely see her facial expression. Her eyes had softened into something unreadable, and she was starting to look incredibly drained. He turned his gaze away, staring instead at the slowly closing gap on his shoulder.
"Done." She sat up and smiled at him, expression tired.
He looked at her critically. "How much chakra did you use to heal me?"
"I dunno," she slurred, staring at her hands. "A lot?"
Which was the last thing she said before pitching forward onto his lap.
Gaara sat there, propped against the wall, and stared at her. Her pink hair was fanned over her face, hiding her expression, and her deep, even breathing told him that she had fallen asleep.
Right onto him.
He vaguely realized that he should be embarrassed, or angry, or at least feel something. But he didn't. He simply sat still, not daring to move for fear of waking her.
And she was warm.
Very very warm.
He closed his eyes.
--
