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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and he doesn't own me.

The Medic and the Demon

Chapter 13: The Right Answer

by Rachel Poulson

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Sakura sighed and rolled over.

Last night she'd had amazing sex with her slightly masochistic boyfriend for the third time this week and she didn't know how to handle it. After her last nutjob boyfriend, she'd wanted something slightly warmer, more comforting in a guy. He had been indifferent towards her, right up to the point where he had her shoved up against the bathroom wall, gasping for breath. Sakura sighed again; she'd told him that she wanted courtesy and affection all the time, not just at two in the morning, then he'd dumped her and she'd broken his nose.

Reaching over, she flipped on the light and made to get up only to be stopped by a pale arm gripping her midriff and pulling her backwards. Sakura giggled helplessly; he could be like a child sometimes, always wanting something to snuggle with. She brushed her lips across his cheek, wrapping her arms around his warm torso. He nuzzled her collarbone in response, humming slightly. "Good morning, Sakura..." His calloused hands covered hers completely.

"Good morning, Gaara." He pressed her more tightly against him, eliciting a moan from her plush pink lips. Her fingers buried themselves in his thick scarlet mane, knowing that she wouldn't be getting much work done this morning.

She supposed (as he trailed kisses over her bellybutton) that she was attracted to the troubled guys: first Naruto, then Sai, then Sasuke... and now Gaara. The problem was she'd really liked all of them. At some point or another they'd given her a feeling of complete confidence and joy, she thought as he rocked him hips slightly, making her eyes roll up in her head. But with Gaara... she felt that way all the time.

After a few minutes she pressed a hand to his lean chest, breathing harshly after the way he'd made her scream– She firmly forbade herself to give into the urge to melt under him. There was something she needed to know, a question that the others had gotten wrong, oh so wrong.

"Sabaku no Gaara, why do you love me?"

Their green eyes met in a moment of silence. Then Gaara blinked slowly. "Because you're you. Don't you love me for the same reason?"

Sakura felt like the world had stopped around them. He'd given her a perfect answer.

When she'd asked Naruto, he'd started listing her personality traits; when she'd asked Sai, he'd told her it was because she was beautiful; when she'd asked Sasuke, he'd replied that he didn't, that he needed her like he needed oxygen. That was two days before he'd been sent to the hospital with blood gushing out of his nose.

Sakura leaned over to kiss her red-haired loveras her mind tried to come up with an answer. What could she possibly say? Should she talk about his unthinking kindness and gentle manner? Or his strong arms and blissful expression? Maybe his fierce loyalty and dedication to those under his protection?

Her eyes, apple green to his teal, lighted with elation. "How could I not?"

There was something about this cuddly, loveable outcast with a cynical outlook and a strawberry ice cream fetish that made everything they did seem so right. Like the way he was kissing her now, a devilish grin planted on his lips as he hugged her close.

There was something unbelievably right about Gaara.