Despite feeling wholly despondent today, I managed to whip up this pearl (well, finish it, really) and I'm actually quite satisfied with the way it turned out. Tell me what you think.

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I really attract, trouble, don't I? Naruto, I swear I'll never again say that you're a trouble magnet.

Sighing, Sakura rolled over in her bed. Sleep would not come.

Damn that Kazekage! Just because I'm ready to die for my ideals doesn't mean I'm going to kill for them! Especially not Gaara-san!

So. Apparently, she wouldn't get to sleep anytime soon. With a frustrated grown, she punched her pillow—sans chakra, of course—and got to her feet. Maybe a walk under the moonlight would do her some good. As long as she came back before Yuka-san woke up, there should be no problem. With that thought in mind, she put on her short yukata and Capri pants, tied her sandals properly, and jumped out the window.

And then she realized that nights in Suna were way colder than she remembered.

Shivering but unwilling to go back just yet, she rubbed her hands together on top of a house not far from Yuka's place. She had to fight the urge to put her hands under her armpits as she lightly hopped from house to house. Grumbling under her breath, she focused on infusing her skin with a solid layer of chakra. With such a chakra blanket, she could ward off the chills easily, though it felt like a waste of perfectly good chakra to do so when she could have taken a blanket from her bed before she left her room.

Now feeling much better, she twirled around in an impromptu dance, peals of laughter leaving her lips. There really was such freedom in the night, freedom that she wouldn't get once the sun rose up from its bed in the horizon.

Now feeling much happier—pushing problems to the back of her mind seemed to work wonders—she ran as fast as she could, laughing in exhilaration as she felt the wind whip at her body. The sensation stopped suddenly, however, as she took a jump between two tall buildings.

What the—?

Something wrapped around her tightly, bringing her down to a building to the side of her route. Arms trapped to the side, she could do nothing but wait until she could once again feel something under her feet. Of course she wouldn't be released.

"Who are you? You're not one of Suna's ninja."

Kami-sama, could his voice be any colder and impersonal?

"I'm not. But I'm not affiliated with any village. I'm an independent medic."

"A nuke-nin?"

"Iie! I'm just not part of any village. I'm neutral," she explained, staying still. She knew that struggling would just make him suspicious and possibly invoke his sadistic side.

Silence stretched on as she was put down so that she could sit, but she didn't fail to notice that he had not released her.

"I can't sense any lies on you, but you can't be telling the truth. You're too young to have all the knowledge required to become a medic."

"Hey, hey, don't be patronizing. I'm older than you, and as far as I can see, you're good enough to be a great shinobi, so can't you give me some credit and accept that I may be talented too?"

Feeling a pang in her chest at his words, even though she really should be used to being underestimated, which seemed to be the story of her life, she turned her head away, pouting.

"Can you release me now, Gaara-san?" she whispered, throat choking up with all the sentiments that had always been buried far in her heart but seemed to now be bubbling under the surface, ready to explode at any time.

"Hn. I still don't believe you," he said pointedly as his sand retreated into his gourd. Both knew that if he wanted, it could still kill her in an instant, so it was really just a farce that she would be free of movements.

As soon as the sand recoiled from her body, she rolled to her side, keeping her back to him.

"That's fine, I won't force you to," she replied, still feeling slightly hurt. "Though I really wish someone would treat me like a normal person, for once," she muttered to herself.

Gaara snorted.

"Such things are impossible."

With a shrug, she curled into a fetal position on the roof, murmuring sleepily, "Yeah, well, I thought being blind, I'd never get to see again, so I guess even someone who can't sleep can have dreams, right?"

Under the moonlight, sleep finally caught up to her, and soon soft snores were leaving her mouth regularly. Sitting next to her, Gaara remained still, observing her with methodical curiosity. The girl was an anomaly.

He liked anomalies. Maybe he'd toy with her for a bit.

-:-

Whispers—tense whispers, she was able to recognize—were disrupting her much-needed sleep. With a frown, she grumbled something unintelligible and shifted a bit, satisfied that the whispers trailed off. Ah, peace. And then they began anew, more hurried. Her frown became deeper. Damn those whispers.

"What should we do? If she wakes up, she'll freak out and then who knows what he'll do?"

"Yeah, but we can't take her away! Don't you see the sand wrapped around her ankles?"

Feeling quite frustrated, and since her sleep had been quite effectively taken away from her, Sakura sat up with The Frown from Hell™ plastered to her face.

"My sleep, dammit!" she growled dangerously. Then she turned to her right and, with a much more mellow tone, said, "G'morning, Gaara-san. Hope your meditation wasn't interrupted by those guys."

The ninja she was pointing to, over her shoulder, blanched and desperately kept quiet in the hopes of staying alive one more day.

Gaara only nodded. The silence stretched on.

"So…I can't leave if you don't take back your sand, Gaara-san…" she trailed off leadingly. Hopefully he would take the hint.

-:-

A soft knock resounded at the kitchen window. Lifting a brow in inquiry, Yuka turned in her chair, only to spray her coffee all over her floor and, coincidently, the pack she had unceremoniously dumped there the previous day. The kitchen chair clattered to the floor as she jumped to her feet.

At the window, Sakura scratched her head sheepishly and waved at her with an even more sheepish smile. All the while being suspended upside down by her heels in midair.

"Ano…Good morning, Yuka-san…"

The Suna kunoichi opened the window, still looking slightly shell-shocked. Of course, she blamed that entirely on the early hour and the fact that the coffee she had been supposed to drink to wake up had instead been wasted all over her floor.

"What the hell? Sensei?" she exclaimed mere inches from the girl's face.

"Hehehe…That's kinda a long story. Would you mind telling Gaara-san I'm really a simple independent medic and that I don't mean any harm? I'd really like to stop feeling like a dog on a leash."

Yuka's wide eyes met Gaara's cool ones. Even simply sitting on her neighbour's rooftop, he looked more dangerous than men more than twice his age and height.

"Eeeeeeh…Gaara-san…Eto…If you could please let go of my guest?"

The jinchuuriki observed her for a moment with bored eyes, his whole attitude crying out that he was blasé. Then he looked back down at Sakura and lifted her off from her precarious position between the two buildings.

"Hn. So you are who you said you were," he murmured, fixing his jade eyes on the pinkette.

"Hai, hai. Now that we've established that, can you let me go?" asked Sakura, feeling tired of being upside down. She crossed her arms over her chest, regretting that there was no floor under her so she could tap her feet impatiently. Of course, if she was on the ground, she wouldn't feel the need to act that way in the first place.

Gaara inored her and walked off with her in tow, though he had the decency to pull her upright, at the very least. Sakura sighed and settled for a long day.

-:-

"You know, the waiter is close to peeing his pants. Can't you tone down a bit on the killing aura? Most civilians can't handle bloodlust all that well."

Gaara crossed his arms.

"That's my natural aura," he said tartly.

Leaning her head on her left hand, she twirled her spoon in his direction, accusing.

"You just like to see their reaction. By the way, this parfait tastes very good! Do you want some?"

He declined, but she took the opportunity to push her spoon in his mouth, so fast that he did not have time to react. Since there had been no killing intent in her actions, his sand hadn't risen to defend him either. With a frown, he pulled the spoon out of his mouth, feeling the dessert slide down his throat in a cold caress.

The waiter and remaining patrons of the café winced, waiting with bated breath; the girl's blood would soon shower over them.

To their surprise, the demon did not squish the pinkette who smiled widely, leaning over the table, head tilted to the side cutely above her hands.

"See? It's good, right?"

Silence. Silence. Siiiiileeeeence.

"You're strange."

She face planted.

"Gah, you idiot! That's not what you're supposed to say!"

Gaara's apathetic face became marred with a deep frown.

"Do not call me that. Pinky," he added almost as an afterthought.

A vein pulsed in her forehead as she growled dangerously with a sadistic smirk, "Oooooh, now you've done it! No one calls me Pinky, Tanuki!"

A small smirk stretched his lips as he looked at her. Despite the fact that she had gotten up and was now challenging him, his position below her didn't speak of submission in the least. He slowly got up and eyed her lazily.

"Let's settle this in a spar, Shannaro!"

"Hn. I won't go easy on you, Pinky."

"Yeah, well, I'd be very frustrated if you pulled your punches, Tanuki. Lead the way!"

Bantering all the way, the two children left the café, paying no heed to the relieved people they left behind feeling as though they'd just escaped the apocalypse. In some detached part of her brain, Sakura wondered how she could act so friendly with him, knowing he wasn't yet the Gaara who had been changed by Naruto. And then she wondered, considering his attitude at this point in time, why she wasn't dead yet.

-:-

Blood dripped on the sand.

"We've got to stop him! he's going to kill her!"

The drops sank slowly until only a crimson trace was left behind.

"I know, damnit, but how do you expect us to stop our little brother? We'll be the ones killed instead!"

Feet scrambled for purchase on the ground before launching off just as quickly.

"Man, she creeps me out. That shit-eating grin on her face looks way too out of place."

The ground split open in an eruption of sand and hardened earth.

"Now she creeps me out. And that brother of ours, too."

The battle raged on as the siblings looked on uncertainly.

"Ne…Red and pink are similar…Somehow, I got the feeling that doesn't bode well," muttered Kankuro, feeling shivers run down his spine.

Why oh why wasn't his baby brother bathing in her blood already? Why did it look like they were playing? Why was she still alive?

-:-

She was aware that they were being watched. How could she not? Gaara didn't mind them in the least, so she wouldn't either. But then amidst all her fun, a thought pierced her mind with utmost clarity as their fight relocated closer to the siblings.

That's it!

Her body moved on its own before she had time to think things through. The senbon flew from her hand, deadly in their accuracy.

With the barest sigh, Kankuro slumped to the ground, unmoving, not breathing, and most of all, heart stopped mid-beat in his chest.

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Dundundundun! I really am evil, aren't I? ^^

No worries, there's a twist just around the corner. But of course you'll have to wait until my next update.

Tanuki: raccoon