I wake up the next morning on Temari's couch with a sore neck. Naruto is still sleeping, of course. I've known a lot of people in my life, but I've never known one who sleeps as deeply as Naruto. And he's a ninja, for crying out loud. You would expect a ninja to be a light sleeper – to barely sleep at all – but Naruto is anything but. Maybe in this case, the exception really does prove the rule.

Or something.

Temari is gone already. No doubt she's terribly busy with this awful business. No doubt the whole city will be a bit of a mess for a while.

I trundle into her kitchen, enjoying the semblance of being groggy from sleep, and try to find the coffee machine. To my dismay, and horror, I find that Temari does not have one. How does she live?

But then I think: Maybe it's better that I don't have coffee. I've been having enough trouble sleeping as it is; I don't really need to add caffeine to the mix.

But I do. Oh, how I need it.

I glance at Naruto through the doorframe. He's still soundly sleeping, and I don't think he'll be awake for a while yet. Plenty of time for me to go out and find someplace that will sell me a cup of coffee, if anything is open today.

I step out into the bright morning sun, and am momentarily blinded. I stand in the doorway, waiting for my vision to return for a moment, before heading out.

To my surprise, when I get out into the streets, nothing seems to have changed. Everyone is still out and about; stores are all open, and advertising whatever they happen to be selling. People all around, laughing and talking, yelling, haggling, as if nothing has happened, and this is just an ordinary day.

It's not hard to find a coffee shop. I order my plain coffee, fill it with sugar and cream, and then head back to Temari's place.

On my way back though, I get distracted as I walk past the courthouse. It seems busier than usual; no wonder.

I walk up the wide steps and into the cool shade of the entrance. Once I get inside though, I don't know what it is exactly that I was planning to do here. I can't really just walk up and ask what's happening. Well, I suppose I could, but what good would it do? What do I want to know anyway?

I want to know where Gaara is.

I turn and head back down the stairs, but I stop and sit on the bottom step instead of going back out onto the street. What am I doing? Why am I here? I was sent here on an uncertain mission, but it turns out that I wasn't really needed for that mission. Suna doesn't need peacekeeping ambassadors from other countries, not while Gaara is Kazekage. Temari told us herself; he'll do what is right.

My heart feels strangely twisted, light and heavy at the same time. I want to see him. I want to tell him I love him, but since I know I won't be able to do that, I'd just like to say instead that he is a good leader, and a good person, and there's no reason for him to think otherwise no matter what his asshole brother said or did to him. I want to tell him I'm glad I came here. I want him to love me.

I'm so pathetic, sitting here, wishing for some man to love me. I'm supposed to be grown up, independent, but I still seem to need the love of a man. I should be past this. I should be over him, before it even started.

This is stupid.

I jump to my feet and shake myself up, in an attempt to rouse myself from the thoughtless daze I've fallen into. What am I doing, sitting on the steps like this? I should be getting back to Naruto. What would he think if he woke up all alone?

He'd be fine, and I know it. He's always been the independent one, despite his inferior brain power. I'm the one who's always depending on others.

I stand up to leave, and just as I'm walking away I hear a voice.

"Sakura!"

I turn to find just the man I was about to go looking for. Naruto stands at the other end of the street, waving wildly.

"Sakura, come see this!" He yells and runs off down the street. I hurry to follow. He leads me down another street that seems strangely empty, but soon enough I realize why. Everyone is gathered in a crowd, watching something. Naruto is at the back, jumping up and down trying to see. He waves me over, and I join him, just as unable to see over the crowd as he.

"What is it?" I ask him.

"Just look." He tells me. He makes a clone of himself so that he can stand on its back to see over the crowd. After a moment of hesitation I grab his shoulder and climb up with him.

There, over the heads of the crowd, I can see into the window of a store filled with rows of televisions. And on those televisions, giving what seems to be a speech is the Kazekage himself.

I've never been so happy to see anything on TV. I nearly fall off Naruto's back when I see him, but I manage to keep a hold on his shoulder, if only to keep watching Gaara's face. It's hard to hear what he's saying from this distance, but I doubt I would get any of it anyway. My mind is too busy rushing off in other directions.

He didn't run away. This must mean he's staying; he'll keep on as Kazekage. So I'll have to see him again, at least once right?