The trek back out of Iwa was silent. Gaara seemed strained and more protective than usual. Sakura tried to rationalize his actions and knew it didn't seem like a good situation but he assured her that he was not angry at her. The omission of who he was angry at didn't escape her and she was quite aware of how dangerous Gaara could be when he was provoked.
Despite Sakura's inner worries, Sasori did what he said he would do. The four of them ate in silence and at the crack of dawn, they were woken up to Sasori and another scroll.
"Let's go. It's another couple of days to get to Grass and this time of year the area is awful so we may experience delays." He murmured with a grimace and then moved to take point.
Wisteria and Gaara continued their morning briefing as usual in their journey. However, Sakura could tell something was bothering Gaara quite a bit. Apparently, she wasn't the only one to notice.
"Trouble in paradise little spider? Something seems to be up with the sand prince." He murmured and Sakura looked up to the odd nickname as well as the fact that he noticed the difference in Gaara as well.
"We're fine Sasori, not that it should matter to you." She scoffed and she swore she heard a small tsk come from his lips.
"It matters when my daughter has the same look. I hoped it was between you two and her actions were simply an outward expression of the same irritation I feel. If you and the sand prince are indeed fine… then it's about them and I indeed think it matters to me."
Sakura paused, there seemed to be no ulterior motive, no scathing remark just a father worried about why his daughter was upset. Sasori always managed to seem so kind at the oddest of moments.
"I don't know what happened, but he seemed off when he came back from hunting. Maybe they fought then?" Sakura offered in an attempt to rationalize things.
"I suggest you figure out what's wrong with your beau kunoichi, and that he doesn't take his temper out on my daughter." He added before increasing his speed.
Well, there went that tender sweet moment. Sakura sighed, maybe Sasori could only be a caring person in short doses?
The group left Iwa and traipsed the border of the nations, heading towards the historic Tenshi bridge. Sakura felt nearly a sense of fond nostalgia heading back to this bridge. This was the very bridge they had met Sasori's informant and realized their first tip of Kabuto being behind the Akatsuki Madara conundrum. It was strange heading back here with Sasori but it reminded Sakura that Sasori was many things, but bitter was never one of them; was Wisteria the one with the bitter trait?
"You're pursing Gaara-sama. It is a bit unbecoming." Wisteria murmured before arranging the scrolls she needed to finish up their morning meeting and send things along to Kankuro.
"You threatened my girlfriend. If I didn't know you were simply talking in the heat of the moment I would have fired you if not worse." Gaara mentioned, keeping his tone level and low.
"What I want is what you want. I don't have any desire to keep Sakura near my father. I'm simply a bit more vocal about this. I would never betray you after all that you have done for me, but I'd rather not have to choose between protecting my father and keeping you happy." She frowned and looked up at the two.
"They're too similar Gaara-sama. If given the right push she could be one of his greatest pupils, a dangerous pair, and there were very few of my fathers' students that didn't have some sort of feelings for him. You two have enough in common that her having a bit of a teacher's crush would be par for the course." She sighed and looked up at Gaara with a smirk.
"I simply want to keep you happy. Keeping me happy helps that."
"Enough Wisteria. I will note your worries and I trust Sakura. You should spend more time with her. You find the light in the darkness so easily why are you finding so much darkness in something so bright?" Gaara questioned his tone that of a scolding teacher.
"I see what's hidden. Darkness tries to hide light and creatures of light," She paused gesturing to the rosette in front of her. "Hide their darkness in ways disguised in other emotions. Wrath, lust, envy, sloth, pride, greed, gluttony and worst of all fear. Fear is what the darkness breaths in and the creatures of light destroy in. The number of terrible things done by supposedly good people from fear would send shivers down most dark creatures' backs. The things we would never dare to do they don't so much as blink twice before achieving. Worst all they think they're helping; we at least know we're bad. You care for her yes, well then help her. She may be so bright she is blinded to her own darkness. An eclipse that will blind you if looked at too long."
Sakura paused and noticed Wisteria pop up to swap places with her and stand next to Sasori. While a bit irritated at the silent shove to head back Sakura was happy to have a bit more time with Gaara.
"Are you alright? Truly?"
"Yes, it is of minimal concern to you. A bit of my cautious nature rearing its head. I don't like how long this is taking and it's rather souring my mood." Gaara covered and Sakura paused but didn't push further.
"I understand. It must kill you to be away from your people for so long. Away from your city and how you like to run things."
"I trust Kankuro actually, and it is nice to be on a mission again for once. Given different circumstances, I would actually consider this quite the vacation. Plus there is the added bonus of you being by my side for all of it." He smirked and Sakura couldn't help but have a blush spread across her face.
Catching her blush Gaara smiled and commented lightly. "I always did like seeing the color of your namesake streaked across your face. It suits you so nicely."
Laughing lightly Sakura rolled her eyes before moving ahead and they sprinted along their journey.
They reached the Tenshi bridge in the span of a day or so and what surprised Sakura was a full-blown festival being set up around them. Seeing Wisteria ask a peasant about the occasion she sauntered back to us.
"Well it looks like the Midsummer Festival is in full swing and we've arrived the day before the biggest day. The entire town will be full of festivities and tomorrow there will be a huge fireworks show. Without us taking part in the festivities we would stand out like sore thumbs." She frowned and turned to look at Sasori and Gaara for their opinion.
"This could be a good thing. The town would be distracted and the four of us if dressed appropriately could move around the town and get to the cemetery without causing a disturbance." Sasori answered first and Gaara nodded accordingly.
"I have to get some work done but Wisteria, you and Sakura should go out into the town and get us something appropriate to wear. Wisteria knows my sizes well enough. I'll procure an inn so we can make camp and talk quietly about how we're going to become grave robbers without notice." Before anything else could be added Gaara turned towards Sasori and gestured for him to follow.
"Come on, let's leave the shopping to the women. We've got some strategizing to do." Without much chance for an argument, Sakura was left with Wisteria and an irritated feeling that this wouldn't be a fun shopping trip.
"Let's go quickly. I don't want to keep Gaara-sama waiting long. I'm sure there would be several options for us to buy summer yukatas with the festival in place." Wisteria said irritatedly.
Rolling her eyes at the thought of being regaled to the nature of babysitting a child Sakura walked into the lovely town. Her parents were merchants and she's traveled enough to know how to deal with different shop owners and fabric choice better than Wisteria was giving her credit for.
Looking around town she spotted an old fabric makers shop and got a hunch it would be a good bet.
Entering the shop politely, an old woman was shuffling around putting up bolts and hanging kimonos on dress forms.
"Just a moment, ah two beautiful young ladies. What have you come for?"
"We wanted to go to the festival tomorrow, and was wondering if you could get us four options? The men we are traveling with are out doing other errands anyway." Sakura giggled and looked at the shop, pleased at the quality of the designs.
"Smart cookie, but isn't it tradition for your loved one to pay for the kimono?" She asked looking at the two girls before shuffling through her patterns to find appropriate colors for the two of them.
"He is. The benefit of traveling with a wealthy businessman. I get to do the shopping and he gets to do the paying." Wisteria chuckled and Sakura internally growled at the insinuation that Gaara was her boyfriend.
"Well, what do they look like, these rich businessmen? Can't exactly choose without knowing their coloring." She murmured pulling out a beautiful mint green floral design for Sakura and a midnight blue with abstract stars for Wisteria.
"They both have red hair, are fairly slim though one is taller than the other. The taller one has teal eyes and the shorter one has eyes almost identical to my travel companion here. They are also from pretty Nobel families so if you could make sure I don't accidentally give them something common I would really appreciate it." Sakura laughed and the elderly lady chuckled along beside Sakura, adjusting a pin in her hair before going through her supply.
"Family members I presume?" She asked filtering through her men's jackets first.
"Yes, cousins," Sakura added wondering why Wisteria was being so quiet.
"Which one is in the main house, if it is such a Nobel line as you said." She questioned pulling out two black jackets, although one had the intricate design of a dragon on it.
"The one with teal eyes, but he is younger than the other one." Sakura smiled, looking at the beautiful detail and noting that either one of them would look great in it.
"Age doesn't matter in this case. The gods wouldn't look favorably on me giving the second house a more extravagant choice but if both are from the same family as your friend there then I can't exactly give either something ordinary, less you come back for my head." She whispered and Sakura chuckled at the comment, nodding lightly at the phrase.
The lady had procured a maroon yukata for Gaara and a deep plum one for Sasori, giving the latter an intricate black obi with a silver stitched design and a fan as well. Thanking the woman for her help and smiling at the beautiful whites and pinks that she had on her own kimono. She then tried to pay for her item before being stopped by Wisteria.
"I wasn't joking. Gaara-sama would have my head if he knew I let you pay. If he asked me to pick them up he wanted to pay." She rolled her eyes before producing a red wallet and a surprisingly large number of bills to pay for them.
"What a nice young man. I'll give you a discount then for your worries. Please tell your friends to buy from my shop the next time they are in town." She grinned and Sakura nodded before grabbing the bags and headed out.
"How do you know so much about Suna family dynamics?" Wisteria murmured quietly as they walked out and in the direction, Gaara and Sasori went. Sasori having sent a small scorpion summons with the address of their inn.
"Honestly I got a bit of knowledge from Temari but I know about the dynamics from the Hyuuga clan. Naruto was freaking out about all the hoopla he had to go through during his wedding and apparently Gaara instantly knew what to do because of his own family traditions, despite not having to deal with most of them now." She shrugged. Sasuke had his own set of family traditions and back when she wanted nothing more than to be Mrs. Sakura Uchiha she constantly researched and studied Nobel family dos and don'ts.
"Thank you. I didn't even think about my father's place in line and I usually dress as the Kazekage's aid as Elder Ebizo is still clan head for the Askunas." Wisteria added and Sakura then realized that in some weird way, Sakura knew more about Wisteria's family than she did. That had to be upsetting.
"I'm sure you'll be in your own form of headache once Sasori tells you all about your family, though maybe don't tell them you're not dressing like the lady title you have. I think he and Gaara-Kun would have a fight for the ages."
"Perhaps you're right Haruno, I suppose I'll keep that bit of information to myself," Wisteria commented, smiling lightly.
—
Meanwhile, the two redheads of note were strategizing their plan of action for this scroll and the next.
"So I sense the scroll in a grave by an oak tree and use my earth nature to pull it out as simply as possible. Why do I feel like that is not as easy as it sounds?"
"It will be with my cover. The tree is on the hill you take your little cherry blossom for a lover's view of the fireworks and when they start so do you. The festival is actually a perfect cover." Sasori mentioned while not looking at the redhead, busy whittling a set of falling flowers on a hair comb.
"What are you doing?" Gaara asked looking at his intricate yet clearly nonlethal work.
"A tradition. When Wisteria was little I would often make her wooden combs for the festivals she had. I'll paint it when I see her choice and it'll be dry in the morning." Looking at the table of delicate little flowers Sasori had started to string together Gaara pursed his lips in thought.
"Would you like me to make one for your cherry blossom?" He questioned lightly, and Gaara was surprised that it seemed to be an honest offer.
"No, well maybe some paint would be nice. I'm not very good at that." He added before looking through his jacket and procuring some red sand mixed with his normal sand. Looking at the base of the comb Sasori had already made Gaara quickly crafted a comb with a collection of cherry blossoms at the top.
"Sand doesn't really hold paint well sand brat.."
"Wait." Gaara murmured before concentrating and covering the comb with his hands. Closing his eyes Gaara implemented a bit of fire style and with his sand armor, he was able to withstand the heat of the fire. Looking at the lava hot nature he levitated it and used the properties of the liquid sand to define the shapes again before leaving it in the air above them to cool.
"Impressive. I didn't realize you still had control over sand when it turned into glass."
"It was a bit of an experiment of mine to test how strong my manipulation of sand was. The glass has become a recent hobby of mine. Still can't paint them well though." Gaara shrugged and went back to his paperwork for the day, the pile significantly larger now that Wisteria was here with him and everything that would normally be filtered to her just gets sent straight.
The glass cooled enough to set down with a bit of Sasori's wind style done on a minimal level and was placed in a corner to set into clear with the promise that Sasori would paint it in the morning.
The girls returned soon after with some procured dinner and in mild awe that the boys were quietly working on their individual tasks.
Wisteria quickly setting down to work on her own pile Sakura moved to read before Sasori's spider pet returned on her knee.
"Lesson two Haruno. You know how to make a chakra string. Hold just enough chakra to maintain what you have similar to how you store your yin seal and try those exercises again." Sasori stated simply and seemingly without the option for Sakura to be questioned.
Confused at the sudden sensei role he had decided to play in her life Sakura hesitantly moved to do as he asked, focusing on not expelling any more chakra than what was necessary to initially make the string.
It took some time but she was able to complete the task, transferring the string to each leg and making it move.
"Good," Sasori mentioned, shocking Sakura a bit as she didn't realize he was even paying attention to her as he was working on fixing up one of the starter puppets he had been given.
"Make two and make it walk. You should only need two strings to do that with proper alternating choice of the leg." Sasori added for assistance and Sakura sighed but continued not wanting to admit this was as good of a chakra training as anything in her medical arsenal currently had her doing. She would again have to complement Kankuro on doing something this meticulous and time consuming all the time.
Sakura lasted another hour of practice, combining eating in one hand and training in the other, surprised at the similar way her travel companions worked. She hadn't worked on a team this silent and productive since that one escort mission with Shino, Hinata, and Shikamaru. (Kiba was on a bounty hunt at the time and unavailable.) Having had Naruto on her team for the better part of a decade Sakura was not used to the quiet, studious nature that was so similar to well, herself.
Rubbing her eyes Sakura blinked and noticed Gaara had gotten closer to her.
"Come, let's head to our room. It's late." He added and Sakura was surprised that she must have gone on longer than even an hour. Standing up to stretch her muscles she followed Gaara across the hall to another set of rooms.
"I figured you would want some privacy and I trust Wisteria to watch over Sasori adequately. Kakashi also sent you some scrolls I'm sure you'd like to read." He smiled handing them to her before moving to wash up for the evening.
Opening the scroll Sakura smiled in the notice that in addition to a scroll from Kakashi she had also gotten a note from her knucklehead ninja too. Opening that one first and grinning at Naruto's messy scrawl she set to read.
Hey Sakura!
I can't believe you get to go on a mission with Gaara for a whole month! I'm so jealous. I was talking to Hinata about it and she said you two would be a good pair. I thought about it for a while and you know what she's right! You both are smart and kind and really strong. You love helping people and well if you come back finally admitting that Gaara is as awesome as I say he is then I told you so. Hope everything is going well. Kakashi sensei won't tell me what you're doing just that it's very important but not very dangerous, whatever that means. Come back soon and if you stop in Suna for a while could you pick me up some spice packets? Gaara knows the ones they make this awesome spicy ramen that I've been craving.
Stay safe, shout if you need anything okay? Hokage training can wait.
Naruto.
Smiling at the letter that practically emptied the blond from the page, Sakura folded the note in her pack and opened up the decidedly more professional letter from Kakashi.
Sakura,
I hope this mission has been fruitful for you so far. Gaara has been giving me appropriate updates on the procurement of the scrolls and I am pleasantly surprised but happy at the mostly painless retrieval you've had thus far. He, however, has not been as forthcoming with the nature of Sasori's resurrection and his movements. I'll attach the process to lend you one of my messenger dog summonses. I'm adding a secondary mission to study his movements and motives for my own studies. The sand is notoriously known for keeping matters about them to themselves, even if well-intended. He was a world-class criminal, a member of the Akatsuki. I'm not nearly as easy to accept change like our blonde friend is. Keep your eyes open. I trust your judgment.
-Kakashi
Putting the scroll away quickly, though not before adding her blood to the summons request she saw Gaara step out from the shower.
"Being in lands so bountiful with water is making me spoiled. I really should get back to sand before I sprout gills and be given a new title."
"Gaara of the rivers sounds pretty deadly to me." Sakura chuckled turning to look at the small pile he had brought with him.
"When was the last time you slept?" She asked counting back to when she could remember seeing him rest and frowning when she couldn't.
"Longer than you would like." Gaara sighed knowing a scolding was coming.
"Come to bed with me tonight. I'd feel a lot better if you at least tried to sleep." Sakura asked standing up and holding out her hand.
"I'm surprised you would even still want me to share a bed with you." Gaara murmured. And Sakura remembered the fractured state their relationship was currently in.
"I remember feeling safe and comforted. It doesn't hurt to try and feel like that again. At least an attempt."
Nodding Gaara took her hand and led her to the bedroom. Climbing into his arms Sakura felt a wave of nostalgia sweep over her. The feeling of calm before the raging storm of the war, and while she knew the moment was good, she couldn't help but dread that the last time she felt like this, the moments after were nothing short of disastrous.