CHAPTER SEVEN

Gaara peered up from the pile of paper on his desk to get a look at his visitor, his breath caught in his throat as sakura walked in, he knew she had never been ugly but it was just wild that she was just walking around normally with a face and body like that, he didn't bother to hide the fact that he was checking her out as he let his eyes roam her body shamelessly.

Sakura cleared her throat to get his attention cause clearly his mind was somewhere else, a faint blush stained her cheeks as she tried to convince herself that gaara was definitely not doing what she thought he was doing, his eyes met hers and she couldn't even read his face it was just indifferent, normal guys would show a bit of embarrassment at being caught.

Gaara almost smirked as he caught the faint blush that now adorned her cheeks…she was …cute

I know of other activities that could make her blush harder …shukaku suggested

Keep them to yourself thanks …Gaara was tired, shukaku was already making his hormones run wild so he definitely didn't need any of his nefarious suggestions especially in regards to sakura .

'So, how was your first night here' gaara asked as he got up from his seat

Sakura was flummoxed, was he seriously going to act like he hadn't been checking her out, this dude was definitely a character…

'it was nice actually' she replied him regardless, if he was going to act indifferent she would too.

'Glad to hear that' gaara smiled a bit she was so readable

'shall we?' he added as his hands motioned towards the door

'ofcourse' she nodded as she turned to the door

'wow' …'it's really huge' sakura exclaimed as she regarded the large spherical building with the kanji for doctor right at the top of the building .

'Yeah… we invested a lot into this' 'it was a major problem we had… and that's why it can't fail'. He said the last part softly

She could see how important this was to gaara so decided that she would do everything in her power to make sure they succeed .what problem could this huge hospital have though…it looked perfect, she thought

'Let's go in so you can assess what the problem is' gaara said as if reading her thoughts

Gaara led the way as they stepped through the sliding hospital doors that immediately shut behind them.

Sensor door huh…konoha needed to get one of those ,honestly she was impressed , the change was evident from the last time she was here, gaara really put a lot into this obviously.

The familiar smell of antiseptic hit her and she smiled In future anticipation of doing her job. sakura's gaze swiveled around the waiting room and slowly took in the new environment, white walls and tiles, there were chairs arranged on both sides of the entrance ,it was chill due to the ac/unit but she didn't mind ,It was better than the heat outside. Something was wrong though she observed that there were only a handful of people in the waiting room which was a bit strange, compared to the konoha hospital which was always packed with people, some seated and some standing, babies crying and children running around, she deduced that something must be really wrong for a big hospital like this to have so little patients even if it were peaceful times, a hospital is still a hospital.

The people seated didn't seem to notice that she and the kazekage had walked in, ahh must be-

'genjustsu' gaara completed her thoughts

Okay she was beginning to think gaara was a mind reader because this was the second time he was completing her thoughts

'it's getting weird' inner said

Right… she agreed

Sakura took deep breathes while clutching the metal hand rail hard, she never did get used to elevators they made her dizzy , she avoided them even in konoha and took the stairs always. Sakura stared at her reflection in the metal doors, and was embarrassed by her frightened expression…

'hey are you okay' gaara inquired , her body language and aura indicated that she was uncomfortable and she frankly looked a bit frightened , he wanted to help but didn't know how to

'Ofcourse I am' she lied … she cringed at how high pitched her voice got when she lied but she didn't want to seem like a wimp

She really sucks at lying gaara smiled at the realization before doing something that shocked her

He placed his hand at the small of her back and started rubbing small circles, sakura stiffened at first contact, this had to be a clone the gaara she met then would never do something like this, she couldn't help feeling relaxed but gaara's hand on her back was causing a whole different type of effect.

'I'm sorry …I should have asked if you were comfortable with the elevator first' gaara interrupted her thoughts while still rubbing her back

Sakura turned sideways to look at him, he looked really concerned 'it's fine kazekage , really'

'Gaara'

'What?' she replied confused

' Call me Gaara'

'y-yes uhmm Gaara' sakura stuttered as the deepest blush adorned her face, there was something about the way he said it that made her shiver inside … she just realized how close he was standing and his hand was still rubbing circles on her back , she had long since stopped feeling frightened from the elevator and was now frightened due to something else entirely …

Gaara decided he liked when she blushed a lot, maybe he would take up shukaku's suggestions, who knows…

Sakura glared at her reflection, If the elevator didn't open in the next 5 seconds she was going to punch a hole right through the metal doors.

The doors screeched as they finally opened at the fifth floor, sakura breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the modern day vaccum and followed gaara's lead , they passed by several closed doors before stopping in front of a door that read 'Administrator' , gaara knocked and the door opened to reveal a tan , tall, lean man with brown curly hair and maybe the kindest brown eyes she'd ever seen , he gave a smile that reached his eyes as he invited them in to sit , sakura immediately thought this man reminded her of naruto.

Gaara cleared his throat before making the necessary introductions

'Sakura this is Keita Miyoshi , he's the hospital administrator , he oversees the organizational side of everything regarding the hospital' .Sakura nodded in acknowledgment .

'Keita, this is sakura haruno' … he didn't bother to make further introductions , sakura was a household name, they both shook hands with a smile before a knock on the door interrupted them

'come in' keita answered

The door opened to reveal two anbu members .Sakura wondered what the problem was … they stepped in and whispered something into gaara's ears who was seated right beside her and if sakura hadn't been intently studying him she would have missed his eyes widening a bit before going back to normal , the anbu left immediately .

'Is something wrong?' sakura inquired

'Unfortunately, I can't continue the tour with you, emergency meeting… 'keita will have to take you' he finished apologetically

'don't worry about it' sakura smiled and he nodded before getting up .

The door shut behind him as he left leaving just her and keita

'I'm not the kazekage but I'll give you a better tour' keita started his tone light

Sakura laughed

'don't tell him I said that'

'Your secret is safe with me' sakura promised jokingly

'I've heard a lot about you sakura chan and believe me I'm honored to meet you ' he had a pure look of admiration on his face

'Oh you flatter me and i'm honored to meet you as well…it's not easy to run a hospital especially one as big as this'

'not much to manage when there is a lack of people to manage' he replied with a bored expression

Sakura couldn't help but think he reminded her shikamaru now…

She nodded in understanding 'does that have something to do with the lack of staff in the waiting room'

'oh you noticed …how embarrassing, it is a major problem here , lack of nurses, doctors , no one qualified enough to teach the ones willing to learn so yeah it has just been a big ass mess' he finished flatly.

'but' he continued …. 'you're here now , and I believe if we work well together ,we'd achieve great things' he gave a bright smile before standing and adjusting his coat

Sakura sat still In wonder of how someone can be like naruto and shikamaru at the same time and she was just so happy that he seemed like a great person to work with his words made her more determined.

'yes we're definitely going to make this hospital successful' sakura replied now more determined than ever to make this hospital successful.

Keita smiled 'so let's start our success story with the tour then'

Sakura giggled as she got up from her seat

'First gaara now a hot and fine co-worker…why didn't we leave konoha sooner' inner asked

Stfu

Sakura and keita continued to talk as he led her out for the tour, she found out that he hasn't been working in the hospital for long , 2 months at most , he was also had a great sense of humour and not to mention smart , he handled the finance of the hospital as well , she met the staffs and she was shocked , he hadn't been joking about the lack of staff , how can a hospital as big as this have just five medic nin's, her guess was when lady chiyo died there was no one left to train others but still…she made a note to ask keita after the tour.

They were currenty in the last leg of the tour and the one sakura anticipated the most

' so this is the green room…' he yawned before continuing 'we store a number of medical herbs here and poisons alike that would normally not grow in suna due to the hot , desert climate'

Sakura walked around the room while keita continued with his explanation, she couldn't wait to compare with the herbs she brought and also test on the ones here, she could already identify most of them.

'As you already know lady chiyo was a poisons expert bested only by your master, Tsunade senju, so a lot of the rare herbs we have here now is due to her storage'

Sakura nodded as a sad expression crossed her face 'yes, lady chiyo was really incredible' recalling their fight together, it seemed like such a long time ago now. She shook her head immediately she didn't want to think of such things now.

Keita seemed to notice her expression had changed and tried to lighten the mood

'I'm absolutely famished; I could eat a whole lion, what about you?'

Sakura smiled then, causing keita to smile too 'I could eat' she replied simply

'Let's go then, we can finish the rest later'

Sakura nodded.

'I thought the exit was this way' sakura inquired as they walked through what seemed to be a basement ,it seemed where obsolete equipments were kept.

'I have elevator fright so I prefer this exit, not a lot of people know about it' he whispered

'Why are you whispering' sakura asked

'I don't know to be honest but this seemed like a whispering situation?'

'Yeah I get it' she did not get it at all, sakura wanted to laugh, keita could be quite comical

'Ah finally the exit' keita twisted the handle and opened the door

'temari…" he started

Sakura was surprised to see temari at the entrance of the door, it seemed like she was about to open the door as well and she looked surprised to see them both too

Sakura was the first to speak because the both of them were just silent for some reason

'Temari what are you doing here, is everything okay?' maybe she wasn't feeling too well, that was probably it sakura concluded

'ahh… yes ofcourse I'm fine , very fine actually just uhmm… came to see someone' temari let out nervously and sakura was sure that was a faint blush on her cheeks .

Sakura just assumed there was a patient in the hospital she came to see or maybe one of the medic-nin was her friend but she hardly saw temari stumble over her words and with the way she was refusing to look her in the eyes and the way keita was silent, she was sure there was a lie somewhere and it had something to do with keita , sakura smirked to herself , she loved a good mystery and she was determined to get to the bottom of this. She made no show that she suspected anything though and only nodded her head.

'I and sakura and heading out to get lunch' we'll be back soon' keita finally spoke calmly his expression giving away nothing

Sakura was studying temari's face and noticed the brief change in temari's expression as keita said those words, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it, something was or is definitely going on between them.

'Okay then' temari replied flatly and she coldly brushed past them through the entrance

Interesting...sakura smiled she had an idea of what was going on.

She and Keita had a wonderful lunch after which they headed back to the hospital to continue the tour and discuss other terms, she had wanted to ask him if there was something going on between him and temari but decided against it, she would ask temari instead. She and keita finally settled with the decision that she would be in charge of training the students that were willing to learn medical ninjutsu while also helping out in the hospital, the training was supposed to commence on Monday and while she was excited about working there was also a bit of dread cause it was definitely going to be a lot of work.

She yawned as she opened the door to the mansion she shared with the sand siblings, it was getting dark already and her feet hurt from walking around too much , she walked straight to the fridge to grab water and chugged it down immediately . she turned towards the hallway leading to kankuro and temari's room, should she still talk to temari or just ignore it , she stood there second guessing before muttering 'fuck it' under her breath and walked towards temari's room she probably won't even be around she thought as she knocked on the door but the sultry voice saying 'come in' said otherwise , the door opened to reveal temari in the most casual she'd ever seen her ,just lying on her stomach clad in an oversized tee and holyshit her hair was undone. Temari was looking at her from above the magazine that she had been reading .

'well are you going to come in or not' temari questioned bluntly as she closed the magazine she had been reading and sat up.

Sakura flushed briefly in embarrassment, realizing that she had been staring for long

'ofcourse' she replied as she stepped in and shut the door behind her 'it's just I never saw you this casual or even with your hair down, so it kinda took me by surprise' she walked towards the bed 'can I sit'

'sure' temari replied simply

'nice room' sakura was trying to make conversation or at least make the atmosphere lighthearted , it was a bit stiff

'what do you want sakura'

Well there go my chances of making the atmosphere light

'Is something going on between you and keita?' sakura blurted out…might as well just get it on.

Temari turned to face her sharply, her face now decorated with a furious blush

'wow way to go about it, you really … what's the word…'hit the nail on the head' inner mocked

' w-what , how?, w-why do you think something is going on' temari stuttered

'idk maybe because you never stutter or blush furiously like that' sakura pointed at her face like it was the most obvious thing and then she continued 'and the few times I happen to witness it had been with shikamaru and now keita' sakura eyes widened when she realized she had mistakenly blurted out shikamaru's name, she peeped sideways at temari who was also looking the other way

'I'm sorry…I shouldn't have…'

'it's fine, I'm over him now …I think' she said the last part so softly as she turned to face sakura that sakura was sure she wasn't meant to hear that.

'oh temari…' sakura started, it must have been so hard for her after the breakup she wanted to hug her

'as for keita' she sighed ' …I don't know what we are now to be honest' , everything got so complicated' she scoffed frustrated

'you can talk to me , we're the only two girls in this house, we should look out for each other, right'

'I guess you're right' she smiled at sakura in response as she began her story

'WOW!' sakura could only exclaim 'that was a lot'

'ughh…tell me about it' she groaned in frustration 'but It felt good to finally tell someone about it' she added 'thanks sakura' she smiled genuinely

'anyways let's save my rollercoaster men problems for later, there Is a party tonight by 8 , go get some rest because we're definitely going' temari clapped as she stood pulling sakura up with her

'but…' sakura started in protest but was cut off by temari

'no buts , you'll find some really hot men there ,you'll get to make your choice' temari said with a wink as she pushed sakura out the door playfully. 'wear something extremely hot' she added as she shut the door.

Sakura could only stand there in disbelief, wtf just happened

Sakura couldn't believe this she had run from the clutches of one party monster in konoha , just to jump right into another one, temari seemed even worse than ino. Just great…

This is definitely the longest chapter I've written, not much drama in this chapter but next chapter will be juicy. Kind criticism is allowed.