Tsunade just looked at the empty chair left behind by her apprentice, with a small grin.
So her suspicion was right, that redheaded man was truly Sakura's Suna boyfriend she heard so much about from her team.
She slowly pulled out a drawer from her table, where a small box was sitting.
The jewelry came back to her recently, after being inspected for any potential danger, it was clean.
The blonde woman had a good idea from whom were the earrings, and she gladly picked up the box to bring it towards the hospital.
Before Gaara woke up he saw somethings, he wasn't sure if it were his memories though
He was in the middle of a fight against a redheaded puppeteer, trying to use his sand as a cover for himself, and the old woman, who fought using puppets as well.
Thanks to his spars against Kankuro, Gaara had knowledge on how these fights worked, but he wasn't prepared for the poisons.
He was on the ground, having trouble to breath, and in the next moment, he was in the middle of a dark circle, while Akatsuki robbed people surrounded him.
At that moment he thought, that death was watching him, as his life was slowly ebbing away.
When he opened his eyes again, Xiaoying was looking at him, with tears in her wonderful eyes.
Gaara didn't want her to cry, even if she was just an imagination at his last moment in life, so he reached up to wipe away the sadness.
Lee was walking on the streets, just coming back from another mission, with a happy grin on his face.
His mission was with Kiba and Tenten, and they had a great time, could even go sightseeing and enjoying a nice meal at one of the inns.
But now that he was thoughtfully rested on an easy mission, he was ready to pick up some real fights, maybe with Neji or Naruto.
Neji was usually busy with clan things and Hinata. Sakura-san told him recently about the Hyuga girl's feelings towards Naruto, and Lee couldn't stop laughing for a day, while making some bets of his own.
"Sakura, act decent for a bit" said the blonde woman behind her, and she almost flinched, looking at her from her shoulder, still not letting go of Gaara
"Shishou?" she said, while pulling up a bit, her hands still holding his shoulders, while his palm squeezed her arm
"I'll nee-" started the Hokage but was cut short because Gaara started to couch and Sakura immediately turned back to him, placing a glowing hand to his throat.
"Xioa-" he couched again, and she patted his hair, while repairing the damaged cords
"Shh, it's okay, I'm here" she whispered, and he squeezed her arm again, as if not believing that she was truly there with him.
When she was done, he returned to hold his hand, while he slowly lifted up into a sitting position, still not taking their eyes off of each other.
"Sakura" said her Shishuo "I have some important information to tell, as well as a new task for you" she looked at the blonde woman with a raised eyebrow
"Is it about Da- Gaara?" she asked, seeing from the corner of her eye the small uptorn on the corner of his lips.
"Yeah, you'll need to take care of him from now" she said, with a knowing grin and Sakura's eyes grew wide
"Really?" asked she happily
"If I try to arrange it in any other way, you two would sneak around, so I'll just put it in plain sight" she said, and Sakura felt a bit embarrassed, but didn't let go of her hold on his hand.
"Okay" she said, with a smile
"Now, about the less good things" said the woman while her expression turned serious from the cheerful one "You are the Ichibi Jinchuriki, right?" she asked, and Sakura turned her gaze to him as well.
He just nodded, probably still feeling sore in his throat, Sakura will have to look at it again
"You faced members of the Akatsuki, correct?" he nodded again "They were after Shukaku" she said, and Sakura felt the grip of his fingers tighten around her knuckles.
"Wha-" his voice was hoarse, and Sakura put her healing hand there again.
"The Akatsuki extracted it from you" she said, and suddenly the room grew quite, both of them looking at the blonde woman with shock in their eyes.