Warning: Sequel to They Never Knew.

Until It Was Too Late
By: Rise of the Blossom

Chapter 1 – Surprise!

As everybody knows, Haruno Sakura's life has never been easy. It hasn't always been filled with smiles and happiness and there were times she wished she could take back the things she had done more than anything. Some of the things she had done, or had been done to her, were downright disgusting.

This was not one of those times.

Right now, the smile on her face had never been brighter and Sakura couldn't help but let her happiness show as she readied herself for the night ahead of her.

It had been almost a whole year since she and Gaara moved into their condo together and whilst it had been a little hard getting used to living together at first, neither of them had any regrets. How could they? Every day they woke up next to the person they loved with all their hearts, they went to work – or college – where they had always wanted to, and then at night, they returned to each other.

Yes, there were times when things weren't so easy, when Sakura would act irrationally and get jealous or Gaara would be a little too protective (bordering on possessive), but at the end of the day, they loved each other. Well, that and the make up sex was… just wow.

Sakura was still at college and still under the tutelage of Tsunade, but she was very close to passing the first part of her course early. Nobody put more effort into their work than she did. Each and every day, Sakura put one hundred and ten percent into what she wanted to do more than anything. What she wanted was to help others like her, those who were suffering in silence like she had.

As for Gaara, he was already the president of the Sabaku Corporation. Just six months after becoming the vice president, Temari had promoted him to president, saying that he more than deserved it. And he really did. Since he had started to work there, Gaara had matured and everybody who worked at the company loved working for him. So far, he was the second youngest (Temari took the title as the youngest) to take control of Sabaku Corporation, but he did it so much better than his father ever had and many people had told him so.

Right now, as Sakura slipped on a crimson floor–length dress that clung to her curves, she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. It was her birthday and the dress was one of many gifts from Gaara. It revealed her back, had a halter–neck of sorts and the dark crimson colour made her skin tone stand out beautifully. It pooled around her feet, dragging behind her ever so slightly as she walked. The dress made her feel like a celebrity or a model! Damn she loved it when Gaara bought her things. It was like he knew exactly what to get her.

The halter–neck part of the dress that went around her neck was almost like a collar, but the slit down the chest revealed her cleavage, whilst still managing to look tasteful and keep her covered. As well as that, there were also diamonds on the collar and around her waist, although there weren't too many on the waist that it looked too much, only an inch or two of them. The slit up her thigh made Sakura's legs look so much longer and as she slipped on the matching diamond encrusted heels (a gift from Temari), she couldn't even deny that she felt beautiful. A part of her wondered if the three siblings had coordinated their gifts because from Kankuro, Sakura had two diamond encrusted cuffs, each long enough to hide her scars.

She was no longer ashamed of her scars, for they showed that despite everything, somehow, Sakura had pulled through. However, she still preferred to keep them covered during parties or dinners or balls. It stopped people from asking too many questions or staring.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Sakura grinned. She and Ino had spent the entire day together at the spa and then at a salon. The blonde had been pretty mysterious all day, asking weird questions and whatnot, but Sakura had barely paid attention. Her mind had been on other things… like how Gaara had woken her up that morning before he had to leave for work. Just remembering how he had touched her had Sakura growing warm and her breathing growing shallow. The things that man could do with his tongue never failed to make her tingle all over! And after making love to her, he had brought her breakfast in bed along with her presents and with him was Ao, who had jumped straight onto the bed and cuddled in between her and Gaara. It was strange, but in a way, she thought of the dog as their child. Though she would never tell Gaara that.

Her hair was once again mid–length, though Sakura hadn't wanted to cut it again. Having short hair had been nice, but it had been difficult to put up and keep out of her face. Quickly assessing her straightened hair and her makeup, Sakura nodded once to herself. She was wearing false lashes, a hint of eyeliner and had dark eyeshadow, making her eye colour stand out. Because of the dramatic, dark eyes, she had gone easy on the lipstick, choosing to stick with a barely tinted red gloss.

Finally ready, she grabbed her clutch bag and left the bedroom, switching off the lights as she did so.

Standing in the middle of their living room was Gaara and when he saw her, he gave her the smile that he saved only for her. It was a smile that never failed to make her heart skip a beat and her own smile show. Was it even possible to be so in love?

She was in Gaara's arms in an instant, his lips ghosting over her own. "You're so beautiful."

"You don't look too bad yourself." she whispered in response.

Indeed he didn't. Gaara had actually put a lot of effort into his outfit tonight – which kind of surprised Sakura. He was actually wearing a tuxedo! Damn he looked good in them.

"We should get going."

"Did I really take that long getting ready?" Sakura asked, genuinely surprised that she had taken so long.

Gaara shook his head and gave her his devilish smirk. "No, but if we stay here any longer, I'm going to tear that dress off your body."

Sakura nodded almost numbly, wanting nothing more for him to actually do that, but at the same time, she was dying to see where he was taking her. Deciding to push her luck, Sakura smirked and pressed her lips to his before pulling away and walking over to Ao.

"Be a good boy, Ao." she told him as she scratched his head. In response, he gave her a lazy look. "And no sitting on the sofa!"

Oh she was so onto that dog. Whenever both she and Gaara left, Sakura knew that he sat on the sofa and just lazed about. She couldn't blame him. No dog liked being locked in a house all day, but Ao really didn't seem to mind. Besides, Sakura always made time during the day to take him for two or three walks – which was a hell of a lot more than what some dogs got.

And then, they were outside stepping into a limousine. Now Sakura was really curious. Gaara never liked letting people take them places, he preferred it when he was the one who was driving. He didn't even like it when Sakura was driving. Although, that wasn't saying much. Nobody liked it when she drove.

She had terrible road rage.

Sakura smirked as she remembered a time when she, Gaara and Naruto had been in her car, with her driving. They were both already wary the moment they got in, so when somebody pulled out right in front of her, almost making them crash, Sakura had lost it. A barely audible giggle escaped her, earning her a strange look from Gaara. The person in the other car had gotten out, ready to apologise, but she had been way too angry, yelling things like "are you an idiot?" and "what the hell is wrong with you?". Oh, Sakura had been ready to beat the crap out of that guy, but Naruto had dragged her back to the car whilst Gaara got into the driver's seat.

Since then, neither had asked her to drive.

Ugh, men. If they thought that her road rage was bad, then they should see Tsunade's.

It felt like only minutes later that they arrived, the sight of the grand building making Sakura's eyes widened. She knew of this place! It was where the greatest, most formal events were held. Like last year's Hyuuga formal dinner party! Surely Gaara hadn't managed to book this place just for her?

"Gaara…"

His lips brushed her ear, his breath washing over her as he whispered, "Happy birthday, Sakura."

She didn't know what to say. Part of her wanted to squeal with excitement whilst the other part of her was in shock and didn't know what to do with herself. So, Sakura let Gaara guide her through the many people standing near the entrance and it took her only a couple of minutes to recognise them as paparazzi. Damn she hated those guys. However Sakura wasn't surprised that they were there. The Sabaku family were extremely powerful and ever since Gaara had taken control, the paparazzi were just about everywhere. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but she and Gaara were still put into at least one magazine or paper every month or two and online, there was a new picture of them pretty much every three days.

They entered the large building when the doors were held open for them, the doormen smiling politely at her and nodding once to Gaara. It was beautiful on the inside! The ceiling was a dome shape made of glass, allowing her to see the starry sky and the ground was made of black and grey marble. It seemed pretty empty at the moment, though. Had Gaara booked the place for only them? It seemed like something he would do, since he didn't enjoy crowds all that much, but he and Naruto had become quite good friends over the past year so it would be a surprise if he hadn't invited him.

Putting her hand into the crook of his arm, Sakura allowed him to lead her to wherever they were going. She loved surprises!

"Where are you taking me?" she smiled, looking around the the dome shaped building in awe. There were intricate paintings, vases and statues everywhere.

It was breathtaking.

Gaara simply smirked. "You will have to be patient and wait to find out."

"Just tell me!"

"No."

"Please?" when she received no answer, Sakura tried pouting, but it didn't work. It hardly ever worked on Gaara. "Fine!"

It was only a minute later that they arrived outside of two tall mahogany doors and on each side of the doors were two doormen. Like the others, they smiled politely before almost dramatically opening the doors.

"Surprise!"

She could only stare with wide eyes and a slack jaw. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Sakura was telling herself to close her mouth, that the sight couldn't be attractive, but she couldn't. All she do was stare at the sight before her.

She and Gaara were on a balcony, looking down at what seemed like hundreds of people as they all shouted up "surprise" to her. Already, Sakura had spotted a few of her friends and her parents. Also, she wasn't too sure, but she could have sworn that that was Tsunade at the bar. The only reason she guessed it was her was because the blonde had thrown a hand up in the air and yelled "surprise". There was always something about the way Tsunade shouted that made you know for a fact it was her.

Beside her, Gaara smirked, feeling rather proud of himself. It hadn't been his idea for the party, but the surprise part of it had been his idea. It was Temari who came up with the idea for a party, saying that Sakura needed to let her hair down once in a while. Sure, it wasn't the type of party Temari had in mind, but they had to keep in mind that Sakura didn't like drinking (couldn't drink) alcohol anymore. It often made her mood changes much worse and didn't mix very well with her medication.

Sakura barely even noticed when Gaara started to guide her down the stairs. When they had left their home, she had thought they would be going out for a romantic dinner, not this. This was…

It was perfect.

"Thank you." she whispered, her eyes drifting up to meet his.

In response, his smirk changed into a soft smile, one that was barely even noticeable, yet she knew it was there. "You deserve it."

Oh how Sakura just wanted to kiss him, but she knew that Gaara didn't like public displays of affection. They made him uncomfortable.

The moment they reached the bottom of the stairs, a blond was swinging her around in a bear hug, almost squeezing the breath out of her. Sakura couldn't help but hug him back, though. Over the past year, her and Naruto's friendship had grown just as strong as it once had been. They were both over what had happened between them, although they would never forget about it. They loved each other, but it was in a way best friends loved each other.

"Happy birthday, Sakura–chan!"

"Naruto, put me down!" Sakura grinned as her feet once again touched the ground and Gaara put his hand on her waist to steady her. Then, as her eyes caught sight of his outfit, she rolled her eyes. "An orange tie? Really?"

Naruto grinned. By now, everybody had gone back to their conversations, although a few people had started to make their way over to her. They were all dressed up just as much as her, though Sakura certainly felt like the most beautiful tonight. Perhaps it was because of the way Gaara kept looking at her? Did he even know he was looking at her like that? It was making her heart beat faster and Sakura just about managed to stop from throwing herself at him.

"Don't you like it?" Naruto pouted, feigning hurt. "Hinata picked it out for me!"

Sakura raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "She did? And why am I having a hard time believing that?"

Since the end of school, Naruto and Hinata had become good friends and not too long after, they had fallen in love. Well, Naruto realised Hinata's feelings for him were a bit (a lot) stronger than just friendship. At first he had been unsure. He didn't want to ruin their friendship and risk something happening between them like what had happened between him and Sakura. Sakura had felt awful for weeks seeing the saddened look in his eyes. Eventually though, Naruto had decided to take a risk, saying she was worth it.

Next week, it was going to be their sixth month anniversary of being together.

The next person to hug her was Hinata. She looked stunning in her knee–length lavender dress. It had a high neckline and sleeves, though it didn't surprise Sakura all that much. Hinata had never liked revealing her body to people. Well, to everyone except Naruto. She was from a traditional family and followed their beliefs.

"You look beautiful, Sakura–san." Hinata told her quietly before releasing her. "I hope you have had a good day, so far."

There was a mischievous twinkle in the Hyuuga's eyes, making Sakura narrow her own before smiling. Were there more surprises? Oh God she hoped so! "Thank you. So do you! And it's been great. Ino and I went to the spa and salon for the day. You should have joined us!"

Hinata only smiled and shook her head. "I was busy today. Perhaps we could go some other time?"

"Definitely."

Naruto put his arm around Hinata's waist, pulling her against him. "Come on, Hinata! I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry, Naruto–kun."

As the couple walked away towards the food, Sakura couldn't help but smile. It was only seconds later, however, when another couple approached her.

Ino and Sai had stayed together during the past year, though it really surprised Sakura that they had. The blonde had complained about him a few hundred times, saying he was too clueless and she was coming close to ending it all. They managed to pull through it though. You would only have to look at them to know that they were madly in love with one another. Well, if you were fortunate enough not to walk in on them when they were having sex you did. Sakura shuddered at the memory. BDSM seriously was not her thing. Yes every now and then, she enjoyed being dominated by Gaara, but there was a limit. Anything like how those two went at it and it was a no. She just wouldn't be able to handle being tied down and whipped or whatever the hell they did now.

"Forehead!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, putting a hand on her hip as she replied, "Pig."

They grinned before Ino jumped straight into gossip, telling her who was here, why they were here, and the latest gossip she had heard about them. Even though they had finished school, the girl was still a bitch. Sakura didn't mean it in a horrible way, it was just the truth. Even after all this time, nobody dared to get in Ino's way. Nobody except for Sai, that is. He seemed to find it rather amusing to annoy her.

Now, Sai was an artist and had his own studio whilst Ino owned three businesses. One she had taken over from her parents – the flower shop. She loved it too much to allow it to close it down when they decided to retire much earlier than planned and travel the world. As well as that, Ino also had her own fashion line (which she had been planning since they were just kids!), which was now so famous that celebrities and royals had started wearing her designs. The third business was her own magazine (although that was joined to her fashion line). Sakura had her own column in it, though it had taken Ino months for Sakura to agree to it. The column was almost like an agony aunt page, people write to her, asking what they should do and Sakura helped as best as she could. It wasn't just relationship advice that they asked her for, it was also for advice for the mentally unstable, those who wished to be anonymous.

Once Ino had let Sakura and Gaara go, the couple made their way around the room, greeting people, speaking to them for a few minutes before moving onto the next guest. There were so many people here! All of her old friends from school had come to wish her happy birthday as well as her parents, Gaara's siblings, Itachi, Tsunade, even Kakashi!

It wasn't until halfway through the night that Sakura spotted somebody sitting a bit away from the others. Well, more like he was leaning against the far wall, simply watching people. There were two people beside him, Itachi and Kakashi. They were also the type of people who didn't particularly enjoy crowded events such as this one. It made her grateful that they had all turned up.

"So, how are you three loners doing?"

Kakashi sighed, though there was a smile beneath his mask like always. "You're still so mean to me, Sakura–chan."

She grinned at them all, though for the moment, she was speaking with Kakashi. Gaara wasn't with her now as he had told her that there was something he needed to do. "Would you prefer wallflower?"

"I might." he pouted, turning his head away like a sulking child.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura looked at the next person. "I'm glad you came, Itachi! I don't see you as often as I would like."

They had both been rather busy, but Itachi agreed. "I have a day off next week if you wish to meet for lunch."

It didn't even take her a second to agree, making him smile at her. Then, her eyes drifted to the next person. "Sasuke."

Things hadn't been very easy between them to say the least, especially when she heard who had offered him a job. Again. Orochimaru. Just thinking of that vile man made her shudder with disgust, made goosebumps break out across her body and the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. It was because of that monster that so many bad things had happened.

"Sakura."

Thankfully, however, Sasuke never accepted Orochimaru's offer. He instead continued with what his father had wanted. Now, Sasuke and Itachi both owned the Uchiha Company, together.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she moved forward and hugged him, chuckling softly at how he mumbled "you're so annoying" under his breath. They were best friends once again now that Sasuke had managed to get over her, though there were times when Sakura worried he wasn't over her. She didn't like it when he was in pain or sad.

"I'm glad you all came." she told them honestly, pulling away from Sasuke after a moment. "Even if you are simply leaning on the wall, being all antisocial and whatnot." Sakura paused for a moment before asking, "Didn't any of you bring dates? I was told that everyone was allowed to bring a date with them."

They all shook their heads.

Just when she was about to say something else, Itachi's eyes locked onto something, a small smile lifting his lips as they did. Curious, Sakura followed his gaze, only to pause in stunned silence as she saw Gaara take to the stage.

What was he doing? Despite being the president of the Sabaku Corporation, he hated giving speeches. He hated having everybody's attention on him.

"What is he doing?"

Everybody fell silent when they caught sight of the redhead and Sakura didn't miss how some of her friends immediately looked over in her direction, some with the same mischievous look that Hinata had had in her eyes, whilst others looked… anxious?

"Sakura." Gaara called out to her, his eyes locked on hers as he did.

Seeing what he wanted, despite him not actually asking, Sakura made her way to the stage, barely even mumbling a goodbye to the three behind her, two of who chuckled at her, whereas the other merely lowered his eyes to the ground as his fists clenched tightly. Sakura didn't notice. All she could see were the people in front of her, the ones staring at her curiously as she finally reached the stage. And then, all she could see was Gaara.

Gaara met her at the top of the stairs, surprising her once again by taking her hand and bringing her over to the centre of the stage. He didn't let go of it for a second. If anything, he tightened his hold. Her breathing stopped. Why was he nervous? What could possibly make Gaara nervous?

Oh God…

He turned towards her, looking into her eyes with a look much different to his usual one. His usually impassive eyes held a softer look, a look of love and nervousness. It was putting her on edge. Why was Gaara nervous?

Was he going to…?

Still holding her hand, Gaara spoke. "Haruno Sakura," his voice was quiet, yet everybody heard each word thanks to the microphone next to them, "you have to be the most stubborn, determined and annoying person I have ever met." she squeezed his hand in warning, but Gaara paid no attention. "But you're also passionate, strong–willed and loving. If you hadn't made such an effort to reach out to me, I would still be the person I was two years ago."

Tears filled Sakura's eyes. She had a feeling that she knew where this was going.

"Nothing has ever been easy for us, but you especially." by now, the hand holding hers was tightening slightly, telling her that he was growing more nervous. She smiled at him in encouragement, telling him with her eyes to continue. "Despite everything though, you keep fighting and proving people wrong. You put others before yourself all of the time, making sure that they're happy, not caring about yourself for a single moment."

Slowly, Gaara reached into his pocket, revealing a small, black box and in the audience, Sakura could have sworn that she heard Ino squeal, very much like Sakura was inwardly doing. Gaara released her hand but kept their eyes locked as he opened the box, making her eyes widen as she saw the ring.

"I want to spend the rest of our lives making you happy," he murmured, "because you deserve it."

Her mouth opened once again, but no words would come.

"Sakura," Gaara gave her the smile he always saved for her and Sakura knew for a fact that she heard many women (some men, too) swoon, "will you marry me?"

Tears fell from her eyes, but Sakura barely noticed as she grinned at him, nodding quickly and throwing her arms around him. She was trembling softly against him and Gaara couldn't help but let out a shaky sigh of relief. He had been so worried about her saying no! Not to mention speaking of his feelings in front of so many people had been… Well, it had definitely been something he had never done before.

"Yes." she whispered, kissing his cheek as she pulled away, looking down at the ring. "I'll marry you."

Normally, Sakura would have made a sarcastic remark, something along the lines of "of course I'll marry you – somebody has to" but nothing would come to her. The ring was beautiful and it looked familiar to her, like she had seen it somewhere before and when Gaara slipped it onto her ring finger, it suddenly came to her where she had seen it before.

"This ring…" Sakura was once again wide eyed, barely even hearing the cheers erupting from the crowd, mostly from Naruto and Ino. "This was your mother's ring!"

Gaara nodded, though didn't say anything.

The rest of the night was a blur to Sakura. So many people had come up to her and Gaara, congratulating them both on their engagement. Her parents had been a little teary eyed as they approached them, Mebuki hugging her tightly whilst Kazashi shook Gaara's hand. Her father had told her that he already knew Gaara was going to propose, that he had already asked for his permission.

Temari and Kankuro had both hugged her, the latter having grown out of his dislike for Sakura quite a while ago. He now treated her like she belonged with his family. They had also told her that their mother would have wanted Sakura to have the ring, which was why, when they found out Gaara wanted to make her his wife, they had given him the ring. Gaara had never gotten the chance to know his mother, so was extremely grateful when his siblings told him that their mother would be proud of him.

It seemed like only minutes after agreeing to marry Gaara that they were home. The entire journey was silent and Sakura couldn't stop staring at her ring finger, a smile obvious on her lips. It was vintage, yet beautiful. There were small designs around the centre diamond and it seemed like the lights danced off of it.

She loved it.

"I love you." she suddenly told him the moment they entered their bedroom. Gaara watched Sakura with a soft smile as she slipped off her heels and removed her bracelet–cuffs before facing him. There was an impish smile playing around her lips as she did. "Help me undress?"

His smile turned into a smirk as he approached her and brushed her hair over her shoulder. As his hands moved over her back, going for the clasps on the diamond studded collar around her neck and to the zip holding the bottom half of the dress together, Gaara pressed kisses against her shoulder and neck, listening as her breathing grew shallow.

When her dress slipped to the ground, leaving her in nothing more than a pair of lacy underwear, Gaara couldn't stop his hands from moving over her body, stroking their way around her waist and pulling her back against his chest. Her hands were on his as he cupped her breasts and Sakura tilted her head to the side as he pressed his lips against her neck once again, though this time in a much more passionate kiss.

"Make love to me, Gaara."

Could you even say 'no' to that softly spoken demand? Gaara didn't think that it would be possible to do so. So, he turned her around to face him, capturing her lips in a tender kiss as he guided her towards the bed, dropping onto it with her whilst she worked on removing his clothes.

Soon, soft sighs and gasps turned into moans as they became one, as they showed the other just how much they loved them through their actions. Gaara's hand stroked its way up her thigh before lifting it ever so slightly and moving against her body with slow and deep thrusts, watching as Sakura closed her eyes and arched into him, her mouth falling open as she did. He couldn't resist the temptation to kiss her, loving how Sakura responded to him without a second of hesitation, loving the feeling of her tongue caressing his.

Neither of them could think of a time when they had felt so happy before.

Perhaps, starting from today, they could be this happy all of the time.

A/N - Bit of a slow start, I'll admit that. But it gets better!

Oh and somebody is turning They Never Knew into a Sims 2 movie! The introduction/trailer has been posted already, so if you want to see it, just click on the link on my profile!

I was going to wait until October 31st before posting (no idea why), but I got so excited because I'm in a really good mood. All my coursework is complete and I'm on top of everything for now!

Anyways, tell me what you think of the first chapter! Too much fluff? Not enough drama?

HOPE YOU ENJOYED AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!