Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

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Sakura couldn't sleep.

Gaara had left her room an hour earlier, and hadn't stopped pacing since. She could hear him, continuously moving back and forth in his room, which was just a few feet away from hers.

She rolled over onto her side, trying to block thoughts of Gaara from her mind. A few minutes ago, she had finally realized something that she wasn't very happy about.

She had purposefully showed Temari her sharingan, and hadn't stopped once to think of the consequences. Temari had contacted Gaara after their fight. No doubt she had passed this tidbit of information to her brother. And right now, Gaara was probably fully aware that a member of the Uchiha clan was in his guest bedroom.

...awkward.

Ah well. Sakura ran a hand through her petal pink bangs. If he had an issue with her being an Uchiha, that was his problem. Right now she had so many other things to focus on.

Finally giving up on sleep, she reached over to the small night stand Gaara had provided her and extracted a stack of letters from the bottom drawer. Smiling now, she began to read them for the second time that day:

Dear Sakura-chan,

There's haven't been any updates on your attacker. He seems to have vanished. Personally, I'm hoping that he hasn't followed you to Suna, but that's just me. If he has, then Gaara's protection enough. If Gaara gives you problems, then just write me and I'll come over and kick his ass for you. By the way, HOW COME YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE AN UCHIHA? I'm your sensei, you're supposed to share these things with me! Then again, you didn't know until recently, did you? I suppose I forgive you then. I've sent Toyoe on a mission. She was practically going insane. Don't be surprised if she doesn't write, I've sent her far, far away from you. Sasuke and Kakashi should be arriving soon.

Sincerely,

The Fifth.

Sakura placed this letter carefully aside and moved on to her next one.

Hey, forehead. Whatcha doing? I mean, besides being off on some important classified mission that you forgot to tell me about. Thanks a lot. Really bored here. Nothing much to say really. Eh...here's TenTen.

Hi Sakura-chan. I know you can't tell us your exact location, but if Naruto and Shikamaru know where you are, then why don't we? Geeze, we're supposed to be best friends. Anyways, nothing's going on here...Ino and I miss you. So does Anko...I'm not even going to ask what kind of a connection you have with her.

I & T.

What connection did she have with Anko? Had she ever even spoken to her, aside from business? Well...she didn't want to know why Anko missed her either, then.

Her last letter was from Kakashi.

Yo, Sakura.

We've changed our original route. Sasuke and I have decided to lay low for a day or two in a little village just off the middle of nowhere. Don't be expecting us soon, it was just chance that Naruto and Shikamaru ran into us.

Missing my favorite student,

Your Master.

P.S., Sasuke says hi.

Not very interesting...but they were a start.

She placed them back in the drawer and lay down. She could still hear Gaara pacing in his room.

Thump thump thump.

Tsunade said Sasuke and Kakashi would be arriving soon...but Kakashi said they were laying low. For how long? And why? Had they run into the man who ambushed Sasuke? Her stomach tightened with fear. Were they, maybe, hurt? So badly they could no longer travel?

Thump thump thump.

She forced her tense muscles to relax. Never panic. Never jump to conclusions. She was overreacting, like always. Kakashi was probably just being lazy, and here she was working herself up over nothing. But, she mused, she always had been an anxious person. Always worrying about her boys, constantly fussing over their minor injuries. I'm going to make a wonderful mom one day, she thought sardonically, then frowned. Why had that sounded so bitter? She wanted to be a mother, didn't she? That had been her dream, ever since she had –

Thump thump thump.

– met Sasuke...Sasuke, who was her brother. Sasuke, whom she could no longer even consider. Incest, her mind hissed at her. Incest, incest. Wrong. Sick. Genetically impossible.

She couldn't picture Sasuke as a father. As hard as she tried, she really couldn't. Sasuke, cradling a squalling baby. Sasuke, with pink and black crowned heads crowding around his knees. No...her mind refused to consider it. To even imagine it. Sasuke...was not the fathering type, as much as she hated to admit it. For that matter, neither was she.

She blinked, mouth falling open. What was she thinking? She rolled over, pulling the pillow over her head in an attempt to smother her own thoughts. But it was too late. Her mind was already running on a totally new track, listing reasons why she was not destined to maternity. Damn her for being so analytical.

"I am going to make a wonderful mother," she said aloud, softly repeating her earlier thought, as if to reassure herself. "Maybe not with Sasuke, but I will be a mother. I want to get married and have kids...and..." She trailed off. "...I will." Her last words sounded so small and scared. Scared of what?

The truth, her Inner self said bluntly. Cliche, but –

Shut UP. I KNOW the truth. I've known it my whole life.

Maybe you should reconsider the things you believed when you were twelve.

I know what I want. She hoped that hadn't sounded too immature.

Inner Sakura laughed, low and uncharacteristically sarcastic. You haven't thought about what you wanted in years.

Yes I –

About what you wanted? Hell no. You just thought about what you wanted as a kid, and stuck to it, because you're afraid to change. That's why it was such a big deal when you cut your ha –

How would you know?

...dumb question.

...shut up.

All right, fine. Picture this. You, in an apron, washing dishes in the sink in front of the kitchen window. Your children are outside playing in the yard. Your husband comes home from his mission, and kisses you on the cheek. 'How was your day, dear?'

Shut up shut up SHUT UP –

'It was wonderful, honey. I cleaned house and got all the laundry done. I'm making your favorite for dinner tonight, and the children are playing in the yard.'

...stop.

'That's just swell, dear. Isn't our life just perfect?' Is that what you want? Is that your idea of a perfect life?

That's not how it would be. That's not the way it is.

How would you know? If you married Sasuke, do you think you would remain a kunoichi? Do you think he would let you?

I CAN'T marry Sasuke, because he –

You're not destined to be a parent. Neither is Sasuke.

I hate you.

You hate yourself? That's an interesting thing to say. Maybe you should pay more attention to Gaara, you insane little girl, you. You're like two peas in a pod.

You think Gaara would be a good father?

Well...his kids would never get bullied.

Yeah, because he'd probably eat them at birth. As soon as she thought this, she winced as a pang of guilt coursed through her. Gaara was different now. He was a human being, he always had been. Had she really become so bitter, to think that way of people? Maybe she had really changed that much at –

THUMP THUMP THUMP.

"WHAT IS HE FUCKING DOING?" She yelled before she could stop herself. Gaara's footsteps paused. Her hands flew to her mouth.

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT –

She kept completely still, eyes widening until they threatened to pop out of her head, ears straining.

Footsteps. Down the hall.

Oh my God.

Closer. Closer –

She yanked the covers up and dove under them, nearly ripping them in half in the process. Her eyes squeezed shut and she forced her breathing to even out, willed her heart beat to slow down...

The sound of her door being opened. Gaara's soft, almost silent breathing. Her fists clenched around the scratchy guest sheets.

She waited. Nothing. She let out a long, silent breath, relaxing. Thank God...he'd left...

"You."

She shrieked and jerked away from the voice, falling off the bed in the process.

When she managed to unearth her head from the tangle of sheets, she took in the menacingly tall form of Gaara, standing over her with a frown.

"G-Gaara," she said meekly, gazing up at him and feeling incredibly small and vulnerable under his piercing gaze. She gulped and experimentally tried to move her left leg. It was completely bound and unmovable. How she managed to do that was beyond her. "Um. Do you need something?"

"Do you?"

She swallowed again, mouth impossibly dry. "Uh...do I?"

Such a witty one, you, her inner self commented dryly.

"You're the one who was screaming about me," he deadpanned.

She searched his face, for lack of a response, for signs of anger. His expression was totally neutral. She looked again, more closely. The tenseness in his shoulders...she'd pissed him off.

Damn.

"I...was talking in my sleep," she said lamely.

He crouched, squatting on the floor beside her, leaning over her prone frame, frown deepening. "Is that so?" He asked, hot breath fanning across her face.

"Uhhh..." She was again reminded of his ability to strip her completely of her usual intelligent responses. A hot flush spread all the way from her neck to her forehead.

Oh God, she was blushing.

Why?

"Yes. I was dreaming," she croaked, blush deepening when he leaned in closer, as if his world depended on her answer. Her voice was stronger the second time she spoke. "And it wasn't about you, so it's really none of your business."

"Considering you're my guest here, I'd say it IS my business, Sakura-chan. I'm very interested."

What? WHAT?

She stared at him, his words replaying over and over again in her mind. He...he was teasing her! ROMANTICALLY!

...fine then.

She raised her head a fraction of an inch and rubbed her nose against his.

His black rimmed eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, before he pulled away so fast he fell on his butt.

His reaction was hilarious, but she couldn't laugh.

She finally managed to wrestle herself into a sitting position, frowning at him on his spot on the floor. "Why are you so afraid of people touching you?"

His eyes narrowed until they were just black slits with a tiny hint of aqua showing through. "None of your – "

"Well, I am your guest here," she snipped, throwing his own words back at him. "I'd say it's my business."

His lips curled upwards into a snarl, showing off unnaturally sharp teeth, and just as she'd started to wonder if she'd gone too far his expression fell back to his standard neutral. He stood up.

"Go to sleep," he said gruffly as he walked out the door, not looking back to see if she'd moved. She was left sitting on the floor, staring after him.

"I will never understand him," she told herself, untangling an arm. "Ever. In my life."

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