Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters.

--

Gaara, the man-made monster, had spent his entire life convincing himself that he feared nothing.

Gaara, the man-made monster, was terrified.

He closed his bedroom door behind him and let out a shaky sigh. A weary glance was thrown at his bed for a few seconds before he moved towards it, and by the time he was standing at the foot of it, he had regained his oh-so-perfect composure. His glazed eyes roved uncomprehendingly over his plain black sheets. He knew it would be difficult for him to sleep while keeping his mind away from the day's events. Hell, he hadn't even mastered falling asleep period. Maybe a shower...

She suddenly thrust her head forward, jade eyes glittering defiantly, and for a second, he knew she was going to kiss him. He sucked in his breath and froze, panic overtaking all else. His black-rimmed eyes widened as his jaw dropped and she was really too close now –

A shower it was.

He moved towards his bathroom, and the toe of his foot brushed against something. He reflexively looked down.

Oh. Just his gourd.

It was leaning against his bed, silent, unmoving, and deceivingly innocent. He paused, unable to tear his gaze away, and swallowed dryly.

He could feel her heartbeat through his sand, erratic and unstable. His sand squeezed, molding to her body, and a jagged spike of pain exploded in his forehead. She screamed, once, and his sand reflexively tightened, rendering her vocal chords useless. She broke off and struggled violently with all her waning strength. He could feel her dying. His ragged breathing mixed with her short, strained pants. Maybe he screamed too at one point, he wasn't sure. Her life was steadily being forced out of her, and when she died, he would never have to look at her haunting, familiar eyes ever again –

He forced his eyes elsewhere, instead focusing on what was straight ahead of him, and swallowed a second time, with more difficulty. The blood tainted gaze of his gourd bore into his back, even after he shut the bathroom door and stepped into the shower.

--

"Sakura-chan, come on," Temari said.

"No."

"Just a few more."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Please?"

"Sakura, just do it so she'll shut up," Shikamaru said irritably, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Traitor," Sakura shot at him, but begrudgingly raised herself on shaking arms.

"Straighten your back," Temari admonished.

Sakura mumbled something unintelligible under her breath, but did as she was told.

"Just ten more..." Temari coaxed.

With a sigh, Sakura lowered herself, then pushed upwards again. This really wasn't her idea of training. She could do pushups by herself. Shikamaru yawned loudly, sprawled on Kankuro's living room couch.

...nine...ten.

"All right, I'm done," she said, dropping to the floor with a thud.

"Good for you," Shikamaru mumbled, only half awake.

"Get up, you've been lying there all afternoon," Temari quipped. "Make yourself useful and spar with Sakura."

"I'm a strategist. I don't spar."

"Well I'm no good at taijutsu, in case you didn't notice."

"Doesn't mean I am."

"Shikamaru, just – "

"For God's sake Temari, get off me."

"Fine." The blonde crawled off of Sakura's back and joined Shikamaru on the couch. Sakura remained on the floor, feeling that it was too much of an effort to get up. "What say you, Sakura?"

"'bought what?" She mumbled into the rug.

"Your training."

"I dunno...none of you are that good at taijutsu."

"Yeah...Kanky's got his dolls and Gaara's got his sand..."

"And Naruto's more of a ninjutsu type," put in Shikamaru. "If it doesn't look cool and/or make an explosion, it's not worth knowing."

"But you," Temari concluded. "Specialize in taijutsu and genjutsu, which, unfortunately, none of us really know much about."

"Maybe Kanky would let me spar with one of his puppets," Sakura said, still unmoving on the floor.

"Kanky? Since when am I Kanky?"

Sakura blinked at his sudden entrance, too tired to give a witty reply.

"Wanna spar one of your dolls with Sakura?" Temari asked for her.

"What, and accidentally chop her head off? I think not."

Sakura lay, listening to the two siblings argue and not offering any input. At the moment, she really didn't care abut training. At the moment, she cared about sinking into a warm bath and going to sleep.

It had been decided that Sakura would no longer stay with Temari, even though she doubted the older girl would chop her head off when her back was turned, but would instead remain at Gaara's house, due to the simple fact that Gaara had a guest bed, and Temari didn't.

Not that camping out on the couch wasn't just oodles of fun.

"Just forget it," she said, rolling onto her back and staring blearily at the ceiling. "I can work out a training schedule tomorrow."

"Whatever," Temari shrugged. "What's up with Gaara, by the way? He's being more of an asshole than usual."

"I don't know," she said uncomfortably. "PMS?"

"Maybe," Temari agreed, and let the subject drop, much to Sakura's relief.

The subject of Gaara had become rather sensitive, considering that the previous night she had Eskimo kissed him.

So maybe she shouldn't have done something quite so drastic, since it had obviously upset him. But dammit, he had been annoying her to all get out, and the urge to do something impulsive was all consuming.

...besides, she had kind of liked it.

Not that she was willing to admit that, of course.

--

Kakashi let out a barely audible sigh as the gates of Suna rose into view. Oh, thank God they were finally here.

Now, Kakashi was a patient man, if not anything else. But being alone with his moody student for weeks with no one else and an absolute lack of good literature had nearly strained him to the snapping point. And God knew Sasuke wasn't making any of this easier for him.

They passed through the gates without a hitch, being waved through by the guard, and moved into the city to search for their pink haired teammate and her temporary guardian.

--

"Hey, um, I'm sorry about last night."

Gaara gave her a flat stare. She squirmed uncomfortably.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

He didn't reply.

So maybe trying to redeem herself had been a bad idea. She wasn't particularly enjoying herself, sitting across from Gaara at his kitchen table and trying to ignore his stony silence.

She shifted in her chair.

"Look, don't try and pretend you didn't deserve it," she told him, changing track. "You were the one that started it, you know."

Gaara still didn't say anything.

"Will you please just talk to me?" She threw her hands up in frustration. "I know I scared you, big deal! You've scared the hell out of me too many times to – "

"Scared me?" He interrupted suddenly. "What could possibly make you think that you could scare me?"

She stared at him incredulously. "Well you sure ran away pretty damn fast for someone who wasn't scared."

"You," he said simply, standing. "Do not scare me."

"What?" She said. "Hey, don't leave!"

Without thinking, she lurched forward and grabbed his wrist in an iron grip. He flinched violently.

"See," she said softly, tone completely transformed. "You are afraid of being touched."

Gaara didn't move to reclaim his wrist, only stared at her, wide eyes the only clue that he might not have been completely calm.

"Do you think I'll hurt you?" She questioned, standing. The top of her head only reached his shoulder. When had he grown so much?

He opened his mouth, and for a second, she was certain he was going to say something cold and belittling. She mentally braced herself for the blow.

"Sakura...it's not something you need to worry about."

She blinked up at him.

"That was diplomatic," she voiced her thoughts aloud.

"A skill I had to acquire when I became the Kazekage. Now kindly let go of my hand," he said dryly.

"No," she said simply. She had no idea why she was doing this, nor did she know what she wanted form him. She was going purely on instinct.

"And why not?"

"Just because."

His eyes narrowed.

"Haruno, let – "

"Is it me?"

"What?"

"Do I make you nervous or something?"

His brow creased. "What are you talking about?"

"The way you act. When you're around everyone else you're normal," she said patiently, while her heart raced at a mile a minute. "But when you're around me alone you get jumpy and nervous." She paused. "Well, nervous for you, anyways."

He seemed to be lost for words. Or he was retraining himself from throttling her. She wasn't really sure.

"Gaara?"

He suddenly turned, and before she knew what was happening, she was sprawled over the table, propping herself up on her elbows with Gaara leaning over her, an arm supporting him on either side of her hips. Her eyes widened and the blood rushed to her face.

Oh, my God. He's snapped.

...Nice job, Sherlock.

His face was contorted into something between pain and fury. He glared down at her and she did her best not to flinch.

"You," he hissed. "Are – "

But whatever he was about to say was interrupted with a small cough from the kitchen doorway. He blinked rapidly and stood up, stepping a good four five feet away from her. She slowly slid down from the kitchen table, staring at the two people who had prevented Gaara from finishing whatever explanation he might have been about to give her.

She wasn't sure if she was relieved or not.

"Ah, are we interrupting?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke stood, silent as death, beside him.

--