--

There was just something refreshing about waking up with a body next to you, and then realizing it wasn't dead.

Gaara studied the sleeping girl, squinting through the late morning sunlight. She had moved away from him in the few hours they had slept, and was now lying on the floor, arms neatly substituted for a pillow. One foot was in his lap, and he stared, wondering if he should exercise his newfound sense of humor by licking it.

Then again, he doubted she'd appreciate it. As little as he knew about the female mind, he could vaguely assume that being awakened by a wet tongue sliding along her heel would not be Sakura's idea of a perfect morning.

So he quietly sat against the wall and began his patient wait for her to wake up on her own.

And tried not to think about why they had fallen asleep together in the first place.

"I'm confused."

"Join the club."

He closed his eyes, frustrated. What in the hell had he been thinking? He, having had no prior emotional experience whatsoever, had decided to go purely on instinct.

And apparently instinct meant turning himself into a gooey romantic.

But at least she had responded positively. He wasn't really sure what would have happened if she had rejected him. So that made them...?

Boyfriend and girlfriend?

No...that sounded too normal. And juvenile. And just...not them.

Lovers?

Well...if he wanted to get technical, to be lovers one had to have sex, and seeing as they hadn't done anything further than hugging and kissing and falling asleep together...

Not that he would mind having sex with Sakura. He supposed it'd feel nice...

I mean, not that he thought about sex all the time. Just occasionally.

Er...

Dammit, he hated hormones.

Sakura snuffled softly in her sleep and scooted closer, curling herself against his side. He stared blankly at the ceiling, and eventually, because those damn urges were acting up again, placed a hand on her head.

He could only imagine how awkward things were going to be when she woke up.

But he waited.

He had things to ask her.

--

The first thing Sakura noticed as she gradually left her slumber was the warmth. It was nice and comforting and too far away for her liking. She pressed herself closer to its source.

The second thing she noticed was the faint tingling along her scalp. A few seconds later she established that someone was playing with her hair, which was mostly likely what had woken her up.

"...stop," she mumbled, refusing to open her eyes. Unseen to her, Gaara arched the area of skin where his eyebrows would be, had he been blessed with some, and paused. She sighed happily and scooted a little closer to the nice warmth that, coincidentally, also smelled pretty good.

Then whoever it was started twirling her hair around their fingers again.

Irritated, she drowsily lifted an arm and grabbed the offending object away from her hair, pulling it down to eye level for inspection as she blearily opened her eyes.

Oh. A hand. Rough. Pale. Kind of calloused. How odd.

"The hell?" She muttered, lifting her head.

To find Gaara's pale green eyes peering down at her.

They stared at each other, Sakura growing awkwardly aware that she was cuddling his right leg.

"...morning," she offered.

"...give me my hand back."

She released it but still didn't move, lying on her side and looking up at him with sleepy eyes. Hmm. Now how was she supposed to act around him? Somehow, she just couldn't work up the courage to lean up and kiss his forehead, or something similarly romantic. Best now to act as a sleepy innocent. He'd made all the moves last night, right? Well, he could damn well do it again.

They stayed like that for a moment, Sakura staring at his left knee from her low to the ground perspective, and Gaara gazing contemplatively into space. In the silence, Sakura eventually realized the scent she had noticed earlier was Gaara. Which was a nice improvement to how he had smelled when they were twelve, a charming mix of blood and mental illness.

She closed her eyes, deciding that he wasn't going to try anything anytime soon. Just as she had almost slipped asleep again, he spoke again, calm, low pitched voice rolling through the still air.

"Morning."

She smiled against the fabric of his pants.

--

Gaara stood first, not acknowledging or caring when his back popped in several places. Sakura watched him for a few seconds, a silent, unreadable emotion mutedly shining in her jade eyes, before she followed, wincing as several of her joints creaked and groaned.

"Let's not sleep on the floor anymore..." She sighed, rubbing the small of her back.

"Duly noted."

She smiled at him, nervously but sincerely, and took a step towards him. "I could give you a massage, if you want."

For a split second, the corner of his mouth quirked upwards, and he took a moment to digest the fact that she was brave enough to say that. "Maybe later."

She raised a pale eyebrow, surprised she had gotten him close to consenting.

Neither of them said anything for a few seconds. Finally Gaara spoke.

"Sakura."

"Mmm?"

"I need to change."

"Oh!" Her eyes trailed over his upper torso, which was bare, due to her kunai the night before, and she minutely blushed. "All right."

She left, clicking the door shut behind her. After standing outside his bedroom door for about five minutes, she finally turned and walked downstairs. She was about to head for the living room, but, realizing she was starving, opted instead for the kitchen, where she found Kankuro sitting at the small kitchen table with a piece of toast.

"So, get any action?" He asked with deceivingly innocent curiosity.

"Good morning," she returned. "Where are the pans?"

He gave her an amused look and pointed below the stove. "I take it things didn't go well?"

She glared at him over her shoulder as she retrieved a skillet. "Things went fine."

"Oh. You're PMS-ing?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe the 'Fuck off, world,' sign you have stuck to your forehead."

She straightened and turned to face him, scowling. "You know, I was in a perfectly good mood before you started asking me if I got it on with your little brother."

"...so did you?"

"No, you jackass, I'm a virgin."

"Nice to know," Gaara said mildy from the doorway.

She felt her face burn with embarrassment, and quickly turned a heated glare on Kankuro, who was grinning again. I do not want you here, her gaze said. You are an asshole, and I am mad at you.

Which was so untrue she wasn't even sure she could admit it to herself. She was so glad Kankuro was there, at that moment, keeping the awkwardness at bay, she could have kissed him. She was immensely grateful he was there with his light prodding, his mere presence in the room postponing the imminent conversation of, 'Okay, you poured your demonic little heart out to me, let's go do some boyfriend-girlfriend stuff.'

Then he left.

Stood right the fuck up, waved, gave a cheery, "I'll leave you guys alone," and left her with his brother without a backwards glance.

Oh. That tricky bastard.

She scratched her head, uneasily aware of the growing tension. "Uh...do you have any eggs?"

"...why?"

"Why do you think?" Hmm. That had come out more snappish than she'd meant. She grinned at him to show she wasn't serious.

He wordlessly salvaged four from the fridge, to her surprise (it was hard to imagine any animals besides humans living out here in the desert – of course, she supposed, there were some perks to being Kazekage), and handed them to her. She quickly cracked them over the skillet and handed him the shells, then waved him to go sit at his small table. The table where he had leaned over her and snarled, where his breath had been so hot across her neck and his eyes...oh lord, he had such beautiful eyes...

"What are you smiling at?"

The dreamy grin dropped off her face immediately, and she turned back to the slowly heating eggs to hide her blush. "Nothing..."

She stirred the eggs around for a few minutes before turning off his stove and digging around in his cabinets once again, emerging seconds later with two clay plates. She tipped equal amounts of scrambled eggs onto them (gone were the days when she offered a certain male more than half of the portion, since she was a girl, and boys "needed to eat more") and carried the plates to the table, giving one to Gaara and then sitting opposite to him.

You'd make a wonderful –

Don't say it.

Their meal stretched out for exactly four minutes and twenty eight seconds. They sat silently, letting the awkwardness ooze through the pores of everything, before she abruptly stood and carried the dishes to the sink. Gaara stood too, and silently followed her. He hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder, and her heart stopped. She wondered if it would be rude to reach around and bite his hand off.

"I need to leave," he stated. She noticed with a small pang of remorse his voice had returned to its usual flat monotone. So different from the night before, when it had been rough and unstable with emotion and uncertainty.

"Who's watching me?" She said.

"Temari. She's off-duty today," he said, in that same impassive voice. Her brow furrowed. It was like he was using an emotional block to hide behind.

We know how to fix that though, don't we?

She allowed herself to reply, yes, we do, before she captured Gaara's face in both her hands and pressed her lips against his.

It was, in so many ways, different from the one they'd shared last night. For one thing, she was the one who instigated it. For another, it only took about half a second before Gaara got over his what the hell? expression and kissed her back. Sakura didn't relinquish her grip on his face, and his strong, wiry arms snaked around her waist, pulling her closer. She sighed softly, before breaking the kiss and leaning her forehead against his, giving him a lazy, sated smile.

"Gaaaarrrrraaaaaa," she said, in a quiet, happy tone, drawing his name out. She liked the way it felt on her lips. She liked how their previous awkwardness had vanished.

He opened his mouth and flicked his tongue out, drawing it in a slow line from the corner of her mouth up her cheek. She closed her eyes and pressed herself closer, still processing that he had just licked her and she'd enjoyed it. Her hands dropped from his face to wrap around his neck. She was only dimly aware that his kitchen counter was digging into her back.

"We have things to talk about when you get back," she said. She kissed him again, softly, affectionately, before wiggling out of his embrace and walking towards the living room to await Temari's arrival.

--

"He what?"

Temari stared at the pink haired girl sitting cross-legged across from her, and allowed herself to be astonished. No. Gaara couldn't have.

"He kissed me," Sakura confirmed, looking lost and worried. "And then we fell asleep together and I made breakfast and I kissed him again and then, I dunno, I sort of bolted – "

"You ran away from him?" Temari interrupted.

"No, I didn't literally run," Sakura said, shaking her head. "I said we needed to talk, and then casually left him standing in the kitchen."

Temari rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to grin. For someone who'd never gone on a single date before, Sakura certainly seemed to have some good instincts when it came to keeping men wrapped around her finger.

"But you know you ran," Temari guessed. "Right?"

"Yeah," the younger of the two said. "I was scared. I mean, I kissed him and then we hugged for almost three minutes. Three minutes, just standing there and saying nothing, and being perfectly fine with it!"

"I don't see the problem here."

"Temari!" Sakura seemed frantic. She gestured wildly with her hands. "I said his name for no reason! I liked it! He licked me!"

"And?" She decided to ignore Sakura's last comment.

Sakura seemed lost for words. Temari watched, amused, as the girl's internal battle raged on.

"We kissed – !"

"Okay," Temari interjected. "You have feelings for Gaara and you don't feel like admitting it. Now that we've passed that hurdle, what else have you got swimming around in your screwed up mind?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Who said I had feelings – "

Temari fixed her with a blunt look. "You said his name and liked it."

Sakura floundered wordlessly for a few seconds, before giving her a helpless look. "But...I can't..."

"When was the last time you felt something for that Uchiha brat?" Temari said, voice steely. Sakura gave her a bewildered look, before realization set in.

"...a day or so after I arrived in Suna."

"Mhmm." She didn't offer anything else, leaving the girl to her own conclusions. After a few seconds' silence, she stood. "I'm going to go do some target practice out back. Coming?"

Sakura shook her head, and Temari left her alone, trying not to linger on the younger girl's disturbed expression.

--

Sasuke scowled, feeling broody. His right cheek throbbed painfully from where Gaara had managed to strike him. He resisted the urge to touch it.

Kakashi was stretched on the sandy ground a few yards away, one eye on his little book of porn. He certainly wasn't going to be letting the raven haired prodigy out of his sight any time soon.

They were in a deserted training ground on the very outskirts of Suna, and had been there since the previous night.

"Do you realize the political damage you could have created?"

He doubted he'd ever seen Kakashi that angry. After yanking him away from the bleeding Kazekage, Kakashi had roughly shaken him as he hung limply in the man's grasp. Gaara had left soon after, expression unreadable.

Kakashi's jaw was taut, eyes blazing. His lone sharingan whirred angrily. Sasuke stared back, contemplating if he should risk going after Gaara.

Sasuke crossed his arms, posture stiffening.

"No one saw you?"

"Yes, I already told you!"

"You're positive."

"Yes!"

Sasuke mentally scoffed. Yes, he was willing to admit that assuming he would face the same consequences for picking a fight with Gaara now rather than three years ago had been a bit of an oversight on his part. But then again, he wasn't afraid of death.

He never really had been.

"Stay with me at all times and hope to God that boy doesn't decide to report this. You attacked the Kazekage."

He glared at the ground, wishing that he and Sakura and Naruto could just get the fuck out of this place and go back to Konoha. It was hot during the day and cold at night and he was sunburned and there was sand everywhere he fucking looked – how did people live here?

A small tingle of chakra drew his attention away from brooding. He squinted into the distance, taking in the speck on the horizon, speeding towards them and getting bigger every second.

He immediately glanced toward Kakashi for instruction, but his sensei didn't offer any words, just stared contemplatively at the sky. After a few seconds he snapped his book shut and gave Sasuke a hard look.

"Have fun," he said, and disappeared.

Sasuke, stared, stunned, at where the man had previously lay. The fuck? Had he just left him?

He turned towards the oncoming chakra again and was shocked to find its owner much closer than it had been the last time he'd glimpsed it. Way closer.

Before he had time to prepare himself, whatever it was was rushing him. A scream of "SASUKE!" tore through the air, followed a split second later by the ground beneath his feet exploding.

--