--
Upon Temari's departure, Sakura sat in the same place for a long time. She wanted to be angry. She really did. She tried to be angry. Angry at Temari, and angry at herself for not defending her relationship with Sasuke. Did she think it was that simple? That she'd been chasing him for years because of a crush?
Feelings didn't just go away.
And she tried especially hard to ignore that familiar helpless sensation when she remembered her pathetic silence in response to Temari's questions. Her not-even attempt for an adequate defense. Because she did love Sasuke, she had just been too startled to say so.
You have some fucked up denial issues.
But she couldn't be angry, despite however much she wanted to be. Because Temari was right. God, she didn't want her to be, but she was.
She didn't love him. She hadn't for weeks, and she hadn't even noticed.
Sakura wanted someone who loved her back. Someone who saw and respected her for who she was and what she could do without treating her like some fragile little weakling. She wanted him to care about her, for reasons other than producing an heir. He needed to be there for her, and allow her to return the favor. The relationship would be between equals.
And fuck her if those were unrealistic goals, but dammit, she wanted them.
Sasuke couldn't give her any of that.
As for Gaara...
Well. One life-altering decision at a time.
--
"You hear something?"
Shikamaru lazily opened one eye to glance at the blonde boy peering out the hotel window.
"No," he yawned.
"I heard something."
"That's great."
"Wanna go see what it was?"
"Not really."
"You're not curious?"
"..."
"I'm going to go check it out," he announced.
Shikamaru lifted his hand in a lazy half wave. "Have fun."
Naruto spared him an exasperated glare before flipping the catch, pushing open, and slipping out the window.
--
Pink. Pink and red were the only things he managed to discern from the blur that had just split the ground open before the force of the blow sent him spinning backwards. He shot out a hand and clawed at the ground to retain some sense of balance, then flipped safely backwards onto his feet. It launched itself at him again, and he just barely managed to defend himself.
"Sakura, what the hell!" He yelled, quickly blocking an uppercut that would have dislocated his jaw.
She didn't answer, just grit her teeth and unleashed another onslaught of attacks that could so easily liquefy him. Faced with a literal human powerhouse, Sasuke, for the first time in his life, became suddenly aware of how very soft and vulnerable the human body was.
She wasn't necessarily fast – contrarily, she was really a strategic type. It was more the knowledge she could literally shatter him if she so chose that particularly bothered him. And he wasn't really sure how effective his sharingan would be against another user – albeit, an embarrassingly untrained one.
Plus, it was Sakura. Sure, he had been perfectly happy to kill either of his teammates many-a-month prior, but come on, people change...
His distraction gained him a glanced blow to his ribs. He almost stumbled, instead using the momentum to fall backwards, switch his weight to one hand, and swing one leg outward to sink into her stomach. He hesitated at the last second. Scarlet eyes flashing, his sister dearest grasped the opportunity to knock him back a second time, bearing down. There was a brief second when their eyes met, and his vision just barely began to swim. Oh, fuck –
His own sharingan rose to the surface, instinctively rising to counter her own.
She froze, and he instantly knew he had taken it too far. She hadn't known what she was doing. He knew exactly was he was doing. The red in her eyes faded almost immediately to viridian, virtually overflowing with raw terror. She abruptly dropped to her knees, overcome with tremors. She gasped harshly at the same moment he forced his sharingan down, stumbling in his haste to reach her. "Sakura!"
What happened next literally redefined what could ever possibly go wrong.
There was an explosion. Not of the literal category, but realistic enough to send sand flying everywhere with the resulting force enough to make Sasuke think, 'Oh, an explosion,' before he was sent flying backwards. Then, as if that hadn't been loud enough, Naruto was suddenly shrieking in his abused ear. "Teme! What happened? What's wrong with Sakura-chan!"
And that might have been okay. But when he opened his eyes, it was to discover a tall red-headed male crouching protectively in front of the shivering girl with pink hair almost as if he were her (mate? What the hell was going on with those two?) bodyguard. Half a second later, he'd deducted that yes, it was definitely the glowering Kazekage whom had made the sand so explosive.
And since when did the psycho snarl? Did this constitute as a relapse?
Oh, and there was Temari, hovering beside Naruto and glaring down at him, lips twisted downwards. Wonderful.
Then, to his further ire, he realized Gaara would never be able to half-stand, half-squat in that certain position if he was still injured. So, not only was he using himself as a physical barricade between himself and Sakura, but whereas he had a giant bruise covering half his face, Gaara was peachy keen.
Sakura was sucking in huge, gasping breaths, and Sasuke noticed with a small jolt of surprise her face was completely dry. Better yet, she was trying to stand. Maybe he hadn't hit her as hard as he'd thought.
She stumbled into Gaara, and his eyes flickered away from Sasuke for the briefest of seconds before he pulled her wordlessly against him. She gratefully leaned against him as a substitute crutch.
Sasuke twitched.
"Sasuke..." Naruto was staring at him disbelievingly. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. "Did you use your sharingan against Sakura?"
--
"...accidentally."
The Kyuubi vessel was on him in an instant, short nails leaving imprints in his neck as Sasuke's back hit the sand.
"Naruto – stop!" Sakura lurched forward, and would have toppled to the ground if Gaara hadn't caught her. "I attacked him first!"
Gaara stared down at the distraught girl in his arms, currently trying to hide that she was obviously struggling to remain upright. What did it feel like, to be struck by such sickening fear that you were left emotionally distraught and physically drained?
Kill him kill him kill him —
Viridian eyes stared at him pleadingly. A resigned trendil of sand solidified itself and plucked the blonde off his dark teammate. For a second Naruto refused to let go, bringing Sasuke into the air with him, and Gaara considered shaking them just to see what would happen. But then Naruto released his collar, and Sasuke plopped back onto the ground.
"Fuck, Gaara, let me go!" Furious blue eyes glared at him. "Look what he did to Sakura-chan!"
Sakura's head snapped up angrily and she had to clutch Gaara's vest in the resulting dizziness. "Were you not listening? We were fighting! I'm not so weak it should be considered murder if he fights back!"
Naruto had the grace to look ashamed, comically dangling in the air, before his eyes turned serious. "This is different and you know it." A few more seconds. "Fine, I won't kill him. Happy?"
Gaara lowered him back to the ground, and true to his word, Naruto didn't jump his teammate the second his feet touched the sand. He observed Gaara and Sakura silently. "So. What now?"
Sakura opened her mouth, but Gaara roughly interrupted her. "Now Sakura is going back to recover." And he engulfed them both in sand and disappeared, ignoring his sister's protests.
A mile or so away, Shikamaru had the vague feeling he'd just missed something.
--
Gaara had been scared. For the first time in years, he had been the victim of blind terror.
That night Sakura had dared to touch him, he had felt anxiety, coupled with some fear. This was different. So painfully, terrifyingly different. And it also revolved around Sakura.
To see her, shaking on the ground, eyes displaying such raw, animalistic terror...had bothered him. A lot. Enough for him to briefly lose control, and create a mini-explosion of sand. Because he couldn't see what was wrong with her. She wasn't bleeding. He couldn't help her if he didn't know how she was injured.
Then he had spotted Uchiha, running to her, and had changed his own intent from reaching her to protecting her.
By the time he had achieved this position, his brief episode of panic had ebbed into concern. Then rage. Red, throbbing anger. Because he had realized there wasn't anything physically wrong with her – her mind had been screwed with. And who was famous for instilling fear in the enemy with just a glance? Right.
And now, he wasn't sure what he felt. Warm, for one thing. But that was physical. A little antsy. That was because Sakura had fallen asleep in his arms, and he had no idea what to do with her.
The simple solution would be to drop her on her bed, and leave. Except, she seemed blatantly opposed to that option. When he tried, she fiercly gripped his shirt and whimpered. He wasn't sure which hindered him more.
So now he stood, with a sleeping girl in his arms. A sleeping girl whom was causing absolute havoc on his emotional balance. Temari would be home soon, ready to chew him out for ditching her. Oh, what to do.
"Gaara..." She pressed her face into his chest and sighed contentedly.
This girl was out to destroy him.
Carefully, he eased onto her bed, trying not to jostle her awake. He tried laying her down a second time. She refused to release him. Well...he could strip, but that seemed like an excessive amount of trouble.
Deciding to opt for a different tact, he leant back against her headboard, and slowly relaxed his arms until she was draped across his lap. Still clutching his shirt. Gods above...
Hmm. Kind of awkward, but that was her fault for being uncooperative.
Eventually, she would let go of him. Until then, he would wait with her while she slept.
--