A Note From the Author:

Thank you all for your continued patience for our story. I am at this time also updating this story on another platform, but it is several chapters behind. Updates here on FFnet are more spaced out so that I can catch up the other story. My goal is that both stories will have the final few chapters posted at the same time. Thank you for your understanding.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters associated with it

A One Month Bet

Fuck!

Temari gazed at her with a look of intrigue, but not accusation. Sakura wanted to snatch the robe from her and yell at her for going through her things, but it truly wasn't Temari's fault. The robe wasn't even Sakura's to have or to hide, so she had no right to covet it like she was.

The pillow was a pretty dumb hiding spot, too, Inner Sakura chided.

Sakura reflexively reached up to her hair, interlocking her fingers through her pink locks and behind her head. She paced back and forth in the room, trying to formulate an explanation, but Temari became impatient.

"You wanna tell me why you have my brother's robe under your pillow?"

Ugh! It sounds even worse when you say it out loud!

"I have it… because… he gave it to me…"

Temari's eyebrows nearly jumped off her forehead. "Gaara… gave you his night robe?"

"Well – Sort of…"

"And you've been… sleeping with it?" Her hands suddenly dropped the cloth as though she was touching something unclean.

"No!"

Just the one time…

Sakura let out a frustrated groan. "I hid it under the pillow because I didn't want you to see it. Before I had it folded over there!"

Temari snorted. "The pillow is a pretty dumb place to hide something."

YEAH, I know that NOW, OKAY?!

This time Sakura did snatch the robe, but she rolled it brusquely into a bundle and tossed it back to the desk where it had originally rested.

"Sakura…"

The woman in question turned around and crossed her arms indignantly. Yes, her hiding spot had been poorly executed, but she still felt like Temari had invaded her privacy. Temari stayed seated on the bed, cross-legged and relaxed. "Whatever is going on with you and Gaara, I promise it's okay. You don't have to hide anything, especially from me."

"I'm not hiding anything!"

"Except apparently his robe?"

Touché, Temari.

The pink-haired kunoichi sighed and hugged herself, a sign Temari was coming to realize was Sakura's way of showing discomfort and insecurity. "There's nothing going on between Gaara and I," Sakura said quietly. "There never was. It was all false."

"False?" Temari asked, "What do you mean, false?"

Sakura shot an impatient look at her friend. She knew Temari had played a role in instigating this whole situation, but until now she had given her the benefit of the doubt. Now it felt like she was purposely avoiding blame in a situation that she knew she was a part of. "You were the one that convinced me to get involved with him! You told me to give him a kissing lesson, all so he could impress some other woman he's interested in. And then I got tangled up in it because I have this sick obsession with liking men that are absolutely the worst possible choices for my life."

Temari listened quietly. Sakura continued, "And then the moment I think he and I have actually made some kind of connection, it gets absolutely ruined because I can't keep damn control of myself. I'm not here in Suna for him. I'm here for my mission. And I was letting myself become distracted from doing my job. When you guys asked me to give him a lesson, I should've never even considered the idea in the first place, but I was drunk and… and he was," she shot a shy look at Temari, knowing she didn't want to talk about Gaara's intoxicating sexual presence in front of his sister. "Y-you know..." she finished lamely.

"Anyways, everything I thought was progress was all false. He just used me for his own purposes, and I let it happen. I even let it get out of hand, but now he won't even show enough respect to look me in the eye. He hasn't spoken to me since the council meeting, and you know what? I am perfectly. Fine. With. That."

Sakura finished her rant with a big huff and plopped on the bed again. Temari looked at her quizzically, genuinely concerned about some of the things Sakura had said. "What do you mean he used you?" she asked.

"Because if he has interest in someone, then he should have the balls to just go romance her himself. I'm not here to be his teacher, I'm here to train the medical unit and then leave this freaking place!"

Temari winced at the last bit, and Sakura felt guilty saying it after they had shared such a sweet moment confessing that they would each miss the other. "I'm sorry," Sakura said quickly. "I didn't mean that… I don't want to leave you, obviously…" Sakura groaned and turned away, embarrassed and frustrated. Way to go, Sakura. Gah – you're such an ass!

"I know you didn't mean it," Temari said quietly, "But I want to ask you something. Sakura…do you… care about Gaara?"

Sakura turned and gazed at Temari. Her usual bold, and bubbly persona was replaced by a look of concern and anxiety. Worry lines were etched into the space between her eyebrows. "Care about him…?" Sakura echoed. "I… I barely know him."

"But you said that you… you have a habit of liking men that are bad for you." Temari's gaze fluttered away, avoiding direct eye contact. "Do you believe Gaara is… too dangerous to be with, or something?" She squeezed her arms. "I know what he was like in the past. I know what we all thought of him, me included, but… But he's really not that person anymore. He actually has a really tender side to him, he's just not good at expressing things I think because… because…" her shoulders started to quiver, "We used to be so terrible to him when we were young. And he didn't deserve it. But now we're really trying to be better, you know? And you should know that he really has changed. He would never hurt you, not intentionally..."

Sakura immediately felt she had severely hurt her friend's feelings. "What? No, I didn't mean to say… what I meant is that… Argh!" She slapped her hand to her forehead. "I'm not worried about Gaara hurting me! I just mean that I always somehow become attached to men that don't have interest in me. I think Gaara is a great Kazekage, and a kind person, too. I saw how he interacted with the villagers when he cleared out the training fields, and I saw how much respect he has from the elder council. He's been a great leader for Suna, and I can tell everyone really likes him a lot. I like Gaara, too, really…"

She gulped, heart thudding in her chest. "I…Erm… I… really like him…"

Well now you've gone and done it, Haruno! Are you stupid?

Sakura looked down shyly. God, why had she just confessed this to Temari? She'd been actively trying to hate Gaara for the last week. It was easier to ignore him if she convinced herself they were enemies. But somehow saying it out loud made her feel like a weight had been lifted from her chest. She risked a look back at Temari who was smiling so big her pigtails seemed to have poofed as though by static electricity. "So, you do care about it him!"

Sakura blushed. "I mean… yes. I guess so. But it's all in the past now… It was a misunderstanding, so it's over now."

Temari cocked an eyebrow as if to say, "Oh, really?" and she clicked her head in the direction of the crumpled robe on the desk. Sakura huffed and her cheeks flushed even hotter.

"Listen, Sakura, I'm going to tell you something, and I want you know this is important." Temari took a breath. "I care about my brother. Kankuro and I both do. We've shared our sins in the past, but ever since… you know, when Gaara came back to life… we've been trying to be really good siblings. We want him to feel like he is loved by us, but we also want to help him learn to love the world around him too. He spent so many years in darkness… We're trying to help him see light around him."

"Ever since you came here, he's acted differently. It's only been a few weeks, but Sakura – he's different. Maybe you can't tell because you don't know him as well as we do. Maybe you think this is just generally how he is but it's not. When you're in the room he sits up taller. When we talk about you, he suddenly wants to talk with us about you. When you talk to him, he actually looks at you." Temari grabbed Sakura's hands and held them tight. "I know that sounds stupid, but it's true. When other people talk to Gaara, he tends to look through them, because his mind is constantly calculating. But when he looks at you, I can tell he's really seeing you. If you make the slightest move, his eyes follow. The energy in the room changes, even when you two were going at each other. Let me tell you I felt like the third wheel watching you go back and forth the other day."

Sakura furrowed her brow in confusion. "Why… why are you telling me all of this?" she asked. "You're acting like all of these things mean something that I'm not getting. If you really think he's 'seeing' me, then why hasn't he looked at me once in a whole week? He doesn't seem to be at all preoccupied with me – like I'm just a thorn in his side. And why did you guys talk me into thinking he would want a kissing lesson from me if he were interested in someone else?"

"Someone else? All we said he was interested in someone."

"Right, so if you seem to think all of these reactions are somehow connected to me, then who is he interested in?

Temari took a manicured nailed and suddenly flicked Sakura squarely in her slightly too-big forehead.

"Who do you think, dummy?"

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Respectfully,

Olly