CHAPTER EIGHT
Sakura frantically searched for a means of escape but Gaara stood at the entrance of the kitchen so she just squeamishly stood there whilst Gaara's unwavering gaze pierced through her, she tried her best to meet his gaze but at last she resigned to staring at the walls and occasionally the floor , she was beginning to think he was doing this intentionally to make her uncomfortable. Kankuro cleared his throat beside her a sly smirk playing on his lips as he went to pull a scowling Gaara in.
"Welcome brother, we were just talking about what a gentleman you are" he led Gaara to the dining table "you hungry?" he added, but didn't wait for an answer already dishing the food while Gaara nodded his head in reply.
Sakura smiled at Gaara's cute nod, he was like a cute baby …ughh now was not the time to be thinking about that.
"Hello! Earth to Sakura" Kankuro was waving for her to come sit with them"
"I-I'm sorry I just realized there is something I need to uhmm check!" and she was out the door before Kankuro could say the first two letters of her name. It was clear Kankuro's intentions was to tease them non-stop, she had to escape.
"Damn she's fast" Kankuro muttered out loud.
Gaara continued eating his food in silence that is until Kankuro started nagging him about what happened between him and Sakura.
"You know I saw you right"
"Saw me doing what " Gaara sighed, his brother was insufferable
"Throwing death stares at any dude she danced with!? C'mon, It's obvious you"re attracted to her dude!"
Gaara paused eating to glare at Kankuro.
"Your eyes will fall off with all that glaring" Kankuro shrugged
"Can I eat in peace?"
"Sakura is a nice girl Gaara... don't hurt her" The seriousness in Kankuro's voice making Gaara raise his head to meet his brother's eyes.
"And what makes you think I will"
"Maybe because you've suddenly turned into a raging womanizer" he responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world .Since after the war his brother who didn't care about engaging in women or anything of the sort, suddenly changed. The boost in fan-girls after the war didn't help either.
"Okay" Gaara responded simply as he finished his food and stood up to leave.
"Okay?" what did that even mean, Kankuro wondered
"I'll think about it" he elaborated coldly with a look over his shoulder leaving Kankuro with a stupefied expression on his face. He would tell Kankuro the food had been delicious if he wasn't a bit miffed.
Why did his brother think he could tell him what do with any woman he wanted.
"Annoying" he muttered out loud to himself loud enough for Kankuro to hear.
Kankuro didn't know what scared him the most the fact that Gaara didn't deny the accusation of being a womanizer or the fact that he didn't deny being attracted to Sakura…he just prayed for Sakura's sake that it was genuine this time unlike the ones before.
Sakura was sick of staying in her room, she had been hiding out in her room for hours after the encounter downstairs, she needed a distraction so she had tried reading some scrolls, painstakingly rearranging her medical kit, writing down some notes for her next class, but all she could think about when she was alone was Gaara and how she had totally embarrassed herself and how she wanted to kiss him . Wait what? .This is exactly why she needs a distraction.
Temari was still not back and no-one seemed to be worried because apparently this was a normal occurrence, not wanting to go downstairs and take a chance of seeing Gaara , she decided to take a walk upstairs , she never did get the opportunity to tour the building , she took a walk past her room , passing by Gaara's room she took a left turn and kept walking, there were about three more rooms after Gaara's but her eyes were focused on the room with the large door diagonal to her , she wondered how she never thought to check it out , the door was easily different from the ones in the other rooms ,strolling briskly, she took a few steps before stopping right in front the huge double door , she wondered what could be behind the room, she felt like she was discovering a hidden secret , maybe Gaara was hiding something here , she never saw anyone go in there but then again she didn't notice it till today. It had to be special, she thought, smiling she pushed open both doors with vigor, but then her excitement waned at the revelation
"Oh…it's a library" she muttered to herself
She had nothing against libraries, quite the opposite but she had been expecting something more exciting, well that explains why nobody ever went in, and the thought of Kankuro picking up a book was comical and Temari didn't seem like the reading type.
"Might as well check it out", she thought to herself as she strolled in. She was going to check out the medical section first of-course, although she doubted there was a book she hadn't read, she trailed her fingers over the spines of the books as she strolled in between shelves, the lack of dust was surprising, her eyes scanned other aspects of the room as well, for a place with no visitors it was pretty neat, she observed.
She bent to pick a book on the lower level of the shelve before something caught her eyes , she could make out a study table at the far end through the small space the shelve provided ,there were some books on the table as well, 'so someone had been here recently after all' she thought as she trudged to the table to see that there was a chair as well.
She picked up one of the books from the stack on the table to see what it was about , it was about sleep "The mechanisms of sleep" the front cover said ,she dropped it to pick up the second book and it was about sleep as well ,so was the second and the third.
Okay so someone clearly had a problem with sleeping she was about to pick up the next book but then she was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat, she jumped and turned wildly to find Gaara staring at her , she hadn't noticed him come in, how long had he been watching…
"I see you found the library" he paused- eyes landing on the book she was holding
She was still trying to recover from the shock when she noticed where his eyes were, she quickly dropped the book looking very much like a kid that had been caught doing something wrong.
"I-uhmm yes" … "I'm sorry for snooping", she added sheepishly.
"It's fine…I should have put them back after reading" he muttered before walking towards the table to gather the books
"let me help" she reached to gather some of the books, they both reached for the same book and their fingers brushed, Sakura quickly retracted her hands, she focused on gathering the other books, ignoring the electricity she felt at the contact, only the light blush on her face gave her up. Gaara felt it too, he had never felt that before and he wasn't ashamed to say it wasn't necessarily a bad feeling.
They were currently arranging the books on the shelf before Sakura decided to break the silence, it had been eating at her to ask and as a medic she couldn't help but be concerned
"Are you having problems with sleep?"
"Damn! Where is the tact?"
Shut it inner
Okay maybe she could have asked with a bit more sensitivity.
"It's just …I couldn't help but notice most of the books were about sleep" she added quickly
"ahh" he muttered sagely as he forced the last book into the shelf
Sakura rolled her eyes of-course he wasn't going to reply and use mono-syllables like Sasuke, looking away to force the last book into the shelf as well.
"I've always had sleeping issues… since childhood"
She swallowed her surprise at his reply, okay so maybe he wasn't entirely like Sasuke
"But I thought that after the war the insomnia ….you and uhmm shukaku are in good terms now right?" she replied
Sakura had heard from Naruto that Gaara could never sleep due to the fear of the tailed beast taking control and wrecking carnage, but that was a long time ago, Naruto had made peace with Kurama and so had Gaara with Shukaku . Both tailed beasts even helped them greatly during the war.
"We are, but for some reason I still can't sleep"
Explains why he was reading all those books , Sakura was deep in thought and as a result she was oblivious to Gaara watching her intrigued ,her brows were etched in worry as she nibbled at her lips, was she concerned for him?, he'd be flattered if she was.
Suddenly she snapped her fingers in discovery, the sudden noise surprising Gaara
"I may have a theory about what the problem is" she had gone through every possible cause, effect, symptom, scenario in her head and finally came to a conclusion. He studied her as she began to explain something about Ptsd and other things that could cause it, he had heard briefly about it, but that was it, he wasn't really listening to her educative ramblings about this ptsd, he was content just watching her talk, the way her eyes lit, his eyes followed her delicate fingers as they softly tucked some strands of stray hair to the nest behind her ears. There was definitely something about her that seemed to pull him so and while it was frustrating, it was also refreshing to feel like that, perhaps it would end if he tasted her just once…
"-But of-course we can only know for sure with a full head scan" she looked at him for a reply but Gaara was too deep in his licentious thoughts to realize she was trying to seek his approval.
"Gaara?"-
Her voice brought him out of his reverie
"I can help-I want to help!" - "But only if you want me to, of course that's your decision to make, I'm sorry if I seem im-"
He cut her off before she could complete the word imposing- "I'd be glad if you helped…Sakura"
The way he said her name made her warm inside but most of all she was filled with relief and it showed in her smile that reached the eyes, she was glad she could help Gaara, for medical reasons only of-course, it definitely had nothing to do about her attraction to him or whatever.
She couldn't imagine not being able to sleep for so long, no one should be denied sleep. It was the one time when you could forget your problems and your heavy thoughts with a simple eye shut, unless you meet them in your dreams that is and to think he had never had a sleep dream before… she shook her head and got to business.
"I would like to ask some questions"
Gaara nodded for her to go ahead
"Have you tried any sleeping medication, tea, herbs?"
"Everything you can think of"
"I'd like a list"
Gaara was marveled, it was like she had flipped on the professional switch, he was just the patient and she was the doctor.
"I'm sure you wouldn't mind a little doctor –patient role play"
Shut- up, Shukaku. He seethed as he tried to will the sexual thoughts from his head and failing repeatedly.
She stared at him in expectation and he stared back.
"What? You mean now?"
She cocked her brows at him as if to say duhhh. He almost smiled.Cute.
"I don't have my pen and notepad here with me, let's head to my room?"
"Okay" she responded absentmindedly still brainstorming on remedies to help Gaara.
She followed him subconsciously and it wasn't till she heard the sound of a door being shut behind her jolting her out of her thinking that she looked around and realized she was in Gaara's room alone with him. Just then it hit her that she was supposed to be embarrassed around him after what she had pulled at the club, she was panicking internally. Okay- stay calm, she told herself, he was just going to write the list and she'd be gone with quickness, meanwhile Gaara seemed to not care at all.
"You can sit on the couch" he offered walking over to his study table, his notepad was already on it so he just opened to a new page and started writing.
'Thank you" she walked over to the couch and sat down stiffly, it was weird enough that she was in his room, now she was seated on his couch like they were life-time buddies or something.
After she had succeeded in calming herself she took a chance to observe the room she was in .It was very spacious, there was no splash of colour to be seen, everything was neutral, much like the desert, much like him, her eyes trailed over to where he was seated, scribbling away, he must have tried a lot of remedies cause that list looked really long, she felt sad for him. Her eyes trailed over to the king sized bed and for some reason she had been expecting it to look like it hadn't been slept in for years but it seemed recently slept in.
"I like to sleep in it, hoping that one day sleep would come…it never does of course" he trailed off sullenly eyes on the king sized bed as if he had read her thoughts.
"I'm sorry" she didn't know what else to say
He shook his head "don't be"-
"Gaara…" she couldn't hold it anymore she had to apologize for her behavior last night and at least thank him for his help no matter how embarrassed she was. Gaara was watching her now…waiting
"About last night…I-I remember and I'm sorry" watching her feet on the floor never seemed more interesting, anything to not stare into those icy jade eyes
"I know" he replied taking Sakura by surprise
'That I remember or that I'm sorry"
"Both- but especially that you could remember" he smirked
She huffed at that, just as she was about the give a fitting retort-
'So"- he stalked closer "Do remember all that happened?"
He was staring right into her eyes, searching…. She had to lie, she'd make it as believable as possible even if her poker face sucked so she looked right into his eyes as well as she replied –
"Not all of-course, I mean I know I did some embarrassing things, but not the details" she gave a sorry smile. 'that was pretty believable' she thought to herself
"Ahh ….i see" he replied after a bout of silence.
Sakura let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding in relief.
But then his lips spread in sardonic smile that said "I don't believe you".
"Are you done with the list?" Sakura asked wanting to move on to a less embarrassing topic quickly
"Yes- " he handed it to her an imperceptible smile still playing on his lips.
She went over the list, meticulously scanning through every ingredient every herb, well Gaara didn't lie when he said he tried everything, well…almost everything she noted something missing in the list, something he hadn't tried yet, which means there was still hope. She smiled then at the discovery. Gaara who had been watching her the whole time wondered what made her suddenly happy.
"Can you sit on the bed for me?"
Gaara cocked his eyebrow in question
"I need a head scan" she said it like it was nothing most of the medic nins now needed the newly developed CT scanner to perform a head scan but experts like Tsunade and Sakura could used chakra for basically anything ,it was very skillful work that required delicate control of chakra and used up a lot of chakra as well . But then again she was the best medic in all the villages now, this was nothing for her.
"Right now?"
"Yes! Right now –I believe I mentioned it previously" she had her arms folded and her hips cocked to the side. "Sit" her eyes gestured to the bed.
Now Gaara didn't take commands from anyone, he couldn't remember the last time someone talked to him in that manner and he was a bit miffed by her tone, but something about the way she said it riled up something feral in him, something that made him want to drag her to his bed and make her scream his name repeatedly. He definitely needed to do something about this woman, before she made him go crazy- he thought as he sat down on the bed.
He took in her feminine scent as she stood in front of him, she smelled sweet, strawberry sweet with a mix of jasmine, he never stayed to cuddle with any of the women he slept with, had never even considered it, just the thought of it irritated him, but he was almost certain that with Sakura, maybe if she asked him to, he'd absolutely stay to cuddle and bask in her scent . He widened his eyes as soon as the thought crossed his mind.
"She definitely bewitched you"
shut up, shukaku…again
Just then Sakura started speaking "The scan may make you drowsy" - she moved to stand between his legs "and this might be uncomfortable" she continued
The worried expression on Gaara's normally impassive face almost made her chuckle "Don't be alarmed it's just my chakra" she smiled as she pressed her hands to his head, normally Gaara won't let anyone go near his head or body … he never got a scan, he didn't trust any of the medic nins and the thought of their chakra in him was revolting but with Sakura it was different, he almost trusted her like he trusted Naruto.
The moment Sakura started imbedding his head with chakra his eyes closed on reflex .
He had never felt anything as soothing as Sakura's chakra, on the few times he needed to get healed by a medic their chakra always felt invasive and it made his skin crawl but Sakura's chakra was different it was like smooth quiet waves and he just wanted to –sleep? ,he wasn't sure .What was she saying about uncomfortable … this was the best feeling , he heard his name being called , his eyes fluttered open to find a worried Sakura above him, he seemed to be lying on his bed …was this a dream...
"Gaara can you hear me"her smooth voice called out to him, he blinked once and smiled then, it wasn't enough that she invaded his thoughts in real life, he couldn't seem to escape her in his dreams as well…
His hand reached to cup her cheeks, pulling her down till they were face to face and her long hair fell like waves by the sides of his face.
Meanwhile, the girl above him could not fathom what was happening right now, one minute she was standing, the next thing he was being pulled down the bed and landed on top of Gaara , he seemed to be asleep so she had put her legs on both sides of his and decided continue the scan regardless.
The feel of Gaara's body under her was extremely distracting, but this position as compromising as it was, worked better for her and she was so close to discovering something big to care, so she closed her eyes and concentrated on her task, his pineal gland seemed to be almost blocked by something she couldn't identify, making his melatonin levels extremely low, she noted , this means that if she could remove what was obstructing his pineal gland , it'll be able to produce the right amount of melatonin and Gaara would be able to sleep!
Sakura inhaled deeply as she retracted her hands from Gaara's head, she wiped sweat from her brow, it had taken a couple of hours and drained a lot of her chakra making her tired but it was finally over and she was sure everything would be okay now, that was when she noticed Gaara still had his eyes closed , she called out to him and his eyes fluttered open and he was suddenly smiling , a lopsided smile that made her weak in the knees, she was suddenly aware of their precarious position , if someone were to walk in , what would they think , she was straddling Gaara the Kazekage , what the fuck had she been thinking , she moved to get off , but Gaara's eyes fluttered open, stopping her ,omg , this was embarrassing , now he would think she took advantage and jumped him when he was unconscious .
"Gaara can you hear me?" he wasn't saying anything though , just staring at her with glazed eyes and lips that held an imperceptible smile, she had wanted to ask if he was okay and suddenly Gaara was cupping her face and pulling her down .
Her head was going on over-drive , she didn't know what to do , was this a side effect , had she by chance made him crazy, his darkened jade eyes bored into her own emerald eyes and she couldn't look away, the desire she saw behind his eyes was unmistakable, she was sure of it and she silently prayed her eyes didn't mirror his. He leaned forward "you smell really good" he whispered into her ears making her shiver , he seemed to notice because she felt him smile against her skin , her heart was beating so fast and she was blushing furiously ….
'Do I affect you as much as you affect me?" he whispered hotly as he moved to keep staring into her eyes his thumb brushing her cheek , she didn't reply , she couldn't think –
"There is only one way to find out" he whispered as his eyes fell from her eyes to her lips and then back to her eyes.
His eyes were fixed intensely on her face as if studying her as his hand moved from where it was cupping her face to the bury itself in her silky locks at the base of her neck . Her eyes widened in realization "Gaara wai—"
He pulled her down swiftly, swallowing any protest she had on her lips with his.
A/N: probably the longest chapter yet, also this is fanfiction so don't expect any extremely accurate medical stuff lol. Also if you"re confused about something do let me know.
