Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

Thanks to Sakura Kage for that wonderful idea! And here is it! Wahahaha!

"What!" Gaara shouted out as he took a step back.

"You heard what I said…And besides, they need you." Tsunade looked up from the scroll she just read out to Gaara.

"I don't care if they freaking need me! They threw me in this village in the first place! Why the hell should I go back!" he huffed out as he was very much out of breath.

"It is my duty as Hokage to send aid, and since you are part if Konoha and Suna, then you'll have to go. But don't worry, you can take Sakura with you too." She smirked at him.

"Wha? What's S-Sakura got anything to do with this?" he stumbled on his words as his face reddened just a teeny bit.

"Everything Gaara-Kun…absolutely everything…" she smirked evilly at him.

'Now, I know what Naruto feels when he's been given a mission by Tsunade…Old Hag…' he thought to himself, visibly twitching just a bit.

"And here she comes!" she smiled at him, and just as she said it, the door flung open with Sakura on the other side.

"Hey!" she smiled at them.

"Hello Sakura-Chan." She smiled back.

"Hey Gaara-Kun! What are you doing here?" she walked up next to him.

"I was uh…" he began only to be cut off by Tsunade.

"He was about to accept a mission back to Suna to help his poor defenseless little country…" she pouted her lips adding effect to what she said.

"Really? Can I go too? I wanna go to Suna! I've never been there before! Is it nice Gaara? O f course it's nice since you came from there! Hahahaha!" she laughed at herself as Gaara's eye twitched.

'She's overly excited about this…' he slouched.

"So what do you say Gaara-Kun?" Tsunade placed her chin on her hand smiling just a little devilishly at him.

"I…" he was about to decline but Sakura said otherwise.

"Oh please, please, please Gaara-Kun! You have to take me there! Pretty Please…" she pouted her lips and clasped both her hands in front of her with an almost teary-eyed face.

"I…accept…" he groaned inwardly.

"Great! Here's your scroll and you can take Neji, Sasuke and Haru with you too! The Mizukage has already consulted to me giving Haru this mission since we're allies and all." She smiled at them as she handed the scroll over to Gaara which Sakura happily took for him.

"Yay! We've got another mission together isn't that great Gaara-Kun." She smiled cheerfully at him. He didn't feel all that good about going to back to Suna but seeing her excited about it, he didn't want her to be upset. So he decided to accept the mission, for the sake of making her happy.

"Come on! Let's go tell the others about this!" she dragged him out of the door as Tsunade smiled at them.

"A what?" the raven haired boy spoke.

"A mission! Isn't it great? We're gonna be fighting together again! Yes!" she punched the air. Neji smirked at her while leaning on a nearby wall and Haru smiled at her.

"When will we be leaving…?" Neji asked as he turned to face her.

"I don't know!" she laughed nervously at herself as she scratched the back of her head. Sasuke sweat-dropped.

"We'll leave as soon as we're ready to go…" Gaara spoke in a very depressed manner.

"Mou…Gaara-Kun, you don't sound happy to go back home…think of it as…going over to visit your siblings!" she smiled at him.

"…Ok…" he sighed in defeat.

"Right then! I'm going to pack! Come on Haru!" she yanked him out of the chair he was previously sitting on and dashed straight on home.

"See you guys later!" she yelled out dragging behind a staggering Haru.

"Hey guys!" she shouted out as she ran up to Neji, Gaara and Sasuke who were already at the gates.

She and Haru reached the gateway but they never received a greeting.

"Don't tell me I'm late again am I?" she looked at them.

They were involved in a staring competition…More like glaring actually…Gaara's arms were crossed, Sasuke's hands were in his pockets and Neji was standing firmly on the ground.

"Uh…Guys?" she sweat-dropped.

"Why don't we go over the checklist while they're busy with each other?" Haru spoke up from behind Sakura.

"…" Gaara and Neji did a sweat-dropped but Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Passports?" Haru looked through his bag while Sakura did the same.

"Check!"

"Weapons?" he said as he checked for his holster bag on his thigh and pouch.

"Check!"

"Provisions for the trip? Mainly water." he took out his bottle and Sakura did the same.

"Check!"

"How about the coats to protect us from the sandstorms and such?" he took out his coat as well as Sakura.

"I got mine!" she smiled at him.

"Great! Then we're ready. What about you guys?" he looked over at them.

They weren't glaring at each other anymore, but Neji and Sasuke looked through their packs.

"I forgot my coat…" Sasuke looked up and walked to his house.

"I forgot it too…" Neji walked the opposite direction of Sasuke.

"…I don't need a coat…" Gaara simply stated.

"Ok. We'll wait right here for them then!" she smiled as she sat on the floor, awaiting the return of Neji and Sasuke. And as soon as they came into view Sakura chose this moment to shout out, "YOU'RE LATE!"

"Let's go…" Gaara began to walk into the direction of his home village with Sakura, Haru, Neji and Sasuke following closely behind.

"Oh my gosh! It's sooo hot! I must have lost like 5 kg's in this desert!" Sakura waved her hand in front of her face.

"I wish I brought a fan with me! And this coat is making me feel hotter!" she sighed.

Even though they said nothing as they drank, Neji, Haru and Sasuke agreed with her. Gaara wasn't concerned with the heat, in fact he was better off than the others.

"I'm sweating buckets here and you're acting as if it's nothing!" she shouted out at Gaara, pouting her lips at him.

"It is nothing…" he turned and smirked at her who glared back at him.

"We're nearly there…don't worry." Gaara continued to move forward as the scorching sun's rays hammered down on them.

"I didn't say I was worried…" she pouted her lips at him again.

'Sure you didn't…' he thought sarcastically to himself.

As they neared the Hidden Village of Suna, they could see the faint outlines of the village swaying in the distance due to the sweltering heat. They didn't encounter any sandstorms or hostile ninjas along the way so it was a pretty easy but hot trip.

"We've finally made it!" Sakura shouted out as she ran under some shade.

"Ah…This feels so good…" she sighed and the other guys joined her not including Gaara.

"I'll report to Kazekage-Sama while you guys go find the apartment or whatever…" he started to walk off but Sakura held him back.

"But why can't we stay with your siblings? I'm sure they wouldn't mind much." She spoke as he stared at her.

"No…"

"But Gaara!" she flung him arm down with a bit of force.

"I said no…" he started to walk off again but somebody held him back again. This time it wasn't Sakura.

"Gaara?" the blonde girl looked at him in disbelief.

"…" he looked away from her.

"It is you. Haven't seen you in a while now have I?" she smiled nervously at him.

'Still afraid of me I see…nothing ever changes…Why did I bother to come?' he sighed at her.

The girl let go of Gaara's hand and turned to face the other girl, this time with a stern look on her face.

"What are you doing here? And who are you?" she asked staring at each of them with a scornful look.

'She looks familiar…' Sakura thought to herself.

"We're here to assist Gaara in helping the village…" Sakura replied while returning the other girl's disrespectful look.

"We asked for Gaara, not you weaklings…especially you…" she sneered at Sakura.

'Ah…the girl from the chounin exams…that's right…' Sakura thought as she sneered back at her.

"You're trip here was for nothing, you might as well go back, we never asked for your-" she was cut off by Gaara.

"Temari…shut up…" he walked off to the office.

"G-Gaara!" she ran off to join him.

"I change my mind…Let's go find an apartment. The sooner we finish this mission, the sooner we can get the hell out of this heat." She stomped off looking around for a place to stay.

"Gaara! We just asked for you to come back! Why are these people here? Doesn't Hokage trust you to come alone or whatever?" she shouted half-heartedly at him. He stopped walking.

"I asked them to come with me…I didn't want to stay in this village with people like you." He turned and sneered at her. It made her cower a bit.

"I didn't want to come, but it was my duty as a ninja to accept any missions given to me by the Hokage or Kazekage…Understood? Now leave me alone…I don't want to see you or Kankurou's face." He spun around and walked off leaving behind a shocked and horrified blonde.

"It's nice to have our trump card back here, ever since you left, we've had some trouble with Sound and other enemy villagers, but since you've returned we can relax a little bit and scare off some people!" he joked nervously with Gaara but he just stared back at him.

The former Kazekage (Gaara's father) was replaced with another suitable shinobi of the sand. Although, he isn't exactly like the previous Kazekage, he still did a fairly good job.

"Right…Um…you may go now." He laughed nervously as he scratched his head.

"Yes Kazekage…" he bowed stiffly and left the room.

As he walked down the corridor, he passed by a few people of the village.

"Oh my god…what is he doing back here?" one of them whispered to the other.

"I don't know but I hope he leaves soon…" the other replied back.

As he turned down to another corridor, he passed by another group of people from the village.

"What the…I heard rumors about him being back but I never thought it was true…" a tall one whispered to his friend.

"Yea…I know we had some trouble with the Sound…but Kazekage-Sama didn't have to bring him back here…" his friend whispered back.

Gaara felt annoyed with the hush whispers. They think he wouldn't be able to hear them, but they were dead wrong…literally and figuratively. Letting out an intimidating smirk, he left the bloody hall behind for someone to clean up.

As he walked out from the shade and into the sun, he heard more hushed whispers but decided to ignore them for the sake of not letting Shukaku go on a rampage and maybe end up hurting Sakura instead. He couldn't let that happen, he couldn't let Shukaku get the better of him, he didn't want it to hurt Sakura. Especially Sakura.

Getting fed up with the unwanted attention, he summoned up his sand to take him to where the others were.

"Hi Gaara! How did it go? I made you something to eat! Sit down over here!" she sat him down on the chair of their rented complex and he stared into his bowl of noodles thoughtfully.

"It's not ramen don't worry! But it's chicken, since you didn't object to chicken last time at Ichiraku so I thought that it'll be ok." She smiled at him, making his troubles go away.

"Thank you…" he picked up the chopsticks she gave to him and said, "Itadakimasu…"

At the far end of the room, there stood a watchful Neji with arms crossed and a brooding look. Sasuke who was leaning on the window sill watched them from the corner of his eye. And Haru sat on the couch and silently observed their behavior with an unknown emotion written all over his face.

Tension was rising, but it wasn't because of the upcoming war with Sound and Sand…It was an emotional war with four boys and a girl whose attention they most desperately want but can't have.

Sharing was totally out of the question.

What a great way to end the chapter! WAHAHAHA! Again, thanks to Sakura Kage for this idea and I'll be working on it! Till next chapter!