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

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

Believe me when I say I DIDN'T CUT OUT GAARA! But! He will he out for a chapter or two but he WILL be back! I SWEAR!

I hope Hao'sAnjul won't kill me when I'm finish...because I have more fics to write! FORGIVE ME! runs away

Please don't hate me Queen Cow and Steak…you're like one of the first reviewers I've ever had…DON'T LEAVE ME!

And thanks to Sakura Kage for giving me a heads up on how many reviews I have…102! YEA BABY!

"Thank you for your services, they are very much appreciated. Please thank Hokage-Sama as well." the leader of the village spoke as he bowed down to them.

"It's alright Kazekage-Sama, it's our job to help our allies." The white eyed boy nodded his head in reply.

"Hey, hey. Do I get paid too?" Haru spoke but Sakura punched him on the head.

"Mind your manners! You were much different in Mist! Sorry Kazekage-Sama." She bowed as Haru sat on the floor rubbing gingerly on his head.

"That really hurts Sakura!" he winced as she glared down at him.

"Fine, I'll shut up then…" he pouted his lips and got back up but still rubbing his head.

'That freaking hurts…' Haru thought to himself.

'He reminds me of Naruto…' Sasuke thought as he sweat-dropped. 'What a dope…'

"Well be on our way then, Kazekage-Sama, please inform us if you need any assistance." Neji bowed and left the room, followed by Sasuke, Haru then Sakura. As they moved along the corridor, Sasuke and Neji couldn't help but notice the closeness of Sakura and Haru. Almost as if they were brothers or sisters, or worse, as if they were together. Sasuke couldn't help but stare at them from the corner of his eye, no noticing how Neji was doing the same thing as him.

"You seriously didn't have to punch me! I must've lost a few brain cells! Can't you take a joke!" Haru laughed at Sakura and she punched him playfully on his shoulder.

"Hey! Why didn't you punch me softly instead!"

"It's a habit." She laughed at him again as they walked into the streets of Suna.

"We'll be leaving for Konoha in an hour, the weather here is getting hotter and I'm sure you wouldn't want that, now do you Sakura." Neji looked over to Sakura as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

"Yea, the sooner we move, the sooner we can get back to Konoha." She smiled as she moved into her room to pack up her things.

"We'll leave in an hour." She heard Neji shout out.

"I won't be late this time because I'm leaving with you guys!" Neji smirked.

The journey in the desert was the same as before, it was hot and barren. A lot more hostile than Sakura could remember from the first time they crossed it. There were no ambushes during their journey across the desert but as soon as they had set foot in Konoha territory, they were attacked by exiled-nins and intruders of Konoha. They even managed to kill a few Sound spies as well, which was pretty good for them.

"I better add that in the report…" Neji spoke as he de-activated his Byakugan.

"Yeah! One or two more days and we'll be back in Konoha! I can't wait!" she smiled and laughed but Haru knew what was wrong. Her behavior was abnormal, especially since Gaara left. Sure she was being cheerful, but it was against what she really wanted. She was depressed but kept up a mask to hide her feelings. Haru analyzed her as she continued to smile and clap for Sasuke and Neji's efforts for disposing the enemies of both Konoha and Suna.

"You guys were great! I should train more! I only managed one this time!" she smiled at them and turned to Haru.

"Hey! Stop checking me out! I know I'm beautiful but you're freaking me out!" she laughed and pointed at him and he followed suit. Neji and Sasuke sweat-dropped.

"Come on, don't flatter yourself." He smiled at her.

"You, shut up!" she punched him playfully on his arm.

"Let's go then." Neji gestured for them to continue on their way back home. As they walked, Neji was always in the front and Sasuke second. Sakura would either be last or second to last depending on her mood. As soon as everything quieted down however, she fell to the back of the line, further away than she was before.

"Hey Sakura, you're falling behind!" Haru called out to her.

"Sorry!" she ran up to him.

"Is something wrong?" he whispered to her.

"Not really…" she looked down at the floor.

"You wanna talk about it? I wouldn't mind, it's good to let it out every once in a while." He furrowed his eyebrows in concern for the pink haired shinobi.

"Maybe later on…" she smiled half-heartedly at him.

"Ok, I'll be there to remind you though." He smiled back at her.

"Thanks."

"We're back! I can't wait to go back home and take a nice long bath!" she stretched her limbs as she entered the gates of Konoha.

"We should inform Hokage-Sama about our returning but I'll write out the report." Neji spoke as he turned around to see all of their faces with scanning eyes.

"What about me? I'm not exactly part of Konoha." Haru pointed to himself.

"You can either come with us as well or you can go back to wherever you were staying before." Neji continued.

"Ok then. I'll be going on home!" he smiled as he marched off to Sakura's house.

"NO FAIR! HARU!" Sakura shouted out at him but he waved back and stuck out his tongue at her.

"Man…" she pouted and crossed her arms.

"Let's go." Sasuke spoke as he began to walk to the office.

"Hm? Where's Haru and Gaara?" the blonde with the pigtails spoke from behind her desk. At the mention of Gaara's name, Sakura's happiness depleted to sadness.

"Haru has gone to wherever he was staying and as for Gaara…he was assigned another mission by Kazekage-Sama." The white-eyed shinobi spoke to her.

"I see…when will he be back from that mission?" she scanned them, their appearance, their mood and the way they speak.

"In a month…more or less." Neji realized that she was analyzing them.

"In a month…no more than a month…he promised." Sakura whispered out.

"Ok, that will be all, I want a report in by two days. You're dismissed." She waved them off as they bowed in respect and left the building. Once they were outside, Sasuke bid them goodbye and left to his house and as well as Neji. Sakura's suppose to be silent walk home turned into a fairly loud one when Naruto and some others joined in.

"HEY SAKURA-CHAN! How was your mission? I bet you did great!" Naruto smiled at her.

"It was ok Naruto." She kept up her mask of happiness, it had become a habit when she was around people now.

"Sakura! I can't believe you had a mission with my Sasuke-Kun!" Ino pushed Naruto away and confronted the pink haired shinobi.

"INO! I WAS TALKING TO HER FIRST SO BUG OFF!" Naruto pushed Ino away and vice versa. It was a fight to get Sakura's attention but she managed to slip away when they were busy pushing and shoving.

"Sakura-Chan?" Naruto looked around in search of the girl.

"Sakura!" Ino frantically looked to the left and right of her but couldn't find the said girl.

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID! YOU SCARED HER AWAY WITH YOUR NOISINESS!" Ino began to shove him again.

"NO WAY! YOU SCARED HER AWAY WITH YOUR SCREAMING!" Naruto shoved back at her.

"WHY YOU LITTLE!" she made a move to strangle him but Naruto ran off and Ino chased after him.

"Eep!"

"Tadaima!" (A/N: means…I'm home!") she shouted out as she entered her house.

"Okaeri!" (A/N: means…Welcome back or Welcome home!) Haru stuck his head out of the kitchen.

"What are you doing in my kitchen?" she eyed him suspiciously.

"I'm cooking…duh." He made a stupid face before retreating back into the kitchen.

"I could've cooked for you." She walked over to where Haru was.

"Yea, but my cooking is better than yours." He smiled at her.

"As if!" she punched him hard on his shoulder but he didn't mind.

"Well, I'm gonna go take a shower." She walked off and up the stairs, picking up her bag along the way.

"We'll talk during dinner if you want!" he shouted out from his spot and he heard Sakura make a faint murmur of agreement.

She took her time walking up the stairs, her pace got slower as she got higher, as if her shoulders are being weighted by burdens she couldn't get rid of. Once she got to the top, she dragged herself to her room and fell on top of her bed. She felt dirty but she was emotionally and physically tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. As she slowly began to succumb to the darkness, someone called out her name.

"Sakura, I think you should go shower first, you'll feel better after it." Haru stood by the door.

"I'm too tired." Her eye lids were half open trying to stay awake for a little bit longer.

"Just take a short shower so you won't feel so dirty, then you can go to sleep. I know you'll regret it by the time you wake up." Haru took a seat beside her.

"I'm tired and I'm dirty, but I just wanna sleep." She closed her eyes once more as she listened to Haru's voice.

"Just take a very, very short shower ok? Please." He pulled her up to a sitting position.

"You're not gonna leave me alone are you?" she gazed at him through half opened eyes.

"Nope! Now get going!" he dragged her to the bathroom and pushed her inside.

"I won't peek! I promise!" he smiled and closed the door behind him.

'He's so annoyingly nice…' she smiled and turned on the shower.

"It's been ten minutes already…why do girls take such a long time to shower?" Haru sighed as he walked up the stairs. He peeked into her room and saw her lying on her bed, sleeping in only her towel. His eyes widened in a shocked way.

'OH MY GOD! SHE SHOULDN'T BE SLEEPING IN A TOWEL! SHE SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN THAT! WHAT AM I GONNA DO!' He thought to himself as he looked around the room panicking with both hands grabbing his hair.

'I don't wanna touch her when she's like that! It's…disgusting…' he spotted something by the door, it was a katana.

'Good enough…' he used the scabbard to poke her but it wasn't of adequate length.

'Damn, too short…' he sweat-dropped as he inched a little bit closer and poke her on her leg.

"Sa-Saku…Sakura…" he poked her once more and she mumbled something in her sleep.

"Sakura…" he poked her again, this time she responded with "Get lost."

"Sakura…" he jabbed her leg and she twitched, furrowing her eyebrows in anger and saying "Bug off." He didn't know how else to wake her up, so he thought of something fairly mean but it would work none the less.

"Sakura, wake up! I see Gaara!" he yelled out and she practically jumped out of bed and out the door, he sweat-dropped again.

'She fell for it, man. I'm gonna get a beating after this for lying.' He went after her, down the stairs to the front door.

"Hey…"

"Where's Gaara!" she looked out the front door with searching eyes.

"Um…"

"Where is he? Did I just miss him?"

"I think you should-"

"No! How could I have slept when he was here?"

"Sakura…"

"What! Did you see him? Which way did he go!" she reluctantly looked over to Haru.

"Firstly, get changed. Secondly, he wasn't here and thirdly, he's still doing his mission." He spoke as he pointed to his fingers. She looked down at her attire and blushed.

"Um…I'll be right back…" she ran up the stairs and slammed the door. She was out in five minutes.

"I guess you don't want to sleep anymore?" he looked at her while she proceeded down the stairs.

"No, you woke me up." She glared daggers at him.

"Ah, sorry about that." He smiled at her apologetically and went back to cooking dinner for the two of them. She stood by the door, watching his every movement.

"Why did you do that?" she looked up at him.

"Do what?" he continued to stir the porridge he was making.

"You lied…"

"I had to get you to wake up, sleeping in a towel isn't good for you." He chopped up some spring onions and sprinkled them into the pot.

"You didn't have to do that."

"I had no other choice, poking you didn't work. In fact, all I got from you were insults every time I did it." He smiled.

"That was mean, you know how much Gaara means to me."

"I know, but he wouldn't want to come back to a sick Sakura." He tasted a bit of it and winced as the hot food burned his tongue.

"AH, HOT! HOT, HOT, HOT!" he stuck his tongue out and waved his hand to cool it down.

"Stupid, drink some cold water." She went over to the cupboard and grabbed a cup, walking over to the sink and filled it up with water.

"Thanks." He took the cup from Sakura and drank it.

"So, do you wanna talk about it now?" he smiled as he looked at her.

"Talk about what." She stared at him with a mild confused look.

"Talk about the things that are on your mind, namely Gaara." He turned off the stove and gestured her to take a seat at the kitchen table.

"I miss him." She fiddled with her fingers.

"I know you do." He took a seat beside her.

"He left without saying goodbye or see you later." Tears were starting to form in her eyes, she blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. Haru stayed quiet as she spoke.

"I really miss him."

"I know you do." He placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"What can I do? I don't know what to do."

"It's ok, you'll eventually find out what to do when you can think clearer."

"I really miss him…" she sniffed and tilted her head to his shoulder.

"Shh…it's ok, you'll be fine." He whispered into her ear as he hugged her.

"Thank you…"

Ok, done…NEXT CHAPTER!