When they stopped outside Konoha village Gaara disappeared. Sakura sighed in annoyance. "Get back here!" she called. 'Coward.'
Gaara returned sullenly. Sakura smiled encouragingly at him, "Just don't kill or maim anyone and everyone will like you just fine." She said gaily.
"That's exactly what I'm not looking forward to." He muttered and followed her through the town to her apartment. She stopped outside to get her keys and noticed that Naruto and Sasuke were out, thankfully. She didn't really want to deal with them just yet. All she wanted now was to flop down on her bed and sleep.
She nearly peed herself when she opened the door and Naruto jumped out at her. "Welcome home!" he yelled and hugged her, "We missed yoooo!"
Sakura waited for him to attack Gaara but he didn't. Neither did Sasuke or Ino or Kakashi, all of whom were smiling at her obnoxiously, sitting on her furniture. They weren't reacting to him at all. She turned back and realized Gaara had disappeared again. Naruto tugged her inside and gestured at the half eaten food set out. "I was really hungry," he whispered apologetically to her behind his hand.
Sakura smiled at them and sat down cautiously, "What's this all about?"
"We're welcoming you home!" Ino smiled widely, showing off perfect teeth, but Sakura was no longer jealous. "Like the idiot said, we missed you."
"Are you sure there's nothing else…?" Sakura eyed Kakashi, who she hadn't seen in a long while. When she had quit, they lost touch completely. Now he was sitting in her chair, smiling lazily.
Ino shrugged and sat back against Mark. Sakura turned her focus to Sasuke, who smiled a little and offered to make tea. "Yes thank you." Sakura said, still a little in shock about the way her return had happened. This must be about something else.
The air in Konoha was too damp, Gaara decided. He didn't like it. So why was he back here again? What was he expecting to happen?
He looked through the window to see Sakura surrounded by her friends. He realized he was growling and left to find a nice quiet spot.
He found in on the roof of a tall building, out of sight of people passing by below. Having nothing better to do, he meditated.
Sakura found herself alone in the kitchen with Kakashi. She felt strange with him for some reason. 'And we used to get along just fine. It was never weird with him.'
"So, how have you been?" she asked politely, perched on the edge of the table.
"Fine," his own limp, flowing posture was a sharp contrast to her own awkward, straight angled limbs. He leaned lazily against the counter watching her with his heavy lidded eye, "How about you?"
"Alright I guess." She shrugged, "Not much money, but at least I can afford my own place right?"
Kakashi nodded and Sakura relaxed noticeably. Kakashi had always had that effect on her.
He pushed away from the counter to stand closer to her, "Listen Sakura," he said quietly, "I'm not just here to welcome you home."
"Didn't see that one coming." She muttered sarcastically.
"I hear you've been with Gaara of the Sand." He said, "In fact, we saw you just outside the village with him. I take it you know him?"
Sakura shrugged, "A little."
"We want you to take another mission, even though you quit. You won't have to do any fighting I promise, well I hope. We just want you to get some information from Gaara. Specifically, what he's been doing for the past two years."
"He said he's been doing freelance work…" Sakura quieted, remembering what else he had done, "Why?"
"We suspect a group of Sand nins is planning to attack. Unaffiliated with the official Sand country we hope. And since Gaara is no longer part of that country, we just want to know if he is involved."
"I can't…" Sakura started, but he cut her off.
"I believe in you." He said and smiled, "You just have to put up with him for one month. If you haven't learned anything from him by then, you probably never will and that will be that. We'll forget about it, and still pay you. Much less though, you understand." He paused before continuing, "I'm sure you could use the money."
Sakura nodded slowly, after, what's the worst that could happen? 'He could kill you and then come back with his rebel group and destroy the country.' But Sakura was so reassured by Kakashi and his faith in her that it didn't really bother her. Stupidly. "A month then." She agreed.
"Good girl!"
Sakura sat still as he left the room, and as soon as he was gone she kicked herself. She should have said no right away and left. Instead she had agreed to this because Kakashi said he believed she could do it? 'What a sap I've become.'
She went back into the living room and yawned widely, "I've had a nice time you guys, but it's getting pretty late, and I was walking all day…"
Kakashi grinned, "Alright, we're going."
They all left but Ino. She had sent Mark home and stayed to help clean up. Sakura smiled a little. It was obvious who wore the pants in their relationship.
Ino dumped the dishes in the sink and sat on the table, having done the most housecleaning she ever did. She sat back to enjoy watching Sakura wash the dishes.
"So Sakura, I hear you've been hanging out with Gaara," she grinned, "How long has that been going on?"
Sakura shook her head at Ino, "I know what you're thinking and nothing happened."
Ino pouted, "And I was so looking forward to some juicy gossip. Can you imagine the look on people's faces if I told them you and Gaara had hooked up?" she laughed at the mental image, "Really, Sakura, I know you would never do anything like that. You've hardly even spoken to Sasuke since you quit, and we both remember how you used to be with him."
"Well, he doesn't talk to me." Sakura retorted, scrubbing furiously at a plate she had been cleaning for three minutes.
"Don't change the subject." Ino said and sat forward, "What's he like?"
Sakura shrugged, "He's quiet." She turned her back to the dishes and dried her hands on a towel, "I think he's… gaining sanity."
Ino laughed, "You have such a pretty way of putting it. Do you mean to say he's stopped killing people for fun?"
"Well he didn't kill me."
"So how long did you spend with him?"
Sakura sat beside Ino and leaned her head on the blonde's shoulder. She felt so empty, not tired physically, but mentally. Ino patted Sakura's short hair into place, "Are you okay?" she asked.
Sakura nodded, "I miss when we were younger, when we were going for our chuunin exam."
"When we were still feuding?"
"Exactly." Sakura laughed with Ino. When their laughter died neither of them spoke for a while.
Ino was the one to break the silence, "Well! I better be heading home. I'll let you get the sleep you so obviously need." She kissed Sakura's head and left. "Goodnight!"
"Goodnight." Sakura closed the door and leaned her forehead against it, enjoying the smooth hardness of it pushing back against her. She didn't really feel like sleeping, though her limbs were so tired they felt like they would fall off at any moment. She should go find Gaara before he left again.
Sakura shrugged on a light jacket and left out the back door, jumping lightly across rooftops to find Gaara.
"Gaara. Gaara come on, if you're going to meditate you should at least do so inside. It looks like rain."
Gaara opened his eyes to see Sakura crouching nearby. When she saw him open his eyes she smiled, "I was just kidding about the rain actually."
Gaara liked her smile, even if it was kind of crooked. He stood and she stood with him.
"Would you like to stay?" she asked, "Or do you have an important engagement waiting for you elsewhere?"
"I have nothing else to do." Gaara replied, wishing he could think of a good reason to stay with her. Failing that, he remained silent.
Sakura shifted her footing, "So you're staying then? Then let's go, I'm falling asleep on my feet."
Gaara followed her back to her apartment, even though he already knew the way and could have beaten her there. They went in through the back door and Gaara noticed once again that her house wasn't in good shape.
Sakura yawned and went back into her room, "See you in the morning. We'll discuss your rent then." She disappeared behind the wall.
Gaara leaned his gourd against the wall and sat near the wall to wait.
As soon as Sakura woke up she regretted doing so, remembering last night.
"Stupid Gaara, why'd you have to go and help me in the first place?" she muttered, pulling on her shorts, "You should have just left me to die."
Still yawning she made her way to the kitchen for breakfast. Gaara was sitting by the door, for all appearances meditating. Sakura finished her meal quickly and left the house quietly, trying not to disturb Gaara. 'As if he's not disturbed already,' she thought with a smirk.
The sun hadn't yet risen as Sakura made her way to the forest for her morning run. She breathed in deeply. Mornings like this were the reason she woke up at such an unnatural hour. The air felt so clean, almost new. Like it hadn't yet been breathed by anyone but her.
As she started running the sun started its journey across the sky. Sakura ran until her legs were warm and then she ran a little more. Once she had finished she went through her daily training routine adding a few more patterns as she felt good this morning.
She finished her routine and headed to the stream for a quick wash. It wasn't much of a stream, hardly a creek really, but the water was clean and that was all she needed. Sakura smiled at the sensation of cold water splashing against her face and lay back in the moss.
In the tree right above her, standing on the underside of a branch some fifteen feet from the ground was Gaara. Sakura remembered the first time she had seen him had been just like this, yet so very different. She wasn't so afraid of him today.
"Come on down!" she called, smiling at his glare. Gaara let go off the tree and flipped down to land softly beside her, "Showoff." She muttered and he snorted.
Gaara sat on the stool and watched Sakura working. If he was prone to such tendencies as tapping fingers, he would be doing so now. She had forced him to come inside when she found him outside, scaring away her customers. 'It's not my fault.' he thought angrily. 'Stupid people.'
He noticed she didn't get many costumers anyway. Her job had to be the most tedious job ever. It was for him anyway, she worked on jewelry all day long.
They both looked up as the bell above the door chimed.
"Good morning Sakura!" Ino called.
Gaara would have left but Sakura gave him a look that suggested he stay. So he did. If Ino freaked and something happened he would not be held responsible for it.
Ino stopped when she saw Gaara, looking from him to Sakura with a confused look on her face.
"Ino, you remember Gaara I'm sure?" Sakura said, as though introducing an old acquaintance.
If there was one thing Ino deserved credit for it was her talent for covering up any unpleasant thoughts she might, and was having. "Of course, how could I forget?" she said with a dazzling smile for Gaara. Or at least, he imagined it was, for people who were affected by such things; he knew it was fake. He watched warily as she walked up to the counter.
"What can I do for you today?" Sakura asked, leaning in towards Ino.
"I need something nice for my dear Mark. It's our anniversary, or something silly like that." Ino continued grinning like an idiot. Gaara had a sudden urge to pull down the corners of her mouth, but he squashed the feeling.
When Sakura and Ino had found something suitably manly for Mark Ino left and Sakura closed the shop. "You can go outside now." She said and wrote in her book for a few minutes then grabbed her jacket and they left.
Sakura stopped in front of the ramen stand as they were walking past. "Normally, I would never do this because I've so dirt poor, but why don't we celebrate a little?"
"Celebrate what?" Gaara wondered out loud, their return to this hateful little village, the fact that Sakura's friends all wanted him dead?
"My being able to afford it," Sakura said, "Now that I have your rent money." She grinned and Gaara wondered if she actually expected his money.
Gaara agreed to eat out and they sat to order. When they food came Gaara took a mouthful and nearly gagged, "What is this?"
Sakura laughed while the stall owner glared at him. He glared back, and he was better.
:Just keep eating," Sakura told him, "This crap really grows on you." She winked at the owner, who snorted and turned his back to them.
Gaara watched Sakura, strangely fascinated by the way she acted. She seemed so easy with everyone, yet Gaara knew she must be afraid. She had as good as admitted to him that she was afraid of men. 'But not of you. She must not consider you a man.'
Sakura had already half finished her bowl. She turned to Gaara and noticed how little he had eaten. "I hope you're not trying to savor it." She said, "You have to eat it as quickly as possible to really enjoy."
"I'm not hungry." Gaara replied truthfully. After having a bite of that he would never be hungry again.
Sakura took his bowl and dumped the contents into her own. "I'm sure you don't mind then."
Gaara blinked at her. She was eating his food. No one had ever dared to do such a thing before. If she had done it two years ago he would have crushed her skull, but as it were he just watched her in stunned silence.
Sakura soon finished and they headed back to her apartment. Sakura opened the door and glanced quickly at Sasuke and Naruto's window. "Looks like they left." She muttered and went inside.