Sakura drummed her fingers on the counter idly. Gods, was she bored. Hopefully Gaara had sent her another mission.

She didn't know how exactly, but every so often when she got home there would be a letter waiting for her, informing her of her task and with money from her last mission. It wasn't usually much, but it helped; after all business was slow. Like today.

The chimes rang as the door opened. "Good afternoon." Sakura said brightly, glad for the company. She recognized the black haired woman with even more cheer, "Hinata! It's been a long time since you visited me at work," she scratched her head, pretending to think for a long moment, "Actually, you never visit me."

Hinata blushed, "I'm sorry…"

Sakura laughed, "Maybe if you'd look at my face, you'd realize I was joking." Hinata hadn't changed so very much in the past few years. Sakura stepped around the counter to stand closer to her, "So, how've you been?"

"Good," Hinata smiled and fiddled with a pearl bracelet nervously. Sakura recognized it as the one she had sold to Naruto.

"So he did give it to you. I thought he'd wimp out."

Hinata looked at Sakura, "You made it? Do you know who gave it to me? They didn't leave a note or anything."

Sakura almost laughed, but she held back for fear of embarrassing Hinata. How like Naruto to be loud about everything, but too much of a coward to admit his feelings for Hinata to her face. "I'm not sure I should tell you. If your secret admirer wants to remain secret, it's not my place to ruin it."

"You're right," Hinata looked thoughtful, "Could you give him something from me in return though?"

"Sure!"

Hinata asked for paper and a pencil and wrote a note in Sakura's office to the anonymous gift giver. While she was writing a couple came in and looked around.

Sakura helped them as best she could but they told her they were just browsing for now so she sat back behind the counter. Hinata came out of her office and handed her the folded note. "Thank you Sakura."

"No problem. Let's hope they remember they gave you the bracelet." Sakura said with a sly wink, "While you're here, see anything that caught your eye?"

"I don't usually wear jewelry…" Hinata twirled her bracelet around her wrist a few times, "But I might as well take a look."

The couple left without buying anything, 'Losers', but Hinata ended up buying a ring before she left. Sakura waited another half hour or so before closing for the night.

'Please let there be a message,' Sakura hoped as she walked home. She was glad she had convinced Gaara to take her on. She liked not having levels of missions, and the missions she got were very different. She had missed the excitement. Gaara seemed to have faith in her capabilities, more than she herself had. He sent her missions she knew she wouldn't have gotten before; missions she would have been scared to accept. And some tasks he sent her were absurdly easy and mundane. She wondered why people wasted their money on these things when it would be so easy to do them for themselves.

She slid Hinata's note under Naruto's door before opening her own. Sure enough there was that familiar yellow scroll with Gaara's symbol on it.

She picked it up and read through it quickly. Gaara wanted her to meet him in the forest the next morning for a mission of special circumstances.

She growled at his vague instructions but she was excited anyway. What kind of mission would need the both of them?

And despite being his 'partner' Sakura hadn't seen Gaara since they first agreed to do business together. That was months ago now.

She put down the scroll and started peeling off layers of clothing as she made her way to the bathroom. 'A bath would be nice.'

If Gaara was the type who did such things he would be making some useless gesture of impatience at the moment. If she didn't arrive soon she would be late.

There she was now. Gaara took a moment to study her as she approached. She still looked much the same as ever.

She looked up at him hidden in the tree and waved, "Good morning Gaara!" She was still as sharp as ever too.

He dropped down beside her. "I'll explain as we go. The mansion is a ways away."

She nodded and they left. He explained the mission to her. A woman had come to him a few days ago, asking him to retrieve her child. The little boy had been taken by his father, a wealthy lord who had no children with his wife.

"So what do you want me to do?" Sakura asked.

"I want you to get inside. As a servant, or any way you can think of without causing a fuss. I can't go because they would recognize me. The mansion is well guarded, so I'll be your backup."

"Ok." Sakura was silent for a while, thinking. "Does the child have a nanny do you think? Could we take her away?"

Gaara nodded, "Possibly."

They reached the house soon after and watched it, hidden in the trees.

"You should have told me in the letter. I'm not dressed for this." Sakura whispered. Gaara looked at her and snorted. He motioned for her to follow him further back into the forest.

"I've got a plan." She said before he had a chance to suggest anything, "I'll act like I was attacked, stumble in there and ask for work, or a place to stay. I'll get in with the nanny somehow, or the lord if I have to. Then I'll get the child and the nanny and myself all alone and you can take the nanny away, put on a show and I'll save the boy…"

"This all seems rather complicated."

Sakura glared at him, "Well, what did you want?"

"It would be nice if we could do this quickly."

"I don't know why you want me here; you won't even listen to me…" Sakura looked amused at a thought she had, "Did the woman ask you not to traumatize the child?"

"She asked me to avoid killing as much as possible."

"She must not know you." Sakura snorted.

"This is dumb." Gaara said, "You go in there and as soon as you're with the child grab him and run. I'll help you out of there."

"But how will you know when?"

Gaara sighed and rubbed his temple. "You know when you told me I wouldn't regret this…?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "Just do it ok? Don't ask questions."

"Fine." Sakura stood and went to the road, "See you in a while."

Gaara watched her walk down the road to the gate where she was stopped by the guards. He saw her laugh her way past them and disappear behind the walls.

Now it was time to watch.

"So, where are you from" the lord asked. By now Sakura had decided she really didn't like him. At first when he came to speak with her, his guest, it had seemed like a nice gesture. But considering what had happened with the woman who hired Gaara, she suspected he had other interests, and she was not about to fall for his charm, no matter how handsome he might be.

"No where really," she answered, "I travel everywhere, hoping to find someplace my services are needed."

"Your services?"

"Medicine. I heal people." Sakura was almost surprised at how easily the lies came. She had become such a good liar, it almost scared her.

The lord rubbed his chin, "Oh really? Hm. If I may ask for your aid then? My son is quite sick."

Sakura nodded, careful to appear calm. This was perfect! She hadn't been there half a day and she would soon be gone again. Hopefully Gaara was ready.

She followed the lord past rooms filled with weapons and armed men to a small room at the end of the hall. Inside, lying on a bed, was a young boy, about seven years old.

Sakura knelt by the boy, "Could I inspect him alone please?"

The lord hesitated before letting her do so. "I'll be right outside if you need anything."

Sakura held the boy's hand when the lord had left. Poor child, getting mixed up in his parents' problems. "Sorry about this," she whispered and gave him a potion to drink that put him to sleep. She picked him up and held him gently in her arms.

Thanked the gods she had never gotten pregnant.

"Ok Gaara…" she murmured and he appeared. "Oh. I didn't actually expect you to come." She smiled a little, reminded of a sort of genie.

"You go ahead, I'll follow after." He told her.

"But-"

"I trust you can find your own way out without getting caught," he said scornfully. Sakura nodded and left through the window. She didn't want to know what he would do.

She had no time to wonder. She was soon seen by guards who gave chase. Fortunately there didn't seem to be anyone with real skill among them.

She had almost made it to the gate when she was proven wrong. There was at least two skilled men among the guards and they both chose that moment to attack her.

She dodged their attacks and jumped to the top of the wall. She looked back quickly but could see no sign of Gaara before she attacked again. This time she pretended to lose her balance and fell backwards off the wall to the sound of their laughter. 'Idiots.' On her way down she flipped neatly and landed running. If only she didn't have the boy she could do more than just run. Where the hell was Gaara?

She felt the men catching up with her and jumped above the trees turning back to the mansion. It was chaos, men falling everywhere, running away and at the heart of it all was Gaara, of course.

She dropped back into the trees and started running back towards the castle, hoping she was silent enough to evade her pursuers.

She wasn't. As she was knocked out of the tree she turned so she hit the trunk with her feet and bounced back, jumping from tree to tree, narrowly avoiding missiles aimed at her vitals. 'Idiots, they could hit the boy, and where would they be then?'

She stopped before coming into view of the mansion and checked to make sure the boy was still sleeping, and alive. She called to Gaara as she made her way back inside the walls. "Gaara! Stop wasting time and let's go!"

She narrowly dodged a kick and turned to face her opponent. Only one of the other ninjas had followed her. He started making symbols with his hands but Sakura kicked him, breaking a few of his fingers. It seemed she was going to have to fight him with her feet until Gaara decided to show.

Or until she finished him off. He wasn't very strong he realized, or very old for that matter. She was holding him back at least when Gaara made his grand entrance, appearing behind him and enveloping him sand. Sakura got away before she could see what become of him.

"What the hell were you doing?" Sakura asked accusingly. Gaara didn't like her tone, "I almost got killed!"

Gaara snorted, "It didn't look that way to me."

"Well-"

"You're fine, so let's just get this over with." He had forgotten how contrary she could be. He had actually looked forward to seeing her again. 'Never again.' He vowed.

He was off and she followed him with the child. He had told their employer to come back in two weeks, or he would find her. That was ten days ago.

He stopped outside Konoha, "I'll send you your money soon," he said and waited for Sakura to hand him the boy.

But she held him closer, "Nuh-uh. There's no way I'm leaving you alone with an innocent child."

He sighed irritably, "If I were to kill him then we wouldn't get our money, now would we?" He held out his arms for the boy.

Sakura shook her head, "No. I'm going with you."

"Fine. Let's go." If she had any idea how close he was to strangling her at that moment…

"Now? You don't want to get lunch or something?"

"It's not really a good time for that now,"

Sakura glanced at the boy in her arms and shrugged, "I guess." What a ridiculous woman.

Moohaha. I'm a turd

nishasha: I love you.

Chanteru-chan: I really don't mind that you didn't review for every chapter. I'm glad actually. And I'm glad you like it.