Gaara swatted at Benji as he jumped at him from a tree six feet above. He flew back and landed with a poof; just another doppelganger. Seconds later Gaara caught Benji in his sand as he fell from the next tree over. He crossed his hands behind his head as Benji jumped down into the stream.

Benji was happy playing in the stream by himself for a while, but he soon came back to bug Gaara.

"Hey Mister Gaara."

"What now?" Gaara asked, very annoyed. The boy asked too many questions, all the time. And the questions he asked were never ordinary, easy to answer questions, questions other children might have asked. They came out of nowhere, his barrage of questions.

"How long do you think we can stay like this?"

Gaara opened one eye to look at Benji. Why did the boy always have to ask such questions? "Like this? Until you have to go back in the morning." He told the boy, though he guessed that wasn't what Benji meant.

Benji shook his head, "I mean, how long can we stay together? I know one day I'm going to grow up and they'll send me away from the orphanage and then you'll leave, won't you?"

Gaara shrugged, "You could be adopted."

Benji snorted. "No one is going to adopt me."

"Of course not. You're never there when they come to adopt you. Maybe you should make an effort instead of sending in replicas to do all the work for you."

Benji tipped his head to the side and thought about what Gaara said for a long while. Then he shrugged, "Nah."

Sakura woke up in bed with Ino. Ino's arms were thrown across her waist and she had drooledall overSakura's shoulder.

She smiled, after a week of this, she was starting to get used to the wet feeling. And Ino's sleeping habits.Ino was definitely not ready to be alone, even though she was the one who dumped Mark.She was just sucha friendly person, a people person.

And Ino liked to drink. She hadn't been so into drinking before, but now she insisted that they go out every night and drink until they couldn't remember anything. Sakura never drank as much as Ino; she was the one who had to make sure they both got home and to bed safely. She wasn't the one who broke up with her longtime boyfriend. She was the one with a job.

"I'm off to work honey," she said and kissed Ino's forehead, "Don't break anything while I'm gone."

Ino moaned, covered her head in a pillow and waved her away.

Sakura hummed as she walked down the streets to her shop. She had never really noticed her humming until Gaara yelled at her for it, and now she couldn't stop. She didn't even know what she was singing; she doubted it was a real song. It was probably just something she made up years ago, when she was young.

There was a man waiting outside her shop when she got there. She tried not to panic, not to be so paranoid, but a big ball of dread had already found a home in her stomach. She thought that surely this was the one, the one who would take away her shop and her apartment. It didn't make any sense for her to think that, really, but she thought it all the same. She had become so paranoid it sickened her. She tapped the man on the shoulder and cleared her throat, "Can I help you sir?"

He turned around and straightened. She almost dropped her keys in surprise when she saw his face, "Kazekage! What are you doing here?"

He frowned and she bowed apologetically, "I mean, welcome and thank you for the honour…" she looked up at him from her bow, "Of your visit?"

He laughed then, "Hello to you too Sakura, and don't worry, I'm not here on any official business."

"And that's supposed to reassure me?" she asked. She opened the door to her shop and let him in, turning on the lights and straightening the counter as she talked with him. "So if not that, then why are you here?"

He hmmed and fiddled with an earring. She was already all weirded out by his appearance here, and now his dodgy behavior was making her nervous on top of that. Shouldn't he be someplace more important?

"So I hear you and Gaara have a business?" he asked.

"Not anymore." Sakura told him, surprised at how much it hurt to say so. Well, she was bored out of her mind without those missions to keep her going… "We went our separate ways after the last mission."

"Oh." He seemed disappointed. "I wanted to hire you."

"Why didn't you just go to him?"

"Well, first of all, I can't find him."

"You can't find him?" Sakura asked. What had Gaara gotten himself into now? "Where is he?"

"Well…"

"Never mind, stupid question." She flipped the sign in the window to open and turned her back to the Kazekage, "What kind of mission was it anyway?"

He switched to super shifty mode then, desperately trying to avoid her question, "Well… I was really just hoping you would know where to find Gaara, but since it seems you know about as much as I do; you can't be much help to me now. This mission was really perfect for someone with his capabilities…" He turned to leave.

"What kind of mission was it?" Sakura asked again, more forcefully this time.

He turned back to her slowly; he had this look on his face, that scared, dreading look. "I'm not so sure I should tell you that."

Sakura shrugged, "Fine. If you think so…" she pulled a half finished bracelet from under the counter and started working on it. She ignored him as he stood watching her, strangely undecided. She was losing confidence in his abilities as the Kazekage the more time she spent with him. Of course it could all be an act.

He had been leaning over her work for a while before he spoke again. He had started to remind her of Gaara, but when he spoke she lost that illusion quickly.

"You're pretty good you know?"

Sakura snorted. "I don't need your flattery. If you're not going to employ me you should probably leave, I'm sure there's some important business waiting for you back home."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of."

Gaara tried not to laugh. Here he was sitting watching adults walk past a boy; the same boy who was sitting right next to him. It was like one of those sappy movies about a sad little orphan that would one day be adopted into a loving, happy family.

Those movies full of lies. They were the reason so many orphans were so depressed. And probably because of their lack of parents too, that might be the reason they would tend towards depression.

Benji sighed as the man and woman walked out of the orphanage with a baby boy in their arms. "Everyone wants a baby." He said and turned his back on them.

Gaara watched in amusement as Benji's copy disappeared. He watched the caretaker freak out for a while before informing Benji of his little mishap.

Benji turned around and ran back to the orphanage faster than Gaara had ever seen him run before. When he got back the caretaker hugged him and slapped his hands. Benji looked out the window and smiled at Gaara.

But Gaara wasn't there anymore. He was sitting in the forest, thinking. He sat there for hours before finally making up his mind.

Benji looked up as the door opened and Gaara walked in. The caretaker, Miss Misumo, looked really scared of Gaara. She wasn't usually afraid of little things though.

Gaara looked around the room. He walked right up to Benji and told him to stand up and turn around. Benji did as he was told and sat back down.

"I want this one." Gaara told the caretaker. She looked absolutely terrified now.

"B-But… He's just a b-boy." She stuttered.

Gaara almost admired her courage. It wasn't often that anyone stood up to him, and this woman was afraid too. "I'm not going to eat him." He said irritated.

"I'll go!" Benji said.

Miss Misumo told him to hush, "I just need you to sign some papers…"

Gaara nodded. The caretaker ran out and came back moments later with some papers and a pen. Gaara signed the papers where she told him to and walked out followed by Benji.

Benji skipped along behind Gaara. "I'm glad you got me out of there. I don't know how much longer I could keep it up with my doppelgangers."

Gaara shrugged.

"What are we going to do now?"

Gaara shrugged again. He had no idea what to do now. He had just adopted a child whose parents were dead because of him. What could he do?

Sakura was making supper when someone knocked on the door. She hoped it wasn't Naruto come to eat all her food and opened the door hesitantly.

Gaara raised a hand when she opened the door. "Hello."

Sakura opened the door all the way. "Gaara? What are you doing here?" Then she saw the boy standing behind him. "What have you done?"

Gaara shrugged, "I adopted him."

Sakura was silent, staring at Gaara with that same blank expression he always stared at her with. He shifted uncomfortably, which gave her a fair amount of satisfaction with herself.

"…Hi, I'm Benji!" The boy said suddenly. Sakura was surprised at how happy he sounded. Nothing like the boy who had haunted her dreams since she killed his father.

"Hi." She said and leaned over so their eyes were level, "You do know who we are right? What we did?"

"Sure." He said, with hardly a trace of sadness. He patted her head comfortingly, "But don't worry, my mommy died a long time ago,and it had nothing to do with you."

Sakura stepped back and closed the door on them. What the hell. She rubbed her eyes and banged her head against the door a couple of times. Then she opened it again. They were still standing there.

"You're still here."

"Yes." Gaara said.

Sakura pinched herself, then she pinched Benji. "Ow!" heyelled and hid behind Gaara.

Sakura blinked at them a couple more times.

"We're actually here." Gaara said, "But if you want us to leave, that can happen too."

"No, no." Sakura shook her head, "Come in. You can stay for supper at least."

Doot doot. We are nearing the end... I think.

Hao'sAnjul: You can just ignore me. I'm a bit of an airhead sometimes.

Genial Hinata: I'm glad you like it.

Maiden-of-the-Elements: I very much agree with you! I don't necessarily want romance fics though, they're just my favorite characters. nyar