Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

7 Days, Come What May

Chapter XII: Hot Guys, Wild Girls

Gaara was feeling great. For a person who had been used as a killing weapon and nothing else for all his life…where he was right now was practically paradise. Where he was right now, he felt strangely happy and at peace. He didn't feel the need to kill. And, on top of everything else, he had a newfound discovery. Gaara found out that he was one hot guy to the flock of girls around him.

"Gaara-kun…you're so cute!" the random girl next to him squealed, pulling him into a tight hug.

The red head looked at the girl and muttered 'thanks', although no visible emotion showed on his face. Today, Gaara was wearing his normal clothes despite it being a party occasion. The only thing missing was his sand gourd, which Temari had told him to leave in his room because well, she had told him it was considered 'impolite' to bring weapons to a social occasion such as this.

A blonde girl walked over to his corner of the room and held up a pink cocktail.

"Here, Gaara-kun! I got this for you! I thought you might be thirsty."

Gaara took the cup without saying a thank you and lightly sipped it. The blonde who had brought him the cup practically drooled. Not the mention all the other girls were giving the blonde girl death glares.

"Gaara-kun, will you tell us more about yourself?" a short haired girl scooted up closer to him, smiling.

"Yea, I'd like to hear more about you, please?" the blonde girl who had brought him the drink begged.

A chorus of agreement sounded with all the rest of the girls. Although his face was nonchalant, Gaara was giving in.

"That's okay, if you want to hear it," he said in a dark voice.

"Of course!" the girl next to him put her head on his shoulder. "I'd love to hear everything about you."

Gaara turned his head to the girl. "…Even if some things about me are bad?"

The girl looked up at him.

"That's okay! I have things about me that are bad too!"

"Yea, Gaara-kun! We'll accept everything you have to say!"

Gaara grinned slightly. No, not the 'insane killer' grin. A slight smile, a genuine one.

"Then…well, I'm a sand shinobi, actually. I have two siblings, Temari and Kankurou…"

All the girls listened and hung onto every single word.

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Kankurou sneezed.

"Why do I have the bad feeling that someone's talking behind my back?" the puppeteer remarked, annoyed.

Kankurou was sitting at a table in the night bar with Chouji and Ino. After he had danced with Ino, he went to sit at the table while Ino danced with Chouji. Now, they were all finished and were relaxing at the table. Dancing with her was nothing special, it was just a 'friends friends' kind of thing, just like Ino dancing with Chouji. Kankurou discovered that she was a nice person, good to talk to, just like Chouji.

Kankurou took another drink out of his alcoholic glass.

"Are you sure you're not drunk, Kankurou?" Ino asked, raising an eyebrow.

For all she knew, he had drunk about six to seven glasses already. To her, he also looked drunk.

"No. I can control my alcohol," Kankurou replied, wiping his mouth.

"Okay, man, whatever you say. But tell us if you're about to puke, so I can get out of the way," Chouji said.

"Yea, I won't puke."

After that, the trio just sat at the table, saying nothing. It was too hard to say stuff anyway. The music was blaring. Chouji looked around the room and spotted Gaara surround by a bunch of random girls.

"Hey, Kankurou. Your bro there's lookin very popular with the girls."

Kankurou and Ino turned over to look.

"But he looks bored," Ino said, regarding Gaara's unemotional face.

"Naw…he's always like that. Never one to visibly show his emotions," Kankurou explained. "…But all those girls around him…I don't know what that's about. To be honest, I'm kinda jealous."

The puppeteer took another drink out of his glass. Chouji chuckled.

"Same here."

Ino looked back and forth between the two and looked back at Gaara.

"Well, actually, Kankurou, your brother doesn't look all that bad."

Chouji gave her an annoyed look.

"Yea, Ino, just when we bachelors were starting to feel a little bit better about ourselves."

"Well, I was just telling the truth," Ino shrugged. "Really, if he wasn't so scary sometimes, I would definitely hit on him."

"Yea, I've heard that from a bunch of other girls from our sand village," Kankurou rolled his eyes. "Here I am, being as sensible and social as possible to girls and nobody's after me…but my bro…he doesn't have a single social custom etched into his red head and he's being chased by girls…ahhh…sometimes, I think about how life is so unfair."

Ino laughed. "Awww…feel sorry for you. But at least, Gaara needs some love, doesn't he?" She pointed to her own forehead, indicating of Gaara's Chinese 'love' character on his forehead.

"Well, I suppose he does," Chouji shrugged. "Maybe I might as well get a tattoo on my forehead."

Kankurou snorted. "Yea, maybe that'll help," he remarked sarcastically.

"Come on, cheer up, guys! It's not like the end of the world! Even I don't have a bunch of guys around me," Ino said.

Chouji raised his eyebrows skeptically.

"Then what do you call me and Kankurou? Girls?"

"Ino, I'm offended."

"Ehehehehehe," Ino laughed sheepishly. "…eh…let's change the topic! Let's spot other people."

After a while, Chouji spotted Temari in the middle of the dancefloor, challenging other people to dance. The spotlight was on her.

"…wow, Kankurou…all of your siblings are magnetic to attention," Chouji remarked, regarding Temari.

Kankurou sweatdropped and pour the whole glass down his throat.

"Hey, YOU think you can win me, huh? Don't you fucking KNOW who I am?" Temari shouted to a poor person who was dancing near her. "Wanna see who's better?"

"N-No ma'am," the guy who was shouted at whimpered pitifully.

Ino, Chouji and Kankurou watched as Temari continued to dance like there wasn't a tomorrow and hurl insults at people occasionally.

"Kankurou, is your sister drunk?" Ino asked, staring wide eyed at the sand shinobi on the dance floor.

Kankurou shook his head. "I once had a drinking contest with her. She won."

"Really," Chouji took another look at Temari's direction.

After hanging out for a while observing Kankurou's weird siblings, Ino and Chouji decided to leave.

"I've got to get my beauty sleep," Ino said, yawning.

"Me too," Chouji agreed.

"I'll follow you up when I'm finished drinking," Kankurou poured himself another glass.

"Ok, man."

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Ino had departed with Chouji to go to her room. She walked down the hallway slowly, her red dress dragging behind her. Her head was feeling a bit dizzy from all that music, but it was alright. Then, she saw two figures approaching her. Ino's eyes got wide.

'Is it just me or is that Sasuke and Sakura?' Ino froze.

The pair seemed to be heading her way. Once they got close, Ino glared at Sasuke.

"You!" the blonde fiercely pointed her fingers into Sasuke's face.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Ino, it's a misunderstanding!" Sakura tried to explain.

"What is?" Ino turned to Sakura, a confused look on her face.

"I-I…Sasuke and I have made up….I am…no longer mad at him," Sakura informed the blonde, looking down at the floor in embarrassment when memories of the evening surfaced in her head.

Ino paused for a while for the information to sink in. She looked between Sakura and Sasuke, between a blushing face and an unemotional face. A wide smile appeared.

"Well! That's great, Sakura!" Ino squealed excitedly, hugging a happy Sakura.

"Hmf. I don't know what all the excitement is about," Sasuke remarked of the hugging girls, looking annoyed.

Ino ended her friendship hug with Sakura and pointed her finger into Sasuke's direction one more time.

"I'll forgive you last time for hurting my friend. If there is a next time…" Ino's eyes flashed dangerously. "…say goodbye to repopulating the Uchiha clan."

"Um…Ino…you don't have to go that far," Sakura smiled sheepishly. "But, I'm really grateful for your help. I just wanted to thank you."

"That's what friends are for!" Ino smiled at Sakura but turned to give Sasuke a mean look one more time. "…remember what I said."

"Who said I wanted to repopulate my clan?" Sasuke remarked, pissed off.

Ino giggled wickedly, sending goosebumps through the Uchiha's body.

"…You'll see…" Ino smiled evilly. "Just remember what I said! So you BETTER take good care of my friend."

Sasuke just smirked.

"I'm going to bed," he turned around as Sakura muttered a quiet 'good night'.

Sakura watched at Sasuke's retreating back and then turned around to go into her room. She placed her hand on the doorknob and tried to turn it, but it didn't budge.

"Ino! Ino, can you please unlock the door?" Sakura called.

"Nope!" Ino said in a cheerful voice.

"What! Why?" Sakura was really confused.

Suddenly, the door opened and Ino shoved out Sakura's stuff. Ino quickly closed and locked the door again before Sakura could react.

"Well, girl, you got back with Sasuke so you should go back to his roooomie!" Ino cried across the door in a teasing voice. "That way, you'll have time to MAKE OUT!"

Images of Sasuke kissing her flooded back, yet again, into the pink-haired shinobi's head. Sakura blushed as pink as her hair.

"I-Ino! You're evil!"

"Ooh, la la! I've got to get my beauuuty sleep, my girl! So just go on to your room and have fun, okay? Good niiiiiiight!" Ino voice called before Sakura saw the lights under the door go black.

"Ino! Wait!"

However, it was too late. There was no respond. Apparently, Ino was very tired and had fallen into sleep immediately. Sakura rubbed her temples.

'Okay, okay…! What am I supposed to do! Ino's locked me out…let's see if the other girls would let me in…hm…let's see…Hinata…no, no I'd hate to interrupt Naruto and his crazy flirting…Temari…well, I'd hate to go in between her fighting wars with Shikamaru too…hmm…who else is left? Oh, yea! Ten Ten!'

With that, Sakura picked up her stuff and made her way to room 003, where Ten Ten was staying. She was about to knock when she heard noises beyond the door. Out of pure curiosity, Sakura placed her ear on the door. Sakura's eyes widened. What she heard sounded unmistakably like….kissing noises! The pink haired shinobi quickly stumbled away from the door.

'Now, that. That, I would hate even more to interrupt.'

Sakura really wondered who Temari was making out with. Even though Gaara was Ten Ten's roommate…she doubted it was Gaara because she had just seen Gaara surrounded by a bunch of girls down at the night bar.

'So, it could only be Ten Ten…and some guy…or it could be Gaara with one of his fangirls…' Sakura thought, and then sighed. 'Well, now, there's only one way…to go back to Sasuke's room…'

If it was the Sakura that she had been before she had come to the Konoha Hot Springs, she would never have hesitated. That Sakura would have ran to go to Sasuke's room. That Sakura would have even paid to sleep in the same room as Sasuke. But now…the Sakura that she was now…Sakura couldn't really explain it, but after Sasuke had kissed her…she felt more reluctant to face him. It might be because she was embarrassed…and ever since he had apologized to her…she felt like she should be more…careful and considerate around the Uchiha.

Sakura slowly walked to Sasuke's room and stood there. She just stood there, staring at the number '007' on the door. Sakura didn't knock. Suddenly, the door opened, revealing Sasuke in a bathrobe, his hair still wet.

"Why are you here?" there was an unreadable expression on his face.

"S-Sasuke! How did you know I was-"

"I sensed it."

"Okay then…I was wondering if…I mean…Ino's locked me out…'cause she thought that you and me had already made up…I mean…and the other girls are busy….I was wondering…" Sakura couldn't find it in herself to ask him if she could stay in his room.

"Sakura, you're wasting my time. Get in here."

He turned around and left the door open for her to come in. Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief.

'Good, he understood what I was trying to say…' She grabbed her stuff and walked in the door.

All her stuff that had been in this room before she moved to stay with Ino was right where she left it. Her suitcase…her combs, everything.

"Sakura, get in the shower so I can change," Sasuke said.

Sakura turned to look at him and again, she felt jumpy inside.

"Okay," she smiled at him and went into the bathroom.

Joyce: Okay, guys, so there's that chapter. So many of you wanted for Sakura back in Sasuke's room, so here it is:D...Oh, and I just wanna mention something from the last chapters...remember a random guy called 'Big G' that was trying to hurt Hinata but Naruto saved her? (It's okay if you don't remember)..Well, I just wanted to mention that there's a guy at my school who calls himself 'Big G'...LOL! He's Dutch and really, really melodramatic...funny but sometimes annoying...lol...just wanted to tell you the source of my inspiration...well, that's all...Reviews, please! Thanks:D