New Revelations Chapter 5

Whoo hoo! On the very eve of the New Year, a new chapter! This one took me forever, and it's far longer than the previous chapters I've written. ENJOY!

EDIT: 10/19/05, Fixed some grammatical errors, and made some minor revisions.

Night passed calmly into dawn as Sakura lay awake in her bed staring out the open window, but not really paying any attention to the view. A breeze blew in and rustled the thin, gauzy curtains, jumbling them much like her thoughts. There was no way sleep would come. Not after what had just happened. What was she going to do now? He had initiated it that she knew for sure. "You played along though." Her mind argued with her. It was true. She didn't have to return his gesture; she could have left him with a hug and nothing more. "You know you wanted to. You wanted to kiss him back." She flopped over on her side as if to shake the thoughts from her head. Gaara was still very confused about normal human emotions, about love. Surely he wouldn't know to pursue her further? The look on his face after she had kissed him back returned to her. He had looked so fragile for someone so tough, someone so poised to kill. There was no way that could work out. It was just too risky, and yet the possibility of seeing him again excited her.

"You were waiting for me weren't you?" She had asked him.

"Maybe, but I suspect you were waiting for me as well." He answered.

Sakura cursed herself for flirting so unapologetically with someone who obviously enjoyed her advances, or was it the attention? It was probably both. He had advanced on her first, and then that assumption of his! Why did he kiss her? She needed to know. His parting was much like Sasuke's had been. A simple thank you and then a disappearance.

"Except Sasuke didn't kiss you." Inner Sakura shamelessly added.

"Urrrgggg!" She groaned and stuffed her face into her pillow. At this rate she would have darker rings around her eyes than him. She glanced sleepily at her alarm clock. 4:37AM. She hoped this lack of rest wouldn't affect her training with Tsunade-sama in less than four hours.

Night. All around him the village of Konoha slept. An endless silence covered its boundaries until wind rustled through the trees. Gaara shut his eyes and breathed in the sweet night air. It was one of the few things he enjoyed. The roof of the inn was the perfect perch, high up and away from everyone. It wasn't a tree, but it would do. His mind had been racing since he had left the park and that girl, Sakura. He never liked anyone, but he liked her. She accepted him, and now he felt himself longing for her company. He wanted to see those soft green eyes that were quite similar in color to his, to hear her speak. He would find her tomorrow. These thoughts, these feelings were completely new to him. The madness they inflicted was both confusing and intriguing. He smiled in spite of himself.

"Still a monster." He thought. Far off in the distance, the sky was beginning to lighten. Dawn was approaching.

"Sakura, what happened? I was expecting better results than yesterday from you." The Fifth Hokage's words only hinted at her annoyance. "You're distracted…and you look a mess too."

Sakura's face was red from her efforts. She turned her head reluctantly to meet Tsunade's gaze. Her eyes were somewhat bloodshot. "I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama. I couldn't get to sleep last night."

"Too excited huh?" The busty blonde smirked.

"You have no idea." Inner Sakura commented.

"Well there's no use in continuing for the day, if you're already tuckered out." Tsuande said, fairly disappointed. She had been looking forward to seeing her apprentice's progress today. If she could duplicate what she had done the day before and take it to the next level than she would really know if Sakura was as exceptional as she suspected.

Sakura dragged her feet down the stone walkway from the training grounds. She was tired and she desperately needed something to relax her. She perked up slightly, a bathhouse! It had been ages since she had been in a hot spring. The closest one was about a block and a half away. Smiling now, she began to walk in their direction.

The women's bath was empty much to Sakura's delight. It was nice to have the whole place to herself. She gathered her towel and sank in, cringing slightly from the heat. She sighed in content as the bath soothed away all of her aches and pains.

"If only all problems could be melted away like this." She thought to herself. Things were not that easy. People were tested, paths chosen then re-chosen, futures, altered, friends torn apart, hearts broken…Tears welled up in her eyes despite her willing them away. "Sasuke-kun, why can't you understand?" She pressed her face into her towel and sobbed quietly. After a few minutes she became angry. She was always crying, always getting hurt, always being protected. "Why do I have to be so weak?" She scolded herself. Even today at her training, how could she let a little sleep deprivation get in her way of becoming stronger? Gaara could go without sleep for, well, ever. Gaara…Her thoughts trailed off. She looked down at her now wrinkled hands. She had stayed in too long, she still wasn't sure what to do about Gaara, but there was one thing she knew she could do.

Tsunade was back to her game of solitaire when Sakura walked in. The fifth Hokage smirked, pleasantly surprised. "Back so soon Sakura-chan?"

"I took a nice hot bath, and if you're not too busy," She pretended not to notice the card game in front of Tsunade, "I wondered if you wouldn't mind letting me have another go."

The blonde smiled openly, "Ahh so you do have spirit. As expected from my student." She took one last swig of her sake and led the way to the training grounds.

The Hokage's quarters were at the very center of Konoha. Gaara knew she would come this way. He planted himself on a nearby tree branch and began waiting. He was so distracted that he didn't notice someone approaching him.

"Hey Sand-man!" Konoha's orange clad ninja greeted him, from his perch a branch below. "Watcha do-mmmphh!" A wave of sand was thrown at him.

Gaara snapped out of focus. His guards had been up, and Naruto had surprised him.

Naruto shook himself off and shot a glare up into the tree. "What was that for? I just fell ten feet to the ground! I did just get out of the hospital you bastard!" He yelled, pointing a finger at Gaara.

"Sorry, you surprised me." He said looking down at the still bandaged blonde below him, cool as a cucumber.

"Damn straight! I am the number one ninja in surprising people!" He said with a grin. He was so overly confident in himself. "Anyways, what are you doing up there?" He squinted up at Gaara.

"Biding my time." He answered.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, confused by his response, but then chose to ignore it. "I gotta see Old Lady Tsunade about what she plans to do about…" His voice quieted and his face fell, "about…THAT BASTARD SASUKE!" He yelled out unexpectedly at the end of his statement, startling several pigeons, fists clenched, eyes wild.

Now it was Gaara's turn to raise an eyebrow at him. Naruto was very dynamic in all of his reactions, and as he recalled from the Chuunin exams, prone to sudden outbursts. It was these outbursts, however, that drove away his fear of defeat, if he could force himself to believe he would overcome something, then he would.

"Don't let me stop you then."

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "What are you talking about? I wanted to come over here and talk to you."

Gaara tightened his grip on the branch. "Why?"

"Whaddaya mean why? Why not?" He looked up at Gaara, who had decided not to make eye contact with him. "Now quit being so anti-social and come with me to Old Lady Tsunade's!"

Gaara turned to him in surprise. "You want me to come with you?"

Naruto grinned. "That's what I said, now come on!"

Gaara smirked in response and materialized on the ground below his perch to join him.

"YOSH! Let's go!" Naruto announced with as much zest as he could muster.

"You're loud." Gaara commented with a slight smile and began following him up to the Hokage's quarters.

Tsunade smiled to herself as she surveyed Sakura's training. She was more like the Sakura she had watched yesterday than the one she had seen earlier. Her motivation returned to her, stronger than before. Since she had begun, Sakura had already managed to mend the piece of cloth she had set out before for her. Now her task was to reseal a small log that had been chopped in two. This task was proving to be far harder for her, but she was making some progress slow as it seemed. Unlike the cloth, the log was arranged in a far more complex manner. Each individual splinter had to be reconnected as if it had never been severed in the first place.

Sakura focused entirely on the log. Looking over it as a whole it seemed as though she hadn't done anything substantial at all. If one looked at the base however, centimeters had been reformed, seeming as though the split was not complete.

Shizune approached Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama, you have visitors waiting for you in your office."

Tsunade nodded and turned to Sakura. "Sakura-chan, you can stop now."

Sakura faced her. From the position of the sun she realized that she had been at it for more than a few hours now.

Tsunade smiled, "I know it doesn't look like much but you've made some real progress today." She motioned for Sakura to follow her inside.

Naruto groaned and slouched into the chair that was set in front of the Hokage's desk. "I hope she doesn't make us wait long, she's as bad as Kakashi-sensei when it comes to meeting me on time."

Gaara remained silent where he stood against the wall. He too wondered what the Fifth Hokage had in store for their second attempt at a retrieval mission. She couldn't be too sure of what was to be done otherwise she would have assembled a meeting with everyone who was to be involved. Naruto just wanted to be the first to know, since he and Sasuke had been on the same team. Though, from what he remembered, Naruto and Sasuke didn't exactly get along.

"Uzumaki, why do you fight so hard for someone who couldn't care less?" He finally asked.

Naruto looked angry for a moment, but then realized that Gaara didn't really know much about his experiences with Sasuke to know any better. "Sasuke is someone important to me. He's saved me on many an occasion, even though he was endangering himself." He paused for a moment before continuing. "He became unstable after a run in with his brother Uchiha Itachi."

Gaara looked up. "The missing ninja? He showed up here?" He had forgotten about the Uchiha's past, about the merciless slaughter of the clan's members. Sasuke was like him in that sense. So young and exposed to horrors beyond anything they could've imagined at the time.

Naruto nodded solemnly. "It took me a moment to register too. I was there. I remembered Sasuke saying he didn't want to die until he killed his brother. That's when I realized the man standing before me was the brother he had sworn to kill."

"You fought Uchiha, I'm sure he didn't want to go down easy." Gaara commented recalling how stubborn and overconfident Sasuke had been when they had fought. "He has Orochimaru's curse seal, but it doesn't seem to be very reliable."

"It's worse than that." Naruto cut in. "It's become more advanced, his form changes…" He trailed off, the recollection clearly a painful one. "Not only that, but he gained the third stage of his sharingan while we were in battle."

Gaara stared at him. Sasuke was now like Kimimaro, he had reached the second level of the curse seal. At the second level Gaara almost wasn't able to defeat him, and Sasuke was slick in his movements. If faced with him in this next reconnaissance mission, he would most likely prove to be a troublesome challenge.

The doors to the Hokage's office opened, and Tsunade strode in with Shizune and then Sakura.

The pink haired ninja looked surprised. "Naruto?"

"Hiya Sakura-chan!" Naruto turned to her with a smile, and as Gaara noted, as if he hadn't just been upset by anything at all. Naruto then turned to Tsunade. "Oy, Old Lady, what's the plan for getting Sasuke back this time?" He gave Sakura a reassuring grin. "Cuz I'm ready to go in and drag his ass back here kicking and screaming if necessary!"

Sakura wondered if Naruto was stupid or just plain naïve. She had to admire his determination though. He was trying so hard to make sure she wouldn't worry about them. She turned her head at a sudden noise. Gaara. She hadn't even noticed him standing there against the wall. "Hello, Gaara-san." She smiled a little. He nodded in response, eyes focused entirely on hers. "CREEPY!" Her mind screamed. He was back to looking totally serious again.

"Her training must have ended." He thought silently.

Tsunade glared at Naruto. "Learn some manners kid."

Naruto glared back, "I just wanna know what we're gonna do about Sasuke!"

Tsunade sighed heavily, "It's still being decided, based on the information I've gathered, we don't have anything too large to worry about for some time. It seems Orochimaru has already taken the body of another person, which means he can't take another for a span of three years. In other words, Sasuke is safe. However, taking this new body means that Orochimaru has now regained the use of his arms."

"He can form seals again then." Gaara spoke from his spot against the wall. He knew Orochimaru would have something up his sleeve; he wanted power just as much as Sasuke did, maybe even more.

Tsunade nodded. "That is true, but we don't think he'll plan an attack seeing as the Sound five were taken care of by yours and Naruto's groups. She leaned in towards Naruto, who looked up confused. "So, keep your pants on kid," She flicked him in between the eyes, "there's still a lot of things for me and the other villages to review."

Naruto groaned and rubbed the spot between his eyes where she had flicked him. "But that didn't answer anything!" He whined.

Sakura sighed, "It's a very complicated matter Naruto, it probably takes a lot of time to go over their options and modes of attack."

"Your friend is right Uzumaki." Gaara spoke up. "Someone like Orochimaru shouldn't be underestimated."

Sakura glanced over at Gaara. "Your friend? What the hell does he consider me to be then?"

Naruto sighed. Tsunade considered him, "Don't worry Naruto, as soon as something is figured out I'll let you know. Now go on and be with your friends. I'm sure they don't want to stick around my office all day." She smiled.

Naruto nodded and got to his feet, suddenly energetic again. "Okay everyone lets go! I know I could go for some ramen!" He laughed. Gaara shrugged and started to follow him. Sakura watched in disbelief, but decided she might as well come along too.

"Do you even like ramen?" Gaara whispered to Sakura.

She looked at him for a second before answering, "Not really." She glared at Naruto's back. "But that guy seems to worship the stuff."

Gaara smirked. "So I've noticed."

Naruto looked over his shoulder. "You guys are friends already?" He grinned. "Sakura-chan is always so good at making friends."

Sakura felt her face flush; Gaara's went serious again.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Was it something I said?"

End of Chapter 5

There's not much as far as GaaraxSakura's relationship goes, but I still felt it was necessary to show some of the other things that are going on around Gaara and Sakura. She's got her training and Gaara's "friendship,"(for now!) Gaara's got his impending mission with Team Shikamaru, surviving Naruto's friendship, and his strange fascination with Sakura. I can't let this just be a fluff story, I want it to be far better than that, so stay tuned for future cool chapters with action, romance, and of course humor! READ AND REVIEW!