New Revelations Chapter 11

I MAKE MY TRIUMPHANT RETURN! I'm sorry I took so long to update! I was really stuck, and as far as the next chapter is concerned I still am. ; Don't expect regular updates from me I will finish this story no matter how many chapters it spawns and how long it takes me to get there. So try to enjoy this very overdue chapter that has been months in the making that probably isn't at all worth the wait. TTTT;

"Hey." The familiar gruff voice greeted her.

Gaara.

He stood as he normally did, arms crossed, feet slightly apart, with his typical straight-lipped expression. He too was soaking wet from the sudden rain. His usually spiky red hair hung limply over his left eye.

She wouldn't let him know that he had caught her off guard. Instead she wrung out a lock of her hair, there was no reason to act out of the ordinary around him anyway. "Hi." She answered back. "Caught in the rain too?"

He ran a hand through his own sopping hair causing a small spray of droplets, and making one side stand a little on end. "It would seem that way."

Had he been anyone else she could have laughed and said he looked silly, but he wasn't just anyone, he wouldn't appreciate a comment like that, no matter how innocent. So she held it back. "You were right, you know."

He raised an eyebrow. "About what?" It wasn't like he was a mind reader.

"About the Fifth teaching me other jutsus besides medical." She answered watching the continuing downpour.

He sniffed. "Of course I was." The Fifth Hokage was no idiot, despite the obvious collection of sake bottles and lottery ticket stubs adorning her desk. She didn't overlook things no matter how seemingly small. She had made that much apparent when she hired he and his siblings to assist with the reconnaissance mission.

"First and foremost I would like to thank you for coming on such short notice." The Fifth Hokage began. "I know that Sunagakure is still recovering from it's own losses due to Orochimaru's treachery."

"It was no problem Hokage-sama." Temari bowed. She was always the diplomat of the group. "We are in Konoha's debt."

The woman nodded, and unrolled a scroll on her desk. "There was an incident that occurred in the late hours of the night about two days ago now. Uchiha Sasuke left the village. He is believed to be heading to Orochimaru."

Gaara's arm twitched at the mention of the Uchiha's name. Uzumaki Naruto's teammate, if he remembered correctly. He wasn't completely sure what he would want with Orochimaru.

"As you are probably aware, due to our losses, we have had to stretch our current number of shinobi, so most of our Chuunin and Jounin are on missions outside of the village." The Hokage continued. "Because of this, I was forced to use a team composed of Genin to intercept Sasuke." The Fifth reached for a map. "They left heading towards the border of the Fire Country." She gestured with her pen. "I doubt Sasuke knows the way to Orochimaru's headquarters by pure intuition, so odds are he has guides, who may prove to be potentially dangerous to the Genin. Your mission is to track them down and offer assistance. Do you understand?"

They nodded. "Yes Hokage-sama."

"Then you are dismissed. Good luck."

A hand being waved in front of his face brought him back from the memory, without giving it a second thought in one swift movement he grabbed it, and glared at its owner.

Sakura smiled despite the fact that he was gripping her hand rather tightly. "Sorry, you were spacing. I couldn't resist."

"IDIOT!" Inner Sakura scolded. "YOU KNOW BETTER NOT TO LAUGH AT HIM, BUT YOU CAN'T RESIST WAVING YOUR FREAKING HAND IN FRONT OF HIS FACE? SHANNARO!"

Didn't she know it was dangerous to do something like that to him? And she had the nerve to smile at him after? Gaara didn't know if this openness of hers towards him was annoying, or entertaining. He released her hand, "Don't let it happen again."

She remained silent. As cranky as he was she knew he wouldn't kill her, she had proof of that. Sakura leaned against the trunk of the tree and picked a stray leaf off from where it was stuck on her wet shoulder. Suddenly she remembered what her original purpose for coming this way was in the first place. "Have you seen Lee?" She asked, feeling her face grow hot. "Dammit! My face better not be red! There's no reason for that!" She argued internally, while striving to calm herself enough for the blood to stop concentrating at her face.

Luckily Gaara wasn't looking at her. "I fought him earlier, then it started raining and he decided to stop. Something about shrinkage…" The look on his face said that the resulting mental image was not a good one.

Sakura's put his to shame. "Shrinkage?" Apparently green body suits weren't very efficient after all. She couldn't hold back her laughter. "So who was winning?"

Gaara leaned against the tree and crossed one foot behind the other. "Neither of us. We're both rather stubborn."

She should have known. Although she had expected Gaara to say that he had the upper hand. They were stubborn though. Their match in the Chuunin preliminaries was the same, neither one relenting until only one of them was left standing. Even in his state of unconsciousness Lee wanted to fight on. She giggled again.

"What's so funny?" He raised an eyebrow at the crouching, pink-haired girl.

Sakura managed to compose herself long enough to speak, "Lee is one of the most stubborn people I know, even when he was recovering after the Chuunin preliminaries he constantly attempted to train despite the nurses scolding him. To think he would stop a match because of the rain…" She lost it again. "I wanted to say I envied his endurance."

"So you think less of him?"

The question took a moment to fully register, he was indirectly asking her about himself. She didn't think less of Lee, if it had been a real battle he wouldn't have forfeited because of the weather. If she thought less of Lee that would mean that she would think less of Gaara for trying to kill her, that despite her words she still thought him to be a monster. He wanted to be sure he wasn't being fooled with. "No, I don't." His features seemed to calm down.

She stared back at the pouring rain and sighed. "Well this doesn't look like it's going to clear up anytime soon." Gaara made no sound. She was really going to go out on a limb here. She rose to her feet and brushed her wet hair out of her face. "Might as well go with it…" She gave him an offhand glance. "Care to join me?" She'd regret it later.

Gaara again said nothing, but followed her all the same. Right now she was the most bearable person to be around, and if it meant he could observe more of her accepting nature, then it was a win-win situation.

They had been walking through the rain for quite some time when Gaara glanced around the suddenly familiar surroundings. "Isn't your house over here?"

Sakura whirled around in surprise. "How do you know that?" A tinge of fear raced through her. "Why does he know where I live? Oh my god has he been stalking me? It makes sense though doesn't it? He's always showing up right? What's he plotting? Something isn't right here…"

Her thoughts were cut short by Gaara's very simplistic response, "I ran into Naruto this morning when I was going to meet Lee. He pointed it out on the way."

"THAT NARUTO! Leave it to him to tell random people where I live! He's so naïve!"

He raised an eyebrow at her, which meant she either had a very disturbed look on her face, or she had insulted him by the implications of her question. She suspected all of the above.

"I have better things to do than sit around and watch you all day if that's what you were thinking."

His perceptions couldn't have hit the mark more accurately. "It's not that at all! I was just surprised you knew is all…" She trailed off pathetically; even she didn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth.

"Does that mean I should then?" He added with a disquieting edge of innocence. He wouldn't mind in all honesty, it would be interesting to learn exactly how she ticked.

"Well it wasn't exactly an invitation or anything." Sakura answered awkwardly. She was backing herself into a corner, and she knew it.

"Who said anything about needing an invitation?" Gaara prodded, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Sakura hesitated at her front step for a moment. Two could play at this game. She turned to him, "Won't you come in then?" She had to be insane.

He just smirked and followed her inside.

Sakura went straight to the nearest cabinet and threw Gaara a towel. "You'll probably need that, unless you want to catch a cold or something."

"I don't get sick." He replied, as he dried his hair.

Sakura stared at him for a moment. It was hard to think of Gaara of the Desert doing something as everyday as drying his hair, but there he was, in her own house no less. "That must be nice." She commented. "Stop staring!" Her mind barked.

He glanced up at her. "I suppose you could consider it that way." Her casual mention of the demon he housed took him slightly aback. She had first hand experience to what he was capable of; most people in their right mind probably wouldn't even bother with that sort of thing out of pure fear.

Sakura finished wringing out her hair and laid the towel out on the back of a chair to dry. "If I make some tea will you have any?" It was good to be a hospitable host after all.

He peered up at her in such a way she would have thought it to be a glare. "Yeah." He answered.

Sakura reminded herself that it was Gaara. After all he kind of always looked that way didn't he?

END OF CHAPTER 11

W00tage! FINALLY DONE WITH 11! cheers and applause I'm so sorry for the wait really I am! Forgive me by showering me with reviews and constructive criticism! I'll eventually go back to the first batch of chapters and revamp, cuz there's a bunch of mistakes that I've been far too lazy to fix up until now. Mostly because I'm afraid if I replace the chapters it will screw up the entire order of things. Which is the problem with technologies such as these. ; Bear with me please.