PHANTOM OF THE SAND

Intermission

The apartment was just as cold as he remembered leaving it. Except now there was a tad more dust to be dealt with.

He'd made quick work of it on his first night back and replaced his old bedding with a new, cleaner set. Everything was fresh now although he kept the lights dim just as he'd always preferred them.

Uchiha Sasuke was currently spread over his bed on his back. The bed, he decided, felt a great deal smaller than when he had left. It was big enough for one person to curl up comfortably but in the manner he was sprawled his arms and legs stuck out over the edges a bit.

He must have gotten taller.

After a brief moment Sasuke turned his dark eyes from the ceiling and rolled to lie on his side, his arm tucked under his head. He felt strangely anxious as he lay there now. He couldn't seem to fall asleep. Normally when he was set to go to bed all he would have to do was hit the sheets and he'd be out in no time – save the nights where he would lie awake thinking of his revenge and his brother.

Was that it, maybe?

Now that he'd done the deed he didn't have these things to mull over anymore. His mind was virtually empty if all things except the replay of memories. What was he going to do now…?

He suddenly remembered the feeling of Sakura's lips pressed against his own. In the dark he could feel his cheeks growing red again much to his inner dismay. He wasn't supposed to blush. Uchiha Sasuke did not blush. It was not a Sasuke thing to do.

So why couldn't he stop it from happening?

Agitatedly, he flopped from the side he was laying on to the other to look out the window. He had been so preoccupied with a lust for revenge and reason with Itachi that everything else inside him had calloused over. It was like everything froze in wait for him until he finished what he had vowed to do. Everything he didn't want to deal with – everything distracting – was tucked away deep in his head.

He hadn't really expected that things might start to thaw out once his life-long goal was achieved. But it was true. As much as he was beginning to hate it, he knew what was happening. Uchiha Sasuke was like a lone figure on the stage under a single spotlight surrounded by darkness. He knew there were people around him, other actors and an audience, but he could not see them and only focused on his own light as blindingly demanding as it was. Now his spotlight was fading, and the house lights were turning on. His vision was expanding in great proportions.

Sakura…. Even when he was part of Team 7 Sasuke felt at least some obligations towards his teammates. It was a faint but very real connection. It had never become anything beyond that or at least nothing Sasuke would have admitted. Sakura's affections towards him were more than obvious. She had even confessed her love for him before he left – and that was something he hadn't been able to entirely shake.

And she'd kissed him.

He was finding it very hard to get it out of his head just how beautiful she'd looked when she pulled back after that. Previously, he had attempted to take her blossoming into a young woman with a genuine Uchiha 'yeah-that's-nice-whatever' stride. Hell, he'd attempted to do that many times before. Admittedly, Sakura was cute, or rather she HAD been cute. Now she was just …glowing.

There was a reason that he never looked at her for very long and never made eye contact. But when she kissed him, he couldn't help it. She was right there.

Right there.

And she still wanted him.

Sasuke sat upright in his bed and cradled his bewildered head. This was quickly becoming very, very annoying. There was no way he was going to sleep anytime soon. Scooting to the edge of his bed he sat there a moment in his shorts and the white t-shirt he often wore when sleeping. Sasuke never liked being unsure about anything. He had always been sure about what he wanted to accomplish in life. So why did he feel so off balance now? And over a girl?

She'd just kissed him. It was just a kiss.

His first kiss.

Er… from a girl anyway.

Because Naruto…

Er….. Naruto.

NARUTO DIDN'T COUNT!

Sasuke jumped up and let out a frustrated groan, his hands to his head. Marching to his closet he hastily pulled out his Uchiha clan shirt.

Didn't count..didn't count. Naruto didn't count! I'm not GAY! I like girl kisses! Sasuke reassured himself. He tugged the shirt over his head and straightened it in front of the mirror on the wall. I like...Sakura's kisses… His protesting thoughts murmured, causing him to flush red again. He refused to look at his reflection any longer and turned, jogging down the stairs towards the door. He had to get this cleared up now. He had to see Sakura.

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Sakura was at home in her own apartment. She was fast asleep wrapped in her blankets and in wonderful warm feelings of how it felt to finally kiss Sasuke. The dreams entertaining her now were equally as whimsical and fluffy. She felt as though she had no care in the world and for the night, at least, she forgot all about the danger.

The danger, however, hadn't forgotten her.

The shadows decorating her dimly lit room suddenly became darker as the light was huffed out. Only the moonlight shone through the window now and, if not for that, one could have never seen Gaara's figure stalking through Sakura's bedroom. He moved slowly towards her bed and stood at the foot of it, just watching her in her peaceful slumber. His sleepless eyes darted over her form and he felt a deep twinge of anger. How dare she sleep so serenely. After all that she didn't even have a second thought about him. Not as long as she had the pesky Uchiha with her – she didn't care about him at all. It was as if he didn't even exist.

In her sleep Sakura's lips curved into a bright smile and a very light chuckle escaped it as she rolled to her back. Gaara's temper flared. It was almost as if she had heard his thoughts and was laughing at him. In all logical sense she was not and was merely enjoying a very good dream, but the sand-nin's taste for logic over fury was often times very askew. He swept around her bed to one side, intent on strangling her with his bare hands. Sand was fun, but direct contact was even more fun. You could feel their muscles tense and their veins break. He wasn't even attempting to deny the voices in his head goading him to commit such an act.

Much to Gaara's dismay, however, just as his hands were about to land about the kunoichi's slender neck her brow furrowed and she murmured out something he didn't quite expect.

"Gaara…" Instinctively, Gaara's hands went flat from their curled state and landed on either side of Sakura's head causing him to lean awkwardly over her. He managed to land with a good amount of control so her bed didn't bounce enough to disturb her. He looked down at her now. Why had she said his name? Was she dreaming about him now? Why should she? His eyes narrowed slightly with impatience and he was agitated at having his desires whipped around like a banner in violent winds.

Just a moment ago he was ready to leave nothing in her room but the bloody pulp of a body IF even that. Now he was leaning over her slumbering form, trying very hard to ignore how feminine she smelled and how soft she looked.

Particularly her mouth. Those softly parted lips... and her hair sprawled beneath her head on the pillow.

Gaara felt his arms bending under his weight. They weren't tired by any means…but he was instinctively closing the gap between himself and the girl beneath him.

He could almost feel her breath… yes, he could feel her breath on his face….on his own mouth.

He felt her sigh a little and the breath rushed the gap between their lips, causing him to shiver slightly at the feeling. His eyes closed as her smell became all the more potent in the closeness.

"Sak..u..ra..," he murmured quietly as his own lips parted.

Gaara had never felt his muscles react faster than they did that moment. The moment that he had come so close….and was foiled by a loud an annoying knocking at Sakura's apartment door. He was distanced from Sakura and up on his feet before Sakura's eyes even opened.

Sakura sat up in her bed and quickly became aware that she was not alone in her room.

"Gaara? …What?" she asked, confused and startled. Her attention was snapped away by another series of knocking at her door. She received no response from Gaara whose eyes were fixated on the window. Sakura's eyes darted between him and the window.

"Sakura…!" came Sasuke's voice from below. Sasuke was downstairs at the door! Oh, no… Sasuke! At the sound of the Uchiha's voice, Gaara made a dash for Sakura's bedroom door and the stairs. Sakura, fearful of what he was planning, scrambled out of bed and grasped at his cloak to stop him before he made it out her door.

"Gaara, no..!" she hissed, not wanting Sasuke to hear. Gaara whirled at having his cloak grabbed and turned to face her, grabbing her wrist to make her let go.

"How could you…," he said in his lowest, and quite possibly most threatening, tone.

Sakura looked at him with wide eyes and couldn't manage to speak. When he attempted to head for the stairs again she instinctively rushed forward and brushed past him to block his path, arms spread.

"I won't let you..!" she declared, although she was trembling. Gaara's eyes narrowed at her. Protecting him again, was she?

"Get…out…of my WAY!" he seethed, swinging an arm in her direction to make her do so. He had no intention of fully hitting her, but was merely trying to swat her away. Sakura, on the other hand, ducked out of the way of his arm and found herself losing her balance at the top of the stairs. She gasped out as she lost her footing and felt herself falling backwards – that moment of shock and realization that the coming moments were going to be nothing but pain washing over her.

But she stopped falling.

In the split second of a the moment before she hit the stairs Gaara's fingers reached out and grasped at her and her nightclothes. Just barely he managed to pull her back towards him and stumbled with her until he fell with her in his arms and hit the wall. Sliding down to a sitting position, his legs bent up, his arms cradled her. His head was leaned back against the wall, his eyes wide and his lips parted in a momentary panicked breath.

Sakura's eyes were equally wide as she lay in slight disarray against Gaara's form. What the heck just happened? Her mind reeled. She could feel Gaara's fingers against her back, twitching and grasping unconsciously. She suddenly wanted to look at him, and see his face, but she could barely find the courage to move at all.

"Sakura!" came Sasuke's voice again. He had apparently heard the scuffle because he sounded more urgent than before as he pounded at the door. The rapping noise jerked Gaara back to his senses and he pressed Sakura off of himself, rising to leap down the stairs and around the corner. Sakura sat up and quickly forced herself to her feet to go after him. He was going to kill Sasuke!

She scrambled to the door, which was still closed, and flung it open ready to see the carnage.

"Sakura. What's going on?" Sasuke asked, glancing her over quickly. "What was all the noise?" Sakura looked at Sasuke, her mouth agape and she stepped outside past him into the cold to look all around.

"I…," she murmured.

He was gone.

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Author's Note: Thanks to all who helped me out with the Sasuke writing thing. I hope what I came up with works out well.