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AN: Oh my God I almost cried when I saw all the nice things you guy said about my little brainchild. I thought what can I do to thank all these wonderful people and then I figured it out. A New Chapter! YAAAY! Well here it is. Enjoy.
PS: It was brought to my attention that I did not make it clear why the office was pink. It was Temari playing a practical joke on Gaara. That was also why he was angry.
Disclaimer: No these characters do not belong to me
Chapter 4
Sakura's POV
A week had passed since Gaara had taken her to his grandmothers' house, yet she was still plagued by thoughts of their bodies being so close. Everyday that she went into the office she found herself stealing glances at him. He was a complete mystery to her. He was so different from his siblings. The mischievous Temari had quickly become a good friend. And the ever flirting Kankuro was a great distraction from the silence and tediousness of her days. While both siblings went out of their way to make feel at home in Suna (bringing her lunch and taking her shopping) their brother treated her like the plague, a very hard thing to do since they were sharing an office. She looked up from her desk noticing his absence at his.
For someone who is supposed to be watching me he sure is gone a lot.
At that moment there was a knock on the door and Temari breezed in.
"Hello Sakura, nose still at the grindstone I see"
"I have a lot to do"
At this comment Temari scrunched up her nose.
"You work too hard. You should be more like me." The blonde kunoichi said hopping onto the table.
"And you play too hard. How do you get any work done?"
"I don't. That's why I have a horde of admirers to do my work for me."
Sakura knew this wasn't true. Oh yes sure Temari had a number of gentlemen tripping over themselves to please her, but there was no way in hell that she would let them do any of her work for her. She was way too proud under that playful exterior.
"Well for those of us that have no admirers to do our work for us we need peace and quiet."
"No admirers my arse! I have seen the way both my brothers look at you not to mention all of the single guys in town even some of the married ones. And don't forget how long the sign up sheet for those who want to be medical ninja has grown since you arrived. You're giving me a run for my money."
"Kankuro is just playing. He flirts like that with every halfway decent lady. You're the only one who escapes his advances."
"That's true, but he's not the only brother I have that looks at you like you're an ice-cream cone on a boiling hot day"
She laughed in spite of herself. "You mean the Kazekage. He's not interested in me."
"And the million yen question is "Do you want him to be?""
She paused mulling it over in her mind.
"It doesn't matter. I gave up on men a long time ago …" an almost wistful tone in her voice.
Temari caught the tone but decided to let it go. Sakura would open up when she wanted too.
"Well just because you don't have a man in your life doesn't mean that you shouldn't look good. Come on I'm taking you shopping."
"But my work…!" she protested meekly.
"… will still be here when we get back. There is a masquerade ball this week and you are going to look fabulous whether you want to or not!"
Sakura let herself be dragged out of the office by the impetuous Temari, sighing with hidden pleasure at her new friend who reminded her so much of Naruto.
Gaara's POV
He was sure that Temari knew he was there. She had seen him on the balcony of his office when she had walked into the building. Why she was trying to set them up he had no idea. He had to admit to himself that his sister had brilliant taste. The pink haired woman was smart, talented and almost painfully beautiful. It would be such a shame if all that went to waste. She would make some man very happy some day. But despite his sisters best efforts it would not be with him. First of all he was not interested in the kunoichi; he just thought she was interesting. Second, even if he was interested in her she probably only saw him as a monster. Even women who had not seen him while he was possessed by Shukaku still feared him. She probably only thought of him as a monster.
Temari's POV
She knew her brother was intrigued by the woman she was now dragging around all the costume stores in Suna. This was the most attention that her brother had ever given the opposite sex since the Shukaku had left him. Before that his exploits with women had been the most public secret in Sunagakure. She had lost friends when they started deciding that she needed to know how skilled her brother was and all the things he could do with sand. She still had no idea how she had been friends with such bimbos.
Now someone like Sakura …. Intelligent and beautiful, she can melt the ice around my brothers' cold heart. Actually they could be good for each other. There is a layer of sadness around Sakura that almost makes my heart break. Now if only there was a way that she could get Sakura to see the warm person Gaara had become and Gaara to lower his boundaries enough to let Sakura in.
Thinking to herself she added.
This sounds like a job for …THE ALL POWERFUL TEMARI, famous ninja and matchmaker extraordinaire."
She smiled in triumph and her smile grew even wider as she watched Sakura come out of the fitting room wearing the costume she had picked.
Gaara is going to have a coronary when he sees her. No man in his right mind would be able to resist.
Sakura's POV
"Temari I look like an idiot."
"Maybe … but a very sexy idiot."
At that Sakura couldn't help but smile at her friend. Glancing at herself in the mirror she couldn't help but agree.
The dress, if you could call it that, had a wide high collar and that was the only modest thing about. It was made from the finest black silk that she had ever seen and had red embroidery on all the edges. There was an upside down triangular shaped hole that started at her collar bone and pointed low enough to show a generous amount of cleavage. The material hugged her sides and waist but left her back completely bare. It trailed all the way down to the floor caressing her long legs as it went down and forming a small puddle of cloth on the floor. It wouldn't have been too bad if there was no slit. But boy was there a slit. It started at the apex of her hip and went al the way down to the floor. You couldn't see anything though until she moved, and then all you could see was leg from ankle to hip.
"Temari I cant wear this."
"And why not?"
"Look at me I look like a … like a …"
She was going to say whore but that would be a lie. Whore implied that she looked cheap but she didn't. The dress made her look elegant, sophisticated and experienced, like she knew what she was doing. But she wasn't any of those things. She went back into the fitting room to take it off. She was beginning to like the reflection of herself in it way too much.
"It makes me look like I'm someone else."
"It's a masquerade ball Sakura, you're supposed to go as someone else."
"You are a very bad influence on my wardrobe." Not to mention my bank account. She silently added to herself looking at the price tag on the dress. She knew she would get the dress. It was too fabulous not to get.
She walked out of the fitting room and headed to the cash register. Temari got there before her.
"Don't worry about it; consider this as part of the thank you from Sunagakure for training our medic-nins."
'But Temari I couldn't possibly let you …"
"You can and you will and if my brother asks about it then tell him you know nothing about it."
At the mention of Gaara she stopped in her tracks.
Oh my God! What will he think.
A picture of her reflection popped into her mind and for the first time since her "transformation" inner Sakura piped up.
Think? Trust me when he sees you in that dress the last thing he'll be thinking about is how much it cost. Maybe he'll even do some of the things that you've been dreaming about since that night at his grandmothers."
She smiled slightly to herself. It had been a while since her inner consciousness had said anything and if she was honest with herself, she would admit that she missed the instinct driven psycho.
I have not been dreaming anything about Gaara. He's the Kazekage for Gods sake!
So what? He's also a man too. And don't try to pretend that you didn't feel anything when you were standing so close to him that you could hardly breathe.
She was about to give a rebuttal when Temari interrupted her thoughts.
"Sakura … are you all right?"
She looked up to see her friend staring at her with a look of worry on her face.
"I'm fine, just thinking."
"Well you might want to think faster. If we are gone any longer our friend the Kazekage might start to think you shirking you duties."
"Oh crap! I need to go right now!"
"Here give me the bag. I'll go shop for accessories while you back to my brother the slave driver"
She handed the bag to the girl hugging her as she did so.
"Thank you for making me feel so welcome here."
"It's been my pleasure. You're a great person. Now get out of here before my brother sends a squad out to find you."
With that Sakura molded chakra into her feet and sped off in the direction of the Kazekage's tower.
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