The two of them were lying down on the grass, covered by Gaara's maroon cape, and were silently gazing up at the stars. Their hands fiddling back and forth, motioning their fingertips in circles while they were conversing about themselves. Other than that, they feel safe in each other's arms.

"This is so wrong, but why does it feel right?" The pink-haired kunoichi questioned in perplexity. Her head was laid against his bare chest, breathing in of his scent.

"It's so tranquil," He said.

"Hmm?" She became puzzled.

"You know, the place we are in right now..." The red-haired Kazekage muttered.

Sakura sighed and asked with a frown. "What am I supposed to do with Sasuke?" She widened her eyes in realization and panicked as she covered her face. "Oh no... I can't believe I did this to him. I'm such a horrible person."

"He knows you are actually not with him," Gaara said.

"He does?" Sakura queried.

"Yes, including everyone. Sasuke and the others are only trying to go along with the act, just so you could recover. I know there are still some feelings for him you only remembered, but once you gained all of your memories, you will understand..." he explained and intertwined his fingers with hers before he pressed his lips onto the back of her hand tenderly.

The pink-haired kunoichi blushed and smiled at him in relief. "I have to tell you something."

"Go on," Gaara encouraged.

"I remembered where we both made bracelets back then. I think I was hanging out with you in the park," Sakura said as she lightly tapped on her chin thoughtfully.

"What do they look like?" He asked, yet he knows.

"Well, you have a red ribbon attached to your wrist, whereas I have sand," she giggled in amusement.

Gaara chuckled and said candidly. "It's because we made a promise."

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to pressure you and if I do that, you may not recall," he murmured and looked away, frowning.

"I'll keep trying because I know my memories seem to be important to you guys..." Sakura smiled wholeheartedly.

Gaara's eyes lit up brightly and kissed the top of her head, correcting her by saying. "No. You are important and I wouldn't have it any other way other than being here with you..."

"I feel the same..." she said giddily and pecked him on the cheek. She rested her head on his shoulder where both of them nuzzled their noses together. They continued to cuddle up as their hearts were still synchronizing after their consummation.

During that time, the rogue ninjas are hopping onto the branches, swiftly passing by the tall trees. They were still arguing about how they couldn't manage to obtain the treasure because they set up the bombs incorrectly. One of them was accused of his stubbornness and wouldn't dare to listen to his teammates' orders, but he defended himself by trying to make sure the leaf squad members did not take hold of it. Then, they moved to a different subject regarding the red-haired Kazekage and the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Those lovebirds are separated from their friends," the second rogue noted.

"Heh! What'd y'all expected? Of course, they wouldn't leave each other alone," the first rogue chirped.

"Don't you mean Gaara?" The fourth rogue mentioned.

"Oh, yeah. That strange kid, but isn't the Uchiha one with that big forehead girl?" The second rogue thought surprisingly.

"Who knows? Maybe he is. Although, I don't think we should pry into their business," the third rogue pointed out.

"Unless we use it to take advantage," the first rogue suggested.

"How? That pinky will beat us into a pulp," the fourth rogue remarked.

"It wouldn't harm a fly," the second rogue stated.

"We can't lose our sight on one goal. Our boss will be furious," the third rogue reminded.

"I suppose you're right," the first rogue sighed dimly, then he and the others jumped over on top of ledges and went on to further their pursuit.

Elsewhere, the leaf squad, on the other hand, were hiking through the forest path. They passed by the steep hills and kept panting breathlessly out of exhaustion.

"That was so close. We almost had it in our hands," Tenten pouted dolefully.

"I could've used my art technique to grasp it," Sai said.

"Even my Shadow Clone," Naruto piped in and slapped himself, groaning. "Argh! Why did Granny Tsunade have to pick that dampy old place?!"

"Idiot. You know that area has no access to activate our chakra," Ino emphasized.

"But how come and why? I get the fact that we are ninjas and all. I mean, Sakura literally punched the ground and scared the wolf away, but then again, it could be her usual instincts," Lee said queerly.

"She must've felt very lucky that night and by the way, can we just forget about this whole scavenger hunt? I'm starting to get fed up. We've been doing quite a lot and I just want to do my own thing," Kiba scoffed in irritation.

"Oh, like the one that you do every night? Gee, Kiba. You are probably causing little loud noises in the tent since you haven't found anyone yet," Naruto snorted as he stifled his own laughter, much to the girls' puzzlement.

"Woah!" Choji and Kankuro had shocking expressions and balled their fists to cover their amusing grins.

"What the hell did you just say?!" Kiba approached him and began to affront. "Do you obviously think you can talk back to me just because you're the Hokage, huh? Well, if I would've known, I would've stolen Hinata away and she may have dumped your sorry ass."

"Have you ever thought about everyone else? All I ever hear from you is constant whining and other than that, I'm only joking so that none of us should be stressed out," Naruto retorted back sternly.

"By humiliating your teammate? Hilarious..." Kiba rolled his eyes sarcastically and continued on, clenching his teeth whilst holding back his temper. "For your information, I happen to notice some things here because I care, in case you forgot."

"Name one. It sounds to me you only want to ghost us on day one at the start of our trip," Naruto pointed out.

"How would you know? You don't know what goes on in my head," Kiba said defensively.

"Your face says otherwise," the blonde-haired ninja mumbled.

"Naruto is right. We should be having the time of our lives and now, we need to focus-" Lee didn't get to finish his sentence when he got cut off.

"Please, we can't even do that, not after Gaara and Sakura are lost. They already hit their heads on the rocks, then boom..." Kiba muttered.

"Watch your mouth. It's bad enough if you speak ill about them. They're the ones affected. Besides, nobody knew that the cave would explode by the bombs. Just imagine if you're the one who was in their places," Naruto countered slowly as he stood near his face.

Kiba was gawking at him and clicked his tongue rigidly. "Are you asking for a fight?"

"It depends if you are the first one provoking a person and I do not tolerate someone ridiculing our friends, especially if that is Gaara and Sakura," the blonde-haired ninja informed him with a calm tone of his voice.

Hinata went beside him and tugged his arm slightly, shaking her head in warning. "Naruto. Don't..."

The blonde-haired ninja looked at her in the corner of his eyes and sighed in defeat before he turned away from Kiba.

"Guys... Aren't you sick of fighting? You are both acting so childish and immature," Ino said disappointedly.

"I've been telling them that so many times. They won't listen like cats and dogs," Neji noted, closing his eyes for a moment.

"How are we going to track Gaara and Sakura? Not a single cry or scream will make them hear us," Choji furrowed his eyebrows apprehensively.

"We can wait or we have to create a signal the hard way," Shino suggested.

"And for that, they will find a way to rejoin us," Tenten said hopefully. She and the girls shared the same emotion of worry, including Lee and Choji.

As for the dark-haired ninja, he doesn't seem too pleased about what really went down. "Damn. Where the hell are they? If only I reacted sooner and should've kept my eyes on her... Why did it have to be Gaara?" He was glaring disdainfully into space and clenched his fists. His own thoughts were running through him, which made him even more pissed.

"Shall we head on? We need to look for thick wooden sticks somewhere here," Neji said, examining their surroundings.

"Agree," Tenten noted as they all nodded and followed their lead.

Contrarily, Kankuro noticed Sasuke was cracking his knuckles fretfully and couldn't help but speculate him from a distance.

TO BE CONTINUED...