Chapter 4
Boundary Shift
That first week in Sunagakure, Sakura slept little. Whether thoughts or unpleasant dreams that kept her awake, our petal-headed medic would wake feeling the full affects of sleep deprivation. But she pushed it aside, in favor of the gratifying distraction her new job and position afforded her.
In order to determine the exact needs of Suna's medical department, the first few days Sakura spent shadowing their chief of staff to see how things were run. To say that suna's medical program was in dire need of reconstruction, was an understatement, and Sakura found herself a bit overwhelmed at the extensive outdated policies that needed rectification.
"I know. It's bad." Ichinen Uijo confessed honestly. He was an experienced physician in his late 30s, yet he looked more worn down than someone, twice his age!
"I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, but… when our predecessor - Gaara-sama's father – was in office, he concentrated the bulk of his energy on Sunagakure's tactical division. He cared little for advancements in medicine, as his main focus was to ensure that Suna ruled over all others, with an iron fist. Consequently. . ." And he let the end of that sentence hang as he gestured to the disorganized chaos around them with a weary expression.
Sakura took his meaning, and with a kind, understanding smile, she spoke confidently. "You've done the best with what you've had, Ichinen-san; I looked over your file last night, at the request of Kazekage-sama; your record is exceptional, and there are several commendations that were included in your file, written by Gaara-sama himself; that speaks to his opinion of you, and I trust his judgement."
It was amusing to see the distinctive blush creeping into the man's cheeks as he shyly scratched the back of his head, "A-Ah well, you flatter me Haruno-San, as does Kazekage-sama; truthfully, it is I who owe him a great deal of gratitude. I expressed my concerns to him, the moment he came into office, and he took me very seriously. Since then, he's been working tirelessly to ensure we get the help we need. Your instatement here is just the start of it!"
The green-eyed woman smiled as she listened to one of Gaara's top citizens speak so highly of him. She knew how long the redhead had spent in isolation, feeling hated and rejected by the world, with not a shred of acceptance from anyone. . .
It broke her heart.
Knowing that finally, there were those – the people of Suna – who saw the goodness in Gaara and adored him because of his fierce loyalty and desire to protect Sunagakure and all its inhabitants; he'd already given his very life as proof of his allegiance, and clearly, Ichinen-San was an example of what Gaara had come to mean to his people.
He was accepted. He was Loved.
"Haruno-san! Are you alright?"
It was then, that Sakura noticed tears had begun to well in her eyes, and she hastily blinked them away. "O-Oh yes, I'm fine really! I just…it makes my heart so happy to see how deeply loved and appreciated Gaara is amongst all of you; he's been through so much as I'm sure you know, but he's come so far; it just. . . . makes me happy." The woman smiled a bit abashed, and Ichinen leveled her with a penetrating look and spoke meaningfully, "Hmm. He was right; you are special, Haruno-san… "
She blinked at him curiously, pondering his cryptic words. "I beg your pardon? Who do you mean?"
The man shook his head as if shaking off a distant moment and simply smiled at her "Ah, it was nothing, Haruno-san. I'm just getting old, and talking to myself."
She smiled tentatively, as the two of them continued on. At one point, Doctor Ichinen was called to an urgent patient matter, and Sakura rushed to assist him . . . but his earlier words never fully left her mind.
《》
That afternoon, Gaara was in the midst of an outpost rotation debriefing, when he received news of an emergency situation at the hospital. Responding immediately, he dismissed his shinobi and met his brother and the physician's assistant, in the lobby.
"Tell me what happened."
"One of the patients brought in today, was suffering hallucinations brought on by exposure to a poisonous moon flower pollen; Doctor Ichinen diagnosed him as severely allergic, as his symptoms also included severe headaches and sharp muscle pain. One of the nurses mistakenly gave him a shallow dose of sedative, so he awoke much sooner than they were expecting. He went crazy, Kazekage-sama!"
They were on the street now, and the hospital was just cresting into view. "Was he delirious?"
"It seems so. " it was Kankuro who responded. "He acted like he had no idea where he was, and lashed out at the staff. Sakura was on scene with Ichinen, and she tried to calm him, but-"
Gaara came to an abrupt halt, rounded on his brother and demanded, "What do you mean, Sakura 'tried' to calm him; what. Happened, Kankuro?"
The brunette could see that his brother was standing on the edge of tipping into a violent temper; he didn't have a choice though. He had to tell Gaara everything. Sighing heavily, Kankuro raised regretful eyes, and stated simply, "She got hurt."
The turning of Gaara's countenance, and his eyes rounding in fury, were the last to be seen before he drew his cloak about him and vanished in a swirl of sand.
Kankuro grimaced, and pinched the bridge of his nose as he breathed out a curse, "Damn it."
《》
Out of a whirlwind of sand, the Kazekage materialized in the midst of chaos. It seemed that the hospital was still on semi-high alert as staff rushed here and there, answering orders being snapped out by their superiors. Sharp jade eyes took in the scene, landed on the nurses station, and his hardened voice snapped one word; "where?"
The nurse needed no explanation and merely pointed, hands trembling at the sight of the infuriated Sunaian leader.
Gaara stalked to the patient room she'd indicated and threw open the door.
Staff scrambled everywhere, in a rush to contain the combative patient who was clearly resisting.
Some of the nurses spotted Gaara and bowed with pleading expressions upon their faces; Temari was with doctor Ichinen as he, Sakura and a few of the orderlies were attempting to restrain the patient long enough for the nurse to sedate him; they weren't having the greatest luck, and it seemed Haruno was hesitant to use the full extent of her strength, for fear of further injuring the patient.
"Gaara-!" Temari's green eyes widened when she saw him, then flashed in alarm when his hardened jade orbs zeroed in on the pink-headed medic. . . .and the finger-shaped bruises around her neck.
She saw the moment Gaara lost it, and Temari feared they'd have a bloodbath on their hands if something wasn't done, and quickly.
"What is the meaning of this?!" the redhead snarled, and that's when Sakura's attention was torn away from the situation.
Her emerald orbs found Gaara's face and she shivered at the barely contained rage flamed in his eyes. Her eyes snapped to Temari for a split second, and all she saw was the blonde mouth the words, 'he'll kill him'.
In a flash, Sakura infused her hands with strengthened chakra and forced the patient to comply. The nurse injected him, gasping in relief when the struggling man finally went limp. After that, the staff took over and Sakura hastily removed her gloves and hastened to Gaara.
"Kazekage-sama," she addressed him strongly, bringing the focus of his murderous glare upon her.
"The situation is under control. . . everything's in hand."
"Not from what I understand." And Gaara sidestepped her, long strides bringing him nearly within reach of the patient, before Temari threw herself in his path. "Gaara, this isn't you. I know you're angry, but I know you don't truly desire to hurt a defenseless man!"
The redhead nearly snarled, "He crossed the line, when he-!"
The feel of two delicate yet strong hands laying hold of his arm, froze the Kazekage mid-sentence, and he cast near-crazed eyes upon the owner of them who now stood directly at his side, her body pressing fully against his.
"Gaara…breathe," the pinkette command softly, completely unaware that the entire staff occupying the room, now stared in gobsmacked amazement as they witnessed this tiny woman effortlessly calm their volatile leader.
"Why don't you come with me? I'm a little bit exhausted right now, and I haven't eaten as of yet; my office is just a floor above us. Walk with me?"
Temari marveled; Sakura must've known that getting Gaara to leave the patient alone, wouldn't be an easy feat if he was simply asked, so she'd strategically devised a way, by using his concern for her wellbeing, as a means to draw him away from the situation.
The konoha woman's mind was sharp and intelligent, just like the redhead she now lead from the room; it was really starting to rattle the blonde how alike those two were…'Damn, I'm too tired for this. ' she muttered inwardly, and turned back to the gawking staff. "Alright everyone, excitement's over. Let's clean this shit up." And with that, all members of the team hastened to obey their lady in command.
《》
They'd reached Sakura's office, and she wordlessly opened the door to let them in. Once inside, the pinkette took care to lock it behind them; she new when it came down to it, a mere lock wouldn't keep Gaara from leaving…but she felt better about the chances. Walking quietly to her desk, she took out a bottled water and downed over half of it.
Gaara stood stiffly and soundless in the middle of the room; he hadn't breathed a word since they left the Emergency room, and she didn't doubt he was still grappling with his anger.
She'd give him time to process; she had nowhere pressing to be.
"You shouldn't have interfered." The redhead spoke tightly. His expression was tenuously blank, but his eyes were hard and trained stubbornly at his feet.
"…Yes, I should have. We both know you were on the verge of decimating a defenseless man, and you would have regretted it afterwards. "
"He was not. Defenseless. From where I was standing. Judging by that," he grit out, eyes falling to her neck before tearing themselves away to finally look at her. "he was just getting started."
"He was a patient, Gaara; he's sick and needs help; you know that, and you know the kind of volatile reactions people can have when they come in contact with certain-"
At this, Gaara's apathetic countenance crumbled into tortured anger as he declared harshly, "He put his hands on you!" His body began to shake, and Sakura was taken aback by the look of raw pain and fury that swirled in his eyes; pain and fury that seemed all on her behalf.
Why did the idea of her being harmed, seem to torture the redheaded Kazekage?
The sight of his obvious turmoil, made her heart ache, and she went to him, reaching for his hand without even thinking.
"Gaara…" She twined her fingers in his, her heart further constricting when the Kazekage shuddered, and a strangled sound of longing uttered from the back of his throat. His eyes dropped to their twined hands, then dragged up to rest painfully upon her face as his expression lost the bulk of it's fury, only to be replaced with a naked, tortured look of vulnerability.
She felt his hand trembling in hers, yet his fingers worked to grip hers strongly; whether he was conscious of the action, she couldn't tell, but something told hear that this physical contact between them, was something that he needed. It soothed his temper, and he didn't appear to be in any hurry to relinquish his hold, unconscious or otherwise.
"He's wounded, Gaara. He needs treatment, and believe me when I say that it's very common and normal for patients like him to become combative; they're scared and in pain, and that fear makes them distrustful. I've dealt with situations like this before, it's not new to me, and I'm really fine. I'm okay, it doesn't hurt that bad-"
Suddenly, Gaara was in her personal space, scant inches between them now, and the words died in her throat, as he raised his free hand to gently cup the side of her neck. In the next instant, his hand glowed white with Chakra and the bruises on Sakura's skin began to fade.
The feeling of his chakra was jarring, as it was a sharp (not painful), heated sensation that she could almost taste as it thrummed through the layers of her skin. For several seconds, she couldn't speak and just stood there, open-mouthed as he attended to her injuries.
"Just the sight of these makes me want to vaporize him from existence; if you want me to refrain…then this is…"
"…your healing chakra?" she breathed in awe. Finally, her emerald eyes drew his attention, and she smiled in amazement. "Gaara…that's incredible! I had no idea you had a natural affinity for healing jutsu!"
At this, the redhead looked away, his pale cheeks actually flushing as he whispered awkwardly, "…I didn't. That is…not until I met you that second time. I was amazed at your ability to manipulate chakra and use it to heal instead of harm.
…a-and I guess I admired that about you, since then. I began to study the subject of Healing jutsus more extensively after that, and well…"
As Gaara admitted all this to her in a voice that was subdued and full of uncertainty, he kept his eyes trained away from her face. Consequently, he missed the pinkette's own cheeks flushing a brilliant shade of red as her lips parted in an 'o'; Haruno Sakura was thunderstruck; she'd never received such a genuine compliment. Imitation was the sincerest form of flattery, and she never thought in a million years that Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazekage of Suna would be the one to bestow it.
Speechless was the term most apt the describe her emotions, as the redhead concluded his healing of her bruises and reluctantly dropped his hand away.
"I am not very experienced in the technique itself. . . but I try to practice whenever I'm able. . ." he peaked sideways at her and was met with her flushing cheeks and the softest expression mirrored in her eyes as she gazed up at him bashfully through her lashes.
The woman was blushing. And it was all because of him. This ignited his confidence, and the young Kazekage brought his head round fully to face her; he still stood within her space, which served to bring their noses to almost touching distance as his face loomed over hers, his look expectant and subtly pleased.
"Well, if you'd like…I would be happy to teach you a little more of what I know." She offered sweetly, eyes dipping demurely to the floor before raising again at his murmured words, "Will you? Can I. . .ask that of you?"
Her eyes glanced between his, wondering at the subtle hints of shyness mixed with guarded want? Gaara was an enigma to her, and she was dying to figure him out. Maybe this was her opportunity? "Of course you can; I'm here to assist you, Kazekage-sama, am I not?"
"You are; but more specifically, you are here to assist my medical team. And I wouldn't want to needlessly steal away your invaluable time."
This caused a painful blush to spread down through Sakura's neck, and she bit her lip, ducking her head away from his penetrating stare. "…Kazekage-sama, you – you are terribly sweet. Has anyone ever told you that?"
Gaara's own eyes widened at her admission, but he recovered, that minuscule smile curving his lips as he responded calmly, "Am I? Is that a good thing?"
At her nod, he clasped his hands behind his back, and declared simply, "Then I shall endeavor to be 'sweet' as often as you require it, Haruno-san."
Her blush was positively blinding, as the two excited her office and headed towards home, the pink headed woman walking just ahead of him, and the Kazekage grinned for the first time in his life, feeling immensely satisfied.
《》
A/N: As was already indicated in the very first chapter, bold print represents Gaara's POV. It's just how I do it. Don't like? Find something else to read. hope you guys enjoyed this one! There's some flirting dynamic that's starting to develop!