Hiya.

27-06-2020 edit: While writing this, originally, I kept forgetting that the colour I like most as reference to Gaara's eyes is aqua. Gotta remember that. Enjoy. ^_^

…
Chapter Four: Watching You.
...

As it turned out, the Kazekage's administration building had no fangirls… whatsoever. Job applications for the position of personal assistant to the Kazekage aside, the place was devoid of anything that remotely resembled giggling, star struck stalkers. Sakura imagined they had their own pen, on the other side of the village, where someone like Kankuro went to give them their daily "feeding". The mental images made her giggle and she quickly covered her mouth, looking around to make sure she was alone. Sitting behind her desk, she was glad the week was almost over—as much as she was enjoying this job, she needed to get out of here for longer than an overnight in her apartment.

It got lonely after a while; this place kind of creeped her out, too.

Tenzou was driving her mad too, with all the questioning: "Have you screwed him against your desk yet?" "Are you going to give him a personal check-up?" "Do you want me to find out his favourite sex position?" The ridiculous questions went on, but she knew he was just teasing. And when he wasn't joking around, he was reminding her, rather obnoxiously, that they didn't have all year to do this.

Sakura felt like a yo-yo: on one hand, her "brother" was treating her like a child, and on the other, her "employer" couldn't decide between ignoring her and openly staring. He was checking her out, obviously trying to figure her out; his true intentions were hidden behind those guarded looks he gave her. One moment he was seemingly content, pretending she was just another piece of furniture when she came into his office, and the next he went stonily quiet, appraising her with barely contained fascination.

It made her think he thought this was a game.

So, she decided to play this smart. Taking Shikamaru's advice, she'd done her best to steer clear of Temari—though she was beginning to think that woman could see through walls—but the blonde wasn't so easily side-tracked. She didn't like her and didn't hold back; there was no direct attack on her person, but Sakura found herself having to go the long way to her desk because Temari would sometimes deliberately block the most direct route. With Gaara's warning, she didn't have the authority to dismiss her, but had apparently scared the last three receptionists Gaara had hired so bad that they'd either left Suna altogether or hadn't been seen anywhere near any ninja building since.

Still, things were a little better on the "seducing the Kazekage" front. Not perfect, but better.

Sakura hadn't been lying when she told Naruto she was not some kind of seductress, but that blonde baka had set her up, knowing the rumours outside of Suna about him being something akin to asexual, were completely false. It made her wonder if the other things Naruto had said were true. What had he said?

"He loves mysterious women."

Right and apparently, she was baffling enough without having taken on an alter ego—internal, freaking insane doppelgängers notwithstanding. Sakura scrunched her eyes closed, picturing herself throttling the Hokage.

You are so dead when I get home, Naruto.

Having taken his words to heart, she did however, quickly find the Kazekage watching her. It was the reason Gaara gave her those sidelong glances. And now, at the end of the week, he was ogling her covertly every time she walked by, without her having to even enter his office. She didn't want to push her luck though, especially since she'd discovered that that redhead who'd groped him during those ridiculous excuses for interviews hadn't actually instigated anything with him.

It made sense.

Sakura ran her forefinger across her pulse point absentmindedly; Gaara had touched her, whispered things that made her blush and explored the junction between her neck and shoulders with his tongue. If he'd done anything even remotely like that to a fangirl… well, of course the crazy girl had responded inappropriately.

The women that Sakura encountered who actually did work here however, were polite, appropriately dressed, and inviting. This entire week had been an eye opener.

It started out as some kind of practical joke.

At least, she hoped it was.

What had first seemed like a weird but doable mission turned into the most embarrassing job interview of her entire ninja career. Sakura Haruno A.K.A Sayuri Nakayama, was a studious, and highly efficient receptionist, but working for Tsunade had never been a full-time thing. She'd sorted the fifth Hokage's paperwork, run errands, organised, delegated, and filled in for Shizune when she was away or unwell… but working for Gaara was very different again.

And what was the joke? As it turned out, Naruto had been right: she was perfect for this job. It still reminded her of all those times she picked up after Tsunade however, though she seriously doubted Gaara would ever end the day drunk, passed out on his desk and mumbling "fuck you cranky bastards" in his sleep, among other things.

A drunken Tsunade was always entertaining, unconscious or not.

"Sayuri-san?"

Sakura snapped out of her reverie at the sound of the familiar voice. The woman's name was Yoshiko Mori—Shizune's age, she'd guess. The first woman in this entire building to speak to Sakura (Temari didn't count), Yoshiko was the personal assistant to one of the councillors and had been for years. If Sakura remembered correctly, the man's name was Shin.

"Yoshiko-san, can I help you?"

"The papers for the upcoming meet with the daimyo," Yoshiko said, placing a manila folder in Sakura's waiting hands. "Shin-Sensei wishes the Kazekage-sama to look at them immediately."

"The bottom of the pile then," Sakura joked, and the woman chuckled slightly.

Her personality actually reminded Sakura of Shizune: so much so that she knew she could joke about something like that and Yoshiko would just wave it away. When the dark-haired woman didn't immediately walk away, like every other time she'd dropped off something important for Gaara (or picked up), Sakura gave her a curious smile and Yoshiko obliged.

"Apparently, the rumour is that you're from one of the larger civilian villages in Iron."

The curiosity in her voice surprised Sakura—this was the first time the woman had expressed an interest in her background. Sakura nodded her head however, fingering the manila folder meant for Gaara thoughtfully.

"Sakata is large; larger than any other village I've seen, other than this one of course."

"Oh? How many is that?"

What is this, an interrogation?

"A few."

"I miss travelling," Yoshiko said wistfully.

"You're not from Suna either?"

"Oh, I am. I'm a retired Kunoichi."

Ninja didn't retire according to age—the only things restricted to Shinobi via age were alcohol, gambling, and sex. Sakura had treated forty-year old's who were fit as a fiddle, and yet a week before Naruto had given her this insane mission, her prognosis had ended the career of a twenty-two-year-old. It was one of those jobs where, time really was an illusion.

"You must have seen a lot."

Sakura indulged her as Yoshiko talked about a mission to mist that had started as an A rank but was quickly reduced to B when their quarry turned out to be bandits rather than rogue ninja.

"That was my last mission," she said. "Shortly afterward, I found out I was pregnant, and decided to give that life up."

"You have a—"

"Daughter; her name is Samara."

Sakura just nodded as she heard Gaara moving around in his office; the older woman noticed too and made to leave before the Kazekage caught her talking instead of doing her job. But Yoshiko looked over her shoulder as she left, and grinned. "I should have you over sometime next week: Samara-chan is an excellent cook."

Sakura returned the smile. "I would like that."

...

The giggling gaggle of girls standing outside The Zephyr as though waiting for permission to enter weren't dressed for this weather.

Sakura glanced at them as she passed by to enter the club; the brunette girl at the head of the group caught her eye, raking over the body of the former pinkette. She scrutinized her with critical eyes, and something Sakura recognised from Kunoichi all the time back in Konoha—a predatory challenge that screamed "I can kill you a thousand ways". The girl had all the signs of a ninja; she filed that information away just in case and continued inside the night club, not even hesitating as the brunette kept watching her.

She had more important fish to fry, so to speak.

It had been two weeks since her arrival in Suna, and exactly that long for him to approach her after that incident with Tenzou, and finally, barely five minutes after she'd entered the night club, Sakura's quarry made his move on her.

"Hello my petal."

Ah, there he is, she thought, grinning inwardly.

Sakura hadn't forgotten the guard who'd cracked onto her when she first arrived in Suna. He was behind her; her skin tingled slightly at the sudden warmth, despite the fact that he wasn't actually touching her. She turned slowly, taking a half-hearted step away from him to avoid brushing against him. This ANBU was gorgeous; his hair was dark brown (almost black), and bright blue eyes twinkled mischievously at her, much like Naruto's did when he was being cheeky, but with an allure that painted him in the same category of a suave Kakashi.

"Shuin," he said immediately, when she started to wonder if she should ask him his name. "My name is Shuin."

"Real or code?" She asked.

"Real." He smirked and she was immediately and heavily reminded of Sasuke… now that she looked closer, he could definitely pass off as an Uchiha. "Can I get you a drink?"

She let him lead her toward the bar, and Sakura went over her plan in her head; she'd told Kankuro she was coming here, and although Gaara wasn't in the room at the time, she knew he'd heard her. There wasn't much of a chance of this happening overnight, but Sakura needed access to high level documents (for the Kazekage's eyes only type of scrolls) and Kami knew where the redhead kept them. If they were in his office, they were well hidden.

Tenzou had visited her during a few lunch breaks over the week—about the time Gaara conveniently went "missing", and able to use his chakra without someone accusing him of being a ninja pretending to be a civilian, had placed some sensors nearby. He couldn't get into the office however, so it was all from outside. There didn't seem to be anything tucked away, just out of sight.

That left Gaara's home.

As much as Sakura hated to admit it (and liked it, really, considering Gaara was a very attractive man), she was going to have to earn herself a personal invite to the Kazekage's mansion. She wasn't going to get it by hanging around the office and pretending to enjoy deciding on what colour paper looked best coming out of the printer. After a week of seductive glances from the fifth Kazekage, she realised it was time to get more proactive.

"Your brother isn't here?" Shuin asked.

Sakura realised she'd let her thoughts wander; two hours after she'd arrived, her new drinking buddy had given her feet a break and suggested they settle onto one of the couches in a corner booth instead. The ANBU was running his fingers along her bare arm, just looking at her. It sounded sleazy, but she was having a hard time trying to feel disgusted.

Sakura shook her head. "No, he doesn't much like the noise."

Somehow, shortly after Sakura spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd, her conversation with Shuin slipped inexplicably from whose turn it was to buy the next round to her preference in weapons… oh yeah, she was talking about the things she got up to that her "brother" wouldn't approve of.

"I prefer the nodachi," she said, her fingers brushing the weapon Shuin was hiding under his jacket.

He just smiled at her. "That's a difficult sword for someone who doesn't know how to handle it."

"I can handle it."

"Is that so?"

Sakura nodded, now looking into his eyes. "I learnt how to in a martial arts school in Sakata: we used suburitō, in our training sessions."

A suburitō, was a heavy wooden sword, and Sakura had only ever used one once, when she was visiting Tenten and the weapon's mistress had begged until she agreed to train with her—apparently, the rest of her team had been "busy" that day.

Figures.

That girl went crazy with her weapons, no matter who her opponent was.

"I see you as more of a naginata kind of girl," Shuin added, interrupting her thoughts. "Do you know what—"

"A much more balanced weapon," she said slowly. "Better suited for combat I suppose, but I don't see combat."

"Of course," he said. "You're not a warrior?"

She shook her head and turned away from him to order another drink from a passing waitress. Sakura let her eyes drift toward the direction she knew Gaara and his siblings had been a few minutes ago. Temari and Kankuro were talking, with the blonde still glancing at "Sayuri" every now and then with a look of deep suspicion on her face—Kankuro looked happy regardless. The redhead was nearby also, and Sakura caught those aqua eyes in hers; he was expressionless, but his body language was tense, like he was annoyed with something.

After a moment of fighting her inner urge to just run over there and jump him, Sakura tore her eyes away and forced herself to listen to what Shuin was saying. The pale eyes of the Kazekage were still watching her: she could feel that penetrating gaze of his. More than anything, she believed she intrigued him, but there was a definite, underlying need she couldn't quite put her finger on. She had to remind herself that a dark-haired civilian from the land of iron who was attractive and yet not a fangirl, was interesting in and of itself.

Lust… that had to be it.

I am not a pink haired Kunoichi with a temper and intimidating glare, she thought to herself, repeating it a few times just to remind herself.

The waitress who'd taken her previous order returned with a new glass and Sakura happily sat backwards, sticking her finger in the liquid and playing with the ice cubes. She knew very well, from drinking sessions with her shishou to nightclubbing with Ino, that she had a low tolerance for alcohol. It made her current situation more difficult, but not impossible. She'd learnt to drink without getting drunk, and Sakura had it practically down to an art. Firstly, she had ice with every drink, ordered a new drink before she'd finished her old one (promptly passing off the latter to a passing waitress), and of course, when the opportunity presented itself, she spilt it.

Even if Gaara had a way of detecting her chakra network, like the Byakugan, a sloshed woman wouldn't be a threat to him, ever.

She lifted her eyes to return the stare of the Kazekage again and bit her bottom lip; the effect was instantaneous, and she saw his eye twitch.

"Shuin," she said, not taking her eyes of the redhead across the room. "Stay here."

The more than tipsy ANBU agent dutifully did as he was told and watched as the object of his affections stood up and strode away. But Sakura didn't head for her true target—that would defeat the purpose of not playing fair in this game.

On the other side of the room, Kankuro's eyes widened as Sayuri moved toward the lowset stage—this club was popular because every now and then (they did it randomly, to keep people guessing), they let women who weren't employees, pole dance in the centre of a secondary stage. It was lowset so that it didn't distract from the main stage, where the paid dancers entertained the crowd.

He let out a whistle: the girl could dance.

"I thought you said Sayuri wants to fuck Gaara," Kankuro whispered to his sister.

Temari sighed deeply as she watched the way the strange girl was dancing, the men around her cat calling and making not-so-subtle "come hither" motions to her. Several feet away, the ANBU she recognised as Shuin was watching like some lovesick puppy; she motioned to him and he obediently made his way over to her. She proceeded to sway her hips against him, teasing, inviting, and yet carefully guarded against his own pelvic movements.

"She's trying to make him jealous," Temari said, thinking that it was the only reason for the strange girl now coming onto that ANBU.

Kankuro chuckled, watching the way his baby brother's knuckles were gripping his chair, none too gently. "And it's working."

"It's not funny," Temari hissed at him. "The girl's trouble."

"Huh? What makes you say that?"

"She's just…" Temari bit her lip, drifting off. The truth was that there were no actual signs that this Sayuri wasn't who she said she was, but whenever she got near the girl, she got this overwhelming desire to protect Gaara from her. "She's hiding something," she finished lamely.

"And Gaara needs to get laid."

"Kankuro!" Temari hissed.

"What? It's true; it' about time he found someone new."

"It's weird," she insisted. "He's never been here before, decides all of a sudden to come, and spends every second upon arrival just sitting in that damn chair."

"He's scoping out the competition."

"He's a political figure and should know better."

Kankuro snorted. "Temari, our dear brother is so much more than that." She frowned, confused. He just smiled. "He's a man."

"He's an idiot for letting her get so close to him."

Kankuro scoffed. "They only met a week ago—it's not like they're hanging out in the spa together."

Temari crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. "You know what Gaara's like—last month it was some girl with oddly coloured hair he was shacking up with, and now‒"

"If they sleep together, they sleep together," Kankuro interrupted. "But he doesn't really know her; he isn't stupid enough to get carried away with some skirt. Have some faith in our little brother, big sister."

She sighed. "He's got the worst taste in women, ever."

Kankuro chuckled, accused her of being a prude, and walked off to find some cute, willing blonde to give him a lap dance.

No matter how wise Kankuro had just sounded (and she would admit that over her dead body), Temari couldn't settle and let things be: what kind of big sister would she be if she just let women walk all over Gaara? She knew how to tell the difference between those infatuated by her youngest brother, and the uninterested ones. Fangirls didn't always squeal and stalk—some signs were more subtle than others. And seriously, if Suna was populated with nothing but Gaara fangirls, she'd be fighting a losing battle keeping them away from him.

She had things under control.

Temari watched as Gaara stood up gracefully, gave Sayuri a frustratingly hungry look, and made his way out of the club. Only time would tell how this would play out, but she knew Gaara (perhaps better than Kankuro) and that Sayuri girl was definitely on his mind.

...

The following Monday was far more normal than Sakura had anticipated. Sure, Gaara had been avoiding her all morning, and after her "performance" the Friday night before, she couldn't say she was surprised, but she felt like nothing had really changed. He wasn't ignorant of the female body, and she'd heard the gossip that he was very attentive during sex. Her actions showed she wasn't quite as reserved as her work dress-code would have him believe.

But despite the change in Gaara's demeanour to her, it was still business as usual. She wondered if Gaara was only ever comfortable in sexual (or social, really) situations when he had his title to fall back on. The Zephyr didn't normally play host to the Kazekage apparently, so she wondered where he got his reputation from.

"Playing games instead of working, I see."

The voice startled her, and Sakura looked up to see Kankuro smirking at her.

"The Kazekage-sama hasn't given me anything new to do," she said defensively. She'd also run through his schedule, organised her desk and resorted the filing cabinet, waiting for Gaara to emerge from his office, to no avail. "So, sue me, I'm bored."

The middle Sabaku sibling sidled up next to her and peered at the computer screen. "Spider Solitaire; are you trying to make a statement?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You flirted your way through Friday and Saturday night, but went home alone both times," he said, gracing her with a lopsided grin. "You feeling lonely?"

"You followed me home?" She asked, annoyed.

"Nope, Gaara did."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "H-huh?"

"He said it was to make sure you got home okay," he continued, losing his smile. "I think he was just making sure there wasn't any competition."

"E-excuse me?"

Okay, she was trying to get Gaara's attention, but for some reason, what Kankuro said surprised her. He was being extremely forward about it too; he was dead serious.

"Oh, come on Sayuri," he said; the sound of her fake name used so casually silenced her incoming retort. "You were so hot at The Zephyr—if I knew you'd say yes, I'd have taken you home myself, both nights."

Sakura blushed, lowering her face. She wasn't that bad, really?

Kankuro laughed. "Don't go red now—you were doing so well."

Sakura managed to regain her dignity and challenge the puppet master at some of the games she'd snuck onto the desktop, but he declined, claiming to still have a hangover... So, she ended up teasing him until he agreed to swapping stories over poker. He apparently, always carried a pack around with him.

"Temari's been out for blood since I walked in on her with a leaf ninja."

"Leaf?" Sakura had a sudden, sickening feeling.

"Yeah, Shikamaru or something like that." Kankuro shrugged. "Brilliant guy though—he always beat me at every game we played when he was here."

"Hm… imagine that."

Kankuro grinned, ignoring her jab and throwing the cards in his hands faced up on her desk (he was sitting on a chair on the other side of it). "Ha-ha! Read 'em and weep!" He gave an exaggerated laugh; the sound came out more like a witch's cackle.

Sakura just glared at him. He had a full house and all she'd gotten was a lousy pair of fives. "Ah, shut up."

He was still grinning cockily a minute later when Temari came sauntering into the hallway. "Don't you have a mission to be getting to?" The blonde asked her brother, not even glancing at Sakura—she ducked her head, hoping Temari would just walk away once she was done, and missed the curious glance Kankuro gave her.

"Uh yeah," he said, standing up. "See ya Sayuri!"

Sakura waved back and chanced a glance at the oldest Sabaku. Temari was frowning at her. "You're a piece of work, aren't you?"

Sakura instinctively growled. She hadn't meant the sound to come out, just inwardly moan or groan at the woman's approach, but didn't regret it really. This was the third time today that Temari had come up to her desk and said that.

Don't you have a mission as well? She wondered; the woman was a ninja, so why was she here every day?

Temari chose to ignore Sakura's growl, and instead stared down at her brother's assistant. "There's something I just don't get."

That your scare tactics don't scare me? Sakura thought, but kept the sarcasm off her face. She was playing the civilian card but wasn't about to turn into a whimpering doormat.

"Why did you even come to Suna?"

Sakura lost her glare, replacing it with surprise and forced herself not to roll her eyes. "Excuse me?"

It seemed to take forever for the blonde to verbalise what she really wanted. Sakura saw the gears working in the woman's head and she remembered another of Naruto's claims: "…that woman knows everything."

Temari bowed her head slightly, her face now strangely expressionless, and her voice came out in a monotone whisper. "I know who you really are."

…

XXX

...

AN: A tiny step away from the feel of previous chapters, but a necessary (and important) one. More on Gaara's POV next time, promise. :) Lotsa love! ^_^

R&R.

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