Sakura stirred, groaning quietly as her vision was flooded with bright light. She blinked to adjust her eyes and realized she was still in the bath. The water was still warm, but the bubbles had dissipated and the scent of vanilla no longer lingered. Gingerly, she reached back behind her for a towel and stepped out of the bath. She could admit that it wasn't the wisest thing a kunoichi could do – falling asleep naked in the bath, but she'd be lying to herself if she couldn't admit that it was the most relaxed she had felt since she'd come to Suna.

She quickly wrapped her robe around herself and made her way back to the hall. She had no idea how long she had been asleep, but she needed to check in with Gaara to make sure everything had gone well with Sarabi.

But she didn't have to travel too far. The second she opened the bath door, she was met with narrowed, turquoise eyes and a deep frown.

"Gaara-sama!" Sakura exclaimed, pulling the collar of her robe up closer to her neck.

"Do you have a death wish?"

Sakura sucked in a deep breath, feeling far too groggy to deal with Gaara's antics at the moment. "What are you talking about?" she asked, unable to disguise the weariness in her tone.

"Falling asleep in the bath?" he demanded. "You could have drowned."

"I'm a kunoichi, Gaara-sama, give me some credit." She flicked her eyes down the hallway, scanning to see whether or not they were alone. She could see that they were – the sconces along the walls had already been lit, and far down the corridor she could see the moon shining through the archway. "What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked.

"I'm injured," he said calmly, extending his palm to her.

Hesitantly, she inspected his hand. Curiously, she leaned in toward him, examining the deep cut in the flesh of his palm. There was quite a bit of dried blood covering his hand – Sakura assumed the incident had happened a while ago and he had staunched the bleeding before coming to her.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Sarabi showed an aptitude with chakra," Gaara explained. Sakura's eyes were still fixed on his hand, but she could feel him looking at her. "I tried some simple exercises with her and it seems like she had an inherently good chakra control," he said. "Perhaps you want to try some exercises with her yourself. That's really your area of expertise, isn't it?"

"Sarabi did this to you?" she asked, gazing up at him with a critical eye. He returned her stare evenly and for one second it felt like she was playing some kind of game with him and losing badly. "How?"

"With pure chakra," he explained. "Like those chakra scalpels you use, only not quite as precise."

Sakura inspected the cut on his palm – the roughness with which it had been etched into his skin. She could see what he meant. The wound was jagged and had bled far more than an incision she would have made would have bled. It was interesting that Sarabi could manage something so advanced if she had never used chakra before and didn't really know what it was. Based on what she was seeing, Sakura had a feeling that Sarabi knew more about chakra than she let on.

She didn't mention this to Gaara, though. If she had a chance, she wanted to speak to Sarabi about this privately.

"You could have gone to the infirmary for an injury this minor," Sakura said as she funneled healing chakra into his palm.

Gaara merely shrugged in response, though Sakura didn't miss the barely there pink tinge that had spread across his cheeks. "The best medic in the world is currently in my palace," he said, his voice betraying none of the embarrassment that the color of his cheeks did. "It would be such a waste not to use her services while they are available to me."

"So you waited outside the door for me while I was in the bath?" she asked, letting a certain playfulness leak into her tone, because she wanted to play the game, too. "I must say that's highly inappropriate, Gaara-sama. I was naked in there."

She looked up at his face then to see what reaction this prompted in his features. She found his eyes lingering far lower than her face, scouring the way her thin robe draped against her body far less discretely than a shinobi of his caliber should be able to pull off. She remembered the way his gaze had also lingered on Sarabi's backside as she led them through the catacombs. It took immense self-control not to laugh in his face. The poor man probably didn't deal too much with the fairer sex – perhaps his hormones were starting to get the best of him.

"I wasn't waiting for you," he snapped. But then his features softened and he let his eyes come back up to meet with hers. "I mean I was, but not to heal my hand. I came by here and I could sense your chakra. I realized you were asleep and I didn't want to leave you alone. In case your dumb ass drowned."

Sakura smacked his shoulder with perhaps a bit more force than was necessary. Without his gourd on his back, he had no sand to come to his defense. With a wince, he rubbed at his shoulder where there would inevitably be a bruise later.

"That's not a very nice way to speak to a foreign diplomat," she chided. She smoothed a thumb over the slit in his palm, inspecting her work to make sure everything was properly healed. When he made no other biting remark, she looked back up at his face.

His features had softened again and his eyes seemed newly focused on hers, dark and wide as opposed to their usual narrow brightness. "No," he said softly. "I suppose it isn't."

She closed his fingers into a fist and pushed his arm back toward his chest. "You're all healed up, Gaara-sama," she said. His eyes had followed the movement of her hands and were now glued to where her hand was still pressed against his fist. A bit nervously, she pulled her hand away. She wasn't so sure she was enjoying his attention at the moment.

"Thank you," he said, again his voice far softer than she was used to hearing it.

With a scowl, she looked up at him again. "You're acting weird, Gaara-sama," she said accusingly.

"Just Gaara."

Sakura blinked in an effort to dispel the sudden confusion she felt. "Pardon?"

"No one is around," he explained. "You can call me Gaara. No need for formality."

She narrowed her eyes at him skeptically. "But you've already gotten onto me for not showing you the proper amount of respect," she argued. "You're sending me mixed signals, Gaara-sama."

She expected his eyes to narrow at her, but instead he looked more like a cornered animal. "There are only three people who address me without a suffix," he continued, though he seemed wary and nervous. "If it's okay with you, I'd like to increase that number to four."

"If it's okay with me…" she echoed with some confusion.

"I wouldn't want to force familiarity between us," he said. She could see the tension in his jaw and the way his shoulders had risen up toward his neck. "If you prefer to call me Gaara-sama, that is okay, too."

"Familiarity?" she repeated, more confused than before. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure I see what you're getting at it."

"You're my friend, aren't you?" he demanded with a scowl.

Sakura was amused by the fury accompanied by the seemingly innocent question. "Oh, is that what this is about?" she asked, unable to keep the smile from forming on her face. "Aww, you want to be my friend."

Gaara frowned.

"So Temari and Kankuro are two of the three," Sakura mused. "Who's the third? Is it Naruto?"

Mutely, Gaara nodded. Sakura felt her grin widen. Truthfully, she thought it was sweet that Gaara considered her a friend and that he wanted her to drop the suffix from his name. It seemed to be a good way to put the past behind them with finality. And the idea of being Gaara's friend was not unpleasant by any means.

"But I still have to address you as Gaara-sama when there are people around?" she asked uncertainly.

"For now," he said, his voice still soft.

"You got it, Gaara-sama," she said with a shit-eating grin.

She half expected some sort of scowl or deprecating remark from him. She enjoyed teasing him and riling him up, but it seemed he was in no mood for that.

"We're going back to Turtle Rock tomorrow," he said. "Be ready to leave at dawn. I'll need you to help me move the monolith."

"Yes, Kazekage-sama," she said with a mockingly low bow.

Immediately his arm shot out as he slammed his hand against the doorframe behind her, trapping her between his body and the bathroom door. Sakura gasped in surprise and shrunk back against the door. She could feel the heat from his arm near her ear and she could see the strained tension in his jaw.

"I'm constantly teetering, Sakura, between finding you charming and finding you annoying," Gaara said.

Sakura refrained from scowling, though it was difficult to school her expression into something less irritated and more neutral. Perhaps it had been his particular use of the word 'annoying' which she had grown an intense dislike of since it seemed to be Sasuke's preferred way to describe her. But she knew that Gaara didn't intend the word to be quite as vicious as Sasuke used it, and this new behavior of his was interesting. She could let it slide this one time.

Mostly because now she was deeply curious about this man who used to be so violent and out of control, yet had matured into a calm, logical, and well-respected Kazekage. What could make a man who had worked so hard to turn his reputation around decide to do such a thing to a foreign guest?

"Which am I right now, Gaara-sama?" she asked with a carefully orchestrated flutter of her lashes.

She watched him swallow, following the movement in his throat. He was scowling still and there was rigidity in his posture that Sakura didn't quite understand. He pulled his arm away, letting it fall back to his side. He looked defeated and Sakura wondered if he had just lost whatever game he had been playing with her.

"I apologize, Sakura-san," he said with a clipped tone. For exactly one second, Sakura identified with his struggle, his distaste for the suffix attached to his name. She found she wasn't exactly fond of him using it on her either. But she had only been using it to tease him and he was using it for… well, she didn't know. "We'll leave from the guard tower at dawn," he said. "Don't be late."

With that, he turned his back to her and began walking toward the open archway. His rooms were in the opposite direction, she realized, so he must have been heading out to the desert. She watched him as he retreated and she wondered if he felt relief that this moment was over.

"Sorry for annoying you, Gaara!" she called after him, her last attempt to get under his skin for the night.

His footsteps faltered. He glanced back at her over his shoulder, his expression unreadable. "Goodnight, Sakura," he said before turning back to the archway.

"Goodnight," she echoed softly.

The next morning Sakura woke bright and early to meet Gaara at the guard tower. When she arrived Gaara, Sarabi, Temari, and Hideki met her at the base of the tower.

She was surprised to see Temari there – she hadn't seemed too keen on all this Turtle Rock business. Sakura wasn't even aware of how much she knew about the whole situation.

"Okay, now that we're all here, let's go over the plan," Temari said, her voice authoritative and cold. "Gaara will go ahead of us with Sarabi to make sure she spends the least amount of time in the sun. Hideki, you and Sakura will travel to Turtle Rock with me to meet them there. Once we're there, Sakura, you will help Gaara move the monolith while Hideki and I round up as many of those people as we can."

The blond stooped down and picked up a heavy looking pack and handed it to Sakura. "Here, there's a large tent and some medical supplies inside. We're going to set up an outpost tent where you can care for any sick or injured people while we shuttle them back to Suna."

"Wait, you're bringing everyone back to Suna?" Sakura asked, glancing at Gaara to confirm.

"I spoke to the historians about this and given their unique situation, we believe it's in everyone's best interest to bring them back to Suna and allow them to assimilate to life in the village," Gaara answered.

Sakura glanced to Sarabi to see what she made of this. She had been given a set of standard sand shinobi clothing, which dwarfed her, the sleeves hanging well past her hands and the bottom of the pants rolled up several times to exposed her feet. Her expression was still one of polite happiness and wonder, but Sakura noticed the way she kept tugging at the collar of her shirt nervously.

She wondered what they had told Sarabi about what would happen to her people. She couldn't help but feel like this decision had been rushed. As far as Sakura was concerned, the best thing to do was to get the nest as far away from them as possible and then slowly wean them onto life above the surface.

But Sakura wasn't the Kazekage and it wasn't her place to make such decisions. So she kept her mouth shut and looked back to Temari for further instruction.

"So we're clear on the plan?" Temari asked sharply. Everyone nodded.

Sakura grimaced against the winds that whipped sand into her face, pulling her scarf tighter around her mouth. Temari was on her right, her eyes trained forward as they followed Gaara across the dunes. To her left was Hideki, whose posture was rigid as they sprinted over the sand.

The tension was palpable. Sakura didn't know what she had done to Hideki, but after the incident outside Gaara's office she assumed that something had the poor man out of sorts. Sakura felt inclined to believe that she was the cause of his turmoil, if the sly glares he sent in her direction had anything to say about it. She didn't know why he would be upset with her, but she didn't want to provoke him any further so she averted her gaze.

Temari, on the other hand, seemed annoyed but also insanely curious. She kept flitting her gaze to Sakura, watching her with a mixture of scrutiny and contempt.

"Is something bothering you, Temari-san?" Sakura asked, making eye contact for just one second before the harshness of Temari's gaze made her avert her eyes.

Temari did not answer. Instead she kept her eyes focused forward. Feeling a little uncomfortable, Sakura also looked forward, straining to see Gaara ahead in the distance. He was nothing more than a dot on the horizon now – he could be of no help to her here. It wasn't as though Sakura didn't like Temari – she considered the kunoichi to be her friend, even if that feeling wasn't reciprocated. What she didn't like, though, was Temari's bitterness toward Gaara's romantic entanglements. Gaara had the same right as anyone else to have romantic relationships – Temari shouldn't have concerned herself with it. Sakura wasn't even involved with him!

Still, Sakura wished she could have used him as a buffer now. Between Hideki and Temari, she was feeling the hostility and would have much preferred to be swept away on Gaara's sand platform rather than trudging through the dunes with her surly companions.

"You came back out here with him, didn't you?" Temari asked.

Sakura's brow furrowed. "What?"

"After you killed the beast," she continued, her voice tight with restraint. "You and Gaara came back out here together and you found the catacombs. You said you were sparring, but you were poking around under Turtle Rock."

Sakura wasn't sure how to broach the topic of her lie. It was obvious that she had been caught or Gaara had explained what happened, but Sakura wasn't so comfortable discussing her deceit.

"He ordered me to," Sakura said defensively.

Hideki scoffed. "It seems you are capable of taking orders then," he said dryly, "at least when it's convenient for you."

Sakura tossed a nasty glare in his direction. "I think we all know the danger in blindly following orders," she seethed. "I was trying to make the best decisions for the sake of my mission."

"Your decisions make it hard for other people to do their jobs, Sakura-san," Hideki said through clenched teeth.

"Like who?" Sakura demanded.

"Sakura-san," Temari said sharply, drawing Sakura's attention away from Hideki. "Hideki-san has been charged with your protection. The more danger you seek out, the harder his job will be."

"My protection?" Sakura asked.

Temari's eyes were narrow as she glanced in Sakura's direction. "After your several near-death experiences here, Gaara thought it would be wise to assign someone to ensure your safety."

Sakura' gaze slid back over to Hideki, who tense jaw and tightly clenched fists gave away his less than favorable opinion on the matter.

"That's why you were upset the other day," Sakura asked, "outside Gaara's office?"

Hideki said nothing.

"I can see why that would bother you, Hideki-san," Sakura said. "It bothers me, too. I don't need a keeper. I'll speak to Gaara-sama about releasing you from that duty."

Both Hideki and Temari scoffed.

"Good luck with that," Temari said dryly.

Sakura shrugged. "I've have pretty good luck with him so far," she said, though she instantly regretted the words. It was true that she considered her fortune with Gaara to be favorable – he seemed willing to let her behavior slide, and the weirdness of their camaraderie would probably lend itself well to her particular complaint this time.

But the darkened expression of Temari's face told Sakura that maybe that was something she shouldn't have said aloud – certainly not in front of Hideki.

"You guys act like he's got a finicky temper," Sakura continued, hyperaware of the way both sets of eyes were drilling into her, "but even when he's been angry with me, Gaara-sama hasn't been that bad. I don't know why you are all so afraid of him."

"We aren't afraid of him," Temari said fiercely. "Gaara would never hurt any of us – we all know that. You don't know him like I do. You have no right to make comments like that."

A little ashamed of what she had said, Sakura let her head sink down between her shoulders. Temari was right – she had no right to make such observations aloud, even if she felt they were true. Gaara was her brother; she knew him far better than Sakura did. She and Hideki both knew Suna's history, the Yondaime Kazekage, and the social climate of the village far better than Sakura did. It wasn't her place to argue with them about any of it.

That left her feeling a bit lost, though, because she had come here not knowing what to expect from the young Kazekage. Just in the few days she's spent here so far she felt like she'd gotten a pretty good handle on Gaara, even if she found him to be a little unnerving up close. The way Temari spoke about him made Sakura feel like she should probably take a step back.

But she and Gaara were friends now, weren't they? He seemed to enjoy her company, and she couldn't deny that she enjoyed his as well. How could Temari have a problem with that? Didn't she want her brother to have friends?

"You're right," Sakura said softly, her voice barely audible over the whistling winds. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."

Temari's expression softened, but the rigid set of her jaw did not. "Don't worry about it, Sakura," she said. "Let's just focus on the task at hand."

When the trio arrived at Turtle Rock, Gaara and Sarabi were nowhere to be found. Sakura reached out with her chakra, feeling beneath the sand to find Gaara's chakra signature. She could sense him somewhere beneath her, but she had no idea how he had gotten below the surface without her help. Perhaps Sarabi had found a safer path to the catacombs.

"What the hell is this?" Temari asked, kicking something on the ground. She stood on top of Turtle Rock. Sakura peered up at her from the sand below, already knowing what the sand kunoichi was looking at.

"When I came out here to rescue Gaara from the beast he had been sprayed with its acidic mucus," Sakura replied, jumping up to join Temari and Hideki on the rock. "He used his robe to wipe it off his skin."

Hideki let out an impressed whistle, looking at the charred remains of Gaara's robe. It seemed that the longer the mucus sat in the sun, the more intense its effects were. The Kage robe was nothing but charred thread now.

"The people in the catacombs have been eating it," Sakura said, watching Temari to see her reaction. "They had no other food source down there so they ate the beast's mucus and stayed underground away from the sun."

Temari's lips were pressed together in a thin line. She was silent for a moment before she let out a heavy sigh. "I had no idea they were out here," she said softly. "Who knows how long they've lived here, suffering…"

"Truthfully, Temari-san, I don't think they were suffering all that much until we killed the beast," Sakura said. "I had no idea it was their only source of food."

Temari raised an inquisitive brow.

"I'm not sure what the long term affects of the mucus consumption are," Sakura said, answering her silent question. "Assimilating these people to life in Suna, regulating their diets, learning the health effects of their culture… it's all going to be a long process. I almost wish I could stay here to help you guys figure it all out."

It seemed Temari didn't quite know what to make of that. Hideki, though, was in a pricklier mood. "I, for one, will be glad when you leave," he said with a jesting tone, though his seriousness was prevalent underneath. "You're a lot more trouble than you're worth, Sakura-san."

Even though his teasing was far from affectionate, Sakura couldn't help but grin at him. Temari rolled her eyes and tossed her pack onto the rock. "Alright, enough of that," she said. "We need to get started setting up the tents. Sakura-san, you can set up your medical tent there near those arches over there," she said, pointing to a small alcove made by the rock formation just a few meters away.

Obediently, Sakura took her pack higher up on her shoulder and made her way over to her appointed area.

"Hideki-san, give me a hand with this stuff here," Temari continued, pulling supplies out of her pack. "We'll set up a resting area under the rock for those waiting to be shuttled back to Suna."

Sakura did not hear Hideki's response as she began setting up her medical tent. She was actually looking forward to using her medical chops in this kind of setting. She had been in Suna for nearly a week now, but she missed her regular shifts at the hospital and this would be about as close to her version of normal as she'd be able to get out in the dunes.

Quickly, she set up her tent and arranged her medical supplies for easy access. Satisfied with her workspace, she pulled back the tent flap and looked back to Turtle Rock where she could see Temari and Hideki bustling about. With a sigh, she closed the tent flap and sat cross-legged on the ground.

There was nothing left to do now but wait.

A/N: So you guys pretty much all agreed that you didn't want a SasuSakuGaa triangle, so I nixed that idea. Per your requests, I might make Gaara a teensy bit jealous, though. ;) Sasuke will have a pretty large role in the sequel, so there will be plenty of opportunities for Gaara to be all cute and insecure.

And I'm sorry this is a little late. I was having trouble with FF last night. If any of you are on Ao3, I also post my stories there.