Sakura wanted to sigh, but the lack of oxygen made her draw in a slow, deliberate breath instead. She held it for thirty seconds before releasing it and drawing in another. She pressed herself further into Gaara, leeching his warmth. She could feel his slow, even breaths – he was asleep, which was best case scenario as far as oxygen went.

But it left Sakura feeling lonely and it gave her mind a chance to catch up with her body. It hadn't been more than a couple of hours since they'd been trapped, but she was already feeling a little hopeless. She wanted to feel panicked, to let that anxiety motivate her to find a solution. But with the depleting oxygen and her complete lack of control over the situation, all she felt instead was dejected resignation. She was going to die down here and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Gaara?" she whispered. Perhaps if they were both going to die, she should wake him up so that he could spend his last moments alive actually conscious.

She twisted herself around gently, wishing there was just a tiny bit of light so she could see his face. She was certain she had never been so close to him before and she really wanted to know what he looked like up close. Where there colors other than turquoise mixed into those obnoxiously bright irises of his? Were his lashes as red as his hair?

It was too late for those question now – she'd never be able to see those colors anyway. Absently, she reached up and touched the hollow of his throat, feeling the smoothness of his skin. This, at least, she'd be able to know before she died. Gaara had insanely soft skin. Feeling a little bolder, she reached up higher, catching a lock of his hair between two fingers. It, too, was soft, though a little sandy.

And, well, if she was going to die, she might as well make the most of these last moments. She trailed her fingertips down to his forehead, brushing his bangs away so she could touch his scar. Love, she thought as she traced the kanji with the pad of her thumb. What did that word mean to him now?

She wanted to cry suddenly, because she felt sorry for him and sorry for herself. But she couldn't do that – not when that oxygen was so precious.

She continued her path across his face, running a thumb over his eyebrow. She touched the thin skin of his eyelid, his long lashes ghosting over her finger. She touched the bridge of his nose, drawing a line from between his eyes down to the tip. She wished again that she could see him, could see his handsomeness with more than just her fingers.

It was with minor trepidation that she touched his cheek, imagining the blush that might be there if he had been awake. Cautiously, she moved her fingers to his lips. As she imagined, they were soft, too, just like the rest of him. It marveled her that a man so cold, so devoid of emotion other than sadness and anger, could be so pleasantly soft and warm, even just physically.

But she knew he wasn't really that man anymore – certainly not with her. He had been kind and emotive and friendly. Shukaku was gone, taking with him the wildness that plagued Gaara's mind. He really deserved better, Sakura thought. A better childhood, a better father. He had done so much to overcome his problems. It made her miss Naruto even more.

His lips parted under her finger – she felt his breath against her skin, still slow and steady. For a moment she felt the awkward compulsion to put her finger in his mouth, to touch his tongue and his teeth with the same reverence with which she had explored the rest of his face.

But before she could decide whether or not that was a bad idea, said teeth clamped down on her finger.

Sakura yelped and yanked her hand away. It hadn't hurt, of course, but it had frightened her and embarrassed her and she was glad for the darkness that hid her flaming cheeks.

"I didn't realize you were awake," she stuttered.

"Obviously."

"Sorry, Gaara-sama," she said. "I just wanted to—"

She was cut off by Gaara's hand against her face, his palm awkwardly thrust into her cheek. He threaded his fingers through the hair near her temple, testing its softness as she had done to his. He brushed his thumb across her cheekbone and then her eyelashes. She allowed the contact, though it made her feel uncomfortable. She supposed she owed him that, especially if he had been awake the whole time.

He continued his exploration, brushing his fingers over her nose, her chin, her jaw. She remained silent, though she couldn't help the gasp that escaped her throat when she felt his thumb drag across her bottom lip.

If she hadn't already been in his lap she would have crawled into it then. It took immense willpower not to kiss him right then. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest and she knew Gaara must have been able to hear it, to feel it pulsing in the darkness that was so empty of anything but them. She was going to die anyway, so she might as well just kiss him.

His hand moved north, back up over her nose. He ran a thumb across her eyebrow as she had done to him. Her hands were quivering so she fisted them in the fabric of her shirt. He brushed the hair away from her forehead, letting his fingertips linger at her hairline.

"You have a big forehead," he said. It didn't sound mean or accusatory, but it caught her off guard all the same. If they had been above ground, surrounded by sunlight and oxygen, she might have smacked him. If they weren't so close to death already, she might have been angry with him for bringing up one of her insecurities so nonchalantly.

But beggars can't be choosers, and Sakura was determined to get a kiss from him before she died. She loosened her grip on her own shirt, preparing to grab his instead.

"But you're very pretty," he said softly. She could hear the smile in his voice. It was infuriatingly sexy and it made the thump of her heartbeat increase until she was sure it would launch itself right out of her chest.

She fisted her hands in his tunic and pressed her lips against his, a little awkwardly in the dark. He gasped into her mouth, sucking the air right out of it. His hands came up to rest on the sides of her face – she could feel the warmth of his palms pressed into her ears, muffling what few sounds there were to hear.

Her entire body radiated with heat and nerves and a tingling sensation that was far from unpleasant. She wanted to straddle his legs, to be as close to him as possible and eliminate any space between them.

But when she felt Gaara's fingers trembling against her hair, she pulled back. There was a tense silence between them, neither knowing what to say or what to do. She heard Gaara swallow and take in another ragged breath.

She wanted to apologize, but she wasn't exactly sure why. She hadn't done anything wrong, but she felt like she had stepped across some invisible boundary.

"That was my first kiss," he said.

That simple admission sent another course of fire down her spine, and even lower. God, she wanted to give him his second and his third and all the ones after that, too, but perhaps that will have been his first and his last.

"Mine, too," she replied.

"Really?"

Sakura scowled. "Why do you seem so surprised?"

He was silent for a moment, deliberating his answer. Their legs were still tangled together in a jumbled mess. She could hear Gaara's heartbeat along with hers, both a little out of control.

"Why did you kiss me?" he asked. She was annoyed by the neutrality in his tone, the words as simple as if they'd been written in pencil instead of spoken with any kind of inflection, emotion.

"Because you were touching me and you called me pretty and I just really wanted to."

Her words were met with silence again, which deeply annoyed her. She couldn't have been any more honest than that. She deserved a response.

"You know if you could just—"

Gaara shushed her, reaching out to grab onto her arm. He slid his hand down the length of her arm and entwined their fingers together again, though this time it felt immeasurably different.

"Be quiet," he said in a whisper. She immediately hushed, listening.

At first she heard nothing but silence. After a second or two, she felt rather than heard the deep rumbling that had caught Gaara's attention.

"What is that?" she whispered.

He didn't answer. He probably didn't know. The rumbling continued – Sakura could hear the gritting of sand against sand on the other side of Gaara's shield. Something was happening. Something was moving the sand. Sakura tightened her grip on Gaara's hand and was slightly surprised when he squeezed back reassuringly.

"It's Sarabi," he finally said, his surprise evident in his tone.

"Sarabi?" Sakura repeated. She reached out with her chakra, seeking the signature that Gaara recognized.

They were jolted suddenly, sliding down another avalanche of unseen sand. Gaara curled his body around Sakura's, tucking her head under his chin. He took the brunt of their impact against the sand shield, so Sakura pressed her hands to his chest to use her chakra to buffer his impacts.

When they had come to a stop, they both remained still for a moment, waiting for something, some idea of what they should do next. Sakura could feel Gaara's ragged breath against her ear. After a moment he released his grip on her arms and helped settle her into a more comfortable sitting position.

"Gaara?" she murmured. "Can you move the sand now?"

Gaara grunted and wrapped his fingers around her hand to help her into a standing position. "No need," he said as he dropped his sand shield.

Both Sakura and Gaara winced as their vision was flooded with bright, white light. Sakura held her hand up to block to light that was burning her retinas. It was absurd that something she wanted so badly just moments ago was now causing her such discomfort.

Once her eyes had adjusted, though, she was able to see Sarabi standing before them, an ethereal glow underneath her translucent skin. Her eyes themselves had become nothing but white orbs of light, sending beams in the direction she was looking, which was evidently Gaara's face. Around her, the sands were shifting, supported by her mere presence, it seemed. She took a few steps closer toward them and the globe of empty space around them shifted to accommodate her, as if moving out of her way.

"Sarabi?" Sakura asked, her voice trembling.

The beam shifted to her. She squinted, not wanting to look away from the strange, glowing girl. "Sarabi, what's happened to you?"

Sarabi took another step toward them, and now that her eyes had adjusted better, Sakura could see tears on the poor girl's cheeks. Sarabi reached out a hand toward Sakura, who immediately took it and pulled her into an embrace.

"The cave in," Sakura began, the tremor still in her voice. "Sarabi, we thought you were dead."

Sarabi did not answer. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came out. Sakura wished she could see her eyes properly, to know that the human Sarabi was still behind them somewhere.

"Sarabi," Gaara said. Sakura turned to look at him for the first time. He looked as rough as she felt – dark circles under his eyes, unusual paleness to his skin. Sakura assumed she must have been in comparable condition. "We need to get to the surface. Can you get us back there?"

The girl nodded in response, releasing Sakura from her grasp. She grasped Sakura's hand and began to walk, the sand moving around her as she did so. Sakura couldn't help but marvel at the strangeness of it all, the glow, the globe of sand that seemed to protect her the way Gaara's sand protected him.

Sakura squeezed her hand and looked to Gaara. He caught her eye and in the brightness of Sarabi's light she could see the redness of his cheeks. Together, the three of them made their way to the surface.

They broke through the surface and were immediately met with hands all over them, pulling them up to safety. Sakura sucked in air greedily as Hideki pressed a chilled canteen of water into her hands. To her left, Temari pulled Gaara into a hug, her hands trembling as they clung to the back of Gaara's tunic.

"Thank god you're alive!" she exclaimed. "We felt the cave in, then both of your chakra signatures disappeared – until we felt Sakura's, that is. What happened down there?"

Gaara pulled back to give his sister a once over. He smiled at her, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. He glanced to Sakura, watching as Hideki helped her stand, then to Sarabi, who was still glowing, though not quite as brightly as before. Taiyo stood a short distance away, watching from the shade of the medical tent.

Gaara watched Taiyo for a moment, scrutinizing the way he was peering curiously at Sarabi. He did not approach them, but stayed in the shade of the tent.

"Sarabi?" Gaara asked, steering the girl toward the tent. "What happened?"

The girl opened her mouth, but still no words came out. There were more tears now, pouring down her cheeks, dropping to the sand beside her feet. Sakura's hands were on her instantly, probing with her chakra to diagnose whatever might have been ailing her.

But what Sakura discovered instead was that her chakra signature was the same as the one in the monoliths. She quickly helped Sarabi sit down once they were in the shade of the tent. Her glow cast cool light over the shade in the tent. Taiyo backed away from her, hovering near the tent's opening as everyone gathered around Sarabi to get some answers.

"Gaara-sama," Sakura said, glancing in the redhead's direction. "Her chakra signature… It's the same one from the monoliths."

Gaara nodded, having already put those pieces together. "I noticed that as well," he said.

Sakura sent another course of chakra into Sarabi's system, probing her chakra networks, testing her reserves to see if Sarabi's own chakra was still in there somewhere, either mixed inside or separated somehow from the mysterious chakra of the monoliths.

As soon as her chakra probed into Sarabi's reserves, the girl shuddered and fell forward into Sakura's arms. Sakura caught her with ease and pressed her back against the tent pole.

"Sarabi, are you okay?" Sakura asked.

The girl moaned and blinked her eyes blearily. The glow began to fade from her skin, her eyes following suit quickly. She gasped, sucking in breaths like she had been drowning. Sakura sent another surge of chakra into her to help her breath properly, but Sarabi shoved her hands away. She then buried her face in her hands and began to sob.

Everyone watched, silent as the girl heaved wracking sobs into her palms. Sakura rubbed her hand soothingly over the girl's knee, unsure of what else she could do.

"Taiyo-sama," she stuttered once her tears had subsided enough for her to speak. "I'm so sorry. I can't… I don't know what happened."

Everyone turned to look at Taiyo, who was watching Sarabi with a furrowed brow.

"The Catacombs caved in," she continued. "I felt the monoliths go down, one by one. Each time, the light… it came toward me. Into me, I mean. I can't describe it. I felt the South monolith go down and a few moments later its light was inside me. And then the others fell, too. And the Cage collapsed. I tried to get to Toki-kun and the others, but by the time I reached them…"

She burst into tears again. Sakura grasped at her fingers, twining them together. She looked back at Gaara, who was now gazing through the tent's opening, out into the desert. She followed his line of sight to the horizon where she could see dunes in the distance, shifting and rising like waves.

"Is that you?" she asked him softly.

He nodded. "It seems my power has returned."

"Returned?" Temari demanded. "What happened to it?"

"Immediately after the cave in I was unable to manipulate any sand but my own," he answered. He then settled his gaze back on Sarabi, who was still crying. "Sarabi, do you know anything about that?"

"No, Firehead-sama, I swear!" she said, suddenly in a panic. "I don't know anything about it."

"It's okay, Sarabi," Gaara said, crouching down in front of her. His arm brushed against Sakura's as he reached for Sarabi's hand. "You've been through a lot today. You aren't in any trouble. We just want to understand what happened."

Sarabi looked down into her lap where Gaara held her hand, watching her with concerned eyes. Her sobs were now nothing more than hiccups and the glassiness of her eyes had faded.

"Would you like a moment to rest?" Sakura asked her. "Are you hungry? Are you in pain anywhere?"

Sarabi locked eyes with Sakura, the relief evident on her face. "I think I'd like to rest for a while," she replied. "If that's okay."

"Of course," Gaara said, releasing her hand and standing upright. He turned to Temari, whose dark expression was enough to send a shiver down Sakura's spine. "Temari," Gaara said to her, "take Taiyo back to Suna. Now that I can manipulate the sand again, I'd like to retrieve whatever is left of those monoliths."

Temari nodded curtly, but it was clear from the frown on her face that she did not approve of this. She glanced over to Taiyo who was still watching Sarabi.

"The monoliths are gone," Sarabi said. Everyone turned to look at her. "They're in pieces, crushed by the weight of the sand."

Gaara frowned. "All of them?" he asked. Sarabi nodded. "So there's nothing left of the catacombs at all?" Sarabi nodded again before her face screwed up in an expression of sheer grief and she began to cry again.

"Okay," Gaara continued. "New plan. Temari, your orders are the same. Hideki, you stay here and take care of Sarabi. Sakura, you and I are going back under the surface to see what we can salvage."

Temari and Hideki both nodded, but Sakura blanched upon hearing her orders. Temari led Taiyo out of the tent and began walking toward Suna while Sakura watched Gaara walk back toward the underside of Turtle Rock. When he noticed she wasn't followed him, he turned to raise an eyebrow at her. She glanced back at Hideki, whose attention was entirely on Sarabi now. He lifted his bedroll out of his own pack and placed it behind Sarabi to make her more comfortable. If Sakura had been in a better mood, she might have smiled at the gesture.

But instead, she rushed to catch up with Gaara, knowing that Sarabi was now in capable hands.

"Gaara, wait," she said once she had caught up to him. "I really don't want to go back down there."

"We have to, Sakura," he said. "We have to find out what happened down there."

"But it's so dangerous!" she exclaimed. "We already almost died down there once. What if something happens and you aren't able to manipulate sand again?"

"We didn't almost die, Sakura," he said. "Don't be so dramatic."

She smacked him in the chest, hard. "We did almost die, Gaara. If Sarabi hadn't come we would have suffocated to death. We were running out of oxygen." Gaara absently rubbed at the spot on his chest, giving her a curious look. "Besides, weren't you just getting onto me about having a death wish?"

To her surprise, he chuckled. "Okay, okay, Sakura," he said. "I won't make you go down there again. Stay here with Hideki and Sarabi."

He turned his back to her and the sand beneath his feet began to shift. "Wait!" she called after him. "You're not going down there by yourself, are you?"

He turned back to her, glancing over his shoulder in her direction. "I think I can manage without your tunnels," he said. "I can control the sand again now."

"But what if something happens to you?"

"Nothing's going to happen to me, Sakura."

She gave him a pointed look, placing her hands on her hips. "Don't be ridiculous," she said. "I'm not letting you go down there."

"Really, Sakura-sama?" he said, the mirth in his eyes seeming weirdly out of place there. "Since when do you have the authority to allow me to do something?"

Sakura tapped her toe impatiently, giving him a disapproving look. They both knew it was a bad idea for him to go back down there. They didn't even know for sure that there would be anything to find. It didn't make sense for him to potentially risk his life for absolutely nothing. "If Temari were here, she wouldn't let you go down there either," Sakura argued.

That seemed to give him pause. "You're worried about me, aren't you?" he asked, his eyes focused intently on hers.

"Duh."

His expression shifted then, a flicker of something she didn't understand passing quickly through his eyes.

"Sakura, you understand why I have to go down there," he said. "I have to get to those monoliths."

"But why?" she demanded. "Sarabi and Taiyo are up here and they're safe. The beast is dead and the catacombs are gone now. What could you possibly want to go down there for?"

"Shikamaru has been working on translating the message from the first monolith and it appears to be some kind of historical account of the sand beast," Gaara explained. "It details things about the mysterious chakra and the beast, but I need the writing on the other monoliths to complete the text."

"But Sarabi said they were crushed to pieces," she said. "And you could be, too, if you go back down there."

Gaara frowned, his gaze flitting over to the open tent. Sakura followed his gaze, seeing the empty opening of the tent. She could hear Sarabi still crying inside, but neither she nor Hideki were visible from where they stood. She looked back at Gaara, who now wore a perplexed expression.

He reached up toward her head and brushed a bit of sand out of her hair. She couldn't help but feel like something had changed indefinitely between them – this gesture seemed far too intimate.

And it took conscious effort on her part to resist the urge to lean into his hand. As if it weren't already difficult enough to be a horny teenager, she feared for his life and didn't want to resist physical contact when it could very well be the last time she ever got a chance to touch him.

Gaara seemed awfully confident that he would not die, though, so when he pulled his hand away and dropped it back to his side, the look on his face was one of amusement rather than the seriousness reflected in Sakura's. Sakura held his gaze, her hands fisted tightly at her sides. She wanted to balk at how he avoided taking her seriously when she had a valid concern, but then his eyes swept over her in a way that sent sharp heat down into the pit of her stomach.

She watched his pupils dilate as they traveled from her eyes down to her mouth where they lingered for a moment before traveling lower… and lower, grazing over her legs before coming back up to settle on her eyes again. She loved this attention from him, but she also hated it. She couldn't determine the boundaries of whatever their relationship was and it left her feeling confused.

"You're right that it's dangerous," Gaara said. There was a different sort of resolve in his voice now. "Would it make you feel better to come with me? We could keep each other safe."

Sakura shook her head.

"Gaara, all those people just died down there. You lost your ability to manipulate sand, and we have no idea why," she said. "It could happen again and you would definitely be screwed this time since Sarabi won't be down there to save you. It's not safe."

Gaara twisted his lips into a frown and for a moment it looked like he wanted to argue with her some more, but he stayed silent.

"Gaara, please don't go down there."

"I like it down there, you know."

"I bet," she replied dryly, in no mood for whatever game he was playing.

"And I liked having you down there with me."

She nearly scoffed, but she restrained herself. "You think you can butter me up?" she asked. "I'm not letting you go down there."

"I'm not buttering you up – that's the truth," he argued. "Besides, I don't need your permission to go down there. I do want you to come with me, but I won't force you to if you don't want to."

"You only want me to come so I'll kiss you again, you pervert."

Gaara blinked and Sakura allowed herself to revel in his surprise. "You only kissed me because you thought we were going to die," he accused.

"I already told you why I kissed you," she seethed. She completely understood his line of reasoning, but it stung her to think that he would accuse her of lying about it, or that he thought impending death was the only logical explanation for why she would kiss him.

"Because I touched you?" he asked scornfully. He did not believe her. "I've touched many people, Sakura, and it's never made any of them want to kiss me."

She almost laughed at his naivety before she caught herself. "Not like that, though," she said, though her voice was soft and not representative at all of the inner turmoil she felt. She really didn't want to be having this conversation out here in the middle of the desert – not while trying to convince him to stay safely above the surface of the sand.

Gaara gritted his teeth. She could see that he also didn't seem fond of their conversation.

"Gaara, please," she implored, her one last attempt at it before she gave up. "I will kiss you a thousand times if you just don't go down there. Please."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

He took a step toward her, the expression on his face a mixture of amusement and irritation. He reached his hand up and settled his palm on the side of her neck. She could feel his heat, the unsteady way his fingers curled around the back of her neck. He pulled her toward him and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. Stunned, Sakura blinked.

"Nine hundred and ninety nine to go," he said.