Hullo!!!!!! I'm back, and I'm sorry for the delay. I'm lazy. Hey, that's one of the Seven Deadly Sins! Sloth!
Anyways, here's the disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
- - -
Sakura groaned and turned over. Upon feeling a soft, cool pillow, she sat up quickly. She was in an off-white room, in a large bed. Swinging her long legs over the edge, she realized that somebody had dressed her in a loose robe, decorated beautifully with embroidered green fans. Against the white of the cloth, they stood out and matched her eyes beautifully. She only hoped that the somebody who had dressed her was female.
Standing, Sakura straightened the robe and looked around the room. Her bags, which she'd dropped near her desk at the office, sat in a corner near the door. She dug through them and gave her hair a quick brush; the now fully-awake kunoichi padded out of the room after reading the note on top of her bag:
Sakura!
Nice to know you're awake – well, you are if you're reading and fully
comprehending this. Come down to the living room when you're ready.
In case you were wondering, yes, I was the one who dressed you up.
Temari
Down the stairs at the end of the hallway there was a room with a couch and two armchairs. This, Sakura assumed, was the living room. The mistress of the house lay asleep on the red couch. As Sakura walked past, she noticed a note on the blond woman's stomach. Picking it up, she read it:
Sakura!
If I'm asleep by the time that you find this (and I probably will), look
around the kitchen for something to eat. Help yourself to anything you
like. Oh, yeah. Feel free to take out extra. I'll probably be hungry when
I wake up. Gaara, too, when he comes back.
Temari
Grinning, the emerald-eyed kunoichi set the paper down on the table and slipped into the kitchen. Surveying the contents of the refrigerator and the various-sized but equally almost-empty cabinets, she decided with satisfaction that there was enough to make curry. Checking the meat to make sure it was fresh, she pulled out the ingredients and set to work, trying to finish before Temari awoke. The older woman had tried to cook for them and their friends once – they had all passed out from the pungent odor coming from the blackened lumps. It was, they'd reflected later on, a bit like chemistry.
The instant Gaara stepped through the door to their house, an unexpected smell reached his nose. At first he thought (with panic, and Sabaku no Gaara never panics) that Temari had tried to cook again; but as he drew closer to the kitchen, he noticed that it was a good smell.
"Huh…" Sakura's voice rang out from the brightly lit room. "It beats me how you can manage to burn water for the rice in two minutes, Temari-chan! Now, for everybody's sake, and for the sake of the food, I'm banning you from the stove for right now. The curry's almost ready, so could you get the bowls? You can dish out the rice, but – DO TRY TO GET SOME IN THE BOWL, TEMARI-CHAN! Why don't you just set the table, then… Yes, there's no way you can hurt the food like that."
Temari had finished setting the table before she looked up and noticed Gaara. But when she did, everybody in the house knew it. Her vaguely depressed face lit up instantly.
"Otouto-kun! Oi, Sakura! Gaara's back!" Sakura plugged her fingers in her ears, knowing what her friend was going to do. Temari's next words shook the house. "KANKURO GET YOUR LAZY BUTT DOWN HERE BEFORE I COME UP THERE AND DO IT FOR YOU!" she screamed and the top of her lungs.
Gaara's other sibling laughed loudly. "No, thanks!" he called down cheerfully. "Come up and get me, then!"
Temari looked pleadingly at Sakura, who sighed and spoke evenly. Though she was speaking no louder than usual, her voice passed through the whole house. "Kankuro-san, come downstairs, please. The curry is getting cold."
There was a thundering down the stairs, and the last sand sibling stood before them, his puppet on his back. "Hai! Sakura-sama!" He saluted, army-style. Temari whacked him upside the head. When he glared reproachfully at her, she pointed at Sakura.
"Arigato, Temari-chan. As I was saying, the food is ready, so help yourselves," Sakura told them. After they had all claimed their portions of curry and rice, they sat around the wooden table; Temari and Sakura shared the couch and Gaara and Kankuro sat in the armchairs. The two older sand siblings complimented the food, and Sakura nodded her thanks. Temari looked expectantly at Gaara, who kept his eyes on his plate. To get his attention, the spiky-pigtailed woman whapped him on the head with her giant fan, which had been sitting conveniently at her side. When he glared at her, she glanced pointedly from him to Sakura, who was eating quietly. His scowl dropped and his gaze softened.
The young Kazekage mumbled a "The food's good," and the pink-haired kunoichi beamed at him.
"Arigato, Kazekage-sama!" Turning to Temari, she cocked her head in puzzlement. "Hey, Temari-chan, why did you bring my bags? I could've gone back to get them." Temari stretched lazily, got up, produced a worn letter from a cabinet nearby, and threw it to her emerald-eyed friend, who deftly caught it and opened it. Her quick eyes scanned the contents and she wrinkled her nose.
"You can have the room that your stuff's in," Temari told her. Sakura gathered all of the dishes and took them in to wash, sighting happily.
"Thanks, Temari-chan!" Once the plates were soaking in the warm, soapy water, she rinsed her hands and bounced off, calling over her shoulder, "I'll go unpack, then!"
Gaara stared after her, confused. "Unpack…?" Temari laughed.
"Tsunade-sama wants her to stay here," she explained. Walking over to the sink, she reached into the water and finished washing the dishes. She threw a towel to Gaara and handed him a dripping plate. He began drying. In no time (with is sand helping, of course), the dishes were done. Kankuro had gone up to his room before he could be forced to help.
It was only when Sakura came back down again that Gaara noticed what she was wearing. He had seen Temari wearing it once or twice, but it brought out Sakura's eyes in a way it had never done for his sister. She had tied a red bow around her waist to keep the robe closed, and it only added more color to the pretty image she created. (A/N: He really is OOC now!)
"Oh, yeah, Sakura!" Temari exclaimed. "I had a few other outfits I thought you might like! C'mon, let's go try one on you!"
Sakura had lived around Yamanaka Ino long enough to know that it was useless to try and refuse such an order. She followed meekly into Temari's room. Besides, she did like dressing up occasionally. When Temari pulled out the first outfit with a flourish, she gasped and clapped in delight.
Gaara unbuckled his gourd and laid it down carefully next to his chair, leaning back. He wondered what his sister would try to put on Sakura. The things she wore would not look good at all on the more delicate-looking medic-nin. When Sakura was dragged out for him to see, though, all of his doubts in his sister's choice of clothing dissolved.
An elegant red kimono enfolded her, neatly yet modestly showing off the gently curved shape of her body, and gold thread became embroidered butterflies. Her hair had been arranged into a bun at the back of her head, the ends spiking out to frame it. Temari saw him staring and grinned, winking.
"Like what you see, little brother?" she inquired so that only he could hear. He glared at her, but she didn't relent. "Maybe I should be a fashion designer! Come, Sakura! Let's go try on one more!"
Sakura sighed and let herself be led back into the room, but secretly (and she was sure Temari knew this) she was enjoying being dressed up. The outfits Ino chose for her were outrageous – at least Temari knew when to draw the line. And the fan-wielding kunoichi tended to drift towards the more traditional – more formal and more modest – clothing for her.
The next outfit Temari picked out for her dress-up doll consisted of a simply white dress (like Greek or Roman style!) that was pinned at the shoulders and at various points on her arms. The shimmering pearly material pooled around her feet and the neckline settled just under her collarbones. Temari smiled happily and tied a sky-blue sash loosely around Sakura's slim waist. She took a curler and set to creating gentle waves in her friend's shoulder-length hair. Gazing at the younger kunoichi, she sighed and pushed her outside. Sakura thought that she heard something suspiciously like "How nice it is to be young…" but dismissed it as her imagination.
As Sakura stepped out of Temari's room slowly, the wind-user opened her fan and kept up a breeze from behind. Gaara looked up – and froze. With her hair fanning out around her flushed face and the creamy material of the dress floating softly near her bare feet, she looked like a goddess from a myth.
"What are you doing, Temari-chan?" she exclaimed. "I have to admit that it does feel good, though. It's warm in here; can we go outside?" Upstairs, Kankuro yelled and rushed down the stairs.
"Sure, Sakura! Though it's hot in the daytime, it gets cooler at night. Let's go!" Temari cheered, grabbing Sakura's hand. The medic-nin stumbled on the hem of her dress. "Hurry, hurry! Or Kankuro will beat us!" Gaara sighed and stood up, buckling on his gourd.
"Temari-chan, I can't run in this dress," Sakura reminded her friend, but Temari was already gone. Sakura squeaked in surprise as Gaara swept her up in his strong arms and carried her outside. "Eep!" The Kazekage looked down at her.
"Shh. If Temari sees me doing this, she'll never let me forget it – or you, either," he told her. She whimpered and closed her mouth. Temari would also tell Ino, who would tell everyone in Konoha, who would never let her forget it for the rest of her life.
Temari was already outside. Gaara set Sakura down, steadied her, and asked, "Can you make it from here?" She nodded and, picking up the silky cloth around her legs, ran to her friend, who was yelling triumphantly at a scowling Kankuro.
"Ha! I beat you! Oh, hi, Sakura! See, you ran pretty fast in that dress!" the older kunoichi beamed. Sakura turned red and dropped the edges of her dress, clasping her hands behind her back.
Kankuro looked around his sister and gaped. "What have you done to Sakura-sama?" Temari shrugged.
"We were playing dress-up, weren't we, Sakura?" The now normally-colored girl nodded in confirmation. The puppeteer whistled in admiration.
There were three folding chairs, and Temari and Kankuro occupied two of them. Sakura and Gaara stood next to the empty one. Temari stood and gestured for Sakura to take her chair. The medic-nin smiled but shook her head.
"It's your chair, Temari-chan; you sit in it, she insisted. Both women stood with their arms crossed, staring at each other until finally, with a sigh, Temari surrendered and sat down.
Suddenly, Sakura found herself being pushed down onto the remaining chair. Looking down, she saw that it was sand that was moving her. When she struggled to remain standing, Gaara only smirked and increased the pressure. She tried to punch through the sand, but it only trapped her fist. Once she was in the chair, the sand formed a kind of cocoon around her in a painfully familiar gesture. Her eyes widened in fear. She'd been pinned to a tree like this once, and she'd almost died.
"Kazekage-sama…" she choked out through the tightening in her throat. "K-Kazekage-sama!" Temari stood up, glaring daggers at her younger brother.
"Gaara! You're scaring her!" she shouted. Startled, Gaara glanced at Sakura's face, which was pale and drawn. Her lips were trembling, and her breathing was coming in short, sharp, irregular breaths. He opened his hand, and the sand fell away to reveal Sakura's clenched fists.
"Gomen… gomenasai, Haruno-san," he muttered, looking at her face. she forced a small smile, not quite meeting his eyes.
"It's okay, Kazekage-sama," she replied shakily, trying to rise. Standing behind her, Gaara used his hands to push her firmly down onto the seat and held her there.
"Sit," he commanded gently. When she obeyed without an argument, he let go of her and sat on the stood of sand he had created for himself. Presently, the exhausted girl fell asleep in the cool evening breeze as they watched the sun set. Before her eyes closed, however, she spoke quietly.
"May I sleep here tonight?" she asked nobody in particular. Temari nodded silently, her face turned to the horizon. They sat there in silence – not an awkward one, but a comfortable, relaxed silence.
- - -
I've finally managed to convince myself to type this up, so tell me what you think! ' I'm lazy, I know, and I apologize in advance. Once I start, though, I type pretty fast. So, see you next chapter!