He walks me home. Or rather, back to my room. We don't talk much, but he never lets go of my hand, and I never let go of his.

When we get back into the city the streets have mostly emptied out. Everyone has retreated inside at last, to go to bed. After all, it is very late.

Instead of going through the front entrance of the embassy Gaara takes me around the back of the building, right under my window. There he stops and turns to me, and takes my other hand. For a moment I think he's going to kiss me, and I'm not sure what to do, but then I feel myself being lifted from the ground. I look down at our feet and see what should have been obvious; sand. Gaara lifts us up onto my balcony, where the sand retreats, so that we are alone again.

Maybe it's really weird of me, but I don't feel like we're alone when his sand is around. It's too much like a living thing.

"I guess this is goodnight." I say. He nods, and I give him a quick kiss before turning to open the door into my room. I rush inside, embarrassed beyond reason – it's only a little kiss for god's sake! – and close the door behind me. It takes me a couple of seconds to work up the courage to turn around again, and when I do Gaara is gone. The balcony is empty once again.

I get into bed and lie awake for a long time before falling asleep, still smiling.

"Where will you go now?"

Luo shrugs. "You know I don't plan things out in advance like that."

I smile. How true. "So you have no plan at all."

"Well, not no plan exactly." He says, rocking back and forth on his heels. He's still wearing the clothes he wore the last time I saw him, and he looks fine. I don't think he'll get himself into any more trouble. Well, not much more anyway. Nothing as big as that rebellion.

"So what is the plan then?" I ask. I don't really expect him to have any plan at all. He probably just said he had a plan so he doesn't look to irresponsible. But now I figure, he'll have to just shrug and admit he really doesn't have a plan.

"The plan is not to get caught." He says, smiling brilliantly.

I sigh and shake my head at him. "That plan is basically the same as no plan. Do you have anywhere to go?"

"I can think of a few places I'll try." He kneels beside me and pats my shoulder. "Of course, I can't tell you where these places are. Just in case, you understand." I roll my eyes and he goes on. "Don't you worry about me Sakura. I'm a grown man; I'll be just fine."

I take his hand in mine and study his palm, as if I could read it. Unfortunately, that's one art I never learned. I put his hand down and look up at him. Funny, how holding his hand is completely different from holding Gaara's hand.

"We have to stop meeting like this." I say.

Luo stops smiling, and turns away a bit. His shoulders sag and he nods. "I know. That's why I really came to see you. This is the last time I promise, and I'll be out of your life forever. I just wanted to say goodbye." He turns and smiles again. "Everybody loves closure right?"

I jump up and into his arms, wrapping him in a hug. "Good bye Luo." I say into his shoulder. "I'll miss you."

He hugs me back. I feel like I'm losing an old friend. After all that we've been through, I feel like Luo and I know each other as well as any childhood friends. It's really too bad it had to turn out like this.

"Good bye Sakura. Have a nice life."

I wake up much later than I usually do, after the sun has risen. But I guess it doesn't really matter; it's not like I have anything to do.

I get up and dress leisurely then go downstairs to have breakfast with all the other late risers. In other words, with the real politicians.

I sit at a table by myself, not knowing anyone, or caring to get to know them, enough to feel comfortable sitting with them. Now I'm wishing that I had just stayed in my room to eat breakfast. I had thought that it would be better for me to get out of there; that I should be in the company of people, but now that I'm here, I'm just eating as quickly as possible so that I can get out of here. I only catch little bits and pieces of the conversations going on around me, but even those are boring enough to make me want to go back to bed. You'd think that after a recent uprising even bureaucrats would have more interesting conversations.

I'm almost done eating when Naruto shows up. He yells my name from the doorway and then comes bounding in to sit beside me. Everyone in the room stares at him for a while, but soon enough they go back to their boring talk.

"I've been looking all over for you." Naruto says, eyeing my food hungrily. I push what's left of it over to him. He would always eat whatever I didn't want.

"Did you even bother looking in my room?"

He eyes me stupidly for a moment and then shakes his head. He chews for a moment and swallows before continuing to speak. "I didn't think you would sleep so late. You never sleep this late."

"You don't know the half of it." I mutter under my breath. Last night was the first night of real sleep I've had in months.

"But anyway, Temari will be angry with me now, for taking so long to find you. She was expecting you in her office hours ago. I thought for a while you had run away, seeing as how you weren't anywhere in the city, and I told her so, but she just told me to stop being so stupid, and sent me here." Naruto stops talking for a little while to chew and look thoughtful. "She's really smart too."

"Yes she is." I say, pushing myself off the table to stand. "She's also not especially patient, so I had better get going. I'll see you later Naruto."

He waves goodbye as I leave the dining hall, and yells with his mouth full of food. I laugh at the ladies staring at him in disgust, wishing I had half his courage.

When I reach Temari's office it's somehow even busier than the day after Takeo's murder. But if you think about it, it does make sense. After all, the murder of a prisoner is one thing, but an attempted coup is quite another.

Still, I'm ushered right into Temari, and like the last time, she sends everyone out so that the two of us can talk in privacy.

"So what's this about?" I ask cheerily. "My new bodyguard?"

Temari shakes her head slowly. "We got a message from the Hokage, early this morning. She says she'll be expecting you back in a few days, along with Watanbe and Ito. I sent a messenger ahead of you to inform her of Naruto's recovery, so she'll be expecting him with you."

"Oh." Suddenly I don't feel so cheery.

Temari lifts her hands in a sort of helpless gesture. "I don't know what else to say. Thank you, for one, for all your help. The night before you leave we'll have a banquet – because I know how much you love those – to thank the three of you for all that you've done. I'm putting in a suggestion that we give you a medal or something, because you sure deserve it."

I shake my head. "You're not serious right? No medals Temari. Not for us. You know that."

She sighs. "You're right. It's just so unfair that our work never gets appreciated properly." She looks up and smiles impishly. "But you'll have to make a speech the night before you leave, for sure."

"Now I know you can't be serious." I say, but she just smiles, raises her eyebrows.

"You know you want to."

"No."

"Mmm hm."

"Definitely not."

Temari takes out a pen and writes something down in her date book. "So you'll give your speech between Watanabe's and Seri's? That's perfect."

"No Temari!" I yell, getting up to try and grab her pen away. "What are you writing there? Stop it!" She nimbly dodges my attempts to steal her book.

"You'll love Seri's speech I guarantee it!" She cackles, closing her book and hiding it in her desk. I fall back into my chair heavily and cross my arms across my chest like a sulky child. "She's my favorite speaker actually. I don't think she even thinks about her speeches beforehand either. They just always come out so…"

"Temari."

Temari snaps out of her happy retreat to focus back in on me.

"Yes?"

"I hate to be the one to dampen the mood here but…"

"But what?" she asks, no longer looking so happy. I'm almost sorry for what I'm about to say.

"But there is no way in hell that you're getting a speech out of me." I repeat. "And that's final."

"Oh, we'll see." She replies, smiling mysteriously. "We'll see."

I sigh and shake my head at her stubbornness. "Is that all you called me down here for? To pick on me?"

"Of course not!" She exclaims, but then for a moment seems at a loss, as if she can't think of another reason she asked for me. After a moment she shrugs. "Oh well. Seri wanted to see you at the hospital again before you leave. She figured you'd be too busy tomorrow, so she wants to see you today. About an hour ago."

"Great. Thanks Temari." I mutter ungratefully as I stomp out of her office and into the army of assistants waiting outside. "She's all yours." I call out melodramatically as I wade through them and out the door.

Once I'm out in the sunlight again, I feel like a dark cloud has descended over my head. It's time to go, just when I was really starting to enjoy my time here. When it finally seemed like something might happen with Gaara; I have to leave the city, and who knows when I'll ever be back? By the time I'm sent on another mission to Suna he'll probably have met a dozen other women who will fall madly in love with him, and chances are pretty good that at least one of them will get his attention.

After all, if I could do it, anyone else certainly could.

"I'm going to be alone for the rest of my life." I mutter to myself as I turn down the street that leads me to the hospital. Already it's hard to tell that it rained last night. No puddles remain, no extra water drips off the sides of buildings. It's nothing like Konoha after a storm. The sun dries up the water almost as soon as it comes.

I reach the hospital faster than I'd expected. Everything is happening too fast, all of a sudden. I walk up the stairs slowly, as if that can prolong my time here, but I'm only halfway up the stairs when I hear a familiar voice telling me to hurry.

I look up to see Junko leaning out the window, waving at me. "If you don't hurry someone's going to die!" She yells. "And I don't mean one of the patients – they'll die anyway!" As soon as she says it she covers her mouth and looks shocked. I'm quite shocked myself. I never realized Junko could be so crude.

I duck my head to hide my smile as I jog the rest of the way up the stairs and into the hospital. As soon as I walk in I feel like I've come home again. This is where I belong. The smells and sounds are so familiar to me, I feel like I've been deaf all this time, and now that I'm in here, surrounded by the sound of talking and monitors and footsteps on linoleum I'm alright again.

"Miss Sakura! You're back!" The man behind the desk stands as I enter. I never did learn his name, and now I feel bad about it, but too embarrassed to ask him this late into our acquaintance.

"Yes. Though I'm afraid it's not for long."

"Oh?" He starts to ask more, but I'm saved from having to explain myself by Junko, who comes running down the hall and launches herself at me, nearly bowling me over.

"Sensei! Where have you been all this time?" she asks breathlessly. Kenta and Mai follow soon after, with little Asuka bringing up the rear.

"I had some very important business to attend to." I say, trying to sound important in front of my students. For some reason they seem to think I'm this great person, and I feel like I shouldn't disappoint them by telling them the truth.

"More important than saving the lives of people here?" Mai asks quietly.

"Well… er…" I falter, unsure of how to respond. Well, some of them seem to think I'm a great person anyway; Mai can see right through me. "So the truth is I was told to take a vacation, when I was recovering from my injuries."

"Well that's lame." Junko says. "While you were gone we had to learn from this other lady-"

"Hey! Don't be so rude!" Another familiar voice yells across the room. A voice that most would associate with the devil, but it'll always make me think of hospital food.

"You're late." Seri says, glaring at me as she walks up, followed by a young woman dressed in a white doctor's coat. The other woman smiles at me shyly as they approach, but doesn't step out from behind Seri to introduce herself. She reminds me a lot of Hinata, actually.

"Yeah, about that… Apparently nobody thinks I sleep." I answer with a shrug.

"That's because you don't sleep." She responds, "I'm your doctor; I know these things."

"Well I was sleeping this morning. And no one thought to look for me in bed, so I actually got to sleep in."

Seri raises her eyebrows skeptically. She probably doesn't believe me. She probably thinks I went out for a run around the city, so no one could find me, and I'm just making up excuses to please her. As if there's anything I could say that would really please her.

After a minute she shrugs, and tells the students to go away. "Sakura and I have some very important things to discuss, and you all have a lot to learn still."

Junko sighs loudly, but follows the others away, with the young woman in tow. Asuka turns to wave at me as I watch them walk away down the hall, and I wave back, feeling a little pang of regret in my chest.

"I'm going to miss them." I tell Seri, as I turn to follow her the other way.

"After I practically had to force them on you – it's such a shame." She says dryly. She opens the door to her office for me and ushers me inside first before closing the door behind us.

"Have a seat." She says, dropping herself heavily into her own chair. I sit in a seat opposite her with a little more composure. "So. Leaving tomorrow eh?" She says, getting straight to the point. "Honestly Sakura, I was hoping to get more work out of you before you left."

I laugh. Of course Seri's motives would be so practical. That's what I love about Seri.

Seri grins wickedly, showing off her pointed teeth to their full, terrifying extent. "You laugh now, but don't be thinking that I'm going to let you off so easily. With all the patients we've gotten from the battle, and all the stupid people who got colds after going out in the rain last night… Well, I just don't have time for everything, so I'm going to ask you to do one last thing for me – more as a favor than anything really."

I nod cautiously. What does it matter how I respond anyway? Even if she says it's just a favor, nothing is ever 'just a favor' with Seri. She's too scary for that.

"Good! I'd like you to do one last check up for the Kazekage before you leave. I told him to be here in a couple hours, so that should give you plenty of time to get ready for the big party tonight afterwards."

"Uh huh." I just keep nodding. Seri can't know how excited I am to see Gaara again – and in such close quarters too! – but the way she's smiling at me does make me suspicious. I wonder just what she knows.

"Thank you dear!" She says, getting up out of her chair to hug me. I don't hug her back at first, unsure of what the hell is going on, but after a moment I relax and hug her back.

"We're going to miss you kid." She whispers into my ear, and then let's go of me just as quickly as she started the embrace. "Now get out there and work!"

Sorry it's taking me so long; I always have trouble with the end of stories.

But mostly I've just been playing to much DDR lately. ; )