Hello. As always, thanks for the reviews. They mean a lot to me :)

I realized that I'm not good with description, and particularly for this chapter, it downright sucks in my opinion. Add to that, my limited vocabulary really doesn't help me at all. But I try my best and am still try to improve. Anyway I hope y'all like this chapter as much as the previous ones. Enjoy.

PS. I don't own Naruto or Gaara or Sakura, only the plot for this fic.

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kallou : No, I didn't mean 'oh hey'. Ohayo is Japanese term for 'morning/good morning'. Hope this clears things up :)

PS: I'll use common Japanese phrases once in a while in this fic, so if the words don't mean anything in English, then it will just be me using Japanese terms.

Chapter 3

Usually, Gaara wasn't the one who greeted people first. A little surprised, Sakura's eyes widened at the unexpected greeting, but she quickly composed herself as she greeted him back.

"Ohayo." Sakura replied with a smile as she bowed slightly with a tilt of her head, while her eyes studied his features. From the look of it, she could tell Gaara had just woken up. And he looked pretty normal today (as normal as his stoic and emotionless face could be), and his face was serene and peaceful, unlike several days ago where that very face was twisted in agony and horror. This brought yet another small smile on her lips.

They didn't speak to each other for a moment, with Gaara leaning against the wall and Sakura stood not five feet away from him. Silence ensued as both of them exchanged meaningful stares…

It had just been two days since Gaara and Sakura had their last conversation at the end of his healing session, where he was told not to indulge in any physical activity or to use chakra in any shape or form until his chakra flow returned to normal. He abode to it.

It had just been two days since Gaara first opened up to her, though not by much.

It had just been two days since she found out -and realized- how lonely he was, despite being a Kazekage and well-loved by his family and people.

It had just been two days since he…

Sakura blushed.

I'm going to miss him. Her inner self said gloomily.

Yes…you're right… Sakura agreed…though she was hesitating a little bit. But once she returned to Konoha, Gaara wouldn't be there anymore to distract her thought like what he had accomplished successfully these past few days, and she most likely wouldn't be seeing him again for a long time, so why not be honest to herself once in a while?

After all…it wasn't like he was all that special for her either. He was just a friend. And it was totally normal to miss a friend. So she shouldn't worry too much about this. Once the mission was over and done with, she wouldn't be seeing him again, and hopefully she didn't have to worry about questioning her own feeling anymore.

And then Gaara broke the eye contact.

He pushed himself up from the leaning position and took a step forward, his aquamarine eyes bored into hers as he stood calmly in front of her, watching…again.

This time, Sakura squirmed under his stare. Well, Sakura, this is it. Say something…or we're both gonna stand here staring at each other for hours! She heard her inner-self reminded her. I know, I know! Now would you shut up and let me think?!

But just when she was about to open her mouth to ask him how he felt this morning, Gaara's stare traveled down to her backpack that she carried with her right hand and stayed there for a moment, before lifting his eyes to meet hers again.

Noticing that, as if his eyes could talk, Sakura quickly understood his silent question, or maybe it wasn't a question and he was just observing, but at least it gave her something to say to him.

She lifted her backpack then, holding it in front of her chest with two hands, "Well, you must be wondering why I'm still here today when I was supposed to return to Konoha yesterday, am I right?" She asked cheerfully, while acting as casually as possible.

Gaara watched her and didn't reply for a few seconds which made Sakura lifted her eyebrows and tilting her head questioningly in an act of getting him to answer the question.

"Iie.", came the one-word reply as he turned away slowly, his back now facing her as he looked down the hallway to Temari and Kankurou's rooms, his arms still folded in front of his chest.

"I want to see it…". He turned around again, glancing at her. He was about to continue when he noticed Sakura's puzzled expression. He held his gaze on her face. Somehow, ever since Sakura's stay in Suna for the last few days, he had developed some strange feelings. For one, he liked to watch her. For someone like Gaara, Sakura had the most expressions out of all the people he knew, but of all her expressions, he…really liked that puzzled expression on her, with her beautiful emerald eyes looking at him, and only him, wondering, and…her lips half opened, it made him wanted to grab her and—

"…the boulder." He continued then, explaining himself to Sakura and halting his own thought. He creased his (nonexistent) eye brows. That feeling which surfaced exclusively only in Sakura's presence, was very new to him…and he hated it. He really hated it... Where was the Sabaku no Gaara who was once so distant and unaffected? He missedhim…very, as this situation with the pink haired girl was making him very uncomfortable...on one side. But on the other side…

A little surprised with what he said, Sakura didn't reply momentarily. She blinked then and said, "You knew?"

"Temari told me everything." Gaara replied.

"Oh." Sakura said, all the while smacking herself inwardly for being dumb with her question. "Then…about last night…" Sakura stopped as she looked away from Gaara, successfully hiding the slight pink on her cheeks from him.

"Hm." He responded quietly with a nod, his gaze turned darker as he continued watching her.

"Gomen nasai!" Sakura all of a sudden bowed down towards him which surprised Gaara slightly, though his face didn't show it, as usual. He raised an inexistent eyebrow and tilted his head questioningly at Sakura.

Sakura blushed again, "I…I just thought I must have invaded your private space by doing that, although it was an accident…I felt like I needed to apologize…so—" She stumbled with her words, her eyes couldn't meet his as she kept her head down.

"…" All the while, Gaara was silent as he listened to her, before he decided to stop whatever she was blabbering about.

"…No need." He said huskily, almost a whisper.

Shivers ran down her spine as she felt Gaara had suddenly moved closer and his voice was incredibly close to her ear and she could definitely feel his warm breath tickling the side of her neck, so she looked up. It was a mistake.

She froze instantly. Her heart almost skipped a beat. Gaara's face was extremely close to hers and their cheeks almost touched. His shoulder was directly in front of her, and his lean and slightly bigger frame almost pressed against hers. Without his uniform on, she could see the milky white but muscled skin of his neck and a little bit of his left shoulder not covered by his shirt.

She didn't know how and why or whether it was her raging hormone's doing, but her heart began to race at the sight and the closeness of their bodies, not to mention, his unique scent. That scent…that was so…him…

Oh no, this was just the same as before..! Sakura blushed deeply as her mind traveled back to two days ago, the day when she started to feel something for him, something that she shouldn't feel about a friend, especially a friend like Gaara. A bunch of ideas that justified her apparent denial rolled in her mind.

Because…because it was Gaara, he was her patient, he was Naruto's friend, he was the Kazekage, he wasn't from the same village, he was a former enemy of Team 7 and Konoha, he was an ex-psychopath, and…and…most of all, he wasn't SASUKE! Yes, Gaara wasn't Sasuke! …Why do I even compare him with Sasuke-kun?! Gaara-kun is just…well, Gaara-kun, he isn't that special! He isn't!!!

At that moment, she couldn't think of anything other than, she needed to avoid Gaara…and quick, before she lost her mind and wondered about something…very inappropriate about the red head in front of her…

She gulped, and with an almost inaudible gasp, she moved backward, so fast that she stumbled in the process. She squeaked, waited for her butt to hit the floor but it never came.

She opened her eyes then, and slowly looked down to find that sand had wrapped around her waist and ankles, preventing her from falling. She then looked up to find Gaara –who didn't move a muscle– standing 2 feet in front of her, watching her clumsiness with a very noticeable scowl on his face. Needless to say, he wasn't very happy about the way Sakura avoided him. Deep down inside, he liked her presence, her closeness…but apparently Sakura didn't feel the same way…and the knowledge of that hurt, a lot.

Before Sakura had any chance to speak, Temari could be seen walking out of her room, still fastening her obi and head protector.

She finally lifted her head to see Gaara and Sakura, who was still standing awkwardly in the hallway, supported by the sand.

"Gaara? Sakura? What are you two doing so early?" She asked, otherwise her attention was still on her obi. Once her obi was tied properly, she approached them.

Her eyes immediately fell on Sakura's waist that was still encased with sand. Creasing her eyebrows, she looked at Gaara. "What happened? Did I miss something?" She asked.

"She fell." Gaara said quietly. The sand then dropped down from Sakura's waist, moving lazily back to Gaara's room where his gourd was located.

"Well…almost." Sakura said, finishing his sentence with a guilty smile plastered on her face.

"Oh." Temari said no more as she raised her eyebrow, glancing between Gaara and Sakura.

"By the way…" Temari started again. Her words seemed to get a reaction from Sakura as she snapped her head to look at Temari, as if she just remembered about something important. Temari cast a knowing glance to her. Both of them now turned to look at Gaara.

"Gaara-kun, did you just use chakra? ...didn't I say, no matter how small it is, you're not allowed to use chakra until—" Sakura said, her tone worried.

"I'm fine." Gaara cut her off mid-sentence.

"Gaara, listen to her, your condition wasn't something to be taken lightly. It's for your own good." Temari interrupted this time.

Gaara lifted his gaze to meet his sister. "I didn't use chakra." He said calmly.

This time both Temari and Sakura spoke at the same time, "What?"

"How?" Sakura asked again, puzzled. She knew that Gaara lost his automatic sand shield after Shukaku extraction, so she thought it would at least require a little bit of chakra for him to move the sand, but…

Gaara didn't answer, instead he glanced towards the direction of his room and in an instant, the sand gourd inside the room disintegrated. Rustling sound could be heard as it quickly flew towards its owner and solidified itself on Gaara's back. His hands found the straps as he calmly aligned and fastened it around his left shoulder.

Sakura and Temari could only watched with creasing eyebrows before Temari came to her senses. "Gaara…is your Shukaku ability back?" She asked him, her face concerned.

"…" Gaara didn't answer for a moment, his eyes fixed on the floor until, "Iie…it's different." He said thoughtfully under his breath.

"Gaara-kun, I'll do a check-up on you again. I think something is happening to your body and we need to know—" Sakura said as she stepped closer to inspect him.

"I'm fine." Gaara said, again, cutting her off mid-sentence.

"But…"

"I'm fine." He repeated, this time his voice dangerously low as he stressed the word 'fine', leaving no room for argument.

Sakura stopped and looked at him. Gaara could be very stubborn, didn't he know how worried she was? Yes…he didn't know…and of course she would make sure it remains that way...but…

She averted her eyes from him then, biting her lower lips, her face somewhat hurt.

"Whatever, Gaara." Temari saw this as she took a deep breath before she continued, "Anyway, me and Kankurou are going with Sakura this morning to check on that 'boulder' thing. Don't worry about going to the office, I've informed the Elders. You should get some rest until then." Temari said, explaining their plan for the day.

Gaara looked at her, his emotionless face now showed a hint of interest.

"Temari." He said as he moved calmly towards his sister, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm going with Sakura." He said with a firm voice as he put a little pressure on Temari's shoulder with his hand in an attempt to get his meaning across. He quietly walked off then without waiting for her reply.

"…matte, Gaara." Temari stopped him, staring at his back. "What do you mean you're going?" She asked. All the while, Sakura watched, didn't quiet comprehend what his intention really was.

Gaara glanced at her from over his shoulder, "I'll go with her…" He paused and glanced at Sakura and then back to Temari.

"…just the two of us." He said again and walked off without another word.

To be continued.