I'm not going to lie to you good people. Normally I'm the patron saint of UST, but the gauntlet was thrown to push the limits of M rather than ride the line of T. You can tell me if I made the grade ;)

In another life, in another internet, affnet was where I put all my hardcore lemons since ffnet started to crackdown on the dirty minded. Affnet since reformatted their text storage and turned all my lemons into word salad (I think I had one of the most viewed Naruto lemon collections on there for a while as Lady Dementia if any of you old timers remember when Naruto fandom was a smaller world). I'm just saying, I'm no stranger to a little shippy slap and tickle but it's also been a while…

Sorry I don't have a beta for proper editing. Sorrynotsorry(?)

Disclaimer: see part 1

It was only natural to pretend like nothing was unusual about this. Sakura met with CEOs every day. More often than not because she was stationed in a cardiac ward, but unconscious CEOs were still CEOs. This shouldn't feel any different. But the unblinking stare coming at her from across the desk was intimidating all the same, and Sakura's eyes watered involuntarily. Damn that dry air.

Gaara pulled a small rectangular piece of paper out of a leather bound folder that was sitting between a sleek computer and a stack of plastic bound reports, and slid it to sit in front of her. She arched her eyebrow delicately in his direction, making no move to pick it up.

"What's this supposed to be?"

"Consider it a preemptive counter offer, Ms. Ha… Sakura." He caught himself awkwardly. As if he were unused to a lack of formality.

A sinking feeling unrelated to the unwanted attraction she was almost ready to acknowledge for the redhead was duly confirmed when she turned the paper over to reveal a check in her name which had enough zeros to have her suck a sudden breath through her teeth. It wasn't quit your job money, but it certainly looked like nest egg money.

"Certain individuals would be very interested to know the definitive identity of a certain person who may or may not have been involved in an incident last Thursday evening. I'm simply asking that your memory be unclear of the specifics."

Rage suffused Sakura. This was hush money. She had come here worried he would sue her for assault and instead he was trying to pay to keep her quiet because of whatever business or interpersonal issues made this embarrassing for him. Throw money at it, huh? It probably worked in the past.

With her usual decisiveness, Sakura gave the paper a quick tear down the center and dropped it on the floor at her feet. Gaara, for his part, stifled any sort of reaction other than a twitch of his fingers. He was probably a great poker player.

"I assure you, holding out for a better offer is a mistake." There was an edge to his words that hadn't existed before.

"I'm holding out for a more human offer." Sakura responded through clenched teeth. She wanted to lecture him, but she had a feeling it would fall on deaf ears. She hadn't been this mad in a long time, and usually only Naruto could get her this worked up. People may be largely bought and sold in Gaara's world, but she cloaked herself in her integrity like a shield and he had just attacked her. Wanting that money had made her feel like a bad person, and ripping that check felt like a supremely terrible move, but how would she have felt a week from now? A year?

Gaara looked at her with faint confusion, the sharpness dulled but not disappeared from his demeanor.

"You know, you could have just said someone wants to blackmail you and you wanted my help. I'd help you for free."

"You must want something." Gaara countered, unconvinced of her altruism.

What a sad life he must lead, Sakura thought. She considered his words a moment before landing on the only thing that made any sense. "Yeah, there is something I could use some help with."

A hint of a smirk flitted over his expression, eyes glassy, like she was confirming his suspicions about the world in general and fitting into the expected paradigm at last.

"You could help me move a couch."

His brows knit in confusion, and he smoothed a hand down his tie. "A… couch?"

"Yeah, a couch. You bled all over my old one, I'll have you know, and what with not knowing your medical history, well, suffice to say I bought a couch from some old lady off of craigslist and I need to pick it up before the end of the week." She was babbling. The lady has said she could take her time, but none of her friends were jumping at the chance to move a couch up 8 flights of stairs even for free pizza and beer.

"I can arrange for—"

"No, I want you to help me. You. Not your money." And knowing enough about psychology to seal the deal she added. "Are you afraid of a little manual labor?"

What in heaven's name was she doing. It was like some crazy irrational part of her was speaking on her behalf. Guys like Gaara didn't move couches. Did she even really want his help? Couldn't she just tape her dignity together like that torn check and wait for this storm to pass?

"When are you moving this couch?" Gaara leaned forward, softening his ramrod straight posture and catching her with a gaze that held consideration and a hint of something dangerous.

She had no idea. "Tomorrow," came the confident reply from her mouth, and her brain tried to catch up. "10am. Sharp. Unless you can't take off on a Friday. I would figure there would be good leave benefits here."

"I'll run it by my supervisor." The totally flat delivery belied the fact that he had probably just made a joke.

For the first time since stepping out of bed this morning, Sakura felt herself relax into a natural smile. Tension bled out of her limbs and for a moment it felt like they connected. The corners of Gaara's lips quirked.

They crashed to earth a moment later, Gaara clearing his throat and resuming his serious expression and perfect posture. Sakura sighed and gestured at his desk. "I don't suppose you have a sticky note or something so I can write down my address."

"No need." Came Gaara's clipped reply.

"What?!" Creepy stalker. She crossed her arms over her chest protectively, like he had violated her somehow.

Alarmed in a vague sort of way he qualified his words quickly. "My car contains the GPS coordinates from last week."

Of course. The wonders of the modern world. "Ah. Well, ok, then." She relaxed but found a buzzing awareness had taken residence now that her anxiety had largely fled. Heaven help her, she was considering flirting. That usually went disastrously.

They seemed to be done but neither of them made any motion to leave and the silence stretched on into uncomfortable territory.

"So…" Sakura focused on the crazy view of the city behind Gaara rather than hold his stare. "How are you feeling? Those guys got some good hits on you before you went crazy on them."

Gaara cringed slightly at the word 'crazy' and Sakura filed that away as something not to say again with a firm self-admonishment for making him feel bad. "I'm tolerable. No permanent damage." He was matter of fact about it. "You have admirable fighting skills."

"Comes from growing up with my idiot brother. He and I were always fighting, er, sparring really. Nothing serious, but we took martial arts classes together and you know how competitive siblings can be." Talking about home, about Naruto, was her comfort spot and she shifted in the stiff leather chair to try to find a better position rather than stay as still as prey. "Was that your brother and sister last week? I always wanted a sister."

"Yes." Gaara didn't follow the response with anything and after an expectant moment Sakura realized he wasn't going to.

Unsure what to say when the other person in the conversation didn't seem to want to participate, she continued on. "I was sad about my couch, but it seemed like your clothes came out worse. Were you able to have them cleaned?"

"No."

More silence. Moving the couch was going to be fantastic if he was always this communicative. It was a tight staircase and it took a lot of maneuvering to get the first one up, which had necessitated a lot of call and response between her and Naruto at the time. But she and Naruto always worked abnormally well together, and maybe Gaara would surprise her.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then. 10am, in front of my building. Wear something comfortable." Sakura stood, then leaned over to pick up the torn check and drop the pieces on his desk.

"Tomorrow," he agreed with a nod and seemed to start to rise only to pause and sink back down. "The receptionist will see you out."

He turned towards the computer on his desk to type something out briefly, only for the receptionist to open the door with a smile moments later. Sakura was a little miffed at the casual dismissal, but had to assume that was the normal way of things as she wandered back towards the elevator with her visitor pass in hand.

It was only much later that evening, when she was crouched over and moving furniture to make way for the couch that she realized when she bent over the swoop neck of her sweater dress gave an unimpeded view down to that green bra she had bought because it matched her eyes. It only took seconds to connect the dots. What Gaara thought of her after their encounter she could only conjecture.

"Are you going yachting after this?" Sakura had to stifle a guffaw when she saw Gaara walk up the street at exactly 9:58am. Light tan slacks and a designer polo in white of all things did not constitute casual in her book, which when she said casual she really had meant 'clothes you can get dirty in'.

"No." he responded, clearly not registering her mockery, or actively ignoring it. His hair was already looking like it was falling into disarray in the wind. No gel today, and she liked it better this way. Put together Gaara seemed like he existed in another world.

Her own jeans and t-shirt were too thin for the weather outside and she could feel her skin pebble into goosebumps as she rubbed her arms to calm them down. There was nothing to be done about her chest, also responding to the cold, but to Gaara's credit he kept his eyes from wandering. Maybe nearly flashing him in his office hadn't even been a big deal.

"Follow me," Sakura said authoritatively, "I borrowed a truck from a friend," Kiba had threatened her with the hounds of hell if she scratched it, "and I got the couch here, but as you'll see the up part of all this is going to be rather challenging."

She led him past the secure entryway and into a frigid cement and metal hallway where a typical square with walkways lining every floor led up ten stories. An ugly floral couch, which held the distinction of being very comfortable and not terribly old, waited on the cement slab at the base.

"How did you get the other couch down?" If he was cold, Gaara gave no indication, but Sakura was still shivering since there was no heat in this stairwell. She knew she would warm up fast from moving furniture, though.

"See that hole down the center? Getting the old one down and in pieces wasn't really a problem." She gave a sunny smile. "Do you want the front or the back?"

He didn't seem to catch her drift, so she made the decision for him.

"Nevermind, I'll take the front since I don't mind walking backwards. The corners are going to be tricky too, so there may be extra lifting from the middle and I've done this once before."

Gaara shrugged.

"You sure you don't need coffee or anything before we start, you look… tired." If anything the dark circles were more pronounced in the horrible stairwell lighting with that one flickering light from the fourth floor adding an eerie effect.

"Insomnia is a side effect of my antipsychotics." He said the words flatly, but he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye, gauging her reaction. "I'm used to it."

"That's rough!" Sakura responded. "A friend of mine started on anxiety medication a few years ago and gained like fifteen pounds in a month. But I'm sure any side effect sure beats the alternative." Hinata had been upset about the weight, but Naruto had just insisted there was more of her to love and truthfully she was much happier now.

With a rather unfeminine grunt, Sakura hefted up her side of the couch.

"It smells kind of like a basement, but that's way better than a couple other couches I almost got."

For his part, Gaara picked up his side easily. Given how fit he was, she wasn't shocked, but the nicely shaped muscles that popped up on his arms were still a pleasant surprise given how lean he appeared. Not a bad view for the next eight stories of effort.

"Follow my lead; just take a step as I pull." And then she fell silent as all her concentration went into not eating metal grate on the way up the stairwell.

Things progressed slowly but surely given how tight the space was against the railings, but corners took a lot of time what with lifting it over the railings and other angle issues. There was piping that had dials sticking out in odd places to further complicate the geometry of it all, but Gaara followed all Sakura's instructions to the letter without complaint. Even when he had to sit in one position for long periods of time holding the couch from falling off the side while Sakura considered her options to the point of his muscles visibly shaking. He never rushed her, and that was to his credit in her mind.

"Let's take a break here," she said, unsure of how to get around a particular corner which had had patched pipe added that jutted out. That hadn't been there when she had moved in years ago. Sighing, she realized she was caught in the little triangle of corner with couch on either side and no room to crawl under. She looked around, at Gaara, down the four story drop to cement death, then back at Gaara. The utility light flickered behind him, adding an extra layer of irritation.

"Dammit."

"Are you stuck?" Gaara asked, the corner of his mouth quirking in what must be amusement.

"Maybe." Then she sighed. "Yes." After a considered moment she glanced his way speculatively. "Do you think you could give me an arm? I'm going to go around."

Captain obvious just had to say something, reminding her how it was a bad idea. "That sounds unsafe."

"Are you saying no you won't help me?" She asked sweetly, rather than contest his point.

"No."

"Alright then, brace yourself, I'm not all bones like those society debutantes you probably hang out with."

Slowly extracting herself from the corner, she maintained a firm grip on the railing while swinging over one leg then another. Gaara waited just past the couch with brows knit in disapproval, absolutely attentive to her progress. She had to duck under the couch part that rested on the railing, and for a moment with her arms stretched on either side, she sensed a distinctive slippery feeling on her palms.

Paused, afraid to lay too much weight on the slick hand, she started slightly when Gaara's warm hand locked around her wrist.

"I've got you." He said tentatively. But it was all the encouragement she needed to make it the rest of the way. As she threw her first leg over his hand slipped to her waist instead, his touch light at first but firmed up as she leaned on him. Panting from adrenaline more than exertion, Sakura realized that the entire right side of her body was pressed down the center line of his. Something twitched at her hip and suddenly he shoved himself back and away, his adam's apple bobbing before he schooled himself into that mask of indifference again.

Sakura, stunned, tried to put her thoughts together. "I'll go through the door and up a floor so I can come back down to the other side."

Between his terse nod and the wide berth he gave her as she made her way past him and through the building door, Sakura would swear he was afraid of her. But that thought did nothing to subside her own body's reaction. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that throwing herself at a perfect stranger was irrational, no matter what her hormones said or given how much time had passed since she had had intimacy.

With some creative solutioning i.e. pushing extra hard at the same time Sakura pulled, they got the couch unstuck and up the rest of the floors without much incident and with no talking whatsoever. They used nonverbal ques for the hard parts, and after a while Gaara lost that panicked look when their lines of sight crossed.

This was silly, her inner self said, desire isn't something to be afraid of. He had pounds of muscle on her and all the wealth of a financial empire, and she was just some girl. But on the other hand she was some girl that had knocked him out in one punch and had bullied him into moving furniture when he probably had neither the time nor the inclination to do so. Then the thought finally struck her, even though it probably would have been obvious to anyone else:

He wanted to sleep with her and it scared the shit out of him.

Sakura's end of the couch slipped out of her suddenly slack hands, but she tried to pass it off as she rushed down the hallway to unlock her apartment door and open it wide.

"Once we get it in we'll almost be finished," Augh, word choice. "I mean, I rearranged the room last night so it won't be hard to put the couch where it needs to go." He was giving her a weird look, rightfully so.

Marching stiffly back down the hall, Sakura picked up her end of the couch and before she knew it Gaara was sitting exactly where he had been slightly over a week ago in her apartment. Only this time he wasn't shaking and speaking in tongues. Sakura was infinitely more terrified of this version.

"Let me get you some water." She blurted out and grabbed some bottled water she kept for emergency from the back of a low cupboard in the kitchenette. He probably didn't want filtered tap water like she was used to, even though this water wouldn't be cold. "This was a huge help to me, you know. I would have had to bribe my friends with beer and pizza and they still might not have shown up. No one ever has the same days off I do these days."

She stood up and nerveless hands dropped both water bottles which rolled their merry way across the counter and onto the floor. Gaara, sweaty and shirtless, was examining large smeared grease stains on the back of his polo. Of course he would take it off to examine it, she thought. Of course.

A dirty, eager laugh in the back of her mind gave Sakura a sense of resigned inevitability to the whole situation.

Plopping down next to him on the couch as if he weren't half naked, Sakura swept the bottled water from the floor and offered it to him.

"Well, we did it." She put up her hand for a high five, and he stared at it until she literally picked up the hand that wasn't clutching the water and had it meet her own above her head.

"You aren't what I was expecting." Gaara's words made her breath catch as she dropped his hand back to his lap.

"Well, moving a couch certainly is a weird way to make a friend, but you showed your mettle today. I won't tell anyone you were the guy I knocked out. Just don't make a habit of getting in trouble and I won't have to make a habit of saving you."

Gaara opened the water with a twist and commented wryly, "You have an odd way of saving me."

Sakura bumped her shoulder into his while they both drank water, and it was supposed to be a gesture that any buddy would do but as she looked down she saw his stomach muscle tense and his slacks twitch as before, and there suddenly wasn't enough water in the world.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, but her voice was faint even to her own ears as her stomach clenched with feelings she wasn't sure she could suppress much longer.

"Yes." He answered emphatically and the meaning was unambiguous when he dropped his half-full water bottle on the rug, slid his hands into the hair at the base of her skull, and pulled her in for a kiss that was more tongue than lip.

Her need suffocated her, enveloped her brain in a hazy sense of rightness that was only spoiled by stray thoughts like 'there's no condom in this apartment' and 'I hope he doesn't think I'm that kind of girl' while her body not only insisted she was that kind of girl but he needed to get on with much more that.

Sakura gave as good as she got, and they kissed like there would be a winner in this game, but all that resulted was the building feeling of frustration that they weren't closer. Gaara may have been the aggressor initially, but he wasn't pressing for anything more than kissing from her, and it simply wasn't enough.

Quickly, before she had time to talk herself out of it, Sakura disengaged and stood up to undo her jeans and slide them off her legs while kicking off her sneakers. Gaara watched her and took a long ragged breath before Sakura straddled him, grinding her crotch against his to generate the friction her body sorely craved. He made what sounded like a growl, but other than placing hands on her hips, he did little more than thrust up in her direction. Hard as a rock, the pressure against her core was delicious and Sakura bent down to bite gently at Gaara's throat and in turn lick softly at the salty skin there.

Every time she opened her eyes and leaned back from tasting him, she observed him staring at her with an open appreciation that made her feel powerful and beautiful. She continued to push them farther along, coming back to his lips time and again before grinding harder against his erection to glean moans from that serious mouth of his.

Whipping her shirt and bra off, Sakura turned herself around on his lap and forced one of Gaara's hands to her breast while the other she placed inside her panties in the now extremely slick spot she needed him. Gaara stilled, the only part of him moving being his throbbing cock, until Sakura began to make little circle with his hand for him. He got the picture pretty quickly, cupping her breast while flicking his finger in the steady motion she had taught him.

Not unlike moving the couch, he took her direction perfectly.

Left a little. Faster. Slower. Keep going just like that.

Breath hitching as she climbed to her release, Sakura felt herself go over the edge with a cry and forced Gaara's hand to still as she immediately became over sensitive to his ministrations. Once her body's aftershocks had ceased she knelt in front of Gaara and began undoing his slacks with fierce determination in her eyes. She needn't have worried because no sooner was he exposed to the air, all it took was a couple pumps and one long lick from base to tip before he was spilling himself over her hands with a shudder. At last he closed his eyes and arched off the couch until his own release subsided.

The apartment was silent except for their slowing breathing. Sakura searched for her discarded shirt and quickly pulled it on, wiping off her hands on the hem, before sitting back down on the couch next to Gaara who was still splayed out and dazed as he glanced in her direction.

She picked up what was left of the water that hadn't spilled out of his bottle onto the carpet and drained it in one go.

"That was…" Sakura searched for a word and nothing seemed to leap to mind. Amazing was accurate. Unplanned was as well.

"Usually my encounters are…" Gaara paused to find the word.

Sakura didn't wait as she covered her eyes with her hands now that shame was rearing its ugly head over the fact that she had just slept with this near stranger. "Romantic?"

"Transactional." Gaara clarified. Now he was the one to look away with color staining his cheeks. His hand stroked her thigh slowly, tentatively. "This was much better."

If all he did was sleep with women who were paid to please him, then that would explain how clueless he had seemed about what to do with her body.

"For the record, I really did just need help moving my couch." Sakura wanted to make him feel more comfortable despite the fact that she felt awkward as hell herself in this moment. "But I'm not sorry this happened." She said it out loud to convince herself, but it had the ring of truth to it.

Gaara's thumb made feather light circles against the skin of her thigh and Sakura could feel her body wanting to respond again.

"I think I need a shower." She announced, standing up on legs that wobbled only the slightest bit after all the exercise of the morning. "Care to join me? No hanky panky in there, though, there's not nearly enough room."

There was a wide genuine smile that spread across Gaara's face, the first she had seen that actually engaged his whole mouth instead of looking like a facial tic, and he dropped his own pants as he stood from the couch.

Sakura guessed that if she had had a body that toned she wouldn't be embarrassed about being nude either.

"What is he doing here? Ladies night, hello!" Ino threw her hands up as Gaara helped Sakura out of his car.

"You were the one who said I needed to get laid." Sakura tried not to be snarky. Really she had done it because Ino had brought Chouji to their brunch last week. She never got Sunday off and she was a little miffed about him horning in on their girl time and forcing her to play third wheel.

Gaara for his part was still working on his 'casual' game, and almost looked like a normal person in a black t-shirt and black jeans. The black leather jacket was still designer, as were the black combat boots, but the overall effect was dangerous and damn sexy. He managed to pull it off despite it being too monochromatic to be truly normal. Tonight's effort looked like it had been helped along by Temari. At least Sakura assumed so since he had recently opened up slightly more normal lines of communication with his siblings at her urging.

"Should I leave?" He took a step toward Sakura, getting close enough to put a gently possessive hand on her hip. She tried not to be annoyed. Gaara's intimacy and abandonment issues being what they were, this was worlds better than his behavior towards her in public a month ago when they started sleeping together.

"He volunteered to not only be our designated driver, but to buy our drinks and stay out of sight."

Ino's foot stopped tapping in irritation at Sakura's words and she gave a brief nod before she did an about face and walked into the club. With accuracy bourn of years of practice, her long ponytail flicked into Sakura's face while the pink-haired nurse wrinkled her nose and flinched.

"She'll be grateful before the night is over." Sakura ghosted a kiss across Gaara's lips, but only made it a couple feet away before he grabbed at her wrist and hauled her in for something more satisfying.

"No more of that now, this is ladies' night. You get your time later." Sakura pulled back, convinced her carefully applied lipstick was halfway across her cheek now.

"Why do I let you set the terms?" Gaara asked darkly, and Sakura knew he was wondering why he had signed up for a miserably stressful night in an environment he would never frequent on his own. She hadn't asked, he had volunteered when she had told him she was going to a club with Ino. Sakura knew he was imagining some dire situation where a man tried to swoop in and steal her away, and she had no way of reassuring him of that impossibility so she agreed to his presence.

To hold him over for the next few hours, being the obsessive personality she knew him to be, Sakura pulled his ear down to her lips by yanking on his leather jacket and proceeded to tell him an abridged version of what she planned to do to him later when they got to her place.

"And don't forget, if you get in my way tonight," she jokingly made a punching motion, hoping to make him laugh and remind him of how they met in the first place.

Oddly, the gesture just sparked a fire in his already heated perusal of her body.

Sakura cleared her throat and forced herself to walk straight into the club without a backward glance. Ladies' night, indeed.