Chapter 3: Evasion

"Hey, Sakura!" It was a busy day for her, as usual, despite taking a day off work. She was buying groceries at the supermarket, trying to stack up her cupboard and preparing for a trip next week.

That unpleasant meeting with Shikamaru was already two months old and no longer on her mind. Sure, she still saw him time after time during his visit to the village, but things had gone back to being civil.

She had gotten better with that. That thing where one would shove a thought off to the back of one's mind. And once she had perfectly gotten rid of it, she had practically forgotten about it. It's one hell of a defense mechanism, and she's nailing it.

Thus, she continued living with nothing bothering her but work and the present.

She turned to where the voice was calling her name, and saw Kankuro with Gaara by the vegetable section.

"Hey, you two!" she called out and pushed her cart to where they were standing. "Brotherly bonding?"

"No, smartass," Kankuro quipped. "Temari was a little busy so I asked Gaara to help me out."

Sakura laughed. "So Temari's busier than the Kazekage. Slacking off?"

"Even shinobi should learn when to take a break, Sakura. You should know that."

"Haha! Right! Take it from someone who sleeps atop a mountain of paperwork." Gaara responded with a smirk and a roll of his eyes, while Sakura stuck her tongue out.

"You know what," Kankuro butted in. "You two are the most uptight people I have ever met. Maybe hooking up just one time could do you some good." And then he continued surveying the racks for something he could add to his basket.

"Baka!" was Gaara's rebuttal, and Sakura hit the older shinobi on the head.

"Maybe I'll go shop with you, guys."

"Indulge," the Kage remarked, as he took her cart to aid.

The two were just tailing Kankura as he piled up vegetables and fruits and then a few milk cartons to his basket. Sakura helped herself with a few. And Gaara was only silently watching one item after another being added to the card.

"So, do you need any help packing your things?"

"I'm fine, Gaara. Thanks. Besides I only have so little to bring," she answered.

"You'd be away for months; won't you be taking most of your clothes?"

"Just a handful. It's not like I'd be moving for good." He nodded, with a hidden smile she couldn't see.

Next week, she'd be travelling to the Hidden Mist Village. The Mizukage had requested her assistance to expand the village's medical team.

If it'd only be a week of a month, Gaara wouldn't have been so reluctant. But this kind of mission required months , to even a year.

Ties between Suna and Kiri had been flourishing since the end of the Third War. There wasn't really any reason not to grant such a request – one, it'd strengthen Kirigakure's forces and its military ties with Suna; and two, his own village's medical team was already performing well on its own without the supervision of Sakura - except for his own personal ones.

However, her trip didn't need to be soon, yet Sakura insisted on going next week. And that posed quite a problem since next week would be the yearly Kage Summit to be held in Suna. He was hoping to discuss more about medical jutsu and let her tackle it with the other leaders.

Oh. Gaara chuckled darkly. Of course. Hatake Kakashi. Things had been a little strained between the Hokage and Sakura. Gaara knew that she still continued communicating with Naruto and Sai, in fact friends had been visiting her every now and then. But Kakashi, as well as her daughter, never came to check on her. Last time Kakashi was in Sunagakure was seven years ago, with an unconscious and bloodstained Sakura in his arms.

"Does Naruto know you'd be going away?"

"Not yet. Maybe Shikamaru would let them know, or Kakashi would once he get here next week," she answered, casually. And sometimes, it irked Gaara how she could act like everything was normal and that she seemed to be so insensitive of the friends she left behind. "I plan to write him once I'm settled in the Mist, anyway."

"Won't you postpone your trip for another week? You're needed at the Summit," he said, somehow distracted as he watched her pick up two packages of half-ripped cherry tomatoes. "You're going to eat all of that?"

"No, Gaara, I'm not," she bantered with sarcasm. "And I think it's best to start there as soon as possible. Also, I've prepped the head medic ninjas about the Summit, so don't worry."

In front of them, Kankuro turned his head and glared at him, warning Gaara to drop this conversation.

He did. For the seven years he had a close friendship with Sakura, he didn't feel as though he had been a really good friend. Nor was she to him. For seven years, never did Sakura ever approach him with her problems, her secrets. All they ever were, Gaara thought, were mere acquaintances enjoying each other's company.

Everything he knew about her came from Naruto or Temari or Shikamaru. But never from her.

And he didn't want that. She was a girl draped withcomplications, and all he had ever done was pretend all's well with her.

"Sakura."

"Mmm?"

"Let's go train tomorrow." He intended it to be a request; but being the stern Kage that he was, it came out as a memorandum from Kazekage-sama. More like a lame excuse for a date, to Kankuro's opinion.

Sakura tapped her chin with her fingers as if to think of an answer, then she smiled. "What the hell, a chance to kick a Kage's butt. Why not."

"Big deal," Gaara muttered. "You're kicked Kakashi's butt a lot before."

This time, Kankura, now beside him, nudged Gaara to keep quiet. Sakura saw this, but she only laughed.

"I won't have this conversation with you, Gaara," she continued laughing. "Not to you, too."

But yes, he did. He wanted her to raise his voice at him, for once. He wanted nothing more than an argument. With her.

For never had he felt she was being true to him, and to herself, whenever she was with him.

Then again, was it really his place to demand that from her?

The week went on as days usually would. On Thursday before her departure, Gaara held a farewell dinner at his house attended by his siblings and a few close friends, and her clique from the hospital.

It was a simple one, with nabe and soba and yakiniku. Of course, sake and tea were present. Sakura brought sweets.

They had fun, lots of stories to tell. And when it's time to go, just a little before midnight, she had that bittersweet expression.

Gaara offered to walk her home. Her apartment was a little to the east from his. Though it was just a short walk, both within the village proper for convenience, he insisted.

"Thanks for the dinner, Gaara," she beamed. "I'm really going to miss you guys. It makes it harder to leave."

"Yeah."

"And I doubt it I could still sleep through all this."

"What time will you be leaving?"

"Hmmm, maybe around four early morning."

"Too early. By the time it gets dark, you'd be almost outside Fire Border to the Wind docks."

"Haha. Yeah, but I'm planning to take the long trip."

Confused, Gaara was about to ask what her plan was, but he was enlightened as soon as he saw her bit her lower lip and her face turned melancholic.

"So, you're travelling around Fire Country." She nodded to confirm. "That'll take you a week to get to Kiri, then."

She nodded again. "It's fine. I'm not in a hurry anyway."

Gaara scoffed. "Then you don't have to go tomorrow." When Sakura didn't answer, he decided to have the talk they should have had years before. "Isn't that too much of a stretch?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Are you still playing that game with me, Sakura?" Gaara demanded as he stopped her from walking. She just scrunched up her forehead to question his actions.

"You're leaving a week early to avoid Kakashi, and you're circumnavigating the world just to avoid passing through Konoha? You're impossible."

"Now what does that got to do with anything?" It was her turn to demand; she was now facing him and challenging him to speak up.

"You tell me. Isn't it time to let go of your grievances? It's more than seven years since you're left Konoha. Shouldn't you stop being bitter by now?"

"You don't get to lecture me about letting go, when you had almost half your life living in hate. You were worse than I am." That left him speechless. It was the first time since he could remember that someone had reminded him of his past. His own evils. And she was right.

"Then fill me in. Let me help you move on," he whispered, trying to conceal the quivering of his voice that would betray his confidence. "Just as how I did ages past." Gaara couldn't help but notice the space between them. The distance was enough for another person to stand, enough to tell him she still wanted it unoccupied.

"You already did, Gaara. You made me forget. My time here had given me a chance for a clean slate."

He was staring at her, intently so. And in her eyes he could see that she was void of emotions. Her defenses was too string to even let her feel what she was truly feeling inside. He wanted her to cry, or to get mad, instead of a blank face trying to show feigned sadness.

"I've only helped you pretend it all didn't happen," he moved closer, caught her hand before she stepped back. "I like you. I like you, Haruno Sakura. And I like you a lot. I wish I could be someone you could share things with."

When he said it, he was still the stern Gaara that she knew. Even in hushed tones, his voice held aristocracy that could make a fleet of shinobi obey. And yet, his eyes speak not of his cold demeanor. Those bluish-green orbs had softened, despite the dark outlines that surround them; shouting tenderness and sincerity and, she dared, love.

His eyes alone had taken her aback. She bowed her head for it anguished her to look at something that could have taken her breath away.

Since her heart would and could not allow her to.

They both stayed like that. In silence. Gaara holding her still, while she refused to look at him or even reply. When the tension between them escalated, it was suffocating, Gaara decided to break it. They resume walking back to her apartment. When they arrived, she walked right in and sank to the floor as she closed the door.

She sat there for hours with her head on her palms.

A couple of hours before dawn, Sakura already finished packing. A large box was plated on her living room so Kankuro could easily ship it to Kirigakure for her. She'd only bring a small backpack with a few changes of clothes for her travel, sandwiches and precooked meals, her medic kit, her scrolls and weapons.

Sakura was itching to go. In fact, after she got home last night, she wanted to leave already. But she spent the wee hours to morning staring at the floor.

Today, however, that episode with Gaara would – or should – be forgotten the moment she stepped out of Sunagakure's canyon fortresses.

She hoped that Gaara's confession wouldn't put a strain on their friendship. Especially to him, as she didn't want to acknowledge it, much less accept it.

For what it's worth, she would miss Suna. And she would miss everyone, particularly their snow-king Kazekage who could make a joke in the iciest expression that could make her laugh to tears.

But it's time to go, and as she locked her front door closed, she hoped that time could fly to the time when she'd be opening these doors again.

The streets were empty, except for a few closing their stalls for the night. The sky was moonless, but the village was still bright with the flickering lamps overhead. Sakura walked as slowly as she could; however, she was already near the gates in less than fifteen minutes.

The night guards let her pass and bid her a sound trip and good luck. She returned their friendliness before she stepped out to the colder and darker sands outside the grate walls of Suna Gaara himself had built after the recent war.

It wasn't a long walk before she would pass the narrow alley between two tall canyons that signaled her official exit out the Sand Village, and she had already felt lonely. Just like that time years and years ago when she had ran away from Konoha to exile herself, all drenched in sweat and blood right after her labor.

Her recollection was somehow disrupted when she saw a blurry outline of a person sitting on the sands at the end of the canyon. She tried to feel for a chakra signature, but it was expertly hidden. Her instincts told her it's a shinobi, and immediately prepared for a kunai from a hidden holster. As she appreoached the end of the alley, the figure grew more concrete and she found that it was a man. Sakura saw him stand to reveal himself.

Before she could even recognize the person, he spoke. "Stay."

It was Gaara, still wearing his clothes from last night. "What are you doing here? It's two-thirty."

"Yes, and didn't you say you'd leave at four?"

"Gaara…"

"Stay," he repeated. "I don't want you leaving with what happened last night." Sakura only shook her head. But he pursued. "If not, then what I told you last night… think about it. I want you. I like you. And I wanted so much to make you accept the past and move forward. With me…"

She could see, from the small illuminations from the distant village, that his face had changed. It was pained with sadness and longing. The way he was breathing, she knew he was frantic, and yet…

His words, however, were lost in translation as Sakura wavered because of a distant memory she had already learned to forget. Emotions suddenly burst free from a bottle hidden deep inside her, far away from her heart.

It was just like that night he left Leaf And she was waiting for him, hoping her heart was enough for him to stay. It never was. Neither did her love nor her promise was enough for him to stay alive.

And tonight, it hurt her again, for everything had made her remember, just when she was strong enough to forget.

Her down-casted eyes roamed to focus at Gaara in front of him. The Kazekage was speaking, she knew by the movements of his lips. But not a word could be heard.

"Stop!" she begged, whatever Gaara was saying only reached deaf ears. And it also pained Sakura how she was hurting him. "Gaara, please stop talking. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." And she kept apologizing as she walked towards him.

She reached for his hands and buried her cheeks in them. "I wish I could say something to make you happy. I'm sorry, Gaara. But I'm not ready. I don't think I'll ever be."

Because it'll always be him.

A/N: Again, thank you for all the reviews, and the support. I'm so excited about this fic. Next chap, we'll see more about what happened to Sasuke. Whether he's alive or not, you'd just have to stick around for that (although, I know you all know the answer to that!)

Enjoy, and review... :3