Obligation
Chapter Nine
-The Friend Test-
"I'm kind of nervous." Sakura said, running her hand nervously through her hair.
Gaara smiled, placing his hand on her hip and ushering her forward. "It'll be fine and you look gorgeous." He kissed her cheek as she fiddled with light pastel green sundress. It was strapless and she wore a beautiful diamond necklace that Gaara had bought her. It was in the shape of a heart and glittered when the sun hit it. It was a bit chilly out but still nice, so she had on a small white sweater, after all the temperature never really changed. "Come on," they went forward, walking into the restaurant.
He was just wearing what he had worn to work that day, minus the jacket, since he didn't want to look too formal. "Hello." The hostess greeter, giving them both a kind smile. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, we're here to meet Uchiha Sasuke."
"Oh," she nodded and moved around the podium, leading them towards the back and into a private room that was usually used for parties. Sasuke was sitting at the table, an empty glass in his hand. He glanced up and placed it down, standing as the two approached. The hostess bowed out and left.
"Well, well." Sasuke smirked, taking Sakura's offered hand and kissing it politely. "You're much prettier than I thought you would be. It's nice to finally meet you, I'm Uchiha Sasuke."
Gaara looked pleased, glad his friend had actually been impressed with her. Though even if he wasn't he wouldn't have cared. "I'm Haruno Sakura." She said, smiling at the other man.
"Might as well sit down. The idiot is running late, and I'm hungry." Sasuke said, rolling his eyes at the thought of their missing friend. Gaara pulled Sakura's chair out for her and after she sat down, took the place beside Sasuke.
"Such an unreliable PR you have Sasuke." He sighed, seeming amused.
The young Uchiha sighed as he sat down. "Yeah, well other than being stupid, he is good at getting people to believe him and be on his side, so I think I'll keep him around." He smirked at his friend. "Besides, I can always get you to threaten him or something should he fail." He joked.
"Very true." He nodded, ordering a drink for him and Sakura as they waited. "You will really like him Sakura, though…he talks a lot."
"Who ya talking about guys?" a loud voice yelled from the doorway, followed by a very timid looking woman with long beautiful dark hair.
"You, stupid." Sasuke said.
The blonde man pouted as he held out a chair for the woman he was with right across from Sakura. He looked at her then. "Hey, you must be the babe Gaara's been seeing." He held his hand out to her. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and this fine woman next to me is my girlfriend, Hyuuga Hinata." He said.
Sakura rose slightly to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Haruno Sakura." She said, nodding to both of them as she sat back down.
"It is nice to meet you Sakura. I am glad that Gaara has found someone." Hinata gave the pink haired woman a timorous smile.
"Naruto do not call my girlfriend a babe. She is far too classy to be referred to such by you." He said simply, placing his hand on her knee, stroking her skin with his thumb.
"I just call it as it is." The blonde said, sitting on the other side of Sasuke. "So, Sakura, what do you do exactly?"
"At the moment I am interning at the city's hospital. But hopefully I'll be chosen to stay on as a permanent doctor in residence. I specialize in the various cancers and such, so I would also be performing surgeries as well."
"That's really cool. Hinata here just finished going to school to be a shrink." He said.
"Really?" Sakura asked, looking at her. "Do you like it?"
Hinata nodded. "Oh yes. The human mind is very fascinating."
"I'll keep that in mind." Gaara said, giving Hinata a nod. "No doubt when I finally get kids they'll need a therapist."
"Probably. You're crazy." Naruto muttered.
"At least he isn't stupid." Sasuke said as their drinks arrived. Sakura snickered behind her hand, thanking the waiter for her drink.
Naruto glared at him. "Why do you always call me stupid? Huh Sasuke? I make people like and trust you," he pointed at the ebony haired man. "Which is hard to do, since you're such an ass all the time."
"Naruto." Hinata chided, making him cross his arms and a pout come to his face.
"Hmph."
Gaara just snickered. "Yeah Naruto. That and he can cause he's the one that signs your pay check."
"Yeah well I should get a raise for having to put up with him." he said.
Sasuke shook his head. "Maybe if you weren't always late to meetings I would pay you more. As it is now, though, I'm considering hiring someone else."
"You wouldn't do that to me Sasuke, would you?" Naruto asked with wide eyes. Sasuke just ignored him and took a sip of his drink. Everyone ordered lunch then, and when the waiter left, Hinata looked at Sakura.
"So, Sakura, how did you and Gaara meet?" she asked. Sakura looked to Gaara, unsure if she was allowed to tell the woman the truth or not.
"Her dad owned me a whole lot of money and then he died and left it all on Sakura. So I said she could pay me back by going on dates with me." He said simply, not even hesitating with the truth. "And then she fell for me." He smirked, taking her hand and kissing it.
She smiled at him. "What can I say? It's your charm that had me hooked." She looked over at Hinata then. "So how did you and Naruto get together?"
"Well," Naruto said, not giving the dark haired woman a chance to answer. "We went to the same university, and she was doing a project where she had to analyze someone and their behavior. I figured it'd be a good way for me to get to meet her without looking like a creeper, so I volunteered. She studied my mind for about a month and fell in love with me." He declared with a pleased smile.
"So she fell in love with nothing?" Sasuke raised a brow. "Because I'm pretty sure that's all that's in that large head of yours."
Hinata giggled. "Actually, I already liked Naruto, and when he asked me out I decided to say yes. After all, he did help me get an A on my study of his child-like behavior."
"And what did you learn in this study, I am eager to know." Sasuke smirked.
"Yeah Hinata, what did you learn?" Naruto asked, thinking it was something good.
"That you act the way you do because you receive attention for it, which is nice, and that as long as people think you are incompetent they won't expect high things from you, so that when you do succeed everyone is shocked and you receive even more attention." She summed up.
"That sounds pretty spot on." Gaara said, laughing with Sasuke. "So Hinata…you seem pretty good at this. Could you tell about me? And how I really am? And what I'm like?" the redhead focused his pale jade gaze on her, already seeing her nervousness from all the attention.
"Um…" she thought about it for a moment. "You're a practical man, and have a lot of faith in yourself. You don't let people close very often, and when you do, it is for life. On the outside you appear to be arrogant and uncaring, but you have a big heart, as demonstrated with Sakura, and when you have a family, you would do anything to assure that they are safe and happy." She told him. "Am I right?" she asked softly, seeming unsure.
He just chuckled. "I think you're giving me a little too much credit. But I'd like to think all those things are in me." He smiled, leaning back in his chair as the waiter came back with their food and distributed the proper entrees.
"I think she's dead on." Sakura said, rubbing his knee under the table cloth. Then she sat up a bit and began to eat her salad.
He just gave her a loving smile and started eating as well. Everyone ate in silence for a while, until Naruto spoke up once more. "So Gaara, have you and Sakura had sex yet?" he asked tactlessly.
Sakura choked on a bite of salad and began to hit her chest a bit, trying to stop coughing. Hinata's eyes widened and her face darkened, and Sasuke just looked at him dubiously.
"Nope. Not yet." He said shamelessly, continuing to eat his mixed vegetables.
"Why not? She holding out on you or something?" he asked, eating the last bite of his steak.
Gaara sighed and set his fork down, looking at the blonde. "No Naruto, in fact she's already been in my bed. But she's a virgin and I'm waiting until she's emotionally ready. Cause her body is more than ready." He smirked.
"So when do you think you'll be ready, huh Sakura?" Naruto asked her.
"Can we talk about something else?" Sakura asked, her face red as a cherry.
"Just a simple question. Gaara's answering them just fine." The blonde shrugged.
She glared at him. "That's because Gaara isn't the virgin in this scenario."
"And whose fault is that?" he asked.
Hinata elbowed him. "Naruto, knock it off." She said.
"Sorry."
Gaara took Sakura's hand and tightened his grip, trying to reassure her. "It's ok. I don't mind at all. She's worth waiting for if I even get the chance." He nodded and then returned to his meal. "So Sasuke, how are the big guns going? Anything new I might like to invest in?"
"We do have a new shipment coming in soon that I think you will like. Picture this," he held up his hand. "Guns hidden in small CD players. They can kill someone if you're close enough, or just stun them enough so that you can get away." He said.
He sighed. "Sasuke you know I don't like the stun. I like the for sure kill. Besides, I just hate when you shot them and they still keep going, like they have a chance. It's so irritating and then they bleed all over the floor."
Sakura just continued to eat, pretending that she wasn't really hearing any of this. "Well, those would be more ideal for your guys out on the streets going jobs. Plus, these won't be detected at an airport as anything other than what they are, so you don't have to use those crappy porcelain guns." He rolled his eyes. "But, we also have a new form of bullets coming in that can shoot through any protective layer that a person is wearing, such as those vests cops wear."
"Hm." Gaara tapped his fingers along the table in contemplation. "Set up a meeting for me and the higher ups and give me a good presentation, I might just take you up on this. Though of course, I'll stick with my customized. Which reminds me, I need some more fire power for my personal collection. Those idiot's who call themselves the Vipers, are trying to cross over into my territory and I do mean my own office."
"That is problematic. Alright, I'll bring you over a few pieces that I haven't shown anyone and let you take a look. I'll contact you secretary tomorrow." He said, taking a drink of his water.
"If they're called the Vipers, what are you called?" Sakura asked curiously.
Gaara actually laughed and Sasuke simply smirked. "Sakura," Gaara began, turning to face her. "Only idiots name their group. If you have a name then you have a symbol and if you are identified then you're screwed. A real mob doesn't need a name, it just needs a head. With no identification it's nearly impossible to be caught. Hence why I am so good at what I do. The only way in is to know someone and no one knows anyone. So basically you are only contacted there is no way to contact us. Unless you know me that is." He explained.
"Oh. I guess that makes sense." She said.
He heard his phone go off and fished it out of his pocket, reading the text. He sighed and replaced the device. "I've got to go. Hun, you want me to drop you back off at the hospital?"
"If you wouldn't mind. I don't want to cause you any trouble." She said, smiling at him.
"Of course not, you know how I love to drive you around." He smirked, pulling out his wallet and tossing down enough to cover the whole meal. "Lunch is on me guys. See you later." He waved, getting up and helping Sakura from her chair.
Everyone said their goodbyes, and Gaara and Sakura left the restaurant and walked to his car. They got in and buckled, and Sakura sighed. "I like your friends, but I think I'm going to punch that Naruto guy in the face one of these days." She told him.
"No one would blame you." He smirked, heading off. It didn't take them long to reach the hospital and with a kiss goodbye Sakura went back to work. Gaara stayed until she disappeared into the building and then headed off, sticking his Bluetooth in his ear. He hit the call button on his phone and set it down. "What do you want?" he demanded, glaring forward.
There was a long silence and his frown turned into a grimace. "Kankuro, you moron. I told you to leave the matter to me. What have you done? You better hope I don't get my hands on you because I'm going to kill you myself. Bring him to the office and I'll meet you there and tomorrow we'll finish this little problem." He hung up then and pulled the ear piece off. "Damnit Kankuro." Gaara cursed.