Obligation

Chapter Ten

-Surprise Gone Wrong-

Sakura looked up at the building Gaara worked at and took a deep breath before going inside. She walked over to the directory and looked for which floor his office was on. Finding it, she went over to the elevator and punched in the top floor.

She was still wearing her scrubs, which were a mint green, since she had gotten off work early. She was originally supposed to work a full twenty four hour shift, and had just decided not to bring any clothes to change into, but they had been really slow today, and since she had finished all her paperwork and such, Tsunade had sent her home early.

It was close to lunch time, so she had decided to pick up some Chinese takeout and surprise Gaara at his office. She knew it was just another sign that they were in a real relationship now instead of a fake one, but she no longer cared. She really, truly, genuinely liked him, and always looked forward to seeing him.

When the doors opened she stepped out and walked over to the secretary she saw sitting at the desk in front of the office. "Hello." She greeted with a bright smile.

The woman looked up and took in her appearance. "Hello. Can I help you with anything?" she asked.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, and I was wondering if I could see Gaara." She held up the bag of food. "I brought him lunch." She said.

"Oh, how sweet. You can go on in Miss Haruno. Mr. Sabaku isn't in at the moment, but he should be back shortly." The woman said.

Sakura nodded and thanked her before going inside his office. It was very large, with two plush chairs on the other side of a large wooden desk. After looking around the room, she walked over to the window to check out the view, and it was really nice. You could see over half the city. Sighing, she turned and sat the bag of food on his desk, sitting on the edge of it. Idly she glanced down and saw that his personal calendar was lying open. Curious, she looked at his schedule for today, and saw that he wouldn't be back for about another hour.

Not wanting to wait around for him, she picked up the bag of food and walked out of his office. "I just remembered that I'm supposed to be at the hospital later." She lied.

"Oh I hate it when that happens." The receptionist said. "I'll tell Mr. Sabaku you stopped by."

"That's not necessary, I will talk to Gaara later." She said, getting in the elevator. "Thanks!" she said as the doors closed.

Walking back outside, she got in her car and started the engine, driving over towards the coast, where one of Gaara's warehouses was located. It took her a while to find it, but she parked next to his car and got out. Walking around the building, she found a door that was unlocked and entered.

It was pretty dark inside, only illuminated by a few hanging, fluorescent lights. There were a lot of crates, full of firearms she guessed, and so it was like walking through a maze to try and find Gaara. She figured that he was in the center of the warehouse, and so made her way in that general direction. As she was about to round a corner she halted and quickly ducked behind a large stack of crates in order to hide. Her eyes were wide and she tried to quiet her breathing, wanting to listen to what was going on.

"Did you really think that you were going to get away with this?" Gaara asked. There was a man kneeling on the ground, bloody from a beating he had already received. His arms were tied tightly together, almost looking painful. For the first time since meeting him, Sakura actually saw Gaara holding a gun and it scared her how absolutely perfect he looked in the position. "Well?" he yelled, pressing the barrel against the man's forehead. "Did you?"

"I…I-I d-don't know wh-what I thought!" he cried out, whimpering out of fear.

"That's what I thought." The red head spat out, moving back and glaring over at the man beside him. He was tall and looked vaguely similar to the redhead, but he had a swollen black eye that almost looked like it was throbbing. "Just because you could pull a fast punch on my idiot of a brother doesn't mean anything." He snapped, hitting the other man over the head and glaring at him. "This is my city. And I'll be damned if you little garden snakes try and form your little gangs. You have no idea how to run organized crime. And your boss owes me a lot of money."

"I k-know! Pl-please! I was drunk. I'll get my boss to pay you back please! Just let me go!" he cried out.

Gaara cocked his gun and held it to the man's forehead once more. "No. I've already wasted enough time on you."

Sakura's breath hitched. Gaara was going to kill him. She didn't want him to though. She knew it was part of what he did for his job, but if he killed that man while she was here she didn't know what she would do. She couldn't get up and just leave, she was frozen in place by her fear. An idea came to her then, and with shaky hands she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Gaara's number. Perhaps, if she could get him to leave the warehouse, everything would be okay.

She heard his phone ring. There was a standstill until finally Gaara pulled away with an angry growl. The man breathed out with relief, thankful for a few more seconds of life. The redhead walked a bit off and looked at his phone, grimacing. He answered it though and looked off. "Baby, now is a really bad time. Can I call you back?" he said sounding sharp.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to have lunch." Sakura said, loud enough to sound normal to him but quiet enough not to be heard in the warehouse. "I got off work early and I want to see you." She was thankful for the fact that her voice sounded normal, but it was probably only from her dire need to sound as if she wasn't witnessing this.

He sighed, pressing the tip of his gun to his temple and repressing a groan. "Sure. I'll pick you up in ten minutes. I gotta go sweetheart. See you in a bit." He hung up then, not giving her a chance to talk again. He had pressing matters he needed to attend to. He turned around and went wide eyed, seeing the Viper hitting buttons on his cell phone. "Kankuro! What the hell?" he yelled at his brother, smacking the phone from his hands. He picked it up and quickly navigated to the texts reading the message that had been sent. "Oh my god." He went stark white and threw the phone to the ground, shattering it. He held the gun back to the man's forehead and glared hatefully at him. "You disgusting bag of filth." He said lowly, pulling the trigger.

What happened next seemed to go in slow motion. Sakura peeked around the crates to see what was going on and went wide eyed, her heart stopping. All she saw was red. Sure she'd seen the insides of a person before, but this, this was just unforgettable. She quickly hid behind the crates again, unable to hold in the whimper as she started to hyperventilate. Her grip on her phone was fierce, and she began to shake from what she had just witnessed, causing the plastic bag holding the food she had brought to crinkle as well.

Gaara looked over towards the moving crates and tried to control his fury. Who the hell had the nerve to come onto his property? He cocked his gun once more and walked over towards the sound. He didn't want to have to deal with this twice in one day. He grabbed onto one of the middle crates and pushed it aside going wide eyed at the sight of pink. "Sakura?"

Her eyes shot to his. "Hi." She said weakly, unable to keep her gaze from trailing to the body lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He couldn't help the frustrated look that came to his face after the shock had worn off. Why was she here? Was she just stupid? If he wasn't at the office what exactly did she think he would be doing that she could just come and pop in? He followed her gaze and sighed, grabbing her by the upper arm and helping her up.

"Kankuro. Deal with that mess." He ordered, dragging Sakura out of view until they were outside. He glared down at her, though she could tell it was lessened from his previous fury. "What are you doing here."

She began to fidget. "I…just thought we could have lunch." She said meekly, feeling like a complete idiot now. "And so I came to surprise you. Surprise." She said, though it was extremely soft.

He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sakura…I appreciate the gesture, I really do, but what on earth made you think it would be a good idea to come out here. I mean…you know what that's not important right now," he stopped himself, shoving his gun in his back pocket and holding her face with both his hands. "Are you ok? And I mean really ok. Not, 'Oh I'm Sakura and I can handle anything'." He looked into her watering emerald depths and almost felt his heart snap in two.

"B-but I can handle anything." She tried to joke, her tears spilling over the edge of her eyes as her bottom lip trembled. He smiled painfully, pressing his forehead against hers, wiping away her tears with his thumbs.

"I am so sorry Sakura…I never wanted you to see anything like that."

She sniffed. "Maybe I needed to." She said softly. "I guess I just forgot that this isn't like a normal relationship, and I can't just come pop in whenever I want to see you."

He didn't know what to say. He couldn't even imagine what was going on in that pretty little head of hers. "…Why did you call me…?" he asked, seeming confused. Though, she could tell from his tense muscles that something was seriously wrong.

"Because I didn't want you to do it." She said. "At least, not while I was there. For some reason in my panicked state I thought that if I could get you to leave everything would be okay, but I was just kidding myself."

"Let's just not talk about it." He sighed pulling away from her but taking her hand. He wondered if he should tell her. But he could already see how panicked she was right now. The fact that a text had been sent to his rival that he had a loved one, scared him greatly. Not for himself. But he knew these snakes and they would stop at nothing until they got to her. But did that mean he should not tell her? Or maybe leave her. "I don't want to leave you…" he whispered aloud, his eyes widening when he realized that statement was not in his head.

Her own emerald eyes widened. "Why would you leave me? Is it because I came here? I promise I won't do it again, I'll just text you when I get off early or something. And I swear not to tell anyone about today." She said, her breathing starting to pick up slightly in her panic.

"No, no, no!" he shook his head quickly, pulling her closer to him. "No. It's not that. I know you won't say anything, I trust you. But Sakura…when you called me I…spoke to you like I usually do and my idiot of a brother didn't take that Viper's phone and now their boss knows I have someone close to me. And I…I can't lose you." He lowered his head, gripping her arms tightly. "But I don't know what to do. The smart thing would be to leave you but I won't…I…I can't. I love you." He admitted.

She looked up at him, her mind swirling with everything that had happened in the past half hour. Then it focused around one thing. He loved her. Really and truly loved her. She reached out and held his face in her hands, raising it so that he was looking at her. "I'm…not sure yet if I love you or not." She admitted quietly. When she saw the pain flash in his eyes, she stroked his cheeks softly with her thumbs. "But I know that I need you. I can't live without you Gaara. Even if you did decide to leave me, I wouldn't let you." She smiled slightly. "You're stuck with me for good, cause' this relationship isn't through until I say it is, and that won't be happening any time soon."

He actually let out a small laugh. "When did the power in this relationship switch so drastically?" he asked curiously. He was trying to hide the ache he felt from her lack of admittance but she needed him, which made him feel like it was there, she just needed time to accept his darker side.

"Not sure." She smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing against him slightly. "But like I said, I like to be on top."

"And I told you I didn't mind, since you'd be screaming beneath me at some point." He nuzzled her lovingly. "Now…" he frowned. "Are you sure you are going to be ok?"

She nodded. "Yes. I've seen dead bodies before, which is basically what that is. Yes, they've never been that…fresh, but as long as I think of it from a clinical point of view, I'll be fine." She said.

"Ok." He nodded, pulling her away from the warehouse and walking with her towards her car. "Now…what have we learned today sweetheart?"

"That my man is a badass." She said cheekily. At the look she received she sighed. "And not to surprise you at work."

He smiled proudly, kissing the top of her head. "That's right. But yes…I am a badass. That's how I've survived all these years."

"So, when is our next date?" she asked, leaning against the driver's side of her car.

"Whenever you want it to be." He said, brushing some of her hair from her face.

"Well, you owe me lunch now, so how about tomorrow? I have the day off, so if you're not busy or anything, I could make us something." She suggested.

He leaned closer, glad things hadn't really changed between them. In fact, he actually felt a bit liberated now that she had witnessed his bad side. "I was but nothing I can't move around for you. Tomorrow it is. We can go get some lunch and then go to the beach."

She smiled at him. "That would be nice. And you can actually touch me this time instead of just staring like you did when we went scuba diving." She snickered. "Don't think I didn't notice."

Gaara looked off, huffing to try and hide his embarrassment. "I'm sorry that you're smoking hot." He rolled his eyes, glancing back at her.

Sakura blushed but leaned up on her tippy toes to give him a kiss. "You're not too bad yourself." She said against his lips, kissing him once more. He pressed her against the car, snaking his hand between them and smoothing his hand up her stomach. He gripped her breast, his body on fire from her feel.

"Gaara." She gasped, arching into his hold. "Someone could see." She said weakly, already reacting to his touch.

"Who's going to see?" he asked, moving his lips along her jaw, rubbing her perky tip with his thumb before pinching the sensitive nub. "We're in a secluded area…all by ourselves."

She whimpered and rubbed against him wantonly. "But if you keep it up we won't stop…and I don't want to give myself to you out here." He pulled away then and kissed her lips tenderly.

"Fine, fine. Just…be careful ok? There are some dangerous people out there."

"I will. Don't worry, I always carry mace in my car." She kissed him once more, gripping his face in her hands. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." He sighed, reaching behind him and pulling out his gun. "Though I would feel better if you had something a bit more protective than mace."

"I don't know how to shoot a gun." She admitted. He placed it in her hand and positioned her finger over the trigger, pointing it at a can that was on the ground a bit off.

"It's easy you just aim and fire." He pulled her finger back and it fired, making a loud noise but it shot and hit the can perfectly. "It'll stop someone a lot more than some mace."

"It's loud." She said, the wince still on her face as she looked up at him. "But if it would make you feel better, I'll use it."

"I don't want you to unless you have to but it would make me feel better." He smiled, kissing her once more. "See you tomorrow." He pulled away then, letting her get in her car.

"Bye." She said before closing her door and starting her engine. She waved at him with a smile before backing out of the space and driving away. She glanced at him in her rearview mirror and let out a sigh. He loved her. She just couldn't get over it. She knew she cared about him a lot, but the thought of love scared her. It meant that she would have to accept all of him, including the part that killed people. She knew that she needed him, and that if they were to ever be apart she would become extremely depressed. Maybe she did love him. Oh well, she would just have to think about it over the next few days. By the time of his party for his work, she would know, she thought with a nod. It wasn't too far away, and by then she would be ready to become his.