Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, not even a little bit.

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-X-

Sunagakure became a home away from home for Sakura. Although she is never in the same place for too long due to the overflow of missions, this is the place that she comes back to after travelling lands near and far. There are faces she recognized and that was enough to remind her of the village she left behind to become an out-of-state ANBU.

Sakura had been living her life dangerously the last few years after leaving Konoha. She was beyond capable for her assassination missions and the seduction ones. That's why she took increasing risks. So, it was no surprise to the Kazekage when Sakura turned up in his office in the middle of the night, bleeding profusely from a gash spanning her back.

Gaara moved quickly but maintained his ever-present grace as he went to help Sakura into a chair.

"I'll send out for a medic." He spoke before moving to perform a communication jutsu. Sakura shot out her hand and prevented his from completing the dragon sign. With her free hand she removed her porcelain mask and tossed it to the floor.

"You don't have to. I only need to bandage the wound and then my chakra will deal with the rest." She spoke with ragged breaths attempting to calm her nerves.

"Sakura-"

"Just help me remove my armour."

When Gaara didn't move, Sakura searched out his eyes. Through the look alone she pleaded with him to do this one favour. Gaara sighed in defeat. He did not acknowledge how Sakura did this every time she came back injured from a mission and how he always seemed to give in.

Sakura slowly removed her short blade from her back, trying with ninja precision not to stretch her wound any further. Gaara took the weapon from her and placed it on his desk as she unfastened her ANBU issued armour. Gaara moved to position himself behind her and helped gingerly remove the overlay from her shoulders.

Sakura was left with a thoroughly torn sleeveless shirt on. She reached into her hip pouch, pulled out a kunai and handed it to the man behind her. Without a word Gaara slit the shirt clean off where it pooled in the chair behind Sakura leaving her top-half bare.

The notion of decency had long since been discarded by Sakura what with being a medic and also recognizing that when fighting for your life covering up is the least of a ninja's worries. Gaara seemed to share the sentiment because he never became flustered around her exposed body. It was of clinical practice.

The pale skin of her back was dimly illuminated by the torch light on the walls of the office. What stood out most of course was the angry wound probably inflicted by another blade wielder. Alongside it and across the expanse of her skin were other long since healed scars. Some of these marks Gaara personally recognized from nights passed when he had played nurse-maid to the kunoichi.

The sheer multitude of them wasn't significant considering their profession but on Sakura, whom he first met and observed as a weak and naive girl, was almost sickening and certainly disheartening.

"Lean forward Sakura so I can tend to the wound." Gaara ordered when only moments before he had been reluctant to help. Sakura smiled wryly at having persuaded the great Kazekage into something he so obviously did not enjoy doing.

She pulled out a long bandage and gauze from her medic's pouch and handed them backwards before complying with his words. Gaara remained silent as he applied the bandage and set about unraveling the gauze around the circumference of Sakura's petite body. When the roll moved to wrap around her front, Sakura took the roll from his hands and passed it across her chest then returned it back to him to complete the cycle.

The room stayed silent as she was bandaged up. This, unfortunately, enabled Sakura to focus on the radiating pain that stemmed from her back.

She made a miscalculation. The mission she had ultimately completed had been trying on her mentally. It was not like Sakura to become distracted by the mention of someone from her past. But his name falling from the mouth of the enemy made her falter for half a second. That was all it took for the sharp blade to make contact with her back. It had been truly stupid.

"Naruto has been asking about you again."

Sakura was surprised to hear Gaara speak, he was usually quiet. Or, as she had come to realize only when Naruto wasn't involved and definitely not when Naruto was inquiring about her. The Hokage had been annoying Gaara about her whereabouts after the first six months since she departed and had kept it up until Gaara caved and now bugged her about it routinely.

"Oh? And I suppose it's the same old?" Sakura mused.

"He wants you to come back to Konoha."

"What else is new? If he really wants me to come back then he should stop assigning me missions."

"He wants to respect your space, or so he tells me. Naruto is never very good when handling women."

Sakura turned to give Gaara a look that said he wasn't much better.

Gaara finally pasted the last of the gauze to Sakura's shoulder and used a flurry of sand to retrieve a tunic from somewhere in the room. Sakura grabbed the article of clothing from where it seemingly floated above the floor in front of her. She quickly shrugged on the tunic and not surprisingly it fit perfectly. He must have known she would need it sooner or later. He returned to his seat behind the desk and leaned back in the much worn chair. Moments like these, when Gaara looked very much at home, reminded her that he was so very young. Like her.

"Sakura, it's no longer a choice." Her eyes shot upwards to his face. Gaara continued without pause. "He wants you to go home and this time it's a direct order. Naruto has sent an ambassador here to escort you back."

Sakura could not help but snort. "So the Hokage doesn't trust me enough to return on my own and you really want me gone?"

"You know that is not the case. Naruto is worried. And I deeply appreciate you overseeing the expansion of our medical facilities between missions. But I think you know it's time to face whatever it is you ran away from in the first place."

Sakura was stunned at Gaara's unusual display of concern and wisdom beyond his years. Perhaps becoming leader of the village had forced him to mature; she could only hope that would stay true for Naruto.

As for her, the years away from home had forced her to grow. Sakura could consider herself a seasoned professional after all she had done and all she had seen while in ANBU. When she left him on that road two years ago life had become more than she was willing to bear. But being solo for so long and being able to truly fight for herself, Sakura could find some semblance of resolve with the past.

Except with him though, that was something Sakura could not resolve or move forward with.

"When does this babysitter show up then?" Sakura crossed her arms in resignation before her.

"He's already on the way here and from the sound of how Naruto's last correspondence read it seems it was at the request of the ninja that he be sent." Gaara spoke slowly and deliberately before tossing a half opened scroll at Sakura who raised one eyebrow in response.

Sakura briefly scanned the page before rolling it up and trading it for her short sword on the desk. She bowed to the Kazekage who studied her overly formal countenance and watched as Sakura picked up her discarded shirt from the chair. She grabbed her mask next and affixed it back upon her face before retreating to the room's only door.

"Thank you Gaara. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused you during these last couple of years. I'll leave Suna and meet the ambassador half way." Sakura spoke from the doorway of the office before exiting and closing the door quietly shut behind her.

Out in the hallway she crumbled. From behind the mask her real face gave way to a grimace. Two years and she was to meet an ambassador. With her sense of calm and her new scars she has to meet an ambassador. An ambassador. Kakashi.

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