Chapter 19

Bright jade eyes flew open as the sound of footsteps echoed in the hall and passed by his door. Gaara slowly sat up and blinked lazily. He couldn't ever recall a time when he had been so...relaxed. Like he could actually breathe for once and not let the exiting breath warp into a snarl.

A shift next to him caught his attention even before the action could be finished and his eyes narrowed dangerously. She was there, laying on her stomach with the blanket from his bed covering her from the waist down, and pink hair splayed over his pillow.

Her breathing was quiet and her back rose and fell softly with each intake. His fingers twitched at his side, and he looked away from her. The urge to touch her was trying to overcome him, and he found it odd that he was wanting to be so gentle with her. However, he turned his gaze away. If he touched her now, he didn't really know if he had the control to stop.

Gaara was pretty sure the patients next door had heard more than they should. But they were considered insane so the nurses would just write it off as relapses more or less. Besides, if he did lose control, he wanted her to be awake and just as willing as himself. So that she could beg for his attentions and ministrations.

Getting up from the small bed, Gaara made his way over to the small closet in his room. After slipping on a pair of jeans he began searching for a shirt. He growled slightly in irratation when he couldn't find one immediatly, and pawed through the clothes gathering on the floor of his closet.

Sakura stretched on the bed, immediatly catching Gaara's attention, and yawned quietly. He straightned from his crouch, a solitary black long-sleeved shirt in his grasp, and watched silently as she rubbed the sleep away from her emerald eyes with her fists.

She blinked slowly and attempted to focus her gaze on the figure looming across from her. Her face heated up as she realized Gaara was staring at her, without his shirt on. Though she shouldn't have been feeling like a schoolgirl with a crush since she had seen a lot more than just his bare torso already.

Yet the butterflys fluttered away in her stomach and made her grin at him and laugh softly at his tousled appearance. His hair was sticking up more than usual and his eyes seemed to be actually tired. He must have just woken up, too.

Sakura's face reddened even more when he didn't look away from her, and she clutched the sheet to her chest self-consciously. His bright eyes flitted to her hand at the movement, and his lips quirked slightly at her shyness. It was amusing, her acting like this after it was over. He turned back to his closet and began tugging the shirt over his arms.

The pinkette frowned in irratation at herself and him. Here she was acting like a little girl, covering herself up when, really, there was no need to do so. And how dare he find it funny that she acted like this. Why wasn't he a little more uncomfortable? She could fix that.

Sakura dropped the sheet from her body and stood from the bed. She pretended not to notice how his eyes followed her movements, and ran a hand through her hair as she walked over to him casually while keeping her eyes glued to the shirt half-way over his lean arms.

She could feel his eyes boring holes into her head, yet she refused to meet them. Sakura smiled coyly and grasped the black fabric in her fingers. Her eyes roamed his chest, taking in the his strong form. She could clearly see the muscles beneath the skin, coils and springs of power just waiting to be released, and how they rippled slightly when she ran her fingers over them.

"I think," she started in a soft voice and finally allowed her eyes to meet his. Only to lose her train of thought at the intense stare that was directed at her. His eyes looked as if a fire was burning in them, making them mesmerizing, alluring, and dangerous at the same time. Her breath caught as she gazed up at him.

A wicked glint entered his eyes and she blinked. Before she could move, his hands snaked around her naked waist and pulled her tightly against his own body. Her nose pressed against his throat, and she breathed in his scent. Masculine and pure strength was the only words that could describe his scent.

His hot mouth breathed against her ear, and she blushed again. In the back of her mind she was aggrivated that he had turned the tables on her, but at the moment, with his mouth at her ear and his warm body against hers, she couldn't find the words to express her frustration.

"What do you think?" he asked in a dark, husky voice, his hot breath washing over the side of her face.

She fumbled for words and fisted her hands against his chest when she couldn't remember what she was going to say. A dark chuckle, that most resembled a low growl, reverebrated through her body from deep in his chest and her knees shook from the effort of trying to hold herself up.

"I wanted to to take you out." she blurted out the first thing that came to mind without thinking.

At first she was shocked she had said it, but then she was glad she had. Sakura had been wanting to get him out of the facility since the beginning, and voicing it out loud made even more sense. She might not be able to get him out for good, but what about just visiting for a day? Surely Tsunade could see how that might help him. Mentally and physically. Then, maybe it would serve as a big step to getting him out for life.

Sakura smiled and looked up at him to see his reaction to her suggestion. It wasn't what she had anticipated. His eyes were cold as ice and his teeth clenched, grinding together.

"Gaara?"

"No."

Sakura stared at him in disbelief. "What? Why not?!" she demanded and frowned at him.

"Because I said no." he answered and stepped away from her. Sakura shivered from the loss of body heat.

"That isn't an explanation."

He shot her a glance over his shoulder as he pulled his black shirt on. "Yes, it is."

"No, it's not Gaara."

Sakura made an irratated noise and stalked over to the bed to pull on her own clothes. "I think it's a good idea." she continued and glared at him as she pulled her red scrub pants over her underwear. "Actually, I think it's a great idea. It would do you good to get out of here for day."

He rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall across from her, watching her search for her shirt and bra, which had somehow disappeared.

"Tsunade isn't going to agree." he stated as she bent to look under the bed.

"How do you know that?" Sakura asked, her voice slightly muffled from under the bed. "You don't know anything if you think that. I bet Tsunade would be ecstatic to have yo-...EEP!!"

Sakura yelped as her ankle was grasped and yanked backwards and she came out from under the bed swiftly, covering her chest with one of her arms on reflex as the other scrambled to hold her balance. Hands grapped her and flipped her onto her back onto the cold floor and she hissed from the sensation. Her eyes snapped to the figure above her angrily.

She was immediatly met with Gaara's glaring eyes as he hovered over her, his knees pressing the sides of her hips and his hands coming to a rest on either side of her head.

"I don't know anything?" he repeated as a deadly smile crept over his face. Sakura trembled slightly.

"If you think that," she said in a defiant tone and frowned up at him. "..then no, you don't."

"Hmm, is that so." he mused as he sat back on her hips and trailed his fingers slowly from her jaw to her throat, keeping his left hand beside her head to balance his weight. "Then how do I know what will happen if I continue doing this." he questioned as his fingers slid to just below her clavicle.

Sakura's breathing was unsteady but her glare was resolute. "That has n-nothing to do with going outside."

His smile widened and he, once again, released her and backed away. "You're right."

Sakura growled in frustration as the cold nipped at her again and she stumbled to her bare feet. "Stop playing games with me and find my shirt." she snapped and glared at him.

Gaara's eyes flashed with amusement as he reached on his desk and threw the red fabric at her, which she caught easily.

Sakura grinned at having her shirt back and clutched it to her bare chest as she reached under the bed once more and pulled out her bra. Once dressed she turned back to Gaara who was making his way to the bedroom door.

"You leave first. It will look suspicious if we leave at the same time." he said and folded his arms over his chest, eyeing her expectantly.

She nodded and stepped beside him. "I'm going to talk to Tsunade."

He blinked lazily. "I know."

"I'm going to get permission to take you out to town." she stated and watched him for a reaction. There was none.

"I have no doubt." He sighed.

She stared at him in surprise. He wasn't going to try to stop her? At all? Then why did he refuse before?

"Then...I guess I will see you when Tsunade agrees."

He nodded.

Sakura blinked and stepped toward the door, her hand wrapped around the knob and she twisted it, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes flashed up to Gaara's.

They were glinting dangerously in the light, and she fought down the heat that gathered throughout her body, rushing her blood.

"I won't stop playing games, Sakura." he said darkly before releasing her and, quite roughly, all but shoved her out of his room and closing the door loudly behind her.

Sakura stared owlishly at the wall ahead of her, confused but gradually understanding. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at the door over her shoulder. He had only put up a fight before about going outside just for the sake of getting under her skin.

He had toyed with her just to pick at her. He enjoyed making her confused and startled and everything other reaction he got from her that didn't include her understanding anything. He wanted to be one step ahead of her, always, and quite frankly, she was getting annoyed not knowing what to expect from his actions. His quick decisions. His 'games'.

Sakura growled in frustration as she stalked down the hallway toward the bathrooms. One thing was for sure, she needed to shower. As much as she enjoyed Gaara's scent, smelling like him while requesting something from Tsunade pretaining to him, didn't sound to promising in the least.

With a sigh, she stripped and climbed into the shower to wash off the evidence of what had transpired between Gaara and herself. Though she would never be able to wash herself of the memory of his touch. She wouldn't want to.