The answer to the questions about Hinata sleeping with Sasuke: I only hinted to it in the first chapter, without naming her at the time. It was never intended to be a huge deal in that chapter, or the previous one, so I apologise for any confusion. It's better explained in this chapter anyway. Enjoy.

Dangerous Temptations

.:. -/ \- .:..

The Oncoming Storm

Sakura Haruno had never been a morning person. She hated the sun, the cheery sounds of her next door neighbours (who were always noisy in the morning) and the impressions made upon her person as she woke up. Sleep never lasted long enough to satiate her and patience in all things was never her thing. Her upbringing had been hard, and even as a child, she hadn't exactly revelled in the frivolity that came naturally to other children.

This was why it had never crossed her mind to find love, settle down, and become some overbearing man's dutiful house wife. People who tried to push her around didn't last long anyway. And once she got something she thought she wanted, it all seemed to go downhill from there.

She woke slowly, still groggy with mixed sensations of nausea and light-headedness. Sakura groaned softly, her body feeling like it weighed a tonne. She managed to lift her left arm up, draping it across her forehead, only then becoming aware of the cold sweat engulfing her body.

This wasn't her bed, and she wasn't wearing any clothes.

'I don't remember getting drunk.'

That was how she felt – like she'd overdone it after one of Ino's peer pressured binges.

It took her a few minutes to realise she wasn't alone. The warm body next to her had let go of her in the middle of the night, and she wasn't sure if she should be grateful about that or not. Sakura's eyes flickered over the naked form of Gaara Sabaku, covered only in a single bed sheet and from the waist down. He looked so peaceful, his face having dropped the normally apathetic expression and replaced by something more like a man who'd just won the lottery.

She rolled over to face him, thinking about her morning after jitters. Her stomach was doing somersaults and she wasn't sure if she wanted to be around when Gaara woke up, let alone have that conversation with him. She liked him – she really did – but the confusion of the last two weeks over him and Sasuke in her mind had built up, and she had mistakenly thought that sleeping with the less aggravating of the two would help her decide what to do with them. If anything, it had only confused her more.

Making a decision, she carefully rolled away from Gaara and looked around for her clothes. They'd started in the upstairs room of The Lazy Siren, and moved into a smaller, adjoining room that looked like someone spent a lot of time here. The club belonged to Gaara's brother, so she surmised he was the one who spent inordinate amounts of time in this makeshift bedroom; the furniture and connecting bathroom were decorated with miscellaneous photos and memorabilia.

Sakura resisted the urge to groan, holding a hand to her forehead as the world around her threatened to spin out of control. Taking a few deep breaths, she quickly shifted off the bed, tiptoeing as Gaara growled softly and collected her things. She dressed like a woman possessed, only stopping a moment later to be sure that the red head was still asleep.

Gaara stirred as she hesitated, waiting to see if she'd really woken him up. A soft snore and several moans of her name later, and he rolled over, hugging a stray pillow and dreaming again.

She smiled at that, the sight and sounds of his reverie making her want to jump back on the bed and wake him up the fun way. But Sakura couldn't bring herself to face him – she felt ashamed, like she'd used him. Even though she knew he wasn't going to be happy, waking up alone, she left anyway, taking what she assumed was the back way out and thankfully, without drawing the attention of several burly looking security guards who were also nursing hangovers.

She needed time to sort out the mess she'd gotten herself into.

.:. -/ \- .:.

It was closer to midday when Sakura finally dragged herself into work the following Monday. After repeatedly ignoring Gaara's attempts to talk to her, she had spent all Sunday night discussing her situation with Hinata and Ino (the blonde had been "unavailable" Saturday night, and she was getting the sneaking suspicion that Ino was actually dating someone).

Sakura shrugged off her jacket as she looked around the precinct – it was raining outside and there weren't many in the station today (a surprising amount of stomach bugs). Her own duties were rather lax right now: it was like the entire force was just fading away. Jiraiya had her go over some case files right away, telling her that Naruto was working with Shikamaru Nara today, because she'd been late. With it pouring down outside, she didn't care to leave the warmth of the office anyway, and was more than happy to wile the day away with paperwork.

So she buckled down, her mind drifting to her "talk" with Hinata and Ino the previous night – getting drunk before telling all had of course, been the blond's idea.

Hinata's recounting of her experience with Sasuke (something Sakura hadn't wanted to know about until now) was enlightening. The man was nothing if not persistent, and had had the Hyuuga followed around, twenty-four seven to figure out where she went when not with Naruto. He'd put a lot of thought into her seduction, but Hinata was candid enough about the sex to the point that Sakura wasn't sure whether to run screaming for the hills or thank her lucky stars.

But Hinata had murmured Naruto's name instead of the Uchiha's – apparently, that was a turn on for Sasuke, hearing another man's name during coitus. Ino's theory was that because he was deliberately "stealing" her away from Naruto, knowing she was still thinking of the knucklehead made his victory over her body at least, all the more pleasurable.

She kind of had a twisted point.

Sakura had slept with attractive men who were lame in bed, so she understood the allure for someone like Sasuke or Gaara, who were apparently both well versed in the workings of the female body. It made her anxious about the Uchiha and her own confessions to both Hinata and Ino about sleeping with Gaara and daydreaming about Sasuke elicited only pitying looks from the two of them.

She hated being pitied.

Sakura gave a small yelp when she realised she'd collided with someone in the hallway outside the records room – the stupid place was a maze unless a person spent every waking hour in here. She was supposed to be looking up some two year old cold case for Jiraiya, in the faint hopes of reopening it again, but now had more pressing concerns.

Sasuke Uchiha was not a quitter; he'd been following the pinkette long enough to know she hadn't been into the station early this morning like she was supposed to be. This floor was restricted, so he'd paid off that stupid mole of his father's to get a one-time security access card to ambush Sakura where she wouldn't be surrounded by her personal security – both Kakashi Hatake and Naruto Uzumaki were taking it in turns without her realising she was being "looked after".

He was persistent.

Sakura inhaled sharply, dropping the box of papers in her hands and moving immediately to wriggle out of Sasuke's grip. She was well versed in the Gendai jujutsu that was required to know in the police force, not to mention several other jujutsu techniques taught to her by Naruto over the years she'd known him; she didn't seem to remember any of that right now. Her mind and sensibilities left her the moment Sasuke's hands went to her hips and he licked his lips; his eyes trained on hers, but she had no doubt he was checking her out.

Sakura grunted though, trying to salvage whatever dignity she had left. "Let me go."

"In a minute," he said evenly. "I want a word with you."

"Go fuck yourself," she said hoarsely. "That's three words: all yours. Now let me go!"

He was making her angrier with every second, despite her physical reaction to him; it was so different from the effect that Gaara had on her. This wasn't surprising, as they each had different ways of approaching her. Gaara took the gentle, but prodding angle, while Sasuke seemed fond of manhandling her – was it wrong that she enjoyed both?

Sasuke chuckled. "I can't believe I've ignored you for so long," he pushed her backwards, against the wire enclosure that separated the records room from the adjoining hallway, and she let out a yelp of surprise.

"Uchiha," she growled.

"Yeah, yeah, I know: let me go." He smirked. "Like I said – in a minute. I need to know something first."

Surprised, Sakura stopped fighting him, giving him the attention he craved.

"I heard you were spending time with the Sabaku," he said, lowering his face to hers as she squirmed again.

"It's none of your business," she said.

Sasuke shook his head. "That's where you're wrong – there's a war coming, and if you take his side, things are going to get very unpleasant for you."

She shivered involuntarily.

Kakashi had told her the same thing – well, the part about the war. He'd also warned her away from Sasuke. Sakura frowned at the Uchiha in question, wondering what it all meant. The two families were always butting heads, but when exactly had this blood feud escalated into something that could resemble a war?

And better yet, who cared?

"I'm not part of this stupid war," she snapped, forcing more venom into her voice than she normally would have. She needed to get away from him, now.

He just shrugged, finally pulling away from the wall and staring at her thoughtfully. His mind was in overdrive, wondering if she had feelings for the youngest Sabaku – it would seriously hamper his intentions with her. He let a ghost of a smirk grace his features as she continued to look overwhelmed in his presence.

"Sorry hime," he said, tracing the edge of her hair gently. "You have no say in the matter."

Sakura pushed him away violently (he let her) and ran – Jiraiya would just have to forgive her for ditching work. The world was going insane and she wanted nothing to do with it.

.:. -/ \- .:.

There was so much paperwork to wade through that he didn't know where to start. Itachi Uchiha was about to take over the family business, having finally convinced his father that it was struggling due to Fugaku taking off so much time with his "extracurricular activities". It was a pleasant way to categorise their black market dealings. He didn't agree with the more insidious deals and surprisingly, his father was giving him the opportunity to find more legal ways of dealing with some of their competitors without losing a substantial amount of money.

It took him four hours of sorting through the tax returns and overseas distributing figures to figure out why Fugaku was suddenly so keen to do the right thing – they were being investigated by foreign law enforcement agencies. He wasn't sure whether or not to be surprised at this; their mole in the Tokyo Police Department kept them off the local radar, but it made sense that they would eventually draw international, unwanted attention.

The only family more corrupt than theirs was the Sabaku. But, he supposed, they thought the same thing about the Uchiha. He had to agree with both sentiments.

But it didn't help him – he wanted out. Sasuke was embracing it, listening to every word out of Fugaku's mouth, but Itachi knew it was just about that pink haired cop to him – he hadn't been overly interested in the workings of Uchiha Industries unless it got him between the legs of some pretty daughter of their father's associates. He'd been working as a Junior Executive in order to "earn" his many indulgences after the last time he'd almost ended up in jail – the Junior Executive title was just a fancy way of saying he was tasked with overseeing one of their smaller initiatives in the Tokyo area (nothing even he could screw up, fortunately).

But it was only recently that Sasuke had asked Fugaku for more responsibility – it gave him more direct access to their connections as a result – just enough that he'd be able to keep tabs on Sakura Haruno without drawing attention.

He was definitely up to something more with this particular "skirt".

Itachi sighed, noting there was one more pile of paperwork for him to look over. At first, it didn't look any different from the rest of them – sign for this, requisition this…

But upon realising he must have subconsciously skipped over the less "official" documents, he notice one last "urgent" mandate, straight from Fugaku himself; the document glared up at Itachi as he frowned down at it.

There was no doubt that he loathed violence, leaving the dirtier aspects of running a global criminal organisation to his father, while trying to find a way around the entire thing. The Sabaku family hated the Uchiha, and Sasuke's recent actions had brought to light the loathing the youngest members of their respective main families had for each other.

And for his father to leave this in his hands was further proof of both the man's ignorance of how he worked, and the seriousness of this soon to be open war. Itachi had no doubt Hameru Sabaku had a similar one for Sasuke, and this idiotic hostility between their families was grating on his patience.

Itachi sighed, wishing he could just burn the documentation and be done with it: it was a kill order for Gaara Sabaku.

.:. -/ \- .:.

Gaara had woken up Saturday morning alone, surprised by the lack of a warm body beside him. Had he done something to piss Sakura off? Traditionally (if anyone), it was supposed to be the guy who left quickly and quietly after having sex. She hadn't struck him as the kind of woman who would use someone for their body and then just move on.

That was why he needed answers ‒ and fast.

The Sabaku family was gearing up for war, since Fugaku had made it clear he was taking their usual disagreements that extra step further – over the weekend, his brother's night club, not to mention several other establishments owned by members of their family, had been broken into. There was no doubt it had been the Uchiha, and Hameru Sabaku was calling in a few favours with gunrunners from Moscow ‒ the capital of the Russian Federation was home to their main hardware import.

He had no doubt the Uchiha's were doing the same with their own contacts: it was going to get ugly. The city of Tokyo was corrupt, and it was about to turn around and bite the National Public Safety Commission in the arse.

But in the calm before the storm, Gaara wanted to find out what was going on in that head of Sakura's. He'd been in board meetings most of the weekend, so it wasn't until Tuesday afternoon – after she'd finished her shift at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (she had mysteriously "disappeared" the day before). He cornered her outside the main entrance, but still hadn't decided what he was going to say.

She looked terrified to see him, biting her bottom lip nervously as he glanced at her, still debating that he'd done something wrong. The rain was coming down hard, just like it had the day before, and by the looks of it, the headquarters of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department was almost like a ghost town. This should've surprised him, but didn't – they were well aware of the coming hostilities and this only showed him that preparations to intervene were going on outside of public view.

The pinkette wasn't corrupt… it was just another reason why he trusted her.

The seconds ticked by and finally, Sakura had had enough of the silence.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out, hugging herself despite the thick jacket she was wearing.

They were standing under an awning and even without direct rain, a cold wind was making it was freezing cold. Gaara had initially offered his jacket to her but she dismissed the move, not wanting to take his only source of heat – standing a good four feet apart, they were embracing the cliché "after morning" conversation four days too late. This only made her all the more nervous, so Sakura decided to break the ice, figuratively speaking.

"For sleeping with me?" He asked, worried that was what she meant.

Sakura shook her head. "No, for running out: I owe you an explanation, but can we move this to somewhere more comfortable, and preferably with a central heating system?"

Gaara chuckled, his fear washing off of him. He let out a ragged breath, remembering he'd wanted to woo Sakura to piss off Sasuke – but this went beyond that idiot. He wanted Sakura for himself, for less disgraceful reasons.

"There's a coffee shop down the block," Sakura suggested. "I go there in my lunch breaks sometimes."

Gaara nodded. "Lead the way."

He had no idea what shop she was talking about anyway.

It turned out to be a little French place with pastries as well as what looked like every known coffee and tea known to man. Le Désirer. It was definitely fitting. Sakura glanced at the name of the shop and smiled at Gaara as they sat down.

"I think it's actually talking about a desire for food," she said cheekily.

"What else is there?" He asked, returning her smirk.

Their smiles quickly faded as the waitress took their orders – just coffee. Sakura fingered the edge of the table nervously.

"I-I wanted to stay," she said lamely. "You see, I haven't been honest with you."

She bit her bottom lip, remaining silent until after the waitress had brought their drinks. She took a sip of her latte and inhaled deeply, enjoying the taste. And she told him about how Sasuke had been sending her gifts, the way he looked at her when he came into the station for his mandatory check-ins. She couldn't stop the outflow of information, telling Gaara everything from the moment she and Naruto had escorted Sasuke home – the slap, the way he'd tricked her, and the fact that despite his behaviour, she still hadn't gotten a restraining order out on him like Jiraiya had counselled her to.

Gaara remained thoughtfully quiet after she fell silent, debating on how to respond. He had his own secrets regarding what was happening between her and the Uchiha, and the imminent war with that family – but there was no way he was about to confess that his father wanted Sasuke (the whole lot of them really) dead. Instead, he went for the question that was causing his heart rate to accelerate in fear again.

"Do you have feelings for him?"

"Sorry?"

"I asked you if you have feelings for Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura swallowed heavily, placing her drink down on the table carefully, not able to look up into those haunting aquamarine eyes of his.

'Aquamarine is a light blue/green colour,' she thought absentmindedly. 'A soft, pupil-less glance of glassy, blue/green eyes and a body to die for…'

She shivered.

"Sakura." Gaara ran his forefinger under her chin before lifting her head to stare into those emerald eyes of hers. "Answer my question. Do you want to be with Sasuke Uchiha?"

.:. -/ \- .:.

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