Typhoon

Chapter Thirteen

-Revealed-

Sakura ran into the village, heading straight for the Kazekage Tower where Shikamaru had said Gaara was located. Sending chakra to her feet, she climbed the tower as quickly as she could. Reaching the top, she let out a pained cry at seeing her fallen lover. She ran to his side and pulled him into her arms.

"Gaara! Gaara can you hear me?!" she asked desperately, shaking him slightly.

Receiving no response, she began to pour some of her remaining chakra into him to keep him alive a little bit longer. When she was sure he was stable, she immediately took him to the hospital. Shouting orders to some of her best nurses, she brought him into a room and immediately began to heal him.

A week later, she came into his room, completely exhausted. She had stayed with him every day and night, despite her staff's recommendations on her health. She would be here when he woke up dammit, just as he had for her. Besides, the house was vast and lonely when she was by herself.

She walked over to his bed and sat down in the chair next to it. Grabbing his hand, she kissed it softly and began to stroke it comfortingly, just as she had every day before. He was completely healed by now, but had yet to wake up even once. She had poured so much of her chakra into him that first day, that she had been on the brink of passing out. Nobody oversaw him but her, and she made sure that he was never alone.

Around noon her head began to droop. She had barely slept this past week, waking up every time she thought she heard a noise. Getting out of her chair, she carefully laid down next to her redheaded fiancé. Wrapping an arm around his middle, she fell asleep.

It was only about an hour after the tired medic had passed out. Without moving, Gaara's eyes cracked open. He searched around the room, trying to figure where he was. Finally feeling the warmth beside him, he looked down and saw the pink hair he had come so accustomed to. He let out a small sigh, "Sakura."

She came awake instantly at the sound of his voice. Sitting up slightly, she looked into his eyes. "Gaara! You're awake! How are you feeling? Do you want me to get off?" she asked these questions in a rush, her excitement at having him awake and concern over his wellbeing pouring out of her in waves.

He blinked and stared at her for a moment. "Um fine and no, that's ok." He replied, a bit perplexed by her behavior.

She hugged him fiercely. By now the block she had put on her tear ducts had worn off, and her tears were free to flow down her face. "I'm so glad you're ok." She whispered, trying unsuccessfully to hold back her tears.

He slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, "Sakura…really I'm alright. There's no need for you to be so sad." He tried to smile. He didn't like it when she cried, and especially not when it was because of him.

She sniffled, beginning to calm down. She looked up at him with watery eyes. "I'm not sad, I'm happy. You had me so worried for a while there that's all. Do you know how many people I killed to get to you?" she asked, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Well if you're happy then why are you crying?" he pointed out, clearly not understanding the concept.

She began to laugh, not really surprised that he didn't understand. "Haven't you ever heard of 'tears of joy'? That's what these are."

He decided to leave it at that, even though it still didn't make sense. Why would you cry if you were happy? He looked away from her and at his surroundings again. "Am I in the hospital?"

"Yeah." She said in a sigh. "I brought you here after I stabilized your chakra."

He looked back down at her. "How long has it been?"

She looked away. "A week." She said softly.

"A week?!" he sat up, extremely alarmed. "I've been dead for a WEEK?!"

Sliding off the bed from his sudden movement, she hit the chair and then the ground. Getting back up she scowled at him. "You weren't dead! So don't say that! Your body was exhausted, and needed time to recuperate. If I hadn't gotten to you when I did and poured my remaining chakra into your body, you would have been asleep for much longer."

"Well you know what, if I'm blacked out then that's dead to me." He told her solidly, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. He couldn't remember what had happened, until a flash of the scene came hurdling back into focus. He then stiffened and attempted to get out of bed. "What happened to the village? Is everyone alright?"

She grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back onto the bed. "Everyone is fine." She assured him. "No harm came to the village or the people. You did an excellent job. Now you need to rest. Until you're fit to leave, I don't want to see you get out of this bed." She told him, kissing the kanji on his forehead, the way he always did hers.

He glanced up at her, "But Sakura I feel fine." He attempted to stand once more.

She pushed him down again. "Gaara, we already discussed this when Temari was here. In the hospital, I'm the boss. You need to stay for observation for a while, just so we can be sure that you're fully ok. Whether or not you feel fine doesn't matter. It's if I feel you are fine that counts."

His hands grabbed onto her waist and pulled her hips against his, he arched his neck, getting a good look up into his fierce woman's eyes. He wasn't dressed in his clothes, but he wasn't wearing the required hospital wear either. Temari told them all how pissed Gaara would be if he woke up in it. He had his draw string black pants and an over sized black t-shirt on, that was now slipping off one of his shoulders. He let his fingers play with the hem of her skirt, locking his gaze with hers. "Now Sakura, you don't trust a Kage to know if he's well or not?" he asked huskily, letting his chin rest between her breasts.

She blushed at his actions. Shaking her head, she tried to give him a stern look, but failed miserably. "I don't trust anyone to know if they're well or not." She brought her hands up from his shoulders and slid her fingers into his hair, getting up and straddling his waist as she did so. "Do you not trust a highly skilled medic to take good care of you?"

"Not when she's trying to keep me prisoner," he whispered darkly, one of his hands already making its way up her shirt.

The door burst open and Naruto flew in, crying out excitedly, "GAARA! You better be awake! Whoa…" he froze, Neji, Kiba, Tenten, and Ino were in the doorway staring in. Sakura immediately got off, blushing darkly and trying to think up some excuse.

"Every freaking time…" Gaara growled, turning his head to glare at the obnoxious blonde.

Sakura laughed sheepishly. "Hey guys! I was just on my way to come get you."

"Yeah right Forehead, you were trying to play doctor with your fiancé here. We're not blind." Ino said, walking into the room.

"Ino-pig…." Sakura mumbled threateningly.

Naruto ignored this and came bouncing over to the side of the bed. "So Gaara, when are they gonna let you free? Cause' we gotta go get our tuxes fit and stuff for the wedding in two days." The blonde asked.

Gaara went a bit wide eyed. "Two days? Oh! I almost forgot," he hit himself in the forehead with his palm. Neji came in, followed by Tenten.

"It's alright Gaara, Kiba already told me where to go. I can take Naruto to the place and we can get fitted so you don't have to deal with this minor annoyance." Neji spoke wisely, dragging the irritating blonde away from the Kazekage. "And he's fine Sakura, you can take him home now, I doubt he likes being here." The brunette told her, disappearing out the door with a yelling angry ninja.

Sakura crossed her arms, upset that her game was over. "I was gonna take him home….I just wanted to mess with him a bit first."

"Whatever Sakura," Tenten laughed and headed out with a brooding light blonde following. "See you tomorrow Sakura for dress shopping!" they both waved and disappeared.

Gaara looked over at his lovely lady and smirked, "Well sounds like I can go home now." He stood confidently.

She walked over to the chair she had sat in. Reaching into a bag that was next to it, she turned and handed him a pile of clothes. "Here, I figured you'd want to change before leaving. We still have to officially check you out of the hospital, so I'll meet you down in the lobby. There's something that I need to check on first." She told him.

He blinked, taking the clothes away from her and watching her suspiciously. "Alright…I'll meet you downstairs."

She left the room then, and headed down the hall. He sighed and grabbed his shirt, pulling it over his head and then stripping his pants off. It didn't take him long to change back into his normal attire. Tossing his other clothes in the bag, he walked out of the room and found the lobby, almost expecting Sakura to be there waiting for him. When she wasn't he grew a bit irritated. He really just wanted to go home, so he went to the receptionist and asked where Sakura was.

"Oh well, she came and checked you out from the hospital Kazekage-sama, and then went up to see Akane." The woman smiled, pulling out a piece of paper and writing the room number down on it. "The children will be in the hospital playroom at this time, so here you go."

He took the paper and headed down the hall and up the stairs to the second floor. He glanced at the numbers, trying to find the right match, when he stopped at a window. He looked inside and there was Sakura, talking to one of the girls. She was a frail little thing. He stepped closer to the glass, completely content with just watching.

"Sakura-sama, is Kazekage-sama alright?" Akane asked, hazel eyes full of concern.

She smiled tenderly at the little girl. "Yes, he's fine. I'm going to take him home in a few minutes."

Akane's face lit up with happiness. "That's wonderful! Do you think you could read me a story before you go? None of the other nurses does the voices as good as you."

Laughing, Sakura agreed, and had the whole room of kids come sit around her, keeping Akane in her lap. She picked up a random story, something about a mean dragon falling in love with the princess it captured and turning into a handsome prince.

He stared at Sakura and then the children around her, noticing how happy she looked. Unlike she had been for the past couple of days before the beginning of the war. His expression turned pained, he wished he could make her happy again. He focused on the girl named Akane, who seemed so happy in Sakura's arms. And the pink haired medic looked so…motherly. He froze, his eyes going a bit wide. So that was it. Sakura wanted to be a mother, and he had told her he didn't like children. But it hadn't meant he didn't want to have them with her. His own children that he could love…like he loved Sakura. He stopped his thoughts. No, he wouldn't be able to love them…because of who he was. But his determination boiled. Sakura was going to tell him what she wanted. No matter what.

When the story was over, she said goodbye to the kids, kissing Akane on the forehead. She got up and walked over to one of the nurses who were watching the children. "I'm going to leave now Hitomi-san. Gaara's probably impatient to get home."

"Ok Sakura-sama! Thanks for coming by to see the kids. They just adore you." The ebony haired woman said.

"Yeah." She sighed. "I love kids, but I won't have any of my own, so I'm content to spend time with those who need the attention."

The other woman raised a confused brow. "Why not just have kids with Kazekage-sama? Or are you unable to?"

"No it's not that." She answered, shaking her head. "Gaara doesn't want kids, and I'm going to respect his wishes."

"I understand. Well, have a nice day! I'll see you at the wedding I suppose!" Hitomi said.

"Bye!" Sakura said, waving as she headed for the door.

As she walked out she froze, horrified. She slowly turned her head to see the man leaning against the wall to the door. "G-Gaara? How long have you been there?" she paled, seeing his angry expression. This was not good, had he overheard her?

The redhead crossed his arms and pushed away from the wall, a glare set on his face. "You never asked me if I wanted children."

She met his glare with one of her own, crossing her arms as well. "I didn't have to. If you don't like children, then I don't see why you would want any."

"No! Other people's children are completely different than if I had my own. I thought everyone knew that." He straightened up. He would not be defeated in this matter. He was pissed that something so much as a misplay on words had caused all these problems. "They're two completely different questions and why didn't you just tell me?! It could have solved your depression issues a lot sooner."

"Depression issues?! I'll show you depression issues!" she said, raising a fist. It was then that she noticed people staring at them, including some of the kids through the glass. Lowering her hand, she took a deep breath. "This isn't the place to be having this discussion." She said calmly.

His glare only intensified. "Well then maybe you shouldn't have lied to me." He stepped forward and grabbed her wrists, the two disappearing in a violent whirl of sand.

Some of the nurses just stared at the spot where the spat had gone down. "…Ok?"

The angry pair appeared in their bedroom. Gaara released her as soon as they had touched the ground. "I'm so angry right now Sakura! All this time I thought your sadness was my fault! And I tried to do something about that, but you hardly got happy! I thought that…" he stopped, not wanting to continue those painful words. He turned away from her and walked towards the large balcony window, his arms once more crossed tightly over his chest.

Her angry expression changed to one of guilt. She hadn't meant to hurt him in such a way. She began to wring her hands nervously. Looking at the carpet, she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you think those things. But you have to know that I will always love you, no matter what. I was just upset because I had always wanted kids, and I figured, given enough time, I would be okay with not having any. I didn't talk to you about it because I didn't want you to get angry."

"Well I'm angry now because you didn't talk about it with me. Sakura," he turned around, not looking as furious as he had before. He walked towards her, stopping when they were only centimeters away. "We're getting married, we can't keep doing this to each other. Hiding our feelings or our thoughts…I can't read your mind…I need you to tell me what you're thinking and what's bothering you…and I will do my best to do the same with you…though it may take me a little longer…I will try…" he nodded, taking her hands with his. "I love you Sakura, what you want is what I want…please don't ever think you could guilt me into something…" he sighed and brought her closer, resting his head on hers. "You know that if I really didn't want it…it would not happen…"

She hugged him then, tears running down her face. "You're right and I'm sorry. From now on I'll tell you when I'm upset and stuff." Burying her face in the crook of his neck, she nuzzled him apologetically. Bringing her face away, she gave him a worried look. "But, the council said that we have to have a child within the first year of our marriage, otherwise we can't get married at all if we don't agree. And I didn't want us to have a child because we had to. I wanted us to have one because we wanted to."

She could feel how stiff he became. He looked down at her, obviously trying to quail the fury that was surfacing. "What?"

Sakura blinked up at him. "The council. The day after we arrived they called me from work to discuss what I should expect and the requirements of being your wife. Is something wrong?" she asked, searching his face.

"The council called a meeting without me there?" he asked, trying his best to clarify the situation so he wasn't misinformed.

"Yes. They said that your work was too busy to interrupt with such trivial matters, and that you were already aware of what was going on. Was I misinformed?" she asked, beginning to see what the council had done.

He released her quickly, walking off so that out of his rage he wouldn't do something to hurt her. "You were terribly misinformed…" Gaara seethed out through gritted teeth. He looked back at her, his hands tightening to threatening fists. "The council is not allowed to meet without me present, and it especially isn't supposed to lie!" he yelled. He walked back to her and grabbed her hand tightly, but gently. "Come on." He said as his sand picked up again and once more they vanished.

The members of the council looked around nervously, all but a confident blonde. Gaara sat in his chair, looking more murderous than he had in years. The silence went on, until someone was stupid enough to speak up. "So Gaara-kun why did you call this meeting?" Matsuri smiled, as if she couldn't sense the threatening aura radiating off the redhead.

"Do not speak another word." Gaara glared at the girl, all his hatred now focused on a single person. She shrank back, pressing her lips tightly together. He stood up, the council following his lead. The doors came open and Sakura sauntered in, and most of the elders couldn't hide their horrified faces.

Sakura didn't bother to hide the smirk that was plastered on her face. She went immediately beside Gaara, who set his hand on her shoulder. "Sit." He ordered, and not wanting to infuriate him further, they all sat. Gaara gestured for Sakura to take his seat, and the terror in their eyes only grew. The Kazekage had given his seat up to his fiancé, and now there was nowhere for him to sit.

They all looked around, as if trying to decide who would leave. "Matsuri." Hana spoke up angrily. "How dare you. Get up and leave this council, seeing as you are the youngest and newest member. That is unforgivable that you keep your Kazekage standing. Get out. Now." She ordered, her glare matching Gaara's. The girl went pale and hurriedly stood from her seat.

"Gaara-kun, I'm so-"

"Kazekage-sama." Sakura corrected, giving a glare of her own.

Matsuri looked at the medic, trying to hold in her embarrassing anger. "I'm so sorry Kazekage-sama." She bowed, still not leaving.

"Get out." He finalized.

She yelped and rushed out of the room, trying her best not to cry. Every member of the council moved down a seat so that Gaara could take the one next to Sakura. Once everyone was situated he looked around the room, lacing his fingers together and resting them on the table. "If I ever find out that you held a council meeting without me again, without my permission, you will all die. If you think you are not expendable you are dead wrong." Hana tried to stifle her laugh. She had already spoken with the Kazekage and Sakura, since Sakura had told Gaara that the only one who seemed to be trying to help her was Hana. "Now…" he trailed off, looking over at his lovely wife to be. "Sakura, do you have anything to say?"

She placed her hands delicately on the table, giving everyone a polite smile. "Well, what I didn't get the chance to say the other day was thank you. I wanted to thank all of you for the concern you show your village. And to thank you for being kind enough to help me out, since I don't understand everything about the politics in Suna. But Gaara and I are fully capable of deciding how to live our lives, and whether or not we will have children is our decision, not yours. So thanks, but no thanks." She said in a sickeningly sweet voice, still smiling.

By now some of the men of the council had shrunk in shame. For even though Sakura hadn't yelled at them, she was being overly polite. There really wasn't much they could say in order to defend themselves.

Finally tearing his gaze from her, Gaara looked back at the council. "Now is there anything else that I actually haven't been informed of? Or would you all prefer to lie some more to the woman who is going to be your superior?"

Every single one of them shook their heads. They did not want to say anything that might upset their leaders further. "Good, now I hope to see you all at the wedding. You are dismissed." Gaara stood and lent his hand down to Sakura, who took it graciously. They left before any of the others even moved.

"Well that went well," the redhead sighed with relief.

"It did, didn't it?" she asked, fully agreeing with him. She was proud of herself for not yelling at them and bashing one of their heads in as an example. Because if one of them had spoken up, she would have been pretty close.

She looked at Gaara inquisitively. "So what are we gonna do now? I really just want to go home. I haven't slept in our bed since before I left on that mission." She admitted, her sore back agreeing with her fully.

"Well me either." He laughed, wanting nothing more than to crawl in bed with her and fall asleep. Despite his coma like state, he didn't feel it was very restful. Before another word could be said, they were once more in their room with the help of his sand.

She pulled off her boots and kunai holster. Then unbuckled her skirt and threw her shirt off. She was too exhausted to care about propriety, and didn't really feel like changing into her pajamas. Without looking back at Gaara, she crawled into the bed, pulling back the covers on his side as she got in. Looking over at him, she gave him a tired smile and patted the spot next to her invitingly.

He was already in only his pants. Deciding to be as lazy as she was, he got in next to her and pulled the covers around them. He faced her and just let his jade meet her beautiful emerald. She smiled at him and scooted closer, snuggling into his warmth. She sighed contentedly. "Just think, in two days, we'll be married."

He nodded, wrapping his arms tightly around her. "And so begins the rest of our lives."