Gaara walked into her apartment uninvited. Which didn't surprise Sakura at all.

He made his way over to her couch and sat down, not allowing Sakura the chance to shoo him out of her home.

She closed the door slowly then turned around only to glare at the back of Gaara's head.

Her face was smug. She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to glare. "What are you doing here?" she asked irritated.

He didn't reply. He just simply looked back at her, then turned around once again.

She sighed then walked over to the same couch and took a seat on the opposite side of him. She threw her head back and sighed again in annoyance. Why couldn't he just leave her alone?

He gave her a curious look. And even though she felt his gaze on her, she continued to stare up at the ceiling. Maybe if she just stayed quiet, he would leave.

But most likely not.

"Sakura, are you alright?"

His question surprised her. She took her gaze off of the ceiling and put it back on the redhead.

It took her a minute to register his question, but eventually she answered.

"Of course I'm fine. What's more comforting than my ex-boyfriend showing up out of nowhere, kissing me, and being all buddy-buddy with my fiancé. Life's just terrific." She replied sarcastically, then turned her face yet again towards the ceiling.

Gaara stared in shock at her. Sure he understood why she would be so mad, but he would of thought that she would've been even a little bit excited to of seen him after so many years.

He decided to try his shot at comforting her. He knew this was highly dangerous, and could even be lethal…but he would give it his best shot for her.

He carefully moved over to the middle cushion so that he could sit beside her, the whole time watching her cautiously.

But she didn't move, much to his surprise.

Gaara put his head back and rested it on the couch so he was in the same position as her and closed his eyes.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes until he finally got the courage to speak.

"Remember that time before we were dating when we went to the movies with Naruto. We saw 'The Messengers' and it was only us in the theater." Gaara said sort of quietly.

The memory made Sakura smile, and even laugh a little bit. "And Naruto kept on pretending that he wasn't scared. Although you could clearly tell that he was by the way he was almost about to cry." She added.

Gaara chuckled this time. "Ya, I miss those times. You, Naruto and I would go just about everywhere together."

"Ya. I miss them too. I remember going to every one of your matches. And if we ever missed one, Naruto wouldn't let me hear the end of it for weeks."

"I remember that too. I also remember how us and everybody else would always go out for ice cream after every match. Those were the real fun times when everyone got together. We were one huge family." Gaara replied with the smile still on his face from reminiscing.

"Ya. They most definitely were." Sakura replied, reminiscing as well. Everyone used to always be so close. She really did miss those days.

"I'm glad to see that everyone is still together. Some more than others I should say." He chuckled after he replied. It was weird seeing his old friends dating his other old friends. But then again, it must have been weird at first for them to see him and Sakura get together.

"Speaking of that, what's going on between Ino, Kiba, and Hinata?" Gaara asked without moving his head.

"It's really confusing and complicated. To say the least, Kiba really liked Hinata, but got shot down. And Ino really likes Kiba, so she asked him out I guess. He must of agreed because they are actually going out tonight." Sakura answered.

"That, or she forced him. You know how she can be." Gaara remarked. "I just can't believe that our friends are all dating. Especially each other. I heard that Neji is finally dating Tenten?" Sakura nodded to him. "Wow. Things certainly have changed over the years." He finished.

"Yes. Things certainly have changed. But nothing will ever be as good as the old days." She looked at him this time. He noticed this and returned her stare.

After a couple of seconds, she finally broke eye contact. She turned her gaze to the floor.

"But I think everyone needs to stop living in the past. Including me." She replied, almost sadly.

She got up from the couch and walked into her kitchen.

She walked over to the window above the sink and looked out over the city. She tried her hardest to blink back the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

All of the sudden she felt two strong arms embrace her from behind.

With his arms around her stomach, Gaara rested his head on her shoulder and whispered to her.

"You know Sakura, sometimes it may seem like it, but some things never change."

"Everything changes over time." She whispered while silent tears started streaming down her face.

"Not everything." He gently kissed her neck then rested his head in the crook of her neck.

She couldn't take it anymore. She whipped herself around in his arms and threw her arms around his neck and began to cry even harder.

He tightened his grip on her and let her get all of her anger, frustration and confusion out.

She rarely cried, but when she did you knew she was really, really hurt deep.

It always pained him so much to see her cry. He always wished that he could take all of that pain away from her. He would even bare it himself if he had to.

That's why he had to get her to leave him. If she didn't and he found her…Gaara didn't know what he would do.

At least she was safe now. He never wanted her to leave, but they didn't have a choice but to separate.

"Sakura, I never wanted you to leave. But you have to understand something," he paused as she tilted her face up to look at him with puffy eyes. "I needed you to leave me."

She looked at him in total shock. "What are you talking about Gaara?"

All of the sudden the front door slammed open, and a frantic Naruto came running in.

He ran into the kitchen after seeing her, but paused for a few seconds after seeing her and Gaara in the kitchen standing so close together, and Sakura's red puffy eyes.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura all but yelled at the distracted boy.

Naruto snapped back to reality and remembered what he came there for.

"Sakura, it's Sasori. Apparently someone claimed to see you and Gaara…kiss last night. He is on his way over here right now! And he is furious!" Naruto replied.

"WHAT!" Sakura started to freak out. "See I knew this would happen!" she started pacing back and forth. "What do we do now? He is gonna find you here and…you need to leave. Like right now." She started pushing him to the door.

Although she was trying her best, he wasn't moving that much, due to the advantage he had over her when it came to strength.

"No Sakura. I'm not leaving you alone this time."

"Gaara what are you talking about! First it's 'I needed you to leave me', not it's this? What exactly is going on here Gaara!" Sakura was now in front of him. She wanted to know what was up. And now.

"You still haven't told her?!" Naruto yelled in disbelief.

"Well, I was trying to tell her before you barged in!" He yelled back.

"What is going on!" Sakura yelled at both of them this time.

"That's exactly what I would like to know."

Everyone froze and looked at the doorway.

"Sasori!" Sakura exclaimed.

He looked between her and Gaara.

"So this is your interpretations of 'childhood friendship.'?" He stated as he crosses his arms.

"Sasori, I can expla…"

"Explain what, exactly. How you kissed another man! Are you in denial of yourself, Sakura. Does this ring mean nothing to you anymore!" he picked up her hand for a split second, and then dropped it so that it fell back to her side.

"Sas" she started to say, but got interrupted as an arm grabbed her from behind. Gaara placed her behind him and Glared at Sasori threateningly.

"Lay off her Sasori. I was the one who kissed her. She had no say in it. So stop making false accusations." He stated.

Sasori scoffed and crossed his arms. "You, I should've known that you were the Gaara. Mr. 'World Championship' himself. Mr. 'Leave his most loved person behind to fend for herself', in person." By this time Sasori was right in Gaara's face. They were both about the same height, so it was easy to glare into each other's eyes.

"Ya, and what do you know exactly of what happened. You weren't there now were you." Gaara shot back with more force. This guy was really starting to get on his nerves.

"Trust me kid. I know more than you think." Sasori's words were like poison by this time.

They were both seething at this point.

"Sakura, what do we do now?" Naruto whispered to Sakura.

"I have no clue." she whispered back.

All she knew was that she couldn't take it anymore.

So she tried her best to get in between them and pushed them away from each other.

She actually was very strong, just compared to these two men, now on either side of her, she was like an ant.

They both looked down at her with confused looks, their rage almost completely gone by her gesture.

She closed her eyes and sighed irritatedly.

"I think we need to just calm down and talk about this!" She exclaimed, looking at both of them with a serious glare.

"No, I think that your pal here needs to leave." Sasori replied while glaring back at Gaara.

"If I go, then she comes with me." Gaara grabbed Sakura's arm tightly but carefully.

"I don't think so." Sasori did the same to her other arm.

"Crap." Sakura whispered under her breath then bowed her head.

"Maybe she should just come with me?..." Naruto asked, trying to save his best friend from this dilemma.

"Shut up Naruto!" the two said in unison, making Naruto back away some with his hands raised.

If they wouldn't calm down, then she would try something else.

She walked out the door. "Come on Naruto."

All 3 of them were still shocked that she left. But the blonde shook it off and followed because he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Once they were out of view, they started sprinting out of the building.

Sakura got out her phone mid-run and called Temari to tell her of the situation, and to tell her that they were heading over there right now.

"You! This is all your fault!" Sasori exclaimed as he pointed at Gaara.

"Me?! How would this be my fault?"

"You're the one who kissed her!"

"Well I'm sorry for getting carried away from seeing the only girl I've ever truly loved, after being away for 6 years!"

"Well maybe if you didn't let her walk away, none of this would've happened!"

"I didn't have a choice! She was in danger!" Gaara was so furious by now.

Sasori didn't say anything after that.

They stood there in silence. The aura in the room was so dark by now.

Gaara couldn't take it anymore. He had to go and find Sakura.

So without saying another word, he headed to the one place he knew for sure she was going.

To wherever Temari was.

Sasori was just as furious. With his clenched fist, he ended up punched the wall hard, almost breaking his hand.

He then got out his cell phone and dialed a number.

After a few seconds, the person on the opposite and of the line answered.

"Sensei, I have failed this time. My apologies." Sasori said trying to act calmly.

There was yelling at the other end of the line.

"Yes Sensei. I'll try my hardest this time. I won't let it happen again." With that Sasori closed his phone.

Things certainly were about to get bad….and quick.

Gaara ran into the hotel and into the room he shared with his siblings.

There he found Temari, Kankuro, Naruto, and Sakura sitting on one of the beds in a circle.

From the sound of the door opening, all four of them looked over to see an exhausted Gaara.

"Gaara, did you run here all the way from my house?" Sakura asked in disbelief as he gave her a nod. She lived a good whiles away from this hotel.

"That's not important." He continued while trying to catch his breath.

"Sakura, we need to talk."

Hey guys! Sorry for the late update aaaand the short chapter. I just needed to hurry up and get this chapter out of the way. So as always R&R! Thanks! ;3