Chapter 4

A/N: Hope you liked the last chapter!

Kankuro felt the sand slowly release his body and he smiled at his handiwork. He knew that those two would hit it off and this whole matchmaking business would work. He left Sakura's room and intended find Temari as soon as possible and update her on what had happened. "Then I will probably take a mission to Leaf so I can see my own woman and tell her how our plan had worked".

"Miss Haruno, you are going to be late." Gaara didn't want the kiss to end but he knew that they both had other obligations and he was getting a little more bothered than he cared to admit. "I'm not sure what is going on between us, but we will have to figure it out later. Duty calls."

"You're right, if I don't get going soon I'm going to be late" Sakura couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice. She moved away from the man, gathered her belongings and left the room.

Gaara knew he was right to stop what was going on. He couldn't let anything progress between them. He had no intention of settling down any time soon and he had to much respect for Naruto to treat the mans best friend like a one night stand. He knew that he was devoloping feelings for the pink haired kunoichi, but he was no fool. Gaara would never be able to love another person in the way she needed. He was too broken. True his brother and sister had allowed him to learn what love was and he loved them both very dearly, but the love between siblings was different. It was calm and rational and he didn't know how he reached this conclusion, but he knew that love with the woman in question would be anything but.

Sakura could feel the eyes of her students growing with amusement as she proceeded to tell them her most embarrassing moment as a medic. It was a good ice breaker so that she could show them that she was, despite her reputation as a ninja and a medic, human. She told them of a time that she had given a civilian patient of hers a physical exam and he had become aroused, only to be kindly reminded by the medic that she was in fact his cousin and not at all interested. She smiled at the thought of her family.

Her parents had died a year before the war began, but the rest of her family had not escaped the trials of war. They had left the village before the war began. Afraid of being associated with Leaf should the war be lost. They were in one of the villages laid to waste by the giant 10 tailed demon. Sakura shuddered to think that she was literally the only person left in what was once a rather large family.

Returning her attention to her students she reached into her kunai holster and grabbed one of her weapons. She then stabbed herself in the stomach, careful to miss her enternal organs should her student be less than adapt. And watched the chaos ensue. "Now, show me who is worth being here." She slumped back onto her desk. Luckily several of her students rushed to her and went about deciding the best course of action. One student whom she recognized as Kyo stood out and began giving orders.

"You, fetch some bandages and come back quick. I will begin to heal her the rest of you be ready to take my place should I run out of chakra." Jaw set the man began his work. He turned to his teacher. "How did you know that any of us knew the basics of healing?"

"I didn't" Sakura was proud to see one of the future medics take charge of the situation and she soon decided that this man would be in charge once she left. "Congrats Kyo, you just became my second in command. Well done taking charge and handling the situation calmly." turning to address the rest of her students, "all of you who rushed to help and took directions congrats to you as well. You passed the first test. To those of you who stayed in their seats afraid of what to do I am sorry but we have no need for you here. You may leave."

Gaara stood in the hallway outside of the classroom that Sakura was occupying. He had come to ask if she needed assistance and was enjoying her lecture until the moment that she had stabbed herself. He knew she wasn't stupid and that she had a reason for doing what she did, but when he saw her blood run to the floor he had to stop himself from running in to care for her himself.

He saw a young man step forward and take charge and Gaara was glad for it, but he noticed the man had not stopped holding on to Sakura once his healing chakra was done. Gaara stiffened once again as he could feel the familiar hint of jealousy (yes he had finally decided with certainty that jealousy was what he was feeling). He opened the door of the classroom and strode in.

He could here everyone in the room bowing and welcoming him, everyone except the pink hair kunoichi and the man who was still holding her. "Sakura are you alright?" placing his hand on the woman's shoulder possessively he could see the man beside him raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Kyo decided that he should probably let go of the beautiful woman in his arms. If he wasn't mistaken the look in his Kazekage's eyes told him that Sakura belonged to him. Kyo was a handsome man, but he wasn't stupid. If the Kazekage had laid claim to her then the battle was lost before it began.

Sakura was quiet during dinner. It didn't pass by her notice how possessive Gaara had been earlier today on two separate instances. "Was the great Kazekage.. jealous?" Sakura knew that he found her attractive. The kiss earlier today had proven that, but jealousy implied something more than just appreciating her appearance. Two things would make a person jealous like that. He either lusted after her or he loved her. She laughed to herself at the thought of the second one. Gaara was no monster like she had believed as a child, but love?

"So.. Kankuro tells me things."

"Shut up Temari." Gaara was in no mood to have this discussion. He had decided that whatever was going on with Sakura had to end. More than likely she was just reaching out to someone since she was still grieving over the many lost comrades in the war. The only problem with his plan was that it wasn't what he wanted. He wanted so much to be different, to be capable of the love that he so craved for himself.

"No, I can't do that to her, she needs so much more than I could give her."

No matter how hard he tried to stop himself from looking at her he kept finding her in the center of his gaze. "She has to know how badly she is affecting me. I have never seen someone so beautiful".

Excusing himself from the table Gaara found his feet were leading him on a familiar path. He knew that he would be hard pressed to keep himself away from her so he decided to just ignore her.

Gaara sat on top of the tower that overlooked the village. His village. He felt his heart swell with pride and allowed the emotion to be played on his face. Even though Gaara was no longer haunted by the threat of the beast within he still found it difficult to sleep, even on perfect nights like tonight sleep eluded him. He had made it a habit long ago to come here to watch over the village during the night. Some nights he meditated, others he simply sat. Tonight he decided to attempt the former and began to relax his body for the meditation he would perform.

"Oh sorry, I thought you would be sleeping..." Sakura felt a blush creeping up on her cheeks. She couldn't believe that he would be here. Either she had the best luck or the worst. After all of the mixed signals she had gotten from him today she decided that she should probably just lay her cards on the table and tell him what was on her mind. "Listen Kazek.. uh Gaara. I like you. Probably silly on my part but that kiss felt like more than just a little kiss to me. If you don't feel anything like that for me that's okay, but I just wanted you to know that I really, really like you." Sakura stared for a moment. When he didn't say anything after a full minute she decided that that was a good enough answer "Well I guess I read into it waaaaay to much." feeling more than a little foolish for being so forward she turned to leave.

Gaara could not believe the words he had just heard. "She likes me?" He felt like everything clicked into place at that moment and he knew that even if it turned out that he couldn't love, he wanted to give it his best to try. He looked up and saw her exiting the roof. "How long have I just been standing here?" He panicked and did what came to him first. He loosed his sand and wrapped it around her. He slowly brought her back to him and set her down right in front of him.

For a breif moment Sakura felt her heart stop as the sand wrapped around her. When she was just 12 years old this sand had been wrapped around her in a very different manner. Back then Gaara had been under the influence of his demon and had wrapped his sand around her with the intent to kill. As soon as she felt the sand gently lift her she relaxed however. She didn't know how she could tell, but she could feel that the sand meant her no harm.

A moment later she was standing before Gaara and she could only see his outline and seafoam green eyes in the moonlight. She felt safe standing before him but she didn't know why. She felt his arm wrap around her waist and pull her close and she sighed as his mouth pressed into hers. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered what she was getting herself into, but the thought was soon forgotten as she felt him deepen the kiss.

"Oh I could get use to this" she though as she nestled into his body and let him kiss her senseless.

A/N: What did you think? Hope you like the direction the story is going in. Don't worry there will be smut, but first we have to have them court each other. :) Don't forget to review!