Chapter 6

Sakura groaned into her pillow. She had finally made it back to her room and thrown herself haphazardly on the bed in her distress. "What the hell am I going to do?" Sakura wondered at her awful taste in men. First she had loved a man who refused to love her in return. Then she had fallen in love with a man who she was pretty sure wouldn't know what love was if it bit him on the nose. "Whelp that's it. I officially suck."

Gaara stepped out of the shower and decided that he could not recall having had a batter day in his entire life. He felt like the soft lips of the woman with pink hair represented a lifetime of repressed feelings. She was beautiful, there was no denying that, but it was more than that. For the first time in his short life he felt like he could actually find peace. He knew what he was, what he had overcome and until the kunoichi had reentered his life he thought he would be suffering for his past for the rest of his life.

He thought about it more closely and realized that of all the people who he knew this woman might have more reason than most to hate him. When they had been just children he had almost crushed her to death with the power of his sand. Would have without batting an eyelash had her friends not saved her in time. The thought that he had almost taken such beauty out of the world make him momentarily sick. Even after his failed attempt to kill her she didn't hate him. She had almost killed herself saving his brother from the brink of death at the hands of the poison that had been dealt by Sasori of the Red Sands. Then again she had nearly died herself after being stabbed by Sasori as she fought to rescue his body. And without her efforts Chiyo would not have been able to resurrect him. She owed him nothing, in fact he owed her a great deal if it came down to it, but she had kissed him with such tender lips that he thought he might get lost in the depth of their warmth.

This woman was slowly bringing light into his darkened world and he wanted to show his thanks in any way he could. Smiling to himself he went about his plan to 'court' the pink haired kunoichi.

Sakura awoke and moaned out loud. She could smell something coming from the kitchen and it smelled like it had been cooking for far too long. She could smell a hint of smoke and wondered if there was a fire. Hurrying from the bed she strode through the hall, past the common room and into the kitchen. She was fairly sure that she was still dreaming since never in a million years would she have predicted what awaited her. Gaara stood at the stove which was actually on fire.

Gaara had never cooked in his life and apparently that was a good thing. He had no idea what to do in case of a grease fire so purely out of shock he tossed the flaming pan into the sink full of water. BAD MOVE. The fire spread over the entire surface of water and shot up towards the ceiling. Instinct kicking in he shot his sand out at the flame and managed to smother the rapidly growing fire. He heard a giggle and turned around sharply. To his horror Sakura stood there looking absolutely beautiful trying her hardest to prevent herself from laughing out loud at the Kazekage.

"Gaara, what are you doing?" Sakura had to bite her lip sharply to prevent the chuckle from escaping her lips.

Gaara wished deeply at that moment that he could melt into the floor boards like his sand. "Well, I was attempting to make you breakfast in bed, but as you can plainly see I failed to do so."

Sakura couldn't help but smile. He was absolutely adorable with the distressed look on his face. If she had a camera she would have taken a picture. "I see, what exactly were you trying to cook?"

With a sour expression still on his face he looked up at her. "Tamagoyaki, obviously I have never cooked this before, or anything else to be honest"

"Oh Gaara that is so sweet! I could teach you if you would like?" Sakura had always hidden the fact that she was an excellent cook from her teammates. She had already felt weak compared to them since she came from a civilian family, so she tended to shy away from showing her domestic side.

"Well that would negate the purpose of breakfast in bed if you were to cook it yourself. Unfortunately there is little else in the way of choices at this point." Gaara practically grumbled out.

"Did you know that you are incredibly adorable when you are grumpy?" Sakura practically laughed at his reaction to her words.

"I am Gaara of the Desert, I am the Kazekage of Suna, I am most assuredly not cute." Gaara couldn't help but return her smile when she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

After she had shown him the proper way to make the breakfast he had attempted she led him into her bed room and made room on her bed for them both to sit while they ate. They talked about everything while they ate. All of the things that had happened since the last time Sakura was in Suna. Gaara surprised Sakura by telling her that the elders had been trying to get him to marry for the last year. They wanted him to marry a kunoichi from Mist to try and solidify a tenous treaty between the two nations. Gaara had done a good job so far of redirecting their attention elsewhere.

"I had never been interested in marriage." Gaara blushed as he realized that he had used the past tense of the word subconsciously.

Sakura did not miss the word 'had' or the blush that it had caused, but she decided not to pry.

After their breakfast was done Gaara offered to clean up so that she could take a quick shower before she had to head into work. She smiled at him and kissed him on the forehead before heading into the bathroom. "Perhaps this could work out." She thought to herself as she stepped into the spray of the warm shower.

Sakura had always sung in the shower. Everyday she would sing her heart out and pretend that she was giving the performance of her life. Today was no different. She had never thought that she had been any good but that didn't stop her from singing to her shower-head like her life depended on it.

Gaara had just finished the dishes and went to see if Sakura was done in her shower. When he slowly opened her door he froze in his tracks. Sakura was singing in the shower, and she was absolutely amazing. Her voice was like velvet and the song she sang seemed eerily familiar. For some reason he couldn't fathom silent tears began to run down his cheeks.

Temari saw her brother frozen in the doorway to Sakura's room and decided to investigate. When she reached his side she heard the song coming from the shower. Sakura's voice was truly magnificent, but what made her pause was the song itself. She immediately recognized it. It was her mothers favorite song. She had sung it to Kankuro and herself every night when they were children. She would also sing it to the baby who grew in her womb. Temari quickly noticed the tears running down her brothers face and put her hand on his shoulder.

Gaara turned to his sister with a questioning look. He wasn't ashamed that he was crying, but his eyes pleaded for answers as to why. "Temari, why do I know that song? And why am I crying."

"Gaara, I don't know how you could possibly remember, but it.. it was.."

Gaara already knew the answer as he spoke. "Mothers song."

A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. I tried to make it funny with the courtship, but I didn't want it to be all humor so I ended this chapter on a more serious note. Please review!