Standard disclaimers apply. I'm just borrowing these characters for a little while.
Author's note: Kishimoto-sensei's plan is to fit the entire 4th Shinobi War Arc into a matter of days in the Naruto timeline, but I'm taking the liberty of extending it since war is never so quick and clean-cut. Events from the manga will be added, removed or shifted around. Please pardon my impudence.
Thank you to the reviewers who understand that keeping to a weekly schedule is really hard, especially when I'm trying not to succumb to romantic cliches!
Gaara's confrontation with his father is a lot harder to write than I expected. In the meantime, there will be additional scenes before that.
Sakura gave one last stomp of her foot, causing pieces of earth and rock to crumble and fall into the crack she had thrown the White Zetsu clone in and effectively burying it.
"There," she concluded, dusting her hands off.
Gaara, in the meantime, was directing his sand to pack up the contents of their tent; they came to simultaneous agreement that they did not want to sleep in a tent where Sakura just tore up the ground and buried a body in.
Not that Sakura was going to apologise for causing this bit of inconvenience.
There was only one piece of furniture that Gaara was unable to move: Sakura's bed. The sand-cat had dismantled it without being commanded to once it saw what was happening, and was currently lounging on one of the wooden planks. Its message was quite clear – it would not let the Kazekage touch its bed (well, the bed was Sakura's at night, but the sand-cat claimed ownership by merit of the amount of time it spent there).
Baki, as usual, offered to help them with the move. The hour was late; not to mention, Gaara was the Regimental Commander and Sakura was one of the higher-ranking officers in this war – such mundane tasks were below their station.
In response, Gaara sealed the tent flap with sand and Baki had no choice but to go and do the only other thing he could do – prepare another tent for them.
Sometimes, just sometimes – Gaara would remind Baki of how stubborn the Fifth Kazekage had been as a child. Except that he was not in danger of being crushed by sand because of said stubbornness now.
Most of the large tent decoys have been used for supply storage and would take a while to clear out. However, there was one that had been kept empty explicitly when Gaara mentioned that he would like a tent prepared for Sakura's use as a medical library. Sakura had been so busy between pulling shifts at the medic base and helping the Kazekage with his paperwork that she never got around to converting it into her personal library. It had been standing empty ever since.
It would do just fine.
The team of specialist shinobi who set up the protective barriers around Gaara's current tent was roused from their sleep or pulled from guard duty to re-erect the barriers on the new tent at once. No one openly complained, not when it was understood that they had to be battle-ready at all times.
Baki went back to Gaara's tent to let him know about the new tent's location. He gave the tent flap a gentle press – to check if Gaara had taken off his sand barrier.
No good.
"Kazekage-sama, Sakura-san," he called out, "I've assessed that you can move into tent H-7 immediately if you so prefer."
"Thank you, Baki-san!" came Sakura's reply.
There was no need to actively conceal which was the Regimental Commander's real tent, not when the enemy was able to pass for one of their numbers so easily. But the Kazekage had proven more than formidable enough when it came to detecting and subduing the enemy shinobi, and with Sakura at his side? They were a force to be reckoned with.
Baki found himself agreeing with Kankurou – a Konoha bride would do wonders for their alliance, especially since their Kazekage seemed to be getting along so well with a certain Konoha kunoichi.
"Sakura, I know the hour is late, but can you give me a verbal report of the attack by the White Zetsu clone on the medic base?" asked Gaara.
Gaara's sand made short work of unpacking their belongings in the new tent, making the interior of their new tent an exact replica – down to the very last box of matches that always stood besides the kerosene lamp on his table. They then sipped the chakra tea in atypical silence. Sakura was about to prepare for bed when Gaara's question came.
"I've already submitted a full report to the War Council, but I'll be happy to answer any questions you have."
Sakura sat down next to him at his table, and now that she was finally not busy bustling around, Gaara could see that she was unusually jittery for some reason.
"Sakura," and there was a little jump from her right there, "Is everything alright?"
Sakura looked at him with wide eyes, opened her mouth as if ready to speak, and promptly clammed up once more.
He decided to take the risk and placed his hand over hers, looping their fingers together as he gave them a reassuring squeeze.
"Something is bothering you or upsetting you, Sakura. I want to know what it is."
"It's you." Her answer came abruptly.
Gaara blinked, "I don't understand."
Sakura pounded her temple with her free hand, and finally looked at Gaara. She was clearly miffed.
"Why on earth were you topless when you were handling that Zetsu clone that looked like me? Everyone who saw that scene immediately had the wrong idea!"
Ah. Of course she would be bothered by that.
"After you arrived, it should have cleared up any misconceptions. I'm really not seeing the issue here, Sakura."
"It's the fact that you were shirtless and handling someone looking like me!"
Alright, the female mind was a confusing thing. That part Gaara understood.
"Sakura, you are an experienced medic. Are you trying to tell me that an exposed male torso bothers you? If that is the case, how have you been able to perform your duties up till now?" Gaara frowned.
Sakura smacked her forehead into the heel of her palm and muttered under her breath.
"Okay," began Sakura, her shoulders rising and falling once with the deep breath that she just took, "You. You were naked. And you were manhandling a person. A person that looks like me. Got it?"
"I was not naked – I was only topless, and… Ah, I see."
"And did you really need to 'remind' me about our sleeping arrangements in front of your officers?" Sakura was two steps away from an outright screaming fest. Gaara wondered if her reddened cheeks were due to her rage or her embarrassment.
Gaara was secretly amused; Sakura was uncomfortable with the idea of physical closeness?
"Sakura, I'm not certain how to even begin courting you if you are so adverse to the idea of eventual physical intimacies, which I believe is a very normal progression for couples."
"Oh, stars, did you just use the word 'court'?" Sakura gasped, "And why are you thinking so far ahead about sex?"
Thank goodness for the sound barrier. Thank, thank goodness.
"I am a healthy, heterosexual adult male," Gaara stated plainly, shrugging in spite of the slight blush he was sporting.
Sakura tried willing the pink away from her own cheeks, but it was just about as futile as trying to shake off Gaara's hand right now.
"Just so we are clear on one thing, Gaara: I like you, but I'm not going to get frisky with you anytime soon."
Get… frisky?
Gaara had to bite back his snort of amusement.
Gaara nodded, "Then we are in agreement. I don't wish to taint what we have right now by taking a step that neither of us are ready for. I was first attracted to you for your mind, and that remains your key beauty to me."
Then he leaned in close to her ear, and whispered, "But honestly, Sakura, that thought had never occurred to me until your little panic just now over my lack of a shirt."
Would it be considered insubordination if she smacked the Regimental Commander upside the head?
"Hey, Shikamaru – is it true that guys think about sex every three minutes?"
"You have been reading Ino's trashy magazines again, haven't you?"
"Just answer the question, Shika-kun."
"I can't put a number on it, but once you hit puberty, you will be constantly thinking about sex regardless of your gender. If we are not interested in sex in our best reproductive years, the human race would have died out already, don't you agree?"
"Oh, eww."
"Don't 'eww' me, Sakura. It's strictly biology at work here."
Gaara leaned back into his seat, finally releasing her hand. Sakura took the chance to compose herself.
Given Gaara's past, he had not grown up with much physical contact. And when she first started her assignment as his personal medic, Sakura was only too aware of how often Gaara was surprised by a touch, though that did not seem to be so much of a problem nowadays.
Perhaps his musings on the process of human reproduction was simply a natural, albeit later than usual development for someone of his history.
At least she did not have to give him the 'birds and the bees' talk; she was grateful for the small favours.
Now Sakura understood what Ino meant when she was going on and on about how she found it hard to stay focused on her work when attending to attractive individuals. At that point, Sakura was too busy feeling weirded out that Ino considered her very own Kakashi-sensei as one of the attractive shinobi. She began to get inkling when Sai staggered up to her that one time in the hospital, clearly over-bandaged by Ino and on the verge of chewing an air hole in his wrappings because Ino was too busy making goo-goo eyes at her genin teacher.
And Gaara was very attracti… distracting. Very distracting.
Snap out of it, Sakura! You're a medic; you must have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of male shinobi in various states of undress by now! Heck, you've even seen Shikamaru stripped down to his undies and you never lost it like this before.
"Now, Sakura, back to my question?"
"Huh?"
"About Zetsu's infiltration into the medic base? I want to know how you were able to discover that he was not whoever he claimed to be."
"Oh, of course," Sakura cleared her throat, glad that they were no longer lingering on her little breakdown, "It was a miscalculation on the enemy's part – they chose to infiltrate the base as someone I knew."
"Who might that be?"
"I don't know if you remember him, but he was Naruto's opponent during the final stage of the Chunin Examinations – Hyuuga Neji. Neji-san and I have been assigned together for several missions in the past three years, and while I still don't know him that well, I was able to tell that there were certain aspects of the clone that were out of character," explained Sakura.
"A Hyuuga… that means he has the Byakugan. So you are saying that the enemy is able to mimic the chakra signature of bloodline limit users as well?"
Sakura nodded, and Gaara's face took on a solemn expression.
"This is far beyond a simple chakra drain and using the chakra as a cloak. The White Zetsu clones must be moulding the chakra somehow to make themselves a perfect physical copy inside-out," Gaara pondered aloud.
"That may be why these assassinations have not begun until now – the clones must have been busy working the chakra signatures into a more powerful tool for infiltrations."
Gaara turned to Sakura, "We should relay this additional information back to the War Council. Can you let me talk to Katsuyu-san?"
Sakura blinked, not certain that she had heard him correctly. But when Gaara held out his hand, she was now sure that he had just voluntarily asked to speak to the animal summon which once tried to spit acid in his face.
She reached into her collar and gently plucked Katsuyu out, and then placed Katsuyu on Gaara's shoulder.
"Katsuyu-sama, can you please help the Kazekage pass on some information to Tsunade-shishou?" asked Sakura.
Katsuyu squelched in reply, generously oozing slime onto Gaara's shoulder as it did so.
With that, Gaara left the tent in a swirl of sand. Sakura was wondering why he chose to converse with Tsunade out in the open, until she remembered that she had been planning to prepare for bed before this whole brouhaha.
Sakura ducked into bed after changing into something more comfortable and hid as far into Gaara's robes as she could without suffocating, not missing the irony of the situation.
She did not have to put up with all these, Sakura told herself. She could insist on getting her own tent, and throw her weight around in the process if need be. Surely that would obliterate the now blooming Rumour Forest once they saw that the Regimental Commander and his personal medic were no longer sharing the same tent.
… Or they might just assume that she and Gaara had a lover's tiff, and were sleeping apart as a result.
Sakura tossed over in the bed and groaned into the robes, causing the sand-cat to purr in concern while pressing a paw to her arm. She looked at the cat for a moment before pulling it against her chest.
"My. Fluffy-kins, what possessed me to go into a relationship with your maker?" she groaned out to the slightly baffled-looking sand-cat, "Is it because of his selflessness and desire to protect everyone? Is it because he sees me as a woman and a kunoichi rather than some helpless teenager? Or is it because of his oblivious sweetness towards me?"
The sand-cat swished its tail and purred once.
"Yeah, I'm with you. I don't think he's that oblivious," agreed Sakura, "A little awkward, and more than a little possessive, perhaps."
The sand-cat bumped its head against the underside of her chin softly.
Sakura giggled before smoothing out the cat's forehead to plant a kiss on it, "I know – it's nice just to be cared for and open your heart in return, and not worry about waking up on a cold park bench one random morning. Goodnight, Mr. Fluffy-kins."
The sand-cat purred in agreement, and tucked itself against Sakura's neck.
With all that happened last night, it had completely slipped Sakura's mind to ask Gaara for a transfer to the frontlines. She quickly dressed for the morning, determined to find Gaara and make her request known when a folded piece of paper on Gaara's otherwise empty desk caught her eye.
Her name was written on it, so it must be meant for her.
Uncertain as to why Gaara decided to leave her a note instead of speaking to her directly, she picked it up and began to read.
The answer became clear at once.
"Haruno-san,
Per my discussions with the Hokage the previous night, we have agreed that a further investigation on how the White Zetsu clones were able to use our forces' chakra was much needed. Nara Shikaku-san and several other experienced tacticians are still trying to find a way to identify the enemy clones.
You are henceforth assigned to work with Shizune-san to perform an autopsy on the clone you defeated last night in the medic base. Any results gleaned from it will be of great help.
Signed,
Regimental Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Gaara."
Sakura was filled with the childish urge to scream and throw a tantrum about how she was being kept from the battlefields yet again. Her friends and comrades were out there, fighting and dying, and here she was being confined to work in the medic base once more. And he had to throw his title into the message to drive home to her the capacity that he was issuing the order with.
She forced herself to calm down and analyse the situation from Gaara's point of view. He was correct to assign her – a senior medic from Konoha hospital and apprentice to the Hokage – to assist Shizune nee-san in performing the autopsy. Additionally, she had worked hand-in-glove with Shizune on many surgeries, and trained under Shizune as well whenever Tsunade was indisposed by one too many bottles of sake. With the war tacticians having yet to come up with any answers, an autopsy was the obvious next step to take.
Sakura sighed; it was not what she wanted, but it was for the greater good. And the greater good always triumphed over personal desires.
However, Gaara could have told her himself at the very least!
And speaking of the devil.
Gaara flared his chakra once before entering the tent. He quickly looked her over from head to toe.
"Sakura, you're attired for frontline duties. Shouldn't you be in the medic corps dress code instead?"
Trust Gaara to speak of the matter as if it was a foregone conclusion.
"Gaara, you have always known about my feelings towards being left behind in the battles. I want to fight by my friends' side, not sit and wait for them to be brought to me all maimed and suffering," Sakura knew there was a slight whine in her tone, but she did not feel particularly motivated to suppress it right now.
Gaara frowned at her, "Sakura, the best tacticians in the Five Shinobi Nations have been working through the night, and they have nothing new to report. What you are doing now will contribute far more to our cause than if I were to send you off to the frontlines to heal the injured one by one."
Sakura let out a particularly drawn-out sigh of frustration. Gaara was right, and they both knew it.
She started for the tent flap.
"Sakura."
"I have a change of attire at the medic base, Gaara."
"Then allow me to escort you," he offered.
"Wait, wh…"
By the time Sakura finished turning around to face Gaara, she found herself right inside the newly set-up autopsy tent. Shizune's eyes practically bugged out in surprise at the duo's unannounced appearance.
"Sakura! Kazekage-sama!" Shizune quickly regained her composure, "Can you please go through the normal clearance procedures before appearing in the medic base? You're breaking all our protocols; especially since you had a hand in creating them, Kazekage-sama."
Gaara tilted his head slightly in a bow, startling Shizune. Gaara might be only half her age, but he was infinitely higher-ranking than her in the shinobi world – she should be the one doing the bowing.
"I apologise, Shizune-san, but I wanted to make sure that Sakura wouldn't go sneaking off to the frontlines."
Sakura replied sullenly, "Kazekage-sama, you should know I am good at keeping my word."
"Really," he remarked, looking unconvinced.
Then Gaara did another thing that Shizune did not expect.
He deliberately took Sakura's hand and pressed a lingering kiss to the back of it, his eyes never leaving Sakura's.
Sakura thought her cheeks must have caught on fire, heated as they were.
When Gaara finally straightened, he gave Sakura's hand a squeeze and whispered, "Stay safe."
And he was gone in a swirl of sand.
Sakura was the first to recover from the experience.
"I knew it! I knew it!" Sakura shouted accusingly at the spot where Gaara was a second ago – Gaara was trying to keep her from the frontlines to protect her.
And after he had assigned her to the squad with the highest wartime mortality rate – the Ambush Squad – no less. She had proven herself a fighter and survivor countless times already!
Male protective instincts and his position as her superior be damned: she was going to give him an earful tonight.
Shizune, in the meantime, had inconspicuously glanced around the tent to make sure that none of the chemicals lying around were known hallucinogens. When she was certain that what she had witnessed was not a figment of her imagination, she cleared her throat to get Sakura's attention.
"Sakura, is there anything you want to talk to me about? Anything at all?"
You too, Shizune nee-san?