Sakura took several deep breaths, willing her racing heart to calm down. In the meantime, Temari returned with several fresh towels from the common area, and she carefully bundled the trembling kunoichi in them.
"Are you hurt?" Temari asked quietly, her voice oddly timid for the first time that Sakura could recall.
Unconsciously, Sakura reached to the back of her neck, drawing the eyes of all three siblings to the area. Kankurou's telling grimace told of the messiness of the wound, but Sakura knew it looked bloodier than it was painful. She channelled some of her healing chakra into her fingertips, burning germs out of the cut before sealing it off and leaving a swatch of pink skin in its wake. She skipped healing the slash on her shoulder, seeing that it had stopped bleeding already.
"Kankurou." Gaara looked towards his elder brother and uttered his name in a tone of command that brooked no argument.
"Got it." Kankurou turned on his heel and bolted out of the facilities, no doubt to fetch men they could trust to take the two treacherous kunoichi away.
"Temari, watch them, please."
His sister gave him a small nod before she whipped her fan out, spreading it open menacingly as she stood over the two fallen kunoichi. Her placement also shielded both Sakura and Gaara from Yaoki's eyes, and with the opportunity presented, he lifted Sakura into both arms and headed for the common area.
Gaara tried his absolute best to not point out to Sakura how hard she was shivering in his arms, uncertain if it was a result of shock or the chill in the air. His hands tightened around her thighs and back, drawing her closer to his chest and hoping that the warmth from his own body could be felt by her.
He settled Sakura gently onto a bench, arranging the towels tighter around her before he finally pulled his hands back. Still, he could not resist reaching up to push a stray lock of fringe out from her eyes, and that movement was the last thing he should have done.
Gaara had not been at the business end of Sakura's inhuman strength, so to suddenly feel the bones in his hand rub and grind against each other in her grip gave him pause.
It surprised him that his Sand Armour had not rushed forward to protect him, but that probably had more to do with the fact that Sakura did not intend to actually harm him.
"What happened, Sakura?" He asked again in a kinder tone, fighting his instinct to pull his hand away from her painful grasp.
Sakura lifted her gaze to meet him at last, and he was not expecting the righteous fury being directed at him so blatantly. "The Hidden Villages have been trading pregnant kunoichi's, haven't they? And when they won't sign away their loyalties, you force them into abortions?"
Gaara's long silence was too telling, and Sakura curled forward on the bench with her face buried in her drawn knees.
"It's not that simple," he swallowed dryly, frowning as he tried to catch her eye, "I do not condone human lives being treated in such a calculated manner."
"But you still did it, anyway." The accusative tone in her voice was potent even as she mumbled the words against her flesh.
It took another two minutes for Kankurou to return with a team of ANBU and Baki - an amount of time that Gaara deemed too lengthy for a matter so important. With an eye trained on Sakura the entire time, he ordered his men to secure both kunoichi's so they could be taken to the War Council at once to be dealt with.
"I'm coming with you." Sakura's voice rang out loud and clear, and it made everyone in the facilities freeze in their motions.
"Sakura-san, you have just been wounded, and you seem to be in some sort of shock," Baki pointed out in a kind voice, "Let me escort you back to your tent while Kazekage-sama handles this."
No, she was not going to be kept in the dark for one nanosecond longer, Sakura decided. Clutching the towels to herself, she rose from the bench and retrieved her change of clothes from her storage cubicle before dumping everything onto a chair.
"I was the one who was attacked. I demand to know the reason why it happened. I will have Tsunade-shishou intervene if you don't agree to let me come along," her voice was low and dangerous, and there and then Gaara knew that there would be no dissuading her.
"We will give you your privacy to get dressed, Haruno-san," Gaara turned away to hide the telltale sign of an ache in his chest that he could feel creeping up into the furrow of his naked brows, "Then we will leave at once."
The main chamber of the War Council was in an absolute uproar.
The ANBU that accompanied them had dumped both captured kunoichi in front of the other four Kage, and the fact that one of them was still unconscious and bleeding from a head wound gave the Kage's pause.
"What is the meaning of this?" A gestured towards Gaara and his men, clearly confused by this unexpected turn of events.
Instead of addressing the Raikage, Gaara turned to face a shocked-looking Mei and said, "I believe these are your kunoichi, Mizukage." He had schooled his features into placidity despite the inner turmoil that had been eating away at him since he saw Sakura curled up on the floor, physically wounded and spirit broken. It was taking all of his self-control to keep his voice even, and more so to keep from bodily lashing out at his fellow Kage's for what he saw as indifference to the treachery he was brandishing before them.
Mei took a long, hard look at the two kunoichi's, and Sakura could see the gears in the woman's head turning.
"What happened, Kazekage?" Mei finally demanded in a stern voice.
"They tried to murder my intended." Gaara's retort came back just as severe, fingers flexing over his tensed biceps. The fact that Sakura was also the Hokage's apprentice and a potential Hokage in the event of Tsunade's inability to perform her duties was left unsaid, and that compounded the severity of the two treacherous kunoichi's crimes that much more.
Wisely, no one made any comment on Gaara's term of endearment towards Sakura, though Tsunade did cock an eyebrow while Shikaku who was beside her scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
Sakura herself must have been still too caught up in a fog of confusion and anger to have noticed it. Either that, or she chose to ignore it.
"Sakura, are you alright?"
So discombobulated she was, that Sakura did not even notice Tsunade approaching her until the Hokage was standing right in front of her.
"What?"
At Sakura's reply, Tsunade only frowned even harder, and she pressed a green chakra-encased hand to her forehead to gently probe her physical and mental state. She noticed the crudely shorn-off locks on the left side of her head but decided not to focus on that for now. Instead, Tsunade was glad to come to the conclusion that aside from a somewhat chilled body temperature and some shock, Sakura was otherwise perfectly fine.
That could not be said for the Kage's, if Mei's stricken look was any hint of what was about to be addressed.
As if suddenly understanding what was about to transpire, the Raikage visibly deflated and said, "Not here. We will take this to the interrogation chambers."
Turning to regard the two bound kunoichi with a cold glare as if to blame them for what would happen next, he hissed to one of the shinobi guards, "Get these two thrown into the cell block. Make sure someone sees to them so they don't die before punishment can be met out."
With that, the Raikage took the lead to the staircase that would take them deep underground into the interrogation chambers. The Kage's fell into step behind him in a single file.
Gaara was the last to follow after them after he gave instructions for Baki and his ANBU to return, then he turned his attention to Sakura who was still staring after A's back as he walked away. There were only a few high-level shinobi around, all sworn to an oath of utmost secrecy. And Gaara wanted to smack himself for losing his cool so as to readily claim Sakura as his in front of them.
Oh, well. The damage was done. Perhaps his indiscretion would not make its way back to the Rumour Mill.
Sakura remained standing in place, seeming unwilling to move towards the metaphorical lion's den, and the sight of her looking so uncertain of herself took the anger right out from him. Instead, he was now stricken by an overwhelming sense of fear and concern for her.
He placed his hand softly on Sakura's lower back, nudging her forward to walk ahead of him. To his surprise, Sakura jerked herself out of his touch and strode determinedly forward, a hint of the fire in her emerald-green eyes directed at him before she faced fully forward.
Anger.
It was better than fear, but only marginally.
The contingent walked in silence, their footsteps down the carved stone steps echoing up the stairway as they made their way deep into the bowels of the earth. Though he had not taken part in any active interrogations during the war, all the Kage's have been using the interrogations chambers almost daily as of late for other private matters. While most of the interrogation rooms were small, there was one larger one at the end of the floor that was almost the size of a conference room, complete with a large oval table and several chairs.
That one, Gaara was intimately familiar with.
He wondered initially if that had been constructed as a bunker of sorts for the Kage's to escape to, then quickly shook that thought out of his head. Each of them had sworn to lay down their lives for this cause. This room must have been built in case they managed to capture a high-level shinobi that would require multiple others to restrain him, though it ended up being commandeered for another purpose instead.
Inside the large interrogation room was a table with five chairs tucked under it, the haphazard manner in which a few chairs were placed indicated that they had seen use before. As the last one through the door, Gaara was the one to shut it, placing his palm on the surface of it to trigger a chain reaction of chakra barriers to further nullify any sounds that might escape from the room.
The fatalistic clack of the door sealing shut always rang out a little too loud for his tastes.
With the room now secured, each Kage took a seat at the table. The familiar manner in which each of them moved to take their respective places gave Sakura a small pause. When it came to Gaara's turn, he pulled his chair out and glanced at Sakura.
She met his glance with unspoken ferocity.
"Sit," he commanded, unwilling to get into a quarrel with her before all the cards were laid out on the table, so to speak.
They would have been locked in a stand-off, if Tsunade did not turn towards them to tell Sakura tiredly, "Take the damn seat, Sakura."
At her mentor's demand, Sakura could only nod and plop herself into the chair. She allowed Gaara to push it forward, the resistance in her gone for the moment.
Of course she would choose to obey Tsunade; The Hokage was her village leader and mentor, after all. That thought should not sit so sourly in Gaara's stomach. He wanted to be understanding; had to be understanding of Sakura's rage and confusion. But the reminder that she was loyal to Konoha above all else…
"Haruno-san, I would like to apologise for what my shinobi have done. Understand that I had never issued such an order for them to attack anyone within the alliance, especially one of your standing." Mei was the first one to speak up, and it was only right, seeing how it was her kunoichi that caused this mess in the first place. "I will take full responsibility for what they have done, and if there is something I can do to make amends, you only have to ask."
"Tell me everything about the trading of pregnant kunoichi's," was Sakura's reply, as she struck right at the heart of the matter. She knew that if she did not address what she came to find answers to immediately, it was likely that they would waste time over scripted apologies and promises to atone instead.
And as an afterthought, she added, "And please call me Sakura. I'm merely a Konoha kunoichi."
A few subtle glances were thrown in Gaara's direction, but he willfully ignored them. His affections and intentions for Sakura had been all but laid bare, and he would not shy away from the scrutiny that came with it.
"No one is trading pregnant kunoichi's, Sakura," Ohnoki spoke up, and his obvious attempt to deflect only made her madder.
"Then I suppose those kunoichi's were lying when they told me that one of them was tasked with seducing a kekkei genkai into her womb? And now that she had been found out, she had to then choose between leaving Kirigakure or losing the baby?" Sakura tried her best to keep her tone polite, knowing she was in the presence of the five greatest shinobi of the lands.
The way that they all simultaneously found it difficult to look her in her eyes made them seem not so great, all of a sudden.
"Is this what is being carried out under the guise of an alliance? A chance to steal protected jutsu's and kekkei genkai's while the rest of us are out there bleeding and dying by the scores?" Sakura clenched her fists by her side, knowing that if she did not do so, she would most likely end up inflicting a chakra-enhanced punch onto the table, "Is this what the five greatest shinobi's of our time scheme and plot about?"
"Hold your tongue, kunoichi," A addressed her, "You will first apologise to all of us in this room for this baseless accusation."
Sakura could only gape at the sheer audacity of the Raikage to cast doubt on her, and she would have voiced that out if Tsunade didn't rap her knuckles on the table to stop her.
"What the Raikage means to say is that none of us here in this room orchestrated such treachery. It seems that the war provided a good cover for our shinobi to intermingle unquestioned, and our councils were the ones who issued those orders," Tsunade sighed wearily, and had the good grace to at least look ashamed, "I pulled back all the orders from our village once I found out the Konoha Council had been sending them out, and we are now monitoring their communications with our field kunoichi to ensure that no such mission ever lands in any of their laps again."
"We all have been doing that to contain the damage done by our councils," Mei added, "But some of these missives still manage to get through to our kunoichi, and some of them have completed their missions well before we even got wind of these schemes. The only thing we can do to protect our villages is to reassign the ones who fell pregnant to the village where they stole the kekkei genkai's from so our councils do not succeed in getting what they desire."
"Exactly. We were not, as you so crudely put it, 'trading kunoichi's', Sakura." Ohnoki held his hands out in a surrendering gesture, "Alas, our councils scheme for the tomorrow, while neglecting the war we are waging today."
It all made sense to Sakura now - the long hours Gaara spent at the War Council even as an impasse hung over their heads. There could not have been so much new intelligence coming in from their scouts to warrant the amount of time he had spent there.
Gaara was here with the other Kage's, negotiating and relocating these pregnant kunoichi's, trying to come to compromises as they placed their respective village above any one individual kunoichi.
That was the lot in any kunoichi's life - to be at the beck and call of her Kage.
But to be traded away like breeding stock…
Sakura slammed hand over her mouth, fighting back a wave of nausea at the images her mind conjured up. That all this was going on while their comrades fought and died…
Her pale pallor and harsh breathing drew everyone's attention to her at once.
"You're not pregnant as well, are you?"
Mei had spoken her question in a soft voice, as if unwilling to give a name to Sakura's condition. Every pair of eyes in the room landed on the pink-haired kunoichi and the Kazekage behind her at once, and even Gaara seemed to have tensed a little under their accusatory glares.
Sakura's firm shaking of her head allowed Tsunade to sag into her seat, relief written on her face. Clearly, she had expected the worst when the Kazekage came storming in with her apprentice earlier.
"These missions… they had no choice?" Sakura asked quietly.
"Would you defy an order from your own council, kunoichi?" A challenged her.
No, she would not. She could not.
The Kage's and their respective councils existed in a delicate power balance, each monitoring and keeping the other in check, lest one faction became too powerful and could then rule their village unquestioned. The only shinobi that could defy a council's order was the Kage; Even then, he would have to pick his battles so he would not lose the support of his councilmen whose views were supposed to represent that of his people.
So when such secretive missions came down from the council, rubber-stamped by their own councilmen, the recipient kunoichi's could do little else but obey. Some were eventually spared by their Kage's rescinding of those orders, but for others, the respite came too late.
Most likely their councilmen had hoped that the war would be done and over in a matter of days or at most weeks, and that would allow their kunoichi's to return with undetected pregnancies. No one accounted for the war being dragged out by its various twists and turns, and certainly none of their councils expected their Kage's to offer the kunoichi's a choice between abortion or relocating them to the village that they stole from, all in the name of keeping inter-village relations unstrained.
But in the end, they were still trading these women like cattle.
"We have done all we can to contain the damage, kunoichi. Understand that this will not make any of us popular with our councils, but we are an alliance after all. I will not befoul our alliance with such conniving plottings." A rose from his seat, an indication that he considered the matter to be closed.
"I will make sure that the kunoichi's that attacked Sakura are dealt with appropriately, Kazekage," Mei nodded to Gaara. The glint of seriousness in her gaze was acknowledged with a nod from the young man, and he understood at once that he had seen the last of these two kunoichi.
Yet Mei's eyes on him lingered, and in the subtle tip of her head, he finally understood what she was really implying - would you like the honours, Kazekage?
A part of him - the feral, reckless, bloodthirsty side of himself that he had all but buried away since Naruto's offer of friendship - it clawed at his skull and demanded that he methodically take apart the kunoichi's who have dared to hurt his future Kazehime in the most excruciating way possible; To answer that siren call for vengeance would have sated the beast stirring inside of him.
They tried to murder my Sakura.
But one brief glance in Sakura's direction caused that very same beast to quiet and slink back into the darkest recesses of his mind, anger deflating completely at the sight of his lover looking so wane and lost. She had to come first.
One by one, the Kage's exited the room. Tsunade had paused at the doorway to glance backwards at Sakura, who sat stock-still in the chair. Seeing her downcast gaze, Tsunade turned to meet Gaara instead. A silent look passed between them.
I will look after her, he promised with a grim downturn of his lip.
Tsunade shut the door behind her, though she did not activate the barriers after. Now that they were alone, Gaara allowed the stiffness in his posture to slip away, and he moved to stand in such a way that he could face Sakura while still being within reach of her hand.
Which he took carefully into his, and brought to his lips to kiss tenderly.
Sakura turned to face him, an unreadable expression on her face for once. Her brows were knitted, but her eyes reflected a deep sadness that called out to him to be soothed away. She was nibbling on the inside of her lower lip, the way it quivering giving her action away.
"What can I do to make this right?" Gaara asked as he took her hand fully into his, enfolding it in a warm caress.
"Take me back to the tent."
The tent. Not our tent.
He would have transported them both straightaway, had the building not been warded against such techniques. Though the sooner he addressed her concerns, the better. So Gaara nodded to her to follow after him as they made a paced exit back to the main floor.
The moment they set foot outside the main door, Gaara took her hand into his once more before he summoned his sand to whisk them away.
The hard jab of Sakura's index finger right between his pectoral muscles before his sand could completely clear away made him lift a non-existent eyebrow at her. She looked ready to unleash all of her fury upon him in the next instant, and that would not do if they were in the presence of others. He made a quick study of the interior of their tent to ensure that they were truly alone, and found that it not to be so.
"Katsuyu-san, Mun. If you'd both please." Gaara addressed the two other occupants of the tent, and the way he tilted his head towards the tent flap made his intentions clear.
As if Sakura's heaving shoulders and flushed face was not enough of a giveaway.
Katsuyu twitched her tentacles lightly as if considering the Kazekage's request, but conceded a moment later by hopping off Sakura's bed to land on the carpet. She turned her head to the sand-cat that Sakura had sent back before their trip to the headquarters, and in silent agreement, it jumped down and followed the slug summon out the tent.
The moment the tent flap fell back into place, the chakra barrier hummed its promise of silence once more. That was when Sakura returned her attention to Gaara.
Gaara, though, decided to beat her to the punch.
"I have a kekkei genkai."
The impassive way he had announced this world-altering fact threw Sakura for a loop. From the way he had said it, he could have simply been stating that the sun rose in the east, or that his kanji meant 'love' - facts that had always existed and were never once doubted.
That definitely took the winds out of Sakura's sails, immediately drawing her ire away from what she was fuming about mere seconds ago.
"I… Wait, but it's not in your medical charts," she quickly sorted through her memories of his files, certain that she had somehow been tardy in her duties and missed this vital piece of information; Every shinobi with a kekkei genkai had it in their records, both for medical and political reasons. Mainly political, because there were many things one could still glean from a corpse, and no village wanted their guarded abilities compromised or stolen by another. Shinobi with kekkei genkai were high-priority retrievals whenever a mission went wrong.
"It wouldn't be, because only a handful of people in the world know about it. I have Magnet Release in my bloodline, a gift from my father and grandfather," Gaara explained patiently, "However, mine only manifested after Shukaku's extraction. It was speculated that perhaps Shukaku had suppressed my kekkei genkai, to keep me obediently reliant on him for control of my sand, when I had it all along."
Magnet Release - she had heard about it. It was a fairly rare ability that granted its user the ability to manipulate substances with an almost magnetic-like force, thus its name. The Third Kazekage had woven iron into the sand he wielded, making it stronger than sand ever could be on its own. The Fourth Kazekage had added gold to his sand, making it denser to combat his own son's sand. And Gaara…
Seeing the question in her eyes, Gaara summoned a handful of sand from his gourd and allowed it to float in the space between them. When he remained silent, Sakura took it as a cue from him to observe his sand, to see what made it different from the sand one would find in the ground.
It took her at least half a minute, because she could not believe her eyes. Peering hard at the grains of sand floating lazily in front of her, Sakura finally concluded that no, her eyes were not playing a trick on her. Blended amongst the minute, brown grains floated some even smaller, brighter grains of what appeared to be metallic in nature. Red-brown like copper and rust.
Like a certain sand-cat's stripes.
"I can fortify my sand with anything metallic in nature, making my sand impenetrable to all man-made weapons known to us. And if required, I can use it to strengthen my attacks as well as my defences," Gaara wove his hand in front of the sand, pulling the sparkling grains towards him and gathering them into a tiny, floating sphere, "Only Baki, Temari and Kankurou know about my kekkei genkai. The fewer people that know about this, the better my chances for a surprise attack or counter.
"I am only the third in my family to have manifested this kekkei genkai, but should the council ever catch wind of this, they will be watching my every move henceforth. They will subject every woman I come in contact with to an undue level of scrutiny, to ensure that she does not end up carrying not just a son that may one day have a claim to the title of Kazekage, but also to make sure my kekkei genkai does not escape their control.
"And believe me when I say I know without a doubt that your presence in my life has raised their interest in you, Sakura. The rumours have not helped matters, and I will be damned if I subject you to their talons if you unwittingly end up with my child."
It all started to add up inside her head, and Sakura came to a rather unpleasant conclusion. Meddling elders on her own village's council she could deal with. But Gaara's council was outside of her jurisdiction, even Tsunade's. If she did end up pregnant with the Kazekage's child, she would be forced to renounce her Konoha citizenship and made to pledge loyalty to Suna instead. That Gaara was watching out for her, and protecting her in preserving that small, insurmountable physical distance between them was infuriatingly considerate.
"Is that why you won't sleep with me?" She decided to cut to the chase.
Gaara's mouth fell open in surprise, but he quickly clamped his jaws shut at the emotions he saw in her eyes; she was furious, embarrassed, and rejected all at once. He commanded his sand back into his gourd, the action drawing Sakura's attention back to his face.
"I know the window for pregnancy lasts about a week each month. I also know that with the contraceptives they put all kunoichi on, the chances of an accidental pregnancy is extremely low. Taking both factors into consideration, you are correct - there is absolutely no reason why I should not have given in and partook in what we both wanted," He bit out with a hint of distaste in his voice, "But no, that's not why I have not touched you so."
The redhead shifted his posture to block the tent's entrance, pinning Sakura with the intensity of his gaze as he practically stalked towards her. He advanced enough to make her back slightly towards his work desk before commanding his sand to create a barrier around the inside of the tent, casting them into darkness.
A squeak of the kerosene lamp as it is twisted on, and the brief scent of smoke as a match is lit and promptly discarded when it finished the task of lighting the wick and bathing their surroundings in a warm glow. Sakura's expression remained carefully neutral, betraying only a hint of curiosity at his actions.
"Gaara?"
In reply, he sent his sand to that mysterious drawer of his desk, sliding it open. Once that was done, the sand flew inside the drawer and there was the tell-tale sound of a lock being undone by the precise manoeuvring of sand granules. Several moments later, a metallic mechanism clicked. When the wisp of sand withdrew from his desk, it bore in its form a scroll.
If Sakura was confused by the sand's actions, she was even more so when the scroll was sent to hover before her.
"Read it," he spoke with clear authority.
Plucking the scroll from the sand, Sakura began to study it; there was a clear colour coding on it that designated it as a scroll that was politically sensitive to Sunagakure, and more astonishingly, there was the wax mark of the Kazekage affixed to it. She had only seen one by accident, when Tsunade was asleep at the desk and she had been tasked to sort out the piles of paperwork covering every surface in the room. Sakura had snooped at the first paragraph, and nearly lost an eye when Tsunade's hand shot out suddenly to snatch the scroll back.
"Sensitive matters," Tsunade had said sternly then, all traces of drunkenness gone, "Only for a Kage's eyes. It will serve you to remember that well, Sakura."
Sakura looked to Gaara, and he merely nodded his accession for her to break the seal.
The wax seal popped open without any effort, and that was when Sakura noticed that the edges of the scroll looked worn; as if it had been furled and unfurled repeatedly, then carelessly tossed aside each time afterwards.
She had no idea what was written in the scroll, but this was certainly not what she was expecting to read; not in a hundred million years.
"Kazekage-sama,
It pleases the council greatly to know that the Hokage holds you in high enough regards to send you her most gifted apprentice, Haruno Sakura, to serve you personally.
As you are well aware, the medic corps of our village has been in dire straits since the untimely passing of Chiyo-sama. With most of her techniques taken to her grave with her, our medic-nin have become the laughing stock of the shinobi world. This cannot stand.
Most fortuitously, you now have access to one of the greatest medic-nin of our times serving you. Not only has she been trained by the Legendary Sannin Senju Tsunade, she has also proved her mettle in saving Kankurou-sama and defeating a member of Akatsuki.
The council will be remiss in not reminding you of your vow to ensure the welfare of our village, and to strengthen our military might with the backing of a formidable medic corp.
We ask for you to get Haruno Sakura with your child. With your seed in her, she will become the mother of potentially the next Kazekage, and Hokage-sama will be forced to cede her to Sunagakure if she holds our alliance in any regard at all.
As a Suna kunoichi, she will be tasked with transferring her skills and knowledge to our own people, and we trust that any children you have will no doubt possess her intellect and fine chakra control. Your children with her may even surpass any that you intend to have with the future Kazehime, should they come to inherit your forefathers' natural ability to manipulate sand.
The council also understands that all kunoichi have been provided with contraceptives for the duration of the war to guard precious bloodlines. No doubt your medic would have been provided with the same resources as well. We have tasked certain individuals with corrupting her supply, and she should prove fertile by the time you receive this missive.
We trust that our most esteemed Kazekage will not find this too daunting a task given the groundwork we have laid out for you, and will carry it out expediently.
We await the good news.
Respectfully,
Grand Councillor Satoshi, Sunagakure"
Sakura did not fling the scroll with all her might clear across the boundary of their campgrounds, much to Gaara's quiet surprise. Instead, she was crumpling its ends as she held it in shaking hands, biting her lips as if to stop the tide of venomous words from spilling out of her.
"Those conniving old bas…!" She ripped the scroll right down the middle into two, then promptly began crushing both halves into a paper ball, shredding even more of the scroll in the process of doing so.
In the end, even after she obliterated the scroll into dusty bits of paper and fibre, it did her anger absolutely no favours.
So instead, she reached into the medic pouch that she always carried around her waist, yanked out a small, rattling pill bottle, and proceeded to pulverise it into powder with a chakra-enhanced fist.
"You!" Sakura suddenly pointed a chakra-enhanced finger at Gaara's face, "You knew my medical supplies were being tampered with, and you did not think it fit to tell me that?! What if they had messed with crucial, life-saving drugs? What if your council's servants had tainted more than my personal supply? Do you have any idea how many other lives are going to be ruined by their scheming and plotting to get their hands on medical knowledge? Knowledge, that I promise you, Konohagakure is only too ready to share if they have thought to just ASK!"
Gaara returned her glare, snapping, "I took care of their good little lap dogs months ago. I had consulted with Shizune on the matter, and she took it upon herself to ensure that all the tainted supplies have been removed and replaced. No one here is in danger from my meddling councilmen. I will not stand for this sabotage. By messing with wartime provisions, they were… appropriately punished."
That would certainly explain why Shizune had been especially concerned with her developing relationship with the Kazekage; the Hokage's first apprentice understood the political chess pieces being manoeuvred behind Sakura's back, and had made it her mission to cock-block the Kazekage more than once. Katsuyu was always a little too attentive to her, especially around Shizune's watchful eye. That Shizune only more recently began to give their relationship more leeway meant that she had waited until she was certain Sakura's pills were working as intended again…
"Oh, stars," Sakura covered her mouth in abrupt horror, "Your council wants me pregnant and tied to you as a kept woman?!"
"Ridiculous," Gaara clicked his tongue in annoyance, "They assume too much about our relationship. I will not bed anyone besides the Kazehime, and I have already chosen her. If you ever bear my child, it will be as my wife in every sense of the word."
Sakura reached up and squeezed her temple with one hand, frowning deeply as she muttered, "So all these: the tampered contraceptives, the orders from your council - is that why…"
It was not as if she spent hours or even days thinking about being with Gaara in the most intimate way that a man could be with a woman; she understood his desires, and she was receptive to it. They both agreed to wait even as they teased and tested the limits of the imaginary boundaries they had set, but if Gaara was holding back only because his hand had been stayed by the manipulations of his council, she was going to absolutely lose it.
In the end, they were both shinobi, and their lives belonged to their village and nation. That much the Suna council just proved.
"No, that's not it," his voice rang out firmly and clearly.
"I have not made you mine, because I respect your station as a Konoha-nin and the Hokage's apprentice. Your duty is to your nation and village, and the only way I will have you is when you come to me of your own free will. I won't risk you binding yourself irrevocably to me just because of one moment of careless desperation."
He was being irrationally considerate towards their respective standings, and she couldn't blame him for that: he was the Kage of an ally village, and she was the apprentice of said village's Kage. In the dangerous world of shinobi politics, the power they each held could sway nations and spark wars.
However, Gaara was distracting her from what she had come for, and she mentally steeled herself as she replied, "Then you understand that these kunoichi's have a duty to their own villages as well, and their actions should not spell a lifetime of consequences for them. Why are they being forced into an entirely new way of life because of missions they wanted no part in?!"
"Wanted no part in?" Gaara sneered, his nose wrinkling as he did so, "Everyone here is an adult; every kunoichi here knows the laws that govern those with kekkei genkai and clan jutsu. Those who have chosen to use their bodies in service to their nation thus are all willing adults who understood the consequences of their actions. In the past, they would have been executed by the betrayed village. At least now, they will have a chance at either starting a family in a new village, or returning home alive."
"You're talking about these women like they are livestock to be traded and bartered!" Sakura's indignant yell was thrown right in his face.
"It is called being an adult, and accepting the consequences of your actions. They chose to partake in underhanded means of acquiring kekkei genkai at the behest of their councils, without even second-guessing if it was a morally sound decision." Gaara's too-calm reply irked her even more, if that was possible, "My village is losing good kunoichi's to other villages, just as I am gaining kunoichi for carrying the next generation of kekkei genkai inheritors."
"Morals?! They were supposed to consider morals for an action they were ordered to take? It was either obedience to their council, or be stripped of their right to serve the village that they love. What good is the power of a Kage, if he cannot use it to protect his own shinobi? I am so eternally grateful, Kazekage-sama, that you have not chosen to have your way with me!" It was the most immature, ridiculous thing she could have said to Gaara, knowing that she had denied his advances at one point as well, but right now, all she cared about was getting one-up on him.
"Because I wanted you to have a choice!" Roared Gaara, "I will not bind you to me without your absolute consent!"
She should not be glancing towards the tent flap right now - the sand layered over the sound barrier would have kept their entire conversation private. But the way he had so insisted on everything hinging on her willingness to come to him was… it made her feel oddly powerful and bold.
"I am an apprentice to the Fifth Hokage, the most renowned medic-nin in the shinobi world. She had taught me things that you aren't even aware of, things that I can do with my body that is beyond you comprehension, esteemed Kazekage-sama," Sakura decided to not clarify that she was not talking about coitus, because it was curiously exhilarating to see the way his breath catch in his throat at her words, "You will not underestimate me or my abilities to protect myself from the ramifications of my actions."
Gaara's eyes darkened - and oops - she knew she had made a mistake goading him.
"I am many things, Haruno Sakura. I am the Fifth Kazekage, the Regimental Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces, a former Jinchuuriki, a Suna-nin, a brother, a son and above all, a shinobi," There was prideful arrogance in his voice as he held her gaze, forcing her to unconsciously back up with each step he took towards her, "But with you… I am only human."
Belatedly, Sakura realised that the back of her hips had collided with the solid front of Gaara's desk, and him leaning towards her was the final act towards making her tip backwards and rest precariously against the edge of the desk.
The next thing she knew, she was looking up at Gaara's stern expression as he caged her torso between his arms, his face a hair's breadth away as he growled out, "Do you expect me to let you return to Konoha, to leave my side, once I've had you? Do you think my hunger for you is purely physical, that it only needs to be sated once and be done with?"
Pressing his forehead to hers, he sighed, suddenly sounding completely drained of all anger, "When I am to take you, it will be forever. Are you ready for that?"
"I want you, too!" She snarled back, and unruly tears started to form in the corner of her eyes.
There was a sharp intake of breath from Gaara as her words hit home, rattling about in his skull and making his hands tremble.
"But you are asking me to stand back and watch all these kunoichi's have their futures taken away from them. I cannot do that, knowing that their hands were forced." She told herself she would not cry, not when she understood the meaning of duty and loyalty to one's village and Kage. She was living in those exact same circumstances herself, being so entangled with a Kage from a different village. The only difference between her and these women was that she had a choice.
"The Kazehime must put the village above all else." Gaara drew back quietly, a knot between his brows forming as if the act of doing so pained him, "Just as the Kazekage must put the village above all else, including himself. Sunagakure will not allow itself to be made a mockery of by letting other villages walk away unchallenged with our secrets and bloodlines. I am doing what I must do as a leader.
"You are willing to become mine, as you've just said. That means that you will also take from me all the trappings of my title, including my responsibility and commitment to my village. There will be many unpleasant things to be done, all for the good of the village that you surely understand the importance of."
Sakura blinked through her tears at him, lips parted as everything finally clicked in her head for her.
"Then… Perhaps I am not suited for the title of Kazehime after all, Kazekage-sama."
Piercing jade-green eyes widened at her words before they narrowed in the next moment. Gaara's lips twisted slightly into a scowl.
"You don't mean that," he challenged. Gaara drew himself to his full height, chest puffed out as he beheld the kunoichi that was standing before him.
To his chagrin, Sakura did not reply. Instead, she simply shook her head and headed for the tent flap.
His sand barrier was in her way, and Sakura was not in the mood to knock it down with her superhuman strength.
Also, she had to get away before her tears fell.
"Let me go, please."
Never had he heard a voice so meek from Sakura in all the times he had known her. Not even when they had failed to retrieve Sasuke five years ago, when they were mere children and she was still a genin that stood outshone by her two teammates and teacher.
He should roar; He should rage at her. He should tell her that she did not mean what she said, or that he would be willing to rescind his orders because she wanted him to.
Except… That would be a lie, wouldn't it?
The sand wall did not fall away, but it did part enough for the tent flap to come into view. He would not keep her physically imprisoned and bound to him, if her heart was wavering. Sakura took a corner of the tent flap and paused, and he waited with bated breath for her next move.
Please, don't.
"Thank you."
And then she was gone.