Sleep, Gaara discovered at long last, was a ridiculously lonely and boring affair.
The Kazekage's bedroom supposedly had the nicest mattress and sheets in all of Sunagakure, not that Gaara would have any experience to measure it against. Beds have always been the white elephant of every room he saw them in, since he never had a use for them. When he was inaugurated and made the new owner of the Kazekage's bedroom, the first thing he did was order the mattress and sheets burnt to rid it of his parents' lingering presence (everyone including Baki would not let him get rid of the bed frame itself, claiming it was a heirloom from the First Kazekage). Then he proceeded to acquaint himself with every piece of furniture in the bedroom while resolutely avoiding the bed with its brand new fittings until today.
The maids still changed the sheets every week, though. He allowed them to bustle in each week to perform their duties, to offer them this semblance of normalcy in pretending that their Kazekage slept like everyone else. In time perhaps it would no longer be a farce, but for now…
He had attired himself in a set of comfortable night clothes that his sister had laid out for him on his untouched sheets. The sensation of silk was at first pleasant, then outright suffocating whenever he laid too long on any one side of his body. It caused him to first rid himself of his shirt as he tossed and turned in his too-large-soft-new bed, and subsequently his pants an hour later. Throughout it all the satin covers made a valiant attempt at strangling him whilst the mattress itself gave him the odd sensation of floating on nothing, fraying his already raw nerves. He might have dozed off for a hour or two at the very most, but he was not certain; He did feel somewhat rested the way he would normally feel after a long meditation session, except that now the inside of his mouth felt dry and gross, and sweat was sticking to him underneath his Sand Armour.
The less he thought about the strange visions of black swirling mirages and howling sandstorms that wrecked his brain throughout the hours that he did not sleep, the better. He did not know it was possible to miss the murderous tanuki's cries for blood and taunting humour this much. In the more recent years as their relationship improved, Shukaku would sometimes regale him with stories of long ago, and it helped to pass the nights when paperwork was done and the village had been patrolled a dozen times over. There had even been an occasion or two when the Bijuu offered to let him sleep through an especially quiet night, but the weight of his title bore heavily down on his shoulders, and it was a risk Gaara could never take, so he had declined.
Now… silence.
Empty.
There was a distant knocking on the door that led to his private wing in the Kazekage Manor, and though there was a sitting room and a corridor that one had to pass before reaching his bedroom where he currently was, he made sure he was at least presentable by putting on his shinobi pants before ordering, "Enter."
By the time Kankurou reached the open doors of his bedroom, Gaara was doing up the buttons on his robe already. Out of habit, he picked up his vest to which he often secured his gourd, and at his brother's curious look, placed the item back into his wardrobe; he would first have to recreate his gourd to require the means to carry it, and it might just be time to look into a more discreet size for his weapon of choice; too often, enemy shinobi recognised him from a distance just by the outline of his massive gourd. The element of surprise might come to serve him well instead.
"Did you sleep?"
The way Kankurou spoke those words had a certain weight to them, almost like he was asking a question that normally yielded unpleasant answers.
Once upon a time, when the Ichibi Jinchuuriki did sleep, it meant death and destruction and the lamentations of hundreds and even thousands. The idea of Gaara sleeping never had any positive connotations for his older brother. But as his elder sibling, he knew he was supposed to rejoice for Gaara's newfound freedom as well. Thus, the somewhat awkward line of questioning this morning.
Gaara headed to his bathroom to complete his morning routine, then emerged to stand before his taller brother to answer with a small tilt of his head, "Some."
Kankurou's eyes widened slightly, and he touched his fingers to his chin while effecting a thoughtful expression, "Huh. That's good, right? I mean, you can finally get some real rest for the first time in your life?"
"You didn't come here to make small talk," Gaara started towards the dining room, knowing that their servants would have laid out breakfast already at this hour, with the understanding that their Kage favoured an early start to his day. Kankurou was keeping pace with him as they made their way down the stairs. "I have a meeting with the council about the Konoha medic-nin that I need to get to."
"Yeah, that's what I came to talk about, actually. And her name is Sakura, just so you know."
"You mean to call her Haruno-san," Gaara corrected as they stepped into the ornate dining room - built and decorated to impress guests and foreign dignitaries that a Kage was expected to entertain. Priceless but ultimately useless trinkets ranging from paintings to sculptures lined the walls and floor of the room, and he instinctively stepped over a permanent brown spot on the plush blue carpet to reach the dining table.
Nothing looked good to him today, for some reason. Gaara would normally consume a hearty breakfast before heading to work, just so he could have an excuse to work through lunch and avoid his fanclub members' offers of bento boxes (they still have not learnt to take a polite "no" for an answer after four years, and it was just simpler for him to have an excuse to not need lunch).
He reasoned it was due to the stirring of heat in his chest, settled just above his stomach and pushing against his ribs. For a brief moment he found himself wondering if he had been wounded irreparably by Akatsuki's extraction of his Bijuu, then just as quickly asked himself if it was due to the forced, rapid healing that Naruto's girlfriend did for him; both scenarios seemed equally plausible.
Pink hair, pink skirt, and eyes the most arresting shade of green that he had ever seen. Perhaps Naruto had not been exaggerating, he thought to himself as Kankurou's words and the stirring warmth in his chest - so familiar and overwhelmingly reassuring - brought the kunoichi to his mind's eye.
Whatever comfort the visage of her brought for him, it was quickly erased by his brother continuing to speak. "You gonna call a pretty girl by her family name the entire time after she brought you back from the dead? Also, need I remind you that she saved your handsomest brother from Sasori's poison?"
Gaara returned to scanning the table for something that seemed agreeable to his taste buds, and replied with a soft scoff, "You're my only brother."
"And the handsomest," Kankurou wagged his finger, and a thin, almost invisible chakra string was flung out across the table. It latched onto the side of a huge fruit bowl, and the puppet master gave it a quick jerk which caused the bowl to wobble noisily and drew Gaara's attention to it. "Something you're looking for?"
The sight of the colourful assortment of fresh fruits piqued his interest at once, and he walked over to the end of the table where it was to pick up a persimmon which quickly found its way between his teeth. It was about the time when the bright orange fruit was halfway gone that Gaara finally looked up at his brother, and the amusement in the elder Sabaku's eyes was unmistakable. Instead of verbalising his annoyance, he settled for raising one naked brow at Kankurou.
"Nah, just never seen you so fascinated by fruits before. You used to hate anything sweet. I think Yash… your caretaker used to comment that you'd sooner eat broccoli than an apple." Kankurou hoped his brother didn't catch his slip-up at mentioning their maternal uncle's name; there was an unspoken understanding between the siblings that Yashamaru had treated them all very kindly up until that unforgivable incident that resulted in Gaara returning to his father's tutelage, and his transgression against their youngest was something they would no longer speak of.
Jade-green eyes zoned in on said apple at Kankurou's mention, and Gaara hefted it into his palm, cradling it as one would an interesting object. "Fruits are supposed to be full of vitamins. I suppose my body must be needing some replenishment after my ordeal."
When he arrived in his private wing yesterday, Temari had ordered their kitchen staff to send up a small feast of sorts for him; A spread of gizzard, seasoned meat and curries had been laid out on the table in his sitting room, and under normal circumstances, he would have zoned in on the spiced gizzard at once, it being his favourite dish. Yet for some reason, he had felt an unfathomable sense of aggravation once he realised that his sister had pulled rank as Alpha to decide for him what he needed instead of adhering to his wishes. He had been ready to summon her to be rebuked when a hint of deep pink caught his eye near the back of the table, and when he craned his neck he saw that a plate of nectarines was waiting for him.
Gaara had never devoured anything so quickly in his entire life, and he had felt strangely satisfied after setting the last pit back onto the plate. That sense of satisfaction lasted until this morning, when the unexplained craving for the luscious sweetness of fruits had hit him once again. But instead of taking a bite out of the apple, he found himself slipping it into one of his robe's inner pockets instead, and he turned to Kankurou to ask, "What time did you set up the meeting with the council?"
Kankurou mimed looking at his wrist as if he was wearing a watch. "Eight o'clock. You have plenty of time to get there. But you should try to get there a little earlier, so you can intercept Sakura in case she ends up standing in front of those old farts alone. They are going to grill her within an inch of her life unless you remind them of their place."
"She is the Hokage's apprentice, and I have faith that she can hold herself against our council. But you are right - it would not be good for the alliance to throw Naruto's girlfriend to those toothless old wolves to gum at." At Kankurou's open-mouthed expression of confusion, Gaara's brow bones knitted and he asked, "Did I say something wrong?"
The brunet bowed over so rapidly that Gaara was concerned for one ridiculous moment that his brother had been struck by a kunai; he was in the process of reaching over to Kankurou when his brother threw back his head and howled in laughter just as quickly, and the volume of noise made Gaara's muscles tense in confusion.
Between gasps of laughter, Kankurou managed to huff out, "O-oh… Naruto's girlfriend? His girlfriend?! You can't be referring to Sakura, right? Because I overheard her rejecting Naruto's offer to buy her dinner twice since they came to Suna, and when I offered to take her out for a drink, she did not mention having a boyfriend at all. Sounds like it's just wishful thinking on that knucklehead's part!"
Gaara's voice turned cold. "You invited an underage kunoichi for drinks?"
Heat. Irritation. Aggravation.
I should be the first to thank her. To lay all of Suna's riches before her, and let her pick whatever she desires. And when the nature of his thoughts made themselves apparent to him, Gaara inhaled quickly in surprise. She can't have everything, naturally, but she deserves more than what I can offer. Wait, what am I… I am the Kazekage. She is but a mere kunoichi. And a foreign kunoichi at that… what are the protocols-
Kankurou had to be blind to not notice the signs that Gaara's temper was being tested, having survived a miraculous thirteen years of his life by learning to read them as they appeared; lengthy silence was always a good indicator that Gaara was weighing his (usually violent) options, and he learnt early on that the key to removing himself from the list of options was by reassuring his brother of his compliance. "I was just being friendly. She did save my life, and I was trying to thank her."
Kankurou's voice served to bring him back to reality once more, and Gaara shook the idea of taking Sakura on a private tour of their vaults out of his head. Schooling his features, he cocked a naked brow at the brunet and replied in his usual neutral tone, "By breaking the law? I'll make sure that Haruno-san is properly thanked and protected from our council. You need to stay away from her before you end up corrupting the Hokage's apprentice."
A challenge against his younger brother was at the tip of Kankurou's tongue, but he wisely held it back. Maybe he had been a little too forward in his approach towards the pink-haired kunoichi, but there was no need for his own brother to rebuke him as if he had destroyed their alliance with his overt attempts at flirting.
He lifted both hands up in surrender, chakra string snapped, and said, "Fine, fine. I won't try anything with her." Then in a much lower voice as he stuffed his hands into his pocket while Gaara walked away - "Never seen you act like that about any kunoichi before. I used to ask your fangirls out for drinks and you never said a thing."
"She is different," Gaara answered even as he continued walking without turning his head back, and he tried not to ponder too hard as to why she felt different to him, "Haruno-san is not a kunoichi you can flirt with without consequence. She answers directly to the Hokage, and I'd like for her to return home safely in one piece, unmolested by our council and shinobi."
"You are a shinobi too, esteemed Kazekage-sama," Kankurou shouted back with good cheer, "So you better behave around her, and send her off with something nice!"
Gaara bit the inside of his cheek. Definitely no private vault tours. She is too important to Naruto and Konoha to insult with gifts of monetary value. So what do you give a kunoichi who has saved the lives of both a Kage and his brother…
Seeing her walking down the corridors, her form almost lost against the overwhelming shades of brown that was the entirety of the Kazekage building - it stirred in Gaara an irrational desire to take hold of her elbow, draw her to his side, and physically guide her to their shared destination.
He stamped down that ridiculous notion with a squaring of his shoulders, and tipping his chin forward resolutely, proceeded to close the distance between them. He made sure to announce his presence by walking as a civilian would; shinobi's learnt to walk in silence from toddlerhood, and for most it became a second nature that had to be deliberately suppressed. His goal was not to alarm the pink-haired kunoichi that was ahead of him, but when she failed to acknowledge him even as he bore down on her, he knew he had to make his presence known verbally.
The first inhale as he readied to call her name gave him pause, as the scent of fruit and wild spices invaded the breath that he had drawn, and he was quickly stunned mute with the agreeability of that natural sweetness to his senses. It was curiously soothing to his mind that was plagued by a thousand other thoughts just seconds ago (all centred on trying to think of an appropriate gift for a woman who had saved his life, and why in the name of the Sages was he so obsessed with trying to come up with a perfect gift for a foreign kunoichi, anyway?), wiping away every concern he had for all else except her.
Haruno Sakura. The Fifth Hokage's apprentice. Naruto's girl… No, Naruto's teammate.
His brother's saviour.
His saviour.
He watched her continue her steady pace down the corridors, caught between the desire to call out to her and to study the way her hips swayed ever so slightly as she walked - none of the exaggerated swagger that he saw some members of his fanclub adopt; naturally, he had noticed them, being an adolescent male and all. It was just that none of them seemed to hold the same appeal…
Appeal?
This was beginning to get alarming, Gaara realised with a start. For him to take note of a kunoichi's body when not confronted by a battle scenario was unthinkable less than a day ago. Sucking in a deep breath once more (and barely suppressing a shudder invoked by the all too-present feminine scent), he expelled it in the form of her name.
"Haruno-san."
When she whipped around - short hair fanning out in a graceful arc, eyes wide with surprise and her lips slightly parted - there was something so charmingly disarming about her appearance that caused Gaara to straighten himself to his full height (which was not very much more, since he always prided himself in his good posture); Sakura's countenance in that moment was more akin to that of a young woman than a battle-hardened kunoichi, and he was instantly at ease in her presence; it was just as easy to fall into conversation with her, even if their words and tones were schooled to be as diplomatically polite as one ally shinobi to another should be.
The early hour of the meeting, coupled with the fine sheen of sweat that Gaara noticed forming on Sakura's face and bare forearms - they all but cried out to him her newness to his village. It was clear that she was unused to the weather, and when he recalled how much of her chakra he had taken from her the day before as well, a pang of guilt sat heavily in his guts. It was only outweighed by the presence of the apple that was pressed against the inside of his robe, and in a burst of protectiveness he found himself presenting it to her as a meagre offering in an attempt to ease her discomfort.
She needs nourishment, he reasoned quietly even as he found the proffered fruit being looked at with an undue level of scrutiny, and it was easiest to prove the purity of his intentions by taking a bite out of it. He was still a Kage from a different village after all, and she was right to be suspicious of anything he handed her, even if hurting her was the furthest thing from his mind.
And when she had flushed further when he showed her that the apple was safe to consume, making no move to take it from him, his stomach decided it was best to keep the rest of it for himself; something about the crispness of it sat perfectly right with him, and truthfully, he found himself becoming unreasonably hungry the longer they lingered in the hallways. The sooner the meeting was over, the sooner he could go in search of something more substantial to eat.
The fresh, fruit-like smell that he had grown familiar with seemed to vanish when he pushed open the doors to the conference room, and he risked a longer glance in her direction when it happened; Sakura radiated an aura of calm that indicated she had wrestled her Beta pheromones back under control, and it felt like a chastise for him to do the same. The honey of her scent was replaced by the sour notes of his elderly councilmen, and it caused a surge of annoyance to crest inside of him. However, if he was being honest, it had been a most distracting fragrance for him this morning, unused as he was to the way his senses seemed to have sharpened overnight.
It was with a mixture of relief and annoyance when they separated at last in the meeting room - Gaara towards his designated chair at the round table, while Sakura took her place on a small platform right across from him, where she was immediately flanked by several of his ANBU. If she had felt insulted by their presence, she knew better than to complain about it; she was a foreigner standing before a village council and the Kazekage after all.
Apple in one hand, he gestured with the other towards the most senior member of his council to begin. It took Sakura several moments to recall the name of the ancient-looking man with heavy-lidded eyes framed by long, white eyebrows - Ebizo, the brother to the esteemed Chiyo-sama whom she had fought hand-in-glove with less than a day ago. His close sitting position next to Gaara's told her that he was most likely the head of the Suna council, and she told herself to keep her nerves under control while the old man slowly shuffled through a stack of paper in front of him.
Crunch.
At the sound, her eyes flew towards the Kazekage at once. Green into green they stared at each other, and she had a snippy comment at the tip of her tongue which was held back by only two things in the world:
One - she was taught better manners than to rebuke an almost-stranger for trying her nerves. Gone were the days when she could speak her mind so readily; as the representative of the Hokage due to her position as her apprentice, she could not afford to appear rude, especially not towards an ally village.
Two - she was completely mesmerised by the flex of his jaw and the flash of his teeth and tongue as he feasted on the bright red apple, and her brain was never going to let her live the sheer perverseness of it down. Fortunately, she could lay the blame squarely on her pre-heat making her more sensitive towards a attractive man, if the stirring warmth in her blood was any indication of his agreeableness to her senses.
Attractive? Stars, Sakura, he's the Kazekage! He's Naruto's best friend! Stop this madness and concentrate…
"Haruno Sakura?" Ebizo's feeble voice called out, and she snapped to attention at once. Sakura angled her body towards the elder, hands folded neatly in front of her lap as she did her best to present an aura of respectfulness towards the most powerful people in all of Sunagakure. "Yes, esteemed councilman. That is my name," she responded smoothly.
Ebizo moved several pieces of paper around on the table once more, and Sakura found herself wondering if the way he was dragging out this interrogation (there really was no other term for how she felt about this entire affair) was due to this age, or if it was an intimidation tactic. Sweat was starting to gather under the collar of her top, droplets trailing down her hairline and clinging wetly to the scent patches on the back of her neck, and she would have commanded her body to slow down its production of sweat if she was not already expending all her concentration at keeping her chakra cloak firmly in place.
"It says here in the mission report filed by Hatake Kakashi-" There was a brief snort from one of the other councilmen, but Sakura was focusing on Ebizo's words instead. "-That the Kazekage had been dead for several hours before he was successfully taken back from Akatsuki. And yet you managed to undo death's work all by yourself, pushing aside my sister's offer to trade her life for the Kazekage's?"
Ah, another reminder that the most senior councilman's sister was no lightweight herself - Chiyo headed both the Suna Hospital and the Puppet Brigade after all. Despite the old woman's initial scepticism towards Sakura, the pink-haired kunoichi had succeeded in winning her over by not only saving Kankurou when no one else could, but also by fighting as an extension of herself against Sasori. Whilst not too familiar with Chiyo, the idea that she was going to surrender her life force to bring back their Kazekage seemed too great a price to pay, and Sakura could not stand by and watch that happen without doing anything. And now was the time for her to spin her tale, to ensure that she came off as confident without being overly prideful, lest she ruffled too many feathers.
"Truthfully, I was not expecting to succeed in bringing Kazekage-sama back to us." The murmurs in front of her rose slightly in volume, and several of the councilmen exchanged looks, wondering at how Sakura's explanation was going to unfold. "But I had trained for many years under Tsunade-sama, and she has taught me many things about medical ninjutsu, some of which are not found in books. I have learnt to keep a person's heart beating through artificial means, in order to buy them time for proper treatment. I applied those same techniques towards Kazekage-sama.
"It was a gambit, but the alternative was for Chiyo-sama to give her life in exchange for Kazekage-sama's. I could not ask that of her, not before all options were exhausted. So I insisted that she let me try my hardest first, and to interfere only if I failed. It was by the grace of the sand spirits that Kazekage-sama's body responded to my efforts, and we were able to avoid her sacrifice."
How strange of her to mention the sand spirits, Gaara noted at once, and he paused in taking his next bite. There were a thousand and one deities in the folklores of the Land of Wind, and even natives of their land were hard-pressed to recall more than a dozen of them in detail. The Kazekage clan made offerings to the sand spirits, referring to them as their clan's guardian spirits. Shukaku was one of these sand spirits given a physical form, long before they came to realise its true nature as a Bijuu, and these creatures of myth were said to hold the power over life and death in the same way the path of a sandstorm determined the magnitude of the carnage it wrought - stand in their way, and be struck down. There was nothing written about these particular spirits - all knowledge of them was passed down orally, and the worship of which was forbidden to everyone else but the Kazekage clan; Shukaku was the only sand spirit that the villagers were allowed to make offerings to, and even then they were not permitted to ask for anything in return for their prayers. Therefore, to imply that these secretive spirits had been aiding a non-Suna shinobi amounted to nothing less than blasphemy.
"Sand spirits, hmm?" Ebizo turned towards Gaara and caught his eye, and the young man straightened up in his seat further. If Ebizo was accusing him of divulging sacred knowledge of their practices to a foreigner, he would have been sorely mistaken. But… Could he say the same for his brother? Did Kankurou understand the sworn secrecy that surrounded some of their family's duties? Perhaps he had spilt them in an attempt to impress Sakura with their culture's unique practices, especially since she was a beautiful woman?
Beautiful? Gaara blinked at his observation of Sakura. She was certainly exotic-looking even for a non-Suna kunoichi, standing out perhaps as much as he himself did with his blood-red hair and jade-green eyes among his people.
He lifted his gaze to meet hers across the table, noting that she was waiting with bated breath for Ebizo to continue questioning her. The shallow rise and fall of her chest he could just as easily attribute to her being unused to their climate, just as well as to the stress of being so sternly scrutinised. She looked… meek, but defiant at the same time, and he would be lying if his interest was not piqued, as he pondered how the line of questioning from his council could go.
Crunch.
Another flash of teeth. Another bite of the apple consumed. Another lingering glance in her direction that caused heat to pool uncomfortably under her ribs.
Sand spirits? What was I thinking? Sakura hid her nerves behind a hard swallow, and she fought the urge to turn away from the eyes focused on her every move. Where did that even come from? I'm a scientist, not a spiritualist! They must think I'm a silly, superstitious girl.
The simmering accusatory aura emitting from the Kazekage was not helping matters, that was for sure.
"Are you implying, kunoichi, that the sand spirits spoke to you?" A councilman just to her right spoke up, one eyebrow cocked in disbelief.
Oh. Oh. She had to be in trouble for real, now. Had she accidentally stumbled upon a matter of offence for the people of Suna? Sakura did not study very much about the religious practices of the Land of Wind, but a small voice inside of her was warning her that she was treading on thin ice with the topic; as if the way that half a dozen members of the council was glaring at her was not enough of a hint.
The lump in her throat threatened to silence her bravado, even as her brain scrambled to come up with an apology, only to be interrupted by a stern growl from the young Kazekage. Gaara was glaring something fierce, the corners of his lips pulled taut as his bared teeth flashed the promise of violence. "Enough. Haruno-san had convinced Shukaku to stand down, once. It is obvious she is favoured by the sand spirits."
She could not help wincing slightly at that memory from what seemed like a lifetime ago, and it was due to a mixture of her mortification at how foolish she had been to throw herself in the path of a rampaging Bijuu, and at how blatantly Gaara was covering for her slip-up at this moment. Her memories from that incident were vague, and while she was not entirely certain how she had managed to convince a Bijuu to not kill her, the fact that she was standing here alive and well six years later addressing its (former) Jinchuuriki was indisputable.
The table was alive with a dozen different voices, a low, buzzing murmur that carried disbelief and hesitation. Even a few of the ANBU seemed to be shifting in their places, twitchy with urges to speak.
It was Baki who sat next to Gaara's other side that shifted the conversation. "Perhaps Haruno-san can tell us how exactly she returned life to our Kage? Divine intervention or not, surely she had her part to play in this."
The small nod of gratitude from the redhead to his trusted advisor escaped everyone's notice, and he heaved an inward sigh of relief at Baki's smooth redirection of the conversation back on track.
I was supposed to protect her from unnecessary lines of questioning, he frowned to himself, and he took an absentminded bite of the dwindling apple in his hand, sucking unconsciously on the juice that ran down the side of his palm. "Proceed, Haruno-san," he prompted when she seemed lost in thought.
Sakura wanted to smack her hands soundly to her cheeks, but she was fortunately stopped by two good reasons; firstly, she would be making an absolute fool of herself in front of the Kazekage and the Suna council. Secondly, she did not need to broadcast how she was making things up as she went along with what felt like a very polite if high-stakes interrogation.
Tipping her chin forward slightly, she stood a little taller as she inhaled and began, "The human nervous system runs on electrical impulses, and our internal chakra network functions as a means for this electricity to run off of. These electrical impulses do not dissipate immediately even in death, though they do fade to almost undetectable levels as cellular death sets in. If this spark can be coaxed back to its normal level, the body should regain all of its functions. Once the brain is functioning, it is only a matter of time before it commands the heart to beat and the lungs to breathe. Based on that theory, I charged the healing property of my chakra with a combination of…"
Somewhere twenty minutes into Sakura's increasingly detailed and medical terms-strewed explanation - where the fire of knowledge was clearly ablaze in her eyes as she explained the difference between the energy that fueled one's nervous system versus the energy that was generated by one's mitochondria, and how she had to re-create both for the Kazekage - it was clear from their glazed-over eyes that the majority of the Suna council had lapsed into a stupor-induced silence. Few of them had any knowledge of what the pink-haired kunoichi before them was explaining, and even fewer of them had the inclination to raise questions for fear of looking stupid. Gaara had set the apple core in front of him, his hands steepled as he stared unwaveringly at Sakura, following every curl of her lips and shifting of her gaze with his undivided attention. If he was confused like the rest of his council was, his face betrayed no such hints.
I need to speak to the Hokage about hiring her for a long-term mission, Gaara told himself as he realised that not only did Sakura possess excellent practical skills as a medic-nin, she also carried in her the knowledge and aptitude required to serve as a trainer. And maybe bump it up to an A-rank one to serve as her reward for saving Kankurou.
"But," And Sakura's eyebrows drew together briefly, as she wondered why her tongue seemed to have a mind of its own, "It was the sand spirits who guided my chakra's path, telling me exactly which batch of cells to send my healing towards and in which order. The Kazekage's body was only then finally responsive to my efforts to revive him, and the result of which is your esteemed Fifth Kazekage returned to the world of the living."
The slight twitching of Gaara's fingers at Sakura's repeated mention of the sand spirits was noticed only by Baki, but that was more due to the fact that the advisor had been surreptitiously watching him out of the corner of his eye the entire time; apparently, the sight of Gaara eating something sweet in front of him for the first time ever was unexpected enough to draw and keep his attention.
In the silence that followed as Sakura completed her explanation, she folded her hands primly over her lap once more, having waved them about animatedly as she was speaking earlier - it was easier to draw shapes in the air to help her both visualise as well as articulate her descriptions of the various systems in the human body. Emerald-green eyes swept slowly along the table, and Sakura noted with inward glee that no one seemed inclined to challenge her report, if the way they were all slightly slumped over with ponderous looks on their faces was any hint.
But when she finally shifted her gaze to meet the Kazekage's, she was not expecting to see such sternness directed right at her, and it was only thanks to years of being subjected to her Alpha's piercing glares that she managed to keep her features schooled into indifference. If nothing else, learning to keep her Omega tendencies subdued had made her a very good poker player. She resolutely returned his glare, head held high as she met the silent challenge he was sending her way.
What challenge he was throwing at her, she had no idea - all she knew was that she could not afford to look weak in front of a foreign council.
"Your explanation is… curious, but adequate," Ebizo said at last, and he turned to face his Kage, "However, there is the question of how she…"
The elderly man was cut off abruptly when Gaara rose from his seat, the sudden movement causing his chair to scrape noisily against the floor. He looked deliberately from one councilman to the next before returning his attention to Ebizo to speak in a clear voice, "I believe we are done with this meeting, councilmen. Haruno-san has answered your questions about the healing that she had done for me, and she has been summoned post-haste by the Hokage. It would not be prudent to keep her longer than required." The finality of his tone was a very clear hint to everyone else in the conference room that he considered this meeting over, and the slight downturn of his lips indicated that anyone suggesting otherwise would find it to be a most unwise decision.
No one in the room appeared ready to challenge the Kazekage's decision, and not even the deep scowl and rolling waves of pungent scent coming from his sole Alpha councilman could steer him from his path; one by one, his council rose from their seats. They remained standing as they waited for their Kage to depart out of respect, and were surprised to see Gaara walk further into the room instead.
"Haruno-san."
Sakura, who had been standing stock-still while she waited for the council to decide her fate, blinked down from the platform at the redhead who was now waiting in front of her. He had uttered her name with perfect neutrality, betraying none of his previous agitation from moments ago.
The proffered hand that he held out to her was certainly unexpected, though.
"I want to speak with you briefly before you leave, if that is alright?" Fingers outstretched and palm upturned; the very same palm that had been cradling and caressing the apple he wanted her to take.
It took several seconds for his words to register for her, and Sakura quickly nodded her agreement - as if she could deny such a simple request from a Kage without it coming off as an insult. And it took her even longer to place her hand in his, allowing his warmth to surround and hold her captive as he guided her off the platform and back onto the floor.
The abrupt withdrawal of his hand - fingers uncurling to release her - was just as unanticipated as him offering to help her off the platform to begin with, and Sakura bit the inside of her cheek in a sudden rush of annoyance at herself. She was a kunoichi, perfectly capable of stepping on and off a block of wood that barely rose more than thirty centimetres off the ground, dammit! But there was no way to refuse such a gentlemanly gesture without looking ungrateful, so all she could do was follow his lead.
When she finally glanced up at Gaara, the solemnity in his jade-green eyes gave her pause. In them he held a questioning look that was clearly directed at her, and the unwavering attention that he was bestowing upon her made her swallow the sudden lump in her throat. The Suna heat, which was successfully kept out of the conference room, seemed to come rushing back to her all at once, and the fever inside her womb pitched and throbbed, stealing the breath from her lungs.
Gaara tilted his head slightly in askance, and the act caused his blood-red fringe to curtain over the equally striking kanji on his forehead. "Haruno-san?" He ventured again, "I am asking for five minutes of your time, but if your next mission cannot be delayed…"
Another blink, as she realised how rudely she had been basically staring at his face in silence for the past minute, and Sakura stomped down the urge to flail in mortification - she was standing in front of the Suna council after all, and not merely in the presence of Naruto's dear friend. "Of course, Kazekage-sama. As you will it, so it shall be." She started to bow again out of reflex, and oh.
Two firm hands had wrapped themselves around her shoulder, stopping her in her movements. Gaara was not a fan of being disobeyed, even if the order he had issued to her to not bow was in effect an order to do exactly so. "I didn't demand it. I am asking." There was a hint of annoyance in his eyes as his brow bones knitted together briefly, and Sakura was too caught up in the surprising softness of his skin pressed against hers to notice the confused buzzing from his watching council. Baki had taken a step towards his Kage, but the rest of the council stayed firmly standing in front of their seats.
"Yes, I can spare the time." Sakura deliberately ignored the quiet gasp from one of Gaara's councilwoman. Clearly, her more casual tone with the highest-ranking shinobi of their country was considered inappropriate or even outright scandalous to the more old-fashioned council, who viewed any sentence uttered by a lower-ranking shinobi that did not begin or end with "Kazekage-sama" to be an affront against all that is good in nature.
Gaara's silent approval of her reply came in the form of a small smirk, and it was evident that he enjoyed ruffling the feathers of his council and discarding protocols; even better if he had a co-conspirator to rope into the affair. Without another word, he turned and headed right for the doors, and it was clear from his action that he expected Sakura to follow suit.
It took all of her nerves to forcefully turn herself away from the councilmen, to disregard the courtesy that was drilled into her since training under Tsunade to always bow when asking for leave from the Konoha council. The pressure of trying to simplify her report of how she had saved the Kazekage to the council (Sakura was not entirely she succeeded), coupled with an uneasy night's sleep and her pre-heat symptoms - it all added up to a high-stress situation that she was only too glad to break free from. Heaving a sigh of relief to herself, she allowed her chakra cloak to dissipate as she caught up to Gaara, and the pressure that was building at the back of her skull eased drastically the next instant.
The same instant that Gaara's footsteps faltered, though he quickly regained his composure and continued down the corridors in his typical stoic manner. Too caught up in her own world, Sakura did not even realise that they had reached their destination until they were both cocooned in the darkness of an unlit room, and she wanted to berate herself for her inattentiveness.
The resounding clack of a door lock latching shut behind her echoed in her ears.
"Kazekage-sama?" She ventured softly, her eyes not having had the chance to adjust to the blackness that seemed to have swallowed her companion whole.
His reply came in the form of a small tableside lamp clicking on in the middle of the room, and Sakura inhaled sharply at realising that Gaara had not left her side at all. He was, in fact, standing a hair's breadth away from her, having commanded his sand for the task; leaning in close enough that if he wanted to close the distance between them, all it would take was him stretching his neck.
To tame her nerves, her eyes darted around the room quickly, hoping to be able to place a name to where Gaara had taken her. It was the sight of sand sliding up the walls, sealing away the last vestiges of the afternoon sun from the windows - that momentary lighting before it was stolen from her clued her to the fact that she was in the Kazekage's office. She would have exhaled deeply in relief, with the understanding that of course, it was only natural for Gaara to want to speak to her in the privacy of his office as opposed to out in the open.
If only he wasn't standing right inside her personal space, breathes fanning across her forehead and making her deeply self-conscious in that moment.
"Where did you hear about the sand spirits?" His tone was polite, but there was a simmering heat laced in the rumble of his throat that seemed to charge the air between them.
She opened her mouth, and his eyes dropped immediately to the parting of her lips. Gaara's intense (and absolutely inappropriate) scrutiny of her every move caused her to clam her mouth shut the next moment, and she mustered up as fierce a gaze as she could in return. As she exhaled the tension in her, she failed to notice the way her companion's nostrils had flared, and replied, "I don't know."
Sakura nearly went cross-eyed watching Gaara's slow blink of confusion. "Pardon?"
She braced her arms against the door behind her, feeling the reassuring solidity of the wood as she pushed herself to stand straight up. In doing so, she ended up bumping her chest against Gaara's, and the Kazekage at least had the decency to take a step backwards to restore the semblance of space between them. She reached up to frisk her hair in agitation, gloved hand running through her locks and somehow, the movement of her fingers had completely captured Gaara's attention.
That, and her gesture had caused some of Kakashi's Alpha pheromones to loosen from her hair and waft towards the redhead in front of her. When Gaara realised the scent for what it was - foreign Alpha in my domain - he just managed to stop himself from baring his canines by clamping his teeth together behind his lips; a lifetime of battling the lust for bloody confrontations and finally taming it served just as well for this moment.
"I really don't know where I heard about sand spirits from. It might have been something I overheard from the villagers, but…" Sakura's brows were pulled together, and she breathed out her frustrations at what she supposed was an accidental insult against Suna's culture that she had made, "... It just seemed to make sense somehow, that I was guided by something beyond scientific understanding.
"If we were relying solely on science and nature here, there is no reason for you to be alive now, Kazekage-sama. Irreversible damage sets in to the human body within minutes of when a heart stops beating, and permanent brain damage is guaranteed by ten. You have been dead for hours by the time we found you, and we still had to fight off Akatsuki before we could take you to safety. Chiyo-sama wanted to trade her life for yours, but I couldn't let her make such a sacrifice, so I asked for the chance to heal you instead. There was no logical reason why I could restart your heart, or reignite your nervous system, and yet… You came back to us.
"I admit that I don't know much about the religions in your country, but I have seen the shrines the villagers give offerings to. If I have insulted the sand spirits by invoking them, then let me be punished. But I must leave Suna as soon as possible, so if that can be delayed for now…"
Gaara had been oddly silent throughout her rambling speech, and Sakura felt a flare of annoyance when she saw that he was no longer looking at her face, but at a point just above her head.
"Kazekage-sama?" She tried to control the ire in her voice when it became clear that Gaara had not heard a single word she had spoken, and was instead fixated on her…
Fingers reaching up to lightly brush the back of her hand still tangled in her hair, the contact electrifying even with the barrier of her leather glove separating them. And when he looked down into her eyes, the fervour she could see in his mesmerising green irises made her squeeze her thighs together unconsciously; heat and want and slick all pooling and gathering uncomfortably in her cunt, threatening to spill out of her under the overbearing male presence of the young Kage standing before her.
And when he spoke, his voice sounded unreasonably muffled to her, his lips moving almost in slow-motion - as if she was underwater and struggling to keep from drowning:
"May I scent you?"