CHAPTER TEN

The day was turning out to be the worst ever for Sakura. She had barely clocked into her office when a code blue alarm sounded. There was no chance to breathe or settle in, and as expected, she immediately rushed into the E.R. where the nurses on duty informed her about the situation.

A drunken woman was choking on a tiny piece of shell stuck in her throat. How it got there, she'd never know. Sakura quickly assessed the situation and decided an emergency procedure was necessary. She prepared to perform a laryngoscopy to visualize the obstruction. With steady hands, she used a laryngoscope to locate the foreign body and then carefully extracted the shell piece. Sakura had to admit, these new machines and tools certainly made her work easier compared to the old days.

Thankfully, the woman was now stable and moved to the general ward for further monitoring. Starting the day with an emergency like that was disorienting. It wasn't the first time and certainly wouldn't be the last, but she would never get used to it. Her heart was still pounding from the adrenaline rush. Just another day in the life of a medic, she reminded herself, but from the start she could just tell it was gonna be one of those days.

She had kept her students busy all morning with the fish practical. None of them had been able to revive it yet, but she wasn't worried. It was still too early, and they were already doing well and making fast progress in other areas. She just didn't feel like having her usual class with her mind trained on other anxiety inducing events at the moment.

Sakura glanced at her timepiece agitated. Keita was still yet to arrive at the hospital for some reason. She just didn't understand why he would choose today of all days to be late, knowing they both had serious matters to discuss. It was almost 10 o'clock and the meeting was at 11 a.m.

She had just finished making her rounds at the general ward and was about to go prepare for the meeting without Keita when she saw him walking briskly towards his office with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Is he serious right now?" she muttered to herself as she followed him at the same pace.

"Where the hell have you been?" she bellowed behind him just as he was about to open his office door.

He turned sharply, visibly shocked at her presence. "Kami, Sakura. Can you stop doing that?"

Sakura ignored him, mouth turned disapprovingly at him. "Did you forget we were supposed to meet two hours ago?"

"Of course I didn't. I've been busy gathering info like we were supposed to," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh… so what did you find out then?"

"Can we at least go into my office first, Sakura?"

"I guess," she scoffed, following him inside. He shut the door behind her and Sakura watched as he arranged papers on his table in one pile, taking sip after sip of his coffee.

"Well?" Sakura was getting impatient.

"Right, right. So, I talked to the nurses like you said, and they knew, well… absolutely nothing." He paused, gingerly taking a sip of his still very hot coffee. Sakura's anxiety grew as she watched him, her patience wearing thin with every passing sip.

"So… I took matters into my own hands and visited the surviving victim at the psychiatric ward where she was transferred," he continued hurriedly, almost as if he thought if he said it fast enough, it would slip by her notice.

Sakura's eyes widened. "You did what? You went to a mental asylum alone?!"

"Let me finish," he said calmly. "She's a bit more stable and coherent now—barely, but I was still able to find out a few things. Things got bad after her honeymoon. She started to lose control of herself and mentioned suddenly being unable to control her anger, even though she doesn't recall being violent in the past—"

"We'll need to confirm that with her spouse," Sakura interjected.

"Of course, I was just getting to that. He replied, his smile growing as he pulled out a notepad. "I got his name and an address."

Sakura couldn't help but smile back at his proud expression, though surprise was evident in her eyes. "How did you manage to pull that off in half a day!?"

Keita's grin turned a bit cheeky. "Nothing a little cash and some good old charm can't accomplish" he said with an exaggerated hair flip.

Sakura laughed. Sakura hadn't thought of that, she had a more elaborate plan that included, silent sleep bombs, genjutsu and plain old kage bunshin but hey bribery works too. Keita had saved her the stress and resources and for that she was glad, she didn't still approve of him going alone though.

"So did you find out anything else" what's done is done, she might as well get all the needed info.

"Yes, there is one more thing, she doesn't remember anything that happened during her violent episodes. It's not much, but I think it's worth noting. That was all I could gather before she started having another episode."

"Are you kidding?! That's incredibly helpful. Give yourself some credit."

"Don't make me blush," he joked. "Did you find out anything in your research?"

Sakura giggled, feeling a slight weight lift off her shoulders now that they knew more about the illness—if she could call it that. "Well, I'll say you fared much better than me. There are countless herbs in Grandma Chiyo's book that have similar effects to the illness; it's hard to pinpoint, but I'll keep looking, see if I find anything else." She shrugged.

"It's still a clue though, good job," he commended.

"Oh please, don't try to compensate me" she said, jokingly, and then setting her threatening eyes on Keita. "And don't take such a huge risk without me again, okay?"

"Fine, fine," he replied.

They discussed a bit more, both agreeing to pay the spouse a visit later in the week. If anyone would have more detailed information, it would be him.

Sakura was feeling better about her day now. Keita had managed to discover clues that could really help. It would be a lot easier explaining things to Gaara now. Although major details like whether it was a drug or some type of viral disease were still up in the air, they would need another surviving patient to make some conclusive analysis. This was such a pain in the ass.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Sakura stood up from where she was seated, deciding that she was just going to take things one step at a time.

"We should get moving, Keita. The meeting is in 10 minutes."

Keita nodded as he gulped down the rest of his coffee, he needed to be heavily caffeinated for this. He hurriedly gathered his notes and ran after Sakura, who had already left him behind. He almost laughed out loud at how much of a stickler for rules she was. He personally didn't care about being late—he'd never been early to any of his official meetings. He just couldn't find it in himself to care. She was adorable, though; he'd give her that. He could see what Gaara saw.

They arrived at the Kazekage's tower five minutes early and ended up having to wait for the ongoing meeting to be over. Keita was so mad at Sakura for making him come so early just to wait; he hated waiting rooms and waiting.

Sakura, on the other hand, was more than happy they made it on time. She'd hate for Gaara to see her as tardy. Thankfully, at 11 o'clock sharp, the previous meeting was over, and it was their turn. Sakura thought it was just fitting to his personality to keep to time this accurately.

As she and Keita walked into the office, she took the chance to make observations, she had been here before but hadn't bothered to look around. His office was well-lit and very spacious, much more so than the paper work ridden Hokage's office, in contrast, each book was lined up in wooden built in shelves and the huge piles of paper work were stacked neatly on his table.

The only form of decoration was a single cactus flower pot on a table by the windowsill. Various windows gave a nice view of both the village square and the desert. It was picturesque and such a calming view. Sakura thought he could see almost everything from there. Of course, she didn't expect the infrastructure to look the same after years, but wow, the difference was too great. Gaara was really doing a great job developing Suna, that's for sure. Konoha had some serious competition, and they didn't even know it yet.

She felt his eyes on her as soon as she walked into the room, and the pressure of his gaze sent warm waves from her gut to every part of her body. The air seemed to constrict around her, and her stomach was in knots even as she took her seat opposite him. Sakura tried hard not to make eye contact under the guise of admiring the office, but his presence filled the room so palpably that it made her throat tighten. She had to clear her throat softly.

At last, she couldn't help it and raised her face to look at him. If she kept acting weird, Keita might begin to suspect that something was going on. Of course, Gaara's gaze was trained on hers, and their eyes met. Somehow, the air felt hotter than before, especially as she kept thinking back to the previous day in the library. Between that and the kiss, Sakura was conflicted. What did it even mean? The whole night she kept asking herself the same question. Could Gaara possibly be interested in her? No, there was no way. She had to cut that train of thought short. She just wasn't going to do that to herself again. Besides, this was no place to be thinking of such things; she needed to focus on her job. The hard lines on his face didn't display any emotions, Sakura wondered what he was thinking about at the moment.

For Kami's sake, Sakura, you came to work, she chided herself.

After she and Keita had settled comfortably in their seats, Sakura cleared her throat to begin. Since she had requested the meeting, she was obligated to start first. Gaara kept his gaze on her, making her nerves worse. Keita, on the other hand, was as oblivious as they come. He was already bored and wanted this to be over soon.

"So, to what do I owe this meeting?" Gaara spoke first, surprising Sakura lightly.

Sakura took a silent deep breath before starting. "I called for this meeting because of something we think you should know."

"And I'm guessing I won't like this thing," Gaara replied, his eyes searching between both Sakura and Keita.

"No, I don't think you will, unfortunately."

Gaara simply nodded and indicated for her to continue.

Sakura recounted everything she knew, including the new information she had recently discovered. Keita also shared his findings. The whole time, Gaara's eyes were trained on her, his expression showing no major change except for perhaps an extra furrowing of his eyebrows.

"So that's basically everything," Sakura finished, heaving a silent breath. It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her chest.

A deep silence filled the room; you could have dropped a pin, and it would have echoed. Sakura searched his face for any sign of what he was feeling. Was he angry? Frustrated? Disappointed? Her best guess was angry... Tsunade would be flipping tables by now if she were the one receiving such news. The thought of her shishou almost made her smile.

After what seemed like an hour, Gaara turned to Keita, who looked like he'd rather be anywhere but here.

"How long have you known?" Gaara asked Keita.

"Uh-oh, angry it is, then," Inner Sakura muttered.

This was what Sakura had been avoiding. In her narration, she had purposely left out that Keita had discovered it earlier, fearing it would be misunderstood. She should have known Gaara would figure it out regardless.

"A little over a month," Keita replied calmly.

"And... you didn't think to mention it since then?" Gaara's voice was controlled, but his anger was clear.

"It's not exactly something that can be reported immediately. I had to be sure."

"The shortage of trusted, qualified medical staff makes it harder to investigate, especially with something as fragile as this," Sakura added, but Gaara wouldn't look at her. He was pissed.

Something about Keita's delivery was aggravating Gaara more with each response. She could tell because his eyes grew narrower each time Keita spoke. She didn't think Keita was intentionally trying to be rude—technically, he was right. To avoid false alarms and panic, Keita made the best possible choice. But she feared that right now, Gaara wasn't seeing it that way. Sakura thought it best to intervene before the matter escalated further.

"Gaara, I think what Keita is trying to say is that—" Before she could finish her sentence, Gaara turned to her sharply. The suddenness almost made her flinch, his eyes piercing like daggers.

"I didn't address you yet," his venom-laced voice cut her off. He turned back to Keita, who was almost as visibly shocked as she was.

For a moment, she sat still, stunned. It had happened so fast that she almost couldn't believe it. She was flabbergasted. Did—did he just shut her down like a bug? She felt like her opinion didn't matter, that she was insignificant. It brought back memories of her genin self all over again, the Sakura who couldn't contribute to anything, who always had to be saved. She hadn't felt this humiliated in a long time, and it hurt so much coming from him. Why had she thought that he somehow saw her as significant? Because of a common kiss? Kami, will she always be this fucking stupid? Her anger kept mounting. Who the hell did he think he was? She was furious at him and at herself. One thing was for sure, she wasn't going to wait for him to address her with that tone again. Gathering her emotions and mustering the best poker face she had, she stood up gracefully. His eyes immediately followed her, and she looked him straight in the eyes before speaking.

"The reason I called this meeting was to simply pass information on to you, Kazekage." She watched his eye twitch in annoyance at the formal title.

"I believe my work as the volunteer medic here is done. If you'll excuse me—" She turned and left without looking back.

Silence filled the room again before Keita finally spoke.

"That was unnecessary and rude."

"I don't care," Gaara responded coldly, but the words didn't even sound believable to him.

Keita shook his head. Gaara would never stop being stubborn and pushing those he cared about away.

"Look, Sakura and I—especially Sakura—spent half of yesterday researching just to get more information about whatever this is. She didn't have to. It's not part of her job description, but she did it anyway because she obviously cares." He finished, causing Gaara's eyes to widen a fraction. She cared about him? He was still processing what he heard, not realizing Keita was trying to hand him a file.

"This contains everything we learned about it." After handing the report to Gaara, he left immediately.

Sakura ended up going home early. It was 5 o'clock sharp by the time she walked through her door. Normally, she'd at least stay and help out for the evening shift, but her mood was too sour to continue. She'd end up transferring the aggression to people who didn't deserve it, and that was counterproductive to her and everyone else.

"You're home early today," a voice spoke, jolting Sakura out of her negative thoughts.

She looked up to see Kankuro, standing by the fridge with a cup of water. He looked like he'd been in the house all day, clad in sweatpants and no shirt. Damn, she'd seen Kankuro shirtless before, albeit under much more life-threatening circumstances, but that was a long time ago. He was certainly more toned and muscled now.

"Sheesh, did all the Suna boys just get hot overnight or something?" Inner Sakura commented.

"Ugh, go put on a shirt already," Sakura chided playfully.

"Like what you see?" he jiggled his eyebrows at her while pretending to flex.

"You wish!" she responded with a small laugh.

He gave her an imperceptible look as the laugh died down and then said something that surprised her a bit.

"Wanna go out to eat?"

"Tired of being the house chef?" Sakura joked.

"Hey, I love my job… but I need a break. So what do you say, huh?" he prodded.

Honestly, she thought it was weird that Kankuro was asking her out to eat, but she hadn't eaten all day, and she was really famished. Besides, who was she to turn down free food?

She smiled at him in response. "Fine… but I need an hour."

She reeked of antiseptic, so a freshening up was needed, plus she had some file organizing to do. The idea of a relaxing dinner with a friend was exactly what she needed to unwind and forget about the horrible day.

Finally, after an hour, Sakura was fully refreshed and ready in a white breezy slip dress and brown sandals. She had decided to dress casually; after all, it wasn't a date… just dinner between two friends. She went downstairs to see Kankuro already waiting for her. He was dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants, not much different from his regular outfit. 'Well, at least he dressed casually too,' Sakura thought to herself.

"You look pretty" he commented.

"Thank you, you look nice too" Sakura smiled.

"I know, that's why the ladies love me" he replied, mirth in his tone. They were out the door in no time, Kankuro complaining about his stomach grumbling because she took too much time, and Sakura laughing at never ending jokes. The evening air was cool, and the streets were bustling with people finishing up their day.

"So…what do you think about this one?" Kankuro pointed to a restaurant with an elegant facade and a lively crowd inside.

"Too fancy and crowded… big no," Sakura replied, shaking her head to emphasize.

Kankuro groaned. "You said the same about the last two we passed. My stomach is rumbling here" he said, his tone exasperated but playful. "They have the best spicy food in the game right now. Are you sure you want to miss out on that?" He couldn't believe she was saying no to his favorite restaurant.

"I don't like spicy food much," she stated simply, shrugging.

Kankuro looked gob-smacked. "How could anyone not like spicy food?" he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

"What do you like then?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Hmm…" Sakura looked like she was in thought for a moment. "Syrup-coated red bean dumplings!"

Kankuro laughed at how enthusiastic she looked, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Maybe he should have asked from the start. Seeing her so animated made him forget his own hunger momentarily.

"C'mon, I know just the place." Dumplings weren't his thing, but he could compromise for her; he wasn't a picky eater anyway. They walked together, Sakura's earlier frustration melting away with each step. The vibrant street lights cast a warm glow on their path, and the chatter of people around them created a comforting background hum. Kankuro noticed her relaxing and felt a sense of contentment himself.

Gaara stood facing the open windows, lost in thought as the evening breeze brushed against his face. He watched as the sky grew darker and the stalls began to close up for the day. People scurried to and fro, and some restaurants set up more seats outside for their evening customers. Suna was known for its vibrant nightlife, attracting visitors from other lands.

Meanwhile, unfinished paperwork lay scattered on his table. It wasn't like him to leave work unfinished for the leisure of watching the Suna citizens go about their daily lives, but his mind seemed to be hell-bent on lacking focus today. The unsettling news he received could very well lead to a catastrophe if not addressed promptly. He knew that once the elders found out, they would find a way to pin the blame on him. They had never trusted him since the day he stepped in as Kazekage, often referring to him as a double-edge sword, though none dared to say it to his face. He had his ways of uncovering information and knew they had been plotting to overthrow him for some time now.

He needed allies—more help than ever to stop whatever this was from going any further.

Gaara released a deep sigh as various thoughts raced through his mind. One thing was for sure, he had messed up with Sakura. He didn't know why he had snapped at her or why he felt so uncomfortable about it. He had snapped at plenty of people before—his siblings, countless times; Keita, for obvious reasons; even the elders were scared of him. It never affected him in any way, but now he kept thinking back to the flicker of hurt that spread across her face after he snapped. It was brief, and she had tried to hide it, but Sakura wasn't very good at hiding her feelings. The memory wouldn't stop clouding his mind. Was this… guilt?

His thoughts drifted back to that day in his room. He had previously thought that tasting her just once would curb the effect she had on him, but for what it's worth the rendezvous did nothing to sate him. If anything, it drove him even crazier, and that was why he had kept his distance before he did something insane. Seeing her today had brought back memories that he had been keeping in a tight lid. The taste of her lips, her soft skin, her moans—everything was perfect. She was perfect for him. He wanted more.

She had been in the library yesterday to help him, and he had thrown her help back in her face. But this wouldn't have happened if she hadn't omitted things to cover up for Keita. As if that wasn't enough, she had tried to defend him too! Just thinking about it pissed him off again. She shouldn't have tried to defend Keita. They were too close, and he didn't like it.

Just then, a flash of pink crossed his vision, making him sit upright immediately. At first, he thought it couldn't possibly be her, but he didn't know anyone else with such distinct hair. When she turned, all smiles, he confirmed it—he could identify that smile anywhere. She always had this air of innocent spring around her that made her stand out in the crowd. She looked ethereal clad in a simple white dress that added to her angelic innocence.

She let her hair down, he thought. Earlier in his office, her hair had been in a ponytail. He liked it better down.

She was standing just outside a restaurant, facing the entrance. He recognized the place; it was one of his brother's favorites. She looked dazed for a second before a smile appeared on her face again. She seemed to be conversing with someone, but from his angle, he couldn't identify who it was.

He kept watching, even as the wind blew, sending wisps of pink hair into her face. She reached to tuck them behind her ears—he wanted to do that—but then he watched in shock as a hand reached out before she did, delicately tucking her hair behind her ear. That was when Gaara saw red, because that was definitely the hand of a man.

He had been too entranced by her presence to notice she was conversing with a man. He watched Sakura return a small smile, obviously at the man's action, and that was when he decided he had seen enough.

A dull anger was growing deep inside him, and it was frustrating. The beast inside him wasn't helping either; rather, it was amplifying his negative emotions.

"He's going to take her from you," Shukaku mocked.

Gaara sneered in anger. "No, he won't. He can't—she's MINE."

A/N: Doing a bunch of edits, will be updating more frequently.