The palace courtyard was nice and cool at this time of morning. Gaara sat against the windowpane above, looking down into the gardens where Sakura sat with Naruto. He had a plate of fruit near his knee, and though he knew he should be eating his breakfast, his stomach was too sour.

He was too far away to see Naruto's expression, but he could see his rigid posture and the way he gripped Sakura's hand like he would never let it go again.

Gaara hated it. He hated doing this to Naruto, his best friend. He didn't want to take Sakura away from him. He had lost so much already. Gaara understood that all too well. First Sasuke, and now this? And how could he not blame Gaara for it when the only reason she was staying was to be with him?

And what would her friends back in Konoha think? What would Tsunade say? Would she be angry that he had stolen her apprentice out from underneath her?

Gaara picked idly at a strawberry on his plate, trying not to think about it. Sakura was staying. He should feel happy. Temari's wedding was in just a few days. Unfortunately, it was in Konoha so he wouldn't be able to attend. He would say goodbye to Sakura and Temari at the same time, but Sakura would come back instead of his sister.

He supposed it was an even enough trade. He would miss his sister, but he would have Sakura. Maybe Naruto and Temari would develop a friendship, he thought. Maybe Naruto could find comfort in Temari's presence the way Gaara had with Sakura.

Well, hopefully not the exact same way.

"What are you doing on the floor?"

Gaara looked up at Hideki, who was ambling toward him with leisure. At least he knew he wasn't missing another council meeting.

"I'm waiting for Sakura," he answered, patting the windowsill next to him. Hideki joined him, glancing out through the glass at Naruto and Sakura.

"She's crying," Hideki observed. "Is it about Sarabi?"

Gaara glanced through the window too, noting that Sakura was, in fact, now crying. Naruto had pulled her into his chest and was holding her while she sobbed into him. It made sharp pain pulse through Gaara's chest.

"She's saying goodbye to him."

Hideki raised a brow. "She's not going back to Konoha with the rest of us?"

Gaara furrowed his brow. "You're going to Konoha, too?" he asked. "Why?"

"Temari invited me," he said defensively. Gaara was surprised to hear his defensiveness, and it must have showed on his face. "Is it so strange to think that she would want me to be there?"

"Of course not," Gaara said. "I just thought I'd be left with at least some company while my sister's off getting married."

Hideki's expression morphed into sympathy, and he gave Gaara a brotherly clap on the shoulder. "Gaara-sama, I'd be happy to stay here instead if you wish. I know you aren't eager to see your sister married, and you're upset to see Sakura leaving, too. But you say she's not leaving?"

"She's going to the wedding," Gaara explained. "But once it's over, she will return to Suna."

"Forever?"

Gaara didn't know how to answer that, so he settled on a nod. He would love to spend eternity with Sakura. Their fate wasn't so well defined yet, but he hoped that time would strengthen their bond even more. He would marry her, have children with her, grow old with her. Was that what forever meant? Would anything less than that be enough?

"Congratulations, Gaara-sama," Hideki said, beaming from ear to ear. "I know how much you love her. You must be very pleased. Did you ask her to stay?"

Gaara shook his head. "She offered," he said softly. "I think Sarabi's death, unfortunately, is what motivated her to make that choice. Is it possible to be grateful that something happened, and also be devastated by it?"

Hideki said nothing, but Gaara didn't really expect him to.

"I'm glad she's staying, but I hate knowing that I'm taking her away from her life back in Konoha," Gaara confessed. "I feel all this guilt for my part in Sarabi's death, and now this. I should be happy, but I just feel sick."

"I'm sure that feeling will pass over time, Gaara-sama," Hideki said. "And after it does, you'll still have Sakura here with you."

Gaara frowned. That didn't help him feel better right now, but he supposed Hideki was right.

/

Sakura's arms were tightly wrapped around Gaara's neck, holding on for dear life.

"I'm going to miss you so much," she murmured into his ear.

They were standing at Suna's gates, all the Konoha nins geared up and ready to leave. Only this time, they were joined by Temari as well. Gaara and Sakura stood a few meters away from everyone else for their last semi-private moment for a while. But it wasn't actually so private because Gaara could feel Naruto's eyes daggering the back of his head.

"I'm going to miss you, too," he muttered back, rubbing her back soothingly. The truth was that he wasn't all that sad to see her go this time. She was coming back, after all, and he wanted her to enjoy her time in Konoha while she still could. He could see, though, that she was upset to be leaving him, even if it was just temporarily.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay without me?" she asked, pulling away so she could look at his face.

"I've managed most of my life without you, Sakura," he said with a teasing smirk. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

Sakura wasn't amused by his antics. She sighed heavily, running her hands up and down his chest with a sort of frenzied sadness. "I'm going to miss sleeping in the same bed as you," she confessed, her eyes darkened by a mixture of lust and gloom.

He caught her hands and held them over his beating heart, warming up her frigid fingers with his palms. "I won't miss your cold feet," he teased. He didn't want her to be sad. He didn't want her to be depressed on their way back to Konoha. It would make Naruto sad, too, and Gaara just couldn't have that.

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to miss all this fucking sand," she snapped, and Gaara was pleased to see a flash of emotion from her that wasn't sadness.

"Well, I might," she said, withering a bit in his arms. "Can't you just come with us? It's your sister's wedding! Isn't there someone who can play Kazekage while you're gone?"

"I can't leave my people, Sakura."

She pouted, which he found both churlish and charming.

"It's just a week," he said. "We've been separated for far longer than that."

"Yeah, and it sucked."

He chuckled, remembering the day she had come back to Suna with Sarabi. He had been so nervous and so hesitant to approach her, worried that her feelings toward him had changed.

This time he wouldn't be thinking anything of the sort. As much as it pained him to see her leave, he couldn't wait until she got back. She would be desperate for his touch by then, and he for hers.

"But everything will be perfect when you come back," he said. "While you're gone, I'll have a tailor prepare some new clothes for you. You'll need some in the appropriate Suna style, and you'll need some formal attire for professional meetings. And I'll have our private bath outfitted with all the things you like – that vanilla shampoo, and those body oils you use. I'll get some new furniture for our bedroom. We need a bigger bed, I think, and we'll need some more storage for all your things."

Sakura was now beaming with him, which made him break into a grin as well. He would give her anything she wanted to see her smile like that at him.

"What about my office?"

"Oh, of course I'll have your office ready," he said with a solemn nod. "I can't have anything but the best equipment for my head medic."

"Yes, I suppose Suna will have bragging rights now," she said. She glanced over Gaara's shoulder. From the affectionate sadness in her eyes, Gaara suspected she was looking at Naruto.

The urge to grab hold of her chin and force her eyes back to him was strong, but Gaara resisted it. He wished so much that he could leave to go to Konoha with her. Before becoming the Kazekage, he might have considered it. Temari obviously had, after all.

But he couldn't turn his back on his people. He swore to protect them, and he loved them far too dearly to ever leave – even if it was for Sakura.

"Hey, do you mind if I borrow my brother for a second?"

Temari approached them, so Sakura dropped her hands from Gaara's chest and took a step back so that she was an appropriate distance from him. "Not at all," she said, smiling at Temari. "I'll just go say goodbye to Hideki."

Both Temari and Gaara watched Sakura walk away. They looked on as she embraced Hideki and gave him a warm smile.

"You two seem very happy."

Gaara glanced at his sister. "We are," he said. "Very happy."

He was surprised when he felt her hand come up to rest on his shoulder. "That's good. I'm really happy for you both."

Gaara said nothing, but he brought his own hand up to cover Temari's.

"So she's going to come back to Suna, huh?" she asked. "To stay?"

Gaara nodded. Temari frowned at this, and it made Gaara feel a little irritated with her. Couldn't she just be happy for him without finding some reason to frown?

"It was selfish of you to ask her to do that," she said after a tense moment.

"I didn't ask her," he snapped. "Why does everyone think I would do that?"

"Oh, come on, Gaara. Everyone knows you wanted her to stay," Temari argued. "It isn't a stretch to think you would ask her. She had a whole impressive career back in Konoha, and friends and a family. She was the apprentice to the Hokage. I don't know how strong your relationship with her is, but that's a lot for someone to leave behind. It's hard to imagine Sakura willingly moving away from all that."

Now it was Gaara's turn to frown. He felt a flash of annoyance at his sister for bringing all this up when he was already perfectly aware of it. She was ruining what could have been a perfectly good farewell.

"I'm not forcing her to stay. I already told you it was her idea."

"Are you going to marry her?

Gaara clenched his teeth as he glared at his sister.

"I think you're both being foolish," she said without waiting for him to answer. "I did the responsible thing and waited to move until Shikamaru and I are married. You could be making a big mistake. What happens when the two of you break up and she's still stuck here in Suna when she clearly belongs in Konoha? And what's going to happen when she starts to resent you for taking her away from her home?"

"I'm not taking her away," he growled. "She's—"

"Gaara, please."

Gaara sighed and leveled his sister with a patient gaze.

"I'm just trying to look out for you," she said. "You're my brother and I don't want to see you hurt again. I'll be so happy if I'm wrong about all this. I just want you to consider what exactly it is that you're asking Sakura to do."

He almost snapped again that he wasn't asking her to do anything, but he changed his mind. Temari had a pretty good point. It wasn't like he hadn't considered those things before. It was easy to be blinded by his affection for Sakura, though, and he needed to take a step back to look at the situation with a critical eye.

"I want to marry her someday," he admitted, "and I don't want her to sacrifice her happiness to be with me. That's why I'm going make sure that she's happy here. Suna is just as good as Konoha, and it isn't like she can't ever visit."

Temari's expression softened.

"I really do love her," he said softly. "It's hard to watch her go now, almost as hard as watching you go. You know I love you, too."

"I know," she said, her voice soft now, too. "I love you, too."

"And if Shikamaru doesn't make you happy, then first tell me so I can kick his ass, and then come back to Suna," he said.

Temari cracked a smile at that, and some of the tension between them broke. "You're a good man, Gaara," she said, pulling him into a tight embrace. "Sakura is a lucky, lucky girl."

Gaara smiled into her hair as he squeezed her back. He hated letting his sister go, but he cared for her happiness as much as (if not more) than he cared for Sakura's. If letting her go would make her happy, then of course he could do that.

"Be safe in Konoha," he whispered to her, holding tightly because he wasn't quite ready to let her go just yet. "Don't let those Leaf-nin give you any trouble."

"As if I would," she teased.

And he knew he wouldn't have to worry about her.

/

That night, after the traveling party had left for Konoha, Gaara sought out Taiyo and brought him out to the oasis. He had tucked the pendant Sakura had given him underneath his tunic, not wanting Taiyo to see it lest he have something snarky to say about wearing his apprentice's eye around his neck.

Taiyo sat in the sand, idly poking at the water near his feet with a stick. He had hardly spoken a word to Gaara, and Gaara didn't press him to speak. The truth was that he didn't know what to say. He wanted to apologize for his part in losing Sarabi. He wanted to promise Taiyo that the misery he felt now was only temporary. But he couldn't help but think that wasn't true.

If Taiyo had no one left, why would he even want to stay in Suna? What was left for him now?

"Why did you bring me out here, Gaara-sama?" Taiyo asked without bothering to turn to look at Gaara, who stood a few paces behind him.

Gaara glanced up at the setting sun, feeling a new sense of trepidation. He breathed in deeply through his nose, hoping that the fresh desert air would help him figure out what to say.

"Taiyo, I'm very unhappy with the way that everything with your people happened," Gaara began, each word dripping from his tongue with monumental effort. "I… I wanted so badly to be able to help you, you know. I was devastated when the catacombs collapsed, and I'm devastated now that Sarabi, too, has passed away. I can't help but feel guilty. Whether or not you knew it, you, your people, and Sarabi were always my responsibility. I should have been able to take care of everyone better. I shouldn't have let all this happen."

A harsh breeze whipped over the dunes, sending water lapping up against the shore. Taiyo pulled his feet a few centimeters back to avoid getting wet. He didn't acknowledge what Gaara said, but Gaara knew he was listening.

"An apology could never be enough," Gaara continued. "I owe you more than I could ever repay you with. Still, though, I want to make amends to you. I know there's nothing I can do to set all this right, but what can I do? What would make you happy, Taiyo? Let me make it happen for you."

Taiyo was rigidly still, the wind blowing his wispy hair around his head. After a painfully tense second, he pulled himself up to his feet.

Gaara chest constricted when he saw that Taiyo's wrinkled cheeks were wet with tears.

"I never did trust you, Gaara-sama," Taiyo said, his voice trembling. "I thought you were arrogant to a fault. I still think you are, but now I know more about you. You have a great amount of love for your people, even the ones that treated you with cruelty. Even me."

Gaara frowned, listening with disbelief.

"I know you loved Sarabi like she was your sister," Taiyo continued. "I know this because I saw how much you loved Temari. You treated Sarabi like she was family. You even treated me like I was family. I was wrong to judge you so harshly."

Gaara looked away from, off toward the village. He was uncomfortable with this conversation now. Though he appreciated Taiyo's kind words, he only wanted to know how to make amends.

"There's nothing left on this earth for an old man like me," Taiyo said. "All I can do now is look back with regret."

"What do you regret, Taiyo?"

A beat of silence stretched across the oasis.

"I regret being so stubborn with my people," he said softly. "I regret not coming up to the surface sooner, being blinded by my desire to protect my people. You understand. I regret that I couldn't protect them."

Gaara understood all too well exactly what Taiyo was feeling.

"That's it?" Gaara asked, trying to sound light and teasing. "I certainly have a lot of regrets. Too many things to count."

"Like what?"

Gaara cleared his throat, unsure that he wanted to share all of his regrets with Taiyo. He could share some of them, though.

"I regret most of my childhood," Gaara confessed. He knew Taiyo was likely aware of Gaara's troubled past, but he had never explained any of it to him himself. "My priorities were in the wrong place. I had an insatiable lust for blood, and I made a lot of mistakes because of it, including almost killing the woman I love."

"Sakura?" Taiyo asked, finally turning to look at Gaara.

Gaara nodded. "I really hated her smug-ass teammate, Sasuke," Gaara explained. "To be quite honest, I still hate that bastard. Back then, though, I hated a lot of people. I killed a lot of people. I was a monster."

"That's hard to imagine," Taiyo said, though he didn't seem surprised by Gaara's confession.

"I do my best to make up for it," Gaara said with a shrug that was anything but apathetic.

"How do you even begin to make up for something like that?"

"By taking care of the people I care about."

Taiyo crossed his arms over his chest and turned back to face the water. It was then that Gaara remembered that Taiyo didn't have anyone left to care about. Guilt nipped at his gut again. He suddenly thought of how unfair it was for him to have brought Taiyo out here to assuage his own guilt. All he was really doing was making Taiyo feel worse.

"Have you ever seen the ocean, Gaara-sama?"

Gaara approached the edge of the water and stood next to Taiyo. He was hesitant to take a seat just yet.

"Yes," he answered, gazing out at the water and remembering the time he had gone to Mist and sailed across the sea on a massive boat. It had been for a mission, and he hadn't been entirely focused on the beauty of the ocean. Still, it was hard to forget something that magnificent.

"I've always wondered what a body of water so large would look like," he said. "After spending my entire life in this old desert, it's hard to imagine so much water could exist in one place. I've only ever seen it in pictures."

Gaara crossed his legs and sat down, careful to keep an appropriate distance between them. "Would you like to see it, Taiyo?" he asked. "I can arrange for you to take a trip to Mist, if you want."

Taiyo looked up at him with a suspicious glare. "Is this your way of making amends?" he asked.

Gaara shrugged. "It's a start."

They stared at one another for a moment. Gaara could see something whirling behind Taiyo's milky eyes.

"You know what?" he said. "Yeah, I want to see the ocean."

/

A week later, Gaara found himself once again perched on his guard tower to await Sakura's arrival. Taiyo had left a few days before to go see the ocean. Gaara had provided him with a guide, an itinerary in Mist, and enough money to comfortably travel until he chose to come back to Suna – if he ever decided he wanted to.

Taiyo's contentedness with that plan quelled some of Gaara's guilt. It was small, but it was the least he could do for the poor old man.

This left Gaara feeling a little content himself. It had been years since he'd felt so free, so unburdened. Of course he was still the Kazekage. There would always be fires popping up for him to put out. But for now, Suna was at peace. There was no more beast, no more danger. Everything had finally settled down.

And that meant he could finally focus on Sakura and giving her every bit of attention that she deserved.

Though he was more than elated to see her returning, he had also enjoyed the time away from her. It was nice to have solitude while he prepared for his new life with her. While he thought it far too soon to ask her, Gaara wanted to ask Sakura to be his wife. He could imagine no other woman as his bride, and Sakura would be loved by his people.

He could even imagine the children she might bear for him – tiny little 'fireheads.' He smiled to himself, thinking about his future family, his future life with Sakura. Everything had been prepared for her – new rooms with new decorations in the Konoha style to remind her of home, a proper office and a whole medic staff at her disposal, and a position on his council.

On that last note he had been corresponding with Tsunade daily since Sakura had left. He didn't want to leave Tsunade under the impression that he was stealing her top medic out from under her. As embarrassing as it was to admit to a fellow Kage, he confessed his love for Sakura, which Gaara suspected was the only reason Tsunade didn't seem outraged by the whole situation.

In fact, it was Tsunade that brought up that she deserved a space on the council. She had been thinking of giving her one in Konoha until Sakura had told her of her plan to live in Suna.

"At least consider it, Gaara-dono," Tsunade had said in her letter. "I'm sure I don't need to explain to you how intelligent and compassionate she is. That's an excellent quality for a representative of your people to have."

And Gaara didn't disagree at all.

He couldn't wait to show her everything, to tell her everything he'd done for her.

"Squad approaching over eastern border," said a static voice in his ear.

Gaara straightened his shoulders and gazed off toward the eastern horizon. That would put them here at nightfall, he thought. He should climb down the tower and get something to eat.

"Tell me when you see pink hair, Hideki," Gaara said into his mic.

"Copy that."

Clanging metal caught Gaara's attention. He glanced over his shoulder at Kankuro, who was clumsily making his way up the ladder with a steaming paper sack in one hand. Gaara reached down and snatched the bag out of his brother's hands.

"My dearest brother," Gaara said, "You've brought me lunch?"

Kankuro crawled up onto the tower's platform, leaning lazy against the railing. "I figured you were hungry," he said with a shrug. "You're been up here all day."

Gaara glanced up at the sun. It was true, he had been there all morning and it was now mid-afternoon. The sun was just past its peak in the sky, blinding and hot. He thought of Sakura out in the arid heat, making her way toward him. He would make sure that when he met her at the gates he brought some of her favorite chilled tea.

"I was just about to come down to eat," he said, opening the sack to spread out lunch for the two of them. "Now I don't have to."

"I miss Temari," Kankuro said, reaching for a pair of chopsticks. "I haven't been yelled at in over a week."

Gaara chuckled, reaching for his own chopsticks.

"I hope Sakura brings photos of the wedding," Kankuro mused, chewing loudly on some rice. "I think the last time I saw Temari in a dress was when we were visiting Konoha. It was the first time we caught her on a date with Shikamaru."

"She was so embarrassed," Gaara recalled, "but I thought she actually looked quite nice. I'm sure she's beautiful in her wedding dress."

Kankuro hummed thoughtfully in agreement. The two of them ate their lunch languidly, reminiscing about their favorite moments with their sister. Gaara felt so content in the warm sun with his full belly and his brother's laughter that he nearly forgot that Sakura would be arriving soon.

"I spy a head of pink hair, Gaaa-sama," said a voice over the static of the radio.

Gaara stood up leaning out over the rail to peer at the horizon. If Hideki could see her, then would be able to see her soon, too – a tiny little dot in the distance.

And after a few seconds he saw her, followed by several other dots.

"How many people did she bring with her, Hideki?" Gaara asked.

"Too many," Hideki said dryly. "We may have underestimated the amount of stuff she would bring. She's got a whole caravan."

Gaara smiled, wondering what sort of things she had kept, what things he wouldn't have been able to replace for her. With eager anticipation, Gaara leapt down from the guard tower, catching himself at the bottom on a sand disk.

"Yeah, okay, I'll just stay here and clean up this mess," Kankuro yelled dryly over the railing from the top of the tower.

"Thanks, Kankuro!" he yelled back, already flying toward the gates.

/

AN: That's it! Thank you guys so much for reading my very first GaaSaku fic! It was so much fun to write, but I know there's a lot I have to work on. Now that the story is over, I'd love to hear feedback on what I can do better in the future. I know I definitely need to work on pacing haha. Don't be afraid to hit me with constructive criticism!

Also, I know this ending might not be what some of you suspected. I was really leaning toward an ending where Sakura stayed in Konoha. I felt like the story needed something sad to happen at the end, idk why. That's why I killed off Sarabi. Don't pretend y'all liked her anyway! It gave Sakura a reason to stay, but it added a bit of emotional conflict, too. I know some of y'all won't like this ending that much, but I left it open for you to imagine whatever ending you want.