He was arriving. Anyone who knew the Hokage in training, Naruto Uzumaki, knew that he was coming. The blonde was positively giddy and his happiness was nothing shy of euphoria. Sakura was almost beside herself with relief at the fact that the day had finally arrived. In Naruto's defense it had been a while. Since the war had ended he had quite a bit to do. In truth they all had so much to do in the aftermath of the war. Once the war had ended and the treaties had been signed there seemed to be a massive switch in power. The villages had to find income in the public sector. With the five shinobi nations united there was little reason for such a massive Shinobi force. So, in the two years that had past, the nations had adapted, had coped in a way. Some nations have transitioned quite well, better than others in this new era and that was why he was coming. Konoha had stuck to the past too long and was needing to adapt to modern times. Kakashi sensei had checked with the council and thought assembling a few meetings with the nations that were fairing well would be a great help to the village hidden in the leaf.

Sakura for once had a pretty empty day at the hospital and decided she would be the one to escort him throughout the city and during the meetings this week. She knew that he preferred to have someone he knew while he was in the leaf and so Sakura was sitting there at the entrance gates, waiting patiently for him to arrive, settle into his rooms for the week and then and only then tell Naruto that he had arrived. Wiping a bit of sweat from her brow, hand scraping the seal that so resembled his the color of his teal eyes she saw his party arriving in the distance. There were three as per usual. Though in fact the appearance of three people should now be an odd occurrence. Temari had married Shikamaru in Suna two months ago and had since lived here in Konoha. Kankuro had been stepping in as best he could but his skills were still in leading Suna's impressive military force, one that now specialized in private military services for the well to do that could afford him. She assumed that the Kazekage needed a new aid to replace the one he had lost with his sister's transfer to Konoha. Standing up to greet the team properly Sakura couldn't help but judge this new outside presence to the sand siblings that she had come to know and love.

The first thing she noticed was that this newcomer was not the warrior princess that Temari always effortlessly claimed to be and was. In fact she almost seemed the exact opposite of anything Shinobi related period. Her shoes were almost inappropriately tall, the thigh high boots spanning her legs and giving her the appearance of being much taller than she was. The boots then ended in shorts that resembled her own black pair, though Sakura noted they were a good four inches shorter than hers. The space between the boots and shorts was actually bare; leaving a band of Carmel colored skin that seemed not to have a stray scar mole or hair on them. It was red that she saw next, a kimono like mini dress that spanned her body and arms, hanging precariously off one shoulder and masking both hands, was covered in a red that matched the vibrancy of the Kazekage's own hair. Not that Sakura was one to complain. She herself was one to have sported the color red since she was a youth, but to see it draped on her so, so seductively made the color suddenly garish. Daring to glance further up she scoffed at the long jet black hair that cascaded down one shoulder, too long and well kept to be a proper Shinobi and so out of place to what she assumed Gaara could have desired in a new aid. All of this could have been forgiven. Suna was well known to have had a large textile industry even in Shinobi times, the fashion world there had only blossomed and even in her youth she always remembered the sand siblings constantly changing up their hair and fashion. Even the wild child that Gaara was as a teen still carried sense of meticulously placed fashion.

So Sakura could've forgiven her less than Shinobi like wardrobe. Sakura could have even forgiven the fact that she was pretty. Beautiful really, but Gaara had always had pretty women around him, and so Sakura would've ignored that and placed her irritation with the label of childhood jealousy. A wound that never really left the still rather flat chested woman. Sakura was ready to put aside all of that until she dared to look at her face.

And without warning Sakura became angry. It wasn't her full cupids bow like lips, or her seemingly flawless skin with that envious Suna tan. It wasn't the long tresses she had that made Sakura yearn for her long hair that she hadn't had since she was a genin. No, it wasn't even the ox blood painted nails she had that were far too perfect for any real Shinobi to achieve. No, Sakura's blood boiled at the sight of long thick envious eyelashes behind sultry mauve colored eyes. A chocolate covered cherry was the image she pictured; but Sakura smelled a cedar wood not native to Konoha and she felt like retching. What was it about her eyes that made Sakura's stomach curl? She had certainly never met the woman before and she knew she was in no bingo books she could remember. She looked roughly their age, maybe one or two years younger. Possibly she fought in the war. Possibly she was at an inn Sakura also stayed at and they had a rude encounter. She couldn't place her finger on it but she felt it was vital to her. She felt it was one of the most important things about her life. But she couldn't let that show. Swallowing her feelings she put on a smile and started to walk towards them.

Kankuro was the first to spot her, a grin on his face as he nudged his baby brother and gestured towards the pink blob in the distance. "Looks like Kakashi really wants us to help him out if he got the leaf's number one Kunoichi to show us around. Maybe this time I'll finally tell her that you ranked her number one personally eh Gaara." He teased, earning a giggle from the female in the group and a death glare from the Kazekage as a response. He vowed to never let Kankuro take him out for drinks in Suna's red light district ever again. Lee had visited and the two had convinced him to put on a henge and celebrate his birthday like a normal single man would do. So too many drinks later he refused to dance, he won enough at gambling, and was sitting at a bar with the two, ranking the merits in the leaf's females. (he refused to rank his own citizens for fear of favoritism). In Gaara's own defense looks didn't matter in his rubric, never the less Kankuro never let it down when he actually argued that there was no way Ino could ever beat Sakura and you were blind to think so. In retrospect had he known they were ranking looks Gaara would've kept his mouth shut.

Trudging on Gaara led the pack towards the pinkette, removing his Kazekage hat and placing it around his back as his unruly red hair shuffled in the wind. It was getting honestly too long and he needed to remind himself to ask Sakura of the location of a respectable barber while he was in town. It wouldn't survive the week, and with the humidity Konoha had this time of year, neither would he.

Smiling genuinely Sakura closed the gap between them and bowed briefly. "Kankuro-san, Kazekage-sama it's a pleasure to see you in the leaf again. I would be happy to escort you to your rooms so you can unwind a bit after your journey. If" she started before Gaara raised a simple hand, a small frown on his face the only tells of his discomfort.

"Sakura please lets speak comfortably amongst one another. We've known each other since we were children and I loathe to think we are on such formal terms after spending nearly every day together in the war; even if it has been some time since we've seen one another." Smiling widely she relaxed her posture a bit and went to hug Kankuro warmly and then Gaara gingerly, noting with a small sigh the stark contrast between the bear like squeeze of the elder versus the almost tender embrace at the small of her back with the younger brother. Pulling back Kankuro grinned and nudged the female of their party explaining.

"Pinky here was Gaara's right hand woman in the war as she lead the medic core. If you ever want to know what Gaara fears, it's making this woman angry. I think Sakura terrified the whole Suna army after seeing how Gaara paled against her wrath." While Sakura chuckled widely Gaara allowed himself a simple eye roll, however, not to be left out of his own joke he mentioned softly. "It wasn't that bad, but I did change her status in Suna bingo books to flee on sight after the war. While indeed intimidating in battle she's truly a force as a doctor."

Sakura's chuckles turned into a frown as she stepped back to view the trio better. "I've never met this woman before and you two are giving her horror stories about me? Should I tell her instead about how awful a set of patients the sand siblings are, or how I can drink you both under the table?" She chuckled feeling a little less of her blood boiling at the sight of mirth in the woman's eyes before her. For some reason Sakura couldn't picture those eyes showing any emotion and that separated the woman from the feeling Sakura had.

Raising a hand in truce Gaara allowed a small smile to grace his features before answering. "I apologize for my rudeness Sakura. Please allow me to introduce my aid to you. I've had a hard time finding a replacement since you stole Temari from me so I hope you will add her to the fold nicely. Sakura this is Wisteria, Wisteria it is my pleasure to introduce you to the Godamine Hokage's successor Sakura Haruno."

Wisteria stepped up to Sakura with a small bow and a lazy grin on her face. "I have always wondered what the great Sakura Haruno looked like. I'm pleased to meet your acquaintance Sakura-san. My name is Askuna no Wisteria please let me know if there is anything I can do to assist you or what additional roles I need to take in Konoha in order to make Gaara-sama's stay more comfortable."

And Sakura was fully about to deny her compliments, rebuttal with the pleasure being all hers and that for Gaara to take her as an aid she must be a great resource. That she would be happy to help and assist her in any way and all she needed to do was ask. But Sakura did none of that because Wisteria's name registered in Sakura's mind; and so there was only one word that could escape her lips as she both paled and felt her blood boil in rage. Only one word could ever express the range of emotions and questions that needed to be answered. Only one word could even be fathomed at this moment in time and that word, that precious word hissed out of Sakura's mouth as green eyes harden into emeralds, was simply

"Sasori."