Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

This is dedicated to Unorchestrated because this one is her favorite~!

Wednesday

"So spill," said Ino, after they had settled down in their respective beds. "You were gone for hours. Don't bother telling me that you got lost because we both know you're not that stupid."

Sakura shrugged meekly. "I was spending time with my new friend." She prayed that Ino would be satisfied with this response.

"And who might this new friend be?" asked Ino. "Is that whose shirt you're wearing?"

"His name is Gaara."

"Gaara who? Was he one of the boys you met at the party?"

Sakura cleared her throat. "No, actually. Gaara is the red haired boy that has been the victim of my clumsiness this week."

"Get out!" Ino threw a pillow at her. "You're lying. That guy hates you."

"Ino, he was going to kiss me." Sakura tried to suppress a smile. "He's actually really nice… and handsome…"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll admit that he is vaguely attractive, but I'm not seeing the nice part. Nice boys don't spend time with half naked girls they've just met."

"You said it yourself that it's not about 'nice' or 'good' or 'bad'. He didn't try to take advantage of me. It was completely innocent." Sakura bit her lip. "I wouldn't have minded if it hadn't been so innocent. I really like him."

"Sasuke is going to flip." Ino shook her head. "He was bragging to Kiba that it was only a matter of time before you 'give into your desire for him'.

Sakura didn't even have to ponder it. She liked Gaara and not Sasuke. It was simple. The thought of Sasuke kissing her made her queasy while the thought of Gaara kissing her…

"Why are you blushing, Forehead?" Ino smirked. "You're thinking dirty thoughts aren't you? I swear, I don't know what has gotten into you. Do you have any idea how irresponsible you're being?"

Sakura's face fell. "You're right. I'm being ridiculous."

Ino threw another pillow at her. "Ridiculously brilliant maybe. You're supposed to be irresponsible! You're eighteen years old, not eighty. This is a good thing." She crawled onto Sakura's bed and looked her straight in the eyes. "Have as many midnight rendezvous with this mysterious redheads as you want. This is your vacation. Live a little! Don't settle for almost kisses. Take some initiative and rock his world."

"I would have if Kankuro hadn't walked in and ruined the moment," said Sakura. That wasn't exactly true though. Sakura didn't think they were ready for world rocking just yet. But she wasn't going to object to some excellent kissing.

Part of her had to wonder if this was a good idea. There was always the slight chance that she would grow attached to him. At the end of the week she would be going home and never seeing him again. She had to hope that they would have fun together but not too much fun. It would be taking a risk.

Well, what ever happens, happens. She told herself. She would just have to wait until morning to find out what exactly that was.

"Sakura, did you order room service?" asked Ino.

"No," answered Sakura. She was busy towel drying her hair after her morning shower. "Why do you ask?"

"Because there is a cart filled with waffles, omelets and breakfast pastries outside our door."

Sakura's eyebrows drew together in concern. "That's weird," she said. "Maybe they got the wrong room."

"Ah, wait," said Ino. "There's a note."

Sakura dropped the towel and hurried to the door. "What's it say?"

Ino snorted. "It's from Sasuke." She handed Sakura the little white card. "Read for yourself."

Sakura-

I was worried about you last night and I'm glad you're safe.

I was hoping that maybe we could spend the day together?

-Sasuke

"You've got to be kidding me." Sakura sighed. "You know, three months ago I would have sold my soul for this kind of invitation. Now I just feel uncomfortable."

Really, what kind of trick was Sasuke trying to pull? Why all of the sudden was he so eager to spend time with her? Could it be that he actually had feelings for her? After all those years of being "just friends" why so suddenly had he decided that he want a romantic relationship with her? It just didn't make any sense. Sakura was certainly no one special.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Ino. "Didn't you say last night that this Gaara person invited you to see some nature thing?"

"Yeah…" Sakura bit her lip. It seemed like an obvious choice but it wasn't. Even if she didn't have romantic feelings for Sasuke he was still one of her closest friends. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. She had only known Gaara for a few days, but Sasuke had been her friend for years. "Shoot. I don't know what to do…"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the telephone ringing. Sakura raced against Ino to answer it. Sakura shoved Ino away and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she asked, slightly breathless.

"Um, Sakura? It's Gaara," said the voice on the other end.

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. "Gaara, hey… good morning."

"Gaara?" Ino mouthed. "Lover boy?" she pressed her ear against the other end of the phone. Sakura tried to push her away but Ino wouldn't budge.

"So what's up?" Sakura asked, trying to sound casual.

"Yeah… Um… The hotel manager's niece has come to stay."

"Okay…" replied Sakura. She had no idea where he was going with this.

"Um… the thing is… I have to show her around and stuff, so I won't be able to take you out."

Needless to say Sakura was disappointed. "It's okay," she said. "I understand. One of my friends wanted to spend the day with me, so this works out just fine."

"You're not angry?"

"Of course not," she assured him. "I just hope we can see each other another time."

"Yeah!" he coughed. "I mean, yes, I would like that. I thought maybe you and your friends would want to hang out in room twelve-twelve tonight."

"Twelve-twelve?" asked Sakura. "What's so special about room twelve-twelve?"

"It's haunted."

"Haunted? As in ghosts?"

Gaara sighed. "It's a long story."

"Well, I want to hear it. What time do you want to meet?"

"Eight? We can meet in front of the room. I'll have to bring Matsuri, Baki's niece."

He was bringing the girl he was ditching her for? Seriously? "I can't wait to meet her." Total lie. "And…to see you."

"I… to see you too."

Sakura giggled. "Well, good. I'll go tell my friends… that we're meeting tonight. All of us. Together. As a group."

"Um… okay then. Bye."

"Bye." And with that said Sakura hung up the phone.

"Ahhhhhhh, so cute!" Ino squealed. She tackled Sakura onto the bed. "He's so cute, Sakura! Did you hear how nervous he was on the phone?"

"He wasn't nervous." Sakura bit her bottom lip. "He's just not very articulate."

"Somebody's in love." Ino sing-songed.

"Shut up!" Sakura slapped her arm. "We're just friends."

Ino smirked. "You are not just friends."

Sakura giggled. "I know."

"So what about Sasuke? You're actually going to spend the day with him?" asked Ino. "I mean, I'm all for having fun, but you should be careful with him. Sasuke is the jealous type and I don't think he would take kindly to being man-juggled."

Man juggled. Where on earth did Ino come up with these terms? Well, Sakura wasn't planning on man-juggling anyone. She and Sasuke were going to spend a platonic afternoon together. They were going to do a little sight seeing and keep everything rated G. There was no question about it, Sasuke and Sakura were just friends.

"I have a hangover so I was hoping we could just stay in my room and watch pay-per-view," said Sasuke. He was leaning in the doorway and he had an oh-so-innocent expression on his face.

He wanted to do what? "Um…" started Sakura.

"We can just lie in bed and watch whatever movie you want to watch." He tone was slightly hopeful and Sakura found herself caving.

Sasuke was one of her best friends. His intentions shouldn't matter. She should trust him not to do anything she wasn't comfortable with. He had never hurt her before, and he wasn't going to start now. "Okay." Sakura smiled. "I should warn you though, I'm in the mood for a chick flick."

Okay, so maybe lying in the dark, on a bed, with Sasuke's arm around her, watching two high school sweethearts making love for the first time was not what Sakura had in mind when she agreed to spend the day with Sasuke. Sakura sat as ridged as a statue, red faced, and trying to ignore Sasuke's hand caressing her bare upper arm. The scariest thing about their arrangement was that it kind of felt… nice.

Sakura hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and as the movie wore on she found her posture relaxing and her eyelids drooping. She figured there was no harm in resting her head on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke shifted to accommodate her and covered her with the blanket folded at the end of the bed.

"You smell nice." Sasuke whispered into her ear. His breath tickled and she sighed. Her mind was slowing down.

"It's my shampoo." She was only semi conscious of the fact that his arm was no longer around her shoulder but around her waist. His hand slowly lifted her shirt up until it could slide underneath the fabric and stroke the soft skin of her stomach. "Sasuke?" she asked, her head still fuzzy.

"Shhhh." Sasuke rolled over and pinned Sakura to the bed under him. "We both know how badly you want this."

Well, that was a sobering statement. Sakura needed someone to remind her how badly she didn't want this. She forcefully pushed Sasuke off of her. "No, Sasuke."

Sasuke grabbed her wrist. "Why are you running from me? You know how you feel about me."

"Is this a joke?" Sakura shook him off of her. "You're three years too late. That train left a long time ago. I see you as a friend and nothing more."

"Then what's the problem? This is something we can do as friends too." Sasuke smirked. "I'll be your tutor. I'll give you a lesson in pleasure."

Sakura heaved a disgusted sigh and tore the blanket off of herself. "You repulse me, Sasuke. I told you that I want to keep our relationship nonsexual. I'm not going to change my mind. I explained to you why this can't happen and it pisses me off that you're ignoring me. You're not being a good friend." She got off of he bed and adjusted her clothing. "I don't know what would make you think I would want to take it to the next level with you when you're already screwing up our friendship."

Sasuke laughed bitterly. "I don't know who you're saving yourself for. Naruto? Kiba? Shikamaru? Shino? Choji? None of them want you. I'm all you've got."

"No," she shook her head, "that's where you're wrong. There are plenty of guys in the world and I know there is at least one of them out there that likes me, and as it stands I like him a lot more than I like you.

She couldn't believe that Sasuke was doing this to her. He was supposed to be her friend. Friends don't say these things to each other. This was exactly why she didn't want to date him in the first place. They were destroying something in five minutes what they spent a decade building. He was acting like everything they had said and done together was meaningless. Did he really think that little of her and their friendship? It wasn't possible that he loved her so much that he thought it was worth risking, No, he just had the momentary hotts for her and didn't care what he had to say or do to get her into bed with him.

"Whatever you say, Sakura," said Sasuke. "Just don't come crawling back to me when you're all alone."

Sakura turned her back to him and put her sandals back on. "You're sick. You have a sickness."

She walked right out of the door and didn't look back.

Sakura was nervous. She contemplated wearing the flirtiest outfit that she had brought but she didn't want to make it look like she was trying too hard. Besides, there wasn't anything much flirtier then pink underwear and he seemed immune to that. In the end she just went with denim shorts and a mint green tee shirt. She didn't know what the night would have in store for her so she figured comfortable clothing would be best.

The rest of her friends were already camped outside room twelve-twelve when Sakura and Ino reached the twelfth floor. "Where's Sasuke?" asked Ino.

Naruto shrugged. "That bastard said something about not feeling well. I think he'll realize how bored he is without us and come up later."

Sakura knew fully well that she was the reason behind Sasuke's absence. Whatever. If he wanted to be lame and ditch the entire group over some drama then that was his choice. This was Sakura's vacation and she was going to have as much fun as she pleased.

"Here they are!" exclaimed Naruto.

Sakura turned and spotted Kankuro and a girl with spiky blond hair pushing metal carts down the hallway and coming towards them. When they got closer she could see that the carts were filled with deserts and junk food. Everything from Key Lime Pie to French Fries. She could picture the boys behind her salivating at the sight of such treats. The only thing that was missing was a certain redhead but she was too shy to ask where he was.

"Don't look so disappointed," said Kankuro, reading her mind. He poked her in forehead. "Romeo took Matsuri back to her room so she could change. They've been out on the pool deck all day."

How old was this Matsuri that she needed Gaara to baby-sit her all day at the pool? Sakura smiled good-naturedly. "I hope he's not sun burnt. Redheads burn so easily."

The blond girl laughed. "So you're this Sakura I've been hearing so much about. I'm Kankuro's and Gaara's sister, Temari."

Oh god. They'd been talking about her? What had they been saying? Gaara's brother had probably told their sister that he had found her half naked in his room. They probably all thought she was a giant ho. Sakura was mortified. "Nice to meet you," she said.

Kankuro let them all into the room and Sakura was surprised to see that it looked just like any other hotel room she had ever stayed in. No blood stains, no crime scene tape, no rotting corpses. Sakura didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about it. "I thought that this room was supposed to be haunted."

Kankuro and Temari shared a clandestine smile. "Just you wait. It's haunted alright," said Kankuro. "I hope no one here is afraid of ghosts."

The men in Sakura's group all scoffed. "Konoha men aren't afraid of anything," boasted Kiba. "Especially not of ghosts."

They started to rearrange the furniture in the room so there would be more space to sit when Shikamaru came up with the idea of building a tent. The pulled the blankets off the bed and attached them to the ceiling fan, walls, and dressers so that the ten of them fit cozily into the enclosed area. Just as they were getting ready to sit down the door opened and a tall redhead walked in with a short brown haired girl hanging on his arm.

She was girl-next-door pretty. Her hair was a nice normal shade of brown. Her skin was clear her eyelashes were long her nose was straight, and she had one of those adorable smiles. Sakura swallowed. This girl was holding onto Gaara and she didn't look like she was going to let go anytime soon. The only question was… did he want her to let go? Sakura mustered up as much enthusiasm as she had stored in herself. "We made a tent!" she announced.

Gaara squinted. "Why?"

"Oh…" Sakura forced a smile to cover up for the fact that if she opened her mouth to speak she was only going to further embarrass herself.

"Alright," Temari clapped her hands, "this is Gaara, my brother, and Matsuri, our hotel manager's niece."

Sakura held out her hand to Matsuri. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sakura."

Matsuri took Sakura's hand and gave it a small shake. "Nice to meet you too." She nudged Gaara's forearm with her head. "This is Gaara… my boyfriend."

Boyfriend?

Sakura felt as if she had tumbled into that pool again. Gaara was already somebody's boyfriend. Why didn't anyone tell her? Why did they allow her to make an idiot out of herself? Why didn't he tell her? He had been leading her on the entire time. He had been playing her! "Nice to meet you, Gaara," Sakura said as levelly as she could.

Gaara forcibly removed his arm from Matsuri's grip and gave her an annoyed glare. "I'm not your boyfriend," he told her. He turned to Sakura. "And what do you mean 'nice to meet you'? I invited you here. We already know each other."

Relief washed over her. Gaara didn't have a girlfriend after all. He wasn't a bastard. She smiled at him warmly. "I'm just happy you're here."

He blushed lightly. "Oh." He cleared his throat. "I'm happy I'm here too." He held her gaze for a few moments until Matsuri tugged on his arm to get his attention.

"Gaara…" she whined, "you have to sit next to me and protect me from ghosts."

"Kankuro will do it," said Gaara, shaking her off once more.

Sakura sat between Ino and Gaara and Matsuri sat to Gaara's right. Sakura was left with the strangest urge to kiss Gaara in front of everyone, especially in front of Matsuri.

She didn't of course. There was no way Sakura would engage in public display of affection. She didn't even know if Gaara wanted affection from her. For now she would just settle for leaning in his direction and catching his eye every once in a while to give him a shy smile.

Kankuro turned off all of the lamps in the room and the rest of the group turned on their flashlights. "Let's start off with some scary stories," he said.

"I've got one," said a soft voice. Everyone turned to stare at Hinata. It wasn't like her to volunteer especially not for something that would mean all eyes and attention on her. Naruto kissed her cheek.

"Go for it, Baby," he handed her a flashlight.

"Okay." She held the flashlight up to her face and her light eyes glowed eerily. "This happened to my cousin's friend's aunt twenty years ago."

"Sure," Kiba snickered.

Naruto socked him in the arm. "Shut up, man. My girlfriend is trying to tell a story."

"Anyways," continued Hinata, "There were two roommates living in a dorm building together. Let's call them… Ino and Sakura." Her eyes flashed and the two girls gulped.

Sakura wasn't sure how she felt about being the subject of a scary story but she didn't want to look like a coward in front of Gaara and the rest of her friends. She especially didn't want to look like a coward in front of Matsuri.

"Ino and Sakura had a History midterm coming up," said Hinata. "But Ino had just started dating a dreamy art major so she had been neglecting her studies and going out on dates instead. The night before the big exam Ino was invited to a party. The party was being held on the roof of another dorm building and was supposed to be the party of the century. Naturally, Ino tried to convince her best friend to take a break from her studying and come out and play with everyone. Sakura was tempted but ultimately she knew that her schoolwork came first and she needed to spend her night wisely."

"You know," giggled Ino. "I think this might have actually happened before."

Hinata ignored the interruption. "Ino and her new boyfriend had a blast at the party. She met new people and drank fancy cocktails and danced with the rest of her friends. She felt bad when she thought of Sakura up along in their room studying but she knew that Sakura had chosen to spend her night that way." Hinata paused for a moment. The room was silent and all ears were waiting for her to continue. "Ino left the party around three A.M and her boyfriend walked her back to her dorm. He gave her a kiss goodbye and then left to go to his own building. Ino opened the door and heard her roommate stir. She knew how hard Sakura had been working so she didn't turn the light on in fear of waking her. The room was pitch black so Ino crawled right into bed and promptly fell asleep. When Ino woke up in the morning she saw that Sakura was still fast asleep lying on her stomach. Ino sighed and leaned down to try and wake her friend. At first Ino was amused that her friend was resisting but soon her amusement turned to concern. Ino rolled Sakura over and screamed. Sakura had duck tape over her mouth and was covered in blood. She turned around to look at where her friend had been studying and saw that her books were soaked in blood and above them written on the wall was, 'Aren't you glad you didn't turn the light on?'" Hinata closed her eyes and her face held a somber expression. "While Ino was falling asleep Sakura was being raped and murdered."

The real Sakura shuddered. She had just been brutalized in Hinata's story. What did she ever do to Hinata? Sakura didn't know if she should take it personally or not. "Well, thanks for that," she said. "Now I'm going to do all of my studying in the library."

Temari sighed. "The moral of the story is to never spend the night studying when there is partying to be done."

"I thought it was a great story." Matsuri send Sakura a smug look and Sakura saw that her hand was clasped with Gaara's.

Sakura clenched her own fists. "I've got a story," she said. "It's about a boyfriend and girlfriend named Hinata and Naruto." She held her hand out. "Flashlight please."

"Here." Shino handed her his light.

"Thanks." Sakura took a deep breath. "Hinata and Naruto were stopped in the woods off the side of the road. Hinata's father was strict and didn't want Naruto dating his daughter so when they wanted to be together they had to do it in secret. Naruto stopped their make-out session short so he could take a pee break. He locked the doors so his girlfriend would be safe from animals. Time passed and she grew restless so she passed her time playing solitaire on her blackberry. She finally looked up when the phone was out of battery and screamed. In front of her window there was a hairy man with a crazed grin on his face. He lifted his hand up and showed that he was holding Naruto's decapitated head by his blond hair. Hinata screamed again. The man lifted his other hand and showed that he was holding…" Sakura trailed off.

"What was he holding?!" demanded Naruto.

"They keys to the car," answered Sakura evilly.

"Hell no!" Naruto shouted. "Hell no!" I would never let some maniac chop my head off."

"Cool it, man," said Shikamaru. "Don't be so troublesome. It's just a story."

"No," whispered Sakura. "It's a premonition." She turned the flashlight off and held it out to her friends. "Whose next?"

"I know one." Temari took the flashlight from Sakura. "This happened to a girl in our neighborhood growing up."

"Oh!" said Kankuro. "You're going to tell them about that girl?"

Temari nodded solemnly. "There was this woman on our street who had fifteen children. The rest of the family often ignored the youngest daughter. She wore her hair in tiny little braids pulled back into a ponytail. She hadn't taken the braids out or washed them in months. For a week she complained to her family that her head was hurting her, but everyone was too busy with their own lives to listen to her. Finally, she complained to her teacher at school that her head was bothering her. The teacher figured that her braids were too tight must be what was causing her pain so she cut off the band around the ponytail so she could untie the girl's hair. When the ponytail fell a giant spider crawled out. The spider had laid eggs in the little girls hair and a thousand tiny spiders were eating her scalp. They called for an ambulance and they sent the little girl to the emergency room immediately but it was too late. The little girl died."

Sakura unconsciously touched her hair. She shampooed her hair everyday. There was no way a spider could have infested her silky pink locks. She wanted to vomit at the thought of it. She looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw that Matsuri had begun to run her hands through Gaara's hair. He looked completely unperturbed. Sakura on the other hand was beginning to feel angry.

"That was the single most terrifying story I've ever heard," said Ino in a hushed tone. "Scariest story ever. I think that-" Ino's eyes widened. "Did anyone just hear that?"

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. The room was silent. No one spoke for a minute. Sakura hugged her knees to her chest. She wished that she were the one being comforted by Gaara. She refused to look in his direction. Gaara wasn't supposed to be a ladies' man. There wasn't supposed to be any competition. He wasn't supposed to be letting this other girl do whatever she wanted to him. This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

The lamps in the room flickered on and then off. Sakura heard somebody scream. And then… a toilet flushed. "What the?" she scanned the circle and saw that every one of her friends were present. They all sat tensely listening to the sounds of the plumbing.

"Did a ghost just flush the toilet?" asked Naruto finally. "The lights flashed and a ghost flushed the toilet? Is that what just happened?"

"The week this place first opened we let some of the locals stay in the rooms for a low price just so we could work out the kinks and make sure everything ran smoothly," explained Temari. "One of the guests we had was an old man who was dressed like a miner from the nineteenth century .We figured he worked at one of the tourist venues nearby so we didn't give much thought into his odd dress or style of speech. We put him up in room twelve-twelve. This room."

"The thing is," said Kankuro. "The man never checked out."

"But no one has seen him since," added Temari. "Once a month someone will leave a gold coin at the front desk in the box for room twelve-twelve."

Kankuro put his arm around a shivering Ino sitting next to him. "We tried putting guests in this room but they all complain about problems with the lights and appliances turning on and off by themselves. Apparently the shower, sink and toilette act mysteriously too."

"So that means," said Choji, "we're in the presence of a… ghost."

"I'm scared!" cried Matsuri. Sakura turned and saw that the girl was curled up on Gaara's lap with her arms around his neck.

Oh really?

"I've had enough." Sakura stood up and brushed imaginary dirt off of her lap. "Goodnight guys." She felt someone grab her wrist.

"You're leaving?" asked Gaara. Sakura couldn't believe he had the nerve to look confused.

The last time they were together he tried to kiss her. Now he was canoodling with another girl and expected her to just sit and watch. She gave him a look of incredulity. "Yeah," she said, "I'm leaving."

"You're afraid?"

"No…" she said testily. "I just don't want to be here anymore."

Gaara pushed Matsuri off of him and also rose to his feet. "I'll come with you."

Now he was interested in her? "No," she said, "sit back down. I don't want you to come with me."

His brow furrowed. "Why not?"

Sakura's face began to turn red. She couldn't believe that they were having this conversation in front of the entire circle. They were all staring at her. That stupid Matsuri was smirking. Sakura yanked her wrist back from him. "Do whatever you want. I don't care." She crawled outside the folds of the tent and stalked out of the room.

What a letdown he turned out to be. And to think she had wanted him to kiss her. Who was she kidding? Of course she was going to lose to a pretty brunette who knew how to act girly and afraid. If he was going to choose that girl over her then she didn't want anything to do with him. Why the hell did he invite her and her friends to the room if he just wanted to get touchy feely with Matsuri all night? Why did he need an audience to do it?"

"Sakura, wait!" Gaara called after her, following her out the door and into the hallway. "Wait a second…"

Sakura spun around. "You said you weren't playing games with me, but you're a liar," she accused.

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not a liar. I'm not playing games with you."

Sakura couldn't handle this. "I don't care anymore. You can do whatever you want. Just don't act like you like me if all you really want is Matsuri."

"Matsuri? What does she have to do with any of this? I told you she's not my girlfriend."

"She's all over you!" He couldn't possibly be as dimwitted as to think that didn't matter.

"She did that herself. It's not like I wanted her to. It doesn't mean anything to me so it shouldn't matter."

Sakura rolled her eyes. He was a moron. "It means something to her." She heaved a frustrated sigh. "Let me ask you this. How would you feel if it had been me on your lap and touching you?"

"It would be… you know…" He stared at the ground. "Um… nice."

"Nice?" Clueless as always. She bit her lip. She really shouldn't be finding any of this cute. She should continue being angry with him. "How is she supposed to know the difference? Besides, how am I supposed to act this way with you if she's already doing it? There isn't room for both of us on your lap and I don't like sharing."

"I don't want you to share," he said quickly. "I told you, I don't like her. She's just Baki's niece."

Sakura shook her head. "Well, you're too late. You lost me."

"That's not fair!" Gaara looked like he wanted to punch something. "How was I supposed to know that this kind of thing would upset you?"

That's right. This boy didn't know the first thing about girls. Should she give him the benefit of the doubt? How was he supposed to know that it would upset her if he knew nothing about her? "Okay," she said grudgingly, "I'll give you another chance."

His face and posture relaxed. "Oh, okay. What now?"

Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know; it's your hotel."

"Well…" he looked thoughtful. "We can go for a walk outside?"

Sakura shrugged. "Sounds alright to me."

She had forgotten how low the temperature fell at night. Even in the sweatshirt Gaara had stolen for her from the gift shop she was still shivering. "Was that story true?" Sakura asked him.

"The one about the miner?" he replied.

Sakura nodded. "Is the room really haunted?"

"I don't think so. I think it has something to do with the room being on the end of the electrical circuit and plumbing lines. I don't remember a man dressed as a miner ever coming to the hotel and I have never seen the gold my sister was talking about." He reached out to her. "Wanna hold hands?"

Sakura could barely suppress her smile. "Yes." She laced his fingers with hers and gave his hand a squeeze. "I've never really been afraid of the supernatural. I'm pretty fearless compared to a lot of the girls I know."

"Well, what then are you afraid of?" asked Gaara.

What was she afraid of? "Babies."

"Babies?"

"I was left in charge of my three month old cousin once. It was the single most terrifying night of my life. He wouldn't stop crying and I didn't know how to make him drink his bottle. I was scared to death that I was going to drop him. I was crying by the time my family came home."

"They are pretty creepy…"

Sakura laughed. "What are you afraid of?"

"Caterpillars."

"Caterpillars?" Sakura laughed again.

"Yes," Gaara nodded. "I think they're evil. Especially the hairy ones."

"What about butterflies? Are you afraid of those too?"

"They're evil but I'm not afraid of them."

Sakura saw a bench in the distance. She led him over to it so they could both sit down. "What was military school like?" she asked him.

Gaara shrugged. "It was like military school."

"Why were you there?" Sakura had always been under the impression that military school was for 'problem child's. It wasn't hard for her to think of Gaara as a deviant. He had that bad boy vibe.

"My father and I didn't exactly see eye-to-eye," admitted Gaara. "It was better for the both of us this way."

"But he's going to give you this big hotel to run?"

"Again, it's better for the both of us this way."

He was lucky that he knew already what he was going to do with the next ten years of his life. Sakura still had no idea what she wanted to study when college started. She had always been so sure that she wanted to be a doctor. It was hard to imagine following any other career path. But she couldn't help but wonder if medicine was the right choice. She leaned back and looked up at the sky. "You don't want to go to college and study astronomy?"

"I've got books on it. I don't really need a classroom and a professor."

Sakura smiled to herself. "You're amazing. You amaze me."

He covered his face with his hands and groaned. "You're insane. You amaze me too."

"Thanks," she giggled. She pried his hands off of his face. "So now that you have me all alone out here what were you planning on doing?"

Gaara's face grew serious and he leaned in. "Are plans and desires the same thing?"

Sakura felt a soft fluttering in her chest. "They can be." She leaned in so their noses were almost touching. Even in the dark lighting she could see how quiet and alive his cyan blue eyes were.

"Oh." he whispered. He leaned in further and his lips gently brushed hers. It could barely even be considered a kiss but it was electric.

"Your lips are warm," murmured Sakura. She smiled stupidly. "Kiss me again."

"Okay." He smiled slightly and tucked the strand of hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear. Then he kissed her again. Innocent kisses. It was just his lips on top of hers tugging softly and pulling her into his arms. Sakura had never felt more at ease with another person's body against hers. She kissed back effortlessly, enjoying the tingling sensation that was spreading from her lips to her toes.

"They're probably freaking out again," Sakura said when Gaara finally released her. "We didn't tell them where we were going."

Gaara put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "I don't give a shit," he deadpanned. "There is no reason for us to go inside."

Sakura shivered, the full effects of the cold finally hitting her. "Maybe we can just relocate? It's forty degrees outside…"

He seemed to consider this. "Yeah, okay. We can go back up to my room."

"Um." Sakura buried her face in his chest. "I was thinking we could just stay in the lobby." Her voice was muffled but she knew her message would be clear. She wasn't ready to get into bed with him. She had a feeling he would understand.

"Whatever you want," he stroked and smoothed the hair on the back of her head.

A sick part of Sakura was feeling a sense of victory. Take that Matsuri! she thought. Gaara was all hers.

Until the week ended at least. After that Sakura didn't know whom he belonged with.

SORRY that it has been so long since I updated this story. I know that there are quite a few fans. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you!

THANKS for all of the reviews that the last chapter got. Oh god how I love you all. LOVE LOVE LOVE you.

So leave another review and tell me how you never lost faith in me.

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PS I hope my scary ghost stories don't cause you all nightmares.