'C'mon! C'mon!' Sakura mentally groaned as she tossed to and fro about her bed, why couldn't she sleep at all? She knew that it was going to be a long day ahead for her, what with the Kazekage's debriefing and all, and yet she just couldn't sleep. 'Why can't I just fall asleep?!'

Right, like screaming mentally at herself was going to get her to fall asleep faster.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, the rosette growled and threw her covers off before sitting up to inspect the dark guest quarters that Gaara had kindly accommodated them with. To be honest, it wasn't too shabby, what with a rug, mirror, bathroom and bed... well, they were diplomats after all.

Diplomat Sakura Haruno... that sounded kind of funny. Shaking her head for thinking such random thoughts, the young kunoichi sighed and swung her legs over the side of the bed before getting up. After all, it was obvious that she wasn't going to get anymore sleep that night.

Briefly, the rosette wondered where her silent guardian was. She recalled having told him that he wasn't allowed into a lady's room, but that had not stopped the man from standing in front of the door until she shut it. She sighed, wondering for a moment how hard it would be to grow up completely mute. It had to have been difficult.

Creaking the door open, she was slightly surprised to find that the silent nin was not still standing guard by her door. Pfft... some bodyguard he made. Oh well, as long as he wasn't around, she could find some time to herself and her own thoughts. Taking the stairs to the roof, the young kunoichi took the opportunity to take a seat on the railing, letting her legs hang loosely off the edge of the building. To be honest, she missed times like these, times in which she could simply spend by herself in silence.

Times like that didn't really happen anymore in Konohana, as Tsunade was still quite the slave-driver. Although they weren't really on speaking terms anymore, that didn't really stop the Hokage from giving her orders through Shizune.

Stupid powerful people in powerfuly high places...

Swish!

The rosette's head immediately perked up, only to find a red-haired man standing behind her. "K-kazekage-sama!" she stammered out, hurriedly rising to her feet.

"..." was all the insomniac had to say.

"Uhhh... couldn't sleep sir...?"

He raised a non-existent eyebrow before pointing towards the dark circles that surrounded his eyes. Sakura simply sweat-dropped and scratched the back of her head, realizing how dumb the question had been. Unable to think of what else to say, the rosette lapsed into silence before turning her attention back to the stars.

"... Why didn't you stop them?" came a question from behind the girl, causing her to jump in surprise. She had never in all her time on the planet expect the Kazekage to begin a conversation with her... In fact, she always had the feeling that the man looked down on her because of how... weak she was.

"P-pardon...?" Sakura blinked, stop who, exactly?

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Gaara deadpanned, eyes narrowing in slight annoyance. However, for some odd reason, he humored her question, "why didn't you stop them from killing him?"

Her mind finally flipping to the right page, Sakura's eyes suddenly widened slightly in fear of the young Kazekage, "G-Gaara-sama..."

Flashback, 5 years ago

"Sharingan?" Gaara narrowed his eyes in disgust, "Who's life did you harvest simply so that you could attain it?"

"Harvest?!" Danzo scowled, his slightly deformed eye swiveling to watch the red-haired boy, "I'm not the heartless worm that you put me out to be, it was Uchiha Itachi who murdered the former wielder of this eye, I simply didn't let it go to waste."

"And who was it that gave Itachi the order...?" Gaara growled, a torrent of sand beginning to flow about him.

"..."

"I thought so," Gaara spat, "the likes of you simply disgust me."

Without warning, a sudden wave of sand, dirt, and dissolved wood chips rose from the floor, throwing up wood panels in disarray, flying in every-which-way. The wave itself seemed to grow, dirt and debris collecting up it in far moreso than what seemed possible in Gaara's gourd.

'The Sharingan tells me that the Kazekage is pouring a limited amount of chakra into the ground beneath him, mixing his chakra-infused sand with the dirt beneath the building,' Danzo quickly deduced, cursing himself for not realizing it sooner, 'that way, the boy can easily have access to tons more sand and dirt than he originally had on him... this is going to be tougher than I thought.'

Danzo only grunted as a seemingly unending amount of sand began to form a sand tsunami, with that, he was immediately buried.

End Flashback

"Let's get one thing straight," Gaara's cold voice rang out across the rooftop, "when this is all over, I don't ever want to see you again."

She blinked, eyes going wide in obvious shock. H-had she done something wrong? "G-Gaara-sama--...?"

"Why did you it?" Gaara cut her off, causing her to fall into shocked silence. Do what? "... why did you ask him to get the traitor back?"

Him? The traitor? Wha--? Suddenly it all clicked. Sakura's eyes widened once again as she realized what the Kazekage was talking about. "I-I--..."

"Because of you, he's gone." Gaara continued, officially rubbing salt in her wounds. It took her a moment, but she bit her lip hard in order to stop the tears that threatened to come out of her eyes. Damnit, didn't Gaara know that she was sorry? Did he have to--...

"Why are you crying?" Gaara narrowed his eyes, sand suddenly beginning to buzz about him in the air like a mild flock of insects. Sakura froze, he wasn't going to kill her, was he? "You should be happy, he fulfilled his promise."

No, no, no, this couldn't be happening! Sakura grabbed her hair, tears now beginning to roll down her cheeks. Didn't Gaara get it?! "I-I'm s-sorry!" she choked out.

There was a moment of silence as Sakura silently sobbed. "... that's not good enough."

Just like that, a wave of sand flew in her direction.

–

"AH!" Sakura screamed, jerking out of bed and sweating like a maniac. I-it was... just a dream?

Immediately, the door was thrown open as her appointed bodyguard flew through the door, his kunai already drawn. It took him a moment, but once he realized that there was no immediate danger, he put away the tiny weapon.

"G-gomen..." Sakura breathed out shakily, trying to recompose herself as she held her sheets to herself, "B-bad dream."

The silent nin simply nodded, turning his attention towards the window so that she would not be shamed in having him see her during a weak moment. Sakura was grateful for that... at least, that's what she believed his intentions were.

"Ummm... could you leave the room for a moment?" she asked after a couple moments of silence, "I need to get changed."

A 'quizzical' look, it was 3:30 in the morning.

"I know, I know..." Sakura said, exhaling loudly, "I just need to go see G-- I mean uhm... Kazekage-sama for something."

'Quizzical'

"Just don't ask alright?!" Sakura growled suddenly, "Now get out!"

That sent him packing.

Flashback, 5 years ago

Sakura sighed, placing her hand on her hips. She knew she should be sleeping, it was; after all, 3:30 in the morning, but she couldn't. Especially not with Naruto not around. Especially since he had supposedly located Sasuke after all these years. She didn't understand, why the hell had he gone after him again?

Ugh! There was absolutely no way she was going to get any sleep tonight. Sighing deeply, the girl decided to go outside and take a thought-cleansing walk.

No good, every time she thought about anything, all she could think about was that blond-haired idiot. Where was he now? Where would he have found Sasuke? How would he have found Sasuke? She just couldn't piece it together. It didn't make ANY sense.

"I hate this." she murmured out loud, only finally thinking of looking up and finding out where the heck she was. Oh... she just so happened to be in front of Naruto's place, "great..."

It wasn't really anything all that new. After all, Sakura had been here before. Of course... that was years ago, when they were still talking... that was. Pushing aside those thoughts, Sakura searched about the doormat for his spare key. She found it right where he had always kept it.

Sakura smirked, somethings never changed about a certain blond-haired idiot.

The rosette didn't know why exactly she let herself in... only that she had suddenly felt the need to be near something that reminded her of him.

'Look at me,' she mentally berated, 'I'm thinking like he's going to die. I can't think like that! Besides, this is Naruto we're talking about! He can't die!'

Once inside the apartment, the girl took a moment to take her surroundings in. Right, okay, so a little messy... but she honestly had been expecting worse. After all, Naruto had proven to be that pretty disgusting during his younger days. She should know, she camped with him!

Despite common belief, the house of Uzumaki Naruto's was not as bad as the disastrous whirlwind that she had been expecting. There were some messes, but they seemed to be more-or-less contained. For a guy, this was actually quite tidy.

She frowned, that gave her less to do.

Focusing on keeping herself preoccupied, the rosette immediately set off to work. Sakura picked up loose articles of clothing, swept up the floor, and even cleaned out the boy's refrigerator for expired food.

It took her about two hours, but when she was just about finishing up, she had accidentally bumped into a closet, which ad sent a small black book tumbling to the floor. Berating herself mentally for her clumsiness, she bent over to pick it up, only to have it fall open in her hands.

"October 10, '47 (4 years after the formation of Team 7)

Sakura-chan forgot my birthday again this year. Well, I guess I can't blame her, I mean, she is kind of busy... I guess. Well, we're busy searching for Sasuke-teme, that's more important, right? Well no, I won't lie, I'm kinda disappointed. I mean, I have been gone for three years and all...

Hey, look at me, I'm sounding selfish. What matters is that Sakura-chan is happy. I would do anything to see her smile a real smile again, not those fake ones that she always wears these days.

I just want her to be happy."

Sakura's eyes widened as she realized what she had come across. She couldn't read this! This was Naruto's personal thoughts! B-but... she couldn't seem to find the willpower to close the book, espcially not after the last entry had been about her!

'J-just... one more,' she rationalized, 'then I'll put it away!'

"Decemeber 25, '52

Merry Christmas Naruto! Wow, I can't believe its already Christmas. I guess I've just been so busy training that I haven't paid attention to everything that's been going on. It's just, I want Sasuke to come you y'know? I can feel that it's close now and I really want Sakura-chan to be happy again.

Yea, once Teme is back, everything can go back to the way it was and I can just be that annoying guy again! Yea... yea.....

You know what, sometimes Iruka-sensei asks me why I do what I'm doing. I love Sakura-chan so why am I going off to bring back the other man that she loves? It doesn't make sense right? I mean, I bet you everyone looks at me as if I'm crazy.

They're probably right.

But that doesn't matter to me. You know, I just love her so much that I'm willing to give up what I want so that she'll be happy."

Sakura blinked, read it, and re-read it again. All for her? Why? Didn't he hate seeing her around? Couldn't he not stand her because of that lame, faked confession she had given him four years ago?

All because he loved her...?

Sighing deeply, the rosette flipped over to the next empty page and picked up a pen.

"January 1, '53

Happy News Years, Naruto. When you read this, come find me, please?

I miss you."