Hiya.

Sorry for the late-ish update.

Anyway.

It's Sunday night and all I can think about doing is writing GaaSaku. So, I've been diligently looking at another story for the better part of the day... then I remembered, "hey, I should finish chapter 3 of Water in the Desert instead". So, here it is.

Enjoy. ^_^

…
Chapter Three: Silence is Golden.
...

"The desert is a natural extension of the inner silence of the body." – Jean Baudrillard

.

'Why is he still asleep?'

Sakura was in no way in a hurry for her former captor to wake up, but this was ridiculous. His chakra was regenerating, and his vitals were stable; there was a strain on his body that was taking forever to dissipate, and she could only wonder why someone with such a powerful attack could be exhausted so easily. He just needed to sleep it off. But she'd felt his chakra (and his control, despite his anger) amidst the bone crushing and screaming of those other bounty hunters – he should be rejuvenated enough to have recovered by now.

Weird.

She sighed. The storm wouldn't let up, it seemed, and the more the hours pressed on, the more annoyed Sakura became at her situation. At Gaara.

All the disparaging, reproving, and colourful things she wanted to say to him ran through her head and she silently fumed, angry that she couldn't just let him have it. The only thing that stopped her from using her chakra to force him awake was that there was no way of knowing what that would do to his recovery; her inner medic was a pain sometimes.

She needed a plan. She needed a speech – something to pummel him into guilt and submissiveness.

Sakura worked on her rant in an attempt to calm herself, but it just got her more worked up. She needed to rest up too. She took a quick trek to the entrance of the cave to judge the ferocity of the storm before returning to a relatively comfortable position near the oasis pool – not too close or too far from her patient.

Sakura only let herself rest; she had to wake up before Gaara did, at least, so she couldn't afford to slumber too deep. That said, she slept fitfully, waking and then drifting off again quickly and uncomfortably.

When she woke again, it was to the sound of Gaara's light snores.

'Looks like he's recovered enough to sleep properly.'

Even with a potential enemy nearby.

It was a common misconception from civilians that all ninja could instantly wake from R.E.M. sleep and spring into action, fully alert, in case of an enemy attack. The problem was that R.E.M. sleep was too deep; it affected everyone the same, ninja or civilian. It was impossible to quickly recover from; even for the most powerful and skilled – no Kage could do it, for example. What they could do however, was enter the first stage of sleep and stay there until they need to wake up – light sleeping was best for resting in enemy territory and when one only had a few hours to spare. It wasn't hard – it just required practice – and you didn't need to be a ninja to perfect it.

Gaara was just... exhausted.

The few times she deigned to check his temperature, he'd stirred and mumbled for a few seconds, leaning into her touch. The same thing happened when she held a damp rag (from his own bag) against his forehead when she was still worried he might be getting a fever after all.

It freaked her out.

What kind of dreams was he having?

But then he would mumble again, and this time she'd catch a few words like "no, don't" and "father, please" and she would breathe a sigh of relief. He was having nightmares, not... other kinds of ones. It tugged at her; he was pitiable. As an isolationist, he was starved of human contact.

An isolationist with a bitter streak.

The words of their would-be killers rang in her ears.

'That's it,' she told herself, confidently. He was just human and lonely. That had to be it. It was just a coincidence.

Sakura sighed and turned back to stare unseeing at the stairs that led outside. Obviously, she couldn't hear the roaring of the wind and sand from here, but she imagined she could. On her most recent trip to the entrance, she'd set up a small Sensory Barrier – all she could manage with her skill level – which would react to the sound outside. It was currently humming gently, despite the natural formations in the cave that seemed to muffle sound, alerting her to the fact that the storm was still raging outside. When it did finally go quiet, that would be her cue to leave.

Sakura sighed, again, and glanced back at her companion. She couldn't exactly call him her captor anymore, given that he wasn't currently conscious enough to contest that fact, and she had more control over her chakra right now than he did.

And if the storm let up before he woke, she was fully prepared to leave him behind. That feeling of dread she'd experienced when she attempted to leave the cave before fell like a heavy weight in the pit of her stomach. There was no reason for it – he'd kidnapped her, not the other way around. Logically, she should be outraged. And stay outraged.

And yet.

Sakura had been tracking him too. She thought he was someone else initially; her true quarry had disappeared before she could detect his chakra and upon first sensing Gaara's, the pinkette had assumed he was the same person (given the chakra of her quarry was unknown to her). Only when she was able to make a visual confirmation of whose chakra she'd been following did she realise her mistake. And before she could retreat and retrace her steps – hopefully to the last known position of her target – that damn meerkat had distracted her and Gaara had pounced.

'What was he even doing in such a heavily populated civilian area, anyway?'

It had been a case of mistaken identity on her part. Maybe for him, too? At first at least – she was well-known for her pink hair, not to mention her name should've given away who she was – she'd given her name freely thinking it would make him let her go (capturing the Hokage's protégé was above the paygrade of average bounty hunters, after all). Obviously, it didn't work. But what she was worth to someone with the gall to try: he'd then decided to sell her to another group of bounty hunters. But it got her thinking: if he was a hunter, too, why didn't he just go straight to trading her back to leaf ninja? Why trade her to other hunters who could then turn around and make a profit by selling her back to her own people at an even higher rate?

The only reason she could think of was that he avoided ninja. Which meant he had something to hide from the nations.

'Hiding...'

Sakura pursed her lips and studied him. The scarf – which she had respectfully left to keep his face covered – had slipped about an inch, but after his stirring, it was now firmly back in place. It made her wonder what else he was hiding.

She sat forward on her knees and contemplated just taking a quick peek. She couldn't see that annoying furball anywhere, so it couldn't tattle on her to Gaara. His uncanny ability to read her flashed across her mind, but what could he do if she refused to admit it, anyway?

Anxiety tugged at her, but she pushed it down. Sakura shuffled over to his prone body and took a deep breath to prepare herself. If he woke up now, she'd die of mortification.

Her fingers inched toward the scarf covering his lower face, itching to reveal what he was so dead set on keeping hidden.

'No.'

He murmured softly, and she held her breath. After a few minutes of no more sound, she calmed down.

Her finger tips brushed the material and she hesitated again.

Damn it. Damn her conscience.

It was his choice to cover his face and she had no right to undermine that. No matter how much she wanted to. Kami, she wanted to. Her curiosity was going to be her undoing. She had a thing for unmasking people. Just like she'd done with her old sensei. She knew from how defensive Kakashi was about his own mask, just how protective ninja could be about their disguises. How it became a part of them; an extension of themselves. On some level, she did understand.

Sakura remembered her genin days, when she and her teammates followed the silver haired ninja around, eager to uncover his secrets.

What if he has lips, like a blimp? Or maybe buck teeth? Or a tiny mouth?

They had been so naïve.

But here she was again, with another ninja hiding their face, and she really wanted to know what the big deal was. After she got out of here they would be going their separate ways, anyway. What harm could it do, really?

Sakura licked her lips, trying again to resist the urge to see if he was as attractive under the thick scarf as she assumed. His eyes were mesmerising and what little she could see of his face was unblemished – there was nothing to indicate he was unattractive. Nor attractive, really, but his eyes gave her hope that he was.

Her fingers twitched again, and she pulled them to her shirt, digging into the material to keep her from giving into temptation.

'Must resist.'

She had to get this urge under control. Her curiosity was not more important than his right to privacy!

There was no logical reason to uncover his face. She didn't need to see what he looked like to treat his wounds and keep him from getting pneumonia in this too-cold cavern. She certainly wouldn't be able to explain it away if he miraculously woke up while she was gazing at him. She scoffed. If he was attractive under all that.

'Must touch...'

Ugh.

Her inner made her feel like a schizophrenic.

She decided to go for it. And quickly.

Sakura didn't waste time taking a deep breath, she just reached out, her hand hovering momentarily over his face, and then...

Gaara's hand shot up out of nowhere and grabbed her wrist, stopping her. Jade eyes met emerald and her breath hitched. How long had he been awake? All her argumentative thoughts and well-planned out speech fled her mind and she couldn't think. What was she going to say?

Silently, they both stared at each other as she searched for something to say. Anything.

Gaara was still holding onto her wrist, the pressure on her skin enough to keep her from pulling away, but not enough to hurt her. Well, it was tight enough to restrain most ninja. She cleared her throat and pulled out of his grip; his surprise at her strength was momentarily reflected in his eyes.

"Uh, you're f-fine. Y-you can get up now."

Sakura moved away from him, sitting back down in her usual spot next to the oasis pool and wiped at her hands absently, trying to fight down her blush.

'Dumb.'

She was such a bumbling idiot.

He cocked his head at her and she saw the amusement in his eyes. She imagined he was smirking under that scarf. She scoffed.

'The jerk.'

Gaara stared at her for a few seconds before turning away finally, and Sakura caught a flash of something – a mark on his skin as he readjusted the scarf. Maybe he wore the material to cover a scar? It wasn't unheard of that shinobi, grievously wounded in battle, would cover their shame. But someone like Gaara had no-one to hide it from? The scarf covered his nose and both upper and lower jaw much in the same way her former sensei's, which made her more curious than ever to see if he too, was handsome underneath.

She shook her head. It was a waste of time wondering. Now she had a more pressing issue.

Gaara was staring at her again, silently, and Sakura felt her skin flush at the attention. It had been almost a week since he'd captured her and knowing he was the silent type, she wasn't expecting too much from him. He helped her when necessary, fed her, and gave her protection from the sandstorms, but he had still been looking to offload her for the right price. Nothing good he'd done could be excused when one factored in that last point. But he hadn't hurt her or taken advantage of her, like a lot of bounty hunters did to their female captives.

'Maybe he's gay. Or asexual.'

Sakura shivered.

He might not talk much, but he had expressive eyes down to an art. But the way he was looking at her right now – like she was both bothersome and an animal in a zoo – was annoying. It wasn't artistic at all. Maybe he was waiting for an explanation as to why he woke with her hovering over him; she'd learned enough of his tells to know he was a curious creature, despite a natural tendency to pull away from others. Aloof but inquisitive.

And it pissed her off.

She stood, suddenly, surprising even herself. Sakura felt a different kind of warmth spread through her body; her anger at being captured and treated like a piece of beef to be auctioned off came roaring back. Her memorised speech-like rant spewed from her mouth as he too, stood up, looking ready for a fight.

"Okay, that's it!"

And off she went. Her mother always told her she was good at ranting. She started with the basic schooling on the etiquette and personable customs that he was clearly lacking in, moved on to the proper way to treat a captive, and then lectured him on how stupid it was that he'd teleported them into the middle of nowhere after that fight.

"You were clearly too exhausted to give me directions to this little hidey hole of yours, so what the hell were you expecting me to do, camp out in the middle of nowhere with a storm bearing down on us and pray for Kami to save us? You're lucky I didn't kill you and then leave your corpse there for the vultures."

All the colourful things she'd reserved for Naruto's social blunders, Sasuke's lack of concern for her welfare, and Kakashi's ignorance of her skills, she poured into her deep resentment of her current predicament.

"I mean, I get that you're a hobo, vagabond, or whatever," (his non-existent eyebrows quirked at that), "but that does not excuse..."

Despite his defensive posture, he remained still and attentive as she continued to rant at him.

She lost track of time, but her spiel came to a close as she felt the energy draining from her.

"And the least you could do is thank me for saving your ungrateful arse!"

She was done. Slightly panting and just as furious as ever but done.

Sakura glared at Gaara expectantly but all he did was stare back at her. What was going through his head?

He nodded slightly but didn't otherwise deign to respond.

"Tottori."

Tottori?

Gaara's voice was croaky, but that meerkat familiar of his appeared as if out of nowhere and went to him swiftly, disappearing back into his high collared jacket.

'Figures the thing has a name.'

She'd wondered where it had gotten to. Maybe the beast had been watching her tirade, but she was too worked up to notice?

She took a deep breath, finally settling her nerves. She wasn't a stranger to telling someone off – often it was one of her teammates or someone in the infamous Rookie Nine – but it was different with someone not as familiar with her temperament. But somehow Sakura doubted he'd be quaking in his boots, even if he knew how destructive one punch from her would be to him. Maybe a little demonstration was in order, but she really wanted that "thank-you" from him.

"Well?"

Gaara glared at her; she glared back. A few minutes of this staring contest was apparently enough, and he sighed. "Thank-you."

Sakura deflated, her anger disappearing, and she acknowledged his thanks with a meek "you're welcome" before returning to her position by the oasis. She glanced at the entrance to the cave, suddenly remembering the Sensory Barrier she'd placed there; it was still humming away. She wondered if he could sense it. He gave no indication that he did, however, now moving further away from her. She decided to broach the subject only if need be.

She watched as Gaara rifled through his things, clearly looking for something, her hand going to her rucksack protectively; the kunai was still inside, and she was positive he didn't know she had that at least.

Gaara paused, tilting his head toward her slightly, as if realising she'd frisked him to get her things back. His body tensed slightly, but then he seemed to think better of starting an argument over it and went back to sorting out, whatever it was he was doing.

Sakura let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding. He had no cause to complain about it, anyway.

But the silence always bothered her and, not for the first time, she attempted to engage him in conversation just to ease the boredom of doing nothing.

"Where'd you find Tottori? I've read about meerkats, but I didn't know there was any this far south." She chuckled nervously. "I guess that's why I thought it was a large rat at first."

An indignant squeak; Sakura's eyes widened at the sound, trying to spot the bulge the creature had undoubtedly made under Gaara's clothes. She couldn't spot it.

This slight on Tottori got his attention and the redhead turned to look at her, clearly annoyed. But after staring at her for a long minute, perhaps weighing his options, he turned away and proceeded to ignore her again.

'Jerk.'

A few more minutes passed before his deep voice drifted over to her. "She's not a rat."

Sakura bit her lip. She, huh? Well, it wasn't like she'd ever seen a meerkat before and they weren't supposed to be native to the Land of Wind; it wasn't like she was an idiot.

According to her barrier, the storm was still going – she assumed Gaara knew somehow, as well – so Sakura decided to settle in as comfortably as possible, for a while. But the difference between her and the redhead was that she was an outgoing person. If she was going to stay awake (she wasn't even tired), there had to be some dialogue. He was verbosely boring, though it hadn't stopped her before. If only to annoy him, she started talking again.

"When I get home, I'm totally going to binge on cookies. I haven't had a decent baked good since I left. Do you like sweets? Somehow, I don't think you're the confectionery type, though. Maybe something bitter. You're a bit bitter yourself."

No response. Sakura started a monologue on the best way to enjoy confectionery without permanently damaging your teeth before realising he wasn't going to answer. So, by the time she'd stopped to see if he was annoyed or inclined to respond, Gaara had already made himself comfortable on the ground; he'd chosen a spot on the other side of the oasis pool, but still in sight, like he was keeping an eye on her. He was staring up at the ceiling, though, and she couldn't tell from this angle if his eyes were closed. It frustrated her, but also made her wish she had a sleeping bag, because unlike him, she wasn't as accustomed to sleeping on this kind of ground.

"Gaara?"

He glanced at her momentarily before rolling away from her. Her eyes drifted to his nicely shaped backside... was he trying to frustrate her?

His voice was oddly strained as he told her, "get some sleep."

She cleared her throat. "You've rested enough, don't you think?

No answer.

Sakura frowned. "Are you really going to just ignore me?"

Hm.

She sighed. "After that debacle with the other bounty hunters, you can't possibly know what you're doing anymore."

"Sakura."

She jumped slightly, surprised (she couldn't remember him using her first name before now). "W-what?"

He turned his head slightly to give her one of his passive aggressive stares. "Shut up."

And just like that, he was facing away from her again, and she was summarily dismissed.

'Jerk.'

…

XXX

...

Tottori was named after a desert in Japan if anyone was wondering. Just a side thought.

If anyone is interested, next month is MultiSaku month and there is a tumblr blog hosting an event in celebration. I only recently found out about it myself, but if anyone has a tumblr account (or not – you can post elsewhere too: just read their rules really carefully), you should totally check it out. There's one Sakura pairing highlighted each day and GaaSaku is day 19 – don't know if the hosts realise the significance of that number or not lol. If you ship Sakura with anyone else, I suppose I'll let you do them too. ;P
(Joking of course: me too. :))

Anyway, it would be nice to get as many GaaSaku writers, etc., into it as possible. Might be a nice way to spread the GaaSaku love. :) Here's the url: multisakumonth -dot- tumblr -dot- com.

[edit: url is fixed.]

Shameless self-promotion: I'll be linking from my tumblr to fanfiction net (& AO3) for anything I write. (*wink, wink*)

Ooookay. That's all for now. Lotsa love. ^_^

R&R

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