The sky was grey between the tall trees, and a gentle fog had blanketed the forest during the midday. The air was chilled, but her body had grown hot from trekking through the tough terrain. She knew her white girlish frock was going to get dirty, but she didn't rightly care. She only wore it when she was to visit the Lady Tsunade, the wise witch hidden in the mountains, other than that she hated the damn thing.

Why she had to dress in these frilly childish dresses when visiting was beyond her, especially since she was an adult, but her mother forced her to wear them along with a hooded cloak every single time.

Red, not a very smart color, it would be better if she were draped in green to blend in. It was idiocy at it's finest.

Sakura laid now at the base of a tree to relax, picking the small blue flowers that seemed to pop out amongst the greenish grey scenery. They smelled nice too, so she made a crown of them along with some smaller white ones, and placed the circlet on her head. A few flower heads had scattered along her dress, but she was too lazy to brush them off. She looked at her basket of food wondering what her mother had packed with her, and the warm smell of bread had her beginning to drift.

The basket was being pulled from her arms, shaking her awake with a start. She swatted at whatever it was that had tried taking it, but when skin brushed skin she realized that she had hit another person. Her eyes fluttered open to stare down a redheaded man about her age, dressed in a ragged black poet shirt, and black trousers that ended at his knees. Other than that his pale feet were bare.

The redhead rested on his haunches, his knees bent and legs balancing on the balls of his feet, crouching like an animal. He was intimidating as he had no eyebrows, and a thick darkness formed around his frightening cyan eyes. They were ghostly in appearance, and were striking amongst his crimson hair. Something was written on his forehead too- the kanji character for love? It was strange.

"Forgive my rudeness; I was just hungry, and something smelled too delicious to pass up." The man spoke with a naturally wispy voice, his breath coming out sensually with each word. "Are you alone all the way out here?"

Sakura almost didn't want to answer him, as her gut was screaming at her to run. The way he stared at her was as if he was starving, yet perfectly content at the same time. Yet his eyes held a haunting glow that left her entranced.

"Yes. I'm going to visit my mentor..." The pinkette adjusted her frilly dress awkwardly as she attempted in vain to cover her knees, she was trying to avoid the hungry stare that followed her frame up and down.

"I see, I assume you've heard of the red wolf? You should be more careful when choosing to sleep in the woods." The redhead licked his lips for a moment as if he were anticipating something, and those freshly wetted lips held her captive with intrigue.

"I've heard of it. The wolf that eats travelers by tricking them. Well, good luck to any wolves that try to eat me." Breaking out of her daze Sakura pulled out a sharp knife from her basket, and did a few finger tricks with it; allowing the shining blade to twirl in her hand. "I'll skin them if they try anything, and wear their fur as a new cloak-"

"How very brave of you!" The man chuckled in a charming way, but it still didn't ease her nerves. If anything it sounded mocking, like she were as harmless as a kitten. "Remind me to be careful around you, huntress."

The way he said his words was mouth watering, something about him made her excited as well as afraid.

"Yes, you're just as much of a threat. No offense." She tried smirking before putting the knife back in the basket in an attempt to show calmness, but his head merely tilted with amusement.

"None taken, I awoke you with theft, I am certainly not very trustworthy." He returned the smirk two fold, and for some reason she thought of him doing more than just trying to steal from her. Perhaps it was the way his eyes would dart from her basket to the showing skin on her legs. "If you could spare me a taste, I would be very grateful."

At first she flushed at the request, but then realized that he had meant the food in her basket. How embarassing, to think of him asking outright to 'taste' her was a ridiculous notion, not even the most seasoned of womanizers would be so bold. He seemed seductive in nature though, so she didn't beat herself up too bad over assuming his dark intentions. Reaching into the basket she pulled out an apple for him, and although he seemed dissapointed he took it nonetheless.

"Much obliged." With a half grin he took a bite into the red fruit, flashing his fangs before they sunk into the flesh. The white beyond the skin reminded her of an animal taking a bite into a person, only the colors were switched. There was no blood coming from the apple either, only juice. "You seem hungry as well, would you like to share?"

He held out the apple for her, and as if in a trance she took a bite of it while he held it in his hand. His lips parted for a moment in surprise, but quickly took on a devilish grin as she shyly pulled away after lapping at the juice that clung to her lips.

"You must like apples a lot-"

"I really do. They are convenient, filling, tasty, and refreshing." The pinkette blinked out of her reverie before moving to stand. He stood with her, following her movements up until her foot slipped off of a thick root. With quick reflexes he caught her arm, and with more strength than she suspected he righted her balance. His touch was hot enough to make her flush.

With his hand gripping tightly around her soft bicep he stared her down, not even looking away as he took another sensual bite of his apple. He chewed slowly, and his gaze turned hypnotizing as he swallowed back the juicy treat.

"What's your name?" The redhead practically purred, and she found herself unable to look away from his penetrating eyes. He was so frightening, yet so incredibly handsome. She almost felt like leaning forward as he licked his lips of any sweet flavor left on them

"Sakura." She said in a small voice, he looked positively smug over it like he had won a great prize in a complex game.

"Sakura... such a beautiful tree." He let go of her arm, leaving behind a burning tingle where it had been before. She touched the area curiously, wondering why his touch gave her such a strange sensation. "I am called Gaara."

"Gaara..." Sakura repeated with a roll of her tongue like a spiritual chant, making the redhead smile with narrowed eyes as he retraced her curvaceous figure.

"I like the way you say it. It sounds so much sweeter coming from your lips than it does my own." Gaara reached towards her to pluck a flower head off of her shoulder. She was too entranced that she couldn't startle even if she wanted to, she felt like a doe trapped in the jaws of a pale panther. He was acting quite familiar with her, and she couldn't decide if she liked that or not as it made her flesh burn while her heart raced in a rabbit fashion.

"I have to go." The pinkette shook her head, her medium long pink hair brushing into her face. Her instincts were finally grabbing the reigns in an attempt to get her in flight. "I'm very late-"

"I can escort you if you like? I know these woods quite well." The redhead took a casual step away from her, and it eased her nerves a bit. Suddenly he seemed less threatening, and his tone felt trustworthy; as if he were a completely different person.

Why was she even considering it? Her intuition was screaming at her to get away from him, yet her rational mind was trying to defend him too. He was obviously trying to get something from her.

'He probably just wants a free meal.' She snorted inwardly as she coaxed herself, coming to terms with that excuse in able to bend to his powerful will.

"Are you still hungry?" Sakura asked, watching him slowly nod as that narrowed gaze returned.

"Always-" Gaara began to follow her frame with his eyes once more, but she interjected the gesture to try and reestablish normality between them.

"Okay, well, you can guide me to Tsunade's house then. I'll make some stew for you as payment." She grinned at her brilliant idea, and even more as his eyes blinked owlishly at the offer making him seem innocent and curious.

"Eat food... in your home?" He wandered a bit closer to her, but his body language proved that he was just invested in her offer rather than trying to get anything else out of her.

"Well it's not my home, but Tsunade likes company so it shouldn't be a problem. Are you fine with stew?" Sakura started walking ahead of him in able to get his eyes off of her front, and like an excited puppy he began to follow.

"With cooked meat-?"

"How else would you eat meat in a stew?" She snorted at his question, and finally made her way back to the odd trail that led to her mentor's abode. He padded after her quickly, coming up to heel by her side.

"I... don't eat like normal people. I apologize if that's strange." The redhead mumbled for a moment, and it was obvious that he had grown embarassed by the question. She didn't want him to feel bad for his innocent queries.

'He seems like one of those 'wild' folk, I bet he was raised in these woods far away from other people...'

"It's okay, I like different foods too. Like fish, grilled fish is really tastey-"

"Birds are delicious also." Gaara stated proudly as he walked. His steps were so attuned to the forest floor that his footfalls hardly made a sound.

'He's probably a really great hunter.'

"Do you hunt?" Growing hungry over the talk of food she reached into the basket to pull out two pieces of salted jerky. His eyes stared at the meat, and before he could even ask she handed it over to him.

"Yes, I hunt many things, and it depends on what I'm hungry for. Nothing escapes my clutches when I desire it." The redhead twisted the jerky around in his long fingers inspecting it thoroughly. "Salted overcooked meat?"

"Dehydrated meat, it's very tough but its tastey, and doesn't spoil." Sakura had to remind herself that this man had probably rarely had salt let alone jerky, so she was patient with him.

Gaara took an experimental bite, finding it difficult to rip off a piece even with his sharp canines. Eventually he did, and he chewed on the piece quizzically for a long while.

"So what do you think?" The pinkette watched as he chewed it thoroughly before gulping it down. He stared at the meat curiously before turning his ghostly sights back on her.

"Tough, but flavorful." The redhead ran his gaze over her once more before smiling. "However, I am particular to sweeter meats. Young lambs, little piglets, the occasional fawn-"

"It seems like you enjoy baby animals, that's a bit dark don't you think?" Sakura interrupted him, finding herself disturbed by content of the conversation. He simply laughed, cracking a fanged grin before turning around to walk backwards. His feral eyes watched her take her careful steps, while his reversed ones were second nature.

"They're more succulent, the tender meat has barely been used, and falls right off the bone. Biting into their necks is rather entertaining as well-"

"Why would you ever do something like that? Those poor animals!" The pinkette grimaced while her empathy made her sick. She imagined a man biting into her neck, only to snap it unceremoniously. He chuckled darkly before turning forward, his hands casually behind his head.

"Because they are prey, and I am a predator." The tone turned serious for a moment, and his arms began to drape at his sides. "Which one are you?"

Sakura fell silent. She had never been asked such a question before, especially from a stranger. Which one was she? What separated predators from prey? Was there something preying on her?

Was this man preying on her in some way?

"I don't really know, I don't want to be either one. I just wish for harmony-"

"You eat meat like a predator, but you are cautious like prey." Gaara seemed to answer for her, leaving her intrigued. "I suppose the question to ask would be whether you would fight or not if you were caught in the jaws of a beast. Would it be futile? Could you succeed?"

The redhead turned to face her once more, stopping dead in his tracks. The setting sun peaking through the clouds hit his features from the side so harshly that his eyes looked to be a bright shade of green, rather than the usual haunting cyan. The light cut through his corneas to electrify his irises, leaving her breathless for many reasons. He looked so threatening, but also so incredibly exotic. Like a wild animal you wanted to just reach out and pet even though you know they will bite off your fingers.

As the visual of him biting at her flesh filled her mind she quickly shook it away remembering that he was simply a man, nothing more. His expression changed to intrigue when she refused to answer him

"Are you imagining it? Being eaten?-"

"I don't like thinking about people eating me." Sakura tried scoffing, but a brilliant smile broke out on his sunlit features.

"I never said anything about people eating each other." Gaara chuckled knowingly, and stared at her with unblinking eyes even when assaulted by the harsh setting sun. Her flush had him crooning at her suggestively, which only made it worsen. "Perhaps you do desire to be eaten, just not in the way that we were initially discussing-"

"I have no desire at all, and I never will!" The pinkette went to stomp past him, kicking leaves and branches out of her way in a flurry before his large hands grasped her wrist. She turned to him wide eyed, and felt far too close to him to be considered safe.

"Stop, I meant no ill will. I was merely teasing." Gaara spoke in an authoritative tone, like that of an alpha. She shivered under his burning touch once more before his hand sensually slipped away from her skin in a fluid motion. Eventually he relaxed his demeanor for her to bring her comfort. "Let's continue, it will be dark soon so we shouldn't dally. We don't want you to get devoured by the red wolf do we?"

"Hmph! Well I'm sure the red wolf would be better company!" She moved around him in a hurry, more because of the fact that his words could make her warm all over, and that frightened her. She could hear his soft chuckling as he followed behind her.

"Be careful what you wish for." He called to her back, and it made her so nervous that she picked up her pace towards the large hill.

They arrived at the small cabin during a hour of twilight, and Sakura sighed knowing that she'd either have to walk home in the dark or spend the night.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite student!" The blonde busty woman dressed in a relaxed green dress peaked out of the window with a bright smile. The pinkette waltzed over casually, but Gaara seemed to be cautious of his surroundings. "Ah, you seemed to have picked up a gentleman caller-"

"I just met him! He's here because he's hungry, not because he's looking for a wife!" Sakura shouted defensively before hurrying up the steps while the blonde had a hearty laugh over the matter. The redhead seemed to be wary of entering the humble wooden abode, so the pinkette turned to call for him once she was through the doorway. "Come on, Gaara. You can enter, no need to be shy."

With an owlish expression he quickly followed, sniffing the air as he entered. She closed the door behind them gently, but still saw every muscle in his body tense. When she finally passed him to go into the small living room she tried giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, but it only made him tense more.

"You shouldn't just feed strange boys, Sakura." Tsunade scolded her student, but the pinkette merely waved her off as she danced past her mentor.

"Pfff, it's fine. He offered to guard me from 'wolves' so I'm making him some stew." Sakura began to bustle about the small kitchen, preparing a cauldron of boiling water over the fire. She sorted through her basket, pulling out different vegetables to prepare for the stock. "It'll take a while, Gaara. Please be patient for me."

"Of course, I don't mind waiting." Gaara answered her as calm as could be, but he was staring suspiciously at literally everything in the cabin. Tsunade noticed this, and smiled devilishly before grabbing him by the elbow. To Sakura's surprise he did not recoil at the touch of her teacher.

"Gaara, is it? Come sit with me a while, and help me tie off these herbs." With a few tugs he was finally coaxed over, and sat down on the rug with her next to the fire. She handed him a ball of twine, and a basket of white sage.

They all stayed relatively quiet as they worked, and within a half hour Gaara had finished his basket of sage. When garlic was placed in front of him he crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Eh? Don't like that one?" Tsunade snickered before handing him the basket of lavender instead. He instantly soothed, picking up the basket to sniff at it curiously. "That's lavender. It soothes the body and mind."

"I kind of want to roll in it..." The redhead murmured, and the giggles he got from the women around him quickly broke out into full laughs. His head whipped between the two suspiciously, obviously not understanding what he did wrong.

"I've never heard that one before! But hey, you do what you like!" Tsunade patted him on the shoulder. For a moment he looked at her hand startled, but then relaxed as he thumbed at the lavender in his palm. "Not a touchy-feely person I see-"

"I've been injured by many hands. It's not easy being a-" He stopped himself from finishing his sentence, and stared at the herbs in his grasp.

"You don't have to be ashamed of it, as far as I'm concerned I'm one of you." The blonde smiled gently for him, and his look of shock was one for the history books. "Mountain folk are good people, and I like it far better here than down there with those city idiots-"

"Excuse you, milady!" Sakura barked as she threw in more ingredients, gaining a laugh from her mentor.

"Oh, whatever! You want to live up here too." The blonde snickered as she finished off her last string of garlic. "You enjoy hermitage just as much as I do-"

"I just like the trees. That's all. Other than that I actually enjoy helping people." The pinkette brushed off her hands, allowing the stew to simmer she took her place next to them on the floor.

"Save it for the animals, they are far more noble then humans are." Tsunade argued. Gaara simply sat there studying the two with interest.

"I don't know about that, I hear the red wolf isn't noble at all." Sakura went to pick up a piece of lavender, accidentally brushing the redhead's hand. He bristled slightly, though whether it was her touch or the topic was debatable. "He likes to snatch up little girls, I hear-"

"More than just little girls. It's everyone. There's no discrimination to what he hunts." Gaara refused to make eye contact, but continued tying off bundles of lavender.

"That's weird, I heard he preferred girls." The pinkette eyed him curiously, intrigued that he knew much more on the subject. His lips went into a thin line for a moment before he spoke his thoughts.

"The villagers say that to keep their daughters from playing in the woods. I don't blame them, its dangerous for a child." He sounded a bit grumpy about it, but that only served to pique her interest more.

"Alright, but even the older ones are told to stay away too, out of fear of being eaten by the wolf-"

"If you wanted to have private moment with a boy where would you go?" Gaara gave her a sideways glance, and the topic surprisingly made her blush.

"I don't know, I've never had a 'private moment' with a boy." Sakura huffed while he began to smirk.

"If you knew the woods were safe do you think you would run off into them for a romantic rendezvous?" The redhead raised his naked brows at her, his grin growing as she began to flush a deeper shade. A few snickers came from Tsunade as well. "It's parents trying to protect their daughter's virtue, a twisted lie to keep them from going where watchful eyes can't see."

"Well, I'm out here aren't I?" The pinkette argued before watching him slow his pace. He was thinking of a retort, or holding one back. She decided to stress her point. "You don't see me rolling around in the leaves with a guy-"

"No, you just do it by yourself." At first he seemed to think nothing of his comment, but as a thick awkward silence fell over her his eyes turned her way curiously.

"What do you mean by that?" Her pink brows furrowed. With a low chuckle, Tsunade pushed herself up from the floor with her prepped herbs, and started to hang them around the room to dry out. His ghostly eyes narrowed in confusion to her question.

"You were asleep in the woods today, I found you lying amongst the flowers..." Gaara blinked a few times before tilting his head. "Did you think I meant something else?"

Sakura flushed a deep red at her mistake, she had unfortunately let on more than she ever wanted anyone to know with just a few words. As his eyes began to widen, and his expression formed into intrigue she instantly felt herself going into a shameful spiral.

"No! I knew what you meant!" She tried saving herself with a forced laugh. "I just thought you were teasing me for sleeping in the woods, that's all!"

The pinkette hurriedly gathered her herbs to join Tsunade in hanging them up, trying her best to ignore the redhead.

"Do you fall asleep in the woods often?" His tone was leaning on teasing, and she knew that he was talking about something completely different than just sleeping.

Perhaps she could beat him at his own game.

"I can't really say that I do, how about you? I'm sure you love to sleep outside." Sakura pulled out a wooden bowl, finding the stew to be finished. She filled it generously before bringing it over to him. "Perhaps you do it in a cave?"

"Caves aren't so bad, not when you can lay on a plush bed of fur." Gaara took the bowl with a smirk that quickly changed into curiosity. "It's... water... with meat and vegetables?"

The pinkette looked at him dumbly for a moment before remembering that he wasn't accustomed to normal cooking.

"Yeah, it's really good! And very nutritious, I think you'll like it a lot." She smiled gently at him, and swore she saw some color touch his cheeks.

"Sorry, I'm not used to cooked food-." The redhead's eyes widened for a moment, as if he let a little fact about him slip again.

'He really must live in a cave... not even a house... poor thing.'

"Forgive me Gaara, there's no reason to be embarassed. If you end up liking it perhaps you can come over when I visit again, and I'll cook something even more delicious for you-"

"Speaking of visiting, are you spending the night? It's getting dark outside." Tsunade pointed out the window as she got herself a bowl. Sakura gave a stressful groan.

"My mother is going to kill me, but I think I'll have too. No offense to the 'red wolf' but I don't actually want to get attacked tonight-"

"I can guide you, if you like." Gaara murmured softly, and sipped cautiously at the hot liquid. His face quickly changed to interest as he took another taste.

"Really?! You can traverse the woods in the dark?" She sat down next to him, and began to eat her meal while waiting anxiously for his answer. He finally nodded before swallowing another gulp of stew.

"I know this forest like the back of my hand, and I know when predators are around too. You'll be safe with me." The redhead gave her a smile that she felt she could trust, so she nodded her head happily in agreement.

'He's so useful! Now I don't have to get my ass chewed anymore, thank god.'

Sakura ate her stew happily, completely in her own little world.

Gaara also ate contentedly, only his eyes never left her for the entirety of the meal.

- ... - ... - ...

AN: I have a few chapters for this story so far, and have noooo clue where it's going, but the theme is too wonderful to ignore! Also, be warned, everything I write eventually leads to smut and/or "citrus" so be prepared for that. Be sweet and review!