Chapter One: As it All Falls Apart

"Tsunade-shishou, what did you call me for?" Sakura Haruno stood before the Godaime, whom was sitting at her desk, in her medic outfit. The Hokage rarely ever summoned her while she was doing medical work in the hospital so something had to be up. "Is something wrong?"

"Sit down, Sakura," the Hokage gestured at the chair before her. The pink haired kunoichi hesitated; if Tsunade wanted her to sit down that meant she had serious news. "Is everyone okay, Tsunade-shishou?"

"Yes Sakura, it's nothing like that," A wave of relief fell over her, that meant that no one had perished on a mission or anything. She sat down, folding her hands and crossing her legs; whatever Tsunade was going to tell her couldn't be that bad.

The Godaime's aura did not change, now Sakura began worrying again. Did that mean that someone was badly hurt? But if they were wouldn't she be kept in the hospital to tend to them? She was truly puzzled by the whole thing and kept running possible explanations through her head. Was someone captured by an enemy to Konoha? Were the Akatsuki on the move again in their quest to remove the tailed-beast that rested inside Naruto? He was one of the only ones left after all; it was only a matter of time before—"Sakura! Pay attention!"

"My apologies, Tsunade-shishou," She attempted to bow in her chair. It was probably a good idea to listen as to what she had to say before she went about making any assumptions. "I don't mean to be rude, but could you please tell me as to why I was summoned here?"

"Sakura, I have called you here to inform you of our situation with Sunagakura," the Godaime leaned forward in her chair slightly, resting her chin on her fingertips. Sakura could see that she was trying to hide her true feelings on the matter. Just what was going on? "As you know we are currently allies with them, however…"

Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her chair, taking one of the strands to her hair and pulling it back behind her ear. "The elders of Suna have grown suspicious of our loyalty for some reason that I cannot explain as Konoha has done nothing but support Suna."

"So you're sending me to mend the ties with Sunagakura? Will I have to go to some conference? You know I don't like public speaking, Tsunade-shishou."

"Not quite, now let me finish before you make any more theories."

"My apologies, Tsunade-shishou."

"Sakura, now you need to take this in slowly," Why would she need to take anything in slowly, unless maybe Konoha was going to war? That wouldn't be good, half of their troops needed to be stationed to guard the village from possible attacks from neighboring countries. "Sunagakura has requested a representative from Konohagakura."

"So it is a conference then?"

"No Sakura," the Godaime sighed, looking up at the ceiling as if it would present her with answers. "The sand village has asked for someone to help 'aid' the Kazekage."

"I don't understand."

"Let's see, I don't really know how to put this," she scratched her cheek with her long painted nails. "Sunagakura requests a female representative from Konohagakura to tie the knot with the Kazekage."

"Someone's supposed to marry Gaara?"

"That is correct."

"Okay, so I have to go out and find someone to fill that position? I don't know if I could make that sort of decision, Tsunade-shishou." Sakura couldn't exactly see herself fixing the former Shukaku host with someone like Hinata.

The Godaime frowned; her student was making it more and more difficult for her to break the news to her. It was time to cut to the chase. "Sakura, you are my student, my apprentice, you are the closest thing Sunagakura considers to be like myself."

"Oh, why thank you Tsunade-shishou."

Was today 'Oblivious Day' or something? Didn't she understand what she was getting to? "Sakura, Suna requests that you participate in Holy Matrimony with the Kazekage. You will have to give up your ninja ways and serve him as his wife."

Her words hit the kunoichi like a rock, 'participate in Holy Matrimony with the Kazekage'? 'Give up her ninja ways'? How could Tsunade even think of such a thing? She had just made it to Jonin rank, she loved being a shinobi—it was her life. Sasuke Uchiha had just returned to the village after slaying the snake Sannin, Orochimaru, and after years and years she had finally gotten his attention in the right way, he was actually showing interest in her. Sakura's world as she knew it was finally looking up for once she had gained respect from all the villagers and was looked at as a person of power among them. The Uchiha boy had invited her to one of the annual festivals and she was looking forward to going with him.

But now, now that was all just going to change like that? All that she had worked for, all that she had dreamed of was just going to end? "M-me? Surely there is someone else that could take my place?"

"I'm sorry Sakura, but Suna's elders want only you. Believe me, I've tried negotiating with them, they stand firm behind their request. I have no choice in the matter; it's either send you or lose our treaty with Suna. If that were to happen we would be attacked for sure."

"What about Gaara? I mean he certainly wouldn't just break the alliance off like that?"

"The Kazekage and I both fought hard against the idea at the conference in Suna that decided this deal, but in the end we were both defeated. He is no more thrilled about this idea than I am, he knows that it will bring tension about our village, he does not wish to anger Naruto."

'Naruto?' That was right; the two of them were good friends. Gaara must have been aware that Naruto had feelings for her or else he wouldn't have opposed the idea as much as she had said. "Tsunade-shishou, surely there's another way?"

"I'm sorry Sakura, but my hands are tied." She looked truly saddened at this but that didn't mean that the pink haired kunoichi didn't want to just jump up and punch her square in the face. Much her to dismay she found that she was unable to; her body was in such shock that it wouldn't move. "Tsunade-shishou…please…"

She didn't want to marry the Kazekage; she wanted to marry Sasuke Uchiha. All her life she had devoted herself to him, fought against Ino for him, and tried her best to get his attention. Now none of that mattered, in fact her whole life no longer mattered. It was over, her fate was sealed. "I'm sorry Sakura."

Tears fell from her eyes to her skirt, it had to be a horrible nightmare, she wasn't really going to get married to the Kazekage. Maybe it was a late April Fools trick, it was only the middle of the month maybe Tsunade was just late.

But no one yelled out that it was just a joke. Tsunade sat still in her chair watching her cry her eyes out. Sakura couldn't help it, she had promised herself that she would never shed another tear again but now…now her life was falling apart and she didn't care.

"You leave early tomorrow morning; please get a good night's rest."

Her apartment room was in pieces. Clothing was scattered across the floor, potted plants lay tipped over, mirrors had been shattered, and there were several holes in the painted-pink walls from where her fist had gone through.

The kunoichi was furious, furious with the whole world. All that she had worked for was being tossed out the window, her pride was no more. She still couldn't get over the fact that her own shishou had just thrown her to the elders of Suna like that.

Sakura stuffed her some of her clothing and necessities into her bag, if she needed anything else the stupid Kazekage would have to buy it for her.

How had it come to this? Earlier that day she had spent time at the coffee shop with Ino, Hinata, and Tenten laughing and gossiping. She had walked through the village with Sasuke, talking to him about various things and maybe even flirting a bit. In the afternoon she had practiced her shuriken throwing at the old posts that Team 7 always had used for training. But now none of that mattered because she was being forced to leave that life behind.

Maybe she could run away and become a missing-nin like Sasuke had been. She could return when the problem had passed and everyone had forgotten about the whole thing. But then that wouldn't fix it, Konoha would still have to break their alliance.

After throwing the bag against the wall and flopping down on her bed, she buried her head in her soft pillow. Part of her wanted to scream into it as loud as she could and the other part of her just wanted to die. Her life was over after all, what was the point of it all?

She tried to look at the situation as a positive thing, that she would be helping Konoha stay out of conflict. Marrying the Kazekage would be considered by others as an honor, she should think of herself as being very lucky. This reinforcement failed miserably though, she just felt worse.

'Sasuke-kun…' Her dream of being able to marry him had just been squashed. She'd never be able to fulfill her promise that she had made the night he had left the village, to be a good wife to him, to live happily together, to bare his children. Now she'd have to be a good wife to the Kazekage, live miserably with him, and bare his children.

Arranged marriages, she had thought the practice had died out but now she was going to be part of one. What would it be like? The wedding would probably take place outside in the hot desert sun, she'd have to wear a bathing suit instead of a dress because of the heat, and all the flowers would be wilted. 'Perfect…just perfect.'

Turning over on her side, she tried to remember what the Kazekage was like. During the chuunin exam he had tried to kill not only Lee but Sasuke as well although that plan was foiled when Orochimaru's plan was put into action. In the forest she watched as Sasuke was thrown around like a toy by the monster that was both Gaara and Shukaku, how could she ever live with such a man? 'This sucks.'

Sure, it had been several years since those incidents but he was still the same Gaara, minus the raccoon-dog demon. After her battle with the Akatsuki in Suna he had been resurrected by Chiyo and although he seemed kinder to Naruto and the others he was still distant and cold.

'Ugh, my head…' She closed her eyes, she had a horrible migraine from all the thinking she had been doing. There was nothing she could do; she had to accept her fate.

Soon after she drifted off into a deep and dreamless sleep.

The desert sun was hot and merciless as she walked through the streets of the desert village of Suna. She had said her goodbyes to Naruto and the others, including Sasuke. It wasn't like she wasn't ever going to see them again, but still.

Sasuke had seemed rather cold; she decided that it was because he was angry due to the fact that she would be marrying the man who had once tried to kill him. Maybe the truth was that he was disappointed that she wouldn't be marrying him, but she chose to put that idea out of her mind, it would only make the situation more painful.

Sunagakura was rather busy; its citizens bustling about running errands and things as she walked passed them. According to Tsunade she was supposed to meet up with one of the Sand Siblings but so far she hadn't come across any of them.

But she didn't have to search much further, as she turned around to hear where her name had come from she saw the oldest, Temari, running towards her. A wave of relief fell over her; she had prayed that it wouldn't be Gaara who would welcome her.

The dirty blonde haired female smiled at her, she was considerably taller than Sakura and was dressed in the same clothing that she had seen her wear when Naruto had returned to the village a few years past. "Welcome to Sunagakura, Sakura."

"Thank you, Temari-san," she bowed before her to show her respect, although it probably wasn't necessary as she would soon have a position much higher than her. "How was your journey here, did you run into any trouble?"

"No, it was fine. A little hot, but fine."

"Yeah, you'll have to get used to the desert sun, it's not that bad after awhile. It gets really cool here at night too, quite a difference," The oldest Sand Sibling looked up at the sky, shielding her eyes with her hand from the brightness. "So, let's get going, shall we?"

The two of them continued on towards the largest building in the village, which Sakura guessed to be the Kazekage mansion. Temari pointed out various shops and stalls as they went along, she was rather cheerful unlike the kunoichi from Konoha. She tried to seem enthusiastic but it just wasn't working. "So where's Kankurou-san?"

"Hmm? Oh, he'll meet up with us later; he's in a meeting with Gaara at the moment." Sakura tried not to flinch at the Kazekage's name; it just reminded her that it was inevitable that she would have to see him soon. "They should be done soon."

They were approaching the Kazekage Mansion much too fast, Sakura was tempted to run in the opposite direction and flee back to Konoha. Of course she retained this idea, it wouldn't look very good for her village if their representative got cold feet and took off into hiding. "So we're going to be sister-in-laws soon, that's rather exciting, don't you think?"

Sakura tried not to give her a dirty look, she was not nearly as cheerful about the subject as the sand-nin, "Yes, yes it is. I'm looking forward to it."

That of course was a downright lie but Temari bought into it, "I'm sure you and Gaara will get along fine, you two'll be two peas in a pod in no time. He's changed a lot you know; he's very devoted to his village."

Two peas in a pod? The kunoichi felt a wave of nausea come over her but luckily it passed. "Yes, so I've heard, I remember him being quite different at our last meeting."

Temari held open the door to the Mansion for Sakura and motioned for her to enter. This was it; she'd have to face Gaara once he was out of his meeting in the building. She hesitated for a moment and stepped inside, followed by her escort.

The Sand Sibling continued to talk about what the Kazekage had done for his village, all the improvements he had made. If Sakura wasn't feeling sick to her stomach again about meeting him she might have taken note to how impressive the list was.

After passing through a long hallway Temari led her up a long winding staircase. As the two of them climbed higher and higher Sakura felt as though her feet had become filled with lead, it was if they were protesting her ascending further. She continued on though, her head was already light from both the heat and nerves but now it was getting worse as she began to feel dizzy from the circular winding of the stairs. Temari seemed unaffected by it, a smile was plastered on her face, she was very excited about having her meet her brother.

They finally reached the floor that she supposed Gaara was on as Temari left the staircase and proceeded down the hall, Sakura tailing behind. It was awfully long, there were so many doors and rooms that it seemed more like the hospital that she formerly worked at than a house. Sure, the Hokage Mansion had many conference rooms but not quite like this. It seemed kind of ridiculous, were they really all needed? "Temari, why are there so many rooms?"

"Hmm, oh well not all of them are rooms," she turned around and smiled at her, eyes creased. "A lot of them are just doors with walls behind them, that way if there's an intruder it'll be difficult to find Gaara. We'll find the intruder first. Of course even I often get lost in this place, it is rather confusing."

"Well that's just great, I can barely find my way out of a box, I'm going to get lost in this place and no one'll ever find me."

"Nah, we won't let that happen," Temari laughed, "Gaara knows this place like the back of his hand, he'll find you."

Sakura blushed at her comment although she was already red from the heat so it wasn't noticeable. The last thing she needed was for the Kazekage to find her in some corner, starving and dehydrated from being lost for days.

The heat was really getting to her; she was feeling awfully lightheaded from it. She was dripping with sweat as she followed Temari, whom seemed perfectly fine, along.

"Hey kid," Kankurou had just exited from a room followed by several other disgruntled men who did not stay to chat. 'Oh great, that must be the conference room.'

She heard him welcome her to Sunagakura and the Kazekage Mansion and she was able to thank him for his gesture but her world was growing foggy. The floor was moving slightly and she was now seeing the world in a grey color.

And then she saw him appear from the conference room. He looked fuzzy but she could tell that it was him from his red hair and traditional Kage clothing. She could feel the cold sweat dripping down her face and she managed to mutter the word 'Gaara' before she fainted on to the floor.

"Boy Gaara, she must really like you."

A/N: Alright, first chapter's officially done.

I felt like starting a GaaXSaku story last night for some reason. I'll be devoting most of my time to my SasoXSaku story though so this one might not be updated quite as frequently as that one. Sasori's my favorite character after all, he gets most of my attention.

Anywho, thanks for reading and uh… have a nice day. xD