A/N: Long time no see, huh? I had exams. And I lost my bet with my dad that I would be able to get full marks for at least two subjects… damn it. I was sooo close…
"Hey, Sa-Ino-chan! Over here!" Naruto raised his arms, waving to catch her attention.
Sakura, who had at that moment been walking disdainfully past the table –at where Naruto and a certain redhead were currently seated- turned, and with a grim sort of fake surprise on her face, went, "Oh, hi, Naruto!" There was a slight pause, and with a cold flat tone, "Kazekage-sama." She continued, "I didn't see you guys there!"
Naruto grinned enthusiastically. "Come and sit with us!"
Sakura blinked rapidly. "Uhh, no thanks. I currently have, uhh, some research for Tsunade to do on, umm…" Sakura racked her brains, trying to come up with something plausible. "… gizzards."
Damn. Of all things…
Naruto blinked in confusion, while Gaara looked up. His expression was undeniably one of mild curiosity.
"Gizzards?" Naruto repeated blankly.
Sakura bit her lip. "Umm, yeah. They're these slimy things. Umm, found in chickens. And other …flying stuff."
Naruto blinked again. "You mean birds?"
She looked somewhat desperate. "Yeah, the ones that go squawk and fly and poop eggs. Well, you know. Anyway, Igottagetgoingnowsoseeyabye!"
"But Sakura, what's that in your hand?"
Sakura froze in her retreat, and stared down blankly at the bag she was currently holding. "What, this?" She gave a nervous little laugh. "Oh, nothing! Just some, umm, sushi I packed…"
Naruto brightened. "Hey, that's great! Sit and have lunch with us! C'mon, Granny Tsunade wouldn't mind."
"Well… this sushi, umm, it isn't for me! It's umm… I packed it for the chickens. On the account of how I'm going to, umm, borrow their gizzards to research and all…"
Making sushi just to feed some stupid birds? He blinked for several more times while his brain tried to processed the information.
He gave up.
"Aww, c'mon, Sa-Ino! Just sit with us for a few minutes. I'll share my ramen with you," he added. Very selflessly, he thought. She couldn't resist ramen. She just couldn't.
Sakura bit her lip, her eyes flicking to the stubbornly emotionless figure next to him. "I don't know…"
"C'mon, Sakura! You can't say no to ramen," and before she knew it, she found herself being herded to the seat right opposite Sabaku no Gaara, who was looking at her with those green, green eyes of his.
She glared very pointedly at his direction, and turned her head to look the other way.
Gaara looked politely blank.
A few minutes later, she decided he probably hadn't gotten the message. She gave him another decidedly bad-tempered scowl.
He still looked blank.
Starting to feel a little infuriated, she turned back to him, and shot him a death glare.
Still nothing. Damn it, what did it take to get under his skin? Okay, wait… was he smirking?!
Thoroughly annoyed now, Sakura turned and began to stare at him with the most dangerous, barbaric, I-am-so-gonna-kill-you expression that she could manage.
Seconds ticked by.
Gaara was growing more and more amused.
What is it that she wants? He wondered.
Finally, after several minutes of constant, non-stop glaring, she gave up, -he was obviously an expert.- and opted for ignoring him in the most pointed way possible, which was staring in the opposite direction with a look of stubborn determination on her face.
After several more minutes of silence, with Sakura radiating a very distinct killer aura, she took a peek at the Kazekage.
Hmm, he wasn't looking at her any more. Instead, he was perusing Icha Icha Paradise with a look of dogged determination that was beginning to worry her. She watched as his eyes roved over the page, his brow distinctly furrowed. Then, at certain parts, his eyes would widen considerably, and he would reread that part again with a very interested expression.
Definitely very worrying stuff. Who knew what tips he was picking up in there?
Okay, wait. Tsunade hadn't assigned her to this babysitting job for nothing. In fact, what she was currently witnessing –Gaara reading a dirty novel and actually learning- was probably in Class A of Things That Are Not, Strictly Speaking, Allowed To Happen.
She didn't want to think about the consequences when Gaara returned to Suna with a, well, refined view and somewhat more expansive knowledge on sexual overtures. He would probably have some decrees made on the subject. And, knowing Gaara, question an unfortunate female about it. Sakura winced inwardly.
In fact, it was practically her job to stop this. Baki, after all, would not be happy with what his young charge was up to while he wasn't around. Gaara'd received a lot of odd looks and raised eyebrows from other council members as it was.
"That's it," she announced loudly. "I'm confiscating this." And she reached over and plucked the offending novel out of Gaara's hands.
He didn't look very happy.
"Hey, Saku-Ino!" Naruto whined. "Why'd you go and do that?"
"Because," she said acidly, pointing a finger at Gaara, "it is not good for him. Completely inappropriate reading material."
"Aww, c'mon…"
"Don't you 'aww, c'mon' me, Naruto," she said. "I said no. He's not reading stuff like this any more, not on my watch." To herself, she added, He'll probably be… picturing it all in his mind. In a very graphical sort of way. Not good.
"And that's that." She finished, and got up to go. "Well, gotta run. The, umm, chickens are waiting."
And, heedless of Naruto's protests, she stalked off, the orange book tucked under one arm.
"So, what are we gonna do?"
Naruto frowned, looking around his apartment, where most of the male members of the Konoha Eleven, plus Gaara, were gathered, along with several bags of goodies –which definitely included ramen- and stacks of CDs. Another edition of Icha Icha Paradise, newly purchased, sat in a corner, and every now and then, the boys would give it nervous glances.
"I dunno," Naruto said. "I've never done this kind of thing before."
Kiba, lazing on the couch with Akamaru in his lap, said, "You moron. Weren't you the one who came up with the suggestion to hold this "Boys' Night Out" thing in the first place?"
Naruto scratched his head. "Well, yeah… but I dunno. We're supposed to show Gaara what it takes to be a man… and become a babe-magnet."
Lee gave a thumbs-up, ignoring Shikamaru's murmurs of 'how troublesome'. "We are going to show Gaara-kun the true meaning of youth!"
Gaara frowned. "I don't get it. Why is it so important?"
Kiba snorted. "Yeah, right. Besides, he's already a magnet enough, he's got a fanclub extending all the way to Konoha."
Naruto grinned. "Well, maybe Gaara could teach us some tricks…"
All eyes turned to Gaara, who began to radiate waves of killing intent.
Naruto laughed hastily. "Uhh, never mind. Hey, how bout we try out some of the poses described in Icha Icha Paradise?"
There was a silence of undeniable assent as all eyes in the room turned to look reverentially at the book on its shrine of junk food.
"That sounds like a wonderfully youthful idea!" Lee cried cheerfully.
Naruto frowned. "Hmm. Only… we don't have a girl to practice 'em on…"
Sai said, "Well, I would suggest having a replacement, someone who looks passably feminine enough for it to work."
Everyone turned to look at Neji, who had been sitting rigidly at the other end of the couch. He stiffened.
"Don't you dare…"
"So, Forehead, how's it going on the Gaara front?"
Sakura glanced over to where her best friend Ino, currently know as Oni, sat, fanning her newly painted nails.
She seriously did not get the deal with her friend. The girl was a ninja. She couldn't afford to have pretty nails and manicures and pedicures every week. She didn't even need them.
Sakura said as much, but Ino waved it away. "Oh well, you know. If you're gonna go, might as well go in style. I don't wanna march into heaven and have my dear deceased auntie see the state of my nails. She might throw a fit." Ino's aunt had been a very, well, fashionable woman. "Besides, who knows? The other shinobi might sympathize with me when I say I don't want to get into a fight in case I ruin my nails. And maybe they might want me to help give them a manicure, too. Anyway, back to the topic. How come you aren't dead yet?"
Sakura rolled her eyes, her voice dripping in sarcasm. "Thanks for your support, Ino. You're such a wonderful friend." She sighed, and flipped until she was lying on her back. "Well… I dunno. I don't think he knows yet. I just hope it continues being that way."
Ino gave her nails a final blow, and threw her a wink. "Ehh, and you decided to press your advantage, didn't you? Good choice, though I personally think he can be a tad too homicidal. Like Sasuke-kun, actually. Only more, you know, hard. And stuff."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Ino grinned mischievously, and waggled her eyebrows. "Come on, don't play all innocent with me. I heard it all from Shikamaru. You kissed him! And you didn't even tell me? Your first kiss!"
Sakura glowered at her friend. "Don't talk to me about that. I'm freaking pissed, just thinking about it."
Her friend raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
A frustrated sigh. "You know me. You know how I was saving up my first kiss, right? For Sasuke-kun."
Ino rolled her eyes. "God, don't tell me you still aren't over that, you and Naruto. How long will you two take to realize it? He's not coming back, not ever. And if he does… well, he'd have changed. He won't be the Sasuke you knew when you were twelve, Sakura. He'll be different. And your heart still belongs to the twelve-year old Sasuke."
Sakura frowned at the ceiling. "I dunno. Maybe you're right. It's just that… well, accepting that he's really gone, that he really never cared… it's hard, Ino. It's just so hard."
"You'll get over it, girl. Though Gaara isn't exactly the choice I would have picked. I mean, he lives in Suna, after all. Couldn't you have picked someone closer to home?"
Sakura shot Ino a glare. "It's nothing like that! That kiss was… an accident."
"An accident?!"
"Yeah, an accident. Well, I was sort of running, because Naruto sort of farted, and…" she recounted the rest of the story to an increasingly bemused Ino.
"… and then I got up and screamed at him and ran away." She finished. "It was so embarrassing! What could I do?"
Ino burst out into hysterical giggles. When Sakura threw her a disgusted look, she held her hands up in defense, still giggling. "I'm not laughing at you, honest! It's just that, well, when you two have kids, you could go and say, 'Uncle Naruto's fart was what brought us together.' Won't that be cute?" Ino chortled with laughter.
Sakura glowered. "Yeah, right. Cute, my butt. It was completely accidental! And now I never, ever want to see him ever again."
Ino, who had managed to control her laughter, went, "Not exactly easy, my dear sweet ignorant friend. In case you haven't noticed, the Fifth has pretty much put you in charge of those two."
Sakura replied gloomily. "…yeah."
"Still, Forehead." Ino giggled. "How did it feel?"
She raised an eyebrow. "How did what feel?"
"The kiss, forehead!" When she looked on in amazement, Ino continued, "Do you realize how many girls would want to make out with Gaara? Face it, girl, he is mad hot. Totally sexy. De-lish! Though I can't say much for his sanity. I personally would have used every possible opportunity to jump his bones and give him a blowjob."
Sakura, lost in thought, vaguely made a face in response. Really, her friend could be so… perverted sometimes.
How did it feel? Sakura raised a hesitant hand to her lips, her face reddening a little. She hadn't exactly felt anything, not having the time to think. It all happened so suddenly. Then she'd gotten flustered, and began yelling.
But at that moment when their lips had met contact, she'd felt pure, unadulterated bliss. She remembered staring into his eyes, getting lost in their green, green depths. She'd felt a spark of static, of attraction, shooting through her and sending her stomach fluttering.
And judging by the way his eyes widened, he must have felt it, too.
Though it could just have been shock. Either because of her, or the pungent odor that had emerged from Naruto's rear end. Let's face it, it wasn't completely improbable. She'd smelt enough of Naruto's farts to know.
"Forehead? Hey, Billboard Brow!"
Sakura blinked, surfacing from her thoughts. Ino was waving a hand in front of her face.
"What?"
Ino grinned mischievously. "I knew it- I knew it! You went all flustered and dreamy there when I mentioned the kiss. I was right- you are falling for him!"
Sakura blushed. "Shut up, Pig! I am not!"
Was she? She asked herself. Was she really?
"You love him! You looove him!!"
"God, no! Shut your fat trap, bitch!"
Did she? Did she love him?
Of course not. It was a stupid thought. Her heart belonged to Sasuke-kun.
Yet…
She remembered that moment, when she was falling through the air, her hands on his chest. Her eyes met his, and she could feel the beating of his heart quicken. And when his lips brushed hers, emotions shot through her, and her heart pounded…
Maybe. Just maybe.
"Hey, Forehead!"
Sakura snapped out from her reverie. "What?"
Then she saw her friend holding the forbidden, disturbingly orange book with a dangerously gleeful expression.
"Where the hell did you get this?!"
A/N: If you're wondering about the Sasuke bit… Hell, I went and read the manga. Took me ages, but I finished. Itachi's last words to his brother… and that soft, sad smile… His expression was full of love. It made my heart break. And I cried.