Disclaimers are in previous chapters.

When Sen next opened her eyes, she found herself under the covers of Gaara's bed. "What the..." She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Gaa...?"

"Sunrise in the desert is earlier, or did you forget that?"

Gaara was sitting on the side of the bed and when he looked at her, he smiled, if only slightly. "Thank you for last night," he said quietly.

Sen leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. "You don't have to thank me. I've told you before, I do it because I love you," she whispered.

"Right," Gaara said. "I've got to get to my work. Are you coming?"

Sen nodded and said, "Let me get dressed."

Gaara nodded, got up and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

Sen sighed. I know he has trouble with emotions, but sheesh. She changed quickly and went to meet him downstairs.

Sen sat in the window sill behind Gaara's chair, watching the villagers begin their day. She sighed; the only sound in the office was the sounds of Gaara's writing and their breathing. Glancing out onto the street, she noticed a cloaked figure weaving through the crowd. She frowned. Had Gaara sent any ANBU on a mission? "Ne, Gaara?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you send any ANBU out recently?"

Gaara shifted a few papers around. "No, don't believe I have. Why?"

"Because I just saw someone in a cloak go past."

"Hn."

Matsuri sat in the window sill of the shop that belonged to her friend's family. She saw the cloaked figure weave past and frowned. Had Gaara-sama sent ANBU out recently? She looked up towards the Kazekage tower and saw Sen sitting in the sill watching the street.

Sen snapped her fingers and her wind picked up a piece of paper off of Gaara's desk and brought it to her.

"Sen, what're you doing?" Gaara said curiously, pushing his chair away from his desk and turning it so that he could look at her.

"Pen, please?" Sen answered, holding out her hand.

Gaara sighed and reached onto his desk to grab the pen and ink before handing them to Sen.

Sen took them with a 'thank you' and scribbled something onto a piece of paper she'd previously ripped into a few strips. She then whipped a kunai from her weapons pouch, spun it around in her hand and caught it deftly. She attached the strip of paper to the kunai and flinging it down into the streets.

Thunk! A kunai whizzed by Matsuri's face and buried itself in the wooden frame. Frowning, Matsuri pulled it out and unattached the paper from it. She unfolded the paper and read, Hey Matsuri, what's up? "Hey, Kora? Can I get a pen and some ink please?"

"Oh, so that's what you were up to," Gaara mused as he got up and moved so that he was leaning on the sill beside Sen.

"Yeah," Sen said as she caught the kunai as it came flying in between them.

Gaara didn't even flinch.

"I was getting a 'worm's eye view' as they say," Sen said as she unfolded the paper. "So she noticed too..." She scribbled something down on another strip of paper and repeated the process.

Gaara raised one eyebrow in curiousity.

"Matsuri spotted the cloaked figure as well. I told her to keep an eye out," Sen explained.

"Hn." Gaara took the pen from Sen's hand and went back to his work.

A few minutes later, Matsuri returned Sen's kunai.

Sen caught the kunai in midair, spun it around with her hand and replaced it in her pouch. She got up and moved around to lean against the wall, watching Gaara.

Suddenly, the knob twisted and both Sen and Gaara's attention snapped to the door.

The door opened and the same cloaked figure that Sen had spotted in the streets walked into the room, shutting the door behind theirself.

"Who're you?" Sen said quickly.

"Your chakra signature is familiar."

Sen froze and sucked in a breath.

Gaara's eyes shifted quickly to Sen before they moved back to the cloaked figure who was slowly starting to aggravate him. He was not in the mood to be aggravated today; full moon as it was, Shukaku was already getting bitchy. "Who are you?"

"Oh, surely you know me, Kazekage-sama." A long, thin hand came up and pushed the hood off. "After all, you know Granny Chiyo."

Sen swallowed hard.

As the hood fell back, it revealed red hair, almost like Gaara's, but brighter, and beautiful chocolate brown eyes and a child-like face.

Sen kicked herself mentally. She hated to admit it, but his eyes were pretty nice.

"Akasuna no Sasori," Gaara said.

Sasori smirked. "Right, and I know you, but..." He lifted his hand and chakra strings shot out, attaching to Sen's chin, neck, and body, and pulled her closer. He twitched a finger and moved her chin upward a tad. "I don't know you. Name?"

Kyaah! It's too short. But I wanted to end it here. Ah, well. So, where will it go from here? Find out in Chapter 17.