A/N: Thank you so much for your kind reviews so far, they make updating so much fun! I hope you'll like this chapter, I sure liked writing it.

Temari really wasn't a meddling sort of person. She didn't appreciate other people butting into her business and she did other people the same courtesy. But seeing her brother this morning had her re-thinking her principle. Gaara's eyes hadn't been that cold in a long time and she recognized it as her little brother's favourite defence mechanism – complete emotional shut-down. She had no problem understanding where it came from after having grown-up with him and seeing how he was treated. She exchanged a glance with Kankuro and saw he'd recognized the look too. Kankuro motioned her over to the corner with a nod and as the Kages's strategy meeting began he whispered,

"The ninjas on night detail told me they saw that little researchnin from Konoha come out at around 2 a.m. She was crying, they say." Temari furrowed her brow as she went back to her position behind her brother. Gaara might think otherwise but she could easily imagine what had happened. She'd seen the Konoha nin's googly eyes directed at Gaara but hadn't realized the little researcher had been what preoccupied her little brother lately. Even if he was completely clueless when it came to these things, he had many female admirers but they mostly only cared for the fact that he was a powerful ninja and romanticized his quiet and cool demeanour. At least this one seemed to be interested in the real Gaara, not his hero status. If you sat at someone's sick bed after working a 16-hour shift in the medics tent you cared about someone. That had made her glad, that the Konoha ninja cared. She had never noticed Gaara returning any affection but he wasn't the most expressive of people. Maybe this…Sayuri, that was her name, had woken something in her brother, something she'd worried had been killed long ago. If he did like her then she could guess the turmoil stirring inside him. It might be time to interfere. How troublesome, she quoted to herself with a smirk.

POV

Sayuri had spent a sleepless night pacing asking herself lots of questions that started with "why". Why had she kissed him? Why had he kissed her back? And above all, why had he pushed her away? Had he realized the girl he was kissing was only a fairly plain-looking research ninja and not a long-legged kunoichi and didn't want to give her false hope? Or worse, did he only think of her as a friend? Had she been blinded by her own feelings, superimposing a fantasy on reality, a fantasy where she thought he had liked her, at least a little more than a friend?

Frustrated beyond belief she had thrown herself into work, had buried herself in it, frenziedly switching from project to project until there was no time left to think or feel beyond the next page, the next answer.

She had lost count of the hours that had passed from her getting up in the early hours of the morning when she was startled out of the haze by someone entering the tent unannounced. She looked up and saw Temari standing in front of her desk giving her the same kind of piercing look her brother often did. Was it some kind of patented family trait of intimidation? Suddenly Sayuri was aware of the fact that she had zipped her flak jacket over stripy pyjamas, pulled her hair back and secured it with a piece of string and probably looked as if she had been working as many hours as she actually had. Well, she had nothing to prove anymore, what did it matter if she looked like an overtired lunatic?

"You're in love with my brother, aren't you?" Shocked, Sayuri could only gape at the blonde. "I'm not much for beating around the bush, it's a waste of time. I love my brother so I'm acting as unbidden messenger. Listen closely, I'm only going to say this once, cause I hate betraying secrets." She walked up to the desk, placed her hands on it and leaned forward, "Gaara thinks that because of his past he doesn't deserve to be loved. I don't know how much you know about…before, but he thinks that if he's hurt again the monster will return. In a way he's protecting you by pushing you away. If you care as much as I think you do you need to find a way to get through to him, make him understand that he doesn't deserve to be alone."

"But he doesn't want me! I don-"

"-Have you been listening to a word I said? Of course he wants you, that's why he's hurting so much right now!"

"But…How do I…" Sayuri shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know. I know he doesn't think he deserves you, I guess it's time you prove you deserve him." She had been rejected once, she had lived, she could just as well do it twice. Besides if there was the slightest possibility Temari was right then…then she had a chance, didn't she?

"All right, I'll go see him."

"Good girl." Temari straightened up and turned towards the exit then stopped. "Are those the clothes you slept in?"

After changing into clean clothes and leaving the flak jacket behind at Temari's suggestion that it did nothing for women Sayuri was following in the stride of the kunoichi. Her palms were sweating and her heart was beating at twice its normal speed. The walk over during which she'd planned to think of what she should say seemed to take only an instant and suddenly she was standing in front of his tent with no more profound words in her head than when she'd left her desk. She felt like turning on her heel and run back to hide under it. But it seemed Temari was a mind reader and she grabbed Sayuri by the wrist and dragged her inside.

Gaara was sitting behind his desk, Kankuro was standing behind him and Kakashi and Shikamaru were standing facing him, turning as they heard the two women enter.

"Out.", Temari ordered in a manner that tolerated no objections. "Right now." Shikamaru was the first to move after rolling his eyes and – did she imagine it? – a hint of a smile directed at Temari, then Kakashi who sent her a cheery wink and lastly Kankuro who seemed reluctant but caved after Temari narrowed her eyes at him. Then she was suddenly alone with Gaara in the tent that seemed even smaller than ususal.

"Ah…I," she squirmed inwardly before she drew a deep breath, "I just thought I should answer your question from yesterday. Why I was there, I mean. When…when I look at you, do you know what I see? I see someone who has been through difficult times and come out a better person on the other side of it. I see someone who is strong and caring, someone who would listen to a junior researcher when her superior wouldn't. I see someone who is brave and unselfish, who treasures his friends and protects everyone around him. You might not see it, Gaara but it's not just me, everyone depends on you, you're the one that gives them hope. You're the one holding the Allied Forces together, not because you're the strongest fighter, but because they all know you'd gladly die in their stead if you could. Someone as loved as you can't be a monster, do you see?" She stepped closer to him and laid a hand on his cheek, turned his face towards her, saw a storm of emotions in his eyes. "Look at me. I'm in love with you. Do you think I could love a monster?" She heard him inhale sharply, saw his eyes look searchingly into hers and prayed that he'd find whatever answer it was he was looking for there.

"Say it again", his voice was a bit rusty but she knew what he meant, could read the uncertainty and the shimmer of hope in his eyes.

"I'm in love with you." Slowly, so slowly she could actually see it happening the armour seemed to dissolve, the coldness evaporate, the tension fade. Afraid to break the moment she hardly dared to breathe as he rose and closed the space between them, his arm wrapping around her waist. With his free hand he touched her face tenderly, almost reverently before he bent and covered her lips with his. Everything in Sayuri seemed to erupt into joy. She had heard of seeing fireworks when you kissed but she didn't see or hear anything spectacular, yet she understood what was meant by it. It felt like every cell in her body was exploding with joy, rushing into a heady mix of happiness and excitement. Her arms rose of their own accord to wind around his neck as he pressed her closer. He deepened the kiss and she could suddenly feel a different sort of headiness envelope her. She felt as if a volcano had started to simmer at her core, a building pressure with a great underlying heat. Every thought but the need to get closer was wiped out. Devoured by a need she had never felt before, didn't know she could feel she ran a hand through his hair as her other hand roamed over the taut muscles in his back. She felt rather than heard something like a groan escape him as it reverberated and hummed inside her own body. His arm around her waist tightened and then she didn't feel ground under her feet anymore. Before she had time to react he'd spun them around and set her down on his desk, then his mouth travelled from her mouth down her neck and she let her body take over from her mind.

In the dim light from the evening sky working its way through the tent fabric Sayuri's skin seemed to glow. She was curled up in his bed, her back towards him, fast asleep. He saw her ribcage rise and fall with every deep breath. Her hair was spread over the pillow behind her and the covers were slung low over her hips. He marvelled at how life could change in just a few hours. Merely hours before he'd been miserable and now he had Sayuri by his side. Sayuri who loved him, loved him for who he was, knew the good and the bad but apparently saw more of the good. He could hardly believe it. Gaara moved closer and let his arm slip around her waist. She mumbled something in her sleep that sounded remarkably like calculations and squirmed closer. He pressed a kiss on her shoulder and settled in behind her.

The signal woke him and he swore wholeheartedly. Why now? He stumbled out of bed as Sayuri sat up and blinked sleepily before realizing what had woken her up. She jumped out of the bed and started a frantic search for her clothes that would have looked ridiculous under any other circumstances. Quickly he dressed and stopped Sayuri's mad rushing about by grabbing her by the shoulders. She had only gotten as far as putting on her underwear and was clutching the rest of her clothes to her chest.

"I have to go. Stay in the camp." He saw the forlorn look that passed over her face but she nodded.

"Be safe. Don't…Don't get hurt. Please."

"I don't plan to", he gave her a quick smile, "I feel fairly invincible." She managed a shaky smile in return when Kankuro suddenly came bursting in.

"Gaara, why're you…Oh", he finished lamely as he spotted the moderately dressed Sayuri. "Sorry!" He backed out quickly with his face burning on his for once unmade-up face and Gaara couldn't help laughing. It was strange, on one hand his mind was fully aware of the situation at hand and he grasped the gravity of it but for the first time he was still able to laugh. This was all there was, they were at war and wishing it away wouldn't help. Seeing the moments of joy was what would help them survive.

"I love you, Sayuri." No one had ever really explained to him what love felt like, how you knew. He guessed the only explanation would have been – you just know. She looked away from frozenly staring at the spot where Kankuro had backed out. Her cheeks were the same shade as his brother's.

"I—What? What did you say?"

"You heard me. Put your clothes on." He gave her a peck and walked out. He felt ready to take on the whole clone army single-handedly. Adjusting his holster belt he left the tent. The Fourth Division had almost finished congregating outside and he nodded greetings to the faces he recognized. Then suddenly the hushed chatter faded into silence and Gaara looked up from tugging his holster belt into palce, were the clones here already? Everyone's gazes were fixed on something behind him and slowly he turned to see Sayrui who had stumbled out of his tent, her shirt not properly buttoned, her hair a tangled mess as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. He saw her look up and see the entire Fourth Division stare back at her and her mouth dropped open.

POV

In her rush to get to the medical tent she had used the front entrance to the tent not remembering that that was where the Fourth Division, Gaara's Division congregated on their way to the field. Now she stood, looking like she'd been doing what she had been doing, with the Kazekage in his tent, facing the several hundred ninjas under his command. The silence seemed to stretch before catcalls erupted somewhere in the back and spread forward through the unit. She winced, how stupid could she be? Then Gaara was suddenly next to her, taking her hand in his and pressing a kiss on the back of it.

"I'll see you soon", he said quietly and then turned back towards the cheering crowd, nodded and as one the whole Division set out, disappearing in mere seconds. Dumbfounded Sayuri stood for another moment before managing to shake herself out of the stupor. Okay, she had embarrassed herself yet again, it wasn't going to be the last time either, that was just who she was but what did it matter now? Gaara loved her.

THE END

A/N: There will be a sequel, just add me on author alert to see when! Hope you enjoyed this,

Sannikex