1,635Sakura could tell that something was amiss when a sudden hush fell over the medic camp's section. The last time a similar incident happened, it involved a visibly agitated Kazekage storming into her tent to steal her away in front of Matsuri. That did her no favours with whom she assumed was the most ardent admirer in his fanclub, and it was not an incident that she wanted to see repeated anytime soon.
Then again, the rumour mill had spun so out of control that a simple gossip about Gaara whisking her away would seem tame by comparison.
The flare of familiar chakra outside her tent told her to expect that exact same guest today, and she glanced quickly at the middle-aged civilian woman who came to her with complaints of chest pains.
"Is something the matter, Haruno-san?" The woman asked when Sakura's silence stretched long enough for it to be obvious that she was distracted. Her hands that she had left hovering over the woman's samue-covered chest probably gave her away as well.
She could not turn away the Regimental Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces, not when she did not know the reason for his visit. "Kikyou-san, please excuse me, but Kazekage-sama is here. I can't let him stand outside…"
"Oh, by all means Haruno-san, we must bade him to enter!" Her patient reached up to tuck her fringe behind her ear while sitting up a little straighter in her chair.
Oh, stars. There are cougars in his fanclub.
She knew that she should not be surprised by that revelation. Even the most clinical assessment of the Fifth Kazekage would proclaim him a very striking young man, with his blood-red hair framing a pale complexion and an arresting jade-green stare. He held himself with the easy grace that only a high-level shinobi could muster, and he gave off the airs of someone far wiser than his years in the way he spoke and his mannerism. After all, he was the man whom the War Council chose as their field general, relying on his magnetic charisma to lead their troops into battle.
The pink-haired kunoichi mentally facepalmed; she should not be waxing lyrical about Gaara, no matter how much truth there was in her observations. Sakura cringed inwardly before she schooled her features into obedience to call out, "Please come in, Kazekage-sama."
When Gaara entered, the first thing he did was to nod towards her patient to apologise for the interruption before tilting his head towards Sakura. Kikyou tittered bashfully at the gesture, and Sakura felt the muscle in her jaw tic.
Fortunately, Gaara did not seem to pay her patient any mind. Instead, he turned his full attention towards the pink-haired kunoichi sitting in front of him and said, "It is dinnertime, Haruno-san. I've been informed that you've not been very punctual with your meals lately. I would be remiss in my duty as your commander if I did not ensure you are well-fed."
He waved a hand behind his shoulder, and that was when Sakura noticed a floating ball of sand behind him. There was no telling the contents inside of it, but Gaara's prior words gave her a very good hint. With the way that he called out her sometimes sporadic eating habits, coupled with the fact that he already had what she assumed was their dinner with him, there was no way she could refuse him without coming off as ungrateful.
The hint of a smile on Gaara's face said that he knew exactly what he was doing, too.
Kikyou's eyes widened slowly in understanding as she covered her mouth with her hand, doing a very poor job of hiding the knowing smile behind it. "You must go with Kazekage-sama, Haruno-san! Don't keep him waiting!"
Biting back a sigh of frustration, Sakura deliberately turned her seat to face the woman and handed her a slip of paper. "Your illness today is a result of stress. It's not serious enough to warrant any medical intervention, so here is a list of simple exercises you can do each morning and evening to help relieve muscle tension. The kitchens may have some camomile tea available that you can try taking at night as well."
The woman took the sheet of paper from Sakura and folded it in half before brazenly tucking it into the neckline of her traditional top. She had lifted back her clothes more than decency dictated as appropriate in doing so, but if it was an attempt to flash the Regimental Commander, she had woefully failed; Gaara only had eyes for one woman in the tent right now.
Muttering her goodbyes, Kikyou walked past Gaara to exit the tent, chest puffed out as she practically sauntered past. Fortunately, she at least had the good sense not to touch him as she did so, the tales of his protective sand leaping to his defence no doubt dissuading most of his admirers from such endeavours. Before the tent flap fell back into place, Sakura was already busy tidying up her workstation, stacking folders neatly for the sand-cat to carry back to the archives.
"Did you have a trying day?" Gaara inquired politely, noticing the slight pinch between her eyebrows.
Sakura turned to face him, her expression replaced by one of mild confusion. She shook her head. "Rough day?"
"Yes, that was what I asked."
Sakura smiled, "Colloquially, most people would just ask if I had a "rough day". You speak such a mouthful at times, Kazekage-sama."
"A force of habit, I have to admit. I'm not fond of these meandering speech patterns myself, but it does buy me time to formulate my thoughts. A Kage cannot afford to slip up and say or do something inappropriate after all." Gaara watched her rise from her chair, dusting invisible dust motes off her thighs as she did so. The way her soft pink locks split forward and cascaded over her fringe made his fingers twitch with an urge to tuck them back behind her ears for her. "Such as right now."
"Huh?" Emerald-green eyes glanced up at him as Sakura straightened herself.
He merely shook his head and waited for Sakura to walk up to his side before he turned to leave the tent, holding the flap open for her to exit ahead of him. Sakura waited in place for him to walk ahead, but instead of stepping ahead of her as his position required him to, he levelled a quizzical look at her.
It was now a widely-accepted fact among his men that he was involved with his personal medic, and while Gaara decided not to hide the evolution of their relationship, he did not want to contribute to the reconstruction of the rumour mill either; he would not be making any overt romantic gestures in public anytime soon, but at the very least he wanted Sakura to be presented as his equal to others, and that required her to walk beside him instead of behind him.
Meanwhile, Sakura was very much aware of the pairs of eyes on her as they walked through the camp in the direction of their tent. It was a little after dinner hours, and most of the shinobi were milling about as they prepared to unwind for the day. That meant a good number of idle shinobi and kunoichi alike were there to witness the Regimental Commander and his personal medic walking together.
Gaara unconsciously bumping the back of his hand lightly against hers repeatedly was not helping matters at all, the unexpected contact making her skin goosepimple heatedly in response.
Stars, is he trying to tell the army something, fetching me and walking me back instead of teleporting us with his sand like always? Did he finally decide to take my reminders about not to waste his chakra seriously after all this time?
"Has there been an uptick in stress-related cases lately, Haruno-san?" Gaara abruptly asked.
Not expecting such a question from him, Sakura found her attention effectively torn away from the whispering kunoichi's watching them and she replied after a brief pause, "Mostly among the civilian population. It has been close to eight months since the war started, and a lot of them are missing their families and homeland."
There was no need to mention the stress levels of the shinobi army - everyone knew it was off the charts. Months of sleeping with one eye open in case a friend turned out to be a White Zetsu clone, followed by the resurrection of dead friends and foes alike with Edo Tensei. And just when everyone had a chance to breathe during the Regimental Commander's birthday celebrations, the relief was quickly overtaken by Madara's destruction. It was too simple to describe everyone's nerves as frazzled; most of them were close to being burnt-out, if not already so.
Gaara did not reply, though she did register the brief furrowing of his brows. It was such a minute gesture that had she not been so familiar with him for months that it would have escaped her notice.
Perhaps Akatsuki had planned for this all along - to wear their mortal army's morale down to raw nubs while they took their time nurturing the Jyuubi, tossing cannon fodders of White Zetsus and undead shinobi in for good measure. If their goal had been to rob their army of the will to fight, Gaara was not above admitting that it was a job they had succeeded in accomplishing. They had to push for a confrontation before their manpower and supplies dwindled down to nothing, and he hoped that his meeting with the Hokage would result in that.
Returning his attention to Sakura, he pitched his voice low enough that only Sakura heard, "And you, Haruno-san?"
"I've had help." Sakura's too breezy-sounding reply prompted him to turn to face her even as he kept his pace up.
She was always so alluring whenever she blushed.
Unexpected, but a good sign, Gaara concluded.
There was no aura of awkwardness that lingered between them like the day when he first bared himself to her. The young man had been concerned that Sakura would be suffering from a bout of shyness after what had transpired between them last night, but Sakura being able to make reference to it implied that no such feelings held her back.
"I'm glad to hear that." There was a slip of smirk on his lips that he could not prevent emerging, and it was fortunate that no one - including Sakura - saw it.
She heard it in the tone of his voice, anyway. And it was only due to her sense of decorum that she chose not to openly elbow him in the ribs while blood rushed up the back of her neck to the stirring of wicked memories.
Once they were cocooned in the privacy of their tent, Gaara went to his table right away to clear a space. Meanwhile, Sakura took her flak jacket off, coaxing Katsuyu out of her collar before placing it over the foot of her bed. The slug summon observed Gaara's action with interest, tentacles waving languidly as she watched scrolls and documents be tucked away by tendrils of sand. How strange it was to see the Kazekage put away his work so early in the day.
The answer to her curiosity came in the form of the sand sphere lowering itself onto the empty table, and sand granules trickled back into Gaara's gourd to reveal two black bento boxes stacked upon each other. Sakura was off at the other side of the tent, no doubt busy brewing some tea. There was not much else for him to do after concluding his usual precautionary tests for poisons and setting out the cutlery. He continued to stand while observing Sakura work - like a doting husband waiting for his wife to arrive before allowing himself to be seated.
Very gentlemanly, Katsuyu noted with reluctant approval.
"Katsuyu-san, I have some vegetables for you." Gaara's voice caught her attention, and the slug slithered over to the table. He had taken a small plate out from one of the boxes and set it next to Sakura's, and Katsuyu took in the sight of the medley of stewed greens.
"I appreciate this, Kazekage. But I don't require actual sustenance," Katsuyu waved a tentacle at the table setting and spoke a little louder, "Unless this is a bribe?"
There was a quiet squeak as Sakura almost dropped the entire bag of tea leaves onto the floor, but both man and slug paid her no mind. Instead, Gaara nudged the plate closer to Katsuyu.
"It's nothing of that sort. I observed that you were eating the vegetables out of the broth Sakura made several weeks ago. Forgive me for being an inadequate host for not offering you food in the prior months, though, am I correct to assume that you can eat for pleasure?"
"We have never seen each other at mealtimes, Kazekage. You were not required to play the part of a good host. With that being said, I ate those vegetables because Sakura didn't want to eat them herself - some silliness about not wanting to make you feel left out when you couldn't have solids."
A little bubble of warmth formed suddenly in the centre of Gaara's chest at realising Sakura's great consideration for him, and the lingering silence from her direction told him that Katsuyu had just divulged information she considered embarrassing. Katsuyu must have caught onto this. Moments after the sand-cat entered the tent, she slithered up to it to whisper into its ears. Two ear flicks later, it turned around and walked out of the tent closely followed by Katsuyu.
Gaara could have sworn that the slug had bestowed a particularly pointed look upon him just before the tent flap closed.
At least Katsuyu knew how to read a room, though. The same could not be said for half his army.
When Sakura returned, tea tray in hand, he waited for her to place it on the table before he reached for her hand. Clasping her fingers in his hand, he drew them close to kiss her knuckles, muttering against the softness of her skin - "Thank you, for taking such good care of me."
"Thank you for the meal," Sakura offered up quietly as a response, and Gaara had to bite back a laugh at the betraying blush on her face.
She was surprised when Gaara moved behind her. When she saw his hands placed on the sides of the backrest, his intention became clear.
"I have enough strength to move my own chair, you know," she groused without any real heat in her voice, turning her nose up in mock indignation even as she allowed Gaara to push her chair forward for her after she had lowered herself onto it.
His response was a quiet chuckle. "I know you are a very capable kunoichi, Sakura. But at least give me a chance to spoil you every now and again."
Turning her attention to the bento so that she did not need to put up with Gaara's efforts to make her blush, Sakura was delighted to see two onigiri with a distinct red ball in the middle of each.
"Umeboshi! I haven't had them in ages!" She gleefully picked one up and immediately took an enthusiastic chunk out of it, only just remembering to adjust the size of her subsequent bites before she ended up throwing out all her social graces in front of Gaara.
He could not resist smiling at her eagerness, grateful that she was enjoying her meals instead of just going through the process of feeding herself mechanically as he had caught her doing a few times in her medic tent. Gaara was about to start with his own dinner when Sakura interrupted him as she eyed the plate of vegetables next to her, "Where did Katsuyu-sama go?"
"I believe she decided to make herself discreet for the rest of the night."
It took a few moments for the words to register for Sakura, and when they finally did, her reaction was to slowly lower the onigiri back into the box.
"Is everything alright?" Gaara asked, concerned by the abrupt stillness of the woman before him.
Sakura reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose as she shook her head, eyes closed as she murmured, "I'm trying not to die from embarrassment, Gaara."
Well. At least Katsuyu did not get an eyeful of anything this morning. But the slug summon's actions tonight heavily implied that now that the dam had been broken, she had accepted that there would be no shortage of repeat performances in the days to come. With both the sand-cat and Katsuyu missing, there was no mistaking their assumptions (and hesitant approval) on what Gaara and Sakura were planning to do.
"Eat. You need to keep your strength up."
Such a simple command should not make her flush to the tips of her hair, causing her skin to blend in with the shade of her locks. Sakura glared towards him, trying to look stern against the colour on her cheeks. Gaara's cunning smile told her that he knew exactly what he was doing with his choice of words.
"You know," Sakura began as she picked up her half-eaten onigiri once more, "Before you even rallied the troops with your speech, the whole army was already abuzz with how we were knocking boots."
Making Gaara almost choke on a piece of fish was not her intention, but it was strangely satisfying to see him flustered.
"The rumours began that soon? But I had told the shinobi since the first day that you would be serving in the capacity of my personal medic very explicitly."
While a Kage's word was law in their village, Gaara was quickly enlightened to the fact that it did not apply outside of his own. "It must have caused you a lot of undue stress, to be subjected to such rumours back then." The Kazekage looked morose at the idea.
"At first it did," she confessed, then quickly added, "Not that I'm ashamed or anything, but I was enlisting to serve as a medic-nin for the war, not have my role reduced to 'The Regimental Commander's Playmate' by your fanclub."
"The Hokage has caused us both headaches with your new assignment. However, I know your skills are far more useful on the field than in the camp, which was why I had assigned you on so many missions in the first few months. I had hoped that they would temper the rumour mill, showing everyone that you are far more valuable to our cause then they assumed."
"And I am very grateful for it. I just hope that now things have progressed between us, you will not become too protective of me and will continue to send me out into the field."
"Sakura," he stood up, appetite now lost as he walked around the table to stand beside her, "Is something bothering you?"
He bent down to rest on his knees, taking one of her hands into his as he came to eye-level with her clavicle. The kunoichi before him had a far-off look on her face, and it took Gaara running both his thumbs over the palm of her hand to bring her attention back to him.
Sakura shook her head as if to dislodge an unpleasant stray thought. "It's nothing, really. Just… call it a gut feeling?" She reached out with her other hand to lightly caress the kanji on his forehead, memorising the dips and ridges as her fingertips glanced over each stroke. "There's something electric in the air right now. As if there is something big approaching. Something dangerous."
What a silly thing to say, she thought to herself. Every single day in a shinobi's life is wrought full of danger.
It did not explain the sudden void that seemed to have materialised in her abdominal cavity, swallowing up all her nerves only to chew them and spit them back up to form a cage of barbs around her heart.
If Sakura was a civilian, Gaara's initial instinct would have been to reassure her that the shinobi of the village would take up arms to protect her, as was the way of all the Hidden Villages - to defend those who cannot so that their ways of life could continue.
As it was, Sakura was not a civilian, and neither was she a mere chunin, no matter what her rank was on paper. She was the apprentice to a Legendary Sannin and the current Hokage, a young woman whose skills at manipulating chakra was so advanced that when Tsunade first took her on, the Sannin was all but certain she would be surpassed in a matter of years and not decades.
Was she reading his leftover emotional spikes from his War Council meeting? Could she tell that pieces were being put into play even as he tried to give her a sense of normalcy with a quiet dinner together?
"The War Council is making plans to push for an assault on the Jyuubi. Right now, it is hidden away, being nurtured to its full strength by Akatsuki. Things will be coming to a head soon." He continued smoothing his thumbs over her palm, trying to reassure her even as his own doubts ate at him. "There will be terrible losses, whether we succeed or not. And I would be lying if I said I would willingly send you out to the frontlines for that."
Silence hung between them as Sakura's fingers stilled, and Gaara suddenly found it difficult to meet her vivid emerald-green eyes. He could feel the tension coming off in waves from her, and biting back a curse, he said, "Nevertheless, you are still Haruno Sakura - senior medic-nin in the Allied Shinobi Forces. You said you are mine, but I know I can't keep you from your sense of duty, nor can I wall off your heart from the plight of others. We will go into battle together, and I will always be by your side no matter what happens."
"You are so presumptuous at times, promising to be beside me."
Gaara lifted his head, taken aback by her words; was he being refused? Did she find his earnestness too much to bear?
His answer came when Sakura brushed back the fringe from the centre of his forehead, and she bowed forward to press her plush lips against him. When she drew back, he could feel the warmth from her touch bleeding under his skin, the heat travelling down to his cheeks and neck as he took in the solemn look on her face.
"Have you ever considered that it is a two-way street, and that I will protect you as well? You may be the appointed protector of your shinobi, but that doesn't mean I can't come to your aid, either. When you confront Madara, I expect to be right next to you this time. No more pushing me away." She finished with a teasing poke against his kanji, and it was impossible to swallow the small giggle that resulted from his bewildered look.
Tightening his grip on her hand, he bent forward and placed a fervent, lingering kiss on the back of her hand. With each breath he took, he would pull back slightly, only to descend upon her hand a little higher each time. Until he finally reached the bend of her wrist, and that was when he turned her hand over so that the pale inside of her forearm was presented to him. Gaara curled two fingers against the faint impression of the veins underneath, a soft hum at the back of his throat as he studied her racing pulse.
Sakura had to resist the urge to yank her hand back the entire time he was placing his lips on her, his gesture making her blood run hotter with each passing moment. His focused examination of the inside of her wrist combined with his strong grip was starting to unnerve her, and she made a half-hearted attempt to push his questing fingers away.
"Gaara?" She finally dared to venture.
There was awe in his voice when he finally answered her, "With all the sins to my name, I've never thought it possible to find someone like you. I had always thought that I'd be subjected to the will of my council to marry, and perhaps they would eventually find a woman whose shoulders would not bend from the weight of my crimes. I dared not burden you with the depths of my admiration for so long, because I didn't want your good name tainted alongside mine. And yet, you still chose me."
She carefully slid to the floor, resting her weight on her splayed-out legs as she shifted closer to him. And though he kept his hands wrapped around hers, he gave her enough leeway to manoeuvre both her hands to his cheeks, trapping fire in her touch.
"Sabaku no Gaara, you are a man with a heart bigger than you can ever comprehend, and you are the greatest shinobi I know so dearly," she angled her head, locking her gaze with his as he finally turned loose of her to slide his hands to her hips. She could feel him trembling minutely through her clothes, and the ache he betrayed in his eyes made her own heart squeeze painfully. Sighing quietly, she leaned forward to press their foreheads together, words weighing heavy on her tongue as she said, "You have done more to redeem yourself for violence you've never consented to be a part of, and you care more for this world than yourself. You even died willingly for the people who hated you, because your heart was never lacking in compassion."
For a brief moment, the vision of the Fifth Kazekage's lifeless body lying before her three years ago came into her mind's eye; Naruto's anguish and her own sadness, she could still taste sourly on her tongue. Tsunade had kept abreast of the young Kage's achievements soon after his inauguration, and Sakura was often there to peruse those reports eversince the Hokage got a bug in her brain to train Sakura as an inter-village diplomat. That was before Shikamaru asked to take on that role instead, but the pink-haired kunoichi made it a point to stay informed on the happenings in other villages all the same - knowledge of current affairs in the foreign lands was a boon to a Kage's apprentice after all.
The reports from both official and unofficial channels have been nothing short of glowing. For an ally village-turned traitor-turned ally once again, Gaara had worked tirelessly to redeem the good name of Suna and his shinobi. At times she had felt inadequate, watching from what she felt was the sidelines as he made measurable betterments to the world.
So when she learnt from a village three days' journey away that Gaara had been taken by Akatsuki and his demise all but certain, she was ready to storm into Tsunade's office to demand to be placed on a team to assist Sunagakure in retrieving their Kazekage. It was a good thing she was summoned for that exact mission before she made a complete fool of herself.
It was easy to see that Gaara had been in her good graces long before their reunion three years after the disastrous Chunin Examinations. She had looked upon him as a good man and a strong leader, and when it became clear to them both that they felt what was beyond mere friendship for each other, it was effortless to let their hearts lead them into something deeper.
"Gaara, I…"
She could not finish her sentence, biting down on her lip stubbornly as her brain steadfastly reminded her of how disastrously her singular confession had gone; of how lonely it had left her.
Gaara's fingers dug a little harder into her flesh before they turned into a soothing gesture of rubbing circles, and he nudged his nose against hers, a tight exhale fanning over her lips as he breathed through his mouth his heart's answer.
"I love you, Sakura."
Sakura let out a breath that she did not know was captive in her lungs, and when she blinked at him, it was to take in the radiance from his heartfelt gaze. She took in one, two, three deep breaths, and finally she found her voice.
"I love you, too."
When he leaned forward to seal his lips against hers, his movements were tempered and unhurried. He sighed his love past her parted lips, and swept devotion against the returning push of her tongue with his. The sharp tang of salt from her meal mingled with the spice in his, making the taste between them that much more distinct.
"Sakura. Sakura." He chanted her name like a prayer, tasting her affections and swallowing them back like a man dying of thirst or hunger. Perhaps both. Years of living both as a feared and guarded man, and all his defences came tumbling down for this wisp of a kunoichi before him.
Oh, how he adored her with everything that he had to give.
He reached up to brush his fingers against her cheek, then slid them around the back of her head just as his other arm shifted to rest against the small of her back. Soon Sakura found herself pulled flush against his torso, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering wildly against the warm press of his abdominal muscles that transmitted even through the layers of vest and robe on him.
Gaara grunted as he pulled his arms back, though he continued to stroke his tongue to hers. There was a brief frenzy of twisting limbs as he fought against the buckles on his vest, one arm coming back to greedily encircle Sakura even before the vest could hit the ground as he finally shrugged it off. His other arm was already working on the topmost button of his robe as he angled his head to lick deeper into her complying mouth, tasting her unique sweetness that left him light-headed and craving.
Sakura's lust-addled brain took a little longer to register what was happening, and it was the sight of his crimson robe hanging off his biceps, baring his throat and shoulders, that kick-started her into action.
Silently, she rose to her knees, and the action caused the wild beast in front of her to shudder to a halt. The redhead's chest was heaving, taking in deep lungfuls of air that betrayed the longing in him for her. He watched with curious eyes as Sakura rose over him, her right hand pressing into his shoulder to convey her wishes. Gaara let himself fall backwards, first onto his elbows, then slowly allowing his core to unclench so he finally drifted to rest against the floor. The carpet scratched against the back of his neck and scalp, and the awareness of his now-vulnerability was magnified against the sensitivity of his skin.
The kunoichi continued to hover to him, having shifted up so that she was resting her hips just above his. She continued to stay silently above him, tilting her head as if considering something. Gaara gave her a few moments to come to whatever decision she was making; but what patience his mind was generous to grant, his body was not.
"Sakura," Gaara panted out, glad that his voice did not quiver, "Kiss me."
When she finally bent forward, he automatically closed his eyes, lips parting in anticipation of her touch.
What he did not expect was for Sakura to duck her head at the last moment to press an almost timid kiss against the underside of his chin, and he did not swallow his groan in time. The sound he emitted was so foreign to her ears that she almost jerked backwards in surprise. Fortunately, Gaara already had his hands secured to her waist to keep her from pulling away, and the enthusiastic buck of his hips under her was all the proof she needed that her action was welcomed, perhaps even desired.
The next kiss she placed a little lower, just under his Adam's apple that bobbed in an audible swallow. Softly.
The next one was on the notch between his clavicles, and she could taste the sweat that was gathering on his skin. Gently.
And the next was placed against his heart, over the interwoven chainmail of his mesh shirt that made him taste like iron and want on her lips. This one she lingered on, flicking her tongue against the heated flesh underneath her as her own body trembled from being drenched in his masculine scent.
A tug on the hem of her shirt, and Sakura looked up to see Gaara watching her with the ferocity of a man who had battled demons and won, and he was ready to embark on a rather different sort of fight now. His skin was flushed from his mounting hunger, and the manner in which he stared unblinkingly at her was starting to hypnotise her.
Another tug, and Gaara outright growled with impatience.
It would be far better for her nerves to just get it over with, so Sakura reached for the bottom of her shirt with both hands, sitting straight up as she did so.
And her cunt connected wonderfully against the proof of his ardour for her.
She managed to get two eager grinding of her folds against the bulge in his pants before Gaara sat back up, drawing his knees up at the same time to keep her trapped and riding against his cock. Large hands covered hers and helped her complete the task of removing her shirt, and the sight of the breathless, breasts-bound kunoichi on top of him made Gaara swallow hard.
In stark contrast to the fervour of his previous gesture, Gaara lifted his hand and dragged his fingers down the expanse of her neck to rest against her covered sternum, clicking his tongue as he said, "You won't be wearing this in Suna."
Sakura discovered that she was still capable of speech when she screwed up her face in displeasure and replied, "I cannot be in your bed all day doing nothing, Gaara."
It was a lovely image, and Gaara told her so with a heartfelt kiss before pulling back to explain himself to the suddenly irritated kunoichi saddled on top of him. "No, I mean that you'll overheat from wearing so much of such a restrictive binding. You will want to wear something that lets more of your skin breathe unhindered, and made of natural material, such as cotton…"
He bent to tug her earlobe between his teeth, pausing when she froze up at the touch of his tongue against her. Pulling on the knot on her back that held her binding together seemed to awaken her, and Sakura came back to herself just in time to hear him whisper lewdly, "... Or silk. You'd look absolutely ravishing, and it would be the perfect gift to unwrap at the end of each day."
That earned him a light smack in the middle of his chest.
"Is that why you tried to give me mulberry silk for my birthday? You're expecting me to have sets of lingerie tailored to your exact preferences? Do you have any other kinks that I should know about?" There was mirth in her tone as she realised the levels of scheming the Kazekage could come to.
Perhaps that was not his intention when he first mentioned that extravagant idea of a gift (it was a seed planted through his bickering with his Daimyo, whom he did not want to think about at this crucial moment), but Gaara suddenly found himself making a mental note to acquire several dozen bolts of the finest silk to be presented to Sakura once the timing was right.
"My preferences don't matter." The knot fell away under his fingers, and the bindings immediately slackened around Sakura's chest. "You are breathtaking no matter what you choose to wear. Or not."
Oh, he was getting audacious.
Between the two of them they worked off Sakura's complicated breast bindings, and the eagerness in which Gaara displayed as he cupped her breasts before the bindings were completely off made a surge of heat race through her.
"While I understand the practicality of less chest… movements when you are on a mission, you do realise you are doing a disservice to yourself by hiding something perfect of yours away, right?" He quirked an invisible eyebrow at her, and the knowing smile on his lips belied his true thoughts on the matter. He had seen the way she regarded some of the more endowed members of his fanclub, and in view of his recent enlightenment of her assets, was confused by why she needed to think so poorly of herself. As it was, she was an exact handful for him right now to cup and caress.
"Can we not talk about my breasts right now?" She was starting to feel really awkward, and Gaara was no help in the way that he was looking right into her eyes while he massaged her breasts with both hands; there would be no hiding every single thrill that he gave her with his touch.
"Ok," he agreed, and he bent forward to guide a perked nipple into his waiting mouth.
He alternated between drawn-out laps and quick licks, tasting every part of one breast before finally shifting to the other. One hand he kept busy on the breast that he did not have in his mouth, rubbing and tugging lightly on her nipple to both tease and torment.
The way Sakura was unconsciously rocking harder against his length with each wet swipe of his tongue told him he was on the right track. Her arms wrapped tightly around his head - barely preventing her soft moans from reaching his ears - was probably a good hint as well.
A glancing of his teeth against her areola, and oh, she was gasping and shoving herself down on him now. Pressing the most feminine part of herself against in a way that suggested how far she was willing to go, and all he needed to do was ask.
With the distraction of his mouth and groping hand, it was only due to her years of training that Sakura registered his free hand brushing against the front of her pants, the touch hampered by the fabric between them. She released one arm from squeezing painfully around him, and her hand fell over his right hand to drag it up to the hem of her pants.
"Please," she whimpered, trying clumsily to push his fingers where she wanted them to, her own grinding against him a terrible distraction from her goal.
She heard the sharp inhale that Gaara took against the top of her breast before his fingers dug past the hemline to quest downwards, slipping easily into her undergarments in the same move.
The first glancing of his fingers against her curls made her swallow in anticipation, and she shuddered out her want. Her sudden bout of shyness prevented her from guiding him further, and her hands slipped back up to his jawline to cup his face and pull him into a breathless kiss. That left him in the position of fumbling blindly, long fingers trailing molten heat in their wake as he curled and twisted and finally…
Wet. She was already so wet, soaking his fingertips and providing for him the clue as to where she wanted him to touch.
The initial curling of two of his fingers inside of her, just barely slipping past the first knuckle, made her whimper so sweetly and cruelly in his ear that he had to mentally restrain himself from just tipping her backwards to grind on top of her like an impatient, savage beast.
Sakura huffing hotly against his cheek while she clutched the nape of his neck and fisted his hair was really distracting to his aim of pleasuring her, though. As it was, the angle that he was penetrating her from was awkward enough, allowing him only to thrust shallowly into her slit and not much else. She would find her climax eventually if he kept at it, but he also knew from last night that she very much appreciated the attention being paid to her clit.
Almost as if she was aware of the train of thought running through him, Sakura rose on shaking legs to straddle his lap, giving his hand easier access to her cunt. Her movement jostled his fingers out of her, and her whine of annoyance was quickly replaced by a surprised gasp as he dragged his drenched fingertips forward to press firmly against her clit.
A few focused rubs on her pearl had her mewling and writhing above him, and seeing her so lustful, her hips moving along to his rhythm - it all culminated in him arching forward to suck a possessive mark into each of her breasts as she whined and gripped his shoulders almost painfully.
"... Inside." She gasped against the crown of his head as he worried her nipples with his tongue and teeth, and he very much agreed with her suggestion.
It took a bit of manoeuvring to get his arm into the right position, and finally with his next thrust, he was able to nudge the pad of his thumb perfectly against her needy clit at the same time his fingers stroked up inside of her. The sudden contact made her gasp a little louder, and she surged forward with a whine of pure need…
… Just as there was a surge of chakra from the outside; the sand barrier on the inside of the tent shook and trembled, almost collapsing had Gaara not had enough sense left to strengthen it with a burst of his own chakra.
The way he took his hand back out of her - glaring in the direction of the disturbance as he placed a hand on her hip to hold her still and stop her unruly grinding against him - it left her feeling unreasonably cold all of a sudden. The irritated manner in which he was regarding the dent in his sand barrier, combined with his lack of an attempt to summon his gourd, told Sakura that whatever was happening right now was not a threat.
"Gaara?" She ventured, legs quivering from a mixture of shock and lust.
She should not be feeling another spike of heat watching him as he sucked his fingers into his mouth to clean the evidence of her pleasure off of himself. Still glaring in the direction of the tent flap before he took one final lick of his fingers, he said, "Get dressed. It's Naruto."
Oh, she was going to kill -
Hold that thought. The Regimental Commander's tent was diligently guarded by ANBU, and while they have let his siblings enter his tent unmolested, a frantic Kyuubi Jinchuuriki attempting to tear into the tent would have ran into the business ends of their swords at the very least.
Where did his ANBU go?
Drawing several calming breaths, and finally conceding that she was going to be hopelessly aroused and flushed until she took a cold shower, Sakura decided to turn her attention to Gaara instead.
He had taken care to move out of her personal bubble of space to let her dress herself, and was busy doing up the buttons of his robe. She could see he was chewing his lower lip with his teeth as his fingers fumbled slightly on a few buttons, and there was no hiding the tell-tale curve of his erection even under the heavy weight of his robe.
What a sight they would both make, she decided dejectedly as she struggled to redo her bindings with trembling fingers.
She was stopped from fussing by Gaara placing his hand over hers, and he took hold of the end of the bindings. The way he held it up indicated that he wanted to help her with the task, but he abruptly turned his head towards the sand barrier; in the next instant, the loud thump of what she assumed as Naruto running yet again into the tent was muted by the sound of sand sliding agitatedly against each other.
"I don't think you have time to do this. If we don't meet Naruto right now, he's going to drop the entire tent on top of us both," Gaara reasoned as he plucked the strips of binding off her chest, and surely he did not just lick his lips as she was exposed once more to his gaze, right?
Still, there was no denying that Gaara was right in his assessment, and Sakura figured that with her flak jacket over her shirt, it would be impossible for anyone to see the outlines of her perky nipples.
Giving herself the once-over and satisfied that she looked somewhat presentable, Sakura nodded to Gaara. He turned to face the tent flap at her gesture and lowered the sand barrier around the interior of the tent, sand flowing gracefully back into his gourd.
"Sakura-chan!"
Yes, that was definitely Naruto. And the poor soul had no idea what he had interrupted, if the way he came charging in the instant the sand was lowered was any indication. The blond shinobi came to a halt in front of them both, glanced at them in confusion and bemoaned loudly, "I've been callin' ya outside for ages! What the heck were ya guys doing that ya needed so much privacy for?"
Oh, stars. Definitely clueless when it came down to it.
"We were trying to have a quiet dinner," Gaara replied smoothly, his right hand sweeping towards the table where their half-eaten bento boxes sat forgotten. Then as if noticing something on his fingers, he pulled his hand back towards his mouth and deliberately licked his thumb, pausing for one heated second to ensure that Sakura was watching before he did so.
That's it. She was going to die of the female equivalent of blue balls.
And he knew what he was doing, too, if the mirth in his somewhat darkened irises was any indication.
On the other hand, Naruto saw nothing amiss in the gesture. And Sakura belatedly recalled that on more than one occasion, she had to stop Naruto from taking off his jacket to lick up spilt ramen broth from it; He probably assumed that Gaara had some sauce left on his thumb or something.
Or something, indeed.
"Dinner? At this hour?" Naruto glanced in the indicated direction, then threw his hands up in a warding gesture, "Bah, that doesn't matter! Ya need to come with me, NOW!"
With Sakura's wrist caught in his hand, Naruto started to turn on his heels, almost dragging Sakura down to the floor with his momentum. She was stopped from an awkward faceplant when Naruto paused in his movement to snap his fingers at Gaara as if recalling something, "Gaara, ya better come along, too."
Gaara blinked at the request, still recovering from the whiplash of Naruto attempting to all but drag Sakura out of the tent with him. However, the air of urgency that surrounded Naruto, accompanied by the solemn expression he was sporting, told him that he should follow along. Uncertain of the situation that he was about to walk into, he quickly fastened on his vest and hoisted on his gourd. By the time he looked up, the tent flap had already fallen back into place and both shinobi were gone.
There were very few circumstances in the middle of a war that required such expedient actions, and only a handful of scenarios came to Gaara's mind. Biting back a curse, he bolted out of the tent and saw that both Sakura and Naruto had taken off in a sprint; to where, he did not know. All he knew was that he had been asked to follow, so he added a burst of chakra to help him catch up with them.
When he caught up to Sakura's pace and was able to see her profile, he was stunned by the abrupt change in her facial expression. Only a few moments ago she had been blushing and squirming on his lap (that image was not helping matters inside his pants right now), and right now she looked like a startled deer.
"What is going on?" Gaara demanded in as authoritative a tone as he could muster while still trying to maintain his calm.
Was someone hurt? Had Akatsuki come for them in the middle of the night? Had Kakashi bolted as the Hokage predicted?
Naruto's grim-set mouth and the hint of frustration between Sakura's eyebrows was all the answer he was going to receive; he knew he had to settle for seeing for himself what the commotion was about.
The source of their troubles was at one of the gates of their encampment, and as they drew closer, Gaara could see that a large number of ANBU were pressed together in a tight circle just past the wooden frame of the tall gate. It would explain where his own ANBU team went.
"Hey, let us through! I got Gaara and Sakura-chan here with me!" Naruto called out over the silent horde as they stopped a few metres away.
"Sakura? Naruto?"
A crisp, masculine voice resounded from the middle of the circle, and Gaara immediately felt his insides tense up in a burst of fury.
Meanwhile, Sakura was standing perfectly still, fingers spread in front of her gasping mouth as she answered, "Sasuke?"