Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sound Sleep ❯ Backfired Plan ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Tsuyoku: Hey guys! Nice to have this chapter up and going. I must admit that I have been slaving away to write this for you with pen and paper in the middle of my classes. Lectures just aren’t enough to command my attention these days!

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Sound Sleep Chapter 11

“What the hell did you think you were doing? Tsunade yelled. “Going out to Suna—leaving Konoha without permission? What did you thing that was going to accomplish?”

The man was about to reply, but was cut off once more.

“And what if you screwed up and left some trace of yourself?”

He sighed, “Sakura—“

“Sakura Haruno is the reason for our alliance with Suna which is hanging by a thread even without your attempt to sabotage it!”

“Listen, you old bag, I just needed to check on her. Sakura’s letters to Konoha have gotten few and far in-between. I know I’m not the only one who misses her—you’ve been concerned, and I can see it.”

The blonde just sat behind her desk. She knew her aura was definitely fuming—enough to frighten the man in front of her. Tsunade felt her nerves calming with every sip of sake and every moment of quiet thinking. “And what did you see while you were there?” All anger aside, if he was able to tell her if Sakura was representing her country well, then it wouldn’t have been a completely worthless trip.

“Um, not much. I had found Sakura’s bedroom, but then…”

“My stomach growled.” As if on cue, a fairly loud roar erupted from the ninja’s stomach.

“Uzumaki!”

“Sorry, you old hag! That trip to Suna had burned off my lunch.”

“Please,” she started to say whole rubbing her temples, “tell me that you didn’t get caught because of that.”

The orange man scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I was so startled that I high-tailed it out of there.” Thankfully, Tsunade noticed his expression turn a little more serious as he continued. “I believe that someone noticed me. As I was leaving, I felt a presence behind me, but I left the area before I could be followed. Of that, I’m certain.”

Slightly relieved, Tsunade still felt a bit tense about the whole situation.

“You may go, Naruto. But I’m restricting you to Konoha and suspending you from missions until further notice.”

“What? You can’t to that!” His voice turned to whining once more.

“You’re dismissed, Uzumaki,” Tsunade said, not willing to put up with it.

She turned around at her desk and stared toward the window, tired of putting up with bad news for the day.

However, when Naruto failed to leave the room, Tsunade tensed once more.

“I thought you should know that when I tracked Sakura down, the room she was in was the one Gaara uses.”

Tsunade slowly turned to look at him. “Gaara uses a room?” Whatever happened to not sleeping? Why would that man need a room?

“Yes. Unless I am wrong, Sakura is sleeping in Gaara’s room. And he was in there with her—I sensed it.”

“Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“I was getting to it, but you were too busy yelling at me and taking my missions away!” He looked at her almost hopefully for a moment.

“For now, you’re still suspended, but we’ll think about it later.”

Naruto tried to insight more conversations from the blonde, but she tuned him out. It was about time to “check up” on Sakura, the Konoha Ambassador, and see what she’d been doing for Leaf while she was there.

“Sakura…” she wrote on a parchment.

The only sounds left in the room were the ink flowing onto the paper. At least Naruto had taken the hint.


Gaara had thought to keep all Sakura’s outgoing mail filtered through him, but Sakura had received Tsunade’s letter in a matter of hours. The pinkette lay on the soft ground in the garden area opening the message. For a moment when the letter had first been delivered to Gaara’s suite, she’d felt a little pressure on her chest thinking it was from Shino. Turning it around to find the Hokage’s seal had put that pain to rest, but Sakura couldn’t help but wonder when the bug man would reply to her. At the risk of Gaara coming in, Sakura retreated to the garden area. He rarely bothered her there.

She read Tsunade’s message. It was business-like, but the kunoichi could sense a sort of urgency in the way that it was worded—especially in the way she asked how Sakura was doing.

The young girl flipped onto her back with her arms to her side and felt the grass graze her elbows in a tickling sensation. While starting at the overcast sky, Sakura couldn’t help but ponder: how exactly was she?

Before Sakura could answer her own question concerning herself, a feminine voice called out.

“Haruno!”

Sakura turned sat up to greet Temari, who was approaching her with another girl Sakura thought she might recognize. “Hey Temari!”

“You’ve met Taki by now, I’m sure,” Temari said. “She works the front desk sometimes. But today I’ve asked her to spar with us.”

Sakura’s first impression was that this girl was very blue. Her hair was a dark brown, and the bright sky blue of her clothes matched that of her eyes. The tunic she wore over a standard black ninja garb was a large cry from what she’d been wearing the night before.

She actually looked like a ninja.

“I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced, Miss Haruno.”

“Sakura, please. Being called Miss Haruno makes me remember being back in school.” Her attention shifted to Temari, “so she’s sparing with us today?”

“Believe it or not, Sakura, Taki is one of Suna’s ninjas,” Temari said. “She’s one of the only girls, let alone ninjas, in Suna that can hold my attention in both conversations and battle. When there’s a lull in missions, Taki picks up her former position of managing the front desk of the Admin building. Gaara seems to trust her with the inner workings.”

For just a moment, Sakura felt just a little jealous. Gaara trusted this woman—even if it was with a simple job. The pinkette had comforted herself with the fact that Gaara never opened himself to trust any woman. It had been the reason she tolerated his comings and goings this whole time without trying to make any emotional contact on his part.

But now that she knew he might have the means to trust (and maybe one day respect) her, it was time she got under his skin. Then Gaara might actually give her a little bit of space—not likely—but if he was capable of caring—and if Sakura could make him care about her—then there was a slight chance he might take pity on her and let her go home.

Might work.

Since she really wasn’t doing anything else with her time, Sakura might as well give it a try.

“Sakura?”

The rosette blushed; she hadn’t been paying attention. And by the tone in Temari’s question, Sakura knew she'd missed something upon tuning them out.

“I said that we’re going to go first, if that’s alright with you. I haven’t fought Taki in a while. At least I might have a chance at beating her if she’s rusty from sitting at a desk this whole time.”

The brunette smirked and just walked a few paces away to take a fighting stance across from Temari.


Meanwhile, for the first time in weeks, the Kazekage was able to do a full day’s work without thinking about the kunoichi or being tired. He figured it was because of the deep sleep he’d had the previous night—at that was all, of course.

And, naturally, upon realizing that fact, his mind strayed to the girl, and he turned to the window overlooking the garden area.

That was her usual hideout during the day, today being no exception, he assumed because the weather was tolerable and the greenery that thrived there probably reminded her of Leaf.

His sister and Taki were fighting their usual battle where it was a 50/50 change of either winning. It was amazing that Taki had proved herself a worthy ninja and therefore elevated herself from being only a desk jockey full time. She could give Temari a run for her money any day of the week.

The pink-haired girl, however, sat off to the side eyeing the fight, but he noticed that she didn’t seem to be paying much attention. Rather, she was giving the illusion of being interested while her mind obviously wandered elsewhere. This, he could easily tell.

Not that he was in the habit of watching her.

Bits of sun managed to break through the trees and buildings highlighting her hair and skin as she sat cross legged and leaned back on her palms.

For a moment, Gaara was unable to break his placid stare. As excited as he was about getting sleep (even thought admitting it was out of the question) Gaara lamented not being able to experience their close proximity the night before.

The more I learn to tolerate her presence, the more curious I am about it.

It was an interesting thought.

He still hadn’t gotten to the bottom of how she was the only one Shukaku could tolerate, which was exactly why Gaara himself was completely and utterly obsessed with the idea. He knew what greed could do to someone, but what would happen if he pursued her further than he had the night before?

What state of mind would this woman put him in if he attempted more? If only sleeping next to her was able to give him the best sleep he’d had in… probably his whole life, Gaara wondered what might become of him if he actually went to the next step in their screwed up relationship.

Sakura, oblivious to Gaara, fingered Tsunade’s note hidden in her hand, which itched to write a reply to her mentor. Clouds passed frequently over the sun which could no longer warm her skin with its rays. A slight breeze picked up and chilled her skin, and Sakura no longer felt as comfortable as she had before. Tsunade was apparently worried about her, and what did she not have to worry about?

For one thing, she’d shipped off one of her favorite students to Suna, into the arms of the Kazekage, with no real reason as to why he was suddenly interested in having her. But she wasn’t able to argue with Tsunade. What other choice did the Hokage have but to submit to the overruling vote of the council?

And then there were the other nins she’d left behind in Konoha that were anxious, no doubt, about her stay in Suna. And it wasn’t only Shino, but Naruto and Lee, possibly even Ino in a small way.

The pinkette suddenly experienced a sickness in her stomach. She was unable to stay there and fight it like nothing was bothering her. Because something was bothering her—Tsunade’s letter.

Sakura stood up and quietly entered the building. Temari and Taki didn’t notice because of their fight. Gaara didn’t notice, for he’d resigned himself to his work for the rest of the day without interrupting himself to think about her. No one was even aware as the kunoichi sulked back to the Kazekage’s room and fell into the bed with her mentor’s letter tucked next to her heart.

And she slept past nightfall.

When Sakura woke up the sky was dark and the room felt hot and constraining. She had an idea of what time it was—it couldn’t have been too late because Gaara was not in the room. She crawled out of the bed and rubbed her hands over the damp clothes against her skin. Had she had a nightmare or something? Or was it just her body succumbing to the strong Suna heat?

“Bath…” she said. “That’s going to help.” It was the only thing she could think about doing at the moment.

And then she’d write a letter informing Tsuande about what was going on—at least an edited version. After all, would Tsunade or anyone even believe her if she tried to tell the truth?

As interesting as it was that she, and only she, was able to calm the demon inside of him, it wasn’t going to benefit her. Disclosing that would mean admitting that she’d actually spent the night in the same room as Gaara of the Sand, and she wasn’t going to be labeled as that “toy” of his.

And that thought alone was as chilling as the water she’d dumped over her head. It was cold, but that was just the way she needed it at that moment.


“Haven’t seen Sakura around most of the day,” Taki said.

Gaara, passing by the eating area, heard Taki’s comment and paused to wait for his sister’s reply. Temari sat calmly next to her. They were relaxing after their day of sparring no doubt.

“I know,” said Temari. “One moment she was sitting right there watching us, and the next she’s run off somewhere.”

“Just when I kicked your ass, too. I was looking forward to fighting with her if she’s able to handle you some days.”

“Yeah, she can be a handful.”

Gaara mentally scoffed. So true.

The Kazekage didn’t stick around to finish the conversations. But he kept thinking that maybe he should have kept an eye on her throughout the day like the demon inside him kept telling him to do. But the night was getting on. She might have retired to their room without anyone knowing.

“My room.” He corrected himself quickly. Just because she was a frequent inhabitant didn’t give her any free reign over his property.

But then again, he thought on opening the door, I could learn to live… with… her.

And there, in all her glory, in the middle of his bedroom, was a very nude Sakura.

It only took her a moment to note his presence, and for the first minute or two Sakura could only open and close her mouth as if she could not think of anything to say, and her hands—ever so slowly—raised the garment they were holding to cover the most basic of areas.

“What—what are you doing here?!”

“There rooms are mine, woman. I am free to come and go through them as I like. My rooms.” As Gaara said this, he couldn’t help but think about his comment earlier.

“Of course, if you wish to walk about in that state of undress, you may walk freely among these rooms as well.”

Sakura blanched disbelievingly but then scampered back into the bathroom to fully compose herself.

Gaara walked over to the bed and set his gourd down beside it before lying completely on top of the covers and waiting for her return.

There would be no way of composing herself after that.

“Oh my— What the heck just happened?” Sakura asked her reflection in the water she’d splashed on her face. Even Shino hadn’t seen that much of her!

Gaara, eyes closed, could almost hear her inner turmoil from his position. He wouldn’t outwardly smile, but the Kazekage wasn’t going to lie—that was a good sight to come home to. He tried to burn the image into the backs of his eyes for now.

Then it introduced another enigma: was there another reason besides sleep that he wanted to keep her there? This Sakura Haruno was able to puzzle him. As well as captivate him, if his reaction moments ago was any indication. In all his years, Gaara had never met a person that could simultaneously be useful as well as able to command his attention quite like this girl... It was frustrating, but at the same time kind of refreshing.

The only other woman had been Taki, and that was because of the no-bullshit attitude about her. But she and Sakura were on two different sides of the spectrum.

“C’mon Sakura,” she told herself. “You’re a kunoichi trained to be able to seduce strangers with your body. This can’t be any different!” She looked at the door between them.

“Damn it. It is different,” she whispered. “It’s different because it’s him. It’s Gaara.

Sakura mentally prepared herself for the teasing she was going to get once she opened that door and walked into the room.

But finally she managed to open it and walk out with her head as high as usual.

“Oh, you put clothes on?” He faked a sad face.

Sakura shot the Kazekage a death glare.

“Whatever. Not like you’re ever going to see that again.”

“We’ll see.” Gaara lay on the bed looking at the ceiling. He was aware without even looking at his kunoichi that her mouth was hanging wide open.

“How dare you! I wouldn’t get close to you naked if my life depended on it. In fact, I don’t think any woman would. You’re too screwed up in the head.”

Gaara didn’t say anything. Her words now, not to mention her letter to Shino that he’d read earlier were starting to get to him.

“In fact, I bet I’m the only women you’ve ever seen naked. Hope you got a good look because with the way you’re going, I’ll bet it doesn’t happen—”

He rose from the bed and stalked over to where she was standing by the bathroom door.

Sakura was unable to read the expression on his face, but he did not seem to be joking around any longer.

“For your information, Haruno, I have seen plenty of women in my time.”

As Gaara pushed her further and further toward the wall with his stare, he couldn’t help but notice how innocent she looked. She was out of her territory being this close to him and looked up at his tall frame with large eyes that weren’t so much afraid of him as they were curious.

But she didn’t feel as cocky as she had the night before. Would he try to touch her in the same way?

And knowing how it felt before, would she try and stop him?

Gaara actually swallowed as he looked at her and said, “but none of them were quite like you.”

The pinkette was just thinking about how cliché that sounded when he finally—and timidly she would add—lowered toward her lips. This was not like the other night. This was a completely different Gaara. Sakura could feel, finally feel the skin to skin contact of their lips. He grazed his tongue on her lower lips when she didn’t react. The taste of him wasn’t bad.

“Gaara… what are you doing?” Sakura questioned. She felt her mouth water a little, and the heat of his body radiated onto hers until she felt her cheeks and necks flamed.

“I think you know, Sakura,” he began.

Sakura wanted to shake her head and declare that she didn’t. But it was no use lying to the man. For all the misery that he had caused her in the last few months, there was something about this Kazekage that begged to be touched and wanted just like everyone else. Shukaku was able to pick up on his desire, and the demon knew that if anyone could be that person for Gaara, it was this healer.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Gaara had chosen Sakura just as Shukaku had.

The rosette could only tell you of the sensation of hands roaming over her waist, chest, neck—anywhere that Gaara could have put them. She remembered responding to his touches, battling his fervent tongue with her own.

She didn’t realize when he had maneuvered them in the opposite direction toward the bed, but once it hit the back of her legs Sakura fell back onto the plush like it was the most natural motion to do.

Gaara stood looking at her in all her beauty. Her pink hair splayed around her head contrasted beautifully with the cream of the bed spread. The pink of her cheeks effortlessly accented the mint emerald color of her eyes.

He stared down at her with an expression that she wasn’t able to read.

She sat up on her elbows, sending heated looks at him until he knelt on the floor between her parted legs.

Her emotions sobered up a little. The woman pushed her body toward the edge of the bed until she could grasp his face in her small, capable hands and send silent questions his way.

“No matter how hard I try I can’t seem to explain why I feel that way I do when I’m around you.

“You have this power—this bewitching spell over me.” He leaned forward to land small, punctuated kisses over her collarbone and neck as he spoke.

Sakura sat very still, enjoying his affections but for the most part she didn’t want to interrupt Gaara. He had never been this intimate with her before, and it was as if he was speaking to himself rather than to her.

“I am thankful for the sleep that you give me.” Gaara felt calm as he was pouring his mind out for her, no doubt a symptom of her power.

Another kiss on her jaw.

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” Gaara remembered the earlier image of her nude body and the image of her body laid out on the bed not minutes before.

Another kiss on her cheek.

“I’ll never regret entering your bedroom that night.”

A kiss on her mouth. Sakura returned the emotionally charged kiss full force.

Time froze for Gaara as he pulled back to lean his forehead against hers.

And he knew.

The thought was upsetting at the least. The idea that Gaara, the Kazekage, could actually be falling for a simple Leaf kunoichi was entirely inconceivable. But it was true. The man knew in that moment, as he listed off what he thought about her and their past month together flashed before his eyes that life would never be the same in Sand. He was going to do all he could to keep the woman with him because he no longer felt the strength to return to his old ways.

He didn’t have the strength to let her go. And it wasn’t just because of the sleep.

It’s because she was Sakura Haruno. He had decided to trick her into loving him, and it had backfired.

Badly.

Gaara sighed and stood up. He looked at her and hoped that everything he was feeling could be conveyed to her with one, complex gaze. But he knew it couldn’t.

“I’m sorry. I…” He paused. “I have…things to take care of.” And out the door he went.

Sakura followed his ki as he walked down the hall and downstairs where she lost track of it somewhere near his office. She was embarrassed and sexually unsatisfied, but most of all she was confused.

That look he gave her held his own confusion, but also… a gentle caring emotion. She fell back onto the bed fully clothed and with the lights on.

Her eyes closed, and for once the room felt completely and utterly empty without his presence.

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Tsuyoku: Wow, guys. Totally didn’t expect that to actually happen as I was finishing the chapter. I literally had 7/8ths of this written, but the problem was the ending of the chapter. I didn’t like my original plan for it. So, after much procrastinating and lots of coffee, I sat down and inspired myself over the course of a few hours to… well, procrastinate more until I managed to finish it! Yay! But rest assured (and I know I always say this) that I have started on the next chapter. And because of the ending for this chapter, I think I’m inspired enough to at least get half of it out soon! R&R!!!