Chained 1

MissMadameMina: Okay, well, I’m rewriting this. I’m changing up the plot. I feel so bad for pinning the blame on poor Orochimaru all the time. I’ve made him the bad guy before, and this time, no more! Simply ridiculous of me to even try that, instead I should make a more reasonable (and more hilarious) reason as to why they’re connected together. Yay creativity!

On with the story then…

One gorgeous kunoichi known as Haruno Sakura felt like she had been mauled by a bear. No, she felt even worse. Moaning groggily, she turned her head a little to her side. The bright fall sunlight that was seeping through the window was killing her, slowly but surely. Her eyelids were on fire and it seemed like something had crawled into her mouth and died there the night before. Sakura frowned with distaste. It also seemed like someone had poured cement over her eyelids. They were too damned heavy. She tried to rub her eyes, but every movement set her joints on fire, and she could practically hear her body protest. Eventually, she gave up and didn’t move from her position. What she would give to be able to open her eyes. She already felt a headache beginning to appear. Just wonderful, Sakura sighed.

Beside her, she felt someone shift slightly. They were pressed rather close to her, but she paid no mind to it. It was probably that damned Naruto, Sakura thought with a scowl. Just because he was finally of legal drinking age didn’t mean that he had to go all out and buy enough liquor that could make a small battleship float! “I’m gonna kill you, Nar’to.” She hissed grumpily, resting her hot cheek on Naruto’s surprisingly cool shoulder. Why had she even agreed to a drink or two? She knew that she had a morning shift at the hospital. She wouldn’t be able to perform check ups if she was too busy dry heaving into the toilet. What time was it anyways? Sakura groaned, she was not going to open her eyes, she decided. To open her eyes meant that she acknowledged the fact that it was morning, she had work to do. She snuggled deeper against Naruto’s bare back. No doubt, Naruto would find her being tardy for work amusing since she was usually the one that preached to both Kakashi-sensei and him that being punctual was essential to any ninja. She’ll have to give him a cruel beating if he even commented on her appearance this morning. Sakura’s scowl darkened. Today definitely wasn’t her day.

Pushing herself off of whatever piece of furniture she had been sleeping on with one arm painfully, she opened her eyes with sheer willpower alone. The sight that met her was not a pleasant one. Her sleepy mind didn’t even register her surroundings until a moment later, but when her sleep-laden and alcohol-induced hangover caught up with her at the same time, Sakura could only yelp. She scrambled out of the bed she recognized as the standard set that could be found at any motel in Konoha. In her haste, she had caught her leg in the tangle of blankets that had been wrapped around her and her thankfully still sleeping partner and fell to the floor – stark naked. However, the scream that she produced when she fell onto the carpeted floor definitely woke him up. “What are you doing here?!” Sakura cried out in panic as she all but dashed away from the bed they had shared for what seemed to be the entire night, grabbing discarded articles of clothing as she went.

How could this have happened? Sakura thought, aghast. The man definitely wasn’t Naruto, and unfortunately for Sakura, he wasn’t a stranger either. She’d much rather have an awkward morning with a stranger than with him of all people. They were acquaintances so it wasn’t like she could pretend that nothing happened between them! And if the state of their dress (or rather, undress) was any indication to the jounin medic, something did happen. “What the hell?! I knew I shouldn’t have drunk anything he gave me!” Again, it was Naruto’s fault. It probably was. The blonde man was definitely too devious for her sanity. “Damn it! Naruto is going to pay for this!” Sakura shrieked in righteous fury, ignoring the pathetic pleas from the man still enshrouded in blankets. Obviously, he was still sleeping off the effects of alcohol from last night’s party. Good, Sakura seethed. If she was going to suffer, he will have to too. “WAKE UP, YOU IDIOT! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION WE’RE IN?!”

And that was when even more pressure collapsed onto her. Sakura paled. She was on the pill right? No, she wasn’t. Sakura’s state of panic only worsened. She wasn’t in any relationship, and saw no need for any birth control pills. Damn it to hell! A mumbled reply of, “Shut the hell up, you banshee,” from the man didn’t make her feel any better. No, she was downright murderous. Rounding on the still prone lump on the generously large bed before her, Sakura narrowed her green eyes angrily, “You.” That was the only warning she gave before she leapt onto him, ready and willing to end the life of Sunagakure’s precious Kazekage. Peace treaty and motions of good will be damned, no one called Haruno Sakura a banshee while she was suffering from a hangover and a one night stand - and lived.

---

Sabaku no Gaara, otherwise known as Godaime Kazekage to the rest of the shinobi world, was not having a good day. Not only did he have a splitting headache – a hangover, Temari had described to him before – he had apparently slept with Naruto’s best friend. Smooth move, Gaara, not only was she Naruto’s best friend, she was the apprentice of his fellow Hokage, and she could crush small mountains with one fist. Gaara mentally shuddered. This was definitely going to strain inter-village relations. Hopefully, Sakura wasn’t going to force him to the altar to right her honour or something ridiculous like that. He barely remembered what happened last night anyways. Naruto had plied him with so many drinks; it was amazing that he hadn’t slipped into a coma or something. He’d rather take the coma than face Haruno Sakura and her hoard of protective teammates and friends demanding for a ring on her finger.

Of course, he had goaded her on by calling her a banshee, but he decided that was irrelevant. He was definitely going to file a harassment suit against her once she got off of him. And he’ll definitely scream for help whenever she deigned it time to release his windpipe. He was grateful that she didn’t decide to crush it. Besides the fact that she was slowly strangling him, Gaara was quite comfortable in such a position. She wasn’t that heavy, and now that he was finally able to see with the blinding sunlight pouring in from the window and onto his face, he caught an eyeful of cleavage. Sakura’s shirt had a rip in it - most likely, it had been torn in their haste last night. Gaara couldn’t help but smirk. Besides the fact that he was slowly regaining his morning wood, and she was sitting quite close to that part of his body, he could honestly say that he had no aversions of waking up in the morning to such a sight. People may call any young man his age a pervert, but not Gaara - he hid it well. Now if only she wasn’t intent on murdering him, Gaara thought sadly.

After several minutes, Sakura calmed down and realized just who she was straddling between her legs. Flushing a violent red that rivalled the colour of his hair Sakura leapt off of him hastily, mumbling apologies under her breath and looking anywhere but at him. With cool jade eyes, he watched her levelly. She made quite a sight. Never before had he seen a woman flush and then pale so quickly. But then again, the only regular contact from any being of the opposite sex would be with his sister and his head guard. Neither woman would be caught with such unique colouring. They probably deemed it as unnecessary to show more emotion than expected from kunoichi. After giving her a jerky nod, Gaara pulled the thin blankets around his waist and stalked off to find the bathroom. Hopefully, the blankets hid his erection well. Damn mornings and damn Naruto, Gaara seethed. This was his fault, if not entirely, then in some way. This little situation had Naruto spelled all over it.

---

While Gaara was in the shower, presumably since she heard the shower go off, Sakura straightened herself to the best of her abilities. She collected the rest of her clothing, such as her underwear and bra, and located her headband and sandals. She had no comb, her shirt was torn, and she was pretty sure her smeared eyeliner made her look like Gaara. Coughing uncomfortably to clear her throat, Sakura hummed nervously. The silence of the motel room they had shared intimidated her. What made it worse was that she had nothing to do and she needed access to the small but thankfully connected bathroom desperately. She had righted the upturned furniture in the surprisingly small room. She had already made the – she refused to refer to it as their – bed and her bladder felt like it was going to burst. Anxiously, she crossed her legs and sat down on the bed. She shot a harried glance at the closed door. Damn it she needed to go!

Time crawled by at an agonizing pace. With each minute, her control slipped. She was holding it in with sheer willpower alone. Wincing, Sakura stood up and edged towards the door with her legs still crossed. She knocked on the door firmly. “Gaara – er…Gaara-sama?” She whispered quietly. What was she going to call him? She slept with him! Sweetheart was definitely not going to be a welcomed nickname, but Kazekage-sama sounded way too formal. Sakura frowned she was never going to drink ever again. She should’ve just followed Shikamaru’s example. The Nara genius steered clear of the alcoholic beverages that were in abundance at the party. Again, Sakura knocked on the door, this time, with more force. “Gaara-san, I need the bathroom!” She heard nothing, no reply that told her that he had even heard her over the shower. With determination, she tried again, “GAARA!” This time, she heard a reply, and wished she hadn’t. A moan wracked through the bathroom and she heard it. It echoed in the abyss of her mind, and it drove her up the wall. Through this, she placed a shaking hand against the cool flat surface of the bathroom door, flimsy piece of wood; the much revered and powerful Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure…was masturbating. “Guh…”

But before Sakura could linger on the thought, the shower stopped. There was a faint shuffle before the door opened to reveal one towel-clad redhead. “Good Morning.” Sakura whispered awkwardly, the sound of his rather husky moan still echoing in her mind. She flushed and walked past him, closing the door behind him with a definite slam. Gaara, the oblivious fellow he was, shrugged and walked over to the bed. Sakura had taken the liberty of gathering his clothes for him. Sighing wearily, Gaara reached for his shirt. Today was going to be a long day.

Not only did he find himself in bed with an acquaintance – one that was respected by others and his siblings – he also had no idea how to go about talking about this…this…whatever it was. Sure, he had had relations with other women before, but they all knew what to expect from him. That was, to be more specific, nothing. Haruno Sakura was not one of those women. He tried to remember how they ended up in this situation in the first place, but he barely remembered anything from last night. As a matter of fact, he barely remembered talking to the woman. Groaning in frustration, Gaara shoved the thought away and focused on getting dressed.

After getting dressed, Gaara sat on his – he also refused to call it their – bed, calmly towel-drying his damp red hair. Pressing his lips into a straight line, he trained his eyes on the door that led to the bathroom. He was going to face the pink-haired kunoichi soon enough, he’ll just have to bear with it. Gaara sighed, things used to be so much easier when he got to kill whoever he disliked. There definitely wouldn’t be any awkward situations like this one. But no, Gaara had turned a new leaf – and he suspected that if he committed homicide here it would really strain the relations between Suna and Konoha. Tsunade definitely wouldn’t like the loss of her precious apprentice and Naruto wouldn’t like to lose another teammate. Crossing his arms in severe concentration, Gaara waited.

---

Once she had relieved herself, Sakura had the good idea of checking her reflection. She screamed at what she saw. She did in fact resemble Gaara, her hair looked like a rat’s nest, and her skin was oily as was her hair. She splashed cold water onto her face, but that did nothing to energize her. In fact, the only thing she managed to do was get her top wet. No, she’ll have to take a shower.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura glanced at the innocent shower warily. She was being silly, she knew, but honestly, how could she take a shower with a piece of mind when she heard Gaara. An image of Gaara in the shower flashed through her eyes unbidden. Sakura squealed. “Bad thoughts, bad thoughts, bad thoughts! STOP. IT!” She ground out underneath her breath. Sure, Gaara was definitely handsome and she’d have to be blind and dumb if she was going to deny it. But damn it, she was quite comfortable with just seeing him as Naruto’s friend and Kazekage – someone to be respected and exchange small talk with on occasion. She did not need to fantasize about him masturbating in motel bathrooms! Angrily, she got into the shower and willed the torrent of scalding hot water to wash her dirty thoughts away. One thing was for sure, she’ll never see him the same way again.

---

“You do know that they should be up any time now.” A silky purr broke his concentration. A pair of chopsticks lowered once more into the steaming bowl of ramen as the blond Hokage-to-be grinned brightly at the woman opposite him. Never before had he have such a wonderful accomplice. She was manipulative, creative and unscrupulous enough to pull it off. She was deadly. To know that Gaara was betrayed by his own sister – well, that was just the icing on the cake.

“They should be.” Naruto agreed easily, breathing in the tempting smell of Ichiraku ramen. Temari returned his grin; hers more feral than his, if that was even possible. Yes, Naruto thought, Temari was definitely fun to be around. He just didn’t understand why Kankurou – and even Gaara – was so wary around her for. “So, have you accomplished what you’ve come here for? I know you weren’t all eager to travel for three days to wish me a happy adulthood, Temari.”

“Well, you did invite me, idiot.” Temari said, smirking over her own empty bowl of ramen. She wasn’t answering the question, but Naruto didn’t mind. Temari had a way of speaking without speaking and saying something while meaning something entirely different. Shikamaru had said that Temari was strange, but Naruto now knew how strange. It didn’t matter. Her eccentricities made up for the fact that she loved pranks and ramen. Naruto had immediately bumped her up a few places on his favourite peoples list when he found out that the elder kunoichi liked ramen as well.

“Gaara says you’re always busy.” Naruto pointed out neutrally. Although he was more than happy to welcome the kunoichi to his party along with her younger brother, he had been rather curious as to why she had come along. They weren’t close enough for her to make a three day trip to Konoha for his sake. If anything, Shikamaru had a better chance of having her make the long trek to their village since they always spent their time together whenever she was in town. He knew, since Ino always complained for days after she left. Gaara definitely didn’t put her up to it, and even Kankurou had declined his invitation. It wasn’t until she had pulled him aside to include him in her rather nefarious plan did he understand – and even then, after all that’s said and done, whoever would’ve thought Temari of all people, pulled such vicious pranks?

He had to admit, it had been fun cornering their targets and plying them with drink after drink until they could barely pronounce their own names. Gaara says the most outrageous things when he was drunk. Temari didn’t tell him how her own self-assigned mission went, but Naruto was pretty sure Sakura was amusing as well. After their targets were drunk off their feet, it had been relatively easy to relocate to a motel room and make it look like they had spent the night together. To preserve their modesty, they had the decency to cover them with blankets before stripping them. Naruto had volunteered to help with Sakura, but one glare from Temari told him that she meant business. Fine, he respected that in a woman anyways. Pulling pranks was a serious business. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t play a little prank on them. When Temari wasn’t looking, he had placed a jutsu on them. As soon as they left the hotel room, they would be chained together for a day. It would add to their embarrassment.

“Gaara only thinks I’m busy.” Temari answered mischievously. “I know that he’ll easily shove all his paperwork onto me if I didn’t have anything to do.” Naruto couldn’t help but laugh. “But yes, I hope Gaara enjoyed waking up this morning. I bet I cut off a good two decades off his lifespan.” She couldn’t help but chuckle a little smugly.

“You do know they’re going to point fingers at me as soon as they realize something’s up.” Naruto said accusingly. Temari shrugged nonchalantly, as if to say ‘As long as I don’t get caught.’ “And you do know I’m going to point my finger at you right?” He continued, reading her mind.

“Well, it was worth it, right?” Temari grinned, and waved for Ayame to come so they could pay.

Naruto returned her grin with one of his own. “Definitely.”

As they left the Ichiraku establishment together, Naruto couldn’t help but ask, “Are you ever going to tell me why you did it though?” Temari shook her head, and laughed. Intrigued, Naruto trailed after her, intent on finding out.

---

“Well…” Sakura had not been that surprised when she came out of the bathroom, squeaky clean and smelling like mint toothpaste, to see Gaara waiting for her. It was to be expected that Sunagakure’s Kazekage wouldn’t back away from anything – least of all an awkward morning-after conversation with his best friend’s other best friend. However, Sakura wished he did run away. It would make it easier for her and her frazzled nerves. Despite her best efforts to contain her dirty mind, every time she saw his face, she couldn’t help but imagine how it looked like when he let out that moan. “Um…so…” She fumbled with her words as she sat gingerly on the bed, not too far away from him.

“This didn’t happen.” Gaara stated calmly, cutting through the awkwardness.

Sakura sputtered, her mouth gaping for only a split second before she began to fire accusation after accusation at him. “What do you mean this didn’t happen?!” She spat venomously. “I never thought you to be such a prick! What if I’m – what if I’m –” She slowed down to a standstill. All her rage disappeared.

“What if you’re what?” Gaara asked coolly, training his eyes on her once more. She mumbled something underneath her breath. “I apologize, but I’m afraid I didn’t catch that. Do you mind repeating what you said?” Sakura glared, he was taking far too much amusement out of this at her expense!

“Pregnant.” She spat. “What if I’m pregnant?”

“You’re a medic-nin, aren’t you?” He asked, his tone condescending yet slightly amused at the same time. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find a remedy and rectify the problem.”

“A child is not a problem you stuck up, repressed little shit!” Sakura hissed. Of course, she immediately regretted those words. If she could, she would pull those words back from the air and stuff them down her throat once more. But alas, she lacked that kind of power. What’s done is done. It just depended on how Gaara killed her now. “I apologize, Kazekage-sama.” She said stiffly, not meaning a word.

“Don’t say things you don’t mean, Sakura-san.” Gaara merely stated before getting up. “If there is a…” He hesitated. Was he really ready for fatherhood? Just speaking about a child made him antsy, no, if Sakura was pregnant, she was definitely getting an abortion. “…child, we shall discuss it then. But until then, please kindly refrain from calling me a…” He paused. “‘Stuck up, repressed little shit.’” Sakura nodded. Gaara nodded jerkily in return. He had lingered too long. He had to meet Tsunade-sama to discuss new trade routes and such tedious things. Baki was probably looking high and low for him as well. Briskly, he made his way to the door – only to have one Haruno Sakura by his side. He looked at her in silent question.

“I have to get to the hospital. I’m late as it is.” She answered in some semblance of calm. Well, it was much better than the wild banshee that she had been earlier that morning. Gaara nodded, accepting her answer. The door opened, he stepped out as did Sakura. A cold heavy weight of metal suddenly appeared on his left wrist and the sound of a shackle closing around it with a definite click made him pause. Beside him, Sakura pulled up her right arm for inspection. A shackle. Experimentally, he pulled his left arm. Sakura was jerked to him. Looking down, they both saw a thin chain connecting both their shackles. Cool jade met forest green.

“Shit.” They both swore.