Ok, this thing came out a lot longer than I had expected but I’m actually really happy with it.

Warning: There’s mature content up ahead… as much smut as lets me write without taking my fic off, but still, it’s smut. xD

Thank you so much for the support you’ve shown this fic, everyone! You really have no idea how much I appreciate it.

This chapter goes out for my dearest friend Zelha, who directly requested some GaaSaku hotness from yours truly.

Hope I manage to make pull it off!

PART II

The redhead walked out of his hotel room shower while he towelled his hair dry. Wearing only a pair of loose jeans, he plopped down on the edge of the bed and turned on the television absently while he finished eliminating the excessive moisture from his crimson locks.

The news channel was on and the lady on the screen was babbling about some sort of power shortage that had happened the previous night in a section of the city. Jade orbs stared at the woman without much interest and he decided that it really wasn’t worth his time to pay attention.

He had better things to think about… like how to win over a certain pink haired beauty he had stumbled upon out of pure coincidence two nights before. She had looked dashing and he decided that she was even more beautiful than she had been during her college years. Sakura had had no problems admitting her attraction to him back then and he had been in no place to deny the pull he felt towards her either. But it seemed that things were different now and the cherry haired woman was definitely wanted to give the impression that the attraction was gone.

Something which Gaara was completely sure wasn’t true… at least not with the way her breath had caught when he had leaned in to kiss her.

Smiling wickedly at the memory, he put a stop to the reaction his body was having while remembering how amazingly sensual Sakura had looked in that navy blue cocktail dress. If he had had his way, he would’ve lifted the skirt of her garb right then and there and would have made that balcony a place to remember.

But the pink haired woman had other ideas and she had basically fled the place when Ino had walked in on them.

He had treated the blond to all sorts of insults when he had been left alone on the balcony. It had taken a while to get his body to calm down, too. He hadn’t counted on the intense responses he had always experienced with Sakura’s closeness and he had been forced to remember in the most annoying way possible. He had been extremely cranky afterwards and had no qualms with venting out his frustration by lashing out verbally to whoever crossed his path.

Needless to say, he had left Lee’s party not too soon afterwards and he had arrived at his hotel room to treat himself to the longest cold shower he had had in ages.

Standing up from the bed, Gaara re-entered the bathroom and took up his tooth brush. Looking up at his reflection in the mirror for just a few seconds, he finally applied some toothpaste and commenced the tedious task of washing his teeth.

Sakura was going to put up a fight, he knew that very well. He would give her the pretense of allowing her to ‘defend herself’ but he would definitely not let her win. This had been an encounter he had been dreaming of ever since they had parted ways years ago. They had never had the chance to truly be with each other given that the month they had spent together back then had been like a whirlwind and it had been over before either of them knew it. The redhead had never been able to get his fill of her and thus, he was planning on doing precisely that this time.

He finished with his teeth and put on a light-blue polo shirt followed by sock and his favorite pair of Pumas. Despite the fact that he wanted nothing else than to wait outside Sakura’s door until she allowed him to come in, he actually had business to attend to.

It was actually a surprise he had wanted to announce to all his friends at Lee’s party but had gotten distracted by… some pressing pink issues. Naruto was the only who knew of his plans, since the blond was actually part of them, and he had promised that they wouldn’t say anything until Gaara told him to.

Both men had decided to buy the Konoha Karate Dojo, one of the oldest martial arts academies in the city that was actually on the verge of bankruptcy, and were planning on bringing it back to its former glory. They would be the two main senseis of the place, but were planning on getting help from others. Lee and Neji were obvious choices and Gaara knew that neither of the experienced fighters would pass on the chance to teach a younger generation of martial artists.

Thus, he had a couple of meetings to attend to before he could complete dedicate himself to seducing one Haruno Sakura into his bed… or her bed for that matter. He really didn’t care as long as they ended up sprawled on the sheets, utterly satisfied and exhausted.

He also had to consider the fact that the pink haired woman had recently broken up with her ex-boyfriend… as much as he hated to admit, she was probably still mourning over the freaking twat. Any sensitive and considerate man would give her time to get over the man before making his advances clear.

Luckily for both of them, Gaara wasn’t what you would call sensitive and considerate and he thought that the sooner she realized that he was millions of times better than that geek she had been dating, the sooner she would finally accept that fact that they were simply meant to be.

It had been clear to him with the way they had basically crashed into each other back in college… and if she wasn’t able to see that, he would make sure to rub it in her face until she acknowledged it.

Of course, this probably meant that he would have to exploit her physical attraction toward him in the worst ways possible.

Oh, he was going to enjoy this so much.

His cell phone rang in that moment, interrupting his enjoyable contemplation.

“Hello?”

“I’m already downstairs,” a sleepy Naruto said on the other side of the line.

“Be down in a minute,” Gaara replied.

Turning off the television, he grabbed the key to his room before heading out the door.

The sooner he got these business dealings out of the way, the sooner he would be able to enjoy his return to Konoha.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sakura sat outside the coffee shop located just around the corner from her apartment. It was the same place she had shared a cappuccino with Ino some days ago. She simply loved the coffee here and it was the perfect place to have breakfast at.

Even if it was almost 11 o’clock.

“More coffee, dear?” the waitress asked.

“Yes Linda, please,” Sakura replied, lifting her eyes from the newspaper for a second.

“How’s the job hunting?” the brown haired woman asked with a smile as she leaned in to see the adds Sakura had circled with a pen.

“Not too good,” she answered with a sigh. “I’ve just come back from an interview and I’m not sure I did too well. But hopefully it’ll get better. There’s one here that’s really interesting so, I guess I’ll email them my CV this afternoon.”

“Good luck with that then,” Linda replied while filling up Sakura’s coffee mug for the third time.

“Thanks”, the pink haired girl replied as she walked away to attend some of the other regulars.

Leaning her head back on her chair, Sakura rubbed her eyes for a moment. She couldn’t believe how much her luck had turned in just a few weeks. She specialized in medical research and had quit her previous job in an attempt to move on to another field. As fate would have it, she had met Shune then and he had convinced her into applying for a position at the place he worked at. Thankfully, they hadn’t been working together but had been in close proximity most of the time. The job had been wonderful and everything was going great…

Until she found the cheating bastard in bed with another woman.

She had given in her resignation the very next morning.

There was no way she would be able to work around him, she knew that very well. If she came across him in the elevator or in the middle of a hall, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to control her homicidal impulses and she really didn’t want to spill blood in front of innocent eyes.

Thus, leaving that place was the right decision and Ino had wholeheartedly agreed. It wasn’t like she couldn’t get a great position somewhere else, she came with the best recommendations from some of Konoha’s top doctors. So, after wallowing in misery over her break up, it was time to get her life back in order.

And she had done pretty good up until now, despite the fact that she had probably blown her first interview. She had received a couple of calls already after having sent her curriculum yesterday. Thus, it really didn’t matter anyway since she had another meeting with another research facility the next day.

She was sure she would find the perfect job… she just had to be patient.

Her cell phone rang then and she scurried to look for it inside her purse. She didn’t recognize the number on the small screen so she thought it was probably from one of the places she was applying to.

“Hello?” she said, trying to sound calm and calculated.

“Good morning, ouka,” a sexy voice answered on the other end.

Sakura suddenly went very pale.

“How did you get this number?” she asked after a moment, anger forcing her to drop any pretense of politeness.

Gaara chuckled in malice at her question. “Let’s just say I have very reliable sources.”

Naruto could consider himself a dead man.

“What do you want?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“I just wanted to say good morning,” he replied casually, ignoring her evident irritation.

“I see,” Sakura replied, forcing herself not to throw her precious cell phone in her coffee mug just so he would leave her alone. “Well, you already said good morning so now you can go.”

“Why the sudden hostility?” he asked. She could picture the feline grin he was definitely wearing on the other side of the line perfectly.

“I am not hostile,” she refuted.

“Then why won’t you talk to me?” he countered.

“Because I have nothing to say to you,” she said furiously.

“Come on now,” he replied, “is that how you treat the man of your life?”

“YOU ARE NOT THE MAN OF MY LIFE!” she screamed into the receiver.

His malicious laugh was all he offered as an answer.

“Well, it’s been great talking to you but I’ve got to go,” he said eventually.

“Wha…” Sakura started to say but he didn’t let her finish.

“See you around, ouka,” and with that, the line went dead.

To say that she was furious would be a complete and utter understatement.

HOW DARE HE?

“Sakura, are you alright?” Linda asked.

The pink haired girl looked up only to find the waitress and several other clients of the coffee shop staring in concern towards her.

If she had already flushed bright red from her outburst of anger, she turned deep crimson with embarrassment right then and there.

“I’m fine, thank you,” she replied after a moment, “I’m sorry.”

“No need to worry,” Linda replied. Thankfully, the waitress had more tack than to ask the pink haired woman who it was that she had been talking to.

Of course, if she had fired the question, Sakura would have answered her without any hesitation: an insufferable, arrogant jerk.

Breathing deeply in an attempt to quench her anger, Sakura decided that a work out was definitely in order to calm her fuming emotions and there was nothing better than to go out for run when you were feeling like killing someone.

She swallowed down her coffee and thanked Linda before standing up and making her way down the street.

Of course, she would never admit it, not even to herself, that she had felt a shiver of delicious anticipation when she had heard the unexpected tone of Gaara’s sexy voice when she had answered her phone.

XXXXXXXXXX

Two days went by without any further interruptions coming from the crimson demon and Sakura found that she was finally getting over the wrath that initial phone call has elicited from her usually calm and composed personality.

In truth, she had been extremely busy and had attended several interviews in just a couple of days. It seemed that everyone in the medical research industry had found out that she was unemployed and wanted her to work for their company. Even though this was a good thing, Sakura didn’t really feel a particular fondness towards any of the jobs she had been interviewed for and was deciding on whether she would say yes if anyone called her to tell her that she had been selected for the position they were offering her.

But all in all, she very much needed to start working or else her savings account was really going to disappear.

Walking out of her building’s elevator, she stepped out into the corridor while looking for her keys as she approached her door. It was until she was putting the key into her lock that she noticed she had stepped on something soft.

Looking down, she noticed a bouquet of flowers lying on the floor in front of her door. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, since she really couldn’t think of a person who would send her flowers.

Unless… no, that was completely out of the question. The day Gaara ever decided to drop off a bouquet of flowers for her would be the day she declared herself a direct descendant of royalty.

She lifted the blossoms up from the floor and opened the small card attached to the paper they were wrapped in.

Her stomach was abruptly overwhelmed with intense nausea.

It definitely wasn’t Gaara… it was Shune.

Opening her door with barely contained violence and slamming it behind her as she walked into her home, she threw her things unto her living room couch and proceeded to rip the card from the bouquet.

He had written her some sort of clichéd poem that she skimmed through without giving it much thought. Its message was clear: he was asking her to forgive him.

“Why can’t the idiots leave me alone?” she yelled in desperation towards the ceiling.

She finished reading the card, where Shune stated that he regretted not finding her at apartment and that he would call later to talk things over.

“Talk things over my ass!” Sakura exclaimed, grabbing the flowers and the card. She made her way towards the kitchen and threw both into the garbage can, trampling them with her foot against the bottom of the canister.

Her breathing was coming out in angry gasps but she really couldn’t control her reaction.

Just what the hell was wrong with the world? How could this idiot think that she could forgive him after what he had done? The stupid, conceited and self-important bastard!

She was beginning to think that quitting her job hadn’t been enough… she would probably have to move out of town for him to leave her alone!

Kicking the garbage time one last time, she stomped her way towards the living room once again. Plopping down on the couch, she buried her face in one of the pillows and screamed with all her might.

All the anger she had been accumulating suddenly poured out of her body with the scream, leaving her empty and drained. But as the ire left her, the intense wrath was replaced by an equally intense sadness and she couldn’t prevent the tears from falling down her eyes.

How could he do this to her? After all the time they had spent together… how could he?

She found herself sobbing into the pillow soon, holding on to it for dear life. The sense of betrayal she had been able to forget for the past few days flooded her completely once again and she could do nothing but succumb to the feeling of misery it brought her.

It was after a while that she realized that her cell phone was ringing.

She took it out of her purse and answered it without even glancing at who was calling.

“Hello,” she said, failing completely in her attempt to hide her misery.

“Good afternoon, ouka,” Gaara answered from across the line.

This was definitely the last thing she needed.

“Hi,” she said without much conviction.

That seemed to catch him off guard and it was clear that he had been expecting a completely different reaction from her; but he recovered quickly.

“I find myself completely and utterly bored this afternoon since I’ve finished what I had planned for the day, so I was thinking that you…”

“Listen, Gaara,” Sakura interrupted without any hesitation, sniffing audibly. “This really isn’t the time.”

His demeanour took a 180 degree turn after hearing her say that.

“Sakura, what’s wrong?” he asked, his serious voice completely at odds with the arrogantly teasing tone he had used previously.

“Nothing,” she lied. “I’m fine.”

He obviously didn’t believe her.

“Where are you?” he asked. He cursed himself then for not having asked Naruto for her apartment address earlier.

“I’ve got to go,” she said sadly and without giving him the chance to respond, she hung up.

Leaning back against her couch, she turned off her phone so that he wouldn’t call back. She really didn’t feel like dealing with him right now, especially not when her feelings of sadness had been stirred from their hiding place by the bouquet she had found at her door.

Being the person he was, Gaara simply wouldn’t understand what she was going through and she was in no mood of explaining it to him.

XXXXXXXXXX

The redhead punched the wall of the building he was standing next to with all his might, not caring if people turned to stare at him as they walked by on the sidewalk.

After venting some his frustration, he dialled Sakura’s phone again.

As he had predicted, she had turned it off and he only got her machine.

Any idiot could tell that she had been crying and that fact made his insides churn with an uncontrollable and irrepressible rage.

She had been crying over him, he was sure of it. And the possibility that the fucker had been with her in the moment he had called only made his muscles clench even tighter with fury.

If there was something he couldn’t tolerate, it was the idea that someone was hurting his woman… be it physically or emotionally. And yes, he did think of Sakura as his girl, he had done so for a very long time and there was nothing anyone could do to change that, not even her.

The problem was that he his hands were tied at the moment, since he didn’t know where Sakura lived. Hell, he didn’t even know if she was in her apartment! She could easily be at the bastard’s place “discussing” their relationship.

Gaara punched the building once again, refusing to follow that line of thought. He trusted Sakura and he knew that she was smart enough not to fall back into the arms of that cheating asshole. But still, he couldn’t avoid the overwhelming anger that was consuming him from the inside out.

His emotions were getting the best of him and he knew he needed to calm down before he made any rash decisions… the idea of storming her ex-boyfriend’s place was sounding more tempting by the minute and if he continued to feed his wrath, he could easily end up being arrested for violent assault.

Even though that particular outcome didn’t faze him much, he really didn’t have any time to waste in jail or with prosecuting procedures. He had better things to do… like helping Sakura forget all about that worthless scum.

Stepping out unto the street, the redhead signalled for a taxi. A strenuous and overexerting karate training session was definitely what was needed here and he planned on getting just that. He knew plenty of dojos in the city who would welcome him with open arms so that their best students could have a chance to fight him.

And from the looks of it, he would definitely need to visit more than a few academies to successfully calm his anger down.

XXXXXXXXXX

“It’s been a pleasure, Ms. Haruno,” the manager that had been interviewing her said, “We’ll be calling you soon to let you know how everything works out.”

“The pleasure was all mine,” Sakura replied with a charming smile, standing up as she shook his hand in farewell. “Thank you for your time.”

And with that, she turned round to step out of his office, intent on getting some lunch. The interview had started out pretty well and she thought she’d answered his questions in a rather good fashion… that was, until her rebellious stomach had decided to let her know that it was starving.

Fine, it had been her fault for skipping breakfast but still… a professional medical researcher wasn’t supposed to have a growling stomach. Much to her relief, the manager hadn’t heard her protesting belly but he did notice the fact that her answers were becoming shorter and shorter and that she was agitated about something.

Thankfully, he was a man of tact and had brought the interview to a close soon after that. Now, Sakura was making her way out of the building in a hurry and trying to locate the nearest food stand. There simply had to be one nearby… this was the business district for crying out loud! People were in the need of constant food supply all around.

As she walked down the sidewalk in her search, she breathed deeply, extremely proud of herself for not letting her sad feelings take over her life once again. Sure, she had cried and wailed yesterday after finding the bouquet, but she knew she needed to allow herself some moments of weakness. If you ignored the feelings of misery that would certainly come up after a break up, you simply were denying the issue and the whole thing would come back to bite you in the rear sometime later if you didn’t deal with it straight away. Thus, she had given herself the chance to cry but this didn’t mean that she would fall into a rout once again.

That was why she had taken up her job hunting again with full force and had sent out a few more of her CVs before stepping out for the day’s interview. She definitely wasn’t going to wallow in misery more than was needed, she’d done enough of that the previous week. She was planning to get her life back together and there was nothing which could stop her from doing it…

…if she could find that damned food stand!

Thankfully, her emerald eyes zoned in to a hot dog vendor stationed next to the sidewalk as she turned a corner. She took her wallet out of her purse as she closed in on him at full speed and gave him her order before he could even ask for it. The man smiled and prepared her food quickly, recognizing the starving look in her eyes. Sakura thanked him vigorously as he handed the hot dog over and she was already taking a bite as she started walking away.

She spotted a green area between some buildings with some benches around it and decided to take a seat while she ate her improvised lunch. As she did so, some of tomato sauce dripped from her hot dog unto the business suit she had worn to her interview. She grumbled about it for a bit as she cleaned it as best as she could with a napkin but in truth, the suit had needed a wash anyway. Of course, if she got called for another interview, she would need to go home and change.

Sighing as she finished her food, Sakura decided to make her way back home. It was only some minutes after midday and she was sure she would be contacted from another possible job offer before the day was over. She should have enough time to relax for a bit in her apartment before she had to step out again.

Some time later, she walked out of the elevator on her floor and narrowed her eyes at the floor in front of her door, as if expecting another bouquet of flowers to be sitting there. Thankfully, there was none and she took out her keys with a smile as she made her way to her door.

Her eyebrows lifted in puzzlement however, when it unlocked after just one turn of her key. She was sure she had double locked it when she had stepped out… even though she had been in a hurry and her mind had been elsewhere. Shrugging as if it didn’t really matter, she stepped into her home happily and dropped her purse on the small table next to the entrance.

Sakura stretched languidly as she stepped into her living room and was planning on watching some TV when all of a sudden, her nose alerted her to a scent that definitely wasn’t normal in her apartment.

It was mixture of male cologne with sandalwood and a little bit of spice. If Sakura had been asked to describe it, she would have said it was the smell of a fresh breeze travelling over desert sand… musky and exhilarating.

She froze for an instant as her eyes widened in complete and utter surprise. She would be able to recognize that scent anywhere in the world and her eyes darted all over her home in an attempt to locate its source.

Emerald eyes narrowed as anger started to rise to the surface. He used to this to her back in college and she had always hated it. She walked quietly down the small corridor that led to her TV room and her chambers trying not to make any noise. To her surprise, the television was off and there was no one sitting there.

That meant there was only one other option left.

Bracing herself as her hands turned into fists with her growing irritation, she stepped up to the door of her room and looked inside…

…only to find the most unexpected sight ever.

Gaara was lying on her bed, completely shirtless. He wore only a pair of lose jeans which allowed the top of his black boxers to show on his hips as he lay propped up on Sakura’s pillows. His shoes and socks were on the floor next to the bed and he looked laid back and completely relaxed, as if he had always belonged there. One of his arms was lifted back and cradling his head while in the other hand, he held a magazine. His brow was creased in concentration as he read whatever article it was that had caught his attention.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. The anger that had been building up suddenly came to a complete stop as her body caught up with what her eyes were seeing. The way Gaara’s muscles were outlined all over his body was simply sinful and the way he was laying there so casually made her realize that he did look good in her bed. Her hormones rose up with such intensity that the pink haired girl thought she would have to hang on to the doorframe for support.

She had never been able to control the effect he had over her… and she was afraid that it was something she wouldn’t ever be able to manage.

It was only belatedly that she realized that the magazine Gaara was reading was actually a Cosmopolitan Ino had picked up for her the previous week due to the large title written in yellow letters on the cover: ‘How to get over a guy in 8 days.’

‘Oh God,’ Sakura thought desperately.

It was then that the smouldering redhead on her bed decided to look up at the door and noticed her standing there.

She was certain that the feline grin he threw her way had to be illegal in some countries.

“I thought I heard you come in,” he said nonchalantly.

At his smugness, the irritation Sakura had felt before managed to make itself heard again and she grasped at the opportunity to be angry at him. “What are you doing here?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“Waiting for you, obviously,” he said matter-of-factly. “You weren’t home so I let myself in.”

Sakura’s vision went as red as his hair. She had never really known how he managed to pick the locks, it was something she had always wondered for years. Back in college, she would arrive back at her dorm room after class, only to find him sprawled in her bed… much like he was right now.

“I could call the cops!” she replied furiously.

“No you won’t,” he said with a chuckle. “As much as you hate to admit it, you’re happy to see me here.”

“NO I AM NOT!” she bellowed.

But he chose to ignore her outburst. “So, is this how you got over me?” he asked, lifting the magazine as he spoke.

“Give me that,” she snapped, walking up to the bed and snatching the magazine out of his hands. “You should leave!”

“I don’t think so,” he replied, his grin intensifying as he crossed both his arms behind his head. “I’m really comfortable here. You always had a preference for really soft mattresses.”

Sakura wished she owned a baseball bat for she would have used it to chase him out of the house right there and then… injuring him with it wouldn’t have been a bad idea with it. But all of a sudden, his arms were stretching in front of her as he moved them over his head and her eyes were forced to admire the way his muscles rippled with the movement.

Gaara chuckled wickedly very much aware of where her emerald eyes had ventured.

“You are not welcomed here,” Sakura said, trying to recover. “And just… why the hell aren’t you wearing a shirt?”

“It was hot,” he explained simply.

“That does not give you the right to undress in my house!” she shouted in reply.

Jade orbs alighted with a lustful glint as he suddenly sat up on the bed next to where she was standing. “Then what does give me the right?” he asked while looking up at her.

Sakura swallowed visibly. He was so close his scent was overwhelming her again…

“Nothing does!” she replied, but there wasn’t much conviction in her voice as she said it. Wanting to put as much distance between them as possible, she turned to place the magazine on a bookcase some paces away.

Gaara merely chuckled at her antics. “What’s with the business suit?” he asked, changing the subject on a whim.

“If you must know,” Sakura said, turning around to face him while crossing her arms in front of her, “I just came back from a job interview. And I will probably have another one soon, so you’d better get out of here.”

“Will you now,” he said as his jade gaze fell in admiration over the way her outfit outlined her full figure. “Well, you’d better tell them you won’t be able to make it.”

“Oh really?” Sakura asked mockingly. “And why should I?”

“Because you’re going to be busy with me,” he stated simply. He stood up from the bed then and made his way towards her, his steps confident and sure.

“I don’t think so,” she replied but failed to keep the tone of her voice level as he came to stand next to her.

“I regret to inform you that you really don’t have a say in this,” he told her as he reached out for her with his hand.

“Oh yes I do,” she snapped, moving out of the way. His arrogance and haughtiness had suddenly triggered something deep within her. It was a sense of self-preservation that had allowed her to live through some of the toughest times in her life.

“You will not walk in here and pretend that you belong in my life, because you don’t,” she snapped at him furiously. “I haven’t seen you in years and I have no idea of where you’ve been. You never made any attempt to contact me after you left and therefore have no right come trespassing into my home and try to get your way with me. I will not let you into my life just for you to walk out on me again, do I make myself clear?”

Her emerald eyes glittered with rage. All the resentment she had felt towards him for leaving her rising to the surface after being suppressed for years.

Gaara blinked several times as if trying to assimilate everything she had just said.

Sakura walked around him and made her way towards the TV room, intent on throwing him out. But before she could make it to the corridor, she felt strong hands grasp her by the hips and before she knew it, she was pressed up against the wall, Gaara’s hard body pinning her there.

“Listen to me,” he said, his voice reaching the low tone that he only used when he was furious. “I know I left you, and it’s something I’ve regretted all this time, but there was really no helping it. I would’ve taken you with me but that wasn’t a choice either. I came here today because I plan to make up for the time I was gone. And let me tell you that I have no intention of leaving ever again.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, as if trying to keep his anger in check.

Sakura could only stare at him with wide incredulous emerald orbs.

“I know you’re hurting,” he continued after a moment, “it’s inevitable. But the sooner you let go of your stubbornness the sooner I will make you forget everything that fucking bastard did to you.”

The pink haired girl looked at him with her mouth agape. She simply had no answer to that.

But luckily, she didn’t have to say anything.

Gaara mouth descended upon hers before she had time to take another breath and the urgency of his lips elicited such a primal reaction from her that she found herself throwing her arms around his neck to pull him closer. She returned his smouldering kiss with equal intensity and all the years that had passed suddenly seemed like if they had never happened.

It seemed like yesterday that he was kissing her like he was doing now and the toxic attraction she had always felt for him awakened within her like a snake uncoiling at the bottom of her spine.

The redhead brought his right hand down to lift her leg around his hip as he pressed her even harder against the wall and Sakura did nothing to hamper him. She tightened the grip of her leg around him and pulled him closer still, her nails raking across the exposed skin of his back. He groaned into her mouth as she did so and his own hands began to travel over her body. Forcing her out of her suit jacket with barely contained violence, he broke their kiss for a moment just to dip his head to the base of her neck, licking her collarbone with his hot tongue.

The pink haired girl let out a moan of delight as he licked his way towards her shoulder, leaving a warm trail over her skin. Once he reached the spaghetti strap of the blouse she had worn underneath her suit, he lifted it up along with her bra using his finger and let it hang loose from her shoulder. He suckled the bare skin that was left exposed underneath it and Sakura felt the need to whimper loudly at the way his teeth nipped at her.

But she wouldn’t allow herself to get distracted. In the position she was in, with one of her legs wrapped tightly around his hip, she could clearly feel his increasing excitement. Bringing her own hands down, she ran her finger over the edge of his jeans, slipping one of them into his boxers and playing with the soft curls she found there. After a moment, she let her full hand reach even lower and started to caress him gently. She felt him stiffen slightly at the unexpected contact and he was suddenly stretching against her like a large lazy cat. She was sure she heard a rumble coming from the vicinity of his chest that sounded like a purr but he was suddenly devouring her mouth again and bringing his hands up to undo the strap of her bra underneath her shirt.

Growling, he pulled back from her lips and coerced her to lift her arms. She pouted at being forced to stop the caresses she was happily delivering but did as she was told. The redhead impatiently lifted her blouse over her head and sent her bra flying with it. He wrapped his arms around her, his hands caressing the warm skin of her back and he groaned out loud at the feel of her breasts against his bare chest. Sakura wasn’t prepared for the contact of skin against skin either, and she opened her mouth in a silent scream of pleasure as she was engulfed in his embrace.

She brought her lips to his neck and started licking her way up until she reached his chin. He chuckled at her antics but before she could continue with her ministrations, be brought both hands down to her bottom and lifted her up with ease, carrying her over to the bedroom while she wrapped both legs around him.

Sakura gave a small yelp of gleeful surprise as he carried her but continued to place butterfly kisses all over the skin of his shoulder. Once they got to her bed, Gaara sat down on the edge as she straddled his hips and he didn’t waste any time in burying his face in her breasts and giving them the attention he had been dying to bestow. The pink haired girl leaned her head back up towards the ceiling as he suckled her thoroughly while he made sure to massage her other breast with his hand. Lustful jade eyes looked up at her while he did so, wanting to catch the euphoric expression on her face.

He chuckled as he watched her try to prevent the moans she was eliciting by biting her lip but he knew it was futile. If there was something she had never been able to avoid where the noises of sheer and untainted pleasure she made whenever he made love to her. And he had made damn sure she didn’t stop making them too. In the month they had been together back then, they had made love more times than he could count and he was looking forward to repeating the experience over an even more prolonged period of time.

“Take them off,” he heard her say and he smiled against the skin between her breasts.

“Take what off?” he teased as he continued to lick his way down her skin.

“Your pants,” Sakura gasped as he brought his hand to the clasp of her trousers.

“I’d rather take yours off first,” he stated wickedly, and without any warning he had reversed their position, pressing Sakura up against the mattress as he undid her zipper. Her pants flew across the room before she knew it and he was suddenly lying on top of her, kissing her leisurely as his hands travelled all over her skin. She brought her legs up around him so that she could press him closer but as she did so, he slipped off from her and lay on his side next to her, bringing his hand down to the edge of her panties.

He never broke their kiss as his fingers slipped inside her underwear and continued their way down unhurriedly. Sakura knew he was teasing her but her brain simply wasn’t functioning properly. She wanted him to touch her so badly that there was nothing else in the world but the feel of his fingers as they slipped between her legs.

The pink haired girl let out a loud groan of pleasure as he finally reached his destination and she pushed forward with her hips in an attempt to bring his teasing digits even closer. All she could register, apart from the sensations of complete and utter pleasure, was the sound of Gaara’s wicked chuckles in her ear. She turned towards him then, only to find unabashed jade eyes looking directly at her.

“Did you miss me?” he asked as he continued to touch her.

Sakura could only whimper in response.

“Tell me ouka,” he prompted, “did you miss me?”

At the sound of the endearment, Sakura knew that there was nothing she could do to prevent him from owning her heart.

“I missed you,” she whispered as she brought her face closer to his. “I missed you, Gaara.”

His lips parted into one of his characteristic feline grins but there was something different in his eyes, something deeper. The pink haired girl swore that she could lose herself forever in their jade depths without any complaint.

With a growl, he lifted himself up and Sakura cried out in protest at the sudden lack of his fingers. But before she could register anything else, she felt him taking her panties off. Looking up, she saw Gaara unclasp his jeans and take off his boxers, standing in front of her completely naked.

Deep down inside her, Sakura had never forgotten how amazingly exquisite his body truly was. Sometimes, she would actually dream of making love to him but had always managed to dismiss those fantasies as nothing more than stupid whims. Now, as she was confronted with the vision before her, the pink haired girl now knew that her dreams had been telling her the truth that lay inside her heart and that she would willingly give herself to him until the end of her days.

He lowered his face to her tummy and licked her bellybutton leisurely before making his way up towards her breasts once more. When he reached her face, he caught her bottom lip between his teeth and nibbled on it for a moment before settling on top of her as she spread her legs to accommodate him.

And then, he was suddenly inside her and the world seemed to narrow down to nothing more than the sounds they were making and the rhythm they were sharing. Jade fell into emerald and there was nothing anyone could do to separate them once again, nothing. The time they had been forced to stay away from each other was over. In the sheen layer of sweat upon their skin, in the heated whispers they shared, in the way their bodied moulded together perfectly and in the way they cried out each other’s name, there lay the evidence that their union had always been meant to be.

Sakura’s emerald eyes looked directly at him for a moment before she shut them and Gaara knew that she was close. He increased his rhythm abruptly and was rewarded with the way she elicited a loud whimper of delight. A few moments later, he felt her tighten around him and open her mouth in a silent scream as she arched her back, overcome with waves of intense pleasure. He followed her over the edge a few seconds later, her name on his lips as he fell on top of her, his breathing coming out in loud gasps.

They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity, neither wanting to disturb the moment of complete and utter bliss.

It was after a while that Gaara lifted up his face to look at her, only to find her smiling at the ceiling, emerald shining while partially hidden by her dishevelled bright cherry locks. When she caught him looking at her, she lifted her face up to his to give him a quick kiss on the lips.

“So it was that good, huh?,” he asked smugly as she rested her head back down on the pillow.

“Hmmm, yes,” Sakura said in satisfaction, “but you have done better”, she finished teasingly, not being able to avoid the temptation of pulling his strings.

“Oh really?” he said, an angry spark coming to his eyes despite the fact that he knew she was simply teasing him. “I’ll show you better, then.”

And with that, he lifted her up in his arms in one fluid movement and throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of grain.

“Gaara, what are you doing?” Sakura said in surprise, unable to prevent a string of laughter from leaving her lips as he started to walk.

“Standing up for my manhood,” he said as he made his way towards her bathroom door. “Do you have a tub?” he asked.

The pink haired girl giggled. “No, I’m afraid not.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he replied as he turned on the light of the bathroom. “As long as there’s hot water, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Gaara, what…” Sakura started to say, but before she could get another word out, the redhead had placed her on her feet and was kissing her breathless.

She didn’t know what he was up to, but she was more than happy to find out.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hours later, they lay side by side on Sakura’s bed, looking at the lengthening shadows of the day as the last light of the sun entered through the window.

The pink haired girl couldn’t believe how so much had happened between them… and the day hadn’t even ended yet! Wondering what the night would bring, Sakura felt a shiver of anticipation run over her skin and she smiled, turning around to look at the man beside her.

He had been dozing off for the last half hour and she had had the opportunity to look at his handsome face while he napped. She giggled slightly in remembrance of everything he had done to her… she really hadn’t known that a bath sponge could be used like that, but she was extremely happy that she had made the discovery and that it had been with him.

However, despite their sudden closeness, Sakura knew that there were many things she didn’t know about him, especially after all the time they had spent apart. Still, they had time to rediscover each other all over again and like he had said before, she also planned on making up for all the time they had been separated.

A sleepy jade eye opened up slowly and looked directly at her. He brought up his arm and pulled her close, allowing her to rest her head on the crook of his neck. They stayed like that for a while, lost in each other’s presence, until Sakura elicited a soft mischievous giggle.

“What?” Gaara asked suspiciously.

“Oh nothing,” she replied. “I just thought of something.”

“Which was?” he prompted.

Sakura rolled her eyes, for she knew that if she mentioned what she was thinking about, he would probably fall into one of his characteristic jealousy fits. But she decided to say it anyway.

“I’m just glad I didn’t stop taking my birth control pills,” she said as she snuggled deeper into his chest.

The redhead knew she was referring to her recent break up and he felt a small wave of rage at the thought of her in the arms of another man. But he refused to ruin this moment after all the time he had waited to have her in his arms like she was now. He was enjoying it too much. There would be time enough to give free reign to his jealousy in the days to come.

“I’m glad you didn’t too,” he told her after a moment, caressing her back with his hand.

Sakura smiled against his skin but didn’t say anything.

They lay cuddled together for another while until the silence of the apartment was broken by the sound of Sakura’s house phone.

“Don’t get it,” Gaara told her grumpily as she sat up to answer.

“I need to get it,” she told him as she stood up and put on her panties. “It might for a job interview.”

“I don’t want you to work,” he told her moodily, as he turned on his side to look at her. “I want you to stay home with me all day.”

Sakura rolled her eyes. She had forgotten what a complete baby he could be sometimes. Turning around, she spotted the shirt he had taken off before she had come into the apartment sitting on a nearby shelf. It was a navy blue t-shirt and she grabbed it as she made her way out of the room, putting it on as she went.

“Hello?” she answered once she got to the living room.

“Yes, this is her,” she replied after a moment. “Oh, I see. Good to hear from you.” In effect, it had been the call she had been expecting all day.

She stood by the couch as she talked to the woman on the other end, giving her some of the details of her previous work experiences. As she chatted away, she saw Gaara coming towards her, his boxers low on his hips. He moved past her as he gave her legs an appreciative glance and made his way into the kitchen, where he opened the fridge.

Sakura couldn’t help but smile at the picture he made as he leaned down to look for something to drink. She stared in approval at his behind when he bent over to take something from the back of the refrigerator. It really was good to have him back.

He took out the orange juice and drank directly from the carton as he leaned in the doorway, looking at her with lustful eyes as she spoke on the phone. Sakura turned her back on him in an attempt to keep her voice even when she answered the woman’s questions. If he kept looking at her like that, she might be tempted to hang up on her.

“That would be perfect,” she said after a while, scurrying to write some things down on a piece of paper. “3 o’clock tomorrow will be fine.”

As she was finishing up, she heard her doorbell ring but she was too distracted to pay much attention. She only registered the fact that Gaara, almost fully naked and with an orange juice carton in hand, moved to open the door.

“Thank you Ms. Tsuki,” Sakura said in farewell, “I will see you tomorrow then. Goodbye.”

“Yes!” she shouted loudly in triumph after she hung up. “I’ve been waiting to get a call from this place. Gaara, who was…”

But then her emerald eyes widened in utter shock at the sight that greeted her when she turned around and she could do nothing but stop breathing in an attempt to take in the magnitude of the situation.

There, standing on the other side of the door across from the redhead, stood Shune, a bouquet of flowers in hand and his dark brown eyes wide in surprise behind his glasses. He was wearing one of his usual suits and his briefcase was in his other hand, letting her know that he had decided to stop by directly from work.

Sakura wondered at how scrawny-looking he seemed next to Gaara and she silently wondered just what exactly she had seen in him.

Shune stood slightly on tiptoe to look over Gaara’s shoulder and spotted her... suddenly noticing that she was wearing only a man’s t-shirt and her panties.

The pink haired girl would have laughed out loud at the situation but she knew that Gaara was probably on the verge of killing the man in front of him and she didn’t dare to move a muscle.

“So you’re the geek,” the redhead said in derision, venom dripping from his voice. “Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing here?”

Shune opened his mouth to say something but was simply too taken aback to bring out any words.

Gaara didn’t give him time to pull himself back together.

He stepped forward and with his free hand, he pushed Shune with all his strength, sending him flying against the opposite wall of the corridor. Not caring that he was wearing only a pair of boxers, he stepped out into the corridor.

“Listen bastard,” he said as he came to tower over the dishevelled man, “I want to make myself clear. I never want to see your sorry ass around here again. She was with you only because I wasn’t around but now that I am back, she definitely won’t want anything to you with the likes of you.”

Shune looked up at him with wide frightened eyes, his face ghostly pale.

“So make yourself scarce,” Gaara finished with a growl.

The man didn’t need to be told twice. He slipped out of the redhead’s way and basically ran over to the elevator doors down the hallway, the bouquet of flowers completely ruined in his hand.

The redhead glared after him until he disappeared into the lift. Turning around, he was about to step back into Sakura’s apartment when he saw some of her neighbours sticking their heads out of their doors to see what was going on. He nodded their way nonchalantly before going inside and shutting the door behind him.

“My hero!” Sakura shouted in glee as he came inside, throwing herself on him. He narrowed his eyes at her, thinking that she might be mocking him but as she pressed her lips against his and coaxed them open with her tongue, he knew she was being genuine.

“He definitely won’t be bothering you again,” he said smugly after she had disentangled herself from his arms.

“I think you have won a free dinner just for that,” Sakura smiled up at him. The look on Shune’s face had been worth every second of it. “I’ll cook you something.”

The redhead cocked his head to the side for a moment as he regarded her. “I guess I am getting hungry.”

“Good,” she said with a laugh as she turned and made her way into the kitchen.

Gaara lifted the orange juice carton up to his lips and took another drink as he contemplated the exquisite way her behind moved when she walked in her panties. Even though his shirt covered most of it, it lifted just enough to give him a tantalizing view.

Food might be exactly what he needed. He really would need the energy for all that he planned on doing to her later on that night.

Now I shall look forward to the Bleach smut!drabble Zelha promised to write if I wrote her this. (cackles in glee)

Hope you enjoyed it, guys!