Last Chapter: They left at dawn the next morning. Of course, it just said 'Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, and Nara Shikamaru working border patrol, Haruno Sakura to attend Kazekage medical needs and training other medical ninja." Thanks Tsunade. Another 'adventure' where they didn't know what the hell was going on. She sighed. Hey, maybe she'll find someone better than Sasuke there. It's worth a shot, right?

Disclaimer: No! I don't own Naruto..or Gaara..or Sakura...STOP MAKING ME REMEMBER!!

The Sweetness in His Voice

On the way to Suna, Hinata seemed to want to say something almost every minute of it. Sakura tried to get her to say something, anything. Or she would say something that would involve Hinata and Naruto, and Shikamaru, if he wanted. It was when she suggested playing 'Questions' Naruto finally got really into it. Being gone for two years, he wanted to know everything. Sakura casually managed to remove herself from the conversation, and she walked ahead of the two, winking at Hinata as she did. Hinata smiled at her, and then started blushing when Naruto started asking her question after question.

Sakura caught up to Shikamaru and talked to him about light, casual things. Mostly about his job as a tour guide, casually hinting at the fact that she had overheard him practically begging to be put on this mission. And she might have 'accidentally' mentioned that she had Temari's phone number from their last sleepover. And she might have 'accidentally' dropped her bag at one point, letting the phone number slip out. And Shika might have said that he thought she could be so 'troublesome' but would spend some alone time with her to be friendly. As he said, "We are ally villages."

As their trip slowly edged down to the last few hours, a sandstorm blew in. They took the time to discuss what they thought was going to happen and have a snack. After all, running blindly through a sandstorm was not the smartest thing to do, as Temari had told them when they had last came and their was a storm.

Shikamaru decided to take a nap after they ate. The storm was taking longer than usual, and they could be there a while. But they were a half day ahead, so they didn't mind. Naruto followed suit, and Hinata unwillingly did too. Sakura, however, was wide awake.

She was thinking about the kind of guy she'd meet in Suna. All of the guys would probably be pretty tan-skinned, wouldn't they? They did live in the desert. She, of course, didn't care about skin. 'He'll have an odd shade of hair color.' Just like her. 'With the shiniest, ice blue-' No, wait, that was Naruto. And any other blue eyes would just be a disappointment after seeing Naruto's. Always so bright, so determined, so deep. And not black, like onyx, like Sasuke. Those were so lifeless, so dark, so heart crushing. So maybe green. Shiny, emerald green. Kinda like hers. Only not as scarred, not as sad and broken as hers. Or, maybe just as scarred. She threw that thought aside.

The wind was dying down. She woke up Naruto and Shikamaru, and Naruto woke up Hinata. They were going out on an mission. And she, was going out on an adventure. And she smiled, so warm and hopeful.