Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto!

Sakura looked over at Sasuke. He had just been trying to comfort her, right? That was all it was. But then, why hadn’t he let go at the same time as Naruto?

When Sakura was back at the castle, she sat, staring up at the ceiling. It was late, and most people were asleep. Sakura got up, and decided that she was going to walk around the castle. It was her castle, so no one could stop her. She needed to clear her mind of the things that had been happening lately, and exploring the castle was the perfect way to do so. As Sakura exited her room, she started thinking about everything that had happened to her lately. ‘My life has taken quite the change. I’m no longer Sakura Haruno, the Ninja from Konoha, but now I’m the Princess of Konoha. Life has taken some serious turns that I’ve never expected. And Gaara, his ancestor is just as messed up as he is. What I would do back home in this predicament is not going to help me here.’ Sakura sighed, as she turned down a hallway. ‘And Sasuke. Could he maybe, possibly, somewhat like me? I’ve liked him for so long, and I thought he could never return the feelings. But lately, I have no clue what’s going on with him. Naruto has noticed it too. Around me, he isn’t himself. He even held my hands and looked me in the eyes when he gave me advice.’

Sakura’s thoughts were cut off here by the sight of a slightly cracked door, and the voices of two people coming out of it. She crept closer and crouched next to the door, out of view. She then recognized the voices. ‘It’s Gaara and his father!’

“I know, Father!” Gaara was talking in a rather loud, uncontrolled voice. “I have to propose soon.”

“Then you’ll propose tomorrow!” The king nearly shouted at his son.

“How can I when she’s recruited that Uchiha to be around.” Gaara said with a snort.

“You’ll just have to get some time away from him, if you understand.” The king was saying. Sakura’s eyes widened. She was definitely not letting Sasuke out of her sight tomorrow.

“So I’m supposed to get rid of him?” Gaara asked.

“No, don’t kill him; just send him to do something pointless at the time, something that will give you enough time to propose.” The king said. “Killing him would cause too much trouble. He’s one of the best knights in this pathetic kingdom.” Sakura was enraged. Pathetic kingdom! Sure, she had only been here for two days, but this kingdom was definitely not pathetic.

“Fine, father.” Gaara said. “I won’t kill him. I’ll send him ahead to do some scouting for possible danger. Although killing him would be a pleasure. I’d never have to deal with him again.”

‘Great, just great.’ Sakura thought. ‘I can’t object to Sasuke walking ahead and looking for possible danger. That would be way too suspicious. It would show that I know far too much.’ Sakura heard people shuffle around inside of the room, and quickly got up, she walked as silently as she could past the door, and then ran back to her room.

Once she had safely shut the door behind her and retreated to her sitting room Sakura sat down to think. She was out of breath from running through the halls, and didn’t realize how fast she had been running until she collapsed on the couch. ‘What am I going to do? He wanted to kill Sasuke. Oh my god! This is awful. At least he can’t. Still, he could try and injure Sasuke. But Sasuke should be able to handle him, right?’ Sakura massaged her temples as she thought more thoroughly of what she was going to do tomorrow. ‘I’m not going to bug Kakashi-sensei about this; he has enough trouble keeping Naruto out of trouble. I’ve already troubled him enough, and Sasuke was right. They can’t tell me what to do; I have to decide for myself. I’ll just have to read tomorrow’s entry before we go and try and figure out what to do. One thing is I can’t refuse the proposal. I’m going to have to accept, for the time being. Where I go from there, though, I have no clue.’

Sakura sighed as she leaned back, hitting her head against the couch in the process. “Ow!” Sakura rubbed the back of her head. ‘I should probably get some sleep. But I’m too stressed to get any.’ Sakura got up and walked around the room. She was unaware that someone was watching her. From the rafters high up in the room, someone watched as her delicate figure walked gracefully around the room. She appeared to be pacing. The figure jumped down, and turned to talk to Sakura.

“You know, I thought Kakashi-sensei taught you better than to let down your guard.”

Sakura nearly jumped a mile. She quickly turned around, only to be met with Sasuke. “Sasuke! You scared me half to death! What are you doing sneaking around in my chambers?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I have a really bad feeling about tomorrow, Sakura.” Sasuke said.

“Um, actually, about tomorrow.” Sakura said. “Well, you see, Gaara’s going to propose to me while we’re on our walk. I was hoping you being there would prevent that, but I’m guessing not.”

“So? We knew that this would happen.” Sasuke replied calmly.

“Well, the thing is, he wanted to kill you.” Sakura said, looking to Sasuke to see his reaction. Sasuke’s face kept its same cool demeanor. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“No, not really. I expected something like that, actually. Sakura, the guy hates my guts. What did you expect from him?” Sasuke asked her.

“I don’t know.” Sakura replied, looking down at the floor, then back up at Sasuke.

“Now answer me this,” Sasuke said, “how did you find all this out?”

“Well, I was walking around the castle about an hour ago, and stopped when I heard voices coming from inside a room. I crouched down beside the door when I realized that it was Gaara and his father. I sat down and listened, and then when they stopped talking and I heard them moving in the room, I stood up and ran.”

“Sakura, that was really dangerous. That guy would have harmed you, the only reason he would have stopped short of killing you would be the fact that he wants to marry you.” Sasuke said, a little bit of alarm in his voice. He was clearly worried about what might have happened to Sakura. The realization that harm could have come to her finally dawned on Sakura. Tears of fear welled up in her eyes.

“I really am stupid. He would have broken my legs in a heartbeat, then I wouldn’t have been able to run.” Sakura said as tears poured down her face. Sasuke pulled her into a hug, and she sobbed into his chest. “Sasuke, I’m so sorry for being an idiot. My actions affect all of us. Without me, I doubt you guys could ever make it home. I could have gotten all of us stranded here for forever!”

“Shh. Sakura, it’s ok. It’s done and over with now.” Sasuke said as he rubbed her back with his hand, trying to calm her down. Sakura nodded as she buried her face farther into his chest. Sasuke pulled her back and made her look him in the face.

A/N: Cliffie! I don’t do these too, too often in my writing, so I decided to put one here. Yea, I know I’ve been doing a lot of SasuSaku lately; there’s been some of it in the past three chapters. And Sasuke is going to be totally OOC in this chapter and possibly the next one. Reviews are much appreciated!