Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Disclaimer 2: A badly written fight scene continues to eat away at the paper thin plot- my apologies.

Disclaimer 3: I did have fun writing the last part- probably because it was completed while I was drugged up on antihistamines and couldn't sleep. And so, this chapter is dedicated to Claritin D which made this update possible.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu."

Sakura rapidly formed a series of hand signs creating three doppelgangers before the wind based attack obliterated the area surrounding her. The four of them barely managed to get away as hurricane strength winds ripped past them.

Rolling safely to her feet, Sakura took the moment to signal each of her clones before they disappeared in a charka enhanced flash.

Looking back at her opponent she braced herself for another wind attack as Temari raised the fan above her head.

Throwing a strong punch into the stone surface she created an impromptu shield with one of the larger pieces as Temari unleashed another series of wind attacks.

Sakura held her hands together in order to focus her concentration as her instincts screamed at her to run and hide. Okay…I've got to wear her down before she takes my head off. Problem. I need to get close enough to use a fatigue jutsu which, in this case, would mean instant death.

Feeling the howling wind beginning to weaken she figured she only a few more seconds to make a decision before the wind user changed tactics.

Gotta think. She must have a weakness, what is it.

Replaying Temari's first attacks she focused on the wind based techniques.

The fan.

She can't create the Daikamaitachi no Jutsu without swinging her fan first.

If I move fast enough to get close enough before she takes a swing I might be able to get in a solid hit before she's able to block the attack.

This has no chance in hell of ever working you know.

Yeah, but that's where the body replacements come in. The ten foot radius around Temari is extremely dangerous territory and there's no way I'm going in first.

Nothing's better than a human shield.

Damn straight.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura raised her right hand over her head signaling her hidden clones to standby for the next attack.

When the wind died down to a bearable gust, she signaled for them to move.

The next few seconds seemed like an eternity as she closed her eyes and leaned back against the stone as she concentrated on the quick footsteps of the first clone, which came at Temari from the left side. She frowned as the clone was easily destroyed with a slight movement from the wind user.

Feeling the faint vibrations from the second clone, she knew that it had stayed hidden during the first attempt and was now within fifteen feet of its target. The clone went down just as easily as the first, except with a kunai in its chest.

Smirking, Sakura readied her fatigue jutsu as the final clone entered the ten foot radius around Temari. With her opponent occupied by the clone, Sakura added an extra chakra boost to her legs as she sprinted to their location.

Within five feet she flashed the simple pattern of hand signals as the clone was smashed into the ground by the end of Temari's fan.

Feeling a flare of chakra from behind, Temari rounded on its source as a flat palm pressed against the exposed skin underneath her head-proctector.

Gasping as her body began to sag with exhaustion; Temari snapped out of her shock and sent a glare at the pink haired shinobi in front of her. But the gesture was interrupted as a rough hand pushed her backwards; the force was enough that it sent her flying into the rough stone pavement.

Lifting her upper body off the ground, Temari gapped at Kankuro's back as the puppet Nin continued to wrap charka strings around Sakura's wrist and ankles, effectively stopping her offensive attacks.

Moving from surprise to anger, Temari glared at her younger brother despite her sprawled position. "What do you think you're doing Kankuro?! We're practicing!"

Throwing his sister a stern glance over his shoulder, he continued to frown.

"She's kicking your ass onee-chan," he paused slightly as his captive began to rip at her new restraints, "I doubt you can call it practice when one of the participants is exhausted and making stupid mistakes worthy of genin. Just think of it as an 'intervention' before you get yourself hurt."

"God Kankuro, don't give me that bullshit. You just want her to touch you." She said giving him a fierce look that screamed 'you're so dead when I get my hands on you.'

"Phh. I doubt she'll be able to get that close." With a smirk he tightened the bindings as she tried to bring her hand together in an effort to form a jutsu. Kankuro froze when he noticed that the girl he had captured had stopped struggling and was quietly talking to herself.

What the hell…

Temari stood up warily and approached Kankuro as he fell silent. "Kankuro…?"

Ignoring Temari, he took a closer look at his captive and chuckled at his mistake.

The innocent chuckle quickly became an evil cackle as he clutched at the chakra strings. Sakura had little time to react as her bindings climbed up her arms and around her neck. With a flick of his wrist Kakuro effortlessly dismembered the Konoha Nin with a sickening tear of flesh.

Temari, despite her previous acts of violence, was not ready to see her friend ripped to pieces as she dashed forward. "KANKURO!!"

He flinched slightly as he heard the familiar scraping of metal against stone as she raised her fan. Looking behind his shoulder at his furious and teary eyed sister, he calmly pointed to the rock covered in chakra strings.

"Hold on Temari, look. It was a body replacement. No harm done."

She pushed past her brother in order to get a better look at the rock. Convinced that the mangled remains of the leaf Nin weren't hidden behind or under its solid form she sighed with relief as she looked around.

"Where is she?"

"Shh."

Kankuro hissed as he slowly scanned the arena, his fingers twitching as he withdrew his chakra strings from the rock.

His eyes widened as he found himself in the center of a swirling circle of cherry blossom petals and a furious Sakura inches from his face. He gulped at the sinister grin that was forming on her pink lips.

With a satisfying thud, Kankuro sank to his knees gasping for breath. His body offered little resistance to foot pressed against his shoulder and sent him crashing backwards into the stone floor.

Sakura pushed back a few distracting strands of hair from her eyes and gingerly stepped over his twitching body.

"Idiot."

Not yet two steps away from her fallen opponent, she froze as she felt the cool metal of a kunai against the base of her neck. Shit.

"You hit Crow. That wasn't very nice."

Closing her eyes, she held her hands up in defeat. A tingling sensation across the skin of her neck caught her attention as the cool metal of the kunai was suddenly replaced with the hissing of sand against her skin.

"What…?" She mumbled as she slowly turned her head.

Standing behind her, Gaara glared menacingly at his brother who playfully flipped the kunai in his hand.

Still not grasping what was happening she spoke again, "What's going on?"

Ignoring the girl standing next to him, he smirked at his two siblings, "I will partner with Haruno."

Sakura gaped at her self proclaimed teammate. "Hey, wait just one minute! This is between me and Temari, not the Sabaku trio."

Turning his head slightly to the side Gaara gave her a piercing glance. "A leaf chuunin won't stand a chance against two sand jounin. It's only fair…" Looking at his brother his smirk widened, "right Kankuro?"

Kankuro rolled his eyes, "Whatever, this is getting lame. I'm going home," pointing over his shoulder he continued, "I'll take Temari with me."

Turning on his heels he walked over to help Temari who was still having trouble staying upright, giving Sakura a chance to focus her attention on the redhead standing next to her. Or who was standing next to her and was now following Kankuro, leaving the leaf kunoichi alone in the center of the arena.

Taking in the heartwarming scene she snorted at his reasoning. She had gone up against a sand jounin and was still standing- while the other was being held up by her two brothers and looked livid.

This means we win by default, right?

It wasn't that kind of fight you idiot.

Yeah it was. Why do you think Kankuro jumped in? It wasn't to be chivalrous, that's for sure.

Then why did he?

Think about it for a second. Defeat at the hands of another country's ninja, in front of the Kazekage, would be a dishonor even if he is their brother.

I don't think Gaara would care. He even offered to be partners.

He probably wouldn't, but she definitely would.

Oh.

Scratching her chin she went mulled over that last thought. So this was about Temari's pride, and not only had Sakura brought up her relationship with Shikamaru but had also made her look weak. Their friendship could be in jeopardy if she didn't handle the situation just right.

There isn't an easy way out of this, is there.

Nope.

What should I do?

I dunno.

What do you mean you don't know?! You always have something to say- why NOW of all times do you NOT KNOW!!

Good luck and don't get yourself killed.

What do you mean 'good luck'? You're not leaving me like this. Hey! Get back here-

Sakura gasped in disbelief as her inner self disappeared in a poof of pink smoke.

GAHHH!!

Pulling her gloves off in irritation, she stalked over to the others. She stopped in front of Temari and held out her right hand.

"Truce?"

Temari lowered her gaze to stare at the open hand, considering. Pulling her hand from its resting place around Kankuro's neck, she grinned as they shook hands.

"Truce. Now fix me before I get angry."

With a wide smile Sakura obliged, putting her left hand over the one still locked onto hers with a firm grip. Focusing her energy she closed her eyes and allowed her chakra to flow into the sand ninja.

For good measure, she gave more back than needed- hoping to smooth over any bad feelings that might still linger in the other girl's mind so that they could put this whole mess behind them.

Or so she thought, as an evil smirk graced Temari's face she knew something was terribly wrong. Before she could even react she was yanked forward and forced into a headlock, followed by her first noogie.

As the older girl rubbed her knuckles painfully into her scalp, Sakura shrieked in outrage but it only came out as a pathetic rasp. The realization that she had used up too much chakra came a little too late as her hair was ravaged by the evil hand of the wind user.

"Ouch, stop it! I thought we had a truce Temari?!"

"My fingers were crossed."

Sakura choked at the last statement, "You've got to be kidding me!"

Temari only laughed louder as Sakura struggled against the arm wrapped around her neck. "You're too nice Sakura, and someday it's going to bite you in the ass. Let this be a lesson to you."

After the laughter faded to a gleeful chuckle, Temari released her hold and let Sakura fall to the ground in a graceless heap and walked away with Kankuro in tow.

Stunned, Sakura watched in silence until their receding forms disappeared out of the arena.

What is going on?!

Slowly she reached a hand up into her pink hair in order to assess the damage, feeling the frizzy mass of cotton candy colored locks with her fingers tips she knew that it was bad. Really bad.

Haha. Look what happened now- and all because you didn't want to hurt her feelings. You're such a sucker Sakura.

You! You tricked me?!

But you make it so easy.

S-so the whole thing about dishonor and code of the sand ninja- or whatever the hell you said, that was all a lie?!

Don't act so surprised. Like Temari gives a crap what her brothers think, and the only thing on Kankuro's mind was coping a feel. And anyways, look where it got you. Gaara has no choice but to escort you home since you've over-exerted yourself 'accidentally'.

Finally noticing his intense stare she colored brightly, but turned away before he could see the dramatic color change.

Oh my god…this is so embarrassing- did it ever occur to you that maybe he would just leave me here, or worse, make some smartass comment about knowing my limits and so on- while I sit there wanting to put a bullet in my head- but I can't, first of all because I don't have a gun and secondly because suicide would be considered weak. And I'm not weak damn it.

Such a drama queen. Just shut up and enjoy the moment, will you?

Go to hell!

Composing herself the best she could in three seconds, Sakura turned her attention back to the redhead now crouching down next to her.

"Are you okay?"

I only died a little inside and lost all faith in the goodness of humanity, oh and I have a crazy split personality that's out to get me but other than that I'm okay.

"I'll live."

"Want to get a drink?"

She perked up at the offer.

"Yeah, that sounds delicious…but it's not even noon yet and happy hour doesn't start until four at most places."

Cocking her head to the side she grinned at him as she continued her rambling, "Besides, what will people think of us- the Kazekage and a foreign ninja doing some shots before lunch?"

Frowning slightly, he stood up. "I said a drink, not shots."

"But I want shots. You owe me shots, since you're sister killed by head and so you are obligated to make it feel better."

"I'm under no obligation," returning to the original question he raised an eyebrow, "Do you want a drink or not?"

"Yes. But I look like crap and I'm in no mood to go to a bar."

"I never said we were."

"Oh. Well then, I'm ready when you are but I don't think I'm capable of standing at the moment, so…"

"Fine."

With a burst of chakra, the two disappeared in a swirl of sand.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I certainly did, well, parts of it anyways. Review if the mood strikes you I love reading your comments but don't let me pressure you into it, it's not like my only happiness in life is reading your reviews- it is, but no pressure.