Again, no prompts: but this drabble (by comparison to my other one-shots it really is, even though it's over 1000 words) was conceived after the start of GaaSaku month, and therefore for it. Don't mind the initial Ino POV, and enjoy. ^_^

…
Intervention
…

The sound reverberated, the lights glimmered and flickered, and Ino Yamanaka was having a hard time trying not to throw up. Her date had deserted her, again, and she was seriously considering swearing off men altogether. She hadn't even come here tonight for herself, as she was always the emotional support when her best friend fell into the inevitable black hole of oblivion that was her disastrous love life.

Every time Sakura Haruno got into a serious relationship, said guy always cheated on her, dumped her like she was yesterday's leftovers, and left her in a mess on Ino's doorstep.

'And now I'm drunk, again.'

Well, a little tipsy really, as she hadn't actually had that much – she just hadn't eaten anything today, following Sakura around as the pinkette went on an expensive spending spree in an attempt to temporarily forget her sorrows. No food plus alcohol equals a tipsy, depressed Ino Yamanaka. That was what she told herself, but never listened to.

'Fuck me.'

She fell forward, a pair of hands shooting out to catch her; he eased her onto the couch in their private booth and she burped out a "thank-you".

"And I thought Sakura-chan was a ditzy drunk," he said cheekily.

Ino fisted her hands, debating on whether or not hitting Naruto Uzumaki would make her vision less or more blurry and then just decided to let it go. "Where the fuck is Hinata?"

"Getting the next round of drinks," Naruto said, frowning. "I said I'd do it, but she told me to wait for you."

"Why?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno."

But he was thinking, 'because you're a hopeless drunk and I have the reflexes to stop you from falling over.'

"I feel strange," he said absentmindedly, as Ino closed her eyes and rubbed her temple, attempting to massage away her headache. "I'm the only guy who showed up and I'm outnumbered."

"You could always dress up and pretend to be a woman… again."

Naruto whined. "That was just one time! And you promised never to bring it up again!"

Ino chuckled, but didn't say anything else about it. She figured Hinata wasn't very far away, so she sat up slowly, letting her eyes rove over the dancing crowd, looking instead for the familiar blob of pink.

Leaning back on the couch, his arms across his chest, and feeling bored, Naruto noticed Sakura first. He leant sideways, toward Ino and whispered. "Is that how Sakura gets over Sasuke?"

Ino frowned, watching the way her friend was dirty dancing with some pervert on stage (he was hot, but those wandering hands were giving her violent thoughts). It was so old now – ever since Sasuke Uchiha decided he'd rather a long line of supermodels ready to mount him on command instead of a steady, loyal girlfriend, all Sakura did was go out and have sex with random men.

"If Sasuke can be a slut, then so can I."

The pinkette's words haunted Ino, and that black hole of oblivion was looking more and more permanent this time.

"That's it," she snapped. "It's time for another intervention. Get Hinata and meet us out in the parking lot."

Naruto mock saluted her, but took off to find his girlfriend as commanded. Ino took a long guzzle of the tropical drink that had been in front of Naruto, and marched toward the sad sack of pathetic pink hair. She wasn't going to ask politely, Sakura was coming with her whether she wanted to or not.

"Mind if I cut in?" 'Who cares if you do?'

Ino grabbed Sakura's shoulder and twisted her around.

"Ino! What are you doing?" Sakura tried not to stumble, half way to drunk and bewildered under the bright lights.

"Get away bitch."

The man holding fiercely onto Sakura's other arm snarled at the blonde. But she wasn't afraid of him. She knew how to handle herself, and by the looks of things, this guy was drunk – much easier to deal with than a sober brute whose reflexes weren't inhibited.

"Sakura," Ino said evenly, a slight hint at lust in her voice.

If this was what got her away from this guy (she put "beat up the pervert" in the "backup" pile), she would do it. The guy heard the insinuation and raised his eyebrows at her. Ino ignored him and pulled Sakura toward her. She tasted the array of mixed drinks in her friend's system immediately, not surprised; what did surprise her was the fact that Sakura opened her mouth immediately, like she was kissing her lover and not best friend.

'This girl is too far gone.'

Sakura clearly had no idea what she was doing. Ino pulled away and took her hand, pulling on the pinkette, who grudgingly let herself be dragged off of the dance floor. That pervert called after them, but if there was one thing Ino was completely brilliant at, it was losing a loser in a crowd of semi-naked drunks. They made it out into the parking lot unscathed, and surprisingly, Sakura had stopped giggling and rambling about hot idiots.

"She doesn't look drunk," Hinata said, peering at the pinkette as Naruto fished through his pockets for his car keys.

"She's weird that way," Ino said. "We need to get her home, sober her up, and find a way to keep her out of night clubs for the rest of her natural life. Sorry about the drinks Hinata."

The Hyuuga just shrugged. "I paid for them, but they wouldn't let me leave with them."

"What a waste," Ino said sadly.

"Not really," the dark haired girl said, and silently jerked her head toward her boyfriend.

Ino groaned at Naruto. "You drank them all?"

He nodded, finally prying his keys out of his left pocket. "I don't feel so good anymore."

Ino snatched the keys. "I'm driving."

"You're drunk," he told her.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am‒"

"I'll drive," Hinata interjected, holding out her hand to Ino, who promptly gave the keys up.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Where are we even going?" Naruto asked. "Last time I checked, Sakura-chan was booted out of Sasuke-teme's apartment."

"Gaara," Hinata said softly. "We should take her to him."

"Then she'll just fuck him," Naruto said, as said pinkette grinned sheepishly at him. "Wait…" He grinned back at her. "Yeah, let's take Sakura-chan to Gaara's apartment!"

"You're all idiots," Ino said, but helped drag Sakura into the back seat of Naruto's convertible.

"Actually," Hinata said softly. "He kind of likes her."

"Gaara-kun's so cute," Sakura said wistfully. She poked Ino as the blonde climbed in next to her. "Take me to my panda-kun, please Ino-chan?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Naruto laughed all the way, exacerbating Sakura's drunken state by asking her to name all the things she loved about her panda-kun. She'd just gotten to reason number forty-two on why he was way hotter than Sasuke, when Hinata pointed out to her that they were there. Screaming gleefully, Sakura didn't wait for permission and jumped out of the car.

"We should follow her," Hinata said. "And make sure she doesn't make a fool out of herself."

The blondes exchanged evil grins and both said "no way!"

"Gun it Hinata-chan!" Naruto cackled, and Sakura disappeared into the rear-view mirror a moment later.

Minutes later, Sakura was having a hard time remembering which apartment number was Gaara's as she ambled along, kicking at the carpet in the hallway. The elevator had deposited her unceremoniously and she was at least right minded enough to recognise that it had been his voice on the intercom; she'd had to call up to get him to let her in. But her concerns were a moot point, as said hot redhead was already waiting for her outside his apartment.

Those aquamarine eyes flickered over her, taking in her slutty dress, state of intoxication and lustful stare on his person and he sighed. "Come in Sakura," he said. "Let's sober you up."

Sakura grabbed Gaara's arm roughly, pushing the surprised man into his apartment and threw her arms around his neck. He didn't get a chance to react before she assaulted him; her mouth sent a violent fire rushing through his body and he held her tightly. She was stronger than he thought, and after kicking the door closed, Sakura pushed Gaara in the direction of his bed where she proceeded to shove him backwards onto it. She climbed on top of him, ignoring the half longing, half wary look on his face.

Sakura kissed him again, smothering the gorgeous man underneath her. She ground her hips against his, immediately feeling the reaction in his erection. "Hm…" She moaned. "Gaara, fuck me."

"Sakura…" Gaara groaned, pushing at her shoulders to break their kiss reluctantly. "You're drunk."

She looked down at him. "Nuh… nope I'm not."

"Yes you are."

She hiccupped. "Not drunk, panda-chan."

He twitched slightly. "What did you just call me?"

She grinned. "You're my panda-chan!"

"That's it Sakura, up!"

She screamed, and pushed off the bed, as he attempted to grab her. Sakura waved his hand away, but fell forward, tripping and landing next to him, now giggling.

"Gaara-kun?"

He groaned. "Sakura."

"Hinata-chan said you love me."

Gaara turned to face her, but her eyes were closed; a moment later, her breathing deepened, evening out as she drifted off peacefully. It wasn't like he minded that she'd come onto him and fallen asleep on his bed no, but drunk girls were annoying. So he tucked her in under his sheets, and waited for her to sober up. And maybe in the morning, they could have an intelligent conversation before he thought about kissing her again.

Gaara fell asleep with a smile on his face.

…

R&R.