But you all get it anyway, despite my misgivings. ::big goofy grin::
And, I'll tell you, the next one I decided to write shall be. . .
NaruSaku
Before any starts going "but that's not an alt couple", let me explain. And I will--in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Yeah yeah yeah.
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Fondly, Sakura remembered when she had been a child and how she used to run about in the rain naked in the summer. It had been so free then, so clean and refreshing, but it was an action that seemed to firmly belong in the realm of childhood. Now, she was for all intents an adult and running about naked in the rain held complications that she didn?t want to bother with. What if someone saw? Odds were against it. Even if she wanted to, it wasn?t practical. She would just get slapped by a branch or something.
As she picked her way through the forest, fat raindrops falling on her head and running down through her hair, she wished that she could be a kid again. Sakura hated the way her wet clothing was chafing against her skin, rubbing against the gritty dirt that had caked her skin from the previous day?s walk. It was summer, so the sudden heavy rain was warm but it didn?t make her feel any better to know that she wasn?t about to catch a cold when she was uncomfortable in so many other ways.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time to get away and try a camping trip, just a short one, to get away from her life in Konoha. It wasn?t as if she didn?t love her friends and family, but things had become irritating as a whole recently and she was having a heck of a time containing all the rage that boiled just below the surface of her mind. She wanted adventure, maybe even a little danger, and she wasn?t experiencing either in her day to day work. Tsunade suggested that Sakura might want to take a couple days off when she practically started screaming in the hospital during one of her shifts. It had been a while since Sakura had done any field work, Tsunade had said, and she should take some time to get used to roughing it before she was sent out on a mission with a team. Translation: get out of here before you upset our patients. Naruto had been really excited when he heard, since Sakura was almost always assigned to his team when she was available for missions, and he told her to hurry back from her vacation.
But could there have been worse weather?
The crack of lightening over head told her that, yes, there could, and that she shouldn?t ask questions unless she wanted to know the answers. Sakura swore and picked up her pace. She didn?t want to be out in the open or even near a bunch of tall trees and she used to know the lay of the land well enough to guess where a convenient rock formation might be for some shelter from the rain and possible electrocution. It had been far too long since she had been in this portion of the forest, and Sakura spent more time looking around in the thick sheets of rain then she suspected. By the time she did find a likely place to stay dry and safe, she was soaked through and far more on edge than when she had left Konoha yesterday afternoon.
She thought about starting a fire, but it wouldn?t accomplish much and just attract a lot of attention from anyone who might be around in the forest. There were still enough dangerous things in the forests that Sakura didn?t want to take any chances if she didn?t have to. It was warm enough, really, so maybe she could dry off if she just stripped down. She pulled off the jumper that covered her mesh shirt and then her sandals as well. A sigh of relief followed as she took off the mesh shirt, leaving her just in her bra and shorts. It would be nice to take everything off, but there were lingering feelings of shame for being naked in a public place, even the woods, and instead she busied herself with laying out her clothes to let them dry.
Once that was done, Sakura dug into her pack for something to eat. Dried fruit hit the spot, and she swallowed it down with a long draw from her canteen. She sighed, knowing it would be a shame to waste good drinking water cleaning up her skin which was messy from the shifting clothing and dirt. To waste time she began to hum songs to herself, but singing in low tones didn?t help the sudden feeling of isolation. Camping alone had seemed like a great option, but now she was getting lonely. Unreasonably, this made her angry, and with no one around she felt perfectly willing to take out her anger on the surroundings.
?What the hell! I mean, why do I have to take test after test when I can do all the healing jutsus just fine? Tsunade even said that I was as good as she was at my age, if not a little better. And boy did it gall her to say it. Ha! I know I?m good at being a medic, why is everyone still treating me like I?m the weak one? There are different kinds of strength!? Her words were swallowed by the rain, muffled. That didn?t stop her, as she stood beneath the edge of the outcropping. ?You hear me world? I?m tired of being treated like a burden! Why did this have to happen to me?? She punched the air and gave a defiant yell.
That felt much better. Sometimes a person just had to let go. Sakura placed her hands on her hips and gave a satisfied smile to the outside world as thunder rolled about at regular intervals.
?You make more noise than the storm.? The voice projected from the dark inner portion of the outcropping.
With more than a little surprise, and even some fear, Sakura pulled out a kunai from the pouch at her leg and faced inside. ?Who?s there? Show yourself!?
There was a creaking sound and then some scraping and slowly into the low light stepped a boy who Sakura never thought she would see again let alone be stuck in an enclosed space with. He was taller now, with same red brown hair, but if she had any doubts about who he could be they were dispelled by the distinctive dark circles around his eyes and the gourd at his back. And no one else had the nerve to tattoo such a kanji on their forehead.
?Gaara. . .? Her hand tightened instinctively over the kunai even as her brain acknowledged that anything she could try to do to him would be useless.
His eyes were slightly narrowed as they took in her tensed form. ?Do you plan to fight me?? Sakura hadn?t found her words yet so she just shook her head. ?Then put that away and sit down.? Gaara?s offhanded order galled her, but Sakura still obeyed.
Gaara placed his gourd on the ground and then sat, staring off into the distance and saying nothing. For a few minutes Sakura accepted this silent treatment, but being in his company was stressful beyond imagining for her and she felt compelled to say something to ease the tension. It didn?t look like he was making trouble or acting crazy, but Sakura knew all too well what he was capable of and how close to death she might be just by being here. Oddly, nervousness won out over silent self preservation as she tried to make conversation.
?What brings you out this way??
All Gaara did was turn his head her way, studying her for a moment and then back to regarding the stormy weather with whatever interest he possessed once more.
?I?m on a short camping trip myself. I never expected it would rain this much. Do you like the rain?? She felt like she was babbling, and she probably was, but it felt more secure to fill the silence.
With a long suffering sigh, Gaara seemed to give in to these attempts and actually responded this time. ?No. I don?t like the rain.?
?Can you still use your sand when it?s??
?Yes.? He interrupted.
?Then why don?t you like the??
?I just don?t.? This time there was a sharp tone to his reply, as if he found her questions trying. They paused, both of them, with Gaara staring at her and Sakura now being the one to look away. She itched her arm absently, then stilled as a feeling of horror overtook her. How could she forget that she was practically naked right now? Could a person die of embarrassment? Furtively, she attempted to cross her arms over her chest as if she wasn?t extremely conscious of her state of undress. By the time she had enough nerve to look Gaara in the eyes, he was obviously trying to hide a smirk.
He thought this was funny? Maybe it was, but right now Sakura didn?t find it so. What if he was laughing at her body? She knew she was not the most curvaceous of women, but she also knew she was attractive. Fear couldn?t survive with stinging pride covering it up. Sakura forced herself to uncross her arms and try to stifle the blush that turned her face a darker pink than her hair.
?Does the Hokage know that you?re here?? It was amazing the things she found herself doing and saying when her anger was awakened.
?I go where I please.? His eyes had widened, making him look less threatening even if his words were still aggressively intonated. Around them the winds picked up and Sakura tried to keep her hair from flying into her face any more than necessary. Things hadn?t gone very well today, and she was fed up with sustaining the energy it took be emotional about it all.
Sakura sighed at his last comment, some of her anger dissipating as she turned wistful. ?That sounds lovely. I wish I could do that sometimes. Having no responsibilities, no authority to answer to all the time. . .? To a girl who was under as much pressure as she was to serve other people, Sakura had some very romantic notions of what freedom would be like. That it might be one miserable extended camping trip didn?t seem to interrupt her dreams.
The shift in her mood left Gaara off balance. He drew his eyebrows together at the girl in front of him and asked a question of his own. ?Are you. . . simple??
?What?? Sakura was honestly confused.
?You should be afraid of me, and you were. But I get the sense that you aren?t now. It?s not a very smart deduction. I could kill you at any time.?
She thought about this, about the boy in front of her with his placid appearance and homicidal tendencies. ?Of course I?m afraid, but it doesn?t do any good to stay afraid. If I?m going to die, then I?m going to die. You don?t seem like you?re going to kill me any time soon. You aren?t, are you?? There was a nervous tremor in her last sentence that put Gaara back on familiar ground.
?I wasn?t planning on it.?
?That?s reassuring, I suppose.? Sakura cleared her throat and scooted over to her canteen to have some more water. Her throat felt dry, as if Gaara?s very presence was enough to suck the water out of the humid air around them. She got her blanket out of her pack and spread it on the ground before she leaned against a rock and forced her body to relax itself. About six feet away, Gaara?s back was turned to her, and she was glad that she didn?t feel the urge to speak to him like before.
What she had told him was true enough. It seemed as if most of Sakura?s experiences early on had been dominated by her fear: the fear of bodily harm, the fear of losing teammates and friends, and the fear of being an unwanted burden to others. She had been paralyzed by these fears, unable to act effectively to save her companions in battle or to gain any real lasting self respect. The day she had sliced off her hair in the Forest of Death was the day she began to mark a change in herself. Still she had been bound by her strong love for her friends, but it was her first time in the field as a medic nin that she realized the best way to express her love was not to worry about them but to take action. No one else should be expected to save them when she could do it.
Caring for her comrades and conquering her fear made her a great medic, even if she was only a passable ninja in other ways. She had been unconsciously tracing past scars on her arms, remembering how many times she had been covered in other people?s blood when she looked up to find Gaara staring at her with an unwavering green gaze. Had he been thinking of the same thing, of the blood of others splattering him in battle? It was different when it was the blood of your enemies, Sakura thought. Their eyes held as he continued to stare at her unapologetically. It was she who looked away, and he snorted out a laugh when she did.
?The rain has stopped.?
With some surprise, Sakura found that he was correct. How long had she been reliving battles in her mind?s eye? Time had escaped her. If he was calling it to her attention, she supposes that he wanted her to get going. The sun had appeared in the early afternoon sky, peeking out from dark clouds, and the warm day was fast becoming hot. She hoped it would help the humidity, since as it was she was sweltering even in her skimpy outfit. Sakura packed her things efficiently and then said a polite farewell to Gaara who barely seemed to notice her.
Oh well, on with her trip. Now she had a most interesting story to tell her friends when she got back. She could even dramatize it. . . Dangerous Sabaku no Gaara had been lying in wait for unsuspecting travelers, and when he had beheld her beauty he could not help but spare her life. . . she chuckled to herself. No, even she could not see herself telling that to anyone. He had barely given her a second glance let alone a leer.
Out of his immediate presence, Sakura reflected on how Gaara seemed different somehow than when they had been younger. His eyes were still just the same, and those loosely wrapped robes, but he had aged very nicely and the brooding look had always appealed to her. At this point Sakura laughed outright. It was no good to think about how attractive he was. As if anyone could get close enough to him to act on their impulses. Then again. . .
Her mind began to wander over logistics mostly dispassionately. How would a girl get close to Gaara? His sand might protect him, but that depended on how much control he had over it. From what she understood, the sand shield was an automatic response to danger. If it was connected to his brain?s reactions, then it could be directly linked to his fight or flight reflexes. Included in that set were the ones for the other two f?s, fright and. . . sexual reproduction.
Then again, if the sand shield was willfully controlled then that meant if he lost control a bad a situation could occur. As soon as he experienced a moment of fright or pain in sex then the girl could find herself in the middle of a forced sand funeral and that would be scarring enough for Gaara let along the girl if she survived.
Sakura shook her head as if to clear from it any thoughts of Gaara and sex and all of the possible ways it could go wrong. Her reality did not include having to deal with any of that, it had to do with getting somewhere that would allow her and her clothes to get clean and dry. Each puddle along the forest floor taunted her with their crystalline surfaces. The heat of the day was reasserting itself in conjunction with the humidity and Sakura dug in her pack to find her canteen with no success in finding it. If she had left it behind, then she might be in trouble of slight dehydration, but that was better than encountering Gaara again.
With great luck she did come across a small stream. All it took to find was a quick climb up a tall tree and she was in business. The sap that coated her hands would take some time to scrub off, but this was all part of the discomfort of being a ninja and she had been away from missions far too long if something this transitory caused her tangible discomfort.
The stream reached up to mid thigh at the deepest point and Sakura gleefully waded into its fast moving waters. It looked a little muddy from the hard rains that had flooded it, but whatever grime was getting on her was particulate and easily forgotten compared to the dirt that practically caked her body and literally caked her sandals. This time she looked around the perimeter carefully to make sure no one was around. Specifically she chose a bend in the stream so that the water was slightly calmer and the area more enclosed by brush and trees which settled closer to these areas rich in deposited sediment.
Only then, when she finally felt safe, did she finish stripping and scrub her clothes followed by her body. The water was cold and she tried to move quickly to save herself from experiencing any more of this frigid bath. There was also the possibility of sunburn. It seemed unfair to her that Ino, with her fair skin so much like Sakura?s, would tan evenly while Sakura herself would burn the color of cooked lobster. Yet another one of those facts of life that she had to accept, but matters of physical appearance were still touchy for her. Maybe this is part of why Gaara?s ignoring of her had been so galling. Sakura rubbed soap in her hair and ducked into the water with her whole body before surfacing with a yelp and shaking her hair about to rid it of the excess liquid.
?Was that really necessary?? The voice, flat and low, was right behind her. Sakura turned around, eyes wide, to find Gaara standing not but a few feet away and dripping from her vigorous expulsion of water from her hair.
This was too much. She felt a vein in her forehead twitch and she tried not to blow up, but her anger hit critical mass before she could get a handle on it. ?WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? ARE YOU SOME SORT OF PERVERT?? It was the second time today, after all, and this incident was much more extreme than the first.
Gaara seemed to be unaltered by her nudity or by her anger. All he did was offer up the canteen that she had left behind by way of explanation.
If there had been justice in the world, Sakura would have had a flurry of freezing winds cycling behind her, but as it was she just dripped and looked furious, goosebumps standing up on her flesh in the wind. ?Couldn?t you have waited until I was done??
For a flash, she thought she saw a spark in his eyes, but it might have been a trick of the light. ?I could have.?
?Just put it by the rest of my belongings and leave me alone.? His statement troubled her and she turned from his gaze, wrapping her arms around her shivering body. The cheerily lit up woods didn?t reflect her troubled inner consciousness. When she got up the nerve to peek over her shoulder Gaara was gone and she let out the breath she didn?t know she had been holding.
Weirdo.
A weirdo who had seen her naked. Damn it all.
Sakura set to work on setting up camp for the evening since she was so near to running water and upstream she found a nice clearing. The clouds had not cleared from the sky or from her thoughts, and she tried not to let the menacing feeling get the better of her. It wasn?t as if Gaara had been stalking her. The first incident had been chance, and the second incident had been accident. Sakura had assumed it was accident, but Gaara?s last comment troubled her.
Had he done that because he wanted to see her naked? No, if that?s all he wanted then he could have just watched her and then given her the canteen later. What seemed to be the only logical option was that he wanted to see her naked and he also wanted her to know that he had. What a twisted bastard. Her teeth gnashed their way through a loaf of bread while she worked out her resentment.
Perhaps the most upsetting thing of all about this mess was that he had seen her nearly naked and then completely naked and had been entirely unaffected. Weren?t her ?womanly virtues? enough? Sure, when the female ninjas had been instructed in special classes on the art of seduction she had been the butt of a few jokes, but flirting was about confidence and mind games and Sakura had gotten better at it over the years. No more of that blatantly asking men out on dates business. Sakura could control her own sexual destiny!
Fiery bust of temper aside, she suddenly noted how mild depression set it. An option was that she was so unattractive that even being naked wasn?t enough to. . . Gaara must not like women. The stubborn streak in her wouldn?t admit defeat. That thought brought comfort and some humor to her. The humor outweighed the comfort and she chuckled evilly to herself, eventually laughing so hard she was on her back on the ground and wiping tears from the corner of her eyes. The unnatural quiet that gripped the surroundings went unnoticed in light of her loud merrymaking, and too late she realized she was not alone.
?What is it? Are you stalking me now?? If his presence had first inspired her with terror, now he had become an object of ridicule and more than a little curiosity. That she had landed on her mental feet despite another surprise appearance seemed to please him. His mouth quirked as if it was trying to smile, but failed.
?Look, I think the least you could do is??
?Not going to strip this time?? His mouth quirked harder this time, and Sakura wondered if his muscle was spasming.
Her refuge was sarcasm. ?The next show isn?t until ten, I hope you?re feeling patient.?
Gaara looked unruffled by her cold reception. ?You?re very weak. You didn?t see me until it would have been too late each time.? He took off his gourd, and she noted it as an indication that he wasn?t leaving any time soon. ?Why would your village let someone like you go into the woods alone??
?You don?t know how to make very polite small talk, do you?? He didn?t respond to her question so she gave in to her temper and answered him in the most saccharine tones she could manage. ?I am one of the finest medic nins in the village. I can take care of myself for a mere three days when I?m hardly fifteen miles away from the village if something does happen.?
?Your confidence seems to be unwarranted. This forest is dangerous too.?
It felt like she was being lectured and it had been a long time since she found the sensation novel. ?The way to navigate dangers is to understand them. This forest isn?t threatening to me.? There seemed to be an unspoken part of their conversation that she didn?t dare vocalize. It gave her chills despite the heat.
Lazily, Gaara shifted the ground beneath him, flattening it and the surrounding area of all its bumps. Sakura felt the ground move under her feet and tried not to let alarm show through. This localized earthquake was another scare tactic. He just wanted to get a rise out of her. ?But I was in the forest, too. What about the threat I impose??
?I don?t know why you feel the need to bully me, but I?m not playing your game.? The ground stilled again and she silently said a word of thanks to whatever deity had let her pull off that show of confidence. ?Are you staying, or going??
?Do you want me here??
?No. Not really.? Unflinchingly honest, born of desperation and a hope that he would just walk away if she made her dislike clear.
?Then I?m staying.?
Sakura wished she could scream at him like she would if Naruto had been sitting there being stubborn and persistently annoying. At some point she had become a sort of diversion for the sand psycho. Even if she wanted him to go, she could not make him do anything.
?Then could you make yourself useful and get some dinner for us, and I?ll cook it. With you here I suppose I don?t need to worry about a cooking fire. No one would dare approach where you were.?
?Except you. . .? Gaara said softly.
?What?s that?? He didn?t repeat it; he just looked at her with that twitch surfacing on his face. ?Fine. Just go catch some food. . . and please try not to crush it beyond recognition. I?m not eating rabbit puree for dinner.? It seemed like he was going to resist her casual orders, but eventually he faded back into the forest, gourd in tow, and Sakura sighed her relief. Gaara didn?t seem to be completely unreasonable, simply contrary, and she could deal with that kind of personality.
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Gaara walked away from the girl as she wished, but he didn?t go far. Catching food would be easy and he preferred to stalk other prey. Her body lost its tension once he left, slumping forward as she collected herself together. A part of him wished he had asked her for her name, but he only cared for the names of his enemies and he had no slot to fit into his mind for this girl in any established classification. She looked familiar, her pink hair distinctive, and he tried to place her within the context of Konoha. Nothing came to mind and he shrugged it off.
The girl was talking to herself again, arguing about something, her lips sometimes moving. There was nothing she did that was interesting or useful to him, but he found himself wanting to memorize her movements and burn her image into his brain. Already several images of her were irreversibly etched into his brain: the girl stretching out her limber body as she dried off in the shelter of the rock formation, the girl smiling as she spoke to him, the girl?s naked body as she shook her hair about like some water nymph. The last one was the most cloying of all the images and he couldn?t strike it from his mind. He had tried excessively hard to do so, but with no luck. Gaara felt his blood heat in a similar way that it did for battle, and made efforts to ignore it. The intentions he had to continue on his travels had halted and he had doubled back just to talk to her.
She was gathering wood now, getting a fire ready for when he came back with game. Even if he was critical of her, he was willing to admit that her movements were lithe and her reactions unusual. Normally, in his presence, if someone managed to say anything it was either a plea to spare their life, or it was tentative requests for him to carry out missions. This girl possessed superior qualities than many grown men, powerful ninjas, who he encountered on a daily basis. She could never know how honored she was that he had spoken to her at all. Even Gaara didn?t understand entirely why he did it.
The girl needs protection. His thoughts were concentrated all on her and how aware he was of their comparative strengths. Tonight he would make camp with her, eschewing his normal solitude and waste time taking watch while she slept. The idea alone of doing that for her gave him a tweak in his chest, a strange mild pain unlike when the rare punch landed on him, and he wondered if she felt pain when he was near her as well. Close on the heels of that thought was the musing about what she felt like. That pastel hair seemed too glossy, and her skin looked so pale and translucent unlike the skin of the women who lived in the desert who were subjected to harsh sun most of their lives.
The concept of lust was foreign to him. He had heard Kankuro?s off color jokes about sex and had not found them funny. Temari had tried to explain it once, when they were young when he wanted to know how he had come to be as if it would give him more purpose for living. With blushing cheeks Temari spoke but he had stopped her when he started to get some confusing information about storks and cabbage leaves. They had been very young. Books enlightened him to mechanics when he got a little older, but the elusive part of the equation seemed to be why someone would want to touch another human being. People around him did it all the time, more often then not a protective gesture of defense, but every now and then he saw an unguarded moment when people touched one another willfully. Previously he had not seen the draw, now he felt a pull in his hands and in his gut to get as near as possible to the pink haired kunoichi.
He could get what he wanted; he just needed to look for an opportunity.
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The sand covered rabbits that Gaara had dropped at the fireside were just as unmarked as she had asked for. She didn?t ask how he had caught them, and just hoped that their little rabbit lives had been good ones until they became dinner for the two of them. Even if she had to fight against the strong winds to cook them, she managed in the end to get them charred into a mostly edible state. Gaara had no complaints when he bit into the food, even if both of them grimaced at the taste. Neither person spoke, but once they had finished eating and darkness had set in Gaara seemed to grow restless. Sakura?s whole persona perked up, hoping that her silent treatment was enough to prove she was boring enough to be left alone.
?What?s your name?? When the question came, suddenly, almost ripped from him, Sakura couldn?t think of any reason to deny him the information.
?Sakura Haruno.? There was no need for her to ask him his name, since Sabaku no Gaara was infamous throughout all the villages hidden or not. She had gasped it when they had first met. For a fleeting second her thought about how he?d like to hear her gasp it again.
In the darkness, embers of the fire gave off a thin stream of smoke and provided the only light in addition to the flashlight that Sakura had finished putting batteries into. She managed not to scream when the beam of light hit upon Gaara just a few feet away and standing with his arms crossed directly in front of her.
?I will keep watch.? Again with the orders. Sakura wished she could protest, but he seemed to be determined to do what he wanted to, and honestly she did feel more secure with him there. It was a bit of a shock to realize that she trusted him enough to keep watch, but when she retreated into her small tent to change and go to sleep she also knew that she didn?t have much choice but to let him do as he pleased. This way she knew where he was, at least.
Well, if he was going to do something nice for her, then she should just be grateful and try to at least pretend to sleep to show good faith. ?Thank you, Gaara. Good night.? Then she disappeared into the tent.
It could have ended there easily enough. Gaara had neither experience nor real inclination to create the opportunity he had wanted. Sakura, for her part, was uneasy with his presence but accepting of it and she was creating a mental block against her fear by narrating the whole episode into the past tense even as she lived it. The consolation of making it an interesting story later was providing her a powerful defense. They were two people close together but separated by vast mental straits. . .
Then the storm set in. The winds had settled, but the boiling clouds that had been passing overhead all day again opened up and poured down their liquid upon the baked earth. In addition they hit the increasingly disgruntled form of Gaara. The nearest shelter was miles away, and he couldn?t leave Sakura at any rate. The most practical solution was the one that caused his stomach to clench in an anticipatory fashion, but he didn?t hesitate as he followed through on it. The battle began in the way he expected it to, but he was not at any real disadvantage.
?Get out of my tent!? Sakura, who had not been able to fall asleep in the hour since she and Gaara had parted ways for the night was plenty aware enough when her tent flap opened and she shined the flashlight on clear green eyes.
?It?s raining.? He said as he ignored her order and came in, closing the tent flap behind him. ?I told you, Sakura, I don?t like the rain.?
He used her name so easily, so intimately, and she wished she hadn?t told him after all. ?Can?t you just bury yourself in the earth or something??
The flashlight caught his haunted, almost devastated look, and she felt a wave of guilt. Who would want to experience being buried alive? Gaara didn?t say anything but he did shrug off his outer layer of robes which seemed to be soggy. He lay down next to her, and their shoulders touched due to the tight nature of the small tent. ?Family? tents fit three people comfortably if they were small people, a two person tent could hold one person and their gear without a problem. Sakura had a single person tent and her entire side was pressed next to Gaara even as her other side was distorting the material of the tent off to one side.
?This is really inappropriate.? She wanted to find an excuse to get him out, but even she realized how weak that particular one was.
?Why? Explain it to me.?
Sakura tried to muster up a good way to start that explanation, but it turned and distorted in her brain. The only reasons she could state were somewhat silly. No one was around for miles, so other people finding them and mistaking the situation was out of the realm of possibility. Needing one of them out there to keep watch wasn?t valid because anything that wasn?t frightened away by the aura of Gaara?s chakra would soon be sensed by the sleepless boy anyway. And citing the possibility of inappropriate actions being taken by either party in the tent was something she didn?t even want crossing his mind. Now that it had crossed hers, sadly, it was starting to sound intriguing. But Gaara didn?t like girls like that, she reassured herself. It was easy to forget how she had made that up to sooth her ego earlier in the day.
?Never mind. Just don?t shift around too much and wake me up, ok?? The flashlight clicked off and they were enveloped in velvety darkness. The rain hit the tent, covering up the sound of her breathing. If it were not for the pressure and warmth against her side, she could have forgotten her was there. It was for situations like these she had trained for, she reminded herself, and she concentrated on controlling her breathing and showing a convincing outward appearance of sleep. Meditation was part of some the relaxation techniques she sometimes showed to recovering patients, and tonight she was glad for the control she could exert over her rapidly beating heart and pumping lungs.
Once he thought she had fallen asleep, Gaara let out a deep breath he had been holding in. He didn?t want to shift around, but his arm was uncomfortably placed and it was starting to go numb. Carefully, with the finesse that ninjas were notable for, he worked his arm under the back crook of Sakura?s neck and turned himself to the side. Now he need not touch the side of the tent that felt cold and slick like the water he wished to avoid. In this situation, with the rain enclosing them, he cherished the human closeness that he had wanted from the beginning when he had laid eyes on Sakura.
Bodies were warmer than he had suspected, if she was typical, and already the inside of his elbow was sweating from the contact with her skin. Feather light, he touched her hair and her face. Stopping as she grimaced, but then beginning again once she seemed to compose her features.
His own body was heating abnormally at this exploration and he could have sworn her breathing had sped up. When she spoke, he didn?t stop his explorations mainly because he was curious as to how she would react. Smothered by darkness, Sakura found that the voice she tried to make strong was just a whisper.
?What are you doing, Gaara??
There was a moment when he thought he should just get up now and leave, rain be damned. Yet another possible scenario involved killing her then walking away, but the constriction in his chest became unbearably tight at the thought of her death. Killing her was not an option. Maybe words would help. He didn?t enjoy the way she sounded so far away.
?I like the way you feel.?
?Do you know what this means?? Her voice caught as his fingers dipped into the hollow of her throat and skimmed back out. ?Do you know that what you?re doing isn?t right??
?It feels good, so why should I stop?? he wanted to be closer to her, so he rolled his body onto hers, resting himself in between her legs. ?Does it hurt you, what I?m doing??
Sakura didn?t know if he was innocent, truly unschooled in what it meant to touch another person particularly a girl, or if this was just another part of his manipulations. ?No, it doesn?t.?
?Then I don?t think I?ll stop.? She felt so nice, silken and pliant, that he began to wonder how she would taste. Gaara felt his mouth draw down to her neck and he ran his tongue over her collarbone.
?What if I ask you stop? What if I ask you to leave?? The gasps that punctuated her questions were driving his blood to a boil.
Gaara was only half listening to the actual words, lost in the wonder of her body and his own overwhelming response. ?Do you know how much you?ve taken over my mind? I didn?t think I?d ever want to get near another human being, but I can?t keep myself away from you.?
The evidence of his desire was resting between her legs, outlined by their clothing and the blanket but still firm and unforgettable. Sakura felt how her body was responding to him, wishing she could say that she rejected him at that basic level, but he was being so attentive and her body clamored for more. Before she could moan aloud she bit her lip and tasted blood.
He had been in the process of pushing down the top of her shirt to lick skin closer to the breasts that he had become so interested in seeing, but the distinctive smell of blood caught him and held him. The instincts that had been driving him in this need became even blinder and he clenched the flesh of her sides painfully as he took her lip into his mouth and ran his tongue over the small cut.
?Gaara,? Sakura gasped as he pulled away from her and came back to himself at the sound of his name on her lips. ?Please. . .? They were just inches away from one another and he felt the gust of her panting breaths against his sweating flesh.
If she asked him to stop, he didn?t know if he could. He?d hate himself, he?d hate her, if this happened and she rejected him. The demon inside of him, anticipating the negative response, collected power around him and he tried not to give in to the instant rage.
?. . .please be a little more gentle. My ribs feel like they?re going to crack.? Sakura took his lower lip into her mouth mimicking what he had done to her and ran her soft tongue over it. Gaara forced his hands to release the vise around her middle. The urge to kill had been completely erased and in its place blossomed something more compelling, more pleasurable, and he gave in to it. She didn?t hate him. She didn?t fear him. To Gaara, Sakura was perfect and he would show her how devoted he could be.
If Sakura had had doubts about her decision, they were dispelled when Gaara?s lost the frantic edge that had her alarmed before and he removed his weight from her long enough to extract the blanket and his shirt. If he had enough presence of mind for deliberate action then she felt better about the pace of this. He words had moved her a little in her heart, knowing that she was the first person he had voluntarily touched like this, and all it took was knowing someone took note of you like that to respond to them more favorably. After all, she had been admiring his form before, and there was nothing wrong with something as natural as what they were doing.
A voice in her head tried to scream at her. It was the reasonable one she had sent packing this morning when she had stripped under the rock outcropping and screamed her frustrations to the world. The voice told her that this was a decision that she could regret, that it was tying her intimately to a monster who might do anything to her just as easily as he brought her pleasure. She hadn?t realized that during this inner argument she had gone still under Gaara and he had paused in his removal of her shirt.
?You think too much.? He said, his wisdom in this situation surprising her back into action as she lifted her arms to allow the shirt to slip past. ?You need to train your instincts more.?
?And you?re all instinct and no thought.? She started out saying it with a snap but ended in a purr when his hand covered one breast and his mouth the other. If her nails had not been cut down so far for the practicality of working in a hospital and being a ninja then she might have trailed score marks down his back but instead her fingertips ran over skin, trailing rivets behind them. Sakura whimpered when he bit down on her nipple a bit too hard, but he adjusted the pressure and laved the pain away with his tongue.
By now he was breathing heavily as well, and his chest scraped over hers as he sought her mouth again. The planes of muscle, the small hard nipples?she could feel it all against her oversensitive flesh. He was taking over, fending off her hands when they wandered near or below his waist and pushing her tongue back into her mouth with his own when she attempted to invade. It was as if Gaara were trying to make up for a lifetime of not touching another person in just one night. Where his hands trailed his mouth would follow, and her sweat mixed with his saliva in trails over her body.
Soon enough he grew impatient and tugged at her pants. Sakura lifted up her hips to push them down and pressed into his erection suddenly. Gaara made a strangled noise in response and as she wiggled her pants off he proceeded to growl and moan in turns. Even if he stopped her from touching him as she wanted to, she could still exert power over him and Sakura tried not to crow out her smug happiness.
Naked beneath him, Gaara pictured once again how she had looked in the stream as he could only make out her vague outline in the inky murk of the tent. He saw everything clearly in his mind and followed the outline with his index finger as he traced a bumpy path over her lips, her breast, hitting the small dip of her belly button, until he finally got to explore the spot protected by small curly hairs which was damp to his touch. Sakura writhed under him as he felt a small bump and rubbed it experimentally before he moved on to her inner heat that welcomed his finger into their damps slickly.
Gaara took his finger away and touched the glistening tip of it to his tongue. Not unsettled by her taste he kissed down where his finger had traveled before delving his tongue in past her curls. The bump which seemed to draw the biggest reaction from the beautiful woman beneath him was what he concentrated on until her thrashing about forced him to hold her legs down and apart if he was going to continue. There was a moment when he wondered if he was hurting her, but shortly after his tongue stopped she cried out to him.
?Don?t stop.? His member twitched at her tone. ?Please Gaara. . .? And that was all it took as with a smirk he went back to what he was doing. Under his hands her powerful thigh muscles shifted and attempted to clamp onto him but he just held her more strongly and moved his tongue over her faster. When she shook and called out his name he could only assume she had reached whatever end it was that she desired. His needy body demanded the same opportunity.
Sakura couldn?t believe what was happening to her, and as she drifted down from the cloudy place her mind had reached at her climax she felt more confident to seek out Gaara than before. When she took the initiative to pull him back up and tug at his pants, he did not resist and climbed out of the last of his clothing with admirable speed. He sucked at her neck as she positioned him at her entrance and drove her hips up to enclose him in her warmth. The pleasing sensation of fullness only lasted a moment as she moved her hips and he took up the pattern of motion she had started.
When his movements sped up and began to lose control Sakura locked her arms around him and met him with all the force her muscles had energy left for. Gaara hardened then released inside her and she pulsed around him a little in response even if it wasn?t as intense as her first orgasm had been. Sweaty and fulfilled, he dropped down on her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. Their chests pushed against one another until their ragged breathing subsided. Still, he refused to let go or even loosen his hold.
?I?m not going to disappear.? She smiled, knowing he couldn?t see it but doing such a gesture automatically. Sakura?s words seemed to help and Gaara let his arms relax around her but not withdraw.
She felt exhausted. The wind and the rain still pounded the outside of the tent and shadows from the trees created strange moving murals above her past the silhouette of Gaara?s hair and neck. It would be nice to sleep, but that would be impossible like this with his weight robbing her of deep breath. He seemed to anticipate her need and Gaara drew his body away from hers and rolled them to the side, still his arms stuck to her as if glued.
?Good night Gaara.? She knew she could get to sleep now, even like this, and only the brief tightening of his arms let her know that he had heard her.
*
*
*
It was a strange sensation, Sakura reflected, to wake up with a blanket half way over one leg and a naked man halfway over the other. His arms were still around her, even though by now at least one of them had to have lost circulation. Gaara, noticing that she was awake, smiled at her.
With a catch in her breath Sakura saw that it wasn?t the smirk he had offered to her the day before but a full smile that showed the upper row of his teeth. It filled her with warmth and she leaned forward to catch his smiling mouth in a kiss.
?Good morning.? What else should she say? Thank you? Is your arm ok? Can we do it again?
The longing in her eyes was not lost on Gaara but neither was the way her stomach loudly growled. If she had had a free hand, Sakura would have slapped herself. Even if she couldn?t help the needs of her body, it was still embarrassing. Gaara pulled on his clothes in the small space afforded to him and climbed out of the tent.
?Breakfast.? Was all he said in parting. Once he was outside, Sakura scrambled around the tent with wide eyes and tried to pull all her clothes on all at once. She stuck a leg through the wrong side before correcting it with a curse. Stumbling out of the front of the tent to splash into the water just outside, she noted that the entire stream had flooded last night and her tent was occupying a raised dais above the inundation. She had tripped down about a foot into the awaiting water. Thanks to Gaara, no doubt, and she thought cheerfully how useful he was even if she didn?t appreciate this kind of wake up call.
Then she realized she still had to wade through water to get anywhere and felt even less cheerful. Sakura sighed and sloshed her way over to the next mostly dry area she could find. Her body felt a little sore in areas she never thought she?d be sore in, and with a wide smile she jumped around inside of her own mind in post-coital glee. She relived the night in flashes and squealed and blushed in turns to herself while she looked for likely pieces of wood to start a fire with. Everything was too damp still.
It didn?t take long before Gaara returned. By then she had finished packing up the tent and he watched from the side of the large puddle as she walked back. He assumed she had had enough time to think. Looking for breakfast had been pointless, just an excuse to leave for a while. There was no game for miles around. Animals learned faster than people to avoid his presence. When she smiled and waved at him, he was immeasurably relieved.
?So, I think I?m going to go back home today. I?m expected for a mission.? It was mostly the truth. Really, she was tired of sleeping in a tent and being dirty and hungry. More shyly, she added. ?Where are you headed to??
?Nowhere.? His mouth tightened and he was again the stoic and unreachable Gaara she had accidentally shared an outcropping with. The morning sun beat down on them and Sakura shielded her eyes against it as she judged the time of day to be maybe 10 or 11 a.m. ?But maybe I?ll stop in Konoha today.? Gaara added the last part and then turned on his heel to head in that direction. Sakura?s running footsteps caught up to him.
The little voice in her head tried to tell her that he was going back to Konoha because that?s where she was going, but Sakura shushed it as bunk. Last night had been great, but it was not life changing, and she should not assume she was truly special to him. If anything, he seemed to be trying to walk faster than she could keep up with. What if he was the one who regretted last night? Some stray she was bringing back. What had she gotten herself into?
Sakura played with her doubts and mixed feelings, but up ahead Gaara?s mind was filled with calculations.
This kunoichi, his Sakura, was not well trained enough to keep herself out of trouble. Gaara thought that if she was placed on a mission then surely she would just get herself hurt. He could go along and protect her. . . but just because he felt like doing something more pointed than wandering. It wasn?t as if there was any deeper purpose. He shouldn?t tell her what he was planning, because she was perverse enough to protest it. She would misunderstand. Gaara felt how Sakura was lagging behind and he stopped entirely until she caught up. Her hand brushed his in passing as they both started out again, and he didn?t pull away from the sensation.
The Hokage would offer him a place to stay, but Gaara wondered to himself if Sakura would invite him as well. The smirk returned to his face. Maybe he?d just invite himself over anyway.
I love the way she interacts with Gaara.
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I love the idea of NaruSaku 1: Because they'd make a HOT! cuple 2: I don't like seeing Sakura with any one but our four leading guys. Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke and Shika-Kun!!!!!