Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Art of the Angel ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Inyoku 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.09.2007 | Pages: 1 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 297 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.09.2007 | Pages: 1 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 297 | Status: Completed
the next two days, things seemed to go downhill. When Gaara went to the place Hikari and him met, she wasn’t there. The first day, he was worried. He didn’t know where Hikari lived, so he just decided to do something else. But he couldn’t stop thinking of Hikari, what could have caused her not to come? Was she sick? If she was, Gaara decided that he would give her some time. The second day, he wasn’t just worried, he started to think other things. What if she… abandoned him? No! Gaara argued in his mind. She wouldn’t do that to me. Hikari’s not like that. Or was she? Was it just pity for him that made her want to be friends in the first place? Gaara then felt bad because it was only two days. He was getting needy about her. He was being selfish. Gaara did know that Hikari had other friends… that boy Rei and those other boys. She did spend the past week and a half with him.
Gaara also noticed another thing… it was Yashamaru. He seemed to be lost in thought the past two days as well. He would find his Uncle looking out the window looking depressed. One time, his Uncle even saw him watching. There he could tell- something was definitely wrong with him. Gaara was lost in all this confusion. What was wrong with Hikari and his Uncle? Did it have something to do with the night Hikari came over? Hikari did seem troubled as his Uncle was asking questions about her parents. But what was wrong? From what Hikari always told him, her father sounded like a nice guy. He was the opposite of his father, completely. Her father cares about his daughter, and watches out for her. He is fun to her, showing her the game Borders that even Gaara himself loved to play. He wished he could meet Hikari’s father. If Hikari was a nice person to him, perhaps he will be too. It would make sense. Also… Like he remember her saying her mother died giving birth to her. He heard the same thing happened to his mother. He was amazed to hear the same thing happened to another human being. It was sad though it had to be Hikari’s mother. He felt bad for her, but he also understood what it was like to have no mother. He bet there were times Hikari would just think to herself and ask “What was my mother like?”
Whatever was going on, Gaara wanted to find out. He decided to go to the marketplace, since he was told by Hikari that she went there every morning to either say hi to people or get food. There was a flurry of people that day when he walked around. But despite the thickness of the crowd, there was at least a 2 to 3 feet circle around him. Obviously, they knew he was here. However, Gaara tried his hardest to ignore the people stares, he wanted to find Hikari, and this was the only way. He looked around to find that stand that Hikari got her muffins from. He spotted it immediately. The woman Kaede was giving the price for some bread her customers bought. The woman averted her eyes down and gasped. She made a little jump in her seat, Gaara raised his hands. “Wait please maam, I just want to ask you something.” The woman clasped her chest with one hand and waved the other. “Oh, no no child. I just didn’t see you there. It’s not good for my health to get jumpy like that.” Gaara was a little surprised at how soft Kaede’s response was. She looked back toward her stand and moved some things around. “What was it you wanted to ask me Gaara?” Gaara was even more surprised with the kindness in the woman’s voice.
“Do.. You know where Hikari has been lately? I haven’t seen her in two days.” Gaara asked. The woman rubbed her chin in thought. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen her myself in a while.” She answered. “One morning, she told me she was going to give these teenage boys she met their picture she drew for them. She is so sweet, that girl.” She looked at Gaara. “A lot of mornings, she told me about you. She likes you kid, she says your such a fun, friendly type. I thought she was a little insane at first, I’m sorry to say. But Hikari has had quite a knack to know people well. She’s a gifted child, she is. You’re very lucky to have her as a friend.” Kaede’s eyes looked off toward the distance. “The girl seems like a little angel sometimes.” Gaara looked down and smiled. Hikari was an angel. She changed the belief of a villager here, she made Kaede see that he could be a good person. He could have never done that on his own. No one would listen to a monster, a demon. But they would listen to an angel. Kaede smiled. “When Hikari does come back, tell her I’ll have some fresh muffins for her on me.”
Kaede offered Gaara something for himself, but he said he was fine, and he went on. He was somewhere now. She was last seen with Kaede, Hikari told her that she was going to see those teens who smoked. He didn’t recall her saying she made the picture for them, but that didn’t really matter. One thing was solved, he knew what she did on day one. But other questions still hung in the air: Who were the boys? What restraunt did they work in? He still needed more to answer that. He looked more around. He looked at more vendors, some people there didn’t bother to answer him, or told him to go away. Others said they never even heard of Hikari. He was getting nowhere, and he was starting to feel bad with everyone staring at him. Off in the distance Gaara noticed a stand that… sold art. There were pictures of all sorts on canvases or in frames. Gaara had a good feeling Hikari would have been here. Maybe he could ask the person who sells the art. Gaara found that to be difficult. Many people were in this area, either judging the value and technique used in the art. Others were going head over heels in love with some art and were rushing to purchase the goods. While looking, Gaara studied some the art as well. Most of this art was colored with paints, unlike Hikari who only sketched black and white pictures with pencil. There were portraits of people, but their quality didn’t even seem to catch up to how well Hikari’s work came out. As he passed some more artwork, he saw a couple feet away from him, a display. It was a picture of a beautiful woman, she had long, wavy hair that was entwined with jewels and tied up in a odd fashion, but made the woman look unique. She wore a traditional kimono that was patterned with flowers. He face was fair, and seemed to look flawless, her cheeks were shaded lightly and she was looking down. In her arms was a child. It was peacefully asleep, wrapped up in bundles of dark cloth and tied with a string that had more jewels strung through it. Unlike the other pieces of art… it was sketched… the style was so detailed, Gaara’s eyes widened. This is Hikari’s work! He could tell completely.
Some other people seemed amazed at the sight of it as well. The looked wide-eyed and others nodded their heads in approval. “It is a true work of art.” One man in the group admiring the picture said. “Hey, you wanna know something incredible?” A woman’s voice asked. “What?” another woman’s answered. “The owner of the stand said a six-year-old made this picture! It’s so amazing, I cannot believe it!” Gaara listened in, he knew for sure now this was Hikari they spoke of.
“That cannot be! I six-year-old? That’s too young to have anywhere that amount of talent.”
“I agree.”
“No, really. The owner watched this girl make this artwork when he didn’t believe she did some other art she was selling.”
“Selling? Why would a young girl want to sell such lovely art?”
“She said she needed the money more than the art, except for this one picture….”
“What was of it?”
“Well, I’ve only heard about it, but the owner said from the touch of light, he could see through the art she was not selling when she hid it. You’ll never guess what he saw.”
“What was it?”
“That one boy… Gaara.”
Gaara stopped breathing for a second when he heard this. She was doing a picture… of him? He felt touched, but wondered at the same time of what was in the picture. And why did Hikari need the money that bad? Was she saving up for something? He listened on.
“Why would anyone want to draw a picture of that thing?” A woman’s voice said, sounding appalled. “Who knows.” The other woman answered. “I’m going to buy this piece, it’s absolutely wonderful.” They all seemed to stop and go away after that. That information didn’t help too much, but now he had a guess of what Hikari’s hidden picture was. He left the art market to search somewhere else. It was getting to be late afternoon, and Gaara may need to stop by his house for lunch. He didn’t want to go just yet though. He kept looking in other places in the marketplace, but there was no luck. He started walking back to the alleyway where he and Hikari meet to go through and head back home.
As he reached the alley, he saw someone there in the shadows. At first, Gaara thought it was Hikari, he smiled and ran up the alley. “Hikari! Where have you been-” He stopped short. The shadow actually happened to be Rei. He glared at Gaara angrily and stomped up to him. “I want answers now!” Gaara looked at Rei confused. “W-what are you talking about?” “Don’t be stupid! Where’s Hikari?” Rei demanded. Gaara backed up to the wall. Rei’s anger seemed to radiate off of him. He may be defenseless against Gaara, but Rei was scaring him. “I heard that one day where Hikari went to your house. I didn’t see her at all. I know you did something. Where is she!!” Rei yelled, his voice getting louder. “I didn’t do anything to her! I would never do that!” Gaara cried, tears starting to form. Rei frowned. “Yeah right. If you could kill my Uncle easily, then you would have no problem hurting or killing her. She wouldn’t hurt anyone, making her easy prey.” He said crossly. “You’re wrong!” Gaara yelled back in defense. “I wouldn’t do that! I wouldn’t!” Gaara started to run away. He couldn’t take the accusations from Rei.
Rei didn’t move from his spot, but tears started to roll down his face. “I HATE YOU!!! I KNOW YOU HAVE HER!!!” He screamed angrily. “SHE THOUGHT YOU WERE SO SPECIAL, WHY COULDN’T SHE SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOU!?” Gaara covered his ears. The pain was coming back again. It started to slow him down, but it made something dark grow inside Gaara’s mind. He wanted to kill him. He wanted Rei to die. He wanted those who hated him to just disappear, and only have people like Hikari… He could still hear Rei’s hateful screams toward him. “YOU’RE A MONSTER! A MONSTER!” Gaara closed his eyes, but kept going. Make it go away, make him go away. It was silent all of a sudden, and Gaara stopped running. There was no sounds at all, and it calmed him down. Very slowly, he kept looking around. Gaara had no idea where he ran off too. He just wanted to get away from Rei, from all the pain. He had such a wonderful time this week and a half, he didn’t want that return. But the pain, no matter how long it was ceased, would only intensify each time. And it hurt so bad right now, because he witnessed pure hatred just a moment ago. What he felt all he life toward him. I must find Hikari… She can help me. Gaara thought.
He looked around the area, there was a dim light ahead of him. It was around a corner. He turned it to find a window. One light was on inside it, but from what he could see, it was deserted for now. I must have closed a while ago. The place was well cleaned, it looked like some sort of restraunt… Restraunt. Maybe I should look in this restraunt! Gaara thought. He wasn’t sure where he going to start, since it was closed. But he went up to the door. He turned the handle, and it opened… Strange Gaara thought. He was expecting it too be locked. He crept inside, trying not to make a sound. The lights above him seemed to flicker on and off, and shadows filled the room. It was like something out of a horror movie, it was darkish and very silent. Gaara looked around at tables and behind some front desks, but nothing was found. He saw a row of doors. He walked up to the one marked OFFICE in gold letters when he stopped short. There were muffled voices on the other side. Gaara slowly put his ear up against the door.
“So, how come we haven’t gotten any money for the past days? We ain’t letting you live in this dump for free.” A deep man’s voice was heard. He hear a lighter voice talking, but it was so soft, Gaara couldn’t make out the words. He heard some laughter of these other men once the other voice stopped talking. “You must be crazy to think we were actually going to be nice to you. You may be young, but you have your ways of getting us money.” The voice said. Another guys voice came up. “Hey Noru, you want to know something cool? I heard this person is a Ninomiya. Those legendary people almost everyone forgot about.” Gaara’s eyes widened. NINOMIYA? That meant that either Hikari or her father was in there. He felt his body start to shake. What is going on in there? Gaara looked at the knob of the door. He slowly reached out his trembling arm and turned the knob. The door opened slightly, just enough for Gaara to see what was inside, and it was quiet enough to not get the attention of the men talking. Gaara’s face filled with shock at the sight that was inside.
Hikari was there, on the middle on the floor. She looked awful, cut up in all places. There were some big bruises on her arms and legs and one of her arms was lazily hanging next to her with the other hand clutching it. Blood had soaked up in the oversized white T-shirt she wore. Her light brown hair was messed up and slightly stained with blood as well. She was breathing hard and tears were falling down her face. Hikari, from the look in her face, was in a state of terror. Hey eyes were wide and mouth shakily open. There were some men standing around her… some of which were the smoking boys in the picture! They all were frowning at her, one of the boys had a knife in his hand that had some blood on it. Hikari was looking at the man in front of her. He was big and looked to be in his late 20s. He had tan skin with brown hair and eyes wearing a gray muscle shirt and black pants with lots of pockets. The man smirked. “If you can’t get us the money, then we have to get rid of you. Hikari shook her head. “No! Please! I got distracted, I just wanted to have some fun! Please, don’t kill me!” She cried out. The man still looked at her smirking. “You think were gonna kill you? I just wanted to have some fun torturing you to learn your lesson. Your better off just drawing, since you’re nothing but a homeless brat. But, I haven’t had some fun, so I guess we will just kill you. No one will know anyways-”
Gaara wasn’t listening to anymore, he heard enough of this. H-How dare they!!! Gaara thought, his anger rising off the chart. How dare they lay their filthy hands on Hikari! He screamed in his mind. The men in the room’s faces filled with fear. The saw at the door a rush of sand burst through the door and slam them all to the wall. Hikari looked around the room. “G-Gaara?” She cried out, but it cracked a bit at the end. Gaara walked in, rage completely taking over. He was not going to let these men get away with this. They lied to her. They hurt her. They will die. The men’s faces immediate fell to a state of panic seeing the boy. “W-W-why is h-he here??” One of the teen boys questioned in a high, terrified voice. Gaara walked right up and stood in front of Hikari protectively. “You will never hurt her again.” Gaara said in a dark tone that made the men squirm in fear of death in the sand that covered them. He held out two opened fists and closed them, killing two of them men in the sand. Blood splashed in the room, covering a good portion of the walls, or was absorbed in the sand. That left two other men- one of the smoking teens and the tan older man. The teen was begging for his life and screaming that he wouldn’t do anything bad again. Gaara didn’t hear any of it. He didn’t care even if he did, he just wanted to kill them. Kill them. Kill. So they will never hurt his angel again. He will not be alone again! He needed Hikari, no he wanted her..
He one fist and instantly crushed the other teen, and turned to the tan older man. He looked scared in his eyes, but still had that annoying smirk on his face. He started to laugh to himself. “So, the monster has a friend. Isn‘t that cute. How long will it be before you kill that girl?” Gaara’s eyes widened. Those words snapped Gaara out of his rage and he returned to himself. He took in the what had just happened… and what that man said. He was right, it was only a matter of time. He most likely would kill Hikari, whether accident or on purpose… he was just dangerous that way. A demon. A monster. Gaara’s arm shook as he held it out, tears formed in his eyes. I am a monster. His anger receded as pain and sorrow filled in. He bent over and started crying out in pain. The sand fell to the floor, freeing the man. He ran out the door in a flash. “I am a monster.. I am one… I don’t deserve happiness.. I don‘t deserve her…” Gaara was mumbling, holding his head, crying. But, then he felt arms around his back. They were shaking, but the were strangely
warm, confronting arms. Hikari was embracing him closely, putting his head at her chest. She was shaken, all color from her face was gone. Tears were still in her eyes, but she had such a kind look on her face. “T-Thank you G-Gaara. Y-you s-saved me.” She held him tighter, even though he saw one of her arms flinch as she did so. “Don’t listen t-to what he said. I never d-did. You only wanted to protect m-me, and I t-thank you.” she whispered. What she said.. It soothed Gaara’s pain so much, he moved a bit to hug Hikari. He tried not to hug her so tightly, because of her injury. Thank you Hikari. Thank you for accepting me. Gaara thought, a tear of happiness rolled down his face to the sandy floor. Hikari’s body slipped on Gaara’s, and he realized that Hikari passed out.
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There was a frantic knock at the door. Yashamaru rushed to the door and opened it to find Gaara holding up a wounded Hikari. “She need’s help!” Gaara cried out, walking quickly inside. Yashamaru gasped at the sight of Hikari’s fatally hurt body. “She needs immediate medical attention.! Temari!” He yelled to the young blonde who was quickly ran in. “Call a doctor, now! It’s serious!” Yashamaru ordered. Temari took no question after taking a glance at Hikari and went to the phone. Yashamaru picked up Hikari’s frail body and put it on the couch. He turned to Gaara. “Get some water real quick.” he said. Gaara, looking very afraid, nodded and ran off and back again in what seemed to be a couple seconds with a glass of water. “Here Uncle!” Gaara said, panting. Yashamaru took the glass, and gently lifted Hikari’s head. He tilted the glass in her mouth, and thee water went down steadily. “She needs it from the looks of the loss of blood.” He said as the water ran out. He handed the empty glass to Gaara. “Fill it up one more time.” Gaara did exactly what he said and Yashamaru repeated what he did.
One he finished the glass, he put on the ground and sighed. “Until the doctor comes, we just have to let Hikari sleep.” He looked at Gaara with worry. “What happened?” Gaara looked at his feet. “It-It’s a long story. These guys were attacking Hikari. I-I stopped them-”
“-D-Did you kill anyone?”
Gaara nodded shamefully. Yashamaru put his hand on his head, but then on Gaara’s shoulder. “Well, all in all, you did the right thing. You stopped the bad guys, and saved a life.” Yashamaru said. Temari ran back in the room. “The doctor is on his way.” She said. She ran up to Hikari’s body. “What in the world happened?” Yashamaru glanced at her with a face that said “I’ll let you know later.”
“Where’s Kankuro?” Yashamaru asked.
Kankuro entered the room just at that moment, rubbing his eyes. “I went to bed early, what’s up?” He looked over at Hikari’s body. His face turned grim at the sight of it. “Is she getting a doctor?” he asked, in a bit of a worried tone. At about the same time, all three nodded. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The whole four rushed for the door and opened it. A medical doctor was there and got to Hikari as soon as he saw her. She was treated with a special aid he brought along. Everyone could only watch until the doctor would say anything. When the doctor was about finished, he pulled out a syringe with a whitish fluid in it and put his medical instruments away. He walked up to Yashamaru. “The girl is okay, she has some minor injuries, but she’ll be alright. Her right arm is sprained, and the cuts she has will need to washed thoroughly to avoid any infections. For now, she just needs rest. If anything happens, just be sure to call me.” And he left the house after some more talk between him and Yashamaru. Gaara was just relieved to see that Hikari was okay. He stayed by her side for a long time, looking at Hikari. Her face looked peaceful asleep, like the events before were nonexistent, and it was just a nightmare. Gaara wished it could have been a nightmare. Hikari was a sweet, forgiving person. But she saw a very ugly side of him today, and that might affect her every now and then. Despite when she comforted him, there was fear present. She was scared, either of what happened before Gaara came in, after, or both. He could see it perfectly… but yet she didn’t leave him.
In about a good guess of the middle of the night, Yashamaru walked in the room with a glass of water. He placed it on the couch Hikari was asleep on. He sat on a couch and look at the floor. He heaved in a deep sigh. “Gaara, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to say this, but…” Gaara looked at him. What? What was wrong?
“I… I have something to tell you about.” Gaara didn’t like the sound of that.
Gaara also noticed another thing… it was Yashamaru. He seemed to be lost in thought the past two days as well. He would find his Uncle looking out the window looking depressed. One time, his Uncle even saw him watching. There he could tell- something was definitely wrong with him. Gaara was lost in all this confusion. What was wrong with Hikari and his Uncle? Did it have something to do with the night Hikari came over? Hikari did seem troubled as his Uncle was asking questions about her parents. But what was wrong? From what Hikari always told him, her father sounded like a nice guy. He was the opposite of his father, completely. Her father cares about his daughter, and watches out for her. He is fun to her, showing her the game Borders that even Gaara himself loved to play. He wished he could meet Hikari’s father. If Hikari was a nice person to him, perhaps he will be too. It would make sense. Also… Like he remember her saying her mother died giving birth to her. He heard the same thing happened to his mother. He was amazed to hear the same thing happened to another human being. It was sad though it had to be Hikari’s mother. He felt bad for her, but he also understood what it was like to have no mother. He bet there were times Hikari would just think to herself and ask “What was my mother like?”
Whatever was going on, Gaara wanted to find out. He decided to go to the marketplace, since he was told by Hikari that she went there every morning to either say hi to people or get food. There was a flurry of people that day when he walked around. But despite the thickness of the crowd, there was at least a 2 to 3 feet circle around him. Obviously, they knew he was here. However, Gaara tried his hardest to ignore the people stares, he wanted to find Hikari, and this was the only way. He looked around to find that stand that Hikari got her muffins from. He spotted it immediately. The woman Kaede was giving the price for some bread her customers bought. The woman averted her eyes down and gasped. She made a little jump in her seat, Gaara raised his hands. “Wait please maam, I just want to ask you something.” The woman clasped her chest with one hand and waved the other. “Oh, no no child. I just didn’t see you there. It’s not good for my health to get jumpy like that.” Gaara was a little surprised at how soft Kaede’s response was. She looked back toward her stand and moved some things around. “What was it you wanted to ask me Gaara?” Gaara was even more surprised with the kindness in the woman’s voice.
“Do.. You know where Hikari has been lately? I haven’t seen her in two days.” Gaara asked. The woman rubbed her chin in thought. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen her myself in a while.” She answered. “One morning, she told me she was going to give these teenage boys she met their picture she drew for them. She is so sweet, that girl.” She looked at Gaara. “A lot of mornings, she told me about you. She likes you kid, she says your such a fun, friendly type. I thought she was a little insane at first, I’m sorry to say. But Hikari has had quite a knack to know people well. She’s a gifted child, she is. You’re very lucky to have her as a friend.” Kaede’s eyes looked off toward the distance. “The girl seems like a little angel sometimes.” Gaara looked down and smiled. Hikari was an angel. She changed the belief of a villager here, she made Kaede see that he could be a good person. He could have never done that on his own. No one would listen to a monster, a demon. But they would listen to an angel. Kaede smiled. “When Hikari does come back, tell her I’ll have some fresh muffins for her on me.”
Kaede offered Gaara something for himself, but he said he was fine, and he went on. He was somewhere now. She was last seen with Kaede, Hikari told her that she was going to see those teens who smoked. He didn’t recall her saying she made the picture for them, but that didn’t really matter. One thing was solved, he knew what she did on day one. But other questions still hung in the air: Who were the boys? What restraunt did they work in? He still needed more to answer that. He looked more around. He looked at more vendors, some people there didn’t bother to answer him, or told him to go away. Others said they never even heard of Hikari. He was getting nowhere, and he was starting to feel bad with everyone staring at him. Off in the distance Gaara noticed a stand that… sold art. There were pictures of all sorts on canvases or in frames. Gaara had a good feeling Hikari would have been here. Maybe he could ask the person who sells the art. Gaara found that to be difficult. Many people were in this area, either judging the value and technique used in the art. Others were going head over heels in love with some art and were rushing to purchase the goods. While looking, Gaara studied some the art as well. Most of this art was colored with paints, unlike Hikari who only sketched black and white pictures with pencil. There were portraits of people, but their quality didn’t even seem to catch up to how well Hikari’s work came out. As he passed some more artwork, he saw a couple feet away from him, a display. It was a picture of a beautiful woman, she had long, wavy hair that was entwined with jewels and tied up in a odd fashion, but made the woman look unique. She wore a traditional kimono that was patterned with flowers. He face was fair, and seemed to look flawless, her cheeks were shaded lightly and she was looking down. In her arms was a child. It was peacefully asleep, wrapped up in bundles of dark cloth and tied with a string that had more jewels strung through it. Unlike the other pieces of art… it was sketched… the style was so detailed, Gaara’s eyes widened. This is Hikari’s work! He could tell completely.
Some other people seemed amazed at the sight of it as well. The looked wide-eyed and others nodded their heads in approval. “It is a true work of art.” One man in the group admiring the picture said. “Hey, you wanna know something incredible?” A woman’s voice asked. “What?” another woman’s answered. “The owner of the stand said a six-year-old made this picture! It’s so amazing, I cannot believe it!” Gaara listened in, he knew for sure now this was Hikari they spoke of.
“That cannot be! I six-year-old? That’s too young to have anywhere that amount of talent.”
“I agree.”
“No, really. The owner watched this girl make this artwork when he didn’t believe she did some other art she was selling.”
“Selling? Why would a young girl want to sell such lovely art?”
“She said she needed the money more than the art, except for this one picture….”
“What was of it?”
“Well, I’ve only heard about it, but the owner said from the touch of light, he could see through the art she was not selling when she hid it. You’ll never guess what he saw.”
“What was it?”
“That one boy… Gaara.”
Gaara stopped breathing for a second when he heard this. She was doing a picture… of him? He felt touched, but wondered at the same time of what was in the picture. And why did Hikari need the money that bad? Was she saving up for something? He listened on.
“Why would anyone want to draw a picture of that thing?” A woman’s voice said, sounding appalled. “Who knows.” The other woman answered. “I’m going to buy this piece, it’s absolutely wonderful.” They all seemed to stop and go away after that. That information didn’t help too much, but now he had a guess of what Hikari’s hidden picture was. He left the art market to search somewhere else. It was getting to be late afternoon, and Gaara may need to stop by his house for lunch. He didn’t want to go just yet though. He kept looking in other places in the marketplace, but there was no luck. He started walking back to the alleyway where he and Hikari meet to go through and head back home.
As he reached the alley, he saw someone there in the shadows. At first, Gaara thought it was Hikari, he smiled and ran up the alley. “Hikari! Where have you been-” He stopped short. The shadow actually happened to be Rei. He glared at Gaara angrily and stomped up to him. “I want answers now!” Gaara looked at Rei confused. “W-what are you talking about?” “Don’t be stupid! Where’s Hikari?” Rei demanded. Gaara backed up to the wall. Rei’s anger seemed to radiate off of him. He may be defenseless against Gaara, but Rei was scaring him. “I heard that one day where Hikari went to your house. I didn’t see her at all. I know you did something. Where is she!!” Rei yelled, his voice getting louder. “I didn’t do anything to her! I would never do that!” Gaara cried, tears starting to form. Rei frowned. “Yeah right. If you could kill my Uncle easily, then you would have no problem hurting or killing her. She wouldn’t hurt anyone, making her easy prey.” He said crossly. “You’re wrong!” Gaara yelled back in defense. “I wouldn’t do that! I wouldn’t!” Gaara started to run away. He couldn’t take the accusations from Rei.
Rei didn’t move from his spot, but tears started to roll down his face. “I HATE YOU!!! I KNOW YOU HAVE HER!!!” He screamed angrily. “SHE THOUGHT YOU WERE SO SPECIAL, WHY COULDN’T SHE SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOU!?” Gaara covered his ears. The pain was coming back again. It started to slow him down, but it made something dark grow inside Gaara’s mind. He wanted to kill him. He wanted Rei to die. He wanted those who hated him to just disappear, and only have people like Hikari… He could still hear Rei’s hateful screams toward him. “YOU’RE A MONSTER! A MONSTER!” Gaara closed his eyes, but kept going. Make it go away, make him go away. It was silent all of a sudden, and Gaara stopped running. There was no sounds at all, and it calmed him down. Very slowly, he kept looking around. Gaara had no idea where he ran off too. He just wanted to get away from Rei, from all the pain. He had such a wonderful time this week and a half, he didn’t want that return. But the pain, no matter how long it was ceased, would only intensify each time. And it hurt so bad right now, because he witnessed pure hatred just a moment ago. What he felt all he life toward him. I must find Hikari… She can help me. Gaara thought.
He looked around the area, there was a dim light ahead of him. It was around a corner. He turned it to find a window. One light was on inside it, but from what he could see, it was deserted for now. I must have closed a while ago. The place was well cleaned, it looked like some sort of restraunt… Restraunt. Maybe I should look in this restraunt! Gaara thought. He wasn’t sure where he going to start, since it was closed. But he went up to the door. He turned the handle, and it opened… Strange Gaara thought. He was expecting it too be locked. He crept inside, trying not to make a sound. The lights above him seemed to flicker on and off, and shadows filled the room. It was like something out of a horror movie, it was darkish and very silent. Gaara looked around at tables and behind some front desks, but nothing was found. He saw a row of doors. He walked up to the one marked OFFICE in gold letters when he stopped short. There were muffled voices on the other side. Gaara slowly put his ear up against the door.
“So, how come we haven’t gotten any money for the past days? We ain’t letting you live in this dump for free.” A deep man’s voice was heard. He hear a lighter voice talking, but it was so soft, Gaara couldn’t make out the words. He heard some laughter of these other men once the other voice stopped talking. “You must be crazy to think we were actually going to be nice to you. You may be young, but you have your ways of getting us money.” The voice said. Another guys voice came up. “Hey Noru, you want to know something cool? I heard this person is a Ninomiya. Those legendary people almost everyone forgot about.” Gaara’s eyes widened. NINOMIYA? That meant that either Hikari or her father was in there. He felt his body start to shake. What is going on in there? Gaara looked at the knob of the door. He slowly reached out his trembling arm and turned the knob. The door opened slightly, just enough for Gaara to see what was inside, and it was quiet enough to not get the attention of the men talking. Gaara’s face filled with shock at the sight that was inside.
Hikari was there, on the middle on the floor. She looked awful, cut up in all places. There were some big bruises on her arms and legs and one of her arms was lazily hanging next to her with the other hand clutching it. Blood had soaked up in the oversized white T-shirt she wore. Her light brown hair was messed up and slightly stained with blood as well. She was breathing hard and tears were falling down her face. Hikari, from the look in her face, was in a state of terror. Hey eyes were wide and mouth shakily open. There were some men standing around her… some of which were the smoking boys in the picture! They all were frowning at her, one of the boys had a knife in his hand that had some blood on it. Hikari was looking at the man in front of her. He was big and looked to be in his late 20s. He had tan skin with brown hair and eyes wearing a gray muscle shirt and black pants with lots of pockets. The man smirked. “If you can’t get us the money, then we have to get rid of you. Hikari shook her head. “No! Please! I got distracted, I just wanted to have some fun! Please, don’t kill me!” She cried out. The man still looked at her smirking. “You think were gonna kill you? I just wanted to have some fun torturing you to learn your lesson. Your better off just drawing, since you’re nothing but a homeless brat. But, I haven’t had some fun, so I guess we will just kill you. No one will know anyways-”
Gaara wasn’t listening to anymore, he heard enough of this. H-How dare they!!! Gaara thought, his anger rising off the chart. How dare they lay their filthy hands on Hikari! He screamed in his mind. The men in the room’s faces filled with fear. The saw at the door a rush of sand burst through the door and slam them all to the wall. Hikari looked around the room. “G-Gaara?” She cried out, but it cracked a bit at the end. Gaara walked in, rage completely taking over. He was not going to let these men get away with this. They lied to her. They hurt her. They will die. The men’s faces immediate fell to a state of panic seeing the boy. “W-W-why is h-he here??” One of the teen boys questioned in a high, terrified voice. Gaara walked right up and stood in front of Hikari protectively. “You will never hurt her again.” Gaara said in a dark tone that made the men squirm in fear of death in the sand that covered them. He held out two opened fists and closed them, killing two of them men in the sand. Blood splashed in the room, covering a good portion of the walls, or was absorbed in the sand. That left two other men- one of the smoking teens and the tan older man. The teen was begging for his life and screaming that he wouldn’t do anything bad again. Gaara didn’t hear any of it. He didn’t care even if he did, he just wanted to kill them. Kill them. Kill. So they will never hurt his angel again. He will not be alone again! He needed Hikari, no he wanted her..
He one fist and instantly crushed the other teen, and turned to the tan older man. He looked scared in his eyes, but still had that annoying smirk on his face. He started to laugh to himself. “So, the monster has a friend. Isn‘t that cute. How long will it be before you kill that girl?” Gaara’s eyes widened. Those words snapped Gaara out of his rage and he returned to himself. He took in the what had just happened… and what that man said. He was right, it was only a matter of time. He most likely would kill Hikari, whether accident or on purpose… he was just dangerous that way. A demon. A monster. Gaara’s arm shook as he held it out, tears formed in his eyes. I am a monster. His anger receded as pain and sorrow filled in. He bent over and started crying out in pain. The sand fell to the floor, freeing the man. He ran out the door in a flash. “I am a monster.. I am one… I don’t deserve happiness.. I don‘t deserve her…” Gaara was mumbling, holding his head, crying. But, then he felt arms around his back. They were shaking, but the were strangely
warm, confronting arms. Hikari was embracing him closely, putting his head at her chest. She was shaken, all color from her face was gone. Tears were still in her eyes, but she had such a kind look on her face. “T-Thank you G-Gaara. Y-you s-saved me.” She held him tighter, even though he saw one of her arms flinch as she did so. “Don’t listen t-to what he said. I never d-did. You only wanted to protect m-me, and I t-thank you.” she whispered. What she said.. It soothed Gaara’s pain so much, he moved a bit to hug Hikari. He tried not to hug her so tightly, because of her injury. Thank you Hikari. Thank you for accepting me. Gaara thought, a tear of happiness rolled down his face to the sandy floor. Hikari’s body slipped on Gaara’s, and he realized that Hikari passed out.
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There was a frantic knock at the door. Yashamaru rushed to the door and opened it to find Gaara holding up a wounded Hikari. “She need’s help!” Gaara cried out, walking quickly inside. Yashamaru gasped at the sight of Hikari’s fatally hurt body. “She needs immediate medical attention.! Temari!” He yelled to the young blonde who was quickly ran in. “Call a doctor, now! It’s serious!” Yashamaru ordered. Temari took no question after taking a glance at Hikari and went to the phone. Yashamaru picked up Hikari’s frail body and put it on the couch. He turned to Gaara. “Get some water real quick.” he said. Gaara, looking very afraid, nodded and ran off and back again in what seemed to be a couple seconds with a glass of water. “Here Uncle!” Gaara said, panting. Yashamaru took the glass, and gently lifted Hikari’s head. He tilted the glass in her mouth, and thee water went down steadily. “She needs it from the looks of the loss of blood.” He said as the water ran out. He handed the empty glass to Gaara. “Fill it up one more time.” Gaara did exactly what he said and Yashamaru repeated what he did.
One he finished the glass, he put on the ground and sighed. “Until the doctor comes, we just have to let Hikari sleep.” He looked at Gaara with worry. “What happened?” Gaara looked at his feet. “It-It’s a long story. These guys were attacking Hikari. I-I stopped them-”
“-D-Did you kill anyone?”
Gaara nodded shamefully. Yashamaru put his hand on his head, but then on Gaara’s shoulder. “Well, all in all, you did the right thing. You stopped the bad guys, and saved a life.” Yashamaru said. Temari ran back in the room. “The doctor is on his way.” She said. She ran up to Hikari’s body. “What in the world happened?” Yashamaru glanced at her with a face that said “I’ll let you know later.”
“Where’s Kankuro?” Yashamaru asked.
Kankuro entered the room just at that moment, rubbing his eyes. “I went to bed early, what’s up?” He looked over at Hikari’s body. His face turned grim at the sight of it. “Is she getting a doctor?” he asked, in a bit of a worried tone. At about the same time, all three nodded. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The whole four rushed for the door and opened it. A medical doctor was there and got to Hikari as soon as he saw her. She was treated with a special aid he brought along. Everyone could only watch until the doctor would say anything. When the doctor was about finished, he pulled out a syringe with a whitish fluid in it and put his medical instruments away. He walked up to Yashamaru. “The girl is okay, she has some minor injuries, but she’ll be alright. Her right arm is sprained, and the cuts she has will need to washed thoroughly to avoid any infections. For now, she just needs rest. If anything happens, just be sure to call me.” And he left the house after some more talk between him and Yashamaru. Gaara was just relieved to see that Hikari was okay. He stayed by her side for a long time, looking at Hikari. Her face looked peaceful asleep, like the events before were nonexistent, and it was just a nightmare. Gaara wished it could have been a nightmare. Hikari was a sweet, forgiving person. But she saw a very ugly side of him today, and that might affect her every now and then. Despite when she comforted him, there was fear present. She was scared, either of what happened before Gaara came in, after, or both. He could see it perfectly… but yet she didn’t leave him.
In about a good guess of the middle of the night, Yashamaru walked in the room with a glass of water. He placed it on the couch Hikari was asleep on. He sat on a couch and look at the floor. He heaved in a deep sigh. “Gaara, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to say this, but…” Gaara looked at him. What? What was wrong?
“I… I have something to tell you about.” Gaara didn’t like the sound of that.