Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sound Sleep ❯ Obsession ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Tsuyoku 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.06.2013 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 402 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.06.2013 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 402 | Status: Work In Progress
Tsuyoku: Yo, I'm back. And after the reviews that I got for the last chapter, I was motivated to begin writing the third installment at once. But then college started being college, and so this one's a bit late... don't remind me. I realize that I haven't quite gotten everyone's relations down yet, so I wanted to clarify – yes, Gaara knows Sakura, and this chapter's going to explain more about why he's so distant. THX.
Sound Sleep 3
--
Gaara of the Desert really hadn't gotten to sleep lately. He was mad at the girl, mad at her for staying out so much, being with others, and then coming home only when it was convenient for her, as if she had just run out of things to do.
If Gaara felt too many feelings, he would have been a bit hurt that she wasn't really paying attention to him, and then he'd remind himself that she didn't even know he was there. But Gaara didn't really care to feel too much. He just wanted to sleep, feel the relaxation that it gave him. Feel the satisfaction that she managed to give him whether he’d admit it or not.
It wasn't like he didn't know the girl. Haruno was her name. But he wouldn't call her that. As if sleeping in the same room with someone wasn't personal enough, letting the name calling begin would make it all too intimate. Much to his chagrin, he had to admit that the situation was going to get more and more private between them, whether she knew it or not.
Lately, her actions had been more sporadic, and Gaara had been unable to predict sometimes when she would be home and when she wouldn’t. It was a wonder that she was still adequate enough with her duties on her team and volunteering in the hospital… not that he was keeping tabs or anything.
Clearly, she had become his obsession, and admitting it was half the battle to being cured. But he didn’t want to be cured, he wanted to sleep damn it, and she wasn’t even letting him do that even more.
Since that night she’d brought home whatever man that was, it had been two weeks of staying at someone’s house or coming home late with a girl friend. Sakura wasn’t letting herself be alone, but he couldn’t decide whether she was doing it on purpose or not. Had she discovered he was bunking in her bedroom at night without him noticing?
She couldn’t, Gaara was fairly certain of that fact. She wasn’t aware of much—that was an established fact. And most of Konoha would have been on a manhunt had she found out that a man had been sneaking into her space.
But how was he supposed to keep sleeping when that other ninja was getting in his way? It was hard enough keeping a low profile let alone keeping up with her sporadic social life.
Not only had she been out and about, but Sakura had begun to talk and spend more and more time with Shino after their would-be affair that night.
She was currently walking along the main path with said sunglass ninja, and the silence was killing her. As much as she liked spending time, the talking part of their rendezvous had barely increased lately.
“Shino, you’re going on a mission soon, is that right?”
He turned his head to look at her; the shade of his glasses barely dimmed the bright pink of her hair and complexion. “Yes.”
“With whom?”
“I believe Neji and Ino are accompanying me on this one. It’s merely an escort mission.” She smiled at him; that was better. If you got him talking about something that he liked, it was easy to have a conversation with him.
“How long is this one going to take?” Sakura asked as they continued onwards.
“Hm, depends on how long we are detained with this businessman.” And that was all Gaara was able to witness as they walked into a store. In the dim light of the almost faded sun, Gaara had set out for Konohagakure as soon as he was able to leave his office undetected. He wasn’t followed, but he was sure Kankuro was thinking about it, as Gaara’s schedule change had been the highlight of his thoughts lately. But he managed to mask his ki enough to be undetected by both his brother and the fellowship of the Leaf.
Gaara turned and walked in the direction of Sakura’s apartment intent on waiting for her that night. If that man was going on a mission, she would certainly be alone for a few days. And hopefully she used those few days to get some much needed rest and give him some peace while she was at it.
--
Sakura paced through the store without so much as a glance to most of the stock -- she’d never been into buying new types of weaponry. Call her old fashion, but Sakura enjoyed the feeling of her hand wrapped around a kunai. When it came to actually seeking out more equipment, she’d never been one to do so.
She passed a glance at Shino, who seemed quite interested in a small piece of weaponry in his hand. That night that they had passed out together on her bed, Sakura knew that they had kissed multiple times and that things had been heading in a more erotic department. However, Shino and she, having actually started spending time in or near each other’s company, had both declared to each other that nothing but friendship was developing. Sakura didn’t mind that fact at all. She just liked spending time with him. It was nice to have a male friend that was definitely less boisterous than Naruto but less passive than Sasuke (if only by a little).
For, even though she declared that she was over the solemn Uchiha, ever since he returned back to their village, she had begun to feel more pity for him than anything else.
It seemed that even showing up for training and being open with others was more than he was willing to do some days, and Sakura could see as a medic-nin in training, that his mind and body were as closed as ever with thoughts of hatred towards his brother.
“Sakura,” a deep voice pelted her ears. She turned to see Shino about to check out, having obviously decided to purchase the little thing in his hands.
“Let’s go get some tea.”
Sakura placed her empty tea cup on the wooden counter at Ichiraku. For being a weekend, it was running a little slow in here, but the pink haired girl assumed that was only because Naruto was off this weekend training secretly with only Kakashi there for guidance.
She shook her head; knowing Naruto, the copy-nin wouldn’t be able to get in any dirty reading with that orange blob there. She smiled and turned towards her bug friend to ask him when he was leaving.
“Tomorrow morning.” His lips parted for more of the warm liquid letting it glide down his throat. It was sore from talking—not much talking—but more talking than he’d done to one person in his entire life in one day.
“Cool,” and she, too, turned back to her cup letting the silence fill the space between them but enjoying his physical company as much as she could.
It was nice to have a friend that accepted you in a blissful silence.
--
She padded her way toward her apartment, holding her shoes as to let the loose, sandy, dirt climb up into her toes. She’d parted with Shino earlier, wishing him a goodnight and a good mission the next day. She yawned slightly, finally realizing that she hadn’t a moment to herself in the past few weeks. Sakura was tired of going crazy and lonely in that small, almost bare apartment, but at the moment, it was starting to look like a cozy little place to spend some alone time.
Yeah, it would be nice to have some tea, read a book maybe, and lounge around before she went to bed.
Sakura dropped her shoes beside the door, only caring enough to wipe her feet on the map lest she track sand into her apartment. She paused.
That’s right, it was quite odd. The sand hadn’t been showing up lately. It was a nice change, but frankly she was still wonder where it had come from in the first place.
Sakura shrugged, too worn out from the past week to really admit her curiosity.
Gaara sat on the tree outside, admiring still that she managed to fix most of it. He could feel her chakra running through the limbs of the tree, and while he had little to no respect for a nin who couldn’t even tell when someone was repeatedly in their house at night, he could commend her on her ability to repair. He’d become almost friends with this tree because he stood on its branch parallel to her window every night until he could assess whether he was going to get any sleep. And in the evening glow that erupted through her bedroom window, Gaara’s eyes reflected various emotions, one of them being relief.
She hadn’t brought anyone home… There was no one there except her… and it looked as if she was getting ready for bed.
He could have sighed it if wouldn’t have been out of character for his usual stoic self. She read a book for about two hours, but before he knew it, the light from her window had faded and within a few breaths, she was slipping slowly into the rhythm of sleep.
Her open window made it easy for his entry, but he no longer cursed her for being such a horrible ninja; in fact, he reveled in it, for if she was more alert he might never have experienced sleep again.
It had been two weeks since the last night’s rest Gaara was able to manage. He’d tried at home, but the thought of Shukaku running rampaging across Suna was enough to slightly frighten him into only attempting it in the presence of the rosy woman. He’d even tried spending the night on her roof, but it wasn’t enough. He had to be close to her.
Fate certainly was a cruel mother when it came to putting him together with people. He didn’t want intimacy. He didn’t want to depend on her. He just wanted his freedom, and he wanted sleep. He wanted his cake and to eat it, too.
And thus, not even waiting till Sakura was in the deep stages of sleep, Gaara had swung into the window from the roof and swiftly set his things onto the floor. His eyes closed, and he sighed once more into a soft, dreamy sleep.
When Gaara dreamed, it was usually about the past, about all the people he had killed or hurt. The Sand-nin suspected that after years of not sleeping, his mind was finally going through all the events and committing some to memory and just replaying others so he might be plagued by the blood and gore once more. But even in his sleep, Gaara hadn’t been bothered by it, not when he was getting a physical and emotional rest.
--
His hands glided along her ivory skin, grazing the soft areas by her collarbone and touching the sensitive places along her neck as she writhed beneath him. His fingers wrapped themselves around her neck and began to squeeze, gripping her throat as tight as he could while her writhing resumed at an even faster pace. Before long, there was no soul left in her eyes, just her figure laying there, speckles of sand decorating her hair.
The he sat back and looked at the body, eyes closed as if in slumber, and attempted to resume his own slumber… but it wouldn’t come to him… She wasn’t the calming girl that had been there before…
What had he done…?
Gaara flinched slightly, which woke him out of the dream; to Gaara, the slight flinch was the equivalent of a total jerk to most normal people, and it startled him enough that he almost jumped up on the defense. But he refrained, and even when he opened his eyes, Gaara did not allow himself to breath until he made sure the girl in the bed was still very much asleep.
Fortunately for her, she still was. Gaara reviewed his dream. He couldn’t kill her, unfortunately. If his dream was correct, she had to be alive for him to sleep. He wasn’t willing to test whether or not this was the case, and he would rather have to sleep in the same room with a living girl than even try with a dead one. As morbid as that sounds.
For a moment he pondered why he even had the dream, but then stood poised to exit the window. The images had him curious, and sleep, no matter how wonderful it was, was no longer on his agenda that night.
This tit and tat behavior went on between the two for the next few nights; it was almost like their own routine, except that she knew nothing about it. But that wasn’t to say that the pink-haired kunoichi didn’t suspect that something unusual was going on in her apartment.
The sand had once again appeared, and she was getting tired of sweeping it out the door every morning. Her window had been open every night since the breeze was lovely in Konoha evenings, but the wind had to have been flying to amount this much dirt into her bedroom window.
She was curious, furious, and totally appalled to think that someone was coming into her house at night. Her dream flashed before her eyes once more. Surely it wasn’t something… supernatural going on. But she felt foolish for even thinking the thought.
Sakura vowed to find out what was going on if it was the last thing she did.
--
The next night, Gaara waited in the tree line that looked at the back of her apartment complex. He could see her window perfectly from there. The weekend was the reason he kept his distance; there were still people walking the street even at this time of night. He was slighted at having to cross the entire River country to get to Konoha every night to wait and wait for her light to blink out. It took all his speed to arrive at a decent time, what with taking care of the Kage duties in Suna first.
It was becoming more and more demanding to see her… to feel her calming effect on him. It was bad enough that things between the Villages of Sand and Leaf were still rocky that he had to be there every night.
Gaara narrowed his eyes -- he felt like a weak child, stooping so low as to need some girl just for his very comfort.
The light blinked out in her room, signaling that she was finally giving up her insomniac ways; the girl had begun to take longer and longer to turn out the light ever since he had begun sleeping at her place once more. But the light always dimmed; it never failed.
He was just about to the window when Gaara felt another presence coming towards him. He made himself unknown just as Shino appeared in his vision, seemingly heading for Sakura’s place as well. His eyes spied her open window from behind his dark glasses, almost not making out the form from the dim setting, but landing on her sill hadn’t been a problem for the ninja.
Gaara watched in secret as Shino stepped into her bedroom, and the moment he set foot on the ground Sakura woke up and was instantly at his throat with a kunai in her hand.
Gaara rose a non existent eyebrow. She sensed that ninja in her sleep, but she had never been able to do it when he entered her space? The Kage filed that in his mind to think about later, but paused to continue observing what was going to happen with that guy in there. Obviously this was going to prolong her sleep for a while.
“Just what I need,” he mumbled into the night. “Another obstacle.”
He sighed as Sakura lowered the weapon and laughed. “Shino, you scared me. You know it’s dangerous to come in here unannounced like that.”
He nodded. “Just got back from the mission.”
“Was it as boring as you thought it might be?” Yes, it had been, he replied. She motioned out of the room and into her kitchen where she offered coffee; the drink was taken from her hand wholeheartedly from the silent ninja.
Gaara all but growled from his place in her tree. As they had moved from the room, he had jumped closer to get a good look at what they were doing, but he was unable to see them any more. And tonight he dared not jump into her window. Either she was on guard, as displayed by her waking up at Shino’s entrance, or the male ninja would sense him no matter what.
He backtracked his way, tree to tree, as his steps took him closer and closer to Suna once more.
--
She shrugged from her bed, listlessly moving closer and closer to his form as he watched appraisingly. Her sulking form shadowed over his in the light emitting from the full moon. Her legs shifted under tight skin and short night dress to lower right in front of his form, hands supporting her weight on either sides of his legs.
He moved not even an inch as her face, curious and amused, floated closer to his own, but Gaara refused to back down in the course of her forwardness. Before he could take a gasp, she closed the gap and met his own parted lips with hers in a chaste, short kiss……
The Kazekage shot up, this time jerking more fervently than the last, but silent enough that he expected Haruno was still asleep.
But a glance up into her bed revealed otherwise. There, glowing in the moonlight just like the dream, floated viridian eyes. They were locked on his form, still horizontal on the bed, but Gaara knew he had been discovered, lest this was only another dream…
He couldn’t take the chance.
His form bolted from the room, once more running from this woman.
Where in his mind had he succumbed to her control? Gaara couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t Shukaku’s doing, but of this he was sure: Gaara of the Sand was under no one’s control. He would show her… he would show her.
--
Meanwhile Sakura still remained in her bed, covers drawn up to her chest as they had before. She hadn’t moved at all since seeing the man on her floor.
In some jutsus, you can stick a kunai in your leg and be done with it. But others are a little more difficult to conquer. This had been one of them—well assuming that what she witnessed was a jutsu at all; she hoped so. Waking up to find a man sitting on your floor unconscious, let alone Gaara of the Sand, wasn’t something very high on her list of things to experience. Um, unconscious? Was he hurt or something? Sakura looked around the room as it was now: empty. She thought he didn’t sleep—what about the demon?
She rolled over, sitting up in the bed, content to say her slumber was over for the night.
Just as she rose to head toward the kitchen, her eyes landed on the small pile of sand that lay by her window. She could have smiled had she not been so shocked.
This hadn’t been a dream. Now her mission was to find out what Subaku no Gaara had been doing sleeping in her bedroom in the middle of the night and how she was going to keep him from coming back.
--
Tsuyoku: Hey guys -- whooo, looooong overdue update and of course I would love to thank you all for wonderful reviews and all the people that added this story to your Alert and Favs lists. It really means a lot. I have barely seen the beautiful picture I’ve got as my background these past few days, for I slave to work on this story and others (My new Naruto fic, CopyCat, Tempt of Fate, etc.) and therefore am starting to get back into the habit of writing more and more since finals are approaching and will soon be gone. *shimmies*
Thanks! R&R!
Sound Sleep 3
--
Gaara of the Desert really hadn't gotten to sleep lately. He was mad at the girl, mad at her for staying out so much, being with others, and then coming home only when it was convenient for her, as if she had just run out of things to do.
If Gaara felt too many feelings, he would have been a bit hurt that she wasn't really paying attention to him, and then he'd remind himself that she didn't even know he was there. But Gaara didn't really care to feel too much. He just wanted to sleep, feel the relaxation that it gave him. Feel the satisfaction that she managed to give him whether he’d admit it or not.
It wasn't like he didn't know the girl. Haruno was her name. But he wouldn't call her that. As if sleeping in the same room with someone wasn't personal enough, letting the name calling begin would make it all too intimate. Much to his chagrin, he had to admit that the situation was going to get more and more private between them, whether she knew it or not.
Lately, her actions had been more sporadic, and Gaara had been unable to predict sometimes when she would be home and when she wouldn’t. It was a wonder that she was still adequate enough with her duties on her team and volunteering in the hospital… not that he was keeping tabs or anything.
Clearly, she had become his obsession, and admitting it was half the battle to being cured. But he didn’t want to be cured, he wanted to sleep damn it, and she wasn’t even letting him do that even more.
Since that night she’d brought home whatever man that was, it had been two weeks of staying at someone’s house or coming home late with a girl friend. Sakura wasn’t letting herself be alone, but he couldn’t decide whether she was doing it on purpose or not. Had she discovered he was bunking in her bedroom at night without him noticing?
She couldn’t, Gaara was fairly certain of that fact. She wasn’t aware of much—that was an established fact. And most of Konoha would have been on a manhunt had she found out that a man had been sneaking into her space.
But how was he supposed to keep sleeping when that other ninja was getting in his way? It was hard enough keeping a low profile let alone keeping up with her sporadic social life.
Not only had she been out and about, but Sakura had begun to talk and spend more and more time with Shino after their would-be affair that night.
She was currently walking along the main path with said sunglass ninja, and the silence was killing her. As much as she liked spending time, the talking part of their rendezvous had barely increased lately.
“Shino, you’re going on a mission soon, is that right?”
He turned his head to look at her; the shade of his glasses barely dimmed the bright pink of her hair and complexion. “Yes.”
“With whom?”
“I believe Neji and Ino are accompanying me on this one. It’s merely an escort mission.” She smiled at him; that was better. If you got him talking about something that he liked, it was easy to have a conversation with him.
“How long is this one going to take?” Sakura asked as they continued onwards.
“Hm, depends on how long we are detained with this businessman.” And that was all Gaara was able to witness as they walked into a store. In the dim light of the almost faded sun, Gaara had set out for Konohagakure as soon as he was able to leave his office undetected. He wasn’t followed, but he was sure Kankuro was thinking about it, as Gaara’s schedule change had been the highlight of his thoughts lately. But he managed to mask his ki enough to be undetected by both his brother and the fellowship of the Leaf.
Gaara turned and walked in the direction of Sakura’s apartment intent on waiting for her that night. If that man was going on a mission, she would certainly be alone for a few days. And hopefully she used those few days to get some much needed rest and give him some peace while she was at it.
--
Sakura paced through the store without so much as a glance to most of the stock -- she’d never been into buying new types of weaponry. Call her old fashion, but Sakura enjoyed the feeling of her hand wrapped around a kunai. When it came to actually seeking out more equipment, she’d never been one to do so.
She passed a glance at Shino, who seemed quite interested in a small piece of weaponry in his hand. That night that they had passed out together on her bed, Sakura knew that they had kissed multiple times and that things had been heading in a more erotic department. However, Shino and she, having actually started spending time in or near each other’s company, had both declared to each other that nothing but friendship was developing. Sakura didn’t mind that fact at all. She just liked spending time with him. It was nice to have a male friend that was definitely less boisterous than Naruto but less passive than Sasuke (if only by a little).
For, even though she declared that she was over the solemn Uchiha, ever since he returned back to their village, she had begun to feel more pity for him than anything else.
It seemed that even showing up for training and being open with others was more than he was willing to do some days, and Sakura could see as a medic-nin in training, that his mind and body were as closed as ever with thoughts of hatred towards his brother.
“Sakura,” a deep voice pelted her ears. She turned to see Shino about to check out, having obviously decided to purchase the little thing in his hands.
“Let’s go get some tea.”
Sakura placed her empty tea cup on the wooden counter at Ichiraku. For being a weekend, it was running a little slow in here, but the pink haired girl assumed that was only because Naruto was off this weekend training secretly with only Kakashi there for guidance.
She shook her head; knowing Naruto, the copy-nin wouldn’t be able to get in any dirty reading with that orange blob there. She smiled and turned towards her bug friend to ask him when he was leaving.
“Tomorrow morning.” His lips parted for more of the warm liquid letting it glide down his throat. It was sore from talking—not much talking—but more talking than he’d done to one person in his entire life in one day.
“Cool,” and she, too, turned back to her cup letting the silence fill the space between them but enjoying his physical company as much as she could.
It was nice to have a friend that accepted you in a blissful silence.
--
She padded her way toward her apartment, holding her shoes as to let the loose, sandy, dirt climb up into her toes. She’d parted with Shino earlier, wishing him a goodnight and a good mission the next day. She yawned slightly, finally realizing that she hadn’t a moment to herself in the past few weeks. Sakura was tired of going crazy and lonely in that small, almost bare apartment, but at the moment, it was starting to look like a cozy little place to spend some alone time.
Yeah, it would be nice to have some tea, read a book maybe, and lounge around before she went to bed.
Sakura dropped her shoes beside the door, only caring enough to wipe her feet on the map lest she track sand into her apartment. She paused.
That’s right, it was quite odd. The sand hadn’t been showing up lately. It was a nice change, but frankly she was still wonder where it had come from in the first place.
Sakura shrugged, too worn out from the past week to really admit her curiosity.
Gaara sat on the tree outside, admiring still that she managed to fix most of it. He could feel her chakra running through the limbs of the tree, and while he had little to no respect for a nin who couldn’t even tell when someone was repeatedly in their house at night, he could commend her on her ability to repair. He’d become almost friends with this tree because he stood on its branch parallel to her window every night until he could assess whether he was going to get any sleep. And in the evening glow that erupted through her bedroom window, Gaara’s eyes reflected various emotions, one of them being relief.
She hadn’t brought anyone home… There was no one there except her… and it looked as if she was getting ready for bed.
He could have sighed it if wouldn’t have been out of character for his usual stoic self. She read a book for about two hours, but before he knew it, the light from her window had faded and within a few breaths, she was slipping slowly into the rhythm of sleep.
Her open window made it easy for his entry, but he no longer cursed her for being such a horrible ninja; in fact, he reveled in it, for if she was more alert he might never have experienced sleep again.
It had been two weeks since the last night’s rest Gaara was able to manage. He’d tried at home, but the thought of Shukaku running rampaging across Suna was enough to slightly frighten him into only attempting it in the presence of the rosy woman. He’d even tried spending the night on her roof, but it wasn’t enough. He had to be close to her.
Fate certainly was a cruel mother when it came to putting him together with people. He didn’t want intimacy. He didn’t want to depend on her. He just wanted his freedom, and he wanted sleep. He wanted his cake and to eat it, too.
And thus, not even waiting till Sakura was in the deep stages of sleep, Gaara had swung into the window from the roof and swiftly set his things onto the floor. His eyes closed, and he sighed once more into a soft, dreamy sleep.
When Gaara dreamed, it was usually about the past, about all the people he had killed or hurt. The Sand-nin suspected that after years of not sleeping, his mind was finally going through all the events and committing some to memory and just replaying others so he might be plagued by the blood and gore once more. But even in his sleep, Gaara hadn’t been bothered by it, not when he was getting a physical and emotional rest.
--
His hands glided along her ivory skin, grazing the soft areas by her collarbone and touching the sensitive places along her neck as she writhed beneath him. His fingers wrapped themselves around her neck and began to squeeze, gripping her throat as tight as he could while her writhing resumed at an even faster pace. Before long, there was no soul left in her eyes, just her figure laying there, speckles of sand decorating her hair.
The he sat back and looked at the body, eyes closed as if in slumber, and attempted to resume his own slumber… but it wouldn’t come to him… She wasn’t the calming girl that had been there before…
What had he done…?
Gaara flinched slightly, which woke him out of the dream; to Gaara, the slight flinch was the equivalent of a total jerk to most normal people, and it startled him enough that he almost jumped up on the defense. But he refrained, and even when he opened his eyes, Gaara did not allow himself to breath until he made sure the girl in the bed was still very much asleep.
Fortunately for her, she still was. Gaara reviewed his dream. He couldn’t kill her, unfortunately. If his dream was correct, she had to be alive for him to sleep. He wasn’t willing to test whether or not this was the case, and he would rather have to sleep in the same room with a living girl than even try with a dead one. As morbid as that sounds.
For a moment he pondered why he even had the dream, but then stood poised to exit the window. The images had him curious, and sleep, no matter how wonderful it was, was no longer on his agenda that night.
This tit and tat behavior went on between the two for the next few nights; it was almost like their own routine, except that she knew nothing about it. But that wasn’t to say that the pink-haired kunoichi didn’t suspect that something unusual was going on in her apartment.
The sand had once again appeared, and she was getting tired of sweeping it out the door every morning. Her window had been open every night since the breeze was lovely in Konoha evenings, but the wind had to have been flying to amount this much dirt into her bedroom window.
She was curious, furious, and totally appalled to think that someone was coming into her house at night. Her dream flashed before her eyes once more. Surely it wasn’t something… supernatural going on. But she felt foolish for even thinking the thought.
Sakura vowed to find out what was going on if it was the last thing she did.
--
The next night, Gaara waited in the tree line that looked at the back of her apartment complex. He could see her window perfectly from there. The weekend was the reason he kept his distance; there were still people walking the street even at this time of night. He was slighted at having to cross the entire River country to get to Konoha every night to wait and wait for her light to blink out. It took all his speed to arrive at a decent time, what with taking care of the Kage duties in Suna first.
It was becoming more and more demanding to see her… to feel her calming effect on him. It was bad enough that things between the Villages of Sand and Leaf were still rocky that he had to be there every night.
Gaara narrowed his eyes -- he felt like a weak child, stooping so low as to need some girl just for his very comfort.
The light blinked out in her room, signaling that she was finally giving up her insomniac ways; the girl had begun to take longer and longer to turn out the light ever since he had begun sleeping at her place once more. But the light always dimmed; it never failed.
He was just about to the window when Gaara felt another presence coming towards him. He made himself unknown just as Shino appeared in his vision, seemingly heading for Sakura’s place as well. His eyes spied her open window from behind his dark glasses, almost not making out the form from the dim setting, but landing on her sill hadn’t been a problem for the ninja.
Gaara watched in secret as Shino stepped into her bedroom, and the moment he set foot on the ground Sakura woke up and was instantly at his throat with a kunai in her hand.
Gaara rose a non existent eyebrow. She sensed that ninja in her sleep, but she had never been able to do it when he entered her space? The Kage filed that in his mind to think about later, but paused to continue observing what was going to happen with that guy in there. Obviously this was going to prolong her sleep for a while.
“Just what I need,” he mumbled into the night. “Another obstacle.”
He sighed as Sakura lowered the weapon and laughed. “Shino, you scared me. You know it’s dangerous to come in here unannounced like that.”
He nodded. “Just got back from the mission.”
“Was it as boring as you thought it might be?” Yes, it had been, he replied. She motioned out of the room and into her kitchen where she offered coffee; the drink was taken from her hand wholeheartedly from the silent ninja.
Gaara all but growled from his place in her tree. As they had moved from the room, he had jumped closer to get a good look at what they were doing, but he was unable to see them any more. And tonight he dared not jump into her window. Either she was on guard, as displayed by her waking up at Shino’s entrance, or the male ninja would sense him no matter what.
He backtracked his way, tree to tree, as his steps took him closer and closer to Suna once more.
--
She shrugged from her bed, listlessly moving closer and closer to his form as he watched appraisingly. Her sulking form shadowed over his in the light emitting from the full moon. Her legs shifted under tight skin and short night dress to lower right in front of his form, hands supporting her weight on either sides of his legs.
He moved not even an inch as her face, curious and amused, floated closer to his own, but Gaara refused to back down in the course of her forwardness. Before he could take a gasp, she closed the gap and met his own parted lips with hers in a chaste, short kiss……
The Kazekage shot up, this time jerking more fervently than the last, but silent enough that he expected Haruno was still asleep.
But a glance up into her bed revealed otherwise. There, glowing in the moonlight just like the dream, floated viridian eyes. They were locked on his form, still horizontal on the bed, but Gaara knew he had been discovered, lest this was only another dream…
He couldn’t take the chance.
His form bolted from the room, once more running from this woman.
Where in his mind had he succumbed to her control? Gaara couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t Shukaku’s doing, but of this he was sure: Gaara of the Sand was under no one’s control. He would show her… he would show her.
--
Meanwhile Sakura still remained in her bed, covers drawn up to her chest as they had before. She hadn’t moved at all since seeing the man on her floor.
In some jutsus, you can stick a kunai in your leg and be done with it. But others are a little more difficult to conquer. This had been one of them—well assuming that what she witnessed was a jutsu at all; she hoped so. Waking up to find a man sitting on your floor unconscious, let alone Gaara of the Sand, wasn’t something very high on her list of things to experience. Um, unconscious? Was he hurt or something? Sakura looked around the room as it was now: empty. She thought he didn’t sleep—what about the demon?
She rolled over, sitting up in the bed, content to say her slumber was over for the night.
Just as she rose to head toward the kitchen, her eyes landed on the small pile of sand that lay by her window. She could have smiled had she not been so shocked.
This hadn’t been a dream. Now her mission was to find out what Subaku no Gaara had been doing sleeping in her bedroom in the middle of the night and how she was going to keep him from coming back.
--
Tsuyoku: Hey guys -- whooo, looooong overdue update and of course I would love to thank you all for wonderful reviews and all the people that added this story to your Alert and Favs lists. It really means a lot. I have barely seen the beautiful picture I’ve got as my background these past few days, for I slave to work on this story and others (My new Naruto fic, CopyCat, Tempt of Fate, etc.) and therefore am starting to get back into the habit of writing more and more since finals are approaching and will soon be gone. *shimmies*
Thanks! R&R!