Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Colour of Your Blood ❯ Chapter Five: Slim Pickings ( Chapter 5 )

The Colourof Your Blood

 

A Sakura-Gaara Story

 

Chapter Five: Slim Pickings

 

The sheets slipped down Sakura's pale skin causing the girl to shiver. She cracked open one eye and yanked the blankets back up to her chin. She tossed and turned for a few minutes before giving up on sleep. She sat up and pulled the blankets around her body and padded bare foot over to the bathroom. She turned on the shower and let it run for a few moments. Once the room started to fill up with steam Sakura tossed the covers on the floor and stepped into the hot water, letting it run over her tired body. Sakura slowly washed herself and stepped out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around her and wiped the fog off of the mirror.

 

Sakura's hand dropped to her collarbone when she saw the twin pin pricks on her neck. She leaned in closer to the mirror and ran her fingers over the scars. Vampire bites heal quickly.

 

 

By the time Sakura dragged herself down the stairs, Gaara was barring the front doors.

 

“Where is everyone?” she asked.

 

Gaara looked back at her for a second, then back at the door. “They left,” he said simply.

 

“Why?”

 

Gaara started to walk towards the staircase that led down to his private chambers. Sakura started to follow him. “Gaara, what's wrong? Why are you acting so—” she asked, concerned.

 

“Nothing is wrong,” Gaara replied placidly, “This is how we have acted since you arrived. Why would we start behaving differently now?”

 

“Well, because—” Sakura was at a loss for words. Did he forget or something?

 

“You aren't allowed down here, remember?” Gaara said in a matter-of-fact tone; there was no malice in his voice.

 

“Can't we, I don't know, talk or something?” Sakura asked hopefully.

 

“No,” Gaara replied as though he didn't know he was hurting the girl, “I have work to do.”

 

Sakura stopped at the top of the stairs as Gaara began to descend. She muttered a small, hurt “Oh.”

 

Although Gaara tended to have the emotional capacity of a pair of sugar tongs, he knew that he had said something to upset his human companion. He slowly turned and walked back up to the top of the stairs. “What is it?” he asked flatly.

 

“I don't like being alone in this huge place,” Sakura confessed, “It's so big, and empty, and boring,”

 

“Why haven't you asked for anything?” Gaara asked her as though it was an obvious solution (and it was).

 

“I…hmm…”

 

 

It was Christmas in Sakura-land. Coming from a middle class family, Sakura had lived a comfortable life, but she had never been given every luxury that she desired. A huge television had been miraculously brought into the room and made to function without electricity, stacks upon stacks of DVD's were piled high, and a brand new stereo blasted out Sakura's favourite band. Best of all, her room was now decorated. The invisible servants had covered the room with pale pink wallpaper, huge pillows were arranged on the ground around a low coffee table, and the bed had been given a fresh set of linens. There were so many pillows piled on the bed that they were falling over the edges. Life was really starting to look up.

 

Until a very irate Gaara burst into the room. “What are you doing?” he had to shout over the loud music.

 

“Dancing!” Sakura cried, jumping up and down on the bed clutching a huge unicorn plushie, pillows bouncing off the bed every time she kicked off.

 

Gaara strode over to the stereo and, not being able to find a way to turn it off (he didn't care for electricity), used his sand to plug the holes in the speakers until they exploded. Sakura's mouth fell open as she stared at Gaara with a martyred look in her emerald eyes.

 

“But—my stereo!” she cried in disbelief.

 

“I'm trying to concentrate—what is that?” he asked, spotting the ratty pink unicorn in the girl's arms.

 

“It's Mr. Fluffington,” Sakura explained, “I've had him since I was two.”

 

Gaara wished that he had never let the pink haired girl have whatever she wanted. The vampire swept out of the room, rubbing his temples as he went.

 

 

It was one o'clock and Sakura was bored with her new possessions already (except for Mr. Fluffington, but he wasn't exactly a “new” possession). She slowly opened the door to her room and stepped out into the corridor barefoot.

 

By the time she reached the ground floor, Gaara was waiting for her.

 

“Why do you insist on wandering?” he asked in a voice that was almost tired.

 

“I wasn't wandering,” Sakura replied, “I knew exactly where I was going. And why shouldn't I wander? I live here now too.”

 

Normally, Gaara would have retorted with a classic “because I said so” or “my house, my rules” but he wasn't in the mood for games. “It may not be safe,” he said truthfully, looking Sakura straight in the eye.

 

“In the hou—castle?” she corrected herself quickly, “Why would it be unsafe for me to be in the halls as opposed to my room?”

 

“Are you really that unobservant?” Gaara asked, unsure if the girl was playing dumb or just plain thick, “Have you not noticed the seals around your room? Only certain people can enter.”

 

Sakura knit her brow in concentration, trying to remember. Seals? Huh? Sakura shook her head to clear out the thoughts. “Can we please stay with you tonight?” Sakura asked pleadingly.

 

“We?” Gaara asked. Sakura held up Mr. Fluffington. The vampire sighed. “Why do you want to stay with me?”

 

“It gets kind of,” Sakura searched her head for the right word, “Lonely.”

 

The two awkwardly locked eyes. Gaara took in a sharp breath of air and opened his mouth to speak when a pounding noise broke out on the other side of the front doors. Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin.

 

“Gaara!” a muffled voice called. It was Temari. “Gaara! Open the door!”

 

In a swift, fluid motion, the vampire swept across the entrance hall and unlatched the door. Temari burst through and began babbling.

 

“I can't find him!” she screeched, throwing herself into her startled brother's arms, “He was right beside me and I looked away for a second, and I can't find him!” She was pale and her cheeks were stained with salty tears. Her clothes were ruffled and out of place and her hair was falling out of its pigtails.

 

“Slow down,” Gaara said, standing his sister up straight, “Start from the beginning and tell me everything—” He was cut off when a scrap of paper came flying through the air towards him. He tore the fragment out of the invisible servant's hands and read it quickly, his face falling with every word that he read.

 

“Sakura, go to your room and don't come out, no matter what. Understand?” Gaara's voice was suddenly harsh and commanding. Sakura nodded her head mutely and immediately set up the stairs. On her way she heard the sibling's conversation.

 

“Kakashi and Shikamaru were traveling together, and Aiko and Mai have disappeared,” he said quickly to his sister, who began to sob. “Pull yourself together,” Gaara commanded, “As long as we don't have his body, we have to assume that Kiba is still alive.”

 

Sakura turned a corner and the rest of the conversation was lost to her. She felt dizzy and confused and began to stumble. Aiko, Mai, and Kiba, most likely all dead. The small servant began to tug at Sakura's skirt and led her up to her room. The pink haired girl collapsed on her bed as the servant pulled the door shut.

 

 

Sakura woke up with a jolt when harsh sunlight hit her eyelids. It took a minute for her to realize that there was some one in her room.

 

It was a man in a long black and red robe and a straw hat. He had long blue-black hair that was pulled back and red and black eyes. He held something in his hand, twirling it between his fingers.

 

“You were named well, Little Blossom,” he said dryly, holding up a single sakura blossom, “A perfect match.”

 

Sakura was trembling as she tried to inch away. The bed springs creaked.

 

“Don't worry,” the man said in a soothing voice, “I won't kill you. Yet. Although I was very tempted when I saw you laying there, so weak and defenseless. I have something special planned for you, Little Blossom. You are going to be special, not like the other one, Kaiyo.”

 

“W-who are you?” Sakura stammered.

 

“He hasn't told you anything,” the man chuckled, “Doesn't that just…boil your blood? He doesn't trust you. Sweet dreams, Little Blossom, I have some business to take care of.” He turned to the open glass doors, but tilted his head back towards the cowering human. “By the way,” he added, “Tell your keeper not to make me laugh.” The man threw a small stack of seals on the bed at Sakura's feet and vanished out the window.