Chapter 1 - Indifferent

I could feel hot sweat rolling off my forehead as I lay weak and unable to move under the hot desert sun. I was vividly aware of the snakebite in my shoulder, and pain was slowly ebbing its way down my arm. I rolled my head to the side to see a figure approaching me cautiously. It was a boy of about 13 years old. His eyes were a pale green and his hair was a beautiful blood red. I noticed a kanji on his forehead. He was beautiful, it an unyielding severe kind of way, and it was enough to make me forget the pain in my shoulder. As I slipped into unconsciousness I reached out to touch the kanji on his forehead, but he jerked away before I could touch him. I closed my eyes slowly then heard a woman’s voice; “Is she still alive Gaara?”

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I breathed slowly letting light seep into my eyes. I realized that I wasn’t wearing a shirt and that there were bandages on my right shoulder. For a moment I lay there taking in the room around me. I was lying on a bed with soft black sheets in a room so plain it looked like it had hardly ever been used. The room was small, with whitewash walls and a dresser next to the bed. I tried to move, but I found myself dizzy and too weak to sit up. And I flinched as pain stabbed my arm.

Then I was suddenly aware of voices outside the room I was in.

“Gaara,” a male voice said, “We sent you to the store to get food. What is this?”

“It’s a vegetable, Kankuro.” Gaara said coldly.

“Well I’m not eating it.” Kankuro replied.

“Fine. Get fat.” Gaara replied indifferently. “And go to the store next time, instead of sending me to do it.”

“Stop arguing!” A woman’s voice cut in, she sounded stressed. "I think it’s time I get some help, someone trained needs to check on her. I did basic first aid on her messed up right shoulder, but maybe she has some internal injuries..."

I heard footsteps walking away.

“Hey! Where are you going?” The woman exclaimed.

“To get that help you were talking about, Temari.” Gaara said gruffly. A door opened then slammed shut.

“Well,” Kankuro said once Gaara was gone, “At least his bed is finally being used.”

I thought about what I’d heard. So, I was in Suna. I remembered the Sand siblings from the chuunin exams. I remembered Gaara and what he’d done. I also remembered how he’d gotten sense beaten into him by Naruto, just like everyone else who met the loud blonde ninja. I thought about Gaara, trying to forget about the pain that was quickly growing in my shoulder.

After a while, Gaara returned with an old woman. She introduced herself to me as a medical expert. Everyone was in the room as she looked at me. I was of course covered with a blanket so they could only see me from the neck up, but it still made me uncomfortable because I was still topless. The old woman placed her hands on my shoulder and her hand began to glow green. At that moment I felt strength returning to my body. I mumbled something quietly, and the old woman was the only one who could hear what I said. She smiled at me and took something from her robe, I recognized a canteen. She shook it then began to pour cold water on my lips. I was so thirsty that I drank almost every drop.

Feeling refreshed I sat up.

Everyone was blushing though I didn’t know why. Temari gave Gaara a look and slapped Kankuro on the back of the head. She gaped at me, “Hey! What are you thinking?!”

Confused I looked around at the old woman; she was laughing. Gaara and Kankuro had turned away from me, but I could see that Gaara’s ears had turned a darker shade of red than his hair.

I looked at my shoulder, “Oh yeah, these bandages are kind of itchy.” I ripped off the bandages forcefully. “Aahh…all better now.”

Gaara tried to look at me, but as soon as he saw me out of the corner of his eye he looked away again.

“What’s wrong with you…?” I started to say out loud, then I remembered that my shirt had been taken off for the bandages. A blush started to creep along my cheeks.

Temari had a panicked look on her face. She shook her head and said, “I’ll be right back.” She left the room in a hurry.

Temari came back fast and tossed a black dress at me. “Get dressed.” She said sharply. “No shame…” She muttered quietly.

As I struggled to slip the dress on, the old woman looked at me and said, “Good luck!” then disappeared in a puff of smoke. As soon as I finished dressing Gaara turned to face me. How did he know? I thought to myself. Was he peeking?

I stared into those cold empty eyes, and unlike most people I didn’t look away. “Why did you save me?”

Gaara looked away, “I don’t know.”

“Why are you asking him that? Why were you wondering the desert by yourself?” Temari asked impatiently. “Were you on a mission? In that case you should have had a Suna ninja escort you, it’s too easy to get lost in the desert, Sakura.”

I looked away, cringing with unspoken pain upon hearing my name. “It doesn’t matter why I was there, you shouldn’t have brought me here. By the way,” I added sourly, “you talk too much.”

Temari’s face was suddenly blank, as if she was trying to figure out the tone of my voice.

Kankuro stepped up with a wet cloth and handed it to me. “Well, despite your reasons for being here, you should clean the dirt off your face.”

“Tch, like I care what I look like.”

“Well you should.” Kankuro said shortly. “Because you look ugly like that. Not that it would make your face look any better if it were clean.”

“You’re one to talk!” I said, raising my voice, “Going around with that makeup, you look worse than a clown! It’s a wonder that you don’t scare children off in the street.”

Kankuro glared at me like all he wanted to do was beat me to a pulp. As he made a move toward me Gaara stepped up and stopped him. “Kankuro, you fool,” He growled, “Do you really want to die that badly? Sakura could knock your head off your shoulders with one punch.”

Kankuro glared helplessly at his little brother, then groaned in defeat and left the room as quickly as he could.

I tried to stand up but instead I tripped over the long black dress that Temari had given me.

Gaara caught me before I hit the ground, “What the hell are you doing, Sakura?”

Ignoring his effort to be polite, I pushed him aside. “I just want to leave.”

Temari raised an eyebrow, “Hmm, don’t be ridiculous, you can hardly stand. Just wait, I’ll get you some food.”

“It’s not the hunger it’s this stupid dress!” I began to rip off the dress out of frustration.

Temari ran to cover Gaara’s eyes and yelled at me, “Hey, keep that on!”

As I stopped I could hear my stomach growling. I sat back down on the bed, “Fine, just hurry with food before I eat this bed.”

Temari took her hand off Gaara’s eyes and smiled at me for the first time, “Ok, just wait. And keep that on!” she added sharply. Before she walked out of the room she looked directly at Gaara, “I won’t be long so…” she looked from Gaara to me, then back at Gaara and gave him a ‘Don’t try anything funny’ look.

I felt heat creep along my cheeks, As if I would do anything like that with Gaara! I thought to myself as Temari left the room.

I looked Gaara up and down. He seemed different from what remembered of him from the chuunin exams, though obviously he hadn’t changed enough to stop fighting with his siblings. I remembered his fight with Lee, and then Naruto, and his fight with Sasuke. Sasuke… I shut my eyes painfully.

I looked back up at Gaara.  It was a bit awkward with Temari gone. I looked down at my hands and twiddled my thumbs. Then I looked at Gaara a couple times noticing him staring at me curiously. He looked away whenever I looked at him.

I finally gave up, “This is your bed, Gaara, you should sit down!”

Gaara looked surprised, “How do you know?”

“This whole room has your scent. It’s like…” I sniffed. “…fresh cucumbers.”

Gaara looked back at me suspiciously then finally sat on the opposite edge of the bed stiffly.

I was about to say something when Temari entered the room with a bowl of white rice and a bag of clothes. I practically inhaled the entire bowl of rice, I hadn’t realized how hungry I really was.  Then I shooed Temari and Gaara out of the room so I could change. In the bag was my old clothes, Temari must have washed these. I thought to myself. I dressed quickly then listened to see if they were still outside the bedroom.

I wanted to leave badly, though I knew Temari wouldn’t hear of it. Temari and Gaara were still standing next to the door so I knew I wouldn’t be able to sneak out. I scanned the bedroom and noticed a large window next to the bed.

“Are you done yet?” I heard Temari say behind the door.

“N-not quite!” I yelled back.

I ran to the other side of the room and threw the window open. I looked back at Gaara’s bedroom one last time and jumped out the window into the cool night.