Chapter 2: Runaway

Gaara heard Sakura’s feet hit the ground and he knew at once that she’d left. “Stupid…” He seethed through gritted teeth.

“Was that Sakura?” Temari asked in a panicky tone.

“Yes.” Gaara growled. “Come on.”

They ran out of the house and they ran down the street looking for any sign of Sakura.

“Why are we even looking for her?” Temari asked.

Gaara glared at her and said, “I brought her to this village, so she’s my responsibility.”

Temari nodded, “Sure, sure. Though I don’t know why you don’t just leave her alone. She’s really strange and she obviously wants to be left alone; it makes me wonder about you Gaara.”

Gaara didn’t reply.

---

I walked down the street looking for someone to tell me where to find the exit that led out of the safe city walls and into the desert. It was getting dark and everyone was heading home. There wasn’t anyone on the street except for a man walking by me, so I approached him. “Excuse me, sir.”

He looked me up and down so intensely it made me uncomfortable. “Is there something I can do for you girly?”

“Y-Yes. I was wondering if you could tell me where the exit from this village is. I’m lost.”

The man smiled at me, revealing a few missing teeth. “Follow me then. I’ll show you the way.” Something about his tone was strange and his speech was slurred, so I changed my mind.

“U-Uh…t-that’s okay, I think I can…find my own way now, but thank you anyways.”

I began to walk away when he grabbed a handful of my hair. He pulled his face close to mine, his breath smelled strongly of sake, and he laughed wickedly. “Come with me, I’ll show you the way.” He locked his arm around my waist so I couldn’t move. And then I felt sickened when his hand moved towards my inner thighs.

The man pressed his body against mine and moved his hand closer, I heard him cackle when I tried to squirm away. He was stronger than I expected. “I thought you wanted me to help you get un-lost.” He breathed against my neck. The smell of sake and the way the man was touching me made me feel sick to my stomach, I began to give up hope.

I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed for death to come find me before this man did anything.

The man suddenly choked and it surprised me when the his grasp around me suddenly slackened. I turned to see the man fall to the ground, his eyes wide and unmoving, as sand slithered down his neck.

I looked up and saw Gaara walking towards me. There was something new in his eyes, like he was being protective. Temari came to a halt next to him. “Why did you leave?” He demanded, suddenly angry.

“I-I…” I began shaking as memories of the previous day came back to me in a flash. “I-I-I-I…” My body shuddered uncontrollably. “I just needed to get away.” My legs started shaking and I fell to my knees trembling as I looked at the body of the man.

Gaara’s shoulders sagged, and his expression changed. It was sad, as if he’d been left alone one too many times. “Temari, bring her back to the house.”

I looked up into Gaara’s significantly beautiful eyes as Temari moved to obey her brother. Gaara’s expression became indifferent as her disappeared in a whirl of sand.

Everything seemed to pass in a blur. Temari led back to the siblings’ home, then led me up to her room where she told me I’d be staying. Then she said quietly as she set my sleeping bag on the floor, “Please don’t run off again.”

Then she lay down in her bed and went to sleep.

I tossed and turned but every time I closed my eyes I saw the man’s cold dead eyes staring into mine. I still felt shaky even when I knew I was safe. Nothing felt okay. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to sleep, so I went outside through a window in Temari’s room and jumped up on the roof. Gaara was there gazing peacefully at the moon.

“Hey.” I said quietly. Gaara looked at me with a stoic expression on his face then looked away. I walked across the cold stone roof on my tiptoes and sat next to him. I looked at the kanji on his forehead and recognized the word love.

“What does it mean?” I asked.

He looked at me then quietly, then realized what I was talking about. “Can’t you read?” He said indifferently.

I sighed impatiently. “I know it means ‘love’. But what does love mean to you?”

He looked away again.

“I was talking to you!” I got in front of him and put my face close to his. I noticed how creamy and smooth his skin looked up close. My heart skipped a beat wildly and it confused me for a moment.

He looked at me dangerously. “I think that…I once enjoyed killing people and I thought that being alone made me strong. But then someone taught me that love means wanting to protect those you care about against all odds. That is what love means to me now. Protecting someone means you love them.”

I almost laughed when I remembered that the person who had beaten sense into Gaara had been Naruto.

“Why did you really leave the house?”

The question startled me.

“It was because of me, isn’t it? I scare you because I’m a murderer.”

“Gaara…” I whispered. I knelt down next to him, realizing that the shaking in my body had stopped. Just being near him had calmed me down. And I realized that I wanted to continue being near him.

“Why are you here?” Gaara asked resentfully. “Why is it that I can’t seem to get away from you? You stopped me from killing the Uchiha at the chuunin exams, and now…”

“It’s because I don’t care. When I look at you I don’t see a murderer. I see someone who has changed and just needs to let go of his past deeds. As long as you regret what you’ve done it’s okay.”

Gaara shook his head stubbornly. “But I’m a monster-”

I put my face so close to his that I could feel warmth radiating off his smooth skin. He stopped talking, surprised at the close contact. “It’s okay, Gaara. Besides, I want to protect you.” As I moved to kiss his smooth creamy forehead he lifted his face up to mine and caught my kiss. Heat creeped along my cheeks and I felt like my body was melting. Gaara wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him as he deepened the kiss. We parted for a moment to catch our breaths, then continued kissing. Gaara smirked against my lips when I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down so he was laying on top of me.

I finally broke the kiss and we just lay there for a while. Gaara was suddenly very limp, and I realized that he’d fallen asleep. I smiled to myself and let him rest his head on my chest.

I sighed and began to caress his shaggy red hair. His hair was softer than it had looked and it held his scent, like fresh cucumbers. Then I braced myself, because as Naruto had told me sometime before, Shukaku would take over his body. I could feel enormous chakra lifting sand above us, and there was a strange buzz in the air.

I’d had enough training from Tsunade to know what to do. My eyes began to glow a dark green color, and chakra began to leak out of my body. My chakra formed a seal around Shukaku’s power, suppressing it. When my work was done Gaara still subconsciously held on to me. I smiled to myself and buried my face in his hair, inhaling fresh cucumbers as I drifted off to sleep.

---

Sunlight poured into Gaara’s room as Gaara opened his eyes sleepily. Then he realized that he’d been sleeping. I’d been sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for him to wake up.

Gaara sat up suddenly after seeing me, “What happened last night?” Then memories from the previous day poured into the conscious parts of his mind. “W-What about the village?”

I smiled at him. “Don’t worry; I sealed Shukaku so you could sleep.”

He looked puzzled. “You…?”

I nodded. “You should be able to sleep from now on until my sealing jutsu wears off, which will only be about a week.”

He looked away, still a little confused, but reassured. “Oh, I see. Thanks.” He looked at me, as if scanning my face. “Sakura.”

I looked him in the face and smiled faintly, “Yes?”

“What were you doing in the desert that day?

“Oh,” The smile fell from my face, and I looked away. Then I sighed, “Well, Sasuke left. He left Konoha in pursuit of power, and… he left me behind. I…didn’t want to go on living when he left. A day later I ran away from Konoha without telling anyone. I went far then felt that I didn’t want to go back, so I kept going. I wondered into the desert, weak and dehydrated. I felt so helpless that I wanted to die, and then you brought me here.”

Gaara was silent for a moment, “Did you love Sasuke?”

I nodded.

“So, last night…you weren’t really kissing me. You were kissing Sasuke.”

I remained silent, unsure of how I wanted to reply. I looked at Gaara, “He never really wanted to protect me, he was blinded by revenge. I feel now that I…I’m over him, and it’s probably because of you. So I really was…kissing you.” I felt myself blush.

Gaara smiled. It was the first time I’d ever seen him smile, it seemed like such a sweet thing on his face. He leaned over and pressed his lips to mine briefly. “I don’t think that he would have deserved you.” He said softly. Then he stood up a little shakily, “I…I’m gonna go take a shower.”

I stood up too, “Do you want me to help you?”

Gaara blinked then turned so red that I felt like I should’ve thrown a bucket of cold water over his head. He mumbled something then shut the bathroom door in my face.

I sat outside waiting for him to finish, but as I waited the sound of the running water started to make me tired. I stood up when I heard the shower stop suddenly. Then I heard the doorknob being twisted and opened, I turned and Gaara popped his head out from behind the door. “I knew you’d still be here.” He mumbled.

I smiled happily, “Do you need something?”

Gaara ran a hand through his hair and looked at everything but me, he was clearly embarrassed. “Can you find me a clean towel? I forgot to bring one with me.”

Then I noticed that his hair was dripping and he was shivering slightly. I blushed as I realized that he wasn’t wearing anything behind the door.

I walked out of the room not sure where to look for a towel. I couldn’t find Temari anywhere so I started running around the house like an idiot looking for a towel. I finally stumbled into Kankuro’s room. He was sleeping, though I didn’t care. I called out to wake him up, but his snoring kept him from hearing me. I looked around his room but there was nothing there. Before I left I took one last look at Kankuro and smirked. He wasn’t wearing his ridiculous makeup, and actually looked kind of normal.

“Nice.” I mumbled when he scratched his crotch. I wrinkled my nose in disgust and decided it was time to leave.

I stumbled into another bathroom where I found plenty of towels stacked neatly next to the sink. I grabbed one then ran back to Gaara’s room. I was about to run into the bathroom when his hand came out and snatched the towel from out of my hands. “Thanks.” He said, shutting the door in my face once again.

He came out a moment later wearing the towel around his waist. He noticed me staring at his bare chest and started to blush, “Umm, this is my room…so, do you mind if I change?” He gently pushed me out of the room.

I scowled at the door, but was distracted when my stomach growled, so I decided to go to the kitchen to see what I could find. I found Kankuro that was already eating at the table and Temari was fixing something on the counter.

“Temari-chan!” I ran to her.

She smiled, “I knew you’d be hungry.” She handed me a bowl of yogurt and fruit. She looked like she wanted to say something, but kept it to herself. She probably remembered what I’d told her the day before about talking too much. I took my breakfast and joined Kankuro at the table.

Gaara came in and casually sat next to me. He picked up a peach from a bowl in the center of the table and started eating it. Eventually we were all sitting at the table eating.

I looked at Kankuro, he’d already put his makeup back on. I smiled when I saw there was a place on his cheek where the purple was smeared slightly. “Your ‘face’ is smudged a little bit there Kankuro.”

He looked back at me with a bored expression, “No it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

Kankuro glared at me, “I don’t care.”

I shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Kankuro looked at me for a moment, “What are you still doing here Sakura?”

Temari slapped him on the back of the head sharply. “Shut up, Kankuro. You aren’t the oldest, so you don’t say what goes.”

Kankuro rubbed the back of his head and frowned at me for a moment. Then he noticed Gaara scowling at him and went back to eating, muttering something about it not being fair. I glared at him, hurt by his words, and was about to resume eating when Gaara took an advantage of the moment to hold my hand. I looked at him and smiled. He smiled back, a smile that was just for me.

Temari looked at us and was about to say something when there was a knock at the front door.

She opened the door to find a ninja from the village delivering a message. “It was brought to the attention of the Kazekage yesterday that Haruno Sakura has come to our village; he’d received a letter from the Hokage of Konoha stating that she’d gone missing. When he told the Hokage about this she replied that she wanted Sakura to come back to Konoha immediately.” He looked at me, “Are you Sakura?”

I nodded.

“Then,” he continued, “The Kazekage has asked that you three,” he nodded to Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara, “escort her back home for protection. He wants you to have left the village with her by the end of the day. That’s all.” And with that, he was gone.

Temari shut the door and looked at me. “I can’t believe this, is that true? Did you run from Konoha?”

I nodded and braced myself for some kind of lecture from Temari, but Gaara cut in. He told Temari what had happened with Sasuke, and explained why I had been in the desert that day. He left out the part about how I had wanted to die.

When he was done Temari frowned, “Well then, we’d better get packed. We have a long way ahead of us. If you want to leave Konoha, Sakura, you’re going to have to march down there to tell Tsunade that yourself.”

“We leave in one hour, so get ready.” Temari said, suddenly back to her old bossy self. She left the room quietly without looking back.

Gaara took hold of my hand supportively, telling me that he was right there with me. He looked at me, those bright eyes seemed to dance with emotion, then he leaned in to kiss me.

“Erhm…” Someone cleared their throat. I jumped, having forgotten about Kankuro sitting across from us.

“I don’t care if it is for protection, why do I need to go? It’s not like I’m gonna do my job.” Kankuro’s frown suddenly smoothed. “Then again, if she died you’d have to go back to your insomnia.” He got up and was about to leave the room when a shower of sand pinned him to the floor.

Gaara let go of my hand, his icy gaze was fixed on Kankuro. “If you want to stay you can use your injuries as an excuse.” He hissed between gritted teeth.

I left the room quickly and waited for everyone to get ready. It stung somehow, to know that I would have to go back and face the wrath of Tsunade. And then I thought of Naruto and how disappointed he would be that I wanted to leave. Everyone finally came out and I jumped to my feet. Temari handed me a bag, “Here, you can carry the first aid.”

We walked through the sand village and out the exit that led to Konoha. As we walked through, Gaara grabbed my hand and squeezed it. He smiled at me, and again I loved the sweetness of his smile. It was beautiful somehow, to know that smile belonged to me.