A few thoughts before we start. This in an entry for Vesper chan's October Contest. Of course, I wait until the last day to write something. OF COURSE. Hopefully, this piece isn't as failsome I think it is. This story is 1/3 truth, 1/3 make-believe, and 1/3 desperation. Also, as per contest rules, I would suggest any ItachixSakura fan to read The Way of the Wind by just enough. Excellent story!
Now, onto the reading~!
"Y'know, Sakura, tugging at your dress won't make it any longer, and quit looking so gloomy. It's a Halloween party; you're supposed to have fun," Ino chided. Sakura shot her a glare. Currently, they were tromping their way down the gray streets of Konoha, wearing something akin to hooker costumes. Okay, maybe not hookers, but Sakura doubted that her skimpy nurse costume wouldn't be considered decent at anywhere but a Halloween party at a nightclub. Unfortunately, this was their exact destination.
How the hell had Ino convinced her to come anyway? Sakura had never been clubbing, nor had she ever wanted to. This was Ino's scene, and unfortunately, Sakura had been dragged along for the ride this time. Usually Ino would go clubbing with her drinking buddies, Karin, Tayuya, and Kin, but they apparently had left town for some out of town party, leaving Ino to find someone else to accompany her to the newest club in town, Half Life, for their Halloween Bash. Unfortunately, TenTen already had plans with her boyfriend of two years, Lee, leaving Sakura alone to Ino's devices.
"Forgive me for trying and for my tenebrous outlook on this event," she sneered back.
"And speaking nerd won't get you laid tonight."
"Which is great, because, y'know, I have a boyfriend." 'who couldn't manage to be here to protect my innocence' she added mentally.
"Well, Sasuke's not here right now, so live a little! Find a sexy guy and rape him silly!" Sakura shot Ino a disgusted look. "Or just make out with him. Your call."
Sakura rolled her eyes as they came upon the club in question. The bouncer gave Ino and her sleazy pirate outfit an appreciative stare ("They're always after my booty" she said with a wink as Sakura looked on, thoroughly unimpressed) before letting them in. Immediately, Sakura was hit with the syrupy scent fog from a machine as well as smoke that was most definitely more than just cigarette smoke. Laser light, strobe lights, neon lights- you name it. The whole place was an epileptic's worst nightmare.
She and Ino made their way over to the mass of bodies in the center of the room. Sakura noticed that the dance floor was slightly lower than the rest of the room, making the dance floor something of a pit. She had little time to think about this, however, before Ino latched onto her and began shoving their way into the throng. Sweaty bodies pressed at all sides as the bumped and gyrated against each other. 'I can't believe people actually enjoy doing this.' Soon enough, Ino and Sakura had found a small clearing that allowed them just enough room to move comfortably in.
"So, uhm, what do we do now?" Sakura said as she stood there dumbly.
"What else do you do in a club, Forehead? You dance." And with that, Ino began swinging her hips viciously to the beat, moving in very suggestive ways that would have been embarrassing to Sakura had she been the only one dancing as such.
'Okay, Sakura, just… pretend it's your room or something.' She took a deep breath of the heavily polluted air. The sticky sweet smell invaded her senses, making her mind a bit hazy allowing her to calm down ever-so-slightly. Timidly, she began moving her hips to the beat that was currently thrumming through the club. Sakura looked back at Ino to see that she already had some dark haired boy wearing little more than a bowtie and a pair of pants grinding against her from behind. Sakura grimaced.
'Hopefully, no one will attempt that with me,' Sakura prayed internally as she continued to move to the beat. Slowly but surely she gained confidence in her movements, attempting a few of the moves she had seen Ino do earlier. As long as no one tried to dance with her, she would be fine.
A couple of songs played through and Sakura started to enjoy the dancing. Okay, so maybe she could see why people thought this was fun- there was something empowering about acting sexy for all the world to see. No sooner had she thought this, however, did she feel someone come up from behind her and place their hands on her hips before slowly grinding against her.
Warning bells shot through her head. 'There's another man. Behind me. Grinding against -kun... this is wrong!' Sakura glanced over at Ino frantically, only to see her now making out with the dark-haired Chippendale. No help there. Glancing behind her out of the corner of her eye, Sakura spotted vivid red hair directly behind her. Not like it helped her situation any, but at least she would able to help the police find her quite-possibly-future rapist and oh shit did he just sniff her?
Jumping slightly, Sakura looked down to realize her cellphone vibrating in the pocket of her nurse costume. Fumbling, she flipped it open to realize that Naruto was calling her. Taking the opportunity handed to her, Sakura quickly escaped and shouted a quick "sorry" to the man behind her before scampering off the dance floor and into one of the bathrooms so she could answer the call.
The redhead stared after her, aqua eyes narrowing possessively as his pupils dialated.
"Found you."
"Naruto!"
"Oi, Sakura-chan! Where are you? Me and some of the guys are about to have a Super Smash Brothers Tournament and-"
"Sorry, Naruto, but Ino dragged me to a club tonight- y'know, the new one in town? Half Life, I think… Anyways, I can't leave until she does."
"What? You're at a club? It's Halloween! It's the night wear girls are encouraged to wear less and guys are creepier than usual. Your honor is in danger!"
"You think I don't know that? But I'm stuck here until further notice…"
"Don't worry! I'm coming to save you- Half Life, right? Yeah, I'll be there in half an hour. I'll call you when I get there." Sakura barely had time for a response before he had hung up. She took the phone away from her face, only to watch it beep, flicker, and then go dead.
'Well, shit.'
Deciding that it would do her no good to wait for Naruto to come and save her while in the girls' bathroom, Sakura reluctantly made her way back to the dance floor to find Ino and tell her that she was leaving, but after shoving her way through the crowd looking for either her or the dark-haired manslut she was sucking face with, Sakura was resigned to go wait by the bar instead. However, just as Sakura had made her way off the dance floor, she once again she felt her hips being grabbed. Startled, Sakura stumbled backwards as the hands tugged her backwards into a solid body.
"Do you always make a habit of running away from dance partners like that?" a deep voice sounded from behind her. Sakura glared over her shoulder to see that infernal shade of red hair again.
"I don't make a habit of coming to clubs in general. Now, if you would be so kind as to let me go." She heard a small chuckle.
"Your dancing would say otherwise. You seemed to be a proficient dancer."
"I am, until strange men come up behind me without word or warning," she spat back. Another chuckle.
"Forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Gaara." Sakura, perturbed at the strangers mocking behavior, spun herself around to give the man a piece of her mind, only to gasp upon seeing his face.
Now, Sakura had seen her fair share of beautiful men. Hell, her Sasuke-kun was one fine piece of man meat, as was his entire family ('Stupid Uchihas and there goddamn gorgeous genetics'). But the man before her was just something… exotic. His vivid red hair was spiky, but kempt, unlike Naruto's unruly spikes, and on his forehead Sakura noticed what looked to be a tattoo of the kanji 'love.' Sakura also noted that he was wearing some kind of Egyptian costume, but that become of little importance when Sakura caught sight of his eyes. His eyes- Dear, sweet Baby Jesus- were the most striking aqua she had ever seen. She stared, transfixed, at his eyes as they seemed to draw her in, as if they were seeing into her and memorizing every part of her.
"Sakura," she found herself saying, despite herself. Sakura blinked and shook her head. 'Geez, way to lose my cool. What the hell am I thinking?'
"Well, Sakura-san, what would a girl like you being doing alone at a party like this?" He spoke with a slight smirk on his face, as if she were somehow amusing to him.
"Looking for my friend, the one I was dancing with before. Have you seen her?" Well, it didn't hurt ask.
"The blonde one? I believe she stumbled outside with the man she was dancing with not too long ago."
Well, seems like Ino would be fine without her. Sakura knew that Ino had had her fair share of one-night stands while partying on the weekends, it was just a little disturbing to understand how it happened.
"Well, good for her."
"You're not worried for her?"
"Ino's been around the block more than once- she knows how to handle herself."
"Even on a night like this?"
"Hmm?" Sakura's brow scrunched in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It is Halloween, the night celebrating those things which are normally feared. Shouldn't this be cause for worry?" Sakura realized that his gaze held genuine perplexion and tried her hardest to hold back her laughter.
"What, you think some undead spirit," she snorted, "or, Hokage help us, vampire, might attack her?"
"You act as if it's an impossibility." Oh, he'd done it now. Sakura keeled over laughing, clutching at her sides. Gaara looked on, rather unamused. Once her laughter had subsided, he spoke again. "Let me ask you this, Sakura-san: Do you believe in soul mates?" Well, that seemed unrelated, but deciding to humor him, this beautiful stranger, she nodded. "So you believe that two humans are destined from birth to complete each other in a way that the other six million could not?" She hesitantly nodded again. "And yet you cannot fathom that there are things out there that look like humans and yet are more than they seem?"
"As convincing as your argument is, I'm not about to believe that there are immortal creature masquerading as something as fugacious as humans. What would be the point in that?" Sakura huffed and crossed her arms. She gave Gaara a challenging stare.
"To find their soul mates, of course."
Sakura didn't even have time to doubt the conviction behind that statement. There was something in his eyes- those damned eyes!- that told her that he believed it and made her want to believe it to. He looked at her now with such a tenderness, such a longing that Sakura had never seen before. Slowly, he brought his hand to rest upon her cheek, and Sakura couldn't stop the pleasant shivers that ran through her body at the touh.
"Sakura," his spoke, his voice hardly more than a whisper. She barely registered how close he was to her, so transfixed was she by his eyes. Those eyes were swimming with several emotions, none of which Sakura could find herself adverse to anymore. Her mind clouded as all she could think about were his words. "Soul mate," he had said. Somewhere in her mind, Sakura knew the term should bring about thoughts of Sasuke, but she could hardly recall his face as the only thing she could think about was the man in front of her. Gaara. She felt his arms slowly encircle her as she continued to stare into his beautiful, gorgeous, hypnotic eyes. Why wasn't she fighting this? She could barely comprehend the thought before it was gone, replaced by the thoughts of how right this felt. She wouldn't mind staying here forever, she realized. Forever intertwined- her and Gaara, bound together as soul ma-
"Oi! Sakura-chan!"
The familiar voice snapped Sakura out of stupor. She looked over to see Naruto waving at her from the front entrance, being blocked from entry by the bouncer. Shaking her head, trying to think past the haze in her mind, she realized she was far too close to the stranger than what was proper, especially for a girl who had a boyfriend waiting at home. She immediately wrestled her way out of his grasp and dashed past Naruto, not daring to look back and be caught in those eyes again.
"Whoa, whoa- Sakura-chan! What the hell was that?" Naruto yelled as he caught up to her. Sakura was panting, but kept going. It wasn't until the club was long out of sight that Sakura managed to choke out a response.
"I… I don't know."
Gaara stood where Sakura had left him, staring at the entrance as if it would will her to come back. A man with kabuki paint on his face came up to him.
"You gonna chase after her or what?" Gaara continued to stare.
"Not yet. I've waited over 300 years for her. I can bear to wait a little longer."
Owari