Teens on the Rebound
Note: Written by LolipopDollhouseProject member Kila. This is 'crack', as in a pairing that would never happen. In this case, Gaara x Asuma. The story also includes Gaara X Naruto, Gaara X Sasuke, and Ino X Shikamaru.
The thing he remembered most about that day was the sun. Oh, how it shone so bright in his unprotected eyes! He ran his pale figures through his messy crimson hair as he turned to see his sister. Her feet crunched the autumn leaves under her with each step closer she took. With each breath she gave, he thought about how easy it would be to kill her! To end the ceaseless heartbeat that rang in his ears. Yet he knew deep down he could never do that. She was his sister, and even if he was indifferent to her existence he wouldn't end it himself. He leaded back on the warm bolder be hide him as she finally came face to face with him only a few feet away.
"What is it you want?" His voice came out low, soft, but that seemed to make it all the more frigid and demanding to the girl who stood before him.
"Well we failed the chunin exams last year because of Orochimaru's plan. But this year we could actually win, if we train." The girl, Temari, encouraged him. Her shadowy brother, Gaara of the Desert, had started to warm up to her after the last chunin exam, after he had fought Naruto Uzumaki… But now the Uzumaki boy was gone, off to train elsewhere with his great master, and that in itself was having a horrible effect on Gaara. He was sulking!
"I don't care about this. The Uchiha boy and Naruto Uzumaki are both gone, this exam means nothing to me now." The red head bashed his sister's attempt to cheer him up
He seemed so excited (or well, as excited this mono-tone bastard can get) to fight Naruto again, but now that he knows he doesn't have that chance all he does is whine. The last thing I need is for him to start killing people again. Temari thought with a sigh as she continued her quest to lighten up her little bro's mood. "What about that Lee boy, he seemed really strong too. Maybe if he trained more this year and since he knows your tricks now, he'll be some fun for you to fight."
"It's not the same when I fight him. It's not as special." When Gaara told Temari this she recalled the brawl between the two. In her book, it had been a very special battle. The way the bushy browed youngster had never given up, his curious manner of not using a jutsu against Gaara's ultimate jutsu, and his supreme lotus technique. The fight with Sasuke didn't seem nearly as interesting. True, the raven haired boy had done something no one had before, he had made Gaara bleed, but other than that it seemed that the fight was short lasted.
Gaara just freaked out when he started to bleed, how could he consider that 'fun'? Mmm, but that Sasuke sure looked cute out on the battle field. Temari thought. Wait, no, that can't be it. It can't be that the reason Gaara liked fighting Sasuke and Naruto was because they're cute, and the reason he didn't like Lee was because he's not…! I mean, Gaara's a boy, there's no way he'd think like that. Really, I must be out of my mind.
Giving up on cheering up her brother Temari walked away, leaving Gaara leaded against the bolder, outside of the ramen shop, in the middle of the leaf village.
"Hey, kid, what are you doing here?" A girl sprang towards him. Just great, another blonde to annoy him when all he wanted was some time to get his head straight!
The girls' blonde locks were tied back in a pony tail, and one strip on the side of her face. Her clothes were a deep shade of violet, her eyes the same shining seashore blue as Gaara's.
"Hey, you're the boy who tried to fight my Sasuke in the chunin exams! How about I treat you to a bowl of ramen, it's on me." Gaara wanted to reject the bimbo's pointless offer, but found himself instead sitting inside the shop next to her. Its dim lighting contrasted that of the bursting bright sky outside, and he had never really liked ramen in the first place. In a way he was glad to be there, the ramen, however uneatable, reminded him of Naruto.
"You know, I gave up on Sasuke." The girl Gaara would later come to know as Ino gave a long sigh. "He was so wonderful; like a dashing prince. He was strong and focused and handsome, but I knew that he could never belong to me. He was with Sakura, and as teammates their relationship would endure so much more than the little half relationship he and I shared. I fought Sakura for Sasuke with all the will in my weak body-but I was just pretending. I was just lying to myself by thinking that if I tried hard enough I could own him. Now that he's gone with Orochimaru I might never see him again, and if I do it will be in battle. Sasuke's gone to me now, like a feather in the breeze or a pebble in the ocean, and there's nothing I can do to stop that. When I heard that he was gone, strange enough, I felt empty. I could never have had him, but as long as he stayed alive here I could form the illusion that I could. Him leaving was a cold bucket of water poured over my sleeping body."
"Why are you telling this to me? I couldn't care less about your troubles, or understand them."
Ino giggled and leaded closer to Gaara so that her face was only inches from his, the scent of her floral perfume filling his nostrils. "That's just it! I know you can because you loved him too, didn't you? Trust me, a girl like myself knows when someone's hitting on 'her man'. If you weren't coming on to him I don't know what is."
"I don't know what you're talking about." He coolly denied.
"Oh please drop the act. Any boy who doesn't flinch when a girl as beautiful as me comes so close to him as got to be gay!" Ino whined cockily. "But you ended up liking Naruto, right? It's true, having a dark prince and a light prince is what makes romance interesting. I know, because after I lost my night in black armor I found a new one. Someone I'd never noticed before, and now I can't get him out of my head."
"Sounds more like you're on the rebound." Gaara mumbled.
"That's your basic skills telling you that. Something only a girl or a homosexual would think when they heard that. Maybe you're right. Maybe I only like Shikamaru because he's the opposite of Sasuke. He's not power hungry or determined and something as little as a cloud can distract him, but when he sets his mind to it he can do anything. That's one thing Sasuke could never do. He could never love me, and that's something I think Shikamaru's can do.
Rebound or what not, you can't stop love, and after you found Sasuke you found another, Naruto, right? Now I'm just guessing, but it doesn't seem unreasonable. Now you've lost both, and lost your reason to remain mentally stable with them, right? When a normal girl falls out of love she stops taking care of her hair, weight, and clothes. When an insane dude falls out of love, I guess he would lose his sanity, right?"
"Can I go now?" Gaara asked, irritated at how close to the truth she had come. It made him question if all women were like her, if even his own sister knew the truths he hide be hide is solemn face, be hide the emotionless mask he wore his entire life. The mask only Naruto could truly break.
"Not yet. I think I have the perfect cure for both of us. I propose we go on a double-date. Me and my beloved Shikamaru and you and a boy I'll set you up with. Maybe he can help you forget for a little while. Oh, crap, here they come!" Ino shut herself up as two people walked into the little ramen shop. One was a tall man with a slight tan and pointed dark brown hair. He wore a plain green leaf village flack-jacket and navy colored pants. Next to him was a boy with a bothered look on his face. His dark brown hair was tied back in a spiky pony tail high on the back of his head. He too wore similar dress, with an earring in one of his ears. Gaara knew both of them, sort of. He had run into the 'Shikamaru' boy once in his attempts to kill Rock Lee, and again when Shikamaru fought his sister. The other he had never traded words with, but had spotted him at the chunin exam with Shikamaru, Ino, and a rather fat child.
I'll kill them, grid this dense blonde into pixie dust with that boy she claims to 'love' so much. This is it, isn't it? Love? It's all so shallow. She just likes him because she misses the Uchiha. Love like this is vile. Besides, Naruto made me feel good. I don't want to forget that feeling.
"Hey Shikamaru, Sensei!" Ino greeted.
"Hey Ino, what's that boy doing here? That kid's insane, even if he helped us on the 'saving Sasuke' mission. I told you to get a nice pretty, stupid, young girl for Asuma-sensei to flirt with. He's been really stressed with Kurenai cheating on him with Kakashi and all." Shikamaru whispered to Ino.
"What Asuma needs is someone who'll get his lost love off his mind, and Gaara needs the same thing. How could a better couple exist?" Ino whispered back.
"Well, whatever, there's not much we can do about it know. Let's just head to the forest and get this over with." Shikamaru, passing the event off as another drag that was caused by his teammate, sighed.
"So who's this kid?" Asuma asked as he point to Gaara.
"Jeeze, don't tell me you forgot already, he's the one who fought Rock L-" Shikamaru was cut off by Ino before he could finish.
"He's a friend of mine, he'll be coming with us to train!"
Training in the forest? That's not much of a double date. Gaara thought as he sluggishly followed the others out of the shop.
"What's your name, kid?" Asuma asked Gaara.
"Gaara of the Desert." He glared at him as he spoke. He's useless, he's not like Naruto or Sasuke. He's not special.
"Well, alright, let's get going." Said Asuma.
"How far out are we going to go?" Shikamaru moaned as he pushed tree branches out of his way. They had begun to walk through the forest, and he wasn't liking it one bit. "Can't we just jump from the tree branches?"
"It's more peaceful to walk." Ino assured him.
"Here, the clearing's just ahead." Asuma gestured forward to a parting in the trees.
The place was beautiful, like nothing in the sand village. The sun shone its rays through the gaps in tree branches, and the clearing was full of spring green grass. Again Gaara was reminded sweetly of Naruto. It was like the very wind that rustled through the trees spoke his name, the very leaves crunching under his feet calling out in honor of what the two shared. At the same time, as Asuma walked to the center of the clearing and lit a cigarette, the smoke forming a small fog around him, Gaara seemed only to focus on him. As he gently touched the cigarette to his dark lips and puffed out another cloud of smoke it seemed
that he was obscuring the memories and cries for Naruto that resided within Gaara like the smoke obscured the surroundings. In short, Gaara was absolutely memorized by him.
"Alright, well, let's train. The chunin exams are going to be soon and you two, ah, three, need to get in shape. Now if only Choji wasn't on that mission with Lee he could be here too." Asuma sighed as he moved the lighted stick away from his mouth and put a basket (which Gaara hadn't noticed him caring before) down on the ground. "Well, show me what you've got."
Gaara hadn't trained much, being it all Shikamaru and Ino had done was more like flirting than fighting. The way Ino would parade herself in front of him made Gaara sick. The manner in which she would 'practice', purposely tripping and falling on him, using close combat just to be near him even though she was a long range fighter. Can't she at least take it a little more seriously? He wondered. The chunin exams are about fighting, not love. Realizing the irony in what he said (after all, he had almost dropped out when he found out Naruto wouldn't be there) he changed his way of thinking. She has no concept of love. What she's doing isn't love. It's desire, and it's pitiful. Yet another voice sounded in the back of his head, his 'inner thoughts' to say, a truth he was trying to deny. But what do you know about love? What rights have you to judge what she considers love? You never confessed to the person you love, and face it, you never will. The only person who ever told you they loved you tried to kill you! Yashamaru hated you, and he was the closest anyone had ever come to caring for you.
"Shut up." He muttered. Ino and Shikamaru didn't hear him, too busy in their own affairs. It was Asuma who approached him with a concerned look on his bearded face.
"You ok kid?" He asked.
"Fine." Gaara hissed coldly. This really was turning out to be horrible. Two more minutes of this and he'd kill them all.
"You seem upset, kid. If you're ailing you can trust me. Or Ino, since you're friends with her and all. Why don't you join them, they're having a lot of fun and getting stronger and you could too if you opened up a bit more." Asuma gave Gaara a warm smiled.
"They're a couple, and I'm not going to become some useless third wheel to them." Gaara was surprised that with his age Asuma couldn't tell this himself.
"I know Ino likes him, but Shikamaru is so hard to read. Sometimes I wonder if he feels anything at all other than bothered." Asuma chuckled. "But if they're going to have fun, why can't we?" He pulled something out of the basket he had lay on the ground earlier. It was a bone white bottle of sake, the words elegantly scribed on the front in black paint. "I know you're underage and all, but no one has to know. Sometimes all that can wash away sorrow is a few good drinks."
"I don't want any, drinking is only a way to shield yourself from emotions, it won't solve anything." Gaara criticized. I guess ignoring the problem won't make it go away either. Seeing no other solution to his heart break, and not spotting any down sides to drinking the barrage, Gaara swiped the bottle out of Asuma's hands and held it to his pale lips. After a few gulps Asuma grabbed Gaara's wrist tightly, causing him to drop the bottle, which Asuma caught with his other hand.
"Not too much there, kid. Even a few drops of this can make someone as short as you a total drunk." The sensei now held the bottle to his lips and released Gaara's arm.
"Don'ttouchme." Gaara's words came out slurred. Everything seemed different to him, his thoughts of Naruto fleeing and faint.
"Wow, kid, looks like that was too much for you." Asuma laughed at the tottering boy. Gaara's pale cheeks had flushed a bright ruby color that matched his messy hair, and his blue eyes now appeared to be only half open.
If only a little bit feels this good, then if I drink more I'll really be able to forget him! Gaara made a break through. "G-give me back the bottle, I need more.' He tried to speak clearly this time, but this only made his words come out as stutters.
"No way kid, you've met your limit. Besides, I want a little too you know." With at Asuma raised the bottle and swallowed the rest.
"Why you!" The anger boiled in Gaara, but his chakra felt weird. It was a mess he couldn't control now, the negative effect of the elixir. Desperate to feel better the young boy grabbed Asuma's shoulders, (standing on his tip toes to do so) pulled him down to eye level, and kissed him. The tanned skin of Asuma and Gaara's pasty white became one as their lips locked. If he drank it, there's bound to be some left on his lips and in his mouth. At least that was Gaara's train of thought as his tongue shot into Asuma's mouth, feeling around as he searched of the last drops, his wet lips slipping against Asuma's.
After awhile Asuma pushed him away. "Look kid, you're drunk. Have Ino take you home. I guess I should have known better than this."
"I-I don't get it." Gaara spoke slowly. "That drink made me forget him a little, and so did you, but as soon as that ended, I remembered him again."
"I don't entirely not get you, kid." Asuma leaded on a tree next to Gaara. "I used to have a woman, but she left me. Now everywhere I love I see her, I can't forget her face."
"Ino said to forget I need a rebound." Gaara told Asuma. "Maybe you need one too."
"If we both need a rebound, we could just be each other's rebound…" Asuma offered, a little dazed from the sake as well.
"Ino, I think they might actually…!" Shikamaru whispered to the blonde. Truth was they had stopped fighting and started listening in on the conversation of the two buzzed warriors awhile ago.
"Come on, let's leave them be." Ino urged.
"But that's pedophilia, and homosexual. Asuma's neither." Shikamaru protested.
"Well he is tonight." Ino had to half drag her man out of the clearing. Once they were back into the silent nighttime streets of Konoha Ino looked up at the boy. "Shikamaru… I…" She wanted to say Shikamaru I love you. Yet the words wouldn't come. Somewhere deep inside her she felt that saying it would make Sasuke being gone forever seem so final, and she couldn't deal with that. Not yet.
"Yeah?" Shikamaru asked.
"I was wondering if you'd walk me home." Ino remade the sentence. Well, if I can't say it yet, I can still flirt with him in till I can,
The next morning Ino woke up in her bed, and thought at once of what had happened the other night. Had Gaara and Asuma gone through with it? Were they dating or was it just a onetime fling? The truth is, Ino never found out. Too scared to ask Gaara or Asuma, her and Shikamaru let the topic die, like some sort of faint dream that one day they would question if it actually even happened. Yet when she saw Gaara, he almost seemed like he smiling. Even Asuma finally let Kurenai go to start dating Anko. Whatever happened, Ino felt like she had made the right choice.
Maybe you're right, Ino. Maybe sometimes to go on we need rebounds. Maybe that's what love is. Gaara thought as he started to train with Konkuro and Temari for the exam.