Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto and not very familiar with racing, so bear with me.
--
Gaara stopped at the edge of the crowd in the middle of the city. The neon lights of downtown dimly lit the huge group of speed junkies that gathered for the races. He was no different. When he raced, he felt a thrill like nothing else could give him, like he was in a different plane of existence and the rest of the world was trying to catch up to him.
But tonight, speed meant something else. Tonight, he would exist on another plane, not for the thrill and the euphoria of isolation, but for something else. Tonight's stakes were much higher than winning and earning some cash. Tonight, he was after a trophy he meant to free from the current top dog. Sasuke Uchiha.
"Hey man. You sure about this?" Naruto asked in the passenger seat next to him. Gaara didn't look at him, keeping his eyes on the center of the circle of people. In the middle, he knew Uchiha would be preening, clutching his trophy in a death grip. A trophy he had no right to be holding.
"Tonight, I'm getting her away from him, once and for all," Gaara replied quietly, his face stony and emotionless.
His mechanic clapped him on his shoulder before jumping out of the car through the window. Naruto banged the hood as he leaned in for a few final words. "This Hyuuga girl is really worth the risk? I mean, you're putting your life on the line. If you lose-"
"I won't be losing. Just make sure everything is clean and smooth," Gaara told him, jumping out of his own window. He walked through the crowd towards the man he planned on challenging. Just before he entered the hollow of the circle, a small hand pressed against his chest, stopping him.
"Hey, Gaara," Sakura began, seriously. "You going to be all right?" Gaara gave her a small glare, but she didn't back down. "Oh, don't worry about me. I'm not gonna stop you. But it won't do Hinata a damn bit of good if you get yourself killed in this race."
Gaara glanced at her and sighed. "I'll be careful. But I can't stand her being forced to stay with him. If I win this, I can get her away from that bastard, back to where it's safe."
"Gaara, it wasn't your fault that you weren't around to stop Sasuke from getting to her. She just didn't know what she was getting into, agreeing to go out with him."
Gaara grimaced. Hinata had been his girl, and he protected her from bastards like Sasuke who would have just used her up and thrown her to the side. Or, at least, he was supposed to. But he hadn't been able to stop her, too obsessed with racing. He didn't pay attention to her and he lost her. The loss made his heart ache so fiercely, he started going faster and faster, trying to escape it. But speed couldn't put it aside. He wanted Hinata back. And he knew she didn't want to be where she was anymore. He saw that much clearly when, at a party, she got in a fight with Sasuke. He gave her a pair of black eyes and a cut along her throat, paper thin, but enough that she knew she couldn't leave. Gaara had seen it, and he practically wanted to mow Sasuke over with his car right then and there, before backing it up and doing it again and again as fast as he could until Sasuke melted into the pavement.
"You know he's going to kill you if you lose to him. Cuz if you've lost to him, it'll be because your car is up in flames and you won't be walking away from it," Sakura warned again, before leaving the circle to find her boyfriend, Naruto, Gaara's best friend and the most reliable man on the planet. She stayed away from the dangerous racers and had fallen for the cheerful and reliable mechanic with a smile that made Gaara feel as if he didn't need to go triple digits to forget his troubles.
He turned back to the circle and walked into the empty space, aware of the stares from the groupies, but ignoring them. He knew that they knew walking into Sasuke's circle was a direct challenge and Sasuke did not take well to challengers.
Gaara focused on only one person. Hinata Hyuuga. The girl he had known since middle school. The girl who laughed with him when he talked about Naruto's latest antics with his car. The girl who had followed him to a race to get to know his other side, the one that craved speed like a drug addict. The one who had suffered when he was too focused on getting to that speed that would rocket him away forever to notice she was about to become prey to a bastard who saw her as innocent meat and a trophy to hold up above Gaara, to taunt him with.
She stood before him in a black tank top with Uchiha's symbol, a miniskirt that Uchiha kept reaching up, her face red from either fury or humiliation, or both. Her blue-black hair cascaded down her back, sleek and straight. Her eyes held disgust and resignation at her lack of ability to escape, turning the color of molten silver when she caught sight of Gaara stepping forward to challenge Sasuke Uchiha.
Gaara stood directly in front of the hated bastard in his maroon t-shirt and dark blue, ripped jeans. His arms had several black and red bands, along with a silver bracelet he had once been given by Hinata for good luck. His messy red hair was a stark contrast to his pale face with black lined eyes, which glared at Sasuke like emeralds with no pupils.
"Let's race," Gaara said quietly, but everyone heard him clearly. The crowd had dropped to complete silence, so they could hear sirens in the distance. But no one worried that the cops would bust them. They were paid good money to leave this place alone, so long as no one died and no riots broke out.
"Gaara, what are you doing?" Hinata asked, about to step forward towards her friend. Worry lit her bright grey eyes. But she was stopped, a hand pushing her back-Sasuke.
"Shut up, Hinata," Sasuke snapped, sparing her a single glare before drawing himself up haughtily in front of Gaara.
"Don't you dare talk to Hinata like that," Gaara growled dangerously.
"I'll speak to her how I want," Sasuke said. "After all, she belongs to me."
"Wanna bet on it?" Gaara snapped, anger making his eyes glitter fiercely. "What do you say you and me test that out? I think you've gotten soft, perched up at the top for this long, Uchiha. I can easily take you and your little pedestal. I'll race you, the usual course, winner take all."
Sasuke spat at Gaara's feet. "I'll wipe the pavement with you until there's nothing left to even call road kill, you piece of shit." He pushed him back, stalking towards his car, the crowd parting for him like butter. "When you lose, don't worry about handing your car over to me. It'll be a wad of metal and you'll be wrapped up in it."
"And when I win, Uchiha, you're gone from here, for life, and Hinata stays with me," Gaara replied, iron in his voice. Uchiha sneered, but accepted. He wasn't going to lose to this red headed bastard with no eyebrows. "Kabuto! Get my car ready!" he bellowed, walking away.
Hinata ran up to Gaara, grabbing his hands. Her face was panicked as she looked up at him. "Don't do it. He will carry out his threats. He'll kill you!"
He shook her off gently. "It's something that I have to do. There's someone I need to take care of." He turned and started to walk away.
Hinata started sobbing. She stomped her foot on the ground. "Damnit, Gaara! Don't you think of anyone but yourself? What the hell about me? What am I going to do if you die?" Her tears went ignored as she grabbed his arm, trying to stop him from leaving. "If you die, I don't know what I'll do. Gaara, please, don't do this. I love you."
Gaara didn't turn around, but pulled his arm out of her grip, just as gently as before and walked to his own car, where Naruto was fiddling with the engine. Hinata stayed where she was, still isolated in the center of Sasuke's circle, everyone too wary to try to comfort her. They didn't want to get on Sasuke's bad side.
Suddenly, a pink haired girl burst through the lines and rushed to the crying girl's side. Hinata turned into Sakura's embrace and began to sob into her friend's shoulder. "Hush, shhh. It'll be all right," Sakura told her in a soothing voice. "Gaara can take care of himself. He can win this."
Hinata pushed Sakura away, her crying done. Now she was just angry. "It doesn't matter! He has always done this. He could be killed, but does he care? Of course not!" she shrieked, not caring what the others thought of her. "He just wants to be the fastest! He doesn't care if he hurts others. He doesn't care if he dies. He doesn't care if he breaks my heart."
"That's a lie," Sakura told her, interrupting the girl's tirade. "He gives a damn. He gives more of a damn than you think." She pulled Hinata to her again, burying the other girl's face into her shoulder. "He's doing this for you, cuz he can't stand seeing you being treated this way. He thinks it's his fault and he's putting his life on the line to protect you. Girl, he loves you."
Hinata looked at her bewildered, but Sakura just nodded at her in confirmation. "Now go to the starting line and scream for him to win." Hinata nodded and rushed through the crowd. Unlike for Sasuke and Gaara, though, they didn't part for her, too intent on the two racers as they revved their engines, warming up for the race.
Breaking through to the other side, she halted just as the starter walked the cars up to the starting point. Just as the girl was about to drop the flag, Hinata screamed as loud as she could, "Gaara! Win, damn you and come back to me!!"
Gaara didn't have time to let it sink in or to looked shocked. Sasuke shot him a swift death glare just as the starter dropped the flag. Time slowed down as it fell to the ground. Gaara turned his head and caught Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke broke out into a cold sweat at what he saw-hatred and murder, with more intent than he had ever experienced. Then the flag hit the ground and the two drivers were off, their tires screaming and leaving black streaks in the pavement.
Hinata clutched at Naruto, who was standing beside her, her frightened eyes following the two speeding cars as they rounded the bend at speeds that terrified her. And they were still accelerating.
"Don't worry," she heard him saying to her. "Jinchuuriki is as fast as lightning. Gaara will be fine. Sasuke won't even be able to taste his dust."
--
In his car, Gaara was focusing on the track, one hand in a death grip on the steering wheel, the other on the stick shift. He never glanced at the speedometer, but he knew that, by the time he crossed the finish line, the numbers on it would have had no meaning whatsoever. Naruto was good at what he did.
Sasuke was beside him the entire time in his racer. It was specially designed for the driver to be perfectly aerodynamic, along with the bastard's needs to destroy his opponent. As they rounded another turn, Sasuke took it wide, though Gaara was on the outside. Gaara took the turn wide as well, to avoid being slammed by his opponent. He narrowly avoided a light post before getting back on the road, Sasuke gaining a few feet of an advantage.
Gaara growled. 'Bastard,' he thought, not wasting his breath on insults. He shifted gears and pushed harder on gas, making up the lost distance and pulling ahead, leaving Sasuke looking shocked and thoroughly pissed. As they rounded the second to last bend, Gaara was too far ahead for Sasuke to attempt ramming him, but he had other tricks up his sleeves. Positioning himself behind Gaara and just off to the left, Sasuke accelerated, ramming into Gaara's back end, causing him to start fishtailing at such high speeds.
Gaara snarled at Sasuke as he pulled farther ahead. But Gaara wasn't without his own tricks. As he rounded the last bend, slightly behind Sasuke, Gaara flicked open the top of the shifter, revealing a button. Gaara pushed it once, with the goal within sight and the way clear. Naruto's special, which he had called the "One-Tailed Demon Burst" blasted Gaara forward with the release of energy. It was Gaara's trump card.
Sasuke, seeing Gaara tearing forward, cursed violently before whipping out in front of him just as Gaara pressed the button. With nowhere to go, and no way to slow down, Gaara slammed into Sasuke's car, shooting him off into a spiral, the car flipping over several times midair before crashing hard against an abandoned building. Gaara sped by, sparing a single glance to the wreck that was now Sasuke's vehicle, before whipping across the finish line. He slowed down using Naruto's other special enhancement, the "Nine-Tailed Fox Chute," which was nine smallish parachutes used to slow the car down, with the help of the brakes.
Gaara coasted to a stop right in front of the stunned crowd. He let out a relieved sigh that he hadn't realized he had been holding before cautiously climbing out of the car. Sasuke's ramming had jarred him hard, bruising him where his racing straps had held him in.
Hinata dashed to his side, throwing herself into his arms. Hiding a smile in her hair, Gaara clutched at her, holding her closer, breathing in her scent.
"Oh god," Hinata whispered. "I thought you were going to die when Sasuke pulled out in front of you and you two slammed into each other."
"I know," Gaara murmured back. "Me too. But I had to come back. I had to come back to you."
"I love you, Gaara," Hinata whispered, clutching him tighter.
"I love you too. He pulled away for just a fraction so he could bend down and kiss her deeply. She returned the kiss and the two just stood there, mouths on each others, as the crowd screamed and jumped up and down around them. Naruto and Sakura were clutching each other and screaming themselves hoarse.
Sirens were heard in the distance, getting louder. Hinata and Gaara broke apart, trading looks. The truce between the racers and the police had been broken. There had been a bad accident and the cops were on their way.
"Let's go," Gaara said, tugging Hinata to his car. Naruto and Sakura jumped into hers as did the rest of the crowd as everyone sped off, trying not to be caught by the police.
Hinata grinned at Gaara as he whipped down the street. He glanced at her and grinned back. She laughed out loud. "Hey Gaara."
He glanced at her again, a smile on his face. "What?"
"Let's go fast."