Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the characters in Naruto, or anything related to Naruto. This a piece of fanfiction. I do not make money off of this piece of writing.
Gaara sat in his bedroom, staring out into the night. He looked up at the million stars that twinkled so softly in the distance, at the vast desert that lay beneath the stars. The night was still, but now and again, there was a slight and soft breeze coming from the west. He closed his eyes for a moment and breathed deeply. There was something wrong in the air and it was coming. Quickly. He bared his teeth and a mockery of a smile and willed the danger to come. After he became a kazekage, he got nothing but paperwork.
A kunai was launched at him through the window and he dodged to the left. He regained his balance and leaped out of the window onto the sill. He bared his teeth in an excited smile. This was definitely different and he liked it. There, to his right, was a person standing on a nearby rooftop. The person turned quickly and ran across the rooftops – Gaara gave chase. The longer he ran after the person, the more he noted that this person was probably female, though the face and hair was covered. She had long legs and modest curves, he saw that she was a very beautiful woman, like his Sakura. Well, she didn't know that she was his yet, but she will in time; he will see her tomorrow after he kills this person for her attack.
As the woman was about to leap to the next roof, Gaara sent a small amount of sand to knock her out of the air into the alley below. Because of her mask, the woman didn't see it coming and fell with a dull thud in the alleyway. Gaara landed gently at the entrance of the alleyway, blocking her exit. Instinctively, his sand surrounded her limbs, leaving her torso and face uncovered.
"What is your name?" he asked.
"Fuck you." she spat back. She was a fighter, he saw. She was very talented, he was sure, with much potential– shame that he had to kill her for her attempt. A scream tore her throat apart as he crushed her arms and legs, making sure to not kill her immediately, but allowing time for him to find out who this person was and what she wanted. There was no way to repair the damage, but they always told him what he wanted to know, if only so he would end the pain. She crumpled to the floor gracelessly, moaning in pain. He sighed and wondered why they always made it so difficult. Slowly, he bent down and pulled off her mask with a flourish – all thought left his mind, but one.
Sakura.
His Sakura.
His beautiful Sakura.
His thoughts ran together, tripping over each other and he simply couldn't see. "Why?" he choked out.
She simply wheezed for a few minutes, as she lay in the alleyway slowly dying. He saw her eyes close and he thought she had died. A moment later, her eyes snapped open with tears in her eyes and asked desperately, "Do you see me? Do you see me now, Gaara-sama? Do you see me at all? I've loved you for so long, but you never saw. You never saw. Do you see? Do you see me now?" With a shudder, her eyes fell shut for a final time, a single tear tracking from the corner of her eye, across her temple to her hair.
There was pain like never before. There was emptiness like never before. There was darkness like never before. Gaara stared at Sakura's body with unseeing eyes and said, "I see you Sakura. I see you."
A/N: Wow. Okay. That was... different. This is a response to Challenge # 23. Review please.