Philophobia
I
After a lovely pink haired kunoichi won her match with the crude Ino Yamanaka, she thought everything okay, and was relaxed until...
Sakura Haruno gasped and clutched to the rail hard, her knuckles turning white. She watched Rock Lee, yes; the young Rock Lee who had saved her life back in the Forest of Death, battle against Gaara of the Sand; a monster. After his Hidden Lotus, Lee was laying on the cold floor, limp and bleeding, his breath quivering. Gaara had gotten up, his sand starting to shift in clouds around him, getting ready to shoot forward and kill.
After breaking the taijutsu specialist's arm and leg, he still wasn't stopping?! Sakura bit her lip, weighing her options. She knew she couldn't do anything; that she would probably only end up getting killed or make things even worse for the jumpsuit-wearing ninja.
But the risk of Lee dying out-weighted her other doubts.
"Lee-san!" Sakura screamed, flinging herself over the rail before Kakashi-sensei or Naruto could do anything about it. She pushed chakra into her feet just as Gaara's sand shot forward, with murderous intent.
Gaara's glare intensified as Shukaku roared in his head to kill this mother fucker. Oh yes, he was going to die by Gaara's hand. Right here, right now.
Pull off his limbs one by one! Killhimkillhimkillhimkillhim! KILL! RIP! SHRED!
As his arm raised, Gaara's sand spun restlessly, eager to spill this dipshit's blood all over the place. He pulled his sand back, forming it into a wave, fully intending to crush the boy who dared touch him.
Crash
Where Gaara's eyebrows would have been furrowed together. His sand was attacking something that had gotten in the way. Growling menacingly, his sand pushed harder against the blockage, trying to tip it over, with no avail.
That's when the loud shriek of pain caught Gaara's attention.
His sand slowly stopped it's assault, revealing a small kunoichi, who had her arms crossed in front of her face for protection from his rough sand. Her legs were bent to keep herself from being knocked over. The bloody wounds all over her arms looked painful and deep. As Gaara looked closer into one, he saw grains of his sand still stuck disgustingly into the torn flesh. Blood dripped from her elbows onto the floor, pooling down by her feet. The red contrasted with the white of her skin, looking almost...beautiful.
But what really made him stare, was her unnatural pink hair. Not her blood.
The pleasure at seeing crimson spilt didn't flood over him, excite him, or make him twitch and fidget in complete blood lust when he looked at the bleeding girl. Even with her blood splattered in fascinating patterns on her unnatural locks. This itself puzzled him.
Shukaku...why is it not pleasurable? Why does her blood everywhere not help with my existence?! For once in the young sand-nin's life, the demon inside of him was silent.
Slowly, the pinkette spread her arms out in front of the bowl-headed ninja, as if to protect him from another one of Gaara's attacks. From where he was standing, he could see the cuts and bruises his sand left all over her pale face.
"Don't hurt him." Her voice was raspy from the pain she must of been feeling, but when Gaara locked his gaze with hers, determination glittered in the emerald swirls of her eyes.
As he looked away from the interfering girl, he saw a man who looked exactly like the sorry excuse for a ninja Rock Lee (Gai), pick up the bloody boy in his arms. Gaara's jade orbs narrowed, one twitching.
"My chance to kill him is gone..." He ground his teeth deadly.
His bloodthirsty eyes shifted back to the girl, who visibly tensed. He stalked towards her, stopping only when he was close enough that his nose almost touched her forehead as he glared down at her. To his discomfort, he realized he wasn't that much taller then the kunoichi.
But he didn't let that fact stop him from leaning to her ear and hiss in an aggravated tone. "Do not interfere again, or I will kill you." The girl shuddered. He mentally flinched. What happened to her determination a moment ago?
"Don't underestimate me, you cocky bastard," the kunoichi snarled loudly. Gaara pulled away from her slowly, his face visibly twisting menacingly. There it was. Well, at least he knew she was independent.
"You're going to regret being born if you anger me, kunoichi." The sand user threatened in his rough voice. This, however, didn't seem to bother her.
"Don't call me 'kunoichi'. My name is Sakura Haruno." After addressing herself, Sakura's eyes flashed furiously. "I won't sit around and take you killing one of my friends lightly. Lee-san saved my life. The least I can do is return the favor." The Leaf genin looked over her shoulder to watch Rock Lee being wheeled away on a white stretcher. Sakura's heart fell, sadness seeping into her glowing green eyes. Gaara noticed this as she turned back to him, a small smile on her lips. "So, if keeping my promise means fighting you and getting killed, so be it."
On the inside, the Suna shinobi was in complete awe. She barely knew the guy, and yet she would risk her own life for him? As he locked gazes with her once more, he saw something that made his heart beat painfully, and a dull stab of pain to shoot through his head.
Love.
Love for the taijutsu-only-shinobi. That's what gave her eyes that little sparkle.
"I don't want to fight, Gaara-san," her voice held an unknown promise. "Please, just don't hurt Lee-san any more." Sakura looked sad for a moment, then regained her composer. Gaara blinked once, but didn't let his surprise show as he glared at the girl infront of him.
How could she be so...so...kind?! Well, Gaara would have to change that, now wouldn't he?
"Well, Haruno, if you don't me to kill one of your friends," he hissed the word with venom, "maybe I should kill you instead?" said girl tensed, falling into a battle stance.
"Bring it on, Sand Man."
Sakura inwardly flinched as Gaara twitched at his nickname. Maybe I shouldn't of said that...
Cha! We can take him! BEAUTY IS THE NEW STRENGTH BABY! Inner roared. She mentally growled at Inner Sakura.
He almost killed Lee-san! You think we could defeat him?! And how the heck does beauty have anything do to with this?
Don't be such a wuss. Now, enough talking! Just fight the goddamn hottie already!
Hottie...? Mentally, Sakura's jaw fell slack.
Yeah! He is, and you know it. Oh crap, watch- Inner didn't get to finish her warning as sand hit Sakura in the stomach, sending her backwards. She steadied herself in time to stop from falling; and then charged at the Hidden Sand genin.
"SAKURA-CHAAAAAN!"
As she looked from the corner of her eyes, she saw Naruto being held back by Kakashi-sensei. As their sensei leaned down to say something to the trembling-with-anger blond, Naruto growled and stopped struggling. Turning her attention back to the battle at hand, Sakura raised a chakra encased fist and landed the sickening blow into Gaara's...sand?!
Crap!
Trying to get another hit at the red head as his sand gripped painfully around her wrist, Sakura sent chakra to her left leg and kicked again; only to get the Suna shinobi's sand wrapped around her ankle, too.
"Let me go!" She snapped heatedly.
"With pleasure." the grip his sand had on her tightened forcefully, making her let out a heartbreaking wail. It (the sand) slowly lifted her off the ground, and then hit her back with such force that when she hit the ground with a THUD!, blood spit out of her mouth. As she sat up, it pooled over her pink lips, leaving her panting harshly. She glared furiously at him, getting back up on her feet.
"How dare you!" She growled. "You're going to rethink about touching me again." Easier said then done! Inner Sakura cried anime style.
Shut up! Sakura snapped. I just need to think of a plan...Literally, a light bulb appeared above her head. Sending another load of chakra to her feet for a burst of speed, she sent herself flying at Gaara. As expected, his sand came up to protect him; but she was one step ahead. As the sand smashed into Sakura's stomach and lifted her off the ground, the pinkette quickly took out a kunai from her pouch and stabbed the grainy subtance. It recoiled slightly; but just enough for Sakura to heave herself up and onto it, then run along it and straight at Gaara.
Pulling back her chakra encased fist, Sakura knew that the sand wouldn't make it in time to shield him from this blow. When she was close enough to him, her fist made contact with the flesh of his cheek; sending him sliding back. Landing on her feet as Gaara's sand let her fall, she panted heavily, straightening up and wiping off the blood that was starting to dry on her lips.
"That," she let her arm fall to her side as Gaara got to his feet, an angry looking bruise forming on his face. "Is why you never mess with Sakura Haruno." Icily turning her back on the glaring genin, she walked away and to the bathrooms, washing off the blood and gently getting out the grains of sand. Once that was done, Sakura looked into the mirror.
Her eyes narrowed. "I look terrible." She breathed. Black, blue and purple bruises literally plastered her pretty face; small cuts and scratches demanding attention also. Shaking her head, the small kunoichi dragged her feet back to where Naruto and Kakashi were waiting, suddenly feeling very tired.
"God, Sakura!" Naruto nearly screamed at her as she stumbled over to the ramen loving goof. "I...I thought you were going to be killed!" He hugged her hard, but a second later let go, mumbling apologies. Sakura just shook her head, and pulled Naruto back to hug him closely.
"I'm fine," she whispered, letting go to look a shocked Naruto in the eyes with a smile. "I'm sorry I made you worry." Sakura put her hand over her mouth as she coughed. Instently, Naruto bambarded her with questions.
"Are you alright?! Do you need the medics to look at you?! Sakura-chan! ARE YOU GOING TO DIE?! DON'T DIE ON ME!"
The now annoyed girl slammed her fist into the blonde's head, growling. "I'm fine!" Seeing the relieved look in Naruto's eyes, the pinkette laughed.
Little did Sakura know, a very irrated red-head was watching her from the sidelines, plotting his bloody revenge.
Disclaimer: I do not and will not ever own Naruto. All credit for the anime/manga/characters goes to Masashi Kishimoto
A/N: So? What do you think? This is my first GaaSaku fanfic, and I'm kind of pleased with it. Kind of. Constructive criticism please! I don't have a Beta yet, so there might be some grammical errors. ._. Thanks for reading!
Song for this chapter: Independent - Webbie
EDIT (2013): Changed the name of the story all together. It was hurting my eyeballs. :p Philophobia is the fear of being in love/falling in love.