Sugar + Poison
TBP
hinata/gaara
summary // he finds her near the trees of konohagakure and when he did, his growing admiration for her became like poison and it was deadly.
disclaimer // i do not own hinata or gaara but i do own these little vignettes.
♠i. the gifted one
Gaara was a curse and that was plain and simple. He never embraced this though, no, not when he saw the dark rims under his eyelids and realized that he'd been awake for the past fifteen hours. Those dark circles, that lethargy, that tiresome feeling towards everything that was so damned worldly was a constant reminder of the devil that lurked inside him. For now it was dormant but soon it would rear its ugly head and he'd feel guilty for never having learned to control its magnificent power. He wasn't gifted. He wasn't like them, he wasn't like Hinata who at least could try and fight and get somewhere.
He could never improve himself and he could never tame the beast that was within him.
♠ii. prove it
Hinata felt weak under the icy gaze of her cousin. Neji was constantly comparing himself to her when they simply were incomparable. His brilliance as a fighter was unsurpassed in her eyes yet she always saw him as too stubborn, too cold, too callous -- like her father. Because of this feeling of inadequacy, Hinata felt that she had to prove herself to them. She had to be better than Hanabi, she had to be better than Neji. She had to be at a level that suited her. She took one look at the vermilion sky and the infinite heavens that lied within it like a million treasured secrets, and then she sprinted for the woods.
♠iii. desert child
His past? If you were to ask Gaara about his past then he would've told you to not inquire about it ever again. It was something that was best kept under lock and key, guarded from everyone who might seek to steal it from him. His aquamarine eyes burned as he glanced up at the sun, too much dust had gotten into his eyes. Rubbing them vigorously, he felt tears from the pressure slide down his cheeks fluidly, and he sighed. Perhaps, as a child from the desert, he should just keep his misery filled past away from himself. Forever? Yes, forever would be great.
He sped up his pace and blood roared in his ears. His feet were flying and kicking trails of spiraling dust behind him. He could see a dot of pastel pink and a black smudge in the distance. Gaara was a desert child.
♠iv. i'm not a plastic flower
Hinata told herself that she was a warrior, all hardboiled and stalwart. She was a raging force to be trifled with and she'd be damned if she was ever beaten by Neji again.The feeling of pain swirled in her abdomen and it rippled across her sensitive thighs where Neji's fierce kicks had bruised her. That chapter of her life, she told herself coolly was closed forever. She punched with a ferocity that could only be found in someone who was sick of being verbally abused. Blood dribbled down her fingers, skin tore, and still she pressed on. She demolished tree bark after tree bark, sweating, broken, and still as crazily determined as ever.
Hinata was no wilting little flower. She was fucking tough.
♠v. seeing ice
Gaara was striding through the area. He was seeing triangular shapes of lights and shadows that were all cast from the knobby trees that stretched up above to kiss the sky. He still saw that smudge of pink and black though, it was starting to take a form, an actual shape, and Gaara could just barely make out the paleness of the person's skin. He peered through the blinding sunlight and saw her and he had to clear his head because he had thought it was the light playing tricks on him. But, no, it was Hinata, who was punching trees with her bloody fists, over and over again. He was a bit disturbed at the sight but he somehow found himself subconsciously sidling over to her. His fingers gripped pieces of the bark and it snapped off like twigs and then he found himself face-to-face with her.
Her eyes were the color of unthawed ice.
♠vi. you're like poison
Hinata spun around, electric signals ringing alarm bells in her mind that reminded her to be extremely cautious. She instinctively did it, easily slipping into a defensive stance, hands curled into eagle claw fists, ready to jab any unsuspecting victim in the chest. Thin streaks of maroon flashed before her light eyes. She zeroed in on him. Hinata saw him nimbly climb the trees with a gracefulness that was only found amongst the people who knew their way around the twisting barks of trees and the traces of dirt and chipped rocks. When she decided to follow him, she had to think of the consequences because honestly she could have been buried in twelve inches of sand if she wasn't careful. She started treading daintily, only slipping once or twice before she tensed the bones in her feet, and then Hinata approached his territory.
His whole entire being resonated with a dark powerful energy that yearned to be freed from the cage of his flesh and very soul.
♠vii. set him on edge
Gaara swung that massive urn on his back. The strap twisted around and around until he steadied the sand vase with his bandaged hands. Dark blood trickled down his nose and he wiped it away with the back of his palm before he planted the vase firmly in the ground. He'd twirled himself in midair, the pressure of the air just barely pressing against his sides, and then he'd landed on his tiptoes. Now the straps of the vase were resting on the ground and his vase was rooted in the ground before his bright eyes. Hinata had seen him from a mile away, sweat trickling down her neatly tweezed brow, but she had avoided him then.
He still scanned the area, pools of sand floated up from the vase and the contents poured out, grain by grain, and then it created a mound around him. His shield would only last so long as he channeled his chakra into it. Energy emanated off of him in green waves of light and this chakra hummed within him, calming him, yet it also left him temporarily weary.
She'd set him on edge, he realized as he gritted his teeth until his gums ached.
♠viii. like leviathan
Hinata saw the spectacle unravel before her like white cloth untangling before her eyes. She just stood there, bloodied fists finally unfurled so that dried blood was clearly painted on her palms. She gazed at them with a small frown before she felt granules of sand flying around her at some incomprehensible speed. She shoved her sandal-clad feet into the ground, leather straps tightening around her toes, and then she narrowed her eyes that was still scanning, still searching for her maroon-haired target.Gaara was literally a walking outline of sand as he slowly strode toward her. The sand slowly flew back into the vase so that the strapped object gained back its heftiness. Hinata released a huge amount of chakra, the purple-tinted energy manifested itself in the form of a shield and her tiredness was intensified by this act.
"Little flower has a shield then ... how interesting." Gaara remarked coldly.
♠ix. some workout
Gaara smirked cheekily at her, the little thing was just the sort of target he needed for his little morning workout. His hands worked quickly yet he flipped back a few feet to avoid the chakra-enhanced blades that was produced from Hinata's palms. They increased in abundance which annoyed him greatly. His lips twitched and his expression remained impassive since he didn't want his emotions to slip unto his face so easily.He couldn't let this girl know that he was impressed with her skills. He hopped off one branch to another and caught one with his hand, swung off, and with the agility of a spider monkey, he caught the nearest branch with his legs. Swinging from this appendage, Gaara leaned away from the flying blades but one of them nicked his heel and he felt his chakra draining in small doses.
Not good, he almost mentally cursed himself for being so careless.
This was turning out to be some workout for the Kazekage. There was that and the stinging pain from the cut on his ankle that was driving him insane.
♠x. the petals start falling
Hinata had to be careful now, she saw a black and maroon blur moving towards her at a breakneck speed. Huffing breathlessly, Hinata held her sides and peered over her shoulder, Gaara was nearing her now. Sand plumed like little grainy feathers and separated into three long streaks of sand, which followed her like targeting missiles. Then she hurled herself away from these, plummeting into some thorny branches that scratched at her pale thighs and knees. Hinata used her eyes to follow his movement and she hurled three powerful chakra-blades at him, white streams of energy jetted from her fingers as they followed him. Gaara evaded these and clapped his hands together, his eyes narrowed as he glanced at the young Hyuuga girl, and then sand enveloped her dainty form.
♠xi. let this struggle end
Gaara squeezed his fisted hand and watched as the sand imploded into a burst of glinting grains. He smiled but this quickly turned into a frown as he saw the dark-haired girl's body flying hurtling toward the grassy ground. She was spiraling uncontrollably, air pressed against her sides, and Gaara felt a rush of panic shoot through him. He hadn't meant to hurt her that badly but he had underestimated the power of his Desert Prison technique. Luckily the sand had only wrapped itself around her leg and yet it left it mangled and bloody. Creating a stream of sand to trail after him as he flew on a sandy nimbus cloud, Gaara hovered above her almost lifeless form.
This battle had ended for him.
♠xii. like chemical love
The second time that Gaara had come across Hinata, he had spotted her in Konohagakure shopping for groceries. With her reed-woven basket slung over her right arm and her usual cheery disposition bubbling inside her, Hinata looked more like a placid young lady as opposed to the somewhat brutal and determined warrior he had seen just three weeks earlier. Gaara approached her and crossed his arms over his chest, standing there and regarding her with that impassive stare that set most people into sweating and pissing their pants. Hinata just smiled kindly at him as if the whole "incident" from three weeks earlier hadn't taken place at all.
Then with look of practiced patience and generosity she offered him an apple. Gaara accepted this with a small genuine smile and concluded that he'd love to have some slightly less brutal training sessions with her in the future.
This thing furling and unfurling in the seeds of his heart and his stomach, unbeknownst to the seemingly aloof Kazekage was something like admiration.
♠end
ending a.n. (author's. notes.) // Reviews and friendly criticisms are heartily encouraged. Thanks for checking this out and to those who'd think this, this fic is not romantic in nature at all. This is actually classified as drama/general or drama/action-adventure, if you thought it was solely action-oriented. All up to you in how you see it classified as.