AN- YEAH! NEW CHAPTER!! Ok, sorry it took so long, I had a bit of trouble deciding what I should do next. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.
As Gaara contemplated on how to drink his juice box without a straw, his mind started to wander. As he was wondering, he fell asleep…again. At first he just dreamt about things. Like a dead body in the forest. The body turned over. Oh no.
Gaara woke up sweating. "I have to save her!" he gasped out.
He swung his gourd on and started running down the hallway. He bumped into Neji at one point in time and said, "Where's Hinata? it's important!"
"I think she's downstairs. Why?"
"No time to explain, but I think her life's at stake!"
Neji's eyes grew wide "Hurry then!" he shouted to Gaara who was already halfway down the stairs. As he was running down the hallway, Hinata turned a corner, holding a tray of biscuits. Gaara ran into her and Hinata fell down while the biscuits fell on Gaara's head.
Hinata frowned at Gaara but chuckled a bit when she saw the biscuits on his head. Then she frowned again and said, "Great now I have to make more."
Gaara frowned too and said, puzzled "Wait, have you been making those all day?"
"Yes. Why do you want to know?" she said, curtly standing up.
"Were you by any chance going to go train at field 9 today?" asked Gaara anxiously.
Hinata looked at him as though he had just sprouted another head. "How did you know that?"
Gaara turned bright red and said, "Well… uh actually… umm uh…"
"Out with it." Hinata said, crossing her arms over her chest. Gaara looked down and put one hand behind his head nervously.
"Well you see I had a dream that you were dead in practice field 9 and…" Gaara trailed off into muttering so that Hinata could not hear him.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that last part." She frowned a bit to show that she still had to make more biscuits and he needed to say it. Now.
"And sometimes my dreams come true." He said just loud enough for her to hear him.
"Well that proves my theory. You're crazy. But just to make you happy, I won't go practicing today." She said frowning in distaste as she walked back into the kitchen, leaving a biscuit covered Gaara to his relief.
The next day at breakfast, Neji threw the paper at Gaara. As Gaara flipped through the pages he frowned and stopped. He looked up at Hinata who was obviously not happy to be sitting where she was. "Guess what." Gaara said
"Hmmm…you had another dream and this time, I turned into a purple polka dotted tiger with one sharingan eye," Hinata said sarcastically as she smirked at Gaara.
"They found Shino dead in the forest yesterday… at practice field 9." He didn't look up from his paper as he read the article. "'The body was examined and a kunai was found buried deep in the shoulder socket.'" He sighed and put the paper down. He buried his face in his hands and blinked away tears. Shino was one of two of his best friends, but he wasn't about to let Hinata see his sorrow.
Hinata's mouth dropped and she put a startled hand up to her mouth as she whispered, "Hanabi."
Gaara looked up with a quizzical look. "What's this got to do wi-" At that moment the doorbell rang, and Hanabi ran down the stairs enthusiastically.
"I got it! It's Shino! He's taking me for a romantic walk on the beach!" She giggled happily and ran toward the door. Gaara's eyes widened as he remembered the last conversation he had had with Shino.
Flashback
"Dude! Guess what?" Shino's normally passive face was lit up by a huge grin as he cradled a small spider in the safety of his hands.
"What?"
"I got a girlfriend!"
"No way! Who is it?"
He shook his head persistently. "No way, you gotta guess."
"Uuummm…Tenten?"
"Nope"
"Uh, Temari?"
"Ew, no offense, but no."
"Alright, alright, how about that Ino chick?"
"NO!"
Gaara guessed for the rest of the afternoon but was unable to figure out who it was. Finally, Shino said with a smile, "I guess you'll never know." And walked away with a wave, taking the small spider with him.
End Flashback
Gaara stared after the teenager with fear in his heart. Then, finally coming to his senses, jumped up and muttered, "Shit."
He ran after Hanabi, and tried to catch up with her, but was too late. A police officer was at the door, a small picture of Gaara, Shino, and their other best friend, the third musketeer, in Hanabi's hand. She was obviously dumbstruck, staring at the picture with wide eyes.
The police officer looked at the photo and then at Gaara and his mustache ruffled. "You must have heard, I'm assuming."
Gaara nodded silently, swallowing the lump that had just formed in the back of his throat. The police man nodded curtly turned on his heel and walked way. Hanabi stared at the picture for a while. A silent tear rolled down her cheek. Then the flood came. She was crying so hard she fell to the floor sobbing and covering her face with her hands. The photo fell silently to the ground as Gaara knelt down next to her and put his hand around her shoulder in order to comfort her. She managed to blubber out between sobs, "I want… to… see him… again."
Gaara said, "Not before you stop crying. Then we'll ask if we can see him."
When Hinata came in, she saw this scene and gave a small gasp. Wow, I didn't think he would comfort her. And that's some pretty good stuff he's saying. Wait, what am I talking about! Those are not very good things to be telling a girl who just lost the love of her life!
About half an hour later, Hanabi stopped crying Gaara and Hinata walked her over to the police station. Hanabi separated the two, but Hinata was able to give sly glances at Gaara's grim yet comforting face, wondering what was wrong with him. The forgotten picture still lied in the main foyer of the Hyuuga household.
"May I help you?" a lady said sweetly at the desk in the lobby of the police office.
"Hello we want to see Shino's bod- Shino. We would like to see Shino," Gaara was afraid that if Hanabi tried to talk she might burst into tears again and he was careful not to say anything that might upset her.
"Oh." The receptionist said, obviously surprised. "Well I'm not sure you ca-."
"P-please ma'am I-I ju-just have to!" Hanabi said in a broken voice. She looked on the verge of tears. "Oh please, please ma'am I h-have t-to see h-him just-just…just o-one more t-time." She looked down, newly formed tears dripping down her face.
"Well umm… uh…I suppose so. Please come right this way" the receptionist said, a small look of fear on her face.
Looking around to make sure no one was watching, they headed down a long hallway. They stopped at door number 45. The woman opened the door and ushered them in.
She closed the door behind her and they listened to her receding footsteps. Once all was quiet they looked around at the room. It was lightly lit and was painted a sky blue. The floors had black and white tiles. The only furniture was a white hospital bed in the middle of the room. Upon it laid the still, cold body of Gaara's best friend.
Hanabi knelt next to it, tears streaming down her face. But Gaara didn't cry. He just looked at Shino. Something wasn't quite right. It's nothing. He told himself, but didn't quite believe it.
Hanabi took Shino's pale hand and sobbed softly. His hand was almost white. Then Gaara heard something he thought he would never hear again. A small fragile voice said so quietly he thought he might not have actually heard it, "Hanabi?"
Hanabi turned around and said, "Yes Gaara?"
Gaara shook his head, a look of surprise on his face. "It wasn't me."
Hanabi's eyes grew as big as saucers. She whirled around to face Shino. Gaara knew there hadn't been something right about how pale he had been. It hadn't been pale enough. And as Gaara watched, Shino's eyes slowly opened to look at Hanabi's shocked face. "I love you…Hanabi."
