A Haunting Kind Of Memory
Chapter 2
O O O
Gaara ran a hand through his messy hair as he opened his bedroom door, halting immediately when he came face to chest with his sister's husband. He still found it difficult to adjust with this man, condsidering he didn't even know he existed until just recently. That, and the fact that he was married to his sister just didn't sit well with him. He wasn't close enough to his sister to feel that protective brother urge like he knew he would be feeling under normal circumstances, but he was close enough to have the immediate right to dislike any man who touched his sister's backside with such audacious arrogance as if he owned it.
"Hey, you're up! Good," Gaara watched as Hidan's hand reached out and draped over his shoulder. "Come on, Temari's fixed a damn good breakfast, seriously."
Hidan grinned cheekily as he tugged the younger man beside him and led him down the stairs to the kitchen where Temari just finished setting down a plate of scrambled eggs. Her blue-green eyes brightened at seeing the two men step into the room.
"Hey, Gaara." she walked over and gave him a quick hug and kiss to his temple. He stayed still, having discovered when he first arrived over a week ago that she tended to do this morning ritual daily. "You still like pancakes, right?" she asked as she pulled away and showed him his seat. "I made a bunch this morning."
He nodded in assent and looked at the plate before him heaped with his breakfast. Hidan took the seat across from him and eyed the plate of food set for him appreciatively. "Looks good. Is this my birthday present?"
Temari took her own seat and fixed her counterpart with an easy smile. "Not the only one, but it's a start. After work, you get the second part."
Gaara tuned out the conversation as he ate, trying to ignore Hidan's dirty mouth and even more dirtier comments to his sister. However, when Hidan let slip a quip about 'penetration' and 'sticky substance' in the same sentence as 'Temari', Gaara kicked out violently with his foot and watched with satisfaction as Hidan shouted and cradled his injured shin.
When demanded for an explanation by Temari herself, Gaara only shrugged and informed his brother-in-law in an uninterested tone across the table: "In some countries, speaking like that of pancakes is a crime worthy of the death penalty."
Hidan promptly halted his innuendos for the moment and grumbled as he dug into his sticky pancakes, carefully keeping his legs as far away from the younger man as physically possible. Temari only stared, bewildered, at her youngest brother no doubt wondering what he was talking about and where this so called pancake-loving country was.
O O O
"So he was, what, a six?"
Sakura shook her head and cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear. "No, no. More like a five-and-a-half."
She smirked at Ino's irritated sigh. "Sakura," she whined. "I thought we agreed on the 'no in-between' numbers!"
Taking a bite of the piece of fruit chopped up on her plate, Sakura hummed her agreement. "Well, I don't want to give him too high a number because he doesn't deserve it."
"Why? Did he point out your big forehead?"
Sakura frowned sharply and imagined beating her blonde friend over her head with a hefty mallet. "No," she grated. "He most certainly did not."
"Then what? Not pay for dinner? Come on, tell me already!"
"He's just so...so crass, I guess is the only way to describe it. I bet he and Naruto would get along well considering they both have a tendency to make perverted comments."
Ino laughed in her hear. "Please, if he's that bad, he'd be better off hanging out with Jiraiya."
Point.
"Anyway, you going out with him again tonight?"
Sakura paused and considered before replying. "Should I?"
"Well, duh, if you ask me. I mean, that's a total given." Ino remarked sarcastically. "He's cute, he's smart, and he's kinda rich. A little bit blunt apparently, but you gotta take the good with the bad."
"...Ino, that's the most philosophical thing I've ever heard you say. And it was good. Do I need to come over and give you check-up? Are you feeling sick?"
Sakura bit back her laughter at Ino's indignant squawk. "Just go out with Zaku again before I tell Naruto you're banging a drug dealer on the sly."
"Fine, fine. But just so you know, I would've gone out with him again anyway. He's taking me out on his boat and I'm not missing that for anything."
Sakura found it highly amusing to rub it in every now and then that her current 'boy-toy', as Ino had so crudely put it many a time, actually had a taste for romance while Shino's version of a romantic outing was taking Ino to his family's bug exhibit and staring at the numerous paintings and glass-encased bug carcasses. When asked why she actually stuck around with him, Ino only replied:
"He has his moments," here she would sigh dreamily and get a distant look in her baby blue eyes. "Oh, and what moments they are."
From the way that the blonde would practically salivate, Sakura assumed it had to do with either a very sweet and thoughtful action, or just good sex. The latter was the most believable, all things considered.
Ino broke into a tangent then that had absolutely nothing related to the conversation and Sakura sighed with an amused smirk. Her friend had always been one to turn the conversation around when it wasn't going the way she wanted. Sakura dubbed it as one of her many talents.
Cutting in, Sakura said: "As much as I would love to hang around, some of us have work to get to. So, I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Oh, alright. But just some friendly advice, Sakura. Tonight's your third date, right? Well, from the Dating for Dummies I got you last year for your birthday, it said that the third date is plausible enough for your first make-out session!"
Sakura rolled her eyes and stood from the table, balancing her half-empty glass of orange juice and plate. "First off, why did you read the book since you claim to know how to make every man on earth drop to their knees and beg. And, second, I'll decide when our first make-out session will be, not some book. God, I feel like a teenager talking about necking with my best friend." she mumbled, setting the dishes on the counter before picking puher cup and taking a quick sip.
Ino sighed heavily on the other line. "I only read it because it was the start of Shino and I dating," she muttered. "In any case, just don't--"
"Goodbye, Ino. I'm going to be late." Sakura cut in, smiling when Ino growled and returned the farewell.
After hanging up with Ino, Sakura quickly dumped the dishes in the sink and all but sprinted to the front door. No doubt she was going to be late now. Hopefully Chiyo-sama wouldn't be too angry and would only give Sakura a warning. Besides, she hadn't been late in God knows how long. In fact, she hadn't been late to the hospital since working for Tsu--
"No. I'm not going there." Sakura snarled to herself and snatched her purse from the ground before stomping out of her suburban home. Abruptly, she halted right outside her front door and groaned in exasperation.
"I really need to get a car!" she wailed before jogging to her next door neighbor to ask for a lift to the subway station.
O O O
Hidan cocked his head to the side as his amethyst eyes narrowed in contemplation. Gaara blinked slowly, wondering why he was here instead of back at the house looking over job applications.
"Hell no." Hidan snorted and turned away from the rack of clothes and made to exit the shop. After a moment, having chanced a glance at the owner of the store who looked about ready to pop a blood vessel, Gaara followed with his hands shoved deep in his pockets.
It had been Temari's idea for the two of them to...bond as she eloquently put it. Hidan had outright laughed and asked what the fuck she was thinking since they had already bonded enough over the past week.
"Oh, please. Just because you live in the same house and have monosyllabic conversations over meals doesn't mean you have bonded!" she had retorted, hands on her hips. Gaara had sighed and looked out the window, knowing enough about Temari that when her hands rested on her hips, she was going to get her way no matter what.
As he could have easily guessed, Hidan and Temari got into a heated disagreement and in the end Hidan was forced out of the house along with himself as Temari locked the door and promptly took the key--locking them all out. Which wasn't too bad for Temari considering she had the key and had to be at work anyway. But it was putting a damper on the plans that the other parties had planned for the day.
Hidan, being so shocked by the actions, could only gape as his smirking wife took the car and drove away down the street and leaving him and his brooding brother-in-law standing in the lawn.
"She's gone," Gaara had supplied blankly, his eyes staring impassively at his sister's husband with bored eyes. Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was feeling rather ticked at the prospect of forced bonding with the man that had made more than a few innuendos of his sister this morning. His leg shifted as if readying to kick Hidan in the shin again before Gaara remembered that kicking in the middle of the yard was pretty much just begging for a fight.
Not that he didn't think he could win, but he figured Temari wouldn't appreciate her yard being trampled by agitated men being forced to spend time together. Then again, fighting could be viewed as bonding he had mused silently.
After a few moments of debating, mostly staring on Gaara's part, Hidan had called up one of his questionable friends to drop them off at a few shops downtown since, "You hardly have any damn clothes, and the ones you do have are on their last threads, seriously."
Which found them where they are now, walking out of an overpriced store with the few bags they had managed to purchase and brain-damaging boredom etched into every line of their faces.
"Alright, look," Hidan said, shifting the bag that a pair of shoes for both him and Gaara. "Kakuzu should be around that corner. If he isn't, then I'm keying is car."
Gaara fought the urge to roll his eyes. "No keys." he replied simply.
Hidan swore heatedly under his breath and lengthened their steps as they made their way to the corner. Once turning and following the boardwalk, Hidan's face split into a feral grin that reminded Gaara too much of his asylum days.
"Well looky here! The cocksucker didn't leave after all." Hidan barked, coming to a stop in front of his 'friend'. Gaara did roll his eyes this time and shifted the bags from one hand to the other. Kakuzu raised a brow at the shopping bags and Gaara shook his head.
Hidan heaved a huge sigh, slumping his shoulders just slightly. "It's called bonding," he drawled, moving around the side of the car to drop the bags in the back seat. Gaara followed and threw his own bags in after, making sure to keep them off where he would have to sit.
Kakuzu grunted and fixed his eyes on his silver-haired companion. "I have to be somewhere soon, where can I drop you off at." It wasn't a question, Gaara noticed, mildly amused.
"Another collection pick-up, eh? Stupid shit like that's going to get you a one-way ticket to prison, seriously."
This time it was Gaara who raised a brow and Kakuzu who gave a minute shake of his head to the oblivious man in front of him. "Not in front of the kid, Hidan."
Hidan's brow furrowed as he glanced around the trio before fixing his slightly confused eyes back on the agitated man. "Deidara's not here, Kakuzu--Oh! You mean Gaara?" Hidan snorted as he laughed and wrapped his arm around Gaara's shoulders and tugged him into his side. "Gaara's no kid, fucker! He's family! It doesn't matter if he knows."
Gaara, still mentally slugging the hell out of the scarred man (he finally could see the two scars stretching from the edges of Kakuzu's mouth mid-way to his ears at the close proximity) in front of him for calling him a kid, suddenly snapped out of his daze and glanced at Hidan from the corner of his eye. Knows? Knows about what?
Kakuzu silently stared at Hidan with a look that was dangerous and curious at the same time before rolling his eyes and making his way to the drivers' side. "Fine, since he's family..." here his mouth twisted as if the word were foreign on his tongue. "you can do the honor of telling him later. Right now, I want my money."
Hidan released his brother-in-law and nudged him in the shoulder while jutting his chin out at his companion. "Fucker's crazy as hell--"
"More so than you?" Gaara cut in, his voice deadpan and brow lifted in faux curiosity.
Hidan's mouth snapped shut as he looked at Gaara with an appraising eye before breaking into a grin and slapping him on the back. "Okay, that was a fucking cheap shot, but good, I'll give you that. Apparently you can take a joke better than Kankurou."
Both men took a moment to remember Kankurou's visit a few days prior. Kankurou had obviously been less than enthusiastic about Hidan being present and took every opportunity to show it. Gaara had served as the referee more than once (though he didn't actually stop any of the squabbles so much as watch with an amused air as the two rolled around on the floor like toddlers) and had thoroughly enjoyed the show before Temari would interfere and manage to yell the ears off all three men before stomping outside for some air.
Gaara found out the night after Kankurou left that his brother had a sore spot with one of the people Hidan was associated with. A man named Sasori, someone relatively close to Hidan, had gotten into a heated argument with Kankurou the past year and had deftly landed the brunette in the hospital for a few days. Sasori wasn't that much better off, Hidan had said. He spent the better part of a week in a hospital bed, too.
A car horn exploded from beside the pair and Hidan leaped away from the noise, smacking his hands over his ears and narrowing his eyes dangerously at his impatient friend. "What the hell! Who the fuck do you think you are, huh?! Kakuzu, you fucker! Jashin-sama will end you if you don't--"
Kakuzu had managed to roll down the window and rolled his cold green eyes. "Hidan, get in the damn car before I leave your asses here. And stop spouting religious bullshit."
"Asshole," Hidan muttered as him and Gaara got into the car, glaring heatedly at their driver. "And it's not bullshit, it's--"
"A way of life, got it."
"Would everyone stop cutting me off, I can hardly get a damn sentence out! Fuck!"
O O O
"Sakura, room 412's patient needs your attention, and after that I need you to run these charts to Chiyo's office. Also, the ER room needs an extra nurse for an upcoming surgery if you're up to it."
Sakura nodded with a strained smile as she took the proffered documents. "No problem, I can do it."
The head nurse smiled and nodded her head appreciatively. "Good, good. Now get going before 412 has a cow."
Sakura grinned and turned on her heel, making her way down the hall to the appointed room before walking in. To Sakura's amusement, it appeared that the woman was quite literally about to have a cow if her swollen belly was any indication.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Sarutobi. How are you feeling today?"
The pregnant woman laying on the hospital cot smiled weakly as a hand rested on her belly. "Fine. Just fine." Here she winced and Sakura noted her bloodshot and tired eyes. Curiously enough, her eyes were a deep shade of maroon, something that Sakura hadn't seen before. They were quite beautiful really.
Checking the woman's vital signs, Sakura tapped the IV bag and turned her eyes on the patient's stomach. "Having any problems with the baby?"
She shook her head. "Their is sharp pains every now and then, but nothing that odd."
"Well, Mrs. Sarutobi--"
"Kurenai."
"Kurenai," Sakura smiled and patted the woman's hand. "There's nothing abnormal about occasional pains, but it's when they start to become more intense and closer together that they are contractions. A nurse should be close at hand when that happens."
Kurenai nodded and ran a hand over her belly. "It should be soon, shouldn't it." she said quietly, gazing at her stomach with gentle affection.
"Yes, it should," Sakura replied, just as quiet before glancing around the room with a slight frown. "Where is Mr. Sarutobi?"
Kurenai smiled almost apologetically and flickered her gaze to the bathroom door. "Sympathy pains."
"Ah," Sakura chuckled. "That must mean he really loves you."
The pregnant woman's eyes adopted a faraway look as her mouth curved into a beautiful mien. "Yes, he does."
After a moment, in which Sakura felt a fluttery sensation in the pit of her stomach and an unbidden blush spread over the bridge of her nose, she patted Kurenai's hand again as she made to leave the room.
"I'm very happy for the two of you," she said before exiting the room and making her way to Chiyo's office to drop off the charts. She almost laughed as she recalled a very manly groan that had seeped out from under the bathroom's door just before she left.
Sakura hoped that when Kurenai's delivery date came that she would be one of the nurses helping with the birthing. Already she felt a connection with the woman and felt albeit obligated to be there and reassure her. And, of course, to give Kurenai's husband a Tylenol for the pain he would be sharing with his wife.
She couldn't help but wonder about the child's reaction, when it got old enough, as it would watch the video tape of it's own birth and seeing their daddy moaning and groaning along with their mother. Sakura laughed. Oh, what a sight that would be, indeed.
Yes, I admit it, the last part of this chapter was partially just to fill in space, but somewhat not. Since it will later come into play again. Anyway, the next chapter will be a while to come because I have to go back to school and it is a bitch. I don't know when I'll update again, just be patient, 'kay?
So what did you think of Hidan and Gaara bonding together? About breakfast? Not out of character, were they? And Kakuzu? And what's this about Gaara knowing something! Guess everyone will find out later when Hidan takes Gaara to a sit-down so they can have a little chat, huh? Please let me know what you thought! I love my reviewers so much. Despite what everyone thinks, reviews DO help an author write more. It gives us inspiration. Even if you're a lurker, just drop a little '^_^' or something to let me know that you're enjoying this! Thank you!