Another month quickly sped by. At first Gaara seemed to be getting better. He had been sleeping more often and the council had decreased the amount of meetings for some reason. During the end of the month, however, Gaara's health seemed to suddenly drop. He had a harder time concentrating on anything and would get lost in his own thoughts. It felt as if the cloud had returned to torment him some more. Gaara also seemed to be surrounding himself with his work and secluding himself from the rest of the world.
Gaara was walking home from his office, like he normally did. This was actually the first time that week that he was going to be staying over night in his home. He had been staying in his office, drowning himself with documents and other things he would need to do.
Gaara entered his home, sighing as he noticed it being completely empty. He had sent his siblings on a mission the day before and they wouldn't be returning until the next morning. Gaara walked down the hall and went into his room. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw Akina sitting down on his bed, apparently waiting for him to arrive.
"What are you doing here?" he asked bitterly. Akina gave him an odd look, since he hardly ever took that tone with her.
"Checking on you," she answered softly. Gaara glared at her and shut the door behind him.
"I don't need you to check on me like I'm a little kid. I'm the Kazekage. Besides, I'm fine. I don't need you." Akina narrowed her eyes at him. She could tell just by looking at him, that he was not okay.
"What's wrong with you Gaara? You don't normally act like this." Gaara just continued to glare at her. Akina stood up and slowly walked over to him. His glare intensified the closer she got to him. "Why are you doing this to yourself?" she asked sadly. She slowly reached a hand out to touch him, but Gaara didn't let her. He grabbed her wrist, holding onto it firmly. Akina looked at him in shock.
"I told you that I don't need you," he growled. Akina looked at him with hurt filled eyes.
"If you didn't want me around anymore, all you had to do was tell me." Gaara looked at her in slight confusion. Akina pulled her hand out of his grasp and quickly walked around him. "I'll be gone by tomorrow," she told him softly before walking down the hallway.
Gaara's eyes widened in shock and he felt his heart sink lower into his chest. That wasn't what he wanted, not even remotely close. He didn't mean it that way. He quickly left the room and hurried down the hallway.
"Akina, wait a minute!" he called after her. He suddenly stopped, feeling a sharp pain in his head. He gasped, clutching his head in one hand. He took another step and fell to the ground.
"What is happening to me?" Gaara asked himself inwardly as everything faded away into darkness.
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Akina stopped at the doorway, thinking that she heard Gaara's voice. She sighed to herself and turned around.
"Did you call me Gaara?" she asked, her voice slightly bitter. She got no answer.
"I guess it's because I want him to stop me," she thought to herself. She didn't really want to leave. Sighing to herself once more, she walked back the way she came. She stopped halfway down the hallway, staring with shock in her eyes at the fallen Gaara. She quickly knelt down beside him and rolled him over onto his back. She sighed in relief to see that he was still breathing. She put the back of her hand to his forehead, quickly pulling it away when she felt how hot it was.
"I thought that you said nothing was wrong," she said softly, petting his red-hair.
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Gaara's Dream
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Gaara was standing in the middle of Sunagakure, widespread panic spreading through the village. The village was in ruins and there were corpses everywhere. He could hear the screaming of some of the villagers as they ran past him. Akina, Temari, and Kankurou finally stopped in front of him.
"What happened?" Gaara asked them. The three of them glared at him.
"The village was attacked!" Temari snapped, stomping away from him.
"You weren't able to do anything about it," Kankurou added in before following his sister.
"Why didn't you do anything?" Akina asked, looking at him with hateful eyes. "Over half of the village has been completely wiped out, and you didn't do anything to stop it. I thought you were the Kazekage! I believed in you!" Gaara stared at her with hurt filled eyes. He couldn't even find the words to say. "I hate you Sabaku no Gaara." With that, she started to walk pass him, not even bothering to take a passing glance.
Without even thinking, Gaara reached out and grabbed Akina by the wrist. She angrily spun around, and shoved a kunai into his stomach. Gaara cried out in pain and stood there in complete shock. Akina glared hatefully into his tear filled eyes and slowly shoved the knife further into his stomach, twisting it as it bit deeper into his flesh. Gaara let out a small gasp and grabbed onto Akina's wrist with both of his hands. Blood started to flow steadily out of the wound, creating a small crimson puddle beneath them. Akina let go of the kunai as Gaara collapsed to his knees, and then fell onto his side.
He was still clutching onto the kunai, but didn't dare pull it out. His breathing became labored and his heart rate began to slow. Akina grinned evilly at him as he laid there on the sand, slowly bleeding to death. Gaara let the tears fall down his cheeks, knowing that he wasn't going make it.
"Die Sabaku no Gaara," Akina hissed. "Die knowing that you were always hated. Die knowing that you had lost everyone's trust and that you have failed. Die knowing that I have always hated you Sabaku no Gaara."
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Gaara shot up in his bed, breathing heavily. His body was shaking, all though he was covered in his own sweat. His heart was racing and was filled with pain. He blinked away the tears that had threatened to fall from his eyes.
He gasped and jumped slightly when he felt someone touch him. He turned to see Akina. He was suddenly overwhelmed with more fear and pain. Akina seemed to notice this.
"G-Get away from me!" he barked. Akina gave him a stern look and shook her head. Gaara tried to push her away, but was unsuccessful. Instead, she grabbed him by the wrists and held onto them tightly. He tried to pull away, but at no prevail. Gaara started to panic, fearing that his nightmare was going to come true. Tears started to stream down his face and his body started trembling.
"Please calm down Gaara," Akina told him, her voice sounding as if she were begging. "I'm only trying to help you. It was only a bad dream, and nothing more." She wrapped her arms around the delirious Kazekage and held him tightly against her body.
"What….. is happening…… to me," he asked in between his quick, short breaths. Akina held him even tighter, lightly rubbing his back.
"The main problem is that you are really sick," she told him softly. "You have a pretty high temperature and it is causing you to lose your sense of reality. It's nothing that some rest and medicine won't take care of."
After another 5 minutes, Gaara had calmed down, although he was still a bit shaken up. Akina helped Gaara take off his sweat drenched shirt and laid him back down. She picked up a rag that was on the nightstand and had been soaking in a bowl of cool water. She wrung it out and bathed Gaara's sweaty face, neck, and chest. She dipped it back into the water and wrung it out once more. This time she folded it up and laid it on Gaara's forehead. She also pulled the covers up to Gaara's chin.
"Are….. you still going to leave Suna?" Gaara asked, his speech slurred and hard to interpret. Akina looked sadly down at him, glad that he had his eyes closed.
"We'll see," she sighed, running her fingers through his sweaty hair. "But for right now, I'm staying right here."
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I'm kind of unsure about this chapter. I guess Gaara is a bit OOC, but you have to remember that he is severely ill. It's not like there isn't a source to him breaking down like that, since Gaara isn't really the one to break down like that.
What did you all think? Please review! Tell me what you like and what you didn't like! It would mean so much to me, especially since tomorrow is my birthday! If I get good reviews that give me more than a "Good job," or an "Update soon!" I'll right a special chapter tomorrow. I want to know what I can do better, and if you liked it so much, what really stood out to you that made you like it? Stuff like that. SO PLEASE REVIEW! WOOT WOOT!! YAY!!!