CHAPTER 8
"What the fuck?" Temari screamed as she dropped her bags of groceries onto the floor. An excellent question considering the state of the room when she left it and the state it was in when she returned. The kitchen was destroyed.
There were splinters of wood everywhere from the now broken chairs and table lay clustered around the room, oh god not the mahogany! Most of the dishes were smashed, and the china? Fuck! That's not fair I like the china! There was blue paint; feathers and chocolate sauce splattered everywhere, what the hell! We don't even have blue paint! Nothing in this house is blue! Where the fuck did the feathers come from and I don't even want to know about the chocolate sauce! Basically there was nothing left in-tacked.
Temari's thoughts were frantic however she was unable to voice more then a few certain words at a time.
"What the fuck happened to my kitchen?" Temari screamed again obviously very pissed off. Who wouldn't be? Her kitchen was now useless. Kankuro, sensing his sister's rage walked past her and into the lounge room. Like hell I am staying in there to be abused for no reason.
"I don't know but I'm out of the line of fire." He stated as he flicked the light on for the lounge room.
Once in there however he was able to share Temari's pain.
"What the Fuck!" he yelled causing everyone to run into the room. The furniture was destroyed and slashed to pieces, feathers, paint, chocolate sauce and numerous other things were littering the room, the CD player was smashed as was the T.V. why the plasma? We only got it a month ago! Why? Dear god why do you hate me? Kankuro felt like a victim in his own house. Who ever did this is going to…no fucking way…what the hell! His thoughts jumped around as his eyes fell on what was the most humors and sad sight any of them had ever seen.
In the center of the room was a ceiling fan. The fan was turned on so it was rotating and attached by some rope was Gaara. He was covered in blue paint, some feathers, chocolate sauce and he was tied upside down by his feet to the fan, which was causing him to slowly rotate as well. His arms were crossed over his chest as he slowly turned around. That explains so very much and yet…so little…Temari turned her head sideways trying to make sense of the scene in front of her. Gaara currently had his back to them with his eyes closed.
"Gaara what the fuck happened here?" Temari yelled as he was forced to face them. Gaara opened his eyes to see the group upside down and passing him in a line as he slowly turned. I am getting so dizzy…Gaara thought.
"Oh, when did you guys get here?" he asked as he passed them. On sighting Sasuke he spoke again. "Tell your brother this means war."
Sasuke looked confused for a moment. What the hell is he on about? Itachi is…oh shit! Sasuke's mind suddenly clicked to what Gaara was implying and the past week of his brothers strange actions became clear. Then he looked back up at the figure.
"Oh god that's why he's been giggling all week!" Gaara just nodded as the fan caused him to turn his back on them.
The line went in this order: Naruto, Lee, Temari, Kankuro and finally Sasuke. Each of them held the same expression on their face, complete confusion.
"Gaara how long have you been like that?" Naruto asked. An excellent question! How long have I been upside down?
"What time is it?" he asked.
"Eight." Gaara pondered for a moment. Hmmm…well let's see, Lee and the others left at about two…Itachi showed up at about three…been up here since about quarter to four so…
"About four hours and fifteen minutes…give or take." He answered as he past Naruto again.
Lee was dumbfounded and couldn't find any words to describe his feelings. He past Lee and expected to see Temari however when he got there he noticed Temari's absence. Oh god where did she go? And why has no one turned off the fan yet? Why am I still upside down? Gaara's mind was disjointed as the blood was still rushing to his head.
Once again he past Sasuke and was left looking at the back wall while he thought. After a moment he past Naruto and his boyfriend. The upside down sight was amusing; it was odd to see everyone from this angle.
"Where did Temari go?" he asked as he past his brother again. Sounding much more like a kid then he should have which could be explained by the rush of blood to his head.
"Up to her room." Kankuro replied. Gaara's face went from slightly delirious and innocent to completely terrified. Her room? Oh shit! No! No! NO!
"Oh god don't let her in her room!"
"Why?" Lee asked.
Before Gaara could answer a voice could be heard from upstairs and it sounded like all hell was about to break lose.
"…WHAT THE FUCK…" it was Temari. And she was now beyond pissed.
"Get me down." Gaara begged as he attempted to untie his feet and failing at it. None of them made a move unsure if they should or not.
"Why?" Naruto asked again. What could be so bad about…
"Get me down now!" he urged. Again they questioned him.
"GAARA" everyone looked up at the stairs then back to the younger boy who was now very panicked.
"Before I am her person piñata!" Gaara pleaded as Lee and the others began to untie him.
Carefully the three set him down. The sudden rush of being right side up caught him off guard, oh god…feeling sick now…gonna die…can't stand right…time to run. Gaara attempted to take a few shaky steps only to be grabbed roughly by his older sister who looked extremely pissed off.
"Gaara. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY ROOM!" she screamed in his ear causing everyone in the room to wince. Well I could tell her or I could run for my life which I would prefer to keep…hmmmm, I think I will go with option two…however running wasn't a possibility as Temari had a firm grip on him.
He sighed before he looked up.
"Well…the thing with that is… that's where this all started…" Temari took a deep breath and escorted the three boys out of the house then turned back to Gaara. With out a word she walked past him and up to her room. I'm not sure if I should be happy or worried about her silent treatment. At any rate I'm going to my room. Gaara thought.
Sasuke tossed and turned in his sleep. Again he found himself lying in his bed unable to sleep. God damn it! He sighed as he pulled himself out and attempted to occupy his time with mindless activities. None of which worked only causing the teen to lose his temper with the action and then found himself walking around outside. I really shouldn't be walking around this late…early…whatever…by myself. It's not safe…not that Itachi would notice if I wasn't there when he woke up considering he's usually asleep when he's meant to be in school.
Not long had passed before his phone rang. His ring tone was 'Breaking The Habit' by Linkin Park, which caught him off guard and caused him to jump slightly at the sudden vibration and noise.
"Hello?" who the hell would be calling me at four in the morning?
"Sasuke!" the voice yelled down the phone.
"Temari?" Sasuke asked unable to believe that Gaara's older sister was calling him. How did she get my number?
"Sasuke listen…have you seen Gaara?"
"It's four in the morning! Why would I see him at four in the morning?" Sasuke questioned. Because I always hang out with Gaara at four in the morning! He thought sarcastically.
"Shit! The other two said the same thing."
"What other two? Naruto and Lee? What's going on Temari?" Sasuke demanded.
"Okay very long story short, Dad home…Gaara missing…Dad drunk…Gaara not answering phone…Brother and sister driving around looking for Gaara… Dad passed out on the couch."
"What the fuck! How long has Gaara been missing? Did you check the roof?" Sasuke was now panicking for his friend. Shit that is not good!
"Yes, he wasn't there. Sasuke can you grab him if you see him?"
"Yea…but…" the phone went dead then.
Temari had hung up. Sasuke growled in anger as he made his way towards Lee's house. Damn it Gaara if you run off your meant to tell someone where you're going! Sasuke scolded Gaara knowing the hypocritical scorn, as he hadn't left anything for Itachi saying where he was, but at least Sasuke had his mobile.
Why wouldn't Gaara have his mobile? That's just stupid! The two boys collided and fell to the ground. Lee and Sasuke locked eyes and then stood. Both headed off in the direction of Naruto's house. It was still dark and the two boys were running practically blind. This was not going to end well.
Naruto sat on the ground along with the others after looking through the whole town. This was getting them nowhere.
"Where would you go if you ran off?" Lee asked in an attempt to figure out where the red head was.
"Depends on who you're avoiding." Sasuke replied. He use to run away from Itachi for the first few months his parents had left. Each time he ran he went somewhere different, different reasons cause different places to be sought out.
"Gaara is avoiding his dad. His drunken abusive dad." Naruto answered the question. The three boys sat there for a while.
They had been looking for an hour. And no luck. Think! Damn it, where would you go if you were running away from your abusive father. You already did! Where did you go before the foster system! Lee yelled at himself trying to make an idea form. Where did you go? What did you do? He hit you, and beat you and almost…what did I do when I ran away? I took my knife and ran…where did I run too? He attempted to coax is memory to unblock his past so he could think clearly.
"Ok think. We've looked at the graveyard, and the school and the stream which is where anyone running away would spend the night." Sasuke began to list where they had been.
"Unless he didn't want to come back." Naruto muttered.
Lee froze eyes wide. What did I do? I tried to kill myself…not with the knife, where did I go? I went somewhere no one would look for me. Where no one would find me. Somewhere familiar but hidden where no one would think to look for me…I went to my dads office when he wasn't there, it was the first time I tried. Think! It's right there why can't you see it?
Lee rubbed his temples; he was trying to think like Gaara.
But he was so worried about him he couldn't concentrate. The first time he got caught was in the bathroom, where no one cared about him, his old school…
"Oh god Gaara's at Blackwood high!" Lee yelled as he took off in the direction of said school. Sasuke and Naruto ran to keep up. Gaara please don't do something stupid. Please! All three begged silently.
"Lee…how… do you … know?" Sasuke asked as he ran. Lee ignored him and continued running. He had seen Blackwood a number of times in his life but he had never been in there. The gates came into view and through the iron bars you could see the outline of the school. Great now how the fuck are we meant to get in there? The boys slowed and then stopped looking around for a way inside.
Nothing was more unsettling then not being able to see Gaara, or knowing if he's hurt or not. Shit! Why the hell would he run away anyway! Sasuke complained as he noticed there was no way in.
"I'm not in there." Called a voice from up a tree. The group stopped and looked up to where the voice came from. Sitting in the tree was Gaara. With his raccoon. He dropped down to meet the three.
"Gaara…" Lee began. Unable to finish the thought he pulled him into an embrace, which the red head returned feeling bad that he had worried so many people. I didn't think Temari would call my boyfriend just because I disappeared for a few hours.
"I didn't want to be there when the cops showed up." He answered the unspoken question, his voice muffled by Lee's chest but still auditable.
Lee pulled him away from him so he could look at him. The boys looked at him in confusion.
"Cops?" Naruto asked as Sasuke called Temari. Temari could be heard screaming through the phone something about being there in no more then seven minutes. Either way it Sasuke's ears ringing.
"Yea, the hospital went through my records and saw all my past injuries so they called the cops. I got a call from one of the nurses and I left." Gaara shrugged acting as if it was nothing to worry about.
Temari and Kankuro pulled up minutes later.
"Gaara I just got a call from dad asking me to bail him out of jail on 'false abuse' charges." She explained as she hugged him. Gaara looked at her questioningly. And your not pissed off that I took away our other parent? Gaara asked silently as he attempted to pull out of the crushing hug…'attempted' being the key word. Kankuro spoke next.
"She told him to rote in hell!" he grinned.
Lee sighed as Temari and Kankuro explained that they had spoken to the police officer and had confirmed the hospitals suspicions. The other two boys let out a breath they didn't know they were holding.
Gaara felt conflicted, sure dad is abusive and a drunk and horrid and wanted me to die and…wait where I am going with this? Gaara mused. His dad wasn't getting out. Not ever which meant one of two things:
1) All he had to deal with now was Itachi, and 2) he had a fan girl as a guardian. Itachi I can deal with trust me he will rue the day he pissed me off… but Temari as a guardian…god help me…Despite this Gaara smiled.
True his life wasn't perfect and he had a hell of a past to deal with but things were starting to look better, he had a new life to start in a few hours. Until then he was happy to sit under the tree until dawn.
THE END.
