Hey hullo how are you. This is the next chapter so I hope you like it.
I don't own Naruto.
"Oh. My. Fucking. God."
"Temari!" Sakura hissed. "Keep it down… he's still sleeping." She said pointing to the redhead passed out on the mattress next to her.
They had stayed up until dawn talking and arguing with occasionally taking breaks for some really excellent kissing. It seemed that Gaara was somewhat of an insomniac. Every time they settled down to try and get some rest he was never able to fall asleep. Eventually Sakura was too exhausted to stay up with him any longer so she drifted off to sleep. When she awoke several hours later after she got over the shock of finding herself in bed with him she was tickled to find that the big bad Gaara was curled up like a baby snuggling with the thin blankets. No wonder she had been so cold, he had stolen all the covers!
"Have you completely lost your mind?" Temari shouted not at all heeding Sakura's advice to keep her voice down. "Did he drug you or something? Did he threaten you? Are you hurt in anyway?"
"No…" Sakura answered slowly. She stared at the older girl like she was the one who had gone crazy. Temari was his older sister, why did she let her father get away with keeping him locked away in the freezing basement like some misbehaving animal? "And again, please try to be quieter it took him forever to fall asleep."
"Look can you just tell me what you're doing down here? Did he rape you?"
"Rape me?" Sakura repeated furious that Temari would accuse her own brother of doing something so despicable. "My clothes are on, his clothes are on, I'm asking you to be respectful of his sleep… does it look to you like I was raped?"
Temari frowned deeply. "My brother is a bad person Sakura. He's capable of just about anything."
"Weren't you supposed to go to D.C with Kankuro and the Mayor? Why are you still here?" Sakura asked changing the subject. She really had no desire to hear whatever bullshit Temari was preparing to throw at her.
"I've got a job interview so they went with out me." Temari said distractedly. "Come upstairs with me, we need to discuss something."
Sakura crossed her arms and shot Temari a defiant look. She made no move to get out of bed.
The older girl sighed. "I'll show you were the kitchen is. You can make chocolate chip pancakes if you want… they're his favorite."
It didn't surprise her, Gaara always smelt a little bit like chocolate. Sakura carefully rolled herself off of the mattress, got up and followed Temari up the stairs. She hoped Gaara hadn't woken up from all the commotion. Perhaps he would be less of a grump if he got a few extra hours of sleep.
When the got to the top of the stairs Sakura was led into the most beautiful and pristine white kitchen she had ever seen. It looked like something out of some sort of reality TV cooking show. It also looked like it had never been used. Obviously the Sabaku's ordered in a lot.
"Sit." Temari ordered pointing to one of the chairs at the kitchen table.
A big part of Sakura wanted to tell Temari to go screw herself, but once upon a time Sakura had sort of looked up to Temari so perhaps out of habit Sakura walked over to the table and collapsed onto one of the chairs.
It was strange to be walking around such a fancy house barefoot, but it was even stranger to be sitting in the Sabaku kitchen wearing her clothes from the night before. She could just imagine how her makeup and hair were a smeared mess. Hopefully when Temari got done with whatever condescending lecture on the evil world of the Sabaku family Sakura would have a chance to find a mirror and clean herself up.
"Don't worry about your clothes." Temari said reading her mind. "Because when we're done talking, you're going home."
"That's-" Sakura tried, but the other girl cut her off.
"No." she said. "You're listening right now." She sat down in the seat next to the pink haired girl and leaned her elbow one the table and her chin in her hand. "For your own safety Sakura, I'm asking you to stay away from him."
"This is ridiculous…" Sakura muttered but waited for Temari to say more.
"He's a sociopath, he has no conscious. Everything is one big game to him, he says things and does things with deliberate intent. He is a manipulative liar who can feel absolutely no remorse." Temari said seriously. " I know you're taken in by some 'good girl meets bad boy' type fantasy but you have to wake up. He can hurt you, and make no mistake he will hurt you, and he won't feel even the slightest bit of guilt.
"He's not like that!" The pink haired girl protested.
"Oh so you think you know him better than me?" Temari said confrontationally. "I'm his sister, I live with him. Do you think everyone in this town treats him the way they do because they just don't like him? He's a monster." She said her voice shaking. "There was someone in that church, did you know that? Someone was burned alive in the church fire he set. My dad has found the bodies of mutilated animals in our back yard. Gaara has stolen from all the shops around town, do you know how many favors my dad has had to do to cover that up and keep them from pressing charges. Dad caught Gaara in the garage two months ago taking drugs he stole from the pharmacy. What do you have to say to that Sakura?"
"I don't know." Sakura answered weakly. She was feeling stupid. She really didn't know anything about Gaara. It actually made sense that the people in town had some legitimate reasons to ostracize him. She had just jumped right into things with him because she was attracted to him and he was presenting a challenge to her. Maybe she was getting off at the idea of 'good girl meets bad boy'. It was the kind of foolish thing her mother would do.
"I don't know what he said to you that made you think it was safe for you to stay the night, but you have to assume that what ever it was is a lie." Temari put her hand on top of Sakura's. "Promise me you will stay away from him." She pleaded. "Promise me that you will leave this house and never return."
Why couldn't Temari have told Sakura all of this before Sakura had told Gaara she liked him? Did Gaara try to reject her because he knew it would make her try harder to be with him? Everyone in Konoha knew Sakura had a stubborn personality. Headstrong people, headstrong women especially were easily manipulated. Sakura wore her emotions like a banner, if he was as conniving as Temari suggested he would in no doubt be able to play her like a fiddle.
"I don't understand why he would go to the trouble…what could he possibly stand to gain from messing with me?" Sakura asked uncertainly. "I'm nobody special."
"You're kind of like…" The older girl said searching for the right words. "Konoha Barbie." She said finally.
Sakura laughed. "I think you've gotten me confused with Ino."
"I don't mean it like that…" Temari said rolling her eyes. What I mean is that you're so perfect its kind of unreal. You're bright, shiny and beautiful. You live in a beautiful house, you drive a shiny car, and you've got a bright future ahead of you."
Obviously Temari knew very little about her life. Those things were all superficial; they didn't represent anything that was truly important at that moment in her life. She was more concerned with Tsunade's health then anything else. The townspeople of Konoha really had a knack for shallow insight. "What does that have to do with anything?" she asked Temari somewhat annoyed.
"For someone as twisted and hateful as Gaara, you're a giant target. My guess is that he wants to dirty you, taint you, and make you unrecognizable. Don't let him, Sakura. Leave while you still can."
"But if I left right now…" Sakura said hesitantly. "Wouldn't that just make him angry? I'll wait until he wakes up and then I'll leave. I don't want to egg him on."
Truthfully, she didn't know which members of the Sabaku family could be trusted. Before she made any assumptions about what the hell was going on in that house she wanted to hear everyone's side of the story. What Temari said made a frighteningly plausible story. But what if she said was in fact the truth, Sakura was going to have to be very careful in planning her next move.
Temari left for her job interview leaving Sakura alone in the kitchen. Temari had made the younger girl promise that as soon as Gaara woke up, she would say goodbye and never look back. Temari must not have heard that Haruno women were notorious for breaking promises.
It just didn't make sense. If Gaara had been pretending not to like her because he really didn't like her and wanted her to like him more for rejecting her then he would have warned her about different things. He would have talked up his drug use and arrest record and put on the bad boy act.
Instead, she overheard his father hit and threaten him. There was no way he could have faked the bruises on his skin or the sound of his father's voice telling him to stay away from her. There was a very real aspect of his fear of his father.
But maybe it was planned for her to overhear such things. She hadn't gone to the Sabaku house with the intention of spending the entire night there, she hadn't intended on staying out and not notifying Tsunade, and she hadn't intended talking to him for hours, telling him things about her that no one else knew.
Was everything he told her a lie? He talked all about his favorite books and his favorite authors, how could he fake having read all of those books? They talked about classes and teacher… He told her about working in the back of Konoha's one and only chocolate emporium. They never talked about their families so she never asked about his. She had a really difficult time believing he would go through this whole elaborate story just to pull the rug out from underneath her.
But she had an idea. It was an awful idea, and if Temari was wrong about him, and Gaara really was a good guy, than Sakura would surely be the most heinous bitch in all of Konoha. But she had to do it. It was the only way she could know for sure if what she was doing was going to put her in some sort of danger.
Sakura was going to steal one of his notebooks.
Now she couldn't take his recent notebook. No, he might notice that missing. Not to mention if he was a sociopath who was putting on an elaborate façade in an effort to ruin her life, than he might have 'left' that journal with her in hopes that she would read it and find whatever information he left in there to screw with her head. Sakura was going to have to take an old book, one he wouldn't have thought of doctoring and one he wouldn't miss.
"You don't have to cook breakfast, Sakura." Gaara said when he emerged from the basement with wet hair and clean clothing.
"I'm in Home Ec so I spent three weeks learning how to cook breakfast. I don't want to put my skills to waste." Sakura answered trying to ignore how cute he looked fresh from the shower. It was weird doing the awkward morning after thing with him even though they hadn't gone any further than kissing.
He shrugged disinterestedly. "You do what you want." He walked over to the sink and poured himself a tall glass of water. Out of the corner of her eye Sakura watched him discreetly and noiselessly reach his hand into the cabinet above the sink and pull out an orange prescription bottle. Despite her curiosity she looked away to allow him a little bit of privacy. He obviously did not want her to see him take the pills. She wondered whether people usually stored stolen drugs in their kitchen or if that was his own prescribed medicine he was taking.
"Just and FYI Temari didn't leave with your dad and brother. She was here this morning and she saw us together." Sakura said conversationally.
"Oh really?" Gaara said when he was done with the mysterious pill business. "Did she say anything interesting?" he asked equally casually.
The pink haired girl looked up from the bowl of pancake batter. "The usual… she made me promise to stay away from you."
"Yet you're still here."
"Astute observation." Sakura said sarcastically.
"You do realize that completely ignoring everyone who tells you bad things about me doesn't make you look rebellious it makes you look stupid." Gaara said giving her a long unnerving look.
"Your sister did mention I was only into you because of the thrill of good girl/bad boy drama. Personally I think it's probably because I'm mad at my mother and I don't have a daddy to love me." Sakura put a finger to her chin in faux contemplation. "Actually that last one means I should be getting with a male teacher or an authority figure. Hey your father is single isn't he?"
Gaara gave her his iciest glare and Sakura realized for better or for worse she loved the dangerous energy he gave off when he was angry almost as much as she loved how adorable he was when his cheeks were tinted pink after a particularly heated kiss. "Besides what does it matter to you why I'm hanging around?" she asked.
He shrugged his thin shoulders. "You just might want to stop and think before you wreck yourself over your fascination with me."
"Maybe you should stop being so damn fascinating then." Sakura said smiling prettily.
"Either way you're crazy."
"Says the kettle to the pot," she said pouring pancake batter onto the hot griddle. "And just try telling me your not fascinated right back at me."
He didn't, he just silently watched her finish making the pancakes.
Sakura felt the need to fill the void. "My mom used to make pancakes." She said flipping them one by one off the stove and onto a nearby plate. "They were about the only thing she could cook so she would make them for breakfast lunch and dinner. We would use them for sandwich bread sometimes."
"We have a chef who usually does the cooking. He is on holiday now hence the yearly dessert party. He never makes pancakes though, Temari asked him not to, she says they make her sick."
How pancakes could make anyone sick was beyond Sakura.
When she was through cooking she put the pancakes on the table and waited for Gaara to help himself.
When he started eating Sakura stood up to excuse herself. " I'm going to run downstairs and grab my shoes and purse. I can't stay much longer, Tsunade is probably going crazy right now." She said.
The redhead gave noncommittal grunt and began cutting his food. Sakura knew this was her best chance to snatch one of those journals She had to be quick though, she didn't want to arise suspicion.
There were stacks of notebooks on his desk so she took one from the middle and put it in her purse. It felt wrong, it felt so wrong, but she had to know whom she was dealing with. Before she let herself get attached to him she had to know what he was.
When she made it back up the stairs no more than a minute and a half later Gaara was still busy cutting his pancakes into pieces letting the melting chocolate ooze onto his plate. She was sure he was going to make a mess.
"I'm going to clean up and then go back." Sakura said heading for the dirty bowls and left over ingredients. "Do you want to do something this weekend? How long do we have until your dad gets back?"
"He won't be back until Monday. You can't come here though, not with Temari around. She's his little pet, she'll tell him everything." Gaara said playing with his fork. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Sakura wasn't the least bit sure of anything at this point. She wasn't in love with Gaara she didn't even like him all that much, she just wanted to be with him so badly it was clouding her senses. That had to account for something. She still had no idea what his motives were, if he had any at all. "Are you sure? She asked in return. "You don't even like me."
"As of lately you've become slightly more bearable."
"I wonder why that is." Sakura said laughing.
"Because you smile more now." Gaara said offhandedly.
Sakura stopped laughing. It wasn't what she was expecting him to say at all. He was so unpredictable. "Its ironic isn't it? What a time to be smiling…"
"You said last night you were going to be happy, don't the two usually go hand and hand?"
"Probably." She answered flippantly. "So what do you say, mini golf? Drive through movie?"
Gaara looked at her like she had grown a second head.
"I was kidding." She said raising her eyebrows. "Believe it or not I'm not the mini golf type either." The boy remained silent. Sakura thought for a moment. "We should drive to the eastern shore. I've always wanted to ride the ferries and I don't think anyone will recognize us. You don't get seasick do you?"
"I've never been on a boat before. I don't get what's so amazing about riding a ferry, besides the fact that if you get too annoying I can easily get rid of you." He said.
"Ha-ha, very funny." Sakura said resisting the urge to smack him on the head. Part of her thought about what Temari said and wondered if he was serious about pushing her overboard. "If you don't want to go just say so."
"I don't want to go." He said bluntly.
"See was that so hard?" Sakura said hiding her disappointment well. "I'll tell you Gaara you should say what you mean more often." It would save her the trouble of having to steal his private journals.
"Fine, I'll go." He said almost begrudgingly and promptly stuffed his mouth with pancakes.
She looked at him strangely. He was like a little kid changing his mind every five seconds. Did he want to go or not? Why was he so damn confusing. If he really was a conniving lunatic he was doing one helluva job. "Seriously, its not a big deal. We can just hang out in the barn if you want."
Gaara put his fork down. "No," He sighed. "Lets do the ferry thing."
He said it like he was doing her some big favor or something. It was bad enough she had to convince him to go out with her. "Am I supposed to jump up and down, squeal, and then throw myself into your arms?" Sakura asked her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Not unless you were planning on giving me a lap dance…" He muttered digging into his pancakes once more.
Sakura rolled her eyes. At least she knew he was interested and the attraction wasn't one-sided.
"Dream on, Gaara Sabaku."
"I'm home." Sakura called as soon as she walked through the front door of her house.
"I thought we agreed," said Tsunade materializing from around the corner of the front hall, "that if you were going to be spending the night at Ino's that you were going to call me first. If you were any other teenager in the universe I would have been worried.
Sakura was half tempted to tell her where she had really been all night but that would throw the whole secrecy thing right out the window. She didn't want to go getting Gaara in trouble.
That was the one comforting thought. If Gaara were just playing with her his father would probably crucify him for it never mind sending him to the hospital. He must like her a little bit if he was putting himself in such danger to see her.
"Sorry, I fell asleep." Sakura said doing her best impression of a sincere apology. Things had been so tense between her and her grandmother lately that she didn't want to start a fight over something so minor. They were supposed to be above fighting over curfews.
"What are you wearing that for? Where did you two go last night?" Tsunade said narrowing her eyes at her grandchild.
"To the Sabaku party. Ino has a thing for Kankuro Sabaku." She lied. "I guess things with Choji are winding down."
"Did you have a good time? I haven't been to that party in years."
"It was an interesting crowd…
"Thanks for meeting with me Dr. Chiyo." Sakura said. "I considered meeting with a hepatologist but I thought it might be useful to see someone who knows how stubborn Tsunade is."
"Tsunade is an idiot." Chiyo grumbled at Sakura from the other side of her giant mahogany desk.
"That's nice." The teenager said disinterestedly. "So anyway… I want to give her part of my liver. How do I go about doing that? I've got to get some blood work done right?"
"No."
"No? I don't need any blood tests?" Sakura said elated because she was terrified of needles.
"I mean, No you can't give her part of your liver." Chiyo said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why the hell not?"
Chiyo exhaled noisily. " For starters, you're too young and she's too old."
"Oh no one pays attention to that rules these days." Sakura said with a dismissive gesture.
"Even if your ages weren't an issue there is still the fact that Tsunade is to this day a raging alcoholic. They won't let you give an alcoholic your liver."
"Well that's a stupid rule." Sakura groused.
"And frankly Sakura, Tsunade is just too damn sick. Not even in Mexico would they do this operation." Chiyo said with finality. She leaned back in her fancy leather chair and anticipating Sakura's outburst.
"Can't we just lie? What does it matter? It's my liver I can give it to ever the hell I want! Besides she doesn't really drink that much… I mean only a bottle or so a night. Which is irrelevant because it's my liver and she's my grandmother! I don't care what anyone says and I don't care if she doesn't want it. Your going to put us both under cut us open and give her part of my fucking liver!" Sakura cried.
It was such bullshit. Who the hell made these stupid rules anyways? If people didn't have to die why were these stupid stupid rules keeping them from living? It was so unfair it made her want to vomit. Why was everyone on the planet trying to undermine her attempts at prolonging Tsunade's life?
"I thought you were supposed to be smart." Chiyo said grimacing. Sakura found herself hating Chiyo's old wrinkly face. "You're just as stubborn as your grandmother."
"There has to be something I can do. What if I paid you? I've got a college fund… name your price." The teenager said slamming two hands on the desk forcefully.
"You just have to accept that this operation will never happen. All your grandmother can do is continue taking her medication and get her affairs in order. Take my advice and don't spend the little time you have left with her feuding over this nonsense." The doctor said wisely.
Sakura sighed dejectedly and fell back into her chair. "I just don't understand how I let this happen." She said. "I've lived with her for years, I should have gotten her to stop drinking when I still had the chance."
"You think your something else don't you? What the hell makes you think you would be able to stop a lifetime alcoholic from drinking? You have to stop blaming yourself and stop trying to fix things. You need to accept this, Tsunade already has."
"Everyone keeps telling me to accept it. Don't you think if it were that easy, that simple, I would just do it? Stop telling me to accept it and help me be proactive."
Sakura had always imagined her mother would be the first of them to die. Her mother with her reckless behavior and bad relationship choices was clearly the safer bet. Tsunade was a woman of medicine, she should know better then to abuse her liver until it was beyond repair. Sakura kept waiting from some one to shake her from the nightmare or come out and say it was all a mean joke. She resented Chiyo for treating her in the same clinical and insensitive manner Tsunade was.
She wished there was some sort of manual she could follow. Some sort of ' How to deal with the imminent death of your favorite person in the world while trying to escape the custody claims of your useless mother plus tips on how to tell if the sexy outcast you're fraternizing with is a sociopath' yeah, that would be really nice. Hello, New York Times Bestseller Book List.
"Just please," Sakura begged, " tell me what I can do."
The old woman gave her a look of pity. Chiyo reached into her desk and pulled out a business card. She handed it to Sakura.
"What's this?" The pink haired girl asked squinting to read the name on the card.
"It's the name of a psychologist you can see. She specifies in grief counseling. Maybe she can help you."
"Seriously?" Sakura asked both shocked and disgusted. "I ask you for advice and you give me the name of some quack." She said bolting upright out of her chair. With unsuppressed fury she tore the card up into dozen of little pieces and through them at Dr. Chiyo.
The old doctor remained unperturbed but continued to regard her sadly at the teenager. "It was very nice to see you again Ms. Haruno. I'll be saying a prayer for your grandmother." She said. "Now if you'll excuse me," she said picking up the phone and putting it to her ear, "I've got a consult call in a minute."
Sakura shook her head and didn't speak. She pushed the chair she had been sitting in to the side and strode swiftly and angrily out of the room. If there was one thing she hated it was being dismissed. Was that how doctors these days did business? They handed their patients a therapist's card and sent them on their way. Sakura didn't need a therapist she needed a transplant surgeon for crying out loud!
But she was not deterred. If there was away to keep her grandmother alive she was going to find it. She had to find it.
At that moment though, she was hurrying home to where Gaara's notebook laid untouched on her dresser. She had some reading to do.
Thanks for reading and also THANKS FOR REVIEWS they're really sweet and all the reviewers are awesome awesomeness.
Preview of the next chapter? Well I think thats obvious my loves, GAARA'S notebook. amongst other things of course...
