So Damn Unpretty

GaaraXOC Fanfiction

Chapter 10:

"NO! NO! NO!" I screamed, running down the hall.

"Aria! Damnit!" Gaara growled, rushing after me. I Shook my head and bolted down the hall, skidding around the corner and bolting down that hall. I wore a pair of loose socks and a long tunic shirt that I had stolen from Gaara. I was slipping as my feet began going more forward than the rest of me, and before I could stop myself, I was sliding on my butt. My panties hit the cold, stone like floor and spun me out of control. I curled myself up into a ball as I hit a wall with harsh momentum.

"Aria…" Gaara huffed. I covered my face with my hands and held my breath. If I couldn't see him, he couldn't see me. I bit my lip to keep quiet.

He can still see you dummy!

Hey! He might not, he isn't the brightest boy we've met!

"HEY! DON'T TALK THAT WAY ABOUT GAARA-SAMA!" I screeched into my hands. I held as deathly still, fuming in my mind. Jai and Yai didn't say a word, but I could hear them snickering in my skull. I waited, holding my breath and cursing them with as many thoughts as I could.

"Aria…" He can't see me! He can't see me! "I can see you…" Gaara sighed. I heard him walk up and kneel in front of me as I shook my head, hands still in front of my face.

"No you can't!" I protested, pulling myself in closer. He couldn't see me! That's how it was supposed to work, if I couldn't see him, he couldn't see me. That was the rule, it was the law! Dr. Harti told me so. I held still, keeping my hands infront of my clenched tight eyes. I was surrounded in darkness that was the back of my eyelids. I heard steps coming up the steps down the hall from me.

"GAARA! What is all that…what is she doing?" Temari's feminine voice drifted up the stairs as she climbed them. I could feel her walking towards me, but staying atleast a foot away from me.

"She thinks we can't see her." Gaara stated.

"You can't!" I retorted.

"Aria…where are your pants? Why is she wearing your clothes?" Temari asked me then Gaara. I didn't answer, not wanting to give away my location. If they couldn't find me, they couldn't make me wear those stupid clothes, and if I wasn't wearing clothes, Gaara couldn't take me in to see the doctor and put me back in the darkness building. I didn't want to go! I like it here with them. I slept better; I had all the art supplies I could use, I felt free. I finally felt happy! I felt like I could smile all the time, and I was finally at a place that didn't condone my insanity. I was Aria here, not case number 6237.

"She won't put on the clothes you bought her. She thinks if she doesn't, we can't put her back." Gaara grumbled.

"You sound so happy, Gaara! I told you, she was a medical patient, we could go to jail for keeping her… we have to atleast try, Gaara." Temari stated. I could just see her rubbing my face, trying to keep a calm face. Temari gave me that face when I broke a plate the other day because Jai and Rai screamed 'surprize' in my head.

"What's going on up here?" Kankuro's voice followed his footsteps up the stairs.

"Aria won't wear pants and refuses to atleast see the doctor." Temari spoke to Kankuro with her frustrated voice.

OOOOH! Aria's in trouble! They're going to lock you up and inject you with sedatives again like they always do!

"And she thinks we can't see her." Gaara added.

"Because you can't!" I shouted.

"Yes we can, Aria! Please, stop being childish!" Temari cried.

"Temari!" Gaara warned.

"What? She's being ridiculous! We've kept this charade up like she's a part of our family, letting her live in your room and roam her crazy all over the house. Gaara, do you not realize what she could do to us? If the council realizes we're harboring a mental patient without permission, they will take our head-bands! I like her as much as you do, Gaara, she makes the boring days more exciting, but she's not a pet Gaara! She's a person, a broken person who needs help that we can't give her!" Temari ranted.

Everything went silent. I could feel myself shaking as Temari's words came crashing down on me. She was right!

I was just playing pretend.

I was just pretending I belonged here, I was just pretending I could live like this. I was Aria, case number 6237, a mental patient with psychological problems, not just a weird person. I was crazy, and crazy people lived in the Darkness building. I could feel the tears welding up in my eyes.

"Temari… please." Gaara hissed. I shook more as I lowered my hands and looked at the scene before me. Kankuro was standing at the stairs, not even both feet up on the floor, wearing only cargo pants and a ripped wife beater, covered in his morning workout sweat. Temari stood in one of her normal short dresses, her hair pulled up into 4 pigtails and her face contorted as she rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers. Gaara stood up, looking right at me with a face I had never seen before.

"What?" Temari hissed, before looking to me. "Oh… Aria, I… I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"You did mean it…" I whispered, looking at her before looking to my knees curled up to my chest. "I'm sorry… I'm crazy." I whimpered, looking to my bare knees. I sat still as Gaara kneeled down.

"Gaara-"Gaara shot a glance at Temari, I watched from the corner of my eye as Temari sighed and turned, tugging the sweaty Kankuro away with her.

I looked to Gaara, my crocodile tears coating my face. I flinched a little as he got closer, but found sand coming up and licking the tears from my face. A smile found its way to my face as I watched the fascinating sand abilities that Gaara had. The sand swirled around me, pulling my hair from my face and drying up my tears.

"You're not crazy…" Gaara whispered, looking over me before resting his eyes on mine.

"How?" I whispered, biting my upper lip lightly and pulling on it with my teeth before letting out a shutter like breath, "How do you know?" I whispered.

"I can see it…" He stated, leaning back in his crouch before standing up. I watched him stand up, cross his arms, and look right at me. I gulped down and pushed my hands on the ground and pushed myself up so I was standing. I looked down to my shirt then to Gaara. I had stolen the shirt he was going to wear and now he was shirtless. With a sighed, I unwrapped it from my torso and pulled it off my body, handing it over.

Gaara did the same face he did when I walked back from the bathroom unclothed. Wide eyed and I could see the heat in his cheeks as he looked away as fast as he could. He held out his hand, clenching his eyes shut. I dropped it into his palm and began to walk away from him, towards the bathroom that had the clothes that Temari had brought for me.

"Wait… Aria." I stopped and looked to Gaara who still had his back to me and was pulling on his shirt. "You don't have to go back… I will go myself to ask them about it."

I smiled at him. Happiness bubbled through me as I bit my lips in an attempt to hold down my smile but I let my lips fly open, grinning. Bouncing a bit, I bolted from the spot towards bathroom. I would atleast get dressed.

~Later that day, Kitchen~

"Hey Mora, thanks for coming over. I appreciate it." Temari whispered, embracing her friend. The firecracker red haired girl hugged the blond back.

"No problem, you sounded so stressed out when you swung by the library. Is everything alright?" Mora asked, pulling back from the embrace. Temari sighed, rubbing her forehead and sat back down in the seat she had risen from. Mora sat in the seat near it and reached for the teapot as Temari took a sip of her own tea. Mora slowly poured her tea as Temari put down her glass and rested her palms on the dark wooden table.

"She… I don't know what to do, Mora. I had to go tell the Council today, and they have no idea who she is. It's like she was wiped off the planet the day she got attacked! You, Kankuro, Gaara, her, and I are the only ones who remember it. You only because I told you, but Kankuro, Gaara and I… we saw her…" Temari whispered, closing her eyes. She could just see the incident there in front of her. They had come back from a quick water retrieval mission. A pipe line from the oasis had been clogged and dammed by some protestors. They took quick work of them, and were coming home when Gaara smelt it. Blood and lots of it.

They ran to the building it was coming from and found her, half out of the roof exit door, laying there like a rag doll. Gaara almost freaked out, Kankuro had to grab his wrists so that he was looking at his brother and not the still bleeding girl. Temari had to carry the girl in her arms, her blood everywhere as they flew to the hospital then from the emergency room to their home. She had just been lying there, covered in what looked like whip like markings, small claw marks on her stomach, and her clothing just tattered and ruined. There was no one around when they found her, she was by herself, but it looks like someone had been at the bottom, and they had been bleeding profusely.

"I'm sorry… want to hear a story? I have a good one that will lighten your mood!" Mora spoke with a giant smile.

"Of course, you know your stories always get rid of my headaches." Temari grumbled with a smile, patting her friend on the hand as she took another sip, "What is this one about?"

"Two brothers, it's about these brothers. They were a couple years apart, and even though their parents said they were both loved equally, the youngest always knew the eldest was loved just a bit more. He could tell when he was forced to learn to fight and protect his home like other young boys that lived near him. But the eldest, he wasn't allowed to fight, he was always told to study, and to read and learn. The youngest was brought up to be brave and unyielding to his enemy, while his brother was taught kindness, and how to be gentle to resolve conflict with others.

Well, the father of these two boys was tired of their bickering. It had gone far past sibling rivalry, the father decided that was enough… so he decided to teach the boys a lesson." Mora grinned, switching her left leg over her right and took a sip before continuing her story. "He told the boys, that if they were so convinced they were different, that one was more special than the other, that they should go out into the woods and try to survive for days and nights. If one was more loved than the other, then the parent would surely worry about them first and come to find them. But the father told his wife that the boys had to do this, to see they were loved the same, but made to merely balance each other out. He believed the boys would eventually put aside their differences and work together to survive the woods. Then the father and mother would both go out and find their sons together and show them they were loved the same."

"Oh my, so…what happened?" Temari asked, leaning forward with those curious eyes she got when she was interested in something. Mora grinned and put up a finger for Temari to be patient.

"Well, the boys packed their supplies and went out to the woods. The eldest made himself a camp not too far out into the woods, near a large group of trees that had wound themselves together, built fires and hunted small animals. He believed that his parents would come for him first, for he was the eldest. He was the heir to the family, he was also the smartest. His brother was raised a warrior, not an intellectual. Even at the ages of 16, the second son had fought in a war and been victorious, but the eldest had saved the village from a disease that the enemy slipped in their gates. He believed he was the real hero, and should therefore be the most loved." Mora grinned.

"He's wrong, isn't he…what happens?" Temari blurted out.

"Patience, Temari." Mora laughed. "Well, a few days into the woods, the eldest had kept himself fed and warm, content in his little camp. However, the second wasn't looking to wait for his parents love, he wanted revenge! The second had gone mad with jealousy, and once in the woods for a few days, in need of food and warmth for his chilled, now mad bones. The second son hunted his brother for a few days, waiting for him to leave his secure camp. Then, 3 days later, the eldest left his camp for water by the shore of a nearby river."

"NO!" Temari blurted out, covering her mouth.

"YES! The second brother followed and waited till the first was kneeling by the water. Then he jumped and pounced, forcing the first brother's face under water. Drowning the first brother, the second brother didn't realize how close and unbalanced he'd gotten, the river having a faster current the closer to middle one got. Once his brother let out his last breath in the water and his limbs let loose, the second brother fell in. The second brother fought hard, but ended up drowning himself… a few days later, their bodies were found out at sea by a couple of fisher men. Giant holes had been eaten out of them by fish and predators. The father buried his sons, believing they died together trying to fend off something, unknowning that one had killed the other then became clumsy and fell in."

Mora took a sip of her tea, grinning at Temari who sat there with an open mouth.

"Wow." Temari leaned back in her chair and looked to her friend who grinned and sat back in her own. Both girls sipped their tea in silence. Temari looked to the stairs where that morning Aria had forced a meltdown out of Temari. Mora followed her eyes up the stairs, trying to get a look at the girl Temari had been telling her about. But Aria wasn't home. Kankuro was out babysitting her. All he had to do was to make sure she didn't flip out while drawing the city. They were supposed to be at the edge of town, drawing animals and plants like Aria promised. Gaara had been gone all day, unlike him but Temari didn't ever get into the habit of wondering about her youngest brother.

"How do you ever come up with these stories?" Temari asked, grinning at her friend. Mora looked to her friend and smiled with a shrug.

"History and fairytales, they tend to repeat and copy themselves… I just like to read both."

Author's notes: Hope this chapter was as appetizing as the others. I promise to update soon now that Food fit for a KING has been finished. This story has all it's pawns officially in place, be ready for ultimate drama, adventure, and mystery. And yes, black cloak man, and mr. mew will be getting a better part in this story soon, as soon as I come up with a name for black cloaked man. WOOT for Author procrastination. XD

kid23jk7: I'm glad that you get it! I hope you don't see where this is heading though, but I hope you like it. Also, check out my profile, your gift thingy is there, because you have your messaging off. =)

Angel42497: I hope I got the numbers right. Thank you for reviewing, and who knows, after I post this, I may have enough muse to do that that. =)

Miko Hayashi: Thanks for the review, I will do my best to keep it like this. It's hard to keep Aria insane while keeping the mystery a mystery.

Aiko: Trust me, romance will come, but as will the chaos! MUHAHAHAHAHA! Couldn't be more vague, huh?