Chapter Nine: Absence

About a week has passed by since Sphinx's departure from Sunagakure. Sphinx rode into Amegakure on Fenrir. Fenrir jumped over the huge walls surrounding the village, and ran up to a large fancy building.

"Arigatou Fenrir-dono." Sphinx said to Fenrir, as she patted him on the head then walked into the building. One of the female servants saw Sphinx walk into the building.

"Ah, Sphinx-san…! Welcome! It's been a while. Do you wish to see Hikage?" Sphinx shook her head.

"No... Just give this to her for me. Make sure no one else but she sees it." Sphinx said to the servane as she pulled out a blood red scroll with the kanji for "demon" on it, and handed it to the servant.

"Yes Sphinx-san." The servant said bowing before Sphinx turned and walked immediately out of the building. Sphinx walked into the market place of the village and purchased some more food she needed. Then hopped back onto Fenrir's back and rode out of the village.

Some time passed, and Sphinx rode out of Ame no Kuni and into Tsuchi no Kuni. She stopped for a while to eat and give Fenrir a break. As she cooked her simple soup Sphinx's mind began to wander.

--I wonder... what Gaara is doing right now...-- Sphinx thought to herself.

A week has passed since Sphinx left. And Gaara was acting even more distant than he normally did. He seemed to spend a lot of time in his room, and hardly ever came out. A lot of the time, Temari or Kankurou would hear some of the songs Sphinx used to sing, blaring over the radio in Gaara's room.

"Gaara... Time for dinner…" Temari said as she knocked on Gaara's door.

"I'm not hungry!" Gaara yelled back furiously, making Temari high-tail it down the stairs.

Gaara angrily turned on the radio and looked through the channels, until he heard a familiar song:

Meet me after dark again and I'll hold you
I am nothing more than to see you there
And maybe tonight, we'll fly so far away
We'll be lost before the dawn

If only night can hold you where i can see you, my love
Then let me never ever wake again
And maybe tonight, we'll fly so far away
We'll be lost before the dawn

Chorus
somehow i know that we cant wake again from this dream
it's not real, but it's ours

Maybe tonight, we'll fly so far away
We'll be lost before the dawn

Maybe tonight, we'll fly so far away
We'll be lost before the dawn

Chanting

Music Fades Out

It was one of the songs Gaara heard Sphinx singing one night. He never understood why she sang it and he still didn't. But he turned it up and plopped himself down on his bed. His gourd was sitting in the corner of the room, beginning to collect dust. Gaara listened to the song, as thoughts of Sphinx began to fill his head.

--I wonder... Where Sphinx is right now...-- He thought to himself while he stared at the ceiling. Gaara thought as suddenly words of anger from Sphinx filled his head:

"Don't you DARE touch me!!"

"None of your god damn business! Leave me the fuck alone!!!"

"What did you do to me?! I swear if you did anything to-!"

"It's nothing of your concern!"

"Fuck you Gaara! I never want to see your face again!!"

"Don't expect me to come back. I hate you too much to stay here."

"Follow me and I swear I will kill you!"

Gaara sighed, and sat up. He looked over at his gourd as some strange song played. Gaara turned the radio off.

--What did I do? To make her hate me so?-- Gaara thought to himself, thinking it was something he did to drive Sphinx away.

--Sphinx. Why did you have to leave?--

Sphinx sneezed once.

"Must be catching a cold..." She said to herself. She sighed, then shook her head, to get rid of thoughts of Gaara.

"No sense in sitting here. I might as well continue my search for what I've been looking for. Come Fenrir." Sphinx said aloud and hopped onto Fenrir's back. Almost immediately the beast took off.

Maybe an hour passed and they came up to some ruins. Fenrir stopped right outside the ruins then jumped off of Fenrir's back. Sphinx grabbed an ice blue scroll and a writing brush and ink bottle.

Sphinx walked into the ruins, then took her scroll and wrote the kanji for "dream" on it. She then carefully searched the open ruins. Looking for any murals or writings of any sort. An entire day passed and Sphinx found nothing.

Sphinx stayed up through the night writing notes in her scroll... that is when her mind wasn't thinking about Gaara. Sphinx was constantly shaking away her thoughts about Gaara, but they jut kept coming back.

Angrily Sphinx closed the scroll and threw it at a tree.

"Damn it!" She yelled out, and then gripped her head with her hands.

--Why?! Why…?! Do I think about him constantly? Why won't he just leave me?! I don't want to think about him anymore. It hurts too much... to know... that I... No! No! No! I'm not falling in love! I'm not!!-- Sphinx bursted into silent tears. She pulled her knees towards her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Then buried her face in her knees and sobbed silently to her.

--Why won't you just leave me alone?-- Sphinx thought to herself referring to Gaara.

Over two months passed by. Sphinx, now in Kusa no Kuni was driven almost into insanity at this point, and was even growing sick. Her work became sloppy and she discontinued her search for ruins.

"Sphinx... Rise..." Fenrir, the wolf, said to her. Sphinx laid face flat in the dirt.

"Just leave me here to die." Sphinx said weakly. Fenrir sighed, then lifted Sphinx's up carefully to her feet in his large jaws.

"You have been like this since we left Sungakure."

"So?"

"Does it have something to do with them?"

"Of course not..."

"It feels good. To have a home, where people care about you doesn't it?"

"Shut up! Enough with your mind games! You know I can't have a home anywhere."

"Is that so?" Sphinx clenched her fist hard. Then suddenly turned to Fenrir and ordered.

"We are going back to the Sand. I command this of you to take me there NOW." Fenrir gave a fanged grin and a chuckle.

"As you wish Sphinx..." Sphinx then jumped onto Fenrir's back and they started off immediately.

It was raining for once in the Sand Village. Gaara was still locked in his room. Temari sat next to the window in Sphinx's old room. Temari sighed. It had been raining all day and dusk was coming. Another day.

Temari though was no longer worried about Gaara. She was now worried about Sphinx. What would happen if she returns to the Sand? How will she react, and more importantly... How will Gaara react?

Suddenly the doorbell interrupted Temari's thoughts. She heard someone emerge from a room, and assumed it was Kankurou. Temari shrugged and then went down the stairs.

She hit the doorbell once. Her arm then fell back to her side. Her vision was blurring but she held her ground. Slowly she heard the door open. She rubbed her eyes to try and focus her eyesight again.

Sphinx looked to see...

"Gaara…!" Sphinx yelled out happily. There was a long moment of silence and there was an awkward feeling in the air...

"Who… are you...?" Sphinx's eyes widened. She took a step back.

"Wh-what? Don't joke around like that Gaara. It's me Sphinx." Sphinx said nervously with a nervous smile. There was another awkward silence.

"Damn it Gaara! Stop messing with me!!

"I... don't know you..." Immediately Sphinx's yells ceased. From inside, behind Gaara, Sphinx heard Temari.

"Oh my..." Temari said, as tears streamed down Sphinx's face, but here tears were hidden by the rain. Sphinx started to laugh in disbelief, but then suddenly fell forward unconscious.

Gaara caught her, still confused as to who she was.

"Gaara... I'll take her."

"Who is she Temari?"