Chapter Eleven:
Warm Embrace
Right after Leo departure Sakura told Naruto she wanted to take a small walk by herself. Naruto nodded as he was a bit sad. They both took different paths as Sakura went to her usual spot. She sat down on the bench and watched the sun almost done setting. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She was thinking about tomorrow and how it was going to be tough for her. She was nervous very nervous. She even was shivering a little because of it but since it was a bit cold outside she could blame the weather. She tried to clam her self by taking a deep breath but it wasn't working. She hugged herself and told herself in her mind that it was going to be alright, everything will be fine, that she'll make it through. But it was useless she had a feeling something was going to happen... and it was going to impact her life..Sakura sat there until she heard someone call her. She looked up to see Gaara with a worried face. She stood up.
"Gaara", she said before wrapping her arms around him. He was confused he just got there. He quickly hugged her back, hoping to calm her down. It was scarring him to see his flower like this. She looked so scared... but of what. He hugged her tighter and asked softly "What's wrong?". Sakura manage to calm down before saying "I'm scared, Gaara..." she told him before she looked down. Gaara was clueless of what she meant.
Gaara kept hugging his flower as he tried to understand what she meant. He felt his flower break the hug and sat back down. She started to wipe her eyes.. "Was she crying?!" Gaara thought to himself as he quickly sat beside her. "Sakura... Why are you crying?" he asked as he got her hand away from her face and wiped a tear away from her eye. "It's that.. I know something going to happen... Its going to be bad..." Sakura said with her hands on her lap. Gaara blinked before looking at the ground. "That's not a reason to cry Sakura, it just a feeling," he looked to see her looking at her lap, shaking a bit. He noticed her hand turning into fist. Sakura shook her head and said "No, something is going to happen." she kept looking down. Gaara saw a teardrop fall on her hands as she spoke "I felt like this when Sora and Yumi..." she put her hands to her face. Gaara quickly wrapped her in a hug.
"Gaara... I miss them so much." she told him as Gaara sat there holding her close. He didn't understand what she meant. "What?" he asked as Sakura sat up and wiped her eyes. "Oh right... It was Naruto who was with me." she looked down and said "Sora was killed when he left back to Suna after leaving me here" Gaara sat there shocked. He remembered faintly hearing about a murder days after she was taken from him. But he didn't know it was Sora... "Then days later..." Sakura continued "Yumi was killed while she went to another village on a mission." Sakura looked up at the now starry sky. "They stabbed her in the head with a kunai and pierced her heart with a sword...".
"But she was on a mission to help heal people... Not to fight.." Gaara looked down. He felt terrible... he couldn't do anything... His flower... His precious flower was crying and he was unable to comfort her... His hand turned into fist. He felt useless... He saw his flower shed a tear. That was enough... he had it. "Sakura," Gaara said as he grabbed her hands. She looked at him as he said "Not this time. I'll make sure of it!" he said as he pulled her into a tight protective hug, "you won't cry anymore..." he said "and nothing is going to harm you..." he said. "Not while i'm around..." he said as he tighten his grip. Sakura was speechless at Gaara's outburst. She couldn't help but feel happy though. "Thank you Gaara." she said in return. They both stayed like that for a minute. During which Gaara didn't release his flower. But a flash back came to him.
It was him and Sakura at the playground. It was only a week before everything happened.
"Hey Sakura..." Gaara asked as he walked up to Sakura ,holding on to his teddy close to him. "Yeah Gaara?" Sakura replied as she stopped her swing. "Do... Do you..." Gaara stopped himself. He couldn't say it. "Do I what Gaara?" she asked as she got off her swing. "Uh..." Gaara said looking the other way. He was planning to tell her that he was going to marry her. but for a reason he couldn't tell her. It was like he was too nervous. So he stood up and took a deep breath and quickly said "I want to want marry you when older!" When he finished he clutched his teddy to his face. He heard a laugh. He looked to see his flower laughing. "Whats so funny?" Gaara asked with a a dark shade of red on his cheeks. "Oh Gaara" Sakura walked to him and gave a quick kiss on his cheek. Gaara hugged his teddy closer as he felt himself get redder. He looked at Sakura to be giggling at him. Gaara smiled as far he was concerned she was going to marry him. The kiss she gave him only confirmed it.
Gaara opened his eyes to see his flower calmed down. She was breathing gently. He looked up at the sky and saw how the moon was shining brightly over the lake there were in front of. "Gaara." he looked down to see Sakura looking at the lake also "I'm glad your back". He smiled and nodded. "I hope we dont have to fight each other in the Exams tomorrow..." Gaara eyes went wide. That's right the exams were tomorrow... His flower would in danger. He looked up and glared at the sky he had to protect her. He had to... He looked down and hugged her... He couldn't lose her... He didn't want to and he wasn't.
Alright next chapter its exams! I hope you enjoyed it. I hope the story isn't bad so far so till next time bye!