Carnal Attraction
Author: Mask of Mirage
Rating: M
Mood Song: Hurt by Nine Inch Nails
Disclaimer: I get no profit from writing this.
Chapter 12: Remains a Sordid Twist of Fate
Gaara leaned heavily against the wash basin, staring at his murky reflection in the soapy water. The restroom smelled funny, like dried, pressed flowers. It wasn't a very large restroom, not like one of those public ones with the stalls. There was a simple toilet and large counter with a sink. Probably all this family-owned shop could afford.
So with it being small in size, Gaara heard the door creak open behind him and shut in the same moment. Whipping around, he came face to face with Neji who immediately pressed him up against the counter, his breath coming hot against his forehead.
He glanced up at the man from underneath red eyelashes, fixing the Hyuuga with a glare that could melt steel. Neji smirked haughtily and quickly pressed his lips to Gaara's, stopping whatever protests that were about to be formed. At once, Gaara turned as unresponsive as stone beneath Neji's mouth causing the lavender-eyed man to pull back slightly, a frown set securely on his face.
"Why are you denying it now when you were doing it so freely earlier today?"
Gaara tried to push him away but Neji stood, solid as a rock, catching onto the redhead's pale, slender wrists and holding them away from his body. Gaara began to struggle against his grip; this wasn't supposed to turn out this way. Neji's frown deepened in his face and held onto the boy's shoulders, confusion showing clearly in his eyes.
"What are you doing?!" he explained, shaking the Suna shinobi lightly, his lips brushing across Gaara's lower lip, which was beginning to tremble against his will.
"No, I-I don't want you to….Naruto…." Gaara whispered brokenly against his mouth, for once in his life not wanting to fight back.
Neji immediately let go of him, putting what distance he could between them. "You…used me to get to him. You were never interested in me. I understand now, you're in love with Naruto."
It was at that moment that three things happened simultaneously. Neji crossed the room in one quick stride, catching the redhead's lips with such brutal force that Gaara was slammed up against the sink, a sharp hiss escaping his lips. Naruto entered the restroom, clearly just realizing that he had been left alone and upon hearing Gaara's hiss assumed it was out of pleasure.
Gaara shoved Neji off him just in time to see the betrayed look in Naruto's brilliant cobalt blues, the same expression he had been seeing all day whenever Neji kissed him. He didn't have time to explain before Naruto whirled back around and busted back out of the bathroom, his eyes flickering back and forth from a comfortable blue to a fiery crimson.
Gaara watched in disdain, a strange, different clench making itself known in his chest. What had he done? It wasn't supposed to turn out this way! Neji walked to the door, pausing and tilting his head over his shoulder.
"This is what you deserve in the end. Though, I am sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted it to."
Gaara growled low in his throat and pushed past him, focused solely on retrieving Naruto. The outside eating area was vacant and Gaara realized with dismay that the upset blond had escaped outside, where the storm from before was still wreaking its havoc.
Without a second thought, Gaara stumbled out into the tempest, following the faint, disappearing traces of angry chakra. Because he lived in the desert, he was used to the blinding winds but Naruto was not. He had to find him before he got himself hurt. Gaara wouldn't be able to live with himself if something did happen to him.
Naruto threw an arm over his face to protect his eyes from the dust that was being blown. The kiss that he just happened to walk in on was the last straw, he couldn't take it anymore. Not when he was fighting with his own self for even caring in the first place.
He could feel his heart in his throat and the stinging sensation in his eyelids that proved to him that he did care and it was killing him. Had he really fallen in love with the redheaded shinobi? Why was that so hard to accept?
He fell once, twice and on the third occasion he just lay there, scrunched over so far in the pouring rain that his head was buried in his lap. Naruto wrapped his arms around his midsection, holding himself together at the seams lest he let go and everything came rushing out and be washed away in the rain.
He didn't know how long he lie there, listening to the howling in the trees and trembling violently from the coldness seeping in through his wet clothing. He heard footsteps off to his right and they stopped in front of him. Knees hit the pavement next to him in a loud thud and there was a comfortable weight draped across his back.
Turning his head to the side, his breath caught in his throat to see Gaara embracing him, head resting gently on his back, eyes squeezed shut. He kept whispering '"sorry" in his ear a thousand times over, till the word began to sound less like something and more like a ancient mantra.
He sighed heavily into his lap, lifting his upper body up to a sitting position. He glanced over at Gaara who kept his head parallel to the ground. His crimson hair was dripping and plastered to the sides of his face, pale fingers clenched so tightly to his pants that they were a ghostly white.
"Gaara," Naruto began, clearing his throat awkwardly. The redhead hummed in acknowledgment but didn't lift his head. This was it, now or never. He wasn't sure what he was feeling or how to go about it but he had to let him know one way or the other. "Gaara, I--I think I'm in love with you."
Gaara's head shot up so suddenly that if it wasn't attached to his neck it would have went rolling off underneath a porch or something, or at least that's how it seemed to Naruto. Lips parted slightly and before Naruto could properly respond he was being tackled around the middle in a very uncharacteristic move from Gaara. He even went so far as to check the chakra signatures of the smaller male, just in case it was an enemy shinobi in disguise.
But sure enough, the flow was familiar as was the weight settled on his lap. So Naruto had been correct all along, Gaara had never really gotten over him, if this was any proof at all. Slowly, he allowed his arms to wrap around the smaller shinobi and pull him closer, the boy's warm breath heating his collar in the most comforting of ways.
"It was all a ploy, I never really agreed to date Neji and I never meant to hurt you and…"Gaara admitted in a rush but was cut off by a tight squeeze by Naruto.
"Shh, it doesn't matter anymore, I don't care."
Naruto held him closer, both sitting there in the pouring rain. One confused by the emotions that were causing a tumult within him and one hoping that he was still worthy of forgiveness.
So far, the line hasn't been distinguished between the two but the die has been rolled and we can only wait and see where it takes them.
Author's Note: A short chapter and I hope it didn't turn out too cliché at the end. I know it seems that I sounded like I ended it but have no fear, this isn't the end. I still have to make Naruto come to terms with his feelings, Gaara get over his betrayal and Neji to find some way to cope with being used.
Ah, a busy time for me.
Mask of Mirage
