HimekoUchia: Sup! Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Now, part 2, as promised! And Hinata and the Orange Juice is posted!
I do not own anything but the anger XD Or maybe that's Gaara IDK.
Please go vote on my poll! I need your opinions on what I should be writing in priority!
Last Chapter:
Half monster. That is what Gaara is right now. Though, quite honestly, I can't tell which half is the worst. If it is the actual demon, the half that is forming into Shukaku and piercing through souls with yellow eyes. Or if it is his human side, torn into a crazed grin and a gaze that freezes my blood.
Not so hot anymore, is he? That is what happens when you are a stupid, stupid, STUPID-...
"Shut up." I growl. "Go back to being helpful."
Temari glances at me.
"Not you. The voice in my head." I reply to her silent question.
"Oh... OK." grunts Temari, obviously way past the point of caring or worrying about people who talk to voices in their heads. At least I don't call mine my 'mother'.
Himeko POV
Temari and I keep watching Gaara and Sasuke fight until Sasuke starts to faint from the curse mark's burning. OK, Naruto should be jumping in right about now. I scan the forest for the blond boy's presence.
Urg, darn, almost there... Follow the noise... I hear him groan.
My heart sinks. He's far. Too far. Why-... He's supposed to be here right now... What could have happened? I quickly rack my brains...
... Ack!
Oh my god, talking to Kakashi messed up the storyline by a few minutes and now Naruto is going to be too late to save Sasuke.
"Darn it all to hell..." I gasp. I jump out of my hiding place despite Temari's frantic whispers of caution.
"GAARA!" I shout.
The boy doesn't turn away from Sasuke's now limp body. Gaara charges. I teleport in front of Sasuke and, biting my lip, push out a barrier to shield both of us. I brace for impact, and mentally scream for the energy bubble to be as impenetrable as it had always been.
The sheer force of the sand slamming against my shield is enough to knock me back. I stumble and crouch in front of Sasuke to stabilize myself. My arms shake as I try to push the sand back with my shield, but Gaara is far more powerful and controlled than I am. He pushed back and my shield starts to dent. I place my palms directly onto the wall of energy that gleams purple in the sun, desperately fueling it with anger. His sand keeps forcing its way towards me and stretches my shield until small spikes start to form in my barrier. I bite my lip when one of the spikes pierces the stretch of skin between my left thumb and pointer finger.
The sand retracts.
All that is left is my shield, stained with a spot of my blood. I reform the barrier so that it is a transparent dome around Sasuke and I. Beads of sweat start to drip down my neck as I eye Gaara, who moves to stand right in front of my shield. His eyes betray that he is both shocked and furious at me for preventing him from killing Sasuke. My mouth goes dry as I stand so close to the boy, staring directly into his deranged gaze. The other redhead licks his sandy lips and speaks.
"How... You. Protect him." Gaara hesitates as he drools on the ground with rabid madness, as the Shukaku side of him looks imposingly confused. "How do you like me now? This is what I truly am! A self loving monster! Now you have seen, Himeko..."
I face palm. I scratch the pads of my fingers down my face in frustration.
"Are you freaking serious?" I gasp, suddenly feeling like laughing at the morbidity of this situation. "You were trying to kill me and now this is what you worry yourself with? Convincing yourself that I don't really love you? After all that happened?" What an absolute-... The urge to slap him has by now taken over the urge to kiss him by a long run.
"OK, let me get this straight, you absolute, goddamn moron!" I bite my teeth together for a second before throwing a leaf at Gaara, growling in frustrated humiliation. The boy watches the green shape hit the shield and float pathetically down to my feet. "When I said that I loved you, I meant it! I'm serious, OK? Because, trust me, if I could change the way I felt, I would! I would not chose to love you, you hear me?"
Gaara's glare steels and I internally recognize that there is an ounce of dishonesty in what I am saying. I desperately love this boy and I want to stand by him, always. But I want to hurt him. The only way I can.
"But unfortunately for me, it's not that simple. Look at yourself! Look at what you tried to do! It's revolting! I should hate you. But I love you." I punch the shield in front of his face. "I love you unconditionally. So you can go screw yourself with a cactus for being such a bitch to me!"
Gaara's eyes flash and he places a hand against the spot of blood on the shield. For a moment, he seems annoyed that he can't touch the liquid that's slowly dribbling down the purple wall separating us.
"Unconditionally?"
My heart clenches in fear at his suddenly calm voice. Images of Ryo threatening to beat Gaara up if he hurts me and of Yuuki rolling her eyes flash through my head.
"No... Not unconditionally." I gasp. "Not if you kill my friends! Then I cannot guarantee that I will love you anymore."
Gaara's face twists in fury as more sand moves across his face. It's hard to remember what he looked like completely human. He slams his hand against the shield.
"You loving me. What does that even mean? Would you fight against me? For me? With me? Would you do anything to be on my side?" he growls with... it's almost like excitement.
I give the boy the best incredulous look I can muster.
"Of course not. Not if I think that it's the wrong thing to do. You don't know how love means at all, do you? Loving someone isn't the same as wanting to be with them no matter what. Doing all that they want you to do blindly. That would be stupid, and the one thing I can say for certain that I am not is stupid. I love you but I could never be with you like this. Because I actually care about lives and people. So sorry, but we aren't really compatible." I lean against the shield and raise an eyebrow at the sizzling anger that I can feel dancing off of the boy.
Gaara scratches his nails down the purple wall.
"You know... Shukaku never saw strength in you. We decided that you were never worth it. That your blood would not be enough for us. But one thing is certain, you can talk tough. You look me in the eye and say these pathetic, stupid things. I think that a test of your strength is long overdue. So..." He gives me a murderous grin that sends a blade of ice cutting down my spine. "Fight me. Or... I will kill all the people you care about!"
I feel both fury and heartbreak forcing itself out of my body. I grab my sword and poke the blade at the shield, my thoughts saturated with adrenaline.
"I'm going to have to win then." I smirk at him "Because, otherwise, you're gonna have to kill yourself ."
Gaara's eye thin into slits. He doesn't make a move yet.
"You chose to protect your loved ones. You chose your friends over me?"
"Yes!" I snap. Doesn't this guy listen the first time I explain things?
"Why? If you love them, and you love me, what makes you chose them over me then?" he asks.
"Because they love and care for me! Duh! I'm not so ungrateful that I will choose my selfish love for you over their friendship. Understand that! They are my family! And so are some of the Konoha genin! Naruto! Sasuke! Your siblings! I love you, but I have a bond with them. A two-way exchange between people. That's far more powerful than one-sided feelings. If I love you and you hate me, it's not exactly productive." I snort.
Suddenly, Gaara lets out a low, demonic growl. It almost sounds like laughter.
"You think-..." he trails off, tilting his head to the side in contemplation. "I just really want to kill you now."
Before I can dissect his mood swing into coherent meanings, a flash of orange appears through the trees and kicks Gaara right off of his branch.
"Leave Himeko-chan and Sasuke-teme alone, you punk!" hollers Naruto.
I chuckle inwardly despite the situation. So many wonderful, nice people around here to compensate for the jerks of this world. Thank you, Naruto.
Gaara leaps back up and glance from Naruto to me. His face shows immense frustration and his shifts his full attention to the blond.
Seems that he has lost interest in me already. Good. I don't want to fight him at all, really.
I put my hands to Sasuke's sweaty neck and feed some healing energy into his body, hoping that he isn't allergic to my power or something. That would be so inconvenient. "I'm... I'm fine." mutters the boy groggily, stirring under my fingers. I smile.
"Time to wake up, my sleeping beauty. Or else I'm going to have to give you a morning kiss." I lean forward and whisper into his ear. "I use tongue."
Sasuke's slowly pushes my face away, groaning something about inappropriate French people. Then a dog sits on his head.
Sakura lands beside Sasuke. She looks at the exhausted boy, eyes wide with surprise.
"Thank you for protecting him!" she gasps.
"Could you take it from here?" I nod, my stomach churning is discomfort as I stand up. "This is not my fight. I need to go help Shino-kun."
"Yes! Naruto-kun should be fine dealing with this creep!" answers the girl, giving Gaara a dark look.
"Both your teammates will be alright, Sakura-chan. But it has to be Naruto-kun that stops him. Because only Naruto can truly understand Gaara..." I give her a last, fake smile. "If anything horrible happens, shout for me."
I teleport away, sighing with relief as I land besides Temari again. The girl eyes me in shock.
"Y-You stood up to Gaara! And he stopped fighting to talk to you! About feelings." she throws her hand over her mouth. "What happened to the real Gaara?"
We snap our heads back to the fighting as Sakura screams. Gaara plasters her to a tree, moaning into his palm as he has endures a violent flashback. Temari turns back to me, sighing in relief.
"Nevermind, that's him."
We watch in silence as Gaara and Naruto trade jabs and threats and even a few hits, before Gaara turns even more demonic.
"I'm sorry that you like him. It's partly my fault, you know... That he's like this."
I turn to face Temari, but she acts as if she hadn't said anything. I give her a shove.
"It was not really your fault. It was your father's but he did it for your village and... and... the situation you were all in didn't give anyone a choice. I do believe that Gaara can change. Deep inside, he is not evil. I think. He wasn't born a demon. He was born kind. And that is who he still is. He just went mad. Completely lost his mind."
Temari blink and nods, but stays silent. I sigh, upset that she looks so guilty for all the things that she could not control. Ah, the burden of the elder sibling...
Suddenly, Gaara's ass explodes.
Temari and I both groan. I wonder... I wonder who Temari is rooting for. Of course, as a shinobi of the Sand and Gaara's teammate, she wants her brother to win. But I feel as if the sister side of her just wants to see her brother gets his ass kicked. Or blown up, as in this case.
Ninjas have an obsession with ass. Just saying...
I nod in agreement, watching as Naruto exchanges a few words with Sasuke and suddenly multiplies by a hundred.
"What the-... Wow." gasps Temari.
Gaara gets completely beaten up. The forest crumbles slowly around us at the two boys fight it out. Then, Gaara explodes.
In his place stands a giant, sand, leg.
"Oh no!" grows Temari, grabbing me by the arm and jumping out of the way. I flinch a bit at the surprise of being lifted like that.
We sit on a higher up branch for a few minutes and I turn towards Temari.
"I'm going to go find Shino-kun. He and your brother must have finished fighting by now. Kankuro is..." I scan the area, closing my eyes for a second. "South-west from here. About three hundred meters. See you soon."
Temari gives me a sad wave as I hop off the branch.
Once my feet land on the soil, I take a deep breath. Sensing the air move, I look up. A hugeass branch is falling on me.
I feel my stomach twist as I roll to avoid the projectile that was propelled wirh the sheer force of one of Gaara or Naruto's attacks.
I groan as I stand up, wondering why it's so hard to stay alive.
Alone once again. I spot a pattern here.
I chuckle and quickly redo my pony-tail, starting to walk in Shino's direction. It is weird that I always seem to leave people behind even if I love being around other humans. Or maybe I am the one being left behind, after all. Who knows for sure?
I start to run, pushing energy through my feet as if it were chakra.
Ninja running. Always fun.
As I retreat, I glance back once at Gaara and Naruto, fighting in the distance. A tanuki and a frog.
Being able to turn manipulate giant animals seems to be quite the experience. It must be so-...
I accidentally ram myself into a tree.
"AH! OK, eyes forward..." I groan.
Finding Shino isn't hard and Kankuro has since escaped through the trees. I sense Shino's father approaching too.
I quickly start enveloping the boy with healing jutsu, hearing the sound of two destructive forces clashing in the distance.
"H-Hime...-" "
Yep. Here to help..." I whisper softly, patting the boy's hair. I feel affection for my stoic ninja friend permeate my heart for a few seconds because there is something special and bonding about helping out your buddy paralyzed by poison as he lies face first on the branch of an absurdly big tree. However, the sentimentality dissolves when I hear a rustle sound through the trees.
A tall man appears and jolts when he sees me.
"Friend of Shino-kun's." I mutter, though it's useless because the man can probably tell that my technique is healing his son. He silently sits next to me, letting bugs crawl into Shino's stiff body.
"Don't move... I'm sending parasitic beatles to draw the poison out..." he explains. I feel Shino relax under my touch.
"Father..."
A few minutes later, Shino's father makes a hand motion to me.
"He is physically healed. It's just poison left. Thank you for your help. I suggest you get out of here, who knows which enemies might still be around." he recommends. I quickly stand up and nod.
"Gotcha, Shino's dad. See you back in the village."
I run back into the trees, towards where I can hear Gaara's terrified thoughts as he gets defeated by Naruto.
"HEY! The village is the other way..." I hear Shino's father's voice echo out behind me, but I shake my head, not deviating from my track.
I make it to the edge of the clearing where Naruto and Gaara are lying, just as Naruto finishes his speech.
"... because I couldn't live without them... I love them..."
I stay up in my tree, leaning against the rough bark, looking down at the clearing. Since Naruto is facing into the ground, he ignores my existence. However, Gaara is lying on his back and his eyes flick to me.
I feel my heart thump a little too painfully at the sight of his exhausted eyes, staring straight at me. But it's better... So much better, than the monstrous look he had given me earlier. Gaara looks human. So human. I smile, feeling warm sadness drip down my arm as I slowly wave at Gaara.
Wait... No. Nope. That's just the blood gushing out from the flap of severed skin between my thumb and finger.
Oh crap, I totally forgot about that. The adrenaline had kept me distracted from the pain. I quickly lower my hand and heal it, wincing in discomfort and disgust when I have to hold the skin in place to close it properly.
I glance back at Gaara. Sensing my eyes, he looks up again. I suddenly feel the urge to go speak to him, but I don't want to be involved in this.
I couldn't help Gaara. Naruto could. This is not my moment. But I cheat anyway.
'You OK?' I mentally ask to Gaara. The redhead frowns at me.
'Himeko? I can hear you inside my head.' he thinks. 'What are you doing inside my head?'
'Yeah. Random thing I can do. Quite useful at times like this. So, how are you feeling?' I smile.
'Bad. But I think that... I will get better.' he replies, his voice heavy with thoughts and words he cannot even think properly.
Sasuke lands besides Naruto.
'I believe in you, penis face.'
'What?'
'NO!' I mentally groan. 'I-I'm tired, sorry. I meant, I believe in you, Gaara. You'll figure this out.'
Temari and Kankuro land in the clearing, forming a protective shield around their brother.
"It's fine. I quit." mutters the redhead, his eyes still looking up at me.
'Yes. We'll meet again.' he says in his usual monotonous voice, but without the anger.
'Of course. You won't escape me for long. I assure you.' I grin.
'Alright.' he agrees. 'Until then... I'm sorry...'
The soft smile melts off my face in surprise.
'I-... OK. It's OK. Just get better. I'll be cheering you on in your head.'
'Farewell, Himeko.'
'Adieu, Gaara.'
'Is that French?'
'No, it's penguin language.'
Gaara blinks up at me and his lips tense for a second. I stick my tongue out at him.
Kankuro shrugs and picks up his brother. Without another word, the Sand Sibs leave Konohagakure behind.
Hiding behind the tree, I look down at my perfectly healed hand.
See? Wounds of the body aren't that difficult to fix. Wounds of the hearts... slightly more complicated.
However, there is enough love to go around in this world for everyone to be healed. It's up to the individual to receive and give it.
Gaara's on his way. And I can't wait to see him turn into the guy he has always deserved to be.
So much drama! Muahaha I just love writing these two's interactions. Still a long way to go for these two little author puppets. But now, the Chuunin exam arc is OVER!
Now, to move on to the next 35532288 arcs... (ahahah... Please don't kill me).
So, my OCs will start doing their own things now. Partly because they have their on story to tell. And partly because no one wants me to retell the entire freaking manga from their POV... Just the plot relevant to their persons XD And I'll still be writing this when I'm 127 at this rate.
Hope you liked the chapter (part 2)! Heheh, sorry if the story gets bloody and sweary.
BTW talking about bloody, has anyone seen the play 'Mies Julie'? My literature professor took our class to see it. It's rated 18+ for a reason but we went anyway as snotty little 17, 16 and 15 year olds. Oh, the catharsis and traumatism. I loved it.
Peace, love and urg my essay,
XOXO ~~~ HimekoUchia (feels the urge to go ice-skating)
