Hyuuga Neji…
Sabaku no Gaara…
Uchiha Sasuke…
I missed out on a little bit for last chapter so please read the 'Previously' thingy so you can get what I mean…But damn! Even this story made me cry a bit! Talk about emotional here…
Previously…Please read…
"But, I need you." Sasuke and Neji begged as they held out his arms for her.
"You don't need me. It's not like you're gonna beg on your knees and scream out with the words 'I need you." She was starting to get a little too emotional now. She turned her head away and closed her eyes as Gaara dropped his gourd and walked up to her.
Then all of a sudden, he did the unexpected, Gaara fell down to his knees in front of Sakura and held onto her waist, burying his head into her stomach.
"Sakura, I need you!"
Sasuke and Neji's eyes grew wide in disbelief and screamed out in their heads, 'Dammit!' Sakura's eyes shot open as she stared right in front of her, not daring to believe what Gaara was doing. The red head continued to shout out the muffled words into her dress, his hold on her growing tighter by the second but not tight enough to suffocate her.
"Sakura, I need you. I need you so much. Please don't leave me!"
"Gaara, please let go…" she whispered out, still not wanting to look at him.
"Please, you've introduced me to so many feelings and emotions. I'll be so lost without you!"
"Please, just let me go." Little by little, she tried to loosen his hold on her.
"I can't, I'll die without you!" the sky began to grow dark and the clouds, heavy with rain began to pour down on them. Sasuke and Neji decided to leave them alone.
"Gaara, you're making this hard for both of us…" tears started to build up in her eyes, and she had no more strength to hold them back, slowly lowering herself to see him face to face.
"I don't want to let you go, please, don't make me let you go." For the first time in his whole entire life, he let himself be completely vulnerable to her, for her. He saw the tears that slid down her face, making trails down her cheeks.
She raised her hand to his cheek and with her last whispered words to him she said, "I'm sorry, I can't be with you…" She stifled back a sob before getting up and running into the house, leaving behind an upset sand-nin.
Silently he cried in the rain, unwilling to seek shelter, unwilling to move. He lost his motivation to live, in losing Sakura, he lost everything else. Everything that was precious to him was no more. She was the only person that meant so much to him. She was the light in his dark life, his angel. His everything, his precious person.
"I'll still protect you, no matter what." He murmured out, it was a silent promise to himself, to watch over her, to keep her from harm and save her from danger.
He was determined to make everything right again, he resolved to make it his goal to be her guardian and protect her at all costs.
"I will protect you no matter what, I promise."
Sobs and sniffles could be heard from the room upstairs, it could be heard even with the pouring rain outside. Haru felt uncomfortable, knowing how heartbroken she must be. Quietly, he sat on the kitchen chair, looking into his cup of green tea while Chiyako busied herself with drawing, not wanting to cry, so she could stay strong for Sakura. Surprisingly, Naruto stayed still and silent on the living room couch but felt uneasy so decided to stare at Neji and Sasuke, back and forth. Neji and Sasuke leaned on opposite walls facing each other, eyes closed contemplating about the current situation.
And as for Gaara, he remained outside, soaked in the rain. He could get sick, but he didn't care, he was gonna stay outside until Sakura felt better. Until Sakura stopped crying, until the rain stopped pouring. His knees still on the grass, his hair matted to his face, rain dripping from the point of his nose and hair. Gaara held onto his thighs and stared at the grass that seem to jerk abruptly due to the rain. His determination unwavering as the rain got heavier and the clouds grew darker. He was cold, but he didn't care, he was almost numb anyway.
Haru stared at his wet form as he got up from his seat. Slowly he walked over to the door that led to his backyard and spoke to him. "You better come in, it's gonna turn into a rain storm soon."
"No…" his misty breath coming from his mouth, so soft you have to strain really hard to hear it.
"I'll make you some tea, just come on it, alright?"
This time, Gaara shook his head, realizing no matter how hard he tried he wouldn't be heard, but he was too tired to speak anyway. Haru sighed at his stubbornness before retreating back to his tea.
After perhaps an hour, Sakura finally came out of her room but not without puffy, red eyes.
"Look who's got the freaky red eyes now?" Sasuke smirked at her as she returned it with a small smile of her own. She took a look around and saw Neji and Sasuke leaning on the wall while Naruto was sitting on the couch. She saw Chiyako and Haru in the kitchen but couldn't locate the red head. "Um…Where's Gaara?"
"He's still outside. He wouldn't come in when I asked him to." Haru replied as he took a sip from his cup.
"Why didn't you drag him in then?"
"He was too stubborn for his own good…"
She sighed before going over to the cupboards down the hallway by the bathroom. She took out two towels for him and walked over to the kitchen door that connected to the backyard. When she saw him, she felt even more heartbroken, to see him so useless in a way. She clutched onto the towels before taking a deep breath and walking out of the door and into the rain. She opened up one of the towels and draped it over his back.
Noticing something warm on his back, he turned to the source and came face to face with Sakura. "Sa-Sakura…"
"Please come inside, I don't want you to get sick." She smiled gently at him while holding out the other towel for him which he gratefully took.
"I won't come in if you don't want me to…"
She sighed and then held onto his arm, helping him get up from his kneeling position. "I want you to come in, and I don't want you to get sick, alright?" she offered him another smile although a bit of a sad one. He saw this and couldn't help but feel guilty, all the vibrant shine in her smile was gone, all because of him.
"I'm sorry, I didn't-" he tried to reason but got cut off by her.
"It's ok, let's just forget about it. Come on, before we both get sick." She cocked her head to the door and still slightly holding onto his shirt, she partly dragged him inside.
"Ano sa, ano sa…you're dripping wet…" Naruto spoke as he pointed at them.
"Thanks for stating the obvious Naruto…" Sakura spoke as she went to get another towel for herself.
"You're welcome." he smiled and went back to staring at Neji and Sasuke, back and forth. She sweat-dropped at his…stupidity…
"The bathroom is over there." She looked at the red head as she pointed over to the bathroom.
"You use it first." He spoke as he dried himself.
"No it's ok, I just need to change out of these clothes then I'll be fine, but you're soaking wet, so get in." he found himself slowly nodding before getting pushed in by her. She smiled before closing the door for him. Sakura sighed to herself before going up the stairs to change out of her wet clothes.
He looked around the bathroom before realizing he didn't bring any extra clothes. "Damn…" He went over to the door and opened it slightly. "Um, I didn't bring any clothes with me."
Haru looked over to where Gaara was and smiled. "What do you mean? You didn't pack anything with you?" the sand-nin nodded to him.
"It's ok, I'll let you borrow some of mine." Haru spoke as he got up from his seat and up the stairs to him room, it wasn't until a few minutes later he came back down with a set of clothes for him.
"Uh…it's exactly like yours." Gaara sweat-dropped as he looked at the bundle of clothes given to him.
"I know, isn't it cool? It's the only style of clothing that fits me so we can be like brothers or something!" Haru laughed to himself as he saw the reaction on Gaara's face.
'You gotta be joking me…I'm already a brother to a ramen eating demon…now I have to be a brother to a guy with no sense of style?' he sighed to himself before retreating back into the bathroom.
"What have I gotten myself into?"
"Ano sa, ano sa…Can I do that too?" Naruto smiled playfully at Haru before getting off his seat over to him.
"Sure!" Haru laughed as he went over to his room one more time. "I've got a cupboard full of these!"
"Hah! Me too! Of my own clothes of course!" he grabbed the clothes from Haru while Neji and Sasuke were in the living room thinking the exact same thing. 'These are the only clothes I have in my cupboard…' they sweat-dropped.
By the time Sakura came out of her own room and down the stairs, she found three people with the same clothing "Woah…", although Naruto was fine with the new change of clothes, she found the look of Gaara's face a little funny, he looked absolutely irritated by it.
Gaara kept on exchanging nervous glances with her as she cooked ramen for them, while Chiyako, Haru and Naruto chatted happily about the various types of ramen and how miso is better than any of them. Of course, it eventually turned into a debate between Haru with Chiyako and Naruto about how miso is better than chicken and vice versa, then shifting over to how Raku Raku Ramen is not as good as Ichiraku Ramen, commented by Naruto…and it obviously earned himself a kick on each shin by both Haru and Chiyako.
While…Naruto is limping around trying to pull a punch to the mist-nin and how he was trying to catch the little twerp, Neji and Sasuke just glared at each other.
"Ramen!" Sakura called out from the kitchen as she set down seven bowls of miso flavored ramen (requested by Chiyako earlier) on to the table. Naruto, Haru and Chiyako cheerfully slurped away as Sakura watched them with a hint of both shock and joy.
'What's with ramen? It's like they're gonna die without a daily dose of it…' Sakura thought to herself as she dug into her own bowl. Although, the rest didn't like ramen as much as the three, they didn't mind it if they ate it occasionally, not everyday until you get so sick of it, you wanna throw up every time you see even the slightest hint of ramen.
"Thank you for the food!" Naruto rubbed contentedly at his tummy and smiled like a child who had it's fill of candy.
"Me too! Thank you for the food!" Chiyako giggled as she set down her chopsticks on her bowl.
"I agree, thanks Sakura." Haru smiled at Sakura while the others nodded their appreciation.
"You're welcome, Chiyako, can you help me with the dishes?" Sakura asked as she gathered up al the bowls and chopsticks.
"Hai!"
"I can do it." Gaara offered as he got up from his seat.
"Um…you don't have to." She slightly panicked.
"I insist."
"Ok." She smiled while dumping the bowls and utensils into the sink and washing them.
Sakura absently washed the dishes while Gaara wiped them dry and placed them in their designated cupboards and drawers. During that time, they didn't exchange a word to each other, but occasionally brushing past his hands when she handed over the washed bowl to Gaara. She blushed whenever that happened. Once they were done, they went over to the living room to find a messenger from Konoha.
"Um, am I missing something here?" Sakura asked while staring at the ninja known as Gin.
"The back-up team you requested back in Sound is in need of help, Hokage-sama asked me to give you this mission." Gin told them as he handed the scroll of details over to them. "She also said that Haru and Sakura may come along."
"I can't go, I have to look after Chiyako. She got really angry the last time I left her alone." Haru told them as he smiled.
"I can go." Sakura confirmed as she got looks of worry from Naruto and the rest. "I can do it, seriously. I'm not the Sakura you once knew alright!"
"We didn't say that you couldn't do it." Naruto tried to defend himself.
"Yeah? But I could tell from the looks on your faces!" Sakura shouted out as she stomped up to her room to pack up. Naruto sighed before Neji asked, "When shall we leave?"
Gin replied with, "The sooner, the better. They might not hold out much longer."
"But Mist is a long way away from Sound, even furtherer than Konoha." Naruto spoke as he continued to look at the stairs that Sakura went up just seconds ago.
"We can get there in four days, give or take." Neji analyzed as he stared at the scroll.
"Thank you." Gin bowed and walked out of the door and ran out of sight.
"Do you think we can make it in four days?" Naruto asked as he stared at Neji unbelievingly.
"Give or take." Neji confirmed as he rolled up the scroll. "We'll leave either tonight or tomorrow morning."
"We'll leave right now." Sakura spoke as she came back down the stairs with her bag in tow.
"Sure you wanna do that?" Sasuke asked her.
"Positive."
You know how they always wear the same thing everyday? They must have like a drawer full of the same clothing! Wahahaha!
The end is coming…why? Because I got too many ideas stuck in my head and I really need to get it out…So be expecting something new soon. But then I also have to finish my other uncompleted fic…
OH DAMN!