The Truth About Fire and Ashes

A/N: Thank you for reading and reviewing, you guys are the best. Another short one, I'm afraid. But I had to end it at the point that I did.

Ch.3

When Sakura awoke, she noticed how she had not been moved from the hallway carpet. It was funny, she thought dazedly, how you noticed the small things as you came to from being scared to death. The textbooks didn't mention this. Sitting up proved a hefty challenge, maneuvering herself up halfway she looked around, wondering what time of day it was. Eye sight fuzzy, she blinked rapidly, until her mind seemed to function normally and memories came into existence.
Springing to her feet, stars spun in front of her eyes, and she took a step to hit the wall in blinded confusion. Curing under her breath and brushing the hair out from her eyes, things came into focus slowly from her head rush. Stumbling forward, Sakura's breath suddenly hitched in her throat.
It was almost as if the kitchen was like as it was when she first arrived here.
Only worse.
Everything was smashed, and boards were strewn out over the floor like a child who throws his clothes around his room. Sand was spread out everywhere, frozen like a sheet of ice. Large holes and knives fancied themselves upon the wall she painted just days ago. One window was tattered, it's newborn edges capturing the sunlight that wasn't so warm anymore.
And in the middle of this was Gaara, the calm of the storm, sitting with his knees tucked into his chest, chin resting atop them. One hand spread itself along the floor, the fingers white from strain. The other covered his forehead, digging into his rich, stained red hair.
Sakura stuttered, her legs apart for balance. Maybe it was the lingering dizziness, or the hammer that was only a few feet away, or the fact that she hadn't taken her shower yet. Whatever it was, it made her angry. Why! Why... did you do it? What did I ever do to you! I helped you, I helped you! I worked so hard for you, I tried, and I...I even...I thought...just because, just because you got upset, you forget everything and everyone else! There are people, who care about you!
She couldn't see Gaara turn his head over her blur of tears.
There are people, who think the world of you! And you're willing to throw that all away, just because, just because, you're upset about something! How could you do something like that? How could you...after all we've been through, how could you do that to me, Sasuke!
She would've turned and ran but sand had gathered around her legs and began to pull. She started to yell and scream, but she was lifted into the air and thrown unto the ground in front of him bluntly, sand tying around her arms and legs like rope. Fear and confusion and anger flooded and overdrove her system, and she could only look helplessly into his eyes, that were so human it contradicted his existence. He said cooly,
I'm not Sasuke.
She stopped struggling for a second, and remembered the sand, and remembered what happened to the kitchen, and shuddered.
I am Gaara. He added after a beat, of the Desert.
Pain shot through her body just now from the blow of being thrown. Wincing, she couldn't analyze anything as she was so caught up. The tears became dry on her cheeks, and finding Gaara's gaze again, she replied a bit more evenly,
I know.
You don't. He insisted, his knees still drawn up.

You don't.
You're not making any sense! How can I understand you when you don't talk at all!
You don't know me. The sand constricted around her limbs, but Sakura held her breath and stayed still as Gaara's fingers tightened into a fist. You think I did this.
She replied, carefully, and began to breathe as the sand fell to the ground.
You should. Came the reply, which made Snow Country seem as warm as a desert. Precisely, he stood, and was gone, and it wasn't the sand around her that kept Sakura frozen there.

It took awhile, but Sakura finally stood up on legs that might have been Jell-O for all she knew. She thought she had told herself enough times to be careful, but apparently just then she couldn't keep her mouth shut. Looking around at the wreckage, she didn't feel like rebuilding all over again. But it wasn't as if she could just sit here, either.
So, threading her way through the litter of boards and twisted metal, she went into the bathroom and turned the water on. She could hear the wind and dirt whip savagely outside. As the hot water slipped off her skin and the steam suffocated her, Sakura was confused to the fact why she was still able to breathe.

Three hours later Sakura walked out into the kitchen with a clear head and somewhat easier stride. She was hungry, and she was pecking around trying to find a paper bag somewhere. It wasn't until three minutes of prodding she realized there was no paper bag, there was no food, and there was no Gaara.
It took her three seconds for her to understand, and three milliseconds for her to frown.
But she couldn't figure out, why exactly, she was so upset.
Grasping the doorknob that gleamed eerily in the soft light, the door felt heavier than her hand guiding it as she stepped through.

Shielding her face with her arm, and choosing wisely not to breathe through her mouth once she was outside, Sakura leaped up to where Gaara usually lurked on the tile top. Coughing as she stood there, and ignoring the small pebble that hit her neck, she noted Gaara wasn't there. Covering her eyes with one hand for an entire different reason, Sakura made it down to the ground blindly, wondering if that's what she's been doing this whole time.

She didn't sleep that night, her stomach growling kept her up. Drinking water constantly to fill her stomach, Sakura waited in the hallway, the space in-between the wreckage and her room, which wasn't really her room at all. She speculated, roughly, that it was around four in the morning when Gaara crept through the door. The faded, morning light was enough to make the blood that drenched his body glisten despite the sand that clotted it.
Sakura didn't say one word, even as he stalked past her, the reek of death trailing in his wake. It wasn't until she heard the click of his door that she let herself gag and get up to walk everything out of her system. Feeling tired, it might've been what compelled her to trip over a piece of wood and hit the ground with a thud.
But the pain Sakura felt amounted nothing to her surprised astonishment.
Sitting squarely right in front of her face was a paper bag.
It smelled like ramen.

Sakura would've asked him what happened, but she pretty much figured it out. After all, she had seemed to forgotten it was Gaara she was dealing with. But something about him didn't seem right. He avoided her, and for the period of three days she didn't see him. Also, looking her in the eye, or even pretending to listen to what she said didn't happen anymore. Not that, really, she talked to him after that one morning.
But today, he came home early, setting the paper bag down himself just as she was coming downstairs from the living room.
I thought...you changed. She murmured, the words escaping her throat before she could stop them. At first, Sakura thought he didn't hear her because he had no response, but as she grasped the bag he said,
You don't know.
And Sakura, fear riveting through her veins, retorted,
That's because you've never told me anything.
Sand quivering dangerously on the ground. Gaara looked as if he were about to say something, but of course, didn't. His char coal eyes sunk shut as he turned away. She heard something drop as he left, and when she came over to inspect it, she dropped the paper bag, stunned.
On the ground was a legendary kantana, wrapped perfectly in a long tongue that should've belonged to a human.
But did.