New Revelations Chapter 6

Sakura hoped Naruto didn't notice the blush that had washed across her face. It would be too embarrassing for both of them to try and explain themselves.

Luckily, he shrugged and dismissed their behavior before sharing his choice ramen ingredients. "I like a little bit of everything in mine, beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, miso, barbeque pork and beef, lobster, crabmeat…"

Sakura stared at him in disbelief and disgust, "NARUTO! THAT'S PRACTICALLY ALL MEAT! YOU NEED VEGETABLES TOO YOU KNOW!" She waved her fist at him.

Gaara watched the scene with mild amusement. Sakura seemed to like telling Naruto what was what regardless of what Naruto thought. Usually whenever Kankurou tried something like that all Gaara had to do was stare at him before he'd back down. It was pathetic.

Naruto looked over at Gaara. "What about you Sand-man? What do you like on your ramen?"

"I really don't eat ramen." He deadpanned.

Naruto looked at him as if he had sprouted a third arm. "N-NO WAY!"

"I just don't care for it that much." He answered with a shrug. He glanced over at Sakura, who eyeballed him curiously.

Naruto's jaw dropped, he looked as though he could cry.

"To be honest I really don't care for it either." Sakura chimed in, only adding to Naruto's distress. She understood what Gaara's look meant. Right now he wanted her company and hers alone. Although it made her slightly nervous, it was better than suffering through an even more potentially awkward situation at Ichiraku.

"Sakura-chan, you too?" Naruto looked depressed. He sighed, "I guess I'll just go by myself then." He glanced up at them as though he expected them to feel bad and come along after all. They didn't.

Sakura stared and at him and thought for a moment, "Naruto we can meet up with you later, if you're going to make such a fuss."

The blonde boy's face lit up. "YOSH! It's a plan!" He turned on his heel and ran off in the direction of the ramen stand, yelling "See you guys later!" over his shoulder.

Gaara looked over at Sakura who was still staring at the dust trail Naruto had left behind. "Is he always like this?"

"Worse." She answered. It had begun. They were alone. Her heart started pounding in her chest. "Stop it!" She scolded herself. Inner Sakura took over. "He's looking at you! Say something! Anything…wait, definitely not anything…"

Gaara studied her unease. She didn't seem to like the idea of being alone with him at the moment, but she had still willingly declined Naruto's invitation, even though she knew this would happen. Her emotions were obvious from her face, to her stance, to the way her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides. "I can read you like a book you know." He stated.

"DAMMIT! BAKA!" Inner Sakura griped. She was a genius at chakra control, but what good was that if she couldn't mask her own emotions?

He had her now. "Weren't you the one who said you weren't afraid of me before?" His condescending manner was a piece of his personality that he allowed free reign from time to time to test the people around him, and Sakura was fitting for that purpose. Here was a girl who had claimed to understand him and withstand his company, but was visibly disturbed by him at the same time. Had she lied to him like Yashamaru too?

Sakura was frightened and angered by his statement. How dare he doubt her after everything she had said to him before! She wouldn't take back a word of it. "I meant everything I said to you before." Her eyes locked on his. "It's just that…" She faltered.

"Yes?" He urged, his arms crossed.

She began spilling her feelings in an almost incoherent manner, "It'sjustthatIdidn'tknowwhattosay, soIstartedthinkingandthenIwentblankandIdidn'tknowwhatyouwouldthink…and…." She paused, blushing fiercely. "That's pretty much it." "UGHH…YOU IDIOT!" Inner Sakura screamed.

Gaara raised an eyebrow at her. "That was it?" Women had such strange thoughts. He smirked suddenly, feeling a little sadistic. "That wasn't so hard now was it?"

Forgetting who she was with Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, which only amused him further.

He knew he wouldn't have let anyone get past him if they were looking at him like that, anyone but Sakura. She wasn't a threat, and it helped that she didn't run away from him like everybody else, well save some of the people in this village at least. She looked better when she was angry. She was studying under the Fifth Hokage, which meant she had to be somewhat talented. Perhaps she was holding back her real power. That had to be it. He could tell by the look in her eyes that there was the soul of a real fighter inside, begging to be recognized. Was he the same as her? Was there a side of him inside longing to be recognized?

Sakura regained her courage, and her features relaxed. "Do you want to go somewhere other than standing here in the middle of the road?" He was staring at her intently, and she wasn't sure what was going on in his head.

"What did you have in mind?" He replied, still holding his gaze, not really giving her an answer.

The shurinken was thrown back in her path. It was stupid of her to have expected him to have any idea of where he wanted to go, when she had no idea herself. To avoid another embarrassing confrontation she blurted out the first place that came to mind. "The park."

He nodded and followed her lead, eyes to the ground and arms still crossed.

It seemed strange for the two of them to be there when it was still light out. Sakura was used to the glow of the moon and the chirping of crickets that encircled the park at night. Gaara leaned against a tree.

"It's odd how we always end up here huh?" Sakura tried. It was stupid of her. Pointless small talk was not something Gaara would readily respond to.

"This was your idea, I merely went along with it." He answered coldly, as she predicted. This was not what he had in mind.

Sakura looked down at her feet for a moment. "Thanks for the save back there, Naruto can be, well, overwhelming sometimes." She smiled a little.

His response was warmer than his last. "It's alright." So she had noticed.

The park was littered with patches of small flowers. Sakura plopped down on the ground; legs crossed, plucked one up, and absent-mindedly began pulling off its petals.

Gaara stared at her. She looked like a picture of innocence, the complete opposite of him. Why would someone like her want to be anywhere near him?

"Because you deserve love just like anyone else." Her words came back to him. Was that truly her reasoning?

"I haven't done this since I was six or seven." Sakura smiled as she plucked off the last petal from the flower leaving only the stem.

At six or seven Gaara had already be stained with the blood of others, including his Uncle's, and branded a threat to the village.

Sakura stared at the bare flower stem between her fingers. "It looks kind of sad now that it's all alone."

"Of course it does, it has nothing left to it now, nothing that makes it pleasant to look at." Gaara commented.

Sakura looked over at him and then back at the stem with its bare bulb remaining. "True," She said as she plucked the bulb from the stem. She pulled out her kunai and used the blade to dig up a small patch of earth; she then set the bulb inside and covered it with the dirt. "But now it has a second chance at life."

End of Chapter 6

So much for this not being a fluffy chapter…oh well there will be others. I wasn't expecting to end this chapter here, but after reading through the whole thing several times I decided this would be a decent place to end it. Kind of cutting it short, but I didn't want to risk adding a ton of unnecessary crap that would ruin whatever it is I'm trying to do here. It was bad enough when I had Naruto ask Gaara what he liked on his ramen, I kept thinking of those Tombstone frozen pizza commercials. "What do you want on your Tombstone?" Gaara thinks for a moment. "Pepperoni and cheese." Then I started wondering why anyone would want a brand of pizza named after a gravestone? So pump me full of your opinions and whatnots, I can take it! (NO SHE CAN'T!) SHUT UP BRAIN! Read and review!