Birthdays Past
Chapter 6: Authority's Priority (where do I come up with these stupid titles?)
By: Vampire Toy
PG 13 (Just in case)
Disclaimer: Me no own ;;
"Talking"
(Inner Sakura) – Eh, well, I got some advice on italics, but my box thingie in 'preview' doesn't have an italics sign/thing so this will have to do, thanks tho! ;
:Sound effect:
I….cant….believe….that…. just…. happened!
(:gurgle:)
"Urr, well, I'm glad you lived." Temari broke the silence as we walked down the hall.
"Eh."
"Until you find your friends, I think you should stay near my room. Use my bathroom from now on….you'll be able to know your in the right bathroom by the color of the towels, mine's yellow ok?"
"Yellow…"
"Sakura are you listening? My bathroom has yellow towels in it, you use that bathroom."
"I heard you…I'm just…well…"
"Its ok…erm, well, I hope your uh…ok…."
"I-I'll be fine I mean, its just another body."
(That makes me sound like a whore!)
"I-I mean, you know, he's a guy and I'm a girl and I-"
"I know what you meant." Temari gave a slight nod and a smirk (this family never stops smirking….). "Listen, I'm off for now, I have something I need to check on. Your guest room has been set up for you and is six doors down to you left. If you don't want to venture without help you may stay in my room tonight."
"Ok…thank you." (The Sand Nins have gotten nicer….well, I'd hope they would after that chaotic battle…)
"Your guest room has a bathroom as well but its in the remodeling stages so you'll, like I said before, come in here."
"Ok…"
"Hmmn."
Temari got up and left, the kind air around her was gone almost as soon as it'd come.
(Well, lets try be sympathetic, their village lost to mine so they're bitter. It makes sense…at least they're kinda trying…) and I should be nice no matter what, because they DID take me in and not kill me (that's always a plus).
I waited until Temari was gone and stood up, I grabbed the clothes she'd brought for me and peeked shyly into the hall. I still had on only a towel and didn't want anymore surprises. (It looks ok, besides, Gaara's showering now) yeah, showering (OMG you saw him naked) STOP THAT! (Well, he saw you naked too…) STOP IT STOP IT! (….He wasn't too bad to look at) ARGGLEEEEEE! (Ok no more thinking…)
:BLUSH:BLUSH:
(Hey wait, my stuff! Its still in Gaara's room!) I hope he doesn't throw it out….those were all my gifts from my friends….should I try go get it? (No way! NAKED! Erm, after you put on your clothes it'd probably be better to try….) hopefully he wont be in his room then…
:BLUSH:
(EEK! Stop thinking about him! Its weird!) ok, think about….my friends! Yes, I have to find them! I wonder why they're not here already though? I was sure Ino told them to be here by today…. (well, they're probably around, just not when you looked) that could be it….but its too late to go out now, so I'll look again tomorrow (so about your stuff…) eh….ok I'll get dressed, peek into the room, if he's still in the shower then I can grab my stuff cause I threw em on his bed….if he's there…then I run back here as fast as I can and hope I don't die (HE WAS NAKED) Stop that!
After I got dressed and let my hair dry for a few minutes, I decided to try check on my things. I got up and tiptoed down the hall; his door was closed but I decided to try anyway,
"Gaara?"
Silence
"Gaara?"
Silence
(It's safe! Run in and grab your stuff! Go now before he comes back!)
I burst the door open and dashed inside, but froze in mid run when I noticed my clothes weren't where I left them, neither were my gifts….in fact I couldn't see them anywhere! I scanned the room and froze again.
"Why do you keep feeling the need to bother me?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
(AGAIN! AGAIN! WHYYY!)
Gaara apparently just got out of the shower and was, yet again, naked.
"SORRY! SORRY! SORRY!" I screamed running out but I hitting the wall instead. I stumbled back, then ran out the right way in even more embarrassment.
I can't believe this! The SECOND TIME! He'll kill me for sure now! Aahhh! Why? Why? Why!
(BECAUSE YOUR STUPID! AND YOU RAN INTO A WALL! THAT'S WHY!) I ran into a wall ;;
(YEAH you did!)
And he must've thrown out my stuff! I didn't see it anywhere!
(:SOB:)
I ran into my guest room and shut the door quickly. (Like that's gonna help…..hello, he controls SAND..)
"I am stupid."
(I think its 'I ARE stupid…'….) I cant even be stupid right….(now don't get yourself down anymore than you already are, listen, just stay in your room until tomorrow and everything will be ok…) what about my gifts? (….your friends will understand…) so my birthdays just really suck….(yeah pretty much…)
:SIGH:
I pulled back the covers and hopped in; I'll leave tomorrow, no matter what….besides, they should DEFINETLY be here by tomorrow (just go to sleep, don't even think…just, sleep…)
:Clack:
(….?)
:Clack:
What….? (probably nothing…)
:Clack:Clack:Clack:Creeeaaaak:
"Ok who's there!" I sat up immedietly, pulling the sheets tightly around me and watching the door nervously (Wait, that didn't come from the door……) my head turned slowly towards the window and I froze.
"Hello."
My voice was caught in my throat and I only stared in shock as Itachi walked over to my bedside. The inside of my chest tightened to the point where it was hard to breath and I felt the hostile air around him send a chill down my spine, forcing me to stay in place.
(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH:Cough:)
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
"Don't shout, or I'll kill you."
"………" (Sounds reasonable…)
"Good…now what was that? What do I want?"
(….I hope he's not waiting for a reply…..)
"You should know that by now."
"……" (Sasuke? Of COURSE I know! Everyone knows….but that wasn't what my question was refferring to you little-)
"But I decided to make a little detour."
(And do what! Poke Sakura until she falls over then go back out the window?)
"Hmm, this is rather boring, talking to myself, you may speak….but if you scream or talk too loud, I'll cut your head off."
(…..sadist…..)
"Sasuke-kun isnt here! Your wasting your time!" I hissed softly. (And yet you want to get yourself killed? Don't be mean to people stronger than you!)
"I'm not here for Sasuke, I'll get him later."
"W-why are you here then?"
"Hmm…." Itachi began circling me, walking to the other side of my bed then back.
(WHATS HE DOING:fizz: ack, pull yourself together! He's not after Sasuke-kun right now, there's a good thing….)
"You don't seem to be particularly strong….in fact your chakara right now tells me your extremely weak…"
(Thaaaanks)
"Why on earth…would he pick someone like you?"
"Wh-what? Who?" (Gaara? Picked me for something? Is that it?)
"My brother you dolt."
"…….." (Sasuke-kun? Ok…what did HE pick me for and why don't I know about this…?)
"Hmm, there must be SOMETHING about you he likes."
"Sasuke-kun! N-no! I-" (he thinks we're dating! I wish…) "We're not….dating or anything….we're just friends…."
Itachi stopped and looked me in the eye for a few minutes making cold shivers run down my back instinctivly; his eyes seemed so empty and lifeless; he would most definetly not hesitate to kill me right now if he felt like it.
"So its all going according to plan then?"
"…."
"Yes, I think so….what a waste his existence is; he cant even rekindle any social skills. He'll never get what he wants, don't you agree?"
"No!" (SHUT UP SAKURA!) "He's got friends! Lots of them! Naruto, me, and all the other teams! So what if he doesn't have a girlfriend? Neither do you! You don't even have FRIENDS!" (Ok, that last part….uneccessary, why? Because he's a cold blooded psycopath! He doesn't NEED a girlfriend OR friends….and overall you shouldn't have opened your mouth…..IDIOT! He'll kill you now for sure!)
"I don't, I don't….hmm, that's an interesting thought though…..do you know how much pain it would bring him if I took you?"
"He…doesn't….care about me….in that way…" my heart stung; to say that out loud was making my heart beat faster and my head woozy.
I cant believe I'm saying this….when did I NOT realize…(wait! The point of your love for him is to GET him to return your feelings! Maybe now you mean nothing but soon you might! I mean…he gave you that ring….that Gaara threw away ;;)
"How sad."
(For me or for him?)
"I'm off now…but I'll find you again. Don't run, because I'll catch you."
"What! Why are you coming back!"
"To see you of course."
"WHY!"
"Because….." he stopped by the window and turned to me with a deranged grin spread over his face, "….you're my girlfriend."
"WHAT!"
"Shush, you best not tell anyone about this little visit…besides, Kakashi's right, Sasuke may find out and make it easier for him to find me, that delays the shock. Don't spoil my fun now." And with that he leaped out the window into the darkness.
(…..he was there too…? WATCHING ME!)
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHY! ARG!"
:hic:
Don't cry Sakura
:Sniffle:
:hic:
(I cant believe this…..he cant be serious, how can that hurt Sasuke if he probably doesn't even have feelings for me?) fresh tears slid down my cheeks, slowly one by one before I began shaking and wailing softly.
"My :hic: life…. sucks." (Not many people get to say that and mean it…) I don't wanna mean it.
I sobbed louder and stuffed my head into the pillow, refusing to remind myself that earlier I'd already screamed and probably woken up the entire Sand Village.
I cried harder, holding myself and trying to drown out my whines with the pillows or sheets, wrapping them tightly around myself as my chest began feeling tighter from the crying.
When it seemed forever had passed, I took in a deep shakey breath, rolling onto my back and resting the crook of my arm over my eyes.
(Don't worry) why not? (Well….think about it, there's no way he can force that title on you) what title? (Girlfrined! That one!) Itachi….(Listen, he said he wanted Sasuke to find him on his own; if he were to do anything to try show you were his girlfriend then he'd have to have Sasuke see him for it to hurt Sasuke!) that idiot (and besides, it deosnt matter if he SAYS you're his girlfriend, you know your not) right!
I wonder what time it is? (random?….look) I don't want to I'm finally cozy….(then don't think about the time). I sighed and closed my eyes, removing my arm and lying still for a few seconds before rolling over to the bedstand next to me, opening my eyes to see if there was an alarm clock present. No, nothing even similar to a clock or watch. My eyes scanned the dark room; the full moon was still shining through my open window so I could vaguely note what was around me…the, door to the bathroom in-progress, the door that led to the hall, closet door, a chair, a desk, the nightstand, my bed, the window….no clock.
I muttered some swear words and grumbeld to myself about how I wouldn't be able to know what time to leave. I closed my eyes and lay my head back down, wiping the remainder of my stray tears away with the back of my hand.
(Wait….)
My eyes shot open; I could've sworn I saw something in the moonlight that was just a little out of the ordinary for my room (What was that?) I hope its not Itachi…..i tried to be inconspicuous by lifting my head only slightly to scant he room again.
An eyeball? Floating in front of me was an eyeball! It was watching me! How long had it been there! WHO'S was it! My body was too phycially and emotionally tired to scream yet again and I kept watching the eye to see if it would move or maybe go away as a figment of my imagination.
"So your up."
(EEEK! It speaks!)
"It must have been you then."
(Gaara? Ech, I'm going insane!)
"W-what?"
"You screamed."
(talk about delayed reaction, how long ago was that?)
I saw Gaara's outline then his full image appeared with the grains of sand around him. He sat on the headboard at the foot of my bed, his feet planted on either side of mine and him leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. I studied him silently using the moons light to point out his now stronger features; he'd grown a lot since the last time I'd seen him. (YEAH he did….)
:BLUSH: NO! Stop thinking about it! (But you saw him naked! TWICE! You have to think about it! Its human anture) NOOO!
"S-s-sorry…a-about the s-scream…"
"I came to see what was wrong."
(…? Should I reply to that?)
"I'm fine…."
:BLUSH: STOP IT! (You shouldn't be so worked up! I mean, obviously he wasn't! look! No reaction of the sort!
I lowered my eyes for a moment but ended up looking back up in a flash because my eyes would wander lower and lower…
"I have your things."
"You do? I-I mean, I'm s-sorry for leaving them in your room…. Kazekage."
"Where'd you get them?"
I hope he doesn't wanna wear them OO (Don't let your mind wander! I swear, you see a guy naked twice and your entire state of mind changes….)
"I…got them for my birthday…" (great, more unpleasant things to remember…your birthday forgotten!)
"When?"
"Today….this morning."
"Your birthday was today?"
"….No."
"…."
"Yesterday…it was yesterday."
"So you get your gifts today?"
"Erm, they didn't get a chance to see me until today…"
"They forgot?"
(OO)
"I see."
"W-wait! It's none of your business!"
"Hnnphf, you're in my house and in my village; everything you do is my business."
"No! I …."
"You have a lot of jewelry."
"Yeah…urm…I like jewelry…"
"Temari does too. I got it for her birthday last time."
(Ok… is he….trying to make conversation?) It makes sense, I mean….I've heard he's changed a lot…. (Besides, now that you're dead awake, he has something to do….) That's right, he's an insomniac; now that he's on a role…should I try continuing the conversation? (You're not getting to sleep anytime soon….)
"What did you get her?"
"Something like this." He held up the my chains, "Only the chains were smaller." He tossed them to me and I let them fall into my lap.
(Hey! He's giving my stuff back:JOY:)
"What kind of charm did it have on it?"
"A heart."
"That's sweet."
I was greeted then with a long pause of uncomfortable silence, making me shift cautiously. I reached out to pick up the retched chains but Gaara's sand grabbed them first.
"Who gave you these?"
My throat closed up and my hand dropped slowly back in my lap. He looked at me for a response but when realizing I wouldn't speak, he placed the chains gently on my bed stand.
"You didn't like them then."
"Not particularly." (Don't share too much…)
"What about this?"
"That's a hair barrette." I said referring to Choji's gift.
"How do you wear it? Temari doesn't have one…I don't think Kankuro does either."
(I should hope not…Kankuro and a butterfly barrette….NO! STOP! No more thoughts….)
"Well, you put it in your hair and it holds it out of your eyes and looks nice."
"Put it on." He handed it to me.
"I…uh, well…umm…" I slowly pulled back a few strands of hair from my face and clipped the butterfly barrette into place.
"Tada."
He gave an approving nod and I couldn't help but giggle slightly. I was positive now that he was purposely keeping me up to try start a conversation, but he was still trying to intimidate me. At this point, however, I was so tried and confused that he just looked like any other guy to me, except….he was Gaara…..that simple fact just made him a little more special than just any other guy I could be stuck talking to in the middle of the night.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing…you're just…. I dunno."
"…?"
"I like you Gaara. I didn't think I would but your ok."
He was obviously surprised by my comment and gave me a confused look that slowly turned into a content and calm expression.
"You seem to me a suitable person as well."
(Eh? Suitable? Eh….what's that supposed to mean…?)
"This, who gave you this?" he changed the subject quickly and held up the blossom-shaped locket.
"That? Its from Naruto and Hinata."
"It's a locket."
"Yeah…"
"You put pictures in it, don't you?"
Yeah, one side you put your picture and the other side you put a picture of your boyfriend/girlfriend."
"Its empty." He mumbled fiddling with the little latch.
"W-well I just got it and…" :BLUSH: "I….don't have a boyfriend…." (:SIGH:)
"Hmmm, so that man wasn't your boyfriend?"
"WHAT? What man!"
"The one with the long hair; he was in your window…"
"You SAW that!" AAAH! What if he tells Sasuke-kun Itachi was here! (He's not too sociable, he may be talking to you now but I don't think he'll go out of his way to deliver random information).
"Yes, I was coming to give you your things….you don't like him….so he must be the one who gave you the chains?"
my heart began beating faster again and the entire room seemed to go below freezing.
"Yes."
"….What is it about him….that is making you so uncomfortable?"
…What do I say? …(tell him) WHAT! (He wont tell anyone, besides, right now you two seem to be on somewhat friendly terms and you cant change the fact that he saw Itachi and heard who-knows how much of the conversation…..)
"He's evil, he's a horrible person who did horrible things and….you shouldn't let him near your house…he's very dangerous…"
"I'm sure I could easily defeat him."
"Just….forget it. Just know he shouldn't be here…but no body is supposed to know he's here so that no body panics."
"They'll only panic if he's well known…"
"He's a terrorist."
"What's his name?"
"…..Do you have any of my other things?"
"What's his name?"
"…Because I would really like them back…"
"His name?"
"…." Is he ever going to stop with that? (Well Itachi might be a threat to his village; of course he'd want to know who it is…)
"Itachi."
"What's this book about?"
(Oh so NOW we change subject!) "Er, its advice…astrology."
"From who?"
"Shikamaru."
"That boy who fought my sister?"
"Yeah."
He handed me the book then took out the last two of my things, the bracelet from Shino and the ring from Sasuke.
"These, who are they from?"
"The bracelet is from Shino and…." :BLUSH: (Oh stop being so childish! You don't know if Sasuke meant anything behind it…) "…the ring is from Sasuke…."
"Hnm."
(Oh, he sounds angry, urr…well Sasuke did almost kick his butt….) He handed me the ring and studied the small charms on the bracelet.
"You're not on here."
"Oh…uh…well I…my friends are on it, that's all that matters."
"I don't have a gift for you."
"Oh!" (ur…..:blush:) "No, its fine, a lot of people….didn't even know it was my birthday…." (Yes I'm admitting you were right the first time Gaara…)
"Well….the Sand and Leaf Villages are allied now."
"Yeah…?" (What does that have to do with anything?)
"That means we're friends too right?"
:BLUSH: (He…is…so…cute….NO WAIT!)
"Umm, y-yeah…I guess if you want to be…"
he gave a nod and looked over the bracelet again.
"You should be on here."
"Um…its really ok."
"Goodnight."
(Huh? He's leaving already? Hey! I can't sleep either! Why leave me now?) I guess I'm boring him….
And with that he was off in a huge gust of sand.
"ECH!"
:Cough:cough:
"Warning next time! WARNING!"
:Cough:
(Oh great now there's sand in my hair again….and in various other places :sigh: why does he have to make such a dramatic exit all the time?……HEY HE STILL HAS MY BRACELET!)
Vampire Toy: Greetings humans, sorry for that sucky chapter, but hope you enjoyed it anyway just because it was really stupid. I've been having some school troubles and my GPA is very low so I also apologize for my now slower updates.
Some people have been saying that Gaara was OOC but please keep in mind this is from Sakura's POV and also I think Gaara's a very proud and arrogant person, I'm not saying he would go striding downt he streets naked but he probably isnt bothered if one person sees him naked (after all he could just kill them) besides, he thinks her reactions were amusing and now he wants to see what else she can do XP. Hope that helps, if you still think he's too OOC lemme know and I'll change everything around, I don't want anyone to be confused. Oh, and again, Itachi was being really nice to Sakura that one time because he was trying to make her trust him, he needed to get to Sasuke and decided if he did it in a suttle unnoticable way then he wouldn't get caught (wrong wrong wrong). So if he seemed OOC, that's because he was TRYING to be OOC. Besides, he's fascinated by Sakura because he thinks she's Sasuke's girlfriend. XP silly Itachi. Then of course there's that 'I'm older, my brother can't have prettier things than me…..:takes runs away: yeah…ok nn' stopping…
Ok, now the issue of the alliences, someone told me that the Sand and Leaf were now allied, don't worry, I know that nn but just because they're allied doesn't mean they have to like each other. Its like Britain and France…or the USA and France, alliences but they don't like each other , thank you for the concern though!
Well I hope that clears some things up, I'm trying really hard to keep everyone in char. and the plot flowing nicely. Now, sicne there's practically a tie between Gaara and Sasuke, we'll have a little rivalry until I decide or an excessive amount of people vote for a certain couple, decide which you think correspond better with each other...eh, as in the relationship you wanna see. whadda ya say? nn' whelp it sounds good in my head. Itachi has more of a purpose than just Sakura's creepy hot stalker, yes, a bigger purpose! Of course he still wants to fight Sasuke but why not kill two birds with one stone XP And next chapter we find out what happened to the others! And possibly who attacked them…bum, bum, bum…..
R &R and flames welcome, BTW: I did more art for this fic, if you click on my homepage you should get to my art gallery, I did 3 pics for this story so far, one of Sakura when she first runs into Kiba, another of when Sakura first finds the chains outside her window, and the latest one, a mini comic scene from when Sakura and Gaara caught each other in the nude XP enjoy. And I'd love to see if anyone else did fanart from this story, it boosts my ego, but I'm not forcing you so, eh, email me if links don't work or something :smile: