Birthdays Past
Chapter 7: Old rivals, New enemies
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 woke up the next morning when a gust of sand swacked me in my face. I shot up screaming 'Gaara!' and fell out onto the floor face first my butt in the air.
"Argg….." I looked up and saw the window was still open and that sand was blowing in from outside. (Idiot learn to close your windows after PSYCHOS come for a visit…)
"Now what?"
"Uh?" :BLUSH: Eeep! Composure! "Gaara!"
"Yeah?"
I sprung up and straightened out the clothes I was wearing (Oh yeah, I'm wearing Temari's clothes…no wonder the shirt is hanging so low…..wait…was it hanging this low ALL last night!) :BLUSH: I pulled up the shirt slightly and looked up at Gaara who gave me another smirk.
EEK! Was he looking down my shirt? (No….maybe….am I wearing a bra?) Huh? (Oh…no I don't think so…) ACK! So Itachi AND Gaara got an eyeful last night! (Well, you don't really have any boobs anyway…) that's not the point!
"Ahem…you…. hollered?"
"I-I'm sorry….a…. I mean, sand kinda…came in my window and I thought it was you…"
Gaara's expression went curious and thoughtful then he flashed a quick smile before crossing his arms and looking away.
(HE SMILES! Ahh…he's so much cuter when he smiles, he should smile more……..what am I thinking! I got bout half an hour of sleep….that's it…)
"What was that smile for?"
"Hnm, here." He tossed something at me and I barely caught it. (I declare that on this morning, my reflexes are that of a rock)
"Huh?"
"Your bracelet…. breakfast is ready."
I looked at he bracelet then up at Gaara who turned around quickly and walked out.
Was…he…..BLUSHING? (Your eyes…..are also about as sharp as a round rock…..just….go take a well deserved shower) Ah yes! And Gaara just now, he was already dressed! That means that I have no chance of running into him in ANY shower! (But we're still just using Temari's) YEAH!….Wait…where are my clothes!
"GAARA!"
I ran out the door into the hall and looked around. Where was he! He only left a second ago! (He probably used his sand…)
"Yes…?"
"AHH!" I swung around to see him in the doorway.
"…."
"I-uh, I mean…umm…sorry for calling you again, but I have a reason this time! I-I my…."
"Clothes?"
"Yeah."
He watched me for a moment in, what looked like, amusement, and I felt a blush creep over my cheeks. He smirked and waved his hand, making the sand swirl around him.
"I'll bring them to you, they're drying. I assume your going to go take a shower?" his grin got bigger.
(OMG) :BLUSH:BLUSH:BLUSH:
"Yeah…" Eeek! What's he thinking! (I guess he was affected by the shower thing too…..) Is THAT what you call it?
"You'll be in Temari's shower?"
"Y-yes…" my stomach let out a loud grumble. :BLUSH: (Crap….this is really…)
"Then, like I said, breakfast is ready."
"Right…"
"And…..Happy…..Birthday….umm, belated."
"Oh! Uh, thanks Gaara."
He nod and disappeared with his sand, leaving me to shake away my blush and the grains that sprinkled into my hair from his exit.
:SIGH:
(Ok…shower….get it right this time! We don't want another episode….) right, lets see, yellow towels! (Yeah, and you came from the left the last time, so Temari's room must be that way)
I walked slowly trying to remember the right way to Temari's room, I hadn't paid much attention because I was in shock earlier, but I could relocate most of the information in my mind.
(Well, you got your bracelet back, you're getting your clothes back…and your finally gonna get to eat!) I'm starved, I haven't eaten anything since the fish that Sasuke-kun caught!) Sasuke-kun…..(yeah! After your revitalized you can go find your friends!) Sounds good.
I looked down at my bracelet Gaara had given back to me and smiled contently as I flipped through the tiny figures.
(Hey wait a minute…)
I grabbed two of the figures lightly between my fingers; they weren't there before, and they were differently colored form the others. Hey! They're Gaara and…..me? Gaara! He must've put these on here! It explains the color difference; they're made of sand!
I didn't know he had it in him to do something so…. (sweet?….) :BLUSH:
(I hope this means things are looking up) yeah, well….don't jinx yourself….
After a long shower I walked out of the bathroom into Temari's room (with a towel on) and gave a sigh of relief when I saw my clothes neatly placed on her bed. I looked around cautiously; I wasn't too thrilled at the thought of being caught naked again; the door was closed and the window was too dark to see out of, so I dressed quickly.
Wait, its dark outside? I could've sworn it was at least 8:00 AM mid-spring, the sun should be up at LEAST by now!
I rushed to the window and flung it open, only to be greeted by a gust of wind and sand. I shut the window frantically and coughed, trying not to choke on the grains that'd whirled into my mouth.
I JUST took a shower! (Ugh, and now its in your hair again….) Well, it doesn't matter; I'll get another shower when we get back to the Leaf…
"It's a sandstorm."
"What?" I spun around and calmed when I saw it was Gaara.
"A sandstorm?" (Duh, you're in the desert, YES, it's a sandstorm…)
"It started this morning around five."
(Explains me waking up to a sand attack…)
"Oh…" (Wait! That means….Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Ino! All my friends, are they trapped in the sandstorm? Are they ok?)
"Come, you're hungry."
"Oh…yeah…um…how hard is it to travel through sandstorms?"
"You don't travel through sandstorms."
"…what about one like this? Is this a really bad one?"
"….."
"W-what? What's that look?"
"Your friends wouldn't be able to find my village in this storm, let alone get through it."
"B-but…" (Sasuke-kun…Ino…. I'm already unsure if they're even ok! The others…I haven't heard from them at all! They HAVE to be in the village by now! At least in the village…)
"Eat breakfast, the storm may pass by the time you're through."
"Ok…"
A gust of sand whirled around me suddenly and I let out a surprised cry before realizing that it was only Gaara taking me to the breakfast table.
(Ack, I wish he'd stop that! Or at least warn me!)
I was dropped in the kitchen (I assumed it was the kitchen) in front of a table where Temari and Konkuro had obviously already eaten. Their dirty plates and half-empty glasses were sitting scattered over the counter and I looked around curiously, wondering if there was any food left for me.
"What do you eat?" Gaara said from behind me.
"Food." (Hnn, you're getting too comfortable around him!)
"I assumed."
I turned to face him and saw him filling a plate for me.
"You haven't eaten for a while, here."
"Thank you…" (STUFF IT ALL IN YOU MOUTH!) I can't do that; I'll only be embarrassing myself AGAIN! (But…FOOD) If I don't eat slowly my stomach will hurt anyway.
(Fine. Hmmpf.)
I walked over the dirty table and pushed aside some of the plates to put mine down. I ate slowly as I thought over how to find my friends.
(Wait, you know what you COULD do? Ask Gaara to take you through the sandstorm! He could easily get through it!)
I gradually began eating faster until everything in my plate was gone and stuffed in my mouth, then I jumped up, fed and determined.
"Gaara!"
"I'm still here."
(Eeep! So he was watching me eat? Eh…)
"Err, can you…take me through the storm to look for my friends?"
"…."
"Come on! I know you can do it! With your sand protecting us and….please?"
"….We only search the city, nothing outside of it."
"Uh…ok…" (What's up with him? He's suddenly PMS'ing or something….)
He grabbed my hand and yanked me towards him, making me stumble and fall into him.
"Eh! Sorry-" :BLUSH: But I wasn't given a chance to pull away before the sand completely engulfed us and there was only darkness.
(How are we supposed to look for them if we can't see anything!) Well maybe I should've thought about that before asking….
A slight glimmer of light caught my eye and I turned to see Gaara had made a thin shield of sand so we could see into the sandstorm and still be protected.
(Heh, no more underestimating him….besides, this is HIS terrain, of course he'd know what to do…)
"Who are we looking for?"
"Oh, uh… Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Choji, Shikamaru, Ino, and Sasuke-kun….they shoulda-YIKE!"
Gaara was still holding my hand and had tightened his grip when I mentioned Sasuke.
"Sorry." He said.
"Uh…..that's ok…" (OWWWW……) he loosened his grip but didn't let go of my hand.
(Well if he lets go, you'll probably fall out into the sandstorm or into the shield….) Hey I'm still really close to him…. (Uh…so?) Well its kinda weird….I mean our bodies are a little too close……(oh yeah you know what he looks like under those pants…) STOP THAT!
I tried to move so that our bodies wouldn't press together so tightly but slipped clumsily in Sasuke's big sandals and spun around falling with my back into him.
(A little better…..at least you can see what he sees now….)
"Walk with me."
"Oh, right…which way?"
Being so close was making moving difficult, we'd have to walk in sync with each other so that neither of us would fall into the shield or into the storm.
"Where did you last see them?"
"Well….S-…er...Ino was at the outskirts of the forest before it enters the desert…." (Heh, you're not crushing my hand this time…) "I'm pretty sure the two of em' should've come in where I did….seeing as I went the opposite way from where they were located…"
"You mentioned the forest, I know which direction that is."
"That'd be…?"
"Left."
"Ok." I carefully moved in front of him, both of us cramped and moving together.
This is weird, he must think so too!
(Well, he's never had to travel with someone else before like this….I think…..)
"What's that?"
"Huh?" I squint trying to see through the gusts of wind and sand. I saw black bundled figures in some type of pass way in between two large cliff faces. I remembered this being where I'd fallen into the Sand Village, but I didn't recall anything else being where I'd fallen.
"We have to go closer! I can't see through the sand!"
We moved closer and closer and I almost flew through the shield when I saw who it was.
"Sasuke-kun!-OWW!" (AGAIN with my HAND!)
"Sakura!" the voice was from behind Sasuke, it was Ino's voice!
"Ino! Is anyone else with you!"
"No!"
"Gaara, can we fit them in here?"
"Yeah." Gaara widened the shield using some of the sand in the storm and nudged me over to them so we could let them in.
(WAIT A SECOND! Why didn't he make the shield bigger earlier!)
"Get in." Gaara commanded them. Ino dove into an opening Gaara had made in the shield and Sasuke followed.
"Where are the others, do you know?" I asked.
"No, I thought they'd be here….Sakura I'm so glad your ok!" Ino threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly, Gaara still clinging to my hand.
"Yes I'm fine, I'm just glad YOUR ok! What happened guys!"
"Save the get-together for when we get inside." Gaara interrupted.
"Gaara." Sasuke replied, "Hnn, Sakura…"
"Inside." Gaara repeated and soon after, darkness engulfed us all. The next moment we were dropped onto the floor in the same place Gaara had dropped me last time.
"Ur…thanks Gaara…." Ino rubbing her back as she sat up.
"Kazekage, you will address me as Kazekage."
"Sorry." Ino muttered.
I crawled quickly over to Sasuke to check on him.
"Sasuke-kun are you alright?"
"I'm fine…I'm glad your ok….that was a heavy punch he gave you."
(Oh he means the fight in the forest)
"I-I'm fine, but Sasuke-kun, your not ok! Look at all these cuts and wounds all over you!"
"No, I'm fine."
"Let me bandage them…"
"No."
"But-"
"No."
I sighed and flopped back on my insteps. He looked out of it, his mind not here just yet.
(Sasuke-kun…)
"So…who attacked us….did you find out?"
"……"
"Ur…Sakura! Come here! I need bandages!" Ino grabbed my arm and yanked me towards her.
"Hey!"
"Sakura." She whispered in my ear as she pulled me a little ways away from Sasuke, "Listen, if we can get some privacy….I'll tell you what I know, Sasuke's a little shaken up about it…."
"I….ok…." Sasuke…? Who could it have been? I know it wasn't Itachi….I still remember him telling me you didn't know he was here…. (:HISS: Itachi :HISS:)
"U-umm, Gaara, could you please show me back to the guest room? A-and please can you get Sasuke-kun a room? Some medication…."
"Sasuke, you may stay in the room down the hall three doors then one on your left." Gaara muttered; he turned to me and lift his head up slightly, "Stay still."
Ino and I were soon submerged in sand, and just as quickly, dropped into the room Gaara had given me the first day I'd come here.
"ARG! I wish he wouldn't do that! It's creepy!" Ino grumbled brushing the sand from her hair, "And what's up with 'Oh Gaara-kun! Could you please, blah, blah…' hnn?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Does he let you call him 'Gaara'? What happened while we were gone?"
"N-nothing! Just…tell me what happened Ino! Please…"
"…Ok, now…I don't know exactly why this guy freaked Sasuke out so much more than me, but…. Sasuke managed to kick his face pretty hard and his hat flew off. His face was blue! I mean, he looked like a fricking fish! Dark blue hair and I think he had GILLS right under his eyes!"
"What? Are you making this up?"
"No! Really! But this is the interesting part…you know the outfit he was wearing? It had red clouds on it…"
"Red…clouds?"
"You know what that means don't you?"
"He was a terrorist!"
"Yes."
"Why the hell did a TERRORIST wanna kill a few Chuunin's!"
"I don't know….but he DID know who we all were….."
"Well, terrorists do their homework…..ugh…..well that definitely couldn't have been part of the mission or it would have been assigned to the ANBU."
"Yeah…."
"So Sasuke freaked…." Because Itachi's part of that same terrorist group! (;-; Shit, there's more of them here….probably Itachi's partner!) I will never forget Itachi's ugly outfit! (Heheh he looks like a burnt burrito or something….) Don't even go there…
"Yup…."
There was uncomfortable silence before Ino spoke up again.
"So you haven't seen the others?"
"No….I'm beginning to get worried….especially if a terrorist is after us too….what was our mission anyway?"
"To deliver something without some rebels getting it."
"Huh? We needed to split to do this?"
"Well, we split up to confuse them."
"Who had the…ur…whatever it was?"
"It was a peace treaty; Hinata had it."
"I hope they got it delivered without any problems…"
"Me too…."
Vampire Toy: Wow! So many reviews! Thanks guys, it means a lot, and thanks for all the advice .
Now! To address some a few things people had problems with, hmm, some people told me Sakura was a lot stronger (true) but she hasn't really gotten a chance to show that she was strong and she's kinda been beat up by the recent attackers (heh, the fact that she survived that punch n' fly shows strength). Then she fell into the Sand Village, then survived a night in the desert and ect. I may have portrayed her weakly because of her thoughts and such and I apologize, but hopefully her back talk shows a little more strength and confidence nn' I'll try harder on that, thanks for the help!
Hmm next the Sand and Leaf; I haven't seen too many of the recent episodes but I'm pretty sure that even though Gaara's pretty nice (which I tried to do, I hope I got it right nn') you don't see how the rest of the Sand village acts…if you do then sorry! Again, I'm just playing this alliance thing off of real world crap, not EVERYONE in America hates the French and not ALL French hate Americans, (I HAD to use this comparison didn't I?) but there will always be bitter people who believe that their country (village) is stronger and more deserving….like…erm… WW2 Germany….ok ignore me, I'm not making any sense except to myself (slinks away) Sakura might've just run into the wrong villagers :D yeah lets go with that (laughs) well then….thanks so much to hurrahhurrah, Millie-chan, Sakura Kage, and all my other regular reviewers for reviewing every chapter. And special thanks to hurrahhurrah who checked out my art gallery too :) another thank you to rinkurocks, who's comment made me happy :) and thanks to all the tough critics who're taking time to review :) (I will at one point get everyone's names to thank you all so sorry if I didn't mention you by name, just know I thank you too)
One more thing I'm sure must've confused you guys; Gaara traveled closely with Sakura because the shield area was small. XP yes, Gaara could have used more sand in his little desert home, but he blatantly chose not to. Also, his recent little fit with not wanting to let Sakura's hand go has to do with the fact that I think he'd get protective easily if he opened up even a little to someone. Besides, if she finds her friends, then she leaves and who will he be able to keep up late at night to talk to?
And why is he not angry at Naruto? Because after their last fight, I think he accumulated respect for Naruto because he too had a demon inside him, blah, blah, blah deepness. Any other things you couldn't understand, just lemme know.
As for the peace treaty, I'll have to do some research before I get into details about that (yes that has purpose too XD) I should really stop…
Whelp, I hope I covered everything, sorry it doesn't make much sense, I'll work really hard to fix that, hmm, ok next chapter! What will happen? (Mystical sounds come from speakers in every corner) nobody knows…..except me of course XP sorry for the sucky chapter, I'll make the next one better, promise!
R&R and flames welcome :)