Disclaimer: not mine
If: Man, I've slowed down... this time all I can say is that I didn't know what I wanted to do... But anyway, this is the new chapter. I hope you like it.
Ferocity wins teh game: Waahhh... wow. Thank you for the review, I hope that you like this chapter and that I updated fast enough for you.
lol : Yup, Gaara raped. Thanks for the review.
DeathByPapercuts: Welcome back! Thank you for the nice review!
YINGYANGBLOSSOMS : Wow... its alright. Hey, I understand about the acutally getting out and away from the computer, its part of the reason I've been a little slow as of late. Thanks so much for the review, I'll have to keep some of those suggestions in mind.
Two weeks, three days, eight hours, thirty four minutes, and twenty seconds later, Sasuke was nervously standing outside of a hospital room. He had finally been able to stand up on his own and been allowed to go see his beloved Gaara. His precious angel had barely survived this brush with death. Sasuke was so grateful, so thankful, and so eternally happy that his beloved had made it through that horrible experience. Gaara had almost not made it. He had lost nearly too much blood by the time the police arrived and the paramedics rushed him away. They had said it would be a miracle if he survived. He had survived.
Sasuke himself had been barely coping with the fact that that man had dared to taint his Gaara. His own recovery had gone smoothly, he had gone through the motions, he had talked to the therapists, and he had taken the drugs. All that he did was unessential, all that mattered was Gaara, and no one was telling him anything. Sasuke had gone two weeks without hearing anything about the red head. By the time Itachi had come three days ago to tell the younger Uchiha that Gaara was doing alright, Sasuke was planning his daring escape.
Sasuke had to admit that for once in his life his brother had been useful. Once. He had visited and the first thing he had said was "Gaara's fine Sasuke." Sasuke had nearly broken down. It had been too long without hearing anything, he was far too unstrung, and he was barely coping mentally with the fact that Orochimaru had indeed raped his precious angel.
So now Sasuke stood outside the door of the one person he had never wanted to fail, and yet had horribly and miserably failed the one time he should have saved him. He couldn't bring himself to open the door. He couldn't walk in there and confront the rejection, the pain, the anger… Sasuke wouldn't be able to handle Gaara's rejection. Sasuke wouldn't survive the red head telling him that he didn't want him. He had already lost Gaara once, and he wasn't losing him again. He couldn't lose Gaara again.
Hesitantly, Sasuke reached out and put his hand on the doorknob. Hearing some faint murmuring, Sasuke placed his ear on the door. There were people talking in there. Sasuke frowned at his own obvious statement. Of course there were people talking in there, Gaara's family was probably in there talking to him. Sasuke cringed. Maybe he should just come back later, so he wouldn't have to deal with them. Sasuke had taken his hand off the doorknob when the door swung open, revealing Kankuro in Kabuki makeup. Sasuke stopped breathing for a moment.
Kankuro narrowed his eyes at the clearly scared boy in front of him. He had actually just been sent to fetch said boy, but Kankuro decided that he would use this opportunity to "talk" to him. Stepping out of the door, forcing Sasuke to step back, Kankuro shut the door quietly behind himself. Stepping around the Uchiha, Kankuro motioned for the stunned boy to follow him. Sasuke meekly did as he was told. Kankuro inwardly grinned to himself; this was so making his day so much better. There was nothing better than a cowering Uchiha. Kankuro frowned at that. He had met Itachi Uchiha earlier that week… he was… different.
Kankuro sat down on a bench about twenty feet away from the room that Gaara was in; he motioned for Sasuke to sit beside him. Sasuke gulped and did as he was told. Kankuro turned to the younger Uchiha and gave him a stern look. Sasuke instantly felt impending doom and mentally prepared himself for the worst, unconsciously squeezing his eyes shut tight. Kankuro muffled a chuckle at the sight before his face relaxed and he stared almost pensively across the hallway.
"You know… you've really done a number on him," Kankuro stated suddenly. Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he looked at the brother of his most precious person, stunned by his words. Kankuro glanced at the Uchiha and cracked up.
Finally settling down, Kankuro wiped at his eyes. "That reaction was priceless."
Sasuke pouted. Kankuro smirked.
"I can see why my brother chose you," he said suddenly, his smile fading minimally. Kankuro shook his head. Sasuke frowned.
"Heh… actually, I can't," Kankuro said, turning to look at Sasuke. Sasuke felt the urge to squirm under the intense look he was receiving. "I can't see why he would want you. No offense meant, but what's so special about you?"
Sasuke didn't say anything; Kankuro wasn't really speaking to him anyway.
"To just blindly start feeling something so strong after such a short amount of time is incomprehensible to me. It takes time for those sorts of feelings to develop. You need to learn everything about each other; you need to be constantly with one another… there's so much that is involved in strong feelings. These feelings that my brother believes he is feeling can't be right. They can't be true. There hasn't been enough time for this to develop, and yet you're both sacrificing yourselves for one another. It just doesn't make sense to me!" Kankuro ranted. Sasuke felt a small amount of pity for him.
"I know it doesn't make sense, but feelings never make sense," Sasuke said. He turned away from Kankuro and folded his hands in his lap, leaning back on the bench. "I admit that in the beginning I only wanted your brother. But all feelings of attraction generally start with lust. But… there was something about him. Some unexplainable force drew me to him, and when Naruto and I found him in a pool of his own blood on your front porch, nearly dead because of his own father… I began to feel more.
"Maybe these feelings are too much, too quickly, too fast… but they are true. I honestly love Gaara because of who he is, what he's been through, and for the generally wonderful person he is that's been pushed so far under the surface that he hardly shows up," Sasuke confessed. Kankuro looked sadly at the boy sitting next to him and placed a hand on the younger boy's shoulder.
"Those that fall fast and hard often get hurt quickly. To love someone so quickly, to fall so fast, to be drawn so deep… those who love as passionately and as quickly as you two have done are always hurt in the end. Those who fall fast will fall hard, and they will be hurt and suffer just as quick. Its practically a law of nature. Fall too fast and you will be hurt. You will be hurt so much that you won't be able to recover," Kankuro said. Sasuke felt cold. Those words hung in the air, suffocating him, and suddenly Sasuke thought that this all wasn't real.
A hand waved in front of Sasuke's face and he snapped out of his trance-like state. Sasuke blinked at Kankuro.
"You ok? You kind of zoned out after your little speech," Gaara's brother said. Sasuke opened his mouth to argue, but found he didn't know why he would want to make a retort to that statement. It wasn't as if Kankuro had said anything after his little confession.
Kankuro stood up and held out a hand to the youngest Uchiha. "Come on, Gaara's anxious to see you."
Sasuke smiled softly and accepted the hand. Kankuro pulled him to his feet and together they went back to Gaara's room, all of Sasuke's fears alleviated.
Sasuke could only stare at the pale red head sitting in the hospital bed for a moment, his mind entirely blank. The only thing that Sasuke knew was that he was so happy that Gaara was alive and well. The overwhelming urge to see if the red head was actually real overpowered him and he rushed forward and pulled Gaara into a hug, forgetting that the red head was still recovering from some of his wounds. Gaara cried out as he was practically tackled and pushed at the near-hysteric boy clinging to him.
"Sasuke! Get off! You're hurting me!" Gaara exclaimed, trying to shove Sasuke off of him. Sasuke nuzzled into Gaara's neck.
"I can't let you go," he whispered, kissing Gaara's neck. Gaara's face flushed an interesting shade of red and both his siblings laughed at his plight.
"Fine! Don't let me go, but you're killing me here!" Gaara exclaimed. Sasuke instantly got off the red head, looking bashful.
"Sorry," he murmured. Gaara looked at him softly and lifted a hand to brush against Sasuke's cheek affectionately.
"Its alright Sasuke, I understand," Gaara said. Sasuke smiled softly at him. Both of Gaara's siblings took this moment to sneak out of the room and give the two boys some private time.
"Sasuke I…" Gaara started but Sasuke cut him off.
"I'm sorry I could not save you," Sasuke said before Gaara could utter the same words. Tears fell from Sasuke's eyes unheeded. "I should have saved you from him."
"Its me who should have saved you," Gaara said cupping Sasuke's cheek with his hand. "I should have never left you for Naruto. By leaving you I offered you back up to that lecher and he pounced at the chance. I should have been able to save you from his clutches."
Sasuke leaned into Gaara's hand. Gaara leant forward and kissed away Sasuke's tears.
"I should have known better, the safe way out is not the path to take in life. Even if the true path to happiness holds many threats and is dangerous beyond belief, it is the path that we should take, not the path that is well trodden. The path that brings you greater joy is the one to travel, even if it takes your life," Gaara said. Sasuke once again got the feeling that those words were eerily true. Sasuke shuddered and he could almost swear he was back in that room with Orochimaru, but then Gaara was kissing him, and he was safe and protected and loved.
High school: the source of teenage angst, and many horrible teen movies. In this place, the bane of the teenage existence, life is cliché and stereotypical. Cliques are alive and well, people are close minded and for some reason, unknown to man, everyone wants to be in the so called "popular" group. As the stereotype goes, these "popular" people aren't the brightest lights and are the captains of football teams and cheerleading squads. Why anyone would want to be part of that stereotype is beyond comprehension.
Class has a double meaning in reference to school. One meaning is the classes you go to: math, English, history, and etc. The other meaning is in reference to your social status. You can belong to one of two broad groups: popular or unpopular. These groups are divided into smaller groups: preps, jocks, goths, nerds, and many others. Class is an important yet unimportant part of high school.
Some people are oblivious to these clear boundaries, and others just cleverly ignore them. Sasuke finds that these days, these days filled with happiness and Gaara, that these boundaries, that "class" and "high school" don't matter as much as they used to. The only thing that matters to Sasuke is that he has his most precious person around and that that precious person values him and loves him as much as he is loved himself.
But something seems wrong with this life of near perfection. Something is missing and something is not quite right. Sasuke doesn't want to think about it. He wants to live in this world where he is finally happy, and where his beloved angel is happy as well. Sasuke desperately wants this world to be real, and that is when it hits him:
this world isn't real.
The illusion is fading. The world he thought was real is fading before his eyes. The scenery ebbs and the people start to vanish one by one. Sasuke whirls around, watching as this perfect world grows fainter before him. He turns to his beloved Gaara, his most precious angel, and he clings to him, wanting him to never leave.
"Don't leave me! I don't want to go back to that reality if it means losing him!" Sasuke shouts as his imaginary Gaara fades away into nothing.
And then suddenly he's back there. He's still chained to that wall; he's still in the clutches in the man he hates the most. Sasuke doesn't want to, but he knows that he must, he looks to the floor. There his worst fears are confirmed. Gaara's lifeless body is on the floor, Orochimaru standing up and looking decidedly pleased with himself. Gaara has been raped, and the fact is clearly visible from the evidence leaking from his body.There are no police cars, there is no ambulance, and there is no hope.
It has only been nine minutes since Gaara had entered the building.
