Hello, everyone, and welcome to chapter five! I know Gaara is happy, since he was in the last one a lot. Right, Gaara?
Gaara: Hn.
Is that all you ever say? And I've even making a music video about you, too! It's my first one, so when it's done, I hope you'll all watch it! I'll post the link on my profile when it's finished. Now, on to the story!
Disclaimer: I do not Naruto. If I did, then I would kill all these damn filler episodes.
Hinata sat up on the bed, tears streaming down her face. Her shirt was falling down on one side, exposing a little more of her right breast than she would have liked. She quickly pulled it up, blushing slightly and adding to her already crimson face. She turned and looked towards the door, seeing sand covering most of the room and her captor lying against the wall. And the person she least expected to see stood in the doorway.
Gaara slowly walked into the room, his eyes piercing through Michio like daggers. If looks could kill, then he would definitely be dead by now. As it was, he only stumbled to his feet, swaying slightly as the alcohol he had consumed earlier began to take effect on his body. He grinned. "Now, why did you have to go and ruin my fun? That's not very nice."
Gaara only narrowed his eyes. "Oh, really? It didn't seem like much fun for her." He stepped further into the room, his eyes searching the room and landing on Hinata. She looked like she had just been to Hell and back. Her clothes were torn in places, her eyes were wide with fear, and her ankle was bleeding from where it was chained to the wall. Most likely it had dug into her skin as she was struggling against the psychotic ninja. Seeing the girl hurt and terrified, Gaara unconsciously clenched his fist and reverted his gaze back to Michio.
"You lowlife," he said, sand swirling around him. "I'll kill you!" With Gaara, that definitely was not an empty threat. When he said he would kill you, you were as good as dead. So as the sand was sent straight at Michio, the once-famous shinobi knew right away that he was in trouble. The sand swirled violently around him, encasing him in a deadly cocoon. "Sabaku Kyuu!" Gaara held out his hand and clenched it into a fist, causing the sand around Michio to contract.This was soon followed by"Sabaku Soso," which caused the sand to collapse in altogether, blood spurting out from the gaps in the sand. The sand then retreated back into the gourd on Gaara's back, leaving only the ninja's battered body behind.
It was then that Kiba and Shino burst into the room. When they had reached the waterfall, they were contemplating how to get past the barrier when Gaara had just gone ahead, somehow going right through without any trouble. Though the remaining members of Team 7 had been completely stumped at how he had done it, his siblings figured it must have had something to do with the monster inside of him. And so they were left to figure out a different way to enter the barrier while entrusting everything to Gaara in the meantime. Eventually they found that it had just been a simple genjutsu and had dispelled it. Temari and Kankuro had stayed behind in case Michio's accomplices showed up, while Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru went to check on things.
They arrived to see a very strange sight. Blood was strewn all over the floor, Michio's body in the middle of it. Yes, he may have been a talented shinobi at some point in his life, but he was no match for Gaara's rage. Opposite them sat Hinata, her leg covered in blood from the wound on her ankle, which stubbornly refused to stop bleeding. And amongst it all stood Gaara, the sand flowing steadily back into its container while he walked across the room to the captive girl.
"Hinata!" Kiba cried, running into the room. Shino followed behind him, but both were stopped in their tracks when Gaara glared at them. Even Akamaru was scared, and hid in the comfort of Kiba's shirt. When this sand shinobi was mad, it was definitely best not to mess with him. Why he seemed mad at them was beyond anyone's comprehension, including Gaara's, but his emotions were so messed up lately that being angry at random people didn't seem all that strange at this point.
Gaara walked over to the bed and stood staring at the frightened shinobi for a few seconds before doing anything. He shifted his gaze to the chain connecting her and the wall, and had soon covered it in sand. He once again used his "Sabaku Soso" on the strange metal, shattering it into dozens of tiny pieces. There was probably a better way to break it, one that didn't involved using unnecessary chakra, but it was a quick and easy method of chain breaking that didn't involve much thinking, which had never been one of Gaara's strong points anyway.
Hinata's hand instinctively shot to her wound. Her face still glistened with tears, though no new ones fell from her eyes. She silently scolded herself for being so weak. All this had happened because of her, because she wasn't strong enough to defend herself, not only from Michio's sexual advances towards her, but also from being kidnapped in the first place. And on top of it all, she had to be saved by someone that she barely knew, and most likely just thought this whole thing was a waste of his time and was also thinking about how weak the girl in front of him was. She couldn't even bring herself to look at him, let alone say anything.
Gaara glanced over at Kiba and Shino, who hadn't moved since receiving his death glare. "You," he said, motioning with a swift nod of his head to Kiba, "come here and dress her wound." Gaara, having only been wounded a few select times in his life, had no experience in the art of dressing wounds. Heck, he hardly knew what wounds looked like. What did you wrap it with? How did you tie it? These things were all but foreign to him.
Upon seeing Gaara's impatient gesture at towards him, Kiba hurriedly ran over to the bedside, tearing a strip of cloth from his shirt to use as a bandage. He began hastily wrapping it around Hinata's injured ankle, noticing how deep the wound was. It was then that he began to wonder exactly what had happened. He was already considering the worst, and nearly fell over from embarrassment when a certain option entered his mind. It was then that the shy girl spoke for the first time since her rescuer had entered the room.
"I'm sorry, Kiba-kun," she whispered. She turned to the stiff ninja that stood beside her. "You too, Gaara-kun." Kiba looked up from what he was doing, staring at her. "What the hell are you apologizing for?" Gaara was also confused, though he would most likely die before he showed it.
"I-I always cause everyone trouble," Hinata continued. "A-and I always slow everyone down. It's my fault that all this happened, and t-that you all had to come rescue me." More tears began to form in her eyes, even though she tried not to let them show. Crying would only prove that she was weak. "I'm sorry."
"Oh, shut up," Gaara said, surprising everyone. Those were the first words he had spoken since he had killed Michio (not including his silent threat to Kiba and Shino). "Stop apologizing. It's weird." Never before had someone apologized to him; they were always too busy running away in fear. Before, he had lived his life as either a tool or a monster, whichever seemed to fit the needs of the village at the time. He had been targeted for assassination numerous times, and it had never crossed his mind that someone would actually apologize to him for something.
It was then that Hinata fully looked at her rescuer for the first time. Their eyes met, and for the first time since she had seen him fighting during the Chuunin Exam, they weren't full of hatred. Instead, they were full of confusion; she didn't need her Byakugan to see it. For the first time since she was captured, she smiled. "Thank you, Gaara-kun, for saving me."
Gaara stared at her. As if apologizing wasn't enough, now she was thanking him! He had no idea what he should do or say. He didn't even know why he was doing all this for her! This girl…what is she doing to me? He didn't understand. The emotions running through him…he wasn't used to any of them. His hand instinctively went to the tattoo on his forehead. Love. His eyes widened as the word went through his mind. Love, kindness, compassion…None of these feelings had ever had any meaning to him.
I love only myself.
Yes, it had been him who had said that. Never before had he had any reason to think otherwise.
Until now.
Footnotes:
Sabaku Kyuu – Desert Coffin
Sabaku Soso– Desert Funeral
Ok, so that wasn't as long as I'd hoped it would be, but it seemed like a good place to leave off. Nothing too exciting happened, I know, but the next chapter will be better. I promise. Now go and press that pretty blue button at the bottom of the screen. You know you want to.
