Chapter 2:
The man looked upwards with a shocked face. He gasped and dropped the dagger beside Raxiel's face. He let go of her in a frightened manner. Raxiel was beginning to wonder why he was so nervous, but then her question was quickly answered.
Raxiel looked down beside her where the man's legs were…
The man looked behind him where Raxiel was also glancing…
And what they both saw was sand covering his legs. The man could feel the sand hardening by the second. He turned his head to try to see the enigma. Raxiel tried to catch a glance at him, as well, but as her muscles contracted again, she passed out.
"What do you want?" called the masked man angrily.
"…I want you dead," the enigma replied softly. He motioned his hand, which somehow caused more sand to crawl up the body of the other man. The masked man became engulfed in sand and was soon suffocated from being submerged in it. The enigma moved his hand causing the sand to lift the dead body up and drop it onto the ground beside the thick forest surrounding the road where the battle had been. As he began to make his way over to Raxiel, he smirked contentedly knowing that he had killed another annoying person. Once he had made it to Raxiel, he stopped to glance down at her.
"She looks pale… Probably from losing so much blood…" he thought to himself.
Her thick, brown hair was a mess. She was still sweating making her look like she had just gotten out of a shower.
The enigma saw no personal gain in waiting for her, but, when he looked at her helpless face, he somehow wanted to know more about her. The man sat down on the same rock the now dead man had been sitting on beforehand. He glanced at the girl one more time, watching her chest rise and fall. Forcefully taking his eyes off of her, he waited for her to awaken. After what seemed like countless hours (but what were really just minutes), Raxiel started to stir. She opened her eyes to see the unsmiling enigma staring far out into the distance. Raxiel raised herself up into a cross-legged position. Snapping out of his mesmerization, the man looked down at her. Her big, dark brunette eyes caught his attention. Raxiel noticed and glanced at his jaded eyes. Knowing she was safe, the enigma stood up and started to walk away slowly, but soon he heard a shuffling of hurried feet behind him.
Raxiel tried to stand up as quickly as possible, making her feet shuffle and slide on the loose earth from not having any strength. She hesitantly called out to him.
"Hey, wait!"
The enigma stopped. He rotated his head slightly to the side to catch his eye on her. Raxiel noticed and began to feel uneasy. Finally gathering enough courage to speak, she started to softly talk to him.
"Thank you. Well, I mean, -"
Shocked by her gratitude, the man looked down afraid to show his emotion to her. Raxiel gained her composure, once more and began to speak to him.
"I don't mean to bother you anymore, but do you know where I am?"
The man was flabbergasted. Never before in his life had anyone wanted to talk to him. Always feared by people and hated by everyone, people called him "monster" or "demon". But when he looked into her eyes, he sensed no fear in them. He sensed hesitation, but it was a different kind of hesitation. He liked this hesitation. He became even more intrigued by her and looked back at her again this time noticing how she was looking at him curiously, making him even more curious about her. Waiting for his answer, Raxiel watched him with as much patience as she could. Finally, the enigma began to reply in an almost inaudible voice.
"There's a village up ahead where I am heading towards. You're… -"
"Should I really ask her?" he thought. " She'd never agree…"
He spoke to her again, "You're welcome to join me, since you're in no condition to defend yourself."
"Darn it!" he thought again. "Why did I just ask her? She's just another weak human like the rest of them."
Another voice in his head started to speak to him, "Wait until she's not looking at you, and you can slit her throat."
"I'd like that very much. Thank you," Raxiel replied.
"There she goes again!" he thought "Saying 'thank you' again."
As Raxiel began to try to stand up, her muscles began to contract, making her fall back down to the ground. The enigma watched her nonchalantly, still a little amused from watching her. Raxiel tried to stand up, but failed again. Knowing it was futile, she crawled over to the rock both enigmas had sat on. She grasped part of the huge boulder with her hand and slowly climbed her way to her feet. Just as she was about to stand straight up, suddenly her muscles weakened, knocking the wind out of her. She gasped trying to get herself to breathe. She let go of the rock and wrapped her arms around her stomach, breathless. Slowly, she began to sink further to the ground. She closed her eyes concentrating to get more energy to control her muscles when suddenly she felt something grip her waist. The grip slowly pulled her upwards, letting Raxiel breathe and take hold of the boulder again.
Raxiel looked behind her, and there he was. The enigma holding her up, making sure she didn't fall back down again. It had seemed to Raxiel that he had anticipated her fall. He reminded her of a safety net, just waiting to catch her as soon as she fell. Raxiel tried to hide the redness in her face. The enigma noticed her blushed face and as soon as she was standing on her own two feet let her go gently.
The man took a few steps forward and stopped beside her. Sensing her breathing was harsh, he took out a canteen and moved it towards her.
"You thirsty?" he asked quietly.
Raxiel's eyes widened. "Why would he give me his canteen?" she thought, beginning to feel more uneasy about him. She cautiously looked at the man's eyes, but they were still calm and serious. She hesitantly took the canteen.
"Thank you."
The enigma watched as her soft, full lips touched the canteen. As she swallowed, he watched her throat as it moved up and down. He stared at it hypnotically, somehow reminding him of his past. As soon as she had sipped the water, she gently held it out for him to take. He took the canteen and put it away. Shaking off his 'laziness,' he finally started to walk forward.
"Let's go," he said blandly to her. As he started to walk, he could hear her feet touching the ground each time she took a step. He noticed her pace was uneven and finally looked behind him to find that she was limping ever so slightly.
"A nurse should be able to take care of your injuries," he stated.
"It's nothing, really. I'm just weak, but I'll get my strength back soon."
Silence fell over them for the next ten minutes or more.
"Darn it!" the enigma thought, cursing at himself. "You had the perfect opportunity to slit her throat right then when you were helping her up. And now you want to make a friend?" The man really couldn't believe he hadn't killed her, but something was holding him back from hurting her. Something strange wanted him to get to know her more… and more… and more…
"I'm Gaara of the Desert," he said, trying to shake off his inner-self. "You are?"
"Oh, just Raxiel," she stated nonchalantly.
"Raxiel…" he thought to himself. "That name… it's almost alluring… -"
"Say, Gaara," Raxiel said, interrupting his thoughts, "what's in the gourd?" she said, curiously staring at the gourd he was carrying on his back.
"Sand," he said dully.
"Oh…"
Noticing her confusion, Gaara looked back at her. He knew she was just trying to make conversation to be friendly, and normally, it irritated Gaara when people asked him questions. He looked at her eyes and saw disappointment in them, but from what? Somewhere in the back of his head he didn't want her to be disappointed. Trying to take her mind off of whatever she was thinking, he decided to continue with the subject they had been talking about.
Hesitantly, he continued, "It's… one of my weapons."
Raxiel glanced up at his eyes, understanding that he was not finished talking with her. She responded back to him, "Oh! Like your weapon you use?"
Gaara noticed her eager face for a reply.
"This girl, -" he thought, "she's different…"
"You could say that," he told her, still looking back at her. Raxiel noticed his glance as she looked into his light green eyes and smiled at him. Gaara stared at her smile for almost too long. He finally looked forward, baffled at his own actions. After a few long minutes of silence, he could hear Raxiel catching up to him.
"Stay in front. Don't let her get beside you. Show her who's boss," a voice inside Gaara told him, but his body didn't listen. Casually, he slowed down his pace, and after walking a few more strides; her feet were gliding along at the same pace. Her body was next to his. Suddenly, he had an urge to look over at her again to see if she was still smiling, but he controlled himself. Once they had walked a few miles, a village finally started to appear. Raxiel looked over at Gaara, and once she did, he started to become tense. He finally glanced at her, revealing to Raxiel his tenseness that he did not want her to know about.
"Are you okay, Gaara?"
The instant he heard her voice, he quickly shook off his taught face and replied abruptly. "Yeah… I'm fine."
Gaara noticed her face was filled with concernment.
"Does she… actually care about me?" he thought, somewhat shocked at the question he had just asked himself.
But soon, his concentration was snatched away from him by her gentle voice.
"Huh?"
Gaara heard Raxiel and noticed her attention was directed elsewhere. He looked in front of them at where she was looking and saw a blonde-haired boy their age being chased by another man a few years older. The blonde-haired boy was laughing while holding up a small piece of paper. The other man was chasing the boy angrily, yelling at him. Impatiently, the man called out to the boy, "Naruto! You can't just steal my coupon! Give it back!"
The blonde-haired boy though seemed pleased with the attention. He laughed even harder, looking as though he was having the time of his life. The man was still yelling at him, getting more and more frustrated at the boy.
Raxiel started to laugh quietly. Hearing her laughter, Gaara glanced at her, amused by her cheerful attitude. She quickly covered her mouth to quiet her laughter as it started to grow louder.
And then something that Gaara would never have thought happened…
He relaxed…
Her laughter made him relax…
Gaara ever so slightly smirked at her. Knowing she was happy made him feel different. A kind of different he had never experienced before.
As they made their way towards the diversion, the two strangers kept going at it. It was like a never-ending game of chase.
Still amused by the absurd scene, Raxiel stopped to watch the two. Quickly noticing, Gaara stopped beside her. Soon Raxiel's smile grew even bigger as they kept watching the scene second after second.
Finally realizing he was being watched, the blonde-haired looked around and finally spotted Gaara and Raxiel both watching him and his used-to-be teacher run around in the big circle they were making. He quickly stopped in his tracks, and the older man, charging right at him, ran into him, toppling onto him. While on top of the younger man, the brown-haired sensei snatched the coupon from him.
