Chapter 5:

Gaara paced impatiently at the entrance to the hotel. Last night had been a night he never wanted to forget. He had never had someone speak so friendly to him. He had never seen someone with such a carefree attitude and yet a hesitant nature. Gaara knew he wanted to spend the rest of the day with her again. He was still curious about her, and he wanted to get to know her better…

Ten minutes had passed. Knowing that she was about to fall asleep on him last night, Gaara insisted that she get a room so she'd be safe while sleeping.

"Not that I couldn't have watched over her," he thought. "But I still had other things to do."

Another five minutes passed. Gaara started to think that she was never going to get up. Just as he was about to give up, he looked into the window and saw Raxiel getting an apple and paying for it inside the hotel. She glanced outside and saw Gaara staring at her. Quickly she smiled at him and waved to him in a friendly manner. Finally walking outside, she quickly went over to him. Once she was near him, Gaara noticed she looked a lot healthier and cleaner than yesterday. He glanced over her light olive skin and noticed how pristine it was, to him, at least. Once again, Raxiel grinned at him.

"What's up, Gaara?" she simply asked.

"Not much. Just checking to make sure you were okay," he said, knowing that it wasn't the truth.

"Hmm… Well, do you want to walk into town and get some coffee?"

"Don't do it! Besides, you hate coffee," a voice inside Gaara told him. For once, he listened to it.

"I don't like coffee," he stated blandly. Raxiel laughed at his expression. "Well, alright. You can get water then. Come on!"

Gaara could not believe it. Someone had ordered him around. HIM. He wasn't going to stand for this.

He couldn't…

He shouldn't…

"But that smile…" he thought…

Raxiel gave him a confused look. "What's wrong? Are you feeling okay?"

Once again, Gaara turned the voice inside his head off. "Yeah, let's go."

And as they walked, Gaara couldn't help but curse at himself for taking orders from her.

Once they had walked down the road towards the village for a few minutes, they entered into a huge park. Raxiel's attention was soon caught onto the kids that were playing just a few feet away. Quickly she smiled as they started to run up and down the green meadow in front of Gaara and her.

But Gaara's mind was fixed on another thing. Knowing that the kids had snatched Raxiel's attention, he began to look around and finally saw the town ahead of them. Looking back at Raxiel to see that she was still caught in watching the kid's game, he spotted a place right beside them where there were a lot of shady trees that looked cool enough to stand under for a while. Gaara tapped her shoulder to get her attention, and when she looked at him, he pointed his index finger towards the trees, signaling to walk to them.

Once they had made their way to the only shady place in the park, Gaara began to walk away. Raxiel was about to ask him where he was going, but she was suddenly interrupted by his voice. "Stay here. I'll be back in a minute."

Raxiel couldn't help but wonder where he was going as she watched him slowly disappear from her sight. She slowly started to follow him, but before she could take another step, a little girl stopped her. "Excuse me, Miss –"

Raxiel looked down to see a little blue-eyed girl holding something in her hands. She kneeled down to be at eye-level with the girl as the girl started to cry. "What's wrong?" Raxiel asked curiously. The little girl began to reply hesitantly. "It's this bird. It has a broken wing. My friends and I found it on the ground, but we didn't know what to do. Can you help it?"

Raxiel smiled. Gently she took the bird from the girl's hands, and, holding it carefully, she began to examine it. She stood up and placed her other hand on the bird's broken wing, and suddenly, a white glow started to form around her hand. After the light had vanished, the little girl peaked at the bird to see that, to her surprise, the wing was healed. The little bird flew away in a blink of an eye, and the little girl watched, still dazzled at Raxiel's trick, as it soared away. Quickly she turned around and gave Raxiel a big smile, and Raxiel did the same. Once the little girl had thanked Raxiel, she started to run back towards her friends, but, since she wasn't paying close attention to where she was going, she soon bumped into someone. The little girl looked up and saw Iruka. Iruka bent down to be at eye-level with the frightened girl, and he began to speak to her kindly. "You okay?" The little girl nodded, and Iruka smiled at her. He gently wiped her tears off her face, and, once again, the child smiled and sprinted away.

Iruka stood up straight and looked over at Raxiel who was watching the little girl begin to play with her friends again. As Iruka made his way towards her, she finally shifted her eyes and looked at Iruka. They both smiled at each other as he stood next to her.

"Good morning. I didn't know you knew healing jutsus."

Raxiel gave him a confused look. "Jutsu? That wasn't a…whatever. I just learned how to do that from a friend a long time ago."

Iruka gazed at her awkwardly. "Oh… I see. So are you feeling better?

Raxiel smiled at him again. "Yes, very much. Thank you for helping us out last night."

"Oh, sure. I didn't mind. Where is your friend?" he said, looking around for Gaara.

Raxiel laughed at his question. "I'm not so sure myself."

Little did they know that Gaara was a few feet away watching them in rage. He finally made his way over to them, and stood closely next to Raxiel while glaring at Iruka. Raxiel finally realized he was next to her and smiled at him. Iruka did the same.

"Hello. We were just talking about you," Iruka said pleasantly.

Gaara's anger intensified with each word the sensei said. "Is that so?" he said angrily.

Quickly catching onto his anger, Raxiel tried to calm him down. "What do you have in your hands?" she asked curiously. Without delay, Gaara raised his left hand, and Raxiel smiled at what she saw in his hand. Eagerly, she took the coffee from him and drank some of it. "Thanks, Gaara!"

But he only looked at her for a second, acknowledging that he had heard her. After that second, his eyes hooked back onto brunette sensei. Iruka made out his anger, as well, and began to walk away.

"I'll see you later, Raxiel," he called out to her.

Raxiel waved at him.

And Gaara just stood there, livid as could be.

After the sensei had disappeared, Raxiel turned to face Gaara. "Didn't you get something to drink?" In response, Gaara raised up a water bottle. Raxiel sighed, and Gaara gave her a confused look. "What was that for?" he asked, his voice still sounding a little frustrated. Suddenly, Raxiel laughed as she held up her coffee. "Have you even tasted coffee before?"

Gaara looked at her awkwardly. "No, and I don't want to."

Raxiel noticed the seriousness in his voice. She grinned at him. "Come on, Gaara! Just take a sip of mine –"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Oh! Come on!"

Raxiel clutched his hand and placed her drink in his hand. Gaara's eyes widened. "I'm not going anywhere until you put your lips to that cup and drink some of that." Raxiel looked directly into his eyes, and Gaara looked straight back into her eyes, glaring at her. Raxiel leaned forward, moving closer to Gaara and making her stare even more stern.

Deference…

Gaara's glare soon vanished, and Raxiel smiled at him, knowing she had won. Sighing in defeat, Gaara finally spoke, "Fine." He took the drink and tasted it, surprised by how good it really was. He quickly gave it back to her, making sure he got it away from him so he couldn't drink anymore of it. Raxiel laughed a little, knowing he felt a bit different about the drink.

Hearing her laughter, Gaara looked at her curiously. "I wonder how she gets me to obey her," he pondered as they started walking towards the town.