Chapter 25:

Kazekage…

How could he!

Is he alive?

Raxiel was flabbergasted, trying to replay what had happened just an hour ago. Thinking about it while she was bathing wasn't helping her. Sadly, she sank deeper into the tub of water.

"Has Red Eyes even seen him?" she asked herself. "Why was he even here? Has he been following me? What would make him do that?"

She was lying to herself…

She knew all too well why he should stalk her…

It wasn't her…

It wasn't her original self…

Her past was what made her so valuable.

When the most evil creature finds the most pure heart, it is either attracted or repelled to it.

This time, it was unfortunately attracted.

"It isn't his fault. It's my fault for having an artificial heart," she thought. "And he can't help but want more of it. More of its light…"

Soon, her bath water was becoming a dark grey color due to the rinse-off hair color she had put in her hair. That grey water was a sign for her to get out. With the towel wrapped around her body and the other towel wrapped around her hair, Raxiel began to think again about him

Kazekage…

"I wonder if that's why he hasn't ditched me either… because of my pure heart," she pondered as she started dressing into a set of comfortable clothes. Tonight, they were retreating back to "home." Apparently, Naruto had figured out that Matsu was seeing another geisha, and he caught the girl and paid her to get the information they needed from him.

Mission: barely accomplished, no thanks to her.

As she began to gather her things and put them back into her bag, she couldn't help but look at the windowsill to see a red rose sitting there.

Blood lust…

Blood lust for her…

Itachi…

"Curse you! Curse me for having a pure heart!" she thought as she threw the rose outside her window. She wanted nothing to do with him anymore, but she knew he had threatened her. And if she didn't do as he pleased, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to see him.

With all of her items gathered, she swung her bag over one of her shoulders and began to head for the door. "Alright, I'll play his little game, but if he goes over-board, I'm cheating," she said to herself, opening the door and walking out of her room to go search for her teammate.

It was time to make a few of her own threats to him…

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He was ready…

Ready to keep her…

To keep her so she could help him…

Help ease his pain…

Every time he was around her, it seemed as though she always had the answers to his questions. The questions he had wanted answers to for the longest time.

Something was different about her…

Something pleasantly different…

He had to have her for his own…

And no one said "no" to him.

The past four months, he had been stalking her, making sure she was all right and that no one hurt her.

He knew she didn't want to see him.

But when he had heard about the mission she was assigned to, he knew that this was his opportunity to get her under his grasp.

The plan had worked, but not as he had expected.

She was still afraid of him.

He hadn't hurt her at all, and yet she was still afraid of him.

He knew she hated him…

Him and his Red Eyes

But he knew somewhere inside of her, she was curious about him…

He'd just have to amuse her a but longer…

XxXxXxXxXxXx

"Then do you hate me, Yashamaru?"

Silence…

"People hurt each other and get hurt during their lifetimes. But it is difficult to hate another, Gaara."

"Thanks, Yashamaru! I think I understand what hurting is, now."

"Really?"

A pain no one could grasp… only the victim…

"Maybe I'm injured, too, like everyone else…"

Heart…

"I always hurt here…"

Heartless…

Emptiness…

Nothingness…

"I'm not bleeding, but my chest really hurts here."

Anguished beyond spoken words…

Red…

"Flesh wounds bleed, and they may seem painful… But as time goes by, the pain eventually disappears. And if you use medicines, the wounds will heal even faster. But the tricky wounds are the ones of the heart. Those are difficult to heal."

Red…

Why must it be so hard…

Why must this pain be so hard to take away…

"A wound of the heart, Yashamaru?"

"A wound of the heart is different from a flesh wound. Unlike a flesh wound, there are no ointments to heal it, and there are times when they never heal."

Never-ending pain…

Why must I bear the pain…

Bear the pain all by myself…

"But there is one thing that can heal a wound of the heart."

…!

"It is a troublesome medicine, and you can only receive it from another person."

Medicine… from another person…

How?

Where?

When?

"What! How can I heal this…?"

So swift…

Not even thinking…

How troublesome…

"The one thing that can heal a wound of the heart is…"

…Red…

"Love."

…?

Those feeling of love can never be buried…

They'll never leave you alone…