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Chapter Forty-eight
Within the abyss she feels a warmth. The heat gradually grows and becomes overbearing, suffocating, and begins to turn into an uncomfortable ache.
"Damn," Sakura mumbles; a blush spreading across her cheeks.
This sensation is not new to her. It began in her teenage years and carries along into her adulthood. Sometimes, it's easy for her to ignore. Sometimes, she busies herself just enough to let that small flame burn out and then forget it was even there.
But sometimes the fire runs wild.
A feminine moan echoes loud, long, and desperate within her darkness.
'Was that me?' Sakura wonders; too afraid to speak lest the sensual noise slip out again.
She casts her eyes all around her and twists her lips when she spots nothing in this world of black. As odd as it is, as out of place as she is, she is not bothered by this unexplained void. Instead, what bothers her most, is the craving her body is having. Its way of telling Sakura its wants makes the young woman blush all the more and wrap her thighs tighter together.
"Sakura."
Sakura's eyes widen to the familiar voice and she spins her head quickly around to face him. He smirks at her when their eyes meet. A trait she has only seen him do a few number of times. Yet that small smile, and his dark eyes that burn some sort of want and need as he looks at her, is enough to make her body demand she feed her craving.
'Sasuke-kun.'
She opens her mouth to greet him; to ask him where he has been all this time and to apologize that he has caught her at an awkward time. Yet, as she opens her mouth, a loud moan escapes again that catches her off guard, and quickly she clasps her hands over her mouth; beyond embarrassed.
'Was that really me?' she wonders again.
As hungry as she is, with an appetite that doesn't call for food, she knows her composure is better than succumbing to lustful wails and moans. She looks back at Sasuke just to see if he's reacted to her moans. She is caught off-guard when he suddenly appears right in front of her; his small smile never faltering as he slowly reaches for her.
"You know I'd never forget about you," Sasuke answers Sakura.
A question she asks only in her mind, but suddenly logic doesn't seem important right now to her. It doesn't matter to her if it makes zero sense that Sasuke speaks about her thoughts. Instead, what she focuses on now, is how wonderful Sasuke's lips suddenly feel as they press against the skin of her neck.
"Sakura," Sasuke purrs kiss after kiss. "You taste so delicious. I want you so bad, if you'll let me."
Sakura remains silent still, focusing on his gentle kisses that now trace across her collarbone as the ache below grows. She shuts her eyes as the lustful sensation builds. In her growing years these imaginations only ever involved Sasuke. Though, she had made a pledge to hold out even on him until she knew he could return her deep feelings, right now her needs blind her and she is quick to wrap her arms around Sasuke's neck as he places his own hands on her hips. She sighs as his fingers begin to lightly brush at the bare skin under her shirt and his warm kisses continue around her face and neck.
"Please, let me have you," he begs, making Sakura heat up all the more. "There's no other woman I want than you. I'm sorry I made you wait this long."
Sakura opens her mouth to tell him he better be sorry, but to also explain to him how bad she needs him now too. Yet, another passionate cry rings out as she opens her mouth.
'What is wrong with me?' she thinks for a moment.
Another cry of pleasure echoes, and Sakura's eyes widen in confusion when she realizes that noise did not come from her. The moans and lustful cries begin to grow louder, and Sakura takes a moment to step away from Sasuke who only watches her with a smirk and hungry eyes.
Now, it all makes sense to her.
Sakura sighs, annoyed. This isn't the first time this has happened to her. This time, as she opens her mouth, her own voice breaks through the other sounds around her.
"This is just..."
Sakura's eyes open wide and she stares out into the darkness within the room.
'...a dream,' she finishes the sentence in her mind.
As her blinking eyes adjust better to the darkness she takes in the foreign furniture in front of her. She curls tighter into her bed as aches and pains suddenly shoot up within her body. It doesn't take her long to remember where she is, and where this pain comes from.
'Gaara,' she thinks, recounting what had happened earlier.
To the thought of it all a question comes.
'What next? Try again. Keep trying again if nothing works?'
She has to she thinks. For a little boy's sake.
She curls tighter into her blanket, yet doing so makes her realize the effects of the dream is still there. There is a need and heat within her and she quickly casts off the blanket as her face reddens. She is fully awake now and uses her free hand to slowly push herself to sit up. As she does this, she winces at every bruise and sprain she feels throughout her body. Even her right arm has been bounded by some wrapping and immobilized by an arm sling.
Sakura gently uses her free hand to touch at her right elbow and hisses at the pain there. It's no wonder she is in a sling, but she also grimaces at the fact that, if her chakra just cooperated with her these aches and wounds could be treated in a snap.
'Do they not have a medic here?' Sakura wonders.
Yet, if she thinks about it, the way she has been treated thus far, it's probably a stretch she is even waking up in this home and in a bed let alone thinking they would use their medic on someone Gaara considers an enemy. Sakura turns her eyes towards the window, listening to the patter of light rain drops. She stares out into the darkness as her thoughts begin to drift.
'Of all the times to have such a dream...'
She blinks, wondering if stress has done this her.
'Sasuke-kun… I wonder if you even know where I am now.'
A loud moan suddenly bounces off her walls, and the noise sounds so near that it makes her actually jump lightly in her spot on the bed. She turns her head quickly towards the source of the sound and is surprised to see her door cracked slightly open. If she strains her hearing she can make out a few breathy sounds and light murmurs. Her blush deepens as she paints a scenario in her mind that matches those noises.
'It's no wonder I had a dream like that. I guess somebody here is at least making best of what they can through this war.'
Slowly, she drops her legs down to the floor from the bed. It takes her a moment to adjust to the aches, and tired limbs, but nonetheless makes her way towards the door to shut it closed. Yet, she stops just as she takes hold of the knob and realizes the light that shines bright is from the room right across from hers. As she cranes her head out more towards the hallway she realizes the couple forsakes to shut their own door as well. The idea actually makes Sakura grimace a little.
'Do they want everyone to hear?' she thinks.
Call it what you'd like. Sakura would deny all accusations being labeled a pervert, but it is a tantalizing, sensual moan from the other room that makes her crane her head more forward before she tiptoes towards the other room for a closer look. She blushes once she peeks an eye into the room and spots the bare back of a naked woman. The woman's arms are spread out upwards and Sakura wonders for the moment what sort of bondage keeps her limbs in place like that. Sakura's eyes widen when she hears the slither of sand and before she can even place the idea in her mind, the same grains she hears slither around the woman's arms and begin wrap around her hourglass frame.
Sakura looks away then, but her ears pick up one last sensual moan.
"Gaara-sama..."
Sakura covers her ears then and the blush on her face deepens. Instantly, she is reminded of the time her and Gaara had caught Baki and Annaisha in the kitchen. Now the unsuspecting is non other than Gaara himself.
'He's a man now,' Sakura thinks. 'Still, this is all...'
It's mind-boggling to say the least. The transaction from her world's Gaara to a child version of himself took some time for her to adjust to. Now, she has to go and transaction back not only to his older self, but that of one that is so different from the one in her world.
She shakes her head of the thoughts once she realizes she still lingers in the hallway next to the door.
'Now would not be a good time to speak with him.'
Not to mention, she isn't sure she can look at him anytime soon without falling back to this situation. Instead of returning to her room for refuge she quickly, and quietly, makes her way down the hall and towards the stairs of the home. Her clueless trail eventually leads her to what she believes is a dining room. She stops short of the long table and stares deep at the fine dishes that once decorated the table with detail and shine that would brag of the riches this family once had. Now, their shine is gone as they have become layered with dust, moisture and time.
'What am I doing here?' Sakura thinks as her eyes trail back to her holstered arm.
She roams a home of one that caused her all this harm on her body and she does so nonetheless with little worry. She knows, that thought itself, is all wrong. She should be angry, she should be trying to find reason within Gaara, or if not that at least a way off this island. Yet, at the same time, her thoughts fall to the children she once took care of and their image makes her eyes narrow.
She holds back for their sake; she stays to bring out the good she knows Gaara has in him.
'I changed him once,' Sakura thinks. 'Even if he is able to break every bone in my body now, I will change him again.'
Sakura's eyes suddenly widen as her hearing catches another muffled moan. Her head quickly turns towards the direction of that lustful noise above her and she blushes. The noise comes from a new girl and a new room. Sakura realizes Gaara isn't the only one who seeks sexual relief within this home. Yet, the idea makes Sakura shake her head.
"What is this?" she asks. "Am I in a brothel or something?"
Yet, she wonders if the woman's cries from Gaara drive other people within the home to seek some sort of pleasure, after all, it even infected her in her sleep. That, or the stress of war drives them to this point. Whatever reason, she seeks another room, trying to further herself away from those cries. She passes by the a living room of sorts, but stops and retracts her steps once she realizes another being is awake within that room. She watches, silently, as Kankuro's occupies a cushioned chair. His attention set entirely on a map that he studies hard.
Despite their odd, reuniting encounter, Kankuro has shown her the most kindness. Despite the person he follows and what Gaara has done to her, Sakura strolls into the room in a means to approach Kankuro like a friend. Kankuro flinches as soon as her figure strolls past him. Not expecting anyone, he quickly rolls up the map in his hand and stands as soon as he spots Sakura as she walks herself over to the love sofa.
"Sakaasan," he murmurs while he stands and watches her.
He is quiet as he watches her get comfortable and even flinches some when her eyes meet his. He worries the repercussions that both he, and his brother, have done to her will paint him in a different light in her eyes. Yet, as she smiles in direction, he feels the stress of those thoughts, as well as a breath he was holding in, suddenly release.
"Ah," he speaks, stepping towards her. "Are you alright? You should be resting…"
Sakura shakes her head.
"I'm alright right here. It was becoming too noisy upstairs."
Her smirk tells him that she making light in the situation, but it doesn't stop Kankuro from blushing and turning his eyes away, embarrassed. He hears just as much as she does.
"S-Sorry about that..." he apologizes. "You've been out for two days now, Gaara probably thought you wouldn't wake up anytime soon, you know?"
Sakura lets that information sink in as she stares out in front of her.
'Two days?' she thinks, almost in awe. 'Biju's are so powerful.'
It's not new information to her but it still puts her at awe that there are those that harbor such a powerful being, like her friend Naruto.
'...and this Gaara,' she thinks.
"I-I patched you up as best I could. I'm sorry if I did a messy job of it. All of our medics are out helping the fight up north or back at our base."
Sakura lets those words sink in as well. There has been a long fight up north apparently, and also, another place they call base. She imagines that's where most of Gaara's army occupies.
"You have a base?" Sakura asks, her eyes turning towards a window. "Then why do you choose to stay in this dirty home?"
Kankuro sighs to Sakura's interrogating questions but as he sits back down to study the map in his hand, he see's no harm in telling Sakura minor details.
"Usually I stay here just in case we have any problems occur in the mountain. If I'm not here, one of the others like Temari are, or sometimes we just rendezvous to discuss are next plan of actions."
Sakura's eyes narrow as she stares harder towards the window, listening to the rain grow harder.
"When you claim most of the world there's a lot of places you can go to."
She can hear Kankuro's words and feel his eyes suddenly settle on her.
'He's trying to glorify this to me,' she thinks as her eyes scout at his map instead. 'They have a lot more houses like this apparently yet...'
"So, why are all three of you here now?" Sakura asks, eyes turning to Kankuro. "Shouldn't one of you be helping the fight up North? Gaara especially since he is leading this mess..."
She is surprised to be met with a grin by Kankuro.
"It would take a lot for Gaara to leave now that you're here. Besides, the captain overseeing up north should have no trouble."
Sakura is surprised at what Kankuro says regarding Gaara and lifts her eyebrow towards him in question.
"I'm so glad you and Gaara got a chance to meet again," he answers her silent question. "I think it went pretty well."
He smiles, despite the confusion that riddles her face. She almost wants to wave the arm in the sling towards him just to show him how well their reunion had gone. Instead, she uses her words.
"You're joking, right?"
Kankuro's grin turns apologetic and he even forces a chuckle to mask the damage his little brother has done to her.
"He didn't kill you," Kankuro adds. "That's actually good!"
Despite his lackluster argument, Sakura's eyes do widen once she realizes Kankuro's words do say something meaningful.
'A part of him might think I'm real,' she begins to think. 'He didn't kill me like everyone said he would. Maybe there was an instance I spoke of that no one else had. He still has a connection to me, so if I can just convince him I'm the real Sakura maybe I can still convince how wrong this war is.'
"You should try to hide that look, Sakaasan."
Sakura's eyes meet back with Kankuro's after his words and she watches as his hard frown and steady eye now scan her up and down.
"W-What?" she asks, a little taken aback.
Kankuro sighs, and his eyes whip around him to make sure it's only them before landing them back on Sakura.
"You're thinking up plans," he whispers towards her. "Unless they're Gaara's own plans, he won't like it if he sees you doing that. He doesn't like not being not in the known."
Sakura nods at the little tidbit of info Kankuro gives her, surprised both he, and Gaara as he claims, have learned well to read people.
"Besides," Kankuro grins; leaning back. "You don't need to worry about anything anymore. I'm sure Gaara is going to take care of you now. Maybe he'll even take you off the island when things calm down. It'll be like the old days."
'What?' Sakura thinks, baffled. 'They think me on their side or something?'
Sakura slowly shakes her head, and turns to look at Kankuro to tell him how absurd that line of thinking is. Yet, before she can say anymore, Kankuro stops her with his own voice.
"By the way, Sakaasan," he begins before his eyes look past her. "What's that seal on your back for? I saw it while I was bandaging you."
Sakura's heart drops. The last thing she wanted here was for Gaara to realize how weak of state she is actually in.
"I've never seen anything like it," Kankuro continues. "Looks really complicated..."
Sakura reaches towards her back; nails dragging slightly up where she imagines the seal to be. Kankuro suddenly sends a dark look towards Sakura before asking her his next question.
"Is there something inside of you too, like Gaara?" his voice speaks hush and dark.
To his final question, Sakura sighs. No part of her thinks there is reason to keep what knowledge she has of it from Kankuro.
"I don't know what it is..." Sakura admits. "I just woke up with it recently."
Kankuro's eyes widen in surprise, and his hostile aura vanishes.
"I know it probably sounds crazy to you, but I have no idea what's been happening these past fifteen years. I just woke up that day you captured me and learned what has been happening."
"So...then that must mean someone kidnapped you."
Kankuro says this with the faintest of smiles and his explanation even seems to spark some happiness within him that Sakura can sense. He thinks of an excuse beyond her control that may have led to her disappearance. Something within him searches for answer that Sakura simply would not leave on her accord and forsake them.
Yet, Sakura only shakes her head to him. She is well aware what had led her to this point.
"My chakra no longer responds to me, and when Chiyo-baasama examined my back she noticed the seal. It's possible it's draining my chakra," Sakura adds.
That statement makes Kankuro eyes all the wider.
"Then that would mean...in time..."
As his voice slows to a stop, Sakura looks away back towards the window.
'It's not happening fast,' she thinks. 'I have time. I will make time to stop this and fix everything.'
Kankuro suddenly stands himself fast and Sakura blinks up at him as his gaze narrows towards her.
"We have to tell Gaara!" he speaks. "He can find someone to look at it and break it!"
Sakura is about to refuse and to tell Kankuro she will fix the problem on her own, but stops to linger on the idea for a moment.
'He says he has a lot of followers...Maybe even some who would understand this mark.'
Kankuro's proposal is enticing but Sakura clenches her fist to keep her resolve strong.
"Please," she tells Kankuro. "Don't tell Gaara. Not yet, at least..."
"But...Why? You're just slowly…" Kankuro counters.
She can't imagine how Gaara would react to the knowledge of that mark on her back. In the end, he may just laugh and scoff at her for acquiring something so foolish on her skin. He would probably chain her up and let her slowly rot. No, in her mind, Gaara would not help her like Kankuro claims and her use of no chakra is information she can't afford for Gaara to learn.
"Please," she begs now with eyes on Kankuro. "Promise me you won't tell him."
Kankuro swallows hard and Sakura knows he battles what to do in his mind now.
"Sakaasan," Kankuro murmurs and takes his seat. "I can't just let you die. Not after we just got you back. Now that you're here we're all together again. We'll be so happy once Gaara finishes this war."
"No," Sakura says, narrowing her eyes to Kankuro's surprised ones. "This war. Gaara...All of this needs to stop."
She feels like a broken record at this point but is also surprised how warped the minds of everyone here has. They see no harm in what they have done and continue to do. She casts aside the conversation of her mark but also notes that Kankuro did not agree to her promise.
"Don't you want all this fighting to end? Aren't you worried for your friends and family out there?"
Kankuro clears his throat for moment and stares deeply at the map in his hands. For the moment, Sakura thinks he may agree with her, but instead he pulls up a smile and looks back up at Sakura.
"Don't worry Sakaasan, it'll be all over soon. Gaara is going to give us a better world, and now that you're here, I have all the my friends and family by my side."
Sakura narrows her eyes to this.
'Surely there is more to Kankuro than this,' she thinks. 'He can't only care for the people in this home. He has to have relationships with others...'
A flash of light erupts within the sky; making Sakura turn her gaze back towards the window.
"Rains pretty hard around this time," Kankuro offers her an explanation. "I actually really like it, it's a lot different from how Suna was, you know?"
His words suddenly strike Sakura and she turns her head quickly back towards Kankuro.
"Kankuro," she calls to him gently. "I've heard Suna is no more."
She is surprised to watch the brunette curl his lips back tight before he dives his eyes back to the map in his hands. Instead of answering her he remains silent.
"If that is true, is it because of this war? How can you say all this fighting is for the best when you've lost your home?"
Sakura is caught off guard as the faintest of whimpers escapes Kankuro's mouth and he begins to curl his legs and body deeper into the seat he takes. His eye still scour the map. His appearance is like that of a scared…
'Child,' Sakura thinks.
"Your father, can you really justify his death done by the man you follow now?"
His body curls up more but his eye does turn to Sakura to this question. She watches as his hand gently begins to trace the scar around his glass eye.
"Sakaasan," he murmurs. "What are you doing? You shouldn't talk like this with him so close by..."
It is then Sakura wonders if these questions had arise in Kankuro once before. His acts and words are baffling, but paint her a picture of a man who has buried a lot deep within himself. He has forced these questions out of his mind to instead blindly follow. Had he done this to himself, to mask the pain he always found? Or had someone made Kankuro this way?
She remains quiet, but as she continues to watch Kankuro trace his scar and glass eye, a darker thought comes to mind, and slowly her jaw drops with a small gasp. She even leans a little towards Kankuro's direction.
"Don't tell me..." she mutters while staring still. "Is Gaara the one who did that to your eye?!"
Her voice booms to that last sentence and she even stands herself tall and looks down at the man who cowers in his chair like a child. Anger begins to boil within her soul; for Gaara has done something she now deems unforgivable in her mind. Not only because he has harmed the one person who was meant to be his closest ally, but also because she wonders if it had come from torment and brainwashing on Gaara's part. Was this Gaara's way of making Kankuro blindly obedient to his acts of war?
Her eyes widen once another figure suddenly appears at the entryway, and she even takes a small step back as his fast stride moves threateningly towards Sakura. Gaara draws up towards her with intent that seems ill, yet, as he presses himself close to her, it is only a scowl he gives her. One that she quickly returns. The silence looms for some time before Gaara turns his head to glance back at Kankuro.
"Kankuro," Gaara speaks with a harshness in his voice. "Straighten yourself out. You are a captain. Present yourself as one."
Gaara's emotionless order makes Sakura sneer and be the one to press herself closer towards Gaara.
"Did you do this to him?!" Sakura barks. "Frighten him to follow you? Is this how you have your army? Do your followers come to you through fear or because you threaten them?"
Gaara's sneer deepens and he even lifts his chin higher to peer down at Sakura instead.
"How could you do this to your own brother?!"
It irks Sakura that Gaara's gaze does not falter even when she has pointed out their relationship. Instead, he keeps his angry eyes settled on her while she does the same in narrowing her own. Instead of answering her right away; he begins to slowly circle around Sakura as he speaks.
"Perhaps this was a lesser mistake on my part. In the end, you picked my poor excuse of a captain to query."
As soon as he returns to her front, Gaara presses his face towards Sakura.
"Just like a typical rebel-spy," he hisses in her face.
Anger builds within Sakura, and she can feel her ears heat up as a boil begins inside of her that threatens to spill over the hot pot. Yet the longer she stares into Gaara's angry gaze, the more the face of the little boy appears. There is rage for what he has possibly done to Kankuro, what he's possibly done to all...but in the end, she wonders if this stems from the life he gained once she left.
'Had someone hurt him as well?' she wonders.
Was the world unkind to him once more?
It isn't until Gaara leans a bit away from her face; angry eyes dissipating does she realize her face must be showing him all that she wonders and her eyes have forsake a challenging look. It's only a brief moment, but something within Gaara's gaze seems to recollect a time in the past.
"There is no need for that face," he suddenly murmurs, shaking his head lightly. "I live a life now that garners no pity."
Is that the face she had made, she wonders. Does she actually feel sorry for the man in front of her? She delves deeper into that thought, remembering that little boy who cried into her lap just how lonely he truly was, how grateful he was to have her. Her pity stems to the thought of that little boy who may have walked the desert once again searching for that sense of security she had been the only one to bring.
She blinks as he widens his eyes towards her, almost like a warning.
"Admire me, Sakura," he suddenly tells her. "I have done so much for this ninja world. Someday, it will all be mine."
Remembering the child softens her heart but the man before her hardens it. His words make her narrow her eyes once more.
"It is not yours," she exclaims. "We need the leaders we have to balance out the world. What you do now is foolish."
She grits her teeth as he smirks and rocks his head slightly to her words. He hums for a moment before glancing back at Kankuro.
"Yet, here I am now. I've cornered all those against me like filthy rats. They shake in fear while I lay calmly in wait."
His smirk returns to her and his face draws close towards her.
"I'm ready to strike at any moment I wish, and all those against me are well aware of that. They know exactly what their outcome is to be."
Sakura shakes her head.
"No," she remarks. "They will fight you to the end. I've seen battles overturned. You are a fool to think that things will go your way with certainty like that."
Gaara's smirk falls for a moment and he stares at Sakura. She is surprised to find that he may actually be taking in her words.
"You should consider our conversations now as fortunate," he suddenly tells Sakura while looking down at her with a stern face. "I've never humored a rebel, like yourself, this long."
Sakura narrows her gaze.
"The lucky one is you," she tells him. "Real lucky I don't kick your ass right here and now."
His eyes widen briefly as she surprises him with a smirk next.
"The only fool here is you if you still think me a fake and an idiot as well to think I would be proud of anything you do now."
She stands herself still and tall even as Gaara suddenly grits his teeth and rage burns his bright eyes. Even Kankuro, behind them, watches with eyes of worry.
"You want me to break your other arm?!" Gaara suddenly cries in her face.
"No!" Sakura spits back. "I want to know why you're doing this! Why you think this war has a purpose other than a personal gain for yourself. I want to know what happened to you, and why you've become this way. I want to know what happened to the little boy I loved!"
"That little boy is me!"
Sakura turns her head then to Gaara's cry. She is aware of it, has been told by so many others, but to hear Gaara claim it himself makes Sakura heart quake. It's just another reminder that he is gone. She shuts her eyes then, tight.
'This is my Gaara,' Sakura continues to think.
Yet, her heart denies this thought.
'My Gaara wouldn't do this.'
Her eyes snap open immediately as she feels her hair shift through fingers like a musician to harp strings. She's caught off guard as Gaara plays gently with her pink locks. The notion is uncharacteristic, and he even gazes at her hair like he's inspecting it, nonetheless, Sakura finds the act to be an affectionate one.
Even more so when his gaze shifts back to her own and his look tells her he is lost as much as she is to this situation.
"You left me..." he whispers.
Instead of arguing. Instead of claiming it false. Instead of the truth. Instead of opening her mouth and raising her voice, she listens. She stops herself just long enough to let him speak.
He does so with his fingers still sliding in her hair.
"You left me," he repeats, almost an awe as if recollecting that single moment is something he forced to forget long ago. "You have no idea how much that hurt me."
Sakura opens her mouth to defend her actions once more. Yet, her voice is silent as she imagines the picture Gaara went through in her mind. Still, she wants to tell him, you had your siblings. She wants to remind him of those that he had drawn close to in Suna, and how much better control of his emotions he had become. She wants to remind him that her promises, and love for him, was figurative in the sense that it was suppose to carry him to become Kazekage. Suddenly, blame shifts all onto herself as she remains quiet.
'I shouldn't have gotten attached to someone I knew I was going to have to eventually leave,' she thinks.
And yet...It is almost comical how similar this whole ordeal is when her and Naruto chased after Sasuke. The attachment should be severed, they were told. She cried all night once for she teetered on the thought that Sasuke had forsaken all the goodness in him. Despite the monster he became, she held on to the bond they once shared and did all she could, along with Naruto, to remind Sasuke of all the good that was still in him.
Like being lost in a dark tunnel; as long as they continued forward eventually the light would be found.
It's a small lean on her part, but one that Gaara can read, and as her head sinks does Gaara's hand snake from her hair to cradle her cheek. Sakura's eyes and mind waver to the gesture. She knows she should step away, she knows she should spit in his face for what he has done. Her body still aches from the same hand that gently brushes her cheek now.
Yet, there is passion in his touch. Everything she claims is buried underneath his dark exterior now shines a little. She keeps her eyes away, but if she were to look she would see the adoration he suddenly holds for the woman in front of him.
"I am that little boy," he repeats.
Sakura sighs once more, trying to let that fact sink in. It's ironic in its own way that Gaara stands before her now trying to convince Sakura of who he is while she has done very little to convince him of who she is.
There's no mistaking Gaara is Gaara, but the man is on edge of who she really is. She sighs again, and places her hand over his own that holds her face. She closes her eyes, still trying to imagine the happy, little boy. What she feels is a cold, rough hand that is double in size of her own.
"This is how I would hold you when you were sad," Sakura whispers.
Her eyes turn up to his, and she is glad to see a flash of recognition in his gaze. He can recall the moments she speaks about. From his touch, she isn't quite sure how far along she is, but the recollection is surely a step forward in him believing her to be the real Sakura.
Her eyes drift as she feels Gaara's hand slowly pull away. For a minute, he is quiet.
As Sakura looks at him to try and understand what goes through his mind now, she catches his gaze shifting around her body. His pupils dance back and forth, and it takes her a moment, but Sakura does eventually realize he is taking in her bruises and scratches on her body. Once his eyes settle back to her she wonders if it is guilt that makes his face pale. He almost looks frightened at the sight of her suddenly.
"Sakura," he breaths, and she is surprised by the use of her name. "Have a seat. Make yourself comfortable."
He turns towards Kankuro and the narrow glare returns.
"Tend to something else for the time."
He doesn't even wait for Kankuro's answer before soft eyes return to Sakura and behind him does his brother quickly scurry off.
"We will eat something, together. We will talk, together."
Sakura's eyebrow raises at Gaara's presumptuous speech. Yet, as rushed as he suddenly looks, even gesturing Sakura towards the couch, she realizes this is what she has been wanting.
He may still be in the darkness, she may not agree to all that he does, and his answers may not ease her heart. Yet, she follows and sits. She is willing, for the moment, to be civil towards this man and listen to what he will share.
