Chapter 13
A loud knock raptured through his apartment. His body lay still, unmoved as the calm knocks turned to feverish pounds. Groaning inwardly he began to mark off the possibility of who it could be.
"Temari what - you." green eyes turned hard
"Can we talk?" Sakura mumbled, all her gathered courage deflating with his cold tone.
"Talk."
"Gaara," she sighed, "May I come in?"
"No."
"Sabaku! It's time for your checkup." The guard spoke as he opened the metal bars that separated them.
Gaara didn't move. His palms still raw from slamming the wall behind him continuously. His body marked and raw from frustratingly yanking at himself in fear, anger, confusion.
"Sabaku." the man's cold fingers propped him to his feet. The only one fearless enough to actually touch him. The prison's cold and bare concrete taunted him, his mind currently quiet, exhausted.
The room they entered was bright, the white washed walls taunting him. The overhead fluorescent lights made him dizzy and unsteady on his feet.
"Sabaku-san." the pink haired nurse nodded to the chair where he sat without complaint.
Her fingers moved with practice, quiet and confident as the security man stood watching from the door. "You shouldn't injure yourself like this."
He growled in response.
"I'm serious, losing so much blood in the night. I'm surprised you're still standing."
"Thank you for letting me in." she mumbled, pulling her coat tighter around her frame.
"Speak."
"I came to say sorry." her voice too quiet for it to be hers
"You didn't come all this way just to say sorry."
She breathed in the smell of coffee that she associated with him. Her nerves calmed in the familiar atmosphere. Her eyes landed on the musical instruments pushed to the corner.
"You moved your instruments?" her eyebrow raised in confusion.
Those instruments were his most priced items, he barely let anyone touch them. She knew this.
"You're stalling."
"Sabaku-san! Come in." Sakura smiled as she cleared her desk in the prison. "You can close the door."
"Are you not afraid?" he raised his non existent eyebrows to the corner which held no guard
" I brought you a book." ignoring his words, holding out the tiny booklet. Green steely eyes scanned the brown covered journal with confusion. "Now you can write your thoughts down, instead of hurting yourself." her voice softened towards the end
".."
"Try it ne?" she let out a shy smile as she dropped it into his lap.
Back in his cell he stared at the book that lay on the floor. Each time he saw it, he saw her. What were her intentions? She was too beautiful and too successful a woman to like him. He was too deadly, had too much blood on his hands to be associated with.
'Sabaku-san,'
"Hn." his face softened slightly at the thought of her voice.
"You've changed." Sakura mumbled, eyeing her boyfriend whom she could no longer recognize. His hard exterior had crumbled, his voice had softened. "You're not who I fell in love with."
Gaara's face hardened in annoyance, "I was a convict, a murderer."
"But you needed me." she finished.
"You needed me to get a job, an apartment, your sister's contact. You needed me for emotional support. You don't need me anymore."
A stiff laugh bubbled from his chest, "I think it's time you left Sakura. You've made it pretty clear."
"Sabaku-san," he flinched at the name she used to call him,
"There's no need to say anymore Sakura. We're over. Just like you want." he held the door open, her eyes wide in unexpected shock.
"I hope you find your next unstable codependent victim." humid air blew through the room as he opened the door, and closed it before she said much else.
Pink hair fell flat, her mouth agape. She had expected something but this hadn't been it.
Gaara had always needed her. A conversation like this landed him at her feet, begging her to stay. A sense of betrayal overwhelmed her as she turned towards the stairs.
"Sasuke-san?"
A stray tear fell involuntarily at the Uchiha who had seen everything.