A week had gone by, and their time was almost up in Konoha. The leaf ninja were beginning to return to their regular stations once more as the town finished up rebuilding, so soon there would be no more need for the sand siblings.
Gaara had finished up his last classes, and was wished several goodbyes from the students. It was bittersweet, but he was excited to finally return home.
He had visited Naruto every day in the hospital after schooling or rebuilding, and the blonde was always excited to see him. Of course there was the added bonus that Sakura always seemed to be there too, and when visiting hours were over he would walk her home. Tonight he felt would be no different.
"Sakura's not here. She stayed home today for some reason." Naruto ate at an apple while Gaara sat across from him in the visitors chair. He didn't understand why the boy was still being forced into bedrest, he looked perfectly healthy. "I know, it's weird not having her around. She's so pretty, and she smells so nice."
Gaara thoughtlessly made a noise of agreement, and the blonde practically jumped out of bed as he pointed an accusing finger at the redhead.
"AH-HA! YOU LIKE HER! I KNEW IT!" Naruto shouted while stomping on his mattress. All Gaara could do was stare at him in complete disbelief. "Welcome to the club! Prepare to be completely heartbroken! She only has eyes for Sasuke."
"Yes, well it seems that Sasuke has no interest in her. He did leave after all." The redhead countered, and instantly hated himself for it. He watched regretfully as his friend's demeanor instantly dulled from a rushing waterfall into a sad puddle. "I... I'm sorry, Naruto. That was insensitive of me. I just don't like seeing both of you so sad, so it's left me slightly bitter."
"It's okay. I understand, it's just still fresh is all." Naruto slumped back onto the bed before heaving out a heavy sigh. "I promised her that I'd bring him back. Obviously I failed-"
"He's not dead, Naruto, just gone. You'll be able to bring him home, I'm sure of it." Gaara attempted a small smile for his fellow jinchuriki, and the blonde seemed to cheer up slightly.
"You know, Bushy-Brows likes Sakura too. So prepare for an intense battle over her." Naruto grinned wide, and it filled the room with an energy that Gaara almost envied.
A knock distracted them from their strange reverie, and a pretty nurse opened the door.
"Visiting hours are over boys, it's time for your friend to head home." The kindly nurse smiled at the two while the blonde groaned.
"Aw! Five more minutes-!"
"Naruto, you have one day left, then you're set to do whatever you want. Please behave for your last night here." She instantly scolded Naruto, and he pouted.
"But Gaara's only here for one more night, let me go home early then-!"
"These are the new Hokage's orders, not mine. You'll just have to deal with it." The woman huffed before opening the door wide as a gesture for the redhead to leave. "Thank you for stopping by, Gaara, and have a nice evening."
There was truly no room for argument, so Gaara stood up to take his leave; grabbing his gourd by the bedside table.
"Gaara, if I can't see you off tomorrow then have a safe journey home, okay?" Naruto flashed his usual cocky grin, and it warmed the redhead's heart. "Oh, and tell Sakura I say hi!"
"Will do. Have a good night, Naruto." Gaara gave a curt nod before taking his leave, and tried not to laugh as the blonde got into another squabble with the head nurse. He could hear the jinchuriki bickering all the way down the hall as he walked out.
- ... - ... -
Standing in front of her door felt strange, but all the lights were on in the Haruno house, so he couldn't just enter through the window like he always had.
Taking a calming breath he rang her door bell, which triggered off some sort of chiming sound inside. Konoha had such interesting inventions, if he were ever in charge of Suna he would certainly push for their people to move forward with their technology. However, it might take a while before they'd be able to catch up with the village hidden in the leaves.
A rather quirky man with wild pink hair in the shape of a star opened the door. He had strange sideburns, and tan skin. He didn't really look too much like Sakura, but Gaara was able to piece together rather quickly that this man was her father.
"Hello son, what can I do you for?" The man gave a warm smile, but his familiar speech was a little offputting.
"Uh... I was wondering if Sakura was home?" The redhead tried to not sound too awkward, but in reality he couldn't manage up a more mature sentence. He truly felt like his own age, which was rare.
"I should have known you'd be here calling for my baby girl. Come on in, my wife just started on dinner." The man waved him in, and Gaara stiffly wandered through the entryway. He could hear the father chuckling softly as he closed the door. "Kick your shoes off boy, we don't mind company. The more the merrier."
This man was insanely nice, and it made him realize how Sakura had turned out to be such a sweet person.
"What's your name, son?" Sakura's father held out a hand in greeting, it was incredibly odd, but he shook the outstretched hand regardless.
"My name is Gaara, sir." Gaara blinked at how strong the handshake was, but he felt like it was a sort of personal introduction. The type of grip one had could help the person on the other end determine how their character was. The redhead took a note, and shook the man's hand with more confidence.
"That's a good grip you've got! I figured you to be one of those feminine types my daughter fawns over so much, but I guess I should have known not to judge a book by it's cover!" The man let out a hearty laugh, and the old Gaara probably would have found the conversation quite offensive, but at the moment he simply felt a better familiarity with this man over the light teasing. "The name's Kizashi, by the way."
"Ah- I apologize, I wasn't trying to be rude-"
"Don't worry about it, you're fine!" Kizashi laughed again, and it put the redhead at ease. "Mebuki! We have a guest tonight!"
The man motioned for Gaara to follow him into the kitchen, and he did so cautiously. He did not want it to seem like he already knew the layout of the house as that would spell quite a bit of trouble for both him and Sakura.
"Who's here?" A woman with ginger hair asked before looking over her shoulder at them. She blinked her emerald eyes at the redhead with intrigue, and Gaara could see who Sakura had gotten her stunning eyes from.
"This here is Gaara, he's here to see our daughter." Kizashi gave her some kind of strange look that made it rather obvious that they were trying to communicate via their faces. Mebuki raised her eyebrows curiously before a small smirk formed on her aged lips.
"I see, well he'll just have to stay for dinner then. Make yourself at home, Gaara. My name's Mebuki, or if you wish to be formal Mrs. Haruno is also fine." She gave him a small smile before turning back to the meal she was currently preparing.
Mebuki seemed to be like the more protective type, but still rather laid back. The Haruno household was certainly an inviting one, and Gaara rather liked how that felt.
"Take a seat, Gaara. I'd like to have a chat before I call my daughter down if you don't mind?" Kizashi patted one of the dining chairs, and the redhead wasted no time in complying. He leaned his gourd up against the wall next to him, and politely took a seat. The man looked between Gaara and the gourd in a rather confused way, but eventually shook off whatever his opinion was on the matter.
Kizashi sat across from the redhead, and placed his laced hands on the surface in front of him. It made Gaara feel as if he were about to have dealings with a Yakuza mob boss.
"Let's get straight to the point, you said you're here to see my daughter. What I want to know is; what are your intentions-?"
"Oh, Kizashi! Don't you dare corner the poor boy!" Mebuki interrupted vehemently, but the man remained determined.
"I'm not cornering, I'm just asking a simple question! My little Sakura is a beautiful girl, and gosh darn it I'll ask whatever questions I see fit towards any teenage boy that walks through my door." Kizashi huffed proudly, obviously enjoying his role as father a bit too much.
"Sakura will hate you for it." Mebuki deadpanned, and the man instantly withered.
"She probably will, but she's my baby girl, and it's my job to protect her from lecherous boys-"
"Oh for gods sake! Does that boy look like a lecher to you?!" Mebuki pointed a spoon at the redhead, and he suddenly felt like there were too many spot lights on him.
"Mom, Dad? What are you guys fighting about now-" Sakura stood frozen at the bottom of the stairs while a look of horror washed over her.
"AH-HA! See, Mebuki?! Our daughter knows a lecher when she see's one- OUCH!" Kizashi suffered a ladle to the back of the head, and it made Gaara get a case of deja vu. It was like watching Sakura beat the life out of Naruto for his ridiculous antics.
"Oh. My. God. DAD WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Sakura shrieked, finally finding it in her to face the situation head on.
"I was making sure that your boyfriend here doesn't have the wrong idea-"
"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND! HE'S NOT EVEN FROM OUR VILLAGE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" The kunoichi had a truly horrifying meltdown, and it almost made the redhead want to run out of the room with how frightening she looked.
"It's okay if you have a boyfriend honey, even if your father wishes differently-"
"MOM! NO!" Sakura roared again before grabbing Gaara by the sleeve. With how she yanked him out of the chair he almost tripped. "Grab your stuff! I'll walk you out-!"
"Sakura! That's very rude! He can stay for dinner, then you can send him home." Mebuki scolded the young kunoichi, and with a growl she grabbed him by the wrist to pull him with her up the stairs.
"Leave your door open!" Kizashi hollered after them, but the second they made it to her room she slammed the door behind her as loudly as she could.
At the moment his ears were ringing, and he felt slightly dizzy from all of social anxiety, but it was still a nice change of pace from being alone with his thoughts.
"What the hell are you doing?! Why didn't you come through the window?!" Sakura crossed her arms as she hissed at him, and he could feel the heat coming from her in waves.
"I saw the lights were on, so I thought it would be inappropriate for me to come in that way-"
"It wasn't appropriate to begin with! Do you understand what you have just started?! Now my dad is going to be pestering me for weeks about you! He's going to get all worked up thinking that we're fooling around or something!" The kunoichi began pacing before eventually giving out a frustrated scream.
Gaara hadn't meant to upset her, he only wanted to see her one last time before he left for Suna. He inwardly cursed himself for thinking he could be so familiar with her and her family.
"I'm sorry, I had no intention of causing you such grief. I only wanted to share some time with you since I am leaving tomorrow-" At the sound of his soft admission her head shot up with a look of disbelief.
"You're leaving? Tomorrow? I thought you'd be here for at least another week." Suddenly her demeanor changed, and she carefully sat down on her bed for comfort. "Why so soon?"
"Ninja are returning to their posts, the repairs are almost finished as well. There is no longer a need for our services-"
"But I need y-!" Sakura quickly stopped her sentence before she could say something that she would regret later, but it wasn't hard to predict what her first words meant. "Will you come back?"
The room went silent as he looked around himself awkwardly for an answer he didn't know. Her expression dropped further, and she pulled up her knees in a tight hold.
"Heh, of course. Right when I truly start to trust someone they just up and leave-"
"You know it's not like that. You also know that I can't stay." Gaara spoke sternly, but still wandered over to sit with her on the bed. "We'll write to each other so that we won't lose what we have made here. Is that alright with you?"
She stayed quiet for a while, rocking herself while hugging her knees to her chest.
"Sakura-"
"Fine. We'll be pen pals, but if you're in the area, and vice versa we have to hang out. Okay?" Sakura huffed before wiping away a tear that had accidentally slipped down her cheek. Another attempted to roll, but he caught the tear with his thumb.
Gaara was truly enraptured by it, the fact that someone was so saddened for him to be gone was beyond him. He had never dreamed such a person would even exist. It pulled at his heart almost painfully, and the fact that he would be separated from her started to sink in.
Without thinking he pulled her into an awkward sort of hug where she was able to lean her head against his collarbone. She eventually scooted closer to properly return the hug, and it made him ache even more. He would miss her terribly.
"It's weird being here when all the lights are on." Gaara murmured softly, and got a pleasant sort of snort from her.
"Try being here during the day, it's even weirder." She snickered to herself before pulling away from him. Her body slipped through his fingers as she went to walk around her room leaving him alone on the bed.
He watched her, memorized her movements, and grasped at the blankets underneath him. He didn't want to leave, or rather, he wished she could come with him.
"Kids?" Mebuki had called from behind the door, giving a rather gracious amount of time before opening it. She peeped her face through the opening with a heartwarming smile. "Dinner's ready. Come eat."
- ... -
"So, you're not from around here, Gaara?" Kizashi asked almost suspiciously, making the two women at the table roll their eyes at him. The redhead decided that it would be best to be as friendly with the older man as possible.
"I'm from Suna-"
"I'm sorry, but weren't you in the chunin exams with my darling daughter here? Judging by how you fought, I thought you would be quite a ruthless person." Kizashi narrowed his eyes to dissect the teen, and it made Sakura practically enraged.
"Will you back off?! He's not like that anymore-!"
"Anymore? So what your saying is that he 'was' ruthless?" The older man's expression grew even more accusing. "So have you killed anyone, son?"
"Kizashi! You know we don't mention such things at the table!" Mebuki barked at her husband before turning to Gaara sympathetically. "I am so sorry, Gaara. Please excuse my husband."
"It's alright, I understand that I'm a threat." The redhead said it so nonchalantly that all three of them gave disbelieving looks. Sakura even nudged him with her elbow as a way to tell him to keep quiet.
"So you're claiming that you are a threat? To whom?" Kizashi pressed almost urgently.
"Dad-!"
"To just about everyone, really. However, I had a wake up call rather recently, and I am working on becoming a more loving person." Gaara deadpanned once more before taking a bite of the delicious flakey fish that Mebuki had fried up. "This is very good, Mrs. Haruno, thank you for sharing your food with me."
"Oh! You are very welcome, Gaara! Please don't hesitate to grab more if you are still hungry." The older woman was very obviously won over by the redhead's smooth compliments, which made Kizashi seem oddly jealous.
"So, I'm assuming that you have killed people-"
"Dad knock it off!" Sakura slammed her fists on the table, and surprisingly Mebuki followed suit with her own shouts of displeasure over the man's behavior. It didn't stop him from glaring at Gaara.
'It is best to be honest... that is always best.'
"I have killed many people in ways that I am not proud of. However, as a ninja, that is to be expected." The redhead took a calming breath to try to keep himself from saying much more, but it seemed to have baited the man thoroughly.
"You were part of that 'Konoha Crush' plan, weren't you-?"
"That is enough, dad-!"
"Yes. I was part of the Konoha Crush." Gaara wondered if his honesty was going to get him in trouble, but then again he also felt that it was better for him to talk about the bad things rather than someone else sully his name with even more rumours.
"A lot of our people died that day. Including our Hokage-"
"We were tricked into attacking the village, and if it's any consolation our Kazekage was also killed by the same man who murdered your Hokage." The redhead remained calm while the two women looked on at the conversation anxiously. Kizashi still did not seem pleased.
"I have friends who are gone because of your village." The older man looked to be in pain over the conversation, and sadly Gaara felt that he needed to put some things into perspective for the man.
"And my father is dead because of yours, but I will not judge you personally for it." At that moment the redhead locked his haunting stare on Kizashi, but kept it non-threatening. The man blinked for a moment, and was frantically searching for some way to counter the teen.
"You're father died in the battle? I didn't know that, I'm so sorry-" Sakura went to console him, but he shook his head.
"Not in the battle, he died weeks beforehand." Gaara took a sip of his tea, and by the time he lowered the cup he noticed everyone staring at him in confusion. "Ah, forgive me. My father was the fourth Kazekage."
Someone dropped their fork, and it clattered off the table loudly. The faces of the people around him were in complete shock, with eyes the size of saucers. He cleared his throat nervously, and tried looking away from them to avoid scrutiny.
It was then that Mebuki turned to her husband, and stared him down like a hawk. The older man instantly bristled before taking a long sip of his tea.
"Your dad... was the Kazekage?" Sakura blinked owlishly at him, and as he nodded mutely her posture slumped deep into her chair. She gaped for a moment, and he could tell her brain was going a million miles per hour. "Why didn't you say something?"
"It's not necessarily something I enjoy talking about. My father did not like me very much, so I try not to think about him." Gaara finished what food was left on his plate before folding his napkin over the top of it. The young kunoichi seemed to be studying the way he moved now, which was another reason why he didn't like bringing up the fact that he was related to the Kazekage.
"Who's replacing him?" Kizashi asked gently, letting the redhead know that he no longer seemed to have dispute with him anymore. The teen felt relieved.
"I'm not sure, unfortunately I was the only one who could match my father's strength in our village, and obviously I am too young to take such a title." Gaara felt the air grow tense once more as the older man choked on his tea.
"You're as strong as the Kazekage-?!" Kizashi balked at the redhead, his face growing paler by the second.
"I would say that in some ways I am stronger than him. He had trouble keeping up with me the last time we fought, and he always fought to kill. In fact, killing me was always one of his goals." Gaara then finished his tea, and placed the cup on the table almost silently. "Thank you for dinner. I've never been invited into someone's home before to share a family meal, so this was a very special moment for me."
Once again the family went silent as they stared at him in shock. Sometimes the redhead would forget that his life up until this point had not been happy, loving, or pleasant. He wouldn't forget what had happened, but he would forget that it was not 'normal'. He would talk casually about his horrific tragedies like he were chatting about the weather, and unfortunately people would stare at him like an animal walking on its hind legs.
But that life for him was normal. It was a trivial thing for his father to try to kill him, or for him to order someone else to make the attempt. Normality was being shunned, being targeted, and losing his cool. Things were abnormal right now because no one was out to get him anymore, and he finally had friends to ease his loneliness. That was strange for him, while it was standard for everyone else.
Except for Naruto, he knew well enough about similar hatred and pain, but he turned out so incredibly good. The redhead could only hope that he could be more like him.
"Ah! Gaara, would you like dessert? I made some little cakes earlier." Mebuki was suddenly standing up, and snatching his empty plate before he could go to rinse it. "No no! You just sit right there, and relax. I've got this handled."
"Um...thank you, Mrs. Haruno." He gave a curt nod making the woman wave a hand at him dismissively, but still wearing a full smile.
Sakura said nothing for the rest of the meal.
AN: I know, it's pretty tame, but don't worry we'll eventually get back into the swing of things ;)
tanuki:What kind of GaaSaku do you like to read best?
A: To be honest I really enjoy 'accidentally in love' types of stories. I really enjoy the types where the characters are somewhat bitter with each other, but then it turns into a "I hate you, but I can't stop thinking about you" sort of ordeal. Great example of this in a different fandom was when Buffy and Spike hooked up in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I absolutely love them together, and I love how they just spit venom at each other then abruptly start a physical/slightly romantic relationship. Never been happier than when that ship became canon, my gawd.
So... yeah sorry for rambling. I like 'opposing' romances across the board Gaa/Saku or not, it makes things super interesting.