AN: I've been getting some nice reviews lately, so I decided to upload this next chapter early! Enjoy!
So soft, smooth petals of the most beautiful flower pressing against his lips.
Sakura wasn't pulling away, it was so surreal.
In a haze his hands rested on her upper arms, his thumb stroking her shoulder lazily as he breathed through his nose. There was no fear, there was no anxiety, no loss of hope. It was just them, alone in a room quietly sharing a kiss.
It was true bliss. His heart was beating so fast-
Gaara felt her start to move away, and in an effort to stay in her good graces he dropped the gentle grip he had on her. Her lids flickered, the lashes fluttering slightly as she brought her fingers to her mouth.
Something had changed drastically, and the redhead didn't know whether to be afraid or excited. He barely wet his lips, and her eyes focused on the action curiously.
"That one... was different." The kunoichi spoke just above a whisper, but it was clear enough that her heart was beating faster than a rabbit's. It made him think of all the fragrant blood pumping through her veins.
"They will all feel different, or so I assume-"
"You mean you've never done this before?" Sakura furrowed her brow in disbelief, and he answered by shaking his head. She looked around the room, anywhere but at him.
Was this suddenly a problem? Did she want someone more experienced?
"You still haven't had sex either?" The kunoichi shifted nervously on her feet, however it didn't seem fearful like it had before.
'Odd...'
"No, unfortunately no one else has captured my interest." Gaara crossed his arms, almost as if it were some sort of defense. "Does that bother you-?"
"No! God no! It's just... you seemed like you knew what you were doing the last time we talked." She attempted to laugh it off, like their strangely magnetic conversations weren't a big deal. He could see through her though, he could see that the things he said affected her in ways that she did not wish to admit.
"I wasn't aware I was doing anything to you, last I checked I was the one in a towel with you staring." His smirk was uncontrollable, the teasing unfortunate. He couldn't keep a lid on it any longer, she was just too sweet to not mess with. Her pouting face was all the reward that he needed.
"You act like you don't stare at me too, dumbass." She puffed.
It caught him off guard, her petty bitterness had a laugh bubbling out of him that he couldn't hold onto. A genuine smile broke across his features, and although it was strange it also felt rather nice.
"S-stop laughing!" Sakura stammered before swatting at him like a pesky fly. His hands came up to block as the little swings stung his arms.
"Ow!" Gaara continued to snicker the more she smacked at him, surprised by the fact that his sand did not come to his rescue.
'Odd. Very odd.'
"I'll knock you into next week, Sandman!" The kunoichi started to actually throw punches, and as he backed away from her she continued to follow.
"Keep hitting me, and my sand will actually get you! Please stop!" Even though the giggles would not desist, regardless of the fact that he was trying, he was beginning to genuinely worry about her safety.
While his sand hadn't come to his aid yet, it didn't mean that it wouldn't eventually. Unfortunately sometimes the grains had other ideas on how to deflect blows that involved people getting hurt.
"Yeah right! Stop this one!" A bit of chakra filled her hand for a slap that would most likely bruise him, and out of the corner of his eye he found his ultimate defense bursting out from his gourd.
Instead of deflecting, in the span of mere seconds he not only let her blow strike him in the shoulder, but he lunged towards her to pull her tightly to his chest. He managed to turn them just in time for the sand to avoid him by a hair's width. The grains struck an electric lamp in the corner, the bulb exploding thus sending them into darkness. That half turn cost him his balance, and they both went toppling to the floor.
His ears were ringing, his shoulder hurt rather badly, and the floor did not feel good upon impact. With her tightly in his arms he had taken the majority of the damage. The flash of light from the burst lightbulb had hurt his eyes a great deal, leaving him blinded for the moment. There was only dark, some pain, and a girl clutching at his chest breathing in a panicked fashion.
'Damnit, great time for my ultimate defense to kick in-'
"Gaara, are you okay?" Sakura spoke just above a whisper, she sounded like a child who had just broke a family heirloom.
"Blind, sore, but I'm still alive." Gaara gave a release of breath that he had been holding in when he caught her. His arms subconsciously wrapped tighter around her frame as he thought about what could have happened had he not acted quickly.
"Are you hurt?" His voice was tight, but it was mostly out of adrenaline than anything else.
"Even if I was I can heal, what the hell were you thinking?!" She smacked at his chest one last time, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Angered, he pinned her to the floor.
"I'm sorry, is my concern over your safety not good enough for you?!" He couldn't see her face, and he didn't know if she could see his either.
"Gaara, let go of me." Sakura warned in a low voice, but he was done being ignored and pushed aside.
"No. You are going to listen to me! I care about you, do you understand-?!"
"I understand that perfectly well, but it's best if you let go of me before someone comes in here..." Her words grew quieter by the second, making him realize that he had been stupidly distracted by what was happening in front of him. Footsteps were clearly running down the halls outside.
His dominating position over her body, plus the evidence of a struggle was enough to get even him, the Kazekage, in deep shit. It would be hard to explain since it looked purely criminal, and it would certainly make it's way through the gossip circles.
'Kazekage assaults an influential leaf kunoichi' He could practically see the headlines.
Shoving himself off the floor to a fast standing position, he could just barely tell that she had also gotten to her feet by the time the pounding on the door arrived.
"Hold on a sec!" Sakura stepped past him to get to her key before going to the door. He could hear it open, and a bit of light flooded in allowing him to see just the slightest in his current state.
"Sakura! Are you okay? What was that noise?" Temari's voice was crystal clear, and thankfully he gave a sigh of relief. "Is Gaara with you?"
"Yeah, he's back by the bed. A lamp sort of... exploded. It was his fault." The smirk in Sakura's voice was evident, and it made him huff bitterly.
Footsteps entered the room, and he could tell Temari was not alone.
"Gaara! Are you alright-?"
"I'm fine, just temporarily blinded." He tried looking over at the shadows that were clearly Temari with some other ninja, but he couldn't focus very well.
'Damn night vision, bright lights hurt so much more...'
"Is it really bad?" Suddenly his sister was right in front of him, making him jolt at her surprising presence.
"Right now it's not great, but it will be better soon." Gaara tried offering a smile, and got a small pat on his good shoulder. Thankfully he could see the shadow of her arm moving before it connected.
"I'll have someone bring you guys an oil lamp. Sakura said you broke this one-?"
"I was being reckless, not really paying attention to my surroundings..." He lied, but he couldn't say that they were having a rough-housing session. That would be scandalous too.
"Gaara, you know better than that. Stop showing off." Temari scolded him, making him glare off to the side. He could hear slight giggling, and even some chuckles from the other ninja in the room.
"You are all dismissed." The redhead glared at the shadows, and it pleased him a bit to watch them scramble with their 'yes sir's and other honorifics. A smug smirk grew on his face as they rushed out of the room.
"I know she's pretty, but you can't be playing around like this just to impress her-" His sister whispered for only his ears to hear, but it only made him feel more bitter.
"Don't assume things, Temari. The situation was far different than you think." Gaara growled slightly, and he could hear her backing away.
"Yes, Lord Kazekage." Temari said respectfully before he watched her shadow leave the room.
A smaller shadow came up to him cautiously, and he knew by the smell that it was Sakura.
"You got awfully bossy-"
"Yes, I have to be sometimes. Otherwise I'd get taken advantage of." The redhead tried blinking away the blurriness, but to no avail. The fact that his vision was impaired only left him more agitated.
"Hey, hold still for a second." The kunoichi's warm soft hand covered his eyes.
At first it startled him, but then he eventually relaxed as her hand started to glow. He could see a bluish light from behind his eyelids, and the moment that she pulled the hand away he found his vision to be crystal clear. In fact, it felt like it was better than it was before.
"Thank you." He focused on her now, grateful that he could see she was uninjured. With a slight flush she nodded, validating his gratitude.
"Yeah, well... you can't go around saying you got blinded in my room. Ino would tease me for months!" With a firm nudge she tried cracking a joke, and although it made him laugh slightly he felt like he had an even better response.
"I would just tell everyone that I was blinded by your beauty-"
"Oh my god, stop acting like a ham!" Sakura smacked his bad shoulder, and he winced slightly. She was about address it when a shinobi came back with an oil lamp.
"Thank you." Gaara gave a slight smile at the man, and he bowed deeply in return before taking off. The warm light from the lamp was relaxing, and immediately eased the energy in the room. As he went to place the lamp on the desk, he turned to see Sakura attempting clean up the glass from the light bulb. "Don't, please, I'll take care of it."
"Alright, but let me look at your shoulder when you're done." The pinkette went back to close the door, and while she was busy he quickly used his sand to grind up every piece of glass, thus turning it all back into fine sand.
It was a quirk for sure, being able to clean up glass in such a 'recycling' fashion. By the time she came back he was already pulling the sand back-
"Hey, wait a sec." With a grin she moved her hand through the sand cloud floating in the air. "That feels so cool-"
"I thought you hated it, I mean you've been caught in it many times." The redhead crossed his arms, but this time it was purely casual.
"Any time I've touched this stuff it was because you were having a mean streak. I want to know what it feels like when it's not trying to kill me." At first her grin was confident, but as her words sank in her smile began to turn shy. "I'm not... you know... it's not like a 'kink' thing or anything like that..."
He blinked at that, and had realized that aside from holding her down he had never even thought to using his sand for anything 'extracurricular'. He always thought sand to be too dry and gritty to be considered 'sexy'.
"I understood what you meant, but now I know just a little bit more-" He started to tease, and her anger flourished once more.
"Oh, shut up and do your stupid sand thing!" She waved her hands dramatically, and it almost made him snort. With a sly smirk, and a just a twitch of his fingers the sand started to slither around her arm like a coiling snake. "Ack! It tickles!"
"Yes, it does that sometimes. It can be the most deadly of tickles too as there is almost nowhere my sand can't reach." Gaara's smirk was growing more evil by the second, where as the kunoichi started to wear a worried expression.
"Don't-"
"Don't what? I'm not doing anything." Feigning a yawn, and then with a stretch he twitched his hand causing the sand to slither under her shirt. She screeched and fell to her knees trying desperately to get the sand out.
"GAARA STOP! IT TICKLES!" She flailed about on the floor trying to roll the grains away, but they were relentless in having her laugh, wince, and squeak. He leaned against the desk, casually watching her with a sly grin.
"Don't stop you say? Well if you insist-"
"Gaara! STOP!" Her face had gone completely red from the tickling stress, in her flailing she tried ripping off her shirt as if that would make the sand dissapear.
It didn't, but now things had started to get a little interesting.
"STOP! THIS WASN'T WHAT I MEANT!" Sakura squealed one last time before he finally made the sand come to a screeching halt.
He watched her chest rise and fall with her heavy intake of oxygen, trying desperately to catch her breath. He had to admit that she had filled out quite nicely. The lacy aqua bra wasn't half bad to look at either.
"You're so mean!"
"I know, but I can be nice too." With a small gentle wave of his hand the sand came alive once more, and even though she tried huddling to get away from it the grains still slipped through any nook it could find. He kept the motions smooth, and slow; just barely dragging across the skin in a soothing fashion.
He watched curiously as she started to welcome it, stretching out like a cat on the floor as it slithered around her frame. She hummed at the sensation, and he wondered if she would like to feel it a bit more on the suggestive side, but he decided it was best to stay away from such areas. Although, he did let the grains come dangerously close here and there.
"You're so twisted..." The pinkette murmured in a relaxed fashion before eyeing him from the floor, it was a look that made him want to crawl over her that very second. It was a challenging gaze, sultry and dark making his mouth water. He doubted that she even realized just how insane she made him, having her barely tease was enough. "God, you're getting off on this aren't you? Freaking weirdo-"
"Pot calling the kettle black, at least I'm not rolling around on the floor in a bunch of sand like I'm on drugs." At that image he had to stifle a laugh, as it was more hysterical to say than what he was actually witnessing.
"Tell me the truth, do you do stuff like this on your down time?" She placed her hands on her thigh as a snake of sand slithered over it, and it slid sensually through her fingers as it passed.
"To be honest, I have not. I'm not really one to do stuff like that-"
"You don't jerk off? I find that hard to believe." Sakura practically snorted, but then relaxed into another wave as it caressed her neck. The topic surprisingly had him a bit taken aback, it wasn't something he had talked about with anyone before.
"On occasion, but not often. I'm much too busy." Gaara tried to act mature about it, but his cheeks felt warm regardless. It took a moment to look back at her only to realize she was staring at him rather hard.
"When was the last time-?"
"I'm sorry, what?" The redhead blinked at her in shock, and she started to giggle uncontrollably.
"You know... when was the last time you did 'it'?" The pinkette let her fingers drag across some more passing sand while waiting for his answer. He almost didn't want to say.
"Few weeks ago... maybe over a month... I'm not certain-"
"Wow, here I keep thinking you're less innocent than me. What are the odds that you're all talk, and no walk." At that moment she got to her knees, and tried going to stand. Gaara bitterly dragged the sand across her groin making her squeal in surprise. "Pervert!"
"If you would actually let me I could show you just what kind of walking I could do." Gaara continued his torture on her while also picking her shirt up off the ground. She glared at him, but it was teetering on playful.
"Fine! Do your worst! I bet that the second you even get close to me you'll get too nervous, and back out." Sakura scoffed with sarcasm, but he was still focused on the 'do your worst' bit.
"Are you sure you want that? Think carefully now." To ensure that he was being serious he began to approach her, walking over slowly before kneeling down to her level. She recoiled slightly, but kept her pride; the sand still sliding around her body in a teasing way.
"I'm pretty sure I remember calling you a coward for not using your hands-" She started with a laugh, but it struck a chord in him.
"Is that an invitation?" His tone grew serious, and her demeanor instantly changed. Suddenly she was more cautious, and shied away from his roaming eyes.
"I just... want to try it one more time." Sakura's eyes looked everywhere, except at his shocked expression.
He knew exactly what she was talking about, but he knew that his collected self control was already damaged tonight. Whether he could keep his hands to himself or not was definitely a huge issue at the moment.
Gaara sighed in defeat.
"Alright, you initiate-"
"Um... could you do it this time?" The kunoichi shifted nervously, crossing her arms to cover her partially clothed chest. His haunting gaze roamed her frame greedily, and he moistened his lips in anticipation.
He couldn't say no. His whole being would not let him even fathom it.
Gaara moved closer to her, tilting her chin up to meet him as his lips descended on her own. She gave a light tremble from it, and his hands smoothed soothingly along her skin.
The sand around her grew more hypnotically teasing, and she hummed against his mouth at the pleasant stroking. He had the sand brush between her legs for just a moment forcing her to gasp. Taking that advantage he slipped his tongue past her lips, trying hard to coax her to do the same. When she finally did he allowed his hands to start on her frame, stroking her bare skin with the lightest of feather touches.
It was slow, hypnotic, and breathtaking. She had broken away for a moment to shake her pink strands away from her face, but then went right back in for another eager kiss. The more he kissed her, the more excitement she seemed to feel. Soon she was crawling onto his lap just to get closer, and his hands found a firm grip on her plush hips.
Gaara felt his world spinning, getting lost under the bright fire the girl brought with her. Her kisses were frantic, and needy, like she had never shared them with anyone before him.
He was unfortunately the first to break away to breathe, but that apparently couldn't stop her as she kissed down his jawline.
"Sakura... " The redhead purred as her mouth met with his jugular, sucking up and down his neck with enthusiasm. He groaned softly.
That is until her hand had squeezed on his hurt shoulder for balance, and it pained him enough to yelp. Definitely some sort of sprain, torn ligaments, or cracked bone.
"Oh no! Are you okay?" The pinkette pulled back to look him over carefully. Without asking him she went to the hem of his shirt to remove it over his head. He winced when it forced up his shoulder, but she got it off fast enough that it was like ripping off a bandaid leaving him bare.
'She's good at stripping people...'
"I'll be fine, I think it just got bruised-"
"No, its swelling for sure. It could be a sprain, or a fracture." Going into medical mode, Sakura placed her hands over the injury and let them glow. She closed her eyes to focus on what was wrong. "Damnit, it's cracked. This is going to take a bit longer, I'm so sorry-"
"No, it's fine. It's actually refreshing to feel pain every once in a while." Gaara chuckled, and her eyes flicked up to his deviously.
"Oh ho, I see. I figured you to be into something like that-"
"Get your head out of the gutter, I'm not out to get flogged." The redhead scoffed, but then felt regret as she blinked owlishly at him.
"The fact that you know what that is frightens me a little bit." The kunoichi 'claimed' it scared her, but her little snort proved otherwise.
"Well you're just as guilty. At least I admit to my perversion, whereas you outright deny it-"
"If I were to tell you what actually goes on in my head I'd no longer be safe around you. Don't lie, if I were to say that I was really into s&m you would have a 'red room of pain' waiting for me the next time I visited-"
Gaara laughed hard at that, it was unexpected and disturbing, but that's what made it hysterical. It sounded so weird coming out of her mouth, but he kind of liked it.
"Would it be so bad if I tried to cater to your tastes?" His eyes narrowed knowingly, and he tilted his head just the slightest to view her at a different angle. Her blush was starting to form once more on the apples of her cheeks.
"No, but I don't want to have sex with anyone. So it would become a problem-"
"Why don't you want to?" He pressed further, and her hands twitched over his shoulder. She had been technically straddling him for the last ten minutes, and he was sure that she was only just realizing how precarious their situation had become.
"It will hurt, and it'll make me worthless." She murmured softly at first before widening her eyes at her own statement.
She clearly hadn't meant to actually tell him, it just came out like word vomit.
He did not feel this type of shame that she felt, that ones 'worth' changed after a physical relationship with someone else, but he couldn't outright tell her that she was wrong. He actually had heard a lot of women talk this way, but it was still strange to him.
"I don't think you should place your 'worth' in whether or not you are untouched. If anything you should push for the things you want rather than living up to an ideal 'woman'. Live for yourself rather than for some boy, or a future husband, or anything else that holds down your freedom.-"
"You're just saying that to get in my pants." Sakura finished up her healing, and clapped her hands twice. "There! All done-!"
"I'm not saying it to get you to sleep with me, I'm saying it because I don't like seeing you torn by things that aren't healthy." Gaara huffed, but she still managed to roll her eyes at him making him feel thoroughly ignored.
"Okay, whatever you say, pervert. You'd like me more if I was a loose woman." She pushed away from him, and the heat on his lap disappeared. He knew he was turning her off, but at the moment he didn't care. He didn't want to trick her into doing stuff with him, he wanted her to actually desire it.
"I want you to go after the things you want, even if they don't involve myself." The redhead sighed, feeling his fatigue start to return to him, but he pushed it away like he always did when it tried to rear its ugly head.
"Well, lucky you." Sakura mumbled under her breath, but he still heard it clear as day.
"What is that supposed to mean-?"
"It means sometimes I wish you'd go back to being a bad person. That way I wouldn't have to worry about making shitty decisions." The pinkette said it sourly, and he didn't understand why things were going south so fast when he was just trying to make her feel better.
It just kept happening that way, and he was getting beyond frustrated by it.
Stay, go, don't stay, don't go, up down sideways backwards frontflip-backflip-hopscotch-flipflop-
Something snapped in his head. He could feel it crumbling down his spine like when his second skin would shatter. This girl was either going to put him in an early grave, or a jail cell.
"You say the stupidest fucking things." Well, it was out there, she was staring at him like he was batshit crazy.
'Here we go again.'
"Excuse me-?"
"You want to hear all of it? Let's do this, I'm willing to degrade myself right here and now just so that you stop driving me absolutely insane!" He stood up fast, and she recoiled onto the bed.
"One, I don't like the way you hate yourself for finding me attractive. It's insulting. Two, I really don't like you teasing me with your... whatever this is-and don't you dare say you don't because you most certainly do, and you know you are doing it too!" He was pointing at her, and when she would begin to retort he would immediately cut her off. "Three, how dare you wish for me to turn back into a cold blooded murderer just because you know that if that thirteen year old was our age now he would treat this situation differently-!"
"You can't just delete your personality and replace it with a new one, Gaara! You need to come to terms that you did those things, own up to it!" Sakura went to stand, but he shoved her backwards with gritting teeth.
"You want me to come to terms with my pain, perversion, and my bloodlust?! FINE!" He was shouting at her now, and she shrunk at the sound of his booming voice.
This was a nightmare, and he was creating it.
The redhead moved onto the bed quickly, and with frightened gasp she tried scurrying away only for him to grab her by both of her knees. He pulled her until his hips practically touched her own, and she squirmed trying to get out of his grasp.
"HEL-MMM!" She started to scream, and it made his stomach churn so he slammed his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.
He was going to do this, he was going to show her that she was wrong. That wasn't the person that she wanted-
"Stop... stop struggling..." The redhead sounded tired, and weak. There was nothing attractive about this, no forbidden sort of fantasy, it was just...
Gross.
"Damnit, Sakura stop crying!"
The kunoichi whimpered behind his hand, and he felt sick to his stomach.
'I fucked this up... I fucked this up really bad this time...' He knew that the second he took his hand away it was all over. There was no forgiving this, even if it was just a scare tactic rather than the real thing. He had to make it right.
"I really suck at this. I've been trying for a long time to make things good between us, but I think we are both incredibly selfish." He couldn't look at her, so he peered off to the side instead. "Truth is I can't do this to you, I feel absolutely zero desire right now, and no offense, but raging doesn't get me in the mood-"
He jumped when he felt her hand openly grope him, and he blinked at the clenched fingers over his groin. They felt him for a moment, and he stared at her face in disbelief only to find her glaring at him. He pulled his hand away just to try to understand what the hell she was doing.
"I'm so fucking pissed at you-"
"I'm sorry." Gaara hung his head, but was still noticing the invasive hand over his genitals. "What are you-?"
"Seeing if you're telling the truth, asshole." Sakura growled for a moment before reaching for the zipper to his pants.
"Woah-woah-woah wait a second-!"
"Hold still or I'll RIP IT OFF." The kunoichi snarled at him, and he immediately gulped back a healthy dose of humble pie.
She dug her way through the fabrics until she could get a good grip through his boxer briefs. He took a sharp inhale as she did it, and she experimentally squeezed from base to tip like it was no big deal.
He had to stifle a groan, finding it to be just enough to get him somewhere.
"Well that's just great, now you're getting hard-" She said it sarcastically, and he was completely dumbfounded.
"I'm sorry, that would be because it's a natural body response!" Gaara hissed at her, and with a roll of her eyes she pulled her hand out.
He almost thought of begging her to reach back in, and he felt he might have shown that through a rather pained expression.
"You weren't hard when you attacked me just now-"
"That is correct." The redhead nodded, and she started to scoff.
"How the fuck are you going to rape me if you can't get it up?" The kunoichi made it sincerely insulting, and he felt it that way too.
"I can use other methods." Gaara narrowed his eyes in warning, and she huffed.
"I'd like to see you try after I rip off your hands-!"
He stuck out his tongue almost childishly at her, but it did the trick in getting her to blush a deep shade of red.
"You're such a pervert!" Sakura puffed, staring at the blanket she was currently clenching her fists on.
She looked like a spoiled child, pouting because they couldn't get something they wanted.
Perhaps he had been going about this all wrong when she had said she wanted to see the boy from the past. She only wanted initiative... maybe more emotion. A fire that also told her clearly what he wanted, but was still contained.
Why couldn't he just keep his hands off of her, and call it a day? This was just torture on his damaged soul.
Yet, he still found himself reaching for her cheek, turning her eyes his way. He placed his lips over hers, and felt a stinging smack across his cheek.
No sand came to help him, funnily enough, so it smarted rather badly.
"Knock it off!" Sakura snapped, but her anger was just another beautiful side to her. She blinked dumbly at him when he did it again, and smacked the other side a bit harder than the first.
He was beginning to like it.
One last kiss had Gaara with a bruised cheek for sure, and it pulsed painfully under the reddened skin. He didn't care, he went in for more, and her body shook with rage. She gripped hard into his hair this time, pulling far more than what was meant to be pleasurable forcing him to groan in pain. He endured, massaging his lips against hers until she eventually warmed up to him.
'Finally.'
Once her fingers began to drag against his scalp rather than try to destroy it he let out a lengthy relaxed sigh. His hands circled her frame, holding her protectively in his arms as they laid back to merely kiss.
The redhead wanted so much more, but stayed only at this point where she allowed him to be freely, he was done pushing the envelope tonight.
He didn't know what time she actually went to sleep, because she apparently kissed him as she drifted into her dreams. It wasn't until the arms around his neck slipped off did he realize she had passed out.
He almost bursted out into laughter at it, but thankfully kept it inside to let her slumber.
AN: Hahaha I'm so mean. No smut yet, but we're getting to a point where it might happen soon! Are we all excited for it? Let me know in the reviews ;)