Chapter Nine:

As soon as I approached my appartment I knew I'd have to sneak in. My dad would kill me if he saw me come in this late.

Gosh, I'm so scared. No, I'm terrified. I glanced down at my leg, practically useless, I can't climb up a wall like this. I'd never make it to the 12th storey. I'll have to face the mortifying wrath of him. I limp through the lobby.

My worst fear came earlier than I'd hope. There he was, standing in the lobby giving me an ugly expression of pure disgust. The recepionist gives me a look of sympathy and quickly gets back to her work. Not like she going to save me. I have to bear through with this. "Come now, I'll deal with you when you get home," He says calmly but I can see the rage bubbling in his eyes. I nod my head and climb up as quickly as I without hurting myself. He can't know what happened. "What happened to your leg?" He asks harshly. "I trained too hard," I said quickly. His eyes gave me an unconvinced glare.

It took fifteen minutes to hike up all those stairs. As soon as I got in the door I rushed to my bedroom of course it was a failed attempt because I was soon stopped by my dad's presence. "Sit down," He commanded fiercely. I walked to the couch meekly. I promise myself, no mater what, I won't cry. "You, never train this late, you never train so hard that you almost break your leg, so I'm guessing you hung out with the 'sand boy'," He snorted in sheer anger. "I was," I whisper. "He didn't mean to," I say lamely trying to defend him.

"Right, ya Tsukiko, I'm really going to believe that B.S." He said sarcastically. "I already know I'm in trouble O.K. Just leave me alone," I say as calmly as possible and walk to my room. "Get back here," He yelled. I felt something inside me snap. "No, why should I. You're just going to yell at me. I know the whole story of how your mind works. You know what, I'm going to keep hanging out with Gaara AND I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!" I yelled right back at him and slammed the door in his face. I quickly locked it. "Fine, get yourself killed, see if I care," He scoffed. I changed into my pajamas and crawled into bed. I felt tears brimming on my eyelashes. Trying to force the back but it was useless. I felt so weak and pathetic. I can't even handle someone yelling at me.

I fell into sleep, not a pleasant one but a restless one.

Tsukiko's dream

Gaara? Suddenly, before my very eyes he transformed into a hideous beast. "Run!" He yelled to me. I frozen in my tracks.

Like a rabbit who's memorized by a light. His sandy red hair disappearing and his aqua eyes turning black and gold. His body was engulfed in sand and a demon now stood in front of me. I tried to run but my legs won't move. The demon swiped at me leaving me bleeding from my stomach, sand then wrapped around in my neck in a strangle hold...

I screamed. Then I felt someone shaking me. "Tsukiko! Tsukiko!" The voice said trying to comfort me. "Dad?" I asked. "No, Gaara," He said. I flew my eyes open. "Gaara! You'll get caught! My dad's coming any second!" I yelped. "No, he's not. He went on a mission," He whispered. The he handed me a note. It was from Dad telling me he was on a mission and he'd be back after the Chunin Exams. "How'd you get in?" I asked bewhilderd. "You should no better to lock your windows at night," He scoffed pointing to the open window. "I'd better go," He said quitely. "No please," I begged. "You really are annoying sometimes," He sighed.

"Fine, hope you don't mind watching the moon all night." He sneered. "That's fine," I sighed.

He grabbed me by the waist and silently leaped onto the roof. The moon was beautiful. It was in it's full. "I love the moon," I whispered. He just stared in silence. I wanted to stop myself from leaning on his chest but I was so exhausted that I ended up leaning on him anyway. "Do 'friends' do this," He asked. "Yes," I breathed. I felt a tingly feeling in my chest building. "How did you hear me?" I wondered. "I was sitting on the roof watching the moon already when heard you and I came to check on you," He said.

"Thank you for being there," I whispered.