(Dances round in circles until she gets dizzy, yelling in the way Naruto would yell 'RAMEN RAMEN', 'REVIEWS REVIEWS') Apologies, I am not deranged. I'm merely gleeeeeeful that I still got reviews after my diddy chapter and that only a few people threw sharp pointy things at me. So thank you thank you THANK YOU, you're all marvellous! This ones got action! WOO! And people being angsty, though not extremely so. And I also need to apologise for not having the translation for the technique that Hogo uses in this one because uhh... I can't get through to the person translates them for me (looks embarassed at her lame excuse).
Also, just so people know, I'm kinda writing an alternate reality oneshot to this story, where Hogo IS on the side of the missing-nin and HAS been sent to incapacitate Gaara, and how their relationship would have been different (sorry if that ruined anything for people, but C'MON, I'd say it's pretty obvious that Hogo's not going to betray the village in this version!). Its a lot darker than this one and a lot more (ahem) graphic so I'll probably end up putting it on adultfanfiction instead. Just in case anyone's interested XD!
burn - I don't normally do cliffhangers cuz when other people do them I sit there frothing going 'NOOOO you evil mongoose, WHY?' So I'm sorry (looks contrite)
kimahrigirl - hehehe I laughed so much when I saw that - 'Go save Hogo Gaara!' You bribe me with cherries so I'm obliged to do whatever you want (is a cherry junkie) Glad you think I'm keeping Gaara in character XD. Angst in this one toooo!
Blackeelamgal9 - Heehee, guess I just need to get my mind out of the gutter! But I like it there (sulk) Thankee so much!
Cheh - YAY glad you liked the Hinata Hogo stuff, I realised that I'dnot had them saying anything to each other and considering they're both from renowned clans they'd have a lot to say to each other. Also YAY to you getting what I was trying to do with what Hinata was saying to Gaara XD! Neji's in for many a surprise! Gaara's just being a moody hormonal (and yet very pretty) shukaku boy, shame on him!
mellyd - NejiHina, NejiHina, they're sooooo cute! Now all I have to do is get poor old Hinata to stop blushing...
cutieangel - Oooh no, I hate to cause disappointment! You can hit me with ummm... uhh... (looks around her room) a shoe? This ones bigger (the chapter... not the shoe...)
AnimeSiren - YAY glad you like it! NejiHina's a slow builder but I'm getting there (shakes her fist determinedly)
Beatrix Kiddo - Hehe 'Today class, we'll be teaching you about Hogo's clan'. I knoooooow Naruto needs more time, as does Rock Lee, I feel like I'm betraying them! I find them quite hard characters to write though and since they're normally quite talkative it'd have to be a bit with them going on for hoooours heheee. I've tried to give Naruto more action in this one though. What scared me the most about you saying you were mad at me was the :D after it, heehehee, not even the kunais you threw at me! (runs away from the Sabaku Taiso) Ok this won't help but I don't wanna die! The quote is all yours m'dear XD!
BIng - Glad it is liked, and glad someone isn't killing me over the cliffy (sweatdrop)
Gun.God.Angel - Thankee very muchly, taadaaaaaa! (waves at next chapter)
Enjoy peoples
Team Two...
"Are you going to admit that you've lost the scent dog boy or are we simply going to have to follow you in circles for the rest of the afternoon?"
Kiba stiffened and shot a glare back over his shoulder at Temari, attempting to ignore her as Akamaru gave a snuffling growl of disappointment next to him, sniffing the air vigorously. He stopped abruptly at the precipice of a sharp dip in the desert, wherein dozens of craggy rocks scattered the ground, all sand-blasted into smooth, pale obscurity. Some were no taller than any of the shinobi in height, whilst others were three times the size both lengthways and around. Kiba scanned the area tensely, feeling Shikamaru land alongside him.
"Anything Kiba?" he asked quietly, taking into account Kiba's clear irritation. Kiba flipped his hood down and ran both hands through his hair exasperatedly, moving restlessly on the balls of his feet. After they had scouted around the village as intended, he had picked up a scent that he could distinguish was not from their other team. The pursuit of it out in to the desert however, was proving more of a problem. "I'm not used to the terrain yet. The airs thinner here, there's less smells populating it, and almost no humidity..."
"Surely if there's less smell you should be able to detect the spy easily." cut in Kankarou, to which Temari hmmmphed in agreement. Kiba snorted with scorn and plumped himself down on the edge of the precipice, and Shikamaru was quite ready to believe he was sulking.
"Please do not be like that Kankarou-san." said Rock Lee firmly, causing the man in question to turn at him with a raised eyebrow. Lee grinned widely, looking none the worse for wear after their long race through the desert, clearly fired up with determination. "Kiba-san is trying his best."
"Smell isn't as simple as you think it is." stated Shikamaru dryly. "If there's no humidity, the scent doesn't linger as long, and with how little there is out here, there aren't any other smells to provide contrasts that give you focus..."
"All I can smell is bloody sand and the wind..." growled Kiba through his teeth, accepting a fed-up looking Akamaru on to his lap and petting him.
"Marvellous then! This is productive." Kankarou growned, removing Karasu from his back and flopping to the floor. Temari grunted disdainfully at her little brother before stepping up to Shikamaru.
"So, what's the next plan?" she said in a low voice. Shikamaru was vaguely surprised that she was bothering to be sensitive about Kiba's inability to follow the trail. "Kiba's still our best chance of tracking this spy down. Once Kiba's become used to the subtleties of the smells here, we'll have to try again. In the mean time..."
"Check the surrounding terrain to note anything of importance before heading back." She cut him off, uttering more or less the exact words he had intended to. She chuckled at his blatant surprise, flicking one golden bunch of hair over her shoulder with arrogant suppleness. "Oh, what a team leader you are, what a man!" she teased sarcastically, poking him in the chest. "Hey, there's no need to go and affront my masculinity." Shikamaru objected.
Kankarou blinked, taking in the picture of Temari standing close - EXTREMELY close - to Shikamaru, hands on hips, head tilted in mock-coyness. Wow. Temari was being outrageously blatant, and their team leader still seemed utterly clueless. Kankarou rolled his eyes and let his head sink back into the sand again, wondering how he was going to deal with two love-sick siblings. Tease them mercilessly undoubtedly...
"How can I affront your masculinity when its so distinctly lacking? Where are you hiding it anyway?" she retorted challengingly, raising a teasing eyebrow, her pretty lips quirked in a smile. Shikamaru found himself overwhelmingly tempted to slip his arms around her waist and kiss her senseless to show her just where he'd been hiding it, but decided against it. Flirty banter or otherwise, Temari was more than likely to rip his head off if he even tried it.
"Let's get moving. Kiba, come on we've got to have a look South before we can head back." he called to Kiba, missing the look of disappointment in Temari's face as he hastily backed away from her. The boy in question had stood up again, his back ruler straight in concentration. He meticulously sniffed the air, acutely aware. For just a second or two he had caught the flaring of that scent, but it was gone again before he could determine what direction it had come from. Frustrated, but consoling himself with the fact that there was always tomorrow, he joined the rest of his team to head back into the desert.
Team One...
Hogo let out a grunt of exertion as her boot met the head of the shinobi before her, his neck audibly snapping from the force she had put into it, her entire bodily momentum behind that kick. Allowing the momentum to carry her all the way round again, she continued running, her lungs burning fire, adrenaline coursing as she continued to blow the whistle intermittently. She sensed another closing in to her right and bristled at the sensation of chakra accumulation. A Katon technique.
Cursing herself, cursing the anger that was making it harder to concentrate, she focused all her energy and willpower and bulleted forward, rolling and flipping away from the intensely hot flames headed towards her. She sensed another to her right who had clearly predicted her trajectory, even if he couldn't see her at the speed she was going at, and collected chakra in her feet and knees before shooting upwards into the sky away from his genjutsu attack, spinning in momentary stasis above their heads. Thirty two; her eyes calculatedly efficiently. In other words, a lot. More than even she could handle alone, unless she thought fast and did something drastic. Her attention was caught by a chuunin she recognised, a girl who could not be more than a year older than her. Rage returned full force, hot fury that only partially encompassed the sadness she felt at that moment. These people were meant to be her comrades.
It was then that she decided to stop thinking of the anger inside her as a detriment, and Gaara came to her mind again. But of course he did. Gaara. He might as well be tattooed to her like that scar of 'Love', an ironic grotesque, on his forehead.
Even as she was hitting the ground, breaking into a run on landing, flipping on to her hands and agilely kicking away some feigning attacks, she was smiling.
Father, you lied to me. There is no difference between the battleground and our own lives. This conflict shows me everything that you made me stand for means nothing. Our allies are shinobi, our family are murderers, our friends traitors, our loves... monsters. So let us all be monsters.
Nothing but ruthless power generated her movements then as she whipped out of the dense circle in a splattering of blood, performing a dozen or so hand seals as she did so. For the first time in a long time, she released the genjutsu that concealed her chakra.
The nearest flinched as though she had backhanded them across the face, and those at a distance felt on a more visceral level, a tremor of total unease. Hogo almost groaned aloud at the sheer sense of release. It was like the removal of a restrictive band about her chest, the hacking off of manacles. Familiar power soared through her with refreshing liberty and she felt almost drugged by the sense of freedom it gave her. She allowed the dark smile on her face to spread before uttering the jutsu
"(Hells Retribution)"
There was a limit to how many it could work on. She wasn't like Gaara after all; but as she felt the power coursing out of her she knew that it would be more than enough to tip things to her advantage.
Demons, comprised of nothing but fire and shadows and hollow shrieking screams, crept out from the Earth, growing even as the Shinobis' fear grew, amassing their terror to them like sustenance before pouncing in attack. The blood-curling howls and wails of pain were enough to send some of those who had not been captured in the jutsu running for their lives from what they thought must be an invisible enemy.
Thirteen. Not many, but certainly enough. She stepped back idly as one collapsed at her feet in a paralysis of suffering, a demon's teeth clamped into his abdomen, sucking his very ki out of him. His eyes met hers in blurred recognition before they misted over in death.
The remaining Shinobi were managing to collect themselves, and some were even attempting to dispel the jutsu from the thirteen, grabbing and shaking them, even striking them to render them sensible. She knew it would not work. This was an extremely high level jutsu - one that penetrated to the very core of primal fear in people. They weren't dying from anything other than simple terror, and nothing could rip them out of it again.
A ripping noise to her left made her aware that someone was coming towards her fast. Very fast.
"Treacherous BITCH!" the Shinobi roared, eyes alight with fury. Hogo's ferally aware gaze came up to meet her... and then her view was intercepted by several blurs of orange.
"Naruto RENDAN!"
She blinked slowly at the sight of multiple blond-haired shinobi's despatching the girl with ruthless efficiency. She had been aware of the Kage Bunshin, but had never actually seen it performed before. One of the Naruto's dropped to her side in a fighting stance, and the others disappeared with a puff of smoke and a short-circuiting of chakra. He grinned at her apologetically "Sorry we took a while, but you move very fast when you're being chased Hogo-san!" He seemed to do a double-take and looked round at her, blue eyes stretched wide. "You're..." he began, but she pressed a finger to his lips before performing the necessary Secret technique seal to conceal her chakra again. Naruto said nothing, continuing to give her that surprised expression as she felt the presence of the others arriving.
"Impeccable timing my friends." she said warmly, staring severely at the recollected group of missing-nin that were beginning to surround them. "I was just picking off the ones that were running away. You seem to have been giving them quite a scare Hogo." Neji said in dry amusement, though his face was as ever impassive, the intense power of the Byakugan adding fierceness to his features. Hogo shrugged the compliment off "Just my usual parlour tricks." Hinata gazed round at the bodies that were littered on the desert floor. If this was a parlour trick she hated to see what Hogo considered serious violence.
Sixteen were left. Plenty enough for all of them then, Hogo thought cruelly, bitterness overtaking any reservations she had. It was a farce, everything that she had been fighting for. But that didn't mean she could stop fighting. Her pathetic ideas of honour, her love for her village, even the shattered ideal of what her father had tried to make a reality for her, would not allow her to stop fighting. There had never been any other alternative. She felt Gaara's dark chakra behind her and bristled in renewed anger that was the only response she was prepared to give. Better that than misery, better that than simpering like the weak thing she always felt she was around Gaara. Why let him have the pleasure of knowing how easily he could hurt her?
It didn't matter if the loyalty, the devotion, the nameless feelings, were only one-sided. She had already chosen.
The fight began again with the abruptness of a startled scream as some missing-nin leapt forwards, Naruto performing a replication of ten clones that proceeded to fly into the mix.
And then there was the familiar rush of blurred, sweaty battle, and Hogo was relieved she wouldn't have to think any longer as she flung herself forward...
Neji's attempts to stay close to Hinata were near impossible in the psychotic flurry of flailing limbs and falling bodies, although he maintained her within the all-seeing gaze of his Byakugan, feeling her there at the back of his conscious even if he could not fully concentrate on her. He deflected a kunai attack with his chakra before slamming his palm into the shinobi's chest, sending the nin flying several feet up in the air and backwards to lie dead on the sand floor. He balked in amazement as he saw Naruto easily evade the blades of several missing nin, erupting from beside them in his real form to knock them both unconscious. Clearly Naruto had improved even further his manipulation of his shadow clones.
"Neji, heads up!" he yelled, booting a further shinobi in his direction with the Naruto Rendan whom Neji swiftly dispatched. God only knew what Gaara was doing, but if the screams from off behind him to his left were anything to go by, he didn't want to concentrate his attention that way. Parrying three shinobi off with the Divination Whirl, he leapt back in skirting leaps through the roaring walls of sand that he only presumed were coming from Gaara also. The team were progressively beginning to spread out as the fight scattered in numerous directions; Gaara behind him, Hogo sprinting off at a psychotically fast pace ahead of him, Naruto to his right...
He cursed as he realised he'd lost focus on where Hinata was, spinning agilely away from a kick only to flip over the missing-nin's head and ruthlessly render a fatal palm strike to his spine. Amidst the whipping coils of sand he had to bite down on the urge to call her name above the battle-roar, determined to maintain his calm. He then realised she was on the border of his divination, and that she was surrounded by five opponents. An icy chill of panic bit into his heart. Soft, kind Hinata. Five of them.
A growl thrummed in the back of his throat as he bulleted forwards, zipping through the walls of sand. "Neji, what are you doing...!" he heard Naruto call after him, vaguely irritated to realise the boy was following him. "Hinata's in trouble." he yelled back, only to find himself being abruptly snapped to a halt. He blinked. Then looked back at the hand that had imprisoned his wrist.
"Naruto what the HELL are you doing! Get off me now." he snarled, the veins around his eyes raising in fury against his own teammate. Naruto shook his head grimly "You need to see this." he said.
"Don't make me hurt you Naruto. If it came to it I'd kill you if you tried to stop me helping her."
Naruto started at this statement, slackening his grip on Neji but not releasing him altogether. Spoken with such utter conviction. "Neji..." he murmured, eyes wide. Neji's eyes in turn wavered and he finally turned away, tensing up into frosty silence. He did not understand where those words had come from, especially to Naruto, a friend he respected. They had ripped out of his mouth in total gut-instinct, he had had no choice in the matter. Embarassed and furious, he ripped his arm away, intent on heading forward again, only for Naruto to firmly clamp a hand on his shoulder, glaring at him determinedly.
"I heard you say to Hinata she needed to prove herself. Let her do it!" he insisted, squeezing the shoulder he held in reassurance.
"I won't let her be hurt just to prove a point!" Neji roared
"JUST WATCH!" screamed Naruto back and Neji positively seethed with rage but snapped his head in the direction of Hinata, keeping himself rigidly alert should she need his help.
She looked utterly calm, her beautiful face serene but at the same time severe. His eyes trailed her movements with a fellow warrior's attention to detail, watching one graceful wrist arch up as a trail of chakra extended from her palm. He could barely even register the shinobi that were charging towards her as her other hand initiated her byakugan. Unbelievably flexible and graceful, the arms began dancing about her form, ribbon thin lines of chakra shooting out from them as her pace began to increase. Her eyes widened with an almost eerie power on a face that sweet as her limbs became a frenzied blur all around her, chakra creating a filligree cage of razor-sharp aggression. The first ninja to make contact was sent soaring back as though he'd hit a charging animal, the compressed power of the chakra leaving him in a broken heap twenty feet away. Each of the remaining four came to the same condition, unable to penetrate Hinata's ultimate defense.
She was breathtaking. Mesmerising. Her arms began to gradually slow and she wavered slightly as if made dizzy by her efforts before coming to a stop, looking nervously about her as if to ensure she had done well. Neji was vaguely aware of Naruto running forward from beside him, could just about hear his yells of "Hinata, that was so cool! Every time you do that it looks SO cool!". But that didn't matter because he couldn't take his eyes off her. The sharp sting of shame, like a burn to his chest, suddenly hit him. He was surprised he was even still standing, that he hadn't simply slumped to the floor in disbelief.
"I... I've been training very hard. I don't want you to think of me as a burden." she continued into his stunned silence, taking it for scorn. His heart clenched as he saw that her lip was trembling. Had he hurt her that much?
"Hinata... I've... underestimated you." he murmured under his breath, watching her cheeks flush slightly as Naruto slung a delighted arm around her shoulders. He did not speak it loud enough for either of them to hear, because even now he did not know how he could bring himself to speak in such a manner to her. But he would learn. He intended to, now more than ever.
Hogo wondered how much longer she could simply stand there, staring down Gaara. Attempting to in truth, for he had no intention of looking away either, the sand whipping around them causing turrets of wind to blur both of their visions of one another.
"D'you expect me to say thank you or something?" she said finally in a malicious whisper. The whimpers of the man between them, coiled in sand, did nothing to make her hard expression waver. She wondered with idle curiousity why it no longer concerned her that this man's legs had been crushed. There seemed to be nothing left but these idle questions - what was she capable of? If seeing this man killed no longer even brought out a flickering of remorse in her, what would she be? But of course, he was not dead yet. Not yet.
"I don't expect anything from you." Gaara purred in calm derision. She had been dealing with the nin that had surrounded her perfectly well, and had then become aware of the involvement of Gaara's sand.
Every inch of her inside and out felt hard and fossilized and purged for battle. It felt like the only familiarity now, the only sanctuary where she knew what was expected of her. Since her expectations seemed rendered useless, she might as well adhere to the expectations of battle. At least it was a constant amidst all of this. Even if the battle was now against... against those that should have been her comrades.
His eyes were still that unreadable blue-green and behind the bone-hard viciousness that childish curiousity, terrifyingly alien in its detachment, wondered why he was aiding her when he had shown quite clearly that he thought nothing of her.
"Hhogo... Jiyuujin..."
At first she could not think who could be speaking, and then with a sinking darkness that enveloped her heart and dragged it somewhere into her stomach, she realised it was the dying man between her and Gaara. Her eyes left Gaara's to meet his ones, feverish with pain, unfocused.
"Hogo Jiyuujin... please... would you ask my... my wife... to forgive me...?"
Numb with incomprehension, that alien aspect of her registered that she recognised him. Kazuki Amano, his wife Natsumi was a teacher at the ninja academy. She had remained in the village when he had disappeared.
"I.. only wished... to make our village... great. To make her.. proud... Will you... make sure she is alright? I know.." the man's words were interrupted as he spat out blood in spasmodic coughs, and Hogo's world momentarily blurred with red hot tears. Clearly there was still time for tears she dimly thought as the dark savagery that had enveloped her like a murderous skin shattered. "I.. know the Jiyujin clan to be an honorable one... I know I can.. can trust you to care for her... Please..."
Clenching her teeth against further tears, she nodded in bitter acknowledgement of the feeble link they had as two former friends on different sides of a fight. She looked away, not wanting to see when his eyes finally misted over in Death.
She was tired. Her heart was very, very tired and she knew that nothing would fix that in this barren desert with this empty future that only offered the death of people she had loved, and no consolation in the arms of anything true or real. All she had were ideas, an Idea of protecting her village, an Idea of loyalty to her clan. And she would stay dutiful to them, even if she now realised their hollow nature. Protecting her village against half of her own villagers. Being loyal to her clan, when her own father was only God knew where. Wearily, she staggered slowly away from Kazuki's corpse, trailing steps leaving snake-like trails in the sand behind her.
"Your father is right."
She did not turn to see him. She knew Gaara's face like she knew her own, and she could feel those eyes in her back as the wind blew her hair in to her eyes. She wanted to fall into the wind and sleep there forever.
"Our lives are not a battleground. But our lives aren't anything less savage."
She wondered what he wanted. She wondered why he was looking at her, as she knew he was. She wondered why she wanted to be pathetic and vulnerable and cling onto him and cry.
"... Our only compensation is we get to experience some beautiful things every now and then."
She would not be pathetic and vulnerable, she would not cling onto him. But she could certainly cry, with her back to him, and continue walking away.
Back at Suna...
"I'm quite sure I told you guys to avoid getting into any combat situations." Shikamaru said dryly, looking at the vaguely bedraggled looking Team One. They had regrouped in the Jiyuujin's estate and were seated around for a meal that had been prepared for them by the servants. Temari, Gaara and Kankarou had joined them, something which would have surprised Hogo if she had possessed the energy to feel it. Temari had joined her for a meal before, but the other two rarely bothered.
Neji shrugged "It became unavoidable. Hogo was.. separated from the group and was attacked." he stated tactfully, his expression not altering. Hogo was grateful the Hyuuga was an immaculate liar. Suggesting that she had gone streaking off on her own after a tiff with the shukaku-container didn't say much for her maturity or team skills. "You don't look any the worse for it though Hogo-chan!" exclaimed Kiba, slinging an arm around her shoulder and grinning, nearly making her spill her tea all over her clothes. She managed a smile back "You seem happy considering you guys didn't have any luck."
"That's because me and Akamaru are getting used to the air here! We'll definitely find this guy tomorrow!" he declared excitably, Akamaru yapping in seeming agreement. Hogo smiled slightly in response, regretting she could not bring out more enthusiasm for Kiba. When she saw his face droop slightly in disappointment at her lack of response, she internally growled her irritation at herself. The poor guy was doing all he could for this village. He didn't even have the reasons of loyalty that she did. She glanced across at Naruto who was likewise yammering about his fight to anyone who would listen, Shikamaru rolling his eyes at a dryly amused Temari
"...then this other guy appeared and I thought he was going to slice me for sure, but I got out of the way in time..."
Neji and Hinata were also listening as they ate, although Hogo did not miss a brief but charged moment between them. Hinata's eyes had lifted from her plate to see that Neji's gaze was levelly meeting hers. Blushing she had initially looked away, only to shyly bring her eyes back and see that he was still looking at her, lifting his glass to her in a slight toast. Her blush increased tenfold as she lifted her cup swiftly likewise, sipping and smiling at him nervously.
As soon as it was socially tolerable for her to do so after the meal had finished, she slipped out, knowing that the shinobi would be able to find their way to their beds by themselves. The streets of Suna weren't exactly a welcoming place at nighttime, but then maybe that was the point. She simply wanted to drift through the world for a while in blurred anonymity, pretending that none of it affected her. It was certainly easy in these dark bleeding shadows, the whistling wind murmuring thinly over the rooftops. Mostly it was completely silent, save for a few drinking establishments where muted golden light intruded upon this shadowy twilight with a sense of clarity, reality. She had been walking for nearly fifteen minutes, the aggravations and sense of emptiness not leaving but certainly calming, when she saw a group of boys up ahead of her and mentally groaned.
Yasuhiko and his gang. Since that first occasion when she had kissed Yasuhiko, he had pressed her repeatedly to continue seeing him, to go out on dates and so forth, getting quite annoyingly forceful on some occasions. She even recalled having to throw him off when he had shoved her into a wall to demand another kiss. It wasn't even that she hadn't been interested - he was fun and interesting, if arrogant and, as his later behaviour had proved, immature. But there was no time in her life for him, not with her role with Gaara. When she had attempted to explain this to him he had translated this into meaning that Gaara was the reason she wouldn't go out with him. She had realised he was the last person she wanted to be around when he had shown active disgust at the mention of Gaara's name.
"It looks like the evening just got more lively guys, Hogo-chan's here!" he exclaimed, his friends catcalling in response. She remained rigid with tension, attempting to walk through them only for Yasuhiko to sling an arm around her shoulder and slow her. "Awwww come on Ho-chan, keep us company, we're heading over to Kaori's, you look like you need loosening up." he said, murmuring the last in a low undertone whilst bringing his mouth close to her neck. She stepped easily out from under his arm and continued through the rest of them. "No thanks boys. Another time." she replied coolly, ignoring their loud and excessive complaints.
"Oh of course I forgot Hogo, are you running off to follow the monster?"
Hogo slowed to a halt at this, Yasuhiko's friends laughing raucously as he warmed to his theme, disdain dripping from every utterance.
"If you had to choose someone to follow around like a pathetic puppy, I'm sure you could have chosen better than that thing. He's more likely to kill you than look at you."
"... What would you know about it?"
The laughter diminished slightly, if not entirely, at the feral snarl that came from Hogo's throat. She slowly turned to face them, a sneer lighting her lips that stopped their laughter altogether.
"You pathetic little boys, who like to act like men. Who like to cling on to what their parents told them 'Gaara of the Sand's a monster'. Aren't you clever for parrot-talking what your mummy told you Yasuhiko."
"Watch what you're saying Hogo Jiyuujin. You really are an idiot if you think Gaara's anything less than a monster." Yasuhiko growled, bristling with irritation, his friends beginning to look uneasy. Hogo was remaining quite unearthly still, but her lips parted in a slight, sarcastic smile.
"If that man is a monster, I'd take a monster a thousand times, over a pathetic little worm like you."
Her grin broadened into pure, furious delight as Yasuhiko launched forward with a roar of annoyance, swinging his arm round to punch her and only meeting air as she spun artfully to his left, one leg sweeping out to send him tripping to the floor. Her foot stamped down on his chest, making him hack as the air left his lungs, and she gave his friends a look that effectively paralysed them in place.
"I have no qualms, in making your life a nightmare. I can rip your mind to pieces. If you wish to test it, say such things about Gaara again." Her eyes bred violence as she stared down at Yasuhiko, grinding her foot harder into his breastbone, hearing it creak under the pressure as he whimpered in distress.
"JUST GIVE ME AN EXCUSE AND I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET SEEING HIM AS A MONSTER!"
She was not surprised when she entered her room and he was sitting on her windowsill, clearly waiting for her. Her brain numbly thought that she wanted to go to bed. Nothing else really seemed to matter.
"What did you do that for?"
She didn't even feign confusion at the question, too exhausted mentally and emotionally to care.
"Do what for?" she said disinterestedly, moving to behind her screen and slipping out of sand-encrusted clothing. Despite her weariness, her spine prickled with the awareness of Gaara's eyes on her, seemingly trying to burn a hole through the screen.
"Attack Yasuhiko. Were you trying to impress me?"
"I didn't even know you were following me until I was on my way home."
"Then why?"
She noted his voice was closer and turned to see that he was more or less on the other side of the screen now, his dark red hair visible over the top though thankfully he couldn't see over.
"What does it matter. We're not friends, right? So leave me to my own damn business, I can fight whoever I please." she retorted coldly, leaving her clothes in a pile behind the screen and slipping into her nightdress. As she stepped out from behind the screen he gripped her wrist tightly, stopping her short. She was getting a little tired of people grabbing hold of her this evening.
"Not when you're fighting someone about me. That's not your business." he murmured, simply maintaining his grip when she attempted to flip his hand away.
"I assure you it is." she grated through tightly clenched teeth. What did he expect? A confession of her loyalty? She thought she'd already offered that when she'd kissed him even though he was simply using her as a test subject.
"Explain." he said, his eyes narrowing.
"You never have to explain yourself, why should I? You've never explained why you follow me around."
"You're not me." he drawled, ignoring her last statement.
"No, I'm someone a great deal more emotional and irrational, and when I've spent the last six months with someone every second, devoting my time to protecting them, to helping them, to learning who they are, I start to care about them. But then that's emotional irrationality for you, now if you wouldn't mind letting go of me I want to sleep."
Gaara had, though she had not even registered it as it happened, got closer, drawing her inexorably forward by her wrist. He was close enough that his hot breath touched her face as he blinked, slowly, face impassive although those eyes seemed to be working something out in his head frantically. Her brain, unbidden, thought of the last time he had been this close.
"You're saying... I'm an important person to you?"
"Let go of me Gaara."
"... No."
"... I'm saying that you can say we're not friends, you can feel nothing for the rest of your life, you can continue to simply see me as a useful little assistant to have around, it doesn't change a thing. And that's all I'm saying, now please let go of me."
Gaara looked to the floor for a moment or so, not relinquishing his tight hold on her wrist, concentrating. When his eyes met hers again they were almost insanely calm.
She didn't want any more of this. No more vulnerabilities as she admitted she would be here forever whether he cared or not. No more cutting indifference, even though it was the only thing she was going to get.
"I've decided something."
Letting out her breath in an agonising sigh, she was relieved that he had finally let go of her wrist, rubbing one hand over her eyes, "What have you decided Gaara?" she mumbled, automatically, ready to facilitate the man she guarded.
The firm body being pressed up against her, forcing her back into the wall, was enough to make her open her eyes again. "I've decided, I want another kiss." he drawled into her ear, pinning her hands to the wall beside her waist. She opened her mouth, to object or what she did not know, only to have the option cut off as his mouth ravished hers. Her breath stuck in her throat as he possessively devoured her with kisses, his attention trailing across her jawline and onto her throat. She let out a slight whimper as he bit her neck, nipping and sucking at her earlobe. "G..Gaara..." she managed to stammer finally only for him to silence her, this kiss more persuasive, though just as forceful. "You... talk too much.." he murmured in between the hot wet kisses, tightening his hold on her wrists when she wriggled them. She let out a whine of distress that he wasn't allowing her to touch him, mind still reeling at how she had found herself in this situation yet again. When he finally let go of her wrists it was to slid his hands up her long neck into her hair, pulling her even closer, his body pressed tightly against hers. Barely even caring that Gaara was hardly giving her enough time to breathe amidst all these kisses, she raked her nails gently down his back, earning an abrupt half-gasp for her trouble.
The knock at the door made her freeze, but seemed to do nothing to deter Gaara who continued voraciously nibbling and sucking her throat.
"Hogo-sama? Hogo-sama are you awake?"
The hand she used to feebly try and shove him off was instantly trapped against the wall again and she had to stifle a groan as he gave her shoulder a particularly fierce bite. "Gaara, there's someone..." she said breathlessly.
"I don't care." he growled, one hand squeezing her hip and pulling her abruptly up against him.
"Hogo-sama, Ryoushin-sama would like to speak with you."
Hogo mentally cursed her bad luck, not sure if she was going to be able to stop Gaara even if she wanted him to. She was surprised then when he paused, resting his forehead against hers and breathely heavily, eyes closed, clearly trying to calm down. When his eyes opened again they were glinting with desire. She smiled uncertainly, not knowing what any of this meant.
"You're certainly learning fast what it's like to kiss someone." she whispered, and his eyes twinkled with amusement.
"Not fast enough when we're constantly interrupted." he murmured back, giving her a deliberately sensuous, teasing kiss, before putting distance between them and opening the door to the bewildered looking servant.
"Hogo will be right there."
(Gurn, gurn and thrice Gurn) Hope you liked it, RnR my pretties! XXX