Short Note: I'm posting this one today because I realize the last one was a bit short and perhaps disappointing. So here's a second chapter in one day and some fluff to make up for it (:
Stranger Than Fiction
By Socially Suicidal
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Drabble # 7
Gaara seemed to have toned it down a bit to come out to dinner – Bless his soul, Inner Sakura chided sarcastically, he still looks like part hoodlum part mass murderer – with her and her friends. The long black v neck t-shirt was too long for his arms, leaving his callused ringed hands partially covered; the seemingly messily cut neckline leaving his long ivory neck, decorated of course with a thick chain and dog tag, exposed. The baggy hem was partially tucked behind his shiny metal belt buckle, with which attached a myriad (though few fewer than was the norm) of chains, varying of lengths and thicknesses, and only one isolated handcuff. Black canvas pants that were (pleasingly) not very baggy on him pooled around his customary metal boot, the only decoration being a thin leather cuff around under his left knee.
Watching her assessment of him with the skin of his brow wrinkled, Gaara gave his unusually tamed red locks a self-conscious tease with his hand, shifting his weight. His movement called Sakura's attention to his red mane, finding herself pleased with the way it seemed he had done nothing to the locks to make himself look more insane than he was (as he usually preferred to do).
She smiled at him pleasantly and, after the moments of speculative silence, motioned him through her door way and invited him into her apartment.
"I'm really, really glad you agreed to come tonight, Gaara," she said in way of greeting as she shut the door behind him. He grunted in response, shoving his hands wearily into his pockets. The pinkette made it sound like she had given him a choice.
What was he supposed to say, Sakura had somehow gotten his tin of cigarettes out of his back pocket and had threatened to throw them out the window of her apartment if he had not agreed to come out with her tonight.
Gaara found himself still sort of miffed about the whole ordeal. When he began valuing his word so much, he didn't know.
"You're going to have a good time, I promise. Naruto will be here, you seemed to really get along with him well the other night when we visited you at work!" Oh yeah, he recalled just how well he had gotten along with the obnoxious blonde who insisted on constantly winding one of his stupid arms around the pink haired woman's shoulders. He also called his love tattoo weird. That kid had less of a social filter than he did.
He crossed his arms across his chest and followed her as Sakura fluttered into the living room, yapping away as she straightened the place up. "Kiba, Hinata, Tenten, Shikamaru, and Neji will be there too. I know you'll get along with Neji - he's the quiet type, like you. And you already know Ino. Oh! And I think Itachi also said he'd be coming. I think you'll like him," she said, smiling at him as she paused in her organizing of the magazines on her coffee table.
Gaara could hardly believe he would take a liking to any male she introduced him too, but humored her anyway by giving a curt nod.
"Itachi's brother probably won't be joining us, though. He never does come out for these things…" she trailed off, and the redhead noted the faraway look in her eyes before she seemed to snap out of it and continue talking as she breezed past him into her bedroom. "No matter, Sasuke will come around one of these days!" The doctor called from her room before emerging with her wallet and jacket in hand.
The red haired man froze, expression slightly shocked as he stared at her, "Sasuke? Uchiha Sasuke?"
Sakura looked surprised, "Yeah, you know him?"
"In passing. So Uchiha Itachi will be there?" Gaara grunted, his mind racing to place the names of faces. He recalled the tall, black haired man he had seen Sakura dancing with the night he first met her with a scowl.
She blinked, "Yeah, do you know Ita too?" The redhead shook his head.
Shrugging on her jacket, Sakura linked her arm in his in the typical fashion she did when they walked anywhere. It was a very European thing to do, she had told him once. He grabbed the car keys off of the hook near the door before they exited, snorting as she would have forgotten them, again.
Sakura was grateful for his uncharacteristic patience throughout the dinner. In fact, when they arrived at her car, she was downright beaming at him. He shifted uncomfortably when he noticed the gaze. "What?" He mumbled, glaring at the ground in front of him. Was this one of those scary smiles she gave before she unleashed her fury at him? What could he have done now? He was the one that had endured the glare of Uchiha Itachi the entire night and hadn't been allowed to do a damn thing about it (despite the twitching of his hands from the confines of his pockets through out the entire meal).
His breath caught as he felt two warm palms pressing against his jaw followed by her warm breath tingling over his cheek, "Thank you for coming tonight, Gaara, I owe you." Sakura's soft lips pressed against his cheek and she quickly retreated, rounding her car and entering on her driver's side.
Gaara moved to the passenger side with slow, awkward movements that didn't feel like his own. He slid into her car, softly closing the door next to him.
She smiled over at him as she ignited the engine and he wondered if the pink that had spread across her cheeks and nose looked anything like the burning he could feel across his own face. He scowled at the thought.