Sorry that took so long, internet went down again. On the bright side chapter six is almost done due to my writting productivity going up from lack of distractions.
Naruto was stuck in a state of horror and terror. At first she thought Gaara was merely misunderstood-kinda like Sasuke only more unstable-but that delusion was quickly cleared up when he nearly killed Rock Lee for no apparent reason besides the sheer thrill of it.
'oh god he's going to kill me and not even bother to make it look like an accident…' Naruto thought with rising panic as she listened to the explanation of the final exam, although it was more like background noise at the moment. 'well he's gunna kill teme first but I'm sure he'll get to me later'
"Naruto come on, I wanna go see Sasuke before visiting hours are over" Sakura said, drawing Naruto out of her internal panic.
"r-right, coming!" Naruto responded, giving her future husband one last fearful glance before running off. Although Sasuke managed to put up a front long enough to see Naruto's battle he quickly became exhausted from a combination of the sealing process and straining himself through his own battle. He would be allowed to go home tomorrow, but with Orochimaru on the loose and despite the extremely low chances of him coming back, it was best to keep an eye on him.
She could feel his eyes on her as she left.
She was terrified of him. He could see fear in her eyes when she looked at him. Yet underneath the fear he saw something that scared him a little bit.
Disappointment.
Did that mean she thought better of him? That she thought he was above all the other blood thirsty contestants? Gaara wasn't sure but he felt an unfamiliar twist in his gut. Did he feel guilty? Guilt wasn't something he felt often. He felt it when Yashamaru scolded him for eating a cookie before dinner, he felt guilty when he hurt that kid as a child, he (still) felt guilty when he killed Yashamaru. Feeling guilty over hurting some freak he was suppose to beat into submission? It made no sense.
Gaara gave an inaudible sigh as he walked to the exit, not bothering to wait for his team. Walking out of the building, Gaara headed back to their shared hotel room. The only things he really enjoyed about Konoha was the lack of glaring, its change of scenery, and the fact that it didn't get so cold at night so he could go out without a sweater.
Swiping his key card through the slot Gaara twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open, he was about to go meditate in what was dubbed 'his corner' when he saw there was a note there on the ground. Picking it up to inspect it, he could see it was Baki's hand writing.
You have a brunch date tomorrow at 10:30am.
It's casual wear, bring flowers.
'great' Gaara thought as he furiously ripped up the piece of paper as if this were its fault. He sighed in defeat before he looked out the window to see the dark violet sky, deciding it was late enough to go to "sleep" Gaara crossed his legs and closed his eyes. The sound of the door opening was ignored.
Temari crept into the room with Kankuro right behind her, Baki had told them that he had business to take care of but he would be back by tomorrow evening. He also told them it was their job to make sure Gaara didn't stand up his date.
'easier said than done Baki-sensei…easier said than done' Kankuro thought as he softly closed the door behind them, he almost felt like he was locking himself in a cage with a hungry lion even if it was "asleep".
Without him even looking at them the atmosphere felt thick with oppression. If he so much as sneezed causing Gaara to "wake up" he knew the feeling would only get worse since as a sort of passive-aggressive vengeance, he would stare at you until you either left or fell into an uncomfortable sleep with his eyes digging into your back. So rather than risk waking him they both silently agreed to call it a night, usually both he and Temari were late sleepers but when they were forced to room with Gaara like this, they wanted to wake up and get away from him as soon as possible.
Meditating was strange. Yet from what he heard it wasn't that different from sleeping, you just close your eyes and don't move a muscle and eventually everything fades to black until you wake up.
Unless you had a dream of course.
He was always curious as to what dreams were like, he heard they were colourful yet dull.
Random, yet focused.
Realistic, yet completely absurd.
Something everyone has, yet another thing he never can.
It didn't bother him much anymore though; just another thing to add to his ever-growing list of regrets and sorrows.
Gaara mentally sighed when he heard the repetitive obnoxious beep of an alarm, and hoped in vain it wasn't for him. When it didn't silence itself after a few minutes he opened his eyes, starting the day with a rather annoyed feeling, looking to the source of his ire he used his sand to unplug the accursed piece of technology, his first choice would have been to just crush the stupid thing but he didn't feel like paying for it later. Not to mention the time on the clock would reset; much to the annoyance of the two people who set it.
Sometimes passive-aggressive was the way to go.
Looking to the bed, Gaara could see a note on top of a pile of neatly folded clothes.
Right, his date.
Gaara felt a bit more irritation when he looked to the digital clock to find out how much time he had to get ready only to see it was "midnight". Turning to the window for the answer, he looked at the sun's position to find he had more or less an hour to get there. after getting up, Gaara picked up the note on top of today's apparently selected outfit, the fact that he didn't have to turn the note sideways to distinguish a single word meant Temari had wrote this.
We ordered the flowers,
wear what's there.
Underneath was a map and directions to the shop to pick up the order and the restaurant where they were meeting for breakfast. He was very tempted to just crush the paper and throw the clothes in the trash and spend the day indoors but he knew that would only get him in trouble. Unfolding the first article of clothing, Gaara put on the simple black t-shirt revealing the blue jeans and grey zip-up hoody underneath it. Once he was dressed Gaara folded up the note with directions and stuffed them in his pocket as he walked out the door.
It was a warm day outside, and the slight yet constant breeze was keeping it cool enough for him to keep his unzipped sweater on. Gaara simply strolled through the streets, in no hurry to be there on time. Taking the left as the map instructed he came face to face with a small homely flower shop. Walking through the door causing a bell to ring Gaara walked straight to the front counter and rang the bell once he saw no one was there. "In a second!" yelled a painfully familiar voice.
Much to his displeasure, the very same longhaired platinum blonde from the exams came from the back. He knew many people thought she was pretty and he thought so too, but no amount of beauty could make up for her big mouth…that and he thought that she looked so faded colour wise. It was like she was a few shades too light, her hair, her eyes, her skin…now that he thought about it she could use a bit of a tan not that he was one to talk.
…He had a lot of spare time and there were some perfectly good magazines lying around, he was bound to pick some things up.
"oh! You're the guy who ordered the flowers? When they said a redhead in a grey hoody and jeans I didn't think it would be you. Oh are these for Naruto?! You can't give her these roses she'll find them cheesy!" the girl yelled excitedly, not even giving Gaara a chance to open his mouth. He simply watched as she came out from behind the counter. "well come on! I'll show you the right ones to get!" Ino said as she walked to another corner of the store.
Gaara was sorely tempted to just grab the nearest bouquet and just leave or pick some wild flowers on his way to the restaurant.
Instead he followed the female who hadn't stopped talking the moment he walked in. "flowers! So romantic! Sadly I don't think Naruto would fully appreciate their value or even knows what they mean so feel free to pick whatever ones catch your eye" she said as she made a sweeping gesture to all the flowers in the room. Gaara reached out to grab the nearest bunch of flowers when the blonde screeched "no! you can't pick daisies! That's setting the wrong atmosphere!"
With a sigh, Gaara reached for the flowers next to them only to be corrected once again "Not sunflowers! Do you not care-" but Gaara had enough of this wench shrieking in his ear, he may not be allowed to kill her but he could intimidate.
"No I don't care! pick some weeds for all I care just give me some stupid flowers!" he growled, causing Ino to shrink back in fear. In a much more subdued manner, Ino walked further down the aisle before coming back with vibrant orange and black flowers.
"They're tiger lilies. Her favourite" she whispered as she handed them to him. As soon as he had them in hand Gaara turned to leave. He wasted enough time here.
"ah, wait!" he heard her call after him. He ignored her. "Please! It's about Naruto it's important!" hesitating, Gaara decided to at least humor her; the moment he stopped being amused he would leave.
Realizing he wouldn't even turn around to face her Ino started to talk. "I…I know I don't know anything about your situation but…could you please be kind to Naruto? She's a good person! A-and…and I think she liked someone else too so this is hard for her and I know I'm not being fair to you but…I think it would be better for both of you if you at least tried to get to know her" she finished hesitantly.
He was not amused anymore.
Walking out the store in anger Gaara nearly stomped out to the restaurant. 'so there's someone else? I should have known or at least expected this…if we're getting married I won't tolerate unfaithfulness…who is this other person?' Gaara's thoughts were so angry he didn't realize some of his malicious feelings were manifesting in the form of killer intent causing any crowds in front of him to part like the red sea.
Yanking the door open, Gaara glared around the café for his purpose of coming there in the first place. She wasn't there. Picking the window seat in the back corner, Gaara sat down on the chair and glared out the window. He thought once again of ditching and using the legitimate excuse of being stood up when he caught a flash of blonde running towards the door. 'finally…' he thought as he let some of his irritation disappear.
Only to have it come back avenged sevenfold when it wasn't the right blonde.
Must be a relative of that girl – the one called Ino.
His mind drifted back to the door when it wildly swung open for a second time, and this time it was the person he was waiting for. "s-sorry I'm late!" she yelled out of breath, drawing most of the people in the café's attention. Her sunny blonde hair was out of what he guessed to be usual pigtails yet still managing to stick up every now and then, her bangs pulled to the side by a hair clip, she was wearing black capris with a pink t-shirt and a white vest over top. Ignoring the stares she ungracefully plopped down in the chair across from him, when the observers saw who she was with they quickly averted their eyes. With her breathing much more regulated Naruto repeated "sorry I'm late, I slept in. I hope you weren't waiting here for too long" she finished, scratching the back of her head embarrassedly as she finished.
Gaara merely grunted in response, which she simply took as a 'hey don't sweat it!'
"hey, I don't normally wake up their early on days off either but cheer up" Naruto said when she noticed his rather grouchy demeanor.
Grouchier than what she thought was normal anyways.
"I don't sleep" he growled as he clenched his fists, the action reminding him of his supposed peace offerings.
"really? Then what do you do all night? Iruka-sensei said you can't live without sleep-" she stopped talking when flowers were suddenly shoved in her face. Her favourites. She felt her cheeks warm as she accepted them from him and stuttered out "th-thank you, how did you know they were my favourites?"
"I didn't, your friend picked them, I didn't even want to get flowers" he said bluntly honest, not even bothering to soften the blow.
"o-oh…well I didn't even bring you anything…" Naruto muttered as she admired the arrangement.
"can I get you something?" a waitress suddenly asked.
"huh?" Naruto said confusedly. Right, they hadn't even looked at the menus yet…
"I'll come back when you've made up your mind" the server said with a smile before leaving for another table.
The eating part of the date was a silent affair aside from Naruto's one-sided chatter, she talked about all sorts of things from chasing Tora to her days in the academy. When they both ate their fill they simply sat there in silence for a moment, Naruto felt Gaara watch as she carefully fingered every petal of the flowers he gave her.
Suddenly she had an idea.
Snapping her head up to look at him, Naruto said excitedly in a hushed voice "lets ditch!"
Gaara merely raised a non-existent eyebrow at the idea but got up to leave none-the-less. Hey, if she was volunteering to take the blame why stop her?
Naruto followed Gaara out the door and into the streets, she was about to make a left turn when she noticed he kept walking straight. "where are you going?" she called curiously.
"somewhere" he responded, giving no clue of his destination.
"where's that somewhere?" Naruto pressed further and she sped up to walk beside him.
Taking his silence for an 'I don't know' Naruto brightened up when she was hit by another idea. "I know! Come with me, I know this really fun place! Don't worry it won't be crowded. Besides, friends are suppose to hang out" she said with eager eyes and excitement in her voice.
'well, it's this place or the hotel…' Gaara thought with a sigh before following her.
Naruto gave a quick cheer before leading happily to their destination.
I snuck in the name of a band I like so if you managed to find it, internet high-five.
Sneak peak due to lack of omake!
"It's getting late" Temari commented as she looked at the sky, it was turning orange with the setting sun.
"he's probably just walking around or something" Kankuro said absent-mindedly and he continued to flip through the limited channels the hotel tv had to offer.
"he's never wandered this late…" Temari muttered nervously as she drew the blinds shut.
"what, are you worried? He'll be fine he's a tough guy" he assured her without taking his eyes off the television.
"he doesn't have his gourd though, if he went for a walk he would have come back to get it" she reasoned as she glanced at said object sitting in 'Gaara's Corner'.