Discarding everything for his love he will even swap his love for hers. Gaara
Chapter Seven: Her First Knight
Yoroi had to go home to look after his baby daughter and three other kids. The children only had a grandmother to act as a mother figure but she was growing frailer by the day. Once the children were asleep, he rushed out to the hospital quickly with a spare change of clothes for Gaara. Yoroi had always regarded Gaara as another son to him; perhaps it was his close affection that had caused his father to have become insane.
Gaara changed into the clothing that Yoroi had kindly gotten for him. His face was grim and he did not look happy. He wanted to remain seated besides Sakura but the hospital rules did not allow him to do so. Sakura had to remain in hospital for a check up and the doctor had said if test results came back positive, she was free to go in the afternoon.
Yoroi gave Gaara the wet and dirty school uniform that belonged to the girl that he had just helped save. He received it and thanked Yoroi for all his help of tonight. If Gaara could, he wouldn't have bothered Yoroi, he understood that Yoroi was a busy family man with lots of responsibilities. He was very grateful that Yoroi had never once let him down; he would always answer Gaara's call no matter how busy he was.
"Thank you Yoroi, sorry for all the trouble that I have caused." He said.
"That's ok; I better go its very late now. I'm always here for you." Yoroi replied.
...
It was nearly the last month of Winter and it was still very cold. Sakura's wet clothing included a cardigan and a long sleeved blouse. There was also a skirt as girls usually considered trousers to be a part of the boy's uniform. That night Gaara scrubbed the dirt off her clothing really diligently, he tried to make the blouse white again. He couldn't help himself from studying her bra size as he was still a curious young male.
After that he stared at the clothes dryer that was drying her clothes. It was quite a waste of electricity to be drying a few pieces of clothing but he wanted it to be clean and neatly ironed for her to wear the next day. The warm heat admitted by the dryer and the hypnotic rumbling has caused Gaara to fall asleep on his chair. He had a long, tiring and stressful day, a day filled with many emotions that he had never felt before.
Sakura's mobile was soaked in water when she as on top of the pools of mud yesterday. Any contacts saved in her phone were all washed away with the rain. Gaara had secretly kept Sakura's wallet as a safe guard in case she was to discharge herself from the hospital. When he had awoken it was already past 11 am, he was late for school. He still wanted to go to school so that he could hand in his resignation papers.
He had forged the signature of his mother's name.
Gaara didn't want to be separated from Sakura and he was determined to apply for her school at whatever it takes. He gathered all the money he had saved in his entire life from working odd jobs here and there, he prayed to God that it was enough to cover his tuition fee at Sakura's high school. He looked out his window and stared at the motorcycle. It was the only good thing his father had ever given to him; Gaara had received it after his father's death.
Despite his scary looks, Gaara was actually very smart.
...
Gaara had a busy day; his principal was reluctant to let him go. He was a promising kid and the principal could tell from his grades that he would probably be the only student in this crappy school to excel into university. His principal unwillingly handed Gaara his report card and he became a free boy to choose whichever school he wished to be educated in. 'Sigh,' thought the principal, 'going to another school may help Gaara get better grades.'
He rode off in his bike and grabbed a sweet bread from the gas station where he filled up his tank. The bread tasted sweeter than usual, Gaara's happy sentiment had probably caused the change in flavour. He couldn't wipe away the smile on his face; he had never felt so alive and determined to do anything until today.
Today he had a goal; he must protect Sakura from now on.
He made another stop to the mechanic store owned by his friend Baki. Baki also had a scar on his left face which he covered with a piece of cloth hanging from his bandana. Unlike Gaara, Baki's scar did not heal as nicely, it had in some affect damaged his self esteem. Over time he had grown accustomed to his scar, but gazes from onlookers had always given him a sharp sting to his heart.
The sharp pain to Baki's heart was nothing compared to the pain his girlfriend had left him with. He got this scar because she had quarrelled with the wife of a lead gangster. In order to protect her, he stood in front of her and took the liquid blow she should have taken. He had exchanged his rugged handsome face to save hers, and now his heart rested in ruins just like his face. She had left him to rot in his despair.
Baki was Gaara's mechanic and perhaps the scars on their face constructed an understood connection between their pains. He treated Gaara like a brother and he would always charge him at a discounted student rate. Although Gaara was still under the legal age limit, he enjoyed drinking with his friend who shared the same worries as him. They were like each other's therapist and through the narrative of their story telling, they were able to heal a little.
"What brings you here?" Asked Baki
"I want to sell my bike to you." He requested
"Why the sudden change of heart? I thought you said you would never sell your bike."
"I need the money. How much would you pay me?"
Baki had asked Gaara to sell him his BMW R-1100S to him a year ago, but Gaara had declined. In the past, the bike was his everything and he enjoyed riding without a licence as he was under the age limit. When Gaara got his licence, he would ride for long distances at a time across the countryside. He enjoyed the freedom the bike gave him and the bike was like his wings.
"Your bike is worth much less than it was before but I will buy it off you the same quote I gave you last year. Why do you need so much money?"
"Ok. I found another meaning to life."
"Like what? Is it because of a girl?" He teased.
Gaara blushed and avoided his question.
"I need the bike tonight so I'll hand it over to you tomorrow. Can you please get the money ready?"
"Sure."
...
Hinata collapsed back into her sleep after she had recognised the face she had dreamed to wake up to. Naruto brushed a black strand of misplaced hair away from her face; he placed his big hands on her head and bent down to kiss her forehead. He removed his necklace and placed it around her neck. He stood up and had one last look at her innocent face before he turned to head out for the door.
On his way out, he whispered, "I'm sorry."
He walked along the dimly lighted hallway of the hospital and sighed.
...
When Naruto arrived back home he wondered if Sakura was alright. Although she had an unhappy expression on her face all the time, Naruto remembered her face looked more hurt than usual when he left her at the station. He sensed her feeling of uneasiness when he let go of her hand. He had wanted to help this broken girl but thought it would be quite impossible now. His life belonged to Hinata now.
When he got home he decided to give Sakura a call even though it was pretty late at night. She was also her boss; if anything had happened to her he would be unemployed. He still needed to get paid from her so it wasn't a bad idea to keep in touch. He hoped she got home alright.
"The person you are dialling is currently unavailable or has his phone switched off. Please try again later."
Naruto tried dialling her number a second time and got the same response. 'Perhaps she is asleep or she had forgotten to charge her phone?' he thought. He felt very tired and it wasn't long before he fell asleep into a mystifying dream. In his dreams he was holding onto a pair of very cold hands, he wanted to warm them up as much as he could, but he couldn't. He tried making out the face of the person he was holding but was only able to see a blurred image.
"Sakura." He whispered in his sleep.
...
Sasuke had stayed up to very late at night trying to build up his courage to call Sakura's phone number. He wanted desperately to hear her voice even if it was just a 'Hello,' and 'Goodbye.' Except he got neither, he got the same reply as Naruto.
"The person you are dialling is currently unavailable or has his phone switched off. Please try again later."
Sasuke tried calling again and got the same response. He thought maybe she was on the phone with someone else so he tried calling her an hour later. He became very agitated and wondered if she had purposely switched off her phone to avoid his calls. Sasuke was probably over thinking the situation and he later decided that her phone was either switched off at night or was out of battery.
Early in the morning, Sasuke woke up to try calling the number again. He got the same reply as the night before. Although annoyed he was also quite relieved that there was no dial. He realised it was 5am in the morning and if the phone hand rang it would've woken Sakura. She would then start to think what a crazy psycho Sasuke was to call so early in the morning. She may even change her number.
...
Friday, February 2nd, 20XX
The following day Naruto went to school and was surprised to find out that Sakura was absent. 'Is she sick?' he thought, as yesterday was pretty cold and rainy. He remembered she had only worn a thin cardigan, and her hands felt really cold. He wondered if she had taken the day off because she was sick. He began to worry about her more throughout the day.
'If she was sick, how would she manage at home alone?' He wondered.
When lunchtime arrived an angry copper haired boy approached Naruto and lifted the collar of his shirt. The boy grabbed his shoulder and pushed him hard against the wall, a soft bang was heard when Naruto's head hit the hard surface. Naruto gave his assaulter a death glare and wondered what he could have done to deserve this. He recognised the boy to be the president of the student council.
"What the f..?" shouted Naruto and before he could finish Sasuke had cut him off.
"Where is she?" He demanded.
"Where is who? I've never even spoken to you, you dick." He replied.
"Where is Sakura?"
"What? I'm not her shadow how would I know? And how are you related to her?"
He avoided his questions and demanded some answers, "Her phone is still switched off as of now. What happened after you two left school together yesterday?"
"Huh?" Naruto had only thought Sakura was sick but the thought of her in danger never occurred to him.
"We were on a train ride heading to the country to meet her friend, but I had an emergency so I couldn't stay with her."
"You left a girl in the country all by herself! How could you? What if she got attacked by a psychopath?"
Naruto realised the mistake he had made and prayed that 'Sakura was not in any harm's way.' He decided to skip the rest of school and head to her house. He couldn't understand why his heart was beating so fast, he thought it was from his guilt of leaving her the other day. He wanted to quickly press her doorbell and see her stand in front of him. He wanted to relieve himself from this uneasy tension.
Sasuke really wanted to follow him but if Sakura was indeed at her house, it would look strange for him to be there. They had just merely exchanged numbers, he didn't think Sakura would appreciate that he now knew where she lived. It wasn't like he didn't already know where she lived. Perhaps he could stand from a hidden place and monitor them.
...
Gaara had neatly ironed Sakura's clothing and folded it so that it would fit in his backpack. After some brief catch up with Baki he quickly rode off to the hospital. The closer he got, the more nervous he became. He thought anxiously, 'What if she was not there?' He gave out a long sigh, at least he knew which school she went to, and so it wasn't like he would never meet her again.
He had paid for Sakura's hospital fees; he couldn't care less about the money. His main concern was that she was alive and talking again, the way she spoke could be changed slowly over time. It was very expensive for a patient to have a bed to themselves but he had wanted the best for her. He crept slowly towards the room and pushed the door open.
The bed was empty and the bed sheets were neatly done up. The first thing that differentiated through his mind was that he was too late and that she had already checked out of the hospital. He wondered how she would be able to get home without her mobile to call her family or wallet to pay for transport.
He rushed out quickly to the front desk to find out at what time she had gone.
TBC
Inside Naruto's dream was Sakura. Revised version of Ch 7.
Ch 8: The Colour of Friendship