My angel wings were stripped for you but you easily cast me off to hell without a second glance. Gaara
Chapter Eight: The Colour of Friendship
While Gaara was rushing down the hallway he collided against a patient with long pink hair, he knocked her straight off the ground.
"Ow! Watch where you are going." Sakura yelled as she tried to push herself up.
"Sakura, why are you still here?"
"Of course I'm here! How can I walk on the streets with this stupid gown?"
"Oh..." replied Gaara as that thought never crossed his mind, "here I brought you your school uniform. Here is your wallet, keys and mobile but I'm afraid your mobile is no longer working."
Gaara passed the three items to Sakura. The two continued walking along the hallway so that Sakura could return to her room. She was going to change out of her patient gown and take a quick shower. She stopped midway in front of a bin and Gaara watched in shock as she threw her mobile in the bin without hesitation.
"I'm sure it can still be fixed, some people don't even have a mobile."
"Nah, why bother? I never get calls anyways, none of the numbers are particularly important."
"By the way, I've been waiting for you the whole day! Where have you been?" Sakura asked. "It's already 3:30pm, I'm starving!"
"I had to take care of something at my high school so I couldn't skip it. Didn't they feed you here at the hospital?"
"No, they wouldn't let me eat as it would affect the test results. The nurse said it was past lunch time so I would have to wait until dinner. This cheap place..." Sakura muttered.
"Oh. Sorry this place is the only local hospital we have. How come you didn't stay in your room?" The hospital fees were actually really expensive for someone like Gaara to afford.
"I was bored so I took a look at the back gardens of this hospital."
"I see."
"The doctor said I'm allowed to go home." She stated and then her stomach growled. She looked away feeling embarrassed.
"I'll take you to a nice ramen bar, do you mind riding on my motorcycle?"
"It's been a long time since I've ridden on one but no I don't mind if that is your only transport."
Gaara felt really relieved, Sakura seemed to be a lot more normal than she was the day before. Her eyes were responsive but her words were still harsh, it wouldn't hurt her to add a please. Returning from the dead must have had a strange affect on her the previous night. Personally, he didn't care as long as she ate with him, it would be there first meal together outside of the institution. A Date?
"What would you like to eat?"
"Too hungry to care, take me to your favourite restaurant here. I'm just going to have a quick shower."
Gaara listened to the noise of the water sprinkling from the small bathroom; he wished he could be showering next to her.
...
When Naruto arrived at Sakura's house he pressed the doorbell impatiently. He rang the buzzer frantically for a few minutes but he was unable to get any response. He tried calling her mobile but it was still disconnected. He circled the house and was not able to see any windows opened. He did not know whether she was inside of the house or not. Sweat beads formed on his forehead and he didn't know what to do.
Naruto had promised himself that he would check up on Hinata after school today. He had already spent over an hour and half waiting for Sakura. He could not separate his body into two different places and he knew how much Hinata would need him to recover. He was also very worried that her tests results would come out poorly. He picked up his bag and left.
...
Sasuke was allowed to take time off school as a part of his student council privilege. He left school thirty minutes after Naruto because he didn't want to be caught catching the same train as him. It appeared to Sasuke that Sakura was not home because Naruto was sitting on the front porch. Sasuke watched him sit there for close to an hour before Naruto stood up and left.
'Is he meeting up with Sakura?' He wondered, he tried calling Sakura's number but it was still disconnected. 'Nope.'
Sasuke waited there until 7pm and still there was no sign of Sakura or Naruto. His stomach was rumbling as he had not even eaten lunch yet. He decided to go home and give up for today. His legs were aching from standing behind a tree; and he was tired of the stares given to him by onlookers. He picked his bag off the ground and hurried home. Poor timing... If only he had waited thirty minutes more.
He punched the tree and cursed, 'I won't forgive you Naruto if anything happens to her.'
...
Hinata rolled over in her sleep early in the morning, something cold was touching the side of her collar bone. Her sleepy hands touched the smooth round object that used to be her father's ring. She had wanted Naruto to keep it but she understood the meaning of why it was returned. She had once told Naruto that the holder of this ring would be her future husband.
She wondered how long she had slept and how old was she now? How much time had she lost? How has Naruto been living? While she had all those thoughts running across her mind, she was relieved that she could feel her legs. She could also feel her arms, suddenly her hands clasped at her face. She touched the skin of her smooth pale face. No scars. 'Phew!' She thought.
Her lips felt very dry so she looked at her bedside table. Fair enough there was a water jug and an empty glass. She turned her body to the left and tried lifting the jug with her right hand but found the weight to be over bearing. Her wrists gave way and the jug toppled over to the ground. She stared at her right hand in shock and wondered if it would remain like this for the rest of her life. She tried lifting the solid glass and brightened a little as she managed to lift it off the table.
She was able to at least put on clothing without assistance.
A nurse arrived shortly to lead Hinata to the place where she would undergo a series of tests. Hinata was also interviewed by the doctor in charge. At the end of the meeting, the doctor explained about the prognosis of Hinata's right hand. He told her some nerves had been damaged during her accident. She could undergo an operation to fix it but there was a risk of losing all ability of the right hand.
Hinata declined straight away and requested the doctor to keep her health report confidential.
Her right wrist could also recover slowly on its own through a series of rehab. Hinata was scared of the idea of losing all function of her dominant right hand. She told the doctor that she would like to go through the rehab option first. After the meeting she sat in her room for an hour just staring at her hand. She tried hard to not cry but one tear slid slowly down her eye.
She would never be able to play the violin again.
Lunch time came and passed, she only just pecked at the food because she didn't have much of an appetite. She looked out the window and gazed at the beautiful weather, she really wanted to go out and sit under the sun. The doctor had told her to wait until her tests results were cleared. She would have to wait until 3:30pm to get her results.
...
It had been too long since Sakura had gotten on top of a bike. She really liked the look of Gaara's European bike; she thought he had a good sense of style. She didn't know it had belonged to his father. The thought that a country town high schooler could own a motorcycle was actually very absurd.
Sakura had forgotten how to put on a helmet and she was worried that her beautiful long hair would be tangled. It was like Gaara had read her mind as he instantly removed a leather fashion bracelet off his wrist to tie her hair. He gently grabbed her silk like hair and skilfully tied it into a beautiful bun. He usually did his mother's hair so he was well trained.
He plucked a bobby pin off his own hair and pinned Sakura's bangs on top of her head. He didn't want her face to itch because of her fringe. Gaara usually kept many pins in his hair to keep his long bangs in place. Gaara was about three quarters a head taller than Sakura; it was easy for him to slip the helmet over her head. He swiftly tied the helmet clips together.
Brmmm Brm...
Gaara ignited the roaring bike; it jolted forwards so quickly that Sakura's instinct reaction was to grab hold of his tiny waist. A smile formed on his face under the helmet, he had dreamed of the day he would have a female passenger other than his mother. She held on tighter as Gaara increased the speed of his bike. He could also feel her soft breasts leaning against his back.
He would choose her over the motorcycle.
...
Gaara's town only had a small strip of restaurants, he took Sakura inside a small little ramen bar. There was no tables and chairs because of the limited space. There was a long bench in front of the strip of glass fridges that kept the ingredients to make sushi. At the end of the bench there was another room that lead into the kitchen where Iruka's delicious broth of ramen was made. Gaara and Sakura sat on some stools and the menu was placed in front of them.
Usually this place was packed but it was only 4:15pm in the afternoon. There was a special cupboard for Gaara to put down his helmets. Many of the locals that came to eat here were bikers, hence Iruka decided to set up a cupboard with square spaces. The restaurant could only seat a maximum of 12 but most people prefer to order take away.
"This place is ok." Sakura remarked and thought, 'it smells so good in here.'
"This place is awesome. Iruka makes the broth early in the morning. What would you like to order?"
"Whatever."
"Hey Iruka. Two portions of tonkatsu ramen with extra pork and ramen please."
"Hey Gaara, you cheeky bastard. Your first girlfriend, thank goodness! I nearly thought you swinged the other way." Commented Iruka, he called to his other worker "Two tonkatsu ramen please, extra meat and ramen."
Gaara blushed.
"He's not my boyfriend," she corrected him.
Gaara looked sad.
"But... He is a friend of mine," she said.
"Friend? Yes we've been friends since a long ago, hahaha." He tried very hard to laugh, because he was actually very hurt. He didn't just want to be friends; he wanted more, much more.
Sakura was very hungry, she finished the extra large bowl of ramen within 5 minutes, and Gaara thought she was going to choke. 'How can a small girl eat so much in that short of a time?' he thought to himself. Gaara studied Sakura staring at the beautiful pieces of sushi Iruka was making for another customer.
"Iruka, can you make a small plate of mixed sushi for Sakura?"
"Sure." Iruka made a variety of sushi and shaped it into a heart; he winked at Gaara, "On the house."
Sakura thanked Gaara for noticing, his heart was beating faster as he stared at her shimmering round green eyes. She didn't notice the heart shape and continued placing sushi after sushi into her mouth. He had however, finally caught her smile for the first time as she ate. 'I guess food can make people happy,' he thought and sighed.
If only she could be happy with him.
Sakura reminded herself and said, "By the way Gaara, give me your bank account number. I don't want to owe you anything. Don't worry about this meal I'll put it on my card."
Gaara nodded, he couldn't argue against that. He was not rich like her.
...
Soon the sky would be dark as the sun was starting to set. The weather was very pleasant and the sky was filled with many white clouds. As the sun continued to lower, the sky was filled with a magnificent cue of purple. After dinner, Gaara had put the helmet on Sakura's head and ushered her to hop on top of his bike. He didn't want to be late to witness a sun set together.
"I want to show you a secret place of mine." He smiled.
"Ok"
"Put this on, it's going to get chilly."
She put on a big jacket which belonged to Gaara. He rode his bike harder and faster up a huge slope; he wanted to beat the clock. Sakura was really frightened but she thought to herself, the most that could happen was death and she had already experienced that the night before. The wind was very cold, she was glad to be wearing his jacket.
The two finally reached the top of the hill with a spectacular look out at a large lake. He parked the bike on the parking bay separating the road. He held her hand and led her towards an outlook post. They sat down on a cement seat and waited for the rest of the sun to set.
"It's a nice view I have to admit."
"It's actually very rare that the sky is purple, I think it happens after a storm. I could be wrong."
"This colour feels depressing."
Gaara sighed, her words was still as cold as ever. He held his hands together and stared at her mouth while she was preoccupied with watching the sun set. He really wanted to kiss her lips. He would even die for just one taste of her deliciously tempting lips.
...
The sun had lowered and very soon it would be 4pm. Hinata had just received good news from all her tests results. There was nothing wrong with her head and all other body functions seemed to be normal except the strength in her right wrist. She decided to clear her mind and take a walk around the beautiful gardens in front of the hospital.
She stepped out of the automatic doors and sensed a newly created freedom. She wanted to go home desperately but the doctor had told her to stay one more night in case she collapses again. Hinata's doctor wanted to make sure she was truly stable before she was allowed to go home. The hospital has already contacted her family and she would be discharged tomorrow if all goes well.
Hinata lowered her head as she noticed a purple butterfly; she watched it land on a bunch of beautiful yellow roses. She looked up at the holder of the flowers and realised he had matching golden locks of hair. It was Naruto and he had arrived to see her. Her heart skipped a beat; it was the first time she had received flowers from him. She wished the colour wasn't yellow though.
Yellow roses the colour of friendship.
TBC
Ch 9: A Naruto and Hinata Moment