Sugar, Spice, and a Handful of Sand
Chapter Five: I didn't hit you, I simply high-fived your face.
Izzy laid in bed, holding the bear to her chest. The darkness wasn't swallowing her up like it had the other day and she had Temari to thank for that. Weirdly she bought the night-light for her so they wouldn't have to worry about her freaking out. Temari said it was natural for people who didn't live in the castle to be afraid.
"The ghosts are bad enough to scare even Gaara in his day-dreams" Ghosts. Oh, Izzy wished Temari hadn't said that. She meant well but scaring Izzy was becoming easier. Because every few minutes Izzy felt a chill, she was rolling around drastically in her sheets. She was pretty sure she had pulled them from the mattress and was wrapped up in a caccoon in them.
"I'm never going to get to sleep," She whimpered, trying to cuddle down in the sheets but nothing got her mind from thinking. Were ghosts real? Were they friendly? Would they haunt her for fun. Was Temari kidding? "Please, please be kidding" But something that came from downstairs convinced Izzy other wise.
A loud, lingering moan and crash came tumbling up the steps and forcing Izzy to go frigid cold blooded. Her body wouldn't move despite the fact she wanted to run right to Gaara's room. Temari would think that she didn't do enough of a job to find a good nightlight and feel bad. No, Izzy would stay in her room and ignore what she thought happened. Obviously no one else was up, so no one heard it.
"It's just my imagination" She told the bear who just let itself be squeezed. Izzy felt crazy now, she was trying to reassure herself through a stuffed bear. But the more she held it to her chest, the better she felt. That was until another loud cry came from the kitchen, more banging. Izzy began to cry to herself.
"Ghosts aren't real, ghosts aren't real" she chanted but when she rolled over to face her door, her heart stopped. The door was open when she was sure she closed it, and a shadow was creeping towards her. Izzy even let out a squeal when it was right in front of her. Only then did the shadow pull back it's hood and there was Kankuro.
"AH!" Izzy screamed, flinging and falling back and rolling completely off the bed. Shaking and trembling, she let the tears fall shamelessly as Kankuro chuckled but knelt down to help her up. Only to receive a swift smack across the face and a terrorfied Izzy. "Why were you trying to scare me" She quivered.
"I wasn't, I heard noises and came to see if it was you" He stated, crossing his arms only to go blank when he saw the bear Izzy was clutching to her chest desperately. "Is that…. Gaara's bear?" He blurted out as Izzy nodded and held it closer.
"You can't have him either," She whimpered, looking to the door. Another loud wale came up the stairs and made the two of them shiver and Izzy cry out a small whimper. She fell to her knees and hid behind the bed, holding the bear close to ripping it. "Kankuro, make the ghosts stop!" She cried. Kankuro huffed and rolled up his sleeves.
"There are no such things as ghosts" he grumbled.
"Say that to the ghost!" Izzy whispered, peeking over her bed as the sound of another crash. Izzy watched Kankuro strut out of her room and head for the stairs. She waited and listened for any sound other than her pounding heart beat in her ears. It was quiet for a minute or two before there was a blood curtailing scream. Izzy cried out and ducked down again to hide beside the bed. The sound of clashes and clanging rang out and made Izzy cringe and cry to herself.
"Ghosts aren't real, Ghosts aren't real, Ghosts aren't real" She chanted to herself only shuttering when the sound of footsteps entered her room. This time she let out her own high scream as she found two sleepy teenagers infront of her. Temari pursed her lips and looked around before looking to Gaara.
"Go save Kankuro, I'll get her" Temari grumbled as Gaara rolled his eyes and stormed off. Izzy shivered but slowly stopped as Temari helped her to her feet and held her in a hug. "Shh, its okay, shh. There are no such things as ghosts. I was just kidding at dinner" Temari cooed but Izzy shook her head.
"But it's true, there's a ghost and it took kankuro!" She cried, pointing a shaky finger at the door where she last saw Kankuro. Temari just shook her head and soothed Izzy's hair. "I was fine until it started making noises and crying, then it screamed" Izzy was about to fall over. Temari sat her down with her and continued to sooth her hair but let go of Izzy and watched the door. There were no ghosts, she was sure but Izzy wasn't. The girl was petrified and shaking tremendously.
"It didn't take Kankuro, and it's not a ghost, it's probably the chefs having problems in the kitchen" She stated only to see Gaara in the dark hallway with a scowl.
"You two better see this for yourself" He grumbled. Izzy looked to him before shaking her head and scooting up against the wall.
"NO WAY! No way am I going anywhere near a ghost" She gasped, continuing to shake her head. Only, she didn't have a choice. Gaara sighed and walked over, without even thinking and flung her over his shoulder and waving for Temari to follow. Izzy cried and kicked, struggling to be free only to go still when they reached the bottom of the stairs and the cries were right ontop of her.
"GHOST!" She cried only to be dropped by Gaara and be looked in the eye by a gigantic cat. Izzy was on her stomach staring into the eyes of a crying lioness, or maybe a tiger, but it was a female cat three times the size of her crying and waling before trying to get up and crashing to the floor and making another thing come crashing to the floor.
"Your ghost" Gaara stated, kneeling down to her, "Sweet Dreams Izzy, Kankuro, get to bed before you scream another person awake" Gaara patted Izzy's shoulder and stormed up the stairs. Temari laughed, sitting on the step as Izzy found her way to her knees and watched Kankuro stumble up the steps, leaving the girls at the bottom.
"It's… it's…"
"It's a desert lion, we call them that because they look like lions but they eat desert brush and berries when they can't find deer or Goats. I'm guessing the poor thing got in through the back, scared the chef who probably shot I in the foot, and this is where it ended up?" Temari shot a thumb at the fainted Chef on the floor. The cat was crying out again, making Izzy's chest hurt.
"Poor thing,"
"We're going to have to put it down, it's going to hurt itself and with that wound it wont be able to survive" Izzy's eyes went wide as she shook her head and turned so she was sitting beside the thing. It didn't seem to mind when she put an arm around it and shake her head again.
"Come on, look at it…Please,"
"No, unless you want to keep it for a pet…" Temari laughed only to go silent as Izzy grin and nod. "No…No…NO!"
"Please, I'll nurture her, bring her back to health, she'll be my own little pet!"
.x.o.x.o. Sugar, Spice, and a Handful of Sand .x.o.x.o
"Please! I'll nuture her, bring her back to health, she'll be my own little Pet!" Izzy whined, wrapping up the cleaned cut on it's leg. It licked her in response and just sat In Gaara's office, laughing at him. The Monster knew he couldn't say no to the puppy dog face Izzy was giving him.
"No, it's a wild animal, it'll only bring trouble"
"No it won't, I swear!" Izzy jumped to her feet and raced to his side. Kneeling beside him, she put her hands together and pulled on the biggest beg face he'd ever seen. Izzy looked like an 8 year old, and he could barely resist. What could be the harm? The thing seemed tame, it liked Izzy and what could it possibly hurt for her to have a pet to take care of while she kept her stay in Suna.
"Fine, but you are solely responsible for it" Gaara sighed. Only to gasp when she pulled him into a giant bear hug and nearly pulled him ontop of her.
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I promise I'll take care of her" She grinned and rushed over to the animal who sat there content as Izzy hugged and loved on the animal before petting it and looking to Gaara. He felt jealous of the thing, and it was sad.
That animal was allowed love and affection, and was smirking about it. He knew the love an affection the lion received from Izzy would be completely different from any Love and affection Izzy would give him, if she ever did. But something inside him wanted her to be hugging and kissing him.
"Gaara… what should we name her?" Izzy asked, laying her head ontop of the Desert Lion's head. It was a deep tan with highlights of bright blond and brilliant jade green eyes that glowed, the lion owned one black nose and a black tip on her tail and one black paw.
"How about Rakki?" He smirked, "Lucky"
"IT'S PERFECT!" Izzy held Rakki tight and nuzzled the lion before standing up and pointing to her, "Rakki stay and protect Gaara while I get you something to eat… hope the chef is okay, he looked terrorized last night" Izzy flashed a grin as Gaara shot her a look. The Chef looked scared? Izzy was petrified, she looked pale as a ghost and her eyes were as big as dinner plates. Gaara had been in the middle of a thought when he heard the scream.
At first, he jumped to see if it was Izzy only to find her in her room hiding beside the bed shaking and crying. He was a bit cranky but he had to know what frightened her so bad. Turns out it was Rakki making all the racket.
Gaara looked at the beast licking her paws before looking up at him with a confused look. "You, are a lucky creature" it made a sighing noise before he pursed his lips and huffed, "you better protect her" He eyed the lion before going back to his paperwork. Atleast this way he didn't have to worry if his guest was being eaten up by the supposed ghost of their house. Really it was just an old house and it made tons of noise at night. Hopefully this would clear his mind enough to help him formulate a plan with Izzy's water ninja.
"Gaara?" Gaara looked up and found Izzy back with the meat for Rakki, "Has Mishito replied?" She asked. Refering to the water ninja.
"Not yet, but I only sent out the letter this morning"
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Author's Notes: Hello my readers new and old, I enjoy those who review and even those who just simply continue to read it. Thank you all. Now on to other business:
I'm sorry it's been a few days since my last post, I've been taking crazy study for SOL days and barely even gotten laundry done! So I tried to make this one as long as possible to make up for it.
To Adamantium butterfly wings- I couldn't stop laughing for a bit when you wrote that, I was in tears before I could catch my breath. I'm going to find someway to put some of your ideas in my work, thank you.
To Melissadoll- Thanks, I really try to make him seem like himself. I hate reading stories where he completely changes just for the story. I try to keep it real.
Sorry to say, but I must take my leave ...for now.
With Love,
The Author.