The Sandman is a mythical character in Northern European folklore who brings good dreams by sprinkling magic sand onto the eyes of children while they sleep at night. (Wikepedia).
Song to go with this chapter: Fireside by Arctic Monkeys
The Sandman
Chapter 2
Sun Demon
Her dreams are filled with heat for days on end. It's not necessarily the good kind either-it's suffocating and humid, like she's just entered the place between hell and purgatory. An in between of the inbetween...just the right amount of uncomfortable without burning you alive.
It would make perfect sense if the in between of the inbetween actually existed. But no, there's no such thing as a precursor to hell. There isn't a free trial to eternal damnation, either. It's just her very own limited edition of it.
She wonders if she's supposed to feel special. Hell doesn't even come with a free gift. She hasn't seen the Sandman for days but she still feels as if his fire is burning her skin every time she lays her head down. The Gods must be really angry at her interactions with the sun demon.
Her dreams leave her breathless in the morning and her throat is dry when she wakes up as if she's been without water for too long.
The sandman has visited her every night; sprinkling sugarcoated dust over her eyelids and ordering her to dream of a warm place far from here.
It must be true, she decides as she wipes the sleep dust out of the crevices of her eyes. It must be true, she thinks again as she washes away all traces of the dream world.
She feels the cold wash over her as it does everyday and the warmth leaves her body in one big exhale.
Hinata walks into the living room, shivering and lonely, only to see Kiba on her couch, watching MTVJams and eating her food. Akamaru lounges beside him on the floor, barking happily when Hinata appears.
Hinata grins halfheartedly at the pair and asks where Ino is. After learning that the blonde has escaped to the beauty salon for work, Hinata rounds on Kiba, daring to ask the thing that's been on her mind for days.
"Do you know a guy named Gaara?"
"Gaara?" Kiba takes a big bite from his apple and shakes his head. "Nah."
Hinata bites her lip, drumming her fingers on the edge of the couch. "...What about...the Sandman?"
Kiba pretends he doesn't hear. His frown is too deep so she knows he's not concentrating on the vulgar music videos playing on her Tv screen. "Like...from the fairy tales?"
"No, Kiba." She knows he knows what she means. "The Sandman."
Kiba sighs and mutes the Tv. He turns around to face her, taking in her pinkened cheeks and innocent gaze. "What about him?"
-:- -:- -:-
"So, you found me."
"Y-Yeah." Hinata mutters, already regretting her decision. Gaara's eyes seem to look through her and his "love" tattoo seems to be mocking her-glaringly so.
Hinata puts her hands in her pockets and looks around at the eerie slides and swing-sets that rock in the distance. Everything seems to be surrounded by fog and the streetlights flicker above their heads haphazardly. She looks back at him, sitting on a swing, staring unblinkingly at a bus across the street. It pulls off sleepily and he turns his gaze back on her, blinking in the same lazy manor.
"This playground..." Hinata bites her lip, "I-is it your t-territory?"
He rolls his eyes at her. His hair is fire against the black of his jacket. "Everything is my territory."
She should've thought of that. He's a sun demon after all; he has to be the king of something. So why is it a sun demon likes to play in the dark? She almost asks, but she stops herself in fear that he will show her.
Instead, she seats herself on the swing next to him without asking permission. She can practically feel the Gods hiss at her bravery. As she sits there, it dawns on her; he is the Sandman after all. Dreams do happen during the night. She can't believe that she's come in contact with a creature that owns the night and the day.
Maybe that's why he looks like he hasn't slept in weeks.
After a few minutes of awkward swinging and silence, a guy dressed in all black approaches them. He looks Hinata up and down and her skin crawls when a smirk grows against his face. Gaara looks up seconds later and his attention is automatically directed to him. His eyes are too powerful to ignore.
"Er..." The guy shuffles. Gaara terrifies everyone.
"Got any Sand on you?"
"No." Gaara sounds annoyed. "It has to be requested first. Come tomorrow."
"Oh." The guy in black laughs humorlessly. "My bad homie." He shuffles off, slouching and disappointed.
"S-Sand?" Hinata dares to question.
Gaara looks at her, his eyes piercing her in places she never thought they could. "I am the Sandman, aren't I?" He turns his head to look back at the stars, "Some people want to dream when they aren't even sleeping."
-:- -:- -:-
"W-where are we going?"
Gaara looks at her as if he is annoyed that she even asked. He doesn't answer and continues walking ahead, knowing that she will follow. It's no secret; she's as curious about him as he is her.
"S-Seriously." She tries to sound tough, but it fails. "It's...it's almost four am."
"You're the one following me." Gaara answers swiftly. He turns around and watches her react to his eyes.
"T-that's 'cause y-you t-t-told me to." She responds, looking away, her stuttering getting worse by the second. Gaara's eyes follow the curve of her lips unblinkingly, knowing that she's too preoccupied to watch him watching her.
"Well, do you make a habit of agreeing to follow strangers?" He speaks again, his voice feels dry and scratchy in his throat. He watches her midnight hair shine under the streetlights out of the corner of his eye. She's like some type of urban angel, walking the streets without a care.
"You're n-not a stranger," She answers carefully. "I mean, not really."
"You don't know anything about me." Gaara answers in the same tone. He continues to walk down the streets, glaring at anyone who dares look their way.
"You could...tell me." The angel whispers. She's beside him now, peering at him with silvery eyes, looking at him at if he holds the universe in his palms.
Gaara almost looks surprised. No one has ever looked at him like that and he's not sure if he likes it. "Why?"
Hinata doesn't answer. Gaara doesn't speak again and continues down dark streets with Hinata in tow. He knows that she is nervous being out this late and it'd be stupid for her not to be. Then again...Hinata hasn't proven to be a very smart person in the first place.
"How old are you?" Hinata asks. He finds her at his side now, looking anywhere but him. He stares down at her profile, pink and curious.
"Nineteen."
"Where are you from?"
Gaara's lips twitch. "...Suna."
"Wow," Hinata's eyes go wide. "Suna's beautiful, w-why would you ever wanna leave?"
Gaara stops and Hinata pauses to look at him. She knows she's crossed the line when his mouth flattens into a straight line.
"We're here," Gaara says, instead. Hinata looks around and watches Gaara grab hold of a ladder and climb onto the fire escape. "Climb."
-:- -:- -:-
Hinata thinks she's just died. When she finally reaches the roof, she all but rolls on the ground. Has Gaara ever heard of an elevator? Climbing up the fire escape isn't exactly fun.
Gaara doesn't even look at her as she pants on the cement roof. She doesn't care anyway; it's almost embarrassing how out of shape she is in comparison to Gaara's emotionless face and steady breathing.
When she finishes remembering how to breathe, Hinata comes to stand at the ledge with him. There's a brick barrier blocking them from actually walking over the edge so she puts her elbows atop it and looks down at the streets below her. She forgets to breathe all over again, wondering how she's never noticed how pretty things can be in the shadow of night. Everything has this weird glow to it, and there's a quiet to the streets below, despite the fact that stray men walk them filling the air with drunken babble. Everything looks so sleepy at four in the morning. Sleepy and slow and peaceful.
It's weird; Hinata has never felt at peace when sitting wide awake at 4 a.m.. She looks to the red headed stranger standing beside her, wondering if it's because of him.
"S-so you said y-you're nineteen?" Hinata tries to strike up a conversation again. "S-so you must be a freshman...or maybe a sophomore."
Gaara snorts, not even trying to hide his disdain. "You assume that I'm in college."
"I-I...just look for the best in p-people."
"Someone like you would say that," Gaara mutters. Hinata squeaks at his cold tone, suddenly regretting her word choice. His hard tone freezes her heart despite the fact that he is the sun demon. "You think that going to college makes you better?"
Hinata fiercely wishes she could retract that statement. She shakes her head back and forth, fearing that he will hate her forever. "N-no! I - I mean -"
"Forget it," Gaara mutters, not turning to look at her. In fact, he hasn't looked at her since they first got up there.
"B-but I-" Hinata sputters over her words, watching his green eyes blink at her, annoyed.
"I said forget it." Gaara rolls his eyes. "Just know that going to college doesn't make people better. Sometimes it ruins them. Sometimes it makes them too big; makes them think they can change the world...and even end it."
-:- -:- -:-
"...h-how do you take y-your coffee?"
Gaara blinks at her, staring at her fidgeting fingers trembling on the edge of the room. His coffee? Why?
"Black," He blinks again, still puzzled at the random question, "How do you take your liquor?"
Hinata smiles lightly, again surprising him, especially when he had expected her to say that she has never touched a glass. "Hard."
Gaara just snorts at her answer, still a little questioning. He watches her fingers stop trembling and she calmly folds them against the railing. Her hair is silvery against the streetlights.
"F-favorite holiday?" She continues.
"None."
"Favorite artist?"
"Picasso," Gaara mumbles sarcastically.
"Music artist?"
"None."
"Favorite show?"
"9 O'clock News."
"...f-favorite flavor ice cream?"
"I don't like ice cream."
Hinata pauses, her eyes widening, and for a moment, she forgets who he is, "Are you even human?"
Gaara's eyes flash a dangerous green and she is immediately reminded that he is the sandman and she is nothing but a girl. Her body is blazing when his fingers curl around her wrist and pulls her to the other side of the roof. "No more talking," He mutters, "We're going to watch the sun rise."
And Hinata doesn't even complain, it would only make sense for a sun demon to want to watch his own sun rise.