Chapter 12
Meeting the demon of the sand
The night came quickly and cold, if it rained the water would most likely turn into snow. It was a silent evening, only the coyotes barked at the moon once in a while.
The desert was beautiful, full of wonders and dangers, to the ones who were bold enough to travel or even live in such a place.
Sasuke however, had enough.
After resting the whole afternoon in Sakura's new home, he discovered three things: first, that he couldn't handle the heat. His skin got red and itchy, and no matter how hard he waved his fan (courtesy of Sakura), he felt like he was melting; second he couldn't eat any of the local food, either all the food tasted like sand or the taste was a consequence of Sakura's bad cooking, he couldn't tell (although he was betting on the second); and last but not least, he couldn't stand Lee's proclamation of youth (he was able to hear them from 6 miles away).
It was sad, depressing and pitiful, and he knew those all too well.
It couldn't possibly go any worse than this.
"SAKURA, MY LOVE, I'VE RETURNED!"
The teen's brow twitched compulsively.
"Lee, what have I told you about shouting?"
"But Sakura, my sweet flower, I'm just so happy!"
If Sasuke was less mature, he would fake hurling. So he took that lead and went to the nearest bathroom, adding a mental note to never ever eat Sakura's cooking.
While washing his face, he heard the couple talking. Sakura seemed agitated for some reason. He just hoped he wasn't the reason. Maybe it was time to tell her that he would be leaving that night.
Stepping out to the corridor, he walked to the room with a familiar alarm ringing in his head. He ignored it, as if it was no longer needed or was simply annoying and useless. What was it?
Still wondering, he walked in to the room. There he met the terrified look of Sakura, the ever fuzzy brows of Lee, and a new pair of emerald eyes.
The onyx eyes widened a bit, before narrowing to inspect the stranger in front of him. The newcomer had a small stature, bright short red hair, and the most significant detail was a tattoo of a kanji that read 'Ai'.
Life seemed to take pleasure in making him suffer.
Of course when he stopped his self-pitying, he realized why Sakura had been agitated earlier. The red head was a demon.
He looked at the pink haired girl who was pale and probably panicking, trying to find a good excuse. Sasuke felt tempted to let the girl suffer for a bit, as a payback for not educating Lee better. And it would be strange if he acted differently towards demons, Sakura would suspect.
The first one to break the silence was the excited Lee, much to the raven's displeasure.
"Ah! Sasuke-kun, I didn't know you were here. Welcome! This is my friend Gaara Sabaku, he's a good rival and was the one that helped Sakura and I when we arrived to Suna. Gaara-san, this is Sasuke Uchiha."
The two locked gazes, which set an awkward atmosphere.
"You two are really alike," the girl risked to comment.
Both the demon and slayer turned their heads towards the girl with a glare that said 'And what exactly do we have in common?' followed by 'I guess we might have some similarities…' when they locked gazes again.
The movements had been perfectly synchronized, as well as the expressions. Sakura was the first to notice this, and chuckled, earning the twin-like glower of the boys.
After reaching a silent agreement, they each sat at on opposite ends of the table.
The pink haired girl was happy about everything going so smoothly, therefore she decided to speak first.
"We met Gaara about a couple of weeks ago. He was in his raccoon form passed out in the shadow of a cactus..."
Sakura sighed loudly, still thinking about Sasuke. She couldn't stop worrying, since she knew the raven had the tendency to ignore his limits. The Uchiha heir's stubbornness and pride were the main causes that lead him to exhaust himself nearly to death.
Sighing again, she looked at Lee who was having the time of his life. Her fiancé was too energetic and cheerful for the situation, but she couldn't really blame him. They were technically eloping, and that alone seemed to make the green spandex boy ecstatic.
Suna was the neighbor country of the land of fire, and yet it was very different. Fortunately, the rumors about this land seemed to be over-exaggerated. There were no assassins beneath any rocks, or thieves behind the not so common cactus, and demons didn't lurk in the sand ready to kill them.
The temperature was tolerable in the early morning, and they would arrive soon to the nearest town, where they hoped they would be safe. The rest would be taken care of in time, though Sakura wasn't sure that things would be ok. Lee, on the other hand, was taking everything lightly; being happy and cheerful was the only thing on his mind.
It was a few steps after that Sakura noticed something. It looked like some sort of animal. Lee also noticed it and ran to it.
"Ah! Sakura-Chan it's a raccoon dog!"
The girl approached them with curiosity. The animal was strange looking: it had red fur and dark blue markings, and was about the size of big cat, making the creature appear cute and fluffy enough to hug.
"I think it's just sleeping," she said plainly.
Of course Lee didn't hear her. Mistaking it for a poor distressed thing, the boy picked the raccoon up and tried to "revive" it. Sakura tried in vain to stop him from…*cough* you get the picture.
The poor thing happened to wake at that precise moment. The girl was expecting the animal to hiss or scratch or bite, although she wasn't exactly worried about the boy getting hurt. Whatever it did to her fiancé was indeed excusable and fair.
As amazing as it was though, the raccoon dog did no such thing, instead it just 'nyuu'd.
That was all that it took. Sakura went into girly mode, snapping the thing out of Lee's arms and squeezed the little thing to her chest while cuddling it.
"Lee, I want to keep it! It's so cute!"
"Of course! This little buddy seems really friendly".
The raccoon dog had stayed still in Sakura's hold the entire time. Another person would think the creature wanted to be left alone, however the 'nyuus' that the creature made were the sign that it was enjoying the cuddling.
"Oh, the poor thing is hurt. Don't worry, I'll take care of that."
They arrived to the town shortly after picking up the strange looking raccoon dog. The couple was fascinated by all the new, foreign things. However, finding a place to stay became a difficult task as the sun took a high place at the sky.
"It's awfully hot. We need a cool place to stay or we'll dehydrate, Lee. Lee?" the pink haired girl looked around looking for her missing fiancé, the raccoon dog still in her lap."AHG! LEE!"
She immediately spotted him, passed out in the middle of the main street due to his 'youthful spirit', meaning he ran around the town up and down, side to side, with the killing heat. The girl dragged the boy to the nearest shadow, leaving her pet on a bench.
Sakura had been so busy attending to her almost dead fiancé that she forgot about the animal and never noticed it leaving. The emerald eye girl was then surprised by a small male. He looked a little creepy but, somehow he seemed familiar.
"Follow me.", he said stoically, picking Lee up with ease, and quickly leaving.
That only made the girl wonder how familiar the boy was, nonetheless she followed him. The whole way she walked, never letting the boy out of her sight, she kept thinking about where she had seen him.
When they stopped, she noticed that the boy was leading them to a house. The red haired boy entered, expecting her to follow, which she unconsciously did. She stepped into a living room, where Lee was already lying, and the strange boy was sitting at a table.
"Sit."
Again, her body responded before her mind did.
"Thank you very much. I'm sorry I didn't present myself earlier, I'm Sakura and he's Lee. What's your name?" she asked kindly.
"I'm Gaara Sabaku. I'm the most powerful demon in this country."
"A-a demon? What do you want from us?"
"It's what you call returning a favor. Thank you."
That answer only made Sakura more confused.
"I recently fought another demon that was claiming others' territories and threatening the village. I won but I exerted myself too much and ended up passing out. Since you healed me and gave yourself the trouble of bringing me home, I decided I should compensate."
"AH! You're the raccoon dog! Are you really?" she asked, still doubting.
"I guess I need to show you then."
The demon named Gaara then adopted his half form, in which his tail and ears showed. Sakura blushed, thinking of how cute and adorable the demon was. She then dared to touch his fluffy red ear, which twitched slightly at the touch.
"You can stay as much as you like."
The sound of the boy's voice made her startle and blush even more. It was incredible how such a stoic expression could be so cute when you added a pair of fluffy ears.
"Thank you very much. Our staying will be only temporary; we don't mean to cause you any trouble."
"It's no trouble, but…"
"Yes?"
"Keep him away from me in the near future while I'm asleep. If my mate knows your mate accidentally claimed me, he will rip him to pieces."
Again, the pink haired girl blushed.
"We left Gaara's house a week ago, and have been living here ever since. I remembered then why Gaara seemed so familiar. He looked like you Sasuke."
"I'm creepy except when I have ears? And that makes me look cute?"
"No, that's not it! I mean the way you act, and look… okay not look kind of look… We'll just be going now."
The twin glower stopped at the same moment the girl and her fiancé stepped out of the room. As if previously rehearsed, the boys turned their heads to face each other at the same time.
"I guess it's just us then."
"Yes, we have things to discuss."
"What things?"
"Naruto."
Things are getting interesting. Poor, poor Gaara, I hope his mate won't get to mad. =3
Ok so I'll try to update sooner, but the rest of the week I'll be very busy. So probably I'll update next monday.
I do not onw Naruto.
And you're free to review many many times. Seriously review.
And again a big, big, big thanks to DiscordiaCruentus. You do an awsome job!