AHH! I'm back! I'm so so so so so so so so so sorry! I finally gave up on trying to convince mi madre to talk to the internet people, so now here I am, uploading chapters at school and trying not to get caught (we're not supposed to use the internet at school except for projects)……(and on that note, I would actually like to point out that I look at this (("this" meaning fanfiction)) as a personal project, and my reviewers are my graders). Anyways, I apologize for the long wait, and I uploaded two chapters this time to make up for it. One is longer than usual so I hope that'll be enough to save me from the murderous reviewers screaming at me to update. Love y'all!
--Olly
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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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After about ten minutes of driving Gaara pulled into a small shopping center. There weren't any big stores, only a video game shop, a tattoo parlor, and a place called "By The Artist's Hand". It looked like it might be an art store of some kind. A large man with lots of tattoos and big white hair was standing outside the tattoo parlor as Gaara pulled up and turned off his bike. The large man smiled and threw down the cigarette he had previously been taking drags on as Gaara pulled off his helmet.
"Well hello there, Gaara-san. It's been a while." He said. Gaara only nodded in response. Sakura pulled off her helmet as well, and the large man eyed her with a smile. "Oh-ho, who's your friend?" he said, his smile turning into a smirk. Sakura narrowed her eyes in the man's direction, but at the same time moved a little bit behind Gaara, to use him like a shield from the stranger.
"Touch her and die, Jiraiya." Gaara said coolly. Jiraiya held up his hands in a defensive way. "No, no, Gaara! I was just wondering if the pretty girl would like a tattoo. Perhaps one to match yours? You two love birds!" He started laughing uncontrollably. Gaara glared at him, but didn't miss Sakura's small blush.
"Shut up you old idiot." Gaara said. Jiraiya immediately snapped out of his fit and glared at the green eyed boy.
"Hey watch what you say! I'm a famous novelist after all!" he said hotly, flipping his hair for dramatic effect. Gaara arched an eyebrow.
"Those porno books you write are hardly novels, and they're only famous to pervs like my English teacher." He said crossing his arms. Sakura's eyes widened.
"Kakashi-sensei?" she asked from behind. Gaara snapped back to attention. He had momentarily forgotten Sakura. He turned to look at her; she was looking confusedly at Jiraiya.
"Oh…erm, yeah." He said, answering her question. She arched an eyebrow at the white haired man.
"You write those books?" she asked him. He smiled proudly. "Yes miss I do. Do you like them?" he asked. Sakura made a gagging noise.
"No they're disgusting. Only perverts read them." She said crossing her arms. Gaara nearly laughed but instead changed it into a snort. He took her by the hand and led her towards the art shop, passing by the now very angry and red faced Jiraiya on the way.
Gaara pulled out a key and unlocked the door. Sakura stared in amazement. "You own this place?" she asked quickly. His face remained motionless. "No, I just happen to know the owner very well." He opened the door as Sakura's eyebrows furrowed. "You mean like a friend?" she asked. "You know you can call people friends. It won't kill you." Gaara smirked. "But he's not exactly a friend, so I have no need to use the word." Sakura rolled her eyes and followed him inside.
"So why'd you bring me here?" Sakura asked. It was dark inside, and she couldn't see anything. Gaara didn't answer. Instead he wandered off to turn on a light. The bright lights flickered on, and Sakura was left speechless. She gazed in astonishment
The walls were full of beautiful pictures. There black and white sketches, as well fully detailed drawings, color and all. It was beautiful. Sakura enjoyed drawing now and then, but none of these were like her small sketches. These were real works of art. She looked around her in a full circle. It was all so beautiful.
"Who drew all these?" she asked in a small voice while gliding over to examine some of the works more closely.
"Me." said Gaara. Sakura whipped around to face him. Her eyes were wide. "You?" she asked. He shrugged.
"Well other people too. I mostly do rough sketches, but I don't know where the colored ones come from. This place is for the young artists of Konoha. The guy who runs it had big hopes that it would be a big place people would come to for good artwork, but no such luck. That's why he just gave up and handed off the keys to some of the artists. He comes back now and again, because he still owns it, but that's pretty much it." Gaara finished, face still expressionless. Sakura looked at him thoughtfully. She murmured an 'I'm sorry' and Gaara shrugged again.
Sakura started moving slowly through the drawings, admiring certain things about this one, certain things about that one. She stopped at one in particular. It was a pencil sketch of dragon and a lion. The lion was lying calmly near the bottom of the canvas, while the dragon seemed to be flying over it. Ribbons of different shades were wrapped around the dragon and the lion, and Sakura guessed had it been colored, they would've been different shades of blue and red. She stared at it for a long while.
"You like that one, do you?" asked Gaara from behind. Sakura jumped from surprise but then turned to smile at him. "Yes, I do." She said. "Did you draw it, Gaara?" He smirked and gave a small nod. Sakura's smile grew and she turned back to it. "It's fantastic." She complemented it, while tracing her fingers lightly over the lines. Gaara watched as she did so; her touch was gentle, so careful. His gaze fixed on her in caring way, but was forced to move his eyes when she started walking again. She didn't give any of the other drawings the same kind of attention as she did to his, and Gaara felt a small twinge of pride. Sakura had an amazing knack for picking out his work, and would always gaze at them longer than others.
Sakura stopped in front of one and frowned. Her frown quickly turned into a huge smile and she called for Gaara to come over. He recognized the picture as one of his latest works and wandered slowly over. "what?" he asked. She chuckled. "This is everyone, isn't it?" she asked, looking at him and pointing to the picture. Gaara looked back at it.
It was a pencil sketch that had been drawn over in black ink. Gaara recognized it as one of his works that he had drawn sometime the week before. There was a line of figures that were presumably people, but they looked more like shadows of people. Each person had no face or color, and some of the shapes crossed into each other, but Sakura smiled anyway. She started from the left.
The first had spiky hair and arms crossed behind its head. "That's Naruto!" she said. The second was a little shorter, and the hair was shaped somewhat triangular. "That's Hinata," The next was taller than Hinata, but Sakura recognized the familiar pose. "This one's Neji," The fourth had two buns on either side of the head "and Ten Ten," The one next to that one had four easily recognizable ponytails. "Temari," The sixth had a high spiky ponytail that looked like a pineapple. Sakura giggled, "And Shikamaru," The next one looked big and round, like the person was wearing a parka. "Kiba," She pointed to small lump on the top of the parka, "Akamaru," She knew the next one, because of the floppy mop of hair on the head, "Kankuro,"
Sakura stopped and stared and the next figure. It was shorter than Kankuro, and had short hair. One hand was raised high above its head as though waving happily. "That's me," she said quietly with a smile. Sakura's eyes then swept over to the last figure, and didn't even have to guess. "And you!" she said turning back to Gaara. He smirked and nodded.
Sakura laughed and smiled to him. "This is great, Gaara! Thank you for putting me in it." He said nothing, and watched her as she looked at the price. "A hundred and seventy-five," she said. She looked thoughtfully at the picture a moment before she ran outside. Gaara arched an eyebrow and started to follow her, but she was already back inside with her bag. Gaara's eyes widened as she started rummaging through it, looking for something.
"Sakura, you don't have to-" he started but Sakura cut him off.
"Gaara, I really like this picture, and I love the fact that you included me in it. I want to buy it." She said, finally pulling out what she had been looking for, her wallet. Gaara watched as she pulled out a hundred dollar bill, a fifty, a twenty, and a five. She held them out to Gaara, but he refused.
"Who the hell carries that kind of money around with them?" he asked. Sakura blushed and realized how quickly and easily she had found the one hundred and seventy-five dollars.
"I-I don't know," she said. "But here, take it." She held out the money again. Gaara shook his head again.
"Sakura I didn't bring you here to buy anything. You don't have to feel obligated to buy something just because this place is a dump." Sakura scowled.
"I don't want to buy it because I feel sorry for this place or something! I really like the picture, and I can't just take it. That'd be stealing." She said defiantly, holding out the money to him. Gaara smirked.
"Look if you like the picture that much, I'll just give it to you. It's not like anyone else will be coming to look at it." He said. Sakura watched as he carefully dismounted the picture and rolled it into a neat cylinder. Sakura pouted as he held it in front of her.
"Please take the money Gaara, I'll feel bad if you don't. It's such a great picture!" she whined playfully, all the while being perfectly serious about it. Gaara arched an eyebrow and took the money, only to slip it and the picture into her bag. Sakura crossed her arms and started to say something. Gaara cut her off, because he didn't want to argue.
"That's that. Now there's reason I brought you here, and it's not for you to just look at pictures." Sakura's mouth closed and she looked at him questioningly. Gaara continued. "I was wondering if you might model for me." He said, looking away.
Sakura's eyes widened. "What do you mean?" she asked uncertainly. Gaara shrugged. "I've tried to draw you, and it's hard, because your expression always changes. I figured the only way I'll get you to stay still is if I ask." Sakura blinked a few times, but then smiled weakly.
"Um, ok." She said. "But why do you want to draw me?"
Gaara smirked. "Well I have pictures of all my other friends." Sakura's eyes shined at his comment, and she looked like an excited four year old. She hugged him and giggled. "Thanks Gaara!" she said. Gaara smirked and shuddered at the closeness. He recovered and led her to a back room that was full of blank canvas, paint, oil pastels, sketching tools, and other artists' equipment. Sakura gazed at all the different types of art supplies while Gaara grabbed a canvas pad and some charcoal pencils.
"What do you want me to do?" Sakura asked innocently. Gaara grabbed to stools and brought them over. "I don't know," he said. "Like I said, your expression always changes whether you realize it or not, but I would like you to smile." Sakura nodded and took the stool. Gaara took his stool a few feet away and sat down, canvas and pencils in hand. Sakura sat very still with a smile plastered on her face. Gaara looked her over but frowned. He stood up again and placed his canvas and pencils on the stool. Sakura watched curiously as he walked around and stopped in front of her. Her smile faded in confusion, which made Gaara scowl.
"Don't stop smiling," he commanded. Sakura murmured a 'sorry' and smiled again. Gaara looked at her for a long while before his hand took her chin and turned it slightly to the side. Sakura blinked but otherwise kept smiling. Gaara other hand reached up to pull her pink petal-like hair behind her ear. Sakura gasped at the feel of his cool, callused fingers touching her so delicately. It was now Gaara's turn to murmur a 'sorry' and this made Sakura turn pink. She hugged herself and looked at the floor in embarrassment. Gaara's voice startled her.
"Wait, don't move." He said, looking at her. Her position was just perfect, arms hugging herself and gaze fixed softly on the floor, with a small kind smile still on her lips. He smirked at her pink cheeks, but said nothing about it and headed back over to his stool. He picked up his pencils and canvas and began to lightly sketch an outline.
After he had finally finished outlining her head and upper torso, he started on her face. She had been sitting there for at least ten minutes already in the same position, so her face didn't show the same cute embarrassment anymore. He needed to make her laugh somehow, but he wasn't funny. What would he say? He thought for a moment.
"Have you ever wondered what Ino would say if she found out Sasuke was gay?" Gaara asked with a smirk. Sakura's face brightened a little as she tried to remain still. She was confused at why Gaara would ask such a question in the middle of drawing her, but Sakura was trying to focus on not laughing. Gaara smirked again. There it was. The happiness he had trouble catching before. He quickly outlined the beauty of her delight on the empty face of the drawing.
Sakura watched from the corner of her eye as Gaara would lift his head every few seconds to look at her. Then he would turn back to his canvas and she would hear the faint scratches of the pencil. Soon enough Gaara pulled out a darker pencil and stated making the outline darker and worked on shading. He worked on the very last line and looked at the finished work. It was perfect, and he was secretly proud out how much a damn good artist he was. He inwardly chuckled at his thoughts and called out to his model.
"Finished," he said, removing himself from his seat. Sakura looked up and smiled brightly. "Really? Can I see it?" she asked, hopping over to his side. At first he didn't want to show her, but then handed her the canvas. Sakura was completely silent.
"Wow," she said finally, though Gaara could barely hear it. She giggled. "It looks better than my reflection in a mirror!" She handed it back to Gaara. "You really are a great artist. And to think I never noticed it! I almost feel ashamed for not realizing it!" she said, looking at him apologetically.
"Don't be ashamed." He said. Sakura's eyes showed confusion, so Gaara explained. "Nobody knows about this place." He said, putting away the pencils and stools. Sakura was confused.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Our friends? All the people in that picture? They know nothing about this place. All they know is that I occasionally draw sketches. Not even Temari and Kankuro know that I'm this-"
"Good?" Sakura finished for him. He blinked a few times before shrugging and nodding. Sakura gave him a small smile. "You really are good, you know? You're great with the band and you have good grades, but this is wonderful." Gaara's eyes softened.
"Thanks." He said. They looked at each other for a moment, but there was a question nagging at the back of Sakura's mind, so she broke the silence.
"If no one else knows about this, why'd you bring me here?" she asked, trying hard not to gaze intensely in his emerald orbs. His face was completely emotionless, and for a moment Sakura once again found herself admiring just how handsome he was. Gaara, on the other hand, was trying to keep his heart rate in check. He was yelling at himself to stay calm and give a good honest answer to her question at the same time. Dammit! He inwardly cursed. There it is again! I never get nervous, but here I am! Nervous! In front of Sakura! Gaara took in a deep breath.
"Uhh…"
Just then the sound of a door opening got their attention. Gaara and Sakura went out into the main room to see who was there.
A boy about their age was wandering through the room, but stopped when he saw them. He had black hair and a leather jacket. He nodded to Gaara and smiled at Sakura. "Well I was wondering who was here, because the door was open," he said, turning back to Gaara. "I should've guessed it was you, Gaara. Who's your friend?" he asked, smiling at Sakura, who blushed lightly and hid behind Gaara. Gaara arched an eyebrow but other wise didn't seem to notice.
"This is Sakura. She's a friend of mine." He said, stepping out of the way of the girl. She gave a small smile and a half-hearted wave to the boy. He smiled back to her and introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you, Sakura. I'm Sai." He said. "So Gaara brought you to show off his works? I suppose he is one of the best artists we have in this small shop, but I'm not too bad either. I guess he's already explained that not many people come by here so we really just use it as a place to store our art. Would you like to see my new piece?" he asked pulling out a rolled up piece of paper. Gaara advanced toward him, and Sakura followed. Sai unrolled the paper to show them an abstract drawing. It had lots of swirls and lines on it, and Sakura realized it looked like some of the other pictures in the room.
"It's very pretty," Sakura said, admiring the drawing. Gaara sort of nodded. Sai beamed. "Thanks," he said. Sakura gave him a real smile this time and he turned off to place his picture on a blank mount somewhere. Sakura checked her watch as he did so. Her eyes widened.
"Wow! We've been here a whole hour!" Gaara looked at the time. It was true. They had been gone longer than he had intended.
"I guess it's time to take you home then," Gaara said, shrugging. "I don't want your dad to get angry." Sakura nodded and they waved goodbye to Sai.
Gaara pulled into Sakura's driveway. He turned off the bike and took off his helmet. Sakura was already climbing off. "Thank you, Gaara." she said sweetly, planting a small kiss in his cheek. He blinked at her as she pulled away and blushed.
"That's the second time you've kissed me today." Gaara said plainly, handing her bag to her. Her blush grew darker.
"Sorry," she said. "I didn't think you minded, but I'll stop." Dammit! Gaara cursed at himself.
"You don't have to," he said shrugging and looking away. Sakura blinking a few times before she smiled. "Ok," she said. Her blush was darker now, and Gaara felt his own cheeks heating up. She gave a friendly wave and ran inside her house. Gaara sat there a moment. Damn! I wanted to ask her about the kiss! He thought about going to her door and talking to her there, but after taking a second or two to think about it, he decided not to, even if her dad wasn't there.
Sakura watched from her widow as Gaara looked around at her driveway. For a second he acted as though he might dismount his bike, but then he shook his head and she watched him turn on the ignition and drive off. She was still blushing. Taking out the picture that he had given her, Sakura carefully unrolled it and pinned it on her wall. Her wall was white, and she glanced around her plain room. Her last room had been pink, but she had grown out of the color (despite her oddly colored hair). She looked at her walls. White was just…too white. An idea suddenly popped into her head. She smiled. Sakura couldn't wait until the next day.
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Well that's all for now, I suppose. Please review! Don't be afraid to criticize if you feel like it. I'm always looking to improve my writing. Thanks again!
--Olly