Hello, all!
Yes, yes, I've returned with another chapter. I'm suprised at how many of you have actually kept up with the story; I know it's been a long time. Thanks to everyone who maintained patience. I salute you.
-Salutes-
Anyways, the plot is FINALLY becoming sticky, as all plots do. I'm warning all of you now, its going to take a dramatic (though slightly forseeable, if I do say so myself) turn now, so prepare yourselves. Turn on your favorite song, grab a bowl of ramen, and get ready.
Enjoy!
-Olly BaaBaa-Chan
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Disclaimer: Calm the lawyers down, I don't own Naruto.
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Sakura's eyes slid open to a still dark morning. Even her parents were still asleep. She took a cold shower in hoping it would wake her up a little more. After all the trouble she gone through to get the truth about Gaara, she was finally going to know it today. This put her in a slightly better mood and she chose to wear red and grey instead of black to show her improved disposition. Sakura walked out the door at 6:30, taking her breakfast with her and leaving a note explaining to her parents where she was and that she wouldn't be alone. They probably still wouldn't like the idea, but she was already looking for little windows of freedom from her restrictions.
When she reached the school, the parking lot was predominantly empty. Not even the teachers were there yet. Much to Sakura's surprise, Naruto's car was already parked. Even though he had promised to meet her, she was still a little in shock at his promptness. She saw him waiting for her at the group tree, looking somber and tired.
"Good morning," Sakura said. Naruto grinned.
"Didn't think I'd be here did'ja?" he asked quite knowingly.
"Honestly, no, but I know you always keep your promise." She sat down on the cool ground. "Now please, Naruto, tell me."
Naruto swallowed slowly and then took a seat beside her. He thought for a long time, choosing his words carefully. "You like Gaara, don't you?" he asked.
"yes," she replied. "very much so. I think I…well it's probably rushing to say that I love him…but Yeh…I think."
Naruto seemed a little shocked by this confession but nodded understandingly and continued. "Well, so you've seen the better side of him. He's a good friend. A loyal friend. And I think he likes you too. A lot."
Sakura blushed but decided against telling him she already knew that. She waited politely for him to continue.
"But you remember what happened on Monday, when he attacked Sasuke?" Naruto maintained. "How he attacked him with that knife?"
Sakura recalled, somewhat bitterly. "Yes," she said. "I remember."
"Well don't." Naruto retorted, confusing her. "Never think of that Gaara. The Gaara we know and care about is not that one. When I tell you what happened back then you have to swear that you won't think of the Gaara you…love…differently, do you get it?"
Sakura nodded slowly, trying to wrap her mind around what he was saying.
"You know Gaara's almost a year older than most of us right?" Naruto asked. Sakura shook her head no. She hadn't known that. "Well anyway," he continued. "He's supposed to be a grade ahead of us and—"
"Well wait, Sakura interrupted, "How can he be a grade higher than us if his brother and sister are in that grade? I thought they were older than him?"
"Well yeh," Naruto continued. "But Temari started school really late and Kankuro failed a grade I think. But moving on. Gaara's in our grade because he missed a whole year of school."
"Why?"
"Suspension. He actually should have gotten longer than a year. Gaara was really lucky."
"What was he suspended for?" Sakura asked fearfully.
"He killed a kid."
A cold sensation hit Sakura like a wave at the beach and crept down her spine and into her feet. Gaara? Her Gaara? Actually killed someone?
"Was it an accident?" she asked dryly. Naruto shuffled around in his seat uncomfortably and answered, "Well, not really."
"So he purposely killed an innocent other and only got a year of suspension from school for it? That's impossible, I know the law; my dad's a lawyer—"
Naruto interrupted her. "Sakura stop! You swore you wouldn't do this!"
"Do what? All I'm saying is that it's highly unlikely that he would only get a year of suspension for killing someone. Homicide is a very serious issue."
"I know," Naruto agreed. "Like I said before, Gaara was really, really lucky. Now are you going to listen or not?" Sakura nodded obediently, prompting Naruto to carry on. "Now, listen, the kid Gaara killed was this guy called Kimimaru."
Kimimaru…not a bad name, she supposed. Someone so innocent that she had never known. His life had been taken from him, by Gaara. The thought twisted in her mind like an angry snake. "Why did Gaara kill him?"
"To save me, I guess."
"Save you?" she asked. Suddenly Kimimaru didn't seem quite so innocent. "Why?"
"Kimimaru was…sick. Mentally and physically. They said he wouldn't last more than a year, but his parents sent him to school anyway. I guess they wanted him to live a normal life, rather than on hospice. Don't get me wrong though, he wasn't a nice guy to begin with. It was our freshman year and he hanged out with—"
"Hung out with." Sakura corrected him.
Naruto rolled his eyes and continued. "Pay attention! He hung out with this creep named Orochimaru. Tall, pale, pretty sure he was a convict. Anyway, he and Kimimaru were sorta buddies, but Kimimaru kept getting sicker and sicker. He'd cause havoc all over the school. Destroy classrooms, harass teachers, stuff like that. Well anyway, there was this one day that he was having a really bad day. Normally he was weak and nearly immobile, but today he was walking and kicking and causing all kinds of trouble. Now, the weekend before this I had broken my arm at the zoo and—"
"The zoo?" Sakura giggled, completely forgetting about the rest of the story.
"Shut up! There was a giant toad that jumped up outta nowhere and scared me and I fell down some stairs. Now do you want to know the rest or not?" Naruto demanded. Sakura immediately became quiet. Did she want to know the rest? Naruto waited for her to apologize and then continued once again. "Ok, stop interrupting. I had broken my arm and it was in a cast and sling the day Kimimaru started acting up. He attacked me…"
Coldness returned to Sakura's body. She leaned in, keen to find out what happened.
"I couldn't defend myself." Naruto said quietly. "I mean, I tried to, but without one of my arms it was useless. None of the teachers could pull him off, and he just kept hitting me. I blacked out."
"No…" Sakura whispered.
The memory was causing Naruto a lot of inner turmoil. He was clutching the back of head and he refused to look her in the eye. "I wasn't conscience for the next part," he explained. "But other people told me what happened. Apparently Gaara jumped out of nowhere and started cutting up Kimimaru with his knife. Kimimaru stopped beating up on me, but by then everyone was focused on getting Gaara off him instead of him off me. They did eventually, but it was too late. I woke up with blood all over me and bruises on every inch of my body. Kimimaru died that night. They took Gaara to court. The judge went kind of easy on him for a number of reasons, the fact that I had been beaten senseless, the fact that Kimimaru had been on death road anyways, and other stuff like that. Gaara was too young to go to prison, so in the end Kimimaru's parents decided not to press charges. He was sent to a year in juvi; came back halfway through my sophomore year. I still don't know all the details, but that's it in a nutshell."
Sakura sat in silence for a long while. So Gaara only killed Kimimaru to save Naruto. Okay. Maybe it wasn't…so bad, right? "What happened when he came back?"
"I went looking for him. I dunno why. Guess to thank him…the asshole."
A comical look of confusion crossed Sakura's face. "What?"
Naruto shrugged and smirked. "Asshole. Soon as I found him he tried to attack me, course my arm was better by then. I was able to kick his knife away from him, and then I punched some sense into his fat head."
The lightness of Naruto's tone actually made Sakura smile. "So you beat him up? Yeah, sure Naruto."
"Hey!" Naruto whined. "It's true. To be entirely honest it was mostly an even match, but I was finally able to make him respect me. That's how we became friends, by beating the shit out of each other. Go figure…hey, Ten Ten!"
Sakura looked into the distance to see Ten Ten walking towards them along with many others arriving to start the day. "Hey!" she called. "What are you guys doing here so early?"
"Just thought I'd shake things up a little!" Naruto said with a grin. Sakura was amazed at how quickly he was able to turn back into his normal, obnoxious self. It made her smile.
"Yeah right. Hiya Sakura." Ten Ten greeted. Sakura pulled herself into the tree and offered, "Good morning!" in return. Soon after the others started showing up, ending with the almost late arrival of a rushed Temari, a sleepy Kankuro, and an angry Gaara. Apparently, the transportation arrangements were not going over well between the siblings. The day went on.
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Phew!
Alright, praise me, scold me, block me, do whatever you want, but that's the turn the story has taken, as many, if not most, GaaxSaku stories do.
Happy Fall Y'all! (teehee, I rhymed)
-Olly BaaBaa-Chan