"So, I have to stay at your house?" Kotori questioned.
Gaara nodded.
"The Council found it my fault that you nearly died, so I have to take responsibility of you while you're here and escort you back to Konoha once you can travel," he replied, impassive to something Kotori found fairly tedious.
"How troublesome," she murmured.
"You think so," he stated, not asked, not taking his eyes off her. Kotori refused to look at him. Why, she wasn't sure, "why do you not look at me."
Another statement that was supposed to be a question, Kotori noted. She guessed he didn't have the amount of emotion to make questions sound like questions.
"I don't know, don't ask," she murmured. Gaara's lip curled upwards ever-so slightly.
"Can you walk," he stated, staring at her.
"Of course," Kotori laughed, throwing off the blanket from her body and standing up. She finally stared at the red-haired boy, to find him staring at her intently. What she didn't realise, was the hint of amusement playing on his lips.
"Standing and walking are two different things," he uttered, hiding the smile that wished to show. Kotori huffed, then walked towards him, only to have her legs give out.
Before she could hit the ground, she felt the firm, grainy and slightly ticklish, feeling of the sand wrap around her hips and waist.
"If you couldn't walk, you should have said so, it would've saved trouble," he stated, his arms crossed over his chest.
"I thought I could," she murmured dismally, relying on his sand to keep her upright.
"You have to stay at my house until you can travel," Gaara restated, still unfazed by the news he had delivered.
Kotori raised an eyebrow.
"And you don't mind?" She questioned.
"I don't care," he confirmed, "the council won't be happy with me, if I didn't. I want to be the Kazekage someday, so I have to keep them happy."
"What's the point?" Kotori questioned, "the Kages are just a bunch of people who give commands. I guess, if you like power, then it's fine, but, they're not much of a big deal," she murmured, shrugging.
"The Kages run the country, they protect the villagers and everyone else living there. They have to make educated decisions. The village and country rely on them not to lead them to destruction. They're one of the most important people in the world," Gaara stated, amused by her ignorance.
Kotori shrugged.
"Do what you want. Whatever it is, I don't care," she replied, "but at least you know how people feel about them."
"Or what you, in particular, feel about them," he stated, unfazed by her reply.
Kotori shrugged again.
-/-/-/-/-/-
"Here's your room," Gaara uttered, opening the door and letting his sand drop her down on a decent-sized bed.
"Oof," Kotori murmured, once her head hit the pillow. She rolled onto her back, making sure not to fall off the bed and gripped the white, cotton bedsheets, as she sat on the edge of the bed, her legs dangling from the side, her feet not touching the floor, " why is this bed so high?"
Gaara stared at her indifferently.
"I don't know," he replied, "most people have beds this high here. It could just be that you're short," he said, hiding his amusement.
"I'm not that short!" she exclaimed. Gaara's lips curled upwards slightly.
Kotori shrugged once she didn't hear him reply, then looked around the room. The bed was propped against a wall with a window beside it, situated at the opposite side of the room as the door. Even if she were to lie down, she could see outside the window. Not that there was much to see; sandy streets and houses dominated the view outside, and a small group of children played amongst themselves, oblivious to the 16-year-old kunoichi watching them. The sound of their laughter drifted through the open window, reaching Kotori's ears, causing her to pull a cynical, yet wistful, face at the scene.
Kotori turned her head to look around the room again, before she'd start brooding. It was a decent size, with a small book shelf to the left of the door, which held around 30 books, and a bedside desk which had a lamp, a small vase of white orchids and a small jug of water with a glass standing beside it. The floor of the room was wooden and gleamed as if it had been rigorously cleaned and the walls were stark white. A bamboo wardrobe stood underneath the bookshelf and a set of matching drawers stood beside it. A full body mirror was propped against the wall opposite the wardrobe, the frame made of bamboo as well.
Gaara stood in the doorway, a fair distance away from Kotori, quietly observing her. However, it wasn't long until he saw her sprawled on the bed with her eyes closed, a small sliver of saliva escaping her parted lips. A small smile grazed his features. If anything, she was genuine, albeit slightly awkward and strange, he thought. But, most importantly, she was like him; how he was before he met Naruto. A small amount of Gaara's sand grazed her lips, wiping off the saliva and returning to his gourd. He soundlessly closed the door behind him, making sure to not wake her up from her sleep.
-/-/-/-/-/-
"Did she have it?" Kakashi questioned, flitting from tree to tree, Sakura beside him. She nodded.
"It was as you expected," she replied.
"No wonder she was defeated," he thought aloud.
"Wouldn't that have meant she would have been more powerful, though?" Sakura asked. Kakashi shook his head, ducking as a branch nearly came into contact with it. Birds chirped noisily, while the two continued jumping from tree to tree.
"Don't you remember what happened to Sasuke when he used it?" Kakashi asked. Sakura looked down forlornly, the memory of her friend and long-term crush excruciating to recall, "she probably didn't want to because of that. She doesn't believe those powers are hers, so she'd have wanted to defeat Gaara with what she knew was hers."
She nodded nostalgically reminiscing on memories and not paying attention to what Kakashi was saying.
-/-/-/-/-/-
"Hey, Gaara-kun, do you have paints, by any chance?" Kotori questioned, having awoken from her slumber an hour ago to find no one there and nothing to do. As she couldn't move her legs, she'd crawled out of her temporary room, using her elbows, to find Gaara walking down the corridor towards her room. Her head had painfully collided with the floor, when she'd tried to get off the bed; it continued to throb.
Gaara stared down at her, hiding his curiosity. However, before he answered, he made the sand wrap around her and placed her upright, the sand not letting go of her.
"Yes we do," he stated, staring intently at her. Kotori couldn't get herself to look him in the eye, something about his stare was slightly daunting and intimidating, so she looked through him, hoping he didn't notice. He did.
"Do you mind lending me them?" she asked.
Gaara nodded, his sand splitting off and opening the door of her room, while the other branch of sand continued holding her up. He made his sand move Kotori through the open door and cross the room to sit her down on her bed.
"You'd probably want a canvas as well," he uttered, standing in the doorway. Kotori shook her head.
"I don't need one," she replied. Gaara said nothing, trying to decipher what she could possibly want to do with paint by itself, then nodded and left, leaving the door slightly open.
While he was gone, Kotori stared up at the plain white ceiling, not thinking about anything in particular. Before she could focus on anything, he was back, holding a large set of paints and a fairly large palette. It was the first time he had stepped into the room. He set the two items on her bedside table and stood in front of her, staring at her, waiting for a response.
"Your mission is to babysit me, right?" she asked, staring up at him. If Gaara was surprised by what she said, he didn't show it.
"More or less," he replied.
"What rank is it?" she asked, curiosity evident in her voice. Gaara observed her with a cool stare, not entirely sure what to make of her.
"There's no rank," he replied finally. Kotori shrugged.
"I was hoping it would have been a B rank, or even an A or S rank," she murmured, "well, anyway, can you help me move around while I redecorate this boring room?"
"This is my house," he stated. Kotori raised an eyebrow.
"Yes?" she murmured.
"You're not going to ask permission," he uttered, as if commanding her not to and not asking her a question.
"No, because I'll be doing you a favour," Kotori laughed. Gaara just stared at her, wondering whether even the Hokage could stop her. He sighed, then made his sand wrap around her, "okay, so, you're going to have to guide me as I say. First off, we should start at the corner behind the door. Okay. Lower me down a bit. No, more! Okay. A little to the left. More... A bit more...no! You went too far left. A little to the right now..."
And so, the whole day was spent in aiding Kotori to repaint his guest room, even though he didn't particularly see anything wrong with said room.
-/-/-/-/-/-
Kotori lay sprawled on the floor, her choppy, hip-length silver hair messily pooled around her head, her chest and stomach pressed against the floor. Fairly quiet snoring escaped her lips and paints and paintbrushes were scattered around her sleeping frame. Gaara stood over her sleeping figure, commanding his sand to wrap around her. His sand picked her up and dropped her down on the bed.
He looked around the newly decorated room. To say he was surprised, was to say the least. The walls were now a soft shade of grey and a large bonsai tree was painted above the set of drawers, it covering half of the space of the wall. A dark grey dragon was depicted as flying down from clouds (that she had painted) to glare at the person lying on the bed, its facial expression showing rage and bloodlust towards said person. Its scales glimmered gold and silver, reflecting the light that hit it. After scrutinising/admiring the room, Gaara walked out of it, noiselessly closing the door behind him.
-/-/-/-/-/-
"Now, how exactly will this experiment proceed," a raspy, menacing voice asked, chuckling afterwards, "maybe I should..."
A sharp needle slowly penetrated her stomach, instantly making her scream. The man twisted the needle deeper inside her, causing her screams to become more hysterical. He chuckled, watching her red blood steadily ooze out of the wound, staining the needle he was using and trickling down her stomach. He moved the needle out of the side of her stomach, as if stitching a quilt. A thread hung from the back of the needle; once he had moved the needle in and out of her stomach a few times, he slowly and deliberately pulled the needle out from the other end, the thin thread easily slicing through the tissue.
"Stop," the small girl whimpered, tears spilling out of her eyes and down the side of her head, into her greasy silver hair. The man chuckled, but didn't say anything. The dim light of the room hid his face from view. A sole light shone onto her small figure, that was currently lying on a cold table, and her hysterically gasping breaths echoed around the barren room. A cool breeze drifted through the room, chilling the girl in torn rags. She felt a thin needle pierce a vein in her neck and, immediately, her body felt as if liquid fire had been injected into her bloodstream. Her screams reached new heights, filling every corner of the room; she couldn't even hear the man chuckle over her screams.
Kotori sat up in bed. Beads of sweat trickled down her face, sticking her hair to her neck. Her shoulders were tense and her breaths came out in short, ragged gasps, her eyes wide, portraying the terror she felt. Her body immediately relaxed and her breathing became calmer, once she realised it was just a dream. However, her eyes still portrayed the fear she felt and her heart continued pounding rapidly in her chest.
"Are you okay?" a quiet voice asked from the direction of the doorway. Kotori turned her head to see the red-haired boy that had almost killed her and nodded, closing her eyes and smiling at him. However, her smile was not convincing.
"I'm fine," she murmured, "nightmares are usual for any shinobi;" as she said this, she laughed softly, shaking her head.
Gaara smiled drily in his mind, knowing all too well. He nodded and stood in the door way, carefully observing her. Her eyes were cast to the ground, but flitted from left to right, not being able to be kept still. Her petit body was shivering, but ever-so slightly, that one might have missed it and she was wringing her hands, almost painfully. He deduced that whatever the girl had dreamt of, it must have been significantly terrifying to leave her in such a state and he didn't wish to intrude on her when she was like this. However, his brother and sister had told him, sometimes a person would want company to help them forget, or just to ease their mind. He wasn't entirely sure about this, but decided there was no harm in asking.
"Do you want me to stay?" he questioned, cursing himself for not finding a more subtle way of asking. Kotori looked up at him in surprise, then relaxed and smiled softly.
"That would be nice," she murmured, "but don't feel you have to; most people only talk to me out of necessity or fear."
Gaara walked into the dark room, the only source of light being the moonlight coming from the window, splashing onto the sitting figure. It made her hair shimmer, yet shrouded her face at the same time, her smouldering red eyes standing out in the darkness that surrounded her.
"I don't have to stay," he replied, "and I'm not afraid of you." He walked towards her sitting figure and sat at the base of her bed, staring at her intently. She stared through him, still finding his icy teal eyes intensely unnerving.
"Why do you stay, then," she murmured, finding his intentions unsatisfactory. Gaara continued staring at her intensely, waiting for her to look at him properly. A few seconds passed where neither said anything, until Kotori couldn't take it anymore and looked him dead in the eye. She regretted doing so, knowing that if she had been standing, she would have gone weak at the knees and fallen to the floor, because of the intensity of his gaze.
"Because I want to," he finally said, his quiet, uncaring voice reaching her ears and making her eyes water. She bit her lip to stop it from quivering and broke eye contact. A few strands of hair fell in front of her face, as she stared down at the floor. Not once did Gaara's gaze turn away from her.
Konbanwa readers! So, I'm still not sure about this story, but review and stuff and thank you to Inazuma Kaiten andDecember 25th for reviewing, it's much appreciated ='3 With nothing else to say, ja ne! (^.^)/