Dang, man. I think this chapter is a bit OOC for Sasuke and Gaara. Ugh. But it could work, I guess. Main characters often go through "changes" in a story. We'll see. This chapter is a little shorter than some of the others, but still a good length for me and how much I usually write. Thanks again for your comments and reviews. They're always nice to see.
†Havoc--- --- ---
Chapter 9: History
Gaara's mind clicked back on. He took a quick step backward and, catching Sasuke off guard, freed his wrist, knocking Sasuke's other hand away as well. Gaara folded his arms gently across his chest and looked down at the ground. His heart was beating fast and his head swimming. Sasuke sighed and shook his head.
"I told you to leave me alone," Gaara stated bluntly.
Sasuke only chuckled and shook his head again. "Gaara..." He trailed off, smiling sadly down at his own feet. When he looked up again, he continued. "I know that's the last thing you really want right now."
Gaara furrowed his brow in anger. Did Sasuke really think he knew him? How could he possibly know how... Gaara's thoughts trailed off. He recalled Sasuke's bruises, the ones he periodically showed up with throughout the year. Gaara bit his lip and continued to stare down at the ground, letting his arms fall down by his sides. At that moment he saw Sasuke's hand slowly reach out toward his own. Gaara jerked his hand away and refolded his arms across his chest. He could feel Sasuke's eyes on him. but didn't dare look up at him.
Turning quickly, Gaara walked away from Sasuke, leaving behind the heavy silence that was hanging between them. But Gaara turned back around just as quick when he heard Sasuke say, "I'll see you tonight."
"What?" Gaara said, confused. No he would not. But all Gaara received as a reply was the view of Sasuke's back as he walked away in the opposite direction. He was thinking over what Sasuke said as the bell rang, startling him. Gaara looked around him, picking the quickest way to get to class, then hurried off in that direction.
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The rest of the day passed slowly. Gaara didn't have to deal with Sasuke in any of his classes because he didn't sit near him, or at lunch, because Sasuke didn't show up. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until art rolled around.
Gaara picked his normal place along the far side of the horse shoe, facing the door, and quickly got to work on his drawings even before the bell rang.Once he looked up, catching Sasuke's eye. Sasuke only stared, blinking, until Gaara looked away. Gaara got very into what he was doing and was working excitedly. At the end of class, he hardly heart the bell but the squeaking of stools alerted him that it was time to leave. Gaara hurried out of the class, and after stopping at his locker and picking up some previously-developed pictures, Gaara made his way to the bus.
He was one of the first people on the bus, even before Naruto, and he picked a seat closer to where he normally sat, rather than in the front of the bus. Gaara couldn't help but think as he sat there waiting, that the day hadn't been too bad. He thanked massive amounts of painkillers and a lack of Sasuke for that. Gaara closed his eyes and let out a long breath. The bus was starting to fill up and he was trying drown out the noisy chatter. Naruto greeted him cheerfully as he sat down in the seat across from him. Gaara lifted his hand in a half-wave greeting, not even opening his eyes. Naruto was satisfied with that and went on conversing with the people around him.
A heavy thud next to him on the seat made Gaara opened his eyes and look over. Sasuke had once sat down snug against Gaara in the bus seat, putting his backpack on the empty space on the outside of the seat. Gaara bit his lip and dug through his bag, looking for his MP3 player, but he had forgotten it on his desk at home. "Damn." He furrowed his brow and looked out the window, staying facing that way the rest of the bus ride.
As the bus came to a halt at Sasuke's stop, Gaara let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. But Sasuke didn't move from where he was sitting. Sasuke leaned over and said quietly into Gaara's ear, "You're not getting rid of me that easily." Gaara crossed his arms as tightly around himself as he dared and stared more intently out the window. Sasuke just chuckled quietly at Gaara's reaction.
Gaara flew up from his seat when they arrived at his stop. As usual, Sasuke was a little slower to get moving. Gaara waited impatiently as Ino and Sakura filed past and Sasuke headed down the aisle behind them. When they got off the bus, Ino was waiting for them, or more waiting for Sasuke, with Sakura alongside. Usually they would hurry off in the direction of their homes, but today was different, of course, with Sasuke there.
Ino was trying desperately to make conversation and flirt with Sasuke as soon as he stepped off the bus. She was tossing her hair off her shoulders, batting her eye lashes, looking quite ridiculous. Sasuke insisted they were in a rush and should get going. He put his hand on Gaara's back as he spoke and pushed him gently in the direction of his house to encourage him to start walking away. Gaara squirmed to get away from Sasuke but did start walking the opposite way then Sakura and Ino would be going, and heading toward his house. Ino opened her mouth to protest but then just shot a look like daggers at Gaara. She turned swiftly on her heels and nose in the air, walked away dragging Sakura with her. Sakura waved a quick goodbye over her shoulder then disappeared around the corner with Ino.
Sasuke and Gaara made their way to Gaara's house in silence. As the walked, Sasuke's hand kept brushing lightly against Gaara's. Gaara bit his lip and stuck his hand into the pockets of his sweatshirt.Sasuke let out a sigh that Gaara pretended not to hear. The rest of the walk home was awkward and felt like it took much longer than usual.
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"Well... Can I?" Sasuke questioned again. The pair were sitting on the floor in Gaara's room. Gaara was leaning against the bed and Sasuke sat across from him, cross-legged. Gaara sat there looking a little dumbfounded. Sasuke sure was blunt. After several minutes of sitting in silence Sasuke decided to ask Gaara if he could see his bruises.
Gaara thought this was completely ridiculous and his expression showed so. The bruises? What kind of question was that? Gaara tried to pull himself together. He furrowed his brow, but Sasuke persisted.
"Well?..." Sasuke raised himself to his knees. He started down at Gaara with a slightly questioning expression on his otherwise blank face.
Gaara pursed his lips and stood up, turning his back on and walking away from Sasuke. He folded his arms across his chest then toyed with the zipper on his sweatshirt. Before he realized it, Gaara was unzipping the sweatshirt and shedding it off before pulling his thin t-shirt up and over his head. He turned around slowly, hugging his arms loosely around himself.
Sasuke stared up at him, slightly loosing his cool unconcerned expression. "Damn..." was all he could manage to say. He got up from he's knees and walked over to Gaara, coming to a stop in front of him. He managed to put back on his blank expression. Sasuke moved closer to Gaara and slowly reached out a hand toward him. Gaara swatted it away, moving his arms away from his body. All it did was let Sasuke get a better look at the damage.
"That's worse than what Itachi..." Sasuke trailed off in the middle of commenting on the bruising. He looked down away from Gaara's face acting particularly interested in the purple-red skin.
"'Than what Itachi' what?" Gaara questioned. He had him there. Sasuke had made him uncomfortable for long enough, now it was his turn. Gaara took a challenging step toward Sasuke.
Sasuke only shook his head, his expression darkening. "No, it's nothing," he said. The look on Sasuke's face seemed to have a hint of anger to it.
Now it was Gaara's turn to be persistent. He took another step toward Sasuke and reacher out and put his hand on his shoulder. Looking directly into his eyes, even though Sasuke wasn't looking at his, Gaara questioned again, "'Than what Itachi' what?" His tone was firm, but he spoke quietly. It was something he'd learned from Temari when she was trying to get information out of Kankuro or him.
The anger deepened in Sasuke's face, but then just like that, he gave in, closing his eyes before speaking. "Than what Itachi does to me," he stated, finishing the statement he had trailed off on earlier. He then briefly went into what it was Itachi did to him and what his living situation was. The whole time, Gaara's eyes never left his face even though Sasuke wouldn't look him in the eye.
When Sasuke was done talking, a heavy silence hung between the two. Then Gaara did something totally unlike himself. He slid his arms around Sasuke and pulled him into a hug, burying his face into his shoulder. At first, Sasuke was a bit shocked, but it had been what he'd been wanting to do as well, so he gave in, wrapping his arms around Gaara.
Upon separating, it didn't seem awkward or wrong. They then both sat down on the edge of the bed. Sasuke looked Gaara in the eye and lifted his hand to brush the hair away from the scar on Gaara's forehead. His calm uncaring expression finally broke and he asked Gaara sincerely, "What drives a father, who's supposed to love you, to do this?" he asked, referring to the beating Gaara had taken.
Gaara bristled at the word. Love. Then he began by replying to Sasuke, "He's not my father." That got Gaara started. He'd never confided anything in anybody, never talked about himself to another person.
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January nineteenth. A cursed day. Anyone born on that day is said to hold and evil demon inside of them and to be cursed as well. Only bad was supposed to come to them. January nineteenth happened to be Gaara's birthday. When his mother gave birth to him on that day, many people were upset. Many people in their small village believed strongly in superstitions and myths. Things got passed down from one generation to the next, and just stuck. In general, a large amount of people were not happy.
But Gaara's mother didn't care. She loved her tiny baby boy. Most people who's babies were born on that day gave them up and would have nothing to do with them. But to Gaara's mother, that was unheard of. She could never do such a thing. This upset people even more.
To the point that someone would even murder Gaara's mother, and in the end, the rest of his family too. When Gaara's aunt, his mother's sister, and his uncle had taken him in, they knew about this so called "curse," and even though Boku was slightly hesitant at the time but Yasha and himself willingly took Gaara into their home. Yasha convinced Boku that it was only a silly legend from crooked old women with too much time on their hands.
From their on out though, anything that went wrong or anything bad that happened was blamed on Gaara. At least, by Boku it was. His punishment for unfortunate events started small at first, but grew over the years until he was full out beating Gaara.
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Gaara finished explaining this too Sasuke, then drew back and bit down on his lip. He wasn't used to talking about himself and it made him feel uncomfortable. Gaara shifted awkwardly then stood up from the bed and walked toward where he had dropped his shirt.
Sasuke just stared at him blankly, taking in what he said. It seemed completely ludicrous to Sasuke that someone would hold a grudge like that and not be able to take the blame for anything. And then to take it out on someone they were supposed to be caring for and protecting!
Gaara was just about to bend down and grab his shirt of the ground when he felt arms slide around his waist. Gaara winced at first, but the warmth of someone else was greater than the pain from his injuries. Gaara could feel Sasuke's face close to his.
"Gaara... I'm sorry..."
Gaara wanted to smile, but couldn't. His face bore no expression. How could everything feel right and completely wrong at the same time? Gaara twisted around so he was facing Sasuke and could get a good look at him.He let out a small, quiet gasp as Sasuke pulled him in closer. He knew what was coming next as Sasuke began to lean in.
"I think it's time for you to go," Gaara managed to say. Sasuke froze and just stared at him. "I think it's time for you to go," Gaara repeated, "He'll be home soon."
Sasuke hesitated for a moment, then pulled away from Gaara, hiding his disappointment well. He knew exactly who Gaara meant by "he." Sasuke could only think that that was only partially an excuse though.
Gaara pulled his t-shirt back on and walked over to his bedroom door waiting for Sasuke to go first. He walked with Sasuke to the front door, catching Kankuro's scrutinizing eye as they passed through the living room where he was sitting. Gaara stepped out onto the front porch with Sasuke. Sasuke turned to face Gaara to say goodbye and what he saw was Gaara's normal scowling face. He turned back around without saying a word and put on his own usual look of calmness and lack of care.
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In his own room, on his own bed. Sasuke lie curled up on his bed. He was going over what had happened. Rethink how stupid he was to have tried to...
Sasuke's were interrupted by loud thumping on his bedroom door, and the locked doorknob rattling. Sasuke rolled lazily off of his bed and took his time walking over to the door. He unlocked at pulled it open, putting on a mask of aggravation, knowing who would be there. And sure enough there was Itachi looking impatient as ever.
"Dinner time," Itachi said. Then he turned and walked away. When ever their parents were home, they would have Sasuke and Itachi summon each other for meals and different things. When they weren't home, Itachi always asked one of the maids or someone of the like to do it.
Al though dinner, Sasuke pushed his food around his plate, distracted. Afterward, he went back upstairs and locked himself in his room once more. For the rest of the night his thoughts were of Gaara and how he would have to face him again tomorrow and for the rest of the school week.
