Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Art of the Angel ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

was such an fool! What did he possibly think he was doing? Gaara darted out of the shop, happening to also hit people’s shoulders on the way out. They all glared as he hit them with no apology, but he didn’t care. He didn’t have time for that. He needed to just get away. Gaara could feel it, he could feel his senses start to rise. The taste of Hikari’s blood filled his mouth and excited his taste buds, he could smell the populace’s blood all around him. Bloodlust had begun to obstruct his mind, taunting him and making all other thoughts indistinct. He kept his head down and only watched his feet run, along where he was going in front of him with the corner of his vision. If not her, get someone else! I want to have some fun again! That wretched voice screamed over all his thoughts. Gaara grasped his head, his running pace beginning to slow down. He tried with all his strength to keep going, he couldn’t risk stopping, not now. A huge population laid before him. Plenty of people, that meant plenty of victims. Just pick one! There’s plenty of blood to enjoy. Shut up! Gaara demanded angrily at the demon. He rushed toward a place where the amount of people was not very abundant, and there saw a small break in some trees. If he could just get deep enough inside…

Gaara darted inside and ran consistently until he had a good feeling the distance was safe. He had very little energy left. His legs felt like they had been reduced to gelatin. His body staggered, and caused him to fall to his knees. His head felt like he was having a migraine. Gaara began to suck in big breaths of air, eyes closed tightly and kneeled in between his knees. Just stay here… just stay here… He kept repeating in his mind. If Gaara lost too much chakra, then the only other one that could fill in was Shukaku’s. If that happened, a major dilemma would arise. Besides, he wouldn’t let that thing that ruined the person he was back then affect him now. He stayed still in that part of the forest, only the sounds of nature filled his head. It seemed as soon as he came, the demon’s voice was gone. Everything was going to be okay… for right now. Gaara got up, some strength had returned to his body. It wasn’t enough though to keep him up at the moment, so he slowly sat down and put his back against a tree stump. A zephyr of cool autumn wind blew to add to the silent scenery of where he was.

He looked at his hand where he touched Hikari’s bleeding fingers. Some blood was still on it, halfway dried, while most of it had stained his long-sleeved shirt. It was hardly noticeable, because his shirt was a scarlet color. However, he could still just somewhat smell it. It was an effect he sometimes had. When the demon gets irate or just maybe wakened from things like the smell or sight of blood, Gaara’s senses sometimes magnify. It’s truly unknown to him how his body pulls it off, but he has a good feeling the demon does it so he himself becomes more bloodthirsty. It tempts him when he can smell the blood of everyone around him, it drives him to a point of insanity plenty of times, the smell affects the most.. Until taste comes in. He’s had blood go into his mouth just to see how the substance he used to crave for life tasted. The metallic taste of it used to be a treat for him, and something to keep Shukaku from getting impatient by satisfying him with the exception of a person to slaughter with all the blood that comes with it. That was why he cursed himself now. He looked away from the slightly bloodied hand. Why did he have to taste Hikari’s blood? He just had to lick her fingers to stop the bleeding. He knew something like that would happen. But why did he do something so reckless?

“I did it…” Gaara whispered, like he was talking with himself. It wasn’t something he hadn’t done before. He was practically used to it. “To ease her pain..” he finally answered after a long silence. Yeah, well it was one smart move. He thought in reply. But then it hit him. Why did he do it anyway? Why would he take such measures for her? He risked the possibility of drastic consequences to help a minor cut? I really am insane. Gaara rubbed his throbbing head, aggravated. He didn’t seem to really think straight when he saw her injury on her fingers. Now he had the common sense that he should have just asked where a first aid was or something. Hikari looked to shocked when he took her arm, then just downright edgy when he licked her fingers. He wasn’t really surprised with her reaction, he was still feeling strange of what he did.

He felt like his body had a life of it’s own when he saw Hikari’s blood. Was it possible that Shukaku had a slight control before he heard him talk in his mind. Or was it something else? Some immediate reaction to help her? Why? Gaara’s hands closed to fists, also pulling in his red hair. It hurt his head, but he wasn’t really paying attention to it. He was just bewildered to what and why he did what he did moment’s ago.

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“Hikari!” Izumi ran inside the studio room to see the baffled girl. She rushed to her side and looked directly at Hikari. “What happened Hikari? I saw Gaara run out of the room.” Hikari blinked out of her state and breathed in. “… I d-don’t know Aunt Izumi.. He just.. Left..”

“He just left? Did he do anything to you?” Hikari froze. She wondered if she should tell her Aunt of the event that happened before her. Gaara just seem to act very strangely when he began to lick the blood from her cut. Also the strange way he was afterward. It was like… he was holding back something. It really began to worry her. Nit about herself, but for him. Hikari was such a curious person, even though she knew the problems with curiosity. She knew that simple saying “curiosity killed the cat”, but it didn’t stop her from wanting to know things. Curiosity is sometimes what builds her artwork. Some art is done by visualizing a “What if…?” kind of thing. Hikari quickly made her decision and answered her Aunt.

“N..Nothing. He had to leave in a hurry or something…” Lying to her Aunt made her feel bad, but Hikari felt this was something better left unsaid at the apparent time. She wasn’t good with lying, and even if she did lie, she would eventually blurt the truth, unless necessary not to say. Her Aunt looked unconvinced, but nodded. “Well, okay sweetheart. But will he come back?” She asked. That gave a sudden twinge of realization. Will he come back? Hikari didn’t want him to go yet. She only begun the picture of him. She wanted to talk more with him, get to know him more. She felt the need to get to know him.. And be his friend again. Hikari realized this after thought last night, that she felt a strange different happiness with him. One that almost made her nervous, and a little confused. She had her dear friends, Ino and Rei, and of course her loving Aunt. None of them, though, seemed to match that feeling she had with him. It was different in a good way, she felt she must be with him.

Hikari had this sudden outbreak of energy, and dashed out the door. “Hikari!” Her Aunt called, telling her to stop. “I’ll be back!” Hikari called back as she ran out the store carefully avoiding the customers inside. Some of the customers eyed her with suspicion from what she could see as she ran by. She opened up the doors of the shop and sped up. “Gaara! Where are you!” Hikari yelled as loud as she could. She couldn’t see him anywhere. There was just a bunch of other people walking around. Despite the low density of the people, Gaara’s body was nowhere in the small crowd. “Gaara! Gaara!” Hikari tried again, hoping to see if he was around to answer. He couldn’t have gone that far away. He left the room a couple seconds ago. Hikari immediately felt a hand on her shoulder. “Wait.” A voice told her. It was a soft, female voice.

Hikari spun her head around to see a older teen girl who looked to be about seventeen years old or so. She was a little taller than Hikari, possibly a couple inches. She had blond hair that was up in four ponytails, which Hikari really liked. Her eyes were a dark green color and her skin was a peach color that kind of matched Hikari’s skin color. She was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and a mid-length mauve skirt. She smiled warmly at Hikari and greeted her with a friendly “hello.” Hikari said hi back and was about to turn back around, but the girl stopped her. “I’m sorry, but are you looking for someone named Gaara? I couldn’t help but overhear you.” she asked. “Yes, I am.” Hikari answered. Why does she want to know?

The girl’s smile seemed to grow wider. “Are you by any chance Hikari?” She rose her brow, not really sure where this was going. “Well, yes. But how did you know?”
“I’m Temari. Gaara told me about you last night.” she answered. Hikari’s eyes widened for a split second in realization. “I’m here with my brother and sister”… This girl was Temari, his sister! Hikari smiled and hugged Temari. “So you’re Gaara’s sister! Great to meet you!” Temari laughed for a second. “It’s good to meet you as well.” She replied. Temari seemed like such a nice person, Gaara and Temari must have some kind of good bonding with each other. “What are you doing over here?” Hikari asked. Temari had a sly smile on her face. “Well… I just wanted to see this “Hikari for myself.” She leaned next to Hikari’s ear. “I kinda watched him leave this morning to get directions here…” she whispered. Hikari giggled playfully. It must have be fun to have brothers and sisters. You can be so occupied with them in so many things. She thought it was cute Temari wanted to see her for Gaara. But…

“Temari, Gaara ran out a moment ago.” Hikari explained to her. Temari’s face lined with worry. “Why?” Hikari was stuck at that moment again. Should she tell Temari about Gaara’s strange behavior? She didn’t really want to lie to two people in one day. “Well, I’ll tell you, but please don’t talk about this with anyone. I’m kind of worried.” Temari’s face turned a serious. “Did he do anything to you?” Why were people asking this? Hikari lifted up her healed index and ring fingers. “I my two fingers with a knife while I was sharpening, and Gaara he.. Well.. Um..” Hikari began to feel her face warm up. Temari’s face had a look that mixed wonder and concern. “He l-licked the blood of m-my fingers. After that, he acted kind of strange, and ran out the door.” Hikari finally explained, but her stomach felt weird. The whole scene was weird, she understood it made her a bit uncomfortable.

Hikari noticed the look in Temari’s face turned urgent. “Did you see where he went off to?” Her tone sounded very grim, but there was hint of panic there as well. “No, but he couldn’t have gone far. At least I think so.” Hikari answered. There was a silence for a moment, but then Temari broke it by grabbing her shoulder. “Hikari, just follow me, but you need to listen to everything I say, got it?” she said sternly. Hikari worried of the seriousness of her voice, but nodded with no arguments or questions. Temari started to run, and Hikari followed close behind. Temari ran to a line of buildings and started to look in between them. Hikari double checked them for any possible sign of Gaara she could have missed. Hikari wished she knew what made Temari so worried about Gaara right now. She was a little out of the loop, and she didn’t know enough about Gaara to know the dilemma here. Whatever it was, though, she wanted to help.

Temari headed off for an area of Konoha that was mainly for training; it had very little people around, for most of the one who came were usually ninja’s or any other type of pugilist. There were some shops that contained weapons for sale or a place to relax after practice. Other than that, forest made out most of the area here. Most of the trees looked battered with the marks from weaponry and physical attacks from practice. Today, there were hardly many people here practicing that Hikari could remember.

A couple minutes passed, and everything seemed hopeless in the area, because Gaara was nowhere in sight. Until Temari immediately stopped at this one section. She looked to the left of her to only have trees. Hikari could tell from the look on her face that Temari knew someone was there. She slowly approached the trees, keeping a hand up to ward Hikari a distance away. Her head leaned closer to the trees and she stayed in that leaning position for a little while. It raised a small sense of tension in the air. A soft sigh seemed to come from Temari and she turned back toward Hikari. “It’s okay.” she said.

“Huh, what do you mean?”

“Everything’s going to be alright. We don’t need to look around anymore. Just give it time.” Temari explained , patting Hikari’s back with an assuring grin. Hikari had a good guess Temari figured out what’s going on and she knows everything will be fine. Hikari decided to take those words and trust her. She’ll listen to Temari and give it time. She still felt a little worried about Gaara, though. Is he really going to be okay? she still wondered. It was a thought that was just at the back of her head in thought, but decided to shake it away. She looked over at Temari and smiled back at her. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, what should we do?” Temari asked. Hikari looked at her feet in thought. “Hm.. I didn’t realize we would be going around..”

“Whatever you want to do.” Temari said. As they were walking, she slapped her forehead. “Oh, I almost forgot in all this stuff going on, how’s that picture of Gaara going? Did you get started?” she asked. Hikari nodded. “Yeah, I got as far as the head.” That made Hikari’s thoughts pause for a second. That thought came back to her mind again. Would Gaara come back after this little scene? She didn’t want him to think it would be awkward to come back. She still wanted him to come. Hikari’s head lowered sadly. “Temari.. Can I ask you something?” Temari glanced at Hikari’s sad expression and her face softened. “I’ll do what I can.” she answered in a caring tone. “Do you think Gaara.. Will come back tomorrow?” she asked quietly.

Temari crossed her arms and “hmphed”. “I’m going to make sure he does. I want to see my baby brother on a portrait. That sounds so cute.” Hikari lifted her head up and giggled. “In fact, can you do one of me. I always wanted a big picture of me in my room.” Temari continued. Hikari winked at her playfully. “We’ll see.” The two girls laughed. Hikari felt really good with Gaara’s sister. She had a good feeling about the rest of his family, she couldn’t wait to see them when she got the chance. She wasn’t sure when that would be, but she hoped that would be very soon.

Suddenly, Hikari felt some arms around her neck. They embraced her warmly, it felt good in the cool air outside. “Thought you said you’d be inside that studio all day.” a familiar voice whispered in Hikari’s ear. She smiled and put her hand in the hugger’s hair, ruffling it playfully. “Well, there was a change in plans.” She turned around to hug Rei. They broke their hug and turned to Temari. She seemed to be staring at Rei with suspicion. “Temari, this is Rei. Rei, this is Temari. She’s a friend of mine.” she introduced. Rei smiled and held out his hand. “Very nice to meet you Temari.” he said in a polite manner. Temari didn’t move for a moment, but then shook her head and raised her hand to shake Rei’s. “Good to meet you too. I can see you and Hikari are close friends from the hugging.” Rei smiled. “Yup, me and Hikari have known each other for years.”

Rei turned his gaze back to Hikari. “It’s getting to be about lunchtime, my offer still stands. Would you like to go now?” He turned to Temari. “You can come too if you like. Any friend of Hikari’s is a friend of mine.” he offered. Well, I would like some lunch… Hikari thought and gave it a moment. “Well.. Okay Rei, what about you, Temari?” Hikari asked. The two looked at her patiently for an answer. She shook her head. “Oh, no. It’s okay, I’m not really hungry. You two have fun.” her voice sounded a little down when she said that. “Oh.. Well okay.” Hikari mumbled. She walked up and gave her a quick friendly hug goodbye. As she let go Hikari needed to tell her something. “Please make sure Gaara comes. I really want to do this.” Temari nodded. “Okay.”

Hikari walked back to Rei, who smiled at her and started to lead the way. He put his arm on her shoulder and started walking off together. Hikari, though, couldn’t help but look back at Temari. She didn’t move from the spot she stood as Rei and Hikari walked farther away. Temari only stared right at them, this unsure, dismal look upon her face. On one last glance, Hikari finally saw Temari slowly turn away. “You okay Hikari?” Rei asked, taking notice of Hikari’s looking back. “Yeah, it’s okay Rei.” Hikari answered. She wasn’t so sure if she was right…

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That guy was really cute. Temari thought when she first saw the boy hugging Hikari. He had nice dirty blonde hair in a nice fashion along with some cute brown eyes. He was tall and nicely built, she recognized the leaf village headband that was tied on his arm. The boy also seemed really nice as well, he had a kind voice and was very affectionate to Hikari.

That was the problem.

Hikari and the boy Rei were very close, but they didn’t look related. None of their features really matched. He was blond, she was a light brunette. He had brown eyes, she had a ice blue. He had a light tan complexion, while her’s was more of a peach color. Temari could only pray they were step- or half- brother and sister. They way they hugged seemed more than what two friends simply exchange. Those two could already be in a relationship, or on the verge of one. The look in the boy’s eyes when he looked at Hikari was so full of happiness and compassion. Temari could tell he really liked her. Maybe even loved her.

Who couldn’t love a man like that? He was practically perfect. He looked it, and the piece of personality she saw in the boy proved he was a good person with Hikari. And she really cared about him as well. She did hug him back, and it was pretty affectionately. She could note, though, that Hikari’s hug didn’t last as long, and she let go first with each embrace they did. It still slightly worried her though. She really took notice earlier on how Hikari wanted to paint picture of him. She really wants to him really bad, Temari could tell with the worry she gave off about Gaara. She thought there could be something deeper with that in time, but… It looks like Hikari is just fine right now.

She didn’t really want to accept the offer of going to lunch, she really just wanted to check on her brother now. She did feel her brother’s presence not too far away in the woods. He must have attempted to try and retreat because something went wrong. She was glad no one was hurt. In fact, Hikari was better. Her cut he… licked was all better. But the strange thing is that he couldn’t had done it. Gaara doesn’t have healing abilities. That was a problem for another time and topic, though. She just wanted to go check up on him. However, Temari couldn’t move. She only stared as she watched Hikari and Rei go to have lunch somewhere. Rei put his arm around Hikari’s shoulders. Temari noticed that Hikari’s head looked back at her occasionally, but then finally stopped when Rei talked with her. Temari sighed and walked away. Sad as it was, there was just a good chance of it: that Rei was Hikari’s boyfriend.

She walked back to the small gap in the trees she found and climbed inside. To pass time, she jumped through the trees until she spotted a bit of red in her vision. Gaara was just below her on the ground, just looking in front of him. Temari jumped down the branches of the tree and smiled weakly at her younger brother. He looked at her, his face giving off no emotion whatsoever. “Hey, you okay?”