Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Flowers in the Sand ❯ Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 

Gaara stared at her in shock, as did Neji. Of course, she couldn't see this. It explained a few things, but still…

 

“You… you're blind?” Gaara asked, quietly stunned.

 

She continued to glare at him as if she could see him perfectly. “When I'm in human form, yes. But when I let Gobi take over, then her more keen senses make it seem like I can see temporarily.”

 

“Do… do you know what we look like then? Because of Gobi?” Neji asked.

 

She shook her head and turned toward him. “Scents and sounds take on shapes, but nothing definitive.”

 

Neji almost whistled out loud. His Bloodline Limit was almost the complete opposite of what she lived with every day. While he could see 360 degrees around him, she couldn't see at all. It was humbling, really.

 

He moved towards her, intent on offering her assistance as they traveled back to Suna, when Gaara moved first.

 

And grabbed her hand.

 

Turning her back toward their path, he proceeded to pull her along behind him, holding her hand the whole time. She scowled like she wanted to protest, but surprisingly, she kept quiet.

 

Neji followed, keeping his eyes open (literally) for any enemy ambush. They had an uneventful trip through Grass country, until they reached the border of the Country of Sand, where they met up with Naruto and the others.

 

And, of course, the three bakas had to make a stupid commotion because Gaara was holding Safaia's hand.

 

“Jeez,” Shikamaru smirked. “We leave you alone for five minutes and already you're practically all over each other.”

 

Naruto chuckled, his hands clasped behind his head and a stupid grin on his face. “I guess it isn't just your sand that moves fast.”

 

Kiba snorted. “If I didn't know any better, I'd think one of you was in heat.”

 

Neji gave his friends a stern look. “Knock it off, you guys,” he said, ignoring the twinge in his stomach at his friends' teasing of their ally. “She's blind.”

 

Immediately they all turned to Safaia. Gaara had dropped her hand and she stood silently between him and Neji. She narrowed her eyes- those sapphire eyes that never seemed to focus on anything. Suddenly it clicked into place.

 

“Sorry, Safaia,” Kiba said sincerely. “We didn't mean to tease you.”

 

“We meant more to tease Gaara,” Naruto added, earning him a thwack on the head from both Shikamaru and Kiba.

 

“If this is your example of friendship,” she murmured, “then perhaps I should just go back to where you found me.”

 

“No.” Four heads turned to Gaara. “You are now in my country and I am responsible for you,” he said neutrally. “We will take shelter in one of the border guard houses for the night.” He pointed to the southwest for his companions to take note.

 

Shikamaru nodded. “I knew we couldn't get back to Suna before nightfall. And camping outside in a desert would be extremely troublesome.”

 

“For once,” Kiba nodded, “I agree. Let's get going, then.”

 

Safaia didn't say anything. She merely stood silently. Neji moved next to her. “Would… would you like some assistance?” he asked her quietly.

 

She looked up at him and his breath caught again at her undeniable beauty. “That would… be appreciated,” she murmured back. She held out her hand and Neji took it carefully. He led her after his friends, who were following Gaara toward a nearby guard house.

 

Only Naruto noticed how his fellow Kage continually turned his head just far enough to look back at Neji and Safaia.

 

-----------------------------

 

Shikamaru looked around the empty guard house and scratched his head. “Ehhh… is it supposed to be empty?”

 

Gaara merely unstrapped his gourd and set it in a corner of the large room. “This one is not large enough for a guard platoon,” he explained. “It's been out of use for several years now. We have newer, stronger ones built closer to the border.”

 

Naruto turned his head back and forth, looking rather dimwitted. “It's just this one room?”

 

The red-headed man turned and looked directly at Safaia. “Yes.”

 

She shrugged. “Don't worry about your manly modesty,” she told them nonchalantly. “Being blind does have its advantages.”

 

Shikamaru sighed and shook his head. “Temari's going to kick my ass when she hears about this…”

 

Kiba glanced at Akamaru. “I worry about Hinata. She's so sensitive…” The white dog whimpered agreement.

 

“Awwww…” Naruto scowled and sat cross-legged on the floor, his chin propped up on his palm with his elbow resting on his knee. “I'm a dead man when I get home.”

 

Safaia blinked. “You are all married?”

 

Neji looked uncomfortable. “N-no. Just those three.”

 

Now Safaia looked uncomfortable. “I… I'm sorry. I don't wish to cause problems.” She bowed low, surprising her escorts. “If you want, I will sleep outside, in Gobi's form…”

 

“No.” Gaara gave her a direct look, even though he knew she couldn't see him. “Sand-storms frequent the night time. You are unused to arid weather. You would be dead before morning.”

 

“Ahh, screw it,” Shikamaru snorted. “I'm tired and I'm going to bed.” He shrugged off his Jounin vest and rolled it up into a ball, using it as a pillow on one of the mats he found on the floor. “See you in the morning,” he called over his shoulder.

 

Kiba curled up against Akamaru's furry side, following his friend's example. “G'night,” he mumbled.

 

Naruto, of course, had simply collapsed in the middle of the floor, spread-eagle as usual. His soft snoring filled the room, making Neji shake his head in disgust.

 

“I will take first watch,” he told Gaara. “We can't be sure the Akatsuki didn't follow us.”

 

Gaara nodded slowly. He moved over to the wall and leaned against it, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He flicked one last look at Safaia before dropping his chin on his chest as he tried to sleep.

 

Safaia moved to the other side of the room from the men. She found another mat with her hands and lay down upon it. “Good night, Neji,” she murmured, closing her eyes.

 

He smiled softly at her before heading up to the roof to keep a look-out.

 

“Good night… Safaia.”

 

-------------------------------

 

Safaia awoke slowly. She sniffed carefully. Neji is here… but Gaara's gone. Did he go on look-out? She sat up, listening carefully. The sounds of the desert were different from her forest home, but the snoring coming from four different throats (five, if you counted Akamaru's heavy breathing) indicated that it was not yet morning.

 

She stood up and made her way to the doorway, careful not to step on the still-sprawled-out Naruto.

 

Once outside, she could feel the cool wind brush across her face. She sniffed. On the roof? She walked around the guard house, searching for a ladder or some other way to reach the roof.

 

A sudden whoosh and a thump on the sand behind her had her stopping abruptly. “Gaara.”

 

“Safaia.” The sand-master regarded her. “Why are you here?”

 

She turned her head slightly. “I could not sleep. It is… difficult.”

 

Silence. Then- “I usually do not sleep. A bad habit I retained from when Shukaku was still within me.”

 

Safaia turned around completely to face him. “Perhaps you are afraid to sleep?”

 

He blinked, startled slightly. How could she…? Of course. She probably experienced the same thing. “I am not afraid of anything,” he said instead.

 

She looked at him with deep sapphire eyes, which seemed almost black in the moonlight. “You are afraid of me.”

 

Gaara scowled. “Unlikely. You are not a ninja of any skill. Your threat to me is nonexistent.”

 

“You are afraid of me because I am a female.”

 

Aquamarine eyes snapped wide open. “Why would you say something so ludicrous?”

 

She smiled and his heart beat a little harder. “Because when I get too close to you, I can hear your heart rate increase. Your scent changes slightly as well.” She took another step closer and he couldn't move. “Almost like… fear.”

 

“Nonsense,” he managed to say. “I do not fear you, nor any other person. Male or female.”

 

“That remains to be proven.” She turned and, with her hand against the wall, made to walk back inside.

 

“Why did they do that to you?” Gaara asked her abruptly.

 

She knew what he was asking. She hung her head, her bangs falling over her eyes. “I was a burden,” she told him, her voice expressionless. “A blind child is of no use to anyone. They had hoped that by sealing Gobi inside me it would either help me to see or kill me.” She clenched a fist at her side. “Imagine their irritation when neither occurred.”

 

“Why hate your sister, then?”

 

Safaia turned towards him slightly. “She was the one to suggest it. She was not happy that she had to share our parents' attention with a useless blind brat like me.” She shrugged. “I was an obstacle and one easily removed. Or so she thought.”

 

Gaara actually sighed. “Sounds familiar.”

 

“Your sister tried to get rid of you too?”

 

His eyes narrowed, but he realized she was trying to make light of the subject. “No- my father. He hired many assassins. They all failed.”

 

“Apparently.”

 

Silence fell between them, but it was a comfortable silence, between two who shared the same pain, the same loneliness.

 

“You have quite a talent with that sand,” she said, breaking the silence.

 

He shrugged. “I was born with it. And Shukaku.”

 

Sensing a touchy subject, she skirted it and opened a new question. “Would you… like to see my talent?”

 

Gaara slowly blinked. “Your what?”

 

Safaia knelt in the sand, holding her palm directly above the grains. She closed her eyes in concentration.

 

Gaara stared in utter fascination as, literally out of nowhere, a green sprout appeared amongst the sand, growing and blooming into a single yellow flower right before his eyes. “How…?”

 

She smiled. “I'm not really sure. It's just something I've always been able to do. I can grow plants just about anywhere. I simply use the minerals and elements in the ground to create a seed, and then coax that seed to grow.”

 

He knelt down and stared at the flower. “Impossible,” he muttered. “You used your chakra to change elements into a living thing?”

 

“Is that what I did?” She reached over and plucked the flower from the sand. She handed it to him. “Here.”

 

Gaara blinked in surprise. “You… want me… to have it?”

 

Safaia nodded. “After all, I used your sand to grow it. It really belongs to you.”

 

He accepted the flower slowly, gazing at it like it was a miracle from God. Which, in truth, it was.

 

Hmm, he thought, looking at the lovely woman beside him. Flowers in the sand… If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I certainly would not have credited it as possible.