Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Flowers in the Sand ❯ Chapter 11

Ehhh… Disclaimer that I forgot to put in the first few chapters, but applies to the entire “Flowers in the Sand” story-

 

I DON'T OWN NARUTO. But if I did, I'd be Gaara's love slave forever. <3

 

Long live Kazekage Gaara!!! -smooch-

 

Chapter 11

 

Naruto poked his spiky blonde head inside the hospital room and grinned rather goofily at his recuperating friend. “I'm not interrupting anything, am I?”

 

Gaara was sitting up again, his aquamarine eyes staring at the pristine white sheet covering him from the waist down. His red hair fell over his brow, managing to almost completely cover the kanji over his left eye. He did not respond to his friend's inquiry.

 

The Hokage blinked in confusion. “Hey… where did Safaia go?”

 

A pause. Then- “Neji.”

 

Naruto scowled. “What? When?”

 

Silence.

 

Heaving a rather large sigh, Naruto stepped fully into the room and slid the door shut behind him. “Come on, Gaara. I know you probably better than anyone, including your rather insane siblings. I know you like the girl- why did you let her go?”

 

Gaara continued to stare blankly at the sheet.

 

“Gaara,” Naruto said warningly. “Don't do this. You've come so far in ten years- don't slip back into that self-loathing darkness you worked so hard to crawl out of.”

 

“She… she said she wanted to see me.”

 

The blonde man held his hands behind his head and looked rather baffled. “See you? But she's blind.”

 

Faded aqua eyes flicked to his best friend's face. “With her hands. She said she could see me by touching my face.”

 

“Ooooooh.” Belated comprehension dawned. “What did she say then? Freaked out by the fact you have no eyebrows?”

 

“Baka,” Gaara grunted. His gaze returned to its perusal of the linen across his lap. “She… said she found me……… handsome.”

 

Absolute, complete, dead silence. Finally Naruto simply couldn't hold it in any longer.

 

“BWAHAHAHAHA!” he guffawed, actually putting his hands on his belly as he laughed. “There's no doubting it now,” he managed to gasp between bouts of amused hooting. “She is most certainly blind.”

 

Closing his eyes, Gaara lifted a single finger and flicked it at Naruto. A thin stream of sand from his gourd slid out, formed a mallet shape, and proceeded to whack the man now rolling around on the floor in hysterics on the head.

 

“OW!” Naruto sat up and rubbed his abused noggin. “Well, at least you still have your sense of humor.”

 

“If you were not my best friend,” Gaara deadpanned, “I would undoubtedly kill you.”

 

“Aw, I don't think so,” Naruto said cheerfully as he stood up and brushed some dirt and sand off his pants. “You don't kill indiscriminately anymore. You've developed a conscience.”

 

“Your death would not be indiscriminate.”

 

Naruto chuckled. “Now, go on. What happened after she told you that she found you handsome?” He fought to hold in a snicker.

 

Gaara was quiet as he recalled his reaction to her words. “You can't see me,” he reminded her.

 

“I can see you,” she whispered, lifting her chin slightly. “And Gobi agrees with me.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Why not?”

 

“I'm a monster,” he told her, his tone hardening slightly. “Even after becoming Kazekage and protecting my village and caring for everyone's safety, I'm still viewed as a monster. That's all I'll ever be.”

 

Safaia ran her hand over his cheek, turning his face more squarely to hers. “If you are a monster, then I am something worse. You no longer host that evil raccoon, while I still bear Gobi. Do you condemn me for what I had no control over?”

 

“Of course not.”

 

“Then why should I believe you when you claim that you are a monster? You had no control over it either.”

 

“Nothing.”

 

Naruto blinked. “Nothing? You didn't tell her that you found her mouth-watering gorgeous?”

 

Gaara glared at him. “I would never say any such thing.”

 

“Ah, but you agree with me, don't you?” Naruto smirked.

 

“That is beside the point.”

 

“Oh ho HO!” Naruto chortled with glee. “I can't believe it! My stoic, detached, frigid, too-cool-for-bothersome-emotions best friend is in love!”

 

Gaara's silence was answer enough for both of them.

 

“In all seriousness, though,” his friend said, his face growing somber, “what are you going to do? Neji's made it pretty clear that he's attracted to her as well.”

 

“That is none of my concern.”

 

Bright blue eyes blinked several times as if he had heard him wrong. “What? You mean you're just going to let him have her?”

 

Gaara's eyes actually looked sad. “She doesn't deserve someone like me. She deserves a man like Neji, who can love her and give her everything she could ever want or need. I am… incapable of love. At least, that kind of love.”

 

“Baka!” Naruto hollered. “I've never heard such a crock of shit in my life! If anyone is deserving of love, especially that kind, it's you! Stop thinking of yourself as Gaara of the Desert and start thinking of yourself as a man!”

 

Gaara's head jerked, his eyes snapped wide open. His body trembled slightly and his hands gripped the sheets on his lap. The sand inside his gourd stirred restlessly.

 

“Hokage! Hokage!” Two members of the medical squad burst into Gaara's hospital room, looking rather frantic.

 

“What?” Naruto turned around, concern on his face. “What happened?”

 

“The woman… the Jinchuriki has been taken- by two squads from the Country of Mist.”

 

Naruto clenched his fists as he fought a growl building in his throat. “What?! What about Neji? She was supposed to be with him!”

 

“He was badly injured,” the second medic informed him with regret in his voice. “He has been taken to intensive care and is being treated by several medical squads.”

 

“Dammit!” Naruto snarled. He turned around to look at Gaara and his eyes flew wide.

 

Gaara was gone.

 

“Gaara!” Naruto yelled, running to the window even though he knew his friend had long vanished. “Dammit, he can't be doing shit like this when he's injured!”

 

“Hokage?” The two medics remained, awaiting orders.

 

“Send out Kiba, Shino, and Hinata after him,” he told them. “But they are not to engage the enemy- they are only to trail Gaara! They are to bring him back immediately!”

 

“Yes, sir!” The two medics left to do his bidding.

 

Naruto stared intently back out the window. Gaara, you baka! What the hell are you thinking?

 

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

 

“We've got her, sir. There seems to be no pursuers.”

 

“Excellent. We cannot take the chance of having her wake up. Finish the preparations.”

 

“Yes, sir.” Five figures vanished.

 

The Mist shinobi narrowed his eyes at the unconscious woman at his feet. She is, indeed, a lovely one. But deadly to any and all in her path. She cannot be allowed to destroy any more lives.

 

“Preparations are complete, sir. What are your orders?”

 

Dark brown eyes narrowed. “Begin.”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

Soon, my dear, he thought, a sense of relief washing over him, you will be freed from the beast within you.

 

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

 

“No, Hinata, you are not going, and that's final!”

 

“But… but Kiba…”

 

Kiba crossed his arms and looked sternly at his wife. “Absolutely not! What if a battle breaks out?”

 

“I'm pregnant, not disabled,” Hinata said quietly. “And you need me for this.”

 

“I don't care. You are not going.”

 

Shino sighed from underneath his hood. These two suit each other well…loud and obnoxious vs. quiet and logical.

 

“I'll go.”

 

Three heads turned to look at the speaker. Three pairs of eyes blinked in complete surprise (even though you couldn't see Shino's).

 

“Sasuke?” Hinata said, her feathery-soft voice filled with shock.

 

“Are you sure, man?” Kiba asked him, looking concerned. “You haven't been on a mission in ages.”

 

“I'm sure,” the black-haired man replied, standing straight and tall, a look of determination in his eyes. He no longer looked like life was too much to bear any longer. “I need to do what I can to help Konoha- and Gaara. If it weren't for him and Naruto, I would've died under Orochimaru's control.”

 

Shino looked over Sasuke's appearance. He was dressed in a familiar-style high-collar dark blue shirt and black pants, with his kunai holster strapped to his leg. His equipment bag was hooked on his waistband at his back. He was obviously ready to go. Shino's observant eyes narrowed on an item in Sasuke's hand.

 

“Is that acceptable?” Sasuke asked, meeting Kiba's gaze.

 

Kiba and Shino exchanged a glance. Knowing each other as well as they did, they practically knew each other's thoughts. “That's more than acceptable,” Kiba nodded, a grim smile on his face.

 

Sasuke lifted the item in his hand and brought it to his face. When he lowered his hands, the sun glinted off the Konoha forehead protector tied around his head. “Whenever you're ready,” he told them, a tiny, rare smile on his face.

 

Kiba grinned. “Good to have you back, Sasuke.”

 

“I should've been back long ago, but it's good to be back, regardless.”

 

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

 

“Kane, sir,” a Mist shinobi murmured rather tiredly in his leader's ear.

 

“Progress report?”

 

“It is done.”

 

A pause. “You are certain?”

 

“One hundred percent. There is no doubt.”

 

The Mist ninja named Kane sighed in complete relief. “Thank God. The threat is over.”

 

“What should we do with her, sir?”

 

Kane mulled over his options. “Leave her. We are done here.” He stood. “Leave no trace of our presence here.”

 

“Yes, sir.” The shinobi vanished.

 

May God have mercy on your evil soul, young one…