Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Given The Chance ❯ Thunder and Lightning ( Chapter 17 )

Chapter #17

Thunder and Lightning

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.

 

I am soooo happy right now you have no idea! And since I am so happy and I have a snow day today I decided to post another chapter for you to enjoy!

 

Keep it up everyone!

 

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Gaara had never seen anyone run so fast in his life as he followed Cassandra home. For a girl who had only gone through a few years in a ninja academy she could sure boot it like crazy when she was really in a hurry. She began to run even faster when the rain finally began to wash over everything and the thunder got louder. Cassandra must had stumbled half a dozen times, and he was sure he heard her whimpering.

 

Cassandra's soaked bangs were clinging to her face making it harder for her to see where she was going but she just kept gunning it letting her feet go on autopilot to her house. By the time she reached her street her feet were barely even touching the ground anymore, or at least that was what it felt like. It felt like her chest was on fire while her skin had turned to ice from the rain. She continued running and cursing when her walk way came into view and she had been so determined to get into the house as quickly as possible Cassie nearly broke down the door.

 

There was no thought involved, Cassie was still on autopilot, and she didn't stop running - not even to take off her shoes since she just kicked them off on the run. Cassandra continued to the stairs and disappeared into her room with a slam of her door.

 

A few short seconds later Gaara had arrived and closed the door which Cassandra had left open in her rush, `What on earth has gotten into that girl?'

 

Gina and her friends came in the house only moments after cautiously walking around Gaara on their way upstairs to follow the fleeing girl. Gaara had been about to join them when he heard Hale talking to him from his rather comfortable spot on the couch, “I wouldn't bother if I were you, she'll have locked herself in the closet by now, you won't be getting her out until this storm is over.”

 

The question just had to be asked, so Gaara was obviously the one to do it, “Why would she lock herself in a closet?”

 

“I would think the answer would be apparent by now,” Hale shrugged drinking the soda in his hand as he watched flashes of new lightning through the living room window, “The reason why Gina, Aki, and Minako were so unlikely to find out Cassandra's worst fear is because of where we are. We live in the last place this kind of weather would ever be. The desert is the best place for a girl with Astraphobia would ever want to be other than the North Pole.”

 

“Astraphobia … the fear of thunderstorms,” realized Gaara. He was surprised he hadn't thought of it before, thinking back to when Cassandra first bolted he could have slapped himself for not noticing how obvious it was. It would have been the last thing he thought would scare Cassandra.

 

“Bingo,” Hale gave an unenthusiastic cheer by making small circles in the air with his finger. “She's always hated thunderstorms ever since she was a little girl, but back then it was just a normal childhood fear and it was never nearly as bad. Though … you know my dad really blames himself for letting her get this bad about her fear - not that I don't too - it was really kind of a stupid thing.”

 

“How stupid exactly?” asked Gaara.

 

Hale paused for a moment to glance a Gaara before looking down at the soda in his hands again with a long sigh, “Our mother was diagnosed with cancer when she was eight years old, it was pretty aggressive so our mom spent a lot of time in the hospital, and naturally dad was always by her side. Dad wasn't working much that year because of it so I was doing extra missions for money, and Cassie … well she always just stayed home and did all of the housework. I feel like a moron now! I never even thought … you know Cassie she'll just smile all the time no matter what, and every time I offered to stay home or take her with me somewhere she would smile and tell me she was fine. That summer in Konoha was especially bad for storms and she was always alone.”

 

Gaara had always been alone, it came with the territory of being a demon vessel, and he thought always been spoiled and left alone so was what love was as a young boy. Gaara had not been a stupid little boy though. He always had a feeling in his heart that would never go away, and he had only ever smiled when Yashamaru showed him kindness. He could almost sympathies, but Cassandra was different. Up until the point where her mother had gotten cancer she had known love, and then it had been suddenly taken away from her, but she still smiled.

 

“Mom had been hospitalized one week when her cancer finally spread from one lung to her second, and then to other tissue in the body without being stopped. Dad was called when she started coding* repeatedly one night at supper and he insisted he should go see her. Naturally I wanted to go to but he told me to stay home and watch Cassie who had rarely been allowed to go to the hospital, and when she had mom had been so high on pain killers she could barely even remember she had a daughter. We just didn't want Cassandra to have to see her mother like that,” explained Hale who took a sip of his soda before continuing. “I was being a stubborn moron that night so I decided to follow dad to the hospital anyway. Cassandra just smiled and told me she would finish the dishes. That night had been the worst storm of the season, the night mom died, and when I came home I didn't even notice Cassie wasn't there to welcome me home like she would always was. It took dad and me until morning before we realized she hadn't even slept in her bed, and it took even longer before we found her in the bedroom closet sleeping with that stuffed dog of hers.”

 

Hale ran his hand through his hair not talking for a long time leaving an agonizingly long silence as the storm continued to pick up outside. There was genuine guilt in his voice when he had spoken before, and it sounded like he hated storms almost as much as his sister. He really did blame himself for worsening one of Cassandra's childhood fears.

 

(A/N: Some people have probably heard of `Coding' but for those of you that haven't its just short for Code Red which is kind of obvious.)

 

“Call him off! Call him off! Call him off!” Gina screamed as she and her friends were chased back down the stairs by Kobi. Not that there was much need because as soon as the frantic blonde was at the bottom of the stairs panting Kobi returned to Cassandra's room to - what Gaara guessed - guard her door.

 

“Cass is in her closet for some reason and she has it locked from the inside,” oddly enough it sounded more like Gina was a whining child trying to tattle-tail on a naughty sibling rather than a teenage girl. “Who the hell let her put a lock on the inside of the closet?”

 

“Hey Cassie is scary when she's angry, and I wasn't about to stop her,” Hale had in his hands in the air as though he were being held at gunpoint as he walked past Gina into the kitchen, “And there is no way Kobi or Cori will let you anywhere near that door anyway. At least not until Cassandra herself calls them off, and it's not like they'll leave her side regardless.”

 

`But that dog already knows what happens when it faces me,' There was a slightly smug edge of Gaara's thoughts as he got to his feet and headed for the stairs. No one dared to stop him. `I should at least check on her to make sure she hasn't fainted again.'

 

Kobi snarled as he neared the top of the stairs but Gaara just continued walking as though he didn't even notice the angered animal. He opened the door and as expected Cassandra was nowhere in sight so he headed for her closet, deciding to take Hale's word for it he didn't bother trying to open the door because it would obviously have been locked, he just stood outside the door for a moment next to Cori who had been lying in front of it. As soon as another crash of thunder sounded he could hear a tiny whimper on the other side and a serious of shuffling noises. Yup, she was in there alright.

 

He didn't even bother knocking he simply allowed his sand to slip under the door and unlock it from the inside.

 

All that was really visible of Cassandra was her messed head of raven coloured hair poking out from under the lowest shelf where she had made her own little safe place to completely block out the storm. Her blankets were pulled tightly around her body and her eyes were shut tight with her hands over her ears to try and block out everything.

 

`Thunderstorms of all things,' Gaara could have almost laughed, `she runs into burning buildings and she hangs around me without so much as flinching and thunderstorms are what scares her.'

 

Without even thinking the Kazekage sat down just inside of the door frame and swept Cassie's hair out of her face gently with the tips of his fingers, `Stupid girl…'

 

Cassie's child-like green eyes shot open in an instant. She had always been rather jumpy when thunderstorms came around, and on top of that Gaara had been the last person she would have thought would come up to see her. By the way he kept avoiding her eyes she guessed he was either laughing at her on the inside or actually trying to comfort her - damn - where is a camera when you need one?

 

CRASH.

 

She had been so surprised about Gaara being there Cassandra had almost forgotten about the storm. That time had been particularly loud and deafening making Cassandra jump so badly that she sprung out from her little hiding spot and wrapped her arms around the first thing that was in front of her. AKA Sabaku No Gaara.

 

The petite teen clung to Gaara's middle for all she was worth, and buried her face in his chest. She gave a small whimper. This stunned Gaara almost as much as the time she had kissed him and once again he really wasn't sure what to do. He knew the guy was supposed to do something when the girl was afraid, he had seen it all the time in the mushy romantic movies Temari always watched, and he could remember the guy would always put his arms around the girl. Was he really supposed to do that though?

 

Having no other ideas in his mind Gaara put his arm around her shoulders allowing her to be pulled closer - if that was even possible - and the red headed sand shinobi discovered two things. One was that whatever he had done seemed to help with Cassandra's earthquake like shivering, and two was that he actually liked having her so close to him. It was that same odd sensation he had in his stomach he had when she had kissed him. He was starting to understand the feeling a little better every day he had her around, and the fact was that he always wanted her around. Whenever she wasn't close to him that empty feeling in his chest from when he was a child would return.

 

`She always smiles,' he realized thinking back to every time he had seen her, and just like the thunder storm it had been the first day she had ever not been smiling, `It's just like Hale said. No matter what happens she never seems sad, she even looks peaceful when she sleeps. It has to have taken a lot of effort to never cry even when no one would really blame her. It would take a strong person, someone stronger than me. I have attacked her time and time again, she's gotten herself hurt over and over, and she's never really frowned or even cried … even though she is scared to death now she is still not allowing herself to cry. She's as bottle up as I am.'

 

The thunder crashed louder outside and as expected Cassandra jumped. Gaara continued to hold her close, so close the smell of lavender invaded his nostrils almost constantly. Lavender, he remembered she had told him she loved the smell in shampoo. In a desert it was not so common to come by so Gaara almost didn't know what it smelt like before. It smelled nice. She smelled nice.

 

The storm lasted hours and the whole time Cassie didn't ever seem to calm down all that much. She just kept shivering and trying to hide herself, and Gaara never let her go, `She's got a strong will that never allows her to give up, she almost reminds me of Naruto or even Lee, but unlike either of them she is still very fragile even if she doesn't realize it. Cassie … she doesn't realize how small she really is…'

 

After hours had passed and the storm finally started to die down somewhat Cassandra's exhaustion finally made her fall asleep. She slept as usual with her knees pulled up to her body, her arms were wrapped around Gaara's chest, and her head resting on his collar bone. Her features had finally relaxed so she looked peaceful once again.

 

When he was sure she was asleep he picked her up, but instead of carrying Cassandra to her bed he headed for the window murmuring, “Tonight you're going to stay at my place Cassie-chan, just so I can make sure you're going to be ok.”

 

 

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Aw! The first time Gaara calls Cassandra Cassie-chan and she's asleep! Now that is bad timing for Cassie, but hey what can you do? I have been looking forward to this chapter for a long time because this is the first time Gaara voluntarily shows affection toward her, not that he is going to admit it to anyone, but at least he finally admitted it to himself!

 

Lil_Pix