Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Konoha Nights ❯ Morning After ( Chapter 10 )

Konoha Nights

GaaXSaku

The Morning After

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

 

What started out as a way to clean up, ended up becoming more of a mess after another round of sex in the shower. Sakura suspected that he had heard her as soon as she'd opened the door and didn't even bother to stop cleaning when she climbed in after him. It was much easier to coax him into being `affectionate' the second time around and she was grateful she wouldn't have to start a fight every time she wanted to get laid. She finished her shower first, happy that there was still some hot water and left the bathroom after wrapping herself in a large fluffy white towel.

 

Finding a black tank and some boy shorts at the bottom of her closet, probably Naruto's she'd thieved, she headed towards the kitchen to order what felt like dinner, but what was really breakfast. She debated whether she should ask Gaara what he wanted or just order for him, and as much as she wouldn't mind going back in there to see him getting dressed, it was probably best to get down to business instead of indulging herself. Dialing the number she knew by heart, she ordered her usual, just doubled it. One of the good things about living in this part of town was that there was always someone open and willing to deliver. Ichiraku's was one of them.

 

The cold droplets from her hair reminded her to brush out the tangles that had worsened in the shower. Going back to her rooms, she dug through the closet again in search of the missing brush. It was probably easier to keep it in the bathroom, but she never left things where they went, and usually chucked everything in the spacious closet after she used them. Finding the brush, she made her way back to the kitchen to wait for the delivery boy. The sun would be rising soon, and another night had gone by with no sleep, what joy.

 

The hesitant knock came a few minutes later and she opened the door to see the usual delivery boy. Without so much as a `here' he handed her the three bags before hastily retreating, mumbling something about charging it to her account. She'd never be able to figure that one out, no matter how many times she tried to get him to talk or even look her in the eyes he would always panic and run out of there leaving a trail of dust in his wake. Sighing she closed the door and laid out the containers of food on the kitchen table. It was odd that Gaara wasn't out yet, when she'd gone in earlier to get her brush she was sure the water was still running. Although it was very likely there was no more hot water left.

 

Brushing it off she went instead to make tea, finishing tending to her rebellious lengthy pink locks, she tied it off in a high pony tail glad to be rid of it. When the tea was done and there was still no sign of Gaara, she really worried.

 

Looking at the food and the hallway, she had to really wonder which she wanted more at the moment, and despite the growl of her stomach, she marched down the hallway wondering what the hell Gaara was doing. He wasn't in her room and that made her nerves worse. Opening the bathroom door she found the floor submerged in water, opening the closed curtain she was horrified to find Gaara laying face up in the water with sand taking over his entire upper right side. The sand was morphed into some kind of demon with blue markings and the right arm was turning into a lengthy claw.

 

`Fuck'

 

She cursed mentally before turning off the water and looking to see what caused the drain to clog. Of course more sand had run down and when she tried pulling it out it reacted by turning into a tail and wrapping around her wrist. Looking back at Gaara she found that only his right eye was open…….and it wasn't Gaara looking back at her.

 

`Double Fuck' she thought before trying to push her chakra out and repel him. It worked only long enough to detach her wrist. She was pretty sure that the Shukaku wasn't allowed to be awake without its host, which meant she was in pretty big trouble if she didn't somehow bring Gaara back…….or seal him. Seeing as how she had no idea how to do the first, she settled for the second. Lifting him by the side left untouched by sand, she hoisted him out of the water and hesitantly wrapped her arm around his waist. Immediately the sand covered where she touched and it started running up her arm.

 

She placed him on her bed throwing her towel around his lower half and set out making seals. The only time she'd ever had to do this particular jutsu had been a long time ago when she fought against the two tails……and although it wasn't perfect, the jutsu worked as she placed her palms over his chest. Watching the sand recede was the best feeling, knowing that she wasn't in danger anymore was a great thing, but when Gaara didn't wake she began feeling anxious again. Remembering what he'd said earlier about never sleeping, the light bulb went off in her head. No wonder he never slept, the Shukaku could take over his body when he did.

 

The thought of not sleeping ever depressed her. Sleep was another form of escape. She never dreamt so it was more or less peaceful, if she could ever fall asleep, that was. Looking back at the sleeping man, she was reluctant to wake him. No sleep was really taking a toll on his body; it was only a matter of time before whatever he was doing to get by, stopped working. Besides, didn't everyone deserve a good nap occasionally?

 

Making herself comfortable on the bed, she sat in meditation position with her palms still firmly placed on his naked chest. As much as she would have loved to oogle since he wasn't really conscious, she thought against it, since she would actually have to concentrate to keep the jutsu going. Taking in a deep breath she held it, concentrating on nothing…….and not on the sexy naked man underneath her palms.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

The first thing Gaara noticed when he woke up was that there was something heavy and warm lying on top of him. The second and most important thing, he noticed was that he had woken up, meaning that at some point or another he had been a sleep. Panic shot adrenaline through his entire body and he sat up knocking the pink haired woman into his lap. He might not have complained so much about the position if he hadn't just had such a rude awakening. The woman stirred and he shook her shoulder in attempts to figure out just what in the hell happened.

 

The last thing he'd remembered was her leaving the shower and feeling dizzy. How could the Shukaku have forced himself out in such away that he was forced into sleep? He'd never been able to come out on his own, Gaara had to let him, perhaps some more mediation was needed tonight. Although……he was feeling rather good. Better in fact than he had in a long time, `ah' he thought, `the wonder of sleep.'

 

“Gimme a break okay……….” she mumbled rubbing her eyes and some of his stomach with her fist, “I'm reaaaaaally sleepy and you already got a nap.” She got up slowly squinting at the morning rays peeking in through her window and then fell back on the bed again. “Ugh, morning?” she whined.

 

Curling herself back into half a ball she reached blindly for the sheet until Gaara ended up handing it to her. With a triumphant smile, with her eyes still closed, she covered herself up entirely and within seconds was back asleep. Weird woman he thought before noticing his lack of clothing. Getting out of the bed, he went in search of his pants and found them drenched in the bathroom. As much as he disliked the idea of walking around naked, he disliked the idea of wearing soggy clothes even more. Wrapping the towel around his waist tighter, he followed the strange smell that caught his nose to the kitchen.

 

He didn't know people could each so much ramen as he stared at container after container of different kinds of the substance. Cold tea sat on the stove and he figured she had planned on eating at one point. Turning the match back on he stuck two of the eight containers of ramen into the microwave. The first wasn't too bad, but the second one was more to his liking, the tea though was the most bitter he'd ever had. Throwing away the trash he heard shuffling in the hall and a second later a figure bundled in a large white comforter peeked around the corner.

 

“I smelled food.” She confessed as she set about heating up four boxes of ramen in one large chipped bowl. She didn't say anything, and Gaara wondered if she was sleepwalking because her eyes never opened during her preparation of breakfast. The microwave beeped and she jumped before taking it out and heading towards the table comforter dragging behind her. With every bite she seemed to wake up more and by the time she finished she was back to being as normal as she could be. She dumped the bowl in the sink, answering the suspicions on how the bowl got cracked in the fist place and she picked up the comforter heading towards the bedroom.

 

Surly she wouldn't go back to sleep, right?

 

He followed her into the room and found her back on the bed completely covered.

 

Apparently so. She pulled out something that resembled clothing and held it out towards him, “Here's some pants you can put on, don't worry they're not mine or anything,” she said somewhat clearly.

 

He took them but didn't put them on. “They're orange.” he said as if they had puke on them and he heard her chuckle under the covers. “I'm sorry but there's a limited supply of men's clothing around here and Naruto thinks this is his home away from home so he often leaves his shit here.”

 

“I'll pass,” he said throwing the pants to the side. She sat up with the cover as her cocoon and patted the bed next to her. “We need to talk.”

 

As much as he would have loved to be a smartass, he bit his tongue and sat down next to her. She rubbed away the traces of sleep from her eyes and yawned, “You can't keep doing that to your body. You use an extensive amount of chakra to control your sand and whatever you're doing enough to replenish your energy.”

 

“I can't exactly sleep, you've seen what happens, besides this is not of your concern.” It damn right wasn't her business, so why in the hell had he been polite in the first place.

 

Rubbing her temple she sighed loudly, “Ah, yes I apologize for over stepping my boundaries. I'm sure that you've already had a medic examine you and tell you that you're both mentally and physically exhausted. So let me just give you a little bit of friendly advice.” Her eyes lit up as if she were about to give him the best news in the world. “Find someone that can do seal the bujii for a little while and get yourself a nap once in a while. Trust me I've been around bujii and the last thing they need is for their host to be in a weak state, cause all they want to do is come out and play.”

 

So much for good advice.

 

“I'm perfectly fine. I've been this long without sleep and I can go longer.” It was a lie. He knew the risks of what would happen if he didn't meditate enough or what could happen if couldn't regain control of his conscious form. “Besides, there is only one in Suna who can seal the bujii, and I don't trust that worthless old hag.”

 

Her face lit up again, “Well then, in that case, I'll make you a deal. For the rest of my two weeks while I'm here, I'll seal you up every night and you can go to sleep! And as a trade you can let me sleep in and make breakfast.”

 

“I don't cook.”

 

“Okay, call in breakfast.”

 

“I don't call-

 

“Okay okay fine.” she said waving off his unwillingness to comply. Who in the hell did she think he was, calling in breakfast?

 

“Alright then geez, I'll just do it out of the goodness of my heart okay?”

 

He snorted and she glared.

 

“How is that you can do seals for a bujii anyway?” he asked changing the subject. He'd seen that glare directed towards Uzumaki and then he'd received a lump on the head, and while he highly doubted she would raise a hand towards him…..he didn't want to take that chance.

 

“My master taught it to me a long time ago,” she said whimsically.

 

“Hatake.” he tried.

 

Her smile was sad but she nodded anyway. “Yeah Kakashi sensei always taught me a bunch of useless crap but I guess some of it paid off.” She reached over the bed looking underneath until she pulled out the rosary.

 

“Those beads resemble a monk's.”

 

She laughed out loud this time and it was Gaara's turn to be displeased. Noticing his dark arura she quickly amended, “No, you don't understand, it's just that Kakashi-sensei was actually such a dirty old pervert reading the latest books from Jiraiya-san, and the thought of him being anything holy was just funny to me.” She looked down at the rosary and the humor faded, “He actually was a monk………or at least I think he wanted to be.”

 

Twirling the beads in her fingers she looked out towards the now bright morning, “When Kakashi-sensei took me from Konoha, he hid me in a monastery. You've heard of Sakumo Hatake right?”

 

Sakumo was indeed a familiar name, he was a legendary shinobi who fought against Chiyo's son and killed him. “White Fang,” he said and she nodded looking back towards him.

 

“Yeah, that was Kakashi's father, after that fight in Suna, he gave up fighting altogether and became a monk. I know it's a weird thought that someone of such great talents could just give it up and walk away from a life of killing………but he did. He was a nice old man and if I didn't know who he was previously, I would never have pegged him as the legendary White Fang. Anyway, he became a monk and when Kakashi needed a place to hide me, he took me there visiting me every week. While it's forbidden to have females in the monastery, Sakumo was so highly respected that they just let me stay on the outer walls of the temple and of course made me hide my hideous pink hair,” she said rolling her eyes.

 

“It didn't take long before Kakashi got pulled into the zen atmosphere of the place and he actually became just a fraction more religious. Although he never pursed actually becoming a monk, cause that of course would mean he'd have to give up his porn, he was actually getting into the swing of their lifestyle before he died. Who knows, maybe a few more years there and he would have,” her smile had no warmth and it was obvious whomever her sensei had been she missed.

 

“But I guess things really couldn't have been any different, otherwise I might never have heard of you,” she told him her cheery attitude back.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“The first time I heard of you was from a man named Ebizo who stumbled into our temple.”

 

“Ebizo died of old age five years ago,” he ground out nostrils flaring.

 

She tilted her head slightly, “Is that what they told you?”

 

“Everyone in Suna knows that he is dead, whoever you met was just an imposter.”

 

“Then how would an imposter know about the Shukaku hidden deep within Suna's walls?” she challenged and he was actually at loss of words.

 

“Anyway, as I was saying, Ebizo came to our temple in search of shelter from some nin who were tracking him in order to assassinate him. Would you happen to know why?”

 

“Ebizo highly resented the current Kazekage and often critiqued many of his ideals,” he replied. Ebizo had been one of the few that opposed the Shukaku being placed inside him.

 

“Well that's one quick way to get your ass killed,” she said humorlessly, “So apparently your Kazekage sent someone to quiet him for something he'd seen and he'd ran, although I was fairly certain it was nearly impossible to get out of that fortress.”

 

“His sister is the old hag I mentioned earlier. She has great influence over the people in Suna so I'm sure she had something to do with his escape,” which was true, Chiyo was known to only care for herself and her brother; it wouldn't be surprising for her to betray the Kage.

 

“Ebizo didn't get along to well with Kakashi- sensei at first, but he warmed up to him I think over time. He was telling Kakashi one night about you, I couldn't quite hear the details since I was spying at the time, but he said you were really powerful and that you'd become a target soon.”

 

“Akatsuki.”

 

“Yeah, Konoha had already been invaded by then and they had just begun their collection of bujii, somehow Ebizo knew that they would eventually end up in Suna to get you. It was then I decided that you were the one I needed to help me.”

 

He quirked his brow at her admission of needing help, “What for?”

 

She hesitated before beginning, “Well, back then I was really going through a rough time, so I originally wanted you to come and kill me. That's why when I returned to Konoha I set out a plan that would get you to come here without anyone knowing why.”

 

“The request for an assassin.”

 

“Right, but not just any assassin, but their best. Naturally if you were a container you would be at the top of the ranks, it would be least suspicious to ask for the most skilled instead of the Shukaku. I had Naruto and Jiraiya convinced that by brining outside help from Suna, and allying ourselves, it would help our chances whenever Konoha launched their attack to eliminate Orochimaru. Before the message was sent on Neji's hawk I tweaked the mission a bit so that you would come to me first instead of running into Naruto.”

 

“So you knew my purpose all along.”

 

“Well…….I wouldn't go that far,” she said scratching her head, “I was pretty messed up the first few times we saw each other. But once I smelled the sand and felt your aura I knew it was you. I'm pretty sure that Naruto and Jiraiya still think that you're only here to help out.”

 

“You were wrong about Jiraiya not knowing, the day of the ceremony he was the one that told me that you had been responsible for reviewing and sending off the mission.”

 

“What?! That Ero-sennin, I'm going to break his ribs the next time I see him! How dare he be sneaky like that, making me think I got away with something when in fact he knew all along,” she said angrily crossing her arms, “Damnit.”

 

Her childish temper reminded him a lot of Uzumaki and he wondered who had rubbed off on who, or if they had both always been like this. “You said that you originally wanted me here to kill you, what's changed.”

 

Whatever murderous thoughts she'd been having she left momentarily to answer his question, “Well, since I'm pretty sure you're Kage is dead, that means that the alliance between Konoha and Suna is void, and that also means that your `mission',” she said quoting with her fingers, “is over. But now there's something better that I need you for.”

 

Gaara was almost afraid to ask. Almost. “What?”

 

She smiled deviously and he knew instantly he'd made a mistake.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

AN: Did I just write a cliff hanger? : ) Me? oops. Sorry! I'll try to update soon since I have about three weeks to finish this story before fall semester starts.

 

Ebizo is actually Chiyo's brother in the manga.

 

And I couldn't resist throwing in the thought of Kakashi giving up his icha icha to become a monk. Oh the laughter!

 

XxShadow-Of LiesxX- it is pretty hard to feel sorry for her when she's getting laid by Gaara no less. *sigh* Oh well, at least one of us is : )

 

LoveShinobi4eva- THANKS! I can always count on your review to cheer me up.

 

Xinthos- You had just written to me that you liked the pace of the story and then BAM I went and gave you information overload. SORRY! I hope it doesn't seem like I'm rushing it, because there's still quite a bit more.

 

crazytreeotaku- thanks for reading A kunoichi's lament, it's not doing to good on the reviews but I'm glad that some people like it!