Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ MANGETSU HANA ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

ACT2

 

Tsubaki had died in his coma, and Gaara was staring down at his friend's corpse, unable to say or do anything. How could something like this happen? He found it miserably hard to digest. The sorrow of losing a close friend never occurred to him. Ever since he was a boy, ever since that day on the rooftop where the sand scarred the tattoo over his eye, he had never experienced the anguish of losing someone. This loss had just added a whole new dimension to pain.

The girl he had sworn to protect had killed the only true friend he had in the village.

`Tsubaki's sleeping, Tsubaki's sleeping…' was what he would have said, if he had never slaughtered men. But he wasn't naïve or blind to truths.

He swore at his friend again, the fourth time that hour, though his passive face didn't show his anger!

Tsubaki was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Hoping this would catalyse anger, Motomo says, “See, she's not safe around anyone! Imagine what would happen if you got poisoned, or if she sent you into a coma! The enemy would be here in no minute at all to burn us to the ground!”

“Her powers are uncontrollable,” was what he said, “Is there a way to...”

“To stop a jutsu? You know better than anyone that some bloodline limits cannot be stopped or controlled.”

There's a silence.

“Gaara,”

“You still think she did it purposefully?” he snaps, “What would she gain from it? Nothing! She's not a spy or an assassin, why can't you see that? She not even a shinobi!” he calms down, “I see truth in her eyes.”

***

 

I will protect you.

Over the next few days the villagers started noticing them. Although they didn't walk into open streets, they were seen here and there; on rooftops, by the walls, the schools. No one knew what they would talk about, but very soon they started to disapprove and even hate the girl. Rumours went round and the village folk didn't like how Gaara was so enticed by a stranger, especially one that conveniently showed up a month after the war. As rumours spread, there were similar whispers that spread around, not only among the common village folk, but the shinobi as well.

Not one to talk, and when he did, he used few words, but among her, he seemed to use more words than usual. He'd tell her about the plans he had for the village and she'd listen, about how he met Konoha shinobi, especially a boy named Naruto, and how the boy had saved him twice. She smiled and he would too, his heart in bliss, his feelings growing stronger. She'd wrap her arm gently around his arm and he'd enjoy it. She'd look into his eyes and had moments when she just stared in true love, sometimes wiping a strand of red hair from his eyes.

It was perhaps the fourth day she was here. He had promised to show her his plans for better schools and hospitals, and she listened with fascination. How could she ever measure up to him?

“Why do you love these people so much?” she had asked as she leaned over his plans, looking into his eyes, a smile on her face.

“What?”

“I see it all the time. Why do you work so hard for them?”

“It's something I have to do. They depend on me, and I must use my strength to protect them.”

“Let me help you make the village a better place!” she begged, but he gave a wry smile, quickly discarding his plans, and she'd look carefully in his eyes; the only way to understand him, was through his eyes.

“You don't have the time do you? The Council never really listens to what you want?

“They're older and wiser. They know what they're doing.”

“I don't believe that! Their so old they no longer see the things you see! You must stand up to them!”

He took her by the waist as he sat on his desk, pulling her toward him, his way of touching her growing bolder by the day, “Do you like giving me trouble?”

“No. I'm just saying,”

Sunshine streaked through the blinds and fresh air blew gently through her hair. The desert birds chirped from his roof, their sweet melodies soft and serene in their ears.

“At the stage I'm at now, I can't help them. I need another year.”

She humphed, flicked his nose, and strode out of his office childishly.

***

Soon enough Gaara's work caught up to him, and before he knew it, he was busy once more. He had spent the whole day in his office, his mind on her, but forced to finish his work. He couldn't neglect the village, they needed him. There was another Council meeting on water and how the drainage may be poisoned; a family suffered from water poisoning and were now in intensive care.

“She did it! She poisoned the water! That infidel, that devil woman! We must get rid of her!”

Gaara would say little as usual.

“Kazekage-sama, I beg you, you cannot trust her! She is a witch, a demon, her powers will cause the end of this village; you must send her away! Our people are dying! At night, the waters get poisoned; a shinobi died because of hyperthermia! He couldn't survive it in the desert's cold temperatures!”

Gaara stands up.

“Gaara!”

Disrespect. He did not like it.

“-sama,” he quickly added, “Are you willing to sacrifice this woman for the safety of the village? Was it not you who swore to protect this village with every breath in your body?”

“I will find a solution!” he snapped, “You cannot blame these events on her!”

“I didn't want to do this,”

He brings out an ancient scroll, “Further research on the clan was made: a woman with the eyes of poison and the powers of the moonflower, she is the work of demons, a jinx and a witch that society must burn before she smoulders everything in her path...”

“I don't believe everything I read. You're petty beliefs mean nothing.”

“This... this is what we survive on! Scriptures from forefathers! Beliefs! It is what shapes our world! She is an infidel! Gaara-sama, you have grown too soft!”

But Gaara walked out.

***

Since that moment Gaara had noticed twenty assassination attempts. He had known from the beginning that locking her windows would not be enough, even if they were locked by seals. He knew he wouldn't sleep as long as people still wanted her dead.

So they had shared his king-sized bed. At first it was awkward to feel another person's presence under the same sheets. It was strange, but certainly not unpleasant. By the third day, in her sleep, she had moved a little closer, and Gaara snapped awake immediately, startled by her proximity, (and had almost attacked, thinking it was an enemy), but then he quickly managed to relax and moved a strand of hair from her face before he fell asleep again.

It was the fourth night and he was afraid that he had to make a decision soon. Another family had died, and this time it was because of hallucinations that drove them crazy.

The shinobi had to kill them.

Gaara had to find a way to “cure” Yuugao, in other words seal her powers, and as of yet, he knew no one in the Sand who could help him. For now, he felt ravaged by responsibilities, and all he wanted was to be with her. He did not want to let her go, because he knew she wouldn't survive.

He never felt so trapped.

When he got to his room that evening he found her on the carpet, cross-legged and reading a book. Her face rested on her hands and she was so engrossed in the story, she never saw Gaara enter, and he watched with intrigue as her eyes slowly read each line. She had a glass of water by her side, and a jug, half-full.

“Good book?” he asked as he sat himself opposite her in the same position, inches apart.

“Mm-hm.”

He stretched his hands and took her wrist. Than he enclosed her hands in his and she looked up at him, confused by his actions. She feels a slight quiver and notices the frown on his face.

“What's wrong?”

”I'm sorry I haven't freed you yet. I'll find a way, just wait. My people will accept you,” and as he said the last words he stood up, his body facing her but his head turned to the side, his eyes directed to the wall. She got up quickly after him and retorted, “But I am happy, you know I am! As long as I'm with you,”

“That's no way to live, and you know it! You can't stay sheltered behind me forever, I have a duty and you deserve to have moments alone, and not locked in my room or with me when I work,” he said simply. She had gotten used to his bluntness. “Living in constant dread for your life is no life.”

“Your people will never accept me!” she shouted crossly, “In case you haven't noticed, they're right! I'm a monster!”

He got her against the wall, either of his hands planted firmly against the concrete. His face was calm, his eyes never wavering as they bore deeply into hers, stern.

“Don't you ever call yourself that again.”

He let her go and turned his back to her. He went to the centre of the room, his arms crossed over his chest, clearly a little angered. She said nothing, he didn't either. They just endured the long icy silence between them. His mind was too clouded to say anything and she was too surprised to move. It seemed like forever before Yuugao pushed herself from the wall. She got to him and hugged his back and then rested her head against him.

“I love you,” she whispered.

Gaara's eyes shot open.

It can't be... he must have dreamt it.

“I love you!” she said again, still in a whisper, but a little louder, and she said it again and again and again until tears stained her eyes, “I love you...! I love you, I love you!” making sure he would never forget it.

So that's what they mean, when they say you can't breathe when love strikes. It was literal. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. His lungs were pathetic. His breath was just held firmly by an invisible force as his heart pounded furiously against his chest; she must have been able to hear it drum!

Her tender hands around him and her warm tears seeping into his shirt and onto his skin made his head spin. He just wanted to tell her how much he loved her too. He just wanted to hold her tightly, forever in his arms.

He turned around. He took her in his arms, to let her hear his beating heart, to let her know his feelings were real too. He wanted to badly to kiss her, to kiss her so tenderly.

He lifted her chin and without a second thought he kissed her, soft, sweet and tenderly. She was on cloud nine, he was lost in her. It seemed to last forever, until his lips parted oddly from hers. He was overcome by a sudden, overwhelming dizziness and a pain that came so quickly, it was like a tsunami wave that crashed through his whole body. He fell to his knees, dragging her down with him, a reflexive iron grip on her arm.

“Gaara! God, this can't be true, GAARA! GAARA!!!” She cried for help. His eyelids stretched as wide as the moon, his pupils the size of pencil tip. His body suddenly felt cold and she tried to get him up, but his body weighed a ton.

“HELP! PLEASE HELP ME!”

No... Yuugao...

His body shook uncontrollably and his temperatures dropped. He felt a hot painful burn in his lungs.

Before he could warn her, before he could help her, he blacked out.