Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sound Sleep ❯ Absence ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Tsuyoku: Well, here’s another chapter, and we are definitely going to end with a bang with this chapter! Hope you guys enjoy the ending; please, please, please let me know!

--

Gaara hadn’t heard a peep from anyone since he’d returned to the palace late that afternoon. He’d contemplated finding the kunoichi and continuing their conversation from that morning, but something about the way his “sister” was glaring at him made Gaara curious. Finally, he returned her glare with one of his own. “What’s the matter with you, woman?”

The blonde didn’t seem to care whether or not he saw her open stares. Temari didn’t know why she felt sorry for her female companion, but after she’d left the silent Sakura to brood over her future, seeing Gaara just left a scowl on her face. And obviously he’d become aware of the fact. “Absolutely nothing. Just that I had to sit and listen to Haruno this morning while she tried to sort out her life after Suna.”

“There is no life after Suna for her.”

“You’ve got to let her go when the time comes. You went without sleep for how many years before she came along; what you’ve had should to be enough to last you for a few more years.”

The silent man had the urge to rub his forehead in frustration. Why had both of these women decided (on the exact same day no less) to stop being afraid of him? For years, he co-existed with the two of his siblings quite nicely when they had been hesitant to say even a few words to him. But now when there was a loose-mouthed woman running about his halls and disrespecting him, Temari had obviously gotten the same idea.

“And why should I do without it when I have her around?”

“She has a life in Konoha. She has someone there waiting for her to return so they can have a normal life together. What kind of life do you expect her to have just walking around the palace by day and providing you with sleep by night?”

The look on Gaara’s face said that he didn’t care. “She should be grateful that I let her have as much freedom as she does. But if she keeps disrespecting me like you are now, then I will soon put her in her place. I’m going to keep her here, and no one is going to take her away. I need this.” Gaara hadn’t intended to explain himself, but he’d gone ahead and let Temari know that there was no escape for the young girl. He turned on his heel and went straight to his office to do some kind of work that he knew was waiting for him.

Gaara’s words really bothered Temari for some reason. She supposed it had something to do with the fact that, for as long as she could remember, Gaara had ruled over both his siblings with fear. And that was had been how he’d obtained everything he wanted in life. That and the fact that he’d become not only a strong ninja but a great politician as well.

Should she tell Sakura what he said? Nah, the blonde figured that she’d reasonably scared the girl enough with the prospect of Gaara controlling her life forever. Hearing those words straight from Gaara's mouth would be devastating enough for the girl. Plus, she figured that Sakura would find out soon enough when she decided to start fighting back.

“What the hell’s up with you?” Kankuro had come into the commons area just moments before, and Temari had done nothing to hide her brooding façade.

“Just this situation with Haruno. I can’t help but feel sorry for the girl.”

Kankuro looked as if she shouldn’t be worried at all.

“What? I mean, we can’t really sympathize with her exact situation, but what would you do if your only job in life was to sit there while someone took advantage of you?”

“Well, it depends on how exactly they were taking advantage of me, but whatever. If Gaara has his way, eventually that young girl isn’t going to mind staying in Suna.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“...”

“C’mon, Kankuro, you obviously know something. Have I ever left you hanging?”

“Walk with me,” he said. They started down the hall heading nowhere in particular as Kankuro explained what he’d done. “So I mentioned to Gaara that some women can be easily swayed with even the slightest bit of attention.”

“Oh, you really think—“

“Now don’t go judging before you hear me out completely. I said some women. I don’t really think that Sakura is that type of girl, but it did put an idea into Gaara’s head.”

“Kankuro! You’re not telling Gaara to… try something, are you?” Temari asked.

“I told him absolutely nothing like that. Just happened to mention it, that’s all. But you have to admit, it is a good fix for both our situations, if only temporarily.”

“You want her to fall in love with him.”

Kankuro sighed and said, “Yes, but if that happened, don’t you suppose that on the off chance she did, he might eventually fall for her in return?”

It was something she hadn’t thought of. The blonde just walked silently for a moment and rolled it around in her head. Would falling for someone be enough to lighten Gaara up? She briefly thought about what it would be like to no longer be afraid of her brother.

“Sounds promising, doesn’t it? A Gaara in love might not be so intimidating. But what are we talking about. It would be hard enough to have her fall for him, let alone the other way around. We should just forget about the idea entirely.” Kankuro smiled when she took the bait.

“No!” Temari yelled.

Kankuro stopped walked and turned toward her in pseudo-surprise.

“I mean…” She lowered her voice. “You may be onto something here, dear brother.”

--

Sakura had marched through her suite and grabbed a few things she’d need during the night and was now standing outside Temari’s room poised to knock on the door.

The blonde obviously hadn’t been expecting her at the door, and her gaze darkened slightly at the sight of a blanket and pillow under the kunoichi’s arm. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m staying with you tonight,” Sakura answered, unfazed by her companion’s slightly apprehensive tone. “I really don’t want to help him sleep right now.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think that’s a good idea, Haruno. You realize that it’s not a good idea to stand in Gaara’s way when it’s something he wants.”

“I don’t care,” said Sakura. “I’ll deal with it tomorrow. And don’t you worry either; I’m not going to let him know that I stayed here. I’ll make sure to take all the repercussions.”

Temari sighed. This really didn’t seem like a good idea, but if the girl was willing to face Gaara then who was she to stop it? It wouldn’t really help the plan to make them fall for each other, but Temari figured that they had five months left, what was one more night of fear and loathing in Suna?

“Fine,” she said and walked towards her bed leaving the door open in invitation. “But I'd better not be woken up in the middle of the night when he starts to rampage the palace looking for you.”

Sakura mentally gulped. But it was late, and she distracted her mind from Temari's comment by setting up a little cot on the floor and settling in. When the blonde turned the lights off Sakura was asleep in no time. The lack of Gaara in the room plus Temari’s presence was enough to calm her better than she had felt since being in Konoha.

Gaara, however, was not calm. In his suite across the palace he sat on the desk unable to sleep and unable to control his steadily growing anger. Where the hell was she?

Kankuro had been right about seducing women to keep them around; otherwise the kunoichi was going to keep doing things like this, and the Kazekage wasn’t about to be undermined in his own country.

--

Sakura’s morning was the same as it usually was. She woke up to the morning light shining through the window, she stretched, and she reveled in the relaxing night of sleep she had. But of course the fact that Gaara hadn’t been there all night made the sunshine brighter and her muscles that much more relaxed.

The moment she approached her room, though, the muscles in her arms and chest immediately tightened once more. It was early morning and there was a person in the room, namely one particular person whom she was hoping to avoid completely.

She walked through the door and started putting things away without saying a word to her captor. He didn’t say anything either. Of course, Sakura wasn’t sure what was worse: him not speaking and sitting there tracing her every move or if he started berating her for making him stay up the entire night.

I’ll bet he was able to handle it, Sakura thought. But his constant glare on her back was increasingly uncomfortable and borderline intimidating.

“You weren’t brought here to disobey me. Nor were you brought here so you could spend your time with other people while wasting mine.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I was brought here under the pretenses that I’d be working and actually doing some good. Tsunade thinks that I’m helping out at the hospital and teaching people about Konoha since you had to sign an alliance with us just to get me here in the first place. But I have done nothing since I’ve been here. There only so much training that I can do in the palace; I’m going insane!”

“Well, you’re here because I’m going insane.” Gaara stood fervently from his usual perch on the desk. “I didn’t intend to sneak into your apartment that first night, but I did because I wasn’t supposed to be in Konoha. And if you’d gone without sleep for as long as I have, you’d be crazy enough to do anything for an opportunity to experience that. No matter who you have to step on.”

“So you’re okay with wrecking my life just to set yours normal? Forgive me if I don’t feel like I’m getting a good deal.” Sakura started walked around the bed intending to leave, but Gaara once again grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

He turned her to face him, finally taking Kankuro’s advice and kissing her full on the mouth. Long ago he had experienced the intimacies of a woman: someone he didn’t know, someone who only gave and never took, and he had repelled all human contact since then, disgusted at the thought of it happening again. There was no emotion whatsoever. Gaara couldn’t understand why people had to urge to touch each other all the time.

Maybe it was because he didn’t feel connected to another human…

The redhead leaned into her with his body and tried to remember what it was like the last time he felt someone’s lips against his. He’d like to say that this one was different—it was in the sense that he knew this woman and her habits rather than it being a stranger. But once again, there was no emotion behind it on either part.

In fact, Sakura began to struggle with him soon enough to which he replied with a struggle of his own: grabbing her wrists and finally tumbling them on top of the large bed so that he could have the upper hand.

Gaara continued with his actions hoping to make her finally give in and begin to love him. Would this be enough or would more be demanded of him?

Sakura stilled underneath him, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do. She was completely against the idea of a man suddenly forcing himself on a woman (especially one like Gaara who had recently pissed her off so much,) but there was something about a man being so dominant (and hopefully not intending to hurt her) that stirred something in her lower body that she hadn’t felt for a while.

The young kunoichi lay there letting her assailant move from her puffed lips to her neck in a fashion that she had never expected from Gaara. She let herself go for a few minutes as she enjoyed the pleasure of another person’s lips on her body. Even Shino had never gone so far as to give her such wonton feelings.

“No!” Sakura yelled. At the thought of Shino, she shoved Gaara as forcefully as she could without pumping chakra into her arms. Why did she allow him to get to far when she had Shino at home? Was she really ready to betray all that he’d done for her just to have a little fun? “I can’t. What… What do you think you were going?”

Gaara didn’t say anything; he just stood where she’d pushed him and hid a smile behind a stoic face. He’d gotten to her; that he knew. She wouldn’t be able to deny it at all. The sand nin had witnessed the lambent expression on her face as he moved down to her neck and collarbone.

“Answer me!”

“Because I want you.” Gaara said the first thing he could think of that would appeal to her and seduce her even more. And it wasn’t a lie because Gaara did want Sakura—only for sleep. But she didn’t need to know the specifics.

“You want…? How is that possible? I can’t do that with you; I have an obligation to Shino.”

“So, you’re saying that if you weren’t so intimate with that man, you would?”

“No, I never said that,” Sakura said. She was flustered and very sure that her face was once again blending in with her hair. “You’re taking the words out of my mouth and twisting them around, Gaara.”

“But you wanted it. Even for those few moments.” Sakura couldn’t understand how he could say such things with a straight face and a smoldering look in his eyes, but he managed to do so. Gaara, however, wasn’t able to figure out why he couldn’t get rid of the erection that had formed between his legs. He realized that it was a natural reaction to having been so personal with the woman before him, but the desire didn’t seem to fade as quickly as it had the previous times.

Sakura just turned toward the door with all intent to leave before Gaara’s voice stalled her one last time.

“If you don’t come back to this room tonight I’m coming to look for you.”

--

And that night, Sakura did come back to the room. She pulled out her most ratty t-shirt and most unattractive sleep shorts she could find. Just in case Gaara decided to try kissing her again—maybe he’d be deterred by her appearance (even though the thought of him on top of her made her just a little bit warmer inside.) Her lower stomach clenched, her nipples hardened, and she hated every minute of it. Sakura tried to shake the feeling from her mind and body knowing that it was sick and wrong to be attracted to someone like him.

Even thought the lights were out, the rosette young nin still had trouble sleeping, and before long Gaara walked into the room for the night.

“Still awake, woman?” He had to admit that he hadn’t expected her to be up when he arrived. The lights were out, and he assumed that she would at least pretend to be asleep so she wouldn’t have to interact with him. Was it weird that he was pleased she wasn’t?

Sakura, however, had no wish to reply to anything he said to her. She was wishing that she’d feigned unconsciousness.

“Has your silence got something to do with what happened between us this morning?” Gaara felt some predatory domination that he hadn’t experienced before this close encounter with the pinkette. Ever since he’d felt himself press against her this morning, he hadn’t experienced such a strong urge to dominate her and keep her there with him. There was something about himself (or possibly the demon Shukaku) that had the urge to just take her body to see what it would be like with her.

Once again, Sakura wasn’t speaking to him. She would probably try to run away if she knew exactly what Gaara was thinking about at that point.

“Fine, don’t reply, Kunoichi. I can think of a far better way to use those lips.”

She just lay there and watched as he crawled up the bed and placed his arms on either side of her, ugly pajamas or no, nad descended toward her. Sakura’s eyes widened as he reached the edge of the bed where his body slowly laid upon hers with the plush blanket sandwiched between them.

--

Tsuyoku: Yay! The story’s actually moving along pretty well. And Gaara and Sakura are certainly starting to have more interaction that just being in the same room to sleep, eh? More to come! R&R!