Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Year of Change ❯ Chapter 4, Part 2 ( Chapter 16 )

Disclaimer: Naruto, and its cast, does not belong to me. The story on the other hand, does. Should you chose to take it and claim it as your own work, I will find you and tickle you to death.

 

Chapter 4, Part 2: Set back

 

Gaara laid on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. He'd spend the better part of the afternoon trying to distract himself. Doing everything from homework, to extra credit and even looking at some more pamphlets from colleges. Tomorrow was the day that the Grey hound bus came back and brought back his Sakura and Naruto. He really didn't think that he would miss them as much, but he did. Spending so many years not needing other people and going to being a mopy teenage boy without his girlfriend had just gone to show how much he really had changed over the year. Even his brother had commented on his attitude.

 

Granted, this had given him time to think things over. About after school, college, work and what not. Kakashi said that he would not need to see him anymore after he finished high school, but he was always welcome to come back should something happen. Not that anything would happen. There wasn't any possible chance that he would relapse into his previous state. Hell, he'd even managed to send something to his father. If that wasn't some kind of improvement, then he didn't know what to call it.

 

Sighing, he rolled over and looked out the window. Another reason he wanted Sakura to come back was so that he could sleep again. He found that without her nearby, he couldn't sleep. He could have taken the Doxepin, but the fear of possibly suffering from night terrors was holding him back. That and he preferred the natural and easy sleep that he seemed to have when Sakura was nearby.

 

Reaching over, he grabbed one of the many pamphlets from his desk. They had been coming in like crazy since he'd taken the SAT earlier that year. He knew what the test was for college selections, but he didn't think that he would get so many. Not with his background anyway. Or maybe it was because of it? Tamari said that Colleges moved in mysterious ways and it was better off to not think too hard about it. They were all good schools. The ones that cost too much he had tossed in the trash right away. More money did not mean a better educations. Then he had to go and research the colleges, doing checks on student reviews, education inspections and then checking the media. Any college that was in the top ten for most drunk driving, stoners, bad area and nudity he had been to toss those in the trash as well. It narrowed the schools down to about ten, which he thought was an ok number to work with. All he needed to do at this point was figure out what he wanted to study.

 

Easier said then done.

 

There were lots of things he could study. Lots of areas that he thought where particularly interesting. Lots of jobs that he could do after school. He didn't want to do art. It was a fun hobby, not something he was particularly interested in pursuing. He hadn't really picked up a drawing pad in a few months anyway. Then there was the band. Did he want to purse that? He was having fun with it, but he didn't know if they were wanting to go pro. He didn't need to express himself that way anymore. Lititure maybe? He differently liked to read, but not write so much. A little voice buzzed about his ear:

 

What about something involving people? Maybe you can be a therapist?

 

He snorted at the thought. Sure, he'd spent the better part of eight years talking to therapist, psychologist, doctors, all of them, but he didn't think he could do it. Still… He wouldn't cross the possibility off the list. He would tuck it to the side and come back to it later. One of the schools that were in his list happened to have a good psychology program. It would be worth looking into.

 

0o0o0o0

 

He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this excited. Hell, couldn't remember ever feeling excited period. Standing with parents and fellow classmates, Gaara waited in the parking lot for the buses to come. With it, it would bring all the missing students who head hadn't seen for the last three weeks. He didn't care about most of them. Just two. He'd offered to pick Sakura up for her parents, but was only allowed to if he came to dinner with them that night. It seemed that the news that he been dating Sakura for the better part of the year and never come over had finally reached Sakura's mother. Still, it was a price he didn't mind paying. Not if he got to hold her in his arms again. Along with other things.

 

The last thought actually made him grin.

 

Hinata was there, but she stood near Neji, who was her ride. Her family was still not in the approving stages of her dating Naruto and wouldn't give her the car. Gaara was surprised to see that not only had bowed her head and done what they asked, but went to another person and asked. It had made Gaara smile. He wasn't the only one changing.

 

The sound of people exclaiming that the bus was coming snapped his head back. It was indeed coming towards. It seemed as if it was going at an extremely slow pace. Gaara mentally chimed himself. He was going to have to wait regardless. It wasn't as if she was going to be the first one off the bus. Or even if it was this bus. There was two more coming as well. He sighed, and shifted his weight from foot to foot.

 

However, when the first bus stopped, he could see some clammer inside it and a few of the students were trying to get off the bus first. He was about to find something to lean on while he waited when the bus doors opened and out burst two figures. One with yellow hair made a bee line for Hinata while the other came straight for him. He was ready and when Sakura collided with him he went toppling backwards with his feet flying in the air in his wake. He landed on the ground with an “oof!” and then an “ugh!” when Sakura fell on top of him.

 

“I'm sorry!” Sakura said before she pushed herself up on her arms. “I'm just really happy to see you.” She smiled and Gaara pushed himself to give her a modest kiss before they both got to their feet. They hugged and held onto each other while the rest of the students marched off the bus and picked up their things from the under carriage. He couldn't believe he'd miss this simple contact with her. He gave her another kiss before they went to grab her duffle bag and make their way to the car. Gaara thought about stopping to talk to Hinata, but seeing him so… entwined with Hinata made him to just stop by his place tomorrow.

 

“Where's mom an dad?”

 

“At home. I am to bring you home and then have dinner.” Seeing the look on her face, he shrugged. “Your mom found out. She was very insistent that I come over tonight.

 

“Ugh. I'm sorry.” She said as she got into the car.

 

Gaara put her bag in the back seat before getting behind the wheel and driving off. “I am actually looking forward to it.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. You're parents are nice.”

 

Sakura smiled and reached over to grab his hand. He squeezed it before placing his hand back on the wheel. She was in good sprits and chatted away. The competition had gone well, and they'd even won the finals, to which she was very thrilled at. She talked till they finally drove up to their building. When they went up the stairs, he grabbed her hand and led her up the extra set of stairs to his apartment. She looked at him questionly while he opened the door.

 

“Tamria? Kanuro?” When one answered, he smiled. “Perfect.”

 

When he turned to her, she still didn't understand. Then understanding spread on her face along with a flush. She didn't argue when he took her bag and tossed it to the side before placing his arms on either side of her head against the door, pinning her there.

 

“I missed you.” He said simply before lowering his head to capture her lips with his. Sakura kissed him back, her hands sliding up his chest to rest on his collarbone. He wanted to do more. He wanted to take her to his room and reacquaint himself every part of her body, but he knew he couldn't think up a logical reason why it had taken him several hours to bring Sakura home. He was surprised to find himself content with doing this. They'd both lost track of how much time went by till there was the sound of a key rattling in the lock of the door. Before they could move the door pushed in and pushed them away from it. Both of them stumbled and Gaara feel with Sakura landing on him for the second time that day.

 

“Ah.” Kankuro said as he stepped over them, acting as if they were not in a compromising position. “Welcome back. How was the competition, Sakura?”

 

“It was good.” She stammered as she tried to detangle herself from Gaara.

 

“I'm happy you're back. Now Gaara can stop sulking all over the place.” Kankuro set his bag and keys on the counter and went to the fridge to get something to drink.

 

“I was not sulking.” Gaara retorted.

 

Kankuro peeked at him from around the fridge. “Fine. Now he can stop sighing all the time looking at the calendar.”

 

Gaara was about to argue, but Sakura tugged his sleeve. “We should probably go downstairs now. I am sure mom will want to do a complete background check and ask you a ton of questions about what you like to do and what not.”

 

“Sounds pleasant.” Gaara said as he stood up. He waved at his brother before following Sakura down stairs.

 

True to what her father said, Mrs. Haruno could not cook. Well, she could. The issue was that she felt that only things that were organic and good for you were the only things that were good for you, and she would match up the strangest food together. Such as cheese with corn or strawberries with green beans. Not having developed a taste for the food like the other two members of the Haruno household, Gaara spend the better part of the evening drinking water. True to what Sakura said, Gaara was asked so many questions that it made his head swim after a while. He practically gave a very detailed description of his life, his siblings life, what his grandparents use to do, where his family came from and where he'd lived. It was only after Sakura's father demanded that Mrs. Haruno `stop badgering the boy' that she huffed and the talk turned to Sakura's trip.

 

Gaara found himself enjoying the chatter. It was different then with his family, with their different schedules could only share breakfast together and none of them were morning people. Gaara helped Sakura wash the dishes and sat with her family a little longer before he went home. Sakura had walked him to the door and they exchanged a small kiss before leaving.

 

He could never remember feeling so content.

 

0o0o0o0o0

 

Summer was finally there, and Gaara welcomed the heat like a missed friend. The roles were reversed in the mornings. While Naruto and Sakura complained about the heat, he only hummed happily to himself.

 

“You should be complaining with us.” Naruto whined while pointing an accusing finger at him after two weeks of summer weather. “You wear all that black and heavy pants. You're not even sweating.”

 

“I like the heat. Besides, this” he waved his hand around to the air around them, “isn't really that hot.”

 

“I'm sure it doesn't feel like it after being in the desert for so long.” Sakura chimed in.

 

The discussion went on all the way to school and only stopped because Gaara had to stop by his locker to grab something. He saw that there was a note taped to his locked. Pulling it, he examined the neat handwriting.

 

“Please come to the principal's before the first bell.”

 

He turned the page over, but didn't see a name. He thought about dismissing it, but it might be about Gaara's request for the finals. Grabbing his text book, he made his way to the principal's office. When he opened the door to the reception area he froze.

 

Sitting in chair facing him was… him.

 

Yashamaru.

 

His uncle.

 

Gaara felt very cold and his heart hammered like crazy in his ears. He was feeling the same as the time he father had come to the foster home and charged him, on this was somehow worse. What was he doing here? Why was he here? How did he know where Gaara went to school at? Maybe this was a mistake and he was here for some other reason. It had to be a mistake. There was no way he could be here other wise. Yashamaru was busy reading a magazine and hadn't noticed him standing in the door way.

 

`Move your feet! Leave before he sees you. Run! Run away!' His mind screamed at him, but his body refused to do anything. He was so stiff that if someone came over and lightly pushed him, he would have fallen over.

 

It was too late. Yashamaru looked up and spotted him.

 

“Gaara!” He said, while standing. He looked so happy to see him. He walked over to him and placed his hands on Gaara's shoulders. “It's been so long! Look at you. Pratactily a grown up.”

 

He couldn't… move. He was trembling all over as he stared at Tashamaru. Why couldn't he move? He was doing such a fine job of it earlier…

 

“I missed you so much.” One of Yashamaru's hands moved up to Gaara's forehead and lifted up some of the hair to reveal the tattoo there. “Ah… you kept this. I was worried you were going to remove it. I suppose it just shows how much you really do love me.” Suddenly Gaara's head was whipped to the side as Yashamaru slapped him. “That's what you get for not staying with me.” The man gripped his shoulders again, painfully. “I was so angry when you were taken from me, but we're together again...”

 

Yashamaru was suddenly cut off as a fist connected with his chin. The older man went flying backwards and thudded into the receptions desk. Gaara blinked and took a deep breath. He'd forgotten to breath. Looking dumbly to his side, he saw a very flushed and worried Naruto.

 

Nartuo had punched Yashmaru.

 

While that fact confused him then, he would think about how he must have looked to Naruto. Pale, shaking and wide-eyed as a man he didn't know was leering over him. Gaara's trembles were not full out shakes. Nartuo was shouting something to Yashmaru, who was picking himself up while a nasty glare on his face. A teacher from somewhere had come over and was trying to settle things down, but was not winning with the angry Nartuo.

 

Someone touched him.

 

Normally it wouldn't bother him, but it did. He jumped at the contact and saw that another teacher, Mr. Yuhi was there. Gaara slapped his hand away without a thought. He didn't want anyone to touch him. Now it seemed like everyone did want to though. People were gathering around, curious about what was going on. They were too close, making it hard for Gaara to breath. Someone tried to touch him again, and this time he screamed. Hurling his bag at the contact, he broke out into a run. Someone was calling for him, but he didn't care. The students quickly moved out of his way as he ran down the hallway, out the main doors and down the street.

 

0o0o0o0

 

Temari was about to go to bed when the door to the apartment burst open and slammed closed. Slightly alarms, she grabbed the baseball bat kept in the room and peeked her head down the hallway. What she saw made her gasp. Gaara was slacked against the wall, breathing heavily and sweating like crazy. He was white as a sheet of paper, making his flushed face seem more dramatic.

 

“Gaara? Gaara, what's wrong?” She said as she quickly walked to him. He didn't respond and when she tried to touch him, he almost bit her. She pulled back, wide eyed. He had done that since…

 

The phone in the apartment rang. Giving him a concerned look, she stood to answer it. It was the school.

 

“Have you gone mental!” She screamed into the phone once the women on the other end was done explaining the events that had happened that morning. “What in the world made you think it was ok to let that man within shouting distance of Gaara?”

 

“Ms. Sabaku, please understand. Only the Principle, Vice Principle and the councilor know about this. From what we found out one of the student aids that was filling in that morning had let him in, not knowing. He said that he had been asked to come to the school by Gaara.”

 

“That's impossible. Gaara would never do that.” She looked over to check on Gaara, but he wasn't there anymore, just his school things. Down the hall she could hear what sounded like heavy thudding. She saw some of his books fly out his door. Not giving the caller another thought, she hung up the phone and ran down the hall. Gaara was in the process of completely destroying his room. His book selves were all up turned and books made the room look completely chaotic while his desk was also upended and against the closet. He was in the process of trying to up turn his bed.

 

Oh, this was very bad…

 

Temari raced to him and tried to get him to stop, but she was violently shoved away. “Gaara! Stop it!”

 

He did stop, but only to crouch on the ground, wrap his arms around himself and start to rock back and forth. Temari wanted to cry. She hadn't seen him like this since he was 13 and the lab techs were trying to sedate him. Not knowing what to do, she went back to the phone to call Kankuro.

 

 

0o0o0o0

 

When he knocked on the door, it was already well into the afternoon. Kakashi waited as he heard footsteps inside the apartment come towards the door. He cursed his receptionist who had waited to give him the message that something had happened for so long. By the time he had called back, things had only gotten worse from the sounds of it.

 

“He just snapped. His uncle came and he completely snapped. It's as if the last three years didn't happen.” Temari had said when he called. She almost sounded like she was about to burst into tears, and when she opened the door for him, he could see that she had.

 

“Where is he?”

 

“In his room.”

 

 

Kakashi followed her as she lead the way. Kankuro stood outside the room, leaning on the way while watching inside. Worry made his face wrinkle. Looking at him, Kakashi could see the desperation in his eyes. Moving into the room, he saw the lone figure of Gaara, arms still wrapped around himself and still rocking back and forth.

 

He looked back to the siblings. “So his uncle just showed up to his school?”

 

Temari nodded. “They said that he insisted that Gaara had asked him to come, but we all know he wouldn't do that. We don't know the details too much. One of Gaara's friends hit him and then Gaara took off not too long after that.” She paused to look at her little brother. “He ran all the way here. He didn't stop till he was home and the door was locked.

 

“Did his friend know about the situation with his uncle at all?”

 

“No. We don't know why he…” There was a knock at the door. Temari excused herself to answer it.

 

Kakashi knelt down by the boy. “Gaara.”

 

The rocking stopped. That was a good sign.

 

“Gaara, I know what happened was very shocking and scary, but your ok now. You're safe and…” Kakashi's eyes narrowed and he moved around to take a better look at Gaara's face. His face was completely blanks and he eyes were staring off at some distant point.

 

Mentally cursing, he stood up and went to Kanuro. “He couldn't cope with the situation or the thoughts for feelings so he's done the only thing that he can do. Shut down.”

 

Temari came back, with a pink haired girl behind her. He was able to recognized the right away.

 

 

Kakashi looked from one to other. “Listen to me. Right now what Gaara needs isn't time, medication or more therapy. What he needs is support. Especially from you.” He pointed a finger at Sakura.” You've been his anchor since he came here. You've helped him to understand that he can have a normal life and normal relations with others. Stay with him. Talk to him. He may not respond to you, but that doesn't mean he doesn't hear you. Hopefully this isn't a complete relapse.” Turning to looked Temari and Kankuro he said. “I'll come back tomorrow. There isn't a lot I can do right now. Depending on he changes what we do next. You have my number, call me if something happens. Don't touch him unless he touches you first.” Sighing, he picked up his things and left the apartment, closing the door softly in his wake.

 

Sakura looked at Gaara's siblings. “Can I stay for the night?”

 

Kankuro sighed, suddenly looking very old. “I don't have any objections. If the doctors wants you to stay close to him, then you can… just be careful.”

 

Nodding, both the teenagers went down the hall. Gaara had moved and slumped up against a wall there. His face was completely devoid of any expression what so ever. For all appearance, he looked like a huge doll.

 

“I heard what happened from Naruto. He's so worried about you. He'd be here right now but the school wouldn't let him leave and his dad is there right now…”

 

He didn't say anything, just let out a long sigh. She looked around the room and then back at him. Sakura started to tidy up the room. She righted the desk back up and tried to put the bed together again. After she made the bed, she started to collect the books that were scattered across the floor.

 

“You really trashed it.”

 

He didn't change. She sighed and bent down to pick up a number of books from the floor. She saw that one of them was the book that he'd lent her when they first met.

 

“This was a really good book.” She said, waving it. “Do you remember when you lent it to me? I was helping you unpack. After we got… together.” Sakura's vision suddenly became blurry. She quickly rubbed away the tears that were forming in her eyes. She looked back at him. More then anything she wanted to throw her arms around him and tell him that everything would be ok.

 

She slammed the books on the desk. “I hate this! I hate being so… useless. I can't really do anything but just ramble away.” She closed her eyes against the wave of tears and felt something wrap around her middle. Startled, she looked down and saw Gaara had wrapped himself around her, his face buried into her belly. If it wasn't for the slight shake in his shoulders and growing wetness, she would have never known that he was crying.