Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ Healing a pained heart ❯ First approach ( Chapter 7 )

“Trust me.” Gaara says with a wink.

Sakura yelps and clings to his shirt as a giant sand biscuit formed under their feet and brought them closer to the glass ceiling. He pushes her head down with his hand, so that they both sit down on the biscuit. They sit next to each other and Gaara wraps his right arm around her shoulders. Sakura rubs her cheek on his arm, catlike and smiles. He lifts his hand a little and caresses her face with the back of his fingers. Her face was still wet from crying. Sakura takes pleasure in the act and turns her head towards his chest, snuggling closer to his body. She holds her knees to her chest while Gaara kisses the crown of her head. He leans on his left arm on the sand for support. The stars called their names and their gaze redirected to the sky.

His deep voice wakes her up from her slumber.

“Is there anything sweeter than this hour?”

Sakura flushed and realized her face stings from the saltiness of her tears. Of, when will I learn to keep my emotions in check? All I do is cry.

“Gaara, thank you for taking this risk. I hope I will not disappoint you.”

Gaara squeezed her arm: “Stop talking nonsense. You are too pessimistic. Look at these beautiful stars.” And he points to each constellation and gives her information about it. Minute after minute, her mind pushes away all of her thoughts, making room for his voice only, until she gets lost in the melody of his words. His voice untangled the knots of her sophisticated and pessimistic thoughts that pulled at her each day.

Gaara didn’t like wine, but the smell of her hair makes him so drunk that he even forgets his own name.

Two love birds sit on a big, round sand biscuit.

The stars noticed a tinge of concern on his face. What was this disease she suffered from? Since when did she have it? How did she get it? How did this affect her exactly?

Her yawn pulls Gaara away from the jungle of his thoughts.

“My dear” he says stroking her cheek with his left hand “Let’s get you to bed. It’s late and you are tired.”

Her eyes are on him “I’ll get you to bed first because it’s more difficult for you to fall asleep, while I fall asleep 10 seconds after I close my eyes.” She got up on her feet while the biscuit brought them back to ground level.

“No, you have already helped me too many times. Let me do this for you.” He gets up as well, grabs her hand and drags her to her room without waiting for her answer. He opens the door and they both get in. Sakura kept trying to convince him she can sleep well by herself and his help is not needed.

“Don’t worry. I will not touch you. I just want to return the favor. Hop on the bed or do you need help?” He bends his back and stretches out his hands to throw her over his shoulder.

“N-no no no.” She stuttered while pushing his forehead away with her hand to keep him at distance.  “I can do it on my own.”

Gaara laughs and straightens his back. “Go on. I want to see.”

Sakura frowns with a funny face, but complies. She gets in bed and under the blanket. She lies on her back and before her head touches the pillow, she takes a hold of all her hair and moves it aside so no hairs rest under her body. Gaara thinks it’s weird, but doesn’t say anything. Instead, he kneels next to the bed which makes Sakura panic and cross her arms over her chest.

“Sakura, I will not touch you anywhere indecent. You have my word. I already told you I care about your honor and I will never force you to do anything you don’t want to.”

She relaxes a little and brings the hand closest to him, her right one, to her ear and scratches with shame. “What do we do now?”

Gaara thought about it for a minute, and then an idea came to mind:

“You said you like it when I read to you. I will bring a book and read until you fall asleep.” He gets up on his feet and prepares to leave when her hand anxiously grabs his sleeve and stops him in his tracks.

“Please wait. I don’t think it will work. I will fall asleep by myself. Just go to your room.”

Sadness wrapped its claws around him because he understood she doesn’t want him next to her. Sakura feels bad, squeezes his hand and tells him in a wilting voice:

“It’s not that I don’t want you here. Please don’t get me wrong. It’s just that...for months I haven’t been able to sleep on a bed.”

Gaara is perplexed. “What do you mean?” He doesn’t understand anything. Does she want to sleep on the floor? If so, he can make arrangements for her right away.

“It’s hard to explain. Please don’t laugh at me. I feel like I don’t deserve to sleep on the bed. I didn’t do anything worth sleeping on it. And I feel like somebody is watching me from the corners of the ceiling laughing at me. It makes me scared and I can’t look up.”

Tears of shame start filling up her eyes and she turns her head away from him. She never thought she will admit this to anyone. Her sincerity brings relief to his soul. He imagined he is the first one to know this about her, judging from her reaction. He kisses her hand and kneels again while refusing to let go of her. Gaara tried to alleviate her. He wasn’t very good at making jokes and he didn’t know much about girls either, but even a beginner like him could tell that dramatizing won’t solve anything. He used a calm, funny voice to say:

“Sakura, Sakura. Who wants to follow you from the ceiling? Why watch you from the corners? If you fear of being followed, I can assure you that this house is safe. Nobody wishes to do you any harm. Even if they try, I would crush them like ants. I am here to protect you.” He brushes her hair away from her forehead; she still couldn’t look at him “And if you don’t deserve to sleep on the bed, then I don’t either.”

She flinched at his words and finally looked him in the eye.

“What do you mean you don’t deserve to? You became Kazekage when you were 15, you protected a whole village by yourself, you changed the hearts of your people, you...”

She tried to get out of bed, but he pushed her shoulder back to lie down. She shook off the dust off his feet.

He interrupted her: “And you are a kunoichi who trained for years to achieve the power of the 100 healings, you saved my brother from a certain death when even our best doctors couldn’t and you are the strongest girl I know. I don’t want to hear this <<I don’t deserve>> anymore.”

The strength behind his words and his confidence cheered her up and she thanked him from the bottom of her heart. He noticed tears in the corner of her eyes again.

“My dear, please don’t cry anymore.” And he kept her hand between the two of his.

“Sorry, sorry.” She wiped her face with the back of her left hand.

“Go and wash your face” he kissed her hand again “I will go bring a book.”

She smiled and nodded happily.

It was the first night in many years when she slept peacefully and stress free. It was the first night she managed to sleep on a bed on her own free will. Gaara felt an immense joy. Each step he took brought him closer to the garden of her heart, where he wanted to uproot all the weeds that made her sad. When you can help someone, your life finally means something.

Sakura’s lessons with Shinki didn’t go very well. Shinki always put her in a difficult position when he tested her nerves. “When is this lesson over?” “I bet I can do this faster than you.” “Can’t you teach me anything that I don’t already know?” “You are such a good teacher, that I should be teaching myself.” He always laughed at her and Sakura felt like she wanted to dig her fist in his head. Of course, she couldn’t to that because he wasn’t her child and Shinki took advantage of it.

At first, she believed she can talk him into understanding it is not in his interest to behave this way, that he should make the most of the time they spend together to surpass all of his future colleagues from the Academy. But she soon realized nothing will change his behavior except for a power show off. She slammed her fist in the table and broke it while splitting the floor at the same time. Shinki didn’t say another word during that lesson. Sakura was finally pleased and grinned with her eyes closed in satisfaction.

Another time, Shinki suggested a plane competition. “Let’s see whose plane flies the farthest.” He leaned on his wind manipulation techniques, but he didn’t know how to make his plane more aerodynamic. Sakura gave a special shape to the wings, slightly curved down, so that air fills the gap and keeps the plane in the air. The spine was thin and the beak was sharp like a needle. The physics she studied in school was worth more than Shinki’s tricks, tricks that he didn’t even use well.

After Shinki lost for the ninth time, he lost his temper and destroyed her plane by stumping on it. She felt bad and took revenge by destroying his plane, too. Shinki was shocked. He looked at her as if he didn’t expect this to happen.

Shinki didn’t only have bad parts. He was a good boy when he wanted to. For instance, whenever Noriko made milk buns between meals, Shinki always took the first one and gave it to Sakura. Another time, Sakura had just painted her nails before she tried to open a water bottle without ruining her nails. Shinki saw her struggling and offered to help. He opened the bottle for her and said: “I am a man. I am strong. Trust me.”

Sakura smiled and thought like father, like son. She thanked him while ruffling his hair. He seemed pleased and went back where he came from.

Gaara paid Sakura for all the lessons she had with Shinki. It was an extra effort from her and he was aware that his son could be tiring and rebellious. He scolded his son whenever he saw he upset Sakura. The boy always listened to his father, but not for long. Gaara always tried to cheer her up by offering to help her with something or spending more time with her. He didn’t wish to see her stressed or feel bad in his house. He tried to be fair to Sakura and Shinki at the same time.

Once, Gaara taught Shinki some new lesson and Sakura walked into the house wearing a blue blouse and held a blue bag in her hand. She greeted her boys while taking off her shoes and went to her room. Shinki whispered to Gaara: “I think her favorite color is blue.” And he kept writing on his notebook. His father was shocked by his insight and felt proud that he managed to bring peace into the house. Sakura’s presence truly made the house brighter, warmer and more welcoming.

As a reward, Gaara prepared a special gift for her. He knocked on her door after he cleaned up nicely. He wore a black suit with a white shirt and a blue satin napkin in his chest pocket. Sakura opened the door. She had a hand in her wet hair and held her robe with her other hand to prevent it from opening and showing her chest. She didn’t wear anything underneath. Gaara couldn’t refrain from taking a quick look at her chest and felt ashamed. He quickly looked to the side.

“What is it?” she asked “Oh, you dressed up nicely. You look handsome.”

Oh no. I should have said this to her.

“I came here to thank you for treating me and Shinki with kindness.” He bowed respectfully and extended his hands to her. She noticed he was holding a small, black velvet box, which she took in her hands and opened it curiously. Gold earrings in the shape of white lotus flowers made her eyes shine. She jumped on him throwing her arms around his neck, thanking him. Gaara happily held her by the waist and felt her hard nipples poking his chest through the clothes. Her robe was soft, but he bet her skin was even softer. His erection threatened to show from imagining her naked body and he grabbed her by the shoulders and broke the embrace. She thanked him and kissed his left cheek. He was flattered and said:

“Let's go out tonight.”

“Sure. Let me dress up.”

“I will be waiting for you in the living room.” He winked and took his leave. He sat on the couch the same way she found him when they went out for the first time.

Sakura spent all her money on clothes, shoes and bags because Gaara didn’t let her pay for anything in the house. She bought some fruit once, washed them and put them in bowls, then brought them to Gaara and Shinki. Gaara insisted to know how much they cost and gave her the money back. <<I am the man in this house. It is my duty to procure for you and Shinki. If there is anything else that you want, my most precious treasure, buy it and I will give you the money back.>>

Sakura chose a pink cupcake dress that reached her knees. It had a big ribbon over her chest and tulle gathered on the sides from her hips down. She wore a white shirt underneath, with long bell sleeves with many layers of lace sewn one under the other. She put on stockings with flower print in the same color as the dress and safety pants under the petticoat. Sakura didn’t forget to put on her new earrings. They shone like stars on the bottom of the sea. She tied some of her damp hair in 2 buns on each side of her ears, and the rest of the hair brushed her back. She put on red lipstick and applied perfume behind her ears, on her wrists and between her breasts. She grabbed a suitable bag, and then left the room.

When she arrived in the living room, she found Gaara on the couch and approached him from behind, without making any sound, just like the first time. His head leaned back against the couch, his left arm stretched out on it, his eyes were closed. When their faces were only centimeters away, Gaara startled her by grabbing her face with both his hands and kissing her hard on the mouth. She tried to protest, but his grip was iron and her cries were muffled by his heated lips. She felt the tip of his tongue on her lips, but she didn’t understand what it means, so she didn’t do anything.

He finally let her breathe after kissing her chin and let go of her head. She pulled back and wiped her chin as he wiped his lips of her red lipstick.

Sakura laughed “Where are we going?”

“I was thinking of going to the festival, if it pleases you.” And he got up from the couch.

“Oh, I didn’t know there are festivals in Suna.”

“Yes, well, I am sure Temari would have told you about this if she didn’t already leave for Konoha with Shikadai a few days ago. We will take a different route from the other citizens. I hope you don’t mind. If I get recognized, they would all jump on me and wouldn’t leave me alone.”

She looked at him strangely and the fear that he is ashamed to go out in public with her slowly enveloped her. It was natural to keep the relationship a secret before some time passed though.

They got out of the house, matched their steps together and headed to the location. When they got on an empty street, Gaara grabbed her by the waist and focused his power in his left hand to create another sand biscuit to transport them to the festival. Sakura held onto him tightly and it made him happy that she trusted him enough to travel this way. Her clinging onto him meant she relies on his protection. How beautiful it is to know someone depends on you.

Soon, they started seeing crowds of people sitting on sand dunes, wearing variegated colors. They held all sorts of food and glasses of juice in their hands. Sakura could smell all these sorts of sweets from the air. A loud music could be heard. It irritated Gaara because it was too noisy for his liking, but he looked at Sakura’s happy face and calmed down. They stopped in the air, above everyone else, they had the best view. Gaara sent his shards of sand to buy and bring Sakura anything she wished for. He even created a barrier of sand behind them because wind blew from that direction and he didn’t want Sakura to be cold. His sand brought pillows to sit on and juice, sweets, food. They kneeled on the pillows and enjoyed the show. Sakura clapped her hands happily while the singers performed.

Suddenly, Sakura dropped something which risked falling on someone’s head from underneath and she crawled to try and grab it, but her hand slipped and she almost fell from the giant biscuit. Gaara caught her with both hands from her hips and pulled her back. They both fell on their behinds, with Sakura between his parted legs, her back to his chest. He bent his knees and planted his feet in the sand. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, grabbing his left wrist with his other hand, caging her in.

“You’re not going anywhere.” He planted a kiss on the back of her neck, which gave her goose bumps. She moaned unintentionally. Gaara grinned and rested his head on her left shoulder. Possessive men aroused Sakura. The smell of her arousal filled his nostrils. He inhaled and got drunk on this unique fragrance. He would have taken her on the spot if he could.

Sakura tried to keep her thighs close together, but the inevitable friction made her even wetter. Gaara couldn’t refrain from saying:

“You smell so good it’s driving me crazy.” Her shirt didn’t have a collar and he took advantage of it by moving it to the side with his left hand, to make room for his lips. He kissed the exposed skin, from her neck until close to her shoulder. She didn’t do anything to stop him, so he licked his lower lip and bit on the junction where her shoulder and neck met, slowly at first. He wanted to check on her reaction first. Her arousal was more intense, thus he concluded she likes what he does to her, so he bit harder, until she screamed. The loud music swallowed her scream and nobody else but he heard it. He took his mouth away from her and rearranged her shirt to the way it was before.

“I am sorry. I think I went a bit too far.”

Sakura’s ears didn’t hear anything except for her frantic heartbeat. Her face was all red. Sakura has never done this before and she wanted to share her feelings with him. She gathered the little bravery the arousal gave her, and took his right arm with both her hands and placed it on her chest.

“Gaara, can you feel how fast my heart beats when I am with you? You make me so nervous, like nobody else. My mind and body only want you and all I hear in my head is the endless echo of your name.”

His palm burned up on her chest, like somebody set it on fire. Gaara felt so good to know how much emotion he triggers in her. He cupped her right cheek with his left hand and turned her face to look at him. Her eyes were filled with lust. He pressed his lips on hers and again she felt the tip of his tongue on her lower lip. She broke the contact angrily.

“Why do you keep sticking out your tongue?”

Gaara laughed wholeheartedly. He grabbed her chin and pushed her mouth open: “This is why”

His tongue invaded her mouth and she blushed furiously, trying to mimic his moves. The fire ignited in both of them from doing this for the first time. The heated kiss made Gaara lose himself in the pleasure, especially after Sakura pulled his right hand to her left breast. He snuck his hand under her dress and fondled it. She wasn’t wearing a bra, so he could feel the hardened nipple, the size of a small cherry. He pinched it and pulled slightly. Sakura gasped with wide eyes, moaning in his mouth and trying to break the contact. Gaara laughed and let her go after he caught her lower lip between his teeth and pulled a little.

Sakura felt very embarrassed and she couldn’t look at him. She quickly fixed her clothes and tried to get up. Gaara hugged her and squeezed until breath left her lungs, then let her go. She went to sit next to him again, biting her lip in amusement. They both pretended to watch the show go on.