Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ Healing a pained heart ❯ Potato ( Chapter 11 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

“I never have nightmares when father is home.”

Shinki’s words made Sakura realize how much safety Gaara’s presence has to offer for the kid. He knew nothing can happen to him as long as his father is there to protect him. The father is an important part of a family. The woman and the child both rely on him.

Sakura put on her standard working clothes along with a white hair band to keep her bangs out of the way, and then she went to the kitchen, where the boys were having breakfast.

“Aren’t you eating with us?” Gaara asked.

“Sorry, but I have something urgent I need to do. Shinki, you can come straight to me after school. We’ll go home together from the lab.” She grabbed some figs from the table and left after saying her goodbyes.

Shinki and Gaara stared at each other and continued to eat.

“Dad, do you want to see that I can swallow this potato without chewing it?” Shinki said while shoving the big boiled chunk of potato from his plate into his mouth.
“NO!” Gaara slapped his son’s nape to make him spit, but Shinki already swallowed it. “Spit it out!”

“It’s already gone, dad.” The boy said with a grin from ear to ear.

Gaara had a scolding look in his eye.

“You’ll eat my liver! How can you eat without chewing? Do you want to choke and die?”

“But dad, I am strong. I won’t die in such a stupid way, I’m not an idiot.”

“Don’t ever do that again!”

 Shinki lowered his eyes and continued to eat carefully. He looked at his plate and thought: Why are adults so pesky? They’re not fun at all.

Gaara glared at him to make sure Shinki ate properly. I’ll tell Noriko to make purée and soup for him from now on. Let’s see how he eats those without chewing.

Sakura was in a hurry in the morning because she wanted to find a secluded place where she could take out her medicinal herbs sealed in the parchment paper. She unsealed them and stuffed her work bag with the herbs. She went to the lab 1 hour earlier than everybody because her pills needed to be ready before her colleagues appeared. The ones she had were almost spent and she needed new ones. There was no need to tell Gaara because she wasn’t using Suna’s limited herb resources. Ever since Tsunade-sama let her know she will stay in Suna for about a year, Sakura considered solutions for making pills here. She couldn’t take 2000 pills from Konoha to Suna to last 1 year because she couldn’t hide such a big quantity and most of them would rot. Thus she sealed the plants she needed beforehand.

If only she didn’t forget Usagi was following her, everything would have been perfect. Usagi took notes of everything she did. He noticed something weird about her. Sakura sometimes walked along the street and looked at random people while shaking her head from side to side and said: “No, never.” Or “I don’t talk like this, I don’t think like this.” These sentences puzzled Usagi. Is she communicating with someone? It all made him even more aware of her every move.

Usagi always discussed daimyo-sama’s orders with Midori in secret. Both of them had their own mission. Usagi played a double role: daimyo-sama’s spy and Kazekage-sama’s soldier, which wasn’t always one and the same thing because the daimyo and the Kazekage couldn’t stand each other, but unfortunately, they both needed one another.

When Sakura had a hunch in the lab and presented it to the others, Midori and Usagi talked while Sakura was passed out after drinking the tea mixed with sleeping pills.

“Why must we hide the truth? I thought this was the purpose from the beginning: for them to find out there’s Aluminum in the water to create panic.” Midori asked Usagi.

“She found out too soon. We haven’t had time to initiate phase 2 of our plan. We have to wait until daimyo-sama gives us green light to expose everything.”

“What else should I do?”

“Nothing for now. I will let you know when new orders arrive.”

“Wakarimashita.”

Usagi knew that Sakura and Gaara fought, so when Gaara spent the nights at his office, Usagi reported half-truths about Sakura. His purpose was to destroy the trust between the pink haired girl and the Kazekage to weaken the link between the 2 villages. Usagi let him know about her strange behavior and even dared to tell Gaara that he saw Sakura replace lab reports with fake ones.

Gaara raised his hairless brows at the last part, but he ignored the rest. It was important for Usagi to present Sakura as a shady woman especially when she and Gaara weren’t in good terms. This type of information would make anyone lose their trust in Sakura in the long term. Everything was part of a bigger plan.

Shinki shyly appeared from behind the door of the lab and greeted everyone in such a low voice, that nobody noticed him, except for Kankurou who screamed from the top of his lungs, scaring everyone.

“Shinki! What’s my favorite nephew doing here?” Kankurou said while tickling him.

The child laughed and screamed. Sakura put her hands on her hips and laughed, too. Kankurou grabbed the boy by his stomach and legs and held him in air, like a plane. Shinki had his arms open like a bird. “Watch out for the plane!” Kankurou shouted while running around the lab with Shinki above his head.

“Kankurou, be careful! You’ll break something! Don’t hit his head!” Sakura got agitated.

“Yes, yes, let me have fun with my nephew!”

Sakura was sitting on thorns while Kankurou ignored her warnings. She was sure this can’t end well. Her predictions came true a few minutes later when Kankurou stumbled on a wire and almost fell forward. He quickly wrapped his right foot around the leg of the table to shift his weight backwards and fell on his back with the kid on his stomach. Everything that was previously on the table fell and broke on the floor.

“So cool! Do it again! Uncle Kankurou is the best!”

Kankurou laughed for a second before Sakura’s screams interrupted them.

“Aaaaa! What did I tell you? I knew you were going to break something! Look at the mess you did! Who is going to clean this up?” Sakura said while pointing at all the broken cups and glasses on the floor, all the wrinkled papers dirty with coffee and tea stains.

Kankurou froze and held the child in front of him to defend himself from Sakura’s blow. She’s so scary, just like Temari. Kankurou apologized. Sakura told him to clean up the mess, but Midori insisted to do it for him. Sakura snorted, but she calmed down when she realized she won’t have to work extra because of the boys.

“Come, Shinki.” She got closer to the boy and lifted him from his armpits. “We’re going to see dad.” Sakura smiled at everyone and said her goodbyes. She wrapped her arm around his waist and kept him hanging under her left arm, like a sack of potatoes. Shinki was facing the sand. He would glance at Sakura from time to time with his big eyes. He cleared the path ahead of her steps with his sand. Gaara was right; the boy was talented at manipulating his weapon.

Gaara heard knocks on his office door.

“Come in.”

Sakura opened the door with her right hand:

“I hope you’re hungry because I brought you a dumpling.”

“Daddy!” Shinki squeaked happily, wriggling in Sakura’s hold.

“Don’t move so much, I’ll drop you.”

“I want to go to daddy.” Shinki pouted.

The second Sakura put him down, Shinki ran to his father’s arms. Gaara crouched and grabbed the boy by his ankles and threw him over his right shoulder before biting lightly the boy’s leg. He pretended to eat his son and Shinki screamed like he was about to be swallowed by a snake. Sakura watched them both and couldn’t contain her laughter. Father and son were a perfect duo. When Gaara’s and Sakura’s eyes met, they felt as if looking into each other’s soul.

Shinki tried to lift his upper body like a fish outside water to take a hold of his father’s hair, but he couldn’t reach, so he fell back down, tugging at Gaara’s clothes.

Gaara’s low but soothing voice filled Sakura’s ears:

“You came just in time. I finished work a few seconds ago.” He rearranged his son to sit on his shoulders. Shinki happily grabbed his dad’s red locks and Gaara held him by the ankles to make sure he doesn’t fall.

“Daddy is a lion.”

“Who told you that?” Gaara asked while raising a hairless brow at Sakura.

Sakura blushed when she heard the answer.

“Sakura said I am a lion cub. You are my dad, so you are a lion. Roooar!” Shinki squeaked.

It was the first time Sakura has ever heard Gaara laugh. It was guttural and sounded rusty, like he hadn’t been practiced before. She laughed too, covering her mouth to avoid being too loud.

Gaara was the first to leave the office and Sakura touched his shoulder to remind him to bend before going under the door frame.

“Watch out for his head.”

Gaara bent but not enough because Shinki hiccupped from laughing so much, which made his body jerk and he hit his forehead on the door frame, falling backwards on his dad’s back.

“Ouch.”

“Aaaa. I told you to be careful.” Sakura scolded Gaara, who didn’t say anything. She quickly healed Shinki’s pain with her chakra and helped lift him on Gaara’s shoulders again.

“Again! Again!” Shinki screamed happily.

The corners of Gaara’s mouth lifted upwards in a silent laugh.

“There is no ‘again’, Shinki! You’ll break your head.”

“You’re not fun at all.”

“That’s enough. Let’s get going. I am starving.” Gaara tried to prevent things from escalating.

He matched his steps with Sakura’s. She was walking 1 step behind him, with her arms clasped behind her back. They walked in the same rhythm, same as their hearts beat at the same time.

Sakura looked at the sky and she couldn’t help but notice it wasn’t as hot as it was the first day she arrived to Suna. The weather was good.

After dinner, Sakura went to her room to give Shinki a chance to spend time with his father. During the meal, Shinki didn’t stop talking. He must have drunk water from the ducks. It was unusual for a quiet kid like him to be so talkative. He didn’t normally say one word more than necessary. Sakura concluded the boy was very happy to know he won’t be abandoned. Both Gaara and Sakura tried their best to not leave him alone. When one was away, Shinki had the other to spend time with.

Sakura undressed and entered the tub. She liked hot water, so steam rose from her body as if it burned. It was pretty late when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. She left the bathroom door open on purpose to hear Gaara when he knocks.

“Come in.” Sakura raised her voice enough to be heard, but not more.

Gaara got inside her bedroom; he looked around, but couldn’t see her.

“I am right here.” She said from the tub.

He realized she meant the bathroom and blushed.

“I will come back later, then.” He turned to leave.

“No. Come to me.” Sakura purred like a cat while splashing water in the tub.

Gaara came closer with timid steps, looking to the side and scratching his nose. He was ashamed to see her naked.

“Come closer, my lion.” Sakura said in a sweet erotic voice.

Gaara swallowed, but he listened to her. He sat on his knees beside the tub.

“Come on, it’s not like you see me naked for the first time.” She teased.

He tried to explain himself, but when he lifted his eyes to meet hers, the vixen already had his cheeks in her palms pushing them inside to taper his lips.

“Fish face.” She laughed, mocking him.

He was annoyed. He looked at her through his lashes while grabbing her ankle and pulling. Her head ended up in the water and he laughed when she splashed water everywhere to try and reach surface again.

“Who’s the fish now?”

She splashed him in revenge before getting up from the tub. He faintly tried to dodge her attack with a smile on his lips. He grabbed a towel when he saw her get up and offered a hand to help her. He was afraid she would slip. She took his hand and wrapped the towel around her body. She had her back to him when he grabbed her by the hip and cupped her cheek with his right hand to guide her face and kiss her.

“You’re all wet. You need to change otherwise you’ll catch a cold.” She said before biting her lip after the heated kiss.

He turned her around and his right hand touched her neck while his lips planted heated kisses behind her ear and lower on her cleavage. His lips were hot like the wax of a seal on an envelope.

“I’ll do as my blossom says.”

Sakura put on a black kimono and tied a golden sash around her waist. It reached her ankles and it had long sleeves. This time she decided to wear a golden bracelet to match the earring she got from Gaara. She wore them every day and it made Gaara very happy.

Gaara turned around while she changed to give her privacy. When she said “I am ready.” he turned to look at her. She was so pretty.

“Come with me so I can change clothes too.”

“Wait. You forgot to say how good I look.” She teased him again like a sly fox.

He blushed but he told her what she wanted to hear.

“You are very beautiful.”

It made Sakura very happy to know she still manages to make him flustered. She followed him to his bedroom.

“I have something for you. Stay there and don’t move.” Sakura was facing the small round window in Gaara’s room, with her hands crossed over her chest and obeyed like a good girl she was. Gaara closed the distance between them after grabbing something in his right fist. He was behind her. He touched her stomach with his left hand to bring her closer to him and leaned his chin on her right shoulder. Sakura snuggled into him with her eyes closed. Her abdomen muscles tenses when he pressed on them because it was a sensitive area. She bit her lip, but didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to ruin the moment by making him feel bad. His right fist went around her body and opened in front of her eyes. He held a small bird that looked very sleepy. It had a long curved beak, a long tail, rounded wings and strong legs. The plumage was grey-brown above, paler below. There were dark streaks on the back and the throat was slightly white. Sakura’s heart melted when she saw it and she brought her hands to his open palm to touch the small creature, which started whistling the moment her hands touched it.

“It’s so beautiful.” Sakura said in awe.

Gaara let Sakura hold the bird, while his hand joined the other one on her stomach. He laid his chin on her right shoulder and observed her. He allowed his heart to feed on Sakura’s joy.

“It’s a messenger babbler. It has a variety of calls including whistles, trills and chattering. She’s as fast as an arrow. Since I am always this busy, I thought if you ever need me and you can’t find me, tell her the message and she will come directly to me. There’s no need to write a note and tie it to her leg, like the eagles. Just tell her the message and she will repeat after you.” He ended his explanation with a kiss on her right shoulder.

Sakura thanked him and the bird repeated Sakura’s words in a high-pitched voice that made Sakura laugh and Gaara grunt. I’ll get a headache if I have to listen to many messages from this voice.

Later that night, Sakura offered to give him a massage. He took off his shirt and lied on the stomach on the bed, with his arms crossed under his head. Sakura sat on the bed, next to him. She enjoyed seeing his skin even if he was only half-naked. She drew and imaginary line with the tip of her finger from the back of his neck, along his spine to the waistband of his trousers. Gaara felt proud to know she desires him. She pressed her hands on his tense muscles until his back healed completely. He occasionally grunted, but sighed in relief when she finished. He tried to get up when a sudden weight on his back put him down again. Sakura sat with her full weight on him, knees on either side of his hips and hands on his shoulders. Her breasts flattened on his back.

“What are you doing?” Gaara asked in a strangled voice.

“I’m straightening your back.” She puffed in his left ear.

“I can’t breathe.”

“What kind of man are you? You complain like a woman” Sakura laughed and bit his shoulder lightly.

His pride took the blow. He called his sand to wrap itself around her ankles, wrists and her middle before lifting her off of him and slamming her on the bed, facing him.

“Hey, it’s not fair.”

He hovered over her with a smug smile on his lips. She still had her ankles and wrists tied by his sand. He kissed her forcefully while his left hand travelled the path from her neck to her left breast which he squeezed rather harshly.

“Mine.”

“Gaara, let go.” She laughed, so he didn’t comply because he knew she actually enjoys it.

He pushed the fabric of the dress to the side to expose her breast. His lips wrapped around the erect nipple and bit when she protested. His left hand travelled lower, passing her navel; when she felt him approach her private parts, she tried to keep her legs closer together and resist his touch, but he silenced her with his lips.

“A man takes what is his. You’re mine. I can take you right now, what do you think?” His eyes were dark with lust. He wanted to provoke her, though he didn’t expect her answer.

He was so handsome when he was all dominant that she could feel her arousal wetting her panties. Gaara’s hand cupped her pussy through the dress. His hand’s warmth felt incredible on her and she was sure it would feel even better inside.

“A man shouldn’t have to ask.” She dared him to go on.

He saw her biting her lip and thought: This woman is driving me crazy. Her words ignited a fire in him and he knew he won’t be able to stop. I want her mouth, her neck, her breasts, her pussy and legs. I want her all to myself.

His face was right above her pussy and he opened his mouth to bite her through the dress when his ears heard a strange noise from the hall. He got up abruptly and his sand let Sakura go. Sakura was in a hurry to cover herself, alarmed by his reaction.

“What’s wrong?”

“Something’s wrong with Shinki.” He got out the door in fast motion.

“Shinki!” He yelled.

Sakura followed and saw him kneel beside his son who was crouched on the floor with a blue face, struggling to breathe.

“He can’t breathe.” Sakura ran to them.

Gaara patted his back furiously. Sakura kneeled behind Shinki, pressed her right hand on his sternum while focusing chakra in her left hand to pat his back once. Shinki immediately spit the potato he swallowed whole at breakfast and his airway cleared. He desperately tried to fill his lungs with air as his face regained color. Sakura mover her hand from his neck to his chest to heal any lesion caused by the return of the potato.

That was the first time Sakura saw Gaara truly angry.

“You’re grounded! Don’t ever swallow food you haven’t chewed first. Do you want to die? What if Sakura wasn’t here?”

Gaara’s yell could be heard from any corner of the house. Shinki lowered his eyes to the ground and remained silent. Sakura took the boy in her arms and got up on her feet, trying to calm Gaara. Shinki wrapped his arms around her neck.

“Gaara” Sakura said in a suave voice. But she swallowed her words when she met his icy angry eyes. She lowered her head while listening to him speaking.

“He is a ninja, Sakura. We can’t treat him like a baby. He has to learn to stop making stupid mistakes like this one.”

“I’m sorry, papa.” Shinki’s guilty voice reached their ears as he wiggled in Sakura’s arms.