Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ Healing a pained heart ❯ Glued together ( Chapter 19 )

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

Gaara took his sand urn, kissed his girlfriend on the forehead and ruffled his child’s hair with a smile on his lips. He expected a tantrum from his son, although he hoped it won’t happen. Sakura looked at the boy, too. Shinki’s eyes were empty, as if he could look through Gaara. Shinki already imagined he will never see his father again. If he didn't succeed through all his efforts from the last few days to make Gaara change his mind, it was clear that his word held no power. Thus, Shinki wished to save his energy.

Kankurou and other members of the Kazekage’s suite escorted their leader to the destination while Sakura was left alone with Shinki.

“OK, little bug. Let’s go to school.”

“I don’t want to go.”

Sakura made a wry mouth. 5 minutes didn’t even go by without Gaara and Shinki was already causing problems.

“What do you mean? You have to go to school. Come on. It’s out of question.” Sakura said with her back to the boy. She was on the way to her bedroom to grab her purse.

“I want to stay with you”

Sakura turned to the side to look at him and smiled.

“We’ll stay together after school.”

“I will be at school and you will leave. Just like dad.”

The boy’s voice drowned in tears opened an old wound in Sakura. She remembered how her mom always threatened her dad she will leave him for good. Sakura always cried. Her mother’s threats made Sakura afraid of leaving her out of her sight fearing she will never see her mom again. Little Sakura opened her eyes 2 or 3 hours before dawn because of stress to check if her mom is still in the house. Her dad knew his wife likes throwing a tantrum and she doesn’t actually intend to leave, so he wasn’t stressed at all, but Sakura felt as if her world ended every day. It felt like she was on the edge of a big plate and somebody pushed her from behind to fall in an endless pit of pain, despair and sadness.

Poor Shinki. He must feel the same now.

Sakura sighed before stepping closer to the little boy. She bent forward to be on eye level with him and held his hand in hers. Her voice was sweet like honey and she spoke with the kindness of a mother, the tenderness of a freshly bloomed flower, the warmth of the afternoon sun:

“A boy with a mind as sharp as a needle forged in the fire that grinds him. Dust still creeps in through the sieve of his soul to scratch the strings of the violin that cries in his heart. The stars together sever parts of their glow to make the tears that this boy cries; tears that can’t scratch the petal of any flower; tears that don’t split in 2 if they were to fall on the thorn of a cactus; not even the sun with his powerful thick cheeks can dry them off. I don’t have kids, but if I were to choose one, that would be you. You mean more to me than rain to the desert, sunlight for the trees, a friend by a sick man’s bed, bread on a poor man’s table. I will never leave you. I will be next to you every moment, ok?”

Shinki cried and sobbed while he desperately clung to her dress with his small hands. Sakura’s heart shattered in a thousand pieces. Whoever said there must be a sieve placed before the entry to one’s soul was right. She took the child into her arms by the armpits. She held his back with one hand and his legs with the other hand. His hands held her tight around the neck and he occasionally hit her in the stomach with his knee by mistake. However, Sakura didn’t complain.

“Sh, sh, don’t cry. Let’s stay home today, but tomorrow I will take you to school. Your dad will be very angry with me if he finds out you skipped class, ok? I will watch you from the schoolyard until your classes end. You can see me through the window. I won’t leave you, ok?”

In spite of all these assurances, Shinki’s eyes were filled with tears to the point he couldn’t see anything clearly. Sakura patted his back and rocked him to relieve him of the worry.

“Don’t cry. Everything’s fine.” She kissed his head and nuzzled her nose in his brown hair.

The bird soared around them and chirped continuously before she finally decided to rest on Sakura’s shoulder. The bird rubbed its cheek against Sakura’s and then looked at the boy with wonder and something that seemed like a tinge of sad understanding.

Sakura smiled and realized that her coming to Suna was indeed a blessing.

She carried the boy in her arms the whole day, wherever she went. He refused to let go of her in fear she will go away for good. Sakura held him on her knees when they ate. Everything she ate, he ate, too. They went everywhere together. They even played with the bird together. Sakura tried and even succeed to take a nap at noon. The little bug sat right next to her, watching her face the whole time. He caressed her pink locks from the roots to ends because he remembered Shikadai’s mistake when he tried to caress Sakura from Temari’s arms. Shinki’s actions were heartwarming, but even so his face was still expressionless as if he was forcing himself to not show that he cared or maybe he didn’t know how to display his affection.

Sakura started humming in her sleep. She managed to steal a smile from Shinki. He lied on the bed with his head next to hers and hugged her around the neck with his small hand.

*At the greenhouse with Matsuri*

Sakura’s bird kept flying around the greenhouse while squeaking and peeping. Shinki started to grow a headache because of this, so he raised his hand to create a sand cage to trap the bird mid air and send it farther from him. Sakura stopped him when she heard the desperate cries of her pet.

“Shinki, let her go. How would you like it if someone kept you in a cage?”

Shinki looked at Sakura’s face in deep thought.

“But it’s so noisy.”

“If you don’t like what somebody does to you, then don’t do it to somebody else. I have never complained about the noise you make.” She kissed his cheek.

Shinki frowned because he didn’t like to be kissed in public, but concluded that he must make efforts if he hopes to keep Sakura on his side. He couldn’t risk upsetting her, so he let the bird go.

Matsuri stood from the chair and got closer to the boy with her hands extended towards him as if she was holding an invisible book. Shinki raised his hand to activate his sand in defense from this stranger, but Sakura held his hand down.

“Don’t worry. I know a jutsu that will give you silence temporarily.” Matsuri said as she touched the boy’s temples with both of her hands. Blue chakra gathered in circles around his head, estranging all sounds from his ears.

“Thank you.” Sakura said.

“Don’t worry about it, Sakura-san. What would you say if we went shopping together?”

“Why? We already have Noriko who takes care of our food. It’s difficult enough to carry Shinki everywhere I go. I can’t carry any extra weight.”

“I understand. I have an idea. How about Sakura-san chooses a plant to take home?”

“I am not really good with plants. I always forget to water them.”

“The good part about living in Suna is that cacti require water only 3 times a year, so it is not a problem if Sakura-san doesn’t remember the exact date to water the plants.” Matsuri explained.

“I wonder...”

Matsuri already started wandering through the greenhouse in search of something pretty. She kept on speaking with her back turned to her interlocutor.

“Even Gaara-sama has cacti in his office. It must be boring for Sakura-san to look out the window and only see yellow and orange.”

Something clicked in Sakura’s mind and she had to admit the girl was right. When she lived in Konoha, every time she looked out the window, she always saw a sea of green leaves, the brown trunks of the trees. Birds always sang from dawn to dusk every day. She missed the green that always greeted her in the morning. Matsuri is a sensitive girl. She read me like an open book.” Sakura thought.

Sakura ended up by choosing a lot of plants to take home. Even if many of them weren’t even cacti, she set her mind to take care of them the best she could. Matsuri helped her carry them home since Sakura had to give Shinki a piggyback ride. Shinki helped the girls carry the bags with his sand, too. The bird flew ahead of them, leading the way through the desert.

Noriko stopped hiding her displeasure and hostility towards Sakura now that Gaara wasn’t around. She seemed pretty sure Gaara won’t be coming back.

In truth, Matsuri looked for an excuse to come with Sakura, so she can check if everything was alright. She has lived all of her life in Suna, so she knew how to read people and most importantly, she knew what to expect from them. The look on Noriko’s face when she turned to enter the kitchen while Sakura was taking off her shoes, didn’t go unnoticed by Matsuri’s sharp eyes. She was on alert, but decided to leave without making Sakura panic.

*Kankurou and Gaara on the road*

“Little brother, something doesn’t smell right. We better not spilt.”

“Don’t worry, big brother. I will protect you.”

“Hey, I am supposed to say that. I am older than you.” Kankurou was indignant.

Gaara stifled a laugh with his eyes closed. He was ready for whatever was about to happen. He was only concerned about the ones he left at home, even if he prepared things there in case anything happens.

Everything went well with Sakura and Shinki until she needed to go to the bathroom. Shinki didn’t want to lose her out of his sight not even for a second.

“I will go really fast and come back in less than 5 minutes.”

Shinki got scared and clung to her dress with teary eyes.

“I want to come with you.”

“You can’t come with me. I am a girl and you are a boy. Wait for me here, by the door. I will be right back.”

“No.” Shinki was crying again. Sakura was exasperated. What should I do?

“How about this? You wrap your sand string around my little finger, I enter the bathroom and you stay here. This way we will be connected. You will feel me through the sand, right? You hold my hand with the sand and don’t let go. Is it good?”

This was the best offer Sakura could make.

Shinki rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and weighed his options for a few painfully long minutes. She really needed to go to the bathroom. A small hand rose to form some sort of cable made of sand mixed with iron to grab her by the finger, as she said. Sakura sighed in relief and put the boy down before she entered the bathroom and closed the door. Shinki was staring at the door. The cable connected them underneath the door. Sakura felt his sand squeeze her a little too hard. The boy must feel frightened. She tried to calm him down by saying words meant to comfort him from behind the door:

“That’s it. I will come to you right away. Just hold on a little longer. That’s it. I am almost ready. Right now. Look, I am washing my hands, you can open the door.”

Shinki didn’t open the door because he was lost in his train of thoughts. While he imagined all sorts of scenarios, his sand squeezed Sakura’s finger harder and harder. The boy was like an unpolished diamond, just like his dad. Sakura opened the door:

“You can let go now, Shinki.”

The boy suddenly woke up from his slumber and let her go. Sakura took him in her arms again, careful to hid the broken finger from him. She clasped her hands underneath the boy’s legs and healed her finger without him to notice. It’s going to be 3 very long days.

The first day was the hardest for Sakura because she wasn’t used to have someone with her 24/7. It was exhausting, even if she did it happily.

At night, after she bathed the boy and helped him change into clean clothes, she took him to her room. Sakura didn’t have a bath that night because she couldn’t possibly let him in. She resorted to washing her face and feet before hopping on the bed with the clothes she wore all day. Shinki tried to get closer to her on the bed, but Sakura gestured for him to wait. She rested her back against the pillows on the wall behind her. She had her legs stretched before she placed another pillow on her ankles. She held the boy from under his armpits to put him on the pillow, with his eyes facing the ceiling. She moved her feet slowly from left to right, then right to left. Shinki was looking at her face with a hand buried in the fabric of her dress while she rocked him. He had a tired, but happy face. The song she sang soothed him and even relaxed her, too.

“Sakura?”

“Hm?” Sakura opened her eyes and held him by the feet. She played with his toes and tickled him on purpose. Shinki burst out laughing and pulled his feet back playfully before stretching his legs again to find her hands one more time. He likes it. He’s so slick. Sakura laughed inwardly because she remembered her dad did the same to her when she was little. I wonder if Gaara is ticklish.

“What is it?” Sakura asked.

“Why are there stars on the sky?” Shinki asked with curiosity, his eyes as big as onions.

“Because God is above the sky and the stars are light bulbs that He turns on at night so He can see us.”

“Doesn’t it take too much time to light all of them? There must be at least a million stars in the sky.”

“God connected all of them through one string which he plugs in and electricity does the rest.”

“Are there sockets in the sky?” Shinki laughed. “You’re trying to fool me.”

“No, I am not. I know somebody who builds the Infinity Column. You can climb on it when it will be ready and see for yourself.”

“But...”

“Enough. Let’s go to sleep. I am tired. We will talk more tomorrow.” Sakura yawned to prove her point and to convince Shinki to shut up. She continued to rock him left-right until the boy’s long black lashes mingled with each other and sleep finally stole him.

Sakura fell asleep shortly after, with a hand on her stomach and the other one by her body.