A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

I decide hesitantly to just step out all on my own, without his sand dragging me out unwillingly.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t one of the rookies.”

I glare at the girl in spite of myself. She stares back at me with an easy smile, hand on her hip, completely unfazed by me.

“Hey, come on, let’s head to the Tower. We got both the scrolls, and there’s no point in just standing here.” The red headed boy glowers at his teammate. “Um…that is, if you want to Gaara,” the guy dressed in all black adds shakily, waving his hands side to side in front of his face.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the blonde haired girl had the same uneasy expression on her face. They both were scared of him. I gulp, my throat suddenly dry.

Gaara glares my way, animosity in his intense gaze, before turning on his heel and walking away, his two teammates following a few inches behind him.

I didn’t have a death wish; my mouth just moved on its own accord. “H-Hey!”

The three Sand ninja stop and turn back around to face me. Gaara steps out between the two, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Temari. Kankuro. Go,” Gaara states emotionlessly, not even bothering a glance behind him.

Temari looks at Kankuro, and then at me, and without a word to Gaara the both of them continue to walk away obediently.

My throat goes dry again when Kankuro and Temari disappear through the cluster of trees. Gaara and I were now officially alone, and I almost regretted my outburst. But this was what I wanted. I wanted to talk to Gaara; ask him about why he continually stared at me whenever we were in the same location.

“So…I…” I couldn’t even form a complete sentence. All that was going through my mind was that I hoped he wouldn’t kill me. “What…what do you find in me that’s so appealing?” He raises an eyebrow, but then composes his features immediately. That little falter gave me a little more backbone; a little.

The sand falls soundlessly down to the ground out of the gourd strapped to his back, and it travels through the short green grass around my feet. I take a tentative step backwards, but I don’t run. If I run then he may do something more than what he intended, like kill me, and I couldn’t take that chance.

The skinny line of sand travels up my leg in circles, and then up my thigh. I shiver involuntarily when it brushes up past my left hand, warm and almost soothing. The sand stops and builds up in a more dense circle shape around my arm, between my elbow and shoulder. It turns counter clockwise in small motions, and I hazarded a wondering glance at Gaara. I could feel the sand over the sleeve of my kimono. It was like it was massaging me, stroking me. Was he? The enmity in his glare told me otherwise.

He holds up his hand, palm facing me, and clenches it into a tight fist. A scream escapes my lips and blood flies everywhere. I fall to the ground, screaming and writhing in agony. I barely could feel the sand as it trailed back down my hand. My whole arm felt like it was on fire, and it racked my whole figure with tormenting numbness. Through my teary eyed vision, I look down at my arm and feel bile rise up in my chest, burning my throat. My skin and muscle was hanging sickeningly over my elbow, blood pouring all around me.

I look back at Gaara, whose features didn’t change. Blood was now pooling down my chin because I was biting my lip so fiercely from the pain. I notice his sand was coming toward me again as I lay on my back, completely immobilized.

The tiny particles brush slightly against my ankle and I felt it wrap around and around. “No…please,” I whimper out. His sand suddenly then shoots back into his gourd. But it wasn’t my plea that changed his mind. It was the green chakra swirling about my wound. He looks at it with wide eyes, almost hungrily or maybe it was surprise?

I exhale out a breath of relief as the pain subsides immensely, until there was no pain at all anymore. I didn’t look though as the chakra reconstructed muscle to bone, skin to muscle. When my wound was healed, the chakra dissipates and Gaara turns his back on me.

I sit upright and watch him walk away, and this time I just let him go. So, that’s all he wanted to see was my healing power at its work? He is powerful enough, so he must have sensed it the first time he saw me. But why did he have to implode my arm? I could’ve easily have taken a kunai out and sliced over the palm of my hand.

I keep sitting there, baffled and in shock at what just happened. I wasn’t hurting anymore, and my arm looked like nothing had ever happened, but in my mind the event plays over and over.

~~*~~

“What was that, Neji?” Tenten asks him.

“I don’t know,” he replies, also mind boggled.

“She…she just healed herself,” Tenten mutters lowly.

“I knew I sensed something about her…but I didn’t fathom it would be something like this.” He uses his Byakugan, planning on only seeing the green chakra stirring in her body, but what he perceived was something much more.

He gasps, and cancels out his Byakugan.

“What? Neji, what did you see?” Tenten asks worryingly.

“I…I don’t know,” he answers back truthfully. “Come on, she doesn’t even have a scroll.” He leaps away on the tree branches.

“Neji!” Tenten yells after him, following close behind.

~~*~~

I stand to my feet, my mind more cleared and my astonishment over what had happened somewhat over. I decide I have to keep on moving; otherwise I was a sitting duck.

‘I have to find Naruto.’ I jump from tree branch to tree branch, keeping vigilant on my surroundings. My eyes dart upward and I stop and stare up at him, scowling and my lips pulled down in a frown.

He must have sensed me behind me, because he turns around and looks directly at me, and an annoyed expression crosses his features.

“Where’s Naruto?” I ask at once. He just glares and doesn’t respond, and I notice then that his left thigh was cut and bleeding.

“I really don’t have time for you right now,” he tells me straightforwardly.

“Where is Naruto?” I ask again, trying to be oblivious to his statement.

He rolls his eyes. “I don’t know where that moron is.”

Moron? My teeth clench in frustration. He ignores my sudden impediment and turns his body sideways, about to leave.

The kunai flies through the air and hits the tree beside Sasuke’s head. He glances at it callously and looks back at me with hard eyes.

“You’re not going anywhere, Sasuke,” I tell him flatly, narrowing my eyes as well.

“Are you really sure you want to do this?” Not a hint of amusement was in his tone. “I’m not in a good mood right now, so you may want to reconsider.”

“Trust me, I’m not reconsidering anything. I’ve been waiting for this moment, and I know you have been too.”

His character stays cold-hearted.

“Or unless you want to tell me why you act like such a bastard all the time? Ridiculing everyone like you’re oh so much stronger than them.” I notice his hands ball into fists at his side. “Your just pathetic, Sasuke.”

Sasuke’s eyes widen for a second, and then his teeth grit together angrily.

With the way you’re acting, you must have had a pathetic childhood.

“Shut-up! You don’t know anything about it!” He pulls the knife I had thrown out of the tree bark and races towards me.