[2011] Forgive Me by Duckiieee (prompt 2)

[arccie]

Title: Forgive Me

Author: Duckiieee

Rating: PG

Prompt: Quote: There are no happy endings because nothing ever ends.

Fandom/Series: Naruto/Naruto Shippuden,

Word Count: 4,488

Disclaimer: As the author of this fanfiction, I do not, in any way, profit from the story and all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden.


Forgive Me

Her eyes were plastered to the television as she watched her favourite celebrity sing ‘Ryuuro’. This celebrity was blonde with four pig tails. She was wearing a fish net top underneath a purple shoulder-less dress with a red sash wrapped around her waist. On her right leg she had a fishnet stocking from her knee up, and on her left leg she had a fishnet stocking from her knee down and on her feet were black sandals.

As she was watching, occasionally singing along, a spiky-haired blonde boy with sky blue eyes, wearing an orange and black tracksuit, and a dark blue spiky-haired boy with black eyes, wearing a blue t-shirt, with the Uchiha crest on the back, and white shorts, came in the room.

“Ah, watching Temari as usual,” said the dark blue spiky-haired boy, referring to the blonde celebrity on television. He studied her posture. She had shoulder-length pink hair and rare emerald eyes that could win any guy’s heart. She was wearing a red, knee-length Chinese dress with an outlined white circle on each shoulder, one on the bottom front side and one on the back. Underneath the red dress, she had on black short-shorts. She was doing the Asian squat while carefully leaning forward. Her eyes were wide open with excitement as she stared at the television and mouthed the words to the song. The dark blue spiky-haired boy shook his head and sighed, “Sakura, you shouldn’t stare into the TV like that, it’s bad for your eyes,” he advised.

Sakura didn’t notice the two boys watching her. In fact, she was so stuck into watching Temari that she didn’t notice the blonde boy sitting next to her. The blonde boy waved his hand in front of Sakura’s eyes to check if she was still in this world. As soon as Sakura noticed the hand waving in front of her face, she lost concentration of what she was doing and therefore losing control of her body wait. She immediately fell forwards, falling face first towards the thick carpet. With her ninja reflexes, she pushed her hands onto the floor and pushed herself back up, glaring at the blonde boy.

“Naruto...” she growled through her teeth, cracking her knuckles as she got ready do punch him in the face with her monstrous strength.

Naruto immediately grabbed Sakura’s arm as her fist was coming towards his face. Since Sakura had focused all her chakra on her hand, she couldn’t focus it on her other hand. So she began to try and hit him on the head to make him let go of her arm. But Naruto had improved a lot since he was still a genin. Now he was a Jounin and next in line for the Hokage. Whereas Sakura was nothing but a Jounin-ranked medic-nin.

Naruto dodged all her attacks, while laughing, but kept a firm grip on her arm. Sakura’s yelling and Naruto’s laughing was so loud for Sasuke that he couldn’t even concentrate on his list full of missions. In the midst of all the noise, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and slammed his fist on the table, breaking it in half. Immediately, Sakura and Naruto stopped. They saw the expression on Sasuke’s face and also the fact that he activated his Sharingan, which was feared by almost everyone. Sasuke was stronger than the both of them. In fact, he was an Anbu. Although he hated it, the pay was good.

“If you guys don’t shut up, I’ll make sure you do all my missions without any help!” he exclaimed. He was dead serious and he didn’t care if they were scared of him. The two teammates nodded and waited for him to look away. Suddenly, as soon as Sasuke inactivated his Sharingan, the table was back to normal and he was busy concentrating on the list of missions. Sakura and Naruto then realised that Sasuke had put them on a genjutsu to shut them up.

In the middle of the silence, Naruto decided to tell Sakura about the mission that he and Sasuke just came back from, “Oh, Sakura, I have tons of things to tell you about the mission Sasuke and I just came from!” he said excitedly. He adjusted his sitting position by sitting cross-legged on the couch and waited for Sakura to get comfortable as well.

“Okay, shoot,” said Sakura. Seeing how excited Naruto was, she knew this would be good.

“WELL,” he started, “Our mission was to go to Suna and deliver a bunch of kunais and shurikens to the hokage. When we got there, we saw our old friend; you might remember him since he captured you as a hostage during our Chuunin exam, it was none other than Sabaku no Gaara!” he exclaimed. He held his arms up in the air as soon as he said his name.

Sakura frowned. Gaara was not one of her favourite people. Especially since he almost crushed her with his sand and left her tightly against a tree while he fought with Naruto.

Naruto saw the disappointment in her eyes, “Oh come on, he changed! He’s still tough and emotionless but he’s polite and quiet! AND he’s a higher rank than me,” he said as he crossed his arms in a fit, “He’s the Kazekage! I mean, COME ON! That is just SO unfair!” he exclaimed. Sakura smiled at what Naruto said. She had known Naruto ever since ninja school. Everyone knew his dream was to become like his father, the Yondaime.

“Well, you’re almost there, Naruto. You’re next in line so it won’t be long,” she said, trying to cheer him up.

“Yeah well, anyways, he gave us a tour after we delivered the tools. Then he took us to his favourite eating place with his siblings,” continued Naruto.

“Oh he has siblings?” Sakura asked. She didn’t know much about Gaara. She wasn’t really interested in finding things out about him but he just didn’t seem the type to have siblings.

Before Naruto could answer, Sasuke commented, without looking up from his paperwork, “I think you’ll like his sister, Sakura,” he said with a smirk on his face.

Sakura ignored his comment and turned back to Naruto, “Was there anything else that happened on your mission?” she asked. Naruto shook his head and stood up. As he went towards his bedroom, he stopped and turned around, “Oh I almost forgot, we’re going to see them tomorrow so get your rest, Sakura!” and with that, he disappeared into his room.

Sakura stared blankly at Naruto’s door. ‘What did he just say?’ she thought. Her eyes were wide open and she was in her own world by the time Sasuke glanced at her to see why she was so quiet.

Sasuke saw the expression on her face, “Don’t worry, we’re just staying there until we get called for another mission,” he explained.

Sakura looked at him and smiled. She got up and walked towards him to give him a hug. Then she sat down next to him and read the paper that was in front of him. She was surprised. There were so many missions! She couldn’t believe Anbus had this much work to do. Sasuke saw she was reading it and decided to confess to her, “I’m afraid I won’t be travelling with you two. I have all these missions to complete before I can go. But as soon as I finish, I’ll be with you guys,”

Sakura sighed in disappointment. She knew she couldn’t argue with him. After all, he WAS an Anbu and he had no choice in his missions at all. While she was thinking about the three day trip, Sasuke noticed that she was in her own world again so he messed up her pink hair just to annoy her.

“Why don’t you go to bed? You know Naruto won’t want to stop for a rest,” he suggested. Sakura nodded after she fixed her hair, she got up and went to her room.

“I’m telling you, dobe, if you do this, she’s going to hit you super hard,” said a voice that Sakura thought sounded like Sasuke’s.

“Naw, she won’t know it’s me,” said another voice that sounded like Naruto’s. Sakura heard footsteps coming closer. She tried to ignore it but as soon as she felt something heavy sit on her legs, she immediately knew it was Naruto. She sat up and punched him in the face, sending him crashing through the wall.

Sasuke was leaning at Sakura’s door watching the scene. His eyes didn’t even flinch when he saw Naruto be punched through the wall. He glanced over his shoulder to see Naruto getting up and shaking his head rapidly to try and get out of fainting. Sasuke then looked in front of him at the pink-haired girl, sitting in bed, with anger in her eyes.
She looked at Sasuke, “Sorry about the wall, ill call up Yamato-taichou and ask him to fix it,” she offered with a smile. She looked out of her window and saw it was still dark, “What time is it?” she asked, still looking outside.

“It’s four in the morning,” answered Sasuke.

“It’s time to head to Suna!” said the recovered Naruto. He was standing on the other side of the whole in the wall. Sakura looked at Naruto in disbelief. But eventually, she sighed and began to get ready for the trip.

As the three of them said their goodbyes at the main gate, Sasuke headed off to complete his missions while Naruto and Sakura headed off for Suna.

On the second day of their journey to Suna, Sakura convinced Naruto that they should rest before they reach Suna. As they set up camp, Sakura fell asleep straight after she helped Naruto make the fire.

Five hours later, Sakura woke up to see that Naruto was gone. She sat up and looked around. She grabbed her kunai from her pouch as she heard rustling from the bushes ahead. She prepared herself for the incoming enemy until she saw not an enemy come out, but a topless Naruto, drying his wet hair. Sakura sighed and put away her kunai.

Naruto saw Sakura awake, “Sorry, I just went to have a bath in the lake,” he said. Sakura smiled and began to pack their things.

As they came up to the gates of Suna, they saw a figure looking down. He was dressed in the hokage clothes and his hat was hiding his head. A man, with purple face paint, wearing a black jumper with a yellow and red circle in the middle, black pants and a hat that made him look like he had cat ears, came up to the figure and pointed at Naruto and Sakura. The figure then looked up and took off his hat.

The first thing Sakura saw was his red hair, as red as blood. Then, as she stood in front of him, she saw his deep teal eyes, and his kanji tattoo on the left side of his forehead. She looked away when she noticed he was staring at her.
“Welcome to Suna,” said the red-headed boy, as they stood in front of him. He showed no emotions in his face, but when the he looked at Sakura, he showed happiness and excitement in his jade-coloured eyes. She quickly looked at Naruto, as if motioning to him to say something.

“Gaara! Long time no see!” said Naruto. He was trying to find conversation since he noticed Sakura wasn’t interested in talking to Gaara.

“It has only been a week, Naruto,” replied Gaara, in his usual monotone voice. He noticed that Sakura was upset at something. Something to do with him apparently. Because every time he looked at her, she looked away. He decided that before things become anymore awkward, he better bring them in, “You two will be staying at one of the Kazekage towers,” he told them. Before he could say anything else, the man with the face paint interrupted him.

“Oi, Gaara, it’s getting late and you still have a lot of paperwork to finish,” he said, “If you want to have free time tomorrow then you have to get it all finished,”

“Thank you, Kankuro,” answered Gaara, without turning his head towards Kankuro. He looked at Sakura and then Naruto, “Come,” he told them. Without another word, Gaara turned around and started leading the way along with Kankuro beside him. Whilst Naruto and Sakura were walking behind them.

As they were walking, Naruto whispered to Sakura, “Ok, what’s wrong with you? He’s trying to be polite and you’re just completely ignoring him. At least give him a chance!” he said. The tone in his voice showed Sakura that he was disappointed in her behaviour. And that never happened so Sakura took it to heart.

“I’ll only give him a chance if he says sorry and means it,” Sakura whispered back, “Do you have any idea what kind of pain I was in at that time? While you were fighting with him, I was stuck in between a tree and his crushing sand! He didn’t even say sorry! He just released me, when you defeated him, and left,” she stated.

Naruto couldn’t disagree. He DID do that. But this time Naruto knew Gaara had changed. If only he could find a way to make him apologise. When Sakura studied Naruto’s expression, it was like a light bulb had begun to flash above his head. She knew he had gotten an idea but she decided not to get involved. Little did she know was that she WAS involved.

As they were halfway to their destination, Naruto decided to put his little scheme to action, “Hey, Kankuro! I really want to go to the nearest ramen shop you have in this village,” he said. What he really wanted was to leave Gaara and Sakura alone together so that they could talk.

“There are no ramen shops in Suna, sorry Naruto,” answered Kankuro. He had no idea of Naruto’s scheme. Naruto planned to tell him as they went to a restaurant.

“Well then, take me to the nearest place with food,” he demanded. Kankuro gave in and began leading Naruto to the nearest place with food, leaving Sakura and Gaara alone. By that time, Sakura had figured out what Naruto was trying to do. But Gaara had no idea. He thought this would be a good opportunity to apologise to her for whatever he did.

He began thinking of ways to start his apology. But after thinking of so many, he decided to be himself and get straight to the point, “I’m sorry,” he said, while still walking in front. He heard Sakura stop walking and so he stopped walking too but he didn’t turn around. He could feel Sakura’s emerald eyes piercing his back as she stared.

“What did you just say...?” asked Sakura. For a moment there, she thought she heard Gaara actually apologise to her. “Did Naruto’s plan actually work?” she thought to herself.

Gaara didn’t feel like repeating himself, but he didn’t want Sakura to be upset at him any longer, “I said I’m sorry,” he repeated. This time he turned around to look at her in the eyes.

This time Sakura knew Gaara apologised. But he didn’t look like he knew what he was doing. She could tell my looking in his jade coloured eyes that he didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Why are you sorry...?” she asked. She was curious to see what he would say, seeing as she had him figured all out.
“I actually don’t know. You just seemed mad at me when we met at the gates,” he said. He was trying to hide a bit of blush on his face. He looked up to see her face and waited for a response from her.

She shook her head, “Why don’t you go ask Naruto? Instead of just apologising to me without knowing why, you could actually find out why and mean your apology,” she said, “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get to the building I’m staying in so I can rest,” she said as she waited for Gaara to start walking, and quietly followed after, looking at the sandy floor of Suna.

As they were walking, Gaara began to think about what she said. He realised then that she had him all figured out before he explained why. He decided to do as Sakura said and ask Naruto. Then, when he found out why she was angry at him, he would do whatever it takes to make it up to her.

“So this is where you and Naruto will be staying. There are 10 rooms so you can choose any room that you like,” explained Gaara, as he and Sakura stood inside one of the Kazekage towers. He watched as Sakura looked around the area. He knew it was late and he had a lot of paperwork to finish, as Kankuro said, but he didn’t know if he should leave her here alone or wait until Naruto comes back. He decided to ask her, “Would you like me to stay until Naruto comes back, or would you like me to leave so you can get settled in?” he asked.

Sakura turned around to look at him standing behind her. She noticed that he never slouched. He was always standing and sitting with a straight back. She noticed that she had been silent for a while and said, “I think I’d like to get settled in, thanks,”

Gaara knew she would say that. He turned around and began to walk towards the door. But before he could step outside, he felt an arm grab him and pull him, in rapid speed, away from the door. When the running stopped, and the arm let go, Gaara was in one of the rooms, sitting on the floor.

He looked around the room, no one was there. Until suddenly, right in front of the door appeared a blonde-haired boy with sky blue eyes.

“Naruto?” said Gaara; his eyes were wide open in shock as he looked at the blonde boy standing in front of him, casually, “How did you bring me here?” he asked.

“I used my dad’s ‘Flying Thunder God Jutsu’ so that Sakura wouldn’t see me. She probably knows I’m here since you disappeared out of nowhere,” explained Naruto. He helped Gaara up and then he went to sit on a chair in the corner of the room, “So, what did you do and what do you need?” he asked.

Gaara was shocked that Naruto found out he needed to ask him something, “How did you know...?” he asked.
Naruto placed his elbows on his legs and rested his chin on his hands, “As I was walking here, I saw you walking out, now I know Sakura, she wouldn’t let someone out just like that. Now I was sure you would’ve apologised for what you did but—”

“I did apologise! But she found out that I had no idea why I was apologising for and she got madder. She told me to ask you why she’s mad at me,” explained Gaara, as he interrupted Naruto’s talking.

Naruto looked at Gaara blankly, “You’ve got to be kidding... NO WONDER SHE LET YOU OUT! YOU DON’T EVEN REMEMBER WHAT YOU DID!” he said as he placed his hands on his head and sat up straight.

“That’s why I’m asking you now, what did I do?” replied Gaara.

“Ok well, you remember when you came to our village to destroy it? When you and I were fighting, you went nuts and began crushing Sakura, with your sand, against a tree. You said ‘unless you defeat me, she will be crushed continuously.’ And when I defeated you, you let her go and left,” explained Naruto, speaking in a fast speed.

“But I let her go. So what’s the problem?” asked Gaara, still confused.

As soon as Naruto heard what Gaara said, he slapped his palm on his forehead and kept it there as he said, “You didn’t say sorry, you idiot,”

Gaara then realised what the problem was. He noticed that girls were sensitive. He got that experience from her sister when they were little. He immediately got up and went towards the door. Naruto appeared in front of him in a flash and said, “You better let me go first,”

As he walked downstairs, with Gaara behind him, he saw Sakura standing at the end of the staircase with her hands on her hips. She was looking at Naruto and said with an irritated tone, “Jeez, Naruto, you don’t have to use the ‘Flying Thunder God Jutsu’,”

Naruto put his hand behind his head and nervously laughed, “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking,” he said. He put his hands by his sides and said, “By the way, someone wants to say something to you,”

After Naruto spoke, Gaara came out from behind him and walked towards Sakura. He took her hand and they walked outside, with him in the lead. When they stopped walking, Sakura noticed they were in a place where no one else was. She looked at Gaara, who was still holding her hand and was turned around looking in her eyes.

“I really, truly am sorry. I didn’t know, and I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” he begged. He had never begged anyone in his life. But he knew Sakura was worth it. Ever since he heard about Sakura coming over, he was in a happy mood all day. But when she finally came, she was mad at him and he had no idea why.

Sakura knew this time that he meant it. But there was something missing about this apology but she didn’t know what, “Sorry, I just don’t—” she stopped talking.

Slowly, Gaara was bringing his face closer and closer to Sakura’s face until their lips were an inch apart. Just before their lips touched, Sakura found him back in his position. His face was shocked, as was hers. She knew then that he didn’t do that, but he saw it. She let go of his hand and looked to the left, “SASUKEEEE!” she yelled as she ran towards a dark figure and hugged him.

Gaara was startled as the dark figure hugged Sakura back. They began walking over to him, that’s when Gaara saw a tall man with dark blue spiky hair, a blue shirt and white shorts.

“Nice to see you again Gaara, sorry about before, I didn’t want to get your attention by talking in the middle of your moment, so I put you two under a genjutsu and I knew Sakura would figure it out,” explained Sasuke.

Gaara remained emotionless, “Nice to see you too, Sasuke,” he said as they shook hands.

“Now, I only came here to say hi and to pick up Sakura, so when you’re done I’ll be waiting over there,” said Sasuke as he pointed toward a giant tree. He transported to that area and sat down, leaving Gaara and Sakura to pick up to where they were.

“So anyways,” said Sakura, not caring Sasuke was in the same area, “I’m sorry but I just don’t think your apology is good enough,” and with that said, she turned and walked towards the tree. As she was walking she held up her hand to say bye to Gaara.

The next day, Gaara had a good idea of what the perfect apology would be. He got up and dressed in his normal full-length dark trousers, with a pair of laces on each leg, a long-sleeved crimson coat with flaring hemlines on the front and back, that was a few inches below his knees, a grey holster vest held in place by a single strap over his left shoulder and by two buckled belts which he uses to carry his gourd, and another pair of casually worn belts around his waist. On his feet he wore the Sunagakure’s standard shinobi sandals.

He walked to the Kazekage tower Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke were in. He planned to take her to two places today.

As he walked in the tower, he greeted Sasuke and Naruto and invited them all to come to his tower and they agreed. While walking, Sakura decided to ask the question the other two couldn’t.

“So why are we going to your house?” she asked.

“Naruto told me you were a big fan of my sister,” Gaara explained. Sakura knew he wasn’t going to say anymore. She decided to wait and see who his sister was.

“Welcome to my home. Excuse me,” said Gaara as he turned towards the stairs and yelled, “TEMARI! GET DOWN HERE!”

Sakura’s eyes went wide open as soon as she heard Gaara say ‘Temari’. “It couldn’t be... could it?” she thought to herself.

In a few seconds, a blonde with four pig tails, wearing a fish net top underneath a purple shoulder-less dress with a red sash wrapped around her waist. On her right leg she had a fishnet stocking from her knee up, and on her left leg she had a fishnet stocking from her knee down and on her feet were the Sunagakure’s standard shinobi sandals.

Sakura began to scream in joy, “AHHHHHH! OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD!” she yelled as she ran towards Temari.

Temari braced herself for the massive bone crushing hug she was getting from Sakura, “Hello there person...” she said. When Temari was released from Sakura’s hug, Sakura introduced herself.

They got along well until Gaara decided to take Sakura somewhere, “Temari, stay here and keep Naruto and Sasuke some company, I want to take Sakura somewhere,” he said. And he led Sakura out of the tower and to a place that Sakura thought was dazzling.

There were flowers, of every colour and every shape, everywhere! And what was even more fascinating, was the flowers were sticking out of the usual sandy ground of Suna.

Sakura looked around in excitement until Gaara caught her attention by bringing her face to look at him.

“Once again, I’m sorry. And I want to prove it by doing something I’ve been wanting to do ever since you got here,” he said. Before Sakura could say anything, Gaara had brought their lips together and they had their first passionate kiss.

When they parted their lips from each other, Gaara whispered to Sakura, “I love you, I always have. Ever since I heard you were coming to visit Sunagakure, I couldn’t stop thinking about you to a point where I got no work done. I love you and I don’t care if you don’t love me back,”

At that moment, all you could hear was Gaara and Sakura’s breathing. Sakura finally decided to talk.

“I love you too...” she said. And once again, they joined their lips into another passionate kiss.

End