Wrought in magic [GaaSaku]
Title: Wrought in magic
Fandom: Naruto
Prompt: #20 - Prayers 100_prompts
Character/Pairing: Sabaku no Gaara/Haruno Sakura
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2551
Summary: "He grinned once more at her natural boldness, his amusement returning. “In all honesty, I’m interested to know how you think you will be getting out of this current situation without you giving me your name in return.””
Authors Notes: Err, I abruptly realized I hadn't posted a drabble in months! >__> *hides in shame* So yes, the next installment in the djinn series was long overdue. Continuation of Off on the the wrong foot.
~~xxx~~
20 - Prayers
She was, in one word, screwed.
Mostly everyone she’d ever known had always told her her temper was dangerous. It had the tendency to explode in the worst kind of moments, leaving her in a place far worse than where she’d started. Despite these opinions and knowing very well they were correct, Sakura knew it hadn’t been possible to control her ire when it rose to the surface, at least not this time around. The frustration had been overwhelming and all-consuming. But in all practicality, she decided that if she was to meet her end then she preferred such a fate than being forced deal with her increasingly aggravating circumstances.
Offense was perfectly understandable. Anger she could’ve easily dealt with; she was an expert when it came to fighting fire with fire. Even disdainful arrogance would’ve have been preferably better.
But as she hung in mid-air, suspended upside down in the middle of the cave by tendrils of sand and her blood rushing down towards her face while her legs went numb, the only response she could read in the djinn’s face was amusement: unholy amusement of the worst kind made all the more evident by the diabolical smirk on his lips.
The gourd she’d thrown hadn’t gotten anywhere near him; he’d vanished it well before it could actually reach him. As he’d done so, he’d summoned his sand on the same thought and there was nothing Sakura could do to prevent the tendrils from grabbing her by the limbs, throwing her into the air and catching her as she was coming back down to the ground. It had been impossible to swallow the creative curses that came to her tongue as the sand finally settled around her, leaving her in a thoroughly vulnerable position. It hadn’t taken more than five seconds from the moment the gourd had left her hand for her to end up hanging upside down in the air like a sacrificial lamb.
To make matters worse, the damned djinn hadn’t even moved an inch during the whole incident. He was still sitting back among his cushions, looking very much like what he was: the uncontested ruler of his demesne. And from the looks of it, she was providing a great deal of entertainment for him. She’d been hanging upside down for a while now, time during which he hadn’t deigned to speak to her. This had effectively led her to glare daggers at him, but the more she glowered, the more amused he became.
The thought made her anger swell up inside her all the more despite her susceptible position. She squirmed and wriggled, attempting to set herself free. But the sand had solidified and its iron grip wasn’t something any mortal would be able to break. She could feel the power of jinni magic in the sand, could almost see it glowing. Once more, Sakura was overcome with the realization that this wasn’t your average djinn she was dealing with. The redheaded creature sitting among the cushions harboured a reservoir of unimaginable power. She was alive because he, on a mysterious whim, had decided to let her keep her life. Helplessness suddenly overwhelmed her and she couldn’t help but feel a crushing twinge of defeat mingled with overpowering frustration.
So she did the only thing left to do in such circumstances: she prayed.
‘Kami-sama, please let me get out of this one alive.’
Sensing the change in her disposition, the djinn cocked his head to one side. “I see you’ve managed to calm down somewhat,” he remarked, that infernal smirk still on his lips. “It was a lesson you needed to learn when it came to me. No matter what your intentions are, you won’t be doing anything I don’t wish you to. I’m glad we got it out of the way. It means we can progress a lot faster now.”
Her emerald eyes glared at him but she remained silent. How she would have loved for the gourd she had thrown to have made direct contact with his skull!
Imagining the redheaded jinni cradling his head in pain helped alleviate some of her ire, enough to let her mental fog clear a bit. If she was going to make it alive through this one, she would have to go intelligently about this. Djinn were capricious by nature; it was possible to deal with them if one discovered what they were interested in and played one’s cards right. All she needed to do was find out what had led this particularly powerful jinni to set its eyes on her. Once she found out, negotiations could commence and she might be able to live to tell the tale. Sure, it wasn’t the ideal option to begin with; she would have immensely preferred to have nothing to do with him. That had been the main reason why she’d attempted to run away in the first place. But since that was no longer an option (the sand holding her in place made it clear she wasn’t going anywhere) she would have to go with the flow and see where striking a deal with a djinn would lead her.
It might not be anywhere good but anything was preferable than her current circumstance.
The tendrils around her suddenly shifted and she started moving through the air towards him. He brought her up to an arm’s length from where he was sitting and surveyed her closely. Sakura was aware her face was most likely the colour of his sari by now, a fact that didn’t help to lessen her discomfort. All in all, she did her best to look him directly despite her topsy-turvy position.
“How about we start over,” he finally said. “My name is Gaara.”
There was a pulse of magic at the sound of his name all around the cave and Sakura felt her skin tingle wherever it was making contact with his sand. There was power behind a name but even more so when it came to magical creatures like djinn. It was the reason why they never gave theirs away freely, not without making certain of the nature of the person they were giving it to. When a djinn gave a human their true name this meant they could be summoned and their magic put to use at the behest of whoever was summoning them. It was the basics with which their contracts worked.
But a contract always worked both ways. It took two to tango, after all.
Sakura was aware that if she gave him her own name, it would serve as a settled agreement between them. The fact that he’d already given her his true name spoke volumes of his intentions. As he’d mentioned before, he wasn’t letting her go anywhere; at least not until he got what he wanted from her.
Her emerald eyes looked at him, trying to discern his intentions. She shouldn’t have wasted her time.
“So,” he remarked casually, “what’s your name, little medic?”
Sakura felt a chill run down her spine as all her suspicions were irrevocably confirmed. For some inexplicable reason, this powerful djinn was interested in striking up a pact with her.
It was common knowledge that many jinni tended to do this sort of thing, each one following their own personal drive when it came to involving themselves with humanity. Some did it to better the world while others did it to disseminate chaos. It was a matter of personal preference when it came to these magical beings and they used their magic in whatever way they wished. But what was it that was driving this particular djinn into striking a deal with her? She didn’t have money, power or influence; she was simply a kidnapped medic in a predicament. There was nothing overly alluring about her. What did he think she could give him in return?
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, finally deciding on honesty rather than cunning. “I have nothing of value to offer you.”
His intense jade eyes bore into her. “The value of a thing depends on the one doing the appraisal.”
“I don’t know what you’re after but I can assure you, you’ll find me a very inadequate partner, “she replied, her voice serious. “I’ve experienced your magic firsthand and even though it hasn’t been much, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out there’s much more where that came from. A djinn of your calibre belongs in a partnership with a khalif or an emperor, not with some runaway medic from a backwater desert settlement.”
This honest little speech made Gaara come to a unique realization: she was completely unaware of her worth. This girl, the first human to challenge him at any level in centuries, who had showed more courage while trying to get away from his grasp than many of the khalifs he’d met during his long lifespan, was completely unaware of her rareness. For her, showing that kind of bravery and determination was something she did in a daily manner and hence, not something of great value. It was simply the way she believed life should be lived; she chose the highest of standards and stuck to them, no matter if her life was threatened in the process.
And she was completely unaware of how truly exceptional that made her.
Such innocent modesty only made her all the more appealing in his eyes. He wondered what kinds of exploits she would drag him into, this defiant little medic with the steel backbone of a queen. The permanent solution to his boredom was staring him right in the face.
With such an appealing thought in mind, he moved his sand to shift her into an upright position. Not that he let her go, oh no; give her the chance to get a hand on anything that could serve as a projectile and he was sure that this time around, she wouldn’t stop until she’d dented his head. He kept her suspended in the air but shifted her so that the blood flow could return to her legs. He also lowered her enough to look her in the eye while he spoke.
“I’ve had my share of khalifs and emperors,” he confessed, sitting up from his cushions and crossing his arms over his chest. “And I have to tell you, they are extremely overrated. I’m not interested in anything they can offer.”
“What are you interested in, then?” she asked, the defiance in her tone clear despite the sand locked around her limbs.
He grinned once more at her natural boldness, his amusement returning. “In all honesty, I’m interested to know how you think you will be getting out of this current situation without you giving me your name in return.”
Her emerald eyes glowered but she looked thoughtful for a few moments before she answered. “I don’t know what strange whim has gotten into your head about me or what hidden agenda you have. So as things stand, I’d like a little assurance.”
“Assurance?” he asked condescendingly. “What more assurance than me saving you from certain death at the bottom of that ravine would you like?”
“That you won’t use your magic against me,” she replied sharply. “That whenever this whim of yours passes and our pact ends, you won’t use your powers in any way against me or against what I hold dear.”
Jade eyes narrowed at this last distinction but when he finally answered, there was no hesitation in his voice. “You have my word,” he replied. “And you know a djinn’s word should not be taken lightly.”
She nodded. Her resolve was evident in her face, with her lips settled in a grim line and her eyes a hard shade of emerald.
She made the decision to seal her fate.
“My name is Haruno Sakura.”
At the sound of her name, a loud crack exploded within the cave. Swirls of power rose from the sand on her skin and into her body. She could feel the magic flowing into her, filling her with the sensations she had felt before: red heat and scarlet power. She felt it flow through her veins, filling her with the breathtaking sensation only powerful magic could bring. The crimson power brushed against her deep within her consciousness; it was a subtle caress, just a tentative touch, yet it held with it the promise of possibility and of more to come. It lasted no more than a few intense moments before the magical surge finally stopped and her feet were placed upon the ground once more.
She instinctively knew the pact between human and djinn had been made, wrought with the strongest of binding magicks.
Blinking her eyes back into focus, she noticed Gaara was standing right in front of her. Her first realization was that he was taller than she’d initially thought, her eyes level with his collarbone. She could also feel his power emanate from his person even more clearly now, probably an added bonus of the partnership she had just gotten herself into.
He was staring at her, the look of unholy amusement back on his face and a glint in his eyes that left no doubt he officially considered he was the cat who got the cream.
Gulping visibly, Sakura realized that her prayers had been officially answered in the most twisted sort of way.
She had gotten out of this one alive...but she wasn’t very sure she would emerge from it unscathed.
~~xxx~~
Fandom: Naruto
Prompt: #20 - Prayers 100_prompts
Character/Pairing: Sabaku no Gaara/Haruno Sakura
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2551
Summary: "He grinned once more at her natural boldness, his amusement returning. “In all honesty, I’m interested to know how you think you will be getting out of this current situation without you giving me your name in return.””
Authors Notes: Err, I abruptly realized I hadn't posted a drabble in months! >__> *hides in shame* So yes, the next installment in the djinn series was long overdue. Continuation of Off on the the wrong foot.
~~xxx~~
20 - Prayers
She was, in one word, screwed.
Mostly everyone she’d ever known had always told her her temper was dangerous. It had the tendency to explode in the worst kind of moments, leaving her in a place far worse than where she’d started. Despite these opinions and knowing very well they were correct, Sakura knew it hadn’t been possible to control her ire when it rose to the surface, at least not this time around. The frustration had been overwhelming and all-consuming. But in all practicality, she decided that if she was to meet her end then she preferred such a fate than being forced deal with her increasingly aggravating circumstances.
Offense was perfectly understandable. Anger she could’ve easily dealt with; she was an expert when it came to fighting fire with fire. Even disdainful arrogance would’ve have been preferably better.
But as she hung in mid-air, suspended upside down in the middle of the cave by tendrils of sand and her blood rushing down towards her face while her legs went numb, the only response she could read in the djinn’s face was amusement: unholy amusement of the worst kind made all the more evident by the diabolical smirk on his lips.
The gourd she’d thrown hadn’t gotten anywhere near him; he’d vanished it well before it could actually reach him. As he’d done so, he’d summoned his sand on the same thought and there was nothing Sakura could do to prevent the tendrils from grabbing her by the limbs, throwing her into the air and catching her as she was coming back down to the ground. It had been impossible to swallow the creative curses that came to her tongue as the sand finally settled around her, leaving her in a thoroughly vulnerable position. It hadn’t taken more than five seconds from the moment the gourd had left her hand for her to end up hanging upside down in the air like a sacrificial lamb.
To make matters worse, the damned djinn hadn’t even moved an inch during the whole incident. He was still sitting back among his cushions, looking very much like what he was: the uncontested ruler of his demesne. And from the looks of it, she was providing a great deal of entertainment for him. She’d been hanging upside down for a while now, time during which he hadn’t deigned to speak to her. This had effectively led her to glare daggers at him, but the more she glowered, the more amused he became.
The thought made her anger swell up inside her all the more despite her susceptible position. She squirmed and wriggled, attempting to set herself free. But the sand had solidified and its iron grip wasn’t something any mortal would be able to break. She could feel the power of jinni magic in the sand, could almost see it glowing. Once more, Sakura was overcome with the realization that this wasn’t your average djinn she was dealing with. The redheaded creature sitting among the cushions harboured a reservoir of unimaginable power. She was alive because he, on a mysterious whim, had decided to let her keep her life. Helplessness suddenly overwhelmed her and she couldn’t help but feel a crushing twinge of defeat mingled with overpowering frustration.
So she did the only thing left to do in such circumstances: she prayed.
‘Kami-sama, please let me get out of this one alive.’
Sensing the change in her disposition, the djinn cocked his head to one side. “I see you’ve managed to calm down somewhat,” he remarked, that infernal smirk still on his lips. “It was a lesson you needed to learn when it came to me. No matter what your intentions are, you won’t be doing anything I don’t wish you to. I’m glad we got it out of the way. It means we can progress a lot faster now.”
Her emerald eyes glared at him but she remained silent. How she would have loved for the gourd she had thrown to have made direct contact with his skull!
Imagining the redheaded jinni cradling his head in pain helped alleviate some of her ire, enough to let her mental fog clear a bit. If she was going to make it alive through this one, she would have to go intelligently about this. Djinn were capricious by nature; it was possible to deal with them if one discovered what they were interested in and played one’s cards right. All she needed to do was find out what had led this particularly powerful jinni to set its eyes on her. Once she found out, negotiations could commence and she might be able to live to tell the tale. Sure, it wasn’t the ideal option to begin with; she would have immensely preferred to have nothing to do with him. That had been the main reason why she’d attempted to run away in the first place. But since that was no longer an option (the sand holding her in place made it clear she wasn’t going anywhere) she would have to go with the flow and see where striking a deal with a djinn would lead her.
It might not be anywhere good but anything was preferable than her current circumstance.
The tendrils around her suddenly shifted and she started moving through the air towards him. He brought her up to an arm’s length from where he was sitting and surveyed her closely. Sakura was aware her face was most likely the colour of his sari by now, a fact that didn’t help to lessen her discomfort. All in all, she did her best to look him directly despite her topsy-turvy position.
“How about we start over,” he finally said. “My name is Gaara.”
There was a pulse of magic at the sound of his name all around the cave and Sakura felt her skin tingle wherever it was making contact with his sand. There was power behind a name but even more so when it came to magical creatures like djinn. It was the reason why they never gave theirs away freely, not without making certain of the nature of the person they were giving it to. When a djinn gave a human their true name this meant they could be summoned and their magic put to use at the behest of whoever was summoning them. It was the basics with which their contracts worked.
But a contract always worked both ways. It took two to tango, after all.
Sakura was aware that if she gave him her own name, it would serve as a settled agreement between them. The fact that he’d already given her his true name spoke volumes of his intentions. As he’d mentioned before, he wasn’t letting her go anywhere; at least not until he got what he wanted from her.
Her emerald eyes looked at him, trying to discern his intentions. She shouldn’t have wasted her time.
“So,” he remarked casually, “what’s your name, little medic?”
Sakura felt a chill run down her spine as all her suspicions were irrevocably confirmed. For some inexplicable reason, this powerful djinn was interested in striking up a pact with her.
It was common knowledge that many jinni tended to do this sort of thing, each one following their own personal drive when it came to involving themselves with humanity. Some did it to better the world while others did it to disseminate chaos. It was a matter of personal preference when it came to these magical beings and they used their magic in whatever way they wished. But what was it that was driving this particular djinn into striking a deal with her? She didn’t have money, power or influence; she was simply a kidnapped medic in a predicament. There was nothing overly alluring about her. What did he think she could give him in return?
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, finally deciding on honesty rather than cunning. “I have nothing of value to offer you.”
His intense jade eyes bore into her. “The value of a thing depends on the one doing the appraisal.”
“I don’t know what you’re after but I can assure you, you’ll find me a very inadequate partner, “she replied, her voice serious. “I’ve experienced your magic firsthand and even though it hasn’t been much, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out there’s much more where that came from. A djinn of your calibre belongs in a partnership with a khalif or an emperor, not with some runaway medic from a backwater desert settlement.”
This honest little speech made Gaara come to a unique realization: she was completely unaware of her worth. This girl, the first human to challenge him at any level in centuries, who had showed more courage while trying to get away from his grasp than many of the khalifs he’d met during his long lifespan, was completely unaware of her rareness. For her, showing that kind of bravery and determination was something she did in a daily manner and hence, not something of great value. It was simply the way she believed life should be lived; she chose the highest of standards and stuck to them, no matter if her life was threatened in the process.
And she was completely unaware of how truly exceptional that made her.
Such innocent modesty only made her all the more appealing in his eyes. He wondered what kinds of exploits she would drag him into, this defiant little medic with the steel backbone of a queen. The permanent solution to his boredom was staring him right in the face.
With such an appealing thought in mind, he moved his sand to shift her into an upright position. Not that he let her go, oh no; give her the chance to get a hand on anything that could serve as a projectile and he was sure that this time around, she wouldn’t stop until she’d dented his head. He kept her suspended in the air but shifted her so that the blood flow could return to her legs. He also lowered her enough to look her in the eye while he spoke.
“I’ve had my share of khalifs and emperors,” he confessed, sitting up from his cushions and crossing his arms over his chest. “And I have to tell you, they are extremely overrated. I’m not interested in anything they can offer.”
“What are you interested in, then?” she asked, the defiance in her tone clear despite the sand locked around her limbs.
He grinned once more at her natural boldness, his amusement returning. “In all honesty, I’m interested to know how you think you will be getting out of this current situation without you giving me your name in return.”
Her emerald eyes glowered but she looked thoughtful for a few moments before she answered. “I don’t know what strange whim has gotten into your head about me or what hidden agenda you have. So as things stand, I’d like a little assurance.”
“Assurance?” he asked condescendingly. “What more assurance than me saving you from certain death at the bottom of that ravine would you like?”
“That you won’t use your magic against me,” she replied sharply. “That whenever this whim of yours passes and our pact ends, you won’t use your powers in any way against me or against what I hold dear.”
Jade eyes narrowed at this last distinction but when he finally answered, there was no hesitation in his voice. “You have my word,” he replied. “And you know a djinn’s word should not be taken lightly.”
She nodded. Her resolve was evident in her face, with her lips settled in a grim line and her eyes a hard shade of emerald.
She made the decision to seal her fate.
“My name is Haruno Sakura.”
At the sound of her name, a loud crack exploded within the cave. Swirls of power rose from the sand on her skin and into her body. She could feel the magic flowing into her, filling her with the sensations she had felt before: red heat and scarlet power. She felt it flow through her veins, filling her with the breathtaking sensation only powerful magic could bring. The crimson power brushed against her deep within her consciousness; it was a subtle caress, just a tentative touch, yet it held with it the promise of possibility and of more to come. It lasted no more than a few intense moments before the magical surge finally stopped and her feet were placed upon the ground once more.
She instinctively knew the pact between human and djinn had been made, wrought with the strongest of binding magicks.
Blinking her eyes back into focus, she noticed Gaara was standing right in front of her. Her first realization was that he was taller than she’d initially thought, her eyes level with his collarbone. She could also feel his power emanate from his person even more clearly now, probably an added bonus of the partnership she had just gotten herself into.
He was staring at her, the look of unholy amusement back on his face and a glint in his eyes that left no doubt he officially considered he was the cat who got the cream.
Gulping visibly, Sakura realized that her prayers had been officially answered in the most twisted sort of way.
She had gotten out of this one alive...but she wasn’t very sure she would emerge from it unscathed.
~~xxx~~