Fight or Flight [GaaSaku]
Title: Fight or Flight
Fandom: Naruto
Prompt: #22 - Rhythm
100_prompts
Character/Pairing: Sabaku no Gaara/Haruno Sakura
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1696
Summary: "It was the only defence against the onslaught of anguish rising within her chest like a volcanic eruption. She just had to hold it in long enough to make it to her door."
Authors Notes: About time I got my shit together and posted another drabble. I can't believe myself. ¬¬ Anyways, just a little straightforward catharsis with this one; bubbled up unsuspectingly in the middle of Sunday evening ennui.
~~xxx~~
Seeing a light
A face in the crowd
My lonely heart is racing.
And my whole world Is under attack.
What kind of love am I facing?
Is it me that you want
Cause its me you can have
Can you give me an answer?
I'm tired of waiting.
I'm tired of thinking.
And it feels like jealousy
Jealousy, Will Young
22. Rhythm
She had to keep moving. It was the only choice. Keep her feet moving, one following the other, in a fast rhythm that allowed her to make her way swiftly out of this god-awful mess she had inadvertently walked herself into.
Sakura turned her eyes to the pavement and concentrated on the cracks as well as on the feet coming into her view, all of them walking in the opposite direction. She didn’t lift her face to see any of the people coming her way so she could avoid collision with them. She didn’t care. All she wanted was to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.
Her heart, beating incessantly with pain inside her chest, felt like a lead weight. The pavement blurred in front of her eyes and it was only belatedly that she realized there were tears in her eyes. Pulling in a deep breath, she gritted her teeth against the heartache and refused to make a public scene. All she needed to do was keep walking, keep moving her feet, her left following her right, until she reached her apartment.
She could crumble all she wanted once she got home; she could cry her eyes out to her devastated heart’s content. She could wail, rage and be overcome with sorrow, all within the confined privacy of her walls. There was no need to show the world what she felt; no need to express her vulnerability outright. The world, as a rule, didn’t care. And probably neither did he.
Sakura had stumbled upon him quiet accidentally. In a completely random manner, she had lifted her face and there he had been, sitting at a window table at a nearby café. He had looked every bit as handsome as she remembered him: striking crimson hair and intense viridian eyes. Her breath had caught in her throat, caught unawares as she had. He was dressed casually, like she always remembered him doing, as he perused a newspaper and sipped a cup of espresso in the late afternoon sunlight.
Sakura felt her heart expand at the sight of him despite herself; despite having supposedly stopped loving him for years. Despite having resolved to put him out of her mind and finally move on. She had tucked everything she had felt for him, everything he had ravaged and destroyed with his callousness, inside a little black box and discarded it with the weekly trash. It was supposed to have been washed away with the tide, never to come back, sunk deep out to sea.
But there she was, looking at him through the plane of glass on the opposite street corner, people walking all around her chatting happily in the lovely summer weather. Strangers that they were, they were all completely unaware she was setting eyes on the love of her life for the first time in over five years.
It was inevitable to freeze; inevitable to feel her heart start pounding like it had always done whenever she saw him. Flashes poured through her mind, moments sprinkled through her memory like a collection of shiny marbles arranged in a crystal decanter. Satiated jade eyes looking at her from the other side of the bed, crimson hair dripping with water after he stepped out of the shower, the feel of his skin as she caressed him while he lay with his head on her lap watching TV, his characteristic smell clinging to her clothing... a million little instances came up for her perusal as her mind bombarded her with everything she had strived to forget.
Unsurprisingly her feet didn’t respond. Sakura was rooted to the sidewalk while she stared, allowing her eyes their fill of the man she had solemnly promised never to crave ever again.
But she should have known the magic spell would eventually be broken. The magic was never meant to last forever: he had made that perfectly clear.
As Sakura stood there, she watched a beautiful tall woman in a flowery dress walk up behind him and drape her arms around his neck. She whispered something in his ear before dropping a kiss to his cheek.
Across the street, Sakura felt something punch her in the gut with the force of an incoming wrecking ball.
Gaara didn’t react to the woman’s greeting. Instead, he continued to read the paper nonchalantly for another moment before he lifted his eyes. He looked out the window then, straight at Sakura.
She stopped breathing. The sight in front of her, him looking directly at her while he had a gorgeous woman wrapped all around him was simply too much to take.
All the thousand wounds she thought she had patched across the years burst open at the same time. Sakura thought she would crumble underneath the emotional strain. All she wanted to do was wail at the sky. Instead, all that came out of her mouth was a pitiful little sob; unheard and unnoticed by the man staring at her through the coffee shop window.
The woman noticed his stare and looked up to where Sakura was standing. She looked puzzled but unfazed. It was clear she thought the woman on the opposite sidewalk, dressed in a pair of old sweat-shorts, a tank top and her pink hair sticking out every which way from the short ponytail she’d quickly tied it up in, was nothing worth her notice. She was just curious as to why the man she was holding was looking at her but the woman looked certain in her stance over him. Sakura posed absolutely no threat.
Her lungs seized and she found her sight narrowing to black. But she wouldn’t make a scene. She promised herself that much. Sakura refused to show any weakness; handing on to the last dredges of her pride was all she could do.
Hence, without thinking twice about it, she turned on her heel and started walking. Slowly at first but then picking up speed, maintaining a swift rhythm that would assure a quick retreat. All she could concentrate on was getting back to her apartment a few blocks away, on getting back to a safe haven where she could be allowed to disintegrate into a thousand little pieces. After that, she had no idea of what she would do but that didn’t matter, not at the moment. Getting home was the important part. Walking was the key; keep moving, one foot after the other, it was the only thing she had to do.
It was the only defence against the onslaught of anguish rising within her chest like a volcanic eruption. She just had to hold it in long enough to make it to her door.
By the time she was a couple of blocks from the coffee shop, she couldn’t take it any longer: she broke into a run. Luckily she had slipped on her trainers when she had decided to step out for some frozen yogurt. She turned the corner at a full run and almost collided with a woman pushing a stroller. The lady squeaked and Sakura apologized over her shoulder but she kept moving. She was already on her street; her apartment was just at the other end of the road. Feet lifting out of their own volition, giving her speed and fuelling her need to escape the devastating scene she had just witnessed, she couldn’t remember ever having run as fast as she was currently doing. Not even in the track races back in high school had she put her entire soul and body into moving as fast as she was doing right now.
People turned to look at her as she whizzed past, a neighbour hailing her from his window but Sakura didn’t lift her face. She had only one goal: to reach the door of her home before her heart disintegrated in broad daylight and in front of the entire world.
When she approached the steps of her home, a three story house that had been divided into apartments, she was forced to slow down out of necessity. Still, without stopping, she dug her hand into the pocket of her sweat-shorts to produce her keys.
And felt her world tilt when she felt a hand grip her wrist in an iron hold from behind.
It didn’t even allow her to exclaim in surprise before it was pulling her back, forcing her to a dead stop and to turn around in the direction she had been fleeing from.
Sakura looked up in shock at the hard jade eyes staring down at her.
Her breaths, already laboured from her run, became even shallower. It took her brain a full minute to register what it was that was happening; who it was that was gripping her wrist.
At this proximity, she realized he looked different: just as handsome, to be sure, but changed. There was something else shining in his eyes that had not been there before, when he had been a crazed violent boy in his late teens with no clue of what he wanted from life. Her scattered wits had no idea of what it could be and at the moment, she didn’t care. He was invading all her senses with his closeness and she couldn’t help but respond.
Sakura attempted to get her breathing back under control yet she noticed his was also shallow, like if he’d been running right behind her all the way from the coffee shop. Her perception narrowed down to the feel of his fingers on her skin, holding her to him.
Neither of them spoke; they only stood staring, as if trying to reconcile the reality that they were standing right next to each other once more.
She opened her mouth to speak, to utter the first stupid thing that came to her mind in an attempt to dissipate the tension, but Gaara didn’t let her.
He pulled her wrist, lifting her hand to his chest and forcing her to take a step towards him. As she did so, he wrapped his other arm round her waist and lowered his lips to hers.
And, with their agitated breaths mingling, kissed her.
~~xxx~~
Fandom: Naruto
Prompt: #22 - Rhythm
100_prompts
Character/Pairing: Sabaku no Gaara/Haruno Sakura
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1696
Summary: "It was the only defence against the onslaught of anguish rising within her chest like a volcanic eruption. She just had to hold it in long enough to make it to her door."
Authors Notes: About time I got my shit together and posted another drabble. I can't believe myself. ¬¬ Anyways, just a little straightforward catharsis with this one; bubbled up unsuspectingly in the middle of Sunday evening ennui.
~~xxx~~
Seeing a light
A face in the crowd
My lonely heart is racing.
And my whole world Is under attack.
What kind of love am I facing?
Is it me that you want
Cause its me you can have
Can you give me an answer?
I'm tired of waiting.
I'm tired of thinking.
And it feels like jealousy
Jealousy, Will Young
22. Rhythm
She had to keep moving. It was the only choice. Keep her feet moving, one following the other, in a fast rhythm that allowed her to make her way swiftly out of this god-awful mess she had inadvertently walked herself into.
Sakura turned her eyes to the pavement and concentrated on the cracks as well as on the feet coming into her view, all of them walking in the opposite direction. She didn’t lift her face to see any of the people coming her way so she could avoid collision with them. She didn’t care. All she wanted was to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.
Her heart, beating incessantly with pain inside her chest, felt like a lead weight. The pavement blurred in front of her eyes and it was only belatedly that she realized there were tears in her eyes. Pulling in a deep breath, she gritted her teeth against the heartache and refused to make a public scene. All she needed to do was keep walking, keep moving her feet, her left following her right, until she reached her apartment.
She could crumble all she wanted once she got home; she could cry her eyes out to her devastated heart’s content. She could wail, rage and be overcome with sorrow, all within the confined privacy of her walls. There was no need to show the world what she felt; no need to express her vulnerability outright. The world, as a rule, didn’t care. And probably neither did he.
Sakura had stumbled upon him quiet accidentally. In a completely random manner, she had lifted her face and there he had been, sitting at a window table at a nearby café. He had looked every bit as handsome as she remembered him: striking crimson hair and intense viridian eyes. Her breath had caught in her throat, caught unawares as she had. He was dressed casually, like she always remembered him doing, as he perused a newspaper and sipped a cup of espresso in the late afternoon sunlight.
Sakura felt her heart expand at the sight of him despite herself; despite having supposedly stopped loving him for years. Despite having resolved to put him out of her mind and finally move on. She had tucked everything she had felt for him, everything he had ravaged and destroyed with his callousness, inside a little black box and discarded it with the weekly trash. It was supposed to have been washed away with the tide, never to come back, sunk deep out to sea.
But there she was, looking at him through the plane of glass on the opposite street corner, people walking all around her chatting happily in the lovely summer weather. Strangers that they were, they were all completely unaware she was setting eyes on the love of her life for the first time in over five years.
It was inevitable to freeze; inevitable to feel her heart start pounding like it had always done whenever she saw him. Flashes poured through her mind, moments sprinkled through her memory like a collection of shiny marbles arranged in a crystal decanter. Satiated jade eyes looking at her from the other side of the bed, crimson hair dripping with water after he stepped out of the shower, the feel of his skin as she caressed him while he lay with his head on her lap watching TV, his characteristic smell clinging to her clothing... a million little instances came up for her perusal as her mind bombarded her with everything she had strived to forget.
Unsurprisingly her feet didn’t respond. Sakura was rooted to the sidewalk while she stared, allowing her eyes their fill of the man she had solemnly promised never to crave ever again.
But she should have known the magic spell would eventually be broken. The magic was never meant to last forever: he had made that perfectly clear.
As Sakura stood there, she watched a beautiful tall woman in a flowery dress walk up behind him and drape her arms around his neck. She whispered something in his ear before dropping a kiss to his cheek.
Across the street, Sakura felt something punch her in the gut with the force of an incoming wrecking ball.
Gaara didn’t react to the woman’s greeting. Instead, he continued to read the paper nonchalantly for another moment before he lifted his eyes. He looked out the window then, straight at Sakura.
She stopped breathing. The sight in front of her, him looking directly at her while he had a gorgeous woman wrapped all around him was simply too much to take.
All the thousand wounds she thought she had patched across the years burst open at the same time. Sakura thought she would crumble underneath the emotional strain. All she wanted to do was wail at the sky. Instead, all that came out of her mouth was a pitiful little sob; unheard and unnoticed by the man staring at her through the coffee shop window.
The woman noticed his stare and looked up to where Sakura was standing. She looked puzzled but unfazed. It was clear she thought the woman on the opposite sidewalk, dressed in a pair of old sweat-shorts, a tank top and her pink hair sticking out every which way from the short ponytail she’d quickly tied it up in, was nothing worth her notice. She was just curious as to why the man she was holding was looking at her but the woman looked certain in her stance over him. Sakura posed absolutely no threat.
Her lungs seized and she found her sight narrowing to black. But she wouldn’t make a scene. She promised herself that much. Sakura refused to show any weakness; handing on to the last dredges of her pride was all she could do.
Hence, without thinking twice about it, she turned on her heel and started walking. Slowly at first but then picking up speed, maintaining a swift rhythm that would assure a quick retreat. All she could concentrate on was getting back to her apartment a few blocks away, on getting back to a safe haven where she could be allowed to disintegrate into a thousand little pieces. After that, she had no idea of what she would do but that didn’t matter, not at the moment. Getting home was the important part. Walking was the key; keep moving, one foot after the other, it was the only thing she had to do.
It was the only defence against the onslaught of anguish rising within her chest like a volcanic eruption. She just had to hold it in long enough to make it to her door.
By the time she was a couple of blocks from the coffee shop, she couldn’t take it any longer: she broke into a run. Luckily she had slipped on her trainers when she had decided to step out for some frozen yogurt. She turned the corner at a full run and almost collided with a woman pushing a stroller. The lady squeaked and Sakura apologized over her shoulder but she kept moving. She was already on her street; her apartment was just at the other end of the road. Feet lifting out of their own volition, giving her speed and fuelling her need to escape the devastating scene she had just witnessed, she couldn’t remember ever having run as fast as she was currently doing. Not even in the track races back in high school had she put her entire soul and body into moving as fast as she was doing right now.
People turned to look at her as she whizzed past, a neighbour hailing her from his window but Sakura didn’t lift her face. She had only one goal: to reach the door of her home before her heart disintegrated in broad daylight and in front of the entire world.
When she approached the steps of her home, a three story house that had been divided into apartments, she was forced to slow down out of necessity. Still, without stopping, she dug her hand into the pocket of her sweat-shorts to produce her keys.
And felt her world tilt when she felt a hand grip her wrist in an iron hold from behind.
It didn’t even allow her to exclaim in surprise before it was pulling her back, forcing her to a dead stop and to turn around in the direction she had been fleeing from.
Sakura looked up in shock at the hard jade eyes staring down at her.
Her breaths, already laboured from her run, became even shallower. It took her brain a full minute to register what it was that was happening; who it was that was gripping her wrist.
At this proximity, she realized he looked different: just as handsome, to be sure, but changed. There was something else shining in his eyes that had not been there before, when he had been a crazed violent boy in his late teens with no clue of what he wanted from life. Her scattered wits had no idea of what it could be and at the moment, she didn’t care. He was invading all her senses with his closeness and she couldn’t help but respond.
Sakura attempted to get her breathing back under control yet she noticed his was also shallow, like if he’d been running right behind her all the way from the coffee shop. Her perception narrowed down to the feel of his fingers on her skin, holding her to him.
Neither of them spoke; they only stood staring, as if trying to reconcile the reality that they were standing right next to each other once more.
She opened her mouth to speak, to utter the first stupid thing that came to her mind in an attempt to dissipate the tension, but Gaara didn’t let her.
He pulled her wrist, lifting her hand to his chest and forcing her to take a step towards him. As she did so, he wrapped his other arm round her waist and lowered his lips to hers.
And, with their agitated breaths mingling, kissed her.
~~xxx~~