{Complete}

[uchihasama]

Characters:: Gaara(gaara_sabaku) and Uchiha Itachi(uchihasama).
Date/Time:: 2008.5.09/9 - 10 PMish.
Location:: Streets of the city; The park.
Rating:: Pg-13ish, i suppose…?
Summary:: While he is trying to make sense of his insanity, Itachi finds a chance to rectify his most recent mistake..if rectification will be excepted.

Comments

[uchihasama]

Itachi didn't know why he was so shocked, whether he showed it or not. Karma was most definitely out to get him, and from the looks of it, it wanted a relentless punishment.

Surprisingly, Gaara wore his accustomed look of apathy. Itachi had expected his face to twist into an angry snarl and turn away. The elder man's mouth opened to speak, but only a small breath escaped and he shifted his eyes sideways as he slowly drew his lips back together. He couldn't bring himself to try and resolve the mistakenly ill will Gaara had recieved before. 'How?' He asked himself. How was he supposed to explain himself? It was painfully obvious that Gaara did not have the same problem Itachi seemed to, so the Uchiha suspected that his words wouldn't be taken too well; especially since he wasn't particularly proficient with this sort of thing.

But as Itachi prepared to simply step around Gaara, a thought struck him. Gaara and Deidara, as much as he hated to see it, had obviously wanted to further their meeting into something greater. Begrudgingly, Itachi took a small breath of annoyance. He was certain the younger male wanted nothing to do with him, and would more than likely ignore him, but still Itachi spoke.

"My words to you before...they came across in a wrong manner. They were not meant in the way I know they were taken."

[gaara_sabaku]

Gaara quirked a non-existant brow at the other's peculiar actions. When it was taken that he was to speak only silence came. This actually came as a disappointment. Even though it wasn't expected, if Itachi had any reasoning to speak it would be of an apology or an explanation. Still, only silence fell between them and it soon became unnerving. This wouldn't be continued any further.

Pale hue's easily slid over to focus passed the male and after a moment the red head motioned as if to continue on with the intentions of going passed Itachi. When sound was heard Gaara's view landed on the figure before him, haulting any motion. From the hesitation before it was gathered that this male was nervous in his attempt to conjure up this apology before.

Blinking once Gaara's face remained the same in being placid while he attempted to think this over. The reasons as to why Itachi would explain himself to a stranger was completely over him. It wasn't as if they were held by bonds to feel regret. As if hours passed to him Gaara finally brought himself to dully respond to this odd form of 'sorry'. "It's understood to feel protective of others close to you. Your male was safe with me."

[uchihasama]

Gaara's words caused a small frown to press the Uchiha's lips. This wasn't the first time that mistake was made, and that made Itachi want to ask him if he looked like someone who'd ever interest another. But then again, with Deidara, he simply looked to people that would indulge him. And with the blonde living with him, Itachi supposed that it didn't make the situation look any different than everyone's initial suspicions.

And once again Itachi set out to correct this assumption. Clearing his throat, the elder man shook his head, "Deidara is far from mine." Silently, Gaara's words stirred embers of anger, taking them as intent of wanting to further his meeting with the blonde. Though he resented the idea, Itachi said nothing of it.

"I was simply appalled that he would speak to someone he'd just met in such a crude manner.." Dark red eyes shifted to the side again, wondering if he should silence himself now; confusion heightening his inner turmoil. But Itachi did find solace in the fact that his unintentional resentment was now understood to be just that; unintentional.

[gaara_sabaku]

From the correction Gaara made a soft noise in his throat while adjusting his vision to the side in thought, not to mention his own embarrassment of being wrong of that situation. As his view remained away he quickly blinked at a sudden thought of this new information; it didn't add up to a conclusion. Despite the fact that this male apologized for his words, his strange actions remained a mistery. Remembering clearly the violent nature displayed it was clear something upraised that display of rage; that being him..or Deidara.

"I see." After the quiet response Gaara saw no other reason to stay any longer and stepped forward to return to his steady walk as before, eventually coming to pass the dark haired male. Even now Itachi's current behavior struck him as odd. Things were amiss with his words..his actions. Him in general. All strange and hidden. Slowly icy pools slid to the side when an almost too far-fetched explanation came to him like a brick and at that very thought Gaara's eyes narrowed in doubt. It seemed as if this..Itachi suddenly appeared clearer than before, if his thoughts were correct.

Calmly Gaara stopped his walk, and with a slight turn of his head he quietly spoke, ignoring the racing beat his chest held from impulse. "You're welcome to join me," Briefly he listened for a response and calmly stepped forward to continue, vision returning straight. "..unless you have other matters that better appeal to your time."

[uchihasama]

It was a strange occurance for someone to not question his relationship with the blonde, once it was discovered that Itachi held no interest of that magnitude for the artist. Apparently, Deidara too would be assaulted with questions after the discovery. But Itachi was grateful for Gaara's lack of interest in the matter; or he was simply relieved to find that the blonde was free. To spare himself of getting worked up over unnecessary stress, Itachi quickly pushed the thought out of his head.

After a few moments of silence, Gaara began moving to leave, seemingly satisfied with the information acquired here. But after only a few steps, the younger male stopped and spoke again. Itachi turned his head in the direction Gaara was, one thin brow raising in curiosity. He opened his mouth to decline, but then realized that his visions must have meant something. Perhaps as he was commissioned to protect Deidara, Gaara was in need of his assistance. And for Itachi to know this; there was only one thing to do. He turned his body to face the direction the younger male was facing, remaining silent for a few moments; feeling slightly better about having those visions, though it still did nothing to ease the anxiety of his insanity.

"The only matter I was attending to was to clear my mind," he replied as he fell in step with Gaara. "Am I wrong to assume the same of you?"

[gaara_sabaku]

Hearing the approaching footsteps Gaara took it as Itachi accepting his offer of company for the time being. That itself was completely unexpected. Not only this, but the male seemed content in doing such. Almost near a complete one-eighty for the dark haired male. In a way the red head got the feeling that he'd somehow made this male's day. It was..odd and slightly disturbing. Not only that, but, their height difference became clearer this close.

Sliding the icy orbs to the side a mild glare was given at the other and durring the walk Gaara gradually trailed over a bit to establish further distance; hopefully that went unnoticed. "Ah." Calmly his vision returned forward again and once more silence fell between them. This he was thankful for.

Although Itachi's signs of being joyed unnerved him they also gave him a foundation of certain contentment as well. However this wouldn't be shown in the slightest of ways. It had been a while since another gave him company and for now, the current male was acceptable. With his vision forward the red head simply continued uncaring of how the thought was taken. "You're odd to be excited of company." Shifting his eyes away from Itachi Gaara acted as if something else caught his attention, silently waiting for an answer.

[uchihasama]

Itachi paused for a moment, trying to make sure he heard the other correctly. Excited was a word he never heard when being referred to, especially by someone he'd just recently met. Giving him something of a confused look, Itachi pondered this male. So far, out of all the people he'd come in contact with, Gaara was the only one to treat him like a normal person. Excited wouldn't be the word he used; relieved seemed better suited, but Itachi couldn't clearly distinguish emotions correctly either way. But the strangest thing was that Itachi was actually concerning himself with what Gaara thought.

"Excited..?" The Uchiha pondered aloud in a quiet voice, wondering if this was in fact excitement. "It's just peculiar that you would seem to want my company," he replied honestly, raising his voice slightly from its previous quiet murmur, "Which would seem odd of you as well."

[gaara_sabaku]

It came close that Gaara trailed off into the other's statement of him and away from the main point. The fact of the matter was that Itachi was excited to be around him, or so it seemed, and nothing could change his mind of that thought after the evidence given. With an odd smirk the red head made a low noise in his throat, being close to a chuckle. By now he was full of contentment and amusement from this male.

"I see little odd of your company or for that matter provoking it." Flicking icy irises towards the taller male Gaara continued. "So, there's no reason for myself to seem odd here..yet plently to hold that title to yourself."

It took some time but Gaara contemplated his odd behavior with this male. He was actually teasing him in his own form of play as if they already knew each other and had for sometime. Quietly Gaara cleared his throat, passing it off as he himself being excited of another speaking to him so casually as well. In reality, it was his day that was made. Lifting his left hand the slender male angled the thin wrist upright, checking the time. Ten-fifteen. Surely this male had somewhere to be. In a slow movement his arm lowered and he was finally quiet. At the current moment Gaara simply continued to walk this seemingly endless pathway until Itachi dismissed himself. Hopefully it would be soon and before his own excitement became clearly evident.

[uchihasama]

Itachi blinked at being indirectly called odd. It was an insult..right? If it had been, no offense was taken from it. While he generally didn't care about what others had to say, he still listened to them; and being called something as simple as odd was infinitely better than the words he commonly heard, which came mostly from Deidara.

"Hm. Then just I, personally, find it odd. If you hadn't noticed before, I don't tend to provide likable company..," he replied in his usual monotonous sounding voice, inwardly agreeing with Gaara's choice of words. Itachi's eyes shifted from the ground in front of him as he caught sight of movement of the other from his periphery. He did not lower his eyes back to the ground until Gaara had finished checking the time; unsurprised that the younger male was already longing for escape. But, as natural, the Uchiha kept silent, speaking of what he only needed to say. "Late?" Itachi simply questioned, silently implying curiosity if Gaara had better things to do.

[gaara_sabaku]

Gaara shifted his eyes over to the side slowly to view Itachi durring his silence, taking it as the other realizing his foolishness. Now, embarrassed of his actions and words the red head's vision gently drifted to the ground, an uncertain frown showing itself.

Blinking once his eyes flicked back to view Itachi, taking in the tone that seemed to change. It faded of that joyed aura from moments ago. Perhaps the male realized his company wasn't so interesting afterall. Still, it was pleasant while it lasted. Far better from being alone and drowned in silence. With a low noise in his throat Gaara nodded once barely in thought that it was best the other went his own way now. The embarrassment was starting to choke him and Itachi's presence was no doubt unnerving his placid nature.
Though, he was sure even if he was with another the same outcome would occur. People in general..unnerved him.

In a trance of his minds endless ramble Gaara's eyes suddenly widened as he found himself in a stumble over an unnoticed indent of the sidewalk. With a short grunt he quickly corrected his stance to prevent a harsh fall, inattentively gripping the nearest balance; Itachi.
Wrapping his arms around one of Itachi's the darkened lids closed tightly still expecting a rough landing.

[uchihasama]

Itachi's stare remained plastered to the ground in front of his feet; normally the Uchiha would look straight ahead while walking, but here he didn't want to give himself the chance of drifting into thought while even remotely looking in Gaara's general direction. During this deafening silence, the older man's mind drifted into his thoughts; not so uncommonly. He wondered why Gaara was out this late. It was obvious that he wasn't on any particular, or important errand. Other than being part of the underground movement of music supporters, Itachi could find no plausible reason for the younger male to be out this late. The red head didn't didn't seem like that type, but then again, no one who supported music really seemed like it; during the day, at least.

Before Itachi could decide on whether to question him about it, a sudden odd movement, and sound, from Gaara caught his attention. Lifting his crimson gaze in time to see Gaara's form quickly jerk, his eyes then shot down to his arm, where Gaara's were. The sudden add on of the red head's weight to his own unsuspecting form caused Itachi to suddenly move forward as well. On instinct, he shifted one foot forward to stop his fall, now standing tensely motionless; stiffly holding his arm out slightly as Gaara didn't seem to realize yet that he'd stopped falling.

The only contact from another Itachi had ever encountered before were quick impacts of pain from punches, so having someone touching him of their own accord while not trying to harm him, was completely foreign. He didn't allow others to even get remotely close enough to even think about touching him. His first impulse was to strike Gaara to make him release his arm, but he instead calmly clenched his free fist at his side as he quietly cleared his throat.

[gaara_sabaku]

It took a brief pause but Gaara came to realize that the falling motion stopped and slowly his vision opened to be on the ground. However the relief that came was short lived here. At the sound of a cleared throat a solid frown of displeasure suddenly came to his lips while his eyes flicked towards Itachi. This was unbearable. Flustered Gaara gave a mild shove of the other male's arm due to his own hurt of pride and afterwards he took hesitant steps away, avoiding vision.

Even now the flustered look was insuppressible and he was far beyond self-conscious at this point. To Itachi the expression shown could be taken as malice towards him, however it was all self chastisement. An unforgiveable act of non-coordination on his part. Against his own sides the slender digits of his hands gradually curled almost painfully in an attempt to relieve himself of the self corruption.

For a short period Gaara forced his view to fall again on Itachi and with all his effort hid the clear shame from showing in his voice; bringing his tone lower. "Forgive that."

For all he cared Itachi could do as he wished now and with that thought the slender red head stepped forward to continue this walk; pale hues carefully on the ground. In this case the ebony haired male proved more patient than he. If the positions had been switched -- it wouldn't have ended well. Another odd action that showed itself of the other. From days before it was shown that Itachi definately had a violent disposition. Did he force himself to resist a rough reaction? And if so, he certainly didn't do the same with the blonde; his friend. So why him; a stranger?

[uchihasama]

Since Itachi's entire body had tensed, Gaara's push only moved his arm. Rigidly straightening his stance, the Uchiha simply nodded in response to Gaara's words, moving his hands casually in his pockets to conceal any remanants of how bad his nerves just were and willed his visage to his natural look of apathetic indifference. This was also done to conceal his contempt of the malicious expression the younger man casted towards him.

Had not Itachi been used to Deidara's constant blunders, purposeful or not, he probably would've been annoyed with it. But it seemed somehow strange coming from Gaara. In the short time of being able to actually interact with him, Itachi felt an air of extreme grace about the boy; a sense of regality even. That would explain Gaara's sudden transformation in demeanor; given that the younger male now seemed completely irate compared to his placid nature only moments before.

Training his eyes to the boy's every movement, Itachi inspected his legs, as if waiting to see if the other had injured himself in any way. Seeing that it was only his pride that had been shattered, Itachi gave a phlegmatic shrug, keeping an even closer watch now that Gaara was moving. "You should perhaps dismiss what others may think of you. Chances are, if they enjoy your company, only you would matter to them, in the end." Even though his words were thoughtful and perhaps insightful, his face would remain apathetic, as to not give himself away; and seem as if he was only saying this to offer some solace to the red headed young man.

[gaara_sabaku]

There were no sounds coming from behind him now. So, Itachi was to stay behind and not continue with him? That was fine. Yet Gaara found himself closing darkened lids slowly in seeping disappointment. Another being near him, though unnerving and in some way hated for the way it affected him ..it was silently screamed for.

At the sound of Itachi's voice Gaara made a low hum in his throat, slowly casting his eyes aside. Drawing non-existant brows down the red head contemplated the meaning of these spoken words, one paticular part striking a wrong string within him. You matter. Surely this individual was not attempting to give him a therapy case or a pick up for that matter. It wasn't as he were lost child in need of such soothing confidence.

With a calm blink Gaara's expression returned to unreadable, yet his voice chided towards the other as his movement stopped. "Is this your attempt of informing me, that I matter to you in some way?"

He felt strange asking this of the other but if that was the case, it would explain Itachi's odd behavior. Unless of course he was naturally that way. Gaara turned his head to the side to watch the dark haired male and in his own way demand a response. Studying Itachi's face and stance closely he patiently waited dazing in his own thoughts. 'You as well, are not my type.'

[uchihasama]

Now that he was fully on his guard, Itachi merely blinked in response to Gaara's question; his face remaining perfectly the same even as the younger male turned his head to look at him. This stoney, uncaring outer shell was a skill perfected over the course of his life; perfect for situations as these. With his thoughts carefully kept to himself, Itachi was able to maintain his seemingly disinterested manner. All the same, not all of this nature was feigned. Itachi had learned long ago that other people more or less out for their own; which automatically turned him away from even wanting to know them in the first place.

A small frown tugged the corner of his mouth as the tone of Gaara's voice reached him; now knowing that his thought of regality and the boy mixed perfectly. And once again, Itachi defended himself the only way he'd ever known, taking the other's words as being compared to someone like Deidara.

"No," he replied emotionlessly, "it takes more than a chance meeting to gain my regard, despite any sort of level of allure."

[gaara_sabaku]

By already having his view on Itachi the emotionless gaze was taken in fully but as if to get a better view the crimson haired male calmly turned his stance to partially face the other with an unreadable expression of his own. This sight was confirming of that hollow concept and again the feeling of sympathy washed over him. Carefully the pale irises scanned the other's pale features, taking in the frown more than what was intended; or for that matter wished.

It didn't take long for Gaara to trail off in random matters -- a serene look replacing the placidness of him. Even he knew he was being judgmental against this male. Unfairly at that. Right? One of the treatments he damned receiving he gave so suddenly to another. And by the frown it was clear Itachi noticed. Lowering his head to be slightly downcast Gaara debated if this city was starting to take some strange affect on him; his vision staying with Itachi as if the answer would be written over the other. Given he hadn't been around others enough to be concidered socialized but he never felt so ..paranoid. Uncomfortable might be the better term.

In an attempt to make amends one foot slid against the sidewalk slowly backwards and with it the younger male leaned his body to indicate leaving, without the intention of doing so alone. Tilting the head of uneven spikes Gaara motioned for Itachi to continue this late-night walk with him, his silence in responding used to promise that the subject was dropped and would stay that way.