Sand Lure [GaaSaku]
Title: Sand Lure
Fandom: Naruto
Prompt: #19 - Whispered 100_prompts
Character/Pairing: Sabaku no Gaara/Haruno Sakura
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2085
Summary: Closing his eyes, he sat back once more and concentrated his magic. It was time to play.
Disclaimer: Don't own any of these characters.
Authors Notes: AU. I've been going over this idea for a long time but only managed to write it down until now. This is the first installment in the Djinn Series I've got planned. Mostly, it'll be a set of continous drabbles.
A while back, I came across this amazing picture:
: Gaara - Blood and Sand : by ~orin on deviantART
I felt compelled to write something inspired on this depiction of Gaara. This, then, is the result. I hope you enjoy it.
~~xxx~~
"In Arabic, a Djinn (from Arabic جني jinnī) is a supernatural creature which occupies a parallel world to that of mankind, and together with humans and angels makes up the three sentient creations of Allah. Possessing free will, a djinn can be either good or evil."
19 - Whispered
Boredom, it was said, was the equivalent of dying a slow death. In the current circumstances, Gaara could do nothing but agree. Not that he knew what dying was or could sympathize with the sentiment. Due to the nature of his existence, the concept was too estranged to have any sort of permanent impact on him. Matters in his plane functioned quite differently from the human world, forever limited by laws of physics and material restraints. Nonetheless, the notion of death was known to him and from the random details of human life he had gathered throughout the long years, he would permit himself to say he comprehended the subject.
Not that being a scholar on human fatality would relieve him of the current tediousness of his reality. To tell the truth, thinking about such useless things made the fact that he was bored all the more evident, igniting his temper.
Sitting on his throne-like stone chair at the back of his cave lair, the redheaded djinn stirred the sands of his desert domain and made them whirl with the strength of his emotions. He could hear the wind picking up from the entrance of his grotto. Rousing the sand to the level of a storm only took him a few moments and provided him with a temporal distraction. He closed his eyes while he revelled in the flow of his magic racing through the sand, his perception stretching out over all his territory. The comfort he garnered from such a display of power allowed him to stay in a semi-state of meditation for some time.
But soon enough, the dreariness set in again and Gaara was forced to face his boredom once more. It did nothing to alleviate his irritation and outside, the desert sand continued its raucous swirling.
A quick run through his long memory provided him with other instances when he had found himself in similar situations but considering his longevity, such tedium hadn’t occurred that often. Mostly, there had always been something or someone who caught his attention... after all, stirring up chaos in human lives has always been one of his favourite pastimes. Courtesy of human nature, there never was a small number of fools who thought they could outsmart a djinn. Depending on the circumstance, he would allow them to think they had the upper hand... it made the expression of terror and shock on their faces all the more savoury when he finally revealed the true extent of his power. Not that he’d dedicated his life solely to spawning misery and wretchedness (though it was greatly entertaining). On some occasions he had allied himself with humans he had deemed worthy and had, however unlikely, developed bonds akin to friendship with them.
Problem was their lives were too short. In a blink of an eye they would be gone and once more, he would find himself in the predicament he was currently in: suffering from dreary boredom. Of course, there was always the option of searching out others of his own kind. Those types of gatherings always proved to be entertaining for some time. Nevertheless, djinn never held the same level of interest for him that humans did. Being a jinni himself, he was very well acquainted with their way of thinking. To appease boredom you couldn’t go out searching for some of the same... you needed something different.
Gaara shifted in his chair, the metal decoration beads on his crimson sari chiming across the otherwise silent cave as he stretched his legs in front of him. He really should come up with some plan and soon. But his mind refused to cooperate and remained annoyingly uncreative. Going through a few options off the top of his head (moving his sand storm over the nearest settlement, picking a fight with a neighbouring khalifate, tricking some fool into thinking his magic would be the solution to his life’s problems), he discarded all of them as inconsequential and not worthy of taking any further action upon.
Breathing deeply, he crossed his fingers over his bare abdomen and as he leaned back against the cushions of his chair, he resigned himself to taking a nap. Maybe his luck would pull through and he would dream up a solution.
What a wretched state for the most powerful djinn of the continent to be in.
He listened to the sound of the churning wind outside and fell into a deep doze.
Until a disturbance at the edge of his perception pulled him back to consciousness with a jolt. He sat up abruptly, jade eyes wide with surprise. Magic focusing through his sand, he pinpointed the location of the intrusion in his domain.
Some fool had willingly wondered into his storm.
Gaara almost laughed out loud.
His lips lifted up into a vicious smile, already anticipating the entertainment that would soon follow. It seemed his luck had held. He had been relieved of his boredom without even needing to move an inch.
Perception focusing on the intruder, his swirls of sand told him exactly where the person was and where they were headed. Closing his eyes, he sat back once more and concentrated his magic.
It was time to play.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Sakura knew it was folly... but unfortunately, she didn’t have any other option.
She had bolted at the first opportunity she had, trying to get as much distance between her and the caravan camp as possible. It wouldn’t take long for the guards to realize she was missing. They would raise the alarm and begin a ruthless search. She didn’t even want to think about what they would do to her if they found her.
There were many ways to inflict excruciating physical pain without the need to cripple someone.
Hence, when she saw the wall of an approaching sandstorm, she didn’t think twice about heading straight for it. The odds of survival outside the storm weren’t any better so she decided she would rather take her chances against the sand than against the armed guard of the Khalif. Forced to choose between dire or dreadful, all she could do was pray for a miracle.
And curse herself soundly for having left her home out of her own free will just to fall directly into a trap. She should’ve known better... she knew. But the promise of increasing her knowledge had been too tempting to pass. Not having access to any kind of remedial archives had always been a thorn in her side.
A salve-maker of quite some renown, she had been approached by the Khalif’s men around a week ago at the remote village where she practiced her trade. They had praised her skills and asked her where she had learned her craft. Happily, she had told them of her apprenticeship to the great Tsunade, one of the best healers of the realm, and had shared the details of her education in the faraway Capital. The men had smiled and asked if she wished to further her learning: they told her all about the archives of their khalifate.
They didn’t need to talk much to catch her undivided attention. What salve-maker hadn’t heard of the medical annals of Iwagakure?
The men visited her for a few days in a row and talked her into accompanying them back to their homeland. She could stay as long as she liked and would obtain valuable information as well as additional skills to improve her salve making. It was like dangling a banquet in front of a starving woman.
Blinded by the glamour of their proposal, Sakura decided to close shop for a while and go on an extended visit to Iwagakure. She could almost feel the scrolls, filled with centuries of knowledge, under her fingers.
Her elation lasted the whole of two hours after leaving her oasis village. It was until their cavalcade met up with a larger caravan in the middle of the desert that she realized something was terribly wrong. The friendly demeanour of her companions instantly evaporated and the weapons of the new arrivals told her in clear terms this wasn’t going to be a vacationing trip. She was forced into a carriage and handled roughly when she resisted. Once inside the coach, she met some other salve-makers and healers. In a short time, Sakura was made very much aware of her huge mistake.
The Khalif was suffering from a mysterious disease and he was desperate to find a cure. Unable to get his prized physicians to restore his health, he was desperate to find answers through any means necessary. He was sending his men across the continent, searching for well-known medics that might help to rid him of his illness. His armed guard took them by force, coercing them or tricking them, removing them from their homes and the lives they peacefully led. They were now prisoners of the Khalif and would be forced to find an effective treatment for his sickness.
Disbelief and indignation surged through her but there was nothing she could do. The Khalif’s men had exploited her weakness and she had fallen for their trap without any real effort on their part. Shame followed quickly, only to be replaced by a dull numbness. What would her teacher say if she saw her now?
Nevertheless, Sakura had always been known for her resilience and it was only a few days before it rose with full force to the surface. If the Khalif’s guards had taken advantage of her weakness, then she would take advantage of theirs.
The men were subservient, thinking their prisoners had nowhere to run because they were traversing some of the most inhospitable areas of the desert. They’re custody had grown weak and their prisoners were allowed to roam around camp without too much restraint. Most of her fellow captives agreed with their kidnappers: the odds of surviving out there in the dunes were amazingly low. No matter what Sakura said, she could not convince them into action.
So be it. She would go at it alone.
After spending three days snipping food and water, she decided she had gathered enough provisions. She hid the rations in her pack as best as she could and duly noted the activity of their captors. The caravan would stop just before dawn to avoid travelling during the hottest part of the day. Thus, during early morning, no one would be up and about. It was the best moment to make her escape and even though she would face the ruthless midday heat out in the open, she was willing to take the risk.
Thus, when the sandstorm came upon her after she bolted, she actually ran towards the raging tempest.
The wind and sand blinded her instantly, leaving her disoriented. Sakura pulled the ends of her turban over her face, attempting to cover it as best as she could. Placing the cloth over her eyes, she eventually managed to see through the fabric. The desert landscape was a swirling mass of shifting grains but she could just barely make out the shadows of a large boulder somewhere to her left.
The going was amazingly difficult and every step meant fighting a battle against the brutal wind. Nonetheless, she finally managed to get to the large stone. It jutted out at the base of a rocky hill, offering meagre shelter from the ruthless gale if one managed to crawl underneath it.
Sakura decided that meagre was better than nothing.
Falling to her knees, she was about to edge underneath the boulder when her ears impossibly heard something above the raging whirl of the sand.
The wind was whispering.
Sakura could almost make out the words.
She lifted her head as best as she could, trying to discern the source of the murmur. Remaining still for a few moments, she debated if she had finally lost her mind. But there it was again: a low whisper calling out to her from somewhere within the furious storm. How could such a soft voice carry across such a squall?
It was impossible.
But despite her protesting mind, her feet were moving before she could do anything to stop them. The murmuring voice was pleasantly hypnotizing. It compelled her to action and she was powerless to resists it’s lure. Finding the owner of the voice was suddenly of the utmost importance. Nothing else in the world mattered.
Falling into a spellbound daze, Sakura headed in the direction of the whispering wind.
~~xxx~~
Fandom: Naruto
Prompt: #19 - Whispered 100_prompts
Character/Pairing: Sabaku no Gaara/Haruno Sakura
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2085
Summary: Closing his eyes, he sat back once more and concentrated his magic. It was time to play.
Disclaimer: Don't own any of these characters.
Authors Notes: AU. I've been going over this idea for a long time but only managed to write it down until now. This is the first installment in the Djinn Series I've got planned. Mostly, it'll be a set of continous drabbles.
A while back, I came across this amazing picture:
: Gaara - Blood and Sand : by ~orin on deviantART
I felt compelled to write something inspired on this depiction of Gaara. This, then, is the result. I hope you enjoy it.
~~xxx~~
"In Arabic, a Djinn (from Arabic جني jinnī) is a supernatural creature which occupies a parallel world to that of mankind, and together with humans and angels makes up the three sentient creations of Allah. Possessing free will, a djinn can be either good or evil."
19 - Whispered
Boredom, it was said, was the equivalent of dying a slow death. In the current circumstances, Gaara could do nothing but agree. Not that he knew what dying was or could sympathize with the sentiment. Due to the nature of his existence, the concept was too estranged to have any sort of permanent impact on him. Matters in his plane functioned quite differently from the human world, forever limited by laws of physics and material restraints. Nonetheless, the notion of death was known to him and from the random details of human life he had gathered throughout the long years, he would permit himself to say he comprehended the subject.
Not that being a scholar on human fatality would relieve him of the current tediousness of his reality. To tell the truth, thinking about such useless things made the fact that he was bored all the more evident, igniting his temper.
Sitting on his throne-like stone chair at the back of his cave lair, the redheaded djinn stirred the sands of his desert domain and made them whirl with the strength of his emotions. He could hear the wind picking up from the entrance of his grotto. Rousing the sand to the level of a storm only took him a few moments and provided him with a temporal distraction. He closed his eyes while he revelled in the flow of his magic racing through the sand, his perception stretching out over all his territory. The comfort he garnered from such a display of power allowed him to stay in a semi-state of meditation for some time.
But soon enough, the dreariness set in again and Gaara was forced to face his boredom once more. It did nothing to alleviate his irritation and outside, the desert sand continued its raucous swirling.
A quick run through his long memory provided him with other instances when he had found himself in similar situations but considering his longevity, such tedium hadn’t occurred that often. Mostly, there had always been something or someone who caught his attention... after all, stirring up chaos in human lives has always been one of his favourite pastimes. Courtesy of human nature, there never was a small number of fools who thought they could outsmart a djinn. Depending on the circumstance, he would allow them to think they had the upper hand... it made the expression of terror and shock on their faces all the more savoury when he finally revealed the true extent of his power. Not that he’d dedicated his life solely to spawning misery and wretchedness (though it was greatly entertaining). On some occasions he had allied himself with humans he had deemed worthy and had, however unlikely, developed bonds akin to friendship with them.
Problem was their lives were too short. In a blink of an eye they would be gone and once more, he would find himself in the predicament he was currently in: suffering from dreary boredom. Of course, there was always the option of searching out others of his own kind. Those types of gatherings always proved to be entertaining for some time. Nevertheless, djinn never held the same level of interest for him that humans did. Being a jinni himself, he was very well acquainted with their way of thinking. To appease boredom you couldn’t go out searching for some of the same... you needed something different.
Gaara shifted in his chair, the metal decoration beads on his crimson sari chiming across the otherwise silent cave as he stretched his legs in front of him. He really should come up with some plan and soon. But his mind refused to cooperate and remained annoyingly uncreative. Going through a few options off the top of his head (moving his sand storm over the nearest settlement, picking a fight with a neighbouring khalifate, tricking some fool into thinking his magic would be the solution to his life’s problems), he discarded all of them as inconsequential and not worthy of taking any further action upon.
Breathing deeply, he crossed his fingers over his bare abdomen and as he leaned back against the cushions of his chair, he resigned himself to taking a nap. Maybe his luck would pull through and he would dream up a solution.
What a wretched state for the most powerful djinn of the continent to be in.
He listened to the sound of the churning wind outside and fell into a deep doze.
Until a disturbance at the edge of his perception pulled him back to consciousness with a jolt. He sat up abruptly, jade eyes wide with surprise. Magic focusing through his sand, he pinpointed the location of the intrusion in his domain.
Some fool had willingly wondered into his storm.
Gaara almost laughed out loud.
His lips lifted up into a vicious smile, already anticipating the entertainment that would soon follow. It seemed his luck had held. He had been relieved of his boredom without even needing to move an inch.
Perception focusing on the intruder, his swirls of sand told him exactly where the person was and where they were headed. Closing his eyes, he sat back once more and concentrated his magic.
It was time to play.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Sakura knew it was folly... but unfortunately, she didn’t have any other option.
She had bolted at the first opportunity she had, trying to get as much distance between her and the caravan camp as possible. It wouldn’t take long for the guards to realize she was missing. They would raise the alarm and begin a ruthless search. She didn’t even want to think about what they would do to her if they found her.
There were many ways to inflict excruciating physical pain without the need to cripple someone.
Hence, when she saw the wall of an approaching sandstorm, she didn’t think twice about heading straight for it. The odds of survival outside the storm weren’t any better so she decided she would rather take her chances against the sand than against the armed guard of the Khalif. Forced to choose between dire or dreadful, all she could do was pray for a miracle.
And curse herself soundly for having left her home out of her own free will just to fall directly into a trap. She should’ve known better... she knew. But the promise of increasing her knowledge had been too tempting to pass. Not having access to any kind of remedial archives had always been a thorn in her side.
A salve-maker of quite some renown, she had been approached by the Khalif’s men around a week ago at the remote village where she practiced her trade. They had praised her skills and asked her where she had learned her craft. Happily, she had told them of her apprenticeship to the great Tsunade, one of the best healers of the realm, and had shared the details of her education in the faraway Capital. The men had smiled and asked if she wished to further her learning: they told her all about the archives of their khalifate.
They didn’t need to talk much to catch her undivided attention. What salve-maker hadn’t heard of the medical annals of Iwagakure?
The men visited her for a few days in a row and talked her into accompanying them back to their homeland. She could stay as long as she liked and would obtain valuable information as well as additional skills to improve her salve making. It was like dangling a banquet in front of a starving woman.
Blinded by the glamour of their proposal, Sakura decided to close shop for a while and go on an extended visit to Iwagakure. She could almost feel the scrolls, filled with centuries of knowledge, under her fingers.
Her elation lasted the whole of two hours after leaving her oasis village. It was until their cavalcade met up with a larger caravan in the middle of the desert that she realized something was terribly wrong. The friendly demeanour of her companions instantly evaporated and the weapons of the new arrivals told her in clear terms this wasn’t going to be a vacationing trip. She was forced into a carriage and handled roughly when she resisted. Once inside the coach, she met some other salve-makers and healers. In a short time, Sakura was made very much aware of her huge mistake.
The Khalif was suffering from a mysterious disease and he was desperate to find a cure. Unable to get his prized physicians to restore his health, he was desperate to find answers through any means necessary. He was sending his men across the continent, searching for well-known medics that might help to rid him of his illness. His armed guard took them by force, coercing them or tricking them, removing them from their homes and the lives they peacefully led. They were now prisoners of the Khalif and would be forced to find an effective treatment for his sickness.
Disbelief and indignation surged through her but there was nothing she could do. The Khalif’s men had exploited her weakness and she had fallen for their trap without any real effort on their part. Shame followed quickly, only to be replaced by a dull numbness. What would her teacher say if she saw her now?
Nevertheless, Sakura had always been known for her resilience and it was only a few days before it rose with full force to the surface. If the Khalif’s guards had taken advantage of her weakness, then she would take advantage of theirs.
The men were subservient, thinking their prisoners had nowhere to run because they were traversing some of the most inhospitable areas of the desert. They’re custody had grown weak and their prisoners were allowed to roam around camp without too much restraint. Most of her fellow captives agreed with their kidnappers: the odds of surviving out there in the dunes were amazingly low. No matter what Sakura said, she could not convince them into action.
So be it. She would go at it alone.
After spending three days snipping food and water, she decided she had gathered enough provisions. She hid the rations in her pack as best as she could and duly noted the activity of their captors. The caravan would stop just before dawn to avoid travelling during the hottest part of the day. Thus, during early morning, no one would be up and about. It was the best moment to make her escape and even though she would face the ruthless midday heat out in the open, she was willing to take the risk.
Thus, when the sandstorm came upon her after she bolted, she actually ran towards the raging tempest.
The wind and sand blinded her instantly, leaving her disoriented. Sakura pulled the ends of her turban over her face, attempting to cover it as best as she could. Placing the cloth over her eyes, she eventually managed to see through the fabric. The desert landscape was a swirling mass of shifting grains but she could just barely make out the shadows of a large boulder somewhere to her left.
The going was amazingly difficult and every step meant fighting a battle against the brutal wind. Nonetheless, she finally managed to get to the large stone. It jutted out at the base of a rocky hill, offering meagre shelter from the ruthless gale if one managed to crawl underneath it.
Sakura decided that meagre was better than nothing.
Falling to her knees, she was about to edge underneath the boulder when her ears impossibly heard something above the raging whirl of the sand.
The wind was whispering.
Sakura could almost make out the words.
She lifted her head as best as she could, trying to discern the source of the murmur. Remaining still for a few moments, she debated if she had finally lost her mind. But there it was again: a low whisper calling out to her from somewhere within the furious storm. How could such a soft voice carry across such a squall?
It was impossible.
But despite her protesting mind, her feet were moving before she could do anything to stop them. The murmuring voice was pleasantly hypnotizing. It compelled her to action and she was powerless to resists it’s lure. Finding the owner of the voice was suddenly of the utmost importance. Nothing else in the world mattered.
Falling into a spellbound daze, Sakura headed in the direction of the whispering wind.
~~xxx~~