Cresting Wave [GaaSaku]
Title: Cresting Wave
Fandom: Naruto
Prompt: #18 - Untouchable 100_prompts
Character/Pairing: Sabaku no Gaara/Haruno Sakura
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1913
Summary: "...he was more similar to the likes of molten magma. Like lava, his unchecked path of destruction instantly turned everything he touched to ash."
Authors Notes: Continuation of Allow me to elucidate; sixth installment in the Partners-in-Shadow series.
~~xxx~~
18 - Untouchable
I’m counting on you.
The words echoed inside his mind, filling it with the sound of her husky voice. The strange feeling they had evoked hadn’t left him and he’d been riding a cresting wave of unknown emotion for the past few days. Gaara knew it would come crashing down soon; there was no way around that. The tension had been rising hour after hour, feeding his already unstable disposition.
“It’s not a matter of trust,” she’d said, snaking her naked leg around his, “it’s a matter of instinct”. Pulling him impossibly closer, Sakura pressed her kiss-bruised lips against his, stretching down the length of his body and igniting the flame that was never quite dormant within him.
The memory of their exchange helped to heat Suna no Akaoni from the inside out. The cold night around him made his breath come out in white puffs but under his cloak, the remembrance of Sakura’s warm skin was enough to allow him to ignore the chill. Instinct, she’d said... and she had been right. He’d managed to live this long solely by relying on his instincts. Admittedly, they hadn’t always taken others into consideration but at least they’d gotten him out alive. So when she said this whole mission wasn’t about trust but of the gut feeling within, the redhead had to concede she had played her cards right.
Damn the woman and her ability to read him so accurately.
In a moaning and fiery display of fervour, sweaty skin creating just the right amount of delicious friction, she’d gone ahead and appealed to the primal traits of his dark personality. There was no need to use words; she knew very well what she was provoking in him. With no desire to stop her, he’d inadvertently opened the locked gate that kept the world out and let her in.
Jade eyes bright from beneath his cloak hood, Gaara surveyed the shadowed landscape before him in an attempt to compose his thoughts. He didn’t know how Sakura had managed it. True, he’d told her she had to cater to his whims if she’d wanted to stay alive. But never in his life would he have thought she’d be able to pull it off so effectively. As a matter of fact, she hadn’t been content with satisfying his capricious nature; oh no. That hadn’t been enough.
Sakura had decided to dance with the red demon of the sands and had, just like she wanted, garnered his undivided attention.
‘It just goes to show you how much she values her life’ Gaara thought wryly. But his cynic thinking didn’t sound convincing, even to him. Instincts were instincts and his gut was telling him there was something else at play when it came to the roseate haired kunoichi. If he was honest with himself, he’d admit to a curious spark igniting between them from the moment they’d first encountered each other.
But the redhead was never one to linger on the past. His present was always much more important. Currently, he was aware of the tension that had been building up since the moment he was forced let her go so she could walk straight into peril. His inexperience with emotions didn’t allow him to pinpoint the nature of his feeling but he was very much aware of the strain present throughout his whole body. Not to mention the ever rising urge to maim and annihilate whoever and whatever got in his way. Gaara had been able to keep it under control, purposely avoiding any line of thought that lead him to wonder about the danger Sakura was currently facing. But he was only able to do so to a certain extent and after waiting out the three days he’d agreed to give her, his forbearance was at its very end.
He heard her breathing catch, her pleasurable gasp ghosting down his neck. Fingernails clinging to whatever skin of his back she was able to grasp, Sakura gave herself up to his keeping. It wasn’t a surrender on her part; it was a statement. She was speaking the language of archetypes and the shadow side of his being responded. Rising in answer to her magnetic pull, it settled itself around her and sank its teeth into her, marking and possessing. She fell into the dark embrace he offered, breathless with elation.
Gaara was called a demon for a reason and now, after keeping silent watch over Kurogane Fortress for three very long days, it was time to let his fiendish nature loose upon the world. He may be ignorant of what his emotions were or of what exactly had passed between him and Sakura but he knew one thing.
For him, she was untouchable.
No one who laid a harmful finger on her would be allowed to live. It was an absolute truth.
The demon within him howled in glee at the coming bloodbath and perched itself at the crest of the wave. The time for it to come crashing down upon his enemies had come.
As the watch in his pouch beeped midnight, he pulled off his hood to reveal his crimson hair as he came to his feet under the starlight. His eyes turned towards the large fortress a short distance away, focusing on the patrolling guards walking along its battlements. None of them would have been able to predict the fate that was coming to them.
The blood red demon of the sands had come to make scarlet rivers run.
It was time to let havoc and mayhem descend.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Through the haze of pain, Sakura was aware of an intense feeling of satisfaction. She had always prided herself on her brains and it seemed that once again, they hadn’t failed her. After behaving in the exact way she had foreseen, Iwagakure’s military goons had brought her precisely where she’d wanted to be: in their Shogun’s private rooms.
A beaten body and a broken rib were a small price to pay for the information she had been able to obtain. Not that such a physical state would have been able to incapacitate her completely, oh no; she was a better kunoichi than that. The trick lay in making her captors believe she was useless due to their vicious ministrations and pompous morons that they were, they’d actually fallen for her little act. It was clear now why Iwagakure was on this aimless war path: the officials in its army were a bunch of idiots who believed the promises of glory their leader proffered them. There wasn’t a sensible politician among their ranks within a hundred mile radius. Or maybe there was but they had either been killed or taken prisoner.
The decadent levels a country could reach under the guidance of an incompetent leader were something that made Sakura cringe.
Healing herself had been easy, especially since the arrogant asses had left her in a dilapidated heap on the floor. Laughing at her distress they hadn’t even bothered to tie her up properly. Nonetheless, she was aware she shouldn’t heal herself too much; even idiots like them would notice if her bruises disappeared all of a sudden. So she tended her fracture but didn’t mend herself completely, making it seem like every movement she made brought her intense pain whenever one of the guards checked in on her.
Obtaining information from within her cell had been less challenging than she had expected. Especially since the Shogun’s meeting room was only a short distance away. She hadn’t even had to use the advanced jutsus she had prepared and her mission turned out to be an exercise in skilled eavesdropping. Even an amateur nin would have been able to pull it off. During one instance, the idiots even left the door wide open. There really wasn’t a limit to her enemy’s stupidity. Now, all the pertaining information she needed was happily filed away inside her brain.
But when the negotiations for her ransom didn’t meet the Shogun’s expectations, the goons had been sent in to do their dirty work once again; not that she hadn’t been expecting it. Even so, she would have preferred not to have to experience another beating. Once more, they left her in a heap and undid the healing of her rib. That had been a little after dusk and she’d been slowly patching herself up since then. Due to her need to avoid suspicion, she couldn’t work fast enough to make the pain go away entirely. Besides, it would be an utter waste for her cover to be blown now when rescue was so close at hand.
At the thought of her assigned rescuer, an uncontrollable thrill overcame her. She’d evidently not had much time to think about the redhead but now that the time approached for him to play the role of white knight to her imprisoned maiden, Sakura couldn’t help but breathe out in relief and expectation. Of course, if she was honest to herself she’d have to admit the whole scenario was more akin to the rampant demon and the suicidal kunoichi. Still, she couldn’t complain. Especially not when she recalled the intense moments they had experienced together the night before the beginning of their mission.
Before, Sakura had compared herself to a moth being pulled in by the allure of a flame. But now she knew better. Such a half-assed simile could never even begin to compare with what the redhead ignited within her. A flame would never suffice to describe him... he was more similar to the likes of molten magma. Like lava, his unchecked path of destruction instantly turned everything he touched to ash. But that was the curious thing. She hadn’t been reduced to cinders. Instead, she had been wrapped in a shadowy cocoon and spared the effects of the inherent threat he was to everyone else.
Between the playful banter and the heated sex, something had shifted between them; something important. A something that, no matter her previous doubts and apprehensions, made her certain he would come for her at the appointed time and at the appointed place. It wasn’t about trust. Just like she’d told him, it was about instinct.
Mingled with its demonic counterpart, Sakura had discovered the man within Gaara. And she had appealed to him. His response had been nothing short of overwhelming, engulfing her in his dark embrace. Sakura was very much aware he was much more dangerous than the demon. It was, after all, Gaara the man who allowed the demon free reign. He was the one who made the choice to wreck destruction upon the world and who permitted his counterpart to take over. It was also the man who, having tired of the mayhem, reeled in the demon and made it heel.
The cold rationality behind the unstable and raging fiend was a lot more frightening than any demon could ever be, she had to admit. And it was this part of Gaara that had given her his exclusive attention.
Sakura guessed it was now irrefutably proven that she did get her kicks out of being up to her neck in dangerous situations. It was the only explanation for the buzz she felt in her veins at the thought of Suna no Akaoni coming to bail her out.
It was also the reason why, when she felt the walls of the fortress shake with a terrifying rumble, her heart leapt into her throat and she smiled widely.
~~xxx~~
Fandom: Naruto
Prompt: #18 - Untouchable 100_prompts
Character/Pairing: Sabaku no Gaara/Haruno Sakura
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1913
Summary: "...he was more similar to the likes of molten magma. Like lava, his unchecked path of destruction instantly turned everything he touched to ash."
Authors Notes: Continuation of Allow me to elucidate; sixth installment in the Partners-in-Shadow series.
~~xxx~~
18 - Untouchable
I’m counting on you.
The words echoed inside his mind, filling it with the sound of her husky voice. The strange feeling they had evoked hadn’t left him and he’d been riding a cresting wave of unknown emotion for the past few days. Gaara knew it would come crashing down soon; there was no way around that. The tension had been rising hour after hour, feeding his already unstable disposition.
“It’s not a matter of trust,” she’d said, snaking her naked leg around his, “it’s a matter of instinct”. Pulling him impossibly closer, Sakura pressed her kiss-bruised lips against his, stretching down the length of his body and igniting the flame that was never quite dormant within him.
The memory of their exchange helped to heat Suna no Akaoni from the inside out. The cold night around him made his breath come out in white puffs but under his cloak, the remembrance of Sakura’s warm skin was enough to allow him to ignore the chill. Instinct, she’d said... and she had been right. He’d managed to live this long solely by relying on his instincts. Admittedly, they hadn’t always taken others into consideration but at least they’d gotten him out alive. So when she said this whole mission wasn’t about trust but of the gut feeling within, the redhead had to concede she had played her cards right.
Damn the woman and her ability to read him so accurately.
In a moaning and fiery display of fervour, sweaty skin creating just the right amount of delicious friction, she’d gone ahead and appealed to the primal traits of his dark personality. There was no need to use words; she knew very well what she was provoking in him. With no desire to stop her, he’d inadvertently opened the locked gate that kept the world out and let her in.
Jade eyes bright from beneath his cloak hood, Gaara surveyed the shadowed landscape before him in an attempt to compose his thoughts. He didn’t know how Sakura had managed it. True, he’d told her she had to cater to his whims if she’d wanted to stay alive. But never in his life would he have thought she’d be able to pull it off so effectively. As a matter of fact, she hadn’t been content with satisfying his capricious nature; oh no. That hadn’t been enough.
Sakura had decided to dance with the red demon of the sands and had, just like she wanted, garnered his undivided attention.
‘It just goes to show you how much she values her life’ Gaara thought wryly. But his cynic thinking didn’t sound convincing, even to him. Instincts were instincts and his gut was telling him there was something else at play when it came to the roseate haired kunoichi. If he was honest with himself, he’d admit to a curious spark igniting between them from the moment they’d first encountered each other.
But the redhead was never one to linger on the past. His present was always much more important. Currently, he was aware of the tension that had been building up since the moment he was forced let her go so she could walk straight into peril. His inexperience with emotions didn’t allow him to pinpoint the nature of his feeling but he was very much aware of the strain present throughout his whole body. Not to mention the ever rising urge to maim and annihilate whoever and whatever got in his way. Gaara had been able to keep it under control, purposely avoiding any line of thought that lead him to wonder about the danger Sakura was currently facing. But he was only able to do so to a certain extent and after waiting out the three days he’d agreed to give her, his forbearance was at its very end.
He heard her breathing catch, her pleasurable gasp ghosting down his neck. Fingernails clinging to whatever skin of his back she was able to grasp, Sakura gave herself up to his keeping. It wasn’t a surrender on her part; it was a statement. She was speaking the language of archetypes and the shadow side of his being responded. Rising in answer to her magnetic pull, it settled itself around her and sank its teeth into her, marking and possessing. She fell into the dark embrace he offered, breathless with elation.
Gaara was called a demon for a reason and now, after keeping silent watch over Kurogane Fortress for three very long days, it was time to let his fiendish nature loose upon the world. He may be ignorant of what his emotions were or of what exactly had passed between him and Sakura but he knew one thing.
For him, she was untouchable.
No one who laid a harmful finger on her would be allowed to live. It was an absolute truth.
The demon within him howled in glee at the coming bloodbath and perched itself at the crest of the wave. The time for it to come crashing down upon his enemies had come.
As the watch in his pouch beeped midnight, he pulled off his hood to reveal his crimson hair as he came to his feet under the starlight. His eyes turned towards the large fortress a short distance away, focusing on the patrolling guards walking along its battlements. None of them would have been able to predict the fate that was coming to them.
The blood red demon of the sands had come to make scarlet rivers run.
It was time to let havoc and mayhem descend.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Through the haze of pain, Sakura was aware of an intense feeling of satisfaction. She had always prided herself on her brains and it seemed that once again, they hadn’t failed her. After behaving in the exact way she had foreseen, Iwagakure’s military goons had brought her precisely where she’d wanted to be: in their Shogun’s private rooms.
A beaten body and a broken rib were a small price to pay for the information she had been able to obtain. Not that such a physical state would have been able to incapacitate her completely, oh no; she was a better kunoichi than that. The trick lay in making her captors believe she was useless due to their vicious ministrations and pompous morons that they were, they’d actually fallen for her little act. It was clear now why Iwagakure was on this aimless war path: the officials in its army were a bunch of idiots who believed the promises of glory their leader proffered them. There wasn’t a sensible politician among their ranks within a hundred mile radius. Or maybe there was but they had either been killed or taken prisoner.
The decadent levels a country could reach under the guidance of an incompetent leader were something that made Sakura cringe.
Healing herself had been easy, especially since the arrogant asses had left her in a dilapidated heap on the floor. Laughing at her distress they hadn’t even bothered to tie her up properly. Nonetheless, she was aware she shouldn’t heal herself too much; even idiots like them would notice if her bruises disappeared all of a sudden. So she tended her fracture but didn’t mend herself completely, making it seem like every movement she made brought her intense pain whenever one of the guards checked in on her.
Obtaining information from within her cell had been less challenging than she had expected. Especially since the Shogun’s meeting room was only a short distance away. She hadn’t even had to use the advanced jutsus she had prepared and her mission turned out to be an exercise in skilled eavesdropping. Even an amateur nin would have been able to pull it off. During one instance, the idiots even left the door wide open. There really wasn’t a limit to her enemy’s stupidity. Now, all the pertaining information she needed was happily filed away inside her brain.
But when the negotiations for her ransom didn’t meet the Shogun’s expectations, the goons had been sent in to do their dirty work once again; not that she hadn’t been expecting it. Even so, she would have preferred not to have to experience another beating. Once more, they left her in a heap and undid the healing of her rib. That had been a little after dusk and she’d been slowly patching herself up since then. Due to her need to avoid suspicion, she couldn’t work fast enough to make the pain go away entirely. Besides, it would be an utter waste for her cover to be blown now when rescue was so close at hand.
At the thought of her assigned rescuer, an uncontrollable thrill overcame her. She’d evidently not had much time to think about the redhead but now that the time approached for him to play the role of white knight to her imprisoned maiden, Sakura couldn’t help but breathe out in relief and expectation. Of course, if she was honest to herself she’d have to admit the whole scenario was more akin to the rampant demon and the suicidal kunoichi. Still, she couldn’t complain. Especially not when she recalled the intense moments they had experienced together the night before the beginning of their mission.
Before, Sakura had compared herself to a moth being pulled in by the allure of a flame. But now she knew better. Such a half-assed simile could never even begin to compare with what the redhead ignited within her. A flame would never suffice to describe him... he was more similar to the likes of molten magma. Like lava, his unchecked path of destruction instantly turned everything he touched to ash. But that was the curious thing. She hadn’t been reduced to cinders. Instead, she had been wrapped in a shadowy cocoon and spared the effects of the inherent threat he was to everyone else.
Between the playful banter and the heated sex, something had shifted between them; something important. A something that, no matter her previous doubts and apprehensions, made her certain he would come for her at the appointed time and at the appointed place. It wasn’t about trust. Just like she’d told him, it was about instinct.
Mingled with its demonic counterpart, Sakura had discovered the man within Gaara. And she had appealed to him. His response had been nothing short of overwhelming, engulfing her in his dark embrace. Sakura was very much aware he was much more dangerous than the demon. It was, after all, Gaara the man who allowed the demon free reign. He was the one who made the choice to wreck destruction upon the world and who permitted his counterpart to take over. It was also the man who, having tired of the mayhem, reeled in the demon and made it heel.
The cold rationality behind the unstable and raging fiend was a lot more frightening than any demon could ever be, she had to admit. And it was this part of Gaara that had given her his exclusive attention.
Sakura guessed it was now irrefutably proven that she did get her kicks out of being up to her neck in dangerous situations. It was the only explanation for the buzz she felt in her veins at the thought of Suna no Akaoni coming to bail her out.
It was also the reason why, when she felt the walls of the fortress shake with a terrifying rumble, her heart leapt into her throat and she smiled widely.
~~xxx~~