Roommates

Chapter 10 troublesome women

It was another clear Saturday morning as Ino woke up from her deep sleep. It had been another long day at the hospital for her last night that upon arriving home, she had quickly taken a shower and gone to bed.
A soft knock on her door had her sitting up slowly, her long tresses cascading around her body. Pushing her blankets off her body, Ino got up from the bed and walked over to the door. At this hour, there could only be one person who would be knocking.
"Yes, Roomie?" she asked while opening the door, her head leaning against the door frame as she stared half sleepily at him.
"Did I wake you up?"
"Nah, I was already awake. What's up?"
"Come hike," he said.
"Huh? What, Kankuro ditched you or something?"
"...No," Gaara replied, and then grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of her room, "Go get ready,"
Ino rolled her eyes. "You do realize that I'm not wearing any pants..."
His eyes wondered downward for a few seconds and Ino cursed herself for not being quick enough and kneeing him between the legs. His teal eyes met hers again.
"...Not the first time I've seen you in panties,"
Her stomach did backflips, and she wasn't sure if it was because she was currently in a white top and blue panties...or because Gaara had seen her plenty of times in her panties. While it didn't bother her previously that he had seen her in underwear (heck, she was a nurse and there were times where she had to be quick when leaving the house), today was...different. She suddenly became self-conscious of her body, a million questions running through her mind.
Did she moisturize her legs enough?
Had he seen her in her ugly, older panties? Come on, every woman owned at least one of those.
"Ino,"
"Y-Yes?" she asked, shaking her head and removing those thoughts.
"Go get dressed,"
"Oh, yes! Give me some time!"
Smiling sheepishly, she walked inside her bedroom and closed the door. Maybe it was time to wear shorts to bed?
It took her about thirty minutes to get ready, and another ten for her to eat a quick breakfast.
The sun shone much brighter today, and residents took advantage of the beautiful weather as they packed for a day at the beach. Instead of wearing her long workout leggings, she opted in for some black gym shorts which reached the middle of her thighs.
Ino and Gaara took the train and then walked towards the park they had previously visited for hiking. Although it has been a while, Ino smiled as she felt a happy feeling swell in her chest. The weather was lovely, and it had been a while since she had been out. But it wasn't just the outdoors that was making her happy. Being around Gaara made her happy. Don't get her wrong - she always enjoyed his presence. But it had been a while since the two of them really interacted and being around him made her-
"Gaara!"
Ino didn't realize she had been smiling the whole time as they reached the park, and upon seeing that familiar girl from the club, her smile fell into a frown. The short haired girl ran up to them and hugged her red-haired roommate, a bright smile on her face.
Ino felt her knees become weak.
The girl, Fu, finished hugging him and then turned her attention towards her. Her smile seemed to widen even more and Ino wasn't sure what to do.
"Hi! You must be Ino!"
The girl knew her name?
Ino simply blinked while standing still, knowing that Gaara was looking towards her direction.
Fu jogged up to her and, to her surprise, gave her a hug. Fu giggled as she then grabbed Ino's hand.
"My name is Fu! I'm so happy to finally be meeting you!"
She was happy to meet her?
Unsure of what to say, Ino forced a small smile as she muttered a shaky "Hi,".
Fu turned back to Gaara and grabbed his arm, "Come on! Let's go start hiking! Let's go see the waterfall!"
Ino seemed to have spaced out again, her attention coming back once Gaara called her name.
"Ino, are you OK?"
She blinked several times before nodding, following them as they began their hike.
Ino chose to walk about a foot or two behind them, feeling her legs feel both light and heavy. Even though she was hydrated and the slope wasn't steep (yet), she took deeper breaths in order to calm her frantically beating chest. She felt as if she was in a trance, waiting for someone to just wake her up from the nightmare.
Why was no one waking her up?
Although it hurt, she couldn't keep her gaze away from them. Fu was talkative. Extremely talkative. Ino wasn't sure if Gaara was even paying attention to her, considering he kept his gaze forward majority of the time.
Did he invite her?
Was it just coincidence that she was with them?
Ino wasn't sure, but in a way it didn't matter. It still ached, her steps slowing down unintentionally.
Fu must've said something that caught her roommate's attention, because for once Gaara turned towards the short-haired girl and smiled. The girl smiled even wider at him before grabbing his hand...
The scene took Ino by surprise, making her feel as if someone had punched her in the gut.
I can't do this...
No matter how beautiful the weather was, Ino wanted nothing more than to leave. She felt bad thinking such things, but watching Fu act very comfortably around Gaara was destroying her. She just couldn't take it anymore.
Ino stopped walking in her tracks, staring at Gaara's back as he continued walking. His gaze was back towards the trail ahead of them, hands dug inside the pockets of his pants. But the girl's arm was still linked around his.
Knowing that it was either now or never, Ino turned around and jogged back down. She wondered if she should turn around and see if he noticed that she had left. While part of her was curious, she thought that it was better not to.
Reaching the park exit, Ino decided that it was better to order a cab than walk and take the train back. She just wanted to get home.

One week ago...
The man took a deep breath, his hands shaking as the judge sitting in front of them looked through some documents. She had short-hair, her face round as her glasses sat on the bridge of her nose. While she continued reviewing, he turned towards the right and inspected the people from the other side.
The hospital had brought good lawyers. Expensive lawyers. He could never afford such lawyers. All he was able to afford was some stupid college student to represent him. But considering how hectic the court hearing was, the man knew that he was going to lose.
He shifted his gaze so it landed on the blond woman. Dr. Tsunade...
The bitch sat with the three lawyers that the hospital had appointed. The woman held her facial expression, never once showing any emotion as she recounted the day in which the hospital had been tremendously overwhelmed by the victims of the plane accident.
He wanted to put a bullet through her head. Maybe she would show some emotion then?
The judge had been talking, and the man had been too busy glaring at the doctor to have caught the majority of the words. However, his head snapped back as the judge finished her verdict.
"...and therefore, I am dismissing this case. No evidence of foul play was presented to me. Considering the events that day, the hospital acted appropriately and treated each patient fairly..."
The man turned his head back towards Dr. Tsunade, noticing how her facial expression still remained neutral.
...As if this court hearing didn't matter...
...As if his feelings didn't matter!
...As if daughter Marylin didn't matter...
Yes, he would put a bullet in her fucking head...
...And just maybe, she would feel then....

Ino groaned loudly as she was woken up from her nap, feeling deja vu hit her as her head slowly lifted up. She immediately laid back down on the pillow as she grabbed her sheets and shifted them over her head.
But the moment someone else grabbed her sheets, Ino's eyes snapped open and she led out a yelp.
"Relax, it's me."
Sitting up and blinking several times, Ino could make out the outline of her roommate's body as he stood right by her bed.
Why was he in her room?
"...Wh-What are you doing here?"
Gaara turned around and flipped the switch, causing Ino to groan again and pull the pillow over her head. This was definitely not helping her headache...
"Gaara, what the hel-"
"Why did you leave like that?"
Ino blinked several times before pulling the pillow away from her head, her gaze meeting her bedroom floor. His tone sounded...angry. And to be frank, she had never seen an angry Gaara before.
"Ino," he called out again.
"Wh-What?"
"Why did you walk away like that?"
The blonde-haired beauty closed her eyes and began to think, quickly remembering how he had woken her up this morning for hiking. She had been eager until-
...Fu.
That's right.
The short-haired girl had showed up and hiked with them, and seeing both of them look friendly to each other had started bothering her.
And in her mind, the only thing to do from there was...leave, without even telling him.
"Why won't you answer?"
Ino took a deep breath and answered, still refusing to meet his faze. She just didn't know what to say, the only thing coming to her mind quickly escaped her lips.
"I....didn't feel well..."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"...It...wasn't a big deal...?" Ino replied with a shrug, forcing herself to look at him for the first time.
He still wore the same gym outfits from this morning, and she wondered at what time he had gotten home.
"I thought something had happened to you. I called you several times. I was worried,"
Guilt slammed into her as she recalled ignoring his first call while she had been in the cab. She had then turned off her phone after that. She just didn't know what to say to him.
"Sorry, my phone actually died....and I fell asleep after that. Terrible headache..."
Gaara didn't look convinced. He stood about a foot away from her bed with his arms crossed in front of his chest, and Ino looked away. The guilt grew even more as he kept staring at her, as if studying her and her lie. It was after a while in which he spoke again.
"...I'm sure drinking wine won't help with your headache,"
Ino eyed the near empty bottle on her nightstand and rolled her eyes. Upon reaching home, she had snatched her remaining bottle of wine before lying down for a nap. Heck, she didn't even remember falling asleep.
She didn't say anything as Gaara exited her room, the door of her room closing right behind him.

Gaara sighed as he sat on the corner of his bed, his own head hurting too. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he saw ten new text messages from Fu. He opened the first one, followed by the second and third. And on the fourth, he placed his phone down and sighed, feeling his mind constantly drifting towards his blonde-haired roommate.
Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he remembered something Shikamaru had always said and couldn't help but agree, even though the guy would always say it about his sister.
Women can be troublesome.