Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [1]

☾ 61 ☽

"Gaara," Tsukiko acknowledged as she stared at him. He looked rather different, and his expression wasn't as mean as it used to be. It was still quite emotionless, she admitted. "Lee told me everything – thank you for everything,"

"I want to talk to you," Gaara said.

Tsukiko was internally screaming over how different it was to have him speak normally and not in that angry voice he used with her months earlier when blaming her for everything that went on with him in Konoha.

"Would you like to sit down?" Tsukiko asked, jumping to her feet and realising only a second later that she was hurt and she crumbled to the ground, avoiding the floor only because sand had cushioned her fall.

Gaara looked down at the younger girl, her long white hair flopped all over her bruised face and exposing her horns to him. He had been rather curious about them but that wasn't why he was here to meet her. He watched her struggle in his sand and pushed her back and onto her chair once more.

It was now that he noticed that she was quite heavily bandaged. Gaara had never had to go through that physical pain until the event of Konohagakure Invasion. And he had heard that she had also been pierced by Uchiha Sasuke's Chidori. He looked at her face, wondering if all those bruises were from the male as well.

"I will take the chair myself," Gaara told her and used his sand to put a chair across from her before walking over and sitting down. Tsukiko looked at him as she pushed her hair away from her face, wondering if everything was all right.

For a few seconds, Tsukiko and Gaara sat across from each other in silence. Tsukiko continued to peer at him, hoping to hear from him. She wasn't scared of him anymore and she hoped he wouldn't mistake her curiosity, and frankly shyness, as something like that. She noticed that he had changed his previous clothing as well.

"I am sorry," Gaara said. Tsukiko's jaw dropped and she felt her whole face go red as she hurriedly fixed her expression. "For what happened during the Chunin Exams," Tsukiko swallowed slightly and gave him a weak smile.

"It's all right," Tsukiko replied. "As long as you've also apologised to Lee and he's accepted it, I have no problem accepting your apology either," Gaara stared at her curiously.

"You are quite strange," Gaara told her. The tip of Tsukiko's ears warmed increasingly. "But I now understand what you mean," Tsukiko looked at him curiously this time. "I have been thinking about it as well," He glanced at her. "Thinking of change,"

"That is a good thing, Usa," Tsukiko said. "I think the fact that you even agreed to come this far to help us shows that you've changed a lot, for the better," She bit her lower lip. "Even if it was just an order, it still means a lot,"

Gaara was silent as he stared at her. She was just as strange as she usually looked and acted, but at least she didn't make it absurd. Admittingly, she seemed to turn red a lot and appeared to be a little too understanding but it should still be easy to talk to her, shouldn't it? She talked okay with others...

"The beast inside of you," Gaara said. "You were talking to him, just now... and back then," Tsukiko nodded at him. "You're friends... How?" Tsukiko studied him for a few seconds and then gave him a small smile.

"Well, there is one thing about Usajii... Okuninushi... He's rather understanding," Tsukiko admitted. "Also... I believe that even if one is a human and the other is a beast... There is no need to make any distinction. We can all be friends through that very understanding,"

Gaara kept his eyes train upon her as she leaned back in her chair. He knew that Shukaku was not as understanding as Tsukiko's Usajii, but he felt better now that he knew how she had that kind of relationship with her beast.