Promise

Do you feel the same for what was remained?
Yesterday is gone we can’t go back again.

Do you ever cry for the ghost of days gone by?

Do you every cry for the days gone by,
Do they haunt you like a ghost until the end?

“Why would you go so far, do so much for someone who may have forgotten you by now?”

She paused, a bitter, wistful smile curving her pale lips as she turned to face the glowing, simply ethereal ball hanging in the midnight sky. Much like the night their short and chubby pinkies had linked in a promise she was determined to honour till the end.

“Because even if he may have forgotten, or it may have become nothing more but a distant memory, I will never… never forget the promise we made. I plan to fulfill it, even if it is only for my selfish desire to see him again.”

“A broken promise is just another lie, isn’t it?” He asked sharply, coldly, his back facing her as he refused to let her see his face.

His aloof tone – as if she was just another nobody – hurt, but his words were what felt as if something pierced straight through her heart, wrenching and twisting in a fearful dance that left her breathless.

“Gaara… I promised –“ She broke off, a soft gasp slipping past her lips against her will as her eyes watered. Despite doing her best to hold them back, the tears refused to comply.

Tears ran in rivulets down her cheeks. Knowing that nothing else could be done, the girl took a deep breath and willed herself to continue. “I promised that – “

However, instead of words, what left her mouth was a sticky red metallic substance.

Pain spiked through her body and a strangled gasp left her lungs. At that, and as the smell of the scarlet substance reached his nose, the monster of Suna whirled around.

“What…?” She glanced down, only to be greeted with the horrific sight of senbons, kunai and shurikens peppering her body, a lance of ice piercing straight through her chest.

Blood splattered onto the golden grains of sand at her feet as her eyes fluttered shut, body collapsing onto the rough surface.

Gaara froze and watched, wide eyed as the girl’s body fell over in slow motion.

It didn’t make sense. She wasn’t a shinobi, they had no reason to attack her, no reason to take her life.

It didn’t make sense.

Slight movement at his peripheral vision snapped him out of the reverie. Celeste blue eyes flicked upwards, fixed on the black blur fading into the distance that somehow managed to escape his notice beforehand.

But this was the desert. With sand, Gaara could do anything.

Falling to his knees beside the prone body of the girl he held dearly to his heart, his narrowed orbs of pale blue glared at the sand the shinobi had ran upon.

Grains of sand rose high into the air to form a golden wave towering over the plains.

“G-Gaara…”

The soft mumble, that single word laced with so much pain broke his concentration and the sand fell back uselessly. His eyes lowered to meet her barely open ones.

The broken smile on her trembling lips cracked his battered heart in two.

“I promised… to love you… forever.” Coughs wracked her pathetic frame. She was a miserable sight, blood trickling from her lips, hair matted with the same crimson substance. “Even if… even if you forgot… I – I won’t break… the promise.”

His lips felt as though they were sewn shut. He tried – damn it, he tried – But he could not find the words to – to what? He didn’t even know anymore. Gaara had thought about it before, there were so many things he wanted to tell the little girl he had met so many years ago.

About Naruto. About Sasuke. About Lee.

And about himself.

He knew that her small act of kindness about a decade ago had saved him. Gaara would have been a monster far beyond saving if not for her.

But here she was – dying, no less, and he didn’t know what to say. He refused to promise that she would be fine, because they both knew that it was a lie.

Without a single clue as to what he should say, he acted instead. Gently picking her from the sand, he held the girl close to his body.

“Gaara,” She weakly called for his attention. A weak, bloody hand rose to cradle his cheeks, just like that time they first met. Only then, her hand was free of her life’s fluid.

The redhead clutched her closer, tighter, in an unspoken promise to avenge the death that could have been avoided if he had paid more attention.

If only he had paid more attention.

Something must have shown in his eyes, because her lips parted in a soft whisper. “It’s not… your fault.”

His head fell, wrath and despair stirring in the pits of his stomach. Yes, it was his fault. This was his mistake to make up for. His wrong to right.

But no, it could never be righted, could it? Once she left, she was just… gone. There was no way to bring her back. No granny Chiyo to exchange their lives.

And he hated it.

“Gaara,” Another gasp brought his focus back to the girl he cradled in his arms.

Life and strength was abandoning her fast. She had to say it – had to say the words she had been longing to say ever since the fated night of their first meeting.

“I love you.”

Her promise fulfilled, the girl’s eyelids fluttered shut as she breathed her final sigh, head rolling to the side as her weary soul left the husk of her bloodied, beaten body.

Gaara squeezed his eyes shut, the single tear that slid down his cheek not escaping his notice. He tightened his arms around her, crushing her to him.

He hadn’t forgotten.

A/N Wooh, I spent like, an hour and a half on this! >< Constructive critisism welcomed! :D

Thanks for reading :3