Void. A Gaara Story.

Ten

Fuu rotated her ankle to bring back feeling in her leg. After months of being confined to a place in the hot and itchy cast, the leg was glad to be able to breathe fresh air and move. Her joint cracked as it eased up and she placed her foot on the ground.

Kankuro and Temari had left for their various businesses two days ago and now Fuu would be leaving forever. She didn't want to and she found herself stalling but she had to. She wanted to talk to Gaara and apologise but she was scared to do so.

"For somebody whose cast was just removed, you sure look gloomy." Murasaki mused. The elder was massaging Fuu's foot in preparation for its resumption to work but she noticed the younger's forlorn expression.

"It's nothing, just that I'll miss this place." Fuu smiled wistfulness at Murasaki. The cook was done with her leg so she stood up to walk properly for the first time in three months. There was pain but it had reduced to a dull feeling now.

"You could stay for some time, give your leg a chance to heal better." Murasaki cleared up the materials along with Fuu's help. Said woman shook her head.

"I couldn't." She refused. "I have things I must do..." Her words trailed to a stop as if she was gathering her thoughts, which she was.

Murasaki watched the young woman leave melancholically and wondered what was wrong. She decided not to push it though, so she left her to her thoughts.

Gaara was going to the greenhouse to tend to some flowers he noticed were wilting when he met Fuu at the hallway. His gaze immediately went to her leg; the cast was missing. The downcast feeling that flooded his chest was unexpected. Why was he feeling sad? He knew that she was bound to leave at some point.

Swallowing the bile that suddenly gathered at his throat, he gestured to her leg with a nod of his head and spoke despite that he didn't trust his voice. "Your cast has come off." He said awkwardly.

"Uh huh, yeah." Fuu answered sounding just as distracted as Gaara did. The both of them stood at the hallway in awkward silence until Gaara extended his full hands to her. He was carrying some clay flower pots he just bought and a small packet of NPK.

"Help me?" He asked.

"Sure." Fuu agreed to what would be her last time in the greenhouse. She loved the greenhouse so much. The place was serene and the smell of flowers and herbs calmed Fuu's senses every time she was there. The woman found it ironic that Gaara knew about herbs and absolutely nothing about vegetables.

"What are you laughing at?" Gaara asked curiously. They were in the greenhouse and were transferring the wilting flowers in the nursery into the flower pots that he bought. Fuu was in charge of mixing the NPK into the soil for the pots while Gaara was transferring them from the nursery.

Fuu seemed to snap out of a daze as if she just realised that she was giggling because she looked at the celebrity in mild confusion before the question finally settled in. And she laughed again. "Just remembering how you didn't know what an apple looks like." She said with a breathy laugh. "It's just unbelievable!"

Gaara made a grunting noise that showed that he was half amused, half embarrassed with himself. "In my defense, I had only ever eaten them in the peeled and sliced form. Then I just stopped eating fruits altogether because I got carried away with work."

"The way you looked at the eggplants that day was just so priceless..." Fuu trailed off laughing.

"They don't look like eggs, why do they call them eggplants then?" Gaara questioned in a  monotonous way that had Fuu laughing again at his logic.

"You're so funny!" Fuu gasped. "Okay, okay I'd stop laughing." She added when the man sent her a half hearted glare. They resumed work and were halfway into finishing it when Fuu's hand trowel scooped some dirt and flung it on Gaara's face.