SasuHina: Beyond The Camera

Chapter 24

-Sakura's POV-

Gaara's arms tightened slightly around me and when I pulled back slightly to look at his face, it held an expression I wasn't familiar with but knew it wasn't a good one. In an attempt to figure out what had him on edge, I pulled my arms from around his shoulders and turned to look behind me, only for someone to roughly shove me to the side.

A small, surprised sound left my lips as my arms came out to try and catch me, but Sasuke and Hinata both grabbed onto one of my arms and pulled me up and away. I was too concerned with who'd pretty much tossed me aside and turned in time to see Garrett land a painful sounding punch to Gaara's face.

My heart dropped in my chest and I instinctively yelled, "Stop!" and tried to go try and help somehow, but my other bandmates wouldn't let me. My mouth fell open in disbelief as Gaara stumbled back with a hand to his eye before a terrifying expression crossed his face and he returned a hit with a ferocity I never thought he'd be capable of.

I felt sick to my stomach at the furious look on my bandmate's face. Gaara's never been anything but calm and quiet since I've met him. This person seething before us didn't even look like him anymore. I wasn't too stunned, though, to be impressed. Garrett had a significant height and weight advantage over him, but only one of them had been thrown to the floor and it wasn't the redhead.

Gaara dropped his hand from his eye and I gasped at how red it was. It was likely to be black within the next hour. Sasuke suddenly released my arm and stepped around Hinata and I to approach our friend, making me realize he was about to go in for another hit.

-Gaara's POV-

The moment he lay a hand on Sakura, my vision was red. The sudden surge of rage in my veins distracted me for a moment and a painful hit landed on the right side of my face, making me take a few steps back. Then everything went black for a while.

"This isn't the time or place, man. Come on!" Sasuke's voice snapped me back to Earth and I blinked, realizing he was holding my arms behind my back.

It took a moment for everything to register as I looked down at Garrett, who was still on the ground with a bloody lip. Then, I noticed the large crowd of people standing nearby with looks of shock as they stared at us.

It happened again. I haven't had a blackout like that since before signing with Evolution and I swore I'd never lose my temper like that again, but when he disregarded Sakura's safety like that I couldn't help myself. Panic shot through me and I looked around until my eyes landed on the girl in question.

Please, God, tell me she wasn't hurt.

I looked over her appearance before mentally relaxing slightly. Other than the terrified expression on her face, she seemed fine. Guilt washed over me when she took a few steps toward me, motioning for Sasuke to let go of me.

My arms were released and she hesitantly laid a hand on my arm, "Let's go somewhere else, okay?" I could tell just by the tone of her voice that she'd seen every second of me losing my temper. It wouldn't surprise me if she becomes scared of me after this. My lack of self-control probably just ruined weeks of trust we'd built up with one another.

Another hand touched my other arm and I looked over to see Tenten leading us backstage toward our dressing room. She was saying something to some of the aides nearby, but I couldn't really comprehend it amidst all the chaos.

-Sakura's POV-

Even if I was taken aback by his shift in demeanor just moments ago, the second he snapped out of it all I wanted to do was hug him and reassure him that no one was angry at him for standing up for himself. A look of complete and utter shame painted his face and showed no signs of leaving even as we entered the dressing room.