Chapter 7

For the rest of the day, memories were served to the thing controlling my body on a silver platter. He asked hundreds of questions, and I answered honestly because he could read my mind and tell if I was lying anyway.

Through the inquiries, I realized he was accessing my memories in order of when they occurred, meaning my most recent memories would be the last ones he saw. Also meaning, he may not be able to get to them before my friends arrive.

To my utter mortification, the invader preferred to show a lot of skin and refused to wear a shirt over my bra despite the freezing air. When I complained, he said it was a waste to hide the female body since it's so unique and interesting, so different from what he's ever inhabited in the past.

Even when it got so cold that it hurt just to be still and I begged him to put something, anything, on, he ignored me. It felt like the very blood in my veins was beginning to freeze. I was probably already sick, but the pain was so bad that I couldn't focus on other ailments.

That was when I realized the level of understanding we shared wasn't relatively as high as I'd trusted it to be. It was also the moment he stopped catering to my requests. I couldn't regain control, even a little, no matter how hard I tried. My attempts were so laughable that the Meishu didn't even ask me to stop trying.

That evening, after waking from The Meishu's midday nap and spending a few hours watching him control my body with no possible way of fighting, Hidan informed us that they'd managed to catch another human at the apartment building they got me. In his words, it's a strong female with pink-colored hair.

It's Sakura; there's no doubt about that.

The question is how they managed to catch her, of all people. There's no way she came willingly…. Unless….

She must've acted as a decoy or let herself get caught for the others' sake. I begged the Meishu to let me see her if only to verify with my own eyes that she was unharmed, but he refused since she'd already been inhabited, stating it'd serve no purpose.

He only told me when I asked that his kind refers to themselves as Pacifici. It was an odd name, but he said it was the best translation from their language to ours.

These "Pacifici" were more similar to humans than they realized, but not in a good way. They're incredibly greedy and selfish. No matter the cost, they're hellbent on getting what they came for because their lives mean more than any human.

Gaara's emotions were shooting through me more often, throwing my body's controller for a loop each time. He knew what was happening because he read my mind but somehow couldn't come to comprehend it.

The Subaku boy was worried and terrified, but more than anything else, he was incredibly pissed off. My guess that he'd be too angry to reason with once he came face to face with my inhabited body was becoming inevitable. Angry Gaara was volatile, and I was beginning to worry he'd lose control of himself and accidentally kill one of us in a blind rage.

I've seen firsthand the devastation he can cause with his bare hands. If pushed to the brink, he doesn't react like normal humans in a fight but more like a wild animal determined to survive no matter the cost. I won't lie and say it's not scary because it is, but I also hadn't seen him get to that point since we were still training in The Program.

The Meishu was intrigued by my constant thoughts of the redhead and asked questions about him, but I refused to answer those willingly, too, and he didn't appreciate that.

That night, my first night of being inhabited, I was astonished to feel another person's presence. It wasn't The Meishu because their emotions were too intense and raw. It was just like…

"Matsuri?"

And then he was standing before me as my mind manifested him here in an attempt to comfort me in a time when I needed it most: Gaara. Rage, concern, confusion. We had no idea what was happening.

I approached him, hesitating before my hand could touch, "You're angry."

Gorgeous, expressive, teal eyes bore into mine, and his jaw flexed as though trying to confirm my statement, but he didn't say anything to respond. That face was the exact one I was so relieved he'd stopped making.

Feeling hurt by his negative emotions and lack of communication, I returned my hand to my side and tried my best not to let it show on my face or voice, "Are you and Kankuro safe?"

Gaara's rage only flared up at my inquiry, and I felt tears rise in my eyes, blinking quickly to try and force them back. I…I don't know what to do now. Since we were separated early in the morning, all I'd wanted to do was be with him again, but now that he was here in front of me, I was put off because he didn't seem happy to see me in the slightest.

"Where are you? The town hall?" His voice was cold.

"Yeah. They said Sakura was caught earlier, too."

Already glaring, his eyes narrowed further, "The others are with me."

I nodded, not sure what else to say. I hadn't felt this put off by him since before we started fighting in the arena at The Program when we both lost our composure and yelled at each other for the first time. The memory brought on a wave of nostalgia, and I brought a hand up to my mouth as I steeled the muscles in my face, begging myself to get it together and not start crying.

"It's not my intention to ice you out. I'm so angry…I don't want to hurt you."

My brow furrowed, and I met his eye again when I felt a bit of his foreign guilt wash over me. The dam on my composure broke, and tears flooded down my cheeks. I wiped at them frantically, and he stood there with wide eyes as my honest emotions likely began to wash over him.

After a moment, he spoke a bit more softly, "You're…."

My shoulders shook as I tried to speak, still wiping at my tears, "I-I can do this! I'm not scared!"

That was a big fat lie, and he knew it. Everything was fine until The Meishu started changing how he treated my body because I'm a female.

"I'm coming to get you. In the morning." His voice was resolute, as though the plan was to be etched into stone.

I shook my head quickly, eyes shooting open in shock, "No, you can't! You and everyone else need to stay away for at least another day. They're verifying I'm not lying about Gosei not being the plant they're looking for, but it's taking some time. If you show up too soon, they'll kill us all."

His brow quirked, "How are they verifying? We have the sample with us."

I opened my mouth to come clean about the fact that I was now inhabited, reaching out a hand to finally pull him into an embrace, but then he was gone before I could lay a finger on him, as quick as a snap of the fingers. Something must've woken him up. Worry etched itself into my heart. Was something attacking them? I could still feel a slight echo of his emotions and didn't sense any intent to kill, so that probably wasn't the case.

Hopefully, he'll heed my warning and keep himself and the others away for at least another twenty-four hours. Things could turn awful in a heartbeat if the timing isn't perfect.

When I woke in the morning, The Meishu began questioning me, "Why do you feel more…emotional today?" I was worried he might've been seeing Gaara and my meeting last night, but I was wrong. He'll likely see it when he catches up on my memories.

I refused to respond, even when he asked what conversation I was thinking about. Instead, I tried to keep my mind focused on menial things like counting to a thousand repeatedly so as not to leak anything unintentionally. Of course, this made The Meishu angry, but there was nothing he could do to stop me, so he ignored me right back.

Upon leaving the little room he's using as a bedroom, I was surprised to see Sakura standing among the others in The Meishu's office. According to The Pacifici inhabiting her body, she was always putting up a hell of a fight. I wanted to tell her how proud I was to hear that, but apparently, I don't have her strength of will because The Meishu doesn't even struggle when I try to fight him. Hopefully, she can keep it up if things hit the fan.

I'm not sure what I thought the topic would be, but I was surprised when The Meishu suddenly asked me a question right in front of the others, "This male with red hair, why have you put so much effort into befriending him?"

Why would he ask me that? Did he see something new? If he's seeing Gaara in my memories, he has to be getting close to the ones I need him to see!

"You allowed him to touch you yet became agitated when I did it. Explain this, please."

If my body could react to my emotions, it'd be hot and blushing heavily, "What exactly have you seen? It's complicated…."

"You were…feeling strange after drinking foul-tasting liquid."

I groaned, "Oh, God, that night. It's called alcohol, and drinking too much can make you feel and act funny." I paused, feeling nostalgic as I recalled how Gaara's hands trembled as he touched my cheek and brushed his thumb over my hips of the nights we spent together, "He's the only one I'll allow to touch me."

It was a long time before my voice sounded through the room again, "These emotions, my previous host never experienced them. They make me curious."

Mentally, the panic was rising, and when he suddenly addressed the others in the room, I began screaming and begging him to take back his orders, "Search the entire town for a human male with red hair and blue-green eyes. Capture him. Keep him alive."

Previously, they'd been searching for him, yes, but it was only because they saw him escape. They weren't devoting that many people to it, I'm sure. Starting a manhunt with hundreds of foot soldiers is a different thing entirely.

Hours passed, filled with The Meishu delegating tasks to his underlings, before the door to the office we barely ever left shot open. Dread filled me as a bruised and breathless Gaara was shoved in by Temari, Shikamaru, Hidan, and Sakura.

No….