Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Flowers in the Sand ❯ Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

“Unka `Kuro! Unka `Kuro!” Little Akina Nara squealed as she ran across the room to take a flying leap at her elder uncle. Temari smiled at her daughter as Shikamaru sighed. Temari poked him in the ribs with her elbow.

 

“Be happy my brothers aren't like they used to be,” she murmured. The dark-haired Jounin merely snorted.

 

Kankuro, elder of Temari's two brothers, smiled in delight as the four-year-old launched herself at his midsection. He caught the little imp and pretended to be knocked flat from her attack. “Ooof!” he exclaimed. “Help! I've been attacked by a ferocious sand lizard!”

 

Akina giggled, her twin dark blonde ponytails poofed out like her parents'. “I not a sand lizard!” she informed him. “I `Kina!”

 

“Impossible,” Kankuro told her. “My niece is a dainty little thing, not this great beast in front of me.”

 

“Grrr!” Akina mock-growled. “'Kina is a beastie!”

 

“A troublesome beastie,” Shikamaru muttered. Temari elbowed his rib again. Turning her attention back to her brother and not her complaining husband, Temari blinked at the empty room.

 

“Where's Gaara?”

 

Kankuro winced slightly. “He's… on the roof. He's been up there for hours, just staring into the desert.”

 

Temari and Shikamaru exchanged a glance. “He knew we were coming, right?” she asked her brother worriedly.

 

The puppet master looked away as he sat up, Akina having abandoned him to rummage around in her bag for her toys. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “He knows.”

 

“Should we…?”

 

Kankuro shook his head. “Let him come down on his own. It's not my place to tell you.”

 

The couple looked at each other in surprise. What could Gaara have to tell them?

 

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Gaara stared off into the desert, one arm propped up on one upraised knee as he sat on the roof of the house he and his brother had shared not so long ago. The house that belonged to Kankuro, not him. Gaara had no house.

 

Because he had no real need of one for himself yet.

 

Houses were for protection of one's family. And while he and Kankuro were family, that changed once Kankuro got married. Now his wife and their unborn child were his brother's family.

 

Gaara was an outsider once again. The loneliness that had overwhelmed his blackened soul for so many years was threatening to engulf him again. His sister had married and had a daughter. Now his brother was also married. Only recently did he and his wife discover that they were expecting their first child.

 

The Kazekage narrowed his aquamarine eyes. He was happy for his siblings- truly, he was. Befriending Naruto Uzumaki and the other Konoha ninjas had helped him tremendously in finding and expressing emotions he never thought he had.

 

Love for another person was one emotion he thought had died forever.

 

Yet now, at twenty-five years of age, Gaara was wishing he could experience what his siblings and friends had. Spouses. Children. The future of their clans, their countries. As Kazekage, it was his responsibility to marry and have children, but for years Gaara figured he'd just pass the title of Kazekage onto one of Kankuro's children. Surely they would be strong enough to protect Suna.

 

But what if they weren't? His brother was strong, certainly. His wife was an excellent Jounin as well. But still- in a fair fight between them, Gaara was the stronger by far. It was that strength that had protected Suna for so many years and would continue to do so as long as he was able.

 

Ever since he had been revived, thanks to Chiyo, the girls of the village had begun to openly show interest in him, but none ever caught his attention. He was polite with everyone now, no longer menacing and threatening, but he was quiet, reserved. The years of living in loneliness and darkness had taken their toll on the young red-haired man.

 

He allowed himself an uncharacteristic sigh. Temari and Shikamaru had surely arrived by now, with his adorable niece, Akina. It was strange, to be connected to someone who accepted him wholly as he was, without the lingering traces of fear that most of the villagers of Suna still retained. Akina had been raised to love her uncles unconditionally- and it made the outwardly-emotionless Kazekage feel strange inside. He felt warm and more alive when his sister and her family visited. Shikamaru treated him as an equal, a friend, a brother. And he had seen Gaara at his absolute worst- when he was nothing more than a cold, heartless killer.

 

“Gaara?” Temari's voice drifted over the wind, reaching his ears and bringing him out of his reverie of Suna and the desert nearby. “Are you okay?”

 

The red-haired Kazekage turned toward his sister. “I am fine,” he said quietly, barely heard over the constant sandy wind blowing across Suna. He stood and walked slowly towards her, his face relaxed if not pleasant-appearing. “I am… glad to see you have arrived safely.”

 

Temari smiled up at her little brother. Although at twenty five years old and six inches taller than her, she couldn't really call him little any more. “It's good to see you again, Gaara. We have missed you.”

 

Even after ten years, the knowledge that his siblings liked him, even loved him, was a curious thing. He supposed he'd get used to it eventually. A small smile was Temari's reward. “I missed you too,” he admitted. He hopped down to the terrace where he had escaped to the rooftop, with his sister right beside him. He gave her a half glance. “Is… Akina… here too?”

 

She nodded, still smiling. “She's been going crazy, not knowing where you were.”

 

“Then I should probably find her,” he murmured. “We don't want her ending up like her father.”

 

“Oi, sand-boy,” Shikamaru grumped from his seat across a Shogi board from Kankuro. “There are worse things she could end up like.”

 

“Yeah,” Kankuro added without taking his eyes off the Shogi board. “She could end up like you: tall, skinny, and humorless.”

 

If Gaara had eyebrows, he would've lifted one skeptically. As it was, he merely gave his brother a look that promised good-natured retribution. “At least I'm not into wearing magenta makeup like some guys.”

 

The fact that Gaara was able to joke and tease his siblings at all was a major accomplishment, thanks almost completely to Naruto and his tendency for pranks and mischief. He pulled the Sand Jounin into so many strange and bizarre situations that Gaara couldn't help but develop a sense of humor that was quite lacking previously.

 

Gaara only prayed that Naruto would never use his “Sexy Jutsu” on him. He didn't think his sand could save him from something like that.

 

“Unka Gaara! Unka Gaara!” Akina finally figured out that Gaara had appeared and had, in true adorable imp fashion, proceeded to run at him at full speed, intent on tackling him.

 

Temari stepped forward, her eyes wide in worry. “Akina! No, don't!”

 

Akina couldn't stop and ended up crashing into her uncle- or rather, crashing into a wall of sand that instantly appeared to protect him from harm. The sand cushioned the little girl so that she wasn't hurt, but she didn't understand what had happened. She lifted brown eyes to her mother and started to cry.

 

Temari looked at Shikamaru helplessly. Shikamaru kept his gaze focused on the Shogi board.

 

Akina sniffled. “Mama?”

 

Temari knelt down next to her daughter. “You know you can't jump on Uncle Gaara like you can Uncle Kankuro, sweetie. His protective sand barrier can't distinguish between friend and foe.”

 

Gaara looked down at his niece, her cheeks wet with tears. His stomach felt twisted, almost like he had eaten something spoiled. He was Gaara of the Desert, Kazekage of Suna, and he was still unable to control his sand defense to the point where harmless contact, such as a playful jab from Naruto or Kankuro or a loving glomp from his innocent niece, could reach him.

 

He, too knelt down next to Akina. Big brown eyes stared into his aquamarine ones. “I am sorry, Akina,” he murmured. “You're not hurt, are you?”

 

She sniffled. “No, Unka Gaara,” she replied as she wiped one of her cheeks with the back of her wrist. “Your sand stopped me.”

 

He reached out and gently wiped the tears from her other cheek. “Can I… still get huggie?” she asked him. He gave her a small smile- he couldn't deny this sweet child anything.

 

Akina beamed at him. She carefully, slowly, crawled up to him and wrapped her arms around his slender middle. Gaara hesitantly put his arms around her tiny shoulders and hugged her back.

 

Temari looked like she was about to cry. Kankuro snorted to cover up the unusual “warm, fuzzy feeling” he got from seeing his normally stoic brother hugging a four year old imp. Gaara had changed a lot in ten years and he was so very glad he got to witness it.

 

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“Finally!” Naruto stopped at the outskirts of Suna. “That was one long trip!”

 

“Still,” Kiba pointed out, “we got here in half the time it would normally take us. That's gotta be some sort of record.”

 

Neji, looking none the worse for wear, simply crossed his arms again. “Gui-sensei and Lee got here in less than half a day one time.”

 

“No freaking way!” Naruto exclaimed, blue eyes wide.

 

Kiba smiled, his eyes closed. “I'm not entirely surprised. Those two have fetishes about doing things to the extreme.” Akamaru barked in agreement.

 

Two Sand Jounin guards approached their small party and Naruto stood up straight, looking down from his slightly taller height. “Hokage- welcome to Suna,” one remarked as they bowed respectfully.

 

Naruto nodded. “Is the Kazekage around?”

 

“He is currently at his brother's home, visiting with his family,” the second one reported.

 

“Sweet,” Kiba commented. “We can pick up both Gaara and Shikamaru at the same time.”

 

“The sooner, the better,” Neji added. “We don't want the Akatsuki to get to her first.”

 

His companions nodded in agreement and proceeded to follow their Hokage across the village to Kankuro's house.

 

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Kankuro's wife, Niira, poked her head into the room where the three siblings were conversing- and Shikamaru was beating the puppet master in yet another game of Shogi. “There are three men heading for the house,” she told them, looking somewhat perplexed. “Should I be concerned?”

 

“What do they look like?” Shikamaru asked without taking his eyes off the Shogi board.

 

“There's one with long brown hair and white eyes, another with red marks on his cheeks riding a huge white dog, and the leader is a tall blonde man in bright orange?”

 

Gaara's head snapped up, his eyes wide. He exchanged glances with his sister and brother-in-law. Shikamaru moved one of his pieces, mumbling “checkmate” under his breath before standing up.

 

Kankuro swore a few times under his breath. Then he turned a reassuring smile on his wife. “Don't worry, Niira. It's just Konoha's Hokage and his friends.”

 

“H-Hokage?!” Niira exclaimed, looked quite alarmed. “But the house is a mess! Why would he just drop by unannounced?”

 

“It's okay, sister,” Gaara said smoothly. “He's an old friend. And I would also guarantee his house is in much worse chaos than yours is.”

 

Niira, still unused to the Gaara of the Desert calling her sister, merely nodded. “If you're sure…”

 

A rough beating on the front door had Temari scowling. Akina had fallen asleep on a mat in the corner and she didn't want the loud and rambunctious Naruto Uzumaki waking her up. She stood up and opened the door.

 

“Hiya!” Naruto grinned as usual. “Thought we'd find you guys here.”

 

Gaara stepped forward, a genuine smile of welcome on his usually neutral face. “Naruto… it's been a while. What brings you here?”

 

“Gaara!” Naruto held out his hand and the Kazekage gladly took it, unsurprisingly being pulled in for a quick hug. “I'm glad to see you didn't dry up out here.”

 

Kiba snorted as he and Akamaru stepped inside. “The man wears an armor of sand,” he reminded him. “I seriously doubt there's any moisture left on him anywhere.”

 

Neji gave a small grin as he followed the large white dog. “His protection and attacks are so precise, he doesn't even break a sweat.”

 

Gaara gave them a familiar “bored” look. “Even if I did, do you really think I would tell you three?”

 

Shikamaru shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at his comrades. “What brings you all the way out here, Naruto? I'm pretty sure it wasn't for a vacation from Sakura, no matter how bad the hormones have laid waste to her moods.” He shuddered. “God save me from troublesome pregnant women.”

 

Temari looked like she wanted to whack him upside the head with her fan. “I'll remember that next time you want to try for a son,” she growled in his ear.

 

Gaara ignored his sister and her husband for the moment. It was apparent that something serious was going on. “I am glad to see you as always, Naruto,” he said quietly, “but you would not just come here armed for battle if there was no reason.”

 

Naruto nodded, his face grim. He decided not to dodge the subject. “The Five-tails has been found.”

 

The sand-master's aquamarine eyes went wide. “The… the Five-tails?”

 

“And it has a Jinchuriki.”

 

Temari gasped. Kankuro swore. Gaara simply didn't speak, didn't move. Shikamaru folded his arms across his chest.

 

“Let me guess- you want to get to this Jinchuriki before the Akatsuki do,” the shadow Jounin said, leveling his gaze at his old friend.

 

Naruto nodded. Kiba and Keji looked dead serious. Shikamaru lifted an eyebrow. “What else aren't you telling us?”

 

The blonde man rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. His companions remained silent.

 

“The Jinchuriki… is a woman. Slightly younger than us. She's been living alone in the Land of Grass for an undisclosed amount of time. It's speculated she's been alone for several years, if not more.”

 

Gaara began to shake, memories of the time before Naruto came flooding back into his mind. Naruto put a hand on his best friend's shoulder.

 

“It's okay, Gaara. We'll find her before the Akatsuki do. That's why we're here. We want you and Shikamaru to come with us.”

 

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

 

A/N: Akina- “Spring flower” (which I thought was appropriate since I think Temari's into flowers/botany)