Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Leaf in the Desert ❯ Chapter 17

Chapter 17

 

“You do not understand, Father- I must contact Konoha. I need to hear how Gin is doing, if she ever woke up, if she still sleeps, if she has forgotten me. I have waited over a year now- I will not wait any longer!”

 

Gaara regarded his son who now stood in front of him, clad in the blue and white Kazekage robes that he had once donned, and steepled his fingers. “You know as well as I that contact between Suna and Konoha during times of war is impossible. Iwa shinobi shoot down every hawk and bird we try to send out, and we do not dare to send our own people out to try and get a message through.” He closed his eyes and heaved a world-weary sigh. “I am sorry, my son, but you must wait for this war to end to hear word of your lady.”

 

“If it were Mother, you would be just as worried!” Haru snarled.

 

Gaara stood up, matching the young man height for height. “I did not say that you had no right to be worried. She was gravely injured and the last status update from Naruto- extremely outdated though it is now- was that she might be in a coma for quite some time. All we can do now is focus on defeating Kanaye and ending the war- and then you can be reunited with your young lady.”

 

Haru clenched his hands. “She could be dead for all I know,” he muttered, turning his attention to the window overlooking the only entryway into the village proper. “She could have died months ago, and I would not have known.”

 

Gaara moved over to his son's side and placed a hand on his shoulder. “What does your heart tell you, Haru?”

 

He was silent for a moment. “She lives. That is all it tells me.”

 

“Then you need worry for nothing. If anything, you should worry about your sister. She has been in Konoha helping with their defenses for the last year and you know how temperamental she can get, especially around Naruto's son.”

 

Haru rolled his eyes. “I am almost thankful that she is there and not here.”

 

“She is a strong kunoichi. If anyone from Suna will survive this war, it will be her, if only because Naruto will never be defeated.”

 

The younger man snorted. “What does that say about us, Father?”

 

Gaara actually chuckled. “That we leave the worrying to your mother and think of a plan to defeat those Iwa bastards once and for all.”

 

Haru sighed. He could only hope that Aikou was keeping her promise and watching over Gin and her family for him… until he could come and speak with Neji personally.

 

--------------------

 

Kohaku frowned as he poured over his father's top secret scrolls, searching for something, anything that could help defeat the enemy army.

 

“I did not know you could read.”

 

A growl escaped his throat before he could stop it. This female never ceases to say the ONE thing guaranteed to piss me off. “Go away, Aikou. I'm in the middle of something.”

 

The red-head sauntered into the scroll room, her ice blue eyes scanning the dusty shelves. “So now we are back to `Aikou.' That is not what you were saying last night, aman.”

 

And with that, his attention was completely diverted from the scrolls.

 

He looked up at her, aware that her ever-present gourd was… not present. “Why are you here?” he asked suspiciously. “I thought Dad had you pinned in some war meeting.”

 

Aikou shrugged. “I left a shadow clone there. I had… other thoughts to focus on.”

 

“We're in the middle of a war, kanojo. We can't just stop-“

 

“It is all your fault, you know,” she murmured, her pale eyes catching the light of his lantern and reflecting it back. “If you had simply listened to me and left me alone, we would not be in this situation, would we?”

 

He swallowed. Hard. “W-What situation?”

 

“Where we cannot keep our hands off each other.”

 

He pounced. Her words rang true in his ears as he had the scrolls cleared off the desk in a single swipe and her pinned to the desktop in a matter of moments.

 

His lips were on hers, on her chin, her jawline, then down her slender throat to her collarbone, all while his hands slipped under her blood-red shirt, searching for and finding the perfectly palm-sized treasures hidden underneath.

 

“Hurry up, aman. I cannot wait much longer…”

 

He had their pants off in record time, one hand still massaging her chest while the other moved lower to the secret riches hidden in bright red curls.

 

“Uzumaki…”

 

“Aikou…”

 

“Uzumaki.”

 

“Oh, Aikou…”

 

“OI! Uzumaki!”

 

Kohaku woke with a loud snort. He blinked in the dim lantern light as if confused. He turned his head to the doorway where Aikou stood with her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her lovely face.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

He slowly looked back at the pile of scrolls he had been perusing. “Um… reading…”

 

“You can read?”

 

Kohaku stared at her, then back at the desktop in front of him, wondering why she was now standing in the doorway, fully clothed, instead of writhing in naked abandon on the desk underneath him like she had been mere moments before.

 

“It appeared that you were drooling, not reading, Uzumaki,” she went on, walking briskly over to wipe a bit of drool from his bottom lip. “And why, in the name of the deceased Kazekages were you saying my name over and over?”

 

It was a dream. A damned, lust-filled, NOT REAL dream. “Dammit.”

 

Aikou peered at him curiously. “Are you okay?”

 

“Give me a few minutes and I will be.”

 

She gave a sort of backwards wave as she turned and headed out the door. “All right, but do not be late for dinner. Your father has asked Miss Ayame to cook some of her famous ramen for us tonight.”

 

Once she was gone from sight, Kohaku slammed his forehead down on the table, stirring up dust. “DAMMIT.”

 

It wasn't fair. It simply wasn't fair. He had managed to convince Aikou to become his girlfriend nearly six months ago, but she hadn't allowed their relationship to progress farther than the occasional kiss. And, truth be told, he was somewhat afraid to ask her if they could move forward- he didn't relish the thought of being punched through another wall.

 

Part of it was her naivety about the physical relationship between men and women, despite her “education” from Jiraiya-sensei's books, but part of it was his fear that they would be parted eventually. She hailed from Suna, he from Konoha. Both countries needed them- they could not simply abandon their homes to live with the other.

 

He focused his breathing and the tent in his pants gradually subsided. His dreams about Aikou were coming more and more frequently- and were getting more explicit. If something wasn't done and done soon, he'd end up pouncing on her and absconding with her to the nearest supply closet to corrupt her.

 

Oh, and he wanted to corrupt her badly.

 

“Kohaku?” Sakura knocked on the door jamb before peering inside. “Did Aikou tell you it was time for dinner?”

 

“Yeah, Mom. She just left.” He stood up, making sure all traces of previous arousal were now absent. “Why does she still insist on calling me `Uzumaki' when she's been my girlfriend for six months?”

 

Sakura smiled as she shrugged, taking care not to disturb the infant sleeping peacefully on her shoulder. “Who can say but her? Maybe once things have settled down a bit she'll feel more at ease about calling you by your first name.”

 

“But then she'll have to go back to Suna.”

 

The baby stirred and Sakura made soothing noises until it stopped. “Well, do you love her?”

 

“Of course. I've loved her for over a year, although she's convinced it was all part of my `schmoozing' behavior.”

 

“That's your own fault, of course.”

 

He sighed. “I know.”

 

Sakura put her free arm around her son's shoulders. “Come on. We don't get ramen very much anymore since the war started, so we should go thank Ayame for doing this for us. Don't worry about Aikou- she cares for you, more than she lets on.”

 

“Thanks, Mom.”

 

“Hey- it's what I'm here for.”

 

“That, and keeping Dad in line.”

 

“Who else would put up with him for this long?”

 

-----------------------------

 

It was after-hours at the Konoha hospital, but nurses still roamed the hallways, checking on patients periodically throughout the night.

 

A figure hid in the shadows of one room, keeping vigil even though the room's occupant hadn't stirred at all. The door opened quietly, and just as softly slid shut again.

 

“Kin?”

 

The figure stepped out of the shadows. “Hello, Sakura-sensei. Was she any trouble today?”

 

“Of course not. She's always an angel.”

 

Kin smiled sadly as she gazed down at her still-unconscious twin sister. “Our father wants to take my sister home. He believes that she will awaken if she's taken there.”

 

“You know as well as I do that she can't. For multiple reasons.”

 

“I agree. It's best if she stays here.”

 

They were quiet for a moment, the silence broken only by tiny baby snores. Sakura shifted the sleeping baby from her shoulder to her arms. “She tried rolling over today. Nearly had Naruto in a panic because he was changing her diaper at the time.”

 

Kin laughed softly. “It's hard to imagine our Hokage changing diapers- ever.”

 

“He didn't want to with Kohaku. By the time Midori came around, I pretty much threatened his bodily safety if he didn't start stepping it up a bit. Now he knows not to argue with me.”

 

The young kunoichi gazed at the infant. “…May I?”

 

Sakura looked slightly surprised. “Of course.”

 

Gently, she handed the tiny baby girl over to Kin, who held the child in hesitant wonder. The baby let out a soft sigh, and Kin sat down in the chair next to Gin's bed.

 

“Your daughter… is beautiful,” Kin managed to whisper to her unconscious sister. “I only wish you would wake up, so you could see her… for yourself.”

 

Silence was her only reply.

 

Tears slipped down Kin's cheeks and landed on the infant's blanket. Sakura placed her hands on the girl's shoulders.

 

“Neji… he still doesn't know?”

 

Kin shook her head. “It… really isn't my place to tell him. Gin should- when she wakes up.”

 

“Then you know who the father is?”

 

For a long time, Kin didn't answer. “Have you named the baby?” she asked instead.

 

Sakura blinked, momentarily thrown by the change of subject. “No. We've kept her to ourselves, and Ino is the only other person outside our family who knows of her existence, and that's because she helped deliver her. We tend to the baby and care for her, but we didn't feel like we had the right to name her.”

 

Kin wiped a tear from her eye as she gazed at the lone flower resting in a vase by Gin's bedside. The white rose, which had been in Gin's equipment bag, had never once wilted during the entire year she had been in a coma. Kin was the only one who knew that the rose was the same one from a year ago- all the nurses believed that she had simply bought her twin a fresh white rose whenever the previous one would wilt. She alone knew what the undying rose meant, and kept her own counsel.

 

“Shirabara.”

 

“I'm sorry?”

 

Kin cleared her throat. “I think… Gin would want to name her… Shirabara.”

 

Sakura followed Kin's gaze to the white rose keeping watch over the sleeping Gin. “It's a beautiful name, Kin,” Sakura said, nodding. “I think Gin would like that a lot.”

 

Kin leaned over and lay the sleeping child in the space between Gin's arm and her body, and then sat on the bed to look at young mother and daughter sleeping peacefully in the moonlight.

 

“She has her mother's hair,” Kin remarked.

 

Sakura's ears perked up. “Oh?” So Kin DOES know who the father is…

 

“We will have to tell Father soon,” Kin continued. “So you need to wake up, Gin. I am not going to keep this secret for you this time.” She bowed her head. “And Shirabara will need to know her family. All of her family.”

 

.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.

 

A/N: NO, I do not condone underage intimacy or pregnancy, but not only have I read multiple mangas where 15, 16, and 17 year olds are doing things they should NOT be doing, but a few of them have had to deal with the repercussions of such actions. I, myself, am the result of a 13 year old girl who decided she couldn't wait until marriage. So no whining, barking, or flaming- I already know it's wrong. But I'm the author, they're my characters, and that's how the story goes.

 

aman: lover

 

Shirabara: White Rose