Summary: The Kazekage had quite a bit on his plate, trying to stop an upcoming of another war was one thing. The proposed solution? Utter madness! To swoon the Hokage's only daughter was no small feat, especially since she had suitors lined out the door. He had heard rumors about her ruthless nature. If true, she was gonna be one hell of a spitfire.

Gaara sighed and picked up and read the scroll he had received earlier this morning in a haste. It held the absolute worst news that could have ever befallen him. An arranged engagement. For the sake of his village, of course, but an engagement nonetheless. He always had the option to turn her away as he did the four others before her... But if he turned down this particular one then nothing but a ruthless war would take place in its stead.

He had loved his country, his people, and his colleagues to a very high extent. But to love another person? Someone whom he had no connection with other than they were both offerings to a peace treaty? He had even a hard time connecting to the elders of his own village as he had been quite the opposite of popular during his early years of life. He had made all but one friend during that time, and she had since been long gone. Sold to another village no less.

It had been his one friend he had made. She had defended him against all odds when he was young. He had no control over the monster inside of him yet she managed to see through it entirely. They had even formed a blood pact. It was all but silly nonsense to young children. The moment he realized that she would never return to him he had gone on a killing rampage. Oh yes, that was the monster inside of him's doing.

Over the years he had tried to search for her in the best and only way he could. He tried to send bits and pieces of his sand hidden in cargo that traveled in and out of the villages nearby. However, they had always returned to him empty-handed. There was no such more than a lock of hair she had left behind for him. The demon inside of him would never truly settle until he had found her and claimed her as his own. That would be the only way to put the monster as ease for good.

Yes, the demon had calmed quite considerably over the years thanks to a blond boy he had met and tried to kill when he was younger. He had no one to blame but himself for why the monster broke loose to the extent of killing many people during those chunnin exams. The demon poured out of him in almost a primal rage, most likely the cause of the exam stress and battles, not to mention, the loss of his father. A cruel man he was, but nonetheless, his father.

That was the day he forced the cursed demon to stay at bay. He knew he had to make himself better. All the hidden villages had been reluctant when he had come into power. Hell, his own damn village feared for their lives constantly. It had been the monster's fault, not his own. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs at them to trust them. He knew better than that, you could not force someone to trust you. Not even if you were their new Kazekage.

From time to time he still thought about the moments he shared with that young girl from his past. If he was to call anything from his life 'love' then it was probably what he had felt about her. He could recognize her anywhere, he constantly reminded himself. If he had found his old love? He would dump that dumb princess in a heartbeat. Yet, he could not. The truth was, that once she was sold, she had probably been made into a child prostitute and held captive in some whore house. Those thoughts were the ones that angered him the most. He knew that she was probably long dead by now, anyway. It hurt, but it was the most likely truth.

The redhead frowned and tried to read the scroll once more, as his mind had run off on a tangent.

It read:

Dear Little Brother,

Be forewarned, this is not something to take lightly. The tension between our lovely Wind Nation and Fire Nation must come to halt immediately. War is about to break loose and we cannot afford to have any more of our men killed in action. As the I'm your sister, and you're The Kazekage, I have offered a deal with Fire Nation that should keep the peace not only between our hidden villages but of all the hidden villages. You must accept this last girl to be your bride, as you have so rudely denounced all of the other women they have offered. Our village's safety is on the line here, little brother. The Hokage's only daughter is the last person they will offer and if it doesn't work out... then that's the end of our treaty with the village of the hidden leaf. You must accept her and make sure that she accepts you as well. The fate of our nation is now in the hands of your love life. So please, try to play nice, okay?

Love your big sis,

Temari

PS: I have included a small checklist of what must happen between the two of you to make sure that she falls in love with you! Let them happen in order! Got it? Cool!

A cough came from the Kazekage's throat as he read the letter once more,'That's utter nonsense. I'm the Kazekage for god sakes, I do not need others to smile at me and love me, I only need them to respect me. If she does not respect me then the deal is off.' Beneath his unruly red hair, the Kazekage's brain started to fry itself. He had to make a girl he had never met fall in love with him.

Yes, many girls within the village had fallen for him since he had taken over his cruel father's place, but he could not marry one of them. There were simply his people. Besides, his heart had belonged to his old friend from long ago either way. Yet, it wasn't as if he thought less of them, his citizens, that was definitely not the case. His villagers were kind souls, well, they had turned kind after he proved them wrong. But there was much more to that story and no one wanted to relive the past, especially him. The monster within him had taken a back seat to every emotion as well as every motion of his. It had better stay that way, for everyone's sake.

But how the hell was he supposed to swoon a girl? Girl?... How old was she even? Was she far too young for himself? Was she much more his senior? That could seem ridiculous either way, although not something one would put passed the elders of either counsel. If this "girl" was anything like her mother then she sure as hell would be a spitfire. That would be even more hellish than any of the other previous women they have sent. No real woman of value had been sent, he could've argued. No one from an exclusive clan, or a clan of high power, or even a talented woman of some sorts, to put it nicely.

The Fire Nation had been known to put women into action, much more forward-thinking than any of the other hidden villages. They all came around eventually, some quicker than others, of course. No, but this hidden village had been known to have prize female ninja. The one of highest rank had obviously gone to their Hokage, the next to her daughter as some legends had told.

To be exact, the Bingo book had precisely put her, Princess Senju, in as an S-ranked ninja. The highest ever given a woman, besides her own mother. Those were the only two women to have ever been ranked so high, the next two women had been placed as A-ranked at best. It was beyond a small feat for a woman to even be a ninja, but to be ranked so dangerously? It was purely insane. Although, neither had rumors of bragging, except for the single one about the older Senju from her drunken past.

"Gaara?" called a strong male voice from the other side of the door. It was deep, but not in a threatening way. Not much deeper than the Kazekage's own voice. Yet, it held a light and airy tone to it, as if there was always some hints of fun laced between the vocal chords.

A grunt could be heard from the other side of the door, signaling permission to enter. The door opened quickly and shut behind the person as the moved towards the desk. Gaara, the Kazekage, looked up from his "letter of advice" that had been shoved into his hands by his sister not only an hour before their arrival. "What is it?"

The tall male scratched his brown hair as a sign of condolence for their older sibling's actions. "I know she wrote you some sort of dating thing," the man said in a softer tone. Kankuro, the Kazekage's older brother sighed heavily and leaned against the nearest wall with his arms crossed. He was clearly upset about his younger brother's part in this treaty.

They both knew that neither of them could change anything that had already been done. Hell, they wished they could change the whole damn thing. Albeit, both for separate reasons, but both of them, nonetheless. The purple face paint on the older male's cheeks stood out in a bright contrast to his black clothing and dark colored hair. He tried to speak again but was cut off by his younger brother's voice.

"It must be done," came the monotone reply. It was true that nothing could change it, not even the girl had the power to put up much of a fight, although they had no idea if she even wanted to. She might not have even of known of the arrangement.

"Do you want to know more about her, at least?" He at least could try to provide his brother with some details about the woman that had been chosen for him, It was the least he could do, as he was not put in such a predicament himself.

If he had chosen to show more emotion than Gaara would've scoffed at his brother's foolish attempt to draw him into her mystery. Seeing as he had no other choice than to at least learn about her to try and make the best of their current situation, he reluctantly agreed. "Hn," he grunted.

"Her name is Sakura," Kankuro began. He didn't know herself personally either, which was something he did not want to admit. He had at least heard of the other 'choices' for his leader. He searched for something to follow that plain statement with ease, yet nothing came to mind.

Gaara released a small sigh, maybe his brother was just as clueless as he. His seafoam eyes shut close in concentration, maybe he could wish the situation away. He actually scoffed this time, 'as if.'

"I heard that she can shatter mountains and rocks with her single fist."

Gaara's eyes twitched open, he had never heard of such nonsense. That was purely unheard of. The redhead had to strongly resist the urge to roll his eyes.

"I've actually seen the damage she had caused," the older of the two confessed.

Kankuro sighed at the memory. They had been traveling towards fire country and noticed a gigantic crater in the earth which all of his men had found astonishing as well. It appeared, at the time, that they had just missed the fearsome woman by a few minutes as she was attacked while gathering medicinal herbs. Her attackers remained face down inside the crevice covered in blood. It took no genius to know that they were dead. He still cringed at the memory of the sight.

The youngest sibling looked at the middle child with an invisible eyebrow raised. Still impossible, he believed. Although he had never seen it for himself, so he could at least afford her with a highlighted rumor. "And…?" he was beginning to grow impatient.

"She's also the most talented medic in all of Fire Country, it's said that she surpassed even her own mother."

That was something to take notice of. He had heard of the legendary Tsunade Senju's healing abilities, she was the second person to create the revered Yin Seal, it was said to keep the user alive through the impossible of death-defying feats. There was a confirmation of her daughter's activation of the same seal. If she could create the seal, then maybe it was possible that she could crush stone with her bare hands.

"She's also been rumored to have hundreds of men pining for her love and attention," Kankuro snickered. "At least you two would have that in common."

Gaara felt his left eye twitch full of irritation. Before he could even say anything to his brother a quick and hurried knock befell upon the door to his office and was swung open in a haste.

The two boys turned towards their older sister in confusion of her sudden outburst. She was panting and had her hand still clutching the doorknob strongly. "They're here." the blonde blurts out. "I got the days mixed up, we have to go to the gates now or they'll be greeted by the guards and not us!"

The Kazekage clenched his teeth in frustration of his sister's untimely announcement as well as her inaccurate message from before. They were still supposed to have another three hours according to her first announcement of their arrival. He stood up and body flickered towards the gate, hoping to at least make a good impression.

The fate of the hidden villages were in the hands of the two young people. If this were to be complicated, things could get ugly.

Real quick too.

Hey, boos! It's Tiny back in action! This story will be updated occasionally and will, hopefully, be a quick one. Although, I fear that it won't be. However, I shouldn't put too much pressure on myself. This one will go at a moderate pace between our two lovebirds and will have occasional flashbacks. I really hope you guys like this story and don't kill me when I don't update frequently.

On a separate note, The Change is being put on hiatus until I can revise the chapters and provide more clarity in my writing, as it was my first story since I came back on this site.

On another separate note, my short series of a KakaSaku sugar daddy fic is almost done being written and will come out soon. I'm writing the fic out fully so I can update it like a normal person.

Other than that, I hope y'all are doing well and please keep my hope up, guys. I suffer soooo much from writer's block that it just hurts my soul. I'm actually supposed to be doing training right now, so shh! Don't tell on me!

As always…

xoxo,

Tiny.