The Sand Palace
The Naruto characters do not belong to me. They belong to some brilliant person…who brought Naruto to this world.
1. A flower in the wind
Temari loved the way her younger brother Gaara had become more mature. No more killing for fun, no more crazed fits, and most importantly, no more fear in people's hearts. She knew what made him so crazy was that the people couldn't accept him, that he was not respected enough. Feared, but no where near wanted. Now people had to respect, and for some fools who dared, they could fear. But it was not wise to fear the person that had vowed to protect the village- The kazekage.
His face had barely changed, but this time it felt as if he were calm, and occasionally he threw fits, like a simple child. Like how he didn't want to wake up, how he couldn't get a girl, normal things like that. Temari had to admit she had had some fits of her own.
"Gaara-sama… oh isn't he too handsome."
"I know what you mean; I also like quiet handsome types like Gaara-sama."
Temari's fists clenched at her sides. Those silly tittery girls… she couldn't stand them. They would be all over Gaara, where last time they would be at the sidelines staring, screaming for him to go away, calling him a monster.
Gaara would never accept them. He would protect them, but he would never take a sand woman as his wife. His cruel past had twisted his opinion of them, all except Temari.
"What do you want in a woman then?" She remembered asking him.
"I want…" is voice trailed off.
"What?" Temari sometimes got frustrated of Gaara's not giving answers. "What do you want?"
"I want elegance. I want a woman who does not smile when she does not want to. A woman who isn't afraid to risk her life to protect something important. She has to be powerful, but so humble and serene that you would never guess. Something of pure beauty, with her not even trying. Peaceful…Like a flower in the wind."
He had whispered, and then gave himself a little smile. She had never known that he could speak words of such thoughtfulness, as he was much younger than her.
"You really have been thinking about this, Gaara." Temari said, whistling.
He closed his eyes in thought.
"Yes I have."
"Gaara-sama!" A desperate fist pounded against the wooden door. "Are you there? This is a matter of urgency."
"Come in Baki." Gaara let his old teacher into the office.
Without hesitation, Baki swung the door open and bowed.
"We have just received a message from Konoha village…it says that there are several shinobi coming to visit for a period of 1 month." Baki spluttered, sweat dripping down his face.
"So?" Gaara's cool demeanor pulled off the little hat trick. He smiled as Baki's mouth opened. "Who are they?"
Baki opened a scroll and examined it once more.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji."
"Six." Gaara pondered. "Let them stay at our house, the sand palace."
Baki gasped.
"But Gaara-sama…they're just normal Konoha ninjas."
Gaara glared at him.
"No." He said coldly. "They are more than that. Also, I think we owe them an apology on how unkind we were the last time I traveled there."
Baki hung his head as he remembered their desperate attempt to grasp hold of Konoha. At that time, Gaara's father had ruled as kazekage…and Gaara was still…
As Baki left the room, Gaara thought. He liked those certain ninjas. He had met them all at the Chuunin exam. Konoha people were different than the people here. They were not so greedy for power. They had not feared him, and actually dared to confront him and stop him from killing a helpless victim. And he felt ashamed of what he had tried to do last time. Uzumaki Naruto had made him feel the desire to be kazekage, the reason to be here. Gaara shook his head. He did owe them an apology…and thanks.
"You invited them to what?" Temari and Kankurou said in unison, expressing their shock well.
"I invited them to stay here for 3 weeks." Gaara said calmly. The 'wise' kazekage suddenly felt the full force of what he had done. "Only 3 weeks. It's no big deal. We have loads of space in this big palace."
"No big deal?" Kankurou and Temari had caught on to the habit of speaking in unison.
"Oh just shut up!" Gaara got angry and stormed out of the room, slamming the door.
Just after he slammed it, a kitchen spoon and a poison needle hit the door, missing him only by a bit.
"Is it one of the girls that you think is your…flower in the wind?" His siblings still would not let it go. After one hour, Temari was still nagging him. But Kankurou had given up and gone to play with his puppet. "Oooh…Gaara."
Temari wagged a finger at him. He chose to ignore it.
"Temari…I thought you would be pleased to know that the shadow guy is one of them." Gaara cleared his throat, catching Temari in her soft spot.
"Why would I be pleased about that?" Temari turned red.
"Yeah Temari! This is your time to shine and catch that shadow bastard in your net!" Kankurou smirked. "I'll help you I promise…take her now…Shikamaru…I can swear she's wanted."
"No thanks. I can catch him and kiss him on my own thank you. I don't think you're convincing enough. But he is quite…cute." She said, turning a deeper shade of pink.
"Does that mean you like him after all?" Gaara said, compressing a smile.
Temari blushed as she realized she had given away her true feelings. The sand palace echoed with the laughs of her two brothers.
Kankurou went with Gaara to the kazekage office later. He and Gaara certainly didn't want more bruises from that scary beast that now roamed the halls of the sand palace…Temari.
This is my first chapter of my first piece….how do ya like it? Pls review! I will update very soon!
Temari2503