Disclaimer - If I owned Naruto, I'd be rich. I'm not.
Gaara didn't like art. No one blamed him for it. If they were attacked by an art loving freak, and then captured by him and his partner, they wouldn't like art either.
He was sitting on a cloud of sand, practicing his chakra control (which happened to be rather bad, surprisingly enough) when he noticed Matsuri chasing a piece of paper in the air. In one hand she clutched red, green, white, black, and light brown colored pencils. She was trying to grab the paper with her other hand, which, Gaara thought, was rather hopeless, but amusing.
He sent out a tendril of sand that caught it gently, being careful not to rip the thing his student seemed to want badly.Her always felt so...bad when she was upset.
The one emotion that Gaara had the most of was curiosity. And he was curious why Matsuri wanted with the paper. She was normally calm and quiet and shy, not desperate.
He pulled it up, and stared at it. It was a sketch of him and some sand, and very well done. A bit more than half of it was colored; the rest was black and white. He felt himself smile, a movement which was still unfamilar to him, but that he was beginning to like.
He knew Matsuri wrote things on her desk by the window, and that she often had the window open, but he thought she was just writing in her diary, not drawing pictures. Of course, he never paid much attention, but that would change.
Normally, Gaara would've ripped the paper into pieces, as he had avoided any type of art for a while, but something stopped him. Or rather, someone.
Matsuri was staring up at him with pleading, puppy dog like eyes.
"Gaara-sensei, m-may I h-have my p-p-paper back?"
Gaara sighed. He really didn't like it, but Matsuri drew it, so it couldn't be that bad. Matsuri was just too...innocent to ever do anything wrong. Almost not noticing what he did, he used his sand to pull it into his hand.
Matsuri smiled up at him, her face almost glowing with happiness for a reason Gaara could not figure out.
"Thank you, Gaara-sensei. Maybe you could try making some sculptures with your sand? Being afraid of art is…kind of…not smart?" said Matsuri, bringing up a subject she had wanted to for weeks.
It was clear she wanted to say stupid, but didn't want to push her luck with her village's leader, even if he was her sensei.
Gaara would have hurt anyone else badly enough to put them into the hospital in they had suggested it, except for his brother and sister….and Matsuri.
A small smirk formed on his lips as he remembered the pictures that were found around the village when she was about seven. They had stopped being found a few years later, when it seemed someone was going to figure out who the 'Art Girl' was. She was quite famous, but also, apparently, quite shy.
The picture he had seen was her style. It was older, and more mature, and somehow, wilder, but still her. He could sense it, when Matsuri made something. Her knew her, and so, he knew her work, incuding the parts that had nothing to do with being a ninja. It always seemed fragile to the touch, always like a little child who was terrified, but always strong, and there was always a small part of it that was wild, free. Gaara didn't know emotions very well, but he did know patterns. And Matsuri's was one of his favorites.
"I will, on one condition." he said, replying to her question of getting her drawing back.
Matsuri tensed, her eyes becoming rather worried. Gaara was well known for his ability to find loopholes in anything, and get you back for anything he did for you. Some said that he had been spending too much time around the fox demon boy, and was picking up his habits. Gaara never agreed or disagreed when asked, but he always smiled.
"And that is…?" Matsuri asked quietly, accepting her fate. She really did want her picture...
"You will give me that picture when you're done with it."
Matsuri was sure he had found a way to embarrass her, but she agreed anyway. There was nothing else she could do, except for pray.
The next time she went into the Kazekage's office, she found her picture hanging on the wall, right above Gaara's head. Underneath it was a silver metal plate, that said 'The Kage Of Sand' by Matsuri. It was in Gaara's handwriting, which made it that much worse.
Gaara just smirked at her when she looked at him.
"Do you like it? I had someone make it bigger, and the weapons expert had to make the plate." he said smugly. However much nicer he might be, he still liked winning.
Matsuri glared at him for a few seconds before sighing, and then smiling. She never could stay mad at Gaara for long, he was too sincere in his happiness.
"I gave you the picture, so, you owe me a favour." Matsuri said teasingly, knowing that Gaara hated being forced into anything.
Gaara shrugged, and stood up.
"Alright."
Matsuri face was the picture of shock.
"Really? You'd...um, come make sand castles?" she asked, remembering her old fantasy. The one where the entire village was covered in beautiful sand castles.
Gaara just nodded.
By the time the sun set, the sculpture had turned into an entire village, about the right size for children. It covered half of the town.
The children had noticed that it was the perfect size for them, and when they weren't scolded for playing in and on it, all of the village's children were scrambling in the sand. When they fell or slipped off, a bit of sand would catch them and slowly lower them to the ground.
Gaara murmured something to Matsuri, so quiet she barely heard it.
"I better not do this often. People will start thinking I'm nice."
Matsuri turned and smiled brightly at him. Her day had been almost perfect, and Gaara had even lifted her up on his sand cloud so she could see the whole village.
Gaara was amused with the way her emotions changed so often, and because of that, had been in a good mood the whole day, even when a genin caught up with him and handed him some paperwork (which he destroyed the next second).
As he left to go home, he kissed Matsuri's cheek softly. He didn't know if that was exactly what he was supposed to do, but Gaara was not a coward, and so he tried.
Matsuri was so stunned that she didn't even hear him leave.
That night, Matsuri was humming a cheerful tone as she drew her picture. It was a picture of a large sand castle, and then smaller ones, all connected like some giant nest. This one was special. It was a present.
Gaara might need some more proof that 'art' was good, after all.
I still don't have a beta...I think I need one. This is mindless fluff.