Flowers
Disclaimer: Never owned 'Naruto', never will.
The first time Gaara sees a myriad of flowers, he freezes. The way the light dances across them, the colors splaying over each petal, a glorious dance of beauty. Something in the back of his mind clicks, for a second overriding the bloodthirsty demon screaming for blood. For a moment, he is enthralled.
And not an instant later, he is promptly smashed in the face by more than a hundred orange clad blondes.
Upon return to Suna, Gaara becomes attached to flowers. When Kankurou walks in on him looking at an old magazine titled 'Common Flowers for Home Gardening', he thinks it's crazy. And he loudly proclaims so many times. Temari, on the other hand, thinks it's cute, so cute that she offers to subscribe to the magazine for Gaara. The sand user jumps at the chance, well, he could have had his emotional skills developed correctly over the years. Suffice to say, inside, he is dancing with glee.
Thus begins Gaara's love of flowers. Roses. Lilies. Orchids. Daisies. Tulips. Exotic flowers of far away lands. Gaara loves them all. More so, he wants them all. He gets the magazine now every month and covets it, but is still isn't enough.
Suna isn't a very kind place to vegetation. Rarely is there any space to plant crops, let alone flowers. For a while Gaara is inwardly crestfallen, knowing there is virtually no way to plant flowers in his home.
Unknowingly, Temari voices the answer in a…argument with Kankurou.
"Get back here! Book signing? For PORN?"
A cry of pain.
"Arggh! Temari, calm the fuck down…calm down…wait…PUT THE FAN D-"
Bamf.
"You spent OUR money so you could go to an Icha Icha signing in another COUNTRY?"
Well, it isn't much of an argument that Gaara walks in on but it serves its purpose.
The first thing Gaara does when he becomes Kazekage, is to assign Temari to be a liaison to Konoha. The council asks why Temari and not a more experienced negotiator and ambassador. Gaara simply replies, 'Because she's young.' To the Suna elders, this is enough.
That isn't the only reason Gaara has picked Temari though. Other than being a young, capable woman, able to connect the shinobi of Konoha, he knows she will cater to all of his wishes.
Gaara's first order to Temari is one of grave importance and 'A' class secrecy. On the day of her departure, on the steps of the Kazekage mansion, his sand slips a small piece of paper into her hand, detailing the aspects of her mission. It is actually Temari's idea, a sort of failsafe, a backup just incase she forgets the orders. Of course she already knows the main point of her mission but it never hurts to have something to jog her memory.
Temari's first words as Suna's Ambassador are directed at the Hokage's assistant, Shizune.
"Where can I find Yamanaka Ino?"
Shizune asks why. When Temari tells her, she laughs the hardest she has in years.
When Temari shows up at the Yamanaka Flower Shop, she is greeted with a 'Closed, out for lunch' sign. Silently, the Suna liaison fumes. She sits on the steps of the shop, sure that they will show up at any moment.
Forty minutes and one annoyed wind manipulator later, Yamanaka Ino and Inoichi come strolling down the street. Temari almost cries tears of joy.
She negotiates with the two flower entrepreneurs for more than two hours, signing documents, release forms and oaths of silence. Per Gaara's instructions, this shouldn't be traced back to them. Temari signs order forms, connecting bank accounts, credit card numbers, vault codes and bank notes. Everything needs to be perfect.
The Yamanakas are ecstatic. This is the largest order they've ever received. Everything from plants, saplings, containers of water, bags of soil, gardening tools, UV lights and miniature greenhouses.
Temari slides the check across the table, weary blue eyes watching the slip of paper slide across the polished wooden surface. The two Yamanakas catch the number of zeros winding across the paper. Their eyes bug out comically and they are stunned into silence. The wind user waves goodbye, stepping out of the room and through the door of the shop.
When the two Yamanakas finally gain their bearings, they don't even notice Temari is gone and instead began crowing in excitement. One of the best days in their lives. Period.
When the massive number of caravans ride up to the front of the Kazekage mansion, the two out of three sand siblings are stunned. Gaara just watched, an impassive look stamped onto his face. Inside, he is dying with excitement.
Kankurou finally breaks the silence with a loud.
"What the fuck?"
Gaara stand up and heads toward the door, leaving Temari to explain the cause of the many hundreds of potted plants and numerous other garden appliances now in front of their estate.
And sure enough, not a moment after he exits the room he hears his brother strangled yell of indignation.
"WHAT? You let Gaara spend OUR money on FLOWERS?"
Kankurou fumes, his sense of injustice acting up.
"Y-you two-faced HIPOCRITE! I can't spend money on porn, but Gaara can on flowers?"
Temari turns to Kankurou, a deadly glint in her eyes.
"What was that?"
The sounds of fighting echo in the depths of the Kazekage mansion. In the doorway, millions of grains of sand grab dozens of bags of soil, and hundreds of potted plants. Floating them through the air, it guides them into a specially prepared room.
For once Gaara cracks a small smile.
His siblings never question his love for the plants. They never ask why. But Gaara always has an answer ready for them. The reason he loves flowers, the reason he cherishes them so dearly, is because they remind him. They remind him of how fragile life is and how quickly it can be taken away. Plus, they are the only colors of deep crimson that don't remind him of blood.
-Fin-