Training the Heart: Revised
Chapter 1
"I can't do it! I just can't!" Matsuri yelled in frustrating, throwing the wooden sword to the sandy ground. Oh, how she hated that thing! No matter how hard she practiced, spinning, jabbing, slicing it would manage to somehow slip from her grip.
"How is it…I have mastered almost every weapon except for this one? Stupid thing…I hate you!" She mumbled curses under her breath while staring at the object of her displeasure and kicked it.
"Masturi?" She turned around abruptly to see her leader, teacher and friend staring at her with a mixed expression of amusement and annoyance. She gulped thinking about what he was going to say.
"I was talking aloud wasn't I?" Gaara nodded slowly.
Matsuri shrugged.
"I…I thought you were leaving for Konoha, Gaara-sensei. Weren;t you supposed to be gone by now? I does take three days to reach the Hidden Leaf, you know."
"I will depart eventually. I only came to check on your training…since I have not been able to assist you of late." Matsuri smiled widely.
"Ah…does that mean you were worried about me, Gaara-sensei?" She said jokingly, winking at him. Gaara frowned.
"I am concerned with your training and nothing else, Matsuri." Gaara ignored the urge to roll his eyes. But half of what she said was true…he no longer had the time to supervise her training because he had been so busy of late. He would never allow her to know that though, or he would never hear the end of it. Not that he would not mind hearing Matsuri speak and not that he really cared (he tried to convince himself).
"Would you come along now? I have meeting soon."
"Right! Just a second, Gaara-sensei!" Matsuri ran over the to the stone table that held multiple weapons. Gaara allowed himself to remember to when they first met…she had only been a small child then, frightened of the world and almost everything in it. He looked around…strange how three years ago they had not known anything about each other. It was strange how three years ago…standing in this very spot they had become to souls entwined…
"Gaara-sensei?" Matsuri looked at her teachers face. It was not often he zoned out.
"Let's go."
The sandy streets of Suna were packed with its citizens bustling from activity to activity. Children ran alongside Gaara and Matsuri waving as they passed their leader. Matsuri smiled at their friendly gesture. Merchants and peddlers busied themselves trying to sell their wares and entice people into their shops, while parents called for their children. Occasionally multiple villagers would stop their duties to bow before their Kazegake, or hail him as he walked past. Gaara would simply nod in acknowledgment, and continue walking looking dead ahead. Masturi sighed.
"Gaara-sensei…why don't you ever smile?" Matsuri asked, curiously. She glance up at the red head trying to find some type of change in his expression, she didn't.
"I do smile, when the time calls for it."
"No you don't."
"Yes I do."
"No you don't."
"Yes I do."
"No you don't, Gaara-sensei. I know the difference between a smile and a…a…smirk." Gaara looked at his companion and raised an invisible brow.
"Nani?" Matsuri nodded and pointed to her mouth.
"This is smiling," She turned up the corners of her mouth into a wide smile.
"This is smirking," She slightly turned up one corner of her mouth, giving him her evilest look. Gaara stopped; rolling his eyes ran a pale hand through his red locks.
"What does it matter, Matsuri? I do not…care to smile anymore." Matsuri frowned.
Gaara-sensei…maybe someday…I can make you smile.
"Oi! Kazegake-sama!" A shinobi hailed him from on top of a roof next to them. Gaara looked up, clearly irritated.
"What do you want?" The young man smiled and pointed towards the Kazegake building.
"Kankuro-dono and Temari-dono are waiting for you-"
"Oh crap!" Matsuri yelled. Gaara's eyes widened.
"Gaara-sama we're gonna' be late for the meeting!"
"We already are, Matsuri." Gaara grinned, hopelessly.
--
"I can't believe you were late! You already know that the elders still have issues with you and yet you show up to the meeting late, sweaty and your hair looking as if a fucking sand storm blew through it!" Temari ranted. Matsuri sat on the couch, covering her ears from Temari's wrathful speech. The meeting had gone as smoothly as a boat through blustery storm. Many of the elders argued him on many of his ideas with little more than a third of the counsel considering them. He sighed inwardly.
The day Temari leans to shut her mouth will be the day I smile.
"Your concern is unwarranted, Temari. What happened was an accident-," Temari whacked Gaara over the head with her huge fan. Matsuri's hands flew to her mouth to keep the slight noise of surprise in. She had seen the siblings get in fights before…bad ones, but never had she seen one of them dare to hit Gaara. Kankuro who sat on the arm of the couch leaned close to her and whispered,
"She does that all the time. You'll get used to it."
Gaara casted irritated glances at Kankuro and his older sister. Rubbing his head where the fan had made contact, he resumed stacking the papers on his desk.
"Don't ignore me, young man! What the hell were you thinking? Not only were you thirty minutes late but-"
"Come on, Temari!" Kankuro interfered. He stood between the enraged blonde and the non responsive, but seething red head.
"Take it easy on em'. Plus…we don't have fangirls chasing us everywhere we go. We can talk about this when we get home, ok? We have more important things to talk about other than Gaara's infamous entrance into the meeting, right Gaara?"
"Hn." Gaara's eyes narrowed and his became more prominent. Matsuri frowned.
"Shouldn't we contact Konoha soon, Gaara-sensei? This situation seems to be out of control." Matsuri pointed out. Kankuro nodded. Gaara glanced out the window.
"Yes. Uzumaki Naruto and the others would like to have this information. He is the Hogake. This might also concern Uchiha Sasuke." Gaara resisted the urge to grin.
Uzumaki Naruto…has finally attained his dream of becoming Hogake. He also kept his promise to bring Uchiha Sasuke back to the village. I…am glad we are such allies. I would not mind…seeing him again.
"I still can't believe what I have heard…this is crazy." Kankuro commented. Temari handed a paper to Gaara.
"This is from the scouting team, Gaara. It contains a list of all the villages that have been affected by this…this…" Temari snarled.
"Our villages east, Dadurake, Lupin, and Karunaku were wiped out. The damage was similar to the crater that wrecked most of the Hidden Leaf." Kankuro added. Gaara folded a paper then handed it to Kankuro.
"Send this to Konoha, It is for the Hogake's eyes only." Kankuro nodded, and bowed, then turned to leave the room.
Matsuri giggled as Gaara's eyes twitched. Though they are his siblings, must they still act so formal around him? Of course he held the highest office in the land, but that type of acknowledgment vexed him to no end. Sometimes Matsuri would do the same too. It was akwrard to have your older siblings bow to you, and add a very formal honorific to the end of your name, when in the privacy of their home…well, you get the picture don't you?
"Kazegake-sama…?" Gaara looked at his sister.
"What are you planning to do?"
"Get your things ready. We leave before the week is up."
Sorry everyone who was reading this story! I took it down because I noticed some major errors and things I left out. However after finishing "If Only You Knew" I believe I can write this story much better. Anyway I hope you all are not too mad at me...and I hope you will review and read this story! Once again, sorry for the long wait! :)