The Color Red
Author's Note: This is a female Gaara x Sasuke story. If that isn't your thing, you might want to turn back now. In this Gaara was born female. This isn't a sexy jutsu situation. My Suki x Naruto stories have been well received. So I thought we'd spice it up a bit and I'd live up to the profile pic I have. ^^. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Female Gaara will be known as Gina.
Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit from any of my stories.
Chapter Warnings: Possibly OOC at times in the interest of comedy. Kankuro and Temari make incorrect assumptions about Gina's lovelife. Tsunade was Hokage in the flashback, Kakashi training under her. Naruto is Hokage for the rest of the story. We'll say that the Rookie Nine and Sand Siblings are all in their 20's.
Chapter One
The color red meant a lot to Gina. Obviously, she was a red head. Red was the color of blood. Her childhood had been bathed in blood.
She wasn't proud of the influence that the One Tails used to have on her. But it was just a part of who she was. Her only way to validate her existence had been to end the existence of others. Before Naruto, even her own siblings had been terrified of her and for good reason.
Red was also the color of anger and passion. It wasn't a color that could easily be overlooked. But the most important reason why red was so significant to the Fifth Kazekage? It was simple. The Sharingan was red. The Sharingan belonged to HIM.
She remembered the day that she realized that she should probably seek professional help. It had been shortly after the Ninja War. The Daimyos and Kage were meeting to decide the fate of a certain Uchiha. Being the Kazekage, she was invited.
"We should just execute him. He attacked a Kage Summit. That alone is worthy of the death penalty." The Raikage had said.
"But he also helped us to defeat Madara. Besides, it'd be a waste to kill such a pretty face." Mei had offered.
"You both have a point. Though that last part Mei, was disturbing. The boy is almost young enough to be your son." The Stone Kage contributed.
"The smarter move would be to kill him. But the brat would never forgive us." Tsunade weighs in.
"We can make it look like an accident. He's a monster in the making. We do not need a second Madara." The Raikage rose to his feet and walked over to the bound Uchiha, who was currently drained of chakra from the final battle.
"That's right. Kill me when I can't fight back. Coward." Sasuke spat at him, his voice full of venom.
The Raikage goes to deliver a death blow. Suddenly a loud cry of pain is heard and a crash. Gina's sand had slammed him against the wall, away from the Uchiha.
"If you touch him, I will kill you." She hisses.
"You would side over that traitor over another Kage?!" He bellows in outrage.
The other Kage were too stunned to say anything. Gina had stunned herself. Her sand had moved before her mind had even realized it.
She'd voiced those words without considering their consequences. But she knew that deep down she meant them. She just didn't know why. She just couldn't let the light go out in those ruby red eyes.
"It wasn't long ago, that my village considered me just as much a monster as you consider him now." She growls at him.
"That was different Lady Kazekage and you damn well know it. You had a demon forced inside you. You had no say in the matter. The Uchiha was in his right mind and chose to not only betray the Leaf, but to attack all of us." The Raikage says to her.
"It was no different. Naruto's friendship saved me. It might do the same for him. Besides, if you kill him…I would worry more about what Naruto will do than I would the Uchiha. There is nothing more dangerous than an angel who falls from grace." She warns him.
"Kid has a point. God only knows what the brat would do." Tsunade sighs.
Suddenly the doors of the Summit are kicked open. Naruto and Kakashi head inside. The blonde immediately darts to Sasuke's side.
"Sorry we are late. I suppose our invitation got lost in the mail." Kakashi chuckles.
Somehow they got the other Kage and the Daimyos to agree to spare Sasuke's life. Kakashi really was a miracle worker. Naruto was a force of nature. Gina's little display also probably helped. The other Kage were too shocked to really argue.
It was years later. Last she heard, Sasuke had gone on some Journey of Redemption. Naruto had now taken over for Kakashi. The blonde had achieved his dream of becoming Hokage. She was happy for her friend.
"Temari. Kankuro. Are you ready? If we leave now we should arrive in the Leaf before nightfall on the third day." The red head asks.
"Yeah! We are all set. Temari just had to make sure her precious dress was safely packed." Kankuro teases.
"In her defense, it is a beautiful dress." Gina's relationship with Temari had always been more distant than with her brother, but she finds herself agreeing with Temari that the dress should be protected.
"Thank you, Gina!" Temari says and glares at Kankuro.
"Women and their wedding dresses. I swear it's like psychotic. It's really unhealthy how attached you all get to those things." He says.
"Temari, you have my permission to beat him." Gina states casually and goes on ahead.
"Thanks!" Temari says and gets out her fan, prepared to teach her brother some manners.
Kankuro ended up getting pretty beat up. The middle child of the Sand Siblings learned a valuable lesson that day. Do not get in the middle of a woman and her wedding dress.
Three days later, the Leaf slowly, but surely comes into view. That's when Kankuro noticed something odd about Gina's behavior. She wasn't walking towards the Leaf, she was running.
"What the?" Kankuro asks.
"She sees Naruto." Temari answers.
"Oh. I guess that explains it. She must be excited to see him. It's been awhile." The man says.
"Looks like the Uchiha is with him." Temari adds.
"Oh great. Just fucking great." Kankuro mutters.
The Uchiha to put it mildly, in Kankuro's opinion was a bomb waiting to go off at any second. But he couldn't help but smile at how happy his younger sister was to see Naruto. She was actually smiling, a real one.
"She really missed him." Temari marvels out loud.
He couldn't help but wonder if maybe she loved the blonde as more than a friend. It was hard to tell. To say that Gina was emotionally stunted, was an understatement.
It wasn't that she was stupid or childlike. Far from it, Gina was one of the most mature people he'd ever known. At the age of 17, she had been a Kage and helped to lead a war effort. But when it came to normal, everyday relationships…she was still learning. Recently, he had to explain the significance of birthdays and why it was a good idea to buy your friends birthday presents.
"Yeah. Looks like it." Kankuro agrees.
Little did they know that while Gina was happy to see Naruto, he wasn't the one that caused her eyes to light up. She couldn't explain it herself. Logically, she should be happy to see Naruto and suspicious of Sasuke. But whenever she saw the last Uchiha, it stirred a reaction in her.
It was a high. A high similar to the one she got before a battle. Maybe it was just a matter of recognizing a worthy opponent. She enjoyed fighting Naruto as well.
"Gina!" Naruto cries out happily and rushes over to embrace her.
Gina blinks. She still was not used to this…whole touching without the intent to harm thing. She was getting used to things like handshakes or someone offering a hand. Hugging, however, still felt alien to her. Naruto though, well such affectionate gestures came naturally to the blonde.
"Loser, are you trying to suffocate her?" Sasuke asks dryly.
"Oh! Whoops. Sorry Gina. I just am really excited to see you. Hey, Temari. Hey, Kankuro." He says and lets go of the flustered red head, who shoots a grateful look at Sasuke.
Sasuke nods his head. Thankfully, he had the decency not to make any other indication of his "help." Naruto, Temari, and Kankuro were too busy engaging in small talk to notice this exchange.
"So Gina, now that you are here. I can't wait to show you the ramen shop! It has the best ramen anywhere!" He says excitedly.
Sasuke smacks his forehead with his hand. Even Kankuro joins him in this gesture. Temari rubs the back of her head sheepishly like some things never change. This was Naruto after all. Naruto and ramen went together like ninjas and kunais.
"Alright." Gina says and is suddenly pulled off by the excited blonde.
"Sometimes I can't tell if he's a ninja or an overgrown Golden Retriever." Sasuke remarks.
"Hate to say it, but you have a point." Kankuro says.
"Well we should probably go and make sure that he doesn't choke on that ramen as he's inhaling it." Temari states.
"Yeah." They agree and follow the other ninjas.
A few minutes later, they were all at the ramen shop. Gina wanted to kill something or someone. There was entirely too much giggling going on. Some of it was coming from ninjas for Godsakes!
She understood it to a certain extent. Naruto was a war hero. Sasuke was the anti hero. Both of them were in Temari's words, Really fucking hot. But come on a little composure would have been nice. Oh well she'd give them something to talk about.
"Uchiha, I think we are long overdue to finish our match." She says.
"Our match?" He asks raising an eyebrow.
"We never officially finished our Chunin match. Naruto butted in." She clarifies.
"Yeah. Alright, name the time and place." He smirks.
It'd be good to have a REAL challenge. At this point, Naruto was the only one who was brave enough to challenge him. But he and Naruto knew each other inside and out.
There were no more surprises. That and they couldn't go all out anymore. If they did, they'd probably destroy the village.
Gina on the other hand, she was a Kage. While she wouldn't be able to give him as good a run for his money as Naruto, at least he wouldn't have to worry about breaking her. That and it'd be some variety. Who knows, maybe she might have developed a new move or two since the last time they fought?
"We should give those Genin something to aspire to. How about before their matches in the Arena?" She suggests.
"You really want to lose with everyone watching?" He smirks.
"Arrogant. You know as well as I do that in the Arena neither of us would be able to all out. There would be certain restrictions, if only to make sure that no one in the crowd gets crushed by falling debris." She reasons.
"You want a handicap." He says.
"I don't want a handicap, but it's a necessary evil." She replies with as close to a shrug as she ever got.
"Guess so. It makes it more interesting, having to use low and medium level attacks. More strategy." He states.
"So is that a yes?" She asks.
"It's a yes. Besides, I'm bored only fighting his dumbass." Sasuke admits.
"HEY, BASTARD I'M SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU! You know I can hear you right?!" Naruto growls.
"And you know that I'm not deaf, right?" Sasuke replies with a smirk.
"Well it was nice seeing you guys, but I'm going to go let Shikamaru know I'm here." Temari says.
"Sure! See you later Temari." Naruto says and Sasuke nods to show that he'd heard her.
"I'm gonna go get us a couple rooms at the hotel before they get sold out." Kankuro informs Gina.
"Good idea." She agrees.
"Cya Kankuro." Naruto chirps and Sasuke gives a half hearted wave as he orders a drink.
"You two sure about the whole fighting each other thing? I mean last time it didn't go so well. I remember having to save the bastard's ass." Naruto says.
"That was when she had the demon." Sasuke scoffs.
"It will give the Genin something to aspire to. Let them see Kage level combat." She says.
"But Sasuke isn't a Kage." The blonde points out.
"No. But you are both Kage level. The Five Kage fought Madara and lost. You two fought him and won." Gina states.
"Yeah. I guess I see your point when you put it like that. So you are showing off for the kids?" Naruto asks.
"Something like that." She says.
"I just want a decent fight with someone who isn't you." Sasuke replies.
"Hey, Gina. Thanks for walking the bastard. I'll have to make sure he's up to date on his shots before your match." Naruto teases.
"Did you just talk about me like I was a fucking dog?" Sasuke demands and twitches.
"What you aren't going to get him fixed first as well?" Gina asks with a smirk.
"Oh I know you didn't just say that!" Sasuke growls.
"I did. What was that second goal of yours? I don't seem to see an army of mini Uchihas running around. Did he already take you to the vet?" Gina asks dryly.
"Whoa. Gina, nice one. I didn't know you could trash talk!" Naruto exclaims.
"I've been watching Mei and Tsunade interact. I've learned a few things." Gina says and lets out an undignified eep when Sasuke pushes her against a wall.
"Still think I'm more bark than bite?" Sasuke demands.
"Uchiha, people are staring." Gina says.
It was true. Everyone was now looking at the very odd sight of the last Uchiha having pinned the Kazekage against the wall. They were confused. Was it an attack or not? The sand wasn't protecting her. But if it wasn't an attack, it looked far too intimate.
"Let them stare. Take it back." He demands.
Gina was about to loose her footing. She wraps her arms around his neck and can feel her face heating up at how suggestive the position as starting to look. Damn it. She had really bitten off more than she could chew here.
"Alright. I take it back." She murmurs.
"Good." He says and moves away, letting her get away from the wall.
"Yeah." She says a little shaken and tries to hide her blush.
"Why didn't your sand defend you?" Sasuke asks curiously.
"It knew you were more bark than bite in that instance." She says with a laugh and runs off.
"So that's what she's like without the demon?" Sasuke asks Naruto.
"Honestly, never seen her like that before. She has a dry sense of humor but she's never been a trash talker before. I think she's just competitive with you cause you were the first to land a hit on her. She's still got the scar by the way." Naruto adds.
"Am I supposed to feel guilty about that?" Sasuke asks and raises an eyebrow.
"Nah. It was a fair fight. Just thought you'd be happy to know how much of a punch your Chidori packed even back then." He says.
"Good to know." Sasuke agrees.
Gina heads off to find Kakashi and Tsunade. She bites her lower lip. She probably should have asked if they could fight during the Chunin Exams before asking the Uchiha. But as was always the case with him, she acted first and asked questions later.
"Tsunade. Kakashi. I have a small favor to ask." She asks them because they were in charge of organizing the exams. (Naruto was hopeless when it came to things like that, Hokage or not.)
"What is it?" Tsunade asks curiously.
"I want to fight the Uchiha before the battle round of the Chunin Exams. We never got to finish our match. He already agreed. We will only use low level and medium level attacks by our standards." She states in a rush.
"Are you sure about this?" Kakashi asks her.
"Do you know what counts as a medium level attack by his standards?" Tsunade asks and raises an eyebrow.
"I know. That's why I challenged him. A Kage shouldn't rest on his or her past glories. His attack on the Kage Summit proved that." She responds.
"Do you realize that it might cause a panic if he beats you in public?" Kakashi asks.
"It will be a fair fight. Besides, I'm sure the public knows what he is capable of. And I'm NOT going to lose." She says.
"Well if he can't use the Rinnegan, Amaterasu, or Susanoo, it should be a relatively even match. You're right. There's no reason to assume that you wouldn't win." Tsunade concedes.
"I'm going to fight him with or without your permission. Whether it is in public or private is irrelevant. At least this way, we can give the Genin something to aspire to." She informs them.
"You are really set on this. I didn't take you to be as stubborn as Naruto." Kakashi chuckles.
"I can be when it's something I want." She says.
"And you want to risk a trip to the ICU." Tsunade says and shakes her head.
"I want to test my limits. Naruto would never allow me to do that. He'll go easy on me. The Uchiha won't." She adds.
"Alright. You have our permission. Mostly because it's better to have such a match done in a supervised fashion." Tsunade says with a sigh.
"Thank you." Gina says and seems entirely too pleased with herself.
"A good fight really does have a way of getting one's blood pumping." Tsunade states, seeing her reaction, and deciding to comment on it.
"Yes." Gina agrees.
"Well your sister is getting married after these exams. You should probably help her prepare." Kakashi offers.
"I can try. But honestly, I don't know anything about weddings. So I'm not sure how much help I'll be." The Kazekage admits.
"You'll help just by being there." Tsunade offers good naturedly .
"Maybe. Good day Lady Hokage, Kakashi." She says and flits off.
Meanwhile Sasuke heads out of the ramen shop. Naruto had paperwork to do. Sasuke didn't. He decides to go see if Shikamaru needed help with the wedding. (Mostly he just wanted to watch the lazy Leaf ninja and feisty Sand ninja interact.)
"Yes, we need a guest list! We need to know how many seats we need and how much food to order." Temari tells Shikamaru.
"But it's such a drag. Come on, you have invited half of the Sand Village and half of the Leaf. That's not even counting the Kage and their bodyguards." He says.
"I have to go check on the wedding venue. You better be working on that list when I get back." She informs him.
"Alright! Alright!" Shikamaru gives up and Temari leaves.
"You are so whipped." Sasuke says with a smirk.
"Yeah. I guess. She's so high maintenance. But I love her and the sex is definitely not a drag." Shikamaru says with a shrug.
"Did you ever use your Shadow Possession Jutsu while you were…?" Sasuke asks.
' "…You know I hadn't actually thought of that. That's brilliant." Shikamaru says with a smirk.
"So I heard from Temari that Gina challenged you to a fight before the Chunin Exams?" He asks.
"She did." Sasuke confirms.
"Sand women are just a different breed from the Leaf." Shikamaru says.
"How do you figure? I only know Temari and Gina." Sasuke says.
"Feistier. More direct I guess. That and more creative." He says.
"Creative like how?" He asks.
"The Tribal Dance." He answers.
"She actually got you to dance with her? Damn she's good." Sasuke laughs.
"It's not that kind of dance." Shikamaru tells him.
"Ohhh. It's a…" Sasuke trails off.
"Sex position, yeah. I recommend it if you ever get laid." The lazy ninja tells him.
An unlikely friendship had sprung up after Sasuke returned to the Leaf. Naruto just wouldn't leave Sasuke the fuck alone until he tried to make other friends. He had ended up challenging Shikamaru to a game of shogi, mostly because the cloud watcher was quiet. He'd lost badly. (But Shikamaru told him he lasted twice as long as Asuma had the first time.)
Sasuke having suffered a blow to his pride, challenged him again and again. Somewhere during this rivalry, they became friends. It was nice to have someone he could talk to without having fists fly. His friendship with Shikamaru was different than the one he had with Naruto. It was less intense. It was calmer.
They were now close enough that Sasuke got an invite to the wedding. He wasn't going to be Shikamaru's bestman. That honor belonged to Choji. Sasuke wasn't jealous. Choji and Shikamaru had been friends since the Academy. So that one was expected.
"And Naruto is just going to let you fight Gina?" He asks.
"He's not letting me do anything. She challenged me. It's not like she needs his permission." Sasuke says, not sure why he felt irritated at that question.
"You know how protective he is of her." Shikamaru says.
"Do you think they are …doing the Tribal Dance?" Sasuke asks.
"Doubt it. Naruto's too innocent. While Gina isn't…honestly don't think the thought would occur to her. Plus if they were together, Temari would have told me." He adds as an afterthought.
"Yeah. Guess so. The loser wouldn't know what to do with a woman if he got her alone." Sasuke says.
"And you would of course make an army of mini Uchihas." Shikamaru says with a smirk.
"…How'd you know about that?" The last Uchiha asks.
"Temari was there at the ramen shop. She told me about it. Genius. Like I said, Sand women are feistier." He says.
.