Life with Gaara
Chapter 1
"When it is peace, then we may view again
With new won eyes each other's truer form
We'll grasp firm hands and laugh at the old pain,
When it is peace. But until peace, the storm rages
The darkness and the thunder and the rain. " - Charles Hamilton Sorley
Five years . It had been five years since Hinata Hyuga had last set foot in Konoha.
On some days, in the dead of night or under the warm rays of day Hinata would find herself reminiscing about life in Konoha . It would only take a smell , a sound or a sight and her mind would go back to Konoha.
She would find herself recalling her troubled youth . She would remember the lonely days in the Hyuga manor, the complicated relationship she shared with her younger sister Hanabi and she would remember her over protective brother-figure Ko . She would remember her cold father.
Sometimes the memories were pleasant . Sometimes she would recall memories of her beloved family - the one that she wasn't bound to by blood. Those people were more like family to her than her blood relatives. Shino, Kiba , Kurenai and as time went on Shikamaru and Choji and Ino had become her true family.
On somedays she recalled her genin days . She recalled the time spent on the training fields and on missions. In those days the missions were not life threatening and their hands had not yet been stained with the blood of many .She missed those days .
Unfortunately things would never return to the way they were before. She would never sit with her team along with Asuma s' team and enjoy a nice barbecue at Choji s' favourite barbecue establishment. She doubted she would ever witness the epic verbal clashes that used to happen between Kiba and Ino .
Asuma and Kurenai would string their teams along on their dates. On the surface it had seemed as if the get-togethers were merely attempts to forge stronger friendships among Kurenai abd Asuma s' respective teams but even Kiba ,who was often times dense, saw past the facade.
That chapter of their lives was closed and at some point all of them had realised that chapter of their lives was closed for good . Those days were over and they were never coming back. The fact that Asuma s' name was etched on the memorial stone cemented that fact.
She remembered the times she would lounge with Kiba , Shino and Akamaru underneath the shade of an old tree by the training fields . They would often sit under the shade of that tree after training .
The bond between her team had grown stronger underneath that tree. They had talked about their dreams and desires . Sometimes they would speak about the latest happenings of the village, in those days Kiba had been a glutton for gossip . On some days Kiba and Shino would argue about meaningless things. Kiba s' temper would flare when Shino would quietly but stubbornly disagree with him. Kiba hated to be wrong . He would rather carry on with an unnecessary argument than admit that his beliefs or ideas were illogical and presumptuous as Shino put it . Hinata would sometimes have to step in to break up the fighting when tempers had flared too high.
Even though they hadn't realised it at the time life had been perfect. They had not known those were the times that they would look back to when it seemed as if only darkness surrounded their came and destroyed nearly every good thing in their lives.
It destroyed bonds , separated loved ones and changed people. Hinata sometimes wondered if she would ever cross paths with Kiba and Shino again.
In the beginning of the war her team had made a pact to regularly meet at their spot beneath the old tree where they had bonded in their genin days. Shino had been the one to make the suggestion. Although none of them had said it aloud they all knew that making an effort to continue meeting up was merely a desperate attempt to maintain a small sense of normalcy in their lives as their world spiralled into madness.
So whenever they had been all present in the village and had been free from duties they would meet at the old tree.
They would catch up and for a moment they would act as if the war was not destroying their lives.
For seasons they had laughed underneath that tree . Shino and Kiba would argue like they did in their genin days and Hinata would play the peacemaker . Kiba would confidently declare to Hinata that he would make her his wife one day. It would feel as if everything was going to be alright.
A lot was said underneath that tree . They would voice their frustration about the war underneath that tree . Sometimes when the load of war felt too great to bear they would just sit in contemplative silence underneath the tree . Tears had been shed underneath that tree , they had shared their inner turmoil with one another beneath that old tree by the training fields.
They had mourned underneath that old tree and comforted each other underneath that old tree. They had drawn strength from each other underneath the shade of that old tree.
It was underneath that tree that Shino became uncharacteristically vocal about his feelings whenever he felt troubled . Whenever Hinata needed release she would cry her heart out and her teammates would hold her hands.
In the beginning they had met up a few times a week . As time went on they started meeting once a week then once a week became once a month . As the war escalated they started having less and less time to meet . Before long they would only meet once in a couple of months.
One day in the later stages of the war Hinata had realised that nearly two years had passed since they had last sat together underneath the old tree by the training fields. Sadly those that had died were not the only ones that the war had taken from her.
Food was also a powerful trigger when it came to remembering the past . Ramen would remind her of a young boy from her childhood .A boy who who had the resolve of steel. A boy that had always strived to see the best in people . He had taught himself to expect the best from people even from the worst of them . He had taught her to believe in herself at a time when she had felt useless . His words had helped her become the kunoichi she was today.
In the end the boy had stopped expecting the best out of people. Hinata had saw it in the way he had run down his enemies on the battlefield - the boy had stopped believing that people could come together and live in peace and harmony. He had become tainted and cynical like the rest of them and that had crushed Hinata. She still remembered the day she shed tears after seeing the kind of person he had become. The boy was special, he was not supposed to start thinking like them .That had just been one of the many tragedies of the war.
The war had changed everyone and everything . In the end Hinata had been barely able to recognise the people she had grown up with . It was their eyes that had made them nearly unrecognisable . She was sure that whenever her friends had looked into her eyes they also had trouble recognising her.
At times Hinata would miss her home. The people of Konoha were warm , kind and the weather was pleasant. The aura of warmth that surrounded Konoha and its people was hard to find in a shinobi village . Even before the war , hidden villages like Rain had a despondent aura while villages like Suna and Kiri had a cold aura. A warm aura was hard to find in hidden villages.
Although the last time Hinata had been in Konoha it had not felt like it used to. The village s' aura had lost much of its warmth. That's what happens when people become despondent because of the fighting .The war had taken a gigantic toll on the shinobi of Konoha. The civilians had also not been spared . Dwindling resources , economic instability , increased poverty and civil unrest had been but a few of the effects of war. What made it worse is that this war had now lasted longer than the three wars before it. It was a nightmare that had no end.
Hinata did not understand why the clashing villages could not call an end to the fighting The war had carried on for far too long , too much had been lost.
Gaara believed that the longer a war continued the harder it became to end it . Gaara reasoned that as a war progressed the pain that the soldiers felt because of their fallen comrades increase , the hatred between the two sides deepened and the leaders of the villages only became more vengeful and bloodthirsty.
Hatred is like a seed . Every battle that is lost , every comrade that is mercilessly cut down waters that seed until that seed becomes a gigantic tree that cannot be easily cut down. At some point it became difficult for the people who were fighting to stop fighting.
" War is addictive " , he liked to say.
"The more you take part in it the more you want it . Seeing the ground painted red with the blood of your enemies becomes exciting. " .
He said he understood it well because of his past. Gaara had revealed to her one day that in the days of his madness the more blood he had shed the more blood he wanted to shed. He said war was an unbreakable chain .
" But they can stop " , Hinata once argued .
" Gaara you broke the cycle . You have a demon inside you that made you crave killing , yet you were able to break the cycle of bloodshed ."
"That's the thing Hinata . I had you . That's why I was able to break the cycle ." Gaara had replied.
She hated thinking about the past . Although doing so reminded her of all the good things that she had experienced back when their world wasn't such a dark place it also reminded her of everything she had lost . She had lost comrades , friends , her family , her home and a lot more to the war.
Not wanting to dwell on the past for too long Hinata closed the book that was in her hand and rose from the wooden chair that sat under the shade of a young tree. She had planned on reading the book but her mind had been too preoccupied with the past . She glanced at the sky . Seeing that the sun was getting low she walked home.
Hinata entered the little cozy kitchen of the cottage that she called home. She washed her hands and started heating the water that she would use to boil the rice . Gaara would be home soon.
She never could stop comparing this kitchen to the grand one that was at Hyuga manor . She never could get over the irony of how she , the once upon a time heiress of the Hyuga Clan, had fallen in love with a kitchen that would be considered by her clan to be beneath her.
Nowadays she did all sorts of things that would shock the clan .They would probably shake their heads in disappointment if they discovered that the Hyguga princess lived in such a modest home , cooked her own food, cleaned ,washed dishes and did her own laundry. They would probably collapse from not being able to cope with witnessing a disgrace of such magnitude .
Hinata was past the point of caring too much about other people s' opinions. That was a unnecessary burden to carry for people who had been through what she'd been through .
Rice would probably go well with fish. She had asked Gaara to bring along some fish when he came home . Hopefully her request hadn't slipped his mind. The merchants back in the village sold the freshest fish she had ever eaten . She had grown a liking for fish .
Fish often reminded her of Choji . For someone who was so passionate about food Choji had a surprising dislike of fish . She remembered how shocked she had been when she discovered that Choji hated fish . She had never thought that he could hate anything that was remotely food. Even her timid nature had not been enough to stop her from questioning him about his extreme dislike of fish.
Hinata had been recalling her childhood way too often as of late. Hinata preferred those memories to remain in the past . Remembering caused her too much pain. That chapter of life was over. She wanted to focus on living the life she now had.
Hinata leaned over the wooden countertop as she waited for the rice to cook . The black metal pot on top of the dark electrical stove whistled a high monotonous tune and the distinct aroma of rice filled the air .
She tapped a slow beat on the countertop. Today had been an uneventful day. It had been her day off from work . She hadn't set foot in the clinic the whole day and she hadn't been in a mood to visit anyone or even stroll around the village so boredom had infected her as swift as an airborne disease.
She had stayed all couped up in the cottage the whole morning and in the afternoon she had decided to go sit under the shade near the lake and read . It was unfortunate that she hadn't been able to read for long - her mind couldn't remain focused on what she was reading .
Atleast tomorrow she would be going back to work . She loved working at the clinic. Her working at a clinic in a village where the healing techniques were much less advanced than in the hidden villages assured her that leaving the war behind had helped her achieve a greater purpose in life. The effectiveness of the healers had improved by leaps and bounds after their arrival in this village - far less people were chronically sick and far less people died from sickness .Word spread quickly , before long even people from nearby villages started coming to their village for medical assistance. Helping others felt more rewarding than killing.
Suddenly she felt a presence behind her. Her muscles coiled in preparation . She could feel the adrenaline flowing through her veins as her heartbeat quickened. She quickly spun around , her pale fingertips glowing with brilliant blue chakra . She came face to face with a red haired man that had strikingly green eyes. The man s' face was slightly impassive and a tiny smirk was plastered on his face.
"Gaara I told you not to sneak up on me ! ", Hinata exclaimed in a high voice.
" What if I accidentally killed you ? ", she continued. Her cheeks had turned red in her exasperation.
Gaara merely moved closer and grabbed her by the waist , all the while staring into into her lavender-coloured eyes.
" Did I ever tell how beautiful you look when you are annoyed ? ", Gaara said.
" I'm being serious Gaara . You shouldn't sneak up on me . I can't control my instincts. What if I kill you one day? What would I do with myself? " , Hinata said as she looked up into his eyes.
" I'm sorry. I'll make my presence known when I come near you " , he said seriously.
" Also I highly doubt that you can get rid of me that easily Hinata " , Gaara said .
" I know . You are a very persistent man Gaara ", said Hinata in her mellow voice .
" And I still haven't forgotten that one time when my gentle fist almost killed you " , Hinata said as she looped her arms around his neck.
" I was being easy on you . I also had a cold " , Gaara countered.
" You Gaara of the desert had a cold " , Hinata said sarcastically. Gaara s' smirk became bigger.
Gaara looked down at Hinata with a faraway look in his eyes. Sometimes he wondered where he would be without this woman. He would probably be fighting somewhere far away, making the sky rain with the blood of his enemies . Maybe some powerful shinobi from Konoha or its allies would have finally slain him and his body would lie decaying on crimson soil, none of his countrymen having had the slightest thought to retrieve the body of the terrible sand demon.
She pulled him away from the darkness and guided him to the light . She had helped him find his sanity. He was what he was today because of her.
" A person like you shouldn't love a person like me Hinata . I don't deserve you ", Gaara said to her. Hinata lowered her gaze to his gray cotton shirt.
"Well I do love you Gaara so deal with it " , she said . Her tone was firm yet her voice never failed to retain its softness.
Gaara tipped her chin up and planted his chapped lips on her soft lips . She responded to his advances and started playing with his maroon hair . Gaara s' hair was only a few inches above his shoulders . It had been years since Hinata had seen him with short hair.
His hands were caressing her waist , slowly running up and down her sides. Hinata moved her hands down to his chest and started running them up and down his chest . Their lips danced in rythme. She liked the rough texture of his gray cotton shirt.
They soon separated for air. Gaara wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her to his chest . She laid her head against his chest and brought her ear to his beating heart. She loved feeling his strong heartbeat. They stood there in their little kitchen locked in embrace.
" How was your day ? " , Gaara said after a few moments. Hinata could feel the vibrations of his chest as he spoke.
" I kept remembering Konoha . I couldn't really do anything else " , Hinata told him.
Gaara remained silent. He took her hand in his , intertwined their fingers and squeezed her hand. Although no words were shared Hinata understood what he meant. She was grateful.
After a long while Hinata asked , " Did you bring along the fish I asked you to bring ? ".
She felt Gaara channel chakra and heard a faint plop as a wrapped bundle landed on the counter near the sink.
" Thanks. I better finish cooking. You must be hungry. "
She separated herself from Gaara and started turning away from him but he grabbed her wrist before she could completely get away and kissed her once more and then walked towards the bathroom. Hinata soon heard the shower running.
Hinata and Gaara set on their small wooden dinner table and ate their meal. Gaara told her about his day during the meal . He also told her that Mito , the village gossip and strangely the closet friend Hinata had in the village, would be bringing her son for a check-up tomorrow morning before she headed to the clinic .
After they finished eating Gaara took it upon himself to wash the dirty dishes along with the pots and pans.
As he was drying the dishes with a cloth Hinata came behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle.
" What's wrong ? " , Hinata whispered.
Hinata had noticed that something was bothering him during dinner. Although Gaara had engaged her in conversation like he usually did during dinner his behaviour had been off. After living with Gaara for so long Hinata could tell when something was bothering him. With him the signs were always subtle but they were there and she always noticed them.
Gaara kept on wiping the dishes .
" Gaara ? " , Hinata said.
" I think it's best if we sit down for this Hinata" , Gaara said .
Gaara put down the cloth and walked to the brown couch in the small living room and sat down . Hinata hesitantly followed.
Gaara s' sudden somber mood was worrying her . She had not seen Gaara this somber for a long time. His demeanor reminded her of a topic that she would rather not remember.
Gaara intertwined their fingers and looked into her eyes. His eyes caused her heart to quicken. They were rushing with many different emotions . The crease on his forehead and the tightened jaw made it seem as if he he had aged a few years in just a few seconds. He kept silently looking into her eyes and said nothing . Hinata was getting nervous.
" Gaara " , said Hinata . It sounded as if her voice had become trapped in her own throat.
" Hinata " , Gaara began.
" I received word about the war." , Gaara said.
Hinata s' heart started beating even faster. She felt the fine tiny hairs on the back of her neck rise .
Why would anything that had to do with the war concern them?
What could have happened that seemed to bother Gaara so much? They had decided to leave the war and everything that had to do with it behind. The war did not concern them anymore. Had Gaara changed his mind? Did he want to return to what they left behind and continue being part of a pointless cycle that only caused suffering and bloodshed? If he returned to the war on whose side would he fight? Would he kill more of her people? Did she expect him to betray his for her? Hinata waited for him to continue speaking with burning anticipation.
" A truce has been called between the villages. The war is over Hinata . "
A.N
Thank you for reading
I'll add the next chapter soon.
Please review . This is the first fanfiction I've written and I would really really really appreciate your feedback.
{The immortal sage }