There was a knock on the door as Gaara finished reading one of the many border patrol reports he received day to day. He looked up from the paper, knowing who it was but still waiting for the person on the other side to let himself in as he usually did.
"Gaara, I'm coming in," Kankuro said as he opened the door, sounding almost mechanical as that was what he always said whenever he entered his brother's office. He was greeted with the sight of Gaara surrounded with papers and scrolls—as usual.
"How can you possibly go through all that paperwork every single day?" Kankuro rhetorically asked as he eyed one of the stack of papers wearily.
"You get used to it," Gaara replied simply as he began to read another border patrol report. He glanced back up at his brother, noticing that Kankuro was not wearing his usual Kabuki attire, although he still had his Kabuki make-up on. Instead, he was wearing a simple green t-shirt, dark pants, and the typical sandals.
"Taking the day off?" Gaara asked as he returned to reading the report. Kankuro leaned on the wall to his left, his hands casually in his pockets. He smirked at his younger brother.
"Yup, and you're taking the day off with me."
Gaara looked back up at him, his expression unchanging. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I reserved slots for us in the new spa that opened downtown. You and I are gonna get full-body massages then relax in the artificial bath house afterwards. Sounds good, huh? You're welcome," Kankuro explained, crossing his arms as he gave his brother a full smile.
Gaara was quiet for a few moments. "I appreciate it Kankuro, really, but I just can't abandon my work all of a sudden. Plus, I have the upcoming Chῡnin Exams to worry about. Can we go some other time instead?" Gaara set down the piece of paper he was holding. It took him a long time to forge genuine bonds with his siblings, and he had been extremely grateful that Kankuro and Temari had both responded to his attempts. Now that he was Kazekage, he had to constantly find a balance between work and family.
'Right when we actually became close as siblings, you go and become Kazekage,' Temari had said to him, shaking her head and smiling. That had been the first thing she said when Gaara told her and Kankuro that the Council had finally approved of his appeal to become the Fifth Kazekage. Nevertheless, she, along with Kankuro, had been extremely proud of their brother for being the youngest shinobi to achieve Kage level, especially given his violent past. 'Well, less free time is one of the things that comes with being a Kage. We'll just have to work things out,' Temari had told her two brothers.
"No can do, man," Kankuro answered, snapping Gaara out of his thoughts. "I had a really hard time reserving slots for us, you know? Their opening discount attracted a lot of customers, so I had to fight for our slots with three other people. You may be the Kazekage and a former jinchῡriki, Gaara, but even you need time off, too," Kankuro reasoned, his expression turning serious.
"You can take Temari instead. The three of us can all go next time. I just can't leave my work right now. There's too much to do."
Kankuro sighed and pushed himself off the wall. He walked over to stand in front of his brother's desk, his arms remaining crossed. "Look, there's always too much to do, but a few hours spent away from that beloved desk of yours will do you more than good. It's only been two weeks since Shukaku was extracted, but you still need to take it easy. And Temari left for an emergency mission two hours ago. I doubt she'll be back soon enough, so you have no excuse."
"Kankuro…"
"No, Gaara. You're coming with me and that's final. We have to be there in twenty minutes or our reservation will be forfeited. I'll do the explaining to the higher ups if they get pissed out you leaving."
Gaara was about to retort when another knock came from the door. Both brothers turned their heads toward the sound.
"Come in," Gaara called.
A familiar man entered the room. "Kazekage-sama," Baki addressed as he bowed. He then looked at Kankuro. "I see you're having a hard time convincing the Kazekage, Kankuro." Baki smiled, his expression changing from his usual stern expression to a friendlier one; something that only people close to him had the opportunity to see.
Gaara furrowed his brow and looked at Kankuro. "Did you actually as Baki for help in convincing me?"
Kankuro raised his arms to his sides and shrugged, his smirk returning. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy convincing you of all people, so I made sure I had back-up."
Gaara turned his head to look back at Baki. "Even you wouldn't be able to convince me," he said matter-of-factly.
"Forgive me for this Kazekage-sama, but it's not me who will do the convincing, but them." Still smiling, Baki gave a quick glance to Kankuro, who had begun chuckling, and turned to open the door. He put one foot out of the doorway and turned his upper body to the right. "The Kazekage said you may all see him now," he called out.
Gaara's frown deepened. Who were the people Baki was speaking to? And why did he tell whoever they were that he allowed them to see him? He was about to stand and see for himself who in the world Baki had called and finally put an end to this so that he could go back to work, when he heard squealing and a shuffling of feet. Gaara froze. No! Not them again! He faced his brother and gave him an irritated look, which made Kankuro finally let out the laugh he was struggling to keep down. In the past, Kankuro would have immediately stopped all sound and movement whenever Gaara would give him that look. Now, Gaara was pleased that his glare wasn't met with eyes of fear and hatred anymore, but that didn't make him feel any better about the situation, either. Before he could berate his brother, the group of people that Baki had called were now practically clogging the entrance of his office, one trying to go in before the other.
"Gaara-samaaaa!"
"Gaara-sama, you look so handsome when you work!"
"You look stressed, Gaara-sama! Would you like me to massage your shoulders?"
"Would you like to take a break, Gaara-sama? We could go on a date!"
The horde of teenage girls managed to get through the door and crowded around the distressed Kazekage, with Matsuri leading the pack. Gaara briefly wondered if any of these girls knew the concept of personal space. Over the squealing, shouting, and begging for dates, Gaara heard Kankuro say, "Nice job coming up with this, Baki!"
So this was Baki's idea?! Gaara had no time to be surprised by the fact that his stern, hard-faced sensei had actually come up with such a childish idea as one of the girls grabbed his sleeve. "Gaara-sama! Please teach me a new jutsu!"
"No way! Gaara-sama will be going on a date with me! He has no time to train you." Another girl tried to shove the first girl out of the way and tried to grab Gaara's wrist. He moved his arm out of the way to avoid her grasp and finally stood up, using his most Kage-like tone when he spoke.
"I… appreciate you all visiting me—"Gaara quickly shot a look towards Baki, "—but I have many things to accomplish today. If you could all please exit no—"
"Gaara-samaaaa! I wrote a poem for you!" A folded piece of paper was shoved to his face from some direction. Not wanting to offend whoever gave it to him, Gaara took it and placed it on his desk. The girls were inching closer to him.
"Thank you. Now please leave—"
His voice was drowned in even louder squeals and shouts and professions of love. His orders were practically snubbed, which made him feel a little less like a Kage. He saw Kankuro sitting on the floor, his hand on his stomach. He was laughing so hard that tears were starting to roll down his cheeks. "Oh man, this is too damn funny! I wish Temari were here to see this! Baki, you're a genius!" Kankuro managed to say in between laughs. Baki was standing right next to him and was actually chuckling. Gaara didn't know which was worse: the fact that his brother and former sensei found joy in something he clearly did not find amusing, or the horde of teenage girls that had unfortunately moved even closer to him.
He supposed the horde of girls was worse.
Gaara recalled the first time this had happened. It was a few weeks after his inauguration as the Fifth Kazekage, and Yukimaru, one of the jōnin who was in charge of mentoring a team of genin, had visited his office.
'Kazekage-sama, I know you are very busy with work, but may I make a request?'
'What is it, Yukimaru?'
'Well, you see, one of the girls of my three-man genin team told me that she and some other genin and chῡnin girls have recently started a fan club for you. So, well, she asked me to ask you if their club could visit you here tomorrow,' Yukimaru had explained.
Gaara processed this. Truthfully, he was quite shocked to hear that he actually had a fan club, and more so that it was composed of only girls. Still, upon hearing what Yukimaru had told him, he felt pleased with himself that his efforts to reach out to the villagers were finally bearing fruit. He supposed he could allow them to visit him; it was another opportunity to bond with Suna's shinobi, after all. He told Yukimaru that the girls could visit him in his office any time tomorrow. The next day, he found himself in a similar situation with the one he was in now; surrounded by young, noisy girls who were all trying to grab his face, his hands, or his robes. He resisted the urge to raise his voice or turn to sand and teleport away, and so he had actually backed up to a wall when Baki entered his office, with the latter baffled at first by the sight that greeted him. He then quickly helped Gaara shoo the girls from the office by telling them that the Kazekage had an emergency meeting to attend to, but promised that they could visit him another time.
'You shouldn't have mentioned that last part,' Gaara told Baki has he smoothed down his robes and took his seat. 'I didn't expect that to happen at all. I thought I would just be able to have a regular conversation with them.'
Baki chuckled. 'I believe you have much to learn about young, teenage girls, Kazekage-sama.'
Going back to the present, Gaara knew that there was no hope of getting help from Baki, and especially not Kankuro. What was he to do? He didn't want to raise his voice at the group of girls; it was unnecessary. He didn't want to turn into sand and escape through the window, either; it was too rude, it was too unprofessional, it was… it seemed the only thing he could do.
"Kankuro," Gaara called out to his brother who was now trying to catch his breath after laughing for a lengthy time, "Meet me at the back." Immediately after he said that, he muttered a quick apology for having to leave so soon to the noisy girls, not bothering to check if they had even heard him from all the squealing, focused his chakra to turn to sand, and left through the open window. Above the cries of protest from the horde of girls, he heard both Kankuro and Baki laugh. "Don't worry, Kazekage-sama, I'll cover for you," Baki called out.