A bit confusing at first, but this is more of a prologue. Reviews are appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Meanings:

Koishii: Beloved

Tenrai: Divine

Gaara stared at the raven-haired girl whose eyes were locked on the expanse of darkness veiling over Sunagakure. Her lips were pursed in deep thought before she turned her head to him, acknowledging his presence. An amused laugh escaped her when she saw the confused look etched on his face.

"Was it not written in the sand that you shall find me here when the Sun and the Moon forgo their rule to be the lovers they once were, and in that reckless abandon, the only light you'll see is that of the girl whose blood once tainted your hands?" She spoke, the mocking glint in her eyes visible even in the obscurity of the night.

"You? The daughter born of the eclipse?" He questioned suspiciously, taking caution in every step he took towards the girl sitting on the edge of a marbled fountain.

She smirked at his words, her fingertips making ripples on the water as she gently caressed the stagnant liquid. She stood up when he had reached her, inching her face close to his.

"I am honoured to be known by you, Kazekage-sama." She whispered, but in the silence of the night, the mischief in her voice was flagrant.

His face remained impassive at her advance, making her wrinkle her nose distastefully, irked by his aloofness.

"You do not believe me?" She asked, her tone dripping with false sweetness. "Is it because you find my words genuinely questionable or—" She lifted her hand and lightly traced the character for love that ironically scarred his forehead. "Do you still feel guilty for taking a life that belonged to the heavens?"

Answering her with reticence, she looked at him smugly before sitting back down.

"I will give you no reason to excuse the crimes done by the monster that I was—"

"And still you welcome me with doubt?" She interrupted, raising an eyebrow in provocation.

He closed his eyes briefly, willing himself not to lose his temper.

"We did not meet under the best circumstances, but now we do under a better one. I ask you for forgiveness, not as the former Jinchuuriki stained by your blood, but as Sabaku no Gaara—the Kazekage of Sunagakure."

"I must say, I thought you would be more surprised to see me again." She smiled up at him, extending a hand to beckon him closer.

"I am." He acquiesced.

She rolled her eyes at his short response and his refusal to take her hand that was still hanging in the air. Seeing as he will make no move to make physical contact, she tugged on his wrist, pulling him down to sit beside her.

"You certainly do not make a very big show of it." She scoffed.

"Did you know of the prophecy when you had met me then?" Gaara asked, ignoring the disdain lacing her words.

She bit down her bottom lip as if uncertain whether to answer him or not. More of the evening's serenity enveloped the two as her fingers found the back of his hand, lightly tracing circles on it. Gaara flinched at the contact, earning him a glare from the girl's grey eyes. He returned the scowl, but placed his hand back to her reach.

Pleased, she nodded.

"Yes, which is why I let you kill me for I knew that I will not stay dead, at least not by your hands, Koishii." She grinned, nudging him slightly on the shoulder when she noticed his breath hitch at the affectionate term.

"You approached with such confidence I wanted to extinguish your light before you even spoke." He admitted candidly as he began to reminisce their first encounter.

"And you had been so lonely that I wanted to give you that light, you need not ask." She said sadly. The mournful look that adorned her face tugged at his heart slightly. He shook his head as if in doing so, he could shake the discomfort swelling in his chest as well.

"My sand recoiled when it made contact with your blood." He stated matter-of-factly, clueless as to how he should react to the sudden kindness of her words.

"Ah, yes." She agreed, as if she had only just realized. "It was excessive bleeding that had caused my death, not the infamous Sand Coffin that crushed your enemies into fragments of flesh."

"I thought of it as a momentary lapse of control."

"Ha!" She snorted, her initial confidence returning. "That was your sand faltering in recognition."

She steadied her gaze at the sky that was being adorned by a ring of light that displayed the sun reuniting with the moon, just as she and Gaara were.

"Thousands of years they waited, and now the world will bear witness to the union that signified life and death." She said quietly before turning to Gaara. "How is it that you knew where to look for me?"

"You wanted to be found." He said simply. Their eyes locked; Gaara swallowed when she nibbled on her bottom lip, seemingly contemplating what to say. They were full and crimson, in full contrast to the paleness of her complexion.

She tugged down on the strap of her dress, exposing her collar bone, and on it was the same Kanji of love marring Gaara's forehead. She took his hand, allowing him to make contact with the mark that dictated their fate. His fingers trembled as he tenderly grazed a finger on the red scar.

"And when the Son of the Desert bleeds love," She recited as if she were reading from a book. "The Sun will take pity. Distraught by his mourning, the Moon shall bear him a daughter, and on the first eclipse after her birth, she shall return that love to him."

Gaara's breath quickened, remembering the first time he had known of the prophecy.

Before leaving for Konoha after his rescue from The Akatsuki, Sakura had approached him, giving him a note entrusted to her by Chiyo-baasama in case she did not make it to give it to him instead. It instructed him to go to the abandoned home she had once shared with Sasori when he was a child, and to look for a chest tucked away in her old work room. Though confused, Gaara did as he was told.

He found the old trunk covered with dust, and on it was a small note that read "To Gaara, let your blood be the key." which made no sense to him because it wasn't even locked in the first place. Frowning, he opened it and saw that it was filled with sand. He outstretched his hand towards the grains but they remained still, adding more to his confusion. The sand that usually attended to his bidding remained motionless.

Reminded by the instruction of the note, Gaara grabbed a kunai from the small weapons pouch strapped on his thigh, and sliced his palm. It took a great amount of control for him to stop the chakra-infused sand inside his gourd from bursting out and blocking the dagger from making contact with his skin.

He let a few drops of blood drip on the sand inside the chest, and just as he thought, the sand began stirring to life, snaking out of its container and on the floor it wrote the prophecy that would plague him for the years to come. Before dissipating, the sand rearranged itself, forming a name.

"Tenrai"

Gaara's eyes widened as recognition almost made his knees fall over.

Long ago when he was yet to find the reason for his existence, a girl bearing the same name had fallen victim to one of his rampages. She approached him then as if she were looking for him her entire life. He remembered grey eyes twinkling at the sight of him; how she showed no hesitation to come to him, her strides so confident just as though she were meant to be nowhere else but beside him.

He threatened her, seething at her boldness when she introduced herself and the offended look she gave him when he claimed to have no knowledge of who she was, for he did not understood her talk about the Sun, the Moon, and Love when she had tried to explain it to him. Instead, he let Shukaku overthrow the sound of her voice that sent goose bumps on his skin, and let his sand wrap around the brazen girl.

He left her there, struggling to maintain her shallow breaths, but that night he would lose sleep, not just because of the Ichibi, but because of how his sand collapsed by its own before he could crush her completely as if it realized who it was harming and was disgusted at itself for causing her pain.

Now the same girl presented herself once again before him; the same grey eyes locking with his seafoam ones.

"Tenrai." He breathed, and at the mention of her name, she smiled at him affectionately.

"Just as the Moon now returns to the Sun, so have I to you. May you find in me all that you have lost." She whispered, cupping his cheek with one hand before placing her lips on his.