Hello there! Michiru here!!!! Decided to write another GaaSaku Fic while I think of Ideas for Way of the Vacation!
So, this story is a bit… different. You'll find several of the same characters from Naruto in here, but the don't hold the same status as they do in the original, nor are there the same weird family ties. For example, Hinata is a servant, while Hiashi is one of Gaara's advisors. Gaara is the Prince of Suna, and is to be married to Ino, who is the princess of a neighboring country. Yeah, things are a bit switched around in here! I hope it's suitable, though!
Anywho, Here you are! Please enjoy the following presentation of Sabaku no Sakura!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Naruto! If I did, I would… Well, I'd own it!
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Gaara looked up at the evening sky, his jade eyes scanning the moon. Things were quiet. Very quiet. Any other night he would have liked that, but now…. Now he didn't know… He felt off. Wrong. There was no explaining it really. He was to be married. He should be happy, or at least, as happy as he could be. He sighed. There was nothing wrong with the marriage, even though it was arranged. The one he was to be married to was beautiful; the princess of the second largest country on the continent, and even though he had only met her twice, he could see that she was a good person. Gaara couldn't understand why he felt so off.
"Sir…?" Came a timid voice behind him.
Gaara turned to see a servant of the palace bowing. He shook his head.
"Rise, please…. What is it?" He asked, his voice coming out in a deep tone.
The servant stood, her eyes still lowered.
"Lord Hiashi would like to speak with you…" she said quietly.
Gaara nodded.
"Thank you, Hinata…"
Gaara tried to use the servant's names as he could. They were people too. Hinata bowed as walked away. Gaara sighed for the second time that evening, but this time out of boredom. Another advisory meeting, and one he wasn't looking forward to. It was almost defiantly over the recent drop in resources going into Suna. With a final glance out the window, Gaara walked out of his room.
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It was about halfway through the meeting, with Gaara beginning to dose off, when the doors of the hall banged open, depositing three people. In all actuality, it was two people dragging a struggling third. Gaara sat up straighter as the three approached the table. He could see now that it was two of his guards pulling what looked like a commoner between them.
"Sir!" Said the guard on the left, "We found this woman trying to steal from the palace!"
Gaara looked from the flaxen haired soldier to the struggling woman he was holding. He was a bit awestruck. Despite her disheveled appearance, she was beautiful. Her short pink hair hung around her face, giving her a feral look, and slightly torn cloths wrapped around a lithe, slender frame, but what caught Gaara the most was her eyes. Two bright, fiery emerald eyes glaring up into his. Eyes that did not fear him, nor anything else. Gaara cleared his throat, tearing his eyes away from the woman and returning to the guard.
"What did she take, Uzumaki…?"
Uzumaki lifted the woman's still tightly clenched hand. Something was in it.
"Open your hand!" he commanded.
The woman kicked at him, struggling.
"Let me go!" She growled.
She suddenly let out a cry of pain as Uzumaki twisted her wrist. The item fell out. Gaara stepped forward.
"Uzumaki! It is not your job to punish her! Release her!"
Uzumaki looked at him.
"But Sir! She had-!"
"Enough…" Gaara growled.
Uzumaki let go of the woman's arm and stepped back, his hand wresting on the hilt of the katana at his side. Gaara nodded to the other guard.
"You too, Uchiha… you can let her go…"
The other guard, a man with ebon hair and eyes, dropped her arm and stepped back. The woman looked up at Gaara questioningly, holding the wrist that Uzumaki had twisted in her other hand. Gaara picked up the item that had fallen on the floor, crouching in front of the woman. It was an azure pendant attached to a long silver chain. Examining it, he noticed that silver wire wrapped up around it, joining at the bottom in a spiral. Thin white veins wound through the blue crystal. Gaara's eyes widened slightly. He looked at the woman.
"Who are you…?" he said.
The woman looked at him spitefully.
"That is none of you business, prince…" she said with bitter contempt.
Gaara held out the necklace, depositing it into her hand. Hiashi stood.
"Sir, you're going to let this crook get away with thievery?" he demanded.
Gaara stood, glaring daggers at him.
"There was no crime here…" He said, "No one in this palace owns such a rare item…"
He held out his hand to help the woman up. She got up on her own.
"I will take you to the door…" Gaara said, looking back at his guards, telling them to remain behind.
The woman shrugged, clasping the pendant around her neck and hiding it in her clothes. Gaara led the way out of the hall, and the short journey to the door was rather quiet. When they reached the palace gates, Gaara stopped and the woman kept going.
"I hope that we do not meet again under the same circumstances…" he said, "Even being the prince, I don't think that I could stop them from throwing you in prison…"
The woman stopped, subconsciously grasping the pendant under her shirt. She looked slightly over her shoulder.
"I need no one's help…"
With that she, leapt into the air, onto a neighboring rooftop, and was gone into the darkness. Gaara watched her leave, overcome with an odd sense of loss. He then slowly walked back into the palace.