Summary:
The Godaime Kazekage's thoughts in the middle of the night. Contains spoilers from the Fourth Shinobi World War Arc. Rated T for suggestive themes.
This is my first story. Constructive criticisms are very much welcomed.
Black-rimmed eyes slowly open as the man took to his surroundings. It's still dark, too dark to even be at the crack of dawn.
His gaze then turns towards the bedroom's window and immediately recognized the light of a thousand stars illuminating the cloudless midnight sky of the sighs softly and closes his eyes, trying to make himself sleep again. It had been almost five years since the forced extraction of the sand demon from his body but still, sleep is not quite as easy as manipulating sand even without said demon. As he tries to drift himself back to the world of darkness and dreams again, he felt an arm shifting around his waist, pulling the owner closer to himself and nuzzling her face into his chest. He looked down to the pink hair in his line of sight. Instinctively, his own
arm snaked around her back and pulled her closer to him. He then felt her body shifting a bit, trying to be as comfortable as possible. The friction made from their skins touching reminded him that they're both actually naked, reminding him of the activity they did together hours before. Their legs intertwined with each other with him locking her securely in place and only a thin blanket covering them.
Slowly and involuntarily, his memory begins a series a flashback and took him back to the past.
He remembered years ago, back in the days when they were mere Genins. Back when he was a bloodthirsty demon container and she was a helpless kunoichi, naive and madly infatuated with a boy who thought that the girl's feelings for him were annoying and no different from all of his other fangirls. Over time, the young woman got over her feelings for the Uchiha after concluding
that he will not return no matter what she or her friends do.
A few months after his revival, the Sand Village had 'borrowed' the talented medic nin from Konoha to help them in improving their medical units. Truth be told, Gaara was embarrassed when thinking of how much Suna's medical capabilities were lacking compared to Konoha's. Tsunade on the other hand, had no qualms on sending her prized disciple to his village. It was all for the sake of friendship and alliance between their respective villages. That was when things began to spark between the Kazekage and her. She would visit him a few times a week in his office to send reports on the progress of her work. From the outside, everything seemed formal and professional when they talk to each other. However, he cannot help but notice the thin shade of pink emerging on her cheeks whenever he'd look straight into her eyes. Slowly, things began to loosen up between them. He insisted that she address him only with his name as they used to when they were genins instead of the overly formal 'Kazekage-sama'. Sometimes after reading her report, they'd have small talks together, chatting of this and that. Long story made short, he finally mustered enough courage to confess his feelings for her. It wasn't easy, in fact it was much more difficult than facing a whole meeting room of nagging elder counsils and Daimyos. But, it was worth it.
He remembered the feeling of being rejected and the fear of taking it from her almost stopped him from telling her. She didn't say anything, just sat there, on the chair in his office, staring at him. A few moments passed and he decided to break the tension. He got up from behind his desk, walked to her and took her hands in his. She stood up slowly after realizing the Kazekage was actually holding her hands. He didn't know what drove him, but the next thing he knew was that his lips were already pressed gently on her own. Her body froze at first and he was dead sure that this was a mistake. He thought that she was angry at him for stealing her first kiss, the one that she saved for the Uchiha, or so he thought. To his ultimate surprise, she responded tenderly. It was a shy, awkward kiss from both of them but it meant the world to him. It was the beginning of the most important part of his life, and hers too.
They kept the relationship a secret for a while. Only a few have known; his siblings, her closest friends in Konoha and her mentor along with her senior student, Shizune. Then the war broke out. He felt like his whole being was getting clobbered. The pressure of being the Commander and the thought of losing his family and lover almost shattered him like how his Sand Armour was shattered. However, the looks his brother, sister and his woman gave him before heading out with their respective divisions gave him enough strength to endure, to battle the strongest foes he had ever encountered, to survive the nearly fatal injuries he obtained from the battle. He had never been more grateful than the day he woke up in the healer's tent, severely weakened, but alive nonetheless. His siblings were there. Kankurou looked relieved, as he would expect, but Temari just broke down in tears without a word while hugging him. She then quietly whispered to him, "Once was enough, kid". He pulled them both into his weak embrace. They had won the battle. Many lives were lost but the future is saved.
That was when he realized that someone important was missing from the tent. "Where's Sakura?" he asked them both. Temari gave Kankurou a look and turned back towards her youngest brother. She took a deep breath. "She passed out a few hours ago from overusing her chakra. After using the Yin Seal and Kuchiyose no Jutsu for the battle with the Ten-Tails, she used what was left of her chakra to heal the injured in this camp." Gaara's heart almost stopped. He looked into his sister's eyes. "Take me to her," he demanded. Both Kankurou and Temari, knowing better than to argue with him when it comes to his beloved woman, nodded silently and helped him up from the bed. It was not as bad as he thought it would be. He was limping and needed help to walk, but managed to stand up almost on his own. They went out from the tent and he was welcomed by the sight of the medical team running here and there to the injured shinobis. The Suna nins who were there immediately noticed him and all raised to greet and salute him. However, Kankurou dismissed them and said it could wait.
The siblings made their way across the camp to their destination; Sakura's tent. As they approached, more and more familiar faces from Konohagakure came into view. However, they all had solemn look in their faces. He soon found out that the Hyuuga prodigy, Neji from the second branch of the clan, had fallen in battle. Hinata Hyuuga was sitting next to Naruto, his arms wrapped around her as they tearlessly mourned the valiant shinobi who had died protecting them both. "I'm truly sorry" was all Gaara could say to the Hyuuga heiress. She looked up to him, nodded and gave a small smile. "Neji nii-san is in a better place now. He can finally see his father again," she replied. Gaara gave a nod in return and cast his gaze upon the rest of the remaining Konoha 11. Rock Lee was firmly holding the hand of his female teammate while they mourned. Might Guy stood at the side, talking to Kakashi and seemingly unaffected by the loss of his former student. However, anybody could tell that the fiery Jonin was as shattered as any of the Konoha shinobi there. Then Gaara saw Sasuke, who once had sworn to destroy his own village to avenge his brother, sitting just at the corner of the camp, a little far from the others. Temari noticed his surprised look and explained how the Uchiha had chosen to save the village instead.
Gaara almost opened his mouth to address the ex-missing nin when a pleasantly familiar voice stopped all his thoughts. "Gaara..." he turned his eyes towards the voice and found that it came from a nearby tent. There she stood, her hair loose from her headband, her skin pale and eyes watery. "Hey..." was all he could bring himself to say before the pink haired young woman ran to him and embraced him in front of her friends and all of the other shinobi, not giving a damn of the shocked stares they were receiving. He instinctively returned the embrace, kissing her forehead at the same time before resting his own against hers. She gave a small laugh as tears ran down her face. "Now I have to patch you up all over again," she said between giggles and tears. He noticed that the Konoha 11 were all smiling towards them. However, it was a different story for Sasuke Uchiha. He stared in disbelief at the scene before him. Then, he regained his composure and returned back to staring into the nearby river as if nothing happened. In his
mind, however, shock and regret gnawed endlessly. He discarded her when she was weak, when she was nothing but an annoying and useless fangirl, when she used to care and love him truly. Now he had seen how strong she had become and she had moved on.
Three months after the war, Tsunade made an announcement that her apprentice will be bethrothed to the Fifth Kazekage of the Land of Wind and soon get married to him. The news spread like wildfire across the Five Great Nations. Of all their friends, Naruto was the most excited. To hear such news about his two close friends brought the Kyuubi container to a fit of laughter of happiness right in the middle of the busy main street of Konoha. Sakura tried to stop him before he causes an uproar in the streets but it was too late. She should have picked a more quiet spot to tell Naruto about things like that. In Konoha, the news was known even before the official announcement was made by the Hokage. Sakura did not miss the look on Sasuke's face when he heard of the news. However, she cannot bring herself to feel guilty towards him. She still cared about him as his teammate, but her heart is now anchored to a man in the Land of Wind.
The redhead's thoughts now swirled back into the future, back to the wife who's sleeping in his arms. At the age of 20, most people would think that they are too young for marriage but that's the last thing they cared about. However, he had always asked himself, how did she make herself love the very person who slammed her to a tree with his demon's hand, fully intending to kill her in cold blood before her blonde teammate? How did she end up on his bed, wrapping herself so snuggly around him as if he was a perfectly normal person in the past? She shifted again, this time bringing her face to the same level as his neck. He could feel her breath on his skin and it made him shudder a bit just to think of the pleasures of their love making a few hours past. He remembered clearly how she screamed his name, scratched his back and looked at him pleadingly as they moved. He tucked a strand of hair to the back of her ear, trying to surpress his thoughts as to not disturb her from her peaceful slumber.
He buries his face in her hair. His eyes are now feeling heavy thanks to her fragrance. He doesn't know why but it always had a calming effect on him. Just as he was about to drift into sleep, he felt her slender fingers touching his cheek. He cracks his eyes open and found that she's looking up at him with half-lidded eyes and a lazy smile on her lips, her full, pink and irresistible lips. "How long have you been awake?" she asked him with a low and husky voice. "Not long. A few minutes...I think," he replied. She reaches up to kiss him and he gladly accepted, but then his thoughts strayed further than that. Now that she's awake and kissing him, might as well he go on with his initial plan. He deepened the kiss and that alone is enough to alert her of what he wants. This will be a blissful night.