PLEASE READ:
Ok so in this story Gaara and Sakura are both 21. Around the chunin exams they were both 12-13ish and then I think 15ish after the Shippudin time skip. If any of this info is incorrect please let me know in the comments or P/M. So anyways that means for the time skip between then and my story here, about 7 years have gone by. So Gaara only barely remembers Sakura. ^-^ yay on with the story!
Oh wait...
Disclaimer: All the usual schtuff. I Do Not own NARUTO, or any of the characters, all I own is this plot, my laptop, and the clothes on my back...oh, and these goldfish*!
*nom nom nom...
ENJOY :)
Chapter 1-The Arrival (Gaara)
Gaara remembered the last time he stepped through the gates of Konoha, as he saw them about half a mile from were he was currently walking. His destination. He thought of when he was just a mercenary, a ninja with no conscious, and was sent here to destroy this village and its people. It was all about blood, and revenge, and feeding the ravaging animal inside of him. It had been such a long time since then... Since then he had transformed into an entirely new person. An entirely new man.
But still he could not be more shocked that now, even after all that, he was welcomed here with open arms. I guess thats what being the Kazekage of Sunna did for you. If nothing else he thought. Now as he stepped through the city, It was not just with his brother and sister, but with a few advisors and several high ranking ninja.
This, needless to say, annoyed him to no end. Because all of those ninja would not be necessary if those advisors had not insisted on coming along for this trip. He found that with such a big party traveling with him, it was a huge hassle. It took twice as long to get here, and it caused way more attention and commotion than he cared for.
Not to mention he also hated just about every single member on the board of his council. They were all old snobs, with old school mentality, and a strong resilient memory of his fathers reign. That didn't matter in most cases- because he always ignored the insistent and overbearing council in all matters of state (personal or otherwise). And they all feared him so they were usually well kept in check.
Yet traveling with them, and listening to their complaints day after day for nearly a week...he was surprised his patience had lasted him this long.
But he refused to let it get the better of him, so before he could kill one of the members of his advisory counsel, he put on his best stoic face and strode ahead right through the gates of Konoha (at last), everyone hurrying in directly after him.
Gaara was not shocked to find the large group of people all gathered there to greet them. However he was shocked to see that the Hokage was there personally. He himself did not usually greet people at the gates when they came to visit his village- it was impractical and he simply could not find the time to wait around for hours waiting for someone to arrive.
As he approached her she bowed as deeply as her rank required, one ruler to another, and Gaara did the same. "Esteemed Kazekage, I am glad to see that you arrived here safely" she straightened from her bow and locked fierce eyes on him "and I am sincerely glad that you are here to renew the peace treaty between our villages." Lady Tsunade held a solid smile, Gaara could see the careless power that radiated off her. She sounded like she was daring him to back out at the last minute, like she was warning him as if he was a small child just waiting for her to turn around so he could shove his hand in the cookie jar. Of course she wasn't really...but he could definitely tell she didn't usually attempt to speak to anyone on such a respective level and was struggling slightly with the formality of it all. He thought it was humorous.
He cordially returned her bow "As am I Hokage-sama."
He straightened himself quickly and looked at the crowd gathered around Tsunade. He noticed most of them were ninja, but a few of them were also civilians. He didn't recognize anyone through the tight line of security Anbu separating them from the rest of the crowd.
He looked back to the Hokage and then to her left were there was a plain looking woman with short black hair, and a nervous smile plastered to her face. He looked down to see her holding a pig. Well that really is strange he thought as he continued to look around. Who just carries a stock animal around with th- all of a sudden his mind stopped short and he could feel his stomach tighten.
His eyes had settled on the person standing to the right of the Hokage, a shock of pink taking over his vision. His steady breath stilled, and his pupils dilated just slightly. Even so the Hokage noticed his reaction to who he was looking at and smirked just a little. Interesting she thought.
Gaara couldn't take his eyes off her. He couldn't remember the last time he saw such a captivatingly beautiful woman. He had only ever met one other person in his entire life with pink hair. She had helped in his rescue and reincarnation alongside Lady Chio some seven years ago...Sakura. Her name had been Sakura. This couldn't be the same girl though he thought.
Sakura had a completely different face...and short hair. This woman's hair was very long ( about mid back) and thick and it held a little bit of curl. She had it secured back into a low hanging ponytail with pieces hanging out here and there. He felt it might have looked messy on someone else. On her it just looked...sexy.
Her cheek bones were prominently defined and her over all appearance looked mature, How old is she? Her skin was pale and flawless, he wondered if she was a ninja. Kunoichi can't possibly have such perfect skin, can they? He noticed her body and could feel an arousal stir within him. She was so lithe and defined- like a ninja, but also soft and just a bit curvy in all the right spots. He looked back up to her face and noticed a slight blush tinged her cheeks. He deemed hat he had been looking at her far to long to be appropriate.
Even though he had only been looking around at the crowd for a few seconds, this crowd was special, filled with high class top ranking ninja, and he did not want to be caught looking exceedingly long at a woman in any informal or undignified way. He had special codes he had to abide by after all- being the leader of a nation.
He looked back into the eyes of the Hokage and in doing so noticed that someone was pushing their way through the crowd...and yelling very loudly. Gaara's brow furrowed He would make a scene he thought.
"Jeez, seriously people! Move! I have to get through! I need to get upfront BEFORE Gaara gets h- OH HEY Kakashi-sensei! Sorry I'm late! I got held up at Ichiraku's eating ramen and I-" Gaara locked eyes with him just as he came into sight...
And that was when all hell broke loose.
As Naruto broke through the barrier of people standing behind the Hokage and her companions, and set his eyes on Gaara, he automatically became to excited to contain himself.
Gaara saw it all unfold in slow motion -as follows. Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs "Oi Gaara! You made it!" Smiling with all of his teeth he propelled himself from the ground, into the air, and over the tops of the heads of the Anbu left separating them. Thus accurately throwing his body in Gaara's direction.
As Naruto made the descent from being in mid air to him, the ninja from Suna sprung into protective action- lungeing for Naruto. This set off the Konoha Anbu as they immediately jumped towards them, trying to shield the Hokage from any close range danger.
Naruto however managed to evade any and all mid- air ninja and landed directly in front of/ on Gaara in a fierce hug- which caused Gaara's sand to spring up from nowhere and dance to life in the air- which consequently caused the ninja in the air to be caught there, completely stuck hovering above them on top of the floating grains.
When you looked at it from any angle it really was kind of funny- the positions everyone ended up in.
Gaara looked up through the tall blonde locks of hair currently hazing his vision, to the intense bit of chaos that had momentarily been caused and allowed himself to chuckle a bit. Naruto released his friend and stepped back, clasping him on the shoulder. "Hey Im so glad your h- ah what are they doing up there?" He had finally looked up to see the floating ninja wrapped up in Gaara's sand. They were immediately released and they all jumped back to their respective spots, pre-mishap. If you could of seen their faces, they probably would have looked annoyed.
The Kazekage turned to his men with a low stiff tone so that no one around would hear him "There is no need to get reckless here. You should know better than to jump in like that where you aren't needed, causing a scene." He fixed them with a threatening glare and they fell into line heads bent down slightly, miffed at being publicly scolded.
Gaara then turned to Naruto but he was already being held by the scruff of his shirt by Lady Tsunade. She looked thoroughly pissed.
"Was that really necessary?" Her eye twitched as she yelled "This is supposed to be a formal reception! When the hell did it become ok for you to jump around like an idiot? Aren't you an adult! An Anbu captain!" She looked around to the group of Anbu surrounding her and yelled a bit louder "Who let this imbecile through training? Who passed him! I'll have your head!"
Naruto just laughed as he poked the Hokage's shoulder and complained "Baa-chan let me down please! Your over reacting again! I was just saying hi!" He smiled a thousand watt grin and Gaara swore that a few kunoichi visibly swooned at him. Oh boy.
Tsunade let Naruto go with the deadly promise of finishing their conversation on manners later when she had more time to deal with his pain in the ass. She then looked to her masked warriors and told them to clear everyone out of the way, they were heading back to the Hokage tower now.
Gaara, through all the commotion, hadn't been paying attention to the pink haired girls facial expressions. But now as he looked back at her he saw irritation and confusion written all over her face. He wondered about that.
He raised his arm up and motioned for Kankuro and Temari to step up on either side of him. As they did the plain looking woman who had been standing with the Hokage stepped up towards him and bowed deeply. She spoke in a quiet but firm tone. "Kazekage-sama, I hope that the intense commotion has not upset you in any way." She looked really very upset. He only nodded his head but did not say anything. He had known Naruto for a very long time and while his antics were bizarre, and he did not understand him all the time, he found him to be a trustworthy and loyal person. So Gaara decided a long time ago that it would be best if he allowed things like overzealous greetings (only from Naruto) to be accepted.
However the woman did not look relieved by his minor head nod. She continued anyways "Yes, uhm... well Lady Tsunade has arranged for us all to be escorted through the city to the Hokage Tower and once we get there we will be able to sit down and discuss our matters of state." She smiled, relieved to have gotten her message out without stuttering.
Temari looked at her brother then and sighed, she had seen Gaara's face fall a little at the woman's statement. She was sure he didn't realizethat the meeting would take place so quickly. She knew better than anyone that sometimes Gaara just needed a little quiet time before he went on with his duties so he could behave like a normal person.
Gaara had been Kazekage for a long time though, and he took on even his most unwanted responsibilities in stride. So without another word he stepped forward with the woman and headed for the center of the city to the Hokage Tower.
