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The wedding ceremony was a big mixture of the cultures clashing. The foreigners' colourful palette in their choice of clothing were in contrast to the more earthly coloured Sunagakure people who tried not to stare too obviously at the visitors.

It could be called a culture clash because of the foreigners' different ways of living compared to the shinobi culture. From what Gaara had understood arranged marriages were the standard way of getting married in The Land of the Birds, where such a thing was almost extinct in his own culture.

On top of that, the guests had brought along them additions to the normal ceremony and it had made a few local people cringe.

Gaara however didn't show any sign of him being bothered, a feat many either saw as his stoic personality or as his ignorance. He knew that some conservative people of Sunagakure were sceptical of this marriage and that that scepticism led them to be more hostile toward the customs of their guests. He however intended to fully follow the prescribed rituals in honour of his bride and her family at least as much as he could.

Said bride was standing in front of him dressed in layers of the embroidered silk, which her country was famous for. The base was white but due to the colourful threads it was hard to see unless one was up close. Gaara was standing this close and as the priest talked about the commitment one must bring into the marriage, Gaara inspected his bride. They hadn't met before as a stand-in had been acting the part of bride at the previous day's rehearsal. She had her eyes peeled to the wall behind him and inhaled and exhaled visibly. Maybe she was nervous?

He didn't know much about her. Miki. That was her name. She was his age, from a prominent family and supposedly a strong shinobi. Those latter things could be said about him as well, and it was her appearance that perhaps together with his, made them look like an odd couple. She was dark skinned with big black eyes but Gaara was most fascinated with her sapphire blue hair. It was collected in an elaborate ordeal of curls and jewellery and though it looked heavy she held her head high. He was lesser pleased with her face as she had been painted white with intricate patterns of blue on top making it impossible to see what she really looked like. From the look of her countrymen it was custom for the women to paint their face, but it didn't alter his opinion of it.

Though Gaara would try and follow the traditions of her culture around the wedding he decided in his mind that he would discourage her from this paint routine should it be an everyday thing. He didn't have any intentions of pretending that this was anything but a diplomatic marriage done to increase the relations between Sunagakure and her home country, but he did hope for being on friendly terms with his wife and helping her integrate into this, for her, new society.

As the ceremony was about to end, she finally turned her eyes to him. Before they would be able to leave as a couple there was one ritual left to do. Gaara waited for the priest to cue him in and then he took his bride's hands in his raising them to meet his lips. For some reason, he couldn't explain, he kept eye contact with her as he kissed each of her fingers, the latter being a symbol for each of the ten commitments they swore to uphold when married. She was watching him intensely and gave a little indistinguishable sound when his lips touched her skin. Her eyes narrowed a little and he couldn't quite determine her expression through all the face paint but it wasn't anything like anger or similar at least, maybe more along the lines of approval?

He gave his hands to her and she repeated the action to his hands and to his own surprise he was delighted by the touch of her lips to his fingers. The pleasure showed itself as a warm feeling in his stomach, but perhaps it was the fact just that he was now officially married?

Gaara had never said it to anyone, not even his brother, but as his friends and family started getting married, Gaara, for the first time since he became Kazekage, envied their ability to create such a meaningful connection. He met people, he met women, but never did anything bring the emotions forth that he had been told about.

In the end he had resigned himself to the fact that if he couldn't marry for the reasons his friends had he would marry for reasons of the village.

And now he had married. He knew his sister was anything but happy with his decision but as he took the arm of his bride and passed along the bowing audience he saw his sister wipe away a tear from her cheek. He glanced to his bride who walked calmly next to him and for a reason he couldn't explain he gave her arm a little squeeze earning him a shy smile in return. As they walked out of the temple Gaara realised that they did not do so as bride and groom but as man and wife.

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So this is a bit short, but I wanted to try and update quickly before Christmas takes all my time. SO the next chapters may also be short-ish but then you will hopefully get one frequently. (^_^) Next chapter should be up within two days.