Beta'd by Rockleerox93, thanks again :D
Usual disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.
CHAPTER ONE
Our story begins at the Kazekage mansion, the grandest and most important building in all of Sunagakure.
During one of the hottest weekends in the shinobi world, the Hokage, Naruto, had kindly invited Gaara to be a guest in his village in order to escape the sweltering heat of the Kazekage's desert land. Gaara had spent the past night in his office in order to make sure that all paperwork that was required to be done before the new week arrived, would be completed before his departure to Konoha – in fact, he had spent the past three nights surrounded by looming towers of paperwork. Still, duty calls.
As the Sun reached the point that marked midday, Gaara moved towards the window in his office that overlooked the entire village. The first settlers who had came to Sunagakure, were lost wandering travellers who were in desperate need of water. Luckly, they had stumbled upon an oasis with lush green grass lining a stretch of flat land that had a river. Along where the modern border of the village was now, there were towering pieces of sandstone with narrow grooves running across the rock that suggested that there was once – perhaps millions of years ago – a great river that flowed across the land.
After the settlers arrived, they harvested crops on the land and reared livestock to make a living. Over the years, the supply of water in the river quickly diminished. The farmlands were first to succumb to the ravages of the sun's heat that caused the water shortage, which in turn, killed off the livestock. The once abundantly fertile soils of what was once Sunagakure long ago, was now fine sand and clay that dried hard under the intense sunlight of the day.
For nearly 300 years the old village had laid at rest with a dead oasis, until a small group of wandering shinobi saw that the sandstones surrounding the land could provide excellent protection against an enemy attack. The settlers soon built up a small, modest sized village and managed to tap into an underground water supply. That was how the modern day village of Sunagakure was born.
Besides numerous offices and meeting rooms, the Kazekage's personal residence was also hidden deep within the Kazekage mansion. He had requested that both Temari and Kankuro meet him in his residence (which was also the residence in which they lived.) There, he briefed them on their responsibilities to the village during his short absence. Both of his siblings had insisted on accompanying the young Kazekage on the trip to Konoha, but Gaara politely refused and stated that with the Shukaku's power, he was virtually untouchable.
"Temari. I do not need either you or Kankuro to accompany me to Konoha,"Gaara executed confidently.
"But Gaara, what if you get captured or killed? Remember the Akatsuki invasion six years ago?"she said, a tad panicked.
"Irrelevant, their attempts of kidnap were unsuccessful, and the Akatsuki are gone now…along with Uchiha Sasuke,"said Gaara.
"I say it was luck,"Kankuro muttered.
Gaara shot his brother a menacing glare, "I am going to Konoha alone. You are both dismissed."
OoO
Their residence was located on the opposite end of the entrance to the Kazekage's building, meaning that if any invasion arose, the intruders would have to navigate themselves through the entire building, which would immediately alert the security shinobi of their presence.
The Kazekage slowly opened the front door of what was known as the 'Sand Siblings' residence. Inside, he saw Kankuro fiddling with one of his puppets, carefully applying deadly poison to the tip of one of the spikes that stuck out menacingly from the rest of the puppet's body. Temari was tucked away inside her room, engrossed in reading a ninjustu tactics book, determined that she would have a rematch with Nara Shikamaru some day.
"I'm home," said Gaara to neither of his siblings in particular. Kankuro took at brief glance at his younger brother before returning to his work, he sighed and walked towards Temari's room.
"Temari," he said.
"Oh, Gaara," she replied – blushing slightly as he noticed her growing interest in picking holes in Shikamaru's speciality shadow manipulation jutsu's.
"I am leaving for Konoha now," he said as he removed his prized Kazekage hat, and gently placed it onto her head – her high pigtails catching the hat, causing the head dress to balance upon them.
"You are in charge now."
"Wait! Gaara! I still don't think this is a good idea. Please, let me or Kankuro come with you," she begged, advancing towards the bedroom door as she did so.
Gaara slowly opened the door, refusing to look at his sister, but even so, he was greeted with Kankuro's unpainted face.
"Why do you want to go Temari? I thought you hated Konoha! You kept complaining about how cold it was when we were there last," Kankuro interjected.
Temari crossed her arms across her chest, "I am only thinking about Gaara's safety."
"Oh, so this has nothing to do with seeing that Shikamaru?" Kankuro smirked.
Temari narrowed her eyes at Kankuro and pulled the Kazekage hat resting upon her blonde hair down firmly, "No, my reasons for visiting Konoha are purely professional. That is all."
Gaara pushed past Kankuro and made his way back towards the front door, he looked at his two bickering siblings with something close to despair. He then gazed around the apartment. A small kitchen and dining area with a small cactus plant sitting on the top of the fridge. A tatty brown sofa was leaning against the far right wall, and Temari's bedroom door was next to the fridge, and both Kankuro and Gaara's bedrooms were set opposite of her room and the kitchen. He knew it would take at least ten minutes for both his siblings to realize he had already departed for Konoha.
As Gaara exited the Kazekage building, he descended a large flight of stairs that led into the streets below. The place was filled with shinobi and civilians alike, all milling around on market day. Despite what Gaara had expected, this part of the Hidden Village was particularly quiet, and there was something in the air that made Gaara want to take his time weaving across the village. He passed a kunoichi, one he did not know by name, talking to another shinobi of a similar age – together they were laughing on this beautifully hot summer's day, electricity sparkling in their eyes.
The ground beneath him was dry, as was to be expected from the desert like climate of Sunagakure. The clay soil that coated the surface of the streets cracked slightly with every footstep, he noticed that a drainpipe from one of the shops was leaking, each droplet of water bringing an oasis to that small patch of dry earth. As he advanced further north, he approached the main streets where most of Sunagakure's market stalls were. Gaara enjoyed visiting the stalls on Market day – especially when he was wearing civilian clothing (like he was doing today), even though there was probably a 50% chance that he would be recognized and dragged away to do something that was listed in his duties as Kazekage.
"Ah, Kazekage-sama," a male stall owner smiled as the Kazekage passed – in a show of respect, Gaara bowed at his greeting and moved along.
"Gaara-sama!" cried a young female shinobi, who stopped short at his feet and latched herself onto his right leg – feeling somewhat uncomfortable, Gaara attempted to remove the child. A woman, perhaps the girl's mother, came dashing over toward them.
"Rei-chan, leave the Kazekage alone. I am sure he is very busy," she grinned at him, but there was a subtle hint of fear in her smile as she wriggled the child off Gaara's leg.
"My hero," murmured Rei against Gaara's leg – she fell to the ground as her mother finally pried her off.
The mother took her daughter's hand and led her off, "I'm so sorry, Kazekage-sama."
Since the Akatsuki's attack on the village six years ago, Gaara's tale of bravery for his protection of the village had made him something of a hero. Initially, on most days, he would be mobbed by the teenage chunins, who would clutter the corridors in the Kazekage building with themselves, and leave little presents for Gaara – he once found a pair of underwear with a date and address written on the fabric. Since then, these 'mobbing's' had become more subdued and the teenage girls of his time had grown up and found men of their own to idolize and love.
As he continued strolling through the village, he passed the village's only ramen shop, the place where Naruto had nearly replaced his entire bodyweight with ramen on his last official visit. It was practically impossible to pry the Hokage away from his beloved ramen. The smells of the simmering sauces and the bubbling noises of the water filled the Kazekage with nostalgia. He considered Naruto his friend – if not his best friend because he understood him. He understood what it felt like to be an outsider, an untouchable person, a leper in his own village while others pretended to empathise with his situation.
OoO
As he approached the main entrance to the village, he ascended a flight of stone steps. Doing so, he turned his eyes back to the village, and watched as the silent breeze above the buildings carried sand across the village. He passed between the narrow space of two great slabs of sandstone that protected the village, and waltzed by several of the village security shinobi who were currently on duty, before reaching the vast open plains of the 'Desert of Wind'.
What spanned between Sunagakure and Konoha was an immediate desert land, where very little organic life, besides cacti, sprouted up by the sides of the highway. As he looked onward towards the horizon, he was reminded of all the times he had taken this route – either solo or with his siblings on the road to Konoha. Every couple of meters, he would see a rickety wooden frame acting as a fence dotted along the sides of the roads. He soon quickened his pace as the sight of sand dunes became more frequent, meaning that he would soon be approaching the vast forests in the Land of Rivers. When the village received official visitors, they often commented on the natural beauty of these sand dunes, where the tiniest grains of sands drifted along in a sweet beat with the wind.
After nearly half an hour on the highway to Konoha, Gaara reached a large clearing that formed a circular shape. He had often wished for this area to become a small training area for the village, but seeing how it was laid outside of the village borders, he was unable to do so. He paused for a moment and gently kicked over a mound of sand, watching as it fluttered around in the gentle breeze. Suddenly the floating sand began to move more rapidly – a sandstorm was fast approaching. He headed over towards the opposite side of the clearing where two great towering pieces of sandstone would provide sufficient temporary shelter for the Kazekage. He continued running across the dirty paths, eager to reach Konoha. After an hour or so of running, he reached the first crossroad near the Land of Rivers, the opposite path led to a known Akatsuki hideout.
He continued heading east until he could see the vivid colouring of the luscious green grass of the forest that laced the outskirts of the Land of Rivers. Coming from a desert climate, he appreciated the cooling sensation in the air whenever he travelled either to the Land of Rivers or Konoha, even if it did take several hours to acclimatize to the savannah climate. Inside the forest, the canopy above made the shrub layer considerably darker than it had being before he entered the forest, but after leaving the desert plains of his native country, the sandstorm was no longer an immediate threat.
Dusk was covering the skies in the Land of Rivers, and Thursday was quickly coming to an end. Because it took nearly two days to travel from Sunagakure to Konoha, the Kazekage had chosen to depart from his Hidden Village in order to reach the neighbouring Hidden Village in just over a day. He removed his travelling cloak, folded it neatly into a pillow-like shape, and settled it onto the ground. Before retiring for the night, Gaara summoned a small amount of sand that was mixed with clay and silt soil, and moulded the mass into a bubble-like defence that would protect the Kazekage while he slept.
FRIDAY MORNING
Gaara awoke to the sound of the forest animals communicating with one another. He dispelled his sand shield and stretched gently, looking up at the canopy layer of the forest as the morning light filtered through the leaves. He fastened up his travelling cloak and leapt up into one of the trees above, and travelled by jumping between branches until he reached the Hidden Village. As he advanced toward Konoha, he couldn't help but replay in his mind the first time he had visited Konoha with the intention of completely annihilating the village. He did not object to the proposal of attacking the village, on the contrary, he was bubbling with excitement to unleash all of his hatred onto the unsuspecting citizens of Konoha. At that point in time, Gaara had very little control over Shukaku. The demon was the one that swayed Gaara's opinions easily, which amounted in a plot to destroy Konoha. His mind had also been cast back to a time when he had been ordered to assist the Konoha cell that was in pursuit of the rogue ninja, Uchiha Sasuke. Gaara still had some bitter feelings towards Rock Lee, but it was his duty to aid the Konoha shinobi. It was then that something occurred to him. Although Lee wasn't the most handsome of shinobi... he was somewhat suave, and was something that he, or rather Shukaku, had being longing for.
Gaara dismissed this thought. It was true that he and Lee had parted, not the best of terms – but Lee didn't seem like the type to hook up for one night stands.
After another two hours of travel, Gaara reached the end of the Konoha highway and leapt to the ground. He was faced with yet another crossroad, one path leading off towards a training area where Gaara knew Lee, in particular, trained frequently. He continued heading east towards the Hidden Village, strolling with a moderate pace as the afternoon sun began to beam down on the Land of Fire. He was soon greeted by the grand gates of Konoha with two large letters painted in red on lime green wooden doors. He noticed a tall blond figure standing beside the left gate, holding the hand of a violet haired woman. Beside her stood a pink haired woman that Gaara immediately assumed to be Sakura. In the blink of an eye, he noticed that Naruto had disappeared. The violet haired woman acted startled, and as Gaara turned his head slowly and saw his blue-eyed friend beside him.
With a friendly hand on Gaara's shoulder, Naruto smiled.
"Welcome back, Gaara."
