Chapter Seven: "What?! Execution?!"
Breakfast seemed just as bad as the 'morning incident.' Naruto didn't get his wonderful delight of 'Breakfast Ramen' like he usually requires. No, instead he received a plate of food mostly consumed of a yellow and white goopy substances referred to as 'egg'. Naruto knew for a fact this was not egg, it looked more of what came out of him that morning than egg. Which made his stomach rather queasy.
Gaara found the younger boy poking at his food with the most dislike face and he sniggered privately, remembering how much he himself dislikes the balance of food the chefs required him to eat everyday. He had always hoped the chefs would make something like a regular breakfast of toast and a glass of cold milk. No. It was always the damn disgusting crap of a balance diet. "What's wrong? …Don't you like the Sand Nation's traditional eggs?" He inwardly smiled putting guilt on the boy across from him.
Naruto looked up from him poking and gave a nervous laugh. "Oh! No, it's just not what I would usually eat in the mornings."
Gaara furrowed his brow resting his head in his hands and twiddling his utensils through his fingers. "What would you eat?"
"Breakfast Ramen!" said Naruto cheerily.
"Breakfast Ramen?" Gaara repeated thinking if he heard right.
"Yes! It's a delight to serve your pleasures!" He now showed his fox grin. "It's basically Ramen with the famous Konoha Tree's sap."
"Sounds…….intriguing." Was the reply as he continued with his breakfast. Wondering of how a person could eat such an irregular appetite, then again how could a person finish the Sand Nation's traditional eggs?
A panic noise had then brought its attention to the end of the long table where the kitchen door opened with a slam that made the maids jump from their posts and turned to who had caused the fright.
Baki, Gaara's Caretaker stood at the doorways entrance and out of breath.
"Master, I am…. sorry for…interrupting. Your …father is out…on a privet. …Meeting in the. …Trade Country…and has left you…. in charge."
"Yes, Baki I am aware of that so what brings you to this intrusion of my fiancée and I morning meal?" Naruto kept his eyes on Baki not wanting the redhead to see his flushed face at what he was named.
"An intruder was caught wandering the castle grounds with some personalized documentation in hand, Your Excellency." He said passing a envelope to the prince.
The redhead scanned through the papers sighing with every turn of a page. "bring in the intruder." He ordered massaging his temples.
Naruto had felt a bit uneasy about this. Most of the time when there was an intruder at the Leaf Nation. His mother had always order them away. But things were different, he was now married and considered a 'young man' or if you want to 'a man' but to be careful the way you would use the words.
Gaara had seen Naruto look at him and tried to pull a smile on his face for the boy, but that seemed a bit too hard for what was about to happen. He then had a feeling; he didn't want the blonde to see what was going to take place. He didn't want the blonde's ear-to-ear smile fade to what now was a confused and worried look. He didn't want to show his other side in front of Naruto. But it had to be done.
Six people stepped through the dining room entrance door. One being Baki, and four guards, two holding up the delinquent, who was a woman with comb black hair and big coal like eyes. Gaara had walked up to the woman who was limp in the two's arms. Which Naruto realized them as Gaara's most trusted guards, the twins, Ukon and Sakon (I think that's their names.).
"Please explain to me how these documents got into your hands." The woman looked up at him her face twisted inhumanly.
"The Sand Nation will fall." She whispered, but load enough for half the room to hear. Gaara gripped her chin tightly in his hand bringing her face to his.
"We have not yet fallen for twenty-one years. What makes you think the Sound will break the Sand?" The voice was harsh and rough like when heard. "What is he planning?"
The woman just smirked. "The Sand Nation's death of course."
Gaara greeted his teeth, taking his hand off her chin and swinging it across her face recklessly leaving the slapping sound to echo through the room along with the maid's gasps.
"Now, tell me, what is his next move?"
The girl's face was frozen from the shock her face turned from the slap to now look at Naruto who sat a bit off guard in his chair. The expressions on the both of them were quiet the same. With devastation.
The woman still didn't speak and Gaara had taken that as a sign.
"Immediate execution."
The breath that was held so tightly in Naruto finally escaped. An execution was one thing, but an immediate one was something else. Why for this woman? How personal were these documents? Why schedule an immediate one on her? For what? the questions went through Naruto's head.
A sword was held tightly in a guards hands waiting for its order.
"G-Gaara," the name meekly stammered out of his mouth. "Gaara! Is that really necessary?"
The sea green orbs just shifted towards him, as he rose up two fingers that stopped at head height. The sword held by the guard did the same being submissive to its order. Ukon and Sakon held the culprit in a firm grip. Yet she didn't move for she knew this would be her fait.
"Last words?" Gaara ignored the blonde who now seemed trying hard not to let the tears seep through his eyelids. The woman held her head high and spoke.
"The Heart of Sand."
The prince merely gave her a 'thank you' and that no matter what this is what would happen. She seemed to have understood, for she just nodded her head. Gaara's fingers were brought down as the sword--
"GAARA!"
For that moment…everything stopped.
Naruto opened his eyes to see that he had shot out of his chair and was now holding Gaara's arm mid-way preventing it from going down any farther. Everyone came to stare at the two. The guard holding the sword didn't move, right when he was going to decapitate the woman he stopped not sure. The woman on the other hand held tightly in place managed to look up, seeing what happened.
Gaara stood calm, yet surprised at the younger boy seeing Naruto's tears now streamed down his cheeks freely. The boy's body had looked valuable holding up his arm.
"please… let there be another way." Naruto manage to say through his sobs. The jade orbs shifted on the blonde.
"Then what do you suggest?" the dark aggravated voice came.
Naruto swallowed the spit in his throat. What was a type of punishment for him to consider? He had never done anything like this before. "Lock her up until the king gets back?" Naruto questioned aloud more to himself than others. Witnesses eyes around the room shifted from the blonde to Gaara awaiting his orders.
"Your soft spot for others, nauseates me, but so be it." Gaara brought his two signaling fingers into a tight fist and the sword was placed back in its cover. "Though I warn you, his actions will be the same. I guarantee." He said seizing his arm back and walking away. Naruto watched as he left the room and only hearing the sounds of the twin brothers Ukon and Sakon, saying a few words of:
"He's lucky, Prince Gaara doesn't let people off that easy."
