Safeguard

Noun;

A measure taken to protect someone or something to prevent something undesirable.

Verb;

Protect from harm or damage with an appropriate measure.

Gaara liked to consider himself a reasonable man. Perhaps he wasn't entirely in his younger years, but now at the age of twenty four with almost ten years of being Kazekage in his belt, it seemed like a rational thing to consider himself.

Still, it was hard not to be at least a bit annoyed with the developments occurring in his village.

Very happy to have Yashamaru back, ecstatic to finally get to know his mother certainly, but Gaara could not ignore that while whoever had brought them back into his life had also brought back at least one hundred and fifty other dead back to life with more cropping up every day. Found in the slums, each wearing clean but cheap robes, placed in places where they would be found quickly, it seemed as if there was no attempt from whoever was doing this to hide their work.

Though, Gaara mused, there wouldn't be much good that came from trying to hide it. As the smallest 'Great Villages' a sudden population growth of over one hundred and fifty was something that had quite the impact in Sunagakure. The dead didn't need to eat or drink, but the streets were more crowded, the shelters for those brought back with no family to return to were becoming full, and the general populace was buzzing with what seemed to be a mixture of nervousness and anticipation for whatever horrible thing was surely next to follow in this situation. Not that anyone could blame them, surely. The dead coming back to life was a fine wish, but the war had shown them that not much good could come from it.

It could be argued that good came from the Fourth Kazekage, his father coming back, but Gaara couldn't bring himself to dwell on that experience too much. Closure had been brought to him from it, but he still hadn't quite been able to forgive the man for what he'd done.

A sigh, coming from the redheaded man, as his seafoam eyes opened—staring at the tan stucco ceiling above him while he laid in bed next to his wife.

There was a temptation to stay in bed all day. To wrap his arms around Ami's waist and finally allow himself to relax for once in what must have been weeks. He truly enjoyed being Kazekage and found pride in his work, but it seemed as if lately everything was piling up on him and his village.

That wasn't to mention the growing gap between him and Ami. He could tell that something was bothering her, but he hadn't the dimmest idea what it could be.

She'd promised a long time ago never to lie to him—and he trusted that she hadn't, but it seemed that now whenever he asked what was making her so nervous she would just shake her head and tell him that it wasn't worth speaking about. Or that she didn't wish to discuss it. It was frustrating. Not being able to help her with whatever was bothering her.

Breath hitching in his throat as he felt Ami rest her hand on his own, the blonde's body curling up just a bit more into his own for warmth in the cold desert morning. Both spouses awake, though neither quite wishing to speak or move at the moment. A few more minutes of rest before what was sure to be a taxing day seemed like it would be for the best. Gaara pulled her closer to himself, pressing a kiss to her temple. As much as he'd been frustrated with her lately, it hadn't made him love her less.

He wasn't sure anything could.

Eyes closing once more— going through his schedule in his mind before he would actually have to go through the day.

A meeting with the council about what to do as more dead came back, then he needed to speak to the head of the investigatory squad and find out why they still hadn't caught whoever was in charge of bringing back all the dead.

Try to catch a lunch somewhere between these two—lest his wife nag him to eat all while he was trying to finish paperwork and assign missions. Frown coming to his lips—perhaps pester was the better word, nag seemed too harsh, especially when it came from her trying to take care of him.

Another meeting with whoever was in charge with housing all the dead who couldn't find their families—Gaara couldn't bring himself to remember exactly who it was in the morning's haze.

More paperwork to catch up on, what was probably going to be another dinner in the office, and then trying to get home before midnight.

A sigh escaping his lips at the realization that he most likely would not make it home before midnight, Gaara buried his forehead into the crook of Ami's neck, hoping that the alarm wouldn't start ringing for at least a bit longer and allow him this bit of rest before he had to go through the day. Unfortunately, as much as he thought of himself as a reasonable man, he couldn't say that he was particularly lucky, especially now as the alarm clock began to shriek at he pair in bed to wake them up.

"Can we just stay in bed today?" the blonde muttered, resisting the urge to just smash the clock into bits—sure, she'd already been awake, but that didn't mean she enjoyed the shrill chime or wanted to get out of bed and go about her day.

A soft 'No' coming from Gaara as he leant over her and turned off the alarm, not surprised that she didn't want to get out of bed either—honestly, with her as his body guard and shadowing his footsteps all day he would have been surprised if she wished to go about the day.

Groaning softly, Ami rolled out of their bed, arms stretching as the pads of her feet hit the cold tile. Her hand brushing through her blonde hair—making a mental note to get it cut, it wasn't exactly practical to have it all in her face like it was right now. Green eyes glancing to her husband as he removed himself from the warm bed as well, she placed a quick peck to his cheek, a mixture of habit and affection before she walked out with him to the kitchen so they could start their day.

Both a bit surprised to walk downstairs with no breakfast to greet them, ever since Karura had come back she had taken it upon herself to do the cooking. Ami wasn't entirely certain, but she suspected that Karura wanted to at like a parent to her children, when she hadn't had the chance for so many years.

"Mother, Yashamaru, and went to spend the day with Temari." Gaara said, peering down at a small pad of notebook paper, frown light on his face. He understood, certainly, Temari had a son of her own, and it was only natural that Karura would want to spend time with her only grandchild.

He wondered what the boy thought about the fact that his grandmother was—at least physically—younger than both of his parents.

Even Gaara wasn't sure how he felt about that. His mother had died at twenty one, and his uncle at twenty seven. It was more than a bit confusing to look at them at so close to his age and try to figure out how to treat them. It felt as if he needed to balance treating them as his elders, and grappling with the fact that they could very well be seen as his equals.

He wasn't entirely sure how his siblings felt either, the three of them had not exactly sat down and discussed everything quite yet. Not that he was surprised, their father hadn't quite raised them to be open about their emotions and share their feelings.

Starting the coffee while Ami dug through their pantry and cupboards for something to make them for breakfast, both froze as a rapid banging on the front door echoed through the mansion's first floor. Ami straightened herself up as she looked towards Gaara—blonde eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Gaara giving a small shrug and shake of his head before walking out of the kitchen and into the entry hallway.

Calloused hand opening the front door, Gaara looked at the chuunin that had come to him in what was admittedly more confusion. "What's going on? Has something happened?" he couldn't quite think of what could happen—the sun had barely risen yet, he doubted a chuunin would be the one sent to him if there was some sort of attack on the village, and there was no scroll for an 'urgent message' that he could see in the other's hands.

"There's a monster in the well, Lord Kazekage!" shouting, the young chuunin was shaking so much that Gaara wouldn't be surprised if his sandals fell off, "A monster grabbed a child and dragged them into the well! We can't get her out!"

Coming out of the kitchen as she heard the teenager shouting—the boy's voice cracking in his panic. "What does the monster look like?" immediately thinking back to what she had learned about demons that could haunt and hunt in water. She'd brushed off the possibility that demons could come to Sunagakure as insane—Shukaku's presence, even when contained in a human being had scared off smaller demons who were afraid of being consumed, and even after with Gaara's presence and what was left of Shukaku's chakra lingering, none had come yet.

Perhaps that time had finally ended.

"It—I only got a small glimpse of it when I looked down the well, but it was about as large as the little girl, it had… it had a beak, but no wings like a bird…" pausing, the boy's voice hesitant as he continued, still not able to make sense of what he'd seen, "It looked like it had a bowl on its head. I think it had water in it?"

Teeth gritting, immediately knowing what was being described.

It was one of the first things she'd learned about, and the first things she'd learned how to defeat.

A kappa.

They lived in water, they were about the size of human children, had beaks, liked to wrestle children, sometimes adults, into the water and drown them. Kappa's also had a bowl shaped growth on the top of their heads, filled with water. She hadn't heard of Kappa's living in wells before, but Ami had a feeling that it had to do with the fact that there weren't exactly rivers near Sunagakure.

Still, Kappa's were not exactly something fearsome—they'd been the first demon's that keepers were taught of, and it was fairly easy to kill them.

She wouldn't even need to fight it.

"It's no monster, it's a Kappa. They're water demons." Briefly realizing that demons and monsters were considered interchangeable by most, especially by those in a village who was not taught of demon lore besides the tailed demons. Ami put on her sandals and grabbing her sword just in case, even if a Kappa itself wasn't hard to defeat or kill, that didn't mean she still wasn't going to be wary of the dead or even the chance that someone alive would be harboring a grudge against her husband. "I know how to get rid of it. Lead the way."

A glance towards his wife as he put on his sandals as well— it was good to hear that Ami knew how to get rid of whatever was in the well, it was good to know that it was something small as well. Still, the fact that there was a demon in his village unnerved him.

The three of them hurrying over to the well, Gaara couldn't help but worry. He'd seen Ami's home village. Over-run with demons, so much so that she'd even been drafted to come home five years prior to help kill them and control the population of beasts that dwelled in the forest during the day and roamed the streets at night. As much as he thought of himself as a reasonable man, he couldn't exactly reason himself out of this.

Sunagakure was facing enough problems right now. Protecting it from demons was not something that he wished to do.

He'd have to talk to Ami later about this.

The sun rising over the retaining wall of Sunagakure bathed everything in an orange light, and as the trio approached the well, it seemed to make the worried crowd surrounding the fixture alight with flame.

Both Gaara and Ami were able to part through the group with ease, all waiting for the Kazekage or his wife to do something. To fix this.

Ami could hear the splashing in the well, and the child's pained cry for help as she took a step closer. No move to draw her sword, posture straight, expression seeming for the most part unworried and calm. Her voice authoritative while still carrying a tone of politeness, Ami remembered what her father taught her so long ago. Kappa's, while they did drown people, would cease and apologize if confronted during the act. Incredibly obsessed with manners, it was easy to get them to stop as long as you were polite, and very easy to trick them. If a Kappa's bowl on the top of it's head became empty of water, they would die. No need to fight, all that was needed was to be polite and bow.

"Kappa. Please, I need you to bring the child out of the well."

Noticing the looks she was receiving, Ami took note of the parent's shocked expressions. Both civilians clinging to each other tightly—she couldn't blame them. If a demon had dragged her child into the well, she would expect someone to kill the demon, rather than ask it nicely to come out.

Still, she held her ground, as she heard the Kappa crawl slowly out of the well, keeping eye contact as it popped over the rim, one green, scaly arm around the soaking wet little girl. Finally releasing her as it's webbed feet made contact with the sandy earth, the Kappa watched as the child ran quickly to her parents embrace—finally speaking in a soft, raspy voice to the woman who had beckoned it out of its well. "I am very sorry." It had been hungry—with no fish here, none of the crops that it tended to eat, a child coming so close to its home seemed so tempting and so convenient that it couldn't resist.

The demon was quite a bit surprised when the blonde woman bowed to it, though was quick to return the gesture—only realizing it had been tricked when the water had sloshed out of the bowl on its head.

She watched silently, while she straightened herself up—the moment the bowl had become empty, the Kappa had started to disintegrate into ash, soon enough blowing away in the wind. The only indication that the Kappa had ever existed was the frightened child and the webbed footprints on the ground.

Ami would have liked to consider herself a reasonable woman. Still, she had been raised to think of the worst thing that could happen and try to prepare for it. It was what was expected from a Keeper, if you were to protect someone with a demon inside of them you needed to be constantly vigilant, always on the lookout, and never once let your guard down. While she hadn't exactly started to let her guard down after Gaara lost Shukaku, things had felt quite a bit easier, especially in protecting him. There was nothing inside of him for him to fight back anymore.

Going back to her home village to help fight the infestation had been hard—going back to the mindset of there always being something to fight was stressful, was incredibly difficult. Was something that she didn't want to do again.

Still, if one demon had made its way into Sunagakure, Ami had a feeling more would soon follow suit.

Demons followed chaos. Followed death. Followed destruction. Followed the dark.

If the dead coming back to life wasn't the cause of this Ami wasn't sure what else could be.

A glance back to Gaara, Ami could see the same gears turning in his head—she'd told him quite a bit about demon lore. About what drew certain beasts out. What needed to happen to protect people in their home. About growing up where the chance that you would be eaten alive by a beast was about as likely as the chance of drowning in the river.

This was bad.

This was something that made Ami regret ignoring her instincts that had usually proven themselves trustworthy.

This was something that Ami realized she wouldn't just need to protect Gaara from. She was the Kazekage's bodyguard, but as much as she loved him, decisions to protect the village as a whole needed to be taken.

Turning on her heel, she grabbed Gaara's arm and walked with him away from the crowd and back to the mansion so they could get dressed and ready for his workday. The blonde glancing towards her husband, the black cloth of his shirt balled up in her fist, "We're going to need to write to my family about this, we need to ask for help to make sure things don't get worse."

A nod, sea-foam eyes looking forward as he walked down the sandy street with Ami. "Just what I was thinking."