You guys are awesome I truly mean it! I am so pleased that you understand why Gaara and Hinata aren't head over heels in love, marrying someone you hardly know is down right uncomfortable don't you think? It does get better I promise, I love these two.
Chapter 10
Gaara stared at the clock by the bedside 5:30 am blinked at him in the early darkness of the morning. He hadn't slept more than three hours last night and normally he would have slept those three hours than spent the rest of the time reading over reports or walking through the gardens, but he choose to just lay in bed beside Hinata. He listened to her steady breathing every now and then a small hitch would come in her breath and it would be silent and he would wait tensely wondering if she had stopped breathing but then the soft sound of a sigh could be heard and her breathing would become stead once more. He wondered absently if his new wife had sleep apnea like how he had insomnia.
Slowly Gaara shifted his weight to the other side and slipped off the bed. He quickly got dressed not needing light to guide him darkness was fine by him he was used to doing things in the dark just as much as he was in the light. He left the bedroom and headed for the kitchen where he was sure to find Greta awake and cooking breakfast not only for himself and his wife but Miyo and knowing Greta's kind heart the men working on the buildings if they choose to accept her kind offer of breakfast.
As usually Gaara was right, she stood with her blond hair in a messy bun atop her head slaving over the stove.
"Good morning Kazekage." Greta greeted not bothering to turn around from her work. "Coffee is on the stove over there."
Gaara glanced at the stove and poured himself a cup.
"Cleaver coffee." Gaara mumbled as he took a sip of the strong liquid than sat down behind the table to watch Greta move with such grace and determination around the kitchen.
"It's better for you." Greta said with a smile.
"Your daughter scored very high on the Chunin exams." Gaara began as he watched Greta for her reaction. Sure enough her shoulders stiffened and her lips turned down slightly before she smiled at him in her usually delight although her chocolate colored eyes were guarded.
"I am very proud of her." Greta commented.
"As you should be." Gaara agreed in his usual monotone. "Miyo will be a great addition to Sunagakure ninja force and to the medical field, Sekka will be most pleased."
"Yes of course, Miyo loves working with Sekka, she will learn much from him when she does her apprenticeship." Greta commented as she cracked an egg over a bowl.
"Miyo will not be working under Sekka. I am sending our most promising medical ninja's to Konohagakure to study with Sakura." Gaara corrected as he took another sip of coffee and watched over the rim to see Greta's reaction. He wasn't disappointed the white egg she held in her hand was crushed; she quickly went to the sink to wash the eggshells from her fingertips. Drying her hands with a towel she turned to face him.
"I believe Sekka to be a competent enough medical ninja that Miyo will learn enough from him." Greta commented her chocolate eyes turned hard as steel as she stared at Gaara. "There is no need to send her to Konohagakure."
Gaara regarded Greta slowly noticing the rigidness in her jaw and the way her hand shook ever so slightly. She said the word Konohagakure with a slight tremble in her voice. What secrets did this woman have that she grew so wary with the name of that village?
"Is there someone else you had in mind to teach your daughter, like perhaps yourself?" Gaara asked his cold green eyes holding Greta's.
"I am not a medical ninja." Greta said calmly her voice brook no argument on the subject.
"Than you should be overjoyed at the opportunity I am giving your daughter to study under Sakura." Gaara replied his voice cold as steel.
Greta was silent and she didn't flinch or look away from Gaara's cold stare.
"When Miyo first entered the academy she surpassed ever one of her fellow students. Where would she learn such incredible skill?" Gaara continued pressing ever so slightly to get some type of information from this woman.
Greta suddenly crossed her arms over her chest. "For a man who usually has little to nothing to say you ask a lot of questions?"
Gaara stiffened at the slight insult. Greta seemed to understand she had over stepped her boundaries as well for she uncrossed her arms and lowered her eyes.
"Kazekage forgive me for acting irrationally." Greta spoke in a low voice. "Miyo is all I have in this world and I am as you would say an over protective mother."
Gaara stared at her, not understanding the bond between a parent and their child. Maybe that was what it was, Greta's motherly instincts taking over making her overly concerned for her only child.
"I do what is best for my citizens." Gaara began. "The next generation is the hope for the future and I will train them as I see fit."
"Of course Kazekage." Greta replied with respect.
Gaara stood picking up his coffee cup he sensed his wife was heading down the stairs to the dinning room. Greta noticed his preoccupied look for she quickly turned back to making breakfast.
"Breakfast will be done in a moment." Greta's gentle voice called after Gaara who was already out the kitchen door.
Gaara closed the kitchen door and watched his wife stand at the doorway of the dinning room.
"Good morning G-g-gaara." Hinata greeted with a smile.
"Morning." Gaara greeted as he took a seat at the table.
Greta bustled out placing the hot plates of eggs, rice, and porridge in front of them. Gaara noticed she didn't bother to stop and chat with them like she would normally have done instead she had a look of worry on her face as she headed back into the kitchen. Gaara shrugged it off it was no concern of his, his word was law and those who did not obey it could leave or suffer the consequences.
"What are we going to do today?" Hinata asked softly.
Gaara glanced at Hinata his look was completely calm but inside he was surprised by her question. After what happened the other night she seriously wanted to spend time with him.
"I have a meeting with the head architect." Gaara commented dryly as he took a bite of porridge, and cringed inwardly. Damn Greta she knew perfectly well he hated porridge, oh she was good.
"I'll g-g-go with …you." Hinata trailed off hesitant that inviting herself along wasn't the right thing to do.
"If that is what you desire." Gaara commented gravely as he pushed his porridge aside and finished the rest of his coffee.
Greta came out once more with a pitcher of orange juice and set that on the table before she turned sweetly to Gaara and smiled.
"Did you enjoy your porridge Kazekage?" Greta said with a smirk.
Gaara narrowed his eyes at her. "You know my aversion to porridge."
"Porridge is good for you." Greta returned with a smirk as she took the bowl and headed back inside.
"Did you two have a fight?" Hinata asked with a small smile.
"I don't get into arguments." Gaara said coldly.
Hinata's eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't s-s-say you did."
"You implied it though." Gaara pointed out.
"I didn't mean too." Hinata apologized softly.
"Are you finished?" Gaara finally asked.
"Yes." Hinata quickly said standing up to follow Gaara out of the dining room.
They walked in silence through the gardens heading for Gaara's office on the other side. The flower buds were just opening slowly with the dawn of the morning sun awakening the petals. The morning was cool with the promise of a pleasant day ahead. Gaara was deep in thought trying to figure out how to spend the whole day with his wife, what did one do on their honeymoon? They could go swimming at the lake although he did not like to swim and spending time in the sun would be a determent to Hinata's health and surely it would take a toll on her pale skin.
Normally he would just spend the entire day on the building site overseeing the architects or he would be studying the files of the students that past the Chunin exams and decide what further training they should be going through.
Gaara opened the door to his office and let Hinata precede him inside. He quickly found the plans he had drawn up for himself and unrolled the paper on the table nearby. He had scheduled an early meeting with the lead architect and construction manager. Glancing over at Hinata she looked lost and a little uncomfortable.
"You will sit beside me." Gaara ordered indicating a chair on his right. "I have some things to discuss with the lead architect."
"Of c-c-course." Hinata replied as she stood next to Gaara looking over the plans.
"I would ask that you don't stutter." Gaara commented his voice dry.
Hinata looked up at Gaara in alarm, and confusion.
"G-g-gaara…I am trying to stop." Hinata replied weakly.
Gaara stared at her his cold eye assessing almost hostile. "You managed to stop when you were speaking with the council men."
"Yes…w-w-well I wanted to m-m-make a good impression." Hinata explained as she began tapping her fingers nervously together.
For some reason that action really irritated Gaara, he didn't find it cute or endearing he found it annoying.
"I have a suspicion that these men might be cheating me on my investment." Gaara began his voice low and steady. "I don't want any signs of fear or weakness coming from you, they will thrive on that."
"I see." Hinata said slowly as she looked at Gaara not flinching or turning away from his gaze.
"I want the upper hand in this discussion. If you have a comment or a suggestion I welcome it readily but only if you can express yourself clearly and with confidence." Gaara finished.
There was a sharp knock at the door and Hinata jumped in surprise, Gaara sighed in irritation.
"Compose yourself." Gaara ordered crisply.
Hinata took a deep breath squared her shoulders lifted her head a notch higher. "I am ready when you are."
Gaara nodded his head in appreciation at the strong tone of her voice and look of determination in her violet eyes.
"You may enter." Gaara called out.
The door swung open and three men walked in. The first man that stepped forward wore white bandages around the top of his head hiding his hair and his left eye, bandages wound around his hands up to his elbows he wore heavy duty construction boots over camouflage pants and a black shirt. His right eye regarded them quickly before he placed hands together and bowed out of respect to the Kazekage and Hinata. The other two men flanking his left and right quickly did the same before straightening to their full height, several inches taller than Gaara.
"What an honor it is to be in the presence of the great Kazekage and his beautiful young wife." The man with the head wrapping rasped out, his voice was harsh and coarse sounding.
Gaara mentally grimaced this man was completely unpolished and lacking in refinement surely by the end of this meeting Hinata would end up passed out under the table from fear.
"Keep your insolent comments to yourself." Gaara half snarled as he waved a hand to three chairs. "Be seated."
The man with the bandages on his head narrowed his eye at Gaara before sitting down with a man on each side of him.
"I presume I am speaking to Jiro." Gaara commented dryly as he sat down in front of them. Hinata sat down at his right keeping her silence.
"That is correct Kazekage." Jiro replied with a slight sneer on his face. "I am the lead architect on this building project and these are my associates Cameron a structural engineer who is familiar with seismic design of a structure." Jiro indicated the lean brown haired man with a scare running down the side of his nose that sat to Jiro's left. "And Hane an export with reinforcement of buildings." He indicated the broader man to his right, Hane sat stone faced, the lower half of his face was entirely covered in the thin brown colored armor along with his arms and legs.
"This is my wife Lady Hinata." Gaare introduced.
"Again we are honored to be with such beauty." Jiro's face was a leer as he stared at Hinata with his eye.
Gaara silently applauded Hinata for not showing any emotion what so ever not even a slight blush or quiver of the lip.
"What type of material are you using to reinforce the building Hane." Hinata suddenly addressed the large man completely ignoring Jiro's leering looks.
Hane seemed to startle as he met Hinata's stare. "We are using the normal mixture of cement, sand and water but without large particle of aggregate instead we are putting in Poly Vinyl alcohol fibres. These fibres are covered with nanometer thick coating that allows them to slip when the material overloads. The coating allows the fabrications to bend substantially instead of fracturing."
Cameron leaned forward a look of interest in his face as he continued where Hane left off. "This material is optimized to attain 500 times the strain capacity of normal types of concrete. We are even thinking of applying it into your pipes and hollow pillars. Your country is known for its seismic activity, it is our goal to build your structure to withstand severe earthquake damage."
"In your own village do your buildings have this material in them?" Gaara asked.
Jiro answered this one. "They do and have withstood the earthquakes that have once sent our village into chaos. In fact Tsuchikage Onoki will only allow new building projects with this cement."
"Is that the reason for such a high price?" Gaara asked.
Hane answered this question. "It is not easy to make this cement it is easier to do so from our home village."
"You will get your money's worth on this project though Kazekage." Jiro interrupted.
Gaara listened thoughtfully allowing Jiro to show on the plans where they would incorporate the cement and how high the walls should be, and so on. Hinata listened attentively and chimed in with a question or a suggestion along the way. Gaara was impressed again by Hinata's diplomatic reasoning and thoughtful questions that answered some of the question he had had himself. At the end of the discussion Gaaras' original opinion of the men had changed, they knew what they were doing and had offered to show Gaara the work they had accomplished. Before leaving they had scheduled a tour the next morning.
Gaara turned his gaze on his wife after the door shut. Hinata met his gaze with a shy smile; he let his eyes wonder over her, she again amazed him by her ability to speak with the men when one of them was clearly leering at her. Her pale cheeks began to color slightly under his gaze and her violet eyes clouded with unease at the silence he watched as her hands rose and she was just about to start tapping her fingers together, when he reached his hand over and stilled her fidgeting.
"Don't do that." Gaara ordered shaking his head.
"Sorry…it's a bad habit of mine." Hinata apologized.
"You did well." Gaara complemented as he kept his eyes on her.
"Thank you." Hinata replied her voice wavered ever so slightly.
Gaara gently squeezed her hand with his, he didn't know why he did that but it felt like the right thing to do.
"The rest of the day is yours, what would you like to do?" Gaara asked.
He watched with interest as Hinata's face turned into one of thoughtfulness her eyebrows turned down slightly in thought one of her fingers tapped her bottom lip. Suddenly she squeezed his hand and looked brightly into his eyes.
"I want to s-s-sand surf." Hinata announced.
Gaara was about to frown at her for the slight stutter but when she said sand surfing he looked at her in bland amusement. He couldn't imagine taking Hinata sand surfing she was so…frail…if he happened to drop her who knew what injuries she would receive. Plus the wind and velocity of the speed whipped up the sand and sometimes stung the bare skin.
As if Hinata was reading his mind she suddenly pulled her hand away from his and narrowed her eyes. Blinking in surprise Gaara noticed a hint of determination in the depths of those violet eyes almost like fire.
"You don't think I can do it." Hinata accused.
"I didn't say that." Gaara commented noting how she didn't stutter when she was angry.
"Your silence said it all." Hinata pointed out crisply.
"If you wish to sand surf than we shall." Gaara replied. The look in her eye was creeping him out ever so slightly that he thought it best just to do what she wanted.
Hinata's face brightened again and she placed a hand on his arm squeezing it in excitement.
….
Hinata stood on the sand dune looking down at the incredible height they were at. She was beginning to have second thoughts on this; it had looked like so much fun when she watched the kids doing it with their boards. The sand shifted ever so slightly under her sandaled feet making her gasp and grab onto Gaara's arm either for support or she was going to drag him with her if she should fall.
Her fingers curled around Gaara's arm, she kind of liked the feel of his muscles beneath her fingertips. Before starting this they had gone back to change. Gaara wore a tight fitting tan shirt that cut off at the shoulders leaving bare arms, he wore black cargo pants that were more fitted than usual and a white scarf wrapped around his head and covering the lower part of his mouth. Hinata thought he looked cute for the scarf didn't completely cover his red hair and it stuck up around the scarf, he looked rugged and handsome. Suddenly his green eyes were looking at her and she blushed hoping that her lavender colored scarf would hide it.
"What are you thinking?" Gaara asked his voice muffled by the scarf.
"I am …having second thoughts… about this." Hinata said softly her nails dug into his arm.
The corners of Gaara's eyes crinkled slightly and Hinata wondered if he was smiling under that scarf, suddenly his arm snatched her around the waist lifting her up in front of him. More sand began to shift beneath their feet making it feel like quick sand. His arm was like a band of steel around her waist as he bent down making her do the same.
"G-g-gaara…don't we need a board?" Hinata yelped in fear as Gaara pushed them farther toward the edge.
"No." Gaara said softly his covered lips resting next to her ear. His leg pushed behind hers moving her leg forward with his knee resting behind her knee.
"I've changed m-m-my mind." Hinata began in fear as the sand began shifting them forward.
"Too late for that." Gaara commented dryly as he leaned her forward.
"Where do I put my h-h-hands?" Hinata asked as she clenched them in front of her.
"Anywhere you like." Gaara's tone changed as he said the words making them sound scandalous.
It took her mind off the upcoming free fall they were going to take just long enough for her to turn her head and give Gaara a dirty look. He shifted his weight one last time and they went flying off the edge. Hinata opened her mouth to scream in terror, her hands clenched the front of Gaara's arm. She distantly heard a soft chuckled close to her ear and that stopped her…was Gaara laughing?
"Lean to the left." Gaara ordered.
She quickly did so, opening her eyes a little to watch as they shifted to the left gliding along the sand dune. She felt herself relax ever so slightly against Gaara's sturdy chest, glancing behind she watched the cascade of sand flying in the wind behind them. It was exhilarating the feeling of gliding along the shifting sand.
"Right." Gaara ordered.
She shifted right immediately, causing them to go straight down. The wind snatched her hair up and around before they again gliding along the side of the sand dune, picking up speed as they went.
"Let go." Gaara ordered shaking his arm around her waist.
"No." Hinata shouted back in fear gripping his arm tighter.
"Trust me." Gaara replied his covered lips against her ear.
Hinata hesitated for a brief moment as she relaxed her grip and then let go. It felt like she was flying through the air as she raised her arms in the air above her wiggling her fingers in pure delight. She was getting the hang of this as she soon was reading the signs of Gaara's body leaning when he leaned, bracing her feet when he did. She loved it!
They soon drifted to a stop at the bottom; the hard sand began to soften and dispersed beneath their feet. Gaara straightened but didn't remove his arm from around Hinata. She relaxed against his chest in pleased silence feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest.
"How was it?" Gaara's low voice asked.
"Amazing." Hinata said as she turned in his arms and placed a hand on his chest. "Can we do it again?"
Gaara smiled beneath his scarf at her words, pleased that she wasn't stuttering.
"Are you smiling?" Hinata asked curiously reaching for the edge of his scarf to pull it down.
Gaara grabbed her hand and shook his head. "I don't smile." He said gravely.
Instead of acting nervous or stuttering out an apology she grasped his hand in hers and began pulling him back up the sand dune.
"Come on slow poke I want to surf one more time before the sun goes down." Hinata said with excitement.
Again Gaara smiled beneath his scarf at her child like excitement as he quickly matched her pace up the dune.