Chapter 11

Senri is…Spade?

"That, Gaara-sama?" Kaguya asked with her head cocked to the side slightly, staring at the direction Gaara had pointed. Everyone followed Gaara's pointing direction and blinked their eyes.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

"What about Senri, Gaara-sama?" Kaguya asked again, looking back to Gaara this time and noted his strangely angry expression.

Senri had conveniently woken up at the right timing. He realizes his position and finds that he's lying in a small mound of rubbles and splinters, and had gone into a series of shock before jumping up, scanned the scene and hidden his profile behind Kaguya's small back. Daring him to look up, Senri peeked out from behind Kaguya and squeaked – I repeat, squeaked in fear upon sensing the heated laser eyes of the young Kazekage on himself. Whining, Senri, hide his entire face behind Kaguya's back and cowered in fear.

By Kaguya's power of observation, she could have sworn that Gaara's nose flared like an angry bull when Senri gets closer to her, his light blue eyes immediately turned into an icy color. That is when a thought struck Kaguya. She could already feel her heart swelling in happiness at the very thought of Gaara getting resentful over Senri. She honestly didn't know that he liked her that much to begin this whole chaos.

Smiling, Kaguya turned her focus towards the crowd. "Everyone!" Kaguya said, beginning in a voice loud enough for everyone to stop their chatters and mumblings almost immediately. "The medicine shop is badly damaged and is in dire need of repair before a surprise storm whips up upon us. It will be a while before I can continue giving out medicine peacefully. I am truly sorry for the inconvenience. I trust that I will post up a notice in front of the manor announcing the possible dates that business will resume as usual. Thank you for coming, and once again, I am sorry for the inconvenience."

A series of murmurs and sighing broke out soon after Kaguya finishes her speech, and as sudden as it appeared, the crowd subsided in an alarming rate and the rest of the patients went home, leaving Gaara, Kaguya and Senri in the middle of the road.

The wind blew suddenly and out of nowhere a huge roll of broken, torn and tattered basket rolled right in front of them and continued out to the end of the street while Kaguya and Senri continued to stare at it with mild amusement until it disappears from their sight.

When they looked up, Senri froze when he realizes that Gaara is still fixing his laser cold eyes upon him and shivered in response.

"W-would you like a cup of Flowering Tea, Gaara-sama?" Senri started in a cheerful tone. "Kaguya-hime makes excellent tea, and the Flowering Tea is her best drink-"

"Senri," Kaguya interrupted with a smile. She continued in an equally sweet smile and tone, which doesn't match the words she is going to say at all. "Get into the house before Gaara-sama kills you."

Well, truth to be said, being the first one to break the silence doesn't warrant one a lucky escape, and in this case, Senri has just personally signed a death certificate with Kazekage Godaime.

People might be wondering why on earth would Senri suddenly acts in a way that betrays his fear when just a moment ago he was cowering openly behind Kaguya. Senri, you see, had a special knack in forgetting important and death-related things fairly quickly, and that is one of the reasons why he always lands in a rather 'difficult' situation.

Of course, there was always Kaguya to save his tail if the situation goes out of control, so he practically fears nothing except pretending to cower behind her small back just to get a little bit of human warmth.

Kaguya wanted so much to roll her eyes at what happens next. As expected, Senri kicked up a big fuss over something that could very well cost his life and yet remains ever so blind to it despite it being so obvious. "What?" Senri said disbelievingly, slapping his chest in a strangely feminine way. "Gaara-sama…kills me? But how could he? He won't do such a thing! Hime-sama, how could you throw such a…a…a…"

Realizing that Senri is not smart enough to say the whole sentence to make himself look amazing, Kaguya filled in the blanks for him with both of her eyebrows raised. "Lie?"

With a casual click of his fingers, Senri said, "Ye-" but, being the smart-mouthed one, Kaguya interrupted before Senri could finish his sentence.

"I happen to speak the truth more often that I spoke of lies." Kaguya said, lifting her head up in the air a little.

"B-Bu-" mumbled Senri helplessly.

"You may choose to believe me if you look behind you right now." Kaguya said with a smile on her face while motioning with her hand towards Senri's back, not allowing the silver-haired guy to continue mumbling another large pile of jumbled-up craps.

As soon as Senri turned his head around to look at Gaara, he regretted it almost immediately. He now understands that the heat he was feeling up until now on the back of his head is, no doubt, from Gaara's laser eyes. It was not the sun, it was not a reflection and it was not the light coming from torch lights and a hot light bulb, and it's threatening to burn a patch of his hair bald if things were to continue in such ways.

Gulping nervously, Senri raked his small mind for other topics to start and stray to and finally settled for a stupidly stupid one that, amazingly, worked on the stoic young Kazekage.

He began with a pitiful loud gulp of fear. "Anyone wants cookies?"

Nobody would ever imagine that Gaara, the once murderous and most dangerous shinobi in Suna would love cookies apart from salted tongue and gizzards to the point that at the mention of the food, his eyes actually brightened a little and lost all their cold tones. Unfortunately, the young redhead caught the eyes of the young Feudal Princess and, as a result, his cheeks turned slightly pink in the process.

Kaguya's eyes widened in disbelief; Gaara had looked every bit a kid expecting his first ever present under the large Christmas Tree, and she couldn't help but to think that the Kazekage could actually look adorable apart from being beautifully handsome. Unable to resist, Kaguya walked towards him, wrapped both of her arms around Gaara's neck and gently pulled him down for a warm hug.

"I didn't know that Gaara-sama you would have such an adorable side that's hidden from the world," Kaguya said in almost a cooing tone, rubbing her face affectionately against Gaara's like an over-affectionate cat. Gaara heard her sigh in delight and merely looked down on the ground, ashamed that such a part of him is seen by his fiancée. How could he ever be manly again in front of her if she had seen such a part of him? Gaara closed his eyes tightly when it's Shukaku's cue to barge in and laugh at him.

Haha! Hahahahaha! Shukaku howled in laughter, rolling on the ground. My God of Six Paths! You actually made that look! You Actually – Made – That – Look! Just how much more hilarious can all this be!

I'll make it hilarious enough that you'd shut up in an instant, Gaara growled in his mind in hopes of shutting Shukaku off, but to no avail.

Hahahahaha! I'll laugh all I want! You can't shut me up anymore kid!

Immediately, Gaara flashed the pictures of Shukaku running away from his fight and the numbers of fails and wins. It was a plain pitiful number, and Shukaku sobered up almost immediately.

At that moment, it didn't matter whether Senri's dramatic gasp of shock for Kaguya's first ever public display of her own fondness towards Gaara, her future fiancé and husband. All it matters is that she knew she liked the young Kazekage more than 'like' and yet is not sure whether it's love or not while the redhead pondered about making amends regarding his unmanly display for cookies.

"Hime-sama," Senri said in a bored tone, his eyes half-closed in a 'Duh? Can't you see what I'm doing right now and at least stop doing what you're doing right now for a moment?' way. "For the record, I don't 'gasp' for fun." Senri waved his hands around in a ridiculous way. "I 'gasp' when there's something important going on."

Annoyed, Kaguya practically wrenched herself away from Gaara and flashed Senri a look of irritation, "What is it, Senri? Make it quick, my temper's short today."

From a distance, the distinctive sound of thudding thundered across the Suna's hard ground, echoing right up to where the trio stood. It is strange, but the sudden void of humans on the very streets at such an early hour brought no comfort to Senri the silver-haired guy. In fact, he felt uneasy.

"Is that – people?" Kaguya started, her eyes squinting towards the direction of the sound.

Gaara nodded in agreement. It's Senri's cue to pipe in, and he did. "It looks like they're chasing someone with an angry expression on their faces and – w-was that a chainsaw!"

Everyone watched as the angry mob of people getting closer and closer to the trio. Then the screaming and protests got louder, and then they noticed that most of the mobs are young girls holding a banner or a pole bearing a flag with prints of the face of the familiar young Kazekage.

"Oh, it's the Gaara Fan Club…" Senri said dismissively, laughing when he saw just how ridiculous they are when they're holding it on top of their heads. Then when he remembered that one of them actually carried a chainsaw, he – as the rare breed of a desert fox, panicked like the animal he is and froze in fear.

"Eto de…" he started in a monotone voice, eyes fixated upon the nearing mobs. "Hime-sama, could we…ya know? Get inside for the safety of our lives?" stuttered Senri, eyes still fixated upon the mob.

"Senri," Kaguya called from the doors of the Miyagusuku Manor. "Stop being silly and come in. You wouldn't want to get caught in the middle of that kind of fan club. It's dangerous."

Senri snapped his head to the sides and watched as Gaara stepped into the manor with Kaguya watching from the doorway. It was then he realizes that he still stood in the middle of the road watching the mobs getting closer and closer to him.

"Well, I guess I should," Senri mumbled to himself, walking towards the direction of the manor languidly.

Without a thought about where he is going and who blocks the grand entrance, Senri bumped himself stupidly into the young Kazekage with a grunt, and watches onward as Gaara fell face first onto the floor.

His sand shield immediately went up and cushioned the fall, neatly slamming his face into the sand cushion mutely. Lifting his head up, he glared at Senri with eyes that threatened to shimmer red with the amount of hate in them.

"I will kill you one day." Gaara swore solemnly, watching in delight as Senri quivered in fear and mumbling a small, "Sorry. So sorry. Won't do it again."

"I bet you have no idea about it, don't you, Gaara-sama?" Kaguya asked, her eyes sparkling and cocking to the side as she watched Gaara's reaction regarding his fan club that just passed by all of them. Sitting up, Gaara merely shrugged as an answer.

"The Gaara's Fan Club," Kaguya recited, nodding her head at each word. "Those who are caught touching, bumping, hitting, slapping, flirting, kissing or doing a flying kiss to the honorable beautiful Sabaku no Gaara shall be decreed as the enemy of the female race in Suna."

"That's ridiculous!" Gaara said spontaneously, his expression a rare horrified look.

Kaguya raised both of her eyebrows and shakes her head with an amused expression on her face. "Well, to them, it's not at all ridiculous. It's the case of The Kazekage versus the rest of the female population of Suna."

Gaara succumbed himself into a deep thought, trying to come up with something that enables him to determine her feelings for him. He wanted to ask her, and yet when he tried to come up with the right word, it slipped away from his mind and leaving him blank. Somehow, he needed to know her side of the opinion.

Ask her then, Shukaku interrupted his thought lazily. I'm sure she'll tell you the truth. She's not the type to lie. In fact, I don't think she ever told a lie before in her whole life.

Gaara frowned a little. How are you to be so sure about that? You're inside me, and you don't know her at all.

Well, Shukaku stretched a little, yawning in his wake and looked up at Gaara. For one, the aura surrounding her is fresh and clear, like the crisp cold fresh morning smell of the forest in Konoha last time you went there. It was then Gaara noticed Shukaku's eyes glazed over, as if he's imagining something rather pleasant. Again, Gaara frowned.

We Tailed-Beasts are able to see through human's façade and read their aura like you humans read books. Some are so awful they look like pieces of shit floating around them. Hers are just so clean and fresh and she actually smelled so good that you can't help but to want to bite her a bit.

I won't ever do such a thing! Gaara's eyes widened in horror and repulse at Shukaku's reply, unable to imagine him hurting her by biting her. And when did you smell her out!

Shukaku roared out laughing, patting his large belly. You said it right now, kid. Now my guess is – well, not to say that in a bloody way – but you will bite her when you're in heat.

… That's just plain disgusting. Stop comparing yourself to me, you beast.

Shukaku rolled its eyes. That's our way of saying 'getting high'. I suppose you humans have a gentler way of putting it into words other than using the word 'in heat'.

Of course we have. We're not animals. I thought I've told you to not compare me to the likes of you, or have you gone deaf? And, just so you remember, she can hear you talking.

Nah, don't cha worry 'bout that, Shukaku waved lazily at Gaara. It appears that since the night she found out that she can hear me, she chooses to 'zoom' out the channel that links me to her and turns it off. You can't hear her phoenix talking because her phoenix has closed all outside connection herself. But even if she didn't close it, you can't hear it unless she allows you to.

I admit, your girlfriend is a bit special on that ground – she has a higher spiritual sensitivity than most people do, including you. I must say, she'd be wonderful if she were to be on your Anbu team, but apparently, she inherited her mother's side of the family's blood and physical built more. The Shiratoes are famous for being weaklings.

Gaara rolled his eyes at Shukaku and ended their mind talk.

After the mob passed by the manor, Kaguya turned away from peaking at the door and noticed that Gaara's still sitting on the floor, now no longer supported by his sand.

Stretching out her hand, Kaguya offered to pull Gaara up to his feet with a soft smile. Feeling himself staring and yet unable to break the stare, Gaara – in a slow motion – lifted up his own hand towards her offered hand and grasped them before pulling himself off the ground.

Still holding hands, Kaguya smiled at Gaara. Then her smile slowly slides off her face and she frowned.

Tugging at Gaara's hand, Kaguya pulled Gaara along with her and made him sit down on an expensive black wooden bench. Sitting down as well, Kaguya faced the redhead and inspected Gaara's hand. Fishing out a small brown tub, Kaguya scooped out a small dollop of a cream colored salve and rubbed it smoothly into Gaara's hand, entirely unhindered by any sand shield.

If Gaara had eyebrows, he would have raised them both. My sand shield…he thought to himself.

It's not me. Shukaku raised both of his hands as a defense in advance incase Gaara asked. That is not my doing, I didn't do it.

Well, Gaara started in confusion. If it's not you, and it's not me, then who is it?

You scare me sometimes 'ya know? Sure, sometimes I protected you with the sand, but the sand shield thingy dropping off when the princess touches you is just not me. I don't know what happen to your sand shield, but it seems as if it had a mind of its own, and that freaks me out.

"Seriously, Gaara-sama," Kaguya said while rubbing the salve into his hand, breaking his little reverie with Shukaku. "You need to keep your hands moisturized at all times under Suna's terrible heat. Your hands are all cracked up, poor thing, and they're even close to bleeding! Hasn't anyone told you about the importance of well-moisturized hands?"

Gaara watches as Kaguya fussed over his hand. The simple notion of her hands on his reminds him of a memory in his younger days, the days before he carved the word 'love' on his forehead. Most of the memories are a blur of images and voices, more so his memories on the day Yashamaru killed himself. He distinctly remembers a pair of warm hands and a lovely child-like singing. And a girl. Yes, a girl! He remembers a vision of a little girl around his age, and the little girl fussed over his hands just like Kaguya did right now.

Still, he can't remember the song she sang that night, and yet, even as his memory fails him in recounting the song, he knew that the voice and the music remains deeply etched in his heart, and that if he were to listen it once again, he'll definitely remember her. He sighed to himself with his inability to remember the girl, the song and how she looks like in general.

"Kazekage-sama's a shinobi, Hime-san…he doesn't have time for salves and moisturizers…" Senri stated the facts, watching with a bored expression on his face. Kaguya flashed him a frown and he immediately smoothen his looks to that of a normal look instead of a bored one.

"Shinobi or not, he is now a Kazekage," Kaguya said, her eyes focusing on Gaara's hand as she continued to rub another fresh layer of salve. The redhead noted that the salve smelled a little close to the smell of some kind of cucumber, and instead of strange, he finds the scent quite refreshing. "He touches paperwork more than battling as a shinobi, and even if he does, his turn at the battlefield would be extremely rare. Moreover," Kaguya turned to look up at Gaara, who, even as both sat down, the redhead still towers above her. "You've constantly coated yourself in your sand shield. Don't you ever felt suffocated by it, Gaara-sama?"

Just when he is about to come up with a reply, he felt something rubbing against his knee, and the feeling is – in a horrible way – unpleasantly familiar.

His eyes glanced down at his knee and a mop of silvery hair obscured his vision to the ground, and at the same time, it is also the main source of all the repulsive rubbings.

"Mmm…" Senri moaned with his eyes closed, sending an appalled shiver up to Gaara's spine. "Gaara-sama is so warm…suki-des…ah…shiawase deshta…" (Gaara-sama is so warm…I like it…ah…this is happiness!)

Gaara's shock had gone to a stage where he isn't sure if he can be surprised by anything else anymore. He watches in horror as a light blush slowly colored Senri's face, who had plastered an idiotic grin across his jaw and smiling in a rather – so as to speak – perverted way.

To Senri, the blushing creates the kind of warmth that covers his face as blood rushes from his body to his cheek. He felt himself emitting a wave of loving warmth and illusionary happiness settles over him in soft pink, imagining himself the animal he is –sitting in Gaara's lap all curled up and sleeping while the Kazekage patted his head gently – Senri giggles at the illusion running through his small mind.

The warmth and giggle, however, serves to fuel Gaara's gradually rising temperature and irritation, indicating that he is nearly reaching his boiling point in anger. As wonderful as it had been, Senri's wonderful time ended as rapidly as it had started.

Gaara's feet snapped forward almost involuntarily and aimed a straight kick to Senri's head like a world-class footballer aiming for the goal post, and in this situation, Kaguya's front door manor is the goal post. His leg connected with nothing when he had been so sure that he's going to strike the annoying gnat, as he called Senri. Turns out that Senri had avoided Gaara's kick at the last moment and hopped away with both hands cupping his face and cheek, appearing to savor the warmth he had stolen from Gaara.

"Subarashi…Gaara-sama's warmth is so heavenly heaven…" (Wonderful…Gaara-sama's warmth is so heavenly heaven…)

Kaguya sweat dropped, her smile frozen on her face while her eyes flitted from Gaara to Senri, then back again to Gaara as she watches his expression darkens in disgust at the sight of Senri entering his Blissfully Blissful mode, aka Idiot Mode. Seeing that there's no end in the Tanuki-Chases-The-Rat race, Kaguya intervened.

Holding onto one of Gaara's arms as tightly as she could, Kaguya said quickly in hopes of calming Gaara before something worse happened. "Gaara-sama," she started desperately. "Please stop chasing Senri. Its part of his nature to stick to the person he likes. One, it's me. Two, it's you, Gaara-sama. You can't really blame him for behaving in such a way-"

Gaara turned to Kaguya, his eyes wide with disbelief. "I can't blame him?" Gaara watches as Kaguya smiled awkwardly, her eyes flitting back and forth from Gaara to Senri. "You're saying that it's normal for another man to stick to your fiancé's back like some love-struck goon!"

"But Gaara-sama," Kaguya tried again, this time, she started coaxingly. "He just forgets that he's a human right now. All the servants have gone back to their village for a week to be with their family, and the whole manor is just me and him-"

"What?" Gaara raised his voice in shock, his eyes wide to the point that he isn't sure if he can widen them again if more shocking information came in – his future-bride with a man in a manor all alone for a week?

"I'm sorry I didn't explain things earlier, but please, Gaara-sama," Kaguya intervened Gaara by covering his mouth with her hand just when he is about to open his mouth to say something. Staring up into Gaara's eyes, Kaguya whispered softly, "Listen to me for a while…?"

Gaara stares into her eyes, finding him melting under the watchful gaze of Miyagusuku Kaguya. He's a shinobi, and yet he had this sudden notion of wanting to drown in her eyes for a long, long time. It was a strange shade of deep Cherry Red, the color of thick dark blood which he had seen frequently on battlefield. People would have easily mistaken them for dark brown, but now that he is close enough to her that he could even determine a few gold flecks around the rare diamond shaped hazel flanks. It was a kind of rare eyes shapes, and it is only passed down through families. He knew why she wanted him to stare into her eyes. She wanted to prove to him that she's not lying, and she knew, as a shinobi, he can detect people lying in less than a second.

She wanted him to trust her, and in this case, he couldn't help but to do so.

"Gaara-sama," she started softly, her eyes still staring into his steadily and yet softly at the same time. "I hope you still remember Spade from yesterday, because that same fox hybrid has the rare power to shift forms and...I hope I don't sound like an idiot, but Senri and Spade is the same being."

It was a long time before Gaara made a response. First his eyes widened a degree, then his mouth opened slightly in a light gap, then he frowned.

"Don't you see the resemblance, Gaara-sama?" Kaguya asked as her head cocked slightly to the sides. "Both Senri and Spade have dark beady eyes, silver colored fur and hair – well, the points may be little, but there's still the resemblance…"

"Kaguya-hime," Gaara called formally.

"Yes, Kazekage Gaara-sama?" Kaguya replied dutifully.

Gaara started slowly, his eyes turned their focus to Senri's idiotic standing form. "You meant to say that Senri and Spade are the same being, and that Senri is Spade's human form?"

Kaguya smiled delightfully. "I thought you would never get it, Kazekage-sama. You're correct. Senri is Spade's human form. We call him Senri when he's human because it would cause strange thoughts to start circling down the road were the people ever finds out that there is a hybrid living in my manor. Apparently, they have the kind of thought that if a hybrid were ever to be created, they would have some undefeatable supernatural powers that could destroy Suna in a single night."

Gaara blinked. "Those are some thoughts…"

Kaguya smiled. "They sure are, Gaara-sama."

"Then…" Gaara started, but then Senri had other ideas.

Leaping into the air, Senri latched onto Gaara's back with both of his arms around the Kazekage's shoulders. "Then all the more reasons to love me, Gaa-sama! I love you!"

Then that was it.

Gaara's temper rose rapidly and he flung Senri off his back with one swipe of his hand. Raising his hand, Gaara summoned sand from all over the place and said angrily, "All the more reason to destroy that piece of meat then!"

"Gaara-sama!" Kaguya exclaimed, one hand outstretched to stop the redhead. "No!"

Ignoring Kaguya's warning, Gaara directed his sand towards Senri, who had stood aside and watched Gaara unleashing his power. Gaara directed the sand to rush forward and smash Senri, who luckily came out of his frozen stupor on the last second and avoided the fatal sand crash, which, instead of smashing Senri, the sand smashed the walls of Kaguya's manor instead.

And as soon as the wall crumbled, a wave of head-splitting migraine hit Gaara full blast on the head.