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—
Gaara was numb while he listened to his wife converse with Beauty and the others in the room about the lurking danger.
Gaara was numb as he watched the small meeting adjourn and then watched Beauty place her scaled hand on Seraphina's tiny shoulder.
Gaara was numb as Beauty took Seraphina and walked with the small red headed girl up the dark stone steps.
Gaara felt almost out of his body as his wife took his hand and covered his mouth, leading him away.
Back down the passage…
Back through that horrible, uncomfortable pressure in the deep ocean…
Back towards Suna.
Gaara felt like a piece of his soul was missing as Asherah prattled on about the murderous hate group that Beauty thought was behind the grim recent events.
Gaara listened silently, but he only caught words here and there.
His mind was on his daughter.
As Asherah began to finish discussing what was going on, she narrowed her eyes at her husband.
She could tell he wasn't really listening.
"What are you thinking, draga mea?" Asherah asked.
Gaara's smokey jade eyes flashed at his wife with heavy sadness and he asked the only question that mattered to him.
"When will Seraphina come home?"
—
"Gaara of Suna, I am disappointed in you." Asherah frowned at her husband, a short while later, as they readied for bed. "You in your position, in your culture, should realize what an amazing opportunity this is. Our daughter has been graced with an incredible chance! Beauty has never offered to mentor anyone! Not even her own children! For her to show that kind of favor to your daughter, that's…" Asherah smiled and started to chuckle with joy when she stopped suddenly.
Gaara was suddenly in her face, nose to nose with her.
Light and joy were gone from his eyes and his gaze was as cold as it had been in his early youth.
The Kazekage's gravely voice was so serious and so dangerous that it chilled Asherah down to her very bones as he spoke, "You've never had to lose like I have."
"Draga mea, I…."
"You don't know the true extent of pain that I do, you've never shouldered the heavy burdens that I have, at least, not in the same way. I never thought that I would have loved ones besides Temari and Kankuro. Much less, a family." The redhead added sadly.
"Gaara….." Asherah frowned.
Th Kazekage pulled away and began to pace in their bedroom.
"I promised my daughter on the night that she was born I would always protect her. I don't like that thing! 'Beauty.' " Gaara sneered. "It's ugly and it's evil, and I don't want my little girl to learn anything from it. I just want her to come home!"
"To be taught by Elocin, the dark siren?! And the old man you hired from Konoha?!" Asherah asked, folding her arms. "There is not much opportunity for her to grow here, at least not now. She is in no danger with Beauty, and if she wishes to come home, all she needs to do is sing. I will hear her wherever she is!"
The Kazekage did not appreciate Asherah's criticism of the Shinobi tutor he had found.
Gaara scowled at his wife. "Will you trade our son away, too? When he grows old enough?"
"Do not speak like that to me!" Asherah hissed as she leapt to her feet in one fluid motion. "You want both of our children to grow to be Shinobi, to be trained killers so you can use them as human weapons!"
"I would never use them as weapons! I want them to be strong and confident! To be able to take my place and yours as leaders of both their heritage lands!" Gaara shouted back.
Asherah grit her teeth as she spoke. "Beauty refused to bind Seraphina. At least this way she has a proper trainer. An unbound siren with no mentor is a plague on this earth. Pull Seraphina from Beauty now and watch! She'll be nothing more than a monster!"
Gaara growled and in a rage that he had not felt for years, grabbed Asherah by the top of her arms, pulled her close and grit his teeth back as he hissed against her lips, "Don't ever call our daughter a monster! Not in front of me."
Asherah's eyes were wide as Gaara released his grip and let her go, looking at her coldly as he stalked off.
"Where are you going?" Asherah asked, just a hint of a shakiness to her voice. "It's time to rest!"
"I cannot possibly sleep tonight." Gaara replied as he walked away, his eyes narrowed as he left the room.
Asherah made a noise between a sigh and a growl as she flopped down onto the bed. "And now, draga mea, neither can I."
—-
Gaara hadn't really meant to be so cruel.
Neither had Asherah.
It was very late, they were both very tired, each of them were anxious and upset, and unfortunately, things had escalated into an argument.
Katsuro was still at Temari's house.
If he had been with his parents, Gaara would have come into his room and watched him sleep.
Gaara did love his children dearly and seeing his little boy resting peacefully would have helped him relax.
But Katsuro was not there.
Gaara frowned.
He would have to retreat to his old thinking place, the roof.
As he made his way to the top of the building, he could feel his rage lessening.
Once he walked out and perched himself at the top of the Kage mansion, the redhead closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The Kazekage looked up.
The stars were very beautiful in the night sky, glittering silently like fine gems.
His eyes turned back to the sleeping village of Suna as he thought.
Asherah was right, whether Gaara liked Beauty or not, Seraphina had chosen.
He could not let his fatherly protectiveness interfere with her accomplishing all that she could and becoming the best siren or Shinobi she could possibly be.
But he already missed her so….
The two were quite close and he couldn't imagine not seeing her everyday.
Gaara closed his eyes.
And the meeting?
Maybe he should have paid more attention?
What was that…...they had said…?
Remember….
Gaara racked his brain to remember…...
He remembered there had been a lot of dead washing up on the shores of Skorgan…
Killings made to look like sirens were responsible…..
But then sirens had been found among the dead….
Several members of prominent seafaring nations had gone missing…...
Gaara blinked.
Ah…
Yes, now he remembered.
Beauty had spoken about an anti-siren group, a vile and powerful gang who thought that sirens were against nature and should be destroyed….
Gaara's scowl return.
After living through the Akatsuki, he had enough of vile, powerful gangs.
Gaara sighed.
The night was so calm and peaceful….
The attacks were all on seafaring nations.
Gaara thought that Suna, a landlocked desert, would be safe.
As the Kazekage sat on the rooftop, he didn't hear the silent man, dressed in black, scaling the building and peering over the roof edge at the unsuspecting redhead.
Gaara thought wrong.
—
Asherah was very upset, and it took her quite some time, but after awhile, she had finally fallen asleep, laying on one side, hoping her husband would have a change of heart.
On the rooftop, Gaara's frown turned into a small smile.
He loved his family.
He was sorry for the way he had acted, the way he had spoken, and he knew that Asherah was sorry too.
He would allow Seraphina to pursue her interests with Beauty, for now.
And when she came home, he would throw the grandest party that Suna had ever seen.
Gaara grinned.
So grand it would rival a Skorganian Skald…..
He stood from his perch and blinked as he looked over the village one last time.
He would go now and cuddle his wife, even if he still didn't sleep, at least he could hold her in his arms.
When Asherah woke in the morning, they would exchange apologies and make love before he started his day.
Yes, that's exactly what Gaara thought would happen.
As he lifted his foot and took his first step back to Asherah, the black night sky turned into the black world as a silent assault from behind rendered him unconscious.
It was not a Shinobi's attack.
Gaara could neither hear, sense, nor see it coming and his eyes closed before he even hit the ground.
Silent, gloved hands slid around Gaara's lean body and stealthily, whisked him away…
Through the village…..
Past the guards…
Across the desert in record time…
And onto a ship that sailed into the night…..
Gaara was loaded, still unconscious, in a crowded barrack full of others that also lay sleeping.
On deck, the man who had abducted Gaara spoke to another, also clad in all black.
"Was that it then?" He asked. "Is that the last one?"
"Another trip, first." The other man chuckled.
"And then we burn it down?"
The other man laughed. "Once the sirens come, then we burn it down."
Gaara slept, unknowing, below the deck under their feet.
With each roll of the waves he was carried farther away from Suna…..
Farther away from Asherah….