Publicly Forbidden
Temporary
Gaara struggled with taking in the fact one of the elders would attack his sister.
One of the first thoughts which crossed his mind when Temari stated who attacked her – even confirmed his suspicions much to Kankuro's utter horror – was whether the man did this because the man thought of him as some kind of monster still. He ended up saying this out loud, to which Temari and Kankuro at first tried telling him this wasn't the case, but then they agreed maybe this was true. Both followed this up by insisting the problem was with the man.
"It really was one of the elders?"
"How many times do I need to tell you, Kankuro?"
"And in another village." Gaara looked at his hands. "They talk and talk about me causing some kind of political mess, but there they are causing one, not to mention..." His eyes narrowed. "He did this I think to cause tension between our two villages, maybe using Kurosuchi and my relationship to..."
"Gaara, stop. Don't blame yourself, or the fact you've feelings for Kurosuchi."
"Temari, he can't possibly..."
"Honestly, I'm not sure whether his feelings for her or hers for him are genuine. That's not the point."
"It was the point when you stormed out last night. You told me I couldn't possibly know."
"I still think there's a lot about the world for you to learn about, but..." Temari took a deep breath. "There's a reason you're the Kazekage, and not because you're easy for the council to manipulate."
From there, they proceeded in telling Lady Tsunade without letting the elder know. In the pit of his stomach, he knew full well he didn't like another village getting involved with the village matters of Suna, yet the elder made the mistake of trying to assassinate Temari in one of their allied villages in hopes the blame would end up on Iwa's shoulders. The elder, of course, wouldn't expect him to allow Konoha shinobi to arrest the elder.
The other elder was honestly surprised, yet something in Gaara's mind said this man wasn't as in line with the plans of the other elder. He spoke up less, never insisted everyone would side with getting Baki off the council. Even if he was, the fact the one elder ended up caught would mean he would at least be more cautious regarding moving forward.
Of course, this didn't change the fact the village would likely have found out by the time they got back, not to mention Baki would have a political mess on his hands. In the long run, Gaara didn't plan on causing such troubles for Baki, yet these problems in fact occurred. He was also unsure of how to proceed with Kurosuchi. In the back of his mind, he knew he needed to apologize for the actions of one of his villagers to frame their village, yet he didn't want to leave Temari's side.
As such, he sent a letter saying he'd like to speak with the Tsuchikage regarding the matter, yet wished to wait a couple of days while his sister healed enough so she could freely leave the hospital room on her own. He'd not expected Temari to join them for the meeting, yet his eyes traveled over to her, watching her carefully. In the back of his mind, he remembered Kankuro insisting he wanted to come as well, only for Temari to outright forbid this, meaning on Suna's side it was Temari, Baki, and him.
Gaara bowed. "I wish to apologize for the actions of one of our village elders."
"You mean with the fact they want to plan a war between our two villages." The Tsuchikage let out a sigh. "You like the idea of peace a lot."
"It's not so much I like the idea of peace, but so much I rather expect peace to be better than war for everyone involved."
"Well, that is true, but I should tell you your real thoughts. You weren't prepared for someone in your own village to try and start something."
"I'm still learning."
"It's not a matter of you still needing to learn, Lord Kazekage." The Tsuchikage rubbed the back of his head. "This had nothing to do with them wanting war between our two villages. If that was their goal, they could have done it so many other ways, right?"
"Correct."
"It's you they want to undermine. They can't control you, but they also want to crush you."
"I'm guessing his support for our relationship is now removed." Gaara looked at his hands.
Kurosuchi cleared her voice, making him look up. The Tsuchikage looked up as well. "So, what I'm going to say has a but in there. I still want to be in a relationship with Gaara regardless of what you think."
"What is the 'but' here?"
She answered her grandfather. "She's important to him as well, but our relationship resulted in her getting hurt."
"I'm here in the room, but I also have a name. It's Temari."
Gaara looked over at his older sister. In his mind, she should be resting.
"If the Tsuchikage doesn't mind, I'd like to give my blessing." Temari looked at him, smiling. His mouth opened, wondering what changed her mind, let alone how they'd convince Kankuro. "Well, she does care about you."
"I also think the relationship is actually politically advantageous, though some won't see it that way." The Tsuchikage's words – Gaara couldn't read him, but it seemed like for now things were resolved.