Chapter 31:

The Worst Dinner Ever

Gaara walked down the halls of the Kazekage's office. He stopped at a window and looked out at the village. It was relatively peaceful. For now. He looked down at the scroll in his hand, Kankuro had delivered it to him this morning. The report talked about a facility being built near the border of the Land of Wind and Yama's borderers. His scouts hadn't been able to determine what Yama was up to and since the building was on their territory Gaara couldn't intervene.

"Lord Kazekage, how are you this fine morning?"

He resisted sighing and turned to Baka, who approached him with a smug grin on his face. Ever since Mizu had left over a month ago, he'd been approaching Gaara every day about something or another.

"I suppose. Did you need something Baka-san?" Gaara asked, his voice monotone.

Baka chuckled and patted Gaara's arm. "It's a fine day indeed. Lord Kazekage, would you do me the honor of joining my family for dinner tonight? I'm hosting a small gathering."

It took effort to bite back his immediate response of no. Temari had always been the one to attend these functions instead of him, but now that she was gone and his current assistant was the man in question's niece, he couldn't exactly turn him down without a good reason.

"I would be delighted by your invitation." Gaara smiled politely, but he felt no enthusiasm.

"Wonderful! Then I'll see you tonight around seven p.m." Baka bowed and excused himself.

Gaara waited until the man left, then looked down the hall. "You can come out now, big brother."

Kankuro poked his head out from behind a wall, looking guilty. "Sorry, Gaara, but that man makes me uncomfortable. Ever since Temari left, he's been the biggest pusher in council about either me or you getting married and having kids."

"Hmm," was all Gaara said in response.

Kankuro came out from behind the wall and sighed. "If you don't want to go, I can think up an excuse though and go in your place."

"It wouldn't due if I turned down all the council's social invitations."

His brother frowned at him. "You're taking this rather easy, the whole Mizu thing."

Gaara felt a throb in his chest at the mention of her name and buried the pain. He was used to hiding his feelings, suppressing them, pretending they didn't exist. This wasn't any different. Why should he think it would be?

"She wasn't a member of the sand village. She was free to go at any time." There was no emotion in his voice.

"Gaara… Alright, I understand. Well, have fun tonight then and enjoy the change of pace." Kankuro grinned at him, but his smile faded.

Gaara nodded to his brother and went on with the rest of his work. Heading back to his office, he found Hana setting some documents on his desk.

"Lord Kazekage, I finished gathering the reports you asked for." She beamed at him, her eyes sparkling.

Temari had trained her well. Even without his sister here to oversee her, Hana had become an efficient assistant.

"Good job," he quietly praised her as he picked up the documents and looked over them. The girl fidgeted nervously and didn't leave right away. "Was there something else?"

She jumped and blushed as she looked at the ground. "M-my uncle told me you're coming to dinner tonight."

"Yes, that's correct." He walked around his desk and sat down, so he could make notes on the reports.

Her eyes lit up excitedly, and she clasped her hands together. "I can't wait then."

He didn't know how to respond, but he didn't need to as she skipped out of his office. Sighing, he lay the reports down on his desk and stared out the window. The sun was out in full force, but he shivered when he looked at the sky. Hopefully, he hadn't gotten himself into something too troublesome.

Gaara walked up to the large tower like house, the lights inside lit up making it glow in the nighttime. He knocked on the door and straightened out his suit, the one Mizu had bought him, and sighed again. He didn't have any other formal attire except his Kazekage outfit, and he didn't think that was appropriate for dinner. Baka answered the door.

"Lord Kazekage, welcome, welcome. Come on in." The man led Gaara inside and gave him a pair of guest slippers that he could wear in the house. He led him to a simple, but elegant dining room. Yaba, Hana, two other men, and two women had also been invited to the private dinner. They stood when he arrived and bowed to him.

"Thank you for the invitation." Gaara bowed to Baka and to an older woman with a missing front tooth and silver hair. He recognized her as Okia, Baka's wife.

Baka offered him the seat next to Hana. Once Gaara was seated, they all took their seats. Hana fidgeted next to him and whispered to him as the rest of the guests spoke amongst themselves.

"You look nice in that suit, Lord Kazekage."

The girl's comment was innocent, but he still felt a sharp pain in his chest.

He pushed the feeling away and smiled at Hana. "Thank you."

"Lord Kazekage." Baka's vision focused on him and Hana. "How is my niece doing in her new position?"

Gaara smiled and did his best to be friendly. "She's doing well. She's very efficient."

Hana's ears turned pink as she looked down at her plate.

Baka clapped his hands together. "Excellent. Oh, let me introduce you. This is Taro Haku, and his wife Kishi. They own some large stores in the village."

Gaara nodded at the middle-aged pair wearing matching orange, and red robes. Both of their dark-colored hair was turning grey. They seemed to look very similar, except that the man's face had a large scar on his cheek and the wife's lips were a striking crimson.

"And this is Hamaru, a scholar from Iwagakure," Baka introduced a spindly man with half-moon glasses and a pale complexion.

"What's a scholar of the hidden stone village doing this far south?" Gaara asked, doing his best not to sound suspicious.

The man's eyes lit up with excitement. Baka noticed and tried to intervene, but he wasn't quick enough.

"I'm following a lead on a noble spirit that travels the land. I've been looking for him for years, but he always seems to be one step ahead of me," the scholar explained excitedly.

"A spirit?" Kishi leaned in, seeming interested.

Haku laughed. "Spirits don't exist."

"Oh, but they do!" Hamaru tried to insist.

Baka cleared his throat. "How about dinner first, before we get into any lengthy debates about whether spirits exist."

A servant girl came from the kitchen and served their dinner. That night it was smoked fish, and an assortment of smaller dishes with rice, vegetables and so on. Gaara looked at his plate of fish. It was hard to get in the sand village being so far from any large body of water. Baka must have cultivated it himself in a pond or tank just for dinners like this.

He ate his dinner quietly, but when he put a piece of the fish in his mouth, he found that he couldn't really taste much. His meals lately felt like he was chewing on sand.

"How is it, Lord Kazekage?" Okia smiled at him flashing that missing tooth.

"Quiet tasty," he lied.

Kishi turned toward the scholar, which didn't seem to please Baka, and continued the earlier conversation. "What spirit are you in search of?"

The man's eyes flashed excitedly. "A great spirit of power and knowledge. Most tell me he appears in the form of a chimera, a great lion with a tail of a snake! Some say he's as large as a mountain."

"Yoki wasn't that big," the comment slipped out of Gaara's mouth before he could stop himself.

The scholar sprang from his seat knocking the chair back and slammed his hands on the table making the plates rattle. This earned him some looks of annoyance, but he seemed to focus on Gaara at the moment to notice.

"You've met the spirit of disease?" Hamaru looked ready to jump for joy. "What was he like? Was he wise? Which way did he go?"

"Disease?" Baka's face twisted in confusion, then he seemed to form some idea. "Yoki was that herbalist pet, wasn't it?"

Hamaru's head snapped toward Baka and surprised him. "Woman? You mean the vessel was here too? That's fantastic and frustrating! I missed them again."

"Hang on," Haku interrupted. "Vessel? Disease? Are you saying this to rile us up? We just had an epidemic here recently. Are you trying to pick a fight?"

The scholar pointed a finger at Haku, his eyes glistening. "That's exactly why I came. The spirit of disease travels with the vessel of disease to track down one particular sickness that always comes as an epidemic in villages."

They sat quietly until Hana raised her head, eyes wide. Her voice came out barely audible, "Does that mean that the herbalist brought the sickness?"

There was a round of gasps at the table, minus Gaara, the scholar and Yaba.

"It couldn't be, that woman brought the disease?" Baka's face turned a deep red. "If that's true then not only did she trick us, but she made many suffer. What kind of monster is she?"

Hamaru's brow furrowed, and he tried to correct the confusion. "No, no, that's not—"

"A piece of shit is what it seems. We should have looked more thoroughly into the background of someone so sketchy," Haku growled.

Hana hesitated, but spoke up, "I did think there was something off about her."

"No, no that's not—" Hamaru was panicking.

Baka cut him off. "If that woman ever comes back, we should detain her and get some answers. Oh! Not that I'm saying your judgment about her was wrong, Lord Kazekage. It was a desperate situation, and we needed a cure... Though it definitely wouldn't have been needed if that woman hadn't brought the disease."

The old man finally finished his piece, and sat back, satisfied. Gaara had remained quiet the entire time listening to their misplace anger and when they finished, he felt nothing but emptiness. Everyone at the table seemed to wait, and hold their breath as they looked at him.

He finally spoke, "Even if your claims are true, I don't think you'll be able to follow up on them."

Baka looked confused. "Why is that?"

Gaara stood and everyone, except Yaba who was sipping on her tea, looked at him perplexed. "Because the woman you're talking about is dead. Now, if you'll excuse me, I forgot something important that needs to be done by tomorrow. Thank you for inviting me to dinner."

Before anyone could stop him, he left Baka's house. He stood outside and looked up at the starry sky.

"L-Lord Kazekage!"

He turned and found Hana running up to him. "L-Lord Kazekage. N-no, I mean, um…. G-Ga-Gaara! Is it true that that woman is dead?"

Gaara's entire body felt heavy. "Most likely."

Despite hearing such heavy news, the girl's eyes filled with hope. Upon seeing her reaction, he felt a sour taste in his mouth.

"G-G-Gaara. W-w-would you go o-o-out with me?" She looked queasy, but held his gaze determined.

He didn't even know what to say. This girl hears of someone's death and asks him out. It took his full effort not to break something. "Did your uncle put you up to this?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "What? No. I really really really like you. I-I know I'm just a silly girl who still has a lot to learn about love, but I love you, G-G-Gaara."

Surprisingly, he was calm as he asked, "Do you know what a tailed-beast is?"

She seemed confused by his question. "I've heard of them. The hero of the leaf village has one inside him, right?"

"Not all of the tailed-beast are like his. Some are violent and would kill you without hesitating."

She laughed nervously. "W-what does that have to do with me asking you out?"

Gaara leaned in and she blushed fiercely. "If I told you I harbored one of those violent tailed beasts, how would you feel?"

There was a flicker of fear in her eyes, then she seemed to shrug it off. "But you don't."

He straightened back up and turned away from her.

"G-g-Lord Kazekage?" She called after him.

He paused and without looking back at her said, "I'll see you tomorrow, Hana-chan. I'll do my best to forget what you asked me tonight."

With that he left the girl standing in the street staring after him.