A/N: This was actually written down on March 28th. For those of you who were drawn to the title, scythemistress came up with it. And the "My give a damn's busted" came from Michelle (a.k.a, Shelly-san) SO this is where the fic actually starts. I only got so far in typing the first chapter, so this is the "Official First Chapter" continued. I am so lazy it's not even funny. I was in Williamsburg for a few days, and could not type at all. Although, I did get a lot of writing for this fic done. I even had to write some of this on napkins. This will be one of my rare long chapters
'You can't have everything; where would you put it?'
"Hi." The girl said, just looking up at him. "I'm under this desk, as you probably already know. Unless you're blind, which is highly unlikely being as you're staring pointedly at me."
Again, Gaara found no words. "Man, the Kazekage has a clean under desk." Oddly enough, Gaara found a word.
"Thanks."
" What for? I complimented the Kazekage's-oh do you do the cleaning? Is that why you said thanks?" she said, a completely fatuous smile lighting up her face.
"No." Another word on Gaara's part.
"Oh." She replied, sounding disappointed. "Then why did you say thanks? Ah, you've got awesome hair!" she shouted, seemingly forgetting about the question she had just asked. "I have a friend who's got hair almost the same color as yours. But different." She said, putting a hand to her chin and looking up.
"Why are you under my desk." Gaara deadpanned as she brushed invisible dust off her clothes.
" I slept here." She said matter-of-factly. Gaara found that statement a bit unnerving, being as he lived on the other side of that wall. "And it isn't YOUR desk, it's the Kazekage's. And he's probably going to be here soon, so unless you've got a reason to be here, I think you should leave. Not to sound rude." She added hastily, standing up. She apparently had forgotten that she was still under the formerly mentioned desk, judging by the ensuing 'thunk' and cry of pain. She stood up all the way, staggered a bit, then righted herself using one hand to support herself by leaning on the desk and the other to rub the back of her aching head. Then she sneezed. "Ah. Someone must be thinking about me."
"I was thinking of possible reasons why you would be under my desk."
"So you're still on the "it's my desk" thing. But if it was your personal desk, that would make you the Kazekage. And the Kazekage wears a hat. I don't see no hat." She stated, crossing her arms.
"So I'm not the Kazekage because I'm not wearing the hat? Is that the only reason?" Gaara asked.
"No. You're too young, your hair is too messy, you've got a tattoo on your forehead, you're too skinny, you've got eyes like a panda, you're too good-looking and you're not wearing the robes." She said, ticking off one of her fingers with each reason.
"In regards to the hat, I refuse to wear that absurd thing."
"Good call." She said nodding.
"It's just for show-"
"It's only for show-" They both cut off, having said "it's" and "for show" in unison. There was a brief silence.
"And you're not really the Kazekage. You're probably just another intern. I'm not that gullible."
"You're not too perceptive, either. Intern?"
"See? You're not the Kazekage, because he'd know about the-"
"What's your name." Gaara cut in dryly. There was another brief silence then the girl blurted out
"Aishiteru." Although his face did not change in the slightest, Gaara's mind immediately went in 59 different directions. This girl had just told him she loved him. He had been talking to her for less than 5 minutes. And then-ah no. Yashamaru had told him that as well. But then she had-was this girl going to try and kill him? She loved him? What? She was lying. Who the hell was she, anyway? He had asked her what her name was and she told him she loved him? He had instinctively drawn his sand up around him.
"Hey, Hey, don't freak out, it's my name. It's my name!" she repeated louder.
"Wha?" Gaara breathed, even more confused.
"Yes, my parents named me that. I think they were high when they did so. This is just speculation here, but I think the conversation must have gone something like this:
I'm having your baby.
Really? I love you.
We should name the baby that.
Okay.
Gaara, unable to fully hide his amusement, gave a small snort. His confusion had dissipated when she had explained her name. He let his sand slither back into its gourd in the corner of the room.
"Anyway, I go by Ai for short, which is kinda cool because it's on your forehead. So who are you, really? The Kazekage doesn't actually get here until 7:45, or so I'm told. It's only…" she glanced at her bare wrist.
"7:30." Gaara supplied.
"Uh-huh. I'm glad you're here. I thought I would be the only one working what purpose does an intern serve? I mean sure I'm a ninja, but I'm not really aspiring to become Kazekage. I'm betting he's some old geezer. Hopefully he won't be a perverted old geezer, I don't think I could deal with one of those. I'm going to have to be all polite and respectful in front of the Kazekage so I'm getting out all of my need for non-stereotypical talkativeness with you, I hope you don't mind because I'm gonna shut up when the man gets here." She bit her lip; something that Gaara thought made her look remarkably childish. "Hey, you haven't told me what your name is yet."
"Gaara." He said, knowing that she would now realize whom she was talking to. Kazekage or not, he was still considered a demon by a large part of the sand village. Now the girl's eyes would widen, she would look down, mutter a hasty apology and leave the room hurriedly.
"Hello, Gaara." She said politely, giving a low and very ostentatious bow. They she laughed, a moderately pitched, pleasant sort of sound. "That's a very…different, name. But it's nice. Although you have not officially passed."
"What?" Gaara asked briskly, not able to totally let his bewilderment go unnoticed. She didn't answer, but swiftly moved her face in front of his, so that their eyes were unable to not lock. Gaara had no idea what the hell she was doing or what the hell was going on. She continued to stare intently into his eyes. It was a bit unnerving, as was the notion of her sleeping under his desk.
He was about to say something, but then slipped into her eyes and lost his train of thought. They were odd, this girl's eyes. He hadn't really noticed them before, but now that he was kind of in them, he realized that they were a conglomeration of colors. He decided he wouldn't put anything past those eyes. They had a twinkle that held much more than just mischievousness, or mirth, but had a feeling that her eyes could not ever possibly hold malice. They were too beautiful to be anything but pure. And he bet that if he leaned in a little farther, he could disappear, forget himself and swim in the multi-faceted pool of oblivion forevermore…
"Gaara? You okay?" He heard Ai's voice as if from a distance, and was suddenly swept away back into himself. He saw her looking at him with amused skeptiscm written into the smooth plain of her face.
"What was that?" he demanded rather than asked.
"What was what?" she sounded just as he confused as he felt.
"Just now, you…you did…some-what, no, WHY did you do or more HOW-"
"Are you okay? You never answered me. And I didn't do anything. I just stared at you to see how you would react. Who knew someone could go so long without blinking?" She chuckled lightly. "Anyway, you have been appraised and deemed worthy! You passed the test! Let's be friends?" She stuck out her hand for him to shake and smiled hopefully.
Gaara had never really had a friend, in the sense that he and another person mutually agreed to become friends. He had Kankuro and Temari, but they were sibling friendly. No one had ever actually asked them to be their friend. Well, Ai hadn't technically asked him, but since the statement was understood to have a question mark at the end of it, it was close enough. He slowly reached out his hand to grasp hers. It was an unusual feeling, touching another person's skin when not inflicting harm upon them. But with Ai, it was nice, he supposed. If you could call the weird tingly his hand was doing nice.
"I'll take that as a yes." She said, brightening her smile. "So now, we've got to wait for the Kazekage to arrive. Oh, and if he asks, I was never near his desk."
"You're near it right now." Gaara said. At that, Ai scooted seven paces to the right.
"Now I'm not, and I never was."
"I'm not so sure the Kazekage is going to believe that."
"And why not?"
"Because-" But Gaara was never able to finish that sentence, because at that precise moment, an orderly walked in. He glanced briefly in their direction, looked away, and then did a double take.
"Kazekage-sama. I am deeply sorry for this disturbance." He started, giving a solemn bow. "The girl was reported missing last night and due to her previous disgraceful behavior, we-"
"What!" Ai exclaimed indignantly. The man straightened up swiftly, a glare in his eyes that was clearly not pleased.
"Do not, interrupt me when I am speaking with the Kazekage." He said in a tone that was much sterner then necessary. Ai shifted her still somewhat heated gaze to the floor. "I apologize for any disturbance she's caused, I assure you she will be dealt with later. Afterwards, she will make a full apology to-"
"Actually, that won't be necessary." Gaara cut in. "You see, she has a job to do. So, that is if you don't mind of course," he threw in mockingly, "I would like to brief my new assistant on her duties privately. I'm sure you know where the door is."
"Y-yes, Kazekage-sama. Gomen." He threw one last glare Ai's way. She didn't notice, as her eyes were still glued to the floor. But Gaara did. The man gave a short, somewhat embarrassed nod of his head and left the room, clicking the door shut behind him. There was an awkward silence, and then Ai looked up.
"S'he gone?" she stage whispered so that Gaara could hear.
"Uh, yeah." Gaara replied in a normal tone, after spending half a second contemplating on whether he should whisper back. He grabbed a pile of folders off his desk and motioned her over to the desk. "These are the missions and which cells they are assigned to. Don't assign a cell higher than a C-class mission without consulting me first. They are divided into ranks; different rank, different folder. This should be a fairly easy task, but-"
"Wait, you're actually briefing me on my duties?"
"Duty. You have more, but I don't have time to go into those."
"I thought you said that to get Tashita to leave?" She said incredulously.
"No."
"Meaning I'm an assistant? I thought I was just an intern." Ai said questioningly.
"Yes, well you've been promoted."
"YEAH! Does that mean I get to live here now!"
"What! No! And don't sleep under my desk, it makes me paranoid."
"Yes si-" in the middle of the sentence, it seemed as if some one had cleaned off a dusty lightbulb in her head. She made an "oh" with her mouth and bowed low. "Uh, forgive my earlier behavior, Kazekage-sama. I didn't realize that you were you. I apologi-"
"If I wanted you to apologize, I would have let that man finish his sentence." Gaara said before realizing it. "You sound like-what's his name. The guy that just left."
"Tashita-san." She said thoughtfully after straightening up. "You're not a very orthodox Kazekage, so is it okay for us to be friends?"
"I'm unorthodox?" Gaara scolded himself mentally. Here someone was, actually ASKING him if he would be their friend, and he avoids answering.
"Not exactly, but you're young, your hair is messy, you've got a tattoo on your forehead, you're-"
"Okay, I, get the picture."
"So, can we be friends?" Gaara thought for a second.
"On one condition." He said authoritatively once his second for thought was over. "Don't call me Kazekage-sama." Ai smiled warmly.
"Alright then, Gaara. We're friends." She said, putting emphasis on the name. Her eyes lit up. "Can I call you Gaara-chan?"
"NO."
"Aww, but it's so-"
"Go assign missions." Gaara said, cutting her. Wait a minute. Was it okay for friends to do that? They were friends, she had just said they were friends. As it turned out, she didn't think it was rude at all. She just grabbed the folders and ran out, flashing him a "V" as the doors closed. Time for the council meeting. Maybe he could talk to Ai about it afterwards. Did friends do that? Yes, yes they did. On TV, anyways. But real life was never as perfect as the movies. He'd just have to see how 'friends' would work out.
A/N: There! The official end of chapter one! Clap for me, I got on my ass and typed this up for YOU::points at you: So you better review. Oh, and this little poem type thing is something I wrote on the side of my notes for this fic.
Bastards
In the
Sand village
Hurt the
Beautiful panda
They will pay
With their lives
And he will
Gain meaning.
OH! And I will be on vacation for and will not get back until most likely July 1st, so no updates until then, unfourtunately. Although I will publish something on July 3rd to commemorate my birthday. :insert happy here: