Chapter 31:
Sunlight…
Dawn…
A room brightened by the sun at seven o'clock in the morning...
That was what awoke Raxiel from her "long, deep sleep." When she opened her eyes to look at the clock and see how early it was, she was disappointed. She gave a loud moan and buried her head under her pillow on which she had slept.
Seven o'clock was not late at all…
Why did she have to wake up so early?
Wasn't this the day she was going to sleep long and hard?
"What happened to 'sleeping the day away'?" she questioned herself; her mind was beginning to wake up which meant that no more sleep would come to her this early morning. Her heart sank…
"Stupid windows with no curtains!"
After lying in bed for another fifteen minutes with refusal to get up, Raxiel finally knew that lying on her bed was not going to change anything. Quickly, she removed the pillow from her head and sat up in her bed. Her eyes were still getting used to the light as she started to think about what this day would bring. She knew for sure that Gaara would be busy, with the town being… basically destroyed and the people's houses being torn down from the war.
"I wonder how hard it has been for him…
"He must be pretty stressed…"
Raxiel got out of her bed and started walking towards her closet on the other side of her room. She remembered last night that Gaara had told her some of his sister's clothes were in her closet, and that she could borrow whatever she had in there.
As she opened the closet to look inside and try to find something to wear for the day, she decided that today, whether it was a good day or not, she was going to be as cheerful and encouraging as she could be to Gaara. Stress was something she did not want to have, and she didn't want him to have it either… or at least as little stress as possible.
It was her responsibility for the day…
Somehow, she'd make him smile…
XxXxXxXxXxXx
"Good morning!" Raxiel said cheerfully as she walked into the dining room. Gaara was in the room reading some sort of documents that looked important. He looked up from where his eyes were and focused them on her. He nodded slightly, acknowledging her presence. Quickly afterwards though, he started to concentrate back on the papers that were in front of him.
Raxiel didn't pay attention to his nod…
She was curious about the papers he was scrutinizing…
Slowly, she walked over to him and sat down in the chair next to him. Gaara glanced at her from the corner of his eye, wondering what she was doing. Raxiel started to lean closer towards him, looking down at the papers with a curious face. Finally, she asked him the question he had been anticipating for almost two minutes. "What are you looking at -?" Suddenly, she stopped and snapped back into her chair. "Or is it confidential?"
"She always has to know what's going on…" Gaara thought, sighing at the fact that he'd have no choice but to explain the documents to her. "It's a map and a list of everything that has been destroyed in Sunagakure. It also shows how much we owe Konohagure for their assistance in the war and how much everything will cost if we repair Sunagakure back to what it was originally like."
"Oh…" Raxiel said. Gaara could sense that she was still a bit sick from dehydration.
Either that or her attitude from the past five months of her absence with him had changed.
"Did your whole land get damaged by the war?"
"Most of it; not all of it. It still adds up though."
"Well, I would guess so. What about the townspeople? How many died?"
"About two hundred. Half of those people belonged to Konoha though."
Raxiel's eyes widened. Now she knew why he hadn't wanted her to come with him here five months ago. "They were all ninjas?"
"Most of them were," he said finally shifting his body to face her. "Some were only women and children. Half of them were even Jonin ranked ninjas."
"…Gaara?"
Sensing her change of emotion, Gaara looked at her with a little concernment. "Yeah?"
"I'm… sorry I argued with you when you told me to stay at Konoha. I didn't know it was going to be that bad."
Gaara eyes widened. She had never apologized to him. Especially for her stubbornness…
"Yes," he thought, "she must still be sick…"
Trying not to make a big deal of her apology, Gaara continued on with reading the documents. "It's going to be a long year for Sunagakure."
Raxiel nodded. She knew he was right. Most of the people had probably lost their homes. Most of the people had probably lost their businesses and would be broke for a long time unless they moved to another country. That would mean less population in Sunagakure and more desert wasteland for Sunagakure.
"Gaara?"
"Hn."
"…What are you going to do?"
Gaara looked up at her, noticing her eyes were locked onto the floor. "What is there to do? We, as a country, have to move on and do what's best for us. I'll be helping out those who are staying here since they have almost no money, and those who will be leaving will find a way of their own. It's not that complicating, and I'm sure you knew that. What do you expect me to do?"
"I don't know…"
"Hmm…"
Silence feel between them. Raxiel knew he was right, and there wasn't much else to do. Soon, she started to feel sad for the people here. They had nothing anymore, and, what's more, no jobs or anything to hold onto. No hope…
The only hope was that their leader would help them…
They trusted him…
"How long do you think it will take… to rebuild Suna?"
Gaara was about to answer when suddenly they heard a loud "THUD" coming from the kitchen. They soon heard someone start mumbling and cursing about something. Gaara looked up towards the door that led to the kitchen, and soon someone walked out of the kitchen. Raxiel's eyes widened by the sight of him due to his face being… panted?
"Who the heck is this kook?" Raxiel thought, bewildered by the man as he was rubbing the back of his head, looking as though he had injured it somehow.
"Man, Gaara, we've got to do something about how little space we have in the cupboards! I just got knocked in the head, thanks to a bowl finding its way out of one of those small compartments… -!"
Soon, the man's gaze turned to Raxiel as she was staring at him with the most bizarre look on her face. Quickly, the man smiled at her with acknowledgement of who she was. "Well! Is this the friend of Gaara's that we've heard so little about?" He winked at her as if he was joking with her like he'd known her forever.
"Kankuro…"
"Who-and-what?"
Gaara glanced at Raxiel to see her distorted expression. "Kankuro. He's my older sibling," he replied to her question.
"One of his older siblings," Kankuro corrected.
All Raxiel could do was look at Gaara's older brother with bewilderment. She was too shocked to say anything… maybe even too scared to say anything to this man with purple surrounding his face.
Kankuro quickly walked over to the two younger teens and held out a hand for Raxiel to shake. Trying to shake off her stupidity, Raxiel put her hand in his to shake politely. Raxiel tried to smile, but she was afraid that if she did, she would begin to burst out laughing, making the scene look even worse.
Gaara sensed her uneasiness and almost smirked at the fact that she was… almost scared to smile. Gaara had never been able to do that…
But his brother, on the other hand had…
It made Gaara a bit happier to know that she wasn't comfortable around every single person.
Soon, Kankuro turned to face Gaara. He quickly shook off his smile and began to talk…well… almost seriously. "So, Gaara, any news on what we'll have to do for Suna?"
"You mean, I," Gaara thought, but he did not take it any further than through his head. "Rebuild it," he bluntly stated to him as he closed the folder that held the documents. Kankuro almost laughed by the statement he had made, but Gaara interrupted his time to laugh. "I'm going out there today to take a look around to see it with my own eyes. If you want to make yourself useful, Kankuro, you could come, as well."
"Is that an invitation?"
"If that's what you think."
"Then I'll have to say no. Temari and I already have plans."
Raxiel had no idea where their conversation was going…
And somehow Kankuro noticed…
"Temari is also Gaara's older sibling. She and I are going out to talk to the townspeople to see what all they're complaining about."
"I wouldn't call it complaining," Gaara mumbled.
"Call it what you want. I guess we can try to get an estimate of how many are actually leaving and how many are staying here. Tonight when we get back, we'll give you the scoop; you and your friend go out and look at the 'landscaping,' and have fun."
"She's not going," Gaara replied. He did not like Kankuro's sarcastic attitude at the moment.
"What? Why not?" Raxiel asked with bewilderment.
"Yeah, why not?" Kankuro repeated her question.
"Because you are still sick. You're not used to the heat, and you wouldn't be able to last outside all day. You need to stay inside for today and get better."
Raxiel bit her lip. She knew he was right, but she really wished she could go.
"Aw, Gaara, come on! She can go out there for a few hours and be fine."
Raxiel was beginning to like Gaara's older brother…
"Who will take her back here when it gets to be the hottest part of the day?"
Gaara and his stubborn nature…
And he called Raxiel stubborn…
"You can take her back here when it's lunch time. You can eat here and then go back while she stays inside the house."
Deep inside, Raxiel was cheering for Kankuro to win this conversation…
He was better at arguing with Gaara than she was.
Soon, Gaara sighed. He looked over at Raxiel to see her looking up at the ceiling. He knew exactly what she was thinking…
She was looking up so she wouldn't laugh at them…
Either that or she was sick…
Excuses…
"Raxiel, do you want to go for a few hours?" he mumbled with defeat in his voice.
Raxiel quickly shifted her eyes to him with a huge grin beaming out of her face. "I'd like that a lot, Gaara, if you don't mind."
Gaara sighed…
Kankuro: one point…
Gaara: nothing…
Raxiel quickly glanced at Kankuro to see he was smiling just as much as she was.
Yes, she was sure she'd be able to get along with this… kook in no time.
