Chapter 33:
Raxiel had been waiting outside her room for the past few hours. Ever since Gaara had taken her back to the house and left, she had been outside her room on the huge balcony that stretched across the house's wall. She had been looking out at the desert, thinking about what all needed to be done for Sunagakure…
And mostly how she could help…
She knew Gaara wouldn't let her…
Even if he did, she'd be like a puppy that was leashed to its owner. Where was the sense in that?
"If I can't help out there in those villages, perhaps I can do something else in here that would help," she thought as she watched the sun begin to sink lower and lower until there was barely any light left.
"One thing is for sure," she said as she lifted the apple up she held in her hand and took a bite from it, "I refuse to not be able to help. He'll just have to think of a way that I can be most helpful."
XxXxXxXxXxXx
"What a mess. You're in a bad situation, Gaara; that's for sure."
Kankuro had never been the "encouraging" one of the family.
In fact, was anyone in their family an "encourager"?
Gaara sighed as he and his siblings sat down on the couches in the family room to discuss what had happened the long hours they had been gone. "Just tell me what is going on," Gaara stated blandly. He didn't want this to be a long meeting where small talk was involved.
Kankuro finally spit out the information that Gaara had wanted to hear. "There are at least half of them that are leaving. That gives you only half of those townspeople to work with. The other half are moving on into Konoha, and the left over ninja from Konoha have agreed to help those who are moving by leading them to Konoha."
Gaara knew it...
Ever since their last war, which had been about a year ago, people had been complaining on how tough things had been for everyone. He had done his absolute best to try to rebuild the towns and to give them more than enough provisions for everyone, but since almost everyone knew about his past, most of them wouldn't give up the complaining which made things worse for the whole town by giving them empty hope.
Now, since this was their second war in less than a year, he knew people were not going to be thrilled about it.
Gaara sighed with frustration as he looked out to the window into the pitch black outside.
Maybe he was trying to get lost in it…
Unfortunately, it didn't work, for his other sibling had interrupted his time to daydream…
"Don't feel bad, Gaara. It wasn't your fault those people are leaving. You've done everything you can to make sure that they are all right, and if they can't understand that, than perhaps it is best that they left," Temari said optimistically.
So, maybe Temari, then, was the encourager…
Gaara grunted. Some "encourager" she was.
Back to staring at the pitch black nothingness that was outside…
"Gaara, maybe Temari and I can go back there tomorrow and tell them about your plans, since you do have plans, right, Gaara?"
"Hn."
Kankuro leaned forward towards Gaara. "And you were thinking about telling us them, weren't you, Gaara?"
"Hn."
Kankuro started to get frustrated. He glared at his brother persistently, determined to get information out of him. "Gaara, can we make this tonight?"
Gaara locked eyes with him. "Let me sleep on it," he said as he stood up, abruptly interrupting their meeting.
Kankuro stood up, as well, quicker than Gaara had. "Sleep on it? You don't even know how to sleep! Are you saying you don't have a plan on how to rebuild Suna yet? People are waiting for your orders. You don't have anything to say to them?"
Temari glanced at Gaara with concernment in her eyes. "He does have a point, Gaara. I mean, what are we supposed to tell them when we go out there?"
Gaara started to walk away to go into his room.
"Tell them 'soon'."
XxXxXxXxXxXx
Raxiel's eyes opened when she heard the loud noise of a door closing upstairs somewhere close to her room, causing the walls in her room to shake for an instant.
She looked around to see that she was on her bed…
She had fallen asleep without even knowing…
She had fallen asleep without her own permission…
"Darn it! I probably missed the whole meeting!" she thought as she quickly stood up and ran to her door to go out into the hallway. The hallway was pitch black. Raxiel could pick out that Kankuro and Temari's doors were propped open, while Gaara's was closed.
"Why did he slam his door?" Raxiel questioned to herself as she made her way downstairs to see if anyone was still awake. "Perhaps if Kankuro is still awake, he can explain what has happened."
As she walked into the family room, her eyes soon fixed onto a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman who was sitting on the couch… just staring at the floor. Raxiel took another step towards her, and the woman soon snapped out of her mesmerization. Quickly, she smirked at Raxiel. "So, finally we get to meet."
Raxiel's brain soon started to work, and an idea was revealed in her head. "Wait. Are you Temari, Gaara's sister?"
"Well well, good guess. I'm the oldest of the siblings, in case you couldn't tell," she said almost as if she was bragging about it.
Raxiel smiled at her genially. "It's nice to finally meet you. I understand that you went with Kankuro to one of the villages."
Soon, Temari's smirk faded. "Yes, that's right," she said, sighing with a bit of disappointment.
Raxiel smile soon faded, and her eyes turned into concernment. "What happened?"
"Nothing," came a familiar voice from the dining room entrance. Raxiel looked up, and Temari looked behind herself to see Kankuro leaning against the wall near the dining room entrance. His face held a bored expression. "We talked to a few people, got an estimate of how many were leaving and how many were staying, and left. That was all we could do."
"Yeah? So what's with the sad faces everywhere?" Raxiel asked curiously.
"Gaara still hasn't made any decisions about what we're to do next. Where we're to build homes, what we're to build it with, and how many we're to build. It's like his brain is in a jam," he replied.
"He did seem a little distracted though," Temari said, almost defending Gaara.
"Well, he'd better get undistracted, or he could lose even more of the townspeople."
"Wait," Raxiel interrupted their… "argument". "He's losing townspeople?"
Kankuro nodded with disgust. "All because they're all too selfish about the past. They're complaining about how they want their old homes back, and they want them back now. Since Gaara is still 'thinking' about his next plan of action, half of the people in that particular village are leaving Sunagakure for good."
Raxiel's eyes widened. She was shocked at the fact that half of the townspeople in that village were leaving…
Half…!
"What did he say when you told him about it?" Raxiel asked.
"He just said to tell the townspeople, 'soon'," Kankuro replied with no emotion. Quickly he got up and walked into the kitchen.
"Gaara's usually quick about thinking what to do. I wonder if he really does have something on his mind," Temari said, not really talking to anyone, but just saying it out loud so it was heard and notified.
Raxiel wondered the same thing…
It was unlike him…
XxXxXxXxXxXx
What they didn't know was that Gaara had heard every word they had said…
Every single one of them…
While he was lying on his bed…
He had been, for the past few months, trying to see what it would feel like if he tried to sleep. Ever since Raxiel had told him he should try, he had wanted to see if he could…
Apparently, tonight would not be the night…
The only thing he had done while he was trying to close his eyes was to overhear their conversation of him and his "slow decisions."
What had caused him to be so slow?
They actually were right. He had been having a lot on his mind the past few weeks, and the first thing on his mind was not how to rebuild Sunagakure…
Every time her image appeared, he'd curse at himself for letting her get in his mind instead of him concentrating on his immediate responsibilities.
He knew he had little time to figure out what would be best for Suna…
That's why he said he'd sleep on it…
Tonight, he was going to finish his plan…
And tonight he was going to have no interruptions of anyone…
No images…
Nothing that wasn't immediate…
So he started to concentrate on his country…
His land…
His…
Knock he heard from the door?
Gaara snapped out of his concentration to hear Raxiel outside his room. She was… gently yelling from outside the door. "Gaara? Can I talk to you? Are you busy?"
"Yes!" he snapped in his mind. "Why does she always interrupt me?"
"I think I need to talk to you…"
Need…?
What was this about?
Before he realized it, Gaara had unlocked the door and had replied, "Come in." She opened the door and… stood beside the door. Apparently, she was a little uneasy about coming into his room when it was so dark and they were alone. Gaara cursed at himself for saying that. "What do you need?" Gaara asked. He had walked a few feet away to give them space so they weren't so close.
"I just thought you should know that we -… as in, your siblings and I, are concerned about you."
Gaara almost rolled his eyes at her. "You shouldn't be," he stated bluntly.
"I know, but usually you always have the answer for everything, and this time, it's as though you don't have the answer. Is that correct?"
Gaara didn't like where this was going. She was finding all his faults, and it wasn't even taking her but ten seconds to pull them out of him. "Maybe…"
"You know, you could ask for someone else's opinion. It's not a crime to do that sometimes."
"It is when you have never done it before."
"Well then, if you can't do it, then I guess I'll move onto my other topic. I want to help rebuild Sunagakure."
Gaara sighed with frustration. "Raxiel…"
"Come on, Gaara! I'm serious! It doesn't have to be that I go out there where it's dangerous (since I know you don't like it when I do that). It can be helping you try to plan this darn rebuilding. I'll even be happy with that," Raxiel pleaded.
"She knows better," Gaara thought, surprised that she had not argued with him about going out there where it really was dangerous. In fact, the job she had asked for was so simplistic, he was almost afraid to give it to her. He was afraid for some reason that she was trapping him. But he knew he couldn't refuse the offer she had just given him, and if she would be content with that, than he'd take it. "You can help me with the planning of the rebuilding, but that's all I will give to you."
"I accept," Raxiel stated cheerfully.
Gaara didn't like that smile…
It looked mischievous…
Gaara watched as she started to walk down the hall towards her room. "Where are you going? We haven't even started planning."
"I'm going to sleep on it," Raxiel said sarcastically…
Gaara knew that tomorrow, someone by the name of Kankuro was going to regret having told her he had said that.
As Gaara shut his door, he couldn't help but smile as he pictured in his mind the way she had walked down the hall.
She had an easy-going way about her…
He only wished that she would always be the same…
Never change…
Red…
