Chapter 35:
As Raxiel looked around her room, her mind started to race. It had been almost a week since the townspeople had done anything such as working on the other village that they were starting to build. She knew they were tired, but as more and more people heard the Suna was some-what rebuilt, more and more people started to come there, making the villages more and more crowded.
The working needed to continue, or else Suna would be back to the condition it was previously in…
Crowded…
"If the townspeople don't have any encouragement or inspiration, their hard work will probably start to slack," Raxiel thought as she sat down on her couch that was in her room. Her brain was exhausted from trying to think of a way to get Sunagakure rebuilt as soon as possible. The people just wanted their old homes back, but they were never going to get them if they didn't start working as hard as they could. They had been doing great the past few months, but Raxiel could tell "the heat was getting to them." Anybody could see something so clearly as that.
"What's a way to get their strength back…" she thought out loud to herself. Her eyes quickly gazed over towards the outer wall that led out to the balcony.
What was wrong, and what needed to correct it so it would be right?
XxXxXxXxXxXx
Few things can compare to Suna's cool wind blowing harshly in the hottest part of the day.
As Gaara leaned onto the railing of the balcony, he felt the wonderful feeling of the cool wind begin to blow his red-hair, making his body cool off only for a second. Somehow, as if by chance, every time the wind blew, no sand would pick up and travel along with it. Perhaps it was because the sand was much too dense to be picked up by the wind. Whatever the case, it made the wind almost like a blessing as the curse of the scorched sun beat down on Sunagakure.
Every day for the past few months, Gaara had walked down the balcony just a few steps closer to Raxiel's room. It was like that particular room was a magnet to him. He wasn't sure if it was just because Raxiel was using that room, or if it was because that room was also his father's when he was alive. When he was younger, he used to never want to go even near that section of the house. Too many horrible memories were brought back to him when he did. But now that Raxiel was in there, he started to wonder if that room was ever such a real nightmare or not…
He was having mixed emotions about it…
Today, he had walked all the way to it where he was just beside the windows to where he could see inside her room. The whole balcony looked the same; therefore, it was basically pretty absurd for him to be on the other side of the balcony from where his room was…
But he just couldn't resist…
He looked out towards one of the many deserts in his land. He was being tempted to look into her room, but he had just enough self-control to resist that action…
At least, until he heard a soft banging from her window…
Without thinking, as if it were instinct, Gaara turned around to look into her room. Gaara's eyes widened as he saw her by the window, forcefully smiling at him and waving to him as if saying, "hello" to him.
Just when he was hoping she wouldn't see him…
But then he noticed her hand motioned changed as if she was… inviting him to come inside…?
"No," he thought, "that wouldn't be right. She'd never do that…"
Surprisingly enough, she unlocked her door that led to the balcony and slowly began to walk away.
Gaara's eyes lit up with surprise. He knew that she always kept her doors locked just to be on the safe side, and her unlocking the door was… on purpose…?
Slowly making his way to the door, Gaara felt as if his legs were tied to the balcony where they could not make it to the inside of her room. After a few seconds of trying to get feeling back to his legs, he finally made it into her room, shutting the door behind him so that the cool air would not escape the room.
Gaara saw Raxiel lying on her couch. She looked exhausted from the way she was sagging into the couch; her legs were stretched out in front of her. Gaara slowly made his way towards her and stood in front of her, like a slave waiting for his orders from her.
He could not believe he was in her room… just staring at her without a word to say…
Finally, Gaara had enough courage to try to make a conversation. He turned his head to face one of the windows. "Fine weather, huh?" he said blandly.
…No response…
Gaara looked over at her to see she had an… awkward smile that was slipping more and more into a bigger smile.
Before he knew it, she was laughing hysterically.
Gaara couldn't think of what to do. All he had done was asked her a simple question, and he had gotten a huge laugh out of her. He thought the best thing to do now was to just leave… forget that any of this had happened to him.
But before he could, Raxiel had taken him by surprise by gently clutching his hand and pulling him towards the couch. Gaara looked over at her to see that she was still smiling, but this time it was more of her usual smile.
"Gaara, I didn't mean to burst out laughing. You just reminded me of something that had happened while you were here at Sunagakure and I was… somewhere else."
Konoha…
The mission…
What had happened?
Red Eyes had asked her the same question that he had just asked her. It was word-for-word… the exact same question. Raxiel had not found that question so humorous until he, Gaara out of all the people, had said it. Such coincidence that he would think of the question that had haunted her mind for all these months…
"Please, Gaara," she pleaded, trying to shake off the horrible memories, "sit down with me. I need to talk to you." She started pulling him again towards her and the couch.
The begging face that usual he accidentally put on was now on her face, but now that she was doing it, the same affects it always had on her were rubbing onto him. Obediently, he sat down and waited for her to talk.
Raxiel cleared her throat. Gaara soon caught on that she was getting sick from lack of sleep. "As you have noticed, or at least I hope you've noticed, the townspeople are getting a bit tired. I can't blame them; they've been working so hard for so long. But I think that since they have worked so hard for so long, we should do something as a… I guess you could say 'reward' for them. Anyways, what do you think?"
"A whole week without doing anything seems like enough of a reward for them," Gaara mumbled unemotionally. "Why should these people who have done nothing but complained get a reward? Isn't that bribing?"
Raxiel paused for a minute before she answered him, thinking of the right words to say. "Gaara, I know a lot of these people are a little… annoying. I know that they have not liked you in the past, or maybe they still don't like you. But hating them back isn't going to get you anywhere either. You'll end up like your father was, which I believe you told me was a cold-hearted, disrespectful man. Now if you want to take this a step further and try to gain the people's respect and trust, you are going to have to do stuff that you will not like and may think it's stupid, but in the end, those people's opinions about you might… just might change."
"And what if they don't?"
"Then you can call them fools," Raxiel said. Gaara quickly glanced at her to see her smiling. She winked at him as if to tell him that it would work. If he'd just be nice and courteous to the people, he knew at least a few of them would stop being such nuisances.
He'd just have to try…
"What do you have in mind?"
"Well, that's where I am stuck. I don't know what to do. These people need a night off where they can just relax and have fun, but I don't know what to do…"
Raxiel got up and started pacing back and forth in the room, closing her eyes and trying to think of what to do.
Gaara watched her as she moved back and forth…
Back and forth…
"Are you suggesting a party?"
Raxiel abruptly stopped, her eyes lightened up with excitement. "Gaara, how did you come up with something so clever like that?"
"…She's the one who needs the vacation," Gaara thought as he stood up and walked over to her. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Surprised myself, as well," he said almost sarcastically… but dully.
Raxiel smiled with cheerfulness. "What they need is a party where they can eat and hang out and talk. The kids could even come, as well; and there could be dancing… and –"
"And where are you going to get a place to do this?" Gaara asked, interrupting her happy thoughts.
Raxiel's smile slid away. After a minute of thinking, Raxiel hesitantly started to answer his question. "Well, we could use your house… -"
Gaara's widened. "You'd have to be half-crazy to make me believe we could fit so many as two-thousand people in here."
"Gaara, not everyone will come at the same time. It'll be a come for as long as you want when you want party. It would be good for the townspeople both to help get their hopes up and to let them know that you do care about their lives. The townspeople probably do like to have a party every now and then. It just makes people's attitudes more cheerful."
"She has gone crazy," Gaara thought, thinking about how this whole idea of hers would work out in the end. "I don't know…"
"Come on, Gaara! We won't know unless we try."
"She has a point," he thought, now realizing he really had no choice but to say yes to this whole concoction. "You have two weeks to plan it, Raxiel. Don't waist money either. We're going to need it for the other villages we'll be building right after this… bribery."
Raxiel smile grew wider as Gaara started to pretend to storm out the room. Really though he was not mad at all. He almost thought that the sound of a party would do everyone some good, even Raxiel and he.
If she was happy about it, he'd have to be happy about it…
Besides, if she was planning it, what could go wrong?
