Chapter 23

It's been three days since Kaito has been taken into custody; he was brought to a small holding cell as soon as he entered Suna. Normally he would have been sent to Hozuki Castle because of the severity of the crime, trying to kidnap a kage's wife and all, but Gaara wanted to interrogate him first to find out what he knows about the prophecy. He obviously knows a lot if he's willing to try multiple kidnapping attempts in less than a month, even willing to kill me over it.

He was willing to kill me, kill me if he couldn't fulfill the prophecy himself. Knowing that, it's hard for me to feel comfortable in Suna with him here. Gaara says I'm safe, that he's being watched every second of the day, but it's still scary. Hozuki Castle is supposed to be unescapable, I'd much rather have him there. I understand why Gaara wants him in Suna, at least for now, I want to know more about my prophecy too. But I also don't want Kaito here in Suna.

The shower shut off and Gaara soon emerges from the bathroom. We were both hoping it would calm him down, but I can tell that he's still frustrated. The longer Kaito takes to break, the longer he's in Suna. The longer he's in Suna, the more access he has to me. The more access he has to me the more stressed Gaara becomes. I quickly learned to stop asking if Kaito has said anything yet; it only frustrated Gaara more. Besides, if Kaito did say anything I'm sure there would be a big shift in Gaara's mood, either positive or negative, and he'd tell me himself.

Gaara sinks into bed with a heavy sigh. I immediately start massaging his shoulders to try to relieve the tension in them. I wish I could do more. I'm not a shinobi, I can't help with interrogating Kaito; though Gaara probably wouldn't allow me to go in the interrogation room even if I was. The only thing I can really do to help is help calm Gaara down as much as I can. I know he responds well to my touch so I've pushed to increase our contact each day, one way being I give him a massage before bed every night. It's been working for the most part, but I haven't been able to get him to calm down completely yet.

I pause from massaging him briefly to kiss the back of his neck and ask him how work was today. He only answered with another heavy sigh, "I don't want to talk about work tonight." Tough day. Must have been more than just Kaito; Gaara would at least talk about other parts of his day outside of him. I go back to focusing on giving Gaara a deep massage. Just like the other nights I sense the stress and frustration leave his body, a low level of happiness talking their place, but they don't leave completely.

This lasts for half an hour, me massaging his shoulders and periodically kissing the back of his neck, and he still hasn't completely calmed down yet. What can I do to make it a higher level of happiness? I feel like I should know the answer to that question, seems like Gaara knows just what to do to make me feel better. I might just be easy to please though. Still, it's been almost a month and I still don't feel like I know anything about him, only surface level stuff. The answer may not even to complicated and I could just ask.

"How can I help you feel better?" Once again, a heavy sigh leaves his lips and I hug him from behind, "I want to help." Gaara places his hands on top of mine, rubbing circles on them with his thumbs. He doesn't say anything immediately, I guess thinking of what he wants. After a long pause he answers, "I'm not sure how you could. I've usually had to soothe myself before; I'm not used to people helping me feel better." That…makes me kind of sad, however, I know what he means since I used to do the same before Gaara. It was so lonely though. I want to be for Gaara what he is for me.

What does Gaara do to calm me down? Hold me and help me breathe. Well he's not having a panic attack so the breathing one won't be any help, but I can hold him; I know he likes skin to skin contact. Would another massage help? I don't know if I could keep that up all night though, my hands are already starting to get tired. What's another form of contact we can do? Oh! He likes stroking my thighs and I'm wearing pretty short shorts right now that have perfect access.

I slip from behind him and stand in front of him giving him a wide smile; he responds by giving me a small grin himself that's quizzical in nature. In one swift move I sit in his lap, wrap my arms around his neck, and kiss his cheek. "You've always been so good at making me feel better, I want to do the same for you." I take his hand and place it on my thigh. Gaara snorts to this and leans down to whisper in my ear, "You're bold today." His hand slips up my shorts and settle on my ass giving it a squeeze, "Who knew a princess could so blatantly ask for sex."

After a gasp, I quickly burry my face in his chest. That wasn't what I was doing, I just wanted to cheer him up. I mean I wouldn't say no to sex but that's not what I was doing. Would sex help him feel better? I can hear Gaara chuckling from my spot, "There's my shy girl." I give an exasperated sigh then glare up at him; he was just teasing me again. I thought Gaara was upset, and yet he still has the energy to tease me. Well, I guess that means he's feeling better, still makes me mad though. And then I remember, I'm "cute" when I'm mad.

I lay my head back on his chest and close my eyes. Teasing me or not teasing me, I do like being in his arms. And based on Gaara's shifting mood, he likes holding me. I don't think I really mind the teasing anymore, not when right after I get to bask in the love he has for me. It makes being in his arms feel extra safe and warm. He's feeling happier as well and in turn that makes me happier. I can't believe plan put-Gaara's-hand-on-my-thigh actually worked.

I'm glad I could make him feel better. He does so much for me, he loves me so much, I just want him to always be happy. I wish I could permanently take all the stress of his job away but that isn't possible; the next best thing is to make him cheer up when he gets home. I love feeling his mood shift for the better; the happier he gets, the happier I get. And because Gaara can feel my emotions, the happier I get, the happier he gets. There's that echo chamber again.

I can hear his heartbeat from where I'm sitting; I drum my fingers to match it. The steady beat relaxes me, making me feel even safer, like proof that Gaara is fine and safe and real. It works with the happiness I feel off Gaara to foster the growing contentment I feel. In this moment I couldn't be happier. I'm starting to live for moments like these, becoming more addicted to them than Gaara's kisses. Gaara takes my hand, stopping the drumming, and brings my fingers to his lips, my heart swells. Yeah, definitely more addicted to this than kissing.

It's into the fifth day of Kaito being interrogated and, according to Gaara, they've gotten some things out of him but not a lot. I'm trying not to focus on it too much, instead going about my day as normally as I can. Well as normally as I could being a kage's wife. I don't think the novelty of who I am has worn off in the village yet; I feel like I'm being watched everywhere I go. And there's also the whispers. Do they think I can't hear them, or are they hoping I do, or do they just not care? Its frustrating either way and makes being in the village uncomfortable.

Just focus on grocery shopping Aiko, ignore everyone else and focus on shopping. I'm zoned out, going through the motions, it's why it was such a surprise when someone put their hand on my shoulder to catch my attention. I nearly jump out of my skin and whip around to see who had grabbed me. Based on my week I was surprised to see a woman standing in front of me instead of Kaito or one of his comrades. Gaara has been extra careful at announcing his presence just because of how jumpy I've been.

The woman standing in front of me was drop dead gorgeous. She had long, black hair that reached her waist; it shone brightly in the Suna sun. Her skin was as fair as Mother's; an amazing feat considering we're in the desert. Not only was she tall, a good four inches on me, but she was thin as well. Must be a shinobi, I can tell by how toned her muscles were; her exposed stomach even had a six-pack. She gave me a sickeningly sweet smile, but I knew better; her emotions exhibited nothing else but malice.

"Wow hello! I can't believe I get to meet you! How are you? How are you adjusting to Suna?" So she knows me, how and why are obvious, but I know nothing about her. Why didn't she at least introduce herself first? Very suspicious. What's her end game? Her questions seem innocent enough, but her current emotions say otherwise. I should limit my answers, I don't trust her.

"Oh, fine. I'm adjusting ok, just learning where everything is." The woman just nods her head with that same smile on her face. It feels like she didn't even care about what I was going to say based on how fast she resumed her questioning, "Great! And how is your marriage going? It must be strange being married while still being a kid." A kid? The age of majority is 16, I'm no longer a kid. Do people think I'm that young?

"Oh, it's fine. Not weird at all." I mentally slap my forehead; I should have corrected her about my age. I quickly add in, "I'm 17 by the way." She barely let me get that out before asking more questions, "How is your marriage to Gaara going?" I freeze and my guard comes completely up. Why would she ask that? And how close is she to Gaara that she can say his name so freely? Her curiosity increasing after asking the question only has me questioning her motives more.

"Our marriage is great." I trust her even less when I feel her anger at my answer, Seriously, who is this woman? For the first time during our encounter, she pauses her questioning, sizing me up instead. I try to keep a neutral face and not narrow my eyes at her. Finally she begins to speak again, "Its too bad your honeymoon was cut short. I mean it must have been terrifying being kidnapped like that." I freeze again, how does she know that? Gaara doesn't seem like the type to make that common knowledge. I'm sure she's a shinobi now; a regular citizen wouldn't be privy to that information unless the gossiping in this town is really that bad.

"Uh, yeah. Pretty scary." She nods, "Yeah I'm glad that I'm a shinobi and can protect myself; I'd feel like such a burden if my husband had to constantly protect me." I can't stop the glare I give her, I'm not a burden. She responds by quickly adding, "Oh! Not that you're a burden! I'm sure Gaara is fine about it. He's a pretty capable shinobi after all. I bet it barely affects him." I try to fix my face; based on the giddiness I feel coming off her when I glared, she must have felt like she won something. What, I'm not sure about yet.

Before I could answer another woman quickly came up to us, "Oh Lady Aiko! So glad you could meet me here!" What? Now who is this woman? This new woman has brown hair tied up in two buns. She has the tan skin I'd expect of someone living in the desert. She was concerned but I don't know why. "Sara. You were meeting Aiko?" I didn't miss the fact that she didn't use honorifics with me either; she's acting pretty familiar. The new woman, Sara, answered her, "Yep!" She then turned to me, "Lady Aiko, how do you know Himari?"

I turn back to the woman, so her name is Himari, before turning to Sara to answer her, "We just met actually." Well now I know her name at least. What I don't know is why she started talking to me, why she seems to hate me, and why sara is worried about me talking to her. Sara, still concerned, continues on, "Oh, well that's nice." She turns back to Himari, "Well we really do have to go." Next, she takes my hand and drags me out of the market.

Sara leads me further into the market, only letting go of my hand once we're a few stores down and have disappeared in the crowd. As soon as she does she starts bowing and apologizing, "I'm so sorry to grab you like that, I just wanted to get you away from her." She leans in to whisper to me, "I'm not sure if you know this but that's Lord Kazekage's previous fiancée." My face scrunches up; his last fiancé, so she's Himari Suzuki. No wonder she didn't give me her name, and her emotions and questions she was asking made more sense.

"I'm really really sorry." Oh, she must think I'm making this face at her. "Oh no, its fine. I'm glad you came and rescued me." Sara gave a sigh of relief, and I could feel the anxiety leave her body. For the second time today I'm asked how I am and if I'm adjusting to life in Suna, this time with zero malice involved. Its nice, exchanging pleasantries with her. People at the castle never would have talked so freely to me. But then the people at the castle know I can feel their emotions and didn't trust me because of it. I wonder how Sara would feel if she knew; should I tell her?

"I really am glad I got to meet you. You're sort of a local celebrity. One moment Lord Kazekage is off to help a treaty with the Land of Fish and the next he's married, and to a princess no less." So that explains all the whispering. I guess through other eyes the situation is pretty surprising. Still, its weird to be seen as so significant, but its also weird to be seen as a princess at all. "You really don't have to think of me as a princess. I mean I'm adopted so its not really by birthright."

I probably just fed the rumor mill, speaking of, I wonder what everyone is whispering about me. Sometimes I wish I could read minds instead of emotions but then I'd probably really be hated, I don't even Gaara would be ok with that. "Oh!" Sara quickly jumped back in, "But you are a princess. Your dad is a Daimyo, isn't he?" I just nod my head. I still feel like its different but I'm starting to wonder if anyone in the village will actually care about that.

Actually, I wonder what people are thinking of me at all. It's obvious Himari thinks of me, but if I'm a 'local celebrity' then everyone in the village is probably forming opinions about me as well. "What are people saying about me?" I feel like I need to know; get ahead of any rumors before they spiral out of control. Based on her shifting mood things may have already spiraled. "Oh…nothing really…." I wonder what 'nothing really' means; it could be anything and everything. I give her a look, "I want to know."

She fidgets a little and I don't need to read her emotions to tell she was uncomfortable, made me feel a little bad for even asking. She looks kind of young, probably more around my age than Gaara's or older. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't really know anything about her at all. Is this a habit with me? Did years of isolation really affect my socialization skills this much? Plus its probably uncomfortable for her to be around me, I could always hear the rumors from her later after she becomes more comfortable with me.

I can immediately see and feel her relief when I change the subject, "Actually what is there to see in Suna? I haven't really been around town enough to know where anything is. I've been to the market but that's it." She beams at me, "I know ALL the cool spots in Suna! I can show you around if you like." Ok good, I've gotten her to relax. I've also secured a tour of the village at the same time, and maybe I can even make a friend out of this. It is pretty lonely being cooped up in the house while Gaara's at work and reading can only occupy my time to a point. I smile at her, "That'd be great."