Chapter 26

I don't want to get up, not after last night. After the living room and another movie, we talked more. We were both laying in bed, unable to sleep again although it was Gaara's anxiety keeping us up this time. He finally told me, after some light coxing, about his past. About who he was before. It made me sad, the pain he must have felt. And I could feel how vulnerable he felt telling me. I ended up telling him about my own past, about the abuse I faced and how I actually came here.

I even told him my name. No one here knows my original name. When I first came here I kept quiet, huddled in a corner in my given room. Mother had to give me a name out of necessity and I gladly embraced it. Embraced the new identity and completely erased Linnette from my identity and hid her away in the back of my mind. And now it was five years later and she came up again. I never wanted her to come out again. I don't want to, but its 6:30 which means Gaara is getting up and I feel like I have to get up with him. I don't want the morning to end the way it ended last night. I don't want the past to sour our mood for today.

But why does he have to get up so early? Its torturous. Stupid Kazekage duties. Its like being back in the palace again. I sit up when I hear the bathroom sink turn off, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. When Gaara enters the room I give him a tired smile, "Morning." He still has a blank face on from last night, I still sense anxiousness coming from him. Talking last night helped but he's still upset about 'past Gaara', but at least now I feel more confident in how I can help.

"Good morning." He even sounds different than he usually does. Tired, but not in the cute way he did on our honeymoon. No, he sounds exhausted and beat up. It doesn't suit his normally calm and confident demeaner. I walk behind him while he's changing into his clothes and hug his back before he puts his shirt on. I can feel him stiffen and relax in my arms, and his emotions soften and turn from mute to slightly positive. Not completely ok, but better than before; definitely better than yesterday.

I place small kisses up and down his spine, "You're amazing." Gaara hums and places his hands on mine. We stand there for awhile before he pulls away from me, "I have to get ready." I nod then just stand there watching him while he finishes getting dressed, I don't know what else to do. His emotions aren't saying "upset" anymore but he's not not upset, I can tell. I rack my brain trying to figure out what to say when I feel him kiss my forehead then place his on mine, "I'm fine."

Fine? That's not really true, is it? He stands up straight and his arms wrap around me in a tight embrace. When I look up at him I see that his eyes are closed and he has a calmer, less monotone look on his face. Maybe he is feeling better. Again, we stay like this for a moment before he looks down at me, "Holding you like this makes me feel better." Really? Hugging him is all I need to do to comfort him? Maybe, he does like touching me. I guess I kind of knew that deep down.

After another peck on my forehead Gaara pulls away from me and we both walk into the kitchen, settling into a routine we sometimes found ourselves in when I get up with him. Gaara showers and I get up and make breakfast for us. All this practice at making breakfast, lunch, and dinner has at least made me a more competent cook. I've moved on from rice porridge and miso soup to trying tamagoyaki and forming onigiri. I am, however, still not good at making either dish properly yet. Gaara doesn't seem to mind enough to complain at least. Or maybe he's humoring me.

After breakfast Gaara put on his Kazekage robes, telling me he was going to be home late today, and getting ready to leave. I was hugging him goodbye when I remembered I made plans with Sara today and wanted to invite her over. "Oh um, Gaara?" He smiled down at me and kissed my forehead, making a small noise to say, 'go on'. "I made a friend in the market and we were going to meet up today at noon, would it be ok if I invited her over for tea?" His face showed the confused emotions he was feeling; at least he's showing emotions on his face again. "You don't need to ask me to invite friends over. This is your house as well." With one last hug and kiss goodbye Gaara left without giving me time to say anything else, or really even take in what he said to me. That's that, I guess.

I was about to leave to meet Sara when there was a knock on the front door. What I'm greeted with is a large ornate wooden wardrobe with carvings of herons socializing in rice fields, stained in various colors offset with gold hardware and trimmings. Deep blue seems to be the main color of the furniture, the main color of the Land of Fish and the castle back home. The wardrobe is so large it just fits the dimensions of the door with an equally large tarp set on top of it, previously protecting it from travel I presume.

I try get the attention of whoever is behind it, "Um, hello?" There's a short pause before I get an answer back, "Lady Aiko, you have a delivery from your father in the Land of Fish." Father? I recognize the voice as one of the ninjas that accompanied Gaara and I on our honeymoon, Isamu. I stand there confused for a moment before I remember to invite them in. "Oh! Please come in!" I step aside leaving the door as far open as possible to accommodate them.

I'm left even more confused as fifteen other chests of various sizes and wrapped presents come along inside with the wardrobe. I find myself having to quickly instruct where to place everything as they came in becoming even more confused as each present comes in. "What is all this?" I speak directly to one of the delegates I recognize as being from the castle. He answers promptly, "It's your wedding trousseau princess." Oh right, Gaara and I got married so quickly that my parents didn't have time to prepare a proper one before the wedding. Did they have to go all out like this though? It feels overboard. I hope I don't look too spoiled.

As quickly as they came all the people bringing in the gifts left leaving me to deal with my trousseau scattered all over the living room. What am I supposed to do now? I can't just leave the living room a mess like this but I'm already running a few minutes behind. I could practically hear Mother scolding me about my tardiness, but I also don't think I could relax leaving everything so disorganized. I try to at least set everything up against the wall and out of the way, careful to put heavier things behind and under the lighter. There was one box that was really heavy and sounded like it was full of swishing water but I didn't have the time to inquire further, I just set it off to the side on it's own. After the entire detour I was running close to twenty minutes late. Great.

Not only was I running late, but I got lost too. Great. Great. Great. Sara's going to think I'm a rude flake. How could I even have gotten lost? Her directions to the library seemed so clear when she gave them to me; honestly, I should have written them down. I really am awful when it comes to directions, preferring to stick to memorized routes. I think I may have been walking in circles for the past two blocks, all these buildings look the same.

After having to ask two different people's directions I finally made it to the library all of forty minutes late. I spot Sara but she's with two other women. One of the women is tall nearly Gaara's height if not matching, has fair skin, and dark red hair. The other women had long black hair hanging just past her shoulders, also sporting fair skin, and was a little taller than Sara; and since Sara and I are the same height that meant she was a little taller than me. I wonder who they are.

When I walk up to them, I immediately start apologizing for being late explaining that I got a delivery, though didn't say it was my trousseau in fear of seeming like I'm bragging, and then got lost. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." Feeling their emotions turn from annoyed to calm was somewhat relieving, but the rad head's emotions never changed. That was a little bit unnerving. I understand being upset, I am forty minutes late, but I don't know how else I can apologize though.

Sara tried to make me feel better, "Its ok, the whole point of today is that you don't know where everything is." The woman with black hair spoke up next, "Yeah, we really should have come and gotten you when we noticed it was taking a while." That's reassuring but red-head is still pretty annoyed. I guess I can't blame her, I must seem pretty rude right now. I wonder if I could get back on her good side again, I would love to have more friends here instead of being cooped up at home.

Sara elbows her in her side to get her to start talking, "Yeah, no problem." I didn't need to feel her emotions to tell she didn't mean it. There was an awkward air around us that Sara tried to laugh away, "Don't mind Akane, she's just upset she couldn't show you off to her little sister." Show me off? Is that really necessary? I can't be that much of a commodity around town. Akane huffed and crossed her arms, "Homura thinks she's so great because she made chunin recently. Meanwhile I get to meet the antisocial princess and she has the nerve to call me a liar."

I bristle at the name; everyone thinks I'm antisocial? Sara is quick to chide her but Akane presses on unphased, "What?! I mean she is. It's been 19 days and the only time she's gone out of her house is to get married and go to the market." Oh. So that explains all the whispering the other day. And I did want to know what people were saying about me, but maybe not as bluntly. I also can't say the gossip has no bearing, I haven't really gone out of the house. I didn't know I was expected to but I guess it makes sense that I can't behave in Suna like I would at the castle.

Sara and Akane are arguing now, about what to say and not say to a princess. I just let them go on, I'm not used to interjecting myself into conversations. Actually now that I think about it, that has changed with Gaara. A lot of my behavior changed since I met him, especially my feelings for him and how I would have normally reacted to it. I fell for him so quickly and that just doesn't seem like me. It took me three months to warm up to Mother and double that to Father. I even had to warm up to Oda and he was five. I wonder why I gave in so quickly to him though.

They argue back and forth before I remembered there was a fourth person standing here; black haired girl. She seems quiet too, or at least she hasn't done much to stop the two of them. I wonder if Sara or Akane will notice that we haven't been introduced yet. Well I haven't really been formally introduced to Akane either. After a minute or two I realize they completely forgot about us. What should I do? I guess introduce myself.

I look at the other woman and gave a small wave, "Hello, I'm Aiko. It's nice to meet you." She blushes at me for a moment then smiles warmly back at me, "Hi, I'm Chiaki. How are you liking Suna so far?" Now that Akane has brought it up, I don't know if I'm really qualified to answer whether I like it here or not. I'm also out of practice when it comes to small talk but I should at least try. I just have to pretend I'm talking to Gaara except when he isn't trying to get under my skin on purpose.

"Oh, it's nice. It's a lot warmer than the Land of Fish." I heard a loud laugh from my side, "Hah!" I look over to see Akane stifling a laugh, "If you think its hot now wait until we hit spring and summer." Oh? Well how hot can it get? Back home the warmest it'd get is 22C, but I bet it'd get hotter in the desert. I mean its almost 22C now. As if reading my mind, Akane went on, "We get around 28C to 30C in spring and 38C in summer, sometimes over 40C."

What?! Over 40C? I didn't pack anything that would be good enough for that kind of weather. And I thought I came so prepared; how could I be so wrong? Well maybe I'll be all right, I did pack short sleeves but the fabric is heavy. I also didn't bring or ask for all my clothes, just the cooler ones, maybe I can ask Gaara for some shopping money. I'll probably need some new pajamas as well, especially since I've gotten used to sleeping in his arms. He already runs hot and his body heat radiates like a furnace. I can already imagine what Gaara would say if I asked for cooler pajamas, 'The heat will be more bearable if we're both naked' or something like that.

"So do you have any summer clothes or is what you're wearing all there is?" Again Sara chides Akane for how she's framing things to me. It really isn't necessary; I prefer the way Akane is speaking to me. Besides Gaara, and I guess Kankuro, everyone I've met has spoken to me formally; this feels more like friends talking to each other instead of like I'm a princess or the Kazekage's wife. I smile and softly shake my head no, "I don't have any other clothes. I guess I didn't come as prepared as I originally thought."

"Do you have any places in mind for the tour?" Chiaki's question surprised me, I was so focused on Akane and the weather that I forgot why we were here. I'm also surprised she was the one who asked, it was like she was a teacher trying to keep students on track. I was sure she was more like me, but maybe she's more quiet than shy. I softly shake my head no and try to pick the words of my answer carefully, "I'm not really sure of the layout of Suna at all."

Akane threw in an idea for me, "I vote the market for shopping.", although it was immediately shot down by Sara, "We can't go today, there are outsiders here making trades. My brother would only let you two tag along if we kept out of trouble. He says he doesn't want his job to get harder today." Huh? Job? "Your brother? Why would his say matter?" Sara made a surprised gasp, like she said something she wasn't supposed to. Nervousness took over her emotions.

"Ah…well…." I wait patiently for her answer, smiling to try to reassure her. "My brother is Kenta, Kenta Takahashi." I think I've heard that name before, "He's the ninja tasked to guard you." Oh yeah, I remember him from our honeymoon. I also figured that Gaara had someone hidden nearby to guard me while he was at work; it would probably be hard to focus on his duties and focus on my safety as well. I just wish he would have told me, or maybe I should have asked.

"I know what it looks like but I promise Gaara didn't ask me to befriend you." Is that why she's nervous? I know that already. I doubt Gaara would try to set up a 'chance meeting' like that to trick me; he would most likely just bluntly tell me that he set up a potential friend for me,if he would set something up for me in the first place. He especially wouldn't do that when that meeting would involve his ex-fiancée. She still leaves a sour taste in my mouth when I think about her and Gaara seems to really not like her.

I shake my head and hands no so she doesn't get the wrong idea, "Oh, I wasn't thinking that at all." Almost immediately that nervousness turned to relief, "Oh that's great!" Sara smiled back at me, "I'm allowed to take you anywhere on the south side and center of the village, away from traders." I nod back at the instructions. Protect me from traders hmm? I guess that makes sense but now that I now they're here and that's how Suna get's its goods I'm starting to want to see how it all works.

They took me around the village, careful to stay away from trading routes. The whole walk took about two hours, and I did get to learn a bit about Suna, I just doubt I'll actually remember where everything is just from one tour. Like I said, I'm really terrible with directions and prefer memorize routes. Well I guess that's more of a reason to go out more and hopefully loose this antisocial label that was placed on me.

After the tour we had tea for three hours, or really they grilled me for two hours. I feel like they learned more about me in three short hours than Gaara and I have learned about each other in a month. Once they left I was able to breathe a sigh of relief, I'm really not used to talking to people for so long. Gaara's become one of the people I'm most comfortable around and even we are a bit quiet with each other. Most nights it's a late dinner then bed and on the weekends we spend most of our free time reading next to each other. Still quality time, but quiet quality time.

I feel completely drained after spending so much time with Sara, Akane, and Chiaki. And I still have the stupid trousseau to sort through and deal with! Seriously why did my parents send so much stuff. And am I really whining about presents? How spoiled have I become? Its just frustrating how much work I have to do now. I'll wait for Gaara to get home before starting, I bet he'd help. He would probably be happy to. The only thing I really want to deal with now is that one heavy box with suspiciously swishing water inside.

It's a beautiful wood lacquer box. There are herons in rice fields painted on the side; the imagery being a running theme with all the packages. When I take a closer look, I see there is a lock on the chest. GREAT! There has to be a key in the smaller boxes but which one? Looking around I find that every one of these boxes have locks. Ok what now? I tug on the locks to see how heavy they are; too heavy for me to have any hope of breaking them, but I guess that's the point.

I start searching the living room and hallway, I must have missed something somewhere that would have held the key. I looked up, around, and under everything and nothing came up. Ok, just start thinking like my parents. Where would they hide the key and where would they think I'd look? Or if not that, where was the only place I hadn't looked? The only thing I could think of was the wardrobe sitting in the middle of the room; it was the only thing that was too heavy for me to move. It also, conveniently, is the only thing without a lock. This has to be it; it better be it.

I open the ornate closet and the first thing I see are two yukatas and two kimonos for, what I'm assuming, any festivals in Suna. The yukatas were printed cotton that were airy enough to keep me cool in the summer months. One yukata had our local Ise ebi lobsters that looked like they were dancing in a stream. The other was a soft pink and white flower print on a dark blue background. Simple but beautiful prints.

The kimonos are both simple and yet elaborately embroidered; one was a soft orange color and the other a dark red color matching Gaara's hair color. The imagery was surprisingly different from all the lacquered boxes, instead showing a desert scene with muted pinks, greens, yellows, and browns. I can only assume the plants and animals depicted are the native flora and fauna of the Land of Wind. It was the first thing that truly showed that they completely accepted this wedding.

The wardrobe was divided into an open hanging space where the yukatas and kimonos hung and three drawers sitting on the floor. Inside the drawers were the accessories for the yukatas and kimonos and, thank goodness, some actual summer clothes that would fit the Suna climate. On the doors there were hooks with various simple bracelets and necklaces and, yes finally, a gold key on a chain. I can finally open that suspicious chest. "What are you doing?"