Hope you enjoy the much awaited update.
Posted on February 12, 2016.

Chapter 8

A King Before His Queen

"Naru… to…" Shikamaru shot up and drew back rapidly. He rubbed his eyes and white spots covered his vision from the rough action. "Fuck…" His breath stuck in his throat. The man had woken up into the night to the sight of two piercingly blue orbs staring at him lifelessly. Hs first thought – she's dead. "No, she's still breathing," he noticed. Naruto was lying on her side breathing evenly, slightly curled up.
She was sleeping with her eyes open.
Instructions that all curtains must be left open were given so the guard on the terrace noticed Shika's bewilderment and got suspicious, reaching for his kunai. No, Shika did not want to get Naruto into trouble, so he reached out a hand and just when he was an inch away from her arm, feeling the warmth radiating from her skin which might he add was a bit intense, she breathed in suddenly and deeply and rolled onto her other side.
The guard was still looking. Shika pretended he was covering her with the blanket to sneak a glance at her face.
Eyes closed. Even breathing. Good.
He adjusted his pillow as if nothing had happened, put a hand underneath it and went to rest his head upon it. Then he stopped.
Did he… just see that?
Shika quickly threw a glance at the guard. He was signaling the others that everything was fine.
On the side of the bed Naruto was sleeping on, there was a night table.
On the night table, there was a kunai.
In the reflection of the kunai, Shikamaru saw red eyes glowing into the clear night, staring at him. But after he blinked subconsciously, the girl was sleeping again. Pain surged through his body and he shot up and got the kunai from the night table while the guard was still not looking. Shika went to put it on the night table on his side, but then decided to store it under his pillow. The guard moved his attention back to the room. He hadn't seen the man's actions. Shika closed his eyes and layed still, pretending he was asleep.
No, he did not fall asleep anymore that night, gripping the kunai underneath his pillow.

xxx

"Hey," Temari greeted her older brother. "Have you seen Gaara?"
"No, I thought he was with you."
"No. Haven't seen him today." They exchanged a glance. It was unlike Gaara to be late, he was always punctuate as hell and without saying a word more, they boh went down the hall for his apartment. In front of the door stood two guards. The situation was serious as Gaara never let any guards around his place no matter where he was visiting and despite the assuring that surveillance was a must.
"Has the Kazekage left his room already?"
"No," responded one of the guards in front of the big wooden door. "He has not gone out whatsoever since last night."
The two siblings locked eyes. Kankuro stepped forward, "Let me go inside." The same guard crossed his way,
"I'm afraid we have been instructed to not let anyone in." It would've been fine if the guy had said it in a usual voice, but his response was laced with cockiness and confrontation which enraged Kankuro. He stared at the guard from below his brows,
"Let. Us. In. We're his siblings. We want to talk to our brother."

"Hmph," the cocky shinobi grinned, "Maybe for something-something in exchange from the pretty lady behind you…"
"You damn bastard!" Kankuro was just about to jump the man when a loud thud was heard from inside the room. Taken aback, the two guards grabbed their kunai and kicked the door open as more guards rushed and took stance in front of the door. The siblings used the opportunity and snugged in with the fuss covering the previous restrain. Much unexpectedly to everyone, the room was empty and scaringly quiet. A shinobi came back form the bathroom signaling that the place was empty as well. The guard from the neighboring roofs and the terrace signaled that they haven't noticed anything unusual and took their stance in front of the big French windows. Goose bumps struck everyone in the room and the silence got even heavier.
Gaara's red coat was stretched onto the bed. The two guards from in front of the door exchanged a glance and the one Kankuro was just about to jump found himself obligated, under the heavy stares of his comrades, to be the one to inspect it. Gulping, he stepped forward cautiously, kunai in hand, recapping jutsus in his mind in a desperate anthem should it be necessary to fight a Kage. Fear snaked its cold hand and clutched at his throat. With slow steps he reached the bed and extended a hand in front to reach for the coat. He began shaking and fright shot through his body, swallowing not knowing why. The shinobi reached down a shaking hand. His orbs were wide, his action was rapid as he pulled the coat away. There was nothing more there than a meesy bed. The guy sighed with relief and the heavy silence suddenly lifted as people started whispering and commenting among each other. Temari shook her head as an answer to the pending question in her older brother's eyes – she didn't know what was going on either.
The shinobi by the bed sighed and then laughed to himself for his own stupidity to get so hyped up over nothing.
And then.

He froze.
As he was just about to dismiss the whole thing as a misunderstanding and brush off the screaming waves of fear, in the reflection of the window he saw a silhouette and in his head rang the most devious, blood-freezing and menacing laughter. His breath stuck in his throat.
"I beg your pardon for the messy room, everyone," Gaara's deep voice spread around the room and everyone turned to him taken aback, most of them with a gasp, someone even jumped in surprise but was quick to return to their shinobi mode. The Kazekage was by the door of the bathroom in his black pants, sandals and black shirt. Messy red hair adored his pale face and piercing teal eyes that made the heavy feeling from before settle back in the room. The shinobi that had checked the bathroom stared at him incredulously and shook his head at his comrades questioning and somewhat blaming glances, denying any guilt and hoping he was sane.
"I did not expect any visitors, let alone so many," voiced Gaara calmly and off-handedly, while placing a pouch with kunai and shuriken around his waist. "Has something happened?" The question was polite and unsuggesting. No one answered. As Gaara looked up from the pouch around his waist, he nailed the guard by the bed with his teal eyes, as if holding and controlling him by the sheer power of his gaze. Soft clicks were heard as he slowly and calmly made his way to him. Gaara stood in front of the guy, hands crossed behind his back, a void expression on his face. He and the guy were around the same height, but as this man of power stood before the guard and looked him down in the eyes, the Kazekage seemed giant and almighty. The guard got the same wave of shivers like before.
"I believe this is mine," uttered the young kage, not separating his eyes from the guy as he tugged on the coat gently. The guard's hands fell lifelessly beside his body and let the piece of clothing go. His lips were parted, eyes wide with fear as he was still held by these teal eyes. He wanted to look away.
He forced himself to.

But couldn't.
A tremendous second more passed by and Gaara turned around, went for the door and in the swiftest and most gracesful of manners swung the blood-red coat behind him, sliding in his right arm first, then the other one in. If he has seemed powerful before, his appearance and swift movements called for even more respect. He was the Kazekage, both in power and in presence.
The guard just continued to stand there. Frozen. His comrades stared at him and then back at the Kazekage wonderously. The ones that knew him had never seen the cocky shinobi so obedient and fear-struck. Gaara buttoned up his coat just as gracefully. The buttons clicked loudly around the room and the piece of clothing hugged his frame perfectly. Tilting his head to the side, he stared at the shinobi from over his shoulder,
"And I will ask you to be so kind as to refrain from such rude comments and suggestions directed at my sister or any lady at all, for that matter," he tilted his head slightly. "Am I clear?"
The shinobi only nodded. "Y-… Yes."
Gaara narrowed his eyes, "Good."
The redhead finally looked at his siblings and they snapped out of the situation, coming to him.
"Hokage-sama asked for your presence, Gaara," said Temari. "At her office." The young Kage nodded. They directed for the door. The other of the two guards that were standing from in front of the door rushed for his comrade and shook him by the shoulders,
"Oii, Taka-san, you okay man? What's gotten into you!"
Taka pushed the other away and grunted, "Get the hell off of me, Takeshi," he glared with hatred at the door and hissed through his teeth, "Stupid cunt, getting me into trouble!"
Gaara stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the guard from over his shoulder, eyebrows furrowed.
From their perspective, everyone in the room saw Taka the guard suddenly clutching his throat and collapsing to the floor in screams and pleading for someone to "get him off me!" as no one actually knew what he was talking about and didn't know how to help him.
From his perspective, Taka the guard saw the Kazekage turn around to face him with a furious expression, his eyes blood red, his mouth split up in a wiiide grin with long canins adoring it. The redhead launched at his throat and split open his flesh with long tearing claws, knocking him down to the floor, screaming in horror for help.
It was all in his head.
"Taka-san, what has gotten into you!" His comrades rushed to his side. "Taka, snap out of it! There's nothing there!"
As the man was still screaming and trashing on the ground, the Kazekage was standing still, staring at him without blinking. Killing intent and manace was sensible all over the room but yet Gaara didn't move at all. A small curl stretched his lips from one side. Temari noticed it was her little brother that was doing something and gripped his arm,
"Gaara, stop it," she hissed through gritted teeth, not wanting to get him into trouble.
Gaara suddenly snapped out of it and looked around, surprise evident in his eyes but he quickly took hold of himself and went back to his usual unemotional and stoic self.
The guard stopped screaming and coughed, gripping his throat, trying to breathe in some air but still ckocking in horror.

"MONSTER!" He shouted, pointing at Gaara with a shaking hand, still sitting on the floor, his comrades kneeling by his sides. "HE'S A MONSTER, I'M TELLING YOU!" He looked madly to his comrades with wide eyes, seeking support and assurance from them. They, however, stared at him blankly, not knowing what he was talking about. "He's a monster, didn't you see what he just did?! Restrain him!"
"Shush, Taka-san!" an older shinobi scolded him and pushed his pointing arm down, pressing it to his body, "you're not very wise to be talking that way to someone superior to you, let alone a Kage!"
Taka stared at them incredulously and protested.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Tsunade's demanding voice rang around the room. "What is this all about!"
Like an insane maniac before his salvation, Taka tore out from the shinobi around him, "Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!" He crawled to the woman, "Hokage-sama! The mons-" One of Tsunade's ANBU guards, the Eagle, shot forward and put a sleeping seal on the man's forehead. "The m…ons..ter… he…" Taka fell to the floor and lost consciousness. His comrades were quick to prop him up by his arms and carry him out of the room under Tsunade's angry and wondering gaze, arms on her hips.
"Nomo, Chan!" Tsunade addressed two of the guards inside the room, "your reports on what happened here by noon."
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
"Kazekage," Tsunade stared at Gaara, "I've been awaiting you in my office for quite awhile now. Please be so kind as to finally join me," she said and went out of the room with her heels clicking on the floor.
Gaara followed.
And the well known scent graced his nostrils again.
He quickened his pace.
And breathed in the sweet scent deeply.

xxx

Shikamaru rubbed his head, half-asleep feeling that the pain from the hit was coming back. His hand rested on his forehead and he tried to doze off again when he shot up on the bed and looked around the room. Shit, he had fallen asleep. Shit, Naruto was not there. Shika grabbed his pouch and shot out the room. Throwing back a quick glance, even the guard that used to be on the terrace was missing. He limped over to the kitchen where the calming smell of toasted bread was coming from.
"Naruto?" He propped onto the door. Naruto had her back turned at him doing something on the counter and and jumped startled when he called her.
"Oh!- Fuck!" She hissed as she spilled some hot tea on her abdomen. "Tsk. A bit too sneaky in your own home, huh", she took a towel to try and clean herself but decided to take off the shirt all together.

"And you're not very ninja-like", was Shika's response as he gently threw a clean shirt for her to catch and put on. "Never let your guard down and expect the unexpected, remember? The good old academy lessons."
"Old but gold."

"True."
Shika went to sit on a chair by the counter but did not miss to sneak a glance at her abdomen – the seal was not visible. That somehow calmed his worries a bit.
"So," he propped a hand under his chin to support his head in his usual position, "what's for breakfast?" He asked a bit jokingly but enthusiastically. "Doesn't smell like your usual ramen."
"Because it's not and my ramen is delicious, thank you very much," the girl pretended she was pouting as she handed him a plate with toasts, cheese, butter and jam. "Thought that since I wounded you, I can at least help you around the house a bit," she tried to let out jokingly but her voice was laced with guilt and she was quick to turn around and go wash the dishes. Shika looked around and noticed that the laundry was taken care of, the mess around was cleaned and it looked everything seemed clean. He looked back at her doing the dishes and the way her blonde hair fell in waves onto her back. She was beautiful and he knew, how could he not know it. She was his closest friend but at that moment he could not help but wander what it would had been like, if they turned out to be more than friends… maybe in some other lifetime. She was his sister and he would make sure that she is with a man that loves her and treats her like a queen. "Naru… you shouldn't have. You know the cleaning lady will come today."
She shrugged her shoulders, "It's not a big deal. Besides, I had to busy myself with something. I couldn't sleep."
Thoughts about last night and the reflection of the red glowing eyes in the kunai creeped again into Shikamaru's mind. He needed to talk to her about everything that happened in the last few days, but did not know what to say or better – he did not know whether he should say anything.
"The door is right there," said Naruto and the young man was taken a back from his thoughts. She was still by the sink doing the dishes and he was just about to ask what she was talking about, when he noticed the two shinobi standing by the window inside the living room where they must have gotten inside through. Just a few minutes ago he had given her a lecture not to let her guard down and now he did not sense the intruders in his own home.
The two shinobi came in closer and ignored her remark, "Namikaze-Uzumaki, you've been summoned to the Hokage."
"Okay," she answered casually, drying a fork and looking absolutely uninterested despite their official tone of speech. After a few seconds of silence in which she dried a few more forks and spoons, she looked at them from below her brows, "Why are you still here?"
The guard shifted awkwardly, "You need to come with us."
"I will come when I get ready," she walked away to place some of the clean plates in a cabinet above the fridge.
"Hokage-sama has requested that you be taken to her at once and under surveillance."
Naruto shut the door of the cabinet loudly and walked abruptly to them and glared daggers,
"I don't believe she said that. Show me the written order."

A bit too haughtily, the shinobi nearly slapped the piece of paper in her face. He was not lying. There it was, black on white. The surveillance part was even underlined. Naruto felt betrayed and wrinkled her nose in anger. She could feel the shinobi's eat-shit grin under the mask for proving her wrong and she wanted to punch him, kick him, claw his eyes out and tear his skin, pull his hair out-
"Naru." Shika's soft voice took her back and she almost choke on the air she had been holding in. She loosened the fists she had subconsciously tightened. Shikamaru was now standing beside her – when did he come – and looked worried. Worry overtook her as well – where did all this anger come from, so sudden and so smashingly powerful?
"Very well," she shrugged the little episode off, hoping that the two intruders had not noticed but knew that had already happened by the way they exchanged a glance, "I will respect the Hokage's order and come with you. Just give me a minute to take my stuff."
She went off for the bedroom. The blonde took the shirt off, folded it neatly and left it on the bed. She put on her usual ninja clothes, strapped on her pouches and quickly breaded her hair and let it fall onto her back.
Behind her, the door opened with a soft click, "Do you want me to come with you?"
"No, Shika. I'll be fine. You stay here and take care of yourself." She passed him by quickly putting on her jacket without looking at him. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around, then locked eyes with her, staring her down. There was no need to say anything.
"I'll be fine. I'll come back later."
Shikamaru did not find this very believable but under the guards' gazes, he could not say or do anything more, so he just nodded and let her go.
"Be careful, Uzumaki."
"Huh", was the response and the Nara was too late to turn around before they had left the house to see the girl.
But he hoped and wished that it was his imagination that made that single chuckle sound like the ones she let out when she went berserk.
But somehow, be it fear or a common-occuring pattern already, he somehow knew his hopes were in vain. The guards that were left around the house did not let him exit and he stayed in his home, waiting.

xxx

Naruto was walking down the streets to the Hokage building, one guard in front of her and the other behind her. She held her head up high. She looked like a criminal being escorted and it stugk her to realize that it was exactly what she was. And what – these two were supposed to uphold her in the case of need? Was that how weak the old hag thought she was?! The sudden wave of anger hit her again and she stopped dead in her tracks. The shinobi in front of her stopped and turned around, "Move," he ordered, the other one pushed her from behind and that was the last drop. The shinobi sensed the intent and one went to hit her chakra points, the other drew out a kunai and attacked her. She dodged and put one in a headlock, then slapped the kunai away from the other and grabbed him by the collar drawing him an inch away from her face, as she formed a sign with her free hand,
"Fying Thunder God Technique," she hissed and the crazed-out expression on her face left the guard that was staring at her more breathless than the teleportation jutsu did.
They landed on the round top of the Hokage office building which, ultimately, was the highest building in the village. If you have not experienced the fourth Hokage's transportation technique, you WILL feel nausea and will be disorientated. The two shinobi looked just like that and had trouble supporting themselves when Naruto let them go. She spun the kunai on her finger and pinned both their sleeves onto the metal surface.
"Here, hold onto this," she spat out and grabbed the written order. "Lucky for you I decided not to push you like you did with me."
She jumped off the top onto the round terrace, then leaned and hung onto the fence. Swinging twice, she let go and landed on the ledge of the window to Tsunade's office.

xxx

"The hell- Why are you hanging off my window, you damn gaki!" Shouted Tsunade who was just entering her office at that moment. "Where are-"
"The "surveillance" you sent to get me? Somewhere hanging off the roof. You should've known better, baa-chan. If you're gonna treat me like a criminal with guards all around my bed while I'm asleep and shinobi escorting me, you better get some more and fine ones. You have underestimated me." The girl slapped down the written order onto the desk, the hand-writing was undeniable Tsunade's.
Tsunade sighed and made a sign for the guards around her to go retreat their comrades from the roof.
Gaara stepped quietly into the room closing the door behind him and Naruto tried to ignore his presense which was not hard, because she was infuriated. Tsunade rubbed her forehead and stepped closer,
"Look, gaki, I know how it looks. But believe me, it is all only a formality."
"Yeah, right," Naruto stood by the window looking outside with her arms crossed.
"You think I am not aware I should send more than two shinobi to uphold you and let alone defeat you? I probably would have had to send the Kazekage over here."
At this, Naruto glanced at Gaara and when their eyes met for a split second, awkwardness nestled and the anger started subsiding.

"Tsk, whatever," she stepped into the room. "What is so important to interrupt my breakfast?"
"Well since you're the only sealing master and, who would've guessed, the best there is, you need to check Gaara-sama's seal to make sure it has not loosened up and he is not being influenced by his bijuu. And moreover, it should be you checking it, since you are the one that put it on him. I'm guessing that might be the reason for the… outbreaks. Same goes to you."
"My seal is perfectly fine and his is one of the strongest there are, so there's no reason for it to have loosened," she answered like someone whose job has been critiqued, "but since you went through all the surveillance parade and shit and you're asking me…"
She took the chair by the desk and put it in the center of the room, "I'm gonna need you to sit here, Kazekage-sama" she said without even looking at him. He flinched on the inside at her cold tone, guilt came upon him in new waves, but he just nodded and went to the chair. She took her sealing tools out.

"Oh, I'm gonna need you to not be wearing anything above the waist."
She continued unpacking her tools and scrolls and getting ready while Gaara shed off his clothing piece by piece. First, the blood-red coat, the black shirt, and the fishnet cloth that was so typical for ninjas everywhere. Naruto was squatted as she got the characters for the sealing ready onto the floor. As she placed her scrolls and unsealed them and Gaara undressed, she could not help but admire how the fine muscles on his back twitched and played under his every move. She shook her head to concentrate back on what she was doing. She wanted to go home.
"Okay. I need you to relax and trust me on that." She still sounded indifferent or at least tried to. She was standing in front of him, ready to form some hand signs.
"I trust you," he whispered and closed his eyes. Naruto started forming multiple hand signs and mumbling something. She was so fast in doing it that Tsunade just stared in awe and realized just how underestimating sending only two guards must have really been. The characters on the floor started glowing, they became alive and started and slid along Gaara's legs and up, forming a circle around his belly. Naruto breathed in and placed a thumb on his forehead, and put the other hand over his chest and closed her eyes as well.
At first, the walls of his mind resisted and did not let her pass in. She tried getting through, but they were too thick to be penetrated without putting too much tension on his mind. The hand resting on his chest moved up and behind his neck to caress him gently with a thumb. Then they both breathed in in perfect unison and when she tried entering his mind again, the walls were more like curtains now parted gently but still reluctantly and she moved in slowly.
Only on rare occasions for the most powerful seals was entering someone's mind on a deep level necessary and when it did come to doing so, Naruto was always careful and respectful to one's privacy and memories. She checked carefully the strentght and the characters of the seal inside his mind, but the intense images in Gaara's head distracted her and could not be passed as they jumped right before his eyes for her to see them. Suffering, loneliness, humiliation, sorrow, confusion, abuse. Shame. Self-loathing. Pain. Guilt.
Even under a trance, her eyes watered. She recognized herself, her own fte of a jinchuuriki in Gaara's younger years. She could hear him breathing unevenly and she wanted out, she wanted to run from her own memories of the same treatment, she did not want to see the little boy crying, she did not want to share both his physical and emotional pain, she did not want to feel the insanity flickering in his mind. Because she knew that now he was okay and was the Kazekage. But she had lost her concentration and was shaking as she tried to exit his mind but was locked inside and it was not a pleasant place to stay in.
Falling down onto her knees, she finally broke away and breathed in realizing she had been holding her breath. Naruto tasted blood from biting onto her lower lip so hard. Gaara was shaking and she cuppued his face, he clutched tightly to her arms beneath the shoulders and pressed his forehead against hers, back crunched like he had been defeated and exhausted from a battle.
"It's okay, it's okay," she whispered and tried to caress his hair but it came out more like pulling at it for she was shaking herself. The blonde summoned the strength to finish the sealing and locked it by a few final hand signs. Tsunade went to say something, but Naruto got up and interrupted her abruptly, "Everything's fine with the seal, baa-chan. I've made it better than for it to break after a few years." She collected her things quickly and went for the window, not looking at neither one of the two Kages. "And forget about me not being allowed to go to my apartment again and sleep there tonight."
"Don't forget about the fest tonight!" shouted Tsunade after her when she jumped through the window.
Tsk. The damn fest of the village. Naruto was off duty that night and had zero desire to go.
Later on that night, a few guards were nstructed to watch over the Uzumaki's apartment. She went grocery shopping and did not leave the building anymore that night.
Or at least, later on, the guards swore she never did, that is.

xxx

The day had ended in signing documents and closing deals, just as it usually went for Kages. The fest had started a few hours ago and Gaara was moving reluctantly among the crowd. It was his obligation as a leader of an ally village to celebrate and be present at such events although he had skipped most of them somehow. It was almost midnight already and he was tired of all the commotion around meeting everyone and everyone wanting to meet him. Everyone was wearing masks as this was the dress code of the fest, although neither of the Kages did so. Gaara was bored but tried to be polite to the important people that continued to present themselves to him. Some praised him, others decided to give him tips or suggested something about his ruling over Suna, some wives of the same important men were not short on openly offering themselves to him. Sigh.
And he just wanted to see Naruto. He wondered if she had seen… everything. Should he be embarrassed? Who knows what she thought of him now that she knew everything. Somehow either being pitied or hated by her made something in his chest twitch painfully.
"Where are you?" Temari was looking at her little brother who was now a lot taller than her. "You drifted off. Aren't you having fun?"
"Are you?" He asked her and pointed with the glass of wine he was holding somewhere behind her, "Looks like the night will become more fun for you."
Turning around, Temari saw Shikamaru standing in the crowd, looking at her with his hands in his pockets. He started to wave with a hand, but instead scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Temari blushed and started mumbling some protests at Gaara, but he interrupted her.
"Go. There's no need to be embarrassed of anything. I'm not Kankuro. And where would that moron be?"
For a second, Temari smiled at her brother's understanding and then shrugged, "He said he saw the greatest chick ever and that he'd definitely get lucky tonight. Five times already."
Gaara shook his head, "Moron," and took a sip of his wine. Temari went off awkwardly.
Gaara was standing in the crowd. It was so noisy, so crowded. He stared up at the moon. So beautiful. The clock hit midnight and it was time for the official dance of the festival. Everyone was supposed to dance with a partner as the loud melody for the dance boomed and continued to pulse over the village. Girls hooked themselves on his arms, yanking him to go and dance with them and he kindly refused, screams and loud noise muffled his hearing and the world started spinning. He looked back up at the moon and closed his eyes.
Then he breathed in the sweet scent. All his senses flared up measuring his strength, he pushed everyone whoever they were that were holding him back and made his way through the crowd. Maybe he had been too rude because he sensed that the crowd around him was still and was observing him but he was slave to another feeling and emotion at that moment and did not pay attention to any of it.
He made his way through and like some sort of a fanatic stared crazily at the top of the building before the plaza. There, a black silhouette as if materialized from thin air and the graceful silver light of the moon outlined a female figure with a long black dress adoring her body, the cloth and her hair swishing as the wind played with them. Gaara stood there, staring. Mumbling and rumbling was heard from over the crowd and fingers were pointed at that direction. The silhouette moved gently and the woman jumped off the building to land onto the ground much too gracefully for her not to be trained.
She stood up and Gaara stepped even closer. He rose the glass of wine he was holding and drank everything in one swallow, then shattered the delicate pice of glass onto the ground as it broke into thousands of shiny pieces. The moonlight and the dim lights of the village outlined her better. A long, loose strapless black dress. Orange mask over the eyes. Blonde hair held up in a ponytail. She was bare-footed but not a single sound was heard as she stepped onto the ground. Gaara met her half-way. He stood before her, staring her up and down, drinking her with his gaze. Then he collapsed to his knees in complete surrender and spread his arms completely.
He was there before her.
Bowing like a king before his queen.

Dim blue eyes with too big of pupils and red threads adoring them shot down to him and he breathed in, got up, cupped her face, then his hands slid down her shoulders, her abdomen, waist, and he pulled her to him abruptly. One hand stayed to rest on her waist, the other came up to take her hand in a dancing position.
They swayed gracefully across the ground in perfect harmony, not blinking once, not letting the other's stare go. He breathed in deeply the scent from the crook of her neck and her head lolled back as her knees went soft and he supported her. He shoved a finger under the silky ribbon holding her hair up and pulled it down, letting her beautiful golden hair free as he spun her around and then drew her back to him tightly. She was breathing heavily, losing the balance of her previously stable steps as they were dancing and he was losing his control and patience. He was barely registering that he was in one of those states, he was on the brink of going berserk but he couldn't care less. The sweetness was so intoxicating.
He drew her so close he almost crushed her, she lolled back and crooked her back, he clutched at the long black cloth that was her dress and tore it up loudly up to her thigh, then he took the bared leg and pulled it up to wrap around his waist, he breathed in and graced his lips over her collarbone and over the cloth tightly hugging her breasts. Their dance was so intense, so radiant with passion and desire. She held onto his shoulder and the back of his neck, she hissed and moewed as she felt the throbbing hardness rubbing against her as he was holding her leg up and pressing himself mercilessly hard against her. The red threads in her eyes started consuming the blue more and more and so did his.
Sensing the guards making their way through the crowd, Gaara broke off the dance and let her go. He cupped her face and barely graced his lips over hers before she disappeared in a yellow flash, just as kunai with chakra sealing tags landed where she was standing just a fraction of a second before that. Gaara glared at the attackers madly, he was infuriated and ready to tear them apart, when he was yanked by the sleeve and dragged in a pile of shinobi by Tsunade. He was just about to protest and break through, go back and kill those motherfuckers when a sleeping tag was placed on him and the last thing he saw as he slipped in unconsciousness was the Hokage's disapproving and thoughtful eyes staring upon him.
_

Hey guys! Well, I don't know what to say except that I'm happy and content that this is story is finally updated. Compared to how my life was the last time I updated it back in 2014, I can see why it took me so long as everything now is completely and absolutely different, for good or bad. But I'm finally feeling better as I'm still going through a lot of major changes and this update has lifted a weight from my shoulders. I hope you enjoyed the update and let me know what you thought in the review section.

Love,
pampooo