Chapter III.
Title : Meetings.
Hinata was beginning to grow tired of the increasing hours on horseback – she did not know the exact time as she wasn't wearing a wristwatch or anything, but she understood from the way the shadows of the horses and their riders fell on the sand, that it was nearing sun-down. She sighed in exasperation and exhaustion, as she reined in her mare gently. The other horses had already galloped far ahead, leaving only Hinata, Matsuri and Tenten's horses for the last.
Neji was far ahead, and with some victory significant in his voice, he called out, "Hold your steeds, we have almost reached", which snapped Hinata out of her exhausted reverie. She had been daydreaming about lavender lilies floating in the pond of the Hyuga estate, and sitting by the pond. She had been sitting with the blond ninja of Konoha village, of whom she was so fond. He had apparently plucked another lavender colored flower of an unknown species, and tucked it most gently on the indigo headed woman.
Now being snapped out of her daydream, Hinata blinked twice – shaking the impossible thought out of her mind. She knew now that there was no turning back, and should she dare to turn back anyhow, there would be no place for her to live. It was a given fact, that Hiashi used her marriage as an ultimatum – get married, or never return.
As her mare galloped ahead, Hinata could clearly see the tallest tower in the Sunagakure village. To say it looked like a tower, was an understatement. It was, most certainly a tower – but in the most grandest fashion. The dome of the tower had on it, etched in kanji, "Suna" in bold, beautiful ink. The entire tower however, looked fashionable with metal and glass walling.
The small village of Suna, looked cold and hostile as compared to the village of Konohagakure.
Hinata shuddered as she felt a cold breeze brush past her, despite the humidity and climate of the sand village.
Meanwhile, inside the Suna tower.
The redhead of Suna village, sat at his office with his fingers massaging his pained temples. Very briefly, his finger brushed across the kanji for 'love' etched on his forehead, as his pale teal orbs closed for a brief minute.
Flashback :
"Y-Yashumaru… Why?" a young redheaded boy,merely of the age 7, kneeled in front of an unmasked Anbu of the Suna village. His eyes, which had dark rings of black throughout, were overflowing with tears. His tiny hands were shaking uncontrollably, as was his tiny form. In one hand, he held a tiny teddy bear whose one eye had been ripped out with brute force, and his other hand was clasped tightly to his aching chest.
The unmasked Anbu, so called 'Yashamaru', lay limp in his pool of blood, with more blood pouring out of his mouth and oozing out of his nose. With every word that was coughed up, more blood seemed to pour out of his mouth. His dull eyes, were staring at the redheaded child, but didn't seem to really look into his broken soul.
He was nearly dead.
"It was an order from the Fourth Kazekage," Yashamaru winced in pain, but he managed to cough out some of his last words before blowing himself up to death, "I was ordered to kill you, Gaara."
The child named Gaara, tried to find some solace in his uncle's words – he was forced to kill the child. Surely this meant that he had some love for the redhead, then?
"I had an option."
Instantly, Gaara's already broken heart was shattered into a billion more pieces.
"I hated you, Gaara. I've always hated you for killing my sister." And with these as his last words, yashamaru blew himself up to his death, leaving Gaara alone to his misery.
From that moment on, Gaara the unloved child, decided to live for himself and love only himself, thereby living up to his namesake.
End of flashback.
The Fifth Kazekage's eyes snapped open. Nothing much had changed since the death of his uncle yashamaru.
Gaara Sabaku could still control sand, to his advantage. The demon, Shukaku, was still hosted by him, causing him to remain an insomniac – thus explaining the dark black rings around his pale teal orbs – and more importantly, he was still a sociopath, meaning that his murderous ways weren't completely forgotten.
But, he had changed.
Ever since the battle with Naruto Uzumaki, Gaara had changed. And now, after emulating Naruto's ways, the redhead was able to rise up as the Fifth Kazekage of Sunagakure, surpassing his father. Gaara was successful at earning his place as Suna's leader, with the peoples' respect. But they still feared him, for he was someone to be feared. He was still hosting the One Tailed Shukaku.
But, he was a changed man now.
And his responsibilities as Suna's leader, was proving to be very tiresome for him. Being forced to stay up every night was one story, but being forced to handle strenuous paper-work without any sleep was a completely different story.
Gaara had been exceptionally busy that morning, and was obviously oblivious to the apparent arrival of the Hyuga members. He was too caught up with his work, and studying them all, was proving to be nearly impossible.
A soft knock, snapped him out of his present state. He remained calm, and unsurprised by the intruder's invasion of his privacy, but he looked expectant.
"They have arrived."
A woman with blond hair, tied in four messy pigtails walked right in, demanding the Kazekage's attention. She was clad in a yellow dainty kimono, but she wore it exceedingly well with a matching colored hand-fan in her hands. Carrying a fan was her signature look, it seemed. However, her expression was not faltered – she was neither happy, nor was she frowning-, but her dark black orbs did grow darker, if that was possible.
Gaara's expression did not falter either. He kept a straight face, but had he been blessed with eyebrows, they probably would have been raised, just slightly.
He nodded, and mumbled a monotonous, "Hn," in response to the blond woman, "I will be out shortly, keep them company until then Temari."
He had certainly changed.
Hinata Hyuga, along with her cousin and his wife, and her loyal maid, sat inside a huge room. Huge was again, an understatement. The entire room was painted in a sandy bronze color which, although looked very rich, made the entire room look gloomy and hostile. There was a sprawling carpet that lay diagonally, above which stood a clean glass coffee table. On three sides of the coffee table, stood a large sofa shaped in a U – the sofa cover, again, was upholstered in bronze color. Opposite the sofa, stood four humongous bay windows – that looked actually like bay doors. To contrast the glaring sunlight from these windows, were a heavy pair of golden upholstered curtains.
Placed exactly above the coffee table, hung the biggest crystal chandelier that Hinata had ever laid eyes on. She came from a rich family too, but the Hyuga home did not have interior designing as good as this. Her house back in Konohagakure was a lot more simple, and more traditional than uber modern like the place she was in right now.
The main decorative piece of art in this lounge room, was a sculpture. If Hinata had not glanced a second time, she would have mistaken this sculpture to be made entirely out of sand – but that was not exactly the easiest to do – but she realized it was just coated externally with sand – or a sand by product to mimic its texture and coarseness. The sculpture however was of a man, with rough messed hair, and with commanding eyes. His mouth was thinned to a frown, and he stood in an upright position holding a scepter like stick in his right hand, and his left hand akin to his waist. His attire was typical Suna – a cloth wrapped around his shoulders, which was worn above a black shirt, and black trousers.
"The Fourth Kazekage," Hinata startled and nearly jumped right out of her seat, next to Neji, who turned his gaze to the owner of the husky feminine voice. "Our father, was a man of great power." Temari, the blond haired woman with four pigtails stood next to the life-sized statue – when she entered in the room, and silently took her place, no one was able to fathom.
Neji nodded in approval, but Hinata wanted to pry further into the subject. The man, this statue, did not seem very pleasant to look at. Temari probably understood this, because right there, she half-smiled and added, "But he did a lot of bad things, under his power."
Hinata could not meet Temari's eyes right then, so she lowered her gaze to her lap, "I-I'm sor-"
"That is enough, Temari."
Gaara stood, by the huge double door gate, with his arms crossed across his chest. His expression looked a little more pained than usual, but he stayed calm. His mouth was pressed in a thin line, and his pale teal eyes scanned everyone in the room – particularly, Hinata.
Walking slowly towards his elder sister, Gaara took his place next to the Fourth Kazekage's statue and turned to the blond haired woman, in distant anticipation, expecting her to say something.
"This is Suna's leader and the current Kazekage-"
"Gaara Sabaku. The host to the One Tailed Shukaku." Neji stood up instantly and moved towards the silent redheaded man. He held out his pale skinned hand towards Gaara, expecting him to do the same and exchange a formal greeting.
But he did not.
"Neji Hyuga, son of Hizashi and a child prodigy." Gaara simply stated, monotonously. He didn't excel in pleasantries and greetings. He liked going straight to the matter of interest – or as the case maybe, business.
"This is my wife, Tenten, and my cousin – Hinata Hyuga." The longer haired ninja stood beside his wife who had joined him to exchange pleasantries with Gaara. But the leader of Suna, was interested elsewhere. He didn't care for sweet nothings like this.
His pale eyes turned to the indigo haired heiress who stood up and walked forward, taking her place beside her cousin. Gaara watched her move, intently, as she moved slightly further and bowed to him.
"L-Lord Gaara, it is a p-pleasure to m-meet you." Hinata, knew this was just the beginning. She would have to respect this man for the rest of her life, and it was probably for the best if she started from this point on. She was aware of his gaze on her, and this made her a lot more nervous than usual, but she was determined to present a proper impression of herself.
"Pleasure is all mine, Lady Hinata."
A/N : I hope you're liking it so far! I was a tad bit excited for this chapter but I did not put my best into it. Again I'm sorry for the lack of effort cause somethings are going on right now and I need more time to myself. Lols. Anyway I hope you liked this and are liking the story so far!