A/N: Another nice long chapter for you. Not much to say, still updating from my friend's house…I don't own Naruto or the Naruto characters…plot is mine…yada yada, blahda blah, so on and so forth. Read, Review, and give me some feedback.

Chapter 9: Bonding

"Have Neji and Kankuro made it back?"

"No. Kankuro just called to tell me that he and Neji are both stuck there until the storm is over."

Zukiyo looked away from the window at him. When she did Gaara noticed a slight worried cast to her eyes. As to who or what she was worried about he did not know but it was a change from the usual playful glint in her eyes he'd grown so accustomed to during these past few weeks.

It slightly amazed him that he had spent so much time with her but then again it was necessary if he was to get his answers. He had yet to discover anything truly useful about her past but he discovered new things about her personality daily. Kamitsuyo Zukiyo was nowhere near as simple as he had originally thought her to be. However she was predictable in that she was unpredictable; Gaara could always count on her to do something totally unexpected every night. Whether it was randomly disappearing on him while he was talking to her or randomly popping up out of nowhere while he was in the middle of something he could always count on her to do something to surprise him. Zukiyo seemed to specialize in surprising and playing with others and this amused him.

It couldn't be denied that he also found it amusing to see the other vampires in the city stare at her dumbfounded and shocked when he allowed her to accompany him places. In a way it pleased him; especially since he could tell that it was frustrating Zukiyo a tiny bit. Being seen with him constantly had essentially established her as his, and therefore untouchable and off limits, to the others of the city. Any time Gaara was around Zu all other males in the vicinity, as well as some females, gave Zu a wide berth as if it were fatal to make any kind of contact with her. This frustrated her a bit but Gaara found that when it did she would do one of two things depending on her mood: She would totally ignore him and go off on her own or she would give him her undivided attention. Either reaction amused him but he found he preferred her attention to her absence as it provided him with more opportunities to find out what he needed about her. This snowstorm had provided him with the biggest opportunity yet and he was not about to waste it even if it meant he would have to do things he normally wouldn't do.

"Are they going to be ok staying there during this?" Gaara heard her ask, snapping him out of his thoughts and he nodded.

"It's well stocked with blood and has emergency supplies." He answered and saw her nod before looking back out the window and speaking again.

"It's starting to fall faster now." She stated.

Gaara glanced out the window at the falling snow and saw the wind catch it. He watched the gust swirl the snow around violently as it often did the sand where he grew up and heard the echo of demonic laughter in the back of his mind as he sunk into memory…

June 18, 1831

"Nice one kid," a voice behind him stated and chuckled, the sound coming from deep within the person's throat as Gaara turned to look behind him.

The desert sand whipped around the man standing next to him, caught in the same gust that blew through the man's sand colored spikey hair. A smile curved upwards on the person's mouth, revealing a set of unnaturally elongated canines, towards two golden tinted eyes rimmed in the heavy black of all Ichibi Demons and their related kin. Tall as he was Gaara was still a runt in the eyes of this demon…his mentor of sorts.

"You're late as usual Shukaku." Gaara stated to his newly arrived companion who only laughed; the sound of it dark, twisted, blood lusting, and filled with a strange amused mirth.

"I'm not late…you started early." The demon stated and pointed at the clock tower in the distance, a good fifteen minutes behind Gaara's own pocket watch, "Your sister has to stop setting that thing fast or I'm not going to have anything to play with by the time I arrive to our appointments."

"Hn." Was the only response Gaara gave the golden eyed one as he went about cleaning the blood off his hands while watching the sand of the street drink up the little river of blood greedily as if it were a vampiric entity.

Gaara's black rimmed jade eyes looked up from this as his keen nose caught the scent of yet another target farther down the street. It was a man feigning a limp as he "blindly" walked towards the pair, heavily scented with blood that did not match his own scent. The soft clink of metal barely echoed down the street with each step the human took.

"Hunter…" Shukaku stated so low that only their supernatural hearing could pick it up, "Coated in blood so most likely a vampire hunter."

Gaara nodded before essentially telling his companion that this one was his if he wanted and watched as the demon smiled twistedly before he went and bathed the street in even more blood…

"Gaara?" a voice he recognized as Zukiyo's called out to him and he snapped out of his memories and saw her standing in front of him, blanket still wrapped around her shoulders, leaning over and peering at him questioningly and…he could almost say worriedly.

"Hm?"

"You were in your own little world for a minute there. I mean, I'm trying to have a conversation with you here." She stated and smiled playfully at him with that playful glint back in her eyes making him shake his head at her as he chuckled softly, "What?"

"You never stop trying to have a conversation with me." He stated.

"Are you saying I never shut up?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him and he looked at her flatly.

"Zu...you talk more than anyone I've ever met…you know you never shut up." He stated and she laughed and nodded.

"True." She stated and, just to annoy him, plopped down to sit in his lap with her legs over the arm of the chair and her back against the armrest and his arm, "So, Mr. Brooding Silence of Doom…what is on today's agenda then since we are confined to the house? More interrogating me about…everything?"

Zukiyo couldn't help but be amused at the look on his face. It was an almost defeated look mixed with amusement hidden behind that ever present façade of irritated indifference. This wasn't the first time she had taken the liberty of sitting on his lap and it would not be the last. The first time she had done it however was very amusing as he openly gaped at her while sitting there frozen stiff at such close contact. The exiled princess very nearly burst out laughing at the look on his and everyone else's faces. Of course it didn't help that she had purposely worn a rather low cut shirt and corset that night along with that golden chain she had taken to wearing.

It was a normal enough gold chain with a small unremarkable pendant attached to it to weigh it down and pull it past the neckline of whatever she wore. The only reason she had started wearing it in the first place was to see how many times it took Gaara and every other male in the room to realize that in looking to see what was on the end of the chain they were openly staring at her chest. It was a small amusement for her but a fun one nonetheless. That and it kept Gaara from focusing on her neck and why she hid it.

It occurred to her that he could bite her at any time he wanted to yet at the same time she knew he wouldn't. Not yet at least. This knowledge was also the reason that she sat on his lap so often. Zukiyo knew very well that her scent appealed to this pureblood male she was sitting on. More than once she had caught the sight of his eyes glazing over with that predatory haze when he was confronted with her scent practically up in his face. As such she tortured him with it whenever she could, however there were certain drawbacks to this as well.

The main one being that she couldn't deny the fact that his own scent appealed to her as much as hers did to him. For one so used to taking what she wanted it was difficult to the point of near torture for her to be so close to him. In fact Zu was convinced that this was the sole reason Gaara let her sit on his lap at all. A simple act turned into a war of wills, a contest to see who could withstand the temptation longest before retreating. Zu won more often than not which irked her crimson haired companion to no end.

"Must you sit on me?" he asked her in an annoyed tone, although she could tell he was at least a little amused by her actions and she got comfy and blinked at him and smiled.

"You're comfy so yes." She stated then smirked at him playfully and pressed her nose against his, "You know you like it."

He leveled his gaze at her and just silently stared out at her flatly as he refrained from verbally replying to her. She smiled more and moved her face away from his obviously amused before being distracted by staring out the window at the snow again. Gaara's gaze then, as it usually did at moments like this when every breath he took was filled with her scent, travelled to her covered neck.

The male knew he could bite her any time he wanted without much worry of her being able to fight back. What stopped him from actually doing this was a number of things. Number one among them was the knowledge that if he did such he would never get any of the answers he was looking for from her. Still it was almost torture to have her that close to him and she knew that too. He knew that was the sole reason she sat on him like this: To torture him. Unfortunately for her he knew it wasn't a walk in the park for her either, which was why he let her sit there in the first place.

To distract himself from her ever present scent he took to doing what he normally would in this situation and studied her. Today it was the way she sat. Even while sitting on his lap in such a carefree manner there was still a sense of perfect posture in how she sat. Zukiyo was almost a contradiction to him. Neji had said she was a gypsy…and Zu herself had stated that once or twice. It was very obvious that she was once you spent enough time around her. She detested being inside for lengthy amounts of time and just her overall personality confirmed it. Zukiyo was a wild, free spirited, untamable creature. However there was that more serious side to her that made something tick in the back of his mind.

As wild as she was there was still a sense of nobility about her, especially when she was helping Gaara on his errands that were dedicated to the upkeep of the territory. It was noticeable in how she carried herself as well. Gaara of course knew she was a pureblood from the oldest pureblood clan on the planet but that didn't help him very much as most pureblood clans were broken into houses or branches.

The Kamitsuyo clan itself had a number of houses. The main one of course was the royal house where the queen descended from. There were the other houses that contained what one could refer to as the vampiric nobility as well and then there were the lesser houses that had no titles at all. Neji had stated that Zukiyo had no titles and that would mean she was from one of the lesser houses and yet…that didn't sit well with Gaara. Zukiyo was…more than that somehow. Then again he had never actually met anyone from the Kamitsuyo clan before her so he could be wrong and yet…he did not believe he was.

"I remember once when I was a little girl no more than 10 or so a terrible snow and ice storm hit the countryside around where I grew up." Zukiyo started saying as she stared out the window and Gaara gave her his full attention as she had never said anything like this before, "I remember hearing the wind howl through the trees loud enough to wake me up in the evening and I tiptoed over to the window barefoot. I remember that because the floors were so cold as the fire in the fireplace had gone out since no one save my parents really paid my needs much attention and they were away that night on business. Anyway, the window in my room was much like the ones in this room with the seats built in under them. I climbed up onto the seat and sat there wrapped in the blanket staring out the window as the snow and ice beat down outside. The wind was terrible and I swear I could see it make little dust devils out of the powdered snow that had just fallen. I sat and watched it an amazed kind of terror as the storm ripped through everything."

Gaara sat there and listened quietly to her as she spoke, more enraptured with the fact she was speaking of her childhood than hopeful she'd let something useful slip. It was a change from his usual motives but he couldn't deny that at times he noticed himself listening more to the sound of her voice than the actual words she was saying. It was a bad habit and he cursed himself for it but he couldn't really help it. Gaara had learned early on that Zukiyo talked a lot and would ramble on for periods about things. He didn't really need to talk back to her as long as he nodded every now and then which is what he usually did. As long as he did that she was perfectly happy just rambling on and on about whatever crossed her mind. He just blocked it out at first and nodded at intervals to keep her from getting angry with him but lately he'd been finding himself listening to her voice as she talked.

He guessed that it started when he began listening to see how long she could go on talking without taking a breath as he'd somehow formed the opinion that she talked until she couldn't breathe. In doing that he noticed that she talked at a steady and easy pace, not fast, so that if you listened you would be certain to understand what she was saying. She did this right down to the tone of her voice. Depending on what she was doing her voice could take on a rather hard commanding edge to it, a light and playful air, or, as he learned was the norm when she rambled on about something to him, an almost sweet and welcoming melodic tone.

As much as he denied it to himself he did actually find her voice somewhat soothing. For someone so accustomed and partial to silence, and although he vehemently denied it, Gaara at times found that he was more than content in just letting her talk so he could hear her voice. This time however, he was listening to every word as she continued to tell him her story.

"My grandfather on my mother's side was visiting that week and had just arrived before the storm. He came into the room after he heard me sniffle from the cold having made my nose run a bit. Neji and Hinata were living with us at the time, which you probably figured out by now, but they were both out cold. Anyway, my grandfather came in and sat down next to me after getting the fireplace rekindled. He wasn't much of a talker. The only man in my family I've ever known to talk a lot is my grandfather on my father's side of the family." Zu admitted and Gaara suppressed a chuckle so he wouldn't interrupt, "I sat there with him and watched the storm ravage the world outside my window until close to dawn when my grandfather closed the drapes to block the sun since tinted windows hadn't been invented then as you know. I clearly remember looking up at him and asking him if it was always going to be like this now. I had never seen such a storm before so it struck my young mind as something out of the ordinary and odd. He told me that no matter how bad things are things will change. As bad as it can be there will always be a calm after the storm. He was right as the next night I remember looking out my window to see everything calm and still again covered in a heavy thick blanket of snow and the trees were covered in icicles."

She smiled then with the memory and laughed softly as she absently leaned back against Gaara before continuing.

"After Neji and Hina woke up we all got dressed and went outside where I promptly started a snowball fight with Neji. Hinata and I against him and my father stood there in the window of his study watching and chasing away anyone that wanted to pull him away from the window. I remember waving too him as he laughed after I'd nailed Neji in the head with a snowball which knocked him flat." She said smiling softly with the memory until Gaara asked something that he really shouldn't have.

"What about your sister?" he asked, more curious than anything else really, and watched her smile drop into a frown instantly.

"She locked me outside in the garden later that night. Out in the bitter cold surrounded by ice and snow then walked away with a sick little smile on her face. That garden only had one door in and out." She stated softly and Gaara couldn't really grasp how her own sister could do that to her.

He had threatened to kill his own siblings multiple times throughout the centuries but there was a difference between threatening it and actually trying.

"I woke up the next night in my own room. I don't really remember how I got out of the garden…not clearly…I didn't remember even then. All I get is this faint image in my mind of a dark hallway and a voice. It's strange but I was young at that age so you can't really expect me to remember everything." Zu stated and he nodded before noticing that she was leaning against him.

"You do realize I'm not a chair?" he asked and she glanced back at him and rolled her eyes and getting up off him completely.

"Happy now?" she asked.

Gaara just looked at her flatly, hiding the fact that the first thing that popped into his mind when she moved was an instinct to pull her back down to his lap. Since he hadn't he couldn't help but notice how cold his lap seemed now. The red head shook it off before she noticed his train of thoughts, something that she always seemed able to do which amazed him, and stood up.

"If you need anything I'll be in my study." He stated before starting to leave.

"It's like you're afraid of spending too much time with me at once." Zu stated teasingly, "Worried my witty personality will rub off on you…Gaara-sama?"

Gaara hated when she added the honorific to his name. Not because he had any desire for her to just call him Gaara mind you. It was because every time she added it she always did it mockingly and he hated to be mocked, which of course she knew which is why she did it, and it worked. He turned around slowly as he adjusted the sleeves of shirt while thinking of what exactly to say. Normally he would just kill the first person to mock him, but he couldn't do that here. It was slightly aggravating really. He had to come up with so many different ways to handle things ever since he began dealing with this woman. One thing he was not about to change anytime soon however was letting people mock him. Gaara couldn't kill Zukiyo for mocking him, especially since they were home and Naruto's anti-killing-in-the-house rule was in effect among other reasons he was not about to admit, but nothing prevented him from getting a little…physical.

"No." he stated as he walked towards her in a way that he knew would only make her instinct to back up kick in, which it did, and he cornered her, "However, if you're so sure you want to hang out so bad…I can do that too."

With that he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Zu wasn't happy but she wasn't as angry as he thought she would be. Mostly she was amused as he walked down the hall with her.

"And what the fuck do you think you're going to do with me?" she asked and heard the male vampire chuckle darkly.

"Not. Telling." Gaara stated in a blatant ploy to trigger her curiosity.

During Gaara's effort to learn as much as he could about this newcomer these past few weeks he had learned a few things he deemed somewhat useful. That she hated being called Princess was one. Recently though, he had learned another even more useful one which was that once you triggered her curiosity she had to satisfy it or it would drive her insane.

"You…bastard." Zu growled, "What are you going to do with me?"

"Not. Telling." He stated again, a little smirk playing on his lips as he walked down the hall with her still over his shoulder.

"Gaara…" she warned to no avail, "Gaara tell me or put me the fuck down."

No answer was given as he turned the corner only to have her start struggling now. This of course didn't change anything as he barely registered she was at all and continued walking. Zukiyo was starting to get a little too curious and a little bit worried as her mind frantically guessed at the possibilities.

"Put me down! Don't you dare fucking lock me outside!"

"Why would I do that?" he asked as he turned another corner and started climbing the stairs to the 3rd floor.

"Because you're a sick, twisted, evil bastard with no morals!" she yelled at him and he laughed and nodded.

"True…but I'm not going to do that."

"Then what are you going to do with me?"

"Not. Telling. You'll see soon enough."

A/N: Yep, another chapter for you all. Not sure when the next chapter will be up but hopefully soon. Until then leave me some reviews and messages! Love you all. Later and peace out!