Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
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"Have you made your decision?" Shikamaru looked over at Soraoi, who was laying next to him on the comfortable green grass.
"What would you do?" Soraoi asked, staring up into the clear blue sky.
"Such a troublesome question." Shikamaru muttered.
"It is." Soraoi agreed. She usually wasn't one to utter the infamous Nara word, but even she had to agree that this was a very troublesome decision.
With Tomoe back, it seemed like the most logical thing to do was to go back to traveling with the legendary kunoichi, and return to her training, but so much had changed in the time that they had been separated. Soraoi had grown a lot through the new experiences she had had. Though not all of them had been pleasant, she's learned a lot about herself and about the world, that she had never before known.
"If I went back with Tomoe-sensei, everything would go back to the way it used to be." Soraoi contemplated.
"And that's what you want?" Shikamaru asked.
"What do you mean?" Soraoi turned to face him, trying to read his expression.
"Is it what you want? For everything to go back to the way it was before the two of you were ambushed?" Shikamaru clarified.
Soraoi thought about this. She did want things to be like they were before; she liked her life, traveling with Tomoe. But there was another reason.
She tried to deny that the months she had spent as a prisoner to the missing-nin did not tug at her soul; that it didn't ache in her heart, but the truth was, it did. And deep down, she secretly believed that if she were to resume her old life, before the ambush, that she could pretend like it never happened. That she could go back; back to the way it was before. But she knew better; there was no going back.
"I do." She confessed, "But I can't. I know that now."
Shikamaru looked over to his sister. He could see the sadness in her eyes, the sorrow in her heart. If he could find a way, he would have taken her pain and made it his own. But he couldn't, all he could do was be there for her.
"You could always stay." He offered.
"I could." She smiled, "Make friends, become a village kunoichi, join a squad, go on missions. Be… home..." She allowed the last word to linger on her tongue.
She'd never really had a home. True, she'd always had a place to sleep, and a place to call home, but she'd never really experienced the pleasures of sleeping in the same bed a second night in a row, except on the rare occasions when she had come back to Konoha for one reason or another. She'd always been a wanderer, traveling from one land to another, experiencing a new sunrise in a different location every day.
The idea of staying in one place permanently had never occurred to her until recently. Even when she had first arrived in Konoha, after escaping the clutches of the missing-nin, she had been so swept up in her own inner turmoil that she hadn't stopped to consider the idea that she might be staying in the hidden leaf village for ever.
"Or you could accept Gaara's offer." Shikamaru smirked.
"Gaara?" Soraoi smirked, "What happened to Gaara-sama?" Soraoi teasingly poked his side.
"You don't honestly believe I'm going to keep that up, if he's going to be my brother-in-law now, do you?" Shikamaru teased.
"Oh?" Soraoi sat up and turned to face Shikamaru, "Are you and Temari finally getting married then?" she excitedly clapped her hands together, causing Shikamaru to blush at her teasing.
During her month of recover, the sand siblings had made many trips to Konoha to help with the restoration process, after the rouge ninja's attack. Over the course of the month, Soraoi and Gaara had become close. It had started out with Gaara coming to see how she was progressing in her recovery, and quickly blossomed into a friendship, which pretty soon became a romance.
Most had been a bit surprised that the usually quiet and antisocial Kazekage had befriended the bubbly Nara girl, but upon seeing the change she had roused in the young Kage, people began to wonder if perhaps there was more to their friendship then mere gratitude and respect.
Gaara, though still quite reserved, had begun to interact with others a little more freely. He spoke more than he was accustomed to, though he still waiting to be addressed before beginning to speak. He smiled more openly, though usually that was only when Soraoi was around, which was pretty often, since they spent almost all of their free time together. Whenever the sand siblings were in town, after completed his duties as Kazekage, Gaara would go visit Soraoi at her physical therapy, and then they would spend the rest of the day together. In hardly any time at all, the two realized they had fallen in love with one another.
-------FLASHBACK-------
"You're looking much better." Gaara commented on Soraoi's injuries, which had almost completely mended, as they walked side by side towards a grassy hillside.
"Are you saying I looked ugly before?" Soraoi questioned mocking insult.
"No." he replied.
Unlike her brother, who was easily flustered by her teasing, Gaara remained unaffected. He understood that she often liked played this way to see what kind of reaction she'd get from him, though she rarely ever succeeded in prying out more than a faint smile from the young Kazekage. She didn't mind, however, since she knew it was much more than most got.
"I am feeling a lot better actually." Soraoi placed the blanket she had been carrying down on the moist grass.
It had rained the previous night, resulting in mud puddles and glimmering blades of grass, but they had planned this picnic days earlier, and a little condensation was not going to stop Soraoi. Fortunately, it appeared like the rains had subsided, much to Gaara's relief, since he didn't much like rain, or water in general, seeing as how his sand was useless when it was all muddy. A fact that Soraoi found rather humorous, since having been trained by a Hidden Mist ninja, her main jutsu's were all water-based.
"Good." Gaara replied, as he put the basket he'd been holding down on the blanket.
"Sit down then." Soraoi instructed, as she took her own seat on the thick checkered blanket.
They sat down and enjoyed the noon day sun high above them, as they ate the meal Soraoi had prepared for them. The clouds had all dispersed, and the gray sky was beginning to clear into a light blue again. They could hear birds in the distance, coming out from their hidden shelters, to stretch their wings and soar freely through the heavens.
"I love rainbows." Soraoi mused as she looked up into the sky above them.
"Behind the veil
Hidden beauty lies.
Happy hues on bended trail
Lighting up two lovers eyes." Gaara recited, as he looked up into the sky with Soraoi.
"Within two hearts
A light shines through
As romance starts
And love begins to brew." Soraoi finished the poem.
"You've heard it before?" Gaara questioned.
"Yes, but only once, when I was very little." Soraoi explained, "Since then, I've never heard it again."
"Neither have I." Gaara replied.
"So where did you hear it?" Soraoi asked.
"It was on a trip to the land of Crystals when I was very young. It had just stopped raining, when we arrive. In the sky, there was a giant rainbow. It was the first time I had ever seen a rainbow." He explained "There was an old woman talking to a child. That's when I heard the poem. There was a legend that went with it, but I was unable to hear it." Gaara regretfully admitted.
He remembered that day well. The land of crystals was famous for its elegant buildings and colorful folklore. When they stepped off of their carriage, the ground had been soaked, and appeared to be a never ending ocean because of the color of the paved streets. Gaara could remember stepping out and being mesmerized by the colors in the rainbow. He had never seen so many colors in his life. Without even realizing it, he had wandered away from the rest of his party, as he followed the rainbow's path; shortly after he had come upon the old woman, who had recited her poem to the eager little girl. He had wanted to stay for the story, but the Kazekage's personal guards had found him and taken him back to join the rest of his family, thus preventing him from hearing the tale.
"I was there." Soraoi whispered in awe at the realization.
"What?" Gaara asked, turning away from the rainbow to face the girl.
"I was the child that old lady was talking to." Soraoi insisted.
"What makes you think that?" Gaara wondered.
"Because I remember that day very well. It was the day I heard the poem too. And right when the old woman was about to tell me the legend, two guards passed by us to take the Kazekage's son back to his party." She explained.
"How did you know it was the Kazekage's son?" Gaara asked.
"Well for one, they wore the mark of the sand village. But mostly it was because they asked us if we'd seen the Kazekage's son." Soraoi explained.
This time Gaara smirked, "So you heard the legend?" he asked.
"Yes." Soraoi smiled. She loved it when he smiled, even if it were just a smirk.
"Tell me." Gaara asked in a commanding voice.
"The legend goes that millions of years ago, when the mountains in the land of crystals were first being formed, and the sky was separating from the sea, two lovers met. They instantly fell in love with one another, but because each was destined to rule a different part of the country, they were unable to stay together. The man was set to rule the sky in brilliant radiance, and the girl was to rule the earth in strength and clarity. The lovers were parted, and as a result the heavens openly wept in heavy rains. After the rain had cleared, a brilliant rainbow spread across the sky, connecting the lover's two worlds." Soraoi's eyes sparkled as she remembered the sight of the rainbows in the Land of Crystals, "See, the reason rainbows in the land of crystals are bigger and brighter than any rainbow in any other land, is because it needed to be; in order to build a bridge between the sun in the sky and the crystals in the mountains. A bridge between the two lovers. Legend has it, that if two lovers meet under a Land of Crystal's rainbow, their love will be eternally blessed by the two deities, and shall be among the purest and truest loves of all time." Soraoi smiled as she remembered the story.
"That's a beautiful story." Gaara commented.
"It is." Soraoi agreed.
The two sat in silent, each trapped in their own thoughts, as they gazed upon the rainbow that had slowly begun to fade.
"Soraoi." Gaara spoke, breaking the silence and pulling Soraoi out of her day dream about the legend.
"Yes?" Soraoi turned to face him.
"Come back with me." Gaara softly pleaded.
"…" She looked at him with a confused expression; not understanding what he meant.
"Come live with me in Suna." Gaara asked.
"Wh--" She was at a lost for words, "huh?"
"I realize it is much too soon to ask you to be my bride, but…" Gaara looked deeply into Soraoi's eyes, as if seeking to find in her a mirror image of what he felt inside. "I love you."
"I love you too, Gaara-kun." And she did, but…
"Then marry me." It wasn't an order, though it came in his usual commanding tone.
"I-- I--" Soraoi was stunned; couldn't think of anything to say. So much had happened; her life had been flipped upside down, and now…
"You don't have to answer yet." Gaara assured her. "Take a few days to think. But I would like an answer before I leave in four days."
-------END OF FLASHBACK-------
"So what are you going to do?" Shikamaru asked from beside Soraoi on the grassy hillside.
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A/N: The end… lol… no, I'm just kidding… There's at least one more chapter left to this story… maybe more… who knows… anyway… This took me practically all day. It was the poem and the story that took the longest, but I liked them (well the story more than the poem, I just wasn't feeling very poetic today).
I hope you liked. Thanks again to all my reviewers. :D
I'm sorry ThisIsntClaire, but I'm afraid so… couldn't last forever could it?...
NEXT UP: Soraoi's decision.