"Stay still. I need to wash your hair."
Hana was making bubbles by blowing soap from a circle she made with her thumb and index finger. "Hana, you don't want your eyes to hurt right?" he sighed looking at his energetic daughter. "The shampoo is special. It doesn't hurt my eyes," said Hana, still moving around.
Stubborn kid. Like father, like daughter, he thought. Finally, Gaara ordered his sand to wrap around her body and make her stay still while he washes his daughter's hair massaging the shampoo on to her scalp. He remembered Sakura telling him to do so.
Sunagakure
6 years earlier.
"Gaara, you can't just rub the shampoo in! Not with your nails, no you don't!" Sakura screamed at her newly-wedded husband. Sakura was disposing all the dirty diapers into the bin when she saw Gaara rubbing Hana's head the way he was rubbing an itchy part of his body. It was Gaara's turn to bathe their baby Hana and apparently he was doing it wrong.
"Show me."
Sakura groaned and walk to the bathtub where Gaara was bathing Hana.
"The baby's head is the softest and most fragile part of their body. So you need to gently massage it…" Sakura squirt out a little amount of shampoo into her palm and gently rubbing it on to Hana's head, "…just like that."
Reacting to her mother's touch, Hana made splashes and let out a very cute chuckle.
"She said my name," said Gaara quietly.
"She did not say your name. That was barely a word!"
"It was, you're jealous" Gaara smirked.
"I am not! We have a connection! A special bond between a mother and a daughter. 9 months Gaara, 9 months she was in me." She said making a very serious 'don't-mess-with-me' face. Sakura stick out a tongue.
Hana let out another gleeful chuckle and splash water with her tiny hands. The water splashed all over Sakura's face.
"It looks like she inherited your monstrous strength, Sakura."
"And your habit of always mocking me!" Sakura exclaimed. Hana let out another chuckle that turns into tiny laughters. Sakura made cooing noises and cuddled her daughter.
Gaara smiled at his two pink haired tennyos.
He reminded himself that next time he's taking a shower he will try and not scratch his head.
Or I could ask her to wash my hair for me, he smiled at the thought.
"I'm cold…." Hana was shivering.
"Right, right…" Gaara was brought back from his daydreaming and draped towel over his daughter's body. He picked her up and held her. "Are you sleeping with me tonight?" he asked her. "Yes but what story are you going to tell me today, Father?" she asked.
"Is that why you are sleeping with me, Hana-chan?" he smiled. "Of course! You are noisy, father. You snore!" she chuckled.
Gaara frowned; she is by far the second human being who dared insulting him. "I do not snore and I will tell you a story of the day your mother told me she had you in her tummy," he said gently.
"Agaiinn?" Hana asked putting both her hands on her cheeks.
"Yes, again…"
All the stories that Gaara told her before she slept were always about Sakura. He didn't want Hana to forget her mother. He wanted to fill his daughter's head with images and stories of her beautiful kunoichi mother.
Konohagakure
7 years earlier
Hanami Party.
"I hate this game," said Gaara.
"Everyone says that," Shikamaru sneered.
Gaara and Shikamaru were playing Shougi at the park. Chouji was busy eating, Kiba was playing with Akamaru and Naruto was, well, eating. Gaara was stuck with doing nothing and he did not want to seem likea coward if he refused to accept Shikamaru's challenge.
"No one ever beats him, Gaara." Said someone from behind, putting one arm on his back. Gaara turned around and said firmly, "Arigato Neji, I can handle him." He didn't likeit if anyone sympathizes with him as if he was a stupid or a weak person.
Gaara then felt another arm on his shoulder. "I told you, I can…" Gaara stopped speaking.
He was speechless when he saw what was before him. She just literally took his breath away. Sakura was standing in front of him wearing a white Yukata with a pattern of pale pink flowers. She was wearing her hair up and she let small curls of pink hair fell softly on her cheeks and neck. She was always beautiful, but this time she looked radiant.
"I need to talk to you. Alone" she smiled.
Gaara stood up. Sakura linked her arm around the arm of her awe-stricken fiancée and guided him to a spot under a Sakura tree, which was not toofar from their noisy friends but far enough for them not to be distracted.
"What is it? Is something wrong? Did..." Sakura put her finger lightly against Gaara's lips. She smiled. "Nothing is wrong." "Are you unsure about the whole wedding?" Gaara asked again. "No, no, it is nothing like that" she answered, her eyes were dancing with something.
He knew that she was enjoying this.
"You know the apartment that we were planning on buying in Suna?" she asked him.
I knew it. She's going to cancel on our plans, Gaara thought.
It was a defense mechanism for him, assuming the worse. That way, he will be able to anticipate the pain and disappointment. It was a bad habit and he knew it. Sakura told him over and over again to stop this particular habit. But it seems like it's an impulse for him to do so.
"Yes." He answered her question slowly, scared of what she might say next.
"Well, I was thinking that we might need to buy a 2 bedroom apartment instead of 1" she said. "What's wrong? Do you not want to sleep on the same bed with me?" he asked her anxiously. "No, Gaara."
"Then what is it?"
She grabbed his hands and put it on her abdomen. Gaara was startled.
Could it be that...
"I am pregnant."
Gaara felt like the time just suddenlystopped. Those three words his fiancée just said made him feel like everything just stopped. He could hear the noises dying away and see the petals from the tree above them falling slower. The world has indeed stopped.
I… am… pregnant….
He heard her voice again and again and again in his head. He didn't smile. He didn't know what to do or how to react. His heart felt so warm and alive. His body was trembling. He was having goose bumps all over his body.
Sand started to swirl around both of them as if representing Gaara's emotions. He felt tears coming down his cheek. This was new, he thought. He never had this kind of emotion before. He cupped Sakura's face with his hands and lifted them a little. He didn't say a word. No right word in any language can describe how he feels right now. He felt like he was sharing with her something so beautiful and precious which made him feel even more close and intimate with her. He felt that he now has a true bond with her, and he will make sure that no one will ever ruin that for him.
He hugged her, drowning his face on her soft silky hair.
"I love you so much" and he could feel his body trembling against hers.
There they were. At the Hanami festival, under the blooming Sakura flowers and inside the swirling sand, making the time stop just for the two of them.
Hana slept soundly in his arms.
The Kazekage hugged her tightly that night hoping that it would cure the unbearable pain he holds in his heart. Hoping that it would make his heart feels so warm and alive the way it did 7 years ago. Hoping that he could feel the world stopped and let him cherish his moment. He looked at Hana and he knew that his heart will not be able to fully recover. But now it was starting to heal.
Their bond of love is here, inside his arm healing his heart.
Next chapter: What happened to Sakura?All will be revealed, next :)