Gaara entered his office to find Kankuro lounging in his chair and Temari staring out the window with a concerned frown on her face. They both started when he entered. "Gaara!" the siblings stammered in surprise. A trio of ANBU appeared.
"Temari-san, Kankuro-san, we could not locate the Ka-" Baki paused as his eyes snagged on their missing leader. "Kazekage-sama!" The ANBU bowed respectfully.
He dismissed them with a gesture and they vanished. "Where have you been?" Kankuro demanded.
"I was delayed by the storm," Gaara assured them.
"What have you been doing?" The puppet master continued, arching an eyebrow. He grinned. "I hope you've been with a woman."
"I have."
His siblings' jaw hung open and the Kazekage relished in their shock before explaining. "I stayed at Hannah's apartment to wait out the sandstorm," he clarified. "Nothing happened between us."
Kankuro rolled his eyes and muttered something about a 'missed opportunity' and 'hot girl'. Temari's mouth was still tilted downwards. Her teal eyes seemed to be gazing over him, searching for something.
"Gaara," she said, a playful smile lighting her face, "Where are your ceremonial robes?"
The red haired boy froze. He remembered holding them as he went to leave…and Hannah hugging him. That crafty minx! She had stolen his Kage robes! He berated himself for not noticing it earlier.
His siblings found this amusing. They were laughing.
"Wow," Kankuro gasped, delicately wiping an eye to avoid smearing his purple paint. "Are you sure nothing happened Gaara? Or do you not remember?"
The males were unprepared when Temari's laughs quickly transformed into retching. Gaara summoned a team of medical nin.
"Temari-san should be given an immediate check-up," proclaimed one alarmed medic.
The air was tense as their sister was rushed to the hospital. The Kazekage sent for a messenger. The shinobi arrived promptly and stood erect, proud to be chosen by his leader.
"Go to Konoha and alert Shikamaru that Temari has need of him," Gaara informed him. "Request his presence in Suna immediately."
"Hai, Kazekage!" The eager young man rushed out of his office in a flurry.
The Subaku brothers were silent for five minutes before Kankuro sighed, "You really didn't do anything, did you, Gaara? How could you miss that opportunity with a hot female?"
Hannah's long, healthy legs flashed before the red haired ninja's aqua marine eyes. The moles mocked his repressed agony. Naughty Gaara produced a picture of his own pale hand running from her ankle up and up…
The Kazekage abruptly cut off the image as his imaginary hand reached imaginary Hannah's bare thigh. He cleared his throat in a business-like tone, "Should I retrieve my robes?"
The puppet master shook his head with a chuckle. "We can always make another. She probably wanted them as a souvenir. By the way, what happened to your arm?" Kankuro pointed to the dark stain running down his left violet sleeve.
"I'll take care of that shortly," Gaara replied, having a brief flashback of Hannah duct taping the gauzy bandage to his arm with a large, keen grin.
Kankuro suddenly shuddered. "Isn't it disgusting how lovers dote on one another?"
"Some day, Kankuro-san, you will fall in love and Sunakagure will chortle over the fall of the notorious Suna bachelor," a smiling, good humored, married nurse chuckled. "Think of your little wife, how pleased she will be."
"That's even worse!" Kankuro shuddered, eyes flitting to the open window.
The light purple haired female medic giggled before becoming serious. "Temari-san is six and a half months pregnant and has two healthy twins. However, she should not move around much. Unfortunately, she will have to be bedridden until the babies' birth."
Gaara had the image of Temari swinging an IV at the doctors and nurses, shouting curses.
The nurse left and Kankuro stood, taking a deep inhale. "I better work on my puppets. Who knows what could happen?" The puppet master adjusting the three scrolls on his back before leaping out the window.
The Kazekage's eyes fell back onto the overflowing backed paperwork.
-----------
Gaara lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. When he did, irrationals dreams of oppressing loneliness with cages and bars trapped him.
The Kazekage sat up, allowing the blankets to fall back and reveal a muscular chest- the kind he didn't have to work for. His black silk pants brushed his skin comfortingly yet…
The red haired boy left his bed and stared up at the moon through the porthole.
The silence was thunderous, filled with tormenting emptiness as his chilly sheets seemed to bite his skin. Somehow it reminded Gaara that someone was not there, someone who should be there. His unconscious was panicking over the vacancy, realizing something was wrong.
The Kazekage recalled his dream earlier, closing his eyes, basking in the silvery moonlight.
'Fingers brushed through his hair, snarling themselves willingly in the tangles of red. The face of a consoling presence near to his preserved his fragile sleep. Gaara felt for some part of her, to ensure she was not a part of this dream.
'His fingers caught her hair. It was soft, feathery. "Mhm…silky," The red haired boy murmured appreciatively. His contentment grew and Gaara felt as assured, safe- but it was deeper than that, deeper than any emotion he had previously experienced.
'She gave a quiet gasp of surprise at his compliment. The sound reminded him of a gentle doe- wide eyed and easily startled. A beautiful doe. Gaara's doe trembled as he tried to ease her fears by stroking her hair. Suddenly she was gone and he faced a yawning, senseless darkness. He searched for her, but found no trace of his demure, tender doe. Disappointed, Gaara roused into consciousness.'
The red haired ninja could still feel the invisible fingers running through his hair similar to a breeze rustling it. Ironically, he could remember the feel of her soft strands curling around his fingertips. Gaara paused, stunned at his thoughts. Here he was, thinking about a mystery girl when he had more important things to do for his village.
The Kazekage wondered, wryly, if Hannah had spiked his drink with anything.
He pivoted and placed himself back in his cold, uncomfortable bed. Gaara stared at the ceiling before turning onto his stomach, staring at the door longingly as if waiting for someone to appear.
Finally, he grasped one of the plump pillows and hugged it close, giving a sigh of resignation.
P-p-P-p-P-p-P-p-P
Coincidentally, Hannah went to gaze at the moon before gracing the bed with her presence. To her, pondering the universe while staring at the moon was a tribute to the silvery, magical light that seemed cast by the giant milky ball.
Ball. Hannah leaned her head against the porthole as she gazed at the moon, lonely. It was a different lonely from what Gaara was experiencing.
The ball for Shikamaru and Temari's marriage is being held in Konoha this week. I heard the bride was whisked away to the hospital. I wonder if she's okay… The thought was broken with a long yawn.
Insomnia sucked. The American relived her day, mulling her feelings with Gaara. How to describe how I feel around him? Comfortable yet annoyed? Embarrassed? Timid? Modest?
I wonder why Gaara hasn't retrieved his Kage robes yet…he must know I took it. She had spent the entire day bleaching the stain from his sleeve and mending the hole. The outfit hung in her bathroom, drying.
Grabbing her Nano, Hannah slid under the poofy covers of her expansive bed. The place seemed bigger, so big it seemed empty. Then again, she had been experiencing loneliness ever since she left America.
Perhaps a little Lifehouse would cheer her up. "I'm desperate for changing, starving for truth, I'm closer than where I started. I'm chasing after you. I'm falling even more in love with you, letting go of all I've held onto. I'm standing here until you make me move. I'm hanging by a moment here with you.
Hannah began to sing along softly. "Forgetting all I'm lacking, completely incomplete, I'll take your invitation. You take all of me. Now I'm fallin' even more in love with you, letting go of all I've held onto. I'm standing here until you make me move. I'm hanging by a moment here with you.
"I'm living for the only thing I know. I'm running and not quite sure where to go. And I don't know what I'm diving into, just hanging by a moment here with you.
"There's nothing else to lose. There's nothing else to find. There's nothing in the world…that can change my mind. There is nothing else. There is nothing else.
"Desperate for changing, starving for truth, I'm closer than where I started chasing after you… Now I'm fallin' even more in love with you, letting go of all I've held onto. I'm standing here until you make me move. I'm hanging by a moment here with you.
"I'm living for the only thing I know. I'm running and not quite sure where to go. And I don't know what I'm diving into, just hanging by a moment here with you.
"Just hanging by a moment (here with you). Hanging by a moment (here with you). Hanging by a moment here with you."
There was a knock at her door and Hannah dragged her butt out of bed to open the door. Just when she had been dozing off too!
A tall male in black, loose clothing with purple paint on his face stood in front of her door. "What's that on your face?" yawned the sleepy American.
"Face paint. It's my signature," responded the surprised Kankuro.
"It looks more like make-up. Are you gay?"
The puppet master's eye twitched angrily. Hannah giggled. "It's not make-up, girl, and I'm not gay. I'm a puppet master and artist. The face paint is part of the art."
Hannah, tired, had lost interest. "Whatever. It looks like make-up to me, gayboy."
In all his short tempered fame, the 'artist' was beginning to feel his patience wearing thin. "There's a big difference between both of them."
She nodded sleepily. "Suuure. Explain the difference to me in the morning so I can adequately laugh at you then." Wordlessly, Hannah shut the door and re-enforced by sticking a chair underneath the handle.
Ignoring the curses and threats, the American sauntered back to bed, locking the bedroom door if the fool managed to get past the first one.
Immediately, Hannah fell asleep.
Disclaimer: don't own Lifehouse or Hanging By a Moment