Hey everyone! Thank you soo much for reading and reviewing, especially Litha 2124! Thanks for motivating me - you and the other reviews all keep this thing going. Everyone else, please review so I know if I should continue!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Um, sure, what is it?"

He stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him. "I've been trying to talk to Temari . . . she's pretty upset, and she won't explain to anyone exactly what happened. Can you talk some sense into her? We need to file reports about the incident, because there was a death."

I felt queasy as the image of blood splattered walls appeared in my memory. "Yeah, just lead me to her."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Temari was laying on her bed in her room, bandaged up but otherwise looking well.

"Seluni! Thank goodness you're alright!" She squeaked as she leaned up on one elbow. I noticed several bandages were stained deep red, but she showed no pain.

"Don't worry about me; you're the one who was hurt." I sat on the bed next to her. "Are you healing up?"

She laughed. "I'm healthy enough to attend the ball tonight. Wouldn't miss it for the world!"

I had to admire her for her energy despite her wounds.

"We can get ready for the banquet together. But right now, everyone needs to know what happened with Yaru." Her face paled upon hearing his name.

"Seluni, would you mind telling them instead of me? I – I don't want to talk about it. Besides, you know as much about it as is necessary to tell."

I seriously doubted that, but I agreed. "Should I tell them about your involvement in Drift?" She nodded.

"Gaara or anyone who would read the file won't care enough to confront me about it. And it's all in the past anyway."

"Speaking of Gaara, have you talked to him since last night?"

"No, why?"

"I don't know. I just, I don't understand him at all. One minute he's an absolute monster, the next minute he's basically saying he loves me. But it's like he can't stand talking to me at all. Is it just the demon that makes him this way?"

"What you have to understand about Gaara is that he's used to being hated and feared. Before he became Kazekage, no one would even look him in the eyes, as if he would kill on sight. He grew up knowing that his father as well as everyone around him wanted him dead. And he tried to kill himself, on several occasions. I've seen it. But the sand wouldn't let him die."

I felt a lump in my throat. "What do you mean? I thought he controls the sand."

"He does unless something interferes with his safety. But it's the most depressing thing I've ever seen. I remember being younger and watching Gaara trying to hurt himself, and crying when the kunai was blocked by sand again and again. Imagine your only release from the pain of life is death, but you aren't even allowed the satisfaction of dying." She sighed and shook her head in pity.

Tears welled in my eyes as I listened to Temari, imagining the horrible life Gaara had. I shook my head, afraid to know what pain the boy had been through. It made my troubles seem pathetically easy. At least I had been raised in a nice home, with a semi-loving parent. Well, foster parent.

"So maybe you can sympathize with him a bit. He's a bit rough, but Gaara is my brother, after all."

"I'll try to be patient."

"That's all I ask for." She smiled, "Now, back to business. I might need your help with preparing for the ball, since I'm all wrapped up and such." She held up a bandaged hand as if to prove it.

"Okay. I'll come back later so we can get ready for tonight." I looked up at Kankuro, who was now standing in the doorway.

"I'll fill out any forms for the kidnapping."

He thought for a minute. "Only Wind citizens can do that. But, I suppose you'll be one soon enough. Follow me."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After an hour or so of filling out paperwork on exactly what happened, who was involved, and what Drift was, I found my way back to my room.

I had planned on beginning my letter home, and was startled when I opened the door and found a man standing in the light of the window, looking at the photograph of my father.

"Hello, Kakashi."

He hummed a response, apparently deep in thought.

I sat on the bed and watched him in silence for a few minutes. "Any reason why you're in my room?"

He finally looked up, as if he was surprised I was still there. "You look nothing like the Raikage." He said plainly.

Back to this subject again, I thought, as I sat on the bed. I was sick of this guy sticking his nose in my business.

"Yea, I know I don't."

"And no one's ever questioned your legitimacy before? Your looks, lack of ability?"

Now he'd crossed the line. "Look, Kakashi, I appreciate that you felt the need to tell me the truth about who I am, or am not. But don't talk to me like I'm some poor abandoned bastard child. I was raised as the daughter of a Kage, and you should show some respect."

I had caught him off guard by my arrogant response, as I could tell by his face. I was even surprised by my own words. But then again, I had to tap into some anger once in a while to get my point across.

"I apologize, Seluni, I wasn't trying to be offensive."

Now I felt bad. "Look, Kakashi, I'm sorry. I'm just tired of all these surprises and investigations going on around here. Everyone is so uptight. Everything is so formal. It was so much easier back in the Lightning! I knew who I was, I knew what I was doing in life, and I didn't know the bipolar sociopath I'm going to marry!" I was yelling again, but Kakashi had returned to his usual calm self.

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call him a . . . oh wait, yes I would. Okay, so the customs here are a bit different from Lightning. That's to be expected. The Wind Country has experienced nothing but war and violence for the past few decades. The people here have seen far too much death to keep up a cheerful mood, so don't expect them to all welcome an outsider with open arms."

I tried to protest but Kakashi continued, now looking out the window.

"Kazekage Gaara has not only lived here his whole life, but he was feared by even the bravest of shinobi from the time he was ten. He was a social outcast for years before the country realized they needed his power for their own. That's the only reason he was made Kazekage, and he knows it."

I threw up my hands in defeat. "Okay, I get that this guy had a hard life. But I have to marry this psycho? Why is everyone so afraid of him anyway, just because he has a demon spirit inside him?"

"A demon spirit can very easily take over the body of its host when it becomes excited, sometimes killing anything around it for no reason. I know for a fact that Gaara, or Shukaku at least, had killed over a dozen innocent citizens before he turned twelve."

"Twenty-one," came a voice from the door. Both of us turned to see Temari standing there, still bandaged but otherwise looking the same as usual.

"But he's only twenty now," said Kakashi.

Temari shook her head. "No, he had killed twenty-one innocent citizens before he was twelve. Now onto a better topic of discussion. Seluni, you and I are gonna get ready for the banquet now! Kakashi, go find something else to do. But stay out of trouble! I don't want to have to tell Gaara you were in a room alone with his new wife!" She laughed and watched Kakashi place the photograph down and walk out.

"I should tell you to stay out of trouble, Temari," he said as he left, "Aren't you the one that got her kidnapped in the first place?" Temari frowned and slammed the door in his face. She turned to me with a huge grin.

"He's just gorgeous, isn't he?" she gushed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I stood alone outside the main door for the banquet hall, picking at my dress in nervousness. Temari and I had spent hours getting ready while she taught me the names of many attendees, and now it all came down to my entrance.

Tapping my foot while trying not to listen to all the chatter of people on the other side of the door, I didn't hear Gaara approach. I eventually felt his presence and turned to see him a few feet behind me in his formal Kazekage clothes. He was silent as he looked me up and down, and stepped up next to me, us both facing the shut door.

"Do you know how to act tonight?" he said quietly.

I nodded. There was a moment of silence that seemed to stretch on forever.

He cleared his throat. "The wedding has been planned in two days."

I started. "That soon?" I blurted out.

He raised his eyebrow. "Why are you so surprised? You knew the day would come."

I rubbed my forehead in frustration. In two days, I'll be married. Sworn to spend a lifetime with this guy. I'll be Kazekage no Seluni. Crap.

There was some sort of speech going on inside the hall. A speaker, whose voice I could hear but not his words, earned applause after every few sentences. Then his voice was raised as he called out Gaara's and my names.

Gaara lifted his hand and I cautiously placed mine on his, as I was taught. Clouds of sand appeared from nowhere and pushed open the wide wooden doors. As I got my first glimpse of the ball, Gaara leaned in towards me and, before the applause of a hundred people drowned out anything else, he whispered, "You look gorgeous tonight, Seluni."