The 10th chapter is here! I was actually thinking about doing a Naruto chapter first because in the most updated chapter of the manga he just became so cool suddenly and I'm moved TT^TT. Enjoy the chapter! *wink*

(Thanks for everyone who have reviewed so far. It feels so good knowing that I'm not the only one getting excited about the story :') )

He knew outsider's faces just by one look. That family of three was definitely outsider, the fresh looking skins, flowery smell that surrounds them were enough tell. They have a young girl with short hair around his age and they stopped in front of his father's office. She talked with her parents for a while before separating with them with waving hands. Curious with the newcomer, Gaara followed her to the playground which boys used for playing soccer.

"Can I join?" The girl's voice was cheery and hopeful. The boys stopped, gave her a look, and laughed.

"This is boy's game. Girls should just go home and play dolls." They said. The blonde girl folded her hands in annoyance and pouted.

"I can play dolls in my own home. I want to do something else while I'm here."

"No." One of the boy said and they continued playing. The blonde girl ran in the midst of the field and even though she's being ignored, she's still trying hard to get the ball. In the end, the boys often deliberately kicked the ball toward her body. She's being hit by the ball everywhere but she persisted.

"Please stop that." Gaara came out out of his hiding place and like on some cues, everybody ran away from him. The girl, not knowing what really happened, tried to run away with them as well. His sand reached for her foot on the way and tripped her on the way. There was a painful yelp as she fell down and Gaara immediately let go of his sand. She looked like she's going to cry before making tough face and examined her own wounded knees.

"I'm sorry." Gaara said meekly from afar, not wanting her to run away.

"Why are you talking from so far away?" Her cerulean eyes bored into him. "Come here and help me stand up." She told him. Gaara's eyes widened in surprise. He immediately ran to her.

"Yes!" The girl frowned at his enthusiasm but accepted his hand anyway.

"It hurts so bad. Why did everybody run away from you?" She asked. Gaara looked away and didn't answer her question. The girl examined his face and shrugged her shoulder.

"Maybe it was because you kept calling people by causing them to fall down." She said.

"I'll buy you some medicine." Gaara told her and she looked at him skeptically.

"You look like you're my age and I'm 5. 5 years old doesn't have money." She said.

"I have some." Gaara showed him some of his money. Yashamaru gave him in case he wants to buy something. She looked at them and then smiled.

"There's no need. Is there a garden or something like that around? I'll make my own medicine."

"You can make your own medicine?" He asked while looking at her in awe.

"My father taught me. Show me the garden and I'll teach you too." She said. Gaara nodded and walked her to the garden. She kept sneezing because of all the sand and Gaara couldn't help to stifle a chuckle. She glared at him.

"I'm not from around here." She said before sneezing once again.

"I know." Gaara said. The girl sneezed once again.

They arrived at the garden and no one was there. She looked around and then looked at him.

"Is it okay if I pick some of it?" She asked. Gaara nodded.

"I think so." He said. Nothing was ever off-limit for him, after all. She then nodded and expertly pick some herbs. Gaara watched her with amazement, the girl was the same age with him, but she looked so much more mature. She looked for a rock and ground the leaves. After rinsing her wound, she applied the ground leaves to her wound. She winced.

"Does it hurt?" Gaara squatted next to her.

"Yes. But ninja don't cry." She said. "That's what my father tells me."

"Are you a ninja?" He asked. He didn't like it whenever his father taught him the ninjutsu, but that was the only time his father ever spend time with him as well. So he treasured it as well. She shook her head.

"No, not yet. I'm already admitted at the academy though." She said. "It's been going well."

Gaara nodded silently and then it was silence. The girl applied her 'medicine' to her other knees before looking at him. Their matching eyes met and she smiled at him.

"Let's buy candies." She said as she got up while tidying up her skirt.

"I'll buy you candies!" Gaara exclaimed. She shook her head.

"No need. I have some pocket money too." She showed him her money. "Let's go to the candy store."

They walked toward the shop in silence. It was then when they walked past a toy store she looked at it with some thought and looked at him.

"Will you still buy me candies?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure." Gaara smiled at her. That girl smiled back and told him to wait there before she rushed to the toy store. Her knees still giving her pain so she slowed her walk.

"Gaara-sama." A familiar voice greeted him and Gaara looked at its source. He beamed.

"Yashamaru! I met someone new!" He exclaimed. Yashamaru frowned.

"Really?"

"Yes! She's not from around here. But she's really nice!" He said eagerly.

"That's good then, Gaara-sama. I'm glad for you." Yashamaru said with a sincere smile. "Now I got to go. See you later." He ruffled his hair before turning around.

"You should meet her, Yashamaru." Gaara's eyes gleamed at his uncle. Yashmaru chuckled.

"Maybe next time, okay?" Yashmaru took his leave with Gaara still smiling widely at his back. Minutes past by, and after some time, Gaara started to get impatient waiting for the girl. He was thinking about following her inside when the blonde burst outside the store bringing a brown bear doll on her clutch.

"I'm sorry it took so long." She flashed him a smile. Gaara looked at her doll at her clutch and she notice.

"Ah! This is for you!" She shoved him the brown bear. "You seem like you don't have no one to play with. So, this is for when things got lonely."

Gaara looked at the doll and her respectively. "Thanks!" He gave her his widest smile and she smiled back. This is the first time ever someone other than his family had given him a gift, he liked this girl more and more.

"It's brown so it's not girlish." She said. "And it's small because … it's all I can afford. Sorry."

"It's okay." Gaara examined his brown dolls. "I like it."

They continued their walk toward the candy shops and bought some candies which they shared together at the now empty playground. She was awfully knowledgeable about things and Gaara could only look at her with amazement.

"It's almost 5! I should go back." She looked at the clock on the playground. Gaara looked at her with disappointment, no one but Yashamaru was nice to him like that and now she needed to go too. The blonde smiled at him as she stood up and extended her hands. Gaara looked at it.

"Don't make that face. Now shake my hand. Friends shake hands all the time." She said.

"Friends?"
"Friends. Aren't you mine?" She looked at him questioningly and Gaara immediately shook her hands while giving her his widest smile he could muster. Their matched eyes met before her eyes gleamed while she beamed back at him.

"See you tomorrow! We'll meet again, right?" She looked at him hopefully.

"Yes!"

She never came back the next day. Gaara waited and waited and waited but no one came. He searched for her everywhere but she was nowhere. It was then when he bumped into his father.

"Oto-sama." He nodded respectfully to his father and was about to run to search elsewhere when his father called him.

"Gaara." He called him. Gaara stopped and looked at his father.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for someone … My friend." Gaara said as he looked at his new doll hesitantly. He tightened his clutch to the brown bear doll as his father snorted when he looked at the brown bear doll as well.

"The blonde girl?"

"Yes. The blonde girl." His eyes glint hopefully. His father knows everything. He must know about his friend's whereabouts as well. "Do you know where she is?"

"I killed her."

XXX

The old memory never crossed his mind anymore. It was almost like he erased that memory of his brief friend during his childhood out of his brain. The end of that memory was not something he was too keen on remembering, anyway. At least, things were like that, until that one day when a batch of paperwork came to his office for him to sign and approve. The paperwork was about the upcoming mission about the list of ninjas who's going to have a visitation to Suna for the upcoming month. Gaara opened the first file, read some of the details and was about to sign his approval when his eyes caught the photo at the top of the files. Cerulean eyes stared back at him. It was almost painful, how the surge of memory abruptly flooded his brain.

"Kankuro!" He called his brother's name. Gaara knew Kankuro was around because in a matter of second, his older brother entered his office.

"What?" The puppetmaster asked shortly with his hands in his pocket.

"I want you to look into something." He said.

"Is it about the aftermath of the war?" Kankuro asked. Despite their triumphant victory, after the war, just like every other villages, Suna had suffered a great loss and as the Kazekage, Gaara had been very busy with a lot of things. The ninja force took a huge blow because of the war, and there are resource shortage everywhere.

"No." Gaara said, feeling a little bit guilty that he was busy with his discarded childhood memory instead of taking care of his village's business. "I want every details about this girl." He said, giving him her files. Kankuro received the file with a raised eyebrows before opening it. He gave it a read before looking back at his brother.

"Yamanaka Ino? Konoha's hottest." He looked at the files. "What's the matter with her?"

Gaara looked away. He's not telling Kankuro anything for now because he's not certain yet about the identity of the blonde girl, but that cerulean eyes and blonde hair …

"I just want to know." He put it simply but Kankuro's eyes widened in surprise.

"Good God, Gaara! Are you …?" Kankuro looked at him with excitement as he walked a step closer to him. "She's very picky you know. I invited her to dinner once and she just refused."

Kankuro had had invited her to dinner?

"Just look her up." Gaara said sternly in a Kazekage-manner voice. That kind of tone usually managed to save him from questions. It seemed like that it works too that time. Kankuro shrugged his shoulder and raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. Fine, Kazekage-sama." His brother said. " Meanwhile … if you're so curious about her, you might want to ask Temari. Her crush, Shikamaru? He's her teammate."

The world is so small and yet it took him all these years to notice her. Now if he worked his memory correctly, they have met informally several years ago during his first chuunin exam. He had been so busy with himself that he failed to notice her. Damn it. He should have known from long ago that his father had lied to him. His father had strictly forbade him to talk about the blonde girl anymore after the conversation and at that time, out of fear, he obeyed his father and somehow his memory of her was forgotten and left somewhere in his unvisited part of memory. Yashamaru's betrayal several months after didn't help either. However, there was no use on regretting the past. If his father was indeed lying to him that time, then, he was determined to meet the girl once again.

Gaara promptly signed all the paperwork and decided to pay his sister a visit. It was never hard to find Temari, her favorite place was the southern training ground because the wind's direction and speed there are the best for training her fan technique. In her free time, she'd most likely be on the jonin headquarter or the Sunagakure's garden tending the plants. That day however, she was training some academy students on the southern training ground.

"Temari." He called her sister who was yelling at a dark haired boy who kept missing his target. His shuriken flew elsewhere. Temari turned around and raised her eyebrows in confusion upon seeing his brother. Gaara's favorite training ground was the northern training ground, mostly because it's the closest training ground to the Kazekage office and their house so it's pretty rare to see him here.

"Gaara. What are you doing here?" Temari asked his younger brother as he approached her.

"I have something I want to ask."

"Shoot away."

"I need this to be in private." He told her. "Can we talk in our house instead?"

Temari couldn't hide her astonishment from her face but nodded anyway. "Sure. Let's go."

Their house was on the northern part of the village so it was a pretty long walk from the Southern Trainin ground. Gaara didn't say a single word to her during their walk as he was busy with his own thought. He had met her on several occasions in the past it seems and Kankuro had even asked her out on dinner and yet he always failed to notice her. To be honest, hadn't he seen her photo earlier, he wouldn't even remember about her. It was almost sunset, so people are starting to go back to their own home. Most of them nodded respectfully toward Gaara. Gaara knew that Temari must have been curious about what he wanted to talk about because she kept looking at him. It's not surprising actually, he never sought his sister to talk for something in private and that was mostly because he didn't have private life. He dedicated all his time for the village and training.

"What is it?" She finally asked as Gaara opened the gate toward their house.

"We'll talk soon enough." Gaara said. Their house is the only place where there's no guard who's watching over him. Those guards were sworn to secrecy, but for the moment, he really didn't want anyone to know but his own siblings.

Their house was nothing of extraordinary despite it being the Kazekage's house for years. The three siblings live in their house together, with Kankuro taking the biggest space for his puppets. There are basically just six rooms in that house, one room for Gaara, one room for Temari, two rooms for Kankuro and the other two rooms were merged as the kitchen and the living room. Gaara and her sister entered their house and Temari immediately sat on the couch.

"So?" She asked as she crossed his legs. Gaara sat across of her.

"I heard that you have taken a liking with Leaf's Shikamaru." Gaara said. Temari's eyes widened and she blushed.

"No! Who's telling you that?" She asked. Gaara didn't have the time to answer because Temari found the answer herself. "Oh. I know. Kankuro must have put ideas in your head, didn't he?"

Gaara nodded slightly. "He told me. But that's not the point."

"What is the point, then?" She asked.

"I want to know about his teammate. The blonde girl." Gaara said.

"Ino? Shikamaru's head over heels for her." She sighed. That face in the photo was indeed evidence enough that many guys must have been chasing her.

"We're going to Konoha tomorrow." Gaara stated suddenly as he stood up and walked to a huge cardboard on the corner of the room. "I'll tell Kankuro as well."

"What's with her?" Temari asked as she watched Gaara rummaged through the drawers one by one. He pulled out a dusty brown bear doll and looked at it.

"I just want to meet her."

XXX

Konoha was the same as always, green and much more crowded then Suna. A group of ninja was already standing at the front gates waiting for their arrival. One of them waving his hand vigorously at him and Gaara could already tell that it was Naruto who's waving. When they arrived, apparently Naruto was accompanied by Sakura and Kakashi.

"Gaara! I'm so glad to hear that you're coming!" Naruto said eagerly.

"I'm sorry that I come on such a short notice." Gaara replied but Naruto was never one to fuss over things as formal as that so he quickly dismiss it.

"Tsunade-sama asked us to bring the three of you to the Hokage office even though you're here on vacational purpose. Is that okay?" Sakura asked him. Gaara nodded. He had planned to pay a little visitation to Tsunade anyway, mostly if Ino turned out to be that girl.

"Let's go." Kakashi chimed in.

They walked along the busy Konoha streets with Naruto updating him stories about his new training and Konoha. Gaara told him about the condition in Suna as well which was starting to get steady after several months of hard work. He then asked about Sasuke's condition in which Naruto enthusiastically answered that Sasuke was doing very fine. Naruto was excited as well because he met some new people as well since all of Sasuke's companion got amnesty and was allowed to stay in the village. He was telling Gaara one of Suigetsu's convenient ability when they finally arrived at the door to Tsunade's office. Sakura knocked and they were let inside.

"It's been a long time, Kazekage." Tsunade said. "I'm sorry if I caused you some inconvenient by asking you to come by here first, but please enjoy your stay here for as long as possible."

Gaara nodded. "I'm sorry that I came here on such a short notice as well. I'll be here for 3 days at most." He said. The conversation didn't last long and several minutes later, they're already walking out of the Hokage tower.

"So, what are you planning to do?" Kakashi asked him. Gaara looked at Kankuro and Temari who both shared a confused look. They both know that Gaara wanted to meet Ino and that he didn't want anyone else to know about it. However, it seems like Naruto and his team are going to be their companion for the rest of their stay.

"I'm hungry. We're going to try the Korean BBQ place Shikamaru often tells me about!" Temari said.

"Let us accompany you then," Sakura said. "It's about time we have lunch as well."

"That's great." Kankuro chimed in. "But if you didn't feel up to it, it's okay."

Kakashi was the first one to take the hint because he closed his book and put his hands on both his students' shoulders. "I feel like eating ramen today." He smiled to the sand siblings. "Shall we go, Naruto, Sakura?"

"But ..." Naruto was about to argue but Kakashi had dragged him and Sakura away. Temari sighed.

"I'm so glad that Kakashi-san took your hint." She told Kankuro. Kankuro scratched his head.

"So? Where should we go, Gaara?" Kankuro asked his younger brother.

"I'm going to the flower shop to meet her." Gaara said. "I need to be alone in this, so don't follow me." He added before walking away from his siblings.

The flower shop was crowded that day, customers come and go but she was there, working as the cashier. He waited until the shop was eventually closed before he approached her as she flipped the sign to the one that pronounced 'Closed'. She immediately sensed his presence and despite her astonishment, she still gave him a smile.

"So you're the one who's been watching me all day." She said as she turned around to properly face him. "What does the Kazekage-sama needs from me?"

Gaara searched his bag and pulled out his brown bear doll and showed it to her. Her stunned expression gave away everything. She was the girl.

"So you remember." Ino said as she looked at the brown bear doll. She entered the flower shop and waited for him to follow her. Gaara nodded and looked at the inside of the shop. It smelled ridiculously nice there. He followed her walking through a corridor that connected the shop to her house before finally arriving at a somehow spacious living room. Ino gestured him to sit on a cream colored couch that turned out to be very comfortable.

"What do you want? Coffee? Tea?" She offered him.

"No, thank you."

"Tea, it is." She grinned and walked to the kitchen. Gaara sighed at her persistence but didn't mind. That girl was so persistent as well. He took a quick glance across the room and immediately met the girl in his childhood. There's a whole wall with Ino's photographs on it, her whole life was there since she was still a little baby until now. Her parents must have loved her a lot.

"We're running out of tea, I'm sorry. I make us chocolate instead." Ino said as she put the mugs on the table. Gaara took a sip. It's very delicious.

"So." Ino started the conversation. "You remember."

"Yes." Gaara answered. "What actually happened?"

Ino sighed. "From my point of view, we were encountered by some Suna ninja by the time I went back to the inn and were asked to leave the village ASAP. They told me that you're dangerous for me. Years later, I saw you once again during the first chuunin exam … and you're no longer the nice boy I know from Suna. I figured that something must have happened so I didn't say anything."

He was not someone he was very proud of at that time, indeed.

"My father told me that he killed you." Gaara told her his side of story. "I was enraged, but I couldn't do anything. I'm too scared of my father at that time."

Ino shrugged her shoulder. "You remember anyway. All's well that ends well."

"Indeed." Gaara agreed hesitantly as he eyed his brown doll. He didn't know what else to say. He had imagined the moment he met her, but he hadn't thought about what he should do afterward. He was not good at having private life.

"I'm glad that you keep the doll." Ino eyed the doll in his clutch.

"I'm glad that I keep the doll." Gaara repeated her words.

"So, why suddenly? Do you need something?" She asked, taking another sip from her own chocolate mug. Gaara shook his head.

"I saw your photograph on your mission file and suddenly I am reminded of those memories."

"I'm glad that I could be a good memory to you." She smiled. "Who knows that the meek boy I met once in Suna was now the mighty Kazekage?"

"I was not meek."

"Please, you're following me around with shiny eyes and beaming smile." Ino laughed. Gaara frowned. He was indeed happy when he met her, but really? Shiny eyes and beaming smile?

"You're the only one who will talk to me and didn't treat me as different that time." He told her and her laughter faded down to a small sincere smile that looked so nostalgic.

"Yeah, I know now." Ino said. "I'm so glad I did."

Their gaze met and she was still smiling at him.

"You smile a lot, didn't you?" Gaara commented. Ino chuckled.

"Someone told me that as well." She said. "I told him, my father taught me to smile a lot because a smile could change someone's day or even someone's life."

Gaara couldn't help to crack a small smile at that. Her father was right. Her smile had changed his day so many years ago, and his day at the moment. He felt so glad the he made the right decision. He gets to meet once again with that girl in his childhood. The girl whose smile is as bright as the sunshine.

XXX

Just like that, his newly found hope was shattered. Tsunade blatantly refused his appeal for alliance through marriage, not because thousand of excuses he had predicted will come and had prepared for the counter-excuse, but simply because he was too late; Ino was the girl Konoha proposed as the bride of the alliance through marriage with Kumo.

"There are a lot of other potential and suitable candidate if you still want the alliance, Gaara-kun." Tsunade told him as she worked through several names in the files. "Konoha is home to many able kunoichi that will suit you very well."

"I'm not interested." Gaara put it bluntly and Tsunade sighed.

"Then I have to refuse your appeal. The Raikage is not going to be pleased if I just canceled the marriage because of your appeal. As much as we value the alliance between Suna and Konoha, the alliance with Kumo is at the same priority and they come first. They have proposed this appeal since 4 years ago." She told him.

"Can you just give them some other different name?" Gaara asked her. "It's not like Darui-san will mind. He didn't know Ino. He shouldn't have problem with some other girls."

Tsunade looked at him skeptically.

"And do you?"

"We met a long time ago." Gaara said. He knew his soul mate when he saw her. Ino was just it. She was the person in his most favorite part of the childhood, the only one that managed to incite a spark in his heart. He felt adoration toward her a long time ago and he still felt the same feeling when he met her yesterday. Something about her make him feel pleasant and safe, it was like the opposite of a trauma. In fact, the feeling overwhelmed him so much that he decided to make the appeal right away to Tsunade.

"Well. Even if you're best friend with her, it won't help. The alliance appeal is already fixed. Darui is the groom and Ino's the bride. What do you think the Raikage will feel if I changed the names and found out that I gave her to you? I have no interest on having those arguments with him. He's such a pain in the ass." Tsunade sighed. Gaara knew what she was thinking about, A is not exactly someone everybody wants to deal with in his normal mood, left alone when pissed off.

"I am a Kazekage, Hokage." He said, his tone was heavy and demanded respect. He couldn't accept this. Darui was just, what exactly is he? A jonin commander? He was less prioritized over a jonin commander?

"I figure it out as much, Gaara-kun. But Ino was taken first by the Kumogakure and I wasn't going to give you a special treatment just because you are THE Kazekage."

"You are exiling her like that."

"I'm not exiling her," There was hurt in her voice when he told her that, "She was the most capable kunoichi suited for this mis … condition. She had been trained for years under the best possible people for this. Kumo will love her inside out."

"So does Suna," Gaara retorted immediately.

"Stop this, please, Gaara. Sakura had tortured me all the time by bringing up this topic every five minutes. It was Ino's decision to agree to a marriage with Darui of the Kumogakure."

"She was 13. She was very young and immature."

"Now she's 17 and still don't have anything to say about it."

"And what if she had something to say about it?"

"We don't force kunoichi out of their will for this kind of case. The mission will be canceled, even though I don't think that by the time she's canceling her mission she'd want to be married to a Kazekage either."

"I have time until she's 18."

"Konoha and Kumo's village couldn't be any stronger after the marriage. With that, the five alliances could make strong line of defense and offense against anything. We are lucky enough we could secure Sasuke safely back to the village. So please, don't sabotage this." Her honey eyes looked tired from the conversation and suddenly there was a disappearance of chakra, the owner was trying to conceal it but nevertheless, both Tsunade and Gaara could feel it.

"Are we being eavesdropped?" He asked. Tsunade rubbed her temple.

"It's only one of my ANBU. I'm planning to assign him for a mission before you come here so suddenly." Tsunade said. Gaara felt unease but Tsunade looked so sure that it's okay so he didn't say anything.

"Fine, then." Gaara said. He had to find a way of making Ino bailed out. He would figure it out, somehow. Tsunade frowned.

"Also, have you talked to your council about this? I'm not sure that they're with you on this. You're still too young for a Kage to get married." Tsunade looked at him with a concern. Gaara sighed, he's starting to get tired with the whole 'you're too young' thing.

"I'll find a way."

XXX

Kankuro rushed to the Kazekage office as fast as he could as soon as he received the letter from Suna's bird messenger. As he slammed open the door, Gaara was talking to one of his student, Matsuri. Kankuro stopped midway. To be honest, he didn't know why Gaara was so determined to make Ino her bride. The kunoichi was indeed beautiful and he agreed that no sane man would miss a chance on trying to hit her on. However, not backing away after the girl was already betrothed to someone else in neighboring village was a little bit too far. There were alliance proposals at stake here, one wrong steps from the head ninja of Suna can cause huge misunderstanding among the three villages, and misunderstanding was the root of all wars. Kankuro had tried to explain to Gaara countless time about the whole matter, but it's almost like he was deaf. He was fixed on the idea and with the council on his back -mostly because they're excited at the idea of Gaara wanting to have an intimate relationship and regard it as once in a lifetime chance- , Kankuro could do nothing but doing his best to help his brother. Temari had decided to stay neutral on the matter, but Kankuro knew that deep down, she wanted Gaara to be with Ino. If it did happen, Shikamaru would definitely run to her, right?

"Kankuro. What is it?" Gaara asked as he noticed that his brother was almost out of breath. Kankuro shot Matsuri a look.

"It's a private yet urgent matter. It's a letter from our intel in Konoha." He told him. His brother's deadpan expression changed at the mention of Konoha.

"You're dismissed." Gaara told her. Matsuri looked confused.

"But, Gaara-sama ..."

"I will have a jonin to look on that matter. It will be taken care of as soon as possible." Gaara said as he gave her a nod. There was impatience in his voice.

"Yes, Gaara-sama." Matsuri said. "I am so glad that ..."

"Out." Kankuro squeaked impatiently as well. Matsuri shot him a resentful glance before walking out the door. Kankuro approached him and gave him the letter.

"She's leaving for Kumo." Gaara frowned as he read the letter. "For a five months mission? She'll turn 18 after that."

"Meaning that she's fixed on marrying that guy." Kankuro snorted. Gaara crumpled the letter and utterly destroyed it with his sand.

"Something must have happened to her."

"Yeah, or she just simply falling head over heels with that guy. Why don't you just move on and go back to protecting the village? Marry a nice girl, Suna kunoichi probably? That Matsuri seems to fancy you a lot."

"Get yourself packed." Gaara said.

"Uh-oh. No. I have to veto this." Kankuro said. "Look at you Gaara! This is marriage we're talking about. You're still merely 18 years old and ..."

"I'm not too young for anything." Gaara stated harshly as he glared at his brother.

"That's not what I'm saying." Kankuro rubbed his temple, hated that he had said the wrong words against his brother. "There's a lot to this world that you should see."

"I've seen enough."

"Of course, of course." Kankuro said frustratedly. He hated how every words sounded like it came out wrong.

"But you have to admit that you're new in this whole relationship thing. Maybe you fell in love with her for some reasons I don't know, and I know how that feels." Kankuro said, eyeing his brother but he didn't respond.

"You want to be with her all the time, you want her, you need her, everything in your world revolved around her. I know that feeling, bro. But it's not always long lasting, you might think that she's your soul mate now, but it's not always like that. I just don't want you to wake up one day and regret whatever it is you have done today. So, please think about it first." Kankuro eyed his brother. It seems like Gaara was finally listening to him because he didn't give him a quickfire respond as usual. There was a feeling of self-satisfaction in his heart knowing that his words had finally gotten through.

The silence only enveloped the room for a short moment, but it felt almost unbearable for Kankuro. When Gaara finally stood up and approached him, Kankuro looked at him with a questioning look.

"Get yourself packed and tell Temari to do the same. We're leaving for Kumo first thing in the morning."

It's done … A little bit of cliffhanger but it's done TT^TT it's a little bit easier to write than the pretty-up for the prologue ;) I think I manage to make everyone here stays in character, do you think so?

Gaara strikes me as someone who's fiercely determined and extremely protective of what matters. Kankuro is the talking-a-lot and meddle-with-everyone-business and flirt-a-lot big brother, and Ino shines the best when she's still a child! She helps Sakura solving her lack of confident crisis after all. The development about the ending is now I can imagine (or at least know the rough plot) about the ending with every character, but still couldn't pick the best one ;) They're all just so good and sounds delicious :''')

Please share your thought about the story in the review section :) I may not reply to everyone of you but trust me, I jumped out of happiness each time my mail notified me that I have one :D