Chapter NINETEEN
"There's going to be fireworks later tonight." Gaara told Sakura. "We should go see them."
Sakura nodded in agreement.
Gaara quickly ran through the list of things available in the festival. "Is there anything you want to do?"
Sakura frowned. "Um...I heard that...Sasori-sama was running a stall..."
"Sasori." Gaara corrected. He then smiled, pleased that Sakura had shared her own opinion. He nodded. "Okay." He knew where every stall was located, for he had planned most of it, then led Sakura off towards the stall Sasori was running with a friends of his, who had come from Iwagakure.
Anyone had been allowed to open a stall to sell things, or run activities, as long as they had applied for it and it had been confirmed. Gaara had been surprised when Sasori had handed him his application form with a dark glint in his eyes.
How the two from completely different villages were friends, Gaara didn't know, but it didn't really matter.
Gaara trusted Sasori.
Gaara glanced at the crowd of people gathered around the stall Sasori and his friend was running.
People politely opened at path for them, and after thanking them politely, Gaara and Sakura made their way past the crowd.
What he saw made him want to cringe, frown and sigh at the same time.
Sasori and his friend, a blond shinobi, were sitting facing each other.
The blond was building something out of clay. Gaara caught sight of something on his hands, and decided that it had something to do with how quickly the blond was able to build up his clay work.
Sasori was not looking at anything in particular, just taking notes.
After a while, the blond let out a groan and made a hand sign. The sculpture exploded in a cloud of paint, splattering him, and everything in the close vicinity.
Gaara threw up his sand, protecting him and and the rest of the audience from being showered. This caught the attention of the blond, and an annoyed looked Sasori, who was covered in pink paint.
"Oh! I got it!" The blond got to his feet and marched over to them. He stopped in front of Sakura and pulled her forward.
Gaara tensed and Sakura let out a gasp but the blond ignored them. "Hey! Danna! How about her, un?"
Sasori sighed. "I suggest you let her go, Deidara, before our beloved Kazekage decides to challenge you to a duel for her hand." He stood up and made his way towards them.
The blond, Deidara, frowned. "Kazekage...?" He turned around, then leaned into Gaara's face. "You're the Kazekage?"
Gaara narrowed his eyes.
Deidara let out a chuckle. "You definitely look like Sasori no Danna, un."
Sasori whacked the blond over the head, then turned to Gaara, ignoring the yelp of pain. "This is Deidara. He has no artistic value whatsoever and he claims to be my friend, but he mean no harm."
Gaara nodded.
"Deidara, this is Gaara, but you already know that." He gestured towards Sakura, who had slipped out of Deidara's grasp and was now hovering behind Gaara. "That's Sakura, and everyone knows she's off limits, so-"
Sasori stopped mid sentence, then slowly looked down, at his sand encased ankles. "If I'm sent to the hospital, you are going to have to take care of double the work you usual do." He said.
Gaara narrowed his eyes, then turned to the side, his face suddenly feeling hot.
Deidara's grin widened as he looked between Gaara and Sakura. "Oh! I see...I see..." He chuckled.
"What is your stall about?" Gaara asked, trying to change the subject.
"We started off as a 'Explosion VS Eternal!' stall." Deidara said. "But there isn't much space for a real explosion, and it's hard to compare when you're not in a fight, so we decided to see if we could create something together." He grinned at the crowd, the majority of the girls swooning.
Sasori sighed.
"But we had no inspiration." Deidara said. "Then you guys came by..." He grinned. "Anyways." He turned to Sasori. "As I was saying, how about her, un?" He gestured towards Sakura again. "She's perfect, isn't she?"
Sasori narrowed his eyes. "Yes...she is."
And that was why Gaara was sitting on a makeshift chair made of sand, shooting glares of I-will-melt-your-eyeballs at the two artists.
Sakura was sitting in front of Deidara, still as a statue.
Deidara's hands were flashing over a huge mound of clay, and Gaara could slowly but surely see the outlines of a sitting figure beginning to appear.
Sasori was crouched next to Sakura, fiddling with a pallet of paint, comparing colors.
A while later, Deidara stood up, a proud grin on his face. "Done!"
He l and Sasori switched places. This time, Sasori crouched by the clay structure which was no doubt Sakura. Gaara noted that the clay was already dry and decided that it had something to do with Deidara's hands. The blond noticed his staring and sent him a toothy grin, then raised his hands, showing the Kazekage the mouths on his palms.
The lair of tongues flicked out in his direction.
Gaara took a deep breath, then turned back to face Sakura. Sasori was narrowing his eyes, paintbrush hovering over the surface of the clay work.
"So." Deidara plopped himself down .
Gaara looked at Deidara form the corner of his eyes.
"What's going on between you and the Pink Sand Princess?" He blond grinned.
Gaara quickly looked to the side, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Nothing." He murmured.
Deidara grinned. "That's not nothing, un." He leaned in closer to him. "Sasori no Danna's expecting a godchild. He told me, un."
Gaara lowered his head to use his red hair to hide his equally red face.
After presenting the meter tall statue to the crowd, Sasori and Deidara gave it to Gaara with devlish smirks on their faces. Gaara teleported it immedietly to his office, telling himself that it was so that he wouldn't ave to carry it around.
No, definitely because he didn't want people to see the statue Sakura.
In the clay work, Sakura was still dressed in the kimono for the festival. However, Gaara noticed with a blush that the collar of the kimono was slightly lowered, and Sakura had a slightly vulnerable look on her face, something Gaara had never seem.
He wanted to Sand Coffin himself when the dark part of his mind told him that he liked it.
The way she looked up at him from between her lashes, hand clenched over her heart, a faint smile on her lips-
He shook his head to clear his head. Sakura glanced at him with well concealed worry.
Sakura never showed vulnerability. If she showed him weakness, it would be because she trusted him enough to protect her when she was weak.
Not that she ever would be.
He wanted to be the person she leaned on when she needed to rest. That was why-
'She only has you to lean on. You deprived her of this choice the moment you marked her as yours.' The dark part of his mind sneered. 'She only knows to turn to you.'
Gaara took a deep breath to calm himself.
He flinched when something brushed his hand and he looked down to see Sakura's shaking fingers hovering a little away from his. He turned to look at her and saw that she was looked at the ground.
She was trying to comfort him in the only way she knew.
Gaara smiled softly and took her hand. "Come on." He said. "The fireworks are starting soon, and I know the perfect spot."
NEXT CHAPTER IS THE LAST CHAPTER.
We promise.
It might be slightly longer than the usual chapter for this story, but that's only if we can't fit it in to one chapter...
Darque: This time, I am sitting in English, where I am supposed to be working on the draft of my final assessment, or something.
Raven:...You should work on it. You failed the draft thing, right?
Darque: I got over half! So it's okay.
Raven: I really worry for your future.
Darque: You're not the first person to tell me that.
Raven: That just basically told me that I'm right to worry.
Darque: Well, once we grow bigger, you can help me out. We're friends, after all!
Raven: Don't pull the friend card on me XP!
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