Gaara sat in his office blankly staring at his desk. It had been three days since that kunoichi attacked him and issued her warning. He didn't act upon threats but her words still echoed in his ears. Would he really put his life on the line for someone he didn't know? She wasn't apart of Suna and she wasn't a friend, so would he? Leaning against the desk, head in hands, he continued to think about it. Right now it was his job to keep her safe. He closed his eyes and sighed. Dropping his arms, he forgot about his wandering thoughts and went back to focusing on his work. He didn't see much of the Princess anyways; why should he care?
"Gaara?" the voice of his older sister Temari broken the silence of his office.
"What is it Temari?" he sat like stone working.
She walked in without hesitation after his acknowledgement, "Just here to turn in my report from our mission." She set a paper on his desk and swiftly turned to make her exit, she knew how much he preferred to be undisturbed.
"Temari." His voice caught her by surprise and she turned back around, a little shocked that he had stopped her.
"Yes?" she asked, still curious by why he stopped her.
The two siblings stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, "I…" Gaara began, trying to think of how to put his thoughts into words. He had never been good at expressing himself. "…Can you have this delivered?" He held out his hand with a folded piece of paper in it.
"Uhm…sure," she replied taking it. While walking towards the door, she secretly smiled back at her little brother knowing he had tried to make an effort to talk to her.
"It's not fair!" Maki shouted angrily as his hands clenched into fists.
Dark clouds hung over head, dropping snow on the mountains Aisugakure inhabited. Standing in the royal palace's courtyard was an angry Maki and unphased Hui, who listened to him shout and complain. How could he have not been told when she was leaving? He was apart of the royal guards too! So why wasn't he told? It was his job to protect Setsuko at all costs and he couldn't do that if people were keeping secrets from him! He angrily looked up at her.
Looking down at him emotionlessly, she raised a single brow, "Stop your whining Maki."
There was a low, guttural growl in his throat, "I'm not whining! I'm the only one that can protect her and I can't do that when she's so far away from me!" His look of fury disappeared almost instantly and he looked away from his commanding officer, "…I mean from home…"
"You're too personally invested in the Princess. Your feelings cloud your judgment and make for poor decision making. You weren't told anything because I knew you would react just like this and blow the whole plan," she stated completely ignoring his words.
"And what do you expect me to do? Be like you? A cold hearted bitch," he spat, his anger resurfacing.
"Is that so?" she questioned calmly. "You're relieved of duty, go home."
Maki looked at her shocked. Was she really sending him home? "What?"
"I said go home," Hui repeated as she turned her back on him, never once glancing back at him. Before he could speak up, she walked away from him, her metal heels echoing on the stones of the courtyard.
Leaning back in his chair, Gaara rubbed his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Another peaceful night in Suna and he was where he always was. As he blankly stared up at the ceiling, he found himself thinking back to when he met Hui, the Captain of Princess Setsuko's guards. Something still seemed to captivate him about her. He wondered if she had made it safely back to Aisugakure and how things were fairing for her back there. His attention was brought back to reality when he heard his door open. Sitting back up straight, he saw that it was none other than the Princess herself. She was dressed in a short, pastel orange dress of what looked like Chinese origin. What was she even doing here?
"Why are you here?" he asked as his gaze went back to his work.
She didn't say a word until she stood in front of his desk, causing him to look up at her, "Can we go for a walk?"
He stared up at her for a moment before turning back to his desk and resuming his work, "I'm busy."
"Really?" He didn't see the smirk appear on her face as her eyes narrowed a little. A sudden cold wind blew through his office, blowing all the papers on his desk to the floor. Surprised, he again looked up at her, "Doesn't look like it to me."
He sighed, "How did you even get past the ANBU?"
"Are you kidding?" she laughed. "I've been ditching guards since I was four. It wasn't hard."
He got up from his seat and began picking up the papers on the floor, "Go back to the inn."
Setsuko grabbed his hand, the difference in their temperatures obvious to both of them, "Oh come on! Where's your sense of adventure Gaara?" With a wicked grin to the younger man, she dragged him out the window in utter shock.
He had managed to grab the gourd at the last second, strapping it to his back as they jumped out the window. Knowing she wasn't trained as a shinobi, Gaara wrapped his arms around her before they touched the ground and prevented her from hurting herself. Letting go of her, he watched her take a few steps away from him and look up into his eyes. Under the light of the moon she looked almost ethereal with her pale body. Her eyes twinkled like the stars. Her skin seemed to have a soft glow emanating from it and her hair looked as if shined like the bright light of the moon. Again she grabbed onto his hand, a smile playing on her lips and dragged him away from the Kazekage building.
Setsuko never let go of his hand as she dragged him through the village under the light of the full moon. Whenever she would see a patrolling shinobi, she would force him to hide with her making sure to cover his mouth incase he alerted them to their presence. She didn't want to be caught just yet. Half way through the village, she smiled back at him seeing his confused expression. As they reached the path that led from the village into the open terrain, she skid to a halt as she noticed a light coming towards them. Pushing Gaara up against the nearby wall, she covered his mouth once again with her hand and watched as the ninja passed by without noticing them.
"Come on," she whispered to him, as she led him out of the village and down the path.
"Where are you taking me?" he asked as they kept running, still highly confused by her actions. He was never going to understand women.
She smiled over her shoulder, "Don't worry your pretty little head!"
After a half hour of running, she finally began to slow her pace. As they did, he could hear the sound of waves nearby. He knew where they were now. There was a beach just after the forest that separated Konoha from Suna. As they reached the clearing, he heard Setsuko squeal happily and begin running again. Watching her back, she removed her shoes mid run and jumped on the railing of a wooden platform that overlooked the beach. He was shocked when she launched herself off it and landed on the soft sand perfectly. He had no idea she had such balance. Then again, he didn't know anything about her. Since there was nothing else he could do, he followed after her slowly, not bothering to force her back to the village just yet.
Standing a few feet back, he watched her play in the foam created by the waves as they crashed to the shore. She seemed so happy just doing something simple as standing in water. He could hear the sound of her laughter; it sounded just like an innocent child. Her long blonde hair flew around her body as she danced around in such a blissful state. He had never seen anyone so happy before. She finally stood still and stretched her arms out, holding her head high. Watching her strange behavior, he was a little surprised when a wave engulfed her body. Thinking that she had been swept out to sea he jogged towards the shore only to be surprised by her standing there, completely soaked.
He threw up his hands as she shook out the water from her hair, spraying him with sea water. Turning around, she couldn't help but start laughing at him. There was no denying that she was the strangest Princess he had ever met. Her laughing died away and their eyes locked onto each other. Gaara watched her stare at him with an unblinking stare and although he wanted to know why she was he never voiced his question. Setsuko looked into his eyes and was struck by their beauty under the moonlight.
"Gaara," her voice broke the silence between them and he blinked. He didn't reply. "Why did you ask me if I knew what Kazeku had asked of you? What exactly did he ask?"
For a long moment, he didn't say a word. He was slightly taken back by her question. How was he going to answer it? Thinking back to the letters he had received, he couldn't help the heat that suddenly rose to his face, but he held it back well. Without showing a single shred of emotion he replied, "He asked me to marry you."
Setsuko gasped, her face fully showing her shock. She was utterly speechless! No wonder he hadn't wanted to mention it before. It was such an odd request. Why would Kazeku ask Gaara such a thing? Besides, she dropped her gaze to the sand, she didn't love Gaara. How could she possibly marry someone she didn't love? A small blush tainted her cheeks as she let her mind wander. An image of Maki raced through her mind and she smiled to herself. Even though she knew it was forbidden, it was her dream to marry Maki. She knew it was his too because as children he had made that promise to her. Walking around him, she made her way back up the beach and to the deck that over looked the vast ocean side.
Gaara watched her silently and couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking about. He had found it a strange request and had been shocked by it when he read it for the first time. Now that he thought about it, maybe it was because of the request made by her advisor that caused him to be far more distant to her than the other people of Suna. Of course he was a busy man, but it was his subconscious keeping him away from her. No, that couldn't be it. He didn't have any problems staying away from her and had no desire to be near her.
"I'm sorry about Kazeku's forward request," she said as he came to stand behind her. Turning from the water, she faced him with her back casually leaning against the railing, "He's old fashion. According to his ways I'm of marrying age." Her blue eyes never once looked up at him, they stayed locked on the wooden deck.
He shook his head, "It's alright." This was his first time actually talking with this Princess and so far he couldn't come up with a conclusion about her.
She smiled up at him, something that only Naruto and his siblings did. He watched as she turned back to the water, leaning over and resting her arms on the railing and shifting her weight to one side, "You know, there's a really old legend in my village. One that…" she paused a moment, her gaze becoming thoughtful, "…That I didn't even believe until fourteen years ago."
"Hmm…" Gaara quietly walked around her, coming up beside her and placing his hands on the railing she was leaning against. "Legend huh?" he mused as he looked out at the ocean with her. He could see something different about her; something much like Naruto had. "You enjoy stories don't you?" he asked, looking over to her.
Setsuko chuckled softly, facing him with the same smile, "Hm, yeah I-Gaara watch out!" Her eyes flashed wide in alert as she wrapped both hands around one of his arms and threw him over the railing and into the sand.