Chapter 64: Tense Talk

The next morning

"I hope the Elders won't give me too much trouble today," Gaara mumbled to himself as he dressed himself in his Kazekage robes, his thoughts jumping between his girlfriend and the meeting he had to oversee today. "I don't want to end up with an aggravating headache at the end of the day . . . again."

"Hey little bro," Kankuro said with a smirk on his face as he walked into his brother's room. "Are you all ready to go? The Elders expect us in the council chambers as soon as we enter the Kazekage building."

"I'm ready as I'll ever be," the redhead said in his usual monotone voice. "All I'm hoping for is that the Elders don't give me a hard time during today's meeting. It's unlikely, very unlikely, but it's what I'm hoping for."

"Yeah . . . I think your hopes will be dashed as soon as we walk into the room," Kankuro said with a sad shake of his head. "C'mon, we better get going. Temari already went ahead of us."

Gaara simply nodded his head before following his brother out the room. The two left the house and walked in complete silence toward the Kazekage building, both of them speculating on what could possibly be said during the meeting. As they walked, the brothers couldn't help but notice the change in the air. It felt as though a large weight had suddenly come off the citizens' shoulders, as if they knew that the village and its allies avoided some form of disaster with the successful recovery of the Lady Sage. However, an underlying tenseness could still be felt, as if the citizens instinctually knew that battle wasn't completely over.

"You can just feel the tension in the air," Kankuro mumbled under his breath as he and his brother reached the building. "The people may be going about their day like normal, but even they seem a little . . . uptight, some more than others."

"It's like the calm before the storm Kankuro," Gaara said as he continued to look forward, obviously signaling to his brother that he overheard what he said. "Things may seem good now, but they're going to get worse before they get better."

"I seriously don't like the sound of that . . ." Kankuro couldn't help but say as he followed his brother up the front steps. Once they entered the building, the two brothers made their way to the Sand Council's sacred meeting chamber, where they found their sister waiting with Baki in front of the main entrance, already dressed in their respective robes. "Are all the elders already inside?"

"They're all inside waiting for the rest of us," Temari said with a small shake of her head. "And judging from how quiet the room sounds, they must be thinking long and hard about what they're going to ask the rest of us once the meeting commences."

"Well then . . . Let's not keep them waiting any longer then," Gaara said as he let out a small breath. He walked past his sister and old mentor to enter the room, where about twenty sets of eyes of different colors landed on him. They watched him as he took his seat at the head of the table, ignoring his siblings and Baki as they took their respective seats. "I know we have a lot on the meeting agenda today, and I'm sure you all have questions that you want to ask, some more than others. What shall be discussed first?"

"Lord Kazekage, you are indeed right that there is much to discuss during this meeting, from your recent meeting with the other Kages to the recent recovery of Lady Izuka," said an elder with a wispy white moustache on his face. "None of us in this room have met with the Lady Sage besides you and your siblings. How did she seem to you when you saw her? Did anything in Izuka's behavior seem odd to you?"

"Nothing in her behavior seemed out of sorts to me. In truth, Izuka acted like she usually did. Her behavior was perfectly normal." Gaara answered him simply, already not liking the line of questioning the council decided to start with.

"She may not have behaved differently, but did she say something . . . out of character?" asked an elder whose grey hair fell down past his shoulders.

"No, nothing of the kind that would raise any red flags," Gaara said with a small shake of his head. "Care to explain why the line of questioning makes it sound like you're all wary of Lady Izuka?"

"It cannot be ignored that Lady Izuka went through months of captivity at the hands of Amegakure, months that saw her go through some kind of reeducation process," a female Elder said with a stoic look on her face. "It's just that it could be possible that the Rain nin managed to . . . configure her mind without her knowing or having any memory of the event."

"You mean . . . like an agent in a sleeper cell?" Kankuro asked as he looked at the female Elder in slight shock. "You think the Amegakure ninjas managed to make Izuka their sleeper agent? You've got to be kidding me! My siblings and I have seen her with our eyes. She's too frail right now to be able to do such a thing, let alone use any kind of jutsu or hand to hand combat."

"Since none of us Elders have actually seen Lady Izuka for ourselves, your case about her being frail . . . we'll just have to take your word for it until we see her for ourselves," the female Elder said, her expression never changing as she locked eyes with Kankuro. Gaara's face was as stoic as hers, but inside, he could feel his blood boiling as he continued to listen to the woman's statements. "And speaking of seeing her for ourselves, when will we be able to see her?"

"The head medic overseeing Izuka has said that she needs to conduct a few more tests on her first," Temari finally said in a serious tone of voice. "Once the tests are done, she'll be allowed more visitors. You all can wait a couple more days can't you?"

"I think another two days would suffice for us," said Elder Mibiku as he looked around the table. Some of the Elders, especially the female Elder that just spoke, shot daggers at him, hoping to see Izuka sooner than the two days Mibiku suggested. Others looked more okay with it. "However, after those two days are up, we Elders expect to have an audience with the Lady Sage."

"Fair enough . . ." Gaara said with a small nod of his head. "What's next on the agenda?"

The meeting continued on for another two and a half hours; going through various topics that was currently of high importance to the village. It was one of the longest meetings that Gaara ever endured, and he was glad to be done with it when it was finally time for him to adjourn the meeting. As the Elders began to file out, the Sand Siblings, Mibiku, and Baki all lingered behind until they were the only ones left in the room.

"Has Izuka's . . . stay in Amegakure really left her in such poor condition?" Mibiku couldn't help but ask as soon as the last Elder left the room. "Is she really that frail?"

"You should have seen her when my team and I finally found her. She could barely stand," Kankuro said with a small shake of his head. "At least we got her a two day buffer from the rest of the Elders. Some of them didn't look too happy when the buffer was brought up in the first place."

"Especially Lady Rangiku . . . The old crone looked like she wanted to murder you with one look as soon as you agreed to the buffer Mibiku." Temari said with a sheepish look as she turned to the man.

"She's had a bad week . . . Her husband just passed away and her grandson was recently killed on a mission in the Land of Hot Springs, so I don't blame her for her off-putting personality these days," Mibiku said as he cracked his knuckles. "Death is a part of the life of a ninja, but having the death of two close relatives happen so close to each other can unnerve anybody, no matter how resolute you are."

"Hmm . . . you make a good point," Baki said with a shake of his head as Gaara only slightly nodded in agreement. "What shall we do now?"

"Lady Tsunade will be coming in a few days to see Izuka for herself, and if the head medic missed anything, I think we can count on the Hokage to find anything that may have snuck under the radar," said Gaara as he got up from his seat. "For now, let's continue on like normal, and hopefully one of the Elders don't try to sneak in to see Izzy during the two day waiting period."

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