She sat perfectly still, 'Why was I called here? I am just trash to the Kinjo clan, when have I been deemed worthy to sit among clans' heads in front of their God. What are they up to?' she thought bitterly.
Instead of being entirely ignorant to her situation, she listened, and she felt two charka signatures which were unfamiliar to her, they were not from the Village Hidden in the Rain. She also noted their heartbeats were erratic; they were nervous or scared she presumed.
'Only reasonable to be frightened when you are entering ex-enemy lands still unsure if they are friend or foe', she reasoned but she needed to know exactly who they were and what their end goal was and how it included her.
In order to find the identities to the two mysterious guests she listened to those in the room, their whispers, the scratches of their pens, and every gesture they made, no spoken secret could be hidden from her. Soon their identities would be revealed and such information was revealed to her by a geezer from the Michizoe Clan. He was a scribe beginning his notes, how perfect. She listened to the scratches of his pen on paper.
'aww…Councilmen from Suna….Why was the Village Hidden in the Sand making an appearance here and what did that have to do with me?' Then a hush fell over the crowd, their God had appeared. Then a voice she knew all too well spoke.
"God, we humbly offer Keiko Kinjo to be the wife of Kazekage, it would honor us deeply" spoke the head of the Kinjo clan. An eerie silence took the room as the clansmen awaited the reply of their God.
'So this wasn't the first meeting with Suna's councilmen, how careless of me to ignore the affairs of the clans within the village.' And like the two councilmen from Suna she held her breath waiting for God's answer.
Their God's voice broke the silence. The voice was emotionless and without hidden intentions, "You may proceed Takuma Kinjo as long as the councilmen from Suna deem Keiko Kinjo worthy of their Kazekage…. Keiko stand and present yourself to our guests."
She stood slowly, her heart was broken but she would not shed any tears. She slowly proceeded to the front of the room to where the two council men from Suna sat. She walked down the center aisle, she could feel all eyes on her. She stopped before her God and the two councilmen from Suna.
Facing her God, she bowed with the grace of royalty, "Thank you God, you honor myself and my clan greatly by allowing my clan to submit me as a candidate for the Kazekage's wife, I hope our guests find me worthy." With a slight turn she now faced the councilmen from Suna and with another bow she spoke, "I am Keiko Kinjo a direct heir to the Kinjo Clan, it is a pleasure to finally meet councilmen from Suna. I hope I am everything you can hope for in a wife for the Kazekage."
Eyes which watched the young women, now watched the two councilmen from Suna. Hours seemed to pass before they spoke, "We accept Keiko Kinjo as the future wife of the Kazekage."
She heard their God turn around and begin to leave but halted to see what her answer was to the two councilmen from Suna. 'Konan had thrown me away like unwanted trash just like the rest of the village but if her last use for me was this then I will obey'.
She then spoke like the direct heir of the Kinjo Clan, "I thank you on behalf of the Kinjo Clan and will I fulfill the role as the wife of the Kazekage with the utmost honor." Her voice and her body language never hinted of the turmoil in her mind.
Keiko's POV
The desert hates me and I it as I looked into the distance at the never ending ocean of sand. The sun glared down at me casting an unbearable heat unto the land as well as me. I was sent into this godforsaken land without any supplies, neither food or water. Casting me out of the village without supplies was my last punishment from my clan. I was getting steadily weaker but it was not from the exposure to the elements and lack of supplies but the wounds they craved into my back for a last laugh.
My wounds refused to close and the sand had somehow managed to get into my wounds irritating them. I would have closed my wounds but I could not reach them so I would have to wait until they healed naturally. It was not only painful but uncomfortable.
I ignored the pain and studied the environment further. After further inspection I noticed everything in this godforsaken land is either wicked and warped or blasted and burned from the sun. Who would want to live here I wondered but I also lived in a place where it always rained, I assume the natives would say the same about my home, my old home I corrected myself. I sighed and pushed forward, I just wanted to sleep and also forget.
I halted my swift run to a lazy walk when the village was within sight. Besides the village being located in the middle of the desert I knew very little about the village except the stories I heard in my travels because I never been to the Land of Wind before, I had no reason to or any need to.
The stories I heard most on my missions about Suna all told of their fourth leader sealing the one-tailed beast into his newborn son. The father hoped for the ultimate weapon but instead he made his son into a monster. Eventually, the boy's father dies and the boy stops being a monster and somehow becomes the next Kazakage. However, almost all the stories vary as to way the Kazakage reformed from his murderous and monstrous ways.
The entrance to their village was a canyon, I licked my lips; they were chapped and painful. I could feel the chakra of many shinobi guarding the perimeter of their village. I felt a chakra signature speed towards me and I halted to a stop as a sand word was swung at my neck.
"State your intentions outsider" snapped a guard.
"I'm here to see the Kazekage." I rasped out, my throat was dry and extremely sore. My head was beginning to pound, I just wanted to rest and not deal with shinobi trying to intimidate me.
"State your business with the Kazekage" he spat. The blade inched closer to my neck.
"To" I began to speak until a loud female voice interrupted me.
"Keiko, you are earlier than we anticipated, but well that's not important anyway follow me. We are so happy you are here. Your luggage isn't here yet but." And she kept rambling on, "Well, it will arrive eventually. We can always go shopping to buy you new clothes. I almost forgot my name is Temari and I'm the older sister of the Kazekage, it's nice to finally meet you"
She finally went quiet and an awkward silence settled over us. We exited the canyon and she turn around, "Welcome to Suna, your new home". I could hear the smile in her voice but her words made my heart drop. This wasn't my new home it was my new prison, if they only knew.
"Are you bringing me to see the Kazekage" I asked my voice still raspy. I just wanted to rest.
"I thought it would be best if we brought you home, to get you settled in." she said in that cheerful voice again.
"It would be rude of me not to greet my future husband; it be best to see him first before heading home future sister-in-law." I said sweetly.
Would I always have to fake my speech and actions? This new prison of mine was much worse, here I was imprisoned in my own mind at least before I could say what I truly felt. Here I am and will feel like a living puppet.
Temari thought over the request and finally piped up, "Well, I suppose we'll greet the Kazekage first, I do not believe he is in any meetings currently." Temari went on describing the many shops and buildings we passed in great detail. I believe she thought I was blind due to the purple ribbon wrapped around my eyes.
We finally came to a stop outside a large tower, "This is the Kazekage's tower and if you are ever to get lost it is in the center of the village." Temari said then she went on and greeted the guards introducing me as a guest of the Kazekage.
After leading me inside of the building, Temari got real quiet as we ascended the spiral staircase to the Kazekage's office. Before we reach the door she spoke up one last time, "Before you meet your future husband, my brother I want to inform you about the arrangements which were made. I wanted to tell you at home but you must know before meeting him. The marriage is to improve Gaara's image and make Suna financially stable and not for peace as I assumed you were told because a clause was drawn giving your village protection a year ago" She paused and waited for my answer.
"I know" was the only reply I gave her. I assumed she made a face to my reply but she became quiet again. I knew all along as to why my village and even my clan readily agree to the marriage, they wanted me gone.
The two reach the door and instead of knocking Temari threw open the door, revealing two people in the office.
One sat on the couch to the right of the room tinkering with a doll while the other sat behind a desk writing or filling out documents. The man behind the desk did not raise his head or look up to acknowledge her presence but continued working on the paper in his hand which for an odd reason annoyed Keiko.
The man tinkering with the doll lifted his head and looked at her then at his brother, a grin forming on his face. He studied the woman who he believed was Keiko. She was quite different from what he expected and he guessed Temari thought the same.
She wore a black, oversized, armored raincoat which sported a black, long-sleeve top underneath. To match the color scheme, she wore black leather pants tucked in black, oversized rain boots. Her long straight black hair was pulled back in a braid. The last piece of clothing she wore he noticed was a purple ribbon wrapped around her eyes.
He also noticed her sickly pale skin which did not match the tan skin of the citizens in Suna. She was also much shorter than most in the village which gave her an almost delicate and fragile feeling about her. He kept staring at her, something felt off about her but if he stared any longer without introducing himself he would get yelled at Temari later for being rude.
He set his toy beside him, stood and made his way towards her to introduce himself.
"Hi, I'm Kankuro, you must be Keiko. Well, if Temari didn't already inform you I'm Gaara older brother but Temari's younger brother." he said in a friendly voice while extending his hand towards her.
She took his offered hand and shook it. She never shook anyone's hand before so it was awkward and strange for her. "Yes, I'm Kinjo Keiko. It is a pleasure to finally meet Kankuro" she said in her sweet fake voice.
She turned toward the Kazekage, Gaara, and bowed slightly speaking again in that sweetly sickening voice, "It's a pleasure to meet Gaara-sama. I'm Keiko and I hope I can fulfill the role of your wife with the utmost honor."
She stayed slightly bowed awaiting his answer but he continued working on his document ignoring her existence. The annoyance she felt earlier was slowing beginning to turn into a boiling rage. After several moments without looking up he spoke.
"I want to be clear with you, don't entertain yourself with the idea I'll come to love you. This is a marriage for convenience, play your part, don't interfere in my work, and you may do as you please." His voice was cold and emotionless.
His sibling were not entirely shocked by their brother's words but were shocked by what came next. Keiko raised her head a sneer forming on her face.
"I'm glad I do not have to put up a fake façade in front of you, dear. You do not have to worry about me loving you, I will never love you."
"I'm glad you understand" he said in the same cold and emotionless voice.
"Don't interrupt me" she growled out. His eyes which were focused on his documents now looked up at her.
"Don't worry I know this marriage is a sham but I will play my part perfectly in front of those dear villagers who fear you so much but I will never fear you." She snarled, her voice full of resentment and hatred. Temari and Kankuro were stunned by the complete 180 Keiko did. The women who appeared so nice and pleasant was now a spit fire of rage and hatred.
No one has ever annoyed him this bad since Naruto. He wanted to crush her with his sand but he had to remember what Temari had told him prior to her coming here 'She left all she known all her life to come to an ex-enemy village for a publicity stunt. She most likely scared and upset feeling abandoned by her family.' He kept repeating what Temari had told him in order to control himself.
She turned and faced Temari, "I'm ready to go home" and proceeded to exit the room only to stop in the doorway her voice held a hint of sadness to it but no one noticed, "Pairing us together, what laugh my village is probably having right now" before finally exiting his office.
Author Note: Review or Fav if you enjoyed. I'm writing this due to a competition with CrazySenpai to see whose story becomes more popular.
Will try to update weekly; however, depends on work schedule.