AN: Well, we're in December, and I'm at the end of this two week gauntlet. Since the next chapter is still so slow going, and I've got Christmas shopping for kids and family to get done, this will be it until the new year. I need a moment to recharge and catch up. So, I'm sorry, but my next post will be January 12, and hopefully from then, I'll be back to posting every week. There are only six chapters after this, and I've had to do considerable reworking on their scene planning. So, pray we're back on track in the new year. So, Happy Holidays ya'll, and I'll see you all in 2023.

Chapter 19

Hira played in a sandy area away from the rest of his classmates in the Academy playground. He looked up occasionally, watching the other kids play tag. Sometimes he tried to play with them, but today he was focused on his project. He'd told his friend, Sonoko, that he'd sneak in some sandcastle things, but she ended up staying home sick today. So, not wanting to waste his tools, he started making a sandcastle. He knew Aunt Rinri would be upset knowing he was wasting his water bottle on wetting the sand to make it more compactible like his mother and Big Pop Soseki showed him on the beach. But it was worth it to make the sand hold together better, and he could always refill inside. It was a little harder to build a sandcastle here, because the sand was so dry usually, unless it rained, which didn't happen that often.

He had three towers set up, and was starting to work on the city wall when he noticed some movement in the corner of his eye. He looked up, wincing from the bright sun only to see a small orb hovering above him. He stood to get a better look, seeing it was an eye formed by sand by the looks of the dripping grains. He saw it was tracking his movement as he lifted his hand and waved.

Sand traveled down his arm to his hand and gave him a light jostle, as if to shake and say hello. "Cool," Hira laughed. He tried to grab it, but it hovered out of his reach and drifted down to his sand castle. Clearly, it was checking out his work. "You like sandcastles? It's cool, huh?" He grabbed his bucket that he poured all his water in and said, "My Big Pop showed me his trick to make spires and pine trees. See?" He pulled out a handful of wet sand and dripped it into the form of a pine tree. Hira chuckled as he said, "It's a little late for Rinne, but it still looks cool, right?"

The eyeball was looking at him, then looked back down at his castle. "It's not quite done," Hira stated. "I was about to work on the wall."

Then the eyeball drifted around it, and sand began to form into a perfectly brick styled wall, with an arched gate, and turrets at each corner.

Hira beamed at the magic sand, and giggled, "That's so cool! What else can you do?"

The eye drifted over to his drip tree and formed a small family of deer. Hira pouted. "What about a wolf? I love wolves!" A small cliff formed around the back of the castle, where a wolf howled, with a whole pack of wolves behind it. Hira beamed, and immediately started making more drip trees up the cliff, reasoning, "Wolves like the cold, and forests."

"Alright class! It's time to head back in!" the teacher called out, halting Hira's fun with the magic sand.

Hira pouted, and said, "I gotta go." He lifted his hand to destroy the castle, but the magic sand erased it for him, the eye still formed in front of him. Hira felt sand ruffle through his hair, causing him to giggle since it tickled, before pushing him softly towards the school doors.

Kankuro had the preliminary investigation reports in hand from the forensics teams. The security footage, which had a good view of the entire hallway leading to the bathroom at the edge of the screen, meant the footage was somewhat blurry since the bathroom wasn't centrally focused. They had the suspects for the bombing down to three figures who each carried either a briefcase or small bag into the bathroom. To Kankuro, a briefcase made more sense, given the blast size, but it was better to clear every lead. Although, a singed piece of fabric he found from the bathroom had matched the makeup of an old Suna Anbu vest. It looked to be part of the badge with Suna's symbol on it which underneath said "Duty, Mission, Honor" which was usually on the inner breast pocket of the vest. They also had positive IDs on the assassins.

Kankuro had the reports in hand as he made his way to Gaara's office. He opened the door, starting, "I got good news and bad news. Which one you want?" He looked up to his brother, only to see what was sitting in his brother's office chair was a crumbling sand clone that already lost its nose. Kankuro pursed his lips, slapping the reports against his hand, and leaving the office, shutting the door.

Middle of the day, there was only one place Gaara would be hiding out. Especially with the stress of a possible war looming over their heads. So, Kankuro made his way up to the roof, quietly walking out as he saw his brother doing his eye thing, and being rather focused on it, which caught Kankuro by surprise.

"Whatcha' looking at?" Kankuro asked, breaking his brother's concentration.

Gaara dropped his hand and turned, muttering, "Nothing."

Kankuro frowned, noting, "You've been coming up here ever since we got back from Futen five days ago. You're not regretting getting married and agreeing to all this, are you?"

"What did you need?" Gaara asked boredly.

Kankuro sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get much out of his brother. "Got preliminary forensics back on both the assassins and the bombing. One is good, and one is bad. Which one do you want first?"

"Bad, I guess."

Kankuro shrugged, and muttered, "I'd have picked good. Because the good is only moderate, while bad is pretty bad."

"Just out with it."

"Ok, Bad news," Kankuro started, pulling the second report forward, and clearing his throat. "Uhm, we've narrowed down the bombing suspects from the security cameras to three blurry people. Forensics is still working on enhancing the footage without destroying the tapes. However, one of the singed fabrics recovered from the men's bathroom where the bomb went off came back as part of the inner breast pocket of a Suna Anbu vest."

Gaara fingered his lip pensively, muttering, "Damn, that is bad." The Anbu were supposed to report directly to Gaara, which would insinuate he'd ordered the bombing, of which the numbers of victims were still climbing, but starting to level off. So far, the injured count had stabilized at 237, however the death count had climbed to 42, some of which were sitting Daimyos. 4 elected daimyos, a regional daimyo and 8 major and minor daimyos. The rest were civilians. A few more had fallen to critical condition thanks to their injuries over the last few days, but most had stabilized. Those daimyos replacements were steadily taking over before a silent vote on succession would be held at the end of the week.

"Yeah," Kankuro chirped. "Good news, the assassins dna matched the ID numbers we found on their headbands. Meaning they were from Kemurigakure in the Land of Jungles."

"Even though they are still denying it," Gaara pointed out.

"Well, they can't now," Kankuro pointed out. "They were caught red-handed essentially. Bonus points, a few of them had a bounty out in the Land of Rivers, amounting 63 million ryo, which is now being paid to us."

Gaara frowned, then asked, "Us directly, or Suna?"

"Us directly. It'll need to be split with Chie and Shijima who assisted," Kankuro reasoned. "So that's," he moved his fingers, doing quick mental calculation, "almost 13 million for each of us."

Gaara nodded. "That'll pay for my flat's repairs."

Kankuro chuckled, "Yeah. And a bunch of shots for me." Gaara didn't even acknowledge his brother's comment. Kankuro looked around, then asked, "You know, both you and Emika have been rather sour the last couple days. Did something happen?"

Gaara hadn't told his brother the secret he'd learned yet. "No."

"Did you forget her birthday?" Kankuro offered. When Gaara frowned, Kankuro added, "It was three days ago." When Gaara stayed silent, Kankuro nodded knowingly, then said, "Thought so. Relationship mistake number one. Don't forget birthdays."

"I've had a lot on my mind recently," Gaara excused.

"Yeah, probably her too," Kankuro reasoned. "Still doesn't make it feel better to be forgotten." He shrugged, then said, "Maybe take her out for some drinks tonight. Do something special, and forget about the rest of the world for the evening."

Gaara shook his head, "All the Kages are starting to arrive tomorrow. Temari and Shikamaru will be here."

"And the Council is handling most of that," Kankuro reasoned. "Just take her out, Gaara. Even though it's not a permanent marriage, she's still your wife. And birthdays are important."

Gaara wanted to snidely remark Honesty is important too, but he wasn't ready to open that can of worms to his brother yet. Finally, his sand arrived with the token he needed, strands of Hira's hair, and put them in a plastic baggy. "Actually, Kankuro, can you do something for me?"

Kankuro raised his eyebrows surprised, and said, "Sure, bro. What is it?"

Gaara handed him two plastic bags, one with Hira's strands, not that he'd tell him, and the other with his own. "Can you take these strands to the lab and run DNA comparison on them? Don't look at the results, just print them out and return them to me." His brow furrowed as he added, "Also, destroy the samples once it's run."

Kankuro frowned, taking the baggies and looking at them. "This is a weird request."

Gaara licked his lips, then said, "Yes. Just do it."

Kankuro shrugged, but muttered, "Alright." He turned to leave, and said, "Remember, take Emika out. Make-up forgetting her birthday."

When Emika returned to the Penthouse, Gaara was waiting for her. Before she could drop off her things, Gaara stood and said, "Come. I've made reservations."

She frowned. "Reservations?"

"For dinner," Gaara clarified.

She looked pleasantly surprised, but followed him out to the elevator. Baki trailed them, since he was on duty that night. Gaara took her to Jimen no Hi, one of the fanciest restaurants in the village. As they sat down, Gaara assured her, "The lengua and greens here are the best."

"I'll be sure to try it," Emika said, looking at her menu.

The servers brought over some complementary waters, and asked for drinking orders. Gaara told her to pick a wine, and she picked a zinfandel. Gaara picked some duck liver pate for the appetizers. As the waiter went back, Emika eyed Gaara oddly, then asked, "What's the occasion?"

"Hm?" Gaara asked.

She gestured to the restaurant as the server returned with the wine, pouring them both glasses. Gaara only looked at her blankly. She licked her lips pensively, and asked, "Did something happen today?"

"Not today," Gaara answered.

She frowned at him, then asked, "Does this have something to do with what I told you last week?" Gaara regarded her more coolly at the mention of the subject. She looked at him a bit hopefully and asked, "Have you finally started to forgive me?"

Gaara pursed his lips, then grabbed his wine glass, muttering, "It will be a long time before I forgive that," before taking a sip. Her expression softened, clearly sad to hear that. His gaze fell a little as he added, "I can understand what you did, and why you did it. But I do not agree with how you went about things and what it means."

"And what exactly would you have done?" she pressed. Gaara began to shake his head dismissively, and she leaned forward, pushing, "If you'd been in my shoes, what would you have done?"

"I don't know, but I know I wouldn't have slept with another man to trick him into marrying me," he accused sharply. She flinched at his tone, and he pressed his lips in a line, trying to reign in his anger about the whole situation. He let out a sigh, then said tiredly, "I didn't bring you here to talk about that."

She grabbed her wine, trying to seem unaffected by the outburst as she asked, "Why then?" before taking a sip.

Gaara moved his mouth awkwardly, then said with a shrug, "Because apparently, I missed your birthday three days ago. And Kankuro thinks my failure in that regard as a husband is what's been making you upset."

She frowned at him, then scoffed. "I don't care about that."

"No?" he asked.

"No," she huffed. Then she rolled her eyes, muttering, "Alright, maybe a little. But I haven't had the luxury to be so sentimental in years."

He pouted boredly, then stated, "Twenty-one. Apparently, it's a big birthday." She frowned, a little confused by the statement. "You are officially legal to drink everywhere now."

She frowned even more at that. "The Wind's drinking age is 18. I've been drinking for years."

"Yes, but now you can go to the Land of Fire and Land of Lightning and drink without issue," Gaara offered.

She blinked at him affably, then shrugged. "I forgot they were behind in that regard."

Gaara nodded. "I didn't know it was a thing until the war. I mentioned to a few of my Konoha friends that we should go out for a drink to celebrate our victory during the first Peace meeting, and they all said the drinking age was 21."

"I thought you said you didn't drink," she noted.

Gaara pursed his lips to think about it, then said, "The occasional beer among friends, I'll drink. Or champagne. I'm drinking this wine for your birthday, but I don't like to over-do it. I don't like being drunk."

"Hm." She sipped her wine, and then muttered, "Well if it's special in the Land of Fire, we should have gone to a bar in the Fire to celebrate, then, right?"

Gaara shot her a pursed smile, then said, "While I would have appreciated that, everyone is arriving tomorrow and Friday for our wedding reception on Saturday."

She nodded blandly, muttering a small, "Right. Another one of those." She smirked at him knowingly, hoping to get him to chuckle at the inside joke. He only pouted a little sadly, while also clearly a bit bitter about it too.

The waiter dropped off the duck liver pate platter, and then took their orders. They ate in mostly silence, occasionally sipping their wines and waters. Finally, Emika asked, "Is there anything I should be prepared for this weekend?"

Gaara chewed his dinner, looking at her thoughtfully, then as he began carving his next bite, he said, "Against my better judgement, you'll be moving to my bedroom while Temari and Shikamaru stay in her old room."

"Against your better judgement?" she parroted as he took another bite.

He was silent a moment as he finished his bite, and then said, "Historically, whenever you and I share a bed, something bad happens."

"Right," Emika scoffed, clearly nonplussed by the observation. "Assassins, a drunken hookup, you either drooling on me or knocking me up. Yeah, I see your point. Maybe I should just sleep on the couch."

He rolled his eyes at her sarcasm, and grumbled, "You will not sleep on the couch for many reasons. One of which is we are trying to appear married."

"If you could keep that attitude in check, we'd be perfect," Emika stated sourly as she dug back into her dinner.

Gaara placed his silverware on his plate, folding his hands under his chin as he stared her down, grumbling, "I am being perfectly civil."

"No, you are being passive aggressive, which is perfectly hostile," Emika countered.

He licked his lips glaring her down, and she got the feeling he was imagining the many ways he could hurt her, but he wouldn't. Not with everything that sat between them. So she sat there and glowered back at him. She wasn't afraid of him like so many others. His eyes narrowed as he stared her down, and she mirrored him, but carved another bite of her food and ate it. When she did it again, she asked, "Are you going to finish your food?"

"I'm done," he stated, not breaking eye contact.

She eyed his food, his plate a little over half eaten, then she sighed, "Then we should get the check. We can argue at the Penthouse."

Gaara sighed, but agreed. He didn't want to make a scene in public. He paid and they were on their way. On their way back, Emika told him to pause outside a liquor store. He frowned and asked, "Why?"

"I have an idea," she stated, waving him off. "Just wait here a minute." As she walked in, Gaara looked to Baki several yards back who only shrugged. She returned a few minutes later holding a bottle of Sandwyrm Tequila, which was known as one of the stronger and more expensive tequilas on the market, and a bag of limes with two brown packages in it, then gestured for them to continue. As they got back to the building, and clambered into the elevator. Baki got off on the floor before them, bidding them a good night before going to his security post at the end of the hallway, where he could view all the security cameras of the Kazekage building, including the living space of the Penthouse.

Emika led Gaara to the island bar when they entered, and pulled out the brown packages and unwrapped them, revealing two blue-glass shot glasses, setting the Sandwyrm Tequila between them. Then she pulled out the lime, and grabbed a knife cutting it into thin wedges. Gaara frowned at the display as she said, "Alright, so clearly there's some unresolved toxic shit between us. And rather than letting it fester when we've got all this other stuff going on, what we're going to do is suck it out like snake venom and let the rift between us heal properly. So we can approach this reception, and the vote, and anything else following, like a functioning married couple of adults."

"And this requires tequila?" Gaara asked skeptically, eyeing the bottle.

"Yes, because we're going to make it into a drinking game, so we can say how we're truly feeling without anything holding us back. You know? A little poison to purge the poison between us," she explained. She grabbed the salt shaker and placed the sliced limes next to the bottle before sitting down, and gesturing for him to do the same. He rolled his eyes and did so, putting his hands in his lap. She opened the tequila bottle and poured the shots. "The salt and limes are to cut the sting of the shot afterwards. Here are the rules: you don't get to say anything unless you take a shot first."

"If I don't take a shot at all?" Gaara asked.

She scoffed as she grabbed the shot glasses, offering one to him as she said, "Then be prepared for this weekend to take several awkward turns, because you are struggling not to show your disdain."

"Not me," Gaara stated. "Kankuro noticed you."

"Kankuro noticed both of us, and suggested you take me out," she corrected. "He's asked me what's got you annoyed two days ago, but I didn't say anything."

She offered the shot glass again, and this time he sighed, taking it. "I don't like the feeling of being drunk."

"Shocker," Emika grumbled. She knocked her shot back, and winced at the burn, then said, "Going first, because you made it easy." She grabbed a lime and sucked on it, then said, "You're a control freak. Ever since I met you, everything had to be done a certain way, and you never let loose or have any fun. Even if it would help you."

"That depends on your definition of fun," Gaara remarked.

"Shyai!" she hissed, holding up an accusatory finger. "We're playing now. You don't get to talk unless you take a shot."

Gaara scowled, then looked at the shot like the poison it was, then sneered as he knocked it back. The taste was sharp, a little sour, and burned all the way down. He couldn't help but wince, and reach for a lime to suck on. Oddly enough, the lime did sweeten the burn. He set the shot glass down, and said, "I have fun. But unlike you, I care about the people around me." She raised her eyebrows at that, but he kept going, "Even when we first met, you didn't care something you were doing was going to be problem for me, even if I expressed an issue with it. You're selfish, down to your core."

"I'm selfish!?" she balked, shocked he'd say something like that about her.

"No talking," Gaara pointed out, gesturing to her glass.

She scowled, then poured a second shot, and he did the same. She knocked hers back, then hissed, "You call me selfish when you lied about falling in love with me and wanting to marry me just so you could save your goddamn mission!? You had no problem ruining me, and in the process destroying my future, as long as you got your promotion in the end!"

Gaara sneered, then took another shot, wincing before he growled, "You ruined yourself. I didn't lie about falling in love with you. And I never said I was going to marry you. You inferred it when I said I wanted to wait until marriage. And you still refused to wait that long when you thought it was going to be the next day. And don't say I didn't have a problem doing the deed, because once I'd regained my sanity and realized what we'd done, I had the first panic attack I'd had in years, because believe it or not, fucking you was against my mission's parameters."

She scowled and took a shot, then hissed, "So, you deny any fault from that day. You say you didn't lie to me. You say you didn't trick me into believing you were the one."

"The one?" Gaara scoffed, earning a scathing look from the princess.

"Yes. The one. My soulmate, or whatever you want to call it. And you expect me to believe that you were powerless to push me away when I expressed I wanted to have sex with you," she said over him. "You, the strongest ninja of your village, was powerless to push a girl away."

"I was a fifteen-year-old boy who had never even been kissed before that hotel, much less been in a relationship," he argued. "And I was with a gorgeous girl already slipping me inside her. I didn't have the wherewithal to think beyond, 'That feels good.'"

"You didn't take a shot," she stated sourly.

"I wasn't saying anything bad about you. Simply defending my actions as an idiot teenager," he clarified. But he took a shot, then said, "How about you lied to me about a son for years. I understand not telling the world, but not telling me? The boy's father? What's worse is there were so many chances to say something this past month, and every time I asked something that got close to that secret, you would lie to my face or deflect."

"You're going to fault me for protecting him?" she hissed.

"Yes, because you are 'protecting' him from me, his own father," Gaara snapped. "You don't even know how I'd be around him."

"That's not why I kept him from you."

"Then why?"

"It's because you'd want a public bond with him. Which, I'm sorry Gaara, puts him at risk, because he can't be your heir. He's mine." She took a shot, then hissed, "Which points to the fact that you are a selfish man who cares more about his own feelings than what is best for his own son."

He flinched at that, then took another shot, leaning forward as he hissed, "And you are vile, heinous woman who tricked lesser men to their death." He'd said it to hurt her, and he could see it struck a chord in her. He regarded her coolly as he said in a low voice, "My love has been wasted on you."

"Wasted? Your love destroyed me," she hissed back. "You say I've changed, but it was what you did that changed me. So don't act like your sins are so easily forgiven compared to mine."

Their faces were inches apart, and Gaara found himself looking at how close her lips were, and focusing on the feeling of her breath puffing against his skin. He could never understand this feeling between them. How she made his body feel as if every nerve-ending was on fire and his heart pound with the simple act of meeting his gaze. He pressed his lips against hers, and she kissed back. It was passionate and hungry. He pinned her against the island, nudging her legs apart, pulling up her mid-thigh pencil skirt, as she began to clutch at him.

He pulled away a second to breathe, and she took gasping breaths as well as she looked him over. Then she pressed her lips back against his, wrapping her arms and legs around him, as her skirt bunched at her hips, grinding against each other, desperate for the friction. Feeling her heat pulsing through her underwear made him ache for her. Feeling his member straining against its confines, he undid his belt and pants, not caring anymore, and just needing to be inside her. She reached down, pushing her underwear aside, letting his turgid member brush along her fleshy folds. She eased down as he pressed up, and he swallowed her gasping moans with kisses as he slipped inside. He felt her fingers dig into his shoulders like claws as he pressed in again. She bit his lip, and he bit back. Their shot glasses clattered against the counter as they knocked them over to find purchase on the counter so he could press into her as deeply as possible. She gasped as he brushed against her cervix before he began rutting into her hard.

"By the way," he grunted as he thrusted against her. "Happy birthday." His tone was facetious, like he didn't actually care about the day or how she was feeling, and she shouldn't expect anything grander than this steamy fuck.

She panted as he worked her insides, replying breathily, "Oh, Fuck you."

He sneered, pressing into her harder, setting into a bruisingly hard and fast pace. He heard the pitch of her moans begin to climb, but he was nowhere close to finished. His mind rushed, wondering if he should change positions, because he didn't want her to cum. Not this time. He wanted to use her for his pleasure like she'd accused of him so long ago. But it felt too good like this. "Gaara," she cried both pained and pleasured, clutching at him desperately. He was out of time. She was going to blow.

Her body clenched around his as she cried out a bestial moan, and he felt his climax hit him suddenly. "Dammit," he grunted, as he bared his teeth as his dick pumped himself into her. She kissed at his face and he tried to shake her off. His climax had been hollow: half-hearted and unfulfilling.

That was when Unagi pounced on his feet. He cursed, slipping out and dropping her as he shooed the cat away with his sand and shutting it behind Kankuro's bedroom door.

It was sobering to just stand in the open kitchen with his pants around his ankles, and seeing Emika standing there trying to smooth out her now messed up bun which had dropped whisps around her face. Her lips swollen and her breasts heaving as his semen began to drip down her cunt, then legs. He licked his lips, then pulled his pants back up, refastening them as he continued to his bedroom. Outside his door, she grabbed his shoulder, spinning him back to her. She pressed up on her tip toes and kissed him, soft and tenderly before pulling him into his room. He frowned as he watched her slip off her shoes and unzip her skirt.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I think what we need to do to get around the bullshit," she started, slipping off her underwear before stepping up to him, "is for me to let you use my body. To take out your anger and frustrations. To destroy my body the only way you can." He flinched at the candidness of her tone. "You feel as if I've used you," she continued, unbuttoning his shirt, "and you need that power back." She touched his chest and abs, pressing up again to kiss him. He could feel tears along her eyelashes against his cheekbones as her soft lips met his.

She pulled away, gulping before getting on the bed on her knees, presenting her bare ass to him, bowing at her head and shoulders. She buried her face in the pillows. He looked her over, the scene causing his heart to race. He could feel his member aching for a more satisfying release, and he licked his lips with eager thoughts. He cupped her ass, and she flinched, a little more of his seed dripping out of her down her folds as she clenched. He frowned, a small realization clicking into place in his head.

Excluding the time she was drunk on the cruise, she'd been using sex as a punishment. Her own version of self-flagellation disguised as pleasure. Maybe Touma had forever changed sex for her. It was hard to forget how motionless and disconnected she was during the consummation ceremony, which Gaara knew now was the first time she'd been in bed with a man since Touma's rapes. In Futen, they had sex after she expressed guilt for putting Gaara in a dangerous position. The morning after could be considered connected to that same guilt. Touma had used fornication as a way of punishing Emika or making her pay, and a part of her was using it that way now. As a transaction. As if letting Gaara have his way with her cunt until he exploded from pleasure would buy her forgiveness for her wrongdoing.

If that's what she felt when it came to sex, he wanted no part of it. He dropped his hand, and said, "I'm not Touma."

"What?" she chirped.

"I'm not Touma," Gaara said again. She sat up, looking at him tearfully. He licked his lips, and said, "You may have used me, but having me use your body like he did won't make it better."

She blinked tearily at him, as if shocked he'd say something like that. "I'm trying to balance the scales," she uttered throatily, clearly trying to hide her sorrow.

"No," he said. "You're still using me, but this time it's to punish yourself." Her crossed his arms as he took a bracing breath. "I don't want any part of that. If you're seeking forgiveness, find it yourself." He licked his lips, and opened his door, gesturing for her to leave.

She flinched as her eyes filled with tears, and she said, "Gaara, I—"

"Go," he directed, a little more sternly than he wanted.

She flinched again at his tone, but gathered her things and left. He shut the door after she left, putting his hands on his hips as he looked to the floor. He was still incredibly hard, and a part of him regretted telling her to go. But he knew he made the right choice.

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