Desert Flower

Madara Uchiha

  "Gaara? Are you all right?!" I slid to a stop by the redhead who was now rather dirty. He didn't look outwardly harmed, but I didn't know if that was actually the case or if he was just hiding any injuries behind the sand armor.

  "What about you?"

  "The Raikage has been released from the Reanimation Jutsu. Temari and the others should be here soon."

  "I see. I'm almost done here, too." Gaara's gaze drifted up, and I followed his line of sight toward a large pyramid of sand. At the very peak, a man's head was popping out.

  "Hey, so you do have a friend!"

  "Have I missed something?" I asked while looking at Gaara, and the redhead's expression was unchanging as he looked at me.

  "My father was one of the reanimated Kage. He expressed shock at me having friends now."

  "I probably would have given him a heart attack, then." I popped off, and Gaara averted his gaze. "Oh, come on! I was joking! Oh, I just know you're blushing under your sand armor, aren't you?" Gaara grabbed my face to push me away, making me laugh as his reaction confirmed my suspicion.

  "Ah, I understand now. Kazekage, you should have corrected me when I called her your friend. You make a good pair." The Mizukage smiled, and Gaara raised his hand to cover the man's head with sand.

  "Really?" The redhead muttered while having a small smile. The seals on the pyramid activated, trapping the Mizukage inside the sand.

  "Either he's very perceptive, or we're more obvious than I thought." I muttered, and Gaara turned to face me.

  "He's perceptive." His gaze dropped for a second before he gently grabbed one of my hands and raised it. My palm was facing the sky, and I could see the question in his eyes as he was looking at the fur and paw pads. "This is new."

  "Right, you haven't seen this yet. Remember when I had my arms wrapped in bandages and had to do deliveries for Tsunade?"

  "Mm." He gave a slight nod.

  "Turns out I can do this to prevent those injuries from happening again. It allows me to handle more volatile jutsus."

  "Why would your jutsus be volatile?" Gaara asked while softly poking at one of the pads on my palm.

  "....I manhandle two elements together under extreme pressure so that not only is my enemy hit with the force of the two elements, but also them exploding as they separate." Gaara paused, then looked me in the eye.

  "Why would you even try that?"

  "I got the idea from Yamato-sensei when he explained using the Earth Element in one hand and the Water Element in the other. He combines them to make his Wood Element, but because I don't have a Kekkai Genkai, I end up making a highly unstable and explosive energy. The first time I tried it was mixing my Rasengan with the Water Element, and that worked, so...." I shrugged, and Gaara simply continued to look me dead in the eye with a blank expression.

  I had a feeling I knew what he wanted to say, and I felt my ears get warm with embarrassment.

  "Don't judge me! It works!"

  "Only because of Ginko."

  "I'm allowed to use the tools I have."

  "Any shinobi knows doing something like that is stupid. If it weren't for your adept chakra control and Ginko's abilities, you wouldn't have arms." His tone was steady and unwavering. "Just....be careful, Sayuri." He let my hand go as Temari's group returned. "Relay our current battle status to HQ!" Gaara ordered a man with long-distance communication equipment.