Naruto One Shots

Spitting Image #4 (Gaara Sabaku)

[Artwork is not mine! Credit to silent.rosario]

Requested by: Myself

Word Count: 4,077

Warnings and/or Pre-Notes:
- Part five? Maybe. Prequel? Also maybe. Y'all's thoughts?

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     I have spent the last year and a half shifting between being thankful to Gaara and hating him. At this moment, I hate him. I am hot, sweaty, sunburnt, with sand in crevices I didn't know existed. And, this camel isn't too comfortable to ride. I am tired and irritable. Honestly, I'm just being a bitch right now and I know it. Sadly for Gaara, he's on the wrong end of the bitch stick.
     On the plus note, Yoshiki seems to be living his best life. Courtesy of his father's genes, the heat doesn't seem to bother him. If anything, he's enjoying the temperature and the feeling of the sand Shinki keeps playing with him in.
     "My Dear - "
     "Call me that again and I'll cut your tongue out," I hiss at Gaara, stopping whatever attempt at comforting he was going to offer this time. "I am not your dear, we are not together, you're nothing more than the father of my child. Don't let this move convince you otherwise."
     He goes stone-faced, slowly blinking in that dumb way he does when he's thinking. "Perhaps we shall spend the day cooling off once we get back to the village. I think the heat is getting to you."
     "And I think you're a dumbass with a weak pull-out game," I mumble under my breath, shifting on the camel saddle again.
     "My dear - "
     "I'm going to stab you."
     " - would you like me to get you down? Maybe stretching your legs will help you feel better. You get antsy if you stay still too long. Besides, I'm sure Shinki could use the rest."
"Jerk," I mutter, rolling my eyes at the man. As if he knows what will make me feel better.
I know he heard me, the proof being the slow blinking of his eyes again. Regardless, Gaara's hold on the camel's reins drops to grip my waist. He helps me down, sight as intense as ever as he settles me on my feet. "See? Better. Now, please be nice," he mutters, hands sliding over my sides to brush off some of the sand specks. "I'm not too fond of the attitude you have at the moment."
"Ya? You won't be too fond of my foot up your - "
"Papa?" Shinki calls, cutting off my empty threat. "Can Yoshiki ride the camel with me?"
"Yes."
"No," I answer, head snapping towards Gaara. "No, it's not safe," I repeat, glaring at the boys' father who seems confused by my decision.
     "It will be fine. Shinki has been carrying him, what would the difference be if he kept carrying him?"
     "Instead of a four-foot fall, it would be a seven-foot fall?!" I say more than ask, dumbfounded by the shinobi's thought process. "Not to mention it's a bumper ride than just walking with him in his arms. It'll be harder to hold him especially if he wiggles around."
     "It will be fine," Gaara repeats, lifting Shinki - with Yoshiki still in his hold - onto the camel.
     "It will not be fine. Gaara, get him down!" I shriek, panic quickly feeling me up. "What if he falls? What if - "
     "What if you calmed down?" He asks, leaning in to bump his nose against mine. I stand there stunned, blinking at the dumbass as my panic quickly grows into anger. "My apologies, Shikamaru does that to Temari when she gets a bit much to handle. It tends to calm her down, it does not calm you down."
"Of course it's not going to calm me down! My baby is up way too high! The chances of him falling and getting hurt"
"He is fine, my dear. Shinki is not going to drop him, and even if he does - which he will not - I am right here to catch him. Please calm down. Your irritation is starting to irritate me."
Before I can stop myself, my hand swings forward, having a mind of its own. A mind to smack the stupidity out of Gaara. The hit doesn't land though, he catches my wrist before I have a chance to touch him. "Perhaps while the boys take a dip in the springs, we can have some alone time. My brother tells me women can get irritable when their bedroom needs have not been fulfilled in a while."
He has to be kidding, right? Gaara can't be this stupid, this naive, this unaware of the things he says. "What the hell is your problem?" I hiss, trying and failing to tug my wrist out of his hold. "What part of 'we aren't together' do you not understand?"
Another round of slow blinking, making the black markings of Gaara's eyes stand out. I like his markings, the ones around his eyes, the one on his forehead. They're what originally caught my attention, but I can't think of that right now, because he is an irresponsible idiot.
"Would you like to sit on the camel with the boys? Would that calm you down?"
"Yes."
He lets out a soft sigh before turning away from me, going to work situating the three of us in the saddle. "Better?" He mumbles, his hand clinging to my thigh I have pressed against the sides of the animal.
"I guess," I murmur, trying to shake his hand off. "Can we get going? I feel like I'm melting."
"As you wish, Dear."