The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

87: The Kage's Speech

[OP: "Where is Your Rider?"--The Oh Hellos]

The music had faded because it was time for the speeches.

Momo had hooked up a microphone system so that no one would have to yell, and in that flat, hard space, the sound resonated like a shower stall.

Mirai began it by formally welcoming all the guests to the party, and then she said that she would turn it over to the Kazekage and his party to give their addresses.

Even the people who'd been at the edge of the party, not really engaging, came closer to hear, and the ones who'd been trying to spike punch and cause other problems stopped out of curiosity.

Gaara was supposed to go first, but now that it came to the point, he was feeling the closest thing to stage fight he'd ever felt.

His mouth felt like it had sand in it--and not his usual sand, which got in his mouth often enough, but like it went all down his throat so his voice wouldn't come.

Shine was standing with him, and she nodded at him encouragingly.

Gaara swallowed and took the mic and went onto the small platform that was made out of planks and empty boxes just for this part of the evening.

"Hello..." he said, looking a little awkward. "I...uh, hope you've all been enjoying the party."

While his guttural voice didn't show a lot of nervousness to people who didn't know him well, his siblings could tell he was freaking out.

"Oh no," Kankuro muttered. "I hope the situation didn't get to him finally."

Temari gripped her fan, but she hoped Gaara would be okay once he got going. Usually he was.

Gaara cleared his throat.

He wasn't really afraid of them so much as he was afraid he was going to say the wrong thing.

He caught Matsuri's eye, and she smiled and nodded encouragingly and mouthed "just talk to me."

That seemed like a good idea.

"I suppose you all want to keep celebrating," he said a bit more easily. "I don't want to bore you with a long speech, but, we want to say something about why we're doing this...I think we've met most of you by now."

Many people nodded at that.

"A few weeks back we came here on invitation, to help your village and join you to our alliance," he said. "I wanted to talk a little bit about why we're doing that. It was not just about preventing another war, though that would be beneficial."

Someone else laughed.

Gaara wondered why they were laughing, usually people just stared at him stoically when he said that.

But then he looked at them and the people weren't sneering at him, they just seemed to be agreeing...Perhaps that was just Rain's sense of humor.

He went on. "I..." then he stopped.

He had planned to tell them about all the successes they'd had, trying to make this sound good for them all.

But all of a sudden it didn't feel right. He couldn't have said why, but different words started coming out, and they felt more like his real thoughts:

"I have to admit to all of you, I didn't want to come here."

This shocked only his team--that he said it at all--but it shocked no one in Rain Village.

Camie and Bakugo heard someone say. "I bet not."

"I believe I started off about as prejudiced against this Village as everyone else was," Gaara heard himself saying, and he started to look at Temari, who was gaping at him in concern, and Kankuro, who was eyeing the crowd nervously now. "Everyone is afraid of Rain Village...and on top of this, we had just had a humiliating defeat in Stone Village."