Suna no Mugetsu Re-ku (Naruto Fanfic)

Nobusuna

The air choked with dust comprised of fine sand thickened by the threat of rain from the clouds above blocking the burning sun from scorching the skin. Gaara's dry tongue pushed up against the roof of his dry mouth as his green eyes stared soullessly down at the villagers passing back and forth down below. Nobody noticed the young Kazekage watching from the shadowed cove above, nor did they know he was listening and observing their conversations. Even after becoming the Kazekage he wanted to know more about the social interactions of other people.

Temari and Kankuro still didn't understand why he did this.

The clouds burst with a sudden downpour and Gaara felt his clothing and sand shield stick unpleasantly to his body. One hand reached up to tug at the clothing as a woman let out a yell and rushed out to the clothes line strung out in the court yard to struggle with getting the wash off the line. One piece of clothing shifted due to the added weight and fell with a sickening thud to the ground below. Gaara's eyes widened wondering if he should step in and help, but another woman hurried from her home to help the other scoop the wet load into baskets and then pull the baskets towards an overhang.

The young Kazekage could still see the two women as well as hear them from where he hid himself in the damp shadows. One of the women attempted to wipe away the rain water dripping from her forehead, and her tongue clicked as she spoke up. "Ruined. Absolutely ruined this day of washing."

The other woman looked up at the sky. "I wonder if our Kazekage is out in this."

Gaara's eyes blinked a couple of times, and he shifted his weight to a more comfortable position as his hand continued to tug at his wet clothing. The other woman turned to look at the other as her mouth pushed into a tight frown. "What ever for?"

"Haven't you noticed? He tends to always be wandering about regardless of the weather."

"His sand protects him from everything." The other woman pulled out a soaking wet piece of clothing and shook it making it so the water scattered across despite the rain still falling outside of the overhang the two women were under.

"Does it?" The second woman's comment caused Gaara to blink again as well as shift his position again.

"It's true you know." The beast in the back of his head spoke up. "Your sand can't protect you from everything."

The second woman pushed back a stray strand of hair. "I don't think his sand protects him from everything. He is human you know."

"Human?" The other woman shook her head. "I guess you could say he's more human then the previous Kazekage."

Gaara's dry mouth opened at the mentioning of the previous Kazekage. His shoulders tensed up as the young Kazekage tried to swallow.

The second person turned to her companion, and her voice gave way a distinct nervousness. "What are you trying to get at?"

"If the Kazekage hadn't died when he did he would have been tried and executed for treason. His children would have been executed with him as well."

A shiver ran down Gaara's spine as his arms wrapped around his thin body. The thought of leaving entered his mind, and his body tensed to do so. The second woman though said something which made him stop. "Don't speak like that! Our Kazekage and his siblings, they've honestly done a lot of good for Suna since that happened! Do you not like our Kazekage, or do you still think of him as a monster? That was you know the previous Kazekage's fault you know."

"I'm not saying anything against our current Kazekage. Goodness knows we wouldn't know we were wrong had the previous Kazekage lived. That man... he was the real monster. As I said though had the previous Kazekage not died all of them would be dead. We would never have known we were wrong."