Romancing the Kazekage- A Gaara Love Story

欲望

奇跡/Wonder

Velvet waves of an inky sky held captive the moon and the stars, as the young and brave Kazekage walked towards the Marble Palace. Home, it was rumoured, of Love herself. The man walked tall and steady through the long grass, feeling the dew that lingered on petals as his fingertips brushed gently by them. The air was thick with warmth and humidity; the tropical climate this part of the world inherited from its borders with Suna and Ame gave birth to the jungle. Great vines twisted and crept along tree trunks and red clay. Giant, fantastical flowers opened and closed as though the entire jungle were alive and breathing as it watched this handsome stranger, his eyes a colour unknown to these tropics, wander towards the Palace.

His gentle and austere demeanour could not cloud the rumble beneath his soft sighs, nor the darkness in his furrowed brow. It seemed the sky was mirroring his temperament; a storm was moving close, threatening to hover above the Palace in a matter of minutes. The calm before the storm entered with Gaara in the dead of night; a gentle breeze, a teasing wind- it made the low branches of the willow trees sway as though nature was bowing to the shinobi's power. The crackle of electricity hummed in the air, waiting to snap, waiting for the handsome warrior to give the signal of war.

It had been three days since the incident at The Iron Vault. Kankuro's efforts with Suna's reconnaissance teams had been running especially smoothly for the past few months and they were able to locate Ai's whereabouts within hours. The other Kage had briefed Gaara with his mission that morning: find out Ai's use and plans with the Akatsuki and try to win her back to our side.

As Gaara strode confidently towards the doors of the marble palace he thought for a moment about the girl called Love. Win her back? He could barely contain his disappointed laughter; Ai was as stubborn as she was smart, as full of emotion as she was beautiful and as ill-fated as the Kazekage himself. There was a dismally slim chance that Gaara could get his first love to change her mind. Whenever he needed to in the past he would simply grab her by the skin and touch her until she gave in. Just a twist of her arm, a bite of her neck, a well-placed fingertip, could make Ai do exactly as he said. But, as he had discovered at the Summit, it seemed someone else had taken on that role.

Gaara glanced up at the Palace; the building seemed to heave and huff, like the great head of a mythical beast, He could hear the heartbeat in its walls and the inviting, warm breath from the windows. There was a power that he had come to test; he could feel the will of the enemy lurking in the darkened corners like a serpent beneath a still lake. The Palace was coming closer as the Kazekage's feet pounded on the soft, fertile soil of the gardens. The whole world seemed to hold its breath as the man of power arrived to greet his equally-ferocious enemy. The moment of meeting would soon be underway.

The crash of thunder alerted the Kazekage to the giant wooden doors that were creaking open, inviting him in to a warm and shimmering light. Like a beacon warning ships of the rocky shore, the light form inside the Palace seemed to entrance and worry him; eerily quiet, beautifully structured, enchanting in its form...the place was every inch of her.

Ai's sweet and innocent face came into his mind once more; those beautiful blue eyes, deliciously plump lips, small, fragile, breakable waist...Would it still be there? The spark, the flame, the excitement? The hate, the love, the lust? What made Gaara and Ai themselves, the perfectly imperfect pairing of beauty and beast- would it still exist in all it's aching beauty?

The Kazekage ascended the steps into the Marble Palace.

不忠/Betrayal

The lanterns guided his way to a beautiful room of gold and metallic spun silk. He entered where red velvet curtains parted at an archway to find a room full of treasures and precious things; a library, a courtyard, a bedroom a garden...it was hard to give an exact name to this room's function. A large round room lined with archways, contained under a glass dome ceiling, littered with bookshelves and floristry...it was Ai. This entire place was a breathing ecosystem entirely devoted to that girl.