Romancing the Kazekage- A Gaara Love Story

The Prince

The Prince

Gaara?

The Kazekage looked up as his name was whispered on the breeze that swept through his office. He waited a moment, his eyes darting this way and that, wondering who it was that whispered his name. But his office was empty; the only movement was the rustling of leaves that belonged to a pot plant, put next to his door by Temari. He thought no more of it and went back to his work.

I know you can hear me, Gaara. 

He sighed; of course he knew the voice well, for it was a part of him since birth, it had spoken to him more than any human being for the demon was his only company in his lonely and desperate childhood. But Shukaku had not been speaking as much or as loudly over these last few years following Gaara's attempt to quieten the biju. Of late, however, it was proving difficult to shut him up. Gaara spoke to himself:

"It is unlike you, Shukaku, to talk nowadays without being addressed by me; perhaps you are forgetting the way we left things-"

The way YOU left things, you heartless boy! Cooping me up in here, without a moment for me to defend myself. It's positively sickening the way you've treated me. ME the demon-

"Get to the point, please; I have a lot of work to do now, I'm-"

Kazekage now! Oh yes, I keep forgetting in the moments you take for air before scolding me again-

"SHUKAKU." Without even realising it, Gaara had entered the plane on which he and Shukaku communicated face-to-face. He had materialised in front of the demon's cage so quickly, that Shukaku jumped back at the sight of him and trembled in the cage Gaara crafted for him. "Do not test my patience. What do you want?"

Gaara's subconscious was a dark, cold place, it took the form of his childhood bedroom; the place where he and Shukaku first became acquainted. He had built this setting in his mind and housed the demon in a large, sealed cage that seemed to hover in empty space where his bedroom door should have been. The crimson-haired shinobi stood in his room, amidst the horrible white light, surrounded by soft toys and presents, to face his biju who was curled up like a ball in his cage, his tail curling over his eyes to hide himself from the Kazekage. Gaara stood at the edge of the carpet where it faded away to the darkness which housed Shukaku.

The biju lifted his tail and saw that nonchalant, disinterested expression on Gaara's face and, out of frustration, moved viper-quick up to the bars of his cage, pushing his face against the red wood that imprisoned him. The wood strained and cracked against the pressure Shukaku put on the cage for he hurled himself at the ninja who kept him here, with all his might. His large black eyes bulged out of the space between the wooden bars, each eye the size of Gaara's skull, looking on at that arrogant jinchuriki with distaste. "Why did you send her away?!" The demon bellowed and shook the cage violently. It took a moment for Gaara to realise what the beast was asking and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Ai?" He asked and Shukaku whined.

"Yes!" The sand monster screeched, forcing Gaara to put a hand up to his eye and wince.

"Stop making that noise, it's irritating." As he spoke, Shukaku reduced his whine to a whimper. "My actions are no concern of yours." Those dark eyes flashed as the monster huffed, clearly unsatisfied with the answer, before he retreated back into the darkness. "What makes you think I would let her remain in my company, with you screeching her name every time I see her?" Shukaku's tail became limp and rubbed the ground as though the monster had become coy.

"I only wanted to speak with her." The biju protested. Gaara folded his arms.

"Of course you did," he replied sarcastically, "that was evident in the remarks you made about her skin and blood." There was a moment of silence before Shukaku whispered: