A storm of sand and blaze (Gaara fanfiction and The Love Story He Deserves)

Chapter 34: Traces of grief

Note: This last chapter is really long. I just could not break it down since it's the last one. There will be a little epilogue though, but this is the actual resolution. Thanks for reading and please share your comments if you have any. They always help me a lot to grow in my writing skills.

Fun fact: I used a short Hayao Miyazaki's quote in the text.

"Ahh" Shinki sighed happily. "I'm glad you liked it".

Feza smiled fixing around her shoulders the lavender shawl that the boy had knitted as a wedding present for her.

Nine days had passed after the terrible incident that almost destroyed Sunagakure and time had been so rushed for everybody that Shinki almost felt like he had barely seen his family in all those days. The Sunagakure ninja team and the Hokage himself had arrived just in time to save his uncle Kankuro's life and also to give support to reconstruct some shelters for the villagers. It is not like Sunagakure had a very sophisticated architecture or lifestyle in the first place but restoring all the damages and rebuilding every building was going to take a lot of time and effort.

Because of that, Shinki understood the almost absolute absence of Gaara since he woke up in the hospital. Some nights the Kazekage would visit him for a few minutes and try to comfort him in his own way. But Shinki would notice instantly that his father was not falling asleep in the chair just because his will was very strong. And in the end, the boy would just send him to rest.

"I still have paperwork to do..." Gaara would reply with a tense short smile of resignation. "I need to get the budget to reconstruct the village. And that takes many letters, contracts, and signatures..."

On the other hand, his sister would spend more time with him. She was also trying to help with the restoration but certainly, her lack of bureaucratic duties gave her a bit more time to help him with his recovery.

"I will wear this shawl tomorrow in the meeting with the new council". Feza said sitting down next to Shinki. "I might need some extra luck".

"You don't need luck. My father told me this is just a mere diplomatic event". Shinki replied trying to be optimistic. "Besides, you two are married already. I guess the new members just want to know you more in-depth. Suna is a place of long-time traditions and people here always want to do everything according to their rituals and customs. Even in extraordinary situations like this".

Feza remained in silence for a couple of minutes. Shinki realized that there were more concerns in her head than what she would reveal but he preferred not to insist. The years of pilgrimage of his sister had changed her in many ways, one of them was her silence. For good or for bad she was now more introverted about her own problems and she would rather draw a soft smile on her face than anxiously yell for not finding an immediate solution to them.

"It's already late," she said again standing up from the edge of the hospital's bed. "I'll try to get some sleep. And you should do the same. Oh, man! Sometimes I get the feeling you forget you are still recovering!"

"Speaking about recovering, can I ask you something?"

"?"

"Can you introduce me to Benten again once I'm out of the hospital?" Shinki had been thinking all those days in bed about it. And Feza noticed in his voice that it was an important matter to him "I would like him to know it was not me who used him to try to destroy the village and also..."

"You want to become a rider?"

Shinki got a bit nervous. He knew since Gaara had adopted him, that his destiny was to become the next Kazekage. He had trained all those years to be able to meet the expectations of everybody about him. Still, after listening to the story of his real origin and how did his sister and father defeat the fire demon, a deep desire had grown inside his heart. A wish that perhaps did not meet anyone's expectations but that surely ignited a strong emotion of excitement in him.