Affection Blooming From A Desert (Gaara x OC)

Chapter 3: A Push In The Right Direction

It had been 2 weeks since the encounter with Gaara and Akina had not seen him since. She was so engrossed in her work running the tea shop since her boss had decided to take a vacation to the waterfall village. He had left her in charge of the shop while he was gone because she had the most experience out of the other workers; she was essentially his right hand.

In between scheduling employees, ordering tea, picking up shipments, and maintaining the overall shop, she had forgotten about her perplexing encounters with Gaara until today. She was crouched behind the counter restocking the pastry display when a little chime notified her that customers had entered the shop.

She peeked over the counter and was shocked to see the Kazekage and his brother enter the shop. They took a seat at a booth by the wall. Things had slowed down significantly after dinner so she sent the rest of the servers and kitchen staff home, assuring them that she would have no problem closing up shop on her own.

Despite the slight feeling of nervousness, she grabbed her notepad and walked towards the two gentlemen. They were elite shinobis in this village, it would be especially rude of her to make them wait.

"Good evening Lord Kazekage-sama, Lord Kankuro-sama." She slightly bowed in respect of the two elite nins. "What can I get you two?"

Kankuro looked at her with a wide grin on his face. 'What a pretty girl,' he thought to himself.

"Your name and number maybe? It would be my pleasure to accompany such a beautiful girl to dinner one night." Akina could not believe what she had just heard. Was the Kazekage's brother really flirting with her? Gaara glared at his brother, unbeknownst to the other two. He could see how flustered Kankuro's words had made her by the creeping blush on her face.

It was strange to him because he felt angry at Kankuro for saying such things to her. He has been around Kankuro quite often whenever he decided to flirt with some of the female villagers, but he had never felt what he felt now in those times. It was yet another perplexing feeling that he could not quite pinpoint, and that annoyed him.

"Kankuro...I hardly think that this is an appropriate time for your...advances." He quietly scolded his elder brother. He turned his head to Akina. "I apologize for my brother's inappropriate behaviour. We will take two cups of pu'erh tea, thank you."

Akina nodded and quickly turned away to rush to the back of the tea house. While she waited for the tea to brew, she took a seat on a chair. She knew Kankuro was a flirt, she heard stories from female villagers of how he had made them swoon. But being on the receiving end of his sweet words was...unpleasant.

Akina never interacted much with the opposite sex. For most of her childhood and teenage years she was more focused on her civilian studies and her job at the tea house. When her parents passed during the great war, she retreated further into her shell. Most of her friends were really her co-workers. She had one best friend, Kimi, but she and her family had moved to Konoha 2 years ago. They had tried their best to keep in contact through letters, but both girls were so busy it was difficult to regularly send updates. Last she heard, Kimi was training hard to become a jonin. Maybe one day she could take a vacation to visit her friend and have a celebratory dinner for when she became jonin!

The soft whistle of the kettle brought her back from her thoughts. She filled a teapot and two tea cups with the pu'erh tea before grabbing a tray to carry them on. When she walked back to the front, she saw the two brothers deep in conversation. They stopped talking when they noticed her approaching. She guessed they were talking about something top secret, so she carefully set their tea down and hastily left.