Affection Blooming From A Desert (Gaara x OC)

Chapter 6: Date

Today was Akina's first day at her new job and she was ecstatic, although she would miss her old boss and co-workers. The very first day back after her day off she had handed in her 2-weeks notice much to the sadness of her boss. He understood that she was given a wonderful opportunity to do something she loved but he was going to miss her. She was his best employee and would miss her dearly. He made her promise to come visit him every now and then and she happily agreed. She couldn't just completely shut out the tea house after she quit, she loved that place too much and it was her personal go-to place for tea!

Normally, whenever a new hire came through for the care team or the research team, Hana or Akina would train them. But since it was Akina, she needed no such treatment. She began treating the plants like it was another one of her day off. In the last month the plants had fully grown. They were vine like plants that wrapped around the bamboo supports they placed between each pot.

Today was harvesting day so Akina and some of the other staff were delicately extracting the leaves from each plant. The greenhouse currently only had 20 of these plants, if the balm was a success then they would plant more of them. For now though, those 20 would suffice. When all the leaves had been harvested into a large woven basket, Akina grabbed it by the handle and left the greenhouse to take it to the hospital's research center. She greeted several nurses and doctors on her way to the East wing of the hospital. She placed the basket on the table beside her aunt and, for the rest of the day, began to help her prepare the ingredients for the balm.

Back at the Kazekage building, Gaara was nursing a mild headache. Kankuro sat across from his brother wearing a solemn expression. The two had just concluded a late meeting with the council and the situation with the bandits were somewhat bleak. Within the last week alone there were 9 reports of attacks all within the Wind Country and 5 in the Fire Country. Gaara had set up a meeting with the Rokudaime, Kakashi Hatake, for next week so they could discuss this matter more in depth. They hoped to find the bandits' hideout and put a stop to their activities once and for all.

Similarly to the earlier reports of these bandits, they had a pattern of stealing resources from the villages they pillaged. Several of those attacks happened hours within each other suggesting that they already have a large, and probably growing, number of bandits. Some shinobis who encountered them reported that they ranged from B to S-rank. The council feared that war would be inevitable if they were not dealt with earlier...Gaara feared the same thing.

"Dispatch two tracking units, I want to know where they are operating from and then we will take it from there."

Kankuro nodded. "Sure. I'll talk to the anbu captain first thing tomorrow morning."

Gaara's mood soured when he saw Kankuro start grinning after several moments. 'Here we go.' He thought to himself.

"So...I've been hearing from the servants that you've been spending more time in the garden with a mystery girl who I'm assuming could only be Akina?" He smirked when he saw his little brother slightly narrow his eyes. Hit the nail right on the head.

"I know you already know the answer, why do you still ask?"

Kankuro shrugged. "I just like hearing it from you."

Gaara closed his eyes and leaned back against his chair. He considered ignoring Kankuro and getting back to the work at hand, but it was bound to happen that he would get nosy again.

"It is true. I asked her to go to the garden with me 2 weeks ago, the same day I offered her a job with the greenhouse care team and the research team. Since then we have gone there once a week for tea." Gaara opened his eyes and pinned his brother with a glare. "Satisfied?"