Affection Blooming From A Desert (Gaara x OC)

Chapter 9: A Visit To Konoha

Gaara hadn't rested all night, not that he slept much to begin with. He had considered going after her but stopped himself. If she had gone to Konoha instead of coming to him, then she clearly needed some time to herself, a decision he will respect even if he disagreed with it.

He was going to leave for 2 weeks, at the very least, for battle and he was hoping that she would have been here to send him off. But with a major battle looming over the village, he couldn't let this become too much of a distraction. He had men and women that families were counting on him to bring back safely. He hoped that by the time he returned, she was back and ready to talk.

After spending nearly 16 hours on the train, Akina had finally arrived in Konoha. Her aunt had thankfully sent word of her arrival to Kimi so she was expecting her friend to be at the gates waiting for her. She had a rather restless night on the train. For one, sleeping in the booth like seats of the vehicle was not the most comfortable experience. Secondly, she was still reeling from the incident back at the village. The train that she was on had two ninja units protecting the train and it's passengers in case it was hijacked. Since they were Suna shinobis, she knew they had to know of the news that spread like wildfire in the village. However, they made no indication that they knew, which she was grateful for.

She had been belittling herself the entire night and day for running away, it was a cowardly thing for her to do but she had no other option. Had she stayed in the village she would either have to go out the next day and endure the malice from the village or stay locked in her house until she worked up the courage to face everyone. Neither were appealing to her so she left to seek some solace in her best friend and the fact that no one in Konoha knows her.

Akina smiled for the first time in hours when she saw her friend standing at the gates greeting her with a big smile. Akina ran into the waiting embrace of Kimi. She let out a small squeal when her friend picked her up and spun her around.

"Aki! I missed you so much."

"Oh, Kimi I missed you too!" Kimi had looked the same as she did the last time she saw her. She still stood 3 inches taller than Akina with long brown hair tied into a tight bun and the most electric blue eyes she has ever seen. She wore her usual kunoichi get-up which consisted of a pair of black shorts ending at thighs, a long-sleeved red shirt, with a konoha flak jacket over it.

"How are you?" Kimi asked with a gentle smile. She already knew what happened back at Suna, Hana had given her a brief explanation about the aggressive unprovoked attack on her best friend. She wished she could visit the village and beat up the asshole who subjected her friend to this but unfortunately she was placed on mandatory rest after her last mission.

"Oh Kimi! I don't know what to do, I can't believe something like that actually happened." When Kimi saw that Akina looked like she wanted to start crying, she grabbed Akina's wrist and teleported them to her apartment.

They took a seat on Kimi's bed. Kimi reached over to her bedside table to grab a tissue for her friend who silently sobbed. Kimi pulled her friend close and held her while she cried. She would patiently wait for Akina to start talking whenever she was ready, but until then she would be content with providing her friend the comfort she needed.

It had come as a surprise to her when she heard a pecking at her window late last night. It had been even more of a surprise when the creature responsible for it was a Suna messenger hawk, something she hadn't seen in several years. Her first reaction was excitement when she heard that Akina was visiting her since they hadn't seen each other in months. Her second reaction was anger when she read about the attack on her friend. She was ready to accept Akina into her home for as long as she needed to. Kimi glanced down at her friend and noticed sadly that she had cried herself to sleep. She tucked Akina under the blankets before grabbing her keys and leaving her apartment.