Affection Blooming From A Desert (Gaara x OC)

Chapter 15: Eyes On the Future

Gaara woke up after falling asleep only an hour ago, the sun still had not risen. He looked down at the beautiful woman in his arms and smiled to himself. It had been several months since she agreed to move in with him and both were happily in love. Gaara pressed a kiss to her forehead before getting out of bed which was a difficult task with her wrapped around him like a boa constrictor. He shook his head in amusement when Akina sleepily reached out to his side of the bed in search of him.

As much as he wanted to stay in bed with her a little longer, the duties of a Kazekage could not be ignored for long. After he got ready he quietly slipped out of the room and walked down an adjoining hallway to his office. After the situation with his previous secretary it took him a long time to find a replacement that would not cause trouble. Thankfully, Kankuro had found him a good secretary, Hiro, who had experience working as an administrative assistant in Konoha before he moved here.

Gaara pushed open the doors to his office and frowned at the tall stacks of paperwork on his desk. He decided to come in earlier to get as much work done as he could. Temari was currently in the village as an ambassador to Suna and Konoha. The three sand-siblings decided to meet up for lunch later today.

Gaara was so engrossed in his work that he didn't notice them until they stood before his desk.

"Why are you still working?" He looked up to see Kankuro shaking his head at him and Temari with her arms crossed. His sister was very pregnant; it had still confused him how Shikamaru had allowed her to travel in this state. Then he remembered how strong-willed and stubborn she was, so it wasn't really a surprise in the end.

"I have more paperwork to do after the chuunin exams. There are many more graduates this year than before."

Kankuro rolled his eyes. "Get Hiro to help you. Anyways, do you have an extra pen? There's this cute girl outside that asked for my number."

Kankuro walked around the desk and pulled open a drawer and was shocked to see what was hidden in it. Before he could get a better look, Gaara forcefully slammed the drawer shut. Temari and Kankuro looked at their brother and raised a questioning brow at his odd behaviour.

Kankuro then slyly smirked at him. "Whatcha hiding, brother?" Kankuro tugged at the drawer again but Gaara kept a firm hold on it.

"Nothing." He clipped.

"You sure?" Temari asked, not quite believing it. Temari looked at Kankuro with a questioning look, Kankuro nodded answering her unsaid question. Immediately Temari's face morphed into a big smile.

"When?" She asked. Temari sighed and Kankuro rolled his eyes at Gaara's silent treatment.

"Soon I hope." She commented.

"Soon." Kankuro agreed. Kankuro decided to stop with the interrogation when he realized that Gaara would continue to ignore them. "Let's go, I'm starving."

Gaara finished signing the document in front of him before standing and leaving the office. But before he left, he sneakily pocketed the object that previously sat in his drawer. He informed Hiro to re-prioritize his work for tomorrow as Gaara would not be returning to the office afterwards, he had something more pressing to attend to.

After lunch he made his way to his private gardens. He informed his head gardener and landscaper several weeks ago that he wanted to expand his garden and add a new section. He worked closely with them to make sure the layout was exactly how he wanted and made sure it included the flora that he wanted. They built a smaller green house that joined the main greenhouse via a short glass encased walk-way. And elegant red bridge positioned over a small koi filled pond led way to the beautiful new section.