Affection Blooming From A Desert (Gaara x OC)

Epilogue: Another One

Gaara was sitting at his desk looking over some documents when he heard a thud and a wail. Alarmed, he stood from his desk and rushed to where the chairs were. A small toddler sat on the ground with tears streaming down their pudgy cheeks.

Gaara sighed and picked up the troublesome child. "Ichiro. Do not cry."

The young toddler ignored his father and proceeded to cry harder. Gaara felt his eye twitch at the incessant noise coming from his son. Honestly, it was times like these where he missed Akina the most. She was always much better at calming their son than he was.

"Would you like to visit your mother?" He asked. At the word "mother", Ichiro stopped his crying and started clumsily clapping his hands together.

"Mama, mama!" He squealed. Gaara sighed, of course that would work. Ichiro was a mama's boy if he's ever seen one. Gaara wouldn't exactly say he was jealous but he was slightly bothered by his son's obsession for his mother.

"Okay, okay." Gaara said when Ichiro, who had begun to get impatiently, started to slap his little hands on Gaara's face. Gaara picked up the baby bag that sat on the other chair and cradled Ichiro in his arm. He left his office, glancing momentarily at the two portraits that hung in his office.

The first was arguably his favourite; it was done shortly after their wedding night. It showed the two of them holding each other in an intimate embrace. Gaara had worn a red kimono with his clan symbol emblazoned on the back and on the ends of his sleeves. Akina's dress complimented his own; a red dress with intricate white petals decorating the bottom of her dress and along the edges of her sleeves. Her hair was done in an elegantly half-up half-down style and cascaded beautifully down her shoulders.

Shortly after he proposed to her and she accepted, they announced to the village of their engagement much to the joyous cries of the villagers. The deafening cheers that erupted from the crowd warmed Akina's heart and his. A few weeks later they had invited their friends and some prominent figures to an engagement party. Ideally, they would have liked it if it was a simple friends and family affair but because it was the Kazekage getting married, they had to invite political figures.

The second portrait was Gaara with his arm around Akina's waist and the other holding her hip. In her arms she was cradling a month old Ichigo. The young boy had inherited his father's crimson hair and his mother's vibrant green eyes. They had a sneaking suspicion that the boy had also inherited his father's sand ability when they found sand in his crib when there was really no other reason for it to be there. He loved them both dearly and was grateful that he was blessed with a wonderful family.

Several minutes later they had arrived at the familiar glass building where he and Akina spent a lot of their alone time together. He walked through the door and allowed the tranquility of his gardens to wash over him. He walked past the many plants that had been added to his collection and entered the side garden, his most treasured place.

The sight of Akina on her knees tending to the plants with dirt covering her person greeted him. Even all dirtied and disheveled, he still thought she was beautiful. His appreciation of her was interrupted by a loud wail and a painful kick to the stomach.

"Mama!" Akina startled and dropped the shovel she was holding. She turned at the sound of her son's cry thinking he was in trouble but was relieved to see he was just excited to see her. Gaara placed Ichiro on the ground and watched him unsteadily make his way to his mother. Akina stayed where she was and opened her arms to encourage Ichiro to walk the rest of the way towards her. A few wobbly steps later, Ichiro fell into his mother's embrace.

"Hi, baby!" She cooed. "Did you miss mama?"

Ichiro squealed loudly and repeatedly screamed 'mama.' Akina chuckled at her son's small vocabulary and stood up with him in her arms. She had been so proud she started to cry when one day she was feeding Ichiro and he shocked her by saying his first word which just so happened to be 'mama'. In a rush, she grabbed him and ran to the Kazekage building. She barged into Gaara's office to tell him the exciting news, not even caring that she had interrupted a very important meeting he was having with Naruto, the newly inaugurated Hokage. It didn't seem either Kage minded, they shared her excitement.

Gaara walked towards his family and deposited the baby bag on the couch. It seemed his little wife hadn't noticed him yet and that was unacceptable in his eyes. He walked towards his still oblivious wife and grabbed a hold of her hips. She tilted her head up to look at him, finally noticing his presence.

"Hey! I thought you were busy today?" He told her that morning he had a lot of work to complete so she offered to take Ichiro for the day. However, Gaara had wanted to spend some time with his son so politely declined her offer. He definitely did not get as much work done as he planned but it was worth the bonding time he had with Ichiro. When he first held his son in his arms, he vowed that he would give him the childhood that he never had and the love that he was denied for so long. Akina had choked up with emotions when she heard her husband whisper those vows to their son when he thought she was still asleep.

"Ichiro started crying and I thought to bring him to see you. He fell off the chair." He explained. Akina gasped and ran her hand gently over Ichiro's head feeling if the fall had left a bump and if she needed to bring him to the hospital. Since Ichiro was her first and only child, she worried over every little thing. Hana had done a good job at helping Akina relax, she wasn't nearly as protective now as she used to be when he was first born.

Akina placed Ichiro on the ground when he started kicking. The curious toddler immediately wandered towards the water. Gaara had conjured his third-eye to keep an eye on his son lest he fall in like his mother did all those years ago.

Gaara turned Akina in his arms to face him and impatiently kissed her. It was hard to find some alone time with her now that they had a kid so moments like these were to be cherished. Their kiss started to get more passionate as Akina fisted her hand into his hair. Abruptly she pulled back, much too soon for Gaara's liking.

She regarded him with a yearning look.

"Honey? I want another." Akina felt his grip on her hips tighten.

"You do?"

"You don't?" She countered.

"I do." He answered truthfully. Akina was relieved, she had mistook his reaction as a sign of him not wanting another child.

"Let's start tonight."

Wait what? Akina gaped at him, not expecting that to come from his mouth. "W-what?"

"We can leave Ichiro with Hana tonight. It has been a while since they have seen each other. You said she missed him, did you not?"

Akina stammered. "W-well yeah bu-"

"Then it is settled." Gaara walked away from his shell-shocked wife to pick up Ichiro. "Would you like to see Hana, Ichiro?" Akina heard her husband ask, completely unaffected by all that happened.

Akina heard Ichiro's babbling reply. His pronunciation was not perfect so "Hana" always came out as "ah-ah". She apparently knew what her son thought about that. Just before they left, Gaara's eyes wandered back to the statue of him and Akina; it was time to have a new one commissioned.

Akina felt the familiar swirl of wind and sand, and in a moment's notice they stood in front of Hana's apartment. Hana opened her door and was pleasantly surprised to see the three standing at her door. She smiled happily when her eyes fell on Ichiro who was reaching out towards her. His father gently passed him to Hana.

"Would you mind watching Ichiro tonight? Akina and I have important matters to tend to."

"I would love to." Hana looked at her niece knowingly when she saw the blush creep up her cheeks when Gaara had mentioned 'important matters'. Hana turned her attention to little Ichiro who had a firm grip on her hair. She started making silly faces at him, eliciting a string of happy gurgles. When Hana walked back into her apartment, Gaara wasted no time in taking them back home. In record time, Gaara had them naked and in bed.

Several months later they would happily find out that Akina was pregnant. Nine more months after that they would blissfully welcome a baby girl to their family who they named Kikyo. Their family would continue to grow over the years and their love for each other only grew stronger as time passed.